World War II History: “Steel Versus Struts and Canvas”

In Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom, historian Iain Ballantyne lays out in an almost cinematic style how the German high-seas raider met her match during a contest of steel versus struts and canvas. It was the most unlikely of tales — fragile, supposedly obsolete Swordfish biplanes against the modern battle-wagon Bismarck, at the time the most powerful warship in the world. In this specially-adapted extract from the book, we ride with Canadian-born Fleet Air Arm aviator Terry Goddard, the observer of a Swordfish torpedo-bomber sent to try and cripple Bismarck on the evening of May 26, 1941. This inside account of the attack was created using the transcript of hours of on-camera interviews filmed for a project by Iain Ballantyne. It documents the last testimony of a small Band of Brothers who experienced combat against Bismarck.

May 26, 1941–7:00 PM

It is time for another set of contenders to climb into the ring for a round with the heavyweight. The battle-cruiser HMS Hood tried on 24 May and was blown apart. Three days later aviators aboard the carrier HMS Ark Royal are being called forward, asked to inflict some kind of decisive blow to slow downBismarck.

The Swordfish is deceptively antiquated-looking. Though a biplane that chugs through the air sounding like an aerial tractor, it is not actually that old, having entered Fleet Air Arm service in 1937.

It won its spurs in late 1940 by knocking out Italian battleships in Taranto harbor. The first U-boat sunk in the Second World War by the British was courtesy of a Swordfish using bombs. It is as a torpedo-bomber that it will achieve new fame in May 1941.

Slow, with only a top speed of 138 miles per hour, its two wings give it incredible lift. A monoplane needs around 30 knots of wind across the flight-deck to take off from a carrier. The Swordfish can take off from a vessel at anchor (and even into the teeth of gale).

Constructed from wood, canvas and metal struts, it can survive hits that will destroy metal skinned aircraft, for the simple reason that cannon shells and bullets pass right through it.

After the mission briefing for the attack on Bismarck comes the sitting and waiting for take-off. It is inevitable people ponder their mortality and chances of survival. Terry Goddard recognizes that dreadful weather conditions will not be a barrier to the mission.

“We knew perfectly well we were gonna fly, because if we didn’t fly there would be no tomorrow for us. We had to fly and weather be darned.”

The aircrews feel the weight of expectation, of history itself — the fate of the Navy and the nation, also the Fleet Air Arm’s honor all pressing down on their shoulders.

“It is the sitting around that gnaws at you. You’re thinking rather than doing, which is worrisome. Once you start doing things the worry disappears. It must be tough on God. In war there aren’t any atheists — both sides are asking God for help. Most of us say prayers for him to help us. I know I did. Often. Fortunately he was on my side.”

Fifteen Swordfish are ranged on the flight-deck, herring bone fashion, all fueled up and each armed with a single 18-inch torpedo, ready to go.

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Modern Warfare: Getting Schooled on Deterrence – What is it Exactly?

I could really care less about Politics, Politicians or the Lies they tell.

I am posting this article so you guys can get a textbook definition of “Military Deterrence” and understand what it really is so you can THINK for yourselves regarding Foreign Affairs and not have some Talking Head D.C. Zombie mislead you.-SF

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Donald Trump suggested that the United States can continue to deter aggression even if it withdraw from its overseas bases and reduces its commitments to longstanding allies. “If we decide we have to defend the United States,” the Republican presidential candidate proclaimed, “we can always deploy [from American soil] and it will be a lot less expensive.”

Trump’s critics seized upon this statement as further evidence of his ignorance of foreign affairs. They argue that Trump understates the economic costs of this strategy, and they are right. But there’s an even more fundamental issue at stake.

Even if Trump is correct that some allies are not paying their fair share, there are at least two compelling reasons to remain committed to those allies and retain military bases abroad. The first is deterrence. The second is anti-area/access-denial, or A2AD, technology. Both are inexorably linked.

To deter aggression the United States must convince potential adversaries that they will pay an unacceptably high cost for attacking. Successful deterrence therefore requires that the United States communicate that it is willing and able to carry out the threat. Deterrence fails when an adversary thinks the United States either cannot or will not follow through.

For decades, the United States has relied upon overseas bases to demonstrate that its deterrent threats are credible. Forward-deployed troops offer a tangible symbol that the United States has “skin in the game” and that it will pay the price to make good on its threats.

Forward-deployed troops also enhance deterrence because they put military personnel, aircraft, and ships close enough to potential hot spots to be of immediate use in a fight. Deterrence is better than fighting, but successful deterrence paradoxically means being able to fight well.

