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Battles that
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in
the entire history of
human
warfare, a
few key
battles
have achieved legendary status. Trafalgar. Waterloo. Gettysburg. Gallipoli. Pearl Harbor. The Battle of Britain.
The Tet Offensive. Desert Storm. Whether as a
result of
superior tactics, dominant firepower or a simple twist of fate, these
key conflicts have become bywords
moment when
victory
have been adopted as symbols of triumph of almost
for the
and defeat were decided. Some
overwhelming odds. Others
live
in
on
the face in
infamy.
Each can be seen as a point at which the course of history
was changed
irrevocably.
Turning the Tide of past
200
War explores 50
plans, eyewitness testimony
photography, each battle its
wider
in detail
battle
and within
of Europe, through the decisive
of the First and Second World Wars, to
recent struggles
author Tim
in
more
Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Balkans,
Newark analyses not only the
each individual to war.
examined
is
maps and
and rare archival
historical context.
From Napoleon's conquest
moments
key battles of the
years. With the help of detailed
battle, but the
strategy behind
changing ideologies that led
He examines how technology has affected
military
theory and practice, from the introduction of the tank and fighter aircraft to the
advent of intercontinental missiles
and 'smart bombs'. And he pays
tribute to the skill,
courage and dedication of the military forces of the world.
Turning the Tide of
how
Wans
a fascinating overview of
warfare has evolved from an era of small localized
conflicts to
scale,
an age of mechanized battles on a global
and also a glimpse
into the inner
workings of the
military mind.
600 603180
L
D£Ci
TURNING THE TIDE OF WAR bu dATTLEo THAT LHANulU
1
HE
COURSE OF MODERN HISTORY
AKttfahopMftfy High School
tenJosa, CA?5'i29
First
published
in
Great Britain
Hamlyn, a division
of
in
2001 by
Octopus Publishing Group
Ltd
2-4 Heron Quays, London E144JP
Copyright I Octopus Publishing Group Ltd 2001
All rights reserved.
No
part of this
be reproduced or utilized
in
work may
any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN
A
600 60318
CIP catalogue record forthis book
from the British Library
Printed and bound
in Italy
10987654321
Designer: Kenny Grant
Maps: Andrew Thompson Picture Researcher. Liz Fowler
Senior Production Controller Louise Hall
is
available
hamlyn
TURNING THE TIDE OF WAR 50 BATTLES THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF MODERN HISTORY TIM
NEWARK
CONTENTS
7
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VALMY, 1792
8
ASSAYE, 1803
12
TRAFALGAR, 1805
16
AUSTERLITZ, 1805
20
WATERLOO, 1815
24
MEXICO
1847
28
GETTYSBURG, 1863
32
SEDAN, 1870
36
ISANDLWANA, 1879
40
GEOKTEPE, 1881
44
SAN JUAN HILL, 1898
48
OMDURMAN, 1898
50
TSUSHIMA, 1905
54
CITY,
FIRST BATTLE
;^SS
*^?
6
T^gxC^V^. fj!
^^H I& .^B
INTRODUCTION
OFTHEMARNE, 1914
58
GALLIPOLI, 1915
62
THE BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE, 1916
66
THESOMME, 1916
70
YPRES, 1917
74
8k
H^LSf
CAMBRAI, 1917
78
ST LO, 1944
148
GERMANY'S 'BLACK DAY' 1918
82
LEYTE GULF, 1944
150
NANKING, 1937
86
ARDENNES, 1944
154
FRANCE, 1940
90
OKINAWA, 1945
158
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN, 1940
94
BERLIN, 1945
162
CRETE, 1941
98
INCHON, 1950
166
170
BARBAROSSA, 1941
100
DIEN BIEN PHU, 1954
PEARL HARBOR 1941
104
SIX
SINGAPORE, 1942
108
THETET OFFENSIVE, 1968
176
MIDWAY, 1942
112
PORT STANLEY, 1982
180
STALINGRAD, 1942
116
KABUL, 1988
182
EL ALAMEIN 1942
120
DESERT STORM, 1991
186
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC, 1943
124
MOGADISHU, 1993
190
KURSK, 1943
128
KRAJINA, 1995
194
TARAWA, 1943
132
BIBLIOGRAPHY
196
INDEX
197
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
200
CASSINO, 1944
136
KOH IMA, 1944
140
D-DAY, 1944
144
DAY WAR, 1967
174
INTRODUCTION The decisive
won
battle
battle
in
the holy
is
grail of military
day that transforms
a
victory
and fame - but combat
victory
one day can be reversed the
be
down by
let
political
bring decisive peace.
overwhelm In
a
them this.
A
next. Military superiority can
incompetence.
The steady
A
decisive victory
may
not
attrition of guerrilla
warfare can
have been chosen
for several
a powerful foe.
this book, decisive battles
reasons.
much messier than
usually
is
commanders -
their future, bringing
Sometimes they
are a climactic point
a successful or
in
in
one
in
the technology of warfare. Often they refer not to a battle
weeks
day, but to an operation over several
indicative of the enlarged scale of
moments
reflect great
soldiers has
in
history
changed the way
we
modern
when
warfare.
or months, All
of
them
the sacrifice of countless
organization are the Nazi
Germany
Operation Barbarossa. tactics
on
massive
a
lost?
Overwhelming power and precise
exactly
applied
scale,
its
what
for decisive victory.
it
political
Army had
also
was
doing during
already successful blitzkrieg
helped by Soviet chaos and a lack of
been ravaged by
determination to
rid
of
it
Pearl Harbor
with
in
1941
was another
any dissident
enemy
is
France
in
unprepared enemy;
1940 and Singapore
in
and organization,
then
significantly. Allied victories at El
the
when the own battle
1942. But
tide
its
of
war changes
Alamein, Midway, Stalingrad and
Kohima showed how even the most
initially
impressive military
forces can be held and defeated.
GREATEST MILITARY FLAW Underestimation of the enemy is the greatest of military flaws. Germany and Japan in the Second World War believed they were racially
as well as
INTRODUCTION
militarily
German
victories
in
Poland and elsewhere had affected the Germans' judgement, and
when
they were confronted by highly determined, well-trained
pilots
armed with the
were faced with
a far
Imperial arrogance found
both wake-up
difficult
its
contest.
graveyards at
for the
calls
they
latest ingenious aviation technology,
more
and
British
and Isandlwana,
Gallipoli
Western
their
imperial
colleagues, giving intimations of later bitter colonial conflicts. At Dien
Bien Phu, French imperial arrogance
was brought
crashing
down by
the Vietnamese.
battlefield.
Omdurman and
At
a century later, during
superior to their enemies.
make
one-sided, allowing the victor to impose his
On
without meaningful opposition. superior
weaponry can on to
guerrillas held military
technology.
With the
other occasions, the
of
arrival
very
around the world
will
their land despite being
Desert
seem
arrival of
just tip the balance. In Afghanistan,
missiles, given to the guerrillas by the fatally
a battle
Muslim
faced by superior
hand-held anti-aircraft
West, Soviet
air
power was
undermined.
FIGHTING SPIRIT
an
at
a
would triumph
it
Both
piece of organization,
no longer surprised and counters with
experience
officers.
rebuilt.
brilliant
overwhelming force directed
similarly in
The
ideology, given Stalin's
morale and military competence had to be rapidly
seemed
it
Sometimes, superior technology can bestow awesome power
willingness to face up to the inevitable threat of invasion.
Soviet
force that
Storm, highly advanced weaponry can
knew It
air
because
their soldiers
over the smaller, inexperienced British RAF.
view the world.
most obvious ingredients
1941
in
hundreds of thousands of
foregone conclusion to the German
on the
ESSENCE OF VICTORY How are battles won and
lives of
of their over confidence. During the Battle of Britain,
disastrous campaign; at other times they represent a decisive step
forward
them and threw
hard to accept that their enemies could defeat
away the
They found
it
When in
a
technology
is
more even,
it
is
often fighting
and
spirit
cause that can give the decisive edge. At Valmy,
revolutionary
army simply stared down
opponents, opening a
new
era of ideological warfare. At Assaye,
sheer old-fashioned aggression
Sometimes cause.
In
it
is
won
the dominant
the battle.
power
that loses faith
Mogadishu, the US Army could see on
international
aid
Sometimes,
victors
a
country
that
saw
do not even recognize
little
it
as
their
Vietnamese
victory,
in its
point
an
in
own
forcing
aggressor.
own
During the Tet Offensive, Western journalists persisted this as a
belief
French
motivated
less
its
a
in
success. portraying
even though the Vietnamese had
actually suffered a catastrophic defeat at the
hands
Army, such was left-wing prejudice among the media
of the
US
at the time.
Some declared
growing
victories represent an inevitable expression of
international
At
influence.
San Juan
global military power. At
itself a
United
the
Hill,
States
Geok Tepe, the Russians
consolidated their hold on central Asia. At Trafalgar, British naval
power reached
zenith.
its
At other times, victory hangs
in
the balance and
came
thing indeed. At Waterloo, Napoleon
is
it
a very near-run
near to victory, defeated
only by British and allied tenacity. At Cambrai, British tanks proved
themselves
to
be battle-winners, only to have
overturned by newly perfected
power
relentless
of organization
and sheer
achievements
Sheer professionalism
in
tactics.
military fighting
evident during D-Day, Inchon, the Six Day
is
of Port Stanley.
their
German stormtrooper
War and
The
prowess
the capture
these instances
hard
is
to beat.
Sometimes two sides and Ypres,
British
are too evenly balanced. At the
and German forces ground away
causing tens of thousands of casualties. This
morale.
Somme
each other,
attrition
reached
on Germany's Black Day, with the collapse
a breaking point
German
at
Wars
of attrition
of
have no winners.
LESSONS OF WAR There are many lessons to be learned from the conflicts book. Perhaps the primary lesson
strong
in
win
war against
a
Japan believed they could
it.
easily
It
in
this
the need for a country to be
defence so as not to encourage any
ability to
its
is
rival
to overestimate
was because Germany and
win
their
conflicts that they
embarked on world wars. Appeasement does not work, but only encourages the overconfidence never be afraid to
talk
of aggressive foes.
about war or
perceived weakness encourages war.
dissuades
prevented a its
armed
A
nation
must
forces.
Only
Responsible aggression
it.
the second
In
its
third
half
of
the 20th century,
the
United States
world war by acting strongly and aggressively
dealings with the Soviet Union and
its allies.
destruction did prevent a third world war.
It
in
Mutually assured
can only be hoped that
future politicans do not ignore these lessons of history. Learning
them TIM
all
over again
will
be very costly
in lives.
NEWARK
INTRODUCTION
7
E
.
VALMY, 1792 Valmy
new age
signified a
would be the
When
untrained French citizen army' drilled
ranks of the Prussians,
proved the decisive factor Battle of
one
of warfare,
fuel of conflict.
in
in
were ranged
was
it
which ideology
the revolutionaries of the against the well-
morale that
their high
the victory that day - although the
Valmy was more of a psychological
victory than an out-
right military one.
The
armies raised by the French revolutionary govern-
citizen
ments fought many a
and wars, something of an irony
battles
for
regime born out of idealism and the desire for international
fraternity.
Equality,
'Liberty,
French soldier at Pontoise that
anyone
an enemy,
who
in
Fraternity or Death,' declared a
disagreed with the revolution
pitting
made
1794, a slogan which
it
clear
was considered
France against the rest of Europe. The French
revolutionary armies supposedly brought 'freedom from oppression'- but they did so at the point of a bayonet.
previous eras, wars had usually been fought for
In
advantage and material gain. This remained true too, but
now
there
righteousness.
It is
was
in
political
the 1790s,
the additional factor of ideological
this conviction that identifies
self-
these wars as
marking the beginning of 'modern warfare'. Furthermore, suc-
became more and
cessive French revolutionary governments
more extreme under the stresses war became
a
method
that
French forces
of maintaining their increasingly desper-
ate grip on power.
In this
campaigns of
and
Hitler
much so
of conflict, so
French movements
sense, the military and ideological
Stalin
can be said to have their roots
Prussian forces
in
Prussian
the French revolutionary regimes of the 1790s.
'CITIZEN SOLDIERS' A revolution implies a break with the past, new government simply makes much more previous regime's Tocqueville
change
is
in
power
that
power
all
in
The
France has
only
become
the relics of the past have
steadily transformed into a powerful bureaucratic state run Paris,
and with increased control over
could put massive armies into the will.
field to
This continued to be the case,
fact
in
its
people, the state
enforce
its political
even more
so, during
the rule of the revolutionary governments, except that whereas in
the past soldiers had been hired or impressed into service,
they were
now all
'free
hence the
birth of
the
'I
have no
pity for
men' and had
spilled,
be persuaded to
fight
-
'citizen soldier'.
the enemies of
nonier of the French Revolutionary
have
to
and continue to
my
Army
spill,
country,' in
Caen
the blood of
wrote a can-
in
manoeuvres
1793. 'They
my
brothers,
of the
Prussian and French
de
been pruned away.' From the 17th century, France had been
from
Above: The opening
use of the
French Revolution,
his analysis of the
more conspicuous now
far
but very often the efficient
structures. According to Alexis
that the centralization of
movements
•* French and
armies around Valmy
UNITE DIMSIBILI
DE LA
September Left:
in
1792.
The beginning
of
ideological warfare: a
REPIBLIOIE
French Revolutionary
LIBERT EGALITE FRATERMT
poster of 1793 promises '
Liberte, Egalite,
Fraternite
ou
la
Mort
Prussian guns
PRU! «
A
EUROPE Paris "
who
demand vengeance, and those who have
all
part of counter-revolutionaries
Vengeance and they
played the
traitors
angry hands.'
so that
fear motivated these politicized soldiers,
whole nation was roused
had to do
and the rest.
at
turn roused other, less politically involved,
in
until a
deserve death
Or
was
direct
these
in
anger.
men towards
All
at least, that
was
comrades
the government
the perceived
fury of these 'citizen soldiers'
spirit of
and
enemy
would do the
be the
first
holocaust
nothing behind to disquiet
When
massacres
in Paris
the
city's
guardian fortress of Verdun
more than 1,000 were hacked
prisoners, both political
to death
provoked by the threat
come
to the aid of the French royal family. In
Prussia and
its
German-speaking
allies
a climate of fear
and
anger which helped
rible
punishment
king.
The
reaction of the Parisian
of the Tuileries
the revolutionary
and take the
mob was
to
in
in
storm the palace
surprisingly,
its
known
Paris
and
who
criminal,
as the 'September
might have been expect-
the belief that such fervour could be
foreign enemies, but the In
an
army
of revolutionaries
clash with the
earlier
day Belgium), the poorly trained and organized French force had
royal family prisoner.
anger ruled the streets and, not
to the
August 1792,
they harmed their
if
fell
Austrians on the border with the Austrian Netherlands (modern-
a
invaded, threatening ter-
to the citizens of Paris
leave
good time
it
Revolutionary generals had been promoted, only to be put
fled.
France and punish the revolutionaries - created
the event
had already proved unstable.
to
of Prussia to invade
in
directed at
neighbouring countries considered
Liberty,
common enemy, we
Prussian-led force, the revolutionaries vented their anger on
Suspecting that the upheaval of the revolution had weakened
some
premier holocauste] to
us.'
THE ROAD TO VALMY France,
-
\le
massacres'. The government
the idea.
VALMY
advancing to meet the
in
ed to gain confidence
Below: The September
' '
Fear and
rabble-rousing
on
trial
also
and then executed amid scenes of paranoia that would
afflict totalitarian
armies
However, commitments the Prussian army and
in in
the 20th century. other foreign theatres affected
its allies.
Austria could not field as
many
soldiers face Prussia's
professional at
Valmy.
army
politicians believed that die. 'In
enemies within should be the
first
to
the towns,' declared Fabre d'Eglantine, let the blood of
w
men
as
it
would have
German army
that
liked for the invasion of France, while the
advanced
into
France
was
only 80,000
men
lis?
T-i
•
tW'
-:%.'/
L r"
*
Jr&y&isMr
MM
"3liM&^M
VALMY
9
21
against the Prussians.
Yron found themselves
in
Despite the
Brunswick's force pressed on towards
the front
line
Casualties:
SEPTEMBER Prussians withdraw
300 French 300 Prussians
^W
the road,
artillery fire,
where
it
came under more cannon
An
fire.
artillery
duel followed, but to no decisive effect on the advance.
smoke
fog and gun
Brunswick placed
lifted,
As the
main army
his
opposite Valmy, but the view that materialized did not please him.
The French were well positioned and
the battlefield. They did not look
was -*.
M
y~
f
Mt Ml Vvron Yvron
^
»
%^
\
7-hour duel
X
- - - ^ KELLERMANN AND DUMOURIEZ ^x
m .
.^
\
n^
*" "*
*^
L
Etang-le-Rot^-'
\
"*^ H
sion
Reims
*
\\V* \*
VV
*•/ "^^fc -^ X-^-~x V '
men
his
begin the
to
the one quality his soldiers possessed above
He placed
his hat, bearing the revolutionary
cockade, on his sword and shouted 'Vive
\J* \.DdmmartinS
--* *„
was perhaps
everything else.
his
1°
Brunswick ordered
advance. As they did so, Kellermann understood that aggres-
To St Menehouldi
\
» ..Valmy
no hurry to leave
in
the anarchic rabble that he
expecting.
Nevertheless,
Braux-St-Cohiere*
like
men were triggered
nation!'
la
into wildly roaring 'Vive
France! Vive notre general!'
was one
It
moments when armies ponder whether
la
With
la
of those decisive
The
to fight or flee.
^la-^anchette
I
French did not run and so Brunswick the advance.
An
artillery
nerve and halted
lost his
duel then took place while Brunswick
agonized over what to do next.
In
council with his officers, he
decided not to proceed with the battle and, as darkness
French
left
It
was
the
fo.reign threat.
a bizarre 'victory', with
the psychological impact of that morale
>To Chalons-sur-Marne
fell,
the battlefield bolstered by the knowledge that they
had stared down the great French withdraw to high ground
"
Maupertius
was perhaps
it
little
blood actually shed, but
was enormous.
It
demonstrated
the most important aspect of any
army, more so even than training or weapons, and the French Revolutionary
strong,
that,
nation! Vive
which was
half
Brunswick, had hoped
what
for,
its
commander, the Duke
and the numbers continued to
of fall
throughout the campaign. Brunswick had considered linking up with other armies on the French
frontier,
but
news emanating
Army possessed bucketloads
of
it,
giving
birth
Above left: The movements of the Prussian and French
troops on the second
day
of battle at Valmy.
from Paris about the bloody anarchy there persuaded him to
march
his force directly
General
Dumounez
on the French
took
from the
capital.
command amid
the French defences and marched his
Left:
Army
afflicting
away
of the North
Belgium and southwards towards Sedan,
frontier with
French troops -
commanded the chaos
the Argonne forest giving him a natural barrier between his
army
revolutionary colours his hat
-face
Brunswick,
though,
outmanoeuvred the
French, penetrated the Argonne and forced Dumouriez to take
up a position caution further
in
in
the southern part of the forest area. Brunswick's
following up his advance allowed
reinforcements
Kellermann, to bring the
Having only
of total
more than
link
try to cut off
Chalons and force the French
'VIVE
directly
men
army up
under
his
command,
was withdrawing encouraged
the French retreat on the road to into battle near the village of Valmy.
LA NATION!' ck's
advance
thick fog.
guard
moved towards
Out of the gloom came the
the
French
roar of a can-
nonade. Kellermann's French reinforcements on the
10
under
to 36,000.
up with the Austrians from the north,
but a false report that Dumouriez
Brunswick to
25,000
strength of his
some 34,000 men
Brunswick wanted to
Dumouriez to receive
hill
of
in
down
Prussian soldiers at the Battle of
and the Prussians.
by General
Kellerman, wearing
Valmy on
20 September 1792.
to a
new form
of
ideologically
driven warfare.
Goethe was with the Prussian army
at
new epoch
rades thus: 'From here and today there begins a
the history of the world, and you can say that you
significant
Massenbach
were
similarly felt that
it
ly
given the world a
new
fire...
shape.
The 20th
It is
of
September has
Valmy', one
merely 'the
affair of
artillery that
had proved
its
worth.
in
which
'In
the
it
in
the
and establish a victorious
French
would
Army,
Revolutionary It
ideologically driven
cannot be in
army
there said,
campaigns of
quickly. For
example,
army suffered
at
strong
Hongen
a rout, leaving
ties for only forty injured
artillery.'
inherit
been
have
however, that
and
Without the
all
no
the subse-
by the French were victorious. An is
opponents do not budge, then
the war of the Revolution,' he concluded, 'France always excelled
Italy,
of Europe.
quent battles engaged
it
had been the
initial
Germany and
use to become master of the whole
Napoleonic Wars.
own
performance with hyperbole. Napoleon Bonaparte called
and then embark on a series of foreign wars that would see
engine of war that Napoleon would subsequently
the most important day of
the century!' Perhaps the Prussians were dignifying their
that after Valmy, France's revolutionaries felt
is
along with parts of
a
moment: 'The French Revolutionaries have come
through their baptism of
clear
France conquer Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland,
in
there.'
was
is
secure enough to proceed with the execution of the royal fami-
cowed com-
ceived the importance of events, consoling his
Prussia's Colonel von
What
The poet
Valmy and he per-
its
in
in
confrontation, but
own morale
if
March 1793, Dumounez's
more than two thousand
casual-
Austnans.
Above: The main confrontation near the mill
on the
captured
hill
in a
of
Yron
dramatic
painting by J.B.
FEAR AND ANGER
Laukhard noted
Fear and anger motivated the early
The
volunteers were not as straight as a
French Revolutionary Army. The threat of
die,
as were the Prussians, and were not
foreign invasion or counter-revolution
as polished, well trained or
encouraged tens
of
thousands
volunteer for military service
1792. The
rallying cry of
in
of
men
1791 and
1789 was
'Every citizen should be a soldier and
every soldier should be a
to
citizen.'
Prussian military observer called
A
this spirit of dedication:
handling a gun or marching did they
around
know how
their tunics
I
in
body and
and declared for the
good
that they
fighting
were ready
knew were
liberty
step; nor
death.'
to tighten their belts
Quoted
as the Prussians
Wars 1787-1802byT.C.\N. Blanning
in
did,
soul.
Nearly
all
those
encountered at that time knew for
in
to die
of their patrie. The only
alternatives they
skilled in
yet they were devoted to the cause they
served
whom and for what they were
or
The French Revolutionary
(Arnold, 1996).
its
can collapse
Mauzaisse
after a
painting by Horace Vernet, 1831.
ASSAYE,
803
1
Garamhara
^ m„ * MwJ — -m ^m
Hi,. * /## *
Assaye
MARATHA
r^
*
f
V#
- - - -
and nine hundred Europeans.
r
lord
1
«*f*eepulgaon
continent and entitled native population, itary
presence
I
in
' Infantry
British forces
Wellesley s N British
I
movements
reconnaissance
advance to
in
^Barahjala
\
victorious
and the nawab was exe-
to raise
it
which
Britain
in
then used to increase
of the
the ascendant, but unlike those
European
its
mil-
Mughals, the most dominant power
southern Asia up to that point, had been
in
in
decline since
were
clearly
the Americas,
where
British
native cultures never really rose to the challenge
movements
the sub-
massive revenues from the
1707 with the death of Aurangzeb. The
cross river at ford
route
Indian forces Indian
'
^
was
by the
Despite the over-
further.
The influence Cavalry advance to protect infantry
Clive
(native soldiers trained
cuted. This victory secured Britain's possessions
X.Waroor
^
_
two thousand sepoys
British)
whelming odds,
s
-T^-v.
force of
military
posed by
power, the rulers of India understood the
?-'' Indian defensive line
nature of the force they
were up
against. While the British
considered themselves as successors to the Mughals, there
was an indigenous
force
in
the form of the Maratha confed-
eracy that also claimed the right to rule cy
Above The
Considered by the Duke of Wellington to be
British
advance against the
Maratha army
at
the Battle of Assaye
Assaye
army faced
British
on 23 September 1803.
tutored Right:
A Maratha
cavalryman The army the Marathas
colonial
native
which
in
it
his finest victory,
a small but well-trained
equipped and well
forces well
European combat techniques.
in
whelming odds, of
was one
Won
against over-
demonstrated the indomitable
powers when faced with
militarily
spirit of
the
sophisticated oppo-
was an
impressive combination of traditional warriors in
armour with lances and swords and Europeantrained infantry
armed
nents.
Assaye also served as an
early
showcase
for the
Duke
of Wellington's talents.
European imperialism began
earnest
in
in
the 16th century
with the conquest of the Americas. European soldiers operat-
the
New
with muskets and
ing
supported by cannon.
prising ease.
in
which were
World overcame the native cultures with
A number
of factors
logistical organization
accounted
for this,
sur-
among
and extraordinary bravery,
by means of which handfuls of Spanish conquistadors were
kingdoms such as
able to defeat great similar pattern
native cultures
and
Siberia,
while
French and
in
A
the world, with
being confronted, found to be ill-prepared
far less able to
niques which
that of the Aztecs.
was repeated elsewhere
withstand the early modern warfare tech-
confronted them. in
British
India
The Russians conquered
the trading stations of Portuguese,
merchants were turned
into the
stepping
stones of empire.
BRITAIN IN INDIA Britain's
involvement
in
India during the
18th century had
reached a crucial point with the Battle of Plassey
when Robert
Clive defeated the
nawab
The nawab's army was ten times the
in
1757,
(governor) of Bengal. size of Robert Clive 's
was
India.
The confedera-
a grouping of various influential clan chiefs under the
Delhi'
ASIA
Ganges
INDIA
Calcutta"
Arabian Sea
.ASSAYE
Bombay*
Bay of Bengal
Hyderabad
— -«
I3»
ismMmmi
^
ml
peshaw
Above: A contemporary
leadership of a
engraving shows British
warred with one another,
troops advancing
in
the
face of Maratha artillery
also
combined
was
in
(chief minister); at times, the clans
particularly for leadership, but they
various coalitions to resist the British. The
three Maratha wars fought
during the Battle of
result
Assaye.
and 1817-18.
in
1775-82, 1803-05
warlike tribes of India through the introduction of European tactics ral
and French
By the
competing imperial powers, such as the French, the
overawe
peshaws and
clan
chiefs
rapidly
transformed their feudal
armies and equipped their soldiers with Western-style military training.
In
native armies could rely on twice as British.
artillery,
many cannons
Major Thome, a veteran of many battles
complained of
'the
muskets and
a very short time,
in
these as the
the region,
changes that have taken place among the
which, combined with their natu-
them
numerical superiority, has rendered our conflicts with
sanguinary
Recruiting European military advisers, frequently from one of the
discipline,
courage, often bordering on enthusiastic frenzy, and their
hunger
in
late its
the extreme'.
18th century
opponents
for the
was no India.
longer easy for Britain to
And
yet,
such was
wealth to be derived from India that the
took on ever more effort to
it
in
difficult
subdue the
their
British
and challenging campaigns
in
an
native population. Against such a back-
ground, the Battle of Assaye emerges as being typical of a period
in
which
British forces
gunned - otherwise impressive
outfought - rather than outnative armies.
It
is
also inter-
13
estmg
were commanded by
to note that the British
become
later to
'.ellesley,
Duke
the
Assaye demonstrates the strength of
British fighting skills in
the face of superior numbers; Wellington,
years later which
was
moment
his finest
young
a
of Wellington.
when asked
in battle,
formed
answered
was
it
his
men up on
were reported
to
gage tram was well
northern India, and Battle of
candidate for peshwa.
Britain's
was
It
were determined
in
had
lost
the
river,
1803
began the advance. Maratha
arose. This time
began if
forcefully. his
younger brother Arthur to offer protection to Peshwa
Baji
Rao
II,
who
had been defeated by the Holkar
Other
clan.
it
fortified,
river further
rear,
it
but because his bag-
he did not mind losing
for the duration of the battle.
but they
still
possessed superior numbers and
knew he would
to duel, Wellesley
was prolonged and so he ordered
his
men
SHEER AGGRESSION British
equipped pieces of
It
was an
impres-
and
cavalry; 10,000 infantry, trained
the Western style by French soldiers; and 200
in
artillery. All
commanded was 4.500
Wellesley
lars,
mostly sepoys, and
this,
Wellesley
half of
was supremely
ciency and organization
in
regu-
these were cavalry. Despite
confident, demonstrating
effi-
abundance.
Later historians have praised Wellesley 's logistical abilities
above
how
triumphs
his
frequently proved decisive ry,
and
in battle,
it
is
important to consider
the British supported their armies in
most armies had supported needed
they
from
the
their troops
lands
they
British forces in India,
by taking what through.
who
frequently
difficulties of a
campaign. The
however, adopted a system
they bought food and supplies from merchants their
camps. This not oniy resulted
but also ensured
the
goodwill
relatively
which
in
who came
to
less incidental fighting,
the
population.
local
be obtained
at
these
mili-
sourced from merchants acting as spies. The
wealthy
who were
in
of
Intelligence information could also tary bazaars,
it
passed
Understandably, this alienated local people,
fought back and added to the
because
in India,
campaigns. Throughout histo-
enjoyed the support of merchants
British
not slow to exploit their generosity. Wellesley did
not invent this system but, with his excellent eye for detail,
he ran
it
superbly and
gave him an added edge over
it
his
Maratha opponents. Having
left his
baggage
he instructed to be position of his in this
train in
fortified,
enemy
at
the village of Naulniah, which
Wellesley rode out to inspect the
Assaye. Wellesley
was
process of reconnaissance, getting to
scape of the forthcoming
battle
well practised
know
the land-
so as to be able to use
it
to his
advantage. Ignoring the suspect knowledge of his guides, he
discovered a ford across the Kaitnathat he could to
speed up the transport
vulnerable.
It
of his troops without
meant he could
Wellesley led the
way
also
surprise
make use
of
making them the
into the river, but as his troops
enemy.
waded
forward, with
the kilted troops of the 78th Highlanders leading the way.
penetrated Maratha territory and stumbled across an army at
some 30,000
a
artillery
lose the encounter
Sheer aggression was the only way to win
sive array:
commu-
The Marathas
the advantage of having their troops protected by
clans then objected to the British intervention. Wellesley
the junction of the Juah and Kaitna rivers.
caval-
west and
formidable array of cannons. As the two lines of
more
it
to intervene
governor general of Bengal, sent
Richard Wellesley.
nication with
British at the
only a matter of time before
there would be a further clash, and the British
and
central
attempt to favour a
1779 they defeated the
in
Wadgaon, following
m
up. Fortunately
ceased when Wellesley
have crossed the
could have threatened Wellesley 's
The Marathas had replaced the Mughal dynasty
it
the opposite shore.
regular British troops and ry
WAR WITH THE MARATHAS
opened
artillery
half-hearted fire and
Wellesley placed his Madras sepoys between two units of
forty
with one word: 'Assaye.'
some Maratha
into the water, for him,
fixed
their
this contest; the
bayonets and charged the well-trained
Maratha troops. The two Maratha commanders, Berar and Scindia, lacked the fighting,
but
their
courage of Wellesley and senior
Hanoverian, remained
in
78th Highlanders halted at
mighty
volley,
European
command
55m
retired
adviser,
from the
Pohlmann,
of the Indian troops.
artillery
soldiers at the Battle of
Assaye. Wellington
considered this one of
(180ft), fired their
then charged and plunged
a
The
Below Maratha
rake the lines of British
in
muskets
in
a
with their bayonets.
the hardest-fought battles of his career.
'
«*
British forces
k ,
Casualties:
»
across river
.
*
——
1.500 British and Allied 1,200 Maratha
Assaye
x
r Final Indian retreat
Indian forces
#^
——
\ **
Final Indian
t*
defensive position
4
.
*»
POHLMANN
,'
'*•••*•••***
>*(/\ \
•
i
\
\
x
>_
V.:.—
Indian infantry
advance
x
\x
N
pursue
•"
s
Indian
movements
Indian defensive line British
and Indian guns
Cavalry charge
^ 7
:~ ^ ^.
X
\ \
•*
%
"
"^
•
.^
^^
"^ *-
\
x
x
xH
x
N
^#
N
**+
^
^
* *1#
x
J"ah
x#
J
-•*
N WELLESLEY
-»- -»-
X
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.
X
y ^x x
~ xx
** »* "•"
x
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captured
•*
indianTetreat
W
British
W
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and guns
meet
to
W
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<
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I
--
movements
British
>x
I
\/b
X^
^
x
British
^|
jnfantry attack
T
I
g
SCINDIA AND BERAR
Above: A typical sepoy soldier
armed with
It
was
Western-style uniform.
These men formed the
backbone
of Britain's
empire-building armies in
ing, in
theatres of
fired a
second
war from
volley,
India to Spain.
Maratha
line of
reel-
which
finally
in
the 78th Highlanders
artillery,
broke Pohlmann's troops on
the southern flank. The Madras sepoys followed up on this
entire
British
men
Pohlmann's
now swung
line
the fighting and a second horse
him. His bravery
and
round
pushed
back to the Juah. Wellesley became caught up
must have
stark contrast to that of the
concerned with
was
fatally
men;
inspired his
Maratha leaders,
personal safety.
their
wounded beneath it
certainly
stood
in
who seemed more
Faced by a renewed
the late 18th and early
success and also broke the Maratha
19th centuries.
triumph, however,
Above right: On 23 September 1803 British Maratha troops back
and broke them, forcing
them back
into
Assaye
some
of the
was
there to
away by
their
sepoys became disorganized
and the sepoys
regrouped. At the forefront of the action, Wellesley had his
horse shot from beneath him. Highlanders
came under
On
intense
sive square with ramparts
the northern flank, the 74th
fire
and had to form
composed
British attack,
crossed the
a defen-
of the bodies of their
the Marathas decided they had had enough and
river,
leaving behind
much
of their
equipment.
Wellesley 's victory decisively curbed Maratha power
cavalry, but the British
protect their flank
and then across the
Juah
Carried
line.
and vulnerable to the nearby Maratha cavalry
troops chased the line of
The
this sort of hard, close-quarters fighting that the British
Having taken a
0.8
PeepulgaoD———
favoured and which would frequently send their enemies
musket and wearing
°5
kilometres
.Waroor
Allied Cavalry
•
miles
but his losses had been heavy, with
India,
tral
troops dead and
wounded -
a casualty rate of
some
in
cen-
1,500
more than 27
per cent. The Marathas had lost at least 1,200 dead and had
abandoned 98 cannons on the tory at
Argaum ended
battlefield.
A
further British vic-
the war, but the British had
many more
river.
dead comrades. They stood British cavalry to gallop past
village of
their
ground long enough
for the
and clear the ground before the
final
to fight
CLOSE-RUN THING
The General was
though in
the thick of the
action the whole time.
No one could
have shown a better example. a
man so
I
never
cool and collected...
I
in
India against
tough opponents, and
conquest of the subcontinent was
ence not achieved
Assaye.
saw
campaigns
can assure you,
till
until
our troops
a very
the middle of the 19th century.
we could have succeeded. A Personal
got the order to advance the fate of the
Quoted
day seemed doubtful; and
History by Christopher Hibbert
numerous cavalry done
their duty
I
of the
if
the
enemy had
hardly think
it
possible
in
Wellington:
(HarperCollins, 1997)
their
hard-won experi-
TRAFALGAR, 1805
A
truly decisive
sea battle
Nelson demonstrated breaking the
once and
line of
for
all
which Vice-Admiral Horatio
in
mastery of naval
fire
power by
French and Spanish ships and ended
Napoleon's ambition to conquer
Nelson's bold action
copied by naval
his
became
a
Britain.
much-admired manoeuvre,
commanders ever
after.
This sea victory
Seapower had always been important -
in
that
it
protected
maritime lines of trade and therefore the creation of wealth but
in
the 16th century,
in
the
wake
Above: The
:'
the a
British naval
new
level of impor-
tance for a number of European nations. The Dutch,
British,
Spanish and French navies fought each other to secure
power would dominate the oceans
hugely profitable colonies and control of the sea lanes that
.entury.
led to
them. This fighting
at
stage of
with the French ship of the discovery of the
Americas, seapower had assumed a
Redoutable about to surrender to Nelson's flagship Victory.
sea continued for more than two
The
devastation of the close fighting
ensured that
final
the Battle of Trafalgar,
is
clearly
shown
by the wrecked Redoutable on the
left.
hundred years, with none
A
major players gaining a
of the
advantage over the others.
clear-cut
Although
maritime arms race led to the creation of bigger and
more powerful
faster ships, capable of maintaining
arrays of
the Netherlands had declined
and losing
protect their overseas empires had
main contenders
weakened and
ability to
the
left
it
sea power as Britain and France.
for global
Napoleon was serious about conquering Europe and then
who
He was
fearless under fire and as a
arm while engaging
his right
ship near Tenerife
'a
before the Battle of the
Nile. After
from
became
timber from a French flagship.
the decisive battle on this front.
own
his
peerage or Westminster Abbey!'
ed to receive
a coffin
1794
in
Spanish treasure
a
He often discussed
1797.
in
death, settling on either
the world, he would have to win the war at sea. Trafalgar
If
impairing the
in battle,
eye during the assault on Corsica
his right
in
Horatio
inspired the dearest devo-
had been badly wounded twice
result
sight
power, thus their
Vice-Admiral
stature,
in
a fighting leader
tion of his followers.
cannons. By the end of the 18th century, Spain, Portugal and in
diminutive
Nelson was
the battle, he
his captains
was
made
delight-
out of the
NELSON AGAINST NAPOLEON
'ENGLAND EXPECTS'
With France dominating the continental landmass, there
When
he received Napoleon's orders to ferry troops to
was
Naples
in
Britain could
little
the Royal Navy
French
was
maritime
emphasized colonies
in
assault on Corsica
power
its
During
ambitions.
power by
West
the
to limit
there, but at sea
strong and Britain used this to contain
naval
its
do
Indies.
1794
in
Above: Horatio Nelson
from the Mediterranean.
(1758-18051, one of
with the French fleet
A
the
number
taking a
However,
failed
and
1790s,
of French
more ambitious
a
had to retreat
Britain
Spanish attempt to
was
Britain
join its
foiled at the Battle of
forces
Cape
St
knew
the Mediterranean, Admiral Pierre Villeneuve
that Nelson
was
therefore set
waiting at sea to engage him
in battle.
He
the Bucentaure and slipped out of Cadiz
sail in
with a combined force of 33 ships (18 French, 15 Spanish).
Nelson
commanded 27 ships-of-the-line and was impatient On 21 October, Nelson caught up with Villeneuve,
for action.
who into
head back to Cadiz. Nelson formed
tried to
two columns and drove them
at right
his ships
angles towards
Britain's greatest
commanders and at Trafalgar.
The
Vincent
the ragged
1797.
in
line of
French and Spanish ships.
victor
portrait
is
by Lemuel Abbott,
c.
1797.
1798
In
a British fleet
under Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson
returned to the Mediterranean and defeated the French at the Battle of the
This re-established Britain's control of
Nile.
HMS
Nelson's flagship,
and he directed line,
it
was
Victory,
first in
towards the twelfth ship
Villeneuve 's flagship.
He ordered
in
the column
the opposing
his signaller to hoist
the region and posed a threat to the French port of Toulon.
up flags conveying a message to the rest of his
Furthermore, Nelson's victory helped to encourage the cen-
'England expects that every
tral
European
Napoleon.
In
powers
to
join
new
a
sion of Britain. With Spain as his
ally,
possibility of finally achieving
naval
French broke out of Toulon and Indies, but
there
Channel through
British in the English
under the "command of Admiral
West
coalition
1804 Napoleon began preparations
were
was
against
for an inva-
the tempting
where he threw the Austrians
summer
and the
was now
in
for Italy but
was
Britain
distance and the grapeshot,
a grape,
and give
for breaking a ship's like a
shotgun,
was
resistance which
might be offered to a boarding
Nelson ordered one
final
'Engage the enemy more
columns
British
message
to fly
from
his
party.
masthead:
closely.'
of ships closed
on the French and
the Spanish and French ships and the British sailors lay
his
balance at Ulm (see
In
was
and shifted
fleet at Cadiz
October 1805
it
set
intercepted off Cape Trafalgar, near
Cadiz, by Nelson's British fleet.
two round shot and then
gun-
by other British
Spanish
The French and Spanish
the Mediterranean.
a practical order to his
1805 Napoleon
given a different objective: the re-establishment of
French power sail
of
France into central Europe, off
in
fleet:
his duty.' Captain
intended for close-quarter fighting to clear the deck of any
As the
of northern
Austerlitz, pp. 20-23).
captains: 'Put
gave
do
will
typical of that delivered
hull at a
The
Villeneuve.
into the Atlantic
had decided against the invasion of
army from the coast
Belleisle
a joint fleet operation
Pierre
back and seeking the safety of the port of Cadiz, where they
by the
HMS
her that.' Round cannonball shot
harried by British vessels into turning
this turn of events,
of
one probably
dominance over the
were then blockaded. With
Hargood ners,
man
down on
hell
line, all
broke loose. Broadsides erupted from
their decks.
They had
to accept this first assault,
because they were approaching head-on and could not yet fire their
guns
in
unison. Under the withering
fire,
masts
Men were blown to pieces and crewmen became impatient. 'Shall we not show our splintered and sails collapsed.
broadside and
fire?'
replied Hargood,
asked an
officer
'we are ordered
to
on the
Belleisle. 'No,'
go through the
line,
and
Having raked the Bucentaure with
^m- -)>-
V
NEPTUNO
shocked
10
on one another. The
fire
to
CAX
Flagships
SCIPION^
^^
y y^
;an franc/sco de as/s
^
k
grenades and
kets,
vulnerable
to take cover - and sure
'^ Nelson
dies,
enough
TEMERA
REDOUTABLE
English ships break^ _
?E
LEVIATHAN
\1
the French and c „„ nich PmQ
"conoueror
SANTA
ROYAL SOVEREIGN
Lucas thought he had
*^NEPTUNE NFPTUf
SANLEANDRI „,. u,.ANDRo\
™
"1
^r
__
r
set
M u
ONAUTE
it
save
BAHAMA
MONTANES
DEFIANCE
on the other
it
side. In the
cannons
its
its
and was
when
the
meantime, the Victory kept
Redoutable, breaking
into the
apart
it
were now stuck
captain's feet. All three ships
sinking fast but
falgesiras
=Cll£RIP"0\
Victory,
free and sent a boarding party aboard the French ship.
Fpluton achille
of triumph
together and they drifted helplessly. The Victory finally broke
Ifougueux
spartiate
into
beneath
MINOTAUR
moment
his
about to send his sailors aboard the
firing
INDOMPTABLE
imonarca
^
exposed. Barely a quarter
Redoutable was rammed by the Temeraire, which crashed
ANA—
PRINC^.
two columns attack to split the French and Spanish fleet
wounded
a French sniper
SAN JUST0
Villeneuve surrenders
^j/tf AGAMEMNON^
fleet in
fully
Nelson below deck. *|
^
Nelson s
particularly
of his refusal
of an hour into the fighting British sailors had had to carry
NELSON
^ ^f
was
engagement because
kind of
in this
Nelson
cutlasses.
IsanagJStin
27 ships
BRITANNIA
armed with mus-
to be carried out by sailors and marines
him as he stood on the deck
Ocean
this as his oppor-
.
Vravo
%
Atlantic
saw
and he wanted the fighting
tunity to board Nelson's flagship
^k .MONTBLANC RWMtW* OUG(My TROU(N
inflict-
crew were
British
see the French suddenly shut their gunports,
but Captain Lucas of the Redoutable
French and Spanish retreat
the Victory round-
fire,
ed gently and closed with the Redoutable. Both ships ed heavy
English attack
^v French and Spanish warships m—
OCTOBER 1805
21
English warships
and the Temeraire his ship.
The
alight
if
moment
at the
to
the British did not help him
Meanwhile, beneath the decks of the
Nelson was dying
Victory,
of his great victory.
fighting continued for five terrible hours as both sides
becoming disabled as
blasted away, ships
i
was
It
would not surrender, Lucas threatened
masts were
their
^OLWHEMUS Si!,
'LDEFOriSO
'
! /
were wrecked, the
*
*'"
'--
••:
'
12 miles
^
bruised him from hip to neck, but
tain of
10 French and Spanish ships run for Cadiz
columns line of
being the
larly badly,
by God!' The Victory suffered particufirst
to enter the
enemy
line
marines
in
the midst of the fighting.
line of
and duly
the
enemy
Villeneuve
with his columns, he had created a
numbers
superiority of
was compelled
the centre of the battle.
in
to surrender
and ten of
his ships
broke off the battle to head for the safety of Cadiz. The
- breaking the
Spanish and
receiving fire from
good naval
French ships during the
all
Battle of Trafalgar on 21
giving their
all
quarters. Nelson
and
officers of the period, coolly
his officers, like
paced the decks,
men encouragement.
October 1805.
BREAKING THE LINE Once the
come to
British ships
tremendous
British
had penetrated the
The
enemy line and own broadsides
were masters
damaged
but none of
them had been
wind rose
after the battle
many
of the
enemy
Trafalgar did not
French sailors and destroyed 20 of her guns.
ade
their
own musket
French had placed snipers
fire to in
this,
;ould ignite the sails, although
y ship
and not
kill
crew.
claiming that their
in reality
commander's its
marines
the rigging of their ships, but
Nelson had a personal disdain for
aval belief that the
British
the ferocious volley. The
job
he shared a
was
to capture
ships
lost to
and prevented the
enemy
were badly
the enemy. The British
from tak-
ships as prizes, but the dead Nelson
became one
of
Britain's greatest military heroes.
France - Napoleon
added
of their
could not be denied his victory and he
broadside of the Victory
first
own
Many
crashed into the Bucentaure and instantly wounded 200
effect.
of the sea, having captured 17
ships and sunk one.
ing
close to their foes, they fired their
that
he stood on deck and
French and Spanish fleet began to disintegrate. By breaking
local shall,
still
Eventually Nelson's tactics proved their worth and the
the
go through she
sails.
its
splinter
urged his crew on, sharing a bunch of grapes with his cap-
\
SAN JUAN D£ HEPOMUCENO
Above Nelson and his British ships - in two
a
'
-
M BERWICK
both ships
three of
all
Hargood was knocked down by
Captain
:
/
Belleisle losing
until
Cape Trafalgar
fAchilles prevail
broken. The Belleisle fought the Fougueux
;»Kfj;jr;
end the naval duel between
was
British exports to
aries of
still
Europe - but
Britain controlled the seas.
and
it
did define the
Britain
used
its
No
later at Austerlitz,
land,
while
other nation could contest
sea power
in
create and maintain a global empire that ^d ever seen.
and
bound-
dominance. Napoleon remained master of the
going on to victory two months
this
Britain
as determined as ever to block-
the 19th century to
became the
largest
'
Above: This painting by Denis Dighton
shows
Nelson struck
down by
French sniper's
a
bullet.
British captains routinely
walked the decks ships, defying in
of their
enemy
fire
order to maintain the
morale
of their
crew
Far from being a motley assortment of
on to blow a gale of wind, and the
them.
We
impressed seamen, the majority of
English immediately set to work to
clever
manoeuvres before, and
Nelson's sailors were professional
shorten
crewmen who performed
as
well
under
sail
much
and reef the
regularity
topsails, with
and order as
if
their
fire.
One French
captain at Trafalgar
ships had not been fighting a dreadful
was
particularly
impressed by how
battle.
We were
all in
amazement,
quickly the British sailors recovered
wondering what the English seamen
from the trauma
could be
The act
of battle:
that astonished
was when
the action
me
was
the
over.
most It
came
made
of. All
our
either drunk or disabled, officers,
seamen were and we, the
could not get any work out of
never witnessed any such I
shall
never forget them. Quoted
in
The Oxford Illustrated History
of the Royal
Navy edited by
J.R. Hill
(Oxford University Press, 1995)
AUSTERLITZ, 1805
—
-
French armies
ARCHDUKE FERDINAND
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Russian and Austrian armies
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HUNGARY
^MARMONT
Above: Napoleon
SALZBURG
wearing the uniform
Innsbruck
of
the Grenadiers a Pied of
Tyro SWITZERLAND
.
p
|
Carinth
neyM,
Lienz"* **%
s
^
the Imperial Guard
ia
^
prava
.Villach
N
e n e
t
i
closeness to and
J.
concern
commander.
1
ffffll
a»*
"Trieste
10
Cam'
x
^•Venice ^6
Left:
50
miles c,e a
his strength as
a charismatic
MASSENA
c
for his soldiers
added to
T
•***
a
portrait by Paul
Delaroche. Napoleon's
ARCHDUKE CHARLES
V
Napoleon's
strategic
%a
movements
1
kilometres
8o
!
early
December,1805 as
he confronted the forces
Russian armies. of
Napoleon Bonaparte's finest
Austerlitz
showed him as
a
victories, the Battle of
master of manoeuvre, with
outperforming the larger one ranged against half.
Success
left
but, believing
him unassailable
he was
invincible,
in
it,
and
his force
splitting
it
in
western and central Europe,
he then invaded Russia and
precipitated the collapse of his empire. Overconfidence can be a
commander's greatest enemy. Like Julius Caesar, Napoleon
and foremost a
first
matic military leader. His troops believed that head, they could not
mere
politicians.
fail
- he was
He was
a
'man
if
he was
of destiny'
took their
do
mood
AUSTERLITZ
to procure provisions for us.' directly
charis-
aloof.
at their
from him.
'I
seemed somewhat
cold and
Perhaps he had been looking forward to a more resound-
ing victory.' In fact
he was
ill,
but the sight clearly disappointed
Vossler.
Even when things started to go wrong
French
soldiers
retained
belief
in
[Napoleon] passed close to a grenadier
their
who
in
Russia,
commander.
the foot,' observed Heinrich von Brandt, 'and this brave
called out, "Oh, sire!
We would
Why were you
'He
had been wounded
man
not at our head yesterday?
have crushed the Russians."'
up against
also observed to care closely for his
men. 'Our beloved Emperor,' wrote Captain Coignet, thing he could
recalled Lieutenant Vossler. 'He
in
was
'did
Many
in
1
of the Austrian
One
in a
every-
soldiers
passed the Emperor,'
DICTATOR OF FRANCE Napoleon's military reputation 1
was
796-97, where, leading France's
forged
Army
of
string of victories against larger armies.
in
northern
Italy,
Italy in
he achieved a
He combined
fierce
and
Paris.
-nna-
FRANCE
battlefield
aggression with skilled strategic manoeuvring, which
enabled him to defeat the superior numbers of the attacking
them piecemeal. Success on the
becoming the primary achievement government
in
Paris
and
in
enemy by
battlefield
the
of
was
fast
Revolutionary
1797 a coup d'etat ushered
in
the
pro-Bonaparte Directory.
British control of the sea.
Nile
ended
political
this
power
Below: The French
camp, on the night
in
an attempt to weaken
The French defeat
at the Battle of the
hope, but Napoleon further increased his grip on in
1799 when he claimed personal recognition
for the various military
with a Consulate. The
for
Peace treaty or
life.
finally
and desire
dissuaded from
for
successes by replacing the Directory
civilian
administration
servant of the military and Napoleon
was
was now firmly
the
at liberty to indulge
not, there
seemed
to
be no end
French expansion. He was only
his plans to
invade Britain by the Royal
Navy's control of the seas, emphatically confirmed at Trafalgar in
1805 (see
Trafalgar pp. 16-1
Armee, a body to
assume time
this
of
hegemony over
in itself.
was
Meanwhile,
in
a hereditary empire, in part to ists
into the
Grande
with which he proposed the rest of Europe. By
often appeared that the military successes of the
Revolution meant that war
an end
The force with which he
some 200,000 men
his 'rightful'
it
9).
was then absorbed
intended to invade England
1798, France invaded Egypt
In
Consul
to his ambition
being pursued by Napoleon as
May 1804 Napoleon undermine the
proclaimed
plotting of royal-
against his regime.
before the battle of Austerlitz, painted by
Louis-Francois Lejeune
(1775-18481
Napoleon
in
1808.
men.
own
With tional
ambitions through conquest. Britain
Napoleon's sole remaining opponent, an interna-
peace was established
at
Amiens
in
AUSTERLITZ MANOEUVRES
March 1802. The
By 1805,
was confirmed
Coalition to
Britain's
prime minister,
Pitt,
had assembled the Third
talks to his
generals and inspires his
his
existence of a military dictatorship
May
that year
when
in
a popular vote
France
confirmed him as
in
First
both
Italy
oppose Napoleon. Having made fresh conquests
and Germany since 1802, Napoleon
now
in
took the
AUSTERLITZ
against his
initiative
enemies
in
vres. In October,
men
at
sought to
two months
army
his
were
enemies
of Austria
was
through the Alps from
command
under the
moved
men
were
in total,
prevented from coming
by a force of 20,000 Frenchmen
The
of Ney.
right flank
Archduke
Prague, while both the
in
men were
Italy
near Brunn.
fragmented.
Austro-Russian force
allied
southwards from Olmutz, hoping
first,
Napoleon's
men
65,000
and Russia, with 90,000
Olmutz, and 80,000 more
in
of
hopelessly
Ferdinand, with 18,000 men,
emperors
had
after the Austrians
against France. Advancing north from Vienna,
he began to concentrate His
manoeu-
By November, Vienna
to surrender.
it
occupation, just
move
1805 he
in
brilliant military
he surrounded an Austrian army of 30,000
Ulm and forced
was under
Europe and
central
wrong-footed them with a series of
and cut
overwhelm
to
communications with
his line of
Casualties:
Vienna. Situated near the village of Austerlitz, Napoleon deliber-
made
ately
his
attack from the
army appear vulnerable
French 9,000 Russian and Austrian 26,000
order to provoke an
in
allies.
NAPOLEON'S TRAP As
anticipated,
Defeated Russians
on the morning of 2 December, the Russians
and Austrians sent
their
main assault against the French
wing. The French reeled back and the
men
along the
exactly
line to exploit
the
troops
his
was
but this
hidden
initially
now
he
campfires,
their
right
sent more of their
momentum,
what Napoleon wanted. With
by winter fog and the smoke of
allies
counter-attacked with Marshal Soult leading a corps against the heights of Pratzen, an act which
the
split
allied
army
Soult then turned to attack the extended allied
half.
in
flank.
left
against only 9,000 French losses.
commanded
Russian army
wrote to
wife Josephine.
his
'I
have beaten the Austro-
by the two Emperors,' Napoleon
am
'I
a
Tomorrow and
I
I
be able to
shall
rest
in
weary.
little
many
the open for eight days and as
in
have camped
I
freezing
nights.
French corps
now
and Austrian position
should be able to snatch two or three hours' sleep there.
The Russian army
is
not only beaten but destroyed.'
Below: of
assaulted the
on the
allied right
at
the Battle of Austerlitz.
the castle of Prince Kaunitz,
Surprised, the Austrians and Russians fled.
Two more
Above: Napoleon's aggressive assault on the centre of the Russian
Artillery soliders
Napoleon's Imperial
Guard. Trained as an
MASTER OF EUROPE
artillery officer himself,
Brunn-Olmutz road. The Russians resisted bravely, but fighting the veterans of
was
This
also the
became
ership
in
hard
Napoleon's army proved their worth.
moment when
a decisive factor,
Napoleon's charismatic lead-
because
his soldiers
wanted
to
Austerlitz
mance
This
one
of Napoleon's
the exotic Mamelukes,
African costumes.
most dedicated
who were
dressed
in
These Mamelukes were marvellous
cav-
North
riders,'
observed Coignet. 'They could do anything they chose with
With
their horses.
head the
curved sabres, they would take a man's
one blow, and
their
sharp stirrups tore the loins of
they encountered.
One
of
off with
men
their
them came three
different
times up to the Emperor bringing a Russian standard. The time, the
Emperor wished
to stop him, but he
dashed
in
third
again,
and returned no more.'
French cavalry at Austerlitz: the instruction of
dered
One
me
my
recommend
too highly
arm, which has ren-
such important services, needs to be well instructed.
been massacred, and
my
Eventually, the Russians allied
could not
could say that instruction does everything. The Russian
cavalry did not lack courage all
'I
cuirassiers... This
[at Austerlitz],
Guard has
lost
and
still
it
has nearly
nobody.'
were overcome and by
nightfall
army had collapsed, sustaining some 26,000 casualties
AUSTERLITZ
makes
because
it
there
felt
was
and
Emperor Francis
The
was
it
reach himself.
czar's forces
at the
peak of
nothing he could not achieve.
He
this point
onwards
he began to over-
that
German
believed he could conquer the
and eastern Europe, and he spent the following decade
By
suit of this ambition.
1
807 he had crushed
sought to control Russia and
1812
in
this resulted
which he was forced to
disintegrating
army
that left
in
Prussia;
brilliant
Napoleon made the mistake
Moscow
of
victories
many
in
he
with a
1940,' wrote Alistair
such as
dictators
he underestimated the strength and endurance of 'As with Hitler
pur-
finally,
the catastrophe of
from
retreat
states in
him vulnerable.
Raised to dizzying heights by
were too
gave
of Austria
Austerlitz a decisive battle for the rest of his career,
was from
Home,
his
'the
humiliated, the victor given too great a
in
that
enemies. defeated
sense of
superiority for the long-term future to consolidate the victory. Austerlitz raised
Napoleon to the pinnacle of
turned his head and or combination
the
after
into unconditional surrender.
success and
Austerlitz,
Napoleon was more prosaic about the performance of the
Europe
retreated ignominiously to Russia. Napoleon his
at Austerlitz of
of Napoleon's greatest victories
of central
had been forced
please him by gaining a victory. Coignet describes the perfor-
alry units,
was one
him mastery
of
filled
it
his
success,
it
If
also
with the delusion that no force
forces could
now
stop him conquering
the world.' From Austerlitz onwards, Napoleon's days were
numbered as the
allies
grew
in
strength against him.
Napoleon was expert its
in
use on the battlefield.
Above: Napoleon victorious at the Battle of Austerlitz, having
defeated two emperors It
was
the climax of his
military career
and
That evening the Emperor came out of
NIGHT BEFORE AUSTERLITZ
convinced him that he
Captain Jean-Roch Coignet
was unstoppable
remarkable for two aspects of
Painting by de Mesnier First,
his tent,
is
his
life.
twilight,
was
carried four lighted torches. This
1799
1816, a remarkable feat of
signal for a
and secondly, he wrote
guard took up handfuls of straw from
survival;
fascinating
memoirs
and recorded a
of his times
particularly
moving
moment between Napoleon and soldiers
on the eve of
in
Austerlitz:
his
battle
their
charming
sight: the
bivouacs and set them on
Holding a bunch lighted
It
and the horse-grenadiers
throughout Napoleon's campaigns, from to
them
his horse, started
off with his escort to visit the outposts.
was
he served as an active soldier
and mounting
in
cried out, "V7ve lEmpereur!"
the
I
air.
am
thousand
The whole corps took
it
sure that two hundred
flares
were
The bands
lighted.
Russians, from their heights,
more
seven army corps, and seven in
men
and
the
than
a hundred feet above us, could see
fire.
other,
in
and
played and the drums beat to arms. The
whole
each hand, the
them one from the
up,
all
and tossed
front of
lines of fire
mem.'
From The Narrative of Captain Coignet: Soldier of the Empire translated by
M. Carey (Chatto
& Windus,
1897)
AUSTERLITZ
WATERLOO, 1815
The
battle that
marked the end
how
classic demonstration of
of the road for
a
more
Napoleon was a
practical
commander,
such as Wellington, could defeat a charismatic warlord. By understanding the landscape of war
brilliantly
and using
mander In
of
them
com-
over.
How wrong
Above: Scots Greys cavalry charge the
French at the battle of
they were.
Waterloo by Lady
in this
It
did not take long for the people of France to forget the hor-
Right:
The opening
movements
disintegration of his
Prussia
army during the disastrous
reasserted
itself
retreat
from
and joined forces with
Napoleon had
inflicted
on the rest of Europe and they
the
at
encounter that ground him in
down
of
1813,
an
the Peninsular
War
Leipzig
further. In
Spain and Portugal from 1808 onwards, the
manded by more.
In
result,
1814 the
although he
who became
Wellesley,
Wellington as a
was
reduced French
inflicting
the
in
British,
'Iron'
military
com-
Duke
of
power even
French armies around
not the disasters of his last campaigns. The economic disarray
Waterloo
in
between
17
being all
felt in
France
was
said to require a 'strongman' to sort
it
out and Napoleon seized his opportunity. Less than a year
after his exile to
several minor defeats on them. Forced to abdicate, island of Elba
and Louis
XVIII
was
sail
and landed near
his closest Paris,
guards-
gathering
support wherever he went.
The
Napoleon was exiled to the
Napoleon set
men, he marched through France towards
capital
before his enemies and
Elba,
Cannes. Accompanied by a thousand of
beaten, Napoleon had demonstrated his old brilliantly
and
pined for his return. Ex-soldiers recalled only the glory days and
invaded France and occupied Paris;
Allies
genius by manoeuvring
24
Battle
of the
Allied, Prussian
June 1815.
and Russia
Austria
painting
Butler.
NAPOLEON'S RETURN rors that
all.
1812, Napoleon's world had started to collapse with the
Moscow.
relieved; the long struggle
it
both to protect and to conceal his troops, Wellington devised a battle-winning formula that finally toppled the greatest
was
enthroned. The rest of Europe
with revolutionary and then imperial France appeared to be
rest of
Europe was
horrified.
As Napoleon entered the
and resumed control of the French government and
army, the Allied powers
met
declared him an outlaw. By
1
at
June the
midable array of armies: 95,000
its
the Congress of Vienna and Allies
British,
had raised a
for-
Dutch and German
Belgium
and 18
,
* * '^
Sea
ifth
J^»
jFXP
L L« N
Bruttels
-ATERLOfl
EUROPE
command
troops, under the
been
assembled
of the
Belgium;
in
Gebhard von Blucher marched
Germans raised
left
some 280,000
Wellington; 210,00
to join
on
largely
his
charisma - the one attribute
him - Napoleon managed soldiers,
to raise a force of
75,000 of them veterans
who needed
urging to join their erstwhile emperor.
Faced by such an overwhelming that the only
way
strategies and he
north
in
was
highly skilled at
to
move
quickly
of his
most
brilliant
was
was one
It
it.
Swiftly he
advanced
order to defeat the Prussians and the British separate-
before they could
join forces.
On 16 June Napoleon
collided
with the Prussians at Ligny. His aggression paid off and the Prussians reeled back.
4bove The Duke of Wellington, by Goya
In
the meantime. Marshal Ney took on
a British vanguard at Quatre Bras, a strategically useful cross-
(1812).
Napoleon wanted Ney to help him
roads.
has been alleged, by the Napoleonic historian Peter
It
Hofschroer,
making
that Wellington
a stand at Ligny,
them and then not doing assemble
his troops.
demonstrate the ing the
If
political
deceived the Prussians into
claiming that he would support
gave himself further time
so, this
true,
is
the
off
finish
to
could be said to
it
astuteness of Wellington, indicat-
superb grasp of the
war
realities of
that
would
later
help him at Waterloo. Other historians disagree, saying that
Wellington pledged support only
Napoleon knew
alliance,
to defeat these armies
and defeat them one by one.
ly
under
Prussians
and a Russian army of 167,000 slowly advanced
westwards. Relying
little
of Wellington, had
along the Rhine frontier; 75,000 Austnans were
lay
in Italy;
that never
Duke
124,000
which he was
make
Hofschroer does, however,
emphasizes the
fact that
Germans formed the Napoleon.
Some
amounted
to
that
was
he
not attacked,
which
in
forces facing
25,000 troops from various German states
it
Duke
one-third of the
of Wellington's
was Wellington who commanded
gave Napoleon most trouble on the day and
toughness of many ground, that
when he
point
a valid
Waterloo was a battle
majority of the Allied
more than
army. That said,
if
Quatre Bras.
at
made
it
British
such a
the army
it
was
which stood
regiments,
the
their
titanic struggle.
Prussians, but the British vanguard proved far tougher to deal
with than anticipated, giving Wellington time to gather most of his forces at
CHARISMA VERSUS GOOD SENSE Having pushed the Prussians back to Wavre, on 18 June
Waterloo.
Napoleon turned
his attention to
of the French generals
Brussels
WELLINGTON
*
I "'""ALL
\
\
s
j
18
JUNE
V»"
-WATERLOO
'La Belle-Allian\e ^" "
\ -S;
/
*%*
JUNE/
~ Braine-Le-Comte
Nivelle
X
stSU'
cially
Marshal Soult, but Napoleon rounded on him: 'Because
you have been beaten by Wellington you consider him general, but
NAPOLEON
*X^ *St^
'
«
"
i^B
Allied
armies
Allied
movements
French armies
JUNE
(see Assaye, pp.1 2-1
*\ *
17
good
a
bad general and the
affair will
not be
more
seri-
in
Spain and India
Wellington analysed the landscape of
thus screening them from the
JUNE
from any opening stantial
C embloux
\
his British
regiments on the
J
J
fortified positions
Namur
protecting
them
ahead of
his flanks
and
up the cohesion of any enemy advance.
Above
was being
all,
Wellington in
cautious and chose a defen-
the hope of holding the French long enough for
Bluchers Prussians to
,
enemy and
bombardments. He used the sub-
centre, thus breaking
sive position
gamore
artillery
walled farmhouses of Hougoumont, La Haye-Sainte
and Papelotte as
A
join
him and then together they could
overwhelm the French.
m
Charleroi
les
1
French movements
a
reverse slope of a low plateau running along the Ohain Road,
\w/ ''
5),
and placed the majority of
battle
\\
m*XV* LIGNY
The whole
English are bad troops.
is
ous than swallowing one's breakfast.'
GROUCHY**
\
you that Wellington
Wellington did not underestimate his adversary. Employing
A +
\
tell
the practical methods of war he had learned
QUATRE BRAS /%*%
17
I
.Wavre
t
\\
Spain
X T BiiLOW
17
Some
rather anxious about the forthcoming encounter, espe-
1
BLU CHER
British in
were
1
\
Wellington at Waterloo.
had fought the
N
JUNE
17
who
10
Disdaining caution and trusting to his soldiers' passion for
1
1
kilo
netres
15
him as style,
their leader,
Napoleon took the offensive
although his respected
abilities
in
his old
as a battlefield surveyor
and waving
squares
many
the battlefield,
managed
swords
their
returned dense volleys of
fire.
who
British,
ridge of
of these British regiments had also
escape the worst of the opening barrage of
to
although French cannons were carried forward dur-
artillery,
down
the battle and used to lay
ing
the
at
Formed up behind the
between the
destructive
fire
in
cavalry assaults.
'[The French] fired into us with grapeshot,' recalled Morris of
the 73rd Highlanders, 'which proved very destructive, making
complete lanes through dash
closed our
wounded
and then the horsemen came up
files,
we
and they were forced again to
did not, however,
cannon - waiting there to
We
grapeshot. thick as hail
saw
upon
to
had
throwing the dead outside, and taking the
inside the square;
They
retire.
us;
the openings. But before they reached us,
in
go further then the pieces
try
the effect of
the match applied, and again
us.'
It
was
brutal fighting,
made
of
some more it
all
came
as
the worse
by the fact that neither side would give way.
By
six o'clock
it
was
the storm. His troops had stood firm and alry that
Left:
clear that Wellington
gave way. But danger was
still
it
was
men and
led another brave assault
the French cav-
the soldiers
present.
on the
As Napoleon rallied
this
up with one
final
blow.
He would send
them against the weakened
was covered by
barrage that pummelled the Allied
artillery
Napoleon sent
his infantry
dense columns, cheering usually British
their
enough to make any
were unmoved.
In
formations forward
in his
lines at
most
several times, but the
Allied centre,
which
Allied right flank,
Allies held their
the farmhouse of Hougoumont. Behind the
addition to this,
onslaught.
work their
for the
lines.
it
was
had rained heavily
was muddy, making
it
hard
French soldiers to cross the ground and slowing
impetus.
Mud
also absorbed cannonballs, stopping
them
from bouncing dangerously across the ground. Despite
this,
the French captured Papelotte and by four o'clock the Allied line
was pushed
back.
It
was
important to keep the pressure
on because Napoleon wanted to crush the ssians arrived, thus
Ney took
it
Allied
army before
on himself to order a
massive French cavalry attack. Napoleon believed the assault
was an hour too
rx x Final Allied
f
Chateau de.
Hougoumont
early.
W
^
STANDING STEADY :avalry thundered
towards the
are formations in :
jmrades and raised the bayonets on the
3ts
tips
so they formed a hedgehog-like defence. urging such obstacles e
WATERLOO
Allied lines,
which soldiers stood
and
French cavalrymen to
their
charge
circling
the
Allied
armies
Allied
movements
French armies
'-
French movements
V\\*VW^ 4^L v ^ ^Trench ^ \ J± W V* ^^
x^
attack
attack
\ * s
v
™
cavalry
attack
Imperial Guard
^^
nerve
their lines failed to
break under the
faint-hearted foe dissolve, but the
the previous night and the farmland
Allied
Waterloo on 18
June. Napoleon attacked
at mid-day. In
emperor, such an advance
his
Below: The French
advance against
appear to have deserted him on the day. Opening with a
massive
fought
Brown Bess musket.
and
Ney took the Old Guard beside the
who
Wellington at
Waterloo - loads
fol-
and experienced troops - the Old Guard.
Instead of leading
for
British line. This
Having managed to hold the Prussian advance, Napoleon
loyal
his
they swept over the farmhouse of La Haye-Sainte.
lowed
of
the 69th Foot - typical of
concentrated on the approaching Prussians, Ney
time,
An infantryman
had weathered
Prussian attack
Above:
Prior to
Waterloo, British troops held the French advance at
the cross-roads of
Quatre Bras. Here,
made, they
FRONT-LINE FIGHTING
Some
of the
toughest fighting at
Waterloo was endured by the infantry,
British
or the chagrin of being defeated,
horses up to the bayonet's point; and
not; but
one of them, leaning over
existence with his
made
who formed square formations
deliberately walked their
a thrust at
me
his horse,
with his sword.
he endeavoured
I
know
British soldiers
to terminate his
would
use at
later
Waterloo to defend
being too long for his purpose, he took
I
form the
square formation they
own sword; but that
themselves against before the assaults of French
could not avoid
artillery
and cavalry. Nineteen-year-old Thomas Morris
was
in
a defensive square at
Waterloo while he served
in
Regiment and describes
his
my
closed again,
it,
eyes.
and
When opened them
encounter
my enemy was
thrusting at
in
bayonet under
by one of my rear rank men, and whether
farmhouse were
remembered
a 71st Highlander.
him
in
bom-
came
several times
nothing could impede
was gone
in
moved forwards the
same
ordered
a
eight o'clock.
