United States Army Border Air Patrol

With the end of World War I in 1918, the Air Service, United States Army was largely demobilized. During the demobilization period of 1919, the Regular Army and its air arm answered a call to defend the southern border against raids from Mexico, and to halt smuggling of illegal aliens and narcotics into the United States and weapons from the United States into Mexico.
Background.
Revolution and disorder in Mexico and trouble along the U.S.-Mexican border in March 1913 brought on the hurried organization of the 1st Aero Squadron, the U.S. Army's first tactical unit equipped with airplanes. In 1916 the squadron took part in General Pershing’s Punitive Expedition into Mexico in pursuit of Mexican revolutionist Pancho Villa.
Difficulties along the border continued during World War I while the United States was at war in Europe. Mexican bandits often raided American ranches to secure supplies, cattle, and horses, and in doing so sometimes killed the ranchers. U.S. troops stationed along the border shot raiders as they pursued them into Mexico. The biggest clash came in August 1918, when more than 800 American troops fought some 600 Mexicans near Nogales, Arizona.
Border patrol was one of the many activities being considered for the postwar United States Army Air Service. However, no aviation units had been assigned to duty on the Mexican border, when a large force of Villistas moved northward in June 1919 toward Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico (opposite El Paso, Texas), garrisoned by Mexican government forces. Major General DeRosey C. Cabell, Commanding General of the Army Southern Department, received orders to seal off the border if Villa took Juarez. If the Villistas tired across the border, Cabell was to cross into Mexico, disperse Villa's troops, and withdraw as soon as the safety of El Paso was assured. The general ordered Air Service men and planes from Kelly Field and Ellington Field, Texas, to Fort Bliss, near El Paso, for border patrol.
American troops under Brig. Gen. James B. Erwin, Commander of the El Paso District of the Southern Department, were on alert when about 1,600 of Villa's men attacked Juarez during the night of 14/15 June 1919. Stray fire from across the river killed an American soldier and a civilian, and wounded two other soldiers and four civilians. Around 3,600 U.S. troops crossed into Mexico, quickly dispersed the Villistas, and returned to the American side.
Air Service surveillance mission.
As a result of this incident, Air Service personnel equipped with war surplus Dayton-Wright DH-4 aircraft were ordered to Fort Bliss, Texas, on 15 June. Major Edgar G. Tobin, an ace who had flown with the 103d Aero Squadron in France, inaugurated an aerial patrol on the border on the 19th. By mid-September the force grew to 104 officers, 491 enlisted men, and 67 planes from the 8th Surveillance Squadron, 9th Corps Observation Squadron, 11th Aero Squadron, 90th Aero Squadron and the 96th Aero Squadron.
In the summer of 1919, the Air Service planned to assign at least nine Aero Squadrons and one Airship Company for surveillance of the entire Mexican border from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. The original plan called for two Observation Squadrons (the 9th and 91st) of the Western Department to patrol eastward from Rockwell Field, California, to the California-Arizona line. Three Surveillance Squadrons (the 8th, 90th, and 104th) and four Bombardment Squadrons (the 1lth, 20th, 96th, and 166th) of the Southern Department were to be distributed along the border from Arizona to the Gulf of Mexico.
On 1 July 1919, three surveillance squadrons were organized into the Army Surveillance Group (ASG) headquartered at Kelly Field. In September the four bombardment squadrons formed the 1st Day Bombardment Group, also with headquarters at Kelly Field. In addition the 1st Pursuit Group and its squadrons (27th, 94th, 95th, and 147th) were moved from Selfridge Field, Michigan, to Kelly at the end of August to be available if needed. The three groups (surveillance, day bombardment, and pursuit) comprised the 1st Wing at Kelly. Commanded by Lt. Col. Henry B. Clagett, the 1st Wing became responsible for aerial patrol of the border in the Southern Department. Also in August, work started on a large steel hangar for an airship station at Camp Owen Bierne, Fort Bliss (which later became part of Biggs Field).
Operations.
The Air Service soon scaled down the plan for border patrol. Although minor incidents continued to occur, Pancho Villa never succeeded in rebuilding his forces. The major threat had been dispelled by the time aerial patrol began. From January 1920 on, the mission of the Mexican Border Patrol in the Southern Department was assigned to the 1st Surveillance Group which had moved its headquarters to Fort Bliss and gained an extra squadron, the 12th. The group's squadrons operated in two flights, each patrolling a sector on either side of its operating base.
From the Gulf of Mexico westward, the deployment was as follows:
Western Department Area:
Both the 9th and 91st patrolled from the Pacific Coast at San Diego along the border to Yuma, Arizona.
The border patrol mission started with DH-4s and Curtiss JN-4 Jennies, with both eventually replaced with updated Dayton-Wright DH-4Bs. Most of the first planes were not properly equipped for field service. Not knowing what turn events on the border might take, the Army wanted the planes ready for any eventuality. Colonel James E. Fechet, Air Service Officer at the Southern Department, found it no easy task to obtain bomb racks, machine gun mounts, cameras, and other equipment. There was a delay, for example, in installing synchronized Martin guns because parts supplied with the guns did not fit the planes on the border. The radios on some planes could send only in code and could not do that very well. Compasses were unreliable, maps sketchy and of little use. The country over which the men had to fly was wild and rough and sparsely populated, with few places for safe emergency landings.
Air Service squadrons flew along the border searching for bands of men and reported to the nearest cavalry post how many men they were, where they were, which way they were heading, what they were doing, and how many horses and cattle they had. The timing of the patrols varied so raiders would not know when the next plane would appear.
Airfields.
The patrol bases were hurriedly created. One of the young lieutenants who flew from Marfa Field in the summer of 1919 remembered the flying field as a pasture at the eastern edge of town. Its five hangars were made from canvas. A double row of ten or twelve tents served as officer and enlisted quarters and sheltered flight headquarters and supply. The lieutenant, Stacy C. Hinkle, recalled his tour of duty on the border as “a life of hardship, possible death, starvation pay, and a lonely life without social contacts, in hot, barren desert wastes, tortured by sun, wind, and sand.” The boredom was as bad as the physical hardship and discomfort, the sole recreation being drinking and gambling. Even so, Hinkle thought the airmen better off than the poor fellows at cavalry outposts up and down the border.
Primary airfields used in the Border Patrol mission were:
Secondary airfields used on an as-needed bases, without garrisons, were at Bosque Bonite, Texas; Brownsville, Texas; Candelaria, Texas; Columbus Airfield, New Mexico; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Lajitas, Texas; McAllen, Texas; Wellton, Arizona; Yuma, Arizona. and Zapata, Texas.
Border incidents.
Pilots flying along or near the border were under orders not to cross. But they often got lost and strayed into Mexico. At times they went over deliberately, apparently on the spur of the moment. Occasionally, they crossed to carry out a special assignment.
Addressing the National Congress of Mexico on 1 September 1919, President Venustiano Carranza said U.S. military planes had crossed the frontier several times. While his government had protested, the incursions had been repeated. The Mexican president was probably not aware that one of the flights violating Mexico's sovereignty had been made by the ranking pilot of the U.S. Air Service. Inspecting the border patrol in July 1919, General Billy Mitchell had taken Colonel Selah H.R. "Tommy" Tompkins, 7th Cavalry Commander, for a reconnaissance.
Chihuahua city flyovers.
In fact, the day President Carranza addressed the Mexican Congress, Ignacio Bonillas, Mexican Ambassador to the United States, protested the flight of two Air Service planes over Chihuahua City, during the afternoon of August 28. James B. Stewart, American Consul in Chihuahua, had already reported the incident. Soon Stewart was back with another dispatch and Bonillas was protesting again-more American planes had flown over Chihuahua on 2 September. Two more planes showed up in the morning of the 5th. When Stewart said these incidents embarrassed members of the American colony, Acting Secretary of State William Phillips replied: “War Department
promises to issue strict orders against repetitions.“
Not long afterward, Ambassador Bonillas complained that the crew of an Air Service airplane had fired a machine gun several times while flying over Nogales, Arizona. Some of the shots hit a dwelling across the border in Nogales, Sonora, luckily without injuring anyone. The Mexican government wanted the guilty persons found and punished. Several weeks later the State
Department responded that an Air Service lieutenant was being tried by general court-martial for the shooting.
Candelaria border incursion of 1919.
Another incident protested by the Mexican government began with two Americans getting lost while on a routine flight in the Big Bend area of Texas on Sunday morning, 10 August 1919. When their plane crashed in Mexico they ended up getting kidnapped on 13 August by a Villista desperado named Jesus Renteria. The bandit sent the ransom note to a rancher at Candelaria, along with telegrams which he forced the airmen to write to their fathers and the Secretary of War, the Commanding General of the Southern Department, and the commanding officer of U.S. forces in the Big Bend District. Renteria demanded $15,000 not later than Monday, 18 August, or the two Americans would be killed.
The ransom was paid for one of officers but when Matlack took the remaining $7,500 to get Lieutenant Davis. On the way to the rendezvous he overheard two of Renteria's men talking about killing him and Davis as soon as the rest of the ransom money was paid. At the rendezvous, Matlack pulled a gun, told the Mexicans to tell Renteria to “go to hell,” and rode off with Davis and the money. Avoiding the ambush, Matlack and Davis safely crossed into the United States.
At daybreak on Tuesday, August 19, 1919, Captain Matlack once again crossed the border, this time leading Troops C and K, 8th Cavalry, in pursuit of Renteria and his gang. Air Service planes scouted ahead of the cavalry seeking to spot the bandits. They also gathered information on the condition of the trails and the location of waterholes, and conveyed it to the troops by dropping messages.
Seizure of plane by Mexico.
A few months later another plane landed in Mexico after its crew followed the wrong railroad tracks. Patrolling on Monday, 2 February 1920, 1st Lts. Leroy M. Wolfe and George L. Usher intended to pick up the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad west of Douglas, Arizona, and follow it to Nogales. Visibility was poor and the compass did not work properly. Sighting a railroad, Wolfe and Usher followed it for some time until it ended. Lost and having engine trouble, they landed and were taken into custody by Mexican officials. The tracks they had steered by ran due south instead of west, and had led them to Nacozari, Sonora, seventy-five or eighty miles below the border. Though treated well, Wolfe and Usher were not set free until 2 February. They waited three more days for release of their airplane, shipping it to Douglas by train.
Crash in Baja.
On border patrol with the 9th Corps Observation Squadron, Lts. Frederick Waterhouse and Cecil H. Connolly disappeared after taking off from Calexico Field, California, bound for Rockwell Field, on 20 August 1919. A search begun the next morning gradually extended farther and farther south in Baja California. When three weeks passed with no trace of the missing men, the search ended. A month later it was learned their bodies had been found near Bahía de los Ángeles on the coast of the Gulf of California, 225 miles south of Calexico.
From the evidence that could be gathered, it appeared Waterhouse and Connolly became lost in a rainstorm and hugged the coast of Baja California southward, thinking they were headed north along the Pacific Coast. They landed safely on the beach about twenty miles north of Bahia de Los Angeles. Their sole chance for survival seemed to be staying with the plane until found. Tortured by heat, thirst, and hunger, they waited seventeen days, but the search never reached that far south. Finally two fishermen came along and took them in a canoe to Bahia de Los Angeles. There the Americans were murdered, apparently for the little money they had. Their bodies, buried in the sand, were discovered within a day or two by an American geological survey party and rediscovered a week later by an American mining engineer. The news, however, did not reach Rockwell Field until 13 October. Three days later, a Navy ship, USS Aaron Ward, sailed from San Diego with a group of Army officers to recover the bodies.
Conclusion.
As time went on, air border units spent less time on patrol and more in training with the Army infantry, artillery, and cavalry units. Air Service personnel further practiced aerial gunnery and formation flying, experimented with radio and other signaling systems, located and marked emergency landing fields, and worked to upgrade facilities and equipment.
At first, units tried to cover their sectors every day. Later, the number and seriousness of border violations by Mexicans decreased, and the patrols tapered off. In the autumn of 1920, the schedule for the 1st Surveillance Group called for flights twice a week. When exercises with ground forces or other activities interfered, patrols might be canceled for days or even weeks at a time. Brig. Gen. William Mitchell’s need for men and planes from the border for bombing tests against naval vessels off the Virginia Capes in June 1921 brought border patrol to an end.
Bibliography.
Notes
References


