East African Campaign 1940-41

 This overlooked early WW2 campaign is now getting the Osprey Campaign series treatment in a new book by Pier Paolo Battistelli. 

Mussolini sought to expand the Italian empire in East Africa into his new 'Roman Empire'. In 1936, Italy had already conquered Ethiopia (then known as Abyssinia), and by 1940, Mussolini had ambitions to extend control over British colonies in East Africa, including Kenya, Sudan, and British Somaliland.

Italy launched a series of offensives from Italian East Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian Somaliland) against British colonies. The British garrison in the region was small, and they were forced to retreat. However, British and Commonwealth forces, under the command of General Sir William Platt, launched counteroffensives, deploying Indian, South, West, and East African troops. At the Battle of Keren (March–April 1941), they defeated Italian troops in Eritrea and pushed into Italian East Africa. 

The campaign extended to Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland. The British pressured Italian forces through a combination of military action, guerrilla warfare by Ethiopian resistance fighters, and strategic support from the Royal Air Force. By the end of 1941, Italian East Africa fell to the British. Ethiopia was liberated in May 1941, with Emperor Haile Selassie returning to the throne after being exiled by the Italians in 1936.

The book uses the standard Campaign format. The opposing commanders get potted biographies. The British included Orde Windgate, and there is a classic photo of him riding into Addis Ababa on a white horse. A very modern publicity-aware general. The Duke of Aosta commanded Italian forces. He was a member of the Italian royal family and was educated in England. The actual field commander was Army General Claudio Trezzani.

The chapter on the opposing forces clarifies that 'British' forces meant Africans and Indians. They included exotic units, such as the Sudan Defence Force on camels. The larger units included Indian Army divisions supported by Matilda tanks. The number of Italian troops was huge, although they also relied on colonial units. 5,540 officers, 5,891 non-commissioned officers, 56,510 Italian other ranks and 180,427 colonial non-commissioned officers and other ranks, for a grand total of 255,950, growing to nearly 300,000. They also had 24 medium and 39 light tanks. Poor organisation was one of the main shortcomings affecting the Italian forces. These were widely dispersed in a series of units and sub-units, often created without apparent logic, undermined by limited transportation.

A less determined commander than Wavell might have chosen to defend what he could, but he started preparing to attack in North and East Africa when Britain faced the threat of invasion. Moving the 4th Indian Division from North to East Africa was a bold decision, although some have argued that this weakened the British offensive in North Africa. However, he also had to consider the growing nervousness in Kenya, Rhodesia, and South Africa about a possible Italian invasion. 

The various stages of the campaign are described in detail, accompanied by excellent maps and colour plates of key actions. British losses amounted to 1,154 battle casualties and 74,550 sick and injured, including some 20,000 cases of dysentery and malaria. By the end of the campaign, only about 80,000 Italian forces—colonial troops included—were left out of the 300,000 or so available in June 1940.

As usual with this series, there is a chapter on the battlefields today. While the battlefields may be untouched, I suspect tourism will be limited, given contemporary conflicts in the region.

I could run this campaign with my 10mm Desert War models, although it needs the exotic units to get the authentic flavour. 

Swiss Army of WW2.

 Last September, I reviewed Jim Ring's book, Hitler's War in the Alps, which started me down the rabbit hole of Switzerland and WW2. I have previous on this sort of wargaming distraction, not to mention a book on another neutral, Turkey.

The Swiss published a German invasion plan in 1933, but more needed to be done to modernise the Swiss Army and their defence plan. In 1938, in the aftermath of Anchluss, the Swiss declared that it was 'Switzerland's secular mission in Europe to guard the passage of the Alps in the interests of all.' 

General Guisan reorganised their defences and, in May 1940, mobilised 700,000 men, almost one in five of the Swiss population. He controversially decided to screen the border and fall back to the Alpine Redoubt. This meant abandoning the major cities, but the idea was more of a deterrence as the Axis would be blocked from the main communication routes like the Simplon Tunnel. The army was equipped to fight WW1, although the terrain and the size of the military would have made it a challenging prospect for the invaders.

On 12 August 1940, Captain von Menges revised his plan and submitted it to Halder. He allocated 11 divisions (150,000 men) for the attack, adjusting the Axis of the attack following a reconnaissance along the border. Operation Sea Lion and Operation Barbarossa put the plan on the back burner.

So, a modest wargaming 15mm project was born. The first challenge was figures, as the Swiss army wore a distinctive helmet. No manufacturer did it, although a scalpel to the Dutch helmet might work. Then I came across these 3D prints by Eskice Miniatures.  Postage from France was prohibitive, but I found a UK supplier, although his illness meant the delivery was delayed a long time. It's not a massive problem, as I am not short of projects! The prints are well-sculpted and relatively clean. They don't come with the bases in the sales picture, so use a strong super glue. We will see how robust they are after handling on the wargame table.

I went for the early war grey uniform and black helmet, as that was the period most likely for invasion. This Swiss militaria site was helpful, and a museum in Switzerland has a range of uniform types.

Equipment was less of a problem as the Swiss didn't have a massive armaments industry and bought it overseas. I found some support weapons in my spares box and got the German 20mm AA and a mountain howitzer from Butlers. The main light tank was the Panzer 39, manufactured in Czechoslovakia. It was similar to the Pkw 38t, close enough in 15mm. The air force had bought modern fighters, including the Me 109 and the MS 450.

That gives me eight infantry bases, with an HMG and mortar as support weapons, AA, light artillery, and a tank. That should be plenty for defending part of the Alps against German mountain troops using Blitzkrieg Commander rules. We will see!

Fighters over the Aegean

 The Dodecanese campaign has been the subject of many books, but they tend to focus on the land and naval aspects. The air war is often brushed over with the comment that attempting to hold islands without adequate cover was folly. It was, but that doesn't mean there wasn't an air warfare component. Brian Cull examines the air war across the Aegean in the second half of the war.

The region saw intense aerial engagements between the Allies and Axis forces. These operations were characterised by bombing raids, naval support missions, reconnaissance, and dogfights over islands, the sea, and mainland targets. 

After the failure of the Dodecanese campaign, The RAF and USAAF conducted bombing raids targeting German airfields, supply depots, and shipping lanes to weaken the Axis hold in the region. Long-range aircraft, such as B-24 Liberators and B-25 Mitchells, operated from air bases in Egypt, Cyprus, and later southern Italy. Fighter cover, including Spitfires, Beaufighters, and Hurricanes, was crucial in protecting bombers and supporting ground troops during operations. 

German air superiority during the early part of the campaign was mainly due to the proximity of their airbases and the rapid response of their forces. They utilised a variety of aircraft, including Messerschmitt Bf 109s, and the Stuka still had a role to play in this theatre. The Arado seaplane is another aircraft that came into its own here, and the Ju-52 transport workhorse of the Luftwaffe was crucial in supplying the islands. The Allies eventually achieved air and naval superiority in the Aegean, but the campaign demonstrated the challenges of coordinating joint operations in a geographically complex area.

The author works his way through the various phases, starting with Churchill's obsession, or as Brooke put it, 'He has worked himself into a frenzy of excitement about the Greek islands. He refuses to listen to any arguments or to see the dangers. The whole thing is sheer madness.' The Beaufighter doesn't get many plaudits, but in this region, its range and versatility made it a useful aircraft. They devastated German naval supply craft, forcing the Luftwaffe to fly in Ju-52s at night. Quite a few interned in Turkey, who kept the planes and returned the crews. Several squadrons were based in Cyprus, another WW2 base rarely mentioned, and more were in the Libyan airfields.

252 Squadron Beaufighter (Martin Čížek)

Once Operation Dragoon had finished, seven small carriers were redeployed to the Aegean, unleashing Seafires, Hellcats, and Wildcats on targets in the islands and mainland Greece. The author also outlines Luftwaffe operations, and there is an interesting chapter on the challenges they faced in reconnaissance operations. Radar coverage and RAF night fighters were crucial in protecting the various deception operations prepared across the Middle East.

I am not a huge fan of air warfare books from a readability perspective. Planes take off, shoot down the enemy, and return, which can be tedious. However, the author breaks up this narrative with lots of first-hand accounts. The rarely covered aircraft types are a big plus as well. This book is currently on special offer at the Naval and Military Press. For £3.99, you can't go far wrong.

I definitely need some Beaufighters and Arados for my Blood Red Skies games.

Croatia Under Ante Pavelic

 This book has been sitting in my reading pile for a while. A book I should read, but anything to do with the Ustaše is bound to be a grim read. Robert McCormick's book looks at the Ustaše leader from an American policy perspective.

Ante Pavelić (1889–1959) was a Croatian fascist politician and military leader, best known as the leader of the Ustaše, a far-right ultranationalist organisation. Founded in the 1930s, the Ustaše advocated for Croatian independence but promoted an ideology of extreme nationalism, anti-Serb sentiment, and fascism. Pavelić led this movement, aligning with Axis powers during the war. He was the Poglavnik (leader) of the NDH from 1941 to 1945. Under his leadership, the Ustaše carried out a campaign of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced conversions targeting Serbs, Jews, and Roma, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

After the Axis defeat in 1945, Pavelić fled Europe with assistance from Vatican-linked networks (known as 'ratlines'). He lived in exile in Argentina, Spain, and other countries, avoiding prosecution for war crimes. In 1957, Pavelić survived an assassination attempt, probably by a Yugoslav agent in Argentina, but suffered severe injuries. He died in 1959 in Spain, likely from complications related to the attack.

The author takes us through this history, focusing on how the USA perceived him. He was largely ignored in the 1930s as the US left the Balkans to the British. However, they noticed his supporters were organised among Croatian migrants in the USA. Before the war, the Ustaše was a fringe organisation with minimal support in Croatia. His involvement in the assassination of King Aleksandar put a spotlight on the organisation in the USA, which included local groups called Domobrans (defenders) and a newspaper. 140,559 Croatians were living in the US and 52,208 Serbians. Most of these migrants just wanted to get on with their new lives, but a small minority raised funds for the Ustaše in the homeland. 

Hitler and Mussolini (who had protected him in exile) picked him to lead the puppet state. His programme of ethnic cleansing appealed to Hitler in particular. The British and others were astonished when Pope Pius XII received him, although the USA took little interest. That lack of interest only changed marginally when reports of the mass murder of between 330,000 and 390,000 Serbians came in, along with the establishment of concentration camps. Jasenovac was the third largest concentration camp in Europe, only one of five in Croatia. Ironically, German generals in the Balkans were more concerned about this genocide as it drove recruits into the partisans. 

The FBI took more interest in domestic Ustaše during the war but couldn't make any legal cases against their leadership stick. In Croatia, the NDH lost its limited public support and concentrated its resources around Zagreb. The destruction of the Croatian 369th Regiment at Stalingrad further underlined Pavelic's unpopularity. When Croatia was liberated by the partisans and the Russians, Pavelic fled to Austria, then to Italy, before taking a ship to Argentina and the Peron regime. Both the US and British authorities made little effort to catch him despite the Moscow Declaration of 1943 on war criminals. The Cold War was now influencing policy towards Yugoslavia; war criminals became a secondary objective.

The USA does not come out of this book very well. They did little to investigate war crimes when they happened and failed to arrest him after the war. This has implications for the present day when some Croatian nationalists commemorate him, arguing that he can't have been that bad as the US didn't arrest him.

Painting a Ustaše unit would be a step too far for me. But I built a Croatian Air Force Me109 kit with distinctive markings.

Bouncer's Blenheim

 This WW2 fiction is part of a series based on Gus Beaumont, an RAF pilot who flies a remarkable (probably a bit too impressive) array of aircraft in conventional operations and clandestine flights for SOE. I was attracted to this book because it involves operations in the Mediterranean during the early war period, including Greece.

Our hero was drawn into clandestine operations by the nascent SOE. He was to fly with 421 Flight, whose task was to give early warning of bomber raids and provide cover for the intelligence gained from ULTRA. There was such a flight, although established by Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, for just this purpose. However, the book gets slightly silly when Gus, a Pilot Officer, is told about ULTRA. Needless to say, this intelligence was kept secret, and a Pilot Officer certainly wouldn't need to know. Particularly one embarking on dangerous drops over occupied France for SOE!

Gus is then sent to Greece and flies Blenheim's in the bombing of Italian ports in Albania. 

I saw this Bleheim at RAF Cosford a few weeks ago.

He is tasked with crash-landing near Corfu to join the Greek resistance and ascertain their political leanings. While that was a concern of SOE in 1944, after Churchill's Percentages Agreement with Stalin, it is hard to imagine this being a priority in 1941. SOE worked with Royalist and Communist resistance forces during the Italian and German occupation. It is certainly not important enough to deliberately crash a scarce bomber and endanger the crew.

