Military History 2009-10

Letters Sandburg on Battlescapes I was intrigued by the "Battlescapes" article in the Aug/Sept issue, particularly by the photograph of the bucolic scene where the Battle of the Somtne had taken place. My uncle, for whom I was named, lost his life in such an area while serving in the British army in the Great War. The American poet Carl Sandburg has captured the healing effect of nature on battle-scarred locations in his poem "Grass." Pile the hoaxes high at Austerlitz and Waterloo. Shovel them under and let me work— J am the grass; Ï cover all.

Broken Alliances

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Your article "Fallen Timbers, Broken Alliance," by Thomas Fleming [Aug/Sept 2009], is a tyiiical treatment given native Americans. A single paragraph of Fleming's writing is a signal example: 'The result of Britain's periidy was a series of brutal frontier massacres in which Indian war parties slaughtered an estimated 1,500 American men, women and children. Settlers in Kentucky screamed for vengeance and attacked even those tribes tiying to remain at peace. Washington sent envoys to negotiate the amicable cession of some of the Indians' lands, but the Miamis, Shawnees and other warlike tribes evaded or violated the agreements." Had the Americans stayed on their side of the Appalachians and not made treaties that literally ripped Indian lands away from the natives, neither side would have suffered fighting. The Algonquin tribes were only warlike in the eyes of the Americans. George Wash-

MILITARY HISTORY

And pile them high at Gettysburg And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun. Shovel them under and let me work. Two years, ten years, and passatgers ask the conductor. What place is this? Where are we now? 1 am the grass. Lei me work.

Your photographs certainly bear out the wisdom of Sandburg's words. Arthur Wilson AMITY, PA.

ington and his Ohio Company were in the business of usurping Indian lands in the Appalachian basin long before the Revolution. Fleming's "Battle of the Wabash" should properly be labeled St. Clair's Defeat by authors (note Robert Y Van Trees' Banks of the Wabash), and the leader of the Indian troops was Bluejacket. John Sugden, author of Blucjacket: Warrior ojthe Shawnees, forcefully places Bluejacket, rather than Little Turtle, in the van

during this period. George Ash, a captive who fought in St. Clair's Defeat, called the force leader "General Blue Jacket" and recalls the leader's magnificent speech the night the Indians were in camp waiting to advance on Maj. Gen. St. Clair on Nov. 4, 1791. Fleming characterizes Blue Jacket as having a penchant for fancy clothes and a hatred for white men. If you were a general, you would wear fancy clothes. He and his youngest child, George Blue Jacket,

were officers in the British Indian Service, and his accouterments were bestowed on him by the British Empire. As to being a white hater, nothing supports this. He was a killer, to be sure, giving those who took away his heritage something to remember him by The Battle of Fallen Timbers cleared the way for western movement of the new country The Indians were boxed in the Northwest Territory even before Fallen Timbers. Wayne was fully aware of the vast dissension between and within Algonquin tribes and took advantage of it. The Shawnees began splitting by 1787, many going to southeast Missouri to take advantage of Spanish land grants. Even in Ohio, warring and peace changed Shawnee lives. Even Blue Jacket and his half-brother were worlds apart. Wayne and Blue Jacket became close friends, and when "Mad Anthony" died, Blue Jacket moved his family to the Detroit River area, where he was a successful farmer, trader and whiskey peddler. Sugden paints Blue Jacket as a lifelong Indian diplomat. G. Cariyle tiinshaw WiNDBER, PA. Thomas Fleming responds: Hitishaw states his point of view plainly and candidly. He íhin/ís whites should have stayed on "their side of the Appalachians. " Then

there would have been no Indian wars in the Northwest. Why not go back to the beginning and say, "IJChiistopher Columbus had stayed in Italy or Spain, and all the whites in Europe imitated his example, there would have been no coliision with native Ameiicans. " We are dealing with a vast movement oj peoples from one continent to another, and the clash oj two totally different ways of life. It's a free country, and anyone can wish it never happened, but is there any point to such thinking?

PUBLISHING

Bluejacket and his followHinshaw goes on to admit the Indian leader. Bluejacket, ers were allies of America's was an officer in ihe British most determined and vicious Indian Service. In fact, the Brit- enemy. The Americans were ish were deeply involved in fightingfor land they believed arming and encouraging the ihe_y had won in the peace tribes to resist the American treaty that ended the Revolumovement west. This was not tion. The native Americans done out of any even faintly picked the wrong side in the sympathetic feelings of the Revolution, and (hey repeated sort that stir Hinshaw. No one the performance in the war had a lower regard for "barbar- that ended with General Anians"—the usual British term thony Wayne's victory at Fallen for native Americans—and vir- Timbers. History is full of such tually every other people they tragic choices. My ancestors, exploited. I speak from the view- the Flemings, were once one point of an Irish-American who of the wetilíhiesí/amilies in has written extensively' of the Ireland. They chose the wrong 400 years of British slaughter side in the 1690 Battle of the Boyne and lost everything. and oppression in Ireland.

www.ospreypubiishing.com

Send letters to Editor, Military History Weider History Group 19300 Promenade Dr. Leesburg, VA 20176 or via e-mail to militaryhistory@ weiderh(5torygroup.com Please ¡include name, address and telephone number.

What attracted me to the battle of Fallen Timbers was the performance of Genera] Wayne himself who lifercil/>' created a victorious army out of nothing after the idiots who presided over the lasi ^ears of the Continental Congress disbanded the Continental Army of the Revolution and lost the hard lessons

Letters Douglas Macgregor

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The Great Tank Battle of 73 Easting

The true story of how the soldiers won the hattle and the generáis lost Iraq m 1991.

Geneial Washington and his officers had learned. U is a story about the realities of wmfare I think Americans should ponder.

Bluffing I was mildly surprised that in your Aug/Sept item about Ball's Bluff [What We Learned, by Dana Shoaf] you (ailed to mention that [future Supreme Court justice] Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was seriously wounded there. Ed Paul ADA, MICH.

Naval Institute Presa. ISBN#

£íii(í)ís note: ¡n ¡861 Holmes, then a 20-yeíu-o¡d ¡icutcnant with the 20th Massachusetts Volunteers, suJ^/ivcda near fatal chest wound al Ball's Btujf.

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Colonel Edward Baker was a U.S. senator from Oregon, not California. He served from 185Q (statehood) until his death at Ball's Bluff in 1861. He raised a volunteer regiment in California to fight for the Union. Jeffrey L. Anderson TiGARD, ORE.

Driving Black Jack In his article "America's Top WWI Ace" (Valor, Aug/Sept), David T. Zabecki states that Captain Eddie Rickenhacker served briefly as General John J. Pershing's driver. This myih needs to be put to rest. In his auiohiography, Rickenbackcr, Captain Eddie states unequivocally: "Books on aviation and World War 1 persist to this day in identifying me as Blackjack's chauffeur The irulh is that I never did drive for the general." Walter G. Hilsabeck

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On P. 29 of the Aug/Sept feature story "Indomitable Ajghanisian," hy Stephen Tanner, a photo caption refers to Herodotus as a "Roman histonan," The "Faííier of History" was, oj course, Greek. The editors regret the error

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Henry Allingham, 113, Oldest British War Veteran and World's Oldest Man and backseat observer/gunner. "1 also used to sit behind the pilot and drop bombs," be wrote in his autobiograpby, Kitchener's Last Volunteer. "Tbere was no art lo tbis— just plain luck." AUingbam transferred to tbe newly created RAF Iwww.raf.mod.uk] in April 1918 and served through war's end as a mechanic at the Saint-Pol aerodrome near Dunkirk. The Germans repeatedly shelled ihe aerodrome, wounding Allingham in the arm during one such attack. He earned the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his World War 1 service, and France later presented him with the Légion d'honneur. Allingham worked as a civilian engineer during the interwar years and in 1939 helped develop countermeasures to German magnetic mines. Married in 1918, Allingham and his wife, Dorothy, raised two Henry Allingham served as an airplane mechanic from 1915 through daughters. They prewar's end, witnessing combat at Jutland and on the Western Front. ceded him in death, but September 1915 and trained as an aircraft surviving him is a small army of six grandmechanic, working on planes he described children, 12 great-grandchildren, 14 greatas "no more tban motorized kites." Posted great-grandchildren and one great-greaton a trawler witb a Sopwitb Schneider sea- great-grandchild. plane during tbe 1916 Battle of Jutland, Three verified World War I vets survive be watcbed, transfixed, as massive naval worldwide: 109-year-old Canadian soldier sbells skipped across the Nortb Sea. The Jack Babcock; 108-year-old Royal Navy following year, Allingham followed the RNAS seaman Claude Choules; and 107-year-old lo France, where he doubled as a mechanic Frank Buckles, the last American doughboy.

Bom the century before last, Henr)' AUinghatn lived a life of superlatives. A founding member of tbe Royal Air Force (RAF) and oldest ever Britisb veteran, the supercentenarian died last July 18, less than a month afler being recognized as the world's oldesl man. Born June 6, 1896, AUingham enhsted in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in

*l have fought the good fight, I have finished the course' —2 Timothy 4:7

DISPATCHES Britain, Australia Lose WWI Veterans Harry Paicli, 111, the last British Tommy to have seen trench warfare, died on July 25. Born June 17, 1898, Patch was coascdpted into the British army in 1916 and

sent to France in June 1917. That September, at Passcheiidaclc, he was wounded hy a German shell hurst that killed three fellow soldiers. Patch was recuperating hack in England when ihc war ended. Jolin Camphcll Jack" Ross, 110, the las[ surviving Australian veteran of World War I, died on June 1. Ross was born March II, 1899.

Enlisting in the Australian Imperial Foree in January 1918, he was in training in Sydney when the war ended. During World War 11, Ross served with the domestic Volunteer Defence Corps. At the time of his death, he was Australia^ oldest person.

News WASPs Get Overdue Recognition, Award Congress has awarded surviving aviators of the 1,102-niember Women Airforce Service Pilots [www waspmuseum.or^l the Congressional Gold Medal. In 1ÍÍ42, to free male pilots (or combat roles, the U.S. Army Air Forces began using female flyers to deliver planes, irain new pilots, and transport troops and cargo. Their success led 10 formation of the civilian WASP, which served through late 1944. WASPs were granted veteran status in 1977 and World War II Victory Medals in 1984, bul they had remained largely unheralded—until now.

Revolution Center Relocates to Philly The American Revolution Center Iwww.american revolutioncenter.org] has abandoned controversial plans lo build a museum on a 78-aere parcel of land at Valley Forge National Historical Park Iwww.nps i;ov/valo I. In July ARC announced it would svk-ap its Valley Forge acreage to the

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National Park Service in exchange for the former visitor center site ai Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park I www.nps.gov/indfl, within sight of Independence Hall and other key landmarks.

MILITARY HISTORY

Elizabeth Cross Honors British War Casualties Queen Elizabeth II has instituted the Elizabeth Cross, to recognize the families of British troops killed in action since World War II. It is the first military honor granted by a monarch since her father, King George VI, instituted the George Cross in 1940 for civilian gallantry. "This seems to me a right and proper way of showitig our enduring debt lo those who are killed while actively

protecting what is most dear \ to us all," the queen said in; an address to troops. "We| accord this ulti- \ mate sacrifice r the highest hon- ¡ or and respect." i Backed by a' laurel wreath,^ the sterling sil- ; ver cross bears; the royal cipher ^ and the floral symbols of England (rose), Scotland (thistle), Ireland (shamrock) and Wales (daffodil). Next of kin of more than 8,000 British casualties viill receive the medal.

The die is cast my choice is made / A soldier I will be'

—Anonymous hymn, 1922

Roman Wall Preserved English Heritage Ivk^ww.english-heritage.org.ukl, the UK's historic advisory body, has delisted a section of Hadrian's Wall from its at-risk register following a yearlong restoration project. Emperor Hadrian ordered construction of the 80-mile wall in the early 2nd century to thwart raiding Pictish tribes from the north. Surviving stretches are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site lwhc.unesco.org]. largely accessible via a National Trail lwww.nationaUraiI.co.uk] footpath. In the 1890s, fanners built stone walls to protect the halfmile section at Great Chesters Farm in Northumberland from roaming livestock and the elements. But the stone walls had since collapsed, exposing the Roman core. Masons have now restored those protective walls.

WAR RECORD As autumn wanes, the weather shifts and days grow shorter, posing a challenge to the bestlaid plans. The victors bundle up and push past the barriers. • Oct. 19,1864: lieutenant Bennett Young leads a party of 21 Confederate cavalr)inen on a raid of St. Albans, Vt.— the northernmost land action of the Civil War. After robbing three banks and stealing villagers' horses, the raiders flee north to neutral Canada. (For more raids, see E 34.) • Oct.l9.1781:Following the Franco-American victory at Yorktown, Va. (see P 48) —the last major land battle of the American Revolution — British Maj. Gen. Charles Comwallis surrenders his 8,000-man army to Generals George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau. • Nov. 9,1989: Nearly 30 years after Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev ordered construction of the Berlin Wall (see E 56), East Germans surge through its checkpoints. Germany formalizes reunification on October 3 the following year. • Nov. 27-29,1812: Russian forces close on Napoleon's retreating Grande Atmée, seemingly trapping it on the bridgeless Berezina River (in modern-day Belarus), But General jean-Baptiste Éblc's engineers brave the frigid water to erect two pontoon bridges, enabling most of the French army to escape.

News Events Mark 20tii Anniversary of Beriin Wali's Coid War Coilapse This fall Berliners will cap off a nearly yearlong celebration Iwww.maucrfallO'i.del of the Nov. 9,1989, opening of checkpoints along the Berlin Wall—an action that augured the dismantling of

French street theater troupe Royal de Luxe [www.royalde-luxe.com! will roll out its crane-manipulated giant marionettes to convey the emotional impact of the walls collapse. Through November

and television Iwwwdeutschekincinathek.de] presents the multimedia exhibition "Moments in Time," exploring the protests through photography and dociunentary footage of the period.

Missiie-Tracking Ship Sunk as Reef Last spring demolition cxpt-nssunk ihf 523-iool USNS General Hoyi S. Vandenhcrg

as an artificial reef about 7 miles off Key West, Fla.—an $8.6 million pnijcct 13 years in the making. Launched in

as ¿1 Navy iranspori, the ship later tracked missile lests and spacecraft laimches for the Air Force from ihc 1960s through its retirement in 1983. Vandenberg becomes the second-largest purpose-sunk artificial reef afler the 888-foot aircraft carrier USS Oviskany, sunk offPensacola, F!a..in200t).

Xian Plans Subway to Terracotta Army the Cold War barrier and Germany's subsequent reunification (see P. 56). The three-day "Festival of Freedom" (November 7-9) will culminate with the toppling of more than a thousand 8-foot Styrofoam "dominos," painted by Berlin schoolchildren to echo the graffitied slabs of old. The last domino will fall at the Brandenburg Gate, triggering a fireworks display. On October 1-4,

This fall Berliners will pull out the stops to celebrate the fall of the wall, with myriad activities and much better crowd control than in 1989.

14 at Alexanderplatz, hub of the 1989 East German protesLs, a multimedia exhibition |www.revolution89.de| relates the story ofthe "Peaceful Revolution." Through November 9, the Deutsche KinetTiathek museum of film

Little of the original wall remains in Berlin. For weeks following its collapse, sledgehammer-wielding souvenir hunters dubbed Mauerspechte ("wail woodpeckers'") cliipped away at the 103-mile concrete barrier, and German troops razed much of what remained. Today \'isitors can rent a GPSintegrated handheld device Iwww.mauerguide.coml to trace the wall's former path and learn its history.

r. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" . —Ronald Reagan

Olikiais m Xian, Chinas 3rd century fíc capital, plan to extend an l8-milc subway line from the city center to the Museum of the Terra-

coUa Wai riors and I ioi"SC5 ol Qin Shthuang Iwww.bmy .coni.cn 1, home lo that emperor's famed amiy of funerary statues (see R 74). The UNESCO World Heritage Site Iwhc.une-sco.ot};! serves more than 7 million annual visitors. The subway line is scheduled to open in 2013.

News Dauntless Raised from Lake Michigan Chicago-based A&T Recovery I wwvv.ai recovery.com I raised a largely intact Douglas SBD Dauntless training plane from the bottom of

Lake Michigan this summer. On Nov. 24, 1944, Navy Ensign Joe Lokites safely ditched the plane when it ran otu of fuel during carrier qualification. The National Naval Aviation Museum Iwww.navalaviationniuseum .org) in Pensacola, Fla., is restoring the plane for display at the National World War 11 Museum in New Orleans Iwww.ddaymuseum.orgI,

Highlands Expert: Scots Were Yellow With apologies to Mel Gibson, the medieval "Braveheatts" of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn wore bright yellow linen tunics into battle, not the tartan kilts of popular myth. So says histo-

Descendants Ask, Who's Buried in Pike's Grave? The descendants of ZebuIon Pike, best known for his 1806-07 Southwest expedition, are determined to let his body rest in peace—they just want to be certain it is his body in the military cemetery at Sackets Harbor, in New York's North Country During the War of 1812, Brig. Gen. Pike was assigned to the then-rural outpost on the shore of Lake Ontario. On April 27, 1813, while spearheading an assault on the British garrison at York, Ontario (present-day Toronto), Pike was killed byflyingdebris when retreating Redcoats blew

up the munitions depot. His men returned the general's body to Sackets Harbor for burial. But in 1909, workers moved bodies | from the post ^ cemetery to a b military ceme- | cry in town. § Citing un- I certainty over î Pikes where- 5 abouts—and dangling the prospect of a PBS special and potential tourism revenue—the Pike Family Association ¡wvAv.pike family.orgl has asked the town to exhume his body. But the group's real interest may hinge on a family dispute over genetic ties to the general. A decision is pending.

'We died like brave men. and conferred honor, even in death, on the American Name* —Zebulon Pike

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rian Fergus Cannan in his new book Scottish Arms and Armor. Cannan, who traces his own roots to Robert the Bruce, says clansmen dyed their tunics with horse urine to achieve the rich color— which may also explain their success at repelling English invaders.

MILITARY HISTORY

British researchers have published online the service records of more than 250,000 medieval soldiers, including Welsh prince Owain Glyndwr and archers who served with Henry V at the 1415 Battle of Agincourt. Tracking English royal armies from 1369 to 1453, the searchable database [www.medievalsoldier .orgi lists combatants' names, ages and ranks, commanders, service dates, salaries, illtiesses, promotions and knighthoods.

