Armies
The Armies of Ghana and Songhai
MILITARY ORGANIZATION In mentioning above the numbers of men in, we showed only the size of the imperial forces. The time has come to analyze the structure of these armies, their components, their weapons, their strategy, and even their tactics. Structure In Mali and Songhai, we know for certain, the king who appointed the generals was himself the commander-in-chief of…
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The Siege of Badajoz: March-April 1812
Storming of Badajoz by Chris Collingwood. The last siege of Badajoz conducted by Wellington’s army was typified by a failed main assault on the breech and a successful secondary assault on the castle. The Allies had failed to take Badajoz before, and the lack of an adequate British siege train,…
Captain Darryl Hollands – Steamroller Farm 1943
The previous evening a German counter-offensive had cut the road between El Aroussa and Medjez el Bab. The commander of Y Division, a scratch force holding this sector of the front, had no idea of the enemy’s strength and he decided to probe the area of Steamroller Farm, four and…
Panthers in the Snow I
COUNTERPUNCH by Nicolas Trudgian On 24 December 1944 at HèdrĂ©e, Belgium, General Rose of the 3rd Armored Division put out the warning: there can be no retreat from the German onslaught “or there will be a war to be fought all over again”. His “Spearhead” tankers of Easy Company, 32nd AR, took…
Panthers in the Snow II
M36 90mm Tank Destroyer, 703rd TD Battalion, 3rd Armored Division, near MalemprĂ©, Belgium, 16 December 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge. So the 3rd Armored Division was very close, and arriving just in time, too. There were a hell of a lot of panzers out there.…
Panthers in the Snow III
Major-General Maurice Rose  On the central advance, by midafternoon, Major John Tucker and his task force reached Dochamps without a problem. There they met a peep carrying Lieutenant Colonel Andrew A. Miller, Quartermaster Officer of the 7th Armored Division. He had 25,000 gallons of gasoline and 15,000 rations on the…
Panthers in the Snow IV
December 23, 1944, dawned biting cold but clear. This would be a day of retribution for Allied pilots. The sunshine scattered the Germans into the woods, who knew well what P-47 Thunderbolts and P-38 Lightnings did. The Germans between Hotton and Soy melted into the trees. But they didn’t give…