Military Despatches Vol 13 July 2018 Ten misconceptions about WWII Things about WWII that you thought were true Military Manifestations The most haunted battlefields and military installations

The plot(s) to kill Hitler There were at least 28 attempts to assassinate Hitler

Battlefield - Operation Babylon The surgical airstrike on Iraq’s nuclear reactor

Heinrich Himmler Hitler’s most loyal sycophant

For the military enthusiast Military Despatches July 2018 What’s in this month’s edition

Feature Articles 6 Ten misconceptions about World War II Click on any video below to view Ten things about World War II that most people be- lieve. But how many of them are misconceptions? How much do you know about movie theme 14 Military Manifestations songs? Take our quiz Matt O’Brien takes a closer look at things that go and find out. bump in the night. 18 A matter of survival - Facing disaster Page 6 Part three in our new survival series. This month we Hipe’s Wouter de The old South African look at survival stresses and the basics needs for sur- Goede interviews former Defence Force used vival 28’s gang boss David a mixture of English, Williams. Afrikaans, slang and 20 Rank Structure - WWII Japanese Military techno-speak that few This month we look at the Japanese Military in World outside the military War II. could hope to under- stand. Some of the terms Quiz were humorous, some 23 That’s our motto Page 14 were clever, while others This month we give you a motto (in English) and you were downright crude. tell us who it’s associated with. 24 Sea Cadets show UCT students how to lead Part of Hipe’s “On the By Sinethemba Ncetani, UCT Geology student & couch” series, this is an Groote Schuur Residence 2018 Subwarden. interview with one of author Herman Charles 26 The plot(s) to kill Hitler Bosman’s most famous Even before the Nazis came to power in 1933 there characters, Oom Schalk were at least four attempts on Adolf Hitler’s life. From Page 26 Lourens. Hipe spent time in the time Hitler came to power until he committed sui- A taxi driver was shot cide on 30 April 1945, there were at least 28 assassi- dead in an ongoing Hanover Park, an area nation attempts on his life. We look at some of them. war between rival taxi plagued with gang organisations. violence, to view first- Cover Photograph hand how Project Under the cover of smoke, members of the SANDF Ceasefire is dealing with launch an attack on an enemy strong point. The photo the situation. was taken by the editor during a training exercise near Cape Town. Hipe TV brings you videos ranging from actuality to humour and every- thing in between. Interviews, mini-documentaries and much more. Check out Hipe TV and remember to like, comment, share and subscribe. 00 3 Head-to-Head 32 Main Battle Tanks This month we look at the Main Battle Tanks of ten countries. Infamous Figures Editor’s PUBLISHER 38 Heinrich Himmler Sitrep Hipe Media One of Hitler’s most loyal sycophants and the archi- tect of the Holocaust, yet at the end he would spec- Page 32 EDITOR tacularly betray his master. Matt Tennyson PHOTOGRAPHER Forged in Battle Regine Lord ell my eye surgery They were started by a citizen 44 The Hunter Group was a huge success force officer who was the OC CONTRIBUTORS This year the Hunter Group, which later went on to W(thanks for asking). of the South African Irish Regi- Paul J. Els, Raymond Fletch- become 2 Reconnaissance Commando, would have Being able to now see out of ment. er, Ryan Murphy, Sinethemba turned 50 years old. both eyes has been amazing. Commandant Gil van Kerck- Ncetani, Matt O’Brien, Matt It’s hard to believe that one hoven got the idea back in Tennyson, Lt Cdr Glenn von Battlefield Page 38 year ago we published the very 1966 to put together a specially Zeil. first issue of Military Despatch- trained group of men. A group 48 Operation Babylon While most of the world condemned Israel’s attack es online. For those that may that was trained to deal with the Military Despatches is pub- Page 48 on the Iraqi nuclear facility at al-Tuwaitha , Operation have missed any issues of the new type of guerilla warfare. lished on-line every month. Babylon actually did the world a huge favour. magazine, you can now find In 1968 the Hunter Group was The articles used in Military all of them at www.hipe.co.za. formed. They were, in essence, Despatches are copyrighted Just click on the underlined link the SADF’s first Special Forces and may not be used without above to get access to them. unit. Reviews prior permission from the edi- 52 Game Review - Empire: Total War You may notice a small Paul J. Els, the author of tor. With bold ambitions to expand his empire Matt O’ change this month. In the past the article, has written a book The views stated in this mag- Brien sets out to conquer Europe, the Americas, and 12 issues we looked a various about the history of the group, azine do not necessary reflect India. That’s if he doesn’t get lost at sea again. “Famous Figures in Military Saturday Soldiers - The Hunt- the views of Hipe!, the editor, History”. These have featured er Group. You can find out how the staff, or Hipe Media. four people from World War to order a copy of the book on 54 Movie Review - The Longest Day I, eight from World War II, as page 47. Hipe! A World War II epic. well as a dog (Just Nuisance). That’s about it for this month. P.O. Box 31216, Tokai, 7966 This month we decided to I trust that all of you in the Cape South Africa. 55 Book Review - “Mad Mike” Hoare: The Legend look at not a famous figure, but are enjoying the rain. Let’s hope In this biography Chris Hoare separates the man rather an infamous one - Hein- we get a bit more of it before email from the myth in a way only a son can, rich Himmler. So in the future then end of winter. [email protected] we will also look at people that may not have been the nicest Until next month. Back Issues The Lighter Side characters - infamous rather Page 56 To view any back issues of 56 Nice to meet you than famous. But all still an im- Military Despatches, go to One things was certain for anyone that did national portant part of military history. www.hipe.co.za or click here. There’s an interesting article service - you would get to meet a lot of new and inter- on page 44 this month. In our Matt esting people. “Forged in Battle” section we look at the Hunter Group. 63 Quiz Answers 4 5 the illusion that what happened Top Ten between 1939 and 1941 was a complete new form of warfare. They are wrong on both ac- counts. One needs to look at the 10 misconceptions bigger picture. In his article “Blitzkrieg: about World War II Revolution or Evolution”, Ten things about World War II that most people believe. But how many Weichong Org states, “To the of them are misconceptions? Germans however, blitzkrieg was never a revolution, but the incremental development istory is sometimes de- look good and your opposition • The German SS in World of concepts and doctrines that fined as a continuous, look bad. War II, with their blonde originated from the campaigns Hsystematic narrative of Often what we take to be his- hair and blue eyes, were the of Frederick the Great, Blücher, past events as relating to a par- tory was actually propaganda. cream of Aryan manhood. BLITZKRIEG: It was not a revolution, but rather an evolution. Moltke the Elder, and those of ticular people, country, period, Winston Churchill also said, “In • German war crimes during the First World War.” person, etc., usually written as wartime, truth is so precious World War II were commit- As for the thing about the Ger- Frieser goes on to say that A closer look at Prussian and a chronological account. that she should always be at- ted only by the SS. man SS being the cream of Ar- the so-called Blitzkrieg-Denken German military history shows It is through history that we tended by a bodyguard of lies.” • The US Navy developed yan manhood. More than 60% (Blitzkrieg concept) developed a number of themes that run know so much about past events Joseph Goebbels. Nazi pol- technology to make ships of them were not even German. only after the campaign in the through it. First is the focus and people. This is also true itician and Reich Minister of invisible, in the “Philadel- Let’s take a slightly more in West. on short wars won by decisive when it comes to military histo- Propaganda of Nazi Germany phia Experiment”. depth look at some other mis- The word Blitzkrieg was battles. Second is the concept ry. from 1933 to 1945, also had • Adolf Hitler’s real name was conceptions about World War rarely used by the Germans be- of surprise, mobility and oper- Yet often the narrative of some interesting things to say actually Adolf Schicklgru- II. fore the war. There are very few ational manoeuvre. There is a past events may not accurate- about it. ber. times it is even mentioned in strong emphasis on outflanking ly relate what really happened. “If you tell a lie long enough, All very interesting, but with German Blitzkrieg pre-war literature and even then the enemy. Third is an aggres- Even eyewitness accounts will it becomes the truth.” “The one slight flaw - none of the The world blitzkrieg (light- it isn’t clearly defined. sive stance, even in defence. sometimes differ. Oral history bigger the lie, the more it will above is true. They are all mis- ning war) is a word synonymous Even after the war Heinz Gu- If you take the above into ac- that was passed down from gen- be believed.” “The truth is the conceptions that many people with World War II. Especially derian, considered the father of count, then blitzkrieg was an eration to generation often be- greatest enemy of the State.” believe to be true. the early German victories at the Panzer Army, mentioned evolution rather than a revolu- comes distorted over time. And These were all quotes from For example, during World the start of the war. the word only once in his mem- tion. You also have to consid- sometimes the narrative can be Herr Goebbels. War II nearly 70% of American The Battle of France was won oirs. “After the initial success er that when the Third Reich downright lies. Yet there are some things we troops were drafted into service. in six weeks, something the of rapid blows at the beginning went to war, its army’s latest It was Winston Churchill that know without doubt that are Yet during the Vietnam War, the Germans could not achieve dur- of the Second World War, our general field manual had been said, “History is written by the true. Take the following facts so-called “bad war”, two-thirds ing the entire First World War opponents spoke about Blitz- published in 1933. It had been victors.” Now it stands to rea- from World War II. of American troops were volun- from 1914 to 1918. Yet there krieg.” Another famous panzer written before rearmament had son that if you’re the one writ- • According to most Ameri- teers. was never any blitzkrieg strat- general, Erich von Manstein, gained momentum and before ing the history of something, cans, World War II was the egy. never used the word once in his the first panzer division was es- you’re going to make yourself “good war” and most Amer- According to Karl-Heinz memoirs. tablished. ican troops were volunteers. Frieser in “The war in the West, Yet not only does the notion So the whole concept of • France meekly surrendered 1939-1940: an unplanned Blitz- of a German Blitzkrieg concept “blitzkrieg” was as traditional to Germany in 1940 because krieg”, he states: “the 1940 or doctrine survive in popular as it gets. It was nothing more the French were cowards. campaign in the West may be consciousness and popular lit- than good old fashioned Prus- • US President Franklin D. considered the Blitzkrieg par erature, it persists with many sian bewegunskrieg (manoeu- Roosevelt knew that the at- excellence. In reality, however, professional historians too.. vre warfare). It was merely or- tack on Pearl Harbour was it was not at all planned as such. Many people believe that ganised and merged with new going to take place. He al- Hitler was counting, instead on blitzkrieg was something com- technologies such as the panzer, lowed it to happen as a pre- aircraft and, probably most im- Joseph Goebbels Winston Churchill a years-long struggle, as in the pletely new or at least revolu- text for war. First World War.” tionary. Many are also under portantly, the radio. 6 7 Operation Sealion when the Japanese bombed If the Germans had won the Pearl Harbour. Battle of Britain, they would Yet many historians are of the have been able to launch Un- opinion that World War II start- ternehmen Seelöwe (Operation ed earlier than September 1939. Sealion), the amphibious inva- Some believe it started with sion of Britain, and the British the Soviet-Japanese fighting in would have been faced with no Mongolia in May 1939. Oth- choice but to surrender. A mis- ers suggest even earlier starting conception if ever there was points such as the beginning of one. the Second Sino-Japanese War Let’s start off by looking at in 1937, the Italian invasion of the Battle of Britain. Some Abyssinia in 1935, or even the people still think that it was a Japanese invasion of Manchu- close call. On 15 September the ria in 1931. Germans launched Adlertag, ENGLAND IS THAT WAY: Barges are packed with supplies in MECHANISED MIGHT: The Germans actually had more horses However, as Churchill said, which was the first day of Un- preparation for Operation Sea Lion. than they did vehicles. a war’s victors are always the ternehmen Adlerangriff (“Op- ones who later write its history. eration Eagle Attack”), which Yet even if the Germans had In short, the Germans lacked zis considered untermenschen Nazi concentration camps were And so it stands to reason that was the codename of a military won the Battle of Britain it ships, had untested amphibious (subhuman) were fair game to managed by the SS-Totenkop- the world powers on the win- operation by Nazi Germany’s would have made little differ- vehicles, no experience in am- them. fverbände (the Skull Units, SS- ning side of World War II ulti- Luftwaffe (German air force) ence to the success of Opera- phibious landings, and no am- After the invasion of Poland TV). From 1941 they operat- mately pegged the start of the to destroy the British Royal Air tion Sealion. phibious logistics. in September 1939, the se- ed the extermination camps as war as the moment when they Force (RAF). When the Allies landed in Considering that the US and cret Action T4 euthanasia pro- well. got involved. By 16 September the Ger- Normandy on D-Day in 1944, the British, that had plenty of gramme – the systematic mur- The prime function of the man believed they had driven it took the Americans and Brit- experience in all of those areas, der of German, Austrian, and vernichtungslager (extermi- German Army Mechanisation RAF Fighter Command down ish years to prepare. These forc- still battled on D-Day, it is high- Polish hospital patients with nation camps) or Todeslager The German Army was high- to 177 effective fighters. The es included two of the leading ly likely that Operation Sealion mental or physical disabilities – (death camps) was genocide. ly mechanised. Just look at any true number was actually 300% naval powers at that time. They would have succeeded unless was initiated by the SS in order While tens of thousands died photographs or film footage of higher. The RAF could still put had experience in amphibious the Royal Navy had somehow to eliminate Lebensunwertes at camps such as Bergen-Bels- the German’s rolling into Rus- 216 Spitfires and 356 Hurri- landings and had gained a na- disappeared. Leben (life unworthy of life), en, Oranienburg, Ravensbrück, sia and you will see panzers, as- canes into the air. val and air superiority, close to a Nazi designation for people Sachsenhausen, Mauthausen, sault guns and halftracks as far In the “Cambridge History supremacy, in the Normandy The Holocaust’s death toll who had no right to life. Dachau, and Buchenwald, these as the eye can see. Yet this is of the Second World War. Vol- region. And D-Day was still no As much as some people may In 1941, the experience were not considered by the Na- another misconception. ume 1, John Ferris and Evan walk in the park. try and deny that it ever hap- gained in the secretive killing zis to be extermination camps. Most of the photographs Mawdsley wrote in their article So even if the Germans had pened, the Holocaust was a re- of these hospital patients led to A total of eight camps were and footage was for propagan- “The war in the West, 1939- gained air superiority they ality. It is unequivocally clear the creation of extermination built with the specific pur- da purposes in which the Ger- 1940. The Battle of Brtain?” would have had no chance of that approximately six million camps for the implementation pose of genocide. They were mans, quite understandably, – “These assumptions shaped gaining naval superiority. Jews perished at the hands of of the Final Solution. Auschwitz–Birkenau, Treblin- showed off their best troops and the Luftwaffe’s turn from at- In Summer 1940 the Ger- the Nazis. The Nazis distinguished be- ka, Bełżec, Chełmno, Sobibór, equipment. To illustrate this, tacking airfields and C3I (Com- mans had three cruisers and Yet that figure is not, as many tween extermination and con- Majdanek, Maly Trostinets, and let’s look at the composition of mand, Communications and four destroyers operational. In people believe, the total death centration camps. Concentra- Sajmište. the German Army in June 1941, Intelligence) to London. While stark contrast the British Home toll of the Holocaust. It doesn’t tion or prison camps has been just prior to the invasion of the this was an error, it is less sig- Fleet had five capital ships, one take into account the further five set up in Germany prior to World War II started in 1939 Soviet Union. nificant than is often claimed. aircraft carrier, eleven cruis- millions civilians coming from World War II for people defined Come on, we all know that The number of divisions was Those early attacks inflicted lit- ers and eight destroyers. There many diverse groups including as ‘undesirable’. World War II started on 1 Sep- as follows. tle damage. Had the Germans were also another seven capital communists, Roma, Serbs, Pol- These included camps such as tember 1939 when Germany in- • 21 Panzer divisions. continued them, they would ships, two aircraft carriers, sev- ish intelligentsia, homosexuals, Bergen-Belsen, Oranienburg, vaded Poland. Some Americans • 13 Motorised infantry divi- still have lost, just less quickly en cruisers and 30 destroyers in priests, the disabled, and more. Ravensbrück, and Sachsen- probably believe that it only sions. or badly.” the Mediterranean Fleet. In fact anyone that the Na- hausen. From March 1936, all started on 7 December 1941 • 3 Motorised brigades. 8 9 • 95 Infantry divisions suited and continues to be debated. for all operations. Churchill was a fervent an- • 62 Infantry divisions in ti-communist. He never quite states of lower combat ef- trusted Soviet leader Joseph fectiveness. Stalin and he publicly warned Still not convinced? Let’s of an “iron curtain” of Soviet look at the number of vehicles influence in Europe and pro- for Operation Barbarossa. moted European unity. The German Army assem- He became irrationally hawk- bled 600,000 motor vehicles ish as the war was finally about and 625,000 horses. So there to end. One of his plans was the was more horse power than appropriately named Operation horsepower. Unthinkable in mid-1945. So the Germans were nowhere This mission, obviously nev- near as mechanised as people SINNER OR SAINT? Considered by many to be one of the er executed, would have imme- believe. Once again this was a greatest statesmen, Churchill did have his flaws. diately sent American, British, misconception promoted by the and, craziest of all, re-armed Nazi propaganda machine. HITTING THE BEACHES: Despite what some may believe, is commonly referred to as the Churchill, revered war hero German forces into a full-scale America did not win World War II on their own. Land Lease Act. This act al- There is no doubt that Sir Win- invasion of the Soviet Union. The US won the war lowed the United States to sup- ston Leonard Spencer-Church- Widely considered one of The United States were the Soviet Union. They lost around Commonwealth troops landed port with equipment any coun- ill was a great statesman who the 20th century’s most signif- reason that the Allies won 10 million military personnel, at Gold, Juno, and Sword. try whose defence the President led Britain through World War icant figures, Churchill remains World War II. Well, that’s what and let’s not forget the 13 mil- As for D-Day’s vehicles, both deems vital to the defence of II. But was he a universally re- popular in the UK and Western a lot of Americans will tell you. lion or so civilians. The US, Britain’s warships and landing the United States. vered wartime hero? world, where he is seen as a They beat the Germans, beat on the other hand, lost about craft outnumbered America’s After various incidents be- If Churchill was the beloved victorious wartime leader who the Japanese, led the D-Day in- 400,000 troops. more than four to one, and Brit- tween US warships and German wartime leader some historians played an important role in de- vasion, and dropped the big one As for the Americans leading ish planes accounted for two- U-Boats, Roosevelt announced say, why would he and his Con- fending liberal democracy from - the atomic bomb. D-Day, this is another miscon- thirds of the aircraft. In fact, during his Fireside Chat to the servative Party suffer the single the spread of fascism. There are many reasons why ception. one-third of the supplies used Nation on 11 September 1941, largest defeat in British history Yet others considered him to this notion is false, but let’s go True, the operation’s ultimate by American troops during “That means, very simply, very in the 1945 elections. And this be an imperialist and racist. So straight to the most obvious commander, Dwight D. Eisen- D-Day came from Britain. clearly, that our patrolling ves- was before the treaty with Ja- not everyone revered him as a one. hower, was American. But its So, while the USA played sels and planes will protect pan, bringing World War II to hero. When World War II ended, architect, service chiefs, air an invaluable role in winning all merchant ships – not only an end, was even signed. the Cold War began. There was commander, and naval com- World War II, they didn’t win it American ships but ships of any During World War I he was Operation Barbarossa failed no way that the United States mander were all British. all on their own. flag – engaged in commerce in the First Lord of the Admiralty. because it was delayed and its Western Allies were go- The commander of the naval our defensive waters.” And it He oversaw the Gallipoli Cam- Operation Barbarossa, the ing to write a history of the war forces was Admiral Sir Bertram The US was neutral should be noted that its defen- paign and, after it proved a dis- German invasion of the Soviet that attributed the lion’s share Ramsay. The commander of the Until Japan launched a sur- sive waters were not just the US aster, he resigned from govern- Union could have succeeded if of their victory to their former air forces was Air Marshal Sir prise attack on Pearl Harbour coastline. ment and served in the Royal it had not been delayed. The an- ally who was now their enemy. Trafford Leigh-Mallory. The on 7 December 1941, the Unit- The US ultimately sent the Scots Fusiliers on the Western swer is no, nein and het. More than any other single commander of the land forces ed States was neutral and stayed modern equivalent of $659 bil- Front. Barbarossa failed due to country, the soviet Union was was General Sir Bernard Law out of World War II. Don’t be- lion worth of supplies to over- As British Prime Minister many different factors. But the responsible for the defeat of the Montgomery. All were British. lieve that for one minute. seas allies fighting the war. during World War II, his war- main cause was the assumption Nazis. The ratio of total mili- A total of 52,889 American Let’s look at a law that was Furthermore, it was Ameri- time response to the 1943 Ben- by the Germans that the Sovi- tary losses on the Eastern Front sailors took part in D-Day com- passed in America, as well as a ca’s economic sanctions against gal famine, which claimed an et Union would collapse after a versus the Western Front was pared to 112,824 British sailors. quote from US President Frank- Japan in 1941 that directly pre- estimated three million lives, few weeks. a staggering nine to one. More As for the men landed on lin D. Roosevelt. cipitated Pearl Harbour. In fact has caused controversy, and he While the early gains in ter- than 80% of German military the beaches, 57,500 American In March 1941 Roosevelt an- in late 1941 more than 52% sanctioned the 1945 bombing ritory were significant and the deaths occurred in the east. troops landed at Utah and Oma- nounced an act to promote the of Americans believed there of Dresden, which caused tens Soviets suffered huge losses in This came at a high cost to the ha, while 75,215 British and defence of the United States. It would be a war with Japan. of thousands of civilian deaths men and equipment, it was not 10 11 a decisive blow. The Soviets had both territory and troops to spare. Another factor is that the Germans suffered substantial losses as well. It is important to note that looking at the number of Ger- man losses can be misleading. Barbarossa was started with roughly three million men, but they were not all combat troops. A large number of them were construction troops and others in non-combat roles. Yet a large number of the German losses were experi- enced combat units that had fought in Poland, France, Nor- RULERS OF THE SKY: The Germans had more fighter aces way, Greece and other places. than any other country. So the loss of these troops in 1941 decreased the combat ef- German air aces were better lied planes going after a single fectiveness of the Germans far The records reflect that the fighter. The chances of a new more than the actual loss fig- Germans had more air aces than Allied pilot getting a kill were ures may suggest. any other country. In fact the pretty slim to say the least. Take a look at the figures giv- top 120 aces of the war were all German pilots gained plenty Bush War Books has probably one of the finest en by the German High Com- German. of early war experience. Many collections of military titles available. Especially mand. On 20 June 1941, before Erich ‘Bubi’ Hartmann was of them had cut their teeth in the invasion of the Soviet Un- the top ace of the war with a the Spanish Civil War and the on the South African Border War. ion, the Germans had 136 divi- remarkable 352 kills. But were Battles of France and Britain. sions available that were suited the German aces really better So those that did survive until for all operations. On 30 March than anyone else? the middle and end of the war 1942 they had eight divisions. The reason why the Germans had far more experience than Click here to visit their website. The invasion was originally had more aerial victories than the average Allied pilot. set for 15 May 1941, though it anyone else was explained by So the notion that German was delayed for over a month Gunther Rall, the third highest aces were better is a miscon- in allowing for further prepara- ace of the war with 275 kills. ception. Under the same cir- tions and possibly better weath- German pilots flew until they cumstances Allied pilots would er. died, whereas Allied pilots nor- have probably achieved a simi- It was finally launched on 22 mally returned home after they lar number of kills. June 1941, more than a month had flown a certain amount of later than had been planned. sorties. In conclusion Many believe that if it had been Secondly, to shoot something There are many misconcep- launched on time the Germans down you need to have an en- tions about World War II. Prob- would have not been caught out emy. While German may have ably hundreds of them. by the early onset of the Rus- been short of many things, they These are just ten of them, but sian winter. In reality it would were not short of enemies. they do give food for thought. have made little difference. In Thirdly, when a German short the German Army was plane did show up they were stopped by the Red Army, and normally heavily outnumbered. “War does not determine who is right - only who is left” not the Russian winter. So there would be plenty of Al- 12 00 heard. Later the Society for Par- anormal Research determined Military Manifestations that their notes matched up, al- most to the second, to the events If there are such things as ghosts, lost spirits and supernatural manifestations, then it stands to reason that battlefields will be some of the most haunted places on the planet.Matt O’Brien of the Dieppe Raid, which had takes a closer look at things that go bump in the night. taken place on that exact beach.

