Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/May 2020/Articles


 * Midland Railway War Memorial : We welcome back Harry Mitchell with another in his series on the war memorials of Sir Edwin Lutyens. The Midland Railway War Memorial in Derby commemorates the 2,833 employees of the Midland Railway who "joined the colours" in the First World War, never to return. The memorial is barely ten miles from where Harry used to live, and the article includes his own photos of the work. The article underwent ACR prior to its successful FAC nomination.


 * Mercenary War : Also known as the "Truceless War', this is what happens when you renege on paying your troops and they're joined by volunteers from your vassal states. Specifically this was a mutiny by troops employed by Carthage at the end of the First Punic War (264-241 BC), accompanied by a revolt of African settlements under the Carthaginian yoke. The war, "fought with unusual savagery, even for the time" according to Gog, ended in a costly victory for Carthage, the Romans taking the opportunity to annex Sardinia and Corsica.


 * Third Silesian War : Another in Bryan's series on the Silesian Wars, this article focusses on the third such conflict, part of the wider Seven Years' War. Fought between Austria and Prussia between 1756 and 1763, the Third Silesian War began with a Prussian invasion of Saxony in mid-1756. The war's casualties amounted to over 325,000 killed or missing, and didn't result in any territorial changes. It did however represent a diplomatic victory for Prussia as Austria agreed to recognise its sovereignty in Silesia in return for Prussia's support for the election of Maria Theresa's son, Archduke Joseph, as Holy Roman Emperor. The article passed ACR before attaining FA status.


 * Bombing of Obersalzberg : Following his series on the Allied raids on the German battleship Tirpitz, Nick returns with this article on a precision attack by by 359 Allied heavy bombers on the Nazi elite's mountain residences during the dying days of World War II in Europe. While Hitler's own residence got off lightly, most of the other buildings in the area were demolished. German casualties were remarkably light as the 3000 people present were able to shelter in the sophisticated bunkers built for the use of senior Nazis. The attack was celebrated at the time, but was considered somewhat embarrassing after the war and as a result was often passed over. Nick took the article through ACR before nominating at FAC.


 * Battle of the Aegates : The last in Gog's trilogy of naval battles from the First Punic War, this was the decider in the conflict. In his nomination statement Gog noted with alacrity that archeological remains of the battle have been discovered on the seabed "just where the primary sources said they would be". God also paid tribute to,  and  for their help in preparing the article for FAC.


 * SMS Niobe ( & ) : Parsecboy and Peacemaker67 combine their talents to tell the story of a cruiser with something of an identity crisis, serving with five or six countries under three or four names. Built for the German Imperial Navy, she initially served in World War I. Sold to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) in 1925, she sailed with the Royal Yugoslav Navy until 1941, when she was captured by the Italians. She then served in the Regia Marina until the Italian surrender in September 1943, when she was then seized by the Germans. She was used in the Adriatic Sea until December 1943, when she ran aground on the island of Silba, and was subsequently destroyed by the British. The article passed ACR last year.


 * Marcian : Marcian was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 450 until his death in 457. After assuming the purple due to political manoeuvring, he revoked all treaties with Attila the Hun, and launched offensives into the Hun's homeland. Following Attila's death, he was able to settle several tribes of Huns in Eastern Roman territory, where they gave military service. Marcian was regarded as among the most successful Eastern Roman Emperors, and a memorial column dedicated to him still stands in Istanbul. Iazyges took this to A-class back in 2018, and it's their first FA.


 * George Washington and slavery : George Washington was one of several Founding Fathers of the United States -- and several US Presidents -- to own slaves. Nominator Factotem notes that sources pay "relatively little attention" to the subject of George Washington and slavery as compared to other aspects of his life. The article went through Peer Review before its nomination at FAC.


 * List of Holocaust transports from Slovakia : This article lists all the transports of Jews deported from Slovakia between 1942 and 1945. Three-quarters of the 89,000 Jews in Slovakia were transported in two main waves, 1942 and 1944-45, to camps including Auschwitz and Sobibor. Only a few hundred lived. This, Buide's first FL, is a companion piece to her FAC nomination The Holocaust in Slovakia.


 * Battle of Sarantaporo (Catlemur) : The Battle of Sarantaporo was one of the first battles of the First Balkan War, and took place on 9–10 October 1912. The battle began when the Greek army attacked the Ottoman defensive line at the Sarantaporo pass, which connected Thessaly with central Macedonia. Despite being perceived as impregnable by its defenders, the main body of the Greek forces managed to advance deep inside the pass, while auxiliary units broke through the Ottoman flanks. The Ottomans abandoned their defensive line during the night, fearing encirclement. The battle was of considerable significance for Greece, and many streets across the country are named after it.


 * Yugoslav torpedo boat T4 (Peacemaker67) : This is latest A-class article in Peacemaker67's very comprehensive series on world-war era warships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy. T4 entered service with the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1914 and saw active service during World War I, performing convoy, patrol, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations and shore bombardment missions. She and her sister ships were the Royal Yugoslav Navy's only modern seagoing craft upon its formation. The torpedo boat undertook routine peacetime tasks until 1932 when she ran aground and was written off.


 * Leonard Trent (Zawed) : The New Zealander Leonard Trent was a pilot of a Lockheed Ventura that was shot down during the disastrous Operation Ramrod 16 bombing raid to Holland on 3 May 1943. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for pressing on with the raid despite being attacked by fighter planes and subject to heavy anti-aircraft fire. He spent the rest of the war as a POW. Trent served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force and Royal Air Force after the war, and retired in 1965.


