Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/June 2011/Articles

We have reached the goal of 1500 GAs in our project's scope that was set back in August 2009. A congratulations and thanks goes out to every editor who shepherded articles through GANs, and we look forward to reaching our next goal – 2000 GAs.


 * Anna of East Anglia (Amitchell125) : Anna was King of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. Anna was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles. He was one of the three sons of Eni who ruled East Anglia, succeeding some time after Ecgric was killed in battle by Penda of Mercia. Little is known of Anna's life or his reign, as few records have survived from this period. In 631 he may have been at Exning, close to the Devil's Dyke. In 645 Cenwalh of Wessex was driven from his kingdom by Penda and whilst living as an exile at the East Anglian court and as a result of Anna's influence, he was converted to Christianity. Upon Cenwalh's return from exile, he was able to re-establish Christianity in his own kingdom and the people of Wessex then remained firmly Christian. Around 651 the land around Ely was absorbed into East Anglia, following the marriage of Anna's daughter Æthelthryth.  Following the attack in 651 by Penda on the monastery at Cnobheresburg, which Anna richly endowed, he was forced by Penda to flee into exile.  He may have travelled to the western kingdom of the Magonsæte and returned in about 653, but East Anglia was attacked again by Penda soon afterwards and at the Battle of Bulcamp the East Anglian army, led by Anna, was defeated by the Mercians, and Anna and his son Jurmin were both killed. He was succeeded by his brother, Æthelhere. Botolph's monastery at Iken may have been built in commemoration of the king. After Anna's reign, East Anglia seems to have been eclipsed by its more powerful neighbour, Mercia.


 * John Y. Brown (1835–1904) (Acdixon) : John Young Brown (June 28, 1835 – January 11, 1904) was a politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. Brown was elected to the House of Representatives for three non-consecutive terms, each of which was marred by controversy. After his service there, Brown took a break from politics, but re-entered the political arena as a candidate for governor of Kentucky in 1891. He secured the Democratic nomination in a four-way primary election, then convincingly won the general election over his Republican challenger, Andrew T. Wood, although little of significance was accomplished during Brown's term. Brown hoped the legislature would elect him to the U.S. Senate following his term as governor, but the deaths of two of Brown's children ended his interest in the gubernatorial race and his own senatorial ambitions. He died in Henderson on January 11, 1904.

The Victoria Cross (VC) is a military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of armed forces of some Commonwealth countries and previous British Empire territories. It takes precedence over all other orders, decorations and medals, and may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service and to civilians under military command. The award was officially constituted when Queen Victoria issued a warrant under the Royal sign-manual on 29 January 1856 that was gazetted on 5 February 1856. The order was backdated to 1854 to recognise acts of valour during the Crimean War. The first awards ceremony was held on 26 June 1857, where Queen Victoria invested 62 of the 111 Crimean recipients in a ceremony in Hyde Park. The first citations of the VC, particularly those in the initial gazette of 24 February 1857, varied in the details of each action; some specify date ranges while some specify a single date. The original Royal Warrant did not contain a specific clause regarding posthumous awards, although official policy was to not award the VC posthumously. Between 1897 and 1901, several notices were issued in the London Gazette regarding soldiers who would have been awarded the VC had they survived. In a partial reversal of policy in 1902, six of the soldiers mentioned were granted the VC, but not "officially" awarded the medal. In 1907, the posthumous policy was completely reversed and medals were sent to the next of kin of the six soldiers. The Victoria Cross warrant was not officially amended to explicitly allow posthumous awards until 1920, but one quarter of all awards for the First World War were posthumous.
 * List of Victoria Cross recipients (A–F) (Woody) :


 * Frederick Browning (Hawkeye7) : Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Arthur Montague Browning (20 December 1896 – 14 March 1965) was a British Army officer who has been called the "father of the British airborne forces". He is best known as the commander of the I Airborne Corps and deputy commander of First Allied Airborne Army during Operation Market Garden. During the planning for this operation he memorably said: "I think we might be going a bridge too far." He was also an Olympic bobsleigh competitor, and the husband of author Daphne du Maurier.


 * List of Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients (A) (MisterBee1966) : The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) and its variants were the highest awards in the military of the Third Reich during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded for a wide range of reasons and across all ranks, from a senior commander for skilled leadership of his troops in battle to a low ranking soldier for a single act of extreme gallantry. A total of 7,322 awards were made between its first presentation on 30 September 1939 and its last bestowal on 17 June 1945. The recipients are listed in the 1986 edition of Walther-Peer Fellgiebel's book, Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 – Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtsteile &mdash; The bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 &mdash; The owners of the highest award of the Second World War. A number of awards have been disputed since, the majority of which were made in 1945 when the deteriorating situation in the Third Reich during the final days of World War II left a some nominations incomplete and pending in various stages of the approval process. Listed in this article are the 118 Knight's Cross recipients whose last name starts with "A".


