Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/March 2012/Articles


 * 1907 Tiflis bank robbery (Remember) : The 1907 Tiflis bank robbery, also known as the Yerevan Square expropriation, was an armed robbery on 26 June 1907 in the Georgian city of Tiflis (now Georgia's capital, Tbilisi). A bank cash shipment was stolen by Bolsheviks to fund their revolutionary activities. The robbers attacked a bank stagecoach and surrounding security forces using bombs and guns while the stagecoach was transporting money through Yerevan Square (now Freedom Square) between the post office and the Tiflis branch of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. The attack killed forty people and injured fifty others, according to official archive documents. The robbers escaped with 341,000 rubles (equivalent to around US $3.4 million in 2008). The robbery was organized by a number of high-level Bolsheviks, including Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Maxim Litvinov, Leonid Krasin, and Alexander Bogdanov, and executed by a gang of Georgian revolutionaries led by Stalin's early associate Kamo. Because such activities were explicitly prohibited by the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), the robbery and the killings caused outrage within the party against the Bolsheviks (a faction within the RSDLP). As a result, Lenin and Stalin tried to distance themselves from the robbery. Kamo was captured and sentenced to death for his crimes including the 1907 robbery, but released after the 1917 Revolution. None of the other major participants or organizers of the robbery were ever brought to trial.


 * Franco-Mongol alliance (Elonka): Franco-Mongol relations were established in the 13th century, as Christian Crusaders and the Mongol Empire attempted to form a Franco-Mongol alliance against the Muslims. Such an alliance might have seemed an obvious choice: the Mongols were already sympathetic to Christianity, given the presence of many influential Nestorian Christians in the Mongol court. The Franks (Western Europeans and those in the Crusader States of the Levant) were open to the idea of support from the East, owing to the long-running legend of the mythical Prester John, an Eastern king in a magical kingdom whom many believed would one day come to the assistance of the Crusaders in the Holy Land. The Franks and Mongols also shared a common enemy in the Muslims, but despite many messages, gifts, and emissaries over the course of several decades, the often-proposed alliance never came to fruition.


 * Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi (Cla68 and Sturmvogel 66 ) : Akagi was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), named after Mount Akagi in present-day Gunma Prefecture. Though she was laid down as an Amagi-class battlecruiser, Akagi was converted to an aircraft carrier while still under construction to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. The ship entered service with the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1927 and underwent a lengthy modernization between 1935 and 1938. Akagi saw limited combat in the Second Sino-Japanese War during 1939 and 1940. She was the flagship of the First Air Fleet from early 1941 and took part in the Pearl Harbor raid in December of that year. As part of the Japanese offensive in the Pacific, Akagi participated in the invasion of Rabaul, bombing of Darwin and Indian Ocean raid during early 1942 and also formed part of a force which attempted to locate the American carriers which had launched the Doolittle Raid. She was severely damaged by U.S. Navy aircraft during the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942 and was scuttled by Japanese destroyers the next day.


 * John Balmer (Ian Rose) : John Raeburn Balmer, OBE, DFC (1910–1944) was a senior officer and bomber pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). An instructor at Point Cook from 1935 to 1937, he achieved renown in Air Force circles when he reportedly parachuted from a training aircraft to motivate his pupil to land single-handedly. He also became known to the general public as a cross-country motorist, setting records for trans-Australia and round-Australia trips prior to World War II. In June 1940 Balmer became the inaugural commanding officer of No. 13 Squadron, which operated Lockheed Hudsons out of Darwin, Northern Territory. He was raised to temporary wing commander in April 1941, and within a year had taken charge of the RAAF's first Bristol Beaufort unit, No. 100 Squadron. Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in June 1942, he led the Beauforts on bombing and torpedo missions against Japanese targets in the New Guinea campaign. Posted to England in June 1943, Balmer took command of No. 467 Squadron RAAF, flying Avro Lancasters in the air war over Europe. He led his unit through the Battle of Berlin from November 1943 to March 1944. In April he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the following month promoted to temporary group captain. On the night of 11/12 May, the last scheduled operation of his tour as No. 467 Squadron's commanding officer, Balmer failed to return from a mission over Belgium. Initially posted as missing, his plane was later confirmed to have been shot down, and all of the crew killed. Balmer was buried outside Brussels.


