King Philip’s War Christmas Truce WWII Code Breakers Celts vs. Romans Funston’s Ruse IWM Makeover HistoryNet.com
Almost How NATO prevented World War III
JANUARY 2015
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COVER STORY
34 The War That Wasn’t With a new Cold War possibly in the making, it’s time to dust off the old playbooks and ask the what-ifs from that tension-filled era By Robert M. Citino
FEATURES
26 Blood and Betrayal A murder in the winter of 1675 sparked war in New England By Anthony Brandt
44 Empire vs. Tribe The Romans and Celts clashed both militarily and culturally By O’Brien Browne
52 Code Breakers World War II saw an explosion in cipher machine technology By Sarah R. Cokeley
58 Funston of the Philippines Frederick Funston’s bold 1901 raid crushed the guerrilla insurrection By Chuck Lyons
64 Christmas Truce DEPARTMENTS 6
LETTERS
8
NEWS
14 INTERVIEW Diane Lees: An Imperial Undertaking 16 WEIDER READER Excerpts From Our Sister Publications 19 VALOR A Happy Hero 21 WHAT WE LEARNED… From the Highway of Death
22 HARDWARE 42cm M-Gerät Howitzer 25 LETTER FROM MILITARY HISTORY 72 REVIEWS Homeland Security in World War I 76 HALLOWED GROUND Camp de Beugy, Sainte-Suzanne, France 79 WAR GAMES 80 CAPTURED! War’s Unexpected Images
On the cover: While Badger was a 23-kiloton nuclear test shot, detonated in 1953 at the Nevada Test Site northwest of Las Vegas, Cold War planners weren’t about to bet against a real nuclear exchange. (© CORBIS) MilitaryHistory.com
LEFT: BUNDESARCHIV, BILD PLAK 100-049-031, PHOTO: FLEISCHER; RIGHT: U.S. ARMY/NATIONAL ARCHIVES
As Christmas 1914 approached, enemies sought peace in no man’s land By Peter Hart
58
With bare feet and determination Macabebe scouts under U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston pulled off the daring capture of guerrilla leader Emilio Aguinaldo at his Luzon headquarters in 1901, thus ending the Philippine Insurrection
Online Learn more and join the discussion at MilitaryHistory.com
Israel Strikes
Charles Howard: A Wild and Splendid Man
Jihad: War to the Knife The Islamic doctrine of jihad has morphed into all-out war against non-Muslims. Richard A. Gabriel traces its medieval origins and descent into militant upheaval.
Amazon: 100+ reviews 4+ stars
Napoléon’s Six Days Napoléon Bonaparte overcame steep odds in 1814, holding the Sixth Coalition forces outside Paris for weeks. James W. Shosenberg explains how he did it.
JANUARY 2015
Israel Strikes: War of the Red Sea
4
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Interview
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British historian William Philpott re-examines the causes, conduct and legacy of World War I.
Steven Pressfield has penned a “hybrid history” of the Six-Day War from the Israeli perspective.
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‘Iran’s Nuclear Program ends now!’ - The Prime Minister.... The Israelis will hit Iran from the land, sea and air.
An aritstocratic title couldn’t keep Charles Howard, Earl of Suffolk, from living a venturesome life on the razor’s edge in wartime France and Britain. Norman Goldstein relates Howard’s early life and later career as a bomb-disposal expert.
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Letters
JANUARY 2015
This is in response to a letter from Gerhardt B. Thamm [November] regarding Task Force Smith, in which Thamm refers to the men who made up Task Force Smith as “parade-ground soldiers.” I take exception to this insulting characterization. None of the soldiers who came from Japan at the beginning of the Korean War deserve to be so labeled. I was a rifle platoon leader in the 27th Infantry at the time.
6
In 1996 my book on the first three months of the Korean War, Fighting on the Brink: Defense of the Pusan Perimeter, was published. In researching it I contacted more than 1,000 Army and Marine veterans of those early months, and I was able to include the recollections/ experiences of more than 500 of those veterans in the book. Chapter 4 was devoted to Task Force Smith. Disastrous as Task Force Smith was, it delayed the enemy for seven important hours. It was the first delaying action by U.S. troops in the war. All during July 1950 the mission was to delay the enemy, not fight him to the death on every hill. Cumulatively, the delays allowed the U.S. and Republic of Korea troops to gain the Naktong River. There the retreat ended. Under the command of Lt. Gen. Walton Walker [above left, with Maj. Gen. William F. Dean] the Pusan Perimeter held. Walker refused to give up an inch of ground without a fierce and bloody battle. Thamm writes about the ineffectiveness of the bazooka. He is correct in criti-
MILITARY HISTORY
cizing the 2.36-inch rocket launcher; it had proven ineffective in World War II. However, the newer 3.5-inch launcher was flown to Korea in early July 1950 and began knocking out the enemy’s T-34 tanks. Never again was the T-34 king in Korea. What Thamm fails to consider was the shortage of equipment, the sad state of our jeeps and trucks, and great numbers of individual and crew-served weapons that had been declared unserviceable. These factors impacted adversely on training. It was so bad that one battalion commander suspended training. Of course he was overruled. The troops took training very seriously. They trained hard, but suitable areas were scarce in Japan. The 25th Infantry Division’s area was a former Japanese army facility near the base of Mount Fuji. It was very small and could not support live-firing exercises. Then there was the ammunition. It, like the C-rations, was left over from World War II. Some mortar rounds were duds, and some small-arms ammunition contained verdigris, which is a green or bluish
deposit that forms on weathered copper, brass or bronze surfaces. As time passes, verdigris builds up, eventually binding copper or brass ammunition cartridges together into a mass. Finally was the orientation of our troops about the enemy. General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters declared the North Korean soldiers were poorly trained, poorly armed and marched until they dropped (or words to that effect). In fact their soldiers were well trained and well armed. Indeed, thousands of them were veterans of the Chinese Civil War and had fought alongside their Chinese communist comrades. With all of these shortcomings it is a wonder that our men succeeded in slowing the enemy, then stopping him along the Pusan Perimeter. Brig. Gen. Uzal W. Ent Pennsylvania Army National Guard (Ret.) MECHANICSBURG, PA.
Bankrolling the French On P. 49 of the July 2014 issue of Military History there is an identification error of the
Send letters to Editor, Military History Weider History Group 19300 Promenade Drive Leesburg, VA 20176 or via e-mail to
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U.S. ARMY
No ‘Parade-Ground Soldiers’
Martin bomber aircraft purchased by the French from the U.S. in 1939, as reported in the article/excerpt from Peter Moreira’s upcoming book on Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. The article states incorrectly that the French initially purchased 115 examples of the Martin model 166 aircraft (an export version for the Dutch of the Martin B-10, which was originally tested in 1932). But they were actually Martin model 167 (specifically 167F-1) aircraft, called the “Maryland” by the British, an entirely different and brand-new aircraft in 1939. Although Henry Morgenthau may have originally suggested the Model 166 to the French in 1938, as noted on P. 47, that is not what the French actually bought in 1939. More details of the French contract for the Martin Model 167 are on P. 17 and PP. 236 and 237 of the book Air Arsenal North America: Aircraft for the Allies, 1938–1945, Purchases and Lend-Lease, by Phil Butler and Dan Hagedorn (Midland, 2004). The French Model 167 would be used in service in 1940 and in the Vichy Air Force after the French defeat. Scott Eaton MANCHESTER, N.H.
By Brendan Manley
Union Officer to Receive Medal of Honor for Heroics at Gettysburg
JANUARY 2015
First Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing, at far left, poses with Maj. Gen. Edwin Vose Sumner and staff.
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Congress and the White House have approved a posthumous Medal of Honor for Union Army 1st Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing, a Civil War artillery officer killed on July 3, 1863, while fending off Pickett’s Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa. The recognition comes during the sesquicentennial of the war and follows a quarter century of lobbying efforts by Cushing supporters. Born in 1841 in Delafield, Wis., and raised in Fredonia, N.Y., Cushing was an 1861 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and one of four brothers to serve in the Union Army. At Gettysburg he directed Battery A of the 4th U.S. Artillery, comprising 110 men and six cannons. Tasked with defending “the Angle,” a key section of the Union center on Cemetery Ridge, the 22-year-old steadfastly remained at his post in the face of a 12,500-man Confederate assault and despite grievous shrapnel wounds. Reduced to two working guns with no long-
range ordnance, Cushing continued to fire canister shot as onrushing Virginians from Maj. Gen. George Pickett’s division closed to within 100 yards. Moments after yelling, “I will give them one more shot!” Cushing fell dead from a bullet wound to the head. His actions enabled Union forces to repulse the assault, win the battle and ultimately turn the tide of the war. Cushing was posthumously cited for gallantry and promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel. He is buried at West Point, and a stone monument at Gettysburg National Military Park [www.nps.gov/ get] marks the spot where he was killed. In the late 1980s amateur historian Margaret Zerwekh, from Cushing’s hometown of Delafield, learned of his story and spearheaded the push to award him the Medal of Honor. Congress approved the award in 2013, and the White House followed this summer. Details of the award ceremony are pending.
‘I stay right here and fight it out or die in the attempt’ —1st Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing
MILITARY HISTORY
DISPATCHES Site Memorializes WWI Servicemen The military records website Fold3 has partnered with the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial [theworld war.org], in Kansas City, Mo., to create online memorial pages [go.fold3.com/ wwi-museum] honoring Americans who served in World War I. The museum has provided Fold3 with historical portraits of individual soldiers, and veterans’ families are encouraged to upload and share their ancestors’ wartime photos, accounts and personal memories.
Van Kirk, 93, Last Enola Gay Crewman Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk, 93, navigator on the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay during the Aug. 6,
1945, atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, died on July 28 in Stone Mountain, Ga. Army Air Forces Captain Van Kirk was a veteran of 58 missions when tapped by Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets to join the 509th Composite Group. Van Kirk was the last surviving crewman of Enola Gay, now on display at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum’s [airandspace.si.edu] UdvarHazy Center in Virginia.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; FOLD3/TOGETHERWESERVED; BITA HONARVAR/ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION/ASSOCIATED PRESS
News
WWI Trench Maps Meet Google, Bing
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND; RICHARD ASH/IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS; INSTITUTE OF ARCHEOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY, SIBERIAN BRANCH OF RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES; TOPFOTO/THE IMAGE WORKS
The National Library of Scotland has digitized and uploaded more than 130 World War I maps of British and German trenches across France and Belgium [maps.nls.uk/ ww1], showing gun emplacements, wire entanglements and observation posts. Users can overlay the maps with Google and Bing satellite imagery
to pinpoint present-day locations. The scans are among the more than 34 million maps drafted from 1914 to 1918 by the British Ordnance Survey.
Sassoon’s Papers Available Online Cambridge University has posted searchable scans of World War I poet Captain Siegfried Sassoon’s handwritten personal war journals and diaries [cudl.lib. cam.ac.uk/ collections/ sassoon]. Purchased by the school in 2009 for £1.25 million, the collection—which comprises 23 journals and two poetry notebooks spanning Sassoon’s years in France and Palestine— includes sketches, trench diagrams, briefing notes, lists of fallen comrades and early drafts of poems, including his famous work “The Dug-Out.”
IWM Reveals First World War Galleries The Imperial War Museum London [www.iwm.org.uk] has reopened after a £40 million renovation (see related Interview, P. 14) that overhauled its grand atrium and added several galleries, notably those geared to World War I. The relaunch coincided with centennial observations [www.1914.org] of Britain’s August 1914 entry into the war. Gracing the atrium are some 400 objects from various conflicts, while the revamped First World War Galleries offer an engaging Great War experience with audiovisual effects, touch screens and interactive games positioned among the thoughtfully curated artifacts. Through March 8 the exhibit “Truth and Memory: British Art of the First World War” features such prominent wartime painters as Paul Nash and C.R.W. Nevinson.
‘A memorial which speaks to the heart and to the imagination’ —King George V, at 1920 IWM dedication
Russian Dig Unearths ‘Giant’ Siberian Warrior Archaeologists with the Russian Academy of Sciences [www.ras .ru/en] digging in Omsk, Siberia, have discovered the grave of a Dark Ages warrior who at 5 foot 10 towered nearly a foot over his contemporaries. Nicknamed “Bogatyr” (“Great Warrior”) by researchers, the 40-year-old UstIshim man was likely killed in battle between the 11th and 12th centuries; his shoulder was broken, and his severed left forearm was buried beside him. The grave also contained 25 arrows, food and a bridle, suggesting he was a horseman. Elaborate, ritualistic funerary decorations indicate he was a warrior of some importance.
WAR RECORD Dec. 12, 1979: After a Warsaw Pact buildup of nuclear arms (see P. 34), NATO approves deployment of medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe while pursuing negotiations, hoping the “dual-track” policy will prompt mutual arms reduction. Dec. 19, 1675: During King Philip’s War (see P. 26) colonial militiamen launch a pre-emptive strike against the Narragansett stronghold in the Colony of Rhode Island, destroying the Indian fort and killing or displacing its 1,000-plus inhabitants. December 218 BC: Hannibal’s army of Carthaginians and assorted allies routs a larger Roman army at the Battle of the Trebbia. The victory convinces many northern Italian Celts (see P. 44) to ally with the invading North African commander.
Jan. 1, 1915: A British newspaper prints a letter from a Tommy describing a December 11 exchange of greetings and food with German troops on the Western Front. It is the first public report of the unofficial Christmas Truce (see P. 64). Jan. 22, 1914: Hero of the Philippine-American War, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston (see P. 58) takes command of 2nd Division, in coming months overseeing the occupation of Veracruz, Mexico, and the hunt for rebel leader Pancho Villa.
9
News Royal Mint Strikes Latest WWI Coins The Royal Mint [www .royalmint.com] continues its commemoration of the World War I centennial with silver-proofed £5 coins honoring such
JANUARY 2015
Royal Air Force Wing Commander Ken Rees, 93, ‘Great Escape’ Digger
10
Ken Rees, among the last surviving Allied POW tunnel diggers portrayed in the 1963 film The Great Escape, died on August 30 in Wales. The Royal Air Force flight lieutenant was said to have inspired Steve McQueen’s film character (U.S. Army Air Forces Captain Virgil Hilts, aka “the Cooler King”), a claim Rees—a short, stocky Welshman who didn’t ride motorcycles—always disputed. Rees was the 21-year-old pilot of a Vickers Wellington bomber when shot down over Norway in October 1942. Sent to Stalag Luft III, a Luftwaffe-run POW camp for Allied airmen near present-day Zagan, Poland, he continually harassed his German captors and spent long hours in solitary confinement. Between stints in the cooler, Rees dug tunnels with his fellow POWs. The men initially worked on three shafts, eventually focusing on just one, nicknamed “Harry.” On the appointed night of the
escape—March 24–25, 1944—the diggers found that the 330-foot tunnel fell short of the woods surrounding camp, and the attempt bogged down. Of the 200 would-be escapees, only 76 made it out of the tunnel, and just three of those made it to freedom. The Germans quickly rounded up the other 73, returning 23 to captivity and infamously executing the remaining 50 singly or in pairs. Rees had heard a warning shot while waiting at the mouth of the tunnel and scrambled back through the shaft into camp. As Soviet troops closed on Stalag Luft III in January 1945, the Germans marched their wards to camps in Bavaria, but by May Allied troops had liberated the POWs. After the war Rees remained in the RAF, rising to wing commander before retiring to north Wales. Just two of the 76 original escapees —RAF Flight Lieutenants Paul Royle, 100, and Dick Churchill, 94—survive.
‘Had I got out, I would have ended up like the 50 who went before me’ —Ken Rees
MILITARY HISTORY
figures as 2nd Lt. Walter Tull, the British army’s first black officer, and British nurse Edith Cavell, executed by the Germans in 1915 for helping Allied soldiers escape Germanoccupied Belgium. The mint has also struck a £20 coin to mark the war’s outbreak, which depicts Britannia watching the first British troops set sail.
Explorers Find Seminole War Fort Members of the Everglades Exploration Network [gladesgodeep.ning.com] in south Florida may have pinpointed the site of Fort
Harrell, a U.S. Army outpost during the Second Seminole War (1835–42). Built in 1837 on the New River—deep in presentday Big Cypress National Preserve [www.nps.gov/ bicy]—the 135-by-45-foot log stockade sheltered troops during the hardfought uprising, the longest and most expensive Indian war in U.S. history. The explorers plan a survey to confirm the site’s identity.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CHRISTOPHER JONES/REX/REX USA; COURTESY THE ROYAL MINT; NORTH WIND PICTURE ARCHIVES/THE IMAGE WORKS
Rees helped tunnel out of Stalag Luft III in 1944, but guards raised the alarm before he could escape.
In America’s Greatest Crisis, America’s Greatest Man Turned to America’s Greatest Generation
Founders’ Son A Life of Abraham Lincoln B y R i c h a r d B r o ok h i s e r
In Stores October 14, 2014
“Brookhiser is a remarkable biographer.” — NPR “It seems impossible, but it’s true: no one has ever looked at Lincoln in quite this way before— and certainly not with Richard Brookhiser’s graceful touch, sly wit, and deep historical knowledge. The Founders’ foremost biographer has turned his eye to their greatest pupil, and everyone who cares about Lincoln (which should be everyone) will be grateful for it.” —A n dre w Fer g u s on , author of Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe’s America “Lincoln was not a conventional politician, and neither is Richard Brookhiser a conventional historian, nor, fittingly, is Founders’ Son a conventional biography. For the sixteenth president, as Brookhiser dazzlingly argues, ideas mattered—but never so much as when translated into action…. Founders’ Son is an ingenious intellectual biography, a work of the highest order written by one of our most creative historians about the most brilliant of our presidents.” —Alexander R o se , author of Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring • A Member of the Perseus Books Group
News For the first time since the 1940–41 Blitz, London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral is displaying an embroidered altar frontal [www.stpauls .co.uk/ww1] created by wounded soldiers during World War I. The frontal —stitched by 138 soldiers recovering at facilities
across Britain and pieced together at London’s Royal School of Needlework—was removed for safekeeping in 1940 and had remained in storage. It will be on display through 2018 to mark the centennial of the war.
Project Catalogs Irish Viking Sites
JANUARY 2015
The National Museum of Ireland [www.museum.ie] will soon publish the 800page Viking Graves and Grave-Goods in Ireland, concluding a 15-year project to catalog Viking burial sites nationwide.
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The project identifies Dublin as a focal point for Norse raiders in the 8th and 9th centuries, evinced by the dozens of graves and countless artifacts unearthed in the city since the late 18th century.
