Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 89 i History of War

Of all the weapons unleashed during the First World War, the mass deployment of poisonous gas on the Western Front arguably had the most horrific and shocking impact. From the first major use of chlorine gas at Ypres in 1915, these weaponised chemicals literally changed the face of the war, as both sides raced to develop masks to protect their frontline soldiers. At the same time they were creating new terrible concoctions with which to neutralise the enemy. The chilling frontline accounts of this new weapon still resonate today as the world continues to contend with its toxic legacy.…

“YOU MIGHT THINK THAT TOM LACKS CAUTION, JUDGEMENT.ON THE CONTRARY HE POSSESSED BOTH TO AN UNUSUAL DEGREE. HIS EXCELLENT JUDGEMENT TELLS HIM WHEN TO PRESS THE ENEMY, AND WHEN TO BE MODERATE”George Custer Aged just 16 when the US Civil War broke out in 1861, Thomas Ward Custer was too young to enlist. However, eager to fight alongside his celebrated older brother, George, for the Union, he simply lied about his age and joined the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. As the country was torn apart, he fought against the Confederate South in Tennessee and Georgia, before being promoted to Second Lieutenant and serving in the 6th Michigan Cavalry in Virginia – on the staff of his Brigadier-General brother. By April 1865, two years after the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union…

Although Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger is only known to history for a failed rebellion his father (also Sir Thomas) left a more enduring legacy as a pioneering poet. Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42) is credited with introducing the sonnet to England, which would later be made famous by William Shakespeare, and his poems reveal a sensitive, cultured man who depicted his romantic entanglements at the English court. His works cover courtly life and poignantly portray love, loyalty, betrayal and rejection. In his poem They Flee From Me he discussed his unrequited loves: “They flee from me that sometime did me seek/With naked foot stalking in my chamber… It was no dream, I lay broad waking/But all is turned thorough in my gentleness/Into a strange fashion of forsaking.” Most famously, Wyatt…

Buried Among Kings The National Army Museum is commemorating the Unknown Warrior’s burial with a new exhibition Over a hundred years ago, an anonymous soldier was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, to honour the many thousands of servicemen, known and unknown, who made the ultimate sacrifice. Now the National Army Museum (NAM) presents Buried Among Kings: The Story of the Unknown Warrior, a collaborative effort with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Westminster Abbey, Royal Collection Trust and the Western Front Association. Buried Among Kings tells the story of this symbolic memorial, using objects, paintings, photography and personal testimony, placing the Unknown Warrior in the context of WWI by exploring the origins of the concept, selection process, poignant burial ceremony and his global legacy to the present day. The exhibition…

Author: Ben Barry Publisher: Osprey Publishing Price: £25.00 Through the harsh lens of historical retrospect a quarter-century of Western military and political involvement, regime change, nation building, counter-terrorism operations and investment of lives and treasure in Iraq and Afghanistan must be declared a strategic failure. So asserts author Ben Barry in his recently released book Blood, Metal And Dust: How Victory Turned Into Defeat In Afghanistan And Iraq (Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK, 2020). Barry also places the lion’s share of responsibility for this failure at the feet of President George W Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose leadership and governmental lieutenants were inadequate in their vision and delivery of effective policies that might have resulted in lasting peace and security in the region. While providing a scathing indictment of…

TOM GARNER This month Tom spoke with Ghanaian WWII veteran Joseph Hammond. Starting on page 32 he discusses his experiences fighting with the 14th Army in Burma, and his charity work to help support African veterans. MURRAY DAHM The Battle of Poitiers in 1356 was one of the high-water marks for England during the Hundred Years’ War. Over on page 46, Murray recounts how the Black Prince played his part during this resounding victory. HARETH AL BUSTANI This issue Hareth recounts the heroic exploits of Thomas Custer, younger brother of the infamous and ill-fated George. He recalls how the younger Custer twice won the Medal of Honor, capturing Confederate colours (p.54).…

ZHOU ENLAI AN INDISPENSABLE COUNSELLOR AND MINISTER, ZHOU WAS THE RIGHT-HAND MAN OF MAO 1898–1976 PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA Perhaps no member of the Communist Party was as astute and versatile as Zhou Enlai, an intellectual and professional soldier who handled the thorniest problems besetting the Red Army. Like Zhu De, he served for a brief period in the Whampoa Military Academy that was established with the help of foreign advisers. This same institution became Chiang Kai-shek’s springboard to power in the mid-1920s. After the Kuomintang’s (KMT) violent purge of communist sympathizers Zhou defected and joined Mao in the thriving Jiangxi Soviet that resisted the KMT’s annihilation campaigns in the 1930s. Having survived the Long March, Zhou’s role only grew under Mao’s direction. He was both adviser and diplomat and…

Contrary to its lofty goals, China’s fledgling Communist Party had little support in the provinces where most of the rural population lived. Founded by a group of conspirators in Shanghai in 1921, the party’s resources were insufficient for challenging the Kuomintang (KMT). As a compromise of sorts, many active communists joined the government and paid lip service to China’s republican aspirations. When Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek sent his armed forces (half-a-million strong and built with German and Soviet assistance) on the Northern Expedition to crush provincial warlords, the communists began organizing soviets. They were intended to serve as springboards for a broader revolutionary movement later on – that is, if the soviets succeeded. The debacle of its anti-warlord campaigns did give much needed experience to the KMT’s armed forces, the National…

