Battle of Adwalton Moor

The Battle of Adwalton Moor occurred on 30 June 1643 at Adwalton, West Yorkshire, during the First English Civil War. In the battle, the Royalists loyal to King Charles led by the Earl of Newcastle soundly defeated the Parliamentarians commanded by Lord Fairfax.
Background.
During the first half of 1643, the Royalists led by the Earl of Newcastle and the Parliamentarian Army of the North under overall command by Lord Fairfax fought for control of Yorkshire and clashed several times including battles at Leeds, Seacroft Moor, and Wakefield.
On 22 June, Newcastle and the Royalists captured Howley Hall, the fortified mansion of Parliamentary supporter Lord Savile, in Batley. Newcastle then advanced north with his army of 7,000 including an artillery train with two demi-cannons. His intent was to travel 12 kilometers to the northwest to attack the Parliamentarian garrison of Bradford. If the Royalist could be successful in the campaign they would take control of West Yorkshire and its cloth manufacturing towns.
When Lord Fairfax, the Parliamentary commander, was informed that the Royalist army was marching in the direction of Bradford, he made the decision to assemble his army of 7,500 men, leave the unfortified city of Bradford, and confront the Royalists in the open county. On 30 June, the two armies met on the Old Roman Road at Adwalton. In their respective histories of the battle, each side claimed that the other side was drawn up and positioned when they arrived. As so, it seems that neither side chose the location and the battle occurred where the two armies by chance happened to meet.
The battle.
Lord Fairfax and the Parliamentarians first encountered Royalist skirmishers at Wisket Hill. After driving the skirmishers back, the Parliamentarians moved to positions in enclosed fields and prepared to meet the Royalist army. Lord Fairfax commanded the centre formation as commander in chief. Sir Thomas Fairfax, Lord Fairfax's son, commanded the right wing and Major General Gifford commanded the left wing. At the outset of the battle, the Parliamentarians used their protected positions and numerical superiority of infantry to push the Royalists back. As the Parliamentarians continued to advance, they came to the edge of the open moor and forced the Royalists to retreat back to the position of their artillery battery.
After defending themselves for a while against cavalry attacks, the Parliamentarians moved into the open field and began to charge the Royalists, aiming to overrun their line and end the battle. In this charge the Parliamentarians were nearly successful. The Royalists seemed on the verge of conceding the battle when a contingent of Royalist pikemen drove back the Parliamentarians left wing. The Royalist cavalry then swung around to the north and attacked the Parliamentarian's left flank. Gifford and his troopers collapsed and gave up the fight, retreating in a disorderly manner. The Royalist counter-attack continued and Sir Fairfax on the right wing received his orders to retreat. Fairfax immediately retreated to the south as he discovered that the Royalists had cut the Parliamentarian right wing off from the main body of the Parliamentarian army.
The battle was over. Broken and unorganized, the units of the Parliamentarian army returned to Bradford. It is estimated that 500 Parliamentarians were killed and 1,500 were captured as they tried to get back to Bradford. Royalist losses were estimated to be 200 killed and 300 wounded.
Aftermath.
With the Parliamentarians on the run, Newcastle advanced immediately. Overnight on 30 June, Newcastle brought his artillery to Bradford and on the morning of 1 July he began bombardment of the Parliamentarian garrison. The Parliamentarians attempted to break out, but were unsuccessful. Ultimately, the commanders left the town in small contingents of cavalry while the remainder of the army surrendered. Within a short period, the Parliamentarians surrendered Leeds and withdrew to Hull.
The battle consolidated Royalist control of Yorkshire and has been deemed of low or medium term significance. However, historians have acknowledged that the impact of the battle, left the Parliamentarians with only Hull as a northern stronghold forcing them into a religious and political alliance with Scotland. This in turn, led to a Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Marston Moor a year later in 1644. Historic England labelled the battle as second only in importance to Marston Moor.
Battle site details.
The site of the battle is high ground in Adwalton (now commonly considered to be part of Drighlington, Leeds) near the border with Bradford, which is now in an area of rural-urban fringe, (map reference SE2228). Parts of the site are protected as "green belt" or other types of open space with the A650 road cutting right through the battlefield. It is the only battlefield recognised by Bradford Metropolitan District Council as falling within its boundaries but it actually lies within the Leeds City Council boundary. There are plaques interpreting the battlefield for visitors.
Museum displays.
There is a display dedicated to the battle at Bolling Hall, Bradford, a museum which lies a few miles from the site and was itself a Royalist base. Oakwell Hall is another museum which throws light on the civil war in Yorkshire: although the hall is situated within walking distance from the battlefield, it falls outside the boundaries of Bradford and within those of Kirklees.


Combatants of the Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between 1937 and 1945, involving the military forces of the China and Japan.
Chinese forces.
National Revolutionary Army.
With Chiang Kai-shek as the highest commander, the NRA is recognized as the unified armed force of China during the war. Throughout its lifespan, it employed approximately 5,700,000 regulars, in 370 Standard Divisions (), 46 New Divisions (), 12 Cavalry Divisions (), eight New Cavalry Divisions (), 66 Temporary Divisions (), and 13 Reserve Divisions (), for a grand total of 515 divisions.
However, many divisions were formed from two or more other divisions, and many were not active at the same time. The number of active divisions, at the start of the war in 1937, was about 170 NRA divisions. The average NRA division had 4,000–5,000 troops. A Chinese army was roughly the equivalent to a Japanese division in terms of manpower but the Chinese forces largely lacked artillery, heavy weapons, and motorized transport.
The shortage of military hardware meant that three to four Chinese armies had the firepower of only one Japanese division. Because of these material constraints, available artillery and heavy weapons were usually assigned to specialist brigades rather than to the general division, which caused more problems as the Chinese command structure lacked precise coordination. The relative fighting strength of a Chinese division was even weaker when relative capacity in aspects of warfare, such as intelligence, logistics, communications, and medical services, are taken into account.
Although Chiang Kai-shek is recognized as the highest commander in name, his power on NRA was in the effect limited. This was due to the fact that the NRA was an alliance of powers such as warlords, regional militarists and communists. Before the alliance was formed under the pressure of Japanese invasion, these powers had their own land, struggled or allied with each other under their own interests and mutual conflicts were common. Because of this, NRA could be unofficially divided into 3 groups, Central Army, Regional Army and Communist forces.
Loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, the Central Army() was best equipped. Most of the officers in the Central Army were trained by the Whampoa Military Academy, where Chiang Kai-shek served as the first president. Before the war, the Central Army mainly controlled east China.
The Regional Army () consisted of various types of strengths from all the parts of China. Before the war, these strengths governed certain places and most of them admitted Chiang Kai-shek's leader position. However, they didn't really follow Chiang's command, nor received Chiang's assistance. They generally ran independently. The notable strengths under this category included Guangxi, Shanxi, Yunnan and Ma clique.
After the Xi'an Incident, Chiang stopped his offensive against the Chinese Red Army. Communists were then incorporated into the NRA to form the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, although their "de facto" commander was still Mao Zedong. Communists also led a large number of militias during the war.
The NRA expanded from about 1.2 million in 1937 to 5.7 million in August 1945, organized in 300 divisions.
Japanese forces.
Imperial Japanese Army.
The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) had approximately 4,100,000 regulars. More Japanese troops were quartered in China than deployed elsewhere in the Pacific Theater during the war. Japanese divisions ranged from 20,000 men in its divisions numbered less than 100, to 10,000 men in divisions numbered greater than 100.
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the IJA had 51 divisions, of which 35 were in China, and 39 independent brigades, of which all but one were in China. This represented roughly 80% of the IJA's manpower.
By October 1944 the IJA in China was divided into three strategic groupings.
Collaborationist Chinese Army.
The Chinese armies allied to Japan had only 78,000 people in 1938, but had grown to around 649,640 men by 1943, and reached a maximum strength of 900,000 troops before the end of the war. Almost all of them belonged to Manchukuo, Provisional Government of the Republic of China (Beijing), Reformed Government of the Republic of China (Nanking) and the later Nanking Nationalist Government (Wang Jingwei regime). These collaborator troops were mainly assigned to garrison and logistics duties in their own territories, and were not fielded in combat very often because of low morale and Japanese distrust. In general, they fared very poorly in skirmishes against both Chinese NRA and Communist forces, although there were some individual collaborationist units that had some success against them.
Military equipment.
National Revolutionary Army.
The Central Army possessed 80 Army infantry divisions of 8,000 men each, nine independent brigades, nine cavalry divisions, two artillery brigades, 16 artillery regiments and three armored battalions. The Chinese Navy displaced only 59,000 tonnes and the Chinese Air Force comprised only about 700 obsolete aircraft.
For regular provincial Chinese divisions their standard rifles were the Hanyang 88 (copy of Gewehr 88). Central army divisions were typically equipped with the Chiang Kai-shek rifle (copy of Mauser Standard Model) and Czechoslovakian vz. 24. However, for most of the German-trained divisions, the standard firearms were German-made 7.92 mm Gewehr 98 and Karabiner 98k. The standard light machine gun was a local copy of the Czech 7.92 mm Brno ZB26. There were also Belgian and French light machine guns. Provincial units generally did not possess any machine guns. Central Army units had one LMG per platoon on average. German-trained divisions ideally had 1 LMG per squad. Surprisingly, the NRA did not purchase any Maschinengewehr 34s from Germany, but did produce their own copies of them. Heavy machine guns were mainly locally-made Type 24 water-cooled Maxim guns, which were the Chinese copies of the German MG08, and M1917 Browning machine guns chambered for the standard 8mm Mauser round. On average, every Central Army battalion would get one heavy machine gun (about a third to half of what actual German divisions got during World War II).
The standard weapon for NCOs and officers was the 7.63 mm Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistol, or full-automatic Mauser M1932/M712 machine pistol. These full-automatic versions were used as substitutes for submachine guns (such as the MP 18) and rifles that were in short supply within the Chinese army prior to the end of World War II. Among officers, the German Parabellum (Luger) 9×19mm semi-automatic pistol was often the weapon of choice. Throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War, particularly in the early years, the NRA also extensively used captured Japanese weapons and equipment as their own were in short supply. Some élite units also used Lend-Lease US equipment as the war progressed.
Generally speaking, the regular provincial army divisions did not possess any artillery. However, some Central Army divisions were equipped with 37 mm PaK 35/36 anti-tank guns, and/or mortars from Oerlikon, Madsen, and Solothurn. Each infantry division had 6 French Brandt 81 mm mortars and 6 Solothurn 20 mm autocannons. Some independent brigades and artillery regiments were equipped with Bofors 72 mm L/14, or Krupp 72 mm L/29 mountain guns and there were 24 Rheinmetall 150 mm L/32 sFH 18 howitzers (bought in 1934) and 24 Krupp 150 mm L/30 sFH 18 howitzers (bought in 1936). At the start of the war, the NRA and the Tax Police Regiment had three tank battalions armed with German Panzer I light tanks and CV-33 tankettes. After defeat in the Battle of Shanghai the remaining tanks, together with several hundred T-26 and BT-5 tanks acquired from the Soviet Union were reorganised into the 200th Division.
Infantry uniforms were basically redesigned Zhongshan suits. Puttees were standard for soldiers and officers alike since the primary mode of movement for NRA troops was by foot. Troops were also issued sewn field caps. The helmets were the most distinguishing characteristic of these divisions. From the moment German M35 helmets (standard issue for the Wehrmacht until late in the European theatre) rolled off the production lines in 1935, and until 1936, the NRA imported 315,000 of these helmets, each with the Blue Sky with a White Sun emblem of the ROC on the sides. These helmets were worn by both elite German-trained divisions and regular Central Army divisions. Other helmets include the Adrian helmet, Brodie helmet and later M1 helmet. Other equipment included straw shoes for soldiers (cloth shoes for Central Army), leather shoes for officers and leather boots for high-ranking officers. Every soldier was issued ammunition, ammunition pouches or harness, a water flask, combat knives, food bag, and a gas mask.
On the other hand, warlord forces varied greatly in terms of equipment and training. Some warlord troops were notoriously under-equipped, such as Shanxi's Dadao (, a one-edged sword type close combat weapon) Team and the Yunnan clique. Some, however, were highly professional forces with their own air force and navies. The quality of the New Guangxi clique was almost on par with the Central Army, as the Guangzhou region was wealthy and the local army could afford foreign instructors and arms. The Muslim Ma clique to the northwest was famed for its well-trained cavalry divisions.
Imperial Japanese Army.
Although Japan possessed significant mobile operational capacity, it did not possess capability for maintaining a long sustained war. At the beginning of the war, the Imperial Japanese Army comprised 17 divisions, each composed of approximately 22,000 men, 5,800 horses, 9,500 rifles and submachine guns, 600 heavy machine guns of assorted types, 108 artillery pieces, and 600 plus of light armor two-men tanks. Special forces were also available. The Imperial Japanese Navy displaced a total of 1,900,000 tonnes, ranking third in the world, and possessed 2,700 aircraft at the time. Each Japanese division was the equivalent in fighting strength of four Chinese regular divisions (at the beginning of the Battle of Shanghai).


Battle of Camotes Islands

The Battle of Camotes Islands in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the amphibious invasion of the Poro Island in the Philippines by United States forces, who fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines from 17 October - 26 December 1944. The operation was a small part of the Philippines campaign of 1944–45 for the recapture and liberation of the entire Philippine Archipelago and to end almost three years of Japanese occupation.
History.
As the stories about Japanese torturing and killing about 300 local inhabitants 29 December 1944 in Pilar of Ponson Island have reached Leyte, the General John R. Hodge has ordered a battalion landing team from 7th Infantry Division to capture Ponson Island 15 January 1945. The naval protection was provided by 4 PT boats under command of Lieutenant Commander Leeson on PT-134. The team found the Ponson Island evacuated by Japanese, after landed unopposed on north and south tips of the island.
18 January 1945, the landing force has left the Ponson Island and established a beachhead on Poro Island. 19 January fire contacts with the Japanese garrison were reported. 23 January 1945 a Japanese positions on "Hill 854" were encountered. The Japanese resistance was eliminated 31 January 1945, and US fores has returned to Leyte 2 February 1945. The control of Poro Island was given away to 2nd battalion of the 94th infantry regiment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines forces.


Romania in World War II

Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania under King Carol II officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces such as the Iron Guard rose in popularity and power, urging an alliance with Nazi Germany and its allies. As the military fortunes of Romania's two main guarantors of territorial integrity—France and Britain—crumbled in the Fall of France, the government of Romania turned to Germany in hopes of a similar guarantee, unaware that the then dominant European power had already granted its consent to Soviet territorial claims in a secret protocol of 1939's Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
In summer 1940 a series of territorial disputes were diplomatically resolved unfavorably to Romania, resulting in the loss of most of the territory gained in the wake of World War I. This caused the popularity of Romania's government to plummet, further reinforcing the fascist and military factions, who eventually staged a coup that turned the country into a dictatorship under "Mareșal" Ion Antonescu. The new regime firmly set the country on a course towards the Axis camp, officially joining the Axis powers on 23 November 1940. As a member of the Axis, Romania joined the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, providing equipment and oil to Nazi Germany as well as committing more troops to the Eastern Front than all the other allies of Germany combined. Romanian forces played a large role during fighting in Ukraine, Bessarabia, Stalingrad and elsewhere. Romanian troops were responsible for the persecution and massacre of up to 260,000 Jews in Romanian-controlled territories, though most Jews living within Romania survived the harsh conditions. According to historian and author Mark Axworthy, the second Axis army in Europe, arguably, belonged to Romania, though, this is disputed since many would agree that this position goes to the Italian army.
After the tide of war turned against the Axis, Romania was bombed by the Allies from 1943 onwards and invaded by advancing Soviet armies in 1944. With popular support for Romania's participation in the war faltering and German-Romanian fronts collapsing under the Soviet onslaught, King Michael of Romania led a "coup d'état" that deposed the Antonescu regime and put Romania on the side of the Allies for the remainder of the war; Antonescu was executed in June 1946. Despite this late association with the winning side, Greater Romania was not restored, however the country was able to regain Northern Transylvania from Hungary.
Background.
In the aftermath of World War I, Romania, which fought with the Entente against the Central Powers, had greatly expanded its territory, incorporating the regions of Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bukovina, largely as a result of the vacuum created by the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires. This led to the achievement of the long-standing nationalist goal of creating a Greater Romania, a national state that would incorporate all ethnic Romanians. However, the newly gained territories also included significant Hungarian, German, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and Russian minorities, which put Romania at odds with several of her neighbours. This occasionally led to violent conflict, as exemplified by the Hungarian–Romanian War and the Tatarbunary Uprising. To contain Hungarian irredentism, Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia established the Little Entente in 1921. That same year Romania and Poland concluded a defensive alliance against the emergent Soviet Union, and in 1934 the Balkan Entente was formed with Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey, which were suspicious of Bulgaria.
Since the late 19th century onwards Romania had been a relatively democratic constitutional monarchy with a pro-Western outlook, but the country faced increasing turmoil in the 1930s as a result of the Great Depression in Romania and the rise of fascist and other far-right movements such as the Iron Guard, which advocated revolutionary terrorism against the state. Under the pretext of stabilizing the country, the increasingly autocratic King Carol II proclaimed a 'royal dictatorship' in 1938. The new regime featured corporatist policies that often resembled those of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. In parallel with these internal developments, economic pressures and a weak Franco-British response to Hitler's aggressive foreign policy caused Romania to start drifting away from the Western Allies and closer to the Axis.
On 13 April 1939, France and the United Kingdom had pledged to guarantee the independence of the Kingdom of Romania. Negotiations with the Soviet Union concerning a similar guarantee collapsed when Romania refused to allow the Red Army to cross its frontiers.
On 23 August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Among other things, this recognized the Soviet "interest" in Bessarabia (which had been ruled by the Russian Empire from 1812 to 1918). This Soviet interest was combined with a clear indication that there was an explicit lack of any German interest in the area.
Eight days later Nazi Germany invaded the Second Polish Republic. Expecting military aid from Britain and France, Poland chose not to execute its alliance with Romania in order to be able to use the Romanian Bridgehead. Romania officially remained neutral and, under pressure from the Soviet Union and Germany, interned the fleeing Polish government after its members had crossed the Polish–Romanian border on 17 September, forcing them to relegate their authority to what became the Polish government-in-exile. After the assassination of Prime Minister Armand Călinescu on 21 September King Carol II tried to maintain neutrality for several months longer, but the surrender of the Third French Republic and the retreat of British forces from continental Europe rendered the assurances that both countries had made to Romania meaningless.
In 1940 Romania's territorial gains made following World War I were largely undone. In July, after a Soviet ultimatum, Romania agreed to give up Bessarabia and northern Bukovina (the Soviets also annexed the city of Hertsa, which was not stated in the ultimatum). Two-thirds of Bessarabia were combined with a small part of the Soviet Union to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The rest (northern Bukovina, the northern half of Hotin county and Budjak) was apportioned to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Shortly thereafter, on 30 August, under the Second Vienna Award, Germany and Italy mediated a compromise between Romania and the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary received a region referred to as 'Northern Transylvania', while 'Southern Transylvania' remained part of Romania. Hungary had lost Transylvania after World War I in the Treaty of Trianon. On 7 September, under the Treaty of Craiova, Southern Dobruja (which Bulgaria had lost after the Romanian invasion during the Second Balkan War in 1913), was ceded to Bulgaria under pressure from Germany. Despite the relatively recent acquisition of these territories, they were inhabited by a majority of Romanian speaking people (except Southern Dobruja), so the Romanians had seen them as historically belonging to Romania, and the fact that so much land was lost without a fight shattered the underpinnings of King Carol's power.
On 4 July, Ion Gigurtu formed the first Romanian government to include an Iron Guardist minister, Horia Sima. Sima was a particularly virulent antisemite who had become the nominal leader of the movement after the death of Corneliu Codreanu. He was one of the few prominent far-right leaders to survive the bloody infighting and government suppression of the preceding years.
Antonescu comes to power.
In the immediate wake of the loss of Northern Transylvania, on 4 September the Iron Guard (led by Horia Sima) and General (later Marshal) Ion Antonescu united to form the "National Legionary State", which forced the abdication of Carol II in favor of his 19-year-old son Michael. Carol and his mistress Magda Lupescu went into exile, and Romania, despite the unfavorable outcome of recent territorial disputes, leaned strongly toward the Axis. As part of the deal, the Iron Guard became the sole legal party in Romania. Antonescu became the Iron Guard's honorary leader, while Sima became deputy premier.
In power, the Iron Guard stiffened the already harsh anti-Semitic legislation, enacted legislation directed against minority businessmen, tempered at times by the willingness of officials to take bribes, and wreaked vengeance upon its enemies. On 8 October German troops began crossing into Romania. They soon numbered over 500,000.
On 23 November Romania joined the Axis powers. On 27 November, 64 former dignitaries or officials were executed by the Iron Guard in Jilava prison while awaiting trial (see "Jilava Massacre"). Later that day, historian and former prime minister Nicolae Iorga and economist Virgil Madgearu, a former government minister, were assassinated.
The cohabitation between the Iron Guard and Antonescu was never an easy one. On 20 January 1941, the Iron Guard attempted a coup, combined with a pogrom against the Jews of Bucharest. Within four days, Antonescu had successfully suppressed the coup. The Iron Guard was forced out of the government. Sima and many other legionnaires took refuge in Germany; others were imprisoned. Antonescu abolished the National Legionary State, in its stead declaring Romania a "National and Social State."
The war on the Eastern Front.
On 22 June 1941, German armies with Romanian support attacked the Soviet Union. German and Romanian units conquered Bessarabia, Odessa, and Sevastopol, then marched eastward across the Russian steppes toward Stalingrad. Romania welcomed the war because they were allies with Germany. Hitler rewarded Romania's loyalty by returning Bessarabia and northern Bukovina and by allowing Romania to administer Soviet lands immediately between the Dniester and the Bug, including Odessa and Nikolaev. Romanian jingoes in Odessa even distributed a geography showing that the Dacians had inhabited most of southern Russia. After recovering Bessarabia and Bukovina (Operation München), Romanian units fought side by side with the Germans onward to Odessa, Sevastopol, Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The total number of troops involved on the Eastern Front with the Romanian Third Army and the Romanian Fourth Army was second only to that of Nazi Germany itself. The Romanian Army had a total of 686,258 men under arms in the summer of 1941 and a total of 1,224,691 men in the summer of 1944. The number of Romanian troops sent to fight in the Soviet Union exceeded that of all of Germany's other allies combined. A "Country Study" by the U.S. Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress attributes this to a "morbid competition with Hungary to curry Hitler's favor... [in hope of]... regaining northern Transylvania."
Bessarabia and the Northern Bukovina were now fully re-incorporated into the Romanian state after they had been occupied by the USSR a year earlier. As a substitute for Northern Transylvania, which had been given to Hungary following the Second Vienna Award, Hitler persuaded Antonescu in August 1941 to also take control of the Transnistria territory between the Dniester and the Southern Bug, which would also include Odessa after its eventual fall in October 1941. Although the Romanian administration set up a civil government, the Transnistria Governorate, the Romanian state had not yet formally incorporated Transnistria into its administrative framework by the time it was retaken by Soviet troops in early 1944.
