Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 38 i History of War

“You realised that you had a different environment to adapt to. Those that didn’t, suffered… A lot of those that didn’t adapt didn’t come home” – Bob Hucklesby, British Army Royal Engineers veteran If it’s true that WWII saw the demise of the British Empire, then the fall of Singapore in 1942 was surely its death knell. Churchill later called it the “worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history” and for the tens of thousands of loyal troops ready to defend the Empire, the surrender of the garrison on 15 February was a humiliating and dismal defeat. Among the British forces 75 years ago was Bob Hucklesby, a young army engineer who only days earlier had arrived ready to fight. Soon he and his comrades were facing the grim…

ArthurPercival(1887-1966) Percival has gone down in history as a failure for surrendering at Singapore but he had known successes in his career prior to 1942, as well as controversies. He had joined the British Army as a private in 1914 and was commissioned within a month. By 1917, he was colonel in command of a frontline battalion. Percival was also highly decorated and was awarded a Military Cross, Distinguished Service Order and Croix de Guerre. He was described by his commanding officer as, “very brave and gallant.” Between 1920-22, Percival served in counter-insurgency operations in Ireland where his men earned a reputation of brutality towards the IRA. When war broke out again in 1939, he commanded 43rd Division and was evacuated from Dunkirk before being sent to command British forces…

WWI’s Eastern Front was never as simple as Russians and Germans going hammer and tongs. When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia was duty-bound to defend her Slavic ally. In addition, Russia faced a militaristic Germany, which honoured its alliance with Austria-Hungary. So the Russians waged war over a 1,600-kilometre-front that stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea, encompassing both Germany and Austria-Hungary. If that was not enough, Turkey joined the Central Powers later in 1914, giving the Russians a third opponent from November. Three became four in September 1915, when Bulgaria threw in its lot with the Central Powers. Still smarting from defeat by Serbia in the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria saw a way of recovering its losses, especially with Serbia’s protector, Russia, getting pummelled elsewhere. As the…

The Hundred Years’ War has been defined by the historical figures that emerged out of the chaos that engulfed France between 1337-1453. Most of them were English royalty and included Edward III, the Black Prince and Henry V – men who led endless campaigns to pursue what they considered to be their rightful claim to the French throne. Between them they won great victories that became famous, including the battles of Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt. It is also often presumed that an effective French resistance only emerged in the late 1420s under the unlikely leadership of the illiterate peasant girl Joan of Arc. However, this is a grave misinterpretation of events. Far from being a continuous conflict, the period was punctuated by cycles of both war and peace and victory…

TOM GARNER This issue Tom spoke with veteran Bob Hucklesby about his experiences serving in Singapore and his subsequent internment by the Japanese (p.28). Elsewhere he also takes a look at the exploits of Bertrand du Guesclin (p.86) MIKE HASKEW For this issue’s Operator’s Handbook, Mike takes a look at the understated Renault Char D1 NC27. This prototype light tank was acquired by Sweden in the 1920s and is now on display at the Arsenalen Tank Museum (p.58). DAVID SMITH America and Britain may be close allies today, but two centuries ago they were locked in the vicious War of 1812. Over on page 64, David explores events leading up to the infamous burning of Washington, DC and the White House.…

“IN FEBRUARY 1512, DE FOIX DEFEATED A VENETIAN ARMY AT ISOLA DELLA SCALA AND THEN STORMED BRESCIA” CHARLES V THE EMPEROR WAS DESCRIBED AS AN ‘IRON HAND IN A VELVET GLOVE’ YEARS: 1500-58 COUNTRY: HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, SPANISH EMPIRE AND HABSBURG NETHERLANDS Born in Ghent, Charles’s Habsburg ancestry meant that he was heir to a huge dynastic inheritance. From 1519, he was the Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain (including the vast Spanish colonies in the Americas), Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and Lord of the Netherlands. These huge personal dominions meant that Europe was almost on the brink of a universal monarchy and Charles’s imperial title meant that he was the king of Germany and much of northern Italy too. The emperor’s powerful position in the peninsula meant…

“THE JAPANESE CAPTURE THE MAIN BRITISH AMMUNITION DUMP AT ALEXANDRA BARRACKS BEFORE ENTERING THE NEARBY MILITARY HOSPITAL. THEY MURDER HUNDREDS OF WOUNDED PATIENTS AND STAFF” 8-9 FEBRUARY BATTLE OF SARIMBUN BEACH Two Japanese divisions land in north-west Singapore with Australian machine gunners firing on the invaders. The 22nd Brigade takes the brunt of the attack from the Japanese and they are forced to withdraw. 11 FEBRUARY THE JAPANESE ADVANCE The Japanese 5th Division attacks British, Indian and Chinese troops along the Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Timah roads and forces them to retreat further inland. 7-8 FEBRUARY A DECEPTIVE MANOEUVRE The Imperial Japanese Guards Division carry out a feint to the north east of the island while shelling increases. Percival does not change his thinly spread positions despite the feint.…

