Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 92 i History of War

The image of the chivalric gentleman aviator gallantly flying into battle to duel with the enemy is one of the enduring impressions of the First World War. This idealised, heroic figure is nowhere better embodied than in Manfred von Richthofen, later known in histories as the Red Baron. As Stuart Hadaway uncovers this issue, the propaganda surrounding this aristocratic airman masks the tragedy of a young man struggling with the brutalities of war, reconciling his own identity as both a noble hunter and a bloody butcher of his fellow pilots.…

“THE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN GUEVARA AND FIDEL CASTRO CHANGES THE COURSE OF THE REVOLUTION” 1952 RESISTING BATISTA Military dictator Fulgencio Batista takes power and leads a corrupt, pro-American regime that is vigorously opposed by various groups. Two socialist brothers, Fidel and Raúl Castro, form a paramilitary organisation called ‘The Movement’ and begin arming and recruiting over 1,000 disaffected followers in Havana. 26 July 1953 MONCADA BARRACKS 01 Fidel Castro leads 135 Movement revolutionaries in an attack against a barracks that is garrisoned by 400 government soldiers. The attack is defeated, with 61 revolutionaries killed and 51 captured, including Castro. At his trial he declares, “History will absolve me,” before he’s sentenced to 15 years in prison. He and the other prisoners are released on 15 May 1955. 1 November 1954 A…

FIDEL CASTRO THE CONTROVERSIAL LEADER OF THE REVOLUTION AGAINST FULGENCIO BATISTA WHO WON A GUERRILLA WAR AND TOOK POWER AGAINST OVERWHELMING ODDS 1926-2016, 26 JULY MOVEMENT Through his integral role in the Cuban Revolution, Castro became an unlikely international figure whose force of personality overthrew a regime. This led to Cuba becoming a key battleground of the Cold War where the United States and Soviet Union fought for geopolitical dominance over Castro. It was a role Castro both encouraged and vigorously fought against. Born to a Spanish land-owning father and Cuban mother, Castro trained as a lawyer and was soon noted for his oratorical abilities. He was involved in plots to overthrow governments in both Cuba and the Dominican Republic but his real ascent to prominence occurred after Fulgencio Batista…

“HE PRESSED HOME HIS ATTACK, AND RELEASED THE DEPTH CHARGES HIMSELF, STRADDLING THE SUBMARINE PERFECTLY. THE U-BOAT WAS SUNK”John Cruickshank’s VC citation As the blanket of clouds parted above the calm surface of the Norwegian Sea, John Appleton, a radar operator aboard a Catalina seaplane, knew he’d found something. The metallic hulk was still some way off, but the equipment before him was building a picture with every mile flown. Slicing through the skies at 95 knots, Appleton knew it wouldn’t be long before they were above the unidentified vessel, a ship he and his fellow crew members would otherwise have missed given the lateness of the hour. Rising to stand behind the captain and pilot of the plane, John Cruickshank, Appleton informed his superior of what he’d seen. Initially…

Save the Royal Marines The National Museum of the Royal Navy’s tribute to Britain’s elite amphibious infantrymen is appealing to the public to make donations for a delayed new venue The Royal Marines are one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. Tracing their origins back to 1664, the Marines are an elite, highly specialised and adaptable force that have fought in many major British conflicts since the Seven Years’ War. This includes extensive fighting during the Napoleonic, Crimean and World Wars as well more recent deployments in the Falkland Islands, Iraq and Afghanistan. The official Royal Marines Museum opened in 1958 at Eastney Barracks near Portsmouth, where its collections and displays were housed until 2017. An attraction within the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN), the…

Authors: Marek Tadeusz Lalowski & Jonathan North Publisher: Pen and Sword Price: £25 Amid the news onslaught at the start of 2021, a discovery dating back to 1812 made headlines: the remains of 120 soldiers, three women and three adolescents, all thought to have fallen in the of Battle of Vyazma, were ceremoniously reburied in Russia. The Napoleonic Wars and the allure of Bonaparte himself still holds Europe under its spell – perhaps nowhere more so than in Poland, where the Napoleonic Wars will forever be intertwined with Poland’s own struggle for independence. With their country partitioned by Austria, Prussia and Russia, many Poles pledged their support for Napoleon, who had proclaimed the constitution of The Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 and hoped their continued loyalty would in time bring…

Author: Matthew Heaslip Publisher: Bloomsbury Price: £85 In the period between the two World Wars, the Royal Navy’s third-largest fleet bore the exotic title the China Station. In his scholarly tale of British strategy in the South China Sea, author Matthew Heaslip highlights the importance of this fleet to Britain’s foreign policy and East Asian geopolitics. These were far from peaceful times for the Royal Navy in the region and was a period of clashes in China throughout most of the 1920s. As the author points out, “Indeed, the country (China) was the scene of the Navy’s most sustained active deployment over the entire interwar period and events in China came very close to ending Britain’s peace.” During this decade, the British Empire maintained considerable interests in China, built up…

THE LAST BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE During the Nazi invasion of Greece, German forces engaged with Greek and ANZAC defenders at Thermopylae, where the Spartan-led Greek defenders had fought and lost against the Persian invasion in 480 BCE. The topography of Thermopylae meant it was still an ideal location to fight a defensive battle some 2,421 years later. Around 11,000 men of the New Zealand Army’s 2nd Infantry Division defended the pass while the bulk of the Allied forces retreated south. The holding action succeeded in delaying the Germans for long enough to allow the Allies to retreat in good order. INVASION OF YUGOSLAVIA Beginning on 6 April the Axis invasion of unprepared Yugoslavia lasted just 11 days, sending the young King Peter II into exile. As well as German troops,…

TOM GARNER For this issue’s Frontline, Tom recounts how the Cuban Revolution escalated from a small civil war to the focus of the a superpower showdown (page 12). Also this month he spoke with Korean War veteran Roy Mills (page 42). STUART HADAWAY Researcher and historian Stuart takes a close look behind the myth and propaganda surrounding Manfred von Richthofen. Stuart explores the tragic realities he and his fellow pilots faced in the brutal WWI dogfights (page 24). MICHAEL HASKEW For this issue’s Operator’s Handbook, Mike takes a look inside the M10, the most prolific US tank destroyer of the Second World War, armed with the powerful 3-inch M7 gun capable of puncturing most Axis armour (page 58).…

From its inception on 20 May 1902, the Republic of Cuba was destined to exist in the long shadow of its powerful neighbour, the United States. In fact, within a year of Cuba’s independence, the US Congress passed the Platt Amendment, asserting the right to intervene in Cuba’s internal affairs as it saw fit. When revolution came to Cuba in the 1950s, the government of strongman Fulgencio Batista was toppled, and the Marxist regime of Fidel Castro emerged in its place. The outcome, although predictable, was the least favourable for the United States in terms of maintaining a bulwark against communist influence in the western hemisphere. However, it was America’s own failed policy toward Cuba that provided momentum for the revolution. Ironically, the United States – the great bastion of…

It was over in a day. Brigade 2506, a force of 1,400 Cuban expatriates, had failed miserably in its mission to wrest control of the island nation from the Marxist regime of Fidel Castro. Its 17 April 1961 landing at the Bay of Pigs on the southern shore of Cuba had been crushed by more than 20,000 government soldiers, while tactical support from its American sponsors was conspicuously absent. A preposterous proposition Following the seizure of power by Castro on 1 January 1959, the new Marxist government swiftly nationalised the assets of American companies and looked to the Soviet Union for ideological and economic support. Although the US government had monitored events in Cuba as the unstable regime of President Fulgencio Batista teetered on the precipice of collapse, the Marxist…

Peng Dehuai (1898-1974) and Yang Dezhi (1911-94) both joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1928. Both were from poor backgrounds but rose through Mao Zedong’s communist ranks to participate in the Long March, Chinese Civil War and Sino-Japanese War. When the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, Yang was already a subordinate of Peng and both were high-ranking officers in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). When China entered the Korean War, Peng was appointed the commander of the PLA while Yang led 19th Army Group. Peng planned the Chinese Spring Offensive of 1951, with Yang being designated to lead 63rd Corps in the attack against the UN along the Imjin River. The heavy casualties during the battle and elsewhere persuaded Peng that the PLA had to become better…

The Polish contribution to the defence of the UK after 1940 was far more than the pilots who joined RAF squadrons – it included large numbers of exiled soldiers and sailors too. Speaking ahead of an online talk for the National Army Museum, Jennifer Grant examines the evolution of British-Polish attitudes towards each other during World War II. She discusses how the Poles were received by the British, their differing military doctrines and how they were ultimately betrayed by their allies. How was Poland perceived by the British before WWII? Prior to 1939, Britain gave little thought to Poland. The Polish community in Britain was small and Poland was considered another ‘faraway country’ – quaint and underdeveloped. However there was not complete ignorance: some British men had experience of Poland…

Author: Michael Bryant Publisher: Bloomsbury Price: £26.99 The animal kingdom adheres to a strict code of behaviour that proscribes violence between members of the same species, the exceptions being disputes over food and females. Not so human beings, who have been butchering one another for millennia in clashes sparked by territorial expansion, tribal rivalries, political systems and religious beliefs, to name just a few of the causes of warfare. Mention the term ‘war crimes’ and the contemporary imagination conjures up an image of a roomful of grim-faced Nazis awaiting their death sentence in a Nuremberg court in 1946. Author Michael Bryant takes the story back more than 10,000 years to remind us that Stone Age societies were by no means strangers to indiscriminate violence, though massacre victims rarely numbered more…

“BRUCE’S FIRST DAY SAW A 12-YEAR-OLD BOY HAVING BOTH LEGS AMPUTATED WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF THE YOUNGSTER’S ARRIVAL AT KIGALI HOSPITAL” Author: Greg Bruce Publisher: Austin Macauley Price: £11.99 Orthopaedic surgeon Greg Bruce was recruited into the Royal Australian Air Force Specialist Reserve in 1988 and undertook ten deployments between 1995 and 2008. Sad Joys On Deployment is Bruce’s account of those ten deployments, ranging from Rwanda in 1995 to Afghanistan in 2008. Despite his civilian practice, Bruce was thrown into the deep end of military surgeries in various war zones, dealing with all manner of injuries. He delivers his record of that service bluntly – his first day saw a 12-year-old boy having both legs amputated within five minutes the youngster’s arrival at Kigali Hospital, Rwanda. Bruce delivers his…

Originating in Ottoman Turkey in the Late Middle Ages, turban helmets had a bulbous appearance that imitated the folds of a turban. Early examples were conical in shape but they increasingly became more elaborate in design. Many of them also included an aventail, which was a curtain of chain mail that attached to the main skull of the helmet. The aventail protected the lower half of the face and neck while also enabling the wearer to move their head more freely compared with full plate-metal helmets such as the bascinet. The turban helm pictured here dates from the 15th-16th century and represents the growing strength of the Ottoman Empire during that period. Sultan Mehmed II famously destroyed the Byzantine Empire when he conquered Constantinople in 1453 before Suleiman the Magnificent…

A handful of Royal Artillerymen were the only other British soldiers to receive a US Presidential Unit Citation for the Battle of the Imjin River C Troop, 170th Independent Mortar Battery was a small unit of gunners who were attached to the Glosters. Armed with ML 4.2-inch mortars, which were the smallest guns in the Royal Artillery, C Troop’s job was to support their infantry comrades. During the Battle of the Imjin River, they had no medium or heavy artillery support and (like the Glosters) were thinly spread out. Lance Bombardier Tommy Clough spoke to History of War in 2016 and described how C Troop kept up a ferocious rate of fire: “We kept firing and firing until the barrels were glowing red-hot, which was very dangerous. The mortar crews…

After the invasion of Poland, a young photographer named Wilhelm Brasse refused to join the Nazis and was arrested while trying to escape to Hungary. Transferred to Auschwitz on 31 August 1940, he was given the prisoner number 3444 and forced into hard labour expanding the camp. Once his skills as a photographer and developer were realised, Brasse was put to work as part of the Erkennungsdienst, Auschwitz’s Identification Service. Chief among his duties was to take photographs of inmates, and it’s estimated Brasse took between 40,000 and 50,000 photographs of prisoners at the camp. As well as his work for the Identification Service, Brasse’s skills were called upon to capture keepsake portraits for the camp guards, and even to create colour postcards to be sold by his Nazi boss,…

“THE STORY OF MI9 IS THE STUFF OF SPY FICTION, AND IT CERTAINLY MAKES FOR A FASCINATING SUBJECT” Author: Helen Fry Price: £20 Publisher: Yale University Press In her latest book, MI9: A History Of The Secret Service For Escape And Evasion In World War Two, Helen Fry tells the fascinating story of MI9, an almost forgotten branch of the Secret Service. Established in 1939, this War Office department remained in operation until 1945, and had two responsibilities. First, MI9 offered help to escaped Allied prisoners of war attempting to flee Axis countries to safety. Second, it gave assistance to military personnel stranded behind enemy lines as they attempted to evade capture and reach Allied countries. In the face of terrible danger, the intelligence operatives and resistance fighters of MI9…

Author: Alan Measures Publisher: Whittles Publishing This is a truly pleasing book which focusses on the operations of just one crew who served in RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War – specifically, six men who crewed a Halifax of 102 Squadron. As such, RAF Bomber Command Striking Back is a most useful addition to our sum of knowledge about Bomber Command operations. It grew from the author’s initial intent to construct a family tree when, in 2011, he discovered details recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission about his cousin, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner Sgt Len Starbuck, lost on 26 June 1942. His interest piqued, Measures found himself side-tracked from his family tree research into investigating the tragically short lives of Starbuck and his crew, all lost on their…