Stuart Stripping

There has been a great deal written about Stuart tanks, and all their marks. But there seem to be some semi-official modifications that fail to get mentioned. While this is not intended to be full account it is more a "Look at the cool stuff I found".

A Stuart using a knocked out Panzer III as cover in North Africa

The Stuart found its fame in the North African desert, so it seems sensible to start there. The first modification is the artillery observation post Stuart. When these first appeared I have no idea, however by 5th March 1944 there were about fifty M3A1 in service with Royal Artillery units around the Mediterranean. One RA unit was reported to be fully equipped with M3A3 versions, although no details are given as to which one. This was noted as any further replacements would be of the M3A3 type. A pilot version of the M3A3 OP was produced in Algiers around the March date mentioned earlier. The turret guns were removed, as was the turret basket and power traverse. The turret remained, but was locked in place, with additional radios being fitted, along with two cable drums on the outside and a direct voice telephone. This was done to bring the Stuart OP in line with the Sherman OP. The documents I saw never stated if this version, with the removed gun, entered service. However, I've yet to find a picture of one.

The official reconnaissance modification of a Stuart, the T8.

The other Stuart conversion is the most famous of them, the version with the turret removed. Now, we can break these turretless Stuarts into two distinct categories, the factory and the field produced ones. Of the factory ones, again there were two versions, the high-speed gun tractors, which were missing most of their roof plate over the fighting compartment, these have a large square opening on top. Then you have the official version of the reconnaissance Stuart, I believe this was called a T8, and had a machine gun ring mounted over the opening for the turret.

And the field conversion of the Stuart. They often appear under assorted names depending on the regiment that made the conversion, one of the quaintest I've heard is "Jalopy", which was a slang term used to describe an old car.

The field version of the turretless recce vehicle was done simply by lifting the turret off and strapping some machine gun mounts to the roof. It’s surprising, and somewhat irritating, that so many people call these "Stuart Kangaroo's". This is simply incorrect, as Kangaroo only became used because of Workshop Kangaroo in Normandy which set about modifying the Priests into APC's. The turretless vehicles seem to have first appeared in 1942/43, so predate the workshop. Another irritant is that the high-speed tractors often get lumped in with the recce versions.

In September 1944 the British forces in the Mediterranean received a M5A1 Stuart (Stuart VI in British terminology), on loan from US forces, to see if it would be suitable for mass issue. They proceeded to run it on a 2,500 mile trial run after modifying it to the British standard. Obviously, they felt that returning the Stuart half worn out was not sporting or particularly neighbourly. Luckily, they were able to source some twenty-three Stuart VI that had been converted to British recce versions. Thus, one of these vehicles was returned to the workshop to be reconverted back to a US standard, and then returned in place of the one that was worn out. A list of modifications required to convert it back was included, and this gives us a good idea of what was needed to convert between British and US standards. The modifications required are:

The final series of modifications I want to mention comes from the India/Burma theatre. Allied troops were having trouble with Japanese bunkers in difficult terrain. Normal tanks, when able to bring their guns to bear were not particularly effective. It was decided to investigate modifying Stuart tanks for the role of bunker busting. The first idea was to mount a depth charge thrower in place of the main gun. Spare depth charges could be mounted on the engine deck however this idea did not go anywhere.

Next there was an idea to mount rockets on the side of the Stuart’s turret, a bit like the Sherman Tulip. There would be two rails either side of the turret for a total of four. The backs of these rails would be on pivot points, and the entire lot could be raised up and down as required.

The sketch showing how the rockets would be arranged, and even protected.

Like the depth charge thrower this plan never amounted to anything, but the need did remain, and possibly led to the Australian Matilda Hedgehog.


Thank you for reading. If you like what I do, and think it is worthy of a tiny donation, you can do so via Paypal (historylisty-general@yahoo.co.uk) or through Patreon. For which I can only offer my thanks. Or alternatively you can buy one of my books.

Image credits:
www.militaryimages.net and tanks-encyclopedia.com

The Biggest and Best?

The first half of the 1950's were a very interesting time for the British tank designer. They had been given an enemy armour target of 6in @60 degrees to beat. This was based on a British assessment of exactly how much penetration was required to knock out the most protected Soviet target in their arsenal (the IS-3) and cover any future stretch potential in the face of improving armour thicknesses. To achieve this, they scaled the idea up to the biggest direct fire gun they could, and designed a vehicle around it, basing the tank on the FV200 chassis. This resulted in the FV215 and its whopping 183mm L4 gun.

However, the Australian's, with assistance from the British were working on the Malkara guided anti-tank missile. This too featured a colossal HESH warhead and was capable of splattering an IS-3 across the landscape as well. Several new vehicles were designed to launch these missiles, and one was based upon the Centurion, and became the FV4010. Both vehicles filled the role of heavy tank destroyer, but with money limited, which one should the British Army buy? Major R. S. Beresford of the 13/18 Royal Hussars was asked to compare these two totally different vehicles to find out which was better.

Malkara on its launching arm.

