Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/April 2016/Articles


 * Nelson's Pillar (Brianboulton and Carcharoth) : Last month's sole FA promotion with a MilHist theme focusses on a large granite column topped by a statue of Horatio Nelson that stood in what was then Sackville Street in Dublin, Ireland. Unveiled in October 1809 when Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, it endured until March 1966, when it was destroyed by explosives planted by Irish republicans.


 * List of awards and nominations received by Gene Roddenberry (Miyagawa) : Best known as the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry saw service as a pilot in the US Thirteenth Air Force during World War II, flying Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, and was awarded the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.


 * Allied naval bombardments of Japan during World War II (Nick-D) : Nick has been working on this article on and off for the last five years. It describes the attacks made by United States, British and, somewhat surprisingly, New Zealand warships during the final weeks of World War II. While the bombardments didn't achieve their main goal of provoking a Japanese response (which the Allies were confident of being able to defeat), they resulted in hundreds of deaths and damage to some significant industrial facilities.


 * 4th Armoured Brigade (Australia) (Nick-D) : The 4th Armoured Brigade was probably the most important Australian armoured unit of World War II. Formed in early 1943 as part of the process of reorganising the Australian Army for jungle warfare, it provided well-trained units to support most major Army operations from September 1943 until the end of the war and also played a lead role in developing and testing new types of armoured vehicles. This is another of Nick's long-term projects: he started the article in 2005, and developed it to GA and then A-class status early this year.


 * 2/14th Battalion (Australia) (AustralianRupert) : Continuing the theme of long-running projects, AustralianRupert developed this article to GA status in 2011 and recently further improved it. The article covers an Australian infantry battalion of World War II which first saw combat in Syria against the Vichy French, before returning to Australia in 1942. It subsequently took part in several tough campaigns in New Guinea between 1942 and 1944, including the the fighting on the Kokoda Track. It ended the war in Borneo, where it had taken part in the amphibious assault on Balikpapan.


 * Theodore Komnenos Doukas (Cplakidas) : Cplakidas brings us the only non World War II-related new A-class article for March with this article covering "one of the most energetic, ambitious, and indefatigable of the post-Fourth Crusade Greek rulers". Theodore captured Thessalonica from the Latins and almost succeeded in recovering Constantinople too and restoring the Byzantine Empire 30 years before it actually happened. He was then captured by the Tsar of Bulgaria, released when the latter became his son-in-law, deposed his brother to regain Thessalonica, and ruled it via his sons for several years before it was captured by the Empire of Nicaea. In a final act of defiance against Nicaea he urged his nephew the ruler of Epirus (whom he had deposed at the beginning of his reign) to launch a joint attack, which failed.


 * 2/2nd Machine Gun Battalion (Australia) (AustralianRupert) : The 2/2nd Machine Gun Battalion was one of four similar units raised as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force for overseas service during the Second World War. The 2/2nd were attached to the Australian 9th Division, and fought in the Battles of El Alamein and undertook garrison duties in the early part of the war. Later, they took part in the fighting against the Japanese in New Guinea, participating in campaigns to capture Lae, the Huon Peninsula and Borneo. This is the second article on an Australian World War II machine gun battalion AustralianRupert has developed to A-class status, and he plans to bring the other two up to this class.


 * Gordon Gollob (MisterBee1966) : Gollob was a German fighter ace of World War II, and the first pilot to claim 150 aerial victories. He took part in Germany's early campaigns over Poland, Norway and Britain before going on to achieve most of his "kills" against Soviet forces. During the last years of the war he occupied various senior positions associated with fielding the Luftwaffe's force of jet and rocket fighters, with mixed results. Gollob was held as a prisoner of war until 1946, had a short-lived political career, and subsequently worked as a salesman.


 * 25th Battalion (New Zealand) (Zawed) : The latest in Zawed's series of articles on New Zealand in the World Wars covers the 25th Battalion, which formed part of the 2nd New Zealand Division. This battalion saw considerable combat in the campaigns in Greece, North Africa, and Italy. It was effectively destroyed during a battle in late 1941, but rebuilt, and finished the war in the city of Trieste on the border between Italy and Yugoslavia. The 25th Battalion suffered heavy casualties, with 531 of its personnel being killed and another 550 taken prisoner during the war.