Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 55 i History of War

After the success of the D-Day landings, the Allies still had a long way to go to liberate France. Among the forces standing in their way were several SS Panzer Divisions – some of the most fanatical and feared units defending the Third Reich. Understrength, poorly supplied and in many cases inexperienced in combat, these divisions nonetheless put up a tremendous defence, as British, Canadian and American forces pressed forward with the Allied invasion. However, their brave conduct displayed during the bitter battle for Normandy is tainted by a number of brutal atrocities committed by SS soldiers. These horrific crimes beyond the battlefield are a reminder of the inhumanity warfare can foster.…

“THE REGIMENT RECEIVES BATTLE HONOURS AS WELL AS TWO FOREIGN CITATIONS – FROM THE UNITED STATES AND SOUTH VIETNAM” 1948-49 FORMATION After World War II, the small regular Australian Army is established, and a new volunteer brigade is deployed to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan in 1948. The three battalions of this brigade are then designated as the ‘Royal Australian Regiment’ on 10 March 1949. 1950-53 KOREAN WAR Korea is the first real test of the RAR. All three of its battalions serve during the war and the Third Battalion (3 RAR) receives the US Presidential Unit Citation for halting a Chinese breakthrough at the Battle of Kapyong. 1955-66 MALAYA AND BORNEO The RAR participates in the Malayan Emergency and then the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation in Borneo, fighting communist…

Initially formed as one of three original battalions in the Royal Australian Regiment, 3 RAR began its life as the 67th Battalion in the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan in 1945. The battalion’s proud service record includes deployments to Japan, Korea, Malaya, Borneo, South Vietnam, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, Iraq and Afghanistan. Of these deployments, 3 RAR has received six battle honours, for actions at Yongju, Chongju, Uijeongbu, Kapyong, Maryang San and Coral-Balmoral. The majority of these battles were fought during the Korean War, and 3 RAR has the distinction of being the only battalion in the regiment to have received a US Presidential Unit Citation. The battalion’s most recent deployment was serving in Afghanistan in 2012 to train the Fourth Brigade, 205th Corps in the Afghan National…

 SS troops in Normandy were responsible for several atrocities committed after the Allied landings on 6 June 1944. The 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend is believed to be guilty of killing up to 156 Canadian prisoners early in the Normandy campaign. On 7 June soldiers under Colonel Kurt Meyer shot 11 Canadians in the back of the head at the Abbey d’Ardenne. Seven more were murdered the next day. They executed 45 Canadian prisoners at the Chateau d’Audrieu on 8 June. “WOMEN AND CHILDREN WERE LOCKED IN THE VILLAGE CHURCH, WHICH WAS TORCHED. THOSE WHO TRIED TO ESCAPE WERE SHOT. ONE WOMAN SURVIVED” The journey of the Second SS Division Das Reich to Normandy from Toulouse led to the infamous murder of 642 men, women and children at Oradour-sur-Glane. Troops…

The Great War left millions of dead and injured in its wake, but also irreversibly changed the culture of European society. Experiences of the war, and its impact during the years following the Armistice, were captured with the brushes and pencils of many notable artists, who depicted the changed world around them. Aftermath: Art In The Wake Of World War One is a new exhibition at Tate Britain, London, which brings together over 150 works spanning from 1916-1932. The exhibition includes pieces from British, French and German artists, dealing with themes of war, acts of remembrance and the new post-war world in all three nations. As well as sculptures and other memorials commissioned to officially commemorate the great sacrifice of the war, artworks have also been chosen that depict the…

Author: Bernard Wilkin and René Wilkin Publisher: Pen & Sword Military Price: £19.99 Released: Out now The experience of the common soldier has been of particular interest to historians since the ‘new military history’ movement of the 1970s. Previously, history had focused mainly on the generals and other high-ranking officers, while the mass of the army was treated more or less as a single entity that either attacked or retreated depending on its orders. The new perspectives offered insight into the experience of the soldiers themselves, and was as much concerned with the psychological impact of warfare, and the effect on society as a whole, as it was with the drums and trumpets of the traditional battle narrative. A greater understanding of the men in the ranks allows for a…

If ever there were a tale to substantiate the platitude of ‘courage in the face of extraordinary odds’, that would be the wartime adventures of Lieutenant Alastair Cram, a testament to one man’s dogged determination never to give up. The story of Cram’s escapes from enemy captivity in World War II reads like a John Buchan novel. Cram was first taken prisoner in North Africa in 1941, and as author David M. Guss reveals in his entertaining and thoroughly researched book, this began a long odyssey through ten different POW camps and three Gestapo prisons. Cram effectively became a serial escapist á la Houdini, with the difference of putting his life on the line each time he broke free. He fled his captors an extraordinary 21 times, including his last…

