Spanish-Chamorro Wars

The Spanish–Chamorro Wars, also known as the Chamorro Wars and the Spanish-Chamorro War, refer to the late seventeenth century unrest among the Chamorro people of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean against the colonial effort of Habsburg Spain. Anger at proselytizing by the first permanent mission to Guam, which was led by Diego Luis de San Vitores, and a series of cultural misunderstandings the led to increasing unrest on Guam and a Chamorro siege of the Hagåtña incited by "maga’låhi" (Chief) Hurao in 1670. "Maga’låhi" Matå'pang killed San Vitores in 1672, resulting in a campaign of Spanish reprisal burnings of villages through 1676. Local anger at the attacks against villages resulted in another open rebellion led by Agualin and a second siege of the Hagåtña presidio. Governor Juan Antonio de Salas conducted a counter-insurgency campaign that successfully created a system of collaboration in which Guamanians turned in rebels and murderers and transferred most of the people from about 180 villages to seven towns, a policy known as "reducción". By the early 1680s, Guam was largely "reduced," or pacified.
With Guam in hand, the Spanish looked to extend control to the Northern Mariana Islands. First was Rota, where the Spanish forces led by José de Quiroga y Losada conducted a quick military campaign in 1680, followed by the villagization of the Rota population into two towns in 1682. The Spanish were welcomed on Tinian but were forced to conduct a campaign on Saipan against armed resistance. After successfully crushing rebellious villages on Saipan, the force under Quiroga began constructing a fort to solidify control of the area. However with most of the Spanish soldiers in the north, Guam had erupted into rebellion. Yula led a sneak attack upon the Hagåtña presido on July 13, 1683, killing the Jesuit mission superior, severely wounding Governor Damián de Esplana, and killing four soldiers before they were repelled. A larger force of hostile Chamorros then returned to begin the third siege of Hagåtña. Meanwhile, the warriors from Tinian and Saipan had combined forces to attack the force commanded by Quiroga on Saipan, who was forced to shelter in his partially constructed fort. Quiroga was sieged until November when he was able to escape and sail to Guam, where he lifted the siege of Hagåtña. The Spanish then conducted a series of campaigns against resisting villages on Guam and executing insurrectionists until a new peace was secured.
The Spanish did not attempt to control the northern islands again until 1694, when Quiroga captured Saipan but faced an entrenched defense by the population of Tinian, who had had taken shelter on Aguiguan. Upon winning the battle, Quiroga ordered that the population of Tinian be relocated to Guam. While some disobeyed and fled to the islands of the far north, Tinian was soon emptied. The final stage was a 1698 military expedition against the eight small islands at northern end of the Marianas. The population there was resettled on Guam in 1699, completing the villagization of rebellious populations and Spanish consolidation of the Marianas.
Background.
The ancient Chamorro people were organized into matrilineal extended family groups, stratified into three hierarchical classes. Chamorro seamanship and the "sakman", also known as the "flying proa," impressed the first Spanish sailors to the Marianas. A 1668 description reported that there were approximately 180 autonomous villages on Guam with a total island population between 35,000 and 50,000. There is very little archaeological evidence for warfare among the ancient Chamorros. While some inland latte stone structures were located along ridge tops that allowed easy spotting of approaching warriors, it is not clear they were placed there for defense or simply because they were along footpaths. For weapons, ancient Chamorros favored the sling and, for melee, spears tipped with fire-hardened or barbed tips made from human shinbone that often caused infections in those wounded. Armor consisted of palm leaf mats placed on the head and chest on the otherwise naked body. Boys and young men competed in challenges with the sling and spear. Early European reports describe Chamorro warfare as highly disorganized, small scale, and triggered by minor disputes such as cut food trees. Battles typically lasted until the first death, whereupon the killer's family would offer a turtle shell or other items of value to the family of the warrior that died to reestablish peace.
The Marianas were the first islands in the Pacific reached by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, though it was not until 1565 that Miguel López de Legazpi formally declared Spanish sovereignty over the Mariana Islands. Following Legazpi's visit, Guam became a provisioning stop for the lucrative Manila galleons trade between Acapulco and Manila, which carried silver from New Spain to trade for silk and porcelain from China. However, Guam was a minor piece of the vast Spanish Empire and few galleons even made port, as they were content to furl their sails offshore long enough to trade for water and food with Chamorros who came out on their "sakman".
A permanent Spanish presence was not established until June 15, 1668 when Father Diego Luis de San Vitores landed at the village of Hagåtña, in charge of a force of 31, including five other Jesuit missionaries. Few of the Spanish force were skilled with the firearms they brought, as San Vitores had been impressed by the gentleness and peacefulness of the Chamorros in an earlier visit. He argued that bringing experienced soldiers would create more conflict: "Experience has shown that soldiers do not content themselves with defense of the preachers but commit depredations." Upon arrival, local chiefs competed for the mission to come to their villages. Chief Kepuha of Hagåtña threw a feast the following day where the Spanish gave all the local chiefs iron hoops in exchange for food. The missionaries baptized 23 islanders, mostly young children. The mission established its headquarters in Hagåtña, consisting of a grouping of structures, including the precursor to the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica. San Vitores refused to allow a palisade or other fortification, as contrary to the mission's gospel of peace. In January 1669, the first stone and lime church was dedicated in Hagåtña , followed by the opening of a boy's elementary school, the first formal institution for education to be established in the Pacific.
A few days after arriving, the first confrontation occurred when a spear-wielding Chamorro threatened a Mexican mission helper who was attempting to destroy a shrine of ancestral skulls, under the orders of the priests. While the Spaniards did not bother themselves with recording the religious beliefs of Chamorros, scholars assume that their belief system was similar to other islanders in being largely based upon providing offerings to a protective ancestor spirit to gain its help. Chamorros would occasionally consult a "makana", who were believed to be skilled intermediaries with guardian spirits. As well as destroying skull shrines, the Spaniards' religious aims explicitly undermined the authority of the "makanas", whom the Spaniards called "sorcerers".
"Poison waters".
The first violence against the mission was an August 1668 violent attack against missionary Fr. Morales on Tinian, who was ambushed and speared in the leg as he went to baptize a dying man. Five days later, two of the men accompanying Fr. Morales were killed when Chamorros transporting them on "sakmans" suddenly attacked them with machetes. On Guam, Fr. Luis de Medina was badly beaten when visiting one of the remote villages on Guam. The missionaries found that distant villages on Guam that had previous welcomed them were concealing paths with brush, refusing to give them the traditional welcoming food of breadfruit, and even meeting them armed.
The Spaniards blamed the hostility on rumors spread by a Chinese castaway named Choco on Saipan that the waters that the missionaries were using for baptism was poisoned. This story was plausible to those villages whose sole contact with the missionaries was the baptisms conducted on the deathly ill or newborn, who experience high mortality. Contemporary Spanish accounts state that Chamorros in areas that regularly interacted with the mission group, such as Hagåtña, did not appear to give credence to these stories.
This violence made San Vitores reconsider his opposition to armed force. He sent to letter to the Philippines asking for 200 additional men, this time equipped with weapons, as well as asking that Manila galleons stopping by be prepared "to carry out punishment and remedy whatever misfortunes might occur." In late 1669, San Vitores led a dozen armed members of his mission, as well as some Chamorro converts, to Tinian in an attempt to stop a war between two villages that threatened to destabilize the missionary efforts there. When one of the warring groups made a surprise attack on the mission party, three were killed by a small artillery piece. For the first time, the Spanish force directly killed Chamorros.
In early 1670, Fr. Medina and his catechist Hipolito de la Cruz were killed by a group of young men on Saipan as they prepared to baptize a sick child. Then, in July 1671, a Mexican mission helper in Hagatña was killed when he went outside the village to cut wood to make crosses. Spaniards arrested suspected murderers, accidentally killing a Chamorro noble. While the Spaniards intended to hold a fair trial, the concept was not understood by the Chamorros. One historian writes: "the barbarians were so greatly offended by justice, to which they were strangers, that they behaved as if they would rather be killed without trial than be arrested and examined."
First Siege of Hagatña (1670).
The outrage at the trial combined with the anger at the attempts to destroy ancestral shrines and undermine "makanas" to move the residents of Hagatña to open resistance. Hurao, a high-caste resident of the village, began to rally villagers to open resistance. In response to the threat, the Spanish finally erected a wooden stockade with two towers. They were soon confronted by an estimated 2000 Chamorro men, though the Spanish quickly captured Hurao. While the military head of the mission, Juan de Santa Cruz, favored an attack, San Vitores insisted on trying to appease the attackers with gifts of food and turtle shell. The besieging Chamorros conducted themselves largely by the norms of ritualized island warfare, characterized by ceremonial posturing, displays of physical prowess, and the avoidance of an all-out battle that might result in heavy casualties. After a month, a severe typhoon ended the siege, inflicting more casualties than the battle. During the entire course of the siege, Chamorros lost five men. This is compared to the eight Chamorro deaths from warfare recorded by the Spanish in the previous three years, indicating that the siege was abnormally bloody by the standards of traditional Chamorro warfare.
In the five months after the lifting of the siege, San Vitores requested more troops and redoubled his missionary efforts towards the northern islands. However, San Vitores appeared to believe that the mere presence of additional soldiers would ensure peace. The Spanish did not make any efforts to punish or detain those responsible for the attacks on missionaries or siege of Hagatña. Released from prison, Hurao began traveling between villages to encourage opposition to the colonists.
Death of San Vitores (1672).
In March 1672, a young Mexican member of the mission, Diego Bazan, was killed in Chochogo, an inland village that was a center of anti-Spanish resistance. The next day, two Filipino catechists and their Spanish soldier escort were also ambushed and killed in Chocogo. A few days later, San Vitores, who had been in the southern village of Nisichan overseeing the construction of church began returning to Hagåtña. On the way, he and his Filipino catechist Pedro Calungsod stopped in the village of Tumon to look for a mission helper who had fled at word of the new violence. In Tumon, San Vitores met Matå'pang, a local elder whom San Vitores had converted after nursing him to health from a serious illness, but had since turned away from the Spanish. Infuriated at San Vitores' offer to baptize his daughter, Matå'pang said that San Vitores would do better to baptize the ancestral skull in the house and stop killing children and that if the Jesuit did not leave immediately, he would kill San Vitores. When Matå'pang left to get weapons and more men, San Vitores entered the house and baptized the girl. San Vitores and Calungsod were caught by the enraged Matå'pang and his companion, by legend Hurao. Calungsod was killed first, followed soon afterward by San Vitores, whose skull was split by a sword and heart pierced by a spear.
