Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Military History - March 2018
Military History - March 2018
Ottoman commander
Dragut dies after being
hit by artillery fire during
the 1565 Siege of Malta
NO MERCY
ON MALTA
KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN
VS. TURKS IN AN EPIC
ISLAND BATTLE
MARCH 2018
MARCH 2018 Letters 6 News 8
Features
32
The Half-Cocked
Cossack
Freebooter Nikolai Ashinov
sought glory in Africa—but
brought Russia humiliation
By Andrew McGregor
22
No Mercy
on Malta
Jean de la Valette and the
Knights of St. John held off
an Ottoman invasion force
By Justin D. Lyons
Departments 14 16
Interview Valor
Laurie Rush In Rare
Company
54
Speaking in
Tongues
American Indian code talkers
flummoxed would-be German
eavesdroppers in World War I
By Richard Selcer
48 62
Dressed to Kill Faceless Enemy
Portrait photographer The toughest fight for
Rory Lewis turns his coalition troops in post-
camera on uniformed Saddam Iraq was against
British soldiers improvised explosives
By Paul X. Rutz
40
Untouchable
Agent 13
Prominent American general
James Wilkinson was also
a master of treason
By Ron Soodalter
18 20 76
What We Hardware Hallowed Ground
Learned From... M998 Humvee White Plains,
Siege of New York
Jadotville, 1961
On the cover: Ottoman commander Dragut—both a general and one of the most capable admirals of his time—lies mortally
wounded by artillery fire during the 1565 Siege of Malta. PHOTO: National Museum of Fine Arts, Malta/Bridgeman Images
3
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of equality to young girls. because they chose to defend Mark Cohn Please include name, address
Combat is, inherently, not an their families and loved ones. COCKEYSVILLE, MD. and phone number
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News By Brendan Manley
MOH FOR
VIETNAM
MEDIC
President Donald
Trump presents the
Medal of Honor to
retired U.S. Army
Capt. Gary Rose.
Retired U.S. Army Capt. Gary M. Rose, 70, a Vietnam 15 miles over the next four days, keeping on the move
veteran who served as a Special Forces medic, received the as numerically superior enemy forces closed in. Rose re-
Medal of Honor from President Donald Trump on Oct. 23, peatedly braved small-arms, rocket and mortar fire to aid
2017—nearly a half-century after the selfless actions that the wounded, shrugging off shrapnel wounds to his head,
earned him the award. During Operation Tailwind, a covert hand and foot. During the helicopter extraction on Sep-
1970 incursion into Laos, then-Sgt. Rose rendered aid to tember 14 the medic again risked exposure to evacuate the
dozens of fellow soldiers while under heavy fire and despite wounded and help secure the perimeter. As Rose climbed
sustaining multiple wounds. He’d been nominated for the aboard the last chopper, a bullet caught the door gunner
MOH, but due to the classified nature of the mission the in the neck. The medic instantly provided aid, saving the
award was downgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross. man’s life. When the stricken helicopter crashed, Rose
On Sept. 11, 1970, helicopters inserted Rose’s unit—the continued to treat patients and wounded crewmen until
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam–Studies and Obser- another chopper arrived to extract them.
vations Group—into southeastern Laos to engage North Operation Tailwind came to light in 1998 during a joint
Vietnamese forces. The mission was part of the civil war CNN-Time broadcast that made false allegations regarding
between the Laotian monarchy and communist insurgents. the mission’s intent and conduct, resulting in the firing or
On landing, the unit’s 16 Special Forces troops and 110 resignation of several staffers. The silver lining came as
Montagnard guerrillas came under fire. The men marched Tailwind veterans pressed for Rose to receive the MOH.
C. TODD LOPEZ/U.S. ARMY
9
News
NZ Recalls
Maori Wars
ARCHAEOLOGISTS BATTLE On October 28—the
anniversary of an 1835
inaugural National
UNESCO inspectors assess Commemoration Day
and announced the first
damage to the Bronze Age
round of grants from its
ruins of Tell es-Sakan.
Wars and Conflicts in
New Zealand fund. Man-
aged by the Ministry of
Maori Development [tpk.
Archaeologists have persuaded the de facto Hamas administration of the Gaza Strip to tempo- govt.nz], the grants are
rarily halt construction of a military and housing complex atop the ruins of the Bronze Age earmarked for events
walled city of Tell es-Sakan, just south of present-day Gaza City, capital of the Palestinian terri- and programs to raise
tory. Continuously occupied from 3200 BC to 2350 BC, Tell es-Sakan represents the only known awareness of the 19th
fortified Canaanite city in southern Palestine. century wars between
the Maoris and the Brit-
A joint Palestinian-French team of archaeologists first studied the 12-acre dig site in 1998
ish colonial government.
after construction unearthed the ruins. Two years later the outbreak of the Second Intifada
—the Palestinian uprising against Israel—halted work at Tell es-Sakan. Last fall Hamas
again sent in bulldozers, in the process destroying much of the 1998 excavations, including Thistlegorm in 3D
Maritime archaeologists
massive mud-brick perimeter walls and ancient dwellings, while workers walked off with with the Thistlegorm
artifacts. The oldest finds included Egyptian-style ceramics, tools, beads and pendants. Project [thethistlegorm
Unearthed pottery has been linked to Narmer, first king of a unified Egypt, whose seal has project.com] have rolled
turned up elsewhere in Gaza. out 360-degree videos
and a detailed 3D model
ADEL HANA/ASSOCIATED PRESS; MINT IMAGES-FRANS LANTING/GETTY IMAGES
The tussle over the site comes at a time when Palestine is mired in a housing crisis of its
of the World War II wreck
own making. Amid the ongoing conflict, retaliatory strikes by Israeli aircraft and artillery
of the British freighter
have left tens of thousands of Palestinians homeless. Israel blames the destruction of civil- SS Thistlegorm. Sunk by
ian housing on the Hamas practice of embedding military infrastructure, including missile German bombers in 1941
launchers, in residential neighborhoods. But it is Gaza’s own archaeology authority that near the Gulf of Suez
blames Hamas—a terrorist group that seized control of the strip in a bloody 2007 coup— in the Red Sea, it has
for neglecting the territory’s cultural heritage, particularly pre-Islamic ruins and artifacts. become a popular dive
site due to its 100-foot
The fate of Tell es-Sakan remains in question.
maximum depth and its
wartime cargo of tanks,
‘I am very concerned—the entire Gaza Strip locomotives, trucks and
motorcycles. The 3D
is an archaeological site’ model comprises 24,307
photos spanning 7 acres
—Palestinian archaeologist Moain Sadeq of the ship’s decks.
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zones and how archaeology degrees and similar disciplines—that apply Drum, we had decks of playing cards
prepared her for a job with Army. directly to our U.S. missions today. to educate soldiers about Iraq, but only
But no, the program was extraordinary two cards about respecting the na-
and has not been duplicated since. tion’s archaeology. I thought, We can
do better than that. That’s when we Do you collaborate with other The Booth Family Rome Prize in his-
decided to make our own playing card segments of the armed forces? toric preservation enabled me to spend
decks dedicated to archaeological The soldier preparation I do is all about a year in Rome. Initially, my project
awareness. Of course, cards are a won- 10th Mountain. But the Department proposal was to develop military edu-
derful education tool. The soldiers of Defense has an extraordinary cul- cation curriculum for cultural prop-
have really embraced them. tural resources protection program. erty and protection and propose it to
Hundreds of archaeologists work for the NATO Defense College in Rome.
Has awareness spread among DOD and the services. Our primary It turns out the Italians have the best
other nations’ military forces? job is protecting the archaeology and military cultural property protection
I’ve had the privilege of meeting with heritage of our home bases. That said, program in the world—the Carabin-
various heritage and cultural repre- we are also heritage professionals and ieri Command for the Protection of
sentatives of the Iraqi and Afghan gov- very aware of the military personnel Cultural Heritage. That year in Rome
ernments, but my international efforts our bases are supporting. I have lots gave me the opportunity to job shadow
have focused on the NATO alliance. of colleagues that care about these with them.
I was a co-director for the recently com- issues, but they work in different ways
pleted NATO Science for Peace and with the military personnel they sup- What’s next for your program?
Security program, which has funded port. There’s a “coalition of the will- I’m continuing even more proactively
a whole series of advanced research ing” out there spending a tremendous to educate and train with the division.
workshops to develop cultural prop- amount of time and effort applying The 10th Mountain is the first divi-
erty protection policy doctrine and our expertise to getting this job done, sion in the modern U.S. Army to add
best practices for the alliance. We’ve whether it is the Army, Navy, Air Force cultural property protection scenarios
been working very hard to establish or Marines. to its field exercises. We have an out-
BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES
the international framework for im- standing civil affairs team, and we’re
plementing even more robust and What did you learn from the very, very proud that we’ve taken this
meaningful military cultural property American Academy in Rome? step forward to educate our soldiers
protection programs. It was an extraordinary opportunity. about these important issues. MH
15
Valor In Rare Company
By Fred L. Borch
junction. Mabry organized a counterattack and personally led the storming of the in 1975 and died in his home state of
strongpoint. For that action he earned the Silver Star and promotion to major. South Carolina in 1990 at age 72. MH
Y ILA
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What We Learned From...
Siege of Jadotville, 1961
By Frank Jastrzembski
O
After weeks of negotiations between
n June 30, 1960, amid violent riots after 52 years of colonial rule, U.N. officials and the Katangese, the
Belgium reluctantly granted independence to Congo. No longer satis- Irishmen were sent home. Treated as
fied with the status quo, black enlisted men in the Force Publique outcasts for having capitulated, they
(Congo’s military) mutinied against their white Belgian officers, and were branded the “Jadotville Jacks.”
the country soon erupted in anti-white violence. Prime Minister Their reputation was somewhat re-
Patrice Lumumba subsequently Africanized the military as the stored by a 2016 film about the siege.
Armée Nationale Congolaise, prompting Belgium to deploy its own
troops to safeguard white citizens. Lumumba in turn petitioned the United
Nations for the removal of the Belgian troops. The U.N. Security Council passed
Lessons:
a resolution to that effect and ordered peacekeeping troops to the country. Accurate intelligence is crucial.
On July 11, four days before the first U.N. troops arrived, the southeastern Poor intel led to a breakdown in U.N.
province of Katanga, with support from Belgian troops and businessmen, planning, resulting in Company A’s
seceded from Congo. The move augured financial collapse, as the majority of placement in an untenable position.
the nation’s revenue came from the mining region. The last Belgian troops left Overconfidence breeds failure.
Congo proper by July 23, but Belgian and mercenary forces remained in Katanga. Boasting better weaponry and numeri-
As tensions threatened to erupt into civil war, the U.N. sent additional troops, cal superiority, the Katangese sensed
and by early 1961 its peacekeeping force numbered 20,000 men. That August an easy victory. They miscalculated
the U.N. ordered its “Blue Helmets” into the breakaway province. Their primary the resolve of the Irish peacekeepers.
mandate was to arrest and repatriate Belgian troops and mercenaries, effectively Plan for the worst. Had U.N. com-
ending the revolt. The troops lacked accurate intelligence and were ill equipped, manders anticipated the worst-case
carrying gear better suited to their original policing mission. Furthermore, the scenario, Company A would have had
Katangese, white and black alike, largely regarded the peacekeepers as invaders. adequate air and ground support.
Among the U.N. forces was the 158-man Company A of the Irish army’s 35th Learn from your mistakes. The
Infantry Battalion, led by Commandant Pat Quinlan. In early September the unit Congo Crisis was the U.N.’s first peace-
was sent to the remote mining town of Jadotville, 80 miles northwest of the Ka- keeping mission with a significant
tangese capital of Elisabethville. Though most of Quinlan’s men were in their late military component. It served as a
IRISH DEFENCE FORCES
teens or 20s and had never seen action, they had gained experience and developed training ground for subsequent opera-
a solid rapport while patrolling the region in previous weeks. They were armed tions, though U.N. forces again experi-
with modern FN FAL battle rifles, but much of their supporting equipment dated enced setbacks in Rwanda in 1994 and
to World War II, including Vickers machine guns, 60 mm mortars and a Bren gun. Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995. MH
A
fter the Vietnam War the U.S. Army underwent a 6
modernization program, which included finding an
all-terrain replacement for its tactical vehicles—from
the ¼-ton M151 Mutt through the 1½-ton M561
Gama Goat—with the added capacity to carry the new 5
TOW anti-tank missile. AM General, Chrysler Defense
and Teledyne Continental all submitted prototypes,
and in late 1982 the Army selected AM General’s design for pro-
duction as the M998 high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle,
3 4
or HMMWV (universally referred to by service members as the
Humvee). Production kicked off in April 1984 at AM General’s
plant in Mishawaka, Ind., and the first Humvees entered service
in October 1985. To offset their relative high cost ($20,410 for the
basic vehicle to $28,382 for the weapons carrier), the Army relied
on beefed-up Chevrolet Blazers as M1008/9 CUCVs (commercial
utility cargo vehicles) in logistics and support roles for which the
Humvee’s off-road abilities were not needed. Both vehicles used
the same General Motors 6.2-liter V8 diesel engine.
By 2005 AM General had rolled out more than 175,000 Humvees
in a range of configurations. Its versatility has outshone that of
the legendary jeep, though its use in guerrilla-dominated combat
environments such as Iraq and Afghanistan has revealed its vulner-
2
ability to mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Efforts
to thwart such threats have included various armor upgrades
seemingly as improvised as the devices they are meant to counter.
Meanwhile, the Army has embarked on its latest modernization
efforts, including plans to replace the Humvee. MH
1
Length: 15 feet
Width: 7 feet 1 inch
Height: 6 feet
Ground clearance: 16 inches
Engine: General Motors DDA 6.2-liter V8 diesel,
generating 150 hp at 3,600 rpm
Transmission: Automatic with maximum input
torque of 451 pounds/foot
Steering: Power-assisted
Curb weight: 5,200 pounds
Payload: 2,500 pounds
Gross vehicle weight: 7,700 pounds
Maximum towed load: 3,400 pounds
Maximum highway speed: 70 mph
Fuel capacity: 25 gallons
Range: 350 miles
9
10
13
14
15
21
NO MERCY
ON MALTA
In 1565 Jean de la Valette and the Knights of St. John defended
the isolated Mediterranean stronghold from an Ottoman siege
using gunpowder, steel, bare hands and bloody resolve
By Justin D. Lyons
In 1565 the small Mediterranean dominion of Malta thorn in the side of Islam for hundreds of years. Banding
became a flash point in the centuries-long contest between together after the Christian reconquest of Jerusalem in
Christianity and Islam for the soul of Europe. Fifty miles 1099 during the First Crusade, the knights were both
south of Sicily, the archipelago served as a strategic gate- religious and military in nature, and in league with the
way between East and West. Ottoman Sultan Suleiman Knights Templar they served as the backbone of the
the Magnificent had sent his fleet to Malta to destroy the Christian armies in the Holy Land. When Muslims took
military Order of St. John and thus secure a stepping- the last major Christian stronghold at Acre in 1291, the
stone for the invasion of Italy. Order of St. John withdrew first to Cyprus and then to
The appearance of the Ottoman fleet off Malta came Rhodes, where it remained for two centuries. Aided by
as no surprise to Valette. Elevated to his position in 1557, the experienced Rhodian sailors, the Hospitallers turned
the 71-year-old grand master had made every effort to to the sea, evolving from traditional knights into Chris-
speed preparations for the inevitable invasion. The same tian corsairs who continually harassed Muslim merchant
age as Suleiman and a veteran of many clashes with the ships, disrupting their trade routes. The raids ultimately
Turks—having even served a year as a slave on a Barbary spurred their enemies to launch two assaults against the
Coast galley—Valette possessed deep insight into the knights in the 15th century—one by the sultan of Egypt
conflict, comprehending both the implacable enmity in 1444, the other by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1480.
between the servants of the rival faiths and the strategic The magnificent fortifications the knights had built on
importance of Malta to control of the Mediterranean Rhodes endured both attacks, but a six-month siege by
Suleiman’s forces in 1522 finally broke their defenses. In
recognition of their valor, the sultan allowed survivors to
Malta—17 miles long by 9 miles withdraw. The order again went in search of a new home.
In 1530 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V offered the
wide—was weakly garrisoned Knights of St. John the Libyan stronghold of Tripoli and
the Mediterranean archipelago comprising Gozo, Com-
and had been hastily fortified ino and Malta. While the islands were rocky, barren and
bleak, Malta boasted two fine, large harbors and was the
and the conquest of southern Europe. On sighting the seafaring linchpin of the Mediterranean. The Hospital-
approaching Turkish flotilla, Valette dispatched an Ital- lers would command the east-west trade routes—every-
ian knight in a small boat to carry a succinct message to thing crossing between Malta and Sicily or North Africa
Sicilian Viceroy Don García de Toledo in Messina. “The would be at their mercy. Indeed, their heavily armed
siege has begun,” Valette wrote. “We await your help.” galleys soon posed more of a nuisance to Turkish ship-
But the grand master put little faith in reinforcement ping than they had at Rhodes. In 1564 an aging Suleiman,
—only the strength and determination of the knights exasperated beyond endurance and regretting his deci-
themselves would see them through the coming storm. sion to have spared those “sons of dogs” 42 years earlier,
The battle for Malta had deep historical roots. The resolved to deploy the full military might of the Ottoman
Order of St. John (aka Knights Hospitaller) had been a fleet to crush the order and sweep it into the sea.
The Turkish armada that hove to off Malta on May 18, positions: Fort St. Angelo on the peninsula of Birgu; Fort
1565, was enormous. Nearly 200 ships carried upward St. Michael on the adjacent peninsula of Senglea; and
of 30,000 troops, the deadliest of whom were the sultan’s Fort St. Elmo on the central peninsula of Sciberras, which
6,000 Janissaries, elite harquebusiers famed for their dis- guarded the mouth of Grand Harbor to the south and that
cipline and order. The main body of the force comprised of Marsamxett Harbor to the north. A short march west
9,000 Sipahis armed with swords, bows, crossbows and in the interior lay the capital city of Mdina, its once grand
matchlock muskets. Joining them were some 4,000 fear- defenses old and undermanned. Valette earmarked it as a
some Iayalars, religious fanatics who dressed in animal base from which to launch cavalry raids against the Turks.
skins and feathers, smoked hashish before battle and Though the knights had considered the barrenness of
charged in heedless of casualties. Rounding out the force the archipelago an inconvenience, it now proved an
were levies, support troops and sailors. The Turks brought advantage. When besieging Rhodes, the Turks had been
at least 50 major pieces of artillery—including 8-pounders, able to secure victuals from the nearby Ottoman main-
60-pound culverins and at least two massive basilisks, land as well as the lush island itself. But there was little
firing immense stone balls weighing 160 pounds—as grain on Malta, and farmers had cut that in the spring,
well as 80,000 rounds of shot, thousands of pounds well before the siege. Fresh water was also scarce. The
of gunpowder and supreme confidence no foe could main source lay in the Marsa, a low-lying area at the far
FINE ART IMAGES/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES
withstand their might. end of Grand Harbor. But at the first hint of invasion
At first glance their confidence seemed well founded. Valette had ordered his men to stockpile water in thou-
Malta—17 miles long by 9 miles wide—was weakly sands of clay jars, then to foul Marsa’s springs and wells
garrisoned and had been hastily fortified. At the outset of with ordure, animal carcasses and bitter herbs. Further,
the siege Valette had 600 knights and servants-at-arms, Malta’s relative geographic isolation meant the Turks
about 1,000 Spanish foot soldiers and harquebusiers, and would have to bring everything necessary for a siege with
a few thousand Maltese militia and irregulars under his them—guns, ammunition, tents, sailcloth, even wood for
command. He had distributed the troops in three main cooking. Moreover, the attackers would have to capture
25
Siege of Malta, 1565
T
o the Ottoman Turks the island of Malta was the to the Knights of St. John (aka Knights Hospitaller), a Chris-
ideal base from which to launch an invasion tian military order that dated back to the 1099 reconquest of
of Italy and thrust into the belly of Christian Eu- Jerusalem. From the early 14th century the Hospitallers had
rope. A fleet operating from Malta could also con- operated as maritime raiders, harassing Muslim shipping
trol east-west shipping through the 90-mile-wide from their base on Rhodes in the southeastern Aegean. In
strait between Sicily and North Africa. The only 1522 Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent had ejected
problem for the Turks was they didn’t hold the island. It had them from Rhodes, prompting their relocation to Malta.
been under Christian control since 1091, when crusading Fed up with the Christian corsairs’ continued depreda-
Norman knights recaptured it from Muslim invaders. tions from Malta, Suleiman in 1565 sent a massive invasion
In 1530 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V turned over force of some 30,000 troops on nearly 200 ships against the
both Malta and the garrison of Tripoli, on the Libyan coast, small island garrison. The sultan likely presumed victory.