The
We
our last
advance.
mob. Napoleon's time had run
out.
left
He nad
Helena
The
in
like
Wellington. Three days
British
the middle of the Atlantic,
Battle of
later,
Napoleon surren-
and was exiled to the remote island of St
where he died
Waterloo was a tremendous
in
1821.
victory, bringing
an end to the French Revolutionary period and discouraging the re-emergence of any government intent on dominating
Allies
had refused to be
were pushing
attack elsewhere on the battlefield.
general
two
us.'
intimidated by the Old Guard and the Prussians
own
was
our advance. This
in
time.
a
charisma-based warfare had proved insufficient to defeat a
dered to the
retiring at
in
prevent the British and Prussians linking up and his
failed to
commander
were charged
their
riding up,'
the battlefield
a square, with
'We formed
We
it.'
desperately to the end, but others had had enough and
our centre, to receive cavalry. Shortly the whole army
received orders to advance.
It
fire,
support his troops.
highly valued. 'Wellington
columns, four deep, the French
effort;
line to
on
Sergeant Morris edited by John Selby
batteries of Allied artillery that furiously
was
fell
Painting by Lady Butler.
(Longman, Green, 1967)
barded the advancing French columns. Fearless under
His presence
French cavalry attacks.
Quoted from The Recollections of
the anguish of the wound,
Wellington coolly rode into the front
and
his cuirass,
on
up with
the act of
me. He had been wounded
was
raising himself
one hand, he placed the point of the
The next charge
it
and
lying
lying just in front
with a French cavalryman: the [French] cavalry
the ground,
I
of me, within reach,
the 73rd
one of our bayonets, which was
involuntarily
Isolated
French
Wellington
units
fought
continental Europe. With Napoleon defeated, military competition
from France withered, enabling
expand be the
its
Britain to
prosper and
empire around the world. The 19th century would
'British century'.
MEXICO The culmination
1847
CITY,
of the United States 's struggle to
dominate the
North American continent, the battle for Mexico City
was
a
decisive victory built on
dogged determination and American
military professionalism.
It
nearer to becoming a major After winning
was determined
m
the
War
of
its
it
Rio Grande.
the world.
in in
1782, the United States Its
clash with Britain
failed to provide a satisfactory military out-
to confirm the
boundary with Canada, but
more
fruitful
was
the United States's steady advance west-
wards, led by traders and pioneers. The major power to contest this territorial In
expansion
tories to the
28
ability of
Mexico to maintain a
southwest of the United States and
MEXICO CITY
New
offer
April
1
836 demonstrated, Mexico was
not long before the United States
further.
In
1845, the
began to claim land as
of 3,500
US
United States far
sent by President Polk to uphold these claims. to acquire California of California,
and
New
Mexico
(the
Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts
Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming). However,
was
south as the
regular troops under General
his financial
rejected and Mexican troops crossed the Rio
Grande to Below: US troops storm
clash with Taylor's army.
It
was
the excuse Polk needed and
in
1846 the United States declared war on Mexico.
Mexican positions during the battle of Cerro Gordo
was Mexico.
1836, the declaration of independence by the Republic of
Texas tested the
was
wanted
modern-day states of
in
was
settlers
An army
Zachary Taylor Polk also
it
weakness
power
did discourage any further continental interventions by Britain.
Far
exploited this
annexed Texas and
independence
come, serving merely
found wanting and
also took the United States a step
to control North America.
1812
the defeat at San Jacinto
grip in
on
its terri-
California.
As
Scott's
A STRING OF VICTORIES Some
60,000 American volunteers joined Taylor's army
Texas, but the Mexicans
in
which
Americans
outmanoeuvred Santa in
were confident and possessed an
Anna's army, opening the road to Mexico
City.
— Pacific
army four times
numbers, the Americans
bigger. Despite the
gained the upper hand
in
culminated
in
light artillery.
the two-day Battle of Buena Vista
in
(the victor at the
second US army,
in
C^
February
which Taylor defeated Santa Anna
1847
Santa F
JANUARY 1847
These
Battle of the Alamo). Shortly prior to that, a
r— mm
T
northern Mexico with a succession of
helped by their superior use of
victories,
Ocean
" -\
JV f
UNITED STATES
TEXAS
SAN DIEGO.
o **
Fort Jesup
Paso
El
„
V>
MEXICO
January 1847.
in
^
Although they had experienced a string of defeats, the
Mexicans refused
army
to
and President Polk ordered
to surrender
march on Mexico
FEBRUARY 1847
his
BUENA VISTA
Because the landward approach
City.
(500 miles) across
country, a third
difficult
was
9,000 under General Winfield Scott
army
of
delivered by landing
tested, with Vera Cruz falling
in
March 1847.
men
US
commanded
the
Mexico City and ended
Above of the
right:
1846-48. While
forces invaded
California,
the Mexicans requested an
Presuming the Americans were
armistice.
now
General Scott
CERRO GORDO
overstretched,
artillery fire
US
from Chapultepec, the
and the Mexicans were chased out
been followed
up
assault
complains
promptly,'
was
successful
of the mill. 'Had this victory
Grant,
doubt
'no
the Mexicans used this time to reposition their troops and on
Americans and Mexicans would have gone over the defences
8 September they resumed fighting.
of
Chapultepec so near together that the place would have
en
HALLS OF MONTEZUMA Alongside the in
command
skills
officers
who
into
and Scott, the
had been trained
US
at the
US army
collection of
Military
Academy,
own
fall-
our hands without further loss. The defenders of the
works could not have of Taylor
Mexico was aided considerably by a talented
took an army to the
Mexican
was open and
The course
Mexican-American
War from
US
road to Mexico City
SEPTEMBER 1847
320 kilometres
Cruz
Cerro
Gordo, but the Mexicans were encircled and defeated. The
troops that captured
the war with Mexico.
at
fired
taken by the Americans
upon us without endangering
was
men.' Grant perhaps
considerable -
in
a
too
little
critical,
that day's fighting had
more than 750
their
for the losses
been quite
casualties, reducing Scott's
army
capital.
West
Point.
Thomas
J.
who would
They included Robert
Jackson and George later
War on opposing War
Lee, Ulysses S. Grant,
McClellan, junior officers
B.
become commanders sides.
Grant rode with Scott
in
the American
in
The experience gained
them
certainly helped
left a
E.
in their
the
final
future
in
bulk of Santa Anna's
the Mexican
careers. Ulysses S.
approach to Mexico City and
concise account of the battle for the Mexican
The
Civil
army was
inside
City
when
the armistice broke down, but he also had a significant number of troops installed
a nearby mill at
in
Molino del Rey and the
fortress of Chapultepec. Grant claims that Scott thought
were manufactured grain.
in
the
mill,
but
it
Aqueducts supplying Mexico
was
guns
his
for a day.
On
artillery
and
let
them bombard two
the morning of 13 September,
columns, each with 250 volunteers, took scaling ladders and attacked the Mexican-held fortress.
US Marines were among
the
was another
It
of the fortress, an action that later featured
Marine Hymn, inspiring the verse
Montezuma
Shores of
to the
Marines involved
in
bitter strug-
troops to scale the walls
first
line
Tripoli.'
in
the
famous
'From the Halls of
So brave were the US
the fighting that 13 of their 23 officers
Major Twiggs, overall commander of the
was seen
important to Santa Anna.
barrelled hunting
of the
aqueducts were incorporated
into
defences, with earthworks thrown up between them
night, the
US forces were
place by daybreak on 8 September. Although within range of
rifle
to
carry
into action, but
his .favourite
double-
he did not survive the
combat. The Mexicans were no less brave and the defenders included one hundred young cadets of the Military Academy,
which was based
artillery.
General Scott's subordinate General Worth led the assault on
in
Chapultepec
attacked.
received brevets.
The great stone arches
Molino del Rey. Advancing during the
up
days before the
storming parties,
crucially
to protect the
was
brought
five
from these two
them
city's
hill
would be another
It
actually a store for
City ran
points as well, making
the
Scott
gle.
capital.
Mexico
to less than 7,500. fortress on the
1847 |
CITY^j'j^Tera
MEXICO
1
Scott's force next
had to face Santa Anna and an army of 13,000
JMARCH
SANTA ANN*
200miles
and the approach therefore went uncon-
negligible
I
Scott
/
'it Tampico*
across the Gulf of Mexico to Vera Cruz. Mexican naval
power was
Above: General Winfield
Matin
Gulf of Mexico
was 800km
craft
^
'° ^TAYLOR
under Colonel Stephen Kearny, had marched westwards and claimed California for the United States
SCOTT
in
the castle. Eventually the fortress
taken and Scott's army directed military organization
its
attention to
Mexico
was
City.
US
and preparations had proved superior to
that of the Mexicans.
MEXICO CITY
presented the appearance of a "city of the dead", except for this firing
by unseen persons from house-tops, windows, and
US
around corners.' The rilla
soldiers quickly
suppressed the guer-
and General Scott took up residence
activity
dent's palace, a
complex
Montezuma'. The war was
the presi-
in
nicknamed the
of buildings
'Halls of
over and peace negotia-
virtually
tions began.
Mexico gave the United States complete
Victory against
dominance of North America. and from
It
had no
on became
this point
rivals
on the continent
a global power.
An
empire of states was completed by the acquisition of on the
Pacific
with Mexico.
Coast and the securing of
Some Americans wanted was
Mexico, but this
deemed
not
already gained 1,300,000 sq ritory,
New the
km
its
internal
territories
southern boundary
President Polk to annex
USA
necessary. The
had
(500,000 sq miles) of extra
ter-
including the regions of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona,
Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.
US government gave
In return,
5th
This remarkable conquest, however, had not been achieved
some $100
without a high cost:
US
ease.
Some
were
voices
raised
campaign expenses
War, one of the earliest conflicts to be captured
criticism.
in
the Mexican-American
troops, mostly from dis-
million of
and the death of more than 13,000
Two soldiers of the US Infantry during
Left:
the Mexicans $1 5 million.
on
Ralph Waldo
film.
They wear the
wide non-regulation
Emerson
ARCH BY ARCH
it
oy arch along the aqueduct that led to the
Americans encountered some resistance
capital city, the
form of Mexican to outflank
Mexican troops on the
recalled, 'breast
ditches,
[2.5-3m]
in
deep
men
priest
came
to
by occupying the
city road
water and grown up with water
in
its
The howitzer was taken destination.
claimed that the tensions unleashed
led to the
With the
er,
for a
certainly
time at
he consented or that
I
little
When
I
knocked
for
in
the road.
least;
not.
the belfry, It
was
declined
Civil
worn
by volunteers during
this
campaign.
have
the southern states over Below: The final series of combats in the US assault on Mexico City.
new territories
War.
my command,
Spanish then at
and besides,
He began
where
door.' it
I
intended to go
see
to
his
duty
in
United States armies
\ MOLINO
same
among
——
Mexican movements
MEXICO CITY
SEPTEMBER
^^^^^
a pultepec
l8 SEPTEMBER
light
The gun was assembled and
sent shot
smA Am
14
'
^Ch
whether
in
the
prison-
United States movements
^H Mexican armies
i+*fc'
I
——
Texcuco
San Cosme Garita \
San Angel
the Mexicans on
Churubusco
m^
12
a crucial action, further reducing the resolve of
V city walls.
They began in
to cut
^=======^_
-t-
^5£§l n
VALENCIA
houses outside the
passageways through the houses towards the walls
20
AUGUST SCOTT
'
By the night of 13 September, Americans troops were in
historians
retreat
the defenders.
encamped
in
Some
Me> tans
admission a
polite,
would save himself from becoming a
and opened the
did,
placed
American
clothing typically
the arsenic which brings
us.'
the issue of extending slave ownership into the
DELRET
and
poison
plants.
explained to him that he might save property by opening the door,
who swallows will
and carried
to pieces
who, while extremely
to the door,
to admit us.
the
however, were not over eight or ten feet
width.
by the
in
an effort
in
be as the man
him down. Mexico
This took us over several ditches,' he
belfry of a church.
These
Grant led a small unit
artillery fire.
will
declared: 'The United States will conquer Mexico, but
AUGUST
"
anticipa-
Augustin
'%
>v^ ""
y V\
tion of having to
storm the
city.
But during the
night,
Santa Anna
Chalc
VS.
and
his
army withdrew.
His last act
was
to release
all
the occu-
pants of the prisons, hoping they might cause the Americans
some
trouble. Politicians
Scott, asking
from Mexico City
him to respect the
now approached
rights of their citizens.
The next morning, US troops formed ed. 'On entering the city the troops
a
column and proceed-
were
fired
upon by the
Vs
N
^T
Vs. l
~-"-f)
MEXICO CITY
streets
were deserted, and the place
II
// V-, miles
5 I
1
The
1
1
I
hostile citizens.
1
1/
released convicts,' reported Grant, 'and possibly by deserters
and
o
VS.
|
1
aquaduct
Above: Escalante's painting of the Battle of
Molino del Rey, one of series of
a
combats fought
during Scott's approach to
Mexico
City.
We wear all kinds
FANCY JACKETS The US army
was
that
marched
into
Mexico
not wholly prepared for the rigours
of campaigning.
swollen
its
Many volunteers had
ranks and uniforms varied
considerably,
if
summer 1846, Dana wrote
they were worn at
J.T.
to his wife while advancing
on Monterey, offering an account of appearance:
to his taste,
some
his
hats,
all
some
and
of uniforms here, each
some
some
white,
jackets and pants,
all. In
Lieutenant Napoleon
one
blue,
is
fancy
some Quaker
just the way, too, that
our fellows went into
my old straw hat, pants,
some
colours of cottonelle
straw and
that
shirtsleeves,
battle...
I
have on
those blue-checked
made by your dear hands,
are torn
m
which
out,
and
that loose coat
you made,
which you recollect washed white.
much danger
think there is
shooting
me
for
I
don't
of a ranchero
an officer of high rank.
My trimmings
don't
pairs of those
check pants have worn
show much. Both I
pretty well out'
Quoted
in
Mexican-American War
1846-48bv Ron Field (Brasseys, 1997)
both legs and pretty well worn
MEXICO CITY
GETTYSBURG, 1863 The Confederate cause
the American
in
Civil
War was never
better led than by General Robert E Lee, but at Gettysburg he
misjudged
enemy and
his
suffered a crucial defeat. His deter-
mination to break the centre of the Union
nated
doomed
a brave but
in
line of
frontal assault.
defence culmi-
From
this point
onwards, the Confederacy was on the defensive. Robert
E.
learned the lessons of Napoleon very well. Lee understood
the
art of
manoeuvre and the impact
aggression.
It
was
precisely
of strategical
and
alized
what the South needed.
and prosperous
more
states, the
not expect to win. The North could million,
call
president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, both of
had been trained
In a
pro-
agrarian South could
on a population of 22
while the states of the South had just 5.5 million
at
West
knew
Point,
could give the South
strength.
al
[-
-
Pennsylvania
such as from
leverage far beyond
political
Britain.
Confederate
capital of
Richmond by sending
threaten Washington, D.C.
Army
^H
Confederate movements,'
'-
Chambersburg*
* flf
Martinsburg n
"2*1
*\ *
VLEE
North. His
by George
led
W
?C
i
7
Creek. Despite inflicted
battle that
he
felt
thought that himself.
In
in
his
summer
fail;
perhaps Lee even
1863, Lee swept through the
order to strike Washington, D.C, from the
troops
stumbled on
Union soldiers
at
Lee was the greatest
Confederate
generals, but
this time,
as armies advanced through
would send out Hill,
was
Washington
his
BURNSIDE
enemy
a
one
parties of troops to search for food
they
territory,
of Lee's divisional
good supply
men
off to
of
shoes
commanders, heard
at the
town
the battlefield which led
improved
in
fire
wan-
soldiers
Left.
into the
of
town on
Union
July they
1
were confronted with two
who were on
cavalry,
reconnaissance.
and major battles
power kept the Confederates
1862
at bay.
The news
developing at Gettysburg duly reached Lee,
deploy his troops and bring the North to
Virginia
that a fight
who
fire
was
decided to
battle.
With more and more Confederate troops flooding
into
27 JUNE 1862
»V
Gettysburg, the Union brigades
GAINES MILL
fell
high ground overlooking the town.
Richmond.
*V^*-
.West Point
McCLENNAN
MALVERN MILL
1**
of the
armies during 1862-63,
which culminated
it
encouraged Lee
to think
back and took control of the It
was
a defensive
move and
he had the advantage: that
if
he
just
kept up the pressure of his attack, then the Union forces would Harrison' an-sH.anding
\Williamsburg
cave
in.
He was
power and
thinking
artillery
in
vening 50 years. Repeating
power meant
Napoleonic terms, but infantry
had evolved considerably during the rifles
and more devastating
that the tactical advantage had shifted
fire
inter-
artillery
from the
in
three-day conflict at
Gettysburg.
with repeating breech-loading carbines and this superior
i^FREDERICKSBURG
E>13 DECEMBER
power.
The manoeuvring
Union and Confederate
dered
AND HOOKER
brigades
1-6 MAY 1863
the face of
that there
of Gettysburg and sent
As the Confederate
gather them.
and supplies.
Although heavily outnumbered, the Union forces were armed CHANCELLORVILLE-
let earlier
Napoleonic attitude on
to disaster
Maryland
,
E.
battle.
BATTLE BY ACCIDENT At
»
Above: General Robert
success encourage a
LEE
McCLENNAN
Valley
By now, Lee's troops believed
they could not
M CREEK
A.P
1
out-
c:
•
,-
was
he rejected a
\ SEPTEMBER 1862
/
* Front Royal
1863, Lee
of the
tFrederick
^
brilliant victory.
he was a genius and
However,
May
Lee fought
this,
casualties on his
favour of attacking one flank after the other,
in
thereby winning a
In
more
at Chancellorsville, but
Gettysburg and Lee rapidly had to plan a
Harpers Ferry
movements were McClellan and Lee
such an aggressive
north.
1-3 JULY 1863
B.
became trapped behind Antietam
Cumberland
7 meade' * GETTYSBURG
,
Hagerstowrv^
West Virginia Virginia//
**
»
a cavalry force to
September 1862, Lee crossed the
In
Potomac and invaded the
River
frustrated by a Union
defensive battle
Carlisle
Confederat onfederate army
actu-
its
June 1862, Lee forced Union troops away from the
In
numbered and outflanked
Ulpn movements
whom
similar circum-
in
might also attract important support abroad,
It
opponents and withdrew undefeated. Uniortpny
that
stances Napoleon would have taken the offensive. Early victo-
tactical
longed war with the North, which consisted of more industri-
cautionary voice would
have recommended a defensive campaign, but Lee and the
ries
Lee, the leading general of the Confederacy, had
A more
whites and 3.5 million slaves.
the
ashington
lichmond
'
X
who
Above- This painting by
offensive to the defensive. Troops
Thure de Thrulstrup
charge could be annihilated before they reached the opposing
shows the Union
line
along Cemetery Ridge
line in sufficient
withstanding the
appreciate
Confederate assaults. A
first
Union
artillery carriage
this,
numbers
even
launched a daring
to break through.
Lee
did not fully
after the lengthening casualty lists of the
years of the war, and continued to believe
the efficacy of
in
charismatic leadership.
aim
of then turning
in
on the centre.
A
mighty
barrage
artillery
began the greatest combat ever fought on American diversionary Confederate assault
defence meant that
The convex Union
line of
reinforce each of
Meade's
were
along
stretched
went up against
was
A
Hill.
easier to
whereas communications
flanks,
the
it
soil.
Culp's
concave
Confederate
lines.
rushes forward to
support the infantry.
By the second day
line of
Meade had deployed
his
Union troops effectively along the high
ground, which ran from Culp's
Cemetery Ridge
Hill
the centre, to
in
let
pass,
on
Little
The Union army would not be drawn hour Lee
Major General George
of the battle,
his right flank, along
Round Top on
into
his left.
an attack and every
more and more Union troops
arrived to rein-
force the defensive position. Lee had lost any advantage of
impetus he might have possessed on the
compelled to organize
his troops
first
day and was
opposite the Union positions,
but on lower ground. Deciding he could wait no longer, Lee
launched an assault
in
Longstreet's troops surged up the Little
Round Top, where Colonel Joshua
manded
men from
A
L.
Chamberlain comleft
Alabama troops launched themselves
at
Maine, but the Union troops stood firm.
year before Gettysburg, Chamberlain had been Professor
of Rhetoric
and Modern Languages
at
Bowdoin
College,
where
he had succeeded the husband of the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
He was
a passionate supporter of the
abolition of slavery
and
movement
this fervour fired his
Round Top. For over an hour Chamberlain and
the late afternoon.
slopes towards
the 20th Maine on the extreme edge of the Union
flank. Line after line of
the
wooded
for the
defence
at Little
men
resisted
his
repeated Confederate assaults, but with more than one-third of
LITTLE
ROUND TOP
Lee aimed I
his
to envelop the Union left flank, sending Longstreet's
Corps against the weakly defended
Little
Round Top with the
men
casualties and ammunition running low, he had to face
what looked
like
the
final
attack that
would overwhelm them.
Digging deep into his courage, he ordered 'Bayonet!' His
men
GETTYSBURG
33
knew
exactly
guns. Yelling selves
what was required and
fiercely,
down
the
200 survivors
hill
fixed bayonets to their
of the firefight
Having exhausted themselves with countless the Alabama troops broke; back.
Little
PICKETT'S
sive
third
in his
left
flank
fell
was
CHARGE
Meade would and
this
mam objective.
day of the battle neither side was
willing to give
not be triggered into going on the offen-
compelled Lee to once more consider the deci-
sive assault that
would leave
his
opponent
he decided to break the Union army
massive attack in
uphill assaults,
surrendered, while others
Round Top was saved and the Union
back. Lee had failed
way.
some
Elsewhere, Confederate attacks were also beaten
secure.
By the
threw them-
and charged the Confederate forces.
at its centre.
an age of modern
fire
It
was
a
in
reeling. This time,
half
by launching a
Napoleonic gesture
power. Lee assembled
troops for this major thrust, and although
-
but
some 15,000
Major General
George
E. Pickett
was
only one of three divisional
name would
ders leading the soldiers, his
ed with the attack. Announcing hour
bombardment
artillery
responded by
comman-
forever be associat-
their intentions with a
Cemetery
of
from both
shifting extra troops
two-
Meade
Ridge,
his flanks to rein-
force the centre of his position.
The main Confederate attack began thousands fields
of Lee's soldiers
towards the Union
in
mid-afternoon as
advanced through the wheat-
lines in front of
Cemetery Ridge.
'Now the enemy's guns have quieted down and our heads up above the breastwork
are poking recalled
Steven Allen Osborn,
army. 'Then the cry
is
along the
all
Union soldier
a
raised "There they
in
line,'
Meade's
come!"
It
was
a
grand, but awful sight to see those three lines sweeping for-
ward
to almost certain death. First there
is
the report of one
lone [Union] cannon up to our right, quickly followed by the
most
awful, unearthly roar of letting go of
along our
line.
opposite us ing
To the
we
ground but
right of
us their
line
some 60 guns
kept advancing but
could see they were staggered and were giv-
rallied
and came
Meade had removed
his
on.'
out the
artillery
Confederate bombardment, but
now
way
of
the
rushed them forwards
so that they could rake the advancing Confederates with deadly volleys. Lee's troops ing
showed
incredible bravery, press-
on through the withering storm of
fire.
Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead thrust his hat, held
it
high,
Who
cold steel!
Confederate
sword
into his
and shouted: 'Come on boys! Give them the will
follow me?'
In
an
earlier age, a deter-
mined charge with bayonets might have cleared the Union lines,
but
now
as the surviving Confederates approached
within range of Union
by yet more
fire
muskets and
rifles,
they were ravaged
power.
Armistead walked on with
his hat held high
and reached the
stone wall that formed part of the Union defences, but around
him there were only a few hundred had begun the advance.
It
was
a
men
out of the 15,000 that
slaughter and Armistead
'
himself
was
shot dead as he stood
Meade immediately
among
the Union cannons.
counter-attacked and swept
troops that had penetrated his
away
Those lucky
few
the
Charge' has been called the 'high water mark' of
ous eras the bodies
be
the Confederacy because ery and daring of
its
it
killed,
represented the supreme brav-
troops and
its
commanders, but no army
could withstand such a shock as this and Lee's reputation
A photograph by
Left:
Alexander Gardner of a
dead Confederate
sharpshooter
suffered a severe blow.
He had brought
the edge of destruction and
was
the Confederacy to
forced to fight a war of
defensive manoeuvre ever afterwards, no longer able to chal-
at Little
lenge the
North
with
bold
The days
advances.
of
the
sacrifice
on
this scale for
vice of political ideals
later
of
the
erty
declared
The three days
left:
in
his
of fighting at Gettysburg.
Pickett's
was
Charge (middle)
the tragic and
deciding
combat
of the
was delayed
devotion; that
end
of the
1865. Gettysburg also represented the
Napoleonic approach to war and announced the
beginning of modern, industrialized warfare, with an escalation
in
fire
power and consequently
need
a
for
strong,
bat-
graves, but
the unity of a nation and
in
the ser-
of far greater
Lincoln visited the battlefield four fighting there with the political
lib-
Lincoln
Gettysburg Address, 'we take increased devo-
cause
we
for
which they gave the
last full
measure
here highly resolve that these dead
The
in vain.'
Park and the dead
battlefield
were buried
beginning of an age
would be more
entrenched defensive positions-
battle.
have died
mass
of previ-
on the
left
'From these honored dead,'
nation.
tion to that
into
14,529
were 3,903
wars
In
was deemed worthy
and linked the
Confederacy were numbered, although the actual surrender until
missing.
dead were usually
Abraham
respect. President
months
Round Top, July 1863 Far
of the
be looted and then thrown
tlefield to
killed,
missing; Confederate losses
wounded and 5,425
18,735
Union casual-
battle:
days amounted to 3,155
wounded and 5,365
to
bloody
a particularly
alive
line.
returned to Lee and he could do nothing but withdraw. 'Pickett's
was
Gettysburg
ties for the three
in
was preserved as
in
which the
a cemetery.
It
shall
of
not
a National
marked the
lives of a nation's soldiers
highly valued.
Above. Confederate General Armistead, with his hat
on
his
sword
point, leads the final
charge against Federal cannons.
Above
right
Major
General George Meade,
CHEERFUL BUT ANXIOUS
and
'The Confederates were cheerful, but
infantry,
anxious at the delay. They were restless
cover of any
to
be "up and at 'em"; eager
commander of the Union Army at Gettysburg,
what they knew was
used
them commenced and
his defensive
positions brilliantly to
draw on the attacks
enemy had
to
more
have
telling
when
sort.
Here was a
situation
of
their fire.
Many of the men, and
disabled long before a
response for about two hours the enemy's batteries slackened
Then the order
for the infantry
charge was given, and the
trying than the quiet inactivity of
to their feet with
several valuable officers were killed or
ended... The line
upon the
exposed as they were without
the morning.
inevitably before
the exact range of our
shell told with effect
Quoted from Pickett's
movement was
Harrison
(New
men
sprung
a shout of delight.
Men by Walter
York, 1870)
of
Army was exhausted.
battle,
andjust overshooting
trie artillery
ordered: but the
line
remained steadily
the Confederate until
it
opposed
to them, as usual, their shot
fixed.
Our
artillery
continued to pour
in
a
GETTYSBURG
25
SEDAN, 1870 Koblenz
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MACMAHON
Wm French armies
FRANCE
French movements
•
German armies
German movements German-occupied France
In its
swift
that
its
and
pounded the failed to
was
efficient defeat of France, Prussia
army was Europe's new,
invincible
demonstrated
power.
Artillery
Sedan and dashing French cavalry charges
city of
have any effect on the superiority of such
power.
fire
the end of a flamboyant era, but overconfidence
the victors would subsequently encourage
Germany
to
It
among embark
defeated Austria
rapidly
at
the Battle of Koniggratz, making
Prussia the undisputed leader of the north
German
states.
Bismarck knew that the south German states, no longer
shadow
of Austria,
would have
to
be brought
another war, and Emperor Napoleon
III
in
of France
line
Germany's march to these world wars began with Prussia's of aggression
in
the 1860s and 1870s. Otto von Bismarck,
foreign minister of Prussia from 1862 onwards, aspired to unite
the
through
gave him the
opportunity he needed.
the loose confederation of of Prussia,
and
it
achieve this end.
was In
German
a series of
oversaw the growth of Austria, states. In
36
which also
1866
laid
this rivalry
was alarmed by
the events between the
German
backed Hohenzollern claim to the Spanish throne. France
opposed
to
Denmark
Army so
it
could match that
claim to leadership of the
broke
III
diplomatic argument then developed over a Prussian-
wars which helped him
and Holstein. Bismarck then
of the Prussian
A
states.
states under the leadership
1864, Prussia and Austria fought
to secure control over Schleswig
THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR Napoleon
down
into
German
war and Prussia
in
July
1
this,
and Bismarck irked Napoleon
870. Napoleon
III
was
confident
his last
major international test
ended
triumph.
in
It
was
in
in
into declaring
his decision
war
because
1859 against Austria had
a grave error.
French military organization could not match that of Prussia,
and whereas the Prussians mobilized
rapidly
by using
invasion of France
was
swift, culminating in the in
on two disastrous world wars.
wars
Above: The Prussian
trains to
French army being
surrounded and defeated at Sedan.
'
SEDAN
**M were slow and incompetent
transport troops, the French their preparations for war.
Prussia against France, and three
command
of General
in
The south German states joined with
German armies under
von Moltke and
the
his efficient general staff
clashed with the French along the Rhine
to
380,000 Germans - and outmanoeuvred by the Prussian general staff,
who
had learned the lessons Napoleon had
them more than Below. French cavalry attack
German
infantry
became
during the Franco-
it
Prussian War, but are
ry: in
overwhelmed by ful,
German
fire
pattern that
power,
was
repeated at Sedan
*
i
half a
century
movement bore tremendous integral to
France
in
German
earlier.
fruits in
This trust
inflicted
on
war
of
in
a
the clash with France, but
military thinking in the
1870, the Prussian
next centu-
method proved too success-
too quickly, and an overconfidence
in
it
After a rapid series of defeats. Napoleon control of the
better
army
to his generals.
and culminated on
Gravelotte-St
Privat,
led to the disastrous
tled
up a French army
The
at
in
were
little
Battle
of
fighting
by the
control of the battlefield
and bot-
Metz. Ill's
victorious gen-
rushed to relieve these battered forces by
leading a 120,000-strong
with the
relinquished
18 August with the
General MacMahon, one of Napoleon erals of 1859,
III
results
where despite hard
French, Moltke remained
frontier.
The French were outnumbered - some 224,000 troops
FRANCE
German
army
into northern France.
forces along the River
take a defensive position
in
a
bend
Meuse
Clashes
forced him to
of the river at Sedan.
Then further German forces suddenly enveloped him, creating a catastrophic situation. Napoleon
III,
who was
trav-
a
stalemate of the
First
Second World War.
World War and dramatic setbacks
in
the
elling
with the army, had the
wounded MacMahon
replaced
by Ducrot. The French had their backs against the Belgian
frontier with Moltke's
west and
south,
200,000 troops pressing
from the
in
north.
was
It
call
on
a desperate situation,
their cavalry to
and by noon the French had to
break out of the encirclement. Four times
Above: Red-trousered French Zouave soldiers clash with Prussian
the French cavalry charged the
CAVALRY AGAINST GUNS The
was the
fighting at
a battle
German
circle
in
Sedan began which
artillery
especially relentless. Arranged
ority in artillery:
enormous
had a
much
felt
but to
distances,
make
most often exploded
And no
other resources
oneself as small as possible All
German equipment,
in
went
off
in
the
were
the furrow
air
left
where
round Sedan the eight hundred pieces a girdle of bronze,
were
blasting the fields with a continuous thunder fire, all
all
was
inferi-
whereas the French ones with fuses
shorter range and
one was cowering...
ing
a semi-
the French suffered from an
'[German] percussion shells almost
before reaching the target.
of
in
It
with
role,
day-long bombardment. Emile Zola, the novelist,
present at the battle and
at
September
1
played a predominant
firing at
and
this
once,
converg-
the surrounding height aiming at the centre, would
burn and pulverise the town within two hours.'
commander
Gallifet, left.'
It
was
modern
'Would the cavalry
fire
of the cavalry, 'so long as there's
a gallant effort,
power
like,'
replied
one
of us
admired even by the Germans, but
treated such daring mercilessly.
William Russell, the famous war correspondent of The
on the heights above Sedan, they subjected the town to a
terrible
lines.
charge again?' wondered Ducrot. 'As often as you
04.00 hours on
at
artillery
German
Times,
was present
at the battle,
watching
nied by their king, Wilhelm
the war.
I,
it
who were
tions of the Prussian general staff,
from the posialso
accompa-
and Bismarck, the architect of
He described the impact German
infantry
guns had
on one of the French cavalry charges: 'The leading regiment of [French] cavalry ly
changed
moved
out of the hollow at a walk, quick-
They were mounted upon white and
to a trot.
grey horses, and presented a very gay appearance sun.
They were going
the trot
was quickened
onds they seemed annihilate them.'
to
to charge.
in
As they reached the
to a gallop,
and
sweep down upon
in
two
the top,
to three sec-
the infantry, as
if
to
infantry near Sedan.
brother,'
wrote Napoleon
midst of
my troops,
of Your Majesty.
I
I
III.
'Not having been able to die
can only hand over
am
my sword
into the
the
in
hands
Your Majesty's good brother - Napoleon.'
was an empty attempt at friendship. Sedan was a
humiliating
It
and
crushing defeat for the French and one which would have long-
Europe
lasting effects for In just
into the
20th century.
one day the French had endured some seventeen
thousand casualties, and more than one hundred thousand
were taken
diers
German
prisoner.
sand. The capture of Napoleon lapse of the French Empire
German
capital finally
and
in
were
in
new
Paris as a
forces then
went on
republic
peace treaty was
May.
The terms were tough
an
In
infantry advancing
such an impressive charge would have
earlier age,
unnerved the infantry before them, but the advantage
now
with the infantry, armed with powerful breech-loading
rifles.
of the
German
states
for France,
which ceded the regions
were thoroughly impressed by
leadership and Bismarck
lay
was
to besiege the
of Alsace and Lorraine, both important industrial areas.
Above The Prussian
col-
signed his surrender on 2
fighting continued into 1871 until a
signed
sol-
just nine thou-
meant the immediate
when he
September. Revolution followed proclaimed. The
III
losses
won what he had
The
rest
Prussia's
intended when,
in
during the Battle of
Sedan
was
not
until
the front had reached within a couple of hundred
yards of the [German]
came the
rattling of a
which was kept up
of a volley,
roll
catherine-wheel. The result
The leading squadron was dissolved
ble.
was almost
gage themselves, while others held up
incredi-
I
becoming
Second Reich.
It
overconfidence
in
its
would never forget
with
was
the beginning of the
also the beginning of
Germany's period of
its
was
was proclaimed
emperor. This
own
military abilities. France,
this humiliation
and fought
however,
bitterly
the next
time German armies returned.
trying to disen-
hands as
their
like
heap of white
into a
men were seen
and grey horses, amidst which
Wilhelm
Russell, 'that there
infantry,' recalled
out the whiff and
1871 at Versailles, a united Germany
'It
to avert
if
the charge of the squadron behind them... The ground present-
ed
in
one moment
most
a
singular appearance.
was
It
as
though someone had strewn a carpet with fragments of white paper, with here and there dots of brighter colour.'
HUMILIATION By
1
ians in
7.00 hours, the town of Sedan
and desperate
soldiers,
of
all
an effort to escape. Napoleon
look healthy as he rode his horse
holding out against the slaughter.
He ordered
chivalric but
was
filled
them
III,
ill
with panicking
civil-
clogging the tiny streets
but rouged to
among
make
himself
his soldiers, realized that
Germans would
only lead to further
be raised and sent a
that a white flag
humbling message to Wilhelm
I.
'Monsieur,
my dear
Above. Napoleon
WILLIAM RUSSELL,
,.--
::--i:
;
:'.:iT-:- ---.-
:u
and Bismarck,
III
Heft'
who
contrived the war against France, after the
former had surrendered
DEBRIS OF EMPIRE
torn off infantry
'What debns a ruined empire leaves after
piled
itj
It
caps or
belts,
were
lying
his
was almost impossible
to ride
up here and
there...
One man
I
felt
a most intense desire to be executed on
He was
staggering
through the streets for fear of treading
the spot...
on bayonets or sabres. Heaps of
under the weight of an enormous bag
shakos, piles of musketry,
on
military belts,
and purses he had taken from the
all
sorts of
equipments, knapsacks and
and thousands of impenal eagles
his shoulders,
literally
on
learned that
it
was
dying,
and
cut off the uniforms of those
silver
who had
and
with gold lace
fallen.'
Quoted from William Russell: Special
way towards
Correspondent of The Times edited by
and afterwards
Roger Hudson (The Folio Society, 19951
his
the [German] frontier;
dead and
filled
I
with
watches
army
at
Sedan.
Painting by Wilhelm
Camphausen.
ISANDLWANA, 1879
Isandlwana
was one
of the greatest
blows struck against the
forces of 19th-century imperialism; events there reminded the
most
of the globe
from Africa to Asia, and even the European
settler republic of the United States
had become the domi-
Above: C E Fripp's painting of British soldiers fighting a
cowers not nous opposition.
to underestimate the capabilities of indige-
Initially
advanced
overwhelmed
it
in
cowed by rapidly
a savage
British fire
towards the
wave
power, the Zulu British line
and
of hand-to-hand fighting.
nant power
wars.
in
North America after a succession of colonial
Artillery, rifles,
machine guns and sound
used by Europeans anywhere resisters,
who
in
logistics
were
the world to subdue native
frequently only had access to
weaponry from
desperate
last
stand
against the Zulus at the Battle of Isandlwana in
1879.
The annihilation shook
of British soldiers
By
t
the
Western way
seemed unmatchable. European empires ISANDLWANA
held
Two
of warfare
a different age.
sway over
sense of confidence
battles to
its
in
the 1870s, however, shook this
roots.
the empire to
its
roots.
AFRICA
SANDLWANA Cape Town
Left:
Lieutenant General
Lord Chelmsford, the
commander
British
22 JANUARY 1879^
at
\
\
CETSHwm
British forces British retreat
Isandlwana. Zulu forces
The Zulu advance
Right.
on the
Zulu attacks
British position at
Isandlwana.
/
/
took the
It
I
traditional Zulu battle
I
*
*
f
> '
'
•'
I
\
\
V*
Si
/
^^^ >'
'
^
/
t
->-
I
f
of the beasts'.
/
*
I '
I
formation of the 'horns
/
I *
I
''
/
/
UMXAPHE
/> ''
/
-''',«
LORD CHELMSFORD (ABSENT)/
t
DURNFORD
^f
Survivors flee
kilometres
In
June 1876,
at
the Battle of
Little
Bighorn, Lieutenant
thought
to
politic
defend the
and prove
rights of settlers
Colonel George A, Custer and a couple of hundred officers and
the British dominated the region by challenging the most
men
powerful native group.
a
of the 7th
US
Cavalry
were wiped out during an
machine guns before he set the
superiority
of
his
off,
take
to
but he refused, believing
men.
rifle-armed
Americans were also armed with good
But
rifles
overwhelmed the poorly prepared American later,
attack on
encampment. Custer had been advised
Sioux
the
in
Native
Three years
an even bigger disaster awaited British soldiers, the
troops
who
had forged an empire,
in
when
southern Africa
they were faced with native warriors armed just with spears.
The
REASON FOR FEAR
history
of
Lord Chelmsford, Africa, led
Europeans and the seizure in
of territory
respect of the identity of those
arrival
by force was only
who were
of
new
responsible for
the annexations; prior to the activities of the British and Dutch, at
many
of the local peoples
had suffered a similar fate
the hands of the Zulus, an aggressive people
conquered neighbouring
dom
in
the region.
ownership
In
tribes
some
sand native
men were
five
commander thousand
auxiliaries into Zululand
reason to fear an
enemy armed
Martini-Henry
rifles. British
and formed
a
who
had
powerful king-
the Transvaal, Boer settlers disputed
of the land with the Zulu king
Cetshwayo. At
when
Britain
supported the claims of the Zulus, but
British
Empire assumed control of the Transvaal,
it
first,
the
was
were even more forty
was
knew he
on
in
southern
and eight thou-
January 1879. His
11
weapons and he had
rifles
could
fire
up to 12 shots
machine guns, rockets and
destructive.
little
only with spears and outdat-
Cetshwayo had
artillery
a larger force of
thousand warriors, but to stand any chance against
modern army
it
with the British
would have
Ulundi
in
was
a large pincer
into three
a
to close as quickly as possible
firing line.
Chelmsford's plan
army
of British forces
British soldiers
supplied with the latest
a minute, while Gatling
southern Africa shows that the
British
into Zululand.
ed
LITTLE
1878, an ultimatum
could not accept. The next month, a British army advanced
and they easily
force.
December
In
presented to Cetshwayo, one which the
Cetshwayo's
to capture
movement, but
columns, weakening
January, Chelmsford set up
camp
to
its
do
this
capital at
he divided
overall strength.
his
On 20
with his centre column at
Isandlwana, at the base of a distinctive-looking mountain called a nek, after
its
resemblance to a saddle. Scouts
told
him that
Zulus were gathering nearby and he decided to confront
them
ISANDLWANA
41
the effect of their
A
Zulus.
and
rifle
on the Zulus,
shells had
was
artillery fire
terrifying to the
gunner describes the effect
British
wondering where the
their explosive
'looked round
recalling that they,
bullets [artillery shrapnel]
came
from,
which they could not understand, the shrapnel bursting yards [45m] from it
them and the
no wonder they were
is
enough
see
a volley sent into
startled, for to
was no
make an
when
cannons
shells.
a
to
the hollows at the
in
they should
low to avoid the incoming
lie
While they hid from the worst of the gunfire, they made
low sound
of
fight.
of angry bees.
each group of Zulus
tired of their warriors lying
They began
ing pace, but at a distance of British
swarm
of a
commanders
up and
to stand
humming
the
like
became
centre
down and advance
to
120m
about
in
the
taunted
at a walk-
from the
(400ft)
they shouted their battle cry of 'uSuthu!' and
line
was
charged. The sight
towards the camp
and breaking up
in
fell
back
a panic, with the Zulus outpacing
them
British
terrifying.
that not
all
soldiers
Confusion overtook every-
their formations.
one and Zulus soon surrounded every
many
using
the British artillerymen stood back from
fire,
Eventually, the local
them
in
impact.
around the mountain. They quickly
of the flat grassland
learned that their
effect of the
experienced
far less
often aimed too high to
At Isandlwana, the Zulus sheltered
edge
The
less daunting, for although the Zulus had
own, they were
of their
them and
came from was
it
to startle the bravest of them.'
British rifles rifles
about their ears,
midst and not knowing where
their very
fifty
bullets flying
sometimes so
soldier,
the warriors could reach their victims.
Soldiers fought blindly and bravely, lashing out at everyone
was
close to them. The desperate nature of the fighting
recorded by a Zulu warrior, uMhoti of the uKhandempemvu:
whose bayonet
then attacked a soldier while he
was
trying to extract
He dropped
der.
threw
were
me
and
I
it
ing
I
inflicted
whelming numbers
who
before half his
dawn two days
men
of the 24th
in
the
later.
It
was
camp - a mere
1
a fatal decision. Leaving
,700, including
Regiment - he advanced
700
infantry
A
far larger force of
to battle with the other
twenty thousand Zulus
around Chelmsford's flank and countryside about
8km
(5 miles)
lay
hidden
in
now moved
the undulating
from Isandlwana.
if
was
still
and he
in
in
a crescent formation, called 'the
which flanking attacks would crush
the enemy. As long as the enemy,
in this
case the
British, held
the perimeter of their position they would be safe, because
ISANDLWANA
My
this
body
brave man.'
of Zulus
had survived
in
secured the victory and those the
camp
tried to flee along the
path to the river at the rear of Isandlwana. There they
brought
down by
Zulus
who
Queen's colours after Isandlwana.
in
and
heavy casualties. Eventually, the over-
cut off the escape route.
were
had encircled the mountain and
No one was
spared, even
if
they
pleaded for mercy. More than 1,200 white soldiers and their native allies
were slaughtered, with the Zulus
suffering at
thousand dead, with many more badly wounded.
camp
at nightfall, but only
daylight revealed the true horror of the defeat.
The Zulus launched attacks
42
his shoulder
rolled over, lifeless.
Lord Chelmsford returned to his
horns of the beasts',
in
Above: A desperate
least a
ZULU ATTACK
sticking
attempt to save the the British defeat at
half.
the shoul-
with sweat and quivering terribly with the chok-
had received from
Britons
in
me round the neck and him. My eyes felt as they I
into his vitals
Both sides
stabbed him
'I
and
was almost choked when succeeded
grasping the spear which
was covered
I
shield
and seized
his rifle
on the ground under
bursting,
forced
it,
my
pierced
Empire, at militarily
its
zenith
humiliated.
in
The
The
British
the popular imagination, had been rout
was avenged by
the end of the
was
a foretaste of
year with the defeat of the Zulus, but
it
further, challenging colonial struggles
southern Africa.
in
'
FACING THE ZULUS
The dark masses
and under admirable
in
open order
discipline, followed
each other
in
at a steady
pace through the long grass.
quick succession, running
moved
would then suddenly sink
portion of the Zulus broke into three
of men,
lines, in
ten
knots and groups of from
men, and advanced towards
knot of
five
five to
us...
A
or six would rise and dart
through the long grass, dodging from side to side with
heads down,
shields kept low
and out of sight. They
steadily
rifles
into the
long
and nothing but puffs of curling
smoke would show their whereabouts. Quoted
in
The Anatomy of the Zulu Army
by Ian Knight (Greenhill Books, 1995)
and
round so as
exactly to face our front, the larger
Having
grass,
ISANDLWANA
43
GEOKTEPE, 1881 weapons and -
-
Russian Army
first
Russian advance
khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan and invading Siberia to set
Turkoman Army
Sana
°>
K
strategic organization, the Russians took the
steps towards creating an empire by defeating the Tatar
up trading strongholds.
The Russian Army grew a r j
turies until e s e r
Russian Army advances from the Caspian Sea
when
ry
it
strength over the next
in
reached the point
the government
in
two cen-
the middle of the 19th centu-
confident enough to challenge
felt
the Turkic states of central Asia, those which sat upon the ancient
Route to China. Russia wished to expand
Silk
its
com-
mercial opportunities by selling manufactured goods to these
^NOVEMBER KizilArvat*
TURKMENISTAN
people, and Russian merchants therefore had to be respected,
having frequently been threatened
"*
A* Bami
Ru ssian Army base or f.nal attack
ment.
addition, the
In
humiliation of the
>
GENERAL SKOBELEFF
Beurma Artchman"
IMPERIAL RUSSIAN
"*\ * #>
Bakhar Zen
Ak Tepe
•
Yangi Kala
4-7 JANUARY
Crimean War and they wished
uncomfortable
to re-establish
by making the
their military prestige, especially
ARMY
the past with enslave-
in
Russians had recently suffered the
British feel
in India.
16-24 JANUARY
^^ -^f
Turkoman';':
the
In
mm smAR
Russian
1860s,
expeditionary
Uzbekistan and captured the key trading
TURKOMAN WARRIORS
Samarkand.
GEOKTEPE
In
the
870s the Russians turned
1
Khiva, capital of the
captured
Turkomans,
forces
cities of
lying to the
entered
Tashkent and
their attention to
south of the Aral
Dengeel Tepe "
&
PERSIA
N
Sea on the border between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. By
e
the end of these campaigns, the empire had been expanded
by 210,000 sq
|
km
(80,000 sq miles) and the Russian frontier
had advanced 500km (300 miles) southwards. The Turkomans
had not been wholly beaten, however, and merely retreated
T
50
into the wilderness.
It
was then
that the Russians found
them-
:
selves
1
1
sc
trouble.
in
THE BLACK DESERT Above- The systematic
The culmination
advance
capture of Geok Tepe
of the
Russian
of Russia's
conquest of central Asia, the
showed
the Russian's mastery of
army through Central Asia towards Geok
modern warfare and
Tepe
but inferior military power. The decisive victory brought
in late
early 1881.
1880 and
their determination to break a defiant
Russia's borders closer to the British Empire
threatened to lead to further Russian dominance
'Do not publish I
shall
be
this,'
in
inflict
them, the longer they
hit
killed nearly
resound
in
20,000 Turkmen
in
at
We
survivors will
words
at St still
a century later.
4a
to reverse this process.
the 16th century
sand and
into
dead
retreated.
land.
Two
Even first
it
Adopting western European
and
for
hundreds of kilometres
fossil shells, alternating
with bar-
was
It
was
to
this
desert that the
Russian armies went after them,
camels
their
in
their
died.
expedition gave up and returned. The second expe-
despite the death of
its
general, carried on to
Geok Tepe,
the mud-built fortress capital of the Turkomans. The Russians
bombarded the but
when
they
fort
and slaughtered men,
came
repulsed them.
rial
in
army
that had
storm
to
it,
As the Russians
picked off the stragglers.
For centuries, Russia had suffered from the raiding camin
of
1878 and 1879. Heatstroke, bad water and fever thinned
dition,
be quiet afterwards.
it
Turkomans
hold
'black desert',
seabed, but the sun long ago evaporated the water and
turned
upon the enemy. The harder
paigns of Mongols and Turks, but
began
a
The
Geok Tepe. The
more than
once
ranks.
will
dunes
ren tracts of cracked clay, stretch across central Asia. This
it
I
1882 and the savage sentiments therein
central Asia
and
shifting
direct pro-
is in
not soon forget the lesson.' Skobeleff spoke these
Petersburg
India
Asia.
by the Peace Society. But
Asia the duration of peace
portion to the slaughter you
you
in
said General Skobeleff with a smile, 'or
called a barbarian
as a principle that
in
Kum means
Kara its
all
It
was
the
retreated,
if
the Turkomans
a disastrous defeat for an impe-
but conquered the Turkomans years earlier
1873. Across the Northwest Frontier
dered
women and children,
maddened tribesmen
the Russian threat
was
really
in India,
all
the British
that great.
won-
GEOK-TEPE .Ashkhabad
General Skobeleff liked a challenge. His contemporaries
considered him a years,' an
rising star.
'Though he has
American attache
stupendous
military
genius
lived but thirty-five
to the Russian
is
such
Army
him as one of the great soldiers of
Below: A Turkoman stands inside the ruins of the
Russian
m
college,
Skobeleff
was
a veteran of the
made governor
in
action and
ramparts around
Geok Tepe, stormed by the Russians
in
1881.
had
Central Asia, being
Prussians
1870s
staff
was determined
to
avenge the defeat
with tenacious precision.
of
A
'his
speak of
this century, side
with Napoleon, Wellington, Grant and Moltke.' the
wrote,
that... history will
by side
product of
observed
campaigns
the
of the
of Uzbekistan.
He
1879 and set about
it
Skobeleff's
first
major step was to construct a railway track
across the desert so as to maintain his communication and supply
line.
his supplies
A
telegraph
was then erected
steamboats, Skobeleff was ready, and
on
central
Asia
removed some
in
April
of the Turkic
1880.
his troops
Through
tribesmen
selves with the Turkomans at
Once
it.
who
descended
negotiation,
had
allied
he
them-
Geok Tepe and they supplied
him with thousands of camels. Leading
armed with
alongside
had been delivered across the Caspian Sea by
a handful of artillery,
just a
thousand
men
machine guns and rockets,
Skobeleff attempted a rapid strike against
Geok Tepe. The
GEOK TEPE
45
assault failed, but
it
demonstrated
way he
vinced him that the only a full-scale siege.
He now
and one hundred guns
his
determination and con-
called for twelve
and
their
commander, Takma
In
thousand
men
eight thousand soldiers.
daring,
in
Sardar, personally led a raid
Takma Sardar was wounded
prompted Skobeleff
whose
in
the
write to his officers,
to
raid
'An
and
enemy
bear this
in
mind and take
all
all
commanders must
military precautions
on
all
occa-
so as not to be caught unawares.' The Turkomans
appealed to the
British in India for help, but
Instead, they had to rely
sand warriors tribes to help
were
on themselves and some
who were
ignored.
thirty
thou-
raised from the surrounding Turkic
Once
counter-raids harassed both sides. capital, ly.
within sight of the
Skobeleff halted his army and scouted the area close-
He deduced
city's
that the nearby fort of Yangi Kala supplied the
water and assaulted
this first, capturing
quickly.
it
At daybreak on 4 January 1881, the Russians pushed out
it
leader can throw himself upon his adversary's bayo-
net deserves serious attention, and
sions...
All
horses were captured, including Skobeleff's personal
charger.
advance with
his general
the towns of the Tekke Turkoman
All
peoples en route to Geok Tepe were stormed. Raids and
lacking
against a detachment of Cossacks and transport horses. of the
November 1880, Skobeleff began
with
to reinforce his army.
The Turkomans themselves were not
FINAL ASSAULT
was
could take the city
from Yangi Kala to within
where they
the
laid
730m
took place during which the
siege trench.
desperate onslaughts on the Russian the Russian
they
left flank,
bodies. By 7 January, the
Geok Tepe,
(800yds) of
A battle then Turkomans made a series of
first parallel
left
line.
one spot on
In
more than three hundred
first parallel
trench
was
strength-
ened and the second had been begun 365m (400yds) away from the main ramparts. At dusk on 9 January, a large body of Turkomans burst out
them.
from the town, overwhelmed a Russian force and took the
second
Skobeleff sent out reserves from Yangi Kala
parallel.
and the Turkoman attack
faltered; the
Russians had recap-
but only at the cost of
many
dead. However, a simultaneous attack on the Russian
camp
tured their trench and
by Turkoman
artillery,
horsemen was driven
ordered the digging of a third
ment
on the east side of the
of the ramparts
On 16
January, twelve thousand
final sortie
off.
parallel trench,
from the town and
Russians were prepared for
Skobeleff then
and a bombardcity
began.
Turkoman warriors made
a
a terrific fight took place, but the it
and
their artillery plus
bayonet
charges forced the Turkomans back into the town with heavy losses. Skobeleff
now
ordered his miners to go to work dig-
The Turkomans prepared
ging tunnels beneath the ramparts. for the inevitable assault.
On
Left: Central
the night of 23 January, Russian volunteers carried dyna-
Asian
warriors hold the head of a captured Russian.
mite into the tunnel dug beneath the town's eastern rampart.
The next morning, Skobeleff ordered the main
assault. At
07.00 hours, Colonel Gaidaroff began the attack against the southern ramparts with 36 cannons
concert against
firing in
The wars between the Turkic tribes and the Russians
in
the 19th
century were ruthless
in
the extreme and neither
the
mud
walls.
At the same time, the mine, containing two
tons of explosives, a
column
dred
of earth
defenders
was
ignited
under the eastern rampart and
and smoke rose up
were
killed
into the
air.
if
of
the
Above: General Skobeleff,
Turkomans thought
it
was an earthquake and began
to panic,
but others bravely stood their ground as the Russians surged into the
commander
of the Russian
expeditionary force that
confronted the
breaches and fought with bayonet against sabre.
Turkomans At 13.30 hours, Gaidaroff broke over the southern rampart
and entered the town. Soon in
all
three Russian columns were
the town and advancing through the narrow lanes. The last
stand of the Turkomans took place around the sacred
Geok Tepe, from which the town took Sardar had tried to sion, but
as the artillery.
of his
rally his
even he had
last of
to
own men
its
his warriors
were
dragoons and cossacks.
of
mine explo-
into the desert
mown down
General Skobeleff then entered the
hill
name. Takma
after the
admit defeat and fled
mercy
captured.
Several hun-
Many
immediately.
side could expect
by Russian
city at
the head
in
their capital,
1881 at
Geok Tepe.
-^
Above: Turkoman warriors
armed with
antique muskets and a variety of archaic
equipment, including
RUSSIAN INVASION OF INDIA
which
Despite his devastating victory over the
invasion of India.
Turkomans, General Skobeleff would
commander
not be seduced into grander schemes.
difficulties
The English
subjugate Akhal
I
take
in
and read, of a Russian I
should not
like to
to enter India with,
and 90,000
guard the communications.
be
men needed 20,000
of such an expedition. The
If
to
mail armour and shields
5,000
Although lacking the
more modern weaponry
camels, what
of the Russian
would 150.000 need! And where would
would be enormous. To
Army,
warriors such as these
tried to
journalist Charles Marvin
goad him
practical:
do not
it
think
writing
in
the
Quoted /nd/'a
in
transport?'
gave the Russians
The Russian Advance towards
difficult
latter
by Charles Marvin (London, 1882)
time
a very
when
the
invaded their land
Orenburg, to Khiva, to Bokhara, and to
would be
not understand military
we get the
5,000
get that transport we had to send to
claim regarding India, but Skobeleff
'/
only
men, and needed 20,000 camels. To
into a sensational
remained
we had
feasible.
men
in
I
do
Mangishlak for animals. The trouble
was enormous. To invade
England
Army and Navy Gazette.
The Turkomans had in
India
we
should need 150.000 troops: 60.000
lost six
thousand
five
hundred people
the defence of their city and eight thousand during the pur-
Russian losses were
suit
by the Russian cavalry. The
just
over a thousand. Despite this disparity
total
Skobeleff's losses during this campaign
those
in
all
previous campaigns
in
in
numbers,
were greater than
the conquest of central
Asia since 1853. That said,
it
was
a decisive victory
Turkomans never again achieved independence
and the
until after
the
collapse of the Soviet Union
more than
that time on,
remained part of the Russian
central Asia
a century later.
Empire and the Communists subsequently kept despite several bloody revolts
in
it
From
that way,
the 1920s.
GEOK TEPE
^
SAN JUAN HILL
J 898 Caney
El
JULY
1
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•
16.30 hours El
Caney captured
t
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i
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•/*
Santiago de Cuba
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ijuly
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San Juan
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1
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,
attack Kettle
#V
SHAFTER
lst lnfan ^y Division
*
FIFTH
Hill
ARMY CORPS
v
Above. Theodore Roosevelt as Colonel of
i-i--.../* **
-,,...„ [7
Spamsh
JULY
i
•••
retreat
to Santiago
the 1st
*
I
Rough
^
~
|
#\
CUBA
\
IJULY Santiago de Cuba
-
US US
forces
HarboT
Riders'.
Roosevelt was keen on
,
c Caney
a
war against Spain and
\
gained greatly from his
M\^. „ \
involvement battle of
in
the
San Juan
Hill.
SAN JUAN HILL*
j
^^. US FIFTH ARMY CORPS
Spanish harbour defences
a
Spanish defensive lines
n
Siboney
Caribbean Sea
—
Spanish retreat
•
Spanish forts
the demolition,
New
22-24 JUNE 1898
kilometres i.g
The United States began in
its
climb to global power status with
Cuba, of a remnant of Spain's once mighty
World empire. With more enthusiasm than
American soldiers scrambled to the top Spanish
rifle
fire.
Riding a horse
Theodore Roosevelt
utilized
in
of a
hill
military
in
skill,
the face of
the midst of the action,
the victory to
become
president of
the United States.
tion
in
the Philippines, which lasted
until
insurrec-
1902, led to the
United States absorbing Spain's former possessions as
own and also
saw
helping to
the
more used
make
it
its
an imperial power of substance.
US Army transformed from
to fighting
SAN JUAN HILL
soldiers fighting a tropical
those fought
Events
on the American
It
blue-clad troopers,
frontier, to khaki-clad
in
later
Cuba
in
~~ war
•-
of attrition not dissimilar to
the Second World
War and
Vietnam.
also elevated a politician,
tions for his country,
who made whether
it
no secret of
was
or intervening as a peace-keeper
December 1897, the US
in
in
the person of
his imperial
building the
ambi-
Panama Canal
the Russo-Japanese War.
battleship
Maine was sent
to
Cuba, ostensibly to protect the rights of American citizens.
When
at
anchor
in
the port of Havana, the Maine exploded
and 266 people were
killed.
incident provided the
excuse the United States needed
to
aggressive stance, urging Spain to renounce
its
continue
its
Above
left:
The US
advance on San Juan Heights forced the
Theodore Roosevelt,
In
The Spanish-American War and the subsequent
48
;
£] El
attacks
^B Spanish forces •••
US Volunteer known as the
Cavalry,
sovereignty over Cuba.
Sabotage was claimed and the
In April
1898,
Spam
declared war on
Spanish to retreat to the
Cuban
capital,
which
they then besieged.
1 Gull o
P^ew
f
Orleans
1
^Ht
Atlantic
w est
Mexico
Ocean
Indies e s
u Havana^^^^^^^
'
jh cu 0j^-
J*r™
SAN JUAN HILL Caribbean Sea
US Congress announced
the United States, and the hostilities
had begun.
June 1898, the US
In
numbering some seventeen thousand
mand
of
Florida,
27km
Fifth
men
Army
creeping up a steep, sunny
that
Corps,
under the com-
Major General William Shatter, set
sail
and landed on the southern coast
from Tampa,
Roosevelt had hoped
for,
men
but his
bravely clambered up the
the meantime, the 1st Infantry Division climbed up the
In
(17 miles) east of Santiago.
not the dashing cavalry charge
the face of gunfire from the Spanish defenders.
hill in
some
Cuba,
of
It
the tops of which roared and
hill,
was
flashed with flame.'
steeper slopes of San Juan
under effective covering
Hill
fire
from Gatling guns. The Spanish numbered only 4,500 against
TARGET SANTIAGO
6,600 Americans,
was
General Shaffer's target
was moored
in
the bay. The
where the Spanish
Santiago,
US Navy wanted
to attack, but first
cartridge
the land force had to clear the Spanish out of their coastal batteries.
The main Spanish
Caney.
wanted
Shafter
defence outside Santiago
line of
known as San
a series of ridges,
Juan, and
attack
to
in
lay
on
the village of
El
Caney
El
Rough most
his
own
had
of their horses
advance mainly on Below: A
in
had to be foot.
On
1
fought during the
war against Spain, armed with a KragJorgensen
rifle.
painting
by Frederic
is
Remington.
first
that Shafter
US
was
was overcome and
could not take
finally
of Santiago
Americans under
were
hills
it
205
taken, too, and with
and 1,177 wounded
killed
US
waiting
San Juan
at
now
presence
in
It
was
a calamity
and
more prolonged campaign.
Philippines,
Roosevelt called his presence
The attack had been
far
at
Roosevelt had shown bravery under
brilliantly fire,
his
The
celebrity he gained
this exploit
Regular troops followed his lead and the attack began. They
ably
in
'had no glittering bayonets,' wrote Richard Harding Davis, the
With the assassination
correspondent for The Times, 'they were not massed
became
Roosevelt took control,
array There
were
a
few men
in
leading
his
men
DEATH OF A ROUGH RIDER the attack on San Juan
Roosevelt's
Rough Riders
and 73 wounded.
lost
Theodore 15
killed
O'Neill, a
former
and mayor from Arizona:
The most
regular
serious loss that
1
and the
regiment could have suffered
befell just
from
now
shifted
his
much
'crowded
executed, but
leading the assault
comrades advanced on
his political ambitions, securing
of
a single
foot.
helped him consider-
him the vice presidency.
President McKinley
in
1901,
he
president and led a vigorous campaign to build up the
United States's international strength.
1ST US VOLUNTEER CAVALRY
before Hill,
Among them was
Captain William 'Bucky' sheriff
in
advance, bunched together, and
CAPTAIN WILLIAM 'BUCKY' O'NEIL,
In
forward.
sailed
potentially a
San Juan
from
exposed on horseback while
Colonel
but
ended Spain's
it
the Caribbean. American attention
much so
and eventually Lieutenant
Hill,
feared their
which sank every vessel without
fleet,
craft lost.
to the pacification of the
THE CROWDED HOUR
the outer
would be captured by the land advance and they
American
command.
it
out of the safety of the harbour, only to encounter the
hour'.
battlefield
how-
fire,
taken, with the
The
Confusion reigned on the
than the
to the latter's service
completely collapsed. The Americans
Hill.
Kettle
extremely hot weather, so
in
lost
fleet
Cavalry to begin the
objective at San Juan, which
The advance took place
as the
Rough Riders
July 1898, the
smokeless
far better
the results were dramatic. The Spanish
behind and the unit had to
left
joined dismounted elements of the attack on the
who
the confusion of embarkation,
US
infantryman of the type
who
known
unit of volunteer cavalry
Riders. Unfortunately,
Caney was
defences
troops forward to assault San Juan's heights.
had raised
end
a fact that put an of the
that fired a
proved
unnerved the Spanish and both
El
attack going ahead on time and Major General Kent led his
politician
rifle It
Spanish retreating towards Santiago.
Santiago's water supply. However, poor terrain prevented the
Theodore Roosevelt was an ambitious young
rifle,
US Army. The courage
the
ever,
and cut
first
a bolt-action
a five-shot magazine.
in
American Krag in
were armed with the superior
but they
Mauser Model 1893,
fleet
we charged. Bucky
strolling
up and down
smoking a
cigarette...
that an officer cover...
As
O'Neill
was
front of his
men,
He had a theory
O'Neill
moved to
lie
to
and
fro, his
down, and one of
sergeants said, "Captain, a bullet
sure to
hit
out of his mouth, and blowing a cloud of
smoke, laughed and Spanish bullet
me." A
ought never to take
men begged him his
in
is
you." O'Neill took his cigarette
isn't
little later...
said, "Sergeant, the
made
heel a bullet struck him
came
that
will kill
as he turned on his in
the
mouth and
out at the back of his head.'
Quoted from The Rough Riders by
Theodore Roosevelt (New York, 1899)
OMDURMAN, 1898 A
power was
and Western
irresistible
machine gun and repeating the
23-26 AUGUSTl
Wadi Hamed
late
1
9th and early 20th centuries.
same guns would be used
trialized
to
inflict
huge swathes
in
1815,
in
World War
First
horror of indus-
full
strongly against
it,
but
it
could
z -Shabltka logistical
resources
in
at
zenith. Since
its
and numerous other
of Africa,
still
all
of
territories
Empire was past
British
heyday, with the United States and
and
the
had swollen to include
it
around the world. Economically, the
,
empires
a brief reign of casu-
Empire was almost
British
the defeat of Napoleon India,
was
warfare against Western troops themselves.
By 1898, the Wadi Bishara.
It
supremacy, though, because during the
alty-free
these
powers used the
colonial
to maintain their vast
rifle
its
Germany both competing upon enormous
call
financial
order to send military forces anyLeft:
where Jebel Royan"
27
In
AUGUSTi
SUDAN Wadi
el
the world to protect
of the British people
that empire
Abid"
British
gunboats
Defensive
Sururab
line
31 I
Sudanese forces
and enrichment,
had become attracted to the idea
was
means
the
to spread their idea of civilization
civil
be an agent of good
.
The
servants.
in
Empire was
British
the world, taking pride
felt to
the abolition of
in
previously anarchic countries. But
order
in
ers
remained a ruthless weapon
it
in
the opinion of oth-
imposing
for
any peoples reluctant to welcome such
i
British will
'benefits'.
When
on
Major
General Kitchener sailed out to the Sudan to avenge the death
Sudanese movements
of General
Guns Hills
skull of
tf ~
W
the
Gordon,
man
killed at
Khartoum, he wished to turn the
responsible into an inkwell.
OMDURMAN t .;f Jebel Surgham KHALIFA
Jfh(r
El
AVENGE GORDON
Egeiga
General Charles Gordon
ABDULLAH^
was
a classic British imperial figure.
Intensely religious and a fierce opponent of slavery, he a brilliant soldier
who
was
had led the Ever Victorious Army,
also
made
up of Chinese peasants, during the Taiping Rebellion (possibly the bloodiest
war
of the 19th century)
appalled by the Chinese his hands. In 1884,
killing
in
of prisoners
China,
who
he was
until
had
fallen into
he was sent to Khartoum to supervise the
evacuation of Egyptian forces from the Sudan following a fero-
The overwhelmingly decisive defeat
of superior
numbers
sword- and spear-wielding Sudanese rebels by Egyptian soldiers point
in
ening
The of the
armed with machine guns marked
the evolution of military technology.
new age Battle of
power
of
It
British
of
and
a ferocious
heralded a
fright-
OMDURMAN
Mohammed Ahmed
Mahdist forces besieged Gordon held out for almost a year, a
relief
public opinion
Western weapons. Machine guns and
rifles killed
were
five
hundred. The lure of such
fire
Khartoum. Although he
in
force failed to save him, and
the general, along with his garrison,
offered a devastating demonstration
Mahdi
of Dongola.
Omdurman
and wounded more than twenty thousand desert tribesmen,
50
ciously successful uprising by the religiously inspired
of industrialized warfare.
while British casualties
along the Nile into the
Sudan where they
Omdurman. Below: A Sudanese warrior of the type
who
fought against the slavery and the establishment of firm principles of law and
AUGUST
Kerren
of the
around the globe. Traders and soldiers had been followed by
30 AUGUST'
movements
The advance
Anglo-Egyptian force
'
Sayal
British
interests.
confronted the rebels at
missionaries and
British forces
its
addition to the earlier motivations of trade
many
\ 28-29 AUGUST
in
was massacred.
was outraged and when
decided to reconquer the Sudan
in
the 1890s, the ghost of
'Gordon of Khartoum' loomed over the expedition. terms, the British government
British
the British government
was alarmed by
In
practical
the increase of
British
and Egyptians
the battle of
at
Omdurman.
EGYPT
k
AFRICA
.nDURMAN-
Atlantic
Ocean
*£^
Ml the region and wished to
Afaove. Although
French and
inaccurate
maintain an Anglo-Egyptian influence over the Nile Valley.
in its
representation of the British
this
wearing red (by
contemporary poster
advance of
entire
this
brilliantly,
army
of ten
time
fully
he
prepared
in
the
charge of the Anglo-Egyptian
aware that only a decade
thousand Egyptian troops under
earlier
British
tremendous
fire-
power delivered by the Anglo-Egyptian Army.
mand had been wiped
out at
Moving along the River
El
Nile
an
a
flotilla
of
gunboats.
Kitchener had a railway track constructed beside the river to bring up supplies.