ow many of you have met an untimely and often vio- who were led by William, Duke Antietam seen a ghost? Or maybe lent death. of Normandy. Or course William The American Civil War re- you’ve experienced the So let’s take a look at some was better known as William the sulted in the deaths of between H 785,000 and a million people. strange and supernatural. Then of the most haunted battlefields Conqueror and sometimes Wil- again, maybe you’re convinced and military installations. liam the Bastard. Many of the battles were nota- it’s just a load of malarkey. William defeated Harold and BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS: It looks peaceful ble for the high number of casu- Personally, I’m a bit of a scep- Fort Meigs went on to become the first Nor- enough now, but Antietam Creek was the scene of one of the alties that occurred. The Battle tic. The only spirits I’ve had William Henry Harrison was man king of England. bloodiest battles of the US Civil War. of Antietam was no exception. dealings with normally come in the ninth president of the Unit- An abbey was built on Senlac The battle took place on 17 a bottle marked ‘Bushmills’. ed States. Yet before that he had Hill with the high altar said to 1646. The Second English Civil Dieppe September 1862 at Antietam Yet while I say that, I must been a military man. A general have been placed on the exact War lasted from 1648 to 1649, Before the invasion of Nor- Creek in Maryland. The battle confess that I once did have an to be exact. spot where King Harold was and the Third English Civil War mandy on 6 June 1944, the Al- only lasted four hours and was experience that left me more During the War of 1812 he slain. was fought between 1649 and lies wanted to test the feasibility fought in a very confined area. than a bit perplexed. established Fort Meigs in Ohio. Now building an abbey on 1651. of an amphibious landing on an Yet more than 23,000 men were I was privileged to visit the For over a year he defended it the site of that much bloodshed The three civil wars cost more enemy coastline. killed, wounded or reported Delville Wood South Afri- against British attacks before it was probably not the brightest than 84,000 people their lives. To this end they launched Op- missing. can National Memorial near was finally abandoned and burnt idea. Over the years there have More than 100,000 civilians eration Jubilee, which was also Today, the small road near Longueval in France. down. been numerous bizarre reports. also died as a result of the Eng- known as the Dieppe Raid. Antietam Creek is known as Afterwards I took a walk into In 1974 it was reconstructed Most of the sightings have lish Civil Wars. On 19 August 1942 a force Bloody Lane. And for good rea- the actual woods where the bat- and opened to the public. Since been of ghostly monks rather The Battle of Marston Moor consisting mainly of Canadian son. Visitors have often reported tle had taken place. I stood there then many people have claimed than soldiers. took place on 2 July 1644. The troops, along with some British hearing the sound of gunfire and with my head bowed, trying to to hear cannon fire, muskets, and There are some other claims, Royalists suffered a heavy de- and a few Americans, landed on getting the smell of gunpowder. imagine what it must have been the sounds of fifes and drums such as the high altar bleeding feat, with some 4,000 of them the French coast at Dieppe. The Others claim to have both seen like back in 1916. being played. and a soldier marching through being killed. operation was a spectacular fail- and heard spirits in the area. As I stood there, something Still more people have stated the Great Hall carrying a sword, The Parliamentarians were led ure. Virtually everything sur- strange happened. I didn’t see they hear footsteps and, when but those tales are considerably by Oliver Cromwell. He used From the time they landed at rounding the Battle of Antiet- anything. Nor did I hear any- walking around outside, have less substantiated. the Old Hall as his base of oper- 05h00 until they retreated back am has had reports of haunting, thing out of the ordinary. Yet seen apparitions staring at them ations and, according to legend, across the English Channel at from Burnside’s Bridge, where I was overcome by an over- through the windows. Marston Moor he’s still there to this day. 14h00 they suffered more than Ambrose Burnside’s Union whelming feeling of sadness. I It’s believed that over 500 As we all know, politics can And that’s not even mention- 4,000 casualties. soldiers pushed back the Con- started to sob like a baby. dead American, British, and In- sometimes become a bit heated. ing the fact that, apparently, the Now let’s fast forward nine federates and where the dead Now while I don’t believe dian soldiers are buried in un- Throughout history it has often spirits of the Royalists that were years later to 1951. A pair of were quickly buried in shallow, in things that go bump in the marked graves around and un- led to civil war. slain in the battle still roam the tourists are enjoying their sum- unmarked graves, to the near- night, there are many people derneath the fort. The English actually had three area. mer holiday in Puys, nearby by St. Paul Episcopal Church, that do. And even I have to ad- civil wars in a row, fought main- There have been reports over to Dieppe. At 04h00 they are which was used as a Confeder- mit that there may be more to it Battle Abbey ly about how the government the years of phantom soldiers awakened by what sounded like ate hospital in the aftermath of than meets the eye. If you know your history then should be run. marching in Marston Moor, heavy gunfire. Then there is the battle. If things such as ghosts, spir- you will remember that the Bat- The wars were fought between including possible sightings in small arms fire, shouting voices According to the local leg- its, apparitions and like do ex- tle of Hastings took place in the Parliamentarians (“Round- 1932, 1968, and 1992, when and other sounds of battle. It is ends, the floorboards of the ist, then it makes sense that bat- 1066. heads”) and Royalists (“Cava- people reportedly observed coming from the beach nearby church are so stained in blood tlefields would have their fair King Harold II, along with liers”) long haired, finely dressed sol- their hotel. that not even sandpaper will share of them. After all, most of 7,500 of his Saxons, went up The First English Civil War diers marching along the roads. For the next three hours they take it out. them are places where people against the invading Normans took place between 1642 and document all of the sounds they 14 15 Gettysburg 30,000 individuals died, in to- Fought from 1 July to 3 July tal. The battle is said to have 1863 in the small town of Get- taken place during heavy snow- tysburg in southeastern Penn- fall. sylvania, the Battle of Gettys- Now, it’s reported that, every burg is viewed as the turning seven years, the town of Tow- point for the Union in the Civil ton will experience a similar War. The battle resulted in more heavy snowstorm. If one walks than 50,000 casualties. out into the storm, to the site of Since then almost everyone the battle, they’ll see the two that has visited Gettysburg will armies fighting for a little more have some spooky story to share. than three hours. At the Daniel Lady Farm, DOOMED CITY: If cities can be haunted, then Stalingrad has which served as the Confederate Castle of Good Hope to be a candidate. More than two million people died there in Lastly, we head for Cape field hospital, it is believed that five months of fighting during World War II. more than 10,000 deceased sol- Town and our own Castle of diers still haunt the grounds. Due to the countless shell the battlefield, as well as one Good Hope. Built by the Dutch East India Cashtown Inn, where the first holes, heavy rains and thick soldier who roams the area in a THE CASTLE: Most people that have spent time at the Castle soldier in the Battle of Gettys- mud, the battlefield was diffi- stunned state. will have at least one good ghost story to tell. Company between 1666 and burg was killed, also has some cult to navigate. One wrong slip It’s also reported that birds do 1679, the Castle is the oldest bizarre tales, and the owners and you could disappear into not sing near the burial mounds, lucinations of the battle. One roaming the places where they existing colonial building in claim to have photographic evi- the mud, never to be seen again. due to the creepy atmosphere. grounds keeper says her on-site once lived, fought, and died. South Africa. The Castle was dence of spirits on the premises, Nearly 400,000 would die on home was haunted by a Calvary the centre of civilian, adminis- as well as guests reporting hear- all sides and almost 100,000 Little Bighorn soldier. Towton trative and military activity at ing knocking on doors, lights soldiers who died were never Lieutenant Colonel George Early we mentioned the three the Cape for 150 years and also turning on and off, and doors identified. Armstrong Custer of the US Stalingrad English Civil Wars that took the site of gruesome punish- locking and unlocking them- Now, it’s said the village is 7th Cavalry really knew how to It has often been called one of place between 1642 and 1651. ments, torture and executions. selves. haunted with sounds of bat- pick a fight. the most deadly battles in all of Well, it wasn’t the first time that Obviously this has left a legacy Those are only a small sam- tle, screams, gunfire and oth- Twelve companies of the 7th human history. And with more the English had tried their hand of disturbed and restless spirits. pling of the alleged ghostly er phantom noises that can be Cavalry were involved in a than two million deaths, it cer- at civil War. Most people that spent time sightings, which have also been heard at random times. campaign against the Lakota, tainly earned the title. From May 1455 to August at the Castle will have a ghost reported at the Gettysburg Ho- Northern Cheyenne, and Arap- The battle lasted for just 1485, a total of 30 years, two story or two to tell. Stories have tel and the Baladerry Inn, as Culloden aho tribes. over five months, from 23 Au- English rival branches of the been told of footsteps pacing well as on the battlefields them- The Battle of Culloden marked On 25 and 26 June 1876, five gust 1942 to 2 February 1943. royal House of Plantagenet: the along the battlements between selves. the crushing of the Jacobite Re- companies, a force of about German troops, supported by House of Lancaster (associated the two bastions of Leerdam bellion in the mid-1700s. 700 cavalarymen and scouts, Romanian, Italian, Hungarian with a red rose), and the House and Buren. Passchendaele The Scottish clans were heavi- engaged in battle against the In- and Croatian troops fought the of York (whose symbol was a National servicemen that did The Battle of Passchendaele, ly outnumbered by the troops of dians. Russians for control of the city. white rose), fought for control guard duties at the Castle would also known as the Third Battle Bonnie Prince Charles. The ter- Under the command of Many say that this was where of the throne. It comes as no big refuse to go past the Donker of Ypres, lasted just over three rain did not favour the Scots and Custer, they faced a foe num- Germany lost World War II. surprise to discover that it was Gat (dark hole) dungeon when months between July and No- some reports say that the battle bering around 2,500. In the Bat- Today the city is called Vo- called the War of the Roses. making rounds late at night. vember 1917. was over in under an hour. tle of Little Bighorn, sometimes lograd, named after the Volga Eventually, the wars elimi- They said it felt as if a powerful The Germans were pounded The anniversary of the bat- known as Custer’s Last Stand, River. nated the male lines of both force or vacuum wanted to suck by artillery, with as many as tle is 16 April and it’s said that the cavalry were annihilated. Now, entire sections of neigh- houses. them in. one million rounds being fired. on that day, the ghostly fallen These days hauntings are borhoods in the city are said to One of the bloodiest battles The Germans were up against a soldiers reappear, and sounds widely reported at the sight of be extremely haunted by the of the War of the Roses took If you have any ‘spooky’ sto- force consisting of British, Ca- of battle, including clashing the battle. Visitors say they in- dead. place in early 1461 at Towton. ries from your time in the mili- nadian, New Zealand and South swords, can be heard. Some stantly become overwhelmed It’s reported that the dead As many as 80,000 men were tary, drop us an e-mail and we African troops. Australian forc- tales say individuals have en- with a feeling of hopelessness. have continued living their nor- involved in the battle that lasted will do a follow-up story. es joined in as well. countered fallen soldiers on Others say they experience hal- mal lives as ghostly figures, for 10 hours. Approximately 16 17 A matter of survival - facing disaster Over the next few months we will be running a series of articles looking at survival, something that has always been important for those in the military. This month we look at survival stresses and the basic needs for survival.

he scary thing about dis- • Loneliness and isolation. again there are a number of fac- aster is that it can strike tors that you need to look at be- Tquickly and unexpect- Assessing the situation fore making a decision. edly. One minute everything is Almost every survival situa- Sometimes you will have no all sunshine and roses, the next tion is different and this has to choice but to move. This is es- you’re in a fight for you life. be taken into account when as- pecially true if you are in hos- When facing a disaster it’s sessing the situation. tile territory. ter you are, the better you will you’re in a real situation to try to survival. easy to collapse to the ground The first thing you need to If there is a chance of you survive. it out. It takes a healthy person quite and be consumed by self-pity. look at is the context of the sit- being rescued fairly soon, then Initially you may have to go If you’re going to be travel- a long time to die of starvation. But just giving up or burying uation. This can often be a de- it is often advisable to remain without sleep to ensure that you ling to an area, find out as much This is because the body can your head in the sand and hop- termining factor. where you are. If, for instance, are in a safe location, or you about it as possible. What is use up its stored resources. ing that this bad dream will soon Let’s say, for example, that you were on an aircraft that has may have to make a long march the terrain like? Is water readi- Yet exposure to wind, rain pass is not really an option. That you’re in a light aircraft that has gone down, the pilot would in dangerous conditions. ly available and is it drinkable? and cold can be fatal even in is, if you want to survive. had to make a forced landing have filed a flight plan. You will be working hard to What wildlife can you expect to temperate climates. And death The right attitude can often in the middle of nowhere. Not When the aircraft does not procure food and water. They find in the area. What plants can comes in minutes in the icy wa- be the difference between sur- only has the aircraft been bad- arrive at its destination within will relieve hunger and thirst, you eat or use as medicine? Is ter of the poles. So food is rare- viving and dying. ly damaged, it caught fire and a specific time period, a search but finding them will tire you the area populated and are the ly the first priority. A healthy, well-nourished has burnt out. Congratulations, operation will be launched. The and you will need to find ade- locals friendly or hostile? Even in those areas where person can physically tolerate you’re in a survival situation. first place they will begin the quate shelter to enable you to Do you know how to trap or food is difficult to find, there far more than we think. Often Now let’s look at the same search is along the flight path rest and recover from your ef- hunt wildlife? Would you be are usually other problems to when you think you’ve reached situation in a different context. that was filed. forts. There is a possibility that able to skin and cook whatever face first. Shelter will often be the end of your tether, you will You’re a member of the armed In many mountain and wilder- you will have to deal with inju- you catch? the prime necessity in extremes find that the body can still keep forces in a light aircraft that has ness areas, hikers are required ries. This is where training and Would you be able to build a of climate or temperature. And going. had to make a forced landing in to sign a register. This will of- knowledge kicks in. shelter that will keep you warm this is not just in the frozen po- Even a sick or injured person the middle of nowhere - behind ten contain contact details, how and dry in the wet, or out of the lar regions or baking deserts, can handle and recover from enemy lines. Not only do you many are in your party, where Knowledge sun? but even for hikers trapped by seemingly impossible situa- have a survival situation to con- you are going, and when you It was Abraham Verghese Ideally you should practice mist on a hillside. The need for tions. A lot depends on self-con- tend with, but you’re in hostile expect to get there. When you that said, “Knowledge is pow- doing these things before you fire is closely linked to the need fidence and determination. territory. leave you are required to sign er.” When it comes to surviv- need to do them for real. for shelter. Trust me when I say that the out. If a person or group is over- al, knowledge may just be the The more information and Water is something that most Survival Stresses heavily armed people that are due, a search will begin. thing that keeps you alive. knowledge you have, the great- of us take for granted. You turn Yet no matter how determined searching for you are not doing They will search the route or An important part of this is er your chances of survival. on a tap, and out comes fresh, you are, you have to realise that so because they want to rescue path that you intended to take. pre-planning. Did you remem- drinkable water. a survival situation will put you you. So staying on or close to the ber to pack your survival tin Basic needs Yet in a survival situation wa- under pressure both physically path is a good idea. and your survival pouch? Is The main elements required ter can often mean the differ- and mentally. You will have to Stay or go? If, however, you are in a sit- everything still in working or- for survival are water, food, ence between life and death. overcome some or all of the fol- Back in 1982 a band named uation where you know there der and has any food or medi- fire and shelter. Their order of You may be a survivor at sea, lowing stresses. The Clash had a hit with a song is little hope of being found or cine expired? importance will depend upon surrounded by water that is • Fear and anxiety. titled “Should I Stay Or Should rescued, you will have to make Do you know how to use the where you happen to be. not drinkable. You may be in a • Pain, illness and injury. I Go?” And in a survival situ- your own way to assistance. items packed in your tin and In the desert or arid regions, place where, unless it rains, no • Cold and/or heat. ation it’s a rather appropriate No matter whether you de- pouch? Can you actually make water will head the list. In cold obvious water is available. • Thirst, hunger and fatigue. song. cide to stay or go, there is a a fire using a flint and striker? regions shelter and fire will be Water is universally impor- • Sleep deprivation. Let’s look at the aircraft crash lot to consider. Physical fitness The best way is to practice be- top of the list. Ordering your tant and in the next article we • Boredom. scenario as an example. Once plays an important part. The fit- forehand and not wait until priorities is one of the first steps will look at finding water. 18 19 Rank Structure - WWII Japan Over the next few months we will be running a series of articles looking at the rank structure of various armed forces. This month we look at the Japanese Military in World War II Rikugun-Taisa Rikugun-Shōshō Rikugun-Chūjō Rikugun-Taishō (Colonel) (Major General) (Lieutenant (General) he Imperial Japanese army was dissolved. the navy shared the same rank General) Army and Navy used the The same officer ranks were designation as that of a colonel Tfollowing ranks before used for both the Imperial in the army: Taisa (colonel), so and during World War II. Japanese Army and Imperial the rank of Rikugun Taisa de- These designs were worn on Japanese Navy, the only dis- noted an army colonel, while shoulders as passants (shoulder tinction being the placement the rank of Kaigun daisa denot- straps) between the years 1911 of the word Rikugun (army) or ed a naval captain. and 1938, then on collars af- Kaigun (navy) before the rank. Gensui-Rikugun-Taishō Daigensui-Rikugun-Taishō terwards until 1945, when the Thus, for example, a captain in (Marshal) (Grand Marshal) Worn with enamel breast badge Imperial Japanese Army Imperial Japanese Navy The colour of the collar tab indicated the corp. Service Branch Colours The branch of the Navy in which non-executive personnel served was indicated by a colour code. For officers, including midshipmen, it was the colour of cloth placed as background to the cuff Infantry Engineer Cavalry stripes, on both sides of the gold lace on the shoulder boards, and as longitudinal piping on the col- lar patches. Midshipmen and cadets wore a coloured anchor on the cap, which cadets wore on the Artillery shoulder boards as well. The branch of enlisted men was denoted by the colour of the Chrysanthe- Medical Supply mum flower on their rank patch; line personnel using the default gold Non-commissioned Officers (NCO) and Warrant Officer Colour Branch Violet Engineering Brown Ship and Engine Construction Purple-Brown Ordnance Construction Nitōhei Ittōhei Jōtōhei Heichō Gochō (Private) (Private First (Superior (Lance Corporal) (Corporal) Red Medical Class) Private) Pale-Green Legal White Paymaster Black Survey Officers Light Blue Aviation and Hydrography Gunsō Sōchō Jun-i Green Chief Carpenters (Warrant Officers) (Sergeant) (Sergeant (Warrant Grey Blue Bandmaster (Warrant Officers) Major) Officer) Non-commissioned Officers (NCO) and Warrant Officer Officers

Rikugun-Shōi Rikugun-Chūi Rikugun-Tai-i Rikugun-Shōsa Rikugun-Chūsa (Second (First (Captain) (Major) (Lieutenant Nitōsuihei Ittōsuihei Jōtōsuihei Suiheichō Nitōheisō Lieutenant) Lieutenant) Colonel) (Seaman (Ordinary (Able Seaman) (Leading (Petty Officer Recruit) Seaman) Seaman) Second Class) 20 21 Quiz That’s our motto Ittōheisō Jōtōheisō Kaigun shōi Heisōchō any military corps, regiments, and units will have official motto’s. Some of them may (Petty Officer (Chief kōhosei (Warrant have unofficial motto’s that are associated with them. This month we give you a motto (in First Class) Petty Officer) (Midshipman) Officer) MEnglish) and you tell us who it’s associated with. Answers on page 65. Officers 1. Through adversity to the stars. 2. Here we are. 3. Always faithful. 4. Service before self. 5. Fly-Fight-Win. Kaigun-shōi Kaigun-chūi Kaigun-daii Kaigun-shōsa Kaigun-chūsa 6. May the Lord of the Water (Ensign) (Sub Lieutenant) (Lieutenant) (Lieutenant (Commander) be auspicious unto us. Commander) 7. This We’ll Defend. 8. Honour and fatherland. 9. To Free the Oppressed. FLYING HIGH: At least one of these motto’s belongs to an air force. terday. 22. Better to die than to be a coward. Kaigun-daisa Kaigun-shōshō Kaigun-chūjō Kaigun-taishō 23. On the sea we are glorious. (Captain) (Rear Admiral) (Vice Admiral) (Admiral) 24. Everything for the Mother- land. 25. March or die.

Gensui-kaigun-taishō Dai-gensui AIRBORNE: Two of these motto’s belong to paratroopers. But (Grand Admiral) (Lord High Admiral) which two? Worn with enamel breast badge 10. By sea, by land. 11. Always ready. 12. Through hardships to the Grand Marshal/Lord High Admiral stars. Dai-gensui (grand marshal) was the highest rank of the Greater Imperial Japanese Army and the 13. All the way. Imperial Japanese Navy from the 1870s to 1945, when the Empire of Japan was dissolved. The rank 14. If you wish for peace, pre- was only ever held by the Emperor of Japan as commander-in-chief of the Empire’s Armed Forces. pare for war. 15. Oorah! Japanese Aviation 16. By strength and guile. Japan did not have an air force during World War II. Japanese pilots flew either for theDai-Nippon 17. We stand on guard for thee. Teikoku Kaigun Kōkū-tai (Japanese Imperial Navy Air Service) or the Dainippon Teikoku Rikugun 18. Swift and Sure. Kōkūbutai (Japanese Imperial Army Air Service). 19. My honour is loyalty. Their ranks would be the same as either the army or navy ranks. 20. Ready for anything. ALL AT SEA: At least one motto is that of a navy. But how many 21. The only easy day was yes- more are there? 22 23 dets organisation is one of youth organisations that provide our SEA CADETS SHOW UCT youth with positive alternative lifestyles away from gangs, alco- STUDENTS HOW TO LEAD hol, drugs, etc. Several students By Sinethemba Ncetani, UCT Geology student & Groote Schuur Residence 2018 Subwarden remarked that they wished that they had had such opportunities, nnually student leaders Pillay was unexpected as he individuals than as a team. The experiences and more positive from University of Cape “took charge” naturally. saying “failing to prepare is pre- role models when growing up. Town Groote Schuur We realised very quickly that paring to fail” became a reality On the return train journey to A our residence in Rondebosch we Residence and Mansions, with a we had left our student lives to us because we failed to pre- few from other residences, par- behind and were now part of a pare as a team and the rest of the discussed how much better our ticipate in a practical leadership “squad”. I was left wondering task became a lesson. nation would be if there were experience hosted by TS Wolte- what had I let myself in for as Having learnt this we chose Units like TS Woltemade in made Sea Cadets at Lakeside. we proceeded to march to the one person from our group to each neighbourhood with adults This opportunity also expos- Unit in a military fashion. lead us, we started listening to who were prepared to teach the es future leaders in their fields Before the “lunch pipe” was each other, gave each other op- youth values, discipline, respect and teamwork. to maritime youth development, sounded the squad were exposed portunities and made sure that PULL TOGETHER: Students take part in a “pulling” exercise the opportunities the Sea Cadets to several of the Letrobaun ac- no one was left behind. With on the vlei. From left to right: Mapulane Makhaba, Sohil Tulsi, “Bravo Zulu” (Well done in enjoy and the practical applica- tivities designed to test our the great assistance of Midship- Mid (SCC) Ruben Pillay, Khanyiso Manganye, and Sinawo Naval language) to the Officer tion of these skills for life and ability to work as a team while man Pillay our next task became Ndlombose Commanding TS Woltemade, career. practically solving a physical a success and this left all of us Lt Cdr (SCC) Paul Jacobs, in with the boats racing one anoth- age and motivation needed to The students’ first task was to challenge. These activities test- happy and boosted the confi- making the Unit and Instructors er and only returned safely due function as a team. plan their journey to ensure that ed our ability to assume a lead- dence we had in ourselves and available to us for a very differ- to an increase in wind. • The spirit of leadership and they arrived on time at Lakeside ership position while learning in our team. ent leadership experience. A The things that we learnt from self-discipline. station to meet the Sea Cadet how to draw the best from each After some nourishing “vict- special thank you to Mid Ruben the experiences were: The above were the sentiments Instructors. With all the excite- member of the “squad”. uals” at lunchtime we were is- Pillay and his senior Sea Cadets • Be on time. that we as students all shared ment and thrill of the unknown After each “evolution” the sued with life jackets and board- for exposing us to practical situ- • Work within the time frame while taking time out to explore we missed our train by 10 min- team was debriefed so that we ed the Saldanha dinghies for ational leadership. given. the Unit, the facilities, including utes and had to wait for 45 min- could improve our practical some “pulling” instruction. For These are lessons that we will • Poor planning results in poor a book and DVD library, boat utes for the next one. leadership and problem solving most of us this was the first taste all take forward in building a execution. shed, workshop and observing We learnt later that “Wakey skills. The engineering students we had had of boarding a boat better nation for the next gener- • Order and a disciplined ap- the Sea Cadets practice their si- Wakey” was an important “evo- amongst the “squad” excelled and were now expected to “pull” ation. proach works better. lent precision drill. lution” and that if a sailor missed as these exercises were exactly it. • The team work created as We noted that all the adult Of- the sailing of his ship he / she what their lecture hall lectures We each had to “man an oar” FOOT NOTE we learnt from our mistakes ficers and Instructors, many ex would be “charged”. were all about. and learn the commands associ- It was through this opportunity recognised the strengths and Sea Cadets themselves, were On our arrival at the Lake- As we had not accomplished ated with pulling and once we that SLt Masego Mosupye, UCT allowable weaknesses in the volunteers who sacrifice their side station we were met by a the first Letrobaun exercise in had “shoved off” we were out Chemical Engineering graduate team. time to make a positive impact disciplined Midshipman Ruben the given time frame, we were there on the vlei leaving us once and then Subwarden at Wool- • Importance of clear com- and a change in these young Pillay and a Senior Sea Cadet. forced to reflect on what we again to the Midshipman and In- sack residence, witnessed what munication in explaining leaders lives. It was evident by our long fac- were doing wrong as a team. structors mercy. Sea Cadets did, and decided to our thoughts to resolving The enthusiasm, positivity, es that we were embarrassed at We knew we were “intelligent” As we slowly found our own join the SA Navy and became the challenges as well as in- respect, discipline and skill that being late (we had been warned enough. personal rhythm and listened to a Sea Cadet Instructor whilst structing others to carry this these youth displayed reminded not to be!) and initially there was We realised that we were used the commands of the “cox” the awaiting her “call up” papers. out practically. us as a slightly older generation some confusion in or “ranks” to working and completing tasks boat pulled more smoothly and Today she works as the firs fe- • Not having access to cell that the values which the Sea as we were unsure what would individually, without having to we could chart a course using male Chemical Engineer for the phones resulted in a target- Cadet corps instils is as much happen next. listen to other people’s ideas. the rudder. We learnt that there Engineering Section maintain- ed focus, no distractions and required today as when the Unit We then relaxed and adopted This became the barrier to our can only be one leader calling ing the Fleet. side conversations – even was founded in 1906. our usual playful and jolly na- success as we wasted more time the time and providing direc- Perhaps there are others like during lunch break The cour- The South African Sea Ca- tures. The response from Mid in trying to figure things out as tion. We ended this adventure her out there ? 24 25 arrested at the train station for vagrancy. The Plot(s) to kill Hitler The police found the gun, a forged letter of introduction, Even before the Nazis came to power in 1933 there were at least four attempts on Adolf Hitler’s life. From the time Hitler came to power until he committed suicide on 30 April 1945, there were and another document that was at least 28 assassination attempts on his life. We look at some of them. addressed to Hitler himself. He was handed over to the here is no denying that by fate to achieve something and converted to communism. Gestapo, who could be very Adolf Hitler was popular great; he would not die, ei- He earned a law degree and persuasive with their interro- with a lot of people. Es- ther by accident or assassina- started organising workers into gation methods, and Bavaud T soon confessed to everything. pecially in Germany. After the tion, until he had fulfilled that labour unions. debacle of World War I many God-given mission. And for the He was appalled at Hitler’s He was sent to the guillotine in regarded him as the saviour of better part of two decades, it ap- rise to power and, when the Na- 1941. Germany. peared as if providence was on zis came to power in 1933, he This, however, was not the Yet when you become one his side. conspired with a handful of oth- end of the story. For some bi- of the most despised tyrants in Even before the Nazis came er communists to kill the new zarre reason the German gov- human history, spread totalitar- to power in 1933 there were at Chancellor. ernment put Bavaud on trial ianism through Europe, orches- least four attempts to kill Hitler. There plot never even got MINUTES TOO LATE: The aftermath of the bomb planted by twice after his death. The first trate the invasion of numerous This included one where they past the planning stages before Georg Elser at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich. It missed killing time in 1955 and a year later in countries, commit countless tried to poison him at the Hotel they were arrested. Römer was Hitler by only 13 minutes. 1956. war crimes, including the at- Kaiserhof in 1930. lucky to escape execution and In his first retrial his death tempted genocide of the Jew- Once Hitler came to power he was thrown into Dachau Black Front. Unfortunately for come straight from the pages of sentence was commuted to five ish people, and basically start a there were many who conspired concentration camp. Hirsch the group had been thor- a Monty Python script. years in prison, which would world war, then you are going to kill or depose him. Most of After his release in 1939, oughly penetrated by German At the 1938 Nuremberg ral- have been nice to year 14 years to lose popularity. the early attempts were divided Römer immediately got back intelligence. ly, Bavaud positioned himself earlier. A year after that, Ba- A lot of people wanted Hitler between half-crazed lone gun- to work organising plots to kill In 1938, somebody in the on an overpass. When Hitler vaud’s conviction was over- dead. And it wasn’t only the Al- men and half-hearted former Hitler. He seemed oblivious to group – possibly the Nazi agent passed underneath him, Bavaud turned entirely and his family lies that organised secret plots government officials. the fact that the Gestapo would who later gave evidence at would take a .25 pistol from his given a pension for his anti-Hit- to kill Hitler. Members of the The former tended to fail be- be watching him like a hawk Hirsch’s trial – sent him across pocket and shoot Hitler. ler activities. German High Command want- cause they were disorganised, and in 1942 he was back in pris- the German border with in- As Hitler approached, Ba- ed him dead as well. careless, and inept. The later on. structions to pick up a couple vaud reached for his gun, ready Georg Elser Many hoped his death would failed because they were naive- In September 1944, Römer of bombs and kill Hitler. In- to take his shot. The problem A mere 13 minutes is all that bring about an end to the Sec- ly convinced that all they had to was finally executed. stead, Hirsch was picked up at is that the crowd all stood up stood between success and fail- ond World War; others simply do was arrest Hitler and depose the border, interrogated by the in front of Bavaud and saluted ure for Georg Elser. wanted to put an end to his his government. Helmut Hirsch Gestapo, and beheaded in 1939. their Führer, blocking his view. On 8 November 1939, Adolf atrocities. Here are just some of the at- If anyone had a grievance He lost sight of his target and Hitler would be giving his cus- As we will see in this article, tempts that failed. it would have been Helmut Maurice Bavaud the opportunity was lost. tomary speech at the Bürger- there were as many reasons for Hirsch. To say that Maurice Bavaud Bavaud resorted to plan B. bräukeller in Munich. This was killing Hitler as there were at- Beppo Römer He was born in Stuttgart but was an odd man would be an He had heard that Hitler would to commemorate the 1923 Beer tempts made and methods used. Josef “Beppo” Römer was was technically an American understatement. be relaxing in Berchtesgaden Hall Putsch. Yet, as people discovered, a veteran of World War I. He citizen, even though he had A devout Catholic, he trav- after the rally. He bought a train Elser had spent two months killing Hitler was not as easy as was a member of the Freikorps never even visited the United elled from Switzerland to Ger- ticket for Berchtesgaden, only planning and planting a bomb it sounded. Oberland, one of the paramili- States. many in 1938 with the inten- to discover on his arrival that behind the speaker’s podium. It Adolf Hitler was a strong be- tary organizations that sprang Add to that the fact that he tion of killing Hitler. His orders Hitler was still in Munich. was set to detonate while Hitler liever in Vorsehung, or “provi- up around Germany as soldiers was Jewish and also had a were given to him by a man that Badaud bought another train was making his speech. dence.” The Führer felt that if returned in defeat from World doubtful legal status in Hitler’s Bavaud believed - of all things ticket to Munich, only to learn Unknown to Elser, Hitler had anything was going to happen War I. Germany and it’s not difficult to - was the heir to the Romanov when he got there that Hitler initially cancelled his speech at to him, such as assassination, When he was kicked out of see why he joined a Czechoslo- dynasty. was now in Berchtesgaden. the Bürgerbräukeller to devote there was nothing he could do his own organisation in the mid- vakian anti-Nazi group. Bavaud’s multiple attempts The problem was that he had his attention to planning the about it. He had been selected 1920s he had a change of heart The group was known as the on Hitler’s life could have now run out of money. He was imminent war with France, but 26 27 changed his mind and attended come of one last meeting with after all. Hitler, where the staff’s objec- The start time of the reunion tions would be formally pre- was brought forward half an sented. The meeting didn’t go hour to 20h00. and Hitler cut quite the way Halder expected. his speech from the planned Hitler flew into one of his two hours to a one-hour dura- trademark rages, ranting about tion. how he knew all about the gen- The high-ranking Nazis who erals’ disloyalty and promised accompanied Adolf Hitler to to crush what he called “the the anniversary of the Beer Hall spirit of Zossen” (Zossen was Putsch on 8 November 1939 where the general staff were were Joseph Goebbels, Rein- head quartered). hard Heydrich, Rudolf Hess, The tirade was probably Robert Ley, Alfred Rosenberg, nothing more than Hitler blow- Julius Streicher, August Frank, ing off steam - something he Neville Chamberlain’s agreement with Hermann Esser and Heinrich PEACE IN OUR TIME: did frequently. But Halder was Hitler over the Sudetenland was a spoke in the wheels of the Himmler. Hitler was welcomed generals plans to arrest Hitler. convinced that the plot had to the platform by Christian been exposed. Once again the Weber. plans were shelved. Only 13 minutes after Hitler Internal plots Chief of Staff. It was his task On 10 May 1940 the Germans and his entourage had left, the All of the attempts we’ve to coordinate efforts to dispose invaded France. Six weeks lat- bomb exploded. looked at so far were made by Hitler in the name of the Ger- er, on 25 June, it was all over. SAFELY HOME: Adolf Hitler arrives back in Berlin after visiting The bomb brought down civilians, most of them ama- man people. France had surrendered and in While none of their efforts the Russian Front. A plot to blow up his aircraft was unsuccess- part of the ceiling and roof and teurs at the assassination game. ful when the bombs failed to explode. just 46 days the Germans had caused the gallery and an exter- The attempts were carried out were successful, it wasn’t for achieved what they couldn’t nal wall to collapse, leaving a with little or no outside help. lack of trying. For almost seven the time being. he would meet with Hitler in do in four years from 1914 to mountain of rubble. About 120 Starting in 1938, however, a years the conspirators cooked Czechoslovakia had been Munich. Everybody knew right 1918. The generals could hard- people were still in the hall at series of increasingly desperate up one plot after another. And, created in 1919. The new na- away this meant Hitler had won ly arrest Hitler now. the time. Seven were killed. plots were hatched by members like the good staff officers they tion was created out of the old his gambit, which made arrest- Another sixty-three were in- of the German military elite. were, they committed all of Austro-Hungarian Empire and ing him impossible. The plan Operation Valkyrie jured, sixteen seriously, with Following several scandals their plans to paper. it contained numerous national- was shelved. With the Germans achieving one dying later. that discredited high-ranking Again and again, bad luck ities, including 3,2 million Ger- success after success, the gen- Elser was arrested trying to German officers in 1938, Hitler dashed the plotters’ hopes and mans. The Spirit of Zossen erals were left with little to do cross the Swiss border. He had took the opportunity to clean let Hitler unwittingly stroll Most of the Germans lived in The next attempt took shape but bide their time. wires and bomb components in house. The German War Minis- right past men who were ready the region on the western bor- while Hitler was planning the Then, after Germany had in- his pockets, photographs of the ter was fired for having married to die for the chance to kill him. der with Germany – the Sude- invasion of France. vaded Russia, their armies were beer cellar, and diagrams of the an ex-prostitute, and the Army tenland. The generals were all veter- bogged down outside Moscow explosive device he had built. Chief of Staff was cashiered for Hitler’s unwitting ally Hitler wanted the Sudeten- ans of World War I and they re- in 1941. The time was right for Elser was remanded to the disloyalty. One field marshal With help from members of land back as part of Germany. membered what had happened another attempt to get rid of Gestapo. According to a wit- was even court-martialed for the Abwehr (German military And he was quite prepared to the last time Germany had gone Hitler. ness, non other than Heinrich suspected (later disproved) ho- intelligence), Beck made con- send his army in to do the job. to war against the French. Henning von Tresckow, the Himmler himself took part in mosexuality. tact with British Prime Minis- The plan was for the generals They were convinced that commander of the Moscow the beating Elser got. After sev- Senior officers were outraged ter Neville Chamberlain and to overthrow and arrest Hitler Hitler’s plan would spell the military district, took charge of eral delays, Elser was sent to by Hitler’s purges. Some of other members of the British if he fomented crisis over the doom of Germany. Their old the plot and worked it up into a Dachau concentration camp. these officers got together and government. He was looking Sudetenland. The plans for the plans were updated and they full-scale plan codenamed Op- He was executed on 9 April started plotting to remove Hit- for their support, but there is no putsch were all but finalised got ready to move. eration Valkyrie. 1945, only days before the ler. evidence that they received any when Hitler was assisted by an One of the plotters, serving The plotters made contact camp was liberated. The leader was Ludwig Beck, support whatsoever. This left unwitting ally. Chief of Staff Franz Halder, with both British and American who had recently been fired as the generals operating alone for Chamberlain announced that insisted on waiting for the out- intelligence and prepared for a 28 29 military occupation of Berlin. uled to have a look at some able on this plot, but the attempt on the list. That’s why, when Most importantly, the plotters’ winter uniforms the Wehrmacht didn’t even come close. Dulles transmitted the names resolve had hardened. This time had ordered. The attempt in November over a compromised channel, it would not be enough to just One of those selected to mod- 1943 by Colonel Axel von dem the SS agents who intercepted arrest Hitler - he would have to el the uniforms was Axel von Bussche would also have taken the message were at a loss to die. dem Bussche, a Wehrmacht place at the Wolf’s Lair. know who the actual bomber On March 13, 1943, shortly colonel. He had once witnessed When the demonstration of was. after the surrender at Stalingrad a mass shooting in the east and the new winter uniforms was In the 24 hours following the and just before the disaster at since then had no love for Hit- finally set to go ahead at the bombing, the Gestapo effort- Kursk, Hitler arrived in Smo- ler or the Nazis. Wolf’s Lair, von dem Bussche lessly rounded up almost all of lensk for consultations. His plan was simple. He was no longer available. He had the conspirators who survived. One of the plotters, Helmuth would carry a grenade in his been wounded in action earlier. Beck had committed suicide Stieff. gave one of Hitler’s pocket. Then, as Hitler ap- A young infantry of- with a gunshot to the head on aides a case of brandy for the proached him, he would pull ficer, Ewald-Heinrich von the night Valkyrie failed. Von plane trip back. Two of the bot- the pin and tackle Hitler. Kleist-Schmenzin, was then Tresckow, at his post on the tles inside were not filled with The plan would probably designated to kill Hitler. Eastern Front, got news of the brandy, but rather with explo- have worked. Yet, as had hap- Kleist planned to set off ex- failure over the radio, grabbed a sives prepared by British intel- pened in the past, the plan was plosives hidden in his briefcase. AFTERMATH: Members of the German High Command survey grenade, walked out toward the ligence. They were set with a thwarted by the Allies. But like earlier attempts, the the damage cause by the bomb on 20 July 1944. To the left are Soviet lines, and blew himself 30-minute timer. An Allied bombing raid de- plan was not carried out, as Hit- Martin Bormann and head of the Luftwaffe Hermann Göring. away. It was the perfect plan. Ex- stroyed the train that was carry- ler kept putting off the sched- The SS reaction to the July cept for one small flaw. Two ing the uniforms and the show uled uniform demonstration. Von Stauffenberg entered table shield Hitler from the 20 plot was as brutal as it was hours after take off, Hitler’s was cancelled. After the plot’s failure, he the briefing room carrying a main force of the explosion. swift. Thousands of people, plane landed safely in Berlin. managed to cover up his resist- briefcase containing two small The bomb wasn’t designed both real and alleged plotters, The bombs had both failed to The 20 July plot ance activities and proceedings bombs. He left the room to arm with any shrapnel, so every- were rounded up and executed. detonate. Operation Valkyrie’s big plot against him were dropped in the first bomb with specially body who wasn’t killed by the Many were tortured for days Another plotter hurried to finally came off on 20 July December 1944 for want of ev- adapted pliers, a task made dif- blast force alone was more-or- before execution. Leading plot- switch the case with another 1944. idence. ficult because he had lost his less okay and Hitler was only ters were given a show trial and case of real brandy. On inves- The attempt to kill Hitler took He was, thereby, spared a tri- right hand and had only three slightly wounded. slowly hung from piano wire tigation it was discovered that place at Wolfsschanze (Wolf’s al before the Volksgerichtshof, fingers on his left. A guard It eventually turned out suspended on meat hooks. both of the bombs had been Lair). It was Hitler’s first East- (People’s Court) which would knocked and opened the door, that the conspiracy had been Abwehr chief Wilhelm Ca- duds. ern Front military headquarters almost certainly have ended urging him to hurry as the meet- compromised by the SS, and naris, who had been swept up One week after the failed and was built for the start of with a death sentence, as it did ing was about to begin. Himmler himself knew the in the July 20 backlash, was ex- bomb plot, Hitler was sched- Operation Barbarossa, the in- for many of his fellow plotters, As a result, Stauffenberg was names of almost every plotter, ecuted at Flossenbürg concen- uled to speak at an exhibition of vasion of the Soviet Union in including his own father. How- able to arm only one of the thanks to an outrageous act of tration camp on 9 April 1945. war trophies in Berlin. A Ger- 1941. ever, he was imprisoned at the bombs. He left the second bomb negligence on the part of Amer- He was survived by a widow man colonel got there first with Count Claus von Stauffen- Ravensbrück concentration with his aide-de-camp, Werner ican intelligence. who spent the rest of her life a bomb in his pocket. His plan berg, a Wehrmacht colonel, camp, and subsequently sent to von Haeften, and returned to the The plotters had been in reg- collecting a pension from the was to set the bomb’s 10-min- would place a British-made the front, where he remained briefing room, where he placed ular contact with Allen Dulles, CIA, hinting at the role Amer- ute timer and stand next to Hit- suitcase bomb in Hitler’s situ- until the war ended. He died in the briefcase under the confer- the Organisation of Strategic ican intelligence had played in ler until it went off. ation room. It would detonate Munich on 8 March 2013 at the ence table, as close as he could Services (OSS) station chief in these failed plots. At the last moment, the colo- while Hitler was attending a age of 80. to Hitler. Some minutes later, Switzerland. Dulles would later Four months after the last at- nel was told Hitler would only briefing. The attempt on 20 July 1944 he excused himself and left the go on to head the Central Intel- tempt on his life, Hitler moved be staying for around eight What many people may not came very close to succeed- room. After his exit, the brief- ligence Agency (CIA). into a bunker under the Chan- minutes. That was cutting it too know was that there were three ing. The location of the brief- case was inadvertently moved The liaison, Hans Bernd Gi- cellery building in Berlin. Five close. The would-be bomber previous plots to kill Hitler at ing had been unexpectedly behind a thick wooden table leg sevius, visited Dulles and gave months after that, he took his disabled the device and gave the Wolf’s Lair. changed from the subterranean by Colonel Heinz Brandt. This him a list of the conspirators. own life with cyanide and a up. In 1943 an unknown Pole Führerbunker to Albert Speer’s action probably saved Hitler’s Gisevius hated von Stauffen- self-inflicted gunshot, finally A few months later, in No- tried to kill Hitler at the Wolf’s wooden hut due to it being a hot life. berg for personal reasons, so he achieving what so many other vember 1943, Hitler was sched- Lair. Little information is avail- summer’s day. When the bomb went off the didn’t include the man’s name had failed to do. 30 31 Head to Head Type 99A - China

Main Battle Tanks Weight: 58 t. This month we look at the Main Battle Tanks of ten countries. Hull length: 7 m Width: 3.7 m eonardo da Vinci is often wire in a way infantry units unreliable, tanks eventually Height: 2.35 m credited with the inven- could not hope to, thus allow- became a mainstay of ground Crew: Three tion of a war machine ing the stalemate to be broken. armies. By World War II, tank Main Armament: 125 mm ZPT- L 98 smoothbore gun capable of that looked like the first tank. The first offensive using design had advanced signifi- The tank was originally de- tanks took place on 15 Septem- cantly, and tanks were used in firing ATGMs The Type 99 (Chinese: Jiǔjiǔshì) or ZTZ99 is a Chinese third signed as a special weapon to ber 1916, during the Battle of quantity in all land theatres of Secondary Armament: Type 85 generation main battle tank. The vehicle was a replacement for solve an unusual tactical sit- the Somme. Forty-nine of the the war. The Cold War saw the heavy machine gun the aging Type 88 introduced in the late 1980s. The Type 99 MBT uation: the stalemate of the Mark I type were committed, of rise of modern tank doctrine Type 59 7.62 mm coaxial ma- was China’s first mass-produced third generation main battle tank. trenches on the Western Front. which 32 were mechanically fit and the rise of the general-pur- chine gun The tank entered People’s Liberation Army (PLA) service in The armoured tank was in- to take part in the advance and pose main battle tank. The tank Engine: Diesel 1,500 hp (1,119 2001. The People’s Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) is tended to be able to protect achieved some small, local suc- still provides the backbone to kW) the sole operator of the Type 99. Three main versions of the Type against bullets and shell splin- cesses. land combat operations in the Range: 600 km 99 have been deployed, the Type 98 prototype, Type 99 and the ters, and pass through barbed Though initially crude and 21st century. Road Speed: 80 km/h Type 99A. Off-road Speed: 60 km/h M1A2 Abrams - United States T-14 Armata - Russia Weight: 65 t. Hull length: 7.93 m Width: 3.66 m Weight: 48 t. Height: 2.44 m Hull length: 8.7 m Crew: Four (Commander/ma- Width: 3.5 m chine gunner, gunner, loader, Height: 3.3 m driver) Crew: Three Main Armament: 120 mm L/44 Main Armament: 125 mm M256A1 smoothbore gun (42 smoothbore 2A82-1M tank rounds) cannon with 45 rounds (32 of Secondary Armament: 1 x 12.7 The M1 Abrams is an American third-generation main bat- them in the autoloader) tle tank named for General Creighton Abrams. Highly mobile, Secondary Armament: 12.7 mm M2HB heavy machine gun The T-14 Armata is a 4th Generation Russian main battle tank with 900 rounds designed for modern armoured ground warfare, the M1 is well mm Kord machine gun (6P49), armed and heavily armoured. Notable features include a power- based on the Armata Universal Combat Platform. It is the first se- 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun 2 x 7.62 mm M240 machine ries-produced next generation tank. The Russian Army planned to guns with 10,400 rounds (1 pin- ful AGT1500 multifuel turbine engine, sophisticated composite (6P7К) armour, and separate ammunition storage in a blow-out compart- acquire 2,300 T-14s in the period 2015–2020 but production and Engine: Diesel 1,500–2,000 hp tle-mounted, 1 coaxial) fiscal shortfalls, pushed the date to 2025. The first batch of 100 Engine: Honeywell AGT1500C ment for crew safety. It is one of the heaviest main battle tanks in Range: 500 km service. tanks will be deployed to the Taman division, and it is expected Road Speed: 80–90 km/h multi-fuel turbine engine 1,500 to be completed by 2020; tanks will be transferred only after the shp (1,120 kW) The M1 Abrams entered U.S. service in 1980, ultimately re- placing the M60 tank. The M1 is the main battle tank of the Unit- completion of all state tests. Range: 426 km Featuring a number of innovative characteristics, the T-14 rep- Road Speed: 67 km/h ed States Army and Marine Corps, and is also used by the armies of Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Iraq. resents a new generation of Russian main battle tanks. The most Off-road Speed: 40 km/h significant novelty is an unmanned turret, with the crew of three seated in an armoured capsule in the front of the hull. The devel- opment of the tank took five years. 32 33 Challenger 2 - Britain Leopard 2 - Germany Weight: 62.3 t. Weight: 62.5 t. Hull length: 9.97 m Hull length: 8.3 m Width: 3.75 m Width: 3.5 m Height: 3.0 m Height: 2.49 m Crew: Four Crew: Four (Commander, gun- Main Armament: 1× 120 mm ner, loader/operator, driver) Rheinmetall L/55 smoothbore Main Armament: L30A1 120 gun (42 rounds) mm rifled gun with 50 rounds Secondary Armament: 2× 7.62 Secondary Armament: Coax- mm MG3A1 (4,750 rounds) ial 7.62 mm L94A1 chain gun Engine: MTU MB 873 Ka-501 EX-34 (chain gun), 7.62 mm liquid-cooled V12 twin-turbo The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maf- The FV4034 Challenger 2 is a British main battle tank (MBT) L37A2 Commander’s cupola diesel engine (1,479 hp, 1,103 fei in the 1970s for the West German Army. The tank first entered in service with the armies of the United Kingdom and Oman. It machine gun kW) service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main was designed and built by the British company Vickers Defence Engine: Perkins CV12-6A V12 Range: 550 km battle tank of the German Army. Systems (now known as BAE Systems Land & Armaments). diesel 26.1 litre 1,200 bhp (890 Road Speed: 68 km/h The Leopard 2 was used in Kosovo with the German Army, The tank entered service with the British Army in 1998, with kW) and has seen action in Afghanistan with the Danish and Canadi- the last delivered in 2002. It is expected to remain in service until Range: 550 km an contributions to the International Security Assistance Force, as 2035. Road Speed: 59 km/h Off-road Speed: 40 km/h well as also seeing action in Syria with the Turkish Armed Forces against ISIS and the YPG.