Above: The Turkish invasion force—depicted coming ashore during the cutting communications with Sicily. Second, they failed to
initial landing at Marsaxlokk Bay—numbered some 30,000 men and concentrate their attacks on the defenders’ strongpoints
arrived off Malta aboard a fleet of nearly 200 ships. Opposite: Valette on Birgu and Senglea. Both sat atop low-lying headlands
and his surviving troops offer up thanks to God at the end of the siege. that could be brought under fire from higher ground just
to the south. After an initial abortive attack on the bastion
HERITAGE IMAGE PARTNERSHIP LTD./ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; WALLACE COLLECTION, LONDON, U.K./BRIDGEMAN IMAGES
the island before autumn. If the knights could hold out of Castile, at the landward end of Birgu, the Turks pulled
long enough, Valette knew, the Turks would have to back to focus instead on Fort St. Elmo. Their irresolution
choose between wintering on the ill-provisioned island stemmed from a division of command and purpose.
or departing before rough seas endangered their fleet. Suleiman had placed Gen. Mustapha Pasha in command
of the army and Adm. Piali Pasha over the fleet. The
The Turkish fleet anchored in Marsaxlokk Bay, on former was fixated on destroying the enemy, while the
the south end of Malta, and began to move the main latter was more concerned with preserving the armada
body of the army ashore. While Valette sent his mounted entrusted to him. Piali’s first order of business was to
scouting parties to harass the Turkish advance units, find adequate shelter for his ships. With Grand Harbor
he wisely made no attempt to contain the invaders at the dominated by the guns of Fort St. Elmo and the bastions
beachhead—a futile operation against such numbers that on Birgu and Senglea, and sea conditions in the south
would have squandered his limited resources. By opting harbor less than ideal, the Ottoman admiral insisted the
to defend from within the fortifications, the grand master fleet must berth in Marsamxett, north of the Sciberras
would force Suleiman to sacrifice thousands of his own Peninsula. That meant the Turks must first reduce Fort
men in the attempt to breach the walls. St. Elmo before assaulting the order’s main positions—
The Turks made several critical errors at the outset of a reasonable scenario, provided the fort were quick to fall.
the campaign. First, they failed to take the ill-fortified After establishing their base camp at the Marsa end of
city of Mdina. Its fall would have not only deprived the Grand Harbor, the Turks moved the bulk of their artillery
knights of a base for their cavalry, but also given the to the crest of Sciberras, chiseling trenches and gun em-
Turks control of the north end of the island, effectively placements into the bare rock. The Ottoman gunners
Tripoli from the knights and scouted Malta in 1551. The possibly his own. Doubtless more than one
sultan ordered all three co-commanders to consult him
in all things. Dragut promptly rebuked Mustapha and
Turk turned his eyes toward the much larger
bastions on Birgu and Senglea and wondered
9,000
DEFENDERS
3,000
Piali for their folly in failing to secure the north island and how much blood would be paid for their cap-
for initiating the unnecessary siege of St. Elmo. To desist ture. In revenge for the Hospitallers’ stubborn
at that point would lower morale, however, so Dragut defense, Mustapha had the knights’ bodies KILLED
CHARLES-PHILIPPE LARIVIERE/CHATEAU DE VERSAILLES
ordered batteries emplaced to the north and south of decapitated, crucified and set afloat in Grand PLUS ESTIMATED
7,000 CIVILIANS
the fort to bring it under fire from three sides. He was Harbor. Valette upped the ante, decapitating
also quick to perceive the garrison had survived so long all Turkish prisoners held in St. Angelo and ordering their
because it was being supplied and reinforced. From then heads fired from his cannons into the Ottoman lines. The
on Turkish patrol boats scoured Grand Harbor by night, exchange was clear. There would be no quarter, no mercy.
choking off St. Elmo. Its heroic defenders nonetheless
held out several more weeks, draining Turkish resources, By the time Fort St. Elmo fell it was high summer. As
demoralizing enemy soldiers and buying Valette precious Malta simmered in oppressive heat, the whole Turkish
time to strengthen the fortifications in Grand Harbor. army slogged its way around Grand Harbor to begin the
29
offensives on Birgu and Senglea. As he retreat. Mustapha had received word of a relief force and
awaited the assault, Valette received wel- pulled back his forces to meet the threat. In fact, a small
come news. A small relief force of 600 men body of horsemen from Mdina had chosen that moment
and 42 knights from Sicily had managed to to pilfer and burn the Turkish camp and slay its inhabit-
sneak through enemy-occupied territory by ants, including all the wounded. When he learned a mere
night and enter Birgu. Their arrival was a raid had deprived him of victory, Mustapha was furious.
great boost to morale, and triumphal church As August wore on, the artillery volleys continued.
bells echoed across the peninsula. Over- The Turks were also mining the walls of Senglea and the
estimating the size of the relief force, or bastion of Castile. Nervous elders on Birgu pleaded with
perhaps simply growing weary of the over- Valette to withdraw the knights and all able-bodied troops
long and costly struggle, Mustapha offered into Fort St. Angelo. The grand master refused, knowing
Valette the same terms the knights had been there would be neither safety nor honor in such a retreat.
given at Rhodes—safe passage with all the Exposed on the seaward end of the peninsula, St. Angelo
honors of war. The grand master refused, would come under withering fire from all points of the
replying that the only territory he would compass. Moreover, Valette would never abandon the
Payback give the Turks was the ditch before the brave Maltese who had suffered alongside the garrison
fortress wall, in which to stack their dead. and played such a heroic part in its defense.
commemorated the 1565 In early July the Turkish batteries opened On August 18 a mine exploded beneath the Castile,
Christian repulse of the fire as Mustapha launched simultaneous felling a large section of the bastion’s main wall, through
Muslim Siege of Malta
attacks on Senglea from the landward side which the Turks streamed before the dust had even settled.
with coins and medals
honoring Valette, top, and by sea from the Marsa. In this action the Panic threatened to immobilize the Christian troops,
and his knights, above. Maltese irregulars, who had erected pali- when into the breach strode the 71-year-old grand master
The Latin inscription sades and placed underwater obstructions himself, wearing a borrowed helmet and wielding a pike.
on the counter from all along the peninsula, proved invaluable. His example heartened the dazed defenders, who rushed
the Netherlands, above,
reads “Turkish Flight.” Excellent swimmers, they knifed the Turks forward to engage in a vicious hand-to-hand struggle.
in their immobilized boats and dragged Though wounded in the leg by a grenade, Valette refused
them into the water to drown them. Soon the shoreline to withdraw until the Turks were repelled.
was choked with enemy corpses. Hoping to capitalize on As the siege dragged on, dissension between the Turkish
the distraction of these assaults, Mustapha also sent 10 commanders increased. Piali kept an anxious eye on the
large boats filled with Janissaries to scale the low walls on sea, while Mustapha calculated whether he could acquire
the other side of Senglea. This attempt, too, was thwarted sufficient supplies from Tripoli, Greece or Constantinople
when a hidden battery at water’s edge blew the boats to to overwinter his army on Malta. But morale had plum-
kindling, sending more than 800 men to the harbor floor. meted, and the final blow to the Turks’ fighting spirit
Realizing his men could not take the fortresses by came with the news a Christian relief force of some 8,000
storm, Mustapha ordered preparatory bombardments men had landed on the north island. On September 8,
to precede a siege of the walls. The island trembled and the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
smoked. The barrages went on for days and could be Turks called off the siege and began to withdraw. Days
KUENKER.DE; ROYAL MUSEUMS GREENWICH; OPPOSITE: MUSEUM OF FINE ART, MALTA/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES
later the ragged defenders gazed in wonder at the aban-
doned siege works and trenches. The island was scarred
The ragged defenders gazed and scorched, the bastion walls blasted and cracked, the
survivors exhausted and bloody—but they had endured.
in wonder at the abandoned On Malta in 1565 the Knights of St. John had checked
siege works and trenches the westward expansion of Turkish power, setting the
stage for a concerted pushback from the Christian West.
Six years later a fleet of the Holy League severely chal-
heard 100 miles away. When the firing finally ceased on lenged Ottoman maritime dominance of the Mediter-
August 7, the war cries of thousands of men broke the ranean when it destroyed a Turkish fleet just outside its
silence as they rushed the battered walls of Birgu. The naval base of Lepanto in the Ionian Sea. As they had for
Turks managed to breach the main wall, but the knights hundreds of years, the galleys of the Knights of St. John
had prepared well, constructing inner defensive walls that once again sailed against their old enemy. MH
penned in the enemy troops, trapping them in a murder-
ous crossfire. A simultaneous Turkish onslaught on Sen- Justin D. Lyons is an associate professor at Ohio’s Ashland
glea met with more success, gaining the battlements and University. For further reading he recommends The Siege
a foothold in Fort St. Michael itself. But at that moment, of Malta, 1565, by Francisco Balbi di Correggio, and
to the amazement of both sides, a trumpet sounded the The Great Siege: Malta 1565, by Ernle Bradford.
31
THE HALF-
COCKED
COSSACK
Freebooter Nikolai Ashinov sought a foothold for
Mother Russia in the Red Sea—but his African
misadventure only caused embarrassment
By Andrew McGregor
and Russian Orthodox priests, Ashinov’s attempted bert, the French consul in Aden, became the first Euro-
occupation of an abandoned Egyptian fort there in pean to visit the port of Obock, where he negotiated trad-
1889 sparked an international crisis and led to what ing rights with the local sultan. Lambert was murdered
Czar Alexander III deemed “a sad and stupid comedy.” three years later after inserting himself into a local political
AFRICA
TADJOURA
SAGALLO GULF OF
ADEN
FRENCH
SOMALILAND
MILES
0 25
dispute, but in 1862 the French signed a treaty of alliance Opposite: Russian adventurism in Africa was not limited to Ashinov’s
with the regional Afar sultan and purchased Obock. The scheme; Russian-supplied artillery helped the Ethiopians defeat Italian
French initially found little use for the port and considered forces at the 1896 Battle of Adwa. Top right: Cossacks were renowned for
selling it to the Egyptians, who were expanding their Afri- their horsemanship. Above: Often depicted by 19th-century artists as calm
can empire with a modernized military heavily reliant on and bucolic, the area around Sagallo was a hotbed of international intrigue.
WORLD HISTORY ARCHIVE/AKG-IMAGES; GEORGES FRAIPONT/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES; MAP BY BRIAN WALKER
Civil War. In 1874 Egyptian troops began occupying the Senegal, Governor Lagarde established himself on the
coast southward from Tadjoura. By 1882 passing French south side of the Tadjoura Gulf and gradually expanded
ships were reporting the presence of Egyptian forces at French rule into the rest of the region, sowing the seeds
colonial holdings in the Gulf of Aden. French interest in for a French colony. Though the Italians and British
the area picked up the next year after authorities in the managed to occupy some of the abandoned Egyptian
British-held port of Aden refused to recoal French naval ports, Lagarde beat Royal Navy warships to Tadjoura by
ships. By then the Egyptian military presence was pervasive only a few hours, adding it to the newly established French
in Obock, which France had still made no effort to occupy. protectorate by agreement with the local sultan. Weeks
Ethiopia’s destruction of the Egyptian army at the Battle later, as the last Egyptian forces withdrew from the time-
of Gura in March 1876 was the beginning of the end of worn bastion of Sagallo, French troops from the cruiser
Egypt’s efforts to expand its influence in the Horn of Africa. Seignelay occupied the decaying fort over British protests.
