World War Relics

The Siege of Kut

2011-12-25T01:56:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-19T10:41:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-08T08:17:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-02T07:38:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-16T02:00:00.000-07:00

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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The Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2nd Class

2009-03-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

The Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2nd class was commissioned on 10th October 1943.

Unlike the 1st class Order, the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2nd class was awarded to divisional, brigade or battalion commander who managed to make a grand breach or successful raid of enemy lines.

In total two thousand three hundred and thirty nine 2nd class orders were awarded.

The second class order is silver with a gold central plate depicting Bogdan Khmelnitsky.
Type 1 – Variation one – Very rare and normally the demand is a lot higher than availability, also very expensive. Has a screw back with no rivets.

Type 1 – Variation two – Very rare and normally the demand is a lot higher than availability, also very expensive. Has a screw back with two rivets spaced 18mm apart either side of the central screw.

Type 1 – Variation three – Rare and difficult to find. Has a screw back with three, one above and one either side of the screw back.

Type 1 – Variation four – Rare and difficult to find. Has a screw back with two rivets spaced 16mm apart either side of the central screw.

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka

2009-03-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

The Junkers Ju 87 is better know as the Stuka dive bomber, this name is derived from the word Sturzkampfflugzeug which literally translates as dive bomber.

The Junkers Ju 87, Stuka, was a two seater aircraft that was used for ground attacks and entered service with the Luftwaffe in during the Spanish Civil War of 1936.

It is believed that in total six thousand five hundred Stuka dive bombers were built during World War Two, primarily serving the German Luftwaffe but also serving in the Royal Romanian Air Force and the Bulgarian Air Force.

The Stuka was designed by Hermann Pohlmann and was built by the Junkers company based in Dessau, Germany. Junkers was originally a boiler and radiator company started by Hugo Junkers but moved to building planes after the First World War.

During the Second World War the Stuka dive bomber became vulnerable to the precision and speed of more modern fighter planes such as the Hurricane and Spitfire in the Battle of Britain. This did not stop the Stuka becoming legendary for its success at bombing targets and becoming a scary sight to people on the ground.

Both military personnel and civillians became very aware of the Stuka dive bomber and feared it when ever they saw or heard it flying near. When diving the Stuka had a Jericho trumpet which sounded like a wailing siren warning people of its impending attack. The Stuka also had a very distinct look with its inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage.

There were a few types of Stukas built during World War Two, these were

Junkers Ju 87A
Junkers Ju 87B
Junkers Ju 87C
Junkers Ju 87D
Junkers Ju 87G

The most famous Stuka dive bomber pilot was Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Fuhrerbunker

2009-03-01T05:04:00.000-08:00

The Fuhrerbunker is best known as the place where Adolf Hitler committed suicude with his wife Eva Hitler (Eva Anna Paula Braun) at the end of World War Two. Eva killed herself through taking a capsule of cyanide and Hitler shot himself in the mouth while biting into a cyanide capsule.

The Fuhrerbunker, translating as "The Fuhrers Shelter" is a complex of underground bunkers built in Berlin, Germany under the gardens of the old Reich Chancellery building at Wilhelmstraße 77.

The bunker had 30 small rooms in total built in two levels, the first of which was built in 1936 and the second completed in 1943.

The Fuhrerbunker was protected by concrete walls that were around four metres thick so they could withstand a strong barrage and also had exits into the Chancellery and an emergency exit into the Chancellery gardens.

After the war the Soviet Union tried to blow up the Fuhrerbunker but only managed to damage the seperation walls. The East German government tried to blow up the bunker in 1959 but again did not cause much affect.

Images attributed to Das Bundesarchiv

Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st class

2009-02-27T10:59:00.000-08:00

The Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, in Russian Orden "Bogdana Khmel'nitzkovo" was commissioned on 10th October 1943.

The Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st class was awarded to army commanders who directed successful combat campaigns that led to both extremely heavy enemy losses and the liberation of a Soviet town or city.

In total there were only three hundred and twenty three Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st class awarded. Of those that won this award quite a few went on to become a Marshal of the Soviet Union, these included Petr Kirillovich Koshevoi who fought in the battle of Leningrad and Sergei Semenovich Biriuzov who led his unit and helped crush the German 6th army in the siege of Stalingrad.

The first class order is silver with a gold star sitting behind the main award and a gold central plate depicting Bogdan Khmelnitsky.

Type 1 – Variation one – Almost never available and collectors will never have a chance to purchase one. This variation has three rivets on the back either side of the central pin and the serial number below the central screw back.

Type 1 – Variation two – Almost never available and collectors will never have a chance to purchase one. This variation is the same as variation one except that it has two rivets, one on the left and one on the right of the central screw back.

Order of Glory 3rd Class

2009-02-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

The Order of Glory 3rd class, in Russian Orden "Slavy" (Tret'ej Stepeni)), was commissioned on 8th November 1943.

The Order of Glory 3rd class is the lowest of the three Order of Glory classes and is awarded to non commissioned officers and those of the lower classes who have not gained any class Order of Glory and shown further bravery during battle against the enemy.

In total nine hundred and ninety seven thousand eight hundred and fifteen 3rd class orders were awarded.

The first class order is a silver star with a central silver plate showing the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin with a red five pointed star at the top of the tower and a red banner underneath with gold writing saying “Slava” which means glory. On the read there is a raised circle with the letters CCCP (USSR).

Type 1 – Variation one – Extremely rare and will take a collector with funds available a few years to find one. Made of silver with a silver central plate, the edging of the star is raised on both back and front. The ring is part of the medal.

Type 2 – Variation one – Easy to find in small quantity. Made of silver with a silver central plate, the edging of the star is raised on the front only. The serial number on the reverse is hand engraved.

Type 2 – Variation two – Easy to find in small quantity. Made of silver with a silver central plate, the edging of the star is raised on the front only. The serial number on the reverse is not hand engraved.

Station X - Bletchley Park

2009-02-22T08:56:00.000-08:00

Bletchley Park is located in the town of Bletchley in Buckinghamshire.
Bletchley Park looks like any other stately home from the outside, which is what it was until the second World War, but the history of Bletchley Park is significant to the Allies winning World War Two.

During World War Two Bletchley Park was known as Station X as the Goverment Code and Cypher School moved into its grounds to begin the decryption of German Enigma signals after the Polish provided the British with information they had gathered on the German Enigma Machines and Codes.

The stately home itself became too small for the work being carried out so many outposts and huts were created were many people were driven by bus in and out of Bletchley Park to their relevant posts without knowing what any one else was doing. Only those higher up were allowed to know and put all the peices of the jigsaw together to know what the Germans were doing.

Most Enigma messages were being enciphered at Bletchley Park by 1943, even after the Germans added a fourth wheel to the Enigma machine to try and throw any Allied attempts further of the case. The Germans did not know that the British had managed to break the code and understand the messages being relayed.

From 1943 onwards one of the first digital electronic computers called "Colossus" because of its size (it took up a whole hut for itself) began breaking the Lorenz Cipher, Colossus worked so well that ten were in operation by the end of the war.

The ability for the Cryptographers to break the Enigma Code, German "Fish" High Command teleprinter cyphers and the Lorenz cypher and relay the messages in English to the government was one of the most important intelligence undertakings of the war.

By the end of the war in 1945 nine thousand people were working at Bletchley Park with ten thousand having worked there at some point during the war, yet no one ever mentioned what they did at Station X and its secret was kept for decades.

Order of Glory 2nd Class

2009-02-21T00:37:00.000-08:00

The Order of Glory 2nd class, in Russian Orden "Slavy"(Vtoroj Stepeni), was commissioned on 8th November 1943.