The first thing Maj Beresford looked at was offensive capabilities. In some respects his role was made easier by the fact that any vehicle hit by either of these monstrous projectiles was just going to be outright obliterated. This meant he had no need to calculate chance of penetration, and chance of lethal behind armour effect. He assessed the chance that a hit would be a good solid hit as 78% for both, then added in a 5% chance that the Malkara would somehow be unreliable. Then came the big one, the chance of a hit.  Below 500 yards the Malkara had no chance of scoring a hit, due to the missile needing to be gathered up and brought under guidance of the operator. In comparison out to 100 yards the FV215 had a massive 98% chance of hitting the target.
From 500 to 2,000 yards, and over the Malkara had an 85% chance of a hit, while the FV215 started dropping off, reaching 59% at 2,000 yards. Adding it all together you get the following:

Next vulnerability to enemy return fire was assessed. Instantly the FV4010 has an advantage, it can be fired from a turret-down position, while the FV215 has to fire from a hull-down position. Equally with a dismounted remote controller some 200 yards away from the FV4010 the tank is further back from its firing point. However, due to armour levels if the tank is hit then the FV215 has a much better chance of survival. Another factor to take into account was the smaller size of the FV4010. In summary the FV4010 was more survivable from a static firing position, but when moving the FV215 was more survivable at close range. At longer range the chance of a miss was increased enough that the chance of being hit and killed balanced out the increased armour, but bigger size of the FV215.

Model of the test rig built to trial the FV4010 fighting arangements. Imagine the tracks and engine from a centurion sticking out the front. You can see how it would be hull down when firing.

Then cost was assessed. One would assume things would go badly for the FV4010 as it is firing expensive missiles. However, the assessment included the total running costs, this included fuel, and component life, such as wear and tear on tracks. All of the latter costs are significantly higher on heavier vehicles. Equally, the FV4010 did not have the expensive components to create a turret, such as junction boxes, turret rings and the like. The FV4010 also had one less crew than the FV215, although this was judged to be a false economy, as the support requirements for missiles would be higher. These included such things as electrical testing and checking of the missiles before being sent to launcher vehicles.

The report does give us a estimated cost of the FV4010 as £37,000, however, it fails to supply an estimated cost for the FV215 but does say that you can purchase between 1.2 to 1.6 FV4010's for the same money as a FV215. This gives us an estimated cost for the FV215 of between £44,400 to £59,200. In comparison a Centurion costs £35,000. All figures are 1953 prices, have a 25% of their cost for spares and are fully loaded with ammunition.

The FV4010 test trailer in action.

At first glance it seems that the FV215 is a far better buy, being more lethal and better survivability. However, that neglects to consider the role of the vehicle. The role is long range destruction of targets. At closer ranges, say under 500 yards, the critical distance for the FV4010, normal tank guns such as the 20-pounder would be successful against tank targets. In addition, the FV4010 would almost certainly be fighting from prepared positions, and thus be all but immune to enemy fire. With a cheaper vehicle, that performs better in its designed role, it seems an obvious choice which to select.

This concept would continue to be refined, with one of the first things to be dropped was the heavy armour and vehicle chassis, and suddenly you see something like the light ATGM carriers that feature in most armies.

Would you like to know more about the FV4010, the FV215 and the Malkara, and how they were developed, and projects that followed on? Well I have my new book out, the Dark Age of Tanks. It has a look at British armoured warfare in between about 1945-1975. 

It contains all the weird projects and designs I could find in the archives, and how they got boiled down to the tanks we saw in service. Of particular note was to my mind the British starting work on hover armoured vehicles!

Image credits:
 www.tanks-encyclopedia.com

Ever Topical

Last week I made a post on my Facebook page joking about what to write about for this week's article, subjects included bioweapons, The Spanish Flu or maybe rationing. Surprisingly, this met with a good reception, so here's the article you lot asked for! I also take requests.

In 1914 when the First World War broke out there was an immediate reaction in the shops of Britain. Some items simply disappeared, such as beet sugar as the main source for this was Austria, although cane sugar could still be obtained from South America, as it always had been. Indeed, around two thirds of the UK's food came from overseas. As well as some products disappearing, prices generally began to climb, this led to a series of riots aimed at small shops, whom it was felt were engaging in profiteering. Some examples come from newspapers, all are from August 1914. A crowd gathering outside of a shop on Cradley Heath, and then smashing several windows with stones. Police attended, but the crowd would not disperse. In Quarry Bank a mob of between 2,000 and 4,000 people formed. Stones were thrown at a store, the windows smashed, and the shop looted. At Dudley Port a similar event occurred, aimed at a bakers. The ovens were damaged, and flour was spread across the store. The owner of this shop later gave a statement that he had been forced to raise prices because his supplies had done so.

A queue for food in wartime Britain, this particular one is in Blackburn.

The government resisted controls on prices for the most part, although they did eventually relent on imported substances such as sugars, grains and meats. It's interesting to see that the Canadians had a little scandal over the price of meat, which caught up Sir Joseph Wesley Flavelle, who was doing good work organising supply of munitions from Canada. He also owned a large butchering chain which produced a huge collection of meats. As such a new word was coined as an insult on profiteers by the Canadians, that word was "Baconeer".

Sir Flavelle, who may have been unjustly accused of profiteering

Back in the UK food hoarding was underway. Doing so was against the rules of polite society. There was a certain amount of satisfaction when one woman in a village near Bristol who boasted that she had sacks of flour hoarded and refused to share. She stored the flour in a bathtub, and was rather put out when it got infested with maggots.

In 1917 the Germans launched unrestricted U-boat warfare against the British. They instantly hit upon success over the summer months sinking some 46,000 tons of meat, and an impressive 85,000 tons of sugar. With these losses the UK government had to report that they barely had enough food for six weeks left. Thus, rationing was introduced early in 1918. This appeared to catch one hoarder living in Kent by surprise. Mrs Jessie Klaber was tried for fourteen counts of food hoarding, as she had nearly 1 tonne of food in her house! She was found guilty on nine of the charges and was fined £10 per charge. In today's money that's about £5,500.