By 1884 Cairo had agreed to abandon its bases along the
Ethiopian and Somali coasts, a withdrawal the European Nikolai Ashinov had begun his career as an adventurer in
powers were ready to exploit. That year France dispatched the caravan trade to Persia and Turkey before volunteering
statesman-ambassador Léonce Lagarde, Count of Rouffey- for service in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. Though
roux, to oversee its interests as military governor of the he claimed to be an ataman, or Cossack leader, others
region. Fresh from colonial service in Cochin China and denounced him as an imposter. During a visit to Con-
35
Top left: Among the weapons the French used to shell Sagallo was a 47 mm would step in and proclaim it an official Russian overseas
naval version of the Hotchkiss revolving cannon shown here. Above: The territory. Despite misgivings about Ashinov’s character,
Cossacks’ traditional melee weapons were no match for such ordnance. Alexander appears to have toyed with the idea in the face
Above right: Terek Cossacks pose for a portrait. Opposite: The Cossack of protests from the Foreign Ministry, which sought to
reputation for horsemanship aided Ashinov’s dismounted men little. cultivate France as an ally. In the end the czar neither sup-
ported nor prevented the African initiative, preferring to
stantinople, Ashinov encountered two Circassian Muslims fall back on plausible denial and see how events unfolded.
returning to the northwestern Caucasus from Cairo who Ashinov failed to raise support during a visit to Paris
told him of a fertile land to the south of Egypt whose in 1887, despite pitching his idea as a joint Russo-French
inhabitants practiced an ancient form of Christianity. venture. But the lack of overt opposition likely assured
Ashinov’s first trip to Africa came in 1885, when he him he had the tacit support of both France and Russia.
landed at the Red Sea port of Massawa, which Italy had In 1888 he returned to Tadjoura, where he collected two
just occupied as Egypt’s rule in the region collapsed. The Ethiopian priests selected by Yohannes to attend the
Cossack quarreled with the Italians (who were also eyeing 900th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Ethiopia) before heading inland. Though accounts differ Ashinov took the priests to celebrations in Kiev and
on whether Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV met with then St. Petersburg. They met the czar at the insistence
Ashinov, the latter claimed to have obtained a vague permit of Alexander’s closest adviser, who plainly laid out the
to establish a Cossack settlement on the Gulf of Tadjoura. case for the emperor: “In such enterprises the most
Ashinov did meet with the influential Ethiopian Gen. Ras convenient tools are cutthroats of the likes of Ashinov.”
Alula and made a reconnaissance of Tadjoura. Depending on whose backing he sought, Ashinov
Ashinov’s motivation was grounded in Slavophilism, a represented his proposed Cossack mission to Tadjoura
FORGOTTENWEAPONS.COM; TANASQUEL.GALLERY.RU; WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
19th century intellectual movement focused on preserving as either strategic, commercial or religious in intent. The
traditional Russian culture. It emphasized the primacy of Foreign Ministry, loath to place international relations
the Russian Orthodox Church, rejected Westernism and in the hands of a rogue Cossack, remained vigorously
sought continual expansion of the empire. The expansion- opposed to Ashinov’s scheme. Others were more forth-
ists were particularly drawn to the Red Sea coast and Ethi- coming. As Russian scholars worked up detailed analy-
opia, given the region’s strategic value and the Ethiopian ses of the Tadjoura region, Minister of the Navy Adm.
Orthodox Church, which seemed to offer common ground Ivan Alexeyevich Shestakov sent the Russian gunboat
between the two nations. The preferred base for such Mandjur ahead to Aden to support the Cossacks.
efforts, the Gulf of Tadjoura, had been claimed but was To bolster Ashinov’s religious cover, Alexander’s adviser
not yet fully consolidated by the French. Regardless, assigned Father Paissi, a Russian Orthodox archimandrite,
leading merchants and administrators (including Alexan- to ostensibly lead the mission. Paissi was also an Orenburg
der III’s brother) began to line up behind Ashinov in hopes Cossack with military experience in Central Asia. A party
that were he able to establish a Cossack colony, the czar of Russian monks lent further credence to the venture.
temperature of 80 degrees under a relentless tropical sun nov failed to recognize he was being offered an opportunity
made the work of repairing the fort a taxing effort for to remain so long as he observed certain formalities.
the northern intruders. Discipline quickly dissolved, and Meanwhile, his unruly Cossacks continued their depre-
Ashinov was forced to distribute cash to his followers dations, and all the noble religious rhetoric surrounding
to dissuade them from further raiding. the purpose of the expedition came crashing down. Not all
37
the Cossacks were pleased with the chaotic mand they wisely ignored. Though the French fired 11
conditions and lack of leadership. The large projectiles, most of their fire came from the newly
Afar tribesmen had turned over several introduced 47 mm naval version of the Hotchkiss re-
Russian deserters to the French in Obock, volving cannon. Cossack skill in arms and horsemanship
and these disaffected settlers shared a true provided no defense against naval guns, and the Russian
picture of the disorder prevailing in New holdouts had little alternative but to run for the surround-
Moscow. When the French Foreign Office ing brush or cower within the fort’s ruined walls and pray.
Terek Papakha lodged a formal complaint, a furious By the time the shelling was over, one man, two women
Accepted by the Russian Czar Alexander sent word through the and three children were dead, with 20 more wounded.
army in the mid-19th Russian envoy in Paris, disavowing any The bombardment had pounded the fight out of the
century as the traditional involvement with Ashinov’s mission. Russians, and Ashinov’s confidence had taken a shocking
Cossack hat, the papakha
was made of wool-on The Cossacks were on their own. beating. He left it to Father Paissi to deal with the French,
lambskin. The one shown Satisfied Ashinov’s expedition had with Ashinov’s wife serving as interpreter. Paissi angrily
is the cap of an officer no official backing in Russia, the French protested the action but found little sympathy. French
in the Terek cavalry host, government ordered Rear Adm. Jean- opinion was the Cossacks had brought it on themselves
similar to what Ashinov Baptiste Léon Olry, commander of the after passing up numerous opportunities to stand down.
would have worn during
his African misadventure. Levant Naval Division, to expel the in- Over the coming days French troops collected the
truders. With Olry at the helm, the cruisers garrison’s weapons and oversaw the embarkation of the
Seignelay and Primauguet steamed for Obock, where Russians to Obock. To prevent a reoccupation of Sagallo,
they picked up Lagarde and were joined by the gunboats Olry ordered the remaining fortifications destroyed with
Météore and Pingouin. explosives. Paissi and his monks were allowed to proceed
At that stage of the fiasco the czar was heeding the on a religious mission to the Ethiopian court. After trans-
counsel of the Foreign Ministry and demanded “this beast port to Suez, the surviving Cossacks were placed under
Ashinov” be removed from Tadjoura as soon as possible. arrest by Russian authorities and on March 4 put aboard
After Paris received notice the Russians had decided to the cruiser Zabiyaka for a humiliating return trip to Odessa.
send the gunboat Mandjur from Aden to deal with the con- Ashinov was received like a bad odor back in Russia.
tentious Cossack themselves, the French government sent Given the czar’s anger with him, the Cossack freebooter
orders to Olry’s squadron to stand down. Due to the poor was perhaps lucky to have received only three years exile
communications of the day, the orders didn’t arrive in time. in the Volga River region; the Foreign Ministry had rec-
ommended five years in Siberia. In 1890 Ashinov fled,
On February 17 the French flotilla arrived off Tadjoura first to Paris and then London. Ordered home by Alex-
and assembled in front of Sagallo. Olry promptly sent a ander III in 1891, he was resentenced to 10 years’ exile
courier ashore from Seignelay with a written demand on his wife’s estates in Chernigov in northern Ukraine.
that Ashinov lower the Russian flag, evacuate the fort Ashinov’s adversary Lagarde went on to become French
and stack the Cossack weapons. He was granted a half- ambassador to Ethiopia and in 1897 was granted the
hour to comply—had the sight of the warships lining up honorific Duke of Entoto by Emperor Menelik II.
in battle formation not already brought him to his senses.
Some 20 Cossacks understood the implications and Even as Ashinov was embroiled in his failed effort to create
swam out to the French ships to surrender. Meanwhile, an African New Moscow, the Russian minister of war
the deadline slipped by with no sign of compliance from was organizing his own Ethiopian mission using a trusted
and far less erratic officer, Lt. Vasiliev Federovich Mash-
kov, an Anglophobe and strategic thinker. In October
Cossack skill in arms and 1889 Mashkov arrived in Menelik’s court with the appar-
ent support of Lagarde. French and Russian interests were
horsemanship provided no converging over a mutual desire to wrest control from the
SOVIET-POWER.COM; OPPOSITE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS (3)
defense against naval guns British of the sea routes passing the Horn of Africa. Mash-
kov’s follow-up visit in 1891 led to the eventual formation
of a Russian military advisory mission and the delivery of
the fort. Olry waited an additional half-hour before Russian mountain guns the Ethiopians used to defeat the
having gunners fire a warning shot well over the block- Italian army at Adwa in 1896. France and Russia viewed
house. Another five minutes passed in dreadful silence. Italy as an ally of the British in the contest for the Horn.
Panic gripped the Russians when the French naval Capt. Aleksandr Vasilevich Eliseev visited Tadjoura
guns opened a 15-minute barrage. As the shells exploded and the nearby Sultanate of Rahayta in 1895 with an eye
around them, Ashinov reportedly ordered the Cossacks to establishing relations. He, too, was accompanied by a
to create a line of defense on the beach, a suicidal com- Russian Orthodox archimandrite, as the idea of uniting
39
40 MILITARY HISTORY MARCH 2018
UNTOUCHABLE
AGENT 13
James Wilkinson served as commanding general of the
U.S. Army under the first four presidents—all the while
engaging in a treasonous intrigue with Spain
By Ron Soodalter
ART COLLECTION/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
41
D
uring its fight for independence from Great By the time James came along, the family plantation was
Britain, and through its early days as a sov- heavily mortgaged. When he was 6 years old, his father
ereign nation, the United States of America died, and the estate was broken up, leaving the family with-
was blessed with a surfeit of extraordinary out support. The lack of financial resources left a perma-
men. Brilliant statesmen, futurists, deep nent impression on the young Wilkinson, who had to rely
and creative thinkers, they paved the way on the kindness of wealthy relatives to further his educa-
for a grand experiment in personal liberty tion and cover the cost of medical school in Philadelphia.
that became the envy of the world. In April 1775 the impatient 18-year-old decided two
It is safe to say James Wilkinson was not among years of advanced study were sufficient, and he laid plans
those luminaries. He was, in fact, a consummate rogue to return to Maryland and practice medicine. Just before
and self-aggrandizing, avaricious provocateur whose Wilkinson left Philadelphia, however, the worrisome
actions bordered on—and frequently embraced—espi- news came that disgruntled colonists had engaged Brit-
onage and treason, threatening the very well-being of ish troops at Lexington and Concord, Mass., commencing
his country. In his 1889 book The Winning of the West the American Revolutionary War.
future president Theodore Roosevelt wrote of Wilkin- The prospect of war fired the young physician’s sense
son, “In all our history there is no more despicable of adventure, and he began drilling with a local militia
character.” Yet Wilkinson served his nation’s first four unit. In his autobiography he admits having been in
NORTH WIND PICTURE ARCHIVES/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
presidents, occupying elevated positions in the mili- complete ignorance of the rebel cause. “My youth had
tary, state and federal hierarchies. And despite being the not allowed me time or means to investigate the merits
subject of repeated congressional inquiries and at least of the controversy,” he wrote. “It was, in truth, an im-
two courts-martial, he never saw the inside of a jail cell. pulse which characterized the times.” His enthusiasm
stemmed less from a sense of patriotic fervor than a pre-
Biographers surmise Wilkinson’s troubles in part re- occupation with the trappings of war itself. While in
volved around a fixation on money rooted in his youth. Philadelphia he had watched in fascination as red-coated
He was born in Calvert County, Md., in 1757, the second troops conducted crisp exercises on a parade ground.
of four children born to a respectable but failed planter. “I was struck with the idea of a painted wall, broken in
George Washington
pieces and put in motion,” he later wrote. “It appeared Opposite: Word of the engagement between British troops and Patriot
like enchantment, and my bosom throbbed with de- militiamen in Massachusetts on April 10, 1775, fired Wilkinson’s sense
light.…From that day I felt the strongest inclinations to of adventure. Bottom left: News of the Battle of Bunker Hill prompted
military life.” Weeks after joining the militia, Wilkinson him to quit his Maryland medical practice and join the Continental Army.