Battle of Fidonisi

The naval Battle of Fidonisi took place on 14 July 1788 (OS) between the fleets of the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) in the area of Snake Island, which in Greek was called Fidonisi (Φιδονήσι). It was a Russian victory.
Events.
On 10 July, the Turkish fleet under Kapudan Pasha (Grand Admiral) Hasan Pasha was seen to the NW by the Russian fleet, which had left Sevastopol under Rear-Admiral Count Voynovitch on 29 June and had reached Tendra on 10 July. After three days of manoeuvering or lying becalmed in sight of one another, the fleets found themselves near the island of Fidonisi, about 100 miles south of Kinburn.
Voynovitch formed a line on the port tack NE and then SE as the wind veered. The Turks bore up and attacked from windward just after 3 pm. The leading Russian ships, the frigates "Berislav" and "Stryela", forced the leading Turks out of line, but were in danger of being cut off until the Russian second-in-command Fyodor Ushakov aboard "Sv. Pavel" closed the gap.
Hasan Pasha then attacked the leading Russian ships, while his Vice- and Rear-Admirals attacked Voynovitch, but his ship damaged, Hasan himself had to leave the line and just before 5 pm the Turks withdrew. They had lost 1 xebec sunk.
Between 15 and 17 July, the Russian and Turkish fleets manoeuvered to the west of the Crimea; on 18 July, the Turks had disappeared. They sailed back to Ochakov but made no attack.
Ships involved.
Russia (Count Voynovitch).
"Preobrazhenie Gospodne" 66 ()

"Sv. Pavel" 66 ()

"Sv. Andrei" 50

"Sv. Georgii" 50

"Legkii" 44

"Perun" 44

"Pobyeda" 44

"Stryela" 44

"Berislav" 40

"Fanagoria" 40

"Kinburn" 40

"Taganrog" 34

24 small craft
Turkey (Hassan el Ghazi).
5 80-gun battleships

12 other battleships

8 frigates

21 xebecs – 1 sunk

3 bombs

Some small craft
In popular culture.
The battle was depicted in the movie "Admiral Ushakov" by Mikhail Romm.


Operation Vigilant Sentinel

Operation Vigilant Sentinel was a response to Saddam Hussein advance of its military forces on the border with Kuwait. The United States deployed the 74th Air Control Squadron to Kuwait on August 24, 1995. The specific battle management functions the 74th Air Control Squadron and its counterparts performed included surveillance, data link management and weapons control. The deploying units were part of a ground theater air control system, consisting of a control reporting element and an air support operations center. The US then deployed 3,500 soldiers to Kuwait in October 1996 as a deterrent to further hostile Iraqi acts toward Kuwait following the expansion of the Iraqi no-fly zones.
Third Army/ARCENT provided command and control for a rapid deployment of a heavy brigade task force. Once more, Iraqi threats were decisively met while ARCENT simultaneously conducted a major training exercise in Egypt, codenamed "BRIGHT STAR 95," involving military forces from 6 other nations. This contingency operation validated critical procedures for deployment, particularly the off-loading of equipment from floating prepositioning ships and its distribution to arriving soldiers. The deployment of a "Fly-Away Package" of key contingency staff also validated procedures for a rapidly deployed command and control group able to conduct combat operations immediately upon arrival.
United States Navy and US Marine Corps combat forces (15th MEU) and active and reserve Military Sealift Command forces responded to Iraqi threats against Jordan and Kuwait. Maritime Pre-positioning Ship Squadron Two sortied from Diego Garcia with equipment for a 17,300-Marine combat force and remained on-station to provide rapid response capability.
Operation Vigilant Sentinel's response quickly convinced Saddam Hussein to withdraw his forces from the Kuwaiti border.


Battle for Lake Tanganyika

The Battle for Lake Tanganyika was a series of naval engagements that took place between elements of the Royal Navy, "Force Publique" and the "Kaiserliche Marine" between December 1915 and July 1916, during the First World War. The intention was to secure control of the strategically important Lake Tanganyika, which had been dominated by German naval units since the beginning of the war. The British forces – consisting of two motor boats named HMS "Mimi" and "Toutou" – were under the command of the eccentric Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Spicer-Simson. The boats were transported to South Africa and from there by railway, by river, and by being dragged through the African jungle, to the lake.
In two short engagements, the small motor boats attacked and defeated two of their German opponents. In the first action, on 26 December 1915 "Kingani" was damaged and captured, becoming . In the second, the small flotilla overwhelmed and sank "Hedwig von Wissmann". The Germans maintained a third large and heavily armed craft on the lake, "Graf von Götzen"; this craft was attacked indecisively by Belgian aircraft and was subsequently scuttled. Developments in the land-based conflict caused the Germans to withdraw from the lake, and control of the surface of Lake Tanganyika passed to the British and Belgians.
Background.
Strategic situation.
Lake Tanganyika lies between what was then the Belgian Congo on the western side and German East Africa on the eastern side. By the start of the war, the Germans had two warships on Lake Tanganyika: the "Hedwig von Wissmann", and the "Kingani". "Hedwig von Wissmann" was quickly armed with four pom-pom guns taken from the scuttled survey ship "Möwe" and sailed out to the port of Lukuga on the Belgian side of the lake, where on 22 August she attacked the Belgian steamer "Alexandre Del Commune", sinking her after two further raids.
This gave the Germans unchallenged superiority on the lake, with their position strengthened further with the sinking of the British African Lakes Corporation's steamer "Cecil Rhodes" in a raid in November 1914. The Germans used their control of the lake to launch an attack on northern Rhodesia, led by Major-General Kurt Wahle. This was beaten back, but further raids on Belgian territory and bombardments of Lukuga convinced the Belgians to support the British.
Despite this undertaking, there was little the Belgians or British could do to challenge the Germans. The Belgians had the components for a large steamer, "Baron Dhanis", which if it could be assembled would be considerably larger than either "Kingani" or "Hedwig von Wissmann", but did not dare to start construction on her while the Germans patrolled the lake for fear that she would be destroyed before she could be launched. The British had sent two 12-pounder guns to arm her with, but with little prospect of being able to launch her, the Belgians were instead using them as shore batteries to defend Lukuga.
German control of the lake was significant for the whole campaign in the central African theatre. While the British could muster troops to the south of the lake, and the Belgians had troops to the north, neither could push into German East Africa because of the risk that the Germans would use their boats to transport troops across the lake, and use them to cut their supply and communications lines.
Lee's plan.
On 21 April 1915, John R. Lee—a big game hunter and veteran of the Second Boer War—arrived at the Admiralty to meet Admiral Sir Henry Jackson. Lee had been in Eastern Africa and had personally observed the German ships on Lake Tanganyika. He also brought the news that the Germans were preparing to launch a new ship from their fortified port of Kigoma. Named "Graf von Götzen", she had been constructed at the Meyer shipyard at Papenburg, disassembled and packed into 5,000 crates and transported to Dar-es-Salaam. From there, she had been brought by rail to Kigoma and assembled in secret. long and displacing , she would cement German control of the lake and allow 800–900 troops to be rapidly transported to any point on the lakeshore to raid into allied territory.
To counter this threat, Lee proposed that motor gunboats be sent to Africa and transported through the interior to the lake. They would be small and highly manoeuvrable, and—if armed with a gun with a range of —could both outrun and outgun the larger German ships. Using small vessels that could be transported intact meant that they could be launched immediately onto the lake, eliminating the risk of their discovery and destruction while being assembled. Sir Henry considered the plan and approved it with the words "It is both the duty and the tradition of the Royal Navy to engage the enemy wherever there is water to float a ship." Jackson passed the task of finalising the details of the operation to his junior, Admiral David Gamble. Gamble appointed Lee second in command of the expedition, and placed Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Spicer-Simson in charge.
Spicer-Simson was a man described by Giles Foden as "a man court-martialled for wrecking his own ships, an inveterate liar and a wearer of skirts." He had reached the rank of lieutenant-commander but had not progressed further owing to a number of mistakes and disasters, which left him in a small office in the Admiralty assigned to helping with the process of transferring merchant seamen into the navy. In 1905, he had come up with the idea of stringing a cable between two destroyers to sweep for periscopes and nearly sank a submarine. He ran another ship aground while testing the defences of Portsmouth Harbour, and later collided with and sank a small boat, killing a man. By the outbreak of war, he was in command of and a small flotilla at Ramsgate. He went ashore to entertain guests at a nearby hotel, from whose windows he watched "Niger" being torpedoed and sank. He had nevertheless commanded a survey vessel on the Gambia River and, due to a shortage of officers, was selected to take command. Lee went out to prepare the way through Africa, while Spicer-Simson assembled 27 men and two motor boats that had been built by John I. Thornycroft & Company to fulfil an order made by the Greek government before the war.
The journey of "Mimi" and "Toutou".
The British naval force consisted of two motor boats. Spicer-Simson suggested they be named "Cat" and "Dog", but the names were rejected by the Admiralty. Spicer-Simson then suggested "Mimi" and "Toutou" as alternatives, which were accepted. As he later explained, these meant "Miaow" and "Bow-wow" in French. Their crews were assembled from acquaintances of Spicer-Simson, or from the ranks of the Royal Naval Reserve. Spicer-Simson proposed a number of improvements to the original design; they were cut down to improve their speed, Maxim guns and a 3-pounder Hotchkiss gun were fitted, though the Hotchkiss had to be fired from a kneeling position, and extra steel linings were added to the petrol tanks. The boats were tested on the Thames on 8 June, where arrangements had been made for "Mimi" to fire a practice shell from her 3-pounder. The shell hit the target, but both gun and gunner flew into the river, as the gun had not been properly bolted to the deck. The boats were loaded aboard on 15 June, along with special trailers and cradles to allow them to be transported by rail or overland, and the expedition's equipment and supplies. Once they arrived in South Africa, they would have to be carried over inland, including the traversing of an mountain range. Meanwhile, on 8 June "Graf von Götzen" was launched on Lake Tanganyika.
The first leg of "Mimi" and "Toutou"′s journey was completed after 17 days at sea and their arrival at the Cape. From Cape Town, they and the men of the expedition travelled north by railway through Bulawayo to Elisabethville, where they arrived on 26 July. After travelling to the railhead at Fungurume, they were detrained and dragged through the bush by teams of oxen and steam tractors to the beginnings of the railway from Sankisia to Bukama. At Bukama, the boats and stores were unloaded and prepared for a voyage down the Lualaba River, where despite running aground several times and being forced to take passage on a Belgian river steamer they completed their journey after sailing through Lake Kisale and arrived at Kabalo on 22 October. From there, a small railway took them to just short of the Belgian port of Lukuga, on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. Here Spicer-Simson met the Belgian army commander, Commandant Stinghlamber, and the naval commander, Commandant Goor, and preparations were made to launch "Mimi" and "Toutou" and to seek out the Germans.
Belgian and German preparations.
The Germans had made use of the loss of the survey ship "Möwe" by taking some of her crew, and men from the merchant ships of the "Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie", and using them to man their ships. The German position on the lake had been further strengthened with the loss of the cruiser in the Rufiji River in July. Guns from "Königsberg" arrived at the German base at Kigoma, and the German naval commander on the lake, Captain Gustav Zimmer, had one of "Königsberg"′s SK L/40 "Schnelladekanone" (i.e. quick-firing gun) mounted on "Götzen". Members of "Königsberg"′s crew also made their way to join his forces, and Zimmer placed former crewmember Lieutenant Job Rosenthal in command of "Kingani". Job Odebrecht commanded "Hedwig", while Zimmer himself commanded "Götzen".
Against this formidable force, the Belgians could only muster a petrol-driven barge armed with two cannon named "Dix-Tonne", a motor boat named "Netta", and a whaler fitted with an outboard motor. Goor hoped to bring into commission the as-yet unassembled "Baron Dhanis", and the hulk of "Alexandre del Commune", which had been sunk early in the war by "Hedwig von Wissmann". Zimmer may have been aware that the British were planning to launch ships on the lake, but he was also concerned that "Baron Dhanis" might be assembled and launched. The "Baron Dhanis" was not necessarily a threat to "Götzen" in port, but he was determined to maintain his freedom of movement on the lake. Lacking concrete information he sent Rosenthal aboard "Kingani" to reconnoitre Lukuga.
The Belgians mounted floatplanes on the lake giving them the ability to observe the German positions and to bomb them.
Battle.
Rosenthal investigates.
Lieutenant Job Rosenthal, commanding "Kingani", made several passes and observed work underway on a new harbour at Kalemie, south of Lukuga, where Spicer-Simson intended to make his base. Still lacking detailed information on the enemy's movements, "Kingani" returned early on the morning of 1 December and attempted to approach the harbour. Rosenthal's vessel was spotted by the shore batteries and driven away, but returned the following night and Rosenthal himself swam to Lukuga to examine the slipways under construction. He also discovered the camps, where the British flag revealed the presence of Spicer-Simson and his expedition. Rosenthal travelled down the railway line and discovered both "Mimi" and "Toutou", and the disassembled parts of "Baron Dhanis". Realising that the threat actually lay in the British vessels, he attempted to return to "Kingani", but was unable to locate her in the dark. He attempted to conceal himself and hoped that "Kingani" would return at nightfall, but was discovered by a Belgian patrol and taken prisoner. While a captive he succeeded in sending a message, with a secret addendum written in urine to Zimmer warning him of what he had seen, but the message did not reach Kigoma for several months.
"Mimi" and "Toutou" are launched.
The slipways at Kalemie were ready by mid-December, and on 22 December "Toutou" was launched onto Lake Tanganyika, with "Mimi" following the next day. Final preparations were made on 24 December, including the fuelling and the fitting of guns, after which brief trials were made. On 26 December, "Kingani" approached Kalemie. Rosenthal's successor – Sub-Lieutenant Junge – had orders to gather information on naval preparations, and at 06:00 in the morning – as Spicer-Simson was conducting morning prayers – she was sighted offshore.
"Kingani" is captured.
"Mimi" and "Toutou" set out of the harbour after "Kingani" had passed by. Unexpectedly finding himself pursued by two motor boats flying the white ensign, Junge ordered that the speed be increased. "Kingani"′s six-pounder gun could only fire forward, however, and the faster and more nimble motor boats were able to close the range and open fire with their three-pounder guns, while avoiding the German's fire. After a short action lasting 11 minutes, "Kingani" was hit on her gun, the shell passing through the gunshield and killing Junge
and two petty officers, Penne and Schwarz. After several more hits, her chief engineer hauled down the colours and the British took possession of her. Junge and four dead crewmembers were buried; one African crewman was allowed to stay on "Kingani" as a stoker and three German and eight Africans were prisoners of war. After a hole in "Kingani"′s hull had been patched, she was taken into service as HMS "Fifi". Spicer-Simson explained that "Fifi" meant "tweet-tweet" in French, and was suggested by the wife of a Belgian officer who had a small caged bird.
Her six-pounder gun was moved to her stern, while one of the 12-pounder guns that had been mounted ashore was fixed to the bows. The Admiralty were impressed by the expedition's achievements, Spicer-Simson was specially promoted to commander from the date of the action, and a message was sent which read "His Majesty The King desires to express his appreciation of the wonderful work carried out by his most remote expedition"; The Colonial Office also expressed its approbation. Zimmer did not immediately send "Hedwig" to investigate the disappearance of "Kingani", possibly being too busy transporting troops and supplies. The storm season in January also made navigation of the lake dangerous for vessels smaller than "Götzen".
"Hedwig" is sunk.
It was not until mid-January that "Hedwig" came to Lukuga to investigate the disappearance of the German ship. By now, Spicer-Simson had been given the repaired Belgian vessel "Delcommune"—now renamed "Vengeur"—to add to his flotilla. Odebrecht scouted close to the shore, keeping clear of the shore batteries that were assumed to have sunk "Kingani", but could not see anything worth reporting. He was ordered back to Lukuga on 8 February, and told to rendezvous with Zimmer on "Götzen" the following day. "Hedwig" was spotted early in the morning and the expedition's forces sallied forth to intercept her. The combined Anglo-Belgian flotilla consisted of "Mimi", "Fifi", "Dix-Tonne", and the whaleboat, "Toutou" having been damaged and still under repair. Odebrecht spotted the approaching vessels, but continued to advance. He initially mistook them for Belgian craft, but the white ensigns revealed that they were British. He continued toward the shore until making a sharp turn to port at 09:30, either attempting to lure them toward "Götzen", or having been fooled by an optical illusion into thinking the approaching vessels were larger than he had first thought. The pursuing vessels chased "Hedwig", with "Fifi" opening fire with her bow-mounted 12-pounder. The recoil stopped her dead in her tracks; Odebrecht used this situation to pull away. "Hedwig" could do to "Fifi"′s , but as "Fifi" fell behind, "Mimi" sped past, firing on the retreating German vessel with her three-pounder gun. The shots missed, but "Hedwig"′s stern guns did not have the range of "Mimi"′s weapon, and Odebrecht was forced to come about and try to hit her with his bow-mounted six-pounder. The two circled for a time, unable to score hits, until "Fifi" closed. Spicer-Simson, commanding aboard "Fifi", was down to three shells on his 12-pounder, and risked being outclassed if "Hedwig" could bring her own six-pounder to bear. At this moment, a shell jammed in "Fifi"′s gun, and in the 20 minutes that it took to clear it, "Hedwig" again pulled away, searching for "Götzen". With her second to last shot, "Fifi" fired again. The shell hit "Hedwig"′s hull, causing flooding, while moments later her last shell hit the engine room, bursting the boiler and killing five African sailors and two Germans. As fires began to spread through the stricken craft Odebrecht gave the order to abandon ship, and set explosive charges to destroy the sinking vessel. (Three of the dead were the engineer and two native stokers in the boiler room; the others were a warrant officer and three natives). Of the remaining ships company, a European stoker and native seaman were slightly wounded when two of the ships boats were hit by shells; Twelve Europeans, including the captain, and eight natives were captured by the British. Besides the 20 survivors the British also captured a large German naval ensign, the first to be taken in the war.
"Götzen" is scuttled.
The flotilla returned to shore with their prisoners, and the following day "Götzen" appeared offshore, steaming slowly past in search of the missing "Hedwig". Alerted, the crews rushed to man their boats, but Spicer-Simson forbade an attack. Shortly afterward, Spicer-Simson left the lake for Stanleyville, in search of a boat to rival "Götzen". He found one such vessel—"St George", a steel boat belonging to the British consul at Banana—and had her dismantled, dragged to Lake Tanganyika and reassembled. By the time he returned in May, the German position on the lake had deteriorated further. The Belgians were about to capture Kigoma and a British force was pushing north toward Bismarckburg. The expedition was to support land operations from the lake, and the flotilla, consisting of "Mimi", "Toutou", "Fifi" and "Vengeur" arrived off Bismarckburg on 5 June. Finding the harbour defended by a fort, Spicer-Simson decided not to attack, and withdrew to Kituta. This allowed the German forces to escape in a fleet of dhows, an act which provoked the anger of the army commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Murray. The naval expeditionary force remained at Bismarckburg, where Spicer-Simson was chastened to learn that the fort's guns were in fact wooden dummies.
Meanwhile, the British had provided the Belgians with four Short Type 827 floatplanes to attack "Götzen" at Kigoma. Several bombing runs were made, but unbeknownst to either the British or the Belgians, Zimmer had been ordered by his commanding officer—Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck—to remove most of "Götzen"′s armament, including the autocannon taken from "Königsberg", and send them to be used by the army in the field. Wooden dummies were mounted to maintain the illusion of a heavily armed ship. Kigoma fell to General Charles Tombeur′s forces on 28 July, during the Tabora Offensive, but "Götzen" was already gone. The Germans had sailed the ship to the south of Kigoma Bay and, after having her engines thoroughly greased in case there should be need to make use of her again, filled her with sand and carefully scuttled her on 26 July in a depth of 20 m near the banks of the Katabe Bay (Belgian designation: Baie de l’éléphant; British designation: Bangwe Bay) at the Position 04° 54' 05" S; 029° 36' 12" E.
Aftermath.
Anglo-Belgian control of Lake Tanganyika was secured by mid-1916, though the war in Africa dragged on for another two years. Most of the men of the naval expedition returned to Britain, where Spicer-Simson was awarded the Distinguished Service Order but was reprimanded for some of his antagonistic behaviour toward his Belgian allies and was not given another command. The Belgians for their part appointed him a Commander of the Order of the Crown, and awarded him the Croix de guerre. The exploits on Lake Tanganyika caught the public imagination, and were adapted by C. S. Forester for his book "The African Queen", later made into the film "The African Queen", directed by John Huston. A British naval force features in the book, consisting of two motor boats named HMS "Amelia" and HMS "Matilda". The legacy of the Battle for Lake Tanganyika also continues in the survival of Spicer-Simson's nemesis, "Graf von Götzen". She was raised by the Belgians and towed to Kigoma, but sank at her moorings in a storm. She was raised again by the British in 1921 under their mandate for Tanganyika, where it was found that she was so well preserved by the greasing, that little work needed to be done to repair her. She returned to service on 16 May 1927 under the name "Liemba", and still sails Lake Tanganyika.
Notes.
a. Foden maintains throughout that the Admiralty were unaware of the existence of the "Götzen", and that the expedition only became aware of her after their arrival on the lake shore. The presence of "Kingani" was also a surprise to them. Paice instead claims that Lee was aware of the "Götzen" from February, when structural work on her was nearing completion, and that he informed the Admiralty of her when he reported to them in April.<br>
b. Paice records that Spicer-Simson had "Mimi", "Toutou", "Fifi" and 'a Belgian motor boat known only as "Vedette". "Vedette" is presumably the whaleboat with the outboard motor, identified by Foden as being termed by Commandant Goor as ""la vedette" (patrol boat)". Foden notes that "Toutou" had damaged her bows in a collision with the harbour wall, and had then sunk in a storm, before being recovered.


