Professional Documents
Culture Documents
50
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Mark Corby
Military historian, lecturer, and
broadcaster
Paul Cornish
Curator, Imperial War Museum
Gary Gibbs
Assistant Curator, The Guards Museum
Angus Hay
Former Army Officer, military
historian, and lecturer
Nick Hewitt
Historian, National Museum of the
Royal Navy, Portsmouth
Nigel Jones
Historian, biographer, and journalist
Alastair Massie
Head of Archives, Photos, Film, and
Sound, National Army Museum
Gabriel Moshenska
Research Fellow, Institute
of Archaeology, UCL
Colin Pomeroy
Squadron Leader, Royal Air Force
(Ret.), and historian
Michael Prestwich
Emeritus Professor of History,
University of Durham
Nick Saunders
Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol
Guy Taylor
Military archivist, and archaeologist
Julian Thompson
Major-General, Visiting Professor at
London University
Dominic Tweddle
ROUTIN the
REDCOAT
UNITED IN WAR,
DIVIDED BACK HOME
The Irish
I i att Messines,
i 1917
1 7
RISE OF THE
ROMAN
NAVY
O
NAV
The First
Fi t Punic
P War
W
WHAT DO
YOU THINK?
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ADD US NOW
and have your say
Greg Bayne
President, American Civil War Table
of the UK
MARC DeSANTIS
CHRIS BAMBERY
is an historian
is a TV producer
and attorney who
and presenter,
writes extensively
an author, and
on military historia journalist. His
cal subjects.
books include
His book about
A Peoples History
naval warfare in the Punic Wars, Rome of Scotland and The Second World War:
Seizes the Trident, is published this year. A Marxist History.
DR SARAH
DE NARDI
is a landscape
archaeologist,
oral historian,
and anthropologist. She is
currently a Research Associate
at the University of Durham.
26
FEATURES
UPFRONT
Welcome
Letters
10
Conflict Scientists
18 ON THE COVER
Prestonpans
12
War Culture
Background
Timeline
The fleet
The battle
Battle maps
14
50 Resistenza Italiana
The Italian Resistance
of 1943-1945
Sarah De Nardi uncovers the hidden
history of the mass anti-Fascist resistance
movement that defeated the Nazi
occupation after the fall of Mussolini.
November 2015
EDITORIAL
Editor: Neil Faulkner
neil@military-history.org
Acting Assistant Editor: Polly Heffer
Books Editor: Keith Robinson
books-editor@military-history.org
Editor-at-large: Andrew Selkirk
andrew@military-history.org
Sub Editor: Simon Coppock
Art Editor: Mark Edwards
mark@currentpublishing.com
Designer: Lauren Gamp
lauren.gamp@currentpublishing.com
Managing Editor: Maria Earle
maria@currentpublishing.com
Managing Director: Rob Selkirk
COMMERCIAL
Advertising Sales Manager: Mike Traylen
T: 020 8819 5360
E: mike@currentpublishing.com
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THE DEBRIEF
58
68
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Listings | 72
Books | 64
David Flintham reviews
Attrition: Fighting the
First World War by
William Philpott and
The Eyes of the Desert
Rats by David Syrett, while
rancesca Trowse examines
Agincourt by Anne Curry.
NEWS DISTRIBUTION
Briefing Room | 82
All you need to know about
the Bristol Bloodhound Mark II.
www.military-history.org
MHM CONTENTS
www.military-history.org
Tel: 020 8819 5580
TWITTER
@MilHistMonthly
@MilHistMonthly
1 Sept 2015
Open to the public today:
The Sinews of War: Arms
and Armour from the Age
of Agincourt exhibition
@WallaceMuseum
@MilHistMonthly
3 Sept 2015
#OnThisDay in 1939,
Britain and France
declared war on Germany.
The Battle of the Atlantic
began hours later, with
the sinking of SS Athenia
@MilHistMonthly
22 Sept 2015
Yorkists & Lancastrians
fought #OnThisDay in
1459 at Blore Heath. Do
you know your WoTR?
www.
militaryhistory.org/
articles/
5-mythsabout-thewars-of-theroses.htm
feedback@military-history.org
@MilHistMonthly
MilitaryHistoryMonthly
L E T T ER OF T HE MON T H
DADS ARMY WITH GRIT
Many congratulations on a fine article by Mike Relph
(MHM 61), detailing the WWII defence of southern England.
Articles like this will help younger readers get behind
the stereotypification of life on the Second World War
Home Front. The reality lived by Captain Mainwarings
Home Guard platoon would have been a lot grimmer
and grittier than the humorous TV series made out.
The terrific use of contemporary and
original photographs showing the same village scenes really brought home exactly what was being
defended,how,andwhy. Virtually every walk we take into a local towns high street or village green is
a walk through an intense period of this countrys very recent history.
Such a great pity then that, for obvious security reasons, only too few pictures of the WWII local defences
were taken, or have survived.
JackLeatherhead
FACEBOOK
www.facebook.com/
MilitaryHistoryMonthly
22 Sept 2015
The Battle of
Bannockburn has been
voted Britains most
decisive battle in a new
BBC poll. Do you agree?
24 Sept 2015
The Siege of Przemysl
began#OnThisDayin
1914. Read our special
feature on the Eastern
Front, published in issue
49 of MHM.
25 Sept 2015
Harald Hardrada
died#OnThisDayin 1066
at #StamfordBridge. Is he
one of your top 5 Vikings?
London
SICILIAN REVELATION
Thank you for your excellent new Briefing Room
back page (MHM 58). I was captivated by the lowdown on the Roman Imperial Carroballista
the giant catapult or crossbow mounted on a
cart. I had no idea that artillery was invented by
the Greeks, let alone that it first appears at the
Sicilian city of Syracuse in 399 BC. We have just
returned from a blissfully (undramatic!) summer
holiday there.
Thanks for the good read,
Penny Deanna
Harrow
FRENCH
PERSPECTIVE
I read your recent
features on
Agincourt (MHM
61) and found them
incredibly enjoyable,
well thought out,
and very insightful
about the lessons
that could be
learned about English society of the middling sort.
There was, I feel, only one deficiency in that
more attention could and, indeed, should have
been paid to French society and the major agents
that opposed Henry.
Two other marvellous articles on the French
military (The Defence of Camerone and Behind
the Image) appeared in the issue, so it was frustrating to have the French reduced to cardboard
antagonists. An opportunity was missed to examine
Azincourt from a perspective that would be novel
to many of your readers.
Alex Mee
London
Please note: letters may be edited for length; views expressed here are those of our readers,
and do not necessarily reflect those of the magazine.
www.military-history.org
GOT A STORY?
Let us know!
www.military-history.org
editorial@military-history.org
Band of
Brothers
A mural depicting the exploits
during the Battle
of Britain of Polish
airmen who were subsequently stationed
in Northern Ireland was unveiled on the
International Wall in Belfast on the 75th
anniversary of the battle in September.
This unique painting was made to capture
the publics attention and remind them of the
exploits of Polish 303 Squadron, which moved to
Northern Ireland later in the war, and to help tell
the story of the Polish communitys contribution
throughout the war.
The launch of Band of Brothers also saw young
people from the Shankill and from Polish communities across the city come together to take part in
a series of workshops led by artist Ross Wilson.
MHM FRONTLINE
NEWS IN BRIEF
and digitised for
the first time.
The list,
compiled by
SS-OberfhrerWalter
Schellenberg (shown
right), documents
2,820 of the Reichs
most wanted people,
described as enemies
of the state, traitors
and undesirables,
marked for punishment or death. It includes notable names
including politicians, authors, journalists,
actors, scientists, musicians, heads of
industry, and religious leaders. Nol
Coward, Virginia Woolf, and H G Wells
are all on the list, as well as Conrad Fulke
Thomond OBrien-ffrench, the British
Secret Intelligence Officer who was the
inspiration for the character of James Bond.
