Military History 2005-12

E D I T O R I A L

Onlineextras Do the English need to face December 2005 You'D find much more about military history on the Web's leading history resource:

HISVORY WHERE HISTORY LIVES ON THE WEB

WWW. JheHistoryNet.com Discussion: Would the Battle of Austerlitz have had a different outcome if Tsar Alexander had ignored his courtiers and kept General Mikhail Kutuzov in overall command of the Russian forces?

Goto www. TheHistoryNet.com/mh/ for these great exclusives: Bold Gamble's Unexpected Crises— Traditionally known as the Battle of Three Emperors, Austerlitz was an engagement that Napoleon began with a deliberate ruse wrapped in a risk. And then came the unexpected. Death of Task Force Drysdale—On a grim November night in 1950, the Chinese attacked and attacked—^untO all that was left was a string of Americans and British enclaves, each group fighting on its own. Torpedoing Pearl Harfcor—Although the death oi Arizona is arguably the most vivid memory Americans have of December 7,1941, its destruction by a modified shell was a fluke. The most extensive damage on Batdeship Row was inflicted by specially developed aerial torpedoes, launched by the most intensely trained pilots in the Japanese navy. Viking Longs/iips—Viking longships varied from sleek raiders to giant drekkars that could be lashed together to create floating battlefields. 6 MILHABY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

overwhelming odds to win? THERE IS AN OLD JOKE, articulated in the

tongue-and-cheek history 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman, that the English only win wars and battles in which they face overwhelming odds. That is of course not necessarily so (Scots might bdng up Falkirk in 1298 and Culloden in 1746 for starters), but it is remarkable on how many occasions the English—and later British—soldier snatched victory from what should have been cut-and-dried defeat. By now, Military History readers are probably well aware of the famous ones: Crecy, Agincourt, Rorke's Drift, the Battle of Britain. This issue, however, includes a few lesserknown moments in Britain's long military tradition that both confirm and contradict that jocular stereotype. Of some local fame is the Battle of Maiden on August 11,991, a rare instance in which the English—which is to say the Anglo-Saxons—got a chance to engage Viking raiders in open battle, because their leader, Ealderman Byrhtnoth, permitted the enemy to cross a causeway for a pitched settling of their differences, and the Viking leader, Olav Tryggvason, accepted the invitation (story, R 18). On the face of it, Byrhtnoth has been regarded by posterity as a chivalrous boob, but author Steve Howe suggests that his action was more of a calculated risk than an act of courtesy. Whatever the case, the English in this case did not face overwhelming numerical odds, but the reason they lost may lie in the fact that Byrhtnoths courage, martial skills and leadership were more than matched by those of the formidable, equally legendary Olav Tryggvason. More in the category of facing overwhelming niunedcal odds is the ordeal of 41 Independent Commando, Royal Marines, during the United Nations X Corps breakout from the Chosin Reservoir in December 1950 (story, R 58). This fabled fighting retreat is, of course, most often associated with the U.S. Marines, but the British were there too, and their Ameri-

can colleagues have been ungrudging in their praise for the men who fought the Chinese alongside them during one of Korea's harshest winters. In contrast to the events mentioned above, on which the history books have attached a certain amount of fame, is the Battle of Morlaix, also known as the Batde of Lanmeur (story, R 42). Fought on September 30, 1342, amid a Breton sideshow to the Hundred Years' War, Morlaix has been eclipsed by the more famous English victory at Crecy on August 26,1346. Nevertheless, Morlaix is worthy of its share of interest as the prototype for that later engagement. For the first time in a land battle, a large army of traditional French knights and men-atarms caught a much smaller English force in the open—much as Prince Tipu would later do with greater success at Polilur in 1780, as recounted on P. 34—only to get its first taste of the hardened professionalism, deadly archery and tactical flexibility that the English soldier had acquired from years of campaigning against the Scots. Technically, in spite of the bloody nose the French received, the batde was a draw, with the English fortunate to walk their way out of what should have been certain destruction. In consequence, the principal English commander. Sir William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton, has never been accorded the renown that King Edwcird IH and his son, Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales (aided by the catchier name WiUiam Shakespeare later gave him—the Black Prince) gained at Crecy. This is even more ironic, considering the greater familiarity posterity has with Northampton's relative, Henry de Bohun, for his much-depicted single combat with King Robert the Bruce of Scotland (as the loser!). Still, Northampton bloodied the French before JCing Edward did, and upheld the tradition— not entirely facetious—of Englishmen fighting best when confronted with overwhelming odds. J.G.

LETTERS

resulted from the vehicles of different units vying for space on the narrow dirt road we were all ordered to use. The jam was several miles long. The officers of our company spent nearly two hours sending vehicles intofieldsand dry paddies to try to clear the road, and were beginning to achieve some success when much to our surprise a jeep driven by a first lieutenant with a lieutenant colonel passenger came toward us followed by a long column of trucks. I stopped the jeep and was told to get out of thie way because they were from the 7th Infantry Division and had priority. I told them their priority wasn't going to be of much use and let them pass. They went less than 100 yards and were forced to stop. They were stuck there most of the day as they used their priority to get vehicles to leave the road. TRADITION VS. PROGRESS Regarding the battleship Oregon, whose They boarded ship at Pusan and spent story was featured in the August 2005 the next two weeks waiting for the Navy "Weaponry" department, the mast is still to clear the hundreds of mines that had on display in Portand's Waterfront Park, been sown off the east coast of North on Waterfront Ave., between Oak and Korea by the North Korejins and, as I unPine streets, where I saw it many times in derstand, the Russians. They finally my youth. According to the Portland landed at Iwon, above Wonsan. Parks Bureau, an anchor and a smokeThe Marines also went by ship to the stack, both thought to be from USS Wonsan area, and one told me that they Oregon, were just removed the week of were running out of food before they July 18-22, to make room for new con- "stormed ashore" at Wonsan, as was redominiums. I live in Oregon City, about ported on the radio. They found that the 16 miles south, which had a heavy 1st South Korean Division had already cruiser, USS Oregon City (CA-122), named captured it. (I was told that Bob Hope after it. was there with a troupe to entertain them Steve Lynch when they landed.) Meanwhile, most of Oregon City, Ore. the fleeing enemy troops got back to North Korea, where they were reorganized and reequipped to fight us again. INCHON RETROSPECTIVES Lt. Col. WeUs B. Lange General Douglas MacArthur's invasion of U.S. Army (ret.) Inchon on September 15, 1950, was Lafayette, Colo. indeed a masterstroke. Those of us in the Pusan perimeter were surprised and delighted to learn of it. The North Koreans I read the article about the Inchon landfacing us, however, didn't stop the pres- ing in your September 2005 issue. I don't sure until several days later, when word have a problem with providing the details of Operation Chromite, which was cerof the landing finally trickled down. Then MacArthur blew it. Instead of tainly a highlight in the history of amputting the X Corps across the Korean phibious warfare. I do have a problem Peninsula to block the enemy forces with the praise it gives Douglas Mactrying to get back to North Korea, he sent Arthur. There is enough substantiated them around Korea by ship to land at documentation outlining his gross inadequacies as a general, and the decisions he Wonsan. When we started north in pursuit of the made that were not in the best interests North Korean forces, a serious traffic jam of the men he led, but rather in his own. FIGHTING KIBBUTZ

"Israel's 'Maginot Line'" in the August 2005 issue was extremely well-written! I never studied much about the histories of foreign countries and the fights for freedom and various territories. You supplied enough detail so I could comprehend the big picture and how Kibbutz Yad Mordechai fit into it. I was able to comprehend the significance of those six days without reading a whole book on Egypt and Israel's history. It was obvious you did your homework to provide such detail. What those few Israelis did with so little compared to the Egyptians was amazing. Dale L. Parker Granbury, Texas

8 MaiTARYraSTORY DECEMBER 2005

The men who actually deserve the accolades are those who died in the Korean confiict, on Bataan and Corrigedor, not MacArthur. MacArthur did not demonstrate the type of character and values that are deserving of putting him on the cover of your—or any—magazine. You should have put Chesty Puller on the cover. Lt. Col. Michael J. Roderick U.S. Marine Corps (ret.) Tiverton, R.I. While I enjoyed reading "Douglas MacArthur's Last Triumph" in the September 2005 issue, there were some obvious errors and omissions. The author spoke well of the 5th Marines, but they played only a minor part in the Inchon operation. It was the 1st Marines who carried the battle, reached and secured Seoul (I personally walked down the main street), and should have received more credit than reported in the article. The author must have talked to someone from the 5th Marines! I enjoy the magazine. Keep up the good work. Semper Fi. John A. Blazer Savannah, Ga. BEST WISHES FROM THE BALKANS

I am originally from Sarajevo, BosniaHerzegovina, and I'm about to start studying history in Graz, Austria. My hobby for the past 10 plus years is military history, with the focus on World War II in the former Yugoslavia. So far I have collected a solid number of works on the subject from both ex-Yugoslav and "foreign" authors. I wish to congratulate the whole team of Military History on the splendid work they have been doing for the past several years (I got my first issue sometime in 1997). Keep up the good work, as they say. Gaj Trifkovic Graz, Austria Send letters to Military History Editor, Primedia History Group, 741 Miller Drive, Suite D-2, Leesburg, VA20J75, or e-mail to MilitaryHistory@thehistorynet. com. Please include your name, address and daytime telephone number. Letters may be edited.

EA P 0 N RY The composite bow was the high-tech weapon of the Asian steppes. By Christopher Szabo

Young Chinese undergo an archery lesson, in the 19th-century Album of Scenes From Daily Life. Their composite bows were little changed from those used nearly 2,000 years earlier.

FROM TH E SCYTH lANS of ancient Greek weapon of its time. It remained the horse

chronicles to Tamerlane's Tatars, steppe nomads have left theii' disruptive stamp on the histories of more sedentary civilizations from Germany to Japan. All of them fundamentaUy owed their military success to the composite bow, which was so feared that it influenced defensive technology throughout Eurasia for centuries by forcing settled peoples to improve their military capabilities. Its double recurved shape and the use of up to seven natural materials to create it distinguished the steppe bow as a high-tech 12 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

archer's weapon of choice for more than 2,000 years. There were numerous variations to the formula, but the essentials remained the same. The construction of a typical bow consisted of making the recurved shape out of five pieces of wood spliced together, for the grip, two limbs and two "ears," or tips. These were shaped mainly by steam bending. Once the shape was right, the core was glued together using natural adhesive, then left to cure. Horn was cut, split and

made into strips. These were then boiled or steamed to match the inner side, or belly, of the bow and then steamed to fit the wooden core. That process was followed by a curing period. Sinews were obtained from the tendons of catde or bison and turned into strips. The bow was then bent in the direction opposite to which it would be shot, and the ears tied loosely together. The first sinew strips were then glued on the back. Some glues were reduced from hides, others from fish bladders and other natural substances. The ears were often made from deer antlers. The sinewing was repeated, only with the ears even closer or touching. The bow was then set aside for six months to a year. To strengthen the grip and ears, bone plates would be cut, applied with glue and left to set. Then the bowyer began to slowly bend the weapon into its final shape, adjusting it as necessary to make sure the limbs of the bow would draw evenly. Finally he would add a waterpixxif covering of tfiin leather, bark or snakeskin. The composite bow was mechanically superior to wooden bows, as the horn and sinew made it capable of standing greater compression while maintaining more elasticity. The steppe bow could transfer most of its energy to the arrow, thus allowing it to shoot farther than a bow of equal draw weight, a t\pical cast being 300 meters. Because of the forward angle of the ears, the bow could be drawn farther back and more easily, an important consideration when warriors had to draw it repeatedly during battle. The composite bows major disadvantage was its susceptibility to dampness.

OSPREY PUBLISHING Comprehensive Illustrated Military History

American Civil War Fortifications (2)

New Vanguard n7 • $14.95 - New!

I'J'JO •^.

L. f

r' Combat Aircraft 59 • $19.95 • New!

Osprey books are available from your locat bookstore or hobby store Visit the Osprey website and discover over 1,200 books - sign up for our free monthly newsletters and buy online

www.ospreypublishing.com MILITARY HISTORV DECEMBER 2005

Consequently, steppe warriors invariably "Warring States," a fact that encouraged had quivers for unstrung bows, a ready steppe nomads called Hu to mount raids qniver for the strung bow worn sus- against it. To counter that, in 307 BC Wu pended from a belt on the left, and a clos- Ling, the ruler of the northernmost state, able arrow quiver on the right. One ex- Zhao, adopted the light cavalry tactics ception was the Scythian gorv/«5, which and dress of the Hu, including trousers, had both bow and arrows in one quiver. tunics and short composite bows. Records from 700 BC onward mention The Han dynasty's wars with the first composite bows being used by the Cim- Xiongnu/Asian Hun empire (254-209 BC) merians and Scythians, who attacked the showed one possible answer to the steppe kingdom of Urartu and ravaged the Ana- archer: protected infantry archers. While tolian kingdoms of Lydia and Phrygia. In campaigning north of the Great Wall in the next century, they raided Assyria, 99 BC, General Li Ling with 5,000 inDamascus, Phoenicia and Israel, up to fantrymen held out against 30,000 Huns. the Egyptian border. The prophet Jer- Although surrounded, he arranged his emiah wrote: "At the sound of horsemen crossbow archers behind a wall of shields and archers, every town takes to flight." and spears and kept the mounted archer-s At about the same time, eastern nomads at bay with his long-range crossbows, called Xianyiin, Shanrong and Hun-Shu which were also of composite design. Unlaunched assaults in faraway China. The fortunately for Li, he ran out of crossbow Spring and Aulumn Annals record bow- bolts and had to surrender. men attacking China's kingdom states in The highly disciplined Roman army of the period 722-481 BC. Marcus Licinius Crassus found the comThe recurved composite bow, while re- bination of mobility and archery disasmaining the most powerful hand bow trous at Can'hae in Mesopotamia in 53 available, was often countered by the set- BC. Crassus' army had seven legions and tled peoples with fortifications and body 4,000 light troops, plus about 4,000 cavarmor. In 513 BC King Darius I of Persia alry, for a total of about 24,000 men. The invaded the Pontic Steppes of the Scyth- Parthians had 15,000 cavahy, most of ians. The latter relied on their bows but them archers, but some 1,000 or more added the tactic of mobility to counter his were heavily armored and fought with powerful army. The Scvihians simply lances. Plutarch wrote of the Parthians: sent their women and children away and "Their bows were large and strong, yet camoved around the grassy wastelands of pable of bending till the arrows were the steppe, refusing to meet the Persian drawn to the head; the force they went army in battle. Their strategy was to ex- with was consequently very great, and the haust and harass the Pei'sians with arch- wounds they gave, mortal." ery and cut them off from supplies. AlThe mounted archers, who constantly though they failed to destroy his army, harassed the Romans' square formation, Darius had to leave his wounded behind decided the battle. Crassus hoped they and never conquered Scythia. would run out of arrows, but when he r"ealized that the Parthian commander had THE BOW ALONE, however, could not an endless supply, he ordered his son, always decide battles, as Alexander the Publius Crassus, to charge them with Greats clash with "Saka" nomads at the 1,300 hoi-semen and 4,800 infantry. The verv edge of his empii e in 328 BC showed. Parihians pretended to flee, but after The battle took place at the Sogdian fort drawing the younger Crassus a long way of Gabae, beyond the Jaxartes River (Syr from the main army, turned to face him, Darya) at the edge of the nomads' arid adding others to their numbers. steppe. The Macedonians deployed arThe Paithian heavy lancers defeated mored cavalry, javeiineers, infantry the Roman cavalry, while Crassus' inarchers and pikemen. Of some 4,500 fantrymen withdrew to a hill, where they Saka and Massageta nomads who failed were shot to pieces. Ultimately both the to break the Macedonian combination of elder Crassus and his son were killed and well-drilled infantry and armored cavaln* the army surrendered. with their arrows, 800 were left dead on thefield.This was the first-ever defeat of FOUR CENTURIES LATER, the Romans nomadic cavali"y archers by settled agri- encountered the Huns, who writers Amculturalists, but Alexander wisely re- mianus Marcellinus, Olvmpiodorus and frained from following them into their Procopius called the world's best archers. own hinterlands. Once Attila united the Huns, their China in this time was divided into the Continued on page 22

P E R S P E C T I V E S In 991 Saxon Ealderman Byrhtnoth made a lucky guess that cost him his life. By Steve Howe

A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, ENGLAND

was engaged in a iong struggie with Viking raideni. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, wiitten by a series of monastic historians to provide posterity with its primary source of the period, first recorded a Norse raid in 789, and the infamous sack of Lindisfame Monastery occurred in 793. The raids graduaiiy grew in frequency and size until 865, when the Great Army, ied by Ivar the Boneless, tried to conquer Britain entirely. Northumbria and Mercia were swept away, but Wessex endured and under Alfred the Great won a series of victories against the Vikings (see Military' HLstorv. June 2001). Aifred

and his descendants then began the process of reconquest until, by the middie of the 10th centuiy, England had been won back and a new Saxon kingdom bom. In 980, however, a new wave of attacks began. Much of the blame has been laid at the feet of King Ethelred, who was known as "the Unready," but the chief cause of England's misery was a change in the Viking strategy. Opportunists by nature, the eariier Norsemen had come seeking new lands, but having failed at conquest (he Vikings of Etheired's time were iooking for a quick profit—horses, siiver and slaves. England's response was feebie. In 1010 a writer of the Anglo-Saxon Chron icle voiced his frustration: "When fthe Vikings] were in the east, then the arniy was kept in the west; and when they were in the south, then our army was in the north. Then ali the councilors were ordered to the king, and it was then to be decided how this countrv' should be defended. But whatever was then decided, it did not stand for even one month. In the end there was no head man who wanted to gather an army, but each fied as b>est he could."

Although his chivalric-and seemingiy looiisn-invitation to the Vikings to do battle at Maldon cost him his life, Ealderman Byrhtnoth has an honored place in the town's Church of All Saints. 18 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

This is a condemnation of Saxon leadership, but it aiso points to the Saxons' greatest problem: The Vikings were a frustratingiy eiusive foe. Their principai advantage was the long-

ship, which allowed them to strike along the coast or up rivers at will. News of their anivai wouid travel fast enough, but before any counterstroke could be launched, men would have to be gathered, equipped and marched to the trouble spot. This could take days, if not weeks, more than enough time for the Vikings to loot the countryside, reembark with their spoils and sail off to spread more havoc 100 miles away. Under such circumstances, it is remarkable that the battie between Saxons and Vikings at Maldon in August 991 was fought at ail. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's description of the events of 991 was typically laconic: "Here in this year Oiaf came with 93 ships to Folkestone, and raided round about it, and went from there to Sandwich, and so from there to Ipswich, and overran all that, and so to Maidon. And ealderman Bvrhtnoth came against them there with his army and fought with them; and they kiiled the ealderman there and had possession of the piace of siaughter" "Oiaf" was Oiav Tryggvason, iater king of Norway. Byrhtnoth was the chief noble of Essex in eastern England. Appointed by the king, he was responsible for the security of the county and expected to lead its men in time of conflict. Another account of Maidon is found in a iarge fragment of an epic poem, supposediy composed by an eyewitness. It starts with Byrhtnoth reviewing his troops and marching them to meet the enemy. Olav and his warriors were drawn up on Noiihey Island in the Blackwater Estuaiy, with the Essex men assembied on the opposite bank. The two positions were linked by a causeway that was passable at iow tide. In the poem the Vikings taunt Byrhtnoth. offering to spare him and his men if they pay sufficient tribute. Byrhtnoth loftily refuses, promising them oniy a taste of Saxon iron. Olav then cunningly

OSPREY PUBLISHING Comprehensive Illustrated Military History

$IB.9S- New!

D-Day Fortifications in Nonnandv

Fortress 3 7 . $16,95 • N e w !

Combat Aircraft 58 • $19.95 - N

Osprey books are available from your local bookstore or hobby store Visit the Osprey website and discover over 1.200 books - sign up for our free monthly newsletters and buy online

www.ospreypublishing.com

20 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

suggests that if Byrhtnoth insists on a fight, it should at least be a fair one. Byrhtnoth agrees and lets the Vikings cross the causeway unopposed. Battle is then joined, and Bwhtnoth and his Essex companions are slain. It's a good story, but it ieaves us with an image of Bvrhtnoth as an arrogant, overconfident fooi. Historians, however, do not cite Homer's iUad as the primary source on the Siege of Troy, nor Wiliiam Shakespeare's Hewy V to get a clear picture of the Battie of Agincourt. Yet for more than 1,000 years the word of an anonymous iOth-century bard has been taken on face value to blame Byrhtnoth for bringing ruin on a county and a country. Granted, the poem does seem to be based on more than pure invention. The estuary, the island and the causeway are as described, and the battle was most certainly fought on the mainland. But to find the reason why Byrhtnoth allowed the Vikings to cross the causeway, we must look beyond pride and folly.

badly needed. Given the fact that neither side avoided battie, it may be assumed that the forces were evenly matched. If Oiav's fleet was correctly counted at 93 vessels, he may have had as many as 3,000 men, though allowances must be made for losses, noncombatants and ships aiready committed to carrying off plunder from eariier raids. It is probably reasonable to assume 1,000 to 1,500 men on each side. Warriors of ix)th sides were aiso similarly equipped, mostly with axes and spears. Byrhtnoth is descril)ed as wielding a sword, an expensive weapon for wealthy men. Both sides fought primarily on foot—the Vikings couid carry few horses by ship, and for some reason the Saxons did not seem comfortable with the concept of cavalry. The battle itself was nasty, brutish and short. The Saxon levy broke and ran. Bryrhtnoth and the men of his household stood their ground and were slaughtered. The consequences of Maidon were disastrous for Saxon England. The defeat spread despair tiiroughout the land. BETWEEN 980 AND 991, the Anglo-Saxon Etheired tried to buy the Vikings off, Chronicle records many raids, but not a thus initiating the practice of paying single battle. Byrhtnoth was the first Danegeid. Alfred the Great had someSaxon leader in 11 years to make the times used money to buy time, but never Vikings stand and fight. on that scale. The payment made in 991 That he had obtained that chance was was 10,000 pounds' weight of siiver. In an achievement in itself. We must assume theory it was supposed to buy peace. In that he received word of Olav raiding the practice it did the opposite. As Engiand neighboring counties and gathered his was steadily impoverished, ever greater troops on the assumption that Essex might sums were needed to buy the Vikings off, be next. He might also have received culminating in a massive 48,000 pounds some intelligence, perhaps conveyed by paid in iO!2. beacon fires, in order to march his troops No 11th-century society could have to the right place at the right time. It is coped with such a burden, and it is not more iikely, however, that Byrhtnoth surprising that in iO16 a Danish king, simply made a iucky guess. The Vikings Canute, sat on the English throne. had a known preference for the sheitered Though Saxon rule was restored in 1042, mooring of river estuaries, and there are England had still not fuily recovered its only four of any size in Essex. However it strength by 1066, when it was invaded for came about, Byrhtnoth managed to catch the last time in its history—twice in a the Vikings on Northey Isiand. single year—by King Harald II HardMost commentators have assumed raade of Norway, and by French-speaking that aii Byrhtnoth had to do was hold his descendants of those same Vikings under position and slaughter the Northmen as another opportunist, William the Basthey tried to force their way across the tard, Duke of Normandy. causeway. That assumes, however, that It is ovei"simpiistic to view Maldon alone the Vikings' longships were not present to as the beginning of the end for Saxon give them a means of escape unless Engiand, but it deait a massive blow to Byrhtnoth led his men across the cause- England's prestige. As for Byrhtnoth, it is way, subject to the same disadvantage. unfair simply to dismiss him as a fool. He This ciassic impasse was Byrhtnoth's took a calculated risk and paid for it with diiemma. If he heid his ground, the his life, but there have been many generVikings would slip away and he wouid ais who gambled and won, and were have achieved nothing. If he ailowed praised for the result. Had Byrhtnoth's them to cross over to even ground, he had gamble paid off, the poet would have had a chance to win a victory that Engiand a veiy different song to sing. MH

SAVEYOUR COPIES OF

WEAPONRY Continued from page 14

These custom-made titled slipcases are ideal for protecting your valuable copies from damage. They're designed to hold twelve issues. Constructed v^ith reinforced board and covered with durable leatherlike material in Patriot blue; title is hot-stamped in gold. ITEM: MHSC

Military History Slipcase

$14.95 Including postage and handling.