In response, the Spanish launched a punitive attack on Tumon, burning several houses and "sakmans". However, the Spanish column was attacked on both flanks as it waded through the waters of Tumon Bay, losing three soldiers to poison spears. Two Chamorro dead were counted. A month later, Hurao was captured and executed by one of the Spanish militia.
Fr. Francisco Solano, the Jesuit who became head of the mission after San Vitores' death, continued conciliatory policies, partially from awareness of the mission's weakness. Of the 31 original mission helpers, only 21 remained and there were only 13 muskets. Solano was concerned that if hostile Chamorros realized how inaccurate the muskets were, they would overwhelm the mission. He forbade mission personnel from visiting the north of Guam, which had become dangerously hostile, and there were even concerns that southern villages would turn away. Two more Filipinos were killed on Rota, the island just north of Guam, about a month later. Solano then succumbed to tuberculosis, only two months after the death of San Vitores.
Spanish reprisals (1674-1676).
After the tumult of 1672, 1673 was calm. However, in February 1674, Fr. Francisco Ezquerra and five of his six companion were killed while walking from Umatac to Fuuna, a village near Orote Point. Spanish forces turned in June 1674, when the Manila galleon that visited the island left behind Damián de Esplana, a trained military officer with 23 years of military service in colonial Chile, who was originally bound for the Philippines. Esplana was immediately put in charge of the garrison of 21 militia.
Unlike the Jesuit Superiors before him, Esplana believed that "for the good of the Christian community it was necessary to give an example of punishment that would warn the barbarians, whom mildness only made more bold." As his first example, Esplana threatened the people of Chochogo, a center of anti-Spanish resistance, unless it allowed free access to mission personnel. The Chamorros refused and Esplana ordered a night attack with orders to kill any men who resisted. The Spanish recorded that several men were killed, as well as one woman in the nighttime confusion. Two weeks later, the Spanish attacked Chochogo, burning its houses, destroying many spears, and killing two Chamorros. In November 1674, Esplana led an expedition to Tumon, where villagers were refusing to participate in any Christian programs. Finding the village deserted, he caught up to a fleeing "sakman", killing a man who had killed a mission assistant a couple years earlier. The dead man he ordered dismembered and hung between two poles as a warning to other resisting Chamorros.
In January 1675, Esplana attacked to the north of Guam, burning the resisting villages of Sidia and Ati. One historian further states that Esplana "threw down a steep slope several natives who tried to impede his passage." Esplana joined with the allied forces of Chief Antonio Ayhi to destroy Sagua, whose villagers had previously killed one of the Jesuits. Esplana continued to the south, burning the villages of Nagan and Hinca, which as been involved in the death of another Jesuit. Chamorros attempted to ambush the Spanish as they approached Tachuch, near Merizo, but Esplana killed one Chamorro and then captured and executed the chief of Tachuch as a warning to others who might resist. The Jesuits were full of praise for their new military commander, who was seen as the savior of the mission. As well as a new commander, 20 additional Spanish troops arrived on Guam in 1675.
In December 1975, a Jesuit and two lay mission helpers were killed at Ritidian after scolding a group of young men trying to get into the girls' dormitory. The group of men at Ritidian further burned all the mission buildings in the village, though the Spanish record that the older villagers disapproved of the actions but were unable to stop them. The next month, a Jesuit was killed in Upi by a Chamorro man who accused him of cheating him in a trade. In response, the villagers of nearby Tarragui, who were close to the priest, sent an armed force to challenge Upi to battle. Unopposed, the Tarragui force burned the home of the killer and retrieved the body of the priest for burial. Both of these events in northern Guam involved personal insults or disagreements, with a recorded disagreement among Chamorros themselves.
In June 1676, Francisco de Irrisari arrived on Guam and became the first person to take the title of Governor of the Mariana Islands, replacing both Esplana as military commander and the mission for civil matters as he formalized complete authority. He also arrived with fourteen additional soldiers, bringing the garrison to over 50 men. Irrisari continued Esplana's tactics, marching on Talisay, a village inland from Agat, and conducting a daylight attack that killed five people. A few weeks later, the garrison had to put down a revolt in Orote that was incited when a Chamorro girl who attended a mission school and had converted to Christianity married one of the Spanish militia against the wishes of her father. Irrisari hanged the father of the girl as punishment for incitement and brought the new couple back to Hagatña for safety.
Second Siege of Hagatña (1676-1677).
By this time, the Spanish attacks against villages had become the main cause of grievance among anti-Spanish Chamorros. In the late summer of 1676, Agualin, a blind high-caste Chamorro from Hagåtña, began traveling around Gaum to rally resistance, like Hurao five years before him. As well as the old stories of killing children, Agualin said that the Spanish were turning children against those resisting the Spanish and, by their opposition to bachelors' houses, were "depriv[ing] parents of the good price they would have received for the services of their daughters in these houses. Instead, they seek to marry off the girls to their own mission helpers or soldiers." Agualin also stated that the mission demanded that Chamorros attend religious services when they would rather be working, asking, "What death is worse than the life we are forced to live?"
Around this time, Antonio Ayhi became known as the most pro-Spanish of the chiefs. Ayhi ensured the loyalty of this village, while attempting to prohibit anti-Spanish Chamorros from passing through. Other pro-Spanish chiefs included Ignacio Hineti of Sinajana and Alonso So'on of Agat, who led battalions in support of Spanish attacks on hostile villages. By this time, at least four villages on Guam had mission schools, whose students were often fiercely loyal to the Spanish. The militia had also begun marrying Chamorro women, further increasing the number of Chamorro with personal ties to the mission.
In late August 1676, Chamorro resisters set fire to the church and mission quarters at Ayra'an. A force led by Irrisari responded, leaving eight soldier to protect missionaries at Orote before returning to Hagåtña. A week later, as the pastor of Orote and the soldiers were leaving for Hagåtña, they were attacked by a large force of armed men. Suddenly, a local man named Cheref appeared and offered to take the Spanish away to safety in his "sakman". After the Spanish had boarded the "sakman"was well away from shore, Cheref and his men overturned the boat and attacked the Spanish with spears and clubs. This incident would raise uncertainty about who among the Chamorro could be trusted.
In response, the Spanish reinforced walls of the Hagåtña presidio, construction new sentry stations and changing the layout of buildings to improve security. Antonio Ayhi arrived with a force to assist in the defense, but the Spanish advised him to leave for fear of repercussions to his village. In mid-October 1676, Agualin led to a force of 1,500 men to the presidio, which was defended by 40 Spanish militia equipped with 18 muskets. The siege largely followed the form of the first siege: the Chamorros ritualistically lined up outside musket range to taunt their foe. The Spanish periodically sallied forth, killing one or two Chamorro before the besieging force fled to the hills, only to return and reestablish the siege. The Chamorro destroyed a cornfield that fed the mission, but the Spanish managed to grow enough crops within the stockade to survive. The defenders easily fended off the half-hearted attempts to storm the presidio, until January 1677, when the besieging Chamorro force disbanded and left. Agualin eluded the Spanish until 1679, when he was recognized while landing a "sakman" and killed. During the siege, Antonio Ayhi and other pro-Spanish leaders attempted to bring food to the besieged mission.
Spanish suppression (1678).
In June 1678, the new governor, Juan Antonio de Salas arrived with thirty additional soldiers, and immediately restarted the violent suppression of resisting villages. Salas assaulted the villages of Apoto and Tupalao, burning them to the ground, killing two, and taking two children for enrollment in the mission school in Hagåtña. The Spanish force met resistance at Fuuna, killing an unrecorded number of men before torching the homes. Salas continued to Orote and Sumay, both hotbeds of anti-Spanish resistance, torching both before proceeding to Talofofo and Picpuc.
In their campaign, the Spanish informed the populace that Chamorros would turn over any murderers or rebels, that anyone sheltering a murder or rebel would be hanged. If these rules were not obeyed, the village would be collectively punished. Adherence to these new rules would be rewarded by special recognition and titles and a badge of authority, which was very attractive to the Chamorros as their traditional culture used similar status signifiers. Often, the Spanish would designate someone as captain of the village police, giving them a wooden staff, and encourage the new captain to deputize men he trusted as corporals, in effect creating a police force that mirrored the Spanish military structure. These village forces were then expected to assist in suppressing revolts in other villages. The Jesuits recorded that Chamorros readily accepted the rules because some hoped "to ingratiate themselves with the Spanish, others to achieve pardon for their crimes, and all of them hoping for a reward."
These new incentives soon resulted in the turning in of dozens of the desired "criminals", sometimes killing them before turning in their heads as proof. In January 1679, Ignacio Hinete killed three people in Tarragui who had been involved in earlier unrest. Hinete notified Salas to send someone to pick up the heads so they could be impaled on the wall of the presido as a warning to others. People in villages around Guam presented the heads of those who had murdered priests, or turned them over for public execution by the Spanish. In April 1680, the people of Rota sent the body of Matå'pang, where he had been hiding, in the hopes of avoiding Spanish punishment. The Chamorro resistance was largely broken and its remnants went into deep hiding.
Pacification of Guam (1680-1681).
In June 1680, a Jesuit wrote that Guam had been "quiet for more than a year," but that priests needed armed escorts for safety and to ensure compliance: "The mission is so dependant upon arms that without them nothing can be done, because the local people pay little attention to the Fathers when they are alone. The people here respond only to fear." In late 1679, two priests accompanied by 40 Spanish troops and 40 armed Chamorro allies left Hagåtña to travel to villages that had not seen a Spanish visitor since the hostilities of 1676. Everywhere they went the Spanish burned the houses for young men, destroyed the skulls of ancestors and spears, baptized children, and selected children to attend the mission school in Hagåtña. Many villages were abandoned by residents who feared the column was inflicting more retribution, but in most cases were lured back by promises of safety. The Spanish were welcomed in towns such as Tarragui and Ritidian. Some villages, such as Hanum, refused to submit and the Spanish burned some houses in retaliation.
The Jesuits were pleased by the pro-Spanish and pro-Christian change in attitudes. In Orote, the body of a man hanged for insurrection was dragged by small children who pelted the corpse with stones while shouting, "Die, dog, die. You refused to be a Christian." Most inhabitants of the island were attending church and regularly bringing children for baptism and bodies for burial, which had been a major source of tension in 1670. The church in Hagåtña was moved outside of the presidio walls and build to accommodate 1000 parishioners. Further, the Spanish had largely succeeded in consolidating the population. The residents on seven rural villages near Hagåtña were convinced to settle within a couple miles of garrison, creating the barrios of Sinajana, Anigua, and Santa Cruz (now part of East Hagåtña). The entire town center was enclosed in a wall, first wood but rebuild with stone, with two gates facing the sea and interior hills. Outside of Hagåtña , the Spanish policy of "reducción" concentrated Chamorros in six towns of about 1000 residents each: Pago, Agat, Inarajan, Umatac, Inapsan, and Mapupun. These towns each had a church and were being built in orderly rows at Spanish direction. Still, the Spanish burnt houses outside these villages to discourage unauthorized settlement, thereby creating the "lanchu" system that became typical of Chamorro society, in which people lived in towns but worked on remote ranches. The concentration of the population in larger settlements appears to have accelerated the spread of deadly foreign diseases, with 917 deaths being recorded from 1680-1683 on Guam and Rota, compared to about twenty Chamorro deaths from hostilites in the same period.