TOM GARNER This month Tom had the honour of speaking with Lord Bramall, KG, GCB, OBE, MC. The former chief of the defence staff and field marshal reflects on his military career, and his thoughts on the future of the armed forces (p. 34). MARIANNA BUKOWSKI Marianna is a documentary filmmaker, producer and editor. Her short film, Portrait of a Soldier, tells the story of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. On page 54, she uncovers the heroism and tragedies in the fight to liberate Poland’s capital. DAVID SMITH This month David explores the iconic battlefield of Friedland, which saw one of Napoleon’s greatest victories and sealed the fate of the Fourth Coalition. Follow each stage of this crucial battle, blow by blow, starting over on page 46.…

DANIEL KEIGHRAN THE FIRST MEMBER OF THE RAR TO BE AWARDED THE VC 1983- CORPORAL Although Mark Donaldson and Benjamin Roberts-Smith are both former RAR personnel who have subsequently won the Victoria Cross, Daniel Keighran is the first VC recipient to receive the award while serving in the regiment. Keighran joined the Australian Army on 5 December 2000 and was posted to 6 RAR after his initial training. Between 2001-06 Keighran was deployed to Malaysia, Timor-Leste and Iraq, before eventually serving in Afghanistan between 2007-10. It was during his second Afghanistan deployment that Keighran (by then a corporal) was awarded the Victoria Cross. On 24 August 2010 Keighran was part of a combined Afghan-Australian fighting patrol that engaged a numerically superior force of Taliban insurgents, in an encounter that later…

“FORMED IN THE 1920S AS HITLER’S PERSONAL BODYGUARD, THE LEIBSTANDARTE GREW TO REGIMENTAL AND DIVISIONAL STRENGTH” 12TH SS PANZER DIVISION HITLERJUGEND 21,300 TROOPS; 229 TANKS AND SELF-PROPELLED ASSAULT GUNS In early 1943 the nucleus of the 12th SS Panzer Division was formed around a cadre from the First SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. The emphasis was on recruiting young men of the Hitler Youth. After months of training in Belgium, the division was transferred to the vicinity of Caen in Normandy in the spring of 1944. Although it had yet to see actual combat, the division soon gained a reputation for brutality. After participating in the Ardennes Offensive and fighting in Hungary, it surrendered in Austria. 17TH SS PANZERGRENADIER DIVISION GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN 17,321 TROOPS; 88 TANKS AND SELF-PROPELLED ASSAULT…

“I JOINED THE HOME GUARD AT 17 WHEN THERE WAS STILL SOME THREAT OF INVASION AND THEN I JOINED THE ARMY IN THE RANKS AS AN ORDINARY SOLDIER IMMEDIATELY AFTER I LEFT SCHOOL WHEN I WAS 18” Over a prestigious 75-year career, Lord Edwin Bramall has served at nearly every level of the British military. As a young officer he took part in the Allied invasion of Normandy, while much later he would play a very different role in another invasion – helping to mastermind the San Carlos landings in the Falklands War, 1982. There is little wonder then that he is considered one of the country’s foremost military thinkers, both at the strategic and tactical levels. After WWII, he went on to serve his country during several further conflicts,…

The defeat of a combined Russian-Austrian army at Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 signalled the collapse of the Third Coalition and also marked the high point of Napoleon’s career. After the stunning success, coming hot on the heels of the surrender of an Austrian army on 17 October, Napoleon appeared unstoppable. In retrospect, it is possible to see that his army reached its peak in 1805 and would soon begin an inexorable decline as the demands of near-constant campaigning took their toll. Certainly Napoleon’s enemies were not about to give up. The Third Coalition was finished, but the British and Russians remained at war with France. Napoleon made efforts to bring a conclusion to the seemingly endless string of wars, putting out feelers to Britain and Russia and attempting to…

 This is the story of a gun. But not just any gun – this particular gun happened to be the most deadly and successful artillery piece in the Wehrmacht arsenal in World War II. “MCNAB’S BOOK IS PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH SKETCHES OF THE WEAPON IN ALL ITS PHASES OF DEVELOPMENT, GIVING CREDENCE TO THE SUBTITLE OF OWNERS’ WORKSHOP MANUAL” As Chris McNab points out in his book detailing the history of the notorious Flak 88, it is actually quite rare that an artillery weapon gains a high level of notoriety or public awareness. Big Bertha, the super-heavy siege artillery, developed by the German armaments manufacturer Krupp, became a household name in Britain during and after World War I. Much later, Saddam Hussein’s so-called ‘Supergun’, one of the most audacious pieces…