MILITARY HISTORY
Team Identifies WWII Cruiser USS Houston U.S. and Indonesian navy divers have confirmed the identity of a shipwreck in the Java Sea as that of the 600-foot World War II heavy cruiser USS Houston, sunk by Japanese ships on March 1, 1942, during the Battle of Sunda Strait. Only 291 of Houston’s 1,168 crewmen survived both the attack and subsequent internment in Japanese POW camps. The cruiser remains both a war grave and sovereign U.S. property. Resting in 100 feet of water, it is also a popular recreational dive site. The divers documented illegal salvage of ship parts and unexploded ordnance and observed oil leaking from the hull. Officials are working on measures to safeguard the wreck.
‘Everything lit up. Oh, God, it was all flames’ —James W. ‘Red’ Huffman, USS Houston survivor
South Korea Honors U.S. War Veterans South Korea has awarded its highest military honor —the Order of Military Merit, Taeguk—to four U.S. Army veterans of the Korean War. The recipients are Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Edward Rowny, 97; Sgt. 1st Class (Ret.) Ronald Rosser, 84; former Staff Sgt. Hiroshi Miyamura, 88; and Sergeant (Ret.) Einar Ingman, 84. Rosser, Miyamura and Ingman previously received Medals of Honor for their Korean War heroics, while Rowny—the oldest person ever to receive the Korean award—holds two Distinguished Service Medals and four Silver Stars and after the war advised five U.S. presidents. The announcement came on the 61st anniversary of the July 27, 1953, armistice.
ESCAPE ARTISTS While the 1963 film The Great Escape (see P. 10) may be the best-known film of the POW escape genre, it’s definitely in good company. Others include:
Victory (1981): Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine and Brazilian soccer legend Pelé lead the cast in this tale of Allied POWs escaping amid a soccer match against a German team. The film was inspired by the since-discredited story of a “Death Match” between Soviet and German teams in Nazi-occupied Ukraine. Escape From Sobibór (1987): The British madefor-TV drama was based on the Oct. 14, 1943, revolt and mass escape from the Sobibór death camp in Nazioccupied Poland. Of the roughly 300 prisoners who fled, all but 50 were either killed in the attempt or recaptured and executed.
Rescue Dawn (2006): Christian Bale portrays U.S. Navy pilot Dieter Dengler, shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War. The film relates the harrowing true story of Dengler’s capture, torture, escape and dramatic rescue.
The Way Back (2010): This film was based on the disputed World War II exploits of Slawomir Rawicz, a Polish army lieutenant imprisoned in a Siberian Gulag. Rawicz claimed to have escaped in 1941 by walking some 4,000 miles across the Gobi Desert and the Himalayas to India.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL; NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND; ANNE KAZEL-WILCOX; COURTESY THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND
WWI Altar Frontal Returns to St. Paul’s
Interview of 2008. Prior to that I was the director of the Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood [www.museumofchildhood .org.uk], working on a project to transform and create a sustainable future for the museum. In other roles I worked on the recovery and display of the Mary Rose warship [www.maryrose.org] in Portsmouth Harbor and the redisplay of the Nelson Gallery at the Royal Naval Museum [www.royalnavalmuseum .org]. I am also currently the chair of the National Museums Directors’ Council [www.nationalmuseums.org.uk].
JANUARY 2015
Diane Lees: An Imperial Undertaking
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This past July heralded the centennial of the start of World War I, prompting the launch of commemorative exhibits, events and memorials worldwide. Among them was the highly anticipated reopening of the First World War Galleries at the Imperial War Museum London [www.iwm.org.uk/exhibitions/ iwm-london/first-world-war-galleries]. Military History recently spoke with IWM Director-General Diane Lees— who assumed her post in 2008 and is cultural lead for the First World War Centenary Partnership [www.1914 .org]—about the significance of the commemoration, the IWM’s renovated London galleries (see P. 9) and what visitors should expect to see.
lished while the First World War was still being fought, to ensure that future generations would understand the toil and sacrifice of individuals and the impact war had on the world in which we now live.
What are the origins and mission of the IWM? The Imperial War Museum was estab-
How did you get involved with the IWM? I became director-general in the autumn
MILITARY HISTORY
What is the IWM’s focus? IWM continues its commitment to our founding mission, finding new and relevant ways to engage visitors on the subject of warfare, from the First World War to present-day conflicts. We continue to collect and record the stories of those affected by conflict and have done so since the First World War. Our family of museums—IWM London is the flagship— tells the stories of how war has shaped and continues to shape people’s lives.
How did the museum balance its responsibility to inform with the necessity to commemorate that world-changing conflict? We have a number of projects across IWM to mark the centenary, inform our visitors and commemorate those who lived and served in the conflict. The brand-new First World War Galleries allow audiences to explore what the war was like. The objects on display give a voice to the people who created them, used them or cared for them and reveal stories not only of destruction, suffering and loss, but also of endurance and
ANDREW TUNNARD/IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS
A Harrier, a V-1 flying bomb and a Spitfire soar over IWM London’s dramatic new atrium.
Explain the museum’s role in the centenary partnership. In 2009, when we were drawing together our plans for the centenary, we realized many organizations would be marking the events of the First World War. Since the IWM was established during the war, we were very aware we have resources that could aid other organizations in developing their own programs, and we didn’t want to swoop in with a top-down partnership. We wanted to created something democratic—much like our collections themselves—where organizations could sign up to a network of partnering institutions. They could use the resources we provide, and they could commemorate the centenary in a way that is relevant and appropriate to them.
BRETT AFFRUNTI
innovation, duty and devotion, comradeship and love. Visitors will see what life was like on the front and experience the sights and sounds of a re-created “trench,” with a Mark V tank nearby and a Sopwith Camel fighter plane looming above them. Through our digital project Lives of the First World War [livesofthefirstworldwar.org] the public can contribute their own items to help us discover, remember and share the life stories of the 8 million [British and Commonwealth] men and women who served at home and on the front. Our First World War Centenary Partnership offers support to any notfor-profit organization marking the centenary. IWM is leading this but wants organizations to offer events meaningful to their own communities. Through the partnership members can connect and access resources, and the public can find out what is happening locally through the events calendar. What were the driving forces behind the upgrades to the London galleries? There were many reasons we wanted to undergo a development of this size. The last time IWM London was redeveloped was in the 1980s. We wanted to offer visitors clear and easy navigation through the building. We started the project to transform the museum in 2010, and now the new atrium is filled with freshly curated displays, telling the story of the conflict in Britain and the former empire chronologically from 1914 to present. We felt that our biggest contribution to the centenary would be the new First World War Galleries, with a fresh approach and new interactive elements for the 21st century museum visitor.
Visitors can expect more than 60 audiovisual and interactive displays in the new galleries, which are important in telling the story of the war in color and giving a visceral sense of what life might have been like. In our new trench experience you see soldiers as shadowed projections on the walls; you hear thunder, lightning and rain as well as artillery fire. The redevelopment of IWM London is stage one of a master plan. We hope to extend the exhibits to new Second World War galleries and also alter the entrance to the main building. What changes were made to the physical space? Our atrium has been transformed—we have removed a floor to bring the atrium floor to ground level, creating a cathedral-like space, with new terraced galleries rising up either side. You get a glimpse of the objects on each level peeking through the new, large “fins” that line the space. The view when you used to come into IWM was a real “wow” moment, and I think the new view surpasses that. What were some of the major challenges in completing the renovation? We had a fixed date on which to reopen, and working toward an absolute deadline can be challenging; plus all the logistical and technical issues of positioning very large and heavy objects, such as the newly acquired Harrier jet and our Mark V tank, which sits at an extreme angle. The First World War Galleries comprise how many artifacts? There are more than 1,300 objects, ranging from large artillery to photos, letters and diaries. Running through
the fabric of the new galleries are quotes from the soldiers themselves taken from diaries and letters written during the conflict. These quotes evoke how everyday people lived through these extraordinary times. What are some of the more striking pieces in the collection? Many of the letters and diaries in our collections are really outstanding. One item in the First World War Galleries that will surprise our visitors is a German uniform button given by a German soldier to 19-year-old Corporal Eric Rowden on Christmas Day 1914 [see related story, P. 64]. He comments that they joked and smoked cigars together on this day, as if there wasn’t a war even happening. It’s these remarkable and poignant stories that stay with you. Have any artifacts undergone major restoration during the museum’s closure? Every object that went into the First World War Galleries and atrium displays underwent some level of conservation, including a First World War camouflage tree, comprising sheets of iron made to look like a tree on the Western Front but used as a lookout and observation point. It’s a very delicate object; the surface was reconsolidated and certain areas repainted [www .youtube.com/embed/DPk95G1Eu8E]. What does the First World War mean to you personally? It was a landmark conflict and turning point in history that still has echoes today. It affected everyone on a wide social scale down to the stories within our own family histories and communities. For me it is the connections to the First World War that make it so compelling and relevant. My family fought with the Durham Light Infantry, and luckily everyone came back. Some weren’t so lucky. MH
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Weider Reader
JANUARY 2015
A sampling of decisive moments, remarkable adventures, memorable characters, surprising encounters and great ideas from our sister magazines
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AMERICAN HISTORY
WORLD WAR II
AVIATION HISTORY
Chemical Warfare, 1918
Ugly Days in the Ardennes
The Unwanted Warthog
Completion of a makeshift mustard gas facility in New York in 1918 marked the birth of the U.S. military-industrial complex. Read more about the U.S. entry into chemical warfare in “Poison Gas Comes to America,” by David J. Jackowe, from the December 2014 issue of American History.
Seventy years ago this December the Battle of the Bulge began with a slashing penetration by German forces that within just a few days led to the largest surrender by American troops since the Civil War. Robert M. Citino examines the Nazi’s last offensive in “Debacle of the Bulge,” in the December 2014 issue of World War II.
Conceived by the Air Force as an alternative to an expensive Army attack helicopter, the A-10 Warthog has since survived repeated attempts to put it out to pasture. In “The Warplane Nobody Wanted,” in the November 2014 issue of Aviation History, Stephan Wilkinson takes a look at the A-10’s legacy and why its time may finally be up.
On a hot afternoon in August 1918 the U.S. Army’s Chemical Warfare Service rolled into the village of Hastingson-Hudson, N.Y., 20 miles north of midtown Manhattan, and put up a dozen wood-framed buildings on the grounds of the Zinsser Chemical Co. for the production of mustard gas. In case of explosion the buildings were designed to blow outward so as not to collapse on the workers inside. In the United States only chlorine had ever been manufactured on a large scale, and no facility was geared up to make mustard gas. The government’s solution was to contract with privately held chemical companies to manufacture poison gases. One of the first was the Zinsser Chemical Co., whose president and chief chemist was Frederick Zinsser. Born in 1868 in New York City, Zinsser was the son of German immigrants. He completed a degree in chemistry at Columbia University and then spent three years at Heidelberg University in Germany, where he worked under Dr. Viktor Meyer, who first synthesized mustard gas in 1886. “Gas is the cheapest, the most effective and the most humane weapon to ensure our national safety,” said Zinsser. He was not alone in his belief that chemistry could bring the war to a swift end. Only the Germans had mustard gas in 1917, however, and its use was tipping the war in their favor.
MILITARY HISTORY
The first explosions came as a jolt. American troops atop the Schnee Eifel in the Ardennes Forest weren’t expecting action. Their sector was so uneventful GIs had nicknamed the area the “Ghost Front.” In December 1944 the vast Ardennes lay roughly at the center of the Allied front and seemed perfect for acclimating a green outfit like the 106th Division to life at the front line. The nearest German unit seemed to be doing as the 106th was—getting situated. A brief artillery barrage, random machine-gun bursts, an occasional German combat patrol—“social calls,” the GIs termed them—were the extent of the action, even though the Schnee Eifel was German soil jutting into the Siegfried Line. Occasionally the GIs heard the sounds of German vehicles, muffled by snow. When the 106th’s commander, Maj.Gen. Alan W. Jones, told superiors he was hearing armor, he got a rocket back: “Don’t be so jumpy, general.” The order of the day seemed to be, “I won’t shoot if you won’t shoot.”
In 1972 the Fairchild Republic A-10 came out of the big aluminum womb ugly, misbegotten and ignored. It seemed fated for a life as the awkward stepchild of its F-plane playmates, the pointy-nose F-15 and F-16, eventually to be joined by the rapacious F-22 and voracious, obese F-35. The Warthog, as the attack airplane came to be known, finally had its day when it was a 19-year-old virgin with a mustache and, yes, warts, about to be put out to pasture. The A-10 was scheduled for retirement—for the first of several times—when the battle against Soviet T-55, T-62 and T-72 tanks it had been designed to fight finally erupted. Only not in the Fulda Gap but in Kuwait and Iraq, and the tanks belonged to Saddam, not Stalin. It was called Desert Storm, and thankfully not World War III, but overnight the ugly stepchild became the most vicious and powerful armor-killer ever to fly.
WEIDER HISTORY
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Valor A Happy Hero By Sarah R. Cokeley
TOP: SIR WILLIAM NEWENHAM MONTAGUE ORPEN/NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON; BOTTOM: GARY BLAKELEY/THINKSTOCK
Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart British Army Victoria Cross La Boisselle, France July 2–3, 1916
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n many respects Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart’s military escapades played out like fiction. With action in three major wars, numerous battle injuries and multiple plane crashes on the one-eyed, one-handed war hero’s service record, it seems that receiving a Victoria Cross was but a footnote to his military career, as he failed to mention it in his memoir, Happy Odyssey. The Belgian-born aristocrat craved a life on the edge from a young age. In 1899, at age 19, Carton de Wiart left college to serve in the Second Boer War. Though underage by a year, he enlisted in the British army as Trooper Carton and claimed to be 25. While serving in South Africa with Paget’s Horse, he received bullet wounds to his stomach and groin—the first of nearly a dozen grievous injuries he suffered during his career. After recuperating, he accepted
at the Battle of the Somme, the 8th was supporting a unit ordered to capture La Boisselle, one of the strongest German positions. After three commanders fell in action, Carton de Wiart took control and drove through the German a commission in the 2nd Imperial Light line to help capture the city. He led by example, pulling grenade pins with his Horse and ultimately finished out the war a lieutenant in the 4th Dragoons. teeth and throwing them with his one hand. He received the Victoria Cross At the outbreak of World War I in 1914 Carton de Wiart was en route to “for most conspicuous bravery, coolness and determination during severe suppress an uprising in British Somalioperations of a prolonged nature.” His land. Though eager to take part in the citation noted: “He frequently exposed action in Europe, he dutifully served himself in the organization of posiwith the Somaliland Camel Corps, battions and of supplies, passing untling the Dervishes led by Mohammed flinchingly through fire barrage of the Abdullah Hassan, the “Mad Mullah.” most intense nature. His gallantry was During a mid-November attack on a inspiring to all.” Dervish blockhouse Carton de Wiart By war’s end Carton de Wiart had was shot in one arm and twice in the incurred many more injuries, but he face, losing part of an ear and his left always returned to the front. Combat eye. For his actions he received the suited him. “Frankly, I had enjoyed the Distinguished Service Order. war,” he wrote in his memoir. After convalescing in England, Carton Carton de Wiart spent the interwar de Wiart wore a “startling, excessively years with the British Military Mission uncomfortable” glass eye long enough in Poland—when that counto convince a medical board he was fit to fight, then threw try was fighting simultaneous the eye from a taxi and adopted wars with the Germans, Sovihis trademark eye patch. In ets, Ukrainians, Lithuanians spring 1915 he was sent to the and Czechs—surviving an Western Front near Ypres with ambush by Cossacks and two the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon plane crashes. He was aide-deGuards. The first night, as his camp to the Polish king and regiment was relieving an infansettled in Poland in 1921. try unit, the Germans launched Peace didn’t last long. In 1939 an artillery barrage. Carton de the Germans invaded Poland, Wiart’s left hand was mangled pulling Carton de Wiart back when his shattered watch splin- Carton de Wiart’s into the British army and into tered into his wrist. When a VC citation noted another world war. Promoted doctor refused to amputate two his “coolness and to major general, he led camdangling fingers, Carton de determination.” paigns in Norway and YugoslaWiart yanked them off himself via before falling into Italian to relieve the pain. Later that year a hands in 1941. On Carton de Wiart’s surgeon removed the hand. release in 1943, Prime Minister Winston Despite his disabilities Carton de Churchill appointed him a diplomatic Wiart again persuaded a medical board representative to Chinese leader Chiang in early 1916 to certify him for general Kai-shek, the position from which Carservice. Attached to the infantry, he ton de Wiart retired in 1947. He eventusoon took command of the 8th Battalally settled in Ireland and died at home ion, Gloucestershire Regiment. In July, in 1963 at the ripe old age of 83. MH
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What We Learned... From the Highway of Death By Stephan Wilkinson
Coalition air strikes turned Kuwait’s Highway 80 into a graveyard of Iraqi vehicles.
When Saddam’s military lost control of the situation within Kuwait, the highway quickly filled with vehicles heading back toward Iraq, and coalition aircraft pounced. Yet of the estimated 1,900 vehicles bombed and gunned on Highways 80 and 8 (which continued from the border to Basra, Iraq), only about 2 percent were tanks or armored personnel carriers. The rest were buses, trucks, tractor-trailers, farm vehicles, stolen Kuwaiti luxury cars and anything else that could carry loot and desperate Iraqis. They were fleeing, not fighting.
Lessons: Armor needs air cover. Without
an air force to protect them, Iraqi vehicles were sitting ducks. To the dismay of the brass, who didn’t want the job to sound so heartless, coalition pilots began referring to their operations as “tank plinking.” Don’t let public opinion trump strategic aims. The devastating air
TECH. SGT. JOE COLEMAN/DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE/NATIONAL ARCHIVES
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t was a nasty fight with grandiose operational names (Desert Shield and Desert Storm), but the 1990–91 Gulf War was America’s post-Vietnam catharsis—the first large-scale conflict the nation had won since evacuating Saigon. It was also a demonstration of General Colin Powell’s doctrine of having a clear objective, assessing the risks, ensuring widespread support, and using overwhelming force to end the conflict as quickly as possible. All that was accomplished, but did America achieve victory? The enemy went home and regrouped, just to rehash the conflict a dozen years later. The U.S. objective had been clear— kick Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait— but the job was left unfinished. The war began when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, claiming that the Kuwaitis were stealing Iraqi oil through slant drilling, and that Kuwait—a region arbitrarily split off by the British after World War I—was actually an Iraqi
province. The United States jumped in to defend Kuwaiti sovereignty but more so its own oil interests in both Kuwait and its threatened ally Saudi Arabia, unleashing a six-month bombing and Tomahawk-missile campaign against Baghdad and Iraqi defenses. At 4 a.m. on Feb. 24, 1991, the ground portion of the war began with a coalition armor advance from Saudi Arabia into Kuwait. Much of the force attacked straight into Kuwait, but an entire corps shifted 135 miles to the west, planning to hook around behind Saddam’s forces and trap his Republican Guard. Two iconic scenes from Operation Desert Storm resonate through the decades. One is the sky completely blackened by the 700 Kuwaiti oil wells the retreating Iraqis torched. The other is the utter destruction along Highway 80, which came to be known as the Highway of Death—the six-lane superslab running from Kuwait City to the border with Iraq.
assault paved the Highway of Death with vehicles and charred bodies, so President George H.W. Bush ended hostilities, fearing further attacks would be perceived as simple slaughter. Thus Saddam withdrew to Baghdad with the cream of his army intact. Don’t let a moral crusade morph into a PR problem. If Saddam was the
Hitler that Bush so vividly painted, why did the coalition leave him in power? Don’t assume enemy self-correction.