The Order of Glory 2nd class is the intermediate of the three Order of Glory classes and is awarded to non commissioned officers and those of the lower classes who have already gained a 3rd class Order of Glory and shown further bravery during battle against the enemy.

In total forty six thousand four hundred and seventy three 2nd class orders were awarded.

The first class order is a silver star with a central gold plate showing the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin with a red five pointed star at the top of the tower and a red banner underneath with gold writing saying “Slava” which means glory. On the read there is a raised circle with the letters CCCP (USSR).

Type 1 – Variation one – Extremely rare and will take a collector with funds available a few years to find one. Made of silver with a gold central plate, the edging of the star is raised on both back and front. The ring is part of the medal.

Type 1 – Variation two – Scarce, almost rare so not easily available. Made of silver with a gold central plate, the edging of the star is raised on the front only. This variation is very thin, no more than 1.5cm at the points of the star. The raised circle on the rear has a thick raised rim with a thinner raised rim inside.

Type 1 – Variation three – Scarce, almost rare so not easily available. This variation is the same as variation two with the exception that it is thicker in appearance with the points of the star being up to 2cm in thickness

Order of Glory 1st class

2009-02-19T10:32:00.000-08:00

The Order of Glory 1st class, Orden "Slavy" (Pervoj Stepeni in Russian, was commissioned on 8th November 1943.

The Order of Glory 1st class is the highest of the three Order of Glory classes and is awarded to non commissioned officers and those of the lower classes who have already gained a 2nd and 3rd class Order of Glory and shown further bravery during battle against the enemy.

In total two thousand six hundred and twenty 1st class orders were awarded.

The first class order is a gold star with a central gold plate showing the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin with a red five pointed star at the top of the tower and a red banner underneath with gold writing saying “Slava” which means glory. On the read there is a raised circle with the letters CCCP (USSR).

The Oder of Glory has an orange ribbon with three black stripes and is called the “Georgian Ribbon” as it is the same as that of the Cross of St. George.

Type 1 – Variation one – Rare and difficult to find. Mostly made of gold and with the numbers stamped on the back.

Order of Kutuzov 3rd Class

2009-02-17T13:04:00.001-08:00

The Order of Kutuzov 3rd class, in Russian Orden "Kutuzova" (Vtoroj Stepeni), was commissioned on 8th February 1943.

This order was awarded to battalion and company commanders for successful counter attacks and skillful leadership in evading enemy attacks at the front line.

In total three thousand three hundred and twenty eight Orders were awarded.

The Orders of Kutuzov 3rd class has a central silver plate with Kutuzov in silver and the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin with a silver five pointed star above. There are five silver points coming from the central plate and a silver five pointed star situated slightly behind the points.

The ribbon for this order is blue with an orange central stripe and orange trim on the outside edges.
Type 1 – Variation one – Almost never available and collectors will never have a chance to purchase one. Variation one was suspended from the top via a ring hole.

Type 2 – Variation one – Very rare and normally the demand is a lot higher than availability, also very expensive. This variation is of a one piece construction and has a screw back.

Exercise Tiger

2009-02-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

Exercise Tiger is the code name of an exercise carried out in 1944 where a full scale rehersal of the D-Day landings was carried out in southern England. In fact there were two military exercises called Exercise Tiger in World War Two, the first was in May 1942 where General Montgomery used 100,000 Allied troops in the exercise in the UK.

The Exercise Tiger of 1944 was actually an eight day practice in the run up to the D-Day Normandy landings so all troops knew what they were doing but for all accounts it was a great failure.

The exercise was carried out over April and May in 1944 at Slapton Sands in South Devon. Prior to the exercise the British government gave notice and cleared 3,000 inhabitants from the local village of Slapton. Many of these inhabitants had never even left the village before.

To protect the exercise area the Royal Navy had two destroyers, two motor gun boats and three motor torpedoe boats were stationed out in the sea, but this protection could not stop what happened on the second day of the exercise, the 28th April.

On the second day a group of German E-Boats spotted and attacked a group of eight ships carrying vehicles using torpedoes . One of these ships was abandoned because of fire, another was sank and a third limped back while on fire and badly damaged.

In total over six hundred U.S personnel died in the exercise because of the E-Boat attack, the majority being from the U.S Army and the rest being from the U.S Navy.

It is believed that a coverup happened after the rehersal so that no one was aware of the deaths that occured and that the D-Day landings would be protected.

A local man, the late Kevin Small bought the rights from the U.S Government to a Sherman tank that was sunk during the E-Boat attacks of the Exercise Tiger rehersals. Mr Small, with the aid of locals, managed to bring the tank to the surface and it now sits on the road behind Slapton Sands beach as a memorial to those that died in the exercise.

Order of Kutuzov 2nd Class

2009-02-14T11:45:00.000-08:00

The Order of Kutuzov 2nd class, in Russian Orden "Kutuzova" (Vtoroj Stepeni), was commissioned on 29th July 1942.

This order was awarded to divisional and brigade commanders for successful counter attacks and skillful leadership in evading enemy attacks at the front line.

In total three thousand three hundred and twenty five Orders were awarded.

The Order of Kutuzov 2nd class has a central white plate with Kutuzov in silver and the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin with a red five pointed star above. There are five silver points coming from the central plate and a silver five pointed star situated slightly behind the points.

The ribbon for this order is blue with orange trim on the outside edges.

Type 1 – Variation one – Almost never available and collectors will never have a chance to purchase one. Variation one was suspended from the top via a ring hole.

Type 2 – Variation one – Extremely rare and will take a collector with funds available a few years to find one. This variation has a screw back with three rivet, these rivets are situated on the back of the silver points coming from the central plate.

Type 2 – Variation two – Extremely rare and will take a collector with funds available a few years to find one. This variation has a screw back with five rivets, one rivet on the rear of each of the silver points coming from the central plate.

Colditz Castle - Oflag IV-C

2009-02-08T06:21:00.000-08:00

Colditz Castle is an eleventh century castle near Leipzig in Germany that became famous on the world stage during World War Two for being an Allied Officers prisoner of war camp that the Germans believed was impregnable and escape proof.

Colditz was called Oflag IV-C when used as a prisoner of war camp from October 31st 1939 through to 1945.

The first to arrive at the camp on 31st October 1939 were 140 Polish officers from the Polish campaign who the Germans would be at risk of escape. By October 1940 British officers from the RAF were then stationed at Colditz.

Within a month the British officers tried their first attempt to escape from the camp which was unsuccessful. By Christmas 1940 the number of Officers in Colditz had risen to 142 made up of 60 Polish officers (the other 80 Polish officers had been moved to another camps), 50 French officers, 30 British officers and 12 Belgium officers.

In April 1941 the Germans belief that Colditz could never be escaped from was found to be untrue when Alain le Ray, a French officer, successfully escaped.

By July 1941 the number of officers imprisoned in Colditz had risen to over 500 and many more unssuccesful escape attempts had been tried by the Dutch, French and British.

In 1943 The German Wermacht decided that Colditz should only house British and American officers so all the officers of other Allied countries were sent to other Oflags across Germany.

By the winter of 1944 Colditz had a population of 254 British and German. In 1945 Germany decided to start bringing prisoners of all types to Colditz and a few Polish and French officers were imprisoned there before 1200 French soldiers were bought into Colditz castle and the town below.

On April 16th 1945 the American army liberated Colditz and the prisoners held within.

Below are the German Kommandants of Colditz through World War Two.