WAR FEVER By midsummer the number of confirmed cases of swine flu (HlNl) among U.S. active duty service members was nearing 2,000. Our armed forces may be well prepared to handle history's latest pandemic, but disease has plagued warriors of the past. • 430 BC Plague of Athens: Athens was holding its own early in the Peloponnesian War. But when Pericles ordered Athenians to hole up within the walled city, typhoid fever accomplished what the Spartans could not, killing a quarter of the populace, including Pericles. • 1520 Smallpox Epidemic: Aztec warriors drove Hemän Cortés and his men from Tenochtitlan, loosening the Spanish grip on the New World. But within weeks, smallpox killed up to half the Aztec warriors, enabling Cortés to retake the capital. • 1812 Typhus Epidemic: The Russian winter ravaged Napoleon's Grande Armée, but typhoid killed more men than all battles combined. Just 40,000 of his 450,000 French soldais made it home. • 1918-19 Spanish Flu: This bug killed sotne 50 million people worldwide—and WWI played a role. Troop movements and unsanitary conditions helped spread the disease, while the toll on German forces thwarted a planned spring offensive, hastening the Armistice.

Interview Dale Dye: On Point in Hollywood

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üWy next year HBO ¡wwwhh^.cotn] will premier The Pacific, a 10part World War // miniseries that follows several Mannesfivm Guadakaiml to Okinawa. Like the cable channel's earlier Band of Brothers, the new program is based on real people and real events. Also like its grittily realistic and hugely successful predecessor, The Pacific will rely on retired Marine and Vietnam combat veteran Dale Dye to guarantee the highest level of military accuracy. Through his company, Warriors Inc., Dye and a cadre of fellow veterans ensure that military-themed films and television programs have an authentic look and feel and that performers can realistically and convincingly portray soldiers from virtually any period of history. Ar^ably the best-known militaiy adviser in Hollywood, Dye often acts in the projects on which he advises and is soon to direct his first feature film—not unexpectedly, a war movie.

making calls and kicking down doors and sort of turning it into an all-out frontal assault, hut I wasn't having much luck. Then 1 ran into director Oliver Stone, who knew from his own time as a Vietnam combat soldier that you can't translate ihe experience helievahly without living the life in some sort of full-immersion training regimen. He let me do it my way on Platoon. When we eventually won four Academy Awards—including Best Picture—people became more receptive.

i People with so much riding on a film or TV project want sound advice and direction from a guy who knows both the military and how films are madef

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What led you from the Marines to Hollywood? I thought that someone who knew military life and the realities of combat needed to show the Hollywood folks what the real military was like...how we look, think, walk, talk andfightin the real world. I wanted to work from the inside and find a way to make writers, directors and actors understand what it's like to soldier. So, in 1985 I started

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Why is realism so important in a war movie? First, generations of Americans—but few filmmakers—have had personal military experiences. Second, we live in a media-saturated society in which live feeds from distant battlefields show audiences what real militaries and real conflicts look like. If filmmakers ignore that and ask audiences to pay to see make-believe soldiers with bad haircuts wearing uniforms the wrong way, rendering sloppy salutes, and all the other technical inaccuracies, no star or powerhouse director can make that film work. I wondered why filmmakers got these simple, easy-to-fix things wrong all the time. That led me to develop my own techniques of getting il right by training performers and carefully staging combat scenes to reflect the realities of what people remembered

from their own service or were seeing on the nightly news. What are the keys to establishing realism and accuracy on a set? You need to get the details right, but that's usually the easy part. The big issue for a military adviser is trust. People with so much riding on a film or TV project want sound advice and direction from a guy who knows both the military and how films are made. The best way to do all this is to start with the writer and ehminate the inaccuracies in the script, but that's not always possible, so 1 usually wind up suggesting changes on the fly, The real key is a thing called "feel," meaning that audiences sense that what they are seeing has the right tone and tenor, that the characters don't look or act like actors playing soldiers. How do you establish accuracy in films that cover periods outside your own experience? The simple answer is research. Warriors Inc. has a huge military library thai covers all kinds of military historical periods and contains some really arcane references. We also interview veterans if they're available. We consult with academic historians, but that can prove frustrating, because every historian believes he's got the absolute correct take on events. A classic example is Oliver Stone's film Alexander^ in which we had to train performers to fight in the Greek phalanx formation. We needed to know what the phalanx could and could not do, but no one had ever put a full phalanx together and experimented with it. We did that on the edge of the Sahara in Morocco and discovered that a phalanx could do a lot of things the historians said were impossible. That's very gratifying, and I think we prompted the revision of a few historical works along the way.

close to my heart as a Marine because it follows my old outfit—the 1st Marine Division—through all of its major World War II battles in the Pacific. I think it will prove to be just as popular as Band of Brothers, though it has a much darker tone, which accurately reflects the nature of fighting on those Pacific islands.

Dye, above right, with director Steven Speilberg and actor Tom Hanks during the filming of Saving Private Ryan (1998), is arguably Hollywood's top military adviser.

How do you go about training actors? We put them through a full-immersion fie Id-train ing regitiien that people have come to call "boot camp." We teach the aciors—both the "good guys" and the "enemy"—how to look and acl like field soldiers, how to handle weapons, equipment and their bodies so they look convincing on the screen. The length of the training depends on what the actors need to know. We tell the producers the time we think we need, and then they tend to cut it down for scheduling or budgetary reasons. In general, 1 don't like to do less than five days, and the optimum is three weeks. But the hands-on training is only a part of the equation—I'm more interested in getting to performers' hearts and minds. In essence, we do for the actors what the real tnilitary does for soldiers. We tear them down and build them over again in the right mindset.

That can be hard on actors full of ego and self-importance who grow up thinking, /is ail about me. I understand that, and it's one of the reasons we make our boot camps so physically and mentally demanding. It's rugged, but it works. If it didn't, we wouldn't be allowed or encouraged to do it. Which of your 35 projects stands oui for you? From the perspective of satisfaction derived as a military adviser, I'd single out ßanii oj Brolhera. It took us a year to get that done, and hecause of the training we gave the guys, we stayed in character as a World War 11 airborne infantry company the whole time. I'm also proud of the reality we brought to Saving Private Ryan, and I think that first 25 minutes on Omaha Beach stand as a classic in the genre. And I'm very proud of The Pacific, which we finished late last year. It's

Why do you ihink war movies remain so popular? Ernest Hemingway was onto something when he said, "War is man's greatest adventure." It's so aUen from most peoples' normal life experience that it's intriguing, and war makes for good drama. War movies are one genre where you can display the full gamut of human emotion. And World War I! movies are especially popular because most Americans see it as the last of our nation's military conflicts in which the had guys and the good guys were clearly identifiable and unambiguous. For some elements of our society, that^ both refreshing and reassuring. What's your next project? I've written and will be directing a World War II film titled No Better Place to Die, about how on D-Day elements of the 82nd Airhorne Division had to take and hold open a vital bridge over the Merderet River in Normandy. Had those guys not held that bridge, the breakout from the beaches and capture of the vital port at Cherbourg never would have happened. And I've got three other military pictures 1 want to do: a film on the Chosin Reservoir campaign in Korea, a true-story Vietnam film and a story from Iraq that involves events in Mosul during the first free Iraqi elections. I'm approaching all this in the same way I approached breaking into showbiz in the first place 25 years ago: Fix bayonets and charge! I'll get these pictures done through sheer force of wall if nothing else. (^

What We Learned... from the Battle of Salamis By Richard A. Gabñel

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n the spring of 480 BC, Persia's King Xerxes led 180,000 soldiers over a pontoon bridge across the Hellespont and invaded Greece. Accompanied by 1,207 warships and 3,000 transports, Xerxes intended to destroy Athens to avenge the defeat of the Persian army at Marathon a decade earlier. In August the Persians defeated the Spartans at Thermopylae, then captured Athens and burned the Acropolis. The Athenians

Themistocles drew Xerxes' larger fleet into the narrow channels at Salamis and then rammed it into submission.

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fled to the islands of Aegina, Salamis and Troezen. The Greek ñeet sought safety in Salamis' harbor and waited for the Persians to attack. The Spartans wanted to withdraw the fleet to protect Corinth from a Persian attack. But ThemLstocles, commander of the Athenianflotilla,knew that if Athens was to survive, the fleet must remain at Salamis and defeat Xerxes. He sent his slave, Sidnnus, to tell the Persians that due to dissetision among the Greeks, the fleet had decided to sail for Corinth the next day. Xerxes took the bait, and ordered his ships to block Salamis Sound.

MILITARY HISTORY

By daybreak the Persian ships were in position. Themistocles had succeeded in baiting the Persians into a fight. The 332 Greek ships—each with a contingent of 14 hoplites and four bowmen—were under the command of Spartan admiral Eurybiades. The Athenian flotilla under Themistocles comprised 180 triremes. The Persians, by then, had some 700 ships. The Greeks sailed single file from Salamis into the sound, passing before the Persian ships arrayed three lines deep in the narrow channels. Once in position, the Greeks turned their ram-cquipped bows toward the Persians, who squeezed through the channels to engage their 5 seemingly trapped foe. I But the Greek ships drew Í back, luring the Persians farther into the channels. When the first line of Per^ sian vessels reached open water, the Greeks struck hard, sinking many and halting the rest. The Persian ships in the rear collided with those in the front line, causing great confusion. The Greek triremes closed on the Persians to break their oars, then wheeled about to ram. Persian command and control soon broke down. Artemisia, the queen of Halicamassus and captain of a squadron, even rammed and sank one of her own ships while attempting to flee. Watching from shore, Xerxes thought she had sunk an Athenian ship and praised her, saying, "My men have become women, and my women men." Impressed, Xences appointed Artemisia one of his closest advisers. It was a stunning defeat for Xerxes' fleet, with only about half the Persian

ships sun.'iving, and more than 9,000 Persian sailors drowned, clubbed to death with oars, shot hy arrows or "spitted like tunny" Among the dead was Xerxes' brother Ariabignes. The battle lasted only a few hours, bul the slaughter went on until nightfall. Xerxes lost confidence, supplies were low, and there was no hope of a quick victory over the Greeks. He ordered the fleet to retum to the Hellespont to protect his bridge, and the army to abandon Attica and go into winter quarters. Persia never conquered Greece—and the bright lamp of Western civilization passed safely to future generations.

Lessons: • Beware Greeks hearing gifts—particularly unverified inlelligence. • Brains can trump brawn. Though the Persians outnumbered the Greeks, they lost anyway. • Choose your batde site. Themistocles negated Xerxes' numerical advantage by drawing his ships into Salamis' narrow channels. • Practice economy of force. Compelling the Persians to commit their ships one behind the other gave the Greeks the advantage at any point of contact, even with fewer ships overall. • Battles are means to strategic ends, not ends in themselves. Xerxes had the Athenian population bottled up and on the verge of starvation at Salamis. He didn't even need to fight the Greek fleet. • Do not be ruled by fear. The Persian defeat at Salamis would have had little strategic impact had Xerxes not feared the Greeks would attack his bridge across the Hellespont, isolating him in Greece. His fears magnified a minor defeat into a major withdrawal. • Heed your experienced commanders. Artemisia had distinguished herself as a commander in earlier naval battles and had warned Xerxes against engaging at Salamis. He ignored her advice because she was a woman. (Sb

Five Months, Four Awards By David T. Zahecki

Captain Maurice Britt U.S. Army Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star Medai Italy September 1943-January 1944

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orld War 11 ended abruptly for Captain Maurice L. Britt Jr., at the Anzio beachhead on Jan. 24,1944. The 3rd Infantry Division company commander was attempting to call in artillery fire on advancing German tanks when one Panzer fired a round into the stone farmhouse he was using as an observation post. In the blast, Britt lost his right arm from the elbow down, fractured a leg and three toes and eventually lost his right lung. That brought Britt his third Purple Heart of the war. He already had earned a Silver Star and a Bronze Star Medal with V Device for valor. His superiors recommended Britt for the Distinguished Service Cross for an action that had unfolded just the day before, and a Medal of Honor recommendation was working its way through the system for an action two months before. When his

In the fight for control of the mountain approaches to Cassino, the 30th Infantry took Monte Rotundo on November 8 after two days of bitter fighting. The Germans immediately launched fierce counterattacks. Two days later Britt's unit was down to only 55 effectives when about I tXl Germaas attacked his sector. In the casuing fight, Britl took a bullet in the side and multiple grenade wounds lo his face, chest and hands. Expending all his carbine ammunition and throwing 32 hand grenades, he killed five Germans, wounded many more and captured four. The enemy counterattack had failed. Still, Britt refused to go to the aid station for treatment until directly ordered to do so by his battalion commander. Even then he refused to be evacuated. For his actions that day, Britt was ultimately awarded the Medal of Honor, the British Military Cross and his second Purple Heart.

awards caught up with him, Britt became the first GI to earn the four highest American decoratiotis for valor under fire. From 1937 to 1941, Britt attended the University of Arkansas on an athletic scholarship for basketball and football and became an AllAmerican on the gridiron. He also completed the ROTC program and received an Army reserve commission along with his journalism degree. In 1941 he played as a rookie end for the Detroit Lions, whose star running back that year was future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron "Whizzer" White. Mobilized in 1942, Britt was assigned as a platoon leader in Company L, 3rd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment. On Nov. 8, 1942, he landed in North Africa, near Casablanca, and helped secure Fort Blondin. On July 10, 1943, Britt and his com- Britt made All-American pany landed on Sicily and as a Razorback, played helped capture Palermo. On a season with the Lions, September 19, his unit landed then became a real hero. on the Italian mainland at Salerno as part of a follow-on wave. enemy When his company commander was wounded and evacuated shortly after the landing, Britt assumed command of Company L. During the 3rd ID's advance to the Volturno River, Britt led his company in the assault of the town of Acerno, earning the Silver Star and his first Purple Heart. In late October he earned the Bronze Star Medal for rescuing one of his wounded men under enemy fire during the assault of Monte San Nicola.

Britt made his fourth amphibious landing of the war at Anzio on Jan. 22. 1944. The following morning Britt led liis company acrtiss the Mussolini Canal to secure a key road junction. During the daylong fight, Britt at one point purposely exposed himself to draw fire from and pinpoint a concealed German machine-gun position, then called in artillery and mortar fire to knock it out. As the fighting wore on, Britt directed fire on three more machine guns, two personnel carriers and several mortar positions. Britt tost his arm the following day and was evacuated. His comhat wounds would plague him for the rest of his life. Medically discharged in late December 1944, he returned to Arkansas, serving as lieutenant governor in the late 1960s and as district director of the Small Business Administration fiom 1971 to 1985. On Nov. 26, 1995, one of America's greatest soldiers died of heart failure at the age of 76. ^

OLYMPIAN Commodore George Dewey and the birth of the modern U.S. Navy Wade G. Dudley

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n the early morning darkness of May 1, 1898, nine American warships sliced the weak chop of Boca Grande, one of two main passages into the Phihppines' Manila Bay Distance and steel hulls attenuated the thumping of steam engines, and darkness swallowed the smoke from funnels as the ships' crews crouched at their loaded guns, sweating in the tropical heat. Flanked by Spanish batteries on the islands of Caballo and El Fraile and tense with fear of mines thought to litter the channel, the American sailors were grateful for the darkness and the clouds that An 1858 graduate of the U.S. blocked moon and starlight. Naval Academy, Commodore Then, just as the ships passed El George Dewey was more than victor of Manila Bay. As a Fraile, flames flared from the funnel the disciple of Captain Alfred Thayer of the revenue cutter Hugh McCulloch. Mahan, Dewey played a key role in the U.S. Navy's post-Civil War instead of the good Welsh anthracite evolution from a coastal force taken on by other vessels in British into a true hlue-water power. MILITARY HISTORY

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David Farragut Vittiir of the 1864 Baltic of Mobile Bay and arguably ibf premier naval leader of ibe Civil War, íarragut was also a mentor to, iind a genuine example lor. Dewey and his entire generaiion of officers. I heodorf Roosevelt As assistant secretary of the Navy under William McKinley, Roosevelt was a leading advocate i>r the modernization ol Ameritas fleet—and of an inevitable cotillict witb Spain over Cuba. Alfred Tbayer Mahan Thotigb Mahan saw comhat during the Civil War, it was at tbe Naval War College be bad the greatest effect on naval siraiegy and tactics, influencing key thinkers, including Roosevelt. William McKinley Wbile he was strongly influenced by Roosevelt's belief in tbe importance of .American sea power, the president resisted public calls for war witb Spain tmlil the sinking of USS forced his hand. Pairieio Montojo Montojo was a career naval officer witb combat experience on land and sea in the Philippines, but bis defeat at Manila Bay led to a court-martial and ultimate public disgrace in his beloved Spain. o o

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Charles Gridley A veteran of Farragut's victory at Mobile Bay, Gridley took command of Ofymfiifl just weeks before ibe attack on the Spanish fleet. He died of natural causes soon after the capture of Manila.

MILITARY HISTORY

Hong Kong, the cutter's bunkers held bituminous coal from its last port of call in Australia. Soot from the soft coal accumulated in the funnel and periodically burst into flame. Sailors cursed McCulloch as muzzle flashes marked a Spanish battery on El Fraile, and shell splashes stirred the waters of Boca Grande. Four of the American warships opened fire and quickly smothered the enemy battery with shells as the column broke from the passage into the bay proper. On the cruiser USS Olympia, flagship of the U.S. Asiatic Squadron and leader of the column. Commodore George Dewey watched. Orders already given, he spent long minutes waiting for gun flashes or dawn to reveal an enemy squadron. Perhaps Dewey filled a few of those minutes with memories of the past that had led him to penetrate the stronghold of his nation's latest enemy.