Other measures introduced was the introduction of the Women's Land Army to improve agricultural productivity.

A British journalist, William Cobbett (1763-1835) is often quoted as saying "I defy you to agitate any fellow with a full stomach." If Britain was feeling a bit peckish during the war, then the Axis powers were literally starving. The Germans begun to issue foods that were only technically food. Much to my surprise I found that the Imperial War Museum has a slice of German black bread, of a type called 'K-Brot' in its collection. This bread was issued in 1918 to a British POW and returned with him to the UK. It then remained as a family heirloom until it was gifted to the IWM. This chunk of 'bread' (I use the term loosely) still appears in roughly (it has apparently broken into three parts) the same condition that it was issued in, and it's only 102 years old at this point.

Mmmmm Tasty... Itchy

With the Germans starving, their spring offensive failed, and with the Allies laying into them with great gusto it is no wonder they surrendered. 

Aftermath of a food riot in Germany in 1919. This butchers shop has been looted, and there are now a few Freikorps on hand to prevent further instances. The reason for the looting in 1919 was the allied Naval blockade did not end until the treaty of Versailles was ratified and signed in June of that year, as up until then it was just a cease fire.

 Now, onto the current situation with COVID-19 that is flying around the world. First a quick update from myself, as that impacts on what I'll say about your situation in a moment.

My work has sent me home due to me being an asthmatic. Apart from a bit of boredom I'm fine. I am hoping, I have been told this banishment from work will be reviewed next week so I can get back to my job. Especially as I work for the local government, and we're likely to get retasked to social cohesion and support tasks. Even if this doesn't happen, I've got a work laptop and phone so maybe working on the above from home.

Now for my readers, I realise you're stuck at home bored out of your skulls at current. Some extra fun and games to pass the time might be needed. If I am still free (and not working) over the next few weeks I'm willing to try organising some entertainment for you. However, I have no idea what you lot would want to see, or take part in. So please, any suggestions down below and we'll see what we can do.

Hail to the King

Imagine if you will, you are in North Africa in 1942, and an anti-tank gunner. This is at a time when most of the tanks you've seen are Panzer III's or IV's, and Sherman's are the pinnacle of tank design so far. Then suddenly, clanking over the hill comes this absolute monster of a heavy tank, with over 100mm of armour, and it appears to be utterly immune to anything you can do to it. Today I'll be talking about just such a first encounter.

In late 1942 a small batch of Churchill Mk.III's (were you expecting Tigers?) were sent to North Africa. Accompanying the tanks were crews, these were inexperienced at warfare, having come direct from training units, but did have some slight experience with the tank. In Africa they met up with NCO's who were to lead them, who had more experience in combat, but none in operating the Churchill's. The six tanks were formed into a unit called Kingforce, after the commander, Major Norris King. Kingforce was also short of supplies for essential maintenance, for example the hydraulic traverse systems used a liquid called Lockheed Racing Green Fluid. The unit could only lay its hands on one gallon of the stuff, which quickly vanished in topping up the six tanks, and refilling the system of a tank that sprung a leak.

Trying to free the running gear from wire.

Kingforce was formed on the 14th of October 1942 at Cairo. Total strength was just fifty-eight personnel, six of whom were officers. On between the 18th and 20th the unit moved by road and rail to Burg El Arab, then onto El Imayid. They then followed the front line into the opening attack on the 23rd. The unit had been in existence for just nine days, two of which were used for movement to the front. Thus, one should not expect much from such a green inexperienced unit in combat. For the following four days the unit followed the battle, before entering combat for the first time on the 27th.

Three Churchill's went forward in the afternoon, to secure the flank of the 2nd Dragoon Guards. As they appeared a large number of Axis tanks and anti-tank guns began firing at long ranges against the Churchill's. One Churchill fired a shot at the irritating enemies, and its gun jammed in the recoiled position, rendering it inoperable. Thus, the tank was ordered to withdraw.

The second Churchill of the troop continued its advance and disappeared over the ridge, in the face of all the German fire. Shortly afterwards, with AP tracer from multiple anti-tank weapons skipping into the sky the tank was seen to be reversing back over the ridge. As she cleared the lip of the ridge she shuddered to a halt and the rear of the tank caught fire. Interestingly, at least on the matter of psychology, Maj King in the last tank said the Churchill was knocked out by an 88mm. He submitted that account to the war office, however, a detailed study on the tank had been carried out and had shown no such weapon involved.
The knocked-out Churchill had suffered a whopping forty six hits. Six from 75mm's and thirty-one from 50mm weapons. One of each had penetrated the armour. There was also one HE impact recorded. One 75mm had penetrated the front turret (killing the gunner and wounding the commander), one 50mm had bounced off the turret face, and penetrated the roof armour on the hull. A final non-critical hit had damaged one of the radiators.

The battered and destroyed Churchill. the 75mm hit clearly visible.

Sadly, the remaining impacts had been from 6-pounders, and had struck the rear of the tank. A likely culprit was an Australian anti-tank battery nearby. Unfamiliar with the silhouette of the Churchill, they had seen the British tank driving in reverse from behind the ridge and interpreted it as a German tank "advancing" on them and reacted accordingly. The fire being seen to start at the rear of the tank also indicates that this was the cause of the loss. Even then, the Churchill had suffered eight 6-pounder hits to its rear, and even then only half had penetrated! Of the crew two were dead, one was injured and two were missing.
Then around thirty Axis tanks attempted to advance on the Commonwealth position, starting at a range of over 2,000 yards. Luckily the tanks of the 2nd Dragoon Guards were on hand to join in with Maj Kings Churchill, and the German counterattack was blunted in a hail of gunfire.

As darkness fell, the last remaining Churchill had taken a further eight hits, two HE, two 75mm and four 50mm. In return Maj King's tank had fired some forty-five rounds, claiming four German tanks. The destroyed Churchill was salvaged for spare parts, including draining a small quantity of Lockheed Racing Green Fluid.

The second engagement, on the 3rd of November that Kingforce was involved in involved all five of the surviving Churchill's. A British attack during the night had become bogged down in front of the German strong point. As it became day the Germans were able to bring increasingly deadly and accurate fire onto the bogged down attack. Then they began to prepare for a counterattack to wipe the attackers out. Kingforce was ordered into action. One tank broke down instantly with its traverse gear failing (possibly due to lack of fluid?) and was ordered to stay out of contact. When Kingforce arrived just behind the Commonwealth front lines, they found themselves at the base of a small hill, with ten German tanks and at least five anti-tank guns dug in at the top. The Germans outnumbered the British tanks by three to one, were in prepared positions, and had the height advantage. One Churchill had its turret jammed almost immediately after receiving nine hits from a 50mm, one of which penetrated 2" into the turret ring, but did not penetrate the fighting compartment. The surviving three Churchill's were able to fire a further seventeen rounds during the engagement, finding targets difficult to pick up. They destroyed one tank and two anti-tank guns.

The cloth screen hung between the tracks was an attempt to mitigate dust. If you look at other pictures it is not always present.

In return they took a ferocious battering, receiving between them fifty-three hits. One, on Maj Kings tank, managed to strike the driver’s visor, which was insecure, and the round threw it open injuring the driver although the round did not enter the fighting compartment. The second of the tanks was unharmed, albeit with many dents and scrapes, one gouge was 4" deep, but the armour had held (although one crew member is listed as injured). The final Churchill, however, took the majority of the fire, receiving thirty-four of the total hits. Thirty-one of which were 50mm rounds which shot off the track and damaged the gun, rendering it useless. Later the immobilised tank was hit in the cupola by a HE round that knocked off one of the commanders hatches, and smashed the cupola periscope injuring the commander in the eye. Maj King's crew dismounted for a short period, then reconstituted crews from the rest of the tanks and re-joined the fight.

Eventually, with some support from Sherman's shooting up the guns, the Germans broke on the armoured anvil that was the Churchill and withdrew at darkness. In total Kingforce had suffered four injured, despite sitting under the German guns for an entire day. All repairs were achieved at unit workshops.

In total the tanks had been hit 106 times, with one loss (likely due to friendly fire), one immobilised and one turret jammed. The hits were from both 75mm, 50mm and HE rounds. The biggest problem was lack of spares and maintenance training and routines that had likely caused several breakdowns that withdrew a much-needed tank from each battle. The Churchill had acquitted itself well, and deeply impressed the crews. The Churchill was well on its way to building its fearsome reputation for hardiness, that would only improve with time.

Now, onto the current situation with COVID-19 that is flying around the world. First a quick update from myself, as that impacts on what I'll say about your situation in a moment.

My work has sent me home due to being an asthmatic. Apart from a bit of boredom I'm fine. I am hoping, and have been told, this banishment from work will be reviewed next week so maybe I can get back to my job. Especially good news as I work for the local government, and we're likely to get retasked to social cohesion and support tasks to make sure as many people as possible survive. Even if this doesn't happen I've got a work laptop and phone so maybe working on the above from home.

 

Now for my readers, I realise several of you are stuck at home bored out of your skulls at current. Some extra fun and games to pass the time might be needed. If I am still free (and not working) over the next few weeks I'm willing to try organising some entertainment for you. However, I have no idea what you lot would want to see, or even take part in. So please, any suggestions down below and we'll see what we can do.

The Other Mouse that Roared

Last week we covered the Battle of Vianden. Well real life has been ab it busy for me at the moment so I needed something a bit quick and easy this week, and so here are a pair of links I found while digging into the story of the battle.

The first is a webpage dedicated to Frankie Hansen. His story, and a rather epic one at that, can be found here:
http://frankiehansen.org/wk1/index.php?n=Main.HomePage?setlang=en

There are several photographs relating to his life, including ones from his time as part of the Unio'n vun de Fräiheetsorganisatiounen at Vianden, although he seems to have just missed the battle at the castle. 

Hansen at Vianden.

 The next link is slightly more intriguing. It is a series of newspaper cuttings and magazine articles in assorted languages and they seem to relate to the story of Vianden. However, as Google translate won't read the articles I can't assess them. My German is limited to asking for directions, getting a lass to dance with me, and weirdly some very specific terms relating to military hardware. My French is non-existent as well. The PDF can be found here, and if you speak the language may well add far more detail to the previous weeks article.
http://www.ons-jongen-a-meedercher.lu/uploads/media/document/0001/92/d66d3ed4404067477f6197339ace21ff84258041.pdf

Earlier I mentioned that last week was a bit of a busy week for me. This is, I'm sorry to say, likely to be a lot more common from now on. I've currently started a new job, this is for a team of 8-10 people, however, there's two of us at current as recruitment efforts are under way. But for the immediate future the shift pattern to cover the work is a bit brutal. To add to that I've started my History Degree, which is another 18 or so hours to find during the week. Sprinkle on work on my spigot weapons book, consulting work for small games companies and even time for walking the dogs and I'm rapidly running out of hours in the week. The only slack time I have is the weekly article (which can take 6-8 hours if the subject matter puts up a fight). So where possible, I will continue the current schedule of an article a week, and smaller chunks of content over on my facebook page. However, cheap articles like this, or even dare I say it missed weeks (I've only missed two articles since 2013!) may be more likely, but I will endeavour to get one up every week.

Some of the content from my Facebook page (discussion can be found here). its a Sneak peak at the next book I'm currently working on.

Thank you for reading. If you like what I do, and think it is worthy of a tiny donation, you can do so via Paypal (historylisty-general@yahoo.co.uk) or through Patreon. For which I can only offer my thanks.

The Mouse that Roared

I've been trying to write this story for some time. I have a folder which has a long list of bookmarks, into which I stick anything I come across that looks like a good story for later research. This battle has been near the top for some years. The problem for this one has been the lack of sources for the actual battle. I've been able to piece together snippets in the events leading up to it, but precious little about the actual battle. I guess it will be one of those stories that suffer from the curse of the historian: "This looks interesting, but we'll never know the answers." If anyone has seen any info on this, feel free to let me know, please!

Luxembourg soldiers being drilled in the UK in the middle of the war

The Grand duchy of Fenwick Luxembourg is not one of the countries that one often contemplates for fighting forces in the Second World War. At the outbreak of the war the military forces available to Luxembourg were just under 700 men, split roughly between about 250 police, and 400 soldiers, with the rest made up of officers. These would lack any serious firepower. Some roadblocks were erected on the German side of the country. When Germany invaded in 1940 the armed forces were, rather sensibly, restricted to barracks and the country overrun. Later in the war Luxembourg nationals would form a battery manning 25-pounders in the Belgium Brigade.

A Luxembourg Policeman saluting Himmler during his visit to the country in 1941.

Resistance in Luxembourg was generally low key and based around non-violent protests such as a general strike, and generally irritating the Germans by refusing to recognise their ancestry and nationality as anything other than Luxembourgish. In addition, safe houses and underground networks were set up. Much like France, there were several different resistance groups, each following a different political association.

In September 1944 the Germans withdrew from Luxembourg under slight pressure from the Americans. The US forces also didn't really occupy the area either, this left Luxembourg as a sort of no-man’s land. The country also lacked any form of civilian control or authorities. Thus, the various resistance groups came together to form one organisation, the Unio'n vun de Fräiheetsorganisatiounen shortened to Unio'n. This provided the day to day administration and formed a militia. One of the notables of the Unio'n was Victor Abens, who had been arrested in September 1942. In March 1944 he was able to escape and return to his home-town of Vianden. Vianden has a large castle from which the Unio'n militia were able to observe into Germany and would report back to the US forces any movements they saw. Both the Unio'n and the Germans aggressively patrolled the area land with at least one serious firefight.

Unio'n Militia, armed with an eccentric mix of weapons. Mainly German, but with the odd US M3 SMG thrown in. The Gentleman, 2nd from right, is holding a French MAS-38 Submachine gun. We'll be returning to him next week, as he has a rather interesting story.

On the 19th of November 1944 the Germans decided to seize the position to prevent the observations from being used against them. In most accounts the enemy is listed as Waffen SS, although no details of what unit are given. There is also a total lack of Waffen SS units in the area. So, it is highly likely that they were Wehrmacht troops, not SS. Often German troops are reported as SS just because it’s the big bad bogie man of the war, and it sounds a lot cooler to be fighting them, than regulars.

 There is one forum post that identifies the attacking unit of the 2nd Battalion of the 941st Volksgrenadier Regiment that sent a company to assault the position. Again, most sources state that around 250 men were in the attack. However, this is questionable as the 941 VG had had a severe beating for most of the last four months, narrowly escaping at Falaise after being chased across France by US forces from Operation Cobra. So, either it was a lot more than a single company, as claimed in the earlier forum post, or it was not 250 men.

The Unio'n apparently realised an attack was incoming and evacuated the town. Some thirty Unio'n men and possibly (again a single source) five Americans, and a Belgium interpreter remained behind to defend the position. The Germans appear to have had mortar support in their attack. During the fighting that followed the Germans managed to grind forwards, and assaulted the castle, with six Germans actually gaining entry to the castle. Inside there were four defenders, who fought off the Germans, although one of their number was killed. This casualty was the only defender killed in the fight. The other three men in the castle were all badly wounded.

Vianden Castle before its restoration, it is not entirely clear if this is battle damage, or just neglect, as there is no date on when the photo was taken other than 1944. 

The restoration of Vianden castle, sometime in the 70's or 80's I believe.

By the end of the day the Germans had been repulsed, suffering eighteen killed and the Germans retreated. But they would return in December during the Battle of the Bulge, during which the Unio'n displaced out of the way of the German assault. The battle of Vianden was Luxembourg's only battle during the Second World War, which is all the more remarkable for the one-sided victory they achieved.

Thank you for reading. If you like what I do, and think it is worthy of a tiny donation, you can do so via Paypal (historylisty-general@yahoo.co.uk) or through Patreon. For which I can only offer my thanks.

The Little Ship

While writing last week’s article on the Merchant Navy, I found mention of a little ship with several merchant navy crew on it. This ship's story is rather remarkable, and full of gallantry. It was however, too long for last week’s piece, so I have done it as its own stand-alone article. There are a few conflicting accounts due to the outcome, so some of the details are unclear, but here's the best I can do. The conflicting accounts are based around the two surviving eye witness testimonies that are available.

