Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 153 i History of War

Of all the nations on Europe’s Eastern flank, Finland has experienced perhaps one of the most fraught and complex relationships with its powerful neighbour, Russia. While today an outnumbered and outgunned Ukraine holds Kremlin forces at bay against the odds, Finland also adopted the guise of David in the face of the Goliath Soviet invasion during the winter of 1939. Weakened by years of military purges, and overconfident in its superiority (reminiscent of the 2022 invasion) the Red Army was battered by Finnish tactics and manoeuvres. The conflict ground on for several months, leaving both sides in the mood for peace – Finnish territory was ceded, but its sovereignty intact. Today, over 85 years after the end of what became known as the Winter War, Finland is ever alert to…

Seven artillery rounds screamed through the overcast mid-afternoon sky and exploded near the border village of Mainila, 2,600ft (800m) inside Soviet territory. Three Red Army privates and one NCO died during the 26 November bombardment. In a note handed to a Finnish official in Moscow, Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov called the artillery strike a “revolting act committed by troops belonging to the Finnish Army”. Yet it was Soviet guns that fired the rounds during a false flag operation that served as provocation for the Winter War, which began four days later. Joseph Stalin’s 1939 invasion had a primarily geographical objective. That autumn, the Soviets had demanded territory in the Bjorko Region alongside the Hanko Peninsula, both on Finland’s southwest coast, and requested that the border on the…

“BEFORE HE COULD THROW IT, HE WAS HIT. THE GRENADE DROPPED BY HIS SIDE. HE SMOTHERED THE EXPLOSION WITH HIS BODY. THIS GAINED HIM A POSTHUMOUS MEDAL OF HONOR”BRIGADIER GENERAL EDWIN H SIMMONS As explosions ripped the calm, smoke drifted across the sky, and the landing craft churned toward the beach at Inchon, South Korea. On board, First Lieutenant Baldomero Lopez, leading 3rd Platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, barely knew the men under his charge. Lopez had joined Able Company only hours prior to Operation Chromite, reporting to Captain John R Stevens at Pusan. Although these US Marines had seen combat earlier during the Korean War (1950-53), the upcoming landings at Inchon in September 1950 were daunting. There was concern surrounding the element of surprise as General Douglas…

The Lakota once spoke of the Moon of the Popping Trees, when the winter air filled with sharp cracks as frost split the bark of cottonwoods along the rivers of the Northern Plains. But in December 1890 another sound shattered the stillness: the sharp report of US soldiers’ rifles as they fired on a Lakota encampment near Wounded Knee Creek. Officials referred to the incident as a battle. More commonly, it became known as a massacre. By the time the shooting stopped, between 250 and 300 Lakota, many of them women and children, lay dead. More than a century later, the US government has stirred fresh controversy by reaffirming the Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers for their role at Wounded Knee. Nineteen men received them, still the most contested…

WOMEN SPIES THROUGHOUT THE DECADES The popular image of the female spy has been shaped by glamorous figures like Mata Hari, the exotic dancer and double agent played on screen by Greta Garbo. Or femme fatales like the Soviet agent Tatiana Romanova, whose mission was to seduce James Bond in From Russia with Love, or Jennifer Lawrence’s Dominika in the film Red Sparrow, a Russian agent trained in sexspionage. In reality, most female spies used their wits rather than their looks. They stayed under the radar while they gathered information under the noses of the men who couldn’t imagine that these mousey, respectable women could be stealing their secrets and relaying them back to their enemies. The press dubbed Melita Norwood “the spy who came in from the Co-op” when…

POPSKI’S PRIVATE ARMY BY VLADIMIR PENIAKOFF Recommended by Saul David “Often when we talk about special operations, we can slightly overdo their impact,” historian and podcaster Saul David tells History of War. This is not the case for Vladimir ‘Popski’ Peniakoff’s No1 Demolition Squadron, better known as Popski’s Private Army. Peniakoff’s memoir of his formation of a small elite fighting force in North Africa, first published in 1950, shares this name. “It’s a wonderfully fascinating account of a vital organisation with a handful of people that completely outdid their numbers,” says David. At its centre is Peniakoff himself, an extraordinary Belgian-born character of Jewish-Russian descent. David explains his strengths: “Peniakoff was not terribly fit, but he was fluent in multiple different languages. More importantly, he had huge experience of navigating…

HENRIK MEINANDER Henrik is professor of History at the University of Helsinki and his latest book explores the near 500-year history of the Finnish capital city. On page 24 he discusses the 1939-40 Winter War. IAIN MACGREGOR In this issue’s Great Battles, Iain recounts the Battle of Spotysylvania Court House. During Grant’s 1864 Overland Campaign, Confederate forces were able to hold back the Union attack, fighting the federal army to a draw (p34). SAUL DAVID One of Britain’s foremost military historians, Saul has written multiple acclaimed books, the latest of which explores the successful Allied campaign in Tunisia, 1943, and how it shaped the Anglo-American alliance (p18).…