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war that haunted his nation. Whatever the reason, in June 1858 George and 14 others (all that remained of the 59 appointees of 1854) graduated. He, proudly, stood fifth in his class. Following a two-year cruise on the steam frigate USS Wabash, flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron, Dewey took his examination for lieutenancy and was commissioned in the dark month of April 1861. Mere weeks later, he paced the deck of the steam frigate Mississippi, a 23-year-old executive officer untested in battle and assigned to blockade a rebellious Gulf coast. A year later, Dewey received his blooding, as Mississippi joined then-Captain David Farragut's fleet in the assault on New Orleans. Protected by a large garrison, the heavy guns of two forts and other batteries, and a small Confederate fleet that included the ironclad ram CSS Manassas—plus the Mississippi River currents, twists and treacherous snags—New Orleans seemed impregnable. But, as Dewey later wrote about the man who became his role model, "Farragut always went ahead." From Farragul, Dewey learned not to overrate an enemy's strength, enhanced as it usually was by fear and rumor. He also learned the import of decisive action when Man£i.ssa.s tried to ram MLssi.ssippi. Only a quick command from Dewey to the helmsman turned a potentially deadly direct hit into a glancing blow. Over the course of the Civil War, Dewey was executive officer on six ships, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant commander Despite his service in four campaigns (efficiently and even heroically at times), Dewey wasn't given his own command. But he did leam well the skills of command: leadership, intelligence, logistics, focus on the objective and decisive action. Unfortunately for Dewey, three decades would elapse before he could employ

áFour of the American warships opened fire and quickly smothered the enemy battery with shellsV

orn in MontpeUer, Vt,, on Dec. 26,1837, to Dr. Julius and Mary Perrin Dewey, George was the youngest of three boys. Mary died before George turned 6, so his upstanding and hardworking father became the central figure in his life. Other male figures also shaped Dewey, from public school teacher Z.K. Pangborn to his teachers at Norwich University and the professors and officers of the U.S. Naval Academy, to which he received an appointment in 1854. George appeared to love neither the discipline nor the academics at Annapolis, as he piled demerits atop poor grades in his first year. Despite ranking just two places from the bottom of his class, he survived for a second year. Then, somehow, Dewey found a measure of maturity Perhaps it was in the Bible classes he taught to local youths, in the letters he exchanged with his father or in the growing threat of civil

these skills to prove himself an outstanding fleet commander. Fortunately for the United States. Dewey persevered in his chosen career across those 30 years, despite the best efforts of his nation to virtually eliminate its own Navy.

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s the years of fratricide ground toward Appomattox, ihe 700ship U.S. Navy blockaded the Rebel coast, patrolled rivers, supplied

Union forces and combed ihe high seas for the remaining Confederate raiders. But navies are expensive, and within days of the Confederacy's final collapse, the Union began to divest itself of its old, converted merchantmen. Its ironclad monitors, designed only for coastal and riverine operations, followed—some sold for scrap but most laid up to be reactivated if war threatened. More ships met their end as Congress focused on Reconstruction, the Western frontier and internal expansion. By 1870 only 52 vessels (including auxiliaries) remained for sea and coastal duties, and those were

far from the state-of-the-art warships then sliding down the ways in Europe. The Navy returned to its overseas stations in the late 1860s. From those stations (established in and dependent upon foreign ports), lone ships cruised distant waters to show the flag and assist American merchantmen and civilians. There was no American "fleet" and little in the way of squadron training. Furthermore, the penny-pinching Congress rele-

armament, armor and ship design languished. The state of strategic thinking matched the deterioration of warships and tactical capability. In essence, the United States returned to the outmoded doctrines of 1812, relegating its ships to coastal defense and commerce raiding. This does not mean the Navy was inactive after the Civil War. In 1867 "gunboat diplomacy" opened two Japanese ports to American com-

Gunners aboard the protected cruiser USS Olympia, Dewey's Asiatic Squadron flagship, take a well-earned break following the battle. Commissioned in 1895, the vessel combined impressive armament with significant armor plating and far outclassed her opponents.

merce; in 1871 a squadron attacked and destroyed several Korean forts, hoping to force that country to open its ports to trade; in 1883 the Navy protected foreign interests against Chinese rioters; and Marines and sailors debarked at various times in South and Central America to protect those citizens and their property. These were invariably small affairs— or at least incidents that did not threaten to escalate into war with major powers. Such was not the case in 1873 when Spanish authorities seized Virginius, a former Confederate blockade-runner supplying guns

gated steam to secondary propulsion. Older warships (including USS Wampanoag, launched at war's end and recognized as the worlds fastest warship under steam) saw their engine plants reduced in size and their spread of canvas increased. Naval regulations permitted the use of coal only under extreme conditions. Research into

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to Cuban rebels under a false American registry (see story. P. 62). The Spanish executed its crew, which included several Americans, notably Captain Joseph Fry. a Naval Academy graduate and former Confederate officer. American sympathies lay with the rebels and gunrunners, but cooler heads in Washington and Madrid avoided escalating tensions into war. However, the Vjrginius Incident was a wakeup call for the naval establishment. In preparing for war, it found many of the mothballed monitors decayed beyond use. The following year, maneuvers incorporating reactivated vessels revealed a top fleet speed of less than five knots. Consensus held that one modem cruiser could sink the entire American force. Still, reaction from Congress proved slow and less than satisfactory In 1883 Congress finally authorized construction of four steel-hulled vessels: the protected cruisers Atlanta, Boston and Chicago (each featuring an armored deck at the waterline to protect magazines and engines from plunging fire) and the dispatch boat Dolphin. Knovm as the "ABCD Squadron" for their names or the "White Squadron" for their gleaming hulls and white canvas, these vessels captured the popular support needed for naval expansion. From 1885 to 1889, Congress authorized 30 additional warships, ranging from gunboats to the small battleships Texas and Maine. Building delays ensued when Congress mandated in 1886 that all naval vessels be built with domestic materials. At the time, American manufacturers could not provide the necessary guns, armor or steel plating. An immediate boost to industrial infrastructure set the first firm foundation for warship production in the nation's history Other warships, increasing in size and potential, followed the first 30.

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As the new ships entered service, world events lifted American eyes from their own shores to blue waters. The close of the nation's "frontier period" prompted the rise of a New Manifest Destiny, imperialistic in nature. But imperial ventures required a rethinking of naval strategy, and in 1890 Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan. then-president of the U.S. Naval War College, provided a concise guide to that strategy in his seminal The Influence of Sea Power

After the battle, Dewey submitted a detailed sketch that showed the initial deployment and movements of each fleet, the coastline and locations of the Spanish shore hatteries. upon Hisloty, 1660-1785. His treatise not only supported trade-based imperialism, it provided a naval theory and strategy that guided industrialized seafaring nations for several generations. With the great wars of France and Britain as his canvas, Mahan developed a theory of sea power rooted in squadrons of capital ships aggressively attacking the enemy's navy or confining it to port. Naval officers worldwide welcomed this concept of firepower projection (and, of course, the many ships required to carry that firepower), while the eyes of statesmen glistened at the thought of colonies to be gained and raw materials to be exploited.

Cuba and the remaining Spanish possessions in the Caribbean attracted American interest for a variety of reasons. Some pointed to Spanish cruelty and the brutalized people who desperately sought the caress of democracy and the guidance of Republican values. Navalists sought an American base in the Caribbean from which to enforce the old Monroe Doctrine. Industrialists desired sugar and markets. Shipping magnates resented searches by Spain's Guardia Costa and navy alike, particularly when those searches involved seizure of goods being smuggled to Cuban rebels. Last, the American press wanted to sell newspapers—and greedy publishers did not hesitate to juggle facts to ensure those sales. By Feb. 15, 1898. fertile ground existed for war between the United States and Spain. All that was needed was a spark, and the spark that ignited a coal bunker and the adjacent magazine on the USS Maine in Havana's harbor served nicely, especially when a naval court of inquiry quickly blamed the resulting deaths of some 270 American sailors and officers on the explosion of a Spanish mine.

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s the Navy evolved, George Dewey quietly perse\'ered. Many lofficers abandoned the slow promotion schedule and other frustrations of service life, turning (heir talents to the civilian world and its monetary rewards. But something drove Dewey, likely the desire to make his mark on history in the names of his heroes. Dr. Julius Dewey and Admiral David Farragut. Civilians seldom garnered such fame. Finally, in 1870 Dewey was given his first command, the sloop-of-war USS Narragansett. A few years later, as the Virginius Incident unfolded, Narragansett was assigned to survey the Pacific Coast of Mexico and Lower California. Dewey's officers and men

worried they would miss the brewing war, hut Dewey smiled and predicted they would simply steam across the Pacific and capture Manila. No one hearing his words could imagine their prophetic nature. A full captain by 1884, Dewey served in various capacities before becoming head of the Bureau of Equipment and

as a man of action. Roosevelt expected war with Spain and felt that the Asiatic Squadron, operating some 7,000 miles from homeports, needed a strong, aggressive hand at the helm. Roosevelt pressured President William McKinley to appoint Dewey to the key command, and in October 1897 McKinley ordered the secretary of the Navy

the beginning. Extremelyfit,handsome, and always neatly dressed, their commodore seemed as comfortable with the common Jack as with his officers. His white walrus mustache and piercing hlue eyes seemed to dominate the decks of his flagship. Within days of his arrival at Yokohama, this outstanding leader had gained the full support of his gath-

Recruiting in 1889, followed by stints as president of both the Lighthouse Board and the Board of Inspection and Survey. His energy, efficiency, professionalism and skillful leadership amidst the often-confused rush to build modern warships did not go unnoticed. Yet, Dewey feh some degree of despair when he reached the permanent rank of commodore in 1896, only four years from forced retirement. No war seemed in the offing, and should war break out, he knew that other deserving officers waited for fleet and squadron commands.

The decisive naval victory at Manila Bay captured the American public's attention like no other battle ot the war and prompted a virtual armada ot triumphal artwork.

ering squadron—and well that he did, for much hard work remained to ready his people and ships for war. As soon as sufficient ammunition arrived in Yokohama, Dewey ordered his squadron to make for Hong Kong. An alert from Roosevelt followed news of the sinking of Moine in February. As Dewey waited for his remaining ships to concentrate in Hong Kong, he plumbed the American consul in Manila for information. He left no stone unturned, even dressing an aide as a civilian to wander the docks and solicit information from incoming vessels. As his warships arrived, Dewey purchased the freighter Zafiro and the

But Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt had marked Dewey

to make it so. Fate waited to present Commodore Dewey with his chance for greatness.

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ewey did not wait on fate. Gathering every available scrap of information on the Philippines to supplement a file provided by the Navy, he ordered ammunition rushed to his squadron in Yokohama. Japan. Dewey arrived in Yokohama in late 1897, and his men loved him from

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collier Nanshan from British sources ommanding from aboard the and registered them as American unarmored cruiser Reina Chrismerchant vessels, so they could enter tina, Montojo knew that his neutral ports should war be declared. seven old vessels did not rate half the (The closest American base lay 7,000 displacement of the modern Amerimiles away) He then dry-docked each can ships and that his largest 6.2-inch of his ships for last-minute scraping, guns could not match the Americans' repair and a coat of dark gray paint. 8-inchers. The Spanish admiral positioned his ships in a half-moon formaFinally, on April 25, Dewey received tion across the harbor at Cavité rather a telegram confirming the declarathan subject the Manila waterfront to tion of war. Within hours the British invited his squadron to leave neutral Hong Kong. As the Asiatic NIGHT •*""''"*-3 Squadron steamed from port, its mrvi.NEW YORK':K)ÜRNAL officers and men understood the sortie would end in absolute victory or utter defeat. They threw themselves into battle preparations, stripping flammable material from the ships, dry firing guns, studying signals and planning for datnage control.

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Off the Philippines on April 30, Dewey dispatched two ships to search Subie Bay, but the Spanish fleet had abandoned it, as it lacked supporting latid batteries. The commodore called together his captains before sailing on to Manila. He knew the islands guarding Boca Grande held at least six guns that outranged his own. He aLso knew the Spanish expected his fleet and had possibly mined the channel. Given the circumstances, Dewey felt only an audacious night passage could succeed—and he planned to lead the column in Olympia. Like his hero Farragut, Dewey brooked no argument from his gathered captains. As midnight approached, Olympia led the protected cruisers Baltimore and Raleigh, gunboats Petrel and Concord, protected cruiser Boston and revenue cutter Hugh McCulloeh into the passage, followed closely by Zafiro and Nanshan. Following the burst of inaccurate fire from the quickly silenced battery on El Fraile, the column broke into Manila Bay. Dewey slowed to 4 knots to delay until dawn his engagement with the Spanish squadron of Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasaron. Some of Dewey's men even managed to nap at their guns before the galley delivered hot coffee at 0400.

MILITARY HISTORY

Culloch, Dewey first cruised the Manila waterfront in search of the Spanish squadron. At 0505 batteries near Manila opened on the Americans; Boston and Concord answered their inaccurate fire. Shortly afterward, Olympia observed explosions near Cavitc, some two miles away. Dewey assumed panic on the part of the Spanish, but Montojo had ordered a minefield detonated to provide maneuver room for his flagship. At 0515 both ship and shore batteries at Cavité opened on the Americans. Dewey with no rounds to spare, held his fire and maintained a converging course for the next 25 minutes. Then, at a range of 5,000 yards, Dewey turned to Olympia's Captain Charles Gridley and spoke the few words (hat doomed a Spanish squadron and opened the door to an American empire: "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley"

One minute later, Olympiads four 8-inch guns spoke. Its 5-inchcrs NEWS or- THE CITY S FALL and the smaller rapid-fire guns of the starboard battery quickly added I '^ their din and smoke to the combat. -: a scene repeated as each American j vessel spotted the enemy. Dewey's squadron exchanged fire with the Spanish ships for more than an "overs" from an American attack. The hour, describing almost three comold wooden cruiser Castilla could not plete circles in front of the enemy maneuver, but would still attempt to position at ranges from 2,000 to 5,000 support the small cruisers Isla de Cuba, yards. Two Spanish torpedo boats raced Isla de Ltizon, Don Antonio de Vlloa toward the squadron—one was sunk and Donjuán de Austria. The gunboat by American fire, while the other, Marques del Duero completed Monwreathed in flames, beached itself. tojo's defensive line. In an effort to Donjuán de Austria also attempted offset Americati firepower, the admito close on the American fieet before ral anchored lighters alongside his concentrated fire saw it off. Then larger vessels to absorb enemy fire. Gun Montojo ordered Reina Christina into emplacements at Sangley Point supthe harbor in a valiant attempt to ram ported the west flank of the squadron. Olympia. Heavy shells slammed into Four additional gunboats, stripped it, and the Spanish flagship limped of weapons to fortify the harbor, hid back to its anchorage. in the shallow waters behind Cavité. At 0730 Dewey received word that Warned by telegraph at 0200 of the each of Olympia's 5-inch guns was American approach, Montojo had few down to 15 remaining rounds. Fearing illusions about the coming battle, but his other guns might also be low he sent his sailors to their guns to fight on ammunition, and prevented by with honor in defense of Spain. heavy smoke from accurately assessSending his collier and freighter ing the damage he'd inflicted on the clear under the escort of Hugh McSpaniards, Dewey reluctantly signaled

ance remaining, Pfirff's captain accepted the surrender of Cavite's garrison, several gunboats and a transport. By mid-aftemoon of May 1. 1898, the Battle of Manila Bay was over.

his ships to withdraw. As firing ceased, it became obvious he had severely punished the Spanish squadron, leaving some vessels in flames and others listing or settled in the shallow harbor. With Reina Christina's steering destroyed and magazines flooded, Monlojo ordered the vessel scuttled and switched his flag to Isla de Cuba. As the Americans paused to enjoy a belated breakfast, he surveyed the wreckage of his squadron. Don Antonio de Ulloa had settled in the harbor, its captain and half its crew dead or wounded. Old Castilla, beaten to pieces and afire, sank at anchor. Both Isia de Luzon and Marques del Duero had lost men and guns, and little fight remained in them. Montojo ordered all able vessels to retreat to the bay behind Cavité and fight if possible, scuttle if not. By the end of the day, the Spanish admiral listed all ships lost and 381 men dead or wounded.

A commemorative medal, top right, lists the ships of Dewey's fleet at Manila Bay. Olympia, top, later served as a training and barracks ship and saw action in World War I. Now a floating museum in Philadelphia, the cruiser bears a memorial plaque on its forward turret, ahove.

Aboard Oiympiu, Dewey had been delighted to discover the message regarding his ammunition reversed: Each gun had expended only 15 rounds. Even more astounding, only nine men had suffered wounds during the action (another, Hugh McCulloch's chief engineer, died of a heart attack on the approach to Manila). After allowing his

men to finish a well-earned breakfast, Dewey ordered a final pass at the Spanish squadron. Only one vessel, Don Antonio de Ulloa, showed any sign of resistance, and that was quickly eliminated. Fire from Baltimore silenced the guns on Sangley Point and a battery near Cavité. With no apparent resist-

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espite open rebellion, led by Filipino Emilio Aguinaldo and supported by Dewey, and the closure of its harbor by American warships, the Spanish garrison at Manila managed to stave off starvation and defeat until the arrival of American troops later that summer Commodore (soon to be Admiral) George Dewey had at last emulated his hero, David Farragut, and laid the ghost of his father to rest by crushing the Spanish squadron. But on August 13, as Manila surrendered, he became forevermore the man who first opened the door for an imperial America. (^ For further reading, Wade G. Dudley recommends: A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902, by DavidJ. Silbey. To experience the Spanish-American War through the words of the participants (and to explore VSS Olympia), visií the Spanisíi-Americíin War Centennial Web site at www.spanamwar.com.

By Stephan Wilkinson

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Americai

cution. If succès Here ate seven o! lost audacious raids some

the reach of what would become the U.S. Navy. MILITARY HISTORY

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k deeds of dan ns

Army Rangers' Cabanatuan Rescue

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n October 1944 the U.S. Army returned to the Philippines, the loss of which more than two years earlier had precipitated the Bataan Death March. During that 60-mile forced march of 75.000 Filipino and U.S. soldiers from Corregidor and the Bataan Peninsula to prison camps farther north, thousands died or were murdered by Japanese guards. The death toll may run as high as 20,000.

It was the largest-ever surrender of a military force in U.S. history, leaving ihe Japanese with three times as many POWs as they'd expected to acquire. When General Douglas MacArthur^ troops retook the Philippines, even the most committed Japanese officers realized they could soon be facing consequences at war crime trials and that perhaps the best course would be to get rid of the prosecution witnesses—the few U.S. and British survivors of the death march. 513 of whom were held in a camp near the town of Cabanatuan. Realizing such a slaughter was possible, in January 1945 planners

put together an all-volunteer rescue force of 127 Army Rangers supported by two units of some 200 Filipino guerrillas. The camp stood amid sparsely vegetated flatland, forcing the Rangers to crawl the final mile in darkness to the stockade, which took well over an hour. Adjacent to the camp was a large Japanese troop depot, and planners feared that as many as 9,000 enemy soldiers

The core of the Cabanatuan rescue force comprised 127 men from the 6th Ranger Battalion, here sharing laughs after the successful raid.

could respond within minutes to an attack. The Filipinos were assigned to block a bridge that provided the only access for Japanese tanks, which they did splendidly, even though some of their gunners had been shown only hours earlier how to use bazookas. The second unit of guerrillas quickly and quietly gathered from locals a fleet of water-buffalo carts with which to transport those freed prisoners unable to walk.

