Anglo-German rivalry had by 1914, a long history. Since Prussia’s shattering defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, and the resulting unification of Germany, Britain had been forced to acknowledge a new threat from the Continent. Germany was fast becoming the new economic powerhouse of Europe and she had Imperial ambitions. She also had the largest and most formidable army of all the European nations, and one with which the British could not hope to compete. But then Britain was as island and her future safety and security lay in the strength of her navy. The recently crowned Kaiser Wilhelm II, was determined to challenge British naval supremacy, and by the mid-1890’s a full scale arms race between the two countries was underway. Britain was to trump all that had gone before, however, when in 1906 she launched HMS Dreadnought. It was the world’s first fully armoured, all big-gun battleship, and upon her launch, at a stroke, all existing battleships were made redundant and obsolete. The arms race now hotted up as both countries competed to build as many dreadnoughts as possible. So concerned were the British Government by what they perceived as the threat of German militarism that in 1909, they passed a law that guaranteed that the strength of Britain’s Grand Fleet would be maintained at a level half as much again as the next most powerful navy in the world. 

Following the outbreak of war in July, 1914, the clash between the two great navies was eagerly anticipated. But it never materialised. The Germans doubted that they could defeat Britain’s Grand Fleet in a single full-scale engagement. Their strategy was to lure the British into piecemeal actions where they could chip away at her superiority. The only major confrontation had occurred off the Dogger Bank on 24 January, 1915, when the two Battle-Cruiser Squadrons had clashed and in a brief encounter the German ship Blucher had been sunk with heavy loss of life for only minimal British casualties, confirming the Germans worst fears. They, therefore, focused their energies on submarine warfare and the disruption of Britain’s trade routes. Unrestricted submarine warfare was temporarily brought to a halt, however, in April, 1915, following the sinking of the liner Lusitania and subsequent American pressure. The Grand Fleets primary concern was to ensure that Britain’s sea lanes remained open and that Germany’s ports remained blockaded.

Admiral John Jellicoe

As part of their strategy to lure parts of the British Navy into a well-laid ambush, on 16 December, 1914, the German High Seas Fleet had bombarded the North Sea ports of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool. It was an attack that left 137 dead and 592 wounded, and was a humiliation for the British Navy that had failed to defend the British mainland, even if the German’s had been forced to beat a hasty retreat because of the accuracy of fire from the shore batteries, and by reports that the Grand Fleet was on its way.

The Battle of Jutland came about by accident. It just happened that one of the German High Seas Fleets increasingly rare sorties coincided with the Grand Fleet being at sea. 

The two opposing Commanders were very different men. Admiral John Jellicoe was an easy-going man who was cautious by nature He felt the burden of his responsibilities but was a proficient seaman who was a more astute strategist than he was tactician. The German Admiral Reinhard Scheer, by contrast, was a stern disciplinarian who was rarely known to smile. He had great faith in the abilities of his ships and the resourcefulness of their crews but he doubted his navy’s capacity to defeat the British Grand Fleet in a large one off encounter. Instead, he took the offensive and tried to goad the British into small-scale but costly engagements. But neither Jellicoe nor Scheer were to fire the first shots. That honour fell to the Commander of the British fast Battle-cruiser Squadron David Beatty and his German counterpart, Fritz Ritter von Hipper.

Admiral David Beatty

David Beatty, who was in British eyes to be the hero of Jutland, was by no means a great Admiral, but he was brave, dashing, and well-connected. He had positioned his four battleships, the most powerful ships in the British Navy, too far away to bring their powerful guns to bear and become fully engaged in the battle until it was too late. He also hesitated to fire upon the Germans for a vital ten minutes that had allowed the enemy to find their range. His signalling was also slip-shod and he failed to keep Jellicoe informed of what was happening. But such was Beatty’s nature that he would have attacked the Germans in a row-boat. It was to transpire that his first order was to steer two points nearer the enemy. His next, as his ships came under salvo after salvo of accurate German fire, was to steer two points away.

The engagement started when both sides dispatched two cruisers to investigate the Danish steamer N J Fjord that just happened to be steaming between the two fleets. Stumbling upon one another both sides opened fire. It was 15.47 on the afternoon of 31 May, 1916, the Battle of Jutland had begun.