Oberst Schmidt 1939-august 1941
Oberst Glaesche 1 august 1942-13 february 1943
Oberst Prawitt 14 february 1943- 15 april 1945

Below is a map of Colditz Castle created by a British Major stationed there.

Soviet Medals and Orders Collecting

2009-02-07T00:31:00.000-08:00

Before starting to collect Soviet era medals and orders there are a few rules that you need to follow to protect yourself from buying fake items or being caught out from not adhering to laws of other countries.

One of the most important rules regarding collecting Soviet era medals and awards is the fact that it is illegal to purchase Soviet medals and awards in Russia and take them out of the country. Russian law states that it is illegal to remove any item of cultural value over the age of fifty years from the country. Any person caught trying to smuggle cultural items out of Russia no matter the value can be detained in prison.

The second rule is to scrutinise any medal or order that you wish to purchase before doing so. A considerable number of Soviet awards on the market are fakes.

You may think that the dealer selling the item is legitimate but you would be surprised at how many people try to make new fake medals look older by using aging techniques. Even the cheapest original medals available have seen many fake versions flood the market in recent years.

Below are a few guidelines on ensuring you do not get sold a fake item.

Consult knowledgeable people in the Soviet medal field by joining online forums.
Find out realistic prices from reputable sources before parting with your money.
Study any originals you come across carefully to learn just how they feel and look.
Learn some tricks of the trade on how to spot fake items such as looking at the hinge, reviewing numbers on the back (they are usually stamped) and looking at the age of the enamel (older enamel tends to be of better quality).
Finally everyone can tell a good yarn, be sceptical about stories you here on the item in question.

Order of Kutuzov 1st Class

2009-02-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

The Order of Kutuzov 1st class, in Russian Orden "Kutuzova" (Vtoroj Stepeni), was commissioned on 29th July 1942.

This order was awarded to military commanders of armies for successful counter attacks and skillful leadership in evading enemy attacks at the front line.

In total only six hundred and sixty nine Orders of Kutuzov 1st class were awarded.

The Orders of Kutuzov 1st class has a central white plate with Kutuzov in gold and the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin with a red five pointed star above. There are five silver points coming from the central plate and a gold five pointed star situated behind.

The ribbon for this order is blue with an orange central stripe.

Type 1 – Variation one – This version has never been available on the market and never will. Variation one was suspended from the top via a ring hole.

Type 2 – Variation one – Almost never available and collectors will never have a chance to purchase one. This version has a screw back that has a small hole and also three rivets, one at the bottom and two at the top either side of the central star point.

Type 2 – Variation two – Extremely rare and will take a collector with funds available a few years to find one. This version has a screw back and three rivets, one at the bottom and two at the top either side of the central star point.

Gott Mit Uns Belt Buckle

2009-02-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

Gott Mit Uns is a German phrase that means "God with us" and has been used by the German Empire from the 17th century until the end of the Third Reich.

The first registered usage of Gott Mit Uns on a belt buckle is in the first world war where some Prussian enlisted men had the words Gott Mit Uns above a crown on their belt buckle.

By World War Two all enlisted men in the Wehrmacht had the slogan Gott Mit Uns on their belt buckle. The World War Two belt buckles had lost the crown underneath and replaced it with the Reichsadler, an eagle above the swastika, which is the insignia of the Third Reich (1933 - 1945).

Click here to buy War Relics

Today many World War Two collectors seek to purchase these buckles for their historical value and their ornate design depicting the Third Reich.

Below is an aluminium SRM - SchmiedeburgRsgb Mettalwarrenfabrik buckle (dated 1936)

Below is a later M4_110 Steel Josef Feix Sohne (dated 1942)

Operation Pedestal

2009-02-01T03:38:00.000-08:00

In august 1942 the British Royal Navy embarked on an Operation called Operation Pedestal. Operation Pedestal was organised to supply the island of Malta that was quickly running out of supplies.

Malta played a pivotal role in World War Two as the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force used the island as a base to launch attacks on the German Kriegsmarine and Italian Navy as they were trying to bring convoys of supplies to the German and Italian forces fighting in the North Africa campaign.

Malta suffered greatly through 1941 and 1942 as the Axis powers tried to blockade any supplies coming to the island thus causing the island to not have the supplies needed to fight and sustain daily life.

Britain was sending convoys to Malta to sustain the island at any cost and the island only just survived as many convoys suffered heavy losses to German bombers.

The British Admiralty decided that it had to put up an extra effort on convoys to Malta as the chokehold that the axis had on the island was starting to asphyxiate the people who lived and fought there.

Operation Pedestal

The operation involved sixty four Royal Navy warships defending fourteen merchant vessels full of supplies.

The operation started on 2nd August with many Royal Navy warships moving around the Scottish cost to join forces before leaving Scapa Flow with the Merchant vessels. The convoy travelled from the United Kingdom to the Straits where it joined up with Royal Navy Aircraft Carriers for convoy air support.

For the whole convoy all ships kept radio silence to protect the operation they were embarking on.

Passage through the Straits on the 10th August was very quiet with no enemy ships or U-Boats seen in the area.

August 11th

On August 11th the convoy refuelled ready to continue their journey. In total three cruisers and twenty six destroyers were refuelled at sea in the middle of the Mediterrannean.

After refuelling the convoy carried on with its journey but not without incident as German U-Boat U-73 hit HMS Eagle with four torpedoes sinking her with a loss of 160 crew (767 crew survived). Throughout the rest of the day the convoy witnessed many torpedoes and U-Boats in the vicinity as well as air attacks from German bombers of the Luftwaffe which did cause some damage to ships of the convoy but did not sink any of the fleet.

August 12th

August the 12th started without incident but in the day things changed. HMS Ithuriel sank the Italian submarine Cobalto after seeing her surface and ramming her, this did also badly damage the HMS Ithuriel.

The British carriers launched and defense Hawker Hurricanes against nineteen German Junkers Ju 88s, the Hurricanes shot down four bombers for one loss of their own.

Much fighting continued throughout the day with damage caused on both sides. The British destroyers also deployed depth charges to reduce the potential of U-Boat attacks.

In the evening an Italian submarine by the name of Axum successfully torpedoed HMS Nigeria, HMS Cairo and the oil tanker SS Ohio. The Merchant Vessels Empire Hope and Glenorchy were sunk also, Glenorchy lost all hands.

A later attack at around 2130 sunk the Merchant vessel Deucalion and HMS Foresight was sunk not long after by another Italian submarine.

August 13th

The convoy had reached between north Africa and Sicily by now and the attacks intensified with 15 German and Italian torpedoe boats attacking continuously. It was during these attacks that another three merchant vessels were torpedoed and lost.

Later two Italian E-Boats managed to torpedoe HMS Manchester, all crew survived and the Commanding Officer had the HMS Manchester scuttled.

Two waves of German bombers came after this, the first was twleve Junkers Ju 88s that managed to bomb and sink the merchant vessel Waimarama. The second wave came from sixty German Stuka dive bombers that concentrated attacks on the limping SS Ohio, during this wave the Ohio saw a german bomber crash on her deck, an Italian plane bounced of the water and crashed into her and two bombs landing either side of her saw the ship lifted out of the water causing damage to her hull and rupturing her boilers meaning she could move no further.

Other ships were damaged in the attacks and the merchant vessel Dorset was immobilised after her engine room flooded.

Three merchant vessels had continued ahead of the rest of the convoy and managed to reach the Maltese Grand Harbour of Valetta at 6pm in the evening.

