Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/May 2016/Articles


 * Operation Ironside (Errant) : Another in Errant's series on World War II deceptions, this article covers an attempt by the Allies to convince the Germans that they intended to make a major landing near Bordeaux during 1944. The operation was somewhat half-hearted, and historians differ on just how well it succeeded. Errant shepherded the article through both GAN and ACR before taking it to FAC.




 * No. 90 Wing RAAF (Ian Rose) : No. 90 (Composite) Wing was an RAAF wing formed to administer two units deployed during the early years of the Malayan Emergency, No. 1 (Bomber) Squadron and No. 38 (Transport) Squadron. According to Ian, "it hails from a bygone era when RAAF unit names generally advertised their purpose ("Fighter", "Bomber", "Transport", etc) for easy identification, so you may deduce from this that "Composite" basically meant "mixed bag" or, less kindly, "mongrel"..." The article went through GAN and ACR prior to FAC, and is part of a Featured Topic.


 * 7th Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia) (Peacemaker67) : Another in Peacemaker's series on Yugoslav Army formations, the 7th Army was responsible for guarding the country's north-western frontier with Italy and the Third Reich. It was still in the process of mobilising and deploying to its planned positions at the time of the Axis invasion, and was quickly defeated. PM successfully took the article through GAN, ACR, and Good Topic candidature prior to FAC.


 * Gudovac massacre (23 editor) : This article covers the mass killing of around 190 Bjelovar Serbs on 28 April 1941 by the Ustaše, the fascist movement that ruled the Axis puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia during World War II.


 * Allied naval bombardments of Japan during World War II (Nick-D) : Nick worked on this article on and off for five years. It describes the attacks made by United States, British and, somewhat surprisingly, New Zealand warships during the final weeks of World War II. While the bombardments didn't achieve their main goal of provoking a Japanese response (which the Allies were confident of being able to defeat), they resulted in hundreds of deaths and damage to some major industrial facilities.


 * Isidor Isaac Rabi (Hawkeye7) : Another in Hawkeye's series on scientists involved in the Manhatten Project, this article is about the Nobel Prize winning physicist who pioneered nuclear magnetic resonance, which is used in magnetic resonance imaging. After Hawkeye took it through GAN and ACR way back in 2012, the article finally got its turn at FAC earlier this year.


 * Hasan al-Kharrat (Al Ameer) : Hasan al-Kharrat was a rebel commander during the Great Syrian Revolt against French rule in 1925–1927, but died less than a year into the revolt. He was also notable as qabaday (local boss) of al-Shaghour, a neighbourhood in his native Damascus.


 * William Harper (Rhodesian politician) (Cliftonian) : To quote Cliftonian, "it's often assumed that 1965's UDI occurred after circumstances contrived to put the lunatic fringe into government—so it may come as a surprise that Ian Smith was actually the more moderate choice for Prime Minister in 1964. Rhodesia could easily instead have been led by William Harper, a Calcutta-born segregationist who thought Indian independence a folly and wanted to strip black Rhodesians of what little political representation they had. Harper left the Rhodesian Front under something of a cloud in 1968, apparently after being caught having an affair with an MI6 agent." Prior to politics, he saw action as one of "the Few" during the Battle of Britain, and commanded an RAAF squadron in the Malayan Campaign.


 * Reg Pollard (general) (Ian Rose) : Another of Ian's Australian military biographies, this article looks at the life and service of a Duntroon graduate who rose to become Chief of the General Staff. Along the way, he commanded an infantry battalion during World War II and served in the Korean War. Later, he was responsible for reorganizing the Army along pentropic lines as planned by his predecessor, Ragnar Garrett (see A-Class articles below). Before retiring, Pollard also oversaw the deployment of Australia's initial contribution to the Vietnam War. As usual, Ian took the article through GAN and ACR before FAC.


 * X-10 Graphite Reactor (Hawkeye7) : Continuing Hawkeye's long-running series on the development of nuclear weapons, this article covers the world's second nuclear reactor. Developed to produce plutonium, it served as a pilot for what became the Hanford Site which turned out the plutonium used in the first-ever nuclear bomb and the bomb dropped on Nagasaki later in World War II.


 * Mato Dukovac (Peacemaker67) : Mato Dukovac was the leading Croatian fighter ace of World War II, and was credited with between 40 and 44 kills. He flew for the Luftwaffe, Royal Yugoslav Air Force, Independent State of Croatia Air Force and Tito's Partisan Air Force. Motivated by his anti-Jewish views, he subsequently fought for the Syrian Air Force during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Dukovac spent the remainder of his life in Canada where he co-founded one of the largest Croatian émigré organisations in the country.


