Easter Rebellion

On April 24, 1916, the failed Irish insurrection – commonly refered to as the Easter Rebellion – began. The Easter Rebellion was the brain child of two groups – the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army.

The Irish Volunteers were established in 1913 and were led by Eoin MacNeill, as well a few others that would be come prominent names in the upcoming events – including Joseph Plunkett, Padraig (Patrick) Pearse, and Roger Casement.

The Irish Citizen Army was formed in 1913 by James Larkin and Jack White, and was comprised of members of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, who in 1913 had gone on strike. The Dublin Metropolitan Police was called to break up a rally on August 31, 1913 on Connell Street in Dublin, which resulted in two men beaten to death and 50o men injured. Another man was later shot dead by the strike breakers. Larkin organized, along with Jack White – a former British Army officer – the Irish Citizen Army to protect the workers in event of future strikes.

The plan was for the Irish Citizen Army and the Irish Volunteer to seize important points in the city of Dublin, and hold these for as long as possible, thus disrupting British control of the capital. It was then hoped that one of three things might happen: the country might rise in sympathy; the British might realise the ultimate impossibility of controlling Ireland and pull out; and last and faintest of hopes, the Germans might somehow come to the rescue of the rebels. Since the rebels had no artillery of any sort, their strongpoints could only hold out provided that the British did not use their artillery.

H-Hour was noon on Monday, April 24. Since it was a bank holiday, crowds were in the street as the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army soldiers marched to key points in the city – including the General Post Office, Dublin Castle, Jacob’s Biscuit Factory, various military barracks, and the Four Courts. There was little fighting on the first day since British intelligence had failed hopelessly, the properties targeted were taken virtually without resistance and immediately the rebels set about making them defensible. The GPO was the nerve center of the rebellion. It served as the rebels’ headquarters and the seat of the provisional government which they declared. Five of its members served there – Pearse, Thomas Clarke, James Connolly, Sean MacDermott and Plunkett.

The British military onslaught, which the rebels had anticipated, did not at first materialize. When the Rising began the authorities had just 400 troops to confront roughly 1,000 insurgents. Their immediate priorities were therefore to amass reinforcements, gather information on volunteer strength and locations and protect strategic positions, including the seat of government, Dublin Castle, which had initially been virtually undefended.  On Tuesday, a British force of 4,500 men with artillery attacked and secured the Castle. Pearse ordered a surrender on April 29.

General Lowe (left) accepting the surrender of Pearse. The man in the white breeches is Lowe’s son John, who escorted Pearse to Kilmainham Gaol. Also present at the surrender was nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell, who is obscured by Pearse.

The British Army reported casualties of 116 dead, 368 wounded and 9 missing. 16 policemen died and 29 were wounded. Irish casualties were 318 dead and 2,217 wounded. The Volunteers and ICA recorded 64 killed in action, but otherwise Irish casualties were not divided into rebels and civilians.

A series of courts martial were held starting May 2, and 90 people were sentenced to death. 15, including all signers of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic were executed. They were:

Padraig Pearse  – May 3

Thomas Clarke – May 3

Seán Mac Diarmada – May 12

Thomas MacDonagh – May 3

Éamonn Ceannt – May 8

James Connolly – May 12, shot while tied to a chair due to a shattered ankle.

Joseph Plunkett – May 4, hours after being married.

Edward Daly – May 4, a battalion commander in the Irish Volunteers

William Pearse – May 4, brother of Padraig, played a minor role in the rebellion, but due to his surname, was executed

Michael O’Hanrahan – May 4, battalion commander in the Irish Volunteers

John MacBride – May 5, two days before his 51st birthday. He was not member of the Irish Volunteers or the Irish Citizen Army, and was in fact, an ex-British military officer who offered his services to MacDonagh. His last words were “I have looked down the muzzles of too many guns in the South African war to fear death and now please carry out your sentence.”

Michael Mallin – May 8, second in command of the Irish Citizen Army.

Cornelius Colbert – May 8, Captain in the Irish Volunteers.

Seán Heuston – May 8, was commander of the Irish Volunteers force who held the Mendicity Institution with 26 soldiers against 300 to 400 British soldiers.

Thomas Kent – May 9, did not actually participate in the Easter Rebellion. He was on trial for the shooting death of a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary.

Roger Casement – August 3, the only one who was hung. He was executed for his role in the Rebellion which was to land German weapons and manpower on the shores of Ireland. He was captured on April 21.