Planners widely thought Saddam’s officers would depose him for having made a hash of the war, and that the U.S. would only need to oversee the transition to a friendlier despot. Never happened. Desert warfare is for the strong.
It awards logisticians who can support forces over long distances, provides the enemy no hiding place, frees the tactician from the constraints of linear warfare, allows airpower the freest rein and turns withdrawal into rout. MH
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Hardware
By Jon Guttman / Illustration by H. Morshead
42cm M-Gerät Howitzer THE ORIGINAL BIG BERTHA 2
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MILITARY HISTORY
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1. Barrel 2. Recoil cylinders 3. Barrel cradle 4. Breechblock 5. Munitions hoist 6. Crew platform 7. Hand winch for munitions hoist 8. Traversing mechanism 9. Spade 10. Aiming stake 11. Wheel belt 12. Foundation platform 13. Gunner platform 14. Forward crew platform 15. Elevating hand crank for coarse range adjustments 16. Elevating handwheel for fine range adjustments 17. Blast shield
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ontributing to the late-19th century arms races that led to the outbreak of World War I was the dual advancement of artillery-resistant fortifications and artillery capable of breaching them. In response to the construction of fortress rings—such as those in Liège and Namur, Belgium; Verdun, France; and Przemysl, in Russian-occupied Poland—Germany’s Krupp firm set out to develop increasingly large and powerful siege mortars and howitzers. The culmination of those efforts was the 42cm M-Gerät Minenwerfer (“mine thrower”). Starting in 1893, when France and Russia signed their military alliance, the German army’s Artillerie-Prüfungskommission (APK) and Krupp had produced and tested a series of giant siege mortars, starting with the 30.5cm (12-inch) Beta-Gerät. Weighing more than 33 tons—four times heavier than any other artillery piece in the army—the Beta-Gerät had to be broken down, transported in railcars to the staging area and then emplaced on a prepared piece of flat ground. In 1907 Krupp started manufacturing wheeled-carriages that allowed steam-powered tractors to pull the guns along roads and across solid terrain. Finally, in 1911 Krupp rolled out the 42cm M-Gerät, a 47-ton howitzer on a two-wheeled carriage, which could be moved in five pieces. The APK ordered its first M-Gerät in July 1912, and by the time war broke out in August 1914, the German army had 18 various guns in 10 siege batteries, including the Küstenmörser (“coastal mortar”) Battery 3 with two 42cm M-Geräts. Its destructive power compelled the garrison of Liège’s Fort Pontisse to surrender on August 13. Two days later the gun’s crew obliterated Fort Loncin with 25 shells in two hours, thus intimidating the garrisons of adjacent Forts Hollogne and Frémaille into surrendering without a shot fired. While the 42cm M-Gerät accomplished what it was designed to do—reduce Allied fortresses—its mobility remained limited, and only the stalemate on the Western Front perpetuated its usefulness as a weapon. Still, the Germans’ nickname for it, “Dicke Bertha”—allegedly in reference to Frau Krupp—gave it concurrent notoriety among the Allies as “Big Bertha,” a term later applied to any extraordinarily large artillery piece. MH Specifications Caliber: 42cm (16.5 inches) Dimensions: 10 meters long (32 feet 10 inches), 4.7 meters wide (15 feet 5 inches), 4.5 meters high (14 feet 8 inches) Weight: 42,600 kilograms (47 tons) Barrel length: L/12 (5 meters/16 feet 5 inches) Max. barrel elevation: 65 degrees Max. range: 9,300 meters (5.8 miles) Rate of fire: Eight rounds per hour
ILLUSTRATION: IMAGE FROM NEW VANGUARD #205 42CM “BIG BERTHA” AND GERMAN SIEGE ARTILLERY OF WORLD WAR I, BY MARC ROMANYCH AND MARTIN RUPP, © OSPREY PUBLISHING, LTD
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CTS925A 500 Piece “GIANT LEGEND OF THE ALAMO SET” $499.95 plus $50 S&H
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Letter From Military History
Confronting the ‘Other’
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ust as earthquakes tend to occur along geologic fault lines, conflicts often erupt along cultural divides. While war can stem from myriad causes—greed, ambition, arrogance, ignorance and willful stupidity among them—the collision of disparate cultures along borders both natural and manmade has been the source of armed conflict among humans at least as long as we have recorded our history, and likely far longer. From the time men and women first started exploring the larger world beyond their home valleys in search of food or living space or out of simple curiosity, they have encountered unfamiliar peoples. At times these “others” were so extraordinarily foreign—in physical appearance, language, religion, customs— they seemed almost to be of an alien race. Many ancient civilizations recorded the existence of giants, or elves, or demons or even of deities made flesh in an attempt to explain the bizarre and unfathomable actions of new peoples with whom they came into contact. The passage of time, the increasing frequency of contact among different tribal groups and a general broadening of knowledge gradually allowed most peoples to accept that members of other cultures were indeed human. Sadly, that acceptance has done little to lessen the distrust, suspicion, fear and loathing that often accompany the first contact between two cultures. When, for example, an ancient and long-settled people find technologically advanced strangers from over the mountains or across the seas forcibly appropriating their ancestral lands and abundant resources, it is perhaps understandable that violence ultimately erupts—warfare is, after all, sometimes the only way in which an underdog culture can protect itself against the depredations of a more powerful one. Even cultures that have long coexisted and are comparably strong can misunderstand and distrust one another to such an extent they fight repeated wars or feel compelled to put up walls and stockpile weapons whose use would ultimately destroy those things any civilization holds dear. And yet there are also times when the similarities between two cultures bridge the divide that separates them. At such a time ongoing conflicts cease —albeit for only a brief time—and human beings see themselves reflected in the eyes of the Other. MH
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BLOOD AND BETRAYAL The discovery of a frozen corpse in the bitter winter of 1675 sent shock waves through peaceful New England and sparked war between the region’s Indians and settlers By Anthony Brandt The Wampanoag sachem “King Philip,” named after Philip of Macedon, waged a gruesome war that ended the largely stable relationship between colonists and certain tribes. INTERFOTO/ALAMY
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In 1675,
some 55 years after English separatists later known as the Pilgrims had founded Plymouth Colony (in present-day Massachusetts), newsletters began appearing in London describing horrible atrocities committed by Indians against the New England settlers. The reports told of lightning raids on towns by hundreds of warriors, barns and houses burned to the ground, farmers tomahawked in their fields, colonial militia columns wiped out in ambushes, women and children taken captive, and worse. While some questioned the veracity of the initial reports, the unrest quickly flared into a broad and bloody armed conflict. Known today as King Philip’s War (after the primary Indian war leader), the conflict stretched from 1675 to 1678 and was the subject of several important Puritan works, among them the Rev. William Hubbard’s The History of the Indian Wars in New England From the First Settlement to the Termination of the War with King Philip in 1677; Benjamin Thompson’s “New England’s Crisis,” the first epic poem written in North America; and the Rev. Increase Mather’s A Brief History of the War With the Indians in New England. The war has intrigued historians ever since.
JANUARY 2015
King Philip’s War was not a localized clash like the
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Pequot War of the 1630s but full-scale warfare involving most of the New England region and many of the indigenous tribes, a total war that made no distinctions between warriors and civilians. And it was not certain the colonists would win. The war ended the largely stable and, in many ways, mutually beneficial relationship between colonists and Indians that had endured some five decades. It was also an especially bloody war—the bloodiest, in terms of the percentage of the population killed, in American history. The figures are inexact, but out of a total New England
MILITARY HISTORY
population of 80,000, counting both Indians and English colonists, some 9,000 were killed—more than 10 percent. Two-thirds of the dead were Indians, many of whom died of starvation. Indians attacked 52 of New England’s 90 towns, pillaging 25 of those and burning 17 to the ground. The English sold thousands of captured Indians into slavery in the West Indies. New England’s tribes would never fully recover. The war not only caught the eyes of English readers, it also caught the attention of recently restored British King Charles II, who sent envoys to assess the situation in New England. Plymouth Colony, the flash point of the war, had not initially sought a royal charter; Charles gave it one. He later dissolved the United Colonies of New England, a military alliance formed to adjudicate disputes among the colonies and to direct the course of any wars from Boston. As royal governors took charge, the New England colonies lost the freedom to manage their own affairs, which they had enjoyed since the 1630s. People used to ruling themselves no longer did. The consequences would stretch into the next century and beyond. As with so many wars, the casus belli in this case was a comparatively minor event, the murder of a respected elderly “praying Indian” (Christian convert) named John Sassamon, a Wampanoag, or Massachusett, man who straddled the tense psychological fringe between the two cultures. Sassamon had studied the tenets of Christianity under John Eliot, the foremost Puritan missionary to the Indians of New England, who had helped found 14 “praying towns” of converted Indians and had translated the Bible into Algonquian. Sassamon could read and speak English and had evolved into a go-between, serving as both an interpreter to the colonists and a secretary to the Wampanoag sachem (paramount chief), a man known to the English as “King Philip,” for whom the war is named. Sachems were not kings in the European sense. Philip’s
LEFT TO RIGHT: JOHN GILMARY SHEA. A CHILD’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. NEW YORK: MAC DAVITT & CO., 1872; SAMUEL MAVERICK/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; EDWARD SYLVESTER ELLIS. THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY, VOL. 1. INDIANAPOLIS: J.H. WOOLLING & CO., 1905
REPEATED RAIDS Indian ambushes were frequent and took a steep toll among the colonists. In 1675 Nipmucks ambushed and killed more than 70 colonial soldiers in the Battle of Bloody Brook.
REIGN OF TERROR King Philip’s War spread across much of New England, left. After Muttawmp and his Nipmuck braves destroyed the colonists’ settlements near Deerfield, below, settlers began abandoning their towns and homesteads.
powers were limited, and he led his people at their sufferance. But he did speak for them and lead them in warfare. The colonists dubbed him Philip after Philip of Macedon, having given the name Alexander to his older brother. Philip accepted the name; his Indian name was Metacomet, but names among the Indians were provisional. It was their practice to change names when the occasion warranted. In January 1675 searchers found Sassamon’s bruised body, the neck broken, beneath the ice of Assawompset Pond, near Middleborough, where he had supposedly gone fishing. He had earlier warned Plymouth authorities that Philip was preparing for war and planning an attack on one of the towns. A fellow praying Indian soon came forward, claiming to have watched from a distance as three Wampanoags beat and killed Sassamon. (It is worth noting the witness owed a gambling debt to one of the three.) All three were close counselors of Philip. Authorities arrested and questioned the men. They further ordered one of the suspects to approach the corpse, which started to bleed; folk superstition held that a murder victim’s body will bleed in the presence of its killer, and this “evidence” seems to have been decisive. At trial in June a jury found the three Indians guilty, and the men were sentenced to hang. Within days of their June 8 executions disaffected Wampanoags attacked and burned several homesteads in protest. On June 23, when the residents of the recently built Plymouth village of Swansea left their farms lightly guarded
to attend a prayer meeting, Wampanoags emerged from the woods to loot several homes. A farm boy spotted several Indians running from one of the houses, raised his musket and fired a shot, mortally wounding one of the raiders. The following day Wampanoags killed nine Swansea settlers in retribution. King Philip’s War had begun.
It was a confused and unstructured war that had no front lines but was essentially a fight for territory, indeed for the future of New England itself. Except for the Pequot War, the Indians and the English had gotten along reasonably well until the 1660s. The English traded useful guns, ammunition and metal tools to the Indians mostly for beaver pelts, which merchants sold in Europe to feed a passion for beaver felt hats. The Indians did not own land privately, but they had a strong sense of collective tribal territory. If they were not using land to farm or hunt, however, they sold it willingly enough to the colonists to farm and establish towns. For a half-century the groups lived in proximity to each other, and the relationship remained stable. As the English population increased, however, cracks began to appear on the surface. The English wanted more land and were going farther afield to lay claim to it. The settlements in the Connecticut River Valley, well to the west of Wampanoag country, were growing rapidly. The lands the Indians were willing to sell were dwindling all across eastern New England.
King Philip’s War was full-scale warfare involving most of the New England region, a total war that made no distinction between warriors and civilians 29
HOME ADVANTAGE The colonists had muskets, but so did the Indians. The Indians also had powerful longbows and knowledge of the land and likely escape routes.
Lancaster Massacre On Feb. 10, 1676, several hundred Narragansett, Wampanoag and Nipmuck warriors raided Lancaster, Mass., killing more than a dozen colonists and taking 24 captive. Mary Rowlandson, wife of the settlement’s minister and one of those carried off, described the carnage:
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It is a solemn sight to see so many Christians lying in their blood, some here and some there, like a company of sheep torn by wolves. All of them stripped naked by a company of hellhounds, roaring, singing, ranting and insulting, as if they would have torn our very hearts out.
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Rowlandson was eventually ransomed and later wrote the story of her captivity. She wove a vivid tale, full of details of Indian camp life, the speed with which the tribes traveled, the ease with which they eluded pursuers. Her account became one of the bestselling books in early American history and was the first of what would become a distinct genre, the captivity narrative. —A.B.
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Settlers watched smoke rise as the Wampanoags torched house after house and killed whoever had not retreated The colonists often let their farm animals roam; inevitably some roamed into Indian cornfields, destroying crops the Indians depended on to get them through the winters. Prior to the outbreak of war Rhode Islander John Borden, a friend of Philip’s, met with the Wampanoag sachem to seek accord between the two groups. Philip stated the Indian case eloquently:
THE GRANGER COLLECTION, NEW YORK; BOTTOM: NORTH WIND PICTURE ARCHIVES/ALAMY
The English who came first to this country were but a handful of people, forlorn, poor and distressed. My father was then sachem. He relieved their distresses in the most kind and hospitable manner. He gave them land to plant and build upon.…They flourished and increased.…By various means they got possessed of a great part of his territory. But he still remained their friend till he died. My elder brother became sachem. They pretended to suspect him of evil designs against them. He was seized and confined and thereby thrown into illness and died. Soon after I became sachem, they disarmed all my people.…Their lands were taken.… But a small part of the dominion of my ancestors remains. I am determined not to live until I have no country. Samuel G. Arnold, a 19th century historian and U.S. senator from Rhode Island, aptly described the statement as “the preamble to a declaration of war…a mournful summary of accumulated wrongs that cry aloud for battle.” The theme would haunt most of the Indian wars in North America until indeed, two centuries later, when the Indians no longer had a country. As the attack on Swansea proved, the Wampanoags had not disarmed, as the colonial government had demanded. The raid panicked the colonists, and authorities in Boston sent a contingent of hastily assembled militia south to Swansea, as did Plymouth. The gathered militiamen numbered perhaps 200, facing an Indian force of unknown size. They initially engaged in skirmishes but no pitched battles. One group of 20 colonists ran into an ambush—a tactic that would ultimately claim hundreds of militiamen—by an overwhelming Indian force and escaped only by commandeering a vessel passing on a nearby river. The colonists had muskets, but so did the Indians. The Indians also had longbows that could drive an arrow straight through a thighbone. And when pursued, the Indians melted into the woods, making it difficult for colonists on horseback to follow. While the militiamen survived this initial skirmish, it soon became clear such outings would accomplish little, as the Indians were hard to pin down. They knew the land and likely escape routes, and the swamps in which they so often took refuge were impenetrable to anyone not intimately familiar with them.
After Swansea the Indians swept down on Middleborough and Dartmouth. Like most New England towns Dartmouth had established garrisons—fortified strongholds in which residents could shelter. From there the settlers watched the smoke rise as the Wampanoags torched house after house and killed whoever had not retreated to the garrisons. They left most of the town in ruins. One garrison commander managed to persuade several dozen Indians—men, women and children—to surrender themselves on promises of safe conduct. Then, in a pattern that became common during the war, he transported them to Plymouth to be sold into slavery. The betrayal prompted further reprisals. At the start of the conflict Philip acted alone, and the colonists took pains to ensure that the Narragansetts, New England’s most powerful tribe and neighbors to the Wampanoags, did not join the war. Philip moved northwest into Nipmuck territory, near Worcester. The Nipmucks had their own reasons to resent the colonists, and two of their sachems, Muttawmp and Matoonas, soon joined the fight and proved capable military leaders. Matoonas’ attack on the town of Mendon in mid-July left six settlers dead; a few weeks later Muttawmp hit Brookfield with 200 warriors, ambushing a small colonial force sent to reinforce the town. Nearby cavalry rode to the rescue at Brookfield, and no clear victor emerged, but there could be no doubt about what was happening: King Philip’s war was spreading, and every town in southern New England was a target.
