Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/September 2015/Articles


 * No. 450 Squadron RAAF (Ian Rose and AustralianRupert) : About the first Australian Article XV squadron raised during the Second World War, this article was developed as a collaborative effort between its nominators over several years. Ian has a strong family connection to the article as his father served as a flight commander with the squadron during the war. Raised in Australia in early 1941, the squadron fought in the Middle East in 1942–43 and then joined the fighting in Sicily, Italy and Yugoslavia in 1943–45, flying Kittyhawk fighter-bombers for the majority of its existence.


 * Stanley Price Weir (Peacemaker67) : Another quality biography from Peacemaker, this article details the life of a South Australian public servant and citizen soldier who commanded the 10th Battalion during heavy fighting in Gallipoli and France in 1915 and 1916. After returning to Australia, Weir remained active in the Citizens Military Forces until 1921, and served in several senior public service roles with varying levels of success.


 * Dave Gallaher (Shudde) : Gallaher was New Zealand rugby union footballer best remembered as the captain of the "Original All Blacks" (the 1905–06 team). He also fought as an infantryman in the Auckland Regiment during the First World War and was killed in action during an attack around the Gravenstafel Spur on 4 October 1917. Three of his brothers also fought during the war, with two of them also losing their lives while serving with the Australian Imperial Force on the Western Front, while the third was badly wounded at Gallipoli.


 * Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid (Constantine) : The subject of this article was an Abbasid commander and governor who became the autonomous ruler of Egypt and parts of Syria from 935 until his death in 946. He was the founder of the Ikhshidid dynasty, which ruled the region until the Fatimid conquest of 969.




 * Sieges of Taunton (Harrias) : Although this was Harrias' "... first effort at a military history article", he has been prolific in other areas of Wikipedia such as the Cricket Project, and this experience was telling in creating what it is undoubtedly a great addition to the encyclopedia. The article describes the three occasions the town of Taunton was besieged between 1644 and 1645 during the First English Civil War. The Parliamentarian forces which controlled the town were victorious in each of the sieges.


 * Kurt Vonnegut (Ceradon) : Kurt Vonnegut was an American writer and humorist. He also served in the US Army during World War II, volunteering as an enlisted soldier in the artillery in 1943 after dropping out of Cornell University's Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He was later re-trained as a scout in an infantry unit in the lead up to D-Day. He subsequently took part in the Battle of the Bulge as an intelligence scout attached to 106th Infantry Division. During the fighting, Vonnegut was captured by the Germans and saw out the war as a prisoner until being repatriated in May 1945. He went on to pursue a successful writing career that spanned 50 years.


 * Samuel J. Randall (Coemgenus) : Randall was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania in the late 19th century. He served as the 33rd Speaker of the House and was twice a contender for his party's nomination for President of the United States. He also served as a cavalryman in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He initially enlisted as a private soldier in May 1861, serving for a period of 90 days but did not see combat. In 1863, he returned to the colours, being elected captain in the Philadelphia City Cavalry and serving in a support role during the Gettysburg campaign.


 * Paterson Clarence Hughes (Ian Rose) : Ian's second featured article for the month covers an Australian fighter ace of the Battle of Britain. Hughes initially enlisted in the RAAF, but transferred to the RAF in 1937. He shot down as many as seventeen German aircraft, but was killed on 7 September 1940; his death is generally attributed to debris from a bomber he had just shot down striking his Spitfire fighter.




 * Battle of Malvern Hill (Ceradon) : The Battle of Malvern Hill was the final engagement of the Seven Days Battles during the American Civil War. While it ended with a resounding tactical victory for the Union forces on 1 July 1862, their overly cautious commander George B. McClellan ordered further withdrawals after the battle. After previously being unsuccessful at FAC, it is great to see this article finally get up. This was Ceradon's second featured article of the month.


 * Warren G. Harding (Wehwalt) : Harding was the 29th President of the United States, serving from early 1921 until his death in August 1923. Key achievements during Harding's term included formally ending the war with the Central Powers and the disarmament process. The conclusion of the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–22, in which the world's major naval powers agreed on a naval limitations program that lasted a decade, was probably the most significant foreign policy achievement of Harding's term.