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The U.S. Army Air Forces also participated, sending up a Northrop P-61 Black Widow to buzz the camp and distract the guards. The night fighter even staged an engine failure replete with thick exhaust smoke and backfires to ensure the guards would look skyward. The Cabanatuan Raid was a singular success. Of the 513 prisoners in the camp, 511 were rescued; one died

of a heart attack, another had hidden in a latrine but was rescued the next day. The raiders suffered just two killed and 23 wounded, while Japanese killed and wounded totaled 523, the guards wiped out by ihe withering firepower of the Rangers. In some cases, the rescuers had difficulty persuading the prisoners they were American. After all, most hadn't seen a friendly soldier since the days of Springfields, didn t even /mow what a Ranger was, had no idea how the war was going and thought the eerie black P-61 was a Soviel or German airplane. It didn't take long to convince them otherwise.

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Mosby's Fairfax Raid

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ever mock an adversar), especially if he's more competent than you. During the American Civil War, ConfedcriUi- Lieutenant (later Colonel) John Singleton Mosby led an effective regiment of Virginia cavalry troopers and irregulars whom the Federals dismissed as "noihing more than horse thieves. "

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Under the Souih's rules oí engagement, Mosby and his men were considered "partisan rangers," a status that granted each of them a share of whatever spoils they captured. And capture spoils they did—trains, supply wagons, artillery, prisoners and, yes, horses. Bui their bestknown trophy was Union Brig. Gen. Edwin H. Stoughton of Vermont, nabbed lo his everlasiing embarrassmenl during a night raid of Fairfax, Va., on March 9, 1863. The diminutive Mosby, a welleducateti member ol the Virginia bar before the war, led 29 rangers on a strike intended to caplure Union

MILITARY HISTORY

Colonel Sir Percy Wyndham. an English born cavalr)' commander and the man who had called Mosby a horse thief. The Rebels would indeed take a captive, but it wouldn't be Wyndham; he was visiting across the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., on the night Confederate intelligence had placed him in Fairfax.

Wearing a plumed hat. Confederate raider John S. Mosby poses for a studio portrait with 17 of his men around the time of the Fairfax raid.

Among Mosby's men that night was Sergeant James "Big Yankee" Ames, a Union deserter fioin the 'îth New York Cavalry; With his help, the raiding party easily penetrated the Union lines annind Fairfax. The\ found soft spots between well-defended checkpoints, and when challenged, Ames responded, "5th New York Cavalry." in his Yankee accent. It was a rainy, moonless night, and after some confusion, Mosby's

men rt--iormed at 2 a.m. and crept into Fairfaxs main square. They met no resistance, and the several terrified sentries surrendered. Mosby, a skilled intelligence gatherer, interrogated them and found ttiat though Wyndham was gone, Stoughton was hcadt[uartercd nearby So Mosby, in Confetlenite uniform, knocked on the tloor of Stoughton's quarters. 'Fifih New York, with a dispatch for General Stoughton," he announced, and when the door opened, he and three of his raiders pushetl in. The story—doubtless embellished by time—is J that Mosby found Stoughton I sound asleep, raised his iiightsliirl antl slapped him hard on his hutt. Stoughton lurched awake. "General, did you ever hear of Mosby?" the raider asked. "Yes," answered Stoughlon, "have you caught him?" '1 am Mosby," he replied. "He has caught vou."' The raid was a stunning success. Without firing a shot or losing a man, Mosby and his group of Rangers snatched from a lortified garrison town a Union brigatlier general, two captains, 30 soldirr?. and 58 Imrses. A surprising coda is that Mosby received a chilly reception when he presented the prize to his own commander. Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee (Robert E. Lees nephew). "K I had been an orderly who brought him a morning report, he could iiol ha\'e treated me with more indifference,' Mosby later wrote. Whether he was disrespected because Stoughton and Lee had beeti friends at West Point or because Lee resented Mosby's notoriety, we'll never know, but Mosby nonetheless became the Souths newest hero. Word went out that he'd next snatch President Abraham Liiieolii.

Skorzeny's IL Duce Snatch

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tto Skorzeny didn't need a stalf, advisers, sand-table mockups, practice or lengthy planning to implement one of the most daring —and successful—commando raids of World War 11. In fact, it took little more than a direct order from Adolf Hitler for the young 6-foot-4 SS captain to plot a raid a Hollywood producer might reject as fantasy

On July 25, 1943, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was ousted from power and arrested on the orders of Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III. It soon became apparent Italy was about to negotiate a surrender to the Allies, to whom "II Duce" would be handed over in exchange for favorable terms. Mussolini was imprisoned, but the Germans had no idea where. So Skorzeny flew to Rome and began to sniff out rumors of Mussolini's location from bartenders, fruit vendors, tipsy Italian naval officers, hookers and anyone else he could chat up. He ultimately traced the former dictator to a remote hotel atop the Gran Sasso, a mountain east of Rome.

By land the hotel was accessible only by a steep funicular railway, but aerial reconnaissance revealed what looked hke a small meadow behind the hotel. Skorzeny quickly put together a combined ground and glider assault on the Gran Sasso— one group of his commandos would seize the railways base station and block Italian reinforcements from

In the Storch just after being freed, Benito Mussolini seems stunned by his deliverance, while raid commander Otto Skorzeny radiates composure.

reaching the hotel, while a second group would land in the meadow aboard a dozen 10-man gliders, assault the hotel and grab Mussolini. The "meadow" turned out to be a boulder-strewn patch, and the gliders as much crashed as landed. Skorzeny himself led the assault, accompanied, somewhat unwillingly, by Italian General Ferdinando Soleti. As Skorzeny had boped, when the Italian troops and police guarding the hotel recognized Soleti, they held

1943 their fire. Skorzeny found Mussolini in a second-floor room. Then came the hard part: getting the notorious Italian dictator off the mountain and back to Germany Skorzeny called in a circling Lujtwajfe light aircraft. When the two-seat Fieseler Fi I5ö Storch safely rolled to a stop, Mussolini got into the rear seat, and Skorzeny crammed into the bag-

gage area behind 11 Duce, thoroughly overloading the tiny aircraft. Skorzeny's commandos had cleared a rough 600-foot downhill runway, and the Storch only gained flying speed by diving into the valley at the strip's end. Skorzeny was promoted and decorated for Mussolini's rescue, but it was by no means the commando^ last mission. He went on to become one of the most infamous SS officers of World War II when, during the 1944-45 Battle of the Bulge, he led Englishspeaking German troops wearing U.S. Army uniforms behind American lines to sow terror and havoc. After the war, Skorzeny was tried for war crimes but acquitted. He died of cancer in 1975.

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Special Forces' Son Tay Raid

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t may seem strange to include a raid that failed lo achieve its objective: the rescue of 60-odd American prisoners of war from a Norlh Vietnamese camp at Son Tay near Hanoi. Bui the story of the Nov. 21, 1970, operation resonates far beyond the fact that raiders found no Americans when they landed their helicopters in and around the compound. There certainly had been American POWs at Son Tay, and military planners hatched the mission because the U.S. seemed powerless to do anything about the hundreds of prisoners—most of them downed pilots—being held and tortured in

boarded three helicopters and flew, on a moonlit night, straight into a hornet's nest just 23 miles west of Hanoi. The team would have to contend with the force of prison guards thought to be controlling the camp, and an entire 12,000-man North Vietnamese Army regiment was within 20 minutes of Son Tay. Some feared the operation had been compromised and that the raiders could be heading into an ambush. But they weren't. As it turned out, the worst injury suffered by any U.S. raider was a fractured ankle. The helo tasked to land inside ihe litiy prisiin compound was too large to get back

prisoners might be, reloading and takcoffs—took jusl 29 tninutes, and seriotis opposition never showed up. While enemy body count estimates of 200 may have been exaggerated, certainly dozens wore killed. And though there's no proof, some raid parlicipant.s believed Son Tay had become a base for Russian and Chinese troops, some of whom were killed in what could have been a major international incident, had the Soviets and Chinese noi been loo embarrassed to admit their losses. Wiiy were U.S. intelligence agencies unaware the POWs had left Son Tay? At least one agency did know the camp

North Vietnamese camps, including Hoa Lo. the notorious "Hanoi Hilton." The Son Tay strike was intended as a message to the American public and to all the POWs ihat, damn it, the nation cared. Ailer three months of mission rehearsals at a mockup of the pri.son compound at Eglin Air Force Base, rla,, a contingent of U.S. Army Special Forces troops and Air Force volunteers flew to Thailand. There, 56 of the most-skilled Green Berets, led by Colonel Arthur Simons (a pariicipani in ihe 1944 Cabanatuan raid)

Led by one of two U.S. Air Force C-130 motherships that participated in the raid, CH-53S and a CH-3 head out for the would-be rescue at Son Tay.

was empty, but the government's numerous spook groups were too compartmentalized and competitive to consult one another. "Nobody asked us," became the standartl excuse. In 1972 planners within the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed a second POW rescue mission, in which nearly 60,000 men of one Marine and two Army divisions would attack Hanoi in a combined air-sea operation to seize every knovrti POW camp in iluarea. Though ihe operation waîi never authorized, il would have been the ultimate raid.

1ILITARY HISTORY

out. So its "landing" was an intentional crash touchdown, during which a fire extinguisher broke loose from a bulkhead and fractured the Ilight engineers ankle (though ihat didiii stop him from jumping oui and joining the raiding force as assigned). The entire raid—landings, several serious firefighls, two complete sweeps of the camp cells and anywhere else

IDF's Entebbe Rescue

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he July 1976 Israeli raid on Uganda's Entebbe Airport remains one of the most audacious rescue missions of all time. And had it not been a match-up between some of the world's liest commandos and some of the world's worst soldiers—despot Idi Amin's amateur army—it probably would not have worked. On June 27,1976, a pair of Palestinian terrorists and two German accomplices hijacked an Air France Airbus A300 carrying 248 passengers and forced ihe crew to fly it to Entebbe, refueling in Libya en route. Once in Uganda, the hijackers released non-Jewish passengers and corralled the remaining 85 Jewish and Israeli hostages (plus 20 others, inciuding the 12-person French crew, which refused to abandon its passengers) inside the airport terminal. Four more Palestinian conspirators had joined the hijackers on the ground, backed by pro-Palestinian dictator Amin's troops. The hijackers issued a brutal ultimatum: Israel was to free 53 convicted terrorists that it and various other countries had jailed, or they would kill the hostages one by one. Incredibly, the Israel Defense Forces put together the raid in three days, spent two days rehearsing it and jumped off for Uganda on the afternoon of July 3, the day before the executions were to begin. Aboard four C-130 Hercules transports were some 200 troops, from both the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit and the regular army, several small armored personnel carriers, a black Mercedes-Benz limousine and two Land Rovers. The limo and SUVs were to impersonate a Ugandan VIP caravan, as Amin was due back from nearby Mauritania and traveled with

his own vehicles. Accompanying the C-130s were two Israeli Air Force Boeing 707s—one a commandand-control aircraft that would circle Entebbe during the operation, the other a flying hospital that landed in Nairobi, Kenya, to await the outcome of the mission. After a circuitous, radar-evading, nearly eight-hour flight over the

With the Entebbe hostages safely in Israel, an ecstatic crowd lifts the lead C-130 pilot in triumph during a spontaneous victory celebration.

Red Sea and East Africa, the Hercs landed at Entebbe at 11:01 pm with their cargo bays open and loading ramps deployed. The phony presidential motorcade was already on the runway and rolling toward the terminal before the first C-130 had even stopped. But then two Ugandan sentries tried to stop the caravan, for they knew Amin had just replaced his black Mercedes with a white one. Two IDF troopers in the Mercedes fired at the guards with silenced pistols but missed, so

1976 a commando in a following Land Rover put them àovm with an AK-47. Though the assault rifle's characteristic bark had betrayed the Israelis' presence too soon, they were well prepared. An Israeli contractor had built the Entebbe terminal, so the raiders had access to detailed plans and had even slapped together a jartial replica of the terminal for

their rehearsals. Thus the assault team was out of its cars and into the terminal in seconds, taking the hijackers by near-total surprise. Other teams, trundling across the tarmac in the APCs, destroyed all 11 Ugandan Air Force MiG-17s on the field, to prevent pursuit once the unarmed C-130s took off. The entire raid took 53 minutes, most spent loading the freed hostages and refueling the Hercs. The vastly more experienced Israelis killed 45 Ugandan soldiers, wl-ule the IDF lost just one man. shot by a Ugandan from the control tower: Lt. Col. Yoni Netanyahu was commander of the assault team and the brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's current prime minister.

RAF Dambusters Ov

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he Ruhr Valley was Germany's workshop during World War II, and the British realized they could badly damage the Nazi war effori hy flooding the area. Several large dams blocked rivers thai fed the Ruhr, providing hydroelectric power for the valley's factories. And, of course, ihe dams held back hundreds of millions of gallons of water, which, the Royal Air Force hoped, would turn ihc valley into a lake. Busting the dams wouldn't be easy. Detonating a bomb against the dry side of a thick dam would cause only superficial damage; thus, the device would have to explode underwater to intensify the blast, but torpedo netting protected the waler approaches.

Lancaster four-engined bombers, one device per airplane. A hydraulic motor and belt dri\'c within the aircraft spun the bomb to 500 rpm during the approach to ihe target. When dropped from a Lane flying 60 icet above the water at precisely 240 mph, the bomb took a series of skips calculated to bring it 10 the upstream surface of the dam at water level. Its rapid rotation then "walked" the barrel down the submerged face of the dam, and a pressure fuse set it offal maximum depih. On the night of May 16-17, 1943, afler two months of rehearsal over English reservoirs, 19 Lancasters launched Operation Chastise in three groups— one group to attack the Mohne and Edcr dams, a second to Iximb tJie Soqx'

DAMBUSTING 101

to stay in the air, though its bomb was torn loose. Another followed a moonlit firebreak through a forest, flying hclow treeiop level. Once over their targets, the attackers experienced mixed results. The third of three bombs breached the Mohne dam. The Lanes hit ihe Eder dam three times before breaching it; the firsl bomb hit ihe lip of the dam and exploded to no effect, other than to damage ihc attacking buicasicr, which flew through the blast. The earthen Sorpe dam escaped damage, and attacks on several smaller dams failed. The RAF lost nearly half its attacking force—eight aircraft—and 56 men (three of whom were captured). Some 1,600 people died on the ground.

Bomb released

Bomb skips

Back-spinning bomb hugs dam

. (7-' Bomb detonates at depth

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Furthennore, an effective bomb would have to detonate at the submerged base of the dam and hard up against ihe structure^—^precision impossible to attain with conventional aerial bombs. British engineer Barnes Wallis, of Vickers' aircraft division, developed what came to be called the "bouncing bomb" specifically for use against the dams. These huge, fmlcss barrels were fitted laterally and partially retracted in the bomb bays of modified Avro

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MILITARY HISTORY

Successful delivery of the bouncing bomb may seem childishly simple In the above illustration, but it required complex planning and precise timing.

dam and the third as a backup reserve. Simple but ingcninus optical devices would enable Iioiiibardicrs to release the devices at exactly the correct altitude and distante from the dams. To avoid enemy radar, the big Lanes flew low. One hit the sea, man-

though at least 1.000 of them were non-German loreed laborers. And while villages were swept away, eoal tnines flooded, bridges demolished and factories ruined in Hooding ihat stretched for 50 miles, Germany had the vital Ruhr factories baek to normal production within lournionihs. Operation Chastise nonetheless remains one of ihe most specialized iind leehnologieally advanced surprise bombing raids ofWorld War 11,

Grierson's Mississippi Raid

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n the opening years of the Civil War, "Union cavalr^'" was sometimes disparaged as an oxymoron. After all, Southern boys had grown up racing and sporting with horses, while Northerners, so the line went, might have done better saddling their cows. Despite that reputation, arguably the most successful eavalry operation of the entire war was carried out by the 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division of the Union I6th Army Corps. Leading it was Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson, a former Illinois music teacher and hand leader who hated horses, ever since one delivered a near-fatal kick to his head as a child. Grierson had turned down a West Point education in favor of the piano, so he learned to lead cavalry by reading store-bought training manuals. The outcome of the war remained uncertain in early 1863, but President Lincoln figured if his armies could establish control of the Mississippi River, it would fatally split the South. Control hinged on taking the river city of Vicksburg, Miss., known as "the Gibraltar of the Confederacy," as it sat atop a frontally unassailable 200-foot bluff. To endrun its defenses, the Union would have to mass troops on the Vicksburg side of the river both north and south of the city. But how to distract the Confederates during the troop buildup? Thai was Grierson's job: Lead 1,700 horsemen into hostile Mississippi with no hope of support from other Union forces and maraud the entire length of the lion's den, tearing down telegraph lines, ripping up railway tracks, burning Confederate supplies, sacking plantations, destroying military and government buildings, living off

the land and generally confounding the South's citizenry and its army And he did just that. On April 17,1863, in the words of 1st Sergeant Stephen Forbes, "|The brigadel slid like a huge serpent into the cover of the Mississippi woods."

Despite his lifelong fear of horses, Colonel Benjamin Grierson led 1,700 men on what was arguably the most effective cavalry raid ot the Civil War.

Sixteen days later, the Yankee serpent had slithered more than 600 miles through Mississippi and recrossed Union lines into Baton Rouge, La. The Confederates had by that time tasked some 20,000 officers and soldiers to stamp out Grierson, but until the last day of the raid, when the Union cavalrymen had lo fight four small hut sharp engagements to reach safety, the South never laid a glove on him.

