Military History 2006-05

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Onlineextras American Indian warriors adapted May 2006 You'll find much more about military history on the Web's leading histoiy resource:

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WWW. TheHistoryNetcom Discussion: Given the relative leniency the United States accorded Jefferson Davis for presiding over the Confederacy in a vastly more destructive war, was the death sentence for treason that Canada decreed for Louis Riel in 1885 just?

Goto www. TheHistoryNetcomtnihl for these great exclusives: Stretched to Breaking Point—io\m Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, had worked a miracle moving his army the 300 miles to confront the French at Blenheim in 1704. His conduct in the battle was equally unorthodox. Revolt of the M^fts—In 1885 Canada had to deal with a bloody uprising that it had narrowly averted in 1870. Once more the leader was Louis Riel, but the man to worry about was Gabriel Dumont. Chlorine Gas Cylinders—The first use of lethal poison gas, on April 22, 1915, had a stunning effect on its Allied victims, but the Germans failed to follow up, and their method of delivery proved to be seriously flawed. Demise ofU-166—lhe recent discovery of a wreck at the mouth of the Mississippi River shed new light on the fate of a German Type IXC U-boat during World War n.

6 MILITARY HISTOKV MAY 2006

successfully to modern warfare. MY LATE FATHER, former U.S. Navy combat cameraman Paul D. Guttman, tended to be selective about the stories he told me from World War II, but one of his favorites was of noticing a scruffy looking sailor in work clothes and with his hat pulled down, standing on the chow line aboard the aircraft carrier Yorktown, complaining about the quality of the food. "If you don't like it," the chief cook dismissively replied, "take it up with the admiral." At that point, the seaman removed his hat and declared, "I am the admiral," and proceeded to inform the entire galley that they could do better than that, and that his men deserved better. Such was Dad's first but by no means last impression of Rear Adm. Joseph James "Jocko" Clark, part Cherokee—and proud of it—from Oklahoma who was then commander of Task Group 58.1 and destined to become the greatest war chief in American Indian history, when he led the Seventh Fleet during the Korean War. Dad greatly admired the aggressive admiral, and proudly kept the tongue-incheek certificate he got for "One share in the Jocko Jima Development Corp.," issued to TG 58.1 personnel after Clark's devastating raids in the Bonin Islands during June-July 1944, as well as a cartoon he drew of "Jocko on the Warpath," depicting Clark in a Sioux headdress, jumping up and down on a carrier deck while shooting arrows into Japanese in the Marianas and the Bonins. That would be considered politically incorrect today, but Clark had a great sense of humor— and thought Dad's caricature of him so much more flattering than that of another on-board cartoonist, Radarman John A. Furlow, that he asked for the original. More than 61 years later. Dad's cartoon, along with Furlow's, joined the photographs to illustrate Clark G. Reynolds' supremely detailed biography On the Warpath in the Pacific: Admiral Jocko Clark and the Fast Carriers. Sadly, just

days after getting the book, I learned that Dad had died. He would have loved to see Clark given his due—and been honored to have played his tiny part in it. Career Navy officer Jocko Clark was arguably the most dramatic exception to the stereotype of the American Indian warrior as a guerrilla in woodland moccasins or on horseback on the Great Plains, but he is hardly the only one. Native Americans have distinguished themselves on land, sea and in the air throughout the 20th century, whether their comrades-in-cirms noticed their heritage or not. This issue includes a reminder that for himdreds of years the term "native American" has become harder to define, as new arrivals intermarried with the indigenous population almost from the onset. In Canada the centuries-old progeny of Indians, French explorers and trappers, and a variety of Scottish, English and other pioneers produced what amounted to a separate ethnic group, the French-speaking Metis. In 1885 they became the central figures in the North-West Rebellion, the bloodiest conflict fought on Canadian soil since it became an independent dominion. While Louis Riel was the rebellion's political and religious leader, its martial mastermind was Gabriel Dumont, who applied his savvy about the plains to 19th-century warfare with deadly ingenuity (story, P. 22). Peoples and traditions never remain static in the face of any outside infiuence—after all, the Plains Indians never realized they were "natural horsemen" until the Spanish brought the horse to the New World. By the same token. Jocko Clark found his sea legs in the 20th century. Perhaps the last and best word on the subject was said by Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Seneca aide, Lt. Col. Ely S. Parker, at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, when surrendering Confederate General Robert E. Lee remarked to him, "I'm glad to see one real American here." "We are all Americans," Parker replied. J.G.

LETTERS

time. We were aware of the impending attack on Whitehorse Mountain and knew there would be an attack on Hill 281, dubbed "Arrowhead Ridge." I had been wounded in the July 1952 attack on Old Baldy, and had only recently been returned to duty. By early October, I had been transferred to Love Company on HiU 281. The company was understrength, and was replaced by Nan Company of the French Battalion. The French were badly beaten up in the initial attack and were reinforced by my old unit. King Company. We were put in blocking positions, where the only problems were incoming mortar and artilleryfiire.King, however, was heavily engaged, and I lost a good friend, Lieutenant William "Watt" McKellar, who was awarded the Silver Star for his actions that day. First Lieutenant Edward R. Schowalter Jr. and I were together at Camp Stoneman, Calif., while we awaited shipment to Korea in March 1952. In 1968 we were STRANGE BREW I was very curious about the drug ifalezlez neighbors in the Normandy Heights houswith which the Tuareg tribesmen poi- ing area at Fort Bragg, N.C. I met Maj. soned members of the Flatters expedition Gen. Wayne C. "Shaped Charge" Smith at in 1880 ("Faceless Warriors of the Fort Campbell, Ky, in 1954, when he Sahara"), resulting in "hallucinations and commanded the 11th Airborne Division. Franz D. Cone disorientation, not unlike LSD." An ethnoWinston-Salem, N.C. botanist of the Universite Abdelmalek Essadi in Tetouan, Morocco, Abderrahmane Merzouki, identified the common In his account "Attack on Triangle Hill," names of the plant as "Falezlez in Arabic Peter Johnston referred to battlefield iland Afalehle in Berber, and in French lumination having been provided by a Jusquiame flaeslez or jusquiame du U.S. Army Signal Corps unit. As a former desert." The Latin name is Hyoscyamus. field artillery officer, it was my impression FRANCE'S DESERT WARS I just finished reading the submission by In this country it is commonly known as that those missions were performed by Edward L. Bimberg on the 19th-century henbane. All parts of the plant contain searchlight batteries, which were artillery French campaigns against the Tuareg scopolamine, atropine and hyoscyamine units. Until as recently as the early 1970s, at lecist one such Army Reserve unit stiU tribesmen {Military History, January/Feb- and can be deadly. Ken Wolski, Executive Director existed at Westminster, Md. Please excuse ruary 2006). Coverage of this period of Coalition for Medical Marijuana the nitpicking, because Johnston otherhistory is a little too biased toward the Trenton, N.J. wise did an excellent job of providing a British empire, and it was a very nice vivid picture of the situation in Korea change to read about another imperialist during that period. power of the time. As an Army National KOREAN HILL FIGHTING William H. Luzier Guard veteran of Operation Iraqi Free- I read with a great deal of interest Peter Frederick, Md. dom, I fully appreciate the sacrifices Johnston's article about Triangle Hill in made by those French colonial troops— the Januaiy/Febmaiy 2006 issue. I was in French and natives—fighting a long, Korea at the same time as Mr Johnston, Send letters to Military History Editor, hard, generally forgotten and ultimately serving as a weapons and rifle platoon Weider History Group, 741 Miller Drive, vilified campaign in a remote and deso- leader in Companies K and L, 23rd Regi- Suite D-2, Leesburg, VA 20175, or e-mail to ment, 2nd Infantry Division. MilitaryHistory@thehistorynet. com. Please late comer of the world. Peter A. Robertson Only later did I find out about Triangle include your name, address and daytime Grants, N.M. Hill—we were heavily occupied at the telephone number, letters may be edited.

MILITARY HISTORY AS A TRAINING AID

I want to thank the Military History staff for many years of service (indirectly) to the U.S. Army. I have been an avid reader since I first discovered MH while stationed in Korea (October 1999), and your magazine has really made my job as the brigade training NCO that much easier and more enjoyable, since I have been stuck being a brigade trainer/staffer through two military occupational specialties andfivebrigades. I have been deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and had two Korea rotations, and Military History was always there for me. What really piqued my interest in writing (at long last) were the two articles I read in the January/February 2006 issue: Sergeant Patrick Gass in "Best Little Stories" and "The Last Highland Charge." Since I am stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C, and an NCO as well as of Scottish ancestry, those stories really brought my mission—to lead and train soldiers—to the forefront and inspired me to work on future training projects for my brigade. Military History has been, for me, the best "open source" material for training NCOs and officers in everything from map reading to decision-making by all ranks and evaluating how to accomplish their missions without wasting the lives of their soldiers. Keep up the good work! Staff Sgt. Robert D. McMath 525th Military Intelligence Brigade

8 MILITARY HISTOKV MAY 2006

I found "Faceless Wardors of the Sahara" an excellent example of the coverage of lesser-known military events found only in your magazine. However, Fort Lamy (renamed Njamena in 1973) is more than just "the site of an airfield." It is also the capital of the central African nation of Chad. When I served there as a U.S. Foreign Service information officer in the early 1970s it had a population of nearly 200,000. Today that population is half a million. There is an intemational and military airport, where I spent many hours waiting to pick up visiting dignitaries. Fort Lamy was one of the three places in Africa where Foreign Legion troops were stationed so they could be speedily dispatched to other areas of the former French empire for pacification duties. Jonathan F. Orser Perrysburg, Ohio

PERSPECTIVES What killed Stonewall Jackson? A 21st-century physician offers a historical 'autopsy.' By Dr. R.D. Caldroney

the right hand. Jackson's initial attempts to keep upright with help from his aides were, in retrospect, a mistake, since they only hastened the onset of shock. A barely conscious Jackson was also twice given fluids by mouih, placing him at risk of choking on his own secretions (aspirating). To compound matters, he suffered three additional blunt, nonpenetrating traumas. First, while trying to regain control of his startled mount, he was hit square in the face by a tree branch. Then, after being transferred to a litter, he was dropped twice during transport. Both times he hit the ground hard, from a height of several feet, landing on his lefl arm, which had already been shattered by a musket ball, and on the left side of his chest. Those blows only worsened the extent of the gunshot injuries,

The bed in which Lt Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson died on fVlay 10.1863, Is preserved at the plantation office of the Chandler Farm in Guinea Station, Va.

SPRING SUNLIGHT SPILLED onto the

Confederate general's deathbed. Around him were fellow officers, clerg>' and his wife, Anna. The physician in charge. Major Hunter Holmes McGuire, medical director of the Second Corps, AiTny of Northern Virginia, had made a Herculean effort over the previous week to save this man who had been his commander, mentor and friend. Lieutenant General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Long a devout Christian, Jackson had always wished to die on a Sunday. He got his wish, joining his maker on the Lord's Day, May 10, 1863, drawing his last breath 10 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

around 3 p.m. As a major and a doctor in the U.S. Army ReseiTe Medical Coips, I have been curious about what injuries and treatments—or lack thereof—brought Jackson to his end. What would a "historical" postmortem reveal? Herein is offered a modem physician's clinical view. At 9:30 on the night of May 2, 1863, while reconnoiteiing the lines during the Battle of Chancellorsville, Va., Jackson came under fire from neivous soldiei^ of the 18th North Carolina Infantry and was struck almost simultaneously hy three shots, twice in the left arm and once in

Jackson's bullet wounds resulted in substantial blood loss. By the time Major McGuire finally reached him near Dowdall's TaveiTi, the general was cold, clamm> and quite pale. By any criteria, he was in shock. McGuire described the general's clothes as "saturated with blood." The blood was pink, implying the loss of arterial blood. This kind of blood loss is rapidly fatal unless stopped quickly. At that point, McGuire repositioned a tourniquet on tbe wounded left arm, which stopped the bleeding and temporarily saved Jacksons life. It was a wonder that he was alive at all, given what had tianspired over the preceding 90 minutes. By 2 a.m., Jackson had been at the coips field hospital for nearly three hours, where he had been placed in a separate tent, warmed and given time to stabilize. His pulse and his color improved, and it was now time to examine his wounds under anesthesia. Chloroform was given by inhalation, and Jackson was carefully attended to by Dr. McGuire and three other experienced battlefield surgeons. The wound to the right hand was not life

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threatening, and the ball was extracted through a small incision on the baek of the hand, after which the broken fingers were set and splinted. The injunes to the left arm were far more serious. The uppermost of the two bullets had entered the arm about three inches below the shoulder and exited out the back of the arm. In its wake were shattered muscle, a badly fragmented large bone of the upper arm (humerus) and a partially torn major arteiy to the arm (braehial artery). The wound to the lower portion of the arm had an entrance point just below the elbow. The bullet had corkscrewed through the forearm and exited just above the wrist. While this bullet had missed bone, it had macerated the museles, tendons and soft tissues of the forearni. The arm was not salvageable and was amputated just below the shoulder. By 3 a.m., the surgeries had been completed. It was the best possible care available at the time. Nine hours later the general was awake and coherent. The visible signs of shock had largely resolved, and his color was much improved, but Jackson complained of pain along the left side of his chest. This was a portent of what was to follow. BECAUSE OF CONCERN about security

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14 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

in the Confederate rear areas, the general was transported \ia ambulance some 27 miles to Fairfield. the home of Thomas Coleman Chandler, early on the morning of May 4. On Tuesday, May 5. Jackson seemed to be much improved and the ever-vigilant McGuire was most pleased. Jackson had no apparent fever and was very lucid, though he slept extensively. He asked many questions about the recently concluded battle and the paiticipants. His appetite was normal. The same favorable course followed the next day. Early on the morning of May 7, however, Jackson was awakened from his sleep by nausea, fever and intense pain in his chest. The pain was intensified by breathing (pleuritic). When the sleep-deprived Dr. McGuire wasfinallyawakened, he was stunned by Jackson's dramatic deterioration. The general was heard to audibly gasp. His breathing was visibly labored, his heart rate had noticeably quickened and he now had such a fever that he had saturated his bedsheets. He had all the signs of what is now known as respiratory failure. Other physicians were called in for consultation, but all reached the same sad conclusion—the end was near. The final cause of Jackson's death was

listed as "pneumonia." While I concur with this, I think the autopsy report desen'es expansion. Modem autopsy series have shown two patterns of mortality. In immediate fatalities, such as massive crush injuries or major penetrating wounds to the head or chest, the cause of death is t\pically a sudden, catastrophic event. In deaths that occur at a more remote time from the initial event, however, the cause is usually related to deterioration of multiple parts of the body over days or weeks—multi-organ systems failure. I think that this was indeed the case with Jackson. While pneumonia was the primary culprit, at least four other contributing factoi-s likely played a substantial role in his death. The first was shock. The human bloodstream consists of approximately five liters of fluid. Humans can tolerate the loss of modest amounts of whole blood without undue difficulty, but as the amount of blood loss increases, delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the cells of the body begins to fail, especially to the critical organs: the brain, kidneys, heart and lungs. In the average person, the loss of more than a third of the blood volume will result in the visible markei-s of shock, which were so apparent to Dr. McGuire when he first examined the general on the evening of May 2. Even though the shock was arrested by the timely actions of McGuire and his attendants, Jackson had already gone through a cascade of events that put him at major risk for subsequent critical organ failure. A significant portion of shock survivors will develop, within three to five days of the initial resuscitation, kidney failure. The major function of the kidneys is to clear the body of the toxins that accumulate as a result of daily wear and tear. The accumulation of those poisons is much accelerated in a gravely injured person such as Jackson. The renal failure can have a multitude of effects on other areas of the body; in particular, it can compromise the ability to combat infections. The manifestations of kidney failure may also include delirium, a very prominent feature in Jackson's behavior durtng the 72 hours preceding his death on May 10. Another fector was aspiration. The body has a wonderful defense mechanism to avoid ha\ing food orfluidsgoing down the "wrong way" into the breathing passages, or airways—the cough reflex. The cough reflex can be blunted by a number of factors, especially by anything that affects the level of alertness. When Jackson was still

in shock he was orally given both alcohol and morphine. Without a doubt, some of his oral contents (secretions) were aspirated at that time. Those materials are laden with bacteria, and those bacteria are a cauldron of "bad actors" that are particularly hazardous to the lungs. The lung damage typically begins to occur 72 hours after the initial aspiration or later, as the number of anaerobic bacteria reach crttical mass. When swallowed in ample amounts, they rapidly multiply and can literally eat tissue from the inside out and extend to the surface of the lung, which will cause pleurisy. Chest pain, often excruciating, was a dominant feature from May 7 until Jackson's death three days later. Far and away, these are the most virulent and deadly of the bacterial pneumonias. Even current medical care has few answers for a pneumonia of that type. It was the coup de grace for Jackson. A third factor was pulmonar\' contusion. When sufficient blunt force is applied to the surface of virtually any area of the body, it is the underlying organs that often pay the price. The lungs are susceptible to such injuries, in part because the chest wall is relatively thin in comparison to other more heavily protected

areas, such as the brain by the skull. On two occasions Jackson fell off his litter h'om a significant height, strtking directly upon the lower left side of his chest, as well as the left arm. The force of the impact was enough that he likely bruised—contused—the wall of the chest. The impact of that injury likely penetrated the surface lining of the lung, the pleura, and the substance of the lung in the area of the left lower lobe. This was evidenced by the pain that he began to complain of, pleuritic pain, by the day after his initial injuries. These types of injuries are not only painful but often result in fluid accumulating in the damaged section of lung. Two major consequences of this fluid aggregation, or edema, are a defect in air exchange (oxygen in and carbon dioxide out) and a pi^opensity toward secondary infections, especially pneumonias. If the process remains localized, the body can recover, but far too often the secondarv' infection worsens, then spills into the bloodstream (sepsis), and a generalized leak of fluid then occurs wilhin the lungs, resulting in pulmonarv' edema or shock lung. The patient literally drovras in his own fluids. Recovery is very doubtful, even with the most sophisticated care.

Finally, in gunshot wounds and crush injurtes, muscle is not only damaged but a certain portion is actually destroyed. This is called rhabdomyolysis. The byproducts of muscle death are released in microscopic amounts into the bloodstream. The intensity of the body's response to this is largely dependent on the quantitative amount of muscle that has been injured. If enough muscle is destroyed, the kidneys are at risk of being poisoned, i.e., developing rhabdomyolytie renal failure. Muscle injury played a significant role in the renal failure that preceded Jacksons death on May 10. Could General Jackson have survived those cumulative system failiuTS? History is a series of "ifs." Had anyone known enough to stay the hands of those who with the best of intentions gave him liquids by mouth on the evening of May 2, I think the answer is yes. Oh, but for those acts of mercy. Thomas J. Jackson was buried in Lexington, Va., on May 15,1863. Dr. McGuire survived the war and settled in Richmond. He was instrumental in the resumption of studies at what would become the Medical College of Virginia and enjoyed a long and illustrious career. MH

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16 MILITARY HISTORY

MAY 2Q06

WEAPONRY Fritz Haber said of his chemical agents, especially mustard gas, 1t is a higher form of killing.' By Clyde Ward

THERE IS NO GOOD WAY TO KILL, but

poison gas seems more alchemy than combat. In the fall of 1916, however, it seemed to the German high command that only a sorcerer could save its fortunes on the Western Front. Its armies' advances, though apparently stalled, still held the nation's faith. The strictly censored truth, however, was that after two years of blockade and attrition, Germany's manpower and materiel were nearly exhausted. When American troops began to arrive in the spring of 1917, only a miracle could stop them. The generals demanded that miracle from Fritz Haber, head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Research Institute. Haber's ammonia synthesis had replaced imported munitions nitrate, denied by the British blockade in 1914, with condensed atmospheric nitrogen. The process he developed to make it would bring him a Nobel Prize in 1919.

