Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 104 i History of War

Michael Wittmann’s success during the Battle of Normandy went against the grain of repeated German disasters in the east and west. His story was seized upon by a public desperate for a heroic figure, and his feats became mythologised and likened to the legendary Richthofen, with the epithet ‘Black Baron’. Though historians still debate the truth of Wittmann’s battlefield prowess, his story echoes the brutal realities of armoured warfare on both fronts, where tactics and technology were the difference between life and death. FOR MORE FROM THE HISTORY OF WARTEAM VISIT WWW.HISTORYANSWERS.CO.UK SUBSCRIBE & SAVE! Take advantage of our fantastic subscription offers and get History of War for less than half price! TURN TO PAGE 50…

What do you consider the turning points in the Pacific War? The American victory at the Battle of Midway was certainly a turning point. American dive bombers sank four Japanese aircraft carriers and forced the Japanese to abandon their effort to occupy Midway. Had they been successful, the Japanese threat to Hawaii would have been much more viable. The complex plan that Admiral Yamamoto had devised was compromised from the start and the Japanese sustained losses that were irreplaceable in wartime, not only in aircraft carriers but also in trained pilots and aircrews. After Midway, the US Navy continued to grow in strength while the Japanese struggled with limited resources. The defence of their perimeter in the Central Pacific, rather than the extension of it, became a priority for the…

During the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 the Wehrmacht’s tank force – the Panzerwaffe – hitherto almost invincible, was shocked by Soviet tanks like the T-34 and KV-series that were superior to their own. Germany responded by developing bigger panzers with hugely powerful guns able to destroy enemy tanks at huge distances, while having armour so thick they were almost invulnerable. This was the genesis of the Tiger. Expensive and time-consuming to manufacture, only 1,347 Tiger I’s were produced as opposed to over 80,000 T-34’s, so the decision was made to maximise their effectiveness by grouping them in special battalions that would only be used at the most critical sectors of the front. These were christened schwere Panzer-Abteilungen – Heavy Panzer Battalions – of which 15 would be…

The situation began to unravel from the start. They were trained to complete their missions against long odds, operating behind enemy lines – but when communications could not be established and their presence was apparently discovered there was no choice but to abort, exfiltrate and attempt to fight another day. The eight-man team of B Squadron 22 SAS, known as Bravo Two Zero, had deployed hours earlier into the trackless Iraqi desert, then began an incredible and tragic odyssey, the circumstances of which are still debated more than 30 years later. Prelude to deployment When Saddam Hussein sent the Iraqi Army into Kuwait on 2 August 1990, condemnation from the community of nations was virtually unanimous and a coalition force from 35 countries assembled to deal with the dictator’s aggression…

Imperial War Museum launches new event Veterans, authors, curators and some of the museum’s famous collection will converge on IWM Duxford for a new summer 2022 history festival A new all-day event hosted by the Imperial War Museum is to take place at IWM Duxford on Saturday, 11 June, 2022. Known as IWM Live, it will combine the institute’s renowned collection, the expertise of its curators, book signings from leading historical authors and the opportunity for visitors to engage with veterans of conflict. Emily Charles, curator of the American Air Museum at IWM Duxford and speaker for the upcoming programme, says: “We are so excited to showcase everything special about experiencing IWM live and in person with this event.” Talks will cover a multitude of topics, from iconic aircraft such…

Price: £25 Released: April 2022 Meticulously researched, Persians: The Age of the Great Kings tells the extraordinary story of this superpower of the ancient world. In a narrative that stretches back thousands of years and across vast stretches of land, Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones presents a skilful and engaging history of the Achaemenid dynasty. In particular, this history of the Great Kings seeks to rebalance and reexamine the sources from which it is drawn. It moves away from the writings of the Ancient Greeks, such as Herodotus, and raises questions about how those writings might be best read, understood and placed into context. Llewellyn-Jones endeavours to place Persian sources – from administrative memos to art and archeological findings – at the centre of the story. Indeed, the urgent notes of bureaucrats…

JONATHAN TRIGG Jonathan is a former British Army officer turned historian of the Second World War and the Wehrmacht. Over on page 24 he recounts the story of Michael Wittmann, whom Nazi propagandists dubbed the ‘Black Baron’. DAVID SMITH David is an historian specialising in American military history, including the War of Independence and Civil War. On page 42 he discusses how George Washington used his experience in the British Army to help win the American Revolution. WILLIAM SHEPHERD William is an historian and author of several books on the Greco-Persian wars. Over on page 56 he recounts the critical Battle of Plataea, 479 BCE, which finally halted Xerxes’ invasion of the Greek city states.…

By 1945 it was apparent that Japan would inevitably lose the Pacific War in a grinding, attritional struggle. Nevertheless, its military fought with dogged determination, with most of its soldiers defending to the death rather than surrender. In desperation, the Japanese introduced the kamikaze suicide air attacks that took a severe toll on US Navy warships. Still, large formations of American heavy bombers, taking off from airfields in the Marianas, devastated Japanese cities with intense raids. In February, US Marines swept ashore on the island of Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands, only 1,200km from Tokyo. After more than a month of fighting, Iwo Jima was secure. All strategic effort was aimed toward an eventual Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands. However, there was still another amphibious operation necessary…