 * Ahmad ibn Tulun (Cplakidas) : Ahmad ibn Tulun was the first of the famous Turkish slave-soldiers to found his own dynasty, encompassing Egypt and the Levant, thereby beginning the process of fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate. He ruled Egypt during from 868 until his death in 884, and made the region an independent power. Cplakidas stated in the A-class nomination that he believes the article to be "the most complete English-language account of Ibn Tulun's life and times whether online or in print".


 * Günther Lützow (MisterBee1966) : The second article on a World War II flying ace for this issue covers the life of a German pilot who shot down 110 aircraft during the Spanish Civil war and on the western and eastern fronts in Europe. Lützow became a senior commander in the Luftwaffe from 1943, but was given a less important position after taking part in a protest against the way the force's fighters were being used. He was killed in combat in the final days of the war.


 * M3 Gun Motor Carriage (Tomandjerry211 (alt)) : The M3 was a US half-track that was designed in the summer of 1941 as an interim tank destroyer. It was used in the defense of the Philippines, and the Allied campaigns in the Mediterranean and Pacific. While production was halted in 1943 after superior types became available, the M3 remained in service until the end of World War II.


 * John Hines (Australian soldier) (Nick-D) : Nick remarked in the nomination that "this is one of the articles I've most enjoyed working on, but it's a combination of comedy and tragedy". Hines was a drifter who joined the Australian Army during World War I. He won fame within the Army for his aggressiveness and the large collection of "souvenirs" he acquired mainly by robbing German prisoners, and was immortalised in what remains one of the best-known Australian photos of the war. However, he was undisciplined when away from the front line and lived in poverty in the outskirts of Sydney for the remainder of his life after the war.


 * Charles Heaphy (Zawed) : Charles Heaphy was the first soldier of the New Zealand armed forces to be awarded the Victoria Cross, the British Empire's highest military award for gallantry. However, this was only one element of a remarkably varied life, and he's best known today for exploring much of New Zealand. In addition, Heaphy also worked as a painter, surveyor, amateur geologist, politician and civil servant.


 * Eastern Area Command (RAAF) (Ian Rose) : During April Ian simultaneously nominated articles on the Royal Australian Air Force's two most important area commands for A-class status. This article covers the history of the command responsible for the state of New South Wales and southern Queensland between 1942 and 1953. As most of the RAAF's operational units were located in this region, the command evolved into the RAAF's main operational headquarters, and remains active as Air Command.


 * 40th Infantry Division Slavonska (Peacemaker67) : The 40th Infantry Division Slavonska was a largely Croat-manned formation that was responsible for a sector of the northern border of Yugoslavia when the Axis invaded that country in April 1941. It is particularly notable for the fact that one of its infantry regiments revolted and took over the town of Bjelovar, greatly weakening the overall defence plan. This article continues a series on ill-fated Yugoslav units of World War II which Peacemaker67 has developed to A-class.


 * Ragnar Garrett (Ian Rose) : Ian's second entry in the list is the third article on a senior Australian Army general he's developed to A-class standard. Garrett served around the world during World War II primarily as a staff officer. He was rapidly promoted during the 1950s, and appointed the head of the Australian Army in 1958. During his two-year period in this position he championed the short-lived pentropic organisation -- implemented by his successor, Reg Pollard -- and oversaw a major modernisation of the Army's equipment.


 * 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion (Australia) (AustralianRupert) : Continuing on the theme of ill-fated military organisations, this article covers an Australian battalion of World War II which was rushed to Singapore and Java in early 1942 as part of the attempt to defend these islands from the rapidly-advancing Japanese forces. The members of the battalion who survived this fighting endured years of captivity during which 263 died as a result of brutal treatment by their captors. This is AustralianRupert's third article on an Australian machine gun battalion to reach A-class status.


 * North-Western Area Command (RAAF) (Ian Rose) : The second of Ian's two articles on RAAF area commands describes the short but busy history of the headquarters with responsibility for both defending northern Australia and conducting offensive missions over the Netherlands East Indies during World War II. NWA was formed shortly before the first, and largest, Japanese air raid on the town of Darwin, and spent most of 1942 and 1943 exchanging tit-for-tat raids against Japanese forces. As the Allied offensive in the South West Pacific gained pace, the command stepped up its attacks on the Netherlands East Indies and further afield, with its aircraft ranging as far afield as China. The command was considerably downsized after the war, and disbanded in 1955.


 * List of Partisan detachments in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Peacemaker67) : This article provides a remarkably comprehensive list of the Partisan units in Bosnia and Herzegovina during World War II. These units were highly diverse, with their strength ranging from 16 to over 3000 personnel. To make matters even more complex, many of the detachments were raised and disbanded on multiple occasions and some are known by different names.