learned of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Weary of waiting for
the war to come to him, he quit his practice, traveled to his judgment. But he was an expert ladder climber. By
Boston and joined the month-old Continental Army. vocally supporting Washington’s measures for improving
The Army was in its formative stages, and Gen. George the Army and otherwise flattering his superiors, he ad-
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; OLD PAPER STUDIOS/
Washington stood in desperate need of good officers. vanced rapidly through the ranks. “There was something
Wilkinson was a born charmer; even a sworn enemy of the seducer in the way James Wilkinson set about
once referred to him as “easy, polite and gracious.” He winning the hearts of his generals,” Linklater notes.
had an uncanny ability to read people, and Washington Calculating though Wilkinson was, he apparently de-
became one of many beguiled by him, so much so he soon veloped a true admiration and affection for Brig. Gen.
commissioned Wilkinson a captain in Col. James Reed’s Horatio Gates, adjutant general of the Army. The young
newly formed 3rd New Hampshire Regiment. The ambi- officer later attributed his strong feeling for Gates to
ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; NIDAY PICTURE LIBRARY/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
tious young officer also served as an aide to Nathanael “his indulgence of my self love.” Wilkinson promptly
Greene, one of Washington’s best generals. set out to woo him as he had Greene and Arnold. Gates
But Wilkinson set his sights even higher. No one in the took to the young man, naming him his chief of staff.
nascent Continental Army had the dash or reputation for Those were heady times for young Wilkinson. He
gallantry in action of Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold. He was accompanied Washington in the historic attack on Tren-
a soldier’s soldier and a favorite of Washington. Deciding ton, for which the commander in chief promoted him
to hitch his star to Arnold’s military fortunes, Wilkinson to lieutenant colonel. Meanwhile, Gates made Wilkinson
ingratiated himself and was soon appointed his aide. his deputy adjutant general. Apparently, Gates also had
Wilkinson himself was not a natural soldier. He pos- a driving ego. Through his plotting, overweening ambi-
sessed what biographer Andro Linklater refers to as tion and politicking he had forever alienated Arnold and
“an almost theatrical vanity,” which often interfered with Northern Department commander Maj. Gen. Philip
43
general, hatched a plot to displace Washington as com-
King Carlos IV mander in chief and install Gates in his place. Reportedly
under the influence of strong drink, and flush with his
own arrogance, Wilkinson—who, along with Gates, was
deeply involved in the plot—carelessly revealed the de-
tails to dinner companions, one of whom was a highly
placed supporter of Washington. When the commander
in chief exposed the “Conway Cabal,” the conspiracy
foundered, and Conway ultimately resigned in disgrace.
When later questioned about the leak by an irate Gates,
Wilkinson tried to deflect blame onto an unsuspecting
friend and fellow officer, but his betrayal came to light.
Gates and his former acolyte exchanged harshly worded
missives and arranged to meet across pistols. Nothing
came of the affray outside of a deep and lasting enmity.
With the shadow of the Conway debacle hanging over
him, Wilkinson resigned both his commission and his
position on the Board of War. As usual he landed on his
feet. On Nov. 12, 1778, he entered into a favorable mar-
riage with Philadelphia socialite Ann Biddle, with whom
he would have four sons. In July 1779 he accepted con-
gressional appointment to the post of clothier general.
Bored with the work and dissatisfied as always with
the pay, he resigned less than a year later.
pelled them to the field of honor. The trouble began ians’ loyalties away from the United States and to Spain.
when Maj. Gen. Thomas Conway, a man of question- Despite his unfair trading advantage, Wilkinson
able character whom Congress had appointed inspector proved both inept and unlucky in business. As treason
form of silver dollars, which were cumbersome and In 1791, as an Indian uprising under Miami Chief
difficult to conceal. To muffle the noise during trans- Little Turtle threatened the Kentucky frontier, Wilkinson
port, he had them packed in barrels of coffee or casks led a force of volunteers on a series of successful punitive
of rum. He also kept a file of forged and false documents, raids, which he quickly parlayed into a commission as
should authorities intervene. lieutenant colonel of the 2nd U.S. Infantry. The next year,
45
as President Washington presided over the reorganiza- worked the letter in order to clear himself and incrimi-
tion of the Army as the Legion of the United States, he nate Burr. Chief Justice John Marshall also ruled that
appointed Maj. Gen. Anthony Wayne commander and while the defendant had shown intent to commit trea-
Wilkinson as his second with the rank of brigadier gen- son, he had committed no overt act of war. The jury
eral. After Wayne’s untimely death from illness in 1796, acquitted Burr. His reputation and prospects in sham-
Wilkinson succeeded him as the Army’s senior officer. bles, the disgraced statesman fled to Europe.
On a personal appeal from President John Adams, Wash- Wilkinson narrowly escaped indictment on charges of
ington himself resumed command in 1798 as tensions misprision of treason for having failed to expose the plot
with France heated up. But in 1801, under President sooner. He did not get away unscathed, however. Jeffer-
Thomas Jefferson, Wilkinson again assumed command son had him removed as territorial governor. His public
of the Army. By that time Spain had paid him $32,000— image—long mired in rumor and suspicion—further
equivalent to nearly $600,000 today—for his services, suffered. Although unable to indict Wilkinson, jury fore-
which included sharing the military plans and troop man and renowned statesman John Randolph pilloried
movements of the very Army he was commanding. the general as a “mammoth of iniquity…the only man
Three years later when Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis that I ever saw who was from the bark to the very core
and William Clark on an ostensibly scientific overland a villain.” Congress launched two inquiries into Wilkin-
expedition to the Pacific Ocean, Wilkinson immediately son’s affairs. Predictably, it was unable to prove anything.
informed the Spanish of the explorers’ true purpose—to In 1811 Jefferson’s successor, President James Madi-
map and establish an American presence in the newly son—who harbored deep-rooted suspicions of Wilkinson’s
acquired territory. In an act of open treason Wilkinson loyalty—ordered a military court of inquiry. Again, in the
absence of hard evidence, Wilkinson was exonerated.
At the outbreak of the War of 1812, despite the persis-
Wilkinson lied, cheated and tent rumors of espionage, the shadow of the Burr trial,
plotted, all the while charming his near indictment and Madison’s military court, Wil-
kinson was promoted to major general. He proved a
his way out of personal jeopardy poor battlefield commander, however, and his defeats
prompted yet another military inquiry. Though relieved
of command, he was yet again cleared. Honorably dis-
advised Spain to “detach a sufficient body of chasseurs to charged in 1815, Wilkinson left the Army, in the words
intercept Capt. Lewis and his party.” Thankfully, the Span- of military historian Robert Leckie, “an officer renowned
UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES; PICTORIAL PRESS LTD./ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY/SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
ish were unable to find the explorers. Had they succeeded, for never having won a battle or lost a court-martial.”
Lewis and Clark might have vanished, both in person Wilkinson’s career in treason simply dried up, as did
and from the history books. For his infamy Wilkinson was his funds. Desperately in need of a fresh start, and envi-
paid $12,000 and given an annual trade deal with Havana. sioning himself an ideal adviser to Emperor Agustín of
a newly independent Mexico, the 65-year-old American
In 1805—the very year Jefferson appointed him first sailed for Veracruz in 1822. His plans fell apart when the
governor of Louisiana Territory—Wilkinson expanded emperor abdicated the following year. On Dec. 28, 1825,
his repertoire as a traitor through collaboration with having grown increasingly ill and devoid of both money
former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr. Burr reportedly and influence, Wilkinson died in Mexico City.
planned to seize control of large swaths of land in the
North American interior and establish an independent It remains a mystery why America’s first three presi-
country. To achieve his goal, he’d formed a cabal of Army dents placed their confidence in such a dedicated rogue
officers, statesmen and wealthy planters, and he tapped as Wilkinson. Certainly they had all heard the public
Wilkinson to command the invasion force. rumblings about his treachery, which could not be dis-
Burr’s trust was misplaced, however, for Wilkinson— missed as simple gossip or rumormongering. Over the
dubious of Burr’s success and fearing discovery of his years, despite Wilkinson’s best precautions, suspicion
own treason—informed Jefferson of the conspiracy. In a had spread, prompting a steady stream of accusations in
series of letters to the president he revealed details of the the form of pamphlets, letters to Congress, public ad-
plot, denied any personal involvement and later prof- dresses, even a newspaper (Kentucky’s Western World)
fered proof of Burr’s treason—an unsigned, coded letter, obsessed with “outing” him. He came under the scrutiny
allegedly written by Burr and sent to Wilkinson, that of numerous Congressional investigations and courts-
revealed the former’s plans. In early 1807 Jefferson had martial. Although none produced definitive proof of his
his former vice president arrested and tried for treason. treason, the stench of corruption lingered about him.
Despite the fact Wilkinson was the star prosecution “Unless a collective blindness was at work,” biogra-
witness, it soon became evident the general had re- pher Linklater posits, “his political contemporaries
47
DRESSED
TO KILL
A celebrated portrait photographer turns his camera
on uniformed British soldiers—with spectacular results
T
hough internationally known for his portraits of politicians, sports stars and
celebrities such as actors Sir Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Iain Glen and
Natalie Dormer, British photographer Rory Lewis [rorylewisphotography.com]
has also harbored a lifelong interest in his nation’s rich history and colorful
military heritage. He was recently able to combine his passion for portraiture
with his interest in the British army. The result is an arresting collection of
images depicting the men and women of some of Britain’s most historic units
in both ceremonial and combat uniforms.
Lewis spent more than a year capturing the scores of photographs at the heart of his
new book Soldiery: British Army Portraits [CreateSpace, 2017]. In the process, he notes,
he traveled “from Fort George in Inverness to garrison towns such as Andover, and from
the prestige of Whitehall to Paderborn in Germany.” Lewis photographed soldiers of all
ranks, from private to field marshal, to reveal the time-honored uniforms and equipment
of the modern British army—and the diverse and dedicated people who wear them. MH
A
B C
D E
51
F G
H I
DRESSED TO KILL
F Lance Corporal of Horse
Wrighton, Household Cavalry
Mounted Regiment
G Captain Massey,
1st Battalion, The Rifles
H Captain Campbell,
Royal Artillery
J
53
SPEAKING
IN TONGUES
Near an abandoned French farm in 1918 field telephones
crackled with orders in a language that baffled German
eavesdroppers—and the code talkers were born
By Richard Selcer
D
uring World War II the United States used mit vital information—movement orders, target co-
American Indian code talkers to thwart ordinates, etc. Yet these means of relaying data had one
enemy decoding of battlefield radio and glaring vulnerability: The enemy could listen in. Radio
telephone traffic. The exploits of these communications were wholly indiscriminate. While
men—almost all of whom were Nava- telephones of the period transmitted information across
jos serving with the Marines the Pacific physically connected land lines, the miles of required
—are justly famous, thanks to several communications wire crisscrossed battlefields in plain
popular written histories and the 2002 sight, lying exposed on the ground or strung atop poles.
film Windtalkers. The Germans easily tapped into the lines, thus learning
Yet few people realize that U.S. reliance on code Allied plans and objectives. “There was every reason to
talkers during wartime did not originate with Nava- believe,” one U.S. officer informed his commander, “every
jos on some jungle-covered South Sea island. It was, decipherable message or word going over our wires also
instead, on the shell-pocked Western Front battle- went to the enemy.” To counter such eavesdropping, the
fields of World War I that American Indians—mostly Army turned to coded communications, but the enemy
Choctaws in Army uniforms—were first tasked with became adept at breaking the ciphers. Moreover, decoding
transmitting crucial military communications in messages under combat conditions took too long.
languages the enemy could not decipher. Enter the Choctaws.
