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Digital edition
GreatDigitalMags.com
Issue 049
AMERICAN BUTCHER SPARTA'S

EMPIRE CUMBERLAND NEMESIS
Uncover the USA's How the conquering prince Crushing the
colonial campaigns earned a bloody reputation warrior elite
PLUS: FIGHT FOR BANGLADESH ● ROUNDHEAD SEAL ● U-48
WELCOME TO ISSUE 49
Welcome
“The only thing that ever really frightened
me during the war was the U-boat peril ”
CONTRIBUTORS
TOM GARNER
This month Tom explores
the military record of Prince
William Augustus, known
to history as ‘Butcher
Cumberland’ after his
ruthless crushing of the
Jacobite Rebellion at the
Battle of Culloden and its
– Sir Winston Churchill aftermath (page 54).
A
fter the Battle of Allied convoys, but why ultimately MIKE HASKEW
Britain, the next most they were not enough to see As well as our Wolfpack
serious threat to the Germany victorious in the Battle of cover feature (page 26),
UK’s survival in WWII the Atlantic. this issue Mike takes a
was the German U-boat campaign look inside one of the most
in the Atlantic. By taking out the successful U-boats of WWII:
vital lifeline of the merchant navy, U-48. He takes you through
Germany believed it could starve its impressive missions and
its highly effective technical
Britain into submission, a
layout (page 40).
possibility Churchill admitted
later in his memoirs to be his
greatest fear.
WILLIAM WELSH
Over 50 years ago, the
However, even with the Battle of Ia Drang saw the
innovation of the ‘Rudeltaktik’ or first pitched battle between
wolfpack tactic, the Kriegsmarine US and North Vietnamese
was unable to destroy enough Tim Williamson forces. It also saw the debut
Allied shipping to cripple the British Editor of helicopter assault tactics,
war effort. This issue explores how which did not provide the
U-boat technology and tactics
managed to cause mayhem among
EMAIL
timothy.williamson@futurenet.com
swift victory that US generals
hoped for (page 46).
www.historyanswers.co.uk FACEBOOK
/HistoryofWarMag
TWITTER
@HistoryofWarMag
A US Coast Guard convoy
escort depth charges a
U-boat to the surface
Image: Alamy
3
ISSUE 49
’
RS
HIT LE CKS
OL FPA
W 26 How Germany’s U-boat tactics
crippled Allied shipping but failed to
win the Battle of the Atlantic
Frontline
Spanish-American War
SPARTA’S
14
The Old and the New World collide again as the
USA becomes embroiled in Spain’s colonial decline
NEMESIS
16 American conquests
The war flared up around the world, as Spain’s
colonies fell to American arms
18 Storming San Juan Heights

This climactic battle saw American forces score a
decisive victory over Spain in Cuba
20 To build an empire
As Spanish dominance dwindled across the globe,
a new rising superpower readily took its place
22 In the ranks 82 Epaminondas

Buffalo soldiers, Rough Riders, the Asiatic may be largely
Squadron and more all served in this global war forgotten today,
24 Heroes and leaders but he brought
Journalists, generals and future presidents made Greece’s warrior
their name in this brief conflict elite to their knees
4
CONTENTS
06 WAR IN FOCUS
BRUTAL BIRTH Stunning imagery from throughout history
OF BANGLADESH: PART II
26 Hitler’s wolfpacks
How did Germany’s U-boat tactics cripple
British shipping, and why did they fail?
40 OPERATOR’S HANDBOOK
U-48
Take a tour of the most successful U-boat
in the Atlantic campaign
46 GREAT BATTLES
Ia Drang
America’s first pitched battle in the
Vietnam War was a brutal encounter
54 Butcher Cumberland
Explore the military career of this ruthless
and often hapless military commander
62 A struggle for air superiority erupts as India prepares 62 Brutal birth of Bangladesh:
Part II
to intervene in East Pakistan’s civil war East Pakistan’s civil war threatens to spill
over into India and beyond
IA DRANG
70 MEDAL OF HONOR HEROES
Oliver Otis Howard
This pious Union officer earned a fearless
reputation on Civil War battlefields
46 The first pitched battle between 76 Jadotville Day

US and Vietnamese forces was Heroes of Ireland’s forgotten battle have
finally been recognised for their service
a brutal encounter
82 Sparta’s nemesis
Discover how Epaminondas brought
Greece’s warrior kingdom to its knees
90 Reviews
A round up of the latest military history
titles waiting for you on the shelves
93 Competition
Win The Vietnam War DVD box set
94 The battlefield of liberty

Charles Spencer discusses his new book
on the Battle of Worcester
98 ARTEFACT OF WAR
Roundhead seal
A 17th-century sigil for wounded veterans
U-48 TYPE VII-B Subscribe

40 Take a tour of the deadliest
74 Never miss an issue, get History Of War
before it’s available in the shops and
German submarine to prowl the seas save a bundle while you’re at it
5
WAR IN FOCUS
6
in
THE MANE OBJECTIVE

Taken: August 1967
Corporal Russell Johnson crouches while on guard
at Aden Zoo during the final months of the Radfan
Uprising. British forces began withdrawing from
the Aden Protectorate, now part of Yemen, just
three months after this photograph was
taken. The Parachute Regiment served
in the Aden several times during
the four-year conflict.
© Getty
7
WAR IN FOCUS
8
in
ON THE LINE
Taken: c. 1942
A factory worker lines up bullet shells on a factory
assembly line during WWII. After the USA’s entry
into the war, men and women were encouraged
to join the home front effort and fill the roles
vacated by serving troops. However, many
of these positions were lost post-war
as the country scaled back its
wartime economy.
© Getty
9
in
RIVER PATROL
Taken: 11 March 1965
Men of the Second Battalion, Seventh Duke
of Edinburgh’s Own Gurkhas, survey their
surroundings on the Limbang river. After the
Malayan Emergency, or ‘Forgotten War’ in 1960,
communist insurgents continued the fight
against the newly independent Malayan
government, which was supported by
British Commonwealth forces.
10
WAR IN FOCUS
© Getty
11
in
TOMCAT STORM
Taken: 1 February 1991
A US Navy Tomcat fighter flies over the burning
oil fields of Kuwait during the final month of the
First Gulf War, or Operation Desert Storm.
After the invasion of the sovereign state of
Kuwait by Iraq the previous year, it took
the American-led coalition just over
a month to expel the Iraqi army
from the small kingdom.
12
WAR IN FOCUS
13
This artist’s depiction
Frontline
captures the nature of the
US naval victory at the Battle
of Manila Bay
TIMELINE OF THE…
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
From negotiations to armed conflict, the march towards war
between Spain and the United States was rapid
10 February 1878 9 February 1898 15 February 1898
END OF THE TEN YEARS’ WAR THE DE LÔME REMEMBER THE MAINE
A decade of open insurrection when Cuban rebels LETTER The battleship USS Maine explodes and sinks in
IS PUBLISHED
sought independence from Spain ends in a shaky Havana harbour, killing more than 200 American
peace treaty that postpones the full resolution of sailors. US newspapers and an inquiry blame the
the question of Cuban sovereignty. A personal letter written by Spanish, pushing the countries closer to war.
A vocal crowd lines the streets of Havana as Spanish Spanish Ambassador Enrique
Governor Arsenio Martinez Campos arrives Explosion on the USS Maine. Spanish and
Dupuy de Lôme, in which US investigations of the explosion reached
he insults President conflicting conclusions
William McKinley
and refers to him as
“weak”, is published
in US newspapers,
inflaming
American public
opinion.
Spanish
Ambassador Enrique
de Lôme
14
BATTLE OF SAN
“THE BATTLESHIP USS MAINE JUAN HEIGHTS
The decisive battle of
EXPLODES AND SINKS IN HAVANA the Spanish-American
War in Cuba ends in an
HARBOUR, KILLING MORE THAN 200 American victory. Two
days later a US naval task
AMERICAN SAILORS” force defeats a Spanish
squadron in the Battle of
Santiago de Cuba.
Theodore Roosevelt leads

the charge of the Rough
Riders up Kettle Hill
during the Battle of San
Juan Heights
FRENCH DIPLOMAT BROKERS CEASEFIRE

Two weeks after French Ambassador Jules Cambon approaches the US government to
discuss terms to end the Spanish-American War, a ceasefire is concluded. The Treaty of
Paris is signed on 10 December.
After negotiating for the Spanish government, French

Ambassador to the US Jules Cambon signs the Treaty of
Paris ending the Spanish-American War
BATTLE OF MANILA BAY

The US Navy’s Asiatic Fleet under Commodore
George Dewey defeats a Spanish naval squadron in
the Battle of Manila Bay, deciding the outcome of
the Spanish-American War in the Pacific.
1 May 1898 1 July 1898 12 August 1898

24 April 1898 13 August 1898
SPAIN With troops

standing at
attention, the
OCCUPATION OF MANILA
DECLARES WAR
After rejecting terms
American flag
is raised at Fort
Santiago in Manila
Weeks after the naval victory in Manila Bay and unaware
that a ceasefire has effectively ended the Spanish-
American War hours earlier, American troops capture the
to maintain peace, on the evening of Philippine capital city.
Spain declares war on 13 August 1898
the United States. The
US reciprocates the
following day, making its
declaration retroactive
to 21 April, when Spain
severed diplomatic
relations with the US.
Images: Getty
The Spanish declaration of

war against the United States
came from the government
of King Alfonso XIII
15
Frontline
AMERICAN CONQUESTS
US victories on land and sea in the Caribbean and the Pacific brought the
Spanish-American War to a swift conclusion
1 AMERICAN LANDINGS AT DAIQUIRI
22 JUNE 1898
Opening the Santiago de Cuba campaign, American forces come ashore
from transport ships at Daiquiri, a small village 23 kilometres (14 miles)
east of the island’s second largest city. They march overland to attack
Spanish defensive positions and lay siege to Santiago de Cuba.
Left: American soldiers come ashore at Daiquiri, Cuba,

during the opening phase of the Santiago de Cuba campaign
2 BATTLE OF SAN JUAN HEIGHTS

1 JULY 1898
Troops of the American Fifth Corps, including the famed Rough Riders and
the Buffalo Soldiers, capture the high ground at San Juan and Kettle Hills,
sealing the fate of the Spanish garrison defending the city of Santiago de
Cuba. The city fell to the Americans two weeks later.
GUANTANAMO
1898 SOUTH EAST CUBA ON GULF OF MEXICO
2
3 BATTLE OF
4 SANTIAGO
3 JULY 1898
DE CUBA
3
The combined North Atlantic and
1 Flying Squadrons of the US Navy
HAVANA, CAPITAL OF CUBA SAN JUAN, CAPITAL OF PUERTO RICO decimate a Spanish naval force
1898 NORTHWESTERN CUBA 1898 NORTHEASTERN COAST OF PUERTO RICO attempting to run the American
ON THE GULF OF MEXICO blockade of the harbour at Santiago
Inset, above: The lighthouse and Castle de Cuba. The victory confirms
of Tres Reyes del Morro were symbols of American naval dominance in the
Spanish pride that dominate Havana harbour
Western Hemisphere, as another
Spanish flotilla retires to protect its
US LANDINGS IN PUERTO RICO home country’s coastline.
1898 CITIES OF GUANICA, PLAYA DE PONCE, GUYANAMA,
AND ARROYO ON THE SOUTHERN COAST OF PUERTO RICO
“THE VICTORY CONFIRMS
Left: This landing team from the
gunboat USS Gloucester came ashore
at the village of Guanica, Puerto Rico
AMERICAN NAVAL DOMINANCE IN
THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE”
4 BOMBARDMENT
OF SAN JUAN
12 MAY 1898
The naval guns of the US North
Atlantic Squadron inflict considerable
damage on Spanish fortifications at
San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital.
An American invasion follows in the
south of the island, and a series of
inconclusive clashes occurs. Military
action on Puerto Rico is suspended
with the ceasefire in August.
Right: American warships bombard

the city of San Juan in Puerto Rico, the
island's capital
16
The US Navy completely outclassed the Spanish naval

squadron in the Pacific, suffering very little damage
5 BATTLE OF MANILA BAY

1 MAY 1898
“THE SPANISH GARRISON ON THE ISLAND IS UNAWARE
The US Navy’s Asiatic Squadron destroys a Spanish naval force and
suffers virtually no damage in a one-sided affair. Every Spanish warship
THAT WAR HAS BEEN DECLARED AND SURRENDERS”
engaged is sunk, and the spectacular victory gives the Americans control
of the waters surrounding the Philippines. The American commander,
Commodore George Dewey, becomes a hero.
ISLAND OF GUAM
1898 PACIFIC OCEAN EAST OF THE PHILIPPINES
6 AMERICAN TROOPS CAVITE CITY

1898 SOUTHERN SHORE OF MANILA BAY
7
CAPTURE
20 JUNE 1898
GUAM ON THE ISLAND OF LUZON
5
8 6
American troops disembark from the cruiser USS
Charleston at the capital city of Agana and execute
the bloodless capture of the island of Guam in the
Marianas archipelago. The Spanish garrison on the Below: Spanish prisoners of war pose for a photograph shortly PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
island is unaware that war has been declared and after their capture during the American occupation of Manila 1898 PACIFIC OCEAN NORTH OF THE EAST INDIES
surrenders. 54 Spanish soldiers are taken prisoner.
7 BATTLE OF MANILA
13 AUGUST 1898
The Battle of Manila, during which American
troops occupy the Philippine capital city, is an
occupation involving little gunfire. The occupiers
march into the city without knowing that a day
earlier a ceasefire has been concluded ending
armed hostilities.
8 FIRST REPUBLIC
OF THE PHILIPPINES
12 JUNE 1898
Days after their victory at the Battle of Alapan,
Filipino guerrillas under Emilio Aguinaldo
Images: Alamy, Getty
proclaim the First Republic of the Philippines.

They join American troops fighting against
the Spanish but ultimately turn against them
when the United States takes possession of the
islands. A bloody insurrection follows.
17
Frontline
STORMING
SAN JUAN HEIGHTS
In a spirited clash with entrenched Color Sergeant George Berry

of Troop G, Tenth US Cavalry
Spanish troops, American soldiers Regiment, carries the national
flag of his own command as well
captured the high ground surrounding as the standard of the Third US
Cavalry Regiment in the assault
Santiago de Cuba, giving rise to a legend upon the Spanish works on
Kettle Hill, San Juan Heights
STRENGTH VERSUS STRENGTH
O
n the morning of 1 July 1898, difficulties, most of the American cavalrymen had
American soldiers of the Fifth Shafter commanded approximately 15,000 reached Cuba without their mounts and would
Army Corps, commanded by troops in three divisions, including the Ninth be forced to fight the coming battle for San Juan
Major General William Shafter, and Tenth Cavalry Regiments, black horsemen Heights as infantrymen.
surveyed the heights surrounding of the famed ‘Buffalo Soldiers’, and the First To protect his right flank, Shafter sent General
Santiago de Cuba, Cuba’s second largest US Volunteer Cavalry, nicknamed the ‘Rough Henry Lawton and 6,000 troops of the Second
city. The Americans had come ashore days Riders’ – a collection of western cowboys and Division to seize the village of El Caney. Although
earlier at Daiquiri and initiated an expedition eastern aristocrats led by Lieutenant Colonel Lawton believed he could accomplish the task
against the Spanish stronghold, where General Theodore Roosevelt, the flamboyant former swiftly, 500 well-armed Spanish defenders
Arsenio Linares y Pombo commanded more assistant secretary of the Navy. Due to logistical held El Caney until late afternoon on 1 July,
than 10,000 troops and a naval squadron lay
at anchor in the harbour. Linares detailed 500
soldiers to defend high ground collectively “MOST OF THE AMERICAN CAVALRYMEN HAD REACHED CUBA
known as San Juan Heights, including San
Juan Hill and Kettle Hill, outside the city. The WITHOUT THEIR MOUNTS AND WOULD BE FORCED TO FIGHT THE
defenders dug trenches and fortified a small,
blue-washed blockhouse on San Juan Hill. COMING BATTLE FOR SAN JUAN HEIGHTS AS INFANTRYMEN”
18
RESOUNDING
VICTORY AT
SANTIAGO
THE MODERN BATTLESHIPS OF THE
US NAVY UTTERLY DESTROYED AN
OUTCLASSED SPANISH FLOTILLA IN
THE BATTLE OF SANTIAGO DE CUBA
The US Navy’s blockade of Santiago de Cuba lasted
37 days and ended violently on 3 July 1898, with the
destruction of the Spanish squadron of four armoured
cruisers and two destroyers under Admiral Pascual
Cervera y Topete. While the heaviest armament the
Spanish warships mounted was 28-centimetre (11-
inch) guns, the battleships of the US North Atlantic
and Flying Squadrons, under the senior command of
Frederic Remington’s painting ‘The Admiral William Sampson and Commodore Winfield
Scream of Shrapnel’ depicts American Schley, mounted 33-centimetre (13-inch) main
troops under fire at San Juan Hill batteries. The Spanish vessels were plagued with
unreliable equipment and weaponry. Poorly trained
depriving the main thrust at San Juan Heights Spanish lines from a distance of roughly 550 crews compounded their shortcomings.
of reinforcements. Meanwhile, the movement metres (1,800 feet). Several enemy soldiers Cervera attempted to run the American blockade
against the heights continued as the fight for El were immediately observed abandoning their that fateful morning, but six hours later his command
Caney raged. More than 8,000 American troops trenches. As the Gatling guns sprayed the was shattered. The armoured cruisers Infanta Maria
advanced toward the 3,500-metre (11,480-feet) shocked Spanish, the leading American troops Teresa, Vizcaya and Almirante Oquendo, along
long Spanish line, coming under accurate rifle came within 140 metres (460 feet) of the crest. with destroyers Pluton and Furor, were either sunk
and artillery fire from above. Seconds later the attackers sprang into a furious or blasted and beached by the firepower of the
charge that routed the defenders. After 50 battleships USS Indiana, Massachusetts, Iowa, Texas
HELL’S POCKET minutes of intense combat the Americans had and Oregon, and the armoured cruisers New York
After marching through thick jungle for about 30 seized San Juan Hill. and Brooklyn. The armoured cruiser Cristóbal Colón
minutes, troops of the First Division emerged engaged in a running battle with Oregon that lasted
from a wooded area and immediately took BLOODSHED AT KETTLE HILL over an hour before the damaged Spanish vessel was
casualties. Several officers were wounded, Meanwhile, the action at Kettle Hill was furious. beached and struck its colours.
and for a time confusion reigned. The exposed The dismounted Tenth Cavalry, with the Rough The stinging defeat left the Spanish with 323 killed,
American position was later dubbed ‘Hell’s Riders and Third Cavalry in support, stormed up 151 wounded and 1,720 imprisoned. American losses
Pocket’. Temporarily sheltering from the hail of the slope as Gatling guns chattered. Although amounted to only one sailor killed and one wounded.
bullets and shells at the base of San Juan Hill defending fire and oppressive heat slowed their
and without specific orders, several lower-ranking
officers took action. Lieutenant Jules G. Ord
advance – causing units to become mingled
and bunch up – the Americans pushed forward, “THE SPANISH VESSELS WERE
sought out his brigade commander, General
Hamilton S. Hawkins, and blurted, “General, if
reached the trenches on the crest and engaged
Spanish soldiers in hand-to-hand fighting. The PLAGUED WITH UNRELIABLE
you will order a charge, I will lead it.”
Around 1pm elements of four regiments
rose from their cover and advanced towards
surviving defenders broke and fled towards
Santiago, and the Americans began taking fire
from San Juan Hill. However, the momentum of
EQUIPMENT AND WEAPONRY”
the summit of San Juan Hill. As the gradient that attack soon silenced the enemy guns.
Images: Alamy
Battleships Iowa and Indiana, and

steepened the lines frayed. Some soldiers The capture of San Juan Heights sealed armoured cruiser New York chase
tumbled down with wounds while the others the fate of the Spanish defenders at Santiago. the Spanish destroyer Furor
pressed on. At a critical moment, three American losses amounted to 205 killed and
multi-barrelled Gatling guns opened on the nearly 1,200 wounded. The Spanish lost 215
dead and 376 wounded. Rather than assaulting
another defensive line, Shafter chose to lay siege
to the city. Two days later, the Spanish naval
squadron sallied from the harbour and was
annihilated by a superior US Navy flotilla.
On 17 July Santiago surrendered.
The Battle of San Juan Heights,
commonly referred to as the
Battle of San Juan Hill, was the
decisive action of the Spanish-
American War in Cuba and
made Roosevelt, who
displayed great heroism in
the battle, a national hero.
Left: American soldiers man

a trench on San Juan Hill,
with fortifications visible in
the distance
19
Frontline
TO BUILD AN EMPIRE
The conflict between imperialism and the ideals on which the
USA was founded sparked intense debate
ell beyond the first century Doctrine’ two decades later, warning European through trade, as precious raw materials were
W of its existence, the United

States pursued a foreign
policy of expansionism.
Although it may at first
seem contradictory to the principles on which
the nation was founded – those of government
by consent of the governed – such a policy
powers to refrain from further incursions in the
West. In 1853 trade considerations led to the
opening of feudal Japan to American commerce.
Following the Civil War, the nation resumed its
westward expansion, purchasing Alaska from
Russia in 1867, annexing Hawaii in 1898 and
dealing forcefully with Native Americans while
imported and finished goods were exported
to new territorial possessions. In an attempt
to pacify their adversaries, ethnocentric
expansionists rationalised that domination
by a democratic nation was preferable for an
underdeveloped region when compared to
exploitation by a European monarchy.
was nevertheless pragmatic. While those fulfilling the tenet of the concept of ‘manifest As the 19th century waned, the United
who opposed such expansionist endeavours destiny’, as the United States stretched States became more than a casual observer
considered the two points irreconcilable, those from the Atlantic to the Pacific – from “sea to as the people of Cuba fought a ten-year war
who favoured the territorial growth of the nation shining sea”. for independence from Spain. Cuba was only
through the acquisition of overseas colonies As the nation grew, the debate between 145 kilometres (90 miles) from the United
and the domination of the Western Hemisphere pro and anti-colonial factions within the States, and though the Spanish considered the
believed that the United States was destined US government became heated. Those island a province of their country, the reality
to take its place among the leading nations of in opposition contended that imperialism was different: the United States had become
the world. contradicted the American commitment to the dominant economic influence in Cuba. The
Historical observers have asserted that democracy. An empire in the Caribbean, Central Spanish empire was weakening, and aggressive
the United States was founded on a policy of America and the Pacific, they reasoned, would expansionists within the US government
expansion – its own brand of imperialism – and embroil the nation in regional conflicts, while saw the country’s overseas possessions,
inherent in that policy was the subjugation of the cost of maintaining and developing far-flung particularly Cuba, as ripe for the taking. In
indigenous peoples, despite the cornerstones of possessions would be prohibitive. Those who addition, reports of Spanish atrocities, real
freedom and equality that were hallmarks of its favoured expansion argued that overseas or concocted by a sensationalistic American
own government. President Thomas Jefferson possessions would enhance American prestige press, raised humanitarian concerns.
concluded the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. abroad, support the nation’s realisation of its The eruption of the Spanish-American War
President James Monroe espoused the ‘Monroe ‘manifest destiny’, and bolster the US economy in the spring of 1898 was a direct result of
public opinion that had been galvanised to
“DESPITE THE ASSURANCE OF THE TELLER AMENDMENT, AMERICA support intervention in Cuba by so-called
‘yellow journalism’. A letter written by Spanish
WOULD CONTINUE TO DOMINATE THE CUBAN ECONOMY” Ambassador to the US Enrique Dupuy de
Lôme, in which the diplomat personally insulted
President William McKinley, and the mysterious
sinking of the battleship USS Maine as it rode
at anchor in the harbour of the Cuban capital
of Havana, effectively muted the opposition
to armed intervention. However, the US
Congress passed the Teller Amendment on 20
April 1898, pledging that the presence of the
American military in Cuba would not lead to
the island’s annexation and that the US would
“leave control of the island to its people”.
In the wake of the short, one-sided war,
the United States emerged as a world power
with territorial gains in the Philippines, Puerto
Rico and Guam. Despite the assurance of the
Teller Amendment, America would continue to
dominate the Cuban economy.
Within months of the acquisition of the
Philippines, the American Anti-Imperialist League
voiced opposition to the annexation of these
Pacific islands. Notable among its leaders were
author Mark Twain, industrialist Andrew Carnegie
and the future secretary of state William
Jennings Bryan.
While the wave of American colonialism
This 1896 painting by artist Armando Menocal
rolled inexorably forward, the debate
depicts the death of Cuban rebel commander surrounding its moral, ethical and economic
Antonio Maceo during the war for independence benefit would rage in the halls of American
government for another 50 years.
20
“HISTORICAL OBSERVERS
HAVE ASSERTED THAT
THE UNITED STATES WAS
FOUNDED ON A POLICY
OF EXPANSION – ITS OWN
BRAND OF IMPERIALISM”
This cartoon depicting America as
a world power after the Spanish-
American War appeared on the cover
of the humour magazine Puck in 1901
21
Frontline
IN THE
The fighting men were a mix of
veterans and volunteers who
hurriedly learned the art of combat
RANKS
he armed forces of the combatants were in
T transition on the eve of the Spanish-American War.

