Warfare in News

Posted on Tuesday 3rd January

The 740 (Whitby) Squadron and the cadets of 740 (Whitby) Squadron Air Training Corps and Whitby Detachment Army Cadet Force have each donated £50 towards an incomplete war memorial in St Mary's Church, Whitby.

The £100 donation will pay for the engraving of two names on the plaque. The cheque was presented to the Mayor, John Freeman, by the squadron treasurer Garry Middleton in front of the 35 young cadets who raised the funds.

The town council are investigating the number of names which are not on the memorial in order to accurately reflect those lost in conflicts since the Second World War.

Anyone who knows of a name which is currently missing from the plaque, from the Whitby area, should contact the town council on 01947 820227.

For more information about the 740 (Whitby) Squadron Air Training Corps visit the website.

Further Reading

Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors First Edition

Only £9.99

Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors First Edition

(Paperback)
by Phil Tomaselli

Whether you are interested in the career of an individual air-man or woman, researching medals awarded to a pilot or crew member or just want to know more about a particular squadron or operation, this book will point you in the right direction. Assuming that the reader has no prior knowledge of the air force, its history or organization, Phil Tomaselli explains which records survive, where they can be found and how they can help… Read more...

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Bomber Harris

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Here Comes the Luftwaffe

Wed 10th July

On 2 July 1940 the German Air Force Supreme Command issued instructions for the campaign against Britain; the Battle of Britain. Derek Wood and Derek Dempster describe the early days of the fight for the skies. Read article...

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RAF Cosford's 75th Anniversary Air Show

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In its 75th anniversary year, a look back on the history of RAF Cosford and its famous summer airshow. Read article...

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Australia's First Blood and the Battle of Britain

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During the summer and autumn of 1940, Germany launched its air campaign to gain superiority over the RAF. It was not successful, and this defeat marked a turning point in the Allies’ favour. A handful of the 3000 or so airmen who fought in the Battle of B Read article...

Dates in History

German forces cross the Somme River

24th March 1918

On March 24, 1918, German forces cross the Somme River, achieving their first goal of the major spring offensive begun three days earlier on the Western Front. Operation Michael, engineered by the German chief of the general staff, Erich von Ludendorff, aimed to decisively break through the Allied lines on the Western Front and destroy the British and French forces. The offensive began on the morning of March 21, 1918, with an aggressive bombardment. The brunt of the attack that followed was directed at the British 5th Army, commanded by General Sir Hubert Gough, stationed along the Somme River in northwestern France. This section was the most poorly defended of any spot on the British lines, due to the fact that it had been held by the French until only a few weeks before and its defensive positions were not yet fully fortified. Panic spread up and down the British lines of command, intensified by communications failures between Gough and his subordinates in the field, and German gains increased over the subsequent days of battle. On March 23, Crown Prince Rupprecht, on the German side of the line, remarked that The progress of our offensive is so quick, that one cannot follow it with a pen. The next day, German troops stormed across the Somme, having previously captured its bridges before French troops could destroy them. Despite having resolved to concentrate on weaker points of the enemy lines, Ludendorff continued to throw his armies against the crucial villages of Amiens (a railway junction) and Arras—which the British and French were instructed to hold at all costs—hoping to break through and push on towards Paris. By that time, German troops were exhausted, and transportation and supply lines had begun to break down in the cold and bad weather. Meanwhile, Allied forces had recovered from the initial disadvantage and had begun to gain the upper hand, halting the Germans at Moreuil Wood on March 30. On April 5, Ludendorff called off Operation Michael. It had yielded nearly 40 miles of territory, the greatest gains for either side on the Western Front since 1914. He would launch four more offensive pushes over the course of the spring and summer, throwing all of the German army’s resources into this last, desperate attempt to win the war. (www.history.com)

Further Reading

The Somme
(Paperback - 355 pages)
by Richard van Emden

The offensive on the Somme took place between July and November 1916 and is perhaps the most iconic battle of the Great War. It was there that Kitchener’s famous ‘Pals’ Battalions were first sent into action en masse and it was a battlefield where many of the dreams and aspirations… Read more at Pen & Sword...

Only £14.99 at Pen & Sword Books.

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