 * Mark Satin (Babel41): Mark Ivor Satin (born 1946) is an American political theorist, author, and newsletter publisher.  Although often referred to as a "draft dodger", he is better known for contributing to the development and dissemination of three political perspectives – neopacifism in the 1960s, New Age politics in the 1970s and 1980s, and radical centrism in the 1990s and 2000s.  Satin's work is sometimes seen as building toward a new political ideology, and had been labeled "transformational", "post-liberal", "post-Marxist" and "post-hip". After emigrating to Canada at the age of 20, Satin co-founded the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme, which helped bring American Vietnam War resisters to Canada.  He also wrote the Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada (1968), which sold nearly 100,000 copies. After a period that author Marilyn Ferguson describes as Satin's "anti-ambition experiment", Satin wrote New Age Politics (1979), which identifies an emergent "third force" in North America pursuing such goals as simple living, decentralism, and global responsibility.  Satin spread his ideas by co-founding an American political organization, the New World Alliance, and by publishing an award-winning international political newsletter, New Options.  He also co-drafted the foundational statement of the U.S. Green Party, "Ten Key Values". After a period of political disillusion, Satin launched a new  newsletter and wrote an award-winning book, Radical Middle (2004).  Both projects criticized political partisanship and sought to promote mutual learning and innovative policy syntheses across social and cultural divides.  In an interview, Satin contrasts the old radical slogan "Dare to struggle, dare to win" with his radical-middle version, "Dare to synthesize, dare to take it all in".


 * Nyon Conference (Grandiose): The Nyon Conference, held in Nyon, Switzerland, in September 1937, addressed international piracy in the Mediterranean Sea, especially piracy aimed at intervention in the Spanish Civil War. The United Kingdom and France led the conference, which was also attended by Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Romania, Turkey, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. The first agreement, signed on 14 September, dealt with plans to counterattack aggressive submarines. Naval patrols were established; the United Kingdom and France were to patrol most of the western Mediterranean and parts of the east, and the other signatories were to patrol their own waters. Italy was to be allowed to join the agreement and patrol the Tyrrhenian Sea if it wished. A second agreement followed three days later, applying similar provisions to surface ships. Italy and Germany did not attend, although the former did take up naval patrols in November. In marked contrast to the Non-Intervention Committee and the League of Nations, this conference did succeed in preventing attacks by submarines.


 * President Truman's relief of General Douglas MacArthur (Hawkeye7): On 11 April 1951, US President Harry S. Truman relieved General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, a popular war hero of World War II who was then the commander of United Nations forces fighting in the Korean War, of his commands for making public statements that contradicted the administration's policies. The relief remains a controversial topic in the field of civil-military relations. MacArthur led the Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific during World War II, and afterwards was in charge of the Occupation of Japan. When North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, he was designated commander of the United Nations forces defending South Korea. He conceived and executed the amphibious assault at Inchon on 15 September 1950, for which he was hailed as a military genius. However, when he followed up his victory with a full-scale invasion of North Korea on Truman's orders, China intervened in the war and inflicted a series of defeats, compelling him to withdraw from North Korea. By April 1951, the military situation had stabilized, but MacArthur's public statements became increasingly irritating to Truman, and he relieved MacArthur of his commands. The Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a joint inquiry into the military situation and the circumstances surrounding MacArthur's relief, and concluded that "the removal of General MacArthur was within the constitutional powers of the President but the circumstances were a shock to national pride."


 * South American dreadnought race (Ed) : A dreadnought race between Argentina, Brazil, and Chile was kindled in 1907 when the Brazilian government announced its intention to purchase three dreadnoughts 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, which was laid down and ripped up several times after repeated major alterations to the design. When the Brazilians 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, 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 UK. No other dreadnoughts were purchased by a South American nation, and all were sold for scrap in the 1950s.


 * George Andrew Davis, Jr. (Ed!) : George Andrew Davis, Jr. (1920–1952) was a US flying ace in World War II and the Korean War. He rose to lieutenant colonel and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Korea's "MiG Alley". He was the only US ace to be killed in action durng the war. Davis joined the US Army Air Corps in early 1942, and after training was sent to the Pacific Theatre. He flew in the New Guinea and Philippines Campaigns, scoring seven victories over Japanese aircraft. He gained a reputation as a skilled pilot and accurate gunner whose "daredevil" flying style contrasted with his reserved personality. Davis did not see action in Korea until late 1951, but quickly became the war's ace of aces, downing 14 Chinese, North Korean and Soviet aircraft before his death in 1952. During his final combat mission, he surprised and attacked 12 Chinese MiG-15 fighters, downing two before himself being shot down and killed. This controversial action earned him the Medal of Honor. With a total of 21 victories, Davis is one of only seven US military pilots to have become an ace in two wars, and one of only 31 to gather more than 20 victories. He was the fourth highest-scoring ace of the Korean War.


