GK Reid

GK Reid is an American producer, best known for his work with celebrities from David Bowie to Rihanna and Lady Gaga, producing numerous films, music videos, and commercials, and for his creative direction and fashion design for fashion projects. He was raised in India, then moved to New York.
Career.
GK Reid is known for his work with magazines including "V Magazine", "Harper's Bazaar", "New York Times magazine", "Vanity Fair", "GQ", "Interview", "Flaunt", "Vogue", "Rolling Stone", and "i.D." and has styled numerous ad campaigns for L'Oreal, Pepsi, Hugo Boss and fashion shows.
He works as producer, creative director and production designer on films and commercials. His work won 2 Gold Lions at Cannes Festival of Creativity for Digital Death/TBWA for a video and stills campaign against AIDS. His work also won the top 4 awards at the Fashion Film Festival La Jolla at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, including "Best Picture" for his work as Producer and "Best Fashion" for his work as Costume Designer, and won "Best of Fest" at the Princeton Film Festival 2015, for "Legend of Lady White Snake" sponsored by MAC. GK Reid's designs for the film were exhibited in the windows of Barney's New York, at the Fashion Institute of Technology NY and at The Lincoln Center NY. The film was shown at SHOWstudio Cabinet London, the Pompidou Center Paris, the Australian Center for the Moving Image and the Lincoln Center.
Reid has worked with directors and photographers Peter Lindbergh, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Matthew Rolston Markus Klinko and Indrani, Anthony Mandler, Michael Haussman, James Mangold, Abel Ferrara, Diane Martel David LaChappelle Floria Sigismondi and in front of the camera with Steven Klein and Mario Testino.
His commercial clients include L'Oreal, Barney's New York, DeBeers, Hugo Boss, Shiseido, MAC, Puma, Nike and Pepsi.
Press.
Reid has received much press for his work. GK appeared on VH1's "The Short List" as an expert on Lady Gaga's style. He was one of the main subjects of the Bravo docu-series "Double Exposure." Bravo follows him as he works closely with celebrities to express their inner selves through fashion that he finds around the world, and he is also cited as "the voice of reason" who keeps photo shoots and films on track. "Double Exposure" airs in the US on Bravo, and in over 100 countries around the world including Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, China, India, Thailand, Denmark, Canada and others.
Special Projects.
GK Reid produced a 6 part series on Bravo TV / NBC, called Double Exposure, for which he brought onboard Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, and Armie Hammer. He produced and styled the shoots, and designed costumes and accessories for Lady Gaga, for a series of photographs in homage to Hello Kitty, for Lady Gaga's The Fame Deluxe edition, Lady Gaga's "Book of Gaga" 2009, and for Hello Kitty's 35th anniversary campaign, photographed by Markus Klinko and Indrani. Reid designed a "dress completely made from toy versions of the cartoon-style cat" in only 2 hours. As well as shoes from lip glosses. This shoot and Reid's creation of the gown for Gaga is the subject of an episode of American fashion television series "Double Exposure", on Bravo which has aired in over 100 countries, and the outfit was spoofed on the TV show "Glee".
GK Reid produced shoots, designed for and styled Daphne Guinness for fashion magazines including the London Sunday Times, the New York Times Magazine, Muse Magazine the Observer, for the ad campaign for Daphne Guinness' Barneys New York window performance art piece, and for the film "The Legend of Lady White Snake: A Fashion Tribute to Alexander McQueen". These are featured in the "Daphne Guinness Exhibition" at the Museum at the Fashion Institute from September through January 2012, and in her book "Daphne Guinness." Reid was executive producer, production designer and wardrobe designer on the film "Legend of Lady White Snake" which won "Best Fashion," "Best Visual Effects," "Best Director" and "Best Film" at the world's largest Fashion Film Festival at La Jolla, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
GK styled Rihanna's album covers for "Good Girl Gone Bad" and "Umbrella". Reid has styled Anne Hathaway, Katie Holmes, Eva Mendes, Julianne Moore, Mary J. Blige, Lindsay Lohan, and supermodels Naomi Campbell and Iman for magazine covers.
In 2004 GK was the creative director of a collaboration with author Neil Gaiman and artist Yoshitaka Amano in collaboration with David Bowie and Iman as sci-fi characters, for "The Return of the Thin White Duke" a portion of which was published in [V Magazine].
He has produced, styled and designed costumes for Jennifer Lopez for her album covers, music videos, and Billboard cover, Beyoncé for campaigns including L'Oreal, Britney Spears for music videos, Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys, Janelle Monáe, Jaden Smith and Willow Smith, and First Lady of France Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Reid is responsible for Mariah Carey's transformation for her best-selling album "The Emancipation of Mimi" and was the costume designer for her perfume commercial directed by Peter Lindbergh. GK produced and styled Tim Gunn for the cover of his book "Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality Taste and Style", Ryan Seacrest, Kanye West, Usher, Elijah Wood, Val Kilmer, Puff Daddy for music videos, and David Bowie for several album covers and magazines including covers of Rolling Stone and GQ. Reid was the producer and costume designer for David Bowie's music video "Valentine's Day" in which Bowie explores the mind of high school shooter.
GK was producer and EP of the Pepsi short film "Crescendo" featuring music by Jetta produced by Pharrell Williams, set in Rajasthan India, and described by Kyle Hodge of Complex Magazine as "A fun, colorful journey intertwining realism and fantasy through the streets of...India."
GK was a producer of "Girl Rising India -- Woh Padhegi, Woh Udegi" film and campaign with Priyanka Chopra, Amitabh Bachchan, Freida Pinto, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Nandita Das, Madhuri Dixit and Sushmita Sen all of whom GK also designed the fashions for and styled.


Battles of Destiny

Battles of Destiny is a 1992 strategy video game developed by Holistic Design (as "Several Holistic Dudes") and published by Quantum Quality Productions.
Gameplay.
"Battles of Destiny" is turn-based, and takes place on maps that represent the earth or fictional worlds. Cities on these maps allow players to produce units; production requires time rather than money, as more sophisticated units take longer to manufacture. Twenty different unit types are available in the game, including land, sea and air units.
Development.
In its January 1993 issue, "Computer Gaming World" reported that Quantum Quality Productions (QQP) had "recently" purchased "Battles of Destiny" from an unnamed developer in Atlanta, Georgia. The game was accepted through QQP's "unsolicited submissions" program, which had previously resulted in "Solitaire's Journey" by designer Andrew Visscher. "Battles of Destiny" was developed by Holistic Design, then under the name Several Holistic Dudes. It was the team's first computer game. The game was announced at the 1992 Consumer Electronics Show, alongside "Conquered Kingdoms". It was released in 1992.
Reception.
The game received a score of 4/5 from Lee Buchanan of "Game Players PC Entertainment". In "Computer Gaming World", William R. Trotter offered "Battles of Destiny" a positive review, calling it "seductively easy-to-learn and quite addictive to play." The "Chicago Tribune"s Dennis Lynch praised the game.
Brian Walker of "Computer Games Strategy Plus" called "Battles of Destiny" "a fine game, and one that warrants repeated play as well as offering a serious cerebral challenge."
Legacy.
Holistic Design later released "Battles of Destiny" as freeware. Noting that it could be emulated with DOSBox, writer Jerry Pournelle wrote in 2011 that "Battles of Destiny" "holds up pretty well if you like that sort of thing".


Jakarta Standard Tag Library

The Java Standard Tag Library (JSTL; formerly JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library) is a component of the Java EE Web application development platform. It extends the JSP specification by adding a tag library of JSP tags for common tasks, such as XML data processing, conditional execution, database access, loops and internationalization.
JSTL was developed under the Java Community Process (JCP) as Java Specification Request (JSR) 52. On May 8, 2006, JSTL 1.2 was released, followed by JSTL 1.2.1 on Dec 7, 2011.
JSTL provides an effective way to embed logic within a JSP page without using embedded Java code directly. The use of a standardized tag set, rather than breaking in and out of Java code, leads to more maintainable code and enables separation of concerns between the development of the application code and user interface.
There are a total of six JSTL tag library descriptors:
In addition to JSTL, the JCP has the following JSRs to develop standard JSP tag libraries:
The attacking force initially consisted of "Gebirgsjäger" of the German 138. "Gebirgsjägerregiment" (part of the 3. "Gebirgsdivision"), which landed in Trondheim on 9 April. Later, from 20 April to 27 April, the Germans substituted the 138. "Gebirgsjägerregiment" with units from the 181. Infantry Division and the 138. "Gebirgsjäger" were sent north to try to relieve their comrades at the Narvik Front.
By the end of the battle the German forces employed against Hegra Fortress consisted chiefly of one infantry battalion at Hegra and one company of "Gebirgsjäger" in the nearby village of Sona. In addition further units were deployed to the village of Elvran and to the Selbu region.
Background.
The old mothballed fort at Ingstadkleiva that was to become known as Hegra Fortress was not intended by any of the parties as a battlefield. It only became of importance when the Norwegian artillery major Hans Reidar Holtermann started organising troops to resist the German invasion forces which had been landed at Trondheim. Holtermann first travelled to the army camp at Værnes to mobilize his Artillery Regiment no. 3. This mobilization began at 14:00 on 9 April 1940, but the Germans landed at Stjørdal Station the very next day, and by 10:30 approached the camp. As his forces were not combat ready, Holtermann had to evacuate and move to what was at that point known as Ingstadkleiva Fort to complete his mobilization. Thus, at 15:00 on 10 April 1940, most of the personnel and equipment under Holtermann's command arrived at the small mountain fortification of Ingstadkleiva Fort. At this point, Holtermann was given orders to proceed with the mobilization and otherwise do what he himself thought best. Holtermann thus began to gather and equip a fighting force of local volunteers. After arriving at the fort Holtermann first took residence in the buildings outside the mountain fortifications, not intending to defend the facility, only use it as a temporary base.
Mobilization.
By 10 April, Holtermann already had fifty volunteers under his command and a steady stream of mostly local men kept being drawn to the fort. On 11 April, men of Holtermann's unit returned to Værnes to remove more of the materiel and provisions stored there. Due to poor security amongst the German forces stationed at the camp, the Norwegians were able to carry out their mission undetected. The reclaimed supplies were taken partly to the fortress and partly to a number of nearby farms. When a force of 250 soldiers had been assembled, Holtermann had to turn away further volunteers due to the fact he could not arm or equip any more soldiers than those he already had under his command at that point. From 12 April work was carried out to reactivate the fortress' artillery, which was found to have plentiful ammunition, but no direction systems or charts for indirect fire. Only a few 1:100,000 scale maps were available at the fortress. The actual artillery charts for the fortress were stored in Trondheim and fell into the hands of the Germans on 9 April and were used by the Wehrmacht during the siege to deploy artillery in places that the fortress could not hit. The same day troops of Holtermann's unit were positioned around Hegra railway station and Mælen bridge, and the first German attempt at making the fortress surrender was carried out. A German "Major" approached the fortress together with two Norwegian officers who had given up the same day. Despite the best efforts by both the German officer and the two surrendered Norwegians, Holtermann refused to capitulate. The next day, 13 April, Major Holtermann achieved contact with his superiors at the 5th Division for the last time during the Norwegian Campaign. Through a telephone conversation, the commander of the force at Hegra was told to act as he saw best and, if possible, to hinder the Germans in gaining control of the Meråkerbanen railway line to Sweden. In response to these orders, 20 soldiers were sent to the village of Flornes to set up field fortifications and block the road and railway to Meråker.
Friendly fire incident.
On 14 April, reports came in to the troops stationed at Hegra village stating that a train loaded with German soldiers had left Hell railway station and was on its way to Hegra. Not long after a train approached Hegra Station and ignored signals to stop. In response to what was interpreted as a German troop train trying to force its way through, the soldiers guarding the station opened fire on the approaching train. However, the train was in fact carrying Finnish refugees home after the Winter War. The fire killed one Norwegian man and wounded two Finnish women. Later that afternoon, the garrison's sole female member joined when nurse Anne Margrethe Bang from Trondheim arrived at the fortress bearing a load of medical supplies. The daughter of a doctor and trained in first aid, Bang stayed in the fortress for the duration of the siege, helping two military doctors care for the sick and wounded.
German aircraft driven off by ground fire.
The first shots fired by the fortress' defenders occurred on 14 April, the same day as the friendly-fire train incident, when a Norwegian heavy machine gun fired at and damaged a German aircraft, driving it away. More equipment and ammunition from Værnes arrived at the fortress the same day.
Battle.
German capture of the surrounding area.
Attack on Hegra village.
At 05:30 on 15 April, the Germans attacked the Norwegian positions defending the Hegra railway station, Hegra road bridge and Mælen bridge, supported by artillery fire. Having been partly caught by surprise, the Norwegian forces at the Hegra road bridge and the railway station made a fighting retreat to the fortress over a two- to three-hour period. Early on in the fighting, the Norwegians demolished the Hegra road bridge, forcing the German infantry to cross the precarious ice of the frozen Stjørdal River under fire. At Mælen bridge, the guards withdrew to the south. Four Norwegian soldiers fell in and around Hegra, while one was killed at Mælen bridge. In addition to those killed, eight Norwegian soldiers were taken prisoner during the initial German attack.
Fortress artillery intervenes.
As the German attack developed, the artillery pieces at Hegra Fortress opened up to support the Norwegian troops under attack in the valley below, and later covered their retreat. The Norwegian artillery fire was directed at German artillery positions, machine gun nests and convoys of trucks pushing east towards the Swedish border. The telephone operator at Hegra telegraph station acted as an observer for the artillery at the fortress. Artillery fire from the fortress knocked out three German artillery pieces and inflicted casualties on the attacking force.
Skirmish on the fortress road.
As the Norwegian infantry force pulled out of Hegra and up the road towards the fortress, the Germans pursued them until they reached a number of field fortifications blocking the road. At this position, the Norwegians held their ground and inflicted fatalities on the attacking force. Amongst the German fatalities was the attacking platoon's leader, "Oberleutnant" Hans-Joachim Herrmann. After the fighting, as the Norwegians were going through the area to seize German arms and equipment, they found the German "Gefreiter" Hugo Bayerle. Bayerle had been hit in both thighs, sustaining a broken femur, and was bleeding profusely. The Norwegian troops brought him on a ski sled to the fortress for medical care.
End of the first day of the battle.
At the end of the first day of serious fighting, the Germans pushed on along the Meråkerbanen railway line and broke through the blocking position at Flornes. The troops holding Flornes withdrew first to Meråker, then further north to join other Norwegian forces. As night fell, German troops had occupied the areas around the villages of Hegra, Avelsgaard, Flornes, Ingstad and Sona. During the day, "Luftwaffe" aircraft had repeatedly overflown Hegra Fortress. The Norwegian troops had fired on the aircraft with both rifles and machine guns, damaging one aircraft, which crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Værnes.
Attempts to storm the fortress.
The day after the German capture of the area surrounding the fortress, "Luftwaffe" aircraft repeatedly attacked with bombs and machine gun fire. German infantry probed the approaches to the fortifications but were driven off by artillery and heavy machine gun fire. A German mountain howitzer brought up to Avelsgaard bombarded the fortress, destroying most of the houses outside the walls. One Norwegian soldier was killed by a shell hitting the fortress parapet. He was the last Norwegian fatality of the battle.
First German charge.
17 April began with a bombardment at 07:00 from the air and by the howitzer position at Avelsgaard.
At 09:00, a large force of German infantry attacked from the north-east, supported by machine gun positions situated a mere north of the fortress. The progress of the attack was only halted when it reached the barbed wire entanglements directly in front of the Norwegian trenches. At this point, the attacking force was subjected to heavy fire at close range from artillery, machine guns and riflemen, and thrown back. German bombers kept on hitting the fortress throughout the day, knocking out both the telephone line and the electricity supply. Neither came back into operation during the siege. From then until the end of the battle, all light inside the Norwegian tunnels and halls was provided by candles and nine kerosene lamps.
Second attack is aborted.
The day after their first unsuccessful attack, the German forces made another attempt at storming the mountain fortress. In preparation, the fortifications were subjected to heavy machine gun and mortar fire during the early daylight hours. A battalion of infantry was brought forward towards the fortress, but was hit by a blizzard while marching through no man's land. As the attacking units lost their bearing in the storm, fire fights erupted between groups of Germans mistaking each other for Norwegian patrols and the whole enterprise collapsed before reaching the Norwegian positions. Bombers and heavy calibre artillery pieces kept up steady fire against the fortress throughout the day.
Siege.
Evacuation of wounded.
In the evening of 18 April, two Norwegian doctors—Sigurd Aarrestad and Peter Berdal—approached the German commander of the Hegra-Son area and requested permission to pass through the German lines to evacuate wounded soldiers from the fortress. During the previous days' fighting many German wounded had been brought to Hegra village and the doctors feared that there had been numerous casualties on the Norwegian side as well. Permission for the mission was granted, and the shelling of Hegra Fortress was temporarily suspended while local volunteers made their way up to the fortress, pulling ski sleds for the wounded. While Aarrestad led the expedition, Berdal was held hostage by the Germans to ensure that the Norwegians returned from the fortress after finishing their mission. When Aarrestad returned from Hegra Fortress a few hours later, he brought along nine wounded Norwegian soldiers and "Gefreiter" Bayerle, who had been released by his captors and sent along with the wounded Norwegians. As part of the agreement, the Norwegian wounded did not become prisoners of war.
Attempts to storm the fortress are abandoned.
From around 25 April, the Germans gave up on storming Hegra Fortress. The pressing need to remove the Norwegian force ended in large part when the important town of Steinkjer fell to the Germans on 21 April and the Allied advance from the north was checked. The southern arm of the Allied counter-attack had never swung north from Åndalsnes and had instead been directed to the Gudbrandsdal in order to support the Norwegian forces fighting there. As the immediate crisis had passed for the German force in Trondheim, they preferred to push south to link up with forces coming up from Oslo. The focus of the "Wehrmacht" became to bombard Hegra Fortress with artillery and air power to try to pummel it into submission.
Artillery duels, aerial bombing and patrol engagements.
For the remainder of the battle, the Germans did not try to storm the fortress again. Fighting consisted of aerial bombing of the fortress, duels between the fortress' guns and German field artillery and skirmishes between German and Norwegian ski units doing reconnaissance and bringing in supplies of food, ammunition and fuel. Several Norwegian soldiers were captured as a result of the patrol actions. To counter German guns placed in the positional guns' blind zones, the Norwegian artillerymen positioned their two 8.4 cm field guns to cover areas the fixed guns could not reach. During the siege, the Norwegian guns targeted machine gun nests, gun positions, command posts and ammunition depots in the surrounding area. On 23 April, one of the 7.5 cm positional guns was knocked out, one of the fortress' command towers was destroyed and the water line was broken. The second 7.5 cm gun was destroyed on 24 April. The fortress was under constant artillery fire and held out chiefly in order to be in a position to support the Allied offensive expected from the north.
On 25 April, the Germans employed a new weapon against the fortress when a seaplane dropped a bomb, destroying the houses outside the walls, with shrapnel ending up in Hegra village several kilometres away. From 29 April, the artillery bombardment steadily increased in strength, with German guns reinforced by captured Norwegian howitzers from the armoury in Trondheim, and the next day one of the three 10.5 cm guns at the fortress was knocked out. During the siege, a total of over 2,300 shells struck Hegra Fortress.
Værnes Air Station.
One way that Holtermann wanted to directly support the main war effort in Norway was to bombard Værnes Air Base, the northernmost airfield in German hands and vital for the support of German forces north of Trondheim. This was particularly so for the Narvik front, which could not be reached by aircraft flying from further south than Værnes. Recognising this, the Germans had hired some 2,000 Norwegian collaborationist labourers to work full-time at expanding and improving the air strip. Bombarding Værnes would both have disrupted this work and impaired the bombing raids being flown against Norwegian forces fighting further to the north. However, since Værnes is from Hegra, and the fortress' guns only had a maximum range of some , this was impossible. For accurate firing, the effective range was a mere , as that was the range of the artillery's height angle meter. Efforts were made at the fortress to increase the elevation of the guns from 19° to 26° by removing part of the gun shields, and part of the gun mounting, but these failed as no welding equipment could be acquired to carry out the modifications. Even though no modifications could be carried out, one of the 10.5 cm guns at Hegra opened fire in the direction of Værnes on 22 April. With the gun firing at maximum elevation, the rounds still fell hundreds of metres short of their intended target.
The earliest attempt by the Hegra garrison to attack the airfield at Værnes had occurred on 14 April, when a Norwegian dog sled patrol spotted massive German air activity at the air base. Plans were made to manhandle one of the fortress' 8.4 cm field guns to a nearby hill called Blankhammeren, and from there bombard German targets out of range from the fortress itself, including the strategically important airfield. The plan, however, could not be carried out before the German attack of 15 April brought large German infantry forces into the area and rendered the plans infeasible.
International media attention.
During the siege, the struggle of Hegra Fortress captured the attention of the international media, with articles such as those in "The Daily Telegraph" on 22 April and 2 May, and that in "The Manchester Guardian" on 16 April. The fortress was also mentioned in articles in "Time" magazine on 6 May and 13 May.
Surrender.
Preparations and influencing factors.
News came in over the radio on 2 May of the Allied retreat from the Åndalsnes area, that the Germans had seized control of the Dovre Line from Dombås to Støren, and of the surrender of the Norwegian 4th Brigade in Western Norway. This came on top of increasing supply problems, with the bread supply already having run out on 30 April. The next day, 3 May, the garrison started destroying its artillery ammunition in preparation for surrender. The three Swedish volunteers that had endured the siege with the Norwegians were released from their duties and guided across the mountains to the Swedish border by a ski patrol. During the day, a radio message from Colonel Ole Berg Getz—the Norwegian commander in the Trøndelag area—was broadcast. Getz had surrendered his forces in Nord-Trøndelag and advised all Norwegian forces in Trøndelag to lay down their arms as the situation had become hopeless after the British retreat from the southern parts of Norway. The decision to surrender Trøndelag had been influenced by Neville Chamberlain's radio message that day announcing the end of the Allied campaign in Southern Norway. On 4 May, destruction of radios, machine guns, carbines and other small arms was initiated and ski patrols were sent out carrying loads of important documents. By 13:50 that day confirmation of Colonel Getz's capitulation was received and the destruction of the fortress' artillery began.
Capitulation.
In the early hours of 5 May, the situation was such that there was very little food left and water for only a few days, all other Norwegian and Allied forces in all of southern Norway had been withdrawn or had surrendered and Hegra Fortress was the last remaining pocket of resistance south of Nordland. At 05:00, Major Holtermann had his men assemble in the tunnels and relayed to them his decision to surrender the fortress. In a short speech, he thanked them for their efforts and then led them in singing the Norwegian National Anthem. By 05:25, a white flag was raised over the fortress, and at 06:30 a force of 60 German soldiers and three officers—led by one "Hauptmann" Giebel—arrived to accept the surrender of the garrison. Later that day, 190 men and one woman marched out of the fortress and into captivity. At the surrender, the garrison at Hegra Fortress consisted of 14 officers, one technical officer, seven sergeants, one officer cadet, six corporals, 161 privates and nurse Anne Margrethe Bang.
Garrison as prisoners of war.
After the surrender, the Norwegians were marched down to Hegra railway station from where they were transported by train. In Trondheim, the officers and Anne Margrethe Bang were taken off the train and interned at Trondheim katedralskole secondary school while the NCOs and soldiers continued their journey to Lundamo in Gauldalen valley. At Lundamo, the prisoners were interned in a barn for the night. The next day, 6 May, the prisoners from Hegra were force-marched for to Berkåk where a prisoner-of-war camp was established. At Berkåk, the prisoners were set at work at building an improvised road from the river Orkla near Berkåk across the woods to Brattset. The road was intended to help the German logistic system that had been severely hampered by the numerous bridges that had been blown by the Norwegian Army during the preceding month. Due in part to the poor physical condition of the prisoners after the harsh siege they had just experienced, the road was never completed despite threats of punishment made by the German camp commander. At the end of May the German High Command in Berlin announced that Adolf Hitler had personally ordered the release of Norwegian prisoners of war as an act of recognition of the defence they had put up under difficult conditions. The release of the prisoners from Hegra happened in groups and by mid-June the last PoWs had been let go.
Casualties.
Six Norwegian soldiers were killed in action during the battle, with 14 wounded. All the Norwegian fatalities occurred during the first two days of the fighting. In the first years after World War II, Norwegian estimates of the number of German casualties were exaggerated, some spoke of up to 1,100 dead or wounded. Later research has however led to a substantially lower number, at about 150 to 200 Wehrmacht soldiers killed or wounded at Hegra.


