Military journal 6 2017

Forgotten hero in Hungary Carl Lutz

Also interesting / 09 HEINRICH HIMMLER REICH LEADER OF THE SS

MILITARY Journal

2017 January

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HISTORICAL AND MODERN MILITARY ISSUES

CONTENTS 2542-4858 Editor in Chief Rob Vaneker

Creative director Robert Wilbrink

Editor research Editors Note / 03 Carl Lutz,forgotten hero in Hungary / 04 Heinrich Himmler leader of the SS / 09 Operation Frankton / 17 Submarines in the Cold War / 22 Battle of Messine / 26 News Real / 41

Hans Hollestelle

Columnist

Diverse contributions and different authors

Graphics & Design Robert Wilbrink

Contributors

Theo van Loohuizen-Jan Grefhorst-Dik Winkelman-Robert Farley

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Free advertising or publishing a related article/author? Please send us a email to the editorial board: magazine_tarsenaal@icloud.com AMVJ 2016

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Editor’s Note ON THE VISOR

Largest Battle WW1 IIt was the largest battle to take place on the Western Front - and with more than one million soldiers killed on both sides of the fight, it was also one of the bloodiest in history.

The offensive took place between the British and French against the German empire and began on July 1, 1916 - the deadliest day in British military history. At 7.30am, whistles blew along the trenches and tens of thousands of soldiers climbed into the open of No Man’s Land. Hordes of British soldiers surged forward into machine gun fire, sacrificing their lives in a desperate bid to push back the German line. Around 20,000 British soldiers were killed in horrifying circumstances, while 1,500 French soldiers and 12,000 German soldiers also lost their lives during those first shocking 24 hours. A German soldier noted at the time: “Somme.

The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word.The battle took place due to the ongoing quagmire developing in France, with Allied and Axis forces at a stand-off two years into the war. The British and French authorities saw the Battle of the Somme as a way to break the deadlock and rush the German lines - something they believed was worth the inevitably huge losses.

However, a series of military blunders meant the death toll was far higher than expected. In the week leading up to the attack, for example, the Allies launched a huge aerial bombardment on the German line, hoping to wipe out enemy soldiers before the rush across No Man’s Land.However, unbeknown to the British and French authorities, the German army had developed protective new trench covers called dug-outs, which saved many enemy soldiers during the bombardment. When Allied forces eventually stormed across the divide, they were met with far more soldiers than they had anticipated, resulting in the bloody massacre. The devastating first day of conflict was followed by 140 more, during which time more than 400,000 British soldiers were killed. France and Germany also both suffered around 250,000 losses each.

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Your Editor in Chief, Rob Vaneker

Military journal 06

Budapest Jewish Quarter Memorial to Carl Lutz

FORGOTTEN HERO IN HUNGARY Theme story by: Rob.E. Vaneker

Historical Background

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During the last stages of World War II, from the spring of 1944 to the winter of 1945, a tragic story was unfolding in Hungary. More than 725,000 Jews lived in this country, “out of which 400,000 lived in Trianon Hungary - and 324,026 in the territories acquired by Hungary in 1939– 41,”as noted by Randolph L. Braham. At the beginning of 1944, most still survived under the controversial rule of Regent Miklós Horthy. But in March of that year, things took a devastating turn. Despite suffering huge losses and the continual retreat of their forces in Europe, the Nazis clung to their imperial ambition, refusing to let Hungary sign a peace treaty with the Allies.

They quickly moved in and installed a puppet government, which in turn allowed the Nazi killing machine to begin the process of extermination. The Hungarian puppet government thereafter began to deport hundreds of thousands of Jews to their death at the

Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. All this was happening while the Soviet Red Army was knocking at the gate, weeks away from liberating Hungary.Jews had lived in what is now Hungary since Roman times, and like many other Jewish communities in Europe, their fate ebbed and flowed. In the late eighteenth century, during the reign of Joseph II, many of the professional and economic restrictions that had been placed on Jews were reduced under the Edict of Tolerance (1782). Full legal and economic freedom was achieved in 1867, and as a result, the Jewish population grew to well over a half million from approximately 80,000 a hundred years earlier. In what is known as the Dualist Era, Jews experienced a period of unprecedented growth and emerged as leading agents of economic and cultural modernization. Indeed, at the turn of the twentieth century, Jews featured prominently in the liberal professions, playing key roles as journalists and intellectuals, contributing to the thriving cultural life of fin de siècle Hungary.

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Their integration and assimilation into Budapest’s cosmopolitan society was similar to that of Jews in Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or Berlin and Paris. Karl Lueger, the antisemitic mayor of Vienna at that time, gave Budapest the name “Judapest” to express his disdain for the influence Jews exerted on this thriving capitalFollowing the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I, Hungary entered a period of unrest, a short-lived experimentation with Soviet communism, and a counterrevolutionary backlash known as the White Terror, which had strong antisemitic elements. Under the conservative counterrevolutionary government that served during the White Terror, also known as the Regent Horthy era, order was restored, the communists were defeated, and a number of bills were passed that restricted the legal and economic rights of Hungarian Jews (although this period was

The Jewish presence was especially evident in Budapest, where they made up more than 20 percent of the population relatively free of violence).In the 1930s, Hungary’s authoritarian government veered toward fascism and Nazism. By the end of the decade, it sought an alliance with Germany, which offered the largest market for Hungary’s agricultural produce.

Most importantly, Nazi Germany’s expansionist ambitions aligned with Hungary’s own ambition to reclaim territories it had lost in World War I. Indeed, when World War II started, Hungary joined the Axis forces and annexed northern Transylvania, southern Slovakia, northern Yugoslavia, and parts of

eastern Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia—adding tens of thousands of Jews to its large Jewish population (now totaling more than 725,000 people).

During most of the war, the Hungarian Jews suffered discrimination and harassment, but they were protected (with notable exceptions; see below) from the Nazis’ killing machine, which by that point had murdered as many as five million Jews in surrounding countries.

Meanwhile, Regent Horthy, despite pressure from right-wing parties and Hitler, refused to deport Jews to Nazi death camps.

Still, even before the German occupation, as many as 60,000 Jews died in antisemitic massacres or as slave workers in the military, fighting alongside the German army (until it was decimated in the battle of Stalingrad in 1942–43)

Military journal

In 1943, Hitler sensed correctly that the Hungarian government was searching for a way out. In fact, by the spring of 1944, Hungarian officials were in secret negotiations with Allied forces for a possible armistice. In response, the Germans called Regent Horthy in for “a consultation,” held him under house arrest, and then quickly took over the country. (The regent was released once the takeover was complete; he resumed several of his royal duties under the occupation later on.) Hungary, which had lost its army earlier in the war, could offer only minimal resistance.

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Once in control, the Nazis published a flurry of decrees with the goal of depriving the Jews of their rights and property.

Ignoring the Axis’s losses on the eastern front and its likely defeat in the war, Adolf Eichmann, the mastermind of the German killing machine, was rushed in to carry out the “final solution” (Die Endlösung) to what they called the “Jewish question” (Judenfrage) in Hungary.Assisted by a special killing commando (Sonderkomando) unit, a group of fanatical Nazi henchmen, and the Hungarian police, Eichmann quickly put together an elaborate plan to gather the Jews in ghettos via the railway system (for easy transport) and deport them to death camps in Poland. Over a period of less than three months—between May 15 and July 7, 1944—Eichmann orchestrated the deportation of more than 381,000 Jews by Hungarian police to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where they were gassed on arrival. (A small portion of Jews went to other camps.)

Carl and Gertrud Lutz in Budapest

government briefly replaced the Hungarian-Nazi puppet government between August and November).

This new stalemate lasted until October 1944.

Then the Germans, who were growing impatient with the delay in the killing of the Jews and feared Hungary would defect to the Allies, deposed Hungarian Prime Minister Lakatos and his government. In his stead, they installed the fascist leader of the Arrow Cross Party, Ferenc Szálasi. Antisemitic to its core, the Arrow Cross Party enacted a reign of terror and killing in the capital. Many Jews were beaten by Arrow Cross thugs (known as nyilasok) and had their property looted, while others were taken to the banks of the Danube River, where they were bound, shot, and thrown into the river. In November, they forced tens of thousands of fearful Jews into a ghetto, a hermetically sealed area where the old Jewish quarter used to be.

