Courage or Desperation

The crew of U-570 were in an odd mood. First they had the overwhelming belief that they would soon be home with a German victory, but they were also surprised at the amount and range of food available in the UK. They had been lead to believe that the German submarine blockade was so overwhelming, and was choking the UK to her knees. In addition they were glad to be off the U-570. Life on board had never shaped up to the life they were promised by the recruiting propaganda. Equally they were out from under the thumb of their officers. One in particular had been seen as a problem, the 2nd in command of the U-boat, 25 year old  Lieutenant Bernhard Berndt.

Lt Berndt's brief command

An appraisal of him by British intelligence found him arrogant, uninteresting and "a difficult and nagging superior, but neither efficient nor knowledgeable." He unfortunately reflected the crew of the boat, with nearly all being inexperienced. Lt Berndt had joined the Kriegsmarine in 1935. He had served on destroyers until joining the submarines, and after training went directly to U-570. Some sources say it was Lt Berndt whom was responsible for surrendering U-570 when her Captain was incapacitated by gas during her capture.

Grizedale Hall POW camp

After their capture the crew of U-570 were held in London and interrogated by the British after which they were split up and sent to various camps. The officers, not including Cpt Rahmlow, were sent to No1 Camp (Officers) at Grizedale Hall. This was also known as U-boat Hotel, due to the large number of U-boat men imprisoned there. As the story of U-570 had been widely reported by the British press the members of the camp had heard the story by the time the three U-570 men arrived. There was a general air of hostility to the newcomers, and eventually a secret, illegal trial was arranged by the senior members of the camp, despite the British forbidding such activities. The court was presided over by U-boat ace Otto Kretschmer. They added Cpt Rahmlow to the charge sheet, despite him not being present.

Otto Kretschmer

Lt Berndt tried to defend himself, arguing the circumstances and the utter inexperience of the crew lead to the capture, not cowardice. However both he and Cpt Rahmlow were found guilty. The British were aware of such goings on, and took measures to keep the Officers of U-570 safe. Including a three man detail escorting Lt Berndt about the camp during times such as visiting the shower blocks where he might be vulnerable. In a coded letter to Admiral Donitz, Kretschmer informed him of the outcome assuming that after the Germans won the war Cpt Rahmlow and Lt Berndt would be found, tried and executed.

Things took a fateful turn when British newspapers reported that U-570 had arrived at Barrow-in-Furness, a mere 30 odd miles from Grizedale Hall. Lt Berndt proposed a plan to regain his honour. He would escape, make his way to the U-570 and destroy her. Kretschmer was also in charge of the German escape committee, and passed the plan. A number of items were manufactured by the Germans including a uniform of some sort.
The camp at Grizedale Hall was a double line of wire fencing with a few guard towers and a collection of huts for the Germans. On the night of 18th October 1941 Lt Berndt crawled out to the wire and used a pair of homemade wire cutters to make a hole big enough for him to crawl to freedom.

However the camp commander was aware of the escape almost immediately. Had Lt Berndt been spotted by a sentry? Or had someone in the camp informed on his escape? Either way the local Home Guard was alerted and they began patrolling the area. In the morning of the 19th a patrol searching a nearby farm raised the corner of a tarpaulin and looked underneath it, they found a shivering Lt Berndt in hiding. After his arrest the Home Guards started to lead him back to Grizedale Hall, upon realising his fate was to be returned to that hostile environment Lt Berndt broke away from his guards and fled across the fields. The Home Guards fired a volley of warning shots, which Lt Berndt ignored, the next volley was not aimed to miss.

He was buried locally, with full honours at the insistence of Kretschmer. However due to an error and the locals unfamiliarity with German ranks and names, the last part of Lt Berndts German rank of "Oberleutnant zur See" was mistranslated as his first name. This meant that his burial record read "Lee Bernhard Berndt". It's curious to note that despite the thousands of men involved in the entire story of U-570, including several exchanges of fire Lt Berndts is the only death involved with the submarine, including with its three war patrols under Royal Navy Service.

Image credits:
s.hswstatic.com and www.newsandstar.co.uk

Development of the Scherz-Weapon

The following, although short is funny enough that several people I know demanded I turn it into an article. This is all true, and is filed in a report I recently read.
In 1936 a British military mission was heading to Russia to observe manoeuvres at Minsk. It consisted of General Wavell (better known for his time in the desert in 1940, and then in Burma), Lieutenant General Martel (the famous British tank officer and engineer, also commanded the British forces at Arras) and a Major Hayes. The Air Force was represented by Wing Commander Wigglesworth.

To get to these manoeuvres they travelled via Berlin where they met Colonel Hotblack, who won a DSO in the First World War. He had a background in reconnaissance and intelligence and spoke fluent German. Col Hotblack was the lead military attaché to the Berlin embassy, over dinner he entertained his guests with a recent occurrence in the German Army.

Hitler is confused!

Apparently the Germans kept on receiving reports of British inefficiency. This confused Hitler greatly, because despite the inefficiency the British armed forces carried on succeeding. Obviously he wanted to find out how the British achieved this, and apply it to their army to make it more efficient. To this end Hitler ordered an inquiry into the subject. After its deliberations the German inquiry came to the conclusion that it was the British sense of humour that was responsible.

And so, somewhat predictably Hitler decreed that the Germans should try to install a British sense of humour into the German army, only they did it in a very German way. First they tried to teach jokes by numbers. You'll never guess what, that plan failed miserably.
So undeterred they tried a new approach. The idea was to let the soldiers soak up the humour naturally. So they took a number of Bruce Bairnsfather's cartoons (creator of the "if you know of a better hole" cartoon) and translated the jokes directly into German. Every week a new poster would be displayed in all the barracks across the German Army. Col Hotblack asked if he might view the first trial carried out by the Germans, which the Germans happily agreed to.

When Col Hotblack arrived he found the German translation of the poster, only at the bottom the Germans had had to add another line, to explain the joke. In this case the German addition read "Of course the hole was not really made by a mouse at all!"
With a straight face Col Hotblack stood aside and the first unit of Germans were marched, turned to face the poster, and ordered to read the writing so they might absorb the British humour. After they had dutifully done so, they were marched out. Not one of them had so much as smiled.

Would you like to know more?

There is one other incident about German Army humour. They did try again 73 years later in Afghanistan, putting this t-shirt on sale on German Army bases.

Nope, can't see how this will go wrong...

It references the 2009 Kunduz airstrike. When it was reported in Germany there was a total and utter sense of humour failure on behalf of the German politicians and German high command. The German regional high command ordered the t-shirts to be removed from sale, banned their wearing, and launched an investigation into the t-shirt. They promised if any German soldiers had been involved in the design or manufacture they would be brought up on disciplinary charges.

However the German soldiers tried again with another t-shirt. This one read “My Grandpa never got this far east!”. Looks like the German army finally deployed humour!

On both Sides

Kapitänleutnant Hans-Joachim Rahmlow had joined the Kriegsmarine in 1928, and had served nearly all of his career in coastal artillery. However around November 1940 he first set foot on a submarine. His first boat had no patrols under his leadership and he moved to U-570 in May 1941. U-570 was a brand new build Type VIIC U-boat, on her commission date KptLt Rahmlow took command. In August U-570 was ordered to take part in an operation to sink a concentration of allied shipping in the Atlantic.

Plan of U-570

 The Icelandic Gap is the stretch of water between Iceland and the UK. It's a strategic position, during the cold war it was the Royal Navy and RAF's main duty to seal this gap and keep Russian forces, especially submarines, bottled up and out of the Atlantic. The same applied in the Second World War, if the British could close this location, then the Kriegsmarine would be contained and unable to get at the supply convoys crossing the Atlantic. In late August 1941 U-570 tested her mettle against the formidable forces arrayed against her.

The weather, as it often is in the Atlantic, was horrific. Four days into her patrol (August 27th) the seas had battered the submarine and most of her crew were seasick. In addition she'd been attacked by a RAF Hudson bomber from 269 Squadron in Iceland, however during the attack run the bombers depth bombs had failed to release, allowing U-570 to escape. So KptLt Rahmlow ordered the morning to be spent submerged. At about 1050 she re-surfaced to face the battering of the sea.

U-570 in heavy seas, you can see the waves over the deck.

Many miles away in the grey stormy sky another Hudson bomber was pitching in the storm. On its sides were the code letters B-L, it was another plane from 269 Squadron, piloted by Squadron Leader James Thompson. Sqn Ldr Thompson had been called to assist the other Hudson after its earlier aborted attack. Suddenly a blip appeared, at a range of 14 miles, on the airborne radar. Sqn Ldr Thompson set up his approach run.

On the U-570 KptLt Rahmlow suddenly heard over the stormy weather the sound of aircraft engines. He immediately ordered a crash dive. Bursting out of the grey mist the Hudson hurtled towards the rapidly submerging submarine. Just as U-570 became fully waterlogged, Sqn Ldr Thompson released his four 250lb depth bombs in a line. They were all fused to detonate at fifty feet. One of the charges detonated just ten metres from the bow, the blast smashed into the bow of the submarine and crumpled it and shorted out the electrics. In the dark and confusion inside the metal coffin it's possible the blast may have knocked KptLt Rahmlow unconscious. The engine room crew suddenly scrambled forward yelling warnings about chlorine gas escaping. The next sound the crew heard was the clang of the watertight doors to the engine room being slammed shut. With no way to get the power back, in darkness and with the risk of choking on chlorine the crew blew ballast and surfaced. They tumbled out of the hatches to man the anti-aircraft guns and fight off the Hudson.

Sdn Ldr Thompson saw the U-570 sitting in a pool of bubbles and froth from his depth bomb and the subsequent surfacing. He turned towards her and the nose gunner fired a burst from his machine gun at the submarine. On board U-570 the crew quickly found that with the pitching of the sea and the submarine it was impossible to lay their AA weapons on the circling bomber. Expecting another stick of bombs at any second they quickly hoisted a flag of surrender.