HMS Penn was trying to tow the SS Ohio when another wave of attacks ensured and all hands on the SS Ohio abandoned ship after the tow line to HMS Penn snapped and a bomb hit SS Ohio in the same place she was damaged previously.

The crew of the Ohio went back aboard the ship after the attack but another attack of Ju 88s saw Ohio damaged further and she was left limping along at only four knots.

August 14th

The merchant vessel Brisbane Star made it to the Grand Harbour in Malta badly damaged with its bow torn off. The SS Ohio was now being towed by a group of ships with two Royal Navy destroyers running along side her port and stern. The SS Ohio was constantly under air attack with another bomb blowing off her rudder.

August 15th

The SS Ohio finally managed to get into the Grand Harbour at Malta, being towed in by two Royal Navy destroyers (one was HMS Penn) and tug boats. As she was coming in there was a huge crowd cheering and a band playing Rule Britannia.

Operation Pedestal was a strategic victory and success with the delivery of the four merchant vessels and SS Ohio ensuring that Malta was still in the war and had enough supplies (32,000 tonnes) to last for the duration.

Ships in the Convoy

Cruisers:

Rodney
Nelson
Aircraft Carriers:
Eagle (sunk)
Victorious
Indomitable (damaged)
Furious

Cruisers:

Phoebe
Sirius
Charybdis
Nigeria (damaged)
Kenya (damaged)
Manchester (scuttled)
Cairo (sunk)

Destroyers:

Ashanti
Badsworth
Bramham
Bicester
Derwent
Foresight (scuttled)
Fury
Intrepid
Ithuriel
Icarus
Ledbury
Matchless
Pathfinder
Penn
Tartar
Zetland

Merchant Ships

SS Almeria Lykes (sunk)
MV Brisbane Star (damaged, arrived 14 August)
MV Clan Ferguson (sunk)
MV Deucalion (sunk)
MV Dorset (sunk)
MV Empire Hope (sunk)
MV Glenorchy (sunk)
MV Melbourne Star (arrived 13 August)
SS Ohio (damaged beyond repair, arrived 15 August)
MV Port Chalmers (arrived 13 August)
MV Rochester Castle (damaged, arrived 13 August)
United States SS Santa Elisa (sunk)
SS Waimarama (sunk)
MV Wairangi (sunk)

Although successful, Operation Pedestal was seen as a tactical disaster with a toll of nine merchant ships lost, one Royal Navy aircraft carrier, two Royal Navy Cruisers and a Royal Navy Destroyer.

Order of Lenin

2009-01-31T07:05:00.000-08:00

The Order of Lenin, in Russian Орден Ленина was commissioned on 6th April 1930.

The order was awarded to civilians and military personnel who defended the Soviet Union and also gave an outstanding service to strengthening both peace and labour.

In total over four hundred and sixty thousand orders were awarded.

The Order of Lenin came in three different medals, at first it came in Silver between 1930 and 1934, then between 1934 and 1936 the order was made in Gold and after this time it was then made in platinum.

Type 1 – Variation one – Extremely rare and will take a collector with funds available a few years to find one. This Order is silver and has a screw back.

Type 2 – Variation one – Very rare and normally the demand is a lot higher than availability, also very expensive. This order is Gold with a silver head of Lenin in the centre and a screw back.

Type 3 – Variation one – Rare and difficult to find. This order is Gold with a platinum head of Lenin in the centre and a screw back. This variation has the word мондвор on the rear.

Type 3 – Variation two– Scarce, almost rare so not easily available. This order is Gold with a platinum head of Lenin in the centre and a screw back. This variation has the word монетaй двор on the rear.

Type 4 – Variation one – Scarce, almost rare so not easily available. This award has a ring suspension and a ring in the middle of the reverse with a dimple close by.

These variations cover the first two decades but other variations exist.

Tirpitz Battleship

2009-01-29T10:55:00.000-08:00

The Tirpitz was the sister ship to the famous Bismarck. Named after the famous Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz the Tirpitz was a much feared battleship by the Allied forces.

The Tirpitz was ordered on the 14th June 1936 and built by Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven. The Battleship was laid down on 2nd November 1936, launched on 1st April 1939 and commissioned in to service on 25th February 1941.

Spending much of her time in the Fjords of Norway what is interesting about the Tirpitz is that although the Allied forces feared her so much and spent so much of their time trying to stop her from causing any damage, this amazing Bismarck class Battleship never even fired against an enemy ship.

Allied attempts to stop the Tirpitz

Operation Source - 1943

This operation involved a small British X Class midget submarines commanded by Lieutenant Basil Place VC and Lieutenant Donald Cameron. The submarines went through minefields dodging gun defenses and enemy posts before divers cut through netting so the submarines could venture through and place explosive charges under the Tirpitz.

This operation caused extensive damage which took the Germans six months to repair.

Operation Tungsten - 1944

Using aircraft and the Royal Navy the British employed false radio traffic to lull the Germans into thinking a different operation was to happen.

Torpedoe bombers dropped torpedoes, anti submarine bombs and other varieties of explosives to damage the ship. In total three bombers were downed by the Germans but not without the British damaging the Tirpitz again as well as killing 122 of the Tirpitz crew and wounding another 300.

Operations Planet, Brawn, Tiger Claw and Mascot - 1944

All of these operations involved air assaults but they were all cancelled due to bad weather or because the Germans had put up good defenses using smoke screens in the Fjords and having early warning systems to know of the British approach.

Operations Goodwood I, II, III and IV

Again these operations saw low lying cloud hide the Tirpitz from view so the mission were aborted. Only Goodwood III was a success with two direct hits, one from a 500lb bomb.

Operations Paravane, Obviate and Catechsim

These operations finally saw the end to the Tirpitz. The first operation called Paravane saw British bombers fly from the Soviet Union. The Tirpitz had smoke screens coverign her again but this time a bomber loaded with a Barnes Wallis Tallboy bomb hit the bow and made her unseaworthy.

Operation Obviate did not inflict any damage on Tirpitz as cloud cover protected her.

Operation Catechism finally saw the end to the Tirpitz in November 1944, three Barnes Wallis Tallboys hit the Tirpitz blowing a two hundred foot hole in her port side. 1,000 of Tirpitz crew died and she sank in the bay of Håkøybotn.

Order of Alexander Nevsky

2009-01-26T14:01:00.000-08:00

The Order of Alexander Nevsky, in Russian spelt Orden "Aleksandra Nevskovo" was commissioned on the 29th July 1942.

This Order is a military award given to commanders who showed skill and courage in commanding their units whether they were platoons or battalions during the Second World War. In total just over 47,000 Order of Alexander Nevsky medals were awarded.

The Order of Alexander Nevsky is 90% silver supported by a light grey with a strong central red stripe ribbon bar. In total there are three types of this award.

Type 1 – Variation one – Almost never available and collectors will never have a chance to purchase one. This variation has a stick pin and five rivets on the back along with a ring soldered on the top of the point on the top star.

Type 1 – Variation two – Very rare and normally the demand is a lot higher than availability, also very expensive. This variation is the same as variation one except there are only 3 rivets on the back.

Type 1 – Variation three – Rare and difficult to find. This variation is the same as variation one but only has 3 rivets on the back and no stick pin.

Type 2 – Rare and difficult to find. This type has a screwback rather than a stick pin and is made of a three piece construction.

Type 3 – Variation one – Scarce, almost rare so not easily available. This type has a screwback rather than a stick pin and is made of a two piece construction.

Type 3 – Variation two - Almost never available and collectors will never have a chance to purchase one. This variation is the same as variation one except that it is more concave in appearance.