Civil War Era Library Book Returned

I saw this on yahoo news and it caught my attention. Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia received a library book – entitled “History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France From the Year 1807 to the Year 1814″ – that was part of a four-volume set of the history of the Napoleonic Wars, that was stolen from the Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in 1864 by a Union soldier named C.S. Gates.

The theft occured when Major General David Hunter’s Army of West Virginia raided the town of Lexington, home of the Virginia Military Institute, on June 11, 1864. Mike Dau, from Lake Forest, Illinois, inherited the book from two friends – Myron and Isabel Gates.

C.S. Gates had inscribed in the book “This book was taken from the Military Institute at Lexington Virginia in June 1864 when General Hunter was on his Lynchburg raid. The Institution was burned by the order of Gen. Hunter.”

Dau and his wife traveled to Lexington in Febraury, and returned the book. He will not have to pay fines.

Force Worthington

Force Worthington was a small tasked force comprised of the 28th Canadian Armoured Regiment (the British Columbia Regiment) and three companies of the Algonquin Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Don Worthington of the 28th. Both regiments were members of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division, under the command of Major General George Kitching. The 28th was a member of the 4th Canadian Armoured Brigade, while the Algonquin Regiment was a member of the 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade.

On August 8, 1944, the Canadian 1st Army, under the command of Lieutenant General H.D.G. Crerar, launced Operation Totalize. The intention of Operation Totalize was to break through German defensive lines south of Caen and drive into the high ground north of the city of Falaise. In the early morning of August 8, the Canadian 2nd Corps, under the command of Lieutenant General Guy Simonds launched the attack, using mostly mechanized infantry. They broke through the German front lines and captured vital positions deep in the German defenses. It was intended that two fresh armoured divisions would continue the attack, but some hesitancy by these two comparatively inexperienced divisions and German armoured counter-attacks slowed the offensive. Having advanced 9 miles, the Allies were halted 7 miles north of Falaise, and forced to prepare a fresh attack.

That attack came from Oberführer Kurt Meyer, the commander of the 12th SS Panzer Division. Meyer realized at this point that further resistance can only end with death or capture, nonetheless he set up his battered division to attempt to defend the road to Falaise. Meyer had already ordered infantry from various formations shattered by the Allied bombing and armored attack to occupy Cintheaux. He also moved forward two battlegroups from his own division, consisting of assault guns, infantry and Tiger tanks, positioning them across the Canadian front. Shortly after midday, he ordered these two battlegroups to counter-attack the leading Allied troops.

At this point, the Allied offensive plan called for additional bombardment by the 8th Air Force before the 4th Canadian Armoured Division and the Polish 1st Armoured Division pushed south towards Falaise on either side of the Caen-Falaise Road. While the counter-attack by the 12th SS Panzer Division was unsuccessful, it did place Meyer’s tanks north of the target area that the 8th Air Force bombarded in preparation for the second phase of the Allied attack. These tanks, spared the effects of the bombing, slowed the advance of the Polish 1st Armoured Division, preventing a breakthrough east of the road. West of the road, the German infantry at Cintheaux likewise held up Canadian Armoured formations. Neither division (both in combat for the first time) pressed their attacks as hard as Simonds demanded, and “laagered” (went into a defensive formation while vehicles and troops were resupplied and rested) when darkness fell.

To restore the momentum of the attack, Simonds ordered a column from the Canadian armoured division to seize Hill 195, just to the west of the main road halfway between Cintheaux and Falaise. This group was the 28th Canadian Armoured Regiment – the British Columbia Regiment – and three companies of the Algonquin Regiment. The force was known as Force Worthington, for Lieutenant Colonel Don Worthington. Another column, Force Halpenny – made up of the Lake Superior Regiment and the Canadian Grenadier Guards – was to attack Bretteville-le-Rabet.

Force Worthington deployed early on the morning of August 9. The 28th moved out in their Cromwell tanks, with the members of the Algoquin Regiment riding on the tanks. Lieutenant Colonel Worthington’s force passed by Force Halpenny preparing to attack Bretteville-le-Rabet, and Force Worthington became lost in the dark. Force Worthington had followed an ancient path called the “Chemin Heusse”, which led directly to the front of Kampgruppe Waldmüller, and the resulting fire from the kampgruppe pushed the force further east, away from their objective. As it was early morning, the light was poor, and in the mist, the force spotted high ground, assumed it was Hill 195, and headed for it.