 * 7 Independent Company (Rhodesia) (Cliftonian): (7ème Compagnie indépendante) was a short-lived company of francophone volunteers in the Rhodesian Security Forces. As an exclusively expatriate unit, it was unique in the history of the Rhodesian Army, which usually incorporated foreign soldiers into its regular ranks. It existed between October 1977 and May 1978 as a company in the 1st Battalion, the Rhodesia Regiment, and served two counter-insurgency tours on Operation Hurricane in north-eastern Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe). Though most servicemen in the Rhodesian Army were locally based, it actively accepted foreign volunteers into its regular regiments, giving them the same pay and conditions of service as its Rhodesian soldiers. Most foreigners who joined enlisted in the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), which launched a wide-reaching and productive overseas recruitment programme in 1974, but required successful applicants to speak good English. Seeking to further bolster its thinly-spread ranks, the Army attempted to transfer the success of the RLI campaign to French-speakers during late 1977, and formed a designated company in the Rhodesia Regiment for them; as the regiment already had six independent companies, the francophone unit became 7 Independent Company. The company's men, a mixture of former French paratroopers, ex-Foreign Legionnaires and young adventurers, had trouble from the start integrating with the Rhodesian forces, and became unsettled by the respective ranks they were given in the Rhodesian Army. In an attempt to raise their morale and create a strong esprit de corps, the Army issued them beret insignias backed with the French tricolour and allowed them to raise the flag of France alongside that of Rhodesia each morning.


 * Battle of Caldera Bay (Buggie111): The Battle of Caldera Bay, or the Sinking of the Blanco Encalada, was an engagement fought during the Chilean Civil War between Balmacedist and Congressional naval forces on 23 April 1891. It involved two Balmacedist torpedo boats, Almirante Lynch and Almirante Condell, sinking the Congressional armored frigate Blanco Encalada. The loss of the Blanco Encalada hindered the Congressional forces, but they ultimately defeated the Balmacedist forces in August of the same year. Notably, Blanco Encalada was the first ironclad warship lost to a self-propelled torpedo.


 * Battle of Radzymin (1920) (Halibutt): The Battle of Radzymin took place during the Polish-Soviet War, in the area around the town of Radzymin, some 20 km north-east of Warsaw, between August 13 and 16, 1920. Along with the Battle of Ossów and the Polish counter-offensive from the Wieprz River area, the action was one of the key parts of what later became known as the Battle of Warsaw. It also proved to be the bloodiest and the most intense. The first phase of the battle began on August 13 with a frontal assault by the Red Army on the Praga bridgehead. The Soviet forces captured Radzymin on August 14 and breached the lines of the 1st Polish Army defending Warsaw from the east. Radzymin changed hands several times in heavy fighting. The Russians wanted to break through the Polish defences to Warsaw, while the Polish aim was to defend the area long enough for a two-pronged counter-offensive from the south, led by General Józef Piłsudski, and north, led by General Władysław Sikorski, to outflank the attacking forces. After three days of intense fighting, the corps-sized 1st Polish Army under General Franciszek Latinik managed to repel a direct assault by six Red Army rifle divisions at Radzymin and Ossów. The struggle for control of Radzymin forced General Józef Haller, commander of the Polish Northern Front, to start the 5th Army's counterattack earlier than planned. Radzymin was recaptured on August 15, and this victory proved to be one of the turning points of the battle of Warsaw. The strategic counter-offensive was extremely successful, pushing Soviet forces away from Radzymin and Warsaw and eventually crippling four Soviet armies.


 * HMS Argus (I49) (Sturmvogel 66): HMS Argus was a British aircraft carrier that served in the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1944. She was converted from an ocean liner that was under construction when the First World War began, and became the world's first example of what is now the standard pattern of aircraft carrier, with a full-length flight deck that allowed wheeled aircraft to take off and land. Argus was too top-heavy as originally built and had to be modified to improve her stability in the mid-1920s. She spent one brief deployment on the China Station in the late 1920s before being placed in reserve for budgetary reasons. The ship was recommissioned and partially modernised shortly before the Second World War and served as a training ship for deck-landing practice until June 1940. The following month she made the first of her many ferry trips to the Western Mediterranean to fly-off fighters to Malta; she was largely occupied in this task for the next two years. The ship also delivered aircraft to Murmansk in Russia, Takoradi on the Gold Coast, and Reykjavik in Iceland. By 1942, the Royal Navy was very short of aircraft carriers and Argus was pressed into front-line service despite her lack of speed and armament. In June, she participated in Operation Harpoon, providing air cover for the Malta-bound convoy. In November, the ship provided air cover during Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa, and was lightly damaged by a bomb. After returning to the UK for repairs, Argus was used again for deck-landing practice until late September 1944. In December, she became an accommodation ship and was listed for disposal in mid-1946. Argus was sold in late 1946 and scrapped the following year.


