Past and Present of Warfare
Category: battles
Bombing of Tokyo in 1945. is given far less attention than some objectively less deadly attacks (London Blitz, attack on Pearl Harbor, or bombing of Hiroshima or Nagasaki). Yet it is important to understand why it happened, how it was so deadly, and why the memory of the attack is so negligible. While conventional bombardment … Continue reading Firebombing of Tokyo 10th March 1945
Bleeding around Guadalcanal continued. Neither side could gather enough strength to push back the other. Attack was followed by counterattack, which was followed up by a counter-counterattack. While individual battles could be one-sided indeed, there was no real result, only mounting losses. Both sides created imaginative new surprises for the enemy, and the fate toyed … Continue reading Pacific War 17 – Japan’s Last Victory
Battle of the Eastern Solomons The Battle of the Savo Island had sent to the bottom a large number of ships. Yet it was but a beginning. For months the battles were fought in this area, the two sides being very evenly matched and unable to gain a decisive advantage. This fact made it all … Continue reading Pacific War 16 – The Ironbottom Sound
17 – 30 September: Exodus of the Fortunate Few The Polish Government, the military GHQ, civil servants and foreign diplomats started to evacuate Warsaw on 5 September. The aim was to reach the apparently still safe south-eastern Poland, bordered by the neutral Russia and friendly Hungary and Romania. Thousands of people were moving there, and … Continue reading Attack on Poland – The Exodus
Preliminary Incidents Hitler had given top priority to engineering an incident that would provoke the Poland into retaliation and thus justify German invasion. On 5 August 1939 the head of the SD (the Security Service of the SS), Reinhard Heydrich, entrusted the 28-year-old Alfred Naujoks with the task of creating just such an incident. To … Continue reading Attack on Poland – 1 – 17 September
In the Homeland War, the role and importance of the Croatian Air Force grew steadily. Air Force was especially important in the Operation Storm, the final operation for liberation of occupied areas of Croatia. Development of the Air Force Beginning of the Croatian Air Force began with the air groups formed at the Command of … Continue reading Croatian Air Force in the Operation Storm ’95
Introduction Operation Storm '95, or just the Operation Storm, is the greatest military victory in history of the Croatia. In only 84 hours, some 200 000 soldiers of the Croatian Army had liberated over 10 000 square kilometers of the occupied territory. This operation marked the end of the Homeland War. The Operation Operation Storm … Continue reading Operation Storm 1995
While the Japanese did suffer a major defeat at Midway, they were still dangerous. Even the losses they suffered in fighting around Aleutian islands they were not significantly weakened. Fighting there did cause them significant losses, as the US navy had carried out several powerful counterattacks. At Battle of Komandorski Islands, Japanese suffered heavy losses … Continue reading Pacific War 15 – Fright Night at Savo Island
Victory of the Intelligence Service Battle of the Coral Sea had ended the Japanese advance in the Southern Pacific. There was no further pressure towards Australia, no Japanese ships or aircraft were scouting nor could Allied scouts find any concentrations of Japanese forces. Other areas of the Pacific were also quiet. It was thus obvious … Continue reading Pacific War 14 – Battle of Midway
Operation on the direction North In the North, which was an auxilliary direction of the attack, were 52.dp (52nd Home Guard Regiment) and 105th Brigade of Croatian Army (HV), reinforced with an artillery battery of antitank cannons 76 mm from 127th Brigade HV (127.br HV). On the first day of the operation in the direction … Continue reading Operation Flash 1995 – Part 2
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