Salas unexpectedly left in 1680, leaving José de Quiroga y Losada, a junior military officer in command of the island. Fortunately, a year passed without much incident and Antonio de Saravia arrived in June 1681. Unlike his predecessors, Saravia's appointment as governor was made by the King of Spain, so Guam was no longer subordinate to rule from the Philippines or Mexico. As the first official governor, Saravia appointed Antonio Ayhi as lieutenant-governor of the colony and gave him the title "maestre-de-campo", roughly the equivalent of a colonel. Ayhi then convinced the other major village chiefs to take the oaths of fealty given by Saravia on September 8, 1681. These chiefs were then deputized to represent the governor in regions around the island, and were subsequently tasked with being mayors and other officials for the Spanish administration. Saravia built new roads, taught new trades, and introduced new livestock, such as chicken and cattle.
A significant problem of the Spanish was the conduct of the garrison. Since the arrival of Esplana, the soldiers had begun operating independently of the Jesuits. Meanwhile, the new recruits were often not well trained and, in the worst cases, criminals who had been given the choice of military duty on Guam or a prison in the Philippines. While the garrison had expanded to 115 in 1680, there was only pay for 40 soldiers, meaning that each soldier was making a third of their expected salary. This resulted in low morale, attempts to find money by whatever means possible, and general indiscipline. While the Jesuits had been grateful for the additional soldiers in the early hostilities, they became increasingly appalled by the soldiers behavior. By 1680, soldiers had moved on from seducing girls at the mission school to raping village women. One Jesuit in 1680 wrote, "The thefts that the soldiers have
carried out among the Indians, and the other extortions, have been endless." Chamorro anger at the depradations of the garrison only grew over the years.
Rota pacified (1680-1682).
With Guam pacified, the Spanish turned their attention to control of the northern islands. In late 1680, Quiroga led a force to Rota. He captured several rebel leaders, who were later executed, and sent up to 150 refugees from Guam who had fled the unrest back home. In April 1681, rebels from Inapsan who had burnt down their church and rectory fled to Rota. They were followed by Quiroga who, with local assistance, drove the rebels into the hills until most of them surrendered.
The Spanish then proceeded with the reduction of Rota, on the model of that already completed on Guam. In March 1682, a church and rectory was constructed at Sosa (modern day Songsong), and then a second town at Agusan. The population was then largely concentrated in these two towns. However, there was still resistance. A spear was thrown at the door of the Sosa rectory while the church in Agusan was burnt twice during the year. However, the Agusan priest was confident about his victory: "The dead receive Christian burial, and the sick are brought to the church for the sacraments on the shoulders of relatives."
With Rota firmly under their control, the Spanish looked further north. In early 1682, the mission superior, Fr. Manuel Solorzano, took a military escort on a trip north. On Tinian and Aguigan, Solorzano baptized 300 infants. However, his party was nearly ambushed on Saipan and achieved little on the island before being forced to turn back to Guam because of unfavorable winds. Twice in 1683, Saravia tried to lead Jesuit missions north but the two boats used by the Spanish were unable to brave rough weather.
Final large-scale resistance (1683).
When Governor Saravia died in November 1683, Damián de Esplana, who had returned to Guam only a few months earlier, presented sealed orders appointing him the next governor. Esplana immediately ordered Quiroga north to conquer Tinian and Saipan. In March 1684, Quiroga's force of 76 Spanish soldiers and at least as many Chamorro allies left Hagåtña. They were welcomed on Tinian but encountered strong resistance at Saipan. Dozens of "sakmans" prevented an easy landing. One or two Saipanese warriors and a Spanish soldier was killed before forcing the local Chamorros to flee inland. Pushing northward, the Spanish burnt the minority of villages that still resisted. A Jesuit writes that one resister "was cut down with an axe and his body hung by the foot from a tree to inspire fear." The force then crossed the island and pushed southward. Only the village of Araiao put up significant resistance, but the their warriors were soon routed and the Spanish claimed the head of one of the leaders. The campaign ended, Quiroga sent 25 soldiers to force submission of the sparsely populated islands further north while he began constructing a fort on Saipan.
However, the reduced garrison in Hagåtña tempted the rebels still on Guam. Chief Yula (Yura) of Apurguan, near Tamuning, rallied other resisters, starting in Ritidian and Pago. News of the rebellion spread quickly. By chance, most of the village priests were on their way to Hagåtña for a meeting and avoided being caught in the uprising. The exception was the priest of Ritidian, who was slain at the command of a chief who was angry that the priest had insisted that his daughter be married in a church. However, many Chamorros on Guam sided with the Spanish. The rebels tried to convince Ignacio Hineti to join them, but he refused. The boys attending mission school often sided with the priests and garrison.
On July 13, 1683, Yula and about 40 others concealed weapons as they infiltrated the presidio while pretending to attend mass. They killed the guards, left an injured Esplana for dead, and killed two Jesuit priests. The attackers repeatedly stabbed Fr. Solorzano, the mission superior, and severed his hand before a Chamorro mission helper who sided with Yula cut the priest's throat with a knife. Boarding students from the mission school killed one attacker with knives. In total, four Spanish soldiers were killed and 17 badly wounded, but they managed to kill Yula and drive away the rebels.
An even larger force of rebels returned a few days later to attempt to take the presidio but were met defenders reinforced by Ignacio Hineti and his allied Chamorros. Hineti killed the new leader of the rebellion, placing his head on a post. However, the attackers managed to burn the church and rectory and threatened to swarm the walls. The Jesuits armed themselves to defend the stockade, eventually forcing the attackers to withdraw by "sakman", where they incited Chamorros both on Guam and in the northern islands to join the rebellion. The two Jesuits based on Rota were killed, one when he landed in Tinian while attempting to warn Quiroga of the uprising and the other on Rota from rebels who had sailed from Tinian.
On Saipan, Quiroga was unaware of the rebellion until the seventeen soldiers he had left on Tinian were killed and their boats burnt. A combined force of Chamorro warriors from Tinian and Saipan launched an attack, driving Quiroga's force into the unfinished fort. Rallying, his counterattack forced the enemy to flee. However, the rebels soon returned, sieging the fort for weeks and making three determined charges in an attempt to breach Spanish lines. Quiroga lost four soldiers in the fighting, while the Chamorro had "considerable losses." At this point, the Spanish force numbered 35, from the original 75 that had begun their campaign. Quiroga eventually was able to sneak down to the shore and take "sakmans" back to Guam in November 1683.
The third siege of Hagåtña had lasted for four months when Quiroga arrived. There had been intense fighting in late July and August and at least five Filipino soldiers who had married Chamorro women had deserted. The injured Governor Espana had become indecisive and it was likely only because of the support of the pro-Spanish Chamorro militia that the garrison had held out against the far larger besieging force. However, Quiroga had a fearsome reputation and the rebels abandoned the siege at his arrival. For months afterwards, Quiroga pursued the rebels, burning more villages and executing prisoners, until an exhausted peace was once again established. The latest spasm of violence resulted in the loss of about a third of the Spanish garrison, between 45 and 50, and perhaps 30 or 35 losses among the Chamorro rebels.
Final Reduction.
Esplana grew violently paranoid after being nearly killed in 1684. He ordered soldiers to "shoot at sight any enemy islander", resulting in the deaths of "two children aged eight and nine years, two women who were ill, and an infirm old man." Esplana used his office to both procure young girls for his sexual appetite and put profits from the galleon trade in his own pocket. In 1688, when Esplana suddenly left for Manila, Quiroga became interim governor and disciplined soldiers to force them to give up "the licentious life to which they were accustomed." The outraged soldiers mutinied and threw Quiroga into a cell. Only the pleading of the Jesuit mission superior stopped the garrison's plans to execute Quiroga and secured his release. Esplana returned the next year, though he largely lived in Umatac as he worked on his shipping schemes.
Eventually, the garrison gave in to the demands of the missionaries to finish the conquest of the northern islands. In early 1691, Esplana, Quiroga, and 80 soldiers sailed to Rota, where the visibly trembling governor pled the populace for peace before ordering the expedition back to Guam. This convinced the Jesuits that Esplana was incapable of bringing the rest of the Marianas under the control of the mission. Nevertheless, by 1689 the number of Spanish troops had increased to 160, while the Marianas mission reached its maximum of twenty Jesuits. Meanwhile, the Chamorro population of Guam continued to be wracked by foreign-introduced disease; in 1689, the pre-San Vitores population of 35,000 to 50,000 had fallen to below 10,000.
Esplana died in August 1694 and Quiroga used his position as interim governor to finally complete conquering the Marianas. In September, Quiroga and 50 soldiers sailed to Rota where they chased the residents of a resisting village into the mountains until they gave up. The Spanish destroyed their weapons and relocated 26 "sakmans" worth of people to Guam. In July 1696, Quiroga and 80 troops, including a unit of Chamorro militia, sailed to Tinian. However, the residents took refuge in the imposing mountain island of Aguiguan. Several Spanish soldiers were killed by stones and spears when trying to approach and Quiroga withdrew to Saipan, while he waited for 20 "sakmans" of Chamorro militia to catch up. On Saipan, Quiroga encountered only token resistance, chasing Saipanese warriors for days. However, he also told the populace that he would not seek revenge as long as they allowed missionaries to work on the islands in the future.
When he returned to Tinian with his Chamorro allies, Quiroga found that the entire population had retreated to Aguiguan. Quiroga made the same offer to the people of Tinian that he had made on Saipan, but they did not respond. He then burned the houses on Tinian as a warning, to no response. The Spanish then blockaded Aguiguan so the refugees could not get food or water, before finally assaulting the island directly. Several defenders were killed and some who expected to be executed threw themselves off the cliffs, but none resisted once the Spanish force reached high ground. Several people implicated in the murder of a priest were executed. Quiroga pronounced that all the people of Tinian must relocate to Guam. Some of the people of Tinian fled to the northern islands to escape Spanish control, but none dared stay on Tinian and the island was soon abandoned.
More than 300 of the 2000 people who lived in Gani, the eight small islands at the top of the Marianas chain, had been relocated to Saipan. When the Jesuit pastor of Saipan realized that the people from Gani had begun sneaking back to their home islands, he called on the new governor in Guam, José Madrazo, to complete the reduction of the north. In September 1698, twelve Spanish soldiers and a fleet of 112 Chamorro "sakmans" sailed to Gani. Awed by the size of the force, the people of Gani agreed to do whatever the Spanish desired. 1,900 residents of Gani were relocated, some temporarily to Saipan, before final settlement in southern Guam in 1699. The completion of this process was the final phase of violence and villagization that had begun 29 years earlier.


Siege of Masaka

The Siege of Masaka was a battle of the Ugandan Bush War that took place from 25 September to 10 December 1985 in which forces of the National Resistance Army (NRA) besieged and eventually captured the large Ugandan town of Masaka, from the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA).
Background.
In April 1979 Tanzanian forces and the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), a coalition of armed rebel groups united under the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF), invaded Uganda and deposed the President, Idi Amin. A new UNLF government was installed, but it was weak and exercised little control over the country. This was in part due to the UNLF's and its army's own internal divisions. The several-hundred-strong Kikosi Maalum group was loyal to Milton Obote, who had served as President before Amin took power. Yoweri Museveni controlled the Front for National Salvation, which had about 3,000 members. Over time power shifted to pro-Obote elements in the government and the army. Obote assumed power in 1980 through a disputed election, and ruled through repressive methods, including the incarceration and killing of dissidents. In February 1981 Museveni and a small band of rebels began attacking UNLA forces, initiating the Ugandan Bush War. Shortly thereafter a new rebel coalition was organised as the National Resistance Movement (NRM). Museveni was made Vice-Chairman of the National Resistance Council, the group's political body, and Chairman of the High Command of the National Resistance Army (NRA), the Movement's armed organ. By July 1985 the NRA had been largely defeated and pushed out of its strongholds, and Museveni retired to Sweden.
On 27 July, several officers of the UNLA launched a coup which overthrew President Obote. General Tito Okello assumed power in his place. The new regime was weak and unstable, and Okello made overtures to anti-Obote rebel groups to form a coalition government and end the fighting. The coup upset many Lango soldiers, which constituted the second-largest ethnic group in the UNLA and were loyal to Obote. The NRM was highly critical of the new government and accused the UNLA of committing atrocities. The UNLF, conscious of its weakening political position, nevertheless pursued negotiations with the NRM. Museveni took advantage of the disruption caused by the coup to return to East Africa and rebuild the NRA.
Prelude.
In August the NRA launched a series of co-ordinated attacks that resulted in the capture of significant amounts of territory in central and western Uganda. As part of the NRA's offensive, its Mobile Brigade was ordered to attack the town of Masaka, located 128 kilometres southwest of Kampala, the Ugandan capital. Masaka had key strategic importance for several reasons; it was one of the largest towns in the country, hosted a large market for the coffee trade, supported nearby ranching communities, and was located along a road network that connected Uganda to neighbouring states in the south and to the west. NRA commanders believed that the capture of Masaka would facilitate an attack on Kampala. Masaka was garrisoned by about 2,000 to 3,000 UNLA troops belonging to the 32nd Battalion and the Masaka Mechanised Regiment who were based out of a barracks at Kasijjagirwa, two kilometres outside of the town.
Siege.
On 24 September the NRA's Mobile Brigade advanced eastward down the Masaka–Mbarara Road. Meanwhile, Lieutenant James Oketa, the UNLA's chief intelligence officer at Masaka, drove westward out of the town in his truck to conduct reconnaissance. He encountered the Mobile Brigade's 3rd Battalion at the outskirts of Masaka, east of the town of Kyabakuza in a valley surrounded by a large swamp. The NRA opened fire on his truck, and he quickly turned around and headed back into town. The NRA captured Masaka town the following day and laid siege to the barracks at Kasijjagirwa. The first assault on the barracks was defeated, as the installation was well protected by fortifications including minefields, heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft cannons, and mortars.
The Masaka Mechanised Regiment launched counter-attacks against the 3rd Battalion during the following days. On 31 September, UNLA forces led by Major John Tebandeke and coordinated by Oketa attacked Salim Saleh's headquarters in Masaka. They used flares to illuminate NRA positions, forcing 3rd Battalion commander Patrick Lumumba to withdraw some of his troops. Despite Lumumba's urging, Saleh refused to abandon his headquarters. The UNLA soldiers were eventually repelled by the 3rd Battalion, and Tebandeke was killed. This marked the end of the breakout attempts, as Tebandeke's successor, Captain Olanya Ojara, opted for a passive strategy. The garrison holed up in the barracks, hoping for reinforcements. On 18 November, Lieutenant Colonel James Tibamuleka, commander of the UNLA's 30th Brigade, was killed during the siege.
Upon being informed of the situation at Masaka, the UNLA high command resolved to lift the siege. At some point in early December, it ordered the 11th Battalion, artillery units, allied FUNA militants, and helicopters to reopen the Kampala–Masaka Road. This operation failed in face of NRA resistance during the Battle of Katonga Bridge. Meanwhile, the garrison at Masaka suffered from dwindling supplies. Food, clean water, and medicine became scarce, and UNLA soldiers resorted to eating rats to survive. According to a NRA veteran, there were even incidents of cannibalism. Despite this, several died from starvation. In one instance, a soldier searching for food outside the barracks managed to retrieve a bunch of bananas, but stepped on a land mine while returning. Gravely wounded, he called for help, but the soldier that went out to retrieve him stepped on another mine, losing his leg. Both men screamed for assistance, but neither the NRA nor the UNLA were able to reach them, and they succumbed to their wounds three days later. Attempts by the UNLA's helicopters to airlift supplies to Masaka mostly failed, as the NRA drove them off with anti-aircraft guns.
In contrast to the desperate situation of the UNLA garrison, some NRA fighters regarded the siege as "enjoyable" because they had access to facilities in Masaka town that they had lacked during their insurgency in the bush. Many locals supported the rebels during the siege, and even joined the NRA. One of the factors that inspired many recruits was the large number of women soldiers and "Kadogos" (boy soldiers aged 10 to 14) among the besiegers of Masaka. These fighters were often smartly dressed, and sang revolutionary songs to local audiences, prompting many peasants to believe that the war "was easy".
As the conditions of the garrison worsened, the UNLA troops increasingly succumbed to indiscipline and divided into factions along ethnic lines. On 2 December, groups of UNLA troops began surrendering to the NRA. The NRA used its artillery to heavily shell the remaining government troops from 4 December. The rest of the Masaka garrison capitulated on 10 December. The NRA took between 2,000–3,000 UNLA troops prisoner and seized the stock of weapons from the armoury, while having suffered relatively light casualties.
Aftermath.
Immediately after the battle, the NRA 3rd Battalion was redeployed to assist forces in combat in Bulenga. NRA commanders housed the UNLA prisoners taken at Masaka in the senior secondary school "for their own security" as, according to Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the local population "would have only been too glad to lynch every one of them." Eventually, many of the UNLA soldiers including Captain Ojara switched allegiances and joined the NRA. The NRA's capture of Masaka and eventual success at Mbarara also solidified their control of the centre and south-western sections of the country and left Kampala vulnerable to attack. To take advantage of its improving military situation, the NRA High Command decided to launch an offensive to capture the city. On 24 January 1986 the NRA advanced into the Kampala, completely securing it two days later. Many of the NRA soldiers who had defected from the UNLA garrison in Masaka participated in the battle.
Having already been the site of much destruction during a 1979 battle between Tanzanian and Ugandan forces, Masaka was left further damaged by the siege. The town did not recover from the conflicts until the 2010s.


British Military Mission to Poland

The British Military Mission to Poland was an effort by Britain to aid the nascent Second Polish Republic after it achieved its independence in November, 1918, at the end of the First World War.
It worked in parallel with the larger and much more significant French Military Mission to Poland.
It was commanded by British General Adrian Carton De Wiart (who succeeded General Louis Botha). General Carton De Wiart also headed the British Military Mission to Poland in 1939.
It should not be confused with the Interallied Mission to Poland, an improvised effort launched by Lloyd George on July 21, 1920, at the height of the crisis before the Battle of Warsaw.


Operation Spartan Shield

Operation Spartan Shield (OSS) is a United States Department of Defense operation in the Middle East. OSS is commanded by United States Central Command and includes units from all service branches. Task Force Spartan is the U.S. Army component of OSS. In Syria, on 25 August 2020, a Russian vehicle allegedly rammed a U.S. MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle), which triggered an Operation Spartan Shield countermeasure.


242nd Mixed Brigade

The 242nd Mixed Brigade (), was a short-lived mixed brigade of the Spanish Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War.
Hastily formed in the winter in Catalonia shortly before the end of the war and marred by desertions, it was one of the last mixed brigades to be established.
History.
Rushed formation of the brigade.
The decision to establish the 242nd Mixed Brigade was taken towards the end of 1938 in Vic, Catalonia, shortly before the onset of the rebel faction's devastating Catalonia Offensive. During the period of the instruction of the recruits the commanding officer was Militia Major Lucio Doménech Martínez, following which the 242nd Mixed Brigade was hastily sent to the front and the command of the unit went to Militia Major Julio Marín Serrano.
In the face of the atmosphere of panic and demoralization that preceded the relentless advance of the Francoist armies towards the heart of Catalonia, the constitution of this brigade was fraught with difficulties, mainly because of the high number of fugitives among the young men that had been conscripted. Like in all of the mixed brigades of the last period of the Spanish republic, the officers were drafted from the reserve.
Failure followed by extinction.
The 242nd Mixed Brigade was sent to the frontline in January 1939 around the time of the Fall of Barcelona on 27 January 1939. Together with the 77th Division —another ill-prepared and hastily established unit— the brigade tried to establish a defensive line along the lower course of the Tordera River in order to halt the powerful advance of the enemy. But practically all other Republican Army units were rushing north towards the French border and the young and inexperienced 242nd Mixed Brigade was not prepared to fight the massive rebel offensive. Thus the eleventh hour resistance effort ended in disaster.
On 1 February the brigade was overrun; it quickly lost the nearby towns of Hostalric and Blanes without putting much of a fight and one of its battalions even defected to the enemy as a whole.