The Surrender, the flag can just be seen

 As the Hudson circled over them the crew destroyed their radio and code books, but beforehand they sent a final message stating "Am not able to dive, and am being attacked by aircraft." This was the last the Kriegsmarine would hear from U-570. They did try to send another submarine to support U-570, however allied action meant she had to remain submerged and couldn't reach the area. Overhead the Hudson radioed for support and was joined shortly by another Hudson which had been en-route to Scotland, and about three hours later by a Catalina flying boat. As the Hudson's ran out of fuel the Catalina was left orbiting the submarine. She had orders that if no allied ships reached the scene by darkness then she was to order the crew off the boat and sink U-570. However it seems the Catalina failed to carry out these orders, as at around 10 pm an anti-submarine trawler arrived on scene and was guided in by flares dropped by the Catalina. With the submarine safely in the possession of the Royal Navy the Catalina returned to base.

The trawler, HMT Northern Chief, informed the Germans that any attempt to scuttle, submerge or any other action not ordered by the trawler would be met with gunfire, and the crew would not be rescued. Overnight several other vessels including two destroyers reached the area.
The next morning a seaplane from 330 Squadron reached the area, spotting the submarine and trawler the Norwegian pilots launched an attack on the U-570 and strafed the HMT Northern Chief, which promptly returned fire. Luckily one of the destroyers saw what was happening and ordered the plane away.

Boarding action!

Using a Carley float three sailors boarded the U-570, and attached a tow rope. The Germans were then transferred off the boat to another trawler and one of the destroyers. The U-570 was then towed by the flotilla to Iceland with a constant stream of aircraft overhead for cover. She was beached around August 30th at Þorlákshöfn.

U-570 on the beach

U-570 was later used for a number of tests and research, she also gave up a few secrets in submarine design which the allies had not yet worked out, such as rubber mountings for the U-boats engines. These meant less noise was transmitted to the hull, making her quieter.
After these tests she was renamed HMS Graph (G for "German" and from the German word Graf) and entered service with the Royal Navy conducting two war patrols. Although she made several attacks, including one on an enemy submarine she failed to score any hits. Eventually lack of replacement supplies meant she was decommissioned and used for target trials of depth charges. After resisting the battering she was sold for scrap, but broke free of the tow rope used to send her to the breaker's yard. Her hulk came to rest on Coul Point, on the west coast of Islay. She remains there to this day.

Of the people involved, the crew of the 269 Squadron Hudson, Sqn Ldr Thompson and Flying Officer Coleman (the Hudson's Bomber/Navigator), each received the Distinguished Flying Cross. KptLt Rahmlow remained a POW and died on 13th of June 1967.

Image credits:
fly.historicwings.com

O the Wild Charge

The area we now know as Jordan was in between the wars a British mandate called Trans-Jordan. The local forces here were known as the Arab Legion. They had a mechanised component known as the Desert Legion, or Mobile Mechanised Force.

The force was formed in the 1920's by a British officer called John Bagot Glubb, known locally as Pasha Glubb. During the Second World War he led the Mechanised Force. The British at first didn't know the quality of these Arabs, and often referred to them as "Glubbs Girls" due to the soldiers of the Arab legion, but not the Mobile Mechanised Force, wearing mostly Arab dress.

John Bagot Glubb

 The force consisted of Ford trucks (known as scout cars) fitted with a machine gun, and handful of armoured cars built by a local firm, run by a German called Wagner. Small arms were limited to rifles. Glubbs Girls proved their worth to the British during the Golden Square Revolt (Anglo-Iraqi War) in 1941, serving alongside the similarly equipped British Cavalry (also mounted in trucks) as part of Habbforce. The Desert Legion guided the British column to RAF Habbaninya and played a key role in the defeat of the German inspired Iraqi forces.

Arab Legion in Iraq.

As part of the spoils of victory the British cavalry replaced their antique Hotchkiss LMG's with Bren Guns captured from the much better equipped Iraqi forces, these LMG's were gifted to the Desert Legion. After a brief rest the next operation hove into view. A major reason for the sudden and dangerous Iraqi war was the ability of Germany to stage through Vichy French owned Syria. So a plan was drawn up to deal with French Syria; Operation Exporter.

Several weeks of fighting would then follow, to recount the entire campaign would take too much space. However as part of Habbforce the Desert Legion ended up around the ancient city of Palmyra. On the 29th of June the Desert Legion took the settlement of Sukhna (some sources give the name Sukhne or As-Sukhna).

Early on the morning of the 1st of July the Desert Legion were getting ready for breakfast. About 30 men and three of the Wagner armoured cars were covering the approach to Sukhna, the rest of the men were gathering brushwood for the cooking fires. Suddenly a dust cloud was spotted approaching. Unsure of whom the column of vehicles belonged too Glubb sent a scout car with two men in to investigate. Meanwhile he positioned his men on a ridge, and dispatched another scout car to recall all the men. The first scout car came under fire from the approaching column.
The attackers were the French 2nd Light Desert Company, with six armoured cars, and about a 100 men in trucks. Glubb immediately sent word of the contact to the British cavalry who were nearby, however as it would turn out the British were too far away to take part in the battle.

The French forces dismounted and launched an attack up the slope towards Glubb's 30 men. However the fire-power the Arabs laid down pinned and halted the attack. Glubb wanted to hold on until his reinforcements arrived, either the British or the rest of the Desert Legion. However neither showed up. At this point an impetious Arab yelled "Where are the Gallants?!" leapt up and charged down the slope waving his rifle.

Wagner armoured car

The rest of the thirty men Glubb had with him joined in this headlong charge against an enemy three times their size. Even the armoured cars lurched forwards with their motors revving.
Surprisingly this headlong charge caught the French battle line completely off guard. The sudden fierce charge routed the French forces, who turned and bolted. As if on queue the rest of the Legion roared into sight in their scout cars. Glubb describes what happened next:

"By this time a number of [Legion] infantry trucks had overtaken us and were driving parallel to us on the right and left. Many of the men were standing up, their long hair flying in the wind. They brandished their rifles and shouted: ‘Where are they? The gallants, where are they?’ My own car was full of people. I did not know how they got there. Several were soldiers who seemed to have borrowed a lift. We were still followed by tribal volunteers from the Howeitat. One of these, Jazi ibn Isa, was standing on the running board of the car, making it remarkably difficult to drive. He was in a paroxysm of excitement, shouting his war-cries, Every now and then he thrust a tousled head in at the window and bellowed exhortations into my ear. At intervals he fired a rusty rifle into space as no particular target."

The French in their haste drove into a dead end in the shape of a Wadi, and were promptly surrounded. The French column surrendered, only one of the trucks escaped the rout, which had a knock on effect. When the French forces holding Palmyra heard of the capture of their relief column,and after witnessing an aerial battle that ended decisively in the allies favour, the garrison of Palmyra surrendered.
The Desert Legion suffered one killed and one wounded, the French lost eleven killed.

Image credits:
homepages.force9.net, forums.justoldtrucks.com, www.morvalearth.co.uk and www.jordanjubilee.com

Explosive Challenger

At the moment, there's several sites around the internet which claim that modern British tanks, such as the Challenger 2 use Explosive Reactive Armour. I believe this is wrong, and that the Panels used are solid blocks of Composite armour. The only conclusive evidence I've seen for ERA are the various websites, all seemingly quoting each other, saying its ERA. The only reason I can see for this is that the blocks look sort of like ERA panels. Now there's the obvious issue that this is current or semi-current equipment so it's all wrapped up in operational security issues. So this argument against ERA is based on purely publicly available sources.

Within NATO ERA is classified as an ammunition type which when you think about it makes sense. Therefore you have to provide "re-loads". Equally it obviously contains explosive, so you need to deal with it like you would any large amount of explosive. So with that in mind, let's take a look at the arguments against the upgrade armour being ERA.

First off, as is often the case when dealing with governments, it's best to follow the money. This link is the National Audit Office's report into Operation Telic, which was the codename for the UK's part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.


Page 19 states:

"In October 2002, the Department approved a separate Urgent Operational Requirement to fit a new generation of appliqué armour to 137 Challenger 2 tanks, of which 116 vehicles were deployed to theatre. The total cost of this package was £8.8 million"

The important part is in bold. "Appliqué armour" indicates it is an inert set for each tank. You'll also note the utter lack of mention of reloads. Just the one set for each tank. That would indicate to me that it's not ERA.

Next we look at the one Challenger 2 destroyed during Operation Telic:

 A modern armour expert I know points two things out here. ERA doesn't explode when set on fire, instead the explosive provides added fuel for the fire, which means there would be increased scorching. This increase of burning appears to be absent. He also points out that the blocks look too thick for ERA.

Finally we have the safety aspect. ERA is dangerous to those squishy human things around the tank when it goes off. So in consequence you don't want to operate it around or near civilians after a shooting war is over, otherwise you might blow some of them up, which sort of wrecks the hearts and minds approach.
Here we see Challenger 2's in very close proximity to civilians in Iraq, all with the armour packages fitted:

But you might argue that depending on the threat state the tanks would take the risk, putting protection of the tank and their crews over the safety concern. Fair enough. What about Europe?

However, I will admit the location could be anywhere, maybe Germany, or maybe Kosovo. So the protection might be required. But as a final clinching proof, here's a picture of a Challenger 2 driving around Bovington tank museum arena:

Now I'm qualified in Health and Safety, and on a professional level I'd love to read a risk assessment for driving several pounds of explosive around in a small crowded area with several thousand members of the public...

As a supporting point, here is a picture of a Warrior that took an RPG hit to the side:

Now there's only a few mm of armour underneath that panel. Yet the RPG didn't penetrate, and the panel obviously didn't explode. Can anyone find a picture of a Challenger 2 with a panel that has exploded? Or any data to support the claim it is ERA?
Its also worth bearing in mind that the original NATO briefing (Would you like to know more?) on ERA mentioned Burlington as small blocks that could easily be replaced, or mounted on existing tanks and AFV's.

Two Slides taken from the original Burlington presentation.

Finally, I've never ever seen a picture of a AFV so fitted, with a panel that has exploded. Can you find one?
So for all the reasons above I think that most of the internet is wrong, the add on armour packs are not ERA, but solid lumps of composite armour.

Image credits:
www.BBC.co.uk

Atomic Horror

Thanks to  Nemo (Us server) for his help with this.

One thing I remember as a child at school was reading a history textbook that contained an apocryphal letter from a US Farmer sometime in the 1950's to the US Department of Defence. It was asking if they had any nuclear explosives that he could employ to uproot a stubborn old tree stump. All this was due to the Atomic Dream, or Atomic Age of the 1950's when it was considered that the power of the atom would change everything, and led to the very particular feel of the period. Modern games like Fallout took these ideas and ran with them. But in military circles, fiction is often a lot closer to truth.

One of the most well known examples of this is the XM28 and XM29 Davy Crockett. Born of science improving the technology behind atomic weapons it enabled a small lightweight atomic bomb to be developed that could be fired from a recoilless rifle. On May 4th 1960 the Davy Crockett was unveiled to the public. The secretary of defence had this to say:

".... dwarfs in firepower anything we have ever known in the immediate area of the battle line. DAVY CROCKETT will significantly enhance the military posture of US ground forces. With this weapon small combat units will have organic atomic power that they will be able to take with them to any trouble spot in the world in a matter of hours. On the battlefield, the small unit will have within its own ranks, firepower that formerly could be obtained only from heavy artillery."

The idea behind this weapon was that large formations of Soviet troops could be attacked breaking up the initial invasion allowing conventional allied forces a 48 hours breathing space to react.

The Davy Crockett came in two calibres, 120mm and 155mm and both used the same warhead. The complete rounds were modified as they were spigot weapons. Mounts included a ground tripod that only weighed 20 lbs, a mount for a Jeep and a set of racks to allow the weapon to be carried in an APC. The 51 lb warhead gave a yield of about 18-20 tons of high explosive. Although that doesn't sound that much, the added radiation would provide the devastation. Anyone within 150m would be killed instantly, within a quarter of a mile you'd get a lethal dose, but that would take a few days to kill.

As the 120mm XM2 launcher only had a range of 1.25 miles the launcher crew could be exposed to serious dose of radiation. For that reason it was advised to fire the shot over an intervening hill or terrain feature. The 155mm XM29 had a longer 2.5 mile range so this wasn't so much of an issue.
Later when the XM28 was withdrawn the remaining XM29 was fitted with a 37mm spotting rifle. However this was rifled, whereas the Davy Crockett round was fired from a smoothbore. This lead to a large degree of inaccuracy, however as you're firing a nuclear weapon with a half mile blast, inaccuracy isn't much of an issue. The Davy Crockett served in Germany with as part of the support companies in so called "Atomic Battle Groups".
The idea of of atomic projectiles received a brief revival in the 60's when the British started looking at tiny nuclear weapons for anti-tank work. But those are for a later date.

The NB-36

Another idea was atomic powered bombers. These could stay airborne for weeks ready to respond to an attack. The first tests were on Convair B-36 Peacemaker. The plane selected was damaged in a tornado. It was fitted with a nuclear reactor in the bomb bay. The forepart of the plane had a 12 ton lead shield installed to protect the crew from radiation. The tests were just to monitor radiation, and the reactor wasn't linked to the engines. The NB-36H as the modified plane flew 47 missions amounting to 215 flight hours. During this period the reactor ran for 89 hours. The projected nuclear powered bomber would have been so heavy it was predicted to need a five kilometre runway, the facilities for the bomber project were constructed apart from the runway. The entire project was cancelled in 1961.

The TV-1 does share somewhat of a resemblance to the APC at the start of this article.

In June of 1954 the army got in on the act. They started working on nuclear powered tanks. The first one on the drawing board was armed with a 105mm gun, fourteen inches of armour, and weighed about 70 tons. Called the TV-1 it had the reactor upfront, which is an interesting choice. On one hand the armour plate would act as shielding to prevent heavier weight needed in areas of the tank where you'd normally have thinner metal. Equally the internal shielding would act as a solid bulwark if the front armour was penetrated. On the down side any round penetrating the reactor would make the area very radioactive very quickly. Operational range was also quite long, running at full output for 500 hours. To further increase the road range an idea of a vehicle with a separate larger reactor was envisioned. Using overhead wires this would provide power for entire columns of tanks meaning they could save their reactors for when they were not in the march.

Just over a year later a new proposal was put forward. Due to improving technology again the vehicle's weight was down to 50 tons estimated, and it was armed with a 90mm smoothbore. Armour was down to 4.6 inches sloped at 60 degrees. But like the earlier tank this one never came to anything.

Image credits:
www.globalsecurity.org, fallout.wikia.com and Wikipedia.com

Not yet Dead

Back in the colonial period India was much larger, it incorporated the countries of Bangladesh and Pakistan. So when I talk of today's soldier, he was born in Hoshiarpur District of Punjab, but he served in a regiment that is now in the Pakistani Army. Fazal Din was born on 1st of July 1921. At the outbreak of the Second World War having just finished his schooling he joined the Indian Army. I've been unable to find out about his career in the army, due entirely to his later exploits, which clog every page of Google. However by 1945 he'd risen to the rank of Acting Naik (Corporal in the West) in the 7th Battalion 10th Baluch Regiment.

Naik Fazal Din

In 1945 the Japanese Army was slowly being defeated on mainland Burma. However even then the Japanese were resisting with all their might. Often Japanese forces would use the terrain to slip around the Allies flank and cut them off. They'd been doing this since the war started, and it had led to the 14th Army developing the system of boxes. Whenever the Japanese cut off a unit, instead of retreating the forces still in contact with each other would dig in covering a 360 degree arc and hold their position. The total control of the air meant that the Allies could be resupplied. One of the first, and most famous battles of this type is the Battle of the Admin Box.