That other tribes joined the spreading conflict does not mean the region’s Indians were working together in a united effort to drive the English settlers into the sea. The Mohegans, for instance, remained firmly aligned with the colonists throughout the conflict, while the Mohawks, farther west, exploited their alliance with the English to pursue ancient tribal rivalries along the Hudson River up into New England. Certainly, tribes were not “nations” in any modern sense; they were more collections of villages speaking the same language, connected by kinship and custom. Nor did the war proceed in any organized way. The colonists fought by erecting garrisons in the towns and sending armed columns down forest trails after the Indians. The militias acted as though the laws of civilized warfare were in effect, as if the Indians would dutifully face them on a battlefield or retreat to strongholds that could then be properly besieged. The Indians did build palisaded forts, but they were just as apt to slip away when enemies approached. The most effective tactic the colonists used was to burn Indian crops in the fields, but this was a two-way street. The Indians burned many barns packed with colonial harvests 31
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and killed or stole farm animals. The retaliatory raids persisted through 1675 and into the following year. The colonists pursued the raiders, but it took several costly ambushes for them to learn that a military column in thick woods was an extremely vulnerable target. The Indians were at home in the forests and repeatedly lured the colonists into traps. Only when Mohegan scouts led them through the woods did the settlers stand much of a chance. In September 1675, on the Connecticut River near Deerfield, Muttawmp and his braves killed 71 colonial soldiers in a lopsided ambush called the Battle of Bloody Brook. Deerfield itself suffered repeated raids. Panicky and enraged, settlers began abandoning their towns and homesteads. Some called for the utter extinction of New England’s Indians. This was the mood in which the colonists decided the Narragansetts could no longer be trusted. In December— accusing the Narragansetts of harboring hostile Wampanoags, fearing they would soon join Philip’s rebellion and ignoring a recently signed treaty of neutrality—a combined force of colonial militia entered Rhode Island and mounted a pre-emptive strike. It marked the war’s first traditional European-style campaign, in which a 1,000-strong army of colonists and allied Indians—the largest yet assembled in North America—besieged the Narragansett stronghold in the Great Swamp south and west of Narragansett Bay. The Narragansetts had not completed a defensive wall surrounding their camp, and the militia attacked at once, swarming into camp through a breech in the walls. When the smoke cleared, more than 200 of the colonial troops lay dead or wounded, but the militia had killed an estimated 300 Narragansetts and taken as many captive. Militiamen then burned the fort and destroyed the camp’s winter stores. Still, the majority of the Narragansetts, including their sachem, Canonchet, and many of his warriors, escaped into the frozen swamp. The colonists declared the battle a victory, but it had pushed the Narragansetts firmly into the war on Philip’s side. Within weeks the surviving warriors, led by Canonchet, began raiding Rhode Island’s towns and killing its colonists. Townspeople abandoned Lancaster in the wake of a February raid. The raiders next struck Medfield, only 16 miles from Boston, followed by a string of other towns. King Philip was hardly a factor by this time; the Indians on the march were Nipmucks, Narragansetts and people from other tribes led by such feared sachems as Muttawmp, Quinnapin and Monoco (aka “One-Eyed John”). By early 1676 it looked as though the Indians might just prevail. And they might have, had they had the manpower. But the war had taken a toll. Every attack cost the Indians, often more than it cost the colonists, and there were more militia-
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men than warriors. By this time the colonists were making effective use of their Mohegan allies and taking the war to their enemy rather than sitting in garrisons waiting to be attacked—a policy proposed to colonial authorities earlier but rejected. A series of devastating attacks in March—one on a garrison just 3 miles from Plymouth proper, then one on Providence—changed their minds. A turning point came in early April when Canonchet was caught, handed over to his Mohegan enemies and brutally executed. He had sworn to fight to the end. For him it had come. As colonial tactics became more sophisticated, Indian losses mounted. Finally, that August, Philip himself—having spent months on the run—was caught, cornered and mortally wounded by an Indian allied with the colonists. In keeping with English punitive tradition, the “treasonous king” was beheaded and his body quartered, the quarters hung from trees “here and there,” wrote one historian, “so as not to hallow a traitor’s body by burial.” Authorities in Plymouth ransomed Philip’s head and placed it on a spike atop a prominent hill overlooking town. It was said to have remained on display for decades.
The war was not quite over, however. By the summer of 1676 it had spread north into Maine and New Hampshire, where local Abenakis took revenge on some of the towns in which colonial traders had cheated them. Sporadic raiding persisted another year in the Maine interior. By the time the fighting finally ended, the costs proved crippling for both sides. Hundreds of Algonquian-speaking Indians had been sold into slavery at an average price of three English pounds, and thousands more had been killed. Algonquian society as a whole would never recover. Colonial New England would recover, but at a snail’s pace—it took 100 years for the region’s economy to reach the prosperity levels of the prewar period. Worse yet, a long peace had been shattered, as had the possibility that in the New World diverse cultures might live peacefully side by side, in mutual tolerance, to one another’s benefit. Historian Russell Bourne quotes a current Narragansett leader’s embittered remark to anthropologist Paul Robinson: “So far as we’re concerned,” he said, “what the Puritans began here has never ended. The war’s still on.” MH A frequent contributor to Military History, Anthony Brandt is the author of The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage. For further reading he recommends The Red King’s Rebellion, by Russell Bourne; The Name of War, by Jill Lepore; and So Dreadful a Judgment, edited by Richard Slotkin et al.
HOWARD PYLE AND MERLE JOHNSON. HOWARD PYLE’S BOOK OF THE AMERICAN SPIRIT. YORK: HARPER & BROS., 1923
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Authorities in Plymouth ransomed Philip’s head and placed it on a spike atop a prominent hill overlooking town
TURNING POINT King Philip’s death at the hands of an Indian allied with the colonists helped end the brutal conflict. In keeping with English tradition, Philip was beheaded, his body quartered and put on display.
IN AN ICONIC IMAGE of the decadeslong Cold War, the Soviets parade intercontinental ballistic missiles through Moscow’s Red Square in 1969.
AKG-IMAGES/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/SOVFOTO
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special forces raid on government offices in Bonn. Hamburg is in flames, with fires of unknown origin raging at various points in the urban area. The West German autobahn is a chaotic scene this morning, as thousands of civilians flee the combat zone while NATO reinforcements head to the front in the opposite direction. As yet Moscow has not responded to a U.S. State Department ultimatum accusing the Soviet Union of “an act of un-
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he news account is fictional, of course, but there were times when it could have been all too real. For more than four decades, from 1945 to 1991, the world could have awakened on any day to read it, or something like it, on the front page of The New York Times. The major news outlets almost certainly had some boilerplate version of this report already written and ready just in case—filed, no doubt, under “World War III.” The era was termed the Cold War, but the superpowers spent it planning feverishly for the “next war.” They devised doctrine and tactics for the imminent conflict, they designed ever more sophisticated weapons systems—tanks and aircraft above all—to fight its battles, and they war-gamed every possible scenario, a process aided by the incorporation of computers. With the world divided into two power blocs, and each side armed to the teeth and obsessed with the threat from the other, perhaps it was miraculous a general war did not break out. One could have at any time, triggered by anything from a coup in a minor ally to domestic unrest in the superpowers to a Middle East crisis—all of which the world had in abundance during the era. With an aggressive Russia once more on the march, and with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization stretched farther to the East, perhaps it is time to revisit the strategic discussion of those days. Let us consider a great war between the two adversaries on the “Central Front” in West Germany. What was the overall strategic situation? Who held the high cards? What was the probable course of the fighting? Most important, can we identify the likely winner? The world may well face such questions in the near future.
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f war was a simple matter of materiel advantage, then the Soviets and their Warsaw Pact allies would have had the conflict won before a shot was fired. Numbers were NATO’s nightmare. According to U.S. figures from the mid1980s, the Soviets held a numerical advantage everywhere: 42,500 to 13,000 in tanks; 30,000 to 10,000 in artillery; 7,000 to 3,000 in tactical aircraft. More Soviet equipment translated
MILITARY HISTORY
provoked aggression,” demanding the “immediate withdrawal of all Warsaw Pact military formations from West German territory” and threatening “the gravest possible consequences.” TASS is reporting that NATO forces have already resorted to the use of nuclear weapons and has promised “full retaliation against this violation of international law and the law of civilization.” There has been no independent confirmation of the TASS report.
into more divisions. Their forces stationed in Germany alone (the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, or GSFG) included 19 divisions: nine armored and 10 mechanized. Thirty more divisions stood ready in Eastern Europe (16 armored, 14 mechanized), plus another 65 divisions in European Russia. Add in 45 more divisions of Warsaw Pact allies, and the Soviets could toss an impressive total of 159 divisions—the vast majority of them armored or mechanized—into a new war in Europe. Countering these numbers was never easy, and NATO didn’t even try. By the 1980s there were only 16 divisions in the entire U.S. Army. Each was much larger than a Soviet division, but still that left a gigantic numerical deficit, even when adding in allied NATO forces. From the start NATO would have had to fight outnumbered and win. Geography made the situation even worse. Soviet reinforcements could come by road or rail from the Eurasian landmass, especially the Baltic, Byelorussian, Carpathian, Odessa and Kiev military districts. American reinforcements (National Guard divisions, for example) would have to make a sea passage or airlift from the continental United States. The Army practiced it annually in its exercise REFORGER (Return of Forces to Germany), but the verdict was mixed, and it was always clear the Soviet surface fleet, submarine fleet and air force had sufficient strength to make the crossing a serious contest. Of course, war has never been about mere quantities. The more complex issue of quality was a comfort to the West, especially as the decades wore on and NATO gained a significant technological edge. By the 1980s the principal NATO battle tanks (the American M1 Abrams, the German Leopard 2 and the British Challenger 1) were more than a match for their Soviet T-72 or T-80 counterparts—more mobile, roomier and, with laser acquisition and targeting, far more accurate. In the air U.S. F-15 and F-16 fighters had outclassed the Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat. Soviet aircraft generally lacked all-weather capability, carried smaller payloads, had shorter ranges and needed more maintenance than U.S. planes. And in terms of ground support, the American A-10 Thunderbolt was the dominant plane in the air, a tank-killer
WERNER KREUSCH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
[AP] Sunday, June 7, 19_ _ : Warsaw Pact tanks crossed the West German border at numerous points today, supported by airborne drops, commando raids and heavy air attacks as far west as Frankfurt and the Rhine. NATO forces—British, West German and American—have engaged the attackers, and initial reports speak of fierce fighting and heavy casualties on both sides. The West German chancellor is dead, apparently the victim of a Soviet
With an aggressive Russia once more on the march, and with NATO stretched farther to the east, perhaps it is time to revisit the strategic discussion of those days
WORLD WAR III might well have erupted from a tense East-West confrontation at Berlin’s Checkpoint Charlie, such as this standoff at the crossing in October 1961.
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NATO vs. the Warsaw Pact Bornholm Island This Danish island in the Baltic Sea proved less a strategic linchpin than the proving ground for a test of wills between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Soviet forces had wrested Bornholm from Nazi forces in 1945. When they evacuated it after the war, the Soviets insisted that the stationing of any NATO forces on Bornholm would be considered an act of war. The faceoff never progressed beyond bluffs.
North German Plain The German stretch of the massive north European plain, this region presents a natural attack route for any major invasion force, with ample real estate for armored and mechanized maneuvers. Had the war turned hot, the Soviet Third Shock Army would have led Warsaw Pact forces across the plain, though they would have run smack into NATO’s combined West German, British, Dutch and Belgian forces.
Choosing Sides As the Soviet Union flexed its postwar muscles, particularly in occupied East Germany, the far smaller Western European nations drew together in the name of mutual defense. When the Cold War heated up in 1948, the United States spearheaded formation of the umbrella North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), binding North America’s fate to that of Western Europe. Politically spurned by NATO, the Soviet Union in 1955 formed the far less voluntary Warsaw Pact of Central and Eastern European communist states.
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pawned out of the political and military tensions that arose between the communist East and capitalist West in the wake of World War II, NATO and the Warsaw Pact faced off across the Iron Curtain and at other global flash points for the better part of four decades. The Cold War flared hot at times (Chinese Civil War, Korea, Suez Crisis, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Soviet War in Afghanistan), but the apocalyptic
specter of mutually assured destruction never materialized. In the end communism proved its own worst enemy, as military spending imploded the Soviet Union’s already failing economy. The conflict came to a comparatively peaceful close with the fall of the Berlin Wall and other anti-communist revolutions among the Warsaw Pact states in 1989, followed by the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Hof Gap Though perched on the border between East Germany and Czechoslovakia, in proximity to West Germany and with ready access to the old Berlin-Munich autobahn, the Hof Gap was considered a dark horse attack route for Soviet armor due to the operational difficulties posed by the forested terrain and the alternate approach through neutral Austria. NATO planned a delaying action to enable reinforcement.
Fulda Gap Comprising two lowland corridors through the mountainous former intra-German border, the Fulda Gap was the focus of intensive NATO reconnaissance and defensive exercises during the Cold War. In an attack Soviet tanks could strike through the gap directly at Frankfurt, the financial heart of West Germany and home to Rhein-Main Air Base, the principal landing point for U.S. reinforcements.
DISTANCES: BERLIN TO FRANKFURT 263 miles/423 km HAMBURG TO MUNICH 381 miles/613 km MAPS BY STEVE WALKOWIAK/SWMAPS.COM
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The real issue for NATO was the map and the operational situation it generated
extraordinaire, with bombs, missiles and a Gatling gun that could fire up to 4,200 rounds per minute. Of course, technology doesn’t win wars either; human beings do. Here, once again, NATO probably had an edge. The average Western soldier was better educated and better trained than his Soviet counterpart and had more scope for personal initiative. The Soviets still relied on a fierce discipline that discouraged individuals from making unilateral decisions and might have resulted in missed opportunities in combat. Furthermore, a Western soldier was fighting to defend a free society. On the eve of the Battle of Issus in 333 BC Alexander the Great addressed his troops and steeled their nerve for the coming tough fight: “Above all,” he is said to have reminded them, “we are free men, and they are slaves.” A similar benefit accrued to NATO. Whether it was enough to offset vastly superior numbers is a question that remained unanswered. Beyond the number or quality of opposing forces, war is also a political act. Both sides in a NATO–Warsaw Pact conflict would fight as part of a coalition. The Soviets had imposed a higher degree of weapons and equipment standardization on their allies, and that was a positive, but there
Cold War by the Numbers
was also a great deal of tension between the Soviet Union and the satellite states of Eastern Europe—several of which had been crushed by Soviet arms at one time or another for trying to reform or liberalize their societies. A Polish or Czech soldier had little reason to fight hard for a Soviet-dominated Europe, even if his officers stayed loyal. Dissent among the subject populations, especially the Poles, however, was a serious threat to Soviet supply lines running to the front though Warsaw to Berlin But the United States had its own political issue: France. No longer in NATO, and wielding its own nuclear arsenal— the force de frappe (“strike force”)—the French had gone their own way since the 1960s. It is difficult to imagine them staying out of a NATO–Warsaw Pact conflict, but their unusual status lent an aura of uncertainty to NATO planning. Moreover, NATO was an alliance of very different military organizations. There was a huge gap between the big three (the U.S. Army, the British Army of the Rhine and the West German Bundeswehr) and the smaller partners (the Dutch army, which was actually unionized; the Belgians, weak and underfunded; and the Greeks and Turks, whose own rivalry was a real bar to joint planning on NATO’s southern flank).
Tactical Aircraft
3,000
7,000
U.S.
SOVIET
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE/NATIONAL ARCHIVES; TECH SGT. ROBERT WICKLEY/DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (2); LEIF SKOOGFORS/CORBIS
CLOCKWISE, FROM LEFT: Two U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcats usher a Soviet Tu-95 Tupolev bomber away from USS Kitty Hawk in 1981. NATO troops train in chemical warfare gear. The Warsaw Pact had a huge numerical edge in tanks, such as these T-72s.
AMERICAN TANKS were a common sight in West Germany as they took part in Cold War defensive exercises.
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umbers, quality and politics aside, the real issue for NATO was the map (see PP. 38–39) and the operational situation it generated. A Warsaw Pact invasion of West Germany would find vast numerical superiority at the point of contact. The five Soviet armies within the GSFG (2nd Guards Tank, 3rd Shock and 8th Guards armies in the first “echelon,” 20th Guards and 1st Guards Tank armies in the second) formed the spearhead of the assault, assisted by the East German National People’s Army (the 3rd and 5th). The size of this force allowed the Soviets to choose from a number of attractive options. The first and most obvious was a drive across the north German plain. Here was the flattest tank country, the most direct route to the Rhine and the best hope for a rapid Warsaw Pact victory. Defending it was NATO’s Northern Army Group (NORTHAG): the I Corps of the West German Bundeswehr, guarding the approaches to Hamburg, and the British I Corps, defending Hanover, with support from Belgian I Corps and Dutch I Corps. The United States was the backbone of NATO, but it had no main force units in this crucial region. The second likely avenue of approach was the Fulda Gap in central Germany, where West Germany’s relatively flat
Artillery 10,000 U.S.
30,000 SOVIET
Tanks 13,000 U.S.
north transitioned into its mountainous south. A Soviet thrust through Fulda posed a serious threat, as the gap led across West Germany’s narrow waist. Frankfurt was just over 60 miles from the border, and the Rhine a mere 25 miles beyond. Barring the way was NATO’s strongest force, the Central Army Group (CENTAG), comprising two U.S. corps flanked by two from West Germany (from north to south, III German Corps, V U.S., VII U.S. and II German). Defending the gap was the U.S. Army’s obsession for the entire Cold War period. Finally, there was the Hof Gap, on the border between East Germany and Czechoslovakia. West Germany’s II Corps had a huge operational responsibility, including the defense of most of Bavaria and the approaches to Munich. A Soviet drive here, perhaps even passing through neutral and weak Austria, could catch NATO napping. Think of the Hof Gap as an “Ardennes gambit” in the style of Germany’s success of 1940, passing an armored force through forested terrain regarded as unsuitable for tanks. A great deal depended on how much of a gamble the Soviets were willing to take, and how well they blinded Western intelligence agencies beforehand. None of the three sectors was a bargain for NATO, but the alliances’ own strategy made things worse. A mobile
42,500 SOVIET
*Divisions
16
159
U.S.
SOVIET
FACED BY OVERWHELMING Warsaw Pact forces, NATO relied on medium-range nuclear missiles (ranges indicated here by the shaded lines) as a force multiplier.
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defense was the sensible posture to absorb the initial Soviet thrust by covering forces along the border and then giving ground slowly. When the Warsaw Pact’s momentum began to lag, NATO could go over to the counteroffensive. Unfortunately, mobile defense was a political nonstarter, since it meant abandoning much of West Germany. NATO instead publicly committed itself to a posture of forward defense. A forward defense, however, was vulnerable to penetration at one or more places, destruction of NATO forces at the border and a quick Soviet drive to the Rhine. The issue of timing was therefore critical to both sides. A rapid, surprise blow from a standing start, with frontline Soviet units launching out of their garrisons, was one of NATO’s constant worries. Caught with its aircraft on the ground and its communications and supply in a state of confusion, NATO could easily slide into panic, a wave of fear increased by the presence of so many U.S. civilian family members in West Germany. Survival depended on the reception of large reinforcements from the United States, but in the case of a “bolt-out-of-the-blue” war, those reinforcements would be very far away, indeed. But if a sudden blow afforded the Warsaw Pact surprise, it would also violate long-standing Soviet doctrine of having multiple echelons in place from the start. A surprise blow would also require the Warsaw Pact to fight a war of improvisation, a type in which NATO held the advantages—that is, if it survived the first blow.
