Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/December 2020/Articles


 * Yugoslav destroyer Ljubljana (Peacemaker67) : Ljubljana was the third and last Beograd-class destroyer built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy in the late 1930s. In 1940, she ran aground on a reef off the Yugoslav port of Šibenik, where she was taken for repairs. Yugoslavia entered World War II when the German-led Axis powers invaded in April 1941, and Ljubljana was captured by the Royal Italian Navy. After repairs were completed, she saw active service in the Italian Navy under the name Lubiana, mainly as a convoy escort on routes between Italy and North Africa. She was lost on 1 April 1943, either sunk by British aircraft, or grounded off the Tunisian coast.


 * American logistics in the Normandy campaign (Hawkeye7) : American logistics played a key role in the success of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of northwest Europe during World War II. When the invasion commenced on D-Day, 6 June 1944, some 1,526,965 US troops were in the UK, of whom 459,511 were in the Services of Supply. During the first seven weeks after D-Day, the advance was much slower than the Overlord plan had anticipated, and the nature of the fighting in the Normandy bocage country created shortages of certain items, particularly artillery and mortar ammunition, and there were unexpectedly high rates of loss of bazookas, Browning automatic rifles (BARs), and M7 grenade launchers.


 * Manned Orbiting Laboratory (Hawkeye7) : The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was part of the United States Air Force (USAF) human spaceflight program. The project was developed as a crewed space station to be used for satellite reconnaissance purposes. MOL evolved into a proposed single-use laboratory, for which crews would be launched on 30-day missions, and return to Earth using a Gemini B spacecraft derived from NASA's Gemini spacecraft. During the 1960s, budget cuts repeatedly caused postponement of the first operational flight. MOL was canceled in June 1969 without any crewed missions being flown.


 * Slayback's Missouri Cavalry Regiment (Hog Farm) : Slayback's Missouri Cavalry Regiment was a unit of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Originally raised as battalion, it consisted of men recruited in Missouri by Lieutenant Colonel Alonzo Slayback during Price's Raid in 1864. The battalion saw frequent action during the campaign. Around February 1865, the battalion reached regimental strength after additional recruits were added to it. On June 2, the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered. The men of the regiment were paroled twelve days later, suggesting that the regiment had disbanded before the surrender.


 * Cefnllys Castle (Jr8825) : Cefnllys Castle was a medieval spur castle in Radnorshire, Wales. Around 1242 Ralph de Mortimer built a masonry castle on the ridge controlling several strategically important routes into Mid Wales. The castle was captured and razed in 1262 by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, during a war with Henry III of England, and featured prominently in the ensuing peace treaty. The construction of a new castle contributed to Llywelyn's refusal to swear fealty to Edward I in 1275, leading to war in 1276. The castle may have been sacked during the revolts of Madog ap Llywelyn (1294–95) and Owain Glyndŵr (1400–09), but it remained occupied until at least the mid-15th century. Both castles are now entirely ruinous and only traces remain.


 * Royal Artillery Memorial (Hchc2009 and HJ Mitchell) : The Royal Artillery Memorial is a First World War memorial in London, England commemorating the 49,076 soldiers from the Royal Artillery killed during the conflict. Designed by Charles Jagger, with architectural work by Lionel Pearson, the memorial consists of a Portland stone cruciform base supporting a one-third over-lifesize sculpture of a howitzer. At the end of each arm of the cross is a sculpture of a soldier, one shown in death. The design was controversial when unveiled, but later came to be recognised as one of Britain's finest war memorials. Dedications were later added in memory of the 29,924 Royal Artillerymen killed in the Second World War.


 * Yugoslav destroyer Zagreb (Peacemaker67) : Zagreb was the second of three Beograd-class destroyers built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy. She was designed to be deployed as part of a division led by the flotilla leader YUGOSLAV DESTROYER Dubrovnik. The first warship built in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Zagreb entered service in August 1939. During he German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, two of her officers scuttled her on 17 April 1941 to prevent her capture. Both were killed by the explosion of the scuttling charges. A French film was made in 1967 about her demise and the deaths of the two officers. In 1973, on the thirtieth anniversary of the formation of the Yugoslav Navy, both men were posthumously awarded the Order of the People's Hero by President Josip Tito.


 * HMS Pearl (1762) (Ykraps) : HMS Pearl was a 32-gun Royal Navy frigate launched in 1762. She served in British North America during the American Revolutionary War. Pearl was part of the British fleet that captured the island of St Lucia in December 1778 and carried news of the victory to England, capturing the 28-gun Spanish frigate Santa Monica on her return journey. Pearl captured the 28-gun French frigate Esperance while stationed off Bermuda in September 1780 and took part in the First Battle of Virginia Capes. In 1799, she joined Rear-Admiral George Elphinstone's fleet in the Mediterranean where she took part in the Battle of Alexandria in 1801. In 1802, she sailed to Portsmouth, where she was eventually sold in 1832.


 * Battle of Marais des Cygnes (Hog Farm) : On October 25, 1864, Sterling Price's Confederate Army of Missouri was reeling in defeat after being defeated at the Battle of Westport two days earlier. Price fought three battles on October 25, and managed to lose all of them. Marais des Cygnes was the first of these defeats. By the end of the day, Price's army had been reduced to essentially an armed mob after further defeats at Mine Creek and Marmiton River. Today the site of Marais des Cygnes is a wildlife refuge, only interpreted by a few signs at a rest stop and forgotten by most.


 * SMS Undine (Parsecboy) : The subject of this article is an "ill-fated German cruiser". SMS Undine was built for the Imperial German Navy, and entered service in 1904. She was initially used for training purposes, and in November 1905 accidentally rammed and sank a torpedo boat. Undine was assigned to the German forces in the Baltic during World War I, and attacked Russian forces. On 7 November 1915 she was torpedoed and sunk by one of the British submarines which had been deployed to the Baltic; in one of the few bits of good luck to affect the ship, the great majority of her crew survived.


 * Portsmouth War Memorial (HJ Mitchell) : This article covers a war memorial established in the British city of Portsmouth after World War I. As a major naval base, the city had suffered heavy losses during the war. The memorial was dedicated in 1921. In the nomination statement, Harry Mitchell noted that the best photos available on Commons are those "I took on my phone on a rainy day before I had to run for a train", which is a good reminder about the payoffs from even modest forays into photography!


 * 8th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Confederate) (Hog Farm) : The 8th Missouri Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Formed on 2 September 1862, it saw combat in various engagements in Arkansas and Louisiana, but 85 percent of its casualties were from disease. The regiment was disbanded following the war on 7 June 1865.


 * Strategic Air Command in the United Kingdom (Hawkeye7) : This article provides a comprehensive account of the USAF Strategic Air Command's operations in the UK between 1948 and 1992. From 1948 to 1965 American nuclear-armed strategic bombers were stationed in the UK. After this time, American bombers frequently visited the UK, and Strategic Air Command maintained air refuelling and reconnaissance units there.