In fact, the high ground Lieutenant Colonel Worthington had spotted, was 4 miles from Hill 195, 1,000 yards directly in front of Kampgruppe Wünsche. In fact, many men of Force Worthington reported that they were in the wrong position, but were ordered to advance.

At 0655, Worthington reported he had captured Hill 195, and would hold until reinforcements arrived. Kampgruppe Wünsche was equipped with 5 Tiger tanks and 15 Panther tanks, and they began firing on the isolated Canadians. The Canadians called in artillery support, but, because they believed they were on Hill 195, the artillery fired on the wrong location.

By 1200 hours, Lieutenant Colonel Hay, the commander of the Algonquin Regiment, had been wounded, and that 8 tanks were left. 8 men had also been killed, while another 25 were wounded.

Obersturmführer Bernard-Georg Meitzel, the laison officer for KG Wünsche, who was captured, recalled:

“I had barely reached the Canadian hedgehog position on Point 140 when our 88mm guns started to fire on the Canadian tanks and infanty. Tigers and Panthers advanced in order to encircle the positions on the hill. One Canadian tank after another was knocked out and ended up in smoke and flames. Some crews…tried to reach a small wood close by…They took me along. Soon after, the wood came under sustained attacks from fighter bombers to relieve the hard pressed Canadians. My suggestion…to break through to out command post was refused, with thanks!…Only after further fighter bomber attacks did they change their minds. I arrived at our command post again in the late afternoon with twenty-three Canadians and a broken arm.”

Meyer reported that none of Wünsche’s tanks were attacked by the fighter bomber. At 1.500 hours, the 8 remaining tanks recieved orders to retreat. Meyer ordered a counter-attack with, according to the 28th Armoured Regiment’s War Diary, two companies of infanty (most likely from the 1st SS Panzer-Grenadier Regiment), Panthers, and Tigers. At 2230 hours, the Algonquin Regiment survivors decided to break out from the position, and by 0300 on August 10, 4 officers,  44 infantrymen, and 5 tank men arrived in Polish lines. The 28th Armoured Regiment had lost 125 men – Lieutenant Colonel Worthington was killed – along with 47 tanks. The Algonquin Regiment records 127 casaulties – later reports claim 38 men were lost on August 9. The 28th Armoured Regiment’s War Diary reads, “Hill 143 (notice they still have the wrong hill identified) was left to the enemy at 2100 hours, after having been held for fourteen hours. This, our first day in action, had been an extremely costly one.”

Force Worthington Memorial

Russell Dunham

It is with sad news that I announce the death of Russell Dunham, who passed away April 6, 2009 in his sleep at his home in Godfrey, Illinois. Dunham’s won the Medal of Honor while a Technical Sergeant in I Company, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division on January 8, 1945 near Kayserberg, France, on the French-German border.

From Technical Sergeant Dunham’s Medal of Honor citation:

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. At about 1430 hours on 8 January 1945, during an attack on Hill 616, near Kayserberg, France, T/Sgt. Dunham single-handedly assaulted 3 enemy machineguns. Wearing a white robe made of a mattress cover, carrying 12 carbine magazines and with a dozen hand grenades snagged in his belt, suspenders, and buttonholes, T/Sgt. Dunham advanced in the attack up a snow-covered hill under fire from 2 machineguns and supporting riflemen. His platoon 35 yards behind him, T/Sgt. Dunham crawled 75 yards under heavy direct fire toward the timbered emplacement shielding the left machinegun. As he jumped to his feet 10 yards from the gun and charged forward, machinegun fire tore through his camouflage robe and a rifle bullet seared a 10-inch gash across his back sending him spinning 15 yards down hill into the snow. When the indomitable sergeant sprang to his feet to renew his 1-man assault, a German egg grenade landed beside him. He kicked it aside, and as it exploded 5 yards away, shot and killed the German machinegunner and assistant gunner. His carbine empty, he jumped into the emplacement and hauled out the third member of the gun crew by the collar. Although his back wound was causing him excruciating pain and blood was seeping through his white coat, T/Sgt. Dunham proceeded 50 yards through a storm of automatic and rifle fire to attack the second machinegun. Twenty-five yards from the emplacement he hurled 2 grenades, destroying the gun and its crew; then fired down into the supporting foxholes with his carbine dispatching and dispersing the enemy riflemen. Although his coat was so thoroughly blood-soaked that he was a conspicuous target against the white landscape, T/Sgt. Dunham again advanced ahead of his platoon in an assault on enemy positions farther up the hill. Coming under machinegun fire from 65 yards to his front, while rifle grenades exploded 10 yards from his position, he hit the ground and crawled forward. At 15 yards range, he jumped to his feet, staggered a few paces toward the timbered machinegun emplacement and killed the crew with hand grenades. An enemy rifleman fired at pointblank range, but missed him. After killing the rifleman, T/Sgt. Dunham drove others from their foxholes with grenades and carbine fire. Killing 9 Germans–wounding 7 and capturing 2–firing about 175 rounds of carbine ammunition, and expending 11 grenades, T/Sgt. Dunham, despite a painful wound, spearheaded a spectacular and successful diversionary attack.