Romanian armies advanced far into the Soviet Union during 1941 and 1942 before being involved in the disaster at the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–43. Petre Dumitrescu, one of Romania's most important generals, was commander of the Third Army at Stalingrad. In November 1942, the German Sixth Army was briefly put at Dumitrescu's disposal during a German attempt to relieve the Third Army following the devastating Soviet Operation Uranus.
Prior to the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad, the Antonescu government considered a war with Hungary over Transylvania an inevitability after the expected victory over the Soviet Union. Although it was an ally of Germany, Romania's turning to the Allied side in August 1944 was rewarded by returning Northern Transylvania, which had been granted to Hungary in 1940 after the Second Vienna Award.
War comes to Romania.
Air raids.
Throughout the Antonescu years, Romania supplied Nazi Germany and the Axis armies with oil, grain, and industrial products. Also, numerous train stations in the country, such as Gara de Nord in Bucharest, served as transit points for troops departing for the Eastern Front. Consequently, by 1943 Romania became a target of Allied aerial bombardment. One of the most notable air bombardments was Operation Tidal Wave — the attack on the oil fields of Ploiești on 1 August 1943. Bucharest was subjected to intense Allied bombardment on 4 and 15 April 1944, and the Luftwaffe itself bombed the city on 24 and 25 August after the country switched sides.
Ground offensive.
In February 1943, with the decisive Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad, it was growing clear that the tide of the war was turning against the Axis powers.
By 1944, the Romanian economy was in tatters because of the expenses of the war, and destructive Allied air bombing throughout Romania, including the capital, Bucharest. In addition, most of the products sent to Germany – such as oil, grain, and equipment – were provided without monetary compensation, as Germany refused to pay. As a result of these uncompensated exports, inflation in Romania skyrocketed. This caused widespread discontent among the Romanian population, even among those who had once enthusiastically supported the Germans and the war, and an angry relationship between Romania and Germany.
Beginning in December 1943, the Soviet Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive pushed Axis forces all the way back to the Dniester by April 1944. In April–May 1944, the Romanian forces led by General Mihai Racovițǎ, together with elements of the German Eighth Army were responsible for defending northern Romania and took part in the Battles of Târgu Frumos, which David Glantz considered to be an initial Soviet attempt to invade Romania, supposedly held back by Axis defensive lines in northern Romania. The Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, launched on 20 August 1944, resulted in a quick and decisive Soviet breakthrough, collapsing the German-Romanian front in the region. Soviet forces captured Târgu Frumos and Iași on 21 August and Chișinău on 24 August 1944.
The Holocaust.
According to an international commission report released by the Romanian government in 2004, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were murdered or died in various forms on Romanian soil, in the war zones of Bessarabia, Bukovina, and in the occupied Soviet territories under Romanian's control (Transnistria Governorate). Of the 25,000 Romani deported, who were deported to concentration camps in Transnistria, 11,000 died.
Though much of the killing was committed in the war zone by Romanian and German troops, there were also substantial persecutions behind the front line. During the Iaşi pogrom of June 1941, over 13,000 Jews were massacred or killed slowly in trains traveling back and forth across the countryside.
Half of the estimated 270,000 to 320,000 Jews living in Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Dorohoi County in Romania were murdered or died between June 1941 and the spring of 1944, of which between 45,000 and 60,000 Jews were killed in Bessarabia and Bukovina by Romanian and German troops, within months of the entry of the country into the war during 1941. Even after the initial killings, Jews in Moldavia, Bukovina and Bessarabia were subject to frequent pogroms, and were concentrated into ghettos from which they were sent to Transnistria, including camps built and run by the Romanian authorities.
Romanian soldiers and gendarmes also worked with the "Einsatzkommandos", German killing squads, tasked with massacring Jews and Roma in conquered territories, the local Ukrainian militia, and the SS squads of local Ukrainian Germans (Sonderkommando Russland and Selbstschutz). Romanian troops were in large part responsible for the Odessa massacre, in which from October 18, 1941, until mid-March 1942, Romanian soldiers in Odessa, aided by gendarmes and police, killed up to 25,000 Jews and deported more than 35,000.
The number of deaths in all areas is not certain, but the lowest respectable estimates run to about 250,000 Jews and 11,000 Roma in these eastern regions.
Nonetheless, most Jews living within the pre-Barbarossa borders survived the war, although they were subject to a wide range of harsh conditions, including forced labor, financial penalties, and discriminatory laws. Jewish property was nationalized.
The report commissioned and accepted by the Romanian government in 2004 on the Holocaust concluded:
"Of all the allies of Nazi Germany, Romania bears responsibility for the deaths of more Jews than any country other than Germany itself. The murders committed in Iasi, Odessa, Bogdanovka, Domanovka, and Peciora, for example, were among the most hideous murders committed against Jews anywhere during the Holocaust. Romania committed genocide against the Jews. The survival of Jews in some parts of the country does not alter this reality."
The royal coup.
On 23 August 1944, with the Red Army penetrating German defenses during the Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, King Michael I of Romania led a successful coup against the Axis with support from opposition politicians, most of the army and Communist-led civilians. Michael I, who was initially considered to be not much more than a figurehead, was able to successfully depose the Antonescu dictatorship. The King then offered a non-confrontational retreat to German ambassador Manfred von Killinger. But the Germans considered the coup "reversible" and attempted to turn the situation around by military force. The Romanian First, Second (forming), and what little was left of the Third and the Fourth Armies (one corps) were under orders from the King to defend Romania against any German attacks. King Michael offered to put the Romanian Army, which at that point had a strength of nearly 1,000,000 men, on the side of the Allies. Stalin immediately recognized the king and the restoration of the conservative Romanian monarchy.
In a radio broadcast to the Romanian nation and army on the night of 23 August King Michael issued a cease-fire, proclaimed Romania's loyalty to the Allies, announced the acceptance of an armistice (to be signed on September 12) offered by Great Britain, the United States, and the USSR, and declared war on Germany. The coup accelerated the Red Army's advance into Romania, but did not avert a rapid Soviet occupation and capture of about 130,000 Romanian soldiers, who were transported to the Soviet Union, where many perished in prison camps. The armistice was signed three weeks later on 12 September 1944, on terms virtually dictated by the Soviet Union. Under the terms of the armistice, Romania announced its unconditional surrender to the USSR and was placed under occupation of the Allied forces with the Soviet Union as their representative, in control of media, communication, post, and civil administration behind the front. Some attribute the postponement of a formal Allied recognition of the "de facto" change of orientation until 12 September (the date the armistice was signed in Moscow) to the complexities of the negotiations between the USSR and UK.
During the Moscow Conference in October 1944 Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, proposed an agreement to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin on how to split up Eastern Europe into spheres of influence after the war. The Soviet Union was offered a 90% share of influence in Romania.
The Armistice Agreement of 12 September stipulated in Article 18 that "An Allied Control Commission will be established which will undertake until the conclusion of peace the regulation of and control over the execution of the present terms under the general direction and orders of the Allied (Soviet) High Command, acting on behalf of the Allied Powers". The Annex to Article 18 made clear that "The Romanian Government and their organs shall fulfil all instructions of the Allied Control Commission arising out of the Armistice Agreement." The Agreement also stipulated that the Allied Control Commission would have its seat in Bucharest. In line with Article 14 of the Armistice Agreement, two Romanian People's Tribunals were set up to try suspected war criminals.
Campaign against the Axis.
As the country declared war on Germany on the night of 23 August 1944, border clashes between Hungarian and Romanian troops erupted almost immediately. On 24 August, German troops attempted to seize Bucharest and suppress Michael's coup, but were repelled by the city's defenses, which received some support from the United States Air Force. Other Wehrmacht units in the country suffered severe losses: remnants of the Sixth Army retreating west of the Prut River were cut off and destroyed by the Red Army, which was now advancing at an even greater speed, while Romanian units attacked German garrisons at the Ploiești oilfields, forcing them to retreat to Hungary. The Romanian Army captured over 50,000 German prisoners around this time, who were later surrendered to the Soviets.
In early September, Soviet and Romanian forces entered Transylvania and captured the towns of Brașov and Sibiu while advancing toward the Mureș River. Their main objective was Cluj (Cluj-Napoca), a city regarded as the historical capital of Transylvania. However, the Second Hungarian Army was present in the region, and together with the Eighth German Army engaged the Allied forces on 5 September in what was to become the Battle of Turda, which lasted until 8 October and resulted in heavy casualties for both sides. Also around this time, the Hungarian Army carried out its last independent offensive action of the war, penetrating Arad County in western Romania. Despite initial success, a number of ad hoc Romanian cadet battalions managed to stop the Hungarian advance at the Battle of Păuliș, and soon a combined Romanian-Soviet counterattack overwhelmed the Hungarians, who gave ground and evacuated Arad itself on 21 September.
The Romanian Army ended the war fighting against the Wehrmacht alongside the Red Army in Transylvania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, from August 1944 until the end of the war in Europe. In May 1945, the First and Fourth armies took part in the Prague Offensive. The Romanian Army incurred heavy casualties fighting Nazi Germany. Of some 538,000 Romanian soldiers who fought against the Axis in 1944–45, some 167,000 were killed, wounded or went missing.
Aftermath.
Under the 1947 Treaty of Paris, the Allies did not acknowledge Romania as a co-belligerent nation but instead applied the term "ally of Hitlerite Germany" to all recipients of the treaty's stipulations. Like Finland, Romania had to pay $300 million to the Soviet Union as war reparations. However, the treaty specifically recognized that Romania switched sides on 24 August 1944, and therefore "acted in the interests of all the United Nations". As a reward, Northern Transylvania was, once again, recognized as an integral part of Romania, but the border with the USSR and Bulgaria was fixed at its state in January 1941, restoring the pre-Barbarossa status quo (with one exception). Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Eastern territories became part of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.
In Romania proper, Soviet occupation following World War II facilitated the rise of the Communist Party as the main political force, leading ultimately to the forced abdication of the King and the establishment of a single-party people's republic in 1947.
Major battles and campaigns.
This is a list of battles and other combat operations in World War II in which Romanian forces took part.
Romanian armament during World War II.
Modern non-self-propelled weapons.
The list below displays the modern (designed and built after the end of World War I) infantry weapons and artillery pieces used by the Romanian Army during World War II.
Tanks.
The list below comprises the models and numbers of Romanian Army tanks of all types in service as of 19 July 1944:
External links.
Holocaust.
< Greater Romania | History of Romania | Communist Romania >