Meiktila was a town that had a slightly cooler climate than the rest of Burma, due entirely to the rivers around the area. The settlement had been battled over in 1942 when the British fought a delaying action allowing a routed Chinese army to get clear of the pursuing Japanese. In 1945 the British were back and pushing on the town. The Japanese had dug in well, and the countryside was littered with bunkers and defensive positions. Using their superiority in armour they began to force the Japanese back, despite losing several tanks to Japanese anti-tank ambushes. On 26th of February 1945 the Allies captured one of the airfields around the town, allowing more troops and fuel to be airlifted in.

The Allies closed in from several sides, and had pushed up to the railway station by the 1st of March, yet the risk of Japanese tank hunters infiltrating in darkness meant the armoured spearhead had to pull back during the night meaning the fierce fighting had to be repeated the day after. Meanwhile the Japanese forces had cut off the lines of supply and had hence isolated the Allied spearhead.

British Soldiers mopping up in Meiktila

During the 2nd of March the operation to clear the town continued. Naik Din was leading his section, they had been accompanied by a tank earlier in the day but had been separated from it. It was at this point they ran into a killing zone, with three Japanese bunkers on one flank, and a fourth on the other. It was the key enemy position in the area and had resisted an earlier attack.

The first hint of trouble was a burst of Japanese machine gun fire and a flurry of grenades. Naik Din immediately charged the nearest bunker and using several grenades he silenced the position. The rest of his section caught up with him and they moved to assault the next bunker, all the while under heavy continuous fire. Then from a near-by red bricked house a group of Japanese emerged. Unable to kill their attackers with fire two Japanese officers had gathered some six men and led them to wipe out Niak Din's section. The section Bren gunner opened fire at the charging Japanese, killing one of the officers and another soldier. Then his magazine ran dry and the gunner was killed by the second Japanese officer wielding his sword. Naik Din was in the process of charging to the rescue of the Bren gunner, when the Bren gunner was killed. The Japanese officer saw Naik Din rushing at him, spun and ran him clear through the chest with his sword. Several witnesses saw the sword point protruding from Niak Din's back. Staggering Naik Din dropped his weapon, and the Japanese officer ripped his sword out of the Indian's chest.

Naik Din wasn't dead though, He grappled with the Japanese, snatching the sword from the startled Japanese officer, then killing the Japanese officer with his own weapon. He then set about the Japanese infantry man, killing two. The second man he'd killed was about to kill one of his own men. Then standing in the middle of the bloody battlefield brandishing the captured sword he yelled encouragement to the men around him, he directed the squad’s sergeant to take over and continue the attack. He returned to the headquarters, insisting on completing his report before he allowed himself to take first aid.
However despite the best efforts of the medics, Naik Fazal Din died shortly after reaching the aid post. On 24th of May 1945, he was awarded the Victoria cross for his actions.

In the overall picture the Japanese had lost the town of Meiktila, however they were now besieging the Allies. Two weeks of fierce fighting carried on, with air supply keeping the Allied forces in the fight. However on the 15th of March the Japanese had begun to close on the landing strip, meaning that planes could no longer land. Casualties had to be evacuated by Auster's from a small makeshift air strip, but supplies had to be parachuted in. Allied forces eventually relieved the defenders of Meiktila around the 24th of March.

Image credits:
www.worcestershireregiment.com, ww2today.com, d.ibtimes.co.uk and www.nam.ac.uk

Enemy of my Enemy

Part one.

At the Age of 18 Josef Gangl had joined the Wehrmacht in 1928. Ever since then he'd been in uniform. Some how, even as an artillery officer, he'd won two Iron Crosses for his action in the war to date. Having served in all the major European theatres (although not Poland). Now at the end of the war he found himself with his troops in an Austrian town. All about him there were SS men who were terrorising the town, shooting anyone they disliked under the guise of calling them a Deserters, and machine gunning any house that dared to display an Austrian flag. At this point Major Josef Gangl refused an order to retreat, and joined the local Austrian resistance. As he was an experienced military officer he was immediately given command of the local area. Last weeks article explained how he came to Castle Itter.

At about 2300 on the 4th SS troops occupied a ridge line and began to take the castle under fire. As this wasn't much of threat Cpt Lee eventually went to sleep. At about dawn on the 5th the tempo of fire increased suddenly, and a anti-tank gun slammed a round into the castle. The shell hit Gen. Maurice Gamelin's room, which luckily he wasn't in at the time. Cpt Lee lept out of bed and rushed to the gatehouse holding a M3 SMG. Almost instantly a second anti-tank gun shell hit and destroyed the Sherman parked outside the gate.

There had been one man in the Sherman, who had been trying to raise American forces on the radio when the shell hit. The crewman jumped out of the tank, and ran for the gate. He'd just reached its cover when the tank exploded. The Waffen SS tried to rush the gatehouse but were stopped by a volley of fire.

