Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 120 i History of War

Shortly before the Second World War broke out, the United Kingdom began to look to its naval defences. Haunted by the German U-boat campaigns against Allied shipping during the First World War, many in the British establishment (including Winston Churchill) believed that enemy attacks on merchant shipping could again be a serious danger. Owing to German rearmament during the 1930s, updated U-boats were far more advanced than the Royal Navy’s arsenal of anti-submarine countermeasures. As a result, in July 1939 the British decided to lay a huge defensive minefield between the territorial waters of the UK and Norway. Known as the Northern Barrage it would theoretically restrict German naval access to Allied shipping lanes in the Atlantic. The Northern Barrage was a recreation of the First World War North Sea…

The end of hostilities in 1945 was not accompanied by a sudden disappearance of the threat posed by the sea mine. It is estimated that around 300,000 of these deadly devices continued to lurk in the depths at the war’s conclusion. Oblivious to VE Day and VJ Day celebrations, they remained infesting the waters surrounding the UK, North Sea, Baltic, Mediterranean, Sea of Japan and elsewhere. Consequently there was to be no respite for the Allies’ minesweepers as a massive effort was needed to clear up the extensive minefields that threatened the resumption of peacetime maritime trade. Nor was the effort confined to the Allies: their former German and Italian adversaries were also soon back at sea – under close supervision – sweeping the tens of thousands of mines that…

At 2am on 24 October 1917, Austro-German forces unleashed a devastating artillery attack against Italian troops defending land they’d captured in a long series of brutal and costly offensives. It was the opening salvo in a battle that would lead to one of the greatest military catastrophes of the First World War. Over the next six hours, approximately two million shells pummelled the Italian line along the Isonzo River. After two-and-a-half years of a vicious war fought in a dramatic, often frozen landscape thousands of feet up in the clouds, the Italian defences were well-built. Earthworks and underground bunkers had been dynamited and drilled into the region’s mountainous terrain, while an elaborate trench system stretched across the valley floors below. Although these had proven resilient in the face of previous…

It was over. As Publius Quinctilius Varus, commander of the XVII, XVIII and XIX legions, looked at the carnage surrounding him, he knew all hope was lost. For three days they had tried to fight their way to safety, through appalling conditions of mud and rain, while the Germans harassed and assaulted his retreating legions. The commander of the cavalry, Numonius Vala, had abandoned them with the surviving horsemen, trying to ride to safety. Now the native barbarians were amassing for the final assault on the remnants still under Varus’ command. Publius Quinctilius Varus knew what the Germans did with men they captured in battle. But it was the disgrace that was worse. His name forever tainted. As the screams and battle cries drew closer, the general fixed his sword…

Author: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver Publisher: Osprey Publishing Price: £30 On Sale: Out now VIII Fighter Command of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was formed in the US in February 1942 and began to move to the UK in May. There, they were to take up a role in escorting the burgeoning offence of VIII Bomber Command, attacking targets across Occupied Europe and Germany. Initially it was a campaign neither force was well suited to. Both were small, inexperienced and feeling their way by trial and error. The fighters at least had the advantage of an experienced core built around the RAF’s Eagle Squadrons, transferred to the USAAF and formed into the 4th Fighter Group, and of a small number of pilots with experience in the Far East. However,…

Author: Susan Ronald Publisher: Amberley Publishing Price: £25 Released: Out now Given Adolf Hitler’s humble origins, there is a grotesque irony in the fact that this son of a small-town Austrian customs official would one day bask in the adulation of some of Europe and America’s highest-ranking aristocrats and captains of industry. In Hitler’s Aristocrats, Susan Ronald explains how hundreds of influencers and enablers actively worked to blind their countries on both sides of the Atlantic to what the dictator and his cohort of criminals were doing. Some of these collaborators rallied round Hitler as a safeguard against a perceived rise of communism in the wake of the Soviet revolution. Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists, stands out as the most prominent ally of Nazism in the…

DR ROBERT OWEN Dr Owen is 617 Squadron’s official historian and the author of several books on the history of the squadron. Starting on page 24 he uncovers what happened next for several of the Bomber Command aircrew who took part in Operation Chastise. JAMES HOLLAND The renowned WWII historian, podcaster, festival director and broadcaster spoke with History of War’s Tom Garner about his latest book, The Second World War: An Illustrated History, as well as the Chalke Valley History Festival 2023 (p40). NICK SOLDINGER In Great Battles Nick looks at the clash between the Italian 2nd Army and the Austro-Hungarian and German 14th Army, in the Battle of Caporetto. The devastating defeat pushed the Italian frontline back over 90 miles (145km), while the huge casualties haunted the nation for…

During the Second World War, particularly the early years, there were several threats to Britain’s vital mercantile traffic: enemy aircraft, ships and submarines. And in the coastal waters surrounding the country lurked another danger – mines. During the First World War, Germany had deployed 25,000 mines in British waters, sinking 259 merchant vessels. To counter this threat the Royal Navy (RN) eventually amassed a force of 726 minesweepers in home waters. Yet on 3 September 1939, despite the last-minute requisitioning of trawlers for conversion to minesweeping duties and the re-emergence of First World War-era minesweepers from Reserve, the RN’s active minesweeping force comprised just 29 Fleet minesweepers and 25 minesweeping trawlers. The first losses to mines in British coastal waters occurred on 10 September when the SS Magdepur and SS…

