Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Military History July 2014
Military History July 2014
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Strategy
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Landings
Aftermath
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D-DAY
Strategy
Equipment
Landings
Aftermath
Mark Corby
former Army Officer, 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, Research and Information
Office, 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
former Army Officer, military
archivist, and archaeologist
HEW STRACHAN
MHM WELCOME
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Julian Thompson
Major-General, and Visiting
Professor, Department of War
Studies, London University
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IRISH BRIGADES
FORGING FRANCE
ON THE COVER: A poster showing Britannia holding the Union Jack, standing on a
bluff and pointing toward Europe. A throng
of shirt-sleeved men gather around her.
Image: Library of Congress
WHAT DO
YOU THINK?
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ADD US NOW
and have your say
Dominic Tweddle
Director-General, National Museum
of the Royal Navy
NIGEL SALE
served for
twelve years in
the 1st Green
Jackets, 43rd and
52nd and is the
author of The
Lie at the Heart of Waterloo, to be
published in November 2014.
THOMAS
WITHINGTON
is a military history
and defence journalist based in France.
He specialises in
radar and electronic
warfare, contemporary and modern air
power, and the RAF during WWII.
JACK WATKINS
is a writer on
history, heritage,
and conservation, and the
general editor of
the Encyclopedia
of Classic Warfare (1457BC-AD1815)
published by Amber.
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MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
D-Day
Historys
most complex
operation
28
FEATURES
UPFRONT
Letters
10
Thinkers at War
12
War Culture
20 ON THE COVER
Perfidious Albion
Britain goes to war
MHM Editor Neil Faulkner evaluates
Britains internal conflicts as war was
declared in 1914.
MHM Interview
STRATEGY ANALYSIS
LANDING CRAFT
BEACH GROUPS
AERIAL INTERDICTION
BATTLE MAP
TIMELINE
18
10
4
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
www.military-history.org
EDITORIAL
Editor: Neil Faulkner
neil@military-history.org
Deputy Editor: George Clode
george@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
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Managing Director: Rob Selkirk
Lamb House, Church Street, London, W4 2PD
Tel: 020 8819 5580
COMMERCIAL
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THE DEBRIEF
SUBSCRIPTIONS
62
BACK AT BASE | MHM REVIEWS
War on Film | 62
Books | 69
www.military-history.org
Listings | 74
Top Five | 82
This month,
unsung heroes.
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CLASSMATE MIX-UP
I will always be the first to compliment you on the choice of the
American Civil War as a topic
for your magazine. In a crowded
market, these are the stories that
attract the interest of myself and
my membership. However, in the
recent article on Divided Loyalties
(MHM 44), numerous errors occur.
First of all, Lee and Meade were
not classmates at West Point. Lee
was a graduate of the Class of 1829,
and Meade of 1835. They did not
attend at the same time.
A further error appears when
discussing the Class of 1846.
George McClellan did graduate
second, but Thomas Jackson only
managed 17th. The first-ranked
student was Charles Seaforth
Stewart, who became an engineering officer in the Union Army.
Greg Bayne
American Civil War Round Table
of the United Kingdom
PRAISE, INDEED
Return to Arnhem
The organisers of a research
group are appealing for people to
accompany them on a pilgrimage
to the site of a pivotal Second
World War battle.
Operation Market Garden was
aimed at cutting the war short
by achieving a swift crossing of
the Rhine, and capturing Berlin
by the end of 1944. However,
the plan failed when the Allies
encountered stiffer resistance
than expected. Many men were
killed in the ensuing struggle.
This September, exactly 70
years later, Battlefield Memorial
Tours is to visit Arnhem, Holland,
the scene of so much sacrifice
and suffering. Press spokesman
John Philpott said, The Allies
8
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
July 2014
Napoleons child?
A rare and beautiful Svres biscuit
figure of a seated cupid will be
offered for sale by W. W. Warner
Antiques at the Masterpiece
Fair 2014. The charming figure
is seated on what is, in fact, a
apoleonic- tyle throne, complete with swans
head arms. The Cupid is believed to represent the
long-awaited first child to Napoleon I and his second
wife, Marie-Louise, Duchess of Parma. Napoleon
Franois Joseph Charles Bonaparte was born at the
Tuileries Palace on 20 March 1811. He was known as
Franz, Duke of Reichstadt, King of Rome, and died at
the age of 21 in Shnbrunn palace in Vienna.
The piece was modelled by Jacques-Jean Oger,
and is inscribed around the base with the artists
characteristic initials, OG, alongside other numbers
and letters which state the year, month, and day the
figure was made: 3 October 1811.
FLYING
LEGENDS
The Flying Legends Air
Show is famous the world
over for its exhilarating presentation of historic
piston-engined aircraft in rare combinations
and performing remarkable flying acrobatics.
Complementing the spectacular displays in
the air this July will be the authentic 1940s
atmosphere, which can be experienced across
IWM Duxford, especially in the Vintage Village.
The Manhattan Dolls make a welcome return
to the show, jetting across the Atlantic from
New York to thrill the crowds with memorable
1930s and 1940s songs. Their first-class 1940s
style and uncannily accurate Andrews Sisters
GOT A STORY?
Let us know!
www.military-history.org
editorial@military-history.org
MHM FRONTLINE
NEWS IN BRIEF
Illustrating
La Grande Guerre
The first seven months
of WWI will be dramatically
illustrated at the Fitzwilliam
Museum in Cambridge
through the colour
lithographs and woodcuts
of the print series La
Grande Guerre.
Scenes of action in the form of battles,
sieges, and airstrikes are punctuated by moments
of relative repose, including commemorations,
award ceremonies, and depictions of the Allied
forces taking five oclock tea or Indian soldiers
at prayer. The exhibition is the first in a series
of displays at the Fitzwilliam, running from 2014
to 2018, to commemorate the WWI centenary.
La Grande Guerre is at the Fitzwilliam until
28 September 2014. Admission is free.
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
1914
REST FROM
BATTLE
This intriguing photograph shows Moroccan French Spahis gathered around a fire
in Ribcourt, France, during WWI. Their
horses, ribs prominent, graze hungrily in
the background as the Spahis themselves encircle steaming pots of food
for warmth and sustenance following a
battle. The regiment was formed after the
1830 French occupation of Algiers, when
groups of local horsemen were gathered
together and attached to light cavalry
regiments in North Africa.
Three separate Spahi regiments were
formed in 1845, the first of Algiers, the
second of Oran, and the third of Constantine. These regiments were involved
in a number of campaigns including the
Franco-Prussian War, the Occupation of
Morocco and Syria, and both World Wars.
They acted as the personal guard and
escort of Marshal Jacques Leroy de Saint
Arnaud during the Crimean War, where
they were also photographed extensively
by one of the first war photographers,
Roger Fenton.
Before the outbreak of WWI, the
Spahis were made up of Arab and Berber
soldiers under the command of French
officers, with a few French volunteers
also in the ranks. As the regiment was
increasingly mechanised, more and more
Frenchmen joined.
They saw service during the First World
War predominantly at the opening and
through the war-of-movement phase,
but, as the war ground to a stalemate
and the belligerents took to the trenches,
the need for mounted troops died out.
By the wars end, all seven existing Spahi
regiments had been involved in the fighting on the Western Front. They had also
fought against the Ottoman Empire in
Palestine, with their numbers increasing
with the formation of the Moroccan
Spahi regiments.
During the Second World War, although
most Spahi regiments were mechanised,
a few remained mounted in order to carry
out patrols in North Africa. They also
took part French parades, including the
Bastille Day Parade in Paris, wearing
traditional dress.
The French Army still has one armoured
unit of Spahis, who served in the Gulf War
and who uphold Spahi traditions.
SPAHIS IN CAMP
AT ARSY
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
11
RAWLS
political philosopher
John Rawls is commonly described as the
most important political philosopher of the
20th century. The work of this reclusive
Harvard academic has become a mainstay of
undergraduate courses, and his ideas have
influenced Western and international institutions, most notably the EU and the UN.
Rawls defining idea was an argument in
favour of helping the least well-off. To eliminate the bias of self-interest, he imagined
forcing people to choose how society should
be governed without letting them know
where in society they would be. People in this
hypothetical scenario, he said, would act to
protect the weakest in society, just in case it
was them. Hence, he concluded, helping the
least well-off person was the right thing to do.
It is no coincidence that Rawls became famous
during the Vietnam War a conflict that
rocked American society.
Rawls arguments presented a uniquely
American account of why US involvement in
South-east Asia was un-American.
His fame and influence, and the strength of
his argument, was sufficient to rejuvenate the
whole topic of ethics. Ever since Wittgensteins
clever arguments in the 1920s, the field had
been left barren. Many wondered whether
concepts of right and wrong really meant
anything. Rawls put Wittgenstein in his place:
logic was only part of the answer; our instincts
mattered, too, he said. Right and wrong were
important because each person was important.
It was a heartfelt argument from a quiet man
determined to save humanity from another
battlefield hell.
12
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
BIOGRAPHY
Birth: 21 February 1921
Nationality: American
Profession: Academic
philosopher
University: Harvard and
Oxford
Death: 24 November 2002
HIROSHIMA
A capable infantryman, Rawls seems
to have impressed his superiors. He
had already been promoted from a
private, and would have gone on to
become an officer were it not for two
events in late 1945 events which
turned the future theorist against the
military for good.