1863 During their epic ride, Grierson's raiders tore up nearly 60 miles of railroad track and telegraph lines; hurned several large trains filled with Confederate goods: destroyed tons of small arms and ordnance; killed or wounded 100 Confederates; captured 500 prisoners and 1,000 horses and mules; and trashed an incalculable amount of enemy food, stores and supplies. Of his 1,700 cavalrymen, just 26 were killed, wounded, taken prisoner or missing. While a handfvil of Grierson's men ranged ahead of the main column in phony Confederate uniforms to gather inlormation, the Federal raiders operated strictly under theneurreni rules of warlare. They could take whatever food they needed lor themselves and their mounts and destroy anything that might aid the South's war efforts, but looting and pillaging were prohibited. One rail passenger was allowed to offload household goods before his train was torched, and following Í another attack Grierson's troops 2 helped locals quench house fires S sparked by cinders from a railear the í Yankees had ignited. Ï Uliimately, Grierson achieved exactly what he'd been ordered to do: Confederate forces were so disconcerted by the raid that Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was able to sbuttle 23,000 troops across the Mississippi River south of Vicksburg without significant opposition. With Grant besieging Vicksburg from the south and Maj. General William T. Sherman battering it from the north, the city fell on July 4, 1863. That loss, and Lee's concurrent defeat at Gettysburg, marked the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. Grant, Sherman and Lee are well remembered. Colonel Ben Grierson should be. (3El

In the era of crude papyrus maps and dead reckoning, Thutmose III dared cross the seas to subdue a region By Richard A. Gabriel

One afternoon in the year 1471 BC, the people of what is now southern Lebanon were startled by the sudden appearance of vast numbers of Egyptian soldiers. While this was not a new experience—pharaoh Thutmose Ill's armies had invaded the region the year before—the method of the pharaonic marauders' arrival was unique: They had come from the sea. Their ruler, one of the great captains of antiquity and arguably Egypt's greatest general, had just put ashore 10,000 infantrymen, 500 chariots and 1,000 horses in history's first large-scale amphibious operation. Thutmose III (r. 1479-1425 Bc) fought more battles over a longer period and won more victories than any general in the ancient world. In the 20 years between 1479 and 1459 BC, A« inscrutable statue he fought g t 177 campaigns in Palestine, Syria and on ofThuimoseiifromthe I

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Temple Temple of of Amun Amun.opposite opposite,

the Euphrates—an average ot one every 1.2 years, offers no hint of his tactical In his first major campaign as pharaoh, facing the ?S::;S™:^d combined Syrian and Canaanite armies at Megiddo in the importance of navai 1 TA 1 • 1 A~Tr^ 1 1 ? ir superiority as a means of southern Palestme m 1479 BC, he revealed himself projecting Egypt's might.

MILITARY HISTORY

Thut's Transport The ancient Egyptians were perhaps the first people to construct genuine ships. Egyptian ships were transports, not warships. King Snetru (r. 2613-2589 BC) built vessels 100 cubits {170 feet) long and capable of carrying 80 to 100 tons of cargo. While the earliest example of an Egyptian seagoing ship dates from the reign of King Sahure(r 2487-2475 BC). Egyptian ship design reached its zenith during the reign

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to be a first-rate tactician and logistician. And in a preview of his future tactical innovation, he was also the first commander in history to cany out an amphibious river crossing, as he led his army across the Euphrates in boats transported 300 miles overland and assembled on the banks of the river. Thutmose was a brilliant strategic thinker, and to him Egypt owes the design and implementation of a strategic vision that permitted the once defeated and insular society to become a great nation of imperial dimensions. Thutmose III specifically regarded Syria as a strategic threat to Egypt, something no pharaoh before him had done. Prompting the policy shift was the rise on the Euphrates (roughly the area of modern-day Kurdistan) ofthe Mitanni kingdom, a Hittite vassal state prone to interference in Syria. Thutmose took an army to the Lebanese coast in 1472 BC to protect Egypt's supplies of strategic raw materials (cedar and tin) and to keep open the Lebanese ports and ground routes to the Syrian interior. The following year, the pharaoh again attacked the southern Lebanese coast, seeking to establish a

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MILITARY HISTORY

snof

sailifig.tHeyfurt ured the hull with bracing ropes.

platform from which to launch further operations against Syria and the Mitanni. Until the 147Í BC campaign, Egypt had largely confined its naval operations to the Nile, where they facilitated wars of liberation against the Hyksos and later in keeping the Nile's traffic flowing. Realizing the importance of maritime might, Thutmose III upgraded the Egyptian navy and ordered construction of a large dockyard and mihtary base on the site of the old Hyksos capital at Avaris, in the northeastern Nile Delta, turning it into a major port city He appointed his son, Amenhotep II, to command the dockyard. Thutmoses revival of Egyptian naval power in the eastem Mediterranean reveals the broad sweep of his strategic thinking. Ships involved in commercial trade among Egypt, Canaan and Lebanon could make 50 to 60 miles in daylight with favorable winds, but saihng on the open sea was not undertaken at night, so they put in to the beach each evening. Whoever controlled the stopping points along the coast could thus also control the commercial shipping. Once

men c^ntrolle the thick linen sails th lines and yard^ nd steered using two aft oars.

While an overland march from Egypt to Lebanon would have taken almost six weeks, the journey by ship took slightly more than a week, despite the fact that ships put into shore each night for the crews to rest, eat and sleep. A sea voyage avoided the wear and tear on an army that inevitably accompanied an overland march, thus Thutmose Ill's troops arrived reasonably combat-ready. That's not to say they were lightly burdened, for the average Egyptian soldier of tbe period-who stood 5-foot-8 and weighed around 145 pounds-carried some 60 pounds of weapons, equipment and provisions.

Wben arriving in or departing from barbor, oarsmen provided propulsion.

Egypl conirolled ihc Lebanese ports, Thutmose 111 could move his iroops and supplies by sea at will and wiihüui fear of attack. The major strategic consequence of the pharaoh's revival of Egyptian naval capabilities was thus to secure effeclive control of the coastal easiem Mediterranean, a dominance Egypt held for more than two centuries.

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hutmose Ill's amphibious invasion of southern Lebanon was a massive logistical undertaking; in addition to troops, chariots and horses, his force would also include 2,000 donkeys and mules needed by the army lor overland transport. The ships that would transport his force were ideally suited to the lask—^approximately 60 cubits (102 feet) long and 20 cubits (34 feet) wide and comparable in size, speed, cargo space and tons burden to the average Roman Republican transport. Such ships could carr>' hetween 80 and 100 tons of cargo, troops or horses, yet were ot shallow enough draft to permit easy beaching and pushing off. Eor an invasion force of this size, some 65 ships would have sufficed.

The invasion fleet left Egypt in early ]une 1471 BC and made nightly stops along ihe coasts of Canaan and Lebanon. The ships would have reached the friendly port of Byhlos, 340 miles distant, a little over a week after leaving Egypt. The troops woke early at Byblos, ate and boarded the transports with their weapons and equipment. Although ihc Annah of Thutmose in the Temple of Amun at Karnak do not record where the invaders landed, the most logical place would have been the port of Simyra, about 30 miles by sea from Byblos. The fleet would have reached the landing site around midday. As each troopship approached the beach, a company of soldiers made its way from benches in the ship's belly to the deck and then jumped into the shallows to wade ashore. Once the infantry had secured the beach, the transports carrying the chariots and horses could beach themselves. Elite chariot units were the first to unload, the men a.ssembling the chariots and forming up before moving inland with the infantry. The Egyptian landings met no resistance, and by dark the

troops jiid ihcir equipment were ashore and Temple inscriptions at ground for chariots, and it is possible the battle established behind the shield wall of a hastily Karnak, above, attest to of which Amenemhab speaks was fought ihere. built field camp. The appearance of an Egyptian army so near Thutmose's successf til With his army assembled, Thutmose III amphibious campaigns their city probably caught the enemy unmarched lo Arka, the largest agricultural town against the princes of awares, prompting them to hastily send chariin the heart of the Eleutheros Valley, threading Canaan. Hundreds stand ots to block Thutmose Ill's further advancethe road through the mountains to the interior with hands bound behind On open ground, the pharaoh's chariots and There he rested and prepared his troops for the them, each shield bearing subslanlial supporting infantry formations five-mile march to Kadesh, on the Orontes River that prince's cartouche. would have had the advantage over the maryat the east end of the valley, about 40 miles fiiirttJ charioteers of Kadesh, who fielded only from the coast. According to the Annais, Thutmose "arrived a small number of supporting infantry After driving ihe al the city of Kadesh, overthrew it, cut down its groves maryamm from the field, Thutmose was free to punish and harvested its grain." Supporting that account are the the city in the traditional fashion by cutting down its fruit lonib inscriptions of one Amenemhab, an officer who trees and seizing its recently harvested grain. The pharaoh fought in Thutmose's army during the Asiatic campaigns: was thus able to demonstrate that the main perpetrator AGAIN I BEHELD Hts BtiAVERY, WHILE I WAS AMONG HIS FOLLOWof Egypt's troubles in Lebanon was no longer beyond ERS. HE [Thutmose] CAPTURED THE CITY OF KADESH, I WAS NOT the reach of an Egyptian army. ABSENT FROM THE PLACE WHERE HE WAS; I BROUGHT OFF TWO MEN, LORDS, AS LIVING PRtSONERS; I SET THEM BEFORE THE KING,

THE LORD OF THE TWO LANDS, THUTMOSE, LIVING FOREVER. HE GAVE TO ME GOLD BECAUSE OF BRAVERY, BEFORE THE WHOLE

PEOPLE. Amenemhab's account suggests a battle of some magnitude at Kadesh. His reference to his prisoners as "lords" also implies chariots took part in the battle, the term "lord" being a reference to the maryannu nobility thai served as chariot warriors. It seems unlikely Kadesh itself actually fell to Egyptian arms. The large open plain northwest of the city is ideal

MILITARY HISTORY

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That Thutmose III did after his victory at Kadesh suggests that intimidation, not conquest, was the object of his march to the Syrian interior. The pharaoh turned north and marched up the Orontes. The knnah tell us he "came to the land of Senzar," on the Orontes close to modern-day Hama, Syria. The march took him through the territories of the powerful city-states of Qatna and Tunip, a dramatic demonstration of both Egyptian military might and the pharaoh's wiUingness to confront the powerful Syrians on their own ground.

Marching almost beneath the city walls of Qatna and Tunip was risky business indeed. But neither city's army sallied forth to confront Thulmose III and his army. To ensure the Syrians respected the scope of Egyptian power, the pharaoh fell upon the town of Seruar. Just a few miles north of Tunip, Senzar was close enough to have been one of Tunip's vassals, and Thutmose's attack was a direct challenge to Tunip's rulers. "I beheld the royal victories of [Thulmose III], given hfc, in the country' of Senzar, when he made a great slaughter among them," Amenemhah said of the battle. "1 fought hand to hand before the king, 1 brought off a hand there. He gave to me the gold of honor" The town seems to have been destroyed, and the "great slaughter" may have been Thutmose Ills deliberately bloody lesson to Tunip that it might meet a similar fate. After sacking Senzar, the pharaoh lurned his army around and marched back dovm the Orontes, again passing defiantly through the territories of the three city-states. But again the cities declined battle and offered no resistance to Thutmoses passage through their tenitories. He then turned west into the Eleutheros Valley and marched back to his base at Simyra, winding up nearly a month of combat and maneuver.

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holds in Egypt," as the Annals put it, As titne passed and the old rulers died, their sons would be returned home to replace ihem and would. Thulmose hoped, remain loyal to Egyptian interests. The pharaoh evidently sought to control the Lebanese coast long term. Tbutmose 111 had proven his ability to conduct an amphibious invasion far from Egypt. He could now respond quickly to any far-flung rebellion with large numbers of combat-ready troops, enabling Egypt to project power throughout the Levant.

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hutmose 111 returned to coastal Lebanon in the spring of 1470 BC, again by sea. He came to inspect the ports and inland agricultural towns that had sworn allegiance and to check their progress in establishing supply depots and collecting the necessary stores. Sailing from port to port on his tour, the pharaoh became increasingly accustomed to the sea and would use it repeatedly to conduct expeditions in Syria and northern Canaan. Eighteen months later, Thutmose again arrived on the shores of Lebanon with an army His target this time was the Mitanni kingdom, which lay east of the Euphrates more than 300 miles away Thutmose spent a month overseeing construction of amphibious landing craft, which his men then disassetnbled and loaded on wagons for the march through the Eleutheros Valley and up the Orontes across Syria to the Euphrates. A 35-day march brought the Egyptians to the city of Carchemish, which they took by storm. Reassembling the landing craft, the army transported itself, its equipment and its horses across the Euphrates in history's first amphibious river crossing. Thutmose soon drove the enemy from the field in a series of skirmishes. As the bulk of his army marched along lhe riverbank, he loaded troops aboard the landing craft and sailed down the Euphrates, attacking and burning enemy towns as he went. He then turned west and marched back to the Lebanese coast. The Euphrates campaign was the greatest militar>' feat of Thulmose Ill's impressive military career, bul one he could only have pursued after successfully subduing Lebanon and using il as a strategic platform for lurther operations. The success of both campaigns was largely due to the pharaohs innovations in amphibious warfare: first, his crossing of the open sea, and second, his crossing of the mighty Euphrates. By these benchmarks alone, Thutmose Ul deserves regard as Egypt's greatest warrior pharaoh. (^

á Thutmose could now respond quickly to any far-flung rebellion with combat-ready troops, enabling Egypt to project power f

fter a few weeks of rest and replenishment, Thutmose Ill's army again took to the field. This time the target was Arvad, an island port some two miles off the Lebanese coast, 26 miles north of Simyra and opposite modem-day Tartus. The island is only a half-mile long and a quarter mile wide, its surface rising only a few feet above the waves. It is surrounded on three sides hy submerged reefs and rocks, its perimeter enclosed by walls of natural rock. To the west and south rose a great seawall above a natural moat. But Arvad was vulnerable on its landward east side, where two semicircular harbors split by a jetty afforded seaborne access. Thutmose III decided to take the city by amphibious assault. He dedicated just five troopships and 3,000 men to the effort, as Arvad's thousand inhabitants were unlikely to mount any appreciable resistance. None was recorded. The island government saw that its interest lay in swearing allegiance to Egypt, remaining free and maintaining its lucrative trade. After capturing Arvad, Thutmose embarked on a lour of all the cities and towns he'd subdued in order to accept oaths of loyalty from their rulers. The texts tell us that rulers of 36 principalities swore allegiance to their new sovereign. But Thutmose was too shrewd to rely upon oaths alone. As he had done in earlier campaigns, Thutmose took the sons of some chiefs as hostages. "Behold, the children of the chiefs and their brothers were brought to be in strong-

Forjuiiher reading, Richard A. Gabriel recommends his own Thutmose III: The Military Biography of Eg>'pt's Greatest Warrior King.

GERMAN V GERMAN A

I Foreign troops fought on DO,.. sides of the Revoliuionary War —and in direct opposition L at the decisive final battle Bv David T. Zabcdü

lile every American schoo . Aild for the last 200-plus yeai has learned that Gertiian troop fought for the British durin 1 the American Revolution, les ^ well known is that more tha: ,500 German soldiers fougl '• on the American sid( 1 Moreover, it is one ( the great ironies G militan- histor\' that th last major engagcmen of the Revolution pittei ; Germans against Germans ii p bmtal slugfesi that hclpe( Idetermine the outcome o

Lt. Gen. Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau. opposite, commanded the French expeditionary corps, to which most of the Germans who fought on the American side at Yorktown belonged. In this image, troops of the French Gâtinais regiment and Régiment de Royal Deux-Ponts—the latter almost entirely German—storm Redoubt 9 on Oct. 14,1781.

i^V

the Battle of Yorktown and, by extension, of Americas struggle for independence. Though broadly called "Hessians," little more than half of the estimated 30,000 German troops who served ihe British in North America actually came from the duchies of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Hanau; the rest hailed from other German principalities. Most of the Germans who fought on the American side served in the French expeditionary corps of Lt. Gen. Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau. Some came from the German-speaking Erench regions of Alsace or Lorraine, while others were recruited into the French army from German border regions. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ One of Rochambeau's ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ * seven infantry regiments was raised entirely on German soil. The Deux-Ponts Regiment had "an amazing number of Germanic names" on its roster, observed military historian Trevor Dupuy The unit's official name was Rtgiment de Royal Deux-Ponts, but its soldiers called themselves the Zweibrtlcken Regiment, after the capital of the eponymous German duchy. In Erench and German, respectively, Deux-Ponts and Zwcihrücken mean the same thing—two bridges. The regiment was raised in 1757 hy Duke Christian IV of Pfalz-Zweibrüeken, a member of a cadet branch of the Witlelsbach family that ruled Bavaria from 1180 to 1918. To offset a debt Duke Christian owed to King Louis XV of France, his tiny single-regiment army served in the Erench army for its entire existence. This was fairly common practice among the major European armies of the time; 22 foreign regiments served under the Erench flag. Unlike British convention, the title "Royal" in a Erench regiment's designation indicated a foreign unit. While the other six infantr)' regiments in Rochambeau's corps wore the standard allwhite uniform of the Erench infantry, the Zweibrücken units coats were the deep celestial blue worn hy the other German infantry regiments in Erench service. The Zweibrücken uniform also featured distinctive citron-yellow collars, cuffs and facings. The unit carried both the Ereneh flag and its own Zweibrücken flag into battle. Count Christian von Zweibrücken commanded his father's regiment, while Christian's younger brother, Count Wilhelm von Zweibrücken— known as Comte Guillaume des Deux-Ponts in the French histories—served as his second.

unit's coats

were the deep celestial blue worn by the other German infantry

regiments in French service f

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MILITARY HISTORY

F

ollowing ihe 1777 American victory against British forces at Saratoga, N.Y., Gilbert du Motier, Marquis dc Lafayette, and others pressed for the Franco-American Treaty of Alliance. With that pact, signed in Paris in Febniary 1778, France formally recognized the United Slates and effectively joined the struggle against their common British foe. In late 1779, the French committed ground troops to the war during the Siege of Savannah. In May 1780, Rochambeau embarked from Brest in a 48-ship convoy bearing a Erench expeditionary force of some 6,000 soldiers. Comprising 69 officers and 1,013 troops, the Zweibrücken Regiment was among the largest of Rochambeaus units. The regiment had already served the Erench crown in combai at the 1757 Battle of Rossbach. When Rochambeau formed his corps, he specifically asked for the Zweibrücken duc to its strength and fighting reputation. He tapped one of the regiments junior officers. Baron Ludwig von Closen, to serve as his aide-de-camp during the American campaign. The Erench included a significant number of Germanspeaking troops in their North American force on the theory they could recruit replacements from among the deserters of British-allied German regiments. The Zweibrücken Regiment

In Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe's 1784 painting The Surrender of Yorktown, red-coated British troops parade between the lines of blue-coated Deux-Ponts Germans.

did. in fact, enlist 67 men while in America. But the Zweibrücken troops were not the only Germans in Rochambeaus corps. In most French regimenLs of the time, the troops of ihe two elite tlank companies (grenadiers and chasseurs) were typically from German-speaking territories. One battalion of Rochambeau's Saintonge Regiment consisted entirely of Germans recruited from Trier, though the Saintonge was officially a French regiment. Rochambeau's cavalry force—commonly called Lauzun's Legion—was officially a German unit, although the troopers were Polish and Irish as well as Gennan. Rochambeau's force debarked al Newport, R.L, on July 11, 1780. After 71 days at sea, almost a third of the troops were sick with scurvy Anticipating a British naval assault, the French took up defensive positions around Newport. There they remained almost a year to repel an attack thai never came. Following a May 1781 strategy-planning session between Rochambeau and Washington, the French force broke camp and headed for New York on June 19. Brigaded

with the Bourbonnais Regiment, the Zweibrucken played a supporting role in the July 15 skirmish at Tarrytown. Up to that point, however, even senior French commanders did nol know iheir ñnal objective. By August the major British force in the South, under Maj. Gen. Charles Comwallis, had entrenched at Yorktown on the Virginia coast. Washington sent a small force under Lafayette to check Comwallis from the landward side. Then, in late August, the bulk of the French and American forces marched south from New York toward Yorktown. On September 5, a French fleet under Admiral François-Joseph-Paul, Comte de Grasse, defeated a British fleet under Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves al the Battle of the Virginia Capes, effectively isolating Comwallis at Yorktown and setting the stage for a decisive battle.

