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


 * HMS Bellerophon (1786) (Benea) : HMS Bellerophon was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1786, she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, mostly on blockades or convoy escort duties. Known to sailors as the "Billy Ruffian", she fought in three fleet actions, the Glorious First of June, the Battle of the Nile and the Battle of Trafalgar, and was the ship aboard which Napoleon finally surrendered, ending nearly 22 years of war with France. Built at Frindsbury, Bellerophon entered service with the Channel Fleet on the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, and took part in the Glorious First of June in 1793. She joined Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson's fleet in 1798, and took part in the decisive defeat of a French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. Bellerophon returned to European waters with the resumption of the wars with France, joining a fleet under Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood blockading Cadiz. At the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October, Bellerophon fought a bitter engagement against Spanish and French ships, sustaining heavy casualties including the death of her captain, John Cooke. After repairs Bellerophon was employed blockading the enemy fleets in the Channel and the North Sea. She went to North America as a convoy escort between 1813 and 1814, and in 1815 was assigned to blockade the French Atlantic port of Rochefort. In July 1815, defeated at Waterloo and finding escape to America barred by the blockading Bellerophon, Napoleon came aboard "the ship that had dogged his steps for twenty years" to surrender to the British. It was Bellerophons last seagoing service. She was paid off and converted to a prison ship in 1815, and was renamed Captivity in 1824 to free the name for another ship. The Admiralty ordered her to be sold in 1836, and she was broken up. Bellerophons long and distinguished career has been recorded in literature and folk songs, commemorating the achievements of the "Billy Ruffian".


 * Iraq War in Anbar Province (Palm dogg) : The Iraq War in Anbar Province, also known as the Al Anbar campaign, was a counterinsurgency campaign waged in the western Iraqi province of Al Anbar by the United States military and the Government of Iraq against Sunni insurgents. The campaign lasted from 2003 until 2008, although the majority of the fighting took place between April 2004 and September 2007. Though it initially featured heavy urban warfare primarily between insurgents and United States Marines, in later years insurgents focused on ambushing the American and Iraqi security forces with improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Almost 9,000 Iraqis and 1,335 Americans were killed in the campaign, many in the Sunni Triangle around the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. In early 2004 the US Army relinquished command of the province to the Marines. By April 2004 the province was in full-scale revolt. Savage fighting occurred in both Fallujah and Ramadi by the end of 2004, including the Second Battle of Fallujah. Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) became the province's main Sunni insurgent group and turned the provincial capital of Ramadi into its stronghold. The Marine Corps issued an intelligence report in late 2006 declaring that the province had been lost. In August 2006, several tribes located near Ramadi and led by Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha revolted against AQI. The tribes formed the Anbar Awakening and helped turn the tide against the insurgents. US and Iraqi tribal forces regained control of Ramadi in early 2007, as well as other cities such as Hīt, Haditha, and Rutbah. In June 2007 the US turned its attention to eastern Anbar Province and secured the cities of Fallujah and Al-Karmah. The fighting was mostly over by September 2007. The Marines were replaced by the US Army in January 2010. The Army withdrew its combat units by August 2010, leaving only advisory and support units. The last American forces left the province on 7 December 2011.


 * Joseph B. Foraker (Wehwalt) : Joseph Benson Foraker (1846–1917) was the 37th Governor of Ohio from 1886 to 1890 and a Republican United States Senator from 1897 until 1909. Born in rural Ohio, Foraker enlisted at age 16 in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He fought for almost three years, attaining the rank of captain.  After the war, he became a lawyer.  Interesting himself in politics, he was elected a judge in 1879 and became well known as a political speaker.  Although defeated in his first run for governor in 1883, he was elected two years later.  As governor, he built an alliance with Cleveland industrialist Mark Hanna, but fell out with him in 1888.  Foraker lost re-election in 1889, but was elected United States Senator by the Ohio Legislature in 1896, after an unsuccessful bid for that office in 1892. In the Senate, he supported the Spanish-American War and the annexation of the Philippines and Puerto Rico; the Foraker Act gave Puerto Rico its first civil government under American rule.  He came to differ with President Theodore Roosevelt over railroad regulation and political patronage.  Their largest disagreement was over the Brownsville Affair, in which black soldiers had been accused of terrorizing a Texas town, and Roosevelt had dismissed the entire battalion.  Foraker zealously opposed Roosevelt's actions as unfair, and fought for the soldiers' reinstatement.  The two men's disagreement broke out into an angry confrontation at the 1907 Gridiron Dinner, after which Roosevelt helped defeat Foraker's re-election bid.  Foraker died in 1917; in 1972, the Army reversed the dismissals and cleared the soldiers.


