Table of contents for July 2022 in The Armourer

This month our attention turns to the mighty air and sea battle in the Pacific that turned the tