BRITAIN'S BEST MILITARY HISTORY MAGAZINE
Churchill’s
EaSTERN SPIES
Did Bletchley codes seal Soviet victory?
Hitler’s Reckoning
TIGER T-34 vs
How German armour was crushed at Kursk
win
HAYNES MANUAL BUNDLE WORTH
£68
switzerland
at war The unlikely battle honours of Europe's neutral nation
SAMURAI ARMOUR Issue 057
BATTLE OF COLENSo Medal of honor Shock victory of Boer guerrillas
Union general who led from the front
brits in bosnia
Daring mission to stop a genocide
Welcome to issue 57
Welcome
Contributors
This month Tom explores the military history of Europe’s famously neutral nation, Switzerland (p.14). He also spoke with wartime sweethearts Madge and Basil Lambert, who met during service in Burma in 1944 (p.88).
“Soon many of the T-34s had broken past our screen and were streaming like rats all over the battlefield” – Attrib. Heinz Guderian, on the Battle of Kursk
After 20 years working in the British Defence Intelligence Staff, Anthony is now an author and analyst, with several published titles on historic and modern conflicts. On page 38 he reveals the spy operations behind the victory at Kursk.
James Hoare
Tim Williamson Editor
Email timothy.williamson@futurenet.com
www.historyanswers.co.uk T-34s being assembled in Leningrad. While Soviet production emphasised quantity over quality, the T-34 was still a deadly vehicle
Anthony Tucker-Jones
breakers had won the intelligence battle, revealing Hitler’s plans to the Soviets before the tank tracks began to rumble forward.
/HistoryofWarMag
History of War’s Group Editor-in-Chief had the pleasure of speaking with Richard Westley OBE, MC, who discusses his service during the Bosnian War, and his first-hand experience defending an entire town from a massacre (p.72).
@HistoryofWarMag
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Image: Getty
T
he ‘face-off’ between German Tigers and Soviet T-34s is one of the most fiercely debated contests in military history. Of course, direct comparison between the two tanks is facile – the Tiger was a heavy and the T-34 a mediumclass. Yet both played huge roles in the Battle of Kursk. As this issue explores, the numbers of machines off the assembly line, the nuances of their design, as well as their manufacturing speed and cost arguably decided the armoured clash at Kursk. Even further behind the lines, Allied spy networks and code-
Tom Garner
3
Issue 57
TIGER 26 Two of World War II’s iconic tanks face off at the Battle of Kursk
Frontline
Switzerland at war 14
Switzerland’s famous neutrality comes after an impressive military history
18 Nancy 1477
16 Forging the Swiss nation
The Alpine nation fought off any threat Swiss infantrymen took on one of the most powerful and ambitious men in Europe
20 Weapons and equipment
Switzerland’s conscripted citizens can call upon a powerful array of weapons, vehicles and tools
22 Dangerous neutrality?
Switzerland’s determination to remain neutral in the face of two world wars was fraught with risk
vs
T-34
spies of
operation Citadel
24 Heroes and commanders
From humanitarians to military theorists
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58 Never miss an issue, get History Of War before it’s available in the shops and save a bundle while you’re at it
4
38 British intelligence efforts revealed eve ry detail of Hitler’s plan of attack
Contents
Great Battles
COLENSO 60 A powerful British force walks into a trap laid by the Boers on the banks of the Tugela River
06 War in Focus
Stunning imagery from throughout history
26 Tiger vs T-34
Kursk saw a brutal armoured showdown between these legendary tanks
38 Spies of Operation Citadel
A spy network across Europe put Stalin firmly on the road to victory at Kursk
46 operator’s handbook Panther medium tank
The German response to the T-34 was to create the finest all-round tank of WWII
52 The Third Reich in photos: Warhorses of Kursk
Thousands of horses were pressed into service on the Eastern Front
60 great battles Colenso
A superior British force marched straight into a deadly Boer trap
68 MEDAL OF HONOR Heroes John C. Robinson
72 Goražde still stands
This Union general led from the front
Richard Westley, OBE, MC discusses his role thwarting genocide in the Bosnian War
82 Evolution of the Samurai cuirass
88 A wartime romance
Exploring the beauty of Japanese armour
Panther panzerkampfwagen v
46 The Panther medium tank, designed to combat the Soviet T-34, was the finest tank of WWII
Madge and Basil Lambert tell the story of how they met during their service in Burma
92 Reviews
A round-up of the latest military history titles waiting for you on the shelves
96 COMPETITION Haynes Manual tank bundle
Win these manuals on iconic WWII tanks
98 Artefact of War Charles XII’s uniform
The clothes the Swedish king died in
SAMURAI ARMOUR 82 A combination of beauty and strength 5
in
Naval gazing Taken: October 1943
Two female ship workers walk along a dock at the Electric Boat Co. carrying cans of paint in their hands, as a group of male sailors watch them, in Groton, Connecticut, October 1943. Later known as General Dynamics Electric Boat, the company produced more than 70 submarines and almost 400 PT boats during WWII.
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© Getty
WAR IN FOCUS
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WAR IN FOCUS
in
Greeting allies Taken: 15 August 1917
A little girl shakes the hand of a passing US soldier, during a parade through London in 1917. Although the American Expeditionary Forces were formed in summer 1917, they wouldn’t engage in battle until 1918, during the German Spring Offensive, and then most notably during the Hundred Days Offensive, which ended in the November Armistice.
8
9
© Getty
in
WElcome home Taken: 11 July 1982
Family members and civilians crowd to welcome the Royal Marines, returning from the Falklands War, aboard the SS Canberra as it docks in Southampton. Canberra had been requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence shortly after the start of the war, and, after a refit, transported Royal Marines and the Parachute Regiment across the Atlantic to the islands.
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© Getty
WAR IN FOCUS
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WAR IN FOCUS
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