Battle of Fornebu

The Battle of Fornebu was an engagement that occurred on 9 April 1940 during Operation Weserübung when the Germans launched an assault on Oslo, the capital of Norway. Seven fighter planes from the vastly outnumbered Norwegian Army Air Service took to the skies to engage the German forces and managed to shoot down four planes against the loss of one before running out of fuel.
Background.
In the morning hours of 9 April, a German fleet led by the cruiser "Blücher" had been dispatched up the Oslofjord to begin the German invasion of Norway, with the objective of seizing the Norwegian capital of Oslo and capturing King Haakon VII and his government. The fleet was engaged in the fjord by Oscarsborg Fortress, an aging coastal installation near Drøbak, that had been relegated to training coastal artillery servicemen, leading the Germans to disregard its defensive value. The loss of the German flagship, which carried most of the troops and Gestapo agents intended to occupy Oslo, delayed the German occupation long enough for King Haakon VII and his government to escape from the capital.
In the days and weeks before the German invasion, the Luftwaffe had made several reconnaissance flights over the Norwegian capital. The Norwegians had dispatched fighters to intercept them, but the Gloster Gladiators were not able to catch up with the newer and faster German planes.
Battle.
At 05:00 the Norwegian fighters were put on high alert after an earlier flyover from an unidentified aircraft. The plane of Second Lieutenant ("Fenrik") Finn Thorsager was the first to take off, but his wingman Lt. Arve Braathen had engine trouble, leaving Thorsager in the only Norwegian airborne fighter for around 30 minutes.
At 07:06 five Gloster Gladiators were combat ready. They were later joined by two additional planes. At this point, the German airborne invasion consisted of 70-80 planes, mainly Bf-110s and He-111s. During the battle, four German planes are shot down; two He-111s, one Bf-110 and one additional Messerschmitt fighter. One Norwegian fighter was shot down by the Germans, but all Gloster Gladiators eventually ran out of gas and landed in various places around Oslo.
Aftermath.
Fornebu Airport was originally supposed to be secured by paratroops an hour before the first troops were flown in, but the initial force became lost in the fog and did not arrive. Regardless, the airfield was not heavily defended and the German soldiers who did arrive captured it promptly. The ground personnel of the Norwegian Army Air Service soon ran out of ammunition for their anti-aircraft machine guns as well; in the general confusion and focus on readying the fighters for action, no one had the presence of mind or the time to issue small-arms ammunition for the personal weapons of the ground personnel. Ground resistance at Fornebu Airport came to an end, with the Germans' only loss being a single Ju 52. Norwegian attempts to mount a counter-attack were half-hearted and effectively came to nothing. On learning of this, Oslo itself was declared an open city and soon fully surrendered.
All the Norwegian pilots were eventually sent to the United Kingdom and later to Little Norway in Canada joining up with the Norwegian force-in-exile and what eventually became the Royal Norwegian Air Force.


Allied Force Headquarters

Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) was the headquarters that controlled all Allied operational forces in the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II from August 1942 until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945.
AFHQ was established in the United Kingdom on 14 August 1942 under Lieutenant General Dwight David Eisenhower in order to command the forces committed to Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa, set for November. Eisenhower had the title Commander-in-Chief, Allied Expeditionary Force. Shortly after the establishment of the headquarters, "Expeditionary" was deleted from its title, for reasons of operational security. Eisenhower thus became Commander-in-Chief, Allied Force. The HQ was moved to Gibraltar on 5 November 1942, and then on to Algiers on 28 November 1942.
Towards the end of 1942, there was a need to unify command of the Allied forces in North Africa, since those from the west, the British First Army, under the command of Lieutenant-General Kenneth Arthur Noel Anderson, landed during Operation Torch, and those from the east, the British Eighth Army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Bernard Law Montgomery, that had fought and won the Second Battle of El Alamein, were now close enough together to need coordination. Therefore, on 10 February 1943, AFHQ assumed control of the Eighth Army advancing from the east as well.
Eisenhower remained in command of AFHQ until 16 January 1944, overseeing the Allied invasion of Sicily (with the codename of Operation Husky), which began on 10 July 1943 and the Allied invasion of the Italian mainland (codenamed Operation Baytown and Operation Avalanche), on 3 September 1943. Eisenhower then a full general, returned to the United Kingdom on 14 January 1944 to assume command 2 days later of the Allied forces assembling for Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, scheduled for the spring of 1944. He was succeeded by General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson. Wilson's title became Supreme Commander, Mediterranean Theater of Operations.
Wilson was in command for just under a year, until he was sent to Washington, D.C. in December 1944 to replace Field Marshal Sir John Greer Dill of the British Joint Staff Mission who had died suddenly. Wilson was succeeded by Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander who was Supreme Commander and commander of AFHQ until the end of the war. After the war AFHQ became a small interallied staff responsible for combined command liquidation activities and commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir William Duthie Morgan as Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean. AFHQ was abolished, effective 17 September 1947, by General Order 24, AFHQ, on 16 September 1947.


465th Tactical Training Squadron

The 465th Tactical Training Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. During World War II as the 465th Bombardment Squadron, it was an operational and replacement unit from 1942 to 1944, when it was disbanded in a general reorganization of Army Air Forces training and support units in the United States. The squadron was
reconstituted as the 465th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron in 1973 and briefly operated the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. It moved to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico and operated as a fighter and academic training unit until inactivating in 1991.
History.
World War II.
The 27th Bombardment Group had engaged in combat in the Southwest Pacific Theater, both in the air with Douglas A-24 Banshees and on ground as infantry in the Philippines. In May 1942, the group and its three squadrons were withdrawn from the theater and moved on paper to Key Field, Mississippi, where it began reforming as a Douglas A-20 Havoc unit. To bring the group to its full strength, the squadron was activated in July 1942 as the 465th Bombardment Squadron. In addition to A-20s, the squadron also was assigned a few DB-7 export versions of the Havoc
In the fall of 1942, the 27th Group prepared for movement to North Africa, but would be converted to a fighter-bomber unit flying North American A-36 Apaches. Because Army Air Forces (AAF) fighter-bomber groups were assigned only three squadrons, when the group moved overseas in late November 1942, the 465th was reassigned to III Air Support Command, and became an Operational Training Unit (OTU). The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups".
In January 1943, the squadron moved to Alachua Army Air Field, Florida, where it became part of the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics. In addition to training cadres for newly-formed groups it also demonstrated tactics for light bomber units as part of the 415th Bombardment Group. In March 1944 the group moved to Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas, where it became a Replacement Training Unit. Replacement Training Units were similar to OTUs in that they were oversized units, but their mission was to train individual pilots or aircrews. However, even as the squadron arrived at Dalhart, the AAF was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not proving well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. The 415th Group, including the squadron, and support units at Dalhart were disbanded, and their personnel and equipment were reorganized as the 232d AAF Base Unit.
Tactical Air Command.
In the fall of 1972, the squadron was reconstituted as the 465th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron and reactivated on 1 December at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, where it trained crews on the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark as part of the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing. This mission lasted only eight months, and in August 1973, the squadron moved to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, where it conducted lead in fighter training with the Northrop AT-38 under the 49th Tactical Fighter Wing. In January 1977, flying training activities at Holloman were put under the newly-activated 479th Tactical Training Wing. The squadron was transferred to the 479th Wing, where it performed the academic training portion of the wing's mission. It continued this mission until it was inactivated in 1991, when its mission, personnel and equipment was transferred to the 435th Tactical Training Squadron.


Joe Morris Sr.

Joe Morris Sr. (April 19, 1926 – July 17, 2011) was an American World War II United States Marine veteran and Navajo code talker.
Morris was born as one of four children on April 19, 1926, in Indian Wells, a village on the Navajo Nation in northeast Arizona, as a member of the Kin'lichii'nii Clan. He took care of his parents horse, sheep and livestock. According to the "Los Angeles Times", Morris described the reservation where he was raised as having "no electricity, no running water, no school." He began attending a government-run boarding school approximately 70 milies from his home when he was twelve years. Morris was taught English at the school. Morris' school was closed at the outbreak of World War II and the building was turned into a Japanese-American internment camp.
Morris told the U.S. draft board in 1943 that he was 18 years old, when he was actually 17 years old, in order to get his draft card. He worked on in an ore mine in Arizona for several months before he was drafted into the United States Marines. In a 1988 interview with the "Modesto Bee", Morris said that a Navajo medicine man prayed for him for a day and a half upon his drafting, which Morris credited with surviving the war unharmed.
Morris was sent to Camp Pendleton, where he and approximately 400 other Navajos received communications training to become code talkers. Morris served as a Marine code talker throughout the Pacific Theater, serving with the 2nd Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division, including Guadalcanal and Guam. He was a participant in the Battle of Okinawa, where the Japanese blocked the Navajo's messages. In 2004, Morris told a Veterans Days observance in San Bernardino, California, that "My weapon was my language...We saved a lot of lives." At the end of World War II, Morris was told by his commanders not to speak of the Navajo code talkers with anyone. That included Morris' parents and wife, whom he did not tell either. Morris began revealing the details of the Navajo code talkers only the code talkers' mission and role in the war was declassified in 1968.
Morris was honorable discharged from the Marines in 1946 and married his wife, Charlotte Morris. He was hired at a Marine supply center in Barstow, California, and settled in the small town of Daggett, a small town in the Mojave Desert. He worked as a maintenance department supervisor at the same supply center until his 1984 retirement.
Joe Morris spoke extensively about the experience of the Navajo code talkers during the 1990s and 2000s (decade). Morris and his fellow Navajo code talkers were honored by in an exhibit at the Pentagon in 1992, which he attended. Morris also attended Congressional Gold Medal ceremony in 2001, in which President George W. Bush presented the award to four or the original twenty-nine Navajo code talkers. He and 200 surviving code talkers were awarded the Congressional Silver Medal on November 25, 2001, at a ceremony in Window Rock, Arizona.
Joe Morris Sr. died from complications of a stroke on July 17, 2011, at Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center in Loma Linda, California, at the age of 85. President of the Navajo Nation Ben Shelly ordered American flags on the Navajo Nation to be lowered to half staff in Morris' honor. He was buried at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.


Battle for Australia

The Battle for Australia is a contested historiographical term used to claim a coordinated link between a series of battles near Australia during the Pacific War of the Second World War alleged to be in preparation for a Japanese invasion of the continent. Since 2008 these battles have been commemorated by Battle for Australia Day, which falls on the first Wednesday in September.
Historiography and commemoration.
The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) and the Battle for Australia Commemoration National Council campaigned for over a decade for official commemoration of a series of battles fought in 1942, including the Battle of the Coral Sea, Battle of Milne Bay and Kokoda Track campaign, as having formed a "battle for Australia". This campaign met with success, and in 2008 the Australian Government proclaimed that commemorations for the Battle for Australia would take place annually on the first Wednesday in September, with the day being designated "Battle for Australia Day". This day recognizes "the service and sacrifice of all those who served in defense of Australia in 1942 and 1943". The day is not a public holiday.
Peter Stanley, the former principal historian at the Australian War Memorial, argues that the concept of a 'Battle for Australia' is mistaken as these actions did not form a single campaign aimed against Australia. Stanley has also stated that no historian he knows believes that there was a 'Battle for Australia'. In a 2006 speech, Stanley argued that the concept of a Battle for Australia is invalid as the events that are considered to form the battle were only loosely related. Stanley argued, "The Battle for Australia movement arises directly out of a desire to find meaning in the terrible losses of 1942" and that "there was no 'Battle for Australia', as such", as the Japanese did not launch a coordinated campaign directed against Australia. Furthermore, Stanley stated that while the phrase "Battle for Australia" was used in wartime propaganda, it was not applied to the events of 1942 until the 1990s and that countries other than Australia do not recognize the "battle" as being part of the Second World War.


Battle of Vella Gulf

The was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought on the night of 6–7 August 1943 in Vella Gulf between Vella Lavella Island and Kolombangara Island in the Solomon Islands of the Southwest Pacific.
This engagement was the first time that American destroyers were allowed to operate independently of the American cruiser force during the Pacific campaign. In the battle, six American destroyers engaged four Japanese destroyers attempting to reinforce Japanese troops on Kolombangara. The American warships closed the Japanese force undetected with the aid of radar and fired torpedoes, sinking three Japanese destroyers with no damage to American ships.
Background.
After their victory in the Battle of Kolombangara on 13 July, the Japanese had established a powerful garrison of 12,400 around Vila on the southern tip of Kolombangara island in an attempt to block further island hopping by the American forces, which had taken Guadalcanal the previous year as part of Operation Cartwheel. Vila was the principal port on Kolombangara, and it was supplied at night using fast destroyer transport runs the Americans called the "Tokyo Express". Three supply runs on 19 July, 29 July, and 1 August were successfully completed.
During the final run on 1 August, a force of 15 US PT boats launched an unsuccessful attack, firing between 26 and 30 torpedoes. Four Japanese destroyers responded, and in the ensuing battle "PT-109", captained by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, later President of the United States, was sunk. By 5 August, the Americans were driving towards the Japanese held airfield at Munda on New Georgia Island just south of Kolombangara and the Japanese decided to send a fourth transport run to Vila with reinforcements.
Battle.
On the night of 6 August, the Imperial Japanese Navy sent a force of four destroyers under Captain Kaju Sugiura—, , of Sugiara's own Destroyer Division 4 and of Captain Tameichi Hara's Destroyer Division 27—carrying about 950 soldiers and their supplies. The Japanese airfield at Munda on New Georgia, which the force at Vila was assigned to reinforce, was on the verge of being captured; it would actually fall later that day. The Imperial Japanese commanders expected that Vila would become the center of their next line of defense. The Japanese operational plan specified the same approach route through Vella Gulf as the three previous successful transport runs over the objections of Hara, who argued that repeating prior operations was courting disaster.
The U.S. Navy Task Group 31.2 (TG 31.2) of six destroyers—, , , , , and —commanded by Commander Frederick Moosbrugger, having been forewarned of the Japanese operation, was dispatched to intercept the Japanese force. The morale of Moosbrugger's crews was buoyed by the realization that at last they would be free of the combat doctrine that required them to stick close to the cruisers; on this night, they would be able to apply their own tactics.
The US ships made radar contact with the Japanese force at 23:33. Moosbrugger's battle plan divided his forces into two divisions. Moosbrugger's own Destroyer Division 12 ("Dunlap", "Craven" and "Maury"), whose ships retained their full pre-war torpedo batteries, was to launch a surprise torpedo attack out of the shadow of Kolambangara Island. Meanwhile, Commander Roger Simpson's Destroyer Division 15 ("Lang", "Sterett" and "Stack"), whose ships had exchanged some of their torpedo tubes for extra 40 mm guns, was to cover Moosburger's division from an overwatch position, turning to cross the enemy's course. The idea was that any attempt by the Japanese to turn into the first division's torpedo attack would expose their broadsides to torpedo attack from the second division.
The two divisions could then switch roles if a repeat torpedo attack proved necessary, or alternate roles if barges were encountered, which could be dealt with by the second division's extra guns if necessary. Having learned the harsh lessons of naval combat at night after the Battle of Kolombangara, the Battle of Kula Gulf, and a previous PT boat skirmish, and having finally addressed the technical problems that had plagued their Mark 15 torpedoes since the beginning of the war, the American destroyers did not give away their position with gunfire until their torpedoes started striking their targets.
"Dunlap", "Craven" and "Maury" fired a total of 24 torpedoes in the space of 63 seconds before turning to starboard and withdrawing at high speed, using the mountainous island to their east to help camouflage their movements. The Americans were operating on the assumption that the Japanese had nothing to match their new centrimetric SG radar; they knew that their older meter band radars could not differentiate between the surface ships and the island and presumed Japanese radars were no better. In the event, none of the Japanese ships present actually had radar and the looming mass of the island served to conceal the American ships from visual observation. "Lang", "Sterett" and "Stack" turned to port to cross their opponent's T and opened fire as soon as the torpedoes started detonating. All four Japanese destroyers were hit by American torpedoes. "Hagikaze", "Arashi", and "Kawakaze" burst into flames and either sank immediately or were quickly sunk by naval gunfire. The torpedo that hit "Shigure" was a dud that passed through her rudder without detonating, allowing her to escape into the darkness. "Shigure" fired eight torpedoes while it retreated from the scene, all of which missed their targets.
Aftermath.
Many of the Japanese soldiers and sailors left floating in the water after their ships sank refused rescue by American ships. A total of 1,210 Japanese soldiers and sailors were lost, mostly by drowning. Six hundred and eighty-five troops were lost. In addition, 356 men were lost on "Hagikaze" and "Arashi" (178 on each), while 169 were lost on "Kawakaze". A small group of 300 survivors reached Vella Lavella. They were later transferred to Kolombangara Island. During this battle, not one U.S. ship was struck by so much as a single bullet or shell, with the only casualty being a crush injury to a gun loader caused by an accident.
The battle—coming less than one month after the night action at the Battle of Kolombangara—was the first time that the Japanese had been beaten in a night destroyer action. The six destroyers had accomplished what a squadron of 15 American PT boats could not shortly before: sink the Tokyo Express with torpedoes with no American or friendly navy losses. The Empire of Japan could no longer supply their garrison on Kolombangara Island, and the Allies bypassed it, landing instead on Vella Lavella to the west on 15 August. The Japanese Army soon abandoned Kolombangara, completing their withdrawal by early October.
Two of the US destroyer captains, Lieutenant Commanders Clifton Iverson ("Dunlap") and Frank Gardner Gould ("Sterett"), were later awarded the Navy Cross for their actions during the battle.
Namesakes.
The escort aircraft carrier , in commission from 1945 to 1946, and the guided-missile cruiser , in commission since 1993, were named for this battle.


Larry Wortzel

Larry M. Wortzel (born 1947) served nine terms as a commissioner on the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission of the United States Congress. A 32-year military veteran, he was a U.S. Army colonel, director of the Strategic Studies Institute of the United States Army War College, and vice president of The Heritage Foundation. He was a military attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and witnessed the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989. He is considered one of the United States' top experts on China and its military strategy. He is Senior Fellow in Asian Security at the American Foreign Policy Council. <www.afpc.org></ref>
Career.
Larry Wortzel received a B.A. degree from Columbus College (now Columbus State University) in Columbus, Georgia, and earned his Master's and Ph.D. degrees in political science from the University of Hawaii.
Wortzel spent three years in the U.S. Marine Corps before attending college, and then enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1970, during the Vietnam War. He was assigned to the Army Security Agency in Thailand to monitor Chinese military communications in nearby Vietnam and Laos. By 1973 he graduated from the Infantry Officer Candidate School, Airborne training and Ranger training. He is a graduate of the United States Army War College.
He shifted to military intelligence after serving as an infantry officer for four years. From 1978 to 1982, he served at the Intelligence Center Pacific of the U.S. Pacific Command. He then enrolled in advanced Chinese language studies at the National University of Singapore. Next he served as a counterintelligence special agent at the Office of the Secretary of Defense for four years, and worked in foreign intelligence with the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command.
From 1988 to 1990, Wortzel was an assistant military attaché at the American Embassy in Beijing, and witnessed and reported on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and the subsequent army crackdown. In 1995, he returned to the embassy as the Army Attaché.
In 1997, Wortzel became the director of the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, and a faculty member of the college. In 1999, he retired from the Army as a colonel after 32 years of military service.
From 1999 to 2006, Wortzel served as Asian Studies Center director and vice president for foreign policy at The Heritage Foundation. Since 2001, he has served for nine terms as a Commissioner of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission of the United States Congress. His term expired on December 31, 2020.
Personal.
Wortzel is married and lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.


Canton Operation

The Canton Operation () was part of a campaign by Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War to blockade China to prevent it from communicating with the outside world and importing needed arms and materials. Control of Guangzhou (Canton) and the Pearl River Delta would provide a base to make the blockade of Guangdong province more effective by seizing southern China's major port and isolate the British port of British Hong Kong.
Background.
By the end of 1937, south China was crucial to the Republic of China as a means of maintaining contact with the outside world. Guangzhou and Hong Kong served as vital centers of transportation and international aid to Chiang Kai-Shek. Approximately 80 percent of supplies from abroad to the Chinese forces in the interior passed through Guangzhou. Imperial General Headquarters believed that a blockade of Guangdong province would deprive China of essential war material and the ability to prolong the war.
In 1936 the Hankow-Canton (Hankou-Guangzhou) railway was completed. With the Kowloon-Canton (Hong Kong-Guangzhou) railway, this formed a rapid all-rail link from south China to central and northern China. For the first sixteen months of the war about 60,000 tons of goods transited per month through the port of Hong Kong. The central government also reported the import of 1.5 million gallons of gasoline (4,100 tons) through Hong Kong in 1938. More than 700,000 tons of goods would eventually reach Hankou using the new railway.
For comparison, the Soviet Union was more willing to provide direct military support to prolong the war. In addition to the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact signed in August 1937, a barter agreement was negotiated to trade munitions for strategic materials such as tungsten and antimony. Starting in 1937 Soviet war material was transported through Xinjiang (Sinkiang) to Lanzhou (Lanchow) using 20,000 camels. Chinese raw materials would travel back the same way or via Hong Kong to Vladivostok. By 1940, 50,000 camels and hundreds of trucks were transporting 2,000-3,000 tons of Soviet war material per month into China.
Japanese planning for operations began in early November 1937. The objectives of the blockade could be achieved by seizing a portion of Daya Bay and conducting air operations from there. In December 1937, the 5th Army with the 11th Division, the Formosa Mixed Brigade and the 4th Air Brigade were activated in Formosa under the command Lt. Gen. Motoo Furusho to accomplish this objective. Due to the proximity of Daya Bay to Hongkong, the Japanese Government feared that trouble might break out between Britain and Japan. The operation was subsequently suspended and the 5th Army was deactivated. By June 1938, the Battle of Wuhan caused the Imperial General Headquarters to realize that it could not localize the fighting. Imperial General Headquarters reversed policy and began preparations to capture Guangzhou and expedite the settlement of the war.
Prelude.
Pre-emptive strikes.
While the full-scale War of Resistance-World War II raged at the Battle of Shanghai and Battle of Nanking, pressing demands for aerial support at the Battle of Taiyuan in the northern front and Canton in the southern front, forced the Nationalist Air Force of China to split the 28th PS, 5th PG based at Jurong Airbase in the Nanking defense sector into two smaller squadrons, dispatching them with Lt. Arthur Chin leading half of the squadron towards Canton, and Capt. Chan Kee-Wong leading the other half to Taiyuan. On 27 September 1937, 28th PS commander Lt. Arthur Chin led four Hawk IIs out of while 29th PS commander Lt. Chen Shun-Nan led three Hawk IIIs out from on an intercept of IJNAF G3M bombers sent to attack the Canton-Hankow railway infrastructure; the two flights of Hawks attacked the Japanese bombers over Canton, claiming at least two kills, with one G3M streaming fuel, where it ditched off the coast of Swatow, and the crew rescued by a British freighter, with one of the gunners dying of his battle wounds. In October of 1937, the Chinese government ordered 36 Gloster Gladiator Mk.I fighters whose performance and firepower well-exceeds that of the Hawk IIs and IIIs; most of these became the frontline fighter aircraft of the Chinese Air Force in the Canton defense sector as the war raged into 1938.
On 23 February 1938 (some sources date 24 February), Capt. John Huang Xinrui (like Arthur Chin, a Chinese-American volunteer pilot for the Chinese Air Force) commanded the renewed 29th PS now equipped with the new Gloster Gladiator fighters, led nine of his squadron's British-made Gladiators out of to its first-ever aerial-combat baptism of fire over Canton, along with three 28th PS Gladiators, they intercepted thirteen Nakajima E8N fighter-attack seaplanes from the "tenders" "Notoro Maru" and "Kinugasa Maru"; unfortunately the Chinese pilots efforts were severely thwarted in the ensuing battle, as most of the machine guns on the Gladiators jammed, yet despite the greatly reduced firepower from the Gladiators, five of the E8N were still shot-up enough to go down as confirmed kills by Capt. Huang and the other pilots hitting the Japanese planes with only one, two or three working guns (out of four) per Gladiator. Arthur Chin revealed later that the cause of the jamming of the Gladiator's machine guns were the result of defective Belgian-made ammunition rounds. Tragically, the bad ammunition led to fatal consequences, as the Gladiator pilots Lt. Xie Chuanhe (Hsieh Chuan-ho) and his wingman Lt. Yang Rutong both tailed and targeted the E8Ns, only to be stymied with their Gladiator's inoperable weapons, with Lt. Yang killed in a burst of machine gun fire from the counter-attacking E8N; Lt. Chen Qiwei (Chen Chi-wei) was lost under similar circumstances.
4th War Area Army.
The 4th War Area Army under the command of He Yingqin in 1938 was assigned to the defense of south China. General Yu Hanmou was in command of the 12th Army Group defending Guangdong province. Eight divisions and two brigades of regular army troops were deployed in the vicinity of Guangzhou. Another five divisions of regular army troops were deployed in Fujian province. The 4th War Area Army totalled about 110,000 regular army troops. Most regular army units in Guangxi province and four divisions from Guangdong had been transferred north to participate in the Battle of Wuhan.
In addition to regular army troops, two militia divisions were deployed in the vicinity of Guangzhou and the Guanxi militia consisted of five militia divisions in Guangxi province. The militia divisions would generally be recruited from the local civilian population and disbanded as the army moved through new areas. These divisions were generally employed for security, supply transportation and reconnaissance.
The main strength of the Chinese forces in Guangdong were concentrated in Guangzhou and to the immediate east of the city. Other elements defended Chaozhou and western Guangdong. Chinese defensive installations included the Humen fortress overlooking the mouth of the Pearl River and three defensive lines near Daya Bay. Three batteries of four three-inch guns, a battery of three 120mm guns and Soviet 37mm guns were stationed in Guangzhou for anti-air defense.
Japanese Blockade.
Prior to the Canton Operation, the Imperial Japanese Navy conducted an aerial and naval interdiction campaign against China's communication lines to neighbouring regions. Japan believed that the blockade would hasten the end of the war. Disruption of the Chinese logistics network was the primary Japanese objective in Guangdong province from August 1937 until October 1938.
The 5th Fleet's 10th Division blockaded and patrolled the coast from Haimenchen, Zhejiang to Shantou and the 5th Destroyer Squadron patrolled the coast south of Shantou. Occasionally Japanese units from the Marianas were deployed in support of coastal blockade operations in south China. These usually consisted of cruisers accompanied by a flotilla of destroyers. One or two aircraft carriers and fleet auxiliaries would also be on station. Naval interdictions focused on stopping junks ferrying military supplies from Hong Kong to coastal China. The first recorded attack occurred in September 1937 when eleven junks were sunk by a Japanese submarine. Although the Japanese were able to blockade Chinese shipping and ports, foreign shipping could still enter and depart from Hong Kong. The central government had setup Hong Kong as a warehouse for munitions and supplies to pass through.
Aerial interdictions directed bombers against Chinese railway bridges and trains in Guangdong. Starting from October 1937, the Japanese launched air raids against the Sunning railway. The attacks targeted government facilities and bridges in Jiangmen (Kongmoon) and towns along the railway. By 1938, airstrikes against the Kowloon-Canton railway became a common occurrence with damaged trains found periodically along the railway. An air defense early warning system was established to shunt trains during air raids into forested areas that provided overhead concealment. In May 1938 the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office approved a Chinese request to construct and operate a locomotive repair yard within the New Territories to keep the railway operational. Airstrikes conducted against rail facilities in Guangzhou were designed to interrupt rail supplies from Hong Kong so that Japan would not be required to commit to land operations in south China. However, the air raids had failed to severely impede railway operations or stop supplies moving through Hunan or Guangxi.
The blockade in south China also included attacks against aircraft flying out of Hong Kong. In November 1937, a Royal Navy aircraft from HMS Eagle encountered Japanese naval anti-aircraft fire off the coast of Hong Kong. In December 1937, fifteen Japanese bombers overflew Lantau Island and the Taikoo docks. In August 1938 Japanese naval aircraft shot down a China National Aviation Corporation passenger plane and another two passenger planes from the Eurasia Aviation Corporation were shot down the following month.
In addition to airstrikes against military targets, the Japanese conducted politically motivated terror bombing in Guangzhou. Bombing of Guangzhou intensified starting from May to June 1938 with the employment of incendiary munitions and low-level strafing attacks against ships. The IJN air service operating from bases in Taiwan (Formosa) and the aircraft carrier Kaga conducted about 400 airstrikes during this period and continued into July. By the end of summer only 600,000 of the original 1.3 million residents remained in the city of Guangzhou. From August 1937 to October 1938 casualties in Guangzhou were estimated at 6,000 killed and 8,000 injured.


Operation Seagull (Ireland)

Operation Seagull ("Unternehmen Möwe" or "Seemöwe" in German) was an Abwehr II/Brandenburger Regiment-sanctioned mission launched in September 1940. The object of the mission was to infiltrate the UK in preparation for Operation Sea Lion ("Unternehmen Seelöwe" in German).
Military context.
Operation Seagull was planned in connection with Abwehr's remit of intelligence gathering for Operation Sea Lion. Despite being planned and launched, the mission was aborted midway during the sea crossing to Ireland. At the time of Seagull's conception, Abwehr chief Wilhelm Canaris had already issued orders that regional Abwehr stations known as "Ast's" (see Abwehr) were not to attempt to infiltrate into Britain via Ireland for the foreseeable future, due to the dismal failure of Operation Lobster I ("Unternehmen Hummer" in German) in July 1940. However, Seagull was directed by Army Group Northern France/Belgium via the Brandenburger Regiment attached to Abwehr II anyway.
Agents involved.
Christian Nissen aka "Hein Mück" had already taken part in Operation Lobster I. His orders were to transport an NCO from the Brandenburgers, Helmut Clissmann, and one Abwehr I. radio operator to the southern coast of Ireland to carry out their mission. The vessel chosen was the "Anni Braz-Bihen". Clissmann was stationed at Westende, Belgium in readiness for the operation. Nissen received his orders from his direct superior in the Regiment, Captain Hollman.
Clissmann's mission had two parts. First, he and the radio operator were to be landed by boat in the southern region of Ireland. Once landed, the two agents were to establish contact with the IRA. After successful contact, Clissmann was to use the help of the IRA to travel to Britain. Once in Britain Clissmann was to seek out suitable guides to help a possible invading force of Brandenburger troops to the Dover area. If travelling to Britain proved impossible, Clissmann was to enlist the help of the IRA in searching within Ireland for guides to the Dover area. In the event of the agents being forced to remain in Ireland, they were to make contact with Captain Hermann Görtz through the German Legation in Dublin.
Unfortunately for the Abwehr agents, the entire mission had to be aborted even before reaching the Irish coast. During the seacrossing from France a number of things went wrong; the bilge pump on the boat failed, the Danish mechanic became unconscious after an accident, and the vessel was buffeted by a heavy storm for three days. These events forced Nissen to head back to Brest Bay, France.
Involvement of the IRA.
There was no involvement or prior knowledge of Operation Seagull by the IRA in Ireland, or by agents of the IRA working with Nazi Germany at the time. The mission brief provided by Abwehr II staff to the agents, namely to "establish contact with the IRA," provides an insight into the lack of understanding they had of the IRA's strength and presence in Ireland at the time, more than anything that may have come of the plan.


HMS Exeter (68)