In April 1915, he had engineered a massive chlorine gas attack that had nearly cracked the Western Front, failing only due to a lack of troops to follow up. After that, Haber was promoted from a reserve sergeant to captain and ordered to develop war gases. The genie was out of the bottle, however; that first chlorine gas attack had also convinced Britain and France to develop gas masks and chemical agents of their own. Given Germany's advanced chemical industry, Haber had kept the lead in this science-run-amok sort of war, but Allied respirator improvements had kept pace. By the end of 1916, gas masks were nearly impregnable. That and the defensive requirement turned Haber's "gas men" in a new direction, leading to the development of bis-2-chloroethylsulfide: mustard gas. Gennan artillery near Ypres received the first mustard shells, identified by their

Like most of its victims, these British soldiers survived a Gennan mustard gas attack in 1917 but its effects on their skin and eyes-including complete blJndness-put them out of the war. 18 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

yellow Lorraine crosses, in July 1917. British Tommies saw the shells burst, but they neither saw, smelled nor tasted any agent, nor did they feel any immediate effects. Deciding not to let the Hun have his way with a ruse, they didn't don masks. "But within an hour or two strange symptoms began to appear among the men occupying the recently bombarded area," a field doctor recorded. "They developed violent conjunctivitis [pink eye]— so severe that their eyes closed up. Great areas of skin under their arms and between their legs turned fiery red and blistered. Many of them began to cough, and enough laryngitis to cause hoarseness was almost universal." Mustard gas is dangerously insidious, a volatile oil, the fumes of which are but faintly malodorous and quickly desensitize the olfactory system. No symptoms appear for hours, although both vapor and liquid will accumulate in exposed tissue. During the latency period, mustard binds to DNA and enzymes, thereby ravaging cell metabolism. Layers of affected tissue liquefy as dying cells rupture. The victims' inflamed skin erupted into massive yellow blisters up to a foot long, while their incessant, useless coughing foretold worse complications. Within 24 hours, some 500 men suffocated in a thin, frothy, blood-stained fiuid. Autopsies revealed thick, yellowish pseudo-membranes clogging their upper respiratory tracts. Another 1,000 victims healed over weeks, months and decades. No cure for its effects has ever been found. Mustard was "in a class by itself so far as casualty producing power is concerned," admitted Britain's gas brigade commander One drop of evaporated mustard gas can cause skin bums within 10 cubic meters; half a drop bums the eyes. Contact with the liquid or aerosol droplets is catastrophic. A heavy shell could deliver 19 liters of liquid agent.

Arn's War Memoirs of a World War II Infantiyman, 1940-^1946

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Haber had a winner. A medium shell containing half a liter of mustard agent could effectively contaminate 148 square yards of front for several days. Shrapnel shells laced with mustard poisoned the shell holes into which soldiers flung themselves, their masks frequently damaged by the explosion, if not blown off. Gas masks were no longer enough, in any event. Although mustard was less lethal than diphosgene or chlorine, the bum and blister victims it produced burdened logistic and medical resources. Within three weeks of its introduction, mustard gas caused as many casualties as had all other lethal agents during the preceding year. In a war of attrition, mustard gas emerged as king. Paradoxically, the British had rejected using it in the spring of 1916 because it wasn't deadly enough. Chronic shortages of high explosive ammunition had also delayed British gas shell development. Fifteen minutes of gas fire, however, proved more effective against personnel than firing high explosive tor six days, since direct hits weren't necessary and the heaw vapor clouds penetrated shellproof bunkers.

ficiency. Tommies and doughboys soon concurred that the most efficient manner in which to create an updraft was to bum Ayrton fans in a pile. Physical exertion intensified mustards bums. Warm skin absorbed the poison faster. Remaining still minimized injur\. Preventing exposure was the best solution, but there was no curricula or time for gas training. Rumormongering doughboys convinced one another that German gas would cause their fingers and toes to fall off and their eyes to drop out, which hardly prepared anyone to diagnose exposure to a delayed-action agent. Line officers simply released complainers to aid stations before they might have to be carried. An inspection of one Beld hospital revealed only 90 genuine victims out of 251. As a result, doctors tended to be skeptical. The most innocuous approach was to offer a suspected malingerer a hearty meal—after which it would be clear that a genuine Yictim was still ill. Physicians sometimes asked patients to smoke diphosgene-laced cigarettes, since only those who had actually been gassed could inhale the smoke without choking. WHILE GERMANY manufactured tons of Mustard's latency period duped many mustard agent in quickly converted ani- a soldier into pulling off his mask, espeline dye plants, Britain and France, with cially when the goggles fogged, and relyinferior expertise, had to construct new ing upon the mask's mouthpiece for plants from scratch. AmericanfiiTnsde- breath alone. Some American gas officers clined, figuring the market for mustard became hysterical, exhorting men to gas would end with the war. Meanwhile, remain masked, post gas sentries, French troops unearthed Gennan duds arrange alarms and cover supplies with from which to refill their own gas shells. tarpaper or oilcloth. Prescribing hot, Gas attacks, prior to mustard's intro- soapy baths as a treatment for mustard duction, had dissipated within hours and exposure completed the troops' antagohad left little trace. Mustard, however, was nism in the trenches. "Knowledge and a persistent agent. "Owing to [mustard's] real efficient training," a division comhigh boiling point," a British expert ob- mander asserted, "came after hard expesen'ed, "some of it is scattered on the rience." Hard experience left little room ground and continues to give off gas for for error, however. some time." Wood or soil may retain it for Immediate response to an attack deyears. Troops bedding douTi in shell holes pended upon the agent used. The gas ofawoke in agony. It rendered whole towns ficer quickly lifted and released his mask, uninhabitable for weeks. Contaminated filling his nose with a shallow sniff in beequipment, weapons and clothes spread tween. He then tried to recall the the fuming oil-like contagion. ephemeral odor. Phosgene smelled like Decontamination required more than musty hay, chlorine like bleach, diphosa breeze. The wife of a prominent British gene like chocolate, etc. Chemical agent physicist insisted, however, that a canvas detectors did not exist, and even today a fan, hinged to flutter up on the down portable device that can rapidly and relistroke, would be the most efficient device ably identify agents in minute concentrawith which to draw vapor out of a trench, tions remains more a goal than a reality. and the British army ordered 100,000 of "Tasting" the garlic aroma of mustard, these Ayrton fans. The American Expedi- the gas officer would call for chlorinated tionary Force ordered another 50,000, lime and shovels. unaware that the British endorsement Lime destroyed the oil phase of muswas more a concession to politics than efContinued on page 72

Louis Biel's Last Stand

22 MILITARVHISTOKX MAY 2006

Canada's North-West Rebellion reached its climax in May 1885, as the government army closed on the mixed-blood Metis' provisional capital, the tiny village of Batoche.

BYHABEEBSALLOUM

I

n the arena of world conflicts, the Battle of Batoche was merely a small skiiTnish. yet it played an important part in Canadian history. It was the largest and longest battle to take place on the western pi'airies of Canada, and its political and social repercussions still affect many of that nations institutions today. Of the North-West Rebellion's five major engagements, Batoche was by far the most significant. Some historians, in fact, have concluded that the Battle of Batoche is every bit as consequential as the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn. Often referred to as half-bloods by the rest of the population, the Metis were the offspring of native Canadian women and European fur traders, mostly French, but with some Scottish and Anglo-Saxon blood in the mix. Speaking a French-based dialect, they continued to depend for a living primarily on hunting, trapping and trading, especially in furs. Generations of that lifestyle imbued them with a fiercely independent spirit. In 1869 federal government policies that ignored traditional Metis landholdings in Manitoba's Red River settlement kindled the Red River Rebellion, which was led by Louis Riel. An expedition under the command of British Maj. Gen. Garnet Joseph Wolseley brought the revolt to an almost bloodless end in 1870, after which the Metis left en masse to set up new settlements faiiher west, putting down roots in what is now the province of Saskatchewan. Even though Riel is credited with leading the negotiations that led to the establishment of Manitoba as Canada's fifth province in 1870, he was forced to leave for the United States when government policy continued to alienate the Metis throughout the western territories. The Metis refugees established prosperous farms in the West, naming their settlement after a Metis trader, Xavier Letendre, whose nickname was "Batoche." Like their aboriginal brothers, the Metis subsisted largely by hunting buffalo. But by the early 1880s, bison were disappearing from the western prairies, and the Metis began to seek education and other means to adapt to

A lithograph of The Capture of Batoche. based on eyewitness sketches, shows the general commitment of Maj. Gen. Frederick D. Middleton's North-West Field Force in support of an unauthorized assault hy the Midlands Battalion on May 12.1885.

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the changing economic situation. At the same time, they began to encounter problems similar to the ones they had experienced along the Red River, as white settlers threatened to take over their land. Metis appeals for help from the federal government again met with silence or evasion in Ottawa, eventually producing a volatile situation. In 1884 a committee calling itself the People of Saskatchewan elected four delegates, headed by Gabriel Dumont, to ride to Judith Basin, Mont., and persuade Riei, the proven statesman they most trusted, to return and lead them in an effort to convince the government to solve their problems. Bom in the Red River settlement in 1844, Louis David Riel had trained in Montreal for the priesthood and as a lawyer, but he never graduated from a universit\'. Ambitious, well educated and bilingual, he had quickly emerged as a leader among the Red River Metis in 1869. One of Riels most fateful decisions at that time, however, was to execute Irish-bom Canadian Thomas Scott, who had been charged with fomenting rebellion against the Metis' provisional government at Fort Garry (in modem-day Winnipeg) during the Red River Rebellion. However justified it may have been, that act inflamed anti-Catholic and anti-French sentiments in Ontario. It also led to Riel's voluntary exile from Canada. A controversial individual, intelligent as well as masterful, Riel was gentle and peace-loving by nature, yet capable of passionate rages. He had spent some time in mental asylums in Quebec. During his years in the United States, he came to believe that he had a holy mission to lead the Metis people, considering himself the "Prophet of the New World." Riel therefore agreed to return, convinced that God had chosen him to create an independent Metis homeland on the Canadian western prairies. He also wanted to make Batoche the home of a new and independent Catholicism outside the official Catholic church. The Metis regarded Riel as a self-sacrificing patriot and were ecstatic when he agreed to return to Canada to lead them. To the white settlers in the area, on the other hand, he was a bloodthirsty rebel and a mad messiah. The government continued to ignore Riel's petitions to Ottawa, though Prime Minister John A. Macdonald knew that his resolve not to bargain with the Metis would force a military resolution of the problem. By March 1885, the Metis—realizing that the federal government was not interested in their concerns—established a provisional government at Batoche. Riel became their spiritual and political head, pledging to rule with compassion and justice for all. Despite the independent course they took, at no time did Riel and the Metis consider their new government at odds with Ottawa. They only wanted their grievances addressed. Still, they had no illusions about the likelihood of conflict, and though Riel maintained that divine intervention would enable the Metis to 24 MlUTARy HISTORY MAY 2006

Far left: Metis political and reiigious leader Louis David Riel in 1884. Left: Riel's military commander, Gabriel Dumont. Right: Major General Frederick Dobson Middleton served as the British commander of Canadian government forces.

prevail, he was practical-minded enough to appoint Gabriel Dumont as his military' commander Stocky and possessing a commanding aura, Dumont was a legendary buffalo hunter, unmatched inriflemai ksmanship. Though he could not read or write, he had brilliant intuitive leadership qualities, and the Metis called him the "Prince of the Prairies." The Metis were not alone in their troubles. Many Indians in the region were starving and having trouble adjusting to life on the newly established reserves—and, again, the federal govemment had turned a deaf ear to their concerns. Cree Chief Big Bear, the last of the Plains Indian leaders to sign a treaty with the Canadian government, and another Cree chief, Poundmaker, along with a few Dakotas, decided to join forces with Riel. On the other hand, a far greater number of Indians, such as Blackfoot Chief Crowfoot, preferred to avoid risking a ruinous war. The coalition of the Metis and some 400 Cree and members of other indigenous tribes in the region set the stage for the coming clash with the federal forces.

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HE M^TIS INITWTED the confrontation that came to be known as the North-West Rebellion by taking prisoners in the Batoche area and occupying the nearby community of Duck Lake. When 56 North-West Mounted Police and 43 volunteers from the settler population came to free the hostages on March 26, 1885, they were ambushed by Dumont and 200 Metis. The rebels, who lostfiveMetis and one Indian, easily won the day, forcing their opponents to retreat with nine volunteers and three Mounties dead. Riel, as he would do several times during the course of the conflict, limited casualties by forbidding rebel fighters from pursuing the fleeing enemy. The debacle at Duck Lake led the federal government to rush militia regiments west \ia the newly built Canadian Pacific Railway Meanwhile, news of the rebel triumph spurred Riel's Indian allies into action. They attacked several settlements, most notably the village of Battleford, where Poundmaker's Crees killed two whites and forced the 400 villagers to take refuge in the town's fort. At Frog Lake, a war chief in Big Bear's Cree band named Wandering Spirit instigated a massacre of nine people. In the meantime, the Canadian government was not idle.

Adolphe Caron, minister of militia and defense, chose Maj. Gen. Frederick Dobson Middleton to organize the Norih-West Field Force, for which some 8,000 men had volunteered. A traditional British officer unaccustomed to leading inexperienced militiamen, Middleton represented the elite of the British officer corps. He suiTounded himself with British regular officers. He was physically courageous, even foolhardy, but he was also cautious and unwilling to risk very many casualties. In the coming days, that caution would lead to multiple blunders. In April Middleton moved out with 400 men from Fort Qu'Appelle, adding militiamen to his force as he headed norih. His troops numbered some 800 by the time he reached Clarke's Crossing, on the Saskatchewan River. There, he divided his North-West Field Force into two columns, one crossing to the west side of theriver,the other remaining on the east. Both began the march to Batoche, where the Metis were entrenched. Meanwhile, Riel's scouts had been keeping an eye on Middleton's army from the time it had left Fort Qu'Appelle, and

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Dumont insisted that he did not want to stand and fight at Batoche. Instead he was in favor of attacking the Canadian forces after they had crossed the river and then pursuing guerrilla warfare against Middleton's slow-moving columns. Riel initially disagreed but later relented, allowing Dumont to put his plan into action. All of the 150 men he placed at Dumont's disposal knew the terrain well and were highly mobile, able to strike quickly in surprise attacks. Along the route he believed Middleton would take, Dumont placed 130 of his men in a coulee on the left bank of Fish Creek and hid his horses in the surrounding woods. He was confident he had set a perfect trap for Middleton's army, reproducing a classic "buffalo pound." This was a method by which the Plains Indians hunted buffalo, from which he expected few of Middleton's soldiers to escape. In his narrated memoirs, Dumont explained, "I wanted to treat them like buffalo." On April 24, he and the remaining 20 Metis rode some distance ahead and took cover, to give the alert when the Canadian forces anived. Excellent though it might be in theory, Dumont's trap did not work as planned, due to the poor discipline of the Metis and Indians. A good many of Dumont's men deserted, while others lit campfires that alerted the advancing Canadians, who uncovered their hiding places. The element of surprise was gone. Even so, a day of skirmishing ended in a draw. The Metis suffered

Canadian militiamen sleep behind their own makeshift trenches between unsuccessful attempts to assault Dumont's network of concealed trenches and rifle pits outside Batoche.

A photograph taken during the climactic general assault on Batoche. The final breakthrough was largely made possible by Lt. Col. Arthur T.H. Williams, commander of Ontario's Midlands Battalion, whose charge and tactics were not in sync with Middleton's orders.

eight men dead and 11 wounded, while inflicting 10 dead and 42 wounded on the Canadian side. Middleton still had superior numbers and firepower, and if his untested volunteers had been professionals, he could have easily won the day As it was, however, his command had been shaken. The Canadian advance was stalled for two weeks while the raw recruits in his army were trained for the coming battle. On May 7, his army, now better prepared, resumed its march toward Riet's headquarters and capital at Batoche.

800 to 900 men (numbers vary according to different accounts). His soldiers were predominantly infantrv', augmented by four 9-pounder field guns and a Galling gun. To take the village, the general devised a simple coordinated two-pronged attack from the river and hy land. Prior to his airival, he had ordered the Hudson Bay supply steamer Nonhcote to be converted into a gunboat. Boxes, chests, mattresses, planks, sandbags and sacks of grain were used as makeshift armor. Armed with a 7-pounder, the Gatling gun and about 35 militiamen, the Hat-bottomed steamer was supposed to attack Batoche from the river at the ATOCHE HAD BEEN BUILT at a bend on both sides of the same time the militia launched their assault by land. Hoping to South Saskatchewan River where it was about 100 yards surprise the Metis in a deadly crossfire, Middleton planned that wide. It was a cabin village of 500. with a few homes and Nonhcote would steam down the river past Batoche and disstores straggling for about three miles on both sides of the river. embark troops who would attack from the riverside as the army A little distance away on high ground on the east side of the moved into town. river were the cemetery and St. Antoine-de-Padoue Catholic When Middleton launched his attack on May 9, Northcote set church. In that simple village, Riel—who stiil believed that God out in the early morning and arrived an hour earlier than schedwould protect the Metis—chose to make a stand. uled. With no support from the attacking militia, it became an Again Dumont saw fit to augment the Almighty. Under his di- easy target when Metis spotted the boat. They began raking its rection, dozens of elaborately concealed rifle pits, reinforced by decks with rifle fire from well-camouflaged trenches and rifle earthen mounds and heavy logs, often positioned atop inclines, pits on both banks of the river That firing, however, used up were dug at critical points along trails and in heavily wooded much precious ammunition that the Metis would need in the areas. Pits were also hollowed out around the narrow bridges fighting to come. over the numerous creeks that flowed near the town, on the high Because of confusion in Middleton's orders, Riel's knowledge bariks on both sides of the river and at the crest of a slope look- of the steamer's movements and theriflefire,Northcote seemed ing down on the village. This complex network was manned by to flounder. As it moved faster, trying to escape the withering some 350 Metis and a few Indians, only 200 to 250 of whom fire, Dumont's men lowered two ferry cables across the South were armed with rifles, muzzleioaders and sholguns. Saskatchewan, one behind the vessel and the other several hunMiddleton established his base south of Batoche with some dred feet ahead of it, with the intention of capturing it. The

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26 MILITARV HISTORY MAY 2006

second cable was not dropped low enough in time to snag Northcote's hull, but it decapitated the vessel's smokestacks and wheelhouse, leaving the improvised gunboat disabled and floating helplessly downstream. With his riverine attack plan effectively scuttled, Middleton, flourishing his cavalry sword, led the infantry in a land assault. His troops reached the village by midmoming and advanced past the cemetery and the church to Mission Ridge, overlooking Batoche. From there his artillery began to shell the village while the Gatling gun fired across the river on the Metis entrenched on the western bank. At that point, though, the Canadians were stopped in their tracks by Metis fire. When the militia passed St. Antoine-de-Padoue church, priests waved white truce flags and began talking with General Middleton. Some historians beheve that they told Middleton about the Metis shortage of ammunition, information that would be of vital importance in the coming days. Seeing his militiamen repulsed by the Metis, who effectively held their positions, Middleton ordered them to retire in an orderly fashion under cover of the Gatling gun. As the Canadians withdrew, the Metis and their Indian allies continued to harass them with gunfire from the surrounding bush. Twice, in the morning and in the afternoon, the Metis advanced under a smoke screen of burning grass and tried to surround Middleton's men, but with the aid of the Gatling, the Canadians managed to foil their attempts. Middleton withdrew to the highest ground possible above theriver,where he told his men to set up camp in a zareba fashion (a corral formed by wagons). Under rifle fire from the Metis and Indian allies, he ordered the fortification of the zareba withriflepits and the four 9-pounders surrounded by earth embankments. As darkness fell, the firing petered out, and both sides settled in for the night. Metis and Indian resistance on the first day of the fighting seemed to have momentarily stunned Middleton, while Riel's fighters were in an almost victorious mood. Middleton's soldiers made several probing attacks over the next two days, but gained no significant advantage in the sporadic fighting. On May 10, Middleton tried to demoralize the Metis by pounding them with his artillery. The Metis, however, seemed to have disappeared into the landscape, popping up here and there to harass the Canadians.