TO ORDER Buy It today online.

www.TheHistoryNetShop.com Send check or money order to:

Military History Products PO Box 420426 • Dept. MH512A Palm Coast, FL 32142

Or call

1-800-358-6327 Credit card orders only Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery

22 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

their enemies also used such bows, including the Chinese Jin empire {12 i5), the Khwarezmian empire of Persia {i220), the Kipchak Turks allied to the Russians at the Kaika River (1223), and Hungarian Szekely border guards in i241. The Mongols' bows were not the oniy reason they defeated so many opponents, but they were an important part of their tactics, which relied on maneuver and concentration of forces. Composite bow-wieiding Mamiuks became the first to defeat the Mongols in open battle, at Ayn Jalut on September 3, i260. The recurved bow was becoming a key weapon throughout Eurasia. By 1380, the Russians had learned its use and associated tactics so well that they defeated the Golden Horde of Khan Mamai at Kulikovo Fieid (see Military History, September 2005). Mamai executed a successful flanking maneuver that broke the Russian left flank and began surrounding the reserve as weli. However, Russian cavaln, hidden in nearby woods, then ambushed the Tatar wing, deciding the battie. Soon afterward, at Nicopolis in i396, an Ottoman Turkish army defeated one of the last Crusades by relying on both prepared defensive positions and infantry archers using the composite bow. Positioned behind sharpened stakes. Janissary archers took the impetus out of the Western European Crusaders' attack, and the remaining Hungarian, German and Wailachian contingents were overwhelmed by cavalry counterattacks.

archery skills gave them a succession of victories over the Eastern Romans in AD 44 i, 443 and 447. By 451, iiowever, Attila's armies were mainiy Germanic, and the only mention of Hun arciier>' in his Gaiiic campaign referred to a defensive shower of arrows fired from his wagon-iaager at Visigoth cavalry. The Eastern Romans, or Byzantines, went on to copy the Hunnic bow and saddle and used Hunnic archers in campaigns as iate as 554. Byzantium heid on to the nomads' ixjw for another nine centuries. In 934, an aliiance of Magyars and Pechenegs invaded Buigaria and the Byzantine iands. In an unnamed battie on the Balkans, the Pechenegs were drawn up on the wings, whiie the Magyars made up the center, facing the Byzantine cavalry and infantry. The Pechenegs on the right wing charged the Byzantines, shooting from the saddie, then proceeded to the ieft side of the Magyar center, whiie the Pechenegs on the ieft wing crossed to the right, shooting aii the while. A chronicler described the scene: "The cavairy contingents revoived continuaily, like a mill-wheei." Unable to endure the archers' harassment, the Byzantine cavalrymen rushed their tormentors, who gave way. Likewise, the Magyars iet them through, then gave them a murderous voiiey of arrows, foliowed by a sword cliarge. The defeated IN 1400 IT SEEMED as if the composite reByzantines sued for peace and paid trib- curved bow wouid become the main disute for years. tance weapon of warfare in Eurasia. The During the First Crusade, the European gunpowder revoiution, however, was soon knights' heav>' horses, armor and lances to end the bow's long reign. It started in gave them victory over the Seljuk Turks at Europe, where Hungarian and Balkan Donlaeum in 1097, although they noted archers began to adopt muskets and pisthe Turks' ability to shoot arrows "from tois as eariy as Janos Hunyadi's "Long an astonishing range." The Turks soon Campaign" in i442, although iocai comlearned not to stand up to the knights' posite bows wouid still exist centuries iater. charges, and to rely more on their bows. The Turks feit the fuli devastating impact That iesson was applied to terrible effect of gunpowder at Lepanto in 1571, when at the Horns of Hattin on July 4, il87, harquebus and musket fire idiled half of when Suitan Saladin's mounted archers, the Turidsh archers. There wouid be one after two days of shooting, using the iand last fiowering of the steppe bow, in the to their advantage and denying their en- hands of Manchu archers against a diemies water, so damaged the Crusaders' vided and technoiogicaUy backward China, infantry screen that it broke, leaving the founding the Qing Dvnasty (1644-19il). knights tofighta desperate hand-to-hand Whiie the reign of the composite wai^ battie that few survived. bow is over, modem archers have redisThe Mongols of the i3th century, cre- covered it as a sport and hunting bow, ators of the largest land empire in history, recognizing the inherent qualities that further spread the technoiogy of the com- made it unsurpassable for almost three posite bow as far as Korea. But many of miliennia. MH

PERSONALITY Colorful and charismatic, Sir Percy Wyndham served the Union Army as a cavalry commander. By Lewis Scheuch-Evans

OF A U THE BIZARRE, SCANDALOUS, ec-

Guiseppe Garibaidi's campaign in Siciiy. and irwin McDowell, went to the ShenanFor that service the officer was Icnighted doah Valley to deai with Confederate Maj. by Victor Emmanuei, King of Piedmont Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. and iater of a unified Italy On June 6, during a skirmish with When the American Civii War broke Turner Ashby's cavalry covering Jackout in April 1861, Sir Percy offered his ser- son's rear. Sir Percy's impetuosity undid vices to the Union. Major Generai George him. The ist New Jersey was on the road B. McCleiian knew of Wyndham's fight- to Port Repubiic when it ran into a coming reputation and recommended him bined cavalrv'-infantry ambush south of iiighly to the governor of New Jersey, who Harrisonburg. Wyndham decided to appointed him to command the 1st New- crash through the Rebels, but his attempt Jersey Cavalry (Volunteers). He was not laiied miserably. Under heavyfii'e,the 1st actually welcomed with open arms when New Jersey iled, leaving Sir Percy, 63 of he assumed his new command on Feb- his men and his colors cut off. In surrenruary 9, 1862. The New Brunswick Times dering, a seething Wyndham is said to asked, "Have we no material in New have remarked that "he wouid not comJersey out of which to manufacture com- mand such cowards." Ashby was killed in petent coionels without resorting to for- another encounter that same afternoon. eigners to fill up the iist?" His men soon W\Tidham, however, was paroled within warmed to their new commander, how- two months—and resumed command of ever, thanks to the way he the 1st New Jersey. restored discipline, obOn August 29, Rebel forces under the tained them regular pay, command of Maj. Gen. James Longstreet improved their rations were advancing on the right flank of Maj. and removed their camp Gen. John Pope's Anny of Virginia whiie from a swamp. Jacicson was engaging part of Pope's aimy Wyndham's personal at Groveton. Longstreet's force had to pass appearance was as im- through Thoroughfare Gap, and Union pressive as his soidierly cavalry tried to deia>' his progress. Wynreputation. He affected dham ordered his men to seize every ax ornate spurs, high boots they could find and block the gap with an and a plumed slouch hat. abbatis of felled trees. As Sir Percy put it, His men learned that if "No horse could expect to pass with life he twiried his lO-inch- and even infantr\ would be obliged to long moustache it meant pick their way." Longstreet brought up that he was agitated and more troops, however, compelling the Federals to withdraw from the gap. someone would pay. In April 1862, the 1st The afternoon of August 30 found New Jersey Cavalry pro- Bayard's cavalr\' on the left ilank of Maj. ceeded to Virginia, where Gen. Fitz-John Porter's V Corps, being it joined a brigade under heavily shelled by Rebel artillery. W\Tidthe command of Brig. ham, magnificently cool as usual, led his Gen. George D. Bayard. troopers under heavy fire untii ordered to After about a month's in- retreat. As the 1st New Jersey wheeled activity Bayard's brigade, about to retire. Sir Percy became angry. aiong with the corps of Apparently believing that his troopers One of Colonel Sir Percy Wyndham's troopers remarked, "the Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks twirl of that moustaciie was more formidable than a rifle!" Continued on page 80 centric senior officers in the Union Anny during the American Civil War—and the list is iong—Sir Percy Wyndham may be unique. Even his birth was unusual: The son of Royal Navy Captain Charles Wyndham, Percy was bom aboard His Majesty's warship Arab in the Engiish Channei on September 22, 1833. At age 15 he began his military career by fighting in the Revoiution of 1848 to help overthrow King Louis Phiiippe and usher in the Second French Repubiic. He then served in the French naYy and marines, achieving the rank of ensign. Returning to Britain, he served in the Royal Artiileiy. Wyndham again left England to join the Austrian army's 8th Lancers, rising to command a squadron. In May i860, he resigned from the Austrian army to participate in

24 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

AUSTERLITZ Napoleon^s Masterstroke Facing a formidable coalition, the French emperor devised a plan to defeat his counterparts from Austria and Russia in one swift campaign. BY JAMES W. SHOSENBERG

n August 26, 1805, a post chaise left the town of Mainz and rolled east toward the Rhine River. Inside the carriage sat a man, 6 English feet in height, with black corkscrew curls tumbling over his suit collar, dark flashing eyes and a black mustache. He had a handsome face, marred only by a scar on his lower jaw, the result of a bullet wound. In his hands he held a book by Marshal Charles Lxjuis Auguste Fouquet, cointe de Belle-Isle, describing the French campaign in Bohemia in 1742. On the man's passports was the name Colonel de Beaumont. Moving rapidly, the carriage traveled to Frankfurt, then turned southeast toward Offenbach and Wuraburg. It proceeded to the town of Bamberg on the Regnitz River. Carefully skirting the border of the Austiian empire, it followed the course of the Regnitz southward to Nuremberg, Turning east again, it rolled to the Danube, tracing that rivers course to Regensbei^. There, it clattered across the Danube on the great stone bridge and continued to Passau. From there, the carriage turned west toward Munich, drove on to

O

Jean-Louis Messonier's painting captures the tension of The Cuirassiers Before Their Charge at the Battle of Austerlitz. Led by Marshal Joachim Murat, the shock cavalry pnDved their worth against Maj. Gen. Piotr Bagration's Russians (Mus6e Cond6, Chantilly. France. Giraudon/Bridgeman Art Library).

<'D71C

Ulm and through the Schwarzwald (Black Forest). On September 10, the carnage rolled to a stop at Strasboui^, France, where Colonel de Beaumont reverted to his true identity: Joachim Murat, marshal of France, grand admiral of the empire, senator of France, governor of Paris, grand master of the cavalry.. .and brother-in-law of Napoleon I, empeixjr of the French. That same day, a succession of signal flags transmitted Murat's coded report to Napoleon in Paris: Sire; I have traveled to all of the points that your Majesty ordered me to visit.., ,1 hope to furnish the different information that you required, such as the distances, the localities, the positions, lhe nature and states of roads and resources that exist on the communications between the principal points. I have also made notes on the principal rivers as well as the approaches to Bohemia and the Tyrol..,. There exists at Wels a corps of about 60,000 men; at Braunau on the Inn, one of from 10 to 12,000, and a camp has been set up there for 30,000;.. .already some Austrian soldiers have arrived at Salzbiu^; it is generally believed that they are going to occupy Bavaria.... Prince Charles is to be the commander in Italy, and the Emperoi" on the Rhine. Their principal objective is to act in Italy, which appears probable given the extraordinary preparations taking place in the Tyrol....On Lake Constance there are about 15,000 men, A great number of Ru-ssians are on the frontiers of Galacia, the number is said to be 80,000 men. General Weyrother is, it is said, to be going to guide them. Finally, everything in Austria has a warfike attitude,...

In Paris, at the Palace of Saint Cloud, Murat s observations were 28 MILHARY HISTOKV DECEMBER 2005

Emperor Napoleon questions prisoners and fine-tunes his strategy for the battle to come on The Eve of Austeriitz, in Louis Francois Lejeune's painting.

added to those from other sources. As Napoleon studied his situation map, the red and black pins that marked the positions of French forces and their rivals revealed that an overwhelming force was gathering against France. LARGELY IN REACTION TO First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte's coronation as emperor on December 2, 1804, on August 9, 1805, Britain, Austria, Russia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Naples and a collection of German principalities fonned a new alliance against France. This Third Coalitions objective was to force France back inside its teiritorial boundaries of 1789, before the French Revolution. To achieve that, the coalition planned to put more than 400,000 men into the field, far more than Napoleon could muster, and strike France from two directions. Austria's best general, Field Marshal Archduke Charles of Hapsburg-Lorraine, would attack in northern Italy with 94,000 men, recapture Austria's former possessions there, then advance into southern France. Meanwhile, Austrian Archduke Ferdinand D'Este, with Quartermaster-General Karl Freiherr Mack von Leiberich as his chief of staff and mentor, would advance with 72,000 men along the Danube to discourage the elector of Bavaria from joining Napoleon and to cover the approach of Austria's Russian allies. By October 20, the first Russian army.

50,000 men under Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, would arrive, followed by another 50,000 men under Field Marshal Count Fnedrich 'Wilhelm Buxhowden. The Russian aiTnies would join Archduke Ferdinand and Mack for a combined invasion of northern France. To cover the two main offensives, an additional Russian force of 20,000 under General Count Levin Bennigsen would protect the northern flank of the Danube offensive, while an additional Austrian force of 22.000 men under Archduke John would operate in the Tyrol. To distract French attention from the coalition's main offensives, a force of 40,000 Russians, Swedes and British would advance through noithem Germany into Holland, while 30,000 Russians and British would land in Naples, join with 36,000 Neapolitans and advance up the Italian Peninsula into northem Italy. In the face of these multinational threats. Napoleon realized that his immediate project—a cross-Channel invasion of England—was now impossible. As a result of the military intelligence gathered hy Murat and others, however, he had complete knowledge of the coalition's plan. His response would he a preemptive strike into central Europe. He would tr\ to destroy the army under Fei"dinand and Mack before the Russians could arrive, then crush the Russians in turn. Meanwhile, Marshal Andre Massena, with 50,000 men, would tie down Archduke Charles' army in Italy. Marshal Guillaume Marie-Anne Brune, with 30,000 men, would forestall the coalition advance into Holland, and General de Division Laurent Gouvion St. Cyr, with 18,000, would march on Naples to prevent any coalition advance there. The instrument for Napoleon's offensive against Ferdinand and Mack stood at Boulogne on the English Channel. His Grande Annee. 180,000strong, highly trained, well anned and mobile, was ready for action. The Grande Annee was divided into seven corps, each commanded by a marshal of France. Jean Baptiste Bemadotte commanded the I Corps; Auguste-Frederic-Louis Mannont, the n Corps; Louis-Nicholas Davout, the EQ Corps; Jean-Baptiste de Dieu Soult, the IV Corps; Jean Lannes, the V Corps; Michel Ney, the VI Corps; and Pierre Frangois Charles Augereau, the VII Corps. Joachim Murat commanded the Cavalry Resei"ve. The seven corps. Cavalry Reserve and Imperial Guard under Napoleon's own hand totaled 145,000 infantrv' and 38,000 cavalrv'; to this would be added 25,000 Bavarian allies. On August 27, the Grande Annee

broke camp and marched east. Bemadotte's I Corps, stationed at Hanover, headed for Wur/.burg to collect the Bavarians, while the other six corps convei^ed on the Rhine. Napoleon believed that "The force of an army.. .is the sum of its mass multiplied by its speed." The distance from Boulogne to the Rhine is 450 miles, and each soldier covered it on foot, carrying his knapsack and musket, a total of 65 lo 75 pounds. The price was high. Jean Roch Coignet, a private in the Foot Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, recalled: "Never was there such a terrible march. We had not a moment for sleep, marching by platoon all day and all night, and at last holding onto each other to prevent falling. Those who fell could not be awakened. Some fell into the ditches. Blows with the flat of the sabre had no effect upon them. The music played, the drums beat a charge; nothing got the better of sleep...," On September 26, the "torrents" of the Grande Annee crossed the Rhine. The march continued into Germany until after wheeling to the south on October 6, the army found itself in line along the Danube from Ulm to Ingolstadt. Napoleon's army was now farther east than the unsuspecting army of Ferdinand and Mack, which had imprudently advanced along the Danube to Ulm in Bavaria. By the time the Austrians realized what was happening and struck north to attack the French, it was too late. The Austrian army was encircled, driven into Ulm and surrounded. On October 20, Mack and 27,000 surviving Austrian soldiers laid down their arms. Ferdinand, with 6,000 cavaliy managed to escape. As the French soldiers marched away from Ulm they sang; Mic Mack, We have pinched General Mack As if he was a pinch of tabac.

Top: After retumitig from a secret intelligencegathering mission to Germany, Joachim Murat resumed command of Napoleon's Cavalry Reserve. Above: Though utterly inexperienced. Tsar Alexander I insisted on directing the battle.

But where were the Russians? In a staggering display of administrative ineptitude, the Allied staffs had failed to recognize that while the Austrians followed the Gregorian calendar, the Russians still employed the older Julian calendar. In 1805 the difference was 12 days. So while the Austrians expected the Russian army to arrive on October 20, the Russians did not expect to join the Austrians until November 1. With the coalition Danube army eliminated. Napoleon was free to turn against Kutuzov's Russian army, now approaching from the east. The French emperor's strategy was to try to force it south to cut its communications with Russia, but his attempts failed. Although Murat's eavalry seized DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 29

the Danube bridges at Vienna on November 13, the wily Kutuzov managed to evade the French advance and escape. Napoleon was forced to pursue. On November 20, he arrived at Brunn, a small town 80 miles north of Vienna and 125 miles east of Prague. To the west of the town, he found Kutuzov, who had now been joined by Btixhovvden and a scratch Austrian force under Field Mai^shal Jean-Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein. Napoleon, with 60,000 men at hand now faced Kutuzov with 73,000. Moreover, Kutuzov expected another Russian force under Lt. Gen. Magnus Gustav Essen to arrive fi'om Poland shortly, and Ai'chduke Ferdinand, having gathered up 10,000 Austrian troops in Bohemia, was ready to push eastward to support Kutuzov. What was worse for the French, on October 30, Archduke Charles had attacked Massena at Caldiero, then skillfully extricated his powerful army from Italy and disappeared into the Alps. There, he had combined his army with Archduke John's, and the two brothers were now moving north. Napoleon was in trouble, and he knew it. The Grande Armee was deep in enemy territory, his immediate force was hea\'ily outnumbered and huge coalition reinforcements were on the way. Moreover, Prussia, impressed by Third Coalition successes, was showing great interest in joining it. To win the war, all Kutuzov had to do was avoid battle. Napoleon calculated, however, that even if Prussia decided to join the coalition against him, it would not be able to put an army into the field for at least a month. The same was true for Archduke Charles' army, whose progress from Italy would he slowed by the forces of Massena, Ney and Marmont. All Napoleon had to do was to crush Kutuzov's army before those coalition reinforcements arrived. And if Kutuzov was unwilling to engage him, he would have to trick Kutuzov into attacking him. Napoleon's plan would be aided considerably by the arrival at Kutuzov's headquarters of Austrian Emperor Francis II and Russian Tsar Alexander I. The inexperienced tsar was accompanied by a retinue of young officers eager to show their contempt for the French army. While Kutuzov counseled waiting until overwhelming reinforcements arrived, Alexander capitulated to the pressure of his aides and the vision of hecoming the "new St. George of Europe crushing the dragon." Now without influence, a chagrined Kutuzov mentally abdicated his command. Napoleon was confldent that the Allies, with their numerical superiority, would be 30 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

AustcrUte

tiwil*

By 8:30 a.m. on December 2.1805, the coalition forces had pushed the French out of Sokolnitz and Telnitz and were marching across the Pratzen plateau against the French right. At 9, Napoleon began to spring his trap.

tempted to attack him. To encourage their belief in the weakness of the Grande Armee, on November 21, he ordered Soult and Lannes to occupy the Pratzen heights and the village of Austerlitz, which was temptingly close to the Allied positions, and then to retire in feigned confusion, to simulate the beginning of a retreat. He followed this up with diplomatic action. On November 28 and again on the 29th, he sent a message to the tsar to ask for an armistice and a personal interview.

battle. A jubilant Austro-Russian army made ready to attack. Napoleon concentrated the Grande Armee in a triangle formed hy the villages of Puntowitz, Bosenitz and Lattein hetween the village of Austerlitz, occupied by the Austro-Russians, and the town of Brunn, occupied hy the French. His front formed the arc of a circle, facing southeast toward the enemy. From north to south stood Lannes' V Coips, the Imperial Guard, General de Division Nicholas-Charles Oudinot's Combined Grenadier Division, Murat's Cavalry Reserve and Soult's IV ALEXANDER IGNORED NAPOLEON'S request, sending only Corps—60,000 soldiers in all. his chief aide-de-camp, General-Adjutant Prince Piotr DolgoAnchoring the north end of the French position was a promirukov. If the French emperor wanted peace, Dolgorukov de- nent hill that rose 900 feet above the plain, named the Santon. manded, he must give up Italy immediately; if he continued the From the Santon the French line extended about four miles war, Belgium, Savoy and Piedmont would be added to the price. south along the Goldbach stream, which flowed through a valley General de Division Anne-Jean-Marie-Rene Savary, one of Na- of marehes, stagnant watercourses and ponds. From north to poleon's aides-de-camp, recorded that 'The conversation began south the Goldbach was lined by a series of hamlets with wide, immediately and quickly became animated; it appeared that muddy streets and single-story thatched houses. The most imDolgoiTikov had failed to display the tact required for his mis- portant of these were Sokolnitz and, 900 yards lo the south, Telsion, for the Emperor addressed him brusquely: 'If that is whal nitz, which marked the extreme left of the French line. Beyond you would have me concede, go and report to your Emperor Telnitz the Goldbach terminated in a series of wide, shallow Alexander that I would not have counted on his good disposi- ponds. The Goldhach and ponds were covered with melting ice, tion; that I would not have compromised my army; that I would and their muddy banks were slippery. The Allies occupied a line not have depended on his sense of justice to obtain terms; if he east of the French positions, running north to south to the east wishes it, we will fight, I wash my hands of it.' " of the Goldbach and centered on the Pratzen plateau, which the Dolgoruko\' reported that the French army was on the verge French had abandoned to them. of dissolution and Napoleon would do anything to avoid a Genercd-Feldwachlmeister Franz Ritter von Weyrother, chief of staff for the Austro-Russian aiTny, and another favorite of the tsar's, drew up the battle plan. Wevrother announced his plan to general officere at a staff meeting held at a house near Austerlitz early on December 2. Lieutenant General Count AlexandreLouis Andrault de Langeron described the scene: At one o'clock in the morning, when we were all assembled. General Weyrother airived, and on a lai^e table spread out an immense map, ver>' precise and detailed, showing the area of Briinn and Austerlitz, then read out his dispositions in a loud voice and with an air that announced a conviction of his self-importance and our incapacity. He resembled a professor reading a lesson to young scholars: perhaps we were scholars, but he was far from being a good professor. Kutuzov, who was sitting in a chair half asleep when we arrived at his house, was completely asleep by the time we departed. Buxhowden stood listening but certainly understood nothing. Miloradovich said nothing. Przhebishevsky kept in the background, and only Dokhturov examined the map with interest.

Weyrother's grandiose plan envisioned five columns of coalition soldiers, 41,000 men, sweeping down on the French right flank to cut their communications with Vienna and roll up Napoleon's army from south to north. The columns, numbered I to V, would be respectively commanded by: General Dmitr\' S. Dokhturov, 13,000 (including an advance guard of 5,000 under Feldmarschall-Leiitnaut Michael Freiherr von Kienmayer); General Langeron, 10,000; Lt. Gen. Ignaty Y. Przhebishevsky 6,000; Lt. Gen. Mikhail A. Miloradovich, 12,000; and Feldmarschall-

Napoleon's aide. General de Brigade Jean Rapp, announces the rout of the Russian cavalry-with Colonel Prince Nikolai G. Repnin-Volkonsky as his prisoner-in La Bataille d'Austerlitz, by Pascal Gerard. DECEMBER 2005 MILIT\RY HISTORY 31

Leutnant Liechtenstein, 5,000. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Prince Piotr Bagration, with 12,000 men, would draw the attention of the French left wing. Finally, Grand Duke Constantin Pavlovich, Tsar Alexander's brother, with 8,500, would remain in reserve with the Russian Imperial Guard. Weyrother was confident that his plan would destroy Napoleon's army to win the battle, the campaign and the war. The exti-eme right flank of the French line was held by General de Division Claude Juste-Alexandre-Louis comte de Legrand's division of Soult's IV Corps. At dawn on December 2, Legrand's soldiers could hear the sound of marching columns through the thick morning mist that covered the battlefield. With only 2,400 men, his division was about to face an onslaught by more than 30,000 Allied soldiers. At 8:30 a.m. Dokhturov's 1 Column rolled forward to attack Telnitz. Austrian General-Feldwachtmeister Carl Freihen Stutterheim described the attack: "Twice the Austrians were repulsed; and twice they again advanced to the foot of the hill.

flank of the French anny. Columns IV and V, under Miloradovich and Liechtenstein, were marching across the Pratzen plateau and down onto the French right. The Austro-Russian left wing under Bagration was advancing to pin down the French left wing. Liechtenstein's cavalry was spreading out to fill the widening gap between the Allied center and right. Thus far, all was going according to Wevi-other's plan. About this time, according to Corporal Elzear Blaze of the French 108th Regiment de Ligiie, a captured French officer was brought before Tsar Alexander for interrogation. "Oi which army corps are you?" the tsar asked. "The third," the Frenchman replied. "Marshal Davout's corps?" "Yes, sire." "That can't be true—that corps is in Vienna." "It was there yesterday; today, it's here." It was true. After a forced march of 80 miles, covered in just 50 hours, Davout's 111 Coips had arrived to support the French right flank. The coalition attacks through Telnitz and Sokolnitz, slowed, then faltered. Meanwhile, in the fog-filled valley below the Pratzen plateau. Napoleon stood quietly, gazing intently toward the plateau. Concealed by the low heights behind him stood the mass of his cavalrv; Oudinot's Grenadier Division and the Imperial Guard. With them, too, stood the soldiers of BeiTiadotte's I Corps, 11,000strong, who had force-marched from Iglau during the night. Napoleon now had 75,000 men and 157 guns to face the Allies' 73,000 men and 318 guns. Napoleon asked Soult, "How much time do you require to crown that summit?" "Ten minutes," answered the marshal. "Then go," said the emperor, "but you can wait another quarter of an hour, and it will be time enough then!" At 9 a.m. two di\asions of Soult's IV Corps marched forward. Supported on Russians retreating across frozen Sachseti Pond founder as French artillery breaks their left by Bemadotte's I Corps, the the ice. About 4,000 of them drowned. French columns climbed the slopes of the plateau and emerged from the fog. The astonished Russians fought to hold back which it was necessary to carry, in order to arrive at the vil- the French attack. Kutuzov tried to call back the rear of Milolage....Two Austrian battalions...charged the enemy with im- radovich's column, but few units could be turned around in petuosity, attacked the village, gained possession of it and were time. The French pushed over the Pratzen, and the coalition followed by the remainder [of the column]. The French, on the troops fell back in confusion toward Austerlitz. approach of such superior numbers, evacuated the defile, and At 10:30 Kutuzov counterattacked the Pratzen. Soult stopped drew up on the furthei' side [of the Goidbach] in order of battle." his line from collapsing hy skillful deployment of his corps arTo the north, Langeron's II Column, reinforced by Przhebi- tillery. At 1 p.m. a new Russian attack swept in as its Imperial shevsky's III Column, swarmed foru'ard to attack the village of Guard Cavalry under Grand Duke Constantin Pavlovich Sokolnitz. "The French," recorded Langeron, "defended them- stormed up from Austerlitz. Soult was in the middle of the fire. selves doggedly along the length of the stream and to the left of One of his officers was wounded; a bail struck the horse of his Sokolnitz. The 8th chasseurs and the regiments of Wibourg and aide-de-camp. Lieutenant Auguste Petit, breaking its halter Perm suffered a great deal, but at last, these three regiments Unable to resist this new attack, some of Soult's exhausted and the column of Przhebishevsky carried the village and the troops broke and abandoned the summit. Napoleon ordered French were forced to retire...." General de Brigade Jean Elapp to lead the French Imperial Guard By early morning the coalition forces had pushed the French cavalry against the Russian attack. "[I]t was not until I came out of Sokolnitz and Telnitz and were bending hack the right within gun-shot of the scene of action," recorded Rapp, "that 1 32 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

Three days after Austerlitz, Napoleon met Emperor Francis II near Sauschitz for negotiations that culminated in the Peace of Piessburg on December 26. The French emperor, however, still had unfinished business with the Russians.

discovered the disaster. The enemy's cavalry was in the midst of our square, and was sabering our troops. A little further back we discerned masses of infantry and cavalry forming the reserve. The enemy relinquished the attack, and turned to meet me... .We rushed on the artillery, which was taken. The cavalry, who awaited us, was repulsed by the same shock; they fled in disorder, and we, as well as the enemy, trampled over the bodies of our troops, whose squares had been penetrated... all was confusion; we fought man to man. Finally, the intrepidity of our troops triumphed over every obstacle." Although wounded twice, Rapp himself captured Prince Nikolai G. Repnin-Volkonsky, colonel of the Russian Chevalier-gardes. MEANWHILE, ON THE FRENCH LEFT, Lannes' V Corps attacked Bagmtion to prevent the Russian from joining the struggle in the center Laimes' advance was stubbornly contested by Bagration and Liechtenstein, but Murat led his heavy cavalry in a charge that overwhelmed the Russian force. Bagration began a measured withdrawal from the battlefield. Calling the remainder of the Imperial Guard to the Pratzen plateau. Napoleon ordered it and Soult's survivors to swing south along the heights to envelop the Austro-Russian left. "We charged like lightning," wrote Thomas-Robert Bugeaud, a Veiite Grenadier in the French Imperial Guard, "and the carnage was horrible. The balls whistled. The air groaned with the noise of cannon and power threatening voices, closely followed by death. Very soon the enemy's phalanx was shaken and thrown into disorder; at last we overthrew them entirely."

By 3:30 p.m., French guns and infantry were firing from the Pratzen into the massed enemy below. The only possible AustroRussian escape route lay over the frozen ponds at their backs. The coalition soldiers tried to flee over the ice, hut it broke under the French bombardment, and the retreat became a rout. Sometime after 4 p.m. the guns fell silent; the Battle of Austerlitz was over. The coalition forces had lost a staggering 29,000 men dead, wounded or captured, along with most of their guns and equipment. The Grande Amwe had suffered fewer than 8,300 dead or wounded and some 600 prisoners. Recorded Langeron: "The fact is that neither the regiments, nor the commanders, nor the generals had the necessary experience to resist the veteran warriors of Napoleon, that it was a great error to confront them and an even greater error to believe that we had only to present ourselves to defeat them." Three days after the battle. Emperor Francis II, disgusted with Tsar Alexander and his Russians, signed an armistice with France. Alexander, disgusted with Francis II and his Austrians, limped away to the east. The Third Coalition collapsed. On December 26, 1805, France signed the Peace of Pressburg with Austria. By the treaty Austria lost Venice, Istria and Dalmatia to France, and the Austrian Tyrol to Bavaria. Napoleon 1, emperor of the French, 10 years before an unknown French general, Vk'as on his way to becoming master of Europe. MH James W. Shosenberg writes from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. For further reading, he suggests: Austerlitz, by Claude Manceron; or

Napoleon and Austerlitz, by Scott Bowden. DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 33

B A T T L E

O F

P O L I L U R

As the two forces of the British East India Company tried to rendezvous at Conjeevaram, they found themselves with two formidable Mysorean armies positioned between them. BY CHARLES HUBERT

MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

O

n September 10, 1780, on a grassy plain in southeastern India, a small defensive square of British East India Company troops stubhomly resisted repeated assaults by an army 10 times their size led by Tipu, son of the ruler of Mysore. Surrounded by swarms of cavalry, pounded by artillery and rockets, Colonel William Baillie and his rapidly dwindling force looked done for. At that moment, a column of redcoated infantry was spotted off in the distance. The battered Englishmen assumed it was the army of Major General Sir Hector Munro, advancing to relieve them and to tum the tables on Tipu. Tipu was bom in 1750, while the British and French, supported by native allies, were each trying to expel lhe other's forces from the subcontinent. Tipu's father, Hyder Ali, had become sultan of Mysore by deposing the chief minister, Khande Rao, who had previously deposed the Hindu rajah, Hydcr Ali's attempts to expand his kingdom brought him into conflict with the East India Company, which in 1767 invaded his territory from its base to the east, called the Camatic—which, confusingly enough, the Company jointly ruled with the native nabob. Hyder fought the British to a standstill, and in 1769 the Company signed a treaty that restored prewar territorial boundaries and included a mutual defensive alliance. Tipu and his father barely had time to celebrate their victory before their northwestern neighbors, the Mahrattas, invaded Mysore. He asked the Company to send him soldiers, only to see his request ignored. Hyder bribed the Mahraltas with land and money, and spent the next six years recovering lost ground and strengthening his armies. In early July 1778, the Company learned that the French had joined the American colonies in their war against Britain. Quickly moving south of his CaiTiatic base of Madras, General Munro took PondicheiTV, the chief city of the French, in October. In March 1779, the British captured the last French possession in India, Mahe, on the Malabar Coast. Mahe was also claimed bv Hvder Ali, who was alreadv

on rather less than friendly terms with the Company ever since its failure to comply with the mutual assistance clause of the treaty of 1769. By November 1779, spies of the nabob Mohamed Ali Khan Walajan reported that Hyder was preparing for war. That information was forwarded to the governor of Madras, Sir Thomas Rumbold, who refused to believe that there was any danger. In December 19-year-old 2nd Lt. John Lindsay and the 73rd Highlanders arrived at Madras where, as he wrote, their "appearance, as they were clothed in the Highland uniform, struck the inhabitants with astonishment," The Company's forces, he added, were dispersed in "different garrisons throughout their extensive countiy it being considered an unjustifiable expense keeping them together," Rumboid did nothing until April 1780, when Lindsay noted that Rumbold sailed for England, "with an immense fortune, leaving behind him an exhausted Opposite: In an Indian depiction of the Battle of Polilur, Colonel William Baillie commands his forces from a palanquin, a British ammunition tumbril explodes and Mysorean cavaliymen start to breach Baillie's square at right Left: The staunchly anti-British Prince Tipu soon eamed the sobriquet Tiger of Mysore."

treasury—but declared...before his departure that he had received the most satisfactory assurances of Hyder Ali s friendship to the English." A month later the sultan of Mysore was assembling his forces. In early July, with the son of the deceased French Lt. Gen. Thomas Arthur, comie de Lally-Tollendal, serving as his adviser, Hyder invaded the Camatic at the head of an aimy 100,000-strong. By the end ofthe month he had taken the city of Porto Novo and the town of Conjeevaram, the latter only 56 miles southwest of Madras, and was about to lay siege to the nabob's capital, Arcol, abont 40 miles west of Conjeevaram. His light horse overran the countryside, carrying off plunder and burning everything in sight. The Company finally mobilized. Munro sent orders to the various scattered contingents to prepare to march. Colonel Baillie, stationed in Guntur, 200 miles north of Madras, with about 2,500 men, DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 35

Forced to form a defensive square seven miles short of Conjeevaram, Baillie's British and sepoy troops held off numerous attacks by the relentless Tipu until a relief force approached from the east. Unfortunately for Baillie, the force was fVlysorean, and it was not there to help him.

was ordered to the capital. The other contingents were to assemble at Conjeevaram, but when supply problems made it impossible for most of them to rendezvous there, they were ordered to Madras. On August 21, Hyder laid siege to Arcot. The nabob sent messengei^ to Munro, asking him to advance on Arcot, assuring him that the appearance of the Company's army would be enough to send Hyder packing. Colonel John McKenzie, Lord Macleod, in command of the 73rd Highlander's, was against this, pointing out that Baillie was only two days north of Madras and that they should await his arrival before trying to relieve Arcot, Munio sent orders to Baillie to meet him at Conjeevaram; Baillie would have to march through hostile territory west of Madras in order to reach the rendezvous point. On the 25th, Baillie reached the Coitelur River and made camp on the northem bank. That night it rained heavily and rendered passage over the river impossible. As one of Baillie's officers, William Thomson, wrote in his Memoirs oj the Late War in Asia eight years after the battle, "Had Colonel Baillie passed over the Tripassore [Cortelur], without halting, as some advised, and encamped on its southern, instead of its northem banks...an order of affairs.

36 MILITAKV HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

wholly different from that which in fact took place, would have succeeded." The next day, as Baillie waited on the wrong side of the Cortelur, Munro left Madras with 5,000 men and supplies for an eight-day Journey. They were continually harassed by Hyder's cavalry as they marched toward Conjeevaram through a devastated countryside; "not a village was to be seen... that was not in flames," wrote Lindsay. Four days later, as the 73rd came in sight of the objective, Hyder's cavalry charged the advanced guard. Forming a line, the Company troops shouldered muskets and fired volleys by platoon. The Mysorean horsemen turned about and retreated into Conjeevaram, lit some fires and abandoned the town. According to Lindsay, Munro then "encamped on a very strong situation two miles on the other side of town, so as to be able to cover it from the enemy." That would have put the Company's small army west of Conjeevaram. The nabob's representative at Conjeevaram, who was supposed to provide supplies for Munro's army, had none, Munro sent a battalion of sepoys into the city. "Immense quantities of grain ha\ing been found," Lindsay wrote, "a depot was formed in the

pagoda." Baillie, though expected to arrive on that same day, was in actuality still on the north bank of the swollen Cortelur, probably marching west. It was still raining intermittently. At Conjeevaram, deserters from Hyder Ali's army told Munro that Hyder had raised the siege of Arcot and was marching toward the Company's forces. When he pitched camp a few miles west of Munro's position three days later, Baillie still had not crossed the river. Finally, on September 5, Baillie was able to cross the Cortelur and advance toward Conjeevaram from the northwest. Next moiTiing, apprised of Baillie's movements by spies sympathetic to his cause, Hyder began a movement to the northeast threatening Munro's right, interposing himself between Baillie and Conjeevaram. At the same time, he sent Tipu with 10,000 men to attack Baillie. Munro shifted his camp to face Hyder's army, Baillie was 14 miles to the northwest, with the armies of Tipu and Hyder Ali between him and Munro at Conjeevaram. While Hyder and Munro were engaged in maneuver and countermaneuver, Baillie, about to break camp near the village of Perumbakkam, spotted a column of red coats approaching his position around 11 a.m. on the 6th. He first assumed that it was Munro, marching to his relief. As the red-coated soldiers bore down on him, however, he realized that they were Tipu's sepoys, trained, according to the French method, to attack in column. Forming line of battle, Baillie opened fire with his 10 artillery pieces. Tipu's infantry scattered and ran to take refuge in a wood to Baillie's right. At that moment, the Mysorean cavalry, which had been behind the infantry, spurred their horses at the British line, while oxen drew Tipu's artillery off to Baillie's left. The British, firing continuous volleys by platoon, sent numbei^ of men and horses tumbling to the gi'ound. Those who survived wheeled and left the field. With their own men out of the way, Tipu's 18 guns opened fire. Baillie answered with his artillery, and around 2 p.m. Tipu's guns gradually ceased fire, while his cavalry- hung menacingly w ithin view but out of range of the British. Both sides remained in position until nightfall, when the Mysoreans withdrew five miles in the direction of Conjeevaram. Baillie had lost 100 men killed and wounded to Tipu's artillery; the Mysorean infantry, after the repulse of their first attack, had stayed out of musket range for the rest of the action. Hearing the cannonade, Munro sent his tents and baggage into Conjeevaram and advanced toward Baillie. Three miles up the road, he found Hyder and a huge army drawn up. Munro encamped and waited to see what would happen. The armies sat facing each other for two days. In the early evening of September 8, Munro received a message from Baillie: "Dear General...! was attacked by a formi-

Born in 1722, Hyder Ali, sultan of Mysore, first came into conflict with the British East India Company in 1767 and fought its army to a standstill in 1769, In 1780 war resumed between Mysore and the Company.

dable army,,..I cannot come on. I am in want of everything, and expect you with anxiety." Things had now gone from bad to woree for the Company's divided forces. Between Muni'o and Baillie were Hyder and Tipu. Baillie could not advance, so it was up to Munro to make the next move. If he should advance along the road, he would have to attack Hyder's much larger and strongly positioned army. Even if he could somehow pass Hyder's anny without being detected, he would be leaving his base of operations and the pagoda full of supplies at Conjeevaram open to attack by Hyder Without supplies, Munro would be forced to withdraw to Madras. He decided to send a detachment of about 1,000 men, under the command of Lt. Col. Joseph Fletcher, to reinforce Baillie, who would then be able to resume his march and join Munro outside Conjeevaram. As Lieutenant Lindsay recorded in his journal, "Of this unfortunate body, I commanded the grenadiers of the 71 st regiment, and my friend Captain Baird [later General Sir David Baird] the light infantry." At 9 that night, Fletcher and his small force marched out of the rear of the camp, while a battalion of Company sepoys fired on Hyder's outposts as a diversion. Fletcher's departure was reported by Hyder's spies, but the relief column, marching by a circuitous route, bypassed Hyder's ambush and approached Baillie's camp from the rear just as the sun was rising on September 9. Baillie had cut through the bank of a large reser-

DECEMBER 2005 MILHARY fflSTORY 37

Moving to retake Conjeevaram, Sir Hector Munro ended up in a game of maneuver and countermaneuver with Hyder AN that placed the latter's army between Munro and Baiilie's approaching column.

rocket-men opened fire. BaiUies flanking parties forced the latter to keep their distance, and their missiles were ineffective. After marching six miles with Tipu's cavalrv keeping pace and rockets arcing overhead, at about 10 p.m. the Company's aiTny reached the road to Conjeevaram. As Baillie led the column, Lindsay wrote, "The enemy's hoi^e collected themselves into one body.. .and made a smart charge upon the rear guard." Captain Powell, in command of the rearguard, unlimbered his two guns, drew up his sepoys and stopped Tipu's horsemen in their tracks with grapeshot and musket fire. Powell sent a messenger to Baillie, informing him of the situation. Baillie halted, countermarched lo his rear and drew up his army in line of battle, facing back toward Perumbakkam.

voir, or tank, and had flooded the ground behind his position. After wading through the inundation, Fletcher and his band were warmly received by Baillie and his men. They had marched for 10 hours through hostile territory, and they were exhausted. Although Munro had ordered the combined force to immediately rejoin the main army, this was clearly impossible under the circumstances. Hyder's French officers warned him of a pincer movement by Baillie and Munro against his position, and advised him to withdraw. Hyder, not convinced, sent his spies to watch Munro, but also made preparations to move westward toward Mysore, just in case the French were right. Munro did not move. On the night of the 9th, Hyder sent his infantiy and artillery to support Tipu. He stayed behind with his cavalrv' to keep an eye on Munro. At 4 a.m. on September 10, he followed his infantry, without striking his tents, in order to conceal his march from ihe British. At 8 p.m. on the 9th, Baillie bnjke camp. His original force was stationed in the center, Fletcher's detachment guai^ed the flanks, and the baggage, many follo\vei"s and a large supply of cattle for the army was stationed upon the left flank. As they marched toward Conjeevaram along a moonlit road bordered by an avenue of trees, Tipus cavalry appeared, and his

38 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

Tipu's troops opened fire but did not advance. Baillie marched back onto the road. Meanwhile, Tipu had stationed his guns to Baiilie's left and now opened fire. Baillie sent Captain Charles Rumley and five companies of sepoys to silence Tipu's guns. As they advanced, they came to a deep stream and were unable to cross. Tipu, fearing capture of his guns, dre^v them off and repositioned them at the end of the avenue, where it entered a large plain. lt was now 11:30, and silence reigned. Baillie had lost about 100 men, and his baggage train was in confusion. Not wanting to lose the supplies he was conveying to Munro, he decided to wait until daylight to continue his march. Munro had heard the firing and ordered tents stiotck and the army to march, but when the shooting stopped he changed his mind. Thomson noted that "the troops were ordered to rest on their arms till further orders." At 5 a.m. on September 10, Baillie stationed his baggage train on the right of the column and resumed his march. Fletcher's men guarded the flanks. Sometime after 6, the British reached the end of the avenue of trees and marched onto a plain covered with tufts of grass, with villages to their front and left, and woods to their right. During the night, Tipu had positioned eight gitns 300 yards to the left of the road Baillie would have to take. When half the British column had entered the plain, he opened fire. Round shot plowed through the Company's ranks, and grape ripped through the sepoys. They continued their march and did not return fii'e. Seven miles from Conjeevaram Baillie realized that he would not make it there without a fight. Drawing up his army in line of battle facing Tipu's

guns, he unlimbered his fieldpieces and began a countercannonade. The fire of the Mysore cannons slackened, Baillie sent Rumley and 10 companies of sepoys—about 800 men—to take the guns. As they advanced, thousands of Mysorean horsemen charged out of the woods and filled the plain to the right of Baillie's line of march, riding hard toward the end of the British line, with Tipu himself in command. To meet that attack, Baillie was forced to reverse his front. As he did so, thefireof Tipu's guns increased. The spears and sabers of the Mysorean horsemen were paces away when the Company troops opposite them discharged their muskets and six cannons full of grapeshot into the tightly packed leading ranks of Tipu's cavalry, decimating them. Unable to advance or withdraw, the Mysorean troopers wheeled to their left and rode along the British line, exposed to the fire of the main body, The cavalr\' swept past, leaving 1,200 bodies littering the field. Tipu's cavali7finallyreached the rear guard, about 600 men and four cannons, which was some distance fi-om the main body. Fearing that they would be cut off. Captain Powell sent to Baillie for reinforcements. Baillie responded by dispatching John Lindsay and fewer than 300 men to aid him. As Lindsay reported for orders, Powell was blown away by a cannonball. At the same time, Rumley's detachment was advancing so quickly that the sepoys lost their formation. Nevertheless, the rapidity of their advance unnerved Tipu's gunners, who fired one more round and then retreated, allowing the sepoys to seize seven guns and their ammunition tumbrils. The Mysorean horse, repulsed by the rear guard and seeing their guns taken, rode toward Rumley's party. The sepoys had not recovei^ed their order, and at the sight of the charging horsemen they ran back toward the main body. Most of them didn'l make it, speared with the 14-foot-long bamboo lances or cut down vkath the long, curved tulwars of Tipu's cavalry. Two hundred reached the relative safety of the British line as the cavalry swanned around the guns. Rumley's men had failed to spike their opponents' cannons, and it was not long before the Mysorean gunners returned and subjected the Company's troops to a renewed deluge of grape and round shot, along with the musketiy of Tipu's skiiTnishers. Baillie's men re-formed, faced the guns and stubbornly returned fire. The Mysorean horse, having resumed its position on Baillie'sright,attacked even more feiT>ciously than before. Most of Baillie's men reversed front and fired at the oncoming horsemen, but this time they could not be stopped. In a headlong dash, Tipu's riders reached the British line and penetrated it, infiicting heavy damage. They were eventually repulsed, but the survivors hovered threateningly out of range. Fifteen hundred Company troops lay dead on the

A soldier of one of Tipu's infantry regiments. Striving to match the discipline of his British opponents, Tipu used French advisers to help train his troops with the latest European weaponry and tactics.

field. Around and intenningled with them were the bodies of 5,000 Mysorean soldiere. Baillie withdrew to a dryriverbeda little to the right of his original line of march. With his ranks protected by the banks ofthe ancient watercourse, he brought his 10 guns to bear on his Mysorean counterparts. Tipu's men had the worst of the artillery duel that followed and once again abandoned their guns, but the still-numerous Mysorean cavalry made it impossible for Baillie to move. An hour passed. Then a cloud of dust announced the approach of a large army from the direction of Conjeevaram, and soon oxen pulling guns appeared amid red-coated troops advancing in front. A shout of joy went up from the British line—it was Munro at last! They realized their mi.stake when the whole of Hyder Ali's cavalry, 25,000 strong, spilled onto the plain, followed by an equal number of infantry. In a few minutes Hyder's artillerymen opened fire. Tipu's gunners returned and added their fire. At that point 60 or 70 guns were firing at Baillie's men from ali sides. Resigned to their fate, Thomson wrote, the "Europeans and Sepoysrepeatedlypresented and recovered their fire arms, as if they had been manoeuvTing on a parade." Hyder's cavalry charged Baillie's right, with his infantry in support. Although they outnumbered the Company's force by more than 10-to-l, the Mysore troops could make no headway against the fire ofthe British and sepoys. Their beleaguered cavalrymen fell back upon their infantry, which began to give way, and Baillie threatened to advance against them. At about

it DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 39

Captain David Baird was one of the few officers fortunate enough to survive captivity under Tipu Sultan until his release in 1784. Fifteen years later, Maj. Gen. Baird returned to seek revenge on the Tiger of IVlysore at Serin gapatam.

medieval aspect as saber met tulwar and bayonet parried lance. Thirteen times the Mysorean cavalry' charged and was repulsed. Baillie and most of his men were seriously wounded. At last, in an attempt to save his brave band, Baillie tied a handkerchief around his sword and motioned to one of Hyder's officers. But his plea for mercy was ignored, and he ordered Baird to have them ground arms. No sooner was that done than the cavalry charged into the Company troops and began cutting them down. Baillie was wounded in the hand as he fended off blows. Baird—cut. stabbed and shot—collapsed. At 9 a.m. the slaughter finally stopped when Hyder, seemingly oblivious to humanitarian considerations, was persuaded by his French officers that the Englishmen were worth more alive than dead. Up to that point. Lieutenant Lindsay and the rear guard had been spared a direct assault. Now surrounded, they fired a last volley and then the horsemen were upon them. Lindsay wrote, "All around us, no object presented itself but the enemy, with drawn sabres, cutting and hacking the miserable wretches that were at their mercy." Although cut and stabbed, the lieutenant survived. 7:30 a.m. Hyder considered withdrawing. Lally Hyder's cavalry and elephants trampled the pointed out that with Munro in their rear, the only wounded and then, fearing the anival of Munro, he course of action left was to destroy Baillie before pulled back to Damul, six miles away, where he paid Munro could come up. At that moment, a rocket 10 rupees to anyone who brought in a European struck one of BaiUie's ammunition tumbrils. A ti'emen- alive, and 5 just for the head. Fletcher's head was dous explosion shook the British line, immediately identified by the English prisoners. followed by two more as the initial blast ignited the Munro, hearing the guns at dawn on the 10th, had nearest tumbrils into balls of flame. As the smoke made an effort to advance. Before he had gotten very cleared, Baillie's ammunition was gone and his line a far, he was informed of Baillie's defeat by some shambles of wrecked ordnance and mangled bodies. sepoys who had managed to escape. He returned to The Mysoreans' fire did not let up as they slowly Conjeevaram and, fearing encirclement by Hyder's advanced their guns toward the Company's position. huge army, threw his guns into the local reservoir and Baillie returned fire and ordered Fletcher to take a retreated to Madras, harassed by Mysorean cavalry. company of European grenadiers to bolster the rear, Lindsay and Baird spent the next three years in which was hard pi"essed. The sepoys, perhaps inter- the dungeons of Hyder's capital, Seringapatam. Bailpreting Fletcher's movement as a withdrawal, fol- lie died there on November 29, 1782. Hyder Aii died lowed him. Seeing the confusion in the British ranks, of cancer a month later. Tipu had Rumley and some Hyder formed his cavalry in three columns, with in- other prisoners poisoned in October 1783. Some of fantry units between, and ordered the horse units to the rank-and-file Highlanders were drugged, circharge Baillie's right. Supported by the fire of their cumcised and forciblv converted to Islam, then cominfantry, and with Hyder's elephants close behind, pelled to train a unit of young men whom Tipu had they stmck the disordered sepoys, who were now in- enslaved during the invasion of the Camatic. termingled with the baggage. Some threw down Lindsay and Baird were released in 1784, accordtheir muskets and, stripping off their uniforms, tried ing to the terms of the Treaty of Mangalore, which to blend in with Hyder's irregulars to escape. Some also provided for a return to the prewar status quo. fired point-blank at the swarming cavaliy and were Fifteen years later, Baird led the final assault on cut down. Colonel Fletcher, wounded in the arm, Seringapatam, which ended the fourth and last was wrapping a handkerchief around it when he re- Mysore War. Tipu Sultan went down fighting. MH ceived a cut across the belly that caused his bowels to drop oul, and he fell dead h'om his horse. Charles Hilhert writes from Easl Stroudshurg, Pa. For Amid the swirling confusion of his broken line, further reading, he recommends: The Life of Sir David Baillie managed to form the remaining Europeans Baird, hy W.H. Wilkin: Lives of the Lindsays, by Lord and sepoys, about 500 men, into a square on a small John Lindsay: arid Memoirs of the Late War in Asia spot of rising ground. Hyder's cavaliy charged, was with a Narrative of the Imprisonment and Sufferings beaten back and chained again. The British ran out of Our Officers and Soldiers by an Officer of Col. of ammunilion, and BaiUie's last stand assumed a Baillie's Detachment ^ ' William Viomson.

40 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

e 'Weeds ofj\icr/aix 42 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

Illustrations from Jean Froissati's Chronicles depict the announcement in April 1341 ofthe death of Duke John III of Brittany and its consequence-a war over who would Inherit the duchy CGiraudon/Art Resource. NY),

IN 1342 AN ARMY OF HARDENED ENGLISH PROFESSIONALS GAVE THE FRENCH THEIR FIRST TASTE OF THE NEW TACTICS THEY HAD DEVELOPED WHILE FIGHTING THE SCOTS.

Bv Frank G. Dorber

DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 43

Top: An illustration from Froissart's Chronicles shows a battle along the Breton coast. Above: Robert d'Artois urges King Edward III of England to accept the title of King of France. Edward's rival, Philip V!, had claimed the throne by Salic Law. then backed Charles de Blois' claim to Brittany. 44 MlLrrARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

1341, the independent duchy of Brittany fell into a crisis of inheritance when Duke John in died, leaving no son to succeed him. His younger brother Guy, comle de Penthievre, had died earlier and left a daughter, Jeanne. The duke also had a half brother, John de Montfort, the issue of his father Arthur of Dreux's second marriage to Yolande, comtesse de Montfort and widow of King Alexander in of Scotland. Therefore Jeanne de Penthievre and John de Montfort both claimed the rightful inheritance—starting the War of the Breton Succession, which would rage for 24 years and involve two adjacent rival powers, England and France, To strengthen her hand, Jeanne married Charles, comte de Blois, nephew of King Philip VI of France, and then claimed Brittany for her husband. Philip was naturally amenable to her claim. John, on the other hand, appealed for support fktm King Edward III of England, who instinctively opposed anvthing that enhanced French power and whose own claim to the French throne had been rejected in favor of Philip. The irony was that Jeanne's French-backed claim, on the grounds of being the nearest blood relation to Duke John III, ignored the same interpretation of SaJic Law by which Philip VI had claimed his own throne, while John's claim rested on the principle that had denied Edward the French crown. England and France were then already engaged in what was to be called the Hundred Years' War, which in actuality lasted 116 years. Brittany, however, was the scene of their first major land engagement. The Battle of Morlaix, fought in 1342, was a watershed event for the English armies and served as a testing ground for lessons learned in the Scottish wars, using new tactics and an all-around professionalism that had never before left British shores. John de Montfort was first to pursue his inheritance. He entered Nantes, where he was well received, and overran most of Brittany within two months. He then returned to England to receive an honorary title and reciprocated hy offering to support Edward's claim to the French throne. Meanwhile Charles de Blois had collected his army at Angers and advanced on Nantes in November 1341. A saintly ascetic, Blois chose to put pebbles in his shoes and wore a lice-ridden hair shirt as a demonstration of his piety. Yet that did not stop him from occasional lapses of sanctitv-—on one day during the siege of Nantes, after his forces captured 31 men who had sallied out, Blois had them executed and their heads catapulted back into the city. That action had the desired psychological effect, as Nantes' inhabitants soon came to terms. Montfort was taken prisoner, and spent the next four years in the Louvre prison, while it was Blois' turn to overrun most of Brittany with the help of the French king's son and heir, Jean, due de Normandie. Resistance to Blois' claim now came from Montfort's wife, Joan of Flanders, although her forces were outnumbered and isolated, and she herself was

under siege in Hennebont, al the head of an estuai^ between Quimper and Vannes. She appealed to King Edward to keep his promise, but coming to her aid would be difficult. Only the south and southwest of Brittany were pro-English, and to get there would require a long, dangerous voyage around Cape Finisterre, along which the English lines of communication could be frequently interrupted, whereas Erench forces enjoyed an easy approach by land. Edward dispatched a small vanguaid in March 1342, led by the valiant and trustworthy Sir Walter Mauny of Hainault, but because of adverse weather it took two months to arrive at its destination. Back at Hennebont, Joan had bedecked herself in armor and led her men on raiding sorties against her besiegers when she wasn't in the tower, watching for the promised relief force. Just as all hope was gone and she was about to accept Blois' suirender terms, she rejoiced at seeing English sails on the horizon. The entire town celebrated with a banquet in honor of their English deliverers. In spite of their fighting elan, the Anglo-Breton soldiers were still heavily outnumbered and relying on their wits to survive. In July 1342 Edward III sent a larger contingent to reinforce them, commanded by the king's new lieutenant in Brittany, William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton, aided by Henry, Earl of Derby, and John de Vere, seventh Earl of Oxford, as well as his ehief of staff, the renegade French knight Robert d'Artois. All were veterans of the previous year's Flanders campaign. After a four-day journey, 260 ships carried the 3,000-man army to the besieged port of Brest on August 18. Overct)ming light resistance, the relief force entered the city and was greeted by rejoicing crowds. Blois and his allies lifted the siege and fell back to Guingamp, 40 miles to the east. Encouraged by his success thus far, Northampton pushed on in territory friendlier to Blois, proceeding without serioLis opposition and reaching Morlaix on September 3. There, he spent the day trying to storm the strongly fortified and well-supplied bastion, but its resolute defenders would not break, and Northampton settled down for a long siege.

Meanwhile al Guingamp, Blois had been expanding his army with local le\ies. One cautious French historian estimated its numbers at about 30,000, but it is more likely to have been slightly less than half of that. Even the conservative figure, however, would have had Blois' forces outnumbering Montfort's supporters 4-to-l as he set oul to relieve Morlaix. Blois' army passed near Lanmeur, seven miles northeast of John de Montfort and his wife Joan of Flanders are graciously received upon their arrival in Nantes. While John was in England, however, his rival, Charles de Blois, moved on Nantes in November 1341, backed by a sizable French army.

the objective; from there, he hoped to trap the English between his army and the fortress, but Northampton's scouts informed him of the coming danger The earl's reaction was to lift his siege and march toward Lanmeur to meet Blois, BY DAWN ON SEPTEMBER 29, Northampton had found a position astride the road with the sun behind him, nestled at the beginning of a gentle slope with a dip about 300 yards before it. The road then rose on another acclivity, disappearing about 500 yards from that position. The English were pleased with the position because there were woods nearby where they could leave their haggage, and which would help to protect their flanks and rear from enemy DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 45

KING EDWARD III'S man in Brittany, William de Bohun. Earl of Northampton, was probably bom in 1310, thefifthson of Humphrey de Bohun, fourth ELai I of Hereford, and Elizabeth Plantagenet, daughter of King Edward I. Williams first military experience was apparently with Edwai'd in in 1330, during the suppression of Roger Mortimer, "Protector" of England and the man responsible for the overthrow and murder of King Edward II in 1327—a campaign that ultimately led to King Edward Ill's firm establishment in power and to Mortimers death on the gallows at Tyburn on November 29. In 1335 William married Elizabeth de Badlesmere, widow of Edmund Mortimer—a direct relation of the disgi-aced dictator Rogei^ Mortimer Their son, Humphrey, would succeed to the earldom of Northampton and to those of his namesake uncle, Humphrey, Earl of Hereford and Essex, thei eby uniting the three titles. With the rise of Prince Edward of Woodstock—the future Prince of Wales, better known to posterity as the Black Prince—William de Bohun was made Eai'l of Northampton on March 16, 1337,

In that same year, he was made a commissioner to deal with the French over Edward Ill's claim to their throne, and subsequently as commissioner to deal with David Bmce of Scotland. He took part in the expedition to Antwerp in July 1338 and was present at the victorious naval Baltle of Sluys On June 24, 1340. After his victory at Morlaix in 1342, Northampton was made the king's lieutenant and captain-general in Brittany, but when a three-year truce was signed, he returned to England. The following year saw him campaigning in Scotland with Henry, Duke of Lancaster, to relieve Locbmaben Castle in the Dumfries ai'ea, after which he remained there as governor. When tbe truce broke down in 1345, Northampton joined King Edward Ill's expedition to France, distinguishing himself again on the march to Blanchetaque and soon afteiward at Crecy on August 26, 1346. He served two more years in France and was a commissioner for concluding another truce. In 1350 he was appointed warden of the Marshes toward Scotland, and he served as peace negotiator with the Scots the next year. In 1352 he re-

borsemen. Northampton positioned his army just in front of tbe woods on a 600-yard line astride the road. In front of tbem tbe English dug a trench and skillfully covered it with hedges and vegetation—a trick learned at their own expense in 1314, when tbe Scots used the same tactic to trap tbeir cavalry at Bannockburn. The dismounted men-at-arms were placed in the center, each having a fixed spot to hold—to which they were expected to return after meal and toilet breaks—while tbe arcbers held each fiank. This arrangement allowed the archers to shower arrows at an advancing enemy and, if tbeir foes reached the infantry line, swivel to shoot into their sides and even across their backs. Those tactics, also developed during tbe wars in Scotland, were new to tbe medieval European mainland. On the other side of tbe field, Blois' French cavalry had spent tbe night billeted near Lanmeur, but tbe footmen only anived in the morning. A.s dawn came on tbe 30tb, tbe English were met witb an awesome sigbt. The French were arrayed in three huge and growing columns, or "battles," with large intervals between each. The first battle was made up of dis46 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

turned south as commissioner of an array of troops for Essex and Herefoid, to oppose the threat of a French invasion. But when that never materialized, he spent the following two years in the north until called to participate in another French campaign in 1355. Duty soon called him north again in 1356, to treat tor the ransom of Da\ad Biuce, but 135759 saw him campaigning in Gascony. Northampton's career was cut short by the other great scourge of the 14th century besides war—the bubonic plague, of which be died on September 16,1360. He was buried in Walden Abbey near Saffron Walden, Essex, which held the graves of the de Mandeville and succeeding de Bohun families. Tbe tomb and the abbey itself were destroyed during tbe Protestant RcfoiTnation of the 1530s and 1540s. Tbe direct family line of de Bobun, one of the greatest in England, died out by the end of the I4th centuiy. One of the last was Mary de Bohun; she gave biith to a son who grew to acquire notoriety of his own later in the Hundred Years' War: King Henry V. F.G.D.

mounted irregulars, probably local levies. At tbe appointed time, tbey advanced straight down the bill into the depression and on to the rise. Tbe English archers had been rubbing tbeir bows to warm the wood and placing their aixows ai^ound them for convenient retrieval, but now they stood in silence, under orders to wait before loosing their limited supply. As the Breton column came within effective range, orders were barked, arcbers fitted their shafts and pulled their bowlines taut until the command was given to loose their volleys. A witness described the gray-white goose fletchings of the aiTows as deluging the Bretons like "a blizzard." Almost knocked backward by an arrow barrage of a magnitude never seen before on tbe Continent, tbe column broke. Those who could fled back down tbe hill in complete disan-ay. That unexpected setback put Blois' entire plan out of stride, and he held a hunied conference with bis lords. At length they decided on a second assault with the next battle, using their mounted men-atarms. That was exactly what Northampton had counted on, for as that bedizened pageant thundered across and up the slope beyond the point where the

Joan de Montfort helped defend Hennebont against Blois' FrancoBreton army-often donning armor and sallying out to lead raids against the besiegers-until a small English relief force arrived in May 1342.

first column had faltered, to almost within striking distance of the impertinent Engiish, the French knights suddenly piunged headlong into the hidden trench that had hitherto escaped their notice. Thousands of horsemen created a momentum that was not easiiy restrained, and as the chaos of skidding, twisting horses and men progressed, the Engiish archers pummeled them with successive volieys lhat added to the confusion. Some 200 Frenchmen somehow scrambled clear ofthe trap and smashed into the Engiish positions, Northampton had considered the possibility of a breach, however, and brought up iocal reserves to cut off and suiround the heroic band, hacking down or capturing them all, the prisoners including their valiant leader, Geoffrey de Chargny, sire de Mathas. AFTER THAT SECOND STUNNING disaster, there was a lengthy pause. While the Engiish gasped (or breath, Northampton anxiousiy surveyed the Franco-Brefon formations for any signs of retreat, but saw none. His men had vanquished two forces larger than their own, but there was still a third fresh battle of even greater size drawn up on the opposite

ridge. English archers counted their remaining arrows—especially the heavy-tipped, maximumimpact shafts that were now in short supply—and began to gauge the odds. Before they could even consider scavenging the ground before them to retrieve some of their previously shot arrows, the third column was on the move, its ends stretching beyond the fianks of the Engiish line and thi^eatening to catch it in a deadly vise. Apprehension rippled through the English ranks as news reached them that more reinforcements were coming to join Blois, while they couid expect no further help and should expect no quarter. Moreover, the ditch was so filied with twisted cadavers that it no longer presented an obstacle. Seeing he could not hold the line where he stood, Northampton executed a maneuver rarely ever used in 14th-century Europe, a move he had kept in mind while choosing his position, in case worst came to worst: He ordered his men to withdraw into the woods less than iOO yards behind them and form up in a new defensive line along the edge of the trees, facing in all directions. That wouid compel Blois' men, even if they broke the line, to have to fight their way through the woodland and the English baggage DECEIV1BER2005 MILITARY HISTORY 47

the tide of battle was turning.

English men-atarms demonstrate the use of short bows, longbows and crossbows during the Scottisfi wars in 1312, The English used their archery-and all tfie tricks they fiad learned fighting tfie Scots-against the vastly larger Franco-Breton force that cornered them at Morlaix.

train in order to win a victory. Northampton's men, far from i^eaten, executed the withdrawal in weil-discipiined order, even faking their prisoner's with them, while the Franco-Breton battie stretched around the wood, almost completely surrounding them. With his forces mostly hidden, the eari knew that the numerous tree trunks would break up any cavalry assault, and the hidden spaces between would be filled with his spearmen, ready to impale the unbalanced enemy riders and footmen as they threaded through the forests. As the Engiish waited for the onslaught to come, the bowmen were again ordered to hoid their few precious remaining arrows until the wave of French was almost upon them, to achieve the maximum possibie shock. Standing severai yards farther inside the dense undergrowth, hundreds of vvear\' archers strained at the 100 pounds or more of puli that their bows required untii their leaders gave the order. Then their shafts smartly flew the short distance into their oncoming assailants. Speamien struck as they could. Others lying in wait with daggers on iow branches feil upon targets of opportunity, wrenching off helmets and slitting throats. The overall resuit was that Biois' forces were unable to penetrate the woods at any point. Noting that many of the French—inciuding their battle-hardened Genoese mercenary crossbowmen—fled the field, Northampton sensed that

MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

NIGHT BEGAN TO ENCROACH, and Blois. perpie.xed at every tum, decided to leave Moriaix to its own devices. In an attempt to disguise his intentions from Northampton, he ordered his men to quit the field gradually and retire to Lanmeur. Northampton was also perpiexed that evening. His food had mn out; his men were weary, famished and thii-sty; some had wounds to tend; his bowmen had used up all their arrows. He had quickly noted the Franco-Breton movements, however, verifying that his immediate goai had been fuifiiied, and it would now be possible to resume the siege of Morlaix—if he could get back there. Consequently, with the enemy still encirciing them and wondering what to do next, Northampton gathered his men in, disengaging them from the hand-to-hand combat still going on; the French, too, paused for breath. Still holding onto their prisonei^. the English quietly anayed themselves in a phaianx with spears in the forefront crossed ahead of them to defend each other's shieid arms, while swords and iances also protruded outward from ali directions—the archers ha\'ing exchanged their Irows for swords, mauls and daggers. Northampton gave his orders, and the English steadily marched out of the wood, a few feet at a time, stopping and restarting to keep tight fomiation. The sight of this combination of discipiine and feix)city on the pail of the Engiish, after such a iong and bioody struggle, weighed heaviiy enough on their enemies to seal the day's outcome. The Engiish hacked, cut and thrust their way fonvard. Finaiiy the French disengaged and headed back the way they had come, and the English returned to Moriaix. They were in no condition to continue the siege, however, and Northampton moved on to safer territory. So ended the first pitched iand battie of the Hundred Years' War. Although it had not reaiiy been a significant victorr in the strategic sense, it was nevertheiess the first English victorv' on Continental soii since the days of Richai'd 1, "Coeurde Lion!' weli over a century before. For more than 600 years nobody in Britain paid serious attention to recording the events of the battie, by which time much originai evidence had iong been irretrievabiy lost. In its day, however, Moriaix astounded the military minds of Western Europe and served as the blueprint for the better-publicized batties of the war's iater years, such as Crecy—where Northampton commanded the left wing of King Edward Ill's army—Poitiers and Agincourt. It heralded esteem for the English militaiy on the world stage and iaid the foundation for the legend of the formidable English bowmen. MH Frank G. Dorber ivtiies from Criccieth, Wales. For fur-

ther reading, try Arms, Armies and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War, edited by Anne Curry and Michael Hughes.

INTERVIEW

From PEARL HARBOR to

Iron Bottom Bay

50 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

After his ship was sunk at Pearl Harbor, John Thomas endured more air attacks aboard a troop transport during 12 amphibious invasions in the Pacific BYEDMCCAUL

W

hiie the battleship Arizona was destroyed outright during the December 7, 1941, Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, a second battleship, Oklahoma, was toipedoed and sunk at Peari, but was salvaged in 1943. lt was never returned to active dufy, however. There is still a debate as to whether five or seven torpedoes hit Oklahoma during fhe attack; whatever the number, they were enough to tear open the huii so suddeniy that there was not enough time to counterflood. Consequentiy, the ship capsized, trapping a number of men inside—not all of whom were rescued. In an interview with Ed McCaul, crewman John Thomas described how he bareiy escaped the sinking Oklahoma that fateful day, and what happened afterward. Military History: When did you enter the Navy? Thomas: On December 13, i939. MH: Wei'e you in any student officer program before you enlisted? Thomas: Whiie I was in high school, I was in a military program known as the Citizens Military Training Camp. It was held at Fort Benjamin Harrison, just outside Indianapolis. Each summer I would go and participate in the training, which lasted about six weeks. After you completed the fourth year you were given a commission in the Army Reserve. I had completed three years of the training, finished high schooi and was working on the famiiy farm when 1 joined the Na\'>. Some of my buddies had joined the Navv; and when they came home on ieave, back to our little town of Cadiz. Ky., they ended up with aii the girls hanging on to them. That caught my attention, and I eniisted in the Navy for a six-year enlistment. It was lucky for me that I did not finish the commissioning course, because most of the [Army] group I was with were sent to the Philippines and were in the Bataan Death March. MH: Where did you go to boot camp? Thomas: Norfolk, Va. I was there about three months. After that I was transfeired fo fhe West Coast. I had never been to the West Coast, so I was really Interested in that train ride. When we got to Caiifomia, 1 stood between two raiiroad cars just looking at the orange groves as the train passed through the trees. After about two days in San Diego. 1 went aboard Oklahoma. Shortly after I joined it, we went fo Hawaii for maneuvers, which were

The U.S. Navy troop transport President Jackson (AP-37) prepares to conduct a training exercise on May 4, 1942 (National Archives). Left: Among President Jackson's orew was Boatswain's Mate 3rd Class John Thomas, already a veteran of the Japanese raid on Peari Harbor [Courtesy of John Thomas). DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 51

* • . ,

President Jackson fuels up from an oiler, probably at Noumea, New Caledonia, on August 4.1942. in preparation for the landing on Guadalcanal. This photograph, taken from the aircraft carrier Wasp, shows an obsolescent flush-deck destroyer in the foreground.

a yearly occurrence every spring. It was during this time that the fleet was transferred from Long Beach to Pearl Harbor. MH: What types of jobs did you do aboard Oklahoma? Thomas: I would estimate that about 95 percent of the new men were assigned to the deck crew. After you had been on board the ship for a while and had learned your way around, you couid request a transfer to other divisions, but I never did. About a month or two before the attack, I was promoted to boatswain's mate third class. In those days boatswain's mates were king of the walk. MH: What sorts of duties did a boatswains mate have? Thomas: We had about 100 men in the first division, one of six deck divisions. There were about 10 or 12 petty officers in the division. As petty officers we were responsibie for the daily activities ofthe men. MH: How did you enjoy Hawaii? Thomas: It was nice, but you have to remember that in those days there were only a few hotels. Plus, there was very little overnight liberty unless you were married, or an officer of a certain rank. We had to be back on board by 11 at night. Our ship 52 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

was our home, and everything revolved around it. MH: How was the food? Thomas: I always ate good while I was in the Navy. Life was pretty good, but it was confining. My time in the Navy is the pride of my life. MH: How often would you be at sea? Thomas: Before the war we couid be in port for about five to seven days, then be at sea for about two weeks. MH: Where was your battle station? Thomas: 1 was assigned to No. 1 turret. My job there was to ram the projectile into the 14-inch gun. The projectiles were about 6 feet in length. We had hydraulic lifts to raise the projectile, but it had to be aligned by hand before it was rammed into the gun by a hydrauiic rammer. Once I had completed my job, I would hit the next man on his back, and he would insert his powder bag. MH: How big was the crew for your gun? Thomas: There were three guns in our turret. In the turret we had one man who was a point and another who was the trainer. Each gun had a rammer and two men who inserted the powder

bags behind the projectile. There were also a lot of men below who sent up the projectiles and powder bags. MH: Did you wear any hearing protection? Thomas: No, we did not, and 1 never wore any throughout the war. MH: Did you ever get to fire the gun? Thomas: Yes, we did do some practice firing about once every six months but were always training on ioading the guns. The big guns did not make a loud crack like a smaller gun. The

over and said. "Saiior. what are you doing?" I said, "Sir. I went to the post office to pick up the mail and on the way back I noticed that I had a letter from my mother, and 1 was reading it." He said, "Don't you know that these are still working hours?" I replied, "Yes, sir, I do know it." The captain turned to the chief and said: "I tliink 10 days in the brig w ill make him realize what is meant by working hours. Throw him in the brig!" The chief replied that he would take care of it as soon as they finished the inspection. I knew it would be 10 days on bread and water with no showers. So I figured that while they were finishing their inspection I wouid fake a shower, so that I wouid at ieast be clean when 1 went in the brig. MH: Could you have lost some of your rating as part of the punishment? [Note: Sailoi"s held rates, while officers heid rank.] Thomas: The captain did not mention it. but he could have. Now, Vk'hiie I was taking my shower the chief came back iooking for me, and by this time it was about 4:30 or 4:45. He said that since it was iate, I was to report to him Sunday morning at 8 on the quarterdeck and be prepared to go to fhe brig.

MH: How often would the captain throw people in the brig? Thomas: There were usually one or two peopie in the brig ail the time, which isn't many when you realize that there were close to 1,300 people on board the ship. On Sunday morning, a few minutes before 8,1 stepped out on the Battleship Oklahoma lies capsized alongside the torpedoed and heavily damaged Mary/and al quarterdeck and saw the officer of Pearl Harbor after the Japanese strike on December 7.1941. the deck running to the intereom. This was very unusual, because sound was more like a deep rumble. normaiiy the boatswain's mate of the watch would pass any MH: After the gun was Bred, how long wotJd it take to reload it? word over the intercom. When he got to it he told everyone to man their battle stations, as the Japs were attacking with real Thomas: I wouid say about 30 to 45 seconds. torpedoes and bombs—and that this was no B.S. MH: Where were you before the Japanese attacked? Thomas: We came in SatuMay morning. December 6, at about MH: Had you heard any explosions? 10. It was pretty much routine that twice a year we wouid have Thomas: No. but about 15 or so seconds later we took our first a surprise admiral's inspection. We were toid, after we were in, torpedo. As soon as he made the announcement, I headed for to prepare the ship for the inspection, which was scheduled for No. 1 tuiret. I went below deck as I figured it wouid be faster, Monday morning. It was obviousiy not much of a suiprise. We since four decks beiow there w as a big passageway that ran the were told that there would not be any liberty until 4:30 in the length of the ship. afternoon. About 4:10 the word was passed for a division petty MH: Were there life jackets and steel helmets kept at your battle officer to report to the post office. I went down and picked up station? the mail, which was a stack of ietters about 8 to i 0 inches high. Thomas: I never saw a life jacket on Oklahoma. I believe we We had a iot of mail, as we had been at sea, and the mail had had some that were kept near the quarterdeck. We did not have piled up on the beach. On the way back to the compartment, I any heimets. though. was fanning through the mail and found a letter fi'om my MH: What was it like when the torpedo struck? mother. As 1 stepped into our compartment. I started reading Thomas: It depends on how close you are to where the torpedo the letter. Aii of a sudden someone hollered. "Attention on deck!" hits, but it basically feels like a bump, the type of bump you feel I looked around and saw the chief master at arms escorting the going over a speed bump in your car. .ship's captain. The captain saw me reading the letter, walked MH: How long did it take for you to get to your battle station? DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 53

battleship Maryland, but when we capsized and roiied away from Maryland. the lines broke. So 1 decided to swim over to Maryland, as it was probabiy 100 to 150 feet away. I would swim as far as I could underwater, then as I would surface 1 wouid tiy and push the oil away with my hands. Oniy bad thing was that as I would gasp for air, I wouid suck in some of the oii fumes and smoke. By the time 1 got to Maryland I could hardly breathe. Luckily, they threw a rope down to me and pulled me up after I had tied it around me. If they had not done that. I probably would not have made it, as I was close to exhaustion. The only bums I got from all of that was fhat my hair got slightiy singed. When I got on board and caught nriy breath, I helped man the guns. MH: What happened after the attack vv as over? Thomas: Someone said that they Mitsubishi G4IVI1 bombers make a low-altitude torpedo attack on the Allied invasion were iooking for working parties to go forces off Guadalcanal and Tulagi on August 8,1942. to the other side of the isiand. 1 volunteered and wound up at an ammunition dump. A iot of the ships had Thomas: It did not take me very iong to get to the turret, prob- target ammunition on board, which was not as explosive as the abiy less than a minute, but 1 never actually reached my battle regular ammunition. So our job was to load up the high-explostation. I entered the tun'et from the bottom. This is where all sive ammunition to send to the ships and take back the target of the ammunition is stored. By this time we were taking on ammunition. water, and we tried to close fhe wafertight doors, but the tor- MH: How long did you do that? pedoes had ruptured the dooiirames, and the doors wouid not Thomas: A coupie of days. In the middle of the night they took seai. About that time the lights went out. There were some bat- 24 of us to the aircraft carrier Enterprise. So many of us had lost tery-operated battie lanterns that were located throughout the our ships that they were taking groups of us and assigning us ship. They hung on a bracket and could be canied with you. but to various ships. Ente)j)rise did not have room for us, and we in that type of emei^ency you never have enough of them. I did ended up sieeping on the deck, but at least we had a place to not get hold of one, but another guy did, and I couid see enough sieep and eat. to see where I was going. The ship was starting to iist to port, MH: How iong were you aboard Enterprise? and water was coming into the turret. So I started ciimbing the Thomas: I was on Enterprise for about two months, but we ladders. The bad part was that when the ship started listing the were never assigned to the ship's company. Whiie I was on it projectiles started breaking ioose. Each of the i 4-inch projec- they had us doing all sorts of jobs. We just helped wherever we tiles was iashed with iine, which is a small rope, to the wall all were needed. They kept us busy. around the turret. Many of the men in the ammunition han- MH: Did you see any action with Enterprise? diing room were crushed. You could hear them scream as the Thomas: Yes, I did. Enterprise was part of the raid on the Marprojectiles landed on them. shaii Islands in Febmary 1942. Right after we had landed the MH: How many men made it out of the turret? planes that were returning from the raid and were refueling Thomas: I don't know, but the ship lost 436 men. Mostofthem them, we were attacked by some Japanese planes. Naturally, were trapped inside when the ship capsized. The turret had an theyflewover the destroyers and cruisers and concentrated on escape hatch on the bottom of the overhang on the back. As I us. One crashed into the ship, and I remember looking back, was going out of the escape hatch, water was beginning to come seeing the ship on fire and thinking: "Man. here I am severai in it. Another few seconds and I wouid not have made it. I don't thousand miles from home and my ship is on fire. 1 don't think know if I was the iast man out, but I am sure I was one of the last. I really want to be on aircraft carriers!" When we got back to MH: What happened after you cleared the turret? Pearl, there was a notice about a luxury liner from the AmeriThomas: I started walking on the bulkheads, trying to stay can President Lines that had only made one trip and was being above the water I finally ended up on the bottom of fhe ship. converted to a troop transport. I thought that would be pretty When I got to the bottom of the ship, we started being strafed good duty, and that I should be able to go back to the States by the planes. There was fuei oil ali over the water, and it was every so often, so I put in for it. Now, all they said was that it on fire with flames about 2 feet high. We had been tied up to the was going to be a troop transport and that it wouid take a year 54 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

President Jaokson and sister ship President Adams [foreground] fight off yet another Japanese air attack off Guadalcanal on November 12. The smoke in the background marks where a stricken G4M1 crashed into the heavy cruiser San Francisco.

to convert it in Portland. Actually, it was an invasion transport. I was awarded my transfer and caught a ship to San Francisco. The morning after I got to San Francisco, they told me to get my bags ready, as I was going to San Diego, I told them that they were wrong, as I was supposed to join my ship in Portland, They told me that they had some news for me, as the ship, USS President Jackson, was now in San Diego. MH: When was that? Thomas: March 1942. Pre5/(;/e(if/ac/c^o^? had about 40 landing craft on board. Each landing craft carried about 40 men with their equipment. My job was to put the boats overboard and load the equipment onto them. It took a lot of training to do that successfully, as the boats would be going up and down [just like] the ship, but never in unison. We trained off the coast north of San Diego for a couple of months. One day in June, we were Lmloading some Marines when they stopped everything and told us to load everything back on board. On the last day of June we headed out to sea. No one told us where we were going. One day we would be going north, and then on the next we would

be heading south or west. We had snowshoes on board, and naturally we thought that we were going to the Aleutians. MH: Were you in a convoy or alone? Thomas: We were in a convoy, and every day another ship or two would join us. Before we knew it. we were across the equator with snowshoes on board. Then, on August 7,1942. we made the landing at Guadalcanal, with the troops on our ship landing on Tulagi. We were still there when the Battle of Savo Island occurred. We were awake and working as we were still unloading supplies and got to see the battle. We were not involved in it, though, since we were not a fighting ship and only lightly armed with one 5-inch gun, four or six 3-inch guns and quite a few machine guns. We could see the explosions, and everv time we saw one we would cheer and shout that we had gotten another one. We had no idea how badly the battle was going for us until the next day. when we received some of the casualties fiom the sunken ships. When we left, we had to leave some of our boats and boat crews behind. Never saw them again. This became a regular procedure for us to leave some boat crews at DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 55

MH: Where were you when the war ended? Thomas: I was back in the States, We had come back for another overhaul, and I was transferred off to a receiving station in San Pedro. MH: You have mentioned that they put you on half pay after the attack at Pearl. How did that happen? Thomas: When I went aboard Enterprise, there were no records on us. They had no idea what any of our rates were. MH: Were you wearing your uniform with your rate on Ji? Thomas: No, I was not. When I left Oklahoma, I had a T-shirt, a pair of shorts and a pair of socks, r had a pair of shoes on but had kicked them off when 1 was tr\ing to walk the bulkheads. The bulkheads were so oily that the shoes were making me slide. MH: That was what you were Abargefullof soldiers, debarked from F^esidentJackson (by then redesignated APA-18], comes supposed to wear to the brig? Thomas: Yes, but shorts and Taground at Hamberi on Kolombangara to patrol the area for Japanese on December 6,1943, shirts were the standard uniform of the day when we were in Pearl, the beach to help transport people and equipment around. They due to the weather. They had no way of knowing who or what would always take all of their gear with them and would get we were because all of our records had been on Oklahoma. They taken care of by the units they were supporting. called us down, asked each of us what our rate was, and then MH: In what other invasions was President Jackson involved? had us swear to it. Enterprise's executive officer then told us that Thomas: We were involved in a total of 12 invasions. We stayed he was putting us on half pay. It was 18 months before I started in the area of operations while regular transports would bring receiving my full pay and got my back pay. The big ships were the troops from the States to a forward base, where we would sticklers for regulations. The regulations did not cover what to pick them up. When we were involved with an invasion, we do in this sort of situation, so they did not issue us anything. would be loaded with a couple of thousand troops that we MH: Did you have shoes by the time you got on board Enterprise? would take in to the beach. We would stick around after the Thomas: Yes, but I do not remember where I got them, I had troops had been unloaded to help evacuate and take care of the taken a gun butt and broken open a Marine's locker on board wounded. While we were not a hospital ship, we would treat Maryland to get a pair of pants and a shirt. I wore those clothes them as best we could. We were over there for 27 straight until I was given some discarded clothing aboard Enterprise. On months on our first tour. We needed an overhaul after that President Jackson, even though I was on half pay, I was able to length of time and went back to the States for 58 days, buy a shirt, pair of pants and some socks evei^- so often. When MH: Did you ever come under any air attacks? they put me back on full pay in June 1943, they issued me a Thomas: Many times! At Guadalcanal a Japanese plane came complete outfit, everything I was supposed to have. in, and he was about 200 feet from us when he dropped his tor- MH: Did you ever have to serve those 10 days in the bdg? pedo. Luckily for us it dropped straight down and went to the Thomas: No. never did. Never saw that captain. Captain bottom. 1 have seen the expressions on the faces of the Japa- Howard D. Bode, again. I did not respect him at all. He never nese pilots and gunners when they would fly by us. They would even held a muster after the attack to find out who was missing. fly low to the water among the ships. They did that so that we MH: What sorts of jobs did you do on President Jackson? only had a limited opportunity to shoot at them without hitting Thomas: Eventually. I became the chief petty officer in charge another ship. When they would fly past us, the gunners would of the 1st Division, I had about eight or 10 boatswains mates shoot at us, I could see them laughing while they were shoot- under me. We were responsible for the four launching units foring. We were hit by a bomb at Bougainville once, but it was a ward of the bridge. The 2nd Division had responsibility for the dud. It hit a king post, which is a big steel post that is part of a four aft launching units. The ship carried a little over 40 boats crane, and went through a deck or two. Five guys picked it up, of vaiious sizes. The boats had to be stacked inside each other. walked it back up and threw it overboard. There were very few On Oklahoma I learned discipline, but on President Jackson I landings that we were not under fire of some kind. Continued on page 79 56 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

UNFLINCHING COURAGE

Royal

Performing their most common-but far from only-mission in Korea, Royal Marines of 41 Commando place demolition charges along a North Korean rail line south of Songjin on April 10,1951 (Time Life Pictures/Getty Images]. 58 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

rines in Korea

«

popular tale of the War of 1812 describes an incident during the British burning of Washington in August 1814, in which Royal Marines, coming upon the U.S. Marine headquarters, spared the edifice out of protessional courtesy. In 1900 U.S. and Royal Marines fought side by side for the first time, against hordes of Chinese rebels and imperial troops during the Boxer Rebellion. Fifty years later, the two Attached to the corps found themselves fighting side by side X Corps, 41 Independent once again, as the U.S. _ , ,

1st Marine Division and

BY MARK SIMMONS

Commando s green-

attached Royal Marines bereted troops fought of 41 Independent Commando faced massive with distinction alongside numbers of Chinese intheir U.S. Marine tervening in the Korean War. Another 55 years colleagues at Chosin. on, American veterans of "Frozen Chosin" still harbor fond memories and even awe for the British comrades-in-arms who struggled alongside them to break out of the Chinese trap that closed around them in the wintr\' hills of northern Korea. The Royal Marine contingent was first conceived in August 1950, when Vice Adm. Charles Turner Joy, commanding United Nations naval forces in Korea, suggested that the British Far East Fleet might proxdde a small force to conduct raids against North Korean coastal communications. In response, on August 16, the British formed a special Royal Marine commando unit at Commando School Bickleigh near Plymouth. Designated 41 Independent Commando, it was under the command of Lt. Col. Douglas B. Drysdale. Whatever it was on paper, in practice the unit consisted of three far-flung components at the time. The first was a small force of volunteers from various services, traveling in civilian dress to Japan via Rangoon, Burma, by British Overseas Airways Corporation airliners. Another was a rifle section of "Fleet Volunteers" made up of sailors and marines from the British Pacific Fleet. The third was 3 Commando Brigade aboard the troop ship Devonshire, originally bound for Malaya when it was put ashore in the Philippines and flown from there to Japan. "One morning we paraded on deck, a list of names was read out and we were told. 'You are on your way to Korea,'" said former Royal Marine and Korean War veteran Fred Hayhurst, who recalled his first reaction was, "Where is Korea?" The three forces were assembled at Camp McGill, near Takehama, Japan, where DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORV 59

Lieutenant Colonel Douglas B. Drysdale (rightj and some of his noncommissioned officers study a map of Korea at Bickleigh, England, in August 1950.

they were supplied, armed and equipped by the U.S. Army. Starting with 200 men, at full strength 41 Commando consisted of 300 officers and men, about half the strength of a normal commando unit at that time. The only portion of the British uniform they clung to was the green beret and the yellow unit lanyard worn on the right shouider. Whiie most of 41 Commandos troops underwent intensive

training to familiarize themselves with American weapons and equipment, Poundforce, a tiny unit of 14 naval and marine volunteers under the command of Lieutenant E.G.D. Pounds, disembarked from the British frigate Whitesand Bay and came ashore on the west coast of Korea to join a U.S. Army raiding company in a diversionary raid on the night of September 1213, i950. With tiie North Korean Peopie's Army (NKPA) thus distracted, Poundforce then joined the 1st Marine Division for General Douglas MacArthur's landing at Inchon on the 15th, penetrating as far inland as Kimpo Air Base outside Seoul. On the night of October 2,41 Commando took up its duties in force when Lt. Col. Drysdaie led 67 membei^ of A and B patrols— soon to be reorganized into B Troop—in rubljer boats launched from the U.S. submarine Perch to strike at North Korea's East Coast Railway. The marines laid antitank mines under the rails, but suffered their first fataiity in the course ofthe raid. On October 5 and 6,125 members of C and D troops under Drysdales

Members of C Company, 7th Marines, look over Chinese prisoners they took south of Koto-ri. The Chinese troops were even less well equipped for the Korean winter than the Americans. Chinese footgear resembled tennis sneakers. 60 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

second-in-command. Major Dennis C. Aldridgc, carried out two more raids on thc East Coast Railway. Landed by the U.S. assault personnel destroyers Bass and Wantiick, on bolh occasions they laid two tons of explosive charges under culverts, bridges and tunnels. During the second raid, the British killed a North Korean railway guard, but a Royal Marine corporal was killed as they left the beach, On November 15, 41 Commando—its strength now up to 235 men—arrived at Hungnam. The men were issued American winter clothing but still retained their giTen berets. Again attached lo the U.S. 1st Marine Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Oliver P. Smith, 41 Commando's task was to sen/e as a reconnaissance company along the division's left flank. Combined with thc U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division under Lt, Gen. Edward M. Almond's X Coi-ps, the 1st Division marched into eastern Korea, reaching The frozen corpses of U.S, Marines, British Royal Marines, Regular U.S, Aniiy Hungnam on November 27. From there, and troops of the Republic of Korea are gathered for mass burial at Koto-ri in two of the division's regiments, the 5th December 1950. and 7th Marines, advanced westward from the Chosin Reservoir. At that point the People's Republic of China had made no departed in U.S. Marine transports for the 60-mile drive north secret of its unwillingness to tolerate the complete takeover of to the 7th Marines' location at Yudam-ni. Progress through the North Korea and the presence of Western forces on its border, mountainous and inhospitable terrain was slow at best, witJi and the U.N. Eighth Araiy had been clashing with Chinese "vol- Colonel Diysdale traveling ahead in a jeep. At a point north of unteere" since October 25. MacArthur had dismissed the threat, Koto-ri he came upon another convoy heading north that had but Genei-al Smith had his misgivings about extending his di- been stopped by road blockage and was under enem\' fire. vision into the mountains on a winter campaign. He at least His force was hardly alone in its difficulties. After a two-day took the precaution of concentrating his forces along the single- delay. General Song's forces made their first contact that day track road that was soon to play a critical role as his main with the 5th Marines, and soon aftei"ward they were attacking supply route (MSR). Meanwhile, some 80,000 Chinese—eight the U.S. Marines at points all along the MSR, from Yudam-ni di\'isions of the Ninth Army Group under the overall command to the forward base at Hagaru-ri at the southern tip of the reserof Song Shilun—were massing along a 25-mile front to confront voirs, and cutting off the supply route from Hungnam. On the the X Coips. Unlike the Soviet-trained North Koreans, the Chi- western side of North Korea more Chinese, undei^ the command nese were schooled in gueirilla and light-infantry tactics that of Peng Dehuai, were overwhelming the Eighth Army, driving they had employed to harass Japanese occupation forces it into precipitous retreat, while the Chinese 42nd Army strtick throughout World War II, and which had defeated Chiang Kai- at the ROK II Coips to the east. shek's Kuomintang in 1949. Each peasant soldier carried a subColonel Drysdale returned to Koto-ri, where the 1st Marine machine gun or rifle made in the Soviet Division headquartere was set up, and reUnion or captured from the Japanese or ported to Colonel Lewis B. "Chesty" Kuomintang, as well as 80 rounds and Puller, commander of the 1st Marine four days' rations. For those four days, he Colonel 'Chesty' Puller Regimental Combat Team (RCT). The was expected to fight wilh or without furtwo officers devised a plan to clear the and Lt Col. Douglas ther logistical support. On November 25, enemy away and open the road from the Chinese launched their fii^st massed Koto-ri to Hagaru-ri, where the HagaruDrysdale devised a plan assaults on elements of the Eighth Arniy ri garrison, which was building an in the west and the Republic of Korea to clear the enemy, open airstrip, would be strengthened. The (ROK) Army's II Corps in the east. They force to be used consisted of G Company, the road from Koto-ri to accomplished little, but it was only a pre1st Marines; B Company of the 7th Inlude to what was to come. fantn' Divisions 31st Regiment; and 41 Hagam-ri and strengthen Commando. All told, the ad hoc unit, After sharing a Thanksgiving dinner the latter's garrison. known as Task Force Drysdale, numwith their American allies at Hungnam, bered 922 men and 141 vehicles. on November 27 the men of 41 Commando DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 61

to get through the next day, but an urgent request for help from the besieged force at Hagani-ri compelled him to press on. The column had covered another mile when heavT Chinese attacks split the force. As Drysdale led the main force forward. Major Aldridge directed 41 Commando. The Chinese were pouring from the hills and threatening to ovenun paits of the column. Aldridge called up U.S. fighter aircraft, whose low-level attacks mowed down thousands of Chinese and helped beat back their humanwave assaults. In spite of that, even a mile from Hagaru-ri the Chinese were throwing fresh men into the fight. Eventually, at about 1930 that night, the lead element of Task Force Diysdale, includA mixed group of men from the U.S. 1st Marine Division, 41 Commando and the Republic of Korea ing the slightly wounded DrysArmy move out of Koto-ri and march toward the port of Hungnam on December 8, 1950. dale, reached the perimeter at Hagaru-ri. By then, the column had suffered 321 caThe weather was bitterly cold, with nighttime temperatures sualties and 75 of its vehicles had been destroyed. Fewer than dropping to 40 degrees below zero. The men wore nine or 10 100 men of 4] Commando reached Hagaru-ri, and many of layers of clothing, which made their bones ache h'om the those were suffering from frostbite. The weather caused more weight. Many of the Marines and soldiei"s dug slit trenches, not casualties than the enemy. Other Royal Marines were still scatso much for protection but as a means to keep warni. Mean- tered in isolated groups along the road, where they would be while, the working parts of weapons had to be moved periodi- killed or captured during the night, Corpoi-al E. Cruse led more cally to prevent rifles and machine guns from freezing. Still badly frostbitten personnel of the heavy weapons section to standing out among the helmcted Americans were the Royal Hagam-ri, while Captain Patrick J. Ovens managed to lead a Marines, wearing their green berets under their parka hoods. group of 25 men on foot back over ihe mountains to Koto-ri. "It was around 0630 or 0700 when 1 heard some formal com- The last Royal Marine to reach Hagam-ri was the heavy mands barked out," recalled U.S. Marine Pfc Clyde Queen of weapons officer. Lieutenant P.R. Thomas, with the unit's Dodge what he witnessed on the bitter-cold morning of November 29. weapons carrier and a 2^-ton tixick, both filled with wounded "There they were, the Royal Marines all standing tall, at attention men. By November 30, 41 Commando had suffered 61 casualin dress formation. Their uniforms were clean and presentable; ties, including Captain M.C. Parkinson-Cumine, commander of the Royal Marines were clean-shaven. The commanding officer B Troop; Royal Navy Petty Officer J. A. Tate, section commander was inspecting each Marine and their weapons. I rubbed my of the Fleet Volunteers; and Royal Navy Surgeon Lieutenant D.A. Knock, all killed. D Troop's comeyes in disbelief. I knew right then and mander. Captain L.G. Mai^sh, and the sigthere that I would never have the stuff it nals officer. Lieutenant D.L. Goodchild, takes to become a British Royal Marine." were seriously wounded. There they were, the Task Force Drysdale got undeiAvay at 0930 hours, but barely got two miles In Hagaru-ri, 41 Commando became a Royal Marines...at before il encountered stifferring opposition mobile resen'e placed under the command and made slow progress for the rest of the of the 3rd Battalion, 1st U.S. Marines. On attention in dress morning. In the afternoon the unit was the night of November 30, B Troop, now formation/ recalled U.S. reinforced by the arrival of 17 M4A3E8 under Lieutenant G.ED. Roberts, took part SheiTnan tanks of D Company, 1 st Marine in a mission to secure the heights of East Marine Pfc Clyde Tank Battalion. In spite of that added Hill on the left flank of G Company, 5th firepower, hy late afternoon the force had Marines. This proved critical to perimeQueen. 'I rubbed my covered only four miles, and another icy ter defense as Hagaru-ri came under a night in the open lay ahead. DiTsdale was eyes in disbelief' series of assaults by the Chinese 58th and tempted to withdraw to Koto-ri and try 59th divisions, which together sustained •

62 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

%

•

Members of the 7th Marines survey the bridge at Funchilin Pass, blown by the Chinese, Using Treadway bridge sections and a cache of timber, the Marines-with added labor provided by Chinese POWs-managed to repair the crossing.

5,000 casualties and were both knocked out of the campaign. fflarines, were evacuated by air. United States troops posted to the east of Chosin were less It was now time to break out from Hagaru-ri, The 7th Marines fortunate. Attacked on November 27 by the Chinese 80th Divi- were placed at the head of the column, while 41 Commando, sion and a regiment of the 81 st Division—which committed two now attached to Lt. Col. R.L. Murray's 5th Marines, covered the more of its regiments to the effort on the 29th—three battalions rear with that regiment. After undergoing another strict unit inof the 7th Infantry Division's 31st RCT suffered 75 percent ca- spection by Colonel Drysdale. the clean-shaven Royal Marines sualties in five days. The 385 survivoi"s who reached Hagaiu-ri of 41 Commando left Hagaru-ri at 0900 hours on December 7, were placed under the 1st Marine Divisions control and re- retracing the joume\ they had made a few days before. Along the grouped into a provisional battalion. way the Royal Marines recovered the dead of Task Force DrysMeanwhile, General Smith was authorized to destroy all his dale and buried them with other U.N, dead in a common grave. equipment and withdraw to the port of Hungnam. Smith reThe column consisted of 10,000 men and ! ,000 vehicles. Everyfused to leave the hardware behind and, eschewing the term one walked except the drivers and the most seriously wounded, "retreat," called the operation an "advance to the south." It in order to keep the enemy from getting close to the vehicles with began when the 5th and 7th Marine RCTs and the 11th Regi- grenades and to prevent the men from freezing to death in the ment's artillery left Yudam-ni and fought their way the 14 miles back of the trucks. Many of the wounded walked for the same reato Hagaru-ri. By December 4, all sunivors of those units were sons. Unceasingly attacked by seven Chinese di\isions, it took the accounted for at Hagaru-ri. The next day, 41 Commando made U.N. troops 38 hours tofighttheir way the 10 miles to Koto-ri, and an abortive attempt to recover nine 155mni howitzers whose they would probably have been overwhelmed without the close tractors had run out of fuel, but had to settle for destroying air support they received from U.S. Navy and Marine Corps pilots. them—the largest single loss of artillery during the Yudam-ni When the column reached Koto-ri on December 8. Captain breakout. Over several days, 537 reinforcements were airlifted Ovens and his men rejoined 41 Commando to bring its strength to Hagai"u-ri airstrip and 4,312 wounded, including 25 Royal up to 150. On the same day the remnants of X Corps began the DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 63

evacuated from the Hungnam bridgehead to Pusan. The Chinese, whose pooriy ciothed peasant soldiers suffered no iess from that horrendous winter, felt equaiiy justified in claiming their first victory against Western forces, but it had come at a galling price. The Chosin campaign cost U.N. forces 2,500 troops kilied in action, 192 missing, 5,000 wounded and 7,500 injuries from the cold. The Chinese Ninth Army Groups losses—25,000 men killed, 12,500 wounded and 30,000 disabled from frostbite—put it out of the war for three months to reconstitute its units. By Ciiristmas, 4i Commando was at Masan in South Korea. Its ranks thinned by 93 casuaities during the Chosin campaign, 41 Commando was withdrawn to Japan in January 1951. The 1 st Marine Di\dsion and aii its attached units were awarded the Presidentiai Unit Citation for Chosin—and in 1957 that honor was extended to 41 Independent Commando, although it required political intervention within the United States for the Their trademark green berets mostly concealed under U.S. honor to be awarded to a foreign unit. Marine-issue parkas, members of Al Commando serving on the rear guard at Koto-ri display high spirits. By April i951, 41 Commando was operational again and returned to its roie of coastal raiding, landing 150 miies i>ehind enemy iines at Sorye Dong on Aprii 7. This time 277 officers and 23-miie trek from Koto-ri to Hungnam. Again the 5th Marines men spent nearly eight hours ashore and biasted a gap 100 feet and 41 Commando formed the rear guard. That afternoon the iong and 16 feet deep in the embankment that canied the Royal Marines moved out in a snowstorm to take up positions coastal railway, using shaped charges to make 16 boreholes and on the high ground overiooking the MSR, guarding it from Chi- packing each with 80 pounds of TNT. The commando unit later nese infiltration through the night. The next morning they re- established a fonvard base on the island of Yo Do in Wonsan iieved the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, guarding the Koto-ri Harbor, 60 miles behind enemy iines, from which further raids perimeter, so that unit couid evacuate. were conducted. When a North Korean raid overu'heimed a Meanwhile, the U.S. Marines were working one more mira- ROK marine ganison on Hwangto Do, a detachment fiom D cie. On the morning of December 7, they had discovered that Troop under Lieutenant J.R.H. Walter reoccupied the island, the concrete bridge at Fimchilin Pass, lying between Koto-ri and adding 81mm mortars and 75mm recoilless rifles to bombard Hungnam—which had already been blown up and repaired on the mainland in December. December i and 4—had been blasted again by the Chinese, this Using canoes, B and C troops made six iandings on Hodo time leaving a 29-foot gap over a deep gorge. Help came in the Pando, during one of which a B Troop patrol clashed with North form of eight sections of Treadway bridge dropped ft'om U.S. Air Koreans and lost a iieutenant and a sergeant kiiicd on August Force Fairchiid C-1 i9s, seven sections of which feli within reach. 30. A landing craft also broke down off Modo and was driven The Chinese 60th Division and what remained of the 58th had ashore on Kaimagak, resuiting in the capture of five B Troop moved ahead to cut off the U.N. column, but Company A of the membei'^. Drv'sdaie led a raid on the Songjin area in Septem1st Marine RCT, under Captain Robert Banow, managed to ber, embarking fi'om USS Wantuck in canoes to lay mines on crawiupHiii 108 i, to surpiise and dislodge its 60th Division de- the road. Lieutenant Colonel F.N. Grant relieved Drysdale of fenders. Barrow and his Marines held the icy summit against a command on October 15 and continued the coastal raids determined Chinese counterattack on the night of Decemix-r 8-9, through December, aided by some 800 ROK marines. in spite of biustery coid that reached 25 degrees beiow zero, at On Febman 22, i952, 41 Independent Commando was disa cost of i3 dead and 17 wounded. With that controlling height banded at Bickleigh Banacks, Piymouth. Back in Korea the unit in Marine hands, 1st Lt. Da\id Peppins D Company, ist Engi- had left 3i dead and i7 POWs, who were not returned until neer Battaiion, used a cache of Japanese timber found near the 1953. Seven others died in captivity. bridge—and the iabor of Chinese prisoners—to improvise a The marines of 41 Commando had an effect on their aiiies means of bridging the gap with the Treadway sections. On De- out of all proportion to the unit's size. As one U.S. Marine put cember 9, the vehicles made their way siowiy and carefuiiy over it, "I walked into Hagaru-ri from Yudam-ni where I ieamed that the bridge, and the column, stretching 10 miles in length, began the British had suppiied us with a fighting force. Before that we making its way out of Koto-ri. Meanwhile, U.S. Marines held con- laughed at the words 'U.N. Forces' because we had not seen the trol ofthe surrounding high ground against continual harass- troops of any other nation except the Chinese. I was delighted to ment attempts by the steadily diminishing Chinese 60th Division. meet the British. When they came around you could stop looking Finally, 4i Commando and the 5th Marines ieft on Decem- for a fight, because they would be right in the middle of it." NNHI ber iO. On that day Royai Marine James Pepper was wounded, thus becoming 41 Commando's last battlefield casualty of the Mark Simmons, who writes from Cornwall, England, wishes to Chosin campaign. That night the column reached the defensive express his thanks lo Fred Hayhurst and all members ofthe 41 perimeter of Hungnam. The march was over. At last the weary Independent Commando Association for their lielp with this story. survivors could ride to a tented camp in a sea of churned mud. For further reading, try: The Royal Marines, byJ.L Moulton; and The U.S. Marines took pride in what General Smith called By Sea & By Land: The Story of the Royal Marine Commantheir "advance in another direction," as 22,000 U.N. troops were dos, bv Robin Neillands. 64 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

R EV I E The specialized skills needed for chariot warfare sparked an arms race among ancient kingdoms. By Stephen Mauro

IN HIS COMPREHENSIVE and far-ranging

hook Chariol: From Chariot to Tank, the Astounding Rise and Fall of the World's First War Machine (The Overlook Press, Woodstock. New York, 2005, $29.95), Arihur Cotterell pursues the dispersed origins of the war chariot, the dynamics of its battlefield usage and its eventual eclipse by the mounted cavalryman and improved infantry tactics. Cotterell sets out to dispel the myth that the chariot was used simply as a heavy, horse-drawn tank thrust into enemy ranks. The chariot's importance in ancient warfare was actually derived from its high mobility and raised firing platform,fi"omwhich experienced bowmen could inflict casualties from afar and then quickly retire. Its devastating effect on ancient battlefields led to an arms race among competing kings, centralizing power in the hands of those rulers who could maintain the horses, craftsmen, trainers and warriors necessary to field large numbers of chariots. Cotterell emphasizes this point hy describing the integral role chariots played in four distinct geographic regions; the Middle East, Europe, India and China. By studying the dynamics of the chariot in each of these disparate regions, Cotterell enlightens the reader on the similar cultural attitudes each region applied toward chariot warfare and warriors. The chariot warrior in any army across the ancient world was perceived as a member of an elite class, well skilled in the composite bow and in the rigors of controlling a team of horses. He was beholden only to the king, who could never afford to be without his "chief men." International correspondence between rulers of the time recognized the legitimacy that a horde of charioteers could give to a leader. In India the chariot was so important that the exploits of chariot warriors became the topic for Ranmyana and the Mahabharata, two of that subconti66 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

ARTHUR COTTi^REll

H A RIO T

nent s epic poems. The regions had their differences, and Cotterell describes them in a way that sheds light on varying cultural attitudes toward chariot warfare. In China, for instance, the reasons to commit one's prized chariots to battle were veiy different from those in the ancient Near East. According to ancient Chinese militar\' histories, a battle was only joined when the justice of one's cause was apparent and when it was determined that the foe had lost the loyalty and obedience of his men. A ruler lost a battle because he deserved to do so through his personal faults, and because he did not uphold honor and couriesy on the battlefield. Cotterell describes one Chinese chariot battle in which enemy soldiers stopped to help a chariot warrior out of a ditch instead of killing him while prone. Success could only come through mutual honor and respect between equal members of the chariot warrior class. Such mannered skirmishes had no cor-

relation to the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC, in which the Hittite King Muwatalli sent local townspeople to lie about the location of his army, causing Pharaoh Ramses 11 to confidently advance his chariots without knowing the danger ahead. Muwatalli sprung his trap with 3,500 chariots, encircling and nearly ciTJshing the entire Egyptian vanguard. Forced to make a desperate chariot charge with his chief warriors, Ramses was able to save his army and push the Hittite chariot force into the Orontes River. Chariot units were so imporiant to the makeup of ancient armies that after this battle, Muwatalli was forced to make peace even though he still possessed an army of 47,500 men. This large and bloody encounter was the peak of chariot warfare in the ancient world, and offers a marked counterpoint to the more limited battles waged in China at the time. Despite their once foremost status at the helm of ancient armies, chariots experienced a marked decline in effectiveness from about 1000 BC onward. They were eventually eclipsed by a combination of conscripted common foot infantry and the rise of the cavalry archer, a more versatile unit capable of deploying in any type of weather or terrain. The sweeping scope of Cotterell's survey is both Chariot's greatest strength and biggest weakness. Al times, mythical tales that possess only a tangential relationship to the chariot can distract him. At one point, he dives into the exploits of Ody.sseus in Homer's Odyssey without To see these reviews and hundreds more by leading authorities, go to our new book review section at

www.thehistorynet.com/reviews ThelHistoryNet.com

k9n at WWME m promS ! • •vet 2%oo Atfim br omr Pmll Color 48 pagt Cmtalos ot MilHuwy WWII C^rnwa IHUI§»$, • ( MilHmria Htm mmm

Call, Wfht mw Wax Ht ywar W U C4rai.OC tc^rf

WWMI,lac. ( U O ) T«1-4eO« P'O. B M T4S wtbtitai wiiMii«iacrf*ni B a l m i a , Illiaoit

PANZER IV Ausf H

V

THE ULTIMATE l / 6 t h SCALE AFV Fully mochlned klf eftier ossembty construction firing Mechanism ^or 5/6 channei RC "turret traverse ond ' ! --^-^

Powertui etectrlc drlva Sound and Smoks _ . Rubber Tyres

WWe x'fS" high 68mm'r533mm x 457mm) "he Panzer IV and its voriants were manutactured in greater numbers ttion •jny other WWII Germon AFV, witti over 9000 vehicles rolling ott tfie : production lines. Designed originally in the mid-193C's ttie Ponzer IV W3S • originalfy conceived os o 17 ton intantry support tank and equipped with a ^'!^'i"??,''""''^^' short 75mm cannon tor tiring tiigh explosive stielis. The role ot tank destroyer, at ttie start of ttie war, tell to ttie Rinzer III, with its 50mm armour . Hovifever, as the war progressed there was a need to tackle the tectinical superiority ot the T34 Russim lariks. the Ponzer iV chassis was identitied as the most suitabie tor the necessory ormour ond gun upgrades to alkw Wie Gemions to remain on level terms until such time that the new Tiger and Panther models could be manutoctured in sufficient numbers. Ttie Ponzer IV Aust H probably represents the tanK in its ultimate torm. Vi/eight hod increased to 25 tons as a result of upamiouring and the oddition ot o long, tonk killing, 75mm cannon. The model is monutocHjred primarily trom steel and aluminium and is designed tor stroighttorward bolt-togettief ossembly by ttie non-engineer, This tine 1 /6tti scaie tank is designed by, and is exclusively available trom, Armortek. The kit includes ail the components necessary to complete a magniticent finished model All parts are fully mactiined Ohd require no drilling, tapping, nietol cutting, or forming, The model is presently subject to o plonned b(M manutocture in 2006 ot just 50 models. Large engineering models ot ttiis quaiity are much sought aftw and we anticipote demond will e)(ceed the limited stock available Plecse act now to reserve your modei.

NO OBLIGATION REQUEST FORM • SEND NO MONEY NOW Amoiiek, 3 Fotoaoy Close. Drayion FielDs. Dmentry. Nwinampronshire NNl I 8RD. United Kingttom Tel. +441327 3l5164Wet)sile ww* armtxtekco uk E-moil sfllesSormortek.co.uH

Please send me my FREE inlomiotion pack on the Ponzer iV Ausf H. (BLXKK CARTALS PLEASE)

..ZipCoOe. ..E-moii ...

ARMORTEK Aimoitek 13 Q iraOing nome ol GeolW Lid. Reg in Englond ND. 2923587

68 MILnARY HISTORV DECEMBER 2005

ever clarifying how this tale relates to chariots. It seems that since evidence for the use of chariots in ancient Europe is scant, Cotterell tries to force a connection to the epics where one does not exist. He also tries at the end of the book to compare the chariot to the modem tank, but never succeeds in proving their correlation on the battlefield, especially since technologies that created the chariot were introduced slowly and simultaneously across the world, whereas the tank appeared suddenly on the battlefields of World Warl in 1916. Cotterells discursive tendency aside. Chariot offers a fascinating and in-depth study of a highly effective war machine that revolutionized ancient warfare. WeUin^on's Rifles: Six Years to Waterloo With England's Legendary Sharpshooters, by Mark Urban, Walker & Company, New York, 2004, $27. The mental image most people have of Napoleonic warfare is gaudily clad infantrymen in tightly packed foimations, delivering massive volley fire against each other from close range with inaccurate smoothbore muskets. That was indeed the case to a large extent, but the army of General Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, on the Iberian Peninsula included one infantry regiment, the 95th Rifles, that fought in an entirely different manner. Considered radical when deployed to Portugal in 1809, the 95th Rifles emerged from the Napoleonic wars with a legendary reputation forfightingability. In Wellington's Rifles, Mark Urban has chronicled the 95ths grueling six-year struggle against the armies of Napoleon, a true story as remarkable and dramatic as anything found in fiction. Armed with the highly accurate Baker rifle in place of the usual "Brown Bess" smoothbore musket, the 95th Rifles began a revolution in the way modem armies trained and deployed infantry. Both officei^s and enlisted men were encouraged to practice marksmanship. Most 95th officers also carried and used rifles, in contrast to other military units of the day, whose officers carried swords into battle. The 95th riflemen frequently broke up attacks by larger French formations by picking off their officers, at which they proved particularly adept. Riflemen had been utilized in combat before the advent of the 95th Rifles, but only as specialists in relatively small numbers. The idea of deploying a battalion-

sized force of skirmishers armed wilh titles seemed to contravene all the established rules of 18th-centut>' infantry tactics. Rifles were regarded as slow to reload—so that, theoretically, a rifle unit would be unable to stand up to a similarsized unit aimed wilh muskets in a closerange Shootout. It was deemed impossible for common soldiers to stand up to the strain of combat while fighting independently, without the benefit of close supervision. It was also believed that a loose formation of skinnishei^ would be utiable to withstand cavalry. Another common misconception of the day was that good riflemen were bom, not trained. During the course of six extremely tough years of campaigning, the 95th Rifles disproved every one of those fallacies.

"John Wayne" as a Pacific Marine Sidesliow Collectibles Is proud lo join Ihe John Wayne Estate 1(1 offer tjie first ever authentic 12" John Wayne figure. The "Duke" is costumed as a Marine from WVni, including an autiieniic & detailed HBT uniform, true to the era. WavTie is one d the mosl celehrated actors to ever set foot on a Hollywood movie set. Starring in more than 20() 61ms, John Wayne was also a man of tradition, honor and influence. His iegac\' spans generations, loved the world over.

$44.95 Features: • An auttientic John Wayne likaiess. sculpted hy Ma Rifc • Thefigurefeaturesova-.10 pointi of arliculatiffli • LWIC HBT Blouse vvith H i \ Samp

BooiKlocker Boots • M1 (irand ammiinilion bdt • Ikimet w/ ISMC aoiKMiflage COVET • Medical pouch • T-hamfle shovel • 782 Eqi^ment •Canteen

Available November 2005 Supplies are limited! Order oniine: w w wjrheHi storyNetShQp.com Toll free 1-800-358-6327 By mail PRiMEDIA History • P.O. Box 420426 Dept. MH512A • Palm Coast. FL 32142 Please call lor shifting & handling charges and states witu appiicatjle sales lax

70 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

much of interest in Malraiix: A Life, Oliver Todd s chronicle of Malraux s Byronic adventures during the Spanish Civil War and as a French Resistance fighter during World War II. Though not himself a pilot Malraux organized and commanded the first Spanish Repitblican squadron of foreign volunteers. Imprisoned by the Germans during World War II, he later commanded a French btigade duting the final campaign to retake Strasbourg. Todd also recounts Malraux's youthful misadventures in French Indochina, where he was arrested for plundering antiquities, and his firsthand experience of the Chinese Revolution of 1927. As a military man, by all accounts Malraux displayed great leadership and courage. However, like Captain Louis Renault By the end of (he Peninsular War, both in the film Casablanca, Todd is shocked the British red-coated infantry regiments to learn that Malraux, like many wiitei^s and PottLigiiese ca(;adore regiments serv- past and present, embellished and even ing alongside the 95th in the British Light fabticated numerous details of his own Division had adopted the Rifles' skir- legend. Moreover, Todd's writing style is mishing style of warfare. After Waterloo, distinguished by two distracting affectaWellington had the 95th restyled as the tions. First, he writes primarily but not Rifle Brigade, in which form it still exists exclusively in the historical present. ("As today. The unit's ultimate vindication a novelist, Malraux's eyes are on the Chicame nine yeai-s after Waterloo, however, nese Revolution; as a French citizen, he when the British atmy's revised manual looks to the revolution in Russia.") More on infantry tactics adopted many of the grating is the manner in which Todd alptinciples pioneered by the 95th Rifles. ternates—often from sentence to senIn Wellington's Rifles Mark Utban has tence—between third-person narrative delved beyond the official t ecords into the and second-person commentary. After personal memoirs and letters of both the learning a fact about Malraux's hfe, the officers and enlisted men associated with reader is frequently offered a nugget of the l-egiment. The resiJt is a lively and vivid authotial wisdom. Of a glamorous youthaccount of a group of individual charac- ful paramour, Todd writes, "tS]he enters. He also makes libei"al use of French chants Malraux. She also flirts with sources in oixler to demonstrate the lethal [French publishet] Gaston Gallimard. effect the Rifles' new tactics had upon One shouldn't keep all ones charms in their enemies, an effect not fully appreci- one smile." ated at the time by the British themselves. Sometimes the reader is told someWhat emerges from Urban's meticulous thing, then asked a rhetorical question. research is the profile of a remarkably Of Malraux's first maniage and wife, modem military unit, one in which offi- Todd writes: "There are affairs. Why cers and men shared a mutual respect should Clara deprive herself?" based upon the recognition of each other's Todd's commentary is more catty than professional competence, as well as years chatty, and his hostility to his subject is of shared hardship and danger. It is an palpable throughout. Ultimately, this is image far removed from that of the usual not a tone to make the reader comfortNapoleonic regiment, officered by fop- able. The authors eagerness to expose his pish, upper-class amateut^ who viewed subject's clay feet can leave one feeling a their troops as the scum of the eatth. bit, well, like a voyeur. Robert Guttman The audience ultimately tires of Todd's waspishness. With many readers on this Midraux: A Life, by Oliver Todd, Alfred side of the Atlantic, Malraux will likely A. Knopf, New York, 2005, $35. benefit from Todd's relentless sniping, Andie Malraux (1901-76) was a French which eventually elicits the unintended— writer, adventui^r, art historian and states- and classically American—response of man; he was also an opportunist and self- rooting for the underdog. aggrandizer. Military historians will find Mctor Vemey

I N T R I G U E On New Year's Day 1915, a butcher and an ice cream vendor set out to fight a nation. By John Godwin

ON THE FIRST DAY OF 1915, the world's

smallest army went to war against the Commonwealth of Australia. It consisted of two men equipped with rifles, a carving knife and a makeshift flag, traveling on an ice cream cart drawn by an ancient horse. This miniature strike force, however, held one tremendous military advantage—the enemy was completely unaware of its existence. The two men were local characters in Broken Hill, a mining town some 700 miles inland from Sydney with a large population of immigrants from Afghanistan and northem India who had come to work as camel drivers in the Outback. One of them, Gool Mahomed, was an Afridi from Afghanistan's Khyber Pass area and owned the only ice cream wagon in the area. His friend Mullah Abdullah was from the Indian side of the pass and ran a butcher shop. The two men, both Muslims, seem to have had personal grievances with the local authorities. Gool Mahomed may have lost his place when some of the

mines closed down. Meanwhile, Sultan Muhammad VI had committed the Ottoman empire to an alliance with Germany on August 2, 1914, and then declared jihad, or holy war, "against Christians" on November 4—conveniently overlooking the Christianity of his German and Austro-Hungarian allies. The sultan's jihad edict, announced throughout the empire on November 18, was virtually ignored by the huge Muslim populations within the French and British colonies, including those in Australia. Gool Mahomed, however, embraced it and applied to join the Turkish army. At the end of December Mullah Abdullah had been convicted of charges, leveled by the chief sanitary inspector, of slaughtering sheep at "unlicensed premises" at nearby Ghantown. A nonmember of the Butcher's Union in the strongest union town in the country, Abdullah confided to Mahomed that he would be unable to pay the fine and faced the alternative of arrest and imprisonment, leaving him with little

left to live for. At that point, Mahomed persuaded his distraught friend to join him in striking back against their persecutors in the name of a higher cause. The two men spent the night reciting from the Koran and fashioning a red flag with the white crescent and star of Turkey. Then they loaded Mahomed's ice cream cart with ammunition and planted the flag on top. The next morning, they drove out to do battle. IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE, Janu

ary is midsummer The sky was cloudless and the air beginning to bake when the two "soldiers of Allah" occupied a trench containing the Umberumberka pipeline a couple of miles outside of town, just beside the railroad track. Mahomed had a Martini Henry rifle and Abdullah a Snider rifle and a homemade bandolier with pockets for 48 cartridges. Their plan was to ambush the train from Broken Hill, but it is not known whether they realized what kind of train they were targeting. Every year ore wagons were washed out and benches were installed for passengers, who then were conveyed to the New Year's Day miners picnic at Silverton. The holiday excursion special had slowly chugged its way three miles out of Broken Hill when the children recognized their beloved ice cream cart and started waving. Nobody recognized the limp red flag hoi.sted among the rocks. Then the shooting began. Mahomed and AbdulResidents of Broken Hill, Australia, board modified ore wagons for the New Year's Day miners picnic at nearby lah fired as fast as they Silverton. On January 1,1915, their trip unexpectedly became involved in World Warl. could work the bolts of 72 MILITARY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

Magazine presents VICTORY AT SEA Considered the most influential documentary In television history; ViaORY AT SEA, in the words o{ Harper's Weekly, "created a new art form." The 26 half-hour episodes were culled from over 13,000 hours of footage shot by tlie U.S., British, German and Japanese navies during World War II. Narrated hy Leonard Graves and set to a score by Richard Rodgers, this program ofl'ered a remarkable look at the realities of naval warfare and the extraordinary challenges faced hy tlie Allies. Now, the complete landmark series is available on DVD for the first time. And, to celebrate this 50th anniversary release, television legend Peter Graves enriches the viewing experience by framing each classic episode of this Emmy® and Peabody® award-winning series against the World War 0 cultural and political landscape. Enim U-boat' Wollpacks" to the epic battles at Iwo Jima aiid Okinawa, everv^ major naval engagement of Worid War n is captured in some of the most riveting combat footle ever shot. Viewing time approximately 13 hours. Four-DVD set. iTEMrWVSD $ 7 9 . 9 5

WWIhTHE LOST COLOR ARCHIVES Until today, our collective memories of Worid War n have lived almost exclusively in black and wliite. But the recently re-discovered archival materials of this remarkable series will permanently alter the way we look at the war and those who fought it. Assembled after years of research, this rarely seen color film footage offers a graphic and extraordinary new perspective on the greatest military struggle the world has ever endured. Detailing the entire course of the conflict, WWII: THE LOST COLOR ARCHIVT.S provides a unique new perspective on everything from the war's most critical battles and key personalities to details of life on the home front to the plight of uprooted refugees. From the earliest da\?i of the Blitz to D-Day and Hiroshima, home movies and rare archival film footle combined with dramatic first-person accounts reveal the personal side of the decision-makers as well as the millions of innocent bystanders—at the center of this worldwide conflagration. Viewing time iq)proximately6hours.TWo-DVDset.

$44.95

FREE SHIPPING ON BOTH DVD SETS Order online: www.TheHistorvNetShoD.com Toll Free: 1-800-358-6327 by mail: Primedia History • P.O. Box 420426 • Dept. MH512A • Palm Coast, FL 32142

74 MIUTAKV HISTORV DECEMBER 2005

their .303-inch lifles. The open ore tmcks offered no protection against the heavy soft-nosed slugs, and within minutes Albert E. Millard, William Shaw, James Craig and 18-year-old Alma Cowie lay dead in the carriages. Rose Crabb, Mary Cavanagh, Alma Crocker, 15-year-old Lucy Shaw, 14-year-old George Stokes and 8-year-old Merv Jolley were wounded. The engine driver, however, was unhurt and had the presence of mind to put the train into reverse. The riddled, bloodsmeai^ed cars backed into Broken Hill station, where confusion reigned. Nobody had any idea who might have perpetrated this horror or why. FEW REGIONS ON EARTH were as peace-

fully remote as the Outback at that time, in spite of the faet that Australia had been officially at war since August 1914. Tens of thousands of young men—all volunteers—were steaming off to the battlefields overseas, and thousands more were in training, but they had suffered hardly any casualties so far. The only changes seen by civilians were higher wages for workers and more flags and uniforms in the streets. No enemy soldiers had set foot on Australian soil. How could they, when the Royal Navy ruled the sea all around? While the dead and wounded were unloaded from the train in Broken Hill, shocked citizens armed themselves to repel the mysterious enemy that seemed to have sprung up from nowhere. Town policemen and miners grabbed rifles. Frantic calls for reinforcements went to the nearby militia training camp. Major Jock Broughton, the senior officer, at first thought the alarm was a hoax played by some drunks still celebrating New Year. "It was an utterly fantastic situation," he recalled. "We didn't know whether we were dealing with madmen or enemy troops. But where could enemy troops have come from? We were hundreds of miles from the coast." The sight of four bodies, including Alma Cowie's in her boyfriend's arms, changed the crowd's mood from dumb bewilderment to blazing fury. The cry went up: "Hang the bloody bastards!" Spontaneously and without orders a mixed swarm of soldiers, police and miners headed toward the ambush site. WHILE THE TOWN MOBILIZED, Ma

homed and Abdullah moved to a better defensive position atop Rocky Hill. Along the way they encountered 70-year-old

I

Russian ^eDSLS Military & Civiiian Decorations & Medais Uniforms & Field Gear Documented Award Groups Military Badges & Insignia Historical Documents Reference Books

Atlantic Crossroads, Inc. P.O. Box 144-MH Tenafly, NJ 07670 Phone:(201)567-6717

Fax:(201)567-6855

E-mail: All mapr credit cards accepted. [email protected] Large assortmeni & best prtces. Satisfaction Guaranteed! Dealer inquiries welcome. Visit us on the web

www.CollectRussia.com Historu Live Proauctn.)n of Napoleonic reproductions Swords, Jewelry, Medais, ' Videos, Eagles, nags, Nufccraclcers, Ospreij books See our worldwide pctijres of mini;3ture "Waterloo" battlefield dioranuis. vvww.nistW.ct)rn t-mail at [email protected] O r a^ll ]-8O\-Z98~O818

4-t^ So. Mosfi Hill Dr. • Bountiful Utah 54O10 online or sen

Tradition

MODEL SOLDIERS

World's Largest Range of Figures 25mm-110mm Set of Catalogs, over 250 pages, $10

Tiadition, USA __ SS

12924 Viking Dr Burnsville, MN 55337 _ ^ (952)890-1634 ^

"Multimedia Nike Misstle CD's by Ed Bisconti The Nike Missile CD's are now in the Archives of the White Sands Missile Range Historical Founelation. Doing cold war research or have an inCeresl: in missile defense from the 1950's-1950's? These CD's have a total of 6 videos included with photos and wntten material, CD's do autostart. Cost $75 email; edll06@)aol.com Go t o h t t p : / / w w w . c d d y n a m i c s , c o m

WW 2 GERMAN MILIURIA Uniforms, hats, insignia, posMrs, flags, books, T-shirts. Camouflage smocks, hats & halmet covers. Send S4 (SS foreign) for the world's most complete WW 2 MILITARIA CATALOG

I www, kRippBroom ft vrn2pK.com \ KRUPPER Box 11177EP Syracuse NY 13218 USA

COME VISIT US AT

ww^v.TheHistory NetShop.com

Thomas Campbell, standing at the door of his one-room stone hut. Camphell quickly withdrew inside, but the two fired through the door, wounding him in the ahdomen, then moved on. Camphell managed to make his way to the Allandale Hotel in town. Settling into a hilltop position called White Rocks, the self-styled Turkish soldiei-s met the militias first disorganized rush with a deadly barrage of rifle fire, punctuating their shots with yells of "Allah il Allah." First Class Constable Robert Mills fell wounded, but a local Afghan camel driver, at the risk of his life, carried him to safety. More soldiers from the army camp arrived, forming a wide circle around the bouldei^s. Major Broughton stood up and called on the men to surrender. "Come out with your hands up," he shouted. "WeVe got you surrounded." In reply came two shots that plowed the eatth at his feet and the hoarse shout: "Australians—bum in hell!" A wild burst of rifle fire converged on White Rocks, quickly swelling to a hammering baixage. The boulders turned into an inferno of screeching ricochets and whizzing stone fi^agments. The red flag dropped, thefiagpolesnapped by a bullet. But the weapons of the defenders kept spitting back at the Australians. Jim Craig was chopping wood near the Craig Hotel, 400 yards from the fighting, when a stray round mortally wounded him in the stomach. Gradually the firing died down to an occasional round as the battle settled into a siege. Some miners brought sticks of dvnamite to use as improvised hand grenades, but couldn't get within throwing distance before bullets drove them back to cover. From the rocks came an eerie wail, rising and falling—the ambushers were chanting Muslim prayers and snatches of songs. Hours passed, and the day grew hotter. The sun stood directly overhead, the air above the broiling stones flickering with heat waves. The two holdouts seemed to have unlimited ammunition but no water. Their voices became croaks, then faded out. A cloud of biting dust hung over the site, blurring it from view. At 1 p.m. a last volley caught Mahomed as he stood up, and a conceried charge fi'om all sides canied the position, some men still firing into the ambushers' bodies. The Australians found Mullah Abdullah with a shattered skull, still clutching his rifle. Mahomed was barely

NEW ART PRTNTS' QUALIT^IRAMES^'

!Tel:

602-445-6237 [email protected]

Hats, T-Shirts, Flags Buckles, Tie Clips Mugs, Hat Tacs, Decals Patches, Lighters, Bumper | Stickers, Key Chains POW-MIA Bracelets Watches, Dogtags Send S3.25 for Color Catalog to:

H-R PRODUCTS Dept.MHI •107 Trent Rd. Turnersville, NJ 08012 NO FOREIGN ORDERS.

