History Of War 78 (Sampler) by Future PLC

BRITA IN'S BEST MILITA RY HISTORY M AGA ZINE

HISTORIAN'S VERDICT ON 1917

IWO JIMA 75 YEARS

✪ Bunker buster tactics ✪ Medal of Honor hero ✪ True story of the US Marine Corps' finest hour

VETERAENWS INTERVIIDE INS

PLUS

Battle of Dak To Double VC winner Viking England

STURMGESCHÜTZ III Inside the technology of the Nazis' deadly tank hunter

WOMEN WARRIORS

Discover the First World War's forgotten female fighters

ISSUE 078

Frontline

TIMELINE OF THE…

PELOPONNESIAN WAR The rival city states of Athens and Sparta go to war in a prolonged conflict that decisively shifts the balance of power in Ancient Greece

FIRST PELOPONNESIAN WAR

Following the expulsion of Persian forces from Greece, Athens develops into a major Mediterranean power and heads a group of city states known as the ‘Delian League’. Sparta forms a rival group called the ‘Peloponnese League’. A First Peloponnesian War is fought during 460-445 BCE.

Mid-5th century BCE 433 BCE

440-439 BCE

The Aegean island of Samos clashes with Athens. The Samians are blockaded and they reputedly appeal to Sparta for assistance before surrendering. The Spartans decline the request but it is believed the conflict increases their willingness to go to war with the Athenians. A sculpted torso of a warrior that was discovered at the Temple of Hera on Samos

BATTLE OF SYBOTA

The Corcyraeans and Corinthians fight a major naval battle involving hundreds of ships. The result is inconclusive but Corcyra and Corinth are heavily supported by Athens and Sparta respectively. This large-scale engagement becomes a prelude to the outbreak of a larger conflict. Sybota is fought off the coast of Corcyra, which is now known as Corfu

SAMIAN WAR

432 BCE

MEGARIAN DECREE

Athens imposes economic sanctions on Megara following supposed Megarian trespasses on land and the killing of an Athenian herald. This decree is interpreted as a pretext for war, particularly when the Megarians complain to Sparta. The Athenians refuse Spartan demands to withdraw the decree and conflict becomes certain.

PELOPONNESIAN WAR

A depiction of the Battle of Coronea during the First Peloponnesian War

PLAGUE OF ATHENS

An epidemic devastates Athens during the second year of the war. 75,000-100,000 people die, including the Athenian statesman Pericles. The plague has a direct effect on the war by causing low morale among Athenian armies and reducing their capacity to fight.

A Baroque depiction of the Athenian plague by Flemish painter Michiel Sweerts, c.1652-54

SIEGE OF PLATAEA 03

Plataea is later re-established by Philip II of Macedon as a symbol of Greek courage against a previous attack by the Persians

430 BCE

Thebans and Spartans besiege the Athenian-allied city of Plataea. Although the Plataeans mount a brave defence, the Athenians fail to assist them. After surrendering to the Spartans, over 200 defenders are killed and the city is razed to the ground. Thebes then occupies Plataea until 387 BCE.

429-27 BCE

432 BCE

BATTLE OF AMPHIPOLIS

One of the most famous veterans of Potidaea is the philosopher Socrates who is claimed by Plato to have fought at the battle

Athens wins a victory against outnumbered Corinthian and Potidaean forces. Potidaea is then besieged and blockaded by the Athenians. During this time representatives from Athens, Sparta and Corinth meet, which results in a formal declaration of war.

The Spartans win a decisive victory against the Athenians. Both opposing commanders, Brasidas and Cleon, are killed during the battle but approximately 600 Athenians are killed compared to only seven or eight Spartans. Amphipolis persuades both sides to cease hostilities. One of the defeated Athenian commanders at Amphipolis is Thucydides, the future historian who later writes the History of the Peloponnesian War

BATTLE OF POTIDAEA 02

422 BCE

IWO JIMA "UNCOMMON VALOUR" 75 YEARS

WORDS TOM GARNER

Source: Wiki / Joe Rosenthal. Recolourisation: Marina Amaral

American veterans Hershel W. Williams and Tom Price remember the battle that defined the horror of the Pacific War, 75 years ago

US Marines of the 28th Regiment, Fifth Division, hoist an American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, after battling the Japanese to the top of the crater

he Pacific War was the largest theatre of WWII where US-dominated Allied forces gradually defeated the Empire of Japan across a vast ocean. However, one battle on a tiny island became the most well-known of their endeavours. Conducted during 19 February-26 March 1945, the Battle of Iwo Jima lasted for five weeks and consisted of some of the fiercest combat in the Pacific. Fought in the

shadow of an intimidating mountain and on beaches of black volcanic ash, the campaign was an apocalyptic nightmare that resulted in a costly US victory. A hallowed event in American military history, Iwo Jima has come to epitomise the fighting spirit of the US Armed Forces, particularly its Marine Corps. To commemorate the 75th anniversary, two surviving veterans – Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams and Tom Price – recount their memories of the battle. Their astonishing, powerful stories are humbly told but represent the courageous determination of a remarkable generation of young men.

