2015-02.pdf

(45562 KB) Pobierz
SMASHING THE HINDENBURG LINE 1918
REAL LIFE
IN STALAG
R
BRITAIN’S BEST SELLING MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY
WW2 NERVE CENTRE
‘Q’
aider
R
THE BOLD
VOYAGE OF
HMS DORIS
1915: How One British
Gunboat Attacked
the Ottoman Empire
Chian
e
XXB
Eric Laidler POW 1940-45
Attacks on Britain
Italian Air
AUTUMN 1940
CENTRAL
REVEALED
:
PLUS
morial,
e
Secret Home Counties Base
M
Korean War
celess Blitz,
s Defen
n,
Leicester’
lics at Auctio
ambuster Re
Update,
D
Biggin Hill
your
f
PLUS more o
istory
itary H
Local Mil
CONVOY
RESCUE
SHIPS
FEBRUARY
2015
ISSUE 94 £4.40
1943: How The SS
Stockport Faced the
Atlantic U-Boat Peril
LANCASTER HERO: BOMBER COMMAND’S LAST VC
+
SOE HEROINE SPEAKS
From the
www.britainatwar.com
Should you wish to correspond with any of the
‘Britain at War’
team in particular, you can find them listed below:
Editor:
Andy Saunders
Consultant Editor:
Paul Hamblin
Editorial Correspondents:
Geoff Simpson, Alex Bowers, Mark Khan
Australasia Correspondent:
Ken Wright
Design:
Dan Jarman
EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES:
Britain at War Magazine,
PO Box 380, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 9JA
Tel: +44 (0)1424 752648 or email: contact@britainatwar.com.
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES:
For all aspects of advertising in
‘Britain at War’
Magazine
please contact Alison Sanders, Advertisement Sales Manager
T +44 (0)1780 755131 or email: alison.sanders@keypublishing.com.
el:
GENERAL ENQUIRIES:
For general enquiries and advertising queries please
contact the main office at:
Britain at War Magazine
Key Publishing Ltd
PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1XQ
Tel: +44 (0)1780 755131
Fax: +44 (0)1780 757261
SUBSCRIPTIONS, BINDERS AND BACK ISSUES:
Britain at War,
Key Publishing, PO Box 300, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1NA
Email: orders@keypublishing.com
Editor
A
SUBSCRIPTIONS, BINDERS AND BACK ISSUES
HOTLINE:+44 (0)1780 480404
Or order online at www.britainatwar.com
Executive Chairman:
Richard Cox
Managing Director/Publisher:
Adrian Cox
Commercial Director:
Ann Saundry
Production Manager:
Janet Watkins
Group Marketing Manager:
Martin Steele
‘Britain at War’
Magazine is published on the last Thursday
of the preceeding month by Key Publishing Ltd.
ISSN 1753-3090
Printed by Warner’s (Midland) plc.
Distributed by Seymour Distribution Ltd. (www.seymour.co.uk)
S WE enter 2015 we not only continue
to mark the centenary of the First
World War but also start to reach 75
th
anniversary milestones of events during the
Second World War and, this year, we see the anniversaries of both Dunkirk
and the Battle of Britain. At the same time readers will also note that in this
issue, as in the last, Britain at War marks the passing of yet more veterans
of the Battle of Britain through the obituaries of those we have lost just
recently.
As time marches on it is inevitable that ‘The Few’ get fewer and at the
time of going to press we believe that there are just over 30 living RAF and
allied aircrew veterans of that battle. We thus feel it important to mark
the lives of these remaining survivors and their remarkable contribution
to victory in the air during 1940. Their passing, of course, highlights not
only the loss of a band of remarkable people but also the loss of direct and
tangible links to historic events across all forces and all theatres during
the war of 1939-45. Consequently, it points up the fact that our time is
limited if we are to seek the testimony of those who were there: the
survivors. In many of our recent features we have drawn not only upon
contemporaneous records but also the personal accounts of some of the
remaining veterans of the Second World War. One is thus struck by the
value of such first-hand testimony on the occasions when we can still
access these rich sources of knowledge and information. More than ever,
then, we should value these veterans while they are still among us and
properly salute them when they pass.
Britain at War is proud to tell the stories and the history that such people
made and will continue to mark their often remarkable lives when they
are taken from our midst. Our remembrance should therefore not only be
limited to those who died on active service but also reserved for those who
often did remarkable things, survived the war and have been taken from us
since. The ethos and purpose of this magazine continues to be to remember
them all and to tell the remarkable tales they so often wove.
Finally, should you be interested in the exciting prospect of joining the team at
Britain at War as our Assistant Editor then please find the advert on Page 23.
All newsagents are able to obtain copies of
‘Britain at War’
from
their regional wholesaler. If you experience difficulties in obtaining a
copy please call Seymour on +44 (0)20 7429 4000.
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part and in any form
whatsoever, is strictly prohibited without the prior, written permission
of the Editor. Whilst every care is taken with the material submitted to
‘Britain at War’
Magazine, no responsibility can be accepted for loss
or damage. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily
reflect those of the Editor or Key Publishing Ltd.
Whilst every effort had been made to contact all copyright holders,
the sources of some pictures that may be used are varied and, in
many cases, obscure. The publishers will be glad to make good in
future editions any error or omissions brought to their attention.
The publication of any quotes or illustrations on which clearance has
not been given is unintentional.
We are unable to guarantee the bonafides of any of our advertisers.
Readers are strongly recommended to take their own precautions
before parting with any information or item of value, including, but not
limited to, money, manuscripts, photographs or personal information
in response to any advertisements within this publication.
Andy Saunders
(Editor)
COVER STORY
© Key Publishing Ltd. 2015
On 11 November 1940 the Italian Air Force (Regia
Aeronautica) carried out a bombing sortie against
Britain’s East Coast employing Fiat BR.20 M
bombers escorted by Fiat CR.42 bi-plane fighters.
The formation was intercepted by RAF fighters and
a number of the bombers and their fighter escorts
were shot down just at the point that the Italian
aircrews received a recall signal from their bases
in Belgium. The operation was a disaster for the
Italians and was never repeated. The front cover
photograph depicts the Fiat CR.42 that made a
forced-landing at Orfordness and then tipped onto
its nose in the shingle following an oil leak. This
aircraft was later repaired and test-flown by the RAF
and is now preserved at the RAF Museum, Hendon.
www.britainatwar.com
3
36 BREAKING THE LINE
The remarkable story of taking the St Quentin Canal in
September 1918 — a key factor in breaking Germany’s
infamous Hindenburg Line.
Contents
ISSUE 94
FEBRUARY 2015
FEATURES
20 FRONT LINES
Letters from loved ones were vital to the morale of troops in the
First World War as they were to families back home. We take a
look at the British Postal Museum Archive.
We look at an episode in November 1940 when the Italian Air
Force took part in an ill-fated raid on Britain’s east coast —
bringing with them red wine as well as bombs!
70 FROM POST OFFICE TO PRISONER
Life in the Stalag prisoner camps was tough and not at all like
its usual portrayal in film, as we see in this sobering account of
ordinary Tyneside soldier POW, Jim Laidler.
The extraordinary adventures of HMS
Doris
in 1915 and her
intrepid commander during a little-known episode of the
First World War.
48 THE CHIANTI RAIDERS
80 SIDESHOW IN SYRIA
80
86
102
108
4
www.britainatwar.com
REGULARS
6 BRIEFING ROOM
News, Restorations, Discoveries and Events from around the world.
10 NEWS FEATURES
Christmas Truce commemorations, VC news, Italian SOE operative
and more.
Your letters and emails, including fascinating POW football
medallion charity shop ‘find’.
22 FIELDPOST
44 RAF ON AIR:
A BATTLE OF BRITAIN ‘GUINEA PIG’
The graphic account given to the BBC by an RAF fighter pilot shot
down and badly burned in 1940 — Richard Hillary.
The curator of Churchill’s country home, Chartwell, selects the
object she would reach to save in the event of a fire.
The Great War continues its inexorable global growth as charted in
our monthly series.
In our month-by-month commemoration of medal awards we reach
February 1915 and Lord Ashcroft selects a VC winner.
The events of February 1945 examined.
61 SAVE IN A FIRE
62 FIRST WORLD WAR DIARY
64 GREAT WAR GALLANTRY
78 DATES THAT SHAPED WORLD WAR TWO
SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE
!
A subscription to
Britain at War
offers great savings
on cover price. See pages 100 and 101 for details.
20
93 RECONNAISANCE REPORT
Special interest new books, including fascinating record of
Falklands logistics.
Unexploded bomb at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.
98 IMAGE OF WAR
114 THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN OBJECTS
A poignant farewell message thrown from a railway carriage by a
British ‘Tommy’.
Editor’s Choice
86 Q CENTRAL
Cloaked in secrecy, its existence unknown until quite recently,
this is the fascinating story of Britain’s Second World War
communications nerve-centre at Leighton Buzzard.
Impassioned pleas to the Government for adequate protection
from bomber attack were made by the city of Leicester as it
reeled under the onslaught of the Blitz.
In the relentlessly cruel war of the Atlantic, merchant seamen
faced almost certain death if their ships were sunk — unless
they could be picked up by designated ‘Rescue Ships’.
This is the tale of one, the SS
Stockport.
102 DEFENCELESS
108 BRINGING UP THE REAR
26 BOMBER COMMAND’S LAST HERO
Seventy years ago this month, South African Lancaster pilot
Captain ‘Ted’ Swales scaled peaks of valour and earned Bomber
Command’s last Victoria Cross of the war in a raid on Pforzheim.
www.britainatwar.com
5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin