The Siege of Kut

From the 7th December in 1915 through to the 29th April 1916 during the throws of the First World War a battle occurred between the British forces and the Ottoman Empire (present day Turkey).

The Siege of Kut, also known as the Siege of Kut Al Amara or the First Battle of Kut involved a British garrison being besieged by the Ottoman Army. The British garrison of Kut was found some 100 miles south of Baghdad in the nook of the meandering Tigris River.

At the outset of the siege the British had an 8,000 strong number of troops, made up of the 6th (Poona) Division, part of the Indian Army. This army was led by the British Major-General Charles Townshend. The Ottoman Army had 11,000 men and was led by the German (Prussian) Field Marshal Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz (who was also a Baron) and the Ottoman Halil Bey.

The British had fallen back to the garrison of Kut on the 3rd December after the Battle of Ctesiphon against the Ottoman Army in November of 1915. This battle saw British lose a lot less men than the Ottoman Turks but also saw the British withdraw with the Ottoman Army in pursuit.

On the 3rd December the British settled into the garrison at Kut where they were dug in strong and well protected. When the Ottomans turned up on the 7th however the overwhelming number of Ottoman soldiers meant the British knew the Ottoman Army could lay siege to the garrison so they let the Cavalry escape south before the siege began.

In the month of December the Ottoman Army made three attacks on the garrison without any success, this led the German leader Field Marshal Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz to change tactics and build siege fortifications to stop the British receiving supplies or escaping.

Reports suggested that one month into the siege the British Major-General Charles Townshend wanted to escape south but was told to stand firm. Major-General Charles Townshend was then to report he only had rations for a month for his men, although there is reason to believe now he had enough for four months on reduced rations.

A relief expedition was sent by the British under General Aylmer in January 1916, this caused the Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad where General Aylmer’s forces were successful in pushing back the Ottoman Army by about ten miles. A few days later Aylmer sent his forces into battle again with the Ottoman Turks, this time called the Battle of Wadi pushing them a further 5 miles back.

General Aylmer decided to embark on a final push on the Ottoman Army but was unsuccessful as the British lost 2,700 men in the battle and this gave the Ottoman Army the strength to push back to earlier positions to keep up the siege. This was the Battle of Hanna.

The Ottoman Army was reinforced with a further 20,000 to 30,000 men to ensure they had enough men to repel any future British forces wishing to relieve the garrison at Kut.

In March further attempts were made by the British to relieve the Kut garrison and all these were unsuccessful. In April the Royal Flying Corps made supply drops to the garrison (believed to be the first supply drops by air in history). This was too little too late for the garrison however the British made a gesture of £2 million to let the British army leave the garrison which was declined and the British therefore surrendered on the 29th April 1916.

Major-General Charles Townshend went to Constantinople as a POW where he was treated well. The rest of the British troops, now numbering 13,000 from all the relief attempts, were forced to march across the desert to Allepo in present day Syria. This march caused many to die as they didn’t have the strength to complete the march.

The Siege of Kut was a decisive victory for the Ottoman Turks however Field Marshal Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz died 2 weeks before the British surrendered from Typhus, although rumours are rife that he may have been poisoned by the people in the Ottoman Army he led.

Reports suggest that in total the British lost 30,000 dead or wounded and 13,000 captured during the siege and the relief operations associated with it while the Ottoman Army lost around 10,000 dead or wounded.

8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars

The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars were active between 1693–1716 and then 1719-1958. From the year 1800 they served in the UK while prior to this they were based in Ireland.

The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars saw battle in both World War One and World War Two.

During World War One the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars were battling it out in the trenches of Northern France and Belgium. In fact along with many British forces the Hussars saw battles in some of the most pivotal and well known battles of the war.

The first battles that the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars saw in the First World War was at the Battle of Givenchy between December 18th and the 22nd December 1914. After this the Hussars were then sent into the Second Battle of Ypres. It was commonly known that the Hussars soldiers were frequently sent to the front to dig new trenches.

In the Second World War the Hussars continued there battle hardened ways by becoming a tank force (today the 7th Armoured Division, The Desert Rats based near the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany). The first battles of the Second World War came in the North Africa campaign where the Hussars in British Stuart tanks fighting in Operation Crusader in relieving the Siege of Tobruk.

Other battles ensued which the Hussars joined and suffered many losses before the final African campaign where the 8th Hussars were pivotal in attacking the minefields at Alamein.

