Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/March 2021/Articles




 * Whitehawk Camp : Whitehawk Camp is the remains of a causewayed enclosure near Brighton, England. Causewayed enclosures are a form of early Neolithic earthwork, characterized by the enclosure of an area with ditches that are interrupted by gaps, or causeways. The site consists of four roughly concentric circular ditches and several additional ditches, one of which is thought to date to about two thousand years after the earliest dated activity at the site. An analysis of radiocarbon dates concluded that the Neolithic part of the site was probably constructed between 3650 and 3500 BC, and probably went out of use some time between 3500 and 3400 BC.


 * M113 armoured personnel carriers in Australian service : The M113 armoured personnel carrier has been operated by the Australian Army in large numbers since 1964. More than 840 M113s were acquired, comprising nine different variants. The type played an important role in Australia's commitment to the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1972. M113s were deployed to Somalia during 1993, Rwanda between 1994 and 1995, and East Timor from 1999 to 2002 and 2006 to 2008. A long-running modernisation resulted in 431 being upgraded between 2007 and 2012. Despite the upgrade program, the Australian Army's M113s are now obsolete and they have not been included in recent deployments due to their vulnerability.


 * Battle of Inverkeithing : An English army under Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland in July 1650, heavily defeated a Scottish army at the Battle of Dunbar. The Scots withdrew to the choke point of Stirling. On 17 July 1651 an English force crossed the Firth of Forth at its narrowest point in flat-bottomed boats and landed at North Queensferry, near Inverkeithing. The Scots sent forces to pen the English in, and the English reinforced their landing. On 20 July the Scots moved against the English and in a short engagement were routed. Cromwell shipped over most of the English army and captured Perth, cutting off supplies for the Scottish army.


 * 4th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Confederate) : This was a Confederate infantry regiment during the American Civil War, organized on April 28, 1862. It was present at the Battles of Farmington, Tuka, and the Second Battle of Corinth. On November 7, 1862, the regiment was combined with the 1st Missouri Infantry to form the 1st and 4th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Consolidated); this served in the Vicksburg campaign in 1863, before surrendering at the end of the Siege of Vicksburg. After its men were exchanged, it took part in the Atlanta campaign and the Battle of Franklin in 1864.  On May 9, 1865, the consolidated regiment surrendered during the Battle of Fort Blakeley.


 * International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide : This was the first major conference in the field of genocide studies. It was held in Tel Aviv in June 1982. It  marked the shift from viewing genocide as an irrational phenomenon to one that could be studied and understood. The Turkish government tried to have the conference cancelled because it included presentations on the Armenian Genocide, which Turkey denies. The organizers refused to remove the Armenian Genocide from the program and the conference went ahead. Both the Turkish and Israeli governments faced criticism for infringements on academic freedom.


 * Thomas Erpingham : Erpingham (c. 1355 –27 June 1428) was an English soldier and administrator who served three generations of the House of Lancaster including two English kings. When Henry Bolingbroke became king in 1399 as Henry IV, Erpingham acquired great wealth and influence and was appointed to senior positions. He was a member of the Privy Council, acting at one point as marshal of England. In 1415 Erpingham served as a knight banneret in Henry's campaign in France and commanded the archers at the Battle of Agincourt.  He was a benefactor to the city of Norwich, where he had built the main cathedral gate which bears his name.


 * République-class battleship : This class consisted of a pair of pre-dreadnought battleships—FRENCH BATTLESHIP République and FRENCH BATTLESHIP Patrie—built for the French Navy in the early 1900s. They were a significant improvement over previous French battleships but both entered service shortly after the British battleship HMS Dreadnought (1906) had made all existing battleships obsolescent. During World War II the two ships served in the Mediterranean. They were involved in Greece from 1916, when they assisted a coup against the neutral but pro-German government that ultimately led to Greece's entry into the war on the side of the Allies. République was decommissioned in 1921; Patrie not until 1937.


 * Charles Green (Australian soldier) : Green is the only commanding officer of a battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) to die on active service. He fought in Greece in 1941 and returned to Australia in August 1942. From March to July 1945, Green commanded the 2/11th Battalion during the Aitape–Wewak campaign in New Guinea, becoming the youngest Australian infantry battalion commander. He led the 3rd Battalion RAR during the Korean War. On 30 October 1950, Green was wounded in the stomach by a shell fragment. Evacuated to hospital, he died the following day, aged 30.


 * 55th (West Lancashire) Division (EnigmaMcmxc) : The 55th (West Lancashire) Division was a British Territorial Force division formed in 1908. During the First World War, it fought at the Somme, Passchendaele, Cambrai, and Givenchy. The latter two being particular highlights for different reasons. A court of enquiry was formed due to the division's actions in the former, while its defense of the latter was lauded. At the end of the war, the division was disbanded. It was reformed in 1920 as the 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division.


 * Revolt of the Admirals (Hawkeye7) : In the nomination statement Hawkeye noted that this article covers "a case study of a dysfunctional political-military system, and raises issues of civilian control of the military and inter-service rivalry". The 'revolt' was a policy and funding dispute within the United States government during the Cold War in 1949, involving several retired and active-duty United States Navy admirals advocating for the service to have a role in strategic bombing. The Truman Administration eventually prevailed, and civilian control over the US military was reaffirmed.


 * Temporary gentlemen (Dumelow) : 'Temporary gentlemen' is a colloquial term referring to officers of the British Army who held temporary (or war-duration) commissions, particularly when such men came from outside the traditional 'officer class'. The article covers the role of these officers during the world wars and post-1945 national service, as well as the use of the concept in Portugal.


 * Lisa Nowak (Hawkeye7) : Lisa Nowak is an American aeronautical engineer, former United States Navy captain, naval flight officer and test pilot, and NASA astronaut. Nowak entered the US Navy in 1981 with the goal of eventually becoming an astronaut. She served as a pilot and logged over 1,500 hours of flight time in over 30 different aircraft. Nowak was selected for NASA in 1996 and was a member of the STS-121 space shuttle mission ten years later. An incident where she attacked a USAF officer in 2007 led to a criminal conviction, and the end of her NASA and naval careers.


 * Thomas Cooke (soldier, born 1881) (Zawed) : This article covers a New Zealand-born soldier who received the Victoria Cross while serving in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War. Cooke moved to Australia in 1912, taking his young family with him, and settled in Melbourne. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in February 1915 and served with the 8th Battalion. Cooke was killed during the Battle of Pozières and posthumously awarded the VC for staying at his post in the face of a German attack.


 * Battle of Rethymno (Gog the Mild) : The Battle of Rethymno was part of the World War II Battle of Crete, and took place between 20 and 29 May 1941. Australian and Greek forces defended the town of Rethymno and the nearby airstrip against a German paratrooper attack. While the Allied force defeated the parachute landing on 20 May, a breakdown in communications meant that it did not receive orders to join the evacuation from the island after the Germans gained the upper hand. As a result, the Allied troops were forced to surrender.


 * Battle of Heraklion (Gog the Mild) : The Battle of Heraklion also formed part of the Battle of Crete. British, Australian and Greek forces defeated two German parachute landings near Heraklion on 20 and 21 May. Unlike the force at Rethymno, the troops at Heraklion were evacuated by sea on the night of 28/29 May. Gog the Mild noted in the nomination statement that "both sides achieved/suffered Pyrrhic victories".