IWO JIMA: "UNCOMMON VALOUR"

Iwo Jima and remains a passionate campaigner for veterans’ causes

INTERVIEW ONE The Medal of Honor is the United States’ highest military decoration that recognises servicemen and women for acts of extreme courage. Since its establishment in 1861, only 3,525 have been awarded to 3,506 individuals. Twenty-seven of these were awarded for acts of valour during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Of those, five were presented to naval personnel with the remaining 22 to US Marines. This was an astonishing 25 per cent of all Medals of Honor awarded to Marines throughout WWII. As Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz said, “Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valour was a common virtue.” Today, the only surviving recipient from Iwo Jima is Hershel W. Williams. Known as ‘Woody’, Williams was a 21-year-old corporal in the US Marines when he performed what his award citation called “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty”. Still a tireless public servant, Williams modestly but dramatically describes how his life changed forever in February 1945 and the responsibility that comes with wearing the USA’s most prestigious decoration. US Marines crouch behind hillside rock cover while blowing up a cave connected to a Japanese blockhouse

“Tremendous fear”

Born in West Virginia in October 1923 and raised on a dairy farm, Williams first attempted to join the US Marine Corps in 1942, “I just wanted to protect my freedom and country. At that point I didn’t know that I would be going to the Pacific or actually be involved in the war. I was five foot, six inches tall but in 1942 the Marines said I was too short and turned me down. The rules later changed so I joined in May 1943.” After initial training, Williams was deployed to the 3rd Marine Division on Guadalcanal in January 1944 where he was given specialised training, “I was selected to be a demolition flamethrower operator. Some individuals, including me, were told, ‘You, you and you! You’ve just volunteered.’ We’d never seen a flamethrower or seen how it was operated. There were no combat instructions so we effectively had to teach ourselves.” During July-August 1944, Williams experienced combat for the first time when he participated in the Second Battle of Guam. For Williams, the campaign was intense, “It was almost 100 per cent jungle whereas there was anything but jungle on Iwo Jima. The Japanese could camouflage themselves to the point where it was difficult to spot them. You

A “chaotic” beach

The Battle of Iwo Jima began on 19 February 1945 with elements of 3rd Marine Division

“CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY” Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams is the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from

advanced because you had to move forward but it was to an unknown destination. That created a tremendous amount of anxiety.” Williams soon learned to control his fear, “Anyone who says he’s not scared when he is being shot at is not very smart. When you’re advancing towards an enemy who is already dug in it creates a tremendous amount of fear. The important thing is that you control the fear rather than it controlling you. If the reverse happens then you are useless. There were always moments of anxiety because a grenade could go by and there was a lot of shooting. The guy beside you would get hit and you didn’t have the answers as to why you weren’t hit yourself.” The Americans recaptured Guam by 10 August 1944 and 3rd Marine Division remained there until February 1945. Now assigned to C Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, Williams was ordered to ship out, “Once we were on board, they didn’t tell us where we were going or the type of terrain we would be involved in.” It was only when the ship had sailed that the Marines were informed of their destination, “We were in reserve and on the way there they showed us the outline of Iwo Jima. It was two and a half miles wide and five miles long. Most of us had been in the Guam campaign where it was miles from one coastline to another so we couldn’t figure out why we were taking that little piece of rock. They didn’t tell us it was going to be a base where our B-29s would have some place to land after bombing Japan.”

WHO SANK USS THE

On 15 February 1898, a US Navy battleship exploded and sank during a friendly visit in Havana, leading to the Spanish-American War. However, over 120 years later many questions remain unanswered

he island of Cuba has an inexplicable power to draw the world’s great intrigues to its shores. Once colonised by Spain in 1511 the next 387 years saw the island transformed from a collection of scenic coastal outposts to a source for agricultural products. By the 19th century Cuba was synonymous with just two commodities: African slaves and sugar. Such was the nature of Spanish governance in Cuba that momentous events like the Haitian

WORDS MIGUEL MIRANDA Revolution and the Latin American wars of independence changed little in the colony. Of course, there had been revolts – some of them bloody, others aborted. Another passionate rising swept Cuba in 1895. The ruthless General Valeriano Weyler launched a campaign to depopulate entire villages, whose inhabitants became known as ‘reconcentrados’, with the end goal of quashing any dissent. The heavy handedness of the Spanish military drew the attention of the American press, and by

extension the American government. Because of Cuba’s strategic location in the Caribbean the United States always sought to wrangle it away from its present owners. Cuba’s thriving plantations were equally attractive, which is why annexing the island was a recurring theme in American foreign policy circles. President William McKinley, a Civil War veteran whose paramount concern was managing an American economy overheated by decades of industrial growth, had no appetite

MAINE?

WHO SANK THE USS MAINE? USS Maine belonged to a new generation of armoured ‘second-class’ battleships that could travel anywhere at short notice

“THE HEAVY HANDEDNESS OF THE SPANISH MILITARY DREW THE ATTENTION OF THE AMERICAN PRESS, AND BY EXTENSION THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT” for a tussle with Spain. Even when news of anti-American riots in Havana broke, diplomacy was the first course of action; a goodwill visit by warships was scheduled. Under the command of Charles D. Sigsbee, USS Maine was one of the newest armoured battleships since being commissioned in 1895. It would sail to Havana and its Spanish counterpart, Vizcaya, to New York City. Displacing at 6,650 tons, USS Maine was classified as a ‘second-class’ twin-screw armoured cruiser. Although describing it as a battleship was acceptable too. Depending on weather conditions it could manage a top speed of between 15 and 17 knots. In some corners of the US Navy the situation in Cuba elicited fascination rather than alarm. Since the mid-1880s simulated war games in the German fashion were embraced by the American military. The culture took hold of two important institutions

shaping the navy, the Naval War College and the Office of Naval Intelligence or ONI. Binding them was the Department of the Navy led by Secretary John D. Long and his subordinate Assistant Secretary Theodore Roosevelt. It was hardly a secret that career naval officers in the three offices – the ONI, War College and the Department – collaborated in war gaming that helped the branch forecast conflicts with rival powers. Great Britain and Japan were common foes expected to assert naval dominance over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the near future. It is quite damning how multiple war plans against Spain came about; the latest was put together by a Naval War Board in June 1897 eight months until calamity struck in Havana. Having anchored at Key West, Florida, USS Maine set sail for Havana, Cuba, on 24 January and arrived the next day. A Spanish

pilot guided her through the narrow entrance of the harbour beneath the stone fortress known as Morro Castle. The harbour, which would later become a crime scene of sorts, was small, with just two ports for receiving larger ships. The eastern port was for commercial steamers, while the western one belonged to the Spanish Navy. At its edges, the harbour was far too shallow for anything but small boats to pass.

Trembling and roar

USS Maine’s arrival was received by the American consul-general, General Fitzhugh Lee, and by the Spanish authorities with requisite protocol. After an uneventful three weeks, whose highlights included Captain Sigsbee’s attendance of a bullfight, the moment of infamy came when least expected. Secured to a mooring buoy in Havana’s harbour USS

GUTHRUM

VIKING KING The leader of the Viking Great Army came within a single battle of conquering the Anglo-Saxon kingdom – before there was an England

t was a brilliant stroke – an attack through the dark and chill of a winter’s night – that won a kingdom. Guthrum led his Viking war band south, riding hard from his base in Gloucester, heading for the royal estate at Chippenham. They were going to kill a king. Riding fast, the Viking war band made its way through the winter-locked countryside. Although they rode through Wiltshire, land owing fealty to Alfred, king of Wessex, no hands or swords were raised against them. Their lord, Guthrum, had made his preparations well. In the months before their winter ride, Guthrum had made surreptitious contact with the ealdorman of Wiltshire, named Wulfhere. Like many of the great men of Wessex, Wulfhere had lost faith in his young king, Alfred. The agents Wulfhere had received from Guthrum during the autumn of 877 had whispered promises to him, promises of preferment, possibly even of a throne. The Great Heathen Army that had conquered the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain over the last 12 years had in Mercia and Northumbria installed client kings rather than ruling directly. For Wulfhere, maybe the prospect of a throne, even one held at the behest of Guthrum, might have seemed more attractive than more years bolstering Alfred’s uncertain regime. Whatever the blandishments or threats uttered by Guthrum’s agents, they worked. On that night in early January, the men that Wulfhere had set on the border between Anglo-Saxon Wessex and Danishcontrolled Mercia stood aside as the king of the Danes rode past them.

To catch a king

For Guthrum, this was the final push towards making himself the pre-eminent king in Britain. Already king of East Anglia, and with a puppet installed on the throne of Mercia beholden to his support, only the kingdom of the West Saxons held out against him. This winter attack was Guthrum’s third attempt to crack the Wessex nut and, as with his other attacks, he carried it out with his customary secrecy and speed. The aim was nothing less than to kill the king, celebrating the last days of the long Christmas feast at his royal estate in Chippenham. After a week or more of feasting, Guthrum hoped to find Alfred and his retainers bloated with food and sodden with drink; ready pickled for the killing. But word reached Alfred just in time. Perhaps one of Wulfhere’s men, gagging at the silence enjoined on him by his ealdorman, rode south ahead of the Danes, bringing warning to Alfred and his family. As the realisation sank in, Alfred was faced with a sudden, life-or-death choice. Stay, and make a stand with the men of his household, or run. Part of Guthrum’s appeal to the disaffected magnates of Wessex was that their young king was unable to protect them. By running, Alfred would be making that claim real: he was unable even to protect his own family. But staying meant a fight against unequal odds with Guthrum’s assassination squad.