 * Operation Kita (Nick-D) : Operation Kita ("North") was conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Pacific War in February 1945 to return the two Ise-class hybrid battleship-aircraft carriers and their escorts from Singapore to Japan loaded with supplies. The movement of the Japanese force was detected by the Allies, but attempts to attack it with submarines and aircraft were unsuccessful. Due to the intensifying Allied blockade, the Ise-class battleship-carriers and their escorts were among the last IJN warships to safely reach Japan from the South West Pacific.


 * Thomas the Slav (Cplakidas [Constantine]) : Thomas the Slav (ca. 760 – October 823 AD) was a 9th century Byzantine military commander, entrusted with high command during the reign of Emperor Leo V the Armenian (r. 813–820). An army officer of Slavic origin from the Pontus region (now north-eastern Turkey), Thomas rose in prominence under the protection of Bardanes Tourkos. After Bardanes's failed rebellion in 803, nothing is known of Thomas for a decade, until he was raised to a senior military command by his old friend Leo V. After the murder of Leo and usurpation of the throne by Michael the Syrian, Thomas rose in revolt, claiming the throne for himself. Some Byzantine sources however imply that he rebelled already before Leo's murder. Byzantine accounts also claim that he pretended to be Emperor Constantine VI (r. 780–797), but the validity of this report is questionable. Thomas quickly secured the support of most of the provinces (themes) of Asia Minor and of the troops stationed in them, and concluded an alliance with the Abbasid Caliphate. After he won over the maritime themes with their fleets to his cause, he crossed with his army to Europe, and besieged Constantinople. Michael II called for help from the Bulgar ruler Omurtag (r. 815–831), whose troops attacked Thomas's army. Although repelled, they caused heavy casualties to Thomas's army, which broke and fled when Michael took to the field a few months later. Thomas sought refuge in Arkadiopolis, where he was soon seized by Michael's troops and executed.


 * Battle of Ismailia (Sherif9282) : The Battle of Ismailia (October 18–22, 1973) took place during the last stages of the Yom Kippur War on the west bank of the Suez Canal in Egypt. Part of the wider Israeli Operation Abiray-Lev, the battle saw the IDF attempt to seize Ismailia to sever the Egyptian Second Field Army's logistical and supply lines. Breaking out of their bridgehead on the west bank of the Suez Canal, the IDF launched an offensive from Deversoir toward Ismailia. A combined force of Egyptian paratroopers and commandos fought a delaying action, falling back upon defensive positions further north as they came under increasing pressure from the IDF. By October 22, the Egyptians were occupying a last line of defense, including positions along the Ismailia canal. Although outnumbered, they managed to repulse a final Israeli effort to capture the city; a United Nations ceasefire was then imposed, bringing the battle to an end. The battle was a victory for the Egyptians, preventing the encirclement of their forces on the east bank of the Suez Canal and ensuring their supply lines remained open.


 * Tim Cross (HJ Mitchell) : Major General Timothy Cross, CBE (born 19 April 1951) is a retired British Army officer and military logistics expert. He was commissioned in 1971 into the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and went on to serve in Germany, Northern Ireland and Cyprus before taking command of 1 Ordnance Battalion in 1990. He was subsequently was tasked with running logistics for 1st Armoured Division during the Gulf War. He went on to serve as Commander, Logistic Support for 3rd Infantry Division in 1992. Cross served his first of three tours in the Balkans; during his last in 1999 he was responsible for co-ordinating multinational troops and civilian agencies in establishing refugee camps in the aftermath of the Kosovo War. Cross was promoted to major general in 2000 and served as Director General, Defence Supply Chain until 2002, when he became involved in planning for the forthcoming invasion of Iraq. His last command was as General Officer Commanding Theatre Troops, Iraq. Since retiring from the Army in 2007, Cross has been critical of the planning for Iraq after the removal of Saddam Hussein's government, giving evidence to the Iraq Inquiry. He serves as an advisor to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee and to several private companies, and is a visiting lecturer at several British universities. A convert to Chritianity, he is a licensed lay reader in the Church of England and affiliated with several Christian organsiations.


