Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 66 i History of War

The Falklands War is known for the varied British units that fought to recapture the South Atlantic islands. RAF aircraft clashed with Argentine jets, Royal Navy ships bore the brunt of enemy air attacks, while infantrymen ‘yomped’ across the rugged landscape to engage Argentine defenders. However, there is one aspect of the campaign that has received little attention – the artillery. Five batteries of the Royal Artillery fought in the Falklands and Major General Julian Thompson (commander of 3 Commando Brigade) has since noted, “Without the gunners we would not have won – however bravely and skilfully the other soldiers fought. Only devastatingly accurate and powerful fire missions enabled the infantry to overcome well-sited Argentine soldiers among rocks and crags on the formidable objectives.” One of these artillerymen was Second…

Great Count of Sicily Roger de Hauteville wears a helmet with a crown, holds a long sword, and wears a cloak to signify his status as ruler of Sicily from 1071 until his death in 1101. Following an apprenticeship as a brigand in Calabria, Roger embarked on a campaign of conquest in Sicily that would take him 32 years to complete. It was an amazing achievement for the youngest son of a large family who had come to southern Italy seeking his fortune and wound up becoming one of the most powerful and respected princes in western Christendom.…

TOM GARNER On page 38 Royal Artillery and Falklands War veteran Tom Martin shares his experience manning the guns on East Falkland during the 1982 conflict, revealing the vital role artillery played in enabling the successful campaign. MARIANNA BUKOWSKI This issue Marianna spoke with Polish veteran Otton Hulacki of the 4th ‘Skorpion’ Armoured Regiment. He recalls fighting at Monte Cassino, as well as his long journey from captivity in the USSR, to serving in Wladyslaw Anders’s Army (p.26). STUART HADAWAY RAF Senior Researcher Stuart takes a look at the racer origins of the Spitfire for this issue’s Operator’s Handbook. Turn to page 70 to discover how the S.6B sea plane broke speed records and set the blueprints for the iconic fighter.…

“THE TREATY DID NOT MAKE CIVIL WAR INEVITABLE, THE FAILURE OF A MINORITY WITHIN THE IRA TO ACCEPT THE RESULT OF THE 1922 GENERAL ELECTION DID” Was the result of the war, and the effective breakup the UK with the Partition, due to British strategic blunders, or an effective Irish military campaign? It is important to remember that until 1922, Ireland was an integral part of UK, which made British politicians extremely sensitive about any bad publicity resulting from security operations. That doesn’t mean that British security operations were ineffective – they were not. By 1922, the IRA’s intelligence network was thoroughly compromised and the IRA’s Chief of Staff, Richard Mulcahy, told the Dáil that the IRA was incapable of defeating the British Army. That is why Michael Collins signed…

In a generic way Carlism is usually described as a dynastic, absolutist and religiously fundamentalist movement. In reality, from its origins, it placed great importance on preserving the old laws contained in the fueros. This fact explains their approach to other political options, such as the progressives, republicans or federalists during the second and third Carlist Wars, as well as internal evolutionary processes involving important personalities like General Cabrera or the pretenders Juan and Carlos VI, sons of Carlos María Isidro. However it was the Morentin Manifesto, in July 1874 by Carlos VII in the Navarre village of the same name, which initiated a political movement that a century later led Carlism into clearly left-wing positions. In that manifesto, the ‘Carlist king’ acknowledged that Generals Prim, Serrano and Topete offered…

Seventy five years ago, 76 Allied airmen broke out of a German POW camp in Saga, Silesia (which today is in Poland), by tunnelling underneath the perimeter fence to freedom. In February 2019, just weeks from the milestone of what has since become known as ‘The Great Escape’, its last living escapee sadly passed away aged 99. Former Squadron Leader Richard ‘Dick’ Churchill was among the 73 prisoners who were recaptured in 1944 – of whom 50 were murdered by the Gestapo. Despite this last living connection gone, the real 1944 escape from Stalag Luft III remains a fascination for many. With rare photos that reveal the daily lives of prisoners, as well as the meticulous escape operations that fooled the German guards, Images Of War Stalag Luft III provides…

Director: James Kent Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures Stars: Keira Knightley, Jason Clarke, Alexander Skarsgård Released: 1 March Wartime-themed melodramas are James Kent’s bread and butter. On the back of 2014’s Testament Of Youth, based on Vera Brittain’s WWI memoir, the director has moved forward to the second global conflict. More specifically, the Allied reconstruction of Germany and rehabilitation of its defeated people. Based on Rhidian Brook’s well-received 2013 novel, Kent’s screen adaptation is weak as a historic saga and even less convincing as a romantic weepie. Crafted in a limp style which screams a certain type of middlebrow British cinema – classy but airless, handsome-looking yet resolutely dull, safe and undemanding – the result is a love story on rations and a drama which self-destructively scuppers a fascinating and potent…