Luis Castello Pantoja

Luis Castelló Pantoja (Guadalcanal, Seville, 1881 - Guadalcanal, September 27, 1962), was a Spanish military Infantry General associated with the Spanish Civil War. A republican Minister of War during the early months of the war, he tried to stop the revolutionary chaos that followed the July 1936 coup.
Biography.
The Second Republic.
Pantoja was the uncle of Juan Simeón Vidarte, Socialist deputy for the province of Badajoz. He was one of three military leaders (the other two were Francisco Franco and Carlos Masquelet Lacaci) who were present at the meeting of Eduardo López Ochoa with the Ministers of War (Diego Hidalgo) and the Interior (Eloy Vaquero Cantillo) which organized the suppression of the insurrection in Asturias in 1934.
Civil War.
Pantoja was Brigadier General in the Infantry in charge of the 2nd Infantry Brigade and military commander of the Badajoz plaza. He managed to keep the Castile regiment from joining the revolt, remaining on the side of the government. Vidarte informed him of his promotion as head of Organic Division I following the dismissal of Virgilio Cabanellas Ferrer. He never managed to take command, moving to Madrid on July 19, 1936. He left his wife and two daughters in Badajoz and they were captured by the rebels after the conquest of the city by Colonel Juan Yagüe.
After arriving in Madrid he was immediately appointed Minister of War in the Cabinet chaired by José Giral, replacing José Miaja Menant, a position he held until August 6, 1936 when he was replaced by Juan Hernández Saravia. According to Ramon Salas Larrazabal:
"... Castelló soon realized that he was to become no more than a nominal minister. The revolution had reached Madrid and its influence was felt in a sub-committee in the Ministry made up of Lieutenant Colonel Hernández Saravia, commanders Hidalgo de Cisneros, Chirlandas and Mezquita, captains Cordón, Núñez Mazas and Freire and Lieutenant Martin Blazquez."
Despite challenges, Castelló tried to stem the revolutionary chaos of the republican rearguard by organizing the military efforts. On July 20 he dismissed General Garcia Antúnez, putting the Organic Division I in the hands of General Riquelme. In the Cabinet he opposed the planned invasion of Majorca by Captain Alberto Bayo (that was subsequently carried out on August 16, 1936 and turn out to be a failure), arguing for the need to use the forces to defend Madrid in the Zaragoza and Huesca sieges in the almost defenceless Aragon front.
Following his resignation as Minister of War, he took over the military government of Madrid. Affected by the shooting of his brother by the anarchist militias and the imprisonment of his wife and daughters by rebels, he suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be admitted to the Leganes psychiatric hospital. After his discharge, he took refuge in the French embassy, where he remained until the spring of 1937 when he moved to France.
Detention and death.
In 1942 Pantoja was arrested by the Gestapo in occupied France and delivered to Francoist Spain, where he was tried and sentenced to death. He spent three years in prison before being pardoned in 1946. After a long illness he died in the company of his daughters on 27 September 1962.


Battle of Hill 609

The Battle of Hill 609 took place at Djebel Tahent in northwestern Tunisia during the Tunisia Campaign. The battle was for control over the key strategic height Hill 609 and its surrounding area between the American forces of the U.S. II Corps and German units of the Afrika Korps. The battle proved a formative experience for the American forces - in their first clear-cut victory of the campaign, and has been called "the American Army's coming-of-age."
Battle.
In late April 1943, Hill 609 was the key to the German defensive line facing the U.S. II Corps, commanded by Major General Omar Bradley. The German general, Hans-Jürgen von Arnim, used the hill for artillery fire and observation. From the hill, the Germans could also prevent movement by both the 1st Infantry Division, commanded by Major General Terry Allen, to the south and the 9th Infantry Division, commanded by Major General Manton Eddy, to the north. Hill 609 was deemed one of the most difficult objectives in Tunisia, not only protected by steep slopes and artillery but also by fire from nearby high grounds, which gave the Germans a cross fire on the slopes leading up to it. After rejecting the proposition of bypassing the mountain, Bradley ordered the 34th Infantry Division, commanded by Major General Charles Ryder, to take the hill. After heavy fighting and high casualties, the 34th Division managed to take the hill by April 30 and the following day repelled several German counterattacks.


All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors

All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors is a war memorial in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that honors the state's African American servicemen who fought in American conflicts from the American Revolutionary War to World War I. Commissioned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1927, it was created by sculptor J. Otto Schweizer and dedicated July 7, 1934. In 1994 it was relocated from a remote site in West Fairmount Park to its present prominent site in Logan Square, along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Description.
The monument is approximately 21.5 ft (6.55 m) tall, with a base approximately 17 ft (5.18 m) wide and 13.5 ft (4.11 m) deep. It is made of granite and the sculptures are of bronze.
The front features a "conspicuously Caucasian" female figure of "Justice", who holds a laurel wreath in each hand representing "Honor" and "Reward". On her right side are two soldiers and one sailor and on her left is three soldiers, all in World War I uniforms. The reverse features four (again Caucasian) female figures representing "War", "Liberty", "Peace", and "Plenty"; a dedication plaque, and a bas relief of the Seal of Pennsylvania. The monument is crowned by four American eagles guarding "The Torch of Life". All the bronze figures are approximately 6 ft (1.83 m) tall. "Justice" stands two steps higher than the others, and there is an inscription below her: "Erected by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in Honor of Her Colored Soldiers." The bronze dedication plaque on the reverse reads: "To Commemorate the Heroism and Sacrifice of All Colored Soldiers Who Served in the Various Wars Engaged in By the United States of America That a Lasting Record Shall Be Made of Their Unselfish Devotion to Duty As an Inspiration to Future Generations ThIs Monument is Dedicated May 30, 1934", followed by a list of commissioners. On the right side of the monument is a bronze shield listing: "American Revolution / Civil War / Indian Wars", and on the left is a shield listing: "Spanish American War / Philippine Insurrection / World War."
The monument is located in the southwest quadrant of Logan Square, between 20th Street and the traffic circle, and faces the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Franklin Institute is to the west, Moore College of Art is to the south, the main branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia is to the north, and the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is to the east. Nearby are the Aero Memorial by sculptor Paul Manship (a monument to aviators who died in World War I), the Swann Memorial Fountain at the center of the traffic circle (sculptures by Alexander Stirling Calder), and the Shakespeare Memorial (also by Calder).
History.
In 1925 Samuel Beecher Hart, an African-American state legislator from Philadelphia, introduced a bill in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to commission a monument honoring 150 years of service in the U.S. military by Pennsylvania African Americans. The Sesquicentennial Exposition, a world's fair celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, was to open in Philadelphia the following year, and Hart's hope may have been that the monument would be one of the fair's attractions. His bill was defeated in 1925, but he resubmitted it in 1927, and it passed. It specified an appropriation of $100,000, but this was reduced to $60,000 in the state senate, then reduced to $50,000 by Governor John Stuchell Fisher. In 1921 Philadelphia had erected twin Civil War monuments – one for soldiers, one for sailors; both modeled by sculptor Hermon Atkins MacNeil and carved by the Piccirilli Brothers – on the newly completed Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Parkway also was the intended site for the "All Wars Memorial".
Site wars.
The bill created a 7-person Colored Soldiers Statue Commission to oversee the monument's completion, and all five of the governor's appointees (which included Hart) were African Americans. Twelve sculptors participated in a design competition, and J. Otto Schweizer was judged the winner. A contract was signed with him in March 1929, but it took five years to agree on a site. Philadelphia's Art Jury ruled against placing the monument on the Parkway, arguing that it needed to "avoid turning the Parkway into an 'Avenue of War Memorials' since most are more or less mediocre, due either to lack of funds or misdirected efforts." Instead, the Art Jury proposed that it be placed in Fitler Square, at 23rd & Pine Streets, a small park in a white, largely-Irish, working-class neighborhood. John Marquess, a prominent African-American leader, protested: "God forbid that we of the Negro group should stand by and permit our patriotism to be insulted." He dismissed Fitler Square as "a wilderness in a God-forsaken section of this metropolitan city. ... Dirty children, drunken bums, pot hounds of sure mongrel strain—these were the lot which sported on the spot where was to be erected a monument to heroic Negro soldier dead." The state commission refused to agree to the Fitler Square site, which left the project at a stalemate.
In early March 1934, with the monument's dedication scheduled for May 30, the Fairmount Park Commission proposed a temporary site on the Parkway with the permanent site to be left undetermined. This compromise was rejected by the Art Jury. City Councilman Henry Trainer, a white Republican, introduced a resolution that the monument be permanently placed on the Parkway, which was approved by a majority in City Council and signed by the mayor. This was a cynical gesture by Trainer and the mayor, since legal authority for placement of Philadelphia monuments rested solely with the Art Jury, but the ploy improved their popularity with black voters and both politicians won re-election. Applying more pressure, W. E. Garrett Gilmore of the Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company, owner of an apartment house facing Fitler Square, appealed to the Art Jury in a March 15, 1934 letter: "At the present time we have some very desirable tenants living in these apartments, and we feel that such a statue opposite the apartments would cause us a loss of tenancy." The City Council resolution also raised the ire of other groups whose monuments had been rejected for the Parkway: "The War Mothers and the World War Veterans objected that if their war memorials could not obtain a Parkway site, no one's should, least of all a monument to African American servicemen."
Under attack from all sides, in April the Art Jury tried to pressure the state commission into agreeing to the Fitler Square site. The commission refused, and threatened to erect the monument in another Pennsylvania city. The Art Jury backed down somewhat, and the parties agreed to a compromise site in West Fairmount Park, on Lansdowne Avenue behind Memorial Hall, the art gallery left over from the 1876 Centennial Exposition. The monument's dedication was postponed – its bronze plaque still reads "Dedicated May 30, 1934" – and took place on July 7, 1934. State Representative Hart gave an address at the ceremonies, and his 11-year-old granddaughter Doris was one of six children who pulled cords unveiling the monument.
Relocation.
Over the decades, there were numerous proposals to relocate the monument to a more prominent site, but they were abandoned due to lack of funds.
In 1994 the City's Art Commission (descendant of the Art Jury) recommended the relocation of the monument to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell endorsed this, and City Council appropriated $200,000 to make it possible. The intended relocation was announced at a May 9, 1994 press conference attended by State Representative Hart's granddaughter and two granddaughters of the sculptor, J. Otto Schweizer. The monument underwent a thorough restoration, and was re-dedicated on Veterans Day, November 11, 1994. Hart's granddaughter, Doris Jones Holliday, one of the children who had unveiled the monument 60 years earlier, again did the honors.
Assessment.
Art historian Ilene D. Lieberman notes the great rarity of an early twentieth century civic monument that honors African Americans, or even one that features black figures on an equal or near-equal standing with white figures. She compares the "All Wars Memorial" to Boston's "Robert Gould Shaw Memorial" (1884), where sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens paid honor to the all-black 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment by individualizing the faces of the soldiers. There, the bas-relief black soldiers form a chorus in support of the near-freestanding equestrian statue of Shaw, the white officer on his horse. In the Philadelphia monument the black soldiers and sailors are not a chorus or even supporting players, they are on an equal standing with the white goddesses.
Lieberman reminds us that the "All Wars Memorial" was conceived, executed and dedicated at a time when the U.S. military remained rigidly segregated, and black soldiers' ability and courage were constantly questioned (or dismissed). "Despite this persistent intimidation on and off the battlefield, African Americans continued to serve in the armed forces, thereby proving their loyalty to a country that still actively discriminated against them."
She sees problems with the relocated monument's siting: Its front, with "Justice" and the six black soldiers and sailors, faces the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the busy traffic circle; but its reverse, with the four white goddesses, faces the Franklin Institute and the 20th Street sidewalk, and is much more likely to be viewed by pedestrians and motorists. Unfortunately, like the colossal statue of "William Penn" atop Philadelphia City Hall, the monument faces northeast, leaving the figures of "Justice" and the black servicemen in shadow for much of the day.