He escapes Corfu by capturing an Italian plane and flying it to Crete, narrowly avoiding being shot down by Gladiators. He then has stints in Palestine (meeting Jewish underground forces) and, finally, Malta.

It is not a bad story, with the action moving quickly and reasonably well written. However, the history is a bit irritating in places and probably not good enough for me to finish the series.

Yugoslavia and Greece 1940-41

 This new Osprey by Basilio Di Martino and Pier Paolo Battistelli looks at the Axis air assault in the Balkans in the early stages of the Second World War. Christopher Shores's very detailed book on this subject, published by Grubb Street in 1987, is available, but there is certainly room for a more concise and readable book on the subject.  

There were two, arguably three, air campaigns involved: the Italian invasion of Greece and the later German attack on Yugoslavia and Greece. The Axis air forces operated mainly at the tactical level to support ground operations, although the Italian medium bombers were ill-suited to these operations in challenging conditions.

The authors start by assessing the capabilities of the Axis air forces. The Regia Aeronautica fielded around 300 aircraft for the Greek campaign at the limit of the logistical support available from Albanian airfields. The Luftwaffe was better equipped with 500 aircraft, although the late addition of an attack on Yugoslavia required a rapid change of plan.

The defenders were considerably weaker. The Hellenic Air Force had around 150 operational aircraft, including obsolete types. Airfields were often poor, and spare parts were scarce for such a diverse range of aircraft. The Yugoslav Air Force was numerically strong and quite well equipped with some 460 frontline aircraft, 340 of which were operational in the fighter and bomber units. These were mostly modern types, although the same could not be said for ground support aircraft. The need to deploy in dispersed airstrips made communications challenging. The RAF had the aircraft to take on the Italians and Germans, but they were also limited to the available airfields in Greece.

The next chapter examines the campaign objectives. The Italians suffered from changing objectives as the land campaign faltered, and like all the air forces, they were hampered by bad weather. The Hellenic Air Force focused on air defence, while the RAF bombed the Albanian ports. The book then details the actual campaign, supported by excellent maps and complete orders of battle. There are several colour plates to keep the modellers happy, even if my efforts at painting Italian camouflage leave much to be desired. I have a soft spot for the Gladiator and the CR-42, even though building kits with all those struts is a nightmare. I was at the RAF Museum on Friday admiring their Gladiator.

In the later air battles over Athens, the few remaining Greek aircraft and the RAF fought valiantly against overwhelming odds. There is a fine colour plate of the available Hurricanes of both No.33 and No.80 Squadrons led by Squadron Leader Pattle, the South African air ace. However, many Hurricanes were destroyed on the ground due to the absence of early warning systems. After the RAF was neutralised, the Luftwaffe began an anti-shipping campaign. Overall figures show that 97 vessels definitely sunk from April 20 to 30, plus another 11 probable, totalling some 162,000 tons.

In the Greek campaign, the role played by the air forces on both sides was limited due to shortcomings in doctrine and tactics, poor logistics, and a lack of effective solutions to air-to-ground co-operation on the Italian side, and a shortage of equipment and, again, poor logistics on the Greek side. It was a long campaign of attrition, and attrition was playing in favour of the Italians, with the Hellenic Air Force becoming less and less relevant. The RAF had some impact in its attacks on Albanian harbours but was otherwise overrun by the German advance. The Germans considered the campaign a success, although they had supply problems and failed to prevent the evacuation of the Allied forces from Greece.

For the wargamer, while the air battles are certainly playable using Blood Red Skies or similar, most gamers will use air power to support land operations. 

My 1/72nd scale Macchi C.200 Saetta

Romania 1944

 This is a new title in the Osprey Campaign series by Grant Harward. While Romania's role as a German ally against the Soviet Union has been well covered, the actions just before and after switching sides in 1944 are less well-known. While they are mentioned in books on the Hungarian campaign, a book in this concise format is very welcome. David Glantz's Red Storm Over the Balkans: The Failed Soviet Invasion of Romania, Spring 1944, is excellent, but not for the faint-hearted!

Grant starts with a concise overview of how Romania entered WW2, reminding us that it wasn't inevitable that they joined the Axis and got little thanks territorially. Romania was essential to the German war effort providing most of the oil for the Nazi war machine. The King also made peace overtures after Italy surrendered in 1943. 

The Soviets arrived in March 1944 while many of the best Romanian troops were still in Crimea, supported by Allied bombing. Even so, the Romanian front saw heavy fighting, and the Soviets had to allocate additional forces and a second offensive to break through. By the end of August, the King led a coup against Marshal Ion Antonescu and quickly declared war on Germany. A German-led counter-coup failed. An excellent little detail in the book is when the King arrested Antonescu and his deputy, both were locked in a large wall safe where King Carol II used to keep his stamp collection. German resistance continued, particularly the 5th Flak division around the vital Ploesti oilfields. 

The Soviets fully secured Romania on 12 September, and the Soviet–Romanian Armistice consisted of 20 articles requiring Romania, among other things, to provide 12 divisions to fight Nazi Germany. Romania’s holy war against ‘Judeo-Bolshevism’ became an ‘anti-fascist crusade’. The action shifted to Transylvania, with all Romanian units allocated to the 2nd Ukrainian Front, which helped defeat a joint Hungarian and German counterattack. These were mainly cobbled-together units of young recruits, other than the Soviet 1st Tudor Vladimirescu Romanian Volunteer Infantry Division, recruited from POWs. This Front eventually overran Hungary, but that is another campaign.

As is usual with the Osprey Campaign format, we get biographies of the principal commanders of the Romanian, German, Soviet, and American 15th Air Force operating from Italy. Then, the opposing forces, including detailed orbats for the defence of Romania in August 1944. The chapter on opposing plans reminds us that USAAF bombers also operated from Soviet airfields. The Soviet naval landings on the Black Sea coast are another interesting aspect of this campaign. The campaigns are all explained with excellent maps and illustrated with action colour plates by Johnny Shumate. There isn't much on the Romanian forces because another Osprey on the Romanian Army in WW2 provides that detail.

The former battlefield of the second Iaşi–Chişinău offensive today stretches across three countries: Romania, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine. The chapter on the battlefields today provides a valuable starter for the visitor, including Bucharest and Transylvania. I haven't been there for years, and I should return.