Among
his artillery,
he included 20 machine
guns. His army - consisting half of British regular soldiers and half
of
British-trained
Egyptian troops - proved
Osman
Digna and
conflicts over a period of
two
it
defeated them
years.
in
a string of
The Sudanese rebels now
decided to concentrate their forces at Omdurman, near the Nile
and
just north of
Khartoum.
com-
Obied by Mahdist tribesmen. with
capable of dealing with the Sudanese tribesmen led by Khalifa Abdullah and
Omdurman
does give an impression of the
Major General Horatio Kitchener was put
campaign and
time they wore
khaki uniforms), this
the battle of
Italian colonial interest in
more than
FIRE
On
POWER UNLEASHED
the morning of 2 September 1898, Kitchener's army,
some
twenty-six thousand strong, faced forty thousand tribesmen led
by
Khalifa
Abdullah.
The previous
day,
British
cavalry
had
clashed with the Sudanese, and Kitchener's troops spent the night
in
a fortified
camp
called a zariba,
surrounded by fences of
OMDURMAN
e
Above. An Cavalry and Camel Corps retreat 1
r
Kerren
>
W /*
by
of
1
Sudanese attacks
Kerren
Hills
Camel Corps
*
return
I
delivered by the British
»V
/W
and guns mside zariba «£f repe attacks ,\#
Infantry
\
V
British Infantry
Army. Winston Churchill rode as one of the
v
•
El
X
The early-morning Sudanese assault on the
J ^r' ^-"»
Left:
British position.
attack
j"
Jf ~
»
*—\L -*"\
cavalrymen.
Egeiga
advance
x ^>gainst Sudanese
|
Jkp-
Sudanese tribesmen^ driven off M.
+'
y
^e~"\i
l
_'
Sudanese^ attacks
V ^ *' ^ +''
\
A
Right:
The Anglo-
//'-'J
Egyptian counter-attack.
\
'
I
Jebel
Final
Surgham
N
Sudanese attacks
52
OMDURMAN
Sudanese
attacks
%
V
\ El
'',7. '».,
1^
I
/
OSMAH EL-DIN
/W/U/tt MfltfLLM
SEPTEMBER
09.00-11.00 hours Cavalry and *
great cavalry charges
i
Hills .
the charge of the 21st
Caton Woodville
Lancers, one of the last
J. j.
A T
attacks
R.
06.45 hours i
i
X
v ^'
i
illustration
SEPTEMBER
^
Egeiga British
gunboats
^.
_^ >
'>>,,
^*
Jebel Surgham
I
I
/
I
*
I
!
I
f
^O
91
» t
,
, nror<
chafe charge
.
woke
thorn bushes. Trumpeters
4.30am because
the troops at
British
Kitchener expected an attack at daybreak. His cavalry rode out
and saw the cloud
of the zariba
advance of
of dust that indicated the
Khalifa Abdullah's warriors.
young cavalryman serving
Winston
the enemy's approach: 'They are advancing
God,
Prophet and his Holy
his
Churchill
Khalifa...
spears, but they did possess
some
rifles,
within
2,600m
British lines, Kitchener's artillery
boats on the nearby
opened
They
river.
of the cavalry for a charge
(8,400ft) of the
in
the
air,
others
white flags toppled
in their
which exploded
yet they rose again, as other
over...
pressed forward to die
faces,' recalled Churchill.
for Allah's
sacred cause...
ble sight, for as yet they had not hurt us at
all;
it
seemed an
and
a
ran through the
Henry
rifles, fire.
minute and
make
too great. 'Everyone expected
a charge,'
remembered
in all
Churchill.
we
our minds since
Of course there would be a charge...'
swords, while the
their officers carrying pistols or
held
bamboo
down
lances.
into the ditch,
rounded by angry tribesmen
1,800m- (2,000yd-) mark,
who
horsemen
British
where they were
instantly sur-
slashed at them with swords
warriors backwards, but others cut at the legs of the horses,
The best
trying to
British soldiers
were
their
own
wounded - the
guns became overheated, having to be
their
replaced by reserve
rifles.
in
survivors
Bravely and recklessly, the Sudanese
the face of this withering
fire,
over their dead comrades, but none of them reached the several hundred metres away. Only
casualties could be counted, as
dead and wounded tribesmen
opposed
It
was
emerged out
brave performance, but
of the ditch
it
a
life
and
on the
A
to the thousands of
its
final
The
some enemy
actually achieved very
blood.
It
The
little.
was
a
battle
power.
fire
charge by the Sudanese cavalry drew admiration for
boldness, but
won and
them.
killed or
battlefield.
as the Sudanese
rallied
had already been decided elsewhere by infantry
zariba,
fell
savage encounter and
entered the ditch were
biggest British loss of
withdrew, happy to have drawn
leaping
60 Anglo-Egyptian
that lay before
Those cavalrymen who
soldiers.
to pieces.
men who
one-quarter of the
12 rounds a
firing
dismount the
were immediately cut
with their older Martini-
in
and the Maxim machine guns began
tribesmen carried on
falling
these
impetus
their carbines, but the
was
The charge took 30 seconds and the plunged
terri-
opened up from Lee-Metford magazine
The Egyptians then joined
growling
When
and spears. The impact of the charging horses knocked some
volleys of British fire rifles.
going to
men
rest of the
unfair advantage.'
As the warriors
riverbed.
Cavalry glamour overrode military sense and the 21st Lancers
men
was
his
them were supported by two a dried
in
the one idea that had been
charged on,
The
It
was
started from Cairo.
above the enemy, sending shrapnel among the warriors. 'Some burst
we were
'That
up, joined by the gun-
fired shells
he used
infantry,
to the conflict.
horses into action and raced
their
before
visible
end
they know, however, that the hand-
have been to dismount and use
which they used,
that
came
the tribesmen
advanced
troops leapt into view, the sensible option for the cavalry would
effect.
little
Little did
thousand warriors hidden
the middle
in
tribesmen
ful of
were mainly armed with swords and
of his army. His troops
When
across the desert.
cheering for
fast,
regimental cavalry charge. Having achieved a
The 21st Lancers urged
a
they think they are
going to win.' Khalifa Abdullah rode on a donkey
albeit to
was
last
cavalry to obtain an old-fashioned
the 21st Lancers and he described
in
Army's
victory with his technologically
its
effort
was
also pointless.
The
battle
was
Omdurman. The Mahdi's
Kitchener marched into
tomb, a sacred shrine to the Sudanese, was wrecked by
BRITAIN'S LAST Kitchener
moved
his troops out of their zariba
towards Omdurman.
It
was
a
artillery fire
gamble and a reserve force of the
Khalifa's warriors duly
launched two more assaults against the but
line,
fire.
At the
both were
same
repulsed
by
rifle
and the holy man's body thrown
head was
and advanced
Anglo-Egyptian
machine gun
Above: Major General
CAVALRY CHARGE
but
retained,
Kitchener's plans for
it,
diers visited the steps
when Queen
he was advised to bury in
it.
heard
inscribe
on a stone step
the single word 'Avenged', but they thought better of
time. Kitchener launched the
of
British sol-
Khartoum where Gordon had been
murdered and some suggested they
and
into the Nile. His
Victoria
it.
Lord Kitchener of
Khartoum, portrayed as
commander
of the
Egyptian Army. He led
PRIVATE
the expedition sent to quell
Sudanese rebels
WADE
RIX, 21ST LANCERS
in
the 1890s.
LANCE AGAINST SWORD Pnvte in
Wade
Rix
was
depression
a troop
the 21st Lancers involved
cavalry charge at
remembers
commander in
the
Omdurman. He
the brutal fighting that
my lance
entered the
of a white robed figure
who had
double^dge sword
to strike.
his
it
was parry and
my horse on
Luck was with
The
us, the
thrust as
1
through the melee.
horse bravely
stream bed and we were through without
quickly
angry Sudanese warriors:
another
deep
spurred
man's body shattered Vie lance and
the dried riverbed to be surrounded by
leapt into the
robe. Then
scrambled up the opposite bank of the
cast the broken pieces from me.
my horse
eye
enormous impact and the weight of the
erupted when the cavalry plunged into
'As
left
raised
drew
my sword just in
man pointed his
1
a scratch.'
1
time as
flintlock,
him down and blood splattered
1
struck
Quoted
in
The Last Charge by Terry
Brighton (Crowood Press, 1998)
his white
:-.-cu"vi\
53
TSUSHIMA, 1905
3SjS?l
"
4
Japan's dramatic defeat of the Imperial Russian Navy signified
new
the birth of a
in
were too quick and too
battleships
fashioned
power
military
Russian vessels.
Western empires
that their
Just as victory over
supreme self-confidence
was
It
Modern Japanese
Asia.
armed
well
dire
a
in its
triumph against Russia gave
Up
to that point,
for the old-
warning to the
military
system, so Japan's
in
Japan had been testing
the early 20th its ability
as a
would-be power and had suffered setbacks.
Japan was
initially
successful
in
1895
By 1902, however, Russia's presence
Britain in
was
little
war with China
was as concerned as Japan about
in
free to deal with the Russian presence
54
it.
Manchuria, and Japan achieved a diplo-
which
Britain
not to support any similar Western intervention. This
joint
won
the latter could do about
matic success by signing an alliance
agreed a
'Korea
itself
'If
moved
large
Manchuria becomes the
in
cannot remain independent.
It
is
in
1901,
a matter of
life
in
print
shows an
old-
RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR came
Tension between the two nations 1904,
when Japan
Manchuria
laration
for the
later,
it
of war.
to a
head
February
in
attacked Port Arthur, the key naval base
was
Russian
fleet.
Like
Pearl
a surprise attack launched before
Russian ships were severely
Japanese torpedo boats and the Japanese troops landed
in
port
was
in
Harbor several
any dec-
damaged by
blockaded.
northern Korea and marched to
the River Yalu to provide support for the naval actions. The
Russian troops were dependent on the Trans-Siberian Railway to bring reinforcements, but this
would take time and Russian
Japan
commanders unwisely urged an
instant reaction to the inva-
left
1900, with the
battleship being
destroyed by a more
modern and
for Japan.'
pledged
Manchuria. The two
protectorate of Korea, but
Above: This Japanese
faster
Japanese torpedo boat.
decades
in its
over Korea, but Russia had intervened to grab possessions
by the Japanese and there
China, Russia
property of Russia,' declared Japan's foreign minister
and death
the confidence to embark on
major campaigns against the Western powers century.
in
of troops into Manchuria.
1870 had given Prussia
in
own it
numbers
fashioned Russian
power might be waning.
France
outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion
sion.
Outnumbered, but perhaps
superiority as a
trusting to their
sense
of
Western army, a Russian force confronted the
^W1 JAPAN bkyo
TSUSHIMA"****
Japanese and was completely routed Japanese pressed on further With the
at
first,
soldiers, Port Arthur
the Japanese tried to storm
fered tremendous losses. Russian
reduced to a succession of
which
failed to
meant the
suicidal attacks
break into the
was
but suf-
fighting
was
by the Japanese,
They
port.
it
and machine guns
artillery
set behind trenches and barbed wire
of
the Battle of Yalu. The
Manchuria.
more Japanese
arrival of
put under siege. At
into
all
however, pro-
did,
vide a foretaste of the terrible effects of desperate charges against entrenched positions,
well
defended with machine
guns. Eventually, after almost a year, a Japanese did
overwhelm
surrender
in
January
Elsewhere clashed
ing
in
1
905.
Manchuria, the Japanese and Russian armies
were endured by both sides
on the Western Front
Japanese
human wave
and Port Arthur was compelled to
bloody but indecisive battles. Tens of thousands of
in
casualties
a vital outpost
in
the
First
victory at the Battle of
in
a prequel to the fight-
World War. Even
Mukden
in
after a
March 1905, the
Russian land forces refused to withdraw from Manchuria and a costly stalemate
seemed
set to last indefinitely.
DECISIVE SEA BATTLE In
October 1904, Russia's
ports
under the
would take over
Baltic Fleet set sail
command
six
months
Admiral
of for
it
to reach
the war against Japan. Bizarrely, while
through the North Sea,
from
its
home
Rozhdestvenski.
Manchuria and it
rumours spread
was of
still
It
join
sailing
an attack by
Japanese torpedo boats and the Russian ironclads responded
Above
The
right:
strategic positions
movements
of
and
the
Russians and Japanese in
Manchuria
in
1904-5.
Right: Admiral
Rozhdestvenski,
commander
of the
Russian Baltic Fleet at the battle of Tsushima.
Far right: The foredeck of
the Japanese battleship
Mikasa, the largest
warship fleet
in
the Japanese
and Admiral Togo's
flagship.
by
firing
least
upon
British fishing
seven fishermen.
battleships to
shadow
boats near Dogger Bank,
the Russian fleet as
its
own
passed through
it
the Bay of Biscay.
of
Good Hope, the Russian
fleet reunited in the Indian
in
line-ahead formation with Rozhdestvenski's flagship Suvorov at its
head, Togo
ships. In a
Suez Canal and around the
Dividing to pass through the
Cape
During the afternoon of 27 May, as the Russian fleet sailed
killing at
was outraged and sent
Britain
made
manoeuvre reminiscent
head of the Russian fire.
the most of the superior speed of his
fleet
Having crossed the
of Nelson,
and subjected
T, he
it
he crossed the
to devastating raking
then turned his ships to
sail
Above: The Russian battleship Oslabia of
the Baltic fleet
Below: Smaller and speedier Japanese boats sink a Russian battleship at
made one
Ocean and
sailed
more stop
to prepare for battle. Sailing next for the Russian
on to French Indochina, where
port of Vladivostok
Tsushima
Strait,
in
Siberia, the Baltic Fleet
between
and
Korea
Rozhdestvenski's fleet appeared
it
approached the
Japan.
impressive,
On
paper,
consisting
of
eight battleships, eight cruisers, nine destroyers and several
smaller ships, but these craft
manned by
In contrast, just
Army as
its
model
in their
design and
as modernizing Japan had taken the Prussian for land forces,
influenced by the British fleet. British
were dated
poor-quality crew.
Its
so
its
ships
navy had been deeply
were
the latest
built to
designs and featured increased armour protection of the
guns, but with
little
extra weight
added which would have
affected manoeuvrability and speed.
The Japanese
fleet
eight cruisers, twenty-one destroyers
and
had sixty
*ne latter having already proved themselves
Vice-Admiral Togo's
vedand TSUSHIMA
well trained.
in
crewmen
along their flank and subject
them
to
even more
fire.
The
Tsushima
'
LESSONS LEARNED AND UNLEARNED MAY 1905
27 Sea
of
^
Japan
September 1905
X
+*'*' +
Tsushima brought the Russo-Japanese War
*-•* ^^^•^.^
+'
control over Manchuria, although
G
^
*
N
if x
M
it
shaped the world
government
and a revolution followed
year.
in
before another swept
Japan's success meant
^^
60 torpedo boat
14.10 hours Russian ships attempt single-line formation
°
miles kilometres
Japanese attacks Russian warships
3
it
now viewed
demanded
ships allowed
cross
in
them
to
front of the
Russian fleet to deliver devastating
fire
power.
Japanese
shells rained
Japan's aggressive stance
in
the Pacific region. The defeat of Russia also encouraged
in
their poorly
fire.
armoured ships
and within two hours two Russian battleships and one cruiser
which time Admiral
Rozhdestvenski had been wounded and three Russian ships, including his
own
now tried
pedo boats
to finish off the badly
ping mines
in
to withdraw, but
front of
Togo sent
his smaller tor-
damaged Russian
them as they
tried to
over two hundred years, had
with trast,
some
rest of the fleet
was
ten thousand sailors dead or
fruit in
The road
relinquished.
some connection
said to have
war
War
with neither side gaining a clear advantage despite the huge loss-
es of men.
British
and German observers had seen
hand, but the conclusion they
won
drew from
to
incompetence and Japanese
to
wounded.
In
stark con-
the Japanese had barely lost a thousand crew and only
be
in
the
first
it
was
this at first
that any future
few months. They lack of
believed
experience had
would not be repeated by
led to the stalemate, mistakes that
other Western armies, which would use rapid mobilization and initial
manoeuvre
dragged
to outwit their
opponents before they could be
into trench warfare. In other
would not be repeated
three torpedo boats.
in
Vietnam could be
revealed the dreadful dev-
war needed
it
in
caused by modern entrenched warfare,
that Russian
make
both the Second
to events at Tsushima.
the Russo-Japanese
astation that could be
to the
drop-
craft,
sunk or captured,
either
would bear
this
escape. Only one
Russian cruiser and two destroyers managed to
The
battle-
had been sunk. The battered
flagship,
Baltic Fleet
Vladivostok.
were
Asia
Militarily,
battle continued until nightfall, by
the 1930s, which led to
World War and the period afterwards when most colonies
had been destroyed.
The
in
alism could be fought and defeated. The illusion of Western
Russian ships sunk
both speed and accuracy of
down on
own
nating
been shattered and in
its
war
military invincibility, established
Russians were outclassed
as an equal to
itself
the right to establish
other Asian nationalist factions to believe that Western imperi-
Russian attacks
^^
1
Japanese
not to be long
led to the estab-
empire. The militarization of Japanese politics followed, culmi-
Japanese warships
-^^ --
I
/
of the
was
it
of the czar
While that revolu-
away completely and
it
other great powers and
21 destroyers
S cruisers
speed
same
the
lishment of the Soviet regime.
v*
Above The superior
of the early 20th century.
tion failed to topple the czarist regime,
8 cruisers
/y J W S destroyers
because
Russia's defeat further undermined the
4 battleships
ADMIRAL ROZHDESTVEHSKI
1931 that
until
overseas empire. The war,
ADMIRAL TOGO
/
a
would not be
it
part of Japan's
however, had an impact way beyond those immediate con-
Russian cruiser and 2 destroyers escape
1
became
formally
cerns,
\ '
Nl /V ^«. - -" /
x [y /|\
fire
vx
13.30 hours Japanese form up
/
it
Russian ships under .^T and being sunk
within
fell
Japan's sphere of influence and Japan also maintained a tight
Japanese and Russian ships between 5km (3 miles) and 7km (4.5 miles) apart
^^
to a hasty end. In
the Treaty of Portsmouth, Russia agreed to
withdraw from Port Arthur and Manchuria. Korea
Japanese torpedo boats pursue and finish off Russian fleet
+ +
at
in
Europe.
words, such a catastrophe
How wrong they were.
FATHER OF A DEAD JAPANESE SOLDIER
IMPERIAL SACRIFICE
As Japan so
it
built itself into
used the state
established shrines for a
modern
state,
religion to establish a
strong loyalty to the nation, one that
had not existed
in
pre-modern Japan.
rather than the nation, but by in
1900
this
order to
reinforce the importance of sacrifice to
the nation, the Japanese
its
government
war dead, the
the Yasukuni Shrine
My son grew up
son and
died.
healthy.
Then he joined the emperor's
in
Tokyo. As the numbers of dead grew
forces and died a manly death
in
the war against Russia, these shrines
southern Kyushi
became
central to the
Japanese notion
of dying for the emperor.
Soldiers had fought for their region
view was changing, and
most notable being
visiting his son's
One
father
memorial was recorded
making the following pledge: 1
married very young and for a long time
had no
children.
My
wife finally bore a
in
a great
heard that he had died cried with joy,
son there could be no Quoted
in
for
and
in
battle.
for the
because
fine
When
emperor,
my warrior
finer death.
The Undefeated by Robert
Harvey (Macmillan, 1994)
1
1
4 FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE,
Germany's confident advance through Belgium brought to a
halt
French soldiers, taxis
from
Paris.
of the stalemate
France
into
was
the latest technology
some
soldiers to the front
The
delivered to the battlefield
'Miracle of the Marne'
was
in
the beginning
in
all
else,
Britain,
other armies to follow.
made
its
institutions
which believed
some
it
had proved
its bril-
were studied by many
had
little
to learn
rivals.
from anyone
its
spiked pick-
lay in its organization,
commanders down
from a
to individual units
of highly trained and motivated soldiers. Preparation
was
a
key dynamic and years were spent preparing for campaigns, with generals playing war
FIRST BATTLE OF THE
and factories to produce the most powerful
available.
Germany was
a nation prepared for war.
Germany's greatest weakness was
its
games
MARNE
1860s and 1870s,
it
and
it
It
had
doubted
little if
German
believed that a European
only winnable, but could be society.
strength. Ever since
won
at
states
it
the
cost to the rest of
little
regard for the armies of Russia or France
Britain
would
really
want
to
be involved
war on the Continent. Such was Germany's supreme dence when
in
war was not
entered the
First
World War.
When
in
a
confi-
faced with
the prospect of war on both Western and Eastern fronts,
regiments.
The German Army's strength general staff of talented full
It
Germany by adopting
a nod towards
elhaube helmet for
including trains to deliver
the experience of Prussia and the other
previous campaigns against Austria and France (see
Sedan, p.XX), and
Even
weapons then
on the Western Front and the subsequent hor-
By the beginning of the 20th century, the German Army was
liance
was embraced,
to assess options
and under-
Germany chose
to
move
secure the frontiers of
its
swiftly against France industrial
in
order to
Rhineland region before
turning east to concentrate on the potentially bigger problem of
Russia. This thinking
World War.
was repeated
during the Second
91
Above: German troops
advancing across in
them
of
rors of trench warfare.
the model for
taking reconnaissance trips to study possible battlefields. All
by the bold and aggressive defence offered by
1
a field
Champagne towards
French positions on the river
Marne.
MARNE
Right
First Battle of
the
Marne, 1914. The
French armies
German opening
French attacks
offensive through
French fortresses
Belgium, which
was
finally halted at
the
river
German armies
German
attacks
•
German
front lines
•
German fortresses
Marne.
North Sea
LANDS ~ Antwerp
W
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KING ALBERT
Brussels
f Cologne
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21-22 AUGUST
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Rouen
Xguise 29 AUGUST
-J WURTTEMBERG
LUXEMBOURG
Below: British forces
Battle of the
f
A
/
take up positions nea Laferte during the
GERMANY
Fir:
Marne
MAUNOURY
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BEF (FRENCH)
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20 AUGUST .
Basel
SWITZERLAND
FIRST BATTLE OF THE
MARNE
59
Because modern
power was so
fire
effective,
was
it
the general
General von Kluck, halted and turned to face the French
through Belgium, thus avoiding France's defensive
600 taxicabs. A gap had opened up between the furthest German army and the one behind it, and the BEF Paris in
lines,
and attack Paris from the north, thereby encircling French
marched
into the void.
movement would
the war.
In
forces
northeastern France. Such swift
in
the
replicate
was
provided
taken by Helmuth von Moltke,
nephew
Schheffen died, further continuity with 1870-71
when
his position
of the
Moltke
was
who
won
had
When
War.
Franco-Prussian
success of the
those
Ian
The Germans faced
in
their first crisis of
enveloped by the French to
fear of being
north and the British
Germans
the centre, the
'Now, as the battle
is
Joffre
depends,'
joined on which the safety of our coun-
men on
his
told
morning
the
September, 'everyone must be reminded that
this
the British Army, had
come
the time for looking back. Every effort must be
away from Manchuria (see Tsushima, pp. 54-57) with a
differ-
and throw back the enemy.
Hamilton, a leading general
were
were they
hazards, for so afraid sive by to
even
a
alry
a
all
thrown on the defen-
of being
hesitation or delay, they did not ever
little
pause to make
entirely
principle of attack at
adherence to the
their blind
because of
commanders
manoeuvres
disaster during the big
into
led
warfare: 'Several of the
modern
ent view of
in
seem
thorough reconnaissance or give their cav-
time to bring them
When war came,
in
German
divi-
A
advance must, regardless of on the spot rather than no
failures will
high:
be
unit
power
were
taken.
time,
first
The
its
6
to attack
impossible to
ground and be
killed
French
for the
First Battle of
their casualty
sustained
soldiers
made it
of
no longer
is
the present circumstances,
the
in
British
German
of both the British
In
And the cost
casualties
The Germans never published prisoners
which finds
cost, hold
back.
fall
tolerated.'
some 80,000
For the
reports.'
took barely 24 hours for a
it
their
retreated
either side of the River Marne.
try
victories.
Not everyone was convinced by such boldness, and
from
assault. Gallieni rushed forward further reinforcements
which
in
would advance
forces, using trains to reach the front,
German rapidly
Alfred von Schheffen, devised a plan
staff,
Marshal John
Field
the First Battle of the Marne, which
was
began on 5 September 1914. The Germans, commanded by
wholeheartedly and their chief of
believed this
commander,
British
French. The result
believed
by many that a quick offensive was the only way to win a war.
The Germans
and the
Joffre,
ATTACK, ATTACK
1
was
the Marne. but 15,000
list,
,700 casualties.
were exposed
to the
full fire
and the French. Germany's aggressive
when opposed by weaker
troops, but
strategy
was
successful
seven German armies had crossed the Rhine and were plung-
when
it
was
confronted by an equally resolute and powerful
The Belgians
force,
it
Luxembourg on
sion to enter
ing through
fought
fire
had anticipated
proved
in
it
weakened
right to
a diversion
the earlier
Franco-Prussian War. Moltke
and strengthened
this
was
plan of invading Alsace and Lorraine, the
own
its
taken from
Rhine. This
frontier.
later,
were eventually overwhelmed by superior
but
power. France believed this assault
and stuck to territory
August 1914. Twelve days
Belgium towards the French
fiercely,
German
1
his
his
own
forces on the
sweep through Belgium,
have done
when he
it
was
but he
soundly blocked the
French advance with a devastating counter-attack. By the time the French realized this
Germans were
fast
was
a holding force,
it
was
too
descending on France's northern
late.
The
frontier.
Meanwhile, Germany's invasion of Belgium had violated treaty with Britain
was
and a small
British Expeditionary
sent to help the Belgians. With minor support from the
French, the British achieved
before the
German
eliminated, the
centrated on
and joined the general retreat
up the French forces to right flank to attack
now
lost control of
of the French force in Paris
his troops
Schlieffen Plan and con-
Germans abandoned the
rolling
Pans and Moltke
unaware
little
armies. Believing the British threat had been
exposed the German
had advanced.
In addition,
their southeast. This
from a French army
the situation, for he
and uncertain the
much
ed mobilization of the Russians undermined trate
its
Force (BEF)
on
how
far
in
was
south
faster than expect-
his plan to
concen-
this front in isolation (see Brusilov Offensive, pp.66-69).
'MIRACLE OF THE MARNE' General
Gallieni,
commander
argued strongly that
He won over both
this
his
FIRST BATTLE OF THE
was
of the
commander
MARNE
French forces
in
Paris,
the time to attack the Germans. in
chief,
General Joseph
found
itself
caught
in
a destructive slogging
match
(the
search for an alternative lay at the heart of military developments
from 1916
on). This
nightmare
was
to haunt the
German Army Below. French stretcher-
through both world wars and eventually proved
its
downfall, but
only after the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
The Germans
retreated to the River Aisne,
where they dug
away wounded from the bearers carry
Battle of the
Marne
the
Above: French cavalry
Marne in Germans
cross the
pursuit of the
on
a
pontoon bridge
built in less
than three
hours.
emerged from
sides
By Christmas 1914 a stalemate existed
shake hands and exchange souvenirs.
established for a match on the frozen
Lieutenant Johannes Niemann,
mud, and the
on the Western of
what
Front, but the
ahead was yet
lay
full
horror
to impinge
playing an
As they sat
'Suddenly a
their trenches, feelings of
unofficial truce
was made
trenches and set up defensive positions. As the Allies advanced
in
began a
which both
The
Allies failed to
the Schlieffen Plan
became
halted.
line
made an
the Royal
murderous
The rifle-
line
as they crossed the Aisne.
for us, holding fire.
hail of
shell-fire,
extended
John Lucy
of
The Germans
As we cleared the
crest, a
missiles raked us from an invisible enemy.
staggered under
and
realised that our
excellent target,' recalled Corporal
Irish Rifles
were waiting
I
and
I
this ferocious
would say
smash
of
machine-gun,
that fully half of our
over forward on their faces, either
killed or
men
fell
wounded. Some
turned over onto their backs, and others churned about convulsively.
no
With hot throats the remainder of us went on, as there
halt in
the attack without an order.'
is
in
a
football
match.
Tommies
in
Christmas Truce by Malcolm
Brown and
and then
Shirley Seaton (Macmillan,
1994)
We marked the
push the Germans beyond the Aisne but
was
over.
The German advance had been
Moltke was seen weeping
municate with
Quoted
match:
fun,
Fritzes beat the
quickly
3-2:
with a football,
and making
compelled to send out a junior
German
football
Tommy came
kicking already
towards them, the future of warfare on the Western Front 'With a sinking heart
impromptu
the morale of the soldiers on both sides. In
goals with our caps.
their positions to
Saxon regiment, described the two sides
on
seasonal goodwill took over and an
clear.
Teams were
BATTLEFIELD FOOTBALL
his generals.
withdrawal. Moltke
It
at a staff
officer called
dinner and
was
Hentsch to com-
was Hentsch who oversaw
was then
relieved of his
the
command
on 14 September and replaced by Erich von Falkenhayn.
The French but sadly they further the
hailed the battle as the 'Miracle of the Marne',
were unable
to maintain the
German withdrawal. Defensive
impetus to exploit lines
were drawn
and the trench warfare of the Western Front took form. breakthrough
was sought elsewhere and
military
A
attention
shifted northwards to Flanders (see Ypres, pp. 74-77).
FIRST BATTLE OF THE
MARNE
GALLIPOLI, 1915 Left.
Anzac troops
landing at Gallipoli April 1915.
in
Because ship
commanders were wary of reefs, the landings
had
to take place during the day, rather than under
cover of night, making the troops vulnerable to Turkish
fire.
Below. An Australian soldier in a trench using a
periscope to snipe at
the
An
opportunity to open up a
was squandered by
adversaries. Allied troops stiff
new
front
in
southeastern Europe
the British underestimating their Turkish
soldiers well positioned
in
the
the war against Austria, thus shifting the balance of
numbers against the Central Powers.
stormed ashore, only to be met by
enemy
resistance from
join
retrospect, Churchill has
In
port of this plan
because
it
been much
harsh landscape. The agony of Gallipoli discouraged further
however, were not strategic but
attempts at amphibious offensives.
were
With
and German armies entrenched opposite each
Allied
other from the North Sea
seemed in
Winston
more imaginative
new
in
Ottoman
By forcing could
way
front,
and the
First
sail
in
western Europe considered
Lord of the Admiralty,
suggest employing the
an amphibious assault on Germany's weakest
way through
the Dardanelles, the Royal Navy
Sea
the
into
fault
although the British
tactical,
- they badly underestimated the
fighting skills of the Turks.
STRUCK BY MINES At
first,
the plan went very well. Sixteen British and French
battleships sailed towards the Dardanelles on 19 February.
For a month, the Allies
bombarded the
Turkish batteries on
either side of the entrance to the strait
and advanced
of
Marmara
and
capture
Turkish threat had not, however, been eliminated and on 18
March mines sank three battleships and disabled three
was
Constantinople (now IstanbuD.Turkey having been eliminated
ers.
from the war with
the campaign. The Allied fleet withdrew and
this
to transfer troops
armies
fighting
one
from
the
its
stroke, Russia
would then be free
southern border to reinforce
Germans.
Neutral
nations
such
It
a disaster that completely
oth-
changed the nature it
of
was decided
its
that an
expeditionary force would have to land on the
as
Gallipoli
Peninsula to secure the safe passage of the navy
Romania, Bulgaria and Greece might also be encouraged to
GALLIPOLI
into
the Dardanelles with minesweepers leading the way. The
Turkey. its
one major
sup-
failures,
to Switzerland, there
military war-planners
Churchill, joined with others to
Royal Navy ally,
the
opportunity of a breakthrough
little
1915. The
opening a
all
guilty of
criticized for his
turned out so badly. The
through the
strait.
enemy
The troops were brought from Egypt and consisted
New
French, Australians and
command
as the Anzacs. Under the the force
amounted
condemn
British
Zealanders, the latter
of General Ian Hamilton,
men.
to 78,000
of British,
become
has
It
IM
two known .
^a*-
implying that their incompetence contributed to the death of
many
Hamilton warfare
was
in
in
most instances
who
a highly regarded soldier
this
untrue.
is
had experience of
South Africa and Manchuria. He knew the nature
modern warfare and
that to undertake
amphibious landing was Unfortunately,
month
a
4
attacks
1
Allied
warships
.^7
Allied
warships sunk
a^H
Turkish forces
-
Biiyuk Anafarta
Turkish attacks
25APRIL-
of
Turkish front lines
• Turkish fortresses "•Gun
18
Anzac Cove
„
MAY
'".'
''V
Allied
«,
^
**^. „ An Burnu .
forces
f
/\ **W
*\ land . » ,\t %
batteries
x
and transport
equip
to
TURKEY
Nibrunesi Burnu I
and execute an opposed
a great challenge.
took
it
forces
Allied front lines
a cliche to
generals of this period as being out of touch,
of their soldiers, but
Allied
-Allied
army attacks Anzac invasion force
Turkish
Hamilton's soldiers and the Turks used this opportunity to pre-
pare their defensive positions.
Commanded
by a German,
General Liman von Sanders, the Turks numbered sixty thou-
sand and were well equipped with
ANZAC FORCES
and machine guns.
artillery
HITTING THE BEACHES Hamilton
was aware he was
were untrained
they were attempting
planned for 25
April:
one
at
other attacks
Two main
seize.
to
Cape Helles on the
sula, the other at Ari Burnu,
Two
because
taking risks,
amphibious attacks and knew
in
of the land
among
levity,
troops
who
sailed
who
landed with the 1st Battalion of the Lancashire
'I
off right
you the sight of the peninsula being shelled
tell
was grand
with the sun rising above
outside the supporting ships and
we were [guns]
can
right
went
it
We
all.
in fairly
kicked
We
never got a shot
Kale-
X
,';\ / 4 JUNE**«!.,•
.„.. u
.
fired at
In APRiyUffi^A 25 APRIL
t
edd . e
.
*
.'
Baba
^^~
.w
*.
\
'*
Dardanelles
~ >"v
'-*'/
f^
apeiHelles
a Achi
Krithia
nr
»
-».
fast until
under the cannon's mouth. The noise of the
were deafening.
/
as recorded by Captain
Gallipoli,
Char1ak <
Bahr# -»-•
the
Talbot,
Fusiliers:
Kilid
the penin-
tip of
diversions.
There was a sense of confidence, even
by the fleet
LIMAN VON SANDERS
were
assaults
on the west side of the peninsula.
were intended as
towards
Aegean Sea
his soldiers
little
us
1
till
0in
—~
the
/guns
Turkish
3 battleships sunk,
.^y
3 disabled by
oars let
I
were tossed and then they
that struck the
don't think the
still
had
their
navy
in
earnest.
The
first bul-
HAMILTON
• Kum
water brought up loud cheers from our men...
men
realised
laughing and joking
m
started
was
till
how
hot the
fire
,
was, they were
\
and mines
Kale
Erenkeu, Bay
t
the end.' The confidence the soldiers
misplaced. Not only did their big guns
to silence Turkish resistance, but the
fail
navy had warned the army
about the presence of strong currents and reefs. The result was that the British troops had to land at the five
beaches
at
Cape
Above: The Allied
they might have overturned the Turkish
landings on Gallipoli
orders from
commanders
lines,
but lacking firm
out at sea, they paused for tea -
suffi-
peninsula during the
Helles
in
gunners,
Despite
as they
daylight,
who this,
making themselves
inflicted a
deadly
fire
sitting targets for Turkish
on three of the landings.
and submerged barbed wire that entangled them
waded
ashore, the brave soldiers pressed on, with the
1st Lancashire Fusiliers winning six Victoria of the day.
captured a
Coming hill
off
Crosses by the end
the beach, elements of the 29th Division
called Achi Baba.
If
they had followed through,
attempt to secure
passage through the Dardanelles.
cient time to allow the Turks to reoccupy the high ground
surround the beach-heads with trenches. Any
had been attrition
lost and, ironically, the
troops faced the
and
advantage
same
grinding
they would have endured on the Western Front.
Further north, on the
missed
initial
west side
of the peninsula, the
their original landing place,
and assembled
Anzacs
at a place
which became known as Anzac Cove. This spared them the
stronger coastal defences at Gaba Tepe and they advanced
^Allied
forces
quickly up the slopes of the beaches, heading for the high
--Allied
attacks
ground of
Allied front lines
ers
^Turkish Ka akol Dagh Suvia Burnu
\'
*f» AUGUST
7
11
»'
W
Turkish front lines
brilliant
He then launched
X
Plain
Suvia or
^^
on to the beach,
1
The
a bitter counter-attack that forced
some
inflicting
demoralised by shrapnel
ed
all
1
^k
received the
fire
'[they]
are
fol-
thoroughly
which they have been subject-
to
fire
in
the morning...
If
tomorrow morning there
again
'
^L
•
be a
to
is likely
*4«t 1.--
'
;
Za
Chocolate
t*
marshes
replace those
Hill
A Green
'*
fiasco, as
the
in
right in
00
Hill 1
ness,
/
and
stick
out...
it
now you have
have no fresh troops with which to
is
line.'
Hamilton's response
nothing for
it
was wrong:
until
difficult busi-
you are
On
safe.'
was much more
there
was
but to dig yourselves
You have got through the
only to dig, dig, dig,
Hamilton
this point,
I
firing
uncompromising: 'there
Hi//
,'
difficult
Biiyuk Anafarta
/ /
*
/
*•
—
•>
/
*
/
it.
them back
thousand casualties.
day after exhaustion and gallant work
troops are subjected to shell
i
was
salt lake
t Nibrunesi Burnu /
1
five
was desperate and Hamilton
situation
lowing message about the Anzacs:
1
'->
i
become founding
Bay
/
i
to
mobilizing his troops for an anti-landing exercise and occupied
1
/
'
be known as Kemal
campaign
president of the Republic of Turkey. By chance, Kemal
vjy
/
i
a highly efficient officer
later
the whole of the high ground before the Anzacs could reach
^
tLittle Anafarfa
Ataturk and would lead a
N
SuWa 1
Turkish attacks 1 1
them, the Turkish defend-
commanded by
Mustafa Kemal. He would
called
--
Sari Bair. Unfortunately for
the area were
in
forces
beach-heads and,
their
\V> Mt
Aegean Sea
make no headway
out of
addition to the obvious dangers
posed
business to come. The Allies could
%_
in
by the Turks, had to endure three months of blazing hot sand
and raging dysentery.
1
.
1
'
\
Anzac Cove
n
:
*
n
SUVLA BAY was
Hamilton
25 APRIL-18
»
^
.-
\
''
1
1
MAY
'
ven
>
Mi
/
/V .••A/
army attacks Anzac
Turkish
„ a
•*
f
t
MZ/tC FORCES
in,
but actually the result has been a
guns were too
o
^
although
done
all
I
scientific
The
had every available
that flesh
"
might represent the
failure,
fortifications
and
dri-
as the main
their
machine-
and too strongly held to be rushed,
man
in
today.
Our troops have
and blood can do against semi-permanent
works and they are not able p.
to carry them.' But the British gov-
E
ernment would not give
!
1
*
'I
enemy's advanced positions were
object remains unachieved.
invasion force
*
..*->/ »*
i
^
»*^
^**
t
f \ i
blunt about his failure:
battle as a victory, as the
to Gallipoli
and
in
in.
Some
22,000 more shells were sent
August three further
British divisions arrived.
Above
left
The major
landings of the Anzac
troops at Gallipoli
LIEUTENANT JOHN HARDING,
LONDON REGIMENT
Despite good landings the Anzac troops could not break the Turkish
defensive lines further
AWFUL DISCOVERY Many
of the
Gallipoli in
intervals...
new troops
landing at
1
August 1915 were bewildered
by the strange
terrain.
It
didn't help that
in
slow process.
We
the London
is
1
Regiment, recalls the confusion:
then
we were
We were told that we were going to do a
So
with
night attack.
marched
in
We
set off
column
in
the dark
and
halting at frequent
dip
in
there
it
We were
don't
halt
-my
very, very
being guided, so
we were
going.
know how long and
told to halt
my platoon,
the ground
go about a
was a
idea where
went on,
1,
that
to
and then
at a time
recollection
we had no
they had to advance at night. John Harding, a lieutenant
00 yards
We seemed
lay
and
lie
down
amongst
the
down. a
little
hills,
and
in
was an awful stench and we'd no
idea where
it
came
from.
However we
got to sleep, but when we woke up
in
inland.
the
morning at daylight we saw that we'd
been
lying alongside four or five
Turks. Well then
we were
told to
dead
go back
to the beach.'
Quoted
in
Defeat at Gallipoli by Nigel
Steel and Peter Hart (Macmillan, 1994)
make
to
cove
$&MM&fai
is
hollows.
the main assault on Sari
rough In
Bair.
The ground above the
comprising a succession of ridges and
terrain,
the darkness, the Anzacs lost their
way and encoun-
tered heavy hand-to-hand fighting with the Turks. The
troops were Suvla, but
luckier,
meeting
once again
their
new
resistance to their landing at
little
successes outstripped
initial
their
orders and as they waited, the Turks recaptured the high
ground with
reinforcements.
Kemal launched a series
of
counter-attacks which threw the Allies back on to the beaches
with losses of
Hamilton
and
a
new
thirty
was
thousand men.
eventually relieved of his
general
recommended
troops from the peninsula. Back Churchill
effort. In reality,
advance
at Gallipoli.
Above: This painting by Ellis Silas
depicts
Australian troops at Gallipoli.
A Bair
major breakout
was conceived and
the high ground of Sari
above 'Anzac Cove' was targeted
in
order to
split
the
defences of the peninsula. Under cover of night on 6-7 August, without naval support, the
new
divisions landed at Suvla
the north of the Anzacs. These troops ditions of the peninsula, however,
and
were unused it
was
left
Bay to
to the con-
to the
Anzacs
in
for
in
October all
Allied
London, Hamilton and
what was termed
a scan-
given greater resources and
opposed amphibious assault could have
better preparation, the
worked, and Top: British troops
home
became the scapegoats
dalous waste of
command
the evacuation of
similar assaults
in later
wars would work,
but Gallipoli could only ever be a sideshow to the main
event on the Western Front and for
it.
The evacuation
efficiently with
little
of troops
failed within the
from
further loss of
Gallipoli
life,
but
it
was
terms set carried out
would be
a long
time before another amphibious campaign would again be
suggested by
a British
commander.
THE BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE, 1916 Russia's dramatic defeat of
to
German forces
how
Offensive demonstrated
during the Brusilov
ought
a fast-moving offensive
be fought. Meticulously planned and well executed, the
Russian advance overwhelmed the Germans. Sadly, the liance of
its
beginning
was
ending and the victory failed to change the
war on the Eastern Russia
Japanese
had in
1
bril-
not matched by decisiveness at final
outcome
its
of the
Front.
against
the
904-05 (see Tsushima, pp.54-7), which had
pro-
suffered
a
humiliating
voked a revolution and culminated
in
defeat
the czar being forced to
accept a constitutional government. Booming industrialization followed and the Russian government hastily equipped forces with the latest weaponry.
^ry^^m
an alliance with France and
JJ
could
call
greatly rivals
In
Britain (the Triple Entente).
on an estimated manpower of 25
million
and
concerned both Germany and Austria-Hungary,
in
central
its
1907, Russia entered into
Russia its
its
size
main
Europe. However, Russian communications
were poor and Germany believed
Russia's mobilization
would
be so slow that there would be sufficient time to defeat France in
the west, before Germany's forces would need to turn to
deal with the situation
When war
in
Right The Russian offensive
the east.
1916
broke out
in
eastern Europe
in
1914, Russia it
surprised everyone by mobilizing
Above: German soldiers and
a
machine gun crew
hold an improvised position on the Eastern
Front of Poland at the
>
*^^i»"' '
beginning of the war.
1
«fcv s
Right: Russian soldiers
man
a trench in Poland.
After the
initial
movement
of the war.
the Eastern Front
became
a series of
trench systems just as
in |
the west, with both
^£3
sides searching for a
breakthrough.
66
BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE
:V-#\
much
faster than expected.
in
Poland
Initially
resolve.
in
successful,
failed to break
German
Baltic
^k^H
Moscow
RUSSIA Berlin
GERMANY
W
BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE
^H
,Vienna
AUSTRO-HUNGARY
Russian armies invaded East Prussia and
immediate effect of panicking Moltke
the west and thus blunting his attack there (see the the
Mame,
Germans
pp.58-61). The
having the
Galicia,
into shifting troops
from
First Battle of
struck back, however, and
gained a victory at the Battle of Tannenberg. Hmdenburg and
now
Ludendorff were
charge of the fighting on the Eastern
in
Front and the Russians suffered a series of defeats
in
Poland.
The Russians were more successful against the AustroHunganans, but by 1915
sides had
all
trench warfare, with the Russian
become bogged down
Army
having lost
more than
men. Germany and Austria-Hungary continued
million
offensives and by the end of the year, Russian armies retreat
from
Galicia
and Poland. The Russian Army was
and the czar stepped Munitions production
in
1916 the Russian Army was assault at Verdun
was
French and Russia decided to help in
of the
in
in crisis
military.
The German
by launching an offen-
its ally
now
failed,
with
turned to one of the more
commanders, General Alexei
of Russia's
were
enormous pressure on the
March 1916. The attack
heavy losses, and attention
a
their
the beginning of
better shape.
in
putting
sive north of Lake Naroch
competent
command
to take
was stepped up and by
in
Brusilov.
METICULOUSLY PLANNED Brusilov
was an
aristocratic cavalry officer
who
had been put
in
charge of the Eighth Army. His imagination, combined with attention to detail,
made
command one
his
cessful elements of the Russian forces all
command
tier in
of the Russian
in
of the
more suc-
1915. Placed
in
over-
armies on the southwestern fron-
1916, he decided against the traditional Russian
attrition
swamping the enemy with human waves and chose
tactics of
instead to use surprise and tactical efficiency.
He reassured
his
superiors by suggesting an attack along the entire Austro-
Hungarian front
line,
but
in
his organization
he meticulously
planned four simultaneous attacks by four armies under his
command
(the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth
Front and
employed reconnaissance
information.
He then dug
and Eleventh armies).
developments on the Western
Brusilov had taken note of
aircraft to
provide him with
assault trenches towards the Austro-
Hungarian positions. Surprise
was
all
important and his plans
were successfully concealed from the enemy. The AustroHunganans
own
failed to disturb his preparations,
trench lines
were
believing their
invulnerable. Brusilov 's forces of 1,700
guns and 600,000 men barely outnumbered the enemy's 500,000, and this fact also reassured the Austro-Hungarians that the Russians
they
did,
were not planning an
they tended to
Brusilov
began
swamp
his offensive
attack,
because when
the area with soldiers.
on 4 June 1916 with accurate
BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE
artillery
bombardments, based on the information obtained by
his aircraft. This
was then
followed through by the attacks of
the four Russian armies, which stretched the Austro-Hungarian
Below The
final
reserves. Brusilov's
stages
own
Eighth
Army made
a dramatic assault
south of the Pripet Marshes at Lutsk, destroying the Austro-
of the Brusilov Offensive
Army and
Hungarian Fourth
Austro-Hungarian the
enemy
First
line at
town
only
two
Army overwhelmed
the
capturing the
Eleventh
Further south, the
days.
in
and Second armies and broke through
Sopanov. South of
was
this
which captured the Austro-Hungarian
the Ninth Army,
salient at
Okna and took
eleven thousand prisoners.
An Austro-Hungarian
the Seventh Army,
was
forced to retreat before Russia's Ninth Army, eventually
split-
relief force,
Russian armies
two as
Russian movements
-
Austro-Hungarian armies
of
-
transport system
fell
apart, with the loss
some one hundred thousand men. By
the middle of June,
ting into
-
its
the Austro-Hungarian forces
Galicia
in
had
virtually
collapsed
Austro-Hunganan movements
command was awestruck by Brusilov's Brusilov's soldiers captured some two hun-
and the Russian high Russian gains
6-10 JUNE
success.
:
'
In"
In all,
dred thousand prisoners and over seven hundred guns. They
had advanced over
80km
(50 miles), but he lacked the rein-
forcements to pursue the enemy further and Brusilov had to call
own
a halt to the offensive. His
amounted
losses
to fifty
thousand men. AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ARMY
#-.
/
*^
Cha
-=
^<,
%
DEFEAT OUT OF VICTORY
1,
German and Austro-Hungarian commands.
Panic gripped the
The Germans could spare no
-
"•• I
,J\4-iojunf*J if'
>\
SZURMAY-"
~ «•
^
Somme
committed
campaign
mand now
w„« Rovno
more
in Italy.
of the
Fortunately for them, the
Marwitz
Elft^P
I
R E
interfered on a daily basis,
sand
making
Brusilov's
and complex by demanding even greater
difficult
An Austro-German
ries.
RUSSIAN
to their
because
extra troops
and the Austro-Hungarians were
excitement of Brusilov's success meant the Russian high com-
L *
offensive on the
failed to
men were
life
victo-
counter-attack on 20 June led by
dent the Russian
line
and a further
forty thou-
lost.
Brusilov finally received a further 12 divisions and used these to
resume
on 23 June. The Russian Ninth and
his offensive
Eleventh armies pushed the Austro-Hungarians back further,
Germans withdrew as
but although the
good
well, they did
so
in
German reinforcements from
order. Falkenhayn gathered
the Western Front and the Austro-Hungarians called off their
Using superior lines of communication,
Trentino Offensive.
austrian-hOhgarian EMPIRE
especially their railways, by the middle of July the
Germans and
Austro-Hungarians had begun to change the balance of power.
The Germans seized upon the weaker northern
-''
Russian advance and pressed the
south,
Russian
Mountains but were the
troops let
The
as
got
down by
Germans managed
September
home
far
it
had dented
Front and Falkenhayn
the
Carpathian
lines. In
the north,
to stop the Russian advance and by
from Brusilov's
the Germans,
as
poor supply
Brusilov's victorious offensive
fallout
flank of the
their counter-attacks. In
was
had ground to a
brilliant battle
their
was
halt.
manifold. For
manpower on the Western
forced to resign as supreme
German
commander. For Austria-Hungary the repercussions were even
autonomous
worse, for
its
army had
power and
its
troops had been swallowed up into the
virtually
collapsed as an
German
war machine. The Austro-Hungarian Empire would not the peace process following the war.
encouraged to zernowitz
'*i~5^"
ticipation
join
the war on the side of the
proved unimportant.
survive
Romania had been Allies,
but
its
par-
For Russia, the end result,
was
its allies,
of
surprisingly perhaps,
the Brusilov Offensive had sapped the Russian
finest soldiers;
its
numbered about of
somewhat
catastrophic. Although a great victory that had impressed
enemies.
its
in effect,
hundred thousand, almost equal
a brilliant final flare of
what might have been possible
more
Army
casualties
its
to those
addition, Russia could not maintain the sup-
food and weapons needed to keep
plies of
was,
five
In
by the end of the offensive
efficient military
army
its
dynamism
that
going.
It
showed
Russia had possessed a
if
system.
The Russian people were fed up with war by February 1917 revolutionary pressures had extent where the Russian
this
time and by
built
up to the
Army had become
virtually paral-
ysed. Soldiers refused to obey their officers and disappeared
from the
front.
The Germans assisted
this
process by sending
Lenin and other exiled revolutionaries back into Russia. By
November
1917,
the Bolsheviks were
December
declared an armistice on 16
executed and the communist regime began
And what
of Brusilov - the
commanders? Although he
most
power and they
in
its
brilliant of
joined the
hold on power.
Russia's wartime
Red Army as
1920, and helped to establish the Soviet army, he avoid becoming involved that
was
in
was then
1917. The czar
a general
in
managed
to
the deadly struggle of the
civil
war
to follow.
Above: Boy soldiers in
the Russian
Army
during the latter stages of the First
World War,
when repeated
GENERAL DENIKEN
costly
offensives had depleted
the
manpower
Above
right:
reserves.
A Maxim
machine gun. The First
World War was
dominated by machine guns which made it
REVOLUTIONARY ARMY
troubles to repair
With the failure of the Brusilov Offensive
to
do
so,
in
the
company. There
to secure an
end to the war on the
Eastern Front, the Russian
Army became
prey to talk of revolution and soldiers
it;
no one
feels inclined
and there are not enough men
of deserters;
is
more than
a large number
fifty
have been
allowed to go. Old soldiers have been
numerous committees, or gone away as delegates.
Finally,
by threats and
violence, the soldiers
have so terrorised
the regimental surgeons that the latter
have been issuing medical
certificates
'
difficult to
assault
entrenched positions.
began
to
drift
away from
it.
Russian
demobilised, others have
gone on
leave
general Deniken described the situation
with the arbitrary permission of the
he saw
[revolutionary]
in
early
1917:
The parapet is crumbling away. No one
again, have
Committee. Others,
even to the thoroughly Quoted
in
fit.
The Eastern Front 191 4-18 by
Alan Clark (BPC, 1971)
been elected members of
BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE
SOMME, 1916
Symbolic of the carnage of the Western Front, the catastro-
phe
of the Battle of the
among
British
commanders.
were so dominant
that
it
forced tactical changes
Artillery
made
and machine guns
difficult for infantry to
it
home any meaningful advances. The Somme was
press
turning point
in
awful mistakes
The
in its
made
in
history
Somme
produced the
a single day ever sustained by the British
-
front,
British
it
some 60,000
casualties, of
compounded
whom
the revulsion growing
ed at the time - the issues
for
was
1
9,000
British
among
people at the unprecedented sacrifices being
the war. The worthiness of the cause
als
to epitomize a tragedy
should never be allowed to happen again.
felt
was
Public interest
responsible for the raising of war memori-
throughout the country; the glamour of war
good and would never
Myths have
also
Somme: images
was gone
for
Above: A massive mine explosion signals the
beginning of the British assault at the
Although
Somme.
locally
devastating, such
return.
grown up around the
of khaki-clad
the
made
in
not seriously doubt-
which the war was being
matched
In
first
day of the
men
advancing shoulder to
moving
in
such a
open
few
who
led
them there were
unit records of the
suicidal
order,
day
culpable.
recall soldiers
manner; most of them advanced
making the most use
of cover. Also,
the generals themselves had warned the politicians early on that a
European war on
this scale
- so unlike anything else
fought over the previous century - would be very costly
indeed of
the years after the
in
sensibly
is
the popular imagination with the conviction that
actual fact, very
majority of the population - but
in Britain in
in
the old-fashioned generals
fought were readily understood and were supported by the
SOMME
was
it
shoulder across no man's land to their certain deaths
there.
were dead. When the dreadful news reached the
home
which
explosions also served as warnings of attack
applying the lessons learned from the
day of the Battle of the
first
greatest losses
a
Somme came
war, the losses on the
the conduct of the First World War, with
many commanders
Army
Somme
in lives.
experience
There were no
in
how
to fight
illusions
about
such a war.
this,
only a lack
Lonrf'"<
GERMANY English Channel
H^L
1
"SOMME
FRANCE
What
field.
cause enormous casualties on the
did
was
battle
the failure of British
was noted by
This
artillery to
the generals, and
were developed which transformed the half of
the war. The
first half
of the
first
day of the
The
new
the French,
fighting
in
the second
war on the Western Front
had been largely improvised while generals and soldiers struggled to Below. The British
advance of
by
to
terms with modern
1918a more
91 7 and
July 1916
1
victory
and the subsequent
German
1
come
counter-attack.
in
was
its
prize.
The
industrialized warfare, but
whose
had given the
them
army was emerging and
help to divert
therefore a turning point
mander
should be fought.
manpower. A
of
Z
I
Allied forces
ARMY
ing
"Gommecourt
*S
i
1*5"
^ .
all
JULY
I
German forces
were
German attacks
stretched between
German
the south, with the River
artillery
**
"L>-
down on
the east that
*.
4>
-----
The
hid.
++"'*\
="
*
^<»
.
running along
Morval
41
/
++
V\
•
Albert
Wood
/ t
RAWLINSON FOURTH ARMY
*"*
%
the
its
224,221
shells
The barrage was intended
Allies' target.
in
field
saw
British
advance over the cratered land and claim the enemy
was
seriously flawed.
shells simply
possess the explosive
shelters
which the Germans
in
churned up the earth, deadening the failing
front of the trenches. Pilots
wire
in
southern
even to cut the barbed
who
flew over the battle-
only the devastated landscape and gave false assur-
12 JULY
*'
^ V^^
been cut were ignored by senior
** •
\'
jk-Combles Wood f #/ % Montauban '-^- - -li»»/* w
Mametz
ances that the bombardment had achieved
its
aim, while
down
Jn,"Longueval on the ground reconnaissance reports that the wire had not
/Mametz / Mametz
//
Fr.court
was
Army was
positioned on the high ground to
impact of any other shells and
^
some
a
rounds
»*'*8azentin-le-Petit
^
%*•
Germans
the
1.7 million
British Fourth
of the artillery shells did not
The
of
and
British
the north and Maricourt
in
Somme
power to penetrate the concrete SECOND ARMY
demands
wipe out any German resistance, allowing the
Most
f--yf|pval^ ,ti««»Pozieres T* • m I
lines.
Gommecourt
trenches. This expectation
Grandcourt
.
com-
Haig,
was preceded by
which
the hour before the attack,
In
Bapaume
BELOW
I
German
the
rained
largely
July
1
in
Achiet-le-Petit
repulsed
^
\
on
bombardment
massive
infantry to
1
of the battle
Allied gains
flank.
and
would
French assistance
for significant
a
limit
to the north
of the four participating.
The beginning
to
07.30 hours
push
British
offensive, with the French element contribut-
one army out
fired at
war
assault on Verdun, which
Somme became
the
that
British attacks
^
hoped
]
front lim
of the
space they needed to
with this diversionary attack, but such were the
Allied attacks
2
two years
first
German troops from Verdun. General
Commonwealth ALLENBY
the
Allies the vital breathing
of the British,
Verdun
THIRD
fought to relieve pressure on
in
February 1916, pushed the French to their
in
drained
sacrifices
German advance. A major
halt the
began
professional
how the war
Somme was
Battle of the
Somme was
the Allies' understanding of
pans
THAT TERRIBLE DAY
prepare the battleassault tactics
.
*
!
\H
•»'
Z
M4JULY
Ai Clery-suC-Somi
bardments had
now
officers. Counter-battery
failed to silence the
fully alerted to
German
an attack. Haig knew
artillery,
little
bom-
which was
of this
and yet
has borne the brunt of the criticism levelled since.
NEW RECRUITS Most
of the British soldiers at the
and had had
little
time to be trained
Somme were new in
tactics
recruits
more complicated
than climbing over the parapet and advancing on the enemy. This they did with great bravery, but as they advanced across
no man's
land, the
fired their
Germans emerged out
machine guns
British losses reaching
Even the use
of
at
30,000
them. in
the
It
of their shelters
was
first
and
a bloodbath, with
hour of the attack.
mines was not wholly successful. Tunnels
had been dug beneath the German
line
and
filled
with high
THIRD
ARMY
1 "
{. jommecourt
B.p.um.,V Mr " Mnr DECEMBER
1
Si ^
14 JULY* >....*...>/ A A A '*»
'If
V^
m/MW
I »
A.bert FOURTH ARMY «"»ert
*'**.4
V ^
-§
.
rGuedecourt
'
"* «*
AMontauban
(6,000-yd) front.
\
r
Gouzeaucourt
.-..
break
ward
the
,*-Barleux
m
--
™™«W
'/>
Allied gains
n
-
front
living lay
later
stages
of the Battle of the
Somme
'.
Ham
in
the second
few gains blood
It
f.Roye
f
5
kilometres g
for
explosives.
When
the mines were detonated at 'zero hour',
immediately above them were obliterated. The
were not
much
spilled.
killed
saw
explosion,' states infantry attack,
it
Germans
many who
simply as a warning of the attack. 'This
one German
'was a signal of the
report,
and everyone got ready and stood on the lower
Right A lucky British soldier with a
bandaged
steps of the dug-outs,
rifles in
hand, waiting for the bombard-
few minutes the
we
head, showing the hole
ment
made by
rushed up the steps and out into the crater positions. Ahead of
shrapnel
helmet. His
in his
rifle is
us covered to protect
from the
rain
and
the Western Front.
to
wave
lift.
after
In
a
wave
shelling ceased,
of British troops
and
were crawling out
of their
it
mud
of
trenches, and coming forward towards us at a walk, their bayo-
nets glistening
Despite the
in
the sun.'
failure to silence
subsequent heavy
German
German
the central sector, several including
opposition and the
casualties, the first day of the offensive
not completely without achievement.
In
was
the southern part of
positions
were captured,
Montauban, Mametz and Grandcourt. Elsewhere,
however, the attacks had been blunted.
ADVANCE BOGGED DOWN The shock
of the losses
on the
first
day did not dissuade Haig
from continuing what was to become a five-month-long
battle.
However, some lessons were quickly learned and General Rawlinson gave an indication of the employment of more cient tactics with his assault
German defences
at
on 14 July on the second
effi-
line of
Longueval Ridge. His troops advanced
under cover of darkness.
preceded the assault and
72
this cost
to counter-attack
them
whenever
dearly as well.
'Among
ourselves
in
we
found them
One company
in
layers stacked
after
As
one on
into
another had been
the drum-fire and steadily annihilated.' The
lists,
many
small-scale
stem the lengthen-
with politicians consequently pressuring
was now
that Haig turned to
new
technology, shipped to
France under the guise of 'water tanks' - from which the tank
they had the effect of small earthquakes and the
half of 1916, revealing
and
the dead,' recalled Lieutenant Ernst Junger.
was
to derive
the
new armoured,
its
them ready more
Above The
New
Haig to act decisively.
miles ".
e
German
and
captured Pozieres sustained 23,000 casual-
assaults failed to break the stalemate and
/
liri
Longueval.
the Allies take other
the battlefield into a sea of mud. Too
German attacks
German
and
cost: the Australians
lost a position
ing casualty
Allied attacks
infantry rapidly to
weather added to the misery, with heavy ram transforming
St Quentin
SfiOW
Allied forces
IM German forces
-
who
saw
tremendous
top of the other.
«""«' S
Tvermandovillers
completely wrecking
.
1
>
more
on a 5,500-m
gap and the advance bogged down.
bitter fighting
The Germans were ordered
shoved
\
instant,
Bazentin-le-Petit
they the
mand
MICHELER
were
and allowing the
ties.
we dug \
line
between
to exploit the
positions, but at
1
"Peronne
line
Elsewhere,
IcSmb.'.,^. - . >•».•. "f
•
Somme
day of the
Unfortunately, however, Rawlinson could not bring cavalry for-
O^^/Tlery-sur-Somme
\
results
German second
the
Zealanders
^
The
first
1
\,
'
'
bringing to bear a barrage five times
line,
powerful than that on the
N
RUPPRECHT
1
1/
*
enemy
the
*
ALLENBY
A it
brief,
five-minute
was aimed
bombardment
at a far smaller area of
name. Haig was immediately impressed by tracked,
gun platforms and he wanted
quickly than could be the case. Manufacturing
new weapons were
Above. General Haig,
delays meant that only 32 of these
commander
by September. Nevertheless, Haig pushed them
into battle,
and although they were dogged with mechanical
faults, their
of the
ready
British forces at the
Battle of the
Somme.
Long derided as a poor commander, he spent
much
effort in
developing
first
appearance on 15 September was
panic
among
the Germans,
who
casualties, with the French losing 205,000.
been bled white with losses
was
development. At Thiepval, only three tanks were needed to
and weapons
in
order
terrify
the
Germans and capture the
ficient to establish a
challenges of war on
kind of warfare
in
village.
They were not
breakthrough, but they did point to a
suf-
new
the future.
support the
the Western
Front. Their failure to
day
Battle of the
when
Somme
end
in
November
German defences
at
Beaumont
finally
the Allies captured the
came
to an
of the
led to the
Hamel and Beaucourt.
In total,
the British had lost 420,000
It
led
dropped a curtain of
The
battle also
not invincible, and
German bunkers
and barbed wire on the first
The
infantry.
to
would be
costly,
the birth of stormtrooper
fire just in
tide
which
although
it
eventually be beaten.
A
British soldiers felt that
Germans would
matching loss of confidence was noted
The
in
front of the advancing
demonstrated that the Germans were
many
the
tightly
vehicles to
assaults as well as the use of the creeping barrage artillery
BLED WHITE
bloodshed
(5 miles).
weapons and
defined objectives, using a variety of
infantry. right. British
destroy
3km
armies developed tactics which concentrated on more
the Western Front.
artillery at
just
new tactics
to deal with the
Above
advance of
Neither side would forget the horror of this battle, and both
sufficient to create
had been unaware of their
for an Allied
The Germans had
of 680,000. All this
in
the
German
forces.
had turned.
Somme
tremendous
casualties suffered by
the British infantry.
ERNEST SHEPHARD,
MACHINE GUN 'At
FIRE
6.30am our
bombarding
1STD0RSETS
artillery
were
intensely, a
most awful
din.
the wood, could not understand why...
bullet holes
We were
cross as quickly as
equipment
went on ahead, Gray the
in left side.
possible.
told to 1
At 7.30am, we moved to "the attack" by
Company
companies at 200 yds [180m]
platoon behind him.
How
We had a
cannot imagine, the
bullets
intervals...
machine gun
fire
terrible
dose of
sweeping us through
Orderly behind, and No. 5
cracking and whizzing
all
1
got over
my clothing and
several places and
was
hit
The ground was covered with
our dead and wounded...'
Quoted
1
in
The
Somme 1916 by
Chappell (Windrow
were
round me.
through
in
1
&
Michael
Greene, 1995)
got
73
YPRES, 1917 What should have been an impressive demonstration of the new tactics and technology embraced by the British Army was with enormous casualties.
muddy nightmare
turned into a
Advances were bogged down by excessive
was transformed
Flanders landscape
Somme
Battle of the
Army
the British
into a
sea of mud.
had been the trauma that
new
developing
into
and the
rain
finally
If
the
spurred
tactics to deal with the
stalemate of the Western Front, then surely the Third Battle of Ypres, launched
summer
which culminated
ing
the battle
months
of fight-
the assault on Passchendaele (giving
in
and
casualties
changed. The
Somme
yet, after five
alternative name), the British suffered one-third of
its
million
the
1917, should have seen the fruits of
hard-won experience? And
this
a
in
in
name
of
position
strategic
their
was
little
Passchendaele rings almost as loudly as
even more surprising when one considers the
is
1917. At the Battle of Arras
events of two previous battles
in
and Vimy Ridge
new tactics and weapons were
in April,
several
employed: heavy but precise use of rage, concentrated all
machine gun
fire,
artillery,
gas projectors and tanks -
who advanced
supported the infantry -
the creeping bar-
to the front line under
cover of tunnels, with the additional lucky elements of
snow to obscure
their
movements. The
was
and
a swift victo-
At the Battle of Messines
German
centrated
front line
and
the Allied high
their
all
use was accompanied by con-
command began
possible by applying the
This
was
be accomplished
by the Royal
of the sky
the objectives
was
to
June, several mines tore apart
and mastery
artillery fire
Flying Corps. Again,
in
were taken
quickly
and
to think that a breakthrough
same
lessons on a larger scale.
at Ypres.
SUCCESS BOGGED DOWN 1917 the French had launched a major attack north of
In April
Reims, called the Nivelle Offensive, but tives
days.
it
had
and some 130,000 Frenchmen were
The
failure
Army and
French
and the
of defeat
the
distract
failed in its objec-
lost in
the
first five
snapped the sorely stretched morale mutinies broke out. France British
needed
to launch a
was on
new
Germans. With the successes
of the
the edge
offensive to
of
Arras
and
Messines behind him, General Douglas Haig looked to the Flanders
town
of Ypres.
bulged out into the of high
The
German
ground 11km
British position
lines
(7 miles)
the village of Passchendaele,
With the lessons of the -
31 July.
A
a salient that
its rear.
A
ridge
east of Ypres, which contained
was
the target for Haig's assault.
new tactics
massive
was
with Ypres at
artillery
in
enemy
line.
Royal
Flying
Corps,
supremacy over the
capture
many
mind, the attack began
bombardment from three
tons of shells on each metre
which then managed to maintain battlefield.
coordination, the Allied infantry
As
were able
of their objectives
German
of the
front line
on the
was taken
air
result of this all-arms
a
to rush forwards
first
&£L
and
day, including the
ridges of Bixschoote, Pilckem and St Julien. Nearly
2km
(1
mile)
iJS^fl
at a cost of relatively light
casualties.
Amid
this
success, however, there were seeds of discord.
General Gough
was
the main battlefield
commander
in
than
either
of
that
Plumer
Messines) or Rawlinson,
who
(the
to
deeper
The
in
meet determined the
lines,
six
When
opposition from
at
On
top
explained by a geologist
who
the Allied advance
German
strongpoints let
up.
the poor weather at Ypres are best
has
made
mvjjj^
weeks and had
the autumn rains began and did not
tactical implications of
poorer
commander
had hoped for the position.
been delayed by
missed the good summer weather.
began
victorious
charge of
was
the Fifth Army, but his sense of operational detail
a study of the landscape
troops
Above:
British
hastily
dug trenches wait
in
for the signal to attack
of the
blue
Western
clay,'
heavy
soil
any
Front.
The
Flanders plain
is
composed mostly of
says Peter Doyle. This clay produces a very well
London. Clay
which the objectives were seized with minimal losses.
ry in
the
result
rain
five
Reconnaissance had been provided by the
of the
of this, the assault had
the annals of 20th-century military tragedy.
This paradox
thousand guns placed almost
is
known
impervious, repelling water, and this
rain that falls
sticky,
to people struggling with their gardens
accumulates on
its
surface.'
means
in
that
during the Allied offensive of the Third Battle of Ypres.
The paint
on their helmets
is
improvised camouflage.
'
Above: A wrecked tank stands filled
among
the mud-
STAFF NURSE MACFIE
craters that
brought the Allied offensive to a halt.
Excessive rain
was
unable to drain through the clay of Flanders.
HAIR TURNED YELLOW
'The
Women
nurses had to take off these uniforms,
nurses and were frequently exposed to the
Left.
a
Australian troops
trench during the
Battle of Ypres.
served on the Western Front as
same dangers as
the
men
they
poor boys were helpless and the
soaked
with gas,
the all
and do the best they
could for the boys. Next day
all
the
men,
clothing.
just
bombs were Quoted
from the fumes from
And all
in
their
the time, of course, the
falling,
night after night.