Merkava Mk4 - Israel AMX Leclerc - France Weight: 65.5 t. Hull length: 7.60 m Weight: 56.3 t. Width: 3.72 m Hull length: 9.87 m Height: 2.66 m Width: 3.60 m Crew: Four (Commander, gun- Height: 2.53 m ner, loader, driver) Crew: Three (Commander, gun- Main Armament: 120 mm ner, driver) MG253 smoothbore gun, capa- Main Armament: GIAT CN120- ble of firing LAHAT ATGM 26/52 120mm tank gun Secondary Armament: 1 × 12.7 Secondary Armament: 12.7 mm mm MG coaxial M2HB machine gun The Char Leclerc is a main battle tank (MBT) built by GIAT, 2 × 7.62 mm MG The Merkava is a main battle tank used by the Israel Defence (1,100 rounds) now Nexter of France. It was named in honour of General 1 × 60 mm internal mortar Forces. The tank began development in 1970,and entered official 7.62 mm machine gun (3,000 Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, who led the French element of Engine: 1,500 hp (1,119 kW) service in 1978. It was first used extensively in the 1982 Lebanon rounds) the drive towards Paris while in command of the Free French 2nd turbocharged diesel engine War. Engine: V8X SACM (Wärtsilä) Armoured Division (2e DB) in World War II. Range: 500 km Design criteria include rapid repair of battle damage, surviva- 8-cylinder diesel engine 1,100 The Leclerc is in service with the French Army and the army of Road Speed: 64 km/h bility, cost-effectiveness and off-road performance. The Merkava kW (1,500 hp) the United Arab Emirates. In production since 1991, the Leclerc Off-road Speed: 55 km/h is protected by an Israeli-developed composite armour. Advanced Range: 550 km entered French service in 1992, replacing the AMX 30 as the models include modular armour design which enables ordnance Road Speed: 72 km/h country’s main armoured platform. The price in 2011 was €9.3 crews to replace only the damaged part. Besides the crew, it can million, which made it the most expensive tank in history at the also carry six passengers. time. 34 35 Olifant 1A/1B - South Africa Al-Zarrar - Pakistan

Weight: 56 t. Weight:44 t. Hull length: 7.56 m Hull length: 9.50 m Width: 3.39 m Width: 3.30 m Height: 2.94 m Height: 2.50 m Crew: Four Crew: Four Main Armament: 105mm GT3B Main Armament: 125 mm semi-automatic quick firing gun smoothbore gun Secondary Armament: 2.7 mm Secondary Armament: 12.7 mm The name is derived from the Afrikaans word for elephant. The AA machine gun external anti-aircraft machine layout of the Olifant mk1 was very similar to that of the South 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun gun African Semel tank which was based on an upgraded conversion Engine: Continental 29 litre tur- 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun of the British Centurion tanks. The Olifant has been continually bo-charged air-cooled V12 die- Engine: 1xKMDB 12 cylinder upgraded. The Mk1A entered full-scale production in 1983 and sel engine liquid cooled diesel 730 hp the first were in service by 1985. In the same year that the mk1A Range: 500 km Range: 450 km The Al-Zarrar is a second generation main battle tank (MBT), entered the production phase, development work was started on Road Speed: 65 km/h Road Speed: 65 km/h currently in the services of the Pakistan Army since 2004. The the mk1B, and these tanks were in production during the 1990s tank is named as Al-Zarrar, which means “main striker” in Arabic and are operational in the South African National Defence Force. and Persian languages. It is an upgrade of Pakistan’s aging Chinese Type 59 tanks (a design that in turn was based on the Soviet T-54A from the mid 1950s), developed with Ukrainian assistance and manufactured by the Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) Arjun - India