In typical fashion Admiral Beatty steamed at full speed toward the sound of the guns. But it wasn’t long before things started to go wrong. At 1600 hours, just 12 minutes into the battle., HMS Indefatigable blew up and sank in just 90 seconds taking 1,019 crewmen with her, only 2 survived. Twenty five minutes later the Queen Mary likewise explodes taking 1,266 crewmen to their deaths with only 9 survivors, prompting Beatty to remark, ” their is something wrong with our bloody ships today.” Beatty’s own flagship, HMS Lion, was only saved from a similar fate by a mortally wounded Royal Marine Officer who ordered that the magazines be flooded. For more than an hour the two sides pounded away at one another, but superior German gunnery and design faults with the British ships had taken their toll. By 16.46, Admiral Beatty had turned his ships away, the first phase of the battle had finished. In total the British ships hit their targets 28 times but had received 92 in return and lost two battle cruisers with considerable loss of life.

Earlier, at 16.30, HMS Southampton reported sighting the main German Battle fleet. It was the first time that the British had known that the German High Seas Fleet had been at sea. Learning of this, Beatty sped away from Hipper hoping to lure the German Navy into range of the powerful British guns.

As the two fleets advanced upon each other, a fierce destroyer action was taking place. The British sank 2 German torpedo boats and put out of action the Battle-cruiser Seydlitz which had been hit several times, was taking on a great deal of water, and was listing severely. In turn, the British destroyers Nestor and Nomad were both sunk with the formers Captain Barry Bingham, being awarded the Victoria Cross. By now individual actions were occurring all over. The Battle-cruiser Warspite was hit 13 times and left severely damaged. HMS Warrior was put out of action and had to be abandoned. Admiral Hipper’s flagship, the Lutzow, was battered almost into submission by the guns of the Inflexible and Lion.

Seeing the German Armoured Cruiser Wiesbaden ablaze and lying low in the water, HMS Defence rushed to finish her off only to be hit by a volley of shells that ripped her apart. She sank to the bottom with her full complement of 903 men.

By 18.00 the two fleets were closing fast but in a swirling mist and amid the gunsmoke they remained largely invisible to one another. At 18.33 the gloom was lit up by a tremendous explosion that sent HMS Invincible to the bottom with 1,020 0f her complement of 1,026. In the meantime, the British destroyer shark, which had earlier been disabled and was static in the water, destroyed a German torpedo boat. Her Captain Loftus Jones, who was later to be awarded the Victoria Cross, refused to abandon ship and had ordered that her guns continue to be fired even when she was descended upon by 4 German destroyers. She was eventually sunk.

Admiral Scheer must have been delighted at how the battle was playing out. His ships had inflicted considerable damage for very little loss. Yet he was about to receive a shock that was to shake him to his very core. Emerging out of the mist he could see the entire Grand Fleet advancing towards him. It would appear that he was totally unaware that they had even put to sea. Events now began to take a turn for the worse. The lead German ship, the Konig was hit 7 times. The British were at last finding their range, and the German formation began to break apart as the Markgraf, Kaiser, Grosser Kurfurst, and Heligoland were all hit without the British sustaining any punishment in return. As darkness descended and under the weight of the British guns the pressure began to tell. Admiral Scheer’s greatest fear seemed to coming to fruition. His line was in some disarray and though his ships had performed well in individual actions he feared being crushed by the British Behemoth. Worse still, because of their position they were silhouetted against a setting sun whereas Jellicoe’s ships would be shrouded in darkness. The preservation of his fleet was now his priority, he decided to turn and run for home.

At 19.17, Scheer decided to turn away. He ordered his destroyers to launch a series of torpedo attacks, and his Battle-cruiser Squadron, no longer led by Hipper who had been forced to abandon his heavily damaged flagship, to form a screen to cover his escape. In what became known as the death-ride, his Battle-cruisers sustained a fearful battering, with the Derflinger alone being struck 14 times. In total 37 high calibre British shells found their target suffering only 2 in return. Even so, they did their job and behind a dense smokescreen, Scheer was able to slip away. It was by now 19.40 and darkness was quickly descending.