Researchers from Forces War Records
have created an extensive database that the
public can access. The entire digital Black
Book can be seen and searched for free on
www.forces-war-records.co.uk
Age of
Empires
A new exhibition,
Artist and Empire,
is to open to the
public at Tate Britain
Image: Essex Regiment Museum, Chelm
sford
on the 25 November,
running until 10 April 2016. The exhibition
addresses the sometimes provocative term
Empire by examining how artists have looked
at war, conquest, and slavery over the years. It
will show work from people who helped create,
promote, or confront the British Empire.
The exhibition includes around 200 paintings,
drawings, photographs, sculptures, and artefacts
from staged paintings, international conquests, treaties, and last stands around the globe, among them
The Last Stand of the 44th Foot at Gundermuck
by William Barnes Wollen (shown above). The
exhibition will describe how artists through the ages
mapped the world and its resources.
Poppy
apparel
Also to mark the
75th anniversary
of the Battle of
Britain, the Royal
British Legion has
designed special jewe
made from authentic parts of the Spitfires
that fought in the battle.
A set of cufflinks, made in the shape of
poppies, have been crafted from bits of Spitfire
P7350 as a means of celebrating the pilots who
flew these aircraft in 1940. Poppy pins, lapel
pins, and necklaces are also available in the
provenance metal, with all profits going to the
Royal British Legion.
You can buy them from www.poppyshop.org.uk
THE IRON
HARVEST
11
12
November 2015
CHRISTIAN
FRIEDRICH
SCHNBEIN
QUOTES
FROM
SCHNBEIN
Oxigen [Oxygen],
as you well know, is
my hero as well as my
foe, and being not only
strong but inexhaustible in strategies and
full of tricks, I was
obliged to call up all my
forces to lay hold of him,
and make the subtle
Being my prisoner.
ABOVE Dipping cotton in nitrating
troughs in a guncotton factory, c.1900.
IN CONTEXT: SCHNBEIN
Creating cordite
www.military-history.org
The phosphorous
smell which is developed
when electricity
(to speak the profane
language) is passing
from the points of a
conductor into air, or
when lightning happens
to fall upon some terrestrial object, or when
water is electrolysed,
has been engaging my
attention the last couple
of years, and induced me
to make many attempts
at clearing up that
mysterious phenomenon.
Though baffled for a long
time, at last I think I have
succeeded so far as to
have got the clue which
will lead to the discovery
of the true causes of the
smell in question.
Although far
advanced in the career
of life, I nevertheless
feel still rather youthly
and have not yet lost
to a perceptible degree
my ancient love for science and philosophical
research.
MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY
13
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the death of Sir Bernard
Partridge (1861-1945), one of the best known Punch cartoonists,
who worked for the magazine for more than 50 years and drew
powerful images throughout the Boer War and both World Wars.
Born in London on 11 October 1861, he was the youngest son
and sixth child of Professor Richard Partridge FRS, President of the
Royal College of Surgeons (and Professor of Anatomy at the Royal
Academy), and Fanny Turner. His uncle was John Partridge, Portrait
Painter Extraordinary to Queen Victoria.
Educated at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire (with Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle), he worked at first in the offices of the architect Henry Hansom,
the son of the inventor of the Hansom cab, and then with a firm of
ecclesiastical designers, before attending Heatherleys art school and
the West London School of Art.
Then, after working as a decorator of church interiors, he became
a professional actor, under the pseudonym Bernard Gould. One
of his early appearances was in the original production of George
Bernard Shaws first successful West End play, Arms and the Man
(1894), which was set during the Serbo-Bulgarian War.
After contributing to a number of publications throughout the 1880s,
Partridge started drawing for Punch in February 1891. By 1892 he had
joined the magazines staff, and in 1899, the year he also seems to have
ceased professional acting, he became Second Cartoonist, drawing a
number of whole-page political cartoons during the Boer War.
His most famous First World War cartoons included The Triumph of
Kultur (Punch, 26 August 1914) published shortly after the invasion
of Belgium, and showing a German soldier standing over a dead mother
and her daughter in the ruins of their house and Unconquerable
(Punch, 21 October 1914), featuring a victorious Kaiser and a defiant
Albert I, King of the Belgians. He also drew a striking colour cover for
the Punch Almanack for 1916 (1915).
A number of his wartime drawings were reproduced as postcards,
and he also designed postcards for Londons Blue Cross Quarantine
Kennels, for soldiers bringing their pet dogs home from the Front.
In addition, he drew posters for the all-party Parliamentary Recruiting
Committee, notably Take Up the Sword of Justice (No.105, 1915), in
which the figure of Justice floats above a seascape littered with bodies
from the sinking Lusitania. He was knighted in 1925.
Partridge continued to draw cartoons for Punch during the Spanish
Civil War and, despite being nearly 80 years old when it started, was
still able to produce powerful work during the Second World War.
He died in London on 9 August 1945, the same day an atomic bomb
was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. He was succeeded as Punchs main
artist by E H Shepard, illustrator of Winnie-the-Pooh.
In 1951, by a strange quirk of fate, another cartoonist, John Gilroy
who had copied Partridges cartoons as a child and became best known
for his Guinness advertisements moved into his old house.
1
1. JOHN BULLS WAR AIM
Punch, 18 October 1939
2. A SELF-PORTRAIT
3. HAIL KITCHENER! VICTOR AND PEACEMAKER!
November 2015
www.military-history.org
15
GO FURTHER
Mark Bryant is the author of World War I in Cartoons and
World War II in Cartoons, both of which have recently appeared
in paperback.
16
November 2015
WATERLOO 1815
www.guidedbattlefieldtours.co.uk
Contact us for our 2016 brochure
email: LQIR#JXLGHGEDWWOHHOGWRXUVFRXN
PRESTONPANS
Prestonpans
1745
ABOVE The Dawn March through the Riggonhead Defile, 21 September 1745 by Andrew Hillhouse.
The Jacobite army is seen on the move in the foreground. Note the Hanoverian army in the background,
holding a strong defensive position protected by marshland plus the buildings and walls of two farms.
The Jacobites were able to outflank the Hanoverian position when told of a path through the marsh
that brought them onto the enemys eastern flank on the morning of the battle.
18
November 2015
Overshadowed by Culloden the following year the battle that finally terminated the
century-old Jacobite cause Prestonpans is little known. Chris Bambery researches the story.
www.military-history.org
19
PRESTONPANS
OPPOSITE PAGE The Battle of Prestonpans,
21 September 1745, showing the route of
the Jacobite night march, the realignment of
the armies, and the deployment of units prior
to the Jacobite charge.
The Redcoats
regarded the
Highland Scots, from
the mountainous
north of Britain,
as savages.
20
November 2015
Image: WIPL
www.military-history.org
21
A HIGHLAND ARMY?
The Jacobite army reached its greatest strength, some 9,000 men, at the
beginning of 1746.
Figures suggest less than 50% of the Jacobite army in 1745 came from
the Highlands, whereas 17-24% came from Moray, Aberdeen, and Banff,
and between 17% and 20% came from Perthshire.
The areas where Jacobite support was strongest coincide with those parts
of Scotland where Episcopalianism retained a powerful hold over the local
population, and most of those areas were to be found north of the Tay in the
north-eastern Lowlands a strong recruiting-ground for Charles in 1745.
Episcopalianism had been associated with the Stuarts since the 17th century.
The hierarchical structure of the church, with bishops directly appointed by the
monarch, dovetailed neatly with Stuart theories of absolute monarchy and the
divine right of kings.
Both James and Charles had been raised in the Catholic faith, and this fact
undoubtedly attracted a number of Scottish Catholics to their cause in 1745
notably the Glengarry and Clanranald MacDonalds.