 * Pedro I of Brazil (Astynax, Lecen and DrKiernan) : Dom Pedro I (1798–1834), nicknamed "the Liberator", was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Dom Pedro IV, he later reigned briefly over Portugal. Born in Lisbon, he was the fourth child of King Dom João VI of Portugal and Queen Carlota Joaquina. When their country was invaded by French troops in 1808, Pedro and his family fled to Portugal's largest and wealthiest colony, Brazil. The outbreak of the Liberal Revolution of 1820 in Lisbon compelled Pedro's father to return to Portugal in April 1821, leaving him behind to rule Brazil as regent. When the Portuguese government threatened to revoke the political autonomy that Brazil had been granted since 1808, Pedro declared independence on 7 September 1822. On 12 October, he was acclaimed Brazilian emperor and by March 1824 had defeated all armies loyal to Portugal. A secessionist rebellion in the southern province of Cisplatina in early 1825, and the subsequent attempt by the United Provinces of South America to annex it, led the Empire into the Cisplatine War. In March 1826, Pedro I briefly became king of Portugal before abdicating in favor of his eldest daughter, Dona Maria II. The situation worsened in 1828 when the war in the south resulted in Brazil's loss of Cisplatina. During the same year in Lisbon, Maria II's throne was usurped by Prince Dom Miguel, Pedro I's younger brother. Unable to deal with problems in both Brazil and Portugal simultaneously, Pedro I abdicated in favor of his son, Dom Pedro II, on 7 April 1831 and sailed for Europe. Pedro I invaded Portugal at the head of an army in July 1832. Faced at first with what seemed a national civil war, he soon became involved in a wider conflict that enveloped the Iberian Peninsula in a struggle between proponents of Liberalism and those seeking a return to Absolutism. Pedro I died of tuberculosis in 1834, just after he and the liberals emerged victorious.


 * Pavle Đurišić (Peacemaker67 and PRODUCER): Pavle Đurišić (1909–1945) was an officer of the Royal Yugoslav Army who became a Montenegrin Serb Chetnik commander and led a significant proportion of the Montenegrin Chetniks during World War II. He distinguished himself during an uprising against the Italians in Montenegro in July 1941, but later collaborated with them to fight against the Yugoslav Partisans. In 1943, Đurišić's troops carried out several massacres against the Muslim population of Bosnia, Herzegovina and Sandžak, and participated in the anti-Partisan Case White offensive. He was captured by the Germans in May 1943. He escaped, but was re-captured and after Italy's capitulation, the Germans released Đurišić and he began collaborating with them and the Serbian puppet government. In 1944, along with Milan Nedić and Dimitrije Ljotić, he created the Montenegrin Volunteer Corps with German assistance. In late 1944, he was decorated with the Iron Cross 2nd Class. He was killed by elements of the Armed Forces of the Independent State of Croatia near Banja Luka after he was captured in an apparent trap set by them and Sekula Drljević. Some of his troops were also killed in that battle or in later attacks by the Partisans as they continued their withdrawal west. Others attempted to withdraw to Austria, but were killed in the Kočevski Rog in May–June 1945 after surrendering to the Partisans. Đurišić was a very able Yugoslav Chetnik leader, and his fighting skills were respected by his allies and opponents alike.