Georgia Veterans State Park

Georgia Veterans State Park (originally the Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park) is a state park located on Lake Blackshear in Crisp County, west of Cordele, Georgia. It was established in December 4, 1946 as a memorial to U.S. Veterans. The park features a museum with aircraft, vehicles, weapons, uniforms and other memorabilia dating from the Revolutionary War to the present.
Other attractions include Lake Blackshear, a privately operated conference center and golf club and the SAM Shortline Excursion Train, which runs from Cordele to Plains.
In 2013, Georgia Veterans State Park was privatized and its management handed over to Coral Hospitality, a Florida-based hotel and resort management company.
Activities.
The fish in Lake Blackshear include bass, crappie, catfish and bream.


List of South African Battle Honours

The South African National Defence Force follows the British Army system of awarding battle honours to military units, to recognize the battles and campaigns in which they have fought with distinction. The following is a list of battle honours with descriptions and listing the units for each battle honour:
Battle Honours of South Africa.
Other.
These are Battle Honours listed by units which are not in the cited source.


Operation Benedict

Operation Benedict (29 July – 6 December 1941) was the establishment of Force Benedict with units of the Soviet Air Forces (VVS, ) in north Russia, during the Second World War. The force comprised 151 Wing Royal Air Force (RAF), with two squadrons of Hawker Hurricane fighters. The wing flew against the (German Air Force) and the (Finnish Air Force) from Vaenga (now Severomorsk) in the northern USSR and trained Soviet pilots and ground crews to operate the Hurricanes, when their British pilots and ground crews returned to Britain.
Twenty-four Hurricanes were delivered by Operation Strength, flying direct to Vaenga from the aircraft carrier but Operation Dervish, the first Arctic convoy, was diverted from Murmansk to Archangelsk, another on. The fifteen Hurricanes for 151 Wing, delivered in crates, had to be assembled at Keg Ostrov airstrip. Despite primitive conditions, the Hurricanes were readied in nine days, with excellent co-operation from the Russian authorities; the aircraft flew to Vaenga on 12 September.
In five weeks of operations, 151 Wing claimed 16 victories, four probables and seven aircraft damaged. The winter snows began on 22 September and converting pilots and ground crews of Soviet Naval Aviation () of the VVS to Hurricanes began in mid-October. The RAF party departed for Britain in late November, less various signals staff, arrived on 7 December and 151 Wing disbanded. The British and Russian governments gave Benedict much publicity and four members of 151 Wing received the Order of Lenin.
Background.
Diplomacy.
On 22 June 1941, the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany and its allies. That evening, Winston Churchill broadcast a promise of assistance to the USSR against the common enemy. On 7 July, Churchill wrote to Stalin and ordered the British ambassador in Moscow, Stafford Cripps, to begin discussions for a treaty of mutual assistance. On 12 July, an Anglo-Soviet Agreement was signed in Moscow, to fight together and not make a separate peace. On the same day a Soviet commission met the Royal Navy and the RAF in London and it was decided to use the airfield at Vaenga (now Severomorsk) as a fighter base to defend ships while unloading at the ports of Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Polyarny. Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador in London since 1932, replied on 18 July that new fronts in northern France and the Arctic would improve the situation in the USSR.
Operations in the Arctic were favoured by Stalin and Churchill, but the First Sea Lord, Admiral Dudley Pound considered such proposals unsound, "with the dice loaded against us in every direction". The US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Churchill met at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland on 9 August and on 12 August communicated an assurance to Stalin that the western Allies were going to provide "the very maximum of supplies". A joint supply mission led by W. Averell Harriman and Max Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook) arrived at Archangelsk on 27 September and on 6 October, Churchill made a commitment to sail a convoy every ten days from Iceland to north Russia. When Arctic convoys passed by the north of Norway into the Barents Sea, they came well into range of German aircraft, U-boats and ships operating from bases in Norway and Finland. The ports of arrival, especially Murmansk, only about east of the front line were vulnerable to attack by the .
151 Wing.
The RAF contingent was to consist of two squadrons of Hawker Hurricanes and one squadron each of twin-engined Bristol Blenheims and Bristol Beaufighters. The Commander-in-Chief of the RAF Charles Portal decided on 25 July to send only No. 151 Wing RAF (Neville Ramsbottom-Isherwood) comprising 81 Squadron (Squadron Leader A. H. [Tony] Rook) and 134 Squadron (Squadron Leader A. G. [Tony] Miller), equipped with Hawker Hurricane Mk IIBs. A Flight of 504 Squadron, based in Exeter, formed the nucleus of a new 81 Squadron and were sent on leave, to return to RAF Leconfield in Yorkshire or had just completed their training; two pilots of 615 Squadron who had deliberately failed a night fighter conversion course, were also posted to 151 Wing. The wing headquarters comprised about 350 administrative, signals, engineering, maintenance, transport, medical and non-technical staff and each squadron had a commanding officer, two flight commanders, at least thirty pilots and about 100 ground staff. The wing was to be transported to north Russia in the first Arctic convoy and was to operate until the weather in October or November grounded the aircraft. During the winter lull, the fighters were to be handed over to the Soviet Air Forces (VVS, ). After several delays, a 151 Wing advance party of two officers and 23 men departed from Leconfield in mid-August.
Voyage.
The Main Party, the majority of the 2,700 men of 151 Wing, including fourteen pilots was embarked on the troopship SS "Llanstephan Castle" together with 15 Hurricanes packed in crates, at the Scapa Flow anchorage in the Orkney Islands. The ships departed from Scapa Flow on 17 August 1941 with the Dervish Convoy and headed towards the Svalbard Archipelago and the midnight sun, to circle as far north around Norway as possible. Also embarked were Vernon Bartlett MP, an American newspaper reporter Wallace Carrol, Feliks Topolski, the Polish expressionist painter travelling as an official British and Polish war artist, a Polish Legation, a Czechoslovak commission and Charlotte Haldane a noted feminist and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, who lectured on "Domestic life in Russia" as part of an impromptu course laid on by the civilian passengers. The danger of attacks on Murmansk led to the ships being diverted at Archangelsk, another to the east. As the "Llanstephan Castle" sailed upriver to dock, rifle shots were heard and a member of the crew was hit in the arm, the gunfire coming from people onshore who mistook the British uniforms for German ones.
The ship anchored about from the dock and workers began to build a wooden dock outwards towards them, a race against time before the waters froze; the passengers being surprised to find that most of the dockworkers were women. Ramsbottom-Isherwood had made a plan in case a British liaison party from Moscow failed to arrive and intended to use the 151 Wing transport to travel to Vaenga, only to be surprised to find that no roads to Murmansk existed. The liaison party led by Air Vice-Marshal Basil Collier did arrive and discussions ensued as to the whereabouts of the Advance Party which had travelled ahead with equipment and stores. The pilots on "Argus" were due to arrive at Vaenga in a few days' time and he also needed the fifteen dismantled and crated Hurricanes carried by Dervish, to make up the wing complement of 39 Hurricanes. It had been intended to transport the wing by train but the Kandalaksha–Murmansk railway had been bombed by the . A small party of signallers were sent to Keg Ostrov (island) airfield outside Arachangelsk and a party of 200 men with the wing commander were to travel by sea in the destroyers and in two days' time. Two days later a group was to travel by tramp steamer to Kandalaksha, thence by train to Vaenga and two parties were to follow by rail, once the line had been repaired.
Operation Strength.
Twenty-four aircraft and pilots went on board the aircraft carrier at Gourock near Glasgow and sailed for Scapa Flow. The departure of the ship was delayed for ten days and fears rose that the voyage would be cancelled but eventually "Argus" sailed, escorted by a cruiser and three destroyers. Much of the journey was in fog, only a marker from the ship in front being visible. The rum ration was appreciated and the pilots inspected the new Hurricane Mk IIB fighters, stored below decks minus their wings. The Hurricane pilots thought that the deck was rather short for taking off and took an interest in the two Martlet fighters kept at readiness. The weather remained unchanged as the carrier turned south for Russia but when the ship reached the departure point, it was dead calm and "Argus" had to sail in circles until the wind rose sufficiently. The Martlets had to be dismantled before the Hurricanes could be put on the flight deck six at a time; "Argus" would be steaming into wind at .
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) aircrew briefed the pilots, to make sure that they rolled onto the ramp at the end of the flight deck, to get a shove into the air. To avoid problems with magnetic compasses at that latitude, one of the destroyers would point towards the coast and once three Hurricane pilots had formed a vic, they were to line up along it and keep going until they reached the coast, then turn right for Vaenga a few miles inland. The squadron commanders briefed their pilots that 134 Squadron would take off first and that they were to keep a sharp lookout for German fighters but that they would carry only six of their twelve machine-guns to save weight. The first Hurricanes came up on the lift into a grey overcast day and the fight deck began to vibrate as the ship picked up speed into a light headwind and the Hurricane engines were started. Tony Miller, the 134 Squadron leader, went first, hit the ramp as suggested by the navy pilots and got airborne, despite the undercarriage being too damaged to retract. The other pilots saw that they would have to get airborne "without" hitting the ramp, because Hurricane undercarriages were not robust enough to use the method. Each vic assembled at about , flew along the destroyer guide and after about twenty minutes reached the coast and turned to starboard. Visibility was good and after about seventy minutes' flying, Vaenga was easy to see, as was the first Hurricane to land, which had come in wheels-up.
Prelude.
Keg Ostrov.
The first men off "Llanstephen Castle" were mostly the R/T personnel needed at Vaenga to communicate with the Hurricanes when they arrived from "Argus". The men were flown from Keg Ostrov on successive days, the first flight being routine. On the second day the aircraft was intercepted by German aircraft and had to run for home, fortunate that German aircraft were at the limit of their range and could not pursue; the pilot tried again next day and reached Vaenga. A group of about 200 men sailed on the two destroyers and reached Murmansk in 22 hours but missed a Russian destroyer which was supposed to guide them into port through the minefields; the captain used the Asdic set instead and docked safely. On 28 August, the men at Archangelsk formed an Erection Party (sic) of 36 men under the engineer-officer Flight-Lieutenant Gittins and Warrant Officer Hards. The men went by boat to Keg Ostrov and found fifteen crates on a mud flat near the hangars. One crate was emptied to accommodate the wireless section and then the men found that some types of specialist tools had been omitted from the maintenance kits but that tropical insulation covers for the engines had been included. A Russian engineer officer improvised airscrew and spark-plug spanners in the airfield workshop and later built proper engine covers, with a trunk underneath for a "hot air lorry" to boost the temperature of the engine.
At the second Hurricane was extracted from its packing case and at was pushed into a hangar, followed by a third at by when the WT station was operational. Due to a lack of lifting gear work stopped soon after and the British were accommodated on a paddleboat that looked like a Mississippi steamer. The main problem in re-assembling the aircraft was a lack of lifting gear to remove them from crates, jacking them up, lowering onto the undercarriage, adding the wings tail unit, then arming, fuelling and air testing. Next day, the Russians provided three cranes, which had to be wound by hand to raise the aircraft. By the evening of the second day, two Hurricanes had their wings on and as it had begun to rain, no more Hurricanes were unpacked. The men were split into three groups to concentrate on fitting wings and tail units of the ones already out. The British worked thirteen-hour days and were surprised by the lavish Russian hospitality compared with the rations at home, which manifested in stomach upsets (the grumbleguts) for which a doctor was sent up from "Llanstephen Castle". By afternoon, five aircraft had been assembled and pushed into the hangar. The Main Party on the troopship were still cooped up but parties going ashore were required to be armed in case the locals took them for Germans. When the final assembly of the first Hurricane was complete on the fifth day, an engine test was run at in front of a throng of dignitaries and spectators.
On the sixth day, three Hurricanes were prepared for air tests, which attracted more dignitaries including admirals of the navy and naval air force. The local military forces and anti-aircraft units were notified and then the Hurricane pilots put on as much of a show as the low cloud base allowed, mainly tight turns and low-level passes. Next day engineers arrived from Moscow to discuss the fuel to be used in the Hurricanes, Soviet aircraft still using 87-octane rather than the 100-octane of the British machines. Henry Broquet worked with the engineers to make the local fuel compatible with the Merlin engine, which led to the development of a tin catalyst which improved combustion efficiency. In the evening the British had some English food for a change and by the ninth day, all fifteen aircraft were ready and had improved the morale of the Archangelsk residents who had seen them perform. The aircraft were flown the to Vaenga on 12 September, guided by a Russian bomber, with the cloud base up to . The formation flew over the White Sea, exchanging recognition signals with Russian ships and landed safely at Vaenga, just as the Hurricanes from "Argus" returned from a sortie. Two Hurricanes, whose pilots succumbed to Russian hospitality at a refuelling stop, were late, having to continue the morning after.
Vaenga airfield.