Weight: 58.5 t. Hull length: 10.638 m Width: 3.864 m Height: 2.32 metres m Crew: Four (Commander, gun- ner, loader and driver) Main Armament: 120 mm rifled gun Secondary Armament: 1 × 7.62mm co-axial Browning MG 1 x 7.62mm turret Browning MG The Arjun is a third generation main battle tank developed by In- Engine: Unknown dia’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Range: Unknown for the Indian Army. The tank is named after Arjun, the main pro- Road Speed: Unknown tagonist, an archer prince of the Indian epic Mahabharata. The Arjun entered service with the Indian Army in 2004. The tanks were first inducted into the 43 Armoured Regiment, Indian TESTED IN BATTLE: An SADF Olifant Mk1A passes a FAPLA M-46 130 mm field gun in An- Army Armoured Corps while the latest induction has been into gola during operations in 1987/88. It was the first time that SouthAfrican tanks had been used in the 75 Armoured Regiment on 12 March 2011. battle since World War II. 36 37 university Himmler was an- a career in the military and his a party secretary and propagan- Infamous Figures in Military History ti-Semitic, but not exception- parents’ inability to finance his da assistant, travelling all over ally so. He remained a devout doctoral studies, he was forced Bavaria and agitating on behalf Catholic and spent most of his to take a low-paying office job of the party. Heinrich Himmler leisure time with members of after obtaining his agricultural When the Nazi Party re- One of Hitler’s most loyal sycophants and the architect of the Holocaust, he ruthlessly his fencing fraternity. diploma. He remained in this formed under Hitler in 1925, despatched those that stood in his way as he rose to a position of power second only During his second year at position until September 1923. Himmler was placed in charge university, Himmler increased of the party office in Lower Ba- to that of his Fuhrer. Yet at the end he would spectacularly betray his master. his attempts to pursue a mil- Himmler the Nazi activist varia. itary career. While he was not In August 1923, with the Par- In 1925 Himmler joined eichsführer of the In his youth he trained with with the royal family, was ac- successful, he did extend his ty number 14,303, Heinrich the Schutzstaffel (SS) as an Schutzstaffel and a lead- weights and exercised to be- cepted as an officer candidate. involvement in the paramilitary Himmler became a member of SS-Führer (SS-Leader); his SS Ring member of the Nazi come stronger. He enlisted with the reserve scene in Munich. the Nazi Party. number was 168. The SS, ini- Party of Germany, Himmler From the age of ten he kept a battalion of the 11th Bavarian It was during this period that As a member of Röhm’s par- tially part of the much larger was one of the most powerful diary and it shows that he took a Regiment in December 1917. he first met Ernst Röhm. An amilitary unit, Himmler was in- SA, was formed in 1923 for men in Nazi Germany and one keen interest in current events, Himmler was keen to see ac- early member of the Nazi Party volved in the unsuccessful Beer Hitler’s personal protection, of the people most directly re- duelling and the serious discus- tion. His elder brother, Gebhard, and co-founder of the Sturma- Hall Putsch. and was re-formed in 1925 as sponsible for the Holocaust. sion of religion and sex. served on the western front. He bteilung (Storm Battalion, SA), He was questioned by the po- an elite unit of the SA. Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was awarded the Iron Cross and Röhm was a decorated combat lice about his role in the putsch, Himmler’s first leadership was born in Munich on 7 Octo- Himmler the cadet later promoted to lieutenant. veteran of World War I. This but was not charged because of position in the SS was that of ber 1900. He was the second of Himmler joined the Land- While Himmler was still in was something that Himmler insufficient evidence. However, SS-Gauführer (district leader) three sons born to Joseph Geb- shut Cadet Corps in 1915 and, training, the war ended in No- admired. he lost his job, was unable to in Lower Bavaria from 1926. hard Himmler and Anna Maria through his father’s connections vember 1918, denying him the At Röhm’s suggestion, find employment as an agrono- In September 1927, Himmler Himmler. opportunity to become an of- Himmler joined his anti-Semit- mist, and had to move in with told Hitler of his vision to trans- His father, known as Geb- ficer or to see combat. He was ic nationalist group, the Bund his parents in Munich. Frustrat- form the SS into a loyal, pow- hard, was a school teacher discharged on 18 December Reichskriegsflagge (Imperial ed by these failures, he became erful, racially pure elite unit. while his mother was a devout and returned to Landshut. War Flag Society). ever more irritable, aggressive, Convinced that Himmler was Roman Catholic. He completed his grammar His diary entries in 1922 and opinionated, alienating the man for the job, Hitler ap- He was named Heinrich after school education and, follow- show that Himmler was be- both friends and family mem- pointed him Deputy Reichs- his godfather, Prince Heinrich ing a brief apprenticeship on coming more interested in the bers. führer-SS, with the rank of of Bavaria, a member of the Ba- a farm, studied agronomy at “Jewish question”. His diary During the following year SS-Oberführer. varian royal family. The prince the Munich Technische Hoch- contained an increasing number he abandoned Catholicism, in- Himmler met his future wife, has been tutored by Gebhard. schule from 1919 to 1922. of anti-Semitic remarks and re- stead focusing on the occult Margarete Boden, in 1927. Sev- While his family was not rich, During the unification of corded a number of discussions and in anti-Semitism. German- en years his senior, she was a they were well off and respect- Germany in 1871 many regula- about Jews with his classmates. ic mythology, reinforced by oc- nurse who shared his interest in ed within the local community. tions that discriminated against His reading lists, as recorded cult ideas, became a religion for herbal medicine and homoeop- Himmler attended a gram- non-Christians - including Jews in his diary, were dominated by him. athy, and was part owner of a mar school in Landshut, where and other minority groups - had anti-Semitic pamphlets, Ger- Initially Himmler was not all small private clinic. They were his father was the deputy head- been eliminated. man myths, and occult tracts. that impressed with Hitler. Not married in July 1928, and their master. Himmler did well Yet while the regulations After the murder of Foreign was he swept up in the cult of only child, Gudrun, was born at school, although he may have been elimi- Minister Walther Rathenau Führer worship. He did, how- on 8 August 1929. struggled with sports nated, anti-Semitism on 24 June, Himmler’s polit- ever, regard him as useful for and athletics. continued to ex- ical views veered towards the the party. Himmler, Reichsführer-SS He was a sick- ist and in fact radical right, and he took part Following the disarray of Upon the resignation of SS ly boy and suf- thrive in Ger- in demonstrations against the Hitler’s arrest in the wake of commander Erhard Heiden in fered from life- many and Treaty of Versailles. Hyperin- the Beer Hall Putsch, Himmler January 1929, Himmler as- long stomach other parts of flation was raging, and his par- took full advantage of the situa- sumed the position of Reichs- complaints Europe. ents could no longer afford to tion to consolidate and advance führer-SS with Hitler’s approv- and other By the time educate all three sons. Disap- his own position in the party. al. ailments. he went to pointed by his failure to make From mid-1924 he worked as One of his first responsibili- 38 39 ties was to organise SS partic- right. Heydrich calculated the ipants at the Nuremberg Rally number of Jews to be killed that September. at 11 million, and told the at- Over the next year, Himmler tendees that Hitler had placed grew the SS from a force of Himmler in charge of the plan. about 290 men to about 3,000. Himmler took over leadership By 1930 Himmler had persuad- of the RSHA and stepped up ed Hitler to run the SS as a sep- the pace of the killing of Jews arate organisation, although it in Aktion Reinhard (Operation was officially still subordinate Reinhard), named in Heydrich’s to the SA. honour. Heydrich had been as- In the 1932 election, the Na- sassinated in Prague in an oper- zis won 37.3 percent of the ation carried out by members of vote and Hitler was appointed Czechoslovakia’s army-in-ex- Chancellor of Germany. After ile who had been trained by the the Reichstag building was set MEET AND GREET: Adolf Hitler (left) shakes hands with Hein- British Special Operations Ex- rich Himmler, the Reichsführer-SS. on fire only a month after Hit- ROGUES GALLERY: Himmler, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and other ecutive. He ordered the Aktion ler was sworn in, Hitler forced That same year, Hitler pro- carried out a false flag pro- SS officials visiting Mauthausen concentration camp in 1941. Reinhard camps,the first ex- President Paul von Hindenburg moted Himmler to the rank of ject code-named Operation termination camps, to be con- to sign the Reichstag Fire De- SS-Obergruppenführer, equal Himmler. the RSHA, these squads were to ghettos. structed at Bełżec, Sobibór, and cree, which suspended basic in rank to the senior SA com- German soldiers dressed in also tasked with rounding up As the Germans were pushed Treblinka. rights and allowed detention manders. Polish uniforms undertook Jews and others for placement back from Moscow in Decem- Himmler was a main archi- without trial. Hermann Göring had created border skirmishes which de- in ghettos and concentration ber 1941, signalling that the tect of the Holocaust, using his Von Hindenburg died on 2 a Prussian secret police force, ceptively suggested Polish ag- camps. expected quick defeat of the deep belief in the racist Nazi August 1934, and Hitler be- the Geheime Staatspolizei or gression against Germany. The When the German invad- Soviet Union had failed to ma- ideology to justify the murder came both head of state and Gestapo in 1933. Its main task incidents were then used in ed Russia in 1941, they were terialize, Hitler and other Nazi of millions of victims. head of government under the was to counteract the power of Nazi propaganda to justify the closely followed by the Ein- officials realised that mass de- title Führer und Reichskanzler the SA. Control of the Gestapo invasion of Poland, the opening satzgruppen who were tasked portations to the east would no Himmler, the beginning of (leader and chancellor). The was handed over to Himmler on event of World War II. with rounding up and killing longer be possible. As a result, the end Nazi Party’s rise to power pro- 20 April 1934. At the beginning of the war Jews and others deemed unde- instead of deportation, many On 20 July 1944, a group of vided Himmler and the SS an On 21 June 1934 Hitler de- against Poland, Hitler author- sirable by the Nazi state. Jews in Europe were destined German army officers led by unfettered opportunity to thrive. cided that Röhm and the SA ised the killing of Polish civil- In addition, 2.8 million So- for death. Claus von Stauffenberg and By 1933, the SS numbered leadership had to be eliminated. ians, including Jews and ethnic viet prisoners of war died of including some of the high- 52,000 members. Strict mem- In what became known as “The Poles. The Einsatzgruppen (SS starvation, mistreatment or ex- Himmler and the Holocaust est-ranked members of the Ger- bership requirements ensured Night of the Long Knives”, Special Action Squads) had ecutions in just eight months of After Germany had declared man armed forces attempted to that all members were of Hit- Röhm and between 80 and 200 originally been formed by Hey- 1941–42. war on America in December assassinate Hitler, but failed to ler’s Aryan Herrenvolk (“Aryan members of the SA leadership drich to secure government pa- As many as 500,000 Soviet 1941, Hitler finally resolved do so. master race”). Applicants were were killed between 30 June pers and offices in areas taken prisoners of war died or were that the Jews of Europe were to Though Himmler was embar- vetted for Nordic qualities. and 2 July 1934. With the SA over by Germany before World executed in Nazi concentration be “exterminated.” rassed by his failure to uncover Naturally no-one was brave thus neutralised, the SS became War II. camps over the course of the Reinhard Heydrich arranged the plot, it led to an increase in enough, or stupid enough, to an independent organisation Authorised by Hitler and un- war; most of them were shot or a meeting, held on 20 January his powers and authority. tell Himmler that, by his own answerable only to Hitler on 20 der the direction of Himmler gassed. 1942 at Wannsee, a suburb of He formed a special commis- standards, he did not meet the July 1934. and Heydrich, the Einsatzgrup- By early 1941, following Berlin. Attended by top Nazi sion that arrested over 5,000 requirements. pen units - now repurposed as Himmler’s orders, ten concen- officials, it was used to outline suspected and known oppo- In 1931 he appointed Rein- Himmler, World War II death squads - followed the tration camps had been con- the plans for the “final solution nents of the regime. Hitler or- hard Heydrich chief of the new When Hitler and his army Heer (army) into Poland, and structed in which inmates were to the Jewish question”. dered brutal reprisals that re- Ic Service (intelligence ser- chiefs asked for a pretext for by the end of 1939 they had subjected to forced labour. Jews Heydrich detailed how those sulted in the execution of more vice), which was renamed the the invasion of Poland in 1939, murdered some 65,000 intel- from all over Germany and the Jews able to work would be than 4,900 people. Sicherheitsdienst (SD: Security Himmler, Heydrich, and Hein- lectuals and other civilians. occupied territories were de- worked to death; those unable On 6 June 1944 the West- Service) in 1932. rich Müller masterminded and Under Himmler’s orders via ported to the camps or confined to work would be killed out- ern Allies launched Operation 40 41 Overlord, the amphibious in- rect meetings were arranged searched before he was taken to vasion of northern France. In by Walter Schellenberg of the the headquarters of the Second response Heeresgruppe Ober- RSHA. British Army in Lüneburg. rhein (Army Group Upper Himmler and Hitler met for Medical officer Doctor Wells Rhine) was formed to engage the last time in Berlin on Hit- conducted a medical exam on and stop the advancing Allies. ler’s birthday, 20 April 1945. Himmler. However, when the In late 1944, Hitler appointed Once again Himmler swore un- doctor tried to examine the in- Himmler commander-in-chief swerving loyalty to Hitler. side of Himmler’s mouth he of Army Group Upper Rhine. At a military briefing on that was reluctant to open it. Him- On 26 September 1944 Hitler day, Hitler stated that he would mler jerked his head away and ordered Himmler to create spe- not leave Berlin, in spite of then bit into a hidden potassium cial army units, the Volkssturm Soviet advances. Along with cyanide pill before collapsing (“People’s Storm” or “People’s Göring, Himmler quickly left to the ground. Army”). All males aged sixteen the city after the briefing. Within 15 minutes Heinrich to sixty were eligible for con- On 23 April, Himmler met Luitpold Himmler, the man scription into this militia. directly with Bernadotte at the NEAR THE END: By early who had been responsible for By October 1944, children Swedish consulate in Lübeck. 1945 Himmler realised that millions of deaths, was dead. as young as fourteen were be- Representing himself as the Germany had lost the war. He was 44 years old. ing enlisted. Because of se- provisional leader of Germany, This photo was taken about a Shortly afterward, Himmler’s vere shortages in weapons and he claimed that Hitler would be month before Hitler committed body was buried in an un- equipment and lack of training, dead within the next few days. suicide. marked grave near Lüneburg. members of the Volkssturm Hoping that the British and The grave’s exact location re- were poorly prepared for com- Americans would fight the So- attempted negotiations with the mains unknown to this day. bat, and about 175,000 of viets alongside what remained western Allies. THE END: Heinrich Himmler lies died after committing suicide them lost their lives in the final of the Wehrmacht, Himmler Hitler, who had long consid- with a potassium cyanide pill. SS Symbolism months of the war. asked Bernadotte to inform ered Himmler to be second only Himmler was interested in The Heeresgruppe Weichsel General Dwight Eisenhower to Joseph Goebbels in loyalty stripped Himmler of all of his Friedrichskoog, without a final mysticism and the occult from (Army Group Vistula) had been that Germany wished to sur- (he called Himmler “the loyal party and state offices and ex- destination in mind. They con- an early age and he viewed the hastily formed to stop the So- render to the West. Bernadotte Heinrich”), flew into a rage at pelled him from the Nazi Party. tinued on to Neuhaus, where SS as an “order” along the lines viet Red Army’s advance. On asked Himmler to put his pro- this apparent betrayal. Hitler the group split up. of the Teutonic Knights. 25 January 1945, in spite of posal in writing, and Himmler told those who were still with Himmler, the end On 21 May, Himmler and When members of the SS Himmler’s lack of military ex- obliged. him in the bunker complex that Himmler came to the grim two aides were stopped and were sworn in, they had to take perience, Hitler appointed him Meanwhile, Göring had sent Himmler’s act was the worst realisation that the Allies were detained at a checkpoint set up an oath. “I vow to you, Adolf as commander. a telegram, a few hours earlier, treachery he had ever known not interested in negotiating by former Soviet POWs. Over Hitler, as Führer and chancellor In early 1945 Himmler could asking Hitler for permission to and ordered his arrest. Fegelein with him. In fact he had been the following two days, he was of the German Reich, loyalty see that the writing was on the assume leadership of the Reich was court-martialed and shot. declared a war criminal. moved around to several camps and bravery. I vow to you and wall. The German war effort - an act that Hitler, under the By this time, the Soviets had Rejected by his former com- and was brought to the Brit- to the leaders that you set for was on the verge of collapse prodding of Martin Bormann, advanced to the Potsdamer- rades and hunted by the Allies, ish 31st Civilian Interrogation me, absolute allegiance until and Himmler’s relationship interpreted as a demand to step platz, only 300 metres from the Himmler decided that it was Camp near Lüneburg, on 23 death. So help me God” with Hitler had deteriorated. down or face a coup. Reich Chancellery, and were time to go into hiding. He had May 1945. The SS-Ehrenring (“SS Hon- Himmler decided that it was On 27 April, Himmler’s SS preparing to storm the Chancel- not really prepared for it, but Not suspecting for a minute our Ring”), unofficially called time to negotiate an independ- representative at Hitler’s HQ lery. he had equipped himself with a who he had in his custody, the Totenkopfring (“Death’s Head ent peace settlement. in Berlin, Hermann Fegelein, This report, combined with forged Wehrmacht paybook un- duty officer, Captain Thomas Ring”), was an award of Hein- His masseur, Felix Kersten, was caught in civilian clothes Himmler’s treachery, prompt- der the name of Sergeant Hein- Selvester, began a routine inter- rich Himmler’s Schutzstaffel who had moved to Sweden, act- preparing to desert; he was ar- ed Hitler to write his last will rich Hitzinger. rogation of the prisoner. (SS). It was not a state decora- ed as an intermediary in negoti- rested and brought back to the and testament. In the testa- He shaved his moustache off, For some reason Himmler tion, but rather a personal gift ations with Count Folke Berna- Führerbunker. ment, completed on 29 April removed his glasses, and wore admitted who he was. Perhaps bestowed by Himmler. The SS dotte, head of the Swedish Red On the evening of 28 April, - one day prior to his suicide - a patch over one eye. With a he though he would receive Honour Sword and SS Honour Cross. Letters were exchanged the BBC broadcast a Reuters Hitler declared both Himmler small band of companions, preferential treatment. Cap- Dagger were similar awards. between the two men, and di- news report about Himmler’s and Göring to be traitors. He he headed south on 11 May to tain Selvester had the prisoner 42 43 rilla warfare, and the Group’s Forged in Battle motto - WE DARE - is self-ex- planatory. To make the training more re- Hunter Group alistic, they were given lectures This year the Hunter Group, which later went on to become 2 Reconnaissance Com- on all aspects of communism, mando, would have turned 50 years old. Paul J. Els has written a book,Saturday Sol- presented by Lieutenant I. Mi- hailovich. diers- The Hunter Group. This article was taken from the book. Throughout Hunter training he idea of a special booby traps, instinctive quick the accent was always on lead- trained group of men was kill shooting, counter ambush ership and realism. born as early as 1966, patrols, and to provide encour- Basic Hunter training would T consist of the following: thanks to the clear thinking of agement to men who would be a citizen force officer who, in prepared to dedicate their spare • patrolling and patrol tech- 1965 was promoted to Officer time to do the training. niques Commanding South African On 11 May 1968, a small • immediate action drills (e.g.: Irish Regiment, Commandant group of people met at the actions in an ambush) Gil van Kerckhoven. Headquarters of the SAIR at the • individual action drills (in- He was faced with the diffi- Doornkop Military Base, to dis- dividual activities when en- cult task of motivating Junior cuss training. They were Com- gaging the enemy: charge, fall, leopard-crawl, observe Officers and NCOs with the mandant G. van Kerckhoven The original Hunt- ORIGINAL: enemy, fire) challenging task of improving JCD, Officer Commanding the er Group patch - a scorpion on their level of training, over and Regiment, Major E.M. Kristal a yellow background. THE FIRST: One of the first photographs ever taken of any • house-clearing skills and above that of the accepted train- the second in command, Lieu- Hunter group members: Standing: left to right: Cpl Mouse Pock- neutralising booby traps ing methods (of the SADF at tenant J.P. Ullmann, Warrant ule the instructors had to attend ley, Cmdt Gil van Kerckhoven, Joe Grant-Grierson, and Sgt