 * SMS König Albert (Parsecboy): SMS König Albert was the fourth vessel of the Kaiser-class battleship of battleships of the German Imperial Navy. Her keel was laid on 17 July 1910 at the Schichau-Werke dockyard in Danzig. She was launched on 27 April  1912 and was commissioned into the fleet on 31 July 1913. The ship was equipped with ten 30.5 cm guns in five twin turrets, and had a top speed of 22.1 kn. König Albert was assigned to the III Battle Squadron and later the IV Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of her career, including World War I. Along with her four sister ships, SMS Kaiser (1911), SMS Friedrich der Grosse (1911), SMS Kaiserin, and SMS Prinzregent Luitpold, König Albert participated in most of the major fleet operations of World War I, though she was in drydock for maintenance during the Battle of Jutland between 31 May and 1 June 1916. As a result, she was the only battleship actively serving with the fleet that missed the largest naval battle of the war. The ship was also involved in Operation Albion, an amphibious assault on the Russian-held islands in the Gulf of Riga, in late 1917. After Germany's defeat in the war and the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, König Albert and most of the capital ships of the High Seas Fleet were interned by the Royal Navy in Scapa Flow. The ships were disarmed and reduced to skeleton crews while the Allied powers negotiated the final version of the Treaty of Versailles. On 21 June 1919, days before the treaty was signed, the commander of the interned fleet, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, ordered the fleet to be scuttled to ensure that the British would not be able to seize the ships. König Albert was raised in July 1935 and subsequently broken up for scrap in 1936


 * McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet in Australian service (Nick-D) : The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has operated McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft since 1984. The Australian Government purchased 75 "A" and "B" variants of the F/A-18 in 1981 to replace the RAAF's Dassault Mirage III fighters. The Hornets entered service with the RAAF between 1984 and 1990, and 71 remain in operation as of 2012. The other four Hornets were destroyed in flying accidents during the late 1980s and early 1990s. To date, the only combat deployment of the RAAF's Hornets was as part of the Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. During the invasion, 14 Hornets flew patrols over Iraq, as well as close air support sorties to assist coalition ground forces. RAAF F/A-18s also provided security for the American air base at Diego Garcia between late 2001 and early 2002, and have protected a number of high-profile events in Australia. Since 1999 the RAAF has put its Hornets through a series of upgrades to improve their effectiveness. However, the aircraft are becoming increasingly costly to operate and are at risk of being outclassed by the fighters and air-defence systems operated by other countries. As a result, the RAAF will begin to retire its F/A-18s in the late 2010s, with the last aircraft leaving service in the early 2020s. Under current Australian Government planning they will be replaced by up to 72 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighters.


 * List of field marshals of the British Army (HJ Mitchell) : Field marshal has been the highest rank in the British Army since 1736. A five-star rank with NATO code OF-10, it is equivalent to an admiral of the fleet in the Royal Navy or a marshal of the Royal Air Force in the RAF. As with marshals of the Royal Air Force and admirals of the fleet in their respective services, field marshals remain officers of the British Army for life, though on half-pay when not in an appointment. The rank has been used sporadically throughout its history and was vacant through parts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (when all holders of the rank were deceased). After the Second World War, it became standard practice to appoint the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (later renamed Chief of the General Staff) to the rank on their last day in the post. Army officers occupying the post of Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of all British armed forces, were usually promoted to the rank upon their appointment. In total, 140 men have held the rank of field marshal. The most recent promotions to field marshal came in 2012.


