This week in the War, 24–30 November 1941: Sinking of HMS Barham

Posted on November 30, 2013 by secondbysecond

British battleship HMS Barham explodes, 25 November 1941 [Public domain wiki]

British battleship HMS Barham explodes, 25 November 1941 [Public domain wiki]

This week in the war, on the afternoon of 25 November 1941, the British battleship HMS Barham was torpedoed and sunk by the U-331, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Hans-Dietrich von Tiesenhausen. The event took place in the eastern Mediterranean north of Sollum in western Egypt.

HMS Barham was a World War I vintage battleship, launched on Clydebank on 31 December 1914. She served as a flagship with the Grand Fleet and took part in the Battle of Jutland. She was refitted between the wars, and anti-torpedo blisters were added.

During World War II, she was part of Admiral Cunningham’s eastern Mediterranean battle-squadron, which included her sister ships HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant.

The U-331 penetrated the battle-squadron’s destroyer screen and fired three torpedoes at the Barham. All of them struck home. The ship’s magazine exploded and the Barham sank with great loss of life: over 800 sailors killed.

Once again, the wisdom of Hitler’s decision to send additional U-boats to the Mediterranean was confirmed. The loss of the Barham was a severe blow to British sea power in the Mediterranean, coming so soon after the loss of the Ark Royal.

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This week in the War, 17–23 November 1941: Get Rommel

Posted on November 21, 2013 by secondbysecond

Get Rommel: The Secret British Mission to Kill Hitler's Greatest General-----by Michael Asher (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004) [Photograph by Edith-Mary Smith]

Get Rommel: The Secret British Mission to Kill Hitler’s Greatest General—–by Michael Asher (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004) [Photograph by Edith-Mary Smith]

This week in the war, at midnight on 17 November 1941, Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Keyes of the British SAS was overpowering one of the German guards at the headquarters of Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel in Libya, North Africa.

Keyes was leader of a British special forces team that had been dispatched as part of Operation Flipper to either kill or kidnap the commander of the Afrika Korps. Alas, Rommel was not there. After losing one man killed, the British made good their escape.

Rommel had already left for Rome on 1 November. After berating the German military attaché there, he phoned Jodl in Berlin to complain about the high command’s opposition to an offensive against Tobruk. Afterwards, Rommel enjoyed a holiday in Rome with his wife, Lucie. He did not arrive back in Libya until 18 November, just after the attack on his headquarters had taken place.

The events are described in detail in Michael Asher’s book Get Rommel: The Secret British Mission to Kill Hitler’s Greatest General (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004).

The Desert Generals-----by Correlli Barnett (Castle Books, 2004) [Photograph by Edith-Mary Smith]

The Desert Generals—–by Correlli Barnett (Castle Books, 2004) [Photograph by Edith-Mary Smith]

By coincidence, Operation Crusader, the British operation to push the Afrika Korps and their Italian allies from Libya and relieve besieged Tobruk began on 18 November—the day of Rommel’s return. After the failure of Operation Battleaxe, Britain’s Western Desert Force had been renamed the Eighth Army and placed under the command of Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham.

The fighting lasted into the new year. By late November, Cunningham was affected by the strain and was replaced by Major-General Neil M. Ritchie. After repelling the British attack and mounting a spirited counter-offensive, Rommel pulled back to El Agheila on 5/6 January 1942.

Correlli Barnett gives an account of Operation Crusader in his book The Desert Generals (Castle Books, 2004).

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This week in the War, 10–16 November 1941: Sinking of HMS Ark Royal

Posted on November 14, 2013 by secondbysecond

Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, damaged and listing, 13 November 1941. She sank the following day. [Public domain, wiki]

Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, damaged and listing, 13 November 1941. She sank the following day. [Public domain, wiki]

This week in the war, on 13 November 1941, the pride of the Royal Navy, Britain’s aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, was torpedoed near Gibralter in the Mediterranean by U-81, a U-boat commanded by Kapitanleutnant Friedrich Guggenberger. The following afternoon, a fire broke out in the Ark Royal‘s engine room. The aircraft carrier sank at around 6.00pm.

The sinking was a result of Hitler’s having recently reinforced U-boat strength in the Mediterranean following huge losses experienced by Italian supply convoys destined for North Africa. (Rommel had pleaded for additional U-boats to be sent from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean). When the U-81 delivered its attack, the Ark Royal had been returning from delivering fighter plane reinforcements to the island of Malta. With the Ark Royal gone, the Illustrious and Formidable being repaired in the United States, and the Indomitable having been damaged by running aground, Britain had no modern carriers available for service in the Mediterranean. Without adequate air cover, Malta could no longer be supplied.