They Called
It
Passchendaele
in
helped. Staff Nurse Macfie recalled the effect of treating
men exposed
mustard gas during the Third Ypres:
to
Battle of
nurses had chest trouble and streaming
by Lyn Macdonald (Michael Joseph,
eyes from the gassing. They were
1978)
all
yellow and dazed. Even their hair turned yellow and they were nearly as bad as
Drainage
ed by the
the Ypres area depended on the canals construct-
in
local
artillery shells,
craters.
The
battlefield at
farmers, but this system
destroyed by the
which had churned up the ground
inevitable result
Ypres
was
and
only halted the progress of
into a
into a
landscape of mud,
water-filled shellholes. This
men and vehicles,
many
them
some
forty
thousand
missing, believed to have been
drowned
of
up;
men were reported as the mud of Flanders.
in
myriad of
that as the rain continued, the
was transformed
splintered tree trunks
76
was
mud
not
but also swallowed
ATTACK RESUMED The the
initial lull
attack
downpour
lasted
two weeks and the Germans used
to strengthen their positions.
On 16
August, the Allied
resumed and Langemarck was captured. But then
it
began
Haig accepted that the offensive had
to rain again.
ground to
and wanted to consolidate
a halt
Engineers used the cover of darkness to construct roads over the sea of
mud
using planks and logs, but
Germans submitted them to
be
fall,
built
the water
it
was contaminated by
provided
wooden
of
rain-
gas-filled shells
tracks
Leading
describes the impact
mud
we
started to
track that
laid
-
is
over the
march
for there
in
the 8th Lancashire Fusiliers, gives
like to
mud
to supports,'
he
pouring
became
down
recalls, 'along a
not a spare yard of ground
is
not pitted with a shell hole...
with
rain,
we made
dark and then fellows
fell
in
fairly
rain
duckboard
front of Ypres
never forget
will
I
pouring
this
good progress
march, until
it
the duckboards into shell
off
it.
they could
fly at all, aircraft
Mortar base plates sank into
opening
mustard gas
try to regain
craters,
was now charged
Plumer,
Passchendaele. The change
command and
in
the subsequent
as soon as they it
I
where was
couldn't see
I
foot slipped on the slippery plank and hole.
was up
I
neck
to the
muddy
It
left
there.
mud
me
I
I
was choking
soldiers
who
British
optimism.
and Australian troops resumed
towards
Polygon
Wood
and
their
Gheluvelt
out...
up and
lay
muddy At
last,
me
on
seized the key point of
Passchendaele on 6 November, pushing the Germans
off
the
and gaining the high ground. The Third Battle of Ypres
ridge
well-laid plans of Haig
for
my
of a sudden,
with gas and couldn't see.'
finally
a victory, but the appalling
and gave everyone cause
muddy
got three buckets of water thrown on
had wrecked the
which the
and used in
right into a
and couldn't get
was undoubtedly
in
it.'
lingered
All
went
a rope and hauled
ground. Then,
was Canadian
in
going. I
mud hardened
a dry period
in
cocktail of threats to a soldier's
reorganization of troops and artillery took a further three weeks,
which coincided with
the roads.
left
within an hour of
fierce counter-attacks
The poison gas
it.
fired,
'Gas shells were bursting over me,' recalled one Canadian
life.
soldier, 'and
who
with the assault on the high ground around
it
making the two a deadly
me and was
the duckboards.'
Gough with the more meticulous
into
for the first time.
the
mud and
tac-
from foe
bomb was
a
and the wounded often drowned
-
fire
be broken and the whole company would have to wade waist in
friend
tell
every time
it
The Germans fought back with
two fellows came with
Haig replaced
could not
became hopelessly clogged by
holes and had to be got out, and suddenly the duckboards would
deep
new
If
advance across the system of
at Flanders. 'In the
had on the efficiency of the
of
Griffith
since the uniforms of both had been equally discoloured by
Small arms
was
village
Paddy
in
and tanks bogged down
it
the
historian
'HE (high-explosive] shells became buried and smothered
brought
in daily.
approach
to
military
tics:
and dead bodies and therefore drinking water had to be
'duckboards'
German
bombardment and the roads had
to
William Sharpe, a private
Below. A
daylight the
again and again. Despite the seemingly endless
an indication of what
machine-gun crew on
in
miles)
Passchendaele.
his gains.
weather conditions
and
his generals.
The
On 20 September,
swiftness of previous victories had been denied to them by the
advance by moving
simple obstacle of mud.
in
the
south
and
Back
in Britain,
the tactical improvements developed by the
the Western Front.
Zonnebeke Below
mud
from the Western Front.
They have adapted clothing
in
British
plateau, the Australians
the novel experience of being caught
German
artillery shells kicking
in
a
had
duststorm caused by
up the dried mud.
It
was
a cruel
Army meant
little
to the politicians,
ed merely with an enormous casualty
list
dred thousand men. The Germans had
men
but they
still
who were of
some
confront-
three hun-
lost at least
240,000
occupied Belgium and the war would contin-
their
order to cope
with the mud.
the centre.
As they crossed the Gheluvelt
right. British
soldiers covered in
in
deception, however, for at the beginning of October the rain
resumed and
Allied
soldiers had to
march across 4km (TA
ue
for
many
another year. like
It
may have been
another defeat.
a victory, but
it
seemed
to
CAMBRAI, 1917
New
assault tactics
by the
British
looked
like a
were demonstrated
decisively at Cambrai
with a tank-led breakthrough, the
welcome
victory, but
German
first
ever.
It
counter-attacks led
tanks and infantry,
to the
some 4,000 tank-men
to assist a
mere
six divisions of
produced a greater gain of ground and a greater shocK
enemy
at a cost of
some 5,000
Above.
advance casualties, than the use
.
in
by stormtroopers revealed a
German
fighting
prolong the
had demonstrated
larly
73
first
edge
to
the
on the Western Front, one that threatened to
Quantity not quality
ries in early
efficient
of several
months'
dozen divisions had achieved
effort at a cost of
400,000
at
Ypres
in
a three
casualties.'
titantic struggle.
was
increasingly
as the key to battlefield success
the
newly
this
in
on the Eastern Front and
1917 had made the same
authorities
becoming understood
the First World War. Brusilov British victo-
point. Liddell Hart,
on armoured warfare, thought
one
of
this particu-
true of the Battle of Cambrai, 'where the use of only
378
'LANDSHIPS' The
idea of an armoured, tracked, mobile
gun platform was
first
considered as early as autumn 1914. Various prototypes were explored and the Royal Navy proposed a 'landship'. Within the Admiralty, Churchill favoured the idea and encouraged
opment. Eventually the US-built Holt
British
its
devel-
caterpillar tractor
was
tanks
spearhead the dawn at
Cambrai
..
this painting
w.
l.
Wyllie.
by
CAMBRAI'
was
selected as the basis for the chassis and General Haig
impressed to
sufficiently
call for
and Mark
in
summer of
the
into production.
tanks began to arrive
in
performance of the
battlefield
tanks
first
constantly
were
faster than the infantry, they
Western
The crews were
Front.
monoxide poisoning, and while moving proved
remained
undented by
their
enact
poor
them
easier.
in
Newspapers
up
the
:
*
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had become
/
DECEMBER
3 DECEMBER " "i I * " German counter attacks
\
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anacKs
their lives
\ -\
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however,
performance,
who
fire
.•"*.
yj
*,
NfJ
1
Marc'olng' •.;.*;;..
toured towns
most
their
was formed
money
campaign
they
useful
By summer 1917, more
until
saw
war - perhaps
action at Cambrai.
improved Mark
of the
produced and 190 were deployed, the Third Battle of Ypres. Heavy
for the
IV
had been
and
in
way
the piecemeal
November 1917 Haig had become
fail-
sufficiently con-
NOVEMBER
20 vinced of their merits to decide to bring
and use them
in
The attack was it
a
mass
all
the tanks together
Tanks advance with infantry over German lines
attack across solid ground at Cambrai.
originally
conceived as an
artillery
M
assault and
has been suggested that the main purpose behind the pres-
ence
was
of the tanks
thereby saving the
to
artillery
use them as barbed-wire breakers,
from having to undertake the
—
i
If
a
breakout
tainly
was
the tank
once and
to occur, then
would pursue
for
it.
it
commanders were keen
to prove their
-
worth
THIRD ARMY
Z Gauche • wood
British gains
German armies
5
\
Epehy
|
To achieve the utmost surprise. General Byng, the British Third Army, liminary barrage
went without the
commander
of
usual devastating pre-
and on the morning of 20 November
his tanks
broke cover. Mist covered their advance and a creeping barrage rained
down
just in front of
them. Unsettled by the
approach of these clanking monsters, the majority of Germans fled their
miles)
trenches and the front
in just
line
was penetrated by 8km
(5
The tanks worked
in
enemy
trench to guard the others by raking the trench with
machine gun
fire.
A second
sticks into the trench
tank then dropped a bundle of
and machine-gunned
the fascine to cross the
first
it.
A
third
tank used
trench and then dropped
its
own
bundle of sticks on the support trench and machine-gunned
10 hours.
ing through the
teams
DECEMBER
\
lines
2
miles
3
German counter attacks
\
front line
German defensive
MAXIMUM SURPRISE
Jr\
DECEMBER*,
German attacks German
all.
.
battalion
,
i
truth of this, cer-
armies
BYNG
^0> Tank
task.
would be the old-fashioned
Whatever the
Gouzeaucourt British
British attacks
,
cavalry that
\
albeit disappointingly, in
mud and
they were used were put forward as the reasons for their ure,
*.
-
\7^H
to bolster their image. Tanks
Britain raising
in
Nk
end and a
their reputation to this
Masnieres
separate Tank Corps
Cambrai
V*X V""\
/
''^••* '""* \
v
\
j, BorlonWooa**
!
l«*
• \
/••••«t
Enthusiasm
any machine that could make
built
of
down
to lay
practice.
in
because they raised the morale of troops anxious to believe
mud
highly vulnerable to carbon
a desire for
difficult to
the
in
\ ,moWsi
§
Wood
Bourlon
British take
lit-
highly susceptible to
breakdowns and frequently got stuck
NOVEMBER
29
Bourlon
<\ Si \
\\
was
overestimated, largely for propaganda reasons. Progressing tle
\
91 6, described as 'water tanks' so as to hide
1
FRANCE
\
France
purpose (see pp.XX).
their true
The
I
be put
to
David Lloyd George, gave the
Britain's minister for munitions,
project the go-ahead
it
one break-
that.
The
front of the
own
bundle of sticks on a
of three, with the first
barbed wire and then halting
in
first
tank then crossed both trenches and dropped third trench.
its
That way, the trenches
Above: The
British
offensive at Cambrai of
November 1917 and the German counter-attacks of the following
month.
were both breached and
German gun
seven tanks before But
it
was
how much had
its
nerve and
managed
to destroy
to
be weak
at this point,
German
which
artillery
is
why
had quickly
dominated the 34 German guns facing them. The Germans also to
defend
available to
their front line in depth,
with reserves readily
stem any breakthrough. As the tanks
steam towards the end
of their
initial
ran out of
advance, the Germans
gathered their reserves to contest any further gains. Despite
down and
tanks breaking
with their attack taken
some
until
were kept
getting stuck, the British pressed on
28 November, by which point they had
ten thousand prisoners and seized
two hundred
stormtrooper
ers and
machine guns, were used
development
to the
(thus not holding
who headed
raise
of
As
later
specialist
when
going
this
helped
was
the
into
battle.
the
counter-attacks
It
at
success was noted by German generals,
their
who used them
of an attack).
by the rest of the army and
who spearheaded
stormtroopers
weaker enemy
up any assault, the stormtroopers began to
elite
morale
their
Cambrai and
momentum
up the
be regarded as an
to overrun
any strongpoints to be dealt with
positions, while leaving
to
was extended
by means of which small units of highly
tactics,
men, armed with hand-grenades, mortars, flame throw-
trained
troops
artillery
reserve for the main effort of a counter-attack.
in
This flexible approach
they were chosen for attack, and the British
chose
experienced German troops and the majority of the
overrun.
the tanks actually achieved? The
were known
positions
cleared. At Flesquieres, however, a
position held
extensively
in
the battles that followed
in
1918.
Below left. Canadian troops on the Western
Exhausted by the efforts of a sustained assault,
guns.
frequently had
GERMAN COUNTER-ATTACK The
Allies
the
Germans
attack by the
enjoyed their success only
briefly.
On 30 November,
little
power
left
Germans. Captain
Allied soldiers
to resist a concerted counter-
52nd Light
Neville of the
described the impact of an incoming
enemy
artillery
Infantry
round dur-
Front. Soldiers of the
Empire proved an invaluable source of
manpower British
all
led a major counter-attack that regained virtually
the ground that had been taken by the tank assault. Since
1916, the
Germans had
learned that they had to develop
new
ing the
German
escape;
we
cramped
counter-attack at Cambrai: 'There
could not dodge the brute, as
for space.
With a
tearing, rushing,
was no way of
we were
far
too
for the
and won high
regard for their
performance
in battle.
mighty roar as of an Below. Stormtroopers
the outcome of this
tactics. Part of
which meant
that soldiers
more flowing
to achieve a
was
a flexibility
were taught not battle,
one
in
in
defence,
to stand or die, but
which they could
retreat before an Allied assault while outposts of
machine guns
express tion,
it
platoon! fallen
train
screaming
crashed I
in
at top
darted round the
plumb
in
speed through an enclosed
the next bay from me, right
comer and found
in
sta-
the middle of
a shambles.
It
my had
like this led
German
Cambrai. Wearing the
new
the centre of the trench.'
the
counter-attack at
steels shrapnel
helmets, these troops
I
80
formed
a net
enemy
attack
in
which
was
Allied soldiers
would be ensnared. As the
blunted by this intersecting
fire,
the most
By the end
of the
German
counter-attack on 6
December
used hand-grenades to
men
storm enemy trenches.
both sides had lost approximately forty-five thousand
Above: A British tank armed with machine guns. These machines worked in teams of
and they were back to square one. The
mand, which had put much
three to cross
method
lines, laying
The
enemy down fire
as other tanks filled in
failures of both
and Cambrai cast a gloomy atmosphere over
of warfare with
brief
effort into
Ypres
come. The moment
triumph of the tank at Cambrai served more as a a real strategic
achievement.
It
The time
any more mass tank
of the tank
had yet to
of the stormtrooper, however,
was here
and German commanders took much more encouragement
which to break the old stalemate.
propaganda success than
did not pursue
assaults throughout 1918.
new
developing a
command
Allied high
com-
Allied
from their counter-attack tactics
is
at
Cambrai, thinking that their
new
had been perfected to the point where they could
risk
the trenches Their
frightening impact on
the
enemy was
noticeable that despite their enthusiasm for the tank, the
a major offensive.
offset
by their frequent
breakdowns.
PRIVATE CHRIS KNIGHT,
STH DRAGOON GUARDS
men
HORSES AMONG TANKS Although the British high
command was
keen to exploit the use of new weaponry such as tanks, they also mobility of
more
relied
upon the
traditional units
the cavalry. Chris Knight
was
such as
a private
the 6th Dragoon Guards at Cambrai, waiting to
make
the
most
of any
in
together at one parade,
Hussars
— they were
mounted
Indian
went for an time the
all
there, as well
first.
bombardment was
By
of half squadron! Gallop!" The village lay
Hmdenburg
to the
wonderfully old-fashioned array of
came:
horsemen around him:
Form
as
Line, the
trench...
At
rh/s
their
way
supposed
last the
orders
"Half-sections right, walk march!
sections! Head,
left
wheel!
about three-quarters of a mile away [1km].
We galloped fiercely to the
outskirts, rapidly
formed sections and
got on to the road, numbers
1
and 2
troops cantering into the village
heavy.
Tanks and infantry were well on
impregnable
had never seen so many horses and
was an
troops. The "saddfe-up"
Indian brigade
breakthrough, and described a
'/
tt
awe-inspiring sight. Dragoons, Lancers,
Draw
swords! Trot! Form troop! Form column
Donelly, the Irishman,
cutting
and
first.
went raving mad,
thrusting wildly at retreating
Germans.'
Quoted C.B.
in
Everyman at War edited by
Purdom (London,
1930)
8
GERMANY'S 'BLACK
DAY', 191
Left.
German
stormtroopers advance with a flamethrower and a
captured British tank.
Below. German
stormtroopers with
machine guns counterattack on the Western
Front
When
Germany's
War ground
Stormtrooper tactics
offensive
great
final
to a halt,
failed to
bled.
It
It
was
was
too
much
World
First
blackest day.
break Allied resistance, and British
and Commonwealth troops advanced barrage.
the
of
was indeed Germany's
it
for the
in
tanks behind a creeping
Germans, whose morale crum-
the beginning of the end for the Kaiser's army.
the British could not win at Ypres or Cambrai, with
If
benefits of
new weaponry and
tactics,
what chance
ever have of a breakthrough? Lloyd George, by
prime minister, could see
little
point
in
now
pursuing yet
the
all
did they Britain's
more
costly
offensives on the Western Front and he favoured a shift of
resources to other areas of combat elsewhere British soldiers
reinforcements
were sent to the
Flanders and
in
Americans had joined the war help swing the balance of
meantime, the the
earlier
General Erich von
rienced
in
infiltrate
was
effort
and soon
GERMANY'S BLACK
the
Germany's supreme com-
of
were now expeassault
led
by
bypass the enemy strongpoints and
immersed
DAY'
In
attacks, just as
Most
had the advantage of numbers,
out of the war,
would
their troops
confident. His troops
more flowing form
who would
finally
of
France were reduced. The
the lines (see Cambrai, pp.78-81).
Ludendorff
More
numbers
blunted their assaults.
was feeling more the new,
Europe.
numbers against the Germans.
Ludendorff,
mander,
stormtroopers
in
Front and the
would absorb any German
Allies
Germans had
Italian
in
revolution,
importantly, for Russia
and he could
shift
in 1918.
westwards from the Eastern
trainloads of soldiers
an opportunity to involved
in
the fighting. The
results
He saw
Front.
became
before the Americans
strike
battlefield,
between Arras and La
over responsibility for
fully
were the Ludendorff
soldiers
were spread
Germans used
Offensives of spring 1918.
thinly.
The
British
As with the
their assault,
British at
On
had taken
and
their
Cambrai, the
21 March, a five-hour
which then occurred under
the cover of mist as well as gas and smokeshells.
Ludendorff chose as his point of attack the place where the British
Fere.
of the French front line
precision and surprise.
bombardment opened
SPRING OFFENSIVES
some
Led by rapid-moving stormtrooper
Somme
and French armies were positioned on the old
sions took on nearly
100km
units,
65 German
divi-
(60 miles) of the British front
Right The British counter-attacks against
German defensive
lines
on the Western Front
-
-
in
British
armies
British attacks British front lines
France during 1918
!ZZ!
BYNG
British gains
THIRD MID
German armies
BELOW
^—^— German defensive
(I
lines
SEVENTEENTH ARMY
IS
AUGUST
8
MARWITZ
04.30 hours
SECOND ARMY
British attack
includes
456 tanks
25
%
f\\ ^ •t^
RAWLINSON WLINS0N FOURTH ARMY
^
AUGUST
*
(
(i
:,>C\\
Harbonnieres
GENERAL ERICH LUDENDORFF
I
V*
* \
\
*.
1
8
AUGUST
10.00 hours British take
—
GERMAN ARMY COMMANDER
/ .**
12,500
German prisoners answers
\
DEBENEY FIRST ARMY
.
w
V
-"T"""^***
[
\
-Roye
1-
HUTIER
\l\ fy
Monjdidie,.*^
\
\
EIGHTEENTH ARMY
\\> lw
Chauny. . EBEN
S"
\
'"
9
NINTH ARMY
AUGUST '.25
HUMBERT THIRD ARMY
Compiegne
AUGUST
his finest stormtroopers.
Army were
the Fifth
the British side, the remains of
new
Ludendorff began a
April,
In
On
taken over by the Fourth Army. offensive near Ypres
securing the Channel ports and cutting off the
aimed
at
British
from the French. The Germans chose another weak time manned by Portuguese troops, and punched
point, this
a hole
the Allied
in
lost in
lines.
After further assualts,
fighting by the British, Belgians
becoming
it
month
the
ferocity
and French managed
these
of
forced
counter-attacks
Ludendorff aimed another massive blow at the
them and the Germans made
the Allies crumbled before
30km
On
(20 miles) deep.
new
held by a
force
German
June, two more
this
the region - the Americans.
in
assaults
better organized
pummelled the
depth. Allied aircraft and
in
a
occasion the Germans In
Allied lines,
were contained by French and American armies
but
to stop
time selecting the French on the River Aisne. Again
Allies, this
were
the ground
the offensive.
call off
On 29 May,
all
back. Only hard
major breakthrough and by the end of the
a
Ludendorff to
salient
was taken
the Third Battle of Ypres
that
artillery
were
bombed
the German-held bridges and thus destroyed their supply lines.
Time was running out
Germans had proved
for Ludendorff. Tactically, the
their strength, but a strategic victory
eluded them. Ludendorff's losses were enormous and the
war was seeping away from
to continue the
the meantime, three hundred thousand Americans were ing every
will
his soldiers. In arriv-
month.
'BLACK DAY' August was the black day of the German Army,' Ludendorff
'8
later
wrote
in
memoirs. 'Everything
his
had so often given warning, had here, ity.
Our war machine was no longer
had feared and of which
I
in
one
place,
efficient.'
become a
By the beginning
August, Ludendorff
was no
passed to the
and they delivered a massive surprise
Allies
Commonwealth
Rawlinson's British and
almost doubled
in size.
longer taking the
initiative.
Fourth
I
real-
of
This had attack.
Army had been
Secrecy had been maintained by moving
the troops at night, so that not even most of the Allies
knew
of
the forthcoming attack.
Before sunrise on the morning of 8 August, shrouded by Above. German prisoners
line.
taken on the Western
overwhelmed and,
Front
in
1918
fall
British Fifth
unlike
its
Army was completely
German
adversaries, did not
a
low
have the resources to defend
quite into Allied
hands. Their morale had
plunged severely after
to the
sion and fear. To the north, the British Third
defensive
lines
and
the
held
it
the River collapsed
Army had
Germans fought back
German
assault.
better
Haig
tanks and
Somme at Amiens.
depth to
sense of confu-
itself sufficiently in
weather the storm. The mist added
some 456
mist,
British,
Canadian and Australian
troops advanced behind a creeping barrage across land south of
Many
Germans were relieved to
The overstretched
and
fell
back
(8
miles).
this first day,
Demoralized,
line
the
and twelve thousand
less fiercely this time
were taken on
prisoners
Weakly enforced, the German
13km
with Allied casualties low.
they failed to break
through
in their
spring
appealed to the French to help him plug the gap, but Petain
was more
offensive.
interested
in
defending
coming under long-range bulge
some 65km
(40 miles)
German armies began
DAY'
which was now
mood
Having forced a
were
of the lifting
Germans he encountered: The mist and smoke
fast
was
now, and
we
into Allied territory, the
our
right
and came
ing,
and some dead Germans
to outstrip their supply lines
a shallow trench
could see further around us - on
used by the Germans that mornlying there.
been costly
ed, only too glad to get out of the battle.'
for Ludendorff; the
Germans had 250,000 casu-
the Allies slightly fewer. The breakthrough had not a decisive one; in fact
it
had merely
lost
him some of
It
was
country,
in
Bunches
some cases
were coming across
been
GERMANY'S BLACK
deep
Paris,
attack.
to a halt. Although highly successful, this first offensive had
alties,
84
artillery
Sergeant Witherby of the 20th Lethbridge Battery describes the
of prisoners
absolutely unattend-
this recognition of a declining fighting spirit that
worried Ludendorff most and
made him
claim this as his
Among
country's 'black day'.
who
diers
German
the thousands of
gave up during the
attack
initial
were 281
sol-
officers.
They offered token resistance and then simply threw down
weapons. They had had enough. The war
their
been won by the
As always, such advances seem and they rumbled to
sides,
had
of wills
Allies.
have surprised both
to
because supplies and
a halt only
communication could not keep up with the furthest troops.
'Command and
control broke
concludes Paddy
Griffith,
down
'once
the static certainties of trench
keep
touch with
in
its
On
August the
21
it
forces
its
every time there
Army
a
followed up with anoth-
With the pressure
off,
Army
the Fourth
be the key to pushing back the Germans.
to
were used by the
Germans. 'When
in
as effectively as the
British
doubt go ahead,' said a
uncertain do that which
Don't fear an exposed
ment on the
was
advance. Overlapping attacks by successive Allied
seemed
'When
often failed to
solid blow.
Infiltration tactics
ual.
artillery
communications between
down
had been a
British Third
er thrust further north.
resumed
The
life.
infantry; lateral
formations tended to break
move.' Nevertheless,
too quickly on both sides,'
open warfare had replaced
fully
flank.'
will
Such an
British training
man-
most Germans.
kill
ensured move-
attitude
battlefield.
ENDING THE WAR
in
With the end of Ludendorff's offensive
swung
final
into action with crushing blows.
Army under General Pershing proved courage
in
an
assault
recaptured Sedan, the scene of their humiliation In
it
Above: Armistice
Fleet mutinied
Germany and the ending the
War on
11
First
Allies,
World
November
1918, in a railway
and
carriage at Rethondes
the public had been
-
is
signed between
October, Ludendorff resigned.
German High Seas
the
later,
On 27
demonstrations broke out across Germany
was convinced he had been
a lack of support
in
Germany,
in
a
state
'stabbed
a legend that
strength after the war, accounting for
some
in
of
to
grow
British
In
Netherlands.
moment
of the support given
.
1
saw
me
was standing
in
their
hands and
a mob. At the time
at the
door of a dugout
and soon found myself
that
is
forever Day.
hands
immediately yelled after them
ran towards
91
in
7.
Germany had
kaiser abdicated
Germany became
a republic
and
lost a fur-
fled to the
and an armistice was
inside
commemorated
in Britain
every year as
The German Army withdrew World War was
First
Boche. The .
these fellows about ten o'clock running 1
men. The
1
choice but to accept
little
of the war,
in
to
its
pre-
over.
2ND AUSTRALIAN DIVISION
GETTING THE WIND UP
whereon they threw up
months
191 4 frontiers and the
LIEUTENANT EDWIN TRUNDLE,
away...
final
Remembrance
for a
caught eight Huns myself.
a poor harvest
proclaimed at the eleventh hour on 11 November 1918 - a
in
kept on the pressure with further attacks
1
the
ther half a million
panic.
the back' by
was
slow starvation since
The German government had defeat.
and the Nazis. German leaders considered asking
The
suffering
in
on 5 October.
The German high command was
ceasefire.
Two days
in
the north, British forces assaulted
the Hindenburg Line and penetrated
to Hitler
region
with a military dictatorship.
the River Selle.
States's President Wilson
Wilson said he would not negotiate
for a negotiated peace, but
First
national self-esteem
little
German defences on
the forest of Compiegne
the Franco-Prussian War.
Ludendorff
The US
professionalism and
on the Meuse-Argonne
September. The French regained a
when they
its
October, breaking the
The Germans then asked the United
gambles, the Allied counter-
and
alone, confronted with eight big burly
1
of
first
to his side,
attention on seeing to
get
which.
them dropped
1
was an
to his pockets,
Anyway
it
1
don't
made me
him.
A
pick
was
this
lying at
officer, or
know
1
it
through his "napper". This had the
effect of putting the wind up the
and they and
feel a bit
uncomfortable for a while as
even have a pork sausage
grabbed
his
perhaps to come to
didn't
fell
Quoted
all
on in
threw up
their
mob
hands again
their knees.'
1918 Year of Victory by Malcolm
Brown (Sidgwick & Jackson,
19981
to point at
my feet so
up and threatened
1
to stick
GERMANY'S BLACK
DAY'
85
NANKING, 1937
With
its
capture of the then Chinese capital at Nanking, Japan
had soundly defeated
its
made
crucial parts of the
itself
master of
Chinese Nationalist opponents and
Chinese mainland.
These campaigns had begun with the Sino-Japanese War
of
1894-95 and continued through the Russo-Japanese War
of
1904-05 and the
First
World War,
in
which Japan seized
Above: Japanese infantry approaching
the Chinese capital of
However, the barbaric behaviour of Japanese troops shocked the world. Dreadful tales of massacres and rape heralded an
age of grotesque caught up
in
atrocities
against prisoners and civilians
Civil
in
Asia, not with Pearl Harbor,
but with the Japanese invasion of China
in
1937, which
was
the
culminating phase of Japan's campaigns of aggrandizement.
colonies.
its
weakness by invading Manchuria
fabricated called the
Mukden
Incident,
in
in
1931.
which
A it
plot
was
claimed that China wanted to blow up the railway between
Mukden and called
it
Port Arthur.
Manchuko. Pu
Nanking through
flooded farmland.
war had racked China during the 1920s and Japan had
exploited
was
war.
The Second World War began
German
The Japanese seized the province and
Yi,
the
last
emperor
of China,
was then
¥ 1
Peking'
CHINA
ft
INKING.
Pacific
IV set up there as the puppet tive
ruler.
A fierce
agreeing to end
ally
in retaliation
Japanese army
a
battle followed, with China eventu-
boycott. Tension
its
between the two
grew markedly.
nations
Japanese society was becoming increasingly in
Ocean
Sea
China responded with an effec-
boycott of trade to Japan and
landed at Shanghai.
^Tokyo
1936
group of army officers
a
tried to take
ment and press on with the conquest
militarized
and
over the govern-
of China.
|J
The coup was
crushed, but the rebels did not have long to wait for their wish-
es to be
fulfilled.
THE INVASION OF CHINA On
7 July 1937, Japan fabricated another clash
northern
in
China - at the Marco Polo Bridge near Tentsin - as an excuse to launch a full-scale invasion of China.
would
follow, the
modern power
in
Asia, with a highly effective navy
equipped with the
latest
was
and possessed neither naval nor
army was the
army
of
1
poorly equipped and trained, forces.
air
The main Chinese
Nanking.
In
million
men and was based
around the
northwest China there was a
In
it
was an
alliance.
summer
Tientsin,
1937, Japanese armies captured Peking and
then marched west and south, overcoming
Chinese population as well as
down
stretched.
its
military forces
Chinese
had begun to
the Japanese and their supply lines had
A second
resistance and
it
assault on Shanghai
division
was defeated by
northwest China, greatly consolidating
was met
become
with strong
took several months of Japanese amphibious
landings and aerial attacks to clear the
Japanese
all
By the autumn, however, resistance from the
opposition.
slow
guerrilla
50,000 troops belonging to the communists. The two
Chinese factions agreed to unite against Japan, but
uneasy
air
Nationalist force led by General Chiang Kai-shek,
which numbered two capital at
and
weapons. The massive Chinese
ranged against Japan
alliance
X
the titanic struggle that
army was three hundred thousand strong and
the
force;
In
odds favoured Japan. Japan was the most
raising the
communist power
in
a
city.
been given
a
September, a division
in
morale of the Chinese and
that part of the country.
The Japanese had thought the conquest easy, but they had
In
communist
much
expected. This frustration and anger
was
of China
would be
Above. Japanese assault teams breaking through
lages and toric city
towns
carried
westwards by
Nationalist capital of
Nanking.
On
thousands of In
IN
Nanking. Their
MORALE mood was
women
Tai
Hu
Lake,
famous
raced towards
ruthless and they annihilated the
vil-
On itself.
was
its
city,
it
the
name
was an
for
its
historic
his-
ancient
of 'the Venice
the Japanese massacred
its
landmarks and took away
to act as sex slaves for
days, the population
500. Sadly, this
1937, three Japanese armies
entering the
burned down
Nationalist capital of Nanking.
November
way. For example, Suzhou
canals and bridges, which had earned of China'.
inhabitants,
In
their
the wall surrounding the
harder time than they
the conquerors of Shanghai as they marched towards the
PLUNGE
in
on the east bank of
Japanese
was reduced from 350,000
soldiers.
to less than
just the beginning.
7 December, the Japanese armies closed
The defending Chinese army
of three
in
on Nanking
hundred thousand
NANKING
CHIANG KAI-SHEK
and the Chinese soldiers were bound and
CHINESE COMMANDER
Chenchiang Prince Asaka Yasuhiko
takes
>"*-
(ajung^ .\JCajun
%
THE 'RAPE OF NANKING' Having
\
\ \
\
JS^^^A ^--.l^^*^^ ^
™^J. ^-1
lhsing\
\
u
** J
Suchow**--"^^-
»
'
^
V.Kuangte
\
*
j
.%
#
V
Shanghai mTSUI
"^
feared
Chinese
the
earlier
Heavily outnumbered, the Japanese
them
breaking leading
them
armies
subdued the Chinese by
into small groups, binding their
off to the killing
JTANAGAWA
i
TASKFORCE
^^Hangchow Chinese defensive
were murdered
that there
and some were
half
army poured agery on
random.
lines
offer ic,
little
the River Yangtze behind the city and could
Above. The progress of
could
decisive resistance. Chiang Kai-shek ordered a chaot-
the Japanese campaign
became
from Shanghai to
last-minute retreat from the
ing,
city.
For those soldiers remain-
thoughts turned to surrender. General Matsui Iwane
command
overall
saw
Japanese forces
of the
was
as an international showcase for the Japanese
it
and he gave ducted
in
strict
orders that entry into the
were not enough
into
Nanking and
its civilians.
When
in
be posted to protect the
were sunk by
zens. Such grand plans
change
to
his
command
Hirohito placed his uncle Prince
of the
Japanese forces
the royal family, his authority
commander
the
in
was
Asaka Yasuhiko
in
member
of
As
at Nanking.
them
to execute
dawn on 13 December,
was
all
mere
a
Why,
in
fifty
of
thousand
Nanking and
charge of ninety thousand Chinese
sol-
half a million civilians.
especially with superior numbers, did the Chinese
same
not demonstrate the
Shanghai? well have
It
resistance they had
appears that the Chinese army
been exhausted by
the offers of
fair
than earlier on
away
issued to the
prisoners of war.
Japanese troops broke through the walls found themselves
a
superior to that of any other
General Nakajima and a counter-command
and
and a
Asaka was influenced by the ruthless
field.
troops, which instructed
diers
illness
command.
Emperor
Before
own
citi-
their
in
its
the campaign.
in
from Shanghai, and attractive
of the soldiers
little
the
Tragically,
threw
coordinated action from the
city.
A
catastrophic plunge
morale had given the Japanese their greatest victory
campaign.
at
offered themselves up for arrest.
There appears to have been
Chinese commanders
Many
shown
Nanking may
seemed much more
treatment
weapons and
retreat
in
the offers of
fair
in
in
the
treatment were false
in
street.
tortures of
were
to
When
the
of
who
see
invented.
at
were
The execution
competed
the shortest time.
hideous
Females
of
killing
Many
one another, holding severed
any age were subjected to
by gangs of Japanese soldiers,
who
brutal sexual assaults
then mutilated and
killed
them. The actions were sickening and barbaric, but they continBelow. Japanese
bombardment
aerial
of
Nanking resulting
were
Japanese
heads and grinning, enjoying the torture and the slaughter.
Army
and the rest of the world. Plunder and bad behaviour were not to be tolerated and guards
the most boring,
up on every
built
in
crazed orgy of sav-
and children were shot
a sport and soldiers
Japanese took photographs
He
should be con-
city
soldiers, the
inflicted a
women
them
bury
the bullets ran out, swords and bayonets
became
kill
Men,
pits to
into the River Yangtze.
1937.
in
manner that would impress the Chinese
a disciplined
in
region and he
in this
the conquest of the capital as his crowning glory.
regarded
Nanking
arms and then
grounds. Huddled together, the
burned or thrown
used. Piles of corpses civilians
was trapped by
the
for their cowardice.
Chinese were then machine-gunned to death. So many soldiers
Hangchow Bay
Japanese movements 1
campaign,
the
in
Japanese soldiers now despised them
With the execution of the Chinese
^Japanese
the begin-
Yangtze
,->^
^
* \
Wuhu i "
felt for their
was
It
ning of a holocaust.
command
Changchow
.7 DECEMBER*,
that any linger-
might have
military
Chinese captives disappeared completely.
JAPANESE COMMANDER
*s=*=*a=
s
4
*
V^
Japanese
ing respect the
meant
victory
GENERAL MATSUI IWANE
Nankine
\
Such an easy, unexpected
tion.
Japanese massacre Nanking population
A
led off for execu-
O kilometres 50
+-~
DECEMBER
13
direct hit
on
ammunition
a
for days, with officers
encouraging their soldiers.
The horror subsided on 17 December when General Matsui in a
Chinese
store.
ued
rose from his sick bed and entered the
by what he heard of the behaviour of
city.
He was shocked
his troops, but
it
was
too
Above: Victorious
Japanese soldiers parade through Chungsun gate into Nanking. Terrible
torture and slaughter
would follow Chinese
for
citizens.
late for
the 250,000 Chinese men,
women and children who women who had been
had been massacred or the 80,000
raped. Despite Matsui's disapproval, the atrocities
went on
for
weeks afterwards The
'rape of Nanking'
is
one
of the great
20th century. The Japanese government
dent and to a certain extent ror of
it
has not implanted
it
war
atrocities of the
tried to
bury the
inci-
has succeeded, because the hor-
itself in
Western
sensibilities to the
extent of
ment
German and Russian
of the soldiers involved
atrocities.
meant
that
considered to be acceptable behaviour
The
lack of punish-
such barbarity was
among
Army
for the rest of the
Second World War,
its
diers
treating
and prisoners
war
civilians
of
the Japanese
conquering in
appalling ways. For the Chinese, the lesson
was
could expect no mercy. Their war of resistance
was
for
many more
sol-
the
most
clear:
they
to continue
years.
NANKING
89
FRANCE, 1940
The swift defeat
War gave
of France at the beginning of the
Hitler his greatest trophy.
was
It
Second World
a ruthless display of
wars repeat basic
strategies, with
Germany
defeat the Western powers and secure
its
turning
first
to
industrial heartland
Above: A German
motorized column
spearheads the advance blitzkrieg
with
air
warfare
in
which motorized columns
power overwhelmed
and badly
led,
the French
a
more
were both
in
combination
static foe. Poorly
surprised and
equipped
before then turning to the main business of conquering eastern
Europe and defeating Russia.
outmanoeu-
vred by an armoured thrust through the Ardennes Forest. The
In
terms of
through a devastated French town. Such
military techniques, the
lessons learned
in
1916
and developed through to 1918 were continued throughout the
columns gave the attacking
Germans
tremendous impetus,
was
Battle of France
ern Europe and
it
the culmination of
Hitler's blitzkrieg in
ended Continental opposition to the
As the decades have passed since the end World War, destructive
it
has
become
that convulsed the
first half
begun by Germany Germany's
total
in
Nazis.
of the
military point of in
.
the trenches and considered
The in
-
his
1945 with
the
conflicts
view
it
makes
Europe together. Both
in its
941 At the core of these victories
as a concept he had been born
of a series of conflicts
of the 20th century.
sense to bring the two world wars
Germany
Front (see Cambrai, pp. 78-81
1914 and only ended
and from a
1
fruit for
most
defeat - have been referred to as the 'second
Thirty Years War',
1930s and bore to
Second
easier to see that terrible and
war as the culminating phase
west-
life.
'I
wouldn't feel
supreme
sacrifice,'
I
).
it
in
was the stormtrooper and
the trenches of the Western
one
of the defining
the Nazis had found their
fected veterans of the
first
war.
demand
right to
later said in
1942,
gone through the whole 1914-18 war initially,
1939
Adolf Hitler himself had fought
had the
he
swift conquests of
in
'if
I
moments of
each
the front
line.'
troops often arrived at the speed of their horse-
drawn supply in
of
man
hadn't myself
power base among the
although their support
And disaf-
vehicles.
BLITZKRIEG Germany's colonialism
Nazi
began with the annexation
in
central
of Austria
in
and eastern Europe
March 1938 and then
Bohemia and Moravia the same month. Poland
in
September 1939
left
Hitler's
France and
choice but to declare war and so the Second World
The German Army entered Poland
Warsaw by
first
German
dive-
Junkers Ju87, opened the
German
campaigns
blitzkrieg
of 1940,
a partial truth; the Polish
in
oured
greater strength. its
pact with Nazi
the middle of the Below. The dynamic
advance
of
In
in
system. This
is
only
put up a fierce resistance and latter
had
the
wake
to this, the Soviet
Germany by
same month.
Army had
Against such odds, bravery
little
hon-
invading eastern Poland
in
was
choice but to concede defeat.
of this triumph, everyone, including
Hitler,
now con-
in
their blitzkrieg assault
on France
Added
not enough and Poland had
German
motorized columns
Army
stopped the Germans on several occasions, but the
and
strategic points.
blitzkrieg, establishing
irresistible military
the tremendous advantages of having invaded without warning
bombs on
dropping
little
speed and had captured
triumph of Germany's
the legend of Germany's Right.
with
War began.
the end of the month. This victory has been por-
trayed as the
bombers, such as this
at
invasion of
Britain
March 1940
sidered that the
Germans were
supreme confidence
military geniuses, thus
adding
to their armoury.
/'
German
strategy and tactics
in
the
first
years of the Second
World War were based on lessons learned the
First
in
the
latter half of
World War. Combined-arms assaults were the key to
success, with the emphasis on manoeuvre and maintaining impetus. Fighter and the
air
columns followed Infantry
tactics
up,
contact,
then
in
aircraft
were
the opposition.
punching holes
were those
autonomous groups attacking targets
bomber
bomb
space and
of
the
swift to dominate
Armoured motorized
enemy
lines.
stormtroopers,
with
in
the
of highly trained, heavily
rapid assaults, supporting
pressing
in
on weak
armed
soldiers
one another
points.
The
until
technical
FRANCE
91
—
»
armies
movements
14
German
air
I
human
attacks *"
"W Miins
Rotterdam
\
KINGDOM
V
Dunkirk
Calais^
surrenders
IL^*- »
MA y
BELGIAN **
\RST ARMY
-,i
\
% 2
1
J
M
t
/
.Cologne -A
A ^* " ^
,*
""
\
FRENCH \ SECOND ARMY K
Paris, '
surrenders
of the
Hitler's
Low
conquest
Countries
in
the evacuation of
Allied troops
improvement
V
SIXTEENTH ARMY
Dunkirk and capture of Paris
on June 14
Right.
German
.
infantry
some 40km
in
render.
Ma «""»tl™
FRENCH
and armoured vehicles
in
the twenty
modernism
not overestimate the
of the
1939.
raids
German
|25
miles) from Dunkirk.
military transport
off in
of
Hitler.
1940.
the Netherlands and Allies,
the
the north of the country. The main
anchored
line,
at the fortress of
after stiff fighting.
A
terror
Rotterdam then convinced the Dutch to
sur-
ferocity of the assault against the civilian popula-
was
horse-
any
Winston
in Britain
following the
restraint during future
Churchill
resignation
of
became
Neville
bombing
the prime minis-
Chamberlain. The
German advance through Belgium reassured the French this
was
a repetition of the First
they were
right to
what
wanted them
motor vehicles. A
almost three million horses were
total of
wait behind their defences. But this
Hitler, overall
that
World War strategy and that
was
director of the military campaign,
to believe.
THE FALL OF FRANCE
employed by the German Army throughout the war. Although
'It
German propaganda
recalled
films liked to focus on the role of tanks
smashing through enemy
them on motorbikes, the
lines
and troops racing behind
majority of
its
forces advanced at
the pace of a horse, just as the armies of the had. Attempts to
much-vaunted
First
World War
embrace modernism and overcome
this
were not always successful. Germany's
inherent slowness
were
paratroopers
Norway and heavy losses
in
Crete
soundly
defeated
saw them reduced
in
to the
role of elite infantry.
CONQUERING THE WEST Having conquered Denmark and Norway
attempts
Britain's
turned to face
months
its
at
a
order to outflank
in
maritime blockade, Germany
principal
finally
Western enemies a good nine
after the beginning of the war. In the
meantime,
why
did France not attack the Rhineland, the industrial heart of
Germany? The
short
answer was
World War hung heavily over the
that the Allies.
shadow
of the First
Neither the British nor
the French wanted another world war. Both had suffered too
much
in
the
first
and went to great
modate Germany's
territorial
political
ambitions.
In
lengths to accom-
the inter-war period
they had not modernized or increased the size of their armies to the
same
extent as Hitler had
Should a war come, the
in
Germany.
Allies
expected
it
to be a replay of
the Western Front, fought from largely static defences. To this
92
The
and
exactly
of
May
German armies invaded
tion relieved the Allies of
I
The vast majority
in
drawn. Each regiment had 683 horses, as opposed to just 73
advance through a village
we must
yet
10 May,
northern Belgian defensive
years since 1918 greatly improved the execution of such tactics,
day of reckoning came
so, the
Dutch Army was cut
THIRMRMY
in aircraft
German Army
from
evaporated because both of
Metz
^ ^F
FRANCE \\
and France, culminating
wish that Belgium and the Netherlands would
a defensive coalition
in
Belgium. Rather than withdrawing towards the
ter
Above:
Allied
bombardment
%
bombard-
aerial
this restraint not to escalate the
Eban Emael, was overwhelmed
Reims'!
14 JUNE
The
them
On
TWELTHARMY ^
Mainz
>^ .^ —
.
from the idea of the
refrained
Germany, hoping by
war.
"Koblenz
\
D s
They even of
join
Even
FOURTH ARMY
Compiegne
!
costs of invading the Rhineland would be too high.
the smaller countries similarly wished not to provoke
Rouen
y Paris
lines of
RUNDSTEDT
* ^ROUPA
61
^^^ " "Sed^nSC
M ontcor*ne~t/*
_ 'France France surrenders
*"Dinant
could.
ment
B0CK ARMY GROUP B
Namur^ " "
,*
FRENCH NINTH ARMY
-
Liege
"_
-
/
* d
D c L u^
1 ^
s-
Abbeville*
own
ARMY
SIXTH
^\
BE\V! UM m V™ U
^FRENCH
Le Havre
1Q
"Gent | ARMY „ - " » "~~»-"'v^FortEben
«.
"*"**»
Boulogne
St Valery-en-Caux
Antwerp
Belgium
*>
Dover
a string of fortifications
using the delay to rearm and expand their armies as best they
GERMANY
{
MAY
28
evacuate
in
believed that Germany's
ARMY
MAY-4 JUNE
British
UNITED
It
Thus, France and Britain decided to fight a war of defence,
EIGHTEENTH
BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
27
Line.
defence, the Westwall, were similarly impregnable and the
German parachute attacks
.London
Maginot
called the
/
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam"
A
x
Netherlands surrenders
German movements t-t-
MAY
sums
end, France had invested vast
lometres 80
North Se
German armies
——
N
50
Allied Allied
had been a clever piece of work to attack Liege,' in
remaining
1941.
'We had
faithful to
to
make them
believe
Hitler later
we were
the old Schlieffen Plan.' Advancing to the
movement
the
Germans fatally
French troops. The French Air Force,
of
was
contrast,
in
equipped and could not match the
poorly
the skies. French planning had been proved to be
in
flawed: committed to a defensive ground strategy along
now had
the Maginot Line, the French
German
coming from the
attack
to witness the
mam
north, ignoring their magnifi-
cent fortresses completely.
Caught
were no match
the open, the French
in
equipped and more determined German collapsed and by 9 June
for the better-
soldiers. Their
German panzer
morale
divisions had reached
A few
the River Seine to the west of Paris.
French forces
resisted fiercely and launched counter-attacks, but overall they
achieved
little
June, Pans
and
failed to
stem the German advance. On 13
and the French government moved south.
fell
Three days previously,
war on France,
had joined Germany and declared
Italy
putting further pressure on
German armoured
divisions roared on
its
politicians.
towards the Atlantic
coastal ports and central France.
On
17 June, France's prime minister, Reynaud, refused to
with Britain
join
British
at
Dunkirk.
were
in
Tower
front
after
prepared
French
flank.
Meuse
France's General Huntziger,
raids,
smashed the to the Channel
ports and divided the Allied armies.
The
riage
in
the First World
Germans
for
and
who met
Hitler later
in
War
veteran
an armistice.
On
was signed by
Hitler in the railway car-
Compiegne Forest where the
the
had been agreed
and, aided
The Germans then broke through
by relentless Ju87 Stuka dive-bomber
Below. Hitler the
little
an armoured thrust through the Ardennes Forest by General
Rundstedt. The Germans crossed the River
conqueror poses of the Eiffel
Belgian frontier, the wrong-footed French for
the
June, the formal capitulation of France
21
and French soldiers
was taken by
who asked
General Petain,
Above: Captured
continued resistance to Germany and
in
resigned. His place
1918. For Germany,
it
original armistice
was sweet revenge
had the carriage destroyed to prevent any
fur-
ther symbolic acts.
British Expeditionary
In
pushed
war.
less than a
month, France had been knocked out of the
his rapid defeat of
France.
come
Force that had
to aid the Belgians found itself
back to the English Channel.
from capturing the force to destroy
British at
Hitler
Dunkirk
them on the beaches,
than three hundred thousand diers
withheld his ground troops
were evacuated back
British,
order to allow his
in
but this failed and
to Britain. Cut off from their
Certainly,
cible.
leaving
allies,
it
southwards. The Luftwaffe helped to disrupt
ed
THEY WERE BRAVE! 1
French of
were no longer the
British
fought
stubbornly, as they did
Belgians
the French fought
1914-18 -of Verdun and
Somme. The
in
in
the air
and slow
held
had been soundly defeated and the ease
now tempted
overconfidence
his decision to
in
much more
1914-18. The
We had
combined
with
invade Russia
all,
the
German
and able
tank troops were
and better
while in
in
consider invading
warfare also promot-
1941.
They
still
were unable
were not up
or
in
to
change
had
wireless control. direction
to halt
first,
When
they wanted
on the move, they
give fresh orders, and
only then were they able to start again.
turn
their leader. This,
the French at that time do.
at in-fighting,
movement to
wherever required by
more
thought and fought more
Their tank tactics
were out of date
- but
they were brave!'
to in
the tradition of the First World War. They
more
Hitler to
in blitzkrieg
ttJNDSTEDT'S OPERATIONS CHIEF DURING THE BATTLE OF FRANCE
mobile, quicker the
part fought gallantly: the
Dutch, only a few days. superiority
invin-
up-todate tanks than the French. Above
940 campaign
bravely, but they
German war machine was
of this operation Britain. His
GERMAN GENERAL BLUMENTRITT,
the
free to turn east and pursue territorial ambitions.
from the Continent, German armies regrouped and struck links
in
since 1870 of being undisputed master of western Europe,
sol-
Britain expelled
rail
even greater than that
(see Sedan, pp. 36-37), and convinced
Germany had achieved the ambition
British intervention
With the conquest of Flanders achieved and
the
War
the rest of the world that the
air
Belgian forces had no choice but to surrender.
'In
a humiliating defeat,
Franco-Prussian
more
French and Belgian
was
It
Quoted
in
The Other Side of the Hillby
B.H. Liddell Hart (Cassell. 1948)
to date either in leadership
FRANCE
93
BATTLE OF BRITAIN, 1940
Britain's defiant
use of
sion of the country of mastering the
ed the
is
air
power
newest
military technology.
ability of his aircraft
to
mounted day by
his losses
to block Hitler's projected inva-
a remarkable case study for the importance
bomb
The
day.
never had a better opportunity to
Goring overestimat-
Britain into
submission and
Spitfire fighter plane
show
off
its
capabilities.
Battle of Britain halted Hitler's plans to invade Britain
time to
British
The
strike
back at Germany
Battle of Britain
in
had
The
and gave the
At
their
most vulnerable
point
the airfields along the North Sea coast and so
all
could take
range of
his aircraft to within
all
British targets. In
contrast, Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) could fighter aircraft
-
The ensuing
it
muster only 650
was outnumbered by almost four
has been characterized as a David ver-
conflict
German
against cool
paign
was
a
efficiency,
legend and
this
made
example
classic
but recent historians have
the point that Goring's camof
Above:
British pilots run
to their Spitfire fighter
planes
in
the winter of
1940
to one.
sus Goliath struggle, with inspired English amateurism pitched
questioned
occupied Europe.
was, as Winston Churchill declared, the
finest hour of the British people.
access to
German overconfidence.
Although the numbers were unequal, the Germans were used
Right.
An ARP warden
searches a wrecked
bedroom for survivors after a bombing raid. The German decision to switch their attacks from airfields to civilian
targets saved the in
more than two hundred
of invasion
years, they faced the very real threat
by Europe's most effective
military
conqueror since
Poland and
France,
not the
Napoleon. German armies had swept through eastern and
Technically, the
western Europe, and with the modern technology available to
twin-engined fighters, while
them
it
seemed
in
the
summer
of
weeks before they would cross the Before the
air
Hitler
above
could deliver the
Britain.
blow, he had to master
Goring had failed to crush the British
Britain to Hitler in a brief
professional
Germans placed too much
machine guns was
truly
an
Britain's
awesome
and
air
skilled
faith in
Spitfire
forces of
RAF.
long-range
with
its
eight
piece of high technology.
English Channel.
final
at Dunkirk with his Luftwaffe, but
BATTLE OF BRITAIN
1940 to be only a matter of
equipped
to dealing with the old-fashioned, poorly
now he promised
but devastating
air
Army
to deliver
campaign. He had
FROM SCAPEGOATS TO HEROES An
indication of
what was
to
come was demonstrated by
fighting in the skies over Dunkirk as the
RAF sought
the
to protect
the evacuating British troops from the attacks of the Luftwaffe.
RAF
but put the British
people on the front of the war.
line
was
'There
Parliament.
was
the lack of
Air Chief
Sir
craft in the fighting
A
burgh
with different eyes. They complained
it
RAF cover and
Marshal
Churchill told
gained by the Royal Air Force.' The troops
on the beaches saw about
inside the deliverance,'
victory
a 'It
to an extent they
Hugh Dowding refused
were
to risk
correct.
all
FIGHTER 13
his air-
^
COMMAND
GROUP
over Dunkirk and so those that were sent
thinly,
but the Spitfires performed well, proving
versatile than the
pilots
were beginning
fighters
RAF was
at
10s.
post
f+- Luftwaffe bomber bases
German
message. 'From the
British
heavy resistance,' remembered Ju87 Stuka
Rudolf Braun. Back
pilot
the
we met
German Me109s and Me1 to get the
command
i Radar stations
i
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Durham
more
Sector
>\ Fighter bases i
were stretched
Command HQ
Fighter
• Group headquarters
in
England, however, the reputation of
an all-time low.
Dunkirk gave British pilots the battle experience they were
soon
to
need
earnest.
in
As
part of the preparations for
Operation Sealion, the invasion of for air
domination began on 10
Britain,
July.
Kanalkampf, or Channel Battle,
in
The
N
Gonng's campaign first
stage
which German
was
FIGHTER
aircraft
Birmingham-
assaulted English coastal towns and merchant shipping for
zone, but the RAF, demonstrating
ism, shot
down
display of
this
twice as air
accept peace on
many
as
it
its
lost.
British
terms, but the Luftwaffe's failure
and
Hitler
total,
ordered a massive
the Luftwaffe could
dive-bombers and 850
air
e a
to
•Bath \
^r ^>
COMMAND
i
. ,
LoTdVj, /
in
to discourage Churchill,
assault on the mainland.
#
fa
^jfe
*
»^J
BELGIUM
In
upon some 860 bombers, 250
call
fighters.
Eagle Day on 13 August
crushing blow: 1,485
little
S
i
U Apndge
Cardiff FIGHTER
these opening encounters did
COMMAND
Btanmort
had hoped
power would encourage the his
h
t
12 GROUP
cool professionalHitler
r
KINGDOM
NIT/ED
three weeks. Goring hoped to draw the British aircraft into a killing
o
Nottingham #
the
low-level raa3r/
was
German
the day chosen for the
aircraft roared into
s
E n g
the skies
l
''150 metres
Channel
h
ratt*r
^
^^
FRANCE ^metres
Above: German and British aircraft
bases
during the Battle of
"
??
"^
Par
'
S
w **^T **&
i 6o
and headed
for
British aircraft
RAF
airfields
with the intention of destroying
on the ground. Events went badly, however,
almost from the
start.
A
radio
message
German
to the
fight-
Britain in 1940.
er escort informed
them
that the raids had
and they returned to base, but no one
told the
they continued without protection. The aircraft for a loss of only
13 fighters.
German planes were brought down killing ratio
been
RAF
On
called off
bombers and
shot
down 45
the next day, 70
for a loss of 27. This
continued for two more days, but
many
of the
BATTLE OF BRITAIN
German bombers had got through and destroyed some 16 British aircraft
on the ground. The
the skies above
it
the
RAF
British public could
see
in
days of Dunkirk a distant memory.
famous phrase - 'Never
in
When
the
was so much owed by so many
Churchill broadcast
field of
human
to so few' -
conflict
everyone
their
BLITZ'
in
not used to his
pilots
air
force sustaining heavy losses
needed two years
German bombing
at
of training
and
easily.
their losses
the Battle of Britain would impact on the effectiveness of
production
was
raids
in
future campaigns.
not as efficient as
it
German
aircraft
could have been, and
the height of the battle, British factories, on the other
hand, were producing five hundred fighters a month, twice
the
number being
machines
that
were
built built
by the
Germans.
Also,
those
by the Germans were often not
produced to optimum fighting effectiveness.
two four-engine bombers and Goring subscribed
many
96
not ask
how
big the
bombers
them
to a belief
meant
defences possessed the decisive advantage, exactly
BATTLE OF BRITAIN
how
are, but
there are'. The invention of radar, however,
British air
told
'will
the
during
while
day,
British
as they waited
in
barges for the signal to cross the English Channel. Having
down
failed to
assault against
losing
to
sufficient British aircraft, Goring
RAF
resumed
Several fighter stations
airfields.
290
The Luftwaffe was
aircraft.
assume dangerous
one thousand replacement
that
for
it
where the approaching Germans were so
pilots
pilots
more vulnerable This their
was
in
still
his
were put
incurring greater
manpower was
beginning
proportions, with almost a quarter of
been
having
killed
or
its
wounded. The
were keen but inexperienced, making them the sky.
the point at which Britain's
weakest and
if
defences were
air
at
Goring had continued with this strategy,
the attrition might well have brought him success. But Goring
was
impatient and
London. The
and
British
Hitler
had
lifted
his
plans
fields.
Goring gave the
a decisive
The
first
bomber
German
mass
aircraft
in
retaliation
where Goring
and directed massive bombing
against the British capital. By shifting focus
was
ban on bombing
his
attacked Germany's cities
this rapidly escalated events, to the point
switched
Three twin-engine machines could be produced for every
that Hitler
number, could be aimed
Hitler's soldiers at night
losses, but the draining of the RAF's
and these were wounds that could not be healed
Bomber
operated
fighters
British
bombers attacked
RAF
BEGINNING THE was
in
out of action between 24 August and 6 September, with the
heartily agreed.
Goring
fewer
precisely at incoming aircraft.
fighting for the country's survival
and the reputation of the RAF soared, making the darker
his
that the British fighters,
air raid
RAF
away from
the breathing-space
it
raids
the
air-
needed.
It
error.
took place on 7 September
when 650
dropped more than 670 tons of high explosive
on London's docks along the Thames,
killing
458
civilians.
The
Below. Luftwaffe Dornier
bombers
fly
from France
bomb Britain in summer of 1940.
to
the
Above. Young RAF
SQUADRON LEADER GARVIN.
Hurricane fighter pilots rest
BATTLE OF BRITAIN PILOT
between combat
engagements.
BREAKING POINT
Desmond,
The
reduced
strain
how appeared
by nature
noticeably
bombing reached
It
thin-faced,
ing
at a
skin
city to a
for a loss of
26
aircraft.
tremendous
preferring the protective cover of darkness.
tinued
ence
in
what Londoners
called 'the
for the city's civilian population,
air-raid
raid.
Enough was enough and
the Luftwaffe refused to undertake any more daytime
shelters dug
in
their
Blitz',
who
was
to others,
all
we
alternative.'
on
Quoted
jumped out of my
in
The Most Dangerous Enemy by
Stephen Bungay lAurum Press, 2000
when someone shouted
heavy cost for'the Germans with the RAF down-
56 planes
I
practically
on 15 September when more than
thousand bombers subjected the
came
edge and
was
more hollow-cheeked;
a climax
though
I
still
continued to operate - there was no
had no way of knowing
and
I,
unexpectedly over the R/T. But
manageable proportions;
natured George was quiet and
irritable;
be weighty, was
inclined to
to
breaking point. The usually good-
Colin,
a
had almost reached
raids,
afforded by underground train stations. But Hitler had had
enough as
well.
Winter and
ever.
The
lifted,
Battle of Britain
was won and
ians on the front line of the
a terrifying experi-
43,000
gardens or the deeper protection
was coming
cities.
the
civilians It
dying
in
war
raids
was savage revenge
spirit of British
far into
for
the threat of invasion
but the terror bombing continued, putting British
The bombing con-
took to the cover of
poorer weather
its
and on 17 September he postponed Operation Sealion
1
941
,
with a
civil-
total of
on London and othe
for the
German
failure to
break
resistance.
BATTLE OF BRITAIN
97
CRETE, 1941 The German attack on the borne assault
island of Crete
Thousands
in history.
Army
paratroopers descended on British
remarkable demonstration of British
was
of casualties
first
positions.
great
air-
German
was
It
a
power, one that forced the
air
from the island and back to North
numbers
the
of highly trained
Africa, but the high
endured by the Germans meant such an
operation would never be tried again.
as
1941,
In
planned
Hitler
pp. 100-1 03), he felt the
European
need
An agreement
flank.
Barbarossa
Operation
to secure in
(see
Germany's southern
March 1941 with Prince
regent of Yugoslavia, for his country to
join
Paul,
the Axis alongside
Romania and Hungary had been overturned within days by a coup
which rejected any such
d'etat,
serve Yugoslavia's
The
neutrality.
Greece further threatened
and aimed to pre-
alliance
of British troops
arrival
in
over the Balkans and he
Hitler's hold
Ml
decided to invade Yugoslavia and then Greece. Both operations
were
carried out brilliantly by his troops
in
month
less than a
Right German
with
paratroopers descend
tance would grow over the years, but the immediate aftermath
few
from Junkers Ju52 transport aircraft during
of these
own
his
the aerial invasion of Crete.
two conquests was abilities
to increase greatly Hitler's faith
and those of
in
his soldiers.
Just over fifteen thousand British soldiers retreated from
Greece Below. The
to the island of Crete. Although defeated, this force
still
German
aerial assault
May
losses and huge gains. Yugoslavian and Greek resis-
on Crete
in
1941.
out of southern Europe. For
Hitler
of warfare that had proved itself
needed
them
victorious blitzkrieg
to deliver
one
blow against the
final
Allies to drive
campaign
he would use a
this,
posed a threat to Germany's control of the Balkans and
new
kind
western Europe during the
in
of 1940: airborne assault.
THE AIRBORNE ELITE
mp
STUDENT XI
GERMAN AIR CORPS
_
20-21 MAY lands on Crete
^
%
1
Kastel.i.^ -
^. i i£ NEW ZEALAND
\
x
/^„
FREYBERG
^ Y .
Allied
/
A lL |
r
movements
30
Hitler's
,
vjW
lar
/%
t-L German
28-29 MAY
*„
MAY
Allied
borne
evacuation
his
elite
1940 during the German invasion
Eban Emael and captured
raids
were
later carried
important positions
cally
Rethymnon
it
units.
Highly
of
Belgium and fortifica-
after hard fighting, striking a
in
Hitler's
in
this region. Similar air-
out successfully against strategi-
the Netherlands. Hitler
keen to use the paratroopers again
surrenders
operation against Crete
in
a major
was now
campaign.
was code-named Merkur
Heraklion'
(Mercury).
14TH BRITISH
INFANTRY BRIGADE r
e
t
The aim was
planned as a purely
INFANTRY BRIGADE
e
troopers, under the carried
28 MAY-1 JUNE
in
75
bombers and
i
in
to capture the island's airbases.
aerial assault
command
gliders
with
some
fighter planes.
aircraft
was
protected by
The invasion would be
first
It
ten thousand para-
of General Kurt Student, being
and 500 transport
two phases, with the
carried out
wave descending on Maleme,
Khania and Suda Bay. The transport planes would then return to landing
glider landings
miles
Mediterranean Sea
25
take
in
the second-phase troops for an assault on the airfields at
1
(-
kilometres
4q
Rethymnon and were
98
in
major blow against the Allied defences
*
c
success
tion of
German attacks German paratroop
of
'
t
German forces
were one
airborne troops
the Netherlands. They landed on the massive Belgian
German airborne army andmgS
3^ Rethymnon WH AUSTRALIAN
Sphakia
'
/
N
trained and motivated, the paratroopers had enjoyed spectacu-
'
reinforcements
evacua
forces
Sea
e g e a n
^20 MAY land
^
ALLIED CREF0RCE
-
attack defeated
Allied
suda
INFANTRY BRIGADES
-
German seaborne
h n
5TH AND 10TH
Allied — -Allied
1
•
24-27 MAY
'
m
A
^/
German airborne army^J
le
20-22 MAY
Heraklion. British
and
Allied troops
on Crete
joined by twelve thousand reinforcements from Egypt
.
and a fourteen thousand-strong Greek garrison. They were
commanded by New
Zealander
Freyberg. Unfortunately,
German
aircraft
cover.
Major
air raids
General
Bernard
forced the
few RAF
on the island to withdraw, leaving the
It
was
without
Allies
air
dawn on 20 May 1941 Lingg. 'The slipstream or three times as
opened with far,
ing.
I
.
'I
reached the door,' recalled Oberjager
made me
gasp.
I
jumped, tumbling two
plummeted earthward
a sharp
correct, for
jolt.
my
until
"Thank God!" was
below him
Thanks to the
Allies
were
all
I
parachute
could say. So
fully
Allied soldiers
Ultra intercepts of
aware
of the
were ready and
German coded
air raids,
final airfield at
the Allied troops
in
price of the
injured
-a
total of
the 'grave of the
The remainder
some
victory
been
was
killed,
and
of the British
high. At least
with a great
one
four
in
many more
5,670 casualties. Student called Crete
German
was
paratroopers'. Hitler himself
shocked by the losses endured by
his
favoured soldiers. 'Crete
has shown that the day of the paratroopers
is
over,'
he
told
Student as he awarded him a medal. 'Paratroopers are a
weapon played.'
position fired
German
of the paratroopers had
wait-
coming German invasion and had
Heraklion.
Greek forces surrendered.
signals, the
prepared themselves. Alerted to the beginning of events by the preceding
had evacuated the island and German paratroopers captured the
The
so good. But the worst had yet to come.' The paratrooper
was
reinforcements by sea. By 27 May, most of the Allied troops
a grave error.
Following a heavy aerial bombardment, the invasion began at
)
of surprise,
and the surprise factor has been over-
Never again would
Hitler order a large aerial assault to
be conducted. The majority of German paratroopers would
now
function as elite infantry on the eastern and western fronts.
Below
British soldiers
are taken prisoner by
German paratroopers during the invasion of Crete.
upwards
as the airborne soldiers descended. Hundreds of paratroopers
were
killed
before they reached the ground;
some were
lost at
sea without even reaching the island.
NEVER AGAIN By the end
of the first day, the airborne assault had failed to
capture any of the Allied airbases, although
some
outskirt
defences outside Maleme had been taken. Despite the horren-
dous losses. Student persisted with the attacks and a further drop of paratroopers on the second day enabled him to gain control of
Maleme
Reinforcements were
airfield.
consisting of the 5th Mountain Division, but
planes crashed
them
to hold
in
now
many
sent
in,
of their
the approach. Enough survived, however, for
on to Maleme.
Further reinforcements
were flown
in
m
over the next few days
and although more casualties were taken, the German force slowly but surely extended
continued to be the only
its
way
control over the island. into Crete
The sky
because the Royal
Navy controlled the sea, destroying two attempts
BITTER
to
send
MEMORIES
operation,
for me. the commander of the
German
airborne forces, the very
name
Crete conjures up bitter memories. miscalculated when
I
and
my
mistake caused not
only the loss of very
proposed the
I
paratroopers -
many
whom
my sons - but in
I
looked upon as
the long run led to the
demise of the German airborne arm
which
I
Quoted
had created. in Hitler's
Green Devils by
Baxter (Military Illustrated, 2001
I.M.
BARBAROSSA,
1
941 Although the invasion of the Soviet Union was est gamble,
was
it
the culmination of his
regarded the coming war not just as a
amounts
of
lebensraum
('living
Hitler's great-
He
political career.
means
space') for the
to seize vast
German
people,
but also as a crusade against the 'Bolshevik' Slav people. 'The not be assured
safety of Europe
will
back behind the
Urals,'
until
he told friends
in
we
have driven Asia
1941. 'No organized
Russian state must be allowed to exist west of that are brutes, and neither Bolshevism nor
ference - they are brutes
in
a state of nature.'
Nazi Germany's destruction of Russia rest of
European army was
On
the day
honoured
war
too.
its
And
would be
his gift to the
the other
all
realized.
Germany invaded the
treaty obligations to
all
dif-
that
to a certain extent, his idea of a pan-
Romania then joined the
and Finland,
They
He imagined
Europe and as a consequence he expected
states to support him.
line.
Tsansm makes any
of
Soviet
Union,
Italy
Germany and declared fighting, as did
them sending numerous
Hungary
divisions
of
troops. Spain raised an expeditionary force and a foreign legion of volunteers
the Netherlands,
previous campaigns
Above: German
armoured vehicles
halt
on the Russian steppes during the invasion
Operation Barbarossa
was
the Soviet Union and
it
Hitler's
long-awaited invasion of
very nearly succeeded
The operation began the most destructive and the 20th century, fought between the
1941.
cal
Right A German
superpowers
of the
day.
two
98k
rifle,
advances
was
devastated, but Germany's
Stalin
Barbarossa.
of the Russian
BARBAROSSA
aims.
war
of
leading ideologi-
German armoured
Russian soldiers, tens of thousands of
during Operation
weather and increased
the Soviet Army.
100
its
divisions
raced ahead and encircled massive numbers of bewildered
infantryman, armed with a Kar
in
brutal
in
whom
initial
surrendered.
success ran
foul
military resistance
by
was
recruited from Norway,
Denmark,
Belgium, France and Yugoslavia. Unlike in
the war, idealistic young
men saw
this
as a just war against
XII,
lent his
communism. Even the Pope,
Pius
support to the struggle, which had taken on the
completely packed.
commanders and
When German
medieval crusade. Under the circumstances, the
spirit of a
code-name chosen by entirely appropriate
for the
Hitler
one
was
operation
the
German
of Barbarossa, a medieval
crusader king.