A number of clan chiefs whose support Charles had hoped for failed to stir,
however, most notably Lord Seaforth, head of the Mackenzies, Macleod of
Macleod, and Sir Archibald Macdonald of Sleat. The latter raised two independent companies for the London Government, though these numbered just
200 men. Macleod of Macleod raised 450 (when he requested Government
funds afterwards, he claimed it had been 1,400).
A majority of the population opposed Prince Charles, largely for religious
reasons. The pro-Government side was demilitarised in the main, but it began
to train and arm forces against the Jacobites as the rising got under way. The
Government also benefitted from a chain of forts in the Highlands, control of
major strongholds like Edinburgh, Dumbarton, and Stirling castles, and the
presence of the Royal Navy off the coast, which made a French landing highly
problematic (though many blockade-runners got through).
Images: WIPL
PRESTONPANS
A JACOBITE GENERAL
INVADING ENGLAND
The Jacobites took Carlisle after a two-day siege, and
then marched south through Preston and Manchester
before reaching Derby.
There Lord George Murray argued for a retreat,
pointing to the fact that Wade was to the north,
Cumberland was in the Midlands, and that militia had
been raised to defend London. The Jacobites could
not defeat three armies, and they were too weak to
hold London even if they took it. Few English Jacobites
had joined the rising, and the French had no plans to
land in the south-east.
Charles argued passionately, but did not prevail, and
the army turned north. At Clifton in Cumberland, Murray
defeated elements of the Duke of Cumberlands force
which had caught up with them (this was the last battle
on English soil), and the retreat continued to Glasgow.
At Falkirk on 17 January 1746, Lord George Murray
attacked and defeated a Government force of 6,000
led by Lieutenant-General Henry Hawley.
LOST CAUSE
Despite their victory, the Jacobites continued
to retreat north, Charles marching from Perth to
Inverness directly, while Murray marched up the
east coast via Dundee and Aberdeen. But with
Cumberland in pursuit, the Jacobite army had
no choice but to turn and face him.
After an abortive night march in the failed hope
of launching a surprise attack, the tired and hungry
Jacobite army lined up on Culloden Moor east of
Inverness. Murray opposed this choice of ground,
preferring high ground to the south, pointing out that
the flat ground benefitted Cumberlands artillery and
cavalry. He was overruled, but proved right.
The result is well known. The Jacobite attack was
delayed, failed to break through, and then retreated
under attack from Cumberlands cavalry, who were
ordered to take no prisoners.
Murray eventually succeeded, in December 1746,
in escaping, making his way to Rome. There he was
received by Charless father, James the Old Pretender,
and awarded a pension. But when he visited Paris the
following year, Charles refused to see him.
Lord George Murray settled in Holland, dying aged
66 in 1760. He was buried in the church at Medemblik,
where his grave can still be found, marked with a stone
laid by the 7th Duke of Atholl.
TOP LEFT Lord George Murray (1694-1760).
BELOW The Battle of Culloden, 16 April 1746.
David Moriers famous painting captures the
asymmetrical character of the clash between
Highland clansmen and Hanoverian regulars.
A SCEPTICAL FORTY-FIVER
When Prince Charles Stuart landed in 1745, Lord
George Murray was sceptical about the chances
of Jacobite success, despite the fact his brother,
the Marquis of Tullibardine, was with the Prince.
Indeed, Murray accompanied his other brother,
now the Earl of Atholl (William had forfeited his
inheritance because of his loyalty to the Stuarts),
to visit the Government commander in Scotland,
24
November 2015
the first
Punic
wa r
at s e a
Introduction
BELOW When the Romans first built a fleet, they attempted to turn naval
battles into land battles. The corvus shown here in Peter Connollys
dramatic reconstruction was a combined grappling hook and
boarding bridge. It allowed Romes first-class infantry to get to grips
with their Carthaginian opponents before the Roman vessels could
be out-manoeuvred and rammed.
27
256
ROMAN VICTORY
AT BATTLE OF
ECNOMUS
TIMELINE
264
272
BC
255
ROMAN
INVASION OF
AFRICA
FALL OF TARENTUM
255
AND 253
ROMAN FLEETS
DESTROYED IN
STORMS WITH
MASSIVE LOSS
OF LIFE
257
ROMAN FLEET
DEFEATS
CARTHAGINIAN
NAVAL FORCE OFF
TYNDARIS
TIMELINE
249
BATTLE OF
DREPANA
218-202:
SECOND
PUNIC WAR
The Barca
amily became the
adership of a faction
The second
f hawks arguing for
war was
war of revanche
fought almost
gainst Rome.
entirely on
Hamilar Barca, the
land. Hannibal
eteran Carthaginian
invaded Italy,
ommander in
but was
western Sicily,
unable
ounded a
to destroy the alliance of Romans,
new empire
Latins, and Italian allies on which
HAMILCAR BARCA
n Spain,
Roman power in the peninsula
WAGES GUERRILLA
WAR IN WESTERN
ntending
rested. Scipio (later known as
SICILY
t to provide
Africanus) first destroyed the
the resources
Carthaginian empire in Spain, and
to rebuild the
was then allowed to mount an invasion
power and wealth
of Africa. This triggered Hannibals recall.
of Carthage. His son,
He was then defeated at the Battle of
Hannibal, became
Zama. The Romans imposed a victors
the leader of the Carthaginian
peace that destroyed Carthaginian power
army in Spain in 221 BC, following the death of
and reduced the city to third-class status
both his father and his brother-in-law.
247-243
149-146: THIRD PUNIC WAR
241
BATTLE OF
THE AEGATES
ISLANDS
Carthage recovered
somewhat from
the disaster of
the Second Punic
War: the indemnity
was paid off, and
the citys trade
prospered again.
Rome found
a pretext to
launch a new war
when Carthage
attempted to
defend her
territory against
encroachments by
Romes Numidian
ally. Carthage made desperate attempts to secure
peace, but Rome demanded the abandonment of
the city, and the Carthaginians were forced to fight
for their very existence. The war took the form
of a gruelling four-year siege, culminating in the
destruction of the city.
146
BC
The fleet
Image: AKG
Sea power brought Rome victory in the First Punic War and set it on the course to empire.
Marc DeSantis describes the building of the first Roman fleet.
he First Punic War (264-241 BC)
began over a single city in Sicily.
In the 280s BC, the Mamertines, a
group of Campanian mercenaries,
tempted by the wealth and luxury of
the city of Messana (modern Messina) that they
had been hired to defend, seized control of it for
themselves. Hiero, tyrant of the nearby Sicilian
Greek city of Syracuse, moved against them,
seeking to reclaim Messana.
The Mamertines made appeals for aid to
both Rome and Carthage. As repugnant as
they found the mercenaries, the Romans
decided to send help.
The Carthaginians were dominant in
western Sicily. The Romans feared that if the
T
30
The fleet
Image: AKG
www.military-history.org
The Carthaginians
constructed their
ships in kit form,
with all pieces
made according
to precise
specifications.
MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY
31
ABOVE & BELOW The corvus Romes secret weapon at sea. The corvus combined grappling hook (like a ravens claw corvus is Latin for raven) and
boarding bridge. It was mounted at the bow end, and could be used without tactical finesse: no manoeuvring was necessary, just a headlong charge
at the enemy line. The near end was firmly gripped by an upright pole to prevent the enemy pulling it away; the far end crashed down under its own
momentum to bury itself in the planking of the enemy deck and hold fast. The Romans would then storm across to capture the enemy vessel.
The fleet
were extraordinary. She trained her own
youths on benches to get them used to moving
their oars in unison with other rowers, and
also relied heavily on allied communities from
the Greek cities of southern Italy to provide
additional oarsmen.
In such a crash programme, though the
Romans managed to create a fleet that was
able to move itself about well enough, their
rowers skills in naval manoeuvre left much to
be desired. The Carthaginians, on the other
hand a trading people with a strong maritime
tradition were talented practitioners of the
demanding art of rowing a ship, ramming an
opponent, and slipping away before another
enemy vessel could strike.
War-galleys were not particularly fast.
Sustained speeds of five or six knots were
feasible, with sprints at up to ten knots for
very short periods. Galleys also utilised masts
(a mainmast and a smaller boatmast set ahead
of the mainmast), but these were used only
for cruising, to spare the crews strength. The
masts were removed when battle was imminent,
and sometimes even left onshore.
NAVAL TACTICS
Galleys did not need much speed to be
effective. The great mass and momentum
of the galley was what powered the heavy bronze
ram at its prow through the timbers of an enemy
vessel. Once accomplished, the oarsmen aboard
the attacking ship would back-water that is, row
backwards to extract it from the holed, flooding, and perhaps sinking enemy vessel.
Some of these rams were tremendous. Many
have been recovered from the depths, including
the 2.26m-long, 476kg-weight ram found in the
waters off Athlit, Israel, in 1980. The Athlit ram
was once mounted on a quadrereme, or fouroar, and rams on the bigger quinqueremes
may have been even more substantial.
Apart from ramming, the most widely
used naval tactic was boarding. This involved
getting close to an opposing galley and sending
marines over to seize possession of it. This
was a crude but effective form of naval
warfare, typically adopted by people lacking
the necessary rowing skills to outmanoeuvre
an enemy fleet. The Romans, fully aware of
their skills deficit, were eager to close with the
Carthaginians and board.
THE CORVUS
Few weapons of the ancient world were more
significant than the corvus, yet few remain
more wrapped in mystery. Polybius description of the machine is extremely brief, and
precisely how the device functioned in battle
has no definitive answer.
The basic components of the corvus were
few. Mounted at the bow of a Roman warship
was a 24ft-high pole of approximately 10in in
diameter. At the top of the pole was a pulley. A
rope was run through the pulley, and then tied
to a ring atop a downward-pointing iron spike
at the far end of a 36ft-long wooden bridge.
The spike, the length of which is unknown,
was probably the source of the boarding bridges
nickname. Corvus is Latin slang for raven,
and the name was perhaps bestowed because the
spike reminded the Romans of a ravens beak.
The gangplank was 4ft wide, and had a kneehigh railing on either side of it. The gangplank
also had an oblong slot cut within it, and
through this hole emerged the wooden pole.
When the Romans pulled on the rope, the
bridge could be lifted, lowered, and rotated
in an arc around the bow of the galley.
How this rotational movement was achieved
is not known, but it is probable that Roman
marines helped lift and turn the plank, while
others pulled the far end upward with the rope.
When they let go of the rope, the corvus
plunged. The iron spike would pierce the deck
of a Punic warship and stop it from getting
away. The hole in the gangplank, attached
as it was to the ship via the pole, prevented
the bridge from being pulled off the Roman
galley as the ships bobbed and jostled.
The corvus let the Romans hold a
Carthaginian warship in place while their
legionaries rushed across to fight the enemy
hand-to-hand. The boarding bridge evened the
odds in a sea fight by letting the Romans bring
their excellent heavy infantry to bear against the
handier Punic ships thus, as Polybius explains,
turning a naval engagement into something
that more resembled a battle on land.
33
The
Roman
Victory
The Battles
Marc DeSantis describes the long, hard, but ultimately victorious campaign that turned the
Romans from an Italian land-based power into a Mediterranean-wide naval power.
The Battles
The Carthaginian
captains all
sailed straight
for the enemy,
like predators
after easy prey.
Carthaginian senate what he should do if
he encountered a Roman fleet, asking the
senators if he should do battle with 200 ships
against a Roman force of 120. The senators
responded strongly in the affirmative. Very
well, Hannibals friend said in reply, that is
just why Hannibal did fight, and we have been
beaten. But since you commanded it, he is
relieved of the blame.
Image: Alamy
35
The MAPS
36
November 2015
The Battles
PHASE 2
PHASE 3
PHASE 1
www.military-history.org
37
SQUANDERED VICTORY
The Battle of Ecnomus was a tremendous
Roman victory, by any measure. A total of
64 Punic ships were captured. Additionally,
the Romans sank 30 enemy galleys for a loss
of only 24 of their own. The corvus had shown
its worth once more, by keeping the Punic
ships at bay when the Third Squadron was
trapped against the coast. The way to Africa
was now wide open.
Unfortunately for the Romans, the followup campaign in Africa was badly bungled
by the consul Marcus Attilus Regulus. The
Carthaginians requested peace, but Reguluss
terms were so harsh that they decided to
continue fighting. They hired a Spartan
mercenary general called Xanthippus, and
placed him in command of the home army
during the national crisis.
Xanthippus retrained the demoralised
Carthaginian army, and restored its confidence. The following year, 255 BC, he
crushed the Roman legions in a battle
outside Tunis, not far from Carthage,
captured the overconfident Regulus, and
put an end to the invasion of Africa.
The Roman defeat in Africa pointed up
the limitations of sea power in that or any
other age. Final victory had to be won on
land. Regulus had squandered the chance
for a negotiated peace agreement and then
lost. The clear-cut Roman victory at Ecnomus
perhaps the largest naval battle, in terms of
the numbers of men involved, ever fought
was anything but conclusive. Carthage was
still defiant, and willing to continue the war
with renewed vigour.
38
The Battles
Carthage had a
draconian policy
of crucifying failed
commanders.
MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY
39
Image: AKG
HAMILCAR BARCA
The Romans again gave up trying to win
control of the sea, and concentrated on
fighting on land. Yet the 240s BC in Sicily
were not easy for the Romans. In 247 BC,
a bold and resourceful Carthaginian general,
Hamilcar Barca, arrived on the island. He
conducted a hard-hitting campaign of raids
and ambushes from his bases at Hiercte
and then Eryx.
November 2015
The
Irish at
Messines
HOW SOLDIERS FROM NORTH AND
SOUTH FOUGHT TOGETHER IN WWI
I
Men from both
sides of Irelands
sectarian divide
waited for
the massive
underground
detonations that
would begin
the attack.
42
PLANS
Once the ammonal in the shafts had been
detonated, the planned attack was to be
www.military-history.org
Image: Alamy
43
MESSINES
of parliament, chalking up a record number
of votes in the 1925 session.
PREPARATIONS
We may not
change history
tomorrow, but we
shall certainly
change geography.
General Plumer
44
MESSINES
LEFT & BELOW Two British recruitment
posters aimed at Irish Catholics, one inviting
them to fight in defence of their Belgian coreligionists, the other calling for revenge for
Irish lives lost in the sinking of the Lusitania.
One sergeant
managed to attract
the attention of a
tank by banging
on its hull with
a grenade.
46
A DIVIDED ISLAND
As MP for East Clare, the 56 year old Willie
Redmond must have seemed unlikely material for the Western Front. A veteran nationalist since the days of Charles Stewart Parnell,
he was said to be more volatile, spontaneous,
and passionate than his older brother John,
now leading the IPP. He had condemned
the Boer War in the Commons in 1899, and
was associated with the emerging generation
of more forthright nationalists like Arthur
Griffiths and Maude Gonne.
More radical than his brother on many
issues, including female suffrage, Willie
Redmond had travelled widely in the
1900s, and admired the dominion status
of Australia and Canada. But on the outbreak
of the Great War, he was among thousands
of southern Irishmen who joined the newly
formed 10th and 16th (Irish) Divisions at the
behest of his brother.
November 2015
Image: WIPL
Image: WIPL
www.military-history.org
47
Image: WIPL
MESSINES
Without the
intervention of
Gavrilo Princip in
faraway Sarajevo,
Ireland might have
descended into civil
war in late 1914.
48
www.military-history.org
49
Photo: PA Photo
Resistenza
Italiana
50
November 2015
he Italian Resistance of
1943-1945 was an iconic
episode. Its legacy has had a
profound impact on political
and intellectual discussion
in the post-war period. It is still a topic of
heated debate today.
The Resistance originated amid the
tumult of the Second World War, and the
collapse of Italys Fascist regime. Various
forms of military and civil resistance emerged
between September 1943 and April 1945.
ARMISTICE DAY
Italy joined in the war on the German side
on 10 June 1940 the southern end of the
BerlinRome Axis. After a disastrous war effort
in which their German allies often ignored
or exploited the Italians, the King and the
(outlawed) opposition parties decided they
www.military-history.org
51
ITALIAN RESISTANCE
LEFT Partisans posted on a spur of rock. Many
Resisters based themselves in the higher, less
accessible mountains.
BELOW LEFT A gathering of Partisans among
the mountains of Piedmont in 1943. These mobile
bands would need support from many civilians to
provide food, shelter, supplies, and information.
Photo: Alamy
Photo: Topfoto
52
PARTISAN ACTIVITIES
The Partisans employed guerrilla tactics.
These included sabotage of power lines
and power stations, and the destruction of
bridges and roadways used by the Germans
to transfer livestock and other war necessities
to Germany.
The Partisans excelled at ambushes. They
would take the enemy by surprise, capture
soldiers or foodstuffs, and then retreat back
into their hidden mountain bases.
Some Partisans were based in local
communities, where they liaised with civilians
and passed on looted German supplies.
Community-based Partisans did not usually take part in active fighting, but rather
sought to further the cause of the Resistance
by disrupting normal life and spreading
propaganda pro-Allied material in the case
of the moderate and Catholic Partisans, or
pro-Communist material in the case of the
hardnosed Garibaldi brigades. Sometimes,
after carrying out their propaganda work,
these diplomatic Partisans, too, retreated
to inaccessible higher ground.
A DIRTY WAR
Fratricidal conflict was frequent and, on
occasion, bloody. On 7 February 1945,
Garibaldini Partisans massacred a group
of Catholic Osoppo Partisans (the Porzus
Bloodshed). But it was the continuous
cat-and-mouse game between Fascists and
Partisans that was truly lethal.
Mario, a witness who was part of the
Communist 18th Garibaldi Brigade in
Forl (central Italy), recalls:
The thought that it was enough to wear a
uniform to turn your neighbour into your
tormentor is still hard to accept. We [the
Partisans] were dying of hunger, typhus,
and fear. They [the Fascists] were laughing
and enjoying themselves. I still remember the
face of a little guy, half my size, who was hitting
me while I was tied to a chair. If only I could
www.military-history.org
PARTISAN EXPERIENCES
Danger was ever-present in Resistance activity.
Taking part in, or supporting in any way, the
the activities of the rebels might be punished
by summary execution.
Rosetta Banchieri recalls:
We soon learn how to dodge German and
Blackshirt [Fascist] reconnaissance patrols, and
thus learn to fight against fear, tiredness, the
cold, the fog. For a long time I have lingered on
the memory of the relief when we reached the peak
[where the Partisan brigades HQ was located];
we often lost our way, missed the right path, and
lost our sense of direction because of the fog like
in a nightmare, we could often hear voices but not
figure out where they came from. I still remember
the joyous welcome, the bread and butter and jam
awaiting us when we reached our destination,
and then the well-deserved rest under warm
sheepskin rugs, and early in the morning down
we went back into the plains.
Rosetta, a young girl at the time, displayed
great bravery in enlisting as a messenger
MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY
Photo: ISTREVI
53
ITALIAN RESISTANCE
LEFT Italian Partisans in the Belluno province with
SOE men Captain Paul Brietsche (front) and Richard
Tolson (top right, with the hat).
BELOW Italian Partisans armed with rifles force a
man to crawl out from behind a steel gate, as they
conduct a search for Fascists throughout Rome after
the city had fallen to Allied troops on 17 June 1944.
A DIFFICULT EXISTENCE
Most Resistance veterans, including several
I have interviewed personally, speak with
great pathos of the places where they were
active and the experiences shaping their
lives as combatants, helpers, or intelligence
personnel during those momentous years.
Veterans speak with emotional intensity of
the events they remember most fondly.
They recall not only favourite places but
also locales in nature so inhospitable that
they were forced to reshape and reinvent
them to make them suitable for temporary
human occupation. In return, they gained
secrecy, quiet, and safety: and it was this that
made them so special.
As in most guerrilla warfare, an experience
of forced nomadism, impermanence,
precariousness, and instability emerges
from all Resistance accounts. Communist
Partisan Giorgio Vicchi wrote about the
great strains of
HUMBLE HELPERS
However, those harbouring rebels and Allied
officers faced dire consequences if they were
detected. Many Allied officers, and British
54
Photo: AP Photo
www.military-history.org
A RESISTANCE TO REMEMBER
The duress is hard to imagine. Yet so
many chose to fight, or to risk their lives
to support those who were fighting. Their
memories and their experience are important in assessing Italys contribution to
55
E-mail: books@flyleaf.ie
www.facebook.com/FlyleafPress
www.flyleaf.ie
www.ancestornetwork.ie
I 11/15
TA
R
TORY MON
H IS
TH
LY
M
H
M
re
n
ds
MILI
NOVEMBER Each month, the Debrief brings you the very best in film and
book reviews, along with suggested historical events and must-see museums.
Whether you plan to be at home or out in the field, our team of expert reviewers
deliver the best recommendations to keep military-history enthusiasts entertained.
com me
MHM REVIEWS
Attrition: Fighting the First
World War by William Philpott,
Agincourt by Anne Curry, and
The Eyes of the Desert
Rats by David Syrett.
RECOMMENDED
Taylor Downing
The Show
considers the film
Must Go On!
of the Nuremberg
by John
rally of 1934, Triumph
Mullen
of the Will.
WAR ON FILM
BOOKS
MHM VISITS
MUSEUM
HIGHLIGHT
The Year of
Anniversaries
symposium in
Lincoln
LISTINGS
WIN
copies
of The
Cooler King
CAPTION COMPETITION
BRIEFING ROOM
O
TAYLOR DOWNING REVIEWS A CLASSIC WAR MOVIE
Then a copy turned up in the East
German film archive in the 1980s,
and it is now possible to see that
it was in fact a powerful piece of
propaganda and a fascinating
prelude to her later work.
The film was a huge success.
It has been estimated that 20 million
Germans saw it. Hitler was delighted
with her work.
Joseph Goebbels, the Minister
of Propaganda, was put out that
Hitler had asked Riefenstahl rather
than one of his male cronies in the
Propaganda Ministry to make the
film. This marked the beginning of
a falling out between the two of
them that lasted for much of the
rest of the Nazi era.
By the time of the next party
rally in 1934, two major events had
transformed the situation. In the
Night of the Long Knives in June
1934, Hitler had Ernst Rhm and
the top leadership of the SA
Brownshirts murdered.
Rhm had been one of Hitlers
closest supporters since the
earliest days of the Nazi Party.
The Brownshirts had helped the
party to victory in the 1932 elections.
But Hitler feared him as a rival,
and wanted him out of the way.
The problem was that Rhm had
been a leading figure of the party,
appearing alongside Hitler throughout the 1933 rally. Hence, Victory of
the Faith was now an embarrassment.
It was therefore withdrawn, and
copies were destroyed.
FILM | CLASSIC
58
A NEW FILM
The 1934 rally had to demonstrate
the loyalty of the entire Nazi Party
structure to Hitler as sole leader.
So Hitler requested (or ordered)
Riefenstahl to start making preparations for a new rally film that would be
twice the length of the previous one
and would be made on an epic scale.
Then, at the beginning of August,
one month before the rally, FieldMarshal Hindenburg, the elderly
President of the German Republic,
MHM REVIEWS
THE YOUNG RIEFENSTAHL
Leni Riefenstahl was 32 when she directed Triumph of the Will. She had
grown up in an upper-middle-class family in Berlin, and her ambitious
mother had encouraged her to take up a career as a dancer.
In 1924, she changed direction, persuading Dr Arnold Fanck, a
film director, to cast her as the lead in his new movie. Fanck was the
most prominent director of the then very popular genre of mountain
adventure films, and Riefenstahl, still in her 20s, starred in six of these,
including The Holy Mountain (1925), The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929),
and The White Frenzy (1931).
Riefenstahl became obsessed by the mountains, and entranced by
film-making. Ever ambitious, she directed her own first mountain
film, The Blue Light, in 1932. Hitler saw this film, and was hugely
impressed by it. In that same year she attended her first Hitler rally,
and was overwhelmed by the impact it had on her. She asked to
meet Hitler, and they soon became friends. A year later he asked her
to make the film of the 1933 party rally in Nuremberg that became
Victory of the Faith (1933) the film that was later withdrawn.
After this, Riefenstahl became Hitlers favourite film-maker. She
was promoted above all the male directors who had been working
in the industry for years and had become key players in Goebbels
Ministry of Propaganda.
Hitler knew what he was doing in picking her out, and in Triumph
of the Will (1934) and later in her official film of the Berlin Olympic
Games, Olympia (1938), she served Hitler well. It is a measure of her
prodigious talent that she ended up as one of the very few women to
play an important role in the otherwise exclusively male world of the
Nazi leadership.
nd Beethoven, along with several
azi marching songs.
On 28 March 1935 the film had its
remiere, with great fanfare, at the
fa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin. After
he screening was over, amid the
esounding cheers of the audience,
Hitler presented Riefenstahl with a
vish bouquet of lilacs. He had the
lm he wanted; Riefenstahl had the
ame and recognition she sought.
Millions flocked to see the film
n every city and town in Germany.
was shown in schools, church
alls, and barrack rooms across the
ountry. At the Venice Film Festival,
won several gold medals and,
more surprisingly, the Grand Prix
t the Paris Film Festival.
Riefenstahl always denied that she
as political in any of her film-making,
sisting that she was never even a
member of the Nazi Party. She said
A NAZI PAGEANT
Triumph of the Will begins with a
prologue shot in the clouds above
Nuremberg. A Junkers Ju-52 descends
over the city.
Hitler had used this aircraft extensively during his election campaign
in 1932 to fly him from one rally to
another. When his plane lands in
Nuremberg, he steps out like a god
descending from the heavens. Vast
crowds line the route to his hotel.
The image of the outstretched right
arms of hundreds, thousands, tens of
thousands of cheering people giving
the Hitler salute dominates the film.
The film is then broken up into a
set of chapters, each of which marks
a different phase of the rally itself.
MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY
59
MHM REVIEWS
NAZISM ON FILM
Riefenstahls Triumph of the Will
is made with immense craft and
skill. The camera-angles used, the
pacing of the music and editing are
masterly. It has an almost poetic
and heroic quality that is quite unlike
any documentary about Nazism that
had ever been made before.
www.military-history.org
61
ds
com me
ONWARD CHRISTIAN
SOLDIERS
By the turn of the century, Music
Hall had all but replaced the more
progressive folk song for the
working class; yet singing together
was still something people did. The
church was as important socially as it
was as a matter of faith, and formed
a vital part of that singing culture.
Many soldiers were attached to
certain hymns from childhood, and
at the start of the war were comforted
by chaplain-led services encouraging
them to kill the Hun. The chaplain
of the House of Commons, we learn,
declared that to kill Germans is
a divine service in the fullest
acceptance of the word. Interesting,
then, that soldiers songs are less often
about killing the Hun than giving
expression to outrage against their
superior officers for example, to the
tune of Onward Christian Soldiers:
TORY MON
H IS
TH
M
H
M
re
n
John Mullen
Ashgate, 18.99 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1472441591
ohn Mullens history of song
in WWI is a bracing read. A
throb of anger at what was
an international atrocity pulses
through this impeccably researched
book. During a WWI centenary
that has often fixated on victory
and nationalism, this is a valuable
account for those wanting to
understand something of the true
suffering and resistance put up by
our ancestors, coerced into fighting
a war not in their interests. This will
also be a valuable resource for filmmakers and playwrights needing
period detail and vivid imagery.
The aesthetic and musical roots
of the popular music of WWI lie in
Victorian and early 20th-century
Music Hall, and here Mullen presents
a thorough overview of that industry,
with the developing genres of revue
and pantomime. For, just like the
factories or railways, an industry it was:
the Music Hall had a vast infrastructure
of technicians, front-of-house staff,
stage managers, and artistes, who
engaged in labour relations strikes
by stagehands and performers for
better wages and conditions as they
worked to amuse, cheer, entertain, and
O T
LY
TA
R
T
MILI
MHM REVIEWS
SOLDIERS SONGS
The long months of immobility, and a
mass army raised on collective singing
in the music halls, churches, and
schools, produced a rich repertoire that
had become somewhat polemical. The
earlier flag-waving patriotism of Music
Hall had been eroded through suffering,
expressed famously through Hanging
on the Old Barbed Wire.
The last two chapters, Songs
About the War and I Want To Go
Home, form the heart of the book.
Soldiers songs, detached from
contemporary Music Hall, were as
different as slave songs were from
blackface minstrelsy. In this sense,
then, the songs were free. There is
fascinating information here, giving
context to those songs. A section in
the final chapter, Live and Let Live,
gives an account of how ordinary
soldiers colluded with the enemy to
inflict as few casualties as possible
through timed raids. Officers who
allowed this would be replaced
and punished, yet not as harshly
as ordinary Tommys, who could be
crucified by being tied to gun wheels
www.military-history.org
JAN WOOLF
Author and playwright
MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY
63
OO S
THE BEST NEW MILITARY HISTORY TITLES THIS MONTH
ATTRITION: FIGHTING
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
William Philpott
Abacus, 10.99 (pbk)
ISBN 978-0349000077
AGINCOURT
Anne Curry
Oxford University Press,
18.99 (hbk)
ISBN 978-0199681013
gincourt: 600 years on, the name still resonates with the British public.
Indeed, it is one of the few victorious battles in English history whose
name is widely known. In her entertaining and readable book, Anne
Curry attempts to find out why this should be so, exploring the differing
accounts and myths surrounding the battle.
64
This is a careful examination of how Agincourt fits into what we now know as the
100 Years War: why Henry V invaded France (he wanted the glory), why the army
included so many archers (they were cheap), as well as the story of the battle itself.
Part of Agincourts appeal lies in its tale of the plucky English heavily outnumbered by the enemy. The battle-plan was decisive in this victory: with Henrys
troops forming a horseshoe shape, the French were funnelled into their centre,
and then attacked from three sides. Forced to halt, and hindered by the soft
ground, French bodies piled up, many suffocated face down in the unforgiving
mud under the weight of their countrymen.
As well as the battle itself, Curry looks at how the story has been subtly
altered by chroniclers over the centuries. She considers how Shakespeare, in his
play Henry V, made a major contribution to the myth. Curry also examines the
film of Shakespeares play, starring Laurence Olivier, which was released just
six months after D-Day. These are examples of how Agincourt has been used
over the centuries exhumed and recast at times of national peril, invoking
national identity, and bolstering the image of the superiority of the British.
Curry also debunks some of the myths and legends surrounding Agincourt.
She tells us that the Welsh did not predominate among Henrys archers: although
figures of 5,000 are often quoted, records show that only 500 archers were
raised from Wales. Nor was the V-sign invented at Agincourt there is no
evidence that it began in the 15th century, nor that the French cut off the fingers
of captured archers apparently this is just another urban myth!