Technically, the Selective Service Act of 1917, which
Throughout history military forces have gone to great authorized the military conscription of eligible men,
TEXAS MILITARY FORCES MUSEUM
lengths to keep their written operational messages safe did not apply to American Indians, as they were not
from the enemy’s prying eyes, using complex codes, considered U.S. citizens. In fact, at least two Indian na-
invisible ink and scores of other methods to render tions unilaterally declared war on Germany. Regard-
sensitive missives unreadable. By the early 20th century less, the Office of Indian Affairs established draft boards
the widespread adoption of field telephones and radios on the reservations and compelled thousands of men
made it far easier for land, sea and air forces to trans- into U.S. service. Wartime Commissioner of Indian
57
William Ruthven Smith
Alfred W. Bloor
conscious, easily amused and take a great trained in the use of Browning rifles and machine guns.
MATHERS MUSEUM OF WORLD CULTURES/INDIANA UNIVERSITY; U.S. ARMY PACIFIC; TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION; IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS
interest in fieldwork as opposed to close- After supplemental training in trench warfare, the divi-
order drill.” Still other preconceptions sion moved up to the front lines in late September.
worked in their favor. As they were used
to primitive living conditions on the res- The 36th Division arrived just in time to participate in
ervation and had been taught from birth the last great Allied offensive on the Western Front. The
to be stoic, some officers noted, they en- American unit was attached to the French Fourth Army,
dured the rigors of training with little its 71st and 72nd brigades split between the Meuse-
complaint and made particularly hardy Argonne and Champagne sectors. The 36th went into
soldiers. Stereotypes and preconceptions action for the first time on October 8 in relief of the
Untapped aside, the Indian recruits largely passed U.S. 2nd Division. The men from Oklahoma and Texas
Eavesdropping by the all tests with flying colors. charged forward, driving the Germans off the heights
enemy—the problem The chosen insignia of the 36th Infantry around Saint-Étienne and ultimately pushing them
that led the U.S. Army Division was a blue flint arrowhead (rep- back to the Aisne River. Between October 8 and 12 the
to use Indian code
talkers—prompted the resenting Oklahoma) superimposed with 36th was in continuous combat, repulsing repeated
British to adopt the the letter T (for Texas), and its 30,000 men counterattacks and keeping pressure on the Germans,
Fullerphone trench wore their shoulder patches with pride despite suffering heavily from artillery, poison gas and
telegraph. Developed by on April 11, 1918, during their first public machine-gun fire.
Capt. Algernon Fuller, the parade through downtown Fort Worth, The division’s American Indians were assigned to scout
device proved difficult
to tap into or listen in on. attended by more than 200,000 people. and sniper units. Some of the scouts found themselves
In July the division boarded northbound attached to the intelligence section as runners, which
trains and within weeks shipped out from Hoboken, N.J., brought them to the attention of senior officers. One of
bound for Europe. In the rush to get the troops to the the high command’s biggest concerns was securing lines
front, the men arrived in France without much of their of communication between headquarters and frontline
equipment. Their training was also incomplete, having units. Runners were frequently killed or captured, rocket
never handled live grenades and only recently been signals conveyed only limited information and the tele-
phone lines were clearly being tapped. Without timely Opposite left: Members of a Choctaw squad pose with their platoon
orders, some field officers were sending their troops commander. Top left: Indian recruits train at Camp Bowie, Texas.
forward at the first sound of the guns. Bottom left: Choctaw Sam Morris and Yanktonai Sioux Little Elk
According to the division’s official history, the so- turn out for guard duty. Above: Directing fire in the Meuse-Argonne.
lution came during a lull in the fighting when Capt.
Elijah W. Horner of the 142nd overheard two of his tion had to be neutralized, as it was holding up the Allied
company’s Choctaw soldiers conversing in their na- advance at the river. The 141st and 142nd regiments were
tive tongue. Immediately recognizing the possibility of assigned the task. Division commander Maj. Gen. William
using them to frustrate enemy eavesdropping, Horner Ruthven Smith strongly suspected the Germans were lis-
approached regimental commander Col. Alfred W. tening in on his communications and tested his theory by
Bloor, who concurred. At least that’s the official version. issuing false orders to establish an outpost on a certain hill.
Another version, recounted years later by the daughter
of Choctaw code talker Albert Billy, is that her father
first floated the idea to his superiors. Regardless of ‘There was hardly one chance
who conceived of it, everyone was on board, for as Bloor
so aptly put it, “There was hardly one chance in a million in a million Fritz would be able
Fritz would be able to translate these dialects.” Word
came down from regimental and brigade headquarters to translate these dialects’
to put the Indians on field telephones and send all sensi-
tive communications through them. Choctaws from Shortly thereafter, German artillery fire obliterated the hill.
Company E were soon posted to every field headquarters, That was all the evidence Smith needed.
their ears glued to telephone receivers. When Bloor had to withdraw two of the 142nd’s com-
The division first put the new system to the test on the panies on the night of the 26th, he used two code talkers
night of October 26. The 71st Brigade had orders to dis- —Solomon Louis at division headquarters, and James
lodge the Germans from a strongly fortified position Edwards in the forward area—to relay the message. The
named Forest Farm in a loop of the Aisne River. The posi- subsequent repositioning was accomplished without mis-
59
Code talkers wearing gas masks practice sending and
receiving messages while an NCO directs the drill using a
rudimentary megaphone. Opposite: Choctaw code talkers
pose proudly with the U.S. flag after returning stateside.
bining several words into one word), thus the code talkers full recognition of their service was slow in coming.
adapted Choctaw vocabulary to military jargon. The result Regardless, the patriotism of Native Americans for their
was a sort of pidgin English in which “big gun” meant artil- adopted country continued to burn brightly. At the outset
lery, “little gun shoot fast” meant machine guns, a regiment of World War II original Choctaw code talker James
was a “tribe,” battalions were “grains of corn” and casu- Edwards tried to re-enlist as a 43-year-old, reasoning
alties were “scalps” (which must have struck the Choctaw “maybe [the Germans] still can’t talk Choctaw.” Rejected
as amusingly ironic). Eighteen men received training and due to his age, he still managed to serve his country
were designated by the Army as Class I code talkers, as as an employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
opposed to Class II code talkers not trained in the special While Col. Bloor’s Jan. 23, 1919, after-action report
jargon, who spoke “in the open” in their native tongue. represented the first official recognition of World War I
Unfortunately for the Choctaws of Company E, all code talkers, more fitting tributes were to come. In 1995
their hard work was for naught. The regiment never got the Choctaw Nation erected a war memorial on its capi-
conflicts. In World War II the U.S. government recruited credit. For further reading he recommends The 90th
several hundred American Indians from various tribes Division in World War I, by Lonnie J. White; Texas
to serve as radiomen, and Navajo code talkers in the and Texans in the Great War, by Ralph A. Wooster;
Pacific Theater developed a complex cipher employing Story of the 36th, by Captain Ben. F. Chastaine; and
some 600 military terms. During the Cold War a 1950 Camp Bowie Boulevard, by Juliet George.
61
The toughest fight for U.S. troops in
post-Saddam Iraq was the campaign against
improvised explosive devices and related technology
By Paul X. Rutz
62 MILITARY HISTORY MARCH 2018
SHAMIL ZHUMATOV/REUTERS
63
I
t was the kind of engagement that breeds confi- to their vehicles but no casualties, they returned fire,
dence. Two hours after midnight on June 24, 2004, zipped through the danger and soon arrived back at
an American resupply mission was running south Camp Taqaddum.
on Main Supply Route Mobile, the divided six- A year later, during their next deployment to Iraq,
lane highway that curves around the Iraqi city of members of Hurndon’s MP unit found themselves
Fallujah, when the 28-vehicle convoy ran into a fighting a different kind of war. Along that same
massive ambush. Explosions from rocket-propelled stretch of MSR Mobile, Sgt. Mark Chaffin, a squad
grenades and mortar rounds bracketed the trucks leader in Hurndon’s unit, was taking position on a hill
as bullets ripped into them. The convoy’s security detail to overwatch engineers building a new entry point into
of 16 military police in four uparmored Humvees, led Fallujah after a major offensive had finally brought
by Marine Corps 1st Lt. Nick Hurndon, met the wildest the city under coalition control. Chaffin sat beside
combat of their lives with cool precision. They returned his driver in an uparmored Humvee as his fire team
fire, coordinated with air assets and pushed the convoy climbed a dirt trail a quarter-mile off the main road.
through the 2-mile kill zone to Camp Fallujah, a strong- “The next thing I remember, I was getting woke up,
hold just a few miles away, while the camp’s armored and we had gotten hit,” Chaffin recalled in a recent inter-
quick-reaction force moved out to punish the insurgents. view. “It happened, and I was out.” He came to with a
Fighting continued for hours. That night Hurndon’s mangled leg and broken nose, covered head to toe in oil
team took up positions on berms outside the camp, and grease from the Humvee’s shattered engine. The
watching M1 Abrams tanks and AH-1 Cobra attack Marines concluded they had hit a buried bomb triggered
helicopters blast away at buildings along Fallujah’s east by a pressure plate—what the U.S. military calls a victim-
ATEF HASSAN/REUTERS
side. Crews unloaded the convoy’s trucks, and the next operated improvised explosive device (VOIED). The
morning the Marines briefed a new plan, with tighter Humvee’s armor had done its job—none of the four
spacing between vehicles, before mounting up and roll- men inside was killed—but Chaffin’s war was over.
ing north through the chaotic gauntlet. Taking damage In a millisecond one well-placed explosion had done
3 4
5 6
more damage to Hurndon’s unit than hundreds of heavily Opposite: British and Iraqi troops prepare to destroy abandoned artillery
armed insurgents had the year before. This time there shells so they cannot be turned into IEDs. Above: A national army MRAP
was no enemy to engage, no air assets to call, nothing for (mine-resistant ambush-protected) vehicle turns a somersault after
the MPs to do but rush Chaffin to Baghdad for surgery. falling prey to a large command-detonated IED buried along the roadside.
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the signature —a problem that truly goes away only when the in-
weapons of the Iraq War, were nothing new to the world surgency itself has been snuffed out. In the interim
in 2004. The French Resistance had used them to derail the world’s greatest military has suffered thousands of
German trains during World War II. British troops had casualties and spent billions of dollars searching for a
torn out their hair trying to counter them in Northern technological solution that remains elusive.
Ireland in the 1970s, an experience the Israelis had The vast majority of soldiers and Marines entering
shared in Lebanon in the ’80s. Insurgents in Afghanistan Iraq in spring 2003 knew nothing about detecting and
had resorted to IEDs after the U.S.-led 2001 invasion, countering IEDs. They had been trained to invade and
adding radio-controlled detonators, a combination that hold territory against a foreign army. In a trade for speed
proved especially deadly. over armor they fielded relatively few mechanized vehi-
But IEDs proliferated with the insurgency in post– cles, such as tanks and armored troop carriers, and lots
Saddam Hussein Iraq, a country overflowing with left- of thin-skinned Humvees, many without doors. When
over ordnance and unemployed former soldiers who Army Pfc. Jeremiah Smith was killed by a bomb trig-
knew how to use it. A single artillery round contained gered beneath his vehicle a few weeks after the invasion
enough explosives to destroy a tank. One buried in a ended, the Pentagon was so unfamiliar with the threat it
roadway and triggered by a hidden observer was more failed to recognize the device as an IED, instead declaring
WARLEAKS.COM (6)
accurate than any big gun. The U.S. Defense Depart- Smith’s vehicle had hit “unexploded ordnance.”
ment has come to regard the IED as one guerrilla tactic By that summer, with an uptick in the enemy use of
among many—like the tripwire booby trap or the sniper IEDs, it became clear troops needed more protection.
65
A U.S. Army Humvee smolders in the wake of
a 2004 IED attack in Baghdad. Opposite left:
An EOD technician in a protective suit follows
a robot toward a suspected IED. Opposite,
top right: Such robots are equipped with
cameras and manipulator arms. Opposite,
bottom right: An EOD engineer vehicle uses its
manipulator arm to examine a suspected IED.
The Pentagon hired vendors to produce visible bomb 300 meters from a well-hidden one, then
25,000 sets of body armor per month and triggering the concealed device when convoys stopped
scoured bases across the United States to wait for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams.
for uparmored Humvees. Only 235 such The emerging heroes of the war, EOD technicians
vehicles made it to Iraq in 2003, so troops from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines endured
got creative. They covered vehicle floors the same rigorous training and performed the same risky
with sandbags, put Kevlar blast blankets duty. Like firefighters, EOD teams relied on field per-
beneath their seats, strapped ceramic sonnel to discover IEDs and call for help. The disposal
armor plates to their doors and bolted on team would drive to the site, neutralize the bomb, do a
scrap metal “hillbilly armor” wherever quick forensic analysis and get out quickly. Staying more
In Combat? it would fit. than a few minutes invited an insurgent mortar attack.
The number of IEDs attacks increased The teams shuttled all over Iraq, with infantry or military
The national debate month after month, as did the ingenuity of police as security, and used a variety of gadgets to disarm
about women in combat—
sparked by the wounding the insurgent cells mounting them. A typi- or destroy insurgent bombs. One favored method em-
and capture of U.S. Army cal cell was led by a planner/financier who ployed concentrated water jets to tear apart IEDs without
Pfc. Jessica Lynch in employed the bomb maker, emplacer, trig- detonating them. As the war progressed, EOD techs
Iraq in March 2003— german, a spotter or two and a cameraman, increasingly relied on robots—from the compact Pack-
only heated up as IED
who videoed attacks for propaganda use Bot to the 485-pound ANDROS F6-A—to do the work
attacks proliferated,
injuring and killing other and to help plan future attacks. The insur- at a distance, but by fall 2003 only 18 such robots were
female service members. gents buried the explosive-packed artillery in theater, and just six of those were functioning.
rounds beside roads, set them in parked With little direction from above, convoy troops tried
cars or perhaps hid them in animal carcasses, then deto- everything they could think of to counter roadside
nated the devices at just the right moment using a mobile bombs. Some installed leaf blowers on vehicle bumpers
phone, garage door opener, even the receiver unit of a to clear the trash-strewn Iraqi streets and uncover IEDs.
remote-controlled toy car. Hoping to cut down on false positives, some used bomb-
A lethal cat-and-mouse game developed. When con- sniffing dogs, but the animals quickly lost their enthu-
CEERWAN AZIZ/REUTERS
voys avoided certain trouble spots, insurgents emplaced siasm in the 120-plus-degree heat. Hoping to speed up
IEDs on the alternate routes. When a new standard op- the demolition process, others fired on suspected bombs
erating procedure instructed drivers to halt 300 meters using .50-caliber rounds, shotguns and Vietnam-era
from a suspected IED, insurgents took to placing a readily 40 mm grenade launchers someone had pulled from
even MPs learned to love big lights. They attached spot- started dangling radiators, toasters and the like on poles
lights and rally lights to their Humvees and changed jury-rigged to the front bumpers of their vehicles to pre-
tactics accordingly. The lead security vehicle would push detonate EFPs. Riffing on that concept, military engi-
far ahead of the convoy, then slow down to search suspi- neers developed a countermeasure called the Rhino—an
cious areas. The later use of infrared headlights in tandem electronic heating element, or glow plug, housed in a
with NVGs proved effective, and some security detach- steel box at the end of a fixed boom attached to a vehicle’s
ments went back to running dark. front bumper. When insurgents angled back EFPs to
counter that decoy, engineers fitted the Rhino with an
By summer 2004 a particularly nasty type of IED started adjustable-length boom.
appearing in Iraq—the explosively formed projectile No matter what countermeasures troops employed,
(EFP). To create one, a bomb maker capped an explo- however, the IED threat persisted. Coalition forces re-
sives-filled cylinder with a dish-shaped copper or steel ported just 22 IED incidents in June 2003, a toll that
liner, concave side out. An emplacer then concealed the climbed to 1,582 by year’s end. Total incidents climbed to
device along a supply route, perhaps within Styrofoam 8,446 in 2004 and 15,322 in 2005. The annual toll peaked
67
in 2006 at 24,099 incidents, of which effec- craft, drones and satellites—coalition forces scrutinized
tive attacks killed 558 troops, or 64 percent one especially hazardous stretch of MSR Tampa north
of those killed in action in theater that year. of Baghdad. The various platforms took some 10,000
Meanwhile, a new Pentagon task force images per day, which analysts compared for anomalies
had been throwing resources at the prob- in a process called “coherent change detection.” The
lem. In fall 2003 Lt. Gen. Richard Cody, photos were so clear, interpreters could read the labels
then Army deputy chief of staff for opera- on water bottles. What they couldn’t do was find bombs.
tions, told his staff to hire a small group During the $3 million, 10-week experiment 44 IEDs
of former special-operations soldiers and exploded or were cleared by EOD teams along that
work the issue from a basement office stretch of MSR Tampa. IED Blitz caught none of them.
in the Pentagon. Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel Throughout this trial-and-error period the Defense
IEDs on Film led the group, estimating the struggle to Department pursued what it called counter radio-con-
Though considered by control IEDs would take between six and trolled IED electronic warfare (CREW), sending thou-
some service members to eight months. The first field team of seven sands of vehicle-mounted electronic jammers to Iraq to
be inaccurate and overly
dramatic, recent war films
contractors arrived in Iraq in mid-Decem- thwart radio-controlled IEDs. All jammers in theater were
such as The Hurt Locker ber 2003 to work with the Army’s 4th In- to be programmed according to the MOASS (mother of
(2008) and Zero Dark fantry Division. They taught basic convoy all spreadsheets), a list of enemy-employed radio fre-
Thirtyy (2012) increased tactics—change routes frequently, have quencies collected, analyzed and distributed on the mili-
awareness stateside and guns always at the ready, watch for wires tary’s secure internet. Yet field troops were poorly trained
abroad of the widespread
and largely invisible and triggermen, etc. Votel’s task force soon on how to program and update their jammers, and the
threat posed by IEDs. expanded into a joint-services group work- devices often interfered with convoy radios. Many convoy
ing with some 132 government agencies. commanders shut them off as soon as they got outside
Its $100 million budget in fiscal year 2004 ballooned the wire. Some suspected the jammers didn’t work at all.
LUCY PEMONI/REUTERS; KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS; HARAZ N. GHANBARI/ASSOCIATED PRESS; MUSADEQ SADEQ/ASSOCIATED PRESS; SHAMIL ZHUMATOV/REUTERS; BOB STRONG/REUTERS
to $1.3 billion in 2005. In a nod to the intensive World The search for a solution continued. Several research
War II effort to develop atomic weapons, Gen. John teams tried employing lasers, microwaves and other
Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, called high-energy devices to disarm or explode IEDs from
for a “Manhattan Project–like” approach to defeat the a safe distance. One exciting invention, an unmanned
IED threat. He also asked the Defense Department to vehicle dubbed the Joint IED Neutralizer (JIN), used
develop a molecular-level bomb sniffer that could be tesla coils generating a half-million volts to detonate
mounted on convoy vehicles. blasting caps, but it proved effective from a distance
Willing to explore any potentially useful anti-IED only when the caps were above ground. When dealing
system—even flying insects—the Pentagon shelled out with a buried IED, the JIN had to close within 3 feet to
more than $2 million for the Stealthy Insect Sensor trigger a blast, which in turn destroyed the vehicle itself,
Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Harnessing at a cost of $800,000 per pop.
bees’ acute sense of smell, scientists found they could It became increasingly clear the coalition’s most effi-
cient method for detecting IEDs was a well-trained, alert
soldier who repeatedly traveled the same supply route and
In late 2005 Pentagon leaders noticed changes in the environment. Troops sarcastically
finally admitted they could find referred to this technology as the “Mark 1 Human Eyeball.”
no magic bullet to defeat IEDs As IED casualties mounted, a new argument emerged
about the definition of combat itself. Service members
headed home wearing Purple Hearts for wounds suffered
condition the insects to stick out their proboscises for a in IED attacks, but they weren’t authorized to wear their
sweet reward whenever they sniffed explosives like TNT service’s Combat Action Ribbon or Badge. According to
or C-4. Harnessed in a tube and observed via camera, military directives, since these incidents didn’t involve
a bee would signal the presence of such explosives. direct personal contact with an enemy, they weren’t con-
Training 50 bees took just two to three hours, but the sidered combat. Officers on the ground started a quiet
harnessed bees lived mere days. When informed of the campaign to change the rules. A June 2005 memo by
results, Votel had serious doubts. “How do we opera- Marines in Anbar Province argued, “To state that the Ma-
tionalize this?” he asked. “How does, say, 1st Platoon rines who encounter this new form of enemy action have
manage their bees?” The project was quietly dropped. not experienced ‘combat action’ is to interpret the award
In late summer 2004 the Pentagon started funding based on an old definition of combat and would deny
an experiment dubbed IED Blitz. Martialing a range of the Marines who have performed their duties honorably
air reconnaissance assets—U-2 and C-12R manned air- in the face of this new faceless enemy the distinction
69
Imo,
Halifax Tragedy
Few living people recall that the largest Under normal circumstances no other
man-made explosion in history prior to the vessels would have been permitted to move
advent of the nuclear age took place in Hali- while a ship carrying explosives transited
fax, Nova Scotia. That devastating blast the harbor. But out of wartime necessity
occurred on Dec. 6, 1917, at the height of harbor authorities had relaxed many such
World War I. It killed nearly 2,000 people peacetime regulations. In their haste the
and injured another 9,000 (roughly 18 per- two vessels collided in the channel, setting
cent of the populace) and leveled 325 acres Mont Blanc’s volatile benzol on fire. Its
The Great Halifax of the city, wiping out much of the infra- French crew abandoned ship but, due to
Explosion: A World structure required to address the disaster. language barriers, was unable to alert the
War I Story of The source of the explosion was a single crews of surrounding vessels to their peril.