We
there
In
nothing
in
we
situation
a
with no
could do.'
troops had entered the Soviet Baltic states,
they had been greeted as fighters
ended up
was
appeared to
Below The initial German invasion of
liberators. In Riga, Latvian resistance
fight street battles
with
Red Army
troops.
Russian territory during
Estonia, anti-communist groups took the opportunity to strike
Operation Barbarossa.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR The army
that Hitler
assembled was one
Russian armies
of the greatest ever
seen and the war on the Eastern Front was the most destructive
fought
More than three
the 20th century.
in
1,700-km (thousand-mile) frontier running from the
1941. Hitler had briefed his generals on the behaviour he
from the
in
the campaign: 'The fight
fight in the
west.
will
be very different
the east harshness
German armies
* \
U
SWEDEN "
expected
Stockholm
- -
,,..•. Helsinki
Vyborg
^* ..
ga +
°
German attacks •
•
*
.Leningrad
* V0R0SHIL0V
towards the future. The leaders must demand of themselves
NORTHWEST
the sacrifice of overcoming their scruples.'
is
was
It
a
German
front line
German-occupied -jssiaby Oc:ober 1941
kindness
In
line
t Encircled Russians
x
FINLAND
a
Baltic to
dawn on 22 June
the Black Sea. The attack began before
«', ,
million sol-
and three thousand tanks were assembled along
diers
Defensive
A.
speech
that implied a bloodbath.
Behind
of
Jews and
German
advancing
the
who
Einsatzgruppen, soldiers 'Bolsheviks'.
command of
in
followed
the
the extermination
Not trusting to chance the 'scruples'
of his generals. Hitler put these death rate
army
specialized
Heinrich Himmler,
capacity for efficient brutality
in
squads under the sepa-
who
had already proved
his
was
the
Germany and
Poland.
It
Einsatzgruppen that carried out the infamous order of 6 June
which
the
Hitler identified
political
commissars
as 'authors of barbarously Asiatic
'when captured
in
methods
battle or in resistance are
disposed of by gunshot immediately'. The war to
who
of fighting'
on
principle to
in
in
Red Army
of the
the east
be
was
be war without mercy.
Under the cover of
three main objectives
and
a
tremendous
were the
from Archangel
in
Their
territory.
cities of Leningrad,
with the intention of establishing a
Kiev,
bombardment,
aerial
army groups moved across Soviet
three main
Moscow
German
the north to the Caspian Sea
in
frontier
the south.
Panzer divisions drove deep into the Soviet Union, an advance
which carved up the Red Army and allowed the slower-moving artillery
and
and
tactical
infantry to finish off
efficiency of the
Soviets. 'They
any resistance. The speed
German
forces shocked the recalled
one
'which had a big effect on our morale.
We
were
Russian
soldier,
realized
we were
firing into
our rear
lines,'
surrounded. Our soldiers were shouting
"we're surrounded". As they started shooting with machine guns, the
German tanks came
in.
In
the confusion, our
cers grabbed rides on passing vehicles although they
offi-
were BARBAROSSA
101
"
'
South but frustrated Army Group Centre, which had,
Russian
•
~
-
^\
/
Kalinin
'/'••••\i
'
.*
:
\
^
*
-*•
•H
WEST
;
.•••••"
'*».
-
KONIEV
*.
*-
Demyansk
I-"" ^Rzhev
^
its
southern
front, five
Russian attacks Defensive lines
Russian front
Soviet soldiers surrendered.
Army Group North
front line
Luftwaffe had
V \ZHUK0V
/*""" ~^V <""(
*[ Volokolamsk
."
number
that
^ f5r
^'\
* Russian
;
MARCH 1942
:
•
•
4
*
%.
1941]^^
N
£
1
_
i
i^
>'
•
„<
• miles
50
80
,'
, *
•
*.
'
-
final
Orel
while
German troops Moscow.
halted outside
*.
-
-i -l
2*
---
: -
:
/
RUSSIA
»
%
^--
:>4
blow against the departing Red Army. Within weeks
beginning of the Nazi occupation,
committed massacres and
the winter to prepare a
the Germans.
Right. of
A German convoy
many
of the
of these Baltic peoples
also turned their anger against local Jewish populations and
tanks,
In
atrocities with the
full
connivance of
the Ukraine, peasants flocked to the
cheering and applauding,
happy
to
German
be liberated by
'Christian warriors'.
motorized transport
and horses advances through a Russian
THE DRIVE TOWARDS By the middle
of July, the
MOSCOW
German Army Group Centre had
cap-
village
tured Minsk and seized Soviet tanks. Continuing
some 290,000 onwards
to
prisoners and 2,500
Smolensk, the panzer
divi-
sions scooped another one hundred thousand prisoners and
two thousand
tanks. Both flank groups, however,
were
finding
the going harder, with the enormous distances putting a strain
on supplies as well as the stamina of the tank halted
Army Group Centre and detached
transfer to the other
102
BARBAROSSA
rains then turned the
slowed down the German advance.
had turned to snow as winter began to set
in.
Russian counter-attack succeeded at Rostov. More
new
Soviet
December and
Hitler
was
them
of their
the
divisions.
German
in
December
Kalinin
was
furious with his generals and relieved
commands,
using one
on
retaken
offensive ground to a
halt.
many
taking direct control of the
Its
armies had suffered more than three
of
whom were
most
•
Soviet armies would use
counter-attack.
autumn
to
encoun-
of
cam-
Operation Barbarossa had thrown the Soviet Union into a panic.
•
-*^
***
i r
:
a
rain
this
it
paign from Berlin by radio.
^
stage of
march on Moscow and had reached
/
V
\\
Operation Barbarossa;
its
(40 miles) of the Soviet capital before
mud and
half
'.
:
Above. The
down some
SOVIET PANIC
*,
/
/
//
=
1
/
a
hundred 15
Tula
#
4 /
§'"
October. The
own. Army Group Centre had been
massive counter-offensives followed
^
'/-
-
,'\/
-Bryansk
kilometres
and
DECEMBER 1941
5
;//
•
front line
30 SEPTEMBER
//
+'
in
Marshal Georgy Zhukov headed the defence of Moscow,
\
advance
>' \
ARMY GROUP CENTRE
65km
Soon the
N^
SOUTHWEST
%
^Kaluga
its
roads to
—
maximum German
1-Vf
—~
^**
/
of
tered stiffer resistance. The
V*»
\
of
German troops
of the skies, shooting
v"
^*
t
German
/
siege to Leningrad
((" MOSCOW
N^-
Vyazma;
*
Smolensk
(
TIM0SHENK0
^»
• *«,,«**
counterattack
//
•* ' \ \ \-Mozrfaisk
/
*
•» A*»
laid
command
ordered to resume
\
within
•
bend
4,500 Soviet Air Force planes for the loss of less than
-
i
•
Further south,
a
in
some 665,000
reached the Crimea.
German attacks German
Russian armies were trapped
the River Dnieper near Kiev, with the result that
line
German forces
critically,
advance on Moscow. By 26 September, on the
to delay
.<#
//
*<, +
*V,
:
'
-
-
forces
divisions. Hitler
divisions
from
it
to
army groups. This helped Army Group
prisoners
million casualties, half
whose treatment was so bad
did not survive to return
home.
Stalin
that
faced the greatest
'
crisis of his
life,
Nazi advance, he
ant
mood
Hitler
but even though he
would not leave
spread through
initial
and
the rapid
his solidly defi-
army.
his
had undoubtedly bitten
The German armies'
was shaken by
his capital
more than he could chew.
off
advances had been helped by the
fact that
many
German
soldiers as liberators from the Soviet regime, but as
of the states they
Nazi occupation rule
passed through regarded the
became more
oppressive, this support
evaporated. The cost of Operation Barbarossa had been great
as well, losing Hitler
some
eight hundred thousand
had gambled on the Soviet state collapsing
German
in
men. He
the face of the
onslaught, just as Poland and France had. But the
Soviet Union
was
too vast and the Russians
in
particular too
determined, being prepared to face annihilation rather than to surrender. Hitler's troops ing into the winter. their tanks into a
war
were wholly unprepared
They
froze
became immobile of attrition,
German Army
of
its
one
in
their
summer
with
ice.
that
would
manpower and
for a
war
last-
uniforms and
Barbarossa
now
turned
ultimately drain the
leave Hitler's land empire
vulnerable to an Allied counter-attack.
Above As the
bitter
Russian winter descends,
German
troops try to keep
themselves warm. Anticipating a quick victory,
many troops
did
not have winter clothing
^fflW Above.
Many Russian
soldiers
were quickly
CURZIO MALAPARTE,
ITALIAN JOURNALIST
surrounded and captured by
German
troops during opening strike of
Operation
Barbarossa.
BURYING THE DEAD
the heart of a wood, or
'The retreating Soviet troops
abandon
their
dead on the
a valley. They bury
do not
in
them
communal graves: and on
battlefield,
the depths of
in
huge the graves
and cover
it
with leaves, grass.
branches of trees, sometimes with
heaps of manure, so that none may ever
nor do they bury them on the spot. They
they plant no crosses, nor do they leave
be able
take them away. They bury them twelve,
any marks of identification. They
Quoted from The Volga Rises
twenty miles [20-30km] further east,
trample
in
down
the newly-turned earth
to violate
these secret tombs. in
Europe
by Curzio Malaparte (Birlinn, 2000) i
BARBAROSSA
103
.
PEARL HARBOR, 1941 \
\
^
V
7DE CEMBER1941
—
?
* 08.00 hours
k i| 0me t res
J
,|6
NAGUMO
\
-
JAPANESE
a h u
FIRST AIR FLEET
%
— -+
j
Soviet Union, which had soundly beaten Japan
US warships
1939, and
US warships sunk Japanese
• Oil
X
the situation
a short
war
in
in April
1941 that suited both sides very well. At the end of September 1940, Japanese troops began to
st
occupy northern Indochina, taking advantage
of French
weak-
ness there. This was done despite warnings from the United
N
j^ destroyers
in
Europe changed, Japan
in
signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union
aircraft
Japanese attacks
East Loch
\
when
later,
States for Japan not to get involved, and the result
was an
1
M'ddle
I
Pear City
embargo on the shipment
|
^
Pearl Harbor
^
RALEIGH
^
UTAH^ -^*
TANGIER^,
g^
* yFord (s/and
US PACIFIC FLEET
f
****
^ J^^ ^ f^^WEST
^ *„>,*
in
defuse
it,
US naval
y
He
mise.
US
around Ford Island at Pearl 7
Harbor on
December, 1941
#
#
base of Pearl Harbor was nothing
•
V
9
Japan struck
V\
#
formal declaration of war.
a perfectly
Swarms
bombed and torpedoed American
there and the Japanese attack failed to destroy
US
battle-
were not
naval power.
craft carrier in
the 1930s.
famous Mitsubishi
He
war and could help them
to defeat Japan and
1940, the militaristic Japanese government
was
inevitable.
In
agreed an Axis alliance with Germany and giving
Japan permission to acquire
had been taken over by the
all
its
on with
their
war
European colonies and ship with
the
Germany.
felt that
September, Italy,
with
it
China,
fight the
Germany would
had
former colonies that
Allies after the First
in
war
Germany
World War. The
Japanese believed they had enough supplies, including carry
US
move south
to
oil,
to
acquire
United States. Their relation-
help solve any problems with the
it
the mastermind behind
carrier-building
in
British
A6M2
Zero
first
raid
fighter.
hand.
in
Yamamoto had served as
He opposed
when
the idea of a war
the decision
was made, he
He worked
details of the attack, taking as a
at Taranto
bombers had taken alongside
off
in
from
1940,
when
and sunk
Italian
November carriers
Commander Mitsuo
who would
Fuchida, one of
actually lead the
Genda designed new torpedoes and bombs
The Japanese
First Air Fleet,
which included
for the task.
six aircraft carri-
ers and supporting battleships and submarines, set
the
air-
programme
also encouraged the construction of the
Japan's most experienced aviators, attack.
before any
1941, the torpedoes were deliv-
Minoru Genda worked on the
ships.
1904, with torpe-
had to be through a knock-out blow.
model the British
in
naval
strategy.
future of naval warfare lay with the
with the United States, but
knew
Japanese
Washington, D.C., and he knew the strength
of the United States at
relief to
In
and he instigated a
United States from declaring war on Japan, brought
because the United States was now brought
in
fleet in Port Arthur
Yamamoto was
He knew the
a naval attache
In
PEARL HARBOR
the assault.
Japan's intended knock-out blow, far from discouraging the
with the United States
US demands
aircraft.
Rear Admiral Isoroku
Japan
new
war against Russia
\
%
ships at their moorings. But American aircraft carriers
into the
104
first in its
do boats wrecking the Russian
results.
allies
compro-
from China and Indochina, Tojo could see no
Japan's unannounced act of aggression against the
executed pre-emptive assault with devastating
Western
for
THE PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE
•
castor^^
%
aircraft
no mood
alternative to war.
was
Japanese
in
Japanese war plans against the United
"™AS
Japan's surprise attack on the United States
of
Tokyo and he was
in
initiated
States and the European colonies. Faced with
ered by
on
sides sought to
October General Hideki Tojo became chief of
for withdrawal
y
battleships anchored
flew as the Flying
war against Japan.
X y
station
who
in their
VIRGINIA
*>
\ aerial assualt
in
the government
-^ ^
Q
^bove: The Japanese
but
in
September,
In
approval to the formation of a
tacit
support of the Chinese
OKLAHOMA
X/ ^^>
the USA.
in
As tension mounted, ambassadors on both 18 ships sunk aircraft destroyed
187
' *J*"™™ '/.y num USNavy^ '/ J^CASSIH f ^. m • , #### • • ••••
US government gave
Tigers
NmDt
n „.. ^KSIAl
^/^ELENa'''
of Indochina forced the United States
941 to freeze Japanese assets
volunteer group of American pilots
>ift/ZOtf>l
<
1
PHOENIX
,„.„ ^-SOLACE
^>
ARCOHNE
avocet'
the
1
A
<* -
^
July
Ify destroyers
TENNESSElt
CALIFORNIA
Japanese occupation
*
Jfr
MARYLAND
« foswo
\
*
DETROIT
y(
CURTISS^
destroyers
jfo.
*
x
jt*
destroyers
The continued
of steel to Japan.
command
of Vice Admiral
sail
Nagumo on 26 November
under 1941
ASIA San
Francisco^jJATES
^/JAPAN ''
Tokyo
PEARL HARBOR
Japan's plans for war were
known
to
US
which
intelligence,
had broken the Japanese codes, but the expectation was the blow to
monitors
against Malaya or the Philippines.
fall
lost
touch with Nagumo's fleet because
it
for
US code was main-
Japanese
conducting. 'The years of training had taken over,' Walter Lord later
wrote
On
a point
of
the Japanese fleet
that sent out the
the morning of 7
440km
December
1941, Nagumo's fleet sailed to
of Pearl Harbor.
Oahu
in
Hawaii,
At 06.00 hours, the
first
wave
of
meaning later,
as
'tiger',
On
US navy crewmen were
<*
>
Right A contemporary painting of Japanese
preparing to take aircraft
carrier. Carriers
transformed the war
in
the Pacific, enabling fighters strike
and bombers to
anywhere,
without the need for land bases.
call
playing
Zero
set off
-
by. This
time McMillan uncon-
quickly picked up the beat again... Not a until
the
final
man
broke formation
note ended. Then everyone ran wildly for cover.'
Genda's specially designed torpedoes had been modified to
Two
their
function
in
the harbour's shallow water and there
was tremendous.
Fuchida,
fleet
moored around Ford
hours
luck.
'Even
bombs on
the
conducting a
The Star-Spangled Banner as the
in
who
led the attack, flew over the
Island
and could not believe
the deepest peace,' he recalled,
seen such ships anchored
'I
was
his
have never
at a distance of less than
1,000yds [450-900m] from each other. The picture there
Island.
were no
defensive nets to intercept them. The resulting destruction
tora,
rousing themselves for a day's
began to drop
USS Nevada, Oden McMillan was
US Marine band
J
aircraft
moored around Ford
board the
pilots
being the code-word for the attack.
work, the Japanese battleships
A6M2
aircraft
towards Oahu. Tora! Tora! Tora!' screamed the
from an
of the
The power Nagumo could
135 Aichi D3A1 dive-bombers and 81 Mitsubishi fighters.
off
home
upon was impressive: 104 Nakajima B5N2 -torpedo bombers,
Harbor.
aircraft
never occurred to him that once
air
strike against Pearl
7
'it
sciously paused as the deck splintered around him, but he
(275 miles) north of
US Navy base
Day of Infamy,
in
Another strafer flashed
stop.
TORA! TORA! TORA! Below. Admiral Isoroku
shooting up the ship around him.
what was happening, McMillan kept on
he had begun playing the national anthem he could possibly
taining strict radio silence.
Yamamoto, commander
aircraft attacked,
Clearly disbelieving
500 to
down
hard to comprehend.'
Oden McMillan's Nevada was ripped a huge hole
in
its
struck by a torpedo that
port bow.
It
tried to
escape by
Right A Japanese
photograph taken during the aerial assault on Pearl Harbor,
showing
Ford Island and battleships
beside
US
moored
it
Below The
first
phase
of
the Japanese attack virtually
US
air
destroyed the
defences, leaving
the fleet completely vulnerable.
steaming out of the harbour, but difficult
make
captain had to
its
decision to beach the ship rather than have
and block the harbour entrance. The Arizona was torpedoes and bombs, exploding
The West
was
Virginia
the sink
it
by both
hit
fireworks display.
like a
struck by six torpedoes and sank to
the bottom of the harbour. The Oklahoma keeled over as
was pounded by
it
torpedoes. The Maryland and Tennessee
were shielded from torpedoes by the other ships anchored beside them, but
bombs
hit
them from above and
California
twice and the Pennsylvania received one
bomb
dry dock.
All in all,
air
was
aircraft
smoke from aim was
off
were
all
1
87
aircraft
brilliantly
killed in lost.
executed
izing
From the Japanese one
that had
completely unawares.
The US
pilots
pilots' vision,
point of view,
been delivered
either the
No
so
their
ser-
it
Pacific Fleet left
was
it
was
a
at a long
had caught the
US
longer would the patron-
Americans or the
were no good because they wore
the attack, which
PEARL HARBOR
of
the onslaught and a total of 18 ships and
raid,
view be held by
Japanese
second wave
more than three thousand American
distance from the fleet's homeland and yet Pacific Fleet
a
later,
the burning fleet hindered the
were
virtually
dropped explosives on the ships below. The
less keen, but
vicemen were
hit
lay in
nothing with which to contest the skies
over the harbour. Forty-five minutes
Japanese
it
defences completely
guard. Aircraft parked on Oahu's five airfields
destroyed, so there
as
spread
was
been devastated.
eight battleships had
The morning attack caught the US
106
fire
from the Arizona to the Tennessee. The
neutralized for six
British that
spectacles.
months
after
Japan free to attack Hong Kong,
'
Above.
US
battleships
burn and sink during the
Japanese attack.
SLEEP OF THE SAVED
Fleet at Pearl Harbor, he ordered a call
Although the attack on Pearl Harbor
to
shocked the United States and made
it
feel vulnerable,
across the Atlantic there
was
relief.
a sense of
Churchill's
had attacked the American
Malaya and the Philippines before the year was out. Even though
it
seemed
a devastating
on Pearl Harbor did do the United States relief
to
when
Hitler
was now
Britain.
wards. The
Its
in
blow
Allied
at
the time, the attack
cause some good. The
the war, which
entry into the
came
as a great
war was consolidated
declared war on the United States shortly afterraid
looked. Luckily,
itself all
was
three
US
not as destructive as aircraft carriers
it
first
were absent
"
all this
he
asked him: "Mr President, about Japan?"
replied.
the
others
repaired.
In
"It's
Commons...
sensation", he "slept the sleep of the
quite
saved and
"They have attacked us
We
are
all in
the
thankful".
Quoted from Churchill - The End of Glory
same
boat now." Roosevelt said that he was
by John Charmley (Hodder 1993)
of the
in
the war
in
the Pacific.
In
wrecked battleships would never
were
raised
to fight a bitter
from
the
shallow
Stoughton,
addition,
sail
again;
waters and
stirred to
anger and
war against Japan and Germany.
the long-run, Japan had miscalculated
war against the United
&
time of the attack and these were to
at the
The United States had been
was ready
the
bed and, "being
going to ask Congress to declare war on
be the key weapons
two
in
saturated and satiated with emotion and
Churchill
from the harbour
only
same
and
at Pearl Harbor.
'Once Churchill had digested the fact that the Japanese
himself to the
Churchill retired to
true.
response to the news:
the morrow, and Churchill pledged
to Roosevelt. After a
few minutes, Roosevelt came through
whats
Historian John
Charmley describes Winston
be put through
its ability
to
wage
States.
PEARL HARBOR
107
SINGAPORE, 1942 The conquest
of Singapore
was
the Japanese
and
Britain's
a humiliation and
Western supremacy
in
defeat at the hands of
it
signalled the
end
of
the Far East. Japanese soldiers broke
through the supposedly impenetrable jungle to storm positions
where most Thousands
demned If
guns were pointing the other way.
of the big
of British
and Commonwealth soldiers were con-
to years of misery as
Pearl
Harbor
was
Japanese prisoners
Japanese against the Americans the
fall
of Singapore
Britain's
was
latent
in
the Second World War, then
the greatest setback for the British.
wartime leader Winston Churchill
disaster and largest capitulation
came
in
held
by
the
called
it
British history'.
hard on the heels of Pearl Harbor, prejudices
of war.
the greatest blow delivered by the
'the
worst
Singapore
finally dispelling
Western
Japanese Army was not as effective as any
powers of their
that
own.
It
any the
was
the culmination of Japan's process of military modernization that had
begun
in
the
latter part of
the 19th century, and
the invincible aura of Western imperialism the
way
for
numerous other Asian powers
was
finally
broken, opening
to offer a challenge.
Above: Australian
Malaya were
soldiers in
sent to reinforce the Allied garrison at
Singapore.
Left.
A contemporary
Japanese
print
assault force
in
show
its
action,
with the naval support close by.
South China Sea
MALAYSIA •SINGAPORE -.
INDONESI
A
Jakarta Indian
JAPANESE BLITZKRIEG Days
after Pearl Harbor,
east Asia.
Kong into
On
Island
The
Japanese armies swept through south-
8 December, Japanese forces broke into Hong
and by 25 December the
city
had been bombed
submission. Also on 8 December, a Japanese army of one
hundred thousand
soldiers,
commanded by
Lieutenant General
Tomoyuki Yamashita, executed an amphibious invasion
of
northern Malaya, a British colony. Lieutenant General Percival
was
in
command
of a force of
Australian and Indian soldiers
defend Singapore, a southern in
tip of
vital
one hundred thousand
British,
whose express purpose was
to
naval base and trading centre at the
Malaya. Sweeping aside the
light British
forces
the north of Malaya, the Japanese quickly advanced through
the country, descending southwards towards Singapore.
British battleship Prince of
Wales and the
Repulse sailed north to attack the Japanese
aircraft
sup-
Above A Manchester Regiment machine-gun crew
at practice before
the battle at Singapore
and on 10 December were sunk by bombs
ers that survived Pearl Harbor, the Allies in
was
were spotted by
and torpedoes. With the exception of the three US
tleships
battlecruiser
fleet that
porting the invasion, but the British vessels
Japanese
Oc ea«
the Asia/Pacific region.
It
also
aircraft carri-
now had no meant
major bat-
that Singapore
had no naval protection.
Japanese forces pressed on and the fell
enced Japanese ing,
defenders
overwhelmed them
in
jungle fight-
outflanking and infiltrating their positions.
By January
soldiers
1942, the British and sive
British-led
back before them, their morale plunging as the experi-
line
just
40km
Commonwealth army manned (25
miles)
north
of
a defen-
Singapore.
On SINGAPORE
109
\
'
MALAYSIA M L H O M
Japanese
+
T
IVI
UH DIVISION
•
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It
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27TH AUSTRALIAN
22ND AUSTRALIAN
A
»
Retreating British
1
Stra/t of Singapore 1
counter-attack
es
8
Above The Japanese
15 January, this position
assault on the island
drew
Singapore
to
was breached and
the British with-
crossing the Johore Strait and
itself,
East,
and Russia.' This meant that
not well equipped or supplied.
British forces in
Some 676
aircraft
Malaya were
and 446 tanks
garrison at Singapore.
The
British did not
demolishing the causeway behind them.
had been sent to Russia
on Singapore and
expect a major attack to
come from
the land
through the jungle
IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS Following Japan's success
Tsushima, pp. 54-57), the
British
ered that the only threat
faced
it
Japanese Navy. As a
Imperial
government in
War
the Far East
was from
the
British
felt
in
Asia.
the 1930s, an array of 29 big
guns were sited around the base, pointing out to sea
ing
this
army
is
be
not so, but the legend that the big
many
of the
resources.
As Peter
Elphick
many
put
number
110
SINGAPORE
four;
it
in
Churchill's scale of
was now behind Great
other in
it
Pregnable Fortress: 'Overnight the Far East ber three position
in
greatly
Yamashita had only two
city.
against the four hundred guns in
in
morale
training,
feel confident in the task facing him.
THE ATTACK BEGINS Percival
was
uncertain
where the Japanese would
attack and
he spread his forces thinly along the northern coast of Singapore. His weakest point
swamp
in
attacked
was
the northwest. This
on the night of 8
a stretch of
was where February,
mangrove
the Japanese
when
just
three
Australian battalions found themselves under attack from six-
Japanese invaders.
Unfortunately, by 1941 Britain had its
guns were turned round
still
they did not possess superior numbers or supplies
was
to
Singapore
Singapore. Although the Japanese had the advantage
confident that their position
was thought
on the
artillery
and Yamashita did not
was
not true and
hundred pieces of
in
thousand soldiers that Yamashita could
thirty
for his final assault
and
Singapore could not then be turned on a land-attack-
to face the
muster
com-
impenetrable by an army. Of course, the Japanese were to
at
outnumbered the
order
impregnable. The guns were not sited northwards to defend
guns
time. That said, the defending force
in
enemy
against a land approach because the jungle
demonstrate that
the six months prior to the assault
den that such supply decisions could not have been made
navy. With the base
to defy the approach of any pleted,
the
the British decided to
result,
in
(see
rightly consid-
turn Singapore into their major fortified naval base
With construction under way
in
these had been directed towards Asia, they
might well have helped, but the Japanese assault was so sud-
the Russo-Japanese
in
if
demands on
Singapore:
slid
The
from the num-
defence
Britain itself,
priorities to
the Middle
teen Japanese battalions. The Australians casualties on the Japanese but a third a toehold
on the
Colonel Tsuji
inflicted
heavy
wave managed
to gain
island.
was one
of the
sible for planning the assault
Japanese commanders respon-
on Singapore and he describes an
The Japanese used
their aerial
supremacy
but suffered a self-inflicted setback
wrecked storage tanks Japanese
blazing
in its
way. So
island
from
oil
and incinerated
drifted into the sea
soldiers caught
more than
bomb the
to
when
the defenders
far,
were
holding their own. Although the Japanese had
secured a beach-head they were suffering high casualties, but then the Australian commander, Bennett, passed on a message to his officers
which he explained
in
contingency plan
Percival's
for retreat to a defensive line north of the city. His troops mis-
understood
as an order to retreat and the Allied soldiers
this
withdrew, allowing the Japanese to cross the
The Japanese bitter fighting
broke out around the
was
'Realising that this
strength into the battle
water reservoirs.
city's
guns
big
Japanese as
it.
of the island but
'we poured
Tsuji,
The
line.'
to stop the
little
across
rolled
Army
a battle to finish the British
defending Singapore,' recalled
could do
most
swiftly took control of
unhindered.
strait
The causeway was repaired and Japanese tanks
our fighting
all
of the naval base their
were
shells
designed to hole ships and not shower infantry with shrapnel.
When
the reservoirs
fell,
the Japanese closed
in
on the
city.
Panic seized Singapore and there were disgraceful scenes
when
and started
looting.
were being evacuated and some drunken
soldiers
deserters
Australian
Civilians
used
their
guns to force
escape. Percival
was
got drunk
their
way on
to ships
weighed
death, but the capture of the reservoirs him. This,
He
believed there
combined with
veer away from a Above: Mother and
example
daughter cry
Troop Leader Lance-Corporal Yamamoto, standing
in
the
street after being in a
Japanese
under a
this first assault:
at the
bow
heavily
only 24 hours' worth of water
on
left.
saw him
stand towards approaching Yamashita
flag of truce.
At that moment, the Japanese
commander was outnum-
caught
air raid
during the attack on
Singapore
Japanese determination during
of
was
a severe lack of fighting spirit,
last
order to
in
instructed by Churchill to fight to the
made
of a raft ly
of three launches lashed together,
drenched with spray thrown up by enemy
water around the boats. While
ond
line of
launches composing the
left
aboard.
enough ammunition
shells hitting the
loaded with
men
raft,
killed
like
troops
lifted
a falling tree.
him
in
his
When
but
surrendered unconditionally on
fifty
commander
the squad
his
s" =
men
Kong,
col-
British
of the
troops unleashed an orgy of
its civilians
and
feared the
with renewed fighting and Percival 1
5 September.
It
was
a dreadful
It
was
it
Britain's blackest
hour
in
the Second World
ended two centuries
of respect for
same
before the
back
including
enemy and
still
falling
firing their
its
War and
empire and feats of arms.
on an operating
lying 1
50
staff
table.
and patients
weapons, entered the grounds of
into
massacred them
Japanese took
Quoted from Singapore: The Pregnable
this for
an excuse to
records one such incident:
Attacking the hospital they bayoneted to
3 February]
one
They then herded
Alexandra Military Hospital. The
commit one
[1
tide,
persist.
Allied soldiers to years of horrifying captivity, during
treatment and historian Peter Elphick
'During that day's fighting
bluff
to
which prisoners were starved, worked and tortured to death.
a group of Indian soldiers,
Hong
violence against the inhabitants. At
Singapore,
Percival
-:
the Japanese broke into their
If
and unwarranted decision, condemning tens of thousands of
lungs protruding
HOSPITAL ATTACKED
When
supplies, with only
in
hours' fighting.
weakness encouraged the Japanese
Yamashita kept up the
the only
ribs.'
-
his
Yamamoto was
arms he saw
PETER ELPHICK,
few more
the two other coxswains
their boats.
He landed them on the enemy shore and then
lapsed
for a
had fought on as recommended he could have turned the
of the sec-
capable of handling the launches, which had
through his
bered three to one and running low
continual-
assault troops, a shell burst on the gunwale of the
and severely damaged
man
fully
was
of their worst atrocities.
death a number of staff and patents,
an adjoining
Fortress (Hodder
building,
and
the following morning.'
&
Stoughton, 19951
MIDWAY, 1942
Above Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander
W
in chief of
the
US
Pacific
Fleet
Left. A US navy Grumman TBF Avenger
torpedo-bomber attacks Japanese ships painting by
At the Battle of Midway the United States gained
its
first
revenge for Pearl Harbor. Japanese battleships were pounded by American
aircraft in a battle
where
was
aircraft carriers
US
were the
most important weapons.
It
nalled the beginning of the
American advance across the
The
Battle of
a decisive
Midway demonstrated
could strike back at Japan
in
the
victory
and
sig-
Pacific.
that the United States
new age
of aircraft carriers.
Pearl Harbor (see pp. 104-1 07) signified the beginning of a
new
demonstrated by that
kind of naval warfare. Japan had
sailed into the Indian
Ocean, where
three carriers of Britain's Royal Navy.
his five carriers
Outnumbered
took on
in aircraft,
the Royal Navy put up a good defence but lost one carrier and
was
forced to withdraw to East Africa. The Japanese fleet
appeared unassailable and
commander
its
Yamamoto, was determined
to finish
means
like
of
a decisive battle
planned to execute
this victory at
off
in all
chief,
Admiral
opposition by
Trafalgar or Tsushima.
the islands of Midway,
in
He the
middle of the Pacific near the islands of Hawaii.
action that the aircraft carrier could win conflicts at sea without
battleships
even
seeing
one another.
Swarms
of
aircraft
launched from the decks of carriers were capable of overwhelming the its
defences of any battleships. Fortunately
Navy,
were absent during the devastating
Harbor and
air
For the
it
retained significant
power
raid
at sea.
moment. Vice Admiral Nagumo dominated the seas
southeast Asia and he struck next at Darwin, Australia, with
188
aircraft that
caused such damage to the
Australia feared an
112
US
three aircraft carriers
at Pearl
off
for the
MIDWAY
military
base that
imminent invasion. From there, Nagumo
CORAL SEA CLASH Before
Yamamoto
could
move
against Midway, he had to secure
the eastern peninsula of Papua Islands.
made The
He presumed
this
preparations to fight the
Allies,
New
would
Guinea and the Solomon
attract
American
first carrier
interest
and
against carrier battle.
however, had one major advantage: they had broken
the secret code of the Japanese and therefore
knew
in
advance
what moves the Japanese would make. US Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher
was
sent to the Coral Sea with
two
carriers.
Bad
in a
Bud Parke
77
'
'
-- ^
ASIA
UNITED San
Franciscc^jTATES
Tokyoy JAPAN MIDWAY ISLANDS" Pacific
weather hindered sent large
main
battle took place
came
fleet
the
visibility in
initial
On 8 May,
the
and American inexperience meant that
worse, with one
off
carrier sunk.
Hawaiian Islands
ean
and both sides
conflict
strikes against unimportant targets.
air
'
c
Yamamoto
remained confident he could deliver a knock-out blow
its
therefore
Midway.
at
Despite winning the battle at sea, the Japanese had decided
New
not to land at Port Moresby, Papua
meant
this threat
US
Pacific Fleet, could
the
new
threat at
withdraw
Midway. Yamamoto
ambush and
an
into
in
chief of the
from the area and face
his ships
attack against the island because he
Navy
Guinea, and the end of
commander
that Admiral Nimitz,
intentionally signalled his
wanted
draw the US
to
The Yorktown had
a decisive defeat.
survived the battle at Coral Sea and aircraft that had been on
board the sunk Lexington were reallocated. The
overcame
its inferiority in
folding-wing F4F Wildcats.
despite to
two
Midway
seen
Yamamoto was
Pacific,
Yamamoto
was
still
proceed
the largest armada
1
1
90
submarines.
this
was
Midway and he sent
and
a diversionary attack
largely ignored
it.
Yamamoto would be
shortfall in aircraft that this left for
to attack
three small
accomplish the task. Nimitz
aircraft to
noticed. Allied code-breakers informed
was
overconfident and
some 65 warships and 8
with
carriers loaded with
presumed
It
partly
upgraded,
secretly planned a simultaneous invasion of the
Aleutian Islands to the north of
The
in
of his carriers being repaired, he decided to
with only four carriers.
the
in
US Navy
fighter aircraft by bringing
Nagumo
Nimitz that
Midway from the northwest.
Nimitz therefore
placed his carriers Enterprise and Hornet, under Rear Admiral
Spruance, and Yorktown, under Fletcher, to the northeast.
DECISIVE DAYS The
first
phase
of the Battle of
craft strike against
fident
was he
Midway
that there
Midway began
Nagumo
morning of 4 June, when
early
preparation for a landing.
in
were no US earners
in
weapons
their for
American but
anti-ship
replacing
mounting attacks against targets on aircraft
were too slow
fighters
bombs and
air-
So con-
the region that
he changed the armaments on a second wave of removing
on the
launched a 108-strong
aircraft,
them with
took off from the landing strips on Midway, to
compete
and were shot down
in
effectively with the
Japanese
great numbers, unable to touch
the Japanese carriers. As the Japanese
were rearming
their
planes for another land assault, a reconnaissance craft spotted the
US
fleet to the northeast.
his fleet to
face the
new
back the armaments on
US
aircraft
Nagumo changed
the direction of
threat and hurriedly tried to
change
off
from
their
attacked the Japanese carriers - but with
three little
carriers
and
success. As at
US torpedo bombers
out fighter escorts, with almost
down and was
not scoring one direct
all
them being
of
hit.
attacked with-
Nagumo
Above: A painting by G.B. Coale depicts
US
dive-bombers attacking easily shot
thought victory
Japanese
aircraft
carriers.
close to hand as he carried on rearming his aircraft to strike
US
back at the
carriers.
But the American dive-bombers
returned and this time they were spot on target. By 10.25 hours, three
The
Japanese
surviving
bombers
also
hopelessly
hit
carriers
Japanese
Yorktown and struck
his aircraft.
then took
American inexperience showed as dive-bombers
Coral Sea,
overshot their targets and
land.
it
were on
carrier sent
fire. its
with three bombs.
aircraft
against the
Rearmed torpedo
the Yorktown, and Fletcher had to abandon his
listing ship. In retaliation,
24 US dive-bombers found
MIDWAY
113
4 JUNE 1942
- -
nt-
United States
^^-- -^04.00-08.30 hours
^^
NACUMO 4 AIRCRAFT CARRIERS
- -
t-i-
^»- -
.^^
air
attacks
Japanese
air
attacks
Japanese warships
12.00 hours Japanese carrier escapes
^"""y
^
Japanese ships sunk
10.00
** hours,^
^* }
/
"X // I
Far
^
US torpedo and
N
^
FLETCHER AND SPRUANCE
United States ships sunk
07.30 hours
V.
.30-12.00 hours
United States warships
\
left.
The
of the battle
dive-bombers attack Japanese fleet
^
Islands of
\
Pacific Ocean
the
Pacific
x\
Ocean
.'*
\\v* ^
x
first
aircraft
**
aircraft attack
Midway
J** l-|-
Midway
Islands
wave
of
US
had succeeded
in
destroying three of the
\Kure
06.30 hours
108 Japanese
carriers.
By mid-morning,
the second
US torpedo bombers
3
Midway and
counter-attack
Japanese
*
phases
-the
on the Japanese
Left.
attack and sink 3 Japanese carriers
\
first
Japanese attack on the
US torpedo bombers refuel at Midway
*
Midway
^r
cruisers.
Below. American aircraft "
carrier
USS Yorktown
Islands
begins to sink after being struck by
Japanese dive-bombers.
114
MIDWAY
'
US
12.00-18.00 hours
fighters shoot
down
JUNE
18.00 hours 4
Japanese bombers
*
_^
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afternoon of 4 June, aircraft
01.00 hours 5
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pursued them.
the remaining Japanese carrier and submitted assault
until
it,
noon, the Japanese fleet had the
US
fleet
still
had two
Yamamoto had having
split his
elements. He smaller
US
carriers
away,
catch the finally
part
now
but
four of
of the after-
carriers,
its
been the
architect of his
own
sailing
fleet
of his lack of air cover,
decided to withdraw westwards. The
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fleet
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saw
pilot in
the water close
toward Cotten escape. A range,
in
and Sky
1
was
fleet for
way by
sighted on the
a
mastery
of
were the
surprise.
The
From now
giving the United
desire to reconquer the Pacific.
for the
pilots left a greater
Japanese submarine and
Japanese had
the Pacific, only to be
aircraft carriers.
US
counter-attack.
could be replaced, but the loss
enced naval
gap
in
in
The
craft,
loss
Japan's naval strength.
greatly helped, to say the least, by their
Japanese codes, which gave them the element battle also provided
The
carriers
and
in
lost a total of
132
but a similar victory
carrier warfare.
in
talented and experi-
tide of the
them with war
was needed by
in
of
valuable experience
the Pacific had turned,
the Allies
in
the west.
USSCOTTEN
commenced a
approaching from port quarter.
enemy
a high-speed attempt to
he came within
ordered.
aircraft
The Americans had been
and came on
later
turned
in
decks were crowded with vulnerable
days, inflicting
aboard the bow, then
moment
that his
making them easy targets
to Pearl Harbor
released his bomb, which exploded
pulled out of his dive
meant
in its
killed.
decision to rearm his planes half-way through the
two
a single dive-bomber
plunge down on Enterprise... The
fatal
damage. The Yorktown was towed back
ENEMY PLANE APPROACHING 11 .55
battle
men
that the
Japanese Navy was on the defensive,
Nagumo's
Yamamoto
in
as the dominant naval power
States a huge advantage
battleships against the
main US losses, as opposed to four Japanese
'At
on, the
eastwards. Accepting that he could not
and aware
it
a truly decisive battle
suddenly reduced to a navy without
defeat,
but Spruance realized the danger and sent his
one heavy destroyer. The United States had
ensign,
Midway was
while
into several non-supporting
awesome
sent his
with 275 planes destroyed and 3,500
entered
sunk. Along with an accompanying destroyer, these
SNELLING ROBINSON,
this,
service.
back and pursued the Japanese further
all
massive naval force
fleet,
US
in
in
lost
were more than double
aeroplanes, but the Japanese losses
to a relentless
it
By the end
too, burst into flames.
"Enemy plane
Commence
firing
gunners opened
when on
target!"
Our
up, firing seventy-six
40mm rounds and three hundred 20mm projectiles as the plane
by on our port to port,
side.
screamed close
When he was abeam
some thousand yards [900m]
away, a shell immediately
hit his right
came
off,
wing;
us, hitting the
rolling,
burning dive over
water and exploding about
two thousand yards
[1
,800m]
off
our
starboard bow.
Quoted
in
200,000 Miles by
C.
Snelling
Robinson (Kent State University Press, 2000)
it
and he
MIDWAY
115
STALINGRAD, 1942
Above: General Georgy Zhukov was responsible for the
defence of
Stalingrad Rather than interfering for political
reasons, Stalin
left
him
alone to conduct the battle
Left.
Russian soldiers
in
winter uniform combat the extreme cold as well as the
Germans
in
the
rubble of Stalingrad.
Stalin
his
refused to give up the city
name and
the
Germans were
in
in
a crushing pincer
movement. A German army became trapped wrecked remains
of the
battle for survival.
It
was
city,
One
southern Russia that bore
encircled
inside
the
fighting a bitter house-to-house
the beginning of the end for
Hitler's
its
decisive aspect of the battle
of political power.
logical dictators of
by
was
that
it
revealed the lim-
demonstrated to two of the biggest ideo-
the 20th century that war could not be fought
politicians alone
generals. But only
It
and that
one
military
command was
of the dictators
was to
best
left
to
learn the lesson.
war against the Soviet Union. The German war machine had come Stalingrad in
halt
outside
and the Soviet Union had begun to gain the
initiative
to
Up
until this
point
in
the great clash between the Nazi and
Soviet regimes, each leader had believed that his
The contest
will
for Stalingrad
has often been called the most
Second World War. Before
armies had conquered most of Europe and they
complete
Hitler's long-desired
ruins of Stalingrad, however, the
en onwards
STALINGRAD
it
was more
it,
German
seemed poised
conquest of the east.
In
the
Red Army halted the German
advance and so weakened the resolve of
116
THE FAILURE OF DICTATORS
the most terrible war of the 20th century.
decisive battle of the
to
a
or less
in
Hitler's
retreat
army
back to
that
Berlin.
was enough
were convinced they knew to secure his grip
fronts
was
of
After
its
Stalin
officers
war broke
had
fatally
and placed
political
and
better than their generals.
on power,
Red Army with purges political influence. all
own
to bring victory to his armies. Hitler
In
in
1942
order
weakened the it
directly
under
out, humiliating defeat
the result of his paralysing efforts, and
faced with annihilation
Stalin
Stalin
was
on
when
forced to concede
m RUSSIA
GERMAN/
STALINGRAD-
^^f ^LCaspian]
command
one
of his generals,
were too
them onwards,
until
he
When two
control of the fighting
were too
afraid to
in
Hitler
Hitler's
*
Front
line
19 Nov
Front
line
30 Nov
Front
line
31 Dec
German
took direct
commands and
hundreds of thousands of soldiers were sacrificed to After Stalingrad, Hitler no longer dined with-his high
He
He
military
Soviet advances
German counterattacks
pushed
airfields
\r*
southern Russia. The remaining gener-
counter
-
of his generals protested,
commands and
they were relieved of their
victory.
timid and constantly
overextended Germany's
fatally
logistical capacities.
-
it.
on the other hand, was intoxicated with
Hitler,
als
to
him get on with
let
believed his generals
and
campaign
of the Stalingrad
Georgy Zhukov, and
Bokbvskavat
>
\
they and
*
his vanity.
\
ITALIAN
f EIGHTH ARMY
% \
*
\\m ^J
T
command.
'*
t
1,
*>'
ate alone, with only assistants to perpetuate his delusions.
HITLER TAKES
COMMAND
ta--
f
it ol*,„\ ...\ Sovietsky
i
vy^
.|^
i
:
JAN 1943
Paul Paulus surrenders
At the beginning of 1942, the Russians launched a winter counter-offensive, but the
affected by Flight
Crimea. of
In
the Soviet
the spring, the
their lines
Hitler's
generals
armies combine
in
strong to be
from Finland to the
German armies pressed
forcing the Russians on to the defensive
through and surrounded
German troops
Germans were too
and maintained
The progressive
advances
forces as they broke
the
it
recommended
once
that the
forward,
J * Ve'khne Kumsky* * H Z 9\ 4^ Hothstopped * t 18 Dec + + S *f //
again.
German and
Don and Donets
Below. Russian soldiers
snow camouflage
advance through
•
Kotelnikovo
oil
move
into the
reserves. Hitler
Caucasus
was
to
assume
control of
its
\
on
heart of the fighting
gap between the two forces.
dividing his armies
1 r
ITALIAN
.^ » — " m "^
and the creation of a considerable Hitler's
\
I
. '
First Soviet
fb iRTHARm FOURTH ARM^, >• ..
a
meant
'4
J*,
simultaneous thrusts against Stalingrad and the Caucasus. This
ruined factory at the
\
/ '
*>
^"-' /
immense
impatient, however, and decided
counterattack
FOURTH •-..
and Stalingrad and
HZERARM
then
in
valleys to capture Rostov
s
I
one powerful thrust southwards along the
fighting inside
Stalingrad
'
*
Axis
** -l
counteroffensive begins 19-20 Nov
Second Soviet
.
counteroffensive begins 16 Dec
generals complained that
this
would put severe pressure on
ities. Hitler
mand
of
dismissed two of
Army Group
headquarters In
in
A,
their fighting
and supply
and took
his generals
communicating
direct
his orders
from
his
East Prussia 1,900km (1,200 miles) away.
August 1942,
Hitler
concentrated his troops
in
to General Friedrich Paulus
which took on the brunt
Group B held the
and
of the fighting. In the
line to
order to
He
issued
his Sixth
Army,
capture the city of Stalingrad astride the River Volga.
commands
abil-
com-
meantime, Army
the north of Stalingrad, while
Army
Group
A
miles)
between them maintained by only one German motor-
led the line to the south, with a
ized division
and some less than
gap of 380km (240
reliable allies.
Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov had survived in
the 1930s to
emerge as
awarded the honour ous
battle
of
Stalin's
purges
his leading general, having
Hero of the Soviet Union
against the Japanese
in
Manchuria. Stalin
looked to him to defend Stalingrad and, for once,
been
for his victori-
let his
now
general
deal with the situation without political interference. Zhukov
made
a very accurate analysis of the situation, believing, as
STALINGRAD
117
Hitler's
own
around
the
German
generals had argued, that the
were
city
observed that the flanks of the German thrust
were protected by
men who were committed
troops,
armed than the Germans and
less well
Zhukov 's plan was
less
to hold Stalingrad
he could muster sufficient forces to launch counter-attacks
until
weaker German
against the
Soviet forces
into Stalingrad
Romanian and Hungarian
Italian,
to the cause.
forces
Zhukov also
overextended.
greatly
flanks.
German forces front line
12 September
STREET FIGHTING
front line
26 September
The
bitter fighting inside Stalingrad
into the winter of 1943.
rounded
dragged on
for
months and
The Soviet Sixty-second Army was
sur-
A
sec-
the centre of the city but refused to give up.
in
ond Soviet army, the
Sixty-fourth, maintained a small bridge-
head on the River Volga, over which supplies could be sent to the desperate defenders. Soviet
artillery
and
based on
aircraft
the other side of the Volga kept up a relentless barrage against the attacking Germans.
The rubble created by the
stopped tanks from
fighting
advancing swiftly and led to hand-to-hand fighting. Snipers took
up positions
in
many broken
the
The
buildings.
on both sides was tremendous, and hungry,
daily
pressure
cold, frightened
and exhausted soldiers found themselves reduced to desperate animals, depending on a primeval desire to survive.
General Vasily Chuikov, the tough son of a peasant, took on the terrible task of battling with Paulus's
Paulus
city.
was
rate during the
less resilient
months
slumped considerably one German
officer
in
capture twenty yards
back again
in
and
of fighting.
men
in
The morale
too. 'Stalingrad
is
the ruins of the
began to
his health
on
hell
deterio-
of his troops earth,'
September. 'We attack every day. in
had
wrote If
we
the morning, the Russians throw us
the evening.'
Despite being more poorly armed, the Soviet soldiers fought for every
square metre of the
were forced back towards the slow victory
for the
out inside the
city.
Building by building they
Volga, but
it
was
a costly
and
Germans. And as the Germans slogged
Zhukov was gathering
city,
his
it
forces for a
counter-attack outside.
ZHUKOV STRIKES On
1
9 November, Zhukov sprang his attack. More than a million
men, with almost
a
thousand tanks, struck north and south of
Stalingrad, taking the
Germans completely by
had judged the opposition
surprise.
just right: the flanking
Zhukov
Romanian
armies and German reserves crumbled before the determined offensive, with
many
ed swift advances, lier
battles,
and
inside Stalingrad.
quickly surrendering. Soviet tanks execut-
just as the
rapidly
Germans had shown them
Top: During the fight for
Above
strategic offensive in the
Stalingrad,
Caucasus region
rubble of bombed-out
city,
front lines
swung back and forth each side made gains
118
as
left.
Germany's of
southern Russia meant
one day only to lose
that Hitler's troops
them again the
dangerously stretched.
STALINGRAD
next.
were
Above
right.
Central
where the
buildings slowed the
German advance towards the Volga.
men
ear-
By 22 November, Soviet forces had
linked up.
wanted
to pull his
Realizing the danger of encirclement, Paulus
the
in
surrounded the German Sixth Army
out of Stalingrad and break through to safety, but Hitler
was obsessed
with beating Stalin and refused Paulus permis-
sion to retreat.
The
News
of this
Sixth
Army was
trapped.
development coincided with the
North Africa over
Rommel
at El
Allied victory
in
Alamein. For a moment, Hitler
'
was
struck by uncertainty.
The Luftwaffe promised
to relieve
the trapped soldiers by delivering 500,000kg (500 tons) of supplies a day, but in reality
it
could barely
manage 100,000kg (100
enforced a blockade of the
tons). Soviet aircraft
sions attempted to break through, but
tance from Soviet tank crews.
Panzer
city.
were met by
Elsewhere, the
divi-
stiff resis-
and
Italian
Hungarian armies collapsed under further Soviet aggression.
The Red Army had and concentrate
finally
learned to coordinate
elements
its
power against the weakest aspects
its
enemy. Having found
its
strength, the
of the
Red Army would now
take the war to Germany.
Almost a quarter
of a
million
inside Stalingrad, but by late
They were short
state. tion.
Worn down by
soldiers
began
German
remained
soldiers
December they were
of food, medical supplies
in
German
constant Soviet bombardment,
to lose the will to resist.
On
a poor
and ammuni-
10 January, Zhukov
gathered his forces to crush the remaining opposition. The fierce resistance they
met
Red Army
surprised the advancing
forces because the
been
number
wildly underestimated.
same
of
sort of desperation that
Soviets. Eventually, though,
Germans
now, on
1
had been characteristic of the
promoted Paulus
February, Hitler
Stalingrad
was
army
return.
condemned him
a costly defeat. At least
Thousands
of
German
destroyed. Germany's
allies
not forget. Soviet morale of their earlier defeats
to Zhukov.
for his betrayal.
147,000 German
lifted
immensely: the depression
forgotten and
believed they could win this
it
had been demon-
awesome
took back control of the war, but he advice of his generals. Even Hitler
by
his
massive defeat and allowed
attacks from
Above tanks the
1
to
guns had been
tanks, aircraft and
strated that they had learned the lessons of war.
now
sol-
many never
prisoner,
had suffered a trauma they would
was
was
The day
to the rank of field marshal;
were dead and 91,000 taken
diers
inside the city had
German nerves gave way and on
31 January Paulus surrendered his before. Hitler had
left
The Germans now fought with the
The Soviets
struggle. Stalin
was more open
seems
to have
to the
been cowed
his generals to plan counter-
943 onwards.
right Soviet T34
in
action against
Germans
in
southern
Russia.
GUY SAJER,
GROSSE DEUTSCHLAN0 DIVISION
Above. A Russian soldier raises the
Red Flag as
a
VICIOUS
WAR
experience of
to the bars of a gate.
this routine brutality:
When
his victims
signal of victory as the
wars are
German army surrenders
All
inside Stalingrad
German
bitter
one
in
in
a warfare of absolute
which atrocities and
massacre were commonplace, civilians suffering
Guy Sajer was
'Every [Russian] prisoner caught robbing
cruel, but the
invasion of the Soviet Union
1941 unleashed brutality,
and
as
much
a French
Grosse Deutschland
with
as soldiers.
member
Division
of the
posted to
the Eastern Front and recalls his
had been secured, he stuck a grenade
a German body was immediately shot.
into the
There were no
pulled the pin,
official firing
squads
for
these executions. An officer would
to a couple of toughs
were regularly given Once, to
this 1
who
sort of job.
my horror, saw one
and ran
three Russians,
simply shoot the offender on the spot, or
hand him over
pocket of one of their coats.
of these
out,
screamed
for shelter.
The
whose guts were blown for
mercy
until
the last
moment. Quoted from The Forgotten Soldier by
Guy Sajer
(Cassell. 1999)
thugs tying the hands of three prisoners
STALINGRAD
119
,
ELALAMEIN, 1942 Rommel's
German army
invincible
in
North Africa
on the verge of capturing Cairo when the
British
Germans and
counter-attack and threw the
seemed
to
be
staged a major
Italians
backwards.
The Suez Canal
British imperial interests.
was keen
Fascist leader,
demonstrate
to
Below. The British offensive at first
El
Using devastating
Alamein,
the
German
to
open
his attack,
decisively with aircraft to
pound
On
the region by capturing the canal.
invaded
Egypt
but
13 September 1940,
desert
Britain's
General Wavell, beat off the larger
panzers.
The point
back.
Allied victory in
North Africa marked a significant turning
the war. Control of the Mediterranean
in
was
vital
to
was
Africa. Mussolini
army and threw
sent him help
dire
in
and the
a completely different quality of opposi-
thrown on to the defensive
Commonwealth and
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up
halting the
his reinforce-
1942, receiving better supplies
in
manage
built
for their forces.
Rommel launched
January 1942,
Rommel,
struck back at
"
second offensive
his
J
50
Eighth
Army withdrew
began
to look perilous for the
troops.
MONTGOMERY EIGHTH ARMY
to Egypt. Tobruk
and the situation
fell
miles
Rommel dominated
and Commonwealth
British
the region and one
more blow
would give him Egypt, but the enormous distances
travelled
h
meant the German
\
urged
*
Rommel
lines
supply were stretched. Hitler
of
to capture the
Suez Canal, but he
him any extra support because he was
\
v.
war K>"'
in
fully
failed to give
committed
THE 'DESERT RATS' August 1942, Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery was
In
of the Eighth Army, or 'Desert Rats' as
became known. Montgomery would never have been
VT
M
V.*
*' ..
charge '
U
-*!!
armies
movements
Allied minefield
All
armoured
join
attack
in
units
if
General Gott had not died
second choice
for
in
an
air
command. Somewhat
crash.
puritan
habits - he did not drink alcohol or
al
no
later
than 21 .30 hours - he
He was
pushed back
knew
smoke and
that
retired to
good morale
lay at
bed the
to Egypt
he knew
this
He spent much time
was
particularly true of his
getting to
know them and
forces a char-
movements acter for himself -
is
the
person-
his
keeping them informed about the situation. He created Axis
it
in
heart of a successful army, and with a force that had been
defensive lines
desert troops.
V" Ax
Monty - by wearing
distinctive
headgear
minefield defensive lines
D mils*
10
and being highly f,
P
visible
in
the
media.
'Not the
Montgomery's achievements,' writes leading
name" with which ELALAMEIN
least
of
r
military historian
Gary Sheffield, 'was to turn the Eighth Army
120
in
put
north
German forces Italian
^
1
to the
the Soviet Union.
made commander
A
Army
proved adept at threatening the Allied positions and the
A,amein
•"•^"v.yoM's*
Axis tanks
•
cut off
NOVEMBER
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through Axis minefields
of 1941
and
British
the Eighth
and pushed back the Eighth Army to Benghazi. German tanks
,!
I,'
AFRIKAKORPS
end
than the British could
.V y>
Tdge
ROMMEL
at the
The
Tobruk.
at
was renamed
German advance. Rommel withdrew and
':
Erwm Rommel and
and Commonwealth forces were soon
British
Axis retreat
Allied
out
danger of being humiliated and
the form of General
in
Rommel's force was tion
IM Allied
it
North
in
Afnka Korps.
his
Italian retreat
of
Italy
commanded by
force,
Italian
of Egypt. Wavell then captured the Italian colonies
Hitler
3
Italian
own mastery
his
Italians
and then throwing
them
bombardments
Montgomery followed through
breaking through
the defensive lines of the
Germans and
artillery
Egypt provided a
in
short sea route to India and Australia. Mussolini, the
soldiers
and
civilians
into a
"brand
could identify and of
E U R
$ ITALY^
P £
Mediterranean Sea
ELALAMEIN"
Cairo
EGYPT
which they could be proud.' Most importantly, he knew
Top. Erwin Rommel, German commander
of
little
victory
was needed
the Afrika Korps, stands
on the road to Cairo
in
Since July 1942,
from the
1942
Rommel had been
vital British
El
final
Alamein, painted by
December
Above
Cairo and
A
Rommel
stage of his long journey to Egypt.
(100 miles)
1942.
right British
He hoped
to catch the
British off
guard with a sudden panzer thrust on 31 August, but
Montgomery was overlapped the
British left flank but
brigade dug
at
in
German tanks
initially
were stopped by
a tank
waiting for him. The
Alam
el
Haifa.
The
British
armoured
soldiers fire a six-
repulsed the panzers, and with support from British
pounder anti-aircraft gun during the battle
pushed the Germans back.
of El Alamein.
emer-
state of
anticipated the
The
Desert Air
British
Force had complete mastery of the skies and relentlessly attacked the
German
Rommel
positions.
himself
fell
command. Montgomery would
not be rushed.
ill
and
Stumme
flew back temporarily to Germany, leaving General
A
in
minefield
at
Captain Neville Lewis in
in
troops tremendously and he used the pause to reinforce them, bringing their strength up to 150,000.
160km
only
naval base at Alexandria.
gency had been declared Above General Montgomery, victor
that a
immediately.
?\
Montgomery was straight
away,
to
Rommel.
strong army
and
it
After 17
months
was below
not
did
prepare
methodically. Suddenly, the situation for
his
victory at
was
neither could
have blanks
the Mediterranean coast and to the
the impassable Qattara Depression on the edge of
the Sahara Desert.
it
was
counter-attack
knock-out
not looking so
Alam
el
his
major assault on
23 October. He had been trained as an
good
World War and knew the value of good
strength and suffering from illness, Allies'
Montgomery began
blow
of desert fighting, his 96,000-
possessed only 600 tanks against the
Montgomery's
aircraft
south
was
THE BEGINNING OF THE END and
cautious
preferring
unit
separated the two armies and turned. To the north
1,114.
Haifa lifted the morale of his
began with
The
artillery.
battle
massive thousand-gun barrage along a 10-km
a
(six-mile) front.
impressed by
evening of
the
officer during the First
It
its
experienced such
lit
up the night
sky.
Rommel
himself
impact, later writing, 'Never before had rolling fire in
North Africa, and
it
was
we
continued
ELALAMEIN
121
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BRITISH EASTERN
^
^^ A
Allied
armies
Allied
movements
Allied
seaborne landings
Allied
parachute landings
1
FEBRUARY 1943
Sahara
N 1
LIBYA
miles
200
kilometres
320
^m _ - ^.
8e/ow; British Crusader tanks advance
1
—
i
German armies
»^
overextended
German
advances across vast
front lines
distances
Above: Montgomery's victory at El
Alamein
in
October 1942 allowed Allied troops to land
and
reoccupy North Africa
in
an offensive called Operation Torch. This
gave them
a
base from
which to invade
Italy.
^>» throughout the entire course of the battle at
El
Alamein. With
extraordinary accuracy, British gunners shelled our positions, resulting in very
heavy
casualties.'
the north
when
er Axis left flank
opened two
122
On 26
later,
a diversionary attack
surged
for-
the Allied Armoured Corps struck the weak-
defended by
Italian
corridors through the
forces. British infantry
minefields along which
coast.
German commander, had
October,
The
Montgomery all
a heart attack
for a ly
week. But
and as
9th Division held the
Rommel
and a German panzer counter-attack nearly halted the advance.
tion
and
aerial superiority
their planes
the armoured
power
in
ahead along the
German 164th
away
at
each other
helped the Allies tremendous-
and tanks pounded the German panzers, available to
could not keep up with the
new
died,
halted his diversionary attack
his efforts into pressing
Australian
and
October.
Division against the sea, while tanks battled
tanks could advance. The Italians fought harder than expected
EL ALAMEIN
the
Rommel resumed command on 25
the south and put
wards near the Qattara Depression, but the main assault came in
Stumme, but
Montgomery had prepared
his attack perfectly.
Some twenty minutes
lines
were frequently
German movements
1
1
in a
column. Retreating
Rommel demand
vehicles. His supplies had
been
declined rapidly. for fuel,
ammuni-
difficult to
begin
in
in
rapid
the desert.
'
with and
now he was
stretched to breaking point. With the
Australians nearly surrounding the pulled back his troops to a
new
German 164th
defensive
line
on
November.
1
leaving the Italians behind. Reverting to caution,
he
Division,
been destroyed. Some
were
BREAKTHROUGH This time
his soldiers
no time
left
at this
for rest,
stage of the
it
knowing
battle.
He
that
quickly
and plunged ahead south of Kidney
New
using a creeping barrage to shield the Division as
killed,
Hill,
He had been
Zealand 2nd
carved a route through the minefields for more
Although the fighting
aggression
artillery fire
tank guns.
face the
they could do. Allied
Rommel wanted
aerial
to
bombardments and
German
withdraw but
88mm
anti-
he
Hitler insisted
British.
El
Rommel no
and more than
of
fighting finally
bled
the
Afrika
broke through
at
Korps
dry
Kidney
Hill,
choice but to disregard Hitler and retreat,
waste
in
his
when
men
Italians
hundred
five
Montgomery
needless
in
aggression
was
North Africa
a
attrition
was needed.
sideshow com-
Alamein was a decisive victory because in
the Mediterranean region.
prelude to invading
second
Italy
and the opening
it
in
North Africa as a
much-needed
of the
front against Hitler (thus relieving pressure It
ended Axis
provided a turning
It
point for the Allies, allowing troops to land
Army).
and Montgomery's forces leaving
the end of the day, there
silenced the previously deadly
Two more days
thousand Germans and
pared to the colossal struggle on the Eastern Front, the Battle of
left at
careful not to
but had not been faint-hearted
advance, but with only 35 tanks little
fifty-nine
or captured,
had casualties of thirteen thousand, with 432 tanks destroyed.
tanks to follow. Panzers fought a last-ditch action to stem the
was
wounded
Montgomery
resistance had
tanks and four hundred guns had been destroyed.
Montgomery
impetus was important regrouped
was over and German
halted, but the battle
on the Red
had a huge effect on Allied morale too, with Churchill
we
claiming, not exactly accurately, 'Before Alamein, a victory. After Alamein,
we
never had
never had a defeat.' The tide had
turned for the Allies and Hitler
was on
the defensive.
Above: British soldiers of the Eighth
Army
retreating
Germans.
Above
right.
An
fire
on
Afrika
DEADLY CHRISTMAS TREES
darkness with an almost
combination. Although
We moved through
exultancy.
In
well equipped, the
region by night. The track
were
with "Christmas trees", the
Korps motorcycle
Germans could not
and
in
the Sidi Barrani
was sandy
places almost impassable.
filled
soldiers
idiotic
a few minutes the heavens
countryside was
lit
they caught erect: their
across the ground as the
down
as though by
whom
grotesque shadows danced revealmgly
to
low
levels.
If
flares
we were
flamed
not prone,
replace their losses fast
enough
to avoid defeat.
Several times
we
nearly capsized trucks
and guns. An hour or two before midnight the
first
opened above they struck
me
parachute flares
us.
/
never saw them, but
as emerging from the
limelight,
and bombs thundered down
from the
low-flying planes.
At times
we
raced madly amidst the thunder and the flashes.
If
we
halted and went to ground
the aircraft attacked even solitary
we were
visible.
Quoted from With Rommel
in the
Desert
by Heinz Werner Schmidt (George Harrap
&
Co., 1951)
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC, 1943 A second one
'battle of Britain'
was
fought between 1939 and 1945,
that took place beneath the
waves
of the Atlantic
Ocean.
'The Battle of the Atlantic,' declared Winston Churchill, 'was the
dominating factor could
through the war. Never for one
we forget that everything
sea, or
ond
all
in
the
'battle
air,
of
depended
Britain',
in
moment
happening elsewhere, on
ultimately
on
its
land, at
outcome.' This sec-
which German U-boat submarines
threatened to cut the trade between
was
a brilliant
example
of
how
Britain
Allied air
and North America,
and sea power worked
together to defeat an almost undetectable foe. Used to almost unrivalled
mastery of the sea, German U-boats began
to
be
picked off by aircraft attacks and ship-launched depth-charges.
Below. Prince Robert, a cruiser of the Royal
Canadian Navy, depthIn
1939, the Royal Navy had
mounted an
Sea blockade of Germany. Germany
effective North
charges
sending
U-boat.
retaliated by
a
submerged
NORTH New
York
EUR0
GREAT BRITAIN
\^
AMERICA
jAfierlin
^ERMANY
LonoTn u
Atlantic
%
Ocean
AFRICA SOUTH AMERICA
T
Left The main Allied
convoy route across the
blow against
always exploited the limits of air cover that
land-based
aircraft.
Navy-protected convoys.
^
UNITED
*S cover
came so
r
o p
First
;
e'
World War, was
The
fact
was
its
because
Officials
Britain's
lost.
at
'Germans
first
twenty days of March its
worth
in
protect Allied shipping,
failing to
that the
the
what
convoy system was working and
ry.
Below An sails
Allied
convoy
across the Atlantic
for Britain in 1943.
U-boats to attack British merchant ships sailing between
shipping for
Britain.
the
In
first
year of conflict,
Germany sank 677 merchant
ships, totalling nearly 4,600,000
tonnes (4,500,000 tons).
such losses continued,
of food,
If
weapons and other
ability to
and without
that
a lifeline
to
The Royal Navy had slowly been improvand destroy them, and fully tested. air
Command
its
May
cover and weaponApril
1943
had added long-range B-24 Liberator
inventory of Sunderland and Catalina flying boats.
These Liberators could cover they carried a
in
Breakthroughs had
had been improved dramatically and by
Coastal
bombers
ships had scattered and
new
all
areas of the convoy routes and
secret weapon: the Mark 24 Mine.
More
a
Britain but
immensely vulnerable to U-boat attack.
torpedo than a mine, the Mark 24 had a homing device that
geted the noise
made by
a submarine's propeller,
tar-
so scaring
Britain
valuable sup-
was
continue the war. Trade it
was
wartime
Such
if
several areas: for example,
in
Air cover
RAF
worse
progress would be
been made
Britain's lifeblood
the
in
to detect U-boats
its ability
[1943?]
its
it
time, particularly
could the Royal Navy do?
U-boat attacks
ing
strangling
all
the convoy system, which had proved
If
sailed independently.
plies,
Royal
in
boasted of
limit
s
would be deprived
them
near to disrupting communication between the
losses would have been even
North America and
of
declaring that the
later
World and the Old as
1943'.
£ u
Air
60
radio broadcasts
one submarine had been
only
Admiralty were alarmed,
New
KINGDOM
German
as the greatest convoy battle of
never
„ ^ *^
„.«•'*
twenty days of March
ships,
Atlantic U-boat attacks
could be provided by
Convoy route
Allied shipping. In the first
German U-boats had sunk 72
1943,
Britain could not
win the war.
Churchill understood this. In
1940, following the
fall
Germany obtained
of France,
on the Atlantic and constructed bomb-proof shelters for boats. alone,
U-boat activity then increased dramatically.
some 3,760,000 tonnes
sunk and there seemed to be
ports its
In
(3,700,000 tons) of shipping little
U-
1941
was
the Allies could do to strike
back against the elusive foe. German submarines could cruise
up to 19,000km (12,000 miles), and entered the war,
its
when
the United States
merchant ships became targets
for the U-
boats that hunted off the eastern coast of the United States.
In
1942 nearly 500 ships were sunk. The situation was becoming critical for
the
Allies,
who
could not produce enough shipping to
keep up with the losses.
ATTACK! ADVANCE! SINK! On
1
bled
May 1943 in
orders
the largest fleet of
German submarines assem-
the war entered the Atlantic -
some 134
U-boats. Their
were simple: Angreifen! Ran! Versenken!' (Attack!
Advance!
Sink!')
They were intended
to strike a devastating
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
125
BLACK MAY lometres
•• •'
480
On
May
1
1943, convoy
from
sailed
Britain to
break up, but
ONS.5 was
Commander
ships and rounded
struck by bad weather as
it
North America. The formation began to Peter Gretton stuck by the merchant
them
continuing westwards. U-boat
up,
packs had been following the convoy and skirmished with
it,
but on 4 May, 42 submarines regrouped to launch a massive assault.
They attacked
going to repeat
The next
^^
-
-
Allied
IZZ
Kap Farvel
Convoy routes air
cover
Air
U-192 and
*\
^'
^x
cover
M
limits
Atlantic
»
convoy ons.5
\
CONVOY 0N.180
c
--
CONVOY
U-boat attacks
SC.mif
e a n
kill,
/
-^-t-
ated
^2 *"
U-boats
1 U-boats attack in no-cover zone
TT
'
-*T
*T
"T"
.
1
^L-/-^
in
k
4
4\ *
^ \
V *
1
j-
.
% \
*
1-5 MAY 1943
\*
dence
my
boil.
