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You are here: Home / Archives for Article topics / Battles and operations / WWII operations

WWII operations

Book Review: The Pirate of Tobruk – Biography of Commander Alfred Palmer RNR

Book reviewer · Mar 9, 2002 ·

THE PIRATE OF TOBRUK:A sailor’s life on the Seven Seas 1916-1946 Author: CMDR Alfred Brian Palmer, DSC, MBE, RNR, with Mary E. Curtis – originally published in a different form ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

HMS Thanet and HMAS Vampire – Malayan Night Action

Francis, Richard · Mar 9, 2002 ·

HMS Thanet was a destroyer of the “S” Class built in 1918 after the end of WWI and on the outbreak of WW2 was stationed with several sister ships with ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

The Fall of Singapore in February 1942 – Naval Operations

Francis, Richard · Mar 9, 2002 ·

In mid 1941 the British naval defence of the Malayan peninsula comprised a small number of old cruisers and destroyers, all dating from the end of WW I or shortly ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

HMAS Maryborough & Charles Moses-Escape from Java 1942

Ogle, Brian · Dec 9, 2001 ·

On March 6th 1942 the Captain of HMAS Maryborough sent the following signal by Aldis lamp: “Get all those bloody passengers into the stoke hole.” This is recorded in the ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Lieut. R B Stannard VC – HMS Arab – Norway 1940

Hampshire, A. Cecil · Dec 9, 2001 ·

On 28th April 1940 the trawler Arab was on patrol in Namsen Fjord along with her sister ships of the 15th and 16th A/S Striking Forces. Commanding the Arab was ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

The Contribution of Merchant Seamen During the Fall of Crete – 1941

A.N. Other · Dec 9, 2001 ·

It is not always appreciated that British and Australian merchant seamen served ashore (probably inadvertently) during the withdrawal of Allied forces from Greece and subsequently, Crete. One such story deserves ...

The Alchiba Travail

Harris, Fred E. · Sep 30, 2001 ·

The Alchiba is a hard act to follow. Three sets of official records neither agreeing with the others and much left unmentioned. (The first record called it a New Zealand ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

The Battle of the Atlantic – Western Approaches Command

Gregory, Mackenzie J. · Sep 8, 2001 ·

One of the crucial decisions made during the Battle of the Atlantic was to relocate the Western Approaches Command on the 7th of February, 1941 from Plymouth to Liverpool. Admiral ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

HMS Cossack

Stevens, Errol · Jun 8, 2001 ·

The name COSSACK, to many people, means a fierce sabre-wielding horseman from southern Russia. To most World War II naval veterans it reminds them of the exploits of the Tribal ...

The Role of the RAN in the Liberation of the Philippines

Royle, Guy, Admiral · Mar 30, 2001 ·

An address by RADM Guy Griffiths, AO, DSO, DSC, RAN Retd at the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne (Oct 2000) Together with the widely dispersed set-backs in late 1941 – early ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Missing were the usherettes and the popcorn

Thomson, Max · Mar 30, 2001 ·

As movies, so many of the films were easily forgettable; yet the locations and especially the settings and circumstances under which they were screened, were gems of wartime naval service ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Torpedoing of SS Ormiston – 1943

d'Alpuget, L.A., Lieut., RANVR (Rtd.) · Dec 30, 2000 ·

On May 12, 1943, I was Captain of an anti-submarine Naval Auxiliary Patrol vessel, commissioned HMAS 539 (Topsy A), a heavy, converted fishing trawler driven by three engines. We were ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

The HMAS Sydney – HSK Kormoran Engagement (November 1941) – Part 2

Nicholson, Ian · Sep 7, 2000 ·

“The first casualty in War is the Truth” Some German naval records relating to the Kormoran fell into British hands at the end of the war in Europe and are ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

Operation “Meridian” – Palembang Oil Refineries, 1945

Hobbs, D.A., MBE, Commander, RN · Sep 7, 2000 ·

“Whatever its demerits, into the execution of this plan as it stood the squadrons put the limit of human endeavour; that they achieved so great a measure of success against ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6

Book Review: Alone on Guadalcanal – A Coastwatcher’s Story

Duchesne, Tim · Jun 20, 2000 ·

ALONE ON GUADALCANAL – A Coastwatcher’s Story, By Martin Clemens CBE OBE AM MC High on anyone’s list of largely unsung heroes of the Pacific War must come the British and ...

HMAS Sydney Inquiry (Letter No. 2)

Letter Writer · Jun 20, 2000 ·

A further detailed letter has been received from member James Eagles, ex-RAN Communicator, documenting many instances of the Germans decoding British naval and merchant ship signal traffic in 1941, etc. ...

HMAS Sydney Inquiry (Letter No. 1)

Nicholson, Ian · Jun 20, 2000 ·

Earlier correspondence from a member concerning an important point of ship recognition vis-a-vis Kormoran and Straat Malakka deserves response. He queries how the Dutch merchantman with a distinctive counter stern ...

Disaster at Bari

Barton, Alan · Jun 20, 2000 ·

Mustard gas in World War II? Let me tell you of the happenings at Bari in Italy on the evening of 2 December 1943. Bari had recently become the main ...

Letters – Loss of sea language

Letter Writer · Mar 19, 2000 ·

Sir, Reading Roger Puttman’s letter (NHR 20-2) and his shared complaint concerning the loss of sea language put me in mind of an incident aboard Quiberon during Arch Harrington’s command ...

The Sydney – Kormoran Engagement – Part 1

Nicholson, Ian · Mar 19, 2000 ·

“The first casualty in War is the Truth.’” Some say that HMAS Sydney (II) and her crew should be left in peace and I agree. Location and examination of the ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Operation Downfall

Letter Writer · Mar 19, 2000 ·

Regarding “The Century’s Greatest Untold Story” in Vol. 20, No. 4, although OPERATION DOWNFALL may have been top secret, it was generally known, even in the BPF, that an invasion ...

Operation Downfall – The invasion of Japan – a sequel

Letter Writer · Mar 19, 2000 ·

Almost as sensational as “OPERATION DOWNFALL” – the top-secret plan for the invasion of Japan as detailed in the last issue of Naval Historical Review (Vol. 20, No. 4) – ...

The chase and sinking of the ‘Bismarck’

Patterson, W.R, Captain, RN · Mar 1, 2000 ·

The Commander-in-Chief, having received information that the Bismarck had put to sea, made suitable disposition of the forces at his disposal and sailed in HMS King George V, accompanied by ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Book Review: The Raider Kormoran

Nicholson, Ian · Sep 5, 1999 ·

Title: The Raider Kormoran Author: Captain Theodor Detmers Publisher: Tandem (UK, 1959) with numerous German & English reprints (This, the only book written by a participant, calls for close analysis in the ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Book Review: Atlantic Odyssey

Book reviewer · Sep 1, 1999 ·

Title: Atlantic Odyssey Author: Michael Thwaites Publisher: Self-published This is a fascinating account of a little-known aspect (in Australia at least) of the Battle of the Atlantic, seen through the ...

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