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An attack after a long buildup, by contrast, would sacrifice surprise. Assuming both sides had fully mobilized, U.S. forces would already be in place in Europe. An extended prewar crisis might force the French to opt into the conflict before shooting started, a plus for NATO. A “long-fuse” scenario also would mean a fully mobilized Warsaw Pact, however, with its rear echelons already at the starting gate, and thus an immeasurably more destructive conflict. In between these two poles of timing lay many potential scenarios. The most likely was a Warsaw Pact invasion launched by units already on maneuvers near the inner German border, or as part of the GSFG’s semiannual rotation of troops in November or May. A “maneuvers scenario” guaranteed local surprise for the pact and a favorable balance of forces, and NATO would probably walk into its share of walls as it desperately tried to shift from peace to war. The list of what-ifs was nearly endless. Consider the possibilities for a more limited war. What might happen, for example, if Warsaw Pact marine and airborne forces launched an operation against the Danish island of Bornholm? Denmark was a founding member of NATO and one of the weakest militarily. The seizure of Bornholm would not be so much a physical threat as a moral one, a test of just how strong the U.S. commitment to Europe really was. American inaction, perhaps stimulated by WORLD WAR III FOR BORNHOLM? headlines in major U.S. dailies, would have meant the death of
LEFT: AKG-IMAGES/VYASHESLAV RUNOV/RIA NOVOSTI; RIGHT: HULTON-DEUTSCH COLLECTION/CORBIS
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NATO Medium-Range Nuclear Weapons Coverage
manders demanded authorization from the president to use tactical nuclear weapons. Once the first nuke entered play, however, all bets were off as to their limitations, and the course of the conflict from that point on—not to mention the future of the human race—can only be described as uncertain. And the winner would have been…?
T THE COLD WAR’S END saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie, though a resurgent Russia seems intent on re-creating the Soviet empire.
NATO. The same dynamic was true for a “Hamburg grab,” a sudden Warsaw Pact seizure of a single West German city, would NATO dare then to respond to the fait accompli. Would any U.S. president actually launch a thermonuclear war and risk national and global annihilation for Hamburg? Failure to do so meant Soviet domination of Western Europe. In the end, two factors stand out as crucial to the outcome of World War III. First, NATO knew it could not expect to hold a Warsaw Pact offensive without the arrival of heavy U.S. reinforcements crossing the Atlantic. It never expected to do so and indeed was not designed to do so. The arrival (or nonarrival) of U.S. divisions was therefore crucial. Just as in World War II, this war would have had its own Battle of the Atlantic, waged on the sea, under the sea and in the air. The Soviets realized the importance of sea-lanes, and by the late 1970s, under the leadership of Admiral Sergey Gorshkov, they had built a vast blue-water navy to challenge U.S. naval dominance. The United States saw the danger and in the 1980s rebuilt and expanded its own fleet under Secretary of the Navy John Lehman. The second factor was nuclear weapons, which despite mountains of studies from every conceivable angle remained absolutely unpredictable. Soviet doctrine, at least in published form, accepted their use from the outset of the fighting. After all, no one in a fight holds back his most powerful weapon when victory or defeat is in the balance. As one Soviet insider wrote, “It is stupid to start a fistfight if your opponent may use a knife. It is just as stupid to attack him with a knife if he may use an ax.” American planners took a different view, seeing a war that began with conventional weapons and then at some point “went nuclear.” A likely scenario was a battlefield defeat so bad that U.S. field com-
he answer would depend on when the war broke out and how ready NATO forces were by that date. An assault by a Soviet tank army would have been shock warfare at its most intense, and only steely nerved and well-drilled defenders could have opposed it. A war in the 1950s, with NATO little more than a tripwire, offered real possibilities for a U.S. policy of “massive retaliation” and thus nuclear Armageddon. A surprise blow in the 1970s against a U.S. Army in its post-Vietnam hollow years might well have worked, and once again might have confronted the United States with a choice of going nuclear or losing. But a war in the 1980s against a U.S. force bulked up with M1 tanks, M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and a dominant Air Force almost certainly would have meant defeat for the Soviets. While the Warsaw Pact is history, NATO still matters. Over the past year the Russians have thrown off the doldrums resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Under President Vladimir Putin they are reaching out for those lands that broke away in the post-Soviet era—Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, the Baltic republics and perhaps even beyond. U.S. policy in this period, a “strategic rebalancing” to Asia and the Pacific and hyping China as a potential adversary, has come at the worst possible time. Indeed, it has only seemed to embolden Putin. Today, as in 1939, the key to peace may well be Poland. The country was once a vital member of the Soviet alliance and must be eyeing the events in Crimea and Ukraine with high anxiety. Today it is a member of NATO, and Article 5 of the NATO compact is clear: An attack or threat against one member state is an attack on them all. With peace once again standing on the razor’s edge, it may be time for the Pentagon to start dusting off those old REFORGER plans and thinking, once again, of the “next war” in Europe. MH Rob Citino writes a regular column (Fire for Effect) for World War II magazine and is a visiting faculty member at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. For further reading he suggests The Third World War: The Untold Story, by General Sir John Hackett; Red Storm Rising, by Tom Clancy; and Team Yankee: A Novel of World War III, by Harold Coyle.
The NATO compact is clear: An attack or threat against one member state is an attack on them all
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An iconic symbol of imperial Roman power, the legionary’s bronze helmet was modeled after Celtic designs and intended to deflect the Celtic onslaught.
ISRAEL MUSEUM, JERUSALEM/ERICH LESSING/ART RESOURCE, NEW YORK
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EMPIRE TRIBE For five centuries the Roman and Celtic armies and cultures clashed, pitting the most highly organized state of the ancient world against fierce individualists By O’Brien Browne
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he Celtic people comprised hundreds of tribes, some as small as 20,000 members and others boasting more than a quarter-million men, women and children. There wasn’t a uniform Celtic nation or state; what linked them was their Indo-European language, ethnicity and certain shared cultural characteristics and artistic styles. The Greeks called these diverse people the Keltoi, which is perhaps how the Celts referred to themselves. Probably due to population pressures and a desire for independence, the Celts were great migrators; the areas they inhabited stretched from Ireland and Scotland into Spain and France and farther east into parts of Germany, northern Italy, Greece, Eastern Europe and Turkey. Celtic social structure radiated outward from the family to the extended family, clan, tribe and tribal alliances. “In Gaul,” Julius Caesar wrote in his Commentaries on the Gallic War, “there are factions, not only in every state and every village and district but practically in each individual household as well.” The Celts were talented farmers, skilled craftsmen and superb artisans, especially in metalwork and gold. Although Roman chroniclers often characterized them as brutish and primitive, the Celts constructed towns, roads and powerful hill forts. They mined salt and controlled the lucrative trade that resulted. They were masters at ironwork when the Romans were still using bronze. Celtic women enjoyed broad rights and status, some becoming military commanders, others queens. The Celts did not own slaves in any great numbers but readily sold captured enemies to the slaveholding Romans. The Celts’ greatest shortcoming was that they left virtually no written records. Thus we are forced to rely on accounts from such Roman writers as Strabo, Caesar, Polybius and others who were predictably biased and oftentimes misinterpreted Celtic ways. Thanks to these Roman chroniclers, though, we have a somewhat accurate contemporary picture of the Celts. Caesar, who fought the Celts for eight years in Gaul, noted there were “two types of men of distinction…the first is made up of the druids, and the other of the knights.” The druids were the intellectual and spiritual elite of Celtic society and served an apprenticeship of up to 20 years, becoming experts in philosophy and history and passing down knowledge and wisdom through oral traditions. Intimately in tune with the rhythms of nature, the druids held their ceremonies in oak groves. “Young men flock to them in large numbers to gain instruction,” Caesar wrote, “and they hold the druids in great esteem. For they decide almost all disputes, both public and private.” The druids also presided over animal and human sacrifices.
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ar horns brayed eerily, swords thudded against shields with a dull menace, and a jeering, terrifying howl went up from the roughly 12,000 Celtic warriors arrayed along the Allia River less than a dozen miles north of Rome. Their oblong shields were painted in reds, greens and other bright colors and decorated with boars, dragons and various designs. Facing them were approximately 24,000 Roman troops, the sun glinting off their bronze helmets and spear tips as they locked shields and braced for an attack. A lone Celt stepped from the line, sword held high. He yelled for a Roman champion to duel with him and sneered when none accepted. He then let out a piercing war cry, and the Celts surged forward, hurling their javelins before crashing into the Roman line. It was July 18, 390 BC, and the Celts and Romans were rushing headlong into a confrontation that would span several centuries. The seasoned Roman army, most likely in a tightly packed phalanx formation, was unprepared for the might and fury of the Celtic charge. Physically bigger than the Romans, the Celts wielded long double-edged iron swords for slashing and sheltered behind body-length shields fitted with pointed metal bosses, which they punched into the enemy. Many wore chain mail. Led by the warrior chieftain Brennus, the Celts hacked through their opponents, driving them toward the river, decimating the Roman center and sending the survivors fleeing for Rome. Within days the victorious Celts entered, burned and pillaged the capital. The Celtic army occupied Rome for seven months until paid 1,000 pounds in gold to leave. According to legend, when a Roman tribune complained that the Celts’ scales were rigged, Brennus threw his sword and belt atop the counterweights, thus increasing the Roman ransom, and thundered, “Vae victis!” (“Woe to the vanquished!”). Brennus’ taunt, wrote the classical historian Livy, was “intolerable to Roman ears,” and thereafter the Romans harbored a bitter hatred of the Celts, whom they called Gauls. The Romans ultimately enclosed their capital within a massive wall to protect it from future “barbarian” raids. The dramatic encounter along the Allia was among the first between two great European peoples who over the next five centuries or so would clash and interact in a complex intercultural weave of warfare, alliances and trade. Their interaction marked a collision of differing political systems—that of free-ranging tribes versus a highly regimented state bent on territorial and economic aggrandizement—and proved a mighty contest between the Celtic and Mediterranean ways of life. Ultimately, both civilizations would contribute significantly to the formation of the modern European identity.
WOE TO THE VANQUISHED This 19th century woodcut depicts Brennus’ legendary taunt after the Celts’ 390 BC capture of Rome —an event that kicked off more than five centuries of complex interactions between the cultures.
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By “knights” Caesar was referring to the fighting class in what was an honor-based warrior society. “The whole race,” Strabo noted, “is madly fond of war, high-spirited and quick to battle but otherwise straightforward and not of evil character.” They excelled in raiding other tribes for revenge and rustling horses and cattle. Warfare was low intensity and conducted more for ritualized displays of individual prowess, skill and courage than to destroy or subjugate an enemy. Indeed, a specialized warrior society, the Gaesatae, fought naked except for arms and a shield. These elite troops had, Polybius wrote, “proud confidence in themselves” and seemingly fought in a state of divine power and purity. Sometimes warring tribes would square off only for the contest to be decided by two opposing champions who fought to the death, with the losing side retreating from the field. Celts were fond of boasting about their deeds and, according to Strabo, had a “love of decoration. They wear ornaments of gold, torques on their necks and bracelets on their arms and wrists, while people of high rank wear dyed garments besprinkled with gold.” After battle they held a grand feast of roasted boar with much drinking of beer and wine while highly respected bards sang of heroic deeds.
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he Celtic warrior was armed with a long, straight sword, a large shield, two spears— one for thrusting, one for throwing—and a dagger. Some used slings, clubs and bows. The wealthy rode on horseback and cloaked themselves in chain mail of their own invention. In Britain they fought from two-horse chariots. They wore well-crafted and practical bronze or iron helmets, often fitted with a neck guard, and they usually dressed in colorful clothing fastened by intricate brooches of gold or silver. In Britain they painted their bodies with woad, a flowering plant that yields a dark blue dye. The Celts were fierce, clever and brave in combat. During the 225 BC Battle of Telamon, Polybius’ history records, the Gaesatae occupied the leading rank, while other Celts formed according to family, tribe and clan. “[The Romans] were terrified by the fine order of the Celtic host and the dreadful din, for there were numerous trumpeters and horn blowers, and the whole army was shouting its war cries at the same time.…No less terrifying were the appearance and gestures of the naked warriors in front, all of whom were finely built men in the prime of life, and all in the leading companies richly
IMAGE FROM WARRIOR #30 CELTIC WARRIOR 300 BC-AD 100, BY STEPHEN ALLEN AND WAYNE REYNOLDS, © OSPREY PUBLISHING, LTD
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NAKED AND UNAFRAID Members of the Gaesatae, a supremely self-confident Celtic warrior society, fought naked except for weapons and shields. Despite their fierce reputation, they lost to the Romans at the 225 BC Battle of Telamon.
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about 4,200 in the imperial era. During the reign of Emperor Augustus (27 BC–AD 14) the army boasted 30 legions and roughly 165,000 men. Additionally, the Romans had an estimated pool of 6 to 7 million men from which to fill their ranks. The army was among the most powerful and influential sectors of the Roman state. Ambitious men seeking political office and wealth were eager to serve in order to conquer foreign lands and capture booty—which they shared among their men to ensure loyalty—and to amass their own fortunes and prestige. But while generals held tactical command, the politicians in the capital kept them in check. The Roman army was well trained and in a constant state of reform. After their humiliating encounter with Brennus, the Romans adopted Celtic chain mail, fashioned body-length rectangular shields, modeled their helmets after Celtic designs and, researchers have argued, abandoned the rigid phalanx in favor of the more flexible manipular legion, in which troops subdivided into blocks, or “centuries,” of men arrayed in a widely spaced checkerboard pattern. This provided the units both protection and greater freedom of movement. The Romans marched into battle in disciplined ranks and files. Backing and flanking the centuries were archers and artillery, while slingers and skirmishers sallied forward to harass the enemy. Cavalry was employed to strike at a foe’s flanks and rear, while other troops were held in reserve. A commander could observe and control troop movements from behind the lines, dispatching orders to his officers. This was not an army of individual heroes hungry for glory but one of cohesion, N
adorned with gold torques and armlets.” The Celts placed chariots and war wagons on the flanks, while infantrymen gathered around their standards of sacred animals and deities. Drawn up in a colorful line, the Celts would noisily approach the enemy, convinced of their superiority, bolstered by belief in an afterlife, eager to display their courage, and pleased to be fighting alongside family members and clansmen. Greek historian Diodorus Siculus recorded that often a lone warrior would “advance before the battle line to challenge the bravest of their opponents to single combat.” After this opening bout the Celts closed on their foe, throwing javelins and other missiles while parrying those hurled at them with their shields and swords. Finally, they rushed the enemy, using swords to shear faces and limbs, spears to thrust and shields to repulse opponents. This first fierce onslaught was intended to break a foe’s line and instill panic in his ranks. In the wake of battle the Celts often beheaded enemy corpses and displayed their grisly trophies, for they believed the captured soul resided in the head. After looting the enemy dead, collecting their own wounded and burying their fallen, the Celts would throw their feast of roasted meat, wine and beer and boast of their martial prowess. The warriors would then return home or perhaps sack the enemy’s town. There was little thought of occupying land or establishing formal borders. Conversely, city building was something at which the Romans excelled. By the time of the Battle of the Allia, Rome had grown from an insignificant village on the Tiber River into a regional power, its citizens having defeating the Etruscans and other Latin peoples in a long series of wars. In stark contrast to Celtic hill forts and villages, Rome was a magnificent metropolis of marble temples, paved avenues and arcaded marketplaces. An elected senate and two councils ruled, and it had a vigorous entrepreneurial class and a high standard of living. Thousands of slaves served Roman needs; yet Roman women lived more housebound and constricted lives than their Celtic counterparts. The Romans were proud of their achievements and gazed outward, seeking riches and glory beyond their borders. Thus the Celtic sack of Rome deeply shocked the young republic, leaving a lasting scar on the national psyche. Forever after July 18 was a day of ill omen. The Romans had a professional army, manned by citizens who served up to 16 years and were rewarded with land and honors upon retirement. It was highly structured, with an officer corps, engineers, medics, auxiliaries, artillery and other specialized troops. The army’s basic unit was the legion, which in the early republic comprised some 3,000 men, increasing to
Alesia Telamon Rome
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ecause of the freewheeling Celtic tendency to migrate to new lands, and the relentless surge of Roman expansion beyond the Italian peninsula, driven by economic and political factors, the civilizations’ were fated to encounter each other repeatedly—both on the battlefield and in the marketplace. Roman and Celtic businessmen engaged in a lively exchange of goods that included wine, tin, lead, silver, gold, salt and fine Mediterranean pottery. “All Gaul,” Roman philosopher and politician Cicero observed, “is filled with traders—is full of Roman citizens.” Some Celtic tribes formed alliances with Rome and fought in her armies; still others joined forces with Rome’s enemies. Other tribes became enamored of the Roman way of life—the prosperous cities and farms, the well-developed
MILITARY HISTORY
infrastructure and stable government—and became Romanized. Roman writers and artists idealized the Celts as “noble savages,” while many of the Celtic elite adopted the manners and style of the Roman aristocracy. Both cultures worshiped a pantheon of essentially similar gods, although Romans abhorred the Celtic practice of human sacrifice. For ambitious Romans the prospect of the Celts’ fertile lands and rich gold and salt mines proved irresistible. They manipulated public dread of the “Gallic terror” to gain victories and territory for Rome while furthering their own careers. And thus the wars continued, especially those conceived by Caesar. By the time of the great general’s decade-long conquest of Gaul (present-day France), culminating in the 52 BC Battle of Alesia, the Celts faced pressure from two other expansionist powers—the Germanic tribes to the north and Dacians to the east. As the Celtic tribes contracted westward, Caesar seized the opportunity to enhance his prestige and fortify his power base in Rome, while protecting and extending Roman economic interests in Gaul and allaying deep-seated Roman fears of “primitive” Celts bent upon destroying their civilization. Caesar opened his conquest with an attack on the dominant Helvetii tribal confederation. In a series of brilliant campaigns he soon subdued the Gallic Celts and even briefly invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC. Caesar came away boasting spectacular military successes to the people of Rome and portraying himself as their protector, even as most Celts simply wanted to be left alone, likely fearing the Germans more than the Romans. But the fiery Celts complicated Caesar’s ambitious plans by continually revolting against Roman rule. Ultimately, a charismatic Celtic warlord named Vercingetorix, of the Arverni, united the Gallic tribes in resistance to the Romans. After a series of marches and engagements against Caesar, Vercingetorix’s forces retreated to a hill camp at Alesia (present-day central France), where they awaited the arrival of 8,000 cavalry and 240,000 infantry from allied tribes. Caesar’s forces comprised some 60,000 troops. Undaunted, Caesar constructed two fortified walls— an inner one encircling Alesia, and an outer wall protecting his army from the Celtic relief force. This circumvallation enabled Caesar to seal off the hill camp and subdue the arriving Celts in detail. Witnessing the defeat of his relief force, Vercingetorix surrendered his forces to Caesar and was carted off to Rome for later ritual execution. Caesar had won his war, but at a terrible price. “Of an estimated population of 6 to 7 million,” Celtic scholar Barry Cunliffe calculates, “about 1 million had been killed and
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precision and massive striking power. It was an offensive army taught to fight with great brutality, to destroy enemy forces and remove them as a threat, and to subjugate and ultimately assimilate their foes to expand the frontiers of Rome. It was the motive force behind the establishment of colonies from Britain to North Africa to Turkey. Over time a legionary’s gear evolved from pre-hoplite to hoplite to manipular. Shield and helmet shape varied, as did body armor, but the two key weapons remained essentially the same. The primary weapon was the gladius, a short, heavy double-edged stabbing sword—“a descendant of the weapon of the Spanish Celts,” according to one weapons expert. The other was the pilum, a javelin with a needle-sharp point and thin iron shaft for maximum penetration. On his back the legionary carried a rucksack full of provisions, personal items and entrenching tools. The legions embarked on long campaigns of conquest not just raids for honor and vengeance. When confronting the Celts, the Roman army approached in three ranks. Archers and artillery, slingers and skirmishers would strike the foe with a variety of projectiles, then the first ranks would throw their pila, aiming to kill, or at least to impale Celtic shields, making them unwieldy. With their swords drawn and shields locked in a solid wall, the Romans advanced or met the Celtic charge. While the Celts raised their long swords to strike downward, the Roman soldiers ducked behind their shields and stabbed at the enemy’s exposed abdomen, groin or legs. If a Celt went down, the Romans ruthlessly and quickly dispatched him. Meanwhile, the Roman cavalry attacked the enemy’s vulnerable flanks and slaughtered those attempting to flee.