The first came in the autumn of
1945, when Rawls passed through
Hiroshima after it had been destroyed
by an atomic bomb. The total obliteration of physical infrastructure, and the
even more horrific human toll, affected
him deeply. The scale of the tragedy,
and the fact that the destruction had
been deliberately inflicted by his own
side, was profoundly unsettling. He
wrote that the scenes still haunted him
50 years later.
The second incident was more personal. Sergeant Rawls was instructed
by a first lieutenant to discipline a
fellow soldier. Rawls refused, believing
no punishment was justified. This act
of insubordination resulted in Rawls
being demoted back to a private.
By January 1946, Rawls was as
disenchanted with the Army as it
was with him, and they parted ways.
Rawls was soon back in Ivy League
academia, where he would spend rest
of his working life.
ANTI-MILITARISM
The two incidents illustrate Rawls
ideas succinctly. The desolation of
post-atomic Hiroshima was not only
horrific; it was also a city where the
rich fabric of social institutions, laid
down over many generations, had
been wiped out. The challenge was to
ensure that a better society emerged
in its place.
Deciding what this new society
should look like was the task of the
Supreme Command for the Allied
Powers, and Rawls took this question
what should the rules of a society
be back to the US. But only in 1971
did he come up with a comprehensive
answer. His theory starts by imagining
away all that had gone before, just as
the past had been erased in Hiroshima.
The disciplinary incident is even
more revealing. Sergeants are required
to uphold military rules it is one
of their principal functions and
their failure to do so can undermine
the cohesion on which armies rely.
Yet Rawls put aside this large-scale
consideration to ensure that justice
was applied to a single individual. His
action foreshadows Rawls main intellectual battle against the philosophy
of Utilitarianism.
Utilitarians argued that the greatest
good of the greatest number should
direct policy, but Rawls contended that
this permitted the individuals concerns
to be overridden by the mass. The
integrity of each person had to be protected, he said. This principle became
the basis for his whole philosophy.
ANTI-RELIGION
Before the war, Rawls had been a
committed Episcopalian. His undergraduate thesis had been about Sin
July 2014
IN CONTEXT: Rawls
RAWLS
QUOTES
Justice is the first
virtue of social institutions, as truth is of
systems of thought.
Each person possesses an inviolability
founded on justice
that even the welfare
of society as a whole
cannot override. For
this reason justice
denies that the loss
of freedom for some
is made right by a
greater good shared
by others.
The suppression of
liberty is always likely
to be irrational.
Many conservative
writers have contended that the tendency
to equality in modern
social movements
is the expression of
envy. In this way they
seek to discredit this
trend, attributing it to
collectively harmful
impulses.
Justice as fairness
provides what we
want.
www.military-history.org
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
13
14
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
July 2014
BRITISH MORTAR
k
www.military-history.org
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
15
RUPERT
EXTRACT FROM
The D-Day Kit-Bag:
the ultimate guide
to the Allied assault
on Europe
Martin Robson
Conway,
16.99
ISBN 978-1844862320
RESISTANCE RADIO
16
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
July 2014
With the start of its centenary in view, Mark Corby travelled to Oxford
to talk to Hew Strachan, a leading historian of the First World War, and
Chichele Professor of the History of War, All Souls College.
18
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
Hew Strachan
without being able to establish a secure foothold
on the Continent.
I also find it very strange that Niall sees the war
above all as an Anglo-German conflict. If you read
The Pity of War, it is as though countries like Russia,
France, Austria-Hungary the original belligerents
just have walk-on parts, and thats just nonsense.
If Britain hadnt
entered the war
in August 1914, and
France had been
overrun by Germany,
Britain would still have
been forced into the
war later that year.
MHM INTERVIEW
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
19
Britain
PERFIDIOUS ALBION
In his final article about the Great Powers of Europe on the eve of war,
Neil Faulkner reveals a deeply divided Britain.
20
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
July 2014
Image: WIPL
Image: WIPL
The Suffragettes
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
21
The Unions
That the multi-faceted opposition to the
Liberal Government was fusing was evident
at a mass meeting held in the Albert Hall
on 1 November 1913, when Irish nationalists,
militant Suffragettes, and trade unionists
shared a common platform. It had been
organised by Sylvia Pankhurst, the left-wing
daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, the
WSPU leader, to demand the release of
Images: WIPL
22
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
July 2014
Image: WIPL
Image: WIPL
23
Britain in 1914
CHIEF OF THE
GENERAL STAFF
(de facto Army C-in-C)
Field-Marshal Lord
Kitchener, Secretary
of State for War
HEAD OF STATE
King
George V
WAR INDUSTRIES
VICKERS LTD, SHEFFIELD,
ERITH, CRAYFORD,
DARTFORD, and BARROWIN-FURNESS a major
supplier of artillery, smallarms, warships, merchant
vessels, and aircraft .
JOHN BROWN & COMPANY, SHIPBUILDERS,
CLYDEBANK, GLASGOW
naval and merchant vessels.
SIR W G ARMSTRONG
WHITWORTH & CO LTD,
ELSWICK, NEWCASTLE
UPON TYNE another
major supplier of artillery,
small-arms, warships, merchant vessels, and aircraft .
ROYAL DOCKYARDS,
PEMBROKE, DEVONPORT,
PORTSMOUTH, and
CHATHAM construction
of naval vessels.
24
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
POPULATION
By 1914 the Empires railway network had a total of
32,265km
(20,053 miles) of track
The railway companies
held a total of 23,000
locomotives, almost 73,000
carriages, and 1,400,000
goods wagons
46,089,000
ARMY STRENGTH:
247,500 RISING TO
661,500
ON MOBILISATION
COVENTRY ORDNANCE
WORKS LTD, COVENTRY
artillery.
SOPWITH AVIATION
COMPANY, KINGSTON
UPON THAMES;
SHORT BROTHERS,
EASTCHURCH, ISLE
OF SHEPPEY; and A V
ROE & COMPANY, MANCHESTER military and
civilian aircraft .
MILITARY EFFECTIVENESS
As a maritime empire, Britain had traditionally given priority to maintaining a
powerful navy and regarded the army as force primarily for imperial policing.
Humiliating defeats in the early stages of the Boer War and increasing German
millitarisation forced the rapid modernisation of the army in the decade before
the outbreak of the First World War. Although it was tiny in comparison to the
vast conscript forces of continental Europe, the armys all-volunteer, long-service
personnel were well-equipped and trained to an exceptionally high standard.
Intensive musketry training meant that both infantry and cavalry operating in
the dismounted role could easily fire 15 aimed rounds a minute, firepower which
shot flat many German attacks in the first months of the war.
July 2014
HEAVY ARTILLERY
FIELD ARTILLERY
RIFLE
MACHINE-GUN
O.303in Vickers
.303in Short
Magazine
Lee-Enfield
(SMLE)
Mark III
.303in Lewis
O
O
BL 60pdr Mark I
Field Gun
OOrdnance QF 4.7in Gun
OOrdnance QF 4.5in
Howitzer Mark I
OOrdnance QF 18pdr
Gun Mark I
OOrdnance QF 13pdr Gun
O
MEDIUM ARTILLERY
6in 30cwt Howitzer
O
MOUNTAIN ARTILLERY
ANTI-AIRCRAFT ARTILLERY
Ordnance BL 2.75in
Mountain Gun
OOrdnance BL 10pdr
Mountain Gun
O
NAVAL STRENGTH
Until about 1900, France and Russia were
regarded as posing the greatest threat to British
maritime supremacy. The situation then changed
radically with the rapid expansion of the Imperial
German Navy, which drove Britain into a naval
arms-race and de facto alliances with France and
Russia. In response to the German threat, the
Royal Navy deployed the bulk of its strength (the
Grand Fleet) to northern bases, primarily Scapa
Flow and Rosyth.
battleships
18 dreadnought
6 under construction
PLUS
29
74 submarines
pre-dreadnought
battleships
270
destroyers
52 protected cruisers
8 battlecruisers (1 under construction)
www.military-history.org
32 armoured cruisers
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
25
Image : WIPL
By the beginning of
August 1914, eastern
Europe was at war. The
process was completed
on 1 August when
Germany both a
western and an eastern
26
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
Image: WIPL
D-Day
D-Day involved detailed co-ordination between air, land, and sea
forces. We mark the 70th anniversary with detailed analysis of key
aspects of the planning and technology of what remains the most
complex combined-arms operation in the history of war.
D-DAY
Strategy
and tactics
Most accounts of D-Day focus on the high drama of the actual landings whether by airborne
forces on either flank of the beaches, or by armour and infantry on the beaches themselves.
Yet, with the major exception of Omaha, the actual combat on the beaches was relatively brief.
IN DETAIL
ABOVE General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the order of the day, Full victory nothing else,
to paratroopers somewhere in England, just before they boarded their aeroplanes to participate
in the first assault in the invasion of the Continent. According to an aide, when his soldiers first
stormed ashore, he was in bed reading a cowboy story.
30
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
IN DETAIL
On the scramble
up the beaches,
the Allies faced
concentrated heavy
machine-gun fire
from the defending
Germans. Among
the weapons
providing that fire
was the German
MG 42, which had
the fastest rate of
fire of all the World
War II machine-guns,
and is still widely
regarded as the
wars finest heavy
machine-gun.
GERMANYS
STRATEGIC DILEMMA
Rommel and his nominal
superior, von Rundstedt, overall
commander in the West, were at
loggerheads over strategy. Von
Rundstedt wanted to hold the
panzers and other reserves back
for a decisive counter-attack.
Rommel wanted to fight on the
beaches. Here, he believed, the
Allies would be at their most vulnerable. They could deploy only
a fraction of their strength in the
initial assault waves, and if these
could be scythed by concentrated
ABOVE One of Major-General Percy Hobarts Specialised
fire and then counter-attacked by
Armour vehicles, this flail tank was used to clear away the
armoured formations, the whole
mines laid by the Germans. Some five million of them had
invasion might be thrown back
been laid on the beaches.
into the sea. Once in possession of
secure beachheads, a steady accumulation of overwhelming force would begin.
The scale of the operation broke all
The war will be won or lost on the beaches,
records. The fleet of more than 5,000 vessels
he said. Well have only one chance to stop
was the greatest ever assembled. The naval
the enemy, and thats while hes in the water
operation orders were, at three inches thick,
struggling to get ashore.
the fattest ever compiled. The bomber formaRommel, surely, was right. Despite the
tions were so massive they took two and a half
subsequent stalemate around Caen, after
hours to pass over London; there were to be
D-Day itself there was never any real doubt
over 9,000 Allied aircraft in action on 6 July.
that the Allies would hold their beachheads
The bombardment planned for D-Day was
and, as the build-up continued, accumulate
the heaviest in the history of war.
www.military-history.org
OVERWHELMING FORCE
Dozens of new inventions had been massproduced artificial harbours, swimming
tanks, specialised landing-craft, midget
submarines, and much else. Major-General
Percy Hobart had devised a range of Funnies
(officially, Specialised Armour) that included
flail tanks to clear minefields, bobbin and
roly-poly tanks to lay roadways, tanks carrying
fascines or bridges for passing ditches, others
that could turn themselves into ramps for
others to climb, and yet more armed with
mortars (petard tanks) or flamethrowers
(crocodile tanks) for crushing enemy bunkers.
Massive firepower. Ingenuity, enterprise,
and raw courage in the drop-zones and on
the beaches. The fastest possible accumulation of reserves and supplies to sustain the
offensive as the front-line pushed into the
dunes, marshes, and seaside villages beyond.
D-Day was about air, sea, and land co-ordination;
it was about planning and logistics; it was
about hundreds of thousands of army, navy,
and airforce personnel forming the tail
working effectively to enable the few tens
of thousands at the sharp end to maintain
forward momentum.
We look in detail at three aspects of the
operation. Nick Hewitt (p.34) discusses the
evolving technology of specialist amphibious
vessels landing-craft and thus offers a naval
perspective on the challenges of D-Day. Nigel
Sale (p.38) reveals the vital work of beach
management immediately after the first landings without which there would have been
chaos and a rapid collapse of the front-line
through lack of supply and support. Thomas
Withington (p.41) considers one of the many
roles of airpower: the interdiction of enemy
communications to isolate the German forces
near the beaches from reinforcement and
delay large-scale counter-attack. r
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
31
D-DAY
MHM places D-Day within the context of Operation Overlord,
picking out some of the most brutal clashes and key events,
from the huge-scale preparations to the Liberation of Paris.
JUN 10
JUN 06:
6.30AM
AMERICAN FORCES
LAND AT
OMAHA BEACH
JUN 11
BATTLE OF
LE MESNILPATRY
APR
1944
APR 22
ALLIED FORCES
BEGIN EXERCISE
TIGER, A REHEARSAL
FOR THE D-DAY
INVASION
JUN 07
JUN 06:
7.35AM
BRITISH FORCES
LAND AT GOLD
BEACH
JUN 13
BATTLE OF
BLOODY
GULCH
JUN 13
BATTLE OF VILLERS-BOCAGE
JUN 06:
7.55AM
CANADIAN AND
BRITISH FORCES
LAND AT JUNO
BEACH
JUN 06:
8.30AM
BRCOURT
MANOR
ASSAULT
32
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
JUL 19-25
BATTLE OF
VERRIRES
RIDGE
JUN 28
MAIN ATTACK OF OPERATION EPSOM
Operation Epsom was plagued by bad weather
on 26 June, both at the battlefield itself, where
rain had made the ground boggy and there was a
heavy mist, and over the United Kingdom during
the early hours of the morning, resulting in aircraft
being grounded and the planned bombing missions
being called off. However, No.83 Group RAF, already
based in Normandy, were able to provide air support
throughout the operation.
The 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division resumed
Operation Martlet at 0650, although without
significant artillery support as this was diverted to
the main operation. The Germans were able to slow
the British advance, and then launched an armoured
counter. This in turn was halted after a strong start,
when British armour moved up, and the two sides
engaged in a tank battle in the confined terrain.
However, informed during the afternoon that a
major British offensive was under way further east,
SS-Standartenfhrer Kurt Meyer of 12th SS Panzer
called off the counter-attack, and ordered his tank
companies to return to their initial positions south of
Rauray. During the rest of the day, the 49th Division
was able to make progress, halting just north of Rauray.
JUL 18
JUN 23
BRITISH FORCES
LAUNCH
OPERATION
MARTLET
JUL 25-27
OPERATION
SPRING
AUG 07
GERMANS LAUNCH A COUNTER-ATTACK
AUG 21
GERMAN POSITION IN NORMANDY COLLAPSES
AFTER FIERCE FIGHTING AT HILL 262
Hill 262 or Mont Ormel ridge, nicknamed The Mace (elevation 262m),
was the location of a pivotal engagement fought as part of the wider
battle of the Falaise Pocket during the Normandy Campaign. The
German Seventh Army had found itself surrounded by the Allies near
the town of Falaise, and the Mont Ormel ridge, with its commanding
view of the area, sat astride the Germans only escape route. Polish
forces seized the ridges northern height on 19 August 1944, and,
despite being isolated and coming under sustained attack, held it
until noon on 21 August, contributing greatly to the decisive Allied
victory that followed.
JUL 18-20
OPERATION
GOODWOOD
AUG
1944
JUL 10-12
OPERATION
JUPITER
AUG
14-21
OPERATION
TRACTABLE
AUG 25
LIBERATION
OF PARIS
LIBERATION OF CAEN
By the end of D-Day, the Allies had achieved their main
goal of carving out a beachhead along the Normandy
coast. They were then to move inland, with the
Canadians and the British pushing south towards Caen.
Caen was not to be an easy prize. From 7-12 June, the
3rd Canadian Division would encounter well-led and
effective German troops, including an SS Panzer Division.
Caen saw intense combat between Allied and Axis forces.
British and Canadian forces finally captured the city on
9 July 1944. After the war, rebuilding took 14 years.
www.military-history.org
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
33
D-DAY
Landing-craft
D-Day could not have happened without landing-craft.
Efforts are under way to save one of the last known survivors.
Nick Hewitt of the National Museum of the Royal Navy reports
on their vital role in modern amphibious warfare.
34
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
GETTING ASHORE
Meeting the challenge of a successful assault
from the sea has exercised the minds of planners for centuries, but there were few options
available to alter the balance in favour of the
invader. If a port could not be immediately
seized, then everything guns and
horses, wagons and men had to be
landed from open boats or, at best,
adapted lighters and river barges.
If the landing was opposed, this was
an incredibly dangerous procedure.
Even though most landings were carried out by armed sailors and marines
July 2014
Image: AP Photo
LANDING-CRAFT
THE X-LIGHTER
Ironically, British planners had foreseen the
problem, and had already come up with a
design for a primitive landing-craft, known
as an X-Lighter, for use in the Baltic.
Based on a Thames barge, X-Lighters were
powered, flat-bottomed vessels with a ramp
and a spoon-shaped bow. But they did not
enter service until August 1915, just in time to
take part in the secondary landings at Suvla
Bay. Although they proved a success, the April
landings haunted the memories of British
decision-makers, and perhaps did more than
anything to ensure that the key planners
of the Second World War, notably Winston
Churchill, viewed the prospect of assault
landings with a distinctly wary eye.
Unfortunately, after the fall of France in
June 1940, Germany secured control over an
unbroken line of coast stretching from the
Spanish frontier to Arctic Norway, and along
the Mediterranean from the French Riviera
to the Dardanelles. If the Allied cause was
to triumph and Europe be liberated, assault
landings were inevitable.
PROTOTYPES
Most of the major maritime powers
experimented with designs for specialised
landing-craft during the 1920s and 30s.
Knowing that amphibious warfare was going
to be an essential skill for a remote island
nation with expansionist plans, the Japanese
were far ahead of their rivals, designing and
mass-producing a small assault landing-craft
known as a Dai-Hatsu, and during the war
with China deploying the worlds first
specialised landing-ship, the Shinsu Maru,
for an amphibious landing at Tientsin.
The British entered the war with a primitive
Mechanised Landing Craft capable of putting
a tank ashore, and a Landing Craft (Assault)
for safely delivering infantry.
Similar progress had been made in
the United States, although Germany, as a
primarily military rather than naval power,
never truly got to grips with the challenges
of assault landings, which is why the proposed
invasion of Great Britain in 1940, Operation
Sealion, would have been carried out using
an impractical and dangerous assortment of
converted coasters and Rhine barges.
From 1940 onwards, the British, first
alone and later in concert with their American
allies, were forced by circumstances to carry
out a series of increasingly complicated
assault landings: first the early commando
raids and the disastrous attempt on Dieppe
in 1942, then the invasions of Madagascar
(Operation Ironclad), North Africa
(Operation Torch), Sicily (Operation Husky),
and mainland Italy (Operation Avalanche).
Similar steep learning-curves were followed
in the Pacific, where United States forces
island-hopped their way to Tokyo. Each time,
www.military-history.org
ABOVE An artists impression of the Allied invasion of Sicily, for which the Allies were forced to carry out a dangerous assault
landing using the same craft as they would later use for the invasion of Europe. It was an experience they would learn from
when it came to the D-Day Landings.
NAVAL VESSELS
LANDING TANKS
Some experts have identified as many as
60 different types of landing-craft used in
Overlord. By far the biggest were the famous
Landing Ships (Tank).
The British first deployed tank landingships in the Mediterranean, hastily con-
35
D-DAY
LANDING INFANTRY
At the other end of the scale were the tiny
infantry landing-craft, the British-designed
and built Landing Craft (Assault), and the
famous American Landing Craft (Vehicle
and Personnel), originally conceived as a
workboat for the swampy inshore waters
of Louisiana by Andrew Higgins of New
Orleans, and thereafter known to history
as the Higgins Boat.
Each craft could carry a platoon of
fully equipped infantry straight into battle.
In between were literally dozens of other
specialist types, each carefully designed to
fulfil a specific function. Most numerous were
the Landing Craft (Tank), scaled-up versions
of an assault craft which still essentially
resembled an overgrown steel shoe-box,
with rudimentary machinery spaces and
crew accommodation crammed in aft.
More than 800 LCTs took part in Overlord,
each capable of carrying ten tanks or other
heavy armour into battle. As far as can be
established, just one of these remarkable
craft, LCT 7074, still exists (see box below).
CLOSE SUPPORT
Some LCTs were adapted to provide closerange fire-support to the assault infantry,
avoiding risking warships, which were in short
supply and were costly assets.
Perhaps the most memorable participants in
Overlord were the extraordinary Landing Craft
Tank (Rocket), which could plaster the beaches
with over a thousand 5in explosive rockets immediately before the landings. According to some
sources, their actual impact did not live up to the
undoubtedly terrifying visual impression they
made despite the noise and pyrotechnics which
accompanied their firings, they were inaccurate
and took as long as six hours to reload.
LCT 7074:
THE LAST D-DAY
LANDING-CRAFT
LCT 7074 is a Landing Craft
(Tank) Mk III, built by Hawthorn,
Leslie, and originally powered
by American Sterling Admiral
petrol engines. She was launched
without ceremony on 4 April 1944,
then completed and commissioned shortly afterwards. She
joined the 17th LCT Flotilla, part of
Assault Group L2, LCT Squadron
H of the Eastern Naval Task Force,
which supported the British
landings (made up of two British
divisions, one Canadian division,
plus two Army and one Royal
36
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
DUKW
The Pacific war involved enormous distances,
which led to yet more ambitious and capable
types of assault shipping. The United States
July 2014
LANDING-CRAFT
The extraordinary
Landing Craft
Tank (Rocket)
could plaster the
beaches with over
a thousand 5in
explosive rockets
immediately before
the landings.
LEFT Plan of operations on D-Day, 6 June 1944, showing
British and American air-drop zones, the five landing
beaches, and the gains made on the first day. Note
especially the greater difficulties of the US forces as
reflected in their more limited first-day gains.
BELOW LEFT This amphibious DUKW was used to carry
US wounded to ships for transport back to England.
37
D-DAY
SWORD BEACH
The task of the two beach groups No.5
based on 5th Kings, and No.6 on 1st Bucks,
both originally Territorial battalions
Beach groups
Recalling his own fathers role on D-Day, military historian
Nigel Sale argues that beach groups played a vital and
largely ignored part in the success of the landings.
BEACH GROUPS
LEFT British troops of the Suffolk Regiment under
heavy fire at the Coleville end of Sword Beach. Even
today, it is clear that the underwater topography in
all three sectors of Sword Beach is far from ideal.
COMPOSITION OF
A BEACH GROUP
www.military-history.org
DIVISIONS OF LABOUR
The Canadian and British divisions assaulting
Juno and Gold Beaches both attacked with two
brigades up and two beach groups per division,
whereas 3rd British Division attacked Sword
Beach on a one brigade front (because of lack
of adequate beach breadth) and logically might
have employed only one beach group. But two
had been allocated and two were employed.
Rather than have two beach groups duplicating all tasks, and because elements of each
group had trained for specific purposes, the
plan agreed between the two commanding
officers was to split the operation into two
parts, one unit to work the beach, the other
the beach maintenance area. Thus No.5
Beach Group would run the beaches with
elements of No.6 under command, while
No.6 would work the maintenance area
with elements of No.5 under command.
On D-Day, needless to say, little went
according to plan. Although the assault
troops had swept in ahead, a number of
enemy positions had been by-passed or
had not been cleared effectively. German
SALES COMMAND
Ronald Sale, commanding No.6 Beach Group,
landed on the second tide, and was immediately
ordered to assume command of No.5 Beach
Group. His command now totalled 7,000 men.
The tactical situation as darkness fell was
not all bad. Although Caen itself had not been
taken, and no link with the Canadian divisionk
BELOW The crew of a Junkers Ju 88. Several were
shot down by beach groups during the last daylight
attack by massed aircraft on D+1.
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
39
D-DAY
to the west had yet been made, the division
had a bridgehead three miles deep, and its
left flank had been secured by the 52nd Light
Infantrys brilliant glider-borne coup-de-main
capture of the bridges over the River Orne and
the Caen Canal at Bnouville. But on arrival,
No.6 Beach Group saw only a disorganised
beach, and the failure of the well-practised
plan. An uneasy night was spent.
During D+1, the military flow over the
beach increased dramatically, and so did
enemy retaliation. At 1100 hours a flight of
eight Junkers Ju 88s flew in low from the east.
Several were hit by the beach groups Bofors
and Oerlikons, and one fell near the sub-area
command post. Another Ju 88 dropped its
cluster bombs onto the main sub-area headquarters, killing three officers and three men.
This was the last daylight attack by massed
aircraft, but raids by individual aircraft continued, and so did massed attacks under cover
of darkness. On the night of D+1, a direct hit on
the DUKW post killed the officer commanding
229 General Transport Company of No.6 Beach
Group and his second-in-command.
PETROL FIRE
At 1200 hours on D+2, as the sounds of the
attack on Trout died away, a lone German
aircraft, chased by Spitfires, flew over and
dropped a single bomb on a DUKW carrying
petrol. This fire ignited the ammunition dump.
Stack after stack began to explode with
deafening reverberations into showers of lethal
fragments and burning material. This, in turn,
set fire to the nearby petrol dump.
Consider: 3rd Infantry Divisions operation
was stalled inland, and success was far from
assured. Had all the ammunition been lost,
and demands from the frontline not been met,
the division might have been forced back into
the sea, with unthinkable consequences for
the invasion as a whole.
40
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
TROUT
July 2014
AERIAL INTERDICTION
Aerial
interdiction
G
Military historian Thomas Withington analyses the Allied air attacks
that severed German communications on D-Day.
eography had been kind to the
Allied military commanders
tasked with planning the
Operation Overlord landings
on the Normandy coast on 6
June 1944. The invasion area was flanked by
two of Frances greatest rivers, the Seine and
the Loire. The Seine takes a roughly northwesterly course from Paris to the port of Le
Harve on the English Channel. The Loire, on
the other hand, follows a westerly course from
the city of Orlans around 70 miles south
of Paris, to the port of Saint-Nazaire on the
Atlantic Coast.
These two rivers formed the southern
(Loire) and northern (Seine) edges of a
box that hemmed in the area where Allied
troops and their equipment would land.
Reinforcements for German forces opposing
the landing would have to traverse these
two rivers.
Neither the Seine nor the Loire is small,
their respective courses progressively widening
as they reach their estuaries. Allied military
planners quickly realised that to destroy the
bridges across each of these rivers west of Paris
would be to isolate much of the battlefield
from the rest of Occupied France, and cut off
the flow of enemy reinforcements.
An average of 200
heavy-bomber
sorties were
required to destroy
a single bridge.
MODUS OPERANDI
Yet attacking bridges is easier said than done.
At altitudes of 20,000 feet, such structures
resemble little more than a thin grey line
crossing the landscape. They are therefore
usually attacked along their length (as
opposed to their width), to give aircrews more
time to get a bomb onto the bridge span.
In addition, steel and concrete make
bridges strong structures. The Germans,
moreover, realised that the bridges were vital
assets and defended them accordingly with
anti-aircraft guns.