For the wargamer, Romanian WW2 troops are available in most scales. I have them in 15mm, and the Great Escape Games range in 28mm is good. They come in mixed packs with helmets and caps, the latter of which I pinched for my WW2 Turks.

Battle of the Alps 1940

 Reading Jim Ring's book Hitler's War in the Alps prompted me to discover more about the Italian invasion of France in 1940. For that, I have read Marek Sobski's excellent Battle of the Alps 1940. 

The Italian Invasion of France in 1940 started on 10 June 1940, when Mussolini declared war on France and the United Kingdom. Mussolini's decision to join the war was influenced by Germany's rapid successes in its Blitzkrieg campaign through France, and he hoped to secure territorial gains for Italy. However, Italy’s military was not well-prepared for war. 32 divisions were mobilised for the invasion, although most were poorly equipped and inexperienced. Marshal Badoglio recorded his reservations about the unpreparedness for war. Mussolini replied, "Mr. Marshal, I only need a few thousand dead to sit at the peace table as a fighting party."

Italy's invasion began with air raids against southern France and the French Riviera. Ground forces stationed in the Alps moved slowly because of rugged terrain, inadequate equipment, and stiff French resistance. Although heavily outnumbered because troops were diverted to the ongoing German invasion in the north, French troops managed to hold back the Italians in the mountainous Alpine region.

Sobski highlights many factors that contributed to the Italian defeat. Even in June, the weather can be pretty bad in the Alps, and unfortunately for the Italians, it was poor that summer. The Alpini regiments were at least adequately equipped, but not all were trained correctly for mountain fighting. So-called 'Mountain Divisions' were just light infantry with no specialist equipment. The Italians later created assault engineers for this task.

The French had extensive fortifications (Little Maginot Line) that blocked the handful of useable invasion routes (five useable roads that the French blocked), and the Italians had insufficient heavy artillery to destroy them. The forts were built into the terrain and were very difficult to hit by bombers from the air. The Germans faced similar problems against the Maginot Line near the Swiss border and failed. They did better using Stukas against the Metaxas Line in Greece, but the much-maligned Maginot Line was an effective defence and was only defeated in May 1940 because it could be outflanked. The French XIV and XV Corps commanders were experienced Alpine officers who knew the defensive positions, and even the reservists serving in the fortress units knew the fortifications they manned perfectly. 

Mussolini got his few thousand dead, but made few territorial gains. Italy gained a small strip of land along the French Riviera, including the town of Menton, but none of the French colonies he coveted. The final chapter covers the skirmishes on the Tunisian/Libyan border, which would make an interesting what-if campaign.

There are many wargaming rabbit holes here, but thankfully, I have most of the troops needed. I am writing this on holiday in Türkiye in 30C temperatures. You have to admire the bravery of the soldiers who fought in blizzards and snow in the Alps that summer. 

Storming the Eagle's Nest

This book by Jim Ring covers Hitler's War in the Alps, although it actually covers all the combatants. I picked this up in a second-hand bookshop, intrigued by the title more than anything else. It was published in 2014 and is available relatively cheaply at present.

There is some introductory padding about WW2. Still, after that, the author takes us through all the conflicts in the Alps during the war, occasionally stretching the geographical boundaries a bit. The early chapters on Mussolini's invasion of France and the German plan to invade Switzerland were the most interesting. 

Mussolini certainly got his 'few thousand dead' as the price of a seat at the armistice table. His armies battered away at the Little Maginot Line the French had constructed on their Alpine border with Italy. The Italian Alpini did their best under challenging conditions, but there was insufficient artillery and accurate air support to make much progress.

The Swiss had published a German plan to invade back in 1933, but more needed to be done to modernise the Swiss Army and their defence plan. On 12 August 1940, Captain von Menges revised his plan and submitted it to Halder. He allocated 11 divisions for the attack, adjusting the Axis of the attack following a reconnaissance along the border. Operation Sea Lion and Operation Barbarossa put the plan on the back burner.

The Swiss appointed General Guisan to reorganise their defences. He controversially decided to screen the border and fall back to the Alpine Redoubt. This meant abandoning the major cities, but the idea was more of a deterrence as the Axis would be blocked from the main communication routes. The army was equipped to fight WW1, although the terrain and the size of the military would have made it a challenging prospect for the invaders.

Other chapters deal with the Holocaust in the Alpine regions and the various resistance forces. These included a small Austrian group and others in Bavaria. After 1943, the Italian partisans established republics in the Italian Alps, and the French created bases, most famously on the Vercours plateau. None of these initiatives lasted long when the Wehrmacht arrived in force. The Yugoslav operations are briefly covered, but I think this is stretching the boundaries a bit.

Hitler's favourite residence at Berchtesgaden (Eagle's Nest) is covered in detail, and the final chapters cover the defences and the mythical redoubt. The Americans largely bought the myth and diverted forces from Berlin to deal with it. 

This is an interesting look at a geographical region that features little in WW2 historiography. However, it is a bit manufactured, as there isn't much of a theme to bind the various sections together other than the challenges of fighting in rugged terrain.

This book might inspire a wargaming rabbit hole or two for me. I am very interested in the Italian attack on France and probably already have the figures for it. However, more reading is required to fully understand the campaign. The German invasion of Switzerland is the sort of what-if that attracts me. I thought wargame figures might be challenging, as the Swiss had a unique helmet design. However, there are some 3D sculpts that look excellent. French postal charges were astronomical, but I have found a UK supplier, so a modest dabble will begin.

 

Turning the Tide

 When you think about the USAAF in WW2, you rarely think about the Mediterranean. However, it was here that many American pilots learned their trade and played a vital, yet often overlooked, role in the campaign. I have therefore been looking forward to this new Osprey book by Thomas Cleaver on the USAAF in North Africa and Sicily. It is a complete-length book, not an Osprey MAA or similar.

The early deployment of USAAF B-24 bombers to Palestine enabled the bombing of the Romanian oilfields. It wasn't a great success, mainly due to poor weather, and four returning aircraft were forced down in Turkey, three near the capital at Ankara and one at Izmir, due to fuel shortage and battle damage. You can see the remains of a later USAAF bomber (fished out of the sea) in an Istanbul museum today (see below). The Turkish Air Force eventually acquired enough US bombers to create their own Squadron.