SS Li Wo

In 1938 a new 1000 ton passenger ship was commissioned, for use on the Yangtze river. Remarkably it had a draught of just 7ft when fully loaded. This was the SS Li Wo, and it was owned by the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company. In 1940 she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and armed and equipped. The crew decided to remain with their ship, and became Merchant Navy, while the officers were from the Royal Navy. She was armed with a single 4in gun on the bow, and twin Lewis guns. There is also one account that states it was equipped with ASDIC and a Holman Projector. The ship was used to patrol the area around Indonesia.

HMS Li Wo

On the 8th of December 1941 Japan entered the war with her sudden expansion. Things went badly for the Allies. HMS Li Wo was based at Singapore, and as the Japanese forces closed in in February 1942 HMS Li Wo was crewed with a scratch crew, including five men from HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, and a pair of RAF men, and ordered to reach safety. The crew from the two warships formed the gun crew for the single 4in gun, while at least one of the Lewis guns was manned by one of the RAF men. HMS Li Wo left Singapore on the 13th of February. Over the next 24 hours she was to shelter in the bay, advance and then take up shelter at another bay. The curse was the massive number of Japanese aircraft about. In those twenty-four hours she was attacked some four times, once by around fifty aircraft. One report has her radio gear being damaged. She certainly took heavy damage but was still afloat.

The only semi-contemporary photo I could find of a Japanese air attack on shipping.

On the 14th, she was making sail for safety, when she spotted a Japanese convoy. This was the Japanese landing force destined for the invasion of Sumatra. The Japanese forces consisted of two waves, each with four destroyers and a cruiser. Which force the HMS Li Wo encountered is not clear, but it is suggested it was the one led by the IJN Sendai, and contained eight transport ships. The HMS Li Wo's captain, Temporary Lieutenant Thomas Wilkinson’s (RNVR) next actions are not clear. Again, the eye witness' disagree if Lt Wilkinson ordered the attack, or consulted with his crew first, who all agreed with his intention to attack. Either way, the HMS Li Wo closed up and prepared for battle. The gun crew were asked on how much ammo they had. Six rounds of SAP, four HE and three AA. That's just thirteen rounds. Some secondary accounts suggest the ammo load was thirteen practice rounds, but this is clearly wrong, and seems to come from an inaccurate account in the 1980's at the Imperial War Museum. HMS Li Wo also hoisted not one, but two battle ensigns, just to make it clear whose side they were on. With preparations made, she headed in towards the transports.

Temporary Lieutenant Thomas Wilkinson

The Japanese were slow to react, and HMS Li Wo was the first to open fire, the first of their precious shells had missed, going long. The second was short, the third struck in the superstructure of the targeted transport, starting a fire. The gun crew carried on firing, and in two minutes they were out of ammo. However, the 4-5,000 ton freighter was well ablaze. Here again, eyewitness accounts differ. One says Lt Wilkinson rammed the burning freighter, others that he selected a smaller 800-ton vessel to ram. Either way, he made contact with it, and the bows were lodged with the freighter. The freighter had at least one light auto-cannon for AA work, possibly two, and these began to rake the HMS Li Wo, causing the first Allied casualties of the exchange. One of the RAF personnel manning his Lewis gun promptly dealt with the crews of the guns, then switched his fire to the Japanese troops swarming on the decks. The Japanese began to abandon ship.

HMS Li Wo struggled free of the stricken freighter, and began to move on, by now the IJN Sendai had responded, and closed with the British ship. However, her gunnery was so appalling the salvoes from her were missing by up to 300 yards. HMS Li Wo began to zig zag to throw off the Japanese gunners but slowly their shells crept closer. It still took over ten minutes before they were getting near misses, and further casualties were being caused by shrapnel. With a crippled ship, and no weapon to fight the cruiser Lt Wilkinson ordered the crew to abandon ship, although he stayed on board to go down with the HMS Li Wo.

IJN Sendai

Then the cruiser found the range, one of the shells hit the cordite locker and there was a large explosion. She began to list to one side then sunk. The survivors were subjected to a massacre by the Japanese ships and the few who survived that ordeal were left adrift at sea. Eventually a few made it ashore, but were captured and ended up as POW's, but some did survive. When they returned after the war the story of HMS Li Wo was told. Lt Wilkinson was put forward for a Mentioned in Dispatches, as that was one of only two decorations that could, at the time, be issued posthumously. This paltry reward was then cancelled. To be replaced by the other posthumous decoration, the Victoria Cross. Of the crew seven men returned, one received a DSO, one a Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, two Distinguished Service Medals and the rest Mentioned in Dispatches. A further three Mentions in Dispatches were awarded to deceased crew.

Thank you for reading. If you like what I do, and think it is worthy of a tiny donation, you can do so via Paypal (historylisty-general@yahoo.co.uk) or through Patreon. For which I can only offer my thanks.

Image credits:
ww2today.com, www.wrecksite.eu, www.ibiblio.org and www.world-war.co.uk

The Price of Petrol Has Been Increased by One Penny

On the 5th of March 1942 The Daily Mirror published a cartoon entitled "The price of petrol has been increased by one penny. Official." It brought to a head arguments between Churchill and the press, as some in government were accusing the press of running an anti-capitalist message that might undermine the war effort. Such a fear was very real, as from the start of the war, there had been several strikes by the trade unions governing dockworkers, who supported Soviet Russia, and were therefore opposed to the war with the Soviet Union’s ally. Unsurprisingly these strikes all stopped in July 1941.
The cartoons artist successfully pointed out it was the latest in a line of work extolling the evils of the black market, and that the public should not complain over price increases.
The cartoon depicted a member of the Merchant Navy, after his ship had been sunk, clinging to the wreckage, adrift at sea.

