Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 42 i History of War

“ALTHOUGH THE ARMIES WERE ALMOST EVENLY MATCHED, AFGHAN CASUALTIES NUMBERED 2,500 COMPARED WITH 248 BRITISH” March 1839-1842 FIRST ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR The British entered Afghanistan ostensibly to intervene in a succession dispute between two competing rulers for the Afghan throne, but also to diminish Russian influence over the country. 23 July 1839 BATTLE OF GHAZNI Lieutenant General Sir John Keane leads imperial Bombay and Bengal armies to successfully capture the Afghan city of Ghazni (Ghuznee). It is a victorious beginning to a disastrous war. 6-13 January 1842 RETREAT FROM KABUL On 6 January 1842, 4,500 British and Indian soldiers plus 12,000 camp followers march out of Kabul, but most are killed by bands of Afghan fighters before they reach the safe outpost at Jalalabad. 1878-1880 SECOND ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR In…

“THE BRITISH AND INDIAN PRESS POINTED THEIR FINGERS AT BURROWS AND HIS LACK OF ACTIVE SERVICE EXPERIENCE, RATHER THAN THE TROOPS THEMSELVES” Fought on 27 July 1880 during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the Battle of Maiwand was an embarrassing defeat for the British Army. The action claimed, according to estimates at the time, 1,109 British and Indian casualties, of which 969 were killed. It saw the loss of the Queen’s and Regimental Colours of the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment, which, coupled with the loss of the Colours of the 2/24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment at the Battle of Isandlwana the previous year, it is said, resulted in the decision for Colours to never be taken on the field again. But why did a well-trained Anglo-Indian force get defeated by an army of…

“THE OPERATION SUFFERED FROM THE PROXIMITY OF LARGE NUMBERS OF ENEMY TROOPS AND AT DAWN ON JULY 3 THE CAMP WAS OVERRUN WITH THE GERMANS CAPTURING 31 SAS SOLDIERS, ALL OF WHOM WERE EXECUTED” “ ORDERED TO SPREAD ‘ALARM AND DESPONDENCY’ AMONG THE GERMANS, THEY DID JUST THAT. IN ONE ATTACK ON 25 AUGUST, THEY AMBUSHED A GERMAN CONVOY WITH A HUGE ROADSIDE BOMB BEFORE MOPPING UP THE SURVIVORS WITH SMALL-ARMS FIRE” OPERATION COONEY A French SAS operation that entailed inserting 18 small sabotage teams by parachute, Cooney’s aim was to isolate Brittany by cutting its railway lines within 48 hours. The mission began on 8 June and forced a battlegroup of the German 275th Division heading towards the beachhead to abandon the railway and take to the road, arriving…

“SOME VILLAGERS IN THE VOSGES CONSIDERED THEMSELVES FRENCH, BUT OTHERS HAD GERMAN BLOOD, AND WERE ONLYTOO WILLING TO PASS ON INFORMATION TO THE NAZIS” With Operation Wallace having run its course, Roy Farran had hoped to lead his men east to link up with another 2SAS mission, codenamed Loyton. But word reached him that the Nazis, determined to stop the Third Army advance towards Germany, had brought in reinforcements who were well dug-in along the east bank of the Moselle River. Additionally, the Americans, in their dash across France, had stretched their supply line to breaking point. Instead Farran led his squadron to Paris to enjoy a week’s leave in the French capital. The men on Operation Loyton, meanwhile, were involved in a deadly game of cat and mouse with…

 “More and more shells are smashing into our trench and because of that I am surprised that I can hear the sound of rifle fire and the tack-tack-tack sound of machine guns. That can’t be in our place! In that moment a sentry in front of us shouts: ‘They are coming’. We jump out of our hole and race towards the parapet. There is no enemy in front of us, but there on the other side, wave after wave is streaming out of the village of Flers. They advance as if on parade and seem to ignore the storm of iron that our batteries unleash upon them. So far, they don’t seem to be receiving any defensive fire from the front. This is going too far, with our sights set…

“IT WOULD BE IMMORTALISED FOREVER AS THE BIRTHPLACE OF A NATION, THANKS TO THE STUNNING ADVANCE OF THE CANADIAN CORPS AND THEIR SUCCESSFUL CAPTURE OF ONE OF THE MOST DAUNTING PIECES OF HIGH GROUND ON THE WESTERN FRONT” ARTOIS APRIL–MAY 1917 Easter Monday, Arras, north-east France, 9 April 1917. After months of relative quiet during the cold winter of 1916-17, the British Army announced the return to the offensive with an artillery bombardment of nearly 2.7 million shells, focused on an area only 24 kilometres long. The operation was intended to be a feint, nothing more. Its objective was to pull German defences away from the river Aisne where the real fight, the Nivelle Offensive, would begin a week later. British commanders, right up to Douglas Haig, commander-in-chief of the…

“THE KING NOT ONLY HONOURS NGARIMU HIMSELF, BUT THROUGH HIM, HIS BATTALION AND HIS COUNTRY. NO WORDS OF MINE CAN ADEQUATELY EXPRESS MY ADMIRATION FOR HIS COURAGE” – Sir Cyril Newall, Governor General of New Zealand “WE ARE PARTICIPANTS IN A GREAT COMMONWEALTH, TO THE DEFENCE OF WHICH WE CANNOT HESITATE TO CONTRIBUTE OUR BLOOD AND OUR LIVES. WE ARE OF ONE HOUSE” – Maori MP, Sir Apirana Ngata Although New Zealand is a small, isolated country in the south-western Pacific Ocean it played a disproportionately large part during WWII. In 1940, the country’s population was only around 1,600,000, but nonetheless around 140,000 New Zealanders served in the Allied armed forces. Among them were 16,000 Maoris of whom 20 percent served in the 28th (Maori) Battalion. Consisting of between…

“FOR FIVE MONTHS THE GARRISON HOLDS OUT DESPITE POOR DEFENCES AND AFGHAN ATTACKS” “128 YEARS LATER, BRITISH SOLDIERS SERVING IN HELMAND DISCOVER THEIR VICTORIAN PREDECESSORS' MARTINI-HENRY RIFLES THAT WERE DISCARDED AFTER THE BATTLE” 1 SIEGE OF JALALABAD 12 NOVEMBER 1841 – 13 APRIL 1842 JALALABAD, AFGHANISTAN This successful British defence slightly restores imperial honour after the disasters of Kabul and the subsequent retreat. For five months the garrison holds out despite poor defences and Afghan attacks 2 KABUL EXPEDITION AUGUST-OCTOBER 1842 KABUL, AFGHANISTAN An Anglo-Indian ‘Army of Retribution’ takes revenge against the Afghans for the massacres of early 1842. In areas known to have had a part in the killings of imperial troops, whole populations are slaughtered and villages destroyed. 3 BATTLE OF ALI MASJID 21 NOVEMBER 1878 WESTERN…

“ AFGHAN TRIBESMEN REPEATEDLY ATTACKED THE BRITISH AND DEPRIVED THEM OF SUPPLIES” THE IMPERIAL GARRISON LEAVES THE CITY KABUL On 6 January 1842, the Anglo-Indian garrison of 4,500 soldiers (including fewer than 700 British troops) leaves Kabul along with 12,000 women, children, camp followers and servants. They are promised safe conduct by the Afghans on the condition that most of the British artillery is surrendered and hostages taken. A BROKEN PROMISE OUTSIDE KABUL The retreating column is attacked the moment it leaves the Kabul cantonments. The army manages to march six miles on the first day, but the night is spent without tents or cover and many die of the cold. BRIGADIER-GENERAL SHELTON COUNTERATTACKS BYGRAM The march resumes on 7 January. In the face of continued attacks, Elphinstone’s deputy, Brigadier…

“BILL STIRLING WAS AGHAST WHEN HE READ THE OPERATIONAL INSTRUCTIONS. IT WAS A SUICIDE MISSION, AND A TYPE OF WARFARE FOR WHICH THE SAS WAS NOT TRAINED” When David Stirling was granted permission to expand the SAS in September 1942, he appointed his brother, Bill, as commanding officer of the second regiment. Bill was the eldest of five children, and David’s senior by four years. The siblings shared a similar military background (Scots Guards and commandos) but differed in personality. One wartime SAS officer who knew them both, Anthony Greville-Bell, recalled: “I was very fond of Bill. He was a very deep, intelligent and well-read man. Bill was cleverer than David. [He] was more charismatic and more physical, the younger brother, and was outwardly very good at dealing with higher-ups…

The officer who replaced Bill Stirling as commanding officer of 2SAS was lieutenant colonel Brian Franks. Charming and debonair, he nonetheless grew increasingly frustrated as the summer of 1944 wore on at the lack of opportunities for his regiment. A couple of missions were aborted at the last minute because of concerns about the operational area, and when the first parties did insert in August, they were soon overrun by the American Third Army, now on its dash east across France. So when Major Roy Farran and 60 men of C Squadron, 2SAS, disembarked from their Dakotas at Rennes airfield in 20 jeeps, they were determined to waste no time in taking the fight to the Germans. It was August 19 when they motored away from Rennes towards Auxerre on…

The 15 September 1916 began as a cool, foggy autumn morning. In the region of Picardie, thick mist covered the rolling hills, forests, lakes and villages. Temperatures were low, only about six degrees, but were forecast to rise to a warmer 15 over the course of the day. Since June, one of the most terrible battles in human history had been raging along a 40 kilometre-wide stretch of the front in the area of the River Somme. For weeks Allied troops had been locked into a bloody attritional battle with German defenders. Millions of artillery shells had turned the once beautiful landscape into something that resembled the surface of the Moon, countless men had died, yet neither side had achieved ultimate success. On this morning, a Friday, German troops prepared…

“THE PLA WAS ARMED TO THE TEETH WITH SOVIET, JAPANESE AND CAPTURED AMERICAN ARMS. ITS TROOPS WERE HIGHLY MOTIVATED AND POSSESSED SUPERB DISCIPLINE” Emerging victorious after the greatest civil war in history, Mao Zedong and his commanders set about assembling a new China they hoped would become a global power. The complicit Soviets had bequeathed Manchuria and a great swathe of Mongolia to the newly created People’s Republic in 1949 and there were further promises of generous economic assistance from Stalin. To the east, in North Korea, a former Soviet commando named Kim Il-sung was laying the groundwork for a different brand of despotic nation building. These sudden changes in the most populous corner of the world meant, for the first time ever, the Eurasian landmass was dominated by the…

“THE PISTOL WAS DESIGNED FOR CLOSE-RANGE KILLING.IT WAS OFTEN HIDDEN IN TOOTHPASTE TUBES OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS FOR CONCEALED TRANSPORT” RS-6 RADIO Used in the early days of SF Berlin, the RS-6 was a compact, high-frequency ‘agent radio’ set that could be hidden and transported relatively easily. Developed by the CIA and pushing ten watts of power, an operator could send Morse code messages over long distances of 3,000 kilometres or more. The set consisted of four pieces: a receiver, transmitter, power source and power filter. STINGER Developed by the Military Armaments Corporation (MAC) to a CIA request in the 1960s, the .22 calibre Stinger was a lethal weapon designed for covert operations. With only one shot immediately and inaccurate beyond about one foot, the pistol was designed for close-range killing.…

“MODIFICATIONS TO THE FLIGHT STABILITY AND THE MI-24’S WEAPONS RESULTED IN A REMARKABLY AGILE AND MENACING HELICOPTER” Wherever the Soviet Union and its proxies sought to exert their influence through military means during the Cold War, the Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter provided the muscle to support the Red Army and its allies. Since its deployment in the early 1970s, the formidable aircraft, code-named ‘Hind’ in NATO parlance, continues to serve as the flying fist of tactical air forces in dozens of countries. Soviet military observers watched with interest as the United States became embroiled in the Vietnam War during the 1960s, and one of their far-reaching conclusions related to the use of American helicopter gunships and airmobile transportation of troops. Soviet designers sought to combine mobile firepower and troop transport…

INTO THE VALLEY OF TEARS Taken: c. 1973 A Centurion tank rushes into action during the Yom Kippur War, which saw an Arab coalition attack Israeli forces, mainly in the Sinai Peninsula bordering Egypt and The Golan Heights bordering Syria. One of the critical and most devastating battles during the war occurred in the Golan Heights area, where hundreds of Syrian tanks were destroyed by outnumbered Israeli defenders. SPECIAL HEIR SERVICE Taken: c. March, 1983 Prince Charles and Princess Diana pose with B Squadron, 22 SAS Regiment, after exercises designed to prepare the royal couple for hostage rescue scenarios. During the training, which included live ammunition, the Princess’s hair was reportedly set alight by the stray ember of a detonating flash-bang grenade. URGENT EVAC Taken: c.1966 American Marines recover the…