These three factors made the bridges over
the Seine and Loire particularly tricky targets.
The challenge was summarised in the BBSUs
report, which noted that an average of 200
heavy-bomber sorties were required to destroy
a single bridge. Another estimate spoke of
4,400 tons of bombs being needed per bridge.
The 9th Air Force commenced its bridge
attacks on 7 May, hitting four Seine river
crossings using Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
fighter-bombers. However, attacks against
bridges across the Loire were postponed until
the commencement of the invasion, so as not
to alert the Germans to its location. Instead,k
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
41
D-DAY
PRECISION TECHNOLOGY
The challenges involved in hitting a bridge
caused the 458th Bomb Group, part of the
8th Air Force, to equip its Consolidated
B-24 Liberator heavy bombers with
VB-1 Azon 1,000lb (450kg) radiocontrolled bombs.
While acknowledged as one of the
worlds first precision-guided bombs, the
first use of these weapons on 31 May
against a railway bridge crossing the Oise
21 miles north of Paris was a disappointment: all 14 bombs failed to hit their target.
That said, this was thought to be the result
of inadequate operator-training rather
than any fault with the weapon.
Yet the VB-1 bought more disappointment on 22 June, when it was deployed by
B-24s against the bridge at Saumur on the
Loire River, failing once again to destroy
its target. The bridge was attacked again by
USAAF Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses two
days later.
42
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
617 SQUADRON
This weapon was deployed for the first time
on the night of 8/9 June 1944, during which
Barnes Wallis, designer
of the famous
bouncing bomb and
the Tallboy bomb.
THE IMPACT
The impact of the bridge campaign by the
RAF and the USAAF can be judged by its
effect on German attempts to reinforce their
forces in Normandy.
For example, on 6 June, the day of the invasion, the 2nd SS Panzer Division, which was
located in the vicinity of the city of Toulouse
in south-western France, was ordered to
reinforce troops opposing the invasion. It
immediately began its long journey by road
and rail.
Rail-borne units were transported on the
line stretching from Toulouse northwards
via the city of Limoges in central France, and
then north-east to Chteauroux, before
turning north-west to Tours in the Loire
Valley. From Tours, the units would travel
towards Normandy.
Normally, the railway wagons carrying
the divisions equipment would have
crossed the Loire using the bridge at
Port-Boulet, 27 miles south-west of Tours.
However, this bridge had been destroyed
by air attack on 14 June. The only other
available bridge was in the city of Tours,
although serious bomb damage meant
that it could no longer support the weight
of a locomotive, requiring the individual
wagons to be pushed manually over the
bridge one-by-one.
Not before 23 June did the 2nd SS Panzer
Division arrive in Normandy. The destruction of the bridges, and the general attacks
on the French rail network as part of the
Transportation Plan, had caused a 450-mile
journey, which should have been completed
by the division in five days, to take no less
than 17 days.
July 2014
AERIAL INTERDICTION
SUPPORTING THE OFFENSIVE
RAF attacks against bridges in the invasion
area continued once the invasion had got
under way, so as to continue to frustrate
German attempts at reinforcement and
counter-attack.
On the night of 12/13 June, RAF Bomber
Command deployed 100 aircraft to attack
bridges across the River Orne in Normandy
during Operation Perch, the second abortive attempt (following Operation Neptune
launched on D-Day itself) by the Allies to
liberate Caen.
According to the official RAF narrative, The
Liberation of North West Europe, photographic
reconnaissance flown on the following day
showed two road bridges badly damaged
[along with] the railway bridge across the river
[Orne]. The attempt to liberate the city may
have foundered, but the attacks against the
bridges were considered a success.
Bridge attacks were performed by a wide
variety of aircraft. The RAFs 2 and 83
Groups operated by day and by night, flying
DeHavilland Mosquito-VI fighter-bombers
(2 Group), Hawker Typhoon-IB (83 Group),
and North American Mustang-III (83 Group)
fighter-bombers to this end.
According to the BBSU report, the combined efforts of the USAAF and RAF to hit the
bridges across the Seine and the Loire were a
success: in the fortnight preceding D-Day, all
the Seine road and rail bridges below Paris
were successfully destroyed in a variety of
attacks by fighter-bombers, medium bombers,
and heavy bombers.
BREAKOUT
No sooner had Caen been liberated than
planning commenced on the Allied breakout
from Normandy. Once again, transportation
targets were to be an important part of easing
the Allied path eastwards. The 8th Air Force
was earmarked to hit bridges, with a particular emphasis on those crossing the Loire.
Of special concern to Allied commanders
were German efforts to reinforce their units
in Normandy with the 271st and 272nd
Infantry Divisions, which had commenced
their deployment from the south of France.
To this end, Allied commanders found it
particularly desirable to block northsouth
and eastwest [railway] lines leading through
Paris to Normandy.
In addition to railway centres such as
marshalling yards and junctions to the south
and east of Paris, all of the bridges over the
Lower Loire were now to be attacked by
2nd SS Panzer
Division took 17
days to complete
its journey to
Normandy.
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
43
D-DAY
D-Day:
the decisive
victory in the West
THE BOCAGE
The German Army was a veteran military
machine of consummate professionalism.
It had pioneered mobile offensive warfare
in France in 1940 and in the Western Desert
in 1941. It had since displayed a mastery
of defensive warfare in the rubble of
Stalingrad and the mountains of Italy.
Now, though heavily outnumbered
and outgunned, in the close terrain of the
Normandy bocage a maze of small fields,
sunken lanes, and thick hedgerows it
was to demonstrate phenomenal powers
of resistance. For six weeks, the German
defenders of the ancient Norman city of
Caen, which the Allies had hoped to take
on the very first day, defied every attack
by Montgomerys army.
But this hardly mattered: either the
German Army in the West would be
ground down here, or it would have to
be ground down in another battle somewhere else. Whatever the plan, the grim
fact was that the defeat of Nazi Germany
depended on exhausting the resilience of
its armies in the field. And if Montgomerys
men did the hardest fighting, they tied
down enough German infantry, tanks, and
guns to allow the Americans on their right
to break out of the Cherbourg Peninsula
and begin the roll-up of the enemy line.
The breakout from the beachhead was
then rapid. German counter-attacks henceforward could disrupt and delay the Allied
advance across northern France, but they
could not stop it. Some 50,000 Germans
were captured in the Falaise Pocket. Paris
was liberated on 25 August, Brussels on
3 September, and by the middle of that
month the spearheads of an AngloAmerican army of about 2 million men
had reached the German border.
In the words of American military
historians Ernest and Trevor Dupuy:
The stupendous drive through France
had cost some 40,000 Allied killed, 165,000
wounded, and 20,000 missing. German
losses had been a catastrophic half a million
men in the field forces and an additional
200,000 in the coastal defences. Chewed,
disrupted, and battered, the remnants
now stood behind the dilapidated Siegfried
Line, seemingly vulnerable to an Allied
coup de grce.
The Germans recovered their balance,
rebuilt their strength, and counter-attacked
again. But these efforts could not alter the
outcome of the war; they could only delay it
by a few months. Without doubt, the struggle
waged by a few tens of thousands of men at
the sharp end on the Normandy beaches
of 6 June 1944 was the decisive battle of the
Second World War in Western Europe. r
LEFT A remnant of the Mulberry harbour, built
after the victory at Gold Beach on D-Day.
44
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
July 2014
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
Irish
Brigades
abroad
An epic musket
duel was fought
during the Battle
of Malplaquet
between two
Irish regiments.
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
47
48
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
Storm-troopers
Because of this, the Wild Geese often found
themselves facing their own countrymen on
the field of battle, since many other Irishmen,
of course, took service with the British Army.
During the War of the Spanish Succession
(1701-1714), an epic musket duel was fought
De Saxes 4,000-plus Irish Brigade was commanded by Charles OBrien, the 6th Lord Clare,
and comprised one battalion each of Dillons,
Clares, Berwicks, Buckeleys, Lallys, and Roths
companies. These were held in reserve on the left
flank beside Barri Wood, while four squadrons
of Fitzjames horse took post in the centre of the
field alongside French cavalry.
As dawn broke on the 11 May 1745, the French
batteries opened up. Cumberlands Dutch allies
recoiled in an attack on the right flank at Antoing,
and 15 squadrons of British horse were thrown
back by ferocious fire. As his initial assaults failed,
Cumberland was forced to march his 15,000
Anglo-Hanoverian infantry through the open
ground between Vezon and Fontenoy, with heavy
enfilade fire cutting swathes through his ranks.
But against de Saxes expectations, the Allied
column continued its dogged half-mile march
into the murderous cross-fire as if on parade,
and at 70 paces unleashed a deadly rolling volley
that cut through the French second line of veteran
Gardes Franaises and Gardes Suisse.
French cannon continued to rake the Allied
column with grapeshot. It had now lost one-third
of its strength. But still the steady advance contin-
July 2014
IRISH BRIGADES
Reformers
Among the Irish officers, there were great
military reformers who helped modernise
some of the Continents antiquated armies.
The battle-scarred Lieutenant-General
Alexander OReilly from Co. Meath played a
major role in transforming the Spanish Army,
Remember Limerick!