AKG-IMAGES/PETER CONNOLLY
BURYING THE DEAD Ritual funerals for Celtic warriors became all too common as Rome expanded its empire, but the Celtic traditions hang on in such strongholds as Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
another million sold into slavery. Among the remainder hardly a family would have been left unscarred. The resentment must have been deep and bitter.” “What the [Romans] call ‘empire,’” contemporary Celtic chieftain Calgacus observed, “is theft and butchery; and what they call ‘peace’ is the silence of death.” The last Celtic stronghold lay in the British Isles. The Celts there had been on good terms with the Romans since Caesar’s invasion, importing wine and exporting corn, hides and slaves to Rome. But in AD 43 Emperor Claudius, for a variety of economic, political and self-aggrandizing reasons, invaded Britain. He faced bitter resistance from the Celtic tribes. In 60 Celtic Queen Boudicca, of the Iceni, led a revolt against Roman rule, in part spurred by a Roman attack on an important Druid sanctuary on Anglesey. Boudicca’s forces wiped out several Roman settlements and troops before being crushed, with an estimated 80,000 killed. Imperial Roman power now extended to the Scottish border, where the 73-mile-long Hadrian’s Wall, begun in 122, partitioned the Roman and Celtic worlds, ending centuries of cross-cultural conflict.
Fierce and proud warriors, the Celts gradually succumbed to the Romans’ superior organizational skills and singleminded will to expand their empire. Ultimately, however, it was the Germanic tribes and a mystery religion from the east —Christianity—that transformed the Roman and Celtic ways forever. The Celts had made valuable contributions to Roman culture in warfare, technology and language, while the Romans had shared their material gifts, operational talents and politicalurban lifestyle with the Celts. Both civilizations form the core of modern Europe. Yet the grandeur that was Rome survives only in crumbling marble ruins and a few magnificent texts. The Celtic way, however, thrives in the strongholds of Brittany, Galicia, Scotland, Cornwall, Wales and Ireland, as well as in a vigorous Celtic revival throughout Europe and North America. In the end it seems tribe has triumphed over empire. MH O’Brien Browne is a contributing editor of Military History Quarterly. For further reading he suggests The Ancient Celts, by Barry Cunliffe; Roman Warfare, by Adrian Goldsworthy; and Romans and Barbarians, by Derek Williams.
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At Bletchley Park, northwest of London, two Wrens—members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service—attend to Colossus in 1942. The machine was the first electronic digital computer and was used to break the Nazis’ Lorenz cipher. PICTORIAL PRESS LTD/ALAMY
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AK ERS WORLD WAR II SAW AN EXPLOSION IN CIPHER MACHINE TECHNOLOGY THAT CALLED FOR EVEN MORE SOPHISTICATED CODE-BREAKING MEASURES BY SARAH R. COKELEY 53
Despite advancements in communication, British soldiers in August 1940 release a carrier pigeon, a reliable way to send coded messages in areas where radio contact wasn’t feasible.
Designed by British cryptanalyst Alan Turing and team at Bletchley Park, the Bombe was used to determine Enigma rotor settings, which the Germans changed daily. By 1940 the Allies were able to freely decipher Enigma codes.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS, H 3054; BLETCHLEY PARK TRUST/SCIENCE AND SOCIETY PICTURE LIBRARY/THE IMAGE WORKS; PRIVATE COLLECTION/PRISMATIC PICTURES/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES; HANS REINHART/BETTMANN/CORBIS; U.S. AIR FORCE MUSEUM (2)
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ince ancient times cryptography— the enciphering and deciphering of coded messages—has played a role in warfare. Among the earliest recorded codes was the Caesar cipher, named for an encryption method used by Julius Caesar during the Gallic Wars, which substituted one letter of a message for another by shifting the alphabet a set number of spaces. Surprisingly, even that took centuries to decode. From then on each new system of encryption required more sophisticated techniques and technologies to break it. During World War II the German Enigma machine, invented by engineer Arthur Scherbins in the interwar years, posed a significant challenge to Allied cryptanalysts. It centered on three to eight mechanical rotors—each fitted with a string of letters—and an electrical circuit that would turn the rotors. Each time an operator entered a letter of the original message into the machine, a rotor would spin, creating an entirely new cipher for the next typed letter. The Germans considered the system unbreakable, and while the Polish Cipher Bureau first cracked Enigma ciphers in 1932, by the start of World War II the Nazis were changing the rotor settings every day. Britain’s Government Code and Cipher School (GC&CS), headquartered at Bletchley Park near London, worked full-time on intercepting and reading German encrypted messages using intelligence provided by the Poles. In 1939 GC&CS cryptanalyst Alan Turing and his team designed the Bombe, an electromechanical device used to determine the Nazis’ daily rotor settings. By 1940 Bletchley Park had unraveled the Enigma cipher and was able to freely read German army and navy message traffic. The intelligence garnered from the decrypted transmissions—code-named Ultra—was of decisive importance to the ultimate Allied victory. Enigma was certainly not the only method of encrypting messages during World War II. Germany adopted increasingly capable versions of the Lorenz cipher machine, Japan used a variety of systems—including a machine codenamed Purple by the Allies—and the United States employed American Indian code talkers to thwart enemy cryptanalysts from deciphering intercepted radio traffic. And the British—groundbreakers when it came to deciphering codes—developed Colossus, the first programmable electronic digital computer, to crack the Lorenz cipher. MH
Turing, below, a lead cryptanalyst for Britain’s Government Code and Cipher School, was largely responsible for breaking the Germans’ Enigma code. Tommy Flowers, an engineer at Bletchley Park, later consulted Turing’s code-breaking methodology to design Colossus, left.
A deciphered German Army Group Kurland message, left, originally encoded using the Enigma machine in 1945, still needs to undergo translation and further analysis to determine its military importance. Above, a woman works to decode the Playfair cipher, a complex encryption technique that encodes pairs of letters instead of single letters. The Allies used the code from the Second Boer War through World War II.
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The United States used several types of cipher machines during World War II. The SIGABA, left, employed a similar encryption method as the German Enigma but further randomized rotor movement, making code more difficult to break. The portable M-209-B, above, could encipher, decipher and print out readable messages on paper tape.
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: U.S. AIR FORCE MUSEUM; NATIONAL ARCHIVES; NATIONAL CRYPTOLOGIC MUSEUM; BETTMANN/CORBIS; J. WILDS/KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES; U.S. MARINE CORPS; ATLAS ARCHIVE/THE IMAGE WORKS; IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS, COM 922; U.S. AIR FORCE MUSEUM
The Luftwaffe used this early model of the Enigma machine, below, with just three rotors; later models had as many as eight rotors. Members of a German army signal company, right, use an Enigma in the field.
Though Japan destroyed almost all of its Purple cipher machines at war’s end, the Allies managed to recover the central components of one machine, below, from the Japanese embassy in Berlin. Women played a key role in code-breaking activities. Right, U.S. Marine Sergeant Norma Lindsay adjusts a cylindrical coding device. Middle right, these four cipher and switchboard operators from the British Auxiliary Territorial Service worked for the headquarters of the First Allied Airborne Army late in the war.
The U.S. Army Signals Intelligence Service broke the Japanese Purple cipher in 1940. The Allies referred to any intelligence gleaned from deciphered Japanese messages, left, by the code name “Magic.” The U.S. Marines enlisted Navajo-speaking American Indians, above, to relay tactically sensitive messages. Their native language proved an effective code, as it was obscure and indecipherable by the Japanese.
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WESTERN HISTORY/GENEALOGY DEPARTMENT, DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY; BACKGROUND: ADAM FAHEY DESIGNS/ISTOCKPHOTO
HILIPPINES In 1901 Brigadier General Frederick Funston masterminded a ‘desperate undertaking’ to quash the guerrilla insurrection that flared up after the Spanish-American War By Chuck Lyons
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n the spring of 1901 Frederick Funston, a young and bold brigadier general of volunteers, approached U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Arthur MacArthur Jr., military governor of the recently occupied Philippines, with an audacious plan. The 35-year-old Funston proposed a covert expedition to the interior of Luzon to penetrate the guerrilla hideout of Emilio Aguinaldo, commander of Filipino resistance to the American acquisition of the islands following the Spanish-American War. His plan called for 81 loyal Macabebe scouts on Luzon to disguise themselves as insurgents and escort several U.S. officers—Funston included—posing as their prisoners. The ruse, he proposed, would allow the group to closely approach and capture Aguinaldo. Funston was not new to the conflict the U.S. government referred to as the Philippine Insurrection; indeed, he had received a Medal of Honor two years earlier while leading the 20th Kansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment as a colonel on Luzon. He was certain his plan would succeed, and he worked to convince his skeptical superior. Though MacArthur considered the proposed expedition “a desperate undertaking” and told the younger officer on parting, “I fear that I shall never see you again,” he approved what Funston called his “stratagem.” Thus on March 6, 1901, the gunboat USS Vicksburg sailed out of Manila Bay with Funston and his “guerrillas” aboard.
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unston was born Sept. 11, 1865, in New Carlisle, Ohio, to Edward H. Funston, a Union lieutenant in the Civil War, and Ann (née Mitchell) Funston. In 1867 the family moved to Kansas, where Edward would serve in both the state Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives. Frederick grew into a slight teen with a wandering spirit. In 1884 he failed the admission test to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. He attended the University of Kansas from 1885 to 1888 but did not graduate. Landing a position as a botanical agent for the Department of Agriculture in 1891, Funston undertook expeditions to California’s Death Valley, the Colorado Rockies and Alaska’s Yukon River basin, collecting specimens and filing dispatches to popular magazines about his adventures. His restless nature next led him to reporting gigs and work on the Santa Fe Railroad. In 1896, inflamed by a speech by Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles —the Civil War veteran and former U.S. minister to Spain —vilifying Spain for its repression of the Cuban people, Funston joined the Cuban Revolutionary Army. For the next 18 months he served with distinction in combat and ultimately attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. In early 1898 the 5-foot-4-inch, 120-pound expat officer contracted malaria, and his weight dropped to an alarming 90 pounds. Given leave to return stateside, Funston had almost recovered from his illness when the Spanish-American War broke out. Knowing of the young officer’s recent service in Cuba, Governor John W. Leedy promptly appointed him a colonel of the 20th Kansas Volunteer Infantry. But as Funston was training with his men in San Francisco, Spain
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sued for peace, so the Army instead sent the Kansans to the Philippines to counter a brewing insurgency. In the wake of Spain’s defeat the Filipino people had welcomed U.S. troops as liberators and had expected Washington would grant the Philippines independence. When the United States instead moved to annex the islands, large segments of the population rebelled. Aguinaldo, the self-proclaimed president of the Philippine Republic who had led the resistance against the Spanish, led the insurgency against the Americans. On Feb. 4, 1899, two days before the U.S. Senate ratified the annexation, hostilities broke out when insurgents exchanged fire with American sentries guarding a bridge in Manila. Colonel Funston and his unit were soon in the thick of the fighting on Luzon. During the Battle of Calumpit in late April he led a squad across a partially destroyed bridge over the Chico River and then swam the rest of the river under a hailstorm of gunfire to drive out the entrenched guerrillas. Three days later on the Pampanga River he crossed the river by raft, again under heavy fire, knocked out a Maxim gun that was pinning down the Americans and routed the rebels. Funston, who had been wounded in the hand, earned promotion to brigadier general of volunteers and received a Medal of Honor for his actions. By spring 1900 he was commanding the 4th District, Department of Northern Luzon, where he battled the insurgents by destroying their supplies, developing an effective intelligence network and, when needed, employing even harsher methods. Gradually his tactics reduced the rebels’ strength and transformed the heavy fighting of the insurgency’s early days into a smaller, simmering guerrilla war.
U.S. ARMY/NATIONAL ARCHIVES (3)
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n February 1901 Funston learned of the capture of rebels carrying dispatches from the elusive Aguinaldo. The dispatches were in code, but signatures on the documents appeared to be in the rebel leader’s handwriting. Leading the group of captured insurgents was Cecilio Segismundo, who was persuaded—the nature of the persuasion is unclear—to reveal information that the rebel leader, a few of his officers and a guard of about 50 men were holed up in the mountain stronghold of Palanan. Segismundo also told Funston that scouts carefully watched the trail to the hideout and would immediately inform Aguinaldo of any attempt to approach Palanan. Once deciphered, the captured documents seemed to support Segismundo’s assertions. Since a direct assault was obviously out of the question, Funston settled on an alternate plan—the “desperate undertaking” he presented to MacArthur. He was taking an awful risk, too, as joining the Macabebes and posing as leaders of the “rebel” group were a handful of actual insurgents, including Segismundo himself, a rebel officer named Hilario Tal Placido and former Spanish secret service officer Lázaro Segovia. A word by any of them would doom the mission. After procuring insurgent uniforms, captured enemy rifles and sufficient ammunition, the company set off. Eight days after leaving Manila Bay Vicksburg, its lights screened, arrived at Casiguran Bay in rebel-infested northern Luzon, more than 100 miles from Palanan. Funston’s party went ashore in the ship’s boats under cover of darkness, and at 7 the following morning the men began their long approach march. Their arrival had been noticed, and when they entered the town of Casiguran a local band was waiting to welcome the “victorious” native troops. Townspeople gathered to gawk at the “prisoners,” the first Americans many of them had ever seen. “The whole situation was so ludicrous,” Funston later wrote, “that it was with difficulty we could keep from laughing, despite the peril of our position.” The group waited in Casiguran for two days to gather food for the trek to Palanan. Meanwhile, the Macabebes were enjoying the attentions of the local people and spreading the group’s cover story—that they had come upon a party of 10 Americans in the mountains and had killed two and wounded three of them. They had captured the remaining five and would present them to Aguinaldo. To pave the way for the expedition, intelligence experts had prepared letters of introduction on captured stationery over the forged signature of a rebel commander named Urbano Lucuna, from whose force the party was supposed to have come. The rebel commandant had these forged letters dispatched ahead to Palanan.
A BRUTAL WAR American troops, top, fire at the fleeing enemy during a skirmish on Luzon. Other insurgents, center, lay dead in a trench following an intense firefight. U.S. artillerymen, bottom, use a bamboo raft to move their gun across one of the Philippines’ many rivers.
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During the conversation Segovia subtly positioned himself by an open window to watch for his men. When the remainder of the Macabebes finally arrived, they fell in facing Aguinaldo’s guard across a small square. Segovia quickly stepped to the head of an outside stairway and signaled to Gregorio Cadhit, the man leading the Filipino raiders. “Now is the time, Macabebes!” Cadhit cried out. “Give it to them!” In a nervous state of excitement the men fired a ragged volley, killing two of the rebel guards and wounding a third, before easily subduing the survivors. Aguinaldo, mistakenly thinking his men were firing in celebration, stepped to the window and berated them for wasting their ammunition. At that moment Tal Placido grabbed Aguinaldo, threw him to the floor and pinned him as several rebel officers moved to draw their weapons. Segovia rushed back into the room, firing his pistol and wounding two of the seven men. One of the wounded and another man surrendered, but five jumped from the windows into the river. Meanwhile, Funston and his officers, hearing the shots, quickly crossed the river and rushed into the camp. As they arrived, a blood-spattered Segovia informed them Aguinaldo had been captured. Funston then entered the house, introduced himself and his officers to the rebel leader and— in the fluent Spanish he had learned while fighting in Cuba —told him that the recently arrived “guerrillas” were in fact American-allied Filipinos and that he was a prisoner. “Is this not some joke?” Aguinaldo replied in a daze. “I assured him that it was not,” Funston recalled, “though, as a matter of fact, it was a pretty bad one on him. While naturally agitated, his bearing was dignified, and in this moment of his fall there was nothing of the craven.” The American officers tended to the wounded men even as they struggled to reign in “the wildly excited Macabebes.” Funston had previously arranged that Vicksburg would meet the men in Palanan Bay on March 25 at a spot 8 to 10 miles from the town. The men arrived in Palanan a day early and spent the time resting after their march and eating food left by the since vanished villagers. On the morning of the 25th the group set out for the bay, reaching the beach about noon to the welcome sight of smoke from Vicksburg’s stack. Picked up by the ship’s boats, Funston’s men and their captives arrived at Vicksburg to repeated cheers from crewmen gathered along its rails. In three days they were back in Manila. A month after his capture Aguinaldo formally admitted defeat and issued a proclamation calling for his followers to lay down their arms. A year later, on July 4, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the insurrection over and proclaimed a general amnesty. The war had claimed 4,234 Amer-
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“The rain never ceased pouring,” Funston recalled, “and from the morning we left Casiguran [on March 17], we were drenched to the skin for a week. We waded more than 60 streams, some of them mere brooks, but others so deep and swift that we had to put our hands on each other’s shoulders and go in up to our armpits.” Before leaving Casiguran, Funston had received word that Aguinaldo had been reinforced with 400 well-armed men. That intelligence was later to prove false, but during the march it hung like another dark cloud over the wet and tired men. Nine miserable days later, after fighting their way through swamp and jungle, Funston and his “guerrillas” were within 10 miles of Palanan when they encountered an advance party sent out by Aguinaldo. The insurgents led the Macabebes to a beachside trailhead, where stood two crude shelters—one for the prisoners and the other for their guards. It was then Funston learned the story of Aguinaldo’s reinforcements had been rumor. But in a further complication, Aguinaldo had ordered the prisoners held where they were, while the “rebels” were to continue to PalaPalanan nan. Funston and his men discussed a LUZON plan in whispers before falling asleep. Funston’s I Route S The following morning the Macabebes resumed their march toward Casiguran Palanan. Meanwhile, by presenting anSan Isidro PHI LI PP IN other forged document, the prisoners convinced the rebels the order to hold Manila them had been rescinded, and they set out after the main group, keeping at a distance in case they encountered another advance party. About a mile from Palanan two insurgent officers did intercept the Macabebes and escorted NES them to the rain-swollen Palanan River 0 75 miles PHILIPPI within sight of town. On the riverbank 75 km was a small canoe-type banca locals had been using to cross the river. Segovia and Tal Placido crossed with a small group and went to meet Aguinaldo while the rest of the Macabebes worked their way across the river. The insurgents led the two men to Aguinaldo’s house. Entering his second-floor headquarters, they found the rebel chief in the company of seven officers. Just outside Aguinaldo’s 50 personal guards were forming to greet the newly arrived guerrillas. Segovia and Tal Placido faced a half-hour wait under Aguinaldo’s close scrutiny. They passed the time spinning yarns about the capture of their prisoners, for which they received congratulations from the gathered officers.
ican lives with another 2,818 wounded. The insurgents had incurred at least 16,000 casualties, while some 200,000 Filipino civilians had died, mostly from disease and starvation.
