Warfare in News

Posted on Monday 5th August

A new memorial has been put in place for 6 RAF airmen who were killed in a crash in one of the most remote places in Britain, the Scottish Highlands, during the Second World War.

The location's remoteness, 2,000 ft up Ben More Assynt, led to the decision during the war not to remove the remains of the 6 men, named by the Telegraph as Pilot Officer William Drew, Sergeant Jack Emery, Sergeant Harold Arthur Tompsett, Flying Officer James Henry Steyn, Sergeant Charles Mitchell and Flight Sergeant Thomas Brendon Kenny.

The incident occurred in April 1941 when the men's Anson plane crashed in terrible snow during a navigation exercise.

The War Graves Commission and the RAF have placed a granite memorial stone on the site, replacing the existing cairn which had suffered weather damage. A Chinook from RAF Odiham was used to lift the stone into place, making it the Commission's highest grave in Britain, at 2,000 feet up.

Further Reading

The Royal Air Force 1939-1945

Only £10.95

The Royal Air Force 1939-1945

(Paperback - 132 pages)
by Chaz Bowyer

This book examines every aspect of The Royal Air Force, including organisation, statistics and operations during World War Two. Read more...

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The War Graves Photographic Project

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A Pen and Sword title with an exceptionally vivid, first-hand account of the battle of Arras is Despatch Rider on the Western Front 1915-18, the diary of Sergeant Albert Simpkin MM, edited by his great nephew, David Venner Read article...

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Bomber Harris

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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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