 * South American dreadnought race (Ed) : A dreadnought race between the countries of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile was kindled in 1907 when the Brazilian government announced their intention to purchase three dreadnought battleships from the British company Armstrong Whitworth. Previous Argentine–Chilean naval arms races, combined with a Brazilian coup d'état and subsequent civil war, left the Brazilian Navy well behind the other two major South American navies in terms of quality and total tonnage. Brazilian politicians moved to address this deficiency in 1904, as part of an overarching goal of becoming an international power. Three small battleships were ordered in 1906, but were later canceled in favor of the new "dreadnought" type. Two ships of the Minas Geraes class were laid down immediately with a third to follow. The Argentine and Chilean governments immediately canceled a naval-limiting pact between them, and both ordered two dreadnoughts. Meanwhile, Brazil's third dreadnought was canceled in favor of an even larger ship, but the ship was laid down and ripped up several times after repeated major alterations to the design. When the Brazilian government finally settled on a design, they realized it would be outclassed by the Chilean dreadnoughts' larger armament, so they sold the ship to the Ottoman Empire and attempted to acquire a more powerful ship. By this time, however, the First World War had broken out in Europe, and many shipbuilders suspended work on dreadnoughts for foreign countries. Argentina's two dreadnoughts were delivered, as the United States was neutral in the opening years of the war, but Chile's two dreadnoughts were purchased by the United Kingdom. In the interwar years, many naval expansion plans were proposed. While most never came to fruition, in April 1920 the Chilean government reacquired one of the dreadnoughts taken over by the United Kingdom. No other dreadnoughts were purchased by a South American nation, and all were sold for scrap in the 1950s.


 * Hawker Siddeley Harrier (Kyteto) : The Hawker Siddeley Harrier was developed in the 1960s and was the first generation of the Harrier series of aircraft. It was the first operational close-support and reconnaissance fighter aircraft with Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOL) capabilities and the only truly successful V/STOL design of the many that arose in that era. The Harrier was produced directly from the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel prototypes following the cancellation of a more advanced supersonic aircraft, the Hawker Siddeley P.1154. The Royal Air Force (RAF) ordered the Harrier GR.1 and GR.3 variants in the late 1960s. It was exported to the United States as the AV-8A in the 1970s. The Harrier's ability to operate with minimal ground facilities and very short runways allowed it to be used at locations unavailable to other fixed-wing aircraft. The Harrier, and its relative, the Sea Harrier, were crucial during the 1982 Falklands War, during which the aircraft proved to be flexible and versatile. The RN Sea Harriers provided fixed-wing air defence while the RAF Harriers focused on ground-attack missions in support of the advancing British land force. The Harrier was also extensively redesigned as the AV-8B Harrier II and British Aerospace Harrier II. The innovative design has generated long-term interest in V/STOL aircraft. Similar operational aircraft include the contemporary Soviet Yakovlev Yak-38 as well as a variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, which is currently under development.


 * James B. McCreary (Acdixon) : James Bennett McCreary (July 8, 1838 – October 8, 1918) was a lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He represented the state in both houses of the U.S. Congress and served as its 27th and 37th governor. Shortly after graduating law school, McCreary was appointed as the only major in the 11th Kentucky Cavalry, serving under Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan during the Civil War. He returned to his legal practice after the war and was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1869. He continued to serve in the state legislature until 1875 and was twice chosen Speaker of the House. At their 1875 nominating convention, state Democrats chose McCreary as their nominee for governor, and he won an easy victory over Republican John Marshall Harlan. In 1884, McCreary was elected to the first of six consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Having already failed in two bids for election to the U.S. Senate, McCreary secured the support of Governor J. C. W. Beckham, and in 1902, the General Assembly elected him to the Senate. He served one largely undistinguished term, and Beckham successfully challenged him for his Senate seat in 1908. The divide between McCreary and Beckham was short-lived, however, and Beckham supported McCreary's election to a second term as governor in 1911. Campaigning on a platform of progressive reforms, McCreary defeated Republican Edward C. O'Rear in the general election. His term expired in 1916, and he died two years later.


 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (MisterBee1966) : The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its variants were the highest awards in the military of the Third Reich during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded for a wide range of reasons and across all ranks, from a senior commander for skilled leadership of his troops in battle to a low ranking soldier for a single act of extreme gallantry. A total of 7,322 awards were made between its first presentation on 30 September 1939 and its last bestowal on 17 June 1945. Listed in this article are the 82 Knight's Cross recipients whose last name starts with "C".


 * Juno Beach (Cam) : Juno Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II. The beach is situated on the Normandy coast in northern France, between the British sectors of Gold Beach and Sword Beach. The sector spans from Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer in the east to Courseulles-sur-Mer in the west. The landings initially encountered heavy resistance from the German 716th Division; the preliminary bombardment proved less effective than had been hoped, and rough weather forced the first wave to be delayed until 07:35. Several assault companies—notably those of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles and The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada—took heavy casualties in the opening minutes of the first wave. Strength of numbers, as well as coordinated fire support from artillery and armoured squadrons, ensured that most of the coastal defences were cleared within two hours of landing. The reserves of the 7th and 8th brigades began deploying at 08:30 (along with the Royal Marines), while the 9th Brigade began its deployment at 11:40. The subsequent push inland towards Carpiquet and the Caen-Bayeux railway line achieved mixed results; when all operations on the Anglo-Canadian front were ordered to halt at 21:00, only one unit had reached its D-Day objective. Despite this, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division had succeeded in pushing farther inland than any other landing force on D-Day.