Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 101 i History of War

The attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 was an unquestionably monumental turning point in the history of the USA – an attack on American soil that will no doubt continue to influence events long into the future. Similarly, 80 years ago this month another shocking and fateful attack, referred to quite aptly as a ‘day of infamy’, took place with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. This assault not only changed the future of the USA, but also the world, as the nation changed from isolation to becoming a global superpower. FOR MORE FROM THE HISTORY OF WAR TEAM VISIT WWW.MAGAZINESDIRECT.COM…

Although the most well-known and remembered Japanese target on 7 December 1941 was the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, the attackers also wreaked havoc at several other installations. Facilities and personnel of the US Navy, Marine Corps and Army came under fire on that dreadful morning as the Japanese hit Hickam Field, Wheeler Field, Bellows Field and Ewa Marine Corps Air Station; as well as the naval air stations at Kaneohe and on Ford Island in the centre of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese also struck American installations in the Philippines, Wake Island and Midway Atoll, and the British in Malaya during the hours following the Pearl Harbor attack. Bombers and fighters from the Japanese aircraft carriers screamed down on targets across Oahu. American aircraft had been parked wingtip to…

“WHEN THE ENEMY COUNTER-ATTACKED HE AGAIN TOOK COMMAND OF THE SITUATION AND GATHERED THE REMNANTS OF THE TROOPS, ORGANISING THEM SUCCESSFULLY IN A DEFENSIVE LINE. AT ALL TIMES HIS CHEERFULNESS AND PERSONAL DISREGARD FOR DANGER WERE APPARENT”Major ‘Snuffy’ Smith Paul Triquet glanced at the weapon he’d just taken from an enemy prisoner. The young German officer, shaken to his core, had appeared all too willing to relinquish his Walther P38 pistol in return for escaping the incessant Allied bombardment. The artillery had opened fire at 06:00 on 14 December, 1943, but now it was the turn of the Canadian 1st Division’s Royal 22e Régiment (the ‘Van Doos’), including Triquet’s C Company, to begin advancing on the staunchly defended positions ahead. Though the initial surrender of a small contingent of forces…

Author: Vladimir Alexandrov Publisher: Pegasus Books Price: £22 This excellent study expertly chronicles the complexities of the Russian Revolution and the Civil War through the extraordinary life of Boris Savinkov. Dubbed neither a Red nor a White, he waged war first against the Tsar and then the Bolsheviks. Starting life as a revolutionary assassin, Savinkov rose to become Minister of War in Kerensky’s beleaguered government. The breadth of Alexandrov’s research is highly impressive as is his large cast of characters, whom he handles very deftly. Woven into this remarkable tale is Winston Churchill, who backed international intervention supporting the Whites and Admiral Kolchak – who provided the only viable opposition to the Bolsheviks. Savinkov who campaigned for universal suffrage for all Russians, feared that Kolchak was simply playing lip service…

1 LORD CARDIGAN’S ORDER AT BALAKLAVA "Which guns? Those over there? Are you sure!?""Yes, definitely… probably… I think." 2 FRENCH CHARGE AT AGINCOURT "But my lord, it looks awfully muddy over there, shouldn't we—""CCCCCHHHHARGE!" 3 ROME’S LOST LEGION IN TEUTOBURG FOREST "General Varus, I’m scared, I think the trees have eyes.""That’s it, I'm confiscating your wine flask – you’re hallucinating." 4 ANGLO-SAXONS AT HASTINGS "Guys, it may be a trap – best to stay where we are.""Woo! Let’s go! Last one down the hill is a dirty Viking." 5 THE TYPO TO END ALL TYPOS "Cover looks great – happy 100th issue History of War team!""Fantastic, and all without a hitch!" *No, not really… Dear readers, In History of War’s last issue you may have spotted a typo on the cover. We…

There is a popular perception that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, better known as NATO, was established to defend western Europe from the Communist Warsaw Pact. In reality NATO was formed first in 1949 in response to the creation of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Blockade. Six years later the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact after West Germany joined NATO. Moscow had also decided that the series of bilateral military pacts, which it had employed since the end of the Second World War to bind Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union, were no longer sufficient. Notably the Allied powers had withdrawn from Austria in 1955, which meant the Soviets needed a military reason to continue stationing troops in Hungary and Romania. Previously they had been able to argue…

In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the consternation of the American people quickly turned to rage. Military recruiting offices overflowed with volunteers and patriotic sentiment soared, silencing a once robust isolationist movement. Scrap metal and rubber drives were common occurrences, and slogans such as “Slap the Japs with your metal scraps!” were plastered on posters across the country. American industry reached new levels of arms production, and the US Navy became the strongest in the world in an astonishingly short period of time. Its new Essex-class fleet aircraft carriers and fast Iowa-class battleships carried the Pacific War across the ocean’s expanse to the doorstep of the Japanese home islands. “The concept of the greatest generation was born,” assessed David Kilton, chief of interpretation at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial. “The…

GREAT BRITISH HISTORY MAP RRP: £14.99 marvellousmaps.com The new Intrepidly Time-Travelling Great British History Map from Marvellous Maps is the perfect Christmas gift; heaving with clues from the past to inspire your future adventures. From the Jurassic south coast to the Viking-plundered north, Britain’s history of invasions, battles, weddings, beheadings, thuggery, skullduggery (and not a little peacockery) make for a colourful tapestry, stitched together from many a well-spun yarn. The same could be said for this map. Featuring over 1,500 royally visitable historical locations, journeys and stories, this cartographical blast from the past will inspire some intrepid time travel through bygone Britain, a seemingly foreign country where they did things very differently. “THIS CARTOGRAPHICAL BLAST FROM THE PAST WILL INSPIRE SOME INTREPID TIME TRAVEL THROUGH BYGONE BRITAIN” PEACE, WAR AND…

Author: Jerry White Publisher: Vintage/Penguin Random House UK Price: £30 On sale: Out now While the story of London during the Second World War – and especially during the Blitz – has been told and retold across subsequent decades, this latest work by Jerry White will surely stand as the definitive and most readable account of the city during the conflict. The Battle of London 1939-45 is the most meticulously researched social history of wartime London that one could ever hope to find, with the reference notes and bibliography standing testament to the depth of White’s study of this fascinating topic. Not only that, but the detail is woven together in such a way, and so colourfully, that it frequently pulls the reader up short with the realisation that the…

The Raid on the Medway was one of the most celebrated military victories in Dutch history. Fought during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-67), a Dutch fleet sailed up the River Medway in Kent and attacked the English Royal Navy off Chatham and Gillingham during 19-24 June 1667. To achieve this, Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter had first captured the town of Sheerness and the Dutch were able to wreak naval havoc. Coastal forts were attacked and 13 Royal Navy ships were burned or captured, including the flagship of the English fleet: HMS Royal Charles. The latter was towed back to the Netherlands in triumph, and the raid is regarded as one of the worst defeats in the Royal Navy’s history. The Dutch were jubilant after their victory and the Medway’s commanders…

SEVASTOPOL, CRIMEA, RUSSIAN EMPIRE 8 SEPTEMBER 1855 Colonel Eduard Totleben, a gifted Russian military engineer trained at the prestigious School of Engineering in St Petersburg, arrived in Sevastopol in summer, 1854, to oversee the improvement of the Black Sea port’s outdated defences. The 37-year-old, mustachioed engineer was appalled at what he found. Little had been done over the past several decades to improve the city’s landward defences. Although the port was protected well enough from an attack by sea, it was extremely vulnerable to an attack by land. Yet at the outset of the Crimean War, it was just such a threat that had rapidly materialised when the British and French fleets suddenly appeared in the Black Sea, overwhelming the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The old town of Sevastopol and…

Formed on 21 December 1941, the Glider Pilot Regiment provided the crews for the British Army’s military gliders. It was created in response to successful German airborne operations during the Battle of France and was organised into two ‘Wings’. Each Wing contained seven squadrons and corresponded to a lightly armed infantry battalion. The regiment’s pilots were army personnel who had hoped to join the RAF. A shortage of places in the air force meant that these men volunteered to be glider pilots so that they could still have an opportunity to fly. It was known as an ‘NCO Regiment’ because the lowest rank was sergeant while squadron and flight commanders were majors, lieutenants and captains. Pilots primarily flew Airspeed Horsas, although other gliders were used such as the GAL.48 Hotspur,…

Although Cnut proved himself to be a strong and successful king, on several occasions during his reign he found himself at odds with his supporters, even members of his extended family. Ulf was Cnut’s brother-in-law, married to his sister Estrid. In the lead-up to the Battle of Holy River, there were suggestions that Ulf’s loyalty was suspect. Cnut’s young son, Harthacnut, was in Denmark as its nominal ruler and it seems that Ulf tried to dominate political affairs there in the absence of a powerful king resident in the country. Nevertheless, Ulf appears to have been with Cnut when he took part in the hard-fought battle at Holy River. After, they returned to Denmark together to the royal capital, Roskilde. There was soon a family squabble, according to some accounts…

Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. Starring: Gijs Blom, Jamie Flatters, Susan Radder, Tom Felton Released: Available on Netflix in the UK now The Forgotten Battle is an appropriate, if somewhat unassuming, name for the intense and tragic struggle its 124-minute runtime showcases. Set during the little-known Allied assault on the German-controlled Scheldt estuary, it tells the story of three individuals caught up in the events leading to the bloody Battle of Walcheren Causeway. Dutchman-turned-Nazi soldier Marinus van Staveren (Gijs Blom) faces an inner conflict of loyalty as he helps enable the collaborationist forces oppressing his occupied country. Meanwhile, Teuntje Visser (Susan Radder) finds herself reluctantly thrust into the Dutch Resistance as the Allies draw closer to Zeeland. Then there is British glider pilot Sergeant Will Sinclair (Jamie Flatters), who, along…

Author: John Buckley Publisher: Century Price: £14.99 On sale: Out now George MacDonald Fraser, of Flashman renown, once said in a talk about his experiences in the Burma Campaign in 1943 that war was ghastly and frightful, but that it could also be humorous. Here John Buckley, reflecting on the bungled British paratrooper assault at Arnhem in 1944, highlights the role of crucial political decisions in military history, which in this case brings to mind MacDonald’s unorthodox remark, in that British paratroopers were dropped too far from the targeted bridge. The author underscores the importance of military choices and the enduring fascination of the impact of alternative outcomes if those choices and decisions had been different. As Professor of Military History at the University of Wolverhampton, Buckley has used war-gaming…