Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/January 2019/Articles


 * Emanuel Moravec : Moravec was a Czechoslovak infantry commander and staff college instructor who called for the country to declare war against Germany in 1938. When that failed, he cast his lot with the Germans and was appointed Minister of Education of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during the German occupation of his country. He committed suicide in the final days of World War II, and has been widely labelled a "Czech Quisling". Chetsford took the article through GAN and ACR before nominating for FA.


 * Benty Grange helmet : As Usernameunique puts it in the nomination statement, this helmet "is unique. Its horn-and-iron construction is like no other Anglo-Saxon helmet; its use of myriad decorative techniques on a single ornamental object is unparalleled by any other Anglo-Saxon object, let alone helmet; and in a syncretic display emblematic of the slow spread of Christianity across pagan Britain, its boar-crest looks down at a cross on the nasel."


 * Ragnar Garrett : Ragnar Garrett is Ian's third article (in reverse chronological order) on an Australian Army chief, following John Wilton and Reg Pollard. As Ian put it in his nomination statement, one element connecting these three chiefs was "the Army's short-lived experiment with the pentropic divisional structure – Garrett enthusiastically initiating it, Pollard reluctantly implementing it, and Wilton mercifully killing it". The article passed GAN and ACR on its way to achieving FA status.


 * Battle of Neville's Cross : The Battle of Neville's Cross formed part of the Second War of Scottish Independence, and was the main engagement in a Scottish invasion of England launched in response to England's invasion of France, Scotland's ally. Despite being greatly outnumbered, the English forces were victorious and captured the Scottish king. Gog shepherded the article though GAN and ACR before FAC.


 * Phillip Davey : Another in PM's series on South Australian Victoria Cross recipients, Davey earned the decoration for killing the entire crew of a German machine gun near Merris, France, during June 1918. Davey had seen combat at Gallipoli and survived the war. The article passed GAN and ACR before its successful FAC nomination.


 * Apollo 11 (Hawkeye7) : The first manned moon landing had strong military links. All three astronauts had been pilots in the US military, and the effort to recover them when they returned to earth was a significant military operation. The article was developed to A-class as part of an effort to have it of FA standard by the 50th anniversary of the mission in July 2019.


 * Landing at Jacquinot Bay (AustralianRupert and Nick-D) : This article looks at an amphibious operation that marked the start of Australian ground operations on New Britain in late 1944, as they relieved the US garrison on the island. While no Japanese forces were believed to be in the region, the landing was conducted as a combat operation to give the troops experience and as as precautionary measure. As expected, the operation was unopposed, with the Australian and New Guinean troops facing no opposition other than the area's horrible climate.


 * James Crichton (soldier) (Zawed) : James Crichton was the last soldier of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force of World War I to be awarded the Victoria Cross, for his actions during the Hundred Days Offensive. Crichton had fought with the British Army in the Boer War before emigrating to New Zealand, and joined the NZEF in 1914. He spent most of the war as a baker, but volunteered for the infantry in May 1918. He received the VC for an action on 30 September in which he carried a message back from a forward position and then removed demolition charges from a bridge while under machine gun fire. Crichton served in the Home Guard and Merchant Navy during World War II.


 * Escape of Viktor Pestek and Siegfried Lederer from Auschwitz (Catrìona) : This event, described as "one of the most bizarre escapes" of World War II, involved an SS guard who risked (and ultimately lost) his life to help an Auschwitz prisoner escape. The escapee, Siegfried Lederer, then insisted on breaking into a different concentration camp. He later rejoined the Czech resistance movement and unsuccessfully attempted to smuggle a report on Auschwitz to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Switzerland. He survived the war but experienced antisemitic persecution from the Communist Czech government.


 * SMS Lothringen (Parsecboy) : SMS Lothringen was a pre-dreadnought battleship which served with the Imperial German Navy and the post-war Reichsmarine from 1906 to 1920. The battleship was under repair during the Battle of Jutland and wasn't available when the rest of her squadron sortied with the German fleet for the battle. The ship was one of the few battleships retained by Germany after the war, though she was only used as a parent ship for minesweepers while Germany fulfilled the requirement to clear the North Sea of mines. She was scrapped in 1931. This is the final article on the dozens of battleships operated by the German Imperial Navy to reach A-class - congratulations to all the editors involved in this impressive achievement.


 * Battle of Elands River (1900) (Kges1901 and AustralianRupert) : The nominators described this article as being "about an action during the Second Boer War that become known as a moment of Australian resistance against overwhelming odds". The battle was fought between 2,000 to 3,000 Boers and 500 Australian, Rhodesian, Canadian and British soldiers, who were protecting a British supply dump. The Boers were attempting to capture the supplies, and besieged the supply dump. The siege was lifted by a force of 10,000 British troops, whose diversion from other tasks represented a success for the Boers.


 * Battle of Auberoche (Gog the Mild) : In the words of the nomination statement, this was "one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War, the capstone of one of the most successful campaigns, the point at which the tide turned against the French, and virtually unknown". The Battle of Auberoche was fought on 21 October 1345 between an Anglo-Gascon force of 1,200 men under Henry, Earl of Derby, and a French army of 7,000 commanded by Louis of Poitiers. The battle resulted in a decisive English victory, with heavy French casualties.