As the United States asserted its military strength
on land and sea, the rapid recruitment and training
of new troops became a priority. However, the
Spanish military had already endured years of war in Cuba and
absorbed the expense of maintaining an empire.
Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders

after the Battle of San Juan Heights, 1898
TENTH CAVALRY REGIMENT
ONE OF THE INITIAL UNITS OF
ROUGH RIDERS ‘BUFFALO SOLDIERS’ FORMED
IN THE US ARMY, THE REGIMENT
OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED THE FIRST SERVED WITH DISTINCTION
UNITED STATES VOLUNTEER CAVALRY,
THE ROUGH RIDERS GAINED LASTING At San Juan Heights the Tenth Cavalry, and
other black units, served under white officers
FAME AT SAN JUAN HEIGHTS and contributed to the victory. The regiment
was formed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in
Primarily recruited from the American
Southwest, the Rough Riders also included 1866, with recruits from across the Midwest
and South. Issued the standard Krag-Jorgensen
the sons of prominent eastern families.
bolt-action rifle, they entered the battle of San
Their commanders, Colonel Leonard Wood Men of the Tenth Cavalry
Juan Heights dismounted and were the first
and Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, were the first to reach
to reach the crest of Kettle Hill. Five troopers
introduced a rigorous training program from the summit of Kettle Hill
of the Tenth Cavalry Regiment received the during the pivotal Battle
the unit’s inception in the spring of 1898, Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism of San Juan Heights
cultivating an esprit de corps among the during the Spanish-American War.
cowboys, clerks, college students and Native
Americans who volunteered. Equipped with the
Krag-Jorgensen carbine rifle, most of the Rough “FIVE TROOPERS OF THE TENTH CAVALRY REGIMENT RECEIVED
Riders fought dismounted at San Juan Heights
and became the most famous unit of the US
Army during the Spanish-American War.
THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR FOR HEROISM”
22
FIRST BATTALION,
REGIMIENTO DE INFANTERIA
“CONSTITUCION” Nº 29
MANY UNITS OF THE SPANISH ARMY
WERE VETERANS OF THE WAR AGAINST
CUBAN REBELS PRIOR TO HOSTILITIES
WITH THE UNITED STATES
The First Battalion battled the US Army’s
Second Division at El Caney during the
fighting around Santiago de Cuba. Armed
with the Model 1893 Spanish license-
manufactured version of the German
Mauser rifle, the troops were well equipped
and had been in Cuba for nearly three
years by the time the Spanish-American
War broke out. The unit’s strength totalled
39 officers and 1,001 enlisted men. At El
Caney the First Battalion fought to delay
the American advance for several hours,
losing nearly 300 men killed, wounded or
captured in the process.
Left: Spanish troops march through crowds in Madrid

on their way to fight in the Spanish-American War in
Cuba in 1898
CREW OF USS OLYMPIA calibre guns and the conversion from sail to
coal and steam power. The USS Olympia, an
armoured cruiser launched in 1892, was a
with a specialised task to perform. Crewmen
drilled regularly on firing the 20-centimetre (8-
inch) main batteries, as well as on the various
FLAGSHIP OF THE US NAVY’S ASIATIC powerful, modern weapon of war that proved its secondary guns and the cruiser’s four hand-
SQUADRON AT MANILA BAY, THE effectiveness during the Battle of Manila Bay, cranked Gatling guns. They trained continually
USS OLYMPIA BECAME A SYMBOL OF which ended with the destruction of a Spanish
naval squadron.
in the use of small arms, navigation, signalling
and mechanical operations, such as maximum
AMERICAN NAVAL MIGHT The combat efficiency of the 5,586-ton efficiency of the ship’s boilers. They existed in
During the pre-Dreadnought era, the US Navy Olympia, regardless of its modern construction, cramped quarters, sleeping in hammocks, and
embarked on several programs of modernisation, equipment and armament, was dependent on rotated duty stations regularly.
leading to the construction of warships of iron the readiness of its crew, which was comprised After the victory at Manila Bay, the Olympia
and steel, enclosed turrets mounting ever larger of more than 400 officers and sailors, each crew was lauded for its performance in combat.
The USS Olympia
“THEY TRAINED CONTINUALLY IN THE USE OF SMALL ARMS, helped establish

the US as a naval
NAVIGATION, SIGNALLING AND MECHANICAL OPERATIONS, superpower after the

victory in Manila Bay
SUCH AS MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY OF THE SHIP’S BOILERS”

Image: Alamy
23
Frontline
HEROES & LEADERS

Military, political and social leaders
burnished their reputations and influenced
the course of history both during and
after the Spanish-American War
during the battle and commented that the
THEODORE ROOSEVELT “charge itself was great fun… we had a
1858-1919 UNITED STATES bully fight.”
In the wake of his heroics Roosevelt
Born into wealth, Theodore Roosevelt was was recommended for the Congressional
the son of a New York City philanthropist. He Medal of Honor; however, to his great
overcame childhood ill health and entered disappointment it was blocked by political
politics while in his 20s. Roosevelt served in opponents. Nevertheless, he returned
the New York state assembly and was later to the United States a bona fide
appointed assistant secretary of the Navy. war hero, which energised his
He also served as governor of New York, vice political career and propelled him
president, and 26th president of the United to the governorship of New York.
States at the age of 43. He later served as vice president during
Roosevelt pushed for the expulsion of the administration of President William
Spain from Cuba, and in his naval role McKinley. He assumed the presidency
advocated the build-up of a fleet that rivalled upon McKinley’s assassination in 1901,
the world’s most powerful. With the outbreak and was elected to the office in his own
of the Spanish-American War, he resigned right in 1904.
from his naval post to raise a regiment of Theodore Roosevelt is remembered
troops. Intent on experiencing combat, as the foremost figure of the Spanish-
Roosevelt was instrumental in the formation American War, a political reformer,
of the First US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, adventurer, explorer, naturalist and
popularly known as the ‘Rough Riders’. preservationist. He was posthumously
During the engagement at San Juan awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001. His
Heights, Roosevelt led the charge of the legacy is still remembered today: he was
Rough Riders up Kettle Hill. Along with other given the honour of being enshrined on
troops, including black soldiers, the Rough Mount Rushmore alongside American icons
Riders swept the enemy from the crest. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt wearing the
uniform of a colonel of volunteers
Roosevelt exhibited tremendous courage Abraham Lincoln.
his country into war with Spain,

WILLIAM MCKINLEY McKinley attempted to resolve the
1843-1901 UNITED STATES question of Cuban independence

through negotiations. When the
A veteran of the American Civil Spanish government rejected his last
War, William McKinley was elected overtures in April 1899, Congress
as 25th president of the United declared war without a formal
States in 1897 and again in 1900. request from the president.
He served until his assassination After victory was achieved,
in September 1901 and was McKinley presided over a growing
succeeded by Vice President American empire, which included the
Theodore Roosevelt. Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico.
McKinley was keenly aware that He was standing in a receiving line
the resolution of the crisis in Cuba at the Pan-American Exposition in
would become a defining issue Buffalo, New York, when anarchist
of his presidency. Before leading Leon Czolgosz shot him dead.
Moments before he
was shot, President
William McKinley
“MCKINLEY WAS KEENLY AWARE THAT THE
enters a building at
the Pan-American RESOLUTION OF THE CRISIS IN CUBA WOULD
Exposition in Buffalo
BECOME A DEFINING ISSUE OF HIS PRESIDENCY”
24
JOSEPH PULITZER GENERAL VALERIANO

1847-1911 UNITED STATES WEYLER
An immigrant born in Budapest, Hungary, Joseph
Pulitzer was a champion of sensationalist newspaper
reporting, which came to be known as ‘yellow
1838-1930 SPAIN
During 75 years of service to the Spanish
journalism’. He was a heated rival of competing crown, General Valeriano Weyler served as
newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst and a governor-general of the Philippines, governor
proponent of an American war with Spain. of Cuba, military attaché to the United States,
He served with the Union Army during the last year and minister of war. After commanding troops
of the American Civil War, then became a reporter for during the Ten Years’ War to suppress the
the St. Louis Westliche Post newspaper and an active Cuban independence movement, Weyler was
voice in political discourse. By 1878 he had amassed appointed governor of Cuba in 1896.
enough money to purchase the foundering St. Louis His aggressive effort to subdue the Cuban
Post-Dispatch and by 1883 had taken control of the people led to the initiation of a ruthless
New York World. Keen to increase circulation of his New program called the ‘reconcentrado’. At Weyler’s
York paper, Pulitzer engaged in reporting that, among direction more than 1.5 million Cubans were
other inflammatory assertions, blamed Spain for the relocated from their homes. Many of these
explosion and sinking of the battleship USS Maine in were imprisoned in concentration camps, and
Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer
Havana harbour in February 1898, just weeks before swayed American public opinion in due to a lack of food, water and sanitation
the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. His estate favour of war with Spain hundreds of thousands died. Reports of
established the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. Weyler’s brutality resulted in a public outcry in
the United States for action on behalf of the
oppressed Cuban people, contributing to the
ADMIRAL GEORGE Commodore George
Dewey stands on the
outbreak of the Spanish-American War. Weyler
DEWEY bridge of USS Olympia

during the Battle of
was removed from office in 1897 but remained
active politically in Spain. He died in 1930 at
1837-1917 UNITED STATES Manila Bay the age of 92.
On 1 May 1898 the US Navy’s

Asiatic Squadron utterly destroyed
a flotilla of Spanish warships in the
Battle of Manila Bay, the decisive
engagement of the Spanish-American
War in the Pacific. Commanding the
American force, Commodore George
Dewey barked the famous order
to the captain of his flagship, the
cruiser Olympia, “You may fire when
ready, Gridley!” During the action
the Spanish lost seven cruisers and
a transport, along with 77 killed
and 271 wounded. The Americans
suffered one dead due to a heart
attack, nine wounded and a single General
vessel damaged. Dewey, an 1858 Valeriano
Weyler
graduate of the US Naval Academy, served a
was hailed a hero and promoted to brief but
rear admiral ten days after his victory. brutal term
He was later elevated to the newly as governor
of a restive
created rank of admiral of the navy. Cuba
Dewey briefly aspired to political office
but remained in the military, serving
as president of the General Board of
the Navy Department until his death
in 1917 at the age of 79.
“DEWEY BARKED
THE FAMOUS ORDER
TO THE CAPTAIN OF
HIS FLAGSHIP, THE
CRUISER OLYMPIA,
Images: Getty
‘YOU MAY FIRE WHEN

READY, GRIDLEY!’”
25
’
RS
HIT LE
OL FPAC
W
26
HITLER’S WOLFPACKS
KS
DURING WWII THE KRIEGSMARINE
C
EMPLOYED A DEVASTATINGLY
EFFECTIVE TACTIC THAT THREATENED
TO STARVE BRITAIN INTO SUBMISSION
WORDS WILLIAM E. WELSH
ollowing the Allied victory in 1945, with which to strangle the British Isles, but
F British Prime Minister Winston

Churchill admitted in his multi-
volume history of the conflict that
“the only thing that ever really
frightened me was the U-boat peril.”
Through the lens of history it is easy to
understand his concern as the Battle of
production was slow to gather pace.
Dönitz was a U-boat veteran of World War
I and had commanded his own boat and
been taken prisoner, so he understood the
rigors of U-boat service. Blockade had been
unsuccessful during 1914-18 due to Allied
employment of the convoy system, a lack of
the Atlantic unfolded and the island nation efficient radio communications and mounting
fought for its life against marauding German losses among the submarines during four
U-boats that relentlessly attacked Allied years of attrition, but Dönitz recognised
merchant shipping. From the day that Britain that a blockade might actually succeed if
declared war on Nazi Germany through to emphasis were placed on the construction
1945, the submarines of the German navy, and deployment of undersea raiders this
the Kriegsmarine, under the capable but time around. However, convincing senior Nazi
sometimes questionable command of Admiral military planners, including Hitler, that such a
Karl Dönitz, sank approximately 3,500 tactic offered the best chance for victory was
merchant vessels and 175 warships, sending a frustrating exercise for Dönitz, who struggled
14 million tons of vital shipping to the bottom throughout the war to maintain a force
of the sea. sufficient to threaten Britain.
The U-boats’ heavy toll on Allied merchant
shipping was punctuated by remarkable Law and orders
successes against Royal Navy warships, At the outbreak of war Dönitz had already
providing a surge of propaganda for the Nazis. deployed 22 U-boats to critical shipping lanes
Even so, of the 1,162 U-boats that were in the Atlantic. Such a small number of boats
constructed during World War II 785 would never be sufficient to mount an
were lost. Service with the effective blockade, but they did
Ubootwaffe, the submarine make their presence felt. The
arm, was fraught with peril. By submarines reached the hunting
the time the war ended an
IN MAY 1945, THE zones around Britain by sailing
FINAL MONTH OF
estimated 32,000 German WWII IN EUROPE, around the northern tip of
sailors, 30 per cent of those U-BOATS SANK Scotland rather than through
who served aboard U-boats, 11,439 TONS OF the treacherous passage of
had been killed – the highest ALLIED MERCHANT the English Channel. U-boat
percentage of casualties SHIPPING. 35 commanders initially received
among German combat forces U-BOATS WERE specific orders to abide by
during the conflict. DESTROYED. international maritime law.
They were to surface and stop
An early angst
Despite advice from Admiral Dönitz
and his direct superior, Grand Admiral “OF THE 1,162 U-BOATS THAT
Erich Raeder, that the Kriegsmarine would
not be ready to go to war until 1944, Adolf WERE CONSTRUCTED DURING
Hitler launched the invasion of Poland on 1
WORLD WAR II 785 WERE LOST.
Image: Piotr Forkasiewicz
September 1939, plunging the navy into a

conflict for which it was ill-prepared. At the
time Dönitz had only 56 operational U-boats SERVICE WITH THE UBOOTWAFFE,
– eight of which were only suitable for coastal
operations or training. In the run-up to war he THE SUBMARINE ARM, WAS
had pleaded for a building programme that
would yield 1,000 ocean-going submarines FRAUGHT WITH PERIL”
27
merchantmen, identify the cargo, allow the

crew to abandon ship and provide assistance “DESPITE THE INABILITY TO would in turn alert other boats in the area.
When enough attackers were assembled to
prior to seizing or sinking their quarry. The
German declaration of unrestricted submarine RAPIDLY INTRODUCE WOLFPACK exploit the opportunity, headquarters would
give permission to attack. Each U-boat could
warfare had contributed to the entry of the
United States into World War I, and Germany TACTICS ON A BROAD SCALE, then act independently. Wolfpacks preferably
struck at night and on the surface, launching
wanted to avoid such a situation as long as
possible this time. EARLY U-BOAT SUCCESSES torpedoes from distances of approximately 600
metres or in the midst of the ships at point-
On 3 September 1939 the U-30, commanded
by Kapitanleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp, sank
the British passenger liner Athenia. Echoes
SHOOK THE ROYAL NAVY” blank range, adhering to the Dönitz dictum,
“Get in as close as possible”.
Despite the inability to rapidly introduce
of the Lusitania attack brought additional to attack an Allied convoy, stretching any wolfpack tactics on a broad scale, early
restrictions on U-boats, but as the war in the escorting warships to breaking point and U-boat successes shook the Royal Navy. On
Atlantic gained momentum Dönitz became inflicting maximum damage. A wolfpack 17 September 1939 U-29, commanded by
increasingly aware that surfaced U-boats was to patrol a particular zone of the vast Korvettenkapitan Otto Schuhart, sank the
exposed themselves to the fire of armed Atlantic, covering a portion of an established aircraft carrier HMS Courageous off the coast
merchant ships and Royal Navy warships, as convoy route. Once a submarine discovered a of Ireland. A month later Kapitanleutnant
well as attack from enemy aircraft. Additionally, convoy, it would shadow the merchant ships Günther Prien executed the most daring
radio operators aboard some merchant vessels and raise a radio advisory to headquarters, submarine manoeuvre of the war. On the night
immediately transmitted the signal ‘SSS’, Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote (BdU), which of 14 October he guided U-47 through the block
which meant that the ship was under attack ships and cables supposedly safeguarding
by a U-boat. In the admiral’s mind this voided the expansive anchorage of the Home Fleet
the rule of maritime law since the German at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, sank
submarine was then put at high risk. the battleship HMS Royal Oak moored in the
The most frustrating aspect of the harbour and escaped into the North Sea.
early U-boat combat experience was Prien was summoned to Berlin for a personal
that their numbers were too few to audience with Hitler, awarded the Knight’s
fully implement Dönitz’s preferred Cross and became a national hero.
offensive system, ‘Rudeltaktik’, or
the ‘wolfpack’. With enough U-boats The game changes
available, he had envisioned Meanwhile, Dönitz was anxious to
up to 15 submarines grouping employ his wolfpack tactics on a grand
Right: Observing the world above The tanker Dixie Arrow, its back
the waves with the assistance of a broken by a torpedo, blazes furiously
first helmsmen in 1941 as it sinks in March 1942
28
“WITH ENOUGH U-BOATS

aDmiral Karl
AVAILABLE, HE HAD
DönitZ, uBootWaffe
commanDer, lost
ENVISIONED UP TO 15
tWo sons During
WorlD War ii. one of SUBMARINES GROUPING TO
them, peter, DieD
When u-954 Was
sunK in the north
ATTACK AN ALLIED CONVOY,
atlantic in 1943.
the other, Klaus,
STRETCHING ANY ESCORTING
Was KilleD aBoarD a
patrol Boat.
WARSHIPS TO BREAKING
POINT AND INFLICTING
MAXIMUM DAMAGE”
Admiral Karl Dönitz

led the U-boat arm
of the Kriegsmarine
during World War II and
succeeded Hitler as
leader of the Third Reich
29
the peaK
month for
u-Boat losses
in the War
Was april
1945, When 48
Boats Were
sunK.
scale. Although the first co-ordinated U-boat Early U-boat production actually crept Above: U-97 arrives back in St. Nazaire naval base
after a patrol in 1941. She was sunk by Australian
attacks against British convoys were conducted upwards: only 18 had been completed in aircraft in 1943
as early as 1939, numbers were inadequate. 1939, followed by 50 in 1940 and 199 in
He had outlined his plan for the wolfpacks to
decimate enemy shipping in a memorandum to
1941. Along with these growing numbers,
German successes on the battlefield yielded “THE MOST PROLIFIC U-BOAT
Admiral Raeder and noted that 300 operational
U-boats would be needed to carry it out, given
a tremendous advantage. The conquest of
Norway and France in the spring of 1940 COMMANDERS BEGAN TO RACK
the fact that some would be active while others
were either in transit or undergoing repairs.
brought new bases with ready access to the
Atlantic – in some cases 725 kilometres UP IMPRESSIVE RECORDS.
Dönitz’s critics point to his fixation on the
tonnage of merchant shipping sunk, and the
(450 miles) closer to the shipping lanes than
bases in the Baltic and North Sea. Soon, the KAPITANLEUTNANT OTTO
necessity that German submarine production
would be sufficient to augment his forces while
French ports of Bordeaux, Lorient, St. Nazaire,
La Rochelle and Brest were beehives of KRETSCHMER, THE HIGHEST-
Allied shipping construction failed to keep pace
with losses inflicted by the U-boats. Neither
construction. Concrete submarine pens were
built to shelter the U-boats. Wolfpack tactics SCORING U-BOAT ACE OF THE
premise materialised. Dönitz also lacked the
vision to implement better technology earlier in
were further developed and refined with the
benefit of wartime experience. WAR, COMMANDED U-23 AND
the war. His Type VII U-boats had limited range,
reducing their effectiveness across thousands
While its performance in the Norwegian
Campaign had been disappointing and its U-99 AND ACCOUNTED FOR 47
of miles of ocean. Construction of longer-range
Type IX and Type XXI boats came too late.
few successes had cost the U-boat arm four
precious submarines, Dönitz re-energised SHIPS AND 273,043 TONS”
30
The sea churns with the

detonation of a depth
charge in the wake of
ORIGINS
the sloop HMS Starling
OF THE
RUDELTAKTIK
VARIATION ON A GREAT
WAR THEME
The introduction of the convoy system in World
War I effectively countered the U-boat effort to
cripple the Allied merchant marine, and as the
conflict finally waned German submarines began
assembling in small groups to attack targets.
Successes were few due to efficient escort
vessels and limited communications capabilities,
while the number of available U-boats was
insufficient. Although the Treaty of Versailles
dismantled the U-boat force after World War I
and the primary goal of the Kriegsmarine was
initially one of clandestine rebuilding, there was
discussion surrounding a group attack theory.
Debate often centred on the group attack
tactic versus strides in technology that
might make the U-boat a more formidable
foe. The tacticians held sway. Admiral Karl
Dönitz, commander of the Ubootwaffe, was
consumed by the concept of the wolfpack, but
the backbone of the U-boat fleet, the Type VII,
was not appreciably more advanced than the
submarines that had gone to war a generation
earlier. When Dönitz assumed command of the
Ubootwaffe in 1936 training in group tactics was
one of his primary tenets.
To facilitate the wolfpack tactic and prosecute
a ‘tonnage war’, Dönitz was required to rely on
sufficient production of U-boats, the availability
of trained crews and cooperation from the
Luftwaffe in providing reconnaissance. Each of
these developed slowly, sometimes grudgingly
or not at all, delaying the implementation of
the wolfpack tactic and limiting its potential to
deliver victory in World War II.
U-52, a Type VII-B submarine of the

An American dive bomber flies Kriegsmarine launched in late 1938, was
above a convoy off the South scuttled at Danzig on 3 May 1945
African coast in November 1941,
before US entry into the war
his command. In 1940 resurgent marauders He was taken prisoner when U-99 was sunk
sank 30 merchant ships, totalling more than on 17 March 1941 during a wolfpack attack on
284,000 tons in June. During the so-called Convoy HX 112, eastbound from Halifax in Nova
‘Happy Time’ – six months of unprecedented Scotia to Liverpool. Kapitanleutnant Wolfgang
successes that followed – U-boats sank 282 Lüth commanded multiple boats, including
ships and 1,489,795 tons of cargo. Despite U-43 and U-181, and ended the war with 46 Vice Admiral
the successes, that autumn the Ubootwaffe ships and 225,204 tons sunk. Fregattenkapitan Heino von
remained capable of deploying only seven or Erich Topp sank 35 ships and 197,460 tons Heimburg, a
successful
eight submarines at a time. while commanding U-57 and U-552. World War I
Information from B-Dienst, German naval Kapitanleutnant Joachim Schepke emerged U-boat captain,
intelligence, helped to locate convoys, and as a hero during the Happy Time, sinking five argued for a
intrepid U-boat commanders scored remarkable ships in only three hours during one attack. commitment to
technology in future
successes. During a 30-hour killing spree in Handsome and gregarious, Schepke gained submarine design
late October, two wolfpacks of only ten U-boats fame commanding U-100 and lost his life in
decimated Convoys SC 7 and HX 79, sinking 29 action on 17 March 1941 during the same
ships without loss. wolfpack assault that resulted in Kretschmer’s
The most prolific U-boat commanders began capture. On 15 March Fritz-Julius Lemp,
to rack up impressive records. Kapitanleutnant commander of U-110, spotted HX 112 and
Otto Kretschmer, the highest-scoring U-boat sent a signal for the grey wolves to rally. Four
ace of the war, commanded U-23 and U-99, U-boats – U-99, U-100, U-37, and U-74 –
and accounted for 47 ships and 273,043 tons. responded. After dark, Schepke manoeuvred
31
A U-boat flotilla heads out to patrol

along the important Atlantic shipping
lanes in 1939
on 4 June 1944, the u-505

Became the first enemy
Warship captureD
on the high seas By
the us navy, since the
War of 1812, taKen By a
hunter-Killer group
in the atlantic. toDay,
the suBmarine is on
Display at the museum
of science anD inDustry
in chicago.
32
“WOLFPACKS PREFERABLY STRUCK AT NIGHT AND ON THE

SURFACE, LAUNCHING TORPEDOES FROM DISTANCES OF
APPROXIMATELY 600 METRES OR IN THE MIDST OF THE
SHIPS AT POINT-BLANK RANGE”
33
British officers inspect a Left: Officers on the bridge of a