The first Ark Royal had been the flagship of the English fleet in Elizabethan times and had fought against the Spanish Armada. The Ark Royal of World War II was a favourite of the British public. The ship had achieved spectacular fame in May 1941 when planes from the Ark Royal had launched the attack against the Bismarck which had led to the German battleship’s eventual sinking.

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Vignette: Bulldog mascots of the US Marine Corps

Posted on November 12, 2013 by secondbysecond

Marine Corps mascot Pfc Chesty XIV nuzzles against outgoing Marine Corps mascot Sgt Chesty XIII [Public domain]

Marine Corps mascot Pfc Chesty XIV nuzzles against outgoing Marine Corps mascot Sgt Chesty XIII [Public domain]

Marine Corps mascot Pfc Chesty XIV nuzzles against outgoing Marine Corps mascot Sgt Chesty XIII.

English bulldogs have been mascots with the Marine Corps since the 1950s. The name ‘Chesty’ is in honour of General Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller.

Pfc Chesty XIV (left) and Sgt Chesty XIII on parade [Public domain]

Pfc Chesty XIV (left) and Sgt Chesty XIII on parade [Public domain]

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In the news: Remembrance Day/Veterans Day—11 November

Posted on November 11, 2013 by secondbysecond

In Flanders Fields---John McCrae [Public domain, wikimedia commons]

[Tijl Vercaemer, Creative Commons 2.0 G]

[Tijl Vercaemer, Creative Commons 2.0 G]

Monday 11 November 2013 — Remembrance Day.

Once again, we gather to remember that eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, when the guns went silent and the Great War ended.

It is time to honour and remember the veterans of all wars and to hear the words of John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields recited beside cenotaphs and war memorials around the world.

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In the news: 238th Anniversary of the US Marine Corps—10 November 2013

Posted on November 10, 2013 by secondbysecond

US Marine Corps Memorial [Public domain]

US Marine Corps Memorial [Public domain]

The United States Marine Corps was created in Philadelphia, two hundred and thirty-eight years ago today, on 10 November 1775.

The memorial shown to the left is dedicated to the men and women of the US Marine Corps who died in defence of their country and is based on the famous photograph of the Marines raising ‘Old Glory’ atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during World War II, 23 February 1945.

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This week in the War, 3–9 November 1941: German blockade runner Odenwald captured by US Navy

Posted on November 7, 2013 by secondbysecond

Crew members of the USS Omaha pose on board the captured German blockade runner Odenwald in the South Atlantic, November 1941 [Public domain, wiki]

Crew members of the USS Omaha pose on board the captured German blockade runner Odenwald in the South Atlantic, November 1941 [Public domain, wiki]

This week in the war, when the United States of America was still neutral, the US Navy challenged and captured the German blockade runner Odenwald. On 6 November 1941, the American light cruiser USS Omaha and the American destroyer USS Somers were sailing in the mid-Atlantic when they encountered a suspicious freighter claiming American registration under the name Wilmoto.

German blockade runner Odenwald (left) and United States cruiser USS Omaha, South Atlantic, November 1941 [Public domain, wiki]

German blockade runner Odenwald (left) and United States cruiser USS Omaha, South Atlantic, November 1941 [Public domain, wiki]

Britain’s naval blockade of Nazi-occupied Europe had been slowly starving Germany of materials essential for its war effort.

When the freighter took evasive action, the Americans challenged her and boarded her. They discovered that the American registration was a ruse and that the freighter was the German merchant vessel Odenwald, a blockade runner en route to German-friendly territory in Europe with a cargo of rubber.

The Odenwald was escorted to Puerto Rico and legally confiscated. Prize money was awarded to all of the crew members of the Omaha and Somers. The top photograph shows some of them posing for the camera on board the ill-fated Odenwald/Wilmoto.

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This week in the War, 27 Oct–2 Nov 1941: The sinking of the Reuben James

Posted on October 30, 2013 by secondbysecond

USS Reuben James in the Hudson River, 1939 [Public domain, wiki]

USS Reuben James in the Hudson River, 1939 [Public domain, wiki]

The week in the war, on 31 October 1941, the American destroyer USS Reuben James (DD-245) was sunk by a German U-boat. The Reuben James was the first American ship to be sunk during World War II as a result of hostile action—and the United States of American had not yet entered the war.