France and Germany Star

2009-01-24T02:27:00.000-08:00

The France and Germany star was awarded to British and commonwealth soldiers who fought in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland or Germany between 6th June 1944 and 8th May 1945. To accomodate the Royal Navy any service by Navy personnell durnig this same time period between the North Sea and Bay of Biscay was included for award of this service medal.

Those who were awarded the France and Germany star were not eligible to be awarded the Atlantic star also, if they happen to be eligible for both they would be awarded an Atlantic clasp instead.

The France and Germany star is made of yellow/gold copper zinc alloy and is no higher than 4.4 cm in height and no wider than 3.8 cm in width.

The France and Germany star is supported by a blue, white and red ribbon. The blue stripes made the outer segment of the ribbon with white stripes seperating the blue stripes from one central red stripe. This ribbon is rumoured to have been designed by King George VI himself.

Battle of the Somme - First Day

2009-01-22T11:05:00.000-08:00

The battle of the Somme is probably the most well known battle to have happened in the last one hundred years. This battle was fought between July and November 1916 and was called the Somme offensive at the time.

The battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of the 1914 to 1918 war causing over one million five hundred thousand casualties.

The first day of the Somme was 1st July 1916 but seven days prior to this day there was a large artillery bombardment of 1.7 million shells (168 shells a minute for seven days) which the British believed would rock the core of the German army and leave little resistance. The truth was that many of the German defenders had survived by staying in deep dugouts throughout the bombardment as they had well built trenches.

While the bombardment was in full flow the British had dug deep mines full of explosives under the German lines ready for zero hour on the first day when the British advance was to start.

The attack at zero hour was to be made by 13 divisions of the British army and 11 divisions of the French army. These forces faced the German second army.

Ten minutes before zero hour on the first day (zero hour was 07:30am) an officer signalled and all the mines were blown. As zero hour struck the British and French climbed out of their trenches with 70 pounds (32kg) of kit and started towards the German lines.

The advance of the British was a huge disaster with many men dying before leaving friendly lines, while the French did have some success by advancing between 1,600 yards to 2,200 yards in different sectors on the day.

The British assualt started to wane in the late afternoon hours due to the numbers lost. Even after all the casualties of the day Lieutenant-General Henry Rawlinson who commanded the British fourth army issued orders at 10:00pm that he wanted the attacks to resume.

In the first day of the Battle of the Somme the British had 19,152 dead and 35,493 wounded while the defending German army suffered 8,000 casualties on the British front. The French had 7,000 casualties.

It took a good few days for the British command to realise the full extent of the disaster experienced on the first day.

Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich

2009-01-19T12:05:00.000-08:00

The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich is a book by William L. Shirer, first published in 1960 the Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich is probably one of the most complete and detailed references of the Third Reich before and during World War Two.

This book is over one thousand two hundred pages in size and every page is full to the brim in information about the Third Reich, so much so that it is probably the most complete historical account of Nazi Germany available.

What sets this book apart from any other book on the Third Reich is the fact that William L. Shirer was actually in Berlin broadcasting for CBS during the Second World War so had first hand knowledge of just what it was like.

If you really want to know exactly what happened to bring rise to the Nazi Germany and exactly how the Third Reich fell this is the book to read.

Manfred von Richthofen - Red Baron

2009-01-18T07:06:00.000-08:00

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen was a German fighter ace of the First World War flying in the Luftstreitkräfte who had 80 confirmed combat kills.

The name Freiherr in his name denotes that he is a German aristocrat of the same title as a Baron of other countries. Manfred von Richthofen flew a red plane throughout World War One and it is because of his aristocracy and his planes colour that he gained the infamous nickname "The Red Baron". In Germany Manfred von Richthofen was known as "Der Rote Kampfflieger" which translates as the Red Fighter Pilot but today he is also known as the Red Baron in Germany "Der Rote Baron".

Manfred von Richthofen was born in Kleinburg, near Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) on the 2nd May 1892. At the age of eleven Manfred started military training, after completing training and of age (1911 when he was 19) Manfred joined an Uhlan cavalry unit.

When World War One broke out Manfred was used as a cavalry reconnaissance officer on both war fronts (France and Russia). Cavalry soon became obsolete in battle during World War One because of barbed wire and the use of machine guns so the Uhlan Cavalry units were disbanded and joined the infantry which made Manfred unhappy.

Because of the disbanding of Cavalry units Manfred put in a transfer request to the Luftstreitkräfte which was accepted. The training Manfred took to become a pilot was from October 1915 to March 1916 where he was then transfered to Kampfgeschwader 2 ("No. 2 Bomber Geschwader"). By July 1916 Manfred had flew on both Western and Eastern fronts making kills but none were credited to him as they fell behind allied lines and there was no way of confirming them.

In August 1916 Manfred met fighter pilot Oswald Boelcke who was touring the Eastern front looking for potential fighters to join his new Jagdstaffel, Jasta 2. Oswald Boelcke liked Manfred and selected him to join the new fighter squadron.

Manfred has his first aeriel combat as a fighter pilot on the 17th September 1916 over Cambria in France where he made his first confirmed kill.

Von Richthofen made his most memorable kill when he fought and downed his most famous enemy pilot the British fighter pilot Major Lanoe Hawker VC. Manfred said that Major Lanoe Hawker VC was the "British Boelcke" referring to his patrol leader and renowned flying ace Oswald Boelcke.

By January 1917 Manfred had made 16 confirmed kills, had won the highest German decoration the Pour le Mérite and took command of Jasta 11.

Von Richthofen had all the Jasta 11 planes painted with red markings for each indiviual in the squadron, with his own Fokker Dr.I plane painted fully red, so that they could all distinguish each other during battle. It was this colouration of his plane that led to the nickname The Red Baron.

On 6th July 1917 the Red Baron was badly injuried during combat, this victory was attributed to Briish fighter ace Captain Donald Cunnell. The Red Baron was hit in the head and forced to land in Wervicq, Belgium, the Red Baron did however return to flying combat in October 1917 although after sustaining this injury did suffer with severe headaches and nausea.

The Red Baron met his demise on 21st April 1918 while flying near the Somme River. It is said that he was pursuing a novice Canadian fighter pilot named Lieutenant Wilfrid "Wop" May and during this pursuit he was hit by a single .303 machine gun round to the chest causing substantial lung and heart damage.

The Red Baron was able to make a quick landing in a field near Vaux-sur-Somme where Australian troops were stationed. Australian soldiers who rushed to the field and found him said he was alive for a few moments before passing on when they found him and that his last word before passing was "Kaputt" which translates as finished.

There were many speculations as to who had shot the Red Baron and Canadian pilot Canadian Captain Arthur "Roy" Brown who had tried to intervene when Manfred von Richthofen was chasing Canadian fighter pilot Lieutenant Wilfrid "Wop" May was credited with the kill. Today it is commonly believed after much extensive research that an unknown Australian soldier on the ground firing a machine gun was the cause for the death of Manfred von Richthofen.

Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron died aged 25 years old (just under two weeks before his 26th birthday).

Cruiser Mk VI Crusader Tank

2009-01-12T14:44:00.000-08:00

The Cruiser tank Mk VI Crusader (A15) was a very important tank in the North Africa campaigns. Built from 1939 by Nuffield Mechanisation and Aero the Crusader tank had a two pounder gun, six pounder gun and one or two Besa MG guns.