“ROMAN RIDGE HELMETS WERE NOTICEABLY DIFFERENT IN DESIGN TO THE GALEA, WITH A VAULTED SKULL, A SMALLER NECK GUARD, AN ADDED NOSE GUARD AND CURVED CHEEK GUARDS” The distinctive helmets of Roman soldiers were an iconic symbol of imperial might. Along with other pieces of heavy armour, a helmet was a mainstay of Roman soldiers’ personal defence, and its design gave it a formidable, unyielding appearance. By the 4th century CE, the Roman Empire was undergoing significant change and imperial military fashion was still evolving. The Etruscans, who were the early Romans’ neighbours in Italy, influenced the traditional ‘Galea’ helmet. Over time, other influences crept in from further afield, including the Sassanid Empire. The Sassanids heavily influenced the design of what became known as the ‘ridge helmet’ of the late…

“IN MANY WAYS AUSTRALIA’S VIETNAM EXPERIENCE WAS A REFLECTIVE MICROCOSM OF THE USA’S” “THE ARRIVAL OF THE TASK FORCE INEVITABLY EXPOSED AUSTRALIAN TROOPS TO HEAVY COMBAT, AND THE RAR IN PARTICULAR FOUGHT INTENSE BATTLES” For the United States, the Vietnam War was a humiliating disaster that broke its military aura of invincibility and cost many lives. It is often assumed that the USA fought alone to support South Vietnam against North Vietnamese forces, but the Americans received significant support from regional allies, including Australia and New Zealand. The Australian contribution was significant, and between 1962-73 almost 60,000 members of its armed forces served in Vietnam, which included ground troops as well as air and naval personnel. 521 Australians were killed and over 3,000 more were wounded during the war.…

A BOLD AND SUCCESSFUL SOLDIER, WAS ALSO A CONVICTED WAR CRIMINAL Some accounts assert that Kurt ‘Panzer’ Meyer earned his nickname because of aggressive battlefield conduct, others relate that he fell off a roof while a police cadet, breaking 18 bones, and his friends thereafter called him ‘Panzer’ because he was tough like a tank. Born to a lower-class family on 23 December 1910, Meyer joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and the SS a year later, eventually rising to the rank of major general. With the outbreak of the war, Meyer was with the First SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, serving in the Polish campaign and receiving the Iron Cross, Second Class. He earned the Iron Cross, First Class, fighting in France and the Knight’s Cross in Greece.…

“Montgomery has rather fallen out with historians, and I think that is because historians wanted a sensational thing to [sell]… whereas I think early on Montgomery was in the hall of fame. Montgomery wasn’t a very nice chap either, he was his own worst enemy, but he was an admirable professional. “What he did well was to put confidence back into the army, which it completely lacked, and that was what was needed, and only a chap like him, who was ruthlessly professional – whereas many of the generals were a bit amateurish – could do it. “SOME OF THE THINGS THAT THEY ARE DOING, LIKE SAILING A SHIP DOWN NEAR THE EAST ANGLIAN COAST, OR THREATENING TO CUT CABLES… [PUTIN] FEELS STRONG ENOUGH TO DO THESE SORT OF THINGS,…

In Poland the subject of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 is seen from many different perspectives and, like all battles, has its own specific circumstances: military, political, social and – seen from Poland’s history of uprisings – cultural. Yet, while no longer suppressed, as it was in the years of communism and Cold War, it still remains a battle relatively unknown outside of Poland today. Fought from 1 August-2 October 1944, the outcome of the 63-day battle is a tragedy. An estimated 18,000 Polish insurgents lost their lives and between 180,000-200,000 civilians died during the uprising. Warsaw became a city of ruins. However, despite the catastrophic end, it is also a story of tragic beauty, heroism and fierce resistance against the odds. A history of uprisings With the German and…

The P-51A (US designation)/Mustang I (RAF designation) entered service with the RAF in January 1942. Its excellent low-level performance made it ideal for photo-reconnaissance and ground attack work over occupied Europe, although the RAF occasionally used them as fighters. It was the P-51B/Mustang III that became the first true fighter version, when the Allison engines were replaced by Merlins. Other improvements were also made, and this type entered front-line service with the USAAF Eighth Air Force in the UK in December 1943. A few months later, the further-improved P-51D/ Mustang IV with the classic teardrop canopy arrived. This type rapidly became the Eighth Air Force’s main fighter, with the range and performance to escort American bombers deep into Germany and take on the fighters of the German air force. Although…

 In publishing today, books need a hook, something to pull the reader from our glittery screen world into the tranquillity of print. What better hook than the warrior women of the ancient world? Amazons have got name recognition in their own right, and if you couple that with the world’s biggest river, the corporate behemoth and Wonder Woman herself, then you have at least four barbs to grab the browsing reader. One can imagine the marketing department purring with promotional satisfaction. “THE PROSPECTIVE READER CAN SEE THAT THIS IS A DISCURSIVE BOOK. IN FACT, IT’S A STRANGE BEAST TO PIGEONHOLE – PART HISTORY, PART ARCHAEOLOGY, PART TRAVELOGUE AND MEMOIR, PART SPECULATION” However, sometimes the hook is a long way from the line. In this case, a more accurate title for…