*
*a-
of destruction
Torpedoes could then be dropped
submarines
on convoys
the sea to home-in on the U-boats, to devastating effect.
May
1943.
Three
new
in
April
1943. These
groups operated by Admiral The view from the conning tower of a Right.
surface-cruising U-boat.
were added
Max
Sir
into
to the support
Horton, which raced to
points of attack and fought the U-boats while the convoys sailed on. Escort ships
were armed with new weapons such as
the Hedgehog, which hurled 24
bombs
in
an oval pattern ahead
of the escort ship, thus trapping the U-boats Intelligence about U-boat attacks
was
greatly
in
a ring of
fire.
improved by the
breaking of U-boat codes, as well as the introduction of centimetric radar and radio direction-finding gear, which pinpointed the
126
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
presence
of
submarine
packs.
This
combination
of
and sea power would suddenly bring dramatic
improved
air
results in
May
1943.
Three huge
in
air
the vicinity [was] considerably aerlike
HMS
shallow water,'
Pink.
for,
was
greedily and
but nothing further
was
most
'Tangible evi-
seen.
It
enthusiastically
was
realized that
convoy was drawing away and was now some
Eleven U-boats
escort aircraft carriers were introduced to the
Atlantic theatre
little
merchant
'st John's
4bove: U-boat attacks
western Atlantic during
Pink.
I
decided to
risk this
dis-
and
to continue with the hunt.'
\
^\ \U-boats shadow convoys
into diving.
'The water
tance ahead and also unprotected, but
x
/;
the
was promptly sunk by HMS
reported Captain Newfoundland on
CANADA Newfoundland
up German orders
their attacks. This pinpointed
1
*
\
\
\\
a five-day period in
renew
appearance and green and white
searched
in
day. Allied code-breakers picked
it
was
followed by numerous small bubbles, making the sea
appear to
\
,
broke through the escort
six
looked as though history
bubbles broke the surface of the sea, the sign of a submarine
\
^- German U-boats
and
It
itself.
instructing the U-boats to
convoys
h^- Convoy
at night
and sank seven ships.
fleet
now
entered the fray and sank three more
ships, but three of the attackers
sunk.
HMS
radar.
As the U-boat
were
also hit and
Pelican joined the battle and detected U-438or\ dived, the sloop sank
it
its
with depth-charges.
Right:
New German
U-boats
line
inspection
entering
in
up
for
1943 before
combat
in
the
Atlantic.
Below. A
bombs in
US Navy PB4Y
a surfaced U-boat
the Bay of Biscay.
Co-ordinated
air
sea attacks on
and
German
submarines proved the turning point
in
the battle
for the Atlantic. Painting
by Dwight Shepler.
-
HMS it,
Spey surprised another U-boat on the surface and
then depth-charged
end
it
as
it
of the battle, six U-boats
escape by
tried to
had been sunk,
five
wrecked and another twelve damaged. For the merchant
was
ships, this
a very
bad
exuberant.
He
result
shelled
diving. At the
more badly
loss of only 12
from the German
point of view.
Admiral Horton 'turning point
was
declared that
it
marked
plummeted and the submarines were withdrawn from
As the weather from escort
a
the battle of the Atlantic'. U-boat crew morale
in
action.
cleared, Liberators, together with aircraft flying
carriers, inflicted further destruction.
By the end
of
May, 41 U-boats had been destroyed and a further 37 damaged. For Germany,
it
was
'Black May'.
report to Hitler, Admiral
In his
Donitz ascribed the defeat to Allied aircraft and radar, claiming
'we don't even known on what wavelength the enemy locates us'.
we
He concluded, 'We must conserve our will
play into the
Submarine
Germans no importance of
surface. Either
IN
once had an alarm owing
to aircraft,
a Sunderland flying boat. The fellow
succeeded
submerged a
bomb
in
forcing us to remain
for
the
in
Atlantic,
but
the
their attacks diminished.
was no
It
longer a
life
or
Allies.
CREWMAN U-439
A SUNDERLAND CLOSES
We
continued
attacks
longer held the edge over the convoys and the
death struggle for the
HERBERT APEL,
strength, otherwise
hands of the enemy.'
seven hours. He dropped
every ten minutes to the
second, and always near us.
We
couldn't
though
1
been relieved In
it
was
the
same
don't imagine so, or at intervals.
it
aircraft,
may have
A Sunderland.
the middle of the North Atlantic.
We
extraordinary. The devil even tracked us
from the
know [about]
were about half-way between North
unknown
America and
Quoted
Ireland. Exactly
minutes he dropped a bomb.
every ten It
was
quite
air.
That
English discovery
1
in
it,
is
an
entirely
new
and don't know 1
at any rate
it
was
if
we
quite
to us...'
Black
May by Michael Gannon
Aurum. 1998) 1
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
127
KURSK, 1943
Famous
for being the greatest tank battle ever fought, Kursk
crushed the German offensive all.
Thousands
in
the Soviet Union once and for
of tanks clashed, with
Germany's awesome
offensive
open
From
this point
loss of
finished. Six
sand
men
men and months
Kursk
KURSK
almost suicidal assaults.
were
in
material at Stalingrad, but
after losing
in
it
its
was
tremenfar
more than two hundred
A
waiting for the western Allies to
the Mediterranean and would play a
Above: Soviet infantry lanch an attack from
Kursk
Soviet spy ring called 'Lucy' gave Stalin
Germany's intentions
the Kursk salient
months more than plies
summer
in
entrenched positions at
from
Germany assembled
not to risk a
front
thou-
southern Russia. Stalin had just seen his soldiers
was wary enough
He was
1943.
second
were brought
in
of
Hitler's
delays
in
fortify
wagonloads
'supertanks': the
of sup-
beginning the offen-
was
was waiting new generation
that he
what he hoped would be
battle-winning
code-named
depth, and over the course of three
sive helped too, although the reason for the arrival of
warning of
gave the Russians good time to
half a million railway in.
full
for an offensive at Kursk,
Zitadelle (Citadel). This
retreat.
attempt to encircle and break the Red Army
defeated at Kharkov and
128
in
forces
at Stalingrad (see pp.1 16-1 19),
sufficient forces to at
Hitler's
war machine may have been shaken by
Hitler's
dous
onwards.
in
defensive strategy instead.
Tiger tank proving to be a ferocious fighting machine. But the
Soviet T34s also proved their worth
their
a
Panther and
Tiger.
At
Kursk, the Russians built three main fortified lines, which
in
1943.
As the
was
Tigers
advanced to meet the T34s, one German tank
struck by gunfire from behind, which typified the confusion
the Soviets were trying to create. The Tigers ignored the gun
and engaged the T34s. Their superior armament proved decisive,
and several Soviet tanks were destroyed. Continuing
the second defensive the day a
kill
Wittmann was
line,
of eight
T34s and seven
to claim by the
anti-tank guns.
end
to
of
German
pioneers helped to support the tanks by clearing paths through the minefields and over the anti-tank ditches, but this the start of the
maze
of
The German advance Soviet positions at
Hill
stalled
in
only their turrets visible. it
Above: The intense
armoured
battle
around
were protected by anti-tank
in
mid-July 1943
flame-throwers and
Right.
A
Soviet poster
from 1943 showing the avenging Red Army on the counter-attack against the Germans,
artillery batteries.
armour
nel the attacking
6,000km (3,750
held
web
into a
miles) of trenches
48,000 mortar and
mines were
laid
came
Supported by
aircraft
and panzer
hill.
It
was
at a big cost,
Germans,
a small victory for the
because
it
had reduced
their troop
anti-tank ditches, minefields, concealed
gun emplacements, dug-in T34 tanks, tank
Prokhorovka on the southern front at Kursk
it
been confronted by an
guns and dug-in tanks with
took the Tiger tanks almost five hours of fierce
fighting to take the
but
just
front of the heavily fortified
220.5, having
array of ditches, mines, concealed
grenadiers,
was
defences planned by the Soviets.
idea
was
traps,
to chan-
of flanking fire.
Some
were dug, with more than
artillery positions.
per kilometre.
The
An
An average
array of
of 1,500
T34 tanks were
reserve between the fortified lines to effect counter-
in
attacks.
It
was
the largest tank trap ever created and
Hitler's
following victories at Stalingrad and Kursk.
forces
were heading
straight for
it.
TIGER ATTACK was
Operation Zitadelle
simple and
direct,
with a two-pronged
attack from the north and south of the salient, which
meet six
at Kursk.
The
battle
began on 5 July 1943, with
thousand tanks and four thousand
sides.
German
the
new Tiger tanks
1st
SS Panzer Regiment operated
SS Panzer
aircraft
tank ace Michael Wittmann
Korps.
Hitler
On
had such
the
first
engaged on both
was
faith in. His in
would
a total of
in 1
command
the south alongside the
day, Michael
of
3 Kompanie of II
Wittmann's Tiger
tanks crossed the Soviet trenches and formed an attacking
arrow formation, but they were driving flaged Russian anti-tank guns
armoured Tigers dealt with
opened
into a trap,
fire
this first assault,
of the guns. Their next challenge
was
and camou-
on them. The heavily destroying several
a unit of T34s.
KURSK
129
Above: Red Army General Malinin takes a
smoke
outside his
bunker
at
Left.
Kursk Bulge.
Russian soldiers
clamber on a tank during the Soviet advance.
Much
fighting
was
at
close hand with infantry
attacking tanks.
Below. Soviet T34s
roll
into battle at Kursk.
Germans developed Panther tanks
in
response to the T34.
numbers and damaged fighting
was repeated
their valuable all
tanks. This attritional
over the battlefield, proving that
although the Soviets would take heavy punishment, they had
awesome
created an
defensive position
in
depth that would
exhaust the German assault.
TANK CLASH AT PROKHOROVKA Having broken through the
some 50km ing
first
two defence
(30 miles) into the salient, the
themselves
for a final
lines
and penetrated
Germans were
ready-
push towards Kursk. The Soviets
now
released their reserves for a counter-attack at Prokhorovka, hoping to isolate
and destroy the German armoured spearheads. The
Soviet counter-attack a
massive
some 830 bled
came
frontal attack led
some
dawn on
1
2 July
by the 5th Guards Tank
tanks and self-propelled guns. The five
in
the form of
Army fielding
Germans assem-
hundred tanks and assault guns, with Tigers
ing the attack formations. plain,
before
The landscape was
lead-
a gently sloping
perfect for large tank formations, and the stage
was
set for
the largest tank battle of the Second World War.
The combat started with rages.
The
Fifth
forces while they
130
KURSK
aircraft attacks
and
Guards Tank Army then crashed
were
still
artillery
into
bar-
the panzer
preparing for their attack. Tank
The
Renato Niemis describes what happened to Wittmann
historian
and
Wittmann and
his Tigers: 'At first
V Kirov
his Tigers could pick off
tanks at long range but as the range rapidly closed the danger
S0K0L0VSKY
>
\"
from the Russian tanks and infantry increased and Wittmann had to order the Tgers to advance to meet the threat head
each trying to outmanoeuvre the other haze. To avoid the
enemy
rience gained with Stug
tanks,
making
Ills,
the murky smoke-
in
Wittmann used
gun
to bear
:*':
enemy and
S
\
expe-
Soviet forces
•
Soviet attacks
POPOV
-^
-...
!
/Boikhov/
J
Soviet gains
I
German forces
BRYANSK ARMY
\4
JULY 1943
i
Front lines
Bryanska
>:
•
Tger on
his driver turn the
the spot, changing directions rapidly to outwit the bring his
his
I
Soviet defensive lines
23 JULY
on...
There followed a dance of death between the opposing tanks
filled
WEST ARMY
«?
I*. --"5 JULY: -ol?
to
on them and shooting whilst moving
><-*
&r*
rather than offering a standing target.'
was
It
a
savage encounter. Lieutenant General Rotmistrov,
commander
of the Fifth
the fighting:
The
of
Guards Tank Army, gives
seemed
battlefield
armoured machines. Groups
view
his
of tanks
moved over the steppe
taking cover behind the isolated groves and orchards.
merged
bursts of gunfire
into a continuous,
mighty
The
roar.
German advanced formations
Soviet tanks thrust into the
of
too small for the hundreds
The
at full
speed and penetrated the German tank screen. The T34s were knocking out Tgers at extremely close range, since their power-
guns and massive armour no longer gave them an advan-
ful
tage
close combat. The tanks of both sides
in
were
est possible contact... Frequently,
when
ammunition and
torn-off turrets
through the
tanks.
blew
of the day, the
The Soviets had
in their
up,
and
its
hit,
were
flung
over dozens of yards.'
air
By the end
fuel
the clos-
in
was
a tank
objectives.
The
lost
Germans had
328
lost
more than 60
tanks, but both sides had failed
ferocity of the battle halted the
German
advance and there would be no breakthrough to Kursk. The
new Tger and
Panther tanks had proved their worth, but they
possessed weaknesses and would not become the
also
winners
had hoped
Hitler
for.
Two days
battle-
before the tank battle at
Prokhorovka, the western Allies had successfully landed This,
Sicily.
in
convinced
Orel,
Kursk,
Hitler that
even though
he should
call
off the assault at
his generals in the field felt that
they could
Germans
grind a victory out of the fighting. With this battle, the
had
lost
the
would begin
initiative
to
in
combination with another Soviet offensive at
on the Eastern Front and the Soviet Army
push them back to
Berlin.
Above The
fighting
around the Kursk in
GENERAL HEINZ GUDERIAN
salient
July 1943, showing
the striking Soviet counter-attacks against
German IMPERFECT TANKS
operating with Model's army, were
cannons. They did not
manage
their
positions and
remarkably rapid
to
gains
gained an insight
incapable of close^ange fighting since
neutralise, let alone destroy, the
events were taking, the lack of our men's
they lacked sufficient ammunition for
rifles
experience
their
'I
in
into the
the attack
course that
and the
guns, and
this
defeat was
infantry
weakness of our equipment. My fears
aggravated by the fact that they
concerning the premature commitment
possessed no machine-guns. Once they
of the Panthers were justified. Also the
had broken
ninety
Porsche Tigers, which were
they
literally
into the
had
to
enemy's
go
infantry
and machine-guns, so
was unable
enemy
that the
to follow
up behind
them. By the time they reached the
zone
quail shooting with
Russian
artillery tfiey
were on
their own.'
Quoted from Panzer Leaderby Heinz Guderian (Michael Joseph, 1952)
KURSK
131
TARAWA, 1943
One
of the bloodiest battles
assault on Tarawa sive of the
ashore
in
war
was
in
American
in
a key battle
in
military history, the
the island-hopping offen-
the Pacific theatre.
US Marines stormed
the face of heavy Japanese resistance, a brave act
that provided a hard lesson
frontal assault
in
which many things were learned and
and one from
utilized to
later
great
year after Pearl Harbor, the
US Navy and US Army were
readying themselves for the counter-offensive against Japan the Pacific theatre. Troops, ships and aircraft
bases
132
in
TARAWA
Hawaii, the
US
and with
massive
Above: pinned
Nimitz
sand the
the
soldiers. His target
first
step
American Islands
air
in
was
the Gilbert Islands.
a
it
was
It
closer and closer to Japan.
Once
be
the Gilbert
captured, airbases would be built there for the
Fiji
Islands
and the
New
were
built
up
The Japanese understood
in
fied the Gilbert Islands with
at
Tarawa
Hebrides. Admiral
atolls
- clusters
this strategy
forti-
major defence works at Makin and
of islands
The assault began with an
and had heavily
aerial
surrounded by
bombardment
coral reefs.
of the
US Marines are down on the
shore at Tarawa under to
an island-hopping campaign that would take
power
were
Fifth Fleet
assault on the Marshall Islands, and so on.
effect elsewhere.
A
commanded
amphibious force consisting of more than one hundred thou-
Japanese
heavy
fire
Japanese.
from the
ASIA
UNITED STATES San Francisco^^H
JAPAN-* > '
Tokyo
Pac
i
f
Ocean
c
i
"TARAWA
positions from
1
3 to
1
7 November. This
was then
followed by a
substantial naval barrage before the landing forces left their
On 20 November, American
ships.
whelmed
infantry
quickly
United States marines
^»-
over-
GILBERT ISLANDS
the 250 Japanese soldiers on Makin, but Japanese
submarines counter-attacked and sank an escort
carrier.
-
-
Makin,
United States warships
United States attacks
Japanese forces
Buank,
however, had been seized and American attention turned to Tarawa.
A
similarly
Americans were
in
smooth operation was expected, but the for a terrible shock.
Pacific
SMITH
US MARINES GO Tarawa was both
a natural
and
coral reef that ringed the island
ships,
and the gaps
Japanese. Further wire,
in,
in
it
a
man-made
was
a
N
fortress.
The
1
Taritai
formidable barrier for
1
—
' •
1
had been laced with mines by the
four hundred concrete gun
_—
Taborio Mission
the beaches were covered with barbed
and Korean slave labourers had been forced to
more than
Ocean
2ND MARINE DIVISION
IN
Tarawa
1 build
Atoll
Amtrac
1
emplacements and
~
landing craft
bunkers. These defences had the effect of channelling any attacking troops into the face of a terrifying array of heavy artillery,
which included
20mm
(8-inch) coastal
taken from Singapore, as well as concealed dug-in tanks. Rear Admiral Shibasaki
field
guns and
commanded
a garrison
Lagoon
\
\
defence guns
N
*
^20-22 NOVEMBER
n
/
/
_,
-V
'
'
^
Bonr *>
Eita
Bet/o Island IBASAKI
• • rni.es
|
kilometres
g
Warship bombardment
'
Above: The route of the
force of 4,836 naval guards, of
American amphibious
Naval Landing troops.
assault on Betio island in
Tarawa
was
Surprise
US
half
were
elite Special
be the best way to overcome the
Atoll.
Japanese defences Left.
to
felt
whom
troops of the
2nd Marine Division
at
Tarawa and so a preliminary bombard-
ment from the navy was
declined.
A
similar idea that artillery
might be landed on a nearby unoccupied island was also
reject-
huddle on the beach at
Tarawa. Pre-landing
bombardments to destroy
failed
Japanese gun
emplacements and they encountered heavy
ed.
It
meant the troops would go
enemy
in
without any softening of the
defences. The unit chosen for the task of attacking
Betio Island
2nd Marine
in
the southwestern corner of Tarawa Atoll
Division,
commanded
was
the
by Major General Julian
fire.
US Marines were masters
Smith. The
and decided
that the first assault
of
amphibious warfare
waves should be transported
by amphibious tractors (Amtracs), but only 125 were This boat,
meant and
if
that the other troops their
would have
to
available.
be sent
in
by
boats got caught on the coral reefs, they would
TARAWA
133
have to wade through the waters of the lagoon under enemy
Above: US Marines leap
The signs were not good and General Holland Smith
out of an Amtrac caught
fire.
declared of those
was
US Marines who went
later
on in,
'Their only
armour
a khaki shirt!'
The attack began on the morning with an assault on the
northern
of
20 November 1943
shore of Betio Island.
descended
into
lagoon at Tarawa
them across the
coral reefs.
A
last-minute naval barrage had not silenced the Japanese
and shells began to drop among the advancing land-
ing craft, forcing the supporting ships
US Marines
alone.
As
the Americans were brief naval
defences.
their
frighteningly
barrage had done Artillery shells
little
few minutes mortar and
moments in
leaving the
aware
to blunt the
and machine gun
landing troops. Private Reder of the
describes the
away and
Amtracs approached the beach,
made
fire
that their
Japanese raked the
2nd Marine Division
before hitting the beach: 'The
last
the Amtrac were a jumble of sensations:
artillery fire
rocking the Amtrac with geysers of
water; the Amtrac bouncing over the coral reef; machine gun fire
ricocheting off
its
armoured
Hellcats streaking overhead to
sides; torpedo
bomb and
and then the shout: "Let's Go!"'
134
TARAWA
Tom
Lovell.
Amtracs and the engines
their
roared into action, propelling
artillery,
fire,
towards the beach. Painting by
Soldiers
wade,
a coral reef to
under constant
through the water of the
bombers and
strafe the island,
Left.
A US Marine
Tarawa takes
at
a rest near
a trench containing a
dead Japanese
soldier.
BLOODY TARAWA The
first
before
it
US Marines
battalion of
10 per cent of
lost
its
even reached the beach, while the battalions
lowed took about 20 per cent casualties
the water.
in
troops
that
fol-
When
the
surviving troops had reached the beach, they had to face the
gunfire that erupted from pillboxes just
Some US
above them.
Marines bravely assaulted the emplacements, destroying them with grenades and explosives. Staff Sergeant William Bordelon
knocked out four pillboxes and rescued two wounded comrades before being
acts of heroism that led to his post-
killed,
humously receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. With the Amtracs used up, subsequent waves of troops took
were caught on the
to boats but
wade through water
out and
US Marines were
midday, the
beach
a
mere 6m
went up
still
wide.
(20ft)
took their craft back under
coral reefs
that
pinned
and had to climb
to their chests.
down on
Some Amtrac
fire to
drivers bravely
rescue soldiers caught on the
coral reefs. Slowly but surely, reinforcements built
beach
thousand
five
until
men were
nightfall.
log
sea wall
Japanese gun emplacements with explosives
to destroy the
and flamethrowers. The landing had cost
one
1
,500 casualties - pro-
of the bloodiest encounters experienced by
US armed
the
up on the
ashore by
American soldiers then crept out over the coconut
portionately
By
a strip of
forces.
counter-attack and the
the
Fortunately,
US Marines used
Japanese
not
did
the cover of night to
bring artillery ashore piece by piece.
The next ering
fire,
day, a
second American landing was met by with-
more and more troops came ashore, and with
but
the American
artillery
was on
way
tle
the
secured the died
in
pounding the Japanese bunkers, the
to being
island, but
the assault -
won. Two more days
more than
news
that
a
thousand Americans had
shocked the
great strength of the Americans
bat-
of fighting
in
nation. Despite the
numbers and
material,
there would be no easy victory against the Japanese. Such frontal assaults
and
aircraft
available
had to be more carefully supported by naval
bombardments, and more Amtracs had
when
negotiating coral reefs.
valuable lessons that helped the
more
to
be made
These were among the
US Marines
to capture a lot
island fortresses.
Above
right
US Marines
with a captured
Japanese
was
soldier.
Such
the animosity
US MARINE LIEUTENANT NYGREN.
AMTRAC COMMANDER
between the two sides that few prisoners were taken
alive.
BURNED AIR
remnants of palm trees sticking up from
We had been told by the naval gunfire
low
liaison officers
and Naval Air Force
people that there would be no opposition left.
1
thought that they were overly
optimistic.
It
colors were
was very deep and
bright now. The vivid.
We were
1,000 yards [900m] out from the in
deep blue water.
1
island,
could see only
all
lying land.
There were
along the shore. Black
The
up.
air
was
filled
fires
smoke
welled
with wisps of burnt
powder bags from our naval air
burning
rifles.
The
smelted burned. The sun blazed down
and
it
was
getting very warm... The
tractors lurched
our open compartment were thrown about. Our tfiree neat lines
became
ragged as we bounced and lumbered Mortar shells from shore
along the
reef.
began
explode around
Quoted
to in
Marine by Ron
us.'
Field (Military
Illustrated, 1999)
and tossed as we
climbed the coral heads. The troops
in
TARAWA
135
CASSINO, 1944
Below. The Allied
advance on the town
of
Cassino and the
monastery
Above: German
The monastery
paratroopers defend the
Allies
of Cassino stands
had to take
it,
it
they turned
midable stronghold. German paratroopers hidden
the monastery at
rubble resisted attack after attack
Cassino as
it
was
a disaster
created a defensive
position even difficult to
their
way up
it
into a for-
among
the
Polish soldiers forced
until
the slopes to victory.
and the United States opened up a second front
Britain
early 1944.
on the road to Rome. The
but by bombing
Monte Cassino. The Allied bombing of ruins of
in
in
more
storm.
Europe
in
when
July 1943
they invaded
ately after the landing, the Italian people leader, Mussolini,
who
had taken them
Sicily.
Almost immedi-
overthrew
into a very
their Fascist
unsuccessful
war. His successor entered into negotiations with the Allies and a secret armistice
were now
left
on
was signed their
own
to
reinforcements were sent into
The
Allies
in
through
invaded mainland
was
very
difficult
was contested
for three
advance, and
this.
September, landing
commander
in
at
chief of Axis
sure the Allied advance
indeed.
The landing
at Salerno
A second
landing at
alone cost the Allies 15,000 casualties.
Anzio
Allied
achieve
Italy in
made
the Mediterranean,
Italy
September. The Germans
Italy to
Salerno. Albert Kesselnng, the
forces
in
stem the
months.
In
January 1944 the
US ometres
136
CASSINO
q.75
4,
ITALY *'*.
Rome'
.
MONTE CASSINO
Naples"
Mediterranean Sea
34th Infantry Division approached the town of Cassino on the road to
Rome. Above the
(1,700ft) high,
little
town, on a massive rock
520m
stood a centuries-old Benedictine monastery.
too obvious a target (although General von Senger gave a different
had to take the town of Cassino to gain access to the
his
Liri
Valley
and onwards to Rome. The Germans were deter-
was
deny them
this ancient
a severe winter
way
At
first
the
Germans
not because of
its
did not
bullets.
occupy the ancient monastery,
antiquity, but
because
it
was considered
and the
They are
killed
overleaf).
move
its
fall
Senger
'in
were exhausted as they asleep under
up.'
Above The battered Monte Cassino bombing turned it
walls of Allied
into a formidable
stronghold of rubble hiding
German
snipers.
shellfire,'
the midst of mines and
almost before they realize
wounds make them wake took days to
Allies
'Men
inland.
Rene Chambre,
recalled General
FANATICAL RESISTANCE
see panel
It
battled their
gateway.
captivity;
in command of the XIV Panzer Korps and he positioned men in camouflaged positions at the base of the hill.
Allies
to
in
was
The
mined
view when
The US 34th
it.
Only
Infantry Division
tanks through the clogging mud.
CASSINO
137
mm
->*\&
'-
Finally,
upon reaching Cassino, the Americans were met by
strong opposition and had to withdraw.
A second
assault on the
time incorporating divisions.
New
town took place
in
February, this
Zealand, Indian and British infantry
The Germans were reinforced by paratroopers
ing as elite infantrymen. Freyberg, the
commander of
the
fight-
New
Zealand Corps, wanted to open the assault with a crushing
bombardment
commander site
US
Fifth
Army, said
it
was
a major cultural
and believed assurances by the Germans that they would
not occupy
of
one
monks and
was
Freyberg, however,
it.
believed that life
of the monastery, but Lieutenant General Clark,
of the
all
the treasures
Allied soldier. His all
not convinced and he
Cassino were not worth the
in
views prevailed, and once the
their treasures
had been removed, the
Allies
Above left. The skull of German paratrooper killed
GENERAL VON SENGER
of
during the defence
Monte Cassino.
Above BASTION OF DEFENCE
should enter the Monastery, so as to
but he also placed a guard at the
right
US
soldiers
wearing layered winter clothing against the
At the time of the Allied
bombardment
of
the monastery at Monte Cassino, a
statement was
made
had already occupied
that the it,
thus making
legitimate target. General
denied
this in
Germans it
von Senger
an interview with Basil
had given
express orders that no German soldier
138
CASSINO
entrance gate to ensure that his orders
bombing or
were earned
shelling
it.
1
cannot
personally that th\s decision a
communicated
since
it
was so
testify
was
to the Allies but
that the Vatican found
fate of
Liddell Hart:
field Marshal Kesselring
avoid giving the Allies any pretext for
means
1
to
out... [After
it
was bombed]
as anyone with experience of street-
am do
sure
so,
directly interested in the
Monte Cassino. Not only did
Field
fighting
knows,
it
is
only
when
buildings
are demolished that they are converted
from mouse-traps
into bastions of
defence.'
Marshal Kesselring prohibit German
Quoted
soldiers from entering the Monastery,
Basil Liddell Hart (Cassell, 1948)
in
The Other Side of the
Hill by
a
severe weather that afflicted the Allies in Italy in
1943-44
1
dropped hundreds reducing
of tons of explosives
the
Germans now rushed
lent
cover for their men.
Crossfire from these
On
attacks.
occupy
to
new
positions ravaged Freyberg's
withdraw - and so the
dutifully left their gains behind.
When
town
at
a
British troopers
the mistake
New
another attack failed to grab the position. to capture the
strangely,
but,
green flares - the prearranged
fired three
signal for the British to
the base of the
drove them back. After three days of
but
hill,
was
realized,
Zealanders tried
German tanks
Freyberg had to
fighting,
the attack.
call off
third
major assault on the town
was planned
building intact.
The
Allies
pressed on through
and found themselves confronting a
German
it
was
massive bombardment on 15 March that
a
who
paratroopers,
were shooting
fanatical
March.
for
Zealand and Indian divisions joined forces and
ceded by
one
initial
the night of 16 February, Royal Sussex Regiment
German paratrooper
New
Allies, for
a site that provided excel-
stormed the monastery slopes,
soldiers
A
on the monastery,
The action rebounded on the
to rubble.
it
pre-
not
left
torrential rain
defence from the
had survived the bombardment and
from every crevice. The
at the attacking forces
I
made
it
impossible for armoured units to support the Allied infantry
in
sheer quantity of rubble
by the bombardment
left
i
advance. Once more, the bombardment had created more
their
I
problems than
it
positions being
won, but by 23 March Freyberg had
some
solved. Hand-to-hand fighting led to
Allied
forces
Allied attacks
Allied front line
15 March
German forces German defensive
lines
admit
to
defeat again
SEND By
THE POLES
IN
spring, the
offensive
weather
in
was launched
which Cassino was
the area had improved and a major
a major strongpoint.
May, an enormous barrage of
lowed by
Allied divisions
made
On
Line,
the night of
erupted and
artillery
advancing along
the sea. North African troops Lin Valley
German Gustav
against the
a line
was
Above: The
in
against
1
led
final assault
Monte Cassino
by the
II
Polish
fol-
Corps, took six days to
from Cassino to
seize the monastery.
the breakthrough into the
and the Gustav Line had been pierced. At Cassino,
Left.
The
front cover of
it
Yank magazine showing
was
left
to the
Corps to take the monastery.
Polish
II
sand strong, the
was
unit
led
Anders and was composed from the Nazi-Soviet
thou-
Fifty
the ruins of
by Lieutenant General Wladystaw
who
of Polish soldiers
They were hun-
partition of their country.
gry for vengeance against the
Monte
Cassino abbey
had escaped
Germans and were determined
to take the position.
On
the morning of
cratered slopes.
1
2 May, the Poles scrambled up the shell-
They took some positions but were held
ers by the equally determined paratroopers.
It
took
hard, close-combat struggle before the Poles could
the
hill
and occupy
all
into the
rums of the monastery.
It
enough and withdrawn. ended
five
months
been
lost in total. All
back
their forces
liberation of
It
was
a
sweet
of fighting. At least
Allies could
finally
On
clam-
finally
victory for the Poles
now
had
and
45,000 soldiers had
along the Gustav Line, the
and the
Rome.
push on up
was empty except for a
few wounded Germans. The paratroopers had
it
at oth-
days of
the positions around the monastery.
the morning of 18 May, a unit of Polish Lancers
bered
five
Germans
pulled
concentrate on the
icfures of the Ruins
of Cassino —
One Year Aftt CASSINO
139
£
KOHIMA, 1944 Dubbed the
Kohima
'Stalingrad of the jungle', the Battle of
ed the Japanese advance towards
A fierce
India.
and Indian troops exhausted Japanese determination.
Burma was the gateway
them
The Japanese invasion
and by capturing Empire
of the British
Burma began
of
to
of the Allied advance.
to India
Japanese threatened the heart
marked
It
a turning point in Japan's prosecution of the war, forcing
withdraw through Burma ahead
halt-
stand by British
in
it
the
the east.
in
January 1942,
when
it
attacked from Thailand and captured Rangoon. With their supply lines
severed, British and Chinese troops had been forced out of
Burma by May. country.
In
Wingate, returned as In
two years the Japanese occupied the
For nearly
1943, British troops, led by Major General Orde
and fought behind enemy
guerrillas
was assembled under
1944, a major British army
lines.
Lieutenant
General William Slim along the Indian border with northern
Burma. The Japanese pre-empted
communication centres
at
Renya
General
Lieutenant
build-up by attacking
this
Imphal and Kohima.
commanded
Mutaguchi
Japanese Fifteenth Army, which consisted
the
of three divisions
men
with a hundred thousand
Kohirria^^- " " " - - »aJhiN ^ *f - * . SCRATCH ALLIED FORCE W I^Q MARCH^W N
V
\
A % T |\
^ *
17TH INDIAN DIVISION
INDIA// ,'//
resistance from
y
British force
at
He
them
Sangsh \ \
SIEGE
\
\
in
the war
in
Malaya.
swiftly across the River
Division, but the road to
BURMA
S
»
HB
\
-
s \
-
i i
was
virtually
night of 7
Chmdwin cut
Kohima
in
at
Tpngz ang
5
was
to give
way: the Japanese needed the supplies
especially fierce,
defeat would leave India wide open to invasion.
Imphal for
RAF
airlifts
forces
trapped at Imphal and siege war-
dropped supplies to the
British
fare ensued, lasting for
86 days.
In
the meantime, the
little hill
station at
Kohima was attacked
Japanese attacks
on 5
April
by 12,000
commanded
\
rail
MARCH Kalewa
at
and Indian troops knew that a
British retreat
Mawlaik
* 1\
severed. The
because neither side could afford
their survival, while the British
{^Japanese
-—
was
fighting
men from
the Japanese 31st Division,
by Lieutenant General Sato. General Slim
caught unawares by the attack, expecting Tidd'nm
that the 17th
Another attack
bay by the 20th Indian
the north
i i
off.
March and
British forces
-i- airborne supply
t
mi
The Japanese
"
1 1
kilometres
40
it
was
further north at the
centre of Dimapur, to where he had sent a large body of
25
1
1
India in
March
1944 and the Allied lines
from the north of Imphal was held
Sittaung
J
way
and Kohima has been called the Stalingrad of
towards
Indian Division at Imphal
*
\
1
could afford to give
Left.
MUTAGUCHI
15THARMY L
-«
V
invasion,
WARFARE
advanced so
\
V - -f
"""*>
them from the
of
in
Burma. Neither side
find a very different attitude to that
The Japanese offensive began on the
-»
1
British soldiers
tough battle
advance through Burma
Homalin
*
displayed earlier
\
;.
many
homeland from
protecting their
and the Japanese were to
SATO
\
\
-i
did not therefore anticipate strong
Burma. More than two-thirds of the
in
Above. fight a
against the Japanese
consisted of Indian troops,
were
against
,.\
.
nphal
V
He had fought
overall.
Singapore and he had a poor opinion
the jungle.
- -J
31ST DIVISION
.Tamu '/ft
Malaya and
Punjab. They "*
Palel.*
* III
MARCH
7
;
|
in
of their fighting spirit.
\
\
I
the British
/
troops to put up a defence.
A
smaller holding force had been
of withdrawal.
Right British Chindits fought
in
war
a guerrilla
behind Japanese
lines
Burma Considering
themselves masters
of
the jungle, the Japanese
were surprised by the British
mastery
of
the
difficult terrain.
Above General William Slim,
commander
British in
Fourteenth
Burma Having
of the
Army halted
the Japanese offensive at
Kohima and Imphal,
he then pursued the
Japanese through Burma.
KOHIMA
141
command
under the
posted to Kohima,
Richards, and given the order to hold
what they
exactly
is
West
Rifles.
The
men
consisted of soldiers from
Burma
7th Rajputs and
Rifles,
arrived,
for the British
Burma as
in
1
9th century and fortified
when
could, but
commanding
they quickly took the
and slowly tightened
the
in
The defenders
a reward.
town as best they
the hillocks around the
surrounding
that
included Burmese-born Gurkhas, descendants
had fought
been given land
Japanese
Assam
Kents, the
latter
who
of soldiers
man. And
did.
The. defending force of 1,500
the Royal
Hugh
Colonel
of
to the last
it
the
positions
on the settlement, completely
their hold
and using the high ground to shoot down on the
it
made any movement
defenders. Japanese snipers
day almost impossible, although the
among
er raised morale by strolling diers wearing a
Panama
reduced to
36m
just
during the
deputy commission-
British
the British and Indian solthe British perimeter was
hat. Gradually,
(40yds).
Water became a problem because the Japanese cut the main supply and
had to be rationed to
it
two sides were so close
wood
among
defenders, but
it
was
The
the trees caused
Japanese ground
splinters to fly about. Despite
RAF managed
the
fire,
fire.
always be used,
that artillery could not
but mortars were and their explosions terrible
day per
half a pint a
man. Wounded soldiers were exposed to constant
ammunition to the
to drop supplies of
them going
their fighting spirit that kept
in
the face of constant close-quarter assaults.
John Wright was a young sapper
Kohima and praises the many
officer during the Battle of
Indian troops
who
fought under
me
Burma and
in
He blames poor
ed'.
Gurkhas
at
Kohima.
are stolid, loyal and level-head-
730
them
of
we
than
attack.'
the Sher
when
ran through us
many more
mortared,' he recalls, 'and probably incurred ties
among
panic
officers for a
'All
fought under
Mussalmans who
him, including the Rajputs and the 'Punjabi
casual-
did over the 10 or so days of fairly continuous
Above
all,
the 4th Royal
West
bered
still
he remembers, 'no one can hold a candle to
1
Zubza
+
v
1 •
^,
^'
o
/
+*'"
j
kilometres
\
.--- ----„.•,
I
/ '
\
/
\
'.
j^ Jotsoma-
-
•«
r
territorial battalion,
who, outnum-
in
men
of the Royal
West Kents were
the process of resisting 25 infantry assaults
Naga
~\\
,
village
g* m £+ x
=
^
++
5=
- Terrace H
4^ tennis
**,
*
, x
A
his section
attack on a
Burmese
settlement near Kohima in
1944
a
from
them with
his shoulders.
18A p R
He brought
He then charged forward
second machine gun post with
strolled back,
men with
he
was
killed
his last breath,
'I
by a
got the
his
lot;
*
\
*
\
\
i
i
r^
^•M
the
weapon back
again to
rifle
kill
it
the crew
and bayonet. As he
machine gun,
third
was worth
telling his
it.'
THE TENNIS COURT BATTLE
L
April,
a
British
relief
force nearly broke through to
launched desperate, suicidal attacks on the defenders, which »
ended
in
hand-to-hand fighting. Several outposts were captured
'
1 |
14
but
still
the main
line held.
On 20
April,
/
troops were relieved. But the fighting
ordered
British forces finally
West Kents and
broke through and the gallant Royal
x
29 APRIL
a hand grenade.
Kohima. As they waited for more reinforcements, the Japanese
x
court battle
X Z counter-attack
\
when he saved
|
Kohima relieved
•..^
British forces British attacks
V
*,
Ko maV
**»*^"
Cross
Above. Japanese troops take cover during an
by racing towards a Japanese machine gun crew and
killing
On
\
«
1
w
tT
,
Kohima^
Japanese *x ^
(
X
-
Kents, a
beat the Japanese at Kohima.'
Victoria
fire
of a
v
S
l
road-blocks
\
'
'
i-
\ »2MAY -" N J \ * >/ ° APRII * ' HrmL *\\' 31ST DIVISION
surround
1
x
-a
wounded
heavy
on
Japanese
1
\
-
1
flank turned
>
'7
A
or
posthumous
\
]
Japanese
\
/
Japanese road-block cleared
1
,
Left.
The Japanese
assaults of April 1944 on
X :x •
n
m!ies
14 APRIL
1
1
mounted by the Japanese. Lance Corporal John Harman won
GR0VER BRITISH 2ND DIVISION
1
3 to
Thirteen officers and 201 killed
^+
1
was
more troops towards Kohima
Japanese from sending any support to
far
Indian
from over as Slim
to
prevent
Sato's
their forces at Imphal.
Kohima, followed by the British counter-attacks.
Above: British soldiers of the Royal West Kent
Regiment
visit
battle.
By the end of May, devastating
Desperate close-quarter
General Sato had had enough.
the
graves of their comrades killed at
came and mud and
At the end of the month, the monsoon
ram added to the misery of the
Kohima.
each
fighting continued as both sides fought for
Eventually, logistics let Sato
down and
bit of
his supplies
upper hand. The
Allies
er's
Japanese Fifteenth Army
dwindled. As
fire
point-blank at the
companies. The leading
and and
On
British
realized their offensive
and Indians had proved to be
called
far
had
failed.
The
tougher foes than expect-
8 July the Japanese stumbled back towards Burma, more
than sixty thousand of
hillside to
them having been
and Indians had suffered 17,587
had held the
[their
with
in
his shattered
line
and could
now prepare
killed or
wounded. The
casualties. General Slim
Burma.
his offensive into
2ND DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY
MIDNIGHT ATTACK
The Japs attacked
full
ed.
deputy commission-
Japanese bunkers.
MAJOR WATERHOUSE,
bags
British
took key positions, including a famous
bungalow, during which a tank was hauled up the
were
hungry soldiers back to Imphal, where the commanders of the
ground.
the Japanese began to starve, the British and Indians gained the
battle for the tennis courts belonging to the
air strikes
He withdrew
about two
men earned
of grenades but no weapons.
wartime leader] before digging
The Durhams counter-attacked at light,
led
in.
first
by Captain "Conky" Greenwell,
blowing a hunting horn... A great sound,
They again broke through owing to sheer
and they caught the Japs
weight of numbers, got on the plateau,
down... they
packed up and ran and
running around and shouting "Tojo! Tojo!"
found cover
in
our
with their pants
own smoke, which
was
blanketing Kuki Picquet. Fire
support was
first class... 3. 7s,
pounders, our
own mortars
25
fired
1,300
rounds and caused the Japs heavy casualties.'
Quoted
in
The Unforgettable Army by
Michael Hickey (Spellmount, 1992)
KOHIMA
143
D-DAY, 1944
The day the
Allies
invaded Nazi-occupied Europe
the greatest amphibious landings of
all
saw one
planned and well supplied with vehicles and equipment,
success or
failure
still
of
time. Meticulously
turned on the bravery of the
its
men
storming out of their landing craft and on to the beaches in the face of deadly machine gun and artillery fire. Although a triumph
overall, the
bloody events at
Omaha Beach demon-
strated the cost of war.
Winston
Churchill, Britain's
wartime
leader,
must have been
months
of preparation by
the landing forces.
One such
innovation
was
the
ashore ple of
it
in his
bath. Less practical
craft carriers out of
man-made
was
princi-
the idea of creating
air-
icebergs.
The decision to invade Europe across the English Channel
was made between 15 and 25 May US President Roosevelt at the
1943,
when
Trident
Churchill
Conference
met in
Washington, D.C. Planning began immediately and
May 1944
Allied
was
US
forces
to Britain and intensive training began.
A cam-
invasion of western Europe
in
1944. The
pp.62-65)
in
the First World r :
War and
had ended
in
great
(see
dreadful
e recent attempts to probe Hitler's coastal
ss at Dieppe,
D-DAY
this
first
Gallipoli
had also ended
in
bloody defeat.
Above Under heavy fire, US troops leave their landing craft to wade
har-
artificial
code-named the 'Mulberry' harbour; he tested the
bour,
plagued by doubt as he contemplated Operation Overlord, the
amphibious assault he had championed was
144
Churchill consoled himself during the
considering proposals for imaginative devices that would assist
originally
selected as the time for the attack.
were transported
paign of deception, called Operation Bodyguard,
confuse German construction of
intelligence,
dummy
and
this
installations
was
created to
campaign included the
and shipping as well as
at
Omaha Beach
English Channel
D-DAY
FRANCE
misinformation.
and
his staff
still
It
worked so
well that even on D-Day, Hitler
expected a main attack to
come from
the Pas
construction of the Atlantic Wall, with the average being around
200,00 cubic metres (260,000 cubic yards) per month
de Calais and he held up reinforcements to Normandy because
1944. Field Marshal Erwin
of this perceived threat.
defences
in
Rommel
1943 and he directed
took over
efforts
until April
command
invasion force on the beaches, by having six million-plus
ALLIED
their hold
on
Omaha
laid there,
was an impressive
many
of
which were not dug
into the
mines
sand but raised
the
on wooden posts to sink boats. Thousands of obstacles known
invaders to overcome, stretching 2,600km (1,600 miles) from
as 'hedgehogs' - large steel spikes to halt the progress of
the Arctic Circle to the border with Spain. From 1940 onwards,
enemy
Hitler's
Below. Having secured
ARMADA
of the
towards stopping an
Atlantic
Wall
massive concrete bunkers were
built
all
obstacle
for
along the French coast.
tanks - were sunk into the sand.
Delayed by poor weather, the
Allied landings finally took
Beach, American troops
1943
one month alone, some 760,000 cubic metres
and supplies move
In
inland
(990,000 cubic yards) of concrete
in
was poured
during the
place on D-Day, 6 June 1944. sail
carrying 176,000
An armada
***&.
^^k^m
%&,.
of
4,000 ships set
men. The landing area chosen consisted
h
W
to*.t&M»K :&-AJ$ ;
English Channel
Barfleur
DEMPSEY
BRADLEY
" " ^ " "
\-
Z
EASTERN TASK FORCE
AMERICAN
BRITISH AND CANADIAN
£
r
-^
- ~
"~
WESTERN TASK FORCE
US flagship^ AUGUSTA
I
-^ *.
* -"
05.30 hours
I
J '
f '
Naval
bombardment
.
0600 hours Landings begin
!
i
/* .^
f
starts
Le Havre
r »\
Seine
Po-nte/uHoc /
Ste Mere-Eglise
OMAHA,
/jf
.AJSU^E'' Laurenf*
/
I
I
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ROMMEL GERMAN SEVENTH ARMY
'
«
iGOLJT
«^ Arromancfie? ,
*™-""||W
,
I
,' '
bV
Port En Bessin
Aure
,
|
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J" \\\\
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ifllINn
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l|
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"Courseulles rf
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Houlgate
^^^^ ^0
Bayeux
\Cabourg
Ouistreham
N
Allied ships
Allied forces
N
Allied landings
k
Caen
a n d y
FRANCE
landing beaches I
m
r
bombardment
Naval
r
German forces
beaches east
of the
Omaha,
of the Cotentin Peninsula
Gold, Juno, and Sword.
Commonwealth Seventh Army,
troops
were
US
command
General Bradley
Second
British
of
day went
by
German
Britain's
was
to land at Utah
Army
under
well, there
was
Utah,
British
German
soldiers and less
was
the Allied
Montgomery
First
Army under
Dempsey,
with
Juno and Sword.
If
ashore were met by a storm of
and
a
the
a total of a million Allied soldiers
artillery,
which
fire
from German machine guns
down
fired straight
US Sergeant John Slaughter was
and
and Omaha, while the
General
at Gold,
of
the
General
ground forces. The US
Canadian corps, was to land first
opposed
General Eisenhower
Supreme Commander, while in
The American,
a mixture of veteran
effective Axis allies.
was
Normandy;
in
were given the code-names
points
landing
five
only 19
when he
on the 'hit
the
beach' at Omaha, where a terrible scene greeted him: There
were dead men
floating
in
the water and there
them
acting dead, letting the tide take
down
to chin-deep
zeroing
small arms
was
the water
in
fire
from the
past time to get the
we were
how
long
but
guess close
I
in
when
I
I
were
live
men
was crouched
saw mortar
shells
edge. Sand began to kick up from
at the water's
in
in.
bluffs. hell
It
became apparent
across that beach.
the water before the
to an hour.'
I
that
it
know
don't
move was made,
The American landing
at
Omaha
turned into a disaster, with more than three thousand sol-
waiting to exploit any success.
diers lost by nightfall.
HITTING THE BEACHES
Another brave but chaotic incident was the daring
The amphibious landings were preceded by behind
enemy
Allied aircraft
however, ure
was
fell
felt
lines
a
paratroop drop
and a massive bombardment delivered by
and ships. Much of the preliminary bombardment, behind the German beach defences, and
most
strongly at
this
Omaha. As the American
approached the beaches there, rough seas
fail-
ships
swamped many
of
the amphibious tanks and dragged them to the bottom, with their
were in
crews left
still
trapped inside. Only
to support the troops
six of
on shore.
the choppy waters and those
who
did
the
US Rangers
Ranger
out the
heavy
to struggle
batteries this
had been identified
stretch
of
raid
by
Omaha in
the
the coast. The 2nd
commanded by Colonel Jim Rudder, was awesome task of scaling these cliffs and knocking gun batteries. At 04.15 hours on D-Day, the US
Battalion,
Rangers approached the rocky shore beneath the 30-m (100-
US
manage
du Hoc, which overlooked
given the
ft)
drowned
German gun
Beach.
bunkers that guarded
the thirty-three tanks soldiers
at Pointe
cliffs
in
fire
their landing craft
and immediately came under
as they neared the beach.
their rocket lines cliffwards,
Once
ashore, they fired
which were supposed
Above: The Allied landings of 6 June 1944
the beach at them.
to attach
five
code-named
Normandy beaches.
grappling hooks to the top, but the ropes failed to extend further than
15m
(50ft)
because they had been soaked by
water during the landing. With only ladders and daggers to help them, the US Rangers fearlessly tackled the rocks, climbing
under
fire.
up the
After half an hour, one hundred
cliffs
and moved forwards
(6-in)
guns
in
it
cliff-face
were no guns!
1
in
55-mrm
Allied
wrong. Rudder sent out patrols to
guns, which had not yet been placed
while
had scaled the
to destroy their target: the
the bunkers. But there
gence had got
men
intelli-
find the
the bunkers, and then
destroyed them once they had been located. German soldiers then counter-attacked, forcing the isolated a fierce battle lasting
two
relieved, the final cost
was 135
of
days.
225 men landed, a casualty
When
killed or
rate of
US Rangers
to fight
they were eventually
wounded
out of a total
60 per cent.
COSTLY SUCCESS The
British
faced similar problems on Gold Beach, where rough
seas and strong defences hampered their landing. Specially
designed tanks came to their rescue, using
flails
to
explode the
mines and allow the ing suffered a
ashore
British troops to
Juno Beach
at
press ahead, despite hav-
thousand casualties. The Canadians stumbled
be greeted by mangled bodies and
to
equipment, but they had the motivation of revenge for the death of their fellow Canadians
at
Dieppe and they advanced
further inland than any of the other Allied forces.
They too
suf-
fered one thousand casualties.
The landing on Sword Beach claimed the
but
soldiers,
managed
troops
defences and advance a
little
way
a further
break
to
inland.
one thousand the
German
At Utah Beach, a land-
on the wrong beach saved American soldiers from a more
ing
defended section of the coast that could have cost
heavily
them
similar casualties to those received at
By the end
mined
The
of the day. Allied troops
to stay there, despite fierce
Allies
German
deter-
counter-attacks.
had learned their lessons from previous amphibious
operations at Dieppe, nization
Omaha.
were ashore and
in
North Africa and
proved thorough.
On
Italy,
and
their orga-
the days that followed, more
and more men and supplies landed on the beaches and up
Allied strength.
The next challenge was
to break out
built
from
the landing zone.
Above
right General
Eisenhower, Supreme
Commander at D-Day, visits the US Allied
82nd Airborne Division before their
air
drop
behind German lines
in
Normandy
the beach just
FRIGHTENING LANDING 'One of the subalterns stood up
Above
British soldiers
capture the Hindenburg
landing craft] to get out
it
under new
management'.
the
and he was
absolutely bowled over by machine-gun
gun emplacement and declare
[in
fire
and he was cut
very frightening.
to ribbons.
And then a
It
flail
was
tank on
shell or
there
in
front of us
was
hit
by a
something and just blew up, and
was machine-gun
fire all
the engine
men
oil
kneeling
Quoted
in
hit.'
D-Day- Those who were
there by Juliet Gardiner (Collins
around,
and there were bodies washing about
and then they'd get
in
&
Brown, 1994)
at the water's edge, and in
the water tying to
fire.
D-DAY
147
ST LO, 1944 AIR
SUPREMACY
Left.
The American dimension St L6.
The
of
The US Army's
capture of the line to
enjoyed complete domination of the
Allies
Bradley decided to use this forces opposite him. that he
Cobra was to the west
to Operation
air
supremacy
to break the
and
air,
German
He knew from reconnaissance photographs
possessed superior numbers
men
of
and supplies and
German
the west of St L6
allowed the
Allies to
break out of the area of
Normandy landings. Little over a month later,
the
they had reached Paris. that the roads behind the
German
ments, whereas behind
his
Third
Army ready
to exploit
were empty
Army was
First
of reinforce-
General Patton's
any breakthrough. But Bradley could
away
not carry on grinding
lines
at the
panzer divisions with his
Below. Once past the
German
defensive line
on the St L6 to Periers road, the
infantry.
The road from
St L6 to Periers
was
Allied aircraft,
and Bradley decided to use
concentrated
aerial
bombardment
of the
clearly
this
as
observable to
his
German
marker
for a
Normandy
countryside, despite
positions.
German
An argument broke out between how close American
US Army made
rapid progress across
the
counter-attacks.
units
800m
should be to the St L6 road. Bradley wanted them within
(870yds) so as to take immediate advantage of the bombing,
but the
Following the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 (see pp. 144-147, Allied forces
needed
from Normandy, and the
to break out
biggest use to date of concentrated bombing a
way through
own
their
caused
Allied deaths, but the
devastated by the onslaught and their
D-Day
itself
was
Hitler
still
Pas de
place along the
Calais,
hampered by
and the German counter-attack
The
his insistence.
beaches proved
to
territory
come in
aimed
for
hedgerow
to
city
through the
Normandy was
beyond the landing Allied
hedgerow. The difficult
British
take.
to
The
Americans drove up the Cotentin Peninsula to take Cherbourg on 27 June. By the beginning of and one hundred and General
fifty
Rommel was
in
July,
there
were
a million
men
thousand vehicles ashore. charge of the German counter-attack
and he slowly amassed the armoured divisions he needed
Montgomery and sions and ruined
two
the British
were
Caen on 13
July.
Seven panzer
advance of the
US
pushed towards
St L6, suffering
First
Gunther von Kluge took over
was needed by the
managing
divisions
divi-
to take a
opposed the
Army, and General Bradley slowly
Rommel was wounded by an tion
held by seven panzer
infantry divisions, only finally
air
1 1
,000 casualties on the way.
attack on 17 July and Marshal
his role.
Allies
A
his infantry
was
massive breakout opera-
and they code-named
it
Cobra.
in its
aim.
compromise
of
1
,200m
(1
,300
had to draw back and give up
^
1
German
front line
Carentam
.
"
\
German counter-attack i
Normandy Beaches
MIDDLET0N US STH CORPS
attacks
German forces
a series of
be an unexpected obstacle to the
Caen but found the
not as confident as he
of at least three kilometres (two miles).
US forces US
of
advance, with the nature of the bocage landscape meaning that the Allies had to fight from
was
zone
which meant
I
Normandy beaches.
believed that another attack would
itself
Reluctantly, Bradley agreed to a yds),
ashore by
men, vehicles and supplies were funnelled through in
force
a buffer
to
lines broke.
a success, with five divisions
harbours put
air
wanted
Germans were
Over the next few days, tremendous quantities
nightfall.
artificial
to blast
Such destruction delivered so close
at St L6.
lines
was used
It
•"<••».
%^ V...
isavhCT
Lessa;
COLLINS
\
^% *^
US7THC0RPS
'\
cmcn USWHC0RPS
y
24 JULY ..••••'
English Channel
_
"
Baie de
I,
Seme
"STLO
hard-won ground. By 24
July, rainy
was deemed
for the Allied
good day
a
As the B-17
weather had passed and
bombers
was
Flying Fortresses took off, the order
had already
celled, but one-third of the aircraft
it
to take off.
left
can-
the ground
and they approached the designated target road from a perpendicular angle, not parallel as instructed
argued that they could
following the road. But
some
of the
air
force
bombs
caused casualties among the US 30th
was
Bradley
approach
by Bradley. The
the safest approach for aircraft because
a wider formation than the narrow funnel
in
fly
demanded by short and
was
this
furious, but the air force insisted
was
it
fell
Division.
the best
for its aircraft.
CARPET BOMBING On 25
was
July the sky
clear
and 550 P-47 Thunderbolt
bombers approached the German ping 227-kg (500-lb)
bombs. Their aim was
explosions to ripple along a
them came
infantry. After
some
sight.
doom-like sound.
It
was slow and
sky
about
it
Ernie
was
line
full
'a
gigantic far-away surge of
known anything
that had
of
smoke
were
70 per cent of (12,000ft)
most senior
men.
town
and using
bombs began
1 1 1
American
anti-aircraft
guns. As a
reappeared to drop napalm on the
final
German
in
Normandy. Painting by
Ogden
Pleissner.
As the barrage ceased, Division
moved
forward.
infantry
resistance.
there
little
show
to
General Bayerlein 'Not a single
all.
Operation
for the saturation
knew
man
is
it
was
looked out of
my bunker.
The world had
changed. There were no leaves on the trees.
It
was much harder
to
get around.
but no ambulances could
come
Our big guns had been tipped Quoted
in
Citizen Soldiers by
Ambrose (Simon & Schuster,
com-
leaving his post.
forward.
1997)
ly
E.
Field
line,
but
after the aerial assault, finally
lying silent in
was smashed, on 27
July, its
broken and the Americans
line.
Cobra had succeeded, and as the Germans
pounded them
mercilessly.
its
complete-
motorized columns outstripped the horse-drawn and battered
German
over.'
Stephen
They are
they are dead.' His division
was
nightfall
only a token effort, declaring,
retreated across France, the Allies
I
a
bombing.
The US Third Army could now follow through and
We had wounded, we needed medics,
stopped,
was
Marshal von Kluge insisted that the Germans hold the
tar-
passed through the
finally
for
Germans dug them-
The Americans were disappointed and by
was
desperate resistance
the shelling
in
American
selves out, righted their guns and created pockets of fierce
to
sol-
and on the second day
When
in
and tanks of the US 30th
What they had hoped
plete lack of resistance, but the surviving
their foxholes for
NO LEAVES ON THE TREES
of explosives
military history to date.
blow, the P-47s lines. All
bombs had been dropped
of St Lo, part of
and 490 wounded. General McNair was the supported the bombers by
16,250 tonnes (16,000 tons) of
what was the most concentrated use
the Allied breakout from
and as the prevailing wind
Allied positions, the
fatality. Artillery fire
German
his
a
through the devastated
as a marker meant that the aim of the
less than accurate,
killed
Above US troops with Sherman tank move
hour and the result for the Germans
on American troops. Panic ensued and
geting
US
was an awe-
the heavies... Their march across the
bombs from 3,660m
blew the smoke over the
diers
It
gradually droned into our ears,'
Pyle,
studied. I've never
dropping
bombers was
fall
precise, causing
(325yds) from the
,800 B-1 7 bombers.
catastrophic: General Bayerlein lost
Tragically,
the
1
fighter-
and drop-
the aura of such a ghastly relentlessness.' They
dropped bombs for a
was
300m
line just
new sound
'A
recalled journalist
lines firing rockets
divisions,
movement. A
which they then surrounded
fierce
German
Avranches, but the general
25 August the
Allies
counter-attack
in
was
a
pincer
fought at
movement was eastwards. By
had reached Paris and liberated the
city.
LEYTE GULF, 1944 The
largest naval battle of the
opened the way It
was
also
for the
one
fought. There
of the
were
Second World War, Leyte Gulf
American reconquest of the
most complicated
several stages of attack and counter-attack,
with aircraft carriers proving once
ment, delivering destructive In
air
more
1942, General Douglas MacArthur
US force surrendering
conquerors.
Australia,
return!'
It
took two and
be the decisive
was
ele-
forced to flee the
behind him to
he declared to half
to
assaults on both sides.
Philippines, the In
Philippines.
naval battles ever
its
Japanese
journalists that
'I
shall
years of fierce fighting, but
m
October 1944 he waded ashore on Leyte Island alongside the president of the Philippines.
MacArthur was committed to the
liberation of the Philippines,
although from a strategic point of view, Admiral Nimitz wished to
proceed could
to
Formosa and then China, from where the Americans
bomb Japan
into
submission. The Japanese were similarly
diverted by the defence of the Philippines, hoping to fight a decisive battle against the Pacific region.
Americans and
halt their
As American forces landed
Japanese decided
reconquest of the
in
Leyte Gulf, the
to deliver a crushing naval blow.
Above: The
moment
final
as a kamikaze
plane attacks a
US
battleship.
Left.
Kamikaze
pilots
carrying samurai
swords. Severe losses
meant
that the quality of
Japanese
pilots declined
rapidly through the war.
150
LEYTE GULF
Luzon
Ocean
Pacific
Manil
:%'.-* PHILIPPINES'*
SSulu
Surigao
Strait,
landing force
On 23
Leyte Gulf between these two
October,
^^F^
Sea
US amphibious
with the intention of crushing the
in
V.LEYTE GULF
)
'
fleets.
two US submarines, Darter and Dace,
cepted the Centre Force as
it
inter-
Palawan
sailed past the island of
towards the central Philippines and the San Bernadino
two Japanese heavy
Their torpedoes sank
aged a
The alarm was
third.
Japanese
ed, as the
two days
fleet to
of
the Musashi, one of
alert-
on through the Sea of Sibuyan. US
bombardment, its
US
Third Fleet
Japanese land-based
a carrier
and damaging
resumed
its
resulting in the sinking of
major battleships. The Japanese
turned round and the
retreating, but
presumed
fleet
was
it
aircraft struck back, sinking
a cruiser. At night, the Centre Force
advance through the San Bernardino
Strait.
BLOWS
FINAL In
dam-
and the US Third Fleet
took off from their carriers and subjected the Japanese
aircraft
now
sailed
raised
Strait.
cruisers and
single line ahead, the Southern Force entered Surigao Strait
on 24 October. Admiral Oldendorf met these ships with
his
destroyers, which sank the battleship Fuso and four destroyers.
Above: American
PINCER ATTACK ON LEYTE GULF
soldiers take cover on
The US amphibious force assembled
the beach during
landings on Leyte Island
dred thousand men. Right.
The
fleet
movements and battles that made up the three days
of the Battle of
Leyte Gulf
in
Leyte Gulf
some seven hundred
sive, consisting of
It
was
vessels and
was supported by
sixty-six
destroyers,
Admiral Oldendorf.
An
air
under the
all
command
1
^^
US
fleets
US
fleet
Japanese
fleets
—
Japanese
fleet
movements
02AWA CARRIER DECOY FORCE
S
movements
six-
was com-
Third Fleet stood
CAPE ENGANO
>
I
SHIMA
SECOND STRIKING
OCTOBER
25
/
Rear
of
support fleet of nine destroyers,
teen escort carriers and eleven destroyer escorts
manded by Rear Admiral Sprague. The US
'
six battleship sur-
vivors from Pearl Harbor, five heavy cruisers, four light cruisers
and
^»>
impres-
two hun-
Pacific
Ocean
FORCE
nearby and four
US submarines
The landings on Leyte a
Island
cruised beneath the waves.
began on 20 October following
enacting their Sho, or 'Victory Plan'. This consisted of using
some ers,
of their ships to divert the interest of the
US
south China
support ships, thus isolating
the American soldiers on shore.
assault, however,
depended on strong
air
PHILIPPINES '"% SIBUYAN ,5^- x
i
Sea
SEA
\
"""
^/^OV /n ~"
aircraft carri-
while the main Japanese fleet attacked the amphibious
Such an
HALSEY
t
\ US THIRD
heavy naval bombardment. The Japanese responded by
25
s
PALAWAN PASSAGE
\
isAMAR M*R
0CT0BER/\^
^^ KIHKELD
surigao
^3 october\
power,
Samaf
\ FLEET
St^"
US SEVENTH FLEET
which the Japanese lacked. Nevertheless, the Japanese concentrated their ships into three main fleets and sailed towards
the Philippines. The Northern Force, with Japan's four remaining carriers,
two
meet
twelve
it;
a
decoy
for the
US
Third Fleet,
which
sailed
Strait;
and
fifteen
destroyers,
entered
while the Southern Force, with
the
one heavy
„--
* „-**
„«»
Mindanao
FORCE C
two
San
cruiser
miles
200
kilometres
320
)
battle-
1
Borneo ships,
Sulu Sea
NISHIMURA
the Centre Force, which included five battleships,
cruisers
Bernadino
i kurita CENTRE FORCE
battleships and three cruisers, threatened
Luzon and acted as to
t '
and four destroyers, sailed through the
LEYTE GULF
151
^^ US
-
-—
fleets 1
US movements
1
ometres
8
to cross the
Japanese
k
attacks
ing
but one destroyer. Admiral Nishimura
all
his flagship.
-^T' US ships sunk
1
Joined by
now pursued
Oldendorf
v - -^^battleships
.
and American
T,
guns and torpedoes devastated the Japanese
naval
1
O
.
US torpedo
He then manoeuvred
—
aircraft
fleet, sink-
went down with
from Sprague's
carrier force,
the Japanese through Sungao
Strait,
sinking another cruiser.
cruisers ""
/
V Leyte Gulf
squadrons
*
'
1 '
ill f
X
\
\\ 1
\ attacks
Leyte
' Pacific
1
Ocean
|
/
F
1
#^.^ x f , %
_ ^^
\
destroyer
\
squadrons
Despite the southern pincer having been shattered, the
*
*
j
Sy
the Japanese plan even
although the
US
seemed
to
Strait. Part of
be working, because
Third Fleet had savaged the Centre Force,
it
was now
diverted to the north by the Northern Force as had
originally
been hoped
On 25
for.
October,
Rear Admiral of the
Centre Force - and outgunned too. The heavier Japanese ships
"~~" '
i
|-^^_,
. '
Vice Admiral Kurita, earned on
planned assault through San Bernardino
its
Sprague was completely surprised by the appearance
squadrons
'
commanded by
Centre Force,
1
1
I
torpedo
Hibusan
OLDENDORF US SEVENTH
with
\
destroyer
~
1
\
pounded the American amphibious support
Sprague's
meant
aircraft
boats. Even
were armed with fragmentation bombs
for land attacks
and not
for
use against armoured
battle-
Left.
Force
and ships
;-
i
\~
i
\.s-
Sungao
carrier
Dingat !
Strait
N
NISHIMURA
1
I
^^ Japanese --
Japanese movements
*^
vlly
/T\
1
fleet
I SHIM Jeco „ d
^^
KURITA
^
torpedo
>
^
attacks
V L-1
//,
and Japanese"* ™ ^J* «» ^ ^ —*-""«» lets contact ^ 07.00 hours
I
\ \
\
*
*
*\0
^\J
'
I
fleets'/ engage.
^ %
^
i
I
J
/ I
US SEVENTH
<•
at
t
Japanese 09.30 hours
US
fleet
withdraw
152
LEYTE GULF
fleet 3
Japanese ships sunk 4
US ships sunk
sunk, along with
two
US
now
failed
Third Fleet.
carriers
One US
until aircraft
him and he feared the renewed attack of the
News
had also reached him of the defeat of the
Southern Force.
being harassed by
US
aircraft
all
the way. The battle
was
not over, however, and Japanese land-based planes assaulted
withdraws
i
\
sinking the
the
virtually
destroyed
US Seventh
by the in
intercepted
the Suriago
Fleet
Strait.
Below left. In one engagements on
of the
25 October, the Centre Force clashed with part of the
US
7th Fleet.
Below. A Japanese
The Centre Force withdrew through the San Bernardino Strait,
was
destroyers, but Sprague's
had swarmed to the area. Kurita 's
Oldendorf's fleet at Surigao Strait as
SAMAR
I
Midway, which
ships fought bravely and boldly and held the line
tle,
^^
aircraft at
forcg
Japanese ships sunk
CENTRE FORCE
was
from other American nerve
|
weird echo of the Japanese
had also been armed with the wrong kind of bombs).
6 Japanese ships sunk
'
(a
On 24 October
Japanese Southern
USS
it
sailed back
from the bat-
St L6. Kamikaze ('divine wind') suicide
heavy cruiser trying to
manoeuvre away from US bombers flying from nearby carriers. The cruiser
was
eventually
caught and sunk.
Above:
USS
St L6
explodes following
kamikaze attack
PETER PADFIELD,
a
off
Samar on 25 October
SUBMARINE ATTACK
US submarines
then
encounter with the Japanese
swinging to
'Both submarines tracked, pulling
second
made
to
submerge and attack just
US
Darter]
[in
an appearance for the
first
what proved
in
the
ashore and there
was
little
it
In
its
had been sent
carriers sunk, plus three other ships.
all
the boat
and then
to the first target,
saw her
settling
Japanese
smoke."
first
four of
its
final
tactics
had worked
in
pa':
almost severely damaging the amphibious support Gulf, but its its
weakness
in air
power
fleet at
damaged and many
and
had been
lost
pilots killed.
of
its
Leyte
plus the deva
southern pincer had resultec
naval power. Virtually every ship
craft
by
the bows, issuing bright flames and
Peter Padfield iJohn Murray, 19951
the north, off
deception, having
He ordered
Quoted from War beneath the Sea by
with aircraft attacks.
carriers
be the cruiser Takeo.
hit.
deep and, swinging the periscope back
in
stern tubes at the
Four of the
to
of these
explosions as he was making his
they could respond with. The decoy
heavy price for
line.
Two
launching six
salvo hit Atago, detonating with heavy
Third Fleet caught up with the Japanese decoy
Japanese
first,
fire his
time, plunging their
decks of American ships.
of the aircraft from the
fleet paid a
Dace the starboard.
fact Kurita's flagship Atago,
Centre Force:
Northern Force and thoroughly pounded
Most
in
torpedoes at the leading cruiser,
into the
Luzon, the
Claggett
historian Peter Padfield describes their
before dawn, McClintock
pilots
blow at
McClintock fired
ahead
aircraft
first
the battle of Leyte Gulf and naval
first
observations for the second salvo at
taking the port column, Lt-Cdr Bladen
struck the
apanese in its
combined
key ships sunk; some
fleets
had been
I
and more than ten thousand Japanese
Japan was
now very m LEYTE GULF
153
ARDENNES, 1944
*
~-
Hitler's
gamble
last
designed to secure
a
in
the war
western Europe was
in
peace with the
Allies
so he could con-
centrate resources on the fight against the Soviet Union.
German tanks and troops emerged Ardennes under the cover Allies off their guard. their position at
fronts.
It
out of the forest of the
and snow and caught the
Hitler
was
fighting a devastating
was what German
World War. The western
Normandy and were Rhine.