HMS "Exeter" was the second and last heavy cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the late 1920s. Aside from a temporary deployment with the Mediterranean Fleet during the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935–36, she spent the bulk of the 1930s assigned to the Atlantic Fleet or the North America and West Indies Station. When World War II began in September 1939, the cruiser was assigned to patrol South American waters against German commerce raiders. "Exeter" was one of three British cruisers that fought the German pocket battleship, the , later that year in the Battle of the River Plate. She was severely damaged during the battle, and she was in the shipyard for over a year.
After her repairs were completed, the ship spent most of 1941 on convoy escort duties before she was transferred to the Far East after the start of the Pacific War in December. "Exeter" was generally assigned to escorting convoys to and from Singapore during the Malayan Campaign, and she continued on those duties in early February 1942 as the Japanese prepared to invade the Dutch East Indies. Later that month, she was assigned to the Striking Force of the joint American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM), and she took on a more active role in the defence of the Dutch East Indies. The culmination of this was her engagement in the Battle of the Java Sea later in the month as the Allies attempted to intercept several Imperial Japanese Navy invasion convoys. "Exeter" was crippled early in the battle, and she did not play much of a role as she withdrew. Two days later, she attempted to escape approaching Japanese forces, but she was intercepted and sunk by Japanese ships at the beginning of March in the Second Battle of the Java Sea.
Most of her crewmen survived the sinking and were rescued by the Japanese. About a quarter of them died during Japanese captivity. Her wreck was discovered in early 2007, and it was declared a war grave, but by 2016 her remains had been destroyed by illegal salvagers.
Design and description.
"Exeter" was ordered two years after her sister ship and her design incorporated improvements in light of experience with the latter. Her beam was increased by to compensate for increases in topweight, and her boiler uptakes were trunked backwards from the boiler rooms, allowing for straight funnels further removed from the bridge rather than the raked funnels on "York" to ensure adequate dispersal of the flue gases. As the gun turrets had proved not strong enough to accommodate the aircraft catapult originally intended, "Exeter" was given a pair of fixed catapults angled out from amidships in a "V" shape, with the associated crane placed to starboard. Consequently, the bridge was lowered (that of "York" being tall to give a view over the intended aircraft), and was of a streamlined, enclosed design that was incorporated into later cruisers.
"Exeter" was slightly lighter than expected and displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of light load and deep load. She was powered by four Parsons geared steam turbine sets, each driving one shaft, using provided by eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The ship could carry of fuel oil which gave her a range of at . The ship's complement was 628 officers and ratings.
The main armament of the "York"-class ships consisted of six BL Mk VIII guns in three twin-gun turrets, designated "A", "B", and "Y" from fore to aft. "A" and "B" were superfiring forward of the superstructure and "Y" was aft of it. Defence against aircraft was provided by four QF Mk V anti-aircraft (AA) guns in single mounts amidships and a pair of two-pounder () light AA guns ("pom-poms") in single mounts. The ships also fitted with two triple torpedo tube above-water mounts for torpedoes.
The cruisers lacked a full-length waterline armour belt. The sides of "Exeter"s boiler and engine rooms and the sides of the magazines were protected by of armour. The transverse bulkheads at the end of her propulsion machinery rooms were thick. The top of the magazines were protected by of armour and their ends were thick. The lower deck over the machinery spaces and steering gear had a thickness of .
Modifications.
In 1932 "Exeter" had her side plating extended to enclose her open main deck as far back as the fore funnel. During that same refit, her pair of fixed catapults were finally installed for her Fairey IIIF floatplanes. In 1934–1935, two quadruple mounts for Vickers antiaircraft machineguns replaced the pair of two-pounder "pom-poms" originally installed.
While under repair in 1940–1941 after her battle with the "Admiral Graf Spee", the Royal Navy decided to upgrade her armament and fire-control systems. The bridge was rebuilt and enlarged to accommodate a second High-Angle Control System aft of the Director-Control Tower (DCT) on top of the bridge, her single four-inch AA guns were replaced with twin-gun mounts for Mark XVI guns of the same calibre and a pair of octuple mounts for two-pounder "pom-poms" were added abreast her aft superstructure. Enclosures ("tubs") for single Oerlikon guns were added to the roof of both 'B' and 'Y' turrets, but these weapons were never installed, because of shortages in production, and lighter tripod-mounted machine guns were substituted. The pole masts were replaced by stronger tripod masts because the Type 279 early-warning radar had separate transmitting and receiving aerials, one at each masthead. In addition, a Type 284 fire-control radar was fitted to the DCT.
Construction and career.
"Exeter", the fourth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy, was laid down on 1 August 1928, launched on 18 July 1929 and completed on 27 July 1931. The ship was then assigned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet, where she served between 1931 and 1933. In 1934 she was assigned to the America and West Indies Station and remained there, aside from a temporary deployment to the Mediterranean during the Abyssinian crisis of 1935–1936, until 1939.
Second World War.
Battle of the River Plate.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, she formed part of the South American Division with the heavy cruiser , under Commodore Henry Harwood. The ship, commanded by Captain Frederick Bell, was assigned to Force G to hunt for German commerce raiders off the eastern coast of South America on 6 October 1939. Two months later, Harwood ordered "Exeter" and the light cruiser to rendezvous with his own off the mouth of the Río de la Plata, while HMS "Cumberland" was refitting in the Falkland Islands. The two other ships arrived on 12 December, and then the "Admiral Graf Spee" spotted the "Exeter" during the following morning.
Captain Hans Langsdorff decided to engage the British and closed at full speed. The British doctrine on how to engage ships like the "Admiral Graf Spee" had been developed by Harwood in 1936 and specified that the British force act as two divisions. Following this procedure, "Exeter" operated as a division on her own while "Achilles" and "Ajax" formed the other, splitting the fire of the German ship. They were only partially successful as the German ship concentrated her main armament of six guns on "Exeter", and her secondary armament of eight guns on the light cruisers. Langsdorff opened fire on "Exeter" at 06:18 with high-explosive shells and she returned fire two minutes later at a range of . The German ship straddled the British cruiser with her third salvo; shrapnel from the near misses killed the crew of the starboard torpedo tubes, started fires amidships and damaged both Supermarine Walrus seaplanes. After eight salvos from "Exeter", "Admiral Graf Spee" scored a direct hit on 'B' turret that knocked it out of action and shrapnel from the hit killed all of the bridge personnel except three. Bell, wounded in the face, transferred to the aft conning position to continue the battle. His ship was hit twice more shortly afterwards, but her powerplant was not damaged and she remained seaworthy, although her aircraft had to be jettisoned.
At 06:30, Langsdorff switched his fire to the light cruisers, but only inflicted shrapnel damage on them before some of "Exeter"s torpedoes forced him to turn away at 06:37 to evade them. Her second torpedo attack at 06:43 was also unsuccessful. In the meanwhile, Langsdorff had switched his main guns back to the heavy cruiser and scored several more hits. They knocked out 'A' turret, started a fire amidships that damaged the ship's fire-control and navigation circuits, and caused a seven-degree list with flooding. After "Y" turret had temporarily been disabled, Bell said, "I'm going to ram the --------. It will be the end of us but it will sink him too". The turret was repaired and she remained in action until flooding disabled the machinery for "Y" turret at 07:30. At 11:07, Bell informed Harwood that "Exeter" had a single eight-inch and a four-inch gun available in local control, and that she could make . Harwood ordered Bell to head to the Falklands for repair.
The ship was hit by a total of seven 283 mm shells that killed 61 of her crew and wounded another 23. In return, the cruiser had hit "Admiral Graf Spee" three times; one shell penetrated her main armour belt and narrowly missed detonating in one of her engine rooms, but the most important of these disabled her oil-purification equipment. Without it, the ship was unlikely to be able to reach Germany. Several days later, unable to be repaired and apparently confronted by powerful Royal Navy reinforcements (including HMS "Cumberland"), the "Admiral Graf Spee" was scuttled by her captain in the harbour of Montevideo.
"Exeter" made for Port Stanley for emergency repairs which took until January 1940. She was repaired and modernised at HM Dockyard, Devonport between 14 February 1940 and 10 March 1941; Captain W.N.T. Beckett was appointed to relieve Bell on 12 December 1940. Then, on 10 March 1941, the very day that "Exeter" was due to be recommissioned, Beckett died at Saltash Hospital from complications following exploratory surgery to repair poison gas injuries that he had received earlier in his career. His replacement was Captain Oliver Gordon.
To the Far East.
Upon returning to the fleet, "Exeter" primarily spent time on ‘working up' exercises, however she also conducted several patrols in northern waters, one on which she stopped in Iceland to refuel. On 22 May she departed from Britain (for the last time as it would turn out), escorting Convoy WS-8B to Aden (Yemen) via Freetown and Durban, South Africa (the beginning of which occurred at the very same time as the hunt for the . was taking place). "Exeter" henceforth became attached to the East Indies Squadron (later redesignated as the Far East Fleet).
"Exeter" then stayed on escort duty in the Indian Ocean (primarily off the coast of Africa) and the northern Arabian Sea (where she visited Bombay, India) until 13 October. On that day "Exeter" departed Aden for Colombo, British Ceylon) via Bombay, British India arriving on 24 October. "Exeter" then spent several days in a graving dock and after undocking (on the 29th) conducted exercises off Colombo and visited the Maldives.
Upon return to Trincomalee (Ceylon) from the Maldives on 14 November, "Exeter" then departed for Calcutta on the 16th to cover a small two-ship convoy that left Calcutta for Rangoon (Burma) on the 26th and 27th. After the successful completion of that duty she was then tasked to escort another ship from Calcutta to Rangoon on 6 December. However, during that convoy, on 8 December, "Exeter" was ordered to urgently proceed to Singapore to reinforce Force Z, as the Pacific War had just begun. "Exeter" arrived at Singapore during the afternoon of 10 December, too late to support and as they had both been sunk earlier that day, but some of the survivors from these two ships were treated in "Exeter"s sick bay.
"Exeter" thus returned to Colombo the next day (11 December) and spent the next two months – until almost mid-February 1942 – escorting convoys (primarily from Bombay and Colombo) bound for Singapore – which fell to the Japanese on 15 February. During this time, in early 1942, "Exeter" was attached to the newly formed ABDA Command, (American-British-Dutch-Australian Command) which came into being in early January in Singapore, but soon shifted its headquarters to Java in the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia).
The Gaspar Strait sortie.
On 13 February, Allied reconnaissance aircraft spotted Japanese invasion convoys north of Bangka Island and the new commander of ABDA naval forces, Vice Admiral Conrad Helfrich of the Royal Netherlands Navy, was ordered to assemble the Allied Striking Force of "Exeter" and three Dutch and one Australian light cruisers at Oosthaven on the morning of 14 February. Escorted by six American and three Dutch destroyers, the force departed that afternoon. The Dutch Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, commanding the force, took his ships through the Gaspar Strait and then northwest towards Bangka Island. While passing through the strait, the Dutch destroyer struck a rock in poor visibility and another Dutch destroyer was tasked to take off her crew. The Japanese spotted the Allied ships around 08:00 and repeatedly attacked them. The first was a group of seven Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers from the light carrier that attacked "Exeter" with bombs around 10:30. The blast from a near miss badly damaged her Walrus, but the ship was only damaged by shrapnel. They were followed shortly afterwards by a group of 23 Mitsubishi G3M "Nell" bombers from the Genzan Air Group that inflicted no damage as they dropped their bombs from high altitude. Another group of six B5Ns attacked without effect at 11:30.
The repeated aerial attacks persuaded Doorman that further progress was unwise in the face of Japanese aerial supremacy and he ordered his ships to reverse course and head for Tanjung Priok at 12:42. The attacks continued as 27 G3Ms of the Mihoro Air Group then bombed from high altitude. Seven more B5Ns attacked fruitlessly at 14:30; a half-dozen more followed an hour later. The final attack was made by 17 Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers of the Kanoya Air Group shortly before dark. The Japanese attacks were almost entirely ineffectual, with no ship reporting anything more than shrapnel damage. In return, allied anti-aircraft fire was moderately effective with most of the attacking bombers damaged by shrapnel. In addition, one G4M crashed while attempting to land, and another was badly damaged upon landing.
First Battle of the Java Sea.
On 25 February, Helfrich ordered all available warships to join Doorman's Eastern Striking Force at Surabaya. The "Exeter" and the Australian light cruiser , escorted by three British destroyers, , , and , set sail at once, leaving behind one Australian cruiser and two destroyers that were short of fuel. After they had arrived the following day, Doorman's entire force of five cruisers and nine destroyers departed Surabaya at 18:30 to patrol off Eastern Java in hopes of intercepting the oncoming invasion convoy which had been spotted earlier that morning. The Japanese were further north than he anticipated and his ships found nothing. His own ships were located at 09:35 on the following morning, 27 February, and were continuously tracked by the Japanese. Doorman ordered a return to Surabaya at 10:30, and his ships were attacked by eight bombers from the Kanoya Air Group at 14:37. They claimed to have made two hits on the "Jupiter", but actually they missed the British destroyer. Just as his leading ships were entering harbour, he received reports of enemy ships to the north and Doorman ordered his ships to turn about to intercept them.
Aware of Doorman's movements, the Japanese commander, Rear Admiral Takeo Takagi, detached the convoy's two escorting destroyer flotillas, each consisting of a light cruiser and seven destroyers, to intercept the Allied ships in conjunction with his own pair of heavy cruisers ( and ) which were escorted by a pair of destroyers. His heavy cruisers opened fire at long range at 15:47 with little effect. The light cruisers and destroyers closed to ranges between and began firing Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedoes beginning at 16:03. All of these torpedoes failed to damage their targets, although one torpedo hit "Exeter" and failed to detonate at 16:35. Three minutes later, "Haguro" changed the course of the battle when one of her shells penetrated the British ship's starboard aft twin four-inch gun mount before detonating in the 'B' or aft boiler room, knocking six of her boilers off-line and killing 14 of her crew. The ship sheered out of line to avoid another torpedo and slowed, followed by all of the trailing cruisers. Moments later a torpedo fired from "Haguro" stuck the Dutch destroyer , breaking her in half and sinking her almost immediately. "Perth" laid a smoke screen to protect "Exeter" and the Allied ships sorted themselves into separate groups as they attempted to disengage. "Exeter" was escorted by one Dutch and all three British destroyers in one group and the other cruisers and the American destroyers formed the other group. The Japanese did not initially press their pursuit as they manoeuvered to use their torpedoes against the crippled "Exeter", which could only make , and her escorts.
The Japanese began launching torpedoes beginning at 17:20 at ranges of , but they all missed. For some reason, two Japanese destroyers continued to close before firing their torpedoes at and "Encounter" and "Electra" pulled out of line to counter-attack. They engaged and at close range as they closed. "Asagumo" was damaged by "Electra", but the Japanese ship sank the British destroyer at 17:46. Meanwhile, the "Exeter" continued south to Surabaya, escorted by "Encounter" and the Dutch destroyer . Doorman's repeated, unsuccessful, and ultimately fatal attempts to reach the transports concentrated the Japanese on the task of protecting the transports and allowed the damaged British cruiser to reach harbour.
Second Battle of the Java Sea.
The following day, after making temporary repairs and refuelling, the "Exeter", escorted by "Encounter" and the American destroyer , was ordered to steam to Colombo, via the Sunda Strait. They departed on the evening of 28 February, but they were intercepted by the Japanese heavy cruisers "Nachi", "Haguro", , and , and by the destroyers , , , and on the morning of 1 March.
At about 0800, the British ships spotted two of the Japanese cruisers, one of which launched its spotting floatplanes. Two others were seen closing in, and both launched their aircraft before opening fire at about 09:30. The Allied ships laid smoke and turned away to the east with the Japanese to their north and south. "Exeter" was able to reach a speed of before the first hit on her detonated in her 'A', or forward, boiler room and catastrophically knocked out all power around 11:20. Now defenseless as no guns could train or traverse, and wanting to save as many lives as he could, "and" to avoid the ships 'capture' by the Japanese forces, Captain Gordon ordered the ship to be scuttled. As a result, "Exeter" began listing over to port, and that list was said to be at "a considerable angle" by the time the abandonment was completed. Sensing a kill the Japanese destroyers closed in and fired torpedoes, two of which (out of a total of 18 fired by Japanese combatants) from the destroyer , hit the ship – starboard amidships, and starboard just forward of A Turret – (as confirmed when the wreck was first discovered in 2007) As a result "Exeter" rapidly righted herself, paused briefly, and then capsized to starboard. "Encounter" and "Pope" were also lost; "Encounter" approximately fifteen minutes after "Exeter", while "Pope" temporarily survived the initial melee, only to be sunk by several B5Ns a couple of hours later.
The Japanese rescued 652 men of the crew of the "Exeter", including her captain, who became prisoners of war. Of these men, 152 died in Japanese captivity.
Wreck site.
The wreck was located and positively identified by a small group of dedicated exploration divers specifically searching for the wreck aboard MV "Empress" on 21 February 2007. The wreck was lying in Indonesian waters at a depth of about , north-west of Bawean Island – some from the estimated sinking position given by Gordon after the war. Her wreck, a British war grave, had been destroyed by illegal salvagers when an expedition surveyed the site in 2016.