Colonel Thomas Lally of Clares now implored
de Saxe to send in the Irish Brigade to lead one
last charge: On what finer reserves could a
general call in a moment of crisis then six
battalions of the Wild Geese?
The Irish infantry shouted cries of Huzzah!
as they formed into line. Cuimnidh ar Luimneach
agus ar feall na Sasanach! yelled Lally with
drawn sword: Remember Limerick and Saxon
perfidy! This battle-cry was repeated down the
ranks, and was made in reference to the broken
Treaty of Limerick and the mens forced exile.
The French high command held its breath as
the Irish advanced up the incline, their bagpipers
belting out the Jacobite anthem, The White
www.military-history.org
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
49
IRISH BRIGADES
Five hundred
pickets drawn
from the French
Irish Brigade
stood alongside
the clansmen
at Culloden.
50
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
July 2014
BOUVINES
Jack Watkins marks a little-known anniversary by recalling one of the greatest victories
of Frances Medieval kings over Englands hapless King John.
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
k
Images: WIPL
BOUVINES
54
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
FEUDING RIVALS
During the reign of Henry II, Philip had
fomented the bitter rivalries between the old
King and his sons, and then enticed John
to conspire against his elder brother when
Richard succeeded to the throne in 1189. Yet
July 2014
A FORMIDABLE COALITION
On paper, it was a formidable coalition.
Otto had grown up in the court of Richard
the Lionheart, and was said to resemble
him physically. While his reputation as a
leader did not stand high, Philip had seen
him as a serious-enough threat to oppose
his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor,
writing to Pope Innocent III that, in John
and Otto, he was being threatened on two
sides by powerful lions.
Their alliance was something he had always
feared. When John and Philip had signed a
treaty in 1200, one of its clauses stipulated that
the English King should offer no help to Otto.
Ottos decision to fight Philip was motivated
by his need to offset his domestic weakness.
Johns money brought him some useful
partners, including Ferrand, Count of Flanders
and Hainault; William, Count of Holland; and
Henry, Duke of Brabant the latter an unreliable character, but valued for the quality of the
mercenary troops he could put into the field.
Some French nobles and malcontents also
joined the cause, notably Renaud Dammartin,
the Count of Boulogne.
The problem for the allies was that
they lacked a real leader. Otto IV was the
obvious figurehead, but this was an age
in which contingents fought under nobles
from their immediate clans or principalities, motivated by a sense of honour
and personal loyalty. Injecting unity ofk
KING JOHN
At first, John had held his own against
Philip, even scoring a notable military success over him at Mirebeau, and heading off
the challenge to his inheritance by his own
nephew, Arthur of Brittany, in 1202.
Within a year, however, Philip had
launched a major offensive in Normandy,
the jewel in the Angevin crown, winning
control of castles along the Seine, and
demonstrating his mastery of siege
warfare by taking Chteau Gaillard
once considered so impregnable that
Richard had boasted he could defend it
even if it were made of butter. Support for
John fell away rapidly in Normandy, and
further campaigning by Philip in the Loire
Valley brought similar results there.
In 1206, a treaty between Philip and John
allowed the latter to retain Gascony and
part of Poitou, but, humiliatingly, he had
lost Anjou, the cradle of the Plantagenets,
along with Maine, Touraine, Normandy, and
Poitiers, the old capital of Aquitaine. It had
www.military-history.org
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
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BOUVINES
APPROACH TO BATTLE
It was lunchtime on 27 July when the
49-year-old king, weary from hours in the
saddle, and having taken off his armour to
rest under the shade of an ash tree, received
anguished messengers crying out that the
enemy was already advancing on the rearguard.
Now Philip faced a dilemma.
His cavalry had yet to cross the Bouvines
bridge, and with only a few infantry remaining
with them on the east side of the river, they
faced massacre if he ordered the retreat to
continue. But if he hastily recalled the men
who had already crossed the water, they risked
facing their opponents while in disarray.
Philip took the counsel of his barons, who
argued for continuing the retreat, and that
of his most trusted adviser, Brother Gurin, a
veteran of the Knights Hospitallers, who urged
making a stand at Bouvines. According to
William the Breton, an eye-witness to the battle,
he then entered a nearby chapel, made a short
56
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
Image: WIPL
ABOVE The Battle of Bouvines, 27 July 1214, in which the army of King Philip II of France confronted
and defeated the army of Emperor Otto IV of Germany. Both armies were dominated by feudal
heavy cavalry, and seem to have formed up in the traditional three battles.
A BEAUTIFUL PLAIN
The battlefield was a beautiful plain,
according to William the Bretons
Philippiad, abloom with Ceres grains,
but bounded to the west by the marshlands
of the Marque. Philips position in front of
it provided protection, but also blocked the
avenue of retreat.
His speech to his troops was a rallying cry,
and while not failing to draw attention to
his reluctance to sully this holy day with the
www.military-history.org
CAVALRY CHARGES
The emperor must have been dismayed to
see how quickly his opponents had been able
to draw up their battle arrays. Sensing thek
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
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Image: WIPL
BOUVINES
CHINON CASTLE
The Tour du Coudray, at the Loire castle of Chinon, is a classic round tower of Philip Augustus.
It is a round keep with stairways along the inside walls, guarded at each turn by machiolations.
The entire complex of Chinon, one of western Europes largest castles, is loaded with historical
associations. Henry II died here in 1189, in Fort-Saint-Georges (which he built), broken by Philip
Augustuss manipulation of his sons to conspire against him. Here too, Joan of Arc met Charles VII
in 1429, persuading him to allow her to lead an army which transformed French fortunes in the
Hundred Years War.
58
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
VICTORY
When Otto ordered a cavalry charge, it
easily smashed through the French infantry,
but then its elements became hopelessly
separated as Philip launched a counterattack. During the confusion which followed,
Philip was struck by a halberd, only his heavy
armour saving him from a fatal wound as
he fell from his horse with the weapon still
hanging from his chainmail. His household
knights encircled him, enabling him to
remount with surprising agility.
A retaliatory foray led by the French soldier
William des Barres, famed for his jousts with
the Lionheart himself, got close enough to
Otto to unhorse him too, but the emperor was
conveyed to safety. His departure from the
battlefield signalled the effective end of the
conflict, though a brave last stand by Renaud
inflicted heavy losses on the French.
The wagon of Otto was captured, and
subjected to a torrent of axe blows. The
imperial eagle, its wings broken off, was
presented to the victorious Philip.
The battle had lasted three hours. Philip,
re-entering the chapel he had visited in such a
state of uncertainty earlier that day, offered his
thanks to God. Henceforward, he would cede
command of the French army to his son Prince
Louis, but for the rest of his reign he would be
the unchallenged strongman of Europe. r
July 2014
Experience freedom!
The Liberation Museum is set in the beautiful
landscape near Nijmegen, Arnhem and the German
border, a unique location: Operation Market Garden,
the largest airborne operation in history took place
here in September 1944 and Operation Veritable,
the Rhineland Offensive, the final road to freedom in
Europe, started from here in February 1945.
The museum brings the historical events of the
liberation by the American, British, Canadian and
Polish troops back to life. In the museum, you live
through the period preceding the war, experience
the occupation, celebrate the liberation and witness
the rebuilding of the Netherlands and Europe
after the war. Aromas, interactive presentations,
dioramas, models, original films and sound
fragments captivatingly depict the liberation. The
museum shows both young and old the current
value and importance of democracy, freedom and
human rights.
HIGHLIGHTS
For more information and special rates for tour operators please see our website
www.liberationmuseum.com.
I 07/14
TA
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JULY Every month, The Debrief will bring you the very best in film and book
reviews, along with suggested military history 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 for keeping military history fans entertained.
MILI
THE
com me
WAR ON FILM
BOOKS
HIGHLIGHT
CAPTION COMPETITION
TOP 5
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TWO NEW
TITLES
TA
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WIN!
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AR
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MUSEUM
WHATS ON
TH
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DIG FOR
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MIL
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HISTO RY MO
FILM | CLASSIC
ichard Attenboroughs
1969 BAFTA-award-winning
film Oh! What a Lovely
War has many similarities
to the Joan Littlewood Theatre
Workshop musical of 1963. There
is the powerful use of popular
satirical war-songs, the sense
of choreography, the use of
documentary information to
counterpoint the burlesque, and
62
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
IL
generals and staff officers as a set
of buffoons in the film.
Oh! What a Lovely War is certainly
of its time, and tells us as much about
the 1960s as it does about the First
World War. But just as the original
Theatre Workshop production tried
to explain and understand the war
50 years after its start, it is certainly
worth looking at it again as we run
up to the centenary of the war. It
seems extraordinary that the original
theatre production is as far distant
from today as the declaration of
war in 1914 was when the Theatre
Workshop first staged the musical.
The originator of both stage musical
and film was a BBC radio presenter
and producer. Charles Chilton joined
the BBC as a messenger boy before
the Second World War, and went on
to present Swing Time and a series of
radio documentaries about American
music. He produced episodes of The
Goon Show, and a science-fiction
series called Journey into Space.
Chilton had never known his father,
who died in the First World War, and
in 1961 became fascinated with his
fathers story. He discovered a book
of songs called Tommys Tunes,
published in 1917, in which the
words of popular songs of the day
had been adapted by the soldiers.