Vaenga (now Severomorsk) airfield was the base of the 72nd SAP-SF (Composite Aviation Regiment-Northern Fleet) commanded by Colonel Georgii Gubanov, part of the Northern Fleet Air Force (Major-General A. A. Kuznetsov) of the Naval Air Fleet. The 4th Squadron of the 72 SAP-SF (Captain Boris Safonov), flying Polikarpov I-16 fighters, was also based at Vaenga. The airfield had an adequate surface of compacted sand, a large oval about long, on its east-west axis. The airfield was in a bowl surrounded by hillocks and woods and was found to get very, very bumpy in wet weather. The front line was about to the west and the airfield facilities were almost invisible, being well dispersed, dug in and camouflaged among the hillocks and growths of silver birch. There was a tarmac road about long along which lay buildings but there were only cart tracks and paths linking the buildings and huts.
The airfield was under occasional attack by the and Russian soldiers guarded the airfield from positions in the woods around the perimeter. With the autumn rains and the number of lorries driving people to and fro, the tracks quickly became potholed. The aircraft hangars were part-buried for camouflage but had been built for the Polikarpov I-16s and were too narrow for the Hurricanes; Russian workers appeared to widen them, working-non-stop until the enlargement was complete. Accommodation was in brick buildings and wooden huts, the huts being found to be unkempt, some infested with lice. The bedding was new, the food was ample, though some considered it to be a little greasy and the sanitation was hideous, leading to the British naming the main latrine, directly over a cesspit, "The Kremlin". Co-operation from the Russians was excellent, Isherwood established rapport with the Soviet commanding general and arranging bomber escort tactics with the local air commanders.
151 Wing operations.
11 September.
The Arctic autumn was cold but the air was dry, not like the damp cold of England. On 11 September, the first operation was flown, a familiarisation flight to learn the local geography and to test their guns. There was good visibility among broken clouds and the formation flew at . The pilots studied the Rybachy Peninsula and Murmansk then flew towards the south, to avoid Petsamo to the west. Without the ground radar control available in Britain. The pilots would have to navigate for themselves but there was a pleasing lack of mountains and it was a simple matter to fly north to follow the coast home or west to reach the Kola Inlet. There were a few flurries of snow during the evening but the Russians assured the British that the real winter snows would not begin until late September – early October. The last Hurricanes to be assembled were still at Keg Ostrov, the engines had to be adjusted to fly on 87-octane fuel and a shortage of sears, necessary to trigger the guns, meant only six per aircraft instead of the twelve usually carried.
12–13 September.
On 12 September, three Hurricanes of 134 Squadron carried out the inaugural patrol of 151 Wing; in good visibility the Hurricane pilots saw German bombers but were not able to make contact. The second patrol was flown by two Hurricanes of 81 Squadron, which damaged a Me 110 and later on, 134 Squadron escorted two uneventful Soviet bomber sorties. Five Hurricanes of 81 Squadron at readiness were scramble and flew westwards at . Midway between Murmansk and the coast, the pilots looked for Russian anti-aircraft fire, to indicate the location of the German aircraft. After a few minutes, the pilots saw flak bursts and saw a formation of a Henschel Hs 126 reconnaissance aircraft with five Messerschmitt Bf 109E escorts from Petsamo, flying from left to right. Unexpectedly, the Bf 109s turned away as the Hurricanes attacked. Three of the Bf 109s were confirmed shot down and the Henschel, hit in the engine and seen leaving a plume of smoke was recorded as a probable, for a loss of one pilot (Sergeant "Nudger" Smith) and his Hurricane. Later in the afternoon, aircraft of 134 Squadron went on patrol and attacked a formation of three German bombers and four Bf 109s heading for Archangelsk; the Germans saw the Hurricanes, jettisoned their bombs and turned for home before the Hurricanes could attack.
14–27 September.
"Nudger" Smith was buried on 14 September at a village overlooking the Kola Inlet. On 17 September 81 Squadron was to escort Soviet bombers but German aircraft were reported near the Kola Inlet and the squadron was scrambled and climbed to below low cloud. Without warning, the Hurricanes were bounced by Bf 109s, one of which missed a Hurricane, overshot and was promptly shot down, as were three more by other pilots, for no loss. One patrol was flown on 19 September in poor misty weather and next day, two patrols were flown in similar weather. The first real snow fell on 22 September for about ten minutes, leaving a clear sky then began again, leaving the aircraft dispersals and the sand runway full of puddles. Next morning was fine and 81 Squadron escorted Petlyakov Pe-2 light bombers raiding a target in Norway, the Hurricane pilots finding it necessary to fly very fast to keep up. Weather forecasters said that now that the snow had come, the British could expect about six days' decent weather a month.
On 25 September, the weather improved in the afternoon and Kuznetsov made his first flight in a Hurricane. Bomber escort missions would continue but in second place to the programme to convert Russian pilots and ground crews to the British fighter. On the same day, 81 Squadron was briefed to escort bombers and dive-bombers who were to attack German ground troops near Petsamo; A Flight would cover the dive-bombers and B Flight the medium bombers. A Flight made a formation take-off and then the Pe-2 dive-bombers from a nearby airstrip, followed by B Flight and then the Pe-2 FTs, the Hurricanes flying above the bombers. The flight to the target and the bombing was uneventful but soon after turning for home, B Flight was bounced by six Bf 109s, three of which were shot down for no loss. The weather on 27 September was very good with some high cloud and 81 Squadron took off again to escort Russian bombers and shot down two more Bf 109s. On the other side of the airfield, 134 Squadron had flown a similar number of patrols and escort sorties but had not been in action against any German aircraft. Around noon, a Junkers Ju 88 flew over Vaenga and 134 Squadron was scrambled. The ground was so wet that the pilots needed a lot of throttle to move and two airmen per aircraft hung over the back of the fuselage to keep the tail down. When the Ju 88 appeared, Flight Lieutenant Vic Berg tried to take off before the airmen had alighted from the tail. When Berg took off the Hurricane rose vertically for about , then dived into the ground, the two airmen on the back being killed and Berg receiving severe leg injuries.
28–30 September.
A bomber raid on a bridge over the Pechenga River was planned for 28 September. A road the length of the Rybachy Peninsula to the Gulf of Bothnia on the Baltic Sea ran parallel to the river and the bridge was on the only supply route to the German 2nd and 3rd Mountain divisions. The bridge was defended by a large quantity of FlaK which rose up at the Pe-2s as they dived to drop their bombs. The water smoke and soil thrown up made it impossible to see if the bridge had been hit. As the aircraft flew home, two of the British pilots put on an exhibition of close formation flying for the Russian bomber crews.
Not long after the aircraft turned for home the of ground between the river and the road slipped into the river valley and buried the bridge. With the river blocked, the waters rose and flooded the road, stranding about 15,000 German troops, 7,000 horses and thousands of motor vehicles. The 6th Mountain Division had to be diverted to Parkkina for rescue work. Engineers had to dig channels through the earth blocking the river to lower its depth for footbridges to be built to manhandle supplies to the isolated troops. That evening, the rum ration [] commenced, as a means to alleviate the cold.
1–9 October.
In October, there were far fewer flying days and only air tests and local flights were possible, between showers of rain and sleet. On 7 October, the weather cleared, with a high cloud base and good visibility and fourteen Ju 88s with six Bf 109 escorts attacked the airfield in the middle of the afternoon. Some of the Hurricanes were airborne before the attack and others, at readiness, scrambled along with other pilots near machines when the alarm sounded. One pilot, "Scotty" Edmiston was stopped by a bomb exploding in front of the Hurricane which stopped the engine; as Edmiston climbed out, another bomb blew him into a deep puddle. Two of the Ju 88s were shot down by 134 Squadron, along with three probables and six damaged. Micky Rook, cousin of the 81 Squadron commander, joined a formation of 134 Squadron Hurricanes that turned out to be Bf 109s, shot one down and was chased home by the other five, evading them by flying past a destroyer off Murmansk at masthead height. The Germans built a new bridge over the Pechenga, a gargantuan enterprise; baulks of timber had to be hauled from a sawmill away, lighter planks were shipped from Kirkenes and thousands of round logs were diverted from the stores of the nickel mines in Petsamo. The new Prinz Eugen Bridge was completed in eleven days, two days early; a great feat of engineering. On 9 October an Arctic gale brought deep snow and a steep drop in temperature, which halted all movement; porters got lost in the snowstorm and froze to death; negated the rebuilding of the bridge. With the bombing of the original bridge and the early winter, the Red Army was able to prevent the capture of Murmansk.
10 October–November.
Once the winter freeze began, work parties with rollers flattened the runway into a mixture of frozen snow and sand; in the middle of the month, 151 Wing began to convert Russian pilots and ground crews to the Hurricane, most of the training being organised by Flight Lieutenant Ross of 134 Squadron. The success of the RAF pilots and their record of fifteen German aircraft for one Hurricane and no Soviet bomber losses, on the few days with flying weather, made converting to the type very popular among Russian pilots. After several landing mishaps and damage to wing tips and undercarriages, the Soviet pilots took more notice of RAF advice, especially after Safonov damaged his flaps. The Russian pilots were reluctant to raise the undercarriage during circuits and bumps or close the cockpit hood, until Kuznetsov threatened to ground any pilot caught disobeying orders.
The Russians took to keeping the hoods closed all the time, even when taxiing and raised the undercarriage as soon as they were airborne. Russian pilots tested their guns while on the ground but were persuaded to stop, when told that the gun barrels needed more cleaning and that patches over the gun ports had to be replaced. Some of the Soviet pilots confused "maximum" for "normal" and one pilot was surprised at running out of fuel while trying to fly to the maximum range of at full throttle, writing off his aircraft. The engineering and wireless parts of the Wing remained busy training Russian students. Wireless technicians sometimes tried to modify the R/T transmitters, a practice which also had to be stamped out by Kuznetsov. Despite the need for interpreters, Soviet ground crews achieved an average pass mark of 80 percent, despite the engineering officer setting a high bar and marking severely.
Most of the Russian pilots were experienced aviators and took little time to convert to the Hurricane. On 15 October, the aircraft of A Flight 81 Squadron were taken over by Soviet pilots who flew six sorties; on 19 October, the Hurricanes of 134 Squadron were handed over and on 22 October, the rest of the 81 Squadron Hurricanes were taken over. The VVS organised squadrons of twelve aircraft in sections of three. Aircraft had two ground crewmen and each section was overseen by an NCO mechanic. Two wireless technicians and one electrician were assigned to each squadron, which the RAF suggested was inadequate. On 26 October, the Russians shot down a Bf 110 in an ex-124 Squadron Hurricane, their first victory with the type; one Soviet Hurricane returned damaged. By November, three Russian squadrons were operational and capable of training other students; the ground crews were competent in servicing and maintenance.
In the gloom of the Arctic winter, with the temperature plummeting to and inkwells freezing, little flying was possible. On 16 October there was an air raid by the which did little damage and on 17 October, the wing flew three patrols. On 20 October, the last equipment was handed over to the VVS VMF, which left the flying personnel of 151 Wing with little to do. Two days' later, 151 Wing HQ took over the administration of the two squadrons, which made them defunct as operational units. The pilots got hold of a Shooting-brake and used it to tow a sleigh at high speed, until several injuries led to the practice being stopped. Ramsbottom-Isherwood re-instituted route marches and rifle shooting, football and physical training until the temperature dropped to , too low for safety. The last outdoor activity was fitness training before breakfast for young officers but wind chill put an end to this in November.
Return to Britain.
In October it had seemed as though 151 Wing was to move on to the Middle East, according to signals from the Air Ministry. When Ramsbottom-Isherwood took soundings from his Russian opposite numbers, it appeared that this might entail a rail journey of . Such a trek became even less encouraging when the Air Ministry signalled that the British Embassy and the Military and Air Mission were decamping for Samara (Kuybyshev 1935–1991) east of Moscow. During November, the prospect of a trans-continental journey receded and a sea journey from Murmansk to Britain was substituted. When the Navy sent a message to prepare to leave, little packing was necessary beyond personal effects, except for the Wing mascot, a young reindeer donated by Kuznetsov. The cruiser arrived with Convoy PQ 3 and took 151 Wing on board, departed and to the surprise of the RAF, bombarded Axis shore artillery at Vardø, in company with two British and two Soviet destroyers. Kenya returned to Murmansk and departed again on 27 November with Convoy QP 3, the cruiser arriving at Rosyth in Scotland on 7 December.
Aftermath.
On the journey home, a wireless message to "Kenya" announced that on 27 November the Order of Lenin had been awarded to Ramsbotham-Isherwood, Rook, Miller and Flight Sergeant C. "Wag" Haw, who was the top-scoring pilot of the wing. When Kenya arrived at Rosyth, news also arrived of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor. The personnel of 151 Wing were sent on leave and the wing was disbanded, many of the members being surprised at the public interest shown in Operation Benedict. Film and photographs had been sent by the Russians, which the Air Ministry fed to the press and newsreels. Several men were even door-stepped by the local and national press; Haw was front-page news and the wing was also shown in Soviet newsreels. The four Orders of Lenin were the only ones awarded to Allies in the war; no British campaign medal was struck and the operation became a footnote in history.
Bibliography.
Books
Reports
Further reading.
Books
Journals