The Reuben James was one of the many four-funnel Clemson-class destroyers built during or soon after WWI (she was launched in 1919) and many of her sister ships had been given to Britain’s Royal Navy in the ‘destroyers in exchange for bases’ deal of September 1940.

The Reuben James was part of the destroyer escort for an eastbound convoy out of Newfoundland and she was torpedoed and sunk when close to Iceland. Of her crew, 115 perished and only 44 survived.

Folk singer Woodie Guthrie immortalized the sinking in his song The Sinking of the Reuben James. (“Tell me, what were their names? Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?”). For a recent rendition, listen to singer George Possley.

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This week in the War, 20–26 October 1941: Assassination in Nantes

Posted on October 23, 2013 by secondbysecond

Information display outside Nantes cathedral, on the spot where Feldkommandant Karl Hotz was assassinated [Author: Adam Bishop, Creative Commons Attr-Share Alike 3.0 Unported]

Information display outside Nantes cathedral, on the spot where Feldkommandant Karl Hotz was assassinated [Author: Adam Bishop, Creative Commons Attr-Share Alike 3.0 Unported]

This week in the war, around 7.30am on 20 October 1941, the Feldkommandant (German military governor) of Nantes, Lieutenant Colonel Karl Hotz, was assassinated by the French Resistance.

The assassination took place at the rue du Roi Albert, close to Nantes cathedral, and was performed by a Resistance hit-squad.

It is thought by some that the killing of Hotz signalled the beginning of armed resistance in the west of France. Ironically, Hotz was liked by the French. He was not a Nazi.

He had worked in Nantes as an engineer in the 1920s and already knew the city well before he arrived and became Feldcommandant in 1940. Many of the citizens of Nantes were horrified by his death (and also realized that the Germans would take reprisals).

Hitler ordered the immediate execution of 100 French hostages. General Otto von Stülpnagel, head of the German occupation forces in France, reduced the number to 50—but declared that an additional 50 would be shot if the culprits were not found.

Maréchal Pétain was ready to hand himself over to the Germans as a hostage. He made a broadcast to the French people to say that an armistice had been signed and that the French had no right to shoot Germans in the back.

Information display, Metro Guy Moquet, Paris [Author: Daniel*D, GNU FDL Creative Commons Attr-Share Alike 3.0 Unported]

Information display, Metro Guy Moquet, Paris [Author: Daniel*D, GNU FDL Creative Commons Attr-Share Alike 3.0 Unported]

Two of the three culprits were finally caught. The owner of the Boîte à Sardines, a restaurant in Nantes, remembered two suspicious men—later identified as Spartaco Guisco and Marcel Bourdarias. They were eventually captured by the Gestapo, tortured, and later executed. A third man who was involved, Gilbert Brustlein, was never found.

The assassination of Karl Hotz is described in detail by Robert Gildea in Chapter 10 his book Marianne in Chains (Metropolitan Books Henry Holt and Company, NY, 2002).

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This week in the War, 13–19 October 1941: Falling stars in Tokyo and Vichy

Posted on October 17, 2013 by secondbysecond

General Maurice Gamelin, 1936 [Public domain/wiki]

General Maurice Gamelin, 1936 [Public domain/wiki]

This week in the war, on 16 October 1941, Vichy head of state Maréchal Philippe Pétain pronounced prison sentences upon those he saw as responsible for the fall of France.

He condemned former prime ministers, Léon Blum and Édouard Daladier, and French general Maurice Gamelin all to life in prison. Earlier, the Maréchal had created the Conseil de Justice Politique, which had subsequently indicted all three of the accused for treason against France. The trial had not yet happened.

The fact that he pronounced sentence before the trial had taken place did not trouble Maréchal Pétain in the slightest.

Japan's Prime Minister Prince Fumimaro Konoe, 1938 [Public domain, wiki]

Japan’s Prime Minister Prince Fumimaro Konoe, 1938 [Public domain, wiki]

Hideki Tojo [Public domain, wiki]

Hideki Tojo [Public domain, wiki]

Also on 16 October 1941, on the opposite side of the world, Japan’s moderate Prime Minister Prince Fumimaro Konoe was replaced by General Hideki Tojo.

Tojo had the support of the Japanese military and advocated stronger methods than his predecessor, who was considered too soft in his dealings with the USA.

During his posting with Japan’s Kwantung Army (in Manchuria), Tojo had commanded the much-feared Kempeitai—Japan’s military police force. Its brutality is considered by many to have exceeded that of the Gestapo.

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