By the summer, the Hungarian countryside and provincial towns were “Jew-free” (judenrein).

But the fate of the roughly 120,000 Jews who lived in Budapest was not yet sealed.News of the fate of the Hungarian Jews came out, and the western Allies informed Horthy in no uncertain terms that he would stand trial for war crimes once the war was over. With the prospect that Germany would lose the war becoming more and more realistic, on July 7, 1944, Horthy and the anti-Fascist General Géza Lakatos decided to halt the deportation of the Jews (The Lakatos Military journal

Agnes Hirsch, the daughter of the Swiss diplomat Charles “Carl” Lutz, describes how her father saved the life of a woman he pulled out of the river.

CHARLES”CARL” LUTZ That is just one example. In fact, thanks to Lutz, as many as 8,000 Jews were saved after he gave them special diplomatic papers and granted them safe passage to British-controlled Palestine, far exceeding the number of passes the British allowed.

Budapest in 1942

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Lutz arrived in Budapest in 1942, after serving as the Swiss counsel in Palestine, where he was able to intervene and stop the deportation of German subjects whom the British government marked as enemies. This endeared him to the Germans and allowed him some freedom to act on behalf of the Jews. As viceconsul, he was able to write immigration certificates to Palestine because the Swiss represented the British government, which cut its diplomatic relations with Hungary during this phase of the war. But together with a group of Zionist activists, they went even further. Soon they began to forge tens of thousands of these certificates—perhaps as many as 100,000—many more than the Germans ever allowed. As the negotiations with the Hungarian government about the status of these forged documents continued, Lutz procured 25 multi-apartment buildings, where he offered refuge to the Jews who received protective passes.

Now in the chaos and ruthless violence created by the Arrow Cross thugs and the paramilitary, Lutz issued “protective letters” (Schutzbrief) to all who possessed Swiss (and British) papers. These letters were given to Budapest Jews seeking asylum. Holders of these letters would be considered citizens of a foreign country and receive the same protections as any other Swiss person until their safe passage to their immigration destination could be guaranteed (among them were the tens of thousands of Jews who received certificates to go to Palestine).

Carl Lutz

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BUDAPEST SHOE MEMORIAL

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This is the memorial place from where the Nazi Hungarians shot the Jews into the Danube River in winter of 1944-45.

Military journal

HEINRICH HIMMLER<REICH LEADER OF THE SS (1900-1945) Story by: Rob.E. Vaneker & Hans Hollestelle

Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) was the Reich Leader (Reichsführer) of the dreaded SS of the Nazi party from 1929 until 1945. .

Bureaucratic empire

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Himmler presided over a vast ideological and bureaucratic empire that defined him for many—both inside and outside the Third Reich—as the second most powerful man in Germany during World War II. Given overall responsibility for the security of the Nazi empire, Himmler was the key and senior Nazi official responsible for conceiving and overseeing implementation of the so-called Final Solution, the Nazi plan to murder the Jews of Europe.

Himmler was born into a middleclass, conservative Catholic family in Munich, Germany, on October 7, 1900. His father, Gebhard, taught at the Ludwig academic high school (Gymnasium) in Munich. In 1913, Himmler's family moved to Landshut, a town located about 40 miles northeast of Munich, after Himmler senior took the job of assistant principal of the Gymnasium in Landshut. An intelligent youngster with good capacity for organization, young Himmler was fervently patriotic.

During World War I, he dreamed of service on the front as an officer and, using his reluctant father's connections, left high school to begin training as an officer candidate on January 1, 1918. On November 11, 1918, however, before Himmler's training was complete, Germany signed the armistice that would end World War I. Himmler graduated from high school in Landshut in July 1919. After the restrictions imposed on Germany by theVersailles peace treaty dashed his hopes of joining the army (Reichswehr), he studied agriculture at the Technical University in Munich.

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There he joined a German-nationalist student fraternity and began to read deeply in the racistnationalist (völkisch) literature popular on the radical right of the interwar German political spectrum. By the time he received his university degree in August 1922, Himmler was a fanatical völkisch nationalist and a political activist.

Forced to take a job in a manure-processing factory in Schleissheim, near Munich, Himmler made contact with the National Socialists through SA chief of staff Ernst Röhm. In August 1923, he joined the Nazi party, to which he devoted his career after he quit his job one month later. On November 9, 1923, Himmler marched with Hitler, Röhm, Hermann Göring, and other Nazi leaders in the Beer Hall Putsch against the German government.

Unemployed and at loose ends after the collapse of the putsch, Himmler found work as secretary and personal assistant to Gregor Strasser, whom Hitler appointed Reich Propaganda Leader of the Nazi party in 1926. Himmler also built his own reputation in the party as a speaker and organizer.

His speeches stressed the following themes: “race consciousness,” cult of the German race, the need for German expansion and settlements, and the struggle against eternal enemies of Germany.

These "eternal enemies" were “Jewish” capital, “Marxism” (i.e., socialism, communism, and anarchism), liberal democracy, and the Slavic peoples. As he built up his political reputation, he found time in 1928 to marry Margarete Boden, who bore him a daughter, Gudrun, in 1929.

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On January 6, 1929, Adolf Hitler, the Führer (Leader) of the Nazi party, appointed Himmler Reichsführer SS. The SS, which in 1929 totaled 280 men, was subordinate to the SA and had two major functions: to serve as bodyguards for Hitler and other Nazi leaders and to hawk subscriptions for the Nazi party newspaper, Der Völkischer Beobachter (The Race-Nationalist Observer).

From this insignificant beginning, Himmler perceived an opportunity to develop an elite corps of the Nazi party. By the time the Nazis seized power in January 1933, the SS numbered more than 52,000. Himmler also introduced two key functions to the SS that related to the Nazi party's long-term core goals for Germany: internal security and guardianship over racial purity.

After deploying his SS in April 1931 to crush a revolt by the Berlin SA against Hitler's leadership (inspiring the adoption of the SS motto, “My honor is loyalty”), Himmler created the Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst; SD) in the summer of 1931. The SD kept tabs on Hitler's opponents within the Nazi party and gathered intelligence on leaders and activities of other political parties as well as on government officials, both federal and local. In August 1934, Nazi party Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess announced that the SD would henceforth be the sole political intelligence

gathering and evaluating agency in the Third Reich.On the last day of 1931, Himmler also established a Race and Settlement Office (Rasseund Siedlungsamt) of the SS to evaluate applications of SS men seeking to marry under a new internal “Marriage Decree.” The “expertise” developed in this role of maintaining “racial purity” in the SS would, in wartime, determine whether an individual was “German” or not. At a minimum, a positive determination meant a job and better rations in German-occupied territory during World War II; at a maximum, the decision on ethnicity could be a decision on life and death.

In the five years after the Nazis seized power in January 1933, Himmler built an unassailable position for the SS by taking control of the German police forces. On March 9, 1933, he was appointed provisional president of police in Munich.

Military journal

REICHSFÜHRER SS

By late 1934, Himmler sought and obtained command of each of the state political police departments in Germany, and had centralized them within a single

Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt; RSHA), the agency that would be tasked with implementing the Holocaust in 1941-1942. Himmler

Three weeks later, he was named Commander of the Bavarian Political Police new agency in Berlin, the Secret State Police (Geheime Staatspolizei; Gestapo).

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After Hitler appointed him Reichsführer SS and Chief of German Police on June 17, 1936, Himmler centralized the various criminal police detective forces in Germany into the Reich Criminal Police Office (Reichskriminalpolizeiamt) and united the Gestapo and Criminal Police in the Security Police Main Office (Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei). In September 1939, Himmler fused the Security Police and the SD into the Reich

also unified and centralized the uniformed police forces (Ordnungspolizei; Orpo) in Germany.In 1933-1934, Himmler also secured for his SS control over a centraliseer concentration system Although various civilian authorities and police agencies had established autonomous concentration camps during 1933 to incarcerate political enemies of the Nazi government, Hitler— who was impressed with the Dachau concentration camp established by the SS in March 1933—authorized Himmler to create a centralized concentration

camp system. Though this SS Inspectorate of Concentration Camps reduced the number of concentration camps to four in 1937, the system grew in wartime to include 30-40 main camps and hundreds of subcamps. SS camp authorities would kill around two million prisoners—Jews, political prisoners, Roma (Gypsies), socalled asocials, recidivist convicts, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others—in the concentration camp system.