King on the run

Alfred ran. With his family and the men of his household he fled, heading west, towards the marshes of Somerset. Arriving at the all but deserted hall, Guthrum pulled the news of the

direction of the king’s flight from a left-behind servant. Hearing the news that Alfred had fled to the west, Guthrum smiled. He had planned for this. If the young king escaped the net in Chippenham, Guthrum had cast another to catch Alfred as he tried to escape. Another Viking army, led by Ubba, the last survivor of the sons of the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok, was even now sailing down the Bristol Channel to make landfall in north Devon. Alfred was about to be caught between two armies. The hard Wessex nut was shortly to be cracked. However, this was when Guthrum’s carefully worked out strategy started to unravel. Despite Ubba’s fearsome reputation and the fact that he was carrying the fabled raven banner of the sons of Lothbrok, the army he led was defeated and Ubba himself was killed by a surprise attack from the army of Odda, the loyalist ealdorman of Devon. As for Guthrum, he found himself tied down having to defend fixed positions as Alfred launched a guerrilla war against him from his stronghold in the Somerset levels. The Viking leader suddenly realised the difficulty of fighting a war against an enemy that could choose where and when to fight. Ironically, Alfred was starting to out-Viking the Viking.

The final battle

So it came as a considerable relief to Guthrum to learn, early in May 878, that Alfred had emerged from the marshes and was assembling an army at Egbert’s Stone east of Selwood Forest. Guthrum had fortified Alfred’s base at Chippenham during the last few months as he had tried to bring Wessex definitively under his control. Now, with

Coins source: Wiki / The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum

WORDS EDOARDO ALBERT

GUTHRUM: VIKING KING

“GUTHRUM, WHO HAD COME WITHIN A BATTLE VICTORY OF TAKING ALL OF ENGLAND, LIVED AS KING OF THE DANELAW UNTIL HE DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES IN 890”

GUTHRUM

After two weeks’ siege, Guthrum surrendered to Alfred. As Alfred’s god had proven his worth on the battlefield, Guthrum agreed to be baptised, with Alfred standing as godfather, a position that emphasised Alfred’s spiritual and temporal position over Guthrum. The Viking, now bearing the name Æthelstan, withdrew to East Anglia, settling down there reasonably peacefully: there was the odd bit of raiding but no further serious attempt to conquer Wessex. The two kings, Æthelstan née Guthrum and Alfred, also signed a treaty, the text of which survives, that created the Danelaw as a legal entity. The text defined the border between the territories ruled by Alfred and those under Danish law: up on the Thames, and then up on the Lea, and along the Lea unto its source, then straight to Bedford, then up on the Ouse to Watling Street. Guthrum, who hadw come within a battle victory of taking all of England, lived as king of the Danelaw until he died of natural causes in 890: the man who almost turned England into Daneland.

DAK TO Great Battles

American paratroopers fought a desperate battle with North Vietnamese soldiers on a remote hill deep in the rugged highlands of South Vietnam WORDS WILLIAM E. WELSH

OPPOSING FORCES PEOPLE'S ARMY OF NORTH VIETNAM LEADERS

Maj. Gen. Hoang Minh Thao

UNIT

2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 174th Infantry Regiment

INFANTRY 1,400

US ARMY LEADER

Brig. Gen. Leo H. Schweiter

UNIT

2nd and 4th battalions of the 503rd Infantry Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Â© Getty

INFANTRY

700

A rifleman of the 173rd Airborne covers his fellow soldiers as they remove casualties

DAK TO slowed the enemyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attack. As they swept by him, Lozada swung his weapon back and forth in an effort to kill as many as he could. When it was apparent that they were about to be surrounded, Lozada shouted for his two friends to retreat to their companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position while there was still time. He laid down heavy suppressive fire in an effort to buy a few extra minutes for his fellow soldiers in Alpha Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 173rd Brigade to react to the surprise attack. While withdrawing he was killed by a round to the head. Lozada had succeeded in killing 17 enemy soldiers in his valiant stand. For his courage under fire, Lozada posthumously received the Medal of Honor. The incident occurred on the first of a five-day battle on Hill 875 that served as the climax of the gruelling 20-day Battle of Dak To that raged across the hills of northern Kontum Province.

Showdown in the Highlands

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RO VIN CE NO VEM BER

192

3, 1 967

At the beginning of 1967, General William Westmoreland had the best-trained and bestequipped forces that the United States had to

KO NT

n the afternoon of 19 November 1967, Private First Class Carlos Lozada and the other two paratroopers manning the observation post at the base of Hill 875, watched intently for any signs of approaching enemy soldiers. They were just 40 yards from where a detail of soldiers were trying to clear a landing zone for helicopters supporting their paratrooper battalion. On the upper slope of the hill, two other companies in their battalion were battling against an entrenched enemy presence. The three men did not have to wait long. Lozada was the first to spot the enemy. The North Vietnamese soldiers had camouflaged themselves by stuffing leafy branches into their helmets and uniforms. Lozada then motioned to his two fellow soldiers that the enemy was about to attack. As mortar rounds began exploding around them, Lozada opened fire from a concealed position when the enemy soldiers were just about on top of him. Firing measured bursts with his M60, the Bronx, New York-resident

BAT TLE REPORT: PART I

NORMANDY 1 7

J U N E

–

J U L Y

1 9 4 4

WORDS CRAIG MOORE

This battlefield report provides a unique insight into 2 Panzer Division’s assessment of the frontline, during the critical weeks following D-Day

uring the Battle for Normandy in 1944, Allies captured and translated a German battlefield report written by Generalleutnant Freiherr (Baron) von Lüttwitz, commander of 2 Panzer Division. This report was dated 14 July 1944 and covered the fighting in the region between 17 June and 7 July. Lüttwitz’s unit was being relieved by the 362 Infantry Division, and he was required to appraise its commanding officer of what the situation was like on the front line. Copies of the translated report were then circulated to Allied units in a document called ‘Weekly Intelligence Summary No.42’. The document makes fascinating reading, as it is a primary source document written during the battle for Normandy from the German point of view.

In late 1943, the 2 Panzer Division was withdrawn from the heavy fighting on the Eastern Front. It had suffered heavy losses. Men and surviving machines were transported to northern France to rest and refit. It remained near Amiens and was to be used in a counterattack against Allied forces attacking the beaches near Calais during the feared 1944 invasion of Europe. The division was not ordered to attack the Allied troops in Normandy following D-Day as German High Command believed that the main assault would still be in Calais, due to misinformation and deception tactics used by the Allies. When they were eventually ordered into Normandy to “push the invading forces back into the sea” they engaged in combat with British troops of the 50th Infantry Division and 7th Armoured Division in the region of Caumont-l’Éventé, 36km southwest of Caen.

“THE ALLIES ARE WAGING WAR REGARDLESS OF EXPENSE. IN ADDITION TO THIS, THE ENEMY HAS COMPLETE MASTERY OF THE AIR”

British infantrymen stationed behind a wall during the fight with the German rearguard in a village in Normandy, June 1944

NORMANDY: 17 JUNE – 7 JULY 1944

JUNE & JULY 1944 2ND PANZER DIVISION: PANZER-REGIMENT 3 (3RD TANK REGIMENT) PANZER-GRENADIER-REGIMENT 2 (2ND MECHANISED INFANTRY REGIMENT) PANZER-GRENADIER-REGIMENT 304 (304TH MECHANISED INFANTRY REGIMENT) PANZER-ARTILLERIE-REGIMENT 74 (74TH ARMOURED ARTILLERY REGIMENT) PANZER-AUFKLÄRUNGS-ABTEILUNG 2 (2ND ARMOURED RECON BATTALION) HEERES-FLAK-ARTILLERIE-ABTEILUNG 273 (273RD ARMY ANTI-AIRCRAFT BATTALION) PANZERJÄGER-ABTEILUNG 38 (38TH TANK HUNTER BATTALION) PANZER-PIONIER-BATAILLON 38 (38TH ARMOURED PIONEER BATTALION) PANZER-NACHRICHTEN-ABTEILUNG 38 (38TH ARMOURED SIGNALS BATTALION) PANZER-VERSORGUNGSTRUPPEN 82 (82ND ARMOURED SUPPLY TROOP)

COMMENT

ACCOUNT OF 2 PZ DIV OPERATIONS 17 JUN-7 JUL 44

★ 362 INF DIV ★ OPS NO.2044/44 MOST SECRET ★ DIV BATTLE HQ, 17 JUL 44 ★ REF: 2 PZ DIV OPS NO.675/44 MOST SECRET, DATED 14 JULY 44 (ONLY TO DIV) ★ 17 COPIES, COPY NO.4 Extract from battle experiences from recent operations by 2 Pz Div whose sector is being taken over by 362 Inf Div

The fighting of the Div on the invasion front is characterised by: (a) The special nature of the country of Normandy. (b) The great material superiority of the enemy, even on so-called quiet fronts. (c) The country in which the fighting is taking place consists of meadow and brushland enclosed squarely by hedges, with embankments and sunken roads. This does not lend itself to engagements over large areas. All engagements soon resolve themselves into

shock troops and individual engagements. The possession of ‘dominating heights’ is often not as decisive as the possession of traffic junctions. Often the former cannot be exploited because hedges and trees limit visibility and field of fire, whereas road traffic arteries are essential since it is only by roads that the heavier weapons, artillery and tanks can be brought forward. Nevertheless, certain features always retain their dominating role, whereas conversely some traffic junctions can be dispensed with.