Battle of Kilsyth

The Battle of Kilsyth, fought on 15 August 1645 near Kilsyth, was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The largest battle of the conflict in Scotland, it resulted in victory for the Royalist general Montrose over the forces of the Covenanter-dominated Scottish Parliament, and marked the end of General William Baillie's pursuit of the Royalists.
Background.
Between mid-1644 and 1645, Montrose had fought a successful disruptive campaign around Scotland, intended to tie down Scottish government troops and prevent their aiding the Parliamentarian side in the First English Civil War. Leading a force built around an Irish Confederate brigade under Alasdair Mac Colla, Montrose had beaten the Covenanters at Tippermuir, Aberdeen, Inverlochy, Auldearn and Alford. Following the bloody Royalist victory at Alford on 2 July 1645, there remained only a single intact government force in Scotland, under the command of the experienced professional soldier William Baillie.
Baillie and his army were at Perth, attending the meeting of the Scottish Estates. He had been given command of a mixture of new, untrained levies from Fife, a number of regular regiments withdrawn from England, and the remnants of several regiments already defeated by Montrose at Auldearn and Alford. His cavalry, led by Lord Balcarres, was mainly regular dragoons. In addition to these troops, the Earl of Lanark had raised a new levy of 1,000 infantry and 500 cavalry from the estate of his brother, the Duke of Hamilton, in Clydesdale, and was en route north to join the main body.
When news of this troop movement reached Montrose, he decided to confront these forces individually, before they could join up. Marching from Dunkeld he skirted Baillie's force at Perth and travelled via Kinross, Glenfarg and Alloa, crossing the River Forth near Stirling, and circumnavigating Stirling Castle. By nightfall on 14 August, the army was camped in a meadow near Colzium, by Kilsyth, in the area around Colzium Castle. This area is still known as Cavalry Park in memory of the event.
Baillie learned of Montrose's advance almost immediately, but it took a little time for its purpose to become apparent. Realising that his opponent had gained an advantage and that Lanark's forces were in danger, he moved his men southward, reaching Stirling by the line of the modern A9 road. On the same night as Montrose reached Colzium, Baillie was only three miles off at Hollinbush. He arrived late and his men had little rest.
Overnight, his scouts located the Royalist encampment, and at dawn the next morning his troops were on the move and, marching directly across country, reaching the village of Banton. This gave the Covenanters the higher ground around the eastern rim of the hollow occupied by the Royalist infantry.
Deployments.
Montrose had been reinforced at Dunkeld by 800 high-quality infantry and 400 cavalry led by Viscount Aboyne. He retained at least 500 of his Irish troops, a large number of Lowland infantry from the Gordon estates, and a regiment of Athollmen under Patrick Graham of Inchbrackie, as well as up to 1400 Highlanders from western clans: a total of around 3000 foot, with up to 600 cavalry and dragoons. Baillie is stated to have had up to 7,000 infantry based on Royalist accounts, though 3,500 may be a more accurate figure. While four of the government regiments were regulars, and a further unit under Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy was made up of the remains of three veteran regiments from Alford and Auldearn, a large proportion of Baillie's foot was composed of the three newly raised regiments of levies from Fife, led by the lairds of Fordell, Ferny and Cambo. On news of the Royalist advance, the levies had already attempted to desert "en masse", and had to be forcibly brought back.
The battle.
The Royalist troops were clearly visible, undisturbed by the arrival of the main army of their enemies. Having a healthy respect for his opposition, and appreciating that his own forces had already marched several miles in full kit, Baillie decided to take positions where he was and wait for Lanark's force to appear. If Lanark arrived on the field, Baillie would have Montrose trapped between his force and the reinforcements; and if Montrose decided to attack Lanark as he arrived, Baillie could advance against the Royalist army from the rear. A direct attack by Montrose against the Covenanter line would face daunting high ground held by a numerically superior opponent.
Although Baillie's decision was sound, he was not allowed to adhere to it. His orders were subject to the approval of the "Committee of Estates", consisting of the Earls of Argyll, Crawford and Tullibardine, and the Lords Elcho, and Balfour of Burleigh, together with a number of Calvinist clergymen. Worried by the possibility of Montrose escaping to fight another day, they ordered a flank march around the Royalist position. Baillie protested against the redeployment, but was overruled.
Clashes soon broke out as the Covenanter army made their flank march, with the left wing of Baillie's force (now the rear of the flanking column) attacking the MacLean infantry occupying cottages on Montrose's left flank, and the cavalry on the Covenanter right flank (or van) attacking the Royalist cavalry. Other Covenanter and Royalist units joined the fray, acting without orders. Montrose seized the unexpected opportunity, and sent his cavalry and Highlanders against the now disrupted Covenanter column. The mass of the Royalist infantry subsequently joined in the attack. Baillie's army soon broke and ran.
Approximately three-quarters of the Covenanter troops perished. Baillie himself fled south with an escort of cavalry, but was caught in the notorious Dullatur Bog, a marshy area lying between the head waters of the Kelvin and the Bonny. He managed to escape, although he left most of his escort behind, and reached safety at Stirling Castle. During construction of the Forth and Clyde Canal, the bodies of several troopers, one still seated on a horse, were recovered from the bog.
Aftermath.
Lanark's forces were told of the defeat, and dispersed. Lanark himself and the Committee of Estates escaped across the border to England. Briefly, Montrose found himself undisputed master of Scotland, and proceeded to Glasgow, where he summoned a parliament in the name of the King. Unknown to Montrose, the victory was too late; the Battle of Naseby had already been lost and the Royalist cause was in ruins. Montrose made an attempt to move south in support of the king, but was himself decisively defeated at Philiphaugh.
The battle and the Royalist campaign of 1644–1645 in general feature in the 1937 novel "And No Quarter" by the Irish writer Maurice Walsh, told from the perspective of two members of O'Cahan's Regiment.
Battlefield.
Ordnance Survey maps mark the battlefield as being in the vicinity of Banton Loch which was created in the 18th century. The battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009.


Battle of Alford

The Battle of Alford was an engagement of the Scottish Civil War. It took place near the village of Alford, Aberdeenshire, on 2 July 1645. During the battle, the Royalist general James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose defeated the forces of the Covenanter-dominated Scottish government, commanded by William Baillie.
The battlefield is included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and protected by Historic Scotland under the Historic Environment (Amendment) Act 2011.
Background.
Following the Scottish Parliament's decision to intervene in the First English Civil War on the Parliamentarian side, King Charles I had appointed Montrose as his Captain-General in Scotland and charged him with conducting the Royalist resistance. It was hoped that by carrying out a disruptive campaign in Scotland, Montrose would tie down government troops that would otherwise be used in the war in England.
Aided by 2,000 men sent by Confederate Ireland, Montrose won surprise victories at Tippermuir and Aberdeen in September 1644. His troops plundered large parts of the west Highlands that winter, before routing and destroying the forces of key government supporter the Marquess of Argyll at Inverlochy on 2 February. Finally, Montrose defeated a larger government army under Sir John Urry at Auldearn on 9 May.
Following Auldearn, the commander of the Irish contingent, Alasdair Mac Colla, departed for the western Highlands in an attempt to raise more men. Montrose himself made an effort to engage the remaining Covenanter army under Major-General Baillie. Baillie, a veteran soldier, had seen his forces reduced in size by the controlling body of the Scottish Parliament, the Committee of Estates, which had the power to overrule his orders. The Committee, which comprised the Earl of Argyll, the Earls of Crawford and Tullibardine, and the Lords of Elcho, Burleigh, and Balcarres, together with a number of Calvinist clergy, had ordered the detachment of around 1,200 of Baillie's most experienced foot to create a second army, intended to be commanded by the Earl of Lindsay. Some of the resulting gaps were filled by inexperienced militia. Conscious of the weakened state of his army, Baillie spent the early summer months trying to evade contact with Montrose, and both forces manoeuvred through Moray and Aberdeenshire for several weeks in an attempt to secure an advantage.
Montrose caught Baillie on 24 June near Keith, but the latter formed up for battle in a strong defensive position. Montrose refused to attack and, after several days of waiting, moved his force on and across the River Don. Baillie was now compelled to follow, otherwise Montrose would have had a clear route of march into central Scotland. By 1 July, Montrose occupied high ground near the village of Alford, probably at Gallows Hill. Early on the morning of 2 July, he received word that the Covenanters were rapidly approaching the ford of the Don and made a decision to attack, mainly as he knew that Lindsay was finally en route to reinforce Baillie.
The battle.
The two armies appear to have been roughly equal in size, though Baillie later claimed the Royalists outnumbered them. Up to 1,000 of Baillie's troops may have been local militia hastily pressed into service just before the battle. Baillie's position was further weakened by the presence of representatives of the Committee of Estates on his chain of command in the person of the Earl of Balcarres.
In Mac Colla's absence, the Irish troops supporting Montrose were commanded by Col. Manus O'Cahan, who showed a high degree of military discipline in the coming battle by unleashing his men at the critical point. This was the first battle where Montrose's Irish contingent did not outnumber his Scottish troops. Thanks to the presence of the Strathbogie and other Gordon regiments, Montrose also now had many more Lowlanders than Highlanders.
Order of battle and deployments.
Following Montrose's occupation of high ground overlooking the Don, Baillie did not want to risk crossing the river, seeing that his troops would be vulnerable to attack before they could form up. It was afterwards rumoured that Balcarres, a member of the Committee of Estates and Baillie's cavalry commander, insisted on giving battle, and Baillie later wrote that he was unhappy about engaging as he felt they were outnumbered. Other accounts, however, suggest that despite Montrose moving his whole army down to within musket shot of Baillie, Baillie was misled into believing he faced only a Royalist rearguard, as the majority of their troops were concealed on the hill's reverse slope. Montrose had drawn up his army with the majority of the infantry in the centre and the cavalry on the flanks: Aboyne on the left and Gordon on the right, each strengthened by a unit of Irish foot. As Baillie was still in the process of moving forward, he attempted to use a stretch of marshy ground, intersected by ditches and pools, to strengthen his position.
Montrose attacks.
Montrose waited until Balcarres' cavalry was across the river, and the infantry was in the process of crossing, before ordering Lord Gordon's horse to attack Balcarres. A fierce fight ensued around the ford between the two groups of cavalry. Balcarres threw back the attack, but Gordon regrouped and attacked again, supported by Thomas Laghtnan's regiment of Irish infantry. Balcarres' cavalry broke and retreated: Baillie, now having no choice but to commit to the battle, ordered Halkett forward but the latter was driven off by the Royalist left wing under Aboyne.
Baillie and his infantry had now crossed the Don only to witness their cavalry routed. Baillie responded to the threat of being outflanked by extending his line: however to do so he had to deploy his troops only three ranks deep. Montrose finally ordered his infantry to attack: Baillie's men initially held firm and refused to give quarter. However, when some of the Royalist cavalry under Gordon returned and attacked them on the flank and rear, they broke and began to flee from the battlefield. It is likely that by being deployed only three lines deep they were unable to turn and effectively face the cavalry assault. The difficulties presented by escaping across a ford meant that the rout was particularly vicious: government losses were about 1,500 of their 2,000 infantry, although much of their cavalry escaped, along with Baillie, Balcarres and other commanders. Cassilis' and Glencairn's regiments in particular were reduced to little more than 100 men each. Primary sources suggest that the pursuit of the defeated Covenanter infantry went on until the early evening, over a distance of 9 miles.
The Royalists lost several hundred men, including Lord Gordon - a serious loss to their cause, and in the long run possibly the most significant outcome of the battle. Nevertheless, the battle was one of the few bright moments for the Royalists in the aftermath of the Battle of Naseby, only two weeks earlier. Montrose's success helped convince Charles that it was worthwhile to continue the fight in England.
Aftermath.
After the defeat an unhappy Baillie tendered his resignation to the Committee of Estates, but was compelled to stay in command until his intended replacement, Maj-Gen. Monro, could be recalled from the war in Ireland. The Committee appointed a deputation to advise him on tactics, although many of those involved had already been defeated by Montrose at some point, and their interference in the next engagement was to prove disastrous.
Montrose was now at last in a position to march towards the south of the country, where he would face a freshly raised government force at Kilsyth the following month.
In culture.
The Historic Scotland report commented that despite its importance the battle "has drawn little popular attention" outside the immediate area, but notes that a fragment of a ballad called "The Battle of Alford" has survived, though the surviving verses do not relate to the fighting itself. It also noted that the great-grandfather of James Watt, a Kildrummy crofter named Thomas Watt, was among the militia conscripted to fight on the government side, and was killed there.