The Mk IV Crusader boasted an operational range of three hundred and twenty two kilometres at a top speed of forty two kilometres on road or twenty two kilometres off road. The Crusader has a weight of around twenty tons and was powered by a Nuffield Liberty L-12 340 horse power engine. In total five thousand three hundred Crusader tanks were built, each carrying a crew consisting of a commander, gunner, driver and a loader. Note: the earlier models of the Crusader did not have a loader.

The Crusader tank was faster than any enemy tank which helped it immensely but had the draw back of a smaller armament than its enemy counterparts.

The first campaign that the Crusader saw battle in was Operation Battleaxe but it made its biggest impact in Operation Crusader named after the tank itself where the British 8th Army launched a surprise attack in late 1941 relieving the siege of Tobruck.

Crusader Specifications

Weight - 20 Tons
Length - 5.97 metres
Width - 2.77 metres
Height - 2.24 metres

At the end of the African campaign with the invention of the greater Cromwell and Sherman tanks the Crusader took a more back seat role being used for anti aircraft duties.

Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte

2009-01-11T05:47:00.000-08:00

The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte was the air service for the Imperial German Army of World War One. The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte was actually supposed to only be an over land arm of the German air service of the Great War.

Founded in 1910 the Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte initially the air service was only created for reconnaissance purposes only but throughout World War One other uses for the Luftstreitkräfte were found. These different uses meant the Luftstreitkräfte changed greatly throughout the war due to new aircraft, tactics and the creation of specialist units.

By 1916 the German Generals had created a full array of specialist flying units as shown below.

(AFA) Artillerieflieger-Abteilung

(AFS) Artillerieflieger-Schule

AFP - Armee-Flug-Park

BZ - Ballonzug

Bogohl/BG - Bombengeschwader

Bosta - Bomberstaffel

FFA - Feldflieger Abteilung

FLA - Feldluftschiffer-Abteilung

FestFA - Festungsflieger-Abteilung

FA - Flieger-Abteilung

FA A - Flieger-Abteilung (Artillerie)

FlgBtl - Flieger-Bataillon

FBS - Fliegerbeobachter-Schule

FEA - Fliegerersatz-Abteilung

FS - Fliegerschule

JG - Jagdgeschwader

Jasta - Jagdstaffel

JastaSch - Jagdstaffel-Schule

KEK - Kampfeinsitzerkommando

Kest - Kampfeinsitzerstaffel

Kagohl/KG - Kampfgeschwader

Kasta - Kampfstaffel

Luft - Luftschiff-Truppe

LsBtl - Luftschiffer-Bataillon

Marine - Marine-Flieger

RBZ - Reihenbildzug

Schlasta - Schlachtstaffel

Schusta - Schutzstaffel

World War One saw the advance of aircraft creation for the Luftstreitkräfte, these aircraft were designed and built by Albatros-Flugzeugwerke, Gothaer Waggonfabrik and Fokker.

These planes were designated a letter to show the type of class the plane was as shown below.

A - Unarmed reconnaissance monoplane aircraft

B - Unarmed two-seat biplane, with the observer seated in front of the pilot.

C - Armed two-seat biplane, with the observer seated to the rear of the pilot.

CL - Light two-seater, initially intended as escort fighters - latterly mainly used for ground attack.

D - Doppeldecker - single-seat, armed biplane, but later any fighter

E - Eindecker - armed monoplane - initially included monoplane two-seaters.

Dr - Dreidecker - triplane fighter

G - Grosskampfflugzeug - Large twin engined types, mainly bombers

J - Schlachten - Armoured ground-attack aircraft

N - "C" type aircraft adapted for night bombing

R - Riesenflugzeug - "Giant" aircraft - at least three, up to four or five engines - all serviceable in flight.

For most of the war Luftstreitkräfte planes had the Iron Cross insignia on the side although from March 1918 this changed to a black cross on a white background.

At the end of World War One the Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte had 2709 aircraft, 56 airships and 180 balloons. The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte also reported 3,126 aircraft, 546 balloons and 26 airships lost to Allied forces.

On May 8th 1920 the Luftstreitkräfte was dissolved as part of the Treaty of Varsailles which also saw all aircraft destroyed.

German Prisoner of War Camps WW2

2009-01-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

During the duration of World War Two all sides had their own prisoner of war camps (PoW camps for short). Everyone is well aware of the camps that the German Nazi regime had yet little is ever mentioned of the prisoner of war camps the United States and United Kingdom had with many German soldiers kept in them.

Today I have posted a list of German prisoner of war camps the Nazi regime established in World War Two for keeping soldiers of all allied countries prisoner.

The Nazi regime had different types of prisoner of war camps dependant on the type of allied military personnel kept there as shown below.

Dulag or Durchgangslager (transit camp) – A collection point for POWs prior to reassignment.
Stalag or Stammlager (base camp) – Enlisted personnel POW camps.
Oflag or Offizier-Lager (officer camp) – Officers POW camps.
Stalag Luft or Luftwaffe-Stammlager (Luftwaffe base camp) – Aircrew POW camps administered by the Luftwaffe.
Marlag or Marine-Lager (marine camp) – Navy personnel POW camps.
Milag or Marine-Internierten-Lager (marine internment camp) – Merchant seamen internment camps.
Ilag/Jlag or Internierungslager (internment camp) – Civilian internment camps.

Attached in Excel is a list of all known German prisoner of war camps from World War Two, click here to download the Excel sheet with all the German prisoner of war camps.

Lauri Allan Torni

2009-01-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

Lauri Allan Törni is a famous Finnish soldier who was born in Viipuri, Finland on the 28th May 1919. What makes Lauri Törni so famous is the fact that he is the only soldier to have ever fought in armed forces under the flags of three different countries.

Lauri Törni enlisted in the Finnish army in the Autumn of 1939 when the Soviet Union started the Winter war with Finland. While serving in the Finnish army Lauri Törni was heavily involved in the battle at Lemetti where the Finnish army encircled the Red army and won a decisive battle.

It was from the battle at Lemetti that Lauri showed heroic courage that gave him the opportunity to train as an officer, becoming a 2nd Lieutenant by the time the Winter War finished.

By 1941 when the Red army left Finland Lauri was transfered to the German army to serve with the Waffen-SS although he didn't serve for long and left to go back to Finland. Upon arriving back in his homeland Törni took control of a detachment unit named Detachment Törni where he fought deep behind enemy lines in the Soviet Union in the Continuation War (1941-1944).

At the end of the Continuation War Törni returned to Germany where he embarked on training in sabotage with the Waffen-SS so he would be able to organise a resistance should the Red army try to invade Finland. It was during this time that British troops entered Germany and Lauri surrendered to the British troops.

Lauri was put in a British PoW camp in Germany but he managed to escape after a time. Upon escape Lauri travelled home to Finland where he was arrested for treason for serving in the German army. His sentence for treason was 6 years in prison which ended up being three years (1948) after being pardoned by the Finnish president of the time, President Paasikivi.

Lauri died in 1965 while serving in the American army in Vietnam. It was on a clandestine operation not far from Da Nang the helicopter Lauri Törni was travelling in crashed.

Years of service with each country

1938-1945 (Finnish Army)
1945 (Waffen SS)
1954-1965 (U.S. Army)

Rank at end of military career with each army

Captain (Finland)
Hauptsturmführer (Germany)
Major (USA)

Awards

Iron Cross 2nd Class (Germany)
Mannerheim Cross (Finland)
Bronze Star (USA)
Purple Heart (2) (USA)
Distinguished Flying Cross (USA)

Somme Mud

2009-01-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

In 1916 a young Australian soldier embarked on a voyage that would change his life forever. Private Edward Lynch, like many Australians, joined the Australian army to serve for the motherland of Great Britain in the First World War.