Sweden in the Korean War

Sweden took part in the Korean War by providing the Swedish Red Cross Field Hospital and participating in the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission.
The Swedish Red Cross Field Hospital was the name given to the Swedish mission sent to Korea to deal with the humanitarian situation created by the Korean War, 1950-3. Following the temporary resolution of the war in 1953, Sweden was heavily involved in maintaining the armistice through its position in the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission.
Swedish Red Cross Field Hospital.
Following the North Korean invasion of the South, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution asking all UN member states to support South Korea. The Swedish government responded on July 14, 1950 by authorizing the dispatch of a 200-bed mobile field hospital. Shortly before his death, King Gustaf V announced that the Swedish state would cover the Hospital's expenses.
The Swedish Hospital arrived in Korea on September 23, 1950. Deciding that a 400-bed (stationary) Evacuation Hospital would be more valuable than a smaller but more mobile Field Hospital, the Swedish Hospital was converted and moved to the compound of the "Commercial Middle School" in Pusan where it remained until 1958.
Containing 400 beds throughout much of the duration of the conflict, the hospital was expanded to 600 beds by the end of the war, staffed by 174 Swedish doctors and nurses at any one time, all belonging to the Swedish Red Cross.
After the ceasefire in 1953, the Swedish hospital stayed comparatively unchanged as a civilian hospital until it was closed in April 1957. A small advisory group from Sweden stayed in Korea to advise on medical practices (known as the 'Scandinavian training hospital') until Autumn 1958.
Over the duration of the conflict 1,124 Swedish men and women served in the Swedish hospital and 19,100 United Nations personnel and 2,400 Korean personnel were treated by Swedish doctors.
Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission.
Because of Sweden's reputation for neutrality during the major 20th century conflicts (First World, Second World and Korean Wars), Sweden was included as one of the four founding members of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission and several Swedish military personnel served in Korea enforcing the Panmunjom armistice.
After the War.
Sweden was the first Western European country to establish diplomatic relations and an embassy in North Korea.


