Today marks the 83rd anniversary of the famous 'Dambusters' raid (Operation 'Chastise') by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command against the great dams of the Ruhr: the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe. Executed on the night of 16/17 May 1943, the raid was led by the legendary Wing Commander Guy Gibson.
Flying at 60ft and less, 19 Lancaster bombers, divided up into three formations, and each carrying one specially designed "Upkeep" bouncing bomb, attacked the dams. After several attempts, both the Mohne and Eder were breached, but the earthern Sorpe, the most important target, remained intact.
Of the 133 crewmen who carried out the raid, 53 were killed and 3 made prisoner. While a great feat of arms, historians have questioned the raid's strategic impact on the German war machine. However, Albert Speer, German Armaments Minister, later wrote that by '...employing a few bombers, the British came close to a success which would have been greater than anything they had achieved hitherto with a commitment of thousands of bombers'.
One of the leading figures in 617 Squadron was Squadron Leader Henry Melvin 'Dinghy' Young DFC & Bar RAFVR. An alumnus of Trinity College, Oxford, where he won a Rowing Blue as part of the winning crew of the 1938 University Boat Race, and qualified as a pilot in the University Air Squadron, Young joined the RAFVR in 1938. Having first flown with 102, 104 and 57 Squadrons as a bomber pilot, Young, whose nickname 'Dinghy' came from his having twice ditched his aircraft in the sea and taken to dinghies, was selected to join 617 Squadron.
Having carried out a lot of the administration for the raid, Young flew, on the night of 16/17 May, Avro Lancaster ED877/G AJ-A, codename 'A-Apple'. He and his crew flew in the first wave against the Mohne dam. Second-in-Command to Gibson, Young was the fourth pilot to attack the dam, causing a small breach, later widened by a fifth strike. Sadly, on his return to base Young's Lancaster was shot-down by flak over Castricum-aan-Zee, Holland. His body and those of his crew were later washed ashore and buried at Bergen General Cemetery. He was killed just three days before his 28th birthday.
#germany #otd #raf #war #bomber
Looking for family members in Wellington cemetery, Somserset, my son stumbled upon the grave of 25B/1178 Private Thomas Daw(e), B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot, a veteran of the epic defence of Rorke's Drift.
On 22-23 January 1879, Daw and 139 other men - mostly from B Coy, 2nd Battalion - who were defending the mission station at Rorke's Drift, Natal, fought a 12 hour pitched battle - mostly at night - against 4,000 Zulu warriors. For this action, 11 Victoria Crosses, and one Distinguished Conduct Medal, were awarded.
Thomas Daw was born in Merriott, near Crewkerne, Somerset, in 1858. His Service papers describe him as 5 foot, 4.5 inches tall, with a florid complexion, grey eyes, and brown hair. He enlisted with the 24th Foot at Brecon on 10 February 1877, and was discharged from the Army - with a clean Service record - on 5 February 1889.
Sadly, he died on 26 May 1924 and was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. It was only in April 2010 that Daw was finally given a headstone and a proper grave by Zulu War enthusiasts and Royal Marines Corporal Bugler Tim Needham. A rededication ceremony took place on 18 April 2010, and was attended by descendants of other Rorke's Drift veterans.
This act of kindness and remembrance is a wonderful tribute to a remarkable Somerset man.
#zulu #1879 #grave #uk #soldier
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Today marks the 108th anniversary of the amphibious raid on Zeebrugge by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines.
Launched on 23 April 1918, the raid was designed to block the strategically important Belgian port by sinking block ships in the canal entrance. The Germans operated U-Boats from the port which threatened supply lines and lines of communication for Britain and the Western Front.
As a diversion to the sinking of the block ships, the old cruiser HMS Vindictive, accompanied by two Mersey ferries, Iris II and Daffodil, landed a force of 200 sailors and a battalion (the 4th) from the Royal Marines onto the mile-long Zeebrugge mole. Alerted German forces inflicted heavy casualties on this raiding force.
Unfortunately, the attempt to sink three old cruisers, HMSs Intrepid, Iphigenia and Thetis, at the mouth of the canal, failed. Of the 1700 men involved in the operation, 227 were killed and 356 wounded.
Eight Victoria Crosses were awarded to Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel for this amphibious raid.
The Raid on Zeebrugge - 23 April 1918 is a Corps Memorable Date.
#1918 #royalmarines #belgium #ships #otd
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I recently visited Shotley Gate, Suffolk, former home of HMS Ganges, the renowned Royal Navy Training Establishment. Established in 1905 to convert young teenagers into sailors, Ganges gained a reputation as a very tough, first-class manufacturer of Royal Naval personnel. Ganges was so highly regarded, that Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty, commander of the British Battle Cruiser Fleet at the Battle of Jutland (31 May -1 June 1916), would only have ex Ganges boys manning his ships.
My own great-grandfather, Torpedo Gunner's Mate Leonard Bennett, who was to serve aboard HMS Contest during the Jutland action, was himself a Ganges boy. While under training, he had the distinction of being 'Button Boy': a specially selected trainee who, during the 'Manning the Mast' ceremony, climbed to the very apex of the 142 feet ceremonial mast, and then stood upon the 18 inch wide 'Button'. A very dangerous task, the 'Button Boy' duly received a ceremonial 'Crown Coin' for his efforts.
Regrettably, HMS Ganges was officially closed by the MoD on 6 June 1976, but thankfully the Grade II listed mast remains. However, as can be seen, developers have smashed-up the old parade ground and left the iconic mast surrounded by detritus - a very reprehensible state-of-affairs. Perhaps the 50th anniversary of HMS Ganges' closure might herald a new era for the mast and its immediate surroundings...
#ship #1976 #royalnavy #training #suffolk
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In light of recent clarion calls by the UK Ministry of Defence, retired senior military officers, and tame commentators to ‘prepare for war’, the news that The Parachute Regiment’s airborne capability is to be ‘narrowed in scope’ is breathtaking in its stupidity.
Fast proving to be strategically and now militarily illiterate, the recent Strategic Defence Review (SDR), has dictated that ‘airborne parachute capability and capacity should remain focused on specialists and a single battalion group’.
This myopic and dangerously misguided decision is symptomatic of a continuing trend within the MoD to stealthily salami-slice the UK’s foremost ‘shock troop’ formations. Not only has the Royal Marines’ amphibious capability been hollowed-out to the point of extinction, it is now the turn of The Parachute Regiment to begin to lose its specialist capabilities.
Despite the fact the Paras have not conducted a mass operational jump since the Suez crisis of 1956, it is utterly wrong-headed to believe that this capability might not be required in any future conflict. It is, as has been pointed out, a ‘strategic insurance policy’. Like another key theatre-entry option, amphibiosity, once ‘a broad-based airborne culture and skillset is lost, it is difficult and expensive to regenerate’.
It is hard not to conclude, therefore, that there is now a concerted effort within UK Defence to consciously or unconsciously undermine the physical, conceptual and moral components of the Royal Marines’ and The Parachute Regiment’s ‘fighting power’. If the viability of these Very High Readiness (VHR) formations continues to be eroded, then these cuts and reconfigurations will not survive first contact with the enemy.
Overall, the UK does not need Russia, China, Iran or North Korea to compromise its future security and military capabilities – the MoD and its cheerleaders are currently doing an excellent job in this respect.
#defence #para #1956 #elite #royalmarines
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I recently visited the Church of St Andrew & Mary, Pitminster, Somerset. Measuring less than a tenth of an acre, the churchyard contained a very high number of graves belonging to wartime dead and those who had served in the Armed Forces.
What was striking was the sheer number of awards and decorations bestowed upon the interred: one Companion of the British Empire (CBE); two Orders of the British Empire (OBEs); five Distinguished Service Orders (DSOs); six Military Crosses (MCs) – Lieutenant-Colonel Stanley William Harvey won the decoration on three occasions! One Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC); and two Mentioned-in-Dispatches (MiD). In light of this discovery, could this be the most ‘decorated’ village churchyard in the UK?
Notable graves belong to Commander K.C. Helyar RN DSO, who commanded the destroyer HMS ‘North Star’, sunk by German coastal batteries while escorting the assault ship HMS 'Vindictive' during the Zeebrugge raid of 23 April 1918. And Colonel John Waddy OBE.
A pre-war member of the Somerset Light Infantry, Waddy later joined The Parachute Regiment, seeing action during the Italian campaign of 1943.
As an officer in the 156th Battalion, 4th Parachute Brigade, 1st Airborne Division, Waddy participated in Operation ‘Market Garden’ (Arnhem), where he was wounded three times and taken prisoner.
Post-war, Waddy fought in Palestine (shot and wounded yet again) and Malaya. He would go on to be Colonel SAS and military advisor on the film epic, ‘A Bridge Too Far’. He died in Taunton in September 2020 aged 100.
#ww1 #arnhem #church #taunton #ww2
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Today marks the 109th anniversary of the ending of the bloody Battle of Verdun on 18 December 1916.
Commencing on 21 February 1916, the battle was designed by the German Chief of the General Staff, General Erich von Falkenhayn, to 'bleed France white'. This was to be achieved through siege warfare and the massive use of artillery. For the Germans, Verdun was to act as a vast suction-pump on French manpower, sucking in reserves from elsewhere on the Western Front.
Ironically, due to the determination of the French to fight to the last man to defend this strategically and symbolically important town, the Germans themselves were drawn into a meat-grinder of attritional warfare, losing nearly as many men as the French. Consequently, Verdun was a strategic failure for the Germans.
Total French casualties amounted to 377,231; whereas German casualties exceeded 330,000.
Anyone interested in learning more about Verdun should read the late Sir Alistair Horne's seminal work, 'The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916'. It is a tour de force.
#1916 #ww1 #verdun
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In the ‘Independent’ newspaper today an article on ‘the forgotten winter war’ between the Finns and Russians. As usual, a mainstream journalist ‘invents the wheel’ by inferring that an historical episode is unknown and therefore 'news'.
/arts-entertainment/books/winter-warriors-russia-finland-ukraine-b2872990.html
I first lectured 40 Commando Royal Marines about the importance of the Russo-Finnish war of November 1939 to March 1940 seven years ago in Norway. I also presented on this subject to 45 Commando Group several times.
In light of the ‘high north’s’ growing importance to British interests; and the potential threat of a Russian attack on the ‘northern flank’, it is highly recommended that 3 Commando Brigade and other UK forces, who might be called to fight in the arctic, study this salient case-study.
As the only war, to date, to be fought entirely in winter/arctic conditions, it contains many lessons for those planning to defend this key area: the manoeuvrist approach; hit-and-run/guerilla tactics; the countering of armoured columns; the importance of doctrine; trading space for time; delaying actions; horizontal escalation; geostrategic comprehension; arctic survival; flanking attacks; mission command; fighting a war of national survival; and qualitative superiority over mass.
Consequently, 'If you want to learn something new, read an old book'...
#norway #arctic #war
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