Of all the men who fought in the British Fourteenth ‘Forgotten’ Army in Burma during WWII, its African soldiers have been the most neglected. Approximately 100,000 Africans served during a horrendous campaign against the Japanese but they received little recognition at the time – and even today. The contribution of Indian and Gurkha troops in this multinational force has remained well known but even the Fourteenth Army’s commander, Field Marshal William Slim, failed to mention the African soldiers in a speech to his men at the end of the war. One of those forgotten soldiers was Private Joseph Ashitey Hammond – a mechanic who served in the Gold Coast Regiment. Despite his technical skills, Hammond also fought extensively on the front line before being a participant in a notorious event…

Director: Paul Sanchez Narration: Charlie Sheen Released: Out Now In December 1986, the low-budget, non-union film Platoon made its debut in theatres across the United States. While some doubted that the gut-wrenching story of a US Army unit in the crucible of combat in Vietnam would generate much interest, the movie was a sensation. Release in the UK and the Philippines followed in March 1987, and Platoon easily eclipsed its $6 million price tag with revenues of more than $128 million. Critically acclaimed, the movie won four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director for Oliver Stone, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound. Thirty-five years later, Brothers In Arms, a documentary on the making of the landmark film that reached number 83 in the American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Movies poll…

Author: Al Murray Publisher: Quercus Price: £14.99 To those who know Al Murray as his Pub Landlord alter ego, The Last 100 Years And All That might come as something of a surprise. Yet Murray studied Modern History at Oxford in his pre-Pub Landlord days, and his passion for the past means that this is more than just a celebrity stocking filler. The title of the book is a nod to the 1930 classic 1066 And All That, and just as that book managed to balance irreverent humour with genuine historical insight Murray also carries off that delicate balancing act. Billed as a “whistle-stop tour of Britain since 1914”, the book actually concludes in 1999, while its scope spans the globe and reaches all the way to the Moon. How…

Although Henry VIII (r.1509-47) is most famous for his six wives, he personally wanted to be remembered as a warrior. Casting himself as the spiritual successor to his predecessor and namesake Henry V, the king conducted several campaigns in France but with limited success. In 1544, he invaded France for the last time and invested the port of Boulogne for the first of two sieges. The English captured the city and held it for the rest of Henry’s reign, although it was returned to France in 1550 after his death. Although the sieges achieved little, Boulogne was probably Henry’s greatest military success. He took personal command of the operations despite being obese and crippled with gout. His physical infirmities can be strikingly seen in this suit of armour that was…

Formed in 1900 by the British Colonial Office, the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) was initially established to garrison the colonies of the Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast. Each colony contributed battalions of varying size and the WAFF first saw action against German forces in Africa during WWI. The force earned eight battle honours during the conflict and received royal recognition in 1928 when it became the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF). Although the majority of its personnel were black soldiers, 14.6 percent of its personnel were white officers or NCOs. During WWII, hundreds of these white troops were Poles who’d joined the RWAFF after the fall of Poland. The force was also expanded into the formations of the 81st and 82nd (West Africa) Divisions that…

Although Wyatt’s Rebellion was restricted to Kent and London, its architects initially envisaged a nationwide revolution. The four principal ringleaders were to raise troops in different parts of the country and then simultaneously march on London. The map shows that the regions picked were almost ideally placed for an effective advance on the capital in addition to French military attacks on Calais and landings in Scotland. Queen Mary had to take the rebellion seriously.…

TOBRUK CAPTURED “THE ALLIES CAPTURED OVER 25,000 ITALIANS AT TOBRUK. THE PORT BECAME THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF ERWIN ROMMEL, WHO WOULD ARRIVE IN NORTH AFRICA THE FOLLOWING MONTH” After the successful opening stages of Operation Compass, the Italian 10th Army was pushed back into Libya. The fortified port of Tobruk was strategically vital for any further offensive into western Libya, and on 22 January the Italian garrison there surrendered to Australian and British forces. Over 25,000 Italians were captured. Tobruk became the primary objective of Erwin Rommel, who would arrive in North Africa the following month. FIRST FLIGHT OF THE LANCASTER Taking off from Woodford, Manchester, the Avro Type 683 Manchester III – later renamed the Lancaster – began its maiden flight on 9 January, 1941. The flight took place…

Director: Liliana Cavani Publisher: CultFilms Price: £16.50 Released: Out Now Originally released in 1974, The Night Porter is a controversial examination of Nazism intended to shock and provoke. Dismissed at the time, critic Roger Ebert stated that the film was “a despicable attempt to titillate us by exploiting memories of persecution and suffering”, while The New York Times declared: “Let us now consider a piece of junk.” Yet, like the past that haunts its narrative, the film refuses to fade away. Now, The Night Porter has been the subject of a lavish 4K restoration by CultFilms, supervised by director Liliana Cavani herself. The film follows Max (Dirk Bogarde), a Nazi hiding in 1950s Vienna and working as the night porter in a hotel. Desperate to move on from the war,…

WALKING YPRES Paul Reed A respected military historian and battlefield guide, Reed takes us on a tour of the battlefields around the Ypres Salient, including the town itself and the key landmarks of the battle ground as it appears today. Including photographs as reference points, this is an ideal companion for anyone wishing to explore the battlefield in person. The Battle Book of Ypres Beatrix Brice Originally published in 1927, this reference guide provides a chronological account of each stage of the battles, from 1914-18. Also included are a thorough index of units involved at the various points in the battles, as well as an alphabetised reference guide to the many villages, woods, and other topographical landmarks used in first-hand accounts of the battles. A Storm In Flanders Winston Groom…