Battle of Sheriffmuir

The Battle of Sheriffmuir (, ) was an engagement in 1715 at the height of the Jacobite rising in England and Scotland. The battlefield has been included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009. Sheriffmuir was and is a remote elevated plateau of heathland lying between Stirling and Auchterarder on the north fringe of the Ochil Hills.
Background.
John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, standard-bearer for the Jacobite cause in Scotland, mustered Highland chiefs, and on 6 September declared James Francis Edward Stuart (the "Old Pretender") as King of Scots. With an army of about 12,000 men Mar proceeded to take Perth, and commanded much of the northern Highlands. Following unsuccessful skirmishes against John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll (based at Stirling), Mar was eventually persuaded to lead his full army south, on 10 November. Spies informed Argyll of Mar's actions, and he moved his army of about 4,000 to Sheriffmuir, near Dunblane. The two armies met on the battlefield on 13 November 1715.
Battle.
Argyll was seriously outnumbered by the Jacobite army (which was somewhat diminished from its previous numbers), and his left wing, commanded by General Thomas Whetham, was far shorter than the Jacobites' opposing right. Argyll's right wing attacked, and managed to drive the Highlanders back, but Whetham's soldiers were overpowered by a much larger force. Argyll came to the aid of Whetham's men. By evening, both armies were seriously reduced, and although Mar had a great advantage in numbers, he refused to risk the entirety of his army, allowing Argyll to withdraw.
The battle was inconclusive, with both sides claiming victory. However, in strategic terms Argyll had halted the Jacobite advance. Those government regiments present that were titled 'King's' were awarded the White Horse of Hanover as a badge of battle honour. The engagement only served to demoralize the Jacobite army who, with their superior numbers, felt they should have decisively won. Mar's French and Spanish supporters in particular withdrew their forces.
Aftermath.
The modern Scottish archaeologist and TV commentator Neil Oliver states that in hindsight the Jacobite failure of the rising of 1715 seems astonishing in that the Jacobite leader, the Earl of Mar, could easily have moved past the Duke of Argyll to link up with the English Jacobites and Catholics in the north of England, had he had the merest sense of how to fight a campaign rather than lead a parade.
On 23 December, the Old Pretender, who had been exiled in France, landed at Peterhead, his cause largely lost. He met with Mar at Perth, but was unable to rouse the disheartened army. Argyll, reinforced and invigorated, soon advanced north, while the Jacobite army fled to Montrose, and the Pretender returned to France. The army moved to Ruthven, and dispersed.
The period was fatal in the extreme to the Jacobite Pretender. The whole body of his adherents in the south had fallen into the hands of generals Willis and Carpenter at Preston, and Inverness, with all the adjacent country, had been recovered to the government, through the exertions of pro-government clans including the Earl of Sutherland, Fraser Lord Lovat, the Rosses, the Munros and the Forbeses.
Casualties.
The number of the slain on the side of the Jacobites has been stated to have been eight hundred, among whom were John Lyon, 5th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and the chief of the Clan Ranald of Clan MacDonald, and several others of distinction. James Maule, 4th Earl of Panmure, and Drummond of Logie were among the wounded. It meant that the Jacobite army had to withdraw to Perth. Argyll considered himself the victor and struck a medal to commemorate his feat.
Of the government army, there were killed, and wounded, upwards of six hundred. Archibald Douglas, 2nd Earl of Forfar, was the only person of eminence killed on that side.
A famous Jacobite song, "Sheriffmuir fight", was written about the battle. As with many such songs, the battle is presented as a noble victory for the Jacobite army. The song was collected by, and perhaps written by, James Hogg in 1819.
Robert Burns and "The Battle of Sherramuir".
The Battle was the subject of "The Battle of Sherramuir", one of the most famous songs written by Robert Burns. The song was written when Burns toured the Highlands in 1787 and was first published in the Scots Musical Museum, appearing in volume III, 1790. It was written to be sung to the "Cameronian Rant".
Burns knew that the battle ended so inconclusively that it was unclear which side had won and the poem is the account of the battle by two shepherds taking contrary views. One of the shepherds believes that "the red-coat lads wi' black cockades" routed the rebels, painting a fearful picture of how they managed to "hough the Clans like nine-pin kyles". The other shepherd is just as convinced that the Jacobites "did pursue / The horsemen back to Forth, man" with the eventual result that "... mony a huntit, poor Red-coat / For fear amaist did swarf, man."
Dissatisfied with the first published version of the poem, Burns re-wrote it sometime after 1790. The revised version was published after Burns' death by his editor, James Currie MD in "The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns: With Explanatory and Glossarial Notes; And a Life of the Author" (1800).