Hedgehog anti-submarine Royal Navy destroyer keep watch
weapon installed on an while on convoy escort duty in the
escort ship. The Hedgehog Atlantic in October 1941
was effective against
U-boats at shallow depths
U-100 within range of a large tanker and with depth charges, forcing it to surface. a Turkish submarine built in Germany) –
damaged it with a torpedo. Kretschmer, Other escorts riddled U-99 with gunfire. As the moved against convoy OB 293 in the Western
meanwhile, sank four tankers and a freighter in submarine sank, Kretschmer and most of his Approaches in the Atlantic.
less than an hour. He followed that up with the crew were scooped from the sea. Prien made the rallying call, stalked the
sinking of another freighter within 15 minutes After losing six ships and 50,000 tons of convoy and attacked after dark. The wolfpack
as he stalked the central column of the convoy cargo, Convoy HX 112 continued without further sank four ships and damaged a fifth. However,
and then made good his temporary escape. incident, arriving at Liverpool on 20 March. The the response from the escorts was devastating.
But Schepke’s luck was running out. The loss of two U-boat aces was a serious blow to The corvette HMS Camellia sank U-70 on 7
41-ship convoy was escorted by six destroyers the Kriegsmarine, compounding the melancholy March, while the destroyer HMS Wolverine has
and corvettes, and they prowled the night, accompanying the death of Günther Prien, hero been credited with depth charging U-47 and
catching U-100 on the surface. At around of Scapa Flow, during an attack on Convoy OB killing Prien. Some researchers conclude that
1.30am Schepke ordered his crew to crash 293 en route from Liverpool to North America. Wolverine attacked U-A, which limped back to
dive. However, the destroyer HMS Walker was On the night of 6 March a wolfpack of four port, but the actual cause of U-47’s demise is
hot on the trail and laid a pattern of depth U-boats – U-47, U-99, U-70 and U-A (formerly shrouded in conjecture and possibly attributable
charges at close range. Schepke’s boat shook to damage followed by a diving accident.
and shuddered, sustaining damage. About 90
minutes later he brought the stricken U-100 “PRIEN MADE THE RALLYING Countermeasures and
consternation
back to the surface, only to see the destroyer
HMS Vanoc bearing down, ready to ram. CALL, STALKED THE CONVOY As the Happy Time waned, it was becoming
Vanoc, first to use shipboard radar at night
to locate an enemy submarine, sliced into AND ATTACKED AFTER DARK. apparent that Britain was developing better
technology and defences against the wolfpacks,
the hull of U-100, dealing a deathblow and
crushing Schepke against his periscope as THE WOLFPACK SANK FOUR while the Kriegsmarine continued to emphasise
tactics. In addition to ASDIC, better training
the submarine sank. 37 other crewmen died
with U-100; only six survivors were picked up. SHIPS AND DAMAGED A FIFTH. of convoy escort crews, the proliferation of
shipboard radar, the commitment of long-range
Kretschmer and U-99 fell victim to Walker,
which picked up the submarine on ASDIC, an HOWEVER, THE RESPONSE FROM aircraft from Royal Air Force Coastal Command
and later the US Navy and Air Forces, and the
underwater sound detection system developed
during World War I, and damaged the U-boat THE ESCORTS WAS DEVASTATING” development of better weapons such as the
‘Hedgehog’ contributed to mounting U-boat
34
A U-boat’s periscope was a vital piece of

equipment to maintain the element of
Above: A shell from the deck gun of a U-boat strikes a surprise when stalking ships Above: The battleship Barnham explodes after being
merchant ship that has already taken a torpedo hit torpedoed by U-351 in November 1941
Left: A U-boat periscope

reveals the devastation
wrought on an Allied ship
by a torpedo in 1942
“THE ACTUAL CAUSE OF U-47’S

DEMISE IS SHROUDED IN
CONJECTURE AND POSSIBLY
ATTRIBUTABLE TO DAMAGE
FOLLOWED BY A DIVING ACCIDENT”
35
AN ITALIAN
losses. The Hedgehog, which threw up to 24 to 241, with 42 in May alone and 38 in July. A
bomblets in a pattern to increase the likelihood total of 234 U-boats sunk or scuttled in 1944.
of a hit, was introduced in 1942 and credited Compounding the difficulties for the U-boats,
WOLFPACK? with sinking 47 U-boats. Hunter-killer groups

were formed to search and destroy U-boats –
British cryptanalysts had managed to break the
German radio communications encrypted with
SUBMARINES OF THE the one-time hunters becoming the quarry.
One of the most significant anti-submarine
the Enigma machine.
The capture of U-110 along with an intact
REGIA MARINA defences introduced was High Frequency Enigma machine and other cryptologic
Direction Finding, or Huff-Duff, which utilised information by the destroyers HMS Bulldog and
intercepted U-boat radio traffic, usually HMS Broadway and the corvette HMS Aubretia
between boats at sea and headquarters, to on 9 May 1941 facilitated the breakthrough.
pinpoint the positions of enemy submarines. Lemp, captain of U-110, was shot dead by
Huff-Duff employed two frequency interception a member of the Royal Navy boarding party.
locations, land-based or at sea, assessing the The decrypted German messages were given
slightly different signals to determine a bearing. the code name ‘Ultra’, and by July the first
By the summer of 1942 U-boats were being application of Ultra intelligence contributed to a
caught on the surface at night without warning. dramatic drop in merchant tonnage lost – from
Suddenly the ominous buzz of aircraft engines over 310,000 in June to 94,209.
would be heard, the powerful 22-million candela
Leigh Light stabbed through the darkness, and From drumbeat to destruction
the illuminated submarine was pounded by As Dönitz repeatedly tried to establish U-boat
bombs and riddled with machine gun fire. In the ‘critical mass’ in the North Atlantic, the
month of July, 12 U-boats were sunk. Nine were demands for support of operations in North
sent to the bottom in August, and during the Africa diverted strength from the primary
In the spring of 1940 the Italian navy, the Regia next three months 39 were destroyed. Huff-Duff effort. While results improved dramatically,
Marina, possessed nearly 120 submarines, is believed to have contributed to nearly 25 per with 292,829 tons sunk in September 1941 as
although their capabilities were deficient cent of all U-boat sinkings. U-boats attacked convoys bound to and from
compared to those of their German allies. After Eventually, as the number and expertise Gibraltar, the gateway to the Mediterranean
the fall of France, Italian submarines moved of convoy escorts and the deployment of was also the scene of the first dramatic, clear-
to ports on the Atlantic, establishing a base at improved anti-submarine defences continued to cut British victory over a U-boat wolfpack.
Bordeaux. Their performance was disappointing increase, U-boat losses reached staggering and In December 1941 Convoy HG 76, bound
early in the war as ten submarines were lost in unsustainable proportions. While 86 U-boats for the British Isles from Gibraltar under the
the first three weeks, and only about 30 Italian were lost in 1942, losses nearly tripled in 1943 protection of the 36th Escort Group, was set
submarines were operating at sea at any time in
the conflict. A U-boat crew and officers
During the course of the Battle of the hold a meeting in the bow
Atlantic, Admiral Karl Dönitz, commander of the of their vessel in 1939. The
German Ubootwaffe, attempted to blend Italian claustrophobic conditions
made a strong bond
submarines into the wolfpacks that stalked the between the crew vital
Atlantic sealanes. Results were disappointing
due to performance issues. Italian submarines
were relatively slow and cumbersome. Therefore,
most of their combat experience in World War
II was conducted during individual cruises in the
South Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. In
the Atlantic, Italian submarines sank 109 Allied
merchant ships and 593,864 tons of cargo.
The most successful Italian submarine
of World War II was the Leonardo da Vinci,
under the command of Gianfranco Gazzana-
Priaroggia, the highest-scoring Italian submarine
commander of the conflict. Leonardo da Vinci
sank 17 ships and 120,243 tons of cargo,
including the 21,500-ton passenger liner
Empress of Canada, before falling victim to the
destroyer HMS Active and frigate HMS Ness off
the coast of Spain on 22 May 1943. All hands
were lost. At least 88 Italian submarines were
sunk during World War II.
The Leonardo da Vinci was the most

successful Italian submarine of World
War II, sinking 17 Allied ships
36
“THE MEDITERRANEAN WAS ALSO THE SCENE A Nazi propaganda cartoon

depicts Stalin being speared by a
U-boat, as the U-boat campaign
OF THE FIRST DRAMATIC, CLEAR-CUT BRITISH sunk ships carrying weapons and
supplies to the Soviets
VICTORY OVER A U-BOAT WOLFPACK”

upon by a wolfpack soon after clearing the was totally unprepared to defend
harbour. A four-day running battle ensued. against submarines. Dubbed
Captain Johnnie Walker led the 17 escort Operation Drumbeat, the U-boat
vessels, including the escort aircraft carrier assault devastated merchant
Audacity. On the morning of the 17 December shipping from New England to
U-131 was sunk in a combined effort of aircraft Florida and into the Caribbean. In
from Audacity and escort vessels. The next day March 1942 95 ships were sunk,
U-434 was sunk. Shortly afterwards, U-574 totalling over 530,000 tons. When
torpedoed and sank the destroyer HMS Stanley. the US Navy and Coast Guard finally
Walker’s own ship, the sloop Stork, rammed implemented the convoy system, enforced
and sank U-574. For good measure, the escorts blackout rules and stepped up coastal patrols,
sank U-567 the next day. Partially due to the the diminishing return compelled Dönitz to
incompetence of its captain, Audacity was recall his wolves. During the ‘Second
torpedoed and sunk by U-751 on 21 December. Happy Time’ from January to August
Despite the loss of Audacity and Stanley, 1942, U-boats sank 609 ships
five U-boats – half the attacking wolfpack carrying 3.1 million tons of cargo.
– had been sunk, and other U-boats had Redoubled American anti-
sustained damage. Only two of the 32 HG 76 submarine efforts helped to
merchantmen were sunk. After news of the account for the sinking of 86
defeat reached Dönitz, 1941 ended amid an air U-boats in 1942.
of gloom at U-boat headquarters. In the autumn of that year
After US entry into World War II on 11 wolfpacks scored renewed
December 1941 a handful of U-boats were successes in the Atlantic
dispatched to the east coast of the United and Mediterranean. Convoy
States, and for a period of several months escorts were fewer due
wreaked havoc on American shipping. The US to the demands of
THE HUNTING GROUND

THE GREY WOLVES ROAMED THE OCEANS
LOOKING FOR ALLIED PREY
Kriegsmarine U-boats ranged across the Atlantic advantage of bases along the coast of France with
Ocean, patrolling from Iceland and Scotland in access to the Bay of Biscay. Wolfpacks fanned out
the north to Sierra Leone on the coast of West across the convoy routes in perpendicular cordons,
Africa, Port of Spain, Trinidad, and eventually the hoping a submarine would make contact as other
east coast of the United States. They hunted in boats concentrated for an attack.
the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean and Successful sorties often occurred as convoys
ventured into the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and were accompanied by minimal escorts or
the Pacific. sometimes no escort at all, as they crossed the
Although the Ubootwaffe was spread thinly, its Mid-Atlantic Gap out of range of air cover, or
primary hunting zones were astride the east-west sometimes just as they cleared harbours at the
convoy routes in the North Atlantic as they took start of their long, perilous voyages.
Bound for Casablanca in November 1942, an Allied convoy stretches

across the ocean and presents an inviting target for U-boats
“WOLFPACKS FANNED OUT ACROSS THE CONVOY ROUTES IN

PERPENDICULAR CORDONS, HOPING A SUBMARINE WOULD MAKE
CONTACT AS OTHER BOATS CONCENTRATED FOR AN ATTACK”
37
“U-BOAT FORAYS WERE NEVER

MOUNTED IN WAR-WINNING
NUMBERS, ALTHOUGH IN THE
SPRING OF 1941 THEIR SORTIES
WERE ENOUGH TO RAISE
CONSIDERABLE CONCERN”
Above: With their U-boat forced to surface and surrender,

German crewmen awaiting rescue cluster on the conning A U-boat feels the force of an attack
tower as an Allied warship approaches from a US Navy plane in the Atlantic
Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Whither the wolfpack convoys could still sail the sea undetected.
Africa. Wolfpacks ravaged convoys in October The legend and lore of the wolfpack conjures up Opportunities were lost and with them the
and November, sinking more than 100 ships great tales of danger and derring-do. Despite Battle of the Atlantic.
in each month and destroying 619,417 and Churchill’s concerns, a closer look at wolfpack The numbers speak for themselves. Captured
729,160 tons of shipping respectively. The performances may lead observers to draw U-boat war diaries revealed the startling reality
November total was an all-time high. conclusions that are markedly different from that many German submarines spent entire
In early 1943 pitched battles raged across those a post-war generation of historians has patrols without making contact with a convoy.
the mid-Atlantic and the Western Approaches. traditionally embraced. Fewer than 800 combat patrols – under 30 per
Convoys were particularly vulnerable while U-boat forays were never mounted in cent of the 2,700 sorties conducted – actually
sailing through the Mid-Atlantic Gap, also war-winning numbers, although in the spring produced contact. Only 30 of nearly 3,300
known as the ‘Black Hole’, an expanse of of 1941 their sorties were enough to raise merchantmen bound for British ports were sunk
ocean initially beyond the range of RAF Coastal considerable concern. Dönitz placed his during the first eight months of 1942. During
Command air cover. Before the gap was emphasis on tactical solutions to problems, the first 42 months of the war, over 70 per
closed with longer-range aircraft that spring, while the implications and benefits of over- cent of the ships sunk by U-boats were either
losses were at times prohibitive. In February arching technological advances apparently sailing alone or lagging behind their assigned
and March 1943 U-boats sank 359,328 escaped him, ultimately proving fatal to the convoys. Of the 620 ships sunk while transiting
and 627,377 tons of shipping in the Atlantic. wolfpack offensive. in convoys, only 16 were lost when the convoys
However, 18 U-boats were destroyed in While they concentrated U-boat striking were protected by both naval escort and air
February alone. power, wolfpacks also presented multiple cover. In sharp contrast, 65 per cent of all
The realisation that the U-boat war against targets in a compact operational zone as U-boat losses in World War II were inflicted by
the Allies was lost came abruptly. Within weeks convoy escorts and other countermeasures convoy escorts.
of the spring triumphs, roles were reversed. In steadily grew in lethality. Wolfpack operations Without doubt, the wolfpack earned its place
May 1943 Dönitz lost a staggering 41 U-boats depended on radio communication, often in history. However, an unbiased evaluation of
while only 264,853 tons of shipping was sunk. compromising surprise and summoning swift its performance strongly suggests a less than
Such losses were unsustainable, and the retribution. Torpedo malfunctions and limited stellar record – one that never really brought
wolfpacks were recalled. Although the Allies improvements in U-boat technical performance Britain to the brink of defeat. Nevertheless,
had won the Battle of the Atlantic, German drove Dönitz and his senior commanders, the exploits and sacrifice of those who fought
submarines continued to fight and periodically as well as captains and crews with their the Battle of the Atlantic, both Allied and Axis,
claimed Pyrrhic victories right up until the end lives on the line, to distraction. Then there raised the wolfpack to mythical status, and
of the war. was the vastness of the Atlantic itself. Allied these intrepid men are worthy of remembrance.
38
Operator’s Handbook
U-48 TY
The German submarine U-48 was the most successful
weapon of its type deployed during World War II
espite the fact that unrestricted ultimate victory. However, when World War II
WORDS MIKE HASKEW
The most successful submarine of World
D submarine warfare had brought

the British Isles to near collapse
during World War I, the German
navy of World War II, the
Kriegsmarine, had only 56 operational U-boats
(Unterseebooten, or undersea boats) when the
conflict erupted in September 1939.
began the Kriegsmarine was woefully short of
his goal.
Nevertheless, German submarines indeed
wrought significant damage on British shipping
once again, and the development of a second
generation of modern, sleek undersea hunters
had been ongoing during the interwar years.
War II in terms of ships and tonnage sunk was
the Type VII-B U-48, launched on 8 March
1939 and commissioned six weeks later.
Already at sea when the conflict broke out,
the U-48 survived a dozen war patrols under
three commanders, served as a training boat
and was sunk in the spring of 1945 during the
Admiral Karl Dönitz, commander of the The Type VII series of U-boats was completed last days of the war – not by enemy action,
U-boat service of the Kriegsmarine, realised the in the greatest numbers, with just over 700 but scuttled by its own crew to prevent it from
potential that a renewed blockade of the British launched during roughly a decade of production falling into Allied hands.
Isles and a concerted effort to interdict trans- from 1935-1945. Designated A, B and C, the
Atlantic merchant shipping to the island nation Type VII U-boats menaced the sea lanes and
held. If enough U-boats were constructed and were responsible for the sinking of millions of
deployed they would be able to strangle Britain tons of Allied shipping.
into submission. Dönitz argued forcefully for a
vigorous building programme and the launching
of dozens more U-boats to help ensure the
“IF ENOUGH U-BOATS

WERE CONSTRUCTED AND
DEPLOYED, THEY WOULD BE
ABLE TO STRANGLE BRITAIN
INTO SUBMISSION”
40
U-48 TYPE VII-B
PE VII-B
“THE MOST SUCCESSFUL SUBMARINE OF
WORLD WAR II IN TERMS OF SHIPS AND
TONNAGE SUNK WAS THE TYPE VII-B U-48,
LAUNCHED ON 8 MARCH 1939”
U-48 TYPE VII-B

COMMISSIONED: 22 APRIL 1939 ORIGIN: NAZI GERMANY
LENGTH: 66.5M (218.2FT) CREW: 44
RANGE: 6,500 NM SURFACED; 90 NM SUBMERGED
DISPLACEMENT: 753 TONS SURFACED
ENGINE: 2 X KRUPP GERMANIAWERFT DIESEL
ENGINES SURFACED; 2 X ALLEGMEINE ELEKTRICITATS-
Illustrations: Alex Pang
GESELLSCHAFT AG (AEG) ELECTRIC MOTORS SUBMERGED

PRIMARY WEAPONS: 4 X 53.3CM (21IN) AND 1 X 53.3CM
STERN TORPEDO TUBES; 14 TORPEDOES
SECONDARY WEAPONS: 88MM SK C/35 NAVAL GUN; 20MM
C/30 ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN
41
OPERATOR’S HANDBOOK
Crew members
monitor the dials in
the engine room
ENGINE
The pair of supercharged four-
stroke, six-cylinder Germaniawerft
F46 diesel engines that powered
the U-48 while surfaced generated
up to 3,160 shaft horsepower and
a top speed of 17.9 knots. The
engine was widely produced prior
to and during World War II. While
running submerged U-48 was
capable of a top speed of eight
knots with two AEG GU 460/8-
276 double acting electric motors
producing 740 shaft horsepower.
Diesel exhaust ports were mounted
on the sides of the hull and
designed to vent exhaust downward
to minimise the submarine’s
visibility on the surface.
“WHILE RUNNING
SUBMERGED U-48 WAS
CAPABLE OF A TOP SPEED Two AEG GU 460/8-276
OF EIGHT KNOTS” powered the U-48 up to eight

knots while submerged
42
U-48 TYPE VII-B
ARMAMENT
Early in World War II the standard German
A GA VIII gyroscope that
was used in the standard
GA7a(TI) torpedo
torpedo was the G7a(TI), a variable-
speed, steam-powered weapon that was
controlled by a gyroscope. Speed was
determined by preset pressure levels of
30, 40 or 44 knots. The 44-knot setting
was used only by surface craft. A setting
of 40 knots yielded a range of
7,500 metres (24,606 feet). The
torpedo was armed with a warhead
of 280 kilograms (617 pounds) of
explosive. The Type VII-B was also
capable of carrying and laying up
to 39 mines. Secondary armament
consisted of the 88mm SK C/35
deck gun and the 20mm C/30 anti-
aircraft gun.
“THE STANDARD
GERMAN TORPEDO WAS THE
G7A(TI), A VARIABLE SPEED,
STEAM-POWERED WEAPON
THAT WAS CONTROLLED
BY A GYROSCOPE”
Above: U-48
had a secondary
armament of an
88mm SK C/35
deck gun
A U-boat crew
personalises one of
the 14 torpedoes
that made up the
main armament
43
OPERATOR’S HANDBOOK
“THE INTERIOR OF THE TYPE VII SUBMARINE

WAS CRAMPED AS INDIVIDUAL COMFORT
WAS NOT A PRIORITY”
No activity on
such a tight,
enclosed vessel
was easy,
so loading a
7-metre (23-foot)
long torpedo was
a challenge for
the crew
INTERIOR
The interior of the Type VII
submarine was cramped, as
individual comfort was not a
priority. The forward torpedo room
and sleeping area for junior sailors
were located at the bow. Further
aft, senior crew quarters and
the captain’s cabin were atop a
separate area where the batteries
that powered the electric motors
were stowed. The main control
room was amidships with the
navigator’s table, helm control and
diving controls. The conning tower
was directly above, housing the
attack computer, periscope and the
exit hatch to the exterior. Further
aft were the sleeping area for junior
noncommissioned officers, galley,
aft head, pantry, batteries, engine
room and aft torpedo room.
44
U-48 TYPE VII-B
“U-48 COULD OPERATE

TO A CRUSH DEPTH OF
200 METRES”
A WORLD OF
MILITARY
DESIGN INFORMATION
The Type VII-B’s design was
a substantial improvement over its
predecessor, the Type VII-A. In the U-48 and its
sister U-boats the aft torpedo tube, previously located
outside the pressure hull, was brought inside. The hull was
lengthened by two metres to 66.5 metres (218.2 feet) for additional fuel
capacity, and the steering system was enhanced with two rudders for U-48 was one of 706 Type VII
improved turning. Superchargers gave the diesel engines a slight increase U-boats built before and during
in top speed to 17.9 knots surfaced and 8 knots submerged. The U-48 WWII. Despite its improvements,
the Type VIIs were ultimately too
could operate to a crush depth of 200 metres (656 feet) and was of single limited and too few to win the
pressure hull construction. Battle of the Atlantic
SERVICE HISTORY The U-48 operated in two wolfpacks during the early
months of the war and survived serious damage in numerous
encounters with Allied convoy escort vessels. It spent
U-48 WAS UNSURPASSED IN SINKING
Images: Mary Evans, Getty
325 days at sea and completed its war patrols under

ALLIED SHIPPING AND ALSO SURVIVED three commanders – Kapitanleutnant Herbert Schultze,
NUMEROUS ATTACKS BY CONVOY ESCORTS Korvettenkapitan Hans Rudolf Rösing, and Kapitanleutnant
The Type VII-B U-48 was laid down in March 1937 at the Heinrich Bleichrodt. Each commander received the Knight’s
Germaniawerft yards at Kiel, Germany, and commissioned on Cross, as did officers Reinhard Suhren and Erich Zürn.
22 April 1939. During its 22-month wartime career the U-48 The U-48 achieved its first kill on 5 September 1939,
sank or damaged 55 ships totalling 328,414 tons, a record just two days after Britain and France declared war on
unsurpassed in World War II. Germany, sinking the 4,853-ton merchant vessel Royal
Sceptre with its 88mm deck gun.
After sinking the 5,055-ton Winkleigh
on 8 September, U-48 dispatched
the 4,869-ton Firby three days later
and radioed the message, “Transmit
to Mr Churchill. I have sunk the
British steamer Firby. Posit 59˚40’N
13˚50’W. Save the crew if you please,
German submarine.”
During its seventh war patrol
U-48 sank the 1,060-ton sloop of
war HMS Dundee on 15 September
1940, which was followed on the
18 September with a tragic event
of World War II. With Bleichrodt in
command, the U-48 torpedoed the
steamer SS City of Benares, which
was participating in a programme to
evacuate British children to Canada.
90 children were aboard the ship
and 77 died. A total of 258 crew and
passengers perished.
The U-48 concluded its last
patrol on 21 June 1941 and
returned to Kiel. It was subsequently
transferred to the 26th Bootflotille
at Pillau and then to the Third
U-boat Lehr Division to be used as a
training craft. The boat was scuttled
by its crew on 3 May 1945 to
prevent it falling into Allied hands. WAITING TO BE
DISCOVERED
The sinking of SS City of Benares by
U-48 caused outrage and was held up
by the British as an example of Nazi
Germany’s abhorrence
www.haynes.com
Great Battles
IA DRANG
The US First Air Cavalry sought to oust the North Vietnamese from the
Central Highlands of South Vietnam – what followed was a bloody battle
that pitted elite infantry forces against each other
WORDS WILLIAM E. WELSH
“MORE COMMUNISTS CLAD

IN MUSTARD-COLOURED
UNIFORMS ARRIVED TO JOIN
THE FIREFIGHT”
46
IA DRANG
US Army Major Bruce Crandall, who

received the Medal of Honor for bravery
during the battle, departs in his UH-1D
helicopter after dropping off a load
PLEIKU PROVINCE,
of riflemen at LZ X-Ray
SOUTH VIETNAM
14-17 NOVEMBER 1965
ess than two hours after landing
L near the Cambodian border on 14

