Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 134 i History of War

The unifying effect of intense danger, and extreme conditions, on soldiers in war is something you often read about in accounts and histories. “Fighting for the man next to you” is a motivation often attributed to veterans of modern conflicts. But what if the man next to you becomes your enemy? The experience of Irishmen during the First World War is for this reason one of the most complicated and compelling to read about. With the backdrop of political turmoil turning increasingly bloody at home, the Irish ranks on the Western Front were nonetheless filled with both Nationalists and Loyalists. Despite clear differences, they fought side by side, but this camaraderie did not prevent the impending tragedy of Civil War. Over on page 26, Professor Richard Grayson discusses how the…

10 September 490 BCE 01 BATTLE OF MARATHON A fleet of 600 triremes brings the Persian army, numbering 26,000, into a bay near Marathon. Despite landing a giant force on Athenian soil, the Persians become trapped on the Plain of Marathon and are slaughtered in their thousands. 1218-19 02 SIEGE OF DAMIETTA During the Fifth Crusade, a force sails into the mouth of the Nile. The ship-borne Crusaders build a siege tower by lashing two ships together, allowing a defensive river tower to be captured. Meanwhile, ground troops land and begin a siege. After eight months, the Egyptian forces retreat and the Crusaders land on Damietta’s river bank without resistance. 8 June – 22 August 1281 03 BATTLE OF KOAN During the Mongol invasions of Japan, at the Battle of…

From 28 November to 1 December 1943, the ‘Big Three’ – Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin – sat around a grand table at the USSR’s Embassy in Tehran, Iran. For several days, they discussed plans to turn the tide of the war against the Axis. The British and Americans agreed to launch an invasion of northern France through what would later be known as Operation Overlord, while the Soviets committed to launching their own major offensive on the Eastern Front to draw German forces away from the west. Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, was also agreed upon in support of both these offensives. While the Western Allies were busy planning their two invasions, Overlord and Dragoon (or Anvil as it was then known), German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was…

Ireland’s contribution during the First World War was substantial, and in many ways remarkable given the political divide on the island. Around 50,000 Irishmen were already serving or reservists in regular regiments in 1914 and a further 160,000 volunteered after war broke out. Around 35,000 of these men died, and nowhere was the sacrifice more severe than on the Somme in 1916, where 2,000 men from the 36th (Ulster) Division were killed on the first day alone, with another 3,500 wounded. Two further days of fighting, in September, saw 1,200 men from the 16th (Irish) Division die, with 2,400 wounded. These two units have dominated the narrative of the Irish in the First World War, but the story is far more complex, as was the attitude of the civilians back…

IN THE PINK All of the RAF’s strike aircraft received a distinctive ‘desert pink’ camouflage scheme, some before being deployed but others after reaching theatre. IMPRESSIVE RADAR GR1s had two ground-mapping and terrain-following radars in their nose, enabling them to operate at low-level and high-speed at night. NAUGHTY NOSE ART The Tornado squadrons adopted some rather risqué nose art while deployed on Desert Storm, which disappeared very quickly on their return to the UK. MOVABLE TAILERONS The Tornado’s tailplanes were technically tailerons, with the whole plane able to swivel to improve control and responsiveness. PACKING A PUNCH With two pylons under each wing and three long pylons, each capable of carrying multiple munitions, under the fuselage, the Tornado could pack a heavy and versatile load. A 1960s design that first…

Jumping from an aircraft into battle is a challenging prospect, made even more hair-raising by the fault-prone nature of early parachutes. The ‘Roman Candle’ was not uncommon during training, whereby a chute would deploy successfully but could not inflate. While usually fatal, the likelihood of such failures declined with the invention of the GQ X-Type parachute, a comparatively reliable 1940 design. Unlike the US paratrooper’s T-5 parachute, the X-Type did not have a reserve chute, reflecting the extremely low altitude of paratrooper jumps. The Dennison smock also made parachuting marginally safer. It was worn over a paratrooper’s equipment to prevent anything from getting tangled in the parachute’s cords. On landing, paratroopers changed to wear their Dennison smocks under their equipment, transforming it into a warm and camouflaged combat garment. Similarly,…

During the 5th century BCE, the Achaemenid Empire, or the First Persian Empire, was the largest and most powerful empire in the world. It boasted a large and successful military that had recently conquered large parts of Eastern Europe and the Indus Valley. Emperor Darius I was flexing his considerable might within his sphere of influence, with the Greek city states next in his sights. After Athens and Eretria supported a number of uprisings against the Persians, Darius’ army quickly responded by turning their weapons on the Greeks. The Persians defeated the Eretrians in just three days, before embarking on the journey to quash Athens for their perceived insolence. Possibly in late August, more likely early September 490 BCE (precise dating is notoriously difficult in classical contexts) the Persians, under…

SUMMER 1940 AIR FORCE AND NAVY DEFEATED In preparation for an invasion, the Luftwaffe successfully knocks the RAF out of the skies and subsequent bombing raids cause huge damage to infrastructure and cripple morale. At sea, a Kriegsmarine feint operation lures the Royal Navy Home Fleet north toward Scotland, while well-laid minefields in the Channel prevent British ships from interfering with the main invasion routes. SEPTEMBER 1940 BRITISH ISLES INVADED German troops, ferried across the Channel on specially modified barges, establish four beachheads in Kent and Sussex. Amounting to around 67,000 men (across nine divisions) and supported by 3,000 paratroopers, these forces secure key sites, including airfields and bridges. They also take control of the major ports of Folkestone and Newhaven, into which reinforcements and vital supplies can be transported.…