The Merchant Navy was vital to Britain, as it brought the resources from the Empire to the UK to help fight the war. It also enabled Britain to supply its allies such as Russia, and the Commonwealth later in the war. Without it, the war would not have happened as it did. In total around 32,000 sailors of the Merchant Navy were killed in the war. They were civilians, asked to sail into inhospitable environments, practically unarmed (the vessels they crewed would in the vast majority of cases have an antique 3-4in AA gun and a machine gun or two) to be shot at by the enemy.
Their non-uniformed civilian status makes the moral fortitude of the Merchant Navy men even more surprising. First, as they were men of fighting age, in civilian dress they were often mistaken for people who lacked the courage or will to join the services. In the early years of the war they were sometimes abused and heckled as cowards, this stopped when they were given a lapel pin showing that they were part of the Merchant Navy.
A sailor of the Merchant Navy signed onto a ship’s company. The contract he signed showed everything he would be supplied with including food rations and on what day.

Ration allocation for a Merchant Seaman. Shared by Border_Reiver, relative of the above signatory.

The merchant sailor would be paid as long as he was needed with his ship, or up to a total of two years. When it reached the destination, he would return to the local shipping office and look for another ship. Of course, this became a sore point during the war, as the sailors pay ended when the ship was sunk. This was altered in May 1941, when the Emergency Work (Merchant Navy) Order, Notice No. M198 was issued. This allowed the pay to continue to accrue even when in a lifeboat and would also allow two days leave per month served.

This likely came as some small consolation to some when they survived a long haul after being sunk. The world record holder for longest time adrift on a life raft (although there are longer times for complete boats) is Merchant Navy sailor Poon Lim, who spent 133 days on an 8ft square life raft.
As you will have noticed Poon Lim was Chinese, indeed the crews of the Merchant Navy could be any nationality, including ones from a hostile power (for instance there are examples of Japanese in the Merchant Navy), they could also be of either sex.

Poon Lim on his life raft.

Recognition of bravery was always a problem, as there was a gulf between the existing civilian awards and the George and Victoria Crosses, so Lloyds of London created the Lloyds War Medal for Bravery. A prime example of the bravery and dedication of the Merchant Navy is the story of the SS Ohio.

On the 9th of August 1942 the British launched Operation Pedestal, the attempt to drive a resupply convoy through the besieging Axis forces around Malta. The SS Ohio was a fuel tanker loaded with kerosene and other highly flammable liquids. On the 12th the convoy was attacked by around 120 German and Italian aircraft. In the ensuing chaos of the attack an Italian submarine was able to hit the SS Ohio with a torpedo, which split several of the kerosene tanks and set the ship ablaze. The Captain heaved to, shut down the engines and brought all personnel to fight the fire. After the fire was extinguished, the engines were restarted and the SS Ohio continued with the convoy, with a 27-foot hole torn amidships. The hit had knocked out all the compasses, so the Captain was forced to navigate by dead reckoning and by using the emergency back-up steering gear, due to the main steering also being offline. The ship was awash with leaked kerosene. Then sixty JU-87’s attacked the stricken ship, no bombs hit, although near-misses caused damage, dismounting one of the 12-pounder guns and buckling the ship’s hull to allow water in.

The SS Ohio getting hit by the submarines torpedo.

The Ohio was now only armed with one Bofors 40mm and six Oerlikons. Then five JU-88's decided to sink the ship. Those few guns put up such a storm of fire they forced the attackers to abort.
Then more JU-87's peeled off to attack the SS Ohio, one was shot down by the AA guns, and crashed into the ship. The Chief Mate from the rear wheelhouse telephoned the bridge to report they had been hit by the falling plane, to which the Capitan replied "Oh that's nothing. We've had a Junkers 88 on the foredeck for nearly half an hour."

More bombs fell and more torpedoes were fired at her. The bombs hit so closely they lifted her hull out of the water. Another salvo of bombs as she was being continuously attacked knocked out all power to the engine room, in the darkness the engineers managed to restart her engines, and she regained speed. Then more bombs fell, again the concussion knocked the engines off and filled the engine room with thick black smoke. The engineers remained at their posts frantically trying to restart them, but they were unsuccessful and the SS Ohio drifted to a halt. It was barely 1100 in the morning.

On the 13th the SS Ohio was taken under tow by the destroyer HMS Penn, however the bulk of the tanker proved too much for the destroyer, indeed the wind was blowing them backwards. Then a gaggle of German planes appeared and came barrelling in. HMS Penn slipped the tow, leaving the SS Ohio stationary with the Luftwaffe bombers closing in. She shot one down, but just before they achieved this feat the bomber released its payload. One bomb landed in the hole caused by the torpedo breaking the SS Ohio's back. That was the last air attack of the first day. But the SS Ohio was still afloat.

SS Ohio being supported by friendly ships.

The next day found the SS Ohio being assisted by two ships. Then another attack developed and the SS Ohio was hit once more by a bomb, and had her rudder destroyed by another. Several Merchant Navy crew volunteered to man the guns on the SS Ohio, while under tow. These crew had already been sunk once, then rescued. Later a third ship joined in to assist the wounded ship. One was towing from the bow, one at the rear to keep the SS Ohio on an even course, and one lashed alongside to keep her from listing. Limping along at just six knots the little cluster of ships was approaching Malta, then more waves of German aircraft appeared and began to head towards the small flotilla to obliterate it.