November 1965, an American ‘Air
Cavalry’ battalion made contact
with North Vietnamese regulars
operating from a base camp in a mountain
stronghold inside South Vietnam. In a sweep up
a nearby mountain, an American rifle platoon
spotted a squad of enemy troops that appeared
to be retreating along a mountain trail and gave
chase. The jungle swallowed the Americans,
and they lost contact with their main force.
50 North Vietnamese came charging down
the trail towards the US troops. Rounds
hissed through the trees. Two American
machine gun teams swung into action, and
a grenadier pumped rounds from his M79
‘Thumper’ into the enemy’s flank. More
Communists clad in mustard-coloured
uniforms arrived to join the firefight.
The young lieutenant leading the American
platoon had committed the blunder that he had
been warned minutes before not to commit.
His company commander over the tactical radio
had said: “Be careful, I don’t want you to get
pinned down or sucked into anything.” In his
desire to engage the enemy, the eager young
officer had done precisely that. His platoon
would have to hold on until help came – if it
arrived before they were wiped out.
The war between the communist Democratic
Republic of Vietnam and the American-backed
Republic of Vietnam, better known as North
Vietnam and South Vietnam respectively,
entered a new phase in 1965. Four years
earlier, the US had ‘stood up’ its Military
Assistance Command, Vietnam. Among MACV’s
many responsibilities was ensuring that the
South Vietnamese troops had American military
advisors to coach them on battle tactics.
When it became apparent that South
Vietnamese forces could not defeat the Viet
Cong insurgency, the Americans brought in
their own ground troops. At the same time, the
North Vietnamese Politburo had decided to
send regular army troops into action in South
Vietnam. These troops arrived in the south by
OPPOSING FORCES
vs
PEOPLE’S ARMY OF US ARMY
NORTH VIETNAM UNIT:
First Cavalry Division
UNIT:
(Airmobile)
B-3 Front
LEADERS:
LEADERS:
Lt. Col. Harold Moore
Brig. Gen. Chu Huy Man
INFANTRY: 1,500
INFANTRY: 6,000
HEAVY ARTILLERY:
HEAVY ARTILLERY: 0
12 105mm howitzers
47
GREAT BATTLES
way of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a vast road and

trail network built by labourers from the north “AT FIRST THE AMERICANS that the newly arrived First Cavalry Division
(Airmobile) stationed at An Khe blocked a drive
that ran through eastern Laos and Cambodia.
Among the elite US ground forces that arrived BELIEVED THEY WERE FIGHTING to the coast, it revised the final step. The North
Vietnamese regulars were not to try to reach
in 1965 was Major General Harry Kinnard’s
16,000-strong First Cavalry (Airmobile) Division, THE VIET CONG BUT EVENTUALLY the coast: instead, they were to kill Americans.
American air power broke attempts by the
which established its base at An Khe in Binh
Dinh Province. The division was built around REALISED THEY WERE UP 32nd and 33rd regiments to capture the
Special Forces Camp and to destroy the South
the novel concept of moving troops before and
during battle by helicopter. AGAINST WELL-TRAINED, Vietnamese relief force. After a severe mauling,
Brigadier General Man withdrew his forces west
The helicopter that was the mainstay of the
air mobility concept was the ubiquitous utility HIGHLY DISCIPLINED NORTH into the Ia Drang Valley, which bordered the Chu
Pong Mountains.
helicopter, the UH-1, nicknamed ‘Huey’. At
this point in the Vietnam War it came in two
versions: the elongated UH-1D, known as a
VIETNAMESE REGULARS” Kinnard sent his reconnaissance force, the
First Squadron of the Ninth Cavalry, to scour
the Ia Drang Valley in search of the enemy base
‘Slick’ transported troops, and the shorter UH- mountain ranges, gnarled valleys, jungle-strewn camp. The Ninth Cavalry used light observation
1B armed with rocket launchers and miniguns ravines and abrupt plains where Montagnard helicopters with large Plexiglas bubble canopies
was known as a ‘Hog’. Slicks ordinarily could villages cluster, thin and disappear as the to peer into the foliage below for signs of
carry their four-man crew as well as eight terrain steepens,” wrote war correspondent the enemy. When they spied something
infantrymen, but the thin air of the highlands Michael Herr. As such, they offered the North promising, an aero-rifle platoon was deployed
strained the engine, and in that altitude it could Vietnamese both a training ground and a to explore the situation on foot. During the
transport only five infantrymen. sanctuary to recover from battle. For the first week of November, the squadron found
After its arrival in September, the division American troops, who had little knowledge evidence indicating that the Communists’ base
conducted sweeps around its sprawling of the rugged high country and would have camp was situated on or near the Chu Pong
helicopter base at An Khe to clear the area of had great difficulty penetrating it without their mountains. Their reconnaissance was accurate,
Viet Cong guerillas. Far bigger opportunities helicopters, the highlands were “spooky beyond because the three North Vietnamese regiments
awaited it, though. When the North Vietnamese belief,” said Herr. were deployed on the eastern slopes of the
attacked the US Special Forces camp at Plei Me Running the show for the communist mountains, as well as in Ia Drang Valley to the
in the Central Highlands on October 19, MACV People’s Army of Vietnam in the Central north east.
Commander General William Westmoreland Highlands in 1965 was Brigadier General Chu Anticipating a large battle, Kinnard ordered
ordered Kinnard to engage and destroy enemy Huy Man, the commander of the division-sized Colonel Thomas Brown to have his Third
forces. At first the Americans believed they were B-3 Front. His three regiments were the 32nd, Brigade ready for a helicopter assault into Ia
fighting the Viet Cong but eventually realised they 33rd and 66th regiments. Hanoi wanted Man Drang Valley. The brigade comprised Lieutenant
were up against well-trained, highly disciplined to destroy the Plei Me Special Forces Camp Colonel Harold Moore’s First Battalion,
North Vietnamese regulars. and any South Vietnamese forces sent to Seventh Cavalry; Lieutenant Colonel Robert
The Central Highlands had long been a support it. Afterwards, his troops were to McDade’s Second Battalion, Seventh Cavalry;
sanctuary for communist operations in South advance east to the coast, thereby splitting and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Tully’s Second
Vietnam. The highlands “are a run of erratic South Vietnam in half. But when Hanoi learned Brigade, Fifth Cavalry.
North Vietnamese soldiers fighting

to liberate South Vietnam underwent
rigorous training in battlefield tactics
48
IA DRANG
10 04 ATTEMPT 08 RESCUE MISSION

B-52 STRIKES FAILED RELIEF SUCCESSFUL
03
ISOLATED PLATOON
On the afternoon of the third Elements of the 33rd
day US B-52 bombers from Guam and 66th regiments of the North By late afternoon all four Two fresh battalions arrive by
conduct bombing runs against North Vietnamese B-3 Front stream companies of the First midday. With his strength tripled,
Vietnamese forces in the Chu Pong downhill to attack Bravo Company. Battalion, Seventh Cavalry US Army Lt. Col. Harold Moore has
Mountains. The tactical B-52 strikes They encircle Bravo Company’s have arrived at LZ X-Ray. An enough men to hold the landing
mark the beginning of Operation Arc Second Platoon. In the process attempt to rescue the isolated zone and also rescue the isolated
Light. The Arc Light attacks against of forming a defensive position, platoon on the mountainside platoon. A relief force rescues the
the Chu Pong mountains continue the platoon loses one of its two fails in the face of strong encircled American platoon on
for the next five days. invaluable M60 machine guns. enemy resistance. the afternoon of 15 November. Of
the 29 men from the platoon, only
seven avoided serious injury. Nine
died and 13 were wounded.
N
W
02 CAPTURED
LT. HERRICK’S PRISONER
ISOLATED
PLATOON E In their initial sweep around the
S perimeter, US riflemen find a lone
enemy deserter without a weapon.
Through an interpreter, he tells
the Americans that there are two
North Vietnamese battalions in
HERREN the hills above the landing zone.
The Communist soldiers are eager
to kill Americans, he says.
DRY CREEK BED
01 HELICOPTER
FIRE CONTROL
A command and control

CHU NADAL helicopter flying above the
PONG MOORE’S COMMAND POST landing zone co-ordinates
MASSIF EDWARDS supporting fire for First
Battalion, Seventh Cavalry.
Supporting fire consists of
two batteries of 105mm
howitzers located at LZ
Falcon, as well as helicopter
gunships and strike aircraft.
07
FRIENDLY FIRE CASUALTIES
Two US F-100 Super Sabres unload
canisters of napalm on what they believe is an
enemy position at 8.30am. The pilot in the lead
jet releases his two canisters and they explode
inside the perimeter near Moore’s command
post. Two American soldiers are severely burned
in the explosion. The second pilot narrowly avoids
making the same mistake.
09
FINAL ASSAULT
The Americans string
05
ATTACK ON THE
LANDING ZONE flare traps on the second night to
Two companies of North alert them to a night-time attack.
The North Vietnamese attack “CHARLIE COMPANY HOLDS
06
Vietnamese attack the landing ENTRENCHED FOE
zone from the south in an attempt
to penetrate the perimeter. Charlie
By the morning of 15
November many of the Communist
before dawn on 16 November,
setting off the trip wires, thus ITS GROUND, AND THIS
Company holds its ground, and this
makes it possible for the helicopters
soldiers are entrenched outside
of LZ X-Ray in spider holes. These
giving the Americans warning
that an attack is in progress. MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR THE
to continue landing more troops
and ammunition throughout the
shoulder-deep, camouflaged
positions offer protection against
After attempting four times in the
early morning to breach the south HELICOPTERS TO CONTINUE
afternoon. By late afternoon, all four
of Moore’s companies have safely
artillery barrages, bombs and
rockets, with which the Americans
side of the perimeter, the North
Vietnamese break contact for the
final time.
LANDING MORE TROOPS
arrived in the landing zone. hammer the enemy positions.
AND AMMUNITION”
49
GREAT BATTLES
A weary sergeant of Alpha Company First

Battalion, Seventh Cavalry has the ‘1,000-
yard stare’ characteristic of soldiers who have
seen protracted fighting
“THEY WERE DAMNED GOOD

SOLDIERS, USED COVER AND
CONCEALMENT TO PERFECTION
AND WERE DEADLY SHOTS”
50
IA DRANG
Kinnard selected Moore’s battalion to first lift carried Moore and Bravo Company. The long-range artillery or air strikes. If they had
spearhead the assault scheduled for 14 22.5-kilometre (14-mile) flight from Plei Me to fight a sustained battle, they fought from
November. Moore was the best choice for the to LZ X-Ray took 13 minutes. At 10.35am the concealed positions close to the enemy so
mission because he had extensive combat choppers rose skyward in a swirl of red dust. that the Americans would be reluctant to call
experience from the Korean War. Based on A few minutes out the pilots took their ‘birds’ in supporting fire for fear of causing friendly
the earlier findings, Kinnard decided to land down to treetop level for the final approach. casualties. This tactic was known as “clinging to
Moore’s battalion at the north eastern base It was dry season in the mountains, and the the belt”.
of the Chu Pongs on the assumption that he streams that snaked across the plateaus were Captain John Herren’s Bravo Company
would be landing behind the North Vietnamese, bone dry. The landing zone was veiled in grey ascended the mountain with two platoons
and therefore could cut off their retreat. As smoke from artillery shells and aerial rocket abreast and one behind. Al Devney’s First
subsequent events would prove, Moore landed artillery designed to kill any enemy soldiers in Platoon held the left, Lieutenant Henry
among the enemy, not behind it. or near the clearing. The barrage stopped just Herrick’s Second Platoon held the right,
seconds before the Slicks of the first lift flew and Lieutenant Dennis Deal’s Third Platoon
The cavalry arrives down into the clearing. brought up the rear. Alerted by a mountaintop
LZ X-Ray was a narrow, 30-metre-long (100- Moore and his staff set up their command observation post that the Americans had
feet) clearing with chest-high, yellow-brown post next to a large termite mound. Dry ravines landed, the North Vietnamese streamed down
elephant grass, scattered trees and massive bracketed the clearing on the west and north. the mountain in large numbers.
termite mounds. The open woodlands at Shortly after noon the second and third lifts Bravo Company ran headlong into large
the base of the mountains gave way to thick delivered more soldiers. To ensure that the numbers of enemy troops just 30 minutes after
jungle as soon as they began ascending the helicopters could continue to land safely through it had left the landing zone. The Communists
steep slopes. the afternoon, Moore wanted to engage the quickly pinned down Devney’s men, yet the
Moore had 16 Huey Slicks to ferry his enemy outside of the landing zone, not in it. savvy platoon leader maintained contact with
troops to LZ X-Ray. The clearing could only Leaving Alpha Company to guard the landing the landing zone.
accommodate eight Slicks at a time, so the zone, Moore ordered Captain John Herrin to “They were damned good soldiers, used
other eight would have to hover nearby until explore the lower slope of the 457-metre (1,500- cover and concealment to perfection and were
the first group had exited the landing zone. The foot) mountain to the north west that loomed deadly shots,” Moore said of the enemy. As
helicopter pilots would have to make half a over the landing zone. soon as the firefight commenced, devastating
dozen ‘lifts’ to get the 440 men on the ground, The North Vietnamese were waiting for the American firepower struck the mountainside.
a process that would take most of the first day. Americans. The Communist soldiers, who In addition to the torrent of howitzer shells that
Each US Army rifleman carried 300 rounds of were drawn mainly from the rural peasantry, screamed down on them, the North Vietnamese
ammunition for his newly issued M16 assault were patient, tenacious and tough. Each troops were pounded throughout the long
rifle, and each M79 grenadier had 36 rounds. carried a Soviet-designed AK-47 rifle and afternoon with rockets, bombs and napalm.
Each rifle platoon had two M60 machine three ‘potato masher’ grenades. Their To counter the American strike aircraft,
guns, each of which had at least four boxes of platoons had machine guns and hand-held the North Vietnamese on the mountain fired
ammunition. In addition, each squad had two rocket-propelled grenade launchers. 12.7mm Russian-made heavy machine guns
portable anti-tank weapon rockets to destroy Their tactical doctrine called for inflicting that they used as anti-aircraft weapons. In mid-
enemy bunkers. heavy casualties on the Americans at the afternoon they finally succeeded in downing an
Moore’s men assembled late in the morning beginning of a battle and then breaking contact A1-E Skyraider that crashed in a fireball north
near Plei Me for the shuttle to LZ X-Ray. The before they could be taken under fire by enemy of LZ X-Ray.
A soldier rushes to retrieve
“THE NORTH VIETNAMESE an American body at

LZ X-Ray as a waiting
helicopter prepares to take
WERE WAITING FOR THE off under heavy fire
AMERICANS. THE COMMUNIST

SOLDIERS, WHO WERE DRAWN
MAINLY FROM THE RURAL
PEASANTRY, WERE PATIENT,
TENACIOUS AND TOUGH”
51
GREAT BATTLES
An air cavalry platoon sweeps through the elephant grass

firing M16 rifles during heavy fighting at LZ X-Ray
The Communist soldiers quickly got behind Moore told his immediate superior, Third The enemy made four unsuccessful attempts
Herrick’s platoon, and it lost contact with the Brigade Commander Colonel Tim Brown, that to penetrate the perimeter that night. On the
rest of Bravo Company. Engaged in a full- he was hard-pressed by the enemy and could mountainside, the encircled platoon benefitted
throttle firefight, Herrick’s three squads pulled use another company of soldiers. Realising the from the support of an AC-47 ‘Spooky’ gunship
back shortly before mid-afternoon to a knoll on dire nature of the situation, Brown mustered far that circled overhead firing its miniguns outside
a ridge to await rescue. Their perimeter was more reinforcements than Moore requested. the platoon’s tiny perimeter.
only 23 metres (75 feet) in diameter. But it would take time to get many of them to At dawn on 15 November, the second day
A torrent of small arms fire swept the the battlefield. of battle, a squad patrolling the bush south of
knoll where Herrick’s men lay prone. If they While arranging for two full battalions to the perimeter triggered a premature assault
knelt, they were struck by AK-47 or automatic arrive the following day, Brown gathered the by a company-sized force of North Vietnamese
weapons rounds. The Americans laid their closest reinforcements available to send that troops. A furious firefight ensued in which Charlie
M16s flat and fired on full automatic. While afternoon. Captain Myron Diduryk’s Bravo Company was hard-pressed to hold its position.
establishing an effective defence on the Company of Second Battalion, Seventh Cavalry Although he was wounded in the firefight,
knoll, Herrick was killed by an enemy round. was guarding Brown’s headquarters south of Charlie Company commander Captain Edwards
Command eventually devolved, after two Pleiku. Brown ordered Diduryk to prepare his continued to direct the defence of his section
sergeants were killed in quick succession, to a men to fly via helicopter to LZ X-Ray. of the perimeter. He pleaded with Moore for
third sergeant named Clyde Savage. In an effort Scheduled to arrive the next day on Brown’s reinforcements, but the battalion commander
to keep the enemy at bay, Savage called in air orders were Lieutenant Colonel McDade’s refused. When the situation became even
support and artillery fire that landed within 46 battalion and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Tully’s more dire, Moore sent his last reserve, the
metres (150 feet) of the platoon’s position to battalion. They would be moved later in the battalion’s reconnaissance platoon, to assist
keep the enemy at bay. day to landing zones within several miles of LZ Charlie Company. Hand-to-hand fighting
“The bullets were clipping all around us, hitting X-Ray. While McDade’s men would be lifted by occurred, and the dead of both sides lay
men and trees and cutting the grass,” said helicopter to LZ X-Ray on the morning of the alongside each other in the elephant grass.
Savage. “There was a lot of fire coming in on us second day, Tully and his men would have to The North Vietnamese expanded their assault
and they had people coming up at us, but they march overland to LZ X-Ray through enemy- on LZ X-Ray by assailing the north and east
had a hell of a lot of fire coming down on them.” controlled territory, where an ambush was a sides of the perimeter too. Moore called Brown
While the fighting on the mountainside raged, real possibility. again by radio, urgently inquiring as to the status
the Huey Slicks continued to arrive with additional By mid-afternoon the North Vietnamese of the promised reinforcements. Brown said that
platoons. Moore sent Captain ‘Tony’ Nadal with had begun attacking the landing zone in large Tully’s battalion was on its way to join Moore.
his Alpha Platoon troops to extend the battlefront numbers. The small clearing was swept by Moore ordered each company to pop coloured
on the mountain. They took up a position on the a hailstorm of small arms and automatic smoke grenades just outside their position to
left flank of Bravo Company. In so doing, they weapons fire. North Vietnamese mortar rounds mark it for the ground-attack aircraft and rocket-
blocked the Communists from striking the landing and rocket-propelled grenades exploded inside firing helicopters. Soon the area outside of the
zone directly from the mountain. the perimeter, which forced Moore to suspend perimeter was rocked by a series of explosions
Moore retained Captain Bob Edwards’s helicopter landings for a short time. The as rockets, high-explosive bombs and napalm
Charlie Company at the landing zone as a last lifts of the day brought in Captain Louis fell on Communist positions. The air strikes
reserve. Charlie Company deployed on the Lefebvre’s D Company, which was Moore’s eventually forced the North Vietnamese to break
south side of the perimeter to prevent the heavy weapons company, and Diduryk’s rifle off their attack. The three-hour fight took a heavy
enemy from hooking around the Americans to company. This gave Moore enough troops to toll on Charlie Company, which lost half of its
the south and overrunning the landing zone. adequately defend his entire perimeter. strength in the fight. Shortly afterwards, Colonel
52
IA DRANG
“THE AMERICAN CASUALTIES AT LZ X-RAY

AMOUNTED TO 79 KILLED AND 121 WOUNDED.
THE AMERICANS CONFIRMED THAT THEY HAD
KILLED 650 NORTH VIETNAMESE”
Lt. Col. Harold Moore examines a fallen North

Vietnamese regular after the Battle of Ia Drang
made no further attacks that day on the As for the debacle at LZ Albany, the Americans
landing zone. Their chance to wipe out suffered 151 dead and 121 wounded. They
Moore’s battalion had come and gone. estimated that the North Vietnamese lost 1,500
Helicopters evacuated Moore’s troops men as a result of US artillery barrages and
on 16 November to Pleiku for rest and airstrikes at Albany.
recovery. The other two battalions of the Although the three-day battle at LZ X-Ray
Third Brigade remained at LZ X-Ray that is best described as a tactical draw, the
Members of the US 1st Air
Cavalry, march through forest en night. Both battalions departed on foot the Americans won a strategic victory in the
route to Chu Phong mountain, in morning of 17 November. The two battalions larger Pleiku campaign, as they had prevented
the Ia Drang Valley marched together but eventually split up the North Vietnamese from splitting South
to head for different landing zones. Tully’s Vietnam in two with a drive to the coast of
battalion continued on a north east course the South China Sea. Man did his troops a
Brown made a brief visit to the landing zone to for LZ Columbus, while McDade’s battalion great disservice at Ia Drang by not having
inform Moore that he would be withdrawing his turned west towards LZ Albany. McDade had large numbers of heavy weapons, particularly
force the following day. not taken any steps to protect his flanks, either large anti-aircraft guns, to offset the American
Additional elements of McDade’s Second by detaching small groups of soldiers to thrash airpower. Many of these were left behind on the
Battalion, Seventh Cavalry arrived in the through the brush alongside the trail or by Ho Chi Minh Trail as the infantry hurried forward
morning by helicopter, and Tully’s battalion walking barrages of artillery. His battalion would to the battlefront in the highlands.
arrived safely at noon following a dangerous pay a heavy price for his negligence. The Battle of Ia Drang “marked the first
march through enemy-controlled territory. To Brigadier General Man thirsted for revenge wholesale appearance of North Vietnamese
avoid an enemy ambush, Tully had spread out for the heavy casualties his force suffered at regulars in the South,” wrote Herr. “And no one
his battalion rather than have it march in a LZ X-Ray. He ordered two battalions to set up who was around then can forget the horror of it
single, vulnerable column. a classic L-shaped ambush that would enable or… get over the confidence and sophistication
The arrival of a large number of fresh troops the Communists to rake the column with small with which entire [North Vietnamese] battalions
put Moore’s mind at ease. He dispatched three arms, automatic weapons, rocket-propelled came to engage America in a war.”
companies to rescue the isolated battalion. grenades and mortars. They waited quietly
This time the Communists did not contest their in the elephant grass until the Americans
advance. The relief force entered the jungle
shortly after 1.00pm, and helicopter gunships
were deep into the trap. Just as the front of
McDade’s column was entering the clearing
FURTHER READING
peppered the area over which they would be at Albany, the North Vietnamese attacked. ✪ COLEMAN, J.D. PLEIKU: THE DAWN OF HELICOPTER
advancing with rocket fire. American airpower arrived eventually to drive WARFARE IN VIETNAM (NEW YORK: ST. MARTIN’S PRESS,
Two hours after the relief force set out, it off the enemy, but the battalion was destroyed 1988)
returned to the landing zone escorting the as a fighting force. ✪ MOORE, HAL, AND JOE GALLOWAY. WE WERE SOLDIERS
seven uninjured soldiers and carrying the The American casualties at LZ X-ray ONCE ... AND YOUNG: IA DRANG: THE BATTLE
wounded in ponchos. They also brought back amounted to 79 killed and 121 wounded. THAT CHANGED THE WAR IN VIETNAM (NEW YORK:
their fallen comrades. The survivors were The Americans confirmed that they had HARPERCOLLINS 1992)
caked in blood and dirt. They had the vacant killed 650 North Vietnamese and estimated ✪ NILES, DOUGLAS. A NOBLE CAUSE: AMERICAN
‘1,000-yard stare’ of battle-weary troops who that the Communist soldiers took with them BATTLEFIELD VICTORIES IN VIETNAM (NEW YORK:
had narrowly avoided being wiped out by a more approximately 1,000 of their slain comrades PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, 2015)
numerous enemy. The North Vietnamese troops when they withdrew from the battlefield.
53
BUTCHER WORDS TOM GARNER
CUMBERLAND
Prince William Augustus, Duke of
Cumberland was a privileged military
incompetent who presided over several
large defeats. His only victory was the
controversial Battle of Culloden
Prince William Augustus,

Duke of Cumberland at
the height of his fame.
Cumberland’s noticeable
obesity was thanks to a
wound he received at the
Battle of Dettingen in 1743
“CUMBERLAND POSSESSED A SOLDIERLY

SWAGGER, AND AN OBSERVER NOTED HIS
‘OPENNESS OF TEMPER AND CARELESS AIR,
WHICH IS QUITE À LA MILITAIRE’. THIS OVERCONFIDENCE
WOULD COST HIM DEAR IN HIS FIRST MAJOR COMMAND”
54
BUTCHER CUMBERLAND
O
n a bleak moor in northern the Royal Navy. His time at sea was short-lived quite à la militaire”. This overconfidence would
Scotland two royal cousins met however, and he soon returned to the army. cost him dear in his first major command.
in battle to decide the fate of The duke was made a major general at the age
Britain. Both were fighting for of only 21 and saw action within a year at the Fontenoy
their fathers: Prince Charles Battle of Dettingen. In 1745 George II made Cumberland the
Edward Stuart was attempting to reclaim the commander-in-chief of the British overseas
throne for his exiled father, while Prince William Wounded by grapeshot army, and he was given Marlborough’s old title
Augustus, Duke of Cumberland was fighting to Dettingen, fought on 27 June 1743, was an of ‘captain-general’. However, Cumberland
save the crown of the reigning King George II. allied victory against the French during the War would not enjoy the same success as his
There was everything to lose on both sides, and of the Austrian Succession. It was also the illustrious predecessor in the next campaign
neither man would compromise in what became last occasion when a reigning British monarch against the French.
known as the Battle of Culloden. took command on the battlefield. George II While based in Brussels Cumberland learned
Charles is better known to history as the had seen military action as a young man at that Marshal Maurice de Saxe was besieging
semi-romantic figure ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’, the Battle of Oudenarde in 1708, where he Tournai, and Cumberland marched his allied
but his nemesis at Culloden was infamously fought bravely under the command of the force of British, Hanoverian and Dutch troops
nicknamed ‘Butcher Cumberland’. This ill- Duke of Marlborough. 35 years later he led a to break the siege by forcing the French into
starred Hanoverian became notorious for 42,000-strong army of British, Hanoverian and a pitched battle at Fontenoy on 11 May 1745.
his relentlessly harsh destruction of the Austrian troops from the Austrian Netherlands Cumberland believed his 50,000-strong army
1745 Jacobite rebellion, but the rest of his to the village of Dettingen by the Main River would outnumber the French, but he was
military career has been relatively forgotten. in Germany. The king faced a French army of mistaken. The French outnumbered the allies,
What emerges is a ruthless and unpleasant 50,000 led by Adrien Maurice, duc de Noailles. and Cumberland learned the hard way how to
blunderer who presided over a series of large When the French cavalry attacked the British conduct a battle.
defeats and ruined the reputation of Britain’s infantry George led a mounted counterattack. The British and Dutch advanced against
army in Europe. Cumberland was noticeably courageous and the French. The duke led from the front, but
was seen “riding about animating the men French musket fire inflicted great casualties
A privileged upbringing with great bravery and resolution”. He was on the allied infantry, and Cumberland was
William’s childhood was a startling example of wounded below the knee by grapeshot, and forced to retreat. There were approximately
royal privilege. Born at Leicester House, London while his father won the battle the duke was 10,000-12,000 allied casualties at Fontenoy,
on 15 April 1721, the prince was the second carried from the field. The wound took months but Cumberland had managed to achieve an
surviving son of King George II and Queen to heal and permanently altered Cumberland’s orderly retreat, and contemporaries praised
Caroline of Ansbach. The royal couple despised gait. He found walking difficult and preferred him for rallying the troops. Nevertheless, it
their eldest son Frederick, Prince of Wales, riding on horseback, which eventually led to was a serious defeat, and the victorious Saxe
but their younger son was showered with obesity. Nevertheless, Cumberland possessed proceeded to capture many towns in Belgium.
honours from an early age. William was made a soldierly swagger, and an observer noted his The chief lesson that Cumberland learned
a companion knight of the Bath at the age of “openness of temper and careless air, which is from Fontenoy was how effective sustained
four, ennobled as the Duke of Cumberland the cannon fire and musketry could be on
following year and walked at the head of the advancing infantry. It was a hard experience
knights of the Bath at his parents’ coronation. that he would soon inflict on others. While
Cumberland was then made a knight of the Cumberland was reeling from his defeat in
Garter, and at the age of only ten he received Belgium he learned that Prince Charles Edward
an annual allowance of £6,000. Stuart had landed in Scotland and begun a
By the age of 18 Cumberland was devoting rebellion to overthrow the Hanoverian dynasty.
much of his time to hunting and chasing Cumberland’s hour had come.
actresses, but he also clamoured for a military
career. His father gave him a commission as
Below: The Battle of Fontenoy was one of the largest battles
a colonel in the Coldstream Guards in 1740, during the War of the Austrian Succession. Cumberland’s
but Cumberland initially volunteered to serve in reputation was not damaged despite his defeat
Right: The personal shield of arms

of Prince William Augustus as duke
of Cumberland, 1727-65
55
BUTCHER CUMBERLAND
The ‘45 Protestant relative George, Elector of Hanover However, Cumberland believed that the 3,850
Charles Edward Stuart was a mortal enemy of to succeed to the throne. soldiers in Scotland under the command of
Cumberland, and both men owed their positions George was Cumberland’s grandfather and Lieutenant General Sir John Cope would “put a
and circumstances in 1745 to the political fallout the first Hanoverian king of Great Britain, but stop immediately to this affair”. There were also
of the ‘Glorious Revolution’ in 1688. Charles his reign was threatened by Jacobite uprisings 6,000 troops in England in case the Jacobites
was the grandson of the Catholic James II of in Scotland. The northern kingdom became the decided to march south.
England and VII of Scotland, who had been base for Jacobite operations due its hostility Events in Scotland went disastrously for the
overthrown by the Protestant William of Orange towards the 1707 political union with England government. Cope failed to intercept Charles
from his British thrones. James had set up and its deep ancestral ties to the Stuart and the ‘Young Pretender’ entered Edinburgh on
a court in exile, and his ‘Jacobite’ followers dynasty. James II had died in 1701, but his 17 September 1745. Charles then proclaimed
became committed to restoring the Stuarts to heir, James Francis Edward Stuart, became the his father ‘James VIII of Scotland’ and declared
power. The Stuarts actually continued to rule figurehead for the Jacobite rebellions. The most himself regent. Meanwhile, the Jacobite army
Britain and Ireland through James’s Protestant serious Jacobite rising was thwarted in 1715, had grown to 2,300-2,500 men, and on 21
daughters Mary II and Anne I, but when Anne but James continued to head an exiled court September Charles defeated Cope at the Battle
died in 1714 the British parliament chose her in Rome for decades. His son Charles was an of Prestonpans. 300 government soldiers were
enthusiastic supporter of military action and killed and another 1,500 taken prisoner while
“EVENTS IN SCOTLAND WENT became determined to place his father on the

throne in 1745.
Cope fled south in defeat and disgrace.
Prestonpans was a shocking defeat and
DISASTROUSLY FOR THE Although Charles had covert French support,

he landed in Scotland with only seven followers.
a dismayed Cumberland wrote from the
continent, “I hope that Great Britain is not to
GOVERNMENT. COPE FAILED Nevertheless, word spread of his arrival,

and when Charles raised his standard at
be conquered by a rabble.” The British cabinet
ordered Cumberland to send six infantry
TO INTERCEPT CHARLES AND Glenfinnan on 19 August 1745 he managed

to recruit 1,000 supporters to march on
battalions and nine dragoon squadrons from
Belgium. The duke himself requested to return:
THE ‘YOUNG PRETENDER’ Edinburgh. During this time Cumberland was

still commanding 34,000 British troops on the
“It would be the last mortification to me when
so much is at stake at home and brought to the
ENTERED EDINBURGH” continent, and there were calls to send these

soldiers home to deal with the Jacobite threat.
decision of arms, to be out of the way of doing
my duty.”
56
Crisis at Derby numbered at least 9,000 as well as a further
Cumberland arrived in England on 19 October 10,000 government troops distributed in
to a situation that had further deteriorated. different parts of England. Although Charles
10,000 government troops commanded by fervently objected, his subordinates decided
Field Marshal George Wade had been deployed the best strategy was to return to Scotland to
to intercept Charles’s army before it marched consolidate their strength.
into England. However, while Wade was in This decision was ultimately a fatal blow
Northumberland the Jacobites slipped through to the Jacobites, and from the moment
his net by capturing Carlisle and travelling south they left Derby their cause was doomed.
through Cumbria. Cumberland vengefully pursued the Jacobites
George II now appointed Cumberland as and told Marshal Wade of his fear that “these
commander-in-chief. Despite his defeat at villains may escape back and unpunished
Fontenoy he was popular with the troops, and to our eternal shame.” Nevertheless, Wade
his appointment led them to “leap and skip failed to intercept Charles, and it was left to Above:
about like wild things that the Duke was to Cumberland to pursue the Jacobites. He rode Prince
Charles
command them”. By November Cumberland north at a fast pace that covered 50 kilometres Edward Stuart
was based at Lichfield, but the Jacobites (30 miles) a day, and by 11 December he was was Cumberland’s
were advancing steadily south via Preston in Macclesfield. distant cousin and nemesis
and Manchester, and on 4 December Charles At Macclesfield Cumberland showed the during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745-
46. Their fateful encounter at the Battle of Culloden was
arrived in Derby. first signs of becoming ‘the Butcher’. Jacobite effectively a royal duel for the British crown
For the Hanoverians this was the most stragglers were imprisoned, but he encouraged
serious moment of the rebellion. Derby was the local population to kill any they found: is highly arguable that his mercilessness was
only 210 kilometres (130 miles) north of “They have so many of our prisoners in their rooted in the threat he personally felt from
London and Cumberland was forced to move hands I did not care to put them to death. But I Charles towards his family’s rule over Britain.
100 kilometres (62 miles) north of the capital have encouraged the country people to do it as The Hanoverians had only ruled Britain for
to block the Jacobites’ path. However, Charles they may fall in their way.” 31 years compared to the Stuarts who had
had overstretched himself. He commanded Cumberland’s harsh attitude towards the ruled England for 111 years and 343 years in
5,000 men, but Cumberland’s force alone Jacobites increased after Macclesfield, and it Scotland. The Hanoveri§an hold on the crown
Anglo-Swiss artist David Morier painted this

famous depiction of the Battle of Culloden. Morier
accompanied his patron Cumberland to Scotland, and
it is possible that he was an eyewitness to the battle
57
Cumberland (centre, on white horse)
directs the Battle of Culloden. The
bloodshed on Drumossie Moor was
the last pitched battle to be fought on
British soil
was tenuous, and Cumberland probably felt and oversaw the surrender of their garrison Inverness on 17 February. This was a shock,
that only he stood between the Jacobites and at Carlisle. The Jacobites finally left England, as Cumberland initially believed it would
national ruin. This fear would have bloody with Charles now focusing on consolidating only be a short campaign. He subsequently
consequences in Scotland. his position in Scotland. He was initially headquartered his forces in Aberdeen from 27
successful, and the Jacobites won a victory February and remained there until 8 April to
The Jacobite heartland against government troops led by Lieutenant prepare his army for crossing the River Spey
To compound Cumberland’s problems, he General Henry Hawley at the Battle of Falkirk into the Highlands.
received news near Lancaster that a French Muir on 17 January 1746. While based at Aberdeen Cumberland sent
invasion to support Charles was imminent, and Cumberland was soon despatched to take out threatening proclamations to the Jacobites
he was recalled to London. But these orders control and arrived in Edinburgh on 30 January. speaking of “military executions” if they would
were soon countermanded, and he continued There he held court at the royal family’s not surrender. He justified his threats in a
pursuing the Jacobites, declaring he “would official Scottish residence at Holyrood Palace. letter to the duke of Newcastle, stating, “Don’t
follow them to the furthest part of Scotland”. Prince Charles had held court there only three imagine that threatening military execution and
Between 18-21 December 1745 Cumberland months earlier, and Cumberland’s residency many other things are pleasing to me but nothing
skirmished with straggling Jacobites in Cumbria was a highly political move to re-establish will go down without in this part of the world.”
the Hanoverian dynasty’s rule over Scotland. Cumberland’s men were also training to
At Holyrood Cumberland addressed his army resist the tactics of Charles’s troops. The
and stated that he wished them to “crush the famous ‘Highland charge’ of the Highlander
insolence of a set of thieves and plunderers Jacobites had been largely responsible for the
who have learned from their fathers to disturb government defeats at Prestonpans and Falkirk
every government they have lived under”. He Muir, and Cumberland was determined that his
also demanded that his troops “drive them troops would now stand firm.
[the Jacobites] off the face of the earth”. The Highland charge was a simple, swift
Cumberland departed Edinburgh for infantry advance that used shields and
Stirling while the Jacobites captured broadswords to slam into ranked riflemen. It
was an old medieval tactic but was surprisingly
effective in 1745 thanks to the determination
Left: Louis XV of France during the Battle of
Lauffeld, 2 July 1747. Marshal de Saxe once and fierce courage of the Highlanders in
again defeated Cumberland, and the battle Charles’s army. Cumberland’s troops practised
broke his spell of success after Culloden the tactic of pointing their bayonets to the right
58
BUTCHER CUMBERLAND
“THE ONCE-PROUD FORCE THAT HAD MARCHED ALL THE WAY TO

DERBY WAS NOW MAKING A RELUCTANT LAST STAND THAT ONLY
CHARLES APPEARED TO RELISH”
rather than straight ahead at their opponents. In contrast, the government troops numbered
The idea was that the angled bayonet thrust at least 9,000 men and had enjoyed a day’s
would stab the unshielded side of the Jacobite rest thanks to Cumberland’s birthday. Also,
attacker, but the manoeuvre required great contrary to popular belief, the battle would not
nerve. Each government infantryman had to be a simple fight between English Hanoverians
trust his life to the man to the left of him, and and Scottish Jacobites. Around three quarters
time would soon prove whether this unusual of Charles’s army were Highlanders, but there
tactic would work. were also 300 English Jacobites and Irish
soldiers in French service. More strikingly,
Culloden: birth of ‘the Butcher’ Cumberland’s force contained four battalions
On 8 April 1746 Cumberland’s army finally of Scottish soldiers from the Highlands
left Aberdeen and joined forces with the pro- and Lowlands, and several clans fought in
Hanoverian troops of the Earl of Albemarle. regiments commanded by English officers. In
The duke then received information that the essence both Cumberland and Charles were
Jacobites were preparing to fight him from presiding over something close to a Scottish
Inverness. However, when the government civil war over the matter of who ruled Britain.
army was camping near Nairn, the Jacobites Before the fighting started Cumberland
attempted to surprise them during urged his troops to stand firm and “parry the
Cumberland’s 25th birthday celebrations on the enemy in the manner you have been directed”.
night of 15 April. However, Charles’s men took Moments later a Jacobite cannonball almost
so long to cross Drumossie Moor from Culloden killed his aide-de-camp and the battle began.
House that dawn broke before an attack could The fight at Culloden lasted less than an hour,
be made. but it was bitterly fought. After withstanding a
On 16 April Cumberland’s army marched government artillery barrage for half an hour
onto the boggy ground of Drumossie Moor for the Jacobites deployed a Highland charge but
the final showdown with Charles’s tired and ran into murderous grapeshot fire. Cumberland
demoralised followers. The opposing sides was positioned on the right wing, and the
were unequal: the Jacobites only numbered Highlanders came within 90 metres (300 feet)
around 5,000 men and had waited for of his line before retreating.
Cumberland all day without food or shelter. The The Jacobites who reached the government
once-proud force that had marched all the way lines then engaged in fierce hand-to-hand
to Derby was now making a reluctant last stand fighting, but Cumberland’s new bayonet
that only Charles appeared to relish. technique prevailed over the Scottish
WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION

A DYNASTIC DISPUTE IN AUSTRIA EVENTUALLY CONSUMED ALL OF EUROPE DURING THE 1740s IN A
PROTRACTED AND CONFUSING CONFLICT THAT BOLSTERED THE RISING POWER OF PRUSSIA
The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48) was a series occupation of Silesia and secured his reputation as ‘Frederick obliged to restore any captured lands to the orignal owner,
of related wars, two of which directly developed from the the Great’. Prussia ensured that Maria Theresa’s husband except for the Prussians, who held on to their Silesian
death of the Austrian Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. The Francis became Holy Roman Emperor. By the terms of the conquests. This made the Kingdom of Prussia the only true
accession of Charles’s daughter Maria Theresa as Holy Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in October 1748 every power was winner of the war.
Roman Empress was disputed by neighbouring powers
over whether a woman should become head of the House Prussian infantry advance during the Battle of
of Habsburg, and in 1740 Frederick II of Prussia invaded Hohenfriedburg, 4 June 1745. The War of the
Habsburg Silesia. Austrian Succession cemented the military
Today this would be a monstrously sexist act, but this reputation of Frederick the Great
was of no concern to the European powers of the 1740s,
who promptly started making alliances or declaring war
to suit their own political ends. Eventually the war would
pit Austria, Britain, the Dutch Republic and Russia against
France, Prussia, Spain, Bavaria and Saxony and would
even spread to the Americas and the Indian Ocean.
Britain joined the war with Austria largely out of a fear
of French domination of Europe. Although there was a
victory at Dettingen, Cumberland’s defeat at Fontenoy and
the Jacobite Rebellion saw a diminished British role in the
war. The French occupied the Austrian Netherlands (now
Belgium) but it was the Prussians who gained the most
from the war.
Frederick II won significant victories at the Battles of
Hohenfriedburg and Soor, which enabled the Prussian
59
BUTCHER CUMBERLAND
broadsword. Such was the bloodshed that one Right: In the aftermath of the Battle of
government soldier recalled, “There was not Culloden Cumberland ordered a rigorous
search for fugitive Jacobites, and his troops
one bayonet which was not bloodied or bent.” inflicted great harm to the local population
On the Jacobite left flank the men of Clan around Inverness
MacDonald faltered in their charge, and they
became so frustrated that the clansmen (in that the public orders of the rebels
Cumberland’s words), “threw stones for at least yesterday was to give us no quarter.”
a minute before their total rout began”. The claim of “no quarter” from the
It was the rout of the now-defeated Jacobites Jacobites could not be accurately verified,
that sealed Cumberland’s bloody reputation. but Cumberland used it to completely stamp
Between 1,500 Jacobites and 240-400 out the rebellion. He deliberately rode into
government troops had become casualties, Inverness with his sword still covered in
but Cumberland gave orders for no mercy blood, and subsequent patrols hunted down
towards wounded or fleeing enemy soldiers. One any Jacobite fugitives. Around 70 Jacobites
government soldier, Will Aiken, described how “it were possibly killed in this pursuit and around
was a ghastly sight to see some dead tumbling 3,470 rebel soldiers and supporters were
and wallowing in their blood. Crying for mercy, taken prisoner. Their fate was not to be envied.
we followed and slew them for three miles [4.8 Although many prisoners were released, 120
kilometres] till the dragoons were quite glutted were executed, 88 died in prison, 936 were
with gore.” transported to the colonies and 222 were simply
All wounded Jacobites were killed where they “banished”. Cumberland’s wrath also extended
lay on the battlefield, and by way of justification to his own men and he executed 36 deserters.
the government troops were told to “take notice The duke remained in Scotland until July
1746 to, in his words, “pursue and hunt out
“HE DELIBERATELY RODE INTO these vermin amongst their lurking holes.” The
government hunt for Jacobites was a reign of
INVERNESS WITH HIS SWORD terror, with rebels being summarily shot and
many properties destroyed, irrespective of
Above: After Cumberland’s death in 1765 this unsubtle
cartoon showed the depths of his unpopularity. His political
enemies are dancing on his grave with the devil watching
STILL COVERED IN BLOOD” whether their occupants were Jacobites or not.

However, Charles himself escaped capture, fled
on while a French ‘Oriflamme’ standard flies above
depicting Medusa’s head and snakes on the flagpole
60
BUTCHER CUMBERLAND
to France and went into permanent exile with

his cause in ruins. “CUMBERLAND NOT ONLY Cumberland retreated north to Stade and
was forced to agree to the Convention of
Official reaction to the government victory
was ecstatic. Parliament issued a vote of IGNORED ADVICE DURING THE Klosterzeven. Under the convention’s terms
Hanover was forced to withdraw from the war
thanks, and the composer George Frideric
Handel composed See, the Conquering Hero BATTLE BUT WAS ALMOST TAKEN and its territory was partially occupied by the
French. George II repudiated its terms and
Comes! in his honour. The duke was also made
a freeman of the London Butcher’s Company, PRISONER BY IRISH SOLDIERS Cumberland returned to London in disgrace.
Upon seeing his son, the king remarked he had
but this appointment was ironically taken up by
Jacobite sympathisers to dub him ‘the Butcher’.
The name stuck and was appropriate, given
IN THE FRENCH ARMY” “ruined his country and his army, and had hurt,
or lost, his own reputation”.
With such a public humiliation Cumberland
the cruel nature of his Scottish campaign. This The duke imposed draconian laws on the resigned all his military commissions and
infamy would irreparably sour what would be British army, including making any refusal to never commanded an army again. In 1760 he
Cumberland’s only battlefield victory. obey orders a capital offence. This act, along suffered a stroke and died five years later in
with an ill-fated political career, made the duke 1765 aged only 44. Cumberland had never
Martial humiliation of Cumberland very unpopular, but when the fully recovered from his Dettingen wound and
The remainder of Cumberland’s military career Seven Years’ War broke out in 1756 he was subsequent obesity, and he died unmarried and
was a series of disastrous humiliations. He appointed the commander of the Hanoverian largely unloved by the public.
returned to command British forces in the Army of Observation. Cumberland lived in an outwardly gilded but
Netherlands in 1747 but was once again Tasked with defending his ancestral violent world, and his brutality was by no means
defeated by Marshal de Saxe in a five-hour homeland of Hanover against French attack, exceptional compared with other commanders
battle at Lauffeld on 2 July 1747. Cumberland Cumberland commanded around 40,000 of the time. However, he does stand out as
not only ignored advice during the battle but British, Hanoverian and Hessian soldiers. a general marked out for his incompetence.
was almost taken prisoner by Irish soldiers in However, he was comprehensively defeated Cumberland’s only notable battlefield victory

the French army. Cumberland was forced to the at the Battle of Hastenbeck on 26 July 1757. was at Culloden, and even that was a highly
negotiating table, and he returned to Britain A French army under Louis Charles d’Estrées controversial engagement. The rest of his
empty-handed. attacked Cumberland in his centre, drew in career was ultimately a series of failures on the
Cumberland’s harshness increased on his his reserves and ultimately inflicted a defeat, continent, and he is an arresting reminder that
return to Britain, and Horace Walpole remarked although both sides initially thought they had royal lineage and privilege will never guarantee
on his “very tyrannic behaviour to the army”. lost the battle. military talent.
The beheading of Jacobite lords on Tower Hill,

London, 1746. Special stands were erected and
street vendors are depicted selling snacks and
‘last confessions’ from the lords
61
BRUTAL BIRTH OF BANGLADESH
Before anti-tank missiles

came into widespread use,
the recoilless rifle, such as
the American M40, was the
preferred armour-killing
device for modern armies
“PAKISTANI TROOPS DEPLOYED ALL OVER DHAKA,

THE REGIONAL CAPITAL, SETTING FIRE TO ITS SLUMS
AND BESIEGING ITS UNIVERSITY. GUNFIRE ECHOED
THROUGHOUT THE FIRST DREADFUL NIGHT AND
CONTINUED IN THE EVENINGS THAT FOLLOWED”
62
BRUTAL BIRTH
OF
BANGLADESH
PART TWO WORDS MIGUEL MIRANDA
Fearful of a civil war that could spread into its

territory, India prepared a multi-pronged assault
on Bangladesh. With the world’s nuclear powers
watching, failure was not an option
t could have been the greatest exodus Rather than accept the election results,
I in modern history, a displacement

unseen since the Partition in 1947. In
the summer of 1971 Bengalis from what
used to be East Pakistan escaped their
towns and villages for India, where they sought
shelter in squalid refugee camps. Conditions in
these temporary habitats were appalling. Millions
West Pakistan’s rulers – the politicians and
generals who had no belief in sharing their
mandate – approved Operation Searchlight.
On 25 March, Pakistani troops deployed all
over Dhaka, the regional capital, setting fire to
its slums and besieging its university. Gunfire
echoed throughout the first dreadful night and
of starving, half-naked men and women, together continued in the evenings that followed.
with innumerable children, spent their days in The American diplomat Archer Blood,
hovels separated by open sewers dug by hand. witnessing the scale of the violence unravelling
The flies were a pestilence. Cholera spread around him, did his best to gather as much
quickly, claiming hundreds of lives. evidence as he could. The following month, on
These desperate people were fleeing a 6 April, he sent his superiors in Washington, DC
brutal persecution that began in March, when a telegram that was seething with outrage. The
Pakistan’s dictator Yahya Khan sent Pakistan’s most damning part read, “…But we [the USA]
army to crush Bengali dissidents. East have chosen not to intervene, even morally, on
Pakistan’s reigning political party had swept the the grounds that the Awami conflict, in which
previous year’s elections, and there was both unfortunately the overworked term genocide
anxiety and outrage over the fact the Awami is applicable, is a purely internal matter of
League’s champion, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a sovereign state. Private Americans have
would be denied the prime minister’s office. expressed disgust.”
63
The Pakistanis might have been dug in for a

fight, but they didn’t anticipate the rapidity of
India’s blitz over the countryside
64
“THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION AT THE TIME CONSIDERED PAKISTAN

A VITAL COLD WAR ALLY, AND THE CHAOS IN ITS EASTERN HALF
WAS CONSIDERED NONE OF AMERICA’S BUSINESS”
However, what became known as the ‘Blood Perhaps, the prime minister suggested, a
Telegram’ accomplished little. The Nixon quick and decisive intervention was in order.
administration at the time considered Pakistan India did possess a competent military with
a vital Cold War ally, and the chaos in its enough strength to hammer the Pakistanis.
eastern half was considered none of America’s A sudden assault on the new country of
business, or responsibility. Bangladesh, whose terrain was flat and offered
For several months the same problem few difficulties for mechanised columns, made
bedevilled India, whose eastern provinces an attack a viable option.
bore the brunt of the humanitarian crisis. The brutal
Pakistani
Now ensconced in Calcutta, members of the Prudence wins intervention against
Awami League had already tried to launch a But the prime minister’s intentions were far from Bengalis in Bangladesh
guerrilla war to save the country they had called reasonable according to Chief of Staff General caused thousands of deaths
Bangladesh. The effort failed and soon the Sam Manekshaw, a decorated World War II
weather turned foul as seasonal rains drenched veteran who had the distinction of being India’s Prime Minister Gandhi deferred to her most
South Asia. highest-ranking Parsi – a Zoroastrian Persian capable general and bided her time. Besides,
India’s leader, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, born and raised in the subcontinent. if she did launch an intervention, so could the
had conferred with her cabinet to discuss a ‘Sam Bahadur’, as he was called with Chinese. Worse, the Americans, whose carrier
quick solution to the Bangladeshi question. The fondness, pointed out that once the monsoon strike groups in the Pacific could reach the
Awami League’s cadres-in-exile had failed to began that year from June until October Bay of Bengal unopposed, could also become
sustain a guerrilla war in their homeland, and Bangladesh’s rivers would overflow and embroiled in the conflict.
New Delhi didn’t believe in promising too much become impassable. The flat, dry paddies India’s support for the Mukti Bahini guerrillas
support for the freedom fighters. India had its would be submerged and even bridges might didn’t increase until September, when trainers
own problems – Kashmir and the volatile border be inaccessible. In addition, nearly 200 Indian from the Special Frontier Force – an elite group
with Pakistan, the Maoist Naxal guerrillas in tanks were out of commission. Most of all, Sam that once received support from the American
its southern jungles and the Chinese in their Bahadur concluded, he needed time. The troops CIA – established rudimentary camps in the
outposts in Arunachal Pradesh. weren’t in position and supplies weren’t ready. states adjacent to Bangladesh, such as West
The Soviet-made PT-76 was indispensable

during the race towards Dhaka. Designed
for crossing rivers and canals with ease,
it allowed India’s infantry to manoeuvre
around fortified enemy positions
65
Bengal, Assam and Tripura. There was no perfect emissary to Israel in the years after The first deadly blow
shortage of manpower, as up to 20,000 young the war. In 1971, however, Lieutenant General On 23 November a sizable Pakistani force
men were processed each month in a huge Jacob had to conceive an operation that would backed by American-made M24 Chaffee tanks
build up. earn Manekshaw’s approval and strike at the tried to attack the Mukti Bahini in West Bengal.
Another talented Indian strategist was enemy’s ‘centre of gravity’. The objective was a command and supply
tasked with ironing out the plans for attacking India’s preparations were far from simple. The base in the town of Boyra that straddled the
Bangladesh. This was Lieutenant General J.F.R. area of operations, encompassing Bangladesh’s border. The brazen operation miscalculated
Jacob, whose Jewish faith made him India’s entire territory, was divided into four sectors, the response from India, which was swift and
three of which had a corps assigned to it. In terrible. Indian troops fought alongside the
the north, near the narrow Siliguri Corridor near guerrillas, and a combination of air strikes and
Bhutan, was XXXIII Corps with two elite units, the artillery knocked out a dozen enemy tanks.
20th Mountain Division and the 71st Mountain These losses were a worrying setback for
Brigade. XXXIII Corps was supposed to work the Pakistanis, who may not have lacked for
in conjunction with the 95th Mountain Brigade manpower but did have a shortage of artillery
in the central sector. The western sector had II and fighting vehicles.
Corps and was heavy on armour and infantry. The tit-for-tat skirmishes escalated the
The eastern sector was the staging ground for IV following week, and in December entire
Corps and had the advantage of naval aviation battalions of Mukti Bahini launched assaults
providing cover. on railways and other vital infrastructure in their
In October Mukti Bahini units resumed homeland. Pakistan retaliated with a wave of air
their infiltration of Bangladesh to conduct strikes using its F-86 Sabres, targeting Indian
hit-and-run attacks on Pakistani outposts bases and airports believed to be supplying the
and infrastructure. No decisive battles guerrillas. The trap was sprung. Feigning outrage
were fought in the next two months, but over these airborne provocations and confident
the raids forced the Pakistanis to spread the diplomatic efforts in the months prior would
their soldiers over towns and villages, stave off any condemnation from Washington
leaving roads and railways unprotected. and Beijing, Prime Minister Gandhi let her
generals settle the Bangladesh question.
The Mukti Bahini catch up with
On 4 December more than 100,000 troops
an informer during the Indian struck from four directions. In the north, XXXIII
intervention in Bangladesh Corps followed the path of the Brahmaputra
AIR SUPERIORITY IN 48 HOURS

PAKISTAN HAD FORTIFIED ITS EASTERN HALF WITH A RING OF AIRBASES. TO ACHIEVE VICTORY, INDIA NEEDED TO ELIMINATE THEM ALL
A crucial advantage for India during the the subcontinent. These Eastern Bloc made F-86 Sabre, considered Pakistan’s airspace. There would be no more major
1971 war was its impressive collection of interceptors, known by their NATO best equaliser in the sky. dogfights for the duration of the war.
ground and carrier-based fighter jets. While nomenclature as the ‘Fishbed’, were The following day the Indian Navy’s carrier As Indian mechanised columns neared
Pakistan did enjoy a short-lived heyday the best in Asia at the time and worked INS Vikrant launched its Sea Hawks on the Dhaka, closing on the city like a vice, Indian
during the late 1950s thanks to arms alongside British-made Hunter fighter- southeastern coasts of Bangladesh. The MiG-21s had a last crucial mission before
deliveries from the US, by the 1960s this bombers – the other prized assets of the IAF. targets were the air and naval facilities in the city’s defenders capitulated. This was
had dissipated as India poured money and On the eve of the 1971 invasion, Chittagong and Cox’s Bazaar. the pinpoint destruction of the Government
resources into its air force. Pakistani squadrons from Bangladesh Without any shore-based defences to House on 14 December. Two days later
Strong ties with the Soviet Union attempted to cripple Indian airbases oppose them, the INS Vikrant and its escorts Indian troops entered the city victorious.
allowed the transfer of the MiG-21 to across the border with dumb bombs. Poor remained unmolested in the Bay of Bengal. The liberation of Bangladesh was the
coordination and a lack of ordnance made By 5 December most Indian air sorties first modern conflict where Indian pilots and
this an exercise in futility. Worse, India’s war were used for close air support as Pakistani aircraft established total superiority in a
planners knew these enemy aircraft were Sabres were no longer able to contest their conventional war.
based in a dozen locations – all of them in
range for retaliatory air strikes.
Before the sun had set on 4 December, “THE MIG-21 IN PARTICULAR WAS AN AGILE AND
most of these sites were out of
commission. The MiG-21 in particular was LETHAL ADVERSARY WHEN MATCHED AGAINST
an agile and lethal adversary when
matched against the American- THE AMERICAN-MADE F-86 SABRE”
The Soviet-designed Indian Air Force
Mig-21s helped India dominate the
skies over Bangladesh
66
Soviet T-55 medium tanks

proved their worth in
Bangladesh, where they
out-matched obsolete
Pakistani armour
River and moved south at a rapid pace. In the

west and east, II Corps and IV Corps avoided
concentrations of dug-in Pakistani troops and
“MUKTI BAHINI UNITS RESUMED THEIR INFILTRATION OF
raced towards their objectives. The Indian Air
Force had done an impressive job neutralising
BANGLADESH TO CONDUCT HIT-AND-RUN ATTACKS ON
Pakistani airfields, nearly all of which were
along the border.
PAKISTANI OUTPOSTS AND INFRASTRUCTURE”
The most crucial engagement in the opening of the war and was still on its way from Karachi, several depth charges and later reported that it
days of the war – the third time India and Pakistan’s gleaming coastal metropolis. had successfully destroyed the Ghazi. While the
Pakistan had come to blows since both gaining In the days before hostilities began, Indian Ghazi was indeed destroyed on 4 December,
independence from Britain – was the flawless cryptanalysts had intercepted Pakistan’s the cause of its destruction is contentious.
blockade of Bangladesh’s long and fractured sensitive communications network in Indian divers who searched for wreckage in
coast. None of the belligerents possessed Bangladesh. It was discovered that the Ghazi the shallows of Visakapatnam eventually found
formidable navies, but India risked its new had to trace India’s long coastline before it the Ghazi torn apart by a massive internal
aircraft carrier, the INS Vikrant, on a hazardous could attempt an ambush on the Vikrant. explosion. Pakistan claimed the submarine was
mission to attack Pakistani forces from the air in Should it fail this mission, its next objective destroyed in a mine-laying accident.
the eastern sector. was to plant mines along India’s eastern coast.
The Pakistanis didn’t have anything larger But the Indian Navy was fully aware of the Flawless operational art
than gunboats to protect the coast, but there Ghazi’s presence in their waters and sent an Meanwhile in Bangladesh, the war was
was the PNS Ghazi, a submarine that could stalk aging destroyer, the INS Rajput, to eliminate it. progressing well for India. Pakistani fighter jets
and eliminate the Vikrant and its escorts one The Rajput calculated the Ghazi’s likely position were either neutralised or stranded in their
by one. Luckily for the Indian flotilla, the Ghazi and went to intercept the submarine. In the airfields within two days of the invasion. This
wasn’t stationed in Chittagong at the outbreak early hours of 4 December Rajput dropped allowed Indian columns to move unmolested
67
across the countryside. Like the Arab-Israeli

wars before it, this conflict in South Asia “INDIA’S RAPID PROGRESS MEANT THE MUKTI BAHINI WERE
served as a proving ground for Soviet and
Western technology. This time, the Soviet-
made kit showed its mettle. Striking from the
REDUCED TO SPECTATORS IN THIS FINAL SHOWDOWN”
western sector, II Corps managed to secure its While Indian casualties were quite serious in River, Tangail’s fall completed the encirclement
objectives, the towns of Jhenaidah and Jessore, a few engagements, the biggest hurdles in the of Bangladesh’s largest city and seat of power.
in less than a week. war were the local roads. In many places these India’s high command could then have
This was made possible by the Soviet- were little more than dirt tracks, and the Indian sent the Mukti Bahini, whose numbers
designed PT-76, an amphibious tank that used army didn’t have enough transports, such as reached almost 100,000 men, to liberate
an elongated hull equipped with propellers to APCs or helicopters, for rapid movement. If Dhaka on their own, street by street, with
traverse water. India had imported hundreds of India’s army had stocked up on hundreds of the Pakistanis fighting to the death. But
these tracked vehicles, and even if its armour Soviet Mi-2 helicopters, for example, it would common sense prevailed, and surgical air
was too thin for comfort, its 76mm main gun have made even better progress. strikes were launched on the city. On 14
could take on anything thrown at it. The air assault proved decisive in the war. One December, after MiG-21s and Hunters had
Unfortunately for Pakistan, their best anti- of its most daring operations was the insertion bombed and rocketed Government House, East
tank weapons in the Bangladesh theatre were of the Para Battalion Group, a crack unit, deep Pakistan’s highest ranking civilian, Governor
jeeps mounted with a recoilless rifle. The PT-76s behind enemy lines. The objective was in the Abdul Motaleb Malik, emerged from a nearby
became indispensable for crossing streams, northern sector, in a town called Tangail. On the bunker. Trembling and almost speechless with
canals and rivers, often with an infantry squad eighth day of hostilities, 500 paratroopers were shock, he found a scrap of paper to scrawl his
riding on top. This spared engineers the gruelling ferried by plane and dropped over their objective, resignation on. At the end of that undignified
Images: Getty, Shutterstock

task of floating pontoons or repairing bridges which was captured without a fight. moment, Dhaka was ripe for the taking.
under fire. As insignificant as the operation appeared,
India’s rapid progress meant the Mukti Tangail marked the beginning of the end
Bahini were reduced to spectators in this final
showdown. This was intentional, as India’s
for Pakistan’s desperate stranglehold on
Bangladesh. The town northwest of Dhaka had
IN PART III…
The clash between India and Pakistan draws to an end,
generals knew having irregular troops in a highway leading straight to the capital. With leaving an even more bitter rivalry in its wake.
their order of battle would compromise their IV Corps already occupying the banks of the History of War issue 50 is on sale 28 December 2017.
remarkable operational tempo. Meghna River and II Corps reaching the Padma
India’s assault on Bangladesh had

to wait until the year’s end because
of the monsoon. Once it had passed,
additional months were spent
readying troops for the invasion
68
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HEROES OF THE VICTORIA CROSS
Heroes of the Medal of Honor
OLIVER OTIS HOWARD

In the summer of 1862 this Union general led two New York regiments in
a gallant charge at Fair Oaks that cost him his right arm
WORDS FRANK JASTRZEMBSKI
A
s the German soldiers from the his brothers. To help relieve this burden, Howard Confederate capital. Two divisions of the Union
11th Corps rushed piecemeal moved in with his uncle, the Honourable John IV Corps were carelessly thrown across the
away from the Confederate Otis of Hallowell. He decided at a young age that Chickahominy River and divided from the rest
onslaught, Major General Oliver he didn’t want to spend his days tilling fields, of the Union army as McClellan crept towards
O. Howard did what he thought so he prepared for college between periods his objective. Johnston took the initiative and
best to curb the hysteria of his fleeing men. of working on a farm. He enrolled at Bowdoin attacked the isolated divisions near Fair Oaks
Thousands were routed when a strong column College at the age of 15, graduating in 1850 Station on 31 May 1862. The defenders were
of Confederate soldiers under the legendary after four years. He received an appointment to pushed back, but they stabilised their position
leadership of General Thomas J. ‘Stonewall’ the United States Military Academy that same and waited for reinforcements.
Jackson smashed into his corps’ exposed year, graduating fourth in the class of 1854. The next day the Confederates renewed
flank and collapsed the Union line. Howard Howard was appointed a brevet second their assault, and Howard’s brigade of four
received plenty of criticism (and still does to lieutenant in the ordnance department of regiments – the 61st New York, 64th New York,
this day) for his men’s flight during the Battle of the United States Army upon graduation. He Fifth New Hampshire and 81st Pennsylvania
Chancellorsville in May 1863, but no one ever bounced between different arsenals in New – formed part of the fresh reinforcements
questioned Howard’s bravery on that day. York and Maine before being dispatched that arrived. Two of Howard’s regiments
Mortified at his men’s cowardly behaviour, to Fort Myers, Florida, in 1856 to serve as were detached from his command. Howard
Howard grabbed the nearest Union standard Colonel William Harney’s chief ordnance personally led the two remaining regiments
and slid the pole between the pinned-up sleeve officer. Soon after he returned to the United (the 61st and 64th New York Regiments of
of his frock coat where his right arm used to States Military Academy and served as the around 800 men) forward through the woods
be, having lost it in battle one year before. He assistant professor of mathematics. Howard and underbrush to support the hard-pressed
shouted words of encouragement and gallantly began to seriously contemplate entering the Fifth Pennsylvania to his front. The New Yorkers
rode among the blue tide, exhibiting his ministry, but the outbreak of the American Civil rushed past the Pennsylvanians and slammed
trademark steadiness and valour. War halted these ambitions. into the Confederate line. Howard’s New Yorkers
Throughout his career as an officer during Howard resigned his army commission to managed to drive the Confederates back to the
the American Civil War, Oliver O. Howard acted accept a position from the governor of Maine ground they had captured the previous day.
as if he cared little for his life when the bullets as colonel of the Third Maine Volunteer Infantry The conspicuous Yankee general made an
began to fly. This carelessness could easily Regiment in May 1861. He commanded a easy target for Confederate infantrymen. Early
be attributed to “rashness or fatalism,” as brigade at the Battle of Bull Run, where the on Howard, one of the few mounted men,
one observer noted, but this attitude actually Union army was shamefully driven from the field tumbled into the dirt, his horse shot dead from
sprang from Howard’s religious beliefs. Some in its first major battle. During the reorganisation under him. The general called for a second
mocked the polished, virtuous and intellectual of the Army of the Potomac, Major General animal. Soon after a ball from a Mississippi rifle
officer, judging him to be a better fit for the George B. McClellan retained Howard as a tore into the flesh of Howard’s right forearm.
seminary or a classroom rather than leading brigade commander after he was promoted to His brother Lieutenant Charles Howard, serving
soldiers into battle. But Howard found religion the rank of brigadier general in September 1861. on his staff, bound up the wound with a
to be his greatest strength, allowing him to face General McClellan transported and handkerchief to stop the flow of blood.
the dangers, horrors and carnage of battle in a landed the Army of the Potomac (numbering Howard pressed on with his men, wishing
collected and plucky manner. around 100,000 men) in Virginia outside the to lead by example. “Howard led his men with
Oliver Otis Howard was born into a farming Confederate capital of Richmond in the spring the greatest gallantry close up to the enemy,”
family on 8 November 1830 in Leeds, Maine. of 1862. He hoped his offensive would catch Colonel Edward E. Cross of the Fifth New
His father Rowland died while he was only ten, General Joseph E. Johnston’s outnumbered Hampshire recalled, who was himself twice
leaving his mother with the task of supporting army off-guard and lead to the capture of the wounded during the fight. Cross commended
70
OLIVER OTIS HOWARD
General Howard after

the loss of his right arm
“I WAS A JUST MAN AND A CHRISTIAN MAN, ONE

WHO FEARED GOD AND TRIED TO DO HIS WILL”
Oliver Otis Howard
71
HEROES OF THE MEDAL OF HONOR
“IN GENERAL HOWARD THROUGHOUT I FOUND

A POLISHED AND CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN
EXHIBITING THE HIGHEST AND MOST
CHIVALROUS TRAITS OF THE SOLDIER”
General Sherman
Howard for being the only general to lead his regiment commanders and 713 men were
men into battle. He wrote that Howard “nobly casualties from the 2,000 men who engaged.
acted with a bravery bordering on rashness and As he staggered to the rear Howard bumped
nobly sustained his reputation as a brave and into a fellow brigade commander’s medical
efficient officer”. Upon reaching the deserted surgeon, the New Jersey native Gabriel Grant.
Union camp from the previous day’s fighting and The surgeon was operating on wounded officers
nearing the enemy, the left foreleg of Howard’s and soldiers he had personally pulled from the
horse was broken by a ball. frontline next to a large tree stump (he won the
Howard was hit again in the right arm, the MOH for this deed). Recognising Howard, he
bullet lodging into his elbow and shattering called the general over and wrapped a compress
the bone. A lieutenant rushed over and helped around his mangled arm.
General Kearny Howard dismount but was killed in the act. A sympathetic soldier whose fingers were
reassured Howard
that the ladies With his limb dangling at his side and growing broken and bleeding helped Howard along
wouldn’t think less of faint, Howard relinquished command to to the Union hospital located at Courtney
him for losing a limb his subordinate officer. Three of Howard’s House. There, Howard encountered an old
72
OLIVER OTIS HOWARD
A contemporary illustration Dr. Palmer told him he would have to wait

of the Battle of Fair Oaks another six hours before the amputation could
be performed to allow for the reaction to set in.
Howard waited in agony to have his arm
sawn off. When the time came, Palmer and four
soldiers solemnly walked into the cabin with a
stretcher. They lifted Howard onto its canvas
frame and ferried him back to the hospital’s
amputation room, a place Howard described as
a gruesome den with “arms, legs and hands not
yet all carried off, and poor fellows with anxious
eyes waiting their turn”.
Palmer pulled a tourniquet tightly around
Howard’s shoulder above the wound. Dr Grant
joined the operating crew. They strapped the
general to the table and administered a mixture
of chloroform and gas, knocking him out cold.
Howard was one of the lucky ones. When he
woke he found a nub where his right arm had
been. He later mentioned that the limb was
discarded somewhere “in Virginia soil”.
Howard and his brother, wounded in the leg
during the battle, departed on leave the next day
with certificates of disability. The general rode
beside the driver of an ambulance wagon filled
with a cargo of wounded officers. The wagon
was halted by General Philip Kearny, a Union
division commander, who dismounted to greet
the party. Kearny had a reputation for being one
of the most fearless soldiers in the army, losing
his left arm in the US-Mexican War and fighting
alongside the French in North Africa and Italy.
Kearny shook hands with Howard and in an
attempt to console him blurted out, “General, I
am sorry for you, but you must not mind it; the
ladies will not think the less of you!” Howard
laughed and stated optimistically that, “There is
one thing that we can do, general, we can buy
our gloves together!”
Howard’s time back in Maine to recuperate
was far from relaxing. He spent two months on
the road lecturing the citizens in the principal
cities and villages in the state to help fill the
quota of volunteers badly depleted by the losses
sustained in Virginia. Even though he was “pale,
emaciated, and with one sleeve tenantless” one
acquaintance admired how Howard stood up
before his audiences, “the embodiment of all
that is good and true and noble in manhood”.
Howard never intended for the loss of an arm to
keep him out of the war.
He returned to the frontline and fought in
22 battles before the close of the American
Civil War. Following the Chancellorsville
debacle, many called for Howard’s removal
from command. But President Abraham Lincoln
vouched for him and calmed the uproar by
asserting, “He is a good man. Let him alone; in
acquaintance, Dr Hammond. Hammond grabbed time he will bring things straight.”
hold of Howard’s tender arm and could tell it Howard did bring things straight as Lincoln
was broken. Hoping to provide Howard with
something more comfortable than a wooden “[HE] ACTED WITH A BRAVERY promised and became one of General William
T. Sherman’s most trusted officers. “In
floor, Hammond led him to a small cabin
occupied by an old slave couple. Howard lay BORDERING ON RASHNESS General Howard throughout I found a polished
and Christian gentleman,” Sherman wrote,
down on a bed in the cabin and awaited a formal
medical examination. AND NOBLY SUSTAINED HIS “exhibiting the highest and most chivalrous traits
of the soldier.”
His brigade surgeon Dr Palmer and several
others arrived to assess Howard’s wound as he REPUTATION AS A BRAVE AND Howard was presented with the Medal of
Honor in March 1893 for heroically leading his
rested on the bed caked with blood, sweat and
EFFICIENT OFFICER” New Yorkers in the successful charge at Fair
Images: Alamy
gunpowder. “At last Dr Palmer, with serious face, Oaks that led to the loss of his right arm. He
kindly told me that my arm had better come Medal of Honor citation retired from the United States Army after 44
off,” Howard later recalled. To the surgeon’s years of service in 1894 at the mandatory age
grim news Howard replied, “All right, go ahead.” of 64.
73
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WORDS TOM GARNER
JADOTVILLE DAY
2017
Members of the Irish UN The ceremony was not just attended by the
Veterans Pipe Band lead surviving ‘Jadotville Tigers’ but also large
the ceremonial parade numbers of ex-Irish Army UN veterans
Surviving Irish UN veterans of the 1961 siege were finally honoured

in Athlone, on 21 October 2017, with the unveiling of a plaque
marking the first annual commemoration of their heroic defence
76
JADOTVILLE DAY 2017
etween 13-17 September 1961, defence and the Jadotville veterans were given Aengus O’Rourke unveiled the plaque
B 2,000-4,000 Katangese armed

gendarmeries and experienced
European mercenaries attacked
an isolated United Nations military
unit of 156 Irish UN troops at Jadotville in
the destabilised Republic of the Congo. Led
by Commandant Pat Quinlan, the men of A
no official recognition for their bravery for
decades. However, thanks to the determined
campaigning of veteran John Gorman the men
of A Company are now recognised as valiant
heroes and in recent years they have been
presented with various honours including a
presidential unit citation and a commemorative
before Jadotville veteran Jimmy Feery DSM
(Distinguished Service Medal) laid a wreath.
With other surviving Jadotville veterans in
attendance, the ceremony also included a
parade by Irish Defence Forces veterans,
speeches, salutes, a minute’s silence and the
sounding of the ‘Last Post’ before concluding
Company, 35th Infantry Battalion had been monument as well as various books, with three cheers for A Company.
sent to protect the citizens of the prosperous documentaries and a feature film. The next Jadotville Day will be held in
mining town but soon became trapped into Nevertheless, 2017 will be the ‘Jadotville Dublin in 2018 but before then the veterans
fighting an intense defence. Tigers’ biggest year yet as the veterans of will finally be presented with a special medal
The siege raged for days but the the Irish Defence Forces have now adopted from the Irish government called ‘An Bonn
inexperienced Irish troops inflicted over 1,000 the day of their release from captivity on 25 Jadotville’ (The Jadotville Medal). This award
casualties on their attackers while suffering October 1961 as ‘Jadotville Day.’ This day will be presented by the Irish Minister of
no fatalities themselves and only five wounded will now be commemorated annually and on Defence at Custume Barracks, Athlone on 2
men. However, A Company received inadequate Saturday 21 October 2017 the first ‘Jadotville December 2017 to the 156 members of A
support from the UN high command and were Day’ ceremony took place in Civic Square, Company, 35th Battalion, which will include
eventually forced into a tense captivity after Athlone, County Westmeath. living veterans and the families of deceased
they ran out of ammunition. The event centred on the unveiling of personnel. The medal is long overdue but will
The UN and Irish Army authorities a commemorative plaque to honour A be a fitting tribute to A Company’s courageous
deliberately hushed up this remarkable Company’s heroism. The mayor of Athlone, actions in 1961.
Veterans from
the Siege of
Jadotville,
including Tony
Dykes (third from
left) and Noel
Carey (fourth
from right)
gather around
A Company, 35th Battalion was officially the recently
represented by the Irish tricolour and the flags unveiled plaque
of the United Nations and the Irish Army in their honour
History of War’s three Civic and military