Saul David tells the story of the legendary British airborne troops in his latest book, Sky Warriors: British Airborne Forces in the Second World War. Nicknamed the ‘Red Devils’, they began as a parachute battalion with just 500 men in June 1940. However, with Winston Churchill’s backing, the Airborne grew to three 10,000-strong divisions. These men, who were dropped onto the battlefield from flimsy gliders, using temperamental parachutes, played a vital role in some of the war’s most important operations. Sky Warriors covers in forensic detail a range of nail-biting and enthralling missions, from the Airborne’s first outing at Operation Colossus to the capture of Pegasus Bridge and beyond. David unlocks these stories with a vast array of archival materials, memoirs and unpublished letters and diaries. David spoke with History…

In March 1945, as the war in Europe approached its denouement, Operation Plunder was launched to cross the Rhine. Bernard Montgomery insisted on a simultaneous airborne operation of staggering scale on the east bank of the river, and a force of 16,870 British, American and Canadian paratroopers landed north of Wesel during Operation Varsity. The airlift consisted of 541 transport aircraft and 1,050 troop carriers towing 1,350 gliders, meeting over Brussels before turning northeast towards the drop zones. The paratroopers began landing at 10am on 24 March, 13 hours after the ground assault had begun. Within a few hours, most major objectives had been captured and airborne units had entrenched themselves on all the major roads the Germans may have used to reinforce their units on the Rhine. From these…

A THOUGHT-PROVOKING JOURNEY THAT EXPLORES OUR MARTIAL HERITAGE Authors: John Sadler and Captain Graham Trueman Publisher: Amberley Price: £25 (Hardback) Released: Out now Historian John Sadler and ex-serviceman Captain Graham Trueman take us on an informative journey through our military museums (over 50 of them) and key battlefields. Sadler is the driving force behind the concept, drawing on his own curatorial experience and many contacts, particularly in northeast England. He and Trueman share their thoughts about places they have visited and they make entertaining companions, recounting episodes from the past and reflecting on what might lie ahead. As the odyssey progresses, we learn about the discovery of grave-pits at Palace Green in Durham, where exhausted, starving Scottish prisoners were force-marched in the aftermath of Cromwell’s victory at Dunbar in 1650.…

THE BIG APPLE CELEBRATES 8 May 1945 In New York, wounded veteran Staff Sergeant Arthur Moore watches ticker-tape raining down from the surrounding buildings as the end of war in Europe is announced. The official end of German operations came at 5:01pm Eastern Standard Time, provoking spontaneous celebrations, and Times Square quickly became packed with revellers. However, Nazi surrender did not mean the end of the conflict for Allied forces, who were still engaged in a bitter struggle against Japan. President Harry Truman urged Americans to “refrain from celebrating in order to focus on the task ahead in the Pacific”. TAKING AIM ON THE QE2 May 1982 A Gurkha soldier trains with a rocket launcher on board the Queen Elizabeth 2 liner, which had been commandeered as a troopship to…

The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 is firmly embedded within English mythology. The ‘Virgin Queen’ Elizabeth I’s crowning military achievement established her realm as the ruler of the waves and began the nation’s journey towards becoming a global superpower. However, what is often forgotten is the underwhelming subsequent attack by the ‘English Armada’. In 1589, in an attempt to capitalise on the victory against the Spanish the previous year, Elizabeth and her advisors organised an ambitious naval campaign under the command of Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norris. It had three main objectives: destroy the remaining Spanish navy, most of which was being rebuilt on the Cantabrian Coast; take Lisbon and install António, Prior of Crato as king of Portugal; and capture the Azores Islands to help…

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In the spring of 1940, Nazi Germany launched its devastating campaign into Western Europe. Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and France all fell in quick succession. German forces also developed plans for Operation Sea Lion – an invasion of the British Isles. For a short while, the future of Britain, and of the Allied war effort at large, was on a knife-edge. Had Britain surrendered, or been occupied, the consequences would have been enormous. How strong was the political and public support for making peace with Adolf Hitler during 1939-40? During the 1930s, the appeasement of Hitler enjoyed extensive public support in Britain. However, following the Nazi invasion of the Czechoslovak rump state in March 1939, and then Poland in September, the British public generally recognised that Germany could only…

When King Charles III brought Spain into the Seven Years’ War (1756-63) on the side of France, Austria and Sweden, he may have hoped that his nation’s belated contribution would shift the military balance in France’s favour and bolster its influence in a negotiated peace settlement with Britain. But, for Spain’s prized colony of Cuba, it proved to be a disastrous decision. The Royal Navy, sensing an opportunity to grab a valuable piece of Caribbean real estate from their colonial rivals, declared war on Spain in January 1762 and quickly set about raising an armada to cross the Atlantic and seize the wealthy city of Havana by force. The British chose Havana for its strategic importance. Surrounded by a thick three-mile (5km) wall, the heavily fortified island capital was a…