Blue discharge

A blue discharge (also known as a "blue ticket") was a form of administrative military discharge formerly issued by the United States beginning in 1916. It was neither honorable nor dishonorable. The blue ticket became the discharge of choice for commanders seeking to remove homosexual service members from the ranks. They were also issued disproportionately to African Americans.
Service members holding a blue discharge were subjected to discrimination in civilian life. They were denied the benefits of the G.I. Bill by the Veterans Administration and had difficulty finding work because employers were aware of the negative connotations of a blue discharge. Following intense criticism in the press—especially the black press, because of the high percentage of African Americans who received blue discharges—and in Congress, the blue discharge was discontinued in 1947, replaced by two new classifications: general and undesirable.
History.
The blue discharge was created in 1916 to replace two previous discharge classifications, the administrative discharge without honor and the "unclassified" discharge. The discharges were printed on blue paper, hence the name. They were also sometimes called "blue tickets". One early use of the blue discharge was for service members who had enlisted to fight in World War I while underage, but this practice was abolished by law and all such discharges were upgraded to honorable.
Association with homosexuality.
The United States military had a long-standing policy that service members found to be homosexual or to have engaged in homosexual conduct were to be court-martialed for sodomy, imprisoned, and dishonorably discharged. However, with the mobilization of troops following the United States' entry into World War II, it became impractical to convene court-martial boards of commissioned officers, and some commanders began issuing administrative discharges instead. Several waves of reform addressing the handling of homosexuals in the military resulted in a 1944 policy directive that called for homosexuals to be committed to military hospitals, examined by psychiatrists, and discharged under Regulation 615-360, section 8 as "unfit for service". It is unknown exactly how many gay and lesbian service members were given blue discharges under this regulation, but in 1946 the Army estimated that it had issued between 49,000 and 68,000 blue discharges, with approximately 5,000 of them issued to homosexuals, while the Navy's estimates of blue-discharge homosexuals was around 4,000. The period of time covered by these estimates is unclear.
The psychiatrists responsible for creating and implementing screening procedures to exclude homosexuals from military service initially supported giving gay service members blue discharges. However, when they learned of the difficulties that blue-ticket holders faced in civilian life, they urged the military to discontinue the practice. William C. Menninger, who served as the Director of the Psychiatry Consultants Division for the Surgeon General of the United States Army from 1944 to 1946, tried to persuade the military to issue honorable discharges to gay service members who had not committed any crimes during their military service.
One press account said the purpose of administrative blue discharges, "discharges which are not dishonorable but are based on habits or traits of the individual that make his continuation in service undesirable", was the need to return soldiers to civilian life as quickly as possible: "to get the non-disabled soldier back into the nation's economic life with as little delay and red tape as possible, and to help him solve his own personal problems such as unemployment, educational opportunities, or finances."
Discrimination.
The Veterans Administration (VA), charged with implementing the provisions of the G.I. Bill, denied benefits to blue-discharge veterans, despite the Bill's explicit language that made only a dishonorable discharge grounds for denying benefits to a veteran. In 1945, the VA issued a directive that all blue-discharges for homosexuality would be denied benefits. On December 22, 1955, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied an appeal from Raymond W. Longernecker, who had been denied his G.I. Bill benefits by the VA because of his blue discharge. The Court found that the VA had discretion in awarding benefits and that Congress had specifically foreclosed the courts from overruling it. Nevertheless, the Court noted that the denial of benefits should only have occurred if Longernecker had been dishonorably discharged and that the VA Administrator was acting without authority in treating a blue discharge as if it were dishonorable.
Most employers required that job applicants who had served in the military present their discharge papers as part of the application process. Blue-discharge veterans experienced difficulty in securing employment because many employers were aware that the blue discharge meant that the holder was considered undesirable. Those employers who did not know had access to a list of the Separation Program Numbers or "spin" numbers that the military used to classify discharges. At least four such spin numbers indicated a gay-related discharge.
Congress had expressed concern about possible misuse of the blue discharge when it began work on the G.I. Bill in 1944. In discussions about the legislation's details, the American Legion insisted on a specific provision to provide benefits to veterans discharged under any circumstance other than dishonorable. The Legion believed a large number of veterans had been given blue and other less-than-honorable discharges for reasons that it considered unreasonable or trivial. In testimony before the United States Senate, Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs strongly opposed this provision on the grounds that it would undermine morale and remove any incentive to maintain a good service record. Senator Bennett Champ Clark, a sponsor of the bill, dismissed his concerns, calling them "some of the most stupid, short-sighted objections which could be raised". Clark went on to say:
The Army is giving blue discharges, namely discharges without honor, to those who have had no fault other than they have not shown sufficient aptitude for military service. I say that when the government drafts a man from civil life and puts him in the military service ... and, thereafter, because the man does not show sufficient aptitude gives him a blue discharge, or a discharge without honor, that fact should not be permitted to prevent the man from receiving the benefits to which soldiers are generally entitled.
The G.I. Bill also provided for discharge review boards to review an appeal of any discharge other than dishonorable. From 1945 until early 1947, these boards routinely upgraded to honorable the blue discharges of homosexual service members who had not committed any known sex acts during their military service. About one-third of all blue discharges reviewed were upgraded to honorable.
Black press criticism.
Another minority group disproportionately issued blue discharges were African Americans. Of the 48,603 blue discharges issued by the Army between December 1, 1941, and June 30, 1945, 10,806 were issued to African Americans, or 22.23% of all blue discharges. At this time, African Americans constituted 6.5% of the Army.
In October 1945, Black-interest newspaper "The Pittsburgh Courier" launched a investigation against the discharge and its abuses, calling the discharge "a vicious instrument that should not be perpetrated against the American Soldier", and rebuked the Army for "allowing prejudiced officers to use it as a means of punishing Negro soldiers who do not like specifically unbearable conditions". The "Courier" specifically noted the discrimination faced by homosexual blue-tickets, calling them "'unfortunates' of the Nation...being preyed upon by the blue discharge" and demanded to know "why the Army chooses to penalize these 'unfortunates' who seem most in need of Army benefits and the opportunity to become better citizens under the educational benefits of the GI Bill of Rights".
The "Courier" printed instructions on how to appeal a blue discharge and warned readers against accepting a blue ticket out of the service because of the negative effect it would likely have on their lives.
In addition to the "Courier", other groups and institutions that decried the punitive use of the blue discharge included the American Legion, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and the Veterans Benevolent Association. In the U.S. Senate, the chairman of the Senate Veterans Committee, Sen. Edwin C. Johnson (D-Colorado), read the "Courier"'s editorial into the record. On October 29, 1945, noting that a blue discharge meant the veteran had not been convicted and yet had been separated from the military without being able to defend himself, he said: "There ought not to be a twilight zone between innocence and guilt. Blue discharges are certain to be a headache for Congress from now on."
House Report on blue discharges.
In response to reports about the disparate treatment of blue-ticket veterans, the House Committee on Military Affairs appointed a special committee to review the Veterans Administration's procedures. The committee, headed by Rep. Carl T. Durham (D-NC), issued its report officially called "Investigations of the National War Effort", commonly known as "Blue Discharges", on January 30, 1946. The committee expressed its amazement that anyone with a blue discharge would risk further stigmatization by speaking out against the discrimination:
In examining case histories of blue-discharge veterans, the committee found that "the procedure lends itself to dismissals based on prejudice and antagonism". Further, the committee found that the effects of a blue discharge "differ little from those of a dishonorable discharge...the discharged man finds it difficult to get or keep a job. The suspicion of society is aroused against him, all the worse in some ways for carrying an atmosphere of mystery." The report said that "nothing could more clearly prove the anomalous and illogical and disingenuous nature of the blue discharge than this policy of the Veterans Administration". The committee called the system for dealing with blue-ticket veterans "a squeeze play between the war department and the veterans' administration" and took the agency to task for assuming "the right to separate the sheep from the goats" and "passing moral verdicts on the history of any soldier".
To reform the discharge system the committee recommended:
The committee also recommended changing the discharge system to four classifications: honorable and dishonorable, with no change in their definitions; "under honorable conditions" to replace the blue discharge; and general, to cover separation for misconduct.
Aftermath.
Despite the Committee's report, the VA continued to discriminate against homosexual blue-tickets, renewing its 1945 directive in 1946 and again in 1949. Blue discharges were discontinued as of July 1, 1947, and two new headings, general and undesirable, took their place. A general discharge was considered to be under honorable conditions—distinct from an "honorable discharge"—and an undesirable discharge was under conditions other than honorable—distinct from a "dishonorable discharge". At the same time, the Army changed its regulations to ensure that gay and lesbian service members would not qualify for general discharges. Those found guilty of engaging in homosexual conduct still received dishonorable discharges, while those identified as homosexuals but not to have committed any homosexual acts now received undesirable discharges. By the 1970s, a service member who had not committed any homosexual acts would tend to receive a general discharge, while those found to have engaged in homosexual sex tended to receive undesirable discharges. Gay service members continued to receive a disproportionate percentage of the undesirable discharges issued. This was the "status quo" until replaced in 1993 by the policy commonly known as "don't ask, don't tell".
It has been suggested that the large gay populations in port cities like San Francisco, Chicago and New York City are in part the result of the blue discharge. The theory asserts that many gay blue-ticket veterans from smaller urban or rural areas who felt they were unable to return to their home communities because of the shame associated with their discharges relocated to larger areas with established gay subcultures or simply stayed in the city through which they were returned to the United States.


Charles, Count Alten

Field Marshal Sir Charles (Carl) August von Alten (21 October 1764 – 20 April 1840) was a Hanoverian and British soldier who led the famous Light Division during the last two years of the Peninsular War. At the Battle of Waterloo, he commanded a division in the front line, where he was wounded. He later rose to the rank of Field Marshal in the Hanoverian army.
Alten was the son of August Eberhard von Alten (1722–1789), a member of an old Hanoverian family, and Baroness Henriette Philippine Marie Hedwig von Vincke-Ostenwalde.
Alten's older brother, Victor Alten (1755–1820) commanded a cavalry brigade in Wellington's army. Unlike his brother Charles, Victor is described as "unsatisfactory".
Early career.
Alten entered the service of the elector as a page at the age of twelve.
In 1781 he received a commission in the Hanoverian guards, and as a captain took part in the campaigns of 1793–1795 in the Low Countries, distinguishing himself particularly on the Lys in command of light infantry. In 1803 the Hanoverian army was disbanded, and Alten took service with the King's German Legion (KGL) in British pay. In command of the light infantry of this famous corps he took part with Lord Cathcart in the Hanoverian expedition of 1805. He also fought at Copenhagen in 1807.
Peninsular War.
Alten was with John Moore in Sweden and Spain. He commanded the 2nd Flank Brigade in Moore's campaign though he missed the Battle of Corunna. He participated in the disastrous Walcheren expedition in the summer of 1809. He was soon employed once more in the Peninsula, and at the Battle of Albuera he commanded an independent KGL brigade. An incident in the battle highlights both the abilities and the limitations of Alten.
In April 1812 Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington placed him at the head of the famous Light Division, which consisted of the 1/43rd and 1/52nd Light Infantry, 95th Rifles, and 1st and 3rd Portuguese Caçadores. In this post he worthily continued the records of Moore and Robert Craufurd at the battles of Salamanca, Vitoria, the Pyrenees, the Nivelle, the Nive, Orthez and Toulouse. His officers presented him with a sword of honour as a token of their esteem. Wellington called Alten, "the best of the Hanoverians". Comparing him with Craufurd, Charles Oman writes:
Waterloo and later career.
In 1815 Alten led Wellington's 3rd Division during the Hundred Days. This command included Maj-Gen Colin Halkett's 5th British Brigade, Col Christian Ompteda's 2nd KGL Brigade and Maj-Gen Friedrich Kielmansegge's 1st Hanoverian Brigade. Parts of the division were heavily engaged at the Battle of Quatre Bras. At the Battle of Waterloo, the 3rd Division held the front line throughout the day and suffered very heavy losses. Severely wounded in the battle, Alten's conduct won for him the rank of Count von Alten.
When the King's German Legion ceased to exist, Alten was given the command of the Hanoverians in France. In 1818 he returned to Hanover, where he subsequently became minister of war and foreign affairs, and rose to the rank of Field Marshal. At the same time, he was retained on the British Army list as Major-General Sir Charles Alten, GCB He died in 1840. A memorial to Alten has been erected at Hanover. He is buried in the Neustädter Kirche.
References.
Attribution:


No. 30 Squadron RAF

Number 30 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operated the second generation Lockheed Martin Hercules C4/C5 from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. As of 2018, it is no longer on the RAF's list of squadrons or on RAF Brize Norton's list of squadrons.
History.
First World War.
No. 30 Squadron was formed for service at Moascar in Egypt on , but was not allocated aircraft until seven months later when a detachment flew out from Farnborough. Initially the squadron consisted of a single flight of BE2s at Ismailia Airfield.
On 24 August 1915, the Mesopotamian Half Flight, a unit of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) stationed in Mesopotamia (Iraq) was formally attached to 30 Sqn. For several months the Half-Flight, under Captain Henry Petre, had been flying operations in support of the Indian Army, against Turkish ground forces, during the Mesopotamian campaign. In early 1915, the Australian Government received a request for assistance for air support from the British Government of India. The AFC was still in its infancy and could only provide enough aircrews and ground staff for half a flight. All aircraft were to be provided by the Indian Government. Captain Henry Petre was appointed commander, before the half-flight sailed for Bombay. The Australians were augmented by personnel from the Indian Army and New Zealand.
On 20 April, the half-flight left India for Mesopotamia (Iraq) to provide air support to Indian and British troops against the Ottoman Empire (Turkey).
Upon its arrival in Basra on 26 May, the half-flight took delivery of two Maurice Farman Shorthorns and a Maurice Farman Longhorn. These three biplanes were already obsolete and of a "pusher" design, so-called because the propeller faced backwards behind the cockpit. In particular, they were not suitable for desert conditions: their top speed was only 50 mph (80 km/h), while the wind (known locally as the "shamal") often reached 80 mph (129 km/h). Secondly, the warmer air reduced aerodynamic lift, rendering the Farmans unable to take off on some occasions. In addition, the Longhorn was a second-hand aircraft with persistent mechanical problems, meaning that it spent many hours undergoing maintenance.
Nevertheless, the half-flight was immediately put to use on reconnaissance missions. Shortly afterwards, the Indian Army captured the town of Amarah, and the half-flight moved there on 9 June.
On 4 July, the half-flight's equipment was augmented with two Caudron G.3 aircraft, which were still not up-to-date, but generally preferred to the Farmans. On 30 July, one of the Caudrons was forced to land in enemy territory due to mechanical problems. It was later reported that the crew — Lieutenants George Pinnock Merz and W. W. A. Burn (a New Zealander) — were killed by armed civilians in a running gun battle, over several miles. They were Australia's first military aviation casualties. The main body of 30 Sqn remained in Egypt for several weeks.
During September, the obsolescent Maurice Farmans operated by the Australians were supplemented by three Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) Short 827 floatplanes and their crews, under Squadron Commander Robert Gordon. Because the Tigris river was too shallow for the seaplanes to use at that time of year, they were converted into wheeled aircraft. On 27 September, Kut was captured and the Half-Flight moved there.
In October, four BE2c and their RFC crews arrived in Mesopotamia. With the Australians they were designated "B" Flight of 30 Sqn.
The flight suffered an increasing number of losses with at least two crews being taken prisoner, after being shot down or suffering engine failure. The Indian Army met with stiff opposition outside Baghdad, and were forced back to Kut on 4 December, where the city was besieged. Ottoman forces eventually broke through and nine Australian ground staff from the half-flight became prisoners of war. Like the rest of the Allied POWs, AFC personnel taken prisoner in Mesopotamia endured a punishing forced march to Turkey proper and only four of them survived captivity.
By 7 December, Petre was the only Australian airman remaining in Mesopotamia, left No. 30 Squadron and flew the only remaining Shorthorn to Egypt. He and it were incorporated into the first full squadron to be formed by the Australian Flying Corps: No. 1 Squadron AFC.
After breaking out of Kut, Allied forces met with stiff opposition outside Baghdad, and were forced back to Kut on 4 December, where they were again besieged. Ottoman forces eventually broke through and nine AFC ground staff became prisoners of war. Like the rest of the Allied POWs, they endured a punishing forced march to Turkey and only four of them survived captivity.
In April 1916, the squadron carried out one of the earliest air supply mission when it air-dropped food and other supplies to the garrison at Kut which was besieged by the Turks.
The rest of 30 Sqn carried out bombing and reconnaissance missions until the end of the war with a variety of aircraft including SPADs, DH-4s and RE.8s.
1920s & 1930s.
In 1919 the squadron was sent to Iran as part of the Norperforce. This was followed by a posting to Iraq, for which it was re-equipped with DH.9As but by 1929 these in turn had been replaced by Westland Wapitis followed by Hawker Hardys (a tropicalised, general purpose version of the Hawker Hart light bomber) in 1935 and Blenheim Is in 1938.
Second World War.
In August 1939, as war loomed, the squadron moved back to RAF Ismailia in Egypt and carried out escort missions in the Western Desert and provided fighter defence of Alexandria. In November 1940, it was sent to Greece to operate its Blenheims in both the bomber and fighter roles, but in March 1941 the squadron was redesignated a fighter unit. After the fall of Greece and the Battle of Crete the squadron returned to Egypt and was re-equipped with Hawker Hurricanes and employed on night defence of Alexandria and shipping protection patrols before moving on to operations in the Western Desert.
When the situation in the Far East worsened the squadron was ordered to reinforce allied forces in Java, but by the time the squadron left Egypt, Java, had already fallen, and the squadron was ferried by the aircraft carrier to Ceylon arriving on 6 March 1942, just in time to assist in resisting the Japanese carrier strike against the island. This raid took place on 5 April 1942 with 21 aircraft being launched from its base at RAF Ratmalana whilst under heavy fire from Japanese aircraft. Seven of the squadron's Hurricanes were lost, with five of its pilots being killed or dying later of wounds received during the battle. It claimed 14 Japanese aircraft shot down, together with six probably destroyed and five damaged, out of a total claim for the whole of the island's defences of 24 shot down, 7 probables and 9 damaged. In fact, the Japanese lost seven aircraft, with a further 15 damaged.
In February 1944, it moved to the Burma front flying escort and ground attack missions and in May 1944 was re-equipped with American Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, which it took back into action in October until May 1945.
Post-War.
After the Japanese surrender the squadron remained in India and its Thunderbolts were replaced by Hawker Tempest F Mk 2s in March 1946. No. 30 Squadron lost its aircraft on 1 December 1946, before being disbanded on 1 April 1947 at Agra.
On 24 November 1947 the squadron was reformed at RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire in the transport role, operating as a unit within the Royal Air Force Transport Command. It flew the Dakota on many humanitarian supply flights during the Berlin Airlift. Re-equipment with the Vickers Valetta came in December 1950. The heavier four-engine Blackburn Beverley was flown between April 1957 and September 1967. From November 1959 30 Squadron operated out of RAF Eastleigh in Kenya before moving on to RAF Muharraq in October 1964.
Lockheed Hercules (1968–2016).
The Squadron temporarily disbanded in September 1967 but quickly reformed at RAF Fairford in June 1968 equipped with turbine-propeller powered Lockheed Hercules transports, maintaining the units transport role. the squadron moved to RAF Lyneham in September 1971.
The RAF transport fleet is in a period of flux and the Hercules C4/C5 fleet is a major part of this. The RAF ordered 25 of the aircraft with first deliveries in 1999.
During 2008 'A' flight was based at RAF Al Udeid with the Hercules C.4.
The first generation Hercules C1/C3 fleet is due to be replaced by 25 Airbus A400Ms at which time RAF Lyneham closed. This will see RAF's transport aircraft concentrated at RAF Brize Norton with the C-17 and tanker fleets.
No. 30 Squadron flew its last Hercules flight on 8 December 2016. It was believed it may reform on the Airbus Atlas, but this has not happened so far.
Battle honours.
Egypt, 1915: Mesopotamia, 1915–1918: Egypt & Libya, 1940–1942: Greece 1940–1941, Mediterranean, 1940–1941, Ceylon April, 1942: Arakan, 1944: Burma 1944–45
Iraq, 1919–1920: North West Persia, 1920: Kurdistan, 1922–1924: Iraq, 1923–1925: Iraq, 1928–1929: Kurdistan, 1930–1931: Northern Kurdistan, 1932: Gulf, 1991: Afghanistan, 2001–2014: Iraq, 2003–2011: Libya, 2011
Memorials.
There is a Royal Air Force (RAF) memorial in Crete to the airmen of 30 and 33 Squadrons who died during the Battle of Crete. The memorial is located () behind the roadside hedge between Maleme and Tavronitis overlooking the () Iron Bridge across the Tavronitis River and the end of Maleme Airport runway.
Another memorial was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire in September 2008. The stone is emblazoned with the squadron's battle honours on the reverse side.


Battle of Kvistrum

The Battle of Kvistrum or the Battle of Kvistrum bridge took place on September 29, 1788 during the Theatre War, a phase of the Russo-Swedish War (1788–90), between Sweden and the Denmark–Norway. The Swedes lost the battle and had five killed and the rest captured with 60 wounded, the Danes and Norwegians had suffered 5 killed and 16 wounded.


Capture of Trincomalee

The Capture of Trincomalee on 11 January 1782 was the second major engagement between Great Britain and the Dutch East India Company in the East Indies after the outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. After capturing Negapatam, the major Dutch outpost in India, a British force assaulted the Dutch-controlled port of Trincomalee on the eastern coast of Ceylon, and successfully stormed Fort Fredrick and Fort Ostenburg to gain control of the city and the port. In gaining control of the port, they also captured the vessels there at the time.
Background.
Following French entry into the American War of Independence in 1778, Great Britain moved rapidly to gain control over French colonial outposts in India. In December 1780 Britain also declared war on the Dutch Republic, citing as one of the reasons Dutch trafficking in arms in support of the French and American rebels. Early in 1781 this news reached Iman Willem Falck, the Dutch East India Company's governor of Trincomalee. That summer Lord Macartney arrived to take over as governor of Madras, brought news to the British outpost of the new war, and mobilised British troops to gain control over Dutch possessions in India and Ceylon. These troops first besieged the principal Dutch-controlled port of Negapatam, capturing it on 11 November 1781.
Action.
Following their success at Negapatam, British admiral Edward Hughes embarked 500 volunteer sepoys, 30 artillerymen, and additional European volunteers, sailing for Trincomalee on 2 January 1782. Two days later he anchored in Trincomalee Bay. The troops, including about 800 seamen and marines, were landed about north of Fort Fredrick on 5 January and pressed on to the fort. That night, a company of marines gained entry to the fort and surprised the 43-man garrison, taking them prisoner without incident This opened the way for operations against Fort Ostenburg, which commanded the harbour.
On 8 January the marines captured a hill overlooking Fort Ostenburg, and Admiral Hughes summoned Governor Falck to surrender. Due to the difficulty in moving artillery onto this hill, Hughes sent his chief engineer, Major Geils, to deliver the summons. Since he was not blindfolded, Geils was able to ascertain that the place might be carried by storm. He was sent with a second summons two days later, which Governor Falck also rejected. Hughes accordingly ordered the assault to take place the next morning.
The principal storming party consisted of 450 marines and seamen, accompanied by some of the volunteers and seamen carrying scaling ladders. A party of marines were able to penetrate the fort's embrasures and thus gained entry early on 11 January. After a brief battle the garrison surrendered.
Aftermath.
Hughes garrisoned the two forts with companies of sepoys and a few artillerymen, embarked the troops and sailed for Madras. Upon his arrival there on 8 February, he learned that a French fleet had arrived in the area. This fleet, led by the Bailli de Suffren, went on to dispute British control over the seas off the Indian coast. In August 1781 Suffren took advantage of Hughes's absence from Trincomalee to recapture it. Hughes and Suffren fought one of their celebrated battles shortly after, on 3 September.
Governor Falck was allowed to travel to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies to report the Dutch loss to his superiors. The Dutch regained control of Ceylon and most other British-captured outposts (notably excepting Negapatam) with the 1784 Treaty of Paris, in exchange for promises to not interfere with British commercial shipping in the Indian Ocean.