The Normandy bocage was ideal for ambush tactics. Thick, tall tree-lined hedges separated a patchwork of small fields and sunken roads © Getty

The 2 Panzer Division had been fighting in the wide-open countryside of the Eastern Front. High-velocity German anti-tank guns, placed on a high ridge that had commanding views over the battlefield, could knock out attacking Soviet tanks at long-range. In the Normandy bocage, of sunken narrow roads and small dense hedgerow lined fields, visibility was reduced to 100 to 200 metres. The German anti-tank guns lost their advantage but the bocage was suitable for using ambush tactics because of the amount of natural cover that could conceal infantry, towed antitank guns and self-propelled guns.

(d) The incredibly heavy artillery and mortar fire (of the enemy) is something new, both for the seasoned veterans of the Eastern Front and the new arrivals from reinforcement units. Whereas the veterans get used to it comparatively quickly, the inexperienced reinforcements require several days or so, after which they become acclimatised. The average rate of fire on the Divisional sector per day is 4,000 artillery rounds and 5,000 mortar rounds. This is multiplied many times before an enemy attack, however small. For instance, on one

occasion, when the British made an attack on a sector of only two companies, they expended 3,500 rounds in two hours. The Allies are waging war regardless of expense. In addition to this, the enemy has complete mastery of the air. They bomb and strafe every movement, even single vehicles and individuals. They recce our area constantly and direct their artillery fire. Against all this, the German Air Force is conspicuous by its complete absence. During the last four weeks, the total number of German aircraft over the Division’s area was six.

COMMENT

The amount of firepower available to the Allies was immense. Hours of planning for Operation Overlord, the invasion of German-occupied France, had ensured that there would be enough supplies of ammunition to overpower German forces. The German Army at this late stage in World War II was having supply problems because of the lack of resources and shortages caused by Allied bombing raids on factories and railways.

FEMALE WARRIORS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR The secret history of women who joined the ranks and fought on the front lines WORDS DR JULIE WHEELWRIGHT

lthough for centuries the battlefield has been regarded as an exclusively masculine arena, for centuries women have taken up arms and fought for their tribe, city, or country. Though society at the time did not grant women the same rights as men, the First World War presented another opportunity for women to prove they were equally capable and worthy of occupying a man’s role – both on the homefront and the front line. Here Dr Julie Wheelwright, author and lecturer at City, University of London, recounts some of the forgotten and lesser known heroines who played their part in the great ‘war to end all wars’. Her new book, Sisters In Arms: Female Warriors From Antiquity To The New Millennium, is available from Osprey publishing. Visit ospreypublishing.com.

FLORA SANDES

Although British women had passed as men to enter the armed forces for centuries, by the First World War the female warrior was more likely found in music hall reviews or saucy postcards than on the battlefield. Among the rare exceptions was Flora Sandes, an English woman who, at the age of 40, joined the Second Infantry Regiment of the Serbian Army as a private and rose to become a captain. When Pvt. Sandes enlisted on 28 November 1915 it completed a process where, as she would later describe it, she “naturally drifted, by successive stages from nurse to soldier”. Rejected by the War Office for a coveted place on the Volunteer Aid Detachment in August 1914, she immediately joined a Red Cross Unit, organised by an American surgical nurse, Mabel Grouitch, and departed for Serbia. Despite her rudimentary medical training, Sandes experienced a baptism of fire as she nursed hundreds during a typhus epidemic at the First Reserve Hospital in Kragujevatz. Although she would later admit to a life-long desire to become a soldier, in late 1915, she suddenly faced a stark choice. As the Central Powers had invaded Serbia, the Second Infantry Regiment to which her hospital was attached, was retreating: join the regiment as a private or turn back. Without hesitation she enlisted and, serving in

the Fourth Company, would experience the full horror of the ‘Great Retreat’ through Montenegro and Albania, marching across snow-covered mountain passes. More than 70,000 soldiers and 140,000 civilians would freeze to death or fall to hostile Albanian forces before the survivors would reach the Adriatic Coast. Sandes proved a capable and courageous soldier and by January 1916, was promoted to corporal, and a month later to sergeant, and in May that year, to honorary second lieutenant by a special act of the Serbian parliament. Sandes was severely wounded during a battle with the Bulgarian forces near Salonika, and in December 1916 received the Kara George (Karadorde) Star for NCOs and was promoted to the rank of sergeant-major. She was wounded again in July 1917, but returned to her unit the following October. Throughout the conflict, Sandes worked as a medic to her comrades and, when home on leave in England, raised funds for her beloved Serbia. After more than seven years’ service, Sandes retired from the Serbian army, settled in Belgrade and married a fellow officer, Yurie Yudenitch. She tried several different careers but felt unable to “settle to down to anything”, and following Yudenitch’s death, returned to her family in England where she died in 1956.