TOP TO BOTTOM: FREDERICK FUNSTON, MEMORIES OF TWO WARS: CUBAN AND PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES, LONDON: CONSTABLE & CO, 1912 (2); THE GRANGER COLLECTION, NEW YORK
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ews of Funston’s expedition and the capture of Aguinaldo was greeted in America with celebrations almost equaling those that had greeted the news of Commodore George Dewey’s victory over the Spanish fleet at Manila three years earlier. Funston was promoted to brigadier general of the Regular Army and received a telegram from Roosevelt congratulating him on “the crowning exploit of a career filled with cool courage, iron endurance and gallant daring.” Funston became a national hero. But in the months that followed some Americans objected to the devious manner in which the capture had been engineered. The Boston Post editorialized that “as the details have come to light, contempt and disgust have taken the place of admiration,” while writer Mark Twain sniped that Funston’s “conscience [had] leaked out through one of his pores when he was little.” Even the London Saturday Review weighed in, calling the capture of Aguinaldo “a gross act of treachery.” The furor eventually blew over, and Funston continued his Army career. As commander of the Presidio of San Francisco he again courted controversy during the 1906 earthquake and devastating fire. Though his efforts to create firebreaks saved much of the city, he also declared martial law, infamously ordering all looters be shot on sight. Funston was later promoted to major general—the highest rank in the Army at that time—commanded the Mexican border region at the time of Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus, N.M., directed Brig. Gen. John Pershing’s pursuit of Villa and in 1917 was expected to be named commander of the American Expeditionary Forces then being readied to join in World War I. Before the announcement came, however, on Feb. 19, 1917, Funston collapsed and died of a heart attack in San Antonio, Texas. He was 51. Command of the AEF fell to Pershing. In later years William Allen White, an American newspaperman and 1923 Pulitzer Prize winner who had known Funston at the University of Kansas, bemoaned the loss of “a man as dashing as Sheridan, as unique and picturesque as the slow-moving, taciturn Grant, as charming as Jackson, as witty as old Billy Sherman, [and] as brave as Paul Jones.” MH
A DARING RAID In most battles the Americans preferred direct assault, top, but the capture of Aguinaldo, center, was accomplished with guile. Despite his actions as a rebel, Aguinaldo, right, is still regarded as the republic’s first president.
Chuck Lyons is a retired newspaper editor and freelance writer who has written extensively on historical subjects. He is a frequent contributor to Military History. For further reading Lyons recommends Memories of Two Wars, by Frederick Funston, and Forgotten Heroes, by Susan Ware.
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In the lead-up to Christmas 1914 soldiers on either side of the Western Front no man’s land set aside fear and their weapons to exchange surreal holiday greetings By Peter Hart
British soldiers of the London Rifle Brigade (at rear) fraternize with German soldiers of the 104th and 106th Saxon regiments near Ploegsteert, Belgium, on Christmas Day 1914. IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS, Q 11745
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Experience of this and every other war proves undoubtedly that troops in trenches in close proximity to the enemy slide very easily, if permitted to do so, into a “live and let live” theory of life. Understandings—amounting almost to unofficial armistices—grow up between our troops and the enemy, with a view to making life easier. …The attitude of our troops can be readily understood and to a certain extent commands sympathy.…Such an attitude is, however, most dangerous, for it discourages initiative in commanders and destroys the offensive spirit
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in all ranks.…Friendly intercourse with the enemy, unofficial armistices…and the exchange of tobacco and other comforts, however tempting and occasionally amusing they may be, are absolutely prohibited. It is interesting to note the understanding tone taken in this order: This was not the knee-jerk reaction of high command of popular imagination.
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n December 24 there was a severe frost, and it began to snow in some places. As the water froze in the trenches around their feet, the troops seemed to have little or nothing to look forward to. Peacetime Christmas celebrations seemed a world away. Nevertheless, that day Leutnant Walther Stennes, of the German 16th Infantry Regiment, noticed a distinct change in the tempo of the war: On Christmas Eve at noon fire ceased completely. We had received mail from Germany.…When it became dusk, we opened the parcels and tried to be a little like at home— write letters. Of course it was unusual that the opposite side also ceased fire, because they always maintained sparse rifle fire. Then my officer controlling the sentries came in and asked, “Do you expect a surprise attack? Because it’s very unusual the situation.” I said, “No I don’t think so. But anyhow everybody’s awake, no one is sleeping, and the sentries are still on duty. So I think it’s alright.” The night passed, [and] not a single shot was fired. The British, too, were being inundated with letters and parcels containing presents from home. There was even a special gift, commissioned for every soldier, originating from Princess Mary—a tin containing tobacco, cigarettes or sweets, among other ephemera, that would be issued on Christmas Day to troops in the field. All told there was a strange atmosphere—an awareness something was in the air. The question was, what? Perhaps a gesture of friendship, but equally possible was a sudden deadly attack to capitalize on the kind of lethargy identified by Smith-Dorrien. As they pondered, strange sights and sounds emanated from the German trenches, as Private William Quinton, of the 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment, noted: Something in the direction of the German lines caused us to rub our eyes and look again. Here and there, showing just above their parapet, we could see very faintly what looked like very small colored lights.…We were very suspicious and were discussing this strange move of the enemy, when something even stranger happened. The
REPRINTED FROM FIRE AND MOVEMENT: THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE AND THE CAMPAIGN OF 1914, BY PETER HART, WITH PERMISSION FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS USA. COPYRIGHT © 2015 PETER HART AND PUBLISHED BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS USA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ANGUS MCBRIDE/PRIVATE COLLECTION/LOOK AND LEARN/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES; CHRONICLE/ALAMY; IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS, EPH 2041
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y late December 1914 World War I had been raging for nearly five months. Had anyone really believed it would be “all over by Christmas,” then it was clear they had been cruelly mistaken. With the strength of imperial Germany now evident to all, there appeared to be no chance of victory in the foreseeable future. By this time men were beginning, almost despite themselves, to gain a kind of grudging respect for their opposite numbers lurking across no man’s land. They were enduring the same terrible weather, the same dreadful living conditions, and, after all, they had managed to fight each other to an absolute standstill. The earlier rumors of atrocities, knavish tricks and the callous use of “dum-dum” bullets had abated as more experience was gained of the destructive power of high-velocity bullets, shrapnel bullets and shell fragments. The war had become the new reality for countless men, as they were wrapped up into the stultifying routines and deadly horrors of trench warfare. There seemed no respite in sight, but it was critical to maintain a high level of watchfulness, or else the consequences were often fatal. Amid the continuing fighting, there was also growing evidence in some localized sectors of the line the two sides were edging to a modus vivendi that helped ameliorate some of the worst aspects of trench life. Many Germans could speak English, and a fair number of German soldiers had lived and worked in Britain before the war. Sometimes it seemed almost natural for an attitude of “live and let live” to creep in. Breakfast time seemed quieter, latrine breaks were respected, and men engaged in mundane tasks were left in peace. Soldiers would banter across no man’s land, and there were even rumors of informal shooting contests at impromptu targets displayed in each other’s trenches. Such behavior attracted the attention of General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien—commander of the British Expeditionary Force’s II Corps—who issued orders to try and eradicate such relaxed practices:
‘Here and there, showing just above their parapet, we could see very faintly what looked like very small colored lights’ THE 1914 TRUCE became a popular subject for postwar artists, top. In anticipation of Christmas two French soldiers chop down a tree, right. Britain’s Princess Mary sent gift tins, below, to deployed servicemen.
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Germans were actually singing! Not very loud, but there was no mistaking it.…Suddenly, across the snow-clad no man’s land, a strong clear voice rang out, singing the opening lines of “Annie Laurie.” It was sung in perfect English, and we were spellbound.…To us it seemed that the war had suddenly stopped!…Not a sound from friend or foe, and as the last notes died away, a spontaneous outburst of clapping arose from our trenches. Encore! Good old Fritz!
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About 8 a.m. voices could be heard shouting on our right front, where the trenches came together to about 35 yards apart, German heads appeared, and soon our fellows showed themselves, and seasonal greetings were bawled back and forth, evidently Xmas feeling asserting itself on both sides. Presently, a Sergeant Collins stood waist high above the trench, waving a box of Woodbines above his head. German soldiers beckoned him over, and Collins got out and walked halfway toward them, in turn beckoning someone to come and take the gift. However, they called out, “Prisoner!” and immediately Collins edged back the way he had come. Suddenly a shot rang out, and the poor sergeant staggered back into the trench, shot through the chest. I can still hear his cries, “Oh, my God, they have shot me!” and he died immediately. Needless to remark, every head disappeared in a trice with very bitter feelings on our part.
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This was not a unique occasion. Yet despite the obvious risks men were still tempted into making approaches to their enemies. Individuals would get out of the trench, then dive back in, gradually becoming bolder. As Private George Ashurst, of the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers, recalled:
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We’d been standing up on the firing parapet, and nobody was shooting. So one or two fellows jumped out on top …others followed, and there were scores of us on top at the finish.…We tied an empty sandbag up with its string and kicked it about on top—just to keep warm of course.…Some Germans came to their wire with a newspaper; they were waving it. A corporal in our company went for it, went right to the wire, and the Germans shook hands with him, wished him “Merry Christmas” and gave him the paper....It was so pleasant to get out of that trench from between them two walls of clay and walk and run about—it was heaven. Although such friendly overtures and resulting fraternization in no man’s land were not universal, there is no doubt a fair proportion of the British battalions in the front line, particularly in III and IV Corps areas, were involved to some degree. Some officers tried to direct what occurred, but the press of events soon swept them along. One such was Lieutenant Sir Edward Hulse, of the 2nd Scots Guards: By 8 a.m. there was no shooting at all, except for a few shots on our left. At 8:30 I was looking out and saw four Germans leave their trenches and come toward us. …I went out alone and met Barry, one of our ensigns, also coming out from another part of the line. By the time we got to them, they were three-quarters of the way over and much too near our barbed wire, so I moved them back. They were three private soldiers and a stretcher-bearer, and their spokesman started off by saying that he thought it only right to come over and
BUNDESARCHIV, BILD 183-2012-0710-509, PHOTO: O.ANG
There were several reports of trees being erected in the German front lines to brighten up the dark, miserable night. It was ironic that several much-loved “British” Yuletide customs, including Christmas trees and colored lights, had been imported from Germany during the Victorian era through the influence of Prince Consort Albert of SaxeCoburg and Gotha. In some sectors there was no doubting the underlying friendly intent, and soon there were fraternal demonstrations from both sides. The men who took the initiative in initiating the truce were brave—or foolish—men. To show themselves above the parapet meant breaking the ingrained habits from painful experiences of the accuracy of snipers. Still, the distinct signs of a thaw in relations meant some men were tempted to test the waters despite the obvious risks. What were their foes really like? Were they really the monstrous creations of propaganda or just ordinary soldiers like themselves? Yet the risks were still very real, as illustrated when Sergeant Frederick Brown, of the 1/2nd Monmouthshire Regiment, watched Sergeant Frank Collins take his first steps out into no man’s land:
CHRISTMAS DAY 1914 ushered in celebrations on both sides—including carol singing, left, and sharing a meal. Though neither side repeated the spontaneous truce in any significant way, commanders strove to observe certain holiday rituals—such as a turkey dinner, right—to boost morale.
‘We’d been standing up on the firing parapet, and nobody was shooting. So one or two fellows jumped out on top’ wish us a happy Christmas and trusted us implicitly to keep the truce.
LEFT: IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS, Q 1631; RIGHT: IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS, Q 26213
The spreading truce proved an organic process, taking on its own impetus and expanding beyond the control of individuals. It was not planned or controlled, it just happened. That it was the same for both sides was vouchsafed by Leutnant Stennes: The whole thing was an absolutely spontaneous action. Not even the officers knew anything about it. When I rushed out of the dugout, I found many of my company standing in the open, waving and saying, “Merry Christmas!” On the other side some Indians were standing up and waving! The men hesitantly advanced to the middle, first hesitating, then later on stepping freely forward, and in the middle of no man’s land they met, shook hands and then began talking. Then more men came out. Suddenly no man’s land was covered with Indian and German soldiers. I met some English officers, we shook hands, offered cigars and talked as much as we could. Anyhow, we understood each other. Of course everybody was unarmed—not even a knife—that was given out as a rule. But the sentries, they were standing on duty, rifle at the ready, on both sides. There is no doubt precautions were taken in the opposing trenches against the very real possibility of betrayal. Chastened by the death of their comrade, many of the Monmouthshires would remain on their guard against any more of the “mistakes” of the kind that had cost Frank Collins his life.
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he idea soccer matches were played between the British and Germans in no man’s land during the truce has taken a strong hold, but the evidence seems a little intangible. Yet there are several semifeasible accounts, including one interview recorded in the 1960s with Leutnant Johannes Niemann, of the Saxon 133rd Regiment, who told of a game with Scottish Highlanders in no man’s land: A Scottish soldier appeared with a football, which seemed to come from nowhere, and a few minutes later a real football match got underway.…It was far from easy to play on the frozen ground, but we continued, keeping rigorously to the rules, despite the fact that it only lasted an hour, and that we had no referee. A great many of the passes went wide, but all the amateur footballers, although they must have been very tired, played with huge enthusiasm.… But after an hour’s play, when our commanding officer heard about it, he sent an order that we must put a stop to it. A little later we drifted back to our trenches, and the fraternization ended. The game finished with a score of three goals to two in favor of “Fritz” against “Tommy.” Of course not everyone was involved in the truce, and some battalions remained collectively aloof. Private Clifford Lane and his comrades in the 1st Hertfordshire Regiment were simply not in the mood for a truce: When relieved by another section after dark, [we] returned to the forward trench, soaked to the waist and plastered with mud.…We were now ready to enjoy what the English news-
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EVEN THE DEATH of Sergeant Frank Collins, the shorter man posing at left, could not keep other men from emerging from the trenches to bask in the sun or play soccer.
This unfriendly attitude was the case where British battalions were facing Prussian units, who were generally considered far more dangerous opponents than the Saxons or Westphalians. In fact, General Douglas Haig’s I Corps was unaffected by the truce, as was most of Smith-Dorrien’s II Corps. The truce lasted for a varying amount of time. In some areas it was just Christmas Eve or Christmas Day itself. But elsewhere the truce endured for several days. Indeed, once the truce was established, the new status soon achieved a strange “normality” for those taking part. However, other motivations lurked below the surface, as both sides seized the opportunity to bring up supplies of building materials and set to work on improving their sorry trenches. Hulse was typical of this pragmatic approach:
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We improved our dugouts, roofed in new ones and got a lot of very useful work done towards increasing our comfort. Directly it was dark, I got the whole of my company on to improving and remaking our barbed wire entanglements all along my front and had my scouts out in front of the working parties, to prevent any surprise; but not a shot was fired, and we finished off a real good obstacle unmolested.
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t is crucial to realize that for the vast majority of the participants the 1914 Christmas truce was a matter of convenience and maudlin sentiment. It did not mark some deep flowering of the human spirit rising up against the war or signify political antiwar emotions taking root among the ranks. The truce simply enabled the soldiers to celebrate Christmas in a freer, more jovial and above all safer environment, after all the exhausting torments
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they had been enduring. It also allowed them to satisfy their natural curiosity about the one another. Finally, it let them to carry out vital construction works, which would have been nigh impossible under the constant threat of snipers. In these circumstances the truce could not last. It was a break from reality, not the dawn of some brave new peaceful world. The gradual end of the truce mirrored the start—it too was a dangerous business, where a mistake could cost lives if the firing opened up while men were still milling about between the trenches. For Captain Charles Stockwell, of the 2nd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the truce ended early on Boxing Day, and the transition was handled with a consummate courtesy. Not a shot all night: our men had sing-songs—ditto the enemy. He played the game and never tried to touch his wire or anything. At 8:30am I fired three shots in the air and put up a flag with “Merry Christmas” on it, and I climbed on the parapet. He put up a sheet with, “Thank you” on it, and the German captain appeared on the parapet. We both bowed and saluted and got down into our respective trenches— he fired two shots in the air, and the war was on again! Soon war had regained its grip on the whole of the British sector. When it came to it, the troops went back to war willingly enough. Many would indeed have rejoiced at the end of the war, but they still stood fast alongside their friends— their comrades—in the line, still willing to accept the orders of their NCOs and officers, still willing to kill Germans. It is this last point that must give most pause for those who believe the truce to have been some kind of moral epiphany. If that were true, then it was short-lived and shallow indeed; even after meeting and “putting a face” on their enemies, the average British soldier was more than willing to shoot them the moment the truce was over. Belgium and a good part of northern France were still occupied; German aggression had not visibly diminished. The Germans and French were still embroiled in what they perceived to be a war of national survival. As such the truce had changed nothing and meant nothing. MH Peter Hart is oral historian of the Imperial War Museum London. He is author of The Great War (2013); Gallipoli (2011); The Somme: The Darkest Hour on the Western Front (2009); and 1918: A Very British Victory (2008).
