Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2015 i History of War

Robert E Lee and Ulysses S Grant are perhaps two of the most often-compared generals in all history, as well as the USA’s most celebrated civil war leaders. These West Point graduates bore the heavy responsibility of command and often took great risks with men’s lives to achieve what they saw as the greater quest to heal their nation. A greater victory was also on Henry V’s mind at Agincourt 600 years ago. Here, the king’s superb judgement was vital for the survival of the beleaguered English army. His decision to advance against a superior French force was as daring as it was genius. It carried great risk, but meant the even greater rewards of gold, glory and maybe even the French throne. www.historyanswers.co.uk EMAIL frontline@imagine-publishing.co.uk FACEBOOK /HistoryofWarMag TWITTER @HistoryofWarMag…

DEATH OF CHARLES IV A QUESTION OF INHERITANCE 1328 Vincennes, France When Charles IV of France died without a male heir, a claim for the throne was made by Edward III of England, as his mother was the sister of the late king. With the French wary about being ruled by an English king, Philip VI, Charles’ first cousin, was selected instead. Although this agreement was tolerated for some nine years, when Philip VI began to interfere in Edward’s war against Scotland, Edward reasserted his claim to the French throne. THE CAPTURE OF KING JOHN II AN ENGLISH VICTORY AT POITIERS RESULTS IN THE CAPTURE OF A FRENCH KING 1356 Poitiers The Battle of Poitiers was one of the most significant English victories of the entire war and included the…

Nearly six years had passed since Agincourt and Henry V was still the master of northern France. The dauphin, the future Charles VII, desperately appealed to the Scots for help, and soldiers arrived shortly after, ready for battle against the English. By March 1421, Henry was back in England, so the heir to the throne, Thomas of Clarence, led the army in his stead. Utilising chevauchée raiding tactics, Clarence swept inland, plundering his way through the countryside. Meeting little to no resistance, it wasn’t until the end of the month that the French would finally muster a force to fight back. 1. FAILED RECONNAISSANCE The English army marches inland from the coast, conquering Maine and settling in the castle of Beaufort. French scouts track the English advance but are captured…

The generalship of Lee and Grant featured detailed planning as well as an ability to react to unforeseen opportunities on the battlefield. Both were forceful commanders who were unafraid to take heavy casualties to win battles. Grant was often called a ‘butcher’ because of the costly battles that he fought, but unlike many other Union generals, he was never afraid to give battle. Whereas most Federal commanders would fight and then retire some distance to let their soldiers recover, Grant would not retreat, but keep on attacking. In battle, Grant was always able to remain calm, and this reassured his officers. “The chief characteristic in your nature,” William T Sherman wrote to him, “is the simple faith in success you have always manifested… you go into battle without hesitation… no…

ARROWS Many different types of arrowhead could be used with a longbow. The simplest was the bodkin point, and the majority of arrows could penetrate even the very toughest plate armour. SECONDARY WEAPONS When engaged in close-quarters combat, the longbowmen would drop their bows and fight with swords, axes and clubs. This was a last resort as archers worked best at a distance. TRAINING The longbow would be nothing if it wasn’t in the hands of a trained archer. All sports except archery were banned on Sundays and the most talented were drawn into the English Army. TACTICS Longbowmen were vulnerable to cavalry so would attack from range and flank the enemy. Each archer carried 60-70 arrows each, enabling up to about six minutes of continuous fire. THE LONGBOW Made…

Spain in the 20th century was a political powder keg. The overthrowing of Queen Isabella II in 1868 and the abdication of a potential successor in 1873 led to the proclamation of the First Spanish Republic. While the First Republic was hampered by instability and soon collapsed in the Bourbon Restoration of 1874, it did enable a whirlwind of new political concepts to take root in Spain. The Restoration was greeted by an antagonised working class, and the following 53 years of political instability led to fears of a communist revolution against the monarchy, prompting the seizure of state power by the military under Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923. When support for the new regime yet again dwindled, a Second Republic was proclaimed on 12 April 1931. The Second…