Treachery, Tragedy cargo ship. The French freighter Mont Blanc Worse yet, thousands of citizens, also
and Extraordinary arrived at Halifax from New York, intend- unaware of the nature of the ship’s cargo,
Heroism, by John ing to join a convoy assembling to cross the came out to watch the spectacle. The en-
U. Bacon, William Atlantic. She was transporting 2,925 tons of suing catastrophic explosion caught them
Morrow, New York, various explosives to France, including gun all by surprise.
2017, $29.95 cotton, TNT, drums of benzol and highly Author John Bacon has written a fasci-
unstable picric acid. Having arrived on De- nating and highly readable account that
cember 5 too late to enter the harbor, Mont takes in events leading up to the blast through
Blanc was compelled to spend the night out- its aftermath. He explains how the Halifax
side the protection of the harbor’s defenses. explosion bonded the once-rival cities of
NOVA SCOTIA ARCHIVES AND RECORDS
Meanwhile, inside the harbor the Norwe- Halifax and Boston and asserts the disaster
gian ship Imo, chartered to load a cargo of also marked a turning point in Canada’s
U.S. relief supplies to Belgium, had finished international relations, bringing it closer
coaling too late to depart. By morning her to the United States and distancing it from
captain was as impatient to leave the harbor Great Britain.
as Mont Blanc’s captain was to enter. —Robert Guttman
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Reviews
Recommended The Allure of Battle:
A History of How Wars
later by British author-
researcher A.T. Williams.
Have Been Won and As he relates, however, jus-
Lost, by Cathal J. Nolan, tice was difficult to achieve.
Oxford University Press, Inexperienced and un-
New York, 2017, $34.95 derqualified investiga-
tive teams posed an initial
All too often nations envi- problem, and the obstacles
sion war as a grand and glo- only mounted, as the pub-
rious enterprise. To this way lic will to pursue and pay
of thinking, easy victory is for war-crime prosecutions
virtually assured through waned with time, while the
the efforts of talented mil- media often seemed more
itary commanders, high interested in the specta-
Revolution troop morale and quick, de- equipped to withstand a pro- cle of the trials. When the
Peter Ackroyd cisive battles. Through war tracted war. Nazi atrocities first came
In his fourth volume of the governments seek tactical Nolan provides an impor- to light, the public outcry
history of England, Peter victories to permanently tant historical overview for for justice was universal,
Ackroyd chronicles the period alter the course of history. modern military and politi- but the process soon bogged
from William of Orange’s ac- But this idealized vision of cal leaders tempted by the down in disputes among
cession to the throne through war soon evaporates when siren song of war and under the Allies regarding just
Napoléon’s defeat at Waterloo— it encounters such harsh the delusion that conflict how to try war criminals.
critical years that saw a cultural
realities as mass slaughter, will be short-lived under the Eventually, argues Wil-
revolution spread throughout
England. Ackroyd outlines the the decimation of national right commander. Ultimate liams, the scale of the un-
transformation of an agrarian economies and the destruc- victory is more dependent dertaking—the thousands
society to one of steel and coal. tion of societies. on which side has the tech- of concentration camp
In The Allure of Battle Ca- nological capability and guards and members of SS
thal Nolan—an associate stubborn willpower to out- units to be prosecuted—
professor of history at Bos- last its opponents and en- overwhelmed legal author-
ton University—argues that dure a war of attrition. ities and sapped the will of
wars are not won merely by —S.L. Hoffman all involved. The prosecuto-
the actions of gifted mili- rial system slowed and then
tary commanders and de- A Passing Fury: Searching stopped altogether.
cisive battles, but through for Justice at the End of Williams of course men-
endurance and attrition. World War II, by A.T. tions Nuremberg—the high-
Drawing on historic exam- Williams, Random House est-profile series of trials,
ples from ancient Greece UK, London, 2017, $18.95 which helped set the tone
to World War II, the author for those that followed. But
illustrates just how the dan- Among the serious issues he also delves into lesser-
Soldiers and gerous vanity of aggressor facing the Allies in the wake known proceedings, in-
Civilization nations and the hubris of of World War II was the cluding those for defen-
Reed Robert Bonadonna civilian and military com- question of how best to deal dants affiliated with the
Reed Bonadonna draws from manders have led to cata- with atrocities committed camps at Neuengamme,
military history and sociology strophic defeat. by the Nazi regime—spe- Bergen-Belsen and Dachau.
to demonstrate that profes- Nolan also sounds a warn- cifically how to pursue ret- Throughout the retelling
sional soldiers are not only ing, noting how technolog- ribution without making Williams weaves his own
committed warfighters, but ical and societal changes martyrs of their defeated experiences while research-
also contributors to the civili-
over time have had signifi- foes. A Passing Fury ad- ing the book, describing,
zations they serve. He further
argues the military profession cant effects on military ac- dresses that search for jus- for example, his visit to a
in itself is an intrinsic branch tions. Failure to recognize tice—by the Allies (from an concentration camp amid
of the humanities that molds such changes, he argues, can almost exclusively British an account of the trial of
the community it serves. spell defeat for countries less perspective) and decades personnel from the same
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Reviews
camp. The result is a cohesive narra-
tive that blends past with present, pro-
viding an absorbing, if not particularly
encouraging, look into the search for
justice at war’s end.
—David Harris
Patton 360
Hallowed Ground
White Plains, New York
By Mark D. Van Ells
P
resent-day White Plains offers few reminders of ments before attacking the main Continental lines. Wash-
the American Revolution. In this Westchester ington took advantage of the lull to withdraw his troops
County suburb skyscrapers rise amid a bustling to a line of hilltop entrenchments farther north.
downtown surrounded by residential neigh- Howe’s reinforcements arrived on the 30th, but then
borhoods. Thousands live and work in the city, nature intervened, as a cold, heavy rain soaked both armies.
most unaware they do so on what was once a When Howe advanced on November 1, he found only aban-
bitterly contested battlefield. doned trenches. Washington had slipped still farther north
The Battle of White Plains was part of the greater struggle to a fortified position overlooking the village of North Castle,
for New York in 1776. After landing on Staten Island that which his soaked, freezing men dubbed “Mount Misery.”
July, a British army under Gen. William Howe drove Amer- Howe sent harassing troops to lure the Americans from
ican troops under Gen. George Washington out of New their hilltop vantage. When Washington didn’t bite, Howe
York City—then confined to the southern tip of Manhattan turned back south to tighten his grip on New York City,
Island—and environs. By October Washington still held having missed a golden opportunity to crush the rebels at
northern Manhattan and the Bronx. Howe planned to isolate a critical moment in the war.
him by landing men to the east on Long Island Sound In the ensuing decades White Plains grew by leaps and
and then driving north and west through Westchester bounds, swallowing up the battlefield. Chatterton Hill
County to the Hudson River, thus cutting the Continental (present-day Battle Hill) is dotted with homes. A park at the
Army lines of supply and communication. corner of Battle Avenue and Whitney Street presents inter-
Howe commenced his campaign on October 12 with an pretive markers and a pavilion with a battle map—though
abortive attack on the narrow spit of Throggs Neck in the the view is obstructed—and a small monument stands at
Bronx, followed up six days later by a successful landing the base of the hill on Battle Avenue. The Jacob Purdy House
at Pell’s Point (present-day Pelham Bay Park). Recognizing served briefly as Washington’s headquarters. It originally
the threat, Washington marched the bulk of his army north stood near the junction of Water and Barker Streets, but
to White Plains, which stood in Howe’s path to the Hudson. when urban renewal threatened, the White Plains Histori-
There he constructed entrenchments along the high ground cal Society [whiteplainshistory.org] moved it in 1973 to
north of town, from Merritt Hill west to the Bronx River. its present site, at 60 Park Ave., and deeded it to the city.
He also stationed troops atop Chatterton Hill, which com- A small monument on North Broadway marks the center of
manded the west bank of the river. Washington’s original line, while another sliver of the battle-
WHITE PLAINS COLLECTION/WHITE PLAINS PUBLIC LIBRARY; WHITE PLAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Howe’s plan was sound but poorly executed. Skirting the field remains intact on Merritt Hill, along the 200 block of
coast, the British commander took New Rochelle and sent Lake Street in the village of Harrison. Mount Misery, off
advance troops to Mamaroneck (the latter just 7 miles east nearby Nethermont Avenue in North Castle/North White
of White Plains), but then dithered as Washington’s vulner- Plains, remains largely undeveloped, and restored earth-
able army redeployed. On October 25 Howe marched his works from Washington’s second line survive in a park off
men west to Scarsdale on the Bronx River, but not until the nearby Dunlap Way. The Elijah Miller House, at 140 Virgin-
morning of the 28th did he advance north on White Plains. ia Road, Washington’s second headquarters, opened as a
The heaviest fighting that day centered on the position museum in 1918 but fell into disrepair. The county initially
atop Chatterton Hill. Hessian mercenaries initially forded balked at funding its restoration until nonprofit groups
the river and charged upslope, but the Americans drove recently stepped up to cover the museum’s operating costs.
them back. A second attack proved more powerful. Hessian That marked the latest chapter in White Plains’ caution-
artillery set the hilltop ablaze, prompting militia troops to ary tale about historic preservation. In 1926 the federal
run. Continental regulars stubbornly held on until the government designated the White Plains National Battle-
Hessians turned their right flank, forcing them to flee. field Site, but the National Park Service never built facilities
Howe had taken the high ground, but at a heavy price or set aside land, instead allowing houses to sprout up at
in blood. Likely with that in mind, he waited for reinforce- key sites. The fight to preserve the battlefield continues. MH
77
War Games
1 3
LEFT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS; CENTER, AS NUMBERED: COWAN’S AUCTIONS; JOINSQUAD.COM; SASQUATCH ANTIQUES; U.S. ARMY MUSEUM; WAR REMNANTS MUSEUM; U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE; DEUTSCHES PANZERMUSEUM, MUNSTER; ARUNDEL MILITARIA; PRIMEPORTAL.NET
2
4 5
Godefroy de Bouillon
Warrior Monks
Match each of the following military 7
commanders to the holy order under
whose banner he fought:
1. Hermann von Salza
2. Afonso I of Portugal
3. Pedro Fernández de Castro
4. Volkwin Schenk
5. Hugues de Payens
6. Alfonso I of Aragon
and Pamplona 6
7. Matthieu de Clermont
8. Godefroy de Bouillon
9. Rodrigo Álvarez
10. Vlad III of Wallachia
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Captured!
Shipshape
American soldiers unwind aboard a
landing ship docked in an Italian port in 1944.
They nicknamed their helmet-wearing
marble mascot—a waterfront statue
“liberated” during the battle for the Anzio
beachhead—Axis Sally, after the U.S.-born
German propaganda broadcaster.
FEATURED HISTORIAN
DONALD L. MILLER, PhD
Author of The Story of WWII and
Masters of the Air
UNIQUE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES BEHIND-THE-SCENES MUSEUM VISITS HAMLETS, AIRFIELDS & ANCIENT PUBS