As a reward for its role in murdering Ernst Rohm and the top leadership of the SA on June 30-July 2, 1934, Hitler announced that the SS was an independent organization and that Himmler was subordinate to Hitler in Hitler's new capacity as Führer of Germany, a position that placed his authority outside the legal constraints of the German state.

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IMMENSE POWER This command relationship was the basis for the immense power that Himmler accumulated during World War II

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By tying the German police forces organizationally to the SS, Himmler effectively removed police personnel, finances, actions, and operations from external judicial or administrative review. As Reichsführer SS, Himmler received authority directly from Hitler to carry out ideological policies that the laws of the state might not permit. This ideologically-rooted “Führer authority” enabled authorization of indefinite incarceration and mass murder. The Nazi leaders justified this extra-legal chain of command and the policies initiated under its authorization by the national emergency legislation following the Reichstag Fire in 1933 and the intensified emergency created by the war.Himmler expanded his authority during the war. On October 7, 1939, shortly after Germany conquered and partitioned Poland with the Soviet Union, Hitler appointed Himmler Reich Commissar for the Strengthening of German Ethnic Stock (Reichskommissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums; RKFDV), a position that authorized Himmler and the SS to plan, initiate, and control the pace of German resettlement projects in occupied Poland, and, later, the Soviet Union. As RKFDV, organizations under Himmler's command had the final say over who was German, where

ethnic Germans should live, and what populations should be moved out or annihilated in order to make room for the Germans settlers.

ethnic German communities.

These items the SS supplied in part from the personal property taken from Jews murdered at the killing centers.

In July 1941, Hitler extended Himmler's authority for both security and settlement operations to the occupied Soviet Union.

Himmler's exclusive responsibility for security behind the immediate front line authorized the mobile killing units Einsatzgruppen and other SS and police units to initiate and direct the mass murder of Jews, Soviet officials, Roma(Gypsies) and people with disabilities living in institutions with the support of German military and civilian occupation authorities. With Hitler's agreement, the SS, within the rubric of its responsibilities for security and settlement issues, assumed the leadership role in planning and implementing the so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question as well as in annihilation operations throughout the Reich against Roma (Gypsies) and people with disabilities living in institutions.

Perhaps in reflection of the growing power of the SS in the state, Hitler appointed Himmler Minister of the Interior in July 1943; of equal significance was the fact that the appointment meant little in the reality of power in the Third Reich.

In 1937, the SS took control of the Ethnic German Liaison Office (Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle), which ministered to the needs of ethnic Germans living outside the Reich. Among those needs were clothing and household equipment for newly resettled

In order to strengthen the position of the SS relative to the established German elites after a victorious war, Himmler persuaded Hitler in late 1939 to permit the establishment of an armed SS force, known as the Waffen SS. Although initially restricted to four divisions, the Waffen SS eventually fielded more than 20 Divisions, putting half a million men under arms and establishing a command and operations structure to rival the German Army. That same year Himmler established a separate SS disciplinary system, since neither civilian nor military courts had jurisdiction to investigate criminal acts perpetrated by members of the SS and police or their auxiliary units.

Military journal

MILITARY DEFEATS Prestige of generals As military defeats reduced the prestige of the generals in Hitler's view, Himmler's SS further encroached on the authority of the German armed forces. In February 1944, the Security Police and SD took over control of the Armed Forces Intelligence Service. After the failure of the military putsch of July 20, 1944, Hitler appointed Himmler Commander of the Replacement Army (a position responsible for training and overseeing military personnel) and gave him command of matters relating to prisoners of war. In December 1944, Himmler realized his old dream to have a command in the field, when Hitler appointed him commander-in-chief of Army Group Upper Rhine in southwestern Germany.

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Heinrich Himmler in 1942

Despite appearances to the outside, Himmler was not allpowerful in the Third Reich. His most significant and powerful rival during the last year of the war was Martin Bormann, Hitler's Secretary and chief of the Nazi party Chancellery. The Nazi party apparatus, anchored in the political power of the Nazi party District Leaders (Gauleiter) who also held positions in the State as Regional Defense Commissars, increased in significance as the war came home to Germany with the invasion of the Allied armies.

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Likewise, Albert Speer, the Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production, wielded great power in the last years of the war, despite his postwar protestations of powerlessness vis-à-vis the SS. Some have perceived Himmler to be a crackpot, whose fascination with the occult, interest in impractical projects (such as searching for the origins of the Aryan race in Tibet), visions of himself as the reincarnation of a medieval German emperor, and pedantic attention to the personal lifestyles, marital problems, and financial snafus of his SS officers and men permitted his subordinates—like Security Police and SD chief Reinhard Heydrich—to really run the SS behind the scenes, tolerating Himmler's eccentricities as a suitable cover for their own more practical ambitions. This view is inaccurate. A skilled organizer and a capable manager who understood how to obtain and use power, Himmler was the ideological and organizational driving force behind the rise of the SS. Moreover, he understood his SS men and knew how to secure their loyalty to his own person and to the concept of the Nazi elite to which they belonged.

His ability to give his subordinates leeway to exercise initiative to implement Nazi policy was a significant factor in the murderous success of many SS operations. When he took over the SS, Himmler recognized the importance of internal security and determination of racial purity for the Nazi movement and successfully expanded the functions of the SS to meet these ideological and practical needs.

Himmler understood the importance of police power separated from legal constraint and state supervision; Himmler persuaded Hitler—over the arguments of powerful rivals in the party and the state—that fusion of SS and police would

forge the instrument for the Nazi regime to achieve its core, long-term ideological goals.

It was Himmler whom Hitler entrusted with the planning and implementation of the "Final Solution." In his most quoted speech, that of October 4, 1943, in Poznan to a gathering of SS generals, Himmler explicitly justified the mass murder of the European Jews in the following words: “In front of you here, I want to refer explicitly to a very serious matter….I mean here… the annihilation of the Jewish people…. Most of you will know what it means when 100 corpses lie side by side, or 500 or 1,000…. This page of glory in our history has never been written and will never be written….We had the moral right, we were obligated to our people to kill this people which wanted to kill us.”

After the failure of the July 20, 1944, putsch, Himmler toyed with the idea of negotiating a separate peace with the western Allies while continuing to fight the Soviet Union. During the

winter of 1944-1945, he considered using concentration camp prisoners as a bargaining chip to initiate such negotiations. In April 1945, Himmler met with the representative of the World Jewish Congress in Stockholm, Sweden, Hilel Storch, to discuss openings for negotiations. In part because the Allies would not negotiate with a man so implicated in Nazi crimes and in part because Himmler could not quite separate himself from Hitler or the belief that somehow the Germans would win the war, his half-hearted feelers came to nothing. In April 1945, Himmler asked Count Folke Bernadotte, the Vice President of the Swedish Red Cross, to transmit an offer of surrender on the western front to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the commander-inchief of the Allied forces. News of the offer reached Hitler in encircled Berlin on the night of April 28-29, 1945. In one of his last official acts, Hitler stripped Himmler of all of his offices and ordered his arrest.

Despite having continuously assured his SS officers and men that he ultimately would take responsibility for all of their actions, the end of the war found Himmler dressed in Secret Field Police uniform with papers in the name of Heinrich Hitzinger. Captured by Russian soldiers on May 20, 1945, he was turned over to the British, to whom he eventually confessed his identity. On May 23, 1945, while undergoing a body search, Himmler killed himself by swallowing a cyanide capsule down hidden in his mouth for that very purpose.

Military journal

Lebensborn Program Nazi SS Leader Heinrich Himmler developed the Lebensborn (meaning Wellspring of Life) Program for the Third Reich. The program, which began in December 1935 and continued until the end of the Second World War, persuaded women of socalled pure blood, to mate with single and married SS Officers and ultimately give birth to blonde, blue-eyed children.

Himmler oversaw the Lebensborn Program throughout its tenure and frequently visited Lebensborn homes.