After showing bravery in Africa the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars had some resbite in Cyprus before moving back to England. In England the Hussars were re-equipped with the stronger Cromwell tanks and stayed in England until duty called again and the Hussars were then to become a major part in the Normandy landings.

The Hussars were to land at Le Hamel on Gold Beach and were quickly to be brought into intense fighting around Villers-Bocage before then fighting against the 2nd Panzer Division. The Hussar forces saw many smaller battles as well as also being a major part of Operation Goodward in the march through France.

The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars then battled hard through Belgium and Holland before finally getting over the Rhine into Germany in April 1945. It was in Germany that the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars liberated both the Fallingbostel POW camp and the well known Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp close by.

After working to support the liberated people of the concentration camp and also clear the camp of the thousands of dead bodies the Hussars were then to take part in the Berlin Victory celebrations on the 7th July 1945. Once their work was done the Hussars were based in Itzehoe within Germany until being demobbed in 1946.

General Georgi Zhukov

Georgi Zhukov was one of Stalin’s most important Generals during the Second World War and is most well known for his bullish approach and for being a leader in spearheading the march across Eastern Europe and taking Berlin.

Zhukov came from very humble beginnings as his family were very poor, this did not deter the young Zhukov though.

By the age of 19 in 1915 Zhukov was conscripted in to the Russian army during the First World War. It was in the First World War that he first became known to senior Generals in the Russian army as he twice showed bravery in battle while serving in a Cavalry Regiment. This bravery saw Zhukov rise to the level of a Non-Commissioned Officer and receive the Cross of St. George on two occasions.

After the First World War Zhukov then fought in the Russian Civil War between 1918 and 1921 were he again proved himself in battle and won the Order of the Red Banner.

Zhukov stayed in the Russian army and by 1938 a battle on the Mongolian border between Russian and Japanese troops occurred with Japan pushing forward with over eighty thousand troops. Zhukov commanded the First Soviet Mongolian Group and saw a decisive victory in the battle that made him gain his first Hero of the Soviet Union award.

By 1940 Zhukov was made a General in the Russian army and became pivotal in the role of Russia within the Second World War.

Between 1941 and 1944 Zhukov had mixed fortunes with some awful losses in battles but also being pivotal in the organization of battle formations in the Defense of Leningrad and the Defense of Stalingrad.

It was 1945 where Zhukov became famous around the world as he, along with Generals Konev and Rokossovsky. Stalin saw the competition between all three Generals and said he wanted Berlin to be taken at all costs ahead of the British and Americans. To support this endeavour Zhukov threw the 1st Belorussian Front in to the Vistula-Oder front and on to the Battle of Berlin making important (although very costly casualty wise) decisions to push his forces onto Berlin.

Zhukov became the first commander of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany and was a senior figure in the inspections at the Berlin parade; he even gained the respect of Allied commanders.

After World War Two Zhukov raised to the level of Minister of the Defense of the Soviet Union and died at 77 in the year 1974 while living in Moscow.

Katyn Massacre of 1940

In 1940 a massacre happened that saw around 22,000 Polish soldiers, policemen, intellectuals and other prisoners of war fall victim to the war and killed over the space of a few days and weeks.

Interestingly this massacre was not caused at the hands of the Germans, in fact the Katyn massacre was the work of the Soviet Union forces.

In March 1940 the executive of the NKVD put forward a motion of killing the senior ranks of the Polish forces and intellectuals who could potentially pose the Soviet Union problems. The motion was approved by all including Joseph Stalin and within a month 22,000 Polish men were killed.

Many people do not know much about the Katyn Massacre and this is something I feel strongly about and feel people should know more about.

The massacre happened near a place called Katyn, a small village outside Smolensk in the Soviet Union. Those killed were executed by a shot to the back of the head in the Katyn Forest over the mass grave or in other areas around Smolensk and further afield.

For more information on the Katyn Massacre why not read my full article by clicking here.

Vasily Grigorevich Zaytsev

Vasily Zaytsev, also spelt Zaitsev, (Russian: Василий Григорьевич Зайцев) is a world renowned sniper who was in the Russian Red Army during World War Two.

Vasily Zaytsev was born on the 15th March 1915 in a small town hidden away in the Ural Mountains. After coming of age in 1943 Vasily became a clerk in the Soviet Navy but after hearing about the atrocities of the war in Stalingrad he signed himself up for front line duty.

The army signed Vasily up to the 1047th Rifle Regiment of the 284th Rifle Division of the 62nd Army. Vasily was sent to Stalingrad where he soon made a name for himself as a sniper.