Operation Torch brought significant USAAF assets to the Mediterranean despite differences between Churchill and the US leadership over his 'soft underbelly' strategy. The USAAF also regarded this theatre as a diversion from building up their strength in Britain for the bombing offensive. However, Roosevelt issued a direct order, and various fighters were deployed, including P-38s and P-40s. Two fighter groups also used the Spitfire in a reverse lend-lease operation. 

The author covers each of the operations in some detail. It is challenging to write operational air war history in a way that keeps the reader's attention. However, pilot memoirs are effective in breaking up the text. American air units arrived just before El Alamein, helping the Western Desert Air Force to victory. For example, the 65th Squadron had its baptism of air combat when it got into a fight with 20 Bf-109s over El Alamein. First Lieutenant Arnold D. Jaquan, in a P-40F, made the Squadron's first claims for one Bf-109 destroyed and a second damaged.

While the book focuses on the USAAF, its opponents are addressed. There is a good chapter on the Italian Air Force's shortcomings and the regular deployments of high-quality Luftwaffe units. The Vichy aircraft are not ignored.

There is an interesting discussion about the deployment of air support. The US Field manual held that air support must be subordinated to ground force needs. A headquarters memo issued in October 1942, stating a policy that aircraft should not be “frittered away” on unimportant targets but rather “reserved for concentration in overwhelming attack upon important objectives,” had not solved the problem. At Kasserine, there was a shift from tank-busting missions to more effective missions against airfields, infantry concentrations, and soft-skinned vehicles. Eisenhower eventually embraced the new philosophy, partly because he had lost confidence in Fredendall, who had been the leading proponent of tying the air forces to specific ground forces.

The USAAF learned to walk and then to run in the Mediterranean. The success of Operation Overlord would not have been possible without the lessons learned in battle over the North African desert and Sicily during the 12 months when the tide turned in World War II.

Slightly outside the timescale of this book, the use of US airpower in this theatre was also the cause of a major bust-up between Churchill and Eisenhower. This was over the deployment of long-range P38 fighters to support Churchill's folly, the Dodecanese adventure. It is a pity he stopped at Sicily, as it would have been interesting to get his take on this controversy. 

No P-38s but here is the opposition for Blood Red Skies

Against Hitler's Luftwaffe in the Balkans

 This book by Djordje Nikolić and Ognjan Petrović covers the Royal Yugoslav Air Force at war in 1941. While I can struggle with books on air warfare, this was a no-brainer purchase for me. 

The Royal Yugoslav Air Force (RYAF) (Vazduhoplovstvo Vojske Kraljevine Jugoslavije) was the air force of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from its establishment in 1918 until the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. From modest beginnings, the RYAF expanded and modernised its fleet with aircraft from various countries, including France, Germany, and the UK. Significant efforts were made to develop the domestic aviation industry, producing Yugoslav-designed aircraft like the Ikarus IK-2 and the Rogozarski IK-3.

By the outbreak of World War II, the RYAF had a diverse fleet, including modern fighters such as the Hawker Hurricane, Messerschmitt Bf 109, and Dornier Do 17 bombers. It played a defensive role during the Axis invasion in April 1941, but it was quickly overwhelmed by the superior numbers and tactics of the German Luftwaffe.

The introductory chapters describe the RYAF's history and expansion and provide a detailed order of battle. 

The fighting in 1941 is covered chronologically, with each day diaried as bullet points. A bit different, but it helps differentiate between the different sectors. The main battle over Belgrade, the defence of the airfields (Zemun, Kraljevo, and Nis) and the later actions in the south. The bombing of Belgrade by the German Luftwaffe was the most significant event during the invasion. The Luftwaffe launched a massive aerial assault on the capital, causing extensive damage and civilian casualties. The RYAF attempted to intercept and repel the German bombers. Despite their efforts, the RYAF was overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemy aircraft and the Luftwaffe's advanced tactics.

Finally, each aircraft type is covered, along with a fine collection of photos, most of which I haven't seen before. This is not just a technical description; the authors cover some of the actions they fought in. The Yugoslav types are particularly interesting, as are the 73 ME109s that ended up fighting against the Germans.

Even after the airfields were lost, some 30,000 men from all aspects of the air force arrived in Sarajevo on 12 and 13 April, where they formed three infantry battalions to defend the city. The majority of them ended up in captivity after the fall of Sarajevo on the 15th. Many RYAF personnel continued to fight with the Allies, particularly in the Middle East and later in the Soviet Union and Italy.

This isn't the first book on this air war. Christopher Shores' 1987 book covers the whole Balkan campaign. However, this book drills into the RYAF and is an excellent addition to our knowledge of the conflict.

I don't have any immediate plans to add the RYAF to my Blood Red Skies squadrons. But a plane or two to support my 28mm Yugoslav army of the period is a possibility.

Germany's French Allies 1941-45

 Having reviewed the story of Free French volunteer pilots in the Soviet Union, this new Osprey on the other side of the ideological divide caught my eye. Massimiliano Afiero looks at the various Vichy and collaborationist units that supported the German war effort during WW2.

Vichy France retained some control of its colonial forces and was allowed a 100,000-strong 'Armistice Army' in the unoccupied zone of France. However, this book looks at the units created to fight alongside the Germans on the Eastern Front in 1941. The Légion des Volontaires Français (LVF) was given the Wehrmacht designation Verstaerktes Französische Infanterie-Regiment 638 (638th French Reinforced Infantry Regiment) and reached the Moscow front in time for the 1941/42 winter campaign. It was rebuilt after suffering crippling losses and then employed on security operations. Very strangely, for the master race, they included 200 black soldiers from North Africa. The Germans were complimentary about the volunteers but scathing about the officers, calling them 'moronic'.

In August 1943, a Waffen SS unit was created, Französisches SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment, for French volunteers. This was expanded into a brigade in 1944 and largely destroyed in fighting against the Soviets in Galicia. In 1944, all volunteer units were combined into the Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS ‘Charlemagne', this time destroyed on the Pomerian Front. A small number ended up defending Berlin, with 60-120 being captured by the Soviets. Being a French fascist was no picnic! However, they did get proper equipment, with good numbers of Panzerfausts, new Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifles and MG42s.

Other units included the very brief la Phalange Africaine (‘the African Phalanx’), primarily recruited in Tunisia after Operation Torch. The survivors were either captured or released by the Allies, although 14 were convicted of treason and shot.