rapid-fire Gafling were taking a somewhat demoralizing toll on the Metis. For three days they and the Indians had held the militia in check, but as Middleton had foreseen, it had seriously depleted their limited ammunition supply. From the first hours of the fighting, Riel could be seen walking from pit to pit holding a crucifix and exhoriing his men with prayer to uplift their spirits. According to Dumont, in his reflections about the battle, Riel seemed fearless. By nightfall, Middleton was convinced that the Metis and their aUies were running low on ammunition, while his militia had gained valuable combat experience from the past few days of skirmishing. He made up his mind to attack the next day. Unknown to him, Lt. Col. Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams, commander of Ontario's famous Midlands Battalion, had independently reached the same resolve. "Men," he told his troops, "we can rush the enemy and take Batoche tomorrow." As he had on the first day of the battle, Middleton planned his decisive attack for May 12 to involve a two-pronged assault, but this time both forces would move by land. It began when the general, with 130 men, one 9-pounder and the Gathng gun, moved to the Jolie Prairie overlooking Batoche. He had surveyed the area the previous day, apparently watched by Riel's men. Middleton hoped that the feint he led would draw the Metis out of their rifle pits around the chureh and trick them into moving northward. Thereupon the majority of his troops were to execute a quick flanking movement, followed by a powerful charge. Lieutenant Colonel Bowen Van Straubenzie, with a larger force, was supposed to open fire and move against the defensive lines around the church when he heard gunfire. Because of strong winds, however. Van Straubenzie was unable to hear the guns of the smaller force open fire and thus failed to coordinate his attack with Middleton's action. Annoyed, Middleton withdrew to his camp, but his maneuver had served its purpose. The Metis had in fact been drawn to the north, anticipating a major offensive in that direction. While Middleton lunched minutes later. Colonel Williams or-

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IDDLETON SPENT MOST of May ! 1 in reconnaissance, exploring ways in which to launch a major attack. The Royal Grenadiers from Toronto advanced, and two 9-pounder crews of the Winnipeg Field Battery began shelling Batoche from a ridge overlooking the village, only to be surprised by a number of Metis and Indians who had crept up along the ravine to within 20 yards of the guns. Positioning the Gatlir^ gun ahead of the battery. Captain Arthur L. Howard broke up and repulsed the rebel charge. On the rebel side of the lines, the North-West Field Forces camions and

As Metis defenses collapse, a scout and a soldier of the 90th Winnipeg Battalion encounter a wounded but defiant M6tis. Ordered to withdraw by Dumont 93-year-old Joseph Ouellette replied, "Wait, I want to kill another Englishman." Moments later, he was dead. MAY 2006 MILITARY HISTORY 27

dered A and C companies of the Midlands Battalion to move up to the preceding day's positions. Once they did so, he whispered: "I have not received any orders to do what I am going to do. Batoche can be taken and will be taken today. We will advance through and along this ravine. I only ask you to follow me, and we will go as far as we can. We will be supported by the Royal Grenadiers and the 90th [Winnipeg] Rifles." Each soldier was issued 100 rounds, but the troops advanced without fixing bayonets. As they reached the Metisriflepits and enemy fire intensified, the Midlands troops took cover, returned fire and sporadically but steadily advanced a few at a time. Their success drew the 90th Winnipeg Rifles and the Royal Grenadiers to join the charge. Enraged that the attack had proceeded without his direct order, Middleton told his bugler to sound recall, but the troops ignored it, and the general, realizing that

In the waning hours of the battle, Riel's men, their ammunition exhausted, had resorted to shooting nails, stones and metal buttons h om their old muzzleioaders before scattering into the surrounding countryside. Although their cause was now lost, some 50 to 60 Metis—only 40 with rifles—were still fighting during the final minutes, but they were soon overwhelmed by Middleton's troops. By 7 p.m., the army had rounded up more than 200 Metis prisoners, whfle their women and children began to emerge from cellars and riverbank caves. Even though thefightinghad at times been fierce, casualties at Batoche were relatively light. Middleton had lost eight men killed and 46 wounded, while the Metis dead were listed at 16, with 30 wounded. One casualty was 10-year-old Marcile Gratton, shot at one of the stores as she had tried to make a dash to her mother's hiding place. As her father and mother grieved over her body aifter the battle, a Canadian soldier was reportedly overheard to say, "I'd sooner have let them keep Batoche than to have huri one hair of that poor little girl." The next day, Riel surrendered to a party of mounted scouts and was taken to Regina to stand trial for treason. Dumont managed to evade his pursuers and escaped to the United States, where the Prince of the Prairies appeared for a time in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show. He was pardoned years later and returned to resume the life of a hunter. The rest of the provisional government was caught and charged with treason and other crimes. The other Metis leaders were either imprisoned or, like Dumont, disappeared until a general amnesty was proclaimed. Any Metis fighters who had not escaped were held for later judgment. At his trial, Riel gave two long speeches that demonstrated his powerful rhetorical abilities, and Rie! stands in the dock during his trial for treason in Reglna. The M6tis rejected attempts by his defense counsel to prove he leader combined eloquence with religious fanaticism, but rejected attempts was not guilty by reason of insanity. On August 1, a by his defense counsel to prove he was not guilty by reason of insanity. jury of six English-speaking Protestants found Riel guilty of treason and sentenced him to death. He was hanged in Regina on November 16. 1885. Perhaps the most controversial figure in Canadian history, Williams' unauthorized initiative promised victory, committed Louis Riel led a life that has spawned a massive and diverse litthe rest of his men to their support. The Metis fired the last of their bullets at the oncoming Cana- erature. It is ironic that after so many years of considering him dians. Most waited until the last minute to abandon their posi- a traitor, the Canadian government may soon posthumously tions. When Dumont ordered 93-year-old Joseph Ouellette to pardon Riel and perhaps even officially name him as one of the withdraw, the white-haired frontiersman replied, "Wait, I want Fathers of Confederation. Gabriel Dumont has become a folk to kill another Englishman." Moments later, when the Canadi- hero and is commemorated, among other means, by a provinans overran the trenches and fought their way into Batoche, one cial educational institution whoUy owned and controlled by the young soldier leaped into a trench to find himself sharing it with Metis Nation of Saskatchewan. the corpse of an elderly Metis—Joseph Ouellette. Although they lost the Battle of Batoche, the Metis are curVan Straubenzie's troops broke through the weakened Metis rently making significant strides in their lengthy struggle to be hnes near the church, and the battle was over in minutes as the recognized as a distinct people, with land, economic and social Field Force broke the Metis defenses, sweeping down the slopes rights similar to those gained by their native Canadian counterthrough Batoche, past the emptied rifle pits. Captain John parts. The battlefield, now part of the Batoche National Historic French and Staff Sgt. Walter F. Stewari led the Midlands Bat- Park, rang the death knell to Riel's dream of a "New Nation," talion into the town to begin clearing the houses under inter- but it gave his hardy people a pride in their history MH mittent sniper fire. Moments later, French was shot dead, and Stewarts cousin. Captain Ted Brown, was also subsequently Canadian author Habeeh Salloum specializes in Canadian, Arab killed by a sniper In the process of clearing Batoche, the Cana- and Latin American history, travel and the culinary arts. For furdians found and freed 17 surveyors, storekeepers and settlers ther reading, he recommends: Louis Riel: The Rebel and the who the Metis had captured and held in a 10-by-12-foot hole in Hero, by Hartwell Bowsfield; and The Battle of Batoche: British the ground for 18 days. Small Warfare and the Entrenched Metis, by Walter Hildebrandt. 28 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

FACING THE

Wrath of Khan Shah Ala al-din Mohammed knew that killing emissaries was a violation of diplomatic custom. Perhaps he didn't realize that killing Genghis Khan's envoys amounted to suicide. By Kim Stubbs

n 1218 Genghis Khan's expanding Mongol empire came into direct contact with the Islamic world for the first time, specifically the central Asian kingdom of Khwarezm, which covered much of present-day Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, as well as parts of Iran and Afghanistan. It also controlled the wealthy Silk Road cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, Urgench, Khojend, Men' and Nishapur Although the population was predominantly Muslim, the country wasrivenwith tribal and ethnic tensions. Warfare was incessant, and the army, a large part of it foreign mercenaries of Turkish origin, oppressed and teiTorized the indigenous people. The shah of Khwarezm, Ala al-din Mohammed, was a violent and unstable libertine who the Pei^ian chronicler Juvaini described as "constantly satisfying his desires in the company of fair songstresses and in continual drinking of puiple wine." The incompetence, arrogance and brutality of Mohammed's rule, and more particularly his disastrous diplomatic response to ihc emerging Mongol power on his eastern border, would have dire conse-

quences not only for his own kingdom but also for the whole Islamic world. Genghis Khan had already established an excellent intelligence network among the mainly Muslim merchants who traveled the Silk Road. He was no doubt aware of the political situation in Khwarezm, and his ultimate strategic goal may well have been to exploit thai instability. Initially, however, his stated aim was to establish mutually beneficia! trade relations between the two empires. Commerce with their city-dwelling neighbors was essential to the nomad Mongol economy. Most of their clothing, for example, was acquired from these sources, and large amounts of grain were also imported into Mongolia. At that time, the Mongols were in the process of subduing the Jurchens. Originally a nomadic tribe from Manchuria, the Jurchens had conquered a large slice of northeastern China and established themselves there as the Jin dynasty a century before. Mohammed was aware of the Mongol invasion and had heard tales concerning the savagery of Mongol armies from his own am-

Opposite:ln 1220 a city is laid waste and its populace condemned to death for resisting Mongol invaders, in Genghis KhanConqueror of Khwarezm, by Angus McBride. Left: A Persian portrait of Genghis Khan (The Granger Collection, NY).

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bassador, who had arrived in the Jin capital of Zhongdu around 1215, soon after it had fallen to the Mongols. According to his emissary's reports, the city was still surrounded by mountains of human bones and lakes of human fat. He also reported that 60,000 young women had thrown themselves from the city walls rather than fall into the hands of the invaders. The stories were exaggerated, but Mohammed believed them. Suspicious of Genghis' true motives, he rejected the offer of peaceful commerce.

Genghis and his men stomi a Khwarezm fortress, in an illustration from a 1590 Indian Moghul edition of the 13th-century Persian History of the Mongols [Art Resource, NY).

Genghis sent another message to the shah insisting that he wanted trade, not war. According to one source, he referred to Mohammed as "the best-loved of my sons." The message was carried by a lai^e delegation of merchants, all of whom were Muslim. Theii- brief, after delivering the conciliatory (if somewhat condescending) words of the Great Khan, was to initiate commercial contact with the Islamic kingdoms. Genghis' intentions were possibly no more sinister than he had stated. Still in the process of subduing the Jin, he was unlikely to have wanted to deliberately involve himself in another conflict at the opposite end of his already sprawling empire. When the meirhants arrived in the Khwarezmid border city of Otrar in 1218, however, the governor, a relative of Mohammed's, accused them of spying and had them arrested. It seems unlikely that this course of action would have been taken without Mohammed's complicity. In a last-ditch attempt to avoid war. Genghis dispatched three emissaries, one Muslim and two Mongols, to Mohammed's court with a request that the governor be handed over for appropriate punishment. The Mongol emissaries merely suffered the humiliation of having their beards shaved off before being sent back to Genghis. The Muslim envoy, on the other hand, was put to death. Mohammed then compounded this already unforgivable violation of diplomatic custom by ordering the imprisoned trade delegation executed as well. When word of those atrocities reached Genghis,

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he vowed to avenge the murder of his ambassadors. Leaving a holding force in China to contain the Jurchens, who had been driven south after the loss of Zhongdu but remained undefeated, he turned the rest of his army westward to attack Khwarezm. There are conflicting reports as to the size of this army, but it could have numbered at most 200,000 men. and possibly as few as 90,000. Mohammed had a significantly larger force at his disposal—possibly as many as 400,000 soldiers—but due to his unpopularity, he was disinclined to place it under a single command structure for fear it would be turned against him. In addition, his ambassador to China had advised him that while the Mongols were invincible in open battle, they sometimes experienced difficulties when attempting to invest walled cities.

After three days the city garrison tried to break through the Mongol lines and the majority were annihilated. The citizens of Bukhara, abandoned by their defenders, opened the^ates. Those two factors encouraged Mohammed to di\ide his army and garrison the components in the major cities of the kingdom, a strategy that was to greatly benefit the invading Mongols. The Mongol military machine that marched on Khwarezm was in many ways fundamentally different from the one that the young Mongol Temujin had forged in the process of becoming Genghis Khan less than two decades before. While retaining the speed and flexibility of nomad cavalry, the traditional strengths of the steppe peoples, the Mongols had been introduced to the art of siegecraft in the course of their campaigns in China. They now had access to the most sophisticated techniques available at that time. Equipment such as battering rams, fourwheeled mobile shields, fire tubes, trebuchets and siege bows had become standard inclusions in the army's baggage train. This never-before-seen combination of nomadic mobility and military technology would prove devastating, as Shah Mohammed was about to discover. Predictably, the first city to draw the Mongols' attention was Otrar. where the governor whose actions had instigated the war remained in command. The army reached the town in the fall of 1219, and Genghis assumed personal control of the attack, issuing strict orders that the governor was to be taken alive. After five months of siege, one of the city's senior military leaders tried to flee through a side gate. He was captured and promptly executed by the Mongols, who then immediately forced entry into the city through the same gate. Otrar was quickly captured, and the governor retreated to the town's citadel along with several hundred followers. The citadel held out for another month, during which time the defenders, realizing they were doomed, launched wave after wave of suicidal charges against their besiegers. Finally, with all their missiles spent and most of his men dead, the governor and his remaining bodyguards retreated to the top floor of the fortress, where they were reduced to pelting their enemies with bricks and tiles. Despite this desperate last stand, the governor was captured alive as per the Great Khan's orders. One source states that he was executed by having molten silver poured into his eyes and ears. The surviving inhabitants were led away into slavery, and the city itself

was demolished. The destruction was so complete that Otrar never recovered, and the site remains uninhabited to the present day. While the siege of Otrar was still in progress, Genghis sent his eldest son, Jochi, norih along the Syr-Darya River toward the large city of Urgench, south of the Aral Sea. A small contingent of 5,000 men was sent south to reduce the city of Banakat. Leaving two other sons, Chaghatai and Ogodei, to mop up in Otrar, Genghis and his youngest son, Tolui, led a third army toward the wealthy trade centers of Bukhara and Samarkand. Genghis had already discovered the effectiveness of terror as a component of war Slaughtering the populations of cities that opposed him sent a clear message to their neighbors that resistance would not be tolerated. This brutal strateg\' conversely often resulted in the avoidance of unnecessary bloodshed. When the Mongol soldiers reached the town of Zamuk, 200 kilometers north of Samarkand, tales of their savagery preceded them, and the citizens opened their gates without afight.Staying only long enough to destroy the town's citadel and draft a contingent of young men into his army, Genghis continued his march west, capturing the town of Nur before arriving outside the great city of Bukhara around February 1220. Bukhara, with a population of about 300,000 and a history stretching back 500 years, almost rivaled Baghdad as a seat of Islamic culture and learning, It had a library of 45,000 books, some of the finest architecture in the Muslim world and was described by one chronicler as the "focus of splendor, the shrine of empire, the meeting-place of the most unique intellects of the age." Genghis immediately laid siege to the city. After three days the city garrison tried to break through the Mongol hnes. and although a few managed to fight their way clear to the Amu-Darya River and safety, the majority {about 20,000 men by one account) were annihilated. The citizens of Bukhara. abandoned by their defenders, opened the gates. A few hundred soldiers still remained barricaded in the citadel outside the town with their families. Genghis brought up his assault engines^mangonels, catapults and huge siege bows that could fire projectiles the size of telegraph poles—and started MAY 2006 MILITARY HISTORY 33

Mongol aiTny as slaves. Genghis then let his soldiers loose on the deserted city and its helpless population. Bukhara was stripped of its assets, and its young women were raped. To compound the disaster, a fire broke out within the walls and the city, which apart from the mosques and palaces was constmcted largely from wood. Bukhara, the "dome of Islam in the east," was left a smoldering, desolate iTiin. One account tells of Genghis Khan gathering the wealthier citizens together and delivering the following pronouncement from the pulpit of Bukhara's main mosque: "I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."

Another illustration from the Moghul version of History of the Mongols shows Genghis Khan demanding the surrender of buried monies from a city he has taken. Genghis had a well-publicized policy of sparing cities that did not resist-and of annihilating any that did CArt Resource, NY).

to batter the fortress. A large contingent of townspeople was assembled and driven toward the walls. The defenders were foi"ced to respond by pouring burning naphtha down on their fiiends and neighbors, and the moat was soonfilledwith their corpses. It was a brave and desperate fight against overwhelming odds, but after 12 days the citadel was pounded into submission. The few male survivors "taller than the butt of a whip" were executed. What followed was typical of the treatment afforded those who had the temerity to resist the Mongols. The inhabitants of Bukhara were ordered to leave the city with only the clothes on their backs. Any who were foolish enough to try to hide in their houses were rounded up and killed. The sumving population was divided into three groups: Artisans were deported to Mongolia, where they would continue to practice their crait for the benefit of the conquerors; men of fighting age were inducted into the army to be used as shock troops during subsequent battles; and the rest were distributed among the 34 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

In March 1220, Genghis marched on Mohammed's capital, Samarkand. Described as "the most delectable paradise of this world," Samarkand was more hea\ily fortified than Bukliara. and its defenses had been further strengthened when news of the Mongol invasion had arrived. It also possessed a much larger ganison than Bukhara—as many as 100,000 troops by some accounts, although the numbers vary wildly from source to source. This is doubtless the reason Genghis captured the western city of Bukhara first before doubling back to attack Samarkand. The fall of its nearest neighbor would have been a blow to the city's morale as well as ensuring there would be no reinforcements from that source. Samarkand lies on the Zarafshan River in modern-day Uzbekistan. The Mongols approached the city along both banks of theriverand surrounded it. By then, Genghis' sons Ogodei and Chaghatai had completed the subjugation of Otrar and Joined their father, along with their troops. Genghis ordered the prisoners from Bukhara forward, canying battle standards to make his army appear even larger than it was. Those same hapless captives were subsequently placed in the vanguard of the initial assaults against the city walls and used as cannon foddei" to absorb the bnmt of the defense. On the third day of the siege, Samarkand's garrison launched a sortie. Employing their well-practiced tactic of feigned retreat, the Mongols lured them farther and farther from the protection of their walls before tuining on the overextended enemy force and wiping it out. About 50,000 Khwarezmid soldiers died in that one engagement. Shah Mohammed tried to relieve Samarkand twice with cavalry, but neither

force was able to break through the Mongol lines. After a siege that lasted onlyfivedays, the great city stirrendered. The surviving members of the Turkish garrison, with the exception of 2,000 diehards who remained defiantly barricaded in the citadel, offered to join the Mongol army in exchange for clemency. Genghis accepted this offer, but only honored his promise until the last pocket of resistance was eliminated. He then had the entire garrison—approximately 30,000 men— put to death. Perhaps the last straw for Mohammed was a forged letter Genghis arranged to have fall into his possession, containing a list of generals who were piuportedly on the verge of betraying him. This welltimed piece of deception, coming as it did on top of the recent string of military disasters, was apparently too much for the shah. who fled westward. When this news reached Genghis, he sent two of his top generals, Jebe and Subedai, in pursuit with orders to track down and kill Mohammed. With Samarkand captured, Genghis turned his attention toward the prosperous city of Urgench, located approximately 750 kilometers northwest of Bukhara, where the marshy delta of the Amu Darya River feeds into the Aral Sea. It was an important trade center and the nexus of several caravan routes. A network of canals provided irrigation, and a series of dikes protected the town from flooding. Mohammed's mother, Terken Khatun. controlled the city. Genghis, aware there was still a substantial army in that part of Khwarezm. sent envoys to negotiate a surrender, assuring Terken that it was not her but her son against whom Genghis was waging war. At about the same time the emissaries arrived, Terken received the news that her son had fied and decided it wotild be prudent for her to do likewise. With several members of her family, she escaped westward, taking refuge in Mazandaran. But that fortress was soon captured and the whole family was sent to Genghis. He had the men executed and divided the women among his commanders. Terken

A Persian miniature depicts the Mongol siege of Samarkand in March 1220. After five days, during which Mohammed made two unsuccessful attempts to relieve it the city surrendered. An estimated 82,000 of its garrison were either killed in battle or put to death [AKG-lmages].

