Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/March 2023/Articles


 * Alan Rawlinson (Ian Rose) : Ian's latest Australian fighter ace bio, Alan Rawlinson was credited with shooting down at least eight aircraft while serving in North Africa and the Middle East during 1940–41. He returned to Australia in early 1942, and was eventually appointed to command a Spitfire-equipped squadron that ultimately saw little combat, before serving in senior operational roles. Following the war he resigned from the RAAF and enlisted in the Royal Air Force, flying jet fighters and commanding several units before retiring as a group captain to South Australia in 1961.


 * The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia (buidhe) : Another of Buidhe's articles on aspects of the the Holocaust, this covers the mass murder of Jews in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia between 1939 and 1945. There were 118,310 Jews in this area at the start of German rule, of whom around 30,000 fled and approximately 80,000 were killed. After the war, surviving Jews—especially those who had identified as Germans before the war—faced obstacles in regaining their property and pressure to assimilate into the Czech majority and the Communist government discouraged memorialisation of the Holocaust.


 * Theodosius III (Iazyges & ) : Another in Iazyges' series on Byzantine emperors, co-nominated with Unlimitedlead, this article covers the somewhat bizarre career of a provincial tax collector who was declared emperor by mutinous troops in 715. He lasted just under two years in the job before being deposed by Leo III the Isaurian and exiled with his son to a monastery. Little is in fact known about his life or reign as emperor.


 * Alexis Soyer (Tim riley) : Welcoming Tim to our neck of the woods and allowing him, via his FAC nomination statement, to describe his subject: a French chef, who made his career in London. He was an adventurous fellow, and eventually died, young, having picked up at least one horrible disease when helping Florence Nightingale improve the conditions of British troops in the Crimean War. Before that, he revolutionised kitchen design, transforming smoky hell-holes into healthier working spaces. He also did his bit to alleviate the Irish potato famine. Quite a lad! We agree...!


 * 8th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Confederate) : Continuing HF's American Civil War series, the 8th Missouri Infantry Regiment was a unit serving with the Confederate States Army. Formed on 2 September 1862, it saw combat in several engagements in Arkansas and Louisiana, but 85 per cent of its casualties were from disease. The regiment was disbanded following the war, on 7 June 1865.


 * Edward I of England : Best known to many as William Wallace's merciless antagonist in Braveheart, Edward I reigned from 1272 to 1307. Not just the Hammer of the Scots, he was a crusader in his youth, and as king reformed England's currency, was religiously observant, and established parliament as a permanent institution. More controversially, he not only led campaigns against the Scots but also the Welsh, and expelled the Jews from England.


 * Sayf al-Dawla : One of the most famous medieval Arab warriors, a figure both illustrious and tragic, Sayf al-Dawla grew up during the collapse of the Abbasid empire in the early 10th century. He carved out for himself a principality in northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia, challenged a resurgent Byzantium for over twenty years, established a splendid court that gathered some of the foremost scholars of his time, and finally ended his days in illness and defeat.


 * Battle of Utica (203 BC) : Yet another of Gog's peeks into the Punic Wars, this battle was the beginning of the end for Ancient Carthage. A Roman army commanded by Publius Cornelius Scipio (later to be immortalised as Scipio Africanus) heavily defeated the allied armies of Carthage and Numidia, commanded by Hasdrubal Gisgo and Syphax respectively. Over the following year the Carthaginians raised two more armies and each was defeated by Scipio, leading to Carthage suing for peace and accepting a humiliating treaty, ending the Second Punic War.


 * Battle of Winwick  : Gog's second FA last month takes us to another of his pet subjects, the English Civil War -- or in this case, the sequel! Winwick was the last battle of the Second English Civil War and was fought in August 1648 between part of a Royalist army under Lieutenant General William Baillie and a Parliamentarian army commanded by Lieutenant General Oliver Cromwell. No prizes for guessing who won. Less than six months later, Charles I was beheaded, and England became a republic in May 1649.


 * Glycerius : Iazyges' second FA last month concerns Glycerius, Western Roman Emperor from 473 to 474. He was the commander of the palace guard before being elevated to emperor, but his reign was not recognised by the Eastern Roman Emperor, who nominated a replacement and invaded the west. Glycerius was without allies, and abdicated in June 474. He was made a bishop, but died either later that year or in 480.


 * Christopher Lekapenos (Unlimitedlead and Iazyges) : Christopher Lekapenos was the eldest son of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos and co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 921 until his death in 931. Christopher was given the position of megas hetaireiarches (commander of the palace guard) in spring 919. Romanos, who had made himself emperor in 920, raised Christopher to co-emperor on 21 May 921 in order to give his family precedence over Constantine VII's Macedonian line. Christopher died in August 931, succeeded by his father and two brothers.


 * Miles Dempsey (Hawkeye7) : This article covers a British general who is best known for leading the Second Army from 1944 to 1945. Dempsey was a professional soldier who was commissioned as an officer in 1915 and fought on the Western Front. After World War I he served in Iraq during the Iraqi revolt of 1920, in Iran during the Russian Civil War, and in India. Dempsey commanded a brigade in the Battle of France in 1940, and then spent the next two years training troops in England. He led a corps in the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy in 1943. He commanded the Second Army during the Battle of Normandy and made rapid advances in the subsequent campaign in Northern France and Belgium. After the war Dempsey led an army in the Far East, and the Middle East Command during the Greek Civil War and the Palestine Emergency. He retired from the Army in 1947 was later involved in horse racing.