The author gives a detailed account of the fighting these units were involved in. There are plenty of illustrations, and the recruitment posters are fascinating. The usual colour plates complete the book for the wargamer. The uniforms were almost all German, so just a shoulder flash is required in the largest scales to differentiate them. If, like me, you enjoy reading about obscure WW2 units, this is the book for you.

The 'Charlemagne' shoulder flash

French Eagles, Soviet Heroes

 This book by John Clarke caught my eye in an Oxfam bookshop. It covers the Free French 'Normandie-Niemen squadrons (escadrilles) on the Eastern Front in WW2.

The French Air Force Groupe was formed on 1 September 1942, using volunteers who had escaped from occupied France or served in North Africa. They arrived in Russia on 28 November and were offered Allied planes, but they chose to fly the new Soviet Yak-1. They started training with these on 19 January 1943, with an initial group of 58 men, primarily pilots and some ground crew supplemented with Soviet Air Force ground crew.

Their initial missions were escorting Pe-2 bombers. The first aerial victories happened in April 1943 when they shot down two Fw-190s. By July, five officers had been awarded Soviet decorations. They fought above the great battle at Kursk when they witnessed the Soviet tactic of ramming enemy aircraft by slicing the tail off with a propellor. This tactic was used 47 times in the Kursk battles alone. 

The book covers the many campaigns they took part in. Personally, I find operation air war history a bit repetitive and not a great read. However, it is all here if you want it. The squadrons were upgraded with the latest Yak variants as the war progressed - the Yak-9 had a 37mm cannon, which took some flying skill. In October 1943, the Groupe was awarded the Cross of the Order of the Liberation from General de Gaulle.

By May 1944, the group had grown to four squadrons, flying a mix of Yak-7 and Yak-9 aircraft. The Hitler 'commando order' had been extended to pilots of this Groupe, a testament to their success, but fatal if they crashed behind enemy lines. Only four captured pilots survived. Those who had families back in Vichy, France, were also at risk of being deported to a concentration camp.

The last campaign they fought in was in East Prussia around Koenigsberg. They returned home to a heroes welcome in June 1945 with their planes, which Stalin donated to the new French Air Force.

The Groupe destroyed 273 enemy aircraft, with 37 probable and 45 more damaged. They flew 5,240 combat missions, including 868 aerial combats. Their ground attacks destroyed trains, E-boats, trucks and much else. 42 pilots were killed. There is a plaque to them on the former French Mission building in Moscow, and over 150 Soviet schools were named after them. A single remaining Yak-3 is at the Le Bourget museum. 

It is a fascinating story that also covers how the pilots lived and got on with the Soviet pilots. There were easier postings than the Eastern Front, so they deserve to be remembered.

My Yak fighters for Blood Red Skies

Turkey and D-Day

 Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean may seem a long way from the beaches of Normandy. Still, Allied operations involving Turkey were vital in keeping German troops away from northern France on D-Day.

By the end of 1943, the Germans, particularly Ribbentrop, were convinced that Turkey was not a genuine neutral. When Churchill flew to visit the Turkish President, the Adana conference strongly indicated this shift to Ribbentrop and subsequent spy reports of British troops on training and construction duties in Turkey. Britain built 38 airfields, including 15 all-weather fields near the Straits, using engineers and construction workers sent from the UK. Operation Hardihood was the British code name for support to Turkey in the form of British formations, military equipment and broader economic assistance. The equipment included 180 (50 more to follow) Valentine tanks, 222 Stuart light tanks, 25 Sherman medium tanks, 150 Dingo scout cars, 59 Bren carriers and 48 Bishop self-propelled guns. This allowed the Turkish Army to reorganise their armoured forces into three armoured brigades equipped with Allied armour facing the Balkans.

A 28mm Turkish Valentine from my collection

Turkey also began to shift its diplomatic policy. Turkey agreed they would initially reduce shipments of Chromite (the main Turkish export to Germany) and then cancel them altogether. Turkey also agreed to half the export of other strategic commodities. Foreign Minister Menemencioğlu’s explanation to the Grand National Assembly for the policy shift was interesting. He said that Turkey’s alliance with Britain was the ‘nucleus and basis of our foreign policy’; therefore, Turkey was not neutral. They also stepped up inspections of German merchant ships using the Straits, confiscating war materials.

Churchill would have been happier if there had been an invasion of the Balkans instead of Normandy. However, largely thanks to the Americans, he had to settle for deception operations. Credible threats needed to be maintained to avoid German troops being withdrawn from the Balkans to reinforce the beaches of northern France. These threats were incorporated into the cover plan for Overlord called Operation Bodyguard. 

The primary deception plan in the eastern Mediterranean was Operation Zeppelin. This involved developing invasion threats through Greece, Albania, Croatia, Turkey and Bulgaria. The sub-plan for an attack on Greece and Bulgaria was called Operation Turpitude. 

Operation Royal Flush also supported Zeppelin by putting political pressure on Turkey to allow Allied forces to land in Thrace to attack Greece and Bulgaria. In a memorandum, the Air Ministry Director of Plans said, ‘The principle we have adopted is that if we can get a mission into the country with lots of brass hats and gold braid, the Turks and the Germans will feel that there really is something in the wind.’ 

The selection of objectives in the detailed plan for Operation Zeppelin is as thorough as many actual operations with an order of battle that included real and bogus units. This involved the notional British 12th Army based in the Middle East, supported by a breakout from Italy and Soviet advances into the Balkans. It included all the elements of a deception operation, including dummy units, radio traffic and intelligence agents. Operations were undertaken on a large scale, with thousands of troops involved in the latter stages, including 1000 signals personnel. It also included actual land and air raids, glider concentrations, reconnaissance flights and naval activity. Information leaflets and maps about Thrace were printed in English by selected printing presses in the Middle East, and a call went out to US forces for Turkish speakers.

An extract from the Operation Zeppelin deception plans (TNA)

These deception operations led the Germans to overestimate the strength of the Allied troops in the region. They identified up to 71 divisions in early 1944 when, in reality, there were only 30 divisions. The German high command was not convinced the Allies would launch a major offensive in the Balkans, but they did believe there would be minor incursions. This meant they retained their units in the Balkans, including 430 aircraft and reinforced naval forces rather than shifting units to France, thus achieving the main goals of Operation Zeppelin.

You can read more about the deception plans in 1944 in my book 'Chasing the Soft Underbelly', published by Helion Books.

