Biography
February 1945 – Bomber Command’s last VC of the war
Edwin Essery Swales The ever-increasing Mosquito strength was put to good effect on 1/2 February, 1945 when 176 Mosquito sorties were flown on eight separate targets. Ludwigshafen, Mainz, Siegen, Bruckhausen, Hannover, Nuremburg and Berlin were all hit; the latter involving 122 Mosquitoes. Berlin would suffer mercilessly at the hands of the LNSF during the final months of the war and,…
Most Recent
John’s Uneasy Crown
When Richard died in April 1199, the two men who would fight to succeed him were actually together: John was staying with Arthur in Brittany where news of Richard’s death reached them both. It is possible that uncle and nephew had met to pool their grievances against Richard I and…
Prince Rupert
A nephew of Charles I, the son of the king’s sister Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia, Rupert served in the Protestant forces in Europe in the 1630s and was captured at the Battle of Eiberg in 1638. He spent three years in prison before being ransomed by Charles I. In 1642…
Jean Rapp, comte (1771-1821)
At the Battle of Austerlitz, 2 December 1805, Rapp led a charge at the head of the Mamelukes and other Imperial Guard cavalry against a counterattack by the Russian Imperial Guard cavalry. Despite receiving several saber cuts, Rapp repulsed the Russians, capturing many of them, including Prince Repnin shown here.…
Barbarossa, the Pirate Terror of Christendom
The 16th-century Mediterranean was ravaged by brutal pirates called corsairs. When the most feared of all, Barbarossa, allied with the Ottoman Empire, no Christian ship or city was safe. From his base in Algiers, North Africa, Hayreddin Barbarossa terrorized the western Mediterranean in the first half of the 16th century.…
JAMES MCCUDDEN, WORKING-CLASSÂ SUPERMAN
RAF SE5a Hispano Suiza B4891 James McCudden 56 Squadron A Morane Parasol of No. 3 Squadron took off from Auchel for a long recco flight to Valenciennes on 15 December 1915. The crew, Second Lieutenant Charles Edward Tudor-Jones, observer, and pilot Second Lieutenant Alan Victor Hobbs, aged twenty-one, knew full…
Le Tellier(s)
Michel Le Tellier, l (1603–1685) François Le Tellier, (1641–1691) Michel Le Tellier, l (1603–1685) Appointed “Intendant to the Army of Italy” by Louis XIII (September 6, 1640), Le Tellier developed a system of standardized supply that ultimately included extensive use of magazines. This innovation was further advanced and completed by…