FRANCESCA TROWSE
November 2015
MHM REVIEWS
he Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was a remarkable unit. With the
ability to travel thousands of miles and operate for long periods behind enemy lines, it was a force without equal in the North African theatre. The
LRDG can trace its roots to the long-range patrols that operated along
the EgyptianLibyan border during the First Word War, although, ultimately,
it was the brainchild of Ralph Bagnold who, between the wars, explored
www.military-history.org
great tracts of the Libyan Desert in the company of a few like-minded fellow
army officers. The story of Bagnold adventurer, explorer, scientist, and
warrior would itself make fascinating and inspiring reading.
David Syretts study outlines these origins, then details the story of
the LRDG from its formation in 1940 until the end of the fighting in North
Africa in 1942. Principally a reconnaissance unit, it did occasionally perform
small-scale raiding (piracy on the high desert). But as was common
among British Special Forces, there was a tendency for the LRDG to
be misused: Wavell understood the purpose of the LRDG, but, initially
at least, Montgomery did not.
Arguably, North Africa was the birthplace of British Special Forces
during the Second World War, and while the heroics of the Special Air Service
tend to grab the headlines, it was the LRDG that was the most effective.
Yet the author still manages to devote a number of pages to the exploits
of David Stirlings men. Of course, the two units are very closely linked,
but without the LRDG, the SAS probably wouldnt have existed for more
than a few months. So, given what has already been written about the SAS
elsewhere, so much detail here seems unnecessary.
This, however, is no more than a minor distraction from what is a decent
study. This is not a unique book, but what makes it really stand out are the
excellent maps: these are a joy to view, and are sure to appeal to anyone
with an interest in the topography of war.
DAVID FLINTHAM
MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY
65
66
Madness in Mogadishu
Lt Col Michael Whetstone
Stackpole Books, 19.77 (hbk)
Strategy: a history
Lawrence Freedman
Oxford University Press,
16.99 (pbk)
Scourge of Rome
Douglas Jackson
Bantam Press,
18.99 (hbk)
ISBN 978-0190229238
ISBN 978-0593070581
ISBN 978-0811715737
ISBN 978-1783270286
ISBN 978-1107080515
ISBN 978-1848328228
November 2015
G
GENEALOGY
FAMILYSEARCH INTERNATIONAL
SU
02
FREE
ENTRY
VISIT
WESTERPLATTE: MUSEUM OF
THE SECOND WORLD WAR
PL 80-831 Gdansk, 81-83 Duga Street
+48 58 323 75 20
www.muzeum1939.pl
Open to visitors all year; there is a charge for the museum,
New Port Lighthouse and Post Office Museum Gdansk
FROM SPA TO
MILITARY DEPOT
The peninsula was originally a health
resort and spa, which by the 1880s
and 1890s had over 140,000 visitors
annually. It served as a city beach for
the large numbers of visitors from
the Kingdom of Poland as well as
the German Reich. But it had also
been involved in earlier wars, and
entrenchments from the time of
Frederick the Great and the Napoleonic era can still be seen.
After the First World War, Gdansk
became the Free City of Danzig (its
German name) under the protection
of the League of Nations. The city
comprised a majority German population, with Poles in the minority, and
this was to create enormous difficulties with the rise of Hitler and the
Nazis in the early 1930s Gdansk
effectively became a German port.
During the Polish-Soviet War (19191921), a neutral Germany forbade the
movement of arms to Poland across
her territory; this led to intense
diplomatic gestures from Poland
towards the League to allow her to
use Gdan sk as a trans-shipment
area. On 22 June 1921, the League
finally recognised Polands right to
use the port and to allocate a small
military garrison to supervise arms
movements; this was in the face of
Free City opposition, and a dispute
MHM VISITS
03
04
GDA SK
P OL A ND
05
THE BATTLE OF
WESTERPLATTE
On 25 August 1939, the German
training battleship Schleswig-Holstein
entered Gdansk harbour on the
www.military-history.org
machine-gun fire. A direct hit demolished Guardhouse Five, with only two
defenders surviving, and the barracks
building suffered two direct hits, its
special construction absorbing the
impact, leaving all inside unharmed.
The air raid killed ten defenders and
wounded six; but its main effect was
psychological, and there is every
indication that, had the Germans
launched a ground offensive soon
afterwards, the depot would have
fallen. At this point, Sucharski decided
to surrender the peninsula, but he
was met with vociferous opposition from his second-in-command,
Captain Franciszek Dabrowski; the
garrison decided to fight on.
German attempts to destroy the
depot continued with further shelling
from two torpedo boats in the Bay
of Gdan sk on 4 September. On the
night of 5/6 September, the attackers
tried to set fire to the Westerplatte
forest, but the smoke only served to
MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY
69
06
07
08
AN OPEN-AIR MUSEUM
Like many Second World War sites in
what was to become the Soviet sphere
70
November 2015
ISTI S
SYMPOSIUM
420
ENTRY
THE YEAR OF
ANNIVERSARIES
6-8 November 2015
EXHIBITION
www.royalarmouries.org
020 3166 6660
24.50
ENTRY
o commemorate the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, a special Royal Armouries
exhibition will be held in the White Tower at the Tower of London. Bringing together rare objects
for the first time, including medieval arms and armour, art, music, sculpture, and manuscripts, the
exhibition will reveal the story of the road to battle, the events of 25 October 1415, and the aftermath,
while also exploring the popular myths, reality, and legacy of this extraordinary battle.
TALK
72
8
ENTRY
November 2015
MAKE A POPPY
ENTRY
TOUR
LECTURE
FREE
FREE
ENTRY
ENTRY
DATES TO
REMEMBER
MHM VISITS
FREE
ACTIVITY
Conservation Centre
Open Week
Royal Air Force Museum
Cosford, Shropshire, TF11 8UP
www.rafmuseum.org.uk
14 NOVEMBER 2015
10 November 2015
Museum of London, 150 London Wall, ECY 5HN
www.gresham.ac.uk
020 7831 0575
28 November 2015
Sandal Castle, Manygates Lane,
Wakefield, WF2 7DG
EVENT
16 NOVEMBER 2015
11
ENTRY
15 November 2015
Brooklands Museum, Brooklands
Road,Weybridge,Surrey, KT13 0QN
www.brooklandsmuseum.com
01932 857381
Over 80 military vehicles, spanning the decades and from all across the world, are expected at
Brooklands annual Military Vehicles Day. As well as spectacular displays in the Paddock and
around the site, there will be the chance to see some of the machines being put through their
paces as they tackle Test Hill and the off-road circuit at Mercedes-Benz World. In addition to the
military vehicles, a host of wartime re-enactors will join the event.
www.military-history.org
73
T
TOURS
THERE ARE A SELECT NUMBER OF BATTLEFIELD TOURS THAT EVERY MILITARY HISTORY ENTHUSIAST SHOULD
EXPERIENCE. HERE WE LIST SOME OF THE FINEST, MOST REASONABLY PRICED WORLDWIDE TOURS AVAILABLE.
GALINA
INTERNATIONAL
BATTLEFIELD
TOURS
KIRKER HOLIDAYS
Galina began
organising tours to
the battlefields of
France, Belgium, and
the Netherlands in
1989. In those days, 20 or 30 people at the Last Post Ceremony in Ypres
was regarded a crowd. Times change, but we remain an independent
and family-owned company, offering the same high quality of personal
service today as we did then. Whilst primarily a group travel company,
we also arrange tours for individuals wishing to attend major anniversary events, drawing on our long experience as Official Tour Operators
to organisations such as the Normandy Veterans Association. Our
guides are selected and trained by us and have an academic or military
background, great experience, and an enthusiasm for sharing their
knowledge.
TEL: 01244 340 777
EMAIL: info@wartours.com
WEB: www.wartours.com
TWITTER: @Wartours
SELECTED TOURS: Somme 100th
Anniversary, 29 June - 3 July 2016
GUIDED
BATTLEFIELD
TOURS
We pride ourselves
on providing our
guests with a quality,
personal experience.