August 1991 Following an attempted coup in Moscow, Ukraine’s parliament declares independence from the Soviet Union in a referendum endorsed by 90 per cent of the electorate. November 2004 The Orange Revolution begins, led by Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, after reports of election rigging by the pro-Russian premier Viktor Yanukovych. Protests centre in Kiev’s Independence Square. February 2010 Viktor Yanukovych is declared winner in the presidential election and begins to reverse democratic reforms. His rival Yulia Tymoshenko will be arrested in the next year on charges of abusing her powers. 21 November 2013 Yanukovych’s cabinet abandons a trade agreement with the EU and later announces a deal on energy and the purchase of bonds with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. First anti-government protests begin. 16 January 2014 After thousands of protesters…

Born in Hyogo Prefecture on 6 June 1891, Takijiro Onishi’s life coincided with the rise of Imperial Japan. Detailed biographies about him are very scarce and few go beyond crediting Onishi as the ‘Father of Special Attack’. This supposedly originated from an unconventional tactic he explained to subordinates for crippling a US Navy aircraft carrier – by crashing a bomb-laden plane into it. He was one of the first IJN fighter aces during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45). A staunch patriot, Onishi also believed that it was unsound for Japan to wage war on the United States of America. Despite this, he is recognised as one of the planners behind the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Some kamikaze writers suggest Onishi was introduced to the concept of self-sacrifice among Japanese…

There are still many false assumptions surrounding the kamikaze of World War II. Most striking is the belief that it was embraced by the IJN as a credible strategy. For Tadanao Miki, an engineer tasked with building the Ohka flying bomb (dubbed the ‘cherry blossom’), the idea was bizarre when first mentioned to him. What made its practice widespread, especially during the Okinawa campaign, was the profound sense of duty among Japanese servicemen and citizens. This is why personal appeals by the emperor together with rosy propaganda inspired so many volunteers. It was certainly ignoble death, but it was for a higher cause. Japanese soldiers, being patriotic to the core, weren’t obsessed with dying either. Death in battle was a last resort and many kamikazes who survived the war admitted…

AGINCOURT: GREAT BATTLES SERIES Writer: Anne Curry Publisher: Oxford University Press Price: £18.99 Released: Out now ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH…THE 600TH ANNIVERSARY OF AGINCOURT INSPIRES YET ANOTHER BOOK, BUT THIS TIME FROM A UNIQUE ANGLE Trafalgar, Waterloo, Balaclava… these place names may have exotic origins but, because of the battles fought there, all are now quintessentially English words weighted with meaning. Despite the relative insignificance of Henry V’s victory over the French near Azincourt castle in 1415, it is the name Agincourt that rings out loudest through history. In Anne Curry’s wonderfully accessible book about the battle, she explores not only the truth about the clash itself using contemporary sources, but just how it has come to play such a significant role in English culture ever since. Along the…

MARC G DESANTIS Marc is a published author on topics ranging from Ancient Macedonia to the Cold War. In this issue, he pits America’s two greatest generals against each other as he recounts the men’s military careers in the Civil War and beyond (page 28). MIGUEL MIRANDA In his continuing quest to map the entirety of Japanese military history, this issue Miguel has entered the dark yet poetic world of the kamikaze pilot. To learn more about the planes and the pilots of this tragic tactic, turn to page 82. JACK GRIFFITHS To commemorate the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, this issue Jack has put together an extended Great Battles on the English victory (page 40). He has also tackled the Hundred Years’ War in this issue’s Frontline…

THE HUNDRED YEARS MYTH To call the Hundred Years’ War a single war is incorrect. There were periods of peace between the conflicts, and many historians disagree about when it truly began and ended. What is certain is that it lasted longer than 100 years. THE GREATEST WEAPON Rather than facing the French in open conflict, Edward the Black Prince preferred to lead raids known as chevauchées. These horse charges would plunder cities, burn crops and cause as much destruction as possible. JOAN THE FEMINIST? Although Joan of Arc is commonly portrayed as a fiery tomboy, she only wore male clothes when necessary, much preferring to don a dress. She was also known to loathe the female camp followers, and there are even accounts of her chasing some away with…