T

hanks to French local naval superiority, the Bourbonnais Brigade made the final leg of its approach by ship down the Chesapeake Bay and took up positions around Yorktown on September 28. For most of the next two weeks, the

SIEGE OF YORKTOWN, SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 1781 ßv,/fssicaj. S/iíYís

I

n August 1781. General Sir Henry Clinton ordered Lt. Gen. Lord Charles Cornwailis lo capture a coastal area where British ships could harbor safely. Cornwailis took over Yorktown and Gloucester Point, a peninsula across the York River from Yorktown, Va. The peninsula provided a narrow river distance to defend, and heavily laden transvessels could easily maneuver in the relatively deep r of the York River. While the terrain provided reasondefense possibilities, fortifications would be necessary. Comwallis therefore surrounded Yorktown with a defensive line of artillery batteries, trenches and redoubts. Redoubts 9 and 10 were constructed on the left of the British line, southeast of Yorktown. -,^_^h5eptember 28 the main Continental and French army • S ^ d within a few miles of Yarktown. On ihe morning of

E

abandoned iheir outermost fortifications. The Allies over the abandoned redoubts, and constructed siege w The first parallel, a 2.000-yard-long trench about 800 ] from the British line, was manned on October 7. Two later, the Allies began shelling Cornwailis and his men the British fortifications began to crufñbleT'Coñstruction^ a second Allied parallel, 750 yards long and 300 yards £ H the British, began on the night of October 11. ^t The parallel, however, could not be completed i Redoubts 9 and 10 were taken, a task given to the Mar de Lafayette and the Baron de Vioméni!. On the nigl October •145BÉteménirs 400 German troops, led by Lt. Count Wilhelm^on Zweibrücken, seized Redoubt 9 wÉîÏÏe 400 of LafayeXlei^.Çonlincnla! soldiers, led by Ll. Col.; Alexatider Hai^i||pí^¿*tormed Redoubt 10. On October 1^ the British niaâé a sortie to disable Allied artillery, but to iered on October 19.

second paral

b Allied first parallel 600 yards

^

To main British defensive works 400 yards

To second parallel trench (under construction) ^ ^ 300 yards

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DISTANCES: REDOUBT 9 to REDOUBT 10: 300 yatás

ca

Maps by Steve Waikowlak Redoubt illustration by Kevin Hand

BARON DE VIOMÉNIL The Baron de Vioménll gave the ' of capturing Redoubt 9 to Lt. Col. Count Wilhelm von Zweibrücken. Grenadiers and chasseurs went first to clear the defensive works, fill the ditch with fascines and j emplace ladders so the assault \ troops could scale the parapets. !

WASHINGTON'S ARMY

Whîlë the British were fortifying Yorktown, Gênerai George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau were outside New York City. They deceived their British opponent, General Sir Henry Clinton, inside the city, into thinking they would attack. —Instead, be^nning on August 19, they stealthily moved troops south 450 miles to Yorktown. Meanwhile, French Admiral François-Joseph-Paul, Comte de Grasse*Tilly, arrived off Virginia on August 26 and closed off Chesapeake Bay. A British fleet under Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves arrived off the Virginia coast on Septemher 5, sparking a two-hour hattle that forced the hattered British fleet to New York, stranding Cornwallis.

York

"Tre "Trenton hiladelphia

/_.

NJ . Atlantic Ocean

L,'Washington & l/'^^Rochambeau Wiiiiamsbu

de Barras (artiilery transport) sails from Newport, Rl Graves (British fleet)

York River

JIEDOUBT 10 hile it shared certain features with Redoubt 9 palisades, fraises, abatis—Redoubt 10 was oser to the York River and smailer in area than s companion fortification, and it was a square rather than a pentagon. General Washington lersonaily addressed Hamilton's troops before he attack, and the Americans tooi< the Drtification after a bitter 10-minute battle.

300 yards

s*^ -K

Conducted in virtually the same way as von Zweibrücken's assault on Redouht 9, Hamilton's 400-man attack on Redouht 10 was led by sappers and miners tasked with clearing the obstacles confronting the infantry.

parapet

REDOUBT DETAIL

in the 18th century, principies for constructing fortifications foilowed the doctrines of Sebastien le Prestre de Vauban, a Frenchman who served King Louis XIV. During the War of independence, contemporary manuais foilowed Vauban's techniques, which inciuded encircling redoubts with a ditch filled with vertical palisades and slanted fraises. Dirt from

tbe ditch was used to form the parapet—the mound that formed the perimeter of the redoubt. Parapets helped keep the men inside from being seen. A firing step against the interior of the parapet, called a banquette, aiiowed men to look over tbe parapet and shoot. Openings caited embrasures were made in tbe parapet for artillery to fire through.

Zweibrücken troops spent every third day digging trenches. On October 9, Erench and American artillery moved up within range ofthe British garrison and began pounding its defenses. Diggers began a second siege parallel on October 11 but were forced to halt work as the trench ran up against two strong defensive works on the British left near the York River. Redoubts 9 and 10, as the British called them, compromised the entire operation. They must fall. The positions centered on strong field fortifications, each capped by a parapet overlooking a defensive ditch. Ringing the ditches were abatis, rows of outward-facing sharpened stakes. These would not be easy positions to storm. The allies launched a two-pronged, simultaneous attack on the evening of October 14. Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton led a 400-man American assault on Redoubt 10, nearest the river, while ^^^^^^^^* the Erench stormed Redoubl 9. some 400 yards to the left. Lt. Gen. Antoine Charles du Houx, Baron de Viomênil, led the French forces. He organized his column into three echelons. The lead element comprised the grenadier and chasseur (light infantry) companies of the Gâtinais and Zweibrücken regiments. Viomênil put Wilhelm von Zweibrücken in command of the 400-man all-German assault element.

about 100 yards out from the trench, a Hessian sentry shouted a challenge in German: "'Werdair ("Who's there?!") Maintaining silence, tbe attackers pushed forward, and the defenders immediately opened fire, inflicting several casualties. Artillery rounds had hardly touched the abatis, and von Zweibrückens men suffered more casualties as his axmen hacked away at the obstacle. Breaking through in small numbers, von Zweibrücken's troops mounted the parapet, only to encounter withering musket fire. The defenders then tried to drive them oíT with a bayonet charge, but the attackers held on as the pioneers worked feverishly to widen the breaches in the defenses. The parapet was a hard climb under ideal conditions. On his first attempt, von Zweibrücken fell back into the ditch. Gâti^^^^^^^^ nais Lieutenant Jean-François de Sillcgue helped hoist his commander to the top before taking a musket n^und in the thigh. He died 40 days after being wounded. As more men gained the top of the parapet, von Zweibrücken directed their fire on the defenders, who took up a makeshift defensive position behind some barrels. Massed together, they made an easy target for the attackers' fire. Von Zweibrüeken was about to order his men to fix bayonets and assault the posilion when the defenders laid down their amis and surrendered. As the assault troops were mopping up, Viomênil came forward and told them to expect a counterattack. Under British artillery fire, von Zweibrüeken consolidated his position and deployed his troops. When a sentry shouted thai the British were forming up to attack, von Zweihrücken peered over the top ofthe parapet to assess the situation. Just then, a cannonball hit the redoubt, ricocheted close to the commander's head and blasted sand and gravel into his face, temporarily deafening and blinding him. Forced to relint|tnsh command, von Zweibrücken evacuated to the rear for medical treatment. Thankfully, the British did not counterattack. On the right, Hamilton's Americans had an easier time taking Redoubt 10. suflering about a dozen dead and 30 wounded. In just seven minutes of combat, Wilhelm von Zweibnkkens force had lost 46 killed and 68 wounded, and many of the wounded later died of their injuries, li was the largest allied loss of the entire battle. The Hessian defenders suffered only lfi killed and 43 captured, while 120 managed to fall back to British lines. But the capture ol' Redoubts 9 and 10 marked the beginning of the end of the Battle of Yorktown. As soon as the positions were secure, 500 American diggers continued extending the second siege parallel to the river. George Washington clearly appreciated the role "his Germans' had played in the American victory. He presented the Gâtinais and Zweibrücken regiments each with one of the British brass cannon they had captured; a Continental Con-

á George Washington clearly appreciated the role 'his Germans' played in the American victory at Yorktownf

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Tbat afternoon Viomênil, von Zweibrücken and other officers reviewed the plan of attack on Redoubt 9 and reconnoitered the forward lines and axis of advance. As darkness fell, Viomênil ordered von Zweibrücken to move into the trenches and advance to the line of departure. Once in position, he and his men waited for the signal that would launch the attack—six shells fired in rapid succession by a battery immediately to the rear. Von Zweibrücken put the Gâtinais chasseurs at the head of his column. The first 50 troops would throw hundled brushwood fascines into the perimeter ditch, making it easier to cross. Behind them followed eight soldiers wilh assault ladders. Completing the French assault echelon were the Gâtinais grenadiers and Zweibrücken grenadiers and chasseurs. Out in front of the column, a pair of sergeants led a dozen ax-carrying pioneers from both regiments. Their mission was to cut through the abatis. Vioménil's second echelon consisted of the Bourbonnais and Agenois regiment chasseurs, with the Gâtinais 2nd Battalion in reserve. Before jumping ofT, von Zweibrücken instmcted his troops to hold their fire until they reached the crest of the parapet. Once his men controlled the heights, no one was to jump down into the British position until he gave the order. Shortly after dark, the artillery signaled the attack, and von Zweibrücken led his troops forward in silence. Defending the redoubt were soldiers from Musketeer Regiment von Bose of Hesse-Kassel. Spotting von Zweibrücken's troops

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MILITARY HISTORY

Wilhelm von Zweibrücken kept ajournai during his service in America, but it vanished in the chaos of the French Revolution. Then, in June 1867. an American named Samuel Abbott Green, a future mayor of Boston, stumbled across the journal in a Parisian secondhand book stall. He translated von Zweibrückens journal into English and published it in America the following year. Von Closen, Rochambeau's aide-de-camp, also kept a journal, which was eventually published in Fnglisb in 1958. The dukes of Zweibrücken lost their proprietorship of the Regiment de Royal Deux-Ponts about the time the French army dismissed its German officers. In 1790 the French stopped recruiting soldiers in Germany, and in January 1791 the regiment lost its "Royal" designation. Then the French National Assembly eliminated all regimental names and asrriving in France well signed number designations. ahead of the regiThus, the Royal Deux-Ponts ment, Wilhelm von became tbe 99th Infantry RegZweibrücken was feted as the iment of tbe Line, and its solhero of Yorktown. Six day*; diers assumed the standard after Cornwallis surrenderee!, French uniform. The 99tb InRochambeau sent von Zweifantry Regiment continued its brücken to deliver his official long record of distinguished report to King Louis XVI service to the Frencb army: It and present the court witb fought in the 1792 Battle of the captured British colors. Valmy; from 1862 to 1865, the Von Zweibrücken received a 99th served in North America hero's welcome at Versailles, as part of the French expediwhere the king awarded bim tionary force in Mexico; during the Order of St. Louis. AlWorld War 1, it saw combat at though von Zweibrücken Verdun, the Somme, Cbemin was quite junior in seniority, des Dames and Aisnc; from the war minister put him 1927 to 1964, the unit served atop the command list for the as an alpine infantry regiment, next available regiment, leapfighting in the French Alps frogging him over more than during the Liberation of France 500 waiting colonels. His in 1944 and 1945; and in 19h8 wait was brief. In January General Washington directs the Comte de Rochambeau's it reverted to a standard infantry 1782, von Zweibrücken took attention to the next tactical objective during the 1781 regiment, serving in Lebanon reduction of the extensive British defenses at Yorktown. command of the 3rd Regiin tbe 1980s and Bosnia in ment of Chasseurs at Sarrethe 1990s. The 240-year history of the 99th Infantry Regiguemines, in the province of Lorraine. He was promoted ment ended in 1997, when the unit disbanded as part of to brigadier general in January 1784 and to major general the French army downsizing and conversion into an allfour years later, at the age of 35. volunteer force. Until the end, the regimental colors bore the The von Zweibrücken brothers were still serving in red lion from the coat of arms of Zweibrücken—which today the French army when revolution toppled the Ancien is a sister city of Yorktown, Va. (0| Régime. As foreigners and noblemen, they fell under double suspicion by tbe revolutionary government. Wilhelm For further reading, David Zabechi recommends: The Revolure.signed his commission after being implicated in the royal tionary Journal of Baron von Closen, 1780-1783. translated family's unsuccessful flight from Varennes onjune 25,1791. and edited by Evelvn M. Acomb, and My Campaigns in AmerThe army dismissed Christian and most other German ica: A Journal Kept by Count William de Deux-Ponts, officers around the same time. The brothers then went to 1780-1781, translated and edited by Samuel Abbott Green. Munich and joined the service of their family.

gress resolution confirmed the gift. In his official report to the French government, Rochambeau noted he had approved two days' extra pay for the grenadiers and chasseurs of both regiments and a bonus above that to the pioneers who had spearheaded the attack and broken through the abatis. In November 1781, Rochambeau's corps went into winter quarters around Williamsburg and Jamestown, Va. Most of the noblemen in the officer corps enjoyed the social life of the Tidewater gentry, but many troops died from disease or wounds they had suffered at Yorktown. In early July 1782, the French started moving north, eventually reaching Boston in early December. On Christmas Day, Rochambeau's force boarded ships and departed for the French West Indies, finally returning to France in June 1783.

A

FALL OFTHE Two decades ago, Berliners tore down their hated wall MILI lAKJl

ROBERTLACKEmACH/TlMELIFEPICTURES/GETTYIMAQES

A woman in West Berlin peers through a hole in the border wall shortly after its If completion in 1961. East German troops would add more walls and watchtowers.

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n Nov. 9, 1989, after

long weeks of peaceful protests, tens of

thousands of disaffected East Germans streamed unchallenged through checkpoints along the

Berlin Wall—and just like that, a generation of forced isolation from their Western counterparts was over. The wall Joseph Stalin had built to keep people in no longer held any power. It was all over but the sledgehammering. In the Cold War paranoia that followed World War II, Stalin dropped the Iron Curtain on

Soviet-occupied East Germany, prompting the first wave of Western emigration. In 1948 he sought to starve out Berlins holdout Western sector with a yearlong blockade. Only a heroic effort by Allied transport

MILITARY HISTORY

As construction progressed, above, troops raised the border wall and added an inner wall to thwart escape from East Berlin. The barren no man's-land between walls, below, was called the

"death strip." Stasi, the East German secret police, gave guards shoot toki)l orders. Among their first victims was 18-year old Peter Fechter, left, who was shot to death on Aug. 17,1962.

The West Berlin side of the wait was something of a tourist attraction and, later, a canvas for graffiti artists. East German guards forbade graffiti.

. . HfUT'/irrtCHT. iHRUMVíRHDHj.fMf< flECtHRÊN 'NDrüREWICmtlNANDfRzD VERStHMEUEN TANP SffNt TM ISPRMHUNG IN ,,,^ DER i-flUEN LUFT, DIE MHH DURtw MEIN I>>JNNES HEMD BEKUHRTÊ.IM SANFTEM I N n i l N E f i HA/»R.3£Dt'R L'AUF PER FSEIONISSE MAR DÍNKBAR, RóíK^ltHT&lOS plESt KAlHT

VEREINEN. »IE yERLOÄENESWifoERFIHpEfi. ¡Í.H M I T (N > GEBOftG

M ' I Î Û S S ÜMÜ IHRER

pilots, who delivered more than 2.3 million tons of food and supplies to West Berhn, kept that sector free.

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Through the 1950s, as East Germany shpped further into economic stagnation, the brain drain to the West accelerated. In desperation, Stahn closed the border between the two German states, but the exodus continued through West Berlin. Finally, in June 1961, Nikita Khrushchev ordered construction of the 103-mile wall. Even the wall couldn't quell

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the desire for freedom. So it is this fall Germans mark a double anniversary (see H 11)—20 years since the wall came down and 19 since reunification. iB

MILITARY HISTORY

By the niid-1980s, graffiti covered much of the West Berlin side of the wall, including the stretch above, centered on verse entitled "Den Hellsten Stern Am Himmel Suchend'

("Searching for the Brightest Star in the Sky"). When the wall fell in late 1989, West and East Germans alike clambered like children atop the relic of communist oppression.

Nearly 30 years after their forebears placed the first bricks. East German troops began demolishing the latter day concrete wall. Few traces remain.