Accompanying Napoleon to Egypt was a small group of 167 scientists, engineers, architects, mapmakers and other scholars known as savants. Their mission was to survey the country and catalogue its many monuments. A good number of the savants were highly respected members of France’s National Institute. These included the physicist Gaspard Monge; the mathematician Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier; and the artist Vivant Denon, whose book of drawings, Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt, would become a bestseller in Europe when published in 1802. Denon, through his illustrations, more than anyone else, was responsible bringing ancient Egyptian civilisation into vogue in the West. The savants as a whole would, after the expedition, produce The Description of Egypt, published in nine volumes between 1809 and 1822. The Description of Egypt is in some…

“IF YOU’VE EVER THOUGHT THE FRENCH ARE A BIT PRICKLY WITH THE BRITISH, AND WONDERED WHY, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU” Author: RT Howard Publisher: Biteback Publishing Price: £ 20 Released: Out now As the editor of an international magazine focusing on intelligence issues, you would expect the author of this book to offer illuminating insights into the murky political background into France’s relationship with the rest of the world. RT Howard does not disappoint. Power And Glory is able to raise an eyebrow – sometimes both – on every page, with an enthralling combination of deep knowledge, impeccable research and first-rate writing skills. If you’ve ever thought the French are a bit prickly with the British, and wondered why, this is the book for you. It lays out…

“THIS LONG-OVERDUE BOOK COVERS THE VIKING INVASIONS THAT FIRST CRIPPLED AND THEN ENDED THE REIGN OF ENGLAND’S WORST KING EVER, ÆTHELRED” Author: WB Bartlett Publisher: Amberley Price: £20 Released: Out now Ask the man in the street how many times England has been successfully invaded and he’ll reply, “Twice. The Romans and the Normans.” Ask a historian, particularly one specialising in constitutional history, and he’ll add a third: William and Mary’s invasion in 1688. They’re all wrong. There have been at least five successful invasions of England. These three, plus the Anglo-Saxons slowly carving an England separate from Britain and then, 50 years before the one date in English history everyone knows, the Vikings finally succeeded in what they’d been trying to do for the previous 150 years. This long-overdue…

After suffering a terrible defeat at the Battle of Bicocca in 1522, King Francis I of France found safety in the territory of his ally, Venice. He formed new plans to maintain his holdings in Italy but suffered further setbacks in 1523 with the loss of Genoa and his possessions around Milan. The Venetians, seeing Francis struggling, took this opportunity to make a separate peace with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Once back in France, the king raised another army to invade Italy, but the treason of the Constable Bourbon forced him to remain behind to quell possible uprisings. In 1524, his army, under the command of another, was crushed. In October 1524, Francis tried again. He marched another army through the Alps intending to seize Milan, which was taken…

“THE IDEA THAT SINGAPORE WAS AN ‘ISLAND FORTRESS’ WAS FALSE, – ONLY THE SOUTH WAS HEAVILY DEFENDED – BUT IT WAS AN ILLUSION THAT EVERYONE BELIEVED” On 11 February 1942, American journalist Yates McDaniel wrote a final report to his newspaper from a formerly grand outpost in the Far East: “The sky over Singapore is black with the smoke of a dozen huge fires this morning as I write my last message from this once beautiful, prosperous and peaceful city. The roar and crash of cannonade and the bursting bombs that are shaking my typewriter and my hands, which are wet with perspiration, tell me that the war that started nine weeks ago, 645 kilometres away, is today in the outskirts of this shaken bastion of empire.” McDaniel would escape…

 The Imperial Government fell in the February Revolution and was followed by a period of awkward power-sharing between the Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviets before the October Revolution ended Russia’s brief flirtation with democracy, installing the world’s first Communist dictatorship. The Provisional Government’s determination to honour its treaty obligations and continue fighting the Allies’ war guaranteed its downfall. As the Bolsheviks promised peace, they gained popularity as the only opposition party promising no compromise. “THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT’S DETERMINATION TO HONOUR ITS TREATY OBLIGATIONS AND CONTINUE FIGHTING THE ALLIES’ WAR GUARANTEED ITS DOWNFALL” The Russian army continued functioning between the revolutions, illustrated by the July Offensive and resistance to Germany’s Riga Offensive. Russia fought the Turks too, with an advance in Western Persia in March 1917. The Soviets were increasingly influential,…