“SANDES EXPERIENCED A BAPTISM OF FIRE AS SHE NURSED HUNDREDS DURING A TYPHUS EPIDEMIC AT THE FIRST RESERVE HOSPITAL IN KRAGUJEVATZ”

FEMALE WARRIORS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

An ambitious young English writer, Dorothy Lawrence was intent on becoming a foreign correspondent when the war broke out in August 1914. Having already established a reputation writing for The Times and Nash’s Magazine, Lawrence rang several Fleet Street editors who rejected the offer of a female war correspondent. Undeterred, Lawrence volunteered with the Volunteer Aid Detachment (as Flora Sandes had done) who also rejected her services. Frustrated with her lack of progress, she travelled to Paris as a tourist where she befriended two British soldiers, offering tours of the city in exchange for various bits of uniform. Once this was assembled, in the summer of 1915 with a forged travel permit, she caught a train northbound for Amiens. By now Dorothy had become Dennis Smith, affecting her transformation with a cotton-wool corset to bulk out her figure, cutting off her long hair and applying Condy’s fluid to darken her face. From Amiens she headed towards the front at Albert, where she met Tommy Dunn, a Royal Engineer or ‘sapper’ who agreed to keep her secret and who found her a cottage where she could hide before joining his company. It was a fortunate choice since sappers were not subject to the same military strictures as infantry soldiers and often appeared in a company without a commanding officer having been informed. Soon Lawrence was working alongside Dunn with the 179th Tunnelling Company, 51st division, Royal Engineers, digging under enemy lines and laying explosives. But she struggled under the harsh living conditions and constant fear of exposure. The bitter autumn cold, ceaseless enemy fire and lack of food eventually took their toll and when Lawrence began fainting, she turned herself over to the commanding officer. Her case dismayed and perplexed the generals at the Third Army headquarters. There she was subject to interrogations and an informal court martial before being transported to a local convent where the nuns regarded her actions as heroic. Lawrence was shipped back to England and made to sign the Defence of the Realm Act which invalidated any possibility of writing about her adventure. When her memoir, Sapper Dorothy Lawrence: The Only English Woman Soldier was published in 1919, the sales proved disappointing. Worse followed when, in 1925, Lawrence was admitted to the London County Mental Hospital and then Colney Hatch Lunatic asylum, suffering from “persecutory delusions”. She remained in psychiatric care until her death in 1964.

MILUNKA SAVIC

Serving alongside Flora Sandes in the Second Infantry Regiment, during the 1915 Great Retreat, was a young peasant girl who Sandes described in her 1927 memoir, as “always in hot water over something or another”. While the older British soldier appreciated Milunka Savic’s exceptional courage, she seemed unaware of her comrade’s legendary status. Born in Serbia in 1888, Milunka was the eldest of eight surviving children, none of whom had a formal education. When the Balkan War broke out in 1912, Milunka’s brother Milun was among the tens of thousands called up for military service and vowed to take his place. In the time-honoured tradition of the passing female warrior, she cut her long black hair, borrowed her brother’s clothes and travelled to the nearest army recruitment office. Milunka served much of this first phase of the Balkan War on the Allied front lines as an infantry soldier and escaped detection. When the war ended in 1913, she returned home but a few months later, when the Second Balkan war began and ‘Milun Savic’ was called up. Once re-enlisted, ‘Milun’ was promoted

to corporal. But her troubles began during the Battle of Bregalnica when she received a sniper’s bullet in her chest and the physicians treating her injuries discovered her gender. Her commander, Duke Radomir Putnik, regarded Corporal Savic’s front line service inappropriate for a woman so offered her “more traditional women’s jobs”. Offended, Milunka snapped back that she was “only interested in fighting the enemies of the motherland”. Duke Radomir relented and kept ‘Milun’s’ identity a secret as Corporal Savic returned to his regiment. ‘Milun’ Savic enlisted again in 1914, and received the Karadore Star following the Battle of Kolubara when she ran through a mine field, attacking enemy positions with hand grenades and rifle fire. She would receive her Karadore Star after the Battle of the Crna Bend in 1916 when she captured 23 Bulgarian soldiers single-handedly. After demobilisation in 1918, Milunka moved to Belgrade, adopted three daughters, then married and had a fourth. Whenever she was asked about her wartime experiences Milunka would reply, “I am a soldier … not a storyteller.”

DOROTHY LAWRENCE

O P I N I O N

“JASON BOURNE WITH MORE MUD”

William Philpott, Professor of the History of Warfare in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London, gives his verdict on director Sam Mendes’s war flick

am Mendes’s 1917 is the first First World War ‘event’ film since Steven Spielberg’s Warhorse (2011). It has received critical acclaim and is bound to be an awards ceremony success. The director deserves his plaudits, as does the cinematographer because the action is gripping, the visualisation of the battlefield is stunning and on occasion eerily beautiful. From a historian’s perspective, however, it is no surprise that liberties

have been taken with context, chronology, historical detail and even geography. Historians love to nit-pick the details, and this film has plenty of mistakes to spot – whether they are deliberate or casual. The presence of a Sikh soldier among the stragglers in 1917 has particularly roused the history pedants. This lonely representative of the Indian army must have been lost for some time, since all Indian infantry units were withdrawn from the Western Front by the end of 1915.