Author: Martyn Chorlton Publisher: Amberley Price: £15.99 The Gloster Javelin has long been an unsung Cold War hero. An all-weather, day and night interceptor, it guarded British skies between 1956 and 1968, while also serving in Germany, Cyprus, the east during the Indonesian ‘Confrontation’, and in Zambia during the Rhodesian Crisis. Often overshadowed by more famous fighter types, the Javelin was also the Gloster Aircraft Company’s last production aircraft, going through nine operational and one training mark in its short career. Its distinctive delta-winged design was one of a kind, and was typical of the advanced nature of the aircraft. This short book is a fitting tribute to the brief but significant life of the Javelin. Starting with the story behind the development of the design, the author takes us…

Author: Judith Grohmann Publisher: Pen & Sword Price: £19.99 An interesting look into a selection of police and anti-terrorist actions over recent decades could have been a useful primer into the global ‘war on terror’, but falls some way short of its stated goals. First, the title of the book is itself misleading. The phrase ‘war on terror’ is linked firmly with events in the 21st century, the targeted campaign against organised terrorist entities such as al-Qaeda. Judith Grohmann chooses to start her story much earlier, with anti-IRA operations in 1996, a bomber in France in 1993, hostage takers in Belgium in 1989 and others. There is no doubt that such operations are important pieces in the story of the fight against terrorism, but. Perhaps most disappointing is that the…

Since the first Owner’s Workshop Manual (the Austin Healey ‘Frogeye’ Sprite, 1966) iconic publisher Haynes has applied its meticulous, technical and in-depth format to a whole new range of topics. As well as aviation, space travel and even scifi, the realms of military history have also received the Haynes treatment. Everything from the Mary Rose to the Tiger Tank has been broken down by renowned experts into accessible, engrossing detail. This issue, History of War subscribers have the exclusive chance to win this incredible book bundle of five titles, which add up to a combined total prize value of £120.98. Simply visit HistoryAnswers.co.uk to enter, and have your Subscriber ID ready. AVRO VULCAN 1952 ONWARDS For years the RAF’s iconic Vulcan bomber was the centre of Britain’s nuclear deterrent. This…

The impact of Bloody Sunday was felt on both sides. Several of the gunmen involved on the IRA side left the organisation and never served again. Three of the drivers used to ferry men to their targets later suffered nervous breakdowns, while an auxiliary cadet in Dublin Castle, already traumatised by his experiences in World War I, committed suicide that evening. The day also claimed three more victims after the killings in Dublin and at Croke Park. Dick McKee, probably second only to Collins in terms of importance to the IRA, was picked up by British intelligence operatives along with Peadar Clancy and a student named Conor Clune. The three were taken to Dublin Castle, where they were tortured through the night and killed the next day. Their deaths brought…

MICHAEL COLLINS MP AND KEY FIGURE IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE IRA 1890-1922 IRISH FREE STATE, IRA, NATIONAL ARMY Born in County Cork, Collins lived and worked in London for nine years before returning to his native Ireland and joining Sinn Féin. As a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood he took part in the Easter Rising of 1916, spending a short time in prison afterwards. In the 1918 general election Collins was elected as MP for South Cork and became minister of home affairs in the Dáil Éireann. As a leading figure in the Irish Republican Army, Collins organised resistance to the British security forces, most famously setting up his ‘squad’ of gunmen, also known as the ‘Twelve Apostles’. With the events of Bloody Sunday helping force the…

Wojtek quickly grew into a 500 pounds, six feet tall beast, and was housed in the military barracks. His favourite pastime was wrestling with anyone brave enough to take him on! Wojtek travelled together with Anders’s men through Iraq, Palestine and Egypt, but when the company was preparing to leave for Italy, port authority refused to accept a live animal on-board – the solution was to formally register Wojtek into the Polish Army as a soldier, with name, number, regiment and rank. Honey and marmalade-loving Private Wojtek, of the 22nd Transport Company, was to serve for two years throughout the Italian campaign. His story caught the public’s imagination and has since inspired many books, songs, poems and sculptures. Contrary to fiction, Wojtek did not carry a gun on the front…

29 Battery’s gun positions were established in key strategic areas to provide vital assistance to the advancing infantry on East Falkland. From Head of the Bay House near San Carlos Water to Bluff Cove and Wether Ground in the south, Martin’s gunners kept up the heavy firepower required to defeat Argentine forces. Throughout these deployments and fire missions, Martin’s role was based in each position’s command post, “When a call to fire came in, my job was to convert that call using log tables, slide rules and protractors into firing solutions for the guns to be able to engage the target. I would then control the guns to deliver what the guy at the sharp end was asking for.”…