“ONCE THE LAST OF THE RESISTANCE HAD BEEN OVERCOME, THE SAS VANISHED INTO THE FORESTS, LEAVING BEHIND A SCENE OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION” The first major mission into Occupied France was code-named Houndsworth, and involved A Squadron. Their task was to cut the railway lines between Lyon and Paris, train the numerous local groups of Maquis and generally make nuisances of themselves. The boys in A Squadron considered themselves a cut above the rest of the SAS brigade. They were veterans of the desert, a few – like Johnny Cooper, Jeff Du Vivier, Reg Seekings and their commanding officer, Bill Fraser – were even ‘Originals’, among the 66 men recruited by David Stirling in 1941. But it was one of the recent additions to the squadron, Captain Ian Wellsted, who…

WHEN AND HOW DID YOU JOIN THE SAS? In 1943, my battalion was posted to the Orkney Islands to guard against German raiding parties. Nothing happened and eventually in January 1944 the battalion was disbanded. We were given the choice of joining the Commandos, Parachute Regiment or the SAS; I chose the SAS, nor really knowing what they did. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? I was interviewed by the commanding officer, who was Paddy Mayne, and once accepted, I was ordered to Darvel in Scotland where 1SAS was based. I later found out that I was one of only 30 from 300 to be chosen by Mayne. By the time we’d finished the parachute training at Ringway, the number was down to about 15 men. CAN YOU DESCRIBE SOME OF THE SAS…

“A DEDICATED ARMOUR-PIERCING SHELL FOR ANTITANK USE WAS INTRODUCED IN MID 1917” BARREL The close-combat gun could fire the same 7.7cm of all types. A dedicated armour-piercing shell for anti-tank use was introduced in mid 1917. AXLE Along with the other modifications, the axle seats of the standard Feldkanone have been removed to lose unnecessary weight. With a weight of 900 kilos, the gun was still too heavy to be easily manhandled in the field. WHEELS AND GUN SHIELD Wheels have been reduced in diameter and the lower gun-shield has been cut off to give a the gun a much lower silhouette than that of the standard Feldkanone.…

In May 1595 an English army marched through the province of Ulster to resupply a besieged garrison at Monaghan Castle. Irish rebels had been investing the castle and the rumour was that their commander was a Gaelic lord who was supposedly an English ally: Hugh O’Neill, second Earl of Tyrone. On 25 May, Tyrone rode up to the English camp with a small troop of horsemen. When a knight went to parlay with Tyrone, the Earl apparently stated that by 10am the next morning, “it should be seen whether the queen or they should be masters of the field and owners of Ulster.” The ‘queen’ was ‘Gloriana’ herself, Elizabeth I of England, and ‘they’ were the Irish rebels who Tyrone had suddenly declared himself the leader of. Over the next…

 Imagine you are walking down a Berlin street in winter, pummelled by a icy wind off the frozen steppes of Russia. It’s late and you’ve been walking for hours, constantly checking to ensure you are ‘clean’. You have seen nothing unusual and are minutes from passing a package of contraband to someone who needs it now. Stress is high and your heart is racing. A car stops behind you. Two men get out and start to walk in the your direction. The car rolls past and turns the corner – the same direction you were going. You see more men further to your front. At the corner, you see the car – stopped. What now? “‘HOURS AND HOURS OF BOREDOM, PUNCTUATED WITH MOMENTS OF EXTREME TERROR’ IS APT FOR THESE…

Two years after the death of its principal advocate, aircraft designer Mikhail Mil, the Mi-24 attack helicopter entered service with the Soviet military in 1972. More than 2,300 are believed to have been built. In addition to those serving today with Russian forces, the Mi-24 remains a staple of air support capabilities in at least 30 other countries. The robust Mi-24 demonstrated surprising speed in the mid-1970s when a modified B variant named A-10 set speed records for helicopters, reaching 386.4 kilometres per hour. At the same time, the Mi-24 was girded for war and became a familiar sight with the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact nations and Soviet client states around the world. The first use of the Mi-24 in combat occurred with Ethiopian forces in the Ogaden…