Of course, precise historical re-creation has never been the aim of the feature film; even of more traditional epics that purport to recount the history of a battle or campaign, for example The Longest Day (1962) or A Bridge Too Far (1977). The film certainly takes fewer historical liberties than Warhorse, having a good sense of time and place in the continuum of the Western Front campaign. Although the battlefield is strangely quiet. On 6 April, the day on which the action is set, the guns were firing the bombardment that would precede the battle of Arras a few miles to the north and a steady rumble of gunfire would have been the authentic soundtrack for our hero’s adventure in no-man’sland. At least there was no birdsong. Beyond historical correctness, what sort of First World War is the director portraying? Set in 1917, the general war weariness of that year shines through, as does the fatalism of the common solider, the playthings of a war out of control. Military operations are pointless and costly and soldiers are scared and cynical, resigned to stupid orders and hazardous futures. Casual death stalks the protagonists, and is both given and received: these men are soldiers, not passive victims of conflict. As in other ‘classic’ First World War films based on fictionalised accounts, such as All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) or Paths Of Glory (1957), authenticity mixes with misperception. As one might expect, First World War clichés and ex-post-facto interpretations frame the narrative. The ‘goodies’ and the ‘baddies’ are broadly drawn. Although the

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Germans are retiring, it is only to trap the British, and we witness the wanton destruction and rapine inflicted by a Hunnish army in retreat. Individual Germans try but fail to thwart our hero’s progress towards his goal. While probably not intended, under the shadow of Brexit inevitably analogies will be drawn. In that respect, it’s true that all historical films reflect contemporary issues to some extent. The British officer class come across as even more of an obstacle, obtuse and emotionless. A pompous and self-important staff officer passes through for no apparent reason except to suggest that such men were, as is generally believed, commonplace in the army, not merely poets’ and authors’ bogeymen. In fact, it is a general who orders his runner on a mission to halt a doomed attack; an unusually sympathetic portrayal of a senior commander awake to military futility and one which reflects recent, more positive historical assessments of British senior command in the war. Instead it is a gung-ho, stiff-backed colonel who offers the caricature of a leader out of touch with military reality, disrespectful of the chain of command and believing his men’s lives expendable if by attacking he can force a way out of the deadlock. His attack, of course, involves a mass of men with rifles and bayonets thrown into enemy artillery fire. Although methods and outcomes changed rapidly yearon-year as armies adapted to the industrial battlefield, just as in Warhorse a First World War attack has become an archetype. One would expect better of the British army emerging from

the battle school of the Somme in early 1917, but some stereotypes die hard. No supporting barrage; no small-group rushing tactics, as were practiced by early 1917, which would lead to considerable early success a few days later when the battle of Arras was launched.

“WAR FILMS ARE NO LONGER HISTORICAL EPICS. THEY HAVE BECOME PERSONAL STORIES, SET AGAINST HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDS, HUMAN DRAMAS RATHER THAN HISTORY LESSONS” The real issue with 1917 is that the war is only a backdrop, the scenery for fast-paced, brutal and thrilling action – Jason Bourne with more mud. Like the Western, the war film has become generic, and this modern genre of war films owes much to the videogame. Black Hawk Down (2001), Dunkirk (2017) and now 1917 mirror the first-person shooter games of 21st century digital culture. Cinematography techniques allow film-goers to follow individuals as they go into war, a visceral and emotional experience; bullets, bayonets and blood are not spared. Computer-enhanced graphics create

epic battle spaces in which the protagonists can pursue their goals. The MacGuffin in these films remains simple – in Dunkirk, to get off the beach alive; in 1917, to deliver a message to save lives. That the latter is supposedly based on a true story gives the narrative legitimacy, but does not alter the essential action-adventure, edge-of-theseat thrill ride of the movie. War films are no longer historical epics. They have become personal stories, set against historical backgrounds, human dramas rather than history lessons. Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) changed the genre: a visceral real-time depiction of the chaotic landing on Omaha beach juxtaposed with a human-interest search and rescue operation on the Normandy battlefield. Audiences engage best with individuals’ trials and triumphs in the testing environment of the battlefield: this brings in the crowds and makes war films commercially successful. Filmgoers do not come for history lessons, and therefore plots are contrived, tropes represented, liberties taken. What the battlefield of the Great War was like by 1917 comes across, but why it was like this, we have to surmise. It seems unnecessary to present the war’s bigger picture, because the history is familiar, although inevitably dated compared with current historical understanding of the First World War battlefield. Cinema-goers come to have their senses stimulated, their emotions touched and in this 1917 does not disappoint. A flawless historical structure is not needed for a stimulating and visually stunning adventure story.