Jadotville interviewees dignitaries helped
Noel Carey (left), John to unveil the plaque,
Gorman (centre) and Tony including the mayor
Dykes (right) pictured with of Athlone, Councillor
Issue 47 of the magazine Aengus O’Rourke
77
JADOTVILLE DAY 2017
REFLECTIONS FROM
THE ‘JADOTVILLE TIGERS’
REFLECTIONS FROM
AT THE CEREMONY FOR THE FIRST JADOTVILLE DAY, SURVIVING VETERANS GAVE THEIR THOUGHTS
ON THE NEW ANNUAL COMMEMORATION, THEIR UPCOMING MEDAL AND MEMORIES OF THEIR
COMRADES PAST AND PRESENT
JOHN NOEL
GORMAN CAREY
1961 RANK: PRIVATE 1961 RANK: LIEUTENANT
“Jadotville Day made me feel brilliant and “Today is a chance to reflect on the events
sad at the same time, because I’ve been of 56 years ago and to remember those
campaigning for a long time, and I was comrades who have passed on. They would
just so happy for the few veterans that are certainly have been overjoyed to see the
left and the families. They’ve waited 56 ceremony and recognition of their bravery
years for this. and heroism.
“We were branded as cowards, which “At long last we have been promised
we weren’t, and it’s just a marvellous that the veterans of A Company and the
time now for me. Nobody ever, ever gave deceased members will be finally recognised
us a chance of this ever happening but and awarded ‘An Bonn Jadotville’ (The
determination is a great thing. For me, Jadotville Medal). This will finally put an end
the medal on 2 December is the icing on to all the disappointments but equally will
the cake.” restore the honour of a very gallant company
commander and A Company veterans.
To say that I am pleased would be an
“WE WERE BRANDED understatement: I am absolutely delighted.”
AS COWARDS, WHICH Below: Jadotville veteran Jimmy Feery

DSM laid a wreath for all members of
WE WEREN’T” A Company, 35th Battalion in front of

the newly unveiled plaque
Right: Paul Clarke (far right), Director

of Ceremonial, Second Infantry
Battalion Association and the main
organiser of Jadotville Day
Middle: Large crowds of UN veterans
and spectators gathered for the
ceremony in Civic Square, Athlone for
the ceremony
TONY JIMMY
DYKES FEERY
1961 RANK: PRIVATE 1961 RANK: PRIVATE
“It’s one of the most fantastic days we’ve “I was delighted to be nominated to lay the
had, although most of the guys I knew in wreath for UN veterans and the lads from
1961 are gone. 56 years is a long time, Jadotville. My son is very proud and they
but to see the turnout here today was said I did a good job.
unbelievable, including most of the families “The medal is long overdue but better
of the men who are gone. At least they are late than never. Unfortunately a lot of
not forgotten. people would like to be there for the medal
“I really don’t know about the [Jadotville] but they’re not, and that’s the situation. I
medal. Lots of people say we should was the only one that got a DSM but I’m not
have got a better award such as the DSM sure whether this new Jadotville Medal will
(Distinguished Service Medal), but it’s a take precedence. I’ll wear the two of them
new, historic medal for the Irish Army and side by side because every man in Jadotville
on that point we are pleased to get it. should have received a DSM.”
“We’ve also got to thank one man: John
Gorman. He’s the man who persevered.
He wasn’t an officer, he was just a private
soldier, but for 50 years he dug deep “THE MEDAL IS LONG
and didn’t give in no matter what the top
military people in Dublin said. He prodded OVERDUE BUT BETTER
them all the time and carried on regardless.
You’ve got take your hat off to him.” LATE THAN NEVER”
78
JADOTVILLE DAY 2017
TOM DOMINICK
GUNN HARKINS
“Jadotville was the same as the Alamo and “The way we felt about the siege was that
Rorke’s Drift in some ways. However, they we weren’t going to get out. We got no
all died at the Alamo and they lost some help from the rest of the UN, and I think
men at Rorke’s Drift, whereas we didn’t we were sent in just to be killed.
lose anybody. “But today they have done a great job.
“Today is the culmination of a hard- The man who stands out the most is John
fought battle over the years. Having to Gorman: we would have got nothing were
grovel for medals isn’t a soldier’s lot, and it not for him. We’re getting a medal on 2
we met nothing but obstacles from the December and there’ll never be another
people in charge. To be labelled a coward, one like it. I feel very proud of it, but
especially being Irish (they don’t call us they [the Irish government] weren’t going
the ‘Fighting Irish’ for nothing), it was to give it to us at all were it not for the
terrible to have that stigma. pressure put on them.”
“Apparently the medal has everything
on it, including Cú Chulainn, who is an
Irish mythical warrior. It will be a rare
medal because there are only 156 of
them, so it’s fine for us who have survived,
but the next of kin can be proud of it too.”
Below: Irish UN veterans pose in period
costume from the Congo Crisis
“THIS WILL FINALLY PUT AN END TO ALL THE

DISAPPOINTMENTS BUT EQUALLY WILL RESTORE
THE HONOUR OF A VERY GALLANT COMPANY
COMMANDER AND A COMPANY VETERAN”
79
JADOTVILLE DAY 2017
PADDY NOEL
HOGAN STANLEY
“We’re very happy at long last. The Irish “I get very emotional. When I saw the
government took 56 years to get this far, [Siege of Jadotville] movie in Galway for
and were it not for John Gorman and the UN the first time I cried.
veterans it would still be swept under the “It makes me feel good that things are
carpet. I think it was a good thing that it got coming to an end, but I’m very sad for the
out in the open. people who are gone. It’s 56 years too
“I would love it to be known all over the late: not too late for us who are still here,
world that there was never a white flag put but there are only 40-45 of us left out of
up by the Irish soldiers in Jadotville. We 156. Six in the last year have gone so it’s
were tricked into a surrender in the end and very poignant.”
we had no choice. There was no food and
ammunition left, and the force they had was
far superior to ours.
“It’s my belief that Quinlan should have
got a very special type of award or medal,
even for his family today. He was a kind
man, well spoken and easy to get on with, Below: Jadotville veterans wearing
UN blue berets gather in Civic Square,
but when it came to the push in Jadotville Athlone before the ceremony, including
he knew what to do and he did it. My Noel Carey (far left), Tom Gunn (second
comrades and myself owe our lives today to from left), Dominick Harkins (third from
Quinlan and the decisions he made.” left, foreground) and Tony Dykes (far right)
Image: Trisha McLoughlin

Below: Flanked by Irish Army veterans
bearing ceremonial flags, the plaque
commemorates not only the Siege
of Jadotville but also members of
“THERE WAS NEVER A WHITE the Athlone Municipal District who

participated in the Easter Rising of 1916
FLAG PUT UP BY THE IRISH

SOLDIERS IN JADOTVILLE.
WE WERE TRICKED INTO A
SURRENDER IN THE END AND
WE HAD NO CHOICE”
IRISH UNITED NATIONS VETERANS ASSOCIATION
The IUNVA is the association for serving and ex-service members of the Irish Defence Forces and Gardaí
(Republic of Ireland Police Force). It is open to anyone from these organisations that have served
at least 90 days service on a UN mission in a foreign country. The IUNVA’s primary role is to provide
support and events for members and their families who have been affected by overseas service.
For more information visit: www.iunva.ie
80
RELIVE THE ICONIC EVACUATION THAT
CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY
Take a fascinating look at one of World War II’s most pivotal moments.
Examine the events that led up to the evacuation at Dunkirk, the rescue
operation itself, key players and the impact it had on the war.
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Epaminondas
SPARTA’S NEMESIS
Epaminondas of Thebes is one of the greatest and most revolutionary
commanders in military history, destroying the might of Sparta in a single day
WORDS MURRAY DAHM
A
t the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE a coup in Thebes led to the establishment Epaminondas was one of the liberators who
BCE, Epaminondas led the of a pro-Spartan oligarchy and the installation overthrew of the pro-Spartan government at
outnumbered Theban phalanx to of a garrison. Four years later an anti-Spartan Thebes, although he is not named by Xenophon
an overwhelming victory against coup led by Pelopidas overthrew this regime – who equally does not name Pelopidas,
an army of Spartan hoplites. and re-established the city as the dominant despite being the ringleader of the uprising.
Theban victory that day forever changed the force in Boeotia. Thebes then consolidated This highlights the problem of Xenophon, who
political map of Greece. In order to achieve this, power in the region by creating the Boeotian is an otherwise reliable source for the period.
Epaminondas had created a military revolution League, a coalition of cities with Thebes at its His version of Theban history, however, can
that would indelibly change warfare. His tactics head. Thebes became the champion of a free be seriously questioned, and his accounts of
and strategies are studied and implemented to Greece against the tyranny of Sparta. Epaminondas, Pelopidas and the defeat of
this day, yet the man himself remains a figure of Sparta moved to put an end to this Sparta are unreliable. Xenophon was pro-
some mystery and controversy. resistance. Despite negotiations in 371 Spartan in all his writings, which seems to have
BCE peace could not be reached, and King seriously affected his judgement when it came
Prelude Cleombrotus marched at the head of a to Theban history.
In the aftermath of the victory in the Spartan-Peloponnesian army to crush Thebes. Epaminondas was the leader of the Theban
Peloponnesian War against Athens (431-404 peace delegation at Sparta in 371 BCE and
BCE), Sparta sought to impose its will on all A hero emerges then in the Leuctra campaign, and it is clear he
of Greece. This included several states in the Epaminondas’s role in Thebes’s return to was already respected as a leader and speaker.
plains of Boeotia – an area over which the city freedom and ascendancy is difficult to pinpoint. We are told that he was the best speaker in
of Thebes considered itself the natural leader. This is partially down to a problem with Thebes and, using widespread sources, we are
Despite having supported Sparta against available sources. The life of Epaminondas as able to piece together a picture.
Athens, Thebes switched its support to Athens written by Plutarch does not survive and several His father Polymnis was from an honourable
and led an anti-Spartan coalition of cities that other writers (especially Xenophon, whose Theban family although one of little wealth.
was able to gain some success against Sparta history the Hellenica is vital for the period) show Nonetheless, Epaminondas was educated
in the Corinthian War (395-387 BCE). a distinctly anti-Theban bias. Several aspects of as well as any other Theban. We know that
With the peace of 387 BCE, known as ‘The Epaminondas’s life are tied up with academic he never took advantage of his more wealthy
King’s Peace’ because it was underwritten by debates that remain unsettled. friends , such as Pelopidas, and refused their
the Persian King Artaxerxes II, all Greek states Yet we do know that Epaminondas was vitally offers of financial help. He was also impervious
were to remain autonomous city-states. The important to Theban politics, warfare and to attempted bribes made by various cities and
Persians also backed the authority of Sparta history in the period 371-362 BCE, and a vast individuals. He learned to play the lyre, to sing
and established them as the dominant force array of fragmentary and anecdotal accounts and dance and studied athletics and wrestling.
in Greece. reinforce this importance. We also have traces All of these, we are told, he saw could have
Buoyed by this foreign support, Sparta of him in other sources that do survive, such as a military application. Cornelius Nepos in
proceeded to attack the supposedly Plutarch’s Life of Pelopidas and Life of Agesilaus Epaminondas tells us that he thought agility
autonomous city-states of Greece under the and in Cornelius Nepos’s Book of Great would be useful in warfare rather than just
pretext that they threatened the peace. In 383 Generals of Foreign Nations. physical strength. There are later anecdotes
82
EPAMINONDAS: SPARTA’S NEMESIS
The military
philosopher
The figure of Epaminondas is shrouded know, however, that Epaminondas was
in mystery despite his importance and impoverished, despite being from an
a rich anecdotal tradition regarding old aristocratic family. He embraced
his outlook on life. His death heralded his straitened circumstances and
the end of Theban dominance made them a part of his philosophy.
and very little evidence of his life Indeed he was regarded as a military
survives. Alexander the Great would philosopher who studied the lyre,
raze Thebes to the ground 30 years singing and dance – all skills in which
later, which probably destroyed yet he saw a military application. He
more evidence. Several important remained unmarried so that he could
literary sources also do not survive, better concentrate on studying those
which hampers us yet further, and things that brought protection and
no description is available. We do glory to Thebes.
Illustration: Jean-Michel Girard, The Art Agency
“EPAMINONDAS WAS IMPOVERISHED,

DESPITE BEING FROM AN OLD
ARISTOCRATIC FAMILY. HE EMBRACED HIS
STRAITENED CIRCUMSTANCES AND MADE
THEM A PART OF HIS PHILOSOPHY”
83
Epaminondas saved his

friend Pelopidas, which
resulted in a life-long bond
between the two men as
they fought Sparta
Leuctra
from Polyaenus of him encouraging the Theban
hoplites to train in wrestling. Nepos lists his “EPAMINONDAS ALSO STUDIED The Battle of Leuctra is one of the most
qualities: prudent, serious, a lover of the truth,
self-controlled, kindly. His listed qualities are so PHILOSOPHY AND IS RATED discussed in the ancient sources. There are
four lengthy accounts of the battle – more
many that we must suspect the tradition that
survives in Nepos is panegyric or an encomium. BY SEVERAL AUTHORS AS A than for any other important ancient battle –
by Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, Xenophon and
Epaminondas also studied philosophy and
is rated by several authors as a military MILITARY PHILOSOPHER WITH Pausanias. Unfortunately, among these four
accounts there is confusion and disagreement,
philosopher with only one rival – Socrates.
Perhaps the earliest event for which we have
an account of Epaminondas is him saving the
ONLY ONE RIVAL – SOCRATES” and working out what actually happened – and
why the sources disagree – is complicated.
There is also a plethora of minor and anecdotal
life of his colleague and friend Pelopidas at names Gorgidas, one of the other conspirators accounts, which can add to the overall picture
Mantinea in 385 BCE. This parallels Socrates against Spartan power. We should be wary that of the battle.
saving Alcibiades’s life at the battle of Epaminondas’s later importance may mean that The differences in the accounts are such that
Potidaea. Plutarch tells us that Epaminondas he was given credit for all manner of events to they cannot be reconciled without disregarding
defended his friend’s body even though he which his connection may have been small. one or another of them. Xenophon paints a
thought Pelopidas was already dead. The Sacred Band is itself obscured by reasonable picture of the battle but gives no
This bonded the two together for life. conflicting sources, since several writers name credit to the Thebans or Epaminondas, and he
Pelopidas was not only prominent in the it as comprising 150 pairs of homosexual contradicts the picture from our other sources.
overthrowing of Spartan power but was also lovers who would fight furiously for each other. Disregarding Xenophon, all the other surviving
the first commander of the elite Theban hoplite Other writers do not mention this recruitment sources preserve a cohesive picture of the
force, the Heiros Lochos or Sacred Band. This requirement, and Xenophon refuses to name battle and Epaminondas’s role in it.
force comprised of 300 Theban hoplites paid the unit altogether. Nonetheless, the Sacred Epaminondas had been elected Boeotarch
by the state to dedicate themselves to war, just Band was prominent in several of Thebes’s most for the campaign – these were the elected
as their Spartan adversaries were. They were important battles – including Tegyra in 375 BCE, leaders of the Boeotian League. There were
probably established in the aftermath of the Leuctra in 371 BCE and Mantinea in 362 BCE. 11 Boeotarchs: four came from Thebes itself
liberation. One tradition names Epaminondas They died to the last man facing the forces of and the others from the other cities in the
as the founder of this unit, although another Philip II of Macedon at Chaeronea in 338 BCE. league. Pausanias’s and Diodorus’s accounts
84
Pelopidas is shown here during the

coup that overthrew the pro-Spartan
government in Thebes
make it clear that Epaminondas was regarded Spartan manpower available at the time). Other densely packed Theban phalanx’s clash with
as the senior Theban leader and overall sources give a ratio of six to one in favour of the Spartan right; elite versus elite.
commander, and the tradition that attached Sparta to increase the impressive nature of the This is indeed what happened. The Theban
itself to Epaminondas, which credits him with Theban victory. phalanx, led by the Sacred Band, smashed
responsibility for the victory, should be trusted. The 300 members of the Theban Sacred into the Spartan right and, after a time,
What is more, it is clear that Epaminondas’s Band with their commander (lochagos) felled Cleombrotus and much of his Spartiate
plan of battle was deliberate and premeditated, Pelopidas were also stationed on the left, bodyguard. After this the Peloponnesian line
not some accident of happenstance. His possibly as a front line, although their exact broke and fled from the field. Plutarch and
reputation as a military genius should never be deployment has evaded scholars. Pelopidas Xenophon tell us that 1,000 Spartans fell in the
in doubt. led the charge and won great glory in the battle – a huge blow to Spartan manpower and
On the field at Leuctra, Epaminondas drew up battle, even though he was not a Boeotarch. one from which they could not recover: Spartan
the Boeotian line with the Thebans themselves The remainder of the Boeotian line was drawn boys trained in warfare from childhood, and
on the left facing the Spartan King Cleombrotus up obliquely or in echelon, meaning they losing that many men in a single engagement
who was, as was traditional, stationed on the were facing diagonally away from the massed crippled the city as a military force. Other
Spartan right. Numbers at the battle differ in Theban phalanx on the left. As the Theban left accounts have larger numbers – as high as
all the accounts, but the consensus has come advanced towards Cleombrotus, therefore, the 4,000 Peloponnesian dead. Losses on the
to 7,000 Boeotian hoplites (because seven remainder of the Boeotian line would not be Theban side range from 47 to 300.
Boeotarchs were present) and 700 cavalry, required to fully engage with the corresponding Summaries of the battle suggest that such
versus 10,000 Peloponnesians (including 700 part of the enemy phalanx. Diodorus tells us an event and its significance had never before
Spartans) and 1,000 cavalry. Plutarch has they actually withdrew as the Spartan army been seen. While it is true that Sparta had
2,000 Spartans present (two-thirds of the total advanced. The battle would be decided by the been defeated in battle before, it had never lost
such a significant proportion of her manpower
“IT IS CLEAR THAT EPAMINONDAS’S PLAN OF BATTLE WAS DELIBERATE in one battle. What is more, the Spartans had
broken and fled, something that had never been
AND PREMEDITATED, NOT SOME ACCIDENT OF HAPPENSTANCE. HIS recorded before and showed that the Spartans
were just as fallible as ordinary men. The
REPUTATION AS A MILITARY GENIUS SHOULD NEVER BE IN DOUBT” damage to the Spartan reputation was perhaps
more harmful than that to its manpower.
85
“THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN

CRITICISM THAT WHEN THEBES
DEFEATED SPARTA AT THE
BATTLE OF LEUCTRA IT HAD
NO REAL PLAN TO REPLACE
THE SPARTAN DOMINATION OF
GREECE WITH ITS OWN”
Epaminondas saving
Pelopidas in 385 BCE
is one of the earliest
events that is recorded
about Epaminondas’s life
86
Sparta was not destroyed, however, and still

