Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/December 2017/Articles


 * SMS Wittelsbach (Parsecboy) : SMS Wittelsbach was a German pre-dreadnought battleship that entered service in 1902. The ship took part in routine training cruises for most of her career, and was cycled in and out of reserve in the years prior to the outbreak of World War I. She saw action in the Baltic Sea during 1915, but was decommissioned the next year and used as a support vessel for the remainder of the war. Parsecboy developed this article to GA status in 2011, and recently took it through ACR.


 * Patrick Henry : In the words of nominator Wehwalt, Henry is "A man who may not have quite the repute he did when I took U.S. history forty years ago. But still, his name lives on, even if, regrettably, people have forgotten what it was he did." His chief fame as an American patriot rests on the 1775 declaration "Give me liberty, or give me death!"; he also served two terms as Governor of Virginia between 1776 and 1786.


 * Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz (Auntieruth55) : Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz was was one of Frederick the Great's foremost cavalry generals, responsible for the force's organization. As well as developing the Prussian Army's cavalry prior to the Seven Years' War, von Seydlitz proved to be a highly successful commander in the war's battles. Ruth took this article through GAN and ACR before FAC.


 * Raymond Leane (Peacemaker67) : Leane rose from the rank of captain to command the 12th Australian Brigade during World War I. He was considered by the Official War Historian, Charles Bean, to be the "foremost fighting leader" in the Australian Imperial Force. During 1916 he and several relatives served in the same battalion, which was nicknamed the the "Joan of Arc Battalion" because it was "made of All-Leanes". He served as Commissioner of the South Australian Police from 1920 to 1944. The article passed GAN and ACR prior to achieving FA status.


 * German destroyer Z1 Leberecht Maass (Iazyges and Sturmvogel_66) : This joint nomination was initiated by Iazyges, with Sturmvogel_66 joining after their welcome return from a wikibreak. It covers the service history of the first of Nazi Germany's large destroyers.  Leberecht Maass was commissioned in 1937 and took part in the invasion of Poland in 1939. She was sunk on 22 February 1940 after being accidentally attacked by a German bomber.


 * German destroyer Z2 Georg Thiele (Iazyges and Sturmvogel 66) : Z2 Georg Thiele had only a slightly longer period in action during World War II than her sister ship above. She was also commissioned in 1937 and took part in the invasion of Poland. Z2 was undergoing a refit at the time of the fiasco which claimed Z1 and another German destroyer, and took part in the invasion of Norway in April 1940. She saw combat in both of the naval battles of Narvik, and was deliberately beached at the conclusion of the second to enable her crew to escape. The wreck is now a popular diving site.


 * Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham (Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi) : The splendidly-named Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 6th Earl of Stafford, KG was an English nobleman and a military commander in both the Hundred Years' War and in the Wars of the Roses. He fought in France during the 1430s and became one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in England of his generation. From the 1440s on wards he served King Henry VI, including as a bodyguard, diplomat and military commander. He was killed during the 1460 Battle of Northampton. The article is first to be developed to A-class by Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi, and passed on its second nomination - congratulations!


 * Stanley Gibbs (Abraham, B.S.) : Stanley Gibbs was an Australian shipping clerk, most notable for being awarded the Albert Medal (later exchanged for the George Cross) in 1927 for attempting to save the life of a teenager during a shark attack at Port Hacking, New South Wales. The coroner investigating the incident claimed that Gibbs' "bravery and self sacrifice merits the award of the Victoria Cross", while the local mayor compared Gibbs' actions to the battlefield heroics of the First World War. Gibbs' later served in the Second Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War, but his service in an operational theatre was brief: he broke his leg the day he arrived in New Guinea.


 * Greek battleship Salamis (Parsecboy and The ed17) : Salamis was ordered by Greece from Germany during a naval arms race with the Ottomans in the 1910s. The ship couldn't be completed after World War I broke out, and was the subject of postwar litigation between the shipbuilder and the Greek Government. Proposals to finish the ship came to nothing, and the contract dispute finally ended in 1932, in favor of the builder. Parsecboy developed much of this article eight years ago, and recently overhauled it with The ed17.


 * Battle of Emmendingen (Auntieruth55) : The Battle of Emmendingen was an engagement during the first phase of the larger French Revolutionary Wars fought on 19 October 1796. A retreating French army stood and fought pursuing Austrian forces in mountainous terrain in southern Germany, but were beaten. Both sides lost a general and around 1,000 men killed or wounded, with 1,800 members of the French army also being captured. This article forms part of a series Auntieruth55 is developing on the French Revolutionary Wars which she is planning to develop into a featured topic.


 * First Battle of Dernancourt (Peacemaker67) : This article covers a battle fought during the German 1918 Spring Offensive between an Australian and British force and German troops. The Germans attacked off the line of march without adequate artillery preparation during the second week of the offensive, and did not fare well against the fresh Australian troops and their tired, depleted but resolute British comrades. Peacemaker67 developed this as his fist attempt at an article on a battle of World War I, and he was working on a new article covering the more complex Second Battle of Dernancourt at the time of the nomination.