Despite the German destroyers failing to hit any of their targets, Jellicoe was disinclined to continue the pursuit. Wary of the German’s night-fighting abilities and concerned that mines may have been laid in his path he also turned away. The fighting continued, however, with the British sinking a German destroyer and torpedo boat. As darkness shrouded the North Sea the King George V and Wiesbaden exchanged the final shots of the greatest naval engagement between surface ships in history.

In purely statistical terms the Battle of Jutland had been a German victory. The British had lost 3 Battle cruisers, 3 Armoured Cruisers, 8 Destroyers, and had suffered 6,094 killed and 504 wounded. The Germans 1 pre-dreadnought Battleship, 1 Battle-cruiser, 4 Light Cruisers, 1 Destroyer, and 5 Torpedo Boats. They had also lost 2,551 men killed and 507 wounded. In the Reichstag the outcome was pronounced to be great German victory, but they never again ventured out of port to confront the British Navy. When ordered to do so in October, 1918, on what would have effectively been a suicide mission, they refused to do so. The revolution that started in Kiel would spread to all the major cities of Germany and less than two weeks later lead to the abdication of the Kaiser and the end of the war.

The British response to the battle was more muted and Admiral Jellicoe came in for increasing criticism. Yet his handling of the battle had been tactically sound. He twice Crossed the T of the High Seas Fleet thereby bringing all of his guns to bear on the enemy. He had sent the Germans scurrying back to port never to emerge again and pose a similar threat. But this was simply not deemed good enough. The British had expected another Trafalgar and the utter destruction of the German Fleet. In November, 1916, he was promoted to First Sea Lord, with Beatty getting his command. A little later he was sacked from his post.

The criticism that was heaped on Jellicoe for not pressing home his attack and his subsequent treatment was in large part unfounded. For as Winston Churchill was to later remark, ” Jellicoe, was the only man on either side who could have lost the war in an afternoon.” The day that could have decided everything, had in the end decided nothing.   

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French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is an elite military unit comprised of foreigners employed for service outside of France. The Legion was first formed in 1831 by an act signed by the War Minister at that time, Marshal Soult. The Legion is commanded by French officers.

Frech Foreign Legion History

The Legion is a polyglot collection of romantics, refugees, roués and the rootless. Together, they form one of the best fighting units in history.

 Foreigners were not allowed to enlist in the French army, so the Legion was formed both to harness the capabilities of the many foreigners who were entering France at that time and to provide France with additional manpower to grow and protect the French empire.

The Legionnaires found their first years hard. They were sent to protect the outposts that the French army wanted to avoid.

When it was first formed, it consisted of seven battalions, organized into groups by nationality but that format was soon discarded.

The Legion was first sent to Algeria and in the war against Abd al-Quadir, successfully repelled several raids.

The men next fought bravely in the war for Queen Cristina of Spain, against her uncle Don Carlos but after fighting even against men they recognized in the enemy ranks, the men who survived the fierce fighting found their Legion disbanded in 1838.

In 1841, a new Legion was formed which included new members as well as survivors from the old Legion. From this point on the Legionnaires found themselves organized into different units, with one unit fighting in a different location and in an entirely different campaign from the next.

Image via Wikipedia

French Foreign Legion Army

Currently, about 24% of new recruits to the Legion are French citizens. Legionnaires from other countries can receive French citizenship after serving in the Legion for five years. Men from all over the world join the Legion, for many different reasons, including adventure, or to leave their past behind.

The French Foreign Legion owns its own vineyards in France, which are located in the village of Puyloubier. The vineyard is maintained by retired Legionnaires.

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King Richard I

In 1199 AD, King Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionhearted, paused to admire an arrow that had been fired directly at him at Chalus.  It hit him in the shoulder and as he lay dying of blood poisoning, he complimented the bowman on his skill.

In 1632, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden refused to wear any steel body armor at the Battle of Lutzen.  He announced that “The Lord God is my armor!”  He was killed in battle that day.