represented a tyrannical presence (according “EPAMINONDAS WAS THE a huge success, achieving things never before
done or even attempted. The establishment
to ‘freedom-loving’ Thebans) in Greece.
Epaminondas’s next actions showed how far- FIGURE TO WHOM THE ALLIANCE of Messenia all but doomed Sparta to a slow
death. Still, he had not met and destroyed the
reaching his plan was: he aimed to bring about
the complete overthrow of Spartan power. LOOKED AS THEIR LEADER Spartans in open battle once and for all.
Sparta looked to cement its alliance with
The Theban hegemony EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS NO Athens who, probably fearful of the growth
of Theban power, gladly assented. The
There has always been criticism that when
Thebes defeated Sparta at the Battle of OFFICIAL POSITION FOR HIM TO Peloponnesians appealed to Thebes to invade
again and Epaminondas obliged. Pelopidas
Leuctra it had no real plan to replace the
Spartan domination of Greece with its own.
Hence the Theban hegemony of Greece was
BE CONSIDERED AS SUCH” did not go with him, turning towards the
Thessalians in the north instead. The Spartans
sent their army to Corinth, who remained a
short-lived and lasted barely a decade. One had armed its own slaves, who could easily Spartan ally (as did Athens) to oppose the
consideration is that Thebes only sought to end turn against them. Theban invasion.
Spartan domination, not replace it. By achieving Eventually Epaminondas was able to cross the Epaminondas, at the head of his forces,
that it actually created a power vacuum, which Eurotas, and he did so unopposed. He marched was again unable to draw the Spartan alliance
would eventually be filled by Macedon under his army into the outskirts of Sparta itself, but out to face him in open battle – they stayed
Philip II. the Spartan policy pursued by King Agesilaus behind hastily constructed defences that barred
But Thebes, and more importantly II was not to meet him in open battle. Such a Epaminondas’s path into the Peloponnese. He
Epaminondas himself, did have a plan to tactic was entirely un-Spartan and attests to the attacked the Spartan camp at the changing of
utterly destroy Spartan domination of Greek fear Epaminondas instilled. the watch and forced the defenders to retreat.
politics, which can be seen in his next actions. Instead, Agesilaus kept his forces in garrisons Rather than attack the outnumbered
In 370 BCE Epaminondas led an invasion and defending passes that were difficult to defenders, Epaminondas next chose to
of the Peloponnese itself, taking advantage attack. Such a tactic left Epaminondas unable conclude a truce with the Spartan commander,
of grievances against the Spartans in the to take advantage of his huge army, which allowing him to withdraw and give the Thebans
Peloponnese. The states of Elis and Arcadia in numbered 40,000. Unable to come to battle, free passage. This action actually enabled
particular chafed at Spartan dominance and Epaminondas decided to ravage all of Laconia those enemies of Epaminondas’s power at
they formed a league opposing Sparta in 370. and to free Messenia, the Helot homeland Thebes later to accuse him of treason for not
They were soon joined by Argos. held under Spartan domination since the 8th inflicting casualties on the Spartans when he
Envoys came to Thebes and both century BCE. Most of the towns of Laconia were had the chance. This charge perhaps shows
Epaminondas and Pelopidas (both Boeotarchs unwalled, as defence had never been necessary, an overall Theban policy to harm Sparta rather
for 370) persuaded the Theban government and Epaminondas burned them as he went, than replace it as the pre-eminent Greek power.
to support an alliance. The members ringed taking ample plunder with him. Helots and other Epaminondas went on to detach other
Sparta and could force Sparta to defend its disaffected Peloponnesians flocked to his side. Spartan allies by force or, if he could not do
homeland rather than venture further afield in that, ravage and plunder their lands and crops.
Greece and therefore ensure the autonomous A new Messenia He took Sicyon, which gave him access to a
identity of other Greek city-states. In 369 BCE Epaminondas founded a new city port in the Peloponnese, and Pellene. The
Epaminondas was the figure to whom the of Messenia on the slopes of Mount Ithome Spartans and Athenians once again refused to
alliance looked as their leader, even though to take advantage of those who opposed come out and face Epaminondas in the open
there was no official position for him to be Spartan domination and had found not only a field. Epaminondas’s second invasion seems
considered as such. He and Pelopidas were voice for the first time but also support – not
keen to invade the Peloponnese itself, and just from Thebes but from Elis, Arcadia and
so late in the year they sent 6,000 troops to Argos too. This city would be a permanent
oppose a punitive Spartan expedition against thorn in Sparta’s side, deplete her manpower
Arcadia. When they arrived, the Spartans had even further and close the ring of states
already departed Arcadia, and the opportunity opposed to Sparta. There can be little doubt
to invade the Spartan homeland of Laconia that Epaminondas conceived the policy,
presented itself. foundation and even the location of
Winter campaigns were a rarity in Greek Messenia. He sent invitations far and
warfare and an invasion of Sparta’s homeland wide for any exiles to come to the city
was even rarer. The other Theban commanders, as a new home. It would become the
however, realised that their commands were focal point of resistance to Sparta.
due to expire at the end of the year and were Epaminondas made sure the town
in favour of returning home. Only Pelopidas and was built and, when spring came in
Epaminondas wanted to remain. Epaminondas 369 BCE and the men of Elis, Argos
persuaded the others to follow him and invaded and Arcadia departed for home,
Laconia via a four-pronged attack, advancing he left a garrison before departing
along all four access routes, as they could not himself for Thebes. There he was
all be defended adequately. prosecuted for breaching the legality
As the armies descended towards Sparta, of his year-long office and continuing
they came across the Eurotas River, swollen it into a new year. The jury dismissed
by winter rains. This proved an obstacle, but the charge.
Epaminondas’s army burnt and destroyed as it Sparta was forced to look for help
went along the eastern bank, inflicting pain and from its old enemy, Athens, which
suffering that the Spartans were more used to sent men under Iphicrates, but
dealing out than experiencing themselves. when he learned of Epaminondas’s
The failure of Sparta to muster an army approach he withdrew.
against Epaminondas demonstrates the Epaminondas’s campaign had been
catastrophic manpower shortage it was
Right: The Spartans were considered a
suffering. The Spartans were forced to enrol near-unbeatable force, but their defeat
their slave class, the Helots, as hoplites. 6,000 at Leuctra destroyed their reputation and
Helots joined up and Sparta soon realised it ended their domination over Greece
87
This 18th-century
painting depicts the
sense of loss the
“WHEN HE FELL THE BOEOTIAN PHALANX HALTED AND,
Thebans experienced
when Epaminondas died ALTHOUGH VICTORY WAS ALREADY SECURE, THEY SENSED
THAT THEY COULD DO NOTHING WITHOUT HIM”
much less impressive than the first, but it did Death at Mantinea the enemy forces likewise made camp. Sending
further harm Sparta and render it unable to In 362 BCE peace was concluded between his cavalry forward to create a dust cloud,
impose its will on other Greek states. Elis and Arcadia but this soon embroiled Epaminondas ordered his units (lochoi) to mass
There may have been dissatisfaction Thebes and Epaminondas as leader of the on the left wing where he was positioned.
at Thebes with Epaminondas’s policies Boeotian-Peloponnesian alliance. The pro- This formation mirrored that at Leuctra. His
concentrating only on the Peloponnese, since Theban members of the alliance requested force numbered probably 25-30,000 and the
he was not re-elected Boeotarch for 368 BCE. that Epaminondas lead an expedition to opposing forces some 20,000. His dense left
Alternatively, this may have been a result of the the Peloponnese. This was approved, but flank probably included all of the Boeotian
prosecution by his enemies. Without Theban or the Theban government put a caveat on the hoplites, some 6-7,000 men. The plan, as at
Epaminondas’s leadership, the Arcadians and expedition requiring it to be concluded within Leuctra, was to break through on the enemy
Eleians squabbled, eventually declaring war on four months. right and then roll up the line, preventing any
each other in 365 BCE. Epaminondas marched, and the opposing group escaping to Mantinea.
Epaminondas rejoined the Theban army forces met him at Mantinea. These included As before, the rest of the line was drawn up
as a regular hoplite for the year of 368 BCE. men from Elis, Arcadia, Athens and part of the obliquely. Epaminondas advanced, which threw
When the army was serving against Alexander forces from Sparta. Epaminondas planned a the enemy into a panic when they realised. The
of Pherae in Thessaly and were led astray bold night march on an undefended Sparta. Boeotian cavalry saw off the paltry Spartan
by their Boeotarchs, the men of the phalanx The Spartan King Agesilaus II (who had only horse, and their retreat disrupted the Spartan
called on Epaminondas to lead them to safety. advanced a short way from Sparta with the rest phalanx. Epaminondas’s massed phalanx
He stepped out of the line and did so, saving of the Spartan force) had time to fall back and smashed into the Spartan right wing and,
them from defeat, according to Diodorus. This prepare defences. Epaminondas’s men swept just as at Leuctra, they broke and ran. As the
reveals the high regard that he was held in by into the city – the first force ever to do so, but pursuit of the Spartans began, Epaminondas
the rank-and-file, and also his own humility by the city was desperately defended and fighting himself fell. When he fell the Boeotian phalanx
returning to the ranks when not elected for in the narrow streets favoured the defenders. halted and, although victory was already
office. Epaminondas may also have been a Epaminondas was forced back. He decided to secure, they sensed that they could do nothing
member of the Sacred Band and recognised as return north and sent his cavalry ahead to try without him. With Epaminondas’s death
an elite hoplite in his own right. Pelopidas died and seize Mantinea. Both of these gambits the Theban hegemony of Greece also died,
in 364 BCE and Epaminondas seems to have were bold and sound but neither came out in although Theban power persisted until it was
taken over as lochagos of the Sacred Band. Epaminondas’s favour. destroyed by Philip and Alexander in 338 BCE.
In 366 BCE Epaminondas invaded the Epaminondas marched his infantry north Epaminondas’s career was a remarkable
Peloponnese for a third time. This time he towards Mantinea in battle formation. He one of amazing success and innovation, as
invaded Achaea in the north and sought to encountered the enemy forces drawn up at the well as tactical and strategic foresight. His
deprive Sparta of yet another ally. He also narrowest point of the plain and ordered his fellow Boeotians knew what a prize they had
sought to build a fleet to rival Athens in the men to ground arms. This gave the impression in Epaminondas, and with his death they knew
Aegean. This was a miscalculation. that he was camping for the night and some of what they had lost.
88
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REVIEWS
Our pick of the latest military history books & films
ARMS AND ARMOUR

OF LATE MEDIEVAL EUROPE
Author: Robert C. Woosnam-Savage Publisher: Royal Armouries Museum
Price: £9.99 Released: 30 September 2017
THE BUSINESS OF BATTLE, IN ALL ITS MEDIEVAL SAVAGERY
There are a lot of myths about the arms and armour. In that, it would
medieval world, from flat earthers make an excellent companion volume
to primae noctis, and not least to another recent book reviewed in
among this slim volume’s many History of War, How to Read European
accomplishments is the way Armor, which focused on armour as
Woosnam-Savage definitively lays to an expression of power and the art
rest that old canard that a knight had of the armourer. Woosnam-Savage
to be winched up on to his horse. Not is much more concerned with arms
only does he prove it’s not true, but and armour as they were used
the author even tracks down where practically – in war, tournaments and
it was first mooted, as well as who even hunting. As such, he follows the
helped to insert the idea into the evolution of weapons and defence
popular imagination. through the 14th and 15th centuries
First, the proof. A little thought is as the knight reached his shining
enough to suggest how risible the apotheosis, only to be rendered
idea is, for if it were true an unhorsed obsolete by the improvement in
knight on the battlefield would be gunpowder weapons.
as helpless as an upturned tortoise The study of medieval
and just as easy to dispatch. But military technology, like all such
Woosnam-Savage then goes on to specialised fields of inquiry, can be
point out how well the weight of full overpoweringly detailed and technical,
armour, evenly spread over the body, as well as riven by scholarly disputes
compares to the kit that modern-day over what might seem trivial issues.
soldiers have to lug around, mostly Woosnam-Savage, writing for the
on their backs. Indeed, a recent newcomer to the field, has produced
demonstration pitted two men, one a clear, concise and – as near as
dressed in armour, the other carrying possible in 96 pages – complete
modern battle kit, against each other account of how medieval warriors,
over an assault course, which the from knights through to bowmen,
‘knight’ won easily. armed and protected themselves
Another of the book’s strengths upon the battlefield, with just enough
is the author’s familiarity with the telling detail to bring the subject
source material. So as further proof to vivid life. One knight during the
of the mobility of armour, he quotes siege of Pontevedra (1397) fought
from the chronicle of Jean Boucicaut, on despite a crossbow bolt piercing
marshal of France, who would vault on his nose, and in the press of men
to his horse, somersault and dance, it was hit with a shield and driven
all while wearing full armour. To close further into his head. Yet Don Pero
his case, Woosnam-Savage cites a Niño survived. Medieval knights were
15th-century chronicle that recorded evidently tough on the inside as well
a fully armoured man at arms who fell as on the outside.
into the River Moselle yet still reached
the bank without drowning.
Oh, and it was Laurence Olivier’s
1944 film Henry V that popularised “MEDIEVAL KNIGHTS WERE EVIDENTLY TOUGH
The emphasis of the book is on
the practical aspects of medieval
the idea of knights being winched
onto their horses. ON THE INSIDE AS WELL AS ON THE OUTSIDE”
90
REVIEWS
NELSON’S LOST JEWEL Author: Martyn Downer Publisher: The History Press Price: £20.00
THE STORY OF THE ICONIC JEWEL THAT WAS SNATCHED FROM THE NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM IN GREENWICH
It is not often that a jewel theft provokes outrage in “His Majesty’s Government and all concerned to establish a permanent presence in Egypt as a
the House of Lords, but the disappearance of Lord greatly deplore this shocking theft of the most prelude to invading British India. The battle was
Horatio Nelson’s Chelengk in June 1951 gave rise to treasured possession of one of our greatest regarded as so monumental that Nelson was
such an occasion. About 2.00am on the morning of national heroes,” he exclaimed, “and the whole rewarded with an annual pension of £2,000, an
11 June, the prized diamond plume was stolen from nation must hope that the reward offered and the almost unheard-of sum at that time.
the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. The measures now being taken may result in its return.” Downer, formerly the head of jewellery at
police calculated it took the burglar four minutes Alas, Lord Pakenham hoped in vain, for the jewel Sotheby’s in London, unravels the tale of this gem,
to make off with the diamond decoration that in has never been recovered. charting its journey through history and forging
1798 had been presented to Nelson by the Ottoman Viscount Mersey reminded the lords that this portraits of Nelson and his intimates. The author,
Emperor Sultan Selim III, after the admiral’s decisive was not the only instance of a theft of this nature. In acknowledged as a leading specialist in the life and
victory at the Battle of the Nile. 1948 a London-born burglar named George ‘Taters’ career of Nelson, brings this mystery to life in a
The burglary was deemed to be a carefully Chatham stole the Duke of Wellington’s ceremonial scholarly yet highly entertaining narrative.
planned smash-and-grab, commando-style swords, in what was to prove a long-term criminal Chatham admitted to the theft in 1994, a
operation. The thief had used a collapsible ladder to relationship with the Victoria and Albert Museum confession the police accepted as genuine. He
climb up to the window 3.5 metres (11 feet) above during Chatham’s 60-year career. Lord Mersey claimed he had sold the Chelengk for “a few
the ground to get down to the gallery where the wrapped up his speech with a practical question: thousand” before it was broken up.
Chelengk was on display. “My Lords, would the reward be subject to income Yet as Downer pointed out, “The jewel stolen
In the House of Lords debate on 26 June, Lord tax and surtax?” by Chatham was not the jewel presented by the
Pakenham informed his fellow peers that a reward In telling the story of the Chelengk, Martyn Sultan of Turkey. As it passed down from hand to
had been offered for the return of the Chelengk, a Downer takes the reader through a detailed account hand, several significant changes were made to the
sum which he claimed was considerably in excess of the Battle of the Nile, a naval engagement that Chelengk, stripping it of some of its exoticism and
of the gem’s break-up value. was instrumental in quashing Napoleon’s ambitions strangeness, but none of its power to amaze.”
“DOWNER, FORMERLY THE HEAD OF JEWELLERY AT

SOTHEBY’S IN LONDON, UNRAVELS THE TALE OF THIS
GEM, CHARTING ITS JOURNEY THROUGH HISTORY
AND FORGING PORTRAITS OF NELSON”
Nelson received the

diamond Chelengk
from the Sultan of
Turkey following the
Battle of the Nile
91
REVIEWS
JOURNEY’S END
A POWERFUL NEW ADAPTATION OF R.C. SHERIFF’S CLASSIC ANTI-WAR PLAY, DEPICTING THE HORROR AND TRAGEDY OF WAR
Certificate: TBC Director: Saul Dibb Cast: Sam Claflin, Paul Bettany, Toby Jones, Asa Butterfield Released: 2 Feb 2018
R.C. Sheriff tremendous performance with very
drew upon his little actorly grandstanding involved.
experiences Claflin captures so tragically a man
in the whose nerves are beyond shattered
trenches and whose volatile temperament
during the masks a deeply traumatised
Great War individual who knows the game
when writing is up. Like Captain Blackadder in
his 1928 Blackadder Goes Forth (1989), a
stage play series directly inspired by Sheriff’s
Journey’s play, Stanhope often sardonically
End. He served as a captain in the quips about the utter lunacy of the
Ninth battalion of the East Surrey situation. At heart, Journey’s End is a
Regiment, saw action at Vimy Ridge sorrowful and strikingly put counter-
and was invalided at Passchendaele. argument to one of our greatest
For his service he was awarded the national myths – the British stiff
Military Cross. upper lip and self-image as plucky
While the playwright initially ‘mustn’t grumble’ types in the face
struggled to get Journey’s End into of hardship or challenge.
the West End, with companies Director Saul Dibb and
finding it too gloomy, it resonated cinematographer Laurie Rose make
with audiences and swiftly became excellent use of the restricted
the must-see production. The show’s setting, overcoming narrative
success in London launched the limitations by heightening the sense
Hollywood career of theatre director of claustrophobia and boredom in
James Whale (another war veteran), waiting to die. It’s a suitably grim-
who took the play to Broadway and looking film, painted in mud tones
adapted it for the screen at Universal and drained of nearly all colour.
Pictures in 1930. Everything looks drab, coated in
In the age of filmmakers revelling thick layers of dirt and dried blood,
in the carnage of battle and the gas-lit officers’ quarters gives
showering the audience with gore, off sepulchral vibes, like the soldiers
Journey’s End relies on the depiction are ghosts already occupying a crypt.
of tortured emotions and states of The blank daylight coming in from
mind. There is very little combat, short wooden staircase up into the
save for a short sequence where trenches symbolising the stairway
several officers are tasked with to heaven the men will be ascending
running over to the German trenches once the order comes in to cross
and kidnapping a soldier for intel No Man’s Land and into the hellfire
purposes. The plot takes place of the ready and primed German
almost entirely within the confines machine guns.
of a trench and inside a cramped A sombre and deeply moving
officers’ quarters. drama, brilliantly acted and directed,
Sam Claflin is superb as haunted Journey’s End is an anti-war movie
Captain Stanhope, a former school of the finest calibre. Claflin is the
master who has turned to sinking standout among the cast, but he is
bottle of whisky after bottle of whisky ably backed by a roster of top-notch
while awaiting the order to go over character actors in Toby Jones, Asa
the top. Set in the days leading up Butterfield, Stephen Graham and
to the 1918 Spring Offensive, it’s a Paul Bettany.
“CLAFLIN CAPTURES SO TRAGICALLY A MAN

WHOSE NERVES ARE BEYOND SHATTERED AND
WHOSE VOLATILE TEMPERAMENT MASKS A
DEEPLY TRAUMATISED INDIVIDUAL WHO KNOWS
THE GAME IS UP”
92
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93
Oliver Cromwell at the
Battle of Worcester.
He considered this
last battle to be his
“crowning glory”,
although it is little-
remembered today
WORCESTER THE
BATTLEFIELD OF LIBERTY
Speaking in support of this year’s Warwick Words History Festival
Charles Spencer reveals the forgotten battle that permanently
changed England and almost cost the life of the ‘Merry Monarch’
he British Civil Wars did not end eventually forced him into exile in 1646. Even Charles’s Scottish army only numbered
T with the execution of Charles I in

1649 as is commonly supposed.
The Stuarts were monarchs of
both England and Scotland, but
the English had not consulted the Scots during
Charles’s trial and execution. Subsequently,
the angered Scots proclaimed Charles’s heir
when the Second Civil War erupted in 1648
Charles led the English fleet that had deserted
Parliament and fled to the Netherlands. That
summer he was ready to lead his ships in a
large-scale naval encounter off the English
coast when a storm scattered the two fleets,
but his officers saw for themselves that he was
16,000 men and was led by clan chiefs and
leading aristocrats. They were a pitiful sight,
and they knew it: their artillery consisted only of
leather guns, rather than metal ones. It was all
very one-sided and was made more so by the
fact that Cromwell had an advantage of more
than two to one.
as king. The youthful Charles II then invaded genuinely keen to get stuck into the action.
republican England to claim his English throne. He absolutely rejected their entreaties to take How did the Battle of Worcester unfold on 3
However, he was defeated at Worcester on 3 safety below deck. September 1651?
September by Oliver Cromwell and the New 3 September 1651 was a sparkling day.
Model Army in a battle that finally ended the What were the differences in quality Charles II looked from a church tower first
civil wars. between Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army thing and saw Cromwell’s vast army deploying
Although Charles’s subsequent dramatic and Charles II’s primarily Scottish force pontoon bridges and advancing in huge
escape from England is famous, historian during the Worcester Campaign? numbers. The Parliamentary artillery opened
Charles Spencer reveals how the Battle of The New Model Army was a key factor in up to announce that battle was underway, and
Worcester was one of the most important turning the tide of the civil wars against the Worcester was then assaulted by the New
battles of the age and changed the course of Royalists: its soldiers were militarily tough, Model Army in two waves.
British, and perhaps global, history. extremely disciplined and filled with the belief The main Scottish cavalry unit, numbering
that God was on their side. They were ably 3,000 men under General Leslie, looked at
How extensive was Charles II’s military supported by the militia of various counties, the way the battle was going and left the field
experience before 1651? which had New Model Army men added to their without fighting. Up to 4,000 Royalist soldiers
We tend to think of Charles II in terms of being ranks in order to raise their level of fighting. were put to death, while Cromwell lost a few
the ‘Merry Monarch’ but during the Civil War he hundred men. There was particular carnage
saw action repeatedly. He was present at the
first major engagement, Edgehill, as a 12 year “WORCESTER WAS ONE OF THE inside the packed streets of Worcester.
old, and he and his younger brother James,

Duke of York (later James II) had to be stopped MOST IMPORTANT BATTLES In purely military terms, how does
Cromwell’s victory at Worcester compare to
from joining in a charge at the enemy.
Towards the end of the First Civil War he OF THE AGE AND CHANGED his other battlefield successes?
Worcester was, Cromwell believed, his
was sent to the south west to lead the Royalist
forces there. Although he had professional THE COURSE OF BRITISH, AND “crowning glory”. It was the last battle
he fought, and it ended Royalist military
generals with him he never shirked his military
duties. He was witness to rolling defeats that PERHAPS GLOBAL, HISTORY” resistance. It was also the third, final part of
the civil wars.
94
WORCESTER: THE BATTLEFIELD OF LIBERTY
It was an overwhelming triumph, and was

recognised as such. Before, it was possible
that Charles I’s son could seize the throne,
but afterwards the republic was solidly
established. Although the results were so
far-reaching, Cromwell noted that there were
several hours on that day when the battle
could have gone either way, because most
of the Royalists resisted with great bravery.
While Marston Moor won the north of
England, Naseby destroyed Charles I’s
main army and Dunbar was an astonishing
turn around, Worcester was the ultimate
knockout blow.
How did Charles II conduct himself during

the battle?
Charles was noted for his great personal
bravery. He put himself into the heat of the
action and exhorted his men to fight on. When
defeat was inevitable, he shouted out that
he would rather be shot than taken prisoner.
Once all was lost, the 21-year-old Charles tried
Charles II famously had to
to persuade his generals that they should hide up an oak tree for a day
continue fighting. They – who knew what utter while Parliamentary troops
defeat looked like – almost had to drag him searched for him after the
Battle of Worcester. Today,
away from Worcester.
over 400 English pubs are
named ‘The Royal Oak’ to
How did Parliamentary forces treat Royalist commemorate this event
prisoners after the battle?
You did not want to be taken prisoner. It was
all very brutal. After Worcester there were so
many men captured that all the surrounding
towns and cities became holding stations
while they were processed. Many were then
sent to London – slowly, so that preparations
could be made for receiving them. Thousands
of Scots were penned into a prison compound
on marshy land at Tothill Fields, outside the
capital, where only the wounded could be
guaranteed shelter. Many hundreds died there
from exposure and disease.
Others were sent in indentured servitude –
little better than slavery – to North America,
the Caribbean and to drain the Fens.
English observers delighted in saying how
bestial the Scottish prisoners were: but, given
how they were treated, this is not surprising.
Images: Getty
The future US presidents and founding
fathers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
visited the battlefield at Worcester in
1786, and Adams described it as “the
ground where Liberty was fought for”. To “CHARLES WAS NOTED FOR HIS
what extent do you think that is true?
I believe the Battle of Worcester was of such GREAT PERSONAL BRAVERY. HE
huge importance that it should be much better
remembered now than is the case. PUT HIMSELF INTO THE HEAT
After it, the extreme, almost feudal, form
of kingship of Charles I was incapable of OF THE ACTION AND EXHORTED
returning. While the balance between crown
and parliament was in question until 1688,
Worcester represented the death knell of
HIS MEN TO FIGHT ON”
military force underpinning kingly excess.
Adams and Jefferson could see the clear To Catch a King: Charles II’s Great Escape is Charles Spencer’s new account of Charles
link between the Parliamentary triumph at II’s famous escape from the Battle of Worcester. It is published by HarperCollins and is on
Worcester and the rise of political ideals that sale now. For more details visit: www.harpercollins.co.uk/to-catch-a-king
underpinned the American constitution.
95
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28 December amend, adapt all submissions.
ISSN 2054-376X
2017
HOW AUSTRALIA'S LIGHT HORSE REGIMENTS MADE THEIR

IMPACT ON THE BATTLEFIELDS OF WWI
ARTEFACT
of
ROUNDHEAD
WELFARE SEAL
This object is a striking example of how England’s parliament
cared for its troops during the British Civil Wars
W
elfare provisions for shortly followed, and it initially raised £200
wounded soldiers and for the wounded to be cared for in purely
families are commonly military hospitals in London.
assumed to be These hospitals, such as the
relatively modern Savoy Hospital, had quite advanced
institutions, but it is surprisingly healthcare with a strict emphasis
poignant to discover that official on hygiene. The medical staff
care for the living casualties of war would regularly change linen
was provided for the veterans of and towels and thoroughly
the British Civil Wars in the mid- clean the buildings. They also
17th century. devised complex systems of
This evocative wax artefact is war pensions.
the official seal of Parliament’s As the war progressed
‘Committee for Sick and and grew ever more
Maimed Soldiers’ and depicts bloody Parliament raised
a wounded soldier who has £4,000 to meet its
lost a leg, with an inscription welfare commitments
that declares, “Justice for the by imposing county
Maimed Soldier.” The seal’s levies, sequestering
existence sheds a fascinating the properties of
light into Parliament’s care for Royalists and Roman
its troops. Catholics and excising
In the aftermath of funds from receipts
the Battle of Edgehill in on food, alcohol and
October 1642, Parliament animals. The system was
passed an unprecedented therefore not universal
act that recognised the and only benefitted
state’s responsibility to Parliamentary soldiers
provide welfare for its wounded and their families, but
soldiers. Even more strikingly, the committee’s initiatives
it also cared for the widows and were groundbreaking and
orphans of killed Parliamentarians. a landmark development in
A committee to enforce the act humane state intervention.
Right: Maimed soldiers such as the man depicted

in the seal would have been a common sight
during and after the British Civil Wars
Image: Museum of Military Medicine
“IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE OF EDGEHILL IN OCTOBER The National Civil War Centre tells the complete
1642, PARLIAMENT PASSED AN UNPRECEDENTED ACT THAT story of the British Civil Wars. Located in Newark,
Nottinghamshire, the museum is open daily between
RECOGNISED THE STATE’S RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE WELFARE 10am-4pm October-March and 10am-5pm April-
September. For more information visit:
FOR ITS WOUNDED SOLDIERS” www.nationalcivilwarcentre.com
98
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