 * List of battlecruisers of the United States (Sturmvogel 66 and Dank) : The US Navy began building a series of battlecruisers in the 1920s, more than a decade after their slower and less heavily armed armored cruisers had been rendered obsolete by the Royal Navy's Invincible-class battlecruiser battlecruisers. Construction of these ships was abandoned under the terms of an armaments limitation treaty, though two were completed as aircraft carriers. The Navy subsequently ordered six "large cruisers"—which are often considered battlecruisers by historians—in 1940, of which only two entered service. At first unconvinced of the importance of the superior speed of the British battlecruisers, the US Navy changed its position after evaluating the new type of ship in fleet exercises and Naval War College wargames, and after the Japanese acquisition of four Kongo-class battlecruisers in the early 1910s. Battlecruisers were known to pack an offensive punch when concentrating their fire on an enemy fleet's leading ships, as the Japanese had done to the Russians at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. Another role envisioned was tracking down and destroying enemy commerce raiders. British experience during the Battle of the Falkland Islands in late 1914 and the Battle of Dogger Bank the following year, where British battlecruisers caught and destroyed German armored cruisers, confirmed all these capabilities. So when Congress authorized a large naval building program in 1916, six Lexington-class battlecruisers were included. The US Navy's main impetus for the Alaska class was the threat posed by Japanese cruisers raiding its lines of communication in the event of war. Heavy cruisers were also the most likely surface threat to aircraft carriers making independent raids, so a cruiser-killer was also an ideal carrier escort. Reports of a Japanese equivalent reinforced the Navy's desire for these ships. Two were commissioned in time to serve during the last year of World War II, but were decommissioned several years later.


 * List of protected cruisers of Germany (Parsecboy) : The German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) built a series of protected cruisers in the 1880s and 1890s, starting with the two ships of the Irene-class cruiser in the 1880s. The Navy only completed two additional classes of protected cruisers, comprising six more ships: the unique SMS Kaiserin Augusta, and the five Victoria Louise-class cruiser ships. The type was then superseded by the armored cruiser at the turn of the century, beginning with SMS Fürst Bismarck (1897). Due to limited budgets in the pre-Tirpitz era, the German Navy attempted to build vessels that could serve as overseas cruisers and fleet scouts, though the ships were not satisfactory. The protected cruiser designs generally copied developments in foreign navies. The Victoria Louise design resembled contemporary German battleships, which favored smaller-caliber main guns and a greater number of secondary guns than on their foreign counterparts. Most of the German protected cruisers served on overseas stations throughout their careers, primarily in the East Asia Squadron in the 1890s and 1900s. SMS Prinzess Wilhelm participated in the seizure of the Kiautschou Bay concession in November 1897, which was used as the primary base for the East Asia Squadron. Kaiserin Augusta, SMS Hertha, and SMS Hansa (1898) assisted in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900, and SMS Vineta (1897) saw action during the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903, where she bombarded several Venezuelan fortresses. SMS Irene, Prinzess Wilhelm, and Kaiserin Augusta were relegated to secondary duties in the 1910s, while the Victoria Louise class was used to train naval cadets in the 1900s. All eight ships were broken up for scrap in the early 1920s.

The following images were promoted in August:


 * 2/18th Battalion (Australia) (AustralianRupert) : The 2/18th Battalion was an Australian Army infantry unit that served during World War II. Formed in June 1940, the battalion was assigned to the 22nd Brigade, which formed part of the Australian 8th Division. After completing basic training, the 2/18th was sent to Singapore and Malaya to strengthen the defences of the British colonies in February 1941 against a possible Japanese attack. The 2/18th Battalion subsequently undertook garrison duties throughout the year at various locations in Malaya, where it conducted jungle training and constructed defences along the eastern coast. Following the outbreak of war in the Pacific in December 1941, the 2/18th saw action against Japanese forces in the Malayan campaign, during which they took part in a large-scale ambush of a Japanese force on the Malay Peninsula before joining the withdrawal to Singapore in early 1942. Assigned to defend part of the north-west coast of the island, the battalion participated in the unsuccessful defence of Singapore in early February 1942. Following the fall of Singapore the majority of the battalion's personnel were taken as prisoners of war. Many of these men died in captivity; the survivors were liberated in 1945 and returned to Australia where the battalion was disbanded.