In
military planners
154
ARDENNES
was
Allies
steadily advancing
the east, the Red
defeats and
Soviet forces
It
was
in
order to
too late to strike a peace
which might have been possible
were too successful now and
1943.
in
their thirst for
vengeance was too strong. The western
Allies
were
Hitler's only
chance
war on
had feared
Plan before the
had broken out of
towards the River
Army had reversed
steam-rollering across
its
earlier
Europe towards
the Third Reich. To achieve
Western powers
that
the Rhine and that the to
make
was
it
was
this,
Germans
of striking a
had to prove to the
still
all
at the
western arena.
end
of
1944 -
the
way
possessed enough
the continued advance too costly to
the reasoning behind the
Ardennes
Hitler
not worth fighting
German
justify.
offensive
Hitler's last
Above: German infantry
advance across
a
road
the Ardennes littered
deal that might avert total defeat and preserve something of
most since they had devised the Schlieffen First
had to neutralize one of the fronts
deal with Stalin,
But the Americans recovered and held
Bastogne.
By autumn 1944,
two
of mist
Berlin. Hitler
concentrate on the other.
gamble
in in
to
fight
This
the the
with
damaged
vehicles.
Allied
in
ARDENNES'
The Americans were caught out completely. The skies over
—— -
-
-
US forces
Casualties:
US counterattacks
US 8.477 killed. 46.170 German 10.749 Killed, 34.439
US
the Ardennes
defensive lines
no more than
to
Liege
German forces
of
BELGIUM
front line
overcast, which severely limited Allied
90m
(100yds). Thick
and when snow
Allied trucks,
German attacks German
were
support. Fog cloaked the Belgian landscape, restricting
fell,
it
mud bogged down
added
moving troops and supplies around the
units of English-speaking
air
visibility
the
further to the chaos
battlefield.
Germans dressed
in
Advanced
American
uni-
maximum German advance
forms completed the confusion. The 106th and 28th divisions
^
Namur HODGES US FIRST ARMY
^DECEMBER
counterattacks
,
,..
m
^-'-'i
V
,.
Houffalize ffalize
^
***
Bastogne :nfe.fl .#)
""" |
101st US Airborne" &vi£ign\g/ ,n\J/ resists
German
"** — ..,
attack
Libramonr * * • ' ' ' ' ' ' US counterattacks^
r
•
' • »
ing
**,
4th
US Army
column
of retreat-
vehicles. His opposition-avoiding detours had
fuel,
however, and put him behind
schedule. With his tanks freshly
filled
his original
with gasoline, Peiper
^SEVENTH ARMY
1
. ,
US
BRANDENBERGER
**,
-
Sure
the south the
ARMY
16 DECEMBER German attack begins
JANUARY
2
F-ATTOH
US THIRD ARMY
^
in
solid.
So surprised were the Americans by the German assault
cost him
:
supply route
held firm, while
remained
that Peiper entered Honsfeld by joining a
i
Skyline drive
us
collapsed before the onslaught. To the north of
V Corps
Division also
-Qj^' 7
FIFTH PANZER
>
"w AArWonn^**^ r d e n n e s ** ^ *
;
^-^ %% n/ „** turn /> MHTEUFFEL -.i_
«.
US Army
the bulge,
--j-^cj Vith
* -*- ^ rf/
~»»
"
r_~~^ Roche?o?t»
^
..
x
*£*
'
*i
of the S
JANUARY
2
US
-
Echternacril
/'
LUXEMBOURG
Above. The December
A SURPRISE ATTACK
1944 German offensive
The Ardennes
through the Ardennes, creating the bulge Allied lines that
battle
its
Flight
US
in
the
gave the
name.
forest lies on the border
between Belgium and
Germany. The densely wooded landscape and narrow country roads are not good terrain
which
is
exactly
why
which to attack motorized columns,
in
Germans chose
the
A
surprise assault westwards.
similar
this location for their
armoured thrust
in
this
troops march
along a road
in
the
region had caught the French by surprise
in
1940 (see pp. 90-93)
On 16 December,
Ardennes wearing
and the Germans repeated
sheets as improvised
panzer armies, consisting of 24 divisions, 10 of them armoured,
snow camouflage
US Army
thrust against exhausted
(hence
Allied lines
its
this strategy.
other
The German armoured
name units
units
and created a bulge
could elite
88-mm gun and
field.
Jochen
SS Panzer
1st
were equipped with the
mounted
latest
a high-
could far outrange any tank the Allies
Peiper, a tank ace
Division
and commander of the
- the Fuhrer's regimental body-
guard - spearheaded the attack. Beginning at 02.00 hours on
December at Blankenheim, along the
little
in
Battle of the Bulge).
version of the formidable Tiger tank, which velocity
three
Peiper's panzer units
forest roads.
When
moved
1
rapidly
he encountered pockets of
American resistance, he went round them, leaving the smaller conflicts to tion
was
be resolved
to reach
later
by infantry troops. Peiper's inten-
Antwerp and
split
the Allies
in
two.
ARDENNES
155
Above US troops watch for
DWIGHT
parachute supply
D.
EISENHOWER.
-.. i;
;.-evl :vr:-\zi-
drops during the defence of Bastogne.
However, we did not consider
DESPERATE RISK 'My headquarters and
had
felt for
some
1
2th
Army group
time that a counter-
attack through the Ardennes possibility,
winter, try to
was a
thinly
there
in
scale, feeling certain that
order to
with
provide troops for attack elsewhere and
because
Field
Marshal von Rundstedt
had gradually placed
in this
six infantry divisions,
a larger number
roared towards
Ligneuville,
where
his
unit
defeated an
Being Waffen SS -
among
Hitler's
most
fanatical supporters
effort
some one hundred unarmed Americans were crowded into a field and shot. Whether Peiper himself was ARDENNES
that the result
enemy undertook
would
this
venture
he aimed
of this
is
it
must be recognised
his blow,
above
uncertain,
all,
but as
undoubtedly take responsibility for
In
that
at the
us from the beaches to Line, his sacrifices
will
the Allied
lines.
Staff
for
more
Allied
Siegfried
Combined Chiefs of in
Europe of the
Allied Expeditionary Force
Only 13 American soldiers defended
and provided valuable time
the
on the Operations
war crime.
brave stand halted the
trie
would not altogether
Quoted from Report by the Supreme
Peiper pushed on to Stavelot on the northern edge of the in
to maintain
befuhle.'
commander he must
this
he could
that flaming, relentless offensive which,
Commander to
making
in
If
regardless of his reaction, had carried
deal
to appraise the desperate risk
bulge
near the crossroads at
and
we could
be disastrous to Germany...
fully
this position, but their
a field
which to
ultimately
towards prisoners, and
in
in
Command.
weaken our determination
in
order
- the German soldiers had a particularly ruthless attitude
Baugnez,
156
aware
any
which the
quiet sector
than he required for reasonable security.
American column and captured many American troops.
use that region
of the Allied
highly
stage a counter-offensive on a large
since American forces were
stretched very
it
probably that von Rundstedt would,
German column
reinforcements to
reach the area. Peiper took Stavelot, but the Americans sur-
(HMSO,
1946)
rounded him and cut diers
his
supply
line,
and two hundred vehicles
escape from. Forced back
drawing two thousand
into a
sol-
pocket they could not
and
into Stavelot, Peiper
his
men
fought desperately, but few escaped the Americans closing Peiper
was captured and
the spearhead of the
had been broken. Attention
American defence
now
of this position
assault
Bastogne and the
shifted to in
German
in.
a conversation with his staff,
a fierce a
AMERICAN RESISTANCE
bombardment. Next came
committed The US
1
his
reserves
in
order to stem the
01 st Airborne Division arrived
to face the Fifth Panzer
105-mm howitzer
is
used during the Allied counter-attack during
George Patton turned southern
Some
flank.
perimeter of Bastogne. Belgian
the
German advance. town
of
Bastogne
Army, and the 82nd Airborne Division
reinforced the northern flank.
Below. An American
in
In
the south, Lieutenant General
his Third
Army
to attack the
18,000 American Hitler
town should be taken
soldiers
was determined at
all
German
filled
that the
costs, but the
the Americans held their
the little
Americans
me
a
Below right. German SS troops, smoking captured American
equally resolute about holding on to
pletely
it,
despite being com-
surrounded by the Germans.
On 22 December, German and delivered
a
officers
kill
US 106th
you.
I
a flag of truce
note to Brigadier General McAuliffe,
who
was
own
Division,
was
fighting
ferocious, but
German
against the veteran
'combined with someone
a foxhole alone.
in
I
Bill
try-
had no one to wish
To the south of Bastogne, Patton ordered the 4th Armoured Division to 'drive like
hell.' In
over Bastogne and Allied ply lines.
could
It
was
make
finally
and the
was
battle
counter-attacking south, Hitler
was
in
their
all
could
in
in
bomb
the
the battle,
supremacy
in
the
German
when
air
sup-
the Allies
count.
By 2
Bastogne had weathered the storm
but over. With British and US. forces
the north and Patton surging forward
in
forced to withdraw his exhausted panzer
gamble had
battle included 8,477
taken prisoner.
the meantime, the sky had cleared
aircraft
moment
a pivotal
January, the Americans
sions. His final
waved
heavy
determined tank attack on the
Merry Christmas.'
the Battle of the Bulge
were
a
western sector of the town. The
ing to
Eisenhower
D.
which began on Christmas Eve with
assault,
troops. 'Fog, rain, snow, freezing sleet,' recalled Private
the heart of the bulge.
Supreme Commander General Dwight
that the official
German
Butler of the
Allied
was agreed
it
American response should be 'Nuts!' This was met by
men
German
failed.
killed,
losses
American casualties
in
the divi-
the
46,170 wounded and 20,905
were 10,749
killed,
34,439
cigarettes, stand in
front of a destroyed
commanded
US armoured
that McAuliffe surrender. 'Aw, nuts!' he responded, and after
car.
the defence at Bastogne. The note
demanded
wounded and 32,487 was open and
prisoners or missing.
The road
to Berlin
the Allied forces duly crossed the River Rhine.
ARDENNES
157
OKINAWA, 1945 ^»-
United States warships United States forces United States
movements
Japanese forces
^— *+
Japanese defensive
lines
Hedo
Japanese kamikaze attacks
13 APRIL
A
Peninsi
7
>.
17-21 APRIL.
3000 Japanese kamikaze attack US Fifth Fleet 1
AND
2
Okinawa
APRIL
US Tenth Army
ushi
lands
JAPANESE THIRTY-SECOND ARMY
Naha
Kerama
f 26 MARCH
27
MAY;*
Final resistance
jk
.^J-
Machinato Line
24 APRIL
uri
/JJ^Mabuni
JUNE
21
1
t
US TENTH
The
AND
2
APRIL
US diversionary landings
ARMY
final island
conquest by American forces
in
the Pacific
War
offered horrific demonstrations of Japanese suicide attacks.
Kamikaze ians killed diers.
The
aircraft
targeted American ships, and Japanese
themselves
own
a panic provoked by their
in
rate of casualties suffered at
civil-
sol-
Okinawa on both sides
encouraged the Americans to use the atomic
bomb
Although by the beginning of
1
945
it
was
Allies,
Japan's reluctance to admit defeat could years. Despite setbacks
held on to
much
that the
in
in
1944.
inevitable that it
make
and It
in
Advancing across the
Pacific
in
Japan
feared that
the war
last for
China
it
had exe-
was even considered
Japanese leadership might evacuate
and continue the war from bases
was
the Pacific theatre, Japan
of southeast Asia
cuted a successful campaign
their
own
islands
Korea, Manchuria and China.
Ocean from the east
in their
island-hopping campaign, the Americans reached Iwo Jima
March 1945. Their next
158
OKINAWA
target
group was Okinawa.
island of It
would
was
in
the Ryukyu Islands, half-way
Above:
excellent airbase from which to strike Japan with air raids,
an invasion of Japan
and
it
would provide
a launching site
The Americans Fifth Fleet
was
troops of the
called
it
positions buried in the rock of the island.
joined by Britain's
still
some 180,000
transporting
in
battle-
fearful
aerial
aircraft carriers
assaults.
enemy hands and
Both Formosa and
the Japanese
were com-
mitted increasingly to kamikaze ('divine wind') attacks
tremendous damage could be caused pilots crashing their explosives-laden
missions. Okinawa
was
and one
continued Japanese
Kyushu were
it,
supremacy, the Americans remained
own, with four
itself
The course
of
through Okinawa and
Tenth Army. The American carrier force
ship. Despite naval
left.
the American advance
Operation Iceberg and Admiral Nimitz's
at the core of
US
rest
Japanese
itself.
Above
of
US Marines
during the relentless fighting to take
more devastating for
this
OPERATION ICEBERG
would be defeated by the western
still
make an
in
instead of
assaulting mainland Japan.
many more
between Formosa and Kyushu, the southernmost Japan. The largest island
to
in
which
American ships by
planes into
them on
suicide
was defended by 130,000 Japanese
the surrounding islands
from
their landing points
between 26 March and 21 June 1945.
Seao, Japan
ASIA East China
^^JAPAN
Sea
Pacific
OKINAWA
soldiers,
and the native population were
desperate acts, believing yield to the
American
was
it
commit
on Kyushu and Formosa
in
threat to the invasion fleet.
US
by attacking the major
air
strikes against airbases
an attempt to neutralize the
Waves carriers,
of
so badly damaging the
she had to be towed away. The
Right A Japanese suicide aircraft
Sangamon aircraft
assaults,
making
an attack on the
battle for
Japanese
American
A pre-invasion
USS
during the
Okinawa. The
air
barrage
On
power, though,
British
wooden-decked US
managed
to
was
initiated
the
by the escort ships. The cap-
Kerama provided
a secure
anchorage
for the
the island, they discovered a chilling variant on
the kamikaze: 350 suicide boats packed with explosives,
US Marine
Below. A his
all
des-
(25ft).
tined for use against the invasion fleet. Their capture
Tommy gun
Japanese sniper
at
major threat to the at a
on Okinawa
removed
a
Allied ships.
The landings began on
1
April
with a decoy assault force divert-
Wana
Ridge outside the town of Suri
halt
missed the ship
by just 7.5m
aims
USS
steel-decked
and the US Navy prepared to attack Okinawa.
ture of the island of
invasion fleet.
aerial
kamikaze then responded
carriers survived the attacks better than the carriers.
suicide than
invasion.
The American operation began with
Franklin that
committing
terrified into
better to
ing the attention of the
defending Japanese to the southeast
coast, while the actual invasion fleet of landing craft surged
f |
_g
Ocean
towards beaches on the western coast of Hagushi with thousand troops. The landing
itself
Japanese planned to defend Americans
up
built
355 kamikaze
their
beach-head, the Japanese sent
Townsend
describes the impact of these attacks:
of the
The
killing
Amtracs...
lowed. attacks.
I'll
My I
some
in
2nd US Marines
plane's engines ripped
through the LST [landing ship] and exploded partment,
in
the Amtrac com-
and wounding the sleeping Marines
in
never forget that day or the kamikaze days that
LST had
at least
truly believe that
two there
or three near is
the
As the
their island further inland.
aircraft. Private
sixty
was unopposed, because
nothing
bomber at you. had been through the I
able to control those.
The US to the
fleet lost
we were
a
few other minor
kamikaze assault, but struck back by attacking the
after four
hours of
aerial
built
thus
far,
eventually sinking
it
bombing, along with four destroyers
cruiser. This action put
was
an end to the Japanese Navy.
fighting,
two
fronts,
by advancing to
eventually pierced on 24 April, but then a further bloody
of tunnels
beneath
This
Shun
was
Castle,
which had a
eventually taken on 28
with flanking attacks, and on 21 June resistance
south
was
captured.
finally
All
crushed.
On 27 May,
in
the island's capital
the
was
the time, the Americans had to face almost con-
stant kamikaze attacks, all,
it.
some
three thousand suicide sorties
which exhausted Japanese
American
Japanese losses
in
air
in
strength but also accounted
ships.
the
battle
were staggeringly
high,
reflecting the increasingly suicidal nature of their defences.
At least 107,500 were buried alive
in
killed,
with a possible 20,000 more
caves by American soldiers
seal up the defenders rather than risk their ing to capture
DESPERATE DEFENCES
and heavy
American morale. US Marines took the
assault had to be undertaken against
for a total of 21
ships
into the rock. Clearing out position after
tough and exhausting
brunt of the action; they fought on
April
We had no control over the Divine Wind.'
two destroyers and
Yamato, the largest battleship
and a
banzai attacks but
for
the north of the island and to the south. The Machinato Line
fol-
having a man, hell-bent on committing suicide, guiding his winged
made
rains did nothing to help
maze
than
terrifying
position
the
misses during the
more
emplacements dug
them.
Some
who preferred to own lives by try-
four thousand Japanese aircraft
were destroyed. The US Tenth Army
lost
7,374
men
killed
Below. wait
off
US
landing craft
Okinawa while
support ships
fire a
devastating barrage of 1,000 13-cm (5-in)
rockets per minute.
Japanese forces did not contest the landings on
As the Americans advanced Machinato
Line,
an
awesome
further
inland
they
hit
the
series of interconnecting fortified
and 32,056 wounded, while the US Navy killed
and 4,600 wounded.
lost
5,000
men
the beach but fought
stubbornly inland
'
Above. A Japanese
EUGENE SMITH,
soldier surrenders to
US Marines
5TH US MARINES
during the
desperate fighting on
Okinawa.
HORROR STRICKEN
When enemy
Marine slipped and
artillery shells
exploded
the area, the eruptions of soil
mud
reach the bottom vomiting. than one
man
dead and scattered chunks of corpses.
and
all
ridge
was a
gun
pits,
compost
stinking
pile.
the If
to
a
ment
of
own
Japan
air
force
intensified,
Japanese industry and the strated
how
in
the process.
inflicting
civilian
US
huge
population.
slide
aerial
virtually
bombard-
destruction
on
Okinawa demon-
other strategic concerns, helped
them
this,
to decide
1
way
to the
of his
saw more and
along with
on the use of
like.
bombs
to
pockets,
and the
Then he and a buddy would shake
or scrape them away with a piece of
slip
ammo
bottom only
Quoted
in
maggots tumbled out
atomic
muddy dungaree
cartridge belt, legging lacings,
apt to
stand horror-stricken as he watched
desperately the Japanese would defend their
homeland, and the American experience of
the back
lose his footing
the
disbelief while fat
had been a costly victory and the Japanese had
annihilated their
down
slid
muddy ridge, he was
uncovered previously buried Japanese
Like the area around our
It
and
slope of the
in
box or in
knife blade.
Marine by Ron
Field (Military
Illustrated. 1999)
end the war. They reasoned
that the
huge
loss-
es expected from a land invasion of Japan would dwarf those inflicted in
by atomic bombs.
American
civilians.
Thus
it
was
would
certainly
in
come
at a high cost
those of Japanese soldiers and
that the dropping of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Pacific
It
lives in addition to
August
finally
two atomic bombs on ended the war
in
the
without the need of an Okinawa-style invasion of Japan.
OKINAWA
161
BERLIN, 1945
W^. The
final battle of
for Berlin in
Nazism and
the Second World
1945,
was
greatest
brutal
confrontation italist
War
Stalin's
the
was
Third
Reich
fifty
BERLIN
been
decisively
new
it
Allies could
seems
have reached
likely that
Berlin
they feared the
desperate resistance promised by fice
would create a
Hitler
Berlin
in
April
go down
1945,
fighting.
with three massive defensive
lines,
and gun emplacements along a
line
(200 miles) long from the Baltic Sea to the Czech border. position
was
.5?
Above: A Russian IS-2 tank advances through
the possibility of clashes with the Red politics of
the forthcoming Cold
pronouncements
of Stalin
sacristreets.
too high to justify to the public back home. There
War was
Army
was
itself,
also
for the in
the
Red Army, presented
his
and western
already evident
Allied leaders.
ARMY OF VENGEANCE
years.
that his people should
was prepared
front of Berlin
Eisenhower and the western before the Soviet Army, but
which the communist East would face the cap-
The main defensive
162
had
also the beginning of the Cold War, a
including anti-tank ditches
in
history. Soviet
and merciless. The Soviet victory was
was determined
300km
world
fighting
West for almost
His capital
capital of
"
the shattered Berlin in
As the Red Army advanced towards Hitler
Europe, the battle
amid
it
in
in
massive assault on the
for the prize of getting there
moment:
destroyed. But
a
momentous occasion
a
commanders raced that
was
\\
_
the Seelow Heights, directly
where the Soviets were expected
to attack.
Marshal Zhukov,
commander
plan of attack to Stalin
of the
on 8 March
1
945.
It
was simple and
Zhukov's 1st Byelorussian Front would launch
its
bridgeheads on the River Oder and attack the
Seelow Heights as
movement from city
Hitler
had predicted.
A
direct.
assault from
city
from the
separate flanking
the north would curve round and attack the
from the west. General Komev's
1
st Ukrainian Front
would
Above Russian IL-2
llyushin
Sturmovik ground-
attack aircraft take part in a
bombardment
of
Berlin.
complete the encirclement of the
city
with a
move from
south. Stalin approved the plan, not least because rivalry
it
the
encouraged
between the two Soviet commanders over who would
enter the city
first.
That way, he
was
assured, they would per-
Two weeks was needed final
attack on Berlin.
because there were
them
still
witnessed
in
vengeance
in its
million
two
million
last
stand
people
highly fearful of the retribution the
would wreak on them
29 Soviet armies
to position the
A ferocious
for the death
the Soviet Union.
It
was
left in
for
anticipated
the
city, all
Red Army's
very
much an army
with
heart that approached the outskirts of Berlin.
German men were ready
A
to sacrifice their lives to halt
the Soviets. Alongside the weary front-line troops,
armed with 1,500 tanks and 9,000 numerous young and
of
soldiers
and destruction they had
was
artillery
who were
pieces, there
Red Army could not
awesome
risk
was
Hitler
city,
deep
any setbacks and gathered
more than two
force of
the
in
in his
were erected everywhere. The its
own
million troops, with thou-
were
elderly volunteers of the citizens' militia
The assault on
began before dawn on 14
Berlin
ed by a massive barrage delivered by
artillery,
The bombardment was so intense
craft.
found
to
difficult
it
they arrived at the
move first
April, herald-
rockets and
line,
it
empty
dense cloud could do
positions. Vehicles
of dust
little in
with
little
to
soil
German
show
for
and
soldiers,
committed suicide to the Russians.
were stuck
in
When
fallen
to
on
the mud, and a
and smoke hindered the advance. Tanks
the soft
sitting targets for
citizens
air-
was found
be abandoned, with much of the barrage having already
soldiers
a dead German Many Germans,
run past
that Soviet soldiers
across the churned-up ground.
German defensive
Above Russian soldier.
rather than surrender
sands of guns, tanks and rocket-launchers.
form aggressively and give him a definitive end to the war.
the
known as the Volkssturm.
bunker. Formidable barricades
all
of the
Seelow Heights and became
counter-attacks. Soviet losses
the
effort.
It
was
mounted
everything Stalin had
BERLIN
163
was
Both the leading Soviet commanders
hitting Soviet troops.
were now
in
the centre of Berlin, and Zhukov had the edge.
Koniev had to relent and leave
to Chuikov and the Eighth Guards
it
Army, under Zhukov's command, to take the heart of the
An
indication of the fear
as the Soviets closed
Abyzov, a soldier
an SS club
in
-
-^M
i
the centre of the
we
city:
'Short of breath from run-
rushed up the
Germans were
were too many
described by Vladimir
is
firing at
stairs to
the second and
us from the top. But there
The men running
of us for them.
in
front did not
Soviet armies
see those that
\
Soviet attacks
20 APRIL
fy \
ii Allied front lines
schw*
Soviets reach city
—
_—
«.
2/Vfl
BYELORUSSIAN
German armies 1ST BYELORUSSIAN
German defensive
lines
r B erlifD^.-4 Potsdam APRIL.)
.'
f
\
.*
G E
4 A N Y
R:jVI
f/*
i
^
^26 T Final Soviet assau
hand.
% m Seelow
Warta
POLAND
V
e
below.
on
was
it
He had shot
both
KONIEV Torgau
Leipzig'
25
men and women,
thoughts also permeated
him down
no way out, and
in
his
killed
Hitler's
this final test
in
in
a
now being
final,
themselves
hands of the Soviets. Such bunker,
the Reich Chancellery. The Fuhrer blamed his letting
deep beneath
own
and had no
visited
people for
pity for
the
on them. He could see
grotesque ceremony, he married
his
1ST UKRAINIAN
Soviets and
•
cloth of the table with yellow
himself.'
Many Germans,
suicidal
room, candles were
billiard
the dead body of a general, a pistol
destruction and horror
m^r~
the
In
rather than face retribution at the
"
i
fell
Slumped over the green
burning.
billiard balls
——
on them
in
city.
by the Germans
felt
the Red Army, remembering his attack on
in
ning and excitement third floor.
and desperation
April
long-time mistress Eva Braun. Together they entered his private
US meet 1945
rooms
in
-H
the bunker,
where she took poison and he shot him-
the head. Not wanting their bodies to be captured by the
self in
Soviets, Hitler's servants then carried out his final orders to set fire
to
them
in
dead, the war feared and he urged Koniev to take the city from the south.
Above: The
Meanwhile, Zhukov's men, slowly and
movements
had reached
painfully,
final
Soviet
encircling
a shallow grave
in
the garden outside. With Hitler
was almost over and
the
German
garrison tried to
negotiate an armistice with the Soviet commanders, but they
were only
interested
in
unconditional surrender.
Berlin before they
the northern outskirts of the city by 20
April.
invaded the
city itself.
RAISING THE FINAL It
was
BLOW
Below American and
Hitler's birthday
on 20
April
and immediately
after a gath-
Russian troops meet at
HAMMER AND
As the
fighting continued,
troops
were informed
SICKLE
ever more desperately, Soviet
that
whoever
raised
the
Soviet
Torgau on the Elbe. ering of friends for the occasion there had
leave
in
order to create a Nazi redoubt
Himmler and Goring belief that a final
left Berlin,
German
able last-minute victory.
food
little
The
final
massive
the
was
men
the Bavarian Alps.
city
exhausted and frightened
came on 26
April,
the
and there
citizens.
preceded by another
bombardment. General Chuikov's Eighth Guards first
Soviet unit to break into the city and
firing
It
iron set at
it
fought
was met by German youths
panzerfaust anti-tank rockets. The Soviets
quickly improvised tank defences by attaching
sheets of
in
Gas and
a grotesque delusion.
block by block towards the centre.
and old
him to
counter-attack could achieve a remarkIt
left for its
Soviet blow
aerial
Army was
in
for
but Hitler decided to stay,
had been cut throughout the
electricity supplies
was
been plans
sandbags or
thin
an angle on their tanks so as to deflect the
rockets. Elsewhere, Koniev's troops battled their
centre from the south,
much
to Zhukov's
way
irritation.
It
though Koniev might win the race to the centre of the
into the
looked as city.
Koniev's soldiers had had an easier entry into Berlin, conducting
an amphibious assault over the
rivers
Neisse and Spree under
cover of a smokescreen. Koniev directed his tanks towards the Reichstag, but as they began
164
BERLIN
firing
he was
told to halt,
because he
emblem, the red
flag with the
'hammer and
sickle'
symbols.
Above: Wrecked military vehicles stand
in
CORNELIUS RYAN,
the
author
heart of Berlin after the city
had been captured
by the Red Army The
Brandenburg Gate
seemed
GUILTY FEAR Best-selling author Cornelius
formerly a symbol of
interviewed
German
now
militarism and
an ironic
in
intensity.
about them. Berliners who had kept
Mortars
many veterans
and the grinding howl of rocket-firing
Ryan
Katushkas soon added
of both sides
people
for his epic description of the battle for
now spent much
meticulous diaries up to April 21
Most
to the dm.
of their time
suddenly got
their
dates mixed...
Their terror of the Russians
in
was
comment Berlin.
on where militarism had taken the
to increase
is in
the background,
German
He reconstructed
the impact of
cellars, air raid shelters, flak
The mere/less
shelling
was aimless and
had no
incessant.
pattern.
Each day
all
It
the fear, confusion
it
Division
who
German
fire.
fell
pressed
A
small
to
men
on
group
of
Zhukov's
suicidally of
150th
through
infantry
broke
Rifle
withering into
the
Reichstag and fought hand-to-hand to secure the building floor
by
finally
floor.
After eight hours of combat, the Soviet troops
reached the roof
next to the shattered
umphantly on 30
of the building,
dome and waved
April.
knowledge...'
sense of time. The days blurred amid
on the Reichstag would be decorated as a Hero of the Soviet Union. This honour
often intensified by a certain guilty
bunkers and subway stations. They lost
Russian bombardments:
people.
tower
and death
Fighting
in
that
was
Quoted from The Last Battle by Cornelius
all
Ryan (William
Berlin finally
Collins, 1966)
ended on 2 May. More than two
hundred thousand German citizens and soldiers died
defence of
their capital, but the Soviets
well and they
were
in
no
mood
had
as
was
a bloody
and one the Berliners would not be allowed
to forget
was
where they emerged
for
their national flag
between Soviet occupation forces and those
tri-
the
showing any mercy,
for
assaulting and raping the surviving civilians. victory,
in
lost heavily
almost 50 years because their
Allies until the Berlin wall
city
came down
in
It
to
remain divided of the
western
1989.
BERLIN
165
INCHON, 1950 The Korean War was the
try
by supporting the opposing sides
US
the
of
brilliance
War era.
major conflict of the Cold
first
Nuclear-armed superpowers fought one another
landing
that land's
in
Left:
M
a third coun-
The
war.
civil
UN
a n c h u
r
i
a
-
CHINA
completely broke
Inchon
at
in
i
the advance of the North Koreans and placed the Americans
An unwelcome
at the heart of the conflict.
side effect
was
H it
provoked the Chinese
When
the
Japanese
Soviet
Union
accepted
was
established as the dividing line
Cold
War frontier:
ence; south of civil
war, the
it,
north of
it,
the in
1
became
™
in
China, creating a
The newly formed United Nations (UN)
communist aggression, and
a
UN
was
needed
in
around the at Pusan.
Sea
of
KOREA
com-
UN
forces
Japan
^j^vj??^^
June 1 950
in
.Seoul
15
SEPTEMBER ^"inchon *
rule.
called for
•
an end to
dispatched to help the army of the
not strong
enough
in
chief of the
UN
to strike back with a decisive at Inchon.
force,
to resist the invaders
to the southern tip of Korea at Pusan.
would be delivered
the
Korean forces positioned
North Korean forces North Korean retreat
UN FLEET
*f
NORTH KOREAN ARMY\
V "
force, with the United States
MacArthur was appointed commander it
front line
-
MP*
N
and
The UN
blow - and that blow
Pohang Below
Taegu Yellow Sea.
southern Republic of Korea resist the invasion. General Douglas
initially
1
^Pyongyang
influ-
I
but
force
supplies of the North 1
the Soviet Union. Emboldened by this
supplied by the Soviet Union, invaded South Korea
was pushed back
^Flanding
off
950, after a long and bitter
an attempt to reunite the country under communist
was
in
designed to cut
s\_^
"
a
development, the North Korean communist regime, trained and
taking the lead role,
amphibious
the
of
communism was the dominant
the Americans. By
rival
surrender
945, the 38th Parallel
1
the country. This
in
communists had triumphed
munist superpower to
-
into direct intervention.
the northern half of Korea
in
#*
UN
landings at Inchon
September 1950 were
mi
/
that
The
forces
-UNptt^:
|_
vL— TrZ
Korean front-line by 15 September 1950
T
left.
General
Douglas MacArthur,
^^^'.^UHARMY
commander
Pusan
of the
army
m „es
chief
in
United Nations in
Korea and chief
architect of the Inchon
100
landings, visits the
US
1
1
kilometres 160
1st
Marines near the
front line.
AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT With Lieutenant General Walker's desperately
August 1950, the clock was next move. The
Army
US
Eighth
defiance of the North
in
UN
mission
communists.
just
In
mand team planned an Korea.
An amphibious
in
his
facing total defeat and the
US
faced humiliation; the whole of Korea
to the
Pusan
at
MacArthur pondered
ticking as
was
Army hanging on
Koreans
was
close to falling
one month, MacArthur and
his
com-
ingenious assault aimed at the centre of
attack
would be sent ashore
the west of Seoul and not far from the 38th
at Inchon, to
Parallel.
He would
thus appear to the rear of the main North Korean force and cut supply routes.
its
It
was
have the time to plan
deemed by some so
it
would be
assault
a
a it
brilliant
scheme, but the
did not
not to be a favourable site for such a landing,
tremendous gamble. Despite misgivings, the
went ahead on
1
5 September
Rare high tides gave the landing
1
950.
craft safe
passage over the
treacherous Inchon mudflats, and a fleet of 260 full
UN
The Inchon area was
thoroughly.
UN
ships took
advantage of the conditions to edge forward through nar-
row channels and past numerous
little
islands. Air
cover
was
:
.
Peking
LKOREA Ihon
Pacitic
Ocean
t
I AHF X
US
North Koreans were either
Above US Marines use
provided by Vought F4-U Corsairs of the 214th and 323rd
ladders to scramble over
Marine Fighter Squadrons. The 1st Marine Division was the
refused to surrender and were sealed by
chosen landing force and could draw upon much hard-won
in
a sea wall at
Inchon
on the beach
tical
experience gained
Pacific
War
in
tac-
It
was
amphibious assault by US troops since Okinawa
the in
first
major
1945.
Despite the risks of approaching an enemy-held coast, the
US Marines The
first island to
harbour.
when by
caught the North Koreans completely by surprise.
US
be taken was Wolmi-do, which guarded the
The American
flag
was
raised just after 07.00 hours
the neighbouring island of Sowolmi-do
Marines,
who used
was
the caves into which they had
The main
the island-hopping campaign of the
(see Tarawa, pp.1 32-35).
of
killed or
attack could
US Marines
now
hit
captured, but 100 others
US Marine
bulldozers
fled.
the beaches, and the
first
wave
landed at Red Beach, only to be confronted by a
sea wall that needed to be scaled by ladders. Beyond that there
were trenches and bunkers fight the
US Marines
a landing at Blue
found
some
full
of
enemy
suffered their
first
soldiers. In a
f 6
casualties. Troops
Beach also had to tackle a sea
wall a
of their objectives obscured by srrc
also captured
tlefield. Overall,
however, the
tanks to cross a causeway. Over 200
and pressed on
inland
US
Marines suffered
light
towards the Inchon-Seoul highwa
INCHON
167
early hours of the 16th, the
zone.
It
Americans had secured
was a remarkable success for MacArthur - all
because
speed with which
of the
their landing
the
more so
had been planned - and with
it
it
I
the situation of the
UN
forces
in
Korea
was
mi ies
5
k ,lome,res
[
--
UN
forces
UN
attacks
^»-
UN
landing force
transformed.
i
front line
w
ON TO SEOUL Over the next capturing
US Marines
five days, the
Kimpo
airfield in
tinued to provide
air
closed
US Marine
the process.
air
Army to expand
UN
rounded and
on Seoul,
flee.
>
Corsairs con-
The capture
US
By 26 September, Seoul was
sur-
strikes.
forces liberated
it.
Meanwhile,
in
US
Eighth
Army had broken
Korean army surrounding the Americans had had lines cut
by the landing at Inchon and had
from the
rear.
Pusan, and
It
US
some 25,000 1
UN
forces
collapsed
in
the
wake
come under
of the
US
„ '*'*<
in
/
Ascom
Seoul;
Parallel
pushed deep
of North Korea
was captured on 20
s^
Seoul captured
M NmH K0R 'Wifm Seou
/ ^*' f
*
i,
^
;
\
*
1
City
«»
~
<•
"
Yongdungpo a&i
*
—X-tf^
.--.•"**«»
/
.
*:
N
''
1
"**>
unarmy\ +
and taking control of
into northern
/
/
\
Inchon
quickly to take advantage of the North
of the country, they
'
*^ / ^L^C
North Korean soldiers were taken prisoner.
moved
™ "**«•
threat
;
:
\
1
A
\\21 SEPTEMBER
Korea and
reached the border with Manchuria on the River Yalu. The capital
Yellow Sea
""
•"
/ .'•T. Kimpo '
'
supply
^^•»""
«•
26 SEPTEMBER
-A
/
out
^~~~~"
if
1
breakout from
forces soon joined their comrades
Korean defeat. Crossing the 38th
most
its
+
\ ,....\
coordination
from the perimeter around Pusan. As envisaged, the North
/
W
x,
1
with the assault at Inchon, the
A 1 f
North Korean retreat
/
X
of
support to the Koreans and allowed the
its air
——
]f
cover, destroying North Korean T-34 tanks
with napalm and forcing Korean soldiers to
Kimpo denied
in
1H North Korean forces
j
16
SEPTEMBER,:
:
19
SEPTEMBER
:
J*. 'f~
October. The speed and
Above
After their
successful landing at
Inchon,
days
it
took only ten
for the
US-led
UN
forces to capture Seoul.
Left Chinese
communist
troops on their confront 1950,
in
UN
way
forces
reaction to
to in
UN
intervention at Inchon.
168
INCHON
Above. Chinese Red
Army to
US
soldiers surrender 1st
Marine
Division soldiers during
the three years of war that followed the
MONEGAN THE TANK-KILLER
UN
faced
some tough
fighting
Cheek
tanks, but they didn't
US Marines
After the landing at Inchon.
landing at Inchon
on the road to
showed up
good
Robert
with additional
tiie
ammo
tactical positions
on both sides of
road and the road cut
made
of shooting gallery. Perkins and
it
a kind
trie
and loaded the rocket launcher, and
corpsman received the
Monegan got a second hit.
myself the Bronze Star, and Monegan
Monegan
third attempt,
recalls the action
Jr:
We went down the water tank for a
hill,
huddled behind a
moment
until
rocket launcher loaded, and
scored a direct
were about
completeness of
1
hit
in
on the
we got the
first try.
was
We
in
alert;
it
had
was crossed and
it
Manchuria.
Manchuria, his army
was
apparently been
the
fire
from somewhere, and
hit... It
was
later
we probably
of the
Chinese
struck a massive
Medal of Honor posthumously
me
for
later that
he believed that the destruction of the tanks saved the battalion position.'
estimated
killed
Silver Star:
wis acton. The captain told
400
Quoted
enemy that morning because we had
the
As General MacArthur tested the strength in
machine gun
that altogether
placed on the
the 38th Parallel
responded by massing troops
we had
Then, at the
because there was a blast of
success put the communist world
particular if
spotted,
Monegan was
Monegan
00 yards [90m] from
this military
China
threatened intervention
opposition
Perkins
know where we
time. Pfc
of a 19-year-old private called Walter C.
Seoul. Corporal
into a panic.
About that
were...
in
All Hell Broke Loose by Ron
Field (Military Illustrated. 2000)
counter-blow by the Chinese on 26 November 1950.
Chinese armies,
totalling
Two
more than three hundred thousand
troops, threw back the
UN
est fighting of the war.
It
forces, initiating
some
of the hard-
completely negated the spectacular
achievements springing from Inchon and the war was to continue
until
1953.
INCHON
169
DIEN BIEN PHU, 1954 s$r&#i«!&$!!
en Phu offers a classic example of military overconfi-
dence. Hoping to draw the Viet Minh into a decisive battle
in
When
the Japanese defeated the
and Dutch
in
southeast Asia
which Western arms would triumph, the French found them-
tory
selves surrounded by a superior force. French paratroopers
their colonial
encouraged native
in
British,
Americans, French
the Second World War, their
nationalist
movements
vic-
Above: Communist Viet
Minh troops, wearing camouflage
to challenge fighting,
fought a desperate battle for survival against of
Vietnamese
wave
after
wave
attacks.
rulers
once the war was
Western powers hoped their authority
to
resume
their
over.
These same
empires after 1 945, but
had been profoundly damaged.
In
1947, Britain
for jungle
assemble with
their unit flag. Initially
dismissed as opportunist guerrilla fighters,
these
soldiers proved their
The town
of Dien Bien
rounded by jungle.
makes the
It
is
Phu
northwest Vietnam
is
sur-
not easy to reach, but any visitor
who
in
be rewarded by the sight of a well-pre-
effort will
served battlefield with bunkers and tanks and scattered across
it
to
remind
visitors of the epic
fought there. For the Vietnamese, greatest victories
it
is
pieces
encounter
the site of one of their
the struggle for national liberation; for
itself rapidly
independence. The Dutch ended 1949.
In
French Indochina,
of the
Second World War.
DIEN BIEN PHU
in
the
Britain also
Ho
gained
its
their control of Indonesia in
Chi Minh of the Viet for the
Nam Doc
Independence
of
Vietnam and usually shortened to Viet Minh, had proclaimed a republic on 2
Asia
and from 1948
Lap Dong Ming Hoi, meaning League
that
in
India,
guerrillas in Malaysia, although the country eventually
tacular defeat during the decline of
empire
from
fought a long, but ultimately successful war against communist
the West, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu marked the most spec-
wake 170
in
artillery
removed
September 1945. This
would become one
initiated a series of
of the longest
and most
struggles of the second half of the 20th century.
wars
bitter military
ability to fight a set-piece
confrontational battle at
Dien Bien Phu.
ASIA Pacific
Ocean
DIEN BIEN
PHIT
J"»
lllna
^VIETNAM
Indi
Left Ho Chi Minh, Communist president
n0i
of
North Vietnam from 1954 to 1969, led the fight against the French
and the Americans.
,*13 MARCH**
Right The unrelenting
advance
of the Viet
Minh
forces on French
positions
in
and around
Dien Bien Phu between
March and May
1954.
17
V..*
MARCH >..,
Anne-Mane*
^
I t
V^*'
"W The French and
m 1946
did not
they
S2k k
'
*•
*»
»»
Wpar^aJX"
•*
\
m«L*
Natavha^ ¥%«
% ;
\
V23-MARCH
|W
%
x
\
»>
urn
*..Hug^tt\
\
,
'
Wranco,s^#7MAYfre o^enPruT
wish to lose
moved
Ban.
their colonies in the region
^
ment by bombarding Haiphong,
controlled by the
Vietnamese
communists. The event marked the beginning
of the First
'••--»3^1te$OTa^ t
\
against the independence move-
„..-** Claudine*^^
%--***Cs
Indochina War.
i
9
_
'""mil *»7
n^
French/
Command'
^*s
%»
#.-
/ riu5» MAU •
'Juno; c
D
.
MAY^V
Hong Lech Cang
Encouraged from 1950 onwards by both the Chinese and Russian communists, the Viet Minh were to defeats on the French beginnings.
intensity Lattre
rebellion. In
Viet
In
de Tassigny took
and restored French January
when
the
December
command
1950,
Navarre, decided to launch a knock-out
led
blow
low-
Indochina
in
Minh continued
953, French ships destroyed a
Minh bases, and the French, now
several its
Marshal Jean de
of French forces
control, but the Viet 1
inflict
war moved on from
their
number
of
by General Henri at
Dien Bien Phu.
Hong Cum
JUNGLE CONFRONTATION WMM Dien Bien Phu
was
guerrillas,
battle
commanded
by Vo Nguyen Giap, into a conventional
where the French
logistics tactics.
felt
confident that their weaponry and
would exhaust an enemy better suited
An
airstrip at
this strategy as
it
*,
the centre of Dien Bien Phu
when
guerrillas,
dence
a French garrison
and
to take
this
up
worked
in
was
Viet
Minh forces
Viet Minh attacks
.
crucial to
Vietnam 70 years pre-
outdated model gave the French the confi-
November
French strongpoints
to hit-and-run
had resisted an assault of native
their positions in
't
--
The French
would keep the French well supplied during
the fighting. Similar tactics had viously
French forces
the chosen point of confrontation, a village
near the Laos border. The French wanted to lure the Viet Minh
1953.
de
la
force,
Among them were diers
commanded by
Croix de Castries,
used to
numbered
Brigadier General Christian
just
over ten thousand men.
the French Foreign Legionnaires,
fighting
in
elite sol-
trouble spots around the world.
28 howitzers and 10 M-24
light
Some
tanks were placed around the
DIEN BIEN PHU
171
perimeter
in
strongpoints. Far from being intimidated by these
defences, the Viet Minh were ready for a decisive battle and
assembled a
vastly greater force of
and 200 pieces of their
opponents'
After several
artillery.
will to
months
face them. of preparation, the Viet
main assault on 13 March with a French strongpoint
named
fierce
Beatrice.
The
Minh began
bombardment artillery
their
of the
overwhelmed
defences, but the Foreign Legionnaires bravely held out for
Left French and allied
its
Vietnamese troops
over eight hours
receiving supplies by
more than 37,000 troops
The French had badly miscalculated
Next, the Viet
until
De
Castries ordered
them
to withdraw.
Minh attacked the strongpoint Gabnelle, held
parachute. The central
Dien Bien Phu
airstrip at
was supposed
provide constant
soldiers
reinforcements and resupply by
air,
but was
It
reached the River
artillery fire,
The Legionnaires fought
rades at Gabrielle, but they were too
suffered this
is
apparent
attacks
in
first
wave
but
now commanded their
com-
strongpoint
guns
the high at
all
the
airstrip.
THE RING TIGHTENS
of
the middle of
March 1954.
De
in
photograph taken
during the
few and the
ground above Dien Bien Phu and directed French strongpoints around the
Phu
Nam Yum
on, determined to rescue their
had to be abandoned. The Viet Minh
that Dien Bien
unit.
and the Indochinese retreated.
swiftly captured, leaving
Below. The devastation
DIEN BIEN PHU
and M-24 tanks.
came under heavy
the French isolated and vulnerable
172
by Algerian soldiers and a Foreign Legion mortar
Castries ordered a counter-attack by paratroopers, Indochinese
to
Another strongpoint of
fell
on 17 March, when the defenders
Anne-Marie deserted en masse. The
lifeline
of the French
'
position
March
was
it
the
airstrip,
dropped supplies French
air
when
but
marked the beginning fell
With the
dearly, with
airstrip
62
aircraft
were
at night
In April,
Isabelle as Legionnaires fought for a
Minh
but the Legionnaires hung on
aerial
air strip at
view
held out
heavy
air-
killed in
the
Eliane had
until
mand bunker on
month
It
against the
was
numbers and
7
May to
finally
surrender. Isabelle
on
Phu as an
waves
anvil
come
at a
thousand Vietnamese dead and
courage and ammunition
French
been under attack since March, but
fell
one
of his
its
not
com-
that evening.
that dramatically
enemy
head, by using Dien Bien
on which to crush the French, not the other way
round. But victory had
comrades deserted,
power could
Vietnam. Giap had out-prepared his
rule in
and turned the confrontation on
their
fire
emerged out
a resounding victory for Giap and
ended French
air.
a fierce battle centred
6 May. Huguette and Claudine were also under
until
attack. Giap's superior
be resisted and De Castries
shot down. Paratrooper
assaults. Their North African
were exhausted.
Phu, which
of the
abandoned, the French withdrew to
few remaining strongholds.
Above: An
Most
hands of the enemy, although
into the
reinforcements dropped
the
was captured on 23
support tried to supply their comrades - an effort for
which they paid
of Viet
this
of the end.
thousand dead
lost four
died as prisoners
in
Viet
Minh
heavy cost, with
fifteen in
at least eight
thousand wounded. The
the battle, and
many more
captivity.
of
Dien Bien
was meant
to keep the French
forces well supplied but
was
quickly captured by
the Viet Minh.
FATAL ERROR
As the
paras about
Viet Minh closed
French strongpoints the fighting
in
on the
at Dien Bien Phu,
became ever more
desperate. Former
US Army
officer
eight-thirty.
who could not hill
The handful
or would not leave the
fought to the last cartridge
in
ruins of their positions. Gabrielle
gone
for
was
chest, pulled the pin,
grinder had begun.
situation at Gabrielle:
one-armed Colonel Piroth realised
'Some of the French survivors shot
he could not fend off the
way out
to
meet
the Vietnamese
this day, too,
that
apologise for
error
in
in
hugged a grenade
despair, he
Robert Barr Smith describes the
their
pitifully to
the failure of the guns. Then,
the
good, and the battalion meat
On
posts, trying
the only
and paid
to his
for his
way he knew how.
Quoted from To The Last Cartridge by Robert Barr Smith (Avon Books, 1994)
Viet artillery.
Weeping, he visited infantry
command
DIEN BIEN PHU
173
'
DAY WAR, 1967
SIX
Although called a war,
Arabs was a
between
this conflict
and the
Israel
battle fought over several days.
It
a classic
is
Right A truckload of Egyptian prisoners is
example
of the pre-emptive strike, demonstrating the impor-
tance of both tics in
power and tank
air
NATO and
both
attacks and
British imperial
Second World War, the
Jewish state of
influenced tac-
power
El
advance towards the
the Middle East
in
creation of the independent
1948 was met with
Israel in
removed from the
Arish area as the Israelis
Sinai Desert.
the Soviet Union.
With the decline of after the
it
by
hostility
Arab
its
neighbours. The Arab inhabitants of the former Palestine consid-
newcomers
ered the
be invaders of
to
their land.
As the Cold War
the Soviet Union tended to favour and supply arms to
intensified,
Arab states, while Western nations, especially the United States,
came
to the aid of Israel. This raised the military capabilities of
both the
and the Arabs, creating a tension that persists
Israelis
today despite several decisive wars and
PARATROOPERS TAKE JERUSALEM
moves towards peace.
1966, President Nasser of Egypt concluded an alliance
In
moved
with Syria. The next year, he
border
the
Israeli
the
Strait of
in
eastern Sinai.
In
Tran, which closed the
several divisions closer to
May
1967, he blockaded
Israeli
port of
Later
Eilat.
that month, Nasser signed a mutual security treaty with Jordan. Israel
was now surrounded by
mobilized
its
army, the
aggressive Arab states and
Defence Force
Israel
(IDF).
it
With some
230,000 personnel, the IDF was well trained and possessed high-quality aircraft. Facing
was
however,
it,
combined Arab
a
force numbering four hundred thousand, also equipped with
modern
aircraft
and tanks.
At the
On
Jordanians,
launched a pre-emptive attack by
land against the Egyptian forces
in
the
Sinai.
success.
Israel's
air
flew
force
Mediterranean, then plunged southwards to strike at the Egyptian
airfields,
blow. Similar raids later
wiping out Egypt's in
Iraq.
Syria in the Golan Heights,
and poured
Gaza
Strip,
while
in
the south
it
and
was
over
a
the
virtually
air capabilities in
Israelis
sent
barrage by the
artillery
parachute
a
brigade
against
and the
was
city
Hebron and
taken by 7 June, along with Bethlehem,
Etzion.
Hard fighting was also encountered
behind the River Jordan and a ceasefire the
in
an
on Nablus, but eventually the Jordanians retreated
attack
two
was agreed between
nations.
artillery duels.
all
one
When
on 9 June, the
a
UN
ceasefire
took the
Israelis
Golan plateau, breaking through the
On
10 June, the
arrival of
first line
occupied more
violated by
stopped on 10 June. The
and 2,440 wounded. The Egyptians
more
and scaled the
of Syrian defences.
helped by the
land,
reinforcements from the Jordanian
All fighting
killed
Israelis
was
initiative
front.
Israelis
lost
1
had
1,500
lost
679
killed
and
15,000 wounded, with Jordan suffering next most with two
damage to the air
the day did substantial
forces of Jordan, Syria and
air
Under the command
of the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Itzhak Rabin,
spectacular
to
Jerusalem. Aircraft and tanks smashed Jordanian resistance
fighting Israel
the
was tempted
area from Jordan and secure control over
Fighting on the Golan Heights against Syria consisted of long-
BLOW
5 June 1967,
as the drive west, the IDF
West Bank
the holy city of Jerusalem. Following an
range
FIRST
same time
take the
Ground forces drove north against
Israeli
into
the
West Bank and the
tanks roared across Sinai and
PETER DARMAN,
author
pushed the Egyptian forces back towards the Suez Canal.
By the second
day, Egypt
had surrendered
IDF divisions pressed on against an
demoralized by
its
own commander
draw behind the Suez The
rapid Israeli
Canal.
in
the Gaza
having ordered
The withdrawal turned
advance outstripped
all
Strip.
Egyptian force badly it
to with-
into a rout.
expectations and
some
vehicles ran out of fuel and ammunition, allowing retreating
Egyptians to
inflict
Sinai Peninsula
some minor damage. By 8
was
in Israeli
hands.
June, the entire
'Eitan
then gave the order to advance to
Rafah junction. However, in
trouble.
worth of
SIX DAY
WAR
his
Some had only an
had no ammunition
left.
than
hour's
result
Undeterred, he
ordered the tanks with low far
shoot! The force, which
tanks were
fuel left in their tanks, others
advance as
174
ones with no ammunition were not to
ISRAELI BLUFF
fuel to
as they could, while the
five tanks,
had no more
charged forward. The
was amazing: hundreds of
Egyptian soldiers fled to the west.
Quoted from Surprise Attack by Peter
Darman (Brown Books,
1993)
thousand
killed
and
ing defeat for the
East.
five
encouraged
It
thousand wounded.
Arabs and
sense
a
it
of
was
It
a humiliat-
redrew the map of the Middle overconfidence
the
in
which would be shaken by the improved performance Egyptians
world of
be
in
1973's
how
Yom
Kippur War. Overall,
it
Mediterranean Sea
Israelis,
of the
SIX
IMV.'AR
AFRICA
reminded the
ARABIA
devastatingly effective pre-emptive warfare can
when executed by
well-trained professional troops.
LEBANON
•»
»
"" ..
Haifa.
The Israeli attacks June 1967 against
Right: of
Arab forces
in
Syria and Egypt carefully
j> Mediterranean Sea
Palestine,
x »
were
Golan
.'*
Le'^
^l /
planned and
5
"B
Heighfs,
"^
SYRIA
I Irbid.
Al-Mafraq
coordinated, then efficiently executed.
PALESTINE West Bank
S R A
I
Port Said. 10
JUNE
Gaza.
Ij
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ISRAELI DEFENCE FORCE
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JUNE 1967
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Qantara
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El
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Gaza Strips
.,
Cairo
.
EL* -'„--:] *V ^Jerusalem
Y P T
•
El
Thamad
Israeli soldiers
advance during fighting in
the Six Day War.
5
Sinai P en/
Israel's well-trained
troops and excellent
equipment enabled it
to
overwhelm
8
JUNE
SAUDI ARABIA
its
neighbours' forces.
Israeli
— —
Israeli invasion
*4-
Israeli air Israeli
i
forces
attacks
paraihufe
a
ii ii front lines Israeli
1
Arab
gains
allied
1
forces
Sharm-el-Sheikh
Red Sea
TET OFFENSIVE, 1968 The
Tet Offensive
decisive battle
in
was North Vietnam's attempt
win a
to
the war with the United States. Several cities
and strongholds were assaulted but the North Vietnamese miscalculated the military strength of their
astrophic losses.
And
yet,
the
enemy and
suffered cat-
US media managed
to portray
reassure the world that they had a
and
this
porting the war. To this end, the
still
left in
US media were
them
from sup-
very obliging
in
Far right.
their defeatist reporting.
in
Vietnam.
It
has been
claimed by one military historian that the North Vietnamese had
Tet
is
the Vietnamese
diers of the North
(VC, or
'a
decisive victory
a superior force can be defeated not by military
holiday, but
massive assault on South Vietnam.
North Vietnamese,' writes Ronnie
cial
on 30 January
Some
1
968
eighty thousand sol-
assaulted
Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the of
Viet
44
ments tic
but through external
political
that decide the outcome.' This
approach to an already accepted
or diplomatic develop-
sounds more
failure,
the North Vietnamese understood that
like
but the fact
new US
a realis-
was
that
Saigon and Hue were the main targets. The
presidential
devastated by the major offensive and fought back effectively.
however, the most impact
was
munist assault on the South Vietnamese
of
Below right. US
gained from the com-
generally
176
were approaching in
in
1968 and that world opinion was
North Vietnam's favour.
TET OFFENSIVE
A
major offensive would
The
sight of
armed
Viet
Cong
Hue during the
US Embassy
in
Saigon had an enormous effect on the Western journalists
Tet
Offensive. Besieged
Americans were
finally
relieved in bitter fighting,
but
capital of Saigon.
attacking the
soldiers
fought street to street
many thousands
Vietnamese elections
and
January 1968.
Cong
provin-
Americans and the South Vietnamese were surprised but not
Politically,
cities
military positions at the
in
means
guerillas
many South
Vietnamese end
Vietnamese communists) attacked 36 out
capitals.
Cong
Viet
New Year
the North Vietnamese broke the traditional truce and launched a
a different approach to warfare than the United States. 'For the E. Ford,
the Tet
Vietnamese Army and
NEW YEAR ASSAULT
effectively than during the Tet Offensive
In
Offensive, the North
Never had the Western media aided an enemy nation more
when
of fight
public opinion
it
as a North Vietnamese victory.
occurs
lot
would discourage American
civilians
were slaughtered by communist guerillas.
of
ASIA Ocean
1
FHanoi
VviETNAM
B
InO/an
Ocean
TET OFFENSIVE
^Saigon
based only
a
few
away
streets
Cong could make such
in their
hotels. That the Viet
a daring attack surely implied they
were NORTH VIETNAMESE ARMY
masters of the
battlefield
and that US generals were
lying
most journalists and was com-
municated around the world, furthering the idea that the
Army was performing ty,
badly and could not win the war.
Cong had
only a handful of Viet
within six hours they It
was
were
infiltrated
the
30 JANUARY
US
In reali-
VIET
assault
when
tactics
in
fact
it
were
failing.
that the Imperial
was
only lightly
were repeated
degrees of success. After the
were soundly defeated.
It
in
many
initial
At Hue, the
few weeks'
South China
V;Hu« ,Hue
Sea
CONG
GUERRILLA FORCE
Palace had been
damaged. The same places,
to
varying
THAILAND
S
\°
*/*Z
Kham DuC
shock, the communists
had been a costly strategy: between
32.000 and 45.000 North Vietnamese soldiers had been just a
Sanh^^- Quang Tr
S LangVei^y
'Phu Bal
forces into thinking their efforts
destroyed
A\0
dead.
a classic guerrilla attack, intended to panic defending
Western media claimed
The
\
embassy and L
all
VIETNAM
J
they claimed they had the offensive under control. This fed the anti-establishment prejudices of
NORTH
I
when
vf-..^
killed in
^%\
fighting.
Dae
Toy
Kontum ^>
\
/
^Pleiku
U T
S
^
Qui Nhon
H*
VIETNAMl V.Ban Me Thout
C A
D
B
I
A
Nha Trang -X
X-Dalat
TayNinh. Chu
Doc
A
,
v.
Longvy
Phan Thiet
SAIGON
S\ My Tho
/* A \*CaoTho^
^| «
»
*
y»Bien Hoa
Chi
•
inh
t LaJKhe
3*
E
SOUTH VIETNAMESE tun IIS 1BUY
Soc Trong
V Ca Mau North Vietnamese forces
--
M
^
ilometres
150
North Vietnamese attacks Allied forces
Major battles
lllllil Demilitarize<
TET OFFENSIVE
177
SELECTIVE REPORTING During the
initial
US
Hue, the
soldiers situated there
and they fought
Cong defectors
three Viet
North Vietnamese attack on the ancient
were hugely outnumbered
a heroic battle of resistance.
the veteran North Vietnamese
city of
Vo Nguyen
commander and
bed
Division to a creek
in
Above
the dense jungle ten miles from
carry a
Hue. Spread out for a hundred meters [110yds] were the
Giap,
bones
of the
victor at Dien
dered
was
men and boys
later
of
Phu Cam. The number mur-
confirmed as 428...
city.
were eventually found
in
reinforcements rushed north to rescue their com-
remained unaccounted
for.'
Bien Phu, committed nine battalions to the capture of the
led troops of the 101st Airborne
shallow
A
mass
2,810 bodies
total of
graves; 1,946 people
US Infantry wounded Viet
left
Cong prisoner to a UH1-D helicopter during operations
in
new
flexibility for
ground forces
US Marine rades
in
some
Hue, but there were only eighty of them, plus
South Vietnamese soldiers and a small column of four Marine M-48 tanks. The
little
rescue group
was ambushed by
the NVA, but continued to press forward under heavy to reach the
them and
US
fire trying
American compound. More US Marines joined
column broke through
eventually the battered
to the
besieged Americans. Such stubborn bravery would have been
cause for national celebration this
was the Vietnam War
ionable to take pride
Elsewhere price
the
Communist
Viet
Cong came
from
in
the 19th century, but because
1968,
it
was
not intellectually fash-
Hue, the Viet Cong were exacting a civilians.
occupation,' records to
Phu
men and
their lists, others
Cam boys.
'On the
the Tet Offensive, where civilians,
became
US
make
My
rare,
them with
diers
Cathedral and gathered together
Some were
identified
because they were of
by
name
military age,
and
others simply because they looked wealthy. They
were
last
seen being marched away to the south. Two years
later,
200 Vietnamese
were
in
that,
quite
rightly,
the West. Such occurrences
intellectual forces that
in
begun
vilified
and the
atrocities of
admitted a
seem
which Western
communist
have been
to
sol-
guerrillas
journalists failing to
had
give a
much by their own prejudices. Washington Post reporter some nine
true picture of the war, having
own, narrow, view
in
By the 1970s, some
to realize that they might
'Rarely,'
supported
anti-war literature and demonstrations
largely ignored.
of the
been
war and
led too their
years after Tet, 'has contemporary crisis-journalism turned out, in retrospect, to
Above
US
in
US
Vietnam.
Soldiers from the
1st Cavalry Division
prepare their
105mm
howitzer for action.
story
and the record of the communists
Western media and the
were
'the
over a month after
Vietnam was much worse. Throughout the Vietnam War, the
day of
Mark W. Woodruff,
a big story out of this
Lai, just
soldiers killed
worldwide
a
shocked and sickened many were, however,
terrible
fifth
still
TET OFFENSIVE
failed to
have adopted a form of tunnel vision
such heroism.
on the South Vietnamese
four hundred
178
in
in
in
The Western media
communist massacre, and yet
1968.
Helicopters created a
have veered so widely from
reality.'
Above
right.
civilians flee
Vietnamese from the
That
was
to
come
too late for the
US Army
in
February
North
1 $
US
Although Giap's offensive had been decisively defeated, the
Vietnamese
away from
attention
Vietnamese positions and instead to
attacking
inflicting casualties
South
on the
fighting across the
Perfume River
at Hue,
media continued to portray Tet as a
many would be
Such
political
massacred by Viet Cong
peace
talks
but
communists,
who
later
in
American forces, knowing
victory for North Vietnam.
pressure pushed the United States to attend Paris
in
May
president, Richard Nixon,
1
968, and by
1
tendencies
969 the newly elected
was announcing
plans for a
US
among
achieved success.
the It
that this
was
a
a
strategy
sound lesson
governments, which have since
with-
would encourage defeatist
Such
media.
eventually
for future
Western
tried to maintain a tighter
con-
destroyed the bridge.
drawal from Vietnam. The Tet Offensive also helped to switch
trol
over media reporting of wars.
COLONEL GENERAL TRAN VAN TRA
WEATHERING THE STORM
capabilities
Since the Vietnam War ended, North
requirements that were beyond our
especially cadres at the local echelons.
Vietnamese commanders have been
actual strength... For that reason,
which clearly weakened us. Afterwards,
quite
open about
their failures during the
were
limited,
regard to manpower and material,
and set
we were
although that decision was wise,
and
and although
Tet Offensive. Colonel General Tran Van
ingenious,
Tra concluded:
implementation was well organised and
'During Tet of
1
968 we
did not correctly
evaluate the specific balance of forces
between ourselves and the enemy, did not
fully
realise that the
enemy
still
had
considerable capabilities and that our
bold...
timely,
its
everyone acted very bravely,
sacrificed their lives,
and there was
created a significant strategic turning point
in
Vietnam and Indochina,
we
suffered large sacrifices and losses with
gains
not only unable to retain the
we had made
a myriad
but had to overcome
difficulties in 1
969 and 1970
so that the revolution could stand firm
in
the storm.'
Quoted
in Tet 1968:
Surprise by Ronnie
Understanding the E.
Ford (Frank Cass,
1995)
TET OFFENSIVE
179
PORT STANLEY, 1982 In 1
the Falklands War, Britain
9th-century-style colonial
showed
was
it
possible to fight a
campaign during an age
of
^»-
D
modern WOODWARD
warfare. The efficient recapture of Port Stanley by British forces
gave encouragement to other Western powers to intervene
British taskforce
operated effectively, without a land base, over
a 13,000-km (8,000-mile) sea supply
The war
for the Falkland Islands
Argentinian
captured
troops
Port
capital,
its
1
982 when
Stanley,
^
and
day
later,
Argentinian
MARINES AND
* \
LAND
been
British
% r^'
,
x
PARATROOPERS
troops also captured South Georgia. The Falkland Islands had
\
-
\
MAY
In
the
wake
of the
doubting their
easy ly
ability to
for Britain to
and
risky war.
the South Atlantic.
TT
intervene abroad,
have accepted the
it
But most of the population of the Falklands
a
wrong
Argentina
was very
away on
close by.
It
^+
^k,
*
a
Portstanley
.
MENDEZ ARGENTINE INVASION FORCE
r
Fitzroy
N 1
Falkland Islands
_s
Ocean
Atlantic
[/
'f^
the other side of the globe.
would be
~* B'"ff
.^
However, the islands were
that Britain could right.
miles)
-ImmS^
MAY
29
Thatcher had a strong dislike of tyrannical states, believing this
13,000km (8,000
**
^ys 0und
M/W
Goose Green*
and avoid a cost-
considered themselves British and Prime Minister Margaret
was
31
4- 3 JUNE
.Darwin
would have been
situation,
Ber
t
a
t
28 MAY
Vietnam War, with many Western powers
%
Falkland
!
in
-*£»** * " " - -^ 27 MAY
1
possessions since 1833, providing a strategically
important naval staging post
^^
„**" "^-Douglas
/**«.
San Car/os*^ Water
21
A
claimed the islands for Argentina.
advance
Argentinian defences
\ April
British forces British
1
line.
began on 2
-
1'
Sweeping away post-Vietnam pessimism, the
foreign crises.
-
FALKLAND ISLAND TASKFORCE
in
British ships
°
tremendous gamble.
miles
10 1
1
1
1
kilometres 15
FALKLANDS ASSAULT With Argentina having been declared the aggressor by the United Nations, Britain
1982.
assembled
Commanded
and
a taskforce,
by Rear Admiral
Sir
it
set
sail
on 5
John Woodward,
HMS Hermes
April
it
con-
HMS
two
Invincible,
and 28 other ships. An amphibious force of four thou-
aircraft carriers,
and
sand Royal Marine
Commandos and
was
by a further one thousand troops, including
later reinforced
the Scots Guards,
also active. Air support
was
provided by 22 Sea Harrier
jump-jets flying from the carriers. Ascension Island,
the middle
in
Above: The
British
amphibious landing
at
San Carlos and advance
sisted of
light
were
the Parachute Regiment
Welsh Guards and Gurkhas. Detachments
of
the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS)
of the Atlantic
Ocean, provided a
vital
post that enabled the task-
force to be resupplied by aircraft flying from Britain. Opposing
force
this
were
thousand Argentinian troops on the
fifteen
islands led by General
Mario Menendez. The Argentinian Air
Force, operating from the mainland and supplied with
guided missiles,
was
strong and
Reconnaissance of the
SAS and SBS from
18
islands'
Britain reinforced this
a
by bombing
out of action. Argentinian
and
fighter planes
seven
blow
April
airfields
on the
The major
British landing
Marine
beach-head.
In
airfield
islands, putting
missiles six
air
managed
more.
It
them
was
to sink
a major
by the SAS on Pebble
and destroyed
began on 21 May
Commandos and the fight for
bat-
began preparations
power was undiminished, however,
for the British, although a night raid
the
was
A 320-km
declared around the islands and
and badly damage
damaged
South Georgia
at
1 1
aircraft.
San Carlos with
Paratroopers establishing a
supremacy above them,
Falkland towards Port
May
and 8 June.
Left.
Royal Marine
Commandos manning
submarine sank the Argentinian
armed with Excocet
British ships
Island severely
Royal
air
modern
nearby.
a nearby land base.
tleship General Belgrano. British forces then for a land assault
were
defences was carried out by the
Navy
was
when
battleships
and on 25
April,
recaptured, giving the Royal (200-mile) exclusion zone
its
on foot across East Stanley between 21
Harriers
a
trench at San Carlos
during the British landings on the Falkland Islands.
'
.PORT STANLEY
FALKLAND ISLANDS
.
amphibious landing I
British
kilometres 3
bombed by Argentinian
advance
The 1
Marine
AMt Longdon
was
Commandos
A
On
day
later,
the night of 11
and Mount
Sisters
\-^ •
""
V"
Mt Harriet
W GURKHA BTN 1
Resistance
Harriet.
but eventually each position
a night attack
in
on 13 June.
To the south of them, the Scots Guards fought Argentinian 13 A
'''
JUNE kS *J/mi
14 JUNE
Marines to capture Tumbledown Mountain. Gurkhas advanced
'
6km
on Mount William, only
^*J"^
west
(3 miles)
The high
of Stanley.
ground had been taken and the Argentinian commander
WELSH GUARDS
fell.
the 2nd Parachute Battalion, victors at Darwin and
Goose Green, took Wireless Ridge 45THAND42HD MARINE COMANDOS
June, Royal
took three key Argentinian positions on
Mount Longdon,
strong on
lost.
the battle for Port Stanley took place on the
Mount Longdon, Two
r:
JUNE
11
was
to the south of Stanley
and many troops were
aircraft
overlooking the town.
hills
>„
final fights in
Argentinian defences
2ND AND 3RD PARACHUTE BTNS
L
Cove
at Bluff
British forces
1
r
I
I"-"""'
was
Stanley could see his situation
4,000 Argentine casualties 1,000 British casualties
General
up
Menendez surrendered and The Falkland
Stanley.
in
British
Port
in
14 June,
the Union Jack flag
were
Islands
On
perilous.
was
run
once more.
Although successful, the Falklands operation was not perfect
downed few
1
5 Argentinian planes for only one loss. Over the next
and aspects of
some
timated the
days,
began to move
Green and
thousand troops were put ashore and they
commander on
Goose
al
ships to
positions,
in
Britain
fierce firefight took place at
stormed the Argentinian
British
VC posthumously. With could
A
inland.
which the
in
their
five
the ground. Colonel their
now advance towards
'IT
Jones,
won the
southern flanks secure, the
their
it
have been
the Argentinian Air Force and lost sever-
missiles.