Khatun was sent back to Mongolia and spent the rest of her life in captivity. Meanwhile Jebe and Subedai continued their pursuit of Mohammed. In April 1220, they followed him across the Amu-Darya River into the province of Khurasan but lost the trail around the city of Nishapur. Mohammed continued his flight, reaching the shore of the Caspian Sea with his few remaining retainers, including his son Jalal ad-Din, around December 1220. Following the advice of some local emirs, he procured a boat and rowed to a small island in the Bay of Astrabad, where he died soon after. Some sources cite pneumonia as the cause of his death, but other writers have attributed it to the shock and despair of having so quickly and comprehensively lost his once great and wealthy empire. With most of the royal family dead or in captivity, one of Mohammed's generals, Khumar Tegin, seized control in Urgench, assuming the title of sultan. Genghis sent his sons Ogodei and Chaghatai to attack the city fixnn the southeast while their elder MAY 2006 MILITARV HISTORY 35

Merv sgovernor, Mujir-al-Mulk, offered to surrender if the lives of its people were spared. Tolui agreed to the terms to hasten the end of the siege, but went back on his word as soon as the city had been handed over.

brother Jochi, who had been campaigning along the Syr-Darya River, approached from the northeast. During the closing days of 1220, the jaws of this massive pincer movement closed. The siege of Urgench would prove the most difficult in the whole campaign. Not only was the town well defended, it was surrounded by marshes, and there were no large stones available for the Mongols' catapults. They improvised by chopping mulberrv trees into projectile-size chunks and hurling them at the city walls. Prisoners were driven forward to fill in the moat and sap the walls, and after only a few days the invaders forced their way into the town. The inhabitants continued to resist bravely, defending their city street by street and house by house. Mongol tactics did not lend themselves to urban warfare of this kind, and they suffered greater losses than usual. To further complicate matters, Jochi, who had been promised the city once it was captured, was eager to seize his prize in as pristine condition as possible and stopped the fighting several times to try negotiating a surrender. Those delays angered his brother Chaghatai and resulted in a serious rift between the two. When Genghis heard of their dispute, he appointed Ogodei commander, and the siege was resumed without further delay. Urgench fell in April 1221. As usual, the artisans were sent to Mongolia and the young women and children enslaved. As punishment for resisting, the rest of the population was massacred. According to Juvaini. this task was assigned to 50,000 Mongol soldiers who were given the responsibility of executing 24 prisoners each. If this calculation is correct, the civilian death toll would have reached 1.2 million. Whether by coincidence or intent, the dike holding back the Amu-Darya River broke, and a large portion of the city was flooded, drowning many lucky enough to have survived the massacre. While the siege of Urgench was still in progress, Genghis sent his youngest son Tolui across the AmuDarya River to subdue the western province of Khurasan. Juvaini reports that Tolui's force numbered only 7,000 men, but those Mongols were probably augmented by Turkish troops who, seeing the direction the war was taking, had begun deserting the crumbling Khwarezmid army in large numbers. 36 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

Tolui reached the city of Merv in February 1221. Merv, locally known as the "Queen of Cities," had existed since the 7th century BC and at the time of the Mongol invasion was one of the most important cultural centers in the eastern Muslim world. Its 10 libraries were said to contain 150,000 books, and it was in the tower of the city's observatory that the great poet and astronomer Omar Khayyam compiled his renowned astronomical tables. Juvaini described Merv in the following terms: "In extent of territory it excelled among the lands of Khurasan, and the bird of peace and security flew over its confines. The number of its chief men rivaled the drops of April rain, and its earth contended with the heavens." Merv's garrison comprised 12,000 men, and the city's population, normally 70.000, had swollen to 10 times that number due to the influx of terrified refugees seeking protection from the Mongols. Tolui rode around the city for six days, becoming familiar with its outworks, walls and moats, then on the seventh day launched an assault against the town's Shahristan Gate. The defenders responded with a sortie but were soon beaten back. The Mongols failed to break into the city, however, and took up positions in a series of rings around the beleaguered fortress. The next day Merv's governor, Mujir-al-Mulk. believing his position was untenable, offered to surrender the city on the proviso that the lives of its people were spared. Unfortunately for Merv, they were facing arguably the most bloodthirsty and vicious of Genghis Khan's offspring. Tolui agreed to the terms to hasten the end of the siege, but went back on his word as soon as the city had been handed over. The entire population was herded into the plain outside the city walls. A small contingent of 400 artisans and some of the city's younger children were marched away into slavery. The rest of the population was slaughtered. Juvaini reported that every Mongol soldier "was allotted the execution of three or four hundred persons" and added, "So many had been killed by nightfall that the mountains became hillocks and the plain was soaked with the blood of the mighty." A contemporary tally, conducted over a period of 13 days, arrived at a staggering figure of 1.3 million dead. From Merv, Tolui continued his march west.

reaching the large city of Nishapur in April 1221. In No\ember of the previous year, Tolui's brother-in-law Toquchar had been killed during an unsuccessful assault on the town, and Tolui was bent on revenge. When Nishapur fell after only three days, he ordered the entire population massacred. Even the cats and dogs were not spared. The city was so thoroughly dismantled that the ground where it had stood could not be plowed. Heart, the last settlement of any significance left in the area, wisely chose to surrender without a fight. Tolui returned to his father's camp at Talaqan to report that he had successfully completed his mission; the province of Khurasan with its well-defended cities and substantial armies had been completely subjugated in less than three months. Shah Mohammed's son, Jalal ad-Din, was still at large. He rallied the remnants of his father's once great army and retreated south into present-day Afghanistan. In the spring of 1221, he engaged the lorce pursuing him near the town of Parwan, indicting on it the first and only major defeat the Mongols suffered in the entire campaign. When the news of that battle's outcome reached Genghis, he marched south with his own army and trapped Jalal on the banks of the Indus River. The Khwarezmids put up a brave defense but were overwhelmed. Jalal managed to escape across the Indus, but Genghis, recognizing that he no longer posed a threat, declined to pursue him. With Jalal ad-Din gone, all organized resistance to the Mongols ceased, and the

greatest power in central Asia was absorbed into the Mongol empire. Juvaini certainly exaggerated the level of destruction inflicted on Khwarezm during the Mongols' two-year campaign. His figure of 2.5 million killed during and immediately after the sieges of Urgench and Merv alone seem impossible when contemporary estimates indicate that the entire population of the empire at that time was not much more than 3 million people. For example, it seems unlikely that Bukhara, after being subjected to the level of destruction that Juvaini reported, could be described only 40 years later as a flourishing and wealthy metropolis. Nevertheless, the westward expansion of the Mongol empire was undoubtedly a catastrophe for the Islamic world in general, and Khwarezm in particular The archaeological evidence confirms this. As Juvaini said, "With one stroke a world which billowed with fertility was laid desolate, and the regions thereof became a desert and the greater part of the living dead and their skins and bones crumbling dust; and the mighty were humbled and immersed in the calamities of perdition." MH

Once described as "the most delectable paradise of this world." Samarkand survived Genghis Khan's campaign and was later revived in importance when one of his self-proclaimed descendants, Timur-i-lenk, or Tamerlane, made it his capital in the late 14th century (Art Resource, NY).

Kim Stubbs is an Australianfreelancewriter specializing in ancient atid early medieval history. For further reading, he recommends: Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the World, by Leo de Hartog; and Genghis Khaa by Michel Hoang, translated by Ingrid Cranfield. MAY 2006 MILITARY HISTORY 37

\Battle Re

John Churchill, Duke of''Marlbqj?(!Sugh, was willing to call off an assault—e/en one that was going well—if it would help throw his opjpnent out of position.

PETER EDWARDS

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t the beginning of the 18th century, the major powere in Euronp—France, Spain, England and Hapsbui^ Austina—maintained a delicate bedance of power on the edge of a knife. That balance was broken, however, by the insatiable imperial ambitions of Louis XIV, king of France. Encouraged by Louis, King Charles II of Spain, who was on the vei^e of death and without an heir, named Louis'grandson, Philippe de Bourbon, due d'Anjou, successor to the Spanish throne. The unification of the Spanish and French thrones—and empires—under the house of Bourbon was unacceptable to all the other nations oi Europe, e.specialiy Hapsburg Emperor Leopold I. Since he and Louis XIV had both manied daughtei-s of Spain's late King Philip IV, Leopold declared that the Spanish throne should go to his son—and King Charles II's cousin—Archduke Charles of Austria. When negotiations failed, the mlers turned to their generals to find a resolution on the battlefield. Since the start of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701, John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, had assumed a pivotal role in the Grand Alliance against France, especially after he, in outstanding collaboration with Austria's Prince FrancoisEugene of Savoy-Carignan, won a stunning victory over a Franco-Bavarian army at Blenheim on August 13, 1704. As captain-general of English forces, his campaign plan for 1706 was to march the allied aimy south to drive the French out of Spain and northern Italy Upon arrival at The Hague on April 25, however, his grand plan unraveled. With the war dragging on, France was economically ex-

In an illustration oHhe Pursuit of the French After the Victotyat Ramillles, LL Col. Henty Lumley's cavalry engages horsemen of the Maison du /?oy and runs down fleeing French soldiers.

38 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

RAMII

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LIES

MAY 2006 MILITARY HISTORY 39

John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, won instant renown when, in outstanding collaboration with Austria's Prince Frangois-Eugene of Savoy-Carignan, he engineered a stunning victory at Blenheim on August 13,170A.

Secret informants, however, soon brought Marlborough news of King Louis' intent to move Marsin's army into Flanders. There, if Mai"sin joined with Marshal Francois de Neufville, due de Charost et de Villeroi, Marlhorough knew it would mean disaster for the allied campaign. Accordingly, Marlborough took to thefieldon May 13. When his English and Dutch forces mustered around Tongres on May 17, another of Marlborough's allies, Karl I Alexander, Duke of Wuittemburg, and his Danish cavalry were still two days' march away. To make matters worse. King Fiiedrich I of Pixissia was delaying the deployment of his Hanoverian and Hessian troops until various grievances he had were addressed. Facing the dilemma with his usual verve, Marlborough resolved to advance immediately on Namur along the general line of the Mehaigne River, without the Danes and Hanoverians. His hope was to provoke the usually cautious Villeroi to action before Marsin's army arrived. Villeroi was just as eager to confront Marlborough. He had been under constant pressureft-omVersailles for a decisive victory, especially after those early triumphs of Marshals Marsin, Villars and Vendome. Moreover, Villeroi beamed with confidence in his ability to outgeneral the famous English captain-general, That combination of pressure and pride led him to risk all by seeking out Marlborough.

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arlborough was completely suiprised when intelligence reports arrived telling how hausted. To mask this. King Louis decided to initiate a flurrv' of Villeroi, his ally Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, and militarv' campaigns as a show of strength to secure a "fair peace" their combined army of 74 battalions of infantry and 128 from his foes. To that end, Louis' Marshals Ferdinand, comte de squadrons of cavalry was on the march. Villeroi's forces had left Marsin, and Claude Louis Hector, due de Villars, launched un- their position near Louvain under orders to recapture Leau seasonably early offensives in Alsace while Marshal Louis- while Marsin moved north to Metz, ready to reinforce his adJoseph de Bourbon, due de Vendome, did likewise in northern vance. Thereafter, if all remained calm on the Moselle River, Italy, cioishing allied armies in both places. both armies would take the field in Flanders. Villeroi soon Those defeats, coupled with the timidity of Marlborough's passed the Dyle River on his southward route, moving boldly Dutch allies about sending their forces so far from home, forced on Tirlemont (Tienen). him to abandon his plans for Spain and Italy Resigning himAs Marlbourough advanced toward the plateau of Mont St. self to another campaign in Flanders, Marlborough wrote Andre on May 19, his leading scouts sighted the enemy. Marlgloomily, "God knows I go with a heavy heart, for 1 have no hope borough instantly sent word for the Duke of Wurttemburg and of doing anything considerable unless the French do what I am his cavalry to join him with all speed, then ordered his own very- confident they will not...." Why, he wondered, would the army south. With luck, the Danes would arrive in time and he French fight in Flanders? By maintaining their strong defensive would be able to assemble 74 battalions and 122 squadrons to lines in the Spanish Netherlands, they would be free to increase meet the French. their power of attack in Italy and Spain. On May 22, Villeroi believed the allied army was a full day's 40 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

march away when it in fact already had been joined by the then to Franquenee in the south. East of the French line and Danish cavalry at the small village of Corswarem. As for Marl- the Petite Geete lay the plateau de Jandrenouille, where he borough, he thought Villeroi was still approximately 20 miles would deploy his army. away in Judoigne when he actually was also approaching the Marlborough especially noted how the stream called the plateau of Mont St. Andre, with the intention of encamping Jauce lay just beyond Jandrenouille's crest, where it could not close to the village of Ramillies. be seen from Ramillies. His trained eye then quickly sized up In the early hours of Whitsunday, May 23, the duke sent an the difficulties posed by the marsh-lined Petite Geete to his right advance guard of 600 horse under Quartermaster General and the similar ground bordering the Mehaigne on his left. William Cadogan's command to reconnoiter the high ground Marlborough and his staff decided that the land called for the between the Mehaigne and the Petite Geete for the next en- main clash to occur on the plain before Ramillies. Then they campment. The allied army followed at 3 a.m. in three great adjourned—it was time to deploy. columns of horse, cannons and musket. Heaw fog resulting By then, it was 11 a.m. Allied troops made their way through from days of rain enshrouded the army and would have hin- the cornfields with bayonets glinting atop shouldered arms, while dered its advance had not Marlborough, who had campaigned the French continued their own deployment. On the slopes opthroughout Flanders, known the territory well, fog or no. posite the Geete far to his right, Marlborough posted his 12 Beyond the village of Merdorp, the ground falls into a grad- renowned English battalions and squadrons, along with ual incline. There, at 8 a.m. in fog-laden daylight, Cadogan German and Dutch infantry units. crossed paths with a party of French hussars. Cadogan held firm As the English marched, the bright red of their coats traced on the rise as the Guards exchanged fire with the French, who a line through the green com, captivating Villeroi and all those swiftly retired. Just then the mist who had witnessed or experienced began to dissipate. Before Cadogan's their dauntless ferocity in battle. Just eyes lay a broad sweep of gently unrecently Louis had warned Villeroi to dulating, open country, free of trees "pay particular attention to that part and hedges. which will bear the brunt of the first shock of the English troops." With his spyglass, Cadogan could see movement highlighted by the Marlborough's center, with some sloping sunshine on high ground 30,000 soldiers, deployed across some four miles to the west. from Offus and Ramillies as he perThrough the ever-thinning mist rode sonally supervised the positioning of Villeroi's advance guard. Cadogan his 100 cannons and 20 howitzers. promptly sent a courier back to Thiriy-four 24-pounder howitzers Marlborough, warning him of the faced Ramillies, and fiarther batterenemy's proximity. ies overlooked the Petite Geete and the far-left flank facing Franquenee. By 10 a.m., Marlborough, Count In the meantime. General Overkirk Hendrik Van Nassau, Lord of Ouwerdrew up the 69 squadrons of Danish kerk (Overkirk), the Dutch deputies and Dutch cavalry on the center left, and the allied staff reached Cadogan. as battalions of Dutch guards took The mist was still thick enough to position on the extreme left flank obscure their view, so they could not before Franquenee. ascertain whether it was Villeroi's whole army or only a strong advance Villeroi's right flank rested in the contingent of horse. Marlborough \'illages of Taviers and Franquenee by ordered his cavalry to the fore just in IVlarshal Frangois de Neufville, due de Charost et de the Mehaigne River. Because of the case as the mists rolled away, reveal- Villeroi, was confidently eager to confront and undulating ground, only the uppering the distant village of Ramillies, outgeneral the notorious Marlborough. most spires of those villages were visseething with antlike figures, their ible to the rest of the French line. His equipment flashing in the sunlight. center lay secured, slightly forward Allied aides raced away to hasten the approach of the allied in- of his Hne, on the rise of Ramillies itself, giving him a comfantry and artillery, now marching in eight great columns. manding view of the north and east. To his left lay the village of With the campaign newly begun, weather and fatigue were Offus and beyond that Autre-Eglise. A shallow valley where the yet to dim the high spirits of the French infantry as they stood Petite Geete flowed protected both these villages. to with their great artillery batteries and splendid cavaW Villeroi was mindful to avoid the disastrous deployments of France had excelled in producing such a fine body of troops. In tioops that had helped Marlborough defeat the French at the words of French Brig. Gen. Jean Martin de la Colonie, one Blenheim two years before. He stationed five battalions of incomrade believed, "If defeated now, we could never hope to fiintry in Taviers and Franquenee on his far right flank. No order withstand them." was given to hold the Mehaigne marshes on their right, howAs the French deployed, Marlborough conducted a careful ever. He packed 82 squadrons of cavalry; including the Maison reconnaissance of the area, deciding how best to attack. He du Roy, the famed French Household cavalry, interlining them could see that the French line ran in a long concave curve of with several brigades of infantry, on the plain that was his center three to four miles from Autre-figlise in the north to Ramillies, right. In and around Ramillies, he stationed 20 battalions and MAY 2006 MILITARY HISTORY 41

a dozen triple-barreled cannons. More battalions and cannons were posted to Offus and Autre-Eglise, along with 50 squadrons of horse. In numbers of men, the opposing armies were equal, but Marlborough had half as many more cannons as Villeroi. French standards and colors now stood proud and erect above well-groomed, disciplined infantry and cavalry formations. To Marlborough's professional eye, this French army was the best he had ever seen. Even so, he knew that by taking the defensive Villeroi had given him the initiative. From his position on a swell of land midway between Ramillies and Taviers, Marlborough enjoyed a panoramic view of the field. Villeroi, however, still watching the red-coated English infantry, failed to realize that the undulations of the ground obscured his view of the field to his right almost completely.

defenders with disciplined platoon volleyfire.Systematically the massed English ranks closed on the defenders through the pall of powder smoke. Their supporting cavalry floundered forward through the stream, but the Geete's marshes quickly proved problematic for the cavalry to support the surging infantry. At that point, Villeroi could see that the Petite Geete was not so protective after all. His left flank was quickly falling into peril as the fearsome scarlet-coated English made their way up the slope toward the edges of red-brick Offus and Autre-Eglise. Before long the battle ran from building to building, with the French garrisons giving ground before the English onslaught. With growing anxiety, Villeroi sent word to his center right between Ramillies and Taviers for heavy reinforcements of infantry and cavalry. Thefightingaround Offus continued to grow in intensity. Lord Orkney later said of the fight, "I think I never y 1 p.m., all the troops were in position, and Mai'lbor- had more shot about my ears." While the Redcoats charged over ough ordered his artillery to open fire. As French guns the Geete, the small battery of allied cannons blasted the French swiftly answered those of the allies, two allied columns positions to splinters as the Dutch Guards fought toward and advanced from the extreme left and right. General George into Franquenee and Taviers. Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, commanding the allied right, adCompletely isolated from the action on their far left, with vanced on Offlis and Autre-Eglise as the Dutch Guards attacked their men rapidly retreating before the Dutch onslaught, the along the Mehaigne. French commanders decided that their right flank was where Muskets crackled, filling the air with acrid smoke and cries the allies planned to punch through. With a quick order, 14 as volleys scythed through Orkney's advance. Despite the on- squadrons of dragoons and two battalions of Swiss mercenary slaught, the Redcoats struggled on through the marshes and troops with a Bavarian brigade in support rushed out to counstream, scrambling up to firm ground and re-forming their terattack. As the dragoons dismounted to traverse the marshes, ranks. The English then advanced up the slope, shredding the Danish cavalry swept in, cutting the French to pieces. Not long after, the Swiss and supporting Bavarians were flying before another Danish onslaught, leaving the French right gravely weakened. Battle of RamiUic ln the midst of that action, Hanoverian Maj. Gen. Alexander von der Schulenburg made headway with the infantry toward Ramillies. As Schulenburg advanced, Overkirk's allied cavalry, supported by Dutch, Gemian and Swiss infantry in Dutch pay, moved forward at the trot like four great chains, reaching from the Mehaigne to embattled Ramillies. The first line of French and Bavarian cavaliy crumbled before allied horse and saber. Once the allies broke through, a battle royale commenced as the infantry Villeroi had interspersed with his cavalry sprayed Overkirk's cavalry with shot. As the allied cavalry recoiled from French fire, 13 squadrons of the Maison du Roy countercharged. Before the relentless wave of famous French regiments—the Gardes du Corps, the Gens d'annes. the Mousquetaires—all under the protective fire from Ramillies batteries, Overkirk's charge dissolved into chaos, giving ground to the French and exposing Schulenburg's left fiank. At one point, the Maison du Roy broke through the allied cavalry lines and flew straight into the face of platoon fire from four Dutch battalions, bringing a respite for the beleaguered allied horse. Al 3:30 p.m. the French were finally driven out of Franquenee and Taviers, while far to the Suddenly calling off an attack by General George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, on the north Orkney was on the verge of completely French left, Marlborough saw greater possibilities by shifting his main effort to the forcing the French from Offus. Marlborough enemy right, between Ramillies and Taviers.