 * HMS Furious (47) (Sturmvogel 66) : HMS Furious was a modified Courageous-class battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Lord John Fisher, the ship was very lightly armoured and armed with only a few heavy guns. Furious was modified and became an aircraft carrier while under construction. Her forward turret was removed and a flight deck was added in its place, so that aircraft had to manoeuvre around the superstructure to land. Later in the war, she had her rear turret removed and a second flight deck installed aft of the superstructure, but this was less than satisfactory due to air turbulence. She was briefly laid up after the war before she was reconstructed with a full-length flight deck in the early 1920s. After her conversion, she was used extensively for trials of naval aircraft and later as a training carrier once the new armoured carriers like HMS Ark Royal (91) entered service in the late 1930s. During the early months of the Second World War she  spent her time hunting for German raiders in the North Atlantic and escorting convoys. This changed dramatically during the Norwegian Campaign in early 1940 when her aircraft provided air support to British troops ashore in addition to attacking German shipping. The first of what would be a large number of aircraft ferry missions was made by the carrier during the campaign. After the withdrawal of British troops in May, she made several anti-shipping strikes in Norway with little result before beginning a steady routine of ferrying aircraft for the Royal Air Force. At first Furious made several trips to West Africa, but she began to ferry aircraft to Gibraltar in 1941. An unsuccessful attack on German-occupied ports on the Arctic Ocean interrupted the ferry missions in mid-1941. She was given a lengthy refit in the United States and spent a few months training after her return in April 1942. She made several more ferry trips in mid-1942 before her aircraft attacked airfields in Vichy French  Algeria as part of the opening stages of Operation Torch in November 1942. The ship remained in the Mediterranean until February 1943 when she was transferred to the Home Fleet. She spent most of 1943 training, but made a number of attacks on the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Tirpitz and other targets in Norway during the first half of 1944. By September 1944, the ship was showing her age and she was placed in reserve. She was decommissioned in April 1945, but was not sold for scrap until 1948.


 * Battle of Solachon (Cplakidas) : The Battle of Solachon was fought in 586 CE in northern Mesopotamia between the East Roman (Byzantine) forces, led by Philippicus, and the Sassanid Persians under Kardarigan. The engagement was part of the long and inconclusive Byzantine–Sassanid War of 572–591. The Battle of Solachon ended in a major Byzantine victory which improved the Byzantine position in Mesopotamia, but it was not in the end decisive. The war dragged on until 591, when it ended with a negotiated settlement between Maurice and the Persian shah Khosrau II (r. 590–628). In the days before the battle, Philippicus, newly assigned to the Persian front, moved to intercept an anticipated Persian invasion. He chose to deploy his army at Solachon, controlling the various routes of the Mesopotamian plain, and especially access to the main local watering source, the Arzamon river. Kardarigan, confident of victory, advanced against the Byzantines, but they had been warned and were deployed in battle order when Kardarigan reached Solachon. The Persians deployed as well and attacked, gaining the upper hand in the centre, but the Byzantine right wing broke through the Persian left flank. The successful Byzantine wing was thrown into disarray as its men headed off to loot the Persian camp, but Philippicus was able to restore order. Then, while the Byzantine centre was forced to form a shield wall to withstand the Persian pressure, the Byzantine left flank also managed to turn the Persians' right. Under threat of a double envelopment, the Persian army collapsed and fled, with many dying in the desert of thirst or from water poisoning. Kardarigan himself survived and, with a part of his army, held out against Byzantine attacks on a hillock for several days before the Byzantines withdrew.


