Military and Naval
THE GERMAN DEFENCES AT THE SOMME 1916
On this map of positions as they were on 30 June 1916 and during the assault next day, the British front line appears in red and the German front line in green above it. Mametz and Fricourt are strongly fortified villages immediately behind and part of the German front line complex. Mametz Wood and Contalmaison lie beyond the shallow valley…
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Ptolemy I & II’s Military Forces
When Alexander left Egypt in 331 BC, he appointed two Egyptians, Doloaspis and Petisis, as governors – the second soon resigned – while Cleomenes of Naucratis, a local Greek, was in charge of collecting the tribute and governing Arabia. Four thousand of Alexander’s soldiers were stationed in garrisons at Memphis…
The Western Allies Advance into Germany I
On 1 September 1944, Eisenhower took over day-to-day control of all ground forces from Montgomery, much to the latter’s chagrin. Eisenhower’s plan was for a broad advance into Germany, whereas Montgomery wanted a narrow ‘single thrust’ into the heart of the Reich, spearheaded by his 21st Army Group. On the…
Film: The Longest Day, (1962)
Synopsis The Longest Day is a war epic based on Cornelius Ryan’s book The Longest Day (1959), a comprehensive account of the D-Day landings at Normandy on 6 June 1944, during World War II. Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and adapted from his own book by Ryan, the film recounts…
An Army and Navy for the Czars
IVAN IV AND THE RURIKID DYNASTY Born to the ruling Moscow branch of the Rurikid dynasty, Ivan nominally became grand prince at the age of three after the death of his father, Grand Prince Vasily III. During the regency of Ivan’s mother, Yelena Glinskaya, from 1533 to 1538, ruling circles…
Fighting the Weather and the Enemy in the Arctic II
A Handley Page Hampden TB Mark I sweeps over an armed German supply ship off Egero, Norway (29 January 1943). PQ18 – The First Air Support for the Convoys PQ17’s fate could not be ignored. It was necessary to maintain the link between the Western Allies and the beleaguered Soviet…
Hungarian-Turkish Wars (1437–1526)
The battle of Mohács in 1526. Hungarian National Museum, Budapest Series of wars between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, beginning with the Ottoman occupation of Serbia (1438–1439) and ending with the collapse of Hungary in the Hungarian Civil Wars (1526–1547). The failure of Hungarian king Albrecht’s crusade…