VII Fighter Command

The VII Fighter Command was a command and control organization of the United States Army Air Forces. Its last assignment was with Far East Air Forces. The Headquarters were based at several locations with Forward command moving with the campaigns. It was inactivated through being redesignated the 20th Fighter Wing and later, the 46th Fighter Wing on 24 August 1948.
History.
The command was established in Hawaii in February 1942. From its inception until March 1945, the mission of the command was the air defense of the Hawaii Territory. Within ten days after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the VII Interceptor Command consolidated all Hawaiian Islands defense units. In May 1942, the unit was redesignated the VII Fighter Command, constituting the fighter arm of Seventh Air Force, and its defensive responsibilities expanded to include Midway Island; Canton Island Airfield in the Phoenix Islands and Christmas Island Airfield in the Line Islands.
It's assigned units were deployed to forward bases in the Central Pacific Area in rotational deployments. During the assault on the Marshall Islands by Seventh Air Force bombers that began in late 1943, VII Fighter Command pioneered the use of long range fighter escort in the Pacific theater. B-25 Mitchell medium bombers attacking the island chain were being harassed by Japanese fighters who would begin their attacks after the bombing run and break off at the point they estimated to be the maximum range of Seventh Air Force fighters. The Seventh eventually fitted some of its P-40 Warhawks with belly tanks, and on 26 January 1944, sent them out to wait above the clouds for the pursuing Japanese. They shot down ten enemy fighters in three minutes, effectively ending interception of the bombers over the Marshalls.
By March 1944, VII Fighter Command was back on Oahu for regrouping, reinforcement, aircraft transition, and general reorganization in preparation for the Marianas campaign. Its strength was increased from four squadrons to three complete fighter groups of three squadrons each.
It was during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign in mid-1944 that the command began their transition from a static defensive unit in the rear to the spearhead of the attacks on Japan. VII Fighter Command participated in the seizure and consolidation of that island group and, more importantly, gained valuable experience in long-range operations, escorting Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators on strikes to Iwo Jima and Truk from its base on Saipan.
Beginning in March 1945, the command was reassigned to Twentieth Air Force on Iwo Jima, which had been seized by Marine Corps units to provide emergency landing fields for B-29 Superfortresses. From its forward airfields on Iwo Jima, its mission became the command and control echelon of fighter groups providing escort of B-29 Superfortress bombers operating from bases in the Mariana Islands. The command's units flew Very Long Range (VLR) bomber escort operations against the armed forces of the Empire of Japan.
On 7 April 1945, 119 P-51 Mustangs of VII Fighter Command lifted off from Iwo Jima on the first Very Long Range (VLR) mission by land-based fighter aircraft against the Japanese mainland. Off the coast of Honshu they rendezvoused with more than 100 B-29 Superfortresses for an attack on the Nakajima aircraft plant in Tokyo. The B-29s had been taking heavy losses to Japanese fighters on these Empire strikes, but the 110 to 125 who came up to greet them this day were in for a surprise.
VII Fighter command pilots described the Japanese, who attacked singly during the bomb run and immediately after, as easy targets for the Mustangs that broke off in pairs to engage them. Combined, the American fighters and bombers accounted for 71 Japanese aircraft destroyed, with 30 probably destroyed of the 44 that were damaged.
After the end of the war, the command was redesignated a Wing, with the elimination of the command echelon in the postwar Air Force. It moved to Guam in the Marianas and remained assigned to the Far East Air Force. The organization was inactivated on 24 August 1948.


First Bombardment of Midway

The First Bombardment of Midway, or the First Bombardment of Sand Island, or Attack on Midway, was a small land and sea engagement of World War II. It occurred on the very first day of the Pacific War, 7 December 1941, not long after the major attack on Pearl Harbor. Two Imperial Japanese destroyers bombarded Sand Island of Midway Atoll. The Japanese successfully damaged the U.S. Marine base before being engaged by American shore batteries and forced to flee.
Background.
Before the beginning of the Pacific War, American marines were stationed on Midway and had established a small base with the ability to service land, sea and air forces. The marines also constructed all of the bases' fortifications; civilian contractors constructed the buildings. They used 5 inch (127 mm) guns, built in 1916, and 3 inch (76 mm) guns of 1921 to defend the islands. Fortifications had been occupied since 1905. Not only were Pearl Harbor, Wake Island and the Philippines attacked in the opening phase of the conflict, but Midway was shelled as well by two Japanese destroyers, and .
Bombardment.
The two destroyers were part of the Japanese fleet that had just attacked Pearl Harbor. Overall, the unit was under the command of Captain Ohishi Kaname, though Lieutenant Commander Yoshitake Uesugi skippered "Ushio" and Lieutenant Commander Hiroshi Uwa skippered the other destroyer. The engagement began at 09:31 and lasted 54 minutes. The American command, communications and power plant building was damaged by a shell, which deflected off an adjacent laundromat. Battery "H" commander—First Lieutenant George H. Cannon—was hit by shrapnel in the pelvis while inside the command building. By this time, the communications were down from enemy fire, so Lieutenant Cannon refused medical attention until he was assured that the communications were restored to the post and the wounded marines around him were evacuated.
By the time Cannon received aid from a medic, it was too late; he perished due to blood loss. For Cannon's "distinguished conduct in the line of his profession, extraordinary courage, and disregard of his own condition", he received the first Medal of Honor issued to a U.S. Marine for actions in the Second World War. A street on Sand Island was named after Cannon and continues to be known by that name, a 1943 destroyer escort——was also named after him. Six Japanese rounds struck and entered the main PBY Catalina hangar and destroyed a PBY inside; the Pilot and Fireman were killed (see next paragraph), while other civilians inside survived without injury. The hospital was hit also and burned. All of the damaged buildings were quickly rebuilt by the civilian contractors.
Shell craters littered the ground all around the buildings of Sand Island. The Marines did not use aircraft against the attacking Japanese. They did use their artillery batteries and managed to damage one of the destroyers when they came within range. The other destroyer quickly laid a smokescreen and the two vessels retired. Four men died on Midway that morning: Navy Ensign Donald J. Kraker and Fireman Second Class Ralph E. Tuttle and Marines Lieutenant Cannon and Private First Class Elmer R. Morrell. Several others were injured. Navy Chief mechanics engineer John J. Szajkowski survived with another sailor by jumping in the water when they saw the planes coming for the hangar. Japanese casualties are unknown. "Ushio" fired 109 rounds and "Sazanami" fired 193.
Aftermath.
In February 1942, a Japanese submarine bombarded the atoll. In June 1942, the Battle of Midway was won by American forces. The Marines by that time had received reinforcements, both personnel and some newer and bigger guns, all of which were used by the Marine garrison when they engaged attacking Japanese A6M2 Zeros in June 1942.


54th Fighter Squadron

The 54th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was to the 3d Operations Group, being stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. It was inactivated on 28 April 2000.
History.
World War II.
Activated on 15 Jan 1941 at Hamilton Field, California as a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk pursuit unit as part of the defense buildup of the United States prior to World War II.
Deployed to Alaska in mid-1942 and engaged the Japanese during the Aleutian Campaign during World War II. Engaged in combat in the Aleutians, 1942–1943 with long-range Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. Remained in Alaska after the removal of Japanese forces, flying long range escorts for B-24 Liberator bombing attacks of northern Japanese Kurile Islands, inactivated in 1946.
Air Defense.
Reactivated in 1952 at Rapid City Air Force Base, South Dakota, assuming the personnel and aircraft of the 175th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, a North Dakota Air National Guard that had been called to active service for the Korean War and which returned to state control. Mission was to provide air defense for North Central United States. Assumed ANG North American F-51D Mustangs, upgraded to Republic F-84D Thunderjet jet aircraft being returned from combat in Korea in July 1953. Upgraded to F-84Gs in December 1953; upgraded to North American F-86D Sabre in April 1954; upgraded to Northrop F-89J Scorpion interceptors in 1957. Inactivated on 25 December 1960.
Return to Alaska.
Reactivated as a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle air superiority squadron in Alaska in 1987, it provided air defense until being inactivated in 2000.