 * List of United States Army campaigns during World War II (Tomandjerry211, Hawkeye7, and Gecko G) : This nomination was an unusual three-header combining relatively new and experienced contributors, and covers a suitably broad topic area. It provides a summary of all of the 46 campaigns which the US Army officially recognised following the conclusion of World War II.


 * 250t-class torpedo boat (Peacemaker67) : Focusing on a class of 27 torpedo boats originally built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy between 1913 and 1916, this was one of two articles Peacemaker took to A-class in the month. Following the conclusion of the First World War, the boats were transferred to a number of nations including Greece, Romania, Portugal, and the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). The boats suffered a variety of fates during the inter-war years and during the Second World War, during which several were later transferred to Croatia, the Italians, and the Soviet Union. Only four survived the war and one served until the early 1960s with the post-war Yugoslav Navy.


 * Hermann Fegelein (MisterBee1966) : One of prolific editor MisterBee's biographies of German officers or aces, this article was developed in conjunction with a number of other editors – namely Diannaa and Kierzek – and looks at the life and service of an SS general and the brother-in-law to Eva Braun who was shot for desertion in the final days of the war.


 * RAAF area commands (Ian Rose) : One of two articles Ian pushed to A-class in the month, this one is a parent article to a number of child articles Ian has been writing on area commands of the Royal Australian Air Force. The area commands system existed within the RAAF between the early part of the Second World War and the mid-1950s, when it was replaced by a functional command-and-control system during the early stages of the Cold War.


 * M13 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage (Tomandjerry211) : One of three articles Tomandjerry promoted to A-class this month (an impressive feat!), this article is part of a long-term project on Second World War armoured vehicles that the author has been completing. This article focuses on a US-designed self-propelled anti-aircraft gun that was used, seemingly only very briefly, in Italy during 1944 before being withdrawn from service and replaced by more heavily-armed variants.




 * M15 Halftrack (Tomandjerry211) : Promoted following a previously unsuccessful run at A-class, Tomandjerry's article on the M15 Halftrack details the specifications, design, development and service history of this US-designed armoured vehicle, which served the U.S. Army throughout the Mediterranean, European, and Pacific Theaters of Operations during the Second World War as a self-propelled anti-aircraft platform, and then later as a ground support weapon during the Korean War, providing direct and indirect fire support to the infantry.


 * Yugoslav monitor Drava (Peacemaker67) : Part of a long running series of articles Peacemaker has written about Yugoslavia, this article looks at the service of river monitors originally built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy at the start of the First World War. After serving on the Danube against the Serbian and Romanian armies during the war, the monitor was transferred to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) during the inter-war years. It saw service during the Second World War with the Yugoslav Navy and was sunk by Luftwaffe divebombers during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941.


 * Reg Pollard (general) (Ian Rose) : Another of Ian's biographies, and the second of two articles Ian took to A-class in the month, this article looks at the life and service of a Duntroon graduate who rose through the Australian Army's officer ranks to become Chief of the General Staff. Along the way, he commanded an Australian infantry battalion during the Second World War and served during the Korean War. Later, he was instrumental in reorganizing the Army along pentropic lines, although this change did not serve the Army well and was reverted after only a few years. Before retirement he oversaw the deployment of Australia's initial contribution to the Vietnam War.




 * 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion (Australia) (AustralianRupert) : This nomination was part of a long-running series of articles that its nominator has been writing on Australian Army infantry battalions over the past six years. This battalion, in particular, was one of four machine-gun battalions raised as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War. It saw service in the United Kingdom early in the war to defend against a possible German invasion. Later, the battalion served in the Middle East, Greece, Crete, and Syria before being withdrawn to Australia to fight against the Japanese in New Guinea and Borneo.


 * T48 Gun Motor Carriage (Tomandjerry211) : The third of Tomandjerry's A-class promotions for the month, this article looks at a US-designed self-propelled anti-tank gun. Developed for the British under the Lend Lease Program utilizing a US-made version of a British gun on an American half-track chassis, the T48 saw the majority of its service with Soviet forces on the Eastern Front during the Second World War after being transferred by Britain at the conclusion of the Western Desert campaign.