Beginning in the early 1900s, Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s birthrate was in decline. Due to tough economic times, and a shortage of marriageage men, particularly after Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defeat on November 11, 1918 in the First World War, the use of birth control and women seeking abortions became common practices. By 1933, the birthrate per Thousand was only 14.7%.

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See also page 16:

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OPERATION FRANKTON Story by: Theo van Loohuizen

During WWII, Italian frogmen successfully penetrated the harbor in Alexandria, Egypt riding manned torpedoes and damaging two Royal Navy battleships, HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth, using nothing more than handheld devices called limpet mines.

After, an impressed and worried Winston Churchill ordered a similar capability to be developed as soon as possible.

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Captain’Blondie’Hasler

Unbeknownst to Mr. Churchill, the Italians’ unconventional attack resembled a plan proposed to the Admiralty months before by a British Royal Marine Captain named Herbert G. ‘Blondie’ Hasler. Unlike their Italian counterparts, however, the conventional-minded Admiralty quickly shot down Hasler’s idea as impractical. Another attempt with the more unconventional Combined Operation’s Headquarters also met with disapproval and was shelved,

until that night on December 19, 1941 when those two battleships began slipping beneath the waves at their moorings. From that point on, Lord Louis Mountbatten, chief of Combined Operations, not only resurrected Hasler’s plan, he ordered a unit formed under his command, and the odd sounding Royal Marine Boom Patrol Detachment (RMBPD) came into being on July 6, 1942.

As far as leaders with unique specialties go, Hasler was the perfect man for the job. An experienced sea hand in the prewar years, he brought his knowledge of small boats to his new command at Southsea, Portsmouth, England where he began recruiting officers and men from the Royal Marine Small Arms School and Royal Marine Auxiliary battalion, respectively.

He intended to take a hands-on approach and pass on his valuable knowledge to the men so that they would think and make decisions as he did.

Military journal

This small group of men, just 34 in all, started developing tactics around the concept of using motorboats to penetrate Axis harbors. Again, this took its inspiration from the Italian frogmen and their triumphant raid against the Royal Navy at Souda Bay, Crete, on March 26, 1941 using the same technique. Minds quickly changed, though, after studying a second raid against British ships in Malta, which failed and resulted in several boats being captured. The time came to look at smaller craft.

Hasler modified his plans to use boats to penetrate the obstacles and canoes to carry out the final attacks. For this, he needed some modifications to the Special Boat Section’s folbot, which was redesigned to a more sturdy specification which enabled heavier loads to be carried, as well as being collapsible, unlike the standard design. These new canoes were built and given the codename Cockle.

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Hasler put the new canoes to immediate use, leading his men on night practices in various rivers and harbors, where they learned to paddle silently over dozens of miles, creep up alongside ships and affix limpet mines, and just as quietly, scurry away to a rendezvous with only moonlight and, in some cases, their nerve guiding them.

made it round to the Bay of Biscay and into the main harbor at Bordeaux. Within the holds of these ships lay the raw goods and war material vital to Germany’s survival. If several of these ships could be damaged or sunk, it would put a significant dent in the German supply chain at least for a little while.

Careful consideration was given to all forms of conventional attack, and after a bombing mission was ruled out for its potential to cause large civilian casualties, Hasler’s finished idea was approved and given the codename Operation Frankton on September 21.

Frankton involved using six Cockles to debark from a submarine on December 6 at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, and paddle 60 miles over a period of four nights to reach Bordeaux on It was needed, for soon Hasler joined in planning December 10. They were to move ONLY at night a mission for Combined Operations using in order to avoid contact with the many patrol everything they’d practiced. In the dossier boats that traveled their paths, and use the containing the plan read everything that defined a daylight to hide themselves and their craft. Once classic Special Forces mission of the day. they reached the harbor, they were expected to Surprise, swiftness and great expectations of place limpet mines on several cargo ships lying at what victory would bring, despite the long odds anchor, then escape overland to Spain.Hasler of it succeeding. In layman’s terms, it could went into detail about this operation with the 11 almost be translated as a suicide mission, though men he chose for the mission, and assigned two no one dared mutter it. sections of six men each to begin training, which they started on October 20.

The plan evolved from Hasler and others studying the background about how the Royal Navy and Air Force had tried to keep up steady pressure on German attempts to resupply the many French harbors facing the English Channel. Despite this, many merchant ships still Military journal

Each canoe with a name starting with C. In his section, known as Division A, he and Marine Bill Sparks would pilot the Catfish, Corporal A.F. Laver and Marine W. H. Mills the Crayfish, and Corporal G. J. Sheard and Marine D. Moffatt the Conger.

Division B was entrusted to Lieutenant J. W. Mackinnon and Marine J. Conway in the Cuttlefish, Sergeant S. Wallace and Marine R. Ewart in Coalfish, and Marine W. A. Ellery and Marine E. Fisher in Cachalot.

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Hasler gave each of these crews their own targets estimated from intelligence reports, and ensured each Cockle was loaded with eight limpet mines to do the job. These useful explosives, housed in a magnetic container, packed quite a punch when placed below the waterline of a ship. Other supplies included three sets of paddles, a repair kit, extra clothes, flashlight, fishing line, placing rod compass, depth sounding reel, and a magnet to keep the canoe held to the side of its target ship while a mine was planted. Topping this off was enough water and rations for six days, a camouflage net, and personal weapons, consisting of two grenades, a Colt 1911A1 .45 pistol and a Fairbairn-Sykes dagger-shaped fighting knife.

All of this gear was carried every time the crews plied the practice rivers and harbors to the point the distance and effort was ingrained into each one until it was second nature. And once the 12 ended their arduous

training cycle, not a single one had dropped out and no finer boatmen could be found in the entire world. They were ‘salty,’ so to speak. Ready to overcome anything that came their way, and dedicated to their mission, which kicked off when they transferred to the

was 1730 hours.The sea was choppy and they were missing a canoe, the Cachalot, which was damaged passing through the hatch. It and its crew had to remain behind, as Hasler and his men paddled onward 10 miles through a rough sea and high crosswinds to the mouth of the estuary. From there they started upriver, but not before losing two more crews – the Conger and Cuttlefish – to the merciless waves. Chopped to just three craft, they also began to encounter their first German river patrols, which they managed to avoid and beach safely after they covered the first 20 miles of water in five hours.

Then, tragedy struck once more when Coalfish’s crew was captured by a squad of German soldiers. Now down to just a submarine third of his force, Hasler and his HMS Tuna on November 30th men set out again the second and slipped out of a Scottish night and paddled 22 more miles harbor into a foreboding sea. in six hours, then another 15 miles on the third night. The Their journey was mostly fourth night, due to strong uneventful, save for when they currents, they only managed 9 approached the estuary. Here miles, which led to Hasler the Tuna had to slow to postponing the attack by one negotiate minefields, all the day. while staying submerged from the ever present patrol boats.

On that final day, the four men Furthermore, bad weather prepared their limpets and plans topside meant the starting time for escape, as they set out just was delayed by 24 hours. Then, after dark to make the final she surfaced in a bitter cold and miles to harbor. They fought windy night on December 7. against the constant tide, which Hatches swung open and attempted to push them back as darkened figures protected they neared the enormous against the weather began harbor. There the fruits of their shuffling the awkward 15-foot labor began to outline Cockles out on deck. The cargo themselves in the form of followed, armload by armload, sleeping merchant ships, tied up and once the two-man teams alongside the many docks, stepped aboard they pushed off discharging or taking on new the slick hull and began cargo. paddling into the darkness.It Military journal /

AT 2100 HOURS

Lord Paddy Ashdown and others at Birkinhead Memorial to Cpl. Laver, Operation Frankton

For all the trouble they had been through, the actual attack went off without a hitch as the canoes slipped away downstream, as quite as ever, the only close call

hatchways as water flooded into hulls, causing them to list or settle into the chilly water. Men who couldn’t make it ashore leapt into a frothy mix bubbling and

Hasler veered Catfish towards the westernmost ships, while Crayfish took the East. They went to work in silence, like automatons honed through so much practice, with Catfish placing eight limpets on four vessels (three Cargo ships, one patrol boat), and Crayfish placing eight mines on two vessels (five on a cargo ship, three on a small liner) being a curious guard shining his light down on the water for a moment, close-by but missing the Catfish.