Professor of Medieval History Anne Curry explains just what a European army would have looked like 600 years ago A Medieval army on the march would have reflected both extremes of the social spectrum of the time, with peasants, landowners, knights, noblemen and even royalty fighting together on campaign. The English longbowman, for instance, would have been a commoner, but his importance to the army and effectiveness in battle far outweighed his lowly status back home. He would not have the wealth to buy the best armour, or anything other than crude melee weapons, so his skill with the bow was often his sole asset. A rich man-at-arms or knight, on the other hand, would bring not only several horses with him to take into battle, but also a personal…

Both Grant and Lee would have the benefit in wartime of extremely able subordinates. For Grant, this was William Tecumseh Sherman, a fellow classmate at West Point military academy. Like Grant, Sherman had resigned from army service to pursue a civilian career, in banking, with mixed results. The ill-tempered Sherman's early civil war career was less than splendid. He was aghast at the problems he encountered with inept, ill-trained volunteers and overly inquisitive reporters. The press made him appear to be mentally deranged, and he was relieved of command. He later found himself back in the war leading a division under the overall command of Grant at Shiloh in April 1862. Grant and Sherman would thereafter form a partnership of war and take Vicksburg on the Mississippi the next year.…

ENGLISH LEADER Henry V FORCES Approximately 500 – 1,000 men-at-arms and 7,000 archers GAME CHANGERS The power and fire rate of the English longbow had been upgraded since the days of Crécy and was wielded by skilled English and Welsh archers FRENCH LEADER Charles I of Albret FORCES Estimates range from 12-30,000 men-at-arms and knights, accompanied by crossbowmen and artillery GAME CHANGERS Overwhelming numbers of men-at-arms and knights could smash the English lines while being protected from arrows by tough plate armour…

Dr Matthew Bennett recently retired after a full career as senior lecturer at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He is a Medieval military historian and contributed the battle account in the catalogue for the Agincourt 600 exhibition at the Tower of London. His publications include Agincourt: Triumph Against The Odds (Osprey, 1991) and several specialist studies of English archery tactics used in the Hundred Years’ War. How did Henry V’s campaign plan in 1415 differ from Edward III’s Crécy campaign in 1346? There is no doubt that Henry was inspired by the achievements of his great-grandfather. Edward had invaded Normandy via the Cherbourg peninsula, sacked Caen and advanced to just north of Paris, challenging the French king to battle. He then withdrew northwards to Poitou where he was victorious at…

JUNKERS JU 87 ‘STUKA’ Faced with the threat of superior Soviet weaponry, the Condor Legion needed to innovate in order to succeed. The answer came in the inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage of the Model 87, from German manufacturer Junkers Flugzeug und Motorenwerke AG. Sturdy and accurate, the Ju 87 was soon found to be an effective ground attack aircraft, earning it the name of ‘Stuka’, from ‘Sturzkampfflugzeug’, the German word for ‘dive bomber’. The innovative, automatic pull-up dive brakes enabled pilots to dive at targets with the confidence that the plane would recover, even if the pilot blacked out. At the suggestion of an air technician, Wolfram von Richthofen had a propeller-powered siren added to the exterior of the craft. The wailing siren, known as a ‘Jericho…

In the end, cunning strategy toppled the Byzantines, not the use of a sole super weapon. Although Orban’s supercannon was able to penetrate the walls of Constantinople that had stood unbreached for more than a millennium, this was not enough to conquer the city. Sparsely populated after being sacked so many times by Crusaders, in 1453 Constantinople was only urbanised in its easternmost extremity, with the rest of the area inside the massive walls comprising village-sized settlements separated by large fields and rural segments. Within the walls its citizens grew their own food and farmed livestock. In theory, it could withstand extremely long sieges, as it had before – including an Ummayad assault in the 7th century. The Byzantines had intended to dig in and withstand the siege long enough…

