Battle of Carbisdale, 26th April, 1650
James Graham 1st Marquess of Montrose. (1612-1650) Whilst in Denmark, July 1649, Montrose wrote an appeal in the King’s name to the people of Scotland calling on all those loyal to the Crown to rise up against those who had ‘sold their sovereign into death’. The effect of this appeal was to cause ‘acute anxiety’ to Argyll and his government,…
Island-Hopping and Leap-frogging, U.S. Strategies Part I
After the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval facility at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in December 1941, the United States and its allies found themselves in a desperate strategic situation in the Pacific. In May 1942, elements of the U.S. Pacific Fleet turned back the Japanese threat to Australia in a strategic victory at the Battle of the Coral Sea. Even…
USN Air War Vietnam 1964-73 Part IV
On 26 October, the navy lost two A-4Es and an F-8E Crusader to North Vietnamese SAM batteries. The first aircraft…
A “Predator” is born
Gnat 750 Abraham Karem was about to change the world, but he had no idea. It was 1980 in Hacienda…
Third Panzer Division: From the Spree to the Bug 1939 Part IV
The 3. Panzer-Division no longer took part in the fighting for the fortress. Instead, it went around the city with…
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TACTICAL AIR POWER II
For the Israelis the War of Attrition was now becoming serious. It was becoming clear the Egyptians had embarked upon a strategy to gradually erode the Israelis’ military capability. Where that would lead was anyone’s guess. This was not the short game of a swift military campaign. This was the…
Caspian Sea Monsters I
Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeyev Wing-in-ground-effect craft making use of a dynamic air cushion are vehicles operating in close proximity to a supporting surface. This is usually water, but basically it makes no difference whether a WIG craft is operating over water or over land – provided that the ground surface is…
Caspian Sea Monsters II
SM-8 The SM-8 WIG vehicle built in 1967 became the second 1/4th scale analogue of the KM ekranoplan; it reflected the changes introduced into the layout of the KM in the course of its design. The SM-8 became the last in the family of SM experimental flying vehicles, the tests…
The Northman’s Duchy
The entry for the year 885 in the French Annals of St Vaast begins with the chilling phrase: “The rage of the Northmen was let loose upon the land”. It was an all too accurate assessment. As soon as the winter snows had melted, a frenetic series of Viking raids…
Flight Lt. Nicholas Cooke, Cpl. Albert Lippett
“Lanky” Cooke (2nd from left), Phil Hunter DSO (3rd left) standing, with No. 264 Squadron At 14.45hr on 29 May 1940 Sqn Ldr Hunter took off with eleven other Defiants and headed for the Dunkirk pocket. They were flying at about 6,000ft (1 ,800m) with three Hurricane squadrons- 56, 151…
Verdun (1916)
In choosing Verdun as the main German objective for 1916, General Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of the German General Staff and Minister for War, pre-dated the jibe that the British would fight to the last man in the armies of their allies. Falkenhayn reasoned that, for the British, the European…
THE DRIVE FOR THE CAUCASUS
Stalingrad became a symbol of Russian endurance, of German capability. It also had an important strategic significance. If the Germans had cut across the Volga, they would have sliced right through the Russian lines of communication, for oil and for transport. Stalingrad was not an altogether facile quest on Hitler’s…
OPERATION BLAU
DIRECTIVE NO 41: 5th APRIL 1942 There can be no doubt that Hitler himself conceived the plan for the German summer offensive. In addition to designating the principal objectives, he plotted most of the details and even went so far as to dictate the text. His self-confidence as military leader…
THE ISSUE OF CONQUEST
Battle of Somah (1836) A British-Indian force attacks the Ghazni fort during the First Afghan War, 1839 After 1840, the Islamic world split in two: one came under direct European domination, while the other was subject to indirect control exerted through the state apparatus and the protection systems. European military…
British Cruiser Mk III/IV A13 tank series
A13 Mk I Cruiser Mk III A13 Mk II Cruiser Mk IVA CRUISER TANK, Mk III (A13) The A13 was an important step in the development of British tanks since it was the design which initiated the long run of Cruiser tanks with Christie suspension produced in the World War…