At the age of eighteen, in 1916, Private Lynch set sail for France to join the other troops already fighting in the trenches of the Somme mud of northern France in . By 1919 Private Lynch had become more than a mere grown man, he had grown up in the surroundings of the first mechanised war.

Post World War One Private Lynch wrote of his experiences in the third person, when he tried to get this published he was rejected and told the scars of the Great War were still fresh in the minds of many Australians. The experiences of this soldier lay unread until his death when they were passed to his children, one of which lent it to his friend who got this amazing first hand account of the war published on the families behalf under the title Somme mud.

Somme mud really is a must read for all who are interested in military battles and personal accounts of war. This is such a moving and detailed account of World War One including the infamous battles of the Somme and Paschendale.

Simo Hayha - White Death

2009-01-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

Simo Häyhä is probably the most famous soldier to have ever been in the Finnish army, he is also the most deadly.

Born on December 17, 1905 Simo Häyhä, nicknamed "White death" is one of the most successful snipers in history.

Simo Häyhä was born around the area of Rautjärvi near the present day border of Finland and Russia and joined the Finnish armed forces in 1925 but its was his exploits during the Winter war against the Red army of the Societ Union that bought him fame as a soldier.

During the Winter war temperatures varied from −20 to −40 degrees Celsius, in these extreme temperatures Simo dressed in a full white camouflage suit and armed with a Finnish variation of the Soviet Mosin-Nagant rifle made more than 500 confirmed sniper kills.

The rifle that Simo used also didn't have a telescopic sight as he preferred to use a standard iron sight because telescopic sights can give glare from the sun giving away a snipers position. It is said that Simo used to freeze the snow in front of him so when he made a shot it would not puff up unsettled snow.

Simo Häyhä finished his sniping career on 6th March 1940 when he was shot in the jaw from close range, the bullet went in through his jaw and left from the back of his head. Simo was knocked unconscious by the shot and regained consciousness on 13th March, the day Russia declared peace with Finland.

Simo Häyhä lived till he was 97 and passed away in 2002.

Panzers As Defense

2009-01-03T11:38:00.001-08:00

As Bulgaria sided with Germany during World War Two, which I believe was out of neccessity to protect itself due to being surrounded by countries siding with the Nazi regime, Germany presented around 100 panzer tanks for Bulgarias defense.

These tanks were placed in the ground as defense against Turkey to the south, you could say these were tank pill boxes. Some believe these were actually decoys should Turkey decide to become involved an attack Bulgaria.

For many decades the Bulgarian panzer tanks lay on the land or in unused military barracks collecting rust. Some of them even fell fowl to scrap men who illegally cut parts away to sell at a profit, it is even believed that a Bulgarian officer was caught trying to sell a full Panzer tank to a private German collector.

The Bulgarian authorities realised after much time that these tanks are worth alot of money and decided to collect all the tanks together, the best of which are to be given to the national army museum and the rest to be sold via auction to private collectors.

In total there are 19 mark IV panzer tanks, 6 Stug III's and a Jagdpanzer IV L/48. Some of these Panzers are special because its the first time anyone has seen a Panzer fitted with Soviet T 34 turrets.

It is amazing to think that after over 60 years these tanks are still in great condition, some in full condition, and the Bulgarian government has just saw fit to start to collect and recondition some of these for their national army museum. Ill definately be visiting once they are in the museum on my next visit to Bulgaria!

For The Defense Of Stalingrad Medal

2009-01-01T04:31:00.000-08:00

The For The Defense Of Stalingrad Medal (Russian - За оборону Сталинграда) was issued on the 22nd December 1942 and awarded to all civilians and military who were part of the defense of Stalingrad between July and November 1942.

The defense of Stalingrad started on the 12th July 1942 and lasted until 19th November 1942 with heroic civilians and soldiers of the Red Army fighting for 140 days to stop the city bearing the name of the Soviet leader Stalin from falling into enemy hands.

There are two variations to The For The Defense Of Stalingrad Medal, these are one where the ring is soldered on separately to the medal and one where the ring is part of the medal itself. The medal ribbon for both variations is light grey with a thin red line running down the centre.

There were 759,560 For The Defense Of Stalingrad medals awarded yet they are not rare to find in the present day. The Defense Of Stalingrad medals are usually available to purchase without long delay but are difficult to find in bulk quantity.

Unfortunately you do have to be careful when looking to purchase these medals as many fakes have been made, even though the originals are low in price.

HMS Durban

2008-12-30T03:16:00.000-08:00

Built by Scotts of Greenock in July 1917 and launched on the 29th May 1919 HMS Durban is a Danae-class light cruiser that was commissioned in 1921 so did not make voyage in the first World War.

Between the time of commission and World War Two HMS Durban was stationed in the east around China and the West Indies.

Just before the outbreak of World War Two HMS Durban was recommissioned and went into active service.

In 1939 HMS Durban first saw service as part of a convoy defense between Freetown and Cape of Good Hope before moving being transferred to China Station for service with 5th Cruiser Squadron where HMS Durban was deployed for defense of trade in the South China Sea.

The first quarter of 1940 saw HMS Durban carry out further trade defense in the East Indies before carrying out surveillance in the East Indies on German ships including SS Bitterfeld, SS Franken, SS Rheinland, SS Sonek and SS Wuppertal. In July of 1940 HMS Durban was sent to Singapore for a refit and came back into service in mid August 1940 where she was deployed on trade protection and surveillance duty in China Sea till September. In September HMS Durban joined HM Cruisers Canberra (RAN), Capetown and HM Armed Merchant Cruiser Westralia (RAN) in Hunting Group to search for the German raider Atlantis.

1941 saw HMS Durban carry out trade defense and convoy duties from Freemantle to Singapore.

1942 was a busy year for HMS Durban as she started the year by joining the striking force to reinforce the escort of military convoy DM1. This escort was the first of a series of convoys taking troops to reinforce the

Singapore

garrison after the Japanese invasion of Malaya.

In February 1942 HMS Durban provided escort for convoy MS3 before being relieved by HM Australian Cruiser Canberra off Christmas Island, south of Java. Throughout the rest of February 1942 HMS Durban came under air attack while evacuating RAF personnel, escorting coastal steamers carrying evacuees and escorting merchant ships.

March 1942 saw trade defense in the Indian Ocean although HMS Durban did intercept German SS Doggerbank laying mines off Capetown.

In April 1942 HMS Durban went into repair at a US Naval dockyard in New York. It was October before HMS Durban was able to rejoin active service.

In October 1942 HMS Durban became part of military convoy WS23 in Clyde and left this convoy in November on arrival at Durban. Throughout the rest of November and for the whole of December 1942 HMS Durban saw duty as trade defence in Indian Ocean.

1943 saw HMS Durban spend the first 3 months under refit in Bombay. In April 1943 Durban was deployed in the military convoy MS27 in the Indian Ocean before being redeployed for defence of Persian Gulf convoys on the 10th April. By the 28th April HMS Durban was in Bahrein.

June to September 1943 HMS Durban, based at Kilindini, resumed Indian Ocean convoy defence before being removed from active service in October for the rest of 1943.

In 1944 HMS Durban was refitted at Portsmouth for the special use to be sunk as part of 'GOOSEBERRY' No 5 off Ouistreham to form part of breakwater off Normandy for the D day landings.

By May 27th HMS Durban was at Oban with all other blockships ready to be scuttled as part of the D day breakwater. On 2nd June HMS urban took passage to the Channel ready for convoy but was diverted to Poole due to a 24 hour delay of the landings, this was caused because of the weather.