 * Cadet Nurse Corps (Pendright) : This article is about the United States Cadet Nurse Corps program; how it alleviated the nursing shortage during World War II and influenced how nurses would be educated and trained in the post-war era. The U.S. Congress created the Corps in 1943; it was without military status although the legislative act required that it be a uniformed body. The U.S. government funded the program, but it was administered through 1,125-university nursing schools scattered around the U.S. – with oversight delegated to the U.S. Health Department. By the end of the war, student nurses were providing about 80 per cent of the nursing care in more than 1,000 civilian hospitals. The program operated from 1943 until 1948; graduating 124,065 cadets who became Registered Nurses.


 * Annexation of the Leeward Islands (KAVEBEAR) : This article covers the almost forgotten series of diplomatic and armed conflicts between the French Third Republic and the native kingdoms of Raiatea-Tahaa, Huahine and Bora Bora, which resulted in the conquest of the Leeward Islands, in the South Pacific archipelago of the Society Islands in modern-day French Polynesia. KAVEBEAR described these events as "a tale of indigenous autonomy and fierce resistance and one that counters the narrative of the romanticized Tahiti of tropical Polynesian beauties and paradise".


 * USS Tucker (DD-374) (Pendright) : USS Tucker was a Mahan class destroyer operated by the United States Navy. Her service life was relatively short, yet marked by a series of eventful occurrences. In 1940, to stretch her fuel supply, she sailed from Wake Island to Pearl Harbor under a homemade foresail and mainsail, averaging 3.4 knots per hour. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, while still in dry dock, Tucker downed at least two Japanese aircraft. In 1942, she was sunk in the New Hebrides by mines laid by US minelayers. The Navy then used her wreckage site for the training of underwater personnel. In just 60 feet of water, her wreckage has become a diving site for divers and salvage hunters.


 * French battleship Mirabeau (Sturmvogel 66) : Mirabeau was one of the six Danton-class semi-dreadnought battleships built for the French Navy before World War I. She had a fairly uneventful war, spending it entirely in the Mediterranean on blockade duty. The ship briefly participated in the occupation of Constantinople after the war before being transferred to the Black Sea to support the White forces during the Russian Civil War at the end of 1918. She ran aground in early 1919 and had to be partially dismantled before she could be refloated. Mirabeau could only be partially reassembled before the Allies were forced to evacuate Sevastopol. Already obsolete, she wasn't worth the money to repair and was scrapped in 1922.


 * Spanish battleship Alfonso XIII (Parsecboy) : Alfonso XIII, later renamed España, was one of three dreadnought battleships built for the Spanish Navy in the early 1910s. She had a fairly interesting career, ending up in the Nationalist fleet during the Spanish Civil War and ultimately being accidentally sunk by a Nationalist mine.


 * Operation Totem (Hawkeye7) : Operation Totem was a pair of British atmospheric nuclear tests which took place at Emu Field in South Australia in October 1953. They followed the Operation Hurricane test of the first British atomic bomb the previous year. The main purpose of the trial was to determine the acceptable limit on the amount of plutonium-240 which could be present in a bomb. In addition to the two main tests, there was a series of five subcritical tests called "Kittens". These did not produce nuclear explosions, but used conventional explosives, polonium-210, beryllium and natural uranium to investigate the performance of neutron initiators.


 * Staurakios (Iazyges) : Staurakios was Byzantine Emperor from 26 July to 2 October 811. He was born in the early 790s to Nikephoros I and an unknown woman. Nikephoros seized the throne of the Byzantine Empire from Empress Irene in 802, and elevated Staurakios to co-emperor in December 803. After Nikephoros fell in the Battle of Pliska on 26 July 811, Staurakios was declared emperor, despite his severe injuries from the battle. His reign was short due to the political uncertainties surrounding his wounds, which included the severing of his spine; he was usurped by his brother-in-law, Michael I Rangabe, on 2 October 811. After being removed from power, he was sent to live in a monastery, where he stayed until he died of gangrene or poisoning on 11 January 812.


 * Percy Storkey (Zawed) : Percy Storkey was a New Zealander who served with the Australian Imperial Force during World War I and was awarded a Victoria Cross for his actions during the 1918 Spring Offensive. In civilian life he had a lengthy and distinguished legal career.


 * Herennius Etruscus (Iazyges) : Herennius Etruscus was Roman emperor in 251, ruling jointly with his father Decius. Herennius Etruscus was elevated to caesar in 250, then further raised to augustus in May 251. When the Goths, under Cniva, invaded the Danubian provinces, Herennius Etruscus was sent with a vanguard, followed by the main body of Roman troops, led by Decius. They ambushed Cniva at the Battle of Nicopolis ad Istrum in 250, routing him, before being ambushed and routed themselves at the Battle of Beroe. Herennius Etruscus was killed in the Battle of Abritus the following year, alongside his father.


 * Yugoslav torpedo boat T6 (Peacemaker67) : T6 was one of T4's sister ships. She also saw service in World War I with the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and was transferred to the Royal Yugoslav Navy in 1921. The ship was captured by Italian forces during the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. After her main armament was modernised, she served with the Royal Italian Navy under her Yugoslav designation, conducting coastal and second-line escort duties in the Adriatic. Following the Italian capitulation in September 1943, she was scuttled by her crew as she had insufficient fuel to reach an Allied port.