From this he produced a radio
programme called The Long, Long
Trail. In 1962, Gerry Raffles, the
partner of Joan Littlewood, heard the
programme and thought there was
the basis of a stage production in it.
GENERALS AS VILLAINS
the passionate anti-war message. But
there are many differences as well.
Littlewood could not bear
the colour khaki, and refused
to have any of her characters
in anything resembling an army
uniform, so all the performers
appeared in Pierrot costumes. The
virulent attack on the class system
in the Theatre Workshop version
becomes a clichd depiction of
JOAN LITTLEWOOD
Littlewood was a radical theatreproducer and director who had
been under surveillance by MI5
as a suspected Communist for
many years before she founded
the Theatre Workshop at the
Theatre Royal Stratford East
in 1953. The theatre was
falling down when she took
it over, and the actors helped
to paint and restore it
between rehearsals. She put
together an ensemble of young
performers who worked on
new versions of classic plays
and improvised new productions. The actors included
Harry H. Corbett, Richard
Harris, Murray Melvin, Nigel
Hawthorne, Victor Spinetti,
and Barbara Windsor.
In 1955, the Theatre
Workshop mounted the
British premire of Brechts
Mother Courage, and over the
following years staged productions by Brendan Behan and
Shelagh Delaney. Delaneys
A Taste of Honey was turned
into a gritty movie in 1961.
Littlewood had immense
influence, radicalising
both the theatre and British
cinema in the early 1960s, and
training a generation of actors
to portray working people in
what have often been called
kitchen sink dramas. Despite
her initial lack of enthusiasm
for Oh What a Lovely War,
it became the companys
biggest success. She gave up
directing in 1975 and died,
at the age of 87, in 2002.
July 2014
STAR-STUDDED CAST
First to agree was Laurence Olivier.
Then came Ralph Richardson, John
Gielgud, John Mills, and Kenneth More.
With such luminaries committed
to the project, Paramounts
enthusiasm for the venture grew,
MHM REVIEWS
63
CHRISTMAS TRUCE
There is a scene in which war
profiteers are portrayed at a
Christmas party. Were hoping to
get the contract, tin hats you know,
says Dirk Bogarde to Susannah
York. They look at fireworks, which
transition to the trenches, where the
German troops sing Silent Night,
and the Scottish troops respond
with the It was Christmas Day in
the workhouse variant of Tidings
of comfort and joy.
On Christmas Day itself, the
Germans slowly appear in a snowy
no-mans-land. One by one, the
Scottish troops get out of their
trenches too. For a brief moment,
they swap schnapps, whisky,
and cigars, realising they are
all suffering together in the war.
Then a set of shell-bursts send
both sides running back to their
lines. The scene is presented in a
slow, cautious way, and is entirely
believable as a depiction of the
famous Christmas Truce.
Back to the pantomime, with
Bertie Smith (Corin Redgrave) joining
up as an officer, prompting the song
Brother Bertie went away/To do his
bit the other day, performed on a
64
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
FOR SALE
WORLD WAR
Originally published by
Amalgamated Press in
55 issues between 1934
and 1935. This set lacks
five issues, and has slight
damage to the covers of
two. It is otherwise in
exceptional condition.
Selling only as
a job lot. Please
submit offers to
robin.forpr@virgin.net,
or call 01526 378703.
TA
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MILI
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ZEPPELIN NIGHTS:
LONDON IN THE
FIRST WORLD WAR
Jerry White
Bodley Head, 25
ISBN 978-1847921659
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
O T
AIR DEFENCE
The development of Londons
air defences by the end of 1916
led to Gotha bombers, as well as
MHM REVIEWS
FORTRESS LONDON
Germanys justification for attacks
on London hinged on its absolute
involvement in the war. It was a
fortress that needed to be broken.
Yet those areas that were closely
tied to the war industries suffered
relatively little. White describes
how the war changed much of
the geography of London. The
impact of the conflict is still visible.
New industrial areas, especially in
west London, among them Park
Royal, Perivale, and Greenford,
owed their rapid development
to the war. It was similarly the
case for the aviation hubs of
Hendon, Northolt, and Heathrow.
The impact was not only
seen in development. The
working classes, who just
before the war suffered from
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
67
The stories of the Unknown Wars of Asia, Africa and The Americas were cataclysmic and
bloody events that took the lives of millions and impact our world to this day. Yet, most of
these wars are hardly mentioned in articles or even textbooks.
Among some of the wars covered are:
The wars that involved the Great Wall of China over its 1,865 year history as a defensive barrier.
The longest war in history which was the 1,049 year long Vietnamese War of Independence from China and the lessons
that should have kept France and the US out of Indo-China.
The wars of the Khmer Empire (802 - 1431) and the unlikely hero that emerged in a time of crisis in 1177.
The Jewish Bar Kokhba Revolt (132 - 136) that caused the Emperor Hadrian to cover up the massacre of two veteran Roman Legions and the truth about how close the revolt came to succeeding.
The wars of the Spanish Conquistadors to conquer the American Southeast and Southwest in the sixteenth century and
the Native American apocalypse in North America that followed.
The Cherokee Wars that came very close to wiping out the colony of South Carolina.
The wars of the Trans-Atlantic Slave
Trade that took the lives of more than
12 million Africans and the slave revolts
of the Caribbean and South America.
The Taiping Rebellion (1851 1871) that
was caused by a Confucian scholar
who misunderstood a poorly translated gospel tract and started a rebellion
that led to over 30 million deaths.
The 74 year Mongol conquest of China
and disasters in Syria, Japan, Vietnam,
and Java that led to the breakup of the
Mongol Empire.
Englands Pirate Wars - The French
Conquest of Indo-China 1857 - 1884
The future wars that half of the
worlds population of Jews, Christians,
and Muslims are expecting in the near
future.
Steven Johnson has been a regular
contributing author to Military
Heritage and Strategy & Tactics
Magazines and has taught History at
the college and university level in South
Carolina for more than 20 years.
Steven Johnsons style of narrative
writing of History is as a master
storyteller of true events that are
stranger than fiction that makes
for a riveting reading experience.
Available at amazon.co.uk,
amazon.com (US), and at Alibris.com
69
ON THE HORIZON
D-Day: Minute by Minute:
one historic day, hundreds
of unforgettable stories
Jonathan Mayo
Atria Books, 11.99
SECRET WARRIORS:
Taylor Downing
Little Brown, 20
ISBN 978-1408704219
ISBN 978-1476772943
ow scientists, code-breakers, deceivers, and other so-called wizards helped win the Second World War has been
a very popular subject for authors over the last few years. Not so the First World War. Indeed, as a subject, the
secret Great War is a topic seldom touched. Yet the technological advances alone were considerable: for instance,
a decade after Louis Blriot first flew the English Channel in 1909, Alcock and Brown crossed the Atlantic. So, among
the hundreds of books currently being published to coincide with the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War, Taylor
Downings Secret Warriors is unique and timely.
Commencing with the destruction of German communication cables by the CS Alert on 5 August 1914, Secret Warriors
tells how science and intelligence contributed to the ultimate victory in 1918 through advances in aviation, code-breaking,
engineering and chemistry, medicine and surgery, and lastly propaganda the story of the 1916 film, The Battle of the Somme,
is fascinating. The narrative is entwined with a more general history of the war itself which, while aimed at the more general
reader, tends to be something of a distraction.
While the story of developments of the machine-gun, artillery, the tank, and poison gas are told elsewhere, here they are
placed in a more scientific context, although the omission of the development of measures to counter the Zeppelin threat in
1915-1916 is a curious oversight.
Far less well-known is how medicine and surgery developed before and during the Great War, something demonstrated
by two striking statistics: the First World War was the first conflict in history in which fewer men died from related diseases
(Spanish Flu excepted) than from battle wounds; and mortality levels among the wounded dropped from 40% during the
American Civil War to 10% during the First World War.
The author tells well the story of the science and technology that helped win the First World War, pointing out that they
also became the foundations for the developments that would help win the Second, although (as he points out) boffins is
a WWII term. Minor criticisms aside, this is an interesting and useful book.
DAVID FLINTHAM
SBN 978-0375504426
1841-42
Edward Teer
n October 1841, the Army of the Indus that had taken Kabul felt itself confident enough to send Major-General Robert
Sales brigade back to India. Within weeks, the remnants of the garrison were fighting for their life against a general
rebellion in the city. The enfeebled commander of the British force, General William Elphinstone, sent orders to
Jellalabad for Sales immediate return.
Jellalabad was as far as Sale got on his homeward-bound march. His column had come under relentless attack by tribesmen
along the route, a rain of fire so devastating that one officer was heard to say, The noise of Waterloo was nothing to this.
We entered Jellalabad on 14 of November 1841, closely followed by the Afghans. So begins Colour-Sergeant Edward Teers
account of the siege, which was lifted on 17 April 1842 by General George Pollocks column from Peshawar, who piped into
the city to the tune of Oh! But youve been a long time a-coming.