Battle of Edgehill

The Battle of Edgehill (or Edge Hill) was a pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642.
All attempts at constitutional compromise between King Charles and Parliament broke down early in 1642. Both the King and Parliament raised large armies to gain their way by force of arms. In October, at his temporary base near Shrewsbury, the King decided to march to London in order to force a decisive confrontation with Parliament's main army, commanded by the Earl of Essex.
Late on 22 October, both armies unexpectedly found the enemy to be close by. The next day, the Royalist army descended from Edge Hill to force battle. After the Parliamentarian artillery opened a cannonade, the Royalists attacked. Both armies consisted mostly of inexperienced and sometimes ill-equipped troops. Many men from both sides fled or fell out to loot enemy baggage, and neither army was able to gain a decisive advantage.
After the battle, the King resumed his march on London, but was not strong enough to overcome the defending militia before Essex's army could reinforce them. The inconclusive result of the Battle of Edgehill prevented either faction from gaining a quick victory in the war, which eventually lasted four years.
Background.
When it appeared to King Charles I that no agreement with Parliament over the government of the kingdom was possible, he left London on 2 March 1642 and headed for the north of England. Both Parliament and King realised that armed conflict was inevitable, and prepared to raise forces. Parliament enacted a Militia Ordinance, by which it claimed authority over the country's trained bands, while from his temporary capital of York, Charles rejected Parliament's Nineteen Propositions and issued Commissions of Array, directing the Lord Lieutenant of each county to raise forces for the King.
The King then attempted to seize the port of Kingston-upon-Hull where arms and equipment previously collected for the Bishops' Wars had been gathered. In the Siege of Hull, the Parliamentarian garrison defied the King's authority and drove his forces away from the city. In early August the King moved south, to Lincoln and Leicester, where he secured the contents of the local armouries. On 22 August, he took a decisive step by raising the royal standard in Nottingham, effectively declaring war on Parliament. The Midlands were generally Parliamentarian in sympathy, and few people rallied to the King there, so having again secured the arms and equipment of the local trained bands, Charles moved to Chester and subsequently to Shrewsbury, where large numbers of recruits from Wales and the Welsh border were expected to join him. (By this time, there was conflict in almost every part of England, as local commanders attempted to seize the main cities, ports and castles for their respective factions.)
Having learned of the King's actions in Nottingham, Parliament dispatched its own army northward under the Earl of Essex, to confront the King. Essex marched first to Northampton, where he mustered almost 20,000 men. Learning of the King's move westwards, Essex then marched north-westwards towards Worcester. On 23 September, in the first clash between the main Royalist and Parliamentarian armies, Royalist cavalry under Prince Rupert of the Rhine routed the cavalry of Essex's vanguard at the Battle of Powick Bridge. Nevertheless, lacking infantry, the Royalists abandoned Worcester.
Prelude.
By early October, the King's army was almost complete at Shrewsbury. He held a council of war, at which two courses of action were considered. The first was to attack Essex's army at Worcester, which had the drawback that the close country around the city would put the superior Royalist cavalry at a disadvantage. The second course, which was adopted, was to advance towards London. The intention was not to avoid battle with Essex, but to force one at an advantage. In the Earl of Clarendon's words: "it was considered more counsellable to march towards London, it being morally sure that Essex would put himself in their way." Accordingly, the army left Shrewsbury on 12 October, gaining two days' start on the enemy, and moved south-east. Essex followed, but neither army had much information on the location of their enemy.
By 22 October, the Royalist army was quartered in the villages around Edgcote, and was threatening the Parliamentarian post at Banbury. The garrison of Banbury sent messengers pleading for help to the garrison of Warwick Castle. Essex, who had just reached there, ordered an immediate march to Kineton to bring relief to Banbury, even though his army had straggled and not all his troops were present. That evening, there were clashes between outposts and quartermasters' parties in Kineton and the villages nearby, and the Royalists had their first inkling that Essex's army was close by. The King issued orders for his army to muster for battle on top of the escarpment of Edge Hill the following day.
Essex originally intended marching straight to the relief of Banbury, but at about 8 a.m. on 23 October, his outposts reported that the Cavaliers were massed on Edge Hill, from Kineton. Essex deployed his army about halfway between Kineton and the Royalist army, where hedges formed a natural position.
The well known "Soldiers' Prayer" was given by Jacob Astley before the battle
The opposing forces.
There were some significant differences between the opposing armies, which were to be important to the course of the battle and its outcome. Although both armies were composed of very raw soldiers, they had several experienced officers who had previously fought in the Dutch or Swedish armies during the Thirty Years' War. Several of them had been recruited to lead English forces which were intended to be sent to Ireland following the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Both King and Parliament had bid highly for their services.
The Royalist cavalry was superior to Parliament's cavalry at this stage of the war. Oliver Cromwell, who arrived too late in the day to take part in the battle, later wrote disparagingly to John Hampden, ""Your troopers are most of them old decayed servingmen and tapsters; and their "[the Royalists]" troopers are gentlemen's sons, younger sons and persons of quality..."" Not only were the Parliamentarian cavalry not so naturally accustomed to mounted action, but they were drilled in the Dutch tactic of firing pistols and carbines from the saddle, whereas under Rupert, the Royalist cavalry would charge sword in hand, relying on shock and weight.
The Parliamentarian foot soldiers, however, were better equipped than their Royalist counterparts. The Royalist pikemen were said to lack armour, and the musketeers lacked swords, making the Royalist infantry more vulnerable in hand-to-hand combat. Several hundred of them lacked any sort of weapon apart from clubs or improvised polearms.
Deployments.
Royalist Army.
The Royalist right wing of cavalry and dragoons was led by Prince Rupert, with Sir John Byron in support. The King's own Lifeguard of Horse insisted on joining Rupert's front line, leaving the King with no cavalry reserve under his own command.
The centre consisted of five "tertias" of infantry. There was a last-minute change of command when the Colonel General, Lord Lindsey, was overruled when he wished to deploy them in "Dutch" formation, simple phalanxes eight ranks deep. Affronted, he resigned his command and took his place at the head of his own regiment of foot. He was replaced by the Lieutenant General, Patrick Ruthven, who drew up the infantry in chequerboard "Swedish" formation, which was potentially more effective but also more difficult to control, particularly with inexperienced soldiers. The centre was led in battle by Sergeant Major General Jacob Astley.
The left wing consisted of horse under Sir Henry Wilmot, with Lord Digby, the King's secretary of state, in support and Colonel Arthur Aston's dragoons on his left flank.
Parliamentarians.
The Parliamentarian left wing consisted of a loosely organised cavalry brigade of twenty unregimented troops under Sir James Ramsay, supported by 600 musketeers and several cannon, deployed behind a hedge.
In the centre, the infantry brigade of Sir John Meldrum was drawn up on the left of the front line and Colonel Charles Essex's brigade on the right. Sir Thomas Ballard's infantry brigade was deployed behind Meldrum and the cavalry regiments under Sir William Balfour and Sir Philip Stapleton behind Charles Essex. The presence of these two regiments was to be important in the coming battle.