In addition to McNab’s (Mitchell) 1993 book Bravo Two Zero and Ryan’s (Armstrong) 1995 work The One That Got Away, Peter Ratcliffe, the SAS regimental sergeant major at the time of the operation, wrote Eye Of The Storm in 2000, a memoir that also introduces contradictory information about the abortive mission. In 2001, former SAS Trooper Michael Asher travelled to Iraq and conducted numerous interviews with witnesses while retracing the Bravo Two Zero patrol route. His book, The Real Bravo Two Zero, which is largely at odds with the accounts of McNab and Ryan, was published the following year. Trooper Mike ‘Kiwi’ Coburn also wrote a book, Soldier Five, published in 2004. “I wanted to portray events as they really happened,” Coburn said in reference to other accounts of the…

In the summer of 480 BCE, the Great King of Persia, Xerxes, led an immense army and fleet into Europe with the goal of conquering Greece. Fifteen years earlier the Athenians had played a minor part in the five-year revolt of his Greek subjects spread across the western fringe of his empire, and in 490 BCE they had added injury to insult at Marathon by comprehensively defeating a punitive expedition launched by Darius, Xerxes’ father. Darius had planned a second expedition in overwhelming force, but this was delayed by insurrection in Egypt and his death in 485 BCE. It was Xerxes’ duty as Darius’ successor to execute the plan. In strategic terms, the conquest of mainland Greece and the islands and northern seaboard of the Aegean would stabilise the empire’s…

Price: £7.25 (paperback) On sale: Out now War is a grimy, fetid business, whether on a grand scale or the microcosm of two individuals locked in mortal combat, one to survive and the other to perish with the thrust of a knife or the sharp report of a pistol. In his debut novel, Hostile Participants, Miguel Miranda captures the essence of war, its grittiness, its death and desolation that turn men into something distinctly different from the pedestrian existence that most experience. Miranda pulls no punches in the vivid descriptions of stark conflict conjured up in his mind’s eye, conflict that spills from shadowy city streets into deep, dark jungle. The backdrop for Miranda’s tale of intrigue and close-quarter combat is the city of Manila and the island of Luzon…

FÜR VOLK AND FÜHRER Erwin Bartmann Subtitled The Memoir of a Veteran of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Erwin Bartmann recounts his personal experiences serving with the division. It’s a hugely detailed and valuable account of one soldier’s experiences on the ground with the LSSAH, and while the narrative does not allow room for a broader or more thorough account of the division’s war record, the book is ideal for those with sufficient base knowledge of the division’s history. Hitler’s Personal Security: Protecting the Führer, 1921-1945 Peter Hoffmann Detailing the LSSAH’s first role before the outbreak of war, Hoffmann recounts the many challenges and close-calls faced by the men tasked with guarding Hitler. As well as the LSSAH, Hoffman describes the many rival security services and…

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s (IJN) Combined Fleet, warned that a prolonged war against the United States would inevitably be lost. In the event, Japanese naval aircraft dealt a heavy blow against Pearl Harbor and other US military installations in Hawaii. Within hours, Japanese forces also struck at British Malaya, Wake Island, the Philippines and Midway atoll. Japanese forces subsequently advanced from victory to victory, as Wake and Hong Kong fell in December 1941. By the following spring Japanese troops had also conquered the British bastion of Singapore, the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. However, the hard-pressed forces of the United States were resilient, focusing their efforts on stemming the Japanese tide. Although its offensive capability was initially quite limited, the US Navy managed to…

Born in Bavaria on 22 April 1914, Michael Wittmann would go on to become the most famous Waffen-SS Tiger Ace (a panzer commander credited with multiple kills, also called a ‘Panzer Ace’) of World War II. First in Russia and then most famously at the Battle of Villers-Bocage on 13 June 1944, in Normandy, he would win fame and glory before his death in combat on 8 August that same year. Feted by the Nazi propaganda machine, his legacy is a controversial one, with historians casting doubt on his achievements and abilities as a panzer commander. Wittmann was born a farmer’s son but didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps: he opted for a military life and in 1934, aged 20, enlisted in the army. Having served for two years Wittmann…

When it came to choosing a commander to lead an armed uprising against the British, unity was very much on the minds of the American colonies. Resistance to British rule had not yet escalated into a demand for independence, but a large army had formed at Boston, penning in the smaller British forces. It came mostly from the northern colonies, especially those known collectively as New England. George Washington, from a solid Virginia family, was seen as a man who could encourage greater participation from the middle and southern colonies. The commander in chief would need to be more than a general: he would need to be a symbol of resistance and, as unrest turned into revolution, he would have to inspire and lead an amateur army against a far…