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42 MILITAKY HISTORY MAY 2006

Allied infantry, commanded by Hanovenan Maj. Gen. Alexander von der Schulenburg, faced stiff opposition from Bavanan Grenadiers, Cologne Guards and Swiss mercenaries in French service as they fought their way into Ramillies and captured the enemy commander.

then made a number of important decisions. Soon afterward an aide-de-camp galloped up to Lord Orkney and relayed the dukes surprising order to call off his attack and retire across the Geete. Knowing the righteous anger it would raise in Orkney, Marlborough ordered no fewer than nine other aides-de-camp, including his quarteiTnaster genei:al, Cadogan, to enforce the order Marlborough's primary tenet in warcraft was to position infantrr, cavalrv' and artillerv- together for mutual support in both attack and defense. Cadogan explained to the greatly vexed Orkney that the cavaliy could not support his advance if he went on just then. Since Marlborough had realized he could not attack effectively to the north, he had decided to make his grand attack between Ramillies and Taviere. More French strength poured into Offus and Autre-Eglise even as Orkneys troops disengaged and swiftly retired down the slope, then back across the Geete. Villeroi congratulated himself on turning their thrust, but those scarlet lines now stood ready. Might they attack again? If they did, then his left flank would still be in danger. That logic led Villeroi to keep the infantry and cavalry he had taken from his center south of Ramillies in Offus and Autre-Eglise. With the lines now re-formed on his side of the Geete, Marlborough enacted his second key decision. He ordered 39 of Orkney's squadrons down the hidden stream to strengthen his

center. Soon after that, he ordered the first of Orkney's two lines of infantry to march over the crest, as the cavalry had done, while the second line stood to just before it. Six aides-de-camp then ordered the six concealed battalions' color parties to remain behind the crest to maintain the appearance of a second line, while the rest of the troops marched south to form a reserve behind Marlborough's main force. The terrain and smoke hid from Villeroi the massive danger now developing beyond Ramillies. His entire center left and left flank, perhaps 30 percent of his army, stood mesmerized by Orkney's one thin red line and the regimental colors fluttering above the crest beyond it. There is still debate whether Orkney's withdrawal was a planned feint or a serious probe to the sector that, once proved unfruitful, was recrafted for quick gain. Either way, Orkney had attacked that day with weight and power, causing Villeroi to order 50 squadrons away from his center to counter Orkney's assault. Marlborough had now obtained his previously secret objective: to unbalance Villeroi's strength.

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s Orkney's troops and horse changed position, Overkirk's charge continued to disintegrate. Seeing the danger, Mariborough flung himself into the fray at the head of 17 squadrons, including the Danes, who had quickly regrouped MAY 2006 MILrrARY HISTOKV 43

The greater aUied numbers fiom the front, the right and behind gradually forced the French to yield ground, their line bending back like an overstrained longbow. The grand attack had become a fearsome slogging match. Marlborough's action had bought the time needed to feed the cavaliy troopers he had taken from Lord Orkney into the melee, their movement completely concealed from Villeroi by the rising ground along the Jauce. All the while, smoke billowed around Ramillies as the battle roar rose to new heights. The 12 battalions under General Schulenburg. including Scottish regiments in Dutch ser\ice, drew up in four great lines along the front and left of the village. As Schulenburg intended. French fire was drawn from Marlborough's cavalry and was soon outclassed by allied musketiy. Before long, the French garriAs his hitherto uncommitted and still fresh cavalry follow up his victory into the night, son was locked in its own defensive posiMarlborough accumulates an impressive collection of French regimental standards, in tion, subsequently unable to threaten the Battle of Ramillies, by Henry Dupray. Marlborough's left flank. Suddenly the French line crumbled. after their action against the Swiss and Bavarians, to shore up The French squadrons desperately stiiiggled to re-foim their the allied left. The French dragoons recognized the duke, re- line at right angles to their original eastward front. As they did, splendent in his bright red coat and blue sash of the Order of however, the unrelenting Danes paced them, re-foiming their the Garter, and with a cry they charged in to cut him down. At line to face north, then sweeping forward carrying the tumulus precisely the wrong moment, Marlborough's horse stumbled in known as the Tomb of Ormond (d'Hottomont). Following the a ditch and threw him from the saddle. With the French bear- attack, hostilities on the plain ceased as the allied ranks hurried ing down, he managed to regain his footing while an aide-de- to reorder themselves. camp rushed to give him a fresh horse. The guns still blazed in Ramillies, which now formed the General Robert Muiray quickly brought up two Swiss bat- hinge in the bowed French line. Schulenburg's battalions talions to cover the captain-general's retreat. So hot was the stormed the outer defenses, pushing the Swiss battalions out French pursuit that when Marlboroughfinallyrode through the from their positions, gaining the outskirts of the village. Seizstaunch tines of Murray's Swiss infantiy, the pursuing dragoons ing the advantage, Schulenbui^'s troops quickly took the Bavarcould not rein in and ran onto eager Swiss bayonets. ian Grenadiei's from the right flank, driving them and their foot Moments later. Colonel James Bringfield, the duke's equem; guards through the village center. Two battalions of Cologne brought him another fresh horse. As the colonel held the stir- Guards stood firm, though, and Alessandro, marquis de Maffei, rup to help Marlborough mount, a cannon ball whistled by, ordered his Bavarians to occupy the road out of Ramillies in shearing Bringfield's head h'om his shoulders. According to one the hope the Franco-Bavarian cavaliy still held the high ground. eyewitness account, the ball actually passed under Marlbor- His maneuver it'gained him some of the village, but not for long. Reinforced by 20 battalions from the allied center, Schulenough's right leg as he swung it over the saddle. It is no surprise, then, that an eyewitness wrote about the incident that the duke burg redoubled his push against Maffei until the Bavarians "fulfilled that day all the parts of a great captain, except that he broke. In the panicked flight that followed, Maffei mistook allied exposed his person as the meanest soldier." Such willingness for French horee and was taken prisoner, while his fleeing into lead from the front and fight as the rank and file earned him fantrymen were intercepted and cut to pieces. the affectionate nickname "Corporal John." Orkney's squadrons had now started to flood onto the field, I about 5 p.m., a pause came in the fighting. Unknown forming a line on the right, giving numerical superiority to to Villeroi, however, Orkney's battalions were pouring the allies and pause to the French. Before the fresh squadrons jnto the allied center. An hour later, Marlborough gave could reach the French line from the front, the Danes under Wurt- JL yet another JLii decisive order. Bugles blared, alerting everv' man on temburg wheeled into the Maison du Roy fi'om the left. Simul- the field between Ramillies and Taviers of what was to come: taneously, Landgrave Ludwig of Hesse-Cassel and the Dutch the general attack. Guards burst into the French line. General de la Colonie, a witWithin a half-hour, the French line buckled and broke before ness to the spectacle, recalled that the allies, "profiting by their ihe weight of allied numbers—and with it, French morale. The superior numbers, surged through the gaps between our French had not retreated more than 40 yards before all fell to squadrons, and fell upon their rear, while their four lines at- confusion and whole brigades fled in disorder. tacked in front." Continued on page 70

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44 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

Battle or Lewes REVOLT OF THE BARONS

46 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

On May 14, 1264, King Henry III confronted Simon de Montfort and his noblemen, but it was the impetuous Prince Edward who decided the outcome of the battle. BY DAVID A. JOHNSON

' r r a A TERRIBLE FLOURISH of trumpets, Edwai'd Piantagenet. prince of England, led his mounted knights at full gallop toward the infanti-y of Simon de Montforl, who were charging down Oftham Hill to meet them. The rattling armor of the knights added to the din made by the shouting men, rearing horses and thudding hooves. Earl Simon's foot soldiers, a contingent of volunteers from London, were lightly armed and inexperienced in battle. Prince Edwards horsemen charged right tlu'ough their ranks, chopping with swords, axes and maces. After recovering from the shock, the surviving Londoners di opped their weapons and ran from the field. Most of them tried unsuccessfully to hide among the rocks and hollows along the slope. The opening phase of the Battle of Lewes on the morning of Wednesday, May 14, 1264, was turning into a rout for Earl Simon's outnumbered army and a rousing triumph for the royalist forces of King Henry III of England.

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Henry and Simon had been at odds with each other for yeai^, though it had not always been so. Bom in Montfort d'Aumauri, Normandy, in 1208, Simon de Montfort had come to England in 1230 to reclaim land owned by his family. King Henry liked the young Norman nobleman and not only gave him his lands but also made him earl of Leicester In return, Simon promised to pay a fee of 100 pounds sterling and supply 60 knights in time of war, and was made the king's steward. Simon, however, secretly married the king's widowed sister, Eleanor, in 1238, without asking Henry's approval. Their friendship cooled from that point. Moreover, while the maiTiage gave the ambitious Simon hnancial security and a sudden rise in social position, it eamed him the enmity of the church, to which Eleanor had taken an oath of perpetual widowhood after the death of her first husband.

At Amiens in January 1264, French King Louis IX arbitrates the Provisions of Oxford between England's King Henry III and his barons, led by Simon de Montfort, in a painting by Georges RougeL Not too surprisingly, the French monarch judged in the king's favor (Art Resource, NY].

When the king's brother, Richard of Cornwall, organized a party of English knights for the Crusades, Simon—deciding it might be best if he left the country for awhile—volunteered to go with him, and took Eleanor as far as Italy He returned to show his maiiial mettle in 1248, when Henr\' appointed him governor of Gascony. Fending off French challenges to the temtor\' eamed the earl a reputation as "the wisest and stoutest wairior in England," but the king envied his prowess and distrusted his ambition. For his part, Simon came to see that HeniT was neither a strong military leader nor a forceMAY 2006 MILITARY HISTORY

In an illustration by Graham Turner. Prince Edward and his knights crash into hapless London foot soldiers on Simon's left wing at Lewes. The prince's breakthrough would decide the course of the battle, but not in the way he expected.

fui king. The adjective most often used by contemporaries to describe the king was "simple."

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he denouement began in May 1258, when Simon and the leading members of England's nobility confronted the king and demanded a more active role in running the countn; There was a precedent for this, of course—the Magna Carta, signed by Henry's father. King John, in 1215, had guaranteed a number of rights to all Englishmen on paper, with the barons gaining the most power in practice. When John died in 1216, loyal barons had done most of the decision making for the 9-year-old King Hem-y IIL Now, fearing the prospect of civil war, Henry agreed to the Provisions of Oxford, whereby the king would submit all decisions to an advisory council consisting of 15 barons, including Simon—a forerunner of Parliament. Needless to say, Henr>' did not take kindly to the provisions or to the restrictions they imposed. He

48 MIUTARY HISTORY MAY 2006

was soon ignoring the barons' advice and tried buying them off with gifts w henever they complained. That failed to deter Simon, however, who insisted on a permanent council. The dispute between the king and his brother-in-law festered for six years, until they both agieed to have King Louis IX of France act as arbitrator to settle their differences. In January 1264, at a gathering known as the Mise of Amiens, Louis annulled the provisions. The French king opposed limitation.s of royal power on principle, and informed Earl Simon that he bad no right to interfere with Henry or his government. Louis' judgment left Simon with a choice: either give up his dream of curbing royal power and authority, or fight. The earl decided to fight. In the coming conilict, Simon would be able to call on a slightly larger number of men than the king. Of the 400 mid-13thcentury knights known by name, only about 100 were recognized as royalists— though it has also been estimated that there were as many as 12,000 knights throughout the kingdom. Besides those mounted knights, contingents of armed tradesmen from London and other cities also sided with ihe barons. These levies tended not to be \ery well trained, however. On one occasion, a group of Henry's courtiers broke up a drill parade of one of the amateur units, informing the men that the profession of arms was "not fit for bran-dealers, soap-boilers, and clowns." c Both Henry and Simon spent the M I spring of 1264 preparing for war. On Palm Sunday, April 5, Henry's eldest son. Prince Edward, captured the town of Norihampton from the barons. One of Edward's prisoners was Earl Simon's son. Northampton's most determined defenders turned out to be a group of Oxford scholars who shot at Edward's men with longbows, crossbows and slings. Simon retaliated by laying siege to Rochester Castle on the Medway River in Kent. The royalist garrison managed to beat back each attack, however, and held off the barons for eight days. Late in April the earl received word that Hemy and his army were threatening to attack London, one of the barons' main strongholds. Simon immediately broke off the siege and began marching northwest, hoping to intercept Henr\' before he could reach the city. Unknown to Simon, the king actually had no interest in London. What he wanted was control of Kent and Sussex, the land between London and the English Channel ports. If he could control thai part of England, he could keep communications open

with France and his allies there. Therefore, instead of moving on London. Henry attacked a baronial unit outside Rochester Some of the prisoners he took were tortured—this may have been the age of chivalry, but it was honored more in word than in deed and was usually reserved for the noble classes. From Rochester, the royal forces moved southeast. Earl Simons castle at Tonbridge was captured on May 1. The king s army then went on to Winchelsea and Romney. Outside Romney, Welsh archers who supported the earl harassed the king's men from the cover of woods along the roadway. Henrys harried men stopped at Lewes, in Sussex near the Channel coast. Earl Simon's army was right behind and camped at Fletching, eight miles to the north. King Henry spent the night in the priory at St. Pancras, about half a mile south of Lewes, while his 21-year-old son Edward took up residence in Lewes Castle, west of the town, The royalists enjoyed a decided numerical advantage at Lewes, and the hotheaded young Prince Edward was spoiling for a fight. On May 13, the bishops of Chichester, London and Worcester delivered terms on Simon's behalf to King Henry. Simon ofifered to withdraw his army and pay Henry 50,000 marks if the king said he would promise to obey the annulled Provisions of Oxford. The royalists had nothing but contempt for the earl and his terms, the acceptance of which both Henry and Edward would have regarded as an admission of weakness. Henry rejected the offer, and Edward remarked that he would only be satisfied when Earl Simon was hanged for treason.

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ow realizing that battle was inevitable, Simon led his men out of Fletching that evening and stopped just north of Lewes. His commanders suggested a night attack against the royalist forces, but Simon rejected it—attacking under cover of darkness, he said, would be cowardly, treacherous and dishonorable. Instead, the baronial forces did not begin moving south toward Lewes until first light on May 14. Simon turned off the roadway at the town of Offham, and his men began trudging up the side of Offham Hill. Offham Hill is steep and high, overlooking the neighboring countryside for miles. A lookout could have seen the baronial army well in advance and sent a warning to Lewes. Luck was with Earl Simon that

morning, however. His advance scouts found only one royalist lookout on the hill, and he was fast asleep. The surprised sentry was taken prisoner, and the army continued undetected toward Lewes. When forward units came within sight of the bell tower of St. Pancras priory, where King Henry still slept, the baronial army halted and was formed into divisions by its commanders. The exact size of Simon's force is not knoun, but most sources put it between 4,000 and 5,000 men, with an additional 600 cavalry, Not only were his troops outnumbered, but most of Simon s most experienced and trusted commanders had also been taken prisoner in earlier skirmishes. The baronial army, whose men were described as dressing in Crusader style with a red cross on a white shift, deployed in the customary three divisions, or "battles." The center was commanded by Gilbert de Clare. Earl of Gloucester, one of Simon s most trusted lieutenants, also known as Gilbert the Red. The right was led by Henty de Montfort, Simon's son and an experienced soldier in his own right. At the head of the left wing was Sir Henry de Hastings, a veteran of two Welsh campaigns. Though Sir Henr>' was an excellent commander, Simon expected little from his battle, since it consisted primarily of lightly armed Londoners with little or no combat experience.

Though neither a forceful king nor a stout military leader, Henry I l l portrayed here around 1250resisted the barons' adding to the powers they had obtained in 1215through the Magna Carta.

As a reserve, another force of Londoners was placed behind the three main battles. Far to the rear were the baggage wagons, along with Simon's personal cart, described as a four-wheeled chariot. The earl had recently broken his leg by falling from his horse and had had to direct operations from that cart, but at that time it was occupied by three frightened London businessmen who had been caught trying to sell information to Prince Edward. Simon would decide what to do about them after the battle. By that time, the royalist army had been alerted and was drawn up for combat. Its estimated 9,000 men included 1,500 armored knights. At its head was King Henr\' himself, who had elected to lead his supporters despite his own military deficiencies. At his left was his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who liked to call himself "King of the Romans." Commanding the right battle was Prince Edward. Much has been made of Prince Edward's military skill, and he has been romanticized at great length as "Longshanks" and "Hammer of the Scots." Edward, M^y 2006 MILITARY HISTORY 49

Anticipating a confrontation with the barons. Prince Edward stationed himself in Lewes Castle (shown here], while King Henty spent the night at the Cluniac priory at St Pancras, half a mile to the south.

gave the order, but the order was given, and soon both sides were rushing toward each other. The cavalry made contact first, as mounted knights crashed into each other with a clang of armor. Almost at once, the ordered ranks disintegrated, and the fight broke into individual combats as horsemen hammered and hacked at each other with maces and long, heavy swords. Some fell to the ground, their armor split. The chain mail that predominated among them could stop a blow from a club or mace, but the impact would pass right through it, often resulting in broken bones and hemorrhaging. The odd pieces of plate armor they wore and their flat-topped, cylindrical helmets were more effective against most weapons, although a heavy sword could split even plate. The horses too were sometimes protected with coverings of chain mail, leather or quilted cloth, depending on what the individual knight could afford.

however, was also greedy, sadistic and violent—^attributes his adoring official biographers tend to overlook. In one instance, witnesses reported that he "horribly mutilated" a young man he met on the street, for no apparent reason. He also stood by and watched as some of his men looted a priory at Wallingford—afterward, he probably collected his share of the loot. Edward's courage remains undisputed, but his glaring character flaws also played a large part in his military career. His cruelty and obsession with \engeance would affect his judgment as much as his more publicized traits.

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he royalists had advanced only about a quarter mile from Lewes when Earl Simon ordered the three battles of his force to charge—by taking the initiative, he reasoned, his outnumbered army would have an advantage. It is not known who on the royalist side first saw the charge coming and

50 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

Simon's left wing, commanded by de Hastings, was confronted by the royalist right, led by Prince Edward. Only a thin line of armored knights stood between Edward and his paladins and Sir Henrys green London infantry-men. Outnumbered, the baronial horse soon began falling back, leaving the line of foot to absorb Edward's next charge. Eoot soldiers, including archers, wore a padded doublet called a gambeson that helped soften the impact of a club or mace, The primary infantry weapon was the spear, but some of Simons London contingent may have picked up pitchforks, scythes or other farm implements during the march. Even experienced infantrymen would have been hard-pressed to hold their own under the conditions that de Hastings' men faced at Lewes. Sir Henry's raw London troops had no chance at all. They broke ranks and fied. Some headed toward the west, hoping to hide in the woods, while others tried to escape across the Ouse River to the east. Edward, sensing an easy victory, gave chase. Besides tactical reasons for launching a pursuit, he had a personal grudge against Londoners because of the

way they had treated his mothei" the year before—as her barge had passed under London Bridge, crowds threw stones and rotten fruil at her. Now the prince was determined to have his revenge. For about four miles, he and his hoi^semen pursued the Londoners and cut down a large number of them. About 60 men also drowned in the Ouse. In the course of that pursuit, Edward's cavalry came upon Earl Simon's baggage train, as well as his personal cart. Expecting to find the earl, the royalists were disappointed to find only three prisoners. Without bothering to inquire their identity or which side they were on, the horeemen killed the captives— apparently, having cut down so many men already, three more did not seem to matter. Edward's men took their time looting Earl Simon's baggage after killing most of the men who had been left to defend it. By the time he gathered his scattered horsemen and led them back to the battlefield at Lewes, it was early afternoon. Edward was confident that tbe royal force had routed the barons. Instead, he discovered that Simon had won full possession of the field, that his father was being held prisoner in St. Pancras priory and that the royal forces were in

but to comply, Cornwall emerged from his hiding place and was marched through Lewes by his captors. The mob relished eveiy bit of the irony in seeing the king's brother, who had grandly insisted on calling himself the King of Rome, covered in the dust and dirt ofthe mill from which he had been flushed. Prince Edward and his lieutenants managed to size up the situation at once. He was all for reviving

full retreat.

uring Edward's wild pursuit of the London contingent, the battle had been lost—as a direct result, in fact, of his ill-judged chase. When he saw the prince's right wing, one-third of the royalist forces, go charging off into the distance and out of the battle, Simon had brought up his reserves and attacked the royalist center and left battles en masse. The earl probably did not lead the attack himself, but he took part in the wild melee of individual combats that ensued. King Heniy though not as renov^oied as his son for battlefield exploits, reportedly fought honorably and well at Lewes. His gaudy red-and-gold banner made it easy for evei"y one on both sides to recognize him on thefield,and he had two chargers killed fiTjm under him as he managed to throw back a determined attack by Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester. He soon realized, however, that he wasfightinga losing battle. Outnumbered, the king and his household knights retreated to St. Pancras priory. Only the steadfastness of his life guards saved him from death. One of his knights, Philip Basset, left the field with 20 wounds. The commander of the royalist left, Richard of Cornwall, also acquitted himself well, but he did not have the king's household cavalry to support him. Ultimately his outnumbered force also broke and ran toward the Ouse. Cornwall himself sought shelter in a mill, which came to be known as the Mill of the Hide. The mill was quickly surrounded by an armed mob that gathered outside wa\'ing weapons, calling Cornwall obscene names and demanding that he surrender to them. Realizing that he had no choice

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the battle and attacking Simon de Montfort pei^onally, convinced that if he killed the earl, the baronial cause would die with him. His men, however, wanted no part of that plan. They were now heavily outnumbered and stood little chance of finding Simon, let alone sla\ing him. While Edward's commander left the field and rode off to the south, the prince and a handful of followers decided to fight their way to St. Pancras. Their reward when they reached the priory was to be taken prisoner as well. Edward's reward for his final act of impetuous valor was that he remained a hostage for more than a year. After spending a night in the priory with his son and his followers as captives, Heniy agreed on May 15 to discuss terms with Earl Simon. Throughout the day's negotiations, priests acted as intermediaries, coming and going between the priory and Simon's headquarters in the town of Lewes. No copy of the

Typical infantry of Henry Ill's time ranged from yeomen in mail or a padded gambeson to crossbowmen, depending on the combatants' skills and what they could afford. Unfortunately for Henry de Montfort, his Londoners were poorly equipped and woefully inexperienced.