Battle of Mookerheyde

In the Battle of Mookerheyde, Spanish forces defeated Dutch forces composed of German mercenaries on 14 April 1574 during the Eighty Years' War near the village Mook and the river Meuse not far from Nijmegen in Gelderland. Two leaders of the Dutch forces, brothers of William the Silent, were killed: Louis of Nassau (born 1538) and Henry of Nassau-Dillenburg (born 1550).
During the winter of 1573/74, Louis and Henry of Nassau raised a mercenary army in Germany of 6500 infantry and 3000 cavalry. They proceeded towards Maastricht to rendezvous with their elder brother William the Silent, Prince of Orange, who led 6000 Dutchmen. They planned to march their combined forces toward Leiden, which was under siege by a large Spanish force since October 1573.
The strength of Count Louis' forces diminished en route. More than a thousand men deserted and seven hundred were killed by the Spanish in a night attack. The remaining troops were mutinous because the Dutch had been unable to pay them. Louis crossed the Meuse with only 5,500 infantry and 2,600 cavalry. Before Louis could join forces with William, Luis de Requesens temporarily lifted the siege of Leiden so that 5,000 infantry and 800 cavalry could counter Louis' advance. The Spanish army was led by Sancho d'Avila and Bernardino de Mendoza. The armies met near the village of Mook. Well timed attacks by the Spanish lancers destroyed the Dutch cavalry, and the Spanish proved victorious.
The Dutch suffered a disastrous defeat, losing at least 3,000 men. The Dutch army of mercenaries, still not paid, soon dispersed. William long hoped that his brothers had been captured, but Louis and Henry were apparently killed and their bodies were never recovered.
The Spanish then resumed the siege of Leiden, which failed when Dutch forces relieved the city in October.
In the course of the battle, Spanish forces seized the command baton that William the Silent had given his brother Louis. The baton, long forgotten, was discovered at the Jesuit residence in San Cugat in Catalonia. In 2017, the General Superior of the Jesuits, Arturo Sosa, returned the baton to King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands in a ceremony at the Vatican. The transfer was symbolic, in that ownership of the baton is retained by Catalonia as part of its cultural and historic patrimony. The baton had passed to the Jesuits as part of the estate of Luis de Requesens, Governor General of the Spanish Netherlands in 1574. The Dutch plan to display it at the National Military Museum.


Battle of Siegburg

The Battle of Siegburg was the first engagement of the French offensive across the River Rhine - that offensive was to become the main campaign of 1796 during the War of the First Coalition. On 30 May 1796 "général de division" Jean-Baptiste Kléber crossed the river at Düsseldorf with the two divisions commanded by "général de division" Lefebvre and "général de division" Colaud. He then moved on Siegburg, where he won the battle on 1 June, thus enabling general Jean-Baptiste Jourdan to bring the bulk of his force across the Rhine at Neuwied.


Battle of Kauhajoki

The Battle of Kauhajoki was fought between Swedish and Russian troops on August 10, 1808. After the important Swedish victory at the Battle of Lapua the force under the command of Georg Carl von Döbeln defeated a Russian force near Kauhajoki, South Ostrobothnia, Finland.