Interesting facts of military history

British Prime Minister Lloyd George revealed to his biographer that had the war continued into 1919, he would have replaced General Douglas Haig with Arthur Currie, with Australian general John Monash as Currie's chief of staff.

On November 10 1918, in what was to be his most controversial decision, Currie, under orders to continue to advance, ordered elements of the Corps to liberate Mons, although there were rumours that an Armistice would be signed the next day. On the morning of November 11, as Currie received orders that confirmed there would be a general armistice at 11:00:00 a.m., the capture of Mons was completed. At 10:58 a.m., George Lawrence Price was killed by sniper fire, the last Canadian, and possibly the last Allied soldier, to die in the Great War. Two minutes later, the war ended. The liberation of Mons on November 10-11 cost the Corps 280 casualties, although Price was the only Canadian to be killed on November 11.

Arthur Currie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

A document on Zeppelin and Gotha attacks to London in WW1

Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Mathy achieved a rare accolade during the Great War; he was one of very few Germans whose names were household words in Britain. During the "Zeppelin Scourge" of 1915 and 1916, Mathy was known and feared as the most daring and audacious of all the Zeppelin raiders.

Mathy and his crew "joined the rest" when L31 attacked London for the last time on the night of 1st/2nd October, 1916, to be shot down in flames by 2/Lieut. W. J. Tempest. The ship fell just oustide Potters Bar, to the North of London. Mathy's body was found some way from the wreckage of the ship, half-embedded in the corner of a field. Obviously, his last act had been to leap clear of the falling inferno rather than wait for the crash. According to some accounts, he lived for a few minutes after striking the earth.

The picture is from where Mathy fell, as you can guess....

 

Earl Hancock "Pete" Ellis

Earl Hancock "Pete" Ellis (1880 - 1923) - Find A Grave Memorial

US Marine Officer. He advocated changing the Marine mission from small groups guarding bases and ships to amphibious battalions deployed as the vanguard of offensive operations. In 1921 Ellis traveled to the South Pacific in the guise of a businessman to study the Japanese Navy, and died two years later under mysterious circumstances in the Caroline Islands. Chronic alcoholism has often been cited as the cause of his death. His remains were eventually disinterred, cremated and returned to the US. Ellis foresaw Japan's World War II ocean-based plans to dominate the Pacific, including aircraft carriers and amphibious landings, and developed a counter-strategy. His thoughts on tactics and strategy are still studied today. He changed the focus of the Marines, most notably as the author of "A Tentative Manual for Landing Operations", which is still recognized as the authoritative work on amphibious warfare.

 

Scapa Flow and WW1

John Rushworth JellicoeJohn Jellicoe, admiral of the Grand Fleet, was constantly nervous about potential submarine or destroyer attacks on Scapa Flow, and the base was reinforced with minefields, artillery, and concrete barriers starting in 1914. These fears were borne out when U-boats twice attacked British ships in Scapa Flow, though the attacks themselves did no damage. The first, by U-18, took place in November 1914; but the sub was rammed by a trawler searching for submarines while it was trying to enter Scapa Flow, causing the submarine to flee and then sink. The second attack, by UB-116, in October 1918, encountered the sophisticated defenses then in place at Scapa Flow, was detected by hydrophones and then destroyed by shore-triggered mines before it could enter the anchorage.

Scapa Flow: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

 

Gillette and WW1

"World War I, proved to be a boon for the Gillette Safety Razor Company." By the end of 1917, all recruits were given Gillette shaving equipment, along with their uniforms and weapons. In an article on the Fortune magazine website, Christine Chen and Tim Carvell added "During World War I, Gillette supplied 3.5 million razors and 36 million blades to U.S. soldiers, creating a base of customers who kept coming back for refills long after the Treaty of Versailles." Gillette was a wealthy man and the company prospered.

King Camp Gillette: Biography from Answers.com

 

Iron Cross

One day during the Franco-Prussian War (in 1870) a German prince complained to Otto von Bismarck that the Iron Cross was too often awarded to the undeserving.

This was unavoidable, Bismarck replied, explaining that many soldiers were decorated for reasons of protocol or politics. "After all, Your Highness," he added, "you and I have it too."

http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=14430

 

Of 43,390 motor vehicles accepted by the Italian Army in the WW1, 37,019 were Fiats. When the war ended, Fiat got substantial indemnities as a result of canceled contracts.

From "Iron Arm" by John Sweet

 

On New Year's Day, in 1915, the British battleship Formidable was hit by a U-boat's torpedo and lost more than 500 men - who were retrieved from the English Channel and stacked on the floor of a nearby pub in Lyme Regis, England.