Communications between commanders
its
and those on the ground were
tended to act too independently.
British
main target of Port Stanley.
killed
killed
and three thousand wounded, with
arms
Major General Jeremy Moore was tions
against
Port
Commandos and
Paratroopers had the
across the boggy land, the
were dropped by of Stanley,
the
Top The
capital.
helicopter
SAS and
of
units
difficult
task of marching
Royal Marine
on Mount Kent,
1
Marine
Royal
6km
Commandos
(10 miles)
1,400 taken prisoner. all-
1956 and that the distances involved
was
a remarkable
prowess. The victory had
military
dividend
reasserted confidence
among Western
to intervene abroad.
the Falklands had not
in
that
it
in their ability
it
have been so confident
up to the
Further advances by British troops followed, but an
soldiers
thousand
had not organized such an
great, the recapture of Port Stanley
been a success, then
in
in
lost a
demonstration of
ers
west
where they could observe the Argentinian defenders
Suez
assault since
were so
charge of the land opera-
in
While
Stanley.
British
and 777 wounded. The Argentinians 1
and the SAS
faulty
Some 255
were
Overall, considering that Britain
BATTLE FOR STANLEY
The Royal Navy underes-
criticized.
abilities of
is
in
unlikely that
lead-
Margaret Thatcher would
advocating that President Bush stand
invasion of Kuwait
Iraqi
If
its political
1990 (see pp. 186-89).
in
final British
assault on Port Stanley
following their capture of the high ground around
the
FIRST LIEUTENANT CEREZO,
ARGENTINIAN ARTILLERY
town
Above: Royal Marine
Commandos
metres
TEARS OF DEFEAT advanced
quickly
and the
'The British
helicopter from the deck
threat against our position increased.
of
[1
.600-2. 1 00yds]
rammed up
we
until
and the block
the breech
fell
await
transport by Sea King
HMS Hermes onto
did not worry about counter-battery
the Falkland Islands. but continued situation
firing, it
became
seemed the
irreversible
were
Fire Control
firing
We
fire
Centre showed
A
small
we
between 1,500 and 2,000
me
fire
over open sights.
number of men formed
defence... At
cease
every
minute. The last elevations passed to
by the
received orders to
fire.
9am
the
Everything
to
The
to
have
he
told us
made in
was
Quoted
At about
1
1.30am saw 1
the
enemy advancing and was ordered by the
CO to open
fire
but a shell
was
we had
to leave the
into Stanley.
At
4pm
surrendered. This
us cry with the pain of impotence
calmed down but it was cold and snow falling.
CO ordered us
guns and withdraw
local
CO ordered me seemed
out.
the face of defeat. in
Nine Battles
Nicholas van der 1999)
Bijl
to
Stanley by
(Pen
& Sword,
KABUL, 1988 Right The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
took the form of a two-
pronged attack on the major capitals, but much of the countryside
would
remain beyond their control.
Far right. Afghan
mujahideen
v
traditionally clothed but
were increasingly supplied with sophisticated Western
weapons during
their
war
against the Soviet Union.
Above: A mujahideen
The Russian withdrawal from Kabul
tank points
a decisive defeat for the Soviet Union.
its
barrel
over Kabul, re-captured
from Soviet forces.
in
1988 was the It
was
final
by any set-piece battle but was the result of years of warfare which had drained stay.
away the
in
will of
guerrilla
the Russians to
Western-armed mujahideen had proved more than
a
Within two years of their
match
for high-tech Soviet forces.
retreat
from Afghanistan, the Soviet Union collapsed.
The Russians had long considered the Muslim south as legitimate areas of military interest. ry,
act
not brought about
In
the 19th centu-
pp.44-47), and this process continued
century under the Soviet Union.
invaded
Afghanistan,
the
In
process
the 20th
in
when
Soviet forces
became
complicated
1979,
because the Cold War meant that the United States and other Western-oriented powers supported those rebels the Soviet regime.
It
became the
The Soviet approach derive from
182
KABUL
Russia's
last
major Cold
who
War
rejected
struggle.
to the invasion of Afghanistan did not earlier,
it
19th-century experiences, nor
Britain's colonial forces in Afghanistan; instead,
was based on
'Using the
its
Cold
War successes
same techniques
in
eastern Europe.
as they employed during the inva-
sion of Czechoslovakia,' writes Soviet analyst Lester Grau, 'the
Soviets rapidly seized the major tres of power. nist exile,
states to the
they had conquered the Turkic states of Central Asia (see
Geok Tepe,
from those of
cities, radio
stations
and cen-
They executed Amin and put an Afghan commu-
Babrak Karmal,
tance by the Afghan
in
power. They crushed the resis-
Army and began
consolidating their
power. The Soviets soon discovered that Afghanistan
was
not
going to be a repeat of their Czechoslovaks experience.'
Many would
call
it
a Soviet 'Vietnam'.
CHRISTMAS INVASION Soviet tanks rolled into Afghanistan on Christmas Day 1979.
Three airborne divisions flew motorized division
aged
rifle
met strong
to defeat
into the country, joined
divisions invading
resistance
elements
of the
in
by four
from the north. An airborne Kabul, the capital, but
man-
Afghan Army and surround and
-i
the Soviets had committed over one hundred thousand
Soviet forces
troops to the war but
Soviet invasion
As they grew
4- Soviet
airbases
USSR
a'
Parachute attack
,
^1/
began
to
still
no overall victory was within
increasingly desperate,
it
is
sight.
alleged the Soviets
use chemical and biological weapons against
their
adversaries. Afghan forces
O Afghan refugee camps X. Afghan
DECEMBER 1979
soviet army
SOVIET COLLAPSE
attacks
Although they were able to deny the Soviets control of
were not
country, the Afghan rebels
\ ^'
Sharif*
was no one
y, Faizabad
Kunduz
IRAN
\^/\
h
unified
command
factions frequently fought
their
great shape. There
in
and the various
structure,
one another as
well.
By the mid-
1980s, however, the mujahideenwere receiving sophisticated
weapons channelled through
AFGHANISTAN
Q
Bagram
*>
Kabul
f a^,,
devastatmgly effective. Jalalabad
Khyfaer
Ghazni.
o .Peshawar
Pakistan and mainly supplied by
the United States; hand-held, anti-aircraft missiles proved
missiles
In
1987 and 1988,
downed an average
of
one Soviet
it
is
claimed the
aircraft a day.
losses could not be sustained indefinitely, but already
.GardezPass
Such
more
profound changes within the Soviet Union were affecting AFGHAN MUJAHIDEEN ARMY
ability to In
its
continue the war.
the 1980s, President Reagan led an aggressive arms
build-up within the United States and a plan
was mooted
for
an anti-missile defence - popularly called Star Wars - to shield the United States from nuclear attack. This upset the
PAKISTAN
Cold
War balance
Destruction, as
it
of
power
in
which Mutually Assured
was known, had maintained
a respectful
peace between the two nuclear-armed superpowers. The Soviet Union had to respond to Reagan's challenge with greater expenditure of
President
kill
dent
in
Amin
in
his palace.
power, the Soviets
but popular opinion Earlier that
strong interest
gramme
was
in
of education
in
dominance
rilla
a
women,
this
had
air strikes
An
uprising
in
Soviet troops, and five
killed. its in
advantage
devastating
and helicopter gunships
modern
in
air
power
in
to crush guer-
bases and relieve besieged troops. The Soviets man-
aged the
shown
first
These same rebels
for the next ten years.
was crushed by
to great effect, bringing
the form of
rights for
traditionalists.
the Soviet Union used
first,
weapons
the Soviets had
and greater
February 1980
hundred Afghans were At
choice of presi-
to pacify the country,
the mujahideen. a guerrilla army that would fight
against Soviet
Kabul
own
military technology,
Afghanistan and backed'a modernization pro-
been opposed by Muslim
now formed
their
own on new
against them.
when
decade,
With
now sought
its
to clear the settled valleys, forcing the rebels
hills,
up into
but the supplies to Soviet positions and towns
were constantly hampered by
guerrilla
ambushes. By 1984
KABUL
183
Left.
A mujahideen
rocket explodes as hits a
suburb
Hand-held
of
it
Kabul
anti-aircraft
missiles proved deadly to Soviet airpower
in
the
Afghanistan war.
but the Soviet
economy was
failed to provide a
ple
and
Communism
bankrupt.
dynamic and wealthy economy
1
had
for its peo-
—
could not support such a development. The leader
it
of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, realized there
was
Afghan forces
for
economic and
was going
political
reform
to survive. But events
if
the Soviet Union
were moving
USSR
a 1
need
Soviet forces Soviet retreat
—
Afghan attacks
r
faster than
he could control. In
1986, Reagan increased the pressure by calling for a
record defence budget of year,
some USS630
million
15
US$320
was
the following
In
billion.
being spent
FEBRUARY 1989
in
V xKtmduz %fc^3s>
Afghanistan,
MAY 1988
Mazar-i-SHarif
the largest secret military action funded by the United States
rebels.
In
the meantime, Gorbachev's more open
AUGUST 1988
to the
AFGHANISTAN
political
regime meant that the Soviet media were covering the war truthfully, reporting
the death and destruc-
,'
AUGUST 1988
Shindand. tion
experienced by ordinary soldiers, and even daring to voice
public
demands
war was hoped
for withdrawal.
draining his
Gorbachev could see that the
economic and
political
resources, and he
to include withdrawal as a bargaining chip in his negoti-
ations with Reagan, but the Americans trading for withdrawal,
were not interested
in
happy to see the Soviet Army being
kept so busy. Following the Geneva Soviet Union committed
Agreement itself
Afghanistan. The retreat began
184
KABUL
14
in
April its
1988, the
troops from
phases and took several
moving back from
their south-
positions at Jalalabad and Kandahar.
Then they
with Soviet forces tier
of
to withdrawing
first
*
-^ 6
Bagramj,
in ~
Afghanistan more
^ tf^
\n„hi a„ • Baghlan
since the Second World War. Saudi Arabia and other wealthy
Muslim states also contributed money and weapons
^^
AfFaizabad
V\
a
*l 3
a
>**
iv
"r7^^
/jala,abad
MAY 1988* JT* -fT _-„ "WKnyser ^^
„
^
Ghazrw"
W
Pass
„ „ Peshawar '
'
Above: Soviet armoured
moved from
vehicles withdrawing
February 1989.
from Afghanistan. Just
two years
later,
the
In
between autumn 1988 and
Kabul the Soviets
dubbed the Democratic Republic
left
Najibullah
collapse
went
hiding
into
regime took charge. Western
behind a regime
in
and a fundamentalist
1991
military
support had flooded the
under the
country with weapons, militarizing
it
and contributing to the
Muhammad Najibullah. Of the six hundred and forty thousand Soviets who served during the war, some fifteen
deaths of countless more Afghans
in
internecine warfare.
thousand were recorded as either dead or missing,
the last Soviet leader, had been replaced by Boris Yeltsin, and
of Afghanistan
presidency of
Soviet Union would
Left.
central Afghanistan
By
the end of 1991, the Soviet Union had collapsed. Gorbachev,
a further
The Soviet retreat
415,932 becoming casualties of diseases such as
from Kandahar and Kabul
in
1988 was
virtual mirror
typhoid.
a
image
of
their invasion nine years
Over one
lives during
The
million
hepatitis
Afghans are thought to have
and
independent nations arose
the war.
Najibullah
regime
failed to survive in the
wake
of a
in
place of the old Soviet Union.
The lessons learned by the Soviet
lost their
civil
helped the Russian
Army
Chechen
in
separatists
military
in
to fight successful
central Asia.
Afghanistan
wars against
The Cold War was over
earlier.
war between Afghan
nationalists
and a new era
and Muslim fundamentalists.
of warfare had begun.
A.N. SHISKOV, SENIOR ASSISTANT TO SOVIET CHIEF OF AIR OPERATIONS
DUMMY TROOPS
Army
Although Afghan guerrillas generally
Afghan regiments began the attack.
proved elusive, sometimes they could be
General
pinned down.
In
1987, A.N. Shiskovwas
senior assistant to a Soviet chief of
air
divisions
and regiments plus the
Gromov had decided
to
reconnaissance to pinpoint enemy strong points and
and
firing positions.
determine the location of enemy
positions.
weapons systems
with a four-hour artillery barrage.
(particularly air
The
airstrikes
were followed
Quoted from The Bear Went Over (he
operations and descnbes a major
defence, provided by the West] and so
assault on a mujahideen stronghold at
he faked an airborne landing using 20
Mountain edited by Lester W. Grau
Satukandav Pass:
dummy
(Frank Cass, 19981
'On
28 November,
following
unsuccessful negotiations, the 40th
paratroopers
The enemy
fired its
in
parachutes.
Army
frontal aviation then hit these
weapons on these
"paratroopers" which enabled
artillery
KABUL
185
DESERT STORM, 1991 Operation Desert Storm coalition of
international
time,
it
was
a major offensive undertaken by a
Western and Arab countries intended
to right an
wrong. Considered an enormous gamble at the
demonstrated the
awesome
military
power
of
modern
high-technology weapons. Cruise missiles, precision bombing, helicopter gunships and tanks equipped with night sights
bined to overwhelm the
Iraqi
com-
(see Kabul, pp. 1 82-85), the United States
only superpower bilities
that
it
chose great
were could to.
far
in
was
left
as the
the world. The United States's military capa-
ahead of those of any other nation and ensured
now take
on the
role of the 'world's
policeman'
However, there has always been a wariness
democracy towards becoming involved
like
in
to
see Americans dying abroad
good reason. Because
caution had failure
dence
in in
for
'isolationists',
what they feel
of this, the United States had
tant to enter both world wars,
Events
land forces.
With the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of Soviet
power
Supporters of such sentiments, known as not
and by the
grown markedly as
War
the Vietnam
late
might possess
to fight a decisive
inferior
war against
weapons, but could
view was challenged
in
reluc-
a result of a perceived military
(see Tet Offensive,
rely
pp.1 76-79).
1990 when
Iraq
confi-
a foe
who
on motivation
and an inhospitable landscape to sustain and protect tious
been
20th century this
Vietnam had also dented the United States's
in its ability
do
is little
it.
This cau-
invaded Kuwait.
if it
in this
any overseas
Below Egyptian
DESERT SHIELD On
2 August 1990,
Iraqi
forces crossed the border dividing Iraq
artillery
shells Iraqi forces during
the land battle phase of
wars not
strictly related to 'national
be interpreted as being
186
DESERT STORM
imperialist.
defence' and which might
the Gulf leader,
Saddam
Hussein, claimed the rights to the
oilfield
on the
War known
Desert Storm.
as
'«A«
.V.« Danus "
:
Baghdad.
',
^
STOR&
DESERT
'^H IV>^
y^^
m% ^
Baghdad
the
N
100
fight a
Kut
%
A
S^v^
|
/ .
/
/'
allies,
where
it
/
Saddam, the
^V-
KUWAIT
JahJI^
!
B^B
a dv
**
H
fGWW/VS
6atl "
'
AND SYRIANS
k.
*
-f-
a
number
some 600,000
Iraq.
In
total,
Iraq could call
first
phase
of the operation, called Desert Shield,
was completed.
The second phase was
to
remove Saddam's forces from Kuwait
was The Gulf
in
Faced with such a
MWWS
US
the hands of
command
lieutenant general
West was nervous and
large Iraqi army, the
many commentators
of the allied forces
Norman Schwarzkopf.
predicted a catastrophe that would
look hopeful. Mindful of the risks involved
^
^
.,
Iraqi
•in.
and media support
SAUDI ARABIA
to
BAHRAIN
in
a
It
QATAR R 'y adh
Iraqi front line
Above. The Allied
air
its
effectiveness.
missiles and Stealth
political
decided
war. American investment
technology during the 1980s
tunity to prove
oilfields
forces
swinging advance during
military
com-
did not
ground invasion,
for the operation, the United States
open Desert Storm with an
new
Allied air strikes
4 4 Kuwaiti
upon
coalition forces in
and feeling the need to avoid high casualties to maintain
„ am - -Allied attacks
18
troops for the coalition army, of
bine the worst elements of Vietnam and Afghanistan.
Allied forces
of
assem-
part of a coalition force
- Operation Desert Storm. Overall
" Khafji
IT
US MARINES
24 FEBRUARY
and
THE AIR WAR
l-^jb
^-
,
K//COWS
including Britain and France,
place along the border, preventing any further aggression by
Basra.
-Abadan xT"^^ -Safwan
,
U^g
foreign aggressor and
which the United States provided 532,000.
•j...T? .>-Jr "Kuwait City
i
Western power could
550,000 troops and 4,200 tanks. With the
*T
1
/
CORPS*
This was no time to go
away against a
formed the greatest
against Iraq
XVIII
it,
that a
Arab states. Bush committed a major US force to Saudi Arabia,
IRAN
"Nasiriyah
sand desert
//*
shown
q MAN
Western
nations provided
,^ .»*^
/Bulsayah"'
1
recalled
bling along the Saudi Arabian border with
.Ahvaz
i UAE
r
Samawah
•
a long distance
^.
Riyadh.
win (see Port Stanley, pp. 180-81). With the support of other
1
Shabakah. Salman -t*" A
war
City
KUWAIT
.1 IRAQ
£
As she
dictator.
^L
SAU °'ARAB,A
wobbly.' Britain had already
ilometres 150
Najaf.
Iraqi
^^Kuwait
On
was
in
given the oppor-
16 January 1991, Cruise
bombers opened the
air
assault on Iraq and
proved to be remarkably successful,
striking at the heart of
Saddam's regime and destroying
communications and
.
border, but the United Nations
urged
Iraq's
condemned
vital
air
the invasion and
withdrawal. Saudi Arabia feared the
move might
Operation Desert Storm
completely outflanked the
lead to an attempt by Iraq to control
which depended on Arab
Saddam
the
oil
Hussein,
valuable resource
fall
oil
production
Western
region. This possible ambition alerted the
Iraqi forces.
Right.
all
in
the
nations,
and could not afford to have such a
into the
hands
of a hostile dictator. Iraq's
leader of Iraq during the Gulf War,
is
portrayed a
army was formidable, and had become
well
armed and
1980-88 war with
experi-
had even
defender of his people
enced as
on
received covert Western support because the revolutionary
a fresco in Basra.
Iranians
But
a result of
its
were perceived as
now Saddam was
a destabilizing
Iran.
power
openly challenging the
It
in
the region.
West and
all
eyes
turned to the United States. During the
crisis
weeks
of decision-making
in
1990, Britain's
prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, visited President George
Bush
in
Washington, D.C., and encouraged him to stand up to
DESERT STORM
187
defence centres. Rather than face Iraq's air in
force pilots flew to
Iran,
this onslaught,
the majority of
where they took no
further part
1
991 the ground assault began with a massive
bombardment
of the Iraqi front lines.
aerial
Then the US
and
artillery
XVII Corps,
Above. US crewmen
on duty near
first
101st Division and French 6th Daguet Division plunged deep in
strikes
in
ceaseless 24-hour warfare that destroyed
Iraq's ability
to contest the coalition's air supremacy.
The main
fear of the
West was
that
Saddam would attempt
into Iraq.
Next to them was the
British 1st
Armoured
Kuwait.
Division,
the
Finally,
US
VII
Corps, including the
which swung eastwards towards
US Marines and Arab ground
forces
Saudi Arabia. Patriot
missiles
compelled to withdraw, causing the
and making
it
missiles.
more
difficult to
coalition to collapse
defeat Saddam. To help
defy this missile threat, the United States provided Patriot anti-missile missiles. In the event,
impact
was
useful. In the
units, including Britain's Special Air
behind event,
Iraqi
lines to find
Saddam's
Israel
with
Israel
these did not prove as
effective as promised, but by keeping Israel out of the political
If
then the Arab elements of the coalition might
Israel retaliated,
feel
Scud
war
their
meantime. Special Forces Service (SAS),
were sent
and destroy these missiles.
limited missile attacks failed to
provoke
In
the
Israel.
advanced
The
directly
initial allied
over the Kuwaiti frontier towards the
bombardment was so intense
troops were buried alive
in their
Complete
air
Iraq
having been established, the
next stage of Operation Desert Storm
was
occupation force from Kuwait. To achieve
to eject the Iraqi this,
Schwarzkopf
planned a massive encircling movement. Diversionary attacks
were made on Kuwait
City,
but the main assault
the Saudi border moving north and then east.
188
DESERT STORM
came
On 24
across
February
Iraqi
shaken that they immediately surrendered, some even giving craft.
Night vision
and depleted-uranium-tipped shells gave Western
capability
armour an advantage over the older Soviet tanks operated by the
Iraqis,
swiftly elite
and what
little
resistance
core of Saddam's army -
bombed
into
'turkey shoot',
and
was his
this,
quickly surrounded and
liberated.
to portray the decisive victory as a
plus the United States's intention to
aim of Kuwaiti
damaging objectives
not carried on into
was
The ground war was over by
submission.
stick to its limited drifting,
was encountered was
overcome. The much-feared Republican Guard - the
The Western media began
supremacy over
many
bunkers, while others were so
themselves up to unmanned reconnaissance
28 February and Kuwait was
GROUND ATTACK
that
capital.
Iraq.
liberation (bearing in
of Vietnam),
A war
to topple
mind the
that the
war
Saddam and
free
meant
people might well have backfired on the West, which would
then be perceived as being the aggressor. This risked losing
were intended
to defeat Iraqi missile
attacks and helped to
keep to broaden the conflict by attacking Israel with
a Patriot
missile system launcher
the war. Conventional bombing raids followed these
Israel
fighting.
out of the
world and Arab support for very that
it
was up
little
Saddam, and although there were
were not
sufficient to
analytical
view of the
were happy
to
power
in
lated
and
Syria,
dent
make
in
US view was
Iraqi
In total,
and
themselves from
A
War
relative
peace and the balance of power
hundred in
coalition soldiers
were
Above A group
killed
made
the Gulf
a decisive demonstration of the superiority of
Western
since the Battle of
Omdurman
war hastened the demise
evi-
over the course of the next decade would
rival
and
left
a
in
losses
of
tanks
British Challenger
the Gulf War. The Iraqis lost an
military technology, the likes of
iso-
order to counter the regional ambitions of Iran
and the
just over four
thousand wounded
thousand wounded. The disparity
cold
might be that Western powers
regime remain as a strong but
a
in
estimated one hundred thousand dead and three hundred
short-lived rebellions, these
overthrow the tyrannical regime. situation
see the
this region
this
gam. The
to the Iraqi people to liberate
the desert during
Operation Desert Storm
which had not been seen hundred years
earlier.
The
of the Soviet Union as a military
the United States as the uncontested master of
the battlefield.
appear a wise decision.
COLONEL BARRY HORNE,
.s^.'v
stealth really worked.
BAT CASUALTIES Stealth
F-117A
weapons
the
in
aircraft
were key
initial air
Operation Desert Storm. Barry first
Home
knew
strike
US
describes the
thirty-seven F-l 1
on
Iraq in
colonel
Arabia...
moment he
that their radar-defying
technology would work: 'Bats
were the
first
visual proof
1
had
Air Base, in a
that
We had
deployed
7As to the King Khalid
remote corner of Saudi
The Saudis provided us with a
first-class fighter
base with reinforced
around our airplanes inside the open hangars. Bats use a form of sonar to "see" at night, and they were crashing blindly into
our lowradar-cross-section
tails.'
Skunk Works by Ben
hangars, and at night the bats would
Quoted
come
and Leo Janos
out and feed off insects.
mornings we'd
find
In
bat corpses
the
in
(Little,
R.
Rich
Brown, 1994)
littered
DESERT STORM
189
MOGADISHU, 1993
For a superpower,
it
seemed
to
United States to help to quell a
US
Special
be a simple operation
tribal
war
in
for the
Somalia, east Africa.
Forces stormed into the centre of the
city
of
reached a climax, with
government
tribal
rebels leading major assaults and the
replying with powerful military
country during which
sweeps across
the
Above: US troops practise fighting from
Somalian buildings,
some
fifty
thousand people
died.
By skills
Mogadishu
in
search of rebel leaders, but their helicopters
crashed and suddenly they were surrounded by hostile
The
shocked the American public and
resulting loss of lives
quickly Civil
ended the United war had been
Africa, since
States's role as 'world policeman'.
raging
Somalia, on the
in
ceased
in
1988,
Ethiopia.
tribal
When
decisively defeat the others, but by January
MOGADISHU
of the
Horn
of
the fighting with
warfare broke out
various clans tried to dominate the country.
190
tip
1974 when Major General Siyad Barre seized power
and began a long war with Ethiopia
citizens.
1
in
No one
Somalia as side could
991 the fighting had
27 January, General Barre had
fled the capital,
Mogadishu, and
Somalia had been reduced to a state of chaos. The breakdown of its
food supplies meant that ordinary citizens were starving. The
humanitarian
crisis
involved and
in
To tribal
prompted the United Nations (UN)
December 1992
many people - who
did not
know
perfect example of using military
Television
sense
images of starving
of urgency.
women
The United
become
the history of incessant
warfare that had preceded this intervention -
like a
to
the United States landed troops.
power
for
this
seemed
good ends.
and children added to the
States, working
hand
in
hand
that
became
vital
during a later firefight
in
the heart of Mogadishu.
ARABIA
US
Far left The
Wm US forces —-
helicopter-borne
US movements
iiiiinBeseiged US
^e^
\
1
Stadium
operation
OC forces
X US helicopter crash
October
in
1993 to capture rebel
^^•
leaders
in
the centre of
sites
Mogadishu
Somal forces
- -Somali
attacks
X
Left
s
camouflage
US
troops call
in
desert
up
air
support during a military exercise
in
Somalia
in
1993
SOMALI LOCALS
i
iic
Below A US target
!
helicopter
;
during an
fires missiles
x^f-H
^
Mogadishu
I
\
exercise
US
helicopters
proved vulnerable when struck by hand-held
rf..
missiles and several
y
e
downed
in
the
centre of Mogadishu
-w/ OCTOBER
/ 3 '
RAWLINSON US DELTA FORCE
,
AND RANGERS
1 1
1 1
/
N
1 1
J *& y
f
^Mogadishu
Airport
T
1
headquarters \
Q :ean
n t\\zr\
Y*r
m
les
1
1
1
k
with the United Nations, had just
War and
the Gulf
House.
Bill
Clinton
there
was
was keen
a
„or netres
won
a
new
president
tremendous
to prove that
force could have a moral dimension to
it,
in
1.5
victory
in
the White
American
military
by helping to bring
peace and food to the helpless.
However, initiated
UN
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali,
mat who had worked against one
commanded
by General
of the leading clans, that
Muhammad Aidid. Those
Somalis
supported Aidid considered Boutros-Ghali to be an
was
who
the intervention, had previously been an Egyptian diplo-
them by using the United
continuing the war against
Nations and the
US Army.
This
bit
whole operation and should have
who
enemy who
of history
compromised the
raised questions beforehand.
MOGADISHU
191
When
the
Australia
US Army and
and
its
UN
allies,
which included Pakistan,
were viewed not
Nigeria, landed in Somalia, they
as saviours but as another force to be fought.
provided by international chanties. 'But to do briefly
is
better than doing no
the Troubles
in
the World. 'Or
flooded with food
BLACK HAWK DOWN
of theft
Most
was
journalists thrive
on the reporting of crises around the
world and do not question the long-term effects of international
intervention.
US
and wondered
at the
MARK BOWDEN,
O'Rourke
journalist P.J.
still
men were
the
same Humvee
some
Some
them.
In
Jersey,
of his Ranger
their
heads behind
of the units
A
of
with Burns, Private
buddies just burying the sandbags.
make food cents
the world. But what,
and
cattle?
Are those
it
he
later
most
his
among
burly kid from Princeton.
Moore had a
lower
lip
unshaved terrified.
dip of snuff under
and brown
chin.
New
spittle
on
his
He was sweating and
to
pound
we
in
One RPG [Rocket Propelled
Grenade] hadpassed over the vehicle
All
Somalia, the cheapest rice
thought, did that
mean
to the peo-
and sorghum and the herds
now worth
nothing, too?
He would go down
Quoted from Black
Bowden (Bantam
fighting.'
Hawk Down by Mark
Press, 1999)
of goats
Had we come
snapping around him. He fought the urge down...
in
too cheap to be worth stealing. Rice
a
against a wall alongside. Bullets were
lie
wrote
overcome the problem
and exploded with an ear-smarting crack
to
some good
always? Somalia was being
The only way
ple with the fields of corn
boisterous chest-beaters were
Some
at the breaking point.
Jason Moore saw
aid
to
selling for ten
is
ever,'
JOURNALIST
pointed north.
the
much food
effects of having so
SWEATING AND TERRIFIED 'They were
travelled to Somalia
in
was
aid.
good
Above: Somali militiamen sit
on a
'technical',
the
armed jeeps they used to fight each other terrorize the local
population.
and
where some people sometimes starved
to a Somalia
Such questions were not the concern support the
only to
where everybody always would?'
leave a Somalia
UN
in
Mogadishu. Their
anarchy created by the warring clans.
on 3 October 1993 some 140
elite
of troops
role
In
US
was
to
working to
Americans to stomach was
reduce the
pilots
furtherance of this aim, Delta Force and Ranger
made
a heliborne raid into the heart of
seize
two key
figures from General Aidid's clan.
been
a straightforward operation, achieved quickly and effec-
tively
by the
soldiers
same well-armed US
overwhelming against the Instead, the
Americans
were surrounded
some
of
in
troops
who
Mogadishu It
to
should have
had proved so
Iraqis.
failed to
the heart of the
killed
Below US troops
and 70 wounded. American
road to Mogadishu
more than
five
fire
hun-
made Americans won-
be treated with such hatred
and
who
the
military
entire
operation
Somalia.
in
drawn. The United States had learned
ian
ends was
As one
shit.'
operations,
In
Quickdraw on 31 March 1994, US forces were
diate effect of
help.
don't give a
similarly futile
its
abandonment
felt in
Rwanda
in
its
lesson,
of military
1994.
Operation
hastily with-
and the imme-
power for humanitar-
In a
genocidal
civil
war,
over one million Rwandans were murdered. Journalists and
killed
and a thousand wounded - but the benefits
other opinion-makers again asked the
of high technology
had seemed less than overwhelming when,
this
dred Somalis
advance along the
for
It
supposedly on a humanitarian operation
capture Aidid or quell the fighting, led to a rapid
failed to
of
for
helicopter
quoted by O'Rourke, succinctly comment-
lieutenant,
result of this
rethink
worse
the streets by the jubilant mob. The
This thing sucks - helping people
The which
power had proved deadly - accounting
their troops,
American
by angry Somalis,
to break out to safety, but
far
downed
and derision by the very people they had come to
and grenades, oth-
US
of the
dead body, mutilated and insulted by the Somali
his
to help starving Somalis, should
city
troops fought a running battle with the local citizens. Eventually,
18 of them had been
why
was
but what
one
that
crowd, was beamed around the world. der
rifles
ers just hurling sticks and stones. For an entire night, the
US troops managed
was dragged through
image of
ed,
capture their targets and
them armed with automatic
the next day, the
THIS THING SUCKS' A small defeat was bad enough,
West
to intervene, but
time the United States and the United Nations declined to
i
close-up, street-to-street fighting helicopters, could easily be
an armoured Humvf
in
vehicle
brought
down by
hand-held rockets.
send sively
in military
eroded
forces.
The experiences
in
Mogadishu had
deci-
their goodwill.
MOGADISHU
193
'
KRAJINA, 1995 the Soviet bloc. At the end of the Cold War, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and
its satellite
regimes
eastern Europe, eth-
in
.Zagreb
^CROATIA ^^»
^ *"^fto.A Bihac.
nic
L-
£/%
Vukovar
against
AUGUSTOCTOBER 1995
itself.
1990, then Croatia and
in
which
and Bo.snians.
control, clashed with Croatians
Centuries-old ethnic animosity
between
Catholic Croats,
many
Bosnians and Orthodox Serbs fuelled
committed against
civilians
Muslim
of the atrocities
throughout the region. From 1992
Sarajevo
onwards,
Gorazde"
-Split
peace-keepers working on behalf of the
became
involved
any decisive
lack of
in
an
X
Dubrovnik
some
that
/
|
captured Serbian
a
flag.
launching a major offensive
movements
994
1
four hundred thousand lives had
in
end
to
forces fought alongside its
army.
from outside allowed
military intervention
Croatia decided to put a decisive
Croatian forces
United
effort to pacify the region, but the
the fighting to continue, and by the end of Bosnian forces
Below. Croat soldiers
and police holding
Croatian paramilitary
Nations
Croatian
saw these
declarations of aggression
Fighting broke out as the Yugoslavian Army,
was under Serb
V ise g rad
.
secede
Tuzla
Srebrenicai
»-
to
first
Brcko
RZEGOVINA
**»
the
moves towards independence as
~^$^~
BOSNIA-
W* A
the break-up of Yugoslavia.
self-rule led to
Bosnia-Herzegovina followed. Serbia increasingly
Banja Luka
""
was
Slovenia
Osijek 1
Priiedor
pressures for
it
was estimated
been
lost. In
1995,
war with Serbia by
its
the Krajina region.
Croatian occupation
OPERATION STORM Krajina, a finger of land that
Operation Storm since the
the largest military offensive
Second World War.
illusion of its
was
In five
in
Europe
Serbs since 1991 Croatia wanted to assert
days, Croatia shattered the
.
Serbian military supremacy and secured freedom for
people. But the military effectiveness of Croat forces
this region,
was
The
the
nation-state of Yugoslavia
was
invented
part of the settlement of the First
federal entity
composed
in
1918 by peace-
World War.
of states including Slovenia,
It
was
became
a
communist
summit
front ble
a
line,
in
of a
western Bosnia hill
country, independent of
when
and then sent
its
local
own dominance
in
the Croats
their
built a
road to
tanks through the Serb
followed by assault troops. Krajina
now
looked vulnera-
and the Croats concentrated an impressive force of more than
one hundred thousand
Croatia,
Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. After 1945, under the leadership of Tito, Yugoslavia
the east towards
and forged a temporary alliance with Bosnian forces to
25 July 1995
Serbs followed.
makers as
in
confront the Serbs. The offensive began at Bosanko Grahovo on
not matched by professional behaviour, and terrible persecution of the
poked from Bosnia
the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, had been controlled by the
soldiers,
hundreds
pieces, and
dozens of helicopters and
them were
less than
fifty
thousand
of tanks
and
fighter aircraft.
Krajina Serbs.
artillery
Opposing
The Croats
Above: The major Croatian offensive against Serb forces
around Krajina during
TIM RIPLEY,
JOURNALIST
August-October 1995.
acquired more than
LOOTING
The 5th Corps went on info Krajina. with
looting sprees
columns of cars
returning to Bihac loaded
down
The supposedly
military
ARSK
equipment was also
game
for General Atif Dudakovic's troops,
194
KRAJINA
equipment and transport
entire contents of a fertiliser factory
Guards
Brigades were not adverse to looting,
[Serbian]
fair
well-disciplined
who
with the
commander
of the 7th Guards
Brigade, Major Genera/ Ivan Korade,
reputedly using his
unit's
remove
T-55 artillery
pieces, trucks and thousands of shells...
with
household goods and agricultural equipment. Abandoned
20 M-84 and
tanks along with dozens of heavy
engineering
from Bosanko Grahovo
to
for sale
the
on Splits
black-market.
Quoted from Operation Deliberate Force by Tim Ripley (Lancaster University, 1999)
they ordered their troops to
defences around Knin
were
inside the city
killing
fall
back on Bosnia, and the
swiftly.
By 5 August, Croat tanks
and United Nations peace-keepers could do
nothing to stop the
Serbs and
fell
ill-disciplined
them.
In
down
Croats from hunting
the countryside, Serb houses were
also looted and civilians murdered.
The Croats showed they
could ethnically cleanse an area as effectively and ruthlessly as the Serbs,
who had first practised
the policy
in
the war.
With Knin captured, resistance crumbled elsewhere along the northern harder than of
its
August,
On
Knin.
One in
many
heavy
civilians
Krajma
Croat Guards Brigade had 40
p
a frontal attack on Serb positions.
some 1 80,000 Serb
region, but
that
in
tanks destroyed
in
although Serbian defenders fought
frontier,
fighting
were
By 6
refugees were streaming out of the
around the fleeing columns meant
killed
by Croat
7 August the United Nations
artillery
managed
and
air strikes.
to broker a ceasefire
and the refugees were allowed to escape. Operation Storm Krajina of
was
a decisive victory for Croatia.
It
cleared
Serb resistance and changed the balance of power
in
the region, pushing the hitherto dominant Serbs onto the defensive. Croatia lost only
Above:
UN
soldiers
observe military activity in
called their next
move
Operation Storm began on the morning of 4 August with a
Bosnia but could do
little
to stop the
major
Croatian offensive
massive
The
artillery
and rocket bombardment of the Serbian
Krajinan capital of Knin
three hundred shells rained Right War damage during fighting
civilian
population and
now deemed
from mistreatment by
diers
desire for
down
a principal target and
there
in
the
lines.
soldiers
dead and 2,460 wounded, but its
army, acts which have largely gone unreported because the world's media focused
its
attention
on Serbian war crimes.
some
first half-hour.
The
in
Bosnia Civilians on both
who
was
409
was marred by extensive atrocities committed by
aim of the Croat bombardment was to spread fear among the
sides suffered terribly
soldiers
the triumph
Operation Storm.
let their
be the
to
make them move away from what was Because many
front line.
were militiamen with
of the Serb sol-
families to look after, this frequently
encouraged them to desert the front
line
as well.
Artillery fire
vengeance
override their
continued throughout the day,
professional duty
diers.
US
killing
numerous
fighter planes flew over the region to
attack, but
were targeted by Serb
pelled to fire back, but
it
was
not,
air
and
civilians
sol-
observe the
defences and were com-
as has been claimed by the
Serbs, part of any covert Western support for the Croats.
THE FALL OF KNIN The Croats pressed forward
in
three separate attacks. Colonel
General Ante Gotovina, a former French Foreign Legionnaire, led the attack
on
Knin. His assault
Guards Brigades armed with
was spearheaded by
Croatian
Soviet-built T-55 tanks.
Croat
advances against the south of Knin were met with Krajinan Serb counter-attacks, and the Guards Brigades found
it
easier
to approach from the east. Meanwhile, thousands of refugees
headed north out ers heard they
of the
city.
When
the Krajinan Serb
command-
would receive no reinforcements from
Serbia,
krajina
195
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1
INDEX
i
numbers
in Italic
refer to illustrations.
Abdullah, Khalifa 51-3
Abyzov, Vladimir 164
Nicholas van der 181
EIAIamem(1942) 123
Bismarck, Otto von 36, 38. 39, 39 Blannmg, T.C.W. 11
Gallipoli
Blementritt, General 93
Omdurman
Blitz
Afghanistan 182-5 191, 193
96-7
airborne troops, Crete (1941) 98-9
Blucher.
France
France (1940) 92
blitzkreig 91
Muhammad
Aidid, General
Biji,
Gebhard von 25
Austerlitz (1805)
(1915)62, 65
20-3
Cambrai (1917) 78-81 D-Day (1944) 144-7
(1898) 53
Pearl Harbor (1941) 107
Dien Bien Phu (1954) 170-3
Singapore (1942) 108, 110, 111
Fall of
Clark, Alan
69
(1940)90-3 World War 58-61 70-3, 74
First
,
Bodyguard, Operation (1944) 144 Boers 41
Clark, Lieutenant
Bordelon, Staff Sergeant William 135
Coignet, Captain Jean-Roch 20, 22, 23
Bosnia-Herzegovina 194-5 Boutros-Ghali, Boutros 191
Confederate States, Gettysburg (1863) 32-5
Bowden, Mark 192
Coral Sea, Battle of the (1942) 112-13
St L6 148-9 Second World War 90-3, 148-9 Sedan (1870)36-9 Somme (1916) 70-3
Boxer Rebellion (1900) 54 Bradley, General 146, 148-9
Corsica 17
Trafalgar (1815)
Brandt, Hemrich von 20
Croatia
Apel, Herbert 127
Braun, Eva 164
Cuba, San Juan
Ardennes Offensive (1944) 154-7
Braun, Rudolf 95
Custer, Lieutenant Colonel
Argentina, Port Stanley (1982) 180-1
Brighton, Terry 53
Armistead, Brigadier General Lewis A.
Britain, Battle of
Ambrose, Stephen E. 149 American Civil War (1861-1865) 32-5 Amiens, Peace
29, 30,
of (1802) 21
Anders, Lieutenant General Wladyslaw
139 Antietam Creek. Battle of (1862) 32, 32 Anzacs 62-5
34-5, 35
74
Brusilov, General Alexei
Brusilov Offensive (1916) 66-9
Gettysburg (1863) 32-3
Buena
Islandlwana (1979)41-2
Bulge, Battle of the see
Port Stanley (1982) 181
Bungay, Stephen 97
38-9
38,
Somme(1916)71, 72, 73 Valmy (1792) 10, 11 Waterloo (1815) 25-7, 26-7 Ypres (1917) 74-6, 77 Asaka Yasuhiko, Prince 88 Assaye, Battle of (1803) 12-15 Atlantic, Battle of the (1943) 124-7 Atlantic Wall 145 Aurangzeb 12 Austerlitz, Battle of (1805) 20-3 Australia
World War 62-5, 72
Burma, Kohima (1944) 140-3 Bush, President George 187 Byng, General 79 28
Austro-Prussian
Dornier
Cambrai, Battle of (1917) 78-81
Campbell, Colin 15
Cape
Doyle, Peter 74
St Vincent, Battle of (1797) 17
Carey, M. 23
George
France, Battle of (1940) 90-3 A. 41
Cassino(1944) 136-9 Castries, Brigadier General Christian de Croix de 171-2
la
Air Chief
Sir
Hugh
Rao
II,
Peshwa 14
Barbarossa, Operation (1941) 100-3 Barre, Major General Siyad
190
Joachim 149 Baxter, I.M. 99 Bayerlein, General 149 Belgium Ardennes (1944) 154-7 Barth, Major
German
invasion (1940) 92-3
Marne (1914) 58-60 Waterloo 24-7 Ypres (1917) 74-7
HMS
Belleisle
1
7-1
Berlin (1945)
162-5
Betio Island 133. 134
162-5
66-9
Brusilov Offensive (1916)
Obied 51
First
World War 58-61 66-85. 90 ,
Elphick, Peter 110, 111
France (1940) 90-3
Emerson, Ralph Waldo 30
Franco-Prussian
Falkenhayn, Erich von 61, 68
Marne (1914) 58-61 Second World War 90-1 03. 116-19.
War
(1982) 180-1
Ron 31, 135, 161, 169 World War 58-85 Brusilov Offensive (1916)66-9 Cambrai (1917) 78-81 Gallipoli (1915) 62-5 Germany's Black Day' (1918) 82-5
China
First
Inchon (1950) 166
Nanking (1937)86-9
Second World War 104 1
64
Winston
Battle of the Atlantic (1943)
Cambrai (1917) 78 D-Day (1944) 144
Berlin (1945)
124-7
94-7
Battle of Britain (1940)
Alamein, Battle of (1942) 120-3
156, 157, 162
Field,
Battle of Britain (1940) 95,
Berar 14
44-7
Battle of (1881)
El
Ferdinand Archduke 22
8,
Squadron Leader 97
War 36-9
Kursk (1943) 128-31
41
1 1
62-5. 144
Gannon, Michael 127 Gardiner, Juliet 147
El
Chiang Kai-shek 87-8
Churchill,
46 World War 67-8
General 60
Cambrai (1917) 78-81 Cassino(1944) 136-9 Crete (1941) 98-9 El Alamein (1942) 120-3
Falklands
41-2. 41
Chuikov, General Vasily
Gallieni,
Battle of the Atlantic (1943)
33-4
Chelmsford, Lieutenant General Lord
Chetshwayo
Galicia, First
Egypt
Eisenhower, General Dwight D. 146, 147,
Baji
Commander Mitsuo 104
Gaidaroff, Colonel
Eglantine, Fabre d' 9
Einsatzgruppen 101
(1866) 36
Fuchida,
Ardennes (1944) 154-7 Barbarossa (1941) 100-3
Cerro Gordo, Battle of (1847) 28. 29
War
138-9 Fnpp, C.E. 40
Geok Tepe. Germany
Cerezo, Lieutenant 181
Austro-Prussian
French Revolution, Valmy 8-1
Dumouriez, General 10, 11 Dunkirk 92. 93, 93. 94-5
EIAIamein(1942) 120-3 Napoleon 21 Six Day War (1967) 174-5
L.
)
Freyberg, Major General Bernard 99,
Genda, Minoru 104 General Belgrano 1 80
(1898) 51-3
Chamberlain, Colonel Joshua Chambre, General Rene 137 Chang, Iris 89 Chappell, Michael 73 Charmley, John 107 Cheek, Corporal 169
(1
French Indochina 170-3
Garvin.
French Revolution 9
(1916)66-8
22 870-1 871 36-9
of Austria
War
French, Field Marshal John 60
Gallipoli (1915)
Marshal
Waterloo (1815) 25 Austria-Hungary, Brusilov Offensive
Emperor
Francis,
Ducrot 37-8
Sedan (1870) 38-9 Waterloo (1815) 26-7
War 36
(1898) 48-9
bombers 96
Dowding, 95
Cambrai (1917) 81
20-3
Hill
Donitz, Admiral 127 California
Omdurman
Austerlitz (1805)
29 Ardennes
Vista, Battle of (1847)
cavalry
Singapore 109-11 Austria
16-18 Valmy (1792)8-11 Waterloo (1815) 24-7
94-5
D-Day (1944) 144-7, 148 Dana, Lieutenant Napoleon J.T. 31 Dardanelles, Gallipoli 62 Darman, Peter 174 Davis, Jefferson 32 Davis, Richard Harding 49 Dempsey, General 146 Deniken, General 69 Denmark 36 Desert Storm (1991) 186-9 Dien Bien Phu (1954) 170-3
67-9
GeokTepe(1881)46
Sedan (1870)
1
Franco-Prussian
(1940) 94-7
Brunswick, Duke of 10
artillery
Robert 12
Crete (1941) 98-9
Brown, Malcolm 61, 85
Arras. Battle of (1917)
First
Clive,
Marne (1914) 58-61 Napoleonic Wars 16-19. 20-7
General 138
124-5
96
120-31. 148-9. 154-7, 162-5
Somme
(1916) 70-3
116-19 Waterloo (1815) 24-5 Ypres (1917) 74-7 Stalingrad (1942)
Gettysburg, Battle of (1863) 32-5 Giap.
Vo Nguyen 1 71 32-5
.
1
73.
1
78-9
Marne (1914) 58-61
Gilbert lslands-1
Somme (1916) 70-3 Ypres (1917) 74-7
Gorbachev, Mikhail 184 Gordon, General Charles 50, 53
Rear Admiral Frank 112-13 Ford, Ronnie E. 176, 179 Fletcher,
Goring,
Hermann
Gott. General 120
94. 95,
96
1
Gough, General 74. 77 Grant, Ulysses S. 29-30
W.
Grau. Lester
Holstein 36
182, 185
Gravelotte-St Privat, Battle of (1870) 37
Great
Britain, Gallipoli
(1915) 62-5
Great Britain
Kurita, Vice
Battle of the Atlantic (1943) Battle of Britain (1940)
124-7
94-7
Montgomery, General Bernard 120-3,
Admiral 152
Kursk, Battle of (1943) 128-31
Hongen, Battle of (1793) 11 Home, Alistair 22 Home. Colonel Barry 189 Horton, Admiral 126-7
727, 146,
Kuwait 181, 186-9 Laukhard
Hudson, Roger 39
Assaye 12-15
1
1
Lee. General Robert E. 29, 32-5, 32
97 Saddam 186-9. 187
Hurricanes
Leipzig, Battle of
Hussein.
Leningrad 101, 102
Hutton, Lieutenant Edward 43
148
Thomas
Morris, Sergeant
(1813)24
Moscow
101. 102
Mughals
12,
Mukden
26, 27
14
Incident (1931)
86
Mussolini, Benito 120, 136
Leyte Gulf, Battle of (1944) 150-3
mustard gas 75, 77 Mutaguchi, Lieutenant Renya 140 My Lai 178
Cambrai (1917) 78-81 Cassino (1944) 136-9
imperialism 12
Ligny, Battle of (1815)
Crete (1941) 98-9
Imphal 140. 142
Lincoln, President
D-Day (1944) 144-7 Desert Storm (1991) 187-9 EIAIamein(1942) 120-3 First World War 58-65, 70-85 France (1940) 91-3
Inchon (1950) 166-9
Little
India
Lloyd George, David 79, 82
Assaye (1803) 12-15 Second World War 140 Iraq 186-9
Louis XVIII, King of France 24
Isandlwana (1879)40-3
Isandlwana. Battle of (1879) 40-3
Ludendorff, General Erich von 67, 82-5
Trafalgar (1815) 16, 17, 18
Kohima<1944) 140-3
Israel
Ludendorff Offensives (1918) 83-4
Valmy (1792)
Liddell Hart, Basil 78, 93,
Marne (1914) 58-61 Napoleonic Wars 6-1 9, 24-7 1
Omdurman
(1898) 50-3
Port Stanley (1982) 180-1
Russo-Japanese War 54, 56
Nagatomi Hakudo 89
Bighorn, Battle of (1876) 41
Lucy, Corporal
John 61
Austerlitz (1805) 20-3,
Desert Storm (1991) 188 Six
Day War (1967) 174-5
MacArthur, General Douglas 150, 166-9 McAuliffe, Brigadier General 157
Cassino (1944) 136-9 Napoleon 20-1
McClellan, George B. 29, 32
Macdonald, Lyn 75 Macfie, Staff Nurse 75 machine guns
Second World War 120
Nagumo, Vice Admiral 104-5.
Waterloo (1815) 24-7 Napoleon III, Emperor of France 36-9, 39 Napoleonic Wars (1800-1815) 11, 16-19, 20-3, 24 Nelson, Vice-Admiral Horatio 16, 17-18,
17
Netherlands
Jackson,
Somme
Janos, Leo 189
GeokTepe(1881)45
Japan
Isandlwana (1979)41
Nevada 03-4
Omdurman
Neville, Captain
(1916) 70-3
16-19,21
Turkmenistan 45. 46, 47
War
of 1812 28 Waterloo (1815) 24-7 Ypres (1917) 74-7
Greece. Second World Gretton,
Commander
Griffith,
Paddy 77, 85
War 98-9
Peter 126
Guderian, General Heinz 131 Haig. General Douglas 71-3, 73. 74, 77,
79,84 Hamilton, General Ian 60, 63. 64. 65 Harding. Lieutenant John
64
Hargood, Captain 17-18
Thomas
J.
29
Brusilov Offensive (1916)
Kohima(1944) 140-3 Leyte Gulf (1944) 150-3 Midway (1942) 112-15 Nanking (1937) 86-9 Okinawa (1945) 158-61 Pearl Harbor (1941) 104-7 Second World War 1 04-1 5,
1
32-5,
Singapore (1942) 108-11 Tarawa (1943) 132-5 Tsushima (1905) 54-7 Joff re. General Joseph 60 Jordan 174
Hart. Peter
35
64
pilots 750,
(1898) 50, 51, 53
Gallipoli (1915)
Somme
50,
53
War 108-10
54-5, 57
Marathas 12-15
Kara
Kearny, Stephen 29
Marne,
Kellerman, General 10, 10
Marvin, Charles 47
Kemal, Mustafa (Kemal Ataturk) 64-5
Massenbach, Colonel von Matsui Iwane, General 88-9 Meade, Major General George 33-5, 35 Messines. Battle of (1917) 74 Mexican-American War (1846-48) 28-31 Mexico City, Battle of (1847) 28-31 Midway, Battle of (1942) 112-15 Mikasa 55 mines
49
Himmler, Heinrich 101
Kesselring, Albert 136, 138
Hindenburg. Paul von 67
Khartoum
Hitler,
Adolf
53
Kiev 101, 102
Ardennes Offensive (1944) 154 Barbarossa (1941) 100, 101, 102-3 Berlin (1945) 162. 163-4 Britain, Battle of
(1940) 94, 95. 96. 97
Crete (1941) 98. 99
D-Day (1944) 145. 148 EIAIamein(1942) 123 France (1940) 90. 92-3. 93 Kursk (1943) 128-9 Soviet Union 116-19
HoChiMinh170.
777
Peter 25
Kitchener, Major General Horatio 50-3,
53 von 60 Kluge, Field Marshal von 149 Knight, Ian 43 Kluck, General
Kohima. Battle of (1944) 140-3 Koniev, General 162, 164 Koniggratz, Battle of (1866)
36
Korea 54-5. 57. 166-9
War
(1950-53) 166-9
Krajina(1995) 194-5
the (1914) 58-61
First Battle of
7
72,
113
Nishimura, Admiral 152
74 Normandy, D-Day (1944) 144-7 Nygren, Lieutenant 135 Nivelle Offensive (1917)
GeokTepe(1881)46 (1916) 71-2
Mogadishu (1993) 190-3 Molino del Rey, Battle of (1847) 29, 30, 31 Moltke, General von (Franco-Prussian
War) 37-8 Moltke, Helmuth von
60,61,67
Okinawa (1945) 158-61 Oldendorf, Admiral 151-2
1
Somme
Knight, Private Chris 81
Korean
(1942)
Marmelukes 22
Kent, Major General
50,
Midway
Okinawa (1945) 158 Tarawa (1943) 132
Hickey, Michael 143
Hill.
W.
Leyte Gulf (1944) 150
Hibbert, Christopher 15
A.P 32 JR. 19
the (1798) 17, 21
Nimitz, Admiral Chester
Harvey. Robert 57
Hill,
Niemann, Lieutenant Johannes 61 Niemis, Renato 131 Nile, Battle of
Japanese invasion (1931) 86-7 Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Kum 44
62-5
(1916) 72
Ney, Marshal 22, 25, 26
Manchuria
753
80
New Zealand
Malinin, General 730
Kabul (1988) 182-5
kamikaze
1
Russo-Japanese War 55 (1917) 71, 73 MacMahon, General 37 McMillan, Oden 105 Maginot Line 92 Mahdi Mohammed Ahmed Maine 48 Makin 132-3 Malaya, Second World
Junger. Ernst 72
invasion (1940) 92
Waterloo (1815) 24-5
Malaparte, Curzio 103
Harman, Lance Corporal John 142 Harrison. Walter
German
69
Somme
150-3, 158-61
22,23
11
Singapore (1942) 108-11 Trafalgar (1805)
112, 113.
115 Nanking (1937) 86-9 Napoleon Bonaparte 20
Lucas, Captain 18
Italy
Second World War 91-9. 108-11, 120-7. 136-48
138
25
Abraham 35
(First
World War)
Omaha Beach Omdurman,
744. 745,
O'Neil, Captain William
O'Rourke.
146-7
Battle of (1898)
P.J.
50-3
49
192-3
Osborn, Steven Allen 34 Oslabia
56
Osman
Digna 51
Overlord, Operation 144-7
Padf ield, Peter 1 53 Palestine, Six Day War (1967) 174-5 Papua New Guinea, Second World War 112-13 Passchendaele see Ypres, Third Battle of Patton, Lieutenant General George 157 Paulus, General Friedrich 117-19 Pearl Harbor (1941) 104-7
8
1
Jochen 155-7
Peiper,
Schlieffen Plan
War (1808-1814) 24
Peninsular
Philippines. Leyte Gulf (150-3) Pickett,
Major General George Charge 35
110-11
150 E.
34-5
see also Russia
173
Plassey, Battle of (1757) 12
Plumer, General 74, 77
Scindia 14
Trafalgar
Hill
(1898)
29
48-9
Spitfires 94. 94.
War
(1898)
48-9
95
Sprague, Rear Admiral 151-2
Second World War Ardennes (1944) 154-7
Spruance, Rear-Admiral 113-15 Stalin 102-3.
Atlantic (1943)
Barbarossa(1941) 100-3 Battle of Britain (1940) 94-7
124-7
116-17. 128. 154. 162.
163^1 Stalingrad, Siege of (1942)
162-5
116-19
64
Steel, Nigel
City (1847) 28-31
Midway
17-18
Spanish-American
Poland
World War 67 Second World War 91
Mexico
San Juan
Seaton, Shirley 61
Pohlmann 14-15 First
Leyte Gulf (1944) 150-3
Spain
Schwarzkopf, General Norman 187, 188 Scott. General Winfield 29-30.
Pickett's
Piroth, Colonel
92-3
Schmidt, Heinz Werner 123
Percival, Lieutenant General 109,
(1942) 112-15 Mogadishu (1993) 190-3 Okinawa (1945) 158-61 Pearl Harbor (1941) 104-7 St L6 148-9 San Juan Hill (1898) 48-9 Second World War 104-7. 112-15, 125,
132-7. 144-61 Tarawa (1943) 132-5 Tet Offensive 119681 176-9
Storm. Operation (1995) 194-5
Cassino(1944) 136-9
stormtroopers 80. 82-4
US US
Port Arthur 54-5, 57
Crete (1941) 98-100
Student. General Kurt 98-9
Uzbekistan 44-5
Port Stanley (1982) 180-1
Prokhorovka 129. 130-1
D-Day (1944) 144-7 EIAIamem(1942) 120-3 France (1940) 90-3 Kohima(1944) 140-3
Sudan 50-3 Suvorov 56 Suzhou 87 Syria. Six Day War (1967) 174-5
Prussia
Kursk 91943) 128-31
Sedan (1870) 36-9 Valmy (1792)8-11 Waterloo (1815) 24-7 Purdom, C.B. 81
Leyte Gulf (1944) 150-3
Taiping Rebellion
Midway (1942) 112-15 Okinawa (1945) 158-61
Takma Sardar 46
Polk, President 28, 29,
Berlin (1945)
30
Porteous, Colonel Patrick 147 Prince Robert 124
Pearl Harbor (1941)
Rabin, Lieutenant General Itzhak 174
Rawlinson, General 72, 74, 84
Reagan, President 183-4
Redoutable Rich,
Ben
1
6,
1
189
R.
Richards. Colonel
Rix,
Hugh 142
Talbot, Captain
104-7
John 27
Senger, General von 137, 138
1
sepoys
50
63
tanks
Singapore (1942) 108-11 Stalingrad (1942) 116-19 Tarawa (1943) 132-5 Second World War (1939-45) 90-165 Nanking (1937) 86 Sedan, First World War 85 Sedan, Battle of (1870) 36-9 Selby,
Tom 94 Private Wade 53
Ripley,
12, 14-15, 75
Cambrai (1917) 78-81. 81 Kursk (1943) 128-31 Six Day War (1967) 174-5 Somme (1916) 72-3
General Zachary 28-9
Wellesley, Arthur see Wellington,
Wellesley, Richard, Marquis 14
Tocqueville, Alexis de 8
Wellington. Arthur Wellesley.
Assaye(1803) 12. 14-15 Waterloo (1815) 24-7. 25 Westmoreland, General William 776 Wilhelm Kaiser 38-9 Wingate, Major General Orde 140 Witherby, Sergeant 84 Wittmann, Michael 129, 131 Woodruff, Mark W. 178 Worth, General 29 Wright. John 142
Tojo,
Tra,
Rough Riders 49
Shephard, Ernest 73 Shibasaki. Rear Admiral 133
Rozhdestvenski, Admiral Zinovy 55-7, 55
Shiskov. A.N. 185
Rudder, Colonel Jim 146-7
Singapore (1942) 108-11
Trundle. Lieutenant
Rundstedt, Field Marshal von 93. 156
Sioux 41
Tsuji.
Six
Austerlitz (1905)
World War
66-9 GeokTepe (1881) 44-7 Napoleon 24 Tsushima (1905) 54-7 First
60,
Torch, Operation (1942) 122
Townsend.
Private
160
Edwin 85
Colonel 110-11
Tsushima, Battle of (1905) 54-7
46
Turkey, Gallipoli (1915)
John 146
Slim, Lieutenant William 140. 74
7,
Duke
Duke
62-5
Turkmenistan 44-7
Yalu. Battle of
Twiggs, Major 29
Yamamoto, Admiral Isoroku
(1904)55 1
:
112-13. 115
142-3 Smith, Eugene 161
U-boats 124-7
Smith, General Holland 134
Ulm, Battle of (1805) 17,22
Smith, Major General Julian 133
uMhoti 42
Yamamoto. Lance-Corporal 1 1 Yamashita. General Tomoyuki USS Vo/*rown113
see also Soviet Union Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) 54-7, 60, 66, 86
Smith, Robert Barr 173
United Nations
Ypres. Third Battle of 11917) 74-7. 84
Ryan. Cornelius 165
Somme,
Snilling,
St L6 Sajer,
Hill,
Battle of (1898)
48-9
Sanders, General Liman von 63
70-3
Barbarossa(1941) 100-3 Berlin (1945) 162-5 Kabul (1988) 182-5
Kursk (1943) 128-31
Sato, Lieutenant General 140, 142-3
Second World War 91 100-3, 104. 116-19 Stalingrad (1942) 116-19
Schlieffen, Alfred
von 60
Yugoslavia
195 Mogadishu (1993) 190-3
Zhukov, Marshal Georgy
United States
Marshal 22, 25
Santa Anna. Antonio Lopez de 29-30 Saudi Arabia 187
94-5
Desert Storm (1991) 187
1
109. 110
Krajina (1995)
Battle of the (1916)
Soviet Union
148-9 Guy 119
San Juan
Robinson 115
Somalia 190-3 Soult.
of
of
I.
Colonel General Tran van 179
Trafalgar, Battle of (1805) 16-19, 21
Day War (1967) 174-5
Slaughter, Sergeant
20-3
Brusilov Offensive (1916) 66-9
General Hideki 104
Transvaal 41
Skobeleff. General 44-7,
Russia
9
War of 1812 28 Waterloo. Battle of (1815) 24-7
Togo, Vice-Admiral 56-7
9,
Battle of (1779) 14
Walker, Lieutenant General 166
Thorne. Major 13
Major General William 49 Sharpe, William 77 Sheffield, Gary 120-1
38-9
17-18
Waterhouse. Major 143
Shafter,
Russell. William
Victory 16.
Texas 28
Serbia 194-5
Rotmistrov, Lieutenant General 131
HMS
VietMinh 170-3 Vietnam Dien BienPhu(1954) 170-3 Tet Offensive (1968) 176-9 Vllleneuve, Admiral Pierre 17-18 Vimy Ridge, Battle of (1917) 74 Lieutenant 20
Thatcher, Margaret 180. 181. 187
Robinson, Snelling 115
Marshal Erwin 120-3, 148 Roosevelt, Lieutenant Colonel Theodore 48-9
Verdun (1916) 71
Tet Offensive (1968) 176-9
Rommel,
Field
Valmy. Battle of (1792)8-11
Wadgaon.
Ypres(1917)74. 75 Tarawa, Battle of (1943) 132-5 Taylor,
September massacres (1792)
727, 145,
Rangers. D-Day 146-7
Vienna. Congress of (1815) 24
St L6 (1944) 148-9
Quatre Bras, Battle of (18151 25, 27
Marines, Mexico City (1847) 29
,
Ardennes (1944) 154-7 Cassino (1944) 136-9 D-Day (1944) 144-7 Desert Storm (1991) 186-9 First World War 84. 85 Gettysburg (1863) 32-5 Inchon (1950) 166-9 Krajina (1995) 195
1
02
117-19. 162. 164
38
Zola. Emile
Zouaves 38 Zulus 40-3
INDEX
199
1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PICTURE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
IN
SOURCE ORDER:
THE PUBLISHER p.1
AKG,
LONDON
103 bottom, 128, 130 bottom,
half title, 94, 96,
142, 172 bottom, 173, /Archiv fur Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin 161,
J.B.
/Musee
Mauzaisse
de
Historique, Palais
by Horace Vernet
after a painting
883)
(1
Bottom
Versailles 21
60,
1
52,
1
189, /Bettmann 59
right,
1
69,
1
79
right,
1
08
Debay
1
/Howard Davies
Dupont 183, /Hulton-Getty
186, /Stephen
top, 110-111, 181, /Vittoriano Rastelli
Turnley
/Robin Adshead
61, 86, 87, 88, 89, 106 bottom, 109,
143, 151 centre, 159 bottom, 174 centre right, 184, /Yves
Personal History. Christopher Hibbert. HarperCollins Publishers, London;
John Selby. Longman
& Green,
reproduced by permission of Chrysalis Books
Oxford University Press, Oxford; p 23 The
Hill.
& Windus.
London; p.27 The Recollections of Sergeant
London; p.31 The Mexican-American War. Ron p.35 Pickett's Men. Walter Harrison,
Pic;
1
74 top
right,
58,
/Peter
92
Rough
Press. Wiltshire, reproduced by permission of
Macmillan, London; p.61 Christmas Truce. M. Brown and
and
Hart, Macmillan,
P.
edited by Bruce Rossor, Called
It
13
S.
The Crowood
The Crowood
Press; p.57 The Undefeated. Robert Harvey.
Clark,
127 top
I.M. Baxter,
London;
IMPACT PHOTOS/Alex MacNaughton 182
& Jackson.
p.
reproduced by permission of Military
107 Churchill- The End of
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185
Franklin
188, /Associated Press 134
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Dobby
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London, reproduced by permission of Aurum Press;
Cassel
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Thanks
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Report by the Supreme
'Battle of Gettysburg' painted
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/'Dawn 20th November 1917' painting by
24,
W.L. Wyllie 78, /'Death of Nelson' painting by Denis Dighton 1
/'Duke of Wellington' painting by Goya, 1812 25 centre
9,
left,
by
/'Quatre Bras' by Lady Butler 27, /'Tarawa Landing' painting
Tom
Lovell
1
34
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by Wilhelm Camphausen 39
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/illustration
Woodville 43, 52, /Ivan Shagin 163 top
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left,
by
R.
right, /painting
Caton by
/painting by C. Escalante 31, /painting
1
p.
p.
1
&
Commander
Ron
p. 138
The Other Side
of the
Hill,
D-Day- Those Who Were
Brown; p 149 Citizen
Soldiers.
There. Juliet Gardiner. Collins
Stephen
135
&
Brown, London,
Ambrose, Simon & Schuster. London;
E.
to the
Combined Chiefs of Staff on the Operations
in
p.
1
56
Europe of the Allied
Illustrated; p.
Surprise Attack, Peter Darman.
Illustrated;
p
1
p.
165 The Last
169
All Hell
Battle. Cornelius
Broke Loose. Ron
73 The Last Cartridge, Robert Barr Smith, Avon Books. London;
Brown Books. London; p.179
Tet
1968 Understanding the Surprise. Ronnie
Cass Publishers. London, reproduced by permission of Frank Cass Publishers; p 181 Nine Battles der
Bijl,
Pen
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Went Over the Mountain,
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Janos.
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to Stanley. Nicholas
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Deliberate Force. Tim Ripley, Lancaster University Press, Lancaster.
200
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131 Panzer Leader, Heinz Gudenan, Michael Joseph, London;
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Field,
reproduced by permission of Military
Corgi,
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HarperCollins, London, reproduced by permission of HarperCollins Publishers;
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The Onon
Sajer.
Expeditionary Force, Her Majesty's Stationary Office. Norwich, reproduced by permission of Her Maiesty's Stationary Office; p.161 Marine.
Brown and Company
by
Guy
53 The War Beneath the Sea, Peter Padf ield. John Murray, London, reproduced by permission of John Murray;
by C.E. Fripp 40, /painting by de Mesnier 23, /painting by right, /painting
of
Hodder and Stoughton, London, reproduced
London; p.143 The Unforgettable Army, Michael Hickey. Spellmount Publishers. Kent, reproduced by
on page 195.
Butler
Press; p.99 Hitler's Green Devils,
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The Pregnable Forest. Peter
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Illustrated;
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to U.S.
Steel
Gallipoli, N.
Sergeant Major's War.
The Crowood Press; p.75 They
Kent, reproduced by permission of Kent State University Press; p.1 19 The Forgotten Soldier.
Publishing
TOPHAM PICTUREPOINT
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Press. Wiltshire, reproduced by permission of
Enemy, Stephen Bungay, Aurum Press. London, reproduced by permission
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p.53 The Last Charge. Terry Brighton,
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Books, London; p.93 The Other Side of the
HULTON GETTY PICTURE COLLECTION 39
Anatomy of the Zulu Army.
Seaton. Macmillan, London; p.64 Defeat at
London; p.69 The Eastern Front 1914-18, Alan
p.85 1918 Year of Victory, Malcolm Brown, Sidgwick
MARY EVANS PICTURE LIBRARY
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Riders.
London,
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Books. London, reproduced by permission of Greenhill Books; p 47 The Russian Advance to
Charles Marvin. London; p.49 The
The Crowood
Field. Brassey's,
New York;
Special Correspondent of the Times, edited by Roger Hudson. The Folio Society, London; p.43
59 top left,
A
M. Carey, Chatto
Narrative of Captain Coignet. translated by
Ian Knight. Greenhill
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IS
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p.19 The Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy, edited by JR.
Copy by
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1
If
hdttM^W^ High School 23
Tim Newark
is
tfcMitor
nAary
leading monthly of over
20 books
including
of
Military Illustrated, a
history magazine,
n various aspects
and the author
of military history.
IrVaflKWar in Britain and the Book of
Camouflage. He
is
the founding series editor of
Brassey's History of Uniforms and editorial director of Military Illustrated Books. Tim
Newark
is
currently writing
a 26-part television series for the BBC/History Channel.
W>»?
[
Peter
Newark s
Military Pictures
1792
VALMY
1803
ASSAYE
1805
TRAFALGAR AUSTERLITZ
1815
WATERLOO
1847
MEXICO CITY
1863
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1879
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HILL
1905
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1914
FIRST BATTLE OF THE
1915
GALUPOLI
1916
THE BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE
MARNE
THESOMME 1917
YPRES
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GERMANY'S 'BLACK DAY'
1937
NANKING
1940
FRANCE THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
1941
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BARBAROSSA PEARL HARBOR 1942
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BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
KURSK
TARAWA 1944
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STLO LEYTEGULF
haped modern warfare and altered history
ARDENNES 1945
OKINAWA BERLIN
9"780600 603184 ll
1954
DIENBIEN
1967
SIX DAY
1968
THE TET OFFENSIVE
1982
PORT STANLEY
1988
KABUL
1991
DESERT STORM
1993
MOGADISHU
1995
KRAJINA
WAR
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