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At 2100 hours, with the canoes safely away, the timed limpets detonated in a huge simultaneous roar across the harbor. Sirens wailed and sailors discharged out

goods to Hitler’s war machine.

Even more, news raced up the German high command about how something like this could have been pulled off in such a heavily guarded harbor so far from the sea.

For the British, Frankton’s primary mission was over. After more hours of paddling, the two canoes by chance saw each other a final time just before the crews scuttled them and set out ashore toward Spain. They hoped to make contact with the French resistance, who would pass them house-to-house and eventually deliver them to the border.

churning through gaping holes peppering the sides of oncesmooth steel.

All who witnessed it knew that even if the vessels could be saved, they would be out of action for several days to months, leaving an already taxed merchant fleet that much more unable to deliver

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WAS IT WORTH? Crew of Crayfish For the crew of Crayfish, these hopes were quickly dashed when they were caught two days later and imprisoned.

On the other hand, Hasler and Sparks promptly disappeared and linked up with the resistance. They traveled over 100 miles from where they scuttled their canoe, hiding out for days in different locations until being led across the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain, and then arriving at the British base on Gibraltar. On February 23, a secret memo was sent to Combined Operations announcing the two men were safe. They were back in England a short time later.

Of the others, it is known that six of the eight men who started Operation Frankton were later executed based on the Hitler’s infamous Commando Order, which decreed that any Special Forces personnel captured were to be executed. The other two missing men were believed to have died of hypothermia. All were later decorated posthumously, with the living, Hasler, receiving the Distinguished Service Order, and Sparks the Distinguished Service Medal.

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Was it worth it? According to Winston Churchill, absolutely. He reckoned the war was shortened by up to 6 months because of the attack. Lord Mountbatten heaped praise upon the little band of men, saying their mission was “the most courageous and imaginative of all the raids ever carried out by the men of Combined Operations.” And forever after, the men were always to be known as the “Cockleshell Heroes.”

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5 BEST SUBMARINES OF THE COLD WAR Story by: Robert Farley

Waged with advanced, streamlined submarines, hunting each other from the polar ice cap to the Eastern seaboard, the Cold War undersea â&#x20AC;&#x153;gameâ&#x20AC;? lasted for over three decades.

Here is the best of the best.

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For obvious reasons, German submarine development stalled at the end of World War II. Although the Type XXI set the standard for post-war boats, legal restrictions prevented both East and West Germany from building any submarines in the first decade of the Cold War. After a series of designs that ran from non-tomoderately successful, HDW developed the Type 209 class for export. Story by: Rob.E. Vaneker & Hans

Hollestelle

A diesel-electric, the Type 209 displaces between 1200 and 1800 tons (depending on variant), and can make 23 knots submerged. It can launch both torpedoes and anti-ship weapons, such as the Harpoon. The basic hull design has proven remarkably flexible, spawning a series of variants specialized for different tasks.

The Type 209 gives small navies a

viable anti-submarine option, as well as the capacity to threaten the surface forces of much larger, more powerful fleets.

Since 1971, 61 Type 209s have entered service with thirteen navies. 59 of those boats remain in service, with two more scheduled for delivery to Egypt in 2016. The ability of the Type 209 to remain in service in so many different fleets, often in widely varying maintenance conditions, attests to the robust nature of the initial design.

Type 949 (Oscars): The Oscars were the apogee of the Soviet cruise missile submarine, a type that began with the Echo and continued with the Charlie. The first Oscars entered service in 1981,and immediately presented a serious challenge for Western naval planners.

Designed specifically for antishipping attacks, these subs could strike NATO carrier groups with P-700 Granit missiles from a range of up to 300 miles. This widened the area that American anti-submarine vessels needed to patrol, and meant that attacks could come from unexpected vectors. Equipped with a conventional warhead, the Granit could easily cause a mission kill.

With a nuclear warhead, it could give a carrier battle group a very bad day.

And the Oscars were huge.

Displacing 16500 tons, they could make 32 knots submerged. They carried 24 Granit missiles, in addition to a bevy of torpedo launched weapons.

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JOURNAL

The United States and the United Kingdom would eventually adopt the same practice as the Russians, although instead of dedicating specific sub types to cruise missile launches they would focus on converting missiles for launch from conventionally designed nuclear attack subs.

Later boats in the Los Angeles class would carry dedicated cruise missile silos, technically making them SSGNs instead of SSNs, although the designation never changed in practice (until the conversion of four Ohio class boomers to the cruise missile mission). The real utility of cruise missiles has been land attack rather than naval attack, as cruise missiles launched from US subs have proven quite effective in several recent conflicts.The Soviets completed only five Oscars before the end of the Cold War, and another eight after. One, the Kursk, was lost in one of the most horrific accidents in submarine history. Several others, however, remain in service with the Russian Navy.

Shchuka-B (Akula): The United States enjoyed technology and designs advantages for most of the Cold War that allowed its submarines to operate much more quietly than their Soviet counterparts. US technological innovation and industrial practice made it possible for the USN to develop and maintain submarines with advanced noisesuppression technology. The USSR’s tried to answer through raw weight, both in terms of size and number of boats.Soviet espionage also tried to even the score. The fruits of the Walker spy ring and the Toshiba-Konigsberg scandal spread across several classes of Soviet submarine, but the Akulas benefitted most of all. The Akula’s were the first Soviet submarines to compete with American submarines on noise, reportedly matching the Los Angeles class at most speeds.

Displacing 8000 tons, the Akulas could both outrun and outgun the American Los Angeles class, making up to 35 knots and carrying a larger array of torpedoes and cruise missiles.

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Steel hulled (unlike their Sierra and Alfa predecessors), the Akulas also achieved costsavings while improving mission capability, a rare feat for a modern weapon system. Five Akulas entered service before the Cold War ended, with a total of fifteen eventually entering service. Nine

remain in Russian service, with another on loan to the Indian Navy.

Permit Class: Large, fast, and quiet, the Permit class set that standard for American and British submarines for the rest of the Cold War. Developed with a series of innovations that set them apart from their predecessors, the Skipjack class, the Permits immediately became state of the undersea art.

These innovations included powerful bow sonar, a streamlined, deep-dive capable hull, and advanced quieting technology. Among the first submarines conceived an optimized for an antisubmarine mission, the Permits could threaten not only the Soviet deterrent, but also the Russian capacity for disrupting the trans-Atlantic lifeline.

The first of fourteen Permits entered service in 1961, the last in 1968. Most of the boats served through the end of the Cold War. Displacing 4200 tons, the Permits could make 28 knots, and could fire both advanced torpedoes and Harpoon antiship missiles.

The lead ship of the Permit class was Thresher, commissioned in 1961. On April 10, 1963, she was lost with all hands while conducting a diving test.The tragic loss of Thrasher, wich implodeer after a still-disputed systems failleer overschaduwde the long careers of the rst of the class. However, that loss was critical to developing the safety standards that would prevent future accidents. The loss of Thresher, in a very important sense, led to the long history of safety success in the USN’s submarine fleet.

Swiftsure Class: The United States and the Soviet Union were the main players in the Cold War submarine campaign, but were hardly the only entrants. The Royal Navy, initially with some US assistance, developed a series of lethal nuclear submarine designs, eventually making a more than creditable contribution to NATO’s undersea posture. One submarine, HMS Conqueror, remains the only nuclear submarine to have destroyed an enemy ship in anger.

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Following up on the Churchill class, the Swiftsures were of innovative design, both in terms of hull technology and propulsion. They were the first full class of submarines to employ pump jet technology, which made propulsion more efficient while reducing noise. The enlarged but simplified hull redistributed machinery allowed a much deeper diving depth than previous Royal Navy subs.

Displacing 5000 tons submerged, the Swiftsures could make some 30 knots submerged. They carried standard torpedoes, as well as Harpoon and (in some boats) Tomahawk cruise missiles. The six Swiftsures entered service between 1973 and 1981, with the last decommissioning in 2010.The Swiftsures had their problems, including a series of bizarre accidental collisions, some structural failures, and some minor reactor troubles. Nevertheless, they served the Royal Navy very effectively against the Soviets, and would have won victories in the Falklands if the politics had played out differently.