K. • unarmed combat and Lucy. Seated: S/Sgt Willy Ward, Capt Botten, Ian Langley, Cpl that time still using the training Officer 2 B.J. Wood, Private Ian three full Saturdays training per close-quarters combat Marty Koekemoer and Sgt Bill du Toit (NN). manuals from World War II and Langley of the Johannesburg month and other recruits had to • abseiling from helicopters British doctrine). North Commando, and a civil- attend every second Saturday Amongst these were demon- factors to build the men up, into and buildings Van Kerckhoven felt that the ian, Mr J. Grant-Grierson. afternoon for eight consecutive strations of mock battles at the a high state of readiness. • survival and tracking methods were out dated, espe- It was at this base where this Saturdays. Old Milner Park show grounds During 1971, African Mirror • knife throwing and cially if used against an enemy group was formed and the train- Many recruits came from at the Rand Easter Show and (news filmmaker at the time) knife-fighting skills who specialise in guerrilla-type ing began. well-known Citizen Force (CF) various agricultural shows in made another film of the Hunt- • methods of silently neutral- warfare. The emphasis in train- To make the training more units, such as ¬the SAS Rand the Pretoria, Witwatersrand and er training for screening in film ising an enemy centre ing and level of command in realistic, they were given lec- (CF Navy land-based at Wem- Vereeniging area, where pub- theatres. The film was returned • demolitions, setting booby guerrilla warfare, compared to tures, presented by Lieutenant merpan), Imperial Light Horse lic and military interest soon to the group and became the traps and improved ammu- conventional warfare, lies with I. Mihailovich on all aspects (ILH - CF Armoured Cars based proved fruitful, as there was a Hunter training-film, which was nition the individual soldier and the of communism; Mihailovich is at Doornkop), The Transvaal sudden influx of recruits. used extensively in future pro- • river and obstacle crossing corporals who control the sec- fondly remembered as the po- Scottish, 6 Light Anti-Aircraft The Hunters’ activities were motions for the group. General • establishment of temporary tion. litical commissar of the Hunter (CF attached to 72 Brigade), receiving more and more atten- Moody screened it at Supreme bases with special emphasis The only way to achieve this Group. Rand Light infantry CF (RLI) tion throughout South Africa HQ in Cape Town, which led on location and defence of was to start out by using vol- During June 1968 the first and various commando units and General Pop Fraser*, real- to Fraser contacting General bases unteers and at the time would volunteers arrived and were including West Park, East Park, ising that the Hunters were do- Fritz Loots, with the purpose of • weapons handling and not to be easy; most members trained under command of the Meyerton, Roodepoort, Wem- ing a professional job on a part- forming a specialised military marksmanship of the Citizen Force units were SAIR, as assistant instructors. merpan, Atlas and Boksburg. time basis, arranged for Van unit. • foreign weapons: firing and not that motivated. The only The venue for this training was Wits Command used the Kerckhoven to visit the Portu- The scorpion was chosen for stripping of weapons way for success was to recruit Doornkop military base situat- Hunters as an Army public re- guese Marine Commando in its unobtrusive deadliness, be- • first aid and self-aid. volunteers by offering high risk ed outside Johannesburg, near lations showpiece and instruct- Luanda, Angola, who had was ing quietly and efficiently able During 1969 the first course and dangerous aspects such as the Baragwaneth Airport. Ac- ed the group to do demonstra- a typical Special Forces unit. to deal with prey much larger to qualify members as assistant hand to hand combat, explosive cording to the training sched- tions and exhibitions at various Their selection process was than itself. The name Hunter is Hunter instructors, took place functions and Army-day shows. very strict, using psychological an apt description of anti-guer- at the Doornkop Military Base. 44 45 As the training became more Hunter training group was then sophisticated, an instructional given to newly promoted Ma- core was formed; where mem- jor Sybie van der Spuy, with bers then in turn would instruct Captain Stan Botten as the 2IC new arrivals. Proper courses and Training Officer, Captain were organised in December Bach Winterbach as Adjutant 1968. and Sergeant Bill du Toit as the quartermaster. Training Programme Saturday afternoon training A new chapter begins sessions started during 1969. A very interesting chapter in Instructors were under strict or- the history of the Hunter Group ders to train and lead by exam- was when, one Saturday during ple and never to expect recruits 1971 while they were training to do something that they would at Doornkop, a group of police- not undertake themselves. men arrived and asked to see At the passing-out parade of the OC. WHO NEEDS A GUN: Members of the Hunter Group practice the fourth course in June 1969, It appeared that they had just unarmed combat. over 60 men, including a naval TASK FORCE: After returning from deployment to Rhodesia, returned from a tour of duty in contingent from SAS Rand, be- members of the South African Police requested training from UDI Rhodesia, where they had Brigadier G.W. Germishuizen The formation of 2 Recon- the Hunter Group. came the first to wear the cov- found themselves attacked sev- was appointed as the OC of naissance Commando a Citizen eted and distinctive Scorpion time training including Perma- arrived: the men were consid- eral times by trained insurgents Wit Command. One of his first Force unit for Special Forces badge (Yellow Back ground), nent Force officers and instruc- ered ready to jump. and felt that their training was orders to Van der Spuy was to was formally tabled. A deciding signifying that they had com- tors. Its weapons handling con- A very nervous group of 27 inadequate for their task. disband the Hunter Group be- factor in the discussion was the pleted volunteer Hunter train- cepts were incorporate into the men gathered early on Saturday During the making of the film cause they could not operate on loss to the army of many mem- ing. The 240 hours of training quick kill manual produced at morning, 3 March 1971, for Shangani Patrol, the filmmak- an unofficial basis in Wit Com- bers who had received special every year was tough but stim- the Military College. their first jump. ers arrived at the Hunter base, mand. training from 1 Reconnaissance ulating, relentlessly demanding Amongst the group were All the men completed their needing assistance with ‘props’ A historical meeting in May Commando. but rewarding and deeply satis- members of the Parachute Bat- eight-jumps over the next six for ‘training’ sequences to be 1974 held at Witwatersrand fying. talion. Staff Sergeant Willie weeks. Two months later a filmed. When the film was re- Command was attended by You can order Saturday Sol- The Hunter Group trained Ward, a very enthusiastic mem- unique parade was held where leased on circuit the Hunters Brigadier Germishuizen, the diers - The Hunter Group from over 1 800 volunteers in part ber of the Hunter Group and Brigadier Meintjies OC Wit put on the static weapons dis- Director Infantry with some [email protected]. also a very keen skydiver, man- Command presented 29 wings, plays at the première. of his staff, and Major van der aged to convince Van Kerck- 27 to the jumpers and the in- At the beginning of 1974 Spuy. hoven and Lieutenant van Wyk structor, one to the pilot and a who was a member of the local special wing to van Kerckhoven Air Commandos and had his for his guts. own aircraft, that all Hunter A team of Hunter parachutists instructors should become par- went to Germany to compete in achute-qualified and to form a a world parachute jump event. parachute club. Although they did not win any- Training for the PT phase thing, they gained a vast amount then commenced once a week of experience. The team com- on Thursday nights at the Wit prised: Corporals B.G. Walls, Command Drill Hall. After six R. Knoetzer, G.E. Williams and weeks of training, including PT, G. Nel. exit and landing drills, emer- Towards the end of 1971, van DON’T MOVE: Two “prisoners’ gency procedures, parachute Kerckhoven was promoted to NEW IDENTITY: The first shoulder flash of 2 Recon- are searched. Part of a training packing and some blood, sweat Colonel and transferred to 14 THE TRAINING NEVER STOPS: Members of the Hunter naissance Commando. exercise. and tears, the great moment had Brigade. The command of the Group on a training exercise. 46 47 not result in any kind of nucle- Battlefield ar fallout over Baghdad. This would have been a humanitari- an and public-relations disaster. Operation Babylon By the end of March 1981, While most of the world condemned Israel’s attack on the Iraqi nuclear facility at al- Mossad reported that foreign Tuwaitha , Operation Babylon actually did the world a huge favour. workers were returning to al-Tuwaitha, and that construc- addam Hussein had spent converted for use in an atomic countries met a series of unfor- tion had resumed on the Osirak nearly two decades as a bomb. Such a bomb, which ex- tunate accidents while visiting nuclear reactor. Begin and his street fighter and assas- perts calculated could be com- western Europe. advisors finalized plans for an S air strike on the Iraqi facility in sin for the militant Ba’th Party pleted by the early 1980s, could These accidents included hit- in Iraq. When the party seized easily kill at least 100,000 peo- and-run automobile accidents, early May. It was codenamed power in 1968, Hussein began ple if dropped on Tel Aviv, the sudden fatal flu-like illnesses, Operation Babylon. his ascendency to the presiden- capital of Israel. and virulent food poisoning. After a series of delays, Mos- cy. The world reacted with alarm And a few of them had their sad reported that France had fi- In the late 1970s, it became to news of the sale. The Unit- throat slit. Mossad were hard NUCLEAR AMBITIONS: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein nally delivered all 72 kilograms clear to the international com- ed States and Great Britain ex- at work slowing down the pace wanted to develop a nuclear program, giving Iraq the ability to of enriched uranium to Iraq. munity that Iraq was attempt- pressed measured diplomatic of Iraq’s nuclear program. Un- build an atomic bomb. It was time for the Israelis to ing to acquire nuclear weapons concern, and the United Na- deterred, Hussein continued to strike. Just before sunset on Sunday through the guise of buying nu- tion’s International Atomic En- press forward. the dome and cooling system, Egyptian President Anwar Sa- 7 June 1981, Operation Baby- clear reactors for power gener- ergy Agency increased moni- “How could a people who but causing no significant de- dat had brokered a peace treaty lon was launched. It had been ators. toring efforts of Iraq’s nuclear only know how to ride camels struction. Hundreds of French with Begin at Camp David in carefully planned for a Sun- Hussein, who was now pres- program. But it was little more produce an atomic bomb?” he and Italian technicians and en- 1979. While an attack would day, on the assumption that the ident, was well known for his than a slap on the wrist. scoffed when asked about his gineers working at the facility not violate Israel’s treaty with 100 to 150 foreign experts em- expansionist ambitions. He also In the immediate wake of the plans. were evacuated, however, and Egypt, which called for Israel ployed at the reactor would be bore an unyielding animosity 1973-74 oil embargo, the West Meanwhile, he threatened work at al-Tuwaitha ground to to pull out of the Sinai in April absent on the Christian day of towards Israel, which he re- was reluctant to alienate the to suspend payments - and a standstill. 1982, Sadat’s reaction was still rest. ferred to as “the Zionist entity”. Arab world. So it was left to Is- much-needed oil shipments - to Israel was rightly worried unpredictable. The raid was planned for late If Israel had a supposed nu- rael to take more direct action. France unless the French ful- over the Iraqi nuclear threat and afternoon because it would give clear capacity, the Hussein was It was Israel’s intelligence filled their original contract call- over the course of the follow- Operation Babylon the Israeli Combat Search and determined that Iraq would agency, the Mossad, that made ing for delivery of 72 pounds of ing year Israeli Prime Minister Begin had some hard deci- Rescue Team, riding in CH-53 have one as well. the first move in 1979. They in- 93% enriched uranium. Natu- Menachem Begin considered sions to make. He weighed the helicopters, all night to search Hussein stepped up his ef- tercepted a shipment of nuclear rally the French agreed to hon- various options. These options risks and came to the conclu- for any downed pilots. forts and used diplomatic and cores from France to Iraq at La our their terms. included an attack on Iraq’s nu- sion that a preemptive strike At 15h00 the CH-53s took financial contacts he had made Seyne-sur-Mer. Iraq’s nuclear efforts suffered clear reactors. was worth any possible afteref- up their position, hovering at in France earlier in the decade. The Mossad agents blew up their next blow nine days after Such an attack, however, fects. The though of Iraq having only 30 metres just west of the In 1975 he completed a deal the warehouse where the ship- the start of the Iran-Iraq was on came with major concerns. nuclear capabilities was just to Jordanian border. The CH-53 with France to sell Iraq the ment was stored, severely dam- 30 September 1980. And it was These including the probable dangerous to contemplate. crews were not told what the equipment necessary to con- aging the cores. Iran and not Israel that did the adverse reaction from the rest The Israelis felt that a quick, mission was. Their instructions struct a nuclear reactor at al-Tu- Terrified of Hussein’s -reac deed. of the world, and concerns that surgical air strike was the best were that if a plane went down waitha, a research site located tion to the news, Iraqi officials Iran sent two Phantom F-4-E even though Iraq was at war option, and there were two they had permission to violate on banks of the Tigris River, accepted the damaged goods jets to attack several Iraqi tar- with Iran, they may still have at- things in their favour. any sovereign airspace to pick a mere 20 kilometres from the and kept their mouths shut. gets, among them the uncom- tacked Israel. Another concern First of all Iraq was weakened up the pilots. centre of Baghdad. pleted nuclear reactors at al-Tu- was the distance to the target. It by its ongoing ground war with At 16h00 eight of Israel’s The French also agreed to Unfortunate incidents waitha. The Phantoms fired two was over 1770 kilometres to the Iran. The second consideration American-built F-16 fighters supply Iraq with 72 kilograms Over the next 15 months a rockets. One did not explode, target and back. was even more important. took off from Etzion airbase in of enriched, weapons-grade number of key nuclear scien- and the other hit the housing of There was something else to The reactor was not yet op- the Sinai desert. They were car- uranium, which could easily be tists from Iraq and other Arab one of the reactors, damaging consider - the reaction of Egypt. erational, so an attack would rying extra 1,400 litre fuel tanks 48 49 to increase their range. it had discovered some radar acteristic shrug. “Boys will be Due to the distance to the blind spots. Additionally, the boys,” he said. target, weight was a serious Israelis had intelligence that Saddam Hussein was besides consideration. The F-16s were the Saudis would only have himself and he played the vic- stripped of two of their four air- one of their American-supplied tim to the hilt. He called on to-air Sidewinder missiles. The Airborne Warning and Control “all peace-loving nations of the jamming devices for protection System (AWACS) intelligence world to help the Arabs in one against Iraqi MiGs and SAM-6 aircraft in the air at the time of way or another acquire atom- radars had also been removed. the attack and that it would be ic weapons” in order to offset Despite these attempts to re- overlooking the Persian Gulf. Israel’s obviously aggressive duce weight the F-16s took off Radio communication, only tendencies. At the same time, at a weight that exceeded nearly to be made at five checkpoints, he sought to deflect blame for twice the plane’s design specifi- would be single words in Eng- the attack away from his army’s cations. lish, the international language own less-than-stellar defensive Each F-16 was equipped with of aviation, so that if overheard performance at al-Tuwaitha by special racks that carried two the communication might be EXECUTIVE DECISION: accusing the French of being Israeli Prime Minister Men- 900 kilogram MK-84 ‘dumb’ mistaken for a commercial complicit with Israel in the at- achem Begin gave the go SURGICAL STRIKE: Israeli F-16 jets on patrol. It was planes bombs. They were called flight. ahead for Operation Babylon. tack. ‘dumb’ bombs as opposed to The eight pilots were divid- similar to these that carried out Operation Babylon. The Israelis stood firm against ‘smart’ bombs because they ed up into two teams. Each of point precision. the adverse public opinion. It had to be dropped directly on them had been chosen for their A French worker who wit- ever, were killed by errant an- Afghanistan. was not the first time that they the target. They had no form of experience in F-16s. Team one nessed the Israeli attack called tiaircraft fire. As predicted, the France, who were naturally had been condemned for de- guidance system. included Lt. Col. Zeev Raz, the accuracy of the Israeli Saudi AWACS aircraft was fac- upset, declared the Israeli ac- fending themseles, nor would it The F-16s were escorted by the wing commander, Amos bombing “stupefying.” Eight ing the Persian Gulf and did not tions “unacceptable,” and made be the last. eight F-15 fighter interceptors. Yadlin, Doobi Yaffi, and Hagai workers, including one French detect the Israeli aircraft. a brief national hero out of an “Israel has nothing to apol- They would provide protection Katz. Team two, led by Lt. Col. technician, were killed in the The attack squadron landed unfortunate French nuclear ogize for,” Begin told a news against Arab aircraft was well Amir Nachumi, included Iftach bombing. safely back at Etzion at 19h00 technician, Damen Chausse- conference a few days after the as jamming Iraqi radar over the Spector, Relik Shafir, and Ilan Within two minutes the at- without so much as a scratch, pied, who was killed while raid. target. Moreover they would Ramon. tack, which had been timed having faced no enemy aircraft working in a lab next to the re- Noting that Sadaam Hussein act as communication relay sta- The formation flew low, about for sunset, was over and Iraq’s on the return flight. actor at the time of the raid. had frequently butchered his tions to a Boeing 707 command 30 metres, and fast, about 360 nuclear ambitions came to an Sadly, in a cruel twist of fate, Great Britain denounced it closest colleagues, to say noth- post that would be orbiting over knots, to avoid detection. Once abrupt halt. pilot Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first as “a grave breach of interna- ing of his opponents, Begin Israel. they were across Saudi Arabia The larger Tammuz I (or Osi- astronaut, would die in the Co- tional law.” A New York Times warned that Iraq would have The route to the target was they turned towards Baghdad. rak) reactor was destroyed. The lumbia space shuttle accident in editorial thundered: “Israel’s had “no hesitation in dropping anything but easy. They would Once they reached their tar- smaller Tammuz II reactor’s February 2003. sneak attack on a French-built three or four or five of those have to fly over or circumvent get the attack was over in a mat- sensitive equipment and foun- nuclear reactor near Baghdad bombs on Israel.” seven separate Arab airfield. ter of minutes. The F-16s swept dation were ruined. The world reacts was an act of inexcusable and Three weeks later, Begin’s There was a very real danger across the sky in pairs, quick- As it transpired, Iraqi anti-air- While the raid had been bril- short-sighted aggression.” hard-line Likud Party was giv- of interception from Jordanian ly climbing to 1,500 metres in craft unit personnel were eat- liantly executed, the rest of the A United Nations Security en a thumping endorsement F-5-Es and Iraqi Mirage-4000s, four seconds, before diving and ing when the attack occurred, world was not amused. The raid Council resolution condemning at the polls, and a few months MIG-23, and MIG-25s. At unleashing their bombs at the which was another reason for was universally condemned, in- Israel’s raid passed unanimous- later the United States quietly al-Tuwaitha itself, the fighters target. It was something that the timing of the bombing, and cluding by the United States. ly. But despite loud denunci- resumed the sale of F-16s to Is- would face anti-aircraft artillery had practiced for months in the had turned off their radars. It The Reagan administration, ations inside the Arab world, rael. batteries and SAM-6 missiles. Sinai. was something that the Israelis normally sympathetic to Isra- Israel was never attacked in When American forces in- The route of the attack from The first bombs hit the side had expected. el, chose to condemn the attack reprisal, and no UN sanctions vaded Iraq in 1991 and 2003, take off in the Sinai was east of the reactor, opening holes for As a result, there was a fatal through a speech by American were ever put in place against it they did not have to confront across the Gulf of Acaba, then the second set of bombs, which delay in their reaction time, and UN ambassador Jeanne Kirk- (the result of a threatened Amer- the fear of an Iraqi nuclear re- across the northern part of Sau- found and destroyed the reac- no SAM-6s were fired at the Is- patrick, who called the raid ican veto). As for the president, sponse. The audacious Israeli di Arabia near the border of tor inside. In all, 14 out of 16 raeli planes. A number of Iraqi “shocking” and compared it to Ronald Reagan shrugged off raid on al-Tuwaitha had seen to Jordan, where Israel believed bombs hit the reactor with pin- soldiers on the ground, how- the recent Soviet incursion into the dramatic event with a char- that. 50 51 Gaming With bold ambitions to expand his empire Matt O’ Brien sets out to conquer Europe, the Americas, and India. That’s if he doesn’t get lost at sea again.