Jocks in the Jungle

 This was my library pick this month. Gordon Thorburn focuses on the Black Watch and the Cameronians contribution to the Chindits campaign in Burma during WW2. It probably reached my local library because the Cameronians were a local regiment here in Ayrshire. The regiment arose out of the Covenanters and one of the most radical, Richard Cameron. He died at the Battle of Airds Moss in 1680 fighting against Charles II, and the volunteers were subsequently a staunchly Protestant loyalist regiment that fought against the Jacobites. This makes it a somewhat unusual British regiment, having fought against the Crown initially. 

The author takes us through the Burma campaign's early stages and both regiments' involvement. Then up steps Orde Wingate the founder of the Chindits. Wingate's ideas on long-range penetration and guerrilla warfare were inspired by his experiences in Palestine during the Arab revolt of the 1930s. He proposed the formation of special forces units that would operate deep behind enemy lines, disrupting Japanese communications and supply lines and harassing their troops. In 1942, Wingate was allowed to put his ideas into action when he was tasked with organising a long-range penetration force to operate in Burma. This force became known as the Chindits, named after the mythical Burmese lion creatures. The force was created despite the fierce opposition of the Indian Army HQ, but he had the support of Churchill and Mountbatten.

The author takes us through the Chindit campaigns using personal testimonies from the soldiers in both regiments and the war diaries. The first operation did not go well. It did distract the Japanese, who were preparing for their offensive against India. Still, the lack of supplies and dehabilitation meant 818 of 3,000 men went missing, and only 600 recovered sufficiently to fight again. Lessons learned: the next incursion was better planned with fortress bases created that could be supplied by air, and the sick could be evacuated.

As is often the case with books like this, you remember the small details. For example, the voice boxes of the mules were cut out so that their braying didn't attract the enemy. And bandages in green because white ones attracted snipers. The classic bearded Chindit look did not apply to the Scottish regiments because the colonels wouldn't allow it. 

Wingate was the driving force of the Chindit operations, and disaster struck when his Mitchell bomber crashed in the Bishenpur Hills. There had been trouble with one of the engines, and Wingate ignored weather warnings, although other theories abound. His replacement, Major-General Lentaigne, was an experienced commander but never really bought into the concept of long-range operations. He had viewed Wingate as an upstart with crazy schemes.

The real enemy of Chindit operations was illness and disease, exacerbated by the long marches in horrendous terrain, living on inadequate rations. Incapacitation rates of 75% were typical for all the brigades involved in the last operation. The medical officer's report makes grim reading, highlighting the lack of reinforcements, the length of the campaign and class distinctions in the provision of equipment and medical evacuation. Despite all this, morale was much better than you might expect.

It is difficult to evaluate the overall impact of Chindit operations, not least because of limited data. They did disrupt Japanese operations and inflicted casualties, as well as providing a morale boost in theatre and at home. However, the strategic impact was limited, and whether the heavy losses were worthwhile is questionable. For the whole of Operation Thursday, 1,035 were killed, 2,531 wounded, and 473 missing. There were also 7,217 hospital admissions; of the remaining effectives, 50% were declared unfit for active service on their return. They were pioneers of jungle warfare and unwitting volunteers in a gigantic, disorganised, unintentional medical experiment.

My 28mm Far East models in action on the tabletop

Soviet Cruisers 1917-45

My current research focus is on naval matters, so Alexander Hill's new Osprey, Soviet Cruisers 1917-45, was an easy choice from this month's pick of Osprey books.

The Russian Navy was never really a Blue Sea fleet, with the traditional role for cruisers involving the attack and defence of maritime communications on the high seas and scouting for a fleet. After the revolution, there was an internal debate about the role of cruisers between Stalin's vision for power projection and the immediate need for coastal protection. Plans for heavier cruisers had to be shelved in the face of competing claims on resources, and even after World War II, the Soviet Union would continue to build essentially light gun-armed cruisers. In WW2, the Soviet cruisers of the Black Sea Fleet saw very active wartime service, conducting shore bombardment and carrying men and equipment into besieged ports.

The meat of this book is split into two. The cruisers laid down in the Tsarist period and those developed after 1917. 

The Tsarist period cruisers had a mixed fate. The intervention forces captured many, and either handed them to the Whites or lost. I am particularly fond of the Prut, built in the USA for Turkey as Medjidieh. It struck a mine off Odessa and sunk before being raised and entering Russian service (1915); captured by German forces from the Soviets and returned to Turkey (1918), then remained in Turkish service. However, the most famous is the Aurora, which played a headline role in the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917, still in service in 1941, and is a museum ship today in St Petersburg.

The Soviet Navy only kept two of the many completed cruisers inherited from its Tsarist predecessors – Aurora and Komintern. However, they had the hulls of eight incomplete Tsarist Svetlana class vessels, ultimately completing three of them. They all served in WW2.

New Soviet designs included the Kirov class, a light cruiser heavily influenced by Italian ships. Six of these ships eventually entered service, although only four actively. Under the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact, the Soviet Union sought to acquire German military technology. The most significant single acquisition for the Soviet Union was the German heavy cruiser Lützow – initially renamed Petropavlovsk in Soviet service. However, the Germans dragged their feet, and it was only ready for use as a floating battery by 1941.

The modest Soviet pre-war cruiser force played a meaningful local role in the war in the Black Sea from 1941–43, using the seaward flank to good effect in a theatre of operations in which the Axis lacked significant surface vessels. However, they were quickly bottled up in the Baltic and reduced to floating gun batteries.

This book has plenty of illustrations and lovely colour plates. It describes both the ships and the operations they took part in. I have a couple of cruisers in my Soviet WW2 fleet, and this book might inspire me to expand it. I also included a Black Sea scenario in my wargamers guide to Turkey and the Second World War.

Maverick Spy

 My library pick this month was a spy story with a difference. It is Hamish MacGibbon's take on his father James' spying activities in WW2. He was a British intelligence officer who confessed on his deathbed that he leaked details of Allied intelligence to the Soviets.

James MacGibbon was born in Glasgow, the youngest son of Rev James MacGibbon, minister of Glasgow Cathedral. He was educated at Fettes College, a traditional English public school, even if based in Edinburgh. He doesn't appear to have been politically active in his youth, and his middle-class background was not typical of Glasgow communists of the period. However, like many of his era, he was horrified by the Spanish Civil War and his contact with Nazi Germany working in the publishing industry.