Type 209:

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Not every navy can afford an advanced nuclear attack submarine. Nevertheless, submarines solve strategic problems, and not every great submarine needs to be a Porsche. The German Type 209, first built in 1971, served as the strategic answer for a great many navies in the Cold War, and continues to serve today.

So what were the best submarines of the Cold War era? For the purposes of this list, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re excluding ballistic missiles submarines or boomers, which have an entirely different mission from attack boats, built for different requirements. Instead, this list will focus on submarines optimized for killing surface ships or

other submarines. The criteria schold be familiaar from previous lists;to what extent did the vessels perform its strategic mission at a price that its nation could afford?

Cost: Submarines compete with other providers of national security. If they break the bank, they risk crowding out the other capabilities that a nation requires for its defense.

Reliability: When submarines have accidents, the results can be catastrophic. And showing up is half the battle; boats stuck in port canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fulfill national objectives.

Conclusion: The basic design concepts of Cold War submarines were, fortunately, never tested in direct combat.

However, the long, quiet struggle nevertheless led to consistent technological innovation across several different countries. Many of the boats designed and built during the Cold War remain in service today, and concepts developed will continue to guide submarine construction for the foreseeable future.

Military journal

SWIFTSURE CLASS SUBMARINE

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Nuclear-Powered Attack Submarine

Military journal

Battle of Messine 1917 Launched on 7 June 1917, the Messine offensive was designed to force the German enemy to withdraw from the main battlefront of Vimy – Arras”.

Story by: Andrew Richardson & Rob Vaneker

The Battle exemplified tactical success through careful planning and overwhelming firepower.

line. The Allies used these tunnels to further tactical advantage, packing massive charges of the explosive ammonal to obliterate enemy defences. The main Australian effort was at Hill 60 where Tunnelling Companies worked for months, reinforcing and protecting the large mines in its region. The professionalism and skill of all the Allies was demonstrated by the Germans’ inability to locate mines.

The primary objective was the strategically important WyschaeteMessines Ridge, the high ground south of Ypres. The Germans used this ridge as a salient into the British lines, building their defence along its 10 mile length. Winning this ground was essential for the Allies to launch a larger campaign planned for east of Ypres. General Sir Herbert Plumer’s Second Army was chosen for the task, with three Corps allotted to secure the objective. Australian involvement came under Lieutenant General Sir Alexander Godley’s II Anzac Corps (25th British, 3rd Australian, and the New Zealand Division) which was to capture the village of Messines and advance to the flat ground beyond. The 4th Australian Division was reinforcement for II Anzac for the attack and was to complete the second phase of consolidation.

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Plumer’s reputation was one of caution and thoroughness in every aspect of operational planning and training. Battle plans were drawn from mid-March 1917, using large models so troops could familiarise themselves with the terrain and their objectives.The 3rd Australian Division, commanded by Major General John Monash, was the last of the Australian Infantry Divisions to join the front line in December 1916. The II Anzac Corps formed part of a 12 division attack; supported by 1,500 field guns and 700 heavy guns; relying on photographs of the enemy’s defensive positions taken by the Royal Flying Corps.

The attack, codenamed ‘Magnum Opus’, was set for 7 June 1917 with ‘Zero’ hour at 3:10am. A seven day preliminary bombardment was conducted to put pressure on the enemy during the days leading up to the infantry assault.

Battalions were brought forward from their billets in Pont de Nieppe to the farms around the south and west of Ploegsteert Wood. Raiding parties regularly captured enemy prisoners to extract vital intelligence on German preparedness for an attack. Battalion working parties prepared for the impending battle, digging assembly or communication trenches, stockpiling shells (gas, shrapnel, High Explosive and mortar) and assisting in the bringing up of supplies to forward positions.

The Germans were aware of the impending offensive, but it was coincidence that they shelled the Wood with gas while attacking troops were forming. At 11pm on 6 June, the 3rd Division was subjected to a gas attack, causing between 500 and 2000 casualties.

For two years Australian, British and Canadian miners had engaged in subterranean warfare digging an intricate tunnel system under the enemy’s front Military journal

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Allied conquered territory during the battle of Arras

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CHARLES”CARL” LUTZ Top: An early colour photograph of the crater left by the biggest of the blasts beneath German positions near Messines on 14 June 1917 :Getty Images

They burst all round the columns, and a number of men were killed or wounded by flying nose-caps. Occasionally the monotonous whine and pop of impact was relieved by a high explosive or an incendiary shell,

and equipment, it is a severe strain. Wounded and gassed men were falling out, and officers and non-commissioned officers were continually removing their respirators to give orders and to keep their platoons together. A

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Every German gun seemed to be pouring gas shells over, and the air was full of the whine peculiar to the aerial flight of a gas-shell and the casualties were fairly heavy. The remainder of the approach march was like a nightmare. The actual wearing of a small box-respirator is a physical discomfort at any time, but on a hot dark night for men loaded with ammunition, arms,

shell would burst in a platoon, the dead and wounded would fall, and the rest of the platoon would pull themselves together and move on, for above everything was the fixed determination to be in position at the Zero hour, and the

realisation that this terrible gassing, if it prevented our arrival on time, might easily result in the failure of the whole operation.Messines was the first time Australians and New Zealanders had fought side by side since the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. The 3rd Division’s attacking front line stretched from St Yves to La Petite Douve Farm. They were to capture the ground to the east of Messines village all the way to the final Green Line objective. The 10th Brigade was on the left of 3rd Division’s front (alongside the New Zealand Division) and the 9th Brigade on the right, forming the southernmost flank of the Military journal

10th Brigade The 10th Brigade was tasked with fording the La Douve River.

Bridges were constructed to reach the enemy’s front line. The New Zealand Division was tasked with the capture of Messines and onwards until the Black Line was reached, whereupon the 4th Division passed through them up to the final objective of the Green Line.At 3:09am, eyes peered nervously through the darkness at watches as the final seconds ticked down. Along the front line, men waited anxiously for the subterranean cataclysm that signalled battle had commenced.

At 3:10am on 7 June 1917, the detonator switches were triggered. The earth erupted into pillars of fire and earth, instantly obliterating the thousands of German troops above them.

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The detonation of nineteen mines along the Messines/Wytschaete ridge signalled the start of an attack designed to capture the strategically important high ground to the south of Ypres; a vital precursor to the larger Third Battle of Ypres (known to history as the battle of Passchendaele).

Despite General von Kuhl suggesting the withdrawal of the German front line troops away from the ridge as it had become apparent a major British offensive was to be launched, front line commanders argued vehemently against this. Consequently, many thousands of German troops were simply obliterated as the earth erupted beneath them. As the historian of the 37th Battalion wrote, “Nothing could have withstood such an onslaught; and nothing did.”

Climbing out of the trenches, waves of attacking British, Australian and New Zealand

disruption of earth further hampering visibility. German troops directly above each of the mines had been wiped out by the blast along lengths, Bean estimates, “of some 150 yards of trench.”

The German survivors in II Anzac’s sector were largely stunned and demoralised due to the great concussion of the blasts, the heavy artillery barrage and the heavy machine gun fire that now poured upon them. Many German prisoners were taken during this phase.

soldiers of Godley’s II Anzac Corps sought to capitalise on the shock of these explosions and the accompanying artillery barrage and occupy the enemy’s positions before they had the chance to form a new defensive line. The scale of the mine explosions neutralised both the enemy’s guns and disrupted their planned counterattacks. One mine had

The 3rd Division’s objective was to push all the way through to the Green Line. This was achieved comparatively easily, especially in light of the AIF’s battle experiences on the Western Front, the growing tactical skills of the Australian infantry, and to the overwhelming firepower of the allied assault. Rigorous training on Salisbury Plain and in

The Battle of Messines in June 1917 was an important attack that sought to seize the strategically important heights of the Messines/Wytschaete ridge in southern Belgium detonated in front of the British 25th Division’s sector, while three detonated in front of the 3rd Australian Division’s sector with a fourth just to the right of that. A great machine gun barrage fired over the heads of the attacking infantry and pioneers as they moved forward in the pre-dawn darkness, with choking smoke and dust in the air from the great

France had prepared them as well as possible for the ensuing attack – including training in preparations for consolidating craters such as they would encounter at Messines.