This observation leads us to consider the technological dimension that characterizes contemporary military affairs — anti-access/area denial. This is the practice of preventing an adversary — in this case, the United States — from getting to the battlefield and operating there effectively.

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Psy-Ops Military History Files: The True Story of ‘Commando Buzz’

EC-121S propaganda plane. Air Force photos

 

On Dec. 24, 1970, an odd airplane touched down at an air base in Thailand. Though it might not have looked like it, this was a top secret U.S. Air Force propaganda plane and the crew had just flown the last of a series of classified missions over neighboring Cambodia.

The Pentagon sent the pilots from the Pennsylvania Air National Guard to help the government in Phnom Penh spread propaganda in remote, rural areas. Though brief, the obscure operation — nicknamed Commando Buzz — paved the way for an all new kind of psychological warfare operation.

By 1970, Washington had been fighting a broad and bloody war in Southeast Asia for nearly five years. North Vietnamese troops funneled weapons, ammunition and other gear through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam.

A seemingly endless stream of ideas, from the practical to the absurd andsometimes terrifying, had all failed to cut the communist supply lines. In Laos, with the help of a friendly government, the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency launched a covert bombing campaign and backed a secretive guerrilla army on the ground.

But Cambodia leader Norodom Sihanouk refused to break ties with the Soviet Union and Communist China. An avowed neutralist and supporter of the non-aligned movement, Sihanouk tried to play off all the sides of his advantage.

Ultimately, he found himself surrounded by enemies. Sihanouk coined the French term “Khmer Rouge” — Red Khmers — for his leftist opponents. He similarly derided right-leaning critics as the “Khmer Bleu.”

In March 1970, military officers led by Gen. Lon Nol seized control as Sihanouk was on a world tour of Europe, the Soviet Union and China. Lon and his compatriots believed he gave the North Vietnamese too much freedom and empowered Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge.

The junta rushed to Washington for help. A month after the coup, American and South Vietnamese troops launched an attack into Cambodian territory. In July 1970, the campaign ended after delivering a major blow to Hanoi’s forces.

Unfortunately, Lon’s government couldn’t capitalize on the victory. The U.S.-led offensive drove the communists deeper into the Cambodian countryside, where they could count on popular support.

The Cambodian military, with its poorly-trained and underpaid soldiers, was also no match for the battle-hardened rebels without American aid.

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Security News: Private Security Companies Flourish South of the Border

This article originally appeared at InSight Crime.

The growing number of private security firms in Guatemala speaks to the state’s inability to provide protection for its citizens, but this booming industry is vulnerable to criminal co-option and could generate security concerns of its own.

Guatemala now has over 200 private security firms and 150,000 security guards — five times more than the country’s 30,000-strong police force, according to the BBC. Less than 100 of the firms are legally registered.

These private services have flourished in the country as a result of public distrust in state institutions such as the police, security expert for the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) Adriana Beltran told the BBC. Heads of private security companies say the demand for these services continues to grow.

Businesses and individuals pay fees of $545 a month to keep a security guard on site, and $1,500 a month for personal bodyguards. Seguridad Integral, a private security firm founded in 1990, charges up to $26,000 to provide security at events. Other services include hiring patrol cars to accompany product deliveries at a price of $2 per kilometer.

One security firm owner told the BBC that in the 1990s, his clients felt that the greatest threat to them was kidnapping. Security concerns have evolved with time, however, and recent years have seen a surge in extortion.

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World War II History: Sherman Tanks Battled Bonzai Charges at Tarawa

‘Tanks in Hell’ takes you inside a Pacific firestorm

This article was sponsored by Open Road Media.

“Once inside, a man quickly found that you could not be claustrophobic and serve in a tank,” Oscar Gilbert and Romain Cansiere write in Tanks in Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa. “In fact many infantrymen who tried to ride inside found that they preferred to take their chances outside.”

The November 1943 invasion of the tiny, Japanese-held island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll was the first time the U.S. Marine Corps met an entrenched enemy on the beach in World War II. At Guadalcanal the year before, the Japanese retreated inland.

This time the Japanese were better prepared. And the Marines brought tanks with them for the opening assault.

Gilbert and Cansiere’s history recounts the battle as fought by Charlie Company, 1st Corps Tank Battalion and its M4-A2 Shermans. The book combines a detailed analysis of the company’s tanks, with liberal first-person recollections of the shockingly bloody battle.

More than 1,000 Marines died within three days. Of the more than 3,600 defending Japanese troops and laborers, 17 would survive. By the end, “almost every structure on the island had been destroyed in the fighting, or was filled with enemy bodies rapidly decaying in the brutal heat.”

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