Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 62 i History of War

Despite perhaps being better remembered for its catastrophic fall to Erwin Rommel in 1942, for months during 1941 the fortified port of Tobruk held out against a relentless Axis siege. The dogged defence of the British, Commonwealth and Allied garrison remains one of the great Allied victories in the North African theatre. This issue explores how the garrison organised its steadfast defences to outwit the Germans, and held out until it was relieved during Operation Crusader. You can also find an incredible first-hand account from a British artillery veteran who saw action throughout the entire siege. He reveals what daily life was really like inside one of WWII’s most gruelling campaigns. SIGN UP TO THE HISTORY OF WAR NEWSLETTER FOR ISSUE PREVIEWS & MORE bit.ly/_HoW_…

PERIMETER DEFENCES The defenders built box wire or concertina wire obstacles and strung barbed wire liberally along the Tobruk perimeter. Antitank ditches were 0.6-3.7 metres (2-12 feet) deep, and some were incomplete. These were camouflaged with boards and sand, providing effective disguise. A few antitank and antipersonnel mines were placed in front of the wire. Strongpoints were built in a zigzag pattern with about 685 metres (750 yards) distance between forward posts, and the second line roughly 460 metres (500 yards) behind the first and situated to cover the gaps. Mutually supporting fields of fire were plotted and zeroed in. These strongpoints were numbered for identification. TYPICAL DEFENSIVE POSITION Most of the defensive positions at Tobruk consisted of concrete boxes below terrain level covered with reinforced concrete and earth. These…

619 Squadron was active from 18 April 1943 until its disbandment on 18 July 1945. It was formed out of elements of 97 Squadron and was equipped with Avro Lancaster bomber aircraft. Although the squadron was based at Woodhall Spa, it had to move several times within Lincolnshire, including bases at Coningsby, Dunholme Lodge, Strubby and Skellingthorpe. The squadron’s main tasks were bombing operations over Germany, and its last mission involved attacking SS barracks at Berchtesgaden near Adolf Hitler’s Alpine retreat. 619 Squadron also laid mines in Norway and participated in Operation Exodus, which repatriated Allied POWs. Although it only existed for two years, 619 Squadron was mentioned ten times in dispatches, and its members were awarded 76 DFCs (Distinguished Flying Cross), 37 DFMs (Distinguished Flying Medal) and one DSO…

When Napoleon entered Warsaw in December 1806 he was greeted as a hero and liberator. Russia, Prussia and Austria had partitioned Poland a decade earlier, erasing the country from the map of Europe. France’s victories over the partitioning powers sparked a wave of patriotic sentiment and hopes of a national resurgence. As a show of gratitude, the citizens of Warsaw raised a mounted honour guard made up young noblemen to escort the French emperor during his stay in the country. Napoleon was so impressed by the skill and bearing of these men that he ordered a Polish Light Horse regiment be raised and added to his Imperial Guard. Enlistment standards were set deliberately high in order to ensure the unit met the elite calibre of the Imperial Guard. Most officers…

Author: Richard van Emden Publisher: Pen & Sword Price: £25.00 By the end of World War I in November 1918, the Allies and Central Powers had spent $82.4 billion (roughly $2 trillion in 2018 dollars) in a conflict that saw the mobilisation of nearly 70 million men. Around 8 million combatants were killed in actual fighting, with another 7 million permanently disabled and a further 15 million left with serious injuries. The costs of this war were unprecedented in casualties, money, the hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed, farms gutted, transport infrastructure blown up, livestock slaughtered, forests pulverised and vast tracts of land rendered unfit for farming because of unexploded shells and mines. All this, as it turned out, to serve as a dress-rehearsal for an even more terrible conflagration…

Author: Santanu Das Publisher: Cambridge University Press Price: £19.99 (paperback) With the centenary of World War I, a plethora of new books have been published on just about every aspect of the conflict, from the Battle of Liège to the Armistice and beyond. Some merely go over old ground, retelling well-worn stories, while others manage to present fresh evidence that make us look at those same stories in a new light. A few examine aspects of the war that are often overlooked or sadly understudied. It is, perhaps, into this latter category that India, Empire, And First World War Culture: Writings, Images, And Songs by Santanu Das thankfully falls. “IT IS SAID THAT DAS TOOK TEN YEARS TO RESEARCH AND WRITE THIS BOOK, AND IT SHOWS. IT IS WITHOUT DOUBT…