• INTERNATIONAL MILITARY ANTIQUES * WELCOME TO IMA... A UNIQUE LOOK AT MILITARY HISTORY Our company has been in the Mail Order business since 1981 Most of our materials are supplied directly to us from Europe which is why so much of the merchandise we offer is unavailable elsewhere. Whether the casual hobbyist or leenactor, we have that special item to complete your collection. We are strictly mail order and do nat operate a retail stare in the United States. Please visit our all new web site to view our full product selection, complete with color photos of many •ferns, or call to receive a copy of our print catalog, FREE, featuring our unique cartoon illustrations.

rOOO VALLEY ROAD * GILLETTE, NJ 07933 908-903-1200 • FAX 908-903-0106 www.ima-usa.com or www.atlantacutlery.com

Bargain Books

America's biggest catalog selectioni • Save up to 80% on ciiiTent books, recent overstocks, imports, reprints. Thousands of titles in each catalog. Something for every booklover. • MUitaiy & American History, WW 1 & II. plus Politics. Biography. Sports. Collecling-67 subject areas.

Free Catalog 800-677-3483 Edward R. Hamilton, Bookseller 2002 Oak, Falls Village CT 06031-5005

^

www.erhbooks.com/fzw

^ J

DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 77

VICKSBURG EXPEDITION GUIDE The Vitksbui'g Expedition Guide ijicludes a CD-RO>1 a banlcfeld driving toiw audio CD & a 56-page guidebook Hxitten and narrated by Ed Beans, l-;d Bearss is one of the preniitx experts on tiw campaign and siege of \lcksburg, having worked for OVCT 10 years al tJie ^^cksbtlrg National Military' Park. Ed will take you back in time to the summer of 1863 and fv:piain tht art of siege warfare as it was practiceti in the Civil War, He will iilso sliai-f wiili you the amazing and often poignani stories of the soldiers who fought ;uid died for possession of tbis now hallowed ground.

ITEM: CVEG $29-95

GETTYSBURG EXPEDITION GUIDE The Gettysburg Expedition Guide includes a computer CD-ROM (six interactive modules address evervthing from the history' of tbe battle to your travel planning tieeds). a dri\1ng audio CD tour (written and narrated by Wayne Motts, one of tbe most popular licensed battlefield guides) and a 56-pi^;e companion guidebook full of detailed maps, liistoric photographs and valuable liistoricaJ facts and trivia. It's a complete Gettysburg experience!

ITEM: CGEG $29-95

ANTIETAM EXPEDITION GLIDE Tbe Antietam Expedition Guide includes a CD-ROM, forty-six 360° panoramic pbotograpbs that take you on a \1rtiia] tour of die ,\ntietani Battlefield, a battletiold driving tour CD & 80-page guidebook. Travel along the official Antietam National B^efield toitr route. Hear the personal uccounLs of die soldiers wbo fougbt tbere and see the historic photos of tlie tragic sacrifices made on September 17,1862.

ITEM: CAEG $29 95

FREDERICKSBURG EXPEDITION GUIDE Tbe Fredericksburg Expedition (iuide uses tbe power of multimedia and tlie knowledge of a military' bistorian to give you a comprehensive understanding of tbe bloodiest battle in tht .American Civil War, The guide includes a CD-ROM with sLx interactive modules and a battlefield walking tour & guidebook specifically designed to coordinate witb tbe audio walking tour, unleashing tbe power of images to achieve a deeper understanding of die batde,

ITEMiCFEG $24.95

Order Online: www.TheHistoryNetShop.com Or Call: 1-800-358-6327 by Mail: Primedia History • P.O. Box 420426 Oept. MH512A • Palm Coast, FL 32142 Please call tar shipping & handling charges and stales with applicable sales tax.

78 MILITARY HISTORV DECEMBER Z005

alive, with two bullets in his chest and 14 other wounds. The soldiers saw him trying to speak. Sotneone gave him a swig from a water bottle. Thet^ was no more talk of lynching. They carried him and Constable Mills to the hospital, where Mahomed died that night. His last words were, "I am glad I could fight for my countrv;" THE LUNATIC SKIRMISH at Broken Hill

was a bizaire curtain raiser for the larger struggle between Australians and Turks that would drag on for the next four years. On April 25, 1915, the 30,000strong Anzac (Australia-New Zealand) Coips landed at the Gallipoli Peninsula, part of an Anglo-French attempt to break through the Dardanelles Strait and open a supply line to Russia. For 259 days tlie Anzacs fought upward from their natTow beachheads, while the Turks, pounded by Allied naval guns, foughl back with equal resolution. TheiimuUahs, or priests, shared the trenches with them, exhorting them with prayei^. They used their dead as barricades, while many of their wounded kept on firing despite splintered legs or torn bellies. Gallipoli turned into a hellhole comparable to the later bloody stalemates at Verdun and the Somme. Typhus, dysenterv' and cholera killed more men on both sides than gunfire. Alter 81^ months the Allies gave up and evacuated Gallipoli. More than half their entire force had become casualties— 21,255 British, 9,798 French, 8,709 Australians, 2,701 New Zealanders, 1,358 Indians and 49 troops from Newfoundland. The Turks paid for their victory with 86,692 casualties. The Aussies gained a measure of retribution in the fall of 1917, when their Light Horse Division pushed fi'om Eg\pt into what was then the Turkish province of Palestine. With emu plumes streaming from their slouch hats, the horsemen overran the strongholds of Beersheba and Gaza, then advanced on JeiTJsalem, which surrendered in December. Today the vast cemeteries on Gallipoli are meticulously tended gardens. April 25, known as Anzac Day; is a time for somber remembrance in Australia. But the only reminders of the war's opening rounds on Australian soil outside what is now the Broken Hill Railway Museum are the wheels of an iee cream cart, two rusty rifles and a faded homemade Turkish flag, still on view at the New South Wales Police Museum in Svdnev. MH

INTERVIEW

MH: How long would you normally stay in port? Continued from page 56 Thomas: Maybe two or three days. A few times we stayed over a week. We did do quite a bit of work in those ports, as we learned seamanship. You do not realize had to load the ship during that time. One how much seamanship is involved when time we sailed into Auckland about 8 or you have to properly work rigging to lift 10 in the morning and were to load the 80 tons, or put a tank inside a boat along- ship up that same day and night. When side your ship in rough water, and you we started loading, we did not stop until only have a few inches to spare between it was finished. A shipmate of mine, who had married a local girl on a previous the hoat and the tank. MH: What sort of recreation was avail- visit, wanted to go and see his wife, I able to break the stress and monotony? thought that his sister-in-law was quite Thomas: We had the opportunity to go pretty, so the two of us sneaked off to see ashore on many ofthe islands, but I never them. We had only been gone a few hours did. When you went ashore for a couple before they missed us, since my part of of hours, they would give you two beers. the ship was not loading as fast as it Now, when it is over 100 degrees, you should have been. They sent the shore come back with a big headache. To me it patrol to where his wife lived. We were was not worth it. We had movies, but not there talking to the girls when their much else. If we were in a liberty port, mother came running in and shouted that the shore patrol was out front and had that was a different story. MH: What was your favorite liberty port? guns. We ran out the back and crawled Thomas: The people in New Zealand under the house. The women went to the could not do enough for you. Both Auck- door, and the shore patrol asked, "Is land and Wellington were terrific. Auck- Thomas or Crossman here?" They told land was my favorite, but that could have them no, but about that time the dog been because 1 knew a nice-looking girl started barking and looking under the house. They knew where we were, but al! there.

they said was that if either one of us showed up to tell us to get back to the ship, as we were in trouble. As we were already in trouble, we stayed a few more hours before we went back. When we got back to the ship, we reported to the captain, and he told me, "Thomas, aboard ship you are a good man, but when we are in a liberty port you are not worth a damn." He restricted me to the ship for 30 days, but as we were leaving port in a few hours it did not mean a lot. Luckily, he had known me for quite a while, and I had been doing a good job for him. MH: Any final thoughts? Thomas: Most sailors fall in love with at least one ship, Oklahoma will always be my ship. When the war was over, she was being towed back to the States to be scrapped, but she sank before she got there. I will always feel that she was too proud to allow herself to become scrap. MH Ed McCaul, who has liad a number of veterans' interviews published in Military History, writes from Granville, Ohio. For further reading, he recommends: Day of Infamy, by Walter Lord; and East Wind Rain, by Stan Cohen.

MILITARIA MARKETPLACE

Reader Service Depart me nl P.O. Box 5284 Pittsfield, MA 01203-5284

A listing of information from Military Histoty Magazine Advertisers. Use the coupon provided to order as many items as you wish. Enclose the amount requested for priced items, plus a $1.50 handling chaise.

Tell me mortl Please send intormalkin cm iht Uems circled beloi*. 1 enclose $1,50 handling charge plus lhe amount for priced items.

Accessories/Clothing

5. EREE information! How to claim your free MarkChurms.com military history 1. H-R PRODUCTS—Military hats, art. Free newsletter and special offers. T-shirts, buckles, mugs, ties, clips, hat Send coupon now! tacks, patches, lighters and bumper Books stickers. Send $3.25 for a catalog.

Art/Prints 2. Limited-edition art prints of military' history subjects. Civil War, World War II, Desert Storm. STIVERS PUBLISHING, Full-color catalot $2.50. 3. Limited-edition Civil War and military art prints by America's most respected military artist, Don Troiani. HISTORICAL ART PRINTS. Send $3.00 for infomiation! 4. Limited-edition historical art prints by Dale Gallon—^America's premier mililaiTv' artist for over a decade. GALLON HISTORICAL ART Catalog $2.50.

1. 2. 3. 4.

1 AM ENCLOSING: for priced items

6. BARGAIN BOOKS—Shop Americas biggest catalog selection. Save up to 80%. World War II, military history through j the ages, biography - over 60 subjects. I j Catalog from EDWARD R. HAMILTON, j BOOKSELLER. Information EREE. I

Collectibles

5. FREE 6. FREE 7. $3.00

$3.25 $2.50 $3.00 $2.50

$1-50

for handling Total Remitiance

NOTE: If only FREE choices are selected, handling charge must still be included!! NO CASH OR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED. Please make check or- money in U.S. funds payable to Military History Magazine, and mail to address above. Please do not use this address for change of address or any I olhtT corrcspondL'nce, Address above is for Reader Service infomialion onl\. Please allow 6-8 I weeks for deliverv. I j Name

7. Plastic and lead toy soldiers - world's largest selection of HO-70mm figures. I Address Send $3.00 for lead figure catalog. THE I'City TOY SOLDIER COMPANY.

I Slate Zip I I COUPON EXPIRES 02/28/06 DECEMBER 05 DECEMBER 2005 MILITARY HISTORY 79

CLASSIFIEDS Books/ Documents

PERSONALITY Continued from page 24

MILITARY & Gun Histories Details at www.corystevens.com WWl novel follows "Lost Battalion" Doughboys througii bioot camp into the "pocket." A RED HORSE RODE OUT hy J.C. Ariington. Available on-line, at Ixiokstores, & jcarlington.com Collectibles MILITARY UNIT RINGS OR WATCHES

www.americasmiIitarymaU.com 1-888682-6654.

iiad siiown "undue haste to come around," iie ordered tiiem to wiieel again to face tiie enemy. Halting them, he expiained amid much moustache twirling that he disliked the confusion and disorder they had displayed. He told them that he wouid drill them in this maneuver then and there until it was performed to his satisfaction. With the enemy approaching, the next performance was indeed satisfactoi^. One of his troopers later remarked that "ihe ground was pitted with musket balls by that time, but the twirl of that moustache was more formidable than a liile!"

For information to place an ad,

SOON AFTER THAT UNION defeat at

please call:

Second Bull Run. Wyndham was given command of Maj. Gen. Ft anz Sigel's cavalry brigade. In early 1863, his brigade was headquaitered at Fairfax Couit House and became engaged in a series of mnning battles across northern Virginia with partisan rangers led by Lt. Col. John Singleton Mosby. Sir Percy, schooled in the "honorabic" open-lieid styie of fighting, despised Mosby's guerrilla tactics and caiied him a horee-thief. To counter Mosby's tactics, he threatened to burn down local towns until the rangers' whereabouts were revealed, earning Wyndham the reputation of an unscrupulous marauder. In repiy to Sir Percy's slur, Mosby decided on a peisonai i^-sponse. Learning the location of Wyndham's headquarters from a deserter the Rebel ranger gained entrance on the night of March 9. Sir Percy had left for Washington the previous day, but Mosby did capture his uniforms, two of his aides and Brig. Gen. Edwin H. Stoughton. This affair proved embatrassing to the Union Army and Wyndham. Sir Percy's first roie after this debacle was as a leader in Brig. Gen. George Stoneman's raid toward Richmond on April 29-May ii, 1863. Although the raid was generally held to have been a tactical failure, W\Tidham's detached force of 400 troopers performed very weii, capturing Coiumbia, Va., and destroying stores and infrastructure. Their destruction of a canai prevented its use by the Rebels for several months. Without doubt. Wyndham's star performance was in the Battie of Brandy Station. Crossing the Rappahannock at Kelly's Ford on June 9, he took his force

Lauren Bamiak Ph: 215-867-4105 Fax:215-579-8041 Email: [email protected]

Tlie Second Wbdd War offered an ttnparalleled scope of visual dociuncnts kept by the Axis and .Mlies of all their activities. Tbe World at War was one of the firsi television documentaries tliai exploitttl diese resources so compltieK; Rivin;; viewers ;in unbelievable visual guide to tlie sp^eatest event in the 2()th cetttiirv'. Narrated by Sir Luirencf Olivu r. :\|)i)ro\iniate[y' 20 hour serii-s on 11 DVDs with an extra 12 hours of additional maleriitl. 30th aiuiiversan (.•dition

Iliis nionuiiit'ni;il series explores tlie pivotal battles, profiles Ihe commanders and chronicles how vrix has sha[Xil the ni(Hlem world, Comprised of an enOr'clopedit collection of lux'hival filni dating back to I S % . Tllis landmitrk series is available in iis entirety' for tlie first time as a complile sti on DVD. Tolal liiwng time 22 hours. $119.95

INCL. S&H

Call: 1-800-358-6327 Online: www.thchistorvnctshop.coni 80 MILITARV HISTORY

DECEMBER 2005

south to the station, where the battie was aiready in progress. Wyndham personally led the attack up Fieetwood Hili, mustache aflutter as he engaged in hand-tohand combat. Greatly outnumbered, he personally foiTned the rear guard and twice forced the Rebeis back with furious chaises. Wounded in the ieg, he remained in the saddle untii ioss of blood forced him to retire. Though forced off the hill, Wyndham was fulsome in his praise of his men's perfoiTnance: "It affords me no small degree of pleasure to be able to say that ali of my command that followed me on the field behaved nobly, standing unmoved under the enemy's artillery fire and, when ordered to charge, dashing foi"ward with a spiiil and deteiTnination that swept ail before them!" Invalided to Washington for recuperation, he was given command of the capital's cavalry defenses. During Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's raid prior to the Battle of Gettysburg, Sir Percy managed to raise a force of some 3,000 fully equipped men, mostly mounted. His final assignment was command of the District of Columbia Cavairv' Depot. Mustered out of the Army on July 5, 1864, Wyndham returned to New York and established a military' school, then returned to Italy to sen'e on Garibaldi's staff in 1866. At the end of the war in Italy, he and a chemist partner went back to New York to establish a petroleum refining business. Scxm thereafter, however; an explosion destroyed his main distillery. He soon left New York for India, and in Calcutta established a comic newspapet; TJie Indian Clmrivari, modeled on London's

Punch. He also established an Italian opera company and mairied a wealthy widow; A later venture, logging teak in Mandaiay, Burma, dissipated the profits from his Calcutta ventures. Aftei-ward he briefly sen'ed the Burmese government as commander-in-chief of the army, but he was eventuaily reduced to penury. One of Sir Percy's more quixotic projects was the construction of a huge baiioon. But in January 1879 his monster machine (70 feet tall and 100 feet in circumference) exploded at an altitude of 300 feet with him aboard. Thus at age 46 died one of the more colorful figures ofthe American Civii War and the 19th century in general. Given his career, it may not come as a surprise that some believe Sir Percy inspired 20th-century author George McDonaid Frasers fictional rogue of the Victorian era, Sir Harry Fiashman. MH

BEST

LITTLE

S T O R I E S

Long overdue honors given to an Englishman who was caught up in the American Civil War. By C. Brian Kelly

WHEN 63-YEAR-OLO Phillip Baybuft was buried back home in his native England in the year 1909, no one bothered to inscribe his headstone with afairlystartling fact. In the American Civil War half a century before, he had earned the American Medal of Honor. An Englishman? The Medal of Honor? Since he had joined the Union Army, served and fought valiantly with the Union Army, why not? As for the specifics...only 5 feet, VA inches tall, 18 years of age, £ind a wagon driver from Manchester, England, by trade, he had crossed the Atlantic to the United States late in 1863 or early in 1864. "When he arrived, he was caught up in the whirlwind of civil war, the likes of which he had never seen," wrote Roger Willison-Gray, a leading British Civil War reenactor (Company H, 4th Michigan Cavalry), in England's own American Civil War Society (ACWS) newsletter of August 2002. Young Baybutt joined up in February of 1864, and thus achieved the enviable distinction of serving in Company A of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavedry, otherwise emd often known as the "California Hundred." "The original Hundred," WillisonGray went on to explain, "all veterans of the gold rush and from a dozen different nationalities, had volunteered in San Francisco to fight for the Union." Weary of dull guard duty as homebound militia in California, they "wrote to the governor of Massachusetts and offered their services to fight in the east, where all of the action was." They then traveled east "at their own expense, providing all their own equipment in order to be in the thick of the action." At a later date, "Phillip Baybutt was recruited to fill the ranks of this depleted company." As one result, he would be taking part in eight battles and many 82 MILIIAKY HISTORY DECEMBER 2005

more skirmishes, with much of the units efforts spent in pursuit of "Grey Ghost" John Singleton Mosby s elusive raiders in the so-called lower (upper, on the map) ShenandoEih Valley of \^rginia. Before all was said and done, he would see two of his horses lolled, he himself was wounded twice, and he suffered a bad fall from a horse that would plague his later life as a painful reminder of his service to the Union cause in the Civil Weir.

story. In his later years, added Moore's 1999 "Heritage and Heraldry" column, "Baybutt suffered a great deal from the fall from his horse during the war and appealed for a veteran's pension from the United States in January 1904." Despite producing "at least three former comrades' written testimony as to the seriousness of the incident," added Moore, "his application was rejected." That was in 1906, three years before his death. By Willison-Gray's later account, the HIS SUPREME MOMENT of that service onetime Federal cavalryman and MedaJ came on September 24,1864, near Luray, of Honor recipient "was laid to rest in Va., when he and his Union comrades Manchester's Southern Cemetery with a clashed with Colonel William H.F Paynes headstone which did not record his Confederate cavalry brigade as it fell back heroic deeds." As the widow of a Union toward the Page County town under pres- veteran, his wife then did receive a pensure from Union troopers commanded by sion of $8 a month. George Armstrong Ouster. Albeit greatly delayed, kinder rewards As American Civil War reenactor came later. "In September 2002," noted Robert H. Moore n related the chain of Willison-Gray, "the town of Luray erected events both before and after that point in a Civil War Trail marker to commemohis "Heritage and Heraldry" column ap- rate the battle of Yagers Mill to coincide pearing in the Page County News & with the 138th anniversary of the action. Courier of Jime 3, 1999, "Somewhere be- Phillip Baybutt's details were inscribed on tween the county border and Luray, the the memorial." clash of cavalry occurred. Badly outFittingly enough, the American comnumbered and outgunned, the Confeder- memoration matched a like ceremony at ates were quickly overwhelmed, losing Baybutt's grave on the English side of the several men as prisoners." Atlantic, a memorial attended by his own Most important to young Englishman granddaughter, Edna Baybutt. By this Phillip Baybutt, the 6th Virginia CavcJry time also, the U.S. government for which lost its regimental flag during the swirling Baybutt once fought had provided recogmelee at Yagers Mill—to him. And that's nition of his heroism in the form of the exactly what his Medal of Honor citation Veterans Administration's headstone desays: "Capture of flag." signed exclusively for those who have As both Moore and Willison-Gray also earned the Medal of Honor. noted. Private Baybutt returned to EngNone of which is to say that Baybutt land after his discharge at Fairfax (Vir- was England's only Medal of Honor reginia) Courthouse at war's end, to work cipient of Civil War vintage. Roger Willifor his father, a Manchester merchant, son-Gray's ACWS newsletter says the and eventually to wind up a shipping overall count of English MOH recipients clerk. Married to the former Harriet "that are properly documented" comes to Jones, he would father eight children at least 67. For that matter, many nationbefore his death in 1909 at the age of 63. alities are represented in the overall roster But now comes the sad part of his life's of Civil War Medal recipients. MH