The SS troops carried on assaulting, each time being forced back. Michel Clemenceau, aged 72 who was the son of Georges Clemenceau, remained at the barricade next the the gatehouse blazing away at the charging Germans with a captured MP40, quickly reloading before opening fire yet again.
As ammunition began to run low at about midday, ex-Vichy Minister for Sport, and former tennis star Jean Borotra approached Cpt Lee. Earlier in the day he'd volunteered to leap over the castle wall and make a dash through the surrounding SS forces to try and raise help, but Cpt Lee had refused. Jean Borotra again made his offer, with options rapidly running out Cpt Lee relented. Borotra picked his spot and jumped, when he hit the ground he dashed across the dry moat and 40 meters of open ground before reaching cover. Shortly afterwards Cpt Lee spotted a column of US tanks advancing off in the far distance. It was just coincidence, while Borotra had survived he'd not had time to reach anyone.
Cpt Lee worried about the tanks, did they know about the situation at the castle? Or were they treating it like every other German castle they'd found, as a potential German strong point that would need blasting. With this in mind, Cpt Lee, and General Maxime Weygand manned a .30 cal machine gun. They sent a long burst into the trees well in advance of the Sherman tanks.
It worked, just as Cpt Lee had feared the US tankers had regarded the Castle Itter as hostile, and had their guns registered on it. The long burst from what sounded like a .30 cal, that had clearly been deliberately aimed to miss was taken as a signal. The US forces then began to push towards the castle.

The ceaseless attacks by the SS, and the fact the defenders were almost out of ammunition (some guns were down to their last magazine) had forced the defenders back. The SS troops had unslung their Panzerfausts and were lining up to blow the doors of the castle gates in when a salvo of machine guns hit them from behind. The US column had reached the defenders literally in the nick of time.
Over 100 SS troops surrendered.

French Prisoners leaving the Castle.

 Its interesting to note that during the battle, at 0800 the Flensburg Government officially surrendered.
The defenders despite several wounded had only suffered one man killed, Major Josef Gangl, aged 34, had been killed by a sniper.

Image credits.
www.BBC.co.uk

Besotten Jenny

Thanks to Madest (EU server) for mentioning this story.

In the early hours of 2nd of May 1945 two gunshots rang out through the darkness at the Castle Itter in Austria. The castle was lit by candles and lanterns due to lack of fuel for the castle's generator. As the Germans searched for the source of the gunshots they found the body of Eduard Weiter, the ex commander of Dachau Concentration Camp. He'd been killed by a bullet to the heart and one to the head. Some suggest he'd committed suicide, and managed to shoot himself a second time after shooting himself in the heart. Others say he was killed by one of his retinue for deserting from his post as commander of Dachau, which had just been liberated by the Allies. When the Germans tried to bury him in the local churchyard the priest refused to sully his graveyard with the body. In the end his retinue dumped the body into hole in the ground, tossed a few handfuls of dirt on top, and they then fled.

This left the commander of Castle Itter, Sebastian Wimmer, feeling a little worried and concerned. The castle had been transformed into a prisoner camp in 1943, previously it had been the home for the German Association for Combating the Dangers of Tobacco. As a camp, for purely administrative purposes it had been in the hierarchy of Dachau. But as it housed political prisoners who were deemed useful by the Nazi's it was a vastly more pleasant incarceration. About twenty of the guest rooms were converted to cells and the rooms held a large number of French politicians, and their wives. The castle also had a small number of guards and some prisoners from the main camp who acted as menials.

French Detainees

Now Wimmer knew the Allies would be arriving shortly, and his boss had just died on his doorstep. Equally he was, without doubt an SS member. Through the previous weeks he'd seen a steady stream of Nazi party officials using his castle as a staging post as they fled the Allied advance. It was at this point Wimmer decided to join the exodus.
As he fled the prisoners grabbed what weapons had been left behind and decided to prepare to defend themselves. The French had a variety of backgrounds and included the French former Prime Ministers Édouard Daladier and Paul Reynaud. Equally former Commander in Chiefs of France's military Maxime Weygand and Maurice Gamelin were held there. Even some ex-Vichy politicians. Needless to say there were bitter differences between the group. However when faced with an imminent threat these elderly gentlemen stepped forward.

The group had sent out a pair of volunteers to seek help from the nearby Americans. One, Zvonimir Čučković had bluffed his way out of the castle claiming to be on an errand for the commander, he had left the day before Wieters death. Unknown to the castle's inhabitants he'd actually made contact with American forces, who'd sent out a force to liberate the castle. However they quickly realised they'd cross a divisional boundary. Even in modern warfare crossing a unit boundary like that is considered a bad idea, as the chain of command is fragmented and it massively increases the likelihood of friendly fire incidents. For that reason the force was recalled.
The second volunteer was a Czech named Andreas Krobot, who approached the village of Wörgl on the 4th of May. There he found a Wehrmacht force that was attempting to defend the area from roving bands of Waffen SS. It was working with the local Austrian resistance. The motley band was under the command of Major Josef Gangl.

Major Josef Gangl

 Maj Gangl had known of Castle Itter and its status as a camp, and had wanted to free it. However, being short of manpower he was unable to assault the place. The news that the castle was now held by friendly forces altered matters. Knowing he'd have to assault through hostile territory he marched out to find the nearest US forces to surrender and propose a joint rescue attempt. He found such a unit eight miles north, the leading element of the US 12th Armoured Division, which was one of the few American combat units that allowed coloured troops to serve in the front line. The unit was led by Captain Jack Lee.