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CHARLES”CARL” LUTZ

ARMY MAP BATTLE OF MESSINE

Military journal

CHARLES”CARL” LUTZ

3rd Division One of the only places of resistance along the 3rd Division’s frontage in this early phase of the attack was found on the extreme southern edge, where the 33rd Battalion (under command of LTCOL Leslie Morshead) faced some determined German opposition from beyond the flank of the attacking line. Following some accurate sniping to keep the enemy back, the position was consolidated. It was here however, on 8 June, that 1983 Pte Alan Mather of the 33rd Battalion was killed in action in Ultimo Trench, just north of Factory Farm.

Mather is notable because his remains were uncovered by a British Archaeological Team in 2008 led by Richard Osgood and Martin Brown, excavating trenches used during the Battle of Messines. Mather was eventually identified mainly by DNA comparison, and buried with full military honours in July 2010.

His uniform, rifle and personal effects were returned to Australia, conserved, and with the cooperation of Pte Mather’s descendants, now feature in the new Australian Army Infantry Museum at Singleton.

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LTCOL LESLIE MORSHEAD OF THE AUSTRALIAN 33RD BATTALION

From approximately 4:30am, the barrage halted for an hour to allow fresh battalions to move forward in preparation for the second phase of the initial attack.

Prior to this, battalions had moved relatively unimpeded through the choking smoke and dust to their objectives, in line with the various lifts of the creeping artillery barrage.

Military journal

CHARLES”CARL” LUTZ

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A beautiful picture on mine warfare in the Battle of Messines. Image from Vierteljahreshefte für Pioniere, no. 3 of 1935. It belongs to the article Minierkampf und Krieg im Wytschaetebogen Geology, written by Major Walter Kranz.

Military journal

Pre-empted by the detonation of 19 enormous mines containing one million pounds of ammonal, the assault was launched by three Corps under General Herbert Plumer’s Second Army.

New Zealand Division The New Zealand Division was tasked with the capture of the village of Messines. Their battalions passed through and around the village ruins, subduing enemy activity where they found it. The 25th Division on their left similarly achieved its objectives.

The long halt in the middle of the day saw success throughout II Anzac’s sector.

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Plumer planned to resume the attack at 1pm, however delays by the central IX Corps (to II Anzac’s left) in moving their troops up meant that the afternoon attack did not go in until 3pm. When the attack was pressed forward again, two brigades of the 4th Australian Division moved through the 25th and New Zealand Divisions to the final objective (Green) line.

Their success was only possible because of the successful capture of the ridgeline by the British 25th, the New Zealand and 3rd Australian Divisions. The New Zealand Division had captured and held the village of Messines with comparatively little difficulty, while pill-boxes were able to be isolated and destroyed. n the afternoon, the 12th Brigade of the 4th Australian Division pushed up to the Oosttaverne Line, capturing and holding sections of it as the remainder of the attackers made their way to that objective. It was here that

German resistance hardened significantly. The capture of the remainder of the Oosttaverne Line in II Anzac’s sector took another four days and nights of hard fighting.

By the evening of the 7 June, Plumer’s bite and hold attack to take the Messines ridge-line was a tactical and strategic success. In the II Anzac Corps sector, the 3rd Division had been ‘blooded’ in its first major battle of the war, the New Zealanders had confirmed their standing as one of the BEF’s best formations, while the 25th Division too fought very well to achieve its objectives. Supporting, the 4th Division had consolidated the ground already won and pushed on to hold the final objective. Along the entire attacking front, the three Corps offensive had been a success and the salient south of Ypres had been eliminated. Two Australian Victoria Crosses were awarded from the battle at Messines – to Robert Grieve and John Carroll.

Such a spectacular victory came at a price, with some 26,000 casualties sustained, while II Anzac suffered 13,500 of that total figure. The Germans sustained an equivalent number of casualties. The Battle of Messines was the most complete success of any major Western Front attack by the Allies to that stage of the war.

Top: Pte Alan Mather remains at Singleton Australian Army Infanterie museum

Military journal

Major Willie Redmond William Hoey Kearney Redmond was born on 15 April 1861 into a Catholic gentry family of Norman descent that had been associated with County Wexford for seven centuries. His father, William Archer Redmond, was the Home Rule Party MP for Wexford Borough from 1872 to 1880 and was the nephew of the elder John Edward Redmond who is commemorated in Redmond Square near Wexford railway station.Willie Redmond's older brother was John Redmond who became leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party; he also had two sisters. His mother Mary was of Protestant stock from County Wicklow and a daughter of General R H Hoey of the Wicklow Rifles and the 61st Regiment.

Willie Redmond grew up in Ballytrent, County Wexford and like his father was educated at Clongowes Wood College from 1873-1876 after previously attending the preparatory school at Knockbeg College and St Patrick's College, Carlow (1871-72). On leaving school he apprenticed himself on a merchant sailing ship before taking a commission in the Wexford militia, the Royal Irish Regiment, on 24 December 1879.He became a second lieutenant in October 1880 but then resigned the following year to join the Irish National Land League, which would see him imprisoned three times for his activities as a land reform agitator. He and his brother John travelled to Australia to raise funds for the Land League and whilst there met two sisters who would eventually become their wives. Willie married Eleanor Mary Dalton.

Willie was elected in absentia as MP for his father's old Wexford Borough constituency, subsequently taking his seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. When the Wexford Borough constituency was abolished during the 1885 general election, he was returned for Fermanagh North constituency. In 1892, he was elected MP for the Clare East constituency, from which he was returned unopposed from 1900 until his death.

Party, called on Irish Volunteers to enlist in the Irish regiments of the Kitchener's New Service Army, namely the 10th and 16th (Irish) Divisions, in the belief that it would strengthen the cause to later implement the Home Rule Act, which had been suspended for the duration of the war.At 53 years of age, Willie Redmond was one of the first Nationalist Volunteers to volunteer for the army after hearing that a German Zeppelin had bombed civilian targets in Britain. In doing so, he addressed vast gatherings of fellow Volunteers, Hibernians and the UIL, encouraging voluntary enlistment in support of the British and Allied war cause and "for the greater good".

In November 1914 he made a famous recruiting speech in Cork; "I do not say to you go, but grey haired and old as I am, I say come, come with me to the war. If Germany wins we are all endangered."He felt that he might serve Ireland best in the firing line and was one of five Irish MPs who served with Irish brigades.Willie Redmond was commissioned as a captain in his former regiment, the Royal Irish Regiment, and went to the Western Front with the 16th (Irish) Division in the winter of 1915-16. He was soon in action and was mention in dispatches by Sir Douglas Haig. Willie Redmond was promoted to the rank of Major on 15 July 1916 but the promotion took him away from the action much to his displeasure and he only succeeded in returning to his beloved 'A' Company of the 6th Battalion the night before the Battle of Messines on the 6 June 1917, where according to his commanding officer Major Charles Taylor, "he spoke to every man".

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With the advent of the First World War, John Redmond, then the leader of Irish Parliamentary Military journal

One of the nineteen mines blown on 7 June was at Macdelstede Farm immediately in front of the Royal Irish Regiment's 'A' and 'B' companies, which then advanced shoulder to shoulder with men of 36th (Ulster) Division in the great attack on Messines Ridge and towards the small village of Wytschaete (now Wijtschate).

On reaching their first objectives the remainder of the battalion ('C' & 'D' Coys) passed through them and took Wyteschaete. But Major Willie Redmond, who one of the first out of the trenches, was hit almost immediately in the wrist and then in the leg; unable to carry on he could do no more than urge his men forward.

Some distance away from where Willie Redmond lay, Pte John Meeke of the 36th (Ulster) Division's 11th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was searching the battlefield for the wounded and saw the Major fall. Using what cover he could, he made his way to the 16th (Irish) Division officer he had seen and as he tended the Major's wounds they came under heavy fire resulting in Meeke receiving a wound to his left side. The Major saw that the young Ulsterman was bleeding profusely and ordered him to return to the British lines. Pte Meeke refused and moments later was hit again. Again the Major gave Pte Meeke an order to return to the British lines and yet again he refused. The two men were repeatedly fired on until they were eventually rescued by a patrol from the 36th (Ulster) Division who were escorting German prisoners back to British lines. Major Redmond was carried off the field of battle to a Casualty Clearing Station located at a hospice in the grounds of the Locre (now Loker) Catholic Convent where, despite the efforts of field surgeons, died that afternoon.