“[ROGER] HEARD THAT SICILY WAS IN THE HANDS OF THE UNBELIEVERS. SEEING IT FROM CLOSE AT HAND WITH ONLY A SHORT STRETCH OF SEA LYING IN BETWEEN, HE WAS SEIZED BY THE DESIRE TO CAPTURE IT, FOR HE WAS ALWAYS EAGER FOR CONQUEST.” Chronicler Geoffrey Malaterra A small fleet glided through the dark waters at the southern end of the Strait of Messina in a nighttime passage to Sicily in May, 1061. Aboard the ships were several hundred Norman knights that made up the advance guard of an invasion force led by Norman commander Roger de Hauteville. The fleet sailed as quietly as possible to avoid detection by a squadron of Arab warships guarding the northern end of the strait. After the Norman knights tramped ashore on an undefended…

“THIS NEW INTERPRETATION REVEALS A MAN WHOSE WILL TO SUCCEED LED TO GREAT POWER, BUT WHOSE COMPLEX INSECURITIES BROUGHT ABOUT HIS OWN DOWNFALL” Napoleon Bonaparte famously rose from being an obscure Corsican artillery officer to a renowned general, which eventually led to him to become Emperor of the French. Despite being defeated and exiled in 1815, he is still considered one of the greatest commanders in history, whose military and political legacy endures. Nevertheless, Napoleon also polarises opinion among historians who heavily debate his achievements, including the Polish-British historian Adam Zamoyski. The author of over a dozen books, including the bestselling 1812: Napoleon’s Fatal March On Moscow, Zamoyski has now written a new biography Napoleon: The Man Behind The Myth, which is published by HarperCollins. Zamoyski has stripped away the…

Author: Naomi Games Publisher: Amberley Price: £16.99 Abram Games was born into a world engulfed in violence and turmoil. His birth in 1914 took place the day after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, igniting the First World War. Games’s parents had emigrated from Latvia and Russo-Poland to Whitechapel in London’s East End, where the future ‘Official British War Poster Artist’ of the Second World War received his education at St Martin’s School of Art. From his earliest childhood, Games was determined to become an artist. His ambition was to lead him to become one of the most outstanding graphic designer of the 20th century. Games was possessed of the fighting spirit that characterised many Jewish immigrants who had fled the persecution of anti-Semitic societies. He marched in Whitechapel against Oswald…

Authors: Simon Dunstan Publisher: Haynes Publishing Price: £25.00 Designed in France in the late 1950s, the Panhard Armoured Car (in its various types) was so popular that it would be kept in production until 1987, with nearly 5,000 being built. After being developed as a heavily armed reconnaissance vehicle for the French Army, it went into service with over 50 other countries around the world for internal security, peace keeping, and war fighting, especially in Africa. The simplicity of the design allowed for easy maintenance and the ability to operate under a wide range of conditions. Its heavy weaponry even allowed this pocket Hercules to go toe-to-toe with main battle tanks – and win. As a Haynes Manual, the book follows their winning formula of mixing technical details with military…

Author John Gaudet Publisher Amberley Publishing Price £16.99 In The Pharaoh’s Treasure: The Origins Of Paper And The Rise Of Western Civilization, John Gaudet sets out to examine the history of human communication. More specifically, he recreates a world thousands of years ago in which rock paintings and carved tablets gradually give way to papyrus paper, a medium that revolutionised communication. Gaudet provides a history of papyrus and its successors, from its earliest days and uses to modern paper production and beyond, that to a world in which electronic communication is becoming more and more prevalent. It is a story that travels the world and the millennia, witnessing the rise and fall of empires, the benefits and pitfalls of technological advancements and brings to life the march of progress that…

After Sir Arthur Wellesley and other generals were recalled to Britain following the Convention of Cintra, Lieutenant General Sir John Moore took command of British forces in the Iberian Peninsula. Moore was a popular military reformer who was regarded as a relatively humane commander by his troops. The British advanced deep into Spain in late 1808 and Moore’s intention was to link up with Spanish forces against the French. Nevertheless Napoleon I invaded with 200,000 men and captured Madrid. Moore’s army was forced to retreat in horrendous winter conditions that included foul weather, frequent skirmishing and long marches. The British soldiers were weakened by hunger and cold but Moore was able to maintain their morale. After withdrawing to the northern Spanish port of Corunna the British prepared to evacuate but…