In 1836, during the battle of Chillianwalla, the nearsighted Brigadier Pope led his cavalry in the wrong direction, and charged AWAY from the battlefield.

Mexican General Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna and his troops found themselves in a wooded area known to be full of Texan soldiers in 1836.  Despite the fact that they were in enemy territory, he and his troops insisted on taking their usual afternoon siesta.  While Santa Anna and his men snoozed quietly, the Texans attacked and killed the entire Mexican army in less than twenty minutes.

Stonewall Jackson

General “Stonewall” Jackson was a strict Presbyterian who refused to fight on a Sunday.  He spent the entire day praying alone during the thick of the battle of Mechanicsville and refused to speak to anyone, even though he was repeatedly asked for advice.  As a result, his troops suffered heavy casualties.

John Sedgwick

Major General John Sedgwick was unimpressed by Confederate sniper fire one day in 1864, during the battle of Spotsylvania.  He was shot and killed during mid-sentence as he scoffed at his men by saying (and not finishing), “What! What! Men dodging this way from a single bullet!  I am ashamed of you!  They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist…..”  and was promptly shot and killed.

The President of Paraguay, Francisco Lopez, waged a hopeless war in 1829 while battling on three fronts against his neighboring enemies Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.  He was outnumbered ten to one by the combined armies, so  Lopez decided to improve his odds by sending in a battalion of twelve year old boys wearing false beards.

Lord Chelmsford

British Lord Chelmsford invaded Zululand, believing that the Zulus would not fight back.  At Isandlwana, 1,300 British troops were slaughtered, leaving only fifty five survivors.

Erwin Rommel

Erwin Rommel, Hitler’s commander, was entrusted with the defense of France’s channel coast against a possible Allied invasion.  On the eve before D-Day, he decided that it was so quiet that he might as well go home and celebrate his wife’s birthday.

Source

One of two huge guns stationed at Fort Casey, Coupeville, Washington. The original guns were melted down and recycled after WWII. Today, it is part of an historical landmark and is opened to the public as a state park.

This is the underground home of Fort Casey’s huge military guns. The guns were built on a retractable system. Construction started in 1897 and went into full operation in 1901. In 1903, airplanes became part of technology making this military site with its retractable guns obsolete. These guns were not portable and therefore were of no use to US Naval Battleships.

During WWII, most of these guns were removed and send to Germany and the Pacific and mounted on railcars as part of a mobile artillery system.

Seaplane Base, Oak Harbor, Washington

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According to Freeman (2005), the Seaplane Base in Oak Harbor Washington began its history in 1941 in response to a request for a naval installation to arm and refuel naval seaplanes in the defense of the Puget Sound Region in the western pacific edge of Washington State. The seaplanes remain there until early 1970 when the remaining squadron of naval seaplanes relocated to Hawaii.

The Seaplane Base located in my home town of Oak Harbor, Washington was commissioned into service in 1942. Its mission was to provide maintain, support and operate military facilities. Its mission also included vehicle maintenance, aviation maintenance, paint and boat shop services.

For another interesting article visit: Economic Advantages and Disadvantages: Aviation Maintenance and Repair Industry http://www.socyberty.com/Economics/Economic-Advantages-and-Disadvantages-Aviation-Maintenance-and-Repair-Industry.75704.

See my friends at http://christonecipher-friends.blogspot.com

also see:

http://socyberty.com/history/battle-of-trenton-2/ 

http://socyberty.com/history/george-washington-his-legacy/

Born in Folkestone on April 28, 1888, Walter Tull was the grandson of a slave and the son of a Barbadian carpenter who married a white British woman.  His mother died when he was seven years old and he lost his father when he was nine, so he and his brother were raised in a Methodist orphanage in Bethnal Green, London. 

Tull loved playing football from a young age and played for his orphanage side.  According to an orphanage logbook, Walter was “a stoic, laid-back character, but single-minded.”  After completing school, he started an apprenticeship as a printer and in 1908, was signed by a local side called Clapton FC, where he played inside-forward.

Over the next year, Tull’s career took off as he won the FA Amateur Cup, the London Amateur Cup and the London Senior Cup.  Soon after, he was signed by Tottenham Hotspur, becoming only the third known black footballer at the top level.