For the families of soldiers serving during World War I, letters and postcards were the only method of communication with their loved ones on the frontline. For British troops, embroidered silk postcards became extremely popular. The postcards were made by unemployed French and Belgian civilians in domestic houses during the war. Many of the manufacturers would have been refugees, and designs were embroidered on silk before they were sent to Paris for cutting up, assembly and distribution. Some contained a secret pocket for inserting a tiny, pre-printed card, and the designs were highly varied in bright colours. Themes could be patriotic or sentimental, and flags, flowers, birds and butterfly wings featured strongly. “MANY OF THE MANUFACTURERS WOULD HAVE BEEN REFUGEES, AND DESIGNS WERE EMBROIDERED ON SILK BEFORE THEY WERE SENT…

The amphibious soldiers launched repeated landings during the USA’s extremely bloody island-hopping battles against the Japanese in WWII 1 GUADALCANAL CAMPAIGN 7 AUGUST 1942 –9 FEBRUARY 1943 GUADALCANAL, BRITISH SOLOMON ISLANDS During the Allies’ first major offensive in the Pacific, 6,000 marines land on Guadalcanal and seize the Japanese airfield. Both sides pour in reinforcements, which results in bitter jungle fighting. The Japanese are unable to overwhelm the Americans’ defensive perimeter to retake the airfield. 2 BOUGAINVILLE CAMPAIGN 1 NOVEMBER 1943 – 21 AUGUST 1945 BOUGAINVILLE ISLAND, PAPUA NEW GUINEA The Allies invade Bougainville in two stages, with the Americans invading the island before Anzac troops mop up Japanese resistance. I Marine Amphibious Corps (including 3rd Marine Division) successfully secures Bougainville’s perimeter in difficult conditions. “THE AIRSTRIP IS TAKEN AFTER…

Throughout the ebb and flow of the North African Campaign during World War II, Tobruk, a major port city on the Mediterranean coast of Libya, was a glittering prize. Possession of Tobruk facilitated operations east and west, and it became the scene of desperate fighting several times. However, the heroic defence of the city during more than 240 days of siege, from April to December 1941, is remembered as a defining chapter in the history of the armed forces of Britain and the Commonwealth. The epic siege itself came about somewhat by accident. Operation Compass, a British counter-offensive intended for only a limited duration, became a sustained action that produced a resounding triumph in the desert against the Italian Tenth Army. However, its bitter unintended consequence was the deployment of…

My father, Dennis, joined the Territorial Army before the start of World War II because he knew war was coming. He told me he had never believed Chamberlain’s claims of “peace in our time”. He chose to join the artillery. Memories of World War I were fresh enough to dampen enthusiasm for the infantry. He went to war a few months later, telling his mother he would be back in a couple of years. In fact he was to be away for five years. Dennis was posted to North Africa and the Middle East and saw action in the last six major battles of the desert campaign. He was among the few to serve under Wavell in the early days and under Bernard Montgomery after that. He was at the…

In early 1943, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell devised an audacious plan for a mass breakout from Stalag Luft III. Bushell was the head of the camp’s escape committee and proposed building three tunnels simultaneously so that 200 men could break out in a single attempt. The tunnels were codenamed ‘Tom’, ‘Dick’ and ‘Harry’ and over 600 prisoners eventually became involved in their construction. Located at a depth of nine metres (30 feet) and designed to run more than 90 metres (300 feet) into the outside woods, the tunnels were certainly ambitious. However, at only 0.9 square metres (two square feet) in size, they were extremely small, and working underground in sandy subsoil required great courage and ingenuity. Bed boards were used en masse to prop up the tunnels; candles were…

01 BATTERY POSITIONS San Juan places his guns at intervals along the road. The first three batteries have two guns each. He places the first battery at a stone bridge across the Duratón. At the summit he positions ten guns and 2,000 men behind improvised breastworks. 02 WELL-PLACED INFANTRY Most of the Spanish infantry are positioned on the slopes of the pass, where the rough terrain and morning fog put them in a good position to repel a French attack. 03 FRENCH INFANTRY ADVANCE At first, the 96th Line Infantry Regiment, part of Ruffin’s division, make good progress up the road. When they reach the first battery, which is placed at the stone bridge, their advance is stalled by cannon fire. 04 DEADLY FIRE The French regiments on the slopes…

WILFRED OWEN 100 DISCOVER EXHIBITIONS, INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES AND WALKS AS SHROPSHIRE COMMEMORATES ITS CELEBRATED WAR POET Although he was only 25 years old when he was killed in action in France on 4 November 1918, Wilfred Owen is today one of Britain’s most celebrated war poets. He served as a second lieutenant in the 2nd Manchester Regiment during World War I and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery. Owen was not just physically courageous but a talented writer whose haunting poems on the horrors of trench warfare have largely defined how the war is perceived today. His literary standing is so eminent that two volumes of his handwritten verse are archived in the British Library alongside the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare. Owen was from Shropshire, and…