 * List of Ohio-class submarines (Sp33dyphil): Named after its lead boat, the Ohio-class submarine of nuclear-powered submarines is currently serving with the United States Navy. Fourteen of the eighteen boats are ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), which, along with U.S. Air Force strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, constitute the nuclear-deterrent triad of the U.S. The remaining four have been converted from their initial roles as SSBNs to cruise-missile carriers (SSGN). The Ohio-class boats, each displacing 18,750 tons submerged, are the third largest submarines in the world, behind the 48,000-ton Typhoon class and 24,000-ton Borei class of the Russian Navy. The Ohio class was designed in the 1970s concurrently with, and to carry, the Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile. The first of the class, USS Ohio (SSGN-726), was laid down in 1976. Due to an unspecified "series of unfortunate problems in Washington D.C." and manufacturing issues, Ohio did not initiate sea trials until June 1981, setting back the boat's commissioning date to November that year, three years behind schedule. Originally, it was decided that 20 boats were to be built, but due to the 1991 START I agreement between the U.S. and Soviet Union, the U.S. agreed to reduce its order to 18 boats. The last of the class, USS Louisiana (SSBN-743), was commissioned in September 1997, nearly 16 years after the first boat. With the first retirement of an Ohio-class boat scheduled for 2029, the US Navy is currently undertaking a program tentatively named SSBN-X to study the prospective replacement of the class.


 * Roy Dowling (Ian Rose): Vice Admiral Sir Roy Russell Dowling KCVO, KBE, CB, DSO (1901–1969) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). He served as Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), the RAN's highest-ranking position, from 1955 until 1959, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), forerunner of the role of Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, from 1959 until 1961. Graduating from the Royal Australian Naval College in 1919, Dowling went to sea aboard various Royal Navy and RAN vessels, and later specialised in gunnery. In 1937 he was given command of the sloop HMAS Swan. Following the outbreak of World War II, he saw action in the Mediterranean as executive officer of the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Naiad, and survived her sinking by a German U-boat in March 1942. Returning to Australia, he served as Director of Plans and later Deputy Chief of Naval Staff before being appointed captain of the light cruiser HMAS Hobart in November 1944. Dowling took command of the RAN's first aircraft carrier, HMAS Sydney, in 1948. He became Chief of Naval Personnel in 1950, and Flag Officer Commanding HM Australian Fleet in 1953. As CNS from February 1955, he had to deal with shortages of money, manpower and equipment, and with the increasing role of the United States in Australia's defence planning, at the expense of traditional ties with Britain. Knighted in 1957, Dowling was Chairman of COSC from March 1959 until May 1961, when he retired from the military. In 1963 became Australian Secretary to HM Queen Elizabeth II, serving until his death in 1969.


 * Thomas J. Hudner, Jr. (Ed!): Thomas Jerome Hudner, Jr. is a retired United States Navy officer and a former naval aviator who rose to the rank of captain and received the Medal of Honor for his actions in trying to save the life of his wingman, ensign Jesse L. Brown during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. Arriving near Korea in October 1950, Hudner flew support missions from the USS Leyte. On 4 December 1950, Hudner and Brown were among a group of pilots on patrol near the Chosin Reservoir when Brown's Corsair was struck by ground fire from Chinese troops and crashed. In an attempt to save Brown from his burning aircraft, Hudner intentionally crash landed his own aircraft on a snowy mountain in freezing temperatures to help Brown. In spite of these efforts, Brown died of his injuries and Hudner was forced to evacuate, having also been injured in the landing. Following the incident, Hudner held a number of positions in the U.S. Navy aboard several ships and with a number of aviation units, including a brief stint as first officer of the USS Kitty Hawk during a brief tour in the Vietnam War, before retiring in 1973. In subsequent years, he has won several awards and worked for various veterans organizations in the United States. He is currently living in retirement in Concord, Massachusetts.


 * Werner Hartenstein (MisterBee1966): Gustav Julius Werner Hartenstein (1908–1943) was a corvette captain (Korvettenkapitän) with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and U-boat commander of GS U-156 (1941). He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He is credited with the sinking of 20 ships for a total of, further damaging three ships of and damaging one warship of .  Hartenstein joined the Reichsmarine of the Weimar Republic in 1928. After a period of training on surface vessels and service on various torpedo boats, he transferred to the U-boat service in 1941. In September 1942, Hartenstein was involved in the Laconia incident, when he sank RMS Laconia and then organised the rescue for her survivors. Hartenstein and the entire crew of U-156 were killed in action by depth charges from a US PBY Catalina aircraft on 8 March 1943.