The pub's half-collie, when she was called away, refused to leave the bodies and began to lick the face of one of the victims, Able Seaman John Cowan. Nuzzling his head and body, she stayed with him for more than 30 minutes, whereupon he showed signs of life.

Cowan was rushed to a hospital and eventually made a full recovery. The story was broadcast around the world...

The dog's name? Lassie, of course - the inspiration for Eric Knight's 1938 story of a poor Yorkshire family forced to sell its beloved and heroic sheep dog .

Anecdotage.Com - Thousands of true funny stories about famous people. Anecdotes from Gates to Yeats

Lyme Maze Game

 

Sir Harold Delf Gillies (17 June 1882 - 10 September 1960) was a New Zealand-born, and later London based, otolaryngologist who is widely considered as the father of plastic surgery.

Harold Gillies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walter_Yeo_skin_graft.jpg

The Queen's Hospital opened in June 1917 and with its convalescent units provided over 1,000 beds. There Gillies and his colleagues developed many techniques of plastic surgery; more than 11,000 operations were performed on over 5,000 men (mostly soldiers with facial injuries, usually from gunshot wounds). The hospital, later to become Queen Mary's Hospital, was at Frognal House (the birthplace and property of Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney after whom Sydney, Australia was named).

For his war services Gillies was knighted in the Birthday Honours list of June 1930. William Arbuthnot-Lane commented, "Better late than never".

 

During Napoleon's Invasion of Russia in 1812 Barclay assumed the supreme command of the 1st Army of the West, the largest of the Russian armies facing Napoleon. He proposed the now famous scorched earth tactic of drawing the enemy deep into one's own territory and retreated to the village of Tsaryovo-Zaimishche between Moscow and Smolensk.

Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Franks and Fransisca axe

Francisca Axe Head Francesca AngloSaxon SCA LARP Franks by Whitehartforge on Etsy

The Roman historian Procopius (c. 500 - 565) described the Franks and their use of throwing axes:

"...each man carried a sword and shield and an axe. Now the iron head of this weapon was thick and exceedingly sharp on both sides while the wooden handle was very short. And they are accustomed always to throw these axes at one signal in the first charge and thus shatter the shields of the enemy and kill the men."

Procopius makes it clear that the Franks threw their axes immediately before hand to hand combat with the purpose of breaking shields and disrupting the enemy line while possibly wounding or killing an enemy warrior. The weight of the head and length of the haft would allow the axe to be thrown with considerable momentum to an effective range of about 12 m (40 ft). Even if the edge of the blade were not to strike the target the weight of the iron head could cause injury in any event.

Another feature of the francisca was the tendency to bounce unpredictably upon hitting the ground due to its weight, unique shape, lack of balance and slight curvature of the haft, making it difficult for defenders to block. It could rebound up at the legs of opponents or against shields and through the ranks. The Franks capitalized on this by throwing the franciscas in a volley in order to confuse, intimidate and disorganize the enemy lines either before or during a charge to initiate close combat.

 

British Marine

While serving in the British merchant marine during World War I, Herbert Marshall was once engaged in an operation requiring all hands to wear life jackets almost continuously.
"They got terribly soiled and foul-smelling," he later recalled, "and after a while you detested them. Coming to port, finally, at the conclusion of my tour of duty, I threw mine overboard. And watched it sink."

Anecdotage.Com - Thousands of true funny stories about famous people. Anecdotes from Gates to Yeats

 

Friedrich Christiansen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Friedrich Christiansen (12 December 1879 – 3 December 1972) was a World War I German seaplane ace who claimed shooting down twenty planes and an airship; thirteen of those victories were confirmed. During World War II, he was the commander of the German Wehrmacht in the Netherlands.

He was also awarded the Pour le Mérite ("Blue Max"), the first of only three given to naval aviators and the only one to a seaplane pilot.

 

From Mustang aces ....

Mustang aces of the Ninth ... - Google-kirjat

" The USAAF was more liberal in integrating oriental and native American pilots than it was in accepting Black. Thus, Lt Wah Kau Kong flew "Chinaman´s Chance" with the 354th, and Lt Hiawatha Mohawk was a scoring pilot with the 325th, flying the "Blonde Squaw". Ohr, with six kills ( five in P-51s ), was probably the only Korean ace in the USAAF ( Capt Freddie F Ohr )."

 

How Bismarck helped the King start war...

"As Prussian chancellor, Bismarck's main task was to resolve the conflict on the issue of military reform, which had been announced by Wilhelm I in 1861. The reform, intended to expand and strengthen the Prussian army, had led to a bitter conflict between crown and parliament. From 1862 until 1866, the liberal faction within the parliament's Chamber of Deputies, which consisted of representatives from the middle class, voted against budget appropriations required for the military reform. In order to break parliamentary opposition and reaffirm monarchical authority, Bismarck asserted his famous Lückentheorie (gap theory), which maintained that in cases of conflict between crown and parliament the will of the former must prevail. During the parliamentary struggle of the 1862-66 period, the Lückentheorie enabled the king to expend tax monies on the military without the approval of parliament. The enlarged Prussian army then made it possible for Bismarck to initiate a policy of militarism that was to establish Hohenzollern hegemony within a German nation-state. "

http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-5039.html

 

uboat.net - Naval Warfare Books - Review of K Boat Catastrophe by N.S. Nash

K Boat Catastrophe
EIGHT SHIPS AND FIVE COLLISIONS: The full story of the 'Battle' of the Isle of May
N.S. Nash

This fascinating book covers the much hated British K boats of WWI and the incredible series of collisions that took place on 31 Jan 1918. The British fleet was assembling at Scapa Flow for a major exercise called EC1 – and a large part of the fleet sailed from Rosinth on the west coast of Scotland. Sailing east out the Firth of Forth north of the Isle of May 5 collisions involving 8 ships took place within 75 minutes. 104 officers and men lost their lives in this series of avoidable mishaps. The “Battle of the Isle of May” was suppressed by British Author and was only declassified in 1994 when all the principals involved were deceased.

 

James McCudden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

McCudden was one of the first truly 'professional' airmen, who applied a scientific approach to air combat. McCudden took great pains over his guns, aircraft, and tactics, dismissing choices of last resort such crashing your plane into the enemy just to get a kill.

Using his knowledge as a mechanic, he effectively supercharged his aircraft to give it an additional 4000ft altitude ceiling. This resulted in him specialising in carefully stalking high altitude reconnaissance aircraft, leading to an unsurpassed total of captured enemy aircraft kills (21 fell within Allied lines). Some of these stalking techniques are described in McCudden's autobiography, entitled "Flying Fury - Five Years In the RFC".

.....

McCudden wished to return to the front, but because he was now a high-profile celebrity the Air Ministry was not keen. McCudden eventually won this discussion, but was reportedly turned down for command of No. 85 Squadron RAF because of his lack of a public school education for service.

However a pilot of 85 Squadron at the time, Lt. John M Grider, wrote in his diary (which was published as '"Warbirds"; Diary of an Unknown Aviator' (ISBN 1-58544-087-6) after the war);

"The General came over and had tea with us and asked who we wanted as CO. He wanted to send us McCudden but we don't want him. He gets the Hun's by himself but he doesn't give anybody else a chance at them...We asked for Mickey Mannock who is a flight commander in 74 Squadron."

 

Gentleman Spy: The Life of Allen Dulles. - book reviews | Washington Monthly | Find Articles at BNET

When the United States entered the Great War, the embassy staff decamped for Switzerland. In Bern on Easter Sunday 1917, the 24-year-old Dulles committed one of history's more embarrassing intelligence blunders. Passing through his office en route to a tennis match, he was asked to take a telephone call from a disreputable-sounding Russian emigre. The czar had abdicated and Russia was going revolutionary with possibly interesting consequences for the future, but Dulles at that moment was less interested in the game of nations than in his game of tennis. No, Dulles said, the United States has no time to meet with you and your gang of rabble today. Tomorrow, perhaps. Pity, said the voice, tomorrow will be too late.

Dulles told the story 40 years later to classes of newly minted C.I.A. officers: the tale of how, Grose writes, "the future director of the Central Intelligence Agency, strategist of the Cold War, muffed the chance to meet Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. That Monday, Lenin and his motley band left Switzerland on a sealed train for Russia, for the Finland Station. Everyone loved the story, Allen above all."

 

German pocket battleship Deutschland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

During the Spanish Civil War, Deutschland was deployed to the Spanish coast in support of Franco's Nationalists in a total of seven operations between 1936 and 1939. During one of these deployments, on May 29, 1937, Deutschland was attacked by two Fuerza Aérea de la República Española (FARE) Republican bombers, and as a result 31 German sailors were killed and 101 were wounded. In retaliation, Deutschland's sister ship Admiral Scheer bombarded Almería, killing 19 civilians and destroying 35 buildings.The dead German sailors were first taken to Gibraltar and buried there, but the bodies were exhumed on Hitler's orders and accompanied Deutschland back to Germany for a large military funeral with Hitler attending.