From September 1814 to June 1815, representatives of Austria, Prussia, Russia and Great Britain met at the Congress of Vienna. These were the self-proclaimed ‘great powers’ that would restore balance to Europe. In their sights was the upstart Napoleon, who had persuaded French forces to return to him en masse after his escape from exile. The great powers declared Napoleon an outlaw on 13 March and later pulled him from his throne during the Waterloo Campaign. Our understanding of great powers stems from this coalition – states that can exert influence on a global scale through military dominance over lesser powers. However, historian and St Andrews University professor of Strategic Studies Phillips Payson O’Brien argues that great powers have never existed. “The ‘great powers’ idea is far too militarily focused.…

Finland’s greatest military commander had an aristocratic background – his family was ennobled by King Charles XI of Sweden in 1693. The son of an industrialist, Mannerheim decidied to return to the family tradition of military and public service. He joined the Imperial Russian Army in 1889, serving in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) and commanding cavalry brigades during the First World War. Following the Russian Revolution and Finland’s newfound independence, Mannerheim returned home to take command of the White forces during the Finnish Civil War. “He could not trust that his country would be able to maintain its independence and saw that it was crucial to fight against the Bolsheviks,” says Meinander. In the 1920s, now in his mid-50s and having secured victory over the Reds, Mannerheim retired from frontline…

9 JANUARY – 11 DECEMBER 1917 British Prime Minister David Lloyd George wanted the ancient city of Jerusalem as a Christmas present, but for more than 400 years the centre of three great religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, had been ruled by the Ottoman Turks. In the midst of the Great War, however, there was opportunity to strike a decisive blow against the Germans and their Turkish allies in the Middle East, while the occupation of Jerusalem would serve as a great boost to Allied morale. In Palestine, the British were aided by the Arab Revolt that erupted against the Ottoman Turks in June 1916, and through diplomatic and strategic assistance they encouraged the Arabs, particularly those led by the third son of Sherif Hussein Ibn Ali of Mecca, named…

NATIONS IN ARMS: FIVE ARMIES THAT MADE EUROPE BY BARNEY WHITE-SPUNNER £22 www.ospreypublishing.com From the Roman army of Constantine the Great to the US Army of the Second World War, former commander of the British Field Army Barney White-Spunner explores five armies that changed the face of Europe. Detailing the essential elements that make up a successful army, White-Spunner explores the challenges modern armies face at home and abroad, and how they might be overcome in future conflict. KOREA: WAR WITHOUT END BY RICHARD DANNATT & ROBERT LYMAN £25 www.ospreypublishing.com A ground-breaking re-examination of one of the most overlooked modern conflicts. This definitive history unpacks the lessons of Korea, offering timeless insights into the complexities of war and the enduring quest for peace. “COMPELLING, HIGHLY THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND TIMELY”– JAMES HOLLAND GENERAL ORDERS:…

Author: Damien Lewis Publisher: Quercus Price: £25(Hardback) Released: Out now Damien Lewis’ latest SAS book is entitled The Great Train Raid: The Most Daring SAS Mission of WWII, and Lewis writes with his customary verve, but this book is mistitled. The train raid is described in one of the 25 chapters, the rest of the book deals with other 2SAS operations in Italy in autumn 1943. The ‘raid’ to which the book gives its name was the liberation on 15 September 1943 of an Italian concentration camp in Pisticci, 45 miles (72km) west of Taranto. The 2SAS war diary summarised it as a “railway expedition… 180 Internees were released and brought back”. This review writer interviewed several 2SAS veterans who served in Italy in 1943 and none of them mentioned…

Author: Martin Dufferweil Publisher: History Press Price: £16.99 (Hardback) On sale: Out now For much of the last 2,000 years, Northumbria was a bad place to be born if you were poor and unconnected. It was border country, the bleeding edge firstly between the Roman Empire and the barbarians beyond and, latterly, the battle ground of the English and the Scots. As such, it was a good place to be born a fighting noble, as there was plenty of fighting and the nobility were largely left to get on with it by kings far enough away not to be overly bothered by what was going on. But as the violence largely involved raiding, looting and burning, with side helpings of rape and murder, it was the people who did not…

A daring company of the 5th Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry achieved an impressive victory near Arnhem amid the misery of Operation Market Garden’s final days. On 22 September 1944, they spotted a column of six Wehrmacht tanks and pulled a ‘daisy chain’ of anti-tank mines across the road in front of the first vehicle. The commander didn’t spot the trap and the exploding mines immobilised his vehicle. Further back in the column, the Allied infantry pulled a second ‘daisy chain’ in front of the column’s rear tank. With immobilised armour at the front and rear of the column, the four tanks in the middle had no way to escape. Two tried to flee across a roadside ditch but became stuck. Infantrymen knocked out the remaining two vehicles with well-aimed…

1 LAPLAND The 14th Army, the Soviets weakest, invaded northern Finland to take the ice-free Arctic Ocean Petsamo Port. To the south, the 9th Army aimed to cut off northern Finland. Both armies made little headway above the Arctic Circle amid near constant darkness and extreme cold. 2 NORTH OF LAKE LADOGA The 8th Army struck north of Lake Lagoda, tasked with coming round the Mannerheim Line’s northern flank and capturing Helsinki. The Soviets were successful in bringing overwhelming force to bear here against the Finns, but became bogged down and struggled against the defenders’ motti tactics. 3 KARELIAN ISTHMUS The 7th Army led the Red Army’s most important attack through the Karelian Isthmus. It was the largest and most powerful Soviet army in 1939, with 12-14 divisions in the field and more in reserve.…

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, VIRGINIA 8–21 MAY 1864 By the spring of 1864, the American Civil War had settled into a grinding stalemate. Nearly three years earlier, confident predictions in both North and South had promised a short conflict, but by now the nation had endured campaigns of unprecedented scale and carnage. The Union had failed to achieve decisive victory in Virginia despite fielding armies twice the size of the Confederacy’s main force, while the Confederacy, though battered in the west, clung stubbornly to its eastern bastion under the command of General Robert E Lee. The war had already cost more than half-amillion casualties, disrupted the economy and strained the patience of citizens in every region. The election scheduled for November 1864 loomed large over President Abraham Lincoln’s administration. Unless the Union armies…

TE Lawrence, forever remembered as Lawrence of Arabia, called the liberation of Jerusalem the “supreme moment of the war”. When the First World War erupted, Lawrence had been working as an archaeologist in the Middle East. His knowledge of local languages and customs came to the attention of the British authorities, and he was soon enlisted as a liaison with the Arabs in revolt against the Ottoman Turks. Lawrence established good relations with Arabs and their leader, Sherif Hussein Ibn Ali of Mecca, and his son Feisal. Dressed in Arab garb, Lawrence assisted Feisal in the defence of Yenbo in November 1916, the capture of Aqaba the following summer, and then in the conduct of raids against the Turkish rail line in Palestine. By 1918, Lawrence was with Feisal in…

EMERGENCY EXITS Imperial War Museums opens an exhibition on three colonial ‘Emergencies’ that shaped the 20th century When the Second World War came to an end, struggles against the British Empire gained momentum. The British Government called these threats ‘Emergencies’. IWM London’s Emergency Exits exhibition explores how the Kenyan, Malaysian and Cypriot Emergencies shaped, and continue to shape, Britain and its former territories. It uses newly recorded oral testimonies and 70 objects on display to look into the millions of former imperial subjects who fought for independence and were profoundly affected by their involvement. Emergency Exits also reveals how new tactics and a language of counterinsurgency emerged, from ‘hearts and minds’ to the continuation of ‘divide and rule’. IWM’s neighbouring communities in the London Borough of Southwark provide a case…

Author: Olivera Simić Publisher: Hurst & Co Price: £25 (Hardback) On Sale: Out now Biljana Plavšić is a Bosnian botanist, a former Fulbright Scholar, a lecturer at the University of Sarajevo and a globally renowned scientist. She also happens to have the distinction being the only woman tried and imprisoned for war crimes for her conduct during and after the Bosnian conflict. Author Olivera Simić tells the story of how in 2001, Plavšić was one of 161 indictees at the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the first woman since Nuremberg to be convicted by an international court. Charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, Plavšić took a plea bargain. She admitted being guilty of the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats on political, racial and religious grounds. Described by…

Author: Michael Livingston Publisher: Osprey Publishing Price: £10.99 (Paperback) Released: Out now Much has been written on Agincourt, but military historian Michael Livingston has produced a fresh and engaging account of the campaign and battle, and this paperback edition (the hardback came out in 2023) makes his ideas available to a wider audience. The subtitle alludes to the horrific arrow wound in the face Henry V received (as Prince of Wales) at the Battle of Shrewsbury, 12 years before Agincourt. After briefly describing this, Livingston then gives greater emphasis to the events in France that led to the insanity of Charles VI and a crippling civil war. His broader purpose is to move away from the mythology that surrounds Agincourt (culminating in Shakespeare’s highly influential portrayal) and show that it…