Top: Pte John Meeke attending Major Redmond at Battle of Messines in 1916

Major William Redmond's grave as it is today.

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As a footnote to this history; Pte John Meeke from the Montgomery Estate in Benvarden, near Ballymoney, Co. Antrim was awarded the Military Medal for his remarkable act of bravery in tending the wounds of Major William Redmond under heavy fire. Meeke died in 1923 The nuns buried him in the grounds of the of tuberculosis and was buried in an unmarked hospice and three months later a special service grave near his brother Samuel who died in 1919, at the graveside was attended by Irish leaders along with members of both 16th (Irish) and 36th just two weeks after returning home from (Ulster) Divisions. Later, the ground was fought incarceration in a German prisoner of war camp. over again and after the War the ruined hospice John Meeke's grave remained unmarked and was rebuilt on a new site nearer to the village of forgotten until 2004 when a memorial stone was Locre. Willie Redmond's grave was moved to the erected by public subscription next to his nearby war cemetery but at the request of his brother's grave at the Derrykeighan Old family it was moved once again to a spot outside Graveyard, Co. Antrim. the cemetery wall where it remains to this day.

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A Grave Registration Report, as used by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. This is the copy for Willie Redmond. These forms can be downloaded from the site of the CWGC Courtesy :Magazine De Koerier

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Two pictures of Tyne Cot cemetery today.Courtesy: Magazine De Koerier

Ernest Albert EgertonVC Born 10th Nov. 1897 Died 14th Feb. 1966

as a security officer for an aircraft plant and Staffordshire Potteries at Meir. He passed away at his home in Blythe Bridge, Staffordshire, at the age of 68.

World War I Victoria Cross Recipient, born in Longton, Staffordshire, he was educated in local grade schools and began working in a colliery at the age of 16 as a haulage hand. He enlisted in the 3rd North Staffordshire Regiment on his 18th birthday, and in October 1916 transferred to the 16th (Chatsworth Rifles) Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment). Egerton was awarded the VC for action at a German strongpoint called Welbeck Grange in Bulgar Wood during the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele).

From his citation: “On 20th September 1917 south-east of Ypres, Belgium, during an attack, visibility was bad owing to a fog and smoke. As a result the two leading waves of the attack passed over certain hostile dugouts without clearing them and enemy rifles and machine guns from these dugouts were inflicting severe casualties.

Corporal Egerton at once responded to a call for volunteers to help in clearing up the situation and he dashed for the dugouts under heavy fire at short range. He shot a rifleman, a bomber and a gunner, by which time support had arrived and 29 of the enemy surrendered.” The battalion commander, Maj. J.R. Webster, stated that Egerton’s exploit took only thirty seconds and called it “the most reckless piece of gallantry I ever saw.”

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He had survived the major offensives at the Somme and Ypres unscathed, but was badly gassed during the German “Kaiserschlact” offensive of spring 1918.

He was offered a commission but declined, choosing assignment as a sergeant-instructor with the 3rd Sherwood Foresters. His gassing led to tuberculosis; at one time his doctors only gave him a few months to live, but a 12-month course in the open air to train as a gamekeeper, sponsored by the Ministry of Pensions and the British Legion, led to a great improvement in his health, as did getting a job as a busconductor with the Potteries Electric Traction Company, mainly on rural routes in Staffordshire. During World War II he served in the Home Guard and 38

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WORLD WAR ONE DRAWN

BY ILLUSTRATORS AT THE TIME

Two pictures of Tyne Cot cemetery today.Courtesy: Magazine De Koerier

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A comparison ... photo below shows what happens after the battle of 1917 was left of the village of Saint Elooi located near Paliseul. Slightly above the same pointing device through Google Earth.

.

NEWS

REAL

Meet James N. Mattis, the new Secretary of Defense RETIRED MARINE CORPS GEN. JAMES N. MATTIS HAS OFFICIALS BEEN CONFIRMED AS THE NEW SECRETARY OF DEFENSE.WHILE MANY OF YOU WHO SERVED (AND THOSE OF YOU WHOSTILL SERVE) IN THE MARINE CORPS KNOW HIS ACHIEVEMENT WELL, MANY OTHER SERVICE MEMBERS AND DOD CIVILIANS MIGHT NOT KNOW THAT MUCH ABOUT THE VETERAN COMMANDER.

So to help introduce him to the community he'll be serving, here are 10 key facts:

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1. Gen. Mattis grew up in southeast Washington state with 4. As a brigadier general during military-minded parents: His Operation Enduring Freedom mother worked with U.S. Army in Afghanistan, Mattis intelligence in South Africa, while commanded the 1st Marine his father was a merchant mariner.

Expeditionary Brigade in the Mattis attended Central fight against the Taliban. He Washington University, where he also commanded Task Force earned a bachelor's degree in 58, which executed the history. farthest-ranging amphibious assault in Marine Corps/Navy 2. Mattis was commissioned as a history, which blazed a path for Marine Corps second lieutenant more U.S. forces, cut off through ROTC in 1972. He fleeing al-Qaida and Taliban served in the Marine Corps for 41 fighters, and aided in the years, commanding at all levels, capture of Kandahar. during three major operations, including: 3. As a lieutenant 5. As a major general, Mattis colonel in the 1990s, Mattis commanded the 1st Marine commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th Division during the initial Marines (also known as assault attack and subsequent stability battalion Task Force Ripper) as operations during Operation they breached the Iraqi minefields Iraqi Freedom. during Operation Desert Storm.

6. As a lieutenant general, Mattis worked closely with Army Gen. David Petraeus in 2006 to produce a revamped "Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual," which has become the authoritative guidance manual for dealing with counterinsurgencies.

7. From 2007 to 2009, Mattis served as a commander of a NATO strategic command, Allied Command Transformation. He also led U.S. Joint Forces Command, which was dissolved as a unified combatant command in 2011.

Two pictures of Tyne Cot cemetery today Courtesy: Magazine Koerier MilitaryDe journal

NEWS

8.

REAL.

In 2010, Mattis served as the commander of U.S. Marine

Forces at U.S. Central Command, which carries out missions in the Middle East.

Following his retirement in June 2013, Mattis served as the Davies Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, specializing in the study of leadership, national security, strategy, innovation and the effective use of military force. In 2016, he co-edited the book "Warriors & Citizens: American Views of Our Military."

9.

10. Mattis is nicknamed "the Warrior Monk," due to his intense love and study of military history, leadership and the art of war.

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11. Quote: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Do Not Cross Us. If You Do, The Survivors In Washington Will Write About What We Did, Here For A Thousand Years

Military journal

.

09.

• http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/ himmler.html • https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?

ModuleId=10007407 • http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3498908/ Heinrich-Himmler-s-stash-books-witchcraft-discoveredCzech-library-hidden-50-years.html • Emerson Vermaat: Heinrich Himmler en de cultus van dood ISBN: 9789059119512 • Peter Lengerich; Heinrich Himmler,Hitlers belangrijkste handlanger.2009 Bezig Bij uitgever.

17.

• Cockleshell Heroes, C.E. Lucas Heinemann Ltd., 1956. Réédition en 48069 3)). Traduction française en Opération Coque de Noix, paru en éditions J’ai lu no A175 en 1967.

Phillips, William 2000 ( (ISBN 0 330 1956 sous le titre livre de poche aux

• The Last of the Cockleshell Heroes, William Sparks, with Michael Munn, Leo Cooper Ltd, 1992 (ISBN 978-0850522976) • Cockleshell Commando: The Memoirs of Bill Sparks DSM, William Sparks, Pen & Sword Military, 2009 (ISBN 978-1844158942) • The Cockshell Raid: Bordeaux 1942, Ken Ford, Osprey Publishing, 2010 (ISBN 978-1846036934) • Cockleshell Heroes: The Final Witness, Quentin Rees, Amberley Publishing, 2010 (ISBN 978-1848688612)

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• A Brilliant Little Operation: The Cockleshell Heroes and the Most Courageous Raid of World War II, Paddy Ashdown, Aurum Press Ltd., 2012 (ISBN 978-1845137014)

Military journal

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