A FATAL FLAW The Zero’s greatest asset was its manoeuvrability. This was made possible by its lightweight airframe, which had little armour protection. When the Allies started deploying heavier planes like the F6F Hellcat, the Zero couldn’t survive sustained damage. THE IMPERIAL CHAMPION Entering production in 1940, the A6M Reisen or Zero became notorious in China for defeating any aircraft that flew against it. During the months after Pearl Harbor, it continued winning dogfights against many Allied planes it faced in the air. TANDEM ARMAMENTS The Zero carried two light machine guns and a pair of nastier surprises. These were two Type 99 20mm cannons, one on each wing. Based on the Swiss Oerlikon, the Allied ships also used the same gun on incoming Zeros. Japan entered World War II…

HITLER’S FORGOTTEN CHILDREN Born a child of the Lebensborn programme, Ingrid von Oelhafen’s book details her memories of her childhood in Hitler’s home for Aryan children. BELFAST ‘69 Bringing home the real human tragedy of The Troubles, Andrew Walsh’s historical account of the Battle of Bogside is interspersed with eyewitness accounts from people at the heart of the battle. HOW TO WIN A CHARIOT RACE This collection of facts, stories and titbits of information offers a glimpse into the ancient world, and is not, in fact, a step-by-step guide about how to succeed at chariot racing. VOICES FROM THE PAST Told by the people who were there, Voices From The Past delves into the chaotic scenes on the Channel Islands as Hitler’s Blitzkrieg arrived and occupation ensued. STAR SHELL REFLECTIONS…

JOHN CHANDOS 1320-70 ALLEGIANCE: ENGLAND Gentleman, knight and close friend of kings, John Chandos was highly trained in the art of war, and his military genius aided England greatly. Edward III was impressed by Chandos’ military successes and made him responsible for the education of his young son Edward, the Black Prince, appointing him chief of staff. The Black Prince went on to fight by Chandos’ side at a number of battles as he played a central role at the battles of Crécy and Poitiers. He is credited with designing a key strategy that ensured victory fell into Edward’s lap. After these two monumental victories, he went on to lead his forces to glory at the Battle of Auray, which allowed John de Montfort to reign as John V, Duke…

WHAT WAS THE STATE OF FRANCE PRIOR TO THE START OF THE WAR? The French kingdom was the most pre-eminent realm in Europe at the time. It controlled the largest territory, it was the wealthiest and it was also the home of chivalry. If you compare it to the other political entities in Europe, it was in a much better position than the weak Holy Roman Empire, a divided Italy or the backwater that was Spain. In England, the king was powerful, but in terms of size and resources, the country was far weaker. HOW DID THE FRENCH KINGS PERSUADE DIFFERENT REGIONS TO FIGHT FOR THEM? What you have to remember is that there was a very different political culture to the ones we are familiar with today. Nationalism was…

The North had tremendous latent advantages over the South. It had far more people, and thus could both put more soldiers into the field and replace losses more easily. The Union also possessed three times as much railway track as the South. Its industrial development far surpassed that of the South, which had retained a largely agrarian economy. The North could make most of its own muskets and cannons, for example, and could buy arms from Europe to make up any shortfall. The US Navy’s naval blockade of Southern ports would choke off almost all Confederate imports except for a handful of blockade runners of negligible significance. Diplomatically, the support and recognition that the Southern states expected from Europe, especially Britain, never materialised. This was mainly because of the Southern…

On 17 July 1936, international attention was drawn to Spain following a swift coup d’etat in Spanish Morocco and Spain’s Overseas Territories by the conservative, right-wing ‘Nationalist’ Forces of the military. The ‘pronunciamiento’ quickly spread across continental Spain, with the rebels seizing Seville and several other small towns in the south and north-west. This finally prompted the democratically elected republican government to distribute arms to sections of its multi-ideological, leftist, civilian population. The harsh polarisation of Spain between a leftist, progressive, socialist republic and a right-wing, conservative, absolutist reaction quickly became representative of European attitudes at the time. The Europe of the 1930s, despite being exhausted by World War I and the Great Depression, was also ferociously ideological, with numerous regime changes and experimental politics shaking the continent. Europe was…