Our greatest recommendation is the
number of returning guests present on our tours. In addition to your
expert guide, each tour is accompanied by a tour manager to ensure
your comfort and the smooth running of the tour.
Our battlefield tours are inspired by both a passion for history and
the belief that we must not forget the sacrifice of past generations. Our
specialist guides bring the sites to life with the past events that took
place there, putting them in their historical context.
We offer a comprehensive range of First and Second World War tours
in France, Belgium and Holland. The cost of the tours includes all
travel from the pickup point, bed and breakfast accommodation in a
3* or 4* hotel, refreshments each day, and entry to all museums. Our
tours are protected for you through ABTOT.
Specialists in high
quality escorted tours
and tailor-made short
breaks, Kirker Holidays
provides a range of
expert-led itineraries for
those with an interest in
history, archaeology, art,
architecture, and music.
As we mark the
centenary of the First
World War and the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, Kirker has
created a selection of carefully crafted itineraries which explore the
sites of these influential conflicts in the company of expert historians.
During 2015 and 2016, military historians Neil Faulkner and Hugh
MacDonald-Buchanan will lead Kirker tours to the battlefields of the
Western Front and Waterloo in Flanders, and the Gallipoli peninsula
in Turkey. In addition, we are looking forward to embarking on a new
tour which will trace the Duke of Wellingtons progress in Spain and
Portugal during the Peninsular Wars the campaign which eventually
led to Napoleons humiliation and exile in Elba.
GOLD CREST
HOLIDAYS
Gold Crest Holidays
have been providing
specialist and
enriching tours
for over 20 years,
including tours
focussing on the Great
War, complete with
enthusiastic and expert
guides. Our highly
knowledgeable guides will help you to remember the past and
witness the sacrifice made by soldiers and officers. Experience the
centenary battle sites and moving war cemeteries with our included
guided tours of the Flanders and the Somme battlefields, with visits
including Flanders Fields Museum and the Last Post ceremony in
Ypres. Our tours provide great value starting from only 199 and offer
a memorable experience that can be enjoyed by military enthusiasts,
those with family connections, and independent travellers looking to
understand this truly memorable and historic conflict.
G
GIFTS
SCRAMBLE: THE
DRAMATIC STORY OF A
YOUNG FIGHTER PILOTS
EXPERIENCES DURING
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
AND THE SIEGE OF MALTA
EASY COMPANY
506TH
PARACHUTE
INFANTRY
REGIMENT - IN
PHOTOGRAPHS
TANKS A LOT
This Christmas dont just buy a gift, buy a memory that will last a lifetime.
At Tanks A Lot we have over 20 years of experience in creating unforgettable memories. With over 130 vehicles on 100 acres of playground, our Full
Monty Day is designed to challenge and exhilarate drivers and spectators alike.
Six different activities take you through every facet of our military themed
day. From tank driving to mortar shooting, our instructors will drive you to
excel and achieve the ultimate aim: the honour of driving 56 tonnes of fury,
The Chieftain, over what is, normally, a perfectly functioning family car!
Our staff will make every effort to ensure you realise the maximum of your
potential. Our youngest winner was 12, which means everyone is in with a shout.
Our feedback is second to none; but dont take our word for it, check us
out on Trip Advisor.
MATRIX GAMES
Can you balance and prioritise three different Theatres in order
to achieve your objective?
In Barbarossa: Decisive Campaigns, you are in command of the
German or Russian armies in the arduous Eastern Front of
World War II. You will set Army postures, assign Theatre based
Artillery, allocate Tactical Air Support and order your Theatre
Commanders to provide specialised battalions and staff assets to
the Panzergruppe or Army of your choice. But dont be upset if
they refuse.
Coming with a 300-page, hardbound book, the game is more
than a digital strategy experience. If you are a true armchair
general, it is a title you dont want to miss, and a challenging
representation of war that youve never seen before.
Its this gnarly, gritty experience of frontline Operational
Command that the game seeks to capture.
over 10
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30/09/2015 11:15
TITIO S
PUT YOUR MILITARY HISTORY KNOWLEDGE TO THE TEST WITH
THE MHM QUIZ, CROSSWORD, AND CAPTION COMPETITION
MHM QUIZ
Patrick Bishops book, The Cooler King,
tells the astonishing story of William Ash.
Ash was an American pilot who, having
been shot down in his Spitfire over
France in early 1942, spent the rest of
the war defying the Nazis by striving
to escape from every prisoner-of-war
camp in which he was incarcerated.
It is a narrative full of incident and
high drama, ending with a break out
MHM
CROSSWORD
NO 62
ACROSS
7 British tank, in production from 1945
to 1962 (9)
8 Island awarded the George Cross in
April 1942 (5)
10 Greek city-state defeated in 371 BC at
the Battle of Leuctra (6)
11 City where General Gordon was killed
in January 1885 (8)
12 Surname of actor playing Colonel Claus
von Stauffenberg in the film Valkyrie (6)
13 Tall fur hat normally worn as part of
ceremonial dress (8)
14 Defoliant used in great quantities by
the United States during the Vietnam
War (5,6)
19 Sir ___ , Royal Navy RFA badly
damaged during the Falklands War (8)
21 Kurt ___, German general, in
command of the XXXVIII Panzerkorps
from 1942 to 1945 (6)
22 Japanese company that produced many
military aircraft during World War II (8)
24 Wilbraham ___, British general who,
as a lieutenant, was awarded the Victoria
Cross for action in the Crimea (6)
80
November 2015
CAPTION COMPETITION
MHM
Answer
online at
www.
military-history.
org
DOWN
1 German tank, which entered service
in 1965 (7)
2 ___ Bridge, battle fought in Scotland
in September 1297 (8)
3 Piece of armour covering the lower
leg (6)
4 City three miles north of which
the Battle of the Standard was fought
in 1138 (4)
5 Edict of ___, signed in 1598 at the end
of the French Wars of Religion (6)
6 Kingdom in existence between 1801
and 1807, created following the Treaty of
Aranjuez between France and Spain (7)
9 Battle fought in the West Indies in
1748 during the War of Jenkins Ear (6)
www.military-history.org
WINNER:
Wheres the bloomin idiot who said drinks
are on the house?!
Joe Agius
RUNNERS-UP
Sorry Sergeant I had a night out on the tiles.
Stephen Johnson
I am gonna kill the SOB who packed my chute!
Hammerhead
81
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briefing
Youre barking up the wrong tree. The Bristol Bloodhound was a British surfaceto-air missile developed during the 1950s as the UKs main air-defence weapon.
The Mark II came into service in 1964.
It was. Two Bristol Thor ramjet engines provided the main propulsion. To speed
acceleration on launch, four Gosling booster-rockets provided additional power.
The boosters would fall away after some 3 seconds, when the missile would have
achieved a speed around Mach 2.5 (about 1,900mph at sea-level).
Though similar in appearance to the Mark I, the Mark II was more versatile.
A major improvement was to the target-illuminating radar, which was far less
susceptible to jamming than its predecessor. It was also given a larger warhead,
had greater range, and was able to engage aircraft at higher and lower altitudes.
The Mark II was capable of intercepting targets at heights of between 150ft
and 65,000ft. It had a maximum range of around 115 miles, with a minimum
impact range at low level of 6.9 miles and a maximum impact range at high
level of 86.25 miles.
As with the Mark I, the missile was kept on track by a receiver dish in the
nose cone that picked up a reflected signal from the target aircraft. But commands
could also be issued from the launch control post during flight.
Detonation was controlled by a proximity fuse.
-Royce plc
Groundbreaking stuff.
Who invented it?
Well, if we ignore the ancient Chinese and their gunpowder, a giant acknowledgement is owed to von Braun and German scientists at work during WWII. But this
particular variety of rocket is down to a team at the Bristol Aeroplane Company.
November 2015