MAY2006 MILITARYHISTORY 51

Henry III at the Battle of Lewes, by Felix Philippoteaux. The king fought honorably and well on May 14, 1264, but with Edward and his right wing gone, he was overwhelmed and driven back to St. Pancras priory, where he surrendered the next day (Bridgeman Art Library].

treaty, the Mise of Lewes, has survived, and nobody has recorded exactly what its conditions might have been. It is certain, however, that it left Simon de Montfort with more power and prestige than he had had before—and King Henrv with less. With that agreement sealed, there remained the unpleasant task of disposing of the slain. The streets of Lewes were lined with dead and wounded, and most of the latter would also die. The abbot of St. Pancras priory put the number of dead at 2,700, most of them peasants. The helmets and armor of the knights was more than the average peasant could afford. A second reason for class disparity in the number killed was the profit motive—a captured knight could be held ransom for a considerable sum, determined by his rank and station, whereas a peasant soldier was worth nothing but killing.

used as fill for an embankment then under construction. Wliether they were the remains of Henry's or Simon's men is unknown. After the Battle of Lewes, England had two rulers. Henry was still king, but Earl Simon. Gilbert the Red and the Bishop of Chichester headed a committee of barons, church leaders and two representatives of each town who held control over the rights and power of the crown. Simon's de facto reign would be coloiful but brief. After Gilbert, accusing Simon himself of behaving too much like a king, met with Prince Edward and raised an army against him. the earl would die fighting at the Battle of Evesham on August 3, 1265. For the time being, however, as Winston Churchill wrote in his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, "Simon de Montfort was now in every respect master of England." MH

n 1846, during construction of a railway line through the site of St. Pancras prioiy, excavators discovered a mass of human bones in a well about 18 feet below ground level. There were enough bones tofill13 freight cars—probably well over 1,000 skeletons. The bones were taken from ihe site and unloaded a short distance away, where thev were

David A. Johnson, who writes from Union, N.J., recommends for further reading: The Complete Guide to the Battlefields of Britain, hy David Smurthwaite; The Magnificent Century, hy Thomas B. Costain; The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, hy Antonia Fraser; and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, hy Winston Churchill.

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52 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 20D6

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U-Boat

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Survivor's Story German submariner Peter Petersen survived three patrols aboard U-518, He missed the fourth—during which it was lost with all hands. BY ROGER STEIN WAY

he tide of war turned in the Atlantic Ocean during the summer of 1943. For three yeai^, Germany's Unterseehoote had ravaged Allied shipping as the hunters. Now the U-boats and their crews became the hunted, as Allied warships and air power gained the upper hand. Making his first of three patrols aboard U-518 during that fateful summer was 20-year-old sailor Peter Petersen. "We were caught by six American destroyers after an unsuccessful attack on a baby escort carrier; our boat went deep a.s the destroyers made run after nm on us with depth chaises. That was an awful time. They were throwing tons of depth charges at us. Explosions all around us, and there was nothing we could do about it. We had to take it." Petersen shared his recollections with Roger Steinway in July 2001. Military History: Where were you bom? Petersen: I was bom in 1923 in a little town called Husum on the North Sea. This is in Schleswig-Holstein, south of Denmai'k. MH: Do you have any early memories of Germany's troubles during the 1920s and '30s? " Petersen: I remember the elections in 1932 and the great change in 1933. There were placards with campaign slogans being put up by the many political parties. The election was really between the National Socialists and the Communists. I do recall some fistfights during the campaign, but no shooting. That might have happened in other parts of Germany—not where I lived. MH: What changes did the Nazi government bring to your life? Petersen: I joined the Hitleqngeiid. Actually, there was a group before you joined the Hitler Youth called the Jungvolk, for 10- to 14-yearolds. I belonged to both these groups. We met every Saturday morning and had plays, hikes and war games. We would divide into two groups and put different colored thread around our aims. The goal was to attack the other guy and tear the thread off his arm. If you did this, he was out of the game. My life was like any

other child's—happy as a lark and not worried about things that didn't concern me. I went to school and worked on the farm. I was 16 years old when World War II started and had begun my apprenticeship to be a mechanic. I worked on farm machinery and diesel engines. MH: What did you do when war broke out in 1939? Petersen: The policy was for students to complete their education before military service. I went to school a couple of times a week and worked as an apprentice in a repair shop. There was also work on the fann because my father had been recalled to service. He had served with the infantn' during World War I in France. He was a reservist in September 1939. I vividly remember the start of the war. There was a knock on the door in the middle of the night, and a messenger told him to report for duty at once. In a few weeks he was in Poland. My mother, brother and I ran the farm. My father was discharged after Poland. He was 40, and food production was important. MH: Did your father later return to militaiy service? Petersen: No. My brother Max was drafted and served in the Russian campaign with the infantr\'. He was shot in the head, which took out a chunk of his skull. They fixed him up with a steel plate, and he is still alive. MH: Any special reason you decide to join the Kriegsmarine? Petersen: You bet—good ones! The sea is in my blood. I was bom next to the sea. T still can enjoy every rivet and comer of a ship. I did consider the Luftwaffe because I would have liked to fly a Messerschmitt Me-109 fighter, but I was probably too tail to be a pilot. As a mechanic, 1 thought they would let me fix fighters, not fly one. The final reason for joining the navy was that I did not want to get drafted

Opposite: Engineers man the controls of a German U-boat during World War li. Left: Peter Petersen offered his mechanical talents to the Kriegsmarine because, as he put it "The sea is in my blood" [Opposite: The Granger Collection, NY; Left: Peter Petersen via Roger Steinway]. MAY 2006 MILITARY HISTORY 55

Type HC U-boats fill a German submanne base. As one ot the leading students in his class. Petersen got to take a cruise aboard one of these 250-ton "school boats" in the Baltic Sea CCorbis).

into the infantry, go to Russia and freeze in a foxhole at 30 degrees below zero with nothing to eat while being shot at. MH: When did you enlist in the navy? Petersen: It was in 1942. Boot camp was at Zwolle in Holland. That is where I volunteered for submarines. A lot of people did, but many were nol accepted because they were not in good physical shape. My trade was in demand. The U-boats needed men with mechanical backgrounds. Submarine school was in Pillau on the Baltic Sea. Most ofthe training involved classroom work leaming about tbe engines and the different systems, it took about three months, and it was very hard work. The commander ofthe training flotilla was a total idiot—a martinet. His name was Captain Zerpka. He demanded everything be done on the run. He was very picky about the way one should report to him. The officers and men disliked him intensely. Of course, there was a bidden benefit. Eveiyone, including the officer, was so damn scared of him that they did their duty There were also good things. We lived on the cruise liner Rohert Ley. It was nice, gracious living—ver\' clean. Four students shared a cabin. As pan of the Nazi "Strength Through Joy" program, the ship had made prewar ciTiises as a reward system for factory workers and party members who did well at their jobs. It was used as an accommodation ship for a good part of the war. MH: How did you do in training? Petersen: I always did well at school. One of the rewards for the top students was to go out in one of the training submarines. These were small Type TIC 250-ton "school boats." As we sailed MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

out into the Baltic Sea, the petty officer asked me, "Is this your first time going underu'ater?" I said, "Yes, sir." He replied, "Remember this time when you go down for the last time!" MH: Did that first dive bother you? Petersen: No, it was rather unsensational. Tbe boat tilts a little bit, and you don't know ifyou are 10 feet or 100 feet undeiAvater unless you know what gauges to look at. One of the first things you get through your head in submarines is that the deeper you get, the safer you are—bide and become invisible! MH: Wei e you chosen for your expertise with engines? Petersen: Yes. Tbe German navy was a little different fi om the U.S. Navy. We picked careers because most of us would be career sailors. The navy looks at your background, and you choose a career based on your education. I have regretted since choosing what I did. If I had to do it over again I would choose a career on deck. However, I picked engines, so that was my navy career. MH: Was your intention to be a career sailor? Petersen: It would have worked out that way. The first enlistment was for 4'A years. If you made petty officer by that time, you could sign on for 12 years. I was eventually sent to officer's school, solhad to sign up for 24 years. This was not a problem. I liked the navy and military life. Let's assume that I stayed in for 24 years. There were many government jobs open for the retired military man. I would have been set for life. MH: Where did you go after the basic submaiine coui^e? Petersen: Some of the men went on to other training. I was sent to the personnel pool at St. Nazaire in France and was pro-

and my watch station. I started to grow a beard just like everybody else. The patrol lasted four months, so we all bad big beards when we returned. It made us look older than our 20s. A funny thing happened after the patrol, I kept the beard for a few days, then shaved it off. My shipmates didn't recognize me without my beard and refused to let me board tbe boat. MH: What was life like in a U-boat? Petersen: The inside ofa submarine can moted to the next grade—a Gefreiter witb one chevron on my get very hot. We used our diesel engines running on the surface. sleeve. After returning from a furlough at home, I went to a per- Then we would crash dive and switch to the electric motors, but sonnel pool at Bordeaux. St. Nazaire and Bordeaux were on the all the heat from the diesels stayed. The men usually wore shorts Bay of Biscay, where we had submarine bases. Tbe men [sent and sandals or deck shoes. The space inside the boat was very to] tbe personnel pool helped around the shipyard while wait- small. Supplies are stowed in everv possible place. The smell ing for an assignment. We would stow provisions on a U-boat was also bad. We were given cologne called "4711," but we rarely that was getting ready to go to sea, also stand guard, do further used it. Better to give it to your girlfriend ashore. It might get you some favors. training and go on military exercises. MH: When did you get assigned to a boat? MH: What happened on your first patrol? Petersen: It was on August 17, 1943. A messenger came to my Petersen: The first patrol took us down through tbe Florida room at 7 p.m. and said that I was sailing on U-518 the next Straits into the Gulf of Mexico. Things were getting tough for morning. U-518 was based at Lorient, farther up the French U-boats in 1943. There was a great increase in enemy air and naval coast in Brittany. It was undei^oing repairs at Bordeaux after antisubmarine forces. Many U-boats were not returning. Our an air attack in the Bay of Biscay. It needed a man with my skipper was Kapitanleutnant Friedrich-Wilhelm Wissmann, and training to replace a sailor who had come down with appen- he was aware of the danger. We ran into aircraft off Miami and dicitis. The chief engineer had gone to the personnel office and patrol ships in the Florida Straits. We bad to crasb dive, but nipped through some records and said, "I want this guy." It took were not detected. Fortunately, we had excellent listening deme all night to get ready. I had to get my gear, make a will, write vices. Under the best conditions, we could pick up a ship's proto my parents and do all the paperwork. We sailed the next peller noise up to 30 mUes away. We also had electronic equipmorning. I was badly seasick on the surface of tbe Bay of Biscay. ment called Wanze [bedbug] that let us know if we were being I got it out of my system the first day and have never been sea- tracked on tbe surface by radar. sick since. Of course, tbe ride is mucb smoother when sub- MH: What happened in tbe Gulf of Mexico? merged. Petersen: There were targets, but no success attacking ships. Toi"pedoes didn't explode or went off course. Tbe changes in the MH: What was life like for tbe new guy on a U-boat? Petersen: I suppose it is like in any unit. I was a complete un- temperature of different layers of water prevented us from hearknown, but you get into the routine. I was assigned my bunk ing ships. Other times we would hear them but the boat was not in a good position tofire.We fired on several ships without result. Wissmann fired four torpedoes at one freighter, and they all missed. He thought that the torpedoes were running too deep. The good part was that the enemy still did not know that U-518 was there. If a ship were sunk, the American antisubmarine forces would have been after us. MH: What were the results of your first patrol?

'One of the first things you get through your head in submarines is that the deeper you get, the safer you are.'

Petersen: There were no ships sunk. We came across a baby escort carrier in the Atlantic on the return trip, and Wissmann must have fired eight torpedoes at it.

Crewmen prepare to load the tubes in the torpedo room of a U-boat. According to Petersen, U-518 might have sunk more ships, but many of its torpedoes failed to explode or went off course (AKG Images]. MAY 2006 MILITARY HISTORV 57

A torpedoed Allied tanker, its back broken under the heat of its buming cargo, begins to settle in the Atlantic Ocean in 1942. U-518's victims included the Panamanian-registered tanker Valeria in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Colombia on March 7,1944.

None of them hit. Some of the torpedoes had to be defective. Wissmann was not a bad shot. He couldn't have missed with all of them. The next day an American destroyer found us and summonedfivemore. They attacked us with depth charges. The ship would shake, tbe lights would flicker and small leaks might develop. The leaks were dangerous because tbe boat would take on more water, forcing it deeper. There is a point of no return. The gauges went to 230 meters—about 700 feet. We went past 230 meters—<:lose to 800 feet. There was a lot of water pressure on the hull. Maybe another 10 feet, and we would have gone down. During a depth charge attack everyone is quiet and looks up because that is the direction that the noises are coming from. We were not supposed to use up oxygen moving around and talking. Some people were chalk white. Others would bounce their legs up and down, or pull on their beards. We were encouraged to sleep, but you oniy pretended to be asleep. U-5J8 was attacked with depth charges several times during my three patrols, and it was a great strain, but I never saw a man go over 58 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

the edge. MH: How did U-518 escape? Petersen: We were down for 36 hours. Finally, we had no more air to breathe and the electric batteries were run down. The captain said to abandon ship. We put on life preservers, and each man had a one-man dinghy. If you had something you wanted to save, a wristwatch or a letter from a sweetheart, you put it into a condom. The plan was for the boat to surface, and we would go overboard. The boat would be scuttled. Hopefully the destroyers would pick us up. The captain told us later that after surfacing he saw tbe destroyers on the horizon. Wissmann ordered one diesel to be started and turned our stem to the destroyers. They didn't see us. He ordered the other diesel started, and we hauled ass out of there. We ran on tbe surface for a few boure to load the batteries and air out tbe ship. MH: What happened after your return to Lorient? Petersen: Wissmann was relieved. I think the problem with the torpedoes caused his transfer to tbe training flotilla. Our new

Another Allied merchant ship falls victim to a U-boat By 1944, the Germans seldom scored such successes without eliciting a reprisal from Allied warships or patrolling aircraft, requiring the crew to dive deep.

commander was Oberleutnant HansWerner Offermann—a 23-year-old. I worked in the control room with him. The control room is a great place because that is where the action is. The captain | and chief engineer spend a lot of time ir-' .i J- ' there. The navigator has his comer where | he works. The planesmen and the diving | , - — officer were there. The control room is a very sought-after position. I got my chance to work there as a mechanic before my first patrol under Wissmann had finished. Only the best crewmen worked in the control room. The climate is usually pretty good because of the fresh air coming in through the conning tower when we were surfaced. MH: What was your job? Petersen: One of my jobs was to work the valves that trimmed the balance of tbe boat. Every day we had to make a mathematical calculation of the weight of the ship. Let's say that the cook took 100 pounds of potatoes from storage in the bow of the ship. He would report that and we would enter the information in a log as "100 pounds light on the bow." Theoretically we should take in 100 pounds of water to compensate. It gets more complicated figuring in fuel oil usage. The engineer would report that we used 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on that day. But if you use diesel oil, you don't get lighter. Fuel and seawater are kept in the same tank. As the fuel is used, seawater comes in to replace it. Since the oil is lighter, it lloats on top of the water in the tank. Water is heavier, so the boat gets heavier as we use more oil. You have to know if the fuel came from the tank amidships or astern to keep the boat in trim. Another part of my job was communications. We used the microphone, the telephone

played around with it and accidentally fired both barrels down into the control room. AD these little blue and red fireballs are zipping around, bouncing off the walls. Scared tbe crap out of us! The reaction of the control room crew was fantastic. Tbe doors were slammed shut to keep the balls from reaching the batteries and starting a fire. We grabbed fire extinguishers and chased down the fireballs. By that time the skipper was out of his bunk and in the control room. MH: Is it safe to say that Offermann wasn't happy? Petersen: Oh, yes. Our helmsman explained what he had done. He was relieved from duty and was supposed to be courtmartialed, but he was a good man, our battle station helmsman. He ended up being tbe mess boy for the petty officers for the rest of the trip.. .and we still had three months on patrol. This was an interesting trip because we met witb a Japanese submarine, 1-29, in the Atlantic and transferred Naxos radio equipment and three Germans—two technicians and a navigator. Their job was to guide the Japanese into Lorient. We heard the Japanese coming and surfaced at the arranged spot. We got close, and the Japanese sailoi^ tried to throw us a line but couldn't reach us. We had a line-throwing gun, so we loaded it and fired a line oven The Japanese damn near fell overboard. They thought we were shooting at them. Their sailors wore funny three-quarter-length pants that came down Just below their knees. After our return to Lorient, we ran into the men we had put on the Japanese submarine and asked them how they enjoyed serving with our ally. They bated the food. MH: Did you make it into the Caribbean? Petersen: Yes. I know we attacked several ships and sank a Panamanian tanker, Valeria, on March 7, 1944, off Colombia. Allied planes were on patrol. Aircraft with radar equipment were our worst enemy because they had the ability to surprise us. One time we were causing on the surface. Ever>'thing was quiet, and suddenly, bang, bang, bang—bombs had been dropped by an airplane that snuck up on us. Fortunately, they missed. We rarely had time to identify the types of planes attacking before crash-diving. If we were far out to sea, they were usually long-range, four-engine aircraft like the British Short Sundcrland flying boat and the American Consolidated B-24 Liberator MH: When did you return to Lodent?