A regiment of infantry under Colonel William Fairfax linked the centre to the right wing. The right wing consisted of cavalry under Lord Feilding, posted on some rising ground, with two regiments of dragoons in support.
Battle.
As Essex showed no signs of wishing to attack, the Royalists began to descend the slope of Edge Hill some time after midday. Even when they had completed this manoeuvre at about two o'clock, the battle did not begin until the sight of the King with his large entourage riding from regiment to regiment to encourage his soldiers, apparently goaded the Parliamentarians into opening fire.
The King's party withdrew out of range and an artillery duel started. The Royalist guns were not effective, as most of them were deployed some way up the slope; from this height most of their shot plunged harmlessly into the earth. While the bombardment continued however, the Royalist dragoons advanced on each flank and drove back the Parliamentarian dragoons and musketeers covering their wings of horse.
On the right flank, Rupert gave the order to attack. As his charge gathered momentum, a troop of Parliamentarian horse under Faithfull Fortescue abruptly defected. The rest of Ramsay's brigade gave an ineffectual volley of pistol fire from the saddle before turning to flee. Rupert's and Byron's troopers rapidly overran the Parliamentarian guns and musketeers on this flank and galloped jubilantly in pursuit of Ramsay's men, to the detriment of the infantry.
Wilmot charged about the same time on the other flank. Feilding's outnumbered troops quickly gave way, and Wilmot and Digby also chased them to Kineton where the Royalist horse fell out to loot the Parliamentarian baggage. Sir Charles Lucas and William Villiers Lord Grandison rallied about 200 men, but when they tried to charge the Parliamentarian rear, they were distracted by fugitives from Charles Essex's routed brigade.
The Royalist infantry also advanced in the centre under Ruthven. Many of the Parliamentarian foot had already run away as their cavalry disappeared, and others fled as the infantry came to close quarters. The brigades of Sir Thomas Ballard and Sir John Meldrum nevertheless stood their ground. The Parliamentarian cavalry regiments of Stapleton and Balfour emerged through gaps in the line of Parliamentarian foot soldiers, and charged the Royalist infantry. With no Royalist cavalry to oppose them, they put many units to flight.
The King had left himself without any proper reserve. As his centre gave way, he ordered one of his officers to conduct his sons Charles (the Prince of Wales) and James (the Duke of York) to safety while Ruthven rallied his infantry. Some of Balfour's men charged so far into the Royalist position that they menaced the princes' escort and briefly overran the Royalist artillery before withdrawing. In the front ranks, Lord Lindsey was mortally wounded, and Sir Edmund Verney died defending the Royal Standard, which was captured by Parliamentarian Ensign Arthur Young.
By this time, some of the Royalist horse had rallied and were returning from Kineton. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Welch (variously spelled Welch, Welsh, or Walsh)


Afrika Korps

The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, DAK ) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa, under various appellations, from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943. The unit's best known commander was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
Organization.
The Afrika Korps formed on 11 January 1941 and one of Hitler's favourite generals, Erwin Rommel, was designated as commander on 11 February. Originally Hans von Funck was to have commanded it, but Hitler loathed von Funck, as he had been a personal staff officer of Werner von Fritsch until von Fritsch was dismissed in 1938.
The German Armed Forces High Command ("Oberkommando der Wehrmacht", OKW) had decided to send a "blocking force" to Italian Libya to support the Italian army. The Italian 10th Army had been routed by the British Commonwealth Western Desert Force in Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941) and captured at the Battle of Beda Fomm. The German blocking force, commanded by Rommel, at first consisted of a force based only on Panzer Regiment 5, which was put together from the second regiment of the 3rd Panzer Division. These elements were organized into the 5th Light Division when they arrived in Africa from 10 February – 12 March 1941. In late April and into May, the 5th Light Division was joined by elements of 15th Panzer Division, transferred from Italy. At this time, the "Afrika Korps" consisted of the two divisions, and was subordinated to the Italian chain of command in Africa.
On 15 August 1941, the German 5th Light Division was redesignated 21st Panzer Division, the higher formation of which was still the Afrika Korps. During the summer of 1941, the OKW increased the presence in Africa and created a new headquarters called Panzer Group Africa. On 15 August, the Panzer Group was activated with Rommel in command, and command of the Afrika Korps was turned over to Ludwig Crüwell. The Panzer Group comprised the Afrika Korps, with some additional German units now in North Africa, plus two corps of Italian units. The Panzer Group was, in turn, redesignated as Panzer Army Africa on 30 January 1942.
After the German defeat in the Second Battle of El Alamein and the Allied landings in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), the OKW once more upgraded the presence in Africa by adding first the XC Army Corps, under Nehring, in Tunisia on 19 November 1942, then an additional 5th Panzer Army on 8 December, under the command of Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim.
On 23 February 1943, the original Panzer Army Africa, which had since been re-styled as the German-Italian Panzer Army, was now redesignated as the Italian 1st Army and put under the command of Italian general Giovanni Messe. Rommel, meanwhile, was placed in command of a new Army Group Africa, created to control both the Italian 1st Army and the 5th Panzer Army. The remnants of the Afrika Korps and surviving units of the 1st Italian Army retreated into Tunisia. Command of the Army Group was turned over to Arnim in March. On 13 May, the Afrika Korps surrendered, along with all other remaining Axis forces in North Africa.
Most Afrika Korps POWs were transported to the United States and held in Camp Shelby in Mississippi, Camp Hearne in Texas and other POW camps until the end of the war.
Composition and terminology.
When Rommel was promoted to the newly formed Panzer Army Africa, his command included a number of Italian units, including four infantry divisions. Two Italian armoured divisions, Ariete and Trieste, initially remained under Italian control as the Italian XX Motorized Corps under the command of General Gastone Gambara.
The Afrika Korps was restructured and renamed in August 1941. "Afrikakorps" was the official name of the force for less than six months but the officers and men used it for the duration. The "Afrika Korps" was the major German component of "Panzerarmee Afrika", which was later renamed the "Deutsch-Italienische Panzerarmee" and finally renamed "Heeresgruppe Afrika" (Army Group Africa) during the 27 months of the Desert campaign.
Persecution of Jews.
Robert Satloff writes in his book "Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands" that as the German and Italian forces retreated across Libya towards Tunisia, the Jewish population became victims upon which they released their anger and frustration. According to Satloff, Afrika Korps soldiers plundered Jewish property all along the Libyan coast. This violence and persecution only came to an end with the arrival of General Montgomery in Tripoli on January 23 1943. German historian Clemens Vollnhals writes that the use of Jews by Afrika Korps as forced labour is barely known, but it did happen alongside persecution of Jewish population (although on smaller scale than in Europe) and some of the labourers were worked to death.
Reforming of units.
Certain divisions were reformed in Europe after the cessation of fighting in Tunisia:


Convoy KMS 96G


Adak Island

Adak Island (, ) is an island near the western extent of the Andreanof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Alaska's southernmost town, Adak, is located on the island. The island has a land area of , measuring on length and on width, making it the 25th largest island in the United States.
Due to harsh winds, frequent cloud cover, and cold temperatures, vegetation is mostly tundra (grasses, mosses, berries, low-lying flowering plants) at lower elevations. The highest point is Mount Moffett, near the northwest end of the island, at an elevation of 3,924 feet (1,196 m). It is snow covered the greater part of the year. Adak is its largest and principal city.
The word "Adak" is from the Aleut word "adaq", which means "father".
History.
Adak Island has been the home to Aleut peoples since ancient times. Russian explorers in the 18th century also visited the island but made no permanent settlements. During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army took control of two of the westernmost Aleutian Islands—Attu and Kiska—in the incorporated territory of Alaska, the first foreign enemy to occupy American soil since the War of 1812. The Japanese also attacked the American base at Dutch Harbor by air. The Japanese campaign coincided with the more well-known Battle of Midway. In response, the United States military began a campaign to oust the Japanese. Since the nearest U.S. military presence was in Cold Bay, Alaska, the U.S. began to construct bases in the western Aleutian Islands from which to launch operations against the Japanese. Adak Island was chosen as the site of an airfield, and flight operations began in September 1942. On May 11, 1943, four days after the initial invasion date was delayed by bad weather, American soldiers landed on Attu Island and defeated the Japanese garrison there, at the cost of 2,300 Japanese and 550 American lives. Expecting a similar battle for Kiska Island, U.S. and Allied soldiers landing there August 15, 1943, found the occupiers had been stealthily evacuated by Japanese naval forces since the end of May, 1943. Even so, over 313 Allied soldiers died from friendly fire, mines, and other anti-personnel devices during Allied operations to take back Kiska. In 1953, remains of 236 Japanese dead who had been buried in Adak Cemetery were reburied in Japan's Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery.
After the war was over, the approximately 6,000 American military men who served on Adak during World War II recalled Adak's cold, foggy, windy weather; mud; Quonset huts; few women and no trees; and a volcano that from time to time would issue puffs of smoke. Fresh food was a rarity.
Adak Naval Air Station continued to be a military base during the Cold War but was designated a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) site in 1995 and closed in March 1997. Shortly thereafter, the town of Adak was incorporated at the site of the former base. Down from a peak population of 6,000, the island recorded a 2010 census population of 326 residents, all in the city of Adak, in the northern part of the island. In 1980, the Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge was created and much of Adak Island lies within its boundaries.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game introduced approximately 23 caribou calves to the island, in part to help prevent famine emergencies. The now large caribou herd, of nearly 3,000 animals, is a popular hunting destination.
Climate.
Adak has a subpolar oceanic climate (Koppen Cfc), characterized by persistently overcast skies, moderated temperatures, high winds, significant precipitation and frequent cyclonic storms.
At Adak, overcast conditions average nearly 75 percent of the time during June and July, dropping back to approximately 50 percent of the time from October through February. Adak averages 173 days per year with fog. The foggiest months are July and August when an average of 26 of the 31 days have fog. This number drops dramatically toward the winter season where the months of December through March have, on average, fewer than ten days with fog during any one month.
Gales occur in all months of the year at Adak with the greatest chance from December through March. A peak gust of occurred at Adak in March 1954.
Adak's average temperatures range from , with a record high of in August 1956 and a record low of in January 1963 and February 1964.
Average annual precipitation is about . October to January are the wettest months due to especially frequent and intense mid-latitude cyclonic storms, while May to July represent markedly drier months; thunderstorms, common in mid-latitude continental areas, are virtually unknown here. November is the average wettest month, while July is the average driest month. Average snowfall is , falling primarily on the upper reaches of the volcanoes. Adak has an average of 341 days per year with measurable precipitation.
Education.
Adak is served by the Aleutian Region Schools. The Adak School serves grades K–12 and has around 20 students.
Economy.
A land exchange between Alaska Native Regional Corporations, the U.S. Navy, and the Department of the Interior has transferred most of the naval facilities to the Aleut Corp. A portion of the Island will remain within the National Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Adak currently provides a fueling port and crew transfer facility for foreign fishing fleets—an airport, docks, housing facilities and food services are available. A grocery and ship supply store and restaurant opened in February 1999. Aleut Corporation maintains the facilities. Contractors are performing an environmental clean-up. Alaskan-owned Norquest-Adak Seafood Co. processes Pacific cod, pollock, mackerel, halibut, albacore and brown king crab. Four residents hold a commercial fishing permit, primarily for groundfish.
Transportation.
Because of its naval aviation past, Adak has an unusually large and sophisticated airport for the Aleutian Islands. The Adak Airport is currently operated by the State of Alaska Department of Transportation. Adak Airport has a control tower, an Instrument Landing System and two runways; and respectively. Both runways are asphalt paved, wide and at an elevation of .
Alaska Airlines operates twice-weekly Boeing 737-700 combi aircraft passenger and cargo jet service from Anchorage. At present, flights operate each Wednesday and Saturday (weather permitting). Occasionally, extra seasonal flights are operated to meet the demand of the fishing season. The Adak Airport was historically served for many years by Reeve Aleutian Airways (RAA) with scheduled passenger flights to Anchorage operated with Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop combi aircraft during the 1970s followed by Boeing 727-100 jet combi aircraft during the 1980s and 1990s.
Other facilities in Adak include three deep water docks and fueling facilities. The city has requested funds to greatly expand the Sweeper Cove small boat harbor, including new breakwaters, a 315-foot (96 m) dock and new moorage floats
There are approximately of paved and primitive roads on Adak, all privately owned by the Aleut Corporation.
Flora.
The Aleutian shield fern is an endangered species found only on this island.
Geology.
Adagdak and Mount Moffett volcanoes are located on Adak. The igneous rock type adakite is named after Adak.


First Battle of Narvik


Operation Innkeeper

Operation Innkeeper ("Unternehmen Gastwirt" in German) was an aborted plan devised in Autumn 1941 to send two Irish Abwehr agents to London on a sabotage mission.
One of the two agents was John Codd, an Irish national captured while serving in the British Army in 1940. While radio and sabotage training for Innkeeper did take place the plan was aborted due to the general collapse of German efforts to train and recruit suitable Irish agents as part of its Friesack Camp experiment.


Boeitai

The Boeitai (防衛隊, "Defense Corps") was a Japanese home guard force of World War II. It was established by the War Ministry in June 1944 in response to the worsening war situation facing Japan, and initially comprised all reservists in the 20–40 age group including those who would not normally be liable for military service under the Japanese conscription system. The Imperial Japanese Army's area armies had responsibility for raising and administering "Boeitai" units, and there was considerable variation in how these formations were structured and used. "Boeitai" units were established in the Japanese home islands, Okinawa, Korea and Formosa. Unlike regular Japanese Army soldiers, "Boeitai" personnel were not indoctrinated to fight to the death or consider themselves to be imperial subjects.
Around 20,000 local "Boeitai" conscripts were involved in the Battle of Okinawa during 1945, with most initially serving as labourers or in support roles but some augmenting frontline Army units. Most of the Okinawan "Boeitai" were teenagers or aged in their 30s and 40s. As the fighting continued, many of the support personnel were assigned to combat duties despite not being provided with any training for this role or effective weapons; some "Boeitai" personnel were ordered to conduct suicide missions in which they attempted to blow up tanks with satchel charges. In addition, several Okinawan "Boeitai" groups fought as partisans armed mainly with spears and grenades. Morale among "Boeitai" personnel in Okinawa was low, due to the discrimination they suffered at the hands of Japanese military personnel and a widespread belief that the war was lost. In addition, many "Boeitai" conscripts had families to support. As a result, around 20 percent of "Boeitai" personnel on Okinawa deserted or surrendered to American forces. However, 50 percent of the personnel became casualties during the battle.