Captain Jack Lee

The confused situation in the area between the front line of the US forces, and the Castle Itter meant that only one Sherman tank, Cpt Lee's "Besotten Jenny", seven coloured US soldiers, Maj. Gangl's Kubelwagen and a German truck with ten German artillery men arrived at Castle Itter to join the fourteen or so prisoners.
While Maj Gangl was unfailingly polite it appears that Cpt Lee got on Paul Reynaud's neves. After the war Reynaud described Cpt Lee as "Crude in both looks and manners, if Lee is a reflection of America’s policies, Europe is in for a hard time."

With the war about to end, at 0800 the next day, what could go wrong?
Part two.

Image Credits:
www.slate.fr and www.warhistoryonline.com

Eight East

In the cockpit of the jet bomber only faint luminescence comes from the dials. Outside the cockpit it's pitch black. Every 90 seconds the plane banks to avoid any SAM missiles. The powerful SAMS' that could reach its altitude would be moving so fast they'd not be able to track onto the bomber as it jinks its way across the sky. The vast plane levels out from its final bank, and ahead of it, four miles and 33,000 feet below the lights of a city blink away. The pilot adjusts his course slightly lining up for the target point. Between the wings of the bomber is its payload consisting of a single hydrogen bomb. The crew in the back squint at their radar screens, preparing for their radar bombing sight drop on the city ahead. As they approach the drop point, the pilot presses a button to arm the weapon. Shortly, as they reach the exact point required the navigator-plotter will press the second button of the two stage release. The jet bomber will buck upwards freed of the huge weight of its bomb.

The inhabitants of the city below go about their business, most sleeping, no-one aware of the free-fall Hydrogen bomb plummeting towards the point where its pressure switch would trip, utterly destroying their city. The plane turns away, at 140 degrees and climbing its crew await the blast wave that stands a good chance of pitching their bomber into the ground. Equally they have an uncertain future, what of their home country and their families? Some of the bombers lacked enough fuel to make the return trip, their only hope was to get as close to friendly territory as possible and bail out.

The above of course is a training exercise, a city in the United States was the target of a simulated attack by an Avro Vulcan, one of several such planes taking part in the Strategic Air Command's "Bomb Comp". It was designed to promote accurate bombing and practise the skills required for the V-Bombers. Although later when Soviet SAM's improved the V-Bombers lost their anti-flash white paint job and gained a camouflaged pattern and their flight path changed to low level. During the final approach they would climb to 10-11000 feet to release the bomb. The NATO plan for the bomber attack was coordinated between the RAF and SAC. The V-Bomber force would strike targets across western Russia and the Baltics. The attacks were placed to leave corridors for SAC's force to fly through. If the SAC pilots stuck to their routes they'd be flying between the detonations of the RAF's bombs.

There was no Bomb Comp in 1962, entirely due to the Cuban Missile Crisis. During that time the V-Bomber force was at two minute readiness with the crew sitting in their aircraft, ready to go. They were fed sandwiches by their ground crew.
The pilot and others like him had previously flown many training exercises that had looked like the real thing. Often the bomber crews would be given a go order, taking off and flying their courses, not knowing if bombs were falling on their homes behind them. Longitude 8 East was considered the point of no return, if they crossed that they were at war. Luckily the recall code had come every single time. Sometimes it was instantaneously, other times it had come after half an hour of flying. As one pilot recalls, during the Cuban crisis, just before he left for the airfield he said to his wife "If you see us take off, put the kids in the car and drive to the west of Scotland. I think you'll be safe there."

If World War Three had started, nowhere in the UK would have been safe. There was a great deal of planning for Civil Defence in the UK, but most, if not all of it was simply to give the appearance of survivability to prevent panic. The government produced a series of pamphlets called "Protect and Survive" They can be read online here. While the advice is sound, it misses the point that the vast majority of the UK would be blanketed by nuclear bombs, and none of the country would have been survivable.

A demonstration of Protect and Survive

Despite this there was an effort to keep the government alive in some form, and as every government needs information the Royal Observer Corps was tasked to observe Nuclear explosions and report that back to a central post. Of course it's likely these command centres would have been obliterated in the initial exchange. These ROC posts were dotted across the country and each had three men, a phone line and a number of sensors.

Of course the phone line was only buried for about the first 100 yards. The following quote gives a description of the instruments each post had, it was written by an ROC member who served three years in these tiny positions:

"Above ground you have, from left to right, the entrance shaft, with the Ground Zero Indicator mounted next to it. The GZI was basically a third of an oil drum converted into a pinhole camera. It had four small holes in it and the GZI could only be mounted so that the holes faced exactly north, east, south and west. Inside were four "cassettes" of photographic paper which turned dark when exposed to the light of a nuclear detonation, or the headlights of a passing car, which happened at my second post. In the event of a nuclear explosion you wait sixty seconds after the last bang and then climb the ladder and change the cassettes. Good luck with that one.
You next have the cover for the Fixed Survey Meter, which measures external radioactivity. Next to that is the baffle plate for the Bomb Power Indicator, two metal discs about 6 inches in diameter (I thought twelve inches, but only sixish, which may have explained some of my problems with the ladies) about half an inch apart. When the blast from the bomb passes over the post some of it is captured by this and gives a reading on the BPI."

Image credits:
www.film4.com and Fallout 4

Other Credits.
There's several interesting threads on the subject, the one with ROC veterans accounts is here.