 * John Francis Jackson (Ian Rose): John Francis Jackson DFC (23 February 1908 – 28 April 1942) was an Australian fighter ace and squadron commander of World War II who was credited with eight aerial victories, and led No. 75 Squadron during the Battle of Port Moresby in 1942. Born in Brisbane, he was a grazier and businessman when he joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Reserve in 1936. He also operated his own private plane. Called up for active service following the outbreak of war in 1939, Jackson served with No. 23 Squadron in Australia before posting to the Middle East in November 1940. As a fighter pilot with No. 3 Squadron he flew Gloster Gladiators, Hawker Hurricanes and P-40 Tomahawks during the North African and Syria-Lebanon campaigns. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and mentioned in despatches for his actions in the Middle East. Posted to the South West Pacific theatre, he was promoted to squadron leader in March 1942 and given command of No. 75 Squadron at Port Moresby, New Guinea, operating P-40 Kittyhawks. Described as "rugged, simple" and "true as steel", Jackson was nicknamed "Old John" in affectionate tribute to his thirty-four years. He earned praise for his leadership during the defence of Port Moresby before his death in combat on 28 April 1942. His younger brother Les took over No. 75 Squadron, and also became a fighter ace. Jacksons International Airport, Port Moresby, is named in John Jackson's honour.


 * Jesse L. Brown (Ed!): Jesse LeRoy Brown (1926–1950) was the first African-American naval aviator in the United States Navy, and the first naval officer killed in the Korean War. Born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to an impoverished family, Brown gained an avid interest in aircraft from a young age. In spite of encountering deep-seated institutionalized racism, Brown was able to graduate as salutatorian of his high school. Brown enlisted in the US Navy in 1946 and became a midshipman one year later. Brown earned his pilot wings on 21 October 1948, to great press coverage. He was subsequently assigned to Fighter Squadron 32 aboard the USS Leyte. Upon the outset of the Korean War, the Leyte was ordered to the Korean Peninsula, arriving in October 1950. Brown, an ensign, flew 20 combat missions until 4 December 1950, when during a mission supporting ground troops at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Brown's F4U Corsair aircraft was shot down on a remote mountaintop, pinning him inside. In spite of efforts by wingman Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., who intentionally crashed his aircraft to try and rescue Brown, the latter died of his wounds. Hudner was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. Brown's efforts to overcome segregation in the US military and his death served as an inspiration for other African Americans. His life was later memorialized in several books, and the USS Jesse L. Brown (DE-1089) was named in his honor.


 * List of Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients (E) (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. It was awarded for a wide range of reasons and across all ranks, from a senior commander for leadership of his troops in battle to a low-ranking soldier for a single act of gallantry. A total of 7,322 awards were made between 30 September 1939 and 17 June 1945. This number is based on the analysis and acceptance of the order commission of the Association of Knight's Cross Recipients (AKCR). Presentations were made to members of the three military branches of the Wehrmacht—the Heer (Army), Kriegsmarine (Navy) and Luftwaffe (Air force)—as well as the Waffen-SS, the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD) and the Volkssturm. There were also 43 recipients in the military forces of allies of the Third Reich. The 7,322 recipients are listed in the 1986 edition of Walther-Peer Fellgiebel's book, Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945. In 1996 a second edition was published with an addendum delisting nine of these original 7,323 recipients. Author and historian Veit Scherzer has cast doubt on a further 192 of these listings. The majority of the disputed recipients had received the award in 1945, when the deteriorating situation of the Third Reich during the final days of World War II left a number of nominations incomplete and pending in various stages of the approval process.


 * Royal Artillery Memorial (Hchc2009): The Royal Artillery Memorial] is a stone memorial at Hyde Park Corner in London, dedicated to casualties in the Royal Regiment of Artillery in the First World War. The memorial was designed by Charles Jagger and Lionel Pearson, and features a giant sculpture of a BL 9.2 inch Mk I howitzer upon a large plinth of Portland stone, with stone reliefs depicting scenes from the conflict. Four bronze figures of artillery men are positioned around the outside of the memorial. The memorial is famous for its realist contrast with other First World War memorials, such as the Cenotaph designed by Edwin Lutyens, and attracted much public debate during the 20th century.