The leaks were dangerous because the boat would take on.. .water, forcing it deeper. There is a point of no return.' and speaking tubes to stay in contact within the ship. MH: Can you describe a memorable control room incident? Petersen: Sometimes excitement happens when it isn't expected. We were headed to the Caribbean on my second patrol in January 1944. U-518 was underwater, and we were cruising at slow speed. Tbe helmsman who steered the directional course was sitting by himself in the tower right above us. Al! he had to do was look at the compass ever>' now and then and correct the course by pushing a couple of buttons. It was all done electrically. He got bored and took the signal pistol off the wall. He

MAY 2006 MILITARY HISTOKY 59

to port, but sank several days later in a hurricane. As I mentioned earlier, we could not return to Lorient. We were ordered to Kristiansand, Norway, and arrived in late October. From there we sailed into the Baltic to Stettin. MH: Why did you leave U-518} Petersen: A communique went to all chief engineers asking them to recommend people suitable for officer training. Our cbief engineer recommended me, since I had experience and good grades. I was in officer's school during the winter and spring of 1945. U-51S was lost on its next patrol. American destroyers sank it with all hands on April 22, 1945, in the North Atlantic. MH: Where was officer's school? Petersen: We started in the town of Stzeho, but soon transferred to Wesermunde. We took pre-engineering courses preparatory to being sent to U-518's luck finally ran out on April 22, 1945, when it was attacked by the U.S. Navy destroyer escort Carter ^^-'\^2\ along with Neat A. Scott CDE-768]. In spite of a heavy sea, the academy at Flensburg-Murwig. MH: What happened in May 1945? the Americans' hedgehog bombs struck and sank the U-boat with all hands. Petersen: The British came, and we surrendered. They didn't abuse us, but Petersen: We returned from patrol before the invasion of France, on May 7. We left on what was my final patrol after the invasion started—July 15, 1944. We did not return to Lorient after that patrol. As a result of the Allied invasion, the crew lost all personal belongings in storage at the base—shoes, tailored uniforms, books and pictures. MH: Did you have any trouble in France at that time? Petersen: By 1944, tbe French partisans were very active. You had to be armed if you went off base. After one patrol, several of our crew members were going back to Germany. We had a going away party, and about half the crew—25 of us—decided to escort our friends to the railroad station. We had armed ourselves with rifles, pistols and daggers, any weapon that was handy. A few guys picked flowers along the way and put them into their rifle barrels. When the train was leaving, somebody suggested we send our shipmates off with a salute. He fired his rifle into the air Then the other guys started shooting. I remember seeing a red rose that was stuck in a rifle disintegrate as the trigger was pulled. As we walked back to the base, we ran into a unit of German soldiers ready for a fight. They naturally thought the shooting came from French partisans attacking the railroad train. Our chief petty officer quickly got us into formation, and we tried to march by singing. We were almost past tbe soldiers when one of their officers grabbed the barrel of a sailor's rifle. It was warm, and we were caught. The skipper gave us hell, but he knew we were just blowing off steam. It was also fortunate that we were to sail the next day. Our punishment was supposed to be to drill all night in an open field, but the petty officer told us to lie down and try to get some rest. MH: Where did your final patrol in U-518 take you? Petersen: We sailed to tbe East Coast of the United States. American warships and planes were patrolling, and destroyers attacked us. We did sink a freighter—tbe Liberty Ship George Me, torpedoed on September 12,1944, off Cape Fear, N.C., was towed 60 MILFTABY HISTORY MAY 2006

they didn't feed us mucb either. We were very hungry and scrounged for food. The British told us to get out ofthe school, so we lived on a luxurv' liner that was in port, Europa, for a couple of weeks. Then the British said: "Get the hell out. We are giving this ship to the French." It became Liherte and sailed another 15 years. We were then marched to a camp in a farm area—just an open field surrounded by barbed wire. We stayed for three days while the British registered us. We went to a circle of farmhouses, where we had to fend for ourselves. The farmer helped us butcher horses. Tbe British came along and asked for farmei^s among the prisoners. I said, "I am," which was halftrue. My father was a farnier. Crops were needed, so the Tommies took us to the nearest city. We were given new papers and told to go home. I was about 10 miles from bome, so I walked. I was lucky when you think about the poor fellows out in Russia who spent 10 years in captivity. It even took some of the German prisoners in England several years to be released. MH: When did you come to the United States? Petersen: It took two years for my paperwork. I came on the immigration quota in 1950.1 had sponsors here in Toledo, Ohio. I got a job at 90 cents an hour making window frames. I also got some education and looked for better jobs. I ended up staying with a company for 29 yeai^. Things have gone well for me in America. MH: Were you aware that U--505 went on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago in 1954? Petersen: My wife and I visited Chicago in the early 1960s and toured U-505.1 was showing friends some of the machinery and where my bunk was. The tour guide asked me how I knew so much. I said I had served on a Type IX U-boat just like this one. After tbe tour, the guide introduced me to the director of the museum. Major Lenox Lohr He asked me to help identify' parts from tbe boat in storage. I spent two days identifying parts and explaining where they went on the boat. Major Lohr gave me a Continued on page 70

REVIEWS 'Hollywood supported the war effort,' an airman said. Jimmy Stewart was the war effort.' By Robert Guttman

JAMES STEWART (1908-97) was one of

the most popular and respected film actors of the 20th century, appearing in 91 films over five decades, from the mid1930s lo the mid-1980s. Yel for all his fame and popularity there was another side to him, an aspect about which most of tbe moviegoing public knew nothing. Many people well versed in military and aviation histoiy are aware that Stewart served in the U.S. Anny Air Forces during World War TI, but the full extent of bis activities has never been fully described until now. Starr Smiths new hook Jimmy Stewart, Bomber Pilot (Zenith Press, MBI Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minn., 2005, $21.95) recounts for the first time the movie star's extraordinary militaiy career, from his enlistment as an Army private to his retirement from the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1968, with the rank of brigadier general. The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, brought out a high level of patriotic fervor in Americans in all walks of life, including many film actors who rushed out to volunteer for the armed senices. Stewart, however, had already given up his successful movie career for the AiTny in March 1941, nine months hefore Pearl Harbor. Stewart did not have to go. Initially rejected by the draft for being 10 pounds underweight, he appealed the board's decision and managed lo enlist in the Anny as a private. A licensed pilot since the 1930s, he volunteered for flight training and earned his wings. The 33-year-old Stewart was then assigned as a flight inTo see these reviews and hundreds more by leading authorities, go to our new bookreviewsection at

www.thehistorynet.com/reviews Thek-iistoryNet.com 62 MILITARY HISTORV MAY 2006

"My father would I t s I honorea by this

Air Forces bomber squadrons, is the ideal choice to document this little-known chapter of World War II, as well as Stewart's long postwar career in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserve. The book is based largely on service records and intendews witb officers and enlisted men, which most of the public has not seen before. As one of Stewart's crewmen remarked, "Hollywood supported the war effort. Jimmy Stewart was the war effort." The Devil's Broker: Seeking Gold, God, and Glory in Fourteenth-Century Italy, by Frances Stonor Saunders, Fourth Estate, New York, 2005, $25.95. One of the paintings reproduced in Frances Stonor Saunders' masterful The Devil's Broker is Giotto di Bondone's 77;e

STARR SMITH FOREWORD BV WALTER CRONKITE

structor, where he once again found himself in a position from which he could have sat out the war in relative safety. Instead, he volunteered for combat senice. Stewart spent 22 months with the Eighth Air Force in Britain. Assigned to command a squadron of Consolidated B-24 Liberators, he flew a total of 20 bombing sorties, including some over Berlin. Not content simply to fly missions, however, Stewart also planned and led them. During the course of the war, he earned promotions to group operations officer, wing chief of .stall, and eventually command of the 2nd Bomb Wing. He left the Army Air Forces in October 1945, having risen from private to full colonel in a mere 41^ years. Always a modest man, Stewart avoided publicity during tbe war and rarely alluded to his wartime experiences afterward. Journalist Stan-Smith, who served as operations officer for one ofthe Eighth

Massacre of tlw Innocents (1304-06), which

shows male children being pulled from their mothers' arms and killed by the shafts and blows of mtbless men who stand atop a heap of naked bodies and body parts. This rendering of a biblical event is, sadly, an appropriate aid for understanding events that followed its creation. In the 14th centuiy, chivalry and long-standing rules of war fell apart as the forces of King Fdward HI of England, King Philip VI of France, Pope Ui ban V and others slaughtered each other on an unprecedented scale, while the Black Death left entire cities banrn of life. For some, God may have seemed hard to find in lands ravaged by the Hundred Ycai-s'War. Yet Saunders, an eioidite and sophisticated historian, does not accept the simplistic representation ofthe 14th century peddled b\' many of her colleagues. Such relentless grimness, she writes, ignores tbe genius of Gcoffi'ey Chaucer, "whose exuberant, three-dimensional characters are a lively reproach to the twilight merchants." Saunders' literary tapestiy brings the cenContinued on page 73

P E R S O N A L I T Y Exiled from his native Wales, Davy Gam achieved renown in English service. By Kevin Aycock

family line of my maternal great-grandmother). Dafydd, or David, was a native of Wales and a staunch supporter of the English house of Lancaster. He served with distinction under King Henry IV against fellow Welshman Owain Glyndwr in the latter's uprising of 1400-13 (see Military History, December 2002), and again under Henry V during the renewed Hundred Years' War in France, saving the king's life at Agincourt in 1415. He was also the inspiration and model for the character of Captain Fluellen in Shakespeare's King Henry V,

fine, or weregild. Even then, with vendettas rumored to be brewing against him, he fled to Herefordshire. There, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, whose Welsh holdings included Monmouth and Brecknock, accepted Dafydd's oath of fealty and placed thefierv'Welshman in his retinue of household troops. Dafydd first saw action as part of an armed escort for the religious reformer John Wycliffe, who was being provided protection by the duke. He helped fight off hostile London rioters during that controversial figure's trials for heresy in 1377 and 1378. Dafydd was also among those chosen to go to Spain in 1386 on John of Gaunt's three-year crusade against the Spanish Moors. Having proved himself in battle, Dafydd was appointed an adviser to Heniy Bolingbroke, the duke's eldest son and heir. He joined Henry on his own crusades aimed at infidels in Eastern Europe—forays into Lithuania in 1390 and Prussia in 1392. Wounded during the fighting, Dafydd returned to Wales to convalesce after the duke's triumphant return to England. Though 20 years had passed since his self-imposed exile, Dafydd remained too apprehensive to go back to Brecknock just yet, settling instead in adjacent Monmouth, near Henry's residence.

Dafydd Gam was bom in 1351 in the town of Brecon, which was the seat of the Welsh borough of Brecknock. He was the son of King Henry V battles the French hand to hand at Ayii ILUUI t, Lord Llewellyn of Pen-pont and a member of the Welsh in an illustration by Henry A. Payne. Among the warriors lower nobility, or uchelwr. who rushed to Henry's side was Welsh-bom Davy Gam. His was a distinguished family that could trace its anirS NOT EVERY day that one discovers an cestral roots back to Cradoc of the Strong illustrious forebear in the annals of his- Arm, a 5th-centui-y Romanized Celt and tory or literature. But there he was, my a trusted lieutenant/adviser to Lucius ArAccording to later family tradition, it ancestor Davy Gam, right there in torius Castus, aka King Arthur (see Mili- was during this time that Dafydd Gam William Shakespeare's King Henry V, Act tary History, April 2000). Dafydd was a became friend and confidant to Bolingshort, red-haired man with an unprepos- broke's son, Henry of Monmouth, the 4. Scene 8; sessing appearance, but an affable—if future Prince Hal. The boy looked up to outspoken—personality. His unflattering the older Welshman, who spent much King Heniy; "Where is the number of our nickname, "Gam." meaning "squint-eyed time with him and helped to tutor him. English dead?" David," suggests that he was nearsighted. When Bolingbroke was banished to IreHerald: "Edward the Duke of York, the During his early 20s, Dafydd became land by King Richard II in late 1398, Earl of Suffolk, Sir Richard Ketly, embroiled in a violent feud with his kins- Dafydd was one of the few entrusted with Davy Gam, esquire; None else of man Lord Richard Fawr of Slwch. The the guardianship of the younger Henry. origin of the quarrel is unknown, but it John of Gaunt died in February 1399, and Davy Gam was Sir Dafydd Gam ap culminated in a duel on Brecon High his estates were confiscated by King Llewellyn ap Hyuel (the Gam transition- Street. Richard was killed, and to avoid Richard soon after Incensed at this reContinued on page 70 ing into the modem Gaines, which is the capital punishment, Dafydd paid a large 64 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

INTRIGUE Even as he spurred on Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution, Marshal Lin Biao plotted to depose him, By Blaine Taylor

HISTORIES OF WORLD WAR II are seldom

complete without mention of the Italian Fascist Grand Councils vote of no confidence against Benito Mussolini on July 25, 1943, or the assa.s.sination attempt against Adolf Hitler by some of his army officei-s on July 20,1944. Less understood in the Western world is the long-term plot to overthrow or assassinate Chinese Communist Party Chaiiman Mao Tse-tung by one of his most renowned generals. In China the plot is referred to as the "9-13 Incident," after the date in September 1971 when the man behind it died. Prior to that, the plotters referred to it as the "5-7-1 Project," since the Chinese words for "armed uprising" and "5-7-1" are pronounced the same way. ironically, the man who instigated, planned and led

the coup attempt, Marshal Lin Biao, had been handpicked by Mao to be his successor just a few short years before. Born at Huanggang, in Hubei province, Lin joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1925. Having fought in multiple wars against the Nationalist Chinese Kuomintang and the Japanese, Lin Biao succeeded Peng Dehuai as defense minister when he was 52. Peng's filing in October 1959 had come about as a result ofa letter he had sent Mao criticizing his chiefs Great Leap Forward, the industrial program that had been designed to put China on par with its principal rival powers, the United Stales and the Soviet Union. After enduring eight years of torture at the hands of the Red Guards and then being sent to manage a small farm, Peng died in 1974. Seeking to benefit from the excessively outspoken Peng's misfortune, Marshal Lin set about enacting a cunning, stealthy plan that he hoped would succeed in the course of a decade. His first step, similar to that taken in Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy and the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin, was to foster an exaggerated "cult of the personality" of Chairman Mao. In May 1961, Lin, as defense minister, ordered the Liberation Army Daily news-

Chairman Mao Tse-tung [right) and Marshal Lin Biao on the 20th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in 1969. 66 MILITARYHISTORY MAY 20D6

paper to print a short quotation from the chairman's writings on its front page: "The thought of Mao Tsetung is the highest

manifestation of Mandsm-Leninism." He encouraged the entire populace to "read Chairman Mao's books, listen to Chairman Mao's words, and be Chairman Mao's good soldiers." Having established the importance of a central figure in party affairs, Lin planned to step into that position himself. In his epic 1994 tome The Private Life of Chainnan Mao, Mao's personal physician. Dr. Li Zhisui, noted of Lin, "His conviction for the Chaiiman seemed to me less a matter of genuine conviction than a stepping-stone to power." Simultaneous with the issue of the book Quotations From Chainnan Mao in 1964 came another two-pronged offensive, launched in tandem by Mao and Lin. The firet was the start ofthe Cultural Revolution to root out Mao's opponents within the CCP—amid which Lin purged the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of some 10,000 officers in 1968. The second program was to find a practical way to combat what both Mao and Lin feared most—a preemptive nuclear strike from either the Soviet Union or the United States, in that order. Mao was forced to recognize that his defense minister's oft-stated belief that the gueiTilla tactics used to defeat the Japanese and the Kuomintang would work against such nuclear superpowers as the United States and the Soviet Union was outmoded. Others in China's top leadership cadre wanted to train the armed forces to fight with modem tactics and weaponn'. At about the same time, Lin initiated secret negotiations with the woman who hoped to succeed Mao as chairman: his wife, Jiang Oing. Together she and the marshal waged the Cultural Revolution with such slogans as "Overthrow everything" and "Wage civil war." "With Lin Biao approaching the height of his power, all China was becoming mil-

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itarized," Dr. Li wrote. "Charged with restoring the country (as the Red Guards ran rampant) the Amiy had taken control of government offices and work units at every level of Chinese society. The Party secretaries who had once controlled China's provinces had been removed, replaced by provincial military commanders, and soldiers were in charge of the bureaucratic hierarchy from the top to the bottom, even in the villas frequented by Mao. "Led by Lin Biao. the whole country was studying Mao's thought, and because the Peoples Liberation Army excelled in the study of Mao, everyone was leaming from the Army, too. Everyone wanted to bask in the gloty of the militaw. We all wore military unifonns. Even I did. Only Mao, still insisting on the comfort of his old. baggy clothes, held out. He wore a unifoiTn only for his rare public appearances, to show his support for the Army." Now, slowly, perhaps imperceptibly at first. Marshal Lin began making his moves. In March 1969, China and the Soviet Union fought a series of border clashes over Zhenbao (Treasure) Island, and in the next month Mao publicly named Lin his successor as chainnan at the 9th Party Congress. Next, at the Lushan Conference of Augast 1970, Lin proposed that he be named vice chairman of the CCP, with Mao remaining chairman. In essence, this would have resulted in two chairmen at the head of the Chinese government. Mao would have none of that, and began making his own moves to preserve and even increase his power. One day he surprised his physician with some portentous words: "Think about this. We have the Soviet Union to the north and the west, India to the south and Japan to the east. If all our enemies were to unite, attacking us from the north, south, east and west, what do you think we should do? Beyond Japan is the United States. Didn'l our ancestors counsel negotiating with faraway countties while fighting with those that are near? "The United States and the Soviet Union are different," Mao continued. "The United States never occupied Chinese territory. Americas new president, Richard Nixon, is a longtime rightist, a leader of the anti-Communists there. I like to deal with rightists. They say what they really think—not like the leftists, who say one thing and mean another." Meanwhile, even as he was planning the secretnegotiationsof July 1971 that would

result in Nixon's historic visit to China in Febmarv' 1972, Mao began making his domestic moves to counter his errant marshal who, he avowed, was a rightist within the CCP who he "never fully trusted." Unknown to the chairman, his own personal pilot was brought inside the full range of the plotting, which included kidnapping, poisoning, possibly shooting him or even bombing his special train. A suspicious Mao was already catching on to his defense minister's intentions, however. He changed his travel plans constantly and secretly, keeping his own bodyguards in the dark. He began reducing the militaiy cadres surrounding him and demanded more than ever a strict accounting kept on the knowledge of his whereabouts. Seemingly only his physician came to notice the change in the relations between the chairman and his defense minister. In addition to Mao's being an opium and morphine addict, Dr. Li claimed he suffered from chronic bronchitis at the time, and recalled the chairman plaintively asserting of Marshal Lin, "He wants my lungs to rot." The doctor himself first met Lin in March 1966. "He was one of the country's 10 marshals and reputed to be a brilliant leader^strong, decisive and tough," he recalled. "I shared the general admiration for his military genius....When we were escorted into his room, Lin Biao was in bed, curled in the arms of his wife. Ye Qun, his head nestled against her bosom. Lin Biao was crying, and Ye Oun was patting him and comforting him as though he were a baby, ln that one moment, my \iew' of Lin Biao changed—from bold and brilliant military commander to troubled soul, unfit to lead....Lin Biao was obviously mentally unsound, but Mao was promoting him to the highest reaches of power. Soon he would be hailed as Mao's 'closest comrade in arms.' One day Lin Biao would be governing the entire nation." Informed of Lin's mentally unstable condition by Dr Li in 1971, Mao launched a personal speaking tour of CCP cadres across the country; in an effort to reclaim his surrendered mantle of authority. His decision to act could not have been more timely, as Lin's patiently laid plot was about to reach its critical climax. ON THE SAME DAY Mao anived back in Beijing, September 12, 1971, atelephone call came thi'ough that Marshal Lin had ananged to commandeer a jet plane and tly to the So\iet Union. While Mao and an extra battalion of security troops were se-

questered at the Great Hall of the People—where a few months later he and Premier Zhou Enlai would meet with President Nixon—Lin's armored limousine sped through the streets with police in hot pureuit, a hail of bullets in its wake. As the commandeered plane took off, Zhou recommended that it be shot down with a missile. "Rain will fall from the skies," Mao replied calmly. "Widows will remarry. What can we do? Lin Biao wants to flee. Let him. Don't shoot," The chairman's decision proved to be prescient. "There was no need to shoot," recalled Dr. Lin 23 years later. "We soon learned that the plane had taken off in such haste that it had not been properly fueled. Can">ing at most one ton of gasoline, the plane could not go far. Moreover, the plane had struck a fuel truck taking off, and the right landing gear had fallen off. The plane could have difficulty landing, and there was no co-pilot, navigator or radio operator on board." Initial reports indicated that the marshal had planned to set up a separate government at Guangzhou, but at 2 a.m. word came through that the missing aircraft had entered Outer Mongolian airspace, disappearing from Chinese radar. Informed of that, Mao responded, "So we've got one more traitor." The following afternoon, Zhou reported that an aircraft with nine pereons aboard— a woman and eight men—had crashed in the Ondorhaan area of Outer Mongolia, with no survivors found. On September 16, three days later, dental records confirmed that one of the coipses was that of the missing marshal. "That's what you get for running away," asserted the man Lin had tried to replace and possibly kill. Thus ended the only attempt to overthrow Chairman Mao since 1949—or at least the only one known to the West. Its failure notwithstanding, his old comrade in arms' act of betrayal left Mao crestfallen, and he would never appear atop the gate of Tiananmen Square thereafter. The formal inquiries into Lin Biao's plot continued for two years after his death. Mao Tse-tung died on September 9, 1976, at age 84, and his discredited wife Jiang Oing died at 77 in 1991, allegedly a suicide. As Mao had predicted, the rightists within the CCP did rise to power after his death, though one wonders if they would remain