Battle of Maysalun

The Battle of Maysalun (), also called the Battle of Maysalun Pass or the Battle of Khan Maysalun (), was a four-hour battle fought between the forces of the Arab Kingdom of Syria and the French Army of the Levant on 24 July 1920 near Khan Maysalun in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, about west of Damascus.
In October 1918, Arab rebels, under Hashemite Emir Faisal, captured Damascus during the British-backed Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Faisal then formed a government under the auspices of the Allied military occupation administration of "OETA East", consistent with an earlier Anglo-French agreement. The French encountered local revolts when their forces entered the country, and in March 1920, Faisal was proclaimed King of Syria. A month later, the League of Nations allocated Syria to France as a mandate.
The Battle of Maysalun ensued as French forces set out from Lebanon to assert control over Damascus and topple Faisal's government. With remnants of the Syrian army and local volunteers, Faisal's war minister, General Yusuf al-Azma, set out to confront them. The better-equipped French troops, led by General Mariano Goybet, defeated al-Azma, who was killed in action. The French entered Damascus the following day, encountering little resistance. Soon afterward, Faisal was expelled from Syria. Despite the Syrian army's decisive defeat, the battle is viewed in Syria and the rest of the Arab world as a symbol of courageous resistance against a stronger, imperial power.
Background.
On 30 October 1918, towards the end of World War I, the Sharifian Army led by Emir Faisal, backed by the British Army, captured Damascus from the Ottomans as part of the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. The war ended less than a month after the Sharifian–British conquest of Damascus. In correspondences between the Sharifian leadership in Mecca and Henry McMahon, the British high commissioner in Cairo, the latter promised to support the establishment of a Sharifian kingdom in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire in return for launching a revolt against the Ottomans. However, the British and French governments secretly made previous arrangements regarding the division of the Ottomans' Arab provinces between themselves in the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement.
To ensure his throne in Syria, Faisal attended the January 1919 Paris Conference, where he was not recognized by the French government as the sovereign ruler of Syria; Faisal called for Syrian sovereignty under his rule, but the European powers attending the conference called for European mandates to be established over the former Arab territories of the Ottoman Empire. In the US-led June 1919 King–Crane Commission, which published its conclusions in 1922, the commission determined that the people of Syria overwhelmingly rejected French rule. Furthermore, Emir Faisal stated to the commission that "French rule would mean certain death to Syrians as a distinguished people".
French forces commanded by General Henri Gouraud landed in Beirut on 18 November 1919, with the ultimate goal of bringing all of Syria under French control. Shortly thereafter, French forces deployed to the Beqaa Valley between Beirut and Damascus. Against King Faisal's wishes, his delegate to General Gouraud, Nuri al-Said, agreed to the French deployment and the disbandment of Arab troops from al-Mu'allaqa, near Zahle. The agreement between al-Said and Gouraud was contrary to an earlier agreement Faisal had made with French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, which held that French troops would not deploy in the Beqaa Valley until the League of Nations ruled on the matter. Faisal condemned al-Said and accused of him of treachery. Following the Arab Army withdrawal from al-Mu'allaqa, Christian militiamen from Zahle raided the town, prompting attacks from local Muslim militiamen, which forced several Christian families to the coast. Amid these developments, armed groups of rebels and bandits emerged throughout the Beqaa Valley. When a French officer in Baalbek was assaulted by Shia Muslim rebels opposed to the French presence, Gouraud held the Arab government responsible and demanded that it apologize, which it did not. In response, Gouraud violated his agreement with al-Said and occupied Baalbek. The French deployment along the Syrian coast and the Beqaa Valley provoked unrest throughout Syria and sharpened political divisions between the political camp calling for confronting the French and the camp preferring compromise.
On 8 March 1920, the Syrian National Congress proclaimed the establishment of the Kingdom of Syria, with Faisal as king. This unilateral action was immediately rejected by the British and French. In the San Remo Conference, which was called by the Allied Powers in April 1920, the allocation of mandates in the Arab territories was finalized, with France given a mandate over Syria. France's allocation of Syria was, in turn, repudiated by Faisal and the Syrian National Congress. After months of instability and failure to make good on the promises Faisal had made to the French, General Gouraud gave an ultimatum to Faisal on 14 July 1920 demanding that he disband the Arab Army and submit to French authority by 20 July or face a French military invasion. On 18 July, Faisal and the entire cabinet, with the exception of War Minister Yusuf al-Azma, agreed to the ultimatum and issued disbandment orders for the Arab Army units at Anjar, the Beirut–Damascus road and the hills of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains overlooking the Beqaa Valley. Two days later, Faisal informed the French liaison in Damascus of his acceptance of the ultimatum, but for unclear reasons, Faisal's notification did not reach Gouraud until 21 July. Sources suspicious of French intentions accused the French of intentionally delaying delivery of the notice to give Gouraud an official excuse for advancing on Damascus. However, there has been no evidence or indication of French sabotage. News of the disbandment and Faisal's submission led to riots in Damascus on 20 July and their suppression by Emir Zeid, which led to around 200 deaths. Al-Azma, who staunchly opposed surrender, implored Faisal to allow him and the remnants of his army to confront the French.
Prelude.
On 22 July, Faisal dispatched Education Minister Sati al-Husri and the Arab government's former Beirut representative, Jamil al-Ulshi, to meet Gouraud at his headquarters in Aley and persuade him to end his army's advance to Damascus. Gouraud responded by extending the ultimatum by one day and with new, more stringent conditions, namely that France be allowed to establish a mission in Damascus to supervise the implementation of the original ultimatum and the establishment of the French mandate. Al-Husri returned to Damascus the same day to communicate Gouraud's message to Faisal, who called for a meeting of the cabinet on 23 July to consider the new ultimatum. Colonel Cousse, a French liaison officer to Damascus, interrupted the meeting with a demand from Gouraud that the French army be allowed to advance toward Maysalun, where water wells were abundant. Gouraud had originally planned to launch the offensive against Damascus from Ayn al-Judaydah, a spring in the Anti-Lebanon Range, but the lack of water sources there amid the steep, barren mountains led to a change of plans. Accordingly, Gouraud sought to occupy Khan Maysalun, an isolated caravanserai on the Beirut–Damascus road situated at the crest of the Wadi al-Qarn mountain pass in the Anti-Lebanon, located west of Damascus. Gouraud was also motivated to occupy Khan Maysalun because of its proximity to the Hejaz Railway.
Cousse's message confirmed the fears of Faisal's cabinet that Gouraud was intent on taking over Syria by force. The cabinet subsequently rejected Gouraud's ultimatum and issued a largely symbolic appeal to the international community to end the French advance. On 23 July, al-Azma set out from Damascus with his motley force of army regulars and volunteers, which was divided into northern, central and southern columns each headed by camel cavalry units. French forces launched their offensive towards Khan Maysalun and Wadi al-Qarn shortly after dawn on 24 July, at 5:00, while Syrian forces were waiting at their positions overlooking the low end of Wadi al-Qarn.
Combatants and arms.
French forces.
Estimates of the combined size of the French Army of the Levant forces that participated in the battle ranged from 9,000 to 12,000 troops. The troops were mostly made up of Senegalese and Algerian units, and consisted of ten infantry battalions and a number of cavalry and artillery units. Among the participating units were the 415th Infantry Regiment, the 2nd Algerian Riflemen Regiment, the Senegalese Division, the African Riflemen Regiment and the Moroccan Sipahi Battalion. A number of Maronite volunteers from Mount Lebanon reportedly joined the French forces as well. The Army of the Levant was equipped with plain and mountain artillery batteries and 155mm guns, and backed by tanks and fighter bombers. The commander of the French forces was General Mariano Goybet.
Syrian forces.
Syrian forces consisted of remnants of the Arab Army assembled by General al-Azma, including soldiers from General Hassan al-Hindi's disbanded Anjar-based garrison, disbanded units from Damascus and Bedouin camel cavalry; most Arab Army units had been disbanded days prior to the battle by order of King Faisal as part of his acceptance of General Gouraud's terms. In addition to Arab Army troops, numerous civilian volunteers and militiamen from Damascus joined al-Azma's forces. Estimates put the number of Syrian soldiers and irregulars at around 4,000, while historian Eliezer Tauber asserts that al-Azma recruited 3,000 soldiers and volunteers, of whom only 1,400 participated in the battle. According to historian Michael Provence, the "quarters of Damascus had been emptied of young men as crowds walked west, some armed only with swords or sticks, to meet the mechanized French column".
Part of the civilian militia units were assembled and led by Yasin Kiwan, a Damascene merchant, Abd al-Qadir Kiwan, the former imam of the Umayyad Mosque, and Shaykh Hamdi al-Juwajani, a Muslim scholar. Yasin and Abd al-Qadir were killed during the battle. Shaykh Muhammad al-Ashmar also participated in the battle with 40–50 of his men from the Midan quarter of Damascus. Other Muslim preachers and scholars from Damascus, including Tawfiq al-Darra (ex-mufti of the Ottoman Fifth Army), Sa'id al-Barhani (preacher at the Tuba Mosque), Muhammad al-Fahl (scholar from the Qalbaqjiyya Madrasa) and Ali Daqqar (preacher at the Sinan Pasha Mosque) also participated in the battle.
The Syrians were equipped with rifles discarded by retreating Ottoman soldiers during World War I and those used by the Sharifian Army's Bedouin cavalry during the 1916 Arab Revolt. The Syrians also possessed a number of machine guns and about 15 artillery pieces. According to various versions, ammunition was low, with 120–250 bullets per rifle, 45 bullets per machine gun, and 50–80 shells per cannon. Part of this ammunition was also unusable because many bullet and rifle types did not correspond to each other.
Battle.
The first clashes took place at 6:30 when French tanks stormed the central position of the Syrian defensive line while French cavalry and infantry units assaulted the Syrians' northern and southern positions. The camel cavalry were the first Syrian units to engage the French. Syrian forces initially put up stiff resistance along the front, but lacked coordination between their different units. Early in the clashes, Syrian artillery fire inflicted casualties on a battery of French soldiers. French tanks faced heavy fire as they attempted to gain ground against the Syrians. However, French artillery took a toll on Syrian forces and by 8:30 the French had broken the Syrians' central trench. At one point in the first few hours of the clashes, Syrian forces managed to briefly pin down two Senegalese companies that were relatively isolated on the French right flank. The losses inflicted on the two Senegalese units represented roughly half of the French army's total casualties. Nonetheless, by 10:00, the battle was effectively over, having turned decisively in favor of the French.
At 10:30, French forces reached al-Azma's headquarters, unhindered by the mines laid en route by the Syrians. Little information is known about the battle from the Syrian side. According to one version, when French forces were about 100 meters in the distance, al-Azma rushed to a Syrian artilleryman stationed near him and demanded him to open fire. However, before any shells could be fired, a French tank unit spotted al-Azma and gunned him down by machine gun. In another account, al-Azma had attempted to mine the trenches as the French forces approached his position, but was shot down by the French before he could set off the charges. Al-Azma's death marked the end of the battle, although intermittent clashes continued until 13:30. Surviving Syrian fighters were bombed from the air and harried by the French as they retreated toward Damascus.
After the battle, General Gouraud addressed General Goybet as follows:
GENERAL ORDER No. 22