Technical Sergeant Dunham (courtesy of www.medalofhonor.com)

Best World War Two Films

The best WWII films, both American and foreign:

10. Battleground - 1949, directed by William A. Wellman, starring Van Johnson.

9. Sands of Iwo Jima – 1949, directed by Allan Dwan, starring John Wayne.

8. To Hell and Back – 1955, directed by Jesse Hibbs, starring Audie Murphy.

7. Stalingrad – 1993, directed by Joseph Vilsmaier, starring Dominique Horwitz.

6. Flags of Our Fathers – 2006, directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Ryan Phillippe.

5. A Bridge Too Far – 1977, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, starring Anthony Hopkins.

4. Das Boot – 1981, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Jürgen Prochnow.

3. Letters from Iwo Jima – 2006, directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Ken Watanabe.

2. The Longest Day – 1962, directed by Darryl F.  Zanuck (uncredited) and others, starring John Wayne.

1. Saving Private Ryan – 1998, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Hanks.

Best Foreign Film War Films

These are my top 10 Best Foreign War Films:

10. Gallipoli – Australian, 1981, directed by Peter Weir, starring Mel Gibson.

9.  Joyeux Noël - French, 2006, directed by Christian Carion, starring Guillaume Canet.

8. Tuntematon sotilas (Unknown Soldier) - Finnish, 1955, directed by Edvin Laine, starring Kosti Klemelä.

7. L’armée des ombres (Army of Shadows)- French, 1969, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, starring Lino Ventura.

6. Breaker Morant – Australian, 1980, directed by Bruce Beresford, starring Edward Woodward.

5. Bronyenosyets Potyomkin (Battleship Potyomkin) - Russian, 1926, directed by Sergei Eisenstein, starring Aleksandr Antonov.

4. Война и мир (War and Peace) - Russian, 1968, directed by Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk, starring Ludmila Savelyeva.

3. Ватерлоо (Waterloo) - Russian, 1970, directed by Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk, starring Rod Steiger.

2. Diên Biên Phu -French, 1992, directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer, starring Donald Pleasance.

1. Das Boot – German, 1981, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Jürgen Prochnow.

Appomattox Surrender Anniversary

On this date in 1865, General Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, surrender his army to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of the United States Army at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. Since that date, there have been many myths and misconceptions about the surrender. This is one:

Myth: The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865

Fact: The Civil War did not end on that day. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia surrendered that day, but there were still plenty of other Confederate forces that had not yet surrendered. General Joseph E. Johnston still commanded the Confederate Army of Tennessee, fighting against Major General William T. Sherman’s Military Division of Mississippi. Johnston would surrender at Bennett Place, North Carolina on April 26, 1865. General Edmund Kirby Smith, the commander of the Confederate Department of the Trans-Mississippi, which surrender on May 26, 1865 in Galveston, Texas. Smith then fled to Mexico, and then to Cuba, before returning to Virginia to take the amnesty in November 1865. One of Smith’s generals, Brigadier General Stand Watie, who commanded the 1st Indian Brigade of the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, surrendered in the Indian Terrority (now Oklahoma), following the Battle of Doaksville, on June 23, 1865, becoming the final Confederate general to surrender. There were also numerous quasi-independent Confederate forces (such as Quantrill’s Raiders who raided Kentucky in May 1865) who surrender in late April, May, and June of 1865. And then there was the Confederate ship CSS Shenandoah, who on June 27, 1865, in the waters of the Arctic Ocean, learned from a captured vessel that Lee had surrender. Captain James Waddell elected to continue to fight, and on August 2, recieved word from the British vessel that the war had ended. The British vessel was heading from San Francisco, which, ironically, Waddell was planning to attack. It was not until November 6, 1865, that the CSS Shenandoah surrendered in Liverpool, England, thus becoming the last Confederate force to surrender.

Tom Lovell’s Surrender at Appomattox

Who was present at the surrender?

Confederate:

Gen. Robert E. Lee

Lt. Col. Charles Marshall

Union:

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant

Lt. Col. Orville E. Babcock

Lt. Col. Adam Badeau

Brig. Gen. John G. Barnard

Lt. Col. Theodore S. Bowers

Brig. Gen. Frederick T. Dent

Brig. Gen. Rufus Ingalls

Col. M. R. Morgan

Maj. Gen. Edward Ord

Lt. Col. Ely S. Parker

Lt. Col. Horace Porter

Brig. Gen. John A. Rawlins

Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan

Brig. Gen. Seth Williams

One mistake in the above painting would be the inclusion of Brigadier General George A. Custer. Custer is the officer with blonde hair standing behind Lieutenant Colonel Ely Parker, who is glancing over Grant’s shoulder. Evidenced from the above list, Custer was not present.

Harper’s Weekly illustration of Lee’s surrender.

APRIL 7, 1865

General R. E. LEE:

GENERAL: The result of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the C. S. Army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.

U.S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General

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HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
APRIL 7, 1865

Lieut. Gen. U.S. GRANT:

GENERAL: I have received your note of this date. Though not entertaining the opinion you express on the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender.

R. E. LEE,
General.

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APRIL 8, 1865

General R. E. LEE:

GENERAL: Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of same date, asking the condition on which I will accept the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, is just received. In reply I would say that, peace being my great desire, there is but one condition I would insist upon, namely, that the men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms again against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged. I will meet you, or will designate officers to meet any officers you may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to yell, for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will be received.

U.S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.

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HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
APRIL 8, 1865

Lieut. Gen. U.S. GRANT:

GENERAL: I received at a late hour your note of to-day. In mine of yesterday I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the surrender of this army, but as the restoration of peace should be the sole object of all, I desired to know whether your proposals would lead to that end. I cannot, therefore, meet you with a view to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia, but as far as your proposal may affect the C. S. forces under my command, and tend to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet you at 10 a.m., to-morrow; on the old stage road to Richmond, between the picket-lines of the two armies.

R. E. LEE,
General.

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APRIL 9, 1865

General R. E. LEE:

GENERAL: Your note of yesterday is received. I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace; the meeting proposed for 10 a.m. to-day could lead to no good. I will state, however, general, that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and the whole North entertains the same feeling. The terms upon which peace can be had are well understood. By the South laying down their arms they will hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed. Seriously hoping that all our difficulties may be set-tied without the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, &c.,

U.S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.

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HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
APRIL 9, 1865

Lieut. Gen. U.S. GRANT:

GENERAL: I received your note of this morning on the picket-line, whither I had come to meet you and ascertain definitely what terms were embraced in your proposal of yesterday with reference to the surrender of this army. I now ask an interview in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yesterday for that purpose.

R. E. LEE,
General.

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APPOMATTOX COURT-HOUSE, VA.
April 9, 1865

General R. E. LEE:

GENERAL: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged; and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by U. S. authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.

U.S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.

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HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
April 9, 1865

Lieut. Gen. U. S. GRANT:

GENERAL: I have received your letter of this date containing the terms of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect.

R. E. LEE,
General.

9 April 1865 We, the undersigned Prisoners of War, belonging to the Army of Northern Virginia, having been this day surrendered by General Robert E. Lee, C.S.A., Commanding said Army to Lieut. Genl. U. S. Grant, Commanding Armies of United States, do hereby give our solemn parole of honor that we will not hereafter serve in the armies of the Confederate States or in any military capacity whatever, against the United States of America or under aid to the enemies of the latter, until properly exchanged in such manner as shall be mutually approved by the respective authorities.

Done at Appomattox Court
House, Va. this 9th day of
April, 1865.

R. E. Lee, Genl.
W. H. Taylor, Lt. Colonel
Charles S. Venaber, Lt. Col. adjutant
Charles Marshal, Lt. Col. & Inspector General
W. E. Pentin, Lt. Col.
Gilbert B. Cooke, Major
H. S. Young, Major

The within named men will not be disturbed by United States authorities, so long as they observe their parole and the laws in force where they may reside.