Then sixteen Spitfires appeared, they had flown from Malta and whilst on patrol spotted the attacking Germans and broke up the attack, the SS Ohio was now under friendly air cover. The ships reached Grand Harbour at Malta at 0930 on the 15th. The remaining kerosene and fuel were quickly offloaded, even as the ship was getting lighter, she carried on settling lower in the water. Eventually all the kerosene was ashore, and the fuel had been pumped aboard an auxiliary tanker. A short while later the SS Ohio settled on the floor of the harbour, broken in two. The Captain of the ship was awarded a George Cross for keeping her afloat and in action to provide the vital liquids to Malta.

SS Ohio in Grand harbour, Malta, as she is urgently unloaded. You can clearly see how low in the water she is.

Thank you for reading. If you like what I do, and think it is worthy of a tiny donation, you can do so via Paypal (historylisty-general@yahoo.co.uk) or through Patreon. For which I can only offer my thanks.

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spartacus-educational.com

The Argument

On forums relating to tanks there is often a big argument between which is the best MBT of the modern generation. There are also often polls and lists on webpages, but these are generally designed to cater to the home nation (Eg T-34, T14 or M1 as best tanks ever!). I have my views on the subject, like many others.

However, for this week, life has been a bit hectic, so instead of tackling the above question, I'll simply throw more fuel on the fire by referring to a 1989 issue of The Armour Magazine. This magazine is the US Army's armoured force periodical. In it there is a a copy of an article that was first published in the RAC journal, where some British tank crew went to visit, and play with US tanks, and their views.

 Note: These crews would have been using Challenger 1, not Challenger 2. And it really is only a two page article, although it looks like it should be three.

Fighting for Both Sides

Towards the end of the First World War heavy bombers began to get small amounts of armour to protect the vital components of the aircraft such as engines. When the Germans did this, they logically began to think about how to defeat the armour. They turned to a weapon that had been patented in 1914 by Reinhold Becker. This weapon was an extremely light weight cannon in 20mm. It was fed by a top loading magazine. Interestingly the ammunition that was used were solid shot, not explosive rounds. This was due to the Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868. This had forbidden the use of explosives within projectiles of under 400 grams (some sources say 450g). It was the French, and their designer B Hotchkiss who calculated the minimum size of projectile that would be needed to carry a legal amount of explosive, which was 37mm. Which explains why there were so many 37mm weapons in the first half of the 20th century.
The Becker gun was fitted to several German aircraft during the war and was even planned to be fitted to armoured vehicles. Just after the gun was introduced the German aircraft carrying the gun was shot down and discovered by the Allies. At the time they had no ammunition for it though.

A Becker 20mm mounted aboard what looks suspiciously like a Hansa-Brandenburg W.12

 After the war there was a realisation that the St Petersburg treaty needed revision. A summit of lawyers was put in place, and modifications were agreed, stating that light cannon could be used against aircraft. This treaty was never signed, but it became an informal agreement. It should be noted that the British had been using incendiary projectiles against Zeppelins during the war, but would not allow the ammunition to go overseas in case the pilot was shot down and found to be carrying such ammunition in his plane.
A condition of the Treaty of Versailles was that Germany had to demilitarize, this of course included the Becker works, and a ban on the production of guns was in place. Becker had a connection to a small automotive company in Switzerland, called Seebach Maschinenbau Aktien Gesellschaft, better known by its initials SEMAG. The move to Zürich was backed by the German authorities, and thus the Becker gun entered production as the SEMAG aircraft gun. Later a modified form was produced called the SEMAG infantry gun in 1921. In this version the cartridges and barrel were both longer, giving a higher muzzle velocity. It appears there were several sub variants of both SEMAG weapons. In 1923 a heavier 25mm version was built and tested, however the company collapsed before any further work could be done.

SEMAG 20mm Aircraft gun

SEMAG 20mm infantry gun

Another German clandestinely controlled company then stepped forwards, Oerlikon. They took over the SEMAG-Becker cannon's development. There's a hazy period in this weapons history around this time. It seems that over the next decade the SEMAG style guns were widely sold, by Oerlikon, although some of the designs are slowly being refined. They appeared in The Chaco War, Spanish Civil War and The Abyssinian Invasion. They were used mostly in the role of light anti-aircraft gun. The British brought some for testing as an anti-tank weapon. They had a carriage consisting of a pair of light unpowered tracks, so that the weapon could be pulled by a Carden-Lloyd carrier, along with a gun limber. When limbered the gun was folded flat against its carriage, but to fire it, the weapon was erected while still on the carriage. Some sources say this was around 1935, which seems unlikely, as by 1935 the British were looking at the 2-pounder, equally the uniforms give the appearance of an earlier time frame.

As the Second World War neared suddenly the demand for both aircraft and AA cannon increased, and the later variants of the Oerlikon were widely sold around the world and was likely used by just about every nation except the Soviets. Often the cannon would be on both sides of the battle. Consider the Allies against the Japanese. The Oerlikon armed both sides fighters, equally both sides would be using the same gun on their ships as an AA weapon. In the US alone over 120,000 Oerlikon's were manufactured, and in US service they shot down some 617 aircraft during the war. Banks of 20mm's lined larger US ships ready to protect them against Japanese Kamikaze attacks. The guns simplicity (it had just five parts that could break, and all were on the bolt) and the ability to quickly change a barrel in just 30 seconds meant it was well liked. Indeed, the gun much updated is still in service today.

SEMAG's/Oerlikon's in service during the Chinese civil war/Japanese invasions.

A rank of Oerlikon's on the USS Hornet

Thank you for reading. If you like what I do, and think it is worthy of a tiny donation, you can do so via Paypal (historylisty-general@yahoo.co.uk) or through Patreon. For which I can only offer my thanks.

Image credits:
www.ibiblio.org