Despite his talent, Tull, was subject to racial abuse from the terraces.  After a match between Bristol City and Spurs in 1909, a journalist for the Football Star Newspaper reported;

“A section of the spectators made a cowardly attack on him in language lower than Billingsgate [London's fish market]“….Let me tell those Bristol hooligans that Tull is so clean in mind and method as to be a model for all white men who play football… In point of ability, if not actual achievement, Tull was the best forward on the field.”

It is difficult to tell how much racism he had to put up with from rival fans but considering he was routinely called “darkie” by the press and the times he lived in, it can be speculated that he would have suffered a considerable amount of abuse.

In1911, Tull signed for Northampton Town, scoring nine goals in one-hundred and ten appearances from the half back position.  However Tull’s career came to an abrupt halt with the outbreak of World War One when he joined the Seventeenth (1st Football) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment.  In 1915, he arrived in France with his battalion and fought a number of battles and was involved in The Battle of the Somme from the first day.

Although army regulations of the time forbade non-whites becoming officers, Tull’s leadership qualities were utilised by the army and by 1917, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant after attending the officer’s training school at Gailes in Scotland.

On March 25, 1918, when he was 29 years old, Tull was leading his men in an attack on a German trench on the Somme in France.  While in ‘no man’s land’, he was hit by a machine gun bullet that pierced his neck and exited just under his right eye.  His men were unable to recover his body and today he has no marked grave.  After his death, he was recommended for a Military Cross but never received it.   One obituary said of him, “An officer and a gentleman, every inch of him”.

Tull’s story was forgotten for nearly eighty years until brought to light by football historian Phil Vasili.  More recently, he has had a BBC play made about him, two biographies written about him, had various Northampton buildings named after him,  a memorial garden has been built outside Northampton Towns ground and his career is now being taught in schools.

Although Tull showed the skills he needed to become first a successful footballer, then an officer in the British army from a young age, his future was by no means certain.  The fact that a working class boy raised in an orphanage managed to achieve so much, shows the level of character he had.  The fact that he did it as a black man, in arenas usually exclusively for white men shows that he is a forgotten heroes of black, football and military history and deserves the attention he is now receiving.

Unlike the Mongols, the Scythians came from the western part of the Steppe area and spoke a language very similar to Iranian. Yet their loose trousers, capes and jackets were similar to those worn down the centuries by subsequent tribal groupings. So too were the composite bows they used – although they did have a sharper angle to them, like, so it is said, Cupid’s bow. Made from a central wooden stave covered on one side by sinew and the other by bone, the composite bow was a significantly superior weapon to the self or simple bow used in western Europe, which was made from a single piece of wood. Further, the ability that the Scythians had in shooting their bows while manoeuvring their short, mobile horses, was unmatched in Europe. Swooping down upon the enemy, loosing a cloud of arrows and then running away at speed were tactics that defeated enemies for more than a millennium.

The Scythians attacked the Medes and took their territory, bringing them into contact with the Persians. These too were defeated and the Scythian empire was created in largely Persian territory. They came into contact with the Greeks and even sent a few mercenaries to fight alongside the Athenians. Perhaps our best source of invention about the Scythians – apart from archaeology – is Herodotus, who devoted one whole book of his Histories to a description of the people. He noted how hardy they were and how strong – although on the whole he was of the opinion that they were disreputable barbarians with little to show that was worthy of respect.

Along with other nomads, the Scythians had a semi-symbiotic relationship with the settled people in the land surrounding the Steppes. Pure nomadism is not a sustainable way of life – trade or raiding is essential for nomads to obtain the other items they need to survive. Indeed, many nomads actually have pursued some types of agriculture themselves when necessary. From the perspective of the settled peoples, the nomads appeared to be parasitic terror-mongers of no real humanity or value. History is, by and large, written by the settled peoples and, as a result, the reputation of the nomads has been rather poor.

Just as happened with the semi-legendary Cimmerians before them, the Scythians eventually faded away from history when their military ability was overcome. Living by the bow meant that the nomadic Scythians eventually died by, if not the bow, then the sword.