WOLFRAM VON RICHTHOFEN ‘THE TARTAR’ Born into nobility, Richthofen rejected an academic life and began his military career in the German Calvary in 1913, earning an Iron Cross. In 1918, Wolfram joined the Luftstreitkräfte, the Imperial Air Service of Germany, where he witnessed the death of his cousin Manfred – the legendary ‘Red Baron’. After a brief delve into academia, Richthofen joined the Condor Legion in Spain in 1936. He worked to expand Close Support Doctrine – advocating for co-operation between an equally weighted ground force and air force. Additionally, he pioneered the ‘Air Shuttle’ technique, in which the sorties of aircraft would be staggered in order to allow a constant air presence. Last, upon joining the under-equipped Condor Legion, he famously improvised, utilising 88mm anti-aircraft batteries in the place…

Until the mid-15th century, gunpowder weapons were largely ineffective and were still in their nascent stage of development. Though they had been used in China for centuries, the majority of siege technology focused on rams, catapult devices and so on. The Islamic empires of the period, which housed some of the most advanced science of the day, were eager adaptors of foreign technological innovations. As they pressed eastwards, they began adopting and expanding upon the devices they encountered through the Mongols and the Chinese – including gunpowder – as well as incorporating European technologies they encountered. This thalej al-sin or ‘Chinese snow’, as gunpowder was known, would be revolutionary in the history of siege warfare. One of the most prominent early uses was during the Battle of Mohi in 1241,…

With the Philippine Islands lost, Japan’s generals and admirals were worried about an impending American sprint across the Pacific toward the mainland. To thwart this possibility, they envisioned dedicated special attack squadrons of suicide aircraft called ‘tokubetsu kôgeki tai’ or ‘Tokko Tai’ for short. Tokko Tai formally became a new branch of the Army and Navy Air Corps in March 1945, after US forces captured Iwo Jima. The concept of suicide flights really began with an experimental weapon, the Ohka, but officers like Vice Admiral Onishi showed how planes excelled at the same role. It was during the battle for Okinawa that US intelligence picked up a new term from Japanese propaganda broadcasts: kamikaze. It recalled the tempest that annihilated Kublai Khan’s invasion of Japan in the 13th century. Young…

The Special Attack proved more ineffective the more it was used. Since the kamikazes were only used en masse in two campaigns – Leyte Gulf and Okinawa – a specific doctrine was never developed by the US Navy and Air Corps to counter them. Most kamikaze missions failed anyway, thanks to poorly maintained aircraft, shoddy training, and a far more lethal factor: US gunnery. By 1945, US warships were equipped with incredible anti-air and anti-submarine weapons. The former included radar-assisted guns, AA gun batteries and rapid-fire cannons. Most effective were the twin 40mm Bofors mounted in nests on US Navy destroyers, carriers and transports. These ack-ack guns filled the air with flack at medium ranges. If a lone kamikaze got too close, a 20mm Oerlikon or tandem .50-calibre machine guns…

Life in the British Royal Artillery during the Great War could be very dull. One way of ending the tedium was with ventriloquism acts, and ‘Douglas’ was the star of one of these popular shows. Rumoured to be named after Field Marshal Haig, Douglas was the prop of soldier-turned-ventriloquist Arthur Langley Harden, who arrived in France for service in March 1917. Initially performing in front of the 59th Divisional Ammunition Column, after a few shows Colonel K C Brazier-Creagh noticed the positive affect the dummy was having on morale. Subsequently, Harden and Douglas were moved away from the front line to perform the act to injured soldiers. The show was such a success that it even dissuaded Harden from pursuing an officer’s commission, a decision that he said could well…