Britain’s diversionary raids on the American east coast, designed to take the pressure off the defensive forces in Canada, provided an opportunity for slaves in the area to escape and build new lives. The view of slaves at the time was that they were docile and happy enough in their state of captivity. While it is true that the Maryland and Virginia slaves were on the whole better treated than their southern counterparts, the idea that they were happy being slaves was obviously mistaken and this was placed beyond doubt when British forces started to arrive in the region in early 1813. Although incitement of the slave population was firmly prohibited by orders from home, the British commanders, Admiral John Borlase Warren and Colonel Sir Thomas Sydney Beckwith, did have…

1860 A civil war between the Maronite Christians and the Druze compels France to intervene and impose a tenuous peace. 6,000 French soldiers arrive and remain for less than a year. 1916 The signing of the Sykes-Picot Agreement on 16 April divides the Arab Middle East into spheres of influence. The territory of Lebanon and Syria are ceded to the French Mandate on 25 April 1920. 1943 The Lebanese Republic gains full independence when the French Mandate expires on 22 November. The Christian-majority state is the only one of its kind in the Middle East. 1958 Exactly ten years after Israel gained its independence, Lebanon collapses into a brief civil war. The quick intervention of a multinational peacekeeping force averts further violence. 1970 A major Palestinian uprising in Jordan, known…

“REWARDS WERE OFFERED AT SIEGES TO ENSURE A QUICK SURRENDER AND DU GUESCLIN ALWAYS MADE A POINT OF KEEPING HIS WORD” Du Guesclin was one of the most famous Medieval implementers of an unorthodox but effective method of campaigning: the Fabian strategy. The strategy’s approach involves one side avoiding large, pitched battles in favour of smaller actions that wear down the enemy’s will to fight through attrition. It is a difficult approach to warfare, as frequent retreats and less obvious signs of victory can be demoralising. It also requires favourable lengths of time and a strong will from both soldiers and politicians. During the Hundred Years’ War, Charles V and his constable used their combined talents and France’s great size to carry out a successful Fabian strategy between 1370-80. Du…

THE LUFTWAFFE IN COLOUR: THE VICTORY YEARS, 1939-1942 CHRISTOPHE CONY, JEAN-LOUIS ROBA There’s no shortage of colourised images from World War II. Some are good, transporting us to those dark days of world history, others are over-saturated and cartoonish, diminishing the raw realism of the unadulterated photograph on which they are based. It’s sometimes easy to forget that genuine colour images from the period do exist. The Luftwaffe In Colour collects 300 such pictures from magazines and private collections, which together tell the story of the evolution of one of the world’s most feared air forces, from its pre-war incarnation as a training organisation to the height of its success during the middle years of the conflict. GREAT BRITISH ECCENTRICS SD TUCKER An inclination towards eccentricity has, for a long…

Author: Michael S Neiberg Publisher: Oxford University Press Price: £20 Released: Out now At the dawn of the 20th century, the United States was a power hiding behind oceans. In the first decades of the 21st century it is the world’s only hyperpower, able to project its military and cultural influence to every corner of the world. This fascinating book – at least, it’s fascinating for those with an interest in the political and sociological history of America – tells how America made the decisive turn towards engagement with the outside world. It may be hard to realise now, but through most of its history, isolationism has been the strongest strand to America’s foreign policy. Its founders and first generations of immigrants crossed the sea to escape the wars and…

Author: Tapio Saarelainen Publisher: Casemate Price: £19.95 Released: Out now The story of Simo Häyhä is a remarkable one. Selected as a sniper during the Winter War of 1939-1940, thanks to his proficiency as a marksman, he killed 542 Soviet soldiers in a little less than 100 days, making him the most prolific sniper in history. The author, himself a sniper in the Finnish army, ought to have had a special affinity with his subject and much is made of his ability to engage Häyhä in interviews where previous biographers have failed. Sadly, Saarelainen does not make the most of this precious access and the result is a rather sterile presentation of the facts of Häyhä’s life. Awkwardly arranged, the book is plagued by sub-headings, making it difficult to get…

“THE SCENE DEPICTED ON THE HELMET’S SIDE IS A MYTH FROM ANCIENT ROME, WHICH BEARS GREAT SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF THE ELECTOR’S GUARD” Most commonly associated with the Spanish conquistadores, this distinctive Morion style of light helmet was popular all over Europe during the Renaissance period and is recognisable for its broad crest, or comb, spanning along the top. The open design allowed the wearer far more visibility than earlier Medieval helmets and was in-step with the more flexible, mobile use of cavalry in Renaissance warfare. The helmet was most commonly worn by light cavalrymen, but was also featured as a part of more ceremonial uniforms. This particular helmet was worn by a personal bodyguard of the Electors of Saxony, and is dated to the mid-to-late 16th century.…