mpire: Total War is not a only eleven of the most power- The main campaign of Em- new game by any means. ful and influential are playable. pire: Total War involves a play- EIn fact it was released in In western Europe, these are er choosing a faction and mov- 2009, making it nearly a decade Great Britain, France, the Unit- ing to forge a global empire old. But damn, it’s still a good ed Dutch Provinces, Spain and during the 18th century. Each game. Sweden, and in central and east- faction controls various histor- It’s a turn-based strategy ern Europe, Prussia, Austria, ical provinces, each with a re- and real-time tactics computer Russia and Poland–Lithuania. gional capital, and a number of game that focuses on explora- In the Balkans and Middle East, other settlements ranging from tion, economics, politics, reli- the Ottoman Empire is the prin- minor villages to prosperous gion, the founding of colonies cipal faction, while the Maratha sea ports (as long as they are and, ultimately, conquest. Confederacy and Mughal Em- coastal territories). lery. Each has its own intrin- causing every enemy unit to in your path. The game is set in the early pire are the major powers on The player can recruit armies sic advantages, disadvantages, rout, or be annihilated. In ad- You’ve got to look after your modern period from 1700 until the Indian subcontinent. and navies to take and defend cost, and overall effectiveness. dition, sieges can be won if the finances, keep your population the end of the 18th century, al- A story-driven campaign en- provinces by military means, or Players must use 18th-century attacker manages to take con- happy, and keep industry run- lowing players to lead various titled “Road to Independence” adopt diplomacy and politics to tactics and formations to defeat trol of the settlement’s central ning. nations and attempt to domi- is also included, allowing the make advances in the game. In their enemies. The battlefield square for a set amount of time. If you enjoy a challenge, then nate Europe, the Middle East, player to guide the British col- addition, players can use eco- terrain and the weather are also Besides the single player you’re sure to enjoy this game. India, North America and the onisation of America in three nomics and religion to their ad- important. campaigns, you can also set up Caribbean, along with the mari- structured chapters. vantage, as well as clandestine Factions can lay siege to set- one-off battles. There is also a time trade theatres of the South The first sees the player es- means such as espionage and tlements, replacing open land multi-player mode which lets American coast, Gulf of Guin- tablish and develop the English assassination. battles with street fighting and you go up against real oppo- ea, Mozambique Channel and colony of Jamestown, the sec- The campaign mode is turn- close-quarter combat. Each unit nents. the East Indies. ond focuses on the British fight- based, with each turn repre- has morale, which increases if The Empire Total War Col- As with previous Total War ing both the French and their senting six months starting in the battle goes well, or decrease lection (which is the one for games, Empire: Total War con- allied Native American nations summer or winter, allowing the after heavy casualties, army R89.75) comes with some de- sists of two separate areas of in the French and Indian War, player to attend to all needs of losses, coming under artillery cent bonus content. game play: a turn-based geopo- whilst the third has the player their faction before ending their bombardment, or with the death This includes elite units of litical campaign that allows the directing the American Conti- turn and allowing the artificial of the general. Tactical situa- the West, East, and Americas, user to deploy complex strat- nental Army against the British intelligence to make all other tions such as attacking from a Special Forces units, and an ex- egies by moving armies and in the War of Independence. factions’ moves. flank or the rear, or depriving tra campaign. navies across the globe, con- This campaign is goal-ori- The second major area of a unit of allied reinforcements, The campaign is called The ducting diplomacy, trade, espi- ented and strictly historical, game play is the battle system. also hit morale. When a unit’s Warpath Campaign. Here you onage, and managing the inter- and also functions as a tutorial Unlike the campaign game, morale is sufficiently depleted, take control of the Native Amer- nal politics of their nation, as for the game play, both mili- here players control battles in it will be routed and flee the icans and go up against the new well as a real-time battle mode tary, economic and political. real-time and battles can be battlefield. colony. that enables players to com- Completion of “Road to Inde- fought both on land and sea. Depending on whether mo- Empire Total War is both en- Publisher - Sega mand military forces in battle pendence” unlocks the newly In land engagements, players rale is merely broken or en- joyable and addictive. It’s not Genre - Simulation both on land and at sea. formed United States to use in a have an 18th-century army con- tirely shattered, the player may one of those games where you Score - 8/10 The game features about fifty shorter, later version of the full sisting of units such as cavalry, be able to rally the unit and re- just build up a massive army and Price - R89.75 (on Steam) 18th-century factions; however, campaign. musketeers, riflemen and artil- group. Victory is achieved by go out and destroy everything 52 53 Movie Review Book Review “Mad Mike” Hoare: The Legend The Longest Day olonel Mike Hoare led CIA agent who was to change 300 ‘Wild Geese’ across his life … and who was to stop eleased in 1962 and shot The film pays particular at- on Ouistreham by Free French the Congo to crush a Nelson Mandela. entirely in black and tention to the decision by Gen- Forces and the strafing of the C communist rebellion, rescue Later Mike was technical white, The Longest Day eral Eisenhower, Supreme Com- beaches by two lone Luftwaffe R 2000 nuns and priests from bar- advisor to the film The Wild is a war epic based on Cornelius mander of SHAEF, to go after pilots. barity, beat Che Guevara … and Geese, which starred Richard Ryan’s book of the same name. reviewing the initial bad-weath- The film concludes with a become a legend. Burton playing the Mike Hoare It was produced by Darryl F. er reports as well as reports about montage showing various Allied Of Irish blood, Mike was character. Zanuck and is about the D-Day the divisions within the German units consolidating their beach- schooled in England and, dur- In 1981 Mike led 50 ‘Froth- landings in Normandy on 6 June High Command as to where an heads before they advance in- ing World War 2, was the ‘best blowers’ in a bid to depose the 1944. invasion might happen or what land to reach Germany by cross- bloody soldier in the British socialist government of the The film features a large en- the response to it should be. ing France. Army’. He demobbed as major, Seychelles. Things went wrong semble cast including John Numerous scenes document A colourised version of this qualified in London as a - char and Mike was sentenced to ten Wayne, Kenneth More, Richard the early hours of 6 June when film was released on VHS in tered accountant and emigrated years in jail for hijacking a Boe- Todd, Robert Mitchum, Rich- Allied airborne troops were sent 1994, the 50th anniversary of the to South Africa. ing 707. ard Burton, Steve Forrest, Sean in to take key locations inland invasion. Going rogue, he started living In this biography – rich in Connery, Henry Fonda, Red from the beaches. The French The movie won two Academy dangerously to get more out of new material – Chris Hoare sep- Buttons, Peter Lawford, Eddie resistance is also shown reacting Awards and was nominated for Softcover, 302 pages with life, including trans-Africa mo- arates the man from the myth in Albert, Jeffrey Hunter, Stuart to the news that an invasion has three others. photos. There will also be a torbike trips, bluewater sailing, a way only a son can, and con- Whitman, Tom Tryon, Rod Stei- started. Not as visually graphic as limited hardcover edition, num- exploring remote areas, and cludes his ‘mad dad’ was an of- ger, Leo Genn, Gert Fröbe, Irina The Longest Day chronicles something like Saving Private bered and signed (God willing) leading safaris in the Kalahari ficer and a gentleman with a bit Demick, Bourvil, Curt Jürgens, most of the important events Ryan, but still well worth watch- by Mike Hoare and the author, Desert. of pirate thrown in. George Segal, Robert Wagner, surrounding D-Day, from the ing. his son, Chris. Here Mike got to know the Available 16 July 2018. Paul Anka and Arletty. Many British glider missions to secure Price: R350 of these actors played roles that Pegasus Bridge, the counterat- were essentially cameo appear- tacks launched by American ances. paratroopers scattered around In addition, several cast mem- Sainte-Mère-Église, the infil- bers – including Fonda, Genn, tration and sabotage work con- More, Steiger and Todd – saw ducted by the French resistance action as servicemen during the and SOE agents to the response war; Todd was among the first by the Wehrmacht to the inva- British officers to land in - Nor sion and the uncertainty of Ger- mandy in Operation Overlord, man commanders as to whether and he participated in the assault it was a feint in preparation for on Pegasus Bridge. crossings at the Pas de Calais The movie is filmed in the (see Operation Fortitude), where style of a docudrama. Beginning the senior German staff had al- in the days leading up to D-Day, ways assumed it would be. it concentrates on events on both Set-piece scenes include the sides of the channel, such as the parachute drop into Sainte-Mère- Allies waiting for the break in Église, the advance inshore from We Dare to Win Against All Odds In The Kill Zone the poor weather and anticipat- the Normandy beaches, the U.S. R300 R650 R300 ing the reaction of the Axis forc- Ranger Assault Group’s assault Click on the box cover to es defending northern France. on the Pointe du Hoc, the attack watch a trailer of the film. All books are available from Bush War Books 54 55 Paul was a corporal with On the lighter side 3South African Infantry Bat- talion and he took an intake for basic training. “I remember a song that my Nice to meet you dad would sometimes sing. It was called ‘Bless Them All’ One things was certain for anyone that did national service - you would get to meet a lot of and one of the lines went ‘the new and interesting people. long and the short and the tall.’ “Well as a basic training in- here is an old saying that or decided to leave school, the father when compared to the structor I saw the long and the there are only two things South African Defence Force others in the squad.” short and the tall. I also saw the in life that are certain - required your services. fat and the thin and the down- T right ugly. you will die, and you will pay Thousands of young con- Remember me? taxes. scripts from around the coun- More often than not you “On one of the intakes we had The parade ground was one place you would Well if you were a white try reported for national service wouldn’t know anyone in your ON PARADE: a guy who was just over seven meet some interesting characters as well as hear some really feet tall. And he was only 19. male in South Africa between twice a year. And they came intake. Yet sometimes you good comments. 1968 and 1992 there was anoth- from every walk of life. would recognise someone that Not only was this guy tall, he er thing that was certain - you Tim was 18 when he did his had been at the same school as SAI in Ladysmith. Imagine my decent person. He was tough on was also huge. Most tall guys would do national service. national service. He went on to you. surprise and horror when I was us, make no mistake about that. that I have seen are normally For over two decades nation- become a corporal and took an Mike was 18 when he was put into a squad only to discov- But he was tough on everyone, fairly thin. This guy was almost al service was a type of rite of intake for basic training. called up, and he did bump er that Guy was my basic train- not just me. On my second day as wide as he was tall, and none passage for white South Afri- “The intake that I was in- into someone that had been at ing corporal. And to make mat- there he took me one side and of it was fat. can males. Many people do not volved with was a real mix of school with him. ters worse, Guy was no longer spoke to me. “He took a size 14 or 15 boot realise that the South African people. There was a mix of both “When I started high school this skinny little kid. “Listen Mike,” he told me, and we had to order footwear Defence Force was a citizen Afrikaans and English speak- we had this bloke in our class “When Guy had joined the “at high school you were a real especially for him. His hands force. Only 10% of the SADF ers, but there was also a fair by the name of Guy. He was army he had started doing body prick. But the past is the past were massive. If he made a were permanent force. The re- share of those that came from this skinny little kid that never building and power lifting. Two and I have no hard feelings. So fist and held it in front of your maining 90% was made up Portuguese, Greek and Leba- stood up for himself. So natu- years later he was built like the just keep your nose clean and face, it would cover your entire from national servicemen busy nese backgrounds. rally everyone bullied the crap proverbial brick outhouse. I was you’ll have no problems with face. He was also exceptionally doing their initial conscription “A wide range of religious out of him. I must confess that hoping that maybe he wouldn’t me.” strong. or ex-national servicemen (Cit- denominations were also repre- I was one of the worst culprits. remember me. Fat chance of If I learnt one thing in the “Yet he was also soft-spoken izen Force). sented. Everything from Dutch “From standard six to stand- that. He came straight up to army it was that whatever you and gentle. I never once saw National service began in Reformed to Catholic, Seventh ard eight I made his life at me and stuck his face right up do in life will come back to you him get angry or lose his tem- 1968 when it was decided that Day Adventists to Pentecostal school sheer hell. I would push against mine. at some stage. If Guy had been per. I think that he realised that all white South African males happy clappers. him around, tease him, call “Hi Mike,” he said with an vindictive he could have made with his strength and size he would be required to do a pe- “Some guys came from rich him names and often slap him evil smile. “Remember me?” my life a living hell. just couldn’t afford to lose his riod of compulsory military families, the type that had gone around just for the fun of it. His “That was 40 years ago and I rag. service. Note carefully the use to expensive private schools. mom used to give him money can still remember how scared All shapes and sizes “I also remember these two of the word compulsory. It was Others came from families that every day to buy something I felt. For three years I had bul- It was unlikely that you would guys that were in another squad. not a request, it was an instruc- were really poor. from the tuck shop. I would lied him and now the shoe was know anyone in your squad and One of them, and if I recall his tion and it was backed up by an “Most of the recruits were 17 make him buy me something on the other foot. more often than not they were name was Watson, was the fat- act of parliament. or 18 years old. Yet I had a guy with the money in return for me “That first night in camp I total strangers. Yet for at least test guy I have ever seen. If you Every white male who was a in my squad that was much old- not beating him up. seriously considered going the next nine weeks these would had painted him blue he would South Africa citizen or had per- er. After school he had done a “At the end of standard eight AWOL, hitching home, and de- be the people that you would be have looked like a beach ball. manent residence was required doctorate in economics and had he left school to join the army manding that my parents send spending every minute of your I’m serious man, he was com- to register with the South Afri- also studied overseas for two and that was the last I saw of me overseas where the army day and night with. It was also pletely round. He weighed over can Defence Force in the year years. So when he finally did Guy. Until I was called up, that couldn’t get at me. likely that the members of your 200 kilograms. that he turned sixteen. Once you his national service, he was 27 is. “The strange thing is that squad would come from a wide We couldn’t find any uni- had completed your schooling years old. He was like a grand- “I did my national service at 5 Guy turned out to be a hell of a variety of backgrounds. forms to fit him and for the first 56 57 two weeks of basics he had to geant major was beside himself help me?” instructors. dress in his civvie clothes while when he saw ‘Beast’ for the first “I felt so sorry for him. For Peter was a national service- they made some uniforms for time. the rest of basics I wrote his man who became a basic train- him. There was another guy in “Corporal,” he said to me, letters back home for him. He ing instructor at the Army Gym- the same squad who looked like pointing at Beast, “has any- would sit and dictate to me, in nasium. He clearly remembers a human skeleton. I once saw one heard that thing speak yet? Afrikaans, and I would write an incident that caused much this movie about the concentra- Hell, I think we’ve discovered his letter. mirth amongst the instructors. tion camps in World War Two the missing link.” “When he received mail, “I was always wary when we and this guy looked exactly like Yet Beast turned out to be which was only one letter a took the recruits to the shooting that. This guy was just skin and quite an intelligent and likeable week from his parents, I would range for the first time. Most of bones. If he stood sideways and character. I definitely saw the read them out to him. these guys had never handled a stuck out his tongue he looked long and the short and the tall “The contents of the letters firearm in their lives. like a zip. during my national service.” he received from his parents “Our shooting range allowed “Our company sergeant ma- were filled with spelling errors 30 people to shoot at a time. We jor was a bit of a wag and he Edukated and the handwriting was really would take the first 30 to the had this really dark sense of hu- Most new recruits had fin- terrible. I sometimes battled to firing point and the remainder mour. He gave these two guys a ished matric or at least standard read what they had written. I would sit some distance behind hell of a time. eight. Some of them even had suspected that his parents wer- them. Some of them were also “You,” he would say to the degrees or diplomas. Yet there en’t all that well educated. FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE: Conscripts came from very put to work in the pits so that thin guy. “You look like you’ve were also those that had a very “Talking about education, Pi- diverse backgrounds. You would often meet people that you they could raise and lower the been through a famine.” Then rudimentary education. eter was always very evasive would never have normally come into contact with. targets. he would point to Watson and Mark did his national service about where he had done his the Saturday night. Tyrone was before locking it again. “Safety was always of a high say, “And you look like you at 7 SAI and he remembers one schooling. I don’t think Pieter one of the group. “I finally selected the tape standard and we would have a caused it.” of his fellow conscripts that had ever been to school.” “We went to three different I wanted, after much deliber- range officer, a safety officer, “I also remember this one found the process of writing clubs that night, and we didn’t ation, and the guy came and and a pit officer. There were chap named Mike. When I saw home very traumatic. Wrong side of the tracks pay to get into any of them. At unlocked it for me. I paid for it also enough instructors stand- him getting off the train at the “The guy that had the bed Naturally you would get re- two of the clubs we didn’t even and we left the shop. ing behind those on the firing station I thought that someone’s next to mine was from a farm in cruits that came from rather pay for our drinks. And it was “As we were walking back to line to ensure that none of the little brother had climbed on the the middle of nowhere. If I re- shady or dubious backgrounds. all thanks to Tyrone. camp, Tyrone reached into his recruits did anything stupid like train by mistake. He looked no call his name Pieter and he was Kevin was 18 when he did “It’s okay. They know me pocket. turn around with a loaded fire- older than twelve. He was a about 17 or 18. national service. He remembers here,” he would say. “Here we go my brother,” he arm. short little guy with a baby face “At least once a week we had one of the characters that was in “I don’t know how many peo- said, giving me the other three “The first thing we would do and if you had dressed him in a to write a letter home and it was his squad. ple came up specially to greet tapes that I had wanted. was give each of those on the fir- primary school uniform no one compulsory. I think the army “Tyrone came from what in him that night. And they all ad- “How there hell had he man- ing line five live rounds. These would have given him a second wanted to reassure our parents those days was regarded as a dressed him as ‘Mister’. aged it? Listen, how did he get were fired into the stop wall, glance. Our company sergeant that we were all having a won- really rough area of Johannes- “I’ll never forget this one the tapes from a locked rack. which was basically a sandbank major took one look at him and derful time and enjoying our burg. He was 20, a down and time we went to SADFI. It was And I was standing next to him behind the targets. This would shook his head. great big adventure. out thug, but also a really like- a kind of shop run by the SADF the whole time. How did he do allow them to get a feel for the “Does your mother know “Pieter’s problem was that he able bloke. He was so laid back and was not far from our base in it?” weapon and it would also allow where you are sonny?” the ser- was totally illiterate, and I’m and nothing seemed to ever faze Pretoria. You could buy all sorts our weapons tiffie (armourer) geant major asked. Yet this guy not having you on. He couldn’t him. He always spoke with this of stuff there. Dead shot to adjust the gas setting on their was 18 years old. read or write a single word. The slow drawl. “I wanted to buy a cassette A day that most national ser- rifles if needed. The best that I remember first time we had to write home, “During basics he had at least tape. There were four tapes that vicemen will never forget was “Once this had been done though was a guy who was giv- Pieter sat there with a pen in his 30 girls that used to write to I was keen on, but I could only that first trip to the shooting they were given another five en the nickname ‘Beast’. Jeez hand and stared at the writing him. Even our corporal was im- afford one. range. For many it was the first live rounds to fire into the stop but he was ugly. He was about pad as if it were a snake. Even- pressed. “The tapes were kept in a time that they had ever fired wall. Then it was time for them five feet four, had a huge fore- tually he turned to me with this “On our first weekend pass metal rack that was locked. a weapon. While it may have to fire at a target for the first head that stuck out, a small flat sad smile on his face. about seven of us that lived in When you wanted a tape an as- been an exciting experience for time. They were given ten live nose, and he was almost com- “Listen Mark,” he said. “I Johannesburg decided that we sistant would come and unlock the new conscripts it was often rounds and fired from the prone pletely covered in hair. Our ser- don’t write so good. Can you were going to go to Hillbrow on the rack and take out the tape a frightening experience for the position. The targets were raised 58 59 and they could fire at their own and at least six instructors and once. I’m not joking when I say English and Afrikaans speaking pace. the weapons tiffie were watch- that it took us months to get this conscripts. Mike explains fur- “After everyone had fin- ing him like a hawk. into his head. He was the most ther. ished firing we would do safe- “As soon as he started to deadly shot I have ever seen, “I was at 1 SAI in Bloemfon- ty checks and then approach fire we saw what the problem but damn he was stupid.” tein and the guys in my section the targets to see how they had was. The R1 rifle is a SLR or all shared a bungalow. About done. The weapons tiffie would self-loading rifle. To operate it Sense of humour sixty percent were Afrikaans come with and he would set the you place a loaded magazine Troops would normally have and the rest of us were English. sights on their rifles. Normally into the weapon and pull back little contact with officers. Yet “This was always a huge the shots were spread all over the cocking handle. When you during bungalow inspections or cause of friction. A lot of the the target. release the cocking handle the parade inspections, they would Afrikaans guys hated us be- “On more than one occasion I breach block moves forward get to meet company command- cause of the Boer War. Can you had guys who would not hit the and scoops up a live round and ers. believe it? Look, I’ve got an Af- target with a single round. chambers it. When you pull Bruce did his basic training rikaans surname but I grew up “I remember with the one the trigger the round is fired. A at 3 South African Infantry Bat- in an English-speaking house- group there was this guy from gas-operated piston then push- talion. He still smiles when he hold. I’m South African, just the farm who had buckteeth and es back the breach block. On recalls some of the comments like any Afrikaner, but there the biggest ears I had ever seen. its way backward, the breach passed by officers during pa- was no ways you could explain He looked like a car that had its block ejects the spend cartridge rade inspections. this to them. doors open wide. and on its return scoops up a “Some of the officers actually THE SHOOTING RANGE: It was always interesting to watch “They used to call us ‘Sout- “After this group had fired fresh round. So you only have came out with some sharp com- the way different people handled firearms. ies’ or ‘Sout-piele’. What they their first ten rounds at the tar- to cock the weapon once. ments. These were some of the meant was that we had one get, we went to check how they “This guy would cock the ones that I regard as my favour- ly from the after effects of his said. “I’ll be appearing here all foot in South Africa, one foot had done. This particular guy’s weapon, pull the trigger, and ites. weekend. He still reeked of al- week.” in England, and our penis hung target puzzled us no end. then cock the weapon again. “Troop, did you shave this cohol and he was swaying gen- in the sea, hence the name ‘Salt “There were five shots dead This would then eject a live morning?” the lieutenant asked. tly backwards and forwards. Souties vs Dutchmen Prick’. On the other hand we in the centre of the target. They round. So when he loaded ten “Yes sir!” replied the troop. “The lieutenant walked The vast majority of those used to call them Dutchmen, or were so tightly grouped that rounds into his magazine, he “Well next time I suggest you straight past him, hardly giving called up for national service Rock Spiders. you could have covered them was actually only firing five of stand a little closer to your ra- him a glance. When the lieuten- would be young men who had “There was many a harsh with a One Rand coin. The oth- them. The other five were be- zor. Corporal take this man’s ant had taken a few steps for- just completed high school. A word exchanged between the er five rounds had missed the ing ejected without being fired. name.” ward he said over his shoulder, very small percentage would English and Afrikaans guys in target entirely. There were live rounds mixed “Do you feel anything troop,” “John Travolta if you want to be people who had first attend- our section. Once or twice guys “The holes on the targets in with all his empty cartridge asked a lieutenant, standing be- carry on Staying Alive then you ed university and completed a actually came to blows. were covered and we went back cases laying next to him. hind a guy. had better get over your Satur- degree while others were those “Then there was friction on to the firing point. They fired “We all killed ourselves “No lieutenant!” came the re- day Night Fever like Greased who had managed to avoid na- provincial lines. The Natal boys another ten rounds at the target. laughing and explained to him ply. Lightning, otherwise you will tional service for a year or two. hated the guys from the Trans- “When we went to check the what he was doing. He was very “Well you should,” the lieu- become The One That I Want.” It is only logical that if you vaal and the Free State, while targets again, we found that the confused by this. He told us that tenant told him, “because I’m “He was making a reference take a few thousand young men everyone hated those from the same thing had happened. This he had been shooting with his standing on your hair. Get it to songs from the movies Sat- from a wide diversity of back- Cape. guy had five shots dead centre father’s .303 rifle since the time cut! Corporal take this man’s urday Night Fever and Grease. grounds and put them together “While we used to fight and and five shots off the target. We he could walk. He was adamant name.” This was at a time when all in confined proximity there is bicker amongst each other, we couldn’t figure it out. How was that if you didn’t cock the rifle The best comment I heard those movies were fresh, so it going to be friction. This was would all stick together if an- it possible for this guy to be so it would not fire. was just after we had come back was really funny and quite a often the case during basic other platoon gave us hassles. accurate with five shots and “We in turn tried to explain from our first weekend pass. It few of us let out a laugh. training. “There was also rivalry be- then miss completely with the that his father’s rifle was a bolt was on Monday morning pa- “Normally you would have Friction could often be found tween the companies. I was in other five? action rifle and that it had to rade and a couple of the guys been crapped out for laughing at section level, platoon level, Bravo Company and we regard- “We then took him back to be manually cocked each time had obviously had too much to on parade. But I think he ap- and company level. Inter-unit ed ourselves as being the best the firing point and gave him you fired a round, but that the drink during the weekend. preciated the fact that we had rivalry was also not uncommon. company in the battalion. Of another ten rounds. This time he R1 was an automatic weapon “There was the one guy in my picked up on his joke. The main cause of friction at course the other companies felt would be the only person firing that only needed to be cocked squad who was suffering bad- “Thank you very much,” he section level would be between the same way and this would 60 61 often lead to physical confron- pie. Not the sharpest pencil in al service together remained tation. the box, but a hell of a nice friends afterwards. Harry, who Quiz Answers “We would sometimes raid youngster. The problem with was 18 at the time, made some So how did you do with this months quiz? Here are the answers. another company at night after Jappie is that he used to snore. really good friends. lights out. When raiding an- “Now look, quite a few of “I made some damn good 1. Royal Air Force. Their ac- Liber. It is also the South African other company you would take the chaps in my section would friends during basics and those tual motto is Per ardua ad 10. British Royal Marines. Corps of Signals motto,. your ‘balsak’ (kit bag) and put a snore. Most people do. But friendships have lasted for more astra. There motto is Per mare, 19. German SS. Their motto pair of boots or your steel hel- when I say Jappie used to snore, than 40 years. 2. Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais per terram. was Meine Ehre heißt Treue. met inside it. I mean he was something else. “Four of us that did our basic (Brazilian Marine Corps). 11. United States Coast Guard. 20. British Parachute Regiment. “Then you would put on your It would actually wake you up. together still see each other on Their motto is Ad sumus. Their motto is Semper Pa- Their motto is Utrinque pa- balaclava and a group would He used to snore so loud that he a regular basis and at least once 3. United States Marine Corps. ratus. ratus. make their way in the darkness would even wake himself up. a month we have a braai. Hell, Their motto is Semper Fie- 12. South African Air Force. 21. US Navy Seals. to another company line. You And the thing is that when you one of them has since become delis. Their motto is Per aspera 22. The Royal Gurkha Rifles. would then invade a bungalow, complained to him about how my brother-in-law after I mar- 4. Indian Army. ad astra. Their motto is Kayar Hunu rushing in and hitting everyone loud he snored, he wouldn’t be- ried his sister. I met her when 5. United States Air Force. 13. US 82nd Airborne Division. Bhanda Marnu Ramro. while they lay sleeping. Then lieve it. we had our visitor’s day during 6. Indian Navy. Their motto is 14. Royal Navy. Their motto is 23. Indoensian Navy. Their mot- you got out as quickly as possi- “Paul was another lad with basics. Sham No Varunaḥ. Si vis pacem, para bellum. to is Jalesveva Jayamahe. ble and ran for your own com- a bit of a problem. He used to “I went to all of their wed- 7. United States Army. 15. United States Marine Corps. 24. Spanish Military. Their mot- pany lines before they could get sleep walk just about every dings and was best man at two 8. Armée de Terre (French 16. British Special Boat Service. to is Todo por la Patria. their act together. night. And he used to do this of them. I’ve watched their Army). Their motto is Hon- 17. Canadian Army. Their motto 25. French Foreign Legion. An “Of course if they suspect- strange thing. He would come kids and grand kids growing neur et patrie. is Vigilamus pro te. unofficial motto is Marche ed that you were going to raid up to your bed and shake you up and even my wife regards 9. US Army Green Berets. 18. Royal Corps of Signals. ou crève. them, then they would be wait- awake. Then he would just them as part of our family. Yet Their motto is De Oppresso Their motto is Certo Cito. ing and you would walk straight stand there and stare at you. It if it wasn’t for national service I into an ambush. While this may was eerie and it used to scare would most probably never had sound like a lot of fun and little the daylights out of me. And the met any of them.” more than a prank, some guys thing is that you couldn’t wake Yet others quickly lost con- Useful links were badly hurt. More than a him. We tried on more than one tact with their fellow conscripts few had to be treated in hospital occasion without success. once they finished their nation- Every month we will be featuring a few useful links to military websites, newsletters and on- for their injuries. “The strangest lad was Craig. al service. Steve did basics in line magazines. Stuff that we think our readers will appreciate. “Naturally it was against Normally Craig was the most 1976. Here are two of our favourites. The first one is Nongqai, the unofficial police newsletter for standing orders to raid each laid back and likeable chap in “When I left the army I never veterans of the former South African Police Force and for those interested in Police History. The other but the corporals would our section. Yet when it was full saw anyone that I did basic with second is Jimmy’s Own, the official newsletter of the South African Signals Association. Click just turn a blind eye. Hell, often moon Craig used to wake up in ever again. on the magazine covers to go to the respective websites. they would encourage it.” the early hours of the morning, “Listen, we came from all about 02h00, sit on his haunch- over the country. So it’s not sur- Strange characters es on his bed, and howl like a prising. With so many people being wolf. And it wasn’t a joke or “To be honest, I can’t even re- called up each year it was a anything. member the names of most of foregone conclusion that they “Apparently he suffered from the guys I was with. I remember would include some ‘charac- a rare condition known as ly- two characters called Koos and ters’. Charles had three charac- canthropy and they are affect- Tony, and another guy who had ters in his section during basics. ed by lunar cycles. I believe the nickname ‘Peanuts’. Other “Never before and never that this is where the legend of than that, I can’t remember any since have I met such charac- werewolves comes from. Hear- of them.” ters as I did in the army. We had ing him howl like that was ter- So, how many interesting three rather strange chaps in our rifying I can tell you.” characters did you meet when section during basics. you served in the military? Why “One of them was an Afri- Friends, or not not send us an e-mail and tell us kaans boy by the name of Jap- Some of those that did nation- about them. 62 63 E-mail [email protected]

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