 * 45th Infantry Division (United States) (Ed!) : The 45th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army was a major formation of the Oklahoma Army National Guard from 1920 to 1968. Headquartered mostly in Oklahoma City, the guardsmen fought in both World War II and the Korean War. The 45th Infantry Division guardsmen saw no major action until they became one of the first National Guard units activated in World War II in 1941. They took part in intense fighting during the invasion of Sicily and the Italian Campaign in 1943 and the first half of 1944. After landing in France during Operation Dragoon, they joined the 1945 drive into Nazi Germany that ended the War in Europe. After a brief deactivation the division returned to duty in 1951 for the Korean War. It joined the United Nations troops on the front lines during the stalemate of the second half of the war, with constant, low-level fighting and trench warfare against the People's Volunteer Army of China that produced little gain for either side. The division remained on the front lines until the end of the war, returning to the U.S. in 1954. The division remained a National Guard formation until its deactivation in 1968 as part of a downsizing of the Guard. Several units were activated to replace the division and carry on its lineage.


 * Siege of Constantinople (717–718) (Constantine) : The Second Arab Siege of Constantinople in 717–718 was a combined land and sea effort by the Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate to take the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople. The campaign marked the culmination of twenty years of attacks and gradual Arab encroachment on the Byzantine borderlands, aided by internal Byzantine turmoil. The Arabs, led by Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik, invaded Byzantine Asia Minor in 716. After wintering in the western coastlands of Asia Minor, the Arab army crossed into Thrace in early summer 717 and built siege lines to blockade the city. In spring 718, two Arab fleets that were sent as reinforcements were destroyed by the Byzantines after their Christian crews defected, and an additional army sent overland through Asia Minor was defeated. Coupled with attacks by the Bulgars on their rear, the Arabs were forced to raise the siege on 15 August 718. The rescue of Constantinople ensured the continued survival of Byzantium, while the Caliphate's strategic outlook was altered: although regular attacks on Byzantine territories continued, the goal of outright conquest was abandoned. The siege is also credited with having halted the Muslim advance into Europe, and is hence often considered one of the most decisive battles in history.


 * SMS Prinzregent Luitpold (Parsecboy) : SMS Prinzregent Luitpold was the fifth and final vessel of the Kaiser-class battleship of battleships of the German Imperial Navy. Prinzregent Luitpold's keel was laid in October 1910 at the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel. She was launched on 17 February 1912 and was commissioned into the fleet on 19 August 1913. Prinzregent Luitpold was assigned to the III Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of her career; in December 1916, she was transferred to the IV Battle Squadron. Along with her four sister ships, SMS Kaiser (1911), SMS Friedrich der Grosse (1911), SMS Kaiserin, and SMS König Albert, Prinzregent Luitpold participated in all of the major fleet operations of World War I, including the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. The ship was also involved in Operation Albion, an amphibious assault on the Russian-held islands in the Gulf of Riga, in late 1917. After Germany's defeat in the war and the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, Prinzregent Luitpold part of the fleet interned by the Royal Navy in Scapa Flow, but was scuttled by her crew on 21 June 1919. She was was raised in July 1931 and subsequently broken up for scrap in 1933.


 * Oerip Soemohardjo (Crisco 1492) : General Oerip Soemohardjo (1893–1948) was an Indonesian general and the first chief of staff of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. Born in Purworejo, Dutch East Indies, Oerip graduated from military training in in 1914, and served as an officer in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, the army of the Dutch colonial government. During almost 25 years of service he was stationed on three different islands and promoted several times, eventually becoming the highest-ranking native officer in the country. Oriep resigned from his position in about 1938, but was recalled to active duty in May 1940. When the Empire of Japan occupied the Indies less than two years later, he was arrested and detained in a prisoner-of-war camp for three and a half months. On 14 October 1945, several months after Indonesia proclaimed its independence, Oerip was declared the chief of staff and interim leader of the newly formed army. On 12 November 1945 General Sudirman was selected as leader of the armed forces after two deadlocked votes. Oerip remained as chief of staff, and together the two oversaw almost three years of development during the Indonesian National Revolution, until disgusted by the political leadership's lack of trust in the army and ongoing political manoeuvrings, Oerip resigned in early 1948. Already suffering from a weak heart, his health deteriorated and he died of a heart attack a few months later. A lieutenant general at the time, Oerip was posthumously promoted to full general. He received several awards from the Indonesian government, including the title National Hero of Indonesia in 1964.