Evidence suggests that between October 1942 and January 1943 Vasily killed 242 Axis soldiers and officers, although many like to believe the number was almost five hundred.

During this same period Vasily was training other soldiers to become snipers in the Metiz factory. The total deaths caused by snipers trained by Vasily is believed to be in the region of three thousand.

Those trained by Zaytsev were called Zaichata which means little hares; this is because the surname Zaytsev comes from the Russian word for Hare.

The reason Vasily ceased being a sniper in 1943 is because he sustained an injury to both eyes from what is believed to have been a mortar attack.

For his part in the battle of Stalingrad Vasily was given the award of Hero of the Soviet Union and finished his military service with the military rank of Captain.

After the Second World War Zaytsev moved to Kiev where he managed a factory, Vasily passed away aged seventy six years in 1991.

Claus von Stauffenberg

Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, more well known simply as Claus von Stauffenberg was an officer in the German army.

Von Stauffenberg was born to a very affluent family in the Kingdom of Bavaria. In fact Stauffenberg was a son of Alfred Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the last Oberhofmarschall of the Kingdom of Württemberg

Before the war started Claus von Stauffenberg was seen to have a dislike to Hitler and his policies and carried on practicing his religion as a Catholic. Stauffenberg also had a dislike for the ill treatment of those of the Jewish faith, but this did not stop him becoming a part of the German Army.

Stauffenbergs life in the armed forces during the war started with the conquest of Poland in 1939 which he did support. This is confirmed by a statement he said: "It is essential that we begin a systemic colonization in Poland. But I have no fear that this will not occur".

After the conquest of Poland a member of his family tried to get von Stauffenberg to join a resistance movement against Hitler but he did not agree because of the pledge he had made to Adolf Hitler upon joining the army.

The next battle he was seen in was the Battle of France in 1940, this battle saw him reorganised witht he 6th Panzer Division and he impressed his superiors so much that he also won the Iron Cross First Class.

Post France von Stauffenberg started to sympathize with resistance groups within the Wehrmacht because of the mass execution of Jews, Ukranians and Russians.

In 1943 von Stauffenberg found hinself in Tunisia with the 10th Panzer Division, he was promoted during this time to the title of Oberstleutnant i.G. During one of the large battles in Tunisia in which Rommel was trying to launch his counter offensive against the Allied forces von Stuaffenberg was travelling by vehicle to his units to direct the offensive but his vehicle was strafed by a British plane and he was badly wounded. His wounds caused him to lose his left eye, his right hand, and 2 fingers on his left hand.

Further awards were given to Stauffenberg because of his courage and wounds, these awards were the Wound Badge in Gold and the German Cross in Gold.

After coming out of the hospital Stauffenberg became unhappy and wished to stage a coup to rid Germany of Hitler, he realised he could not do this alone and joined the resistance undercover while still in the armed forces.

From September 20th 1943 a huge plot was concocted of which Stauffenberg was the main driver. Even though Stauffenberg knew his actions were high treason he carried on his plans to get rid of Hitler.

The plot was for Stauffenberg to blow up Hitler during a meeting at the Wolfs Lair with explosives in his brief case. Stauffenberg went to the meeting and left his case under the meeting table and left the briefing when he was called out for a phone call. The explosion was huge and Stauffenberg thought that Hitler has been killed by the blast. Stauffenberg and other high ranking officers in the Resistance tried to invoke Operation Valkyrie by saying Hitler had been killed, unfortunately a radio message was played saying Hitler was alive and then Hitler was heard on the radio himself.

Stauffenberg and many of his resistance colleagues were caught and Stauffenberg was killed by firing squad on 21 July 1944. It is said that his final words were "Es lebe unser heiliges Deutschland!" in English this means long live our sacred Germany!

The Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 3rd Class

The Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 3rd class was commissioned on 10th October 1943.

The Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 3rd class was awarded to lower officers and those of rank (including partisan units) who showed bravery and intelligent decision making that resulted in the victory of a battle.

In total five thousand seven hundred and thirty eight 3rd class orders were awarded.

The third class order has the star formation of the 2nd and 1st class orders but the stars points are smaller and have a more rounded point. The central plate is silver and also larger than that of the higher 2nd and 1st class orders.

Type 1 – Variation one – Rare and difficult to find. This type is made from a three piece construction with a soldered screw back and seam around the central plate.

Type 2 – Variation one – Scarce, almost rare so not easily available. Same in design to type one but with a two piece construction rather than three. The central plate has a more flush appearance with the star formation of the order.

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