Of the 19 Lancasters that set out from RAF Scampton on Operation Chastise on the evening of 16 May 1943, only 11 returned. One hundred and thirty-three aircrew had trained for this epic mission, 53 had died and three would now spend the next two years as prisoners of war. However, for the remaining members of 617 Squadron, the war was far from over. Though basking in the glow of the audacious raid, more dangerous missions and special operations awaited 617’s airmen. The first to leave the squadron was Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson. One of the least experienced to fly on Chastise, he had experienced technical problems and was then forced off track by searchlights. Uncertain of his position he had abandoned his mission and returned home with his Upkeep…

A groundbreaking collaboration between bestselling historian James Holland and award-winning artist Keith Burns, The Second World War: An Illustrated History is a new account of the key battles and critical turning points in the conflict. Most books about the Second World War are illustrated with black and white photographs but An Illustrated History presents the war in full colour, bringing the text vividly to life and leaving nothing to the imagination. The book is a compilation of volumes that Holland and Burns produced for Ladybird Books, the iconic illustrated brand within the Penguin Publishing Group. It is aimed at a wide audience, from history enthusiasts and prospective GCSE students to those who want to make sense of current events by putting them in an historical context. Holland is the author…

As we edge ever further into the 21st century, it is inevitable that our tangible connections to the Second World War slip away from us with the passing of the last remaining veterans of that conflict. They are now mostly centenarians, and we are fast approaching a time when that living connection will be gone forever. On a depressingly regular basis we see obituaries of veterans of the war, with one of the more notable recent losses being that of George ‘Johnny’ Johnson, the last living ‘Dambuster’, the poignancy of his passing undoubtedly heightened by the imminent approach of the 80th anniversary of 617 Squadron’s dams raid. That anniversary will also see the release of Attack on Sorpe Dam, a spectacular documentary featuring the story of Johnson and his crew…

Author: Prit Buttar Publisher: Amberley Publishing Price: £25 Released: Out now As an author, Prit Buttar has a commendable track record of trudging through the deepest and darkest mud of the Eastern Front of the Second World War to bring its stories to new audiences. These often challenging and desperate tales have too frequently been sidelined in favour of well-trodden tales from the Western Front or big-picture overviews of the powerful figures. As Buttar outlines in his introduction, that big-picture vantage also tends to sum up the human cost in numbers so large that they become difficult to fully absorb, and so here he tries to focus on one area: the Holocaust in Lithuania. While that target may be contained, there is no lack of context here. Buttar takes us…

“THESE FLOTILLAS WOULD CUT A PATH – TWO CHANNELS FOR EACH BEACH ASSAULT FORCE – THROUGH A MID-CHANNEL MINE BARRIER AND THEN THROUGH TO THE OFFSHORE TRANSPORT AND ASSEMBLY AREAS” Victory against Germany hinged on the ability to liberate the European continent. Unlike Russia on the Eastern Front, the Western Allies were faced with the challenge of a hostile shore; Germany could not be defeated until Allied armies were back on the mainland. This would entail massive amphibious assaults and – given the enormous threat posed by the sea mine – a huge minesweeping effort. Operations Neptune and Overlord in June 1944 would be the biggest test of the minesweepers’ ability to ensure an invasion force could go ashore without having been decimated by the mine threat. But before an…

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The enemy fire was ferocious, but the attack of the combined 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the US 28th Infantry Regiment had made its way forward in the oppressive heat of 18 July 1918. Second Lieutenant Samuel I Parker, commanding one of the weary platoons that had been fighting for hours, surveyed the situation. Parker realised that his newly established line was in a precarious position. While the front had been stabilised, at least for the moment, he could see little of the activity on the regiment’s left flank. Just then, several German machine guns began to chatter; bullets ripped into the ground, shattered tree branches and cut down several of his soldiers. The 26-year-old officer responded instinctively. Scanning the countryside, Parker located the source of the concentrated fire, beyond…

Beaufighters, Blenheims and Sycamores Containing aircraft from WWI to the early 21st century, Aerospace Bristol commemorates the many military and civil aeroplanes and helicopters that were named after the city Located six miles (10km) north of Bristol in the town of Filton, Aerospace Bristol is an aviation museum that exhibits both civilian and military aircraft. Situated on Filton Airfield, the museum’s main exhibition is housed in a Grade II-listed hangar dating from the First World War. During 1914-18, Filton was the home of the Bristol-based British and Colonial Aeroplane Company. Thousands of Bristol F2 Fighter aircraft were built on the site, with the Royal Flying Corps also having a base there. From 1929, Filton became an RAF base and was home to 501 (City of Bristol) Squadron that was equipped…

Author: Mark Jones Publisher: Basic Books Price: £25 On Sale: 25 May 2023 There is a popular perception that Adolf Hitler first appeared in 1933 when he became the German chancellor. In reality his rise to dominance commenced a decade earlier when he tried to take power just after Benito Mussolini installed himself in Italy. Mark Jones’ latest book looking at 1923 remedies such misconceptions. As he points out, it was actually Hitler’s breakthrough year. With a meticulous eye for detail, Jones shows what led to Hitler’s November 1923 Munich coup and why it failed. He also illustrates how a series of overlapping crises and tensions in Bavaria, Prussia and the Rhineland created a perfect storm. The model for Hitler’s future dictatorship can be seen in Gustav Ritter von Kahr,…