To the Brink in

A Spanish gunboat finally caught up with Virginius, an American blockaderunner filled with Cuban rebels and munitions. What Spain did next nearly sparked a war BY RON SOODALTER

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In 1870, just two years into the ill-starred Ten Years' War for Cuban independence, Manuel de Quesada, commander in chief of lhe rebel Republic ol Cuba, sailed to the United States in se^cb of sympaihy and support. Ideally, the rebels sought U.S. intervention—or at least recognition. Barring tbat, tbey would happily accept money and munitions. Thousands of Cuban exiles in key American cities bad organized political groups, or juntas, staging social events and rallies to enlist the aid of moneyed businessmen and garner Congress' support. President Ulysses S. Crant came within a hair's breadtb of recognizing Cuban belligerency, but at tbe last minute, he changed bis mind, and the resolution failed. While many Americans joined bim in opposing recogni-

MILITARY HISTORY

tion ol the rebel Cuban republic, a strong faction was just as vocal in ils support- And as the debates wore on in Congress, coffeeboftses and tbe offices of great men of commerce, Manuel de Quesada bought a boat, Quesada's cboice was the 2üO-footlong side-wbeel steamer Virginius. Scottish huilt in 1864, the ship had ,begun life as a Confederate blockaderunner, operating between Havana and Mobile, Ala. After tbe war, it bad served in tbe mercantile trade between Havana and New Orleans. In 1870 Virginius was auctioned off ai tbe Wasbington Navy Yard, ostensibly to an American namedjohn H Panerson. In fact, Patterson was acting on bebalf of Quesada and two partners, who purchased tbc ship with funds from ihe New York Cuban junta. Tbey planned to use tbe

sbip to carry munitions, supplies and men to aid the Cuban rebels. For ibc next tbree years, Virginius earned a reputation as an outlaw, alternately flying the Cuban and American flags on its voyages and eluding capture by tbe powerful Spanish navy. Twice, witb belp from tbe U.S. Navy, the ship narrowly escaped capture. Coincidentatly, each time it found safety in tbe lee of tbe gunboat USS Kansas. During tbe second incident, Kansas' sister sbip, USS Canandaigua, sailed between Virginius and the Spanish gunboat Bazan, allowing Kansas to escort the blockade-runner safely into open walcr. Ba^iins commander, Lieu-

tenant José Maria Autrán, was furious al the loss of his quarry, but he would soon have a chance lo even [he score. Viij^iniiis" luck held ihrough a threeyear succession of captains and dangerous missions. But in October 1873. its luck ran out. Well over a year past its last overhaul, the ship was showing signs of hard usage as il lay at anchor off Kingston, Jamaica, awaiting a New York steamer carrying supplies and more than 100 Cuhan volunteer soldiers. Among the men scheduled to hoard Viigiiiius were three luminaries of the Cuhan revolution and a transplanted Irish soldier-adventurer. The three Cuhans were General Bernahé Varona,

aka Bembeta, a 28-year-old seasoned veteran with a reputation as a man of compassion; Lt. Co!. Jesus del Sol, a fortner landowner who had liberated his slaves when he Joined the fight; and Pedro de Céspedes, the provisional president's younger brother, who was on his first outing as a soldier of the revolution. The fourth man. an Irish cxpatriale named Ryan, was a tall, handsome solDepictions of the Virginius Incident such as this period jllustration-in which Captain Fry bids farewell to each of his crewmen prior to execution-churned up war fever among the American public to an intensity unseen since the end of the Civil War eigbt years earlier.

dier of fortune with a history of rein-, venting himself. His birth name was William Allx-n Charles Ryan, hul he preferred to he ciîlled George Wasbington Ryan. He had fought for the Union in a regiment of New York volunteers during the Civil War, earning a captains bars and a commendation for bravery. After the war, he struck a mutually advantageous deal with the Cuban junta; it was looking for experienced soldiers, and Ryan was looking to make his fortune. The flamboyant mercenary was given the rank of colonel, but be hrevelted himself a general. In mid-October 1873, he stowed his goods and gear aboard iiw.s for bis first expedition to Cuba.

They shot yesterday splendid fellows, and less than 48 hours, I will be with them.' ^Joseph

Fry.

Captain of Virginius

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irg^nius^ masler on that trip was an experienced officer named Joseph Fry. An imposing man in his mid-40s. Fry was described as "tall, of almost gigantic stature," with hair and full beard ihal "hardships and anxiety had blanched." After a 15year career in the U.S. Navy, the Tampa native joined the Confederacy when Florida seceded, serving with distinction and rising to the rank of commodore. After Appomattox, work was hard to find—especially for a former Rebel—as the nation sank gradually into a depression. Facing poverty. Fry took command of Vifginius to stipport his wife and seven children. Most of Virginius' seamen left the ship at Kingston, and it fell to Fry to sign on a new crew. Many of the 52 men—nearly all American and British —who signed aboard had no idea of the actual nature of the voyage, believing the aging cargo vessel to be on a routine run. Some were very young; three no older than 13. One ofthe boys was running away from home. lt took 10 days to load cargo and supplies, drill and train the recruits and make cursory repairs. But Virginius had been run hard for years and was showing its age. The boilers were severely strained, and the hull caulking was giving out. After only iwo days at sea. Fry had to pul in to repair a leak. At Port-au-Prince, Haiti, he took aboard 500 Remington rifles, a quantity of Spencer and Winchester repeaters, -400 revolvers, 600 sabers and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, as well as clothing, food and medical supplies. No shipment oi this magnitude had ever been smuggled into Cuba. The Spanish authorities in Cuba had learned from their consul in Kingston that Virginius was on the way, and they sent the corvette Tornado to intercept and seize it. Coinciden la! ly, the same firm thai had constructed Virginius had buill Tornado: the Spanish ship was remarkably fast and carried 10 guns. On the morning of October 31, within sight of Cuba's coast, the ships sighted one another, and the chase was on.

MILITARY HISTORY

MARINERS, REBELS, DESPOTS & DIPLOMATS

\tanucl dc Qucsada As commander in chief of the rebel Republic of C uba, Quesada organized a grassroots support movement in the tJnited States tbat—with tbt help of men like Fry— spirited supplies ibrougb tbe Spanish blockade. Ulysses S. firaiu Though supportive of Cuba's independence fnim Spain, the president knew that a Congressional resoluiion supporting ihe rebels could draw America into a conllict for wbich her armed forces were imprepared. Ryan

A veteran of the Civil War who early on took up ihc causo of Cuban independence, Ryan served under former Confederate Brig. Gen. Tbomas Jordan as the rfhel army cbief of staff and inspector general. Donjuán Burriel As commander of ihe vicious and despised V
Virginius rode low in the water, due to the heavy cargo and number of men on board. Still, Fry drove hard for Jamaica, believing that if he could keep ahead of Tornado until nightfall, he could lose il in the dark. Black smoke and flaine pumped from the stacks of both ships as the distance between them closed. Fry ordered his men to jettison guns and supplies and shovel even more coal into tbe already overextended boilers. The stokers frenziedly fed ihe boilers, at one point throwing haim, bacon and fat beef from ihe food stores into the fire. At first, it seemed Fry's plan would work. As the hours crawled by, Virginius sleamed into the dusk and, finally, the night—beneath a beartbreakingly bright full moon. Virginius could take no more. It was leaking badly from the terrible pounding of its overworked boilers. Its design speed of 12 knots had dropped in half, yet Fry drove on. Then the Spaniards opened fire. One shot tore away Virginius' stack, and the chase was over. Within six miles of Jamaica, Fry ordered the crew to "round her lo and stop the engines." Tonuido lowered two boats, and Spanish sailors rowed exultantly toward their prize. Fry's papers declared Virj^inius lo be an American-registered vessel, and he relied on this for proper treatmetit of his crew and passengers. However, the Spanish officer in charge rudely brushed ibe papers aside and ordered ihe American flagstmck. The Spaniards unccretnonidusly threw the flag on the deck, and through the lotig night that (oilowed made a point of spitting and wiping their feet on il. Virginius' men were stripped, bound and rowed across to Tornado. Early on ibe morning of November 1, its prize in tow. Tornado sleatiied for tbe port of Santiago de Cuba and a waiting military court. When tbe vessel docked, Spanish guards marched the prisoncrs^— crewmen and passengers alike—to jail to await trial on the charge of piracy.

T

he commanding general at Santiago, Don Juan Burriel, was a merciless martinet, the head of a vicious paramilitary group of Spanish

adventurers and fortune-hunters known as the Voluntarios ("Volunteers")- Its members committed acts of barbarism that shocked even the government in Madrid. The Voluntarios refused to negotiate with rebels and on several occasions shot dead Cubans who violated their often-whimsical rules. If passersby refused to shout, "Viva Espanal" they were killed. Citizens attempting to enter or leave Havana without passes were summarily executed. And the Voluntarios were rahidly anti-American. They threatened the hfe of the American consul in Santiago and shot any Cuban who claimed to be a naturalized American citizen. In an article ahout the Virginius incident. The New York Times recalled: "Captain Fry and his men... expected at the worst a short imprisonment and an early retum to the United States. But the poor fellows had not reckoned on the blocxlthirsty temper of Gov. Burriel and the Spanish volunteers and their intense hatred for this country." Prosecuting the captives would be José Maria Autrán, the same officer who had been cheated of his prize earlier in the year. The first trial took place ahoard Tornado on the evening of November 2—the verdict a foregone conclusion. Of the four leading figures, the three Cubans had already been tried and condemned in absentia; Ryan's sentence followed in short order. Burriel determined to hold the executions as speedily as possible, to avoid foreign interference. The American consul was away, but the vice consul, a well-intentioned bureaucrat named Emil Schmitt, tried his best to stop—or at least slow—the inevitable. His letters to Burriel went unanswered, however, so he paid the general a visit. When Schmitt protested that Ryan was a naturalized American citizen, Burriel treated him "with the utmost disrespect" and denied him access to the telegraph. Unable to contact the American consuls in Havana or Kingston, Schmitt was stymied.

Early on the morning of November 4, soldiers took the four condemned men from their cells and marched them to the place of execution—a long, highwalled adobe building that, appropriately, served as a slaughterhouse. Ryan, according to eyewitnesses, "trudged gaily along, smoking a cigar the entire route, nol throwing it away until the moment came for the firing." The four faced death bravely. First Céspedes and del Sol and then Ryan and Varona were led forward and shot. One observer

place of execution, and dumped out like a load of dirt in an open ditch." Sherman's description is corroborated by some eyewitness accounts and disputed by others. True or not, widely distributed artists' conceptions of the alleged atrocities soon fanned the flames of American outrage.

noted thai the musket fire didn't kill Ryan, so the officer in charge ran a sword through his heart. In a letter to his superior, Burriel wrote, 'The best of order prevailed." But according to eyewitnesses, as well as reports in TTie New York Times, such was not the case. George Sherman, an American citizen residing in Santiago, wrote

Though Fry initially believed Virginius could outrun her Spanish pursuer and reach safe port in Jamaica, heavy seas and the ship's ramshackle condition all but ensured her capture by the speedy corvette Tornado.

of what he saw to The New York Herald:

"The soldiers who had been detailed to do this work by General Burriel were wretched marksmen. After this, a number of cavalrymen came on the spot and rode their horses over the bleeding corpses till they were in an almost unrecognizable state. The four heads were cut off and placed on poles and carried around by the people in triumph. The btxlies, or rather what remained of them, were then placed in a cart and taken out to a marshy spot, about a mile from the

O

n November 6, thirty-seven of Virginius'crewmen, including Pry, were tried as pirates. They were deprived of legal represen-

tation, and testimony was coerced. Priests offered the men immunity from execution if they converted to Catholicism. Some prisoners, desperate to avoid death, underwent conversion, only to find it was a false promise. In all cases, the verdict was guilty, and the sentence, death. British Vice Consul Theodore Brooks learned that these crewmen would be executed the following day Knowing the list included 16 British subjects, Brooks wired the governor of Jamaica for advice and support, neither of which was forthcoming. Finally, the sleeping lion awoke and ordered the

captain of a Brilish warship, HMS Niobe, lo sail from Colombia with all due speed and act to prevent further kilHng. They could not have picked a better man. Captain Sir Lambion Lorraine—stocky, bearded and pugnacious—steamed out of port so swiftly that he left some of his crew standing on the dock. As execution day dawned, Brooks appealed for a stay. Unimpressed, the arrogant Burriel refused; the 37 crewmen would die as scheduled. Fry spent much of his remaining time writing letters. He made an impassioned but unsuccessful plea for bis men, explaining their ignorance of the nature of the voyage. He wrote to friends, asking [hat they care for his impoverished family. He also wrote farewell letters to his wife and children. The execution had been scheduled for November 8. but Burriel had gotten wind of Niobe's mission and moved it up a day. Thus, at 4 in the afternoon, a squad of soldiers marched the condemned to the slaughterhouse wall. There unfolded a scene even more horrific than that which had taken place three days before. The men stood facing the wall as Fry walked the line, bidding farewell to each. Then came the order to fire. Again, the marksmanship was atrocious. Only Fry died instantly; the rest were merely wounded, some grievously. One observer conunented: "The Spanish butchers advanced to where the wounded men lay writhing and moaning in agony, and, placing the muzzles of their guns in some instances into the mouths of their victims, pulled the triggers, shattering tbeir heads into fragments. Others of the dying men grasped the weapons thrust at them with a despairing clutch, and shot after shot was poured into their bodies before death quieted them." Francis Cofîin, a sailor from another ship in port, was stunned by wbat he saw: "The scene that followed was the most frightful I ever witnessed, and I have been on manya battlefield....The poor creatures who were wounded lay upon the ground, rolling about frantically in their own blood and uttering

MILITARY HISTORY

shrieks of pain and agony and loud appeals for mercy. Their appeals for mercy fell upon men deaf to compassion....! shall never forget the awful groans and shrieks that resounded from the place of slaughter.... It isa positive fact that, with the exception of Captain Fry, the head was blown off every man of the 36. The marines seemed to exult in their work of blood." It took an interminable 10 minutes from the initial volley until the last man lay still. Most of Virginius' crew lay dead.

áAs execution day dawned, Brooks appealed for a stay. Unimpressed, the arrogant BurrJel refused; the 37 crewmen would die as scheduled f Niohe steamed into Santiago de Cuba Harbor the following day, but Burdel had managed to march out and slaughter another 12 prisoners in the early moming. Over a period of four days, he had executed 53 Cuban, American and British citizens—including two of tbree 13-year-old boys on Virginius' crew. When Lorraine arrived, he personally delivered a communiqué to the general: / demand thai you stop this dreadful butchery that is taking place here. Í do not believe that I need to explain what my actions will be in case my demand is not heeded. There is little doubt Lorraine would have brought his guns to bear on Santiago de Cuba; according to one chronicler, he bad done exactly that just two months earlier, firing on a Nicaraguan town he felt had "been guilty of in-

sufficient protection of British subjects." Lorraine made it clear to Burriel that he represented the safety of not just British but U.S. citizens, as well as simple honor, and he further insisted the Spanish immediately desist from desecrating Virtjinhis" flag. A cowed Burriel assured Lorraine tlitexecutions would stop. As Lorraine tumed to leave, the general offered his hand; the feisty Briton curtly nodded at him and said to the interpreter. Tell him I do not shake hands with assassins." With tbat, Lorraine stalked out of the Governor's Palace and into the lore of the Cuban revolt.

B

y tbe time news of Virginius' capture reacbed the United States, most of tbe crew bad already been sbot. Just eight years after the bloodiest conflict in its bistory, the country went wild with militaristic fever. Government officials pressed for war with Spain, and from around the nation President Grant received offers of military service from former soldiers, as well as private citizens who had never borne a weapon. Union and Confederate veterans offered lo serve side by side to redress the newly healed nation's wrong. A committee in Savannah inlormcd the president thai "5,000 colored citizens are ready to enlist for Cuha to teach the Spanisb authorities respect for tbe American flag." One contemporary writer stated: '"Indignation meetings' were held in almost ever)' city, town and village of the United States. Public opinion was unanimous in its verdict." The U.S. minister to Spain was former Union Maj. Gen. Daniel Edgar Sickles, one of the unlikeliest rogues to hold a diplomatic post. Sickles was a belligerent bothead wbo would seek out, ratber than avoid, a fighi. To make matters worse, he was dealing with Spain's shaky new Republican leaders, who lacked both the strength and fortitude to control Burriel and tlic CAÍ bans. They treated Sickles with disdain, lurlber enflaming his already volatile temper. War appeared unavoidable. Grant's secretary of state, tbc able Hamilton Fish, delivered an ultimatum to Spain,

demanding the return of all prisoners, as well as Virginius, and a sufficient indemnity to salve the nation's wounded pride. As tbe deadline approacbed, newspapers ran jingoistic headlines and overblown accounts of tbe U.S. Navy's state of readiness. Consider tbe following from The New York Times: "The Navy Department and all the bureaus are exerting every effort to place a large and powerful fleet in Cuban waters at tbe earliest possible moment, and prominent officers say tbat witbin 30 days there will be 20 of the most formidable vessels of the Navy tbere." Sucb claims were gross overstatement. At tbe time, the Navy was a thoroughgoing mess, described by one bistorian as "an assortment of rusty old bulks, most of wbicb had not been to sea since tbe close of the Civil War." TÏ1C Nation, a conservative journal, put it even more bluntly: "Tbe buge wooden screws wbicb we send cruising around tbe world...and wbicb are paraded in newspapers as terrible engines of war, are almost useless for military purposes. They belong to a class of ships whicb otber governments bave sold or are selling for firewood." Tbe Army was in no better shape. Commanding General William Tecumseh Sherman, in answer to tbe hawkisb comments of several officers, remarked tbat be found the prospect of a war over tbe incident preposterous, particularly considering tbe Army's "entirely inadequate" strengtb. War witb Spain could well bave proved disastrous. Fortunately, cooler beads prevailed, as Fish toiled behind tbe scenes toward a diplomatic resolution. The secretary of state worked painstakingly to secure concessions from Spain, and although the process would overrun the deadline, it was by then apparent Spain bad no wisb to see the situation deteriorate further. Britain also became involved in tbe diplomatic maneuvering and, tbrougb its minister in Madrid, was able to

further calm tempers and sootbe raw nerves. Ultimately, Spain paid the U.S. government tbe appreciable sum of $80,000 in reparations and released the surviving prisoners. Tbose crewmen who had not perisbed in tbe slaugbter bad remained incarcerated for over a month, suffering continual beatings, starvation and threats of execution. Finally, on December 18, guards led them from tbe dungeon to tbe Santiago dock, wbere tbey boarded VSS juniata and sailed to New York.