DECK THE TRENCH Taken: 7 December 1969 Sergeant Buddy Bruek (left) and Sergeant First Class Ernesto Flores set up a Christmas tree in a spare mortar pit at the Duc Lap Special Forces Camp. Detachments from special forces outfits were based in the camp during the Vietnam War, as well as South Vietnamese forces. The camp came under attack by People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) troops in August 1968. A WATERY WRECK Taken: 2 October 2007 A diver explores the wreckage of a Mitsubishi Zero, submerged off the coast of Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea. Despite decades spent on the seabed, the aircraft is in remarkable condition, with no external damage suggesting it was shot down. Although the pilot is missing, his plane’s serial number indicates it was flown during…

“FOR THOSE WHO WERE HELD CAPTIVE IN STALAG LUFT III, THE ACTUAL EXPERIENCE OF BEING A POW WAS A HARD ENDURANCE TEST OF ALMOST CONTINUAL SUFFERING” Apart from Colditz Castle, no other prisoner-of-war camp of World War II captures the public imagination quite like Stalag Luft III: a vast complex of wooden huts, compounds, barbed wire and guard towers. The camp became most famous for the mass breakout that occurred on 24-25 March 1944 when dozens of Allied POWs escaped through a tunnel. This event later became the stuff of cinematic legend, but for those who were held captive in Stalag Luft III the actual experience of being a POW was a hard endurance test of almost continual suffering. One of those who survived was Charles Clarke, who was then…

“WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE SHATTERED SPANISH FORCES RETREATED SOUTH TOWARDS MADRID WITH NAPOLEON HIMSELF IN VIGOROUS PURSUIT AT THE HEAD OF A 45,000-STRONG VANGUARD” SOMOSIERRA PASS, SEGOVIA, SPAIN 30 NOVEMBER 1808 In June 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte installed his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne as a way of securing French control of the Iberian Peninsula. It turned out to have the opposite effect. The Spanish people disliked their feckless Bourbon monarchs, but they absolutely hated the meddlesome French. Within weeks, violent revolts sprang up across the country, and the overextended French forces found themselves isolated in hostile territory. In August, having resided in Madrid for only ten days, Joseph was forced to abandon his riotous capital and flee to the French border. To make matters worse, during this time…

In the early hours of 3 September 1916, the villagers of Cuffley, Hertfordshire, gathered for an unexpected spectacle. A German airship had been shot out of the sky, and an inferno had quickly taken its place. 16 men lay dead inside, but for the villagers this was a scene of unabashed celebration – at last one of the feared German Zeppelins (as they believed the airship to be) had been shot down by Britain’s valiant defenders, the pilots of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). This night would not only be imprinted on those who watched it unfold, but also on the man responsible for the jubilation. William Leefe Robinson – a humble, young pilot serving in 39 Squadron – was transformed into a national treasure overnight after becoming the first…

“THE MATILDA II WAS DEVELOPED WITH INFANTRY SUPPORT IN MIND – SPEED WAS A SECONDARY CONSIDERATION WHILE FIREPOWER AND ARMOUR PROTECTION TOOK PRECEDENT” When the Matilda II Infantry Tank, initially known as the A12 Infantry Tank Mk. II, reached the front lines of the British Army in 1940, its armour protection and two-pounder (40mm, 1.6 inch) main gun made it a formidable weapon, capable of defeating much of the German and Italian armour in the field at the time. Although it shares a common name with its predecessor, the Matilda I, the similarity generally ends there. The Matilda I was intended as an interim design until the Matilda II became available in substantial numbers. The Matilda II was developed with infantry support in mind – speed was a secondary consideration…

Publisher: PSC Games Price: £70.00 To commemorate the final centenary year of WWI, PSC Games has released a new version of its popular military board game The Great War. Inside the box you’ll find 150 1/100th scale plastic infantry figures representing British and German forces, as well as card decks, dice and tokens for use during play. For this edition, PSC Games has updated the figures to come pre-assembled and ready for play, without the need for removal from plastic sprues. “IN THE CORE BOX PLAYERS CAN SELECT FROM AMONG 16 SCENARIOS BASED ON REAL CAMPAIGNS FROM THE WESTERN FRONT” For those unfamiliar with the Commands and Colours system from prolific game designer Richard Borg, the board is split into hexagonal shapes, which are used for measuring unit movement and…