He joined the Communist Party with his wife, Jean, in 1937. At the outbreak of war, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and was posted to the Intelligence Corps due to his fluency in German. In the spring of 1941, he was posted to the War Office in MO3 (Military Operations, Section 3). In June 1944, he was posted to the Combined Chiefs of Staff in Washington. In these roles, he had access to many Allied plans and intelligence of German plans. The Allies did not always share the details of their knowledge with the Soviets, partly because liaison officers were politically hostile to the Soviets and partly because they wanted to protect the existence of ULTRA. 

James was particularly outraged at not sharing the German order of battle, which would be of critical value to the Soviets when they were incurring massive losses. He, therefore, made contact with the Soviet Embassy and began sharing this intelligence. His codename was 'Dolly' and later 'Milord', and he was run by the GRU, while another British spy, John Caincross (Cambridge Five), was handled by the NVKD. It is clear from Soviet intelligence archives that his reports were seen by Stalin and his close circle and were highly valued. His leaking of the Overlord plans had the positive effect of convincing Stalin that the Allies were serious at the Tehran conference. Bizarrely, the closest these plans came to being leaked to the Germans was due to the lax security in the British embassy in Ankara (Cicero). 

James MacGibbon rejoined the Communist Party after the war when he returned to publishing. His house was bugged, and he was interrogated by MI5. However, he didn't spy for the Soviets despite approaches and wouldn't have had anything worthwhile to send anyway. He kept the secret until his deathbed.

While technically treasonous, James believed his espionage was the act of a British patriot. A view his son shares. I may have done the same (perhaps not Overlord plans but probably the ORBATS), but others will disagree. The book has a lot about his personal life and the whole back story, which pads the story from what could be told in an article. However, you can skip through that to get to the meat of the story.

Czechoslovak Armies 1939–45

I am a sucker for an obscure WW2 army, and this Osprey MAA by Nigel Thomas certainly meets that criteria. 

The author starts with the pre-war Czechoslovak Army, fatally undermined by the 1938 Munich agreement, stripping them of the Sudeten fortifications. They benefited from an advanced armaments industry, equipping the army with modern artillery, armoured cars and tanks. It was never tested other than a limited resistance to Hungary's invasion of Ruthenia. However, the Germans made extensive use of their equipment throughout the war. All the uniform details are here if you want to give this army a go for what-if scenarios.

After the fall of Czechoslovakia in 1938-39, elements of the armed forces fought in Poland, and others emigrated to France. In France, they joined the Foreign Legion or the French Army. There was an 11,405-strong 1st Czechoslovak Inf Division, commanded by Brig-Gen Jan Kratochvíl. After the fall of France, some 3,500 troops evacuated to Britain. 

These forces and others served with the British Army in the Middle East, the Far East and NW Europe, mainly in British kit with a Czech flag on the helmet and shoulder flashes. There are the usual excellent colour plates. Aircrew served in the RAF, forming three fighter squadrons, a bomber, and a night fighter squadron.

Troops interned in the Soviet Union formed a battalion in the Red Army, growing to a corps of 16,000 men by 1944. They attempted to support the Slovak uprising in August 1944 but suffered heavy casualties at the Dukla Pass.

On the home front, various internal security units were created, although the Germans didn't trust them and were limited to guard duties. Resistance units started almost immediately and were supported by SOE. This included the famous Heydrich assassination and the destruction of the villages of Lidice and Ležák. The Russians and Americans converged on Prague, which was liberated by the Soviets in May 1945, supported by an uprising.

It wouldn't take much to add Czech units to your Allied or Soviet armies. I suspect the internal security and other exotic units might be a project too far for most.

Dudley Clarke - Seven Assignments

 Brigadier Dudley Clarke was one of the lesser-known but fascinating characters of WW2. I wrote about him in my book Chasing the Soft Underbelly because he was the head of 'A Force' in Cairo and was responsible for a wide range of deception operations and intelligence work in Turkey. He is less well-known mainly because he wasn't authorised to write about his work after WW2. The War Office believed that his operations were so successful that they might need to use them against the Soviets.

His work is touched on in other histories, and I read quite a bit in the National Archives. However, no memoir exists. Or so I thought. I was rummaging around in an old-school second-hand bookshop in Glasgow and came across a 1947 book by Clarke, Seven Assignments. I missed it in my research because it covers the early war period just before he arrived in Cairo on Wavell's staff. Coincidentally, catching up on We Have Ways podcasts coming back from York, James Holland discussed Clarke in an interview, and his guest mentioned this book.

The dust cover of my copy is a bit battered, but I got it at a very reasonable price when you look at what they are going for on Abe Books. A pristine copy is on sale for £650!

In his introduction to the book, Wavell hints at his later work when he says, 'I have always believed in doing everything possible in war to mystify and mislead one's opponent, and that I was right in judging that this was work for which Dudley Clarke's originality, ingenuity and somewhat impish sense of humour qualified him admirably.'

His first assignment was a traditional staff officer job in the Middle East, scouting an overland route from Mombasa to Cairo in case the Mediterranean route was blocked. This was a travelogue, so we will skip to his first trip to Norway. I have read about the ill-fated Norwegian campaign but haven't encountered Clarke's not-insignificant role. Somewhat typically, he stretched his liaison role to actually going to Norway with the initial landing force. He got involved with the retreat and worked with the Norwegian Army, meeting General Ruge. His descriptions of journeying around Norway in various vehicles are hair-raising. He was sent back later to help with the evacuation and was one of the last to get away.

The next stop was the France 1940 campaign, with a detour into an unnamed neutral country to meet sympathetic local officials. This was still obviously sensitive in 1947, and I assume it was Ireland. As troops were being evacuated from Dunkirk, he came up with an idea of how to strike back with small-scale raids. He floated the idea with Sir John Dill, who gave him carte blanche to organise them. It was Clarke who came up with the name Commandos. He was born in South Africa and was well acquainted with the Boer War. The name was not well received in the War Office, but Churchill loved it. He went on the very first raid and was nearly killed, only being saved because the bullet deflected off his silver tobacco box. 

When Keyes took over special operations, he favoured large-scale raids like Zebrugge in WW1. Clarke disagreed and so was probably pleased when Wavell asked for him. This service led him to be responsible for naming the SAS as well. 

This is a fascinating tale about an interesting character. The Wiki page has more about his life and times, and if you can get a copy of this book from the library, I highly recommend it.