LEFT: MIRRORPIX/NEWSCOM; RIGHT: PRESS ASSOCIATION/THE IMAGE WORKS
papers described as our Christmas dinner! This consisted of the usual bully beef and hard biscuits with the addition of a lump of cold Christmas pudding about the size of a tennis ball. There wasn’t even a rum issue! The night was completely silent apart from the occasional rifle shot fired by a nervous sentry, but towards midnight there seemed to be some commotion in the enemy trenches, and shortly afterwards a Chinese lantern was raised above the enemy parapet and shouts of, “Zum wohl!” [cheers] were heard. We were immediately ordered to open fire, and thus what was undoubtedly a friendly gesture was brutally repulsed.
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The wars that involved the Great Wall of China over its’ 1,865 year history as a defensive barrier. The longest war in history which was the 1,049 year long Vietnamese War of Independence from China and the lessons that should have kept France and the US out of Indo-China. The wars of the Khmer Empire (802 – 1431) and the unlikely hero that emerged in a time of crisis in 1177. The Jewish Bar Kokhba Revolt (132 – 136) that caused the Emperor Hadrian to cover up the massacre of two veteran Roman Legions and the truth about how close the revolt came to succeeding. The wars of the Spanish Conquistadors to conquer the American Southeast and Southwest in the sixteenth century and the Native American apocalypse in North America that followed. The Cherokee Wars that came very close to wiping out the colony of South Carolina. The wars of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade that took the lives of more than 12 million Africans and the slave revolts of the Caribbean and South America. The Taiping Rebellion (1851 – 1871) that was caused by a Confucian scholar who misunderstood a poorly translated gospel tract and started a rebellion that led to over 30 million deaths. The 74 year Mongol conquest of China and disasters in Syria, Japan, Vietnam, and Java that led to the breakup of the Mongol Empire. Before the Holocaust of World War II, there was a mutual Christian holocaust that took the lives of close to 8 million lives during the Thirty Years War (1618 – 1648) between Catholics and Protestants. Some of the battles of this war were actually fought in Africa and in the Caribbean. England’s Pirate Wars — The French Conquest of Indo-China 1857 – 1884. The future wars that half of the world’s population of Jews, Christians, and Muslims are expecting in the near future. THIS CHAPTER EXPLAINS HOW THE CURRENT CONFLICTS IN IRAQ, SYRIA, GAZA, AND THE WEST BANK ARE ROOTED IN ISLAMIC LAST DAYS PROPHECIES AND IS A MUST READ FOR ANYONE WANTING TO UNDERSTAND THE CONFLICTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST THAT ARE TAKING PLACE NOW. ORDER
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Reviews The Dawn of Homeland Security Dark Invasion, 1915: Germany’s Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America, by Howard Blum, HarperCollins, New York, 2014, $27.99
JANUARY 2015
Dark Invasion, and the forthcoming Warner Brothers movie based on it, explores the first modern war on terror, in which U.S. authorities defended the homeland, especially New York City, against clandestine German attacks prior to the United States’ April 1917 entry into World War I. Author Howard Blum, a noted New York Times reporter and Vanity Fair contributing editor, has already authored such acclaimed
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nonfiction books as The Brigade: An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation and World War II (2001) and The Floor of Heaven: A True Tale of the Last Frontier and the Yukon Gold Rush (2011). He is a storyteller at heart, as his latest offering bears out. The narrative here centers on Manhattan police inspector Thomas J. Tunney, head of the NYPD Bomb Squad, who organized early investigations into sabotage incidents and, Blum argues, became the de facto founding director of Homeland Security, as the Secret Service, Bureau of Investigation (precursor of the FBI) and military intelligence of the era were ineffective, as was anti-espionage legislation prior to the con-
MILITARY HISTORY
tentious federal Espionage Act of 1917. Viewing neutrality as pure hypocrisy—as the war made America rich while the British naval blockade slowly starved the Germans to death—Germany sought to win the war of attrition by denying the Allies U.S. military supplies by any means necessary, including sabotage. The author profiles German intelligence operatives Franz von Rintelen, the self-described “Dark Invader” who found America “too soft”; Erich Muenter (alias Frank Holt), who bombed the Senate offices at the U.S. Capitol and tried to assassinate financier J.P. Morgan Jr.; Robert Fay, inventor of the rudder bomb; and dock king-
pin Paul Koenig, who managed to disable transport ships bound for Europe. Blum tracks each agent’s activities and relates his fate. According to the author, it was this sabotage activity, in combination with the escalating U-boat attacks and the Zimmerman Telegram, that induced President Woodrow Wilson to declare war on Germany. Blum’s storytelling ability is often better than the actual narrative, which reads in places like a historical novel, is overreliant on selfserving autobiographies (notably von Rintelen’s) and hyperbolizes the facts. Still, it remains an entertaining read with undeniable parallels to our present-day national security issues.
RECOMMENDED
World War I in 100 Objects, by Peter Doyle
From Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s car to the German Pickelhaube helmet and A-frame trench supports, Peter Doyle presents in one comprehensive volume 100 objects inextricably tied to World War I. Solid images and text provide entry points for readers to quickly learn about these iconic artifacts of the war.
—William John Shepherd
Solider Girls: The Battles of Three Women at Home and at War, by Helen Thorpe, Scribner, New York, 2014, $28 How war changes men has been the subject of countless books through the ages. How war changes women is the compelling subject of Soldier Girls, a vivid and intensely personal account of the lives of three women whose only common denominator had been that they joined the Indiana National Guard never imagining they might end up in a war zone. Journalist Helen
Those Who Hold Bastogne, by Peter Schrijvers
To mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, Schrijvers retells the epic story of how outnumbered American troops and the citizens of Bastogne held out against the Germans during the eight-day siege. Personal accounts reflect on the opposing forces’ experiences, providing a well-rounded narrative of the battle.
Thorpe, through access to their diaries, emails and Facebook pages—as well as extensive interviews—relates their experiences from 2000 to 2013 as their lives became intertwined in Afghanistan, and how they continued to depend on one another after returning home to a world that felt vastly different than the one they had left. While the initial chapters lag a bit and linger too long on relationships, the minutiae later serves to fill out the portraits of the women once they enter the down-and-dirty life on a base in Afghanistan. With
the skill of a novelist Thorpe tells us how they came to know one another, their drinking, drug and sex habits, the sexism rampant in some battalions, acceptance in others, and how the women ultimately won the respect of male colleagues. Two of the women served double deployments, also spending a year in Iraq. One of them was driving a supply truck when a roadside bomb exploded beneath it and scrambled her brain. She would never be the same again.
As Thorpe notes, the Pentagon reported that more than 300,000 soldiers came back from Afghanistan and Iraq with invisible head wounds. Their body armor and the armor on their vehicles kept them alive, but “many of the soldiers had been knocked around so badly, their brains had sheared inside their skulls.” Thorpe’s matter-of-fact tone and clear and concise prose make the book all the more riveting. But it is the chapters about the women’s return to civil-
From the Author of the #1 Nonfiction Book of 2013 comes
ian life that are the most engrossing: In one passage one of the women breaks down in a Target simply looking at the dozen different kinds of toilet paper, which now seem so superfluous and wasteful. And it was back in the States that their bonds, formed in a war zone, became the fragile glue that helped them move forward when they felt they were coming apart. Providing an unexpected take on the active-duty soldier’s experience, Soldier Girls is a captivating read, an important book and a stunning accomplishment. —Lorraine Dusky
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Recounted with directness, feeling and truth, it addresses the simple realities of soldier behavior, both on and off duty; how their actions circumvented behavioral guardrails not otherwise dodged at home. With a frankness seldom encountered, the tale is told just as it happened. Visit www.MPPublishing.org or search Amazon Books utilizing their “Look Inside This Book” feature.
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STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION (required by Act of August 12, 1970: Section 3685, Title 39, United States Code). 1. Military History 2. (ISSN: 0889-7328) 3. Filing date: 10/1/2014. 4. Issue frequency: Bi-monthly. 5. Number of issues published annually: 6. 6. The annual subscription price is $39.95. 7. *VTWSL[L THPSPUN HKKYLZZ VM RUV^U VMÄJL VM W\ISPJH[PVU! >LPKLY History Group, 19300 Promenade Drive, Leesburg, VA 20176-6500. Contact person: Kolin Rankin. Telephone: 305-441-7155 ext. 225 8. Complete mailing HKKYLZZVMOLHKX\HY[LYZVYNLULYHSI\ZPULZZVMÄJLVMW\ISPZOLY!>LPKLY/PZ[VY` Group, 19300 Promenade Drive, Leesburg, VA 20176-6500. 9. Full names and complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor, and managing editor. PublishLY,YPJ>LPKLY>LPKLY/PZ[VY`.YV\W 7YVTLUHKL+YP]L3LLZI\YN=( ,KP[VY:[LWOLU/HYKPUN>LPKLY/PZ[VY`.YV\W 7YVTLUHKL +YP]L3LLZI\YN=( 4HUHNPUN,KP[VY+H]PK3H\[LYIVYU>LPKLY History Group, 19300 Promenade Drive, Leesburg, VA 20176-6502. 10. 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Identifying dead or wounded troops after combat is difficult, and casualty figures are subject to debate among the military, the press and politicians. When Soldiers Fall is an insightful look at American casualty reporting since 1918. Casey discusses the military’s development of a more accurate notification system in modern times. He describes the role military leaders had in reporting casualties, as well as how they restricted or downplayed numbers to protect the longevity of their own careers. Casey also covers how journalists, often denied access to casualty figures by military censors, sought information from less objective sources and inflamed public opinion through sensationalistic reporting. Casey depicts the tension between the press and military leaders over the credibility of casualty figures, and the increased exposure to the graphic nature of war that television and social media provided to shape American public opinion. When Soldiers Fall is a thorough assessment of the tactical problems surrounding military casualty reporting and an excellent description of how accurate casualty information affects the American military, the public, the press and political leaders. —S.L. Hoffman
The First World War in Colour, by Peter Walther, Taschen, Cologne, Germany, 2014, $59.99 World War I claimed many firsts, including aerial warfare, the use of
chemical weapons and the widespread use of color photography. The First World War in Colour, by Peter Walther, is a remarkable book filled with 320 of these rarely seen images, serving to bridge the often seemingly distant war with the 21st century. Walther relates the history of color technology, which dates from 1861. It wasn’t until 1907, however, that Auguste and Louis Lumière launched their Autochrome process, allowing for commercial and practical application of color photography. The book features an array of scenes, including formal group portraits, civilians in bombed-out homes, soldiers playing cards in the trenches, children re-enacting battles in Paris and the camaraderie of French soldiers around a campfire during the Battle of the Marne. Conspicuous are the slight changes in hue of Germany’s haze-gray uniforms and the questionable choice of embellished, blood-red trousers worn by various French regiments. The apocalyptic stillness of the utter destruction at Verdun is juxtaposed against serene landscapes resembling fine art paintings, including the boundless field of red and purple poppies that inspired Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae’s famous poem “In Flanders Fields.” Quotes pulled from soldiers’ letters home describe what the photos cannot convey: the smell of decomposing bodies and deafening sound of artillery. A line from German poet August Stramm is particularly evocative: “I awoke to the crack of a grenade. The things whimper like little children and sob like mothers.” History and photography buffs will devour this extraordinary collection of nearly forgotten color images from the war that was to have ended all wars. —Liesl Bradner
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Hallowed Ground Camp de Beugy, Sainte-Suzanne, France
K
JANUARY 2015
ing William I of England is better known to history as William the Conqueror. He won consistently on the battlefield, conducting five campaigns, fighting some nine major battles and directing at least 17 sieges during his 40-year military career. From his first conflict in 1047 as William II, Duke of Normandy, he triumphed every time but one—namely, the siege of the castle at SainteSuzanne, in northwest France, which lasted from 1084 to 1086. The remarkably well-preserved remains of William’s siege camp, just north of town, are among the best surviving examples of 11th century field fortifications anywhere in the world.
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Born around 1028, William was the illegitimate son of Robert I, Duke of Normandy, and Herleva, a tanner’s daughter. When his father died in 1035, young William, referred to irreverently as “the Bastard,” succeeded to the dukedom. While still a minor William was embroiled in a series of internal power struggles, but at age 19, with the support of King Henry I of France, he took decisive control of Normandy. He spent William the Conqueror the next two decades fighting to suppress revolts and chalquickly put down any lenges to his authority, ultiopposition to his rule, mately launching his famous wherever it arose. cross-channel invasion of England and defeating King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings. William was crowned king of England in London’s Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. But that marked only the first stage of the Norman Conquest. William fought on in various locations throughout the British Isles until 1072. Then he spent most of the next 15 years crossing back and forth from Britain to France, putting down oppo-
MILITARY HISTORY
sition to his rule on both sides of the English Channel. William claimed the French province of Maine (the present-day departments of Sarthe and Mayenne, just south of Normandy), a piece of strategic territory coveted by the dukes of Normandy and Brittany and the counts of Anjou. Maine, led by viscount Hubert II de Beaumontau-Maine, revolted against William in late 1083, and, as he always did, the Conqueror moved immediately against the rebellion. Rather than facing William in the open, Hubert withdrew to his strongly fortified castle at Sainte-Suzanne. In early 1084 William first attempted to take the castle by storm, but when that failed, he resorted to the type of set-piece siege of which he was a master. William established his siege camp on the grasslands of Beugy along the River Erve, a half-mile north of the castle and just out of range of Hubert’s heavy weapons. William’s position comprised two rectangular fortifications in line, each roughly the size of a modern football field. Both positions were open on their eastern sides and surrounded on the other three sides by 30-foot-high palisades constructed of earth and rocks and capped by wooden watchtowers. Ringing the complex was a dry moat and a line of sharpened stakes. The moat also divided the two positions, with a drawbridge connecting them. It was the type of siege camp William had used so many times before. Local historians, however, believe there is evidence to suggest that rather than building Camp de Beugy from scratch, William may have improved and reinforced an older Gallo-Roman or Celtic camp. The siege turned out to be more than William had bargained for. Hubert’s castle was strong, had plenty of supplies and its own source of water. It even boasted a subterranean gristmill. Over the next two years the attackers took more
LEFT: GL ARCHIVE/ALAMY; RIGHT: MUSAT/CANSTOCKPHOTO
By David T. Zabecki
Its castle ruins make Sainte-Suzanne one of the most picturesque walled towns in France.
casualties than the defenders, while Hubert’s men captured and held for ransom several powerful Norman and English lords. Meanwhile, knights and men-at-arms from Aquitaine, Burgundy and other French provinces rallied to Hubert’s cause. The defenders increased in strength, while the attackers diminished. In spring 1086 William broke off the siege and came to a negotiated settlement. Sainte-Suzanne thus became the only castle William the Conqueror failed to take. But having stabilized the situation in Maine, William was able to turn his attention to his ongoing dispute with King Phillip I of France, who was William’s nominal feudal overlord. In July 1087 William advanced into the Vexin region of France and sacked the town of Mantes. In the process, however, the 59-year-old, grossly overweight
William was thrown from his horse, sustaining severe internal injuries from the pommel of his saddle. He died from his injuries that September in Rouen, France, ending one of the most spectacular military careers of the Middle Ages. And while Sainte-Suzanne held out against William, it later fell victim to advances in military technology. In 1425, during the Hundred Years’ War, English bombards (early cannon) reduced its walls, and the English occupied it for 14 years. Today the castle ruins are an integral part of SainteSuzanne’s walls—forming one of the most picturesque walled towns in France. A half-mile away most of the original palisades of William’s siege camp still stand. Registered as a historic monument in 1937, Camp de Beugy is a poignant reminder of the Conqueror’s only battlefield failure. MH
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War Games Celts vs. Romans, Part 1 Romans borrowed many military designs from the Celts (see P. 44). Do you recognize either’s gear? ____ A. Carnyx
____ F. Falcata
____ B. Scutum
____ G. Gladius
____ C. Clipeus
____ H. Dolabra
____ D. Pilum
____ I. Spatha
____ E. Pugio
____ J. Calg
Celts vs. Romans, Part 2 The Celts and Romans clashed for long centuries. What do you recall from schoolbooks—or this issue?
Hot Wars Amid the Cold
1. To Brennus’ cry of “Vae victis!” (“Woe to the conquered!”) in 390 BC, who replied, “Not by gold but by iron will the nation [Rome] be recovered”?
While World War III loomed (see P. 34), other conflicts sparked off worldwide. Match each to its main opponents. 1. Cyprus, 1974 2. Suez Crisis, 1956
1
A. Gaius Julius Caesar
2
3. Ogaden, 1977–78
B. Marcus Furius Camillus
3
4. War of 1962
C. Quintus Fabius Ambustus D. Marcus Manlius Capitolinus
5. Korea, 1950–53 6. Malayan Emergency, 1948–60
2. Based on Cicero’s De Divinatione, Diviciacus of the Aedui was both an elected magistrate and the earliest mention by name of a:
7. Afghanistan, 1979–89 8. North Borneo Confrontation, 1963–66
4
9. Hungary, 1956
____ A. British Commonwealth vs.
____ C. ____ D. ____ E. ____ F. ____ G. ____ H. ____ I. ____ J.
6
5
D. Celtic druid
3. When Caesar departed Britannia in 54 BC, whom had he installed as his client ruler?
7
A. Mandubracius
B. Carvilius
C. Cassivelaunus
D. Commius
4. Which defeated Catuvellauni chieftain moved Emperor Claudius and the Roman senate with his oratory in AD 51?
8
A. Caratacus
B. Vercingetorix
C. Cartimandua
D. Venutius
5. Who, in AD 69, succeeded in driving Rome out of the territory of the Brigantes in what is now northern England?
9
10 Answers: A6, B1, C8, D7, E4, F10, G3, H9, I5, J2
____ B.
Malayan communists Soviet Union vs. Hungarian insurgents Soviet Union vs. Afghan mujahedeen Britain, France and Israel vs. Egypt India vs. China Malaysia/British Commonwealth vs. Indonesia Britain vs. Argentina Ethiopia vs. Somalia Greece vs. Turkey North Korea /China vs. South Korea/ United Nations
B. Celtic bard
C. Celtic poet
A. Vellocatus
B. Caratacus
C. Venutius
D. Cartimandua Answers: B, D, A, A, C
Answers: A6, B9, C7, D2, E4, F8, G10, H3, I1, J5
LEFT TO RIGHT: TROOPS FIGHTING IN SEOUL: U.S. ARMY/NATIONAL ARCHIVES; MATCHING: BRIAN WALKER; VERCINGETORIX SURRENDERS TO JULIUS CAESAR: LIONEL NOEL ROYER/MUSEE CROZATIER, FRANCE/GIRAUDON/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES
10. South Atlantic, 1982
A. Celtic warlord
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JANUARY 2015
Captured!
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MILITARY HISTORY
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