No sooner had Sale ridden into Jellalabad, than a letter arrived from Elphinstone ordering him to return to Kabul. Sale replied
that the whole of my camp equipage has been destroyed, the wounded and sick have increased to upwards of 300, there is
no longer a single depot of provisions on the route. Furthermore, his ammunition was insufficient to confront the well-armed
tribesmen along the road. In short, Sale refused to lead his men into a death-trap.
Was Sale justified in ignoring orders? In practical terms, he would have faced certain annihilation on the road to Kabul.
At an official level, there was no doubt Sale had made the right decision. He was promoted to Knight Grand Cross, and salutes
were fired at all major cantonments in India; meanwhile, Elphinstones 16,000-strong column was butchered on the retreat.
Through Teer, we hear tales of valour, earthquakes, and, not least of all, an ingenious strategy for replenishing the
depleted supply of ammunition. For fully a week, the garrison was able to deceive the Afghans into firing volley after
volley at a wooden dummy of a sword-wielding officer. By the time the Afghans got wise to the ruse, the British had
gathered enough musket balls to hold off the attackers. When the wooden general appeared, says Teer, they raised
a hearty cheer but we got a good supply of lead.
JULES STEWART
July 2014
02
03
VISIT
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
ENTRY
THREE FIRES
In 1816, the museum collection was
transferred to the Buenavista Palace,
Spains current army headquarters,
only to be relocated once again in
1841 when Buenavista became the
War Office under the regency of
General Baldomero Espartero.
The army collections last home
in the capital was the Buen Retiro
Palace, behind the Prado Museum.
It was in a royal residence on this
site that the Catholic monarchs
who led the Christian forces to final
victory over the Moorish invaders
in 1492 spent time during their
sojourns in Madrid.
As well as the Civil War siege, the
Alczar has survived the ravages of
three major fires. The first was at the
hands of Austrian and Portuguese
troops during the War of the Spanish
Succession, after which the fortress
MHM VISITS
05
04
T OL EDO
SPAIN
MORE MILITARY
MUSEUMS IN SPAIN
AVIATION
06
07
MILITARY
VISITING TOLEDO
The city of Toledo is one of
Spains, if not Europes, major
tourist attractions. There is a highspeed rail service daily from Madrids
Atocha Station. The journey takes
half an hour, and booking several
days in advance is essential,
especially during the busy tourist
season. The Alczar is a 40-minute
(uphill) walk or ten-minute cab ride
from the railway station, in itself
a remarkably restored example of
early 20th-century design.
NAVAL
Museo Naval
The Naval Museum traces the
history of the Spanish Navy
from the Catholic Monarchs
in the 15th century up to the
present day. Displays include
weapons, navigation instruments, maps, and paintings.
73
LIS I
EXHIBITION
COMMON FREE
CAUSE:
COMMONWEALTH
SCOTS AND
THE GREAT WAR
ENTRY
www.nms.ac.uk
15
EVENT
COLCHESTER MILITARY
TOURNAMENT
5-6 July 2014
ENTRY
olchester, the oldest garrison town in England, with a history of tattoos and tournaments stretching back
to the Roman era, will once again be the scene of a major event with the arrival of the Colchester Military
Tournament. Staged by ABF The Soldiers Charity, the event will be the largest of its kind in the country.
Featuring a jam-packed performance schedule, along with Army static displays, trade stands, bars, food
stalls, a funfair, zorb balls, bumper boats, and a host of other attractions, it promises to be a great family day out.
PERFORMANCE
MERRY IT WAS
TO LAUGH THERE 13.50
ENTRY
4 July 2014
Chelmsford City Theatres
Fairfield Road, Chelmsford
Essex, CM77 6TB
01245 606505
www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres
74
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
July 2014
DIG FOR
VICTORY SHOW
5-6 July 2014
10/18
DAY/WEEKEND
1 JULY
EVENT
FAMILY EVENT
WARGAMERS
WEEKEND 12.50
5-6 July 2014
INCL
ADMISSION
CRACKING
CODES
FREE
ENTRY
www.iwm.org.uk
WWI POSTCARDS
EXHIBITION
2 July-18 December 2014
www.military-history.org
7 JULY
9 JULY
Dr Brightons War:
hospitals and healing
in Brighton during
World War I
Brighton Seafront,
Brighton, England
0300 029 0900
www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk
EXHIBITION
Newark Town Hall, Museum and Art Gallery
Town Hall Market Place, Nottinghamshire
NG24 1DU
01636 680333
www.newarktownhallmuseum.co.uk
DATES TO
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MHM VISITS
EVENT
FREE
ENTRY
MILITARYHISTORYMONTHLY
75
T
TOURS
GALINA
INTERNATIONAL
BATTLEFIELD
TOURS
WAR RESEARCH
SOCIETY
BATTLEFIELD
TOURS
For more than 30 years our family run
tours have taken many thousands of
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to the battlefields, memorials, and cemeteries all over the world, in a relaxed and
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enables us to fulfil your wishes in visiting
a particular place wherever it may be.
Our courtesy car that accompanies the
tour will take you to out-of-the-way places
to stand in the footsteps of your ancestors
and have the events of the day explained
to you.
Our guides are all very experienced in
the tours they are leading and we are one
of the oldest established tour leaders in
this profession.
Why not come and join one of our
highly acclaimed tours; we are sure that
you will find it extremely rewarding.
Ian and Jeannie Alexander look forward to welcoming you.
AVAILABLE TOURS:
Mons 100th Anniversary: 22-25 August 2014
Arnhem 70th Anniversary: 18-22 September 2014
GUIDED
BATTLEFIELD TOURS
EMAIL: info@battlefieldtours.co.uk
WEB: www.battlefieldtours.co.uk
EMAIL: info@guidedbattlefieldtours.co.uk
AVAILABLE TOURS:
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AVAILABLE TOURS:
The Retreat from Mons Centenary Tour: 30 August2
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Ypres One Hundred Years On: 9-12 November 2014
First Day of the Somme Special: 29 June-2 July 2014
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poignant battles of Burma, Indus will craft a tour to
your specific requirements.
T
TOURS
HERTS AT WAR
Herts at War in association with Battle Honours Ltd are thrilled to announce our latest tour in a series spanning the
centenary of the Great War, which aims to bring the story of Hertfordshires residents in The First World War to life.
Our upcoming tour from 11-13 July will follow in the footsteps of Hertfordshires Victoria Cross recipients on the
Western Front between 1914 and 1918. With published authors and renowned guides Clive Harris and Kevin Brazier
leading the tour, it promises to be an evocative and memorable experience.
Herts for Valour is a three day two night tour with pickups from Ebbsfleet and Dover and two overnight stops in the
historic city of Amiens. Throughout the tour we will visit the infamous battlefields of Cuinchy, High Wood, Aichet le
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TEL: 01438 791020
(telephone Battle Honours Ltd for bookings)
EMAIL: info@hertsatwar.co.uk
WEB: www.hertsatwar.co.uk/hertsforvalour
AVAILABLE TOURS:
Herts for Valour; 11-13 July
WESTMINSTER
CLASSIC TOURS
VALOR TOURS
Valor Tours, Ltd has been leading authoritative tours to destinations of military
historic interest for over 30 years. As well
as going to key European battle sites in
the company of WWII veterans, we have
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points are still visible, and more importantly the memories and the memorials
remain. On these tours we rekindle
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Americas fighting men and women who
went off to war 70 years ago.
TEL: 001-415-332-7850
EMAIL: valortours@yahoo.com
WEB: www.valortours.com
AVAILABLE TOURS:
2014 Tours: Return to Guadalcanal, WWI
Centennial series, WWII Poland, 70th Anniversary
return to Peleliu, El Alamein to Tunis Battlefield
Tour, Military History Tour Papua New Guinea,
70th Anniversary Leyte Landings Liberation of
the Philippines
AVAILABLE TOURS:
The Gallipoli Centenary: From Bosphorus to the
Dardanelles: 1-8 November 2014 with James McKay
LEGER HOLIDAYS
Follow the footsteps of heroes on a Leger
Holidays Battlefield Tour with Specialist
Guides. If you want to understand our
nations and your familys history, there
is no better way than to actually visit the
battlefield sites and the places where history
was made.
Leger is the UK leader in escorted
Battlefield tours with the widest range of
tours, departure dates, and choice of over
510 local coach joining points, plus top-rated specialist guides making it easy for you to get the
full battlefield tour experience.
Choose from more than 35 WWI and WWII, Napoleonic, and American Civil War battlefield
tours including D-Day Landings in Normandy and All Quiet on the Western Front as the perfect
introductory tours, plus special anniversary tours which mark 70 years since D-Day and 100
years since the start of WWI.
Legers Battlefield tours are truly inspirational journeys of remembrance and discovery.
TEL: 0844 846 7919
EMAIL: reservations@leger.co.uk
WEB: www.inspirational-journeys.co.uk
AVAILABLE TOURS:
We offer a choice of WWI, WWII, Napoleonic, and American
Civil War battlefield tours as well as walking and special
anniversary tours with many departure dates throughout
the year.
ON SALE 10 JULY
THE BATTLE OF
THE RIVER PLATE
Patrick Boniface analyses the pursuit and destruction
of German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.
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RUNNERS-UP
Ill just tape this hilarious Shoot Me! sign on Gunters back!
Neil Kahn
Over the bags Potter, and no tricks!
Les Quilter
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