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Now, too late, Wlleroi decided to call on his 50 squadrons of virtually unused cavalry along the Geete. He ordered them into line at right angles to the old line (facing south) as a measure to cover the army's red^eat, but theyflounderedinto the French camp. Fear quickly spread, and it was not long before all 50 squadrons were fleeing through the slower French infantn; Suirendeni began as regiments of foot commanded by Marlborough's brother. General Charles Churchill, and Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough, drove three French battalions into the Geete marshes. The Regiment de Picardie fell victim to the Scottish Brigade as Lt. Gen. Heniy Lumley's cavalry, the Scots Greys and King's Dragoon Guards crossed the Geete to round up the Maison du Rov. The bulk of Villeroi's anny fled to Judoigne, pursued throughout the night by the English cavalry, who werefreshestfor the hunt. Villeroi and the Elector of Bavaria were nearly captured by Lt. Gen. Comelius Wood, who failed to recognize them but made prisoners of two Bavarian lieutenant generals. So ended the glorious day of Ramillies. The allies had lost 1,066 killed, including Ludwig of Hesse-Cassel, and some 3,633 wounded, which was far less than at their previous triumph at Blenheim. The French had lost 8,000 men killed or wounded, with 7,000 taken as prisoners. Marlborough's crown of triumph was soon adorned by 50 of Villeroi's cannons. along with 80 standards and colors. Marlborough's victory at Ramillies saved the Low Countries from further French dominion. With Villeroi disgi'aced and his army obliterated so early in the campaigning season, Marlborough and his allies went on to a string of major conquests. By early October, nearly all of the Spanish Netherlands had fallen to the allies. The war was far from over, but with the Netherlands behind him, Marlborough could now brandish his triumphant sword that much closer to Louis XIVs own French soil. MH

piece of the pressurized hull that had been cut out to make the tour entrance. Years later, Keith Gill at the museum contacted me and asked if I would like to help again. I have visited Chicago several times for special events. The museum is trying to raise funds to refrirbish U-505. The boat was not designed to spend nearly 50 years outside in Chicago's weather MH: Your interest in ships has opened a few doors for you. Petersen: I have sailed aboard the nuclear submarine Tautog and a U.S. Navy destroyer. I have also been aboard the aircraft carrieryo/in C. Stennis. The most interesting opportunity came from the Russian na\y for their 350th anniversary. 1 was one of a group of Americans invited to Russia. I suspected that they knew about my German navy senice. A Russian officer confirmed this when he said, "So Mr. Petersen, I understand that you were in the engineering branch of submarines." We went aboard a Russian submarine and inspected an active missile cruiser at Sevastopol, on the Black Sea. There was a dinner on the cniiser with Russian admirals, and the vodka started flowing. I filled my glass with water. I never missed a toast and could still stand up straight. Afrer the toasts, a Russian admiral said, "Let's go for a ride." We cruised around this top-secret base in small boats with the admiral as our tour guide: "You see that boat over there? That's Mussolini's yacht, and now we have it!" He pointed out a hill that had been hollowed out for a submarine base. I thought to myself that if we had seen this two years earlier, the Russians would have had to shoot us. MH: Many veterans say the most important lessons of their lives were learned during militarv' service. How about you? Petersen: During the 36 hours under depth charge attack, I swore to myself that if I ever got out of this me.ss 1 would never let small things bother me again. There are very few helpless situations in life. You must go out and find the solutions to the problems that confront you. MH

pudiation of his rightful inheritance, Bolingbroke invaded England in July and usurped the throne at the end of September. Now Dafydd found himself affiliated with a royal household. The early years of King Henry IV's reign were beset by internal disorders, the most notable being a nationalist rebellion in Wales, fomented by disaffected Welsh landowner Owain Glyndvvr. Many commoners flocked to GlyndwTS banner, but the allegiance of the gentr\' was divided. The aging Dafydd Gam was in a state of semiretirement by then, but as the war with Glyndwr dragged on, with repeated invasions of Wales failing to subdue the rebels, the king recalled Daf\dd into active seivice as an adviser to Prince Hal. With Dafvdd's help the adolescent prince led a series of successful raids into North Wales throughout the spring of 1403. That summer, the influential Henry Percy of Northumberland, aka Hany Hotspur, defected to Glyndwr's side, and King Henry moved quickly to prevent the two factions from joining forces. Hotspur's army was intercepted at Shrewsbury in July, and a fierce battle ensued on the 16th (see Military History, August 2003). At a critical juncture, Dafydd advised the prince to send in his division of men to attack Hotspur's exposed flank, resulting in a decisive victory for the crown.

Meanwhile, Glyndwr rebounded, i^aching the zenith of his power by April 1404, when he became Prince of Wales at Machynlleth. There, he held his first Welsh Parliament, summoning representatives from all the leading families in Wales. As the nominal representative of Brecon, Dafydd was duly invited to attend. Dalydd journeyed to Machynlleth, planning to assassinate Glyndwr and end the revolt in one stroke. His plot was discovered, however, and his life was spared only by the intercession of some of Glyndwr's friends. After months of imprisonment at Machynlleth, he was released on his oath as a gentleman that he would cease hostilities against GlyndwT. For a time Dafydd honored that pledge, Law libraiian Peter Edwards writes from finally returning to Brecknock—after 30 Australia. Further reading: The First Regular contributor Roger Steinway years—and marrying the daughter of a Churchill: The Life of John, 1st Duke of teaches history in Houston, Texas. For fur- fellow uchelwr loyalist. The strength of his Marlborough, by George Malcolm Tliom- ther reading, see: Hitler's U-boat War, Vols. fidelity to his liege bore him out, however, son; and Marlborough as Military Com- 1 &2,by Clay Blair; and Torpedoes in the for in due couree he mjoined Piince Hal in mander, bv David Chandler. Gulf, by Melanie M/iggins. time to participate in the battles of Gros70 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

mont in March 1405 and PwU Melyn in May, both defeats for GHxidwr. Afterward Dafydd took a brief paternity leave for the birth of his baby daughter, Gwladus.

archers stationed on one English wing. As the French advanced across the muddy field between the two armies, Dafydd encouraged and chided his men to achieve maximum firepower (for the typical BY U09, GLYNDWR'S rebellion was all archer, about 10 arrows loosed per but over, and Dafydd returned to his minute). But the French pushed on family in Brecon. In 1412, however, Glyn- through the deadly hail of missiles until dwr raided Brecon for the express pur- they closed with the English men-at-arms pose of capturing Dafydd, in revenge for in the center, rendering the archers perceived treacherv; He succeeded, and unable to shoot for fear of hitting their by then an infirm Henr\' IV was unable to comrades. With French reinforcements do anything about it. Upon Henrys death on the way and the battle hanging in the the next year, Prince Hal ascended the balance, speculation has it that Dafydd throne as King Henrv' V. One of his first made the monumental decision to order acts was to ransom his old friend Dafy'dd. his archers to drop their bows and rush As one means of ending domestic strife into the melee with other weapons, varyand unifying the kingdom, Heniy V pre- ing from short swords to axes or mallets. cipitated a war with England's traditional Other archers soon followed their examforeign foe, France, in 1415. As one of ple, and before long both English wings Henry's experienced and trusted captains, encircled the tightly packed throng of Dafydd accompanied his king on the French soldiers. campaign. The English expeditionary It was many years since Davy Gam had amiy landed in France in mid-August seen personal combat, but the 64-year-old and marched on the port of Harfleur. Welshman waded in and fought like a During the ensuing siege, Dafydd openly man half his age. King Hemy was also in criticized a fellow captain supervising the the thick of the action, coming under English mining efforts, offering his ex- attack from a cadre of French squires pertise in order to bolster the failing op- who had foresworn to slay the English erations against French countermining. monarch. Seeing the danger, Dafydd led He was ignored, however, and English a few others to the side of their embatded mining was subsequently neutralized. liege. At one point a French ax struck a Like many of the English troops, Dafydd heav\' blow to Henry's helmet, badly dentsuffered from dysentery and fever from ing it, lopping a fleuret from Henry's poor camp conditions, but as a seasoned crown and sending the king reeling into campaigner he recovered in short order. the mud. Henry was saved by an exHarlleurfinallyfell in late September, and hausted and badly injured Dafydd Gam, King Henry turned north toward Calais, who leapt to his defense and held off the raiding the French countryside. French while Hal recovered and regained An admirer of the ancient Roman war his balance. Dafydd was mortally machine, Dafydd was a harsh taskmaster wounded in the process, and was subsewho exercised similar iron discipline quently knighted by King Henry as he lay among his own men. He executed Eng- dving on the battlefield. By his timely aclish looters during the march and refused tions, not the least of which was defendto hear any pleas on their behalf. The ing the king, Davy Gam contributed to English finally forded the Somme River Henry's victory at Agincourt, which is on October 19, but on the 24th they found counted among the most lopsided in militheir way blocked by the massive French tary history. army near the village of Agincourt. Historians have lauded Sir Dafydd Dafydd led a party of scouts to reconnoi- Gams heroism at Agincourt—Sir Walter ter the enemy, and when informing the Raleigh went so far as to compare him to king of the French numbers, he report- Hannibal. Although he is vilified in edly said, "If it please your highness, there modem Wales for opposing Owain Glynare enough to be killed, enough to be dvvT, there was no real sense of nationaltaken prisoner, and enough to run away." ism then as it is understood today Sir That night he helped to enforce a strict Dafydd Gam left a legacy of loyalty that code of silence in the English camp, to was passed on to future generations, even convey an image of timidity' and encour- though his name is unknown to most age French overconfidence. Americans. His grandson William would As dawn broke on October 25, both later become the first full-blooded Welshsides drew themselves up into battle for- man to join the ranks of English titled mations. Dafydd held a command of 200 aristocracv. MH

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WEAPONRY

lation, production of nonpersistent gases took priority for the final Gennan offenContinued from page 20 sives of 1918. Yellow Zones of Defense, however, protected the flanks of the German assaults. "Even in open warfare," tard, but its venomous vapors compelled a Geiman officer wrote, "the troops were decontamination squads to dress in over- soon calling for gas supporting fire." boots, masks, mittens and linseed oilAllied medics established gas casualty treated coveralls, in which it might be dif- stations close to the front, where victims ficult for squad members to endure more could quickly strip and shower. Medics than half an hour. Relief, sleep and shelter sprayed their noses, eyes and throats with required sanctuary. Selected dugouts were bicarbonate solution. Medics also strung gas-proofed. A glycerin-soaked blanket ropes to the nearest ambulance, by which covered the entrance, supported by a slop- whole columns of blinded men groped ing framework. Rocks tied to the blankets their way to the rear. edge closed a seal. Boots were decontaminated in lime-filled shuffle boxes RETALIATION WAS PERHAPS the most before entry, It was an involved, laborious effective response, and in the summer of process, but reduced casualty statistics 1918 France retaliated with mustard gas, revealed the value of good housekeeping. while the American and British armies Meanwhile, the Germans incorporated started up their own mustard plants. mustard into offensive color "shoots," None could satisfy the demand, although named after the colored crosses that iden- nearly every worker in the British plant tified gas shellfillings.Batter\'firedeluged wa.s injured in the attempt. Of the French target areas with lethal agents without workers, 90 percent lost their voices, and warning, since tbe ranging shots to achieve constant itching deprived all of sleep. direct hits were unnecessary. Periodic Gei^man soldiers received boxes of mustard fire then hampered enemy use of bleaching powder and permanganate, the shelled terrain for as long as desired. which deactivated the gas' effects. Many Food, water, tobacco and physical relief failed to realize in time, however, that endangered the unwise in these "Yellow they'd been exposed. Zones of Defense." Leather, rope and American chemists also concocted canvas rotted. Tar, paint and lubricating Lewisite, a rapid-acting bhster agent that oils deteriorated. Weapons had to be dis- could be mixed with mustard to lower its assembled and boiled in bicarbonate so- freezing point for the winter campaign lution. Wool uniforms resisted rot, but that never came. Haber had already rebecame saturated. Even rubber ponchos, jected Lewisite, 2 chlorovinyl dichloroargas capes and treated coveralls only de- sine, because its bums healed quickly. layed mustards penetration. Movement Allied propaganda, however, now herin gas suits produced a bellows effect, alded the use of gas as an example of drawing vapor through the inevitable good triumphing over evil, after years of leaks, and contaminated sweat seeped berating it as Hun brutality. under the masks of men and horses alike. News of Germany's capitulation on Artillery units planned alternate firing November 11, 1918, brought "temble positions and accepted the downtime to days and worse nights" to one young Germove the guns. Infantrymen, who had to man mustard gas convalescent, who take and hold ground, had to make do wrote that "the shame of indignation and where they were. Stubborn pride and un- disgrace burned my brow. What was all bridled fighting spirit, however, resulted the pain in my eyes compared to this miser}-'?" Mustard gas-induced hoarsein unnecessary casualties. One alternative to the gas suit was SAG ness remained an obstacle with which ("Salve, Anti-Gas"), a "carbolated Vaseline" Adolf Hitler later contended whenever he that pro\ided some skin protection. Per- spoke for long periods. spiration caked it, howe\'er, and reportedly Of the war's 29.5 million casualties, gas many a gunner shaved his body before "his caused 1.3 million. Despite mustards late underwear is soldered to him with 'sag introduction, 80 percent of the gas casualpaste.'" SAG eventually saturated, making ties—of which 2.5 percent were fatalities— its effectiveness against mustard tempo- have been attributed to it. It was the war's rary, but it did help guard against lice. only decisive chemical agent. It remains Haber's miracle sustained Germany's in the stockpiles of a dozen countries and defense during the last critical months of has been used as recently as 1979-88, by a two-front war. After Russia's capitu- Iraq against Iran. MH

REVIEWS 'ontinued from page 62

tuiy, in all its wonder and hoiTor, to life, not least tbrougb her narrative on the exploits of mercenary John Hawkwood. A warrior who marsbaied iiregular forces on bebalf of Edward III, and wbo lived well into his 80s—amazing for his e^—Hawkwood launched many of bis most brilliant campaigns in Italy, where tbe papacy's ties to France had irked Hawkwood's English sponsor. Hawkwood was clearly brilliant at conventional methods of warfare, but Saundere furnishes bis wanton atrocities as well as heroism in the pages of this evenbanded account. The color inserts showing 14th-century paintings and statues are a priceless aid. One of the most gruesome photos shows an excavation in the 1920s revealing a seemingly infinite vista of skeletons of those wbo fell at the Battle of Visby in 1361, and whose bodies made the soil fertile for years to come. Michael Washbum

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I have a thing for coastal defenses and have tracked them from Fort Hunt to Fort Flagler on Puget Sound to Fort de Russy in Hawaii (on Waikiki Beach, no less). Until I read Fortress America, I bad little idea that such visits were just scratching tbe .surface, both in time and geography. Autbors J.E. and H.W. Kaufmann claim there are few places in tbe continental United States located more than 50 miles from some fort. Tbe multitude (^f structures past and present documented in tbis book includes coastal fortifications against external threats and inland defenses against internal ones, sucb as Indians, tbe British and Mexicans. Keyed to historical eras and methods of architecture and weaponiy, ranging from wood to stone and from guns to missiles, Fortress America will likely become tbe basic reference work on the subject. (Although Fort Washington, it must be noted, is in Mar\'land, not Virginia, as stated in one caption.) Abundant tables, drawings, maps and sidebars show how Americans achieved "homeland security" in days gone by. Roderick S. Speer

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www.athenainstitute.com MAY 2006 MILITARY HISTORV 73

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'Brother William' from obscure DeSoto County, Miss, had his own brave approach to the Civil War's meanest battles. By C. Brian Kelly

WHEN GENERAL ROBERT E LEE was en

ministry as a chaplain. "Of all the men I ever knew," wrote Stiles in his Marse Robert book, "I think he was the most consecrated, the most unselfish, and the most energetic, and that he accomplished more that was really worthy of grateful recognition and commendation than any other man I ever knew, of his ability." To explain what he meant about "ability," Stiles added, "By this I do not mean to imply that his ability was small, but simply that I do not include in this statement a few men I have known, of extraordinary abilities and opportunities." In any case, the same Brother William was "a man ofthe sweetest, loveliest spirit, but of the most unflinching courage as well." For Stiles, it wasn't enough to say that Brother William was seldom to be found behind the lines during battle. "It may give some faint idea of his exalted Christian heroism to say that his regular habit was to take charge of the litter-bearers in battle, and first to see to the removal of book Four Years Under Marse Robert. the wounded. Federal as well as ConfedOwen's 17th Mississippi saw its share erate, when the former fell into our of notable engagements, too. The regi- hands; and then to attend to the burial of ment's battles began with Ball's Bluff out- the dead of both sides...." side Leesburg, Va., on October 19, 1861, By Harrison's Web site account, the followed by the Seven Days' battles out- Mississippi chaplain took a more activist side Richmond in June 1862. The regi- role when Barksdale's Brigade faced a ment then was absorbed into William Union onslaught at Fredericksburg in Barksdale's Brigade, and together "they May 1863, while Lee was busy at Chanwere in many battles," as also noted by cellorsville about 20 mOes away. Reacting Tim Harrison, assistant DeSoto County quickly, "Brother William rode aU the way coordinator on the county Web site. At to Chancellorsville on a horse without a Fredericksburg, Va., moreover, "begin- saddle and reported this development to ning in December 1862 a great religious General Lee, himself, who then sent revival broke out in Lee's army [Army of troops to correct the situation." Northern Virginia]. The same was tme in Barksdale's Brigade. Major Robert Stiles AT GETTYSBURG, PA., just weeks later. of Virginia gave credit for starting those General Barksdale was killed in his religious meetings, at least in this bri- brigade's attack on the Union-held Peach gade, to the Rev. William Owen, who was Orchard the second day of the battle, while referred to as Brother William." the 17th Mississippi alone lost 40 men Stiles obviously knew and admired killed and counted 160 wounded. ChapOwen for his selfless and utterly fearless lain Owen came through the maelstrom gaged at Chancellorsville in May 1863, and when Brigadier General William Barksdale's Brigade faced an attack by an overwhelming number of Union troops back in Fredericksburg, the man who rode bareback to warn Lee was a small, slightly built Confederate chaplain, William Benton Owen ofthe 17th Mississippi Infantry Regiment. One of at least three Confederate chaplains from obscure DeSoto County, Miss., Owen started the American Civil War as a private with Company I (Pettus' Rifles) in the 17th. That was on June 1,1861, according to the DeSoto County Web site. By June 29, however, the Methodist minister had been named chaplain of the entire regiment. And once a chaplain, Owen "never felt it right that he should attempt to kill or wound a man, so he never fired another shot, yet he was seldom back of the actual line of battle," wrote Major Robert Stiles in his postwar

74 MILITARY HISTORY MAY 2006

unscathed but stayed behind to tend the wounded when Lee's battered army retreated to Virginia. For this, naturally, the Mississippian was taken prisoner. Released in November 1863, Brother William just as naturally went back to war, his kind of care-taking war, with the 17th Mississippi. Thus he was present when Lee and Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant collided in the Wilderness in May 1864, not far from Chancellorsville; he was on hand again for another ghastly collision of the Union and Rebel armies at nearby Spotsylvania just days after the Battle of the Wilderness. This, though, was to be the Methodist minister's last battle. After one Union attack, wrote Major Stiles years later, "Brother William was, as usual, out in front of our works, utterly unconscious of his own heroism or his own peril. He had removed the wounded of both sides and taken note of our dead, and was making his memoranda of the Federal dead, when a Minie ball struck his left elbow, shattering it dreadfully." Soon removed to Richmond, the Rev. William Benton Owen was eventually sent all the way home to Mississippi. His comrades left behind had their hopes for his recovery. "But no," wrote Stiles, "he was never really a strong man; indeed he was one of the few small and slight men I remember in the entire brigade, and, besides, he Wcis wom and wasted with his ceaseless labors. He never really rallied, but in a short time sank and passed away. Few servants of God ahd men as noble and consecrated, as useful and beloved, as William Owen have lived in this world or left it for Heaven." Additional note: DeSoto County's two other chaplains in gray created memorable legacies of selfless, high-risk ministry of their own—and both also died in the line of duty. MH