On 6th June HMS Durban took passge to Ouistreham before being sunk on 9th June to form part of No. 5 GOOSEBERRY breakwater in British Assault Area.

On August 3rd 1944 HMS Durban's hulk was hit by a Torpedo during attacks off Beachhead, although she was already scuttled at this point.

Personally I have a special love for HMS Durban as my grandfather was on active duty throughout World War Two on this ship.

Order of the Red Banner

2008-12-29T03:00:00.000-08:00

The order of the red banner (Russian Орден "Крaсного Знамени") is the first order created by the USSR (Soviet Union). The order of the red banner originally appeared on 16th September 1918 but was not truly established until 1st August 1924.

The first person to ever recieve the order was Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher (Russian: Василий Константинович Блюхер) on 28th September 1918 for his command of the 10,000-strong South Urals Partisan Army during the Russian civil war. In two months Vasily Blyukher marched his troops 1,500km while fighting the white forces.

Other famous individuals to have recevied the order of the red banner are

Georgy Zhukov (3 times)
British spy Kim Philby
Sniper Vasily Zaytsev
Joseph Stalin
Marshal Semyon Timoshenko (5 times)

The order of the red banner was the highest decoration given for courage, honour and valour in military deeds even after other medals were created until the order of Lenin was established on April 6th 1930.

The order was worn on the left breast as a badge, a ribbon was later added that was red with a white central stripe and narrow white stripes on the outside edge of the ribbon.

In total an estimated five hundred and eighty thousand order of the red banner decorations have been given since its inauguration.

For collectors of USSR medals the order is a must but is difficult to get hold of. Even if one does become available they are generally very expensive to purchase because of how rare they are.

Antony Beevor - Stalingrad

2008-12-28T03:14:00.000-08:00

The best book I have ever read about the battle of Stalingrad is that by Antony Beevor. While reading the books five hundred and twelve pages I was gripped and did not want to put the book down.

Every page in this book tells a story, with so much detail included in this book you feel like a Stalingrad historian by the time you have read it. The difference between Stalingrad by Antony Beevor and other Stalingrad books is that it holds much more information while still feeling like light and enjoyable reading.

Antony Beevors book Stalingrad is the international No 1 bestseller for history books on the Stalingrad battle. The book is also the winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, Wolfson Price and Hawthornden Prize.

If your interested in the battle of the Eastern front during World War 2 and especially the battle at Stalingrad then this is certainly the book you need to read on the subject.

Bergen Belsen Liberation

2008-12-26T05:36:00.000-08:00

Towards the end of World War Two the realization of some of the war crimes committed by the Nazi regime came to light when detention and concentration camps were found.

Among those camps was the infamous Bergen Belsen concentration camp. I visited Bergen Belsen in March 2007 as a pilgrimage to see what it must have been like as my late Grandfather was a liberating troop who found the camp in 1945, to read my pilgrimage click here.

My grandfather was stationed with the 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars, although he had had his para training to gain an extra five bob a week in pay.

I know what he witnessed in the 2nd World War really shaped the person he was in life.

Below are his cap badges and dress badge.

SS Obertsturmbannführer Otto Baum

2008-12-24T02:54:00.000-08:00

Otto Baum was born on November 15th 1911 in Stettin bei Hechingen, Hohenzollern. Otto Baum had fairly humble begginings as the son of a Merchant.

Otto Baum went to Agricultural school in Stuttgart, but it was after completing this schooling that Baums life was to change.

In 1934, fresh out of Agricultural school, Baum joined the SS and a year later in 1935 he completed his first classes in SS-Junkerschule Braunschweig, the school for SS officers.

Upon graduating as a SS officer Baum took command as a Zugführer with 5/Germania, this lasted for nearly three years before he became Zugführer with 12.Kompanie in the Regiment "Der Führer" in the year 1938. After a short stint with 12.Kompanie Otto moved to command 7.Kompanie der SS-"Leibstandarte".

While commanding 7.Kompanie der SS-"Leibstandarte" Otto Baum with his Kompanie was annexed to the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). The LSSAH along with Baum and the 7.Kompanie der SS-"Leibstandarte" fought in the invasion of Poland in 1939.

In early 1940 7.Kompanie der SS-"Leibstandarte" along with the rest of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler were moved to the Dutch border ready for the launch of Fall Gelb (Case yellow), the prelude to the invasion of France.

On the day the invasion was launched on the 10th May 1940 the LSSAH with Otto Baum and his 7.Kompanie der SS-"Leibstandarte" crossed the Dutch border and covered 290km in 5 days. On the 14th May after the Netherlands surrendered 7.Kompanie der SS-"Leibstandarte" became part of the reserve for Army Group B.

In March 1941 Baum became Battalionskommandeur for the "Totenkopf" Division where Baum won the German Cross in Gold and the Knight's Cross after much success.

In 1943 Baum was promoted again, this time to command SS-Pz.-Gren-Regt. 5 "Totenkopf". It was during this command in battles through the first quarter of the year that Baum received his Oakleaves.

In March 1944 Baum had a rest in the reserves before commencing battle again in the June when he commanded the 17.SS-Pz.-Gren-Div. "Götz von Berlichingen" for two months. After this Baum took command of SS Das Reich (DR) after the death of SS-Obertsturmbannführer Christian Tychsen. Baum lead the SS Das Reich division until he was relieved by Lammerding. It was during his command of SS Das Reich that Baum was awarded the Swords.

Otto Baum ended the war commanding the 16.SS-Pz.-Gren-Div "RFSS" with the rank of Obertsturmbannführer.

Otto Baum

Born: Nov. 15, 1911 in Stetten-Hechingen
Died: 1998

Awards

Iron Cross 2nd Class: Sept. 12, 1939
Iron Cross 1st Class: June 8, 1940
German Cross in Gold: Dec. 26, 1941
Knights Cross: May 17, 1942
Oakleaves: August 22, 1943 (277)
Swords: September 2, 1944 (95)

Promotions

Untersturmführer: April 20, 1939
Oberstrumführer: June 1, 1940
Hauptsturmführer: November 9, 1941
Standartenführer: January 30, 1944
Sturmbannführer: April 20, 1944
Oberführer: September 17, 1944
Obertsturmbannführer: April 20, 1945

World War One U-Boat

2008-12-21T15:05:00.000-08:00

I thought I would kick off one of my first posts by talking about a World War One U-Boat I found on Google Earth. This U-Boat is either UB122, U122 or U123 and sits on the mud flats of the Medway in Kent, England.

The U-Boat ended up in its location at the end of the first World War when it was sent to England with 25 others. It was either purposefully scuttled or accidently beached on its journey and is still in its resting place today due to its location being very isloated and dangerous to travel to.

I wrote a page on this U-Boat including further specifications on the possible U-Boats it could be. You can visit the page by clicking here.

Image Courtesy of Google Earth

Introduction

2008-12-20T03:49:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Well I thought it was time to start writing my blog about World War 1 and World War 2. This may be true personal accounts I come across, war relics found around the world from bolts to full sized U-Boats and items I have collected to reviews on amazing books, documentaries and films.

Both World Wars shaped the societies of the world in which we live in today. I don't think there are many countries in this world that were not affected by the series of events that started and finished these two world wars.

While I do not condone war I feel we should remember the sacrifices that people gave for our freedom and liberty, we should also try to protect as many relics from this time for future generations to understand just what happened and the impact it had on the people of the time and society today.

I look forward to you taking this journey with me.