Virginius was in serious trouble, steaming on just one boiler; the next day it, too, died, tbe pumps quit and water poured in. As tbe sbip settled by tbe bow in beavy seas, a Navy cutter carried tbe crew to satety. By 5 in tbe afternoon, Virginius—whose fate had nearly started a war—bad slipped beneatb tbe waves. Tbe saga was over for the moment. Tbe United States would bave ils war with Spain over Cuba, but not for another 25 years. And when it did, the

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Conducted against a slaughterhouse wall, the execution of Fry and 36 members of his crew was a scene of horrific carnage. Burners troops proved atrocious marksmen and finished off the wounded at close range.

fter releasing the surviving crewmen, tbe Spanish took Virginius to Bahía Honda, a port 45 miles west of Havana, where it rendezvoused witb USS Despatch. Tbe blockade-runner's boilers were spent, its bull was leaking badly and it had little coal. Tbe Spanisb had stripped Virginius. Tbe sbip stank of mold, rot and "unmentionable filth," and was "alive with cockroaches." Tbat afternoon an American prize crew boarded Virginius, stoked its boilers and steamed nortb—for all of 200 yards. Despatch, assigned to escort tbe steamer home, now bad to function as its towboat. Only a day into tbe journey, Virginius was sbipping water fast, and as the sea grew rougher, rivets popped from tbeir plates, opening more leaks. By Cbristmas Day,

nation^ newspapers revived tbe Virginius story as a battle cry. By tben, the country had reshaped its Army and Navy into world-class forces tbat were more tban capable of dealing witb a mucbdebilitated Spanisb enemy. Tbe war would be short, tbe outcome inevitable, and finally the U.S. would establish its yeamed-for presence in Cuba. (^ For further reading, Ron Soodalter recommends: Life of Captain Joseph Fry, tbe Cuban Martyr, by jeanic Mort Walker, and Tbe Virginius Affair, by Richard H. Bradjoni.

eviews Sketches from the Death March an essentially novelistic purpose. Like Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut's SíuughleríiouseFive, Steele's initial valtie to the story is simply that he lived to tell the tale—and, in Steele's ease, to illustrate it. But there's To w r i t e a b o u t w a r is to a keen psycholog)' behind this approach, again and again, choice. What happened on the the limits of language. It's death march and what happened to the survivors in the a problem faced by anyone long, long years until Japan's who writes about the actual defeat may seem somewhat experience of combat, and random, lt takes the tale of a the problem becomes griev- single survivor to depict the ous—almost incapacitating horror ofthat randomness, the —when the subject is atrocity. Few books have ever feeling of heing caught in an solved this problem with a more capacious grace than utterly senseless maelstrom of Tears in the Darkness. You will understand this book's suffering. Steele's story is one power the first time you reach for a glass of water after of survival against all odds. turning the last page. You may never look at water The story of Bataan is the story of the odds themselves. the same way again. —^Verlyn Klinkenborg

RECOMMENDED

Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Us Aftermath., by Michael and Elizabeth M. Norman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. New York, 2009, $30

Bataan begins as a battle— tbe first American land battle against the Japanese, fought during the early months of 1942 on a rugged peninsula of Luzon Island, just across the bay from Manila. But it enters the American imagination as a defeat—76,000 Filipino and American soldiers laid down arms to the Japanese—and then as a surrender into suffering of unimaginable proportions. The death march itself—a 66-mile trek after a four-month hattle of attrition and, ultimately, starvation— came to embody in the American mind the brutality of the Japanese army. By taking us into the experience of individual Japanese soldiers on Bataan, the Normans do everything in their power to show that brutahty

was inherent and systemic in the Japanese militar)', which mitigates the horror of the death marcb not at all. And tbey also make it perfectly clear tbere is an American villain in this story: General Douglas MacArthur, the Allied commander in the Philippines. 1 leave it to the reader to follow the Normans' indictment of that vainglorious man. Tbe story of Balaan is hundreds of thousands of stories, of course. The Normans single out one 10 follow in detail—tbat of Ben Steele, a young, ranch-raised boy from Montana. At first this feels a little awkward, as if Steele was being used for

The Cahanatuan Prison Raid: The Philippines, 1945, by Gordon L. Rottman, Osprey Publisbing, Oxford, England, 2009, $18.95 The Cabanatuan Prison Raid: The Philippines, 1945, highlights the Army Rangers' remarkable 30-mi!c sprint ahead of the U.S. Sixth Army in tbe Pbilippines to liberate Allied inmates at Cabanatuan prison camp before tbeir Japanese captors could murder tbem (see P 35). Tbis volume, tbe third in Ospreys new Raids series, applies the historical detail of the publisher's Campaigns series to a

Lemay: The Life and Times of Genettil Curtis Lemay.

by Warren Kozak Architcci ol' America's firelxiinb strikes against Japan and fatiier of ihc Strategic Air Command. Lemay was a tomplcx and cnnlnwcrsial leader wiuisc precepts continuo to influence American militar)'doclrine. In this highly readable biography, Kozak thoroughly examine.s ibc man and ihe pei'sistcnt m>ibs ihai surround him.

AMERICAN COURAGE, AMERICAN

JOHN C. McNANOS Amerlc3n Courage, American Carnage, by Jobn C. McManus

Having explored tlic posl-WWll exploits of the U.S. Armys famed 7ih Infanlry Regiment in an earlier volume, historian McManus turns his atteniion in this exhaustively rcscanticd work lo the units earlier bistory, from iis 181 2 inception ihrough the Mexican War, Civil War and bolh world wars.

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Now On Newsstands! How did American submarines transform their tactics to completely crush the Japanese in the Pacific?

Did one Marine's heroic action to stop 20.000 NVA in their tracks prolwig the war in Vietnam for three more years? And just how did we get 250.000 enemy fighters to defect?

In 1807, the Russians stopped Napoleon at Eyiau in a fierce winter battle. Was it the emperor's tipping point?

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focused event. As usual, author Gordon Rottman presents aspects irom either side of this remarkable raid by tbe 6th Ranger Battalion, with tbe invaluable belp ot Filipino guerrillas. —Jon Guttman

tbeir well-aimed torpedoes either ran too deep or failed to explode. Japanese commanders knew wbat was happening before the Navy Department; the Bureau of Ordnance blamed tbe misses on the skippers. Whether or not tbe torpedoes found tbeir marks, tbe attacks nearly always A Tale of Two Subs, byjonatban prompted a morale-sapping response: an J. McCuUougb, Grand Central escorting destroyer's insistent sonar pings, Publisbing, 2009, S14.99 followed by a string of nerve-shattering depth charges. McCullougb describes Tbis rich, compelling—and, ultimately, eacb attack witb hair-raising vividness. acbingly ironic—World War U narrative "Everything went dark as ligbtbulbs all relates tbe slory of two Pacific-based U.S. over tbe boat shattered and tinkled onto submarines wbose fates were sadly inter- the green linoleum of tbe deck," be writes twined. McCullougb conveys a of one sucb attack. "Mendenball vivid sense of the exbauslivt-, was nearly sbakcn clean off bis dangerous combat patrols that bunk, as though be were on a took so many American lives. train tbat bad sustained a beadHe also places their efforts on collision....Tbe men in the *N UMOLO |I(WT or WIN a. Two t i t t t t SHW*. in tbe context of the taxing no*iD forward torpedo room watcbed •ne E
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BaWestations: Pacific, by Eidos and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, 2009, $59.99 (Xbox 360) or $49.99 (PC/Windows) In 20Ü7 Batliestaliom: Mitíwíiy successfully mixed real-litne strategy with air and naval combat action. Its sequel, Batlkstations: Piiiifii\ comprises 28 missions (double ihai of Midway) split between IWO campaigns. The American campaign progresses [mm Midway to Okinawa, wiih stops at Guadalcanal, Leytc and Iwo Jima. The Japanese campaign allows players to alter history, which is good from a gaming standpoini. as no one wants to play a game they are destined lo lose. From a historical siandpoint, it is interesiing lo consider ¡he outcome had Japan gained the upjier hand. Could il have caplured Hawaii or pushed as far as the continental United States? Balilestations' graphics and comhat mechanics arc vastly improved, and players can select from an impressive variety of units, A few AI issues linger (e.g., disengaged tinits stand idle after an order has heen issued), but the games strengths more than make up for any minor flaws. —Ryan Burke

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Reviews From its title. Bill Sloan's new book promises lo relate the story of the two epic opening battles of Pusan and Inchon. Unfortunately, there the book falls short. The subtitle Tfie Battles that Saved Korea—and the Marines—from Extinction

hiis closer to ibe mark. Rather than a ihonnigh and balanced history of Korean combat in ihe summer of 1950, this book rt'ully highlights ihe Marine Corps units in that campaign. The result is a look at Pusan and Inchon through a straw. Although the Marines fought magnificently at Pusan and Inchon, they did not carry those battles single-handedly. But ii you ve read nothing else aboui the Korean War, Sloan's book would give you a dis-

torted impression. As he writes in Chapter 7, about halfway through the Pusan narrative, "The Marine Brigade would be under fire again, with the fate of the Pusan Perimeter—and the entire South Korean nation— resting squarely on their shoulders." In addition to this single Marine brigade, the UN forces under Lt. Gen. Walton Walker included four U.S. Army divisions, five Republic of Korea Army divisions and the British 27th Infantry Brigade. They all had more than a bit to do with holding the 150-mile-Iong perimeter against relentless North Korean attacks. When the narrative moves to Inchon in Chapter 12, Sloan describes the heroic sacrifice of the 5th Marine Regiment's

Baldomero Lopez on Red Beach on September 15. Sloan writes, "Lieutenant Lopez would be posthumously awarded the Korean War's first Medal of Honor." But this statement is also misleading. Prior to Lopez—the first Maiine in Korea awarded the MoH—one U.S. Air Force pilot and 13 U.S. Army soldiers had earned the medal during the fighting inside the Pusan Perimeter. As a narrowly focused study of just the Marines at Pusan and Inchon, this book contains a wealth of detail and many inspirational stories. But by presenting the material as he does, the author does a grave disservice to the broader historical record and, ultimately, to the Marine Corps itself. The Marine record stands tall on its own merit. —David T. Zabecki

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How many people—ouiside of longtime Miíiíürv Histoty readers, of cnursc —are aware ihai for a goodly portion of the Russian Revoluiion. the easternmost leg of Russia's Trans-Siberian Railway was controlled by an ad hoc foree of Czechoslovak soldiers taking the long way home? The narration in this documentary is somewhat elementary, but considering the diflieulty in explaining who was doing what to whom without a scoreeard amid Russia's ehaotic transition frotn World War 1 to Civil War—ihc environment in which the Czecho.slovak Legion was born and fought to survive—for the average viewer that approaeh might be a good thing. The surviving photos are remarkable, and the complete stor\' itscll even more so. This lesserknown facet of World War I and Czech history merits more attention, and any scholar of early 20th eentury history should find Aicidenlal Army an eyebrow-raiser. —Jon Guttman

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EXHIBITION "Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China's First Emperor" Nov. 19, 2009-March 31, 2010 National Geographic Museum 17th & M Streets NW Washington, D.C. (202) 857-7700 www. nationaigeographic. com In March 1974, farmers digging a well on the outskirts of Xian, China, unearthed the disembodied head of a life-size terracotta statue. Further excavation identified their find as a warrior figure from the 3rd cenlury BC tomb complex of Qin Shihuang, one of ancient Chinas

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tnost powerful and controversial leaders. In the 35 years since, archaeologists al the Museum of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shihuang Iwww .bmy.com.cn| have turned up more than 1,000 warriors, dozens of horses and chariots, and countless other funerary objects—a fraction of the estimated 8,000-man terracotta army believed buried ai the site. National Geographic is hosting a "squad" of 14 figures and 120 objects from the vast tomb complex, which took 700,000 forced laborers some 36 years to complete. It will take archaeologists far longer to unearth ail of its treasures. Construction crews in Xian have begun work on a subway line to handle the anticipated army of visitors (see P 11). —Editor

Hallowed Ground Manassas, Virginia By Stephen Budiansky

W

ithin six weeks ofthe First Battle of Manassas in July 1861, Union troops erected on Henry Hill the first of thousands of monuments that would mark where men fought and died in the American Civil War. Hub of the brutal fighting at First Manassas, Henry Hill became the focal point of preservation efforts at the battlefield. Today the hilltop is about the only place most visitors even get out of their cars. From the visitor center.

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a sbort loop trail offers a clear view of tbe compact events my borse along the line wbere, at Second Manassas, Longstreet of tbe first battle. Atop tbe bill, a bronze, Hfe-size Lt. Gen. executed one of tbe most brilliant feats of generalsbip of the Tbomas j.Jaekson sits astride bis borse. Little Sorrel, at tbe entire Civil War. I've been over tbe same ground on foot many spot wbere tbe general earned the nickname "Stonewall"— times before and sinee and almost always bad the hundreds reportedly for bis stalwart defense of tbe Confederate posi- ofaeresofwoodandfield to myself. That day I took my horse tion, altbougb anotber over tbe battlefield was creditable story suggests a personal pilgrimage of it was Jaekson's inaction sorts; 1 had just finished tbat Brig. Gen. Bernard writing about Longstreets Bee ol Soutb Carolina courageous, lonely and really was referring to all but forgotten role in wben be bestowed tbat tbe aftermatb of tbe war, epitbet, baving sbouted wben be stood up for tbe angrily, "Look at Jackson rights of the freed slaves, standing there like a backed Ulysses S. Grant damned stone wall!" for president and tried to But I've always been convince bis lellow white drawn to tbe quieter si tes Southerners tbat tbe war of tbe Second Battle of was over—and ibat they Manassas, in the nortbhad lost. For tbat bc was west corner of tbe park, vilified, his once unsbakeand to tbe more spectral able reputation as a Civil presence of Brig. Gen. War general retroactively James Longstreet, uncommemorated The August 1862 Battle of Second Manassas, besmirebed by bis political enemies. by monument or statue. On a striking captured here by Civil War artist Mort Künstler, Rut Longstreet knew wbat he was fall day a couple of years ago, I rode was as decisive a Confederate win as the first. about tbose two critical days of Second

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piecemeal into an unknown situation, Manassas. Aug. 29 and 30, 1862. Jack- Henry Hill witnessed some of the most he insisted, a formula lor disaster. brutal fighting at the July 21,1861, Battle sons men had taken position behind the Almost unique among his fellow genembankment of an unfinished railroad of First Manassas, the first major land grade, which remains a sharp, slashing battle of the Civil War. The view from the erals of the war, Longstreet had learned presence across the gently rising terrain visitor center remains largely unchanged. the value of waiting on Lhe defensive, west of Groveton-Sudley Road. The letting the enemy dash himself to pieces, parks recent and extremely controversial decision to cut down and only then counterattacking. 140 acres of woods to restore the 1862 appearance ol the That is exactly what Lorigstreet did as Maj. Gen. John Pope's battlefield was, I thought, a brilliant success when I returned troops hurled themselves again at lhe railroad grade around this summer. For the first time in a century or so, you can now noon the next day. Ai mid-afternoon, not even waiting for stand atop the embankuient and grasp the utter exposure of the Lees order now that he knew the time was right, Longstreet Union troops that advanced across barefields."What a slaughwheeled his entire force to the left within 30 minutes and ter!" remarked one Confederate as the Union troops came on sent all 25,000 men falling on the Union flank. It was the "as if on dress parade, instead of as if marching to their death." largest coordinated attack of the entire war, a tour de force of generalship and the decisive blow of the battle. Incredibly, some of the Union soldiers reached the embankment, then lay as flat as they could on their side The hammer blow fell where the railroad grade euts ol the slope, irying Lo fire over the top at the enemy on tlirough a small rise, a spot known as the Deep Cut, where an the other side. At one point some of the Confederates were austere Union monument stands. The present-day bridle trail left with nothing but rocks to throw down on their foes, crosses the grade near here, too, and when the tree-clearing having exhausted their ammunition. is finished, it will be an even more dramatic vista—the paih When Longstreet's corps began arriving the afternoon oí breaking from the woods into sudden bare vulnerability, the 2yth and took up position on Jackson's right. Gen. the unobstructed shot that Longstreet's artillery commanded Robert E. Lee three times ordered him to attack. Three times a half mile to the west, as they murderously enfiladed the Longstreet argued him out of it. It would be feeding men Union left, menacingly apparent. (Jl

The Emperors Club For Roman emperors, political survival meant conquest or bust. These centuries later, can you tell Titus from Trajan?

At Your Foreign Service

On the Surface

Some foreign units are as well or better known than the forces or leaders they scr\'ed. Match each force to its employer.

Two new naval powers—lapan and the United States—emerged at the tum of the 20th century. Test your quizworthiness.

1. Swiss Guard

1. Where is George Dewey's preserved flagship Olympia docked? A. Baltimore B. Olympia C. Philadelphia D. Seattle

2.

Flying Regiment 19

3. John Hawkwood's White Company 4.

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2. Which hattleship rounded Cape Horn eastward to participate in the Spanish-American War? A. Indiana B. Iowa C. Massachusetts D. Oregon

'^. 3rd Waldeck Regiment 6. Xenophon's Ten Thousand 7.

Czechoslovak Legion

3. Which warship al the Baille of Santiago Harbor featured a tumblehotne hull? A. Brooklyn B. ¡owa C. New York D. Oregon

8. No. 71 "Eagle" Squadron 9. Varangian Guard 10. Lafayette Escadrille A. Emperor Charles y 1525

4. Which country demanded that Heihachiro Togo's flagship Mikasa be destroyed after World War II? A. Soviet Union B. Great Britain C. The Netherlands D. United States

B. Royal Air Force, 1941 C. Erench army, 1789 D. Imperial Russian army, 1917 E. Montfetrat, 1363 R Byzantine Empire, 1038 G. French air service, 1916 H. British army, 1777 1. Finnish air force. 1940 J. Cyrus the Younger of Persia, 401 BC 9 'Z '£ 'Of '6 T 7 'r 'ff > '-<^P'O

9.

3. What city showcases the A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J.

Domitian Marcus Aurehus Trajan Vitellius Vespasian Caracalla Tiherius Galha Titus Septimius Severus

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restored MÍÍÍÍÍSÍI?

A. Kobe B. Yokosuka C. Nagoya D. Osaka 6. What is ihe oldest extant dreadnaught battleship in the United States? A. Arizona B. Missouri C. New Jersey D. Texas G '8 'V 'V 'Q '3 ''-

Weapons we're glad they never built

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By Rick Meyerowitz

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en Franklin spent much of the American War of Independence in Paris. There the old tinkerer conceived of a weapon he called Ben's Brit Blaster. It was simple. Americans would dangle cannon from kites flown above the British soldiers. Lightning rods would funnel an electrical charge through the hanging cannon, and that would blast the Brits to smithereens. Alas, the blaster was never put into use. Washington was somewhat skeptical. He petitioned an aide, "Will someone

MILITARY HISTORY

not save me from this old nincompoop?" And he was quick to point out that the weapon only worked during thunderstorms, when both armies took refuge in tavems. Ben, accompanied by La Comtesse Énonne Derrière, tested his weapon in a potato field outside Paris. The charge funneled through the cannon was not strong enough to deter an army. It did, however, provide enough electricity to fry every potato in the field. A very pleased Franklin called them Freedom Fries, jflh