Aley, 24 July 1920

Aftermath.
Initial estimates of the casualties which claimed 2,000 Syrian dead and 800 French casualties turned out to be exaggerated. The French Army claimed 42 of its soldiers were killed, 152 wounded and 14 missing in action, while around 150 Syrian fighters were killed and 1,500 wounded. King Faisal observed the battle unfold from the village of al-Hamah, and as it became apparent that the Syrians had been routed, he and his cabinet, with the exception of Interior Minister Ala al-Din al-Durubi, who had quietly secured a deal with the French, departed for al-Kiswah, a town located at the southern approaches of Damascus.
French forces had captured Aleppo on 23 July without a fight, and after their victory at Maysalun, French troops besieged and captured Damascus on 25 July. Within a short time, the majority of Faisal's forces fled or surrendered to the French, although parties of Arab groups opposed to French rule continued to resist before being quickly defeated. King Faisal returned to Damascus on 25 July and asked al-Durubi to form a government, although al-Durubi had already decided on the composition of his cabinet, which was confirmed by the French. General Gouraud condemned Faisal's rule in Syria, accusing him of having "dragged the country to within an inch of destruction", and stating that because of this, it was "utterly impossible for him to remain in the country". Faisal denounced Gouraud's statement and insisted that he remained the sovereign head of Syria whose authority he was "granted by the Syrian people".
Although he verbally dismissed the French order expelling him and his family from Syria, Faisal departed Damascus on 27 July with only one of his cabinet members, al-Husri. He initially traveled south to Daraa in the Hauran region where he gained the allegiance of local tribal leaders. However, a French ultimatum to the tribal leaders to expel Faisal or face the bombardment of their encampments compelled Faisal to head west to Haifa in British-held Palestine on 1 August and avoid further bloodshed. Faisal's departure from Syria marked an end to his goal of establishing and leading an Arab state in Syria.
Legacy.
The French took control of the territory that became the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. France divided Syria into smaller statelets centered on certain regions and sects, including Greater Lebanon for the Maronites, Jabal al-Druze State for the Druze in Hauran, the Alawite State for the Alawites in the Syrian coastal mountains and the states of Damascus and Aleppo. Gouraud reportedly went to the tomb of Saladin, kicked it, and said:
Although the Syrians were decisively defeated, the Battle of Maysalun "has gone down in Arab history as a synonym for heroism and hopeless courage against huge odds, as well as for treachery and betrayal", according to Iraqi historian Ali al-Allawi. According to British journalist Robert Fisk, the Battle of Maysalun was "a struggle which every Syrian learns at school but about which almost every Westerner is ignorant". Historian Tareq Y. Ismael wrote that following the battle, the "Syrian resistance at Khan Maysalun soon took on epic proportions. It was viewed as an Arab attempt to stop the imperial avalanche." He also states that the Syrians' defeat caused popular attitudes in the Arab world that exist until the present day which hold that the Western world dishonors the commitments it makes to the Arab people and "oppresses anyone who stands in the way of its imperial designs." Sati' al-Husri, a major pan-Arabist thinker, asserted that the battle was "one of the most important events in the modern history of the Arab nation." The event is annually commemorated by Syrians, during which thousands visit the grave of al-Azma in Maysalun.


803 Naval Air Squadron

803 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron.
History.
Interwar.
803 NAS was formed on 3 April 1933 by promoting No 409 (Fleet Fighter) Flight to the status of a squadron, with nine Ospreys. In the same month it embarked on for the Far East, where it remained (transferring to in January 1935) until disbandment on 1 October 1937.
803 Squadron was re-formed on 21 November 1938 at RNAS Worthy Down out of 'B' Flight of No 800 Squadron. Equipped with six Ospreys and three Nimrods, then (from December 1938) six Skuas and three Nimrods, the squadron embarked in in April 1938 as an RAF squadron but was transferred to Admiralty control on 24 May 1939.
World War II.
At the outbreak of World War II, the Skuas and Rocs which formed 803 Squadron were embarked on . Operating out of Scapa Flow, the squadron carried out anti-submarine patrols in the Northwestern Approaches (losing two Skuas in an attack on on 14 September 1939 and defending ) and regular patrols off Norway (during which the squadron shot down the first German aircraft to be shot down by a British aircraft in the war, a Dornier 18, on 26 September 1939). The squadron's activities continued off Norway (though leaving her Rocs behind), operating there in April 1940 from . 803 and 800 Squadrons successfully dive bombed and sank the at Bergen (with 800 providing five aircraft and seven crews in contrast to 803's eleven aircraft and nine crews), though an attack by 803 from "Ark Royal" on the in June was less successful, with the loss of all but two aircraft.
803 Squadron was re-formed (with Fairey Fulmar I) in October 1940, and after that served in the Eastern Mediterranean off , fighting at the Battle of Cape Matapan (shooting down two aircraft and damaging two more) and providing fighter cover for the Malta convoys and the evacuation of Crete. After HMS "Formidable" was damaged at Crete, 803 Squadron moved to Dekheila, where it was re-equipped with RAF Hurricanes. Next it was based in Palestine for operations against Syria from June 1941, then in August 1941 was merged into the RN Fighter Squadron (a combined unit fighting in the Western Desert).
Re-equipped again with Fairey Fulmar II in March 1942, it next operated from Ceylon against the Japanese (such as against the Easter Sunday Raid), rejoining HMS "Formidable" in the Indian Ocean in April. 803 Squadron then saw operations in East Africa in 1943, before absorbing 806 Squadron for army co-operation exercises. The new combined squadron was disbanded at Tanga in August 1943, and only re-formed in June 1945 ready to join 19th Carrier Air Group in the Far Eastern theatre. At the re-formation it was based at Arbroath and equipped with 25 Seafire L.IIIs, but just as it was about to ship out to the Far East in August 1945, the war came to an end.
Post-war.
When was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy (as HMCS "Warrior") in January 1946, 803 Squadron went with the ship. In May 1951, she was renamed 870 Squadron RCN, and the designation "803 Squadron" again became available to the Royal Navy.
Re-formed in 1958, 803 NAS became the first FAA squadron to operate a nuclear-capable aircraft, when it received the Supermarine Scimitar F.1. (Eight years and five months later, she also became the last front-line FAA squadron to operate the Scimitar.) The squadron deployed aboard the newly rebuilt , and remained attached to her air group for the next two years, after which the squadron transferred to for two years; during this period, the squadron had a normal complement of eight aircraft. It then moved to , where the greater hangar capacity meant that the squadron's standard strength could be doubled to 16 aircraft. This was achieved when 803 Squadron subsumed 800 NAS (which was due to re-equip with the Blackburn Buccaneer S.1). 803 Squadron was again disbanded on 1 October 1966. The squadron's Scimitars were transferred to RNAS Brawdy, Pembrokeshire. There, they were overhauled, before flying to Airwork, at Hurn. Subsequently, many appeared went on static display in various parts of the UK.
803 NAS was re-formed as the headquarters for the Buccaneer S.2 trials, on 3 July 1967, based at RNAS Lossiemouth. In August 1968, the squadron demonstrated the FAA's ability to reinforce forward-deployed carriers, when a flight of four Buccaneers flew from Britain to in the Indian Ocean, joining "Hermes". Following a government decision to scale-down the British carrier force, 803 NAS was disbanded on 18 December 1969; her aircraft were transferred to the RAF.


Nagarcoil Forward Defence Line

The Nagarcoil Forward Defence Line was an Army Forward Defence Line (FDL) that separated Sri Lankan Army and LTTE militia in Northeastern Kilinochchi - Southeastern Jaffna border.
The unique topography of the area was believed to make it almost impossible for either of the two sides to push for a military victory in that area. The FDL comprised a very narrow isthmus connecting Jaffna peninsula to rest of Sri Lanka. It is only a few hundred meters wide and on the both sides heavily fortified and mined as well as abundant in booby traps. Compared to Muhamalai FDL, the Nagar Kovil FDL was much narrower and so it was extremely difficult to overrun enemy bunker lines. The Manalkadu desert is located North of the FDL, while the small hamlet of Kudrappu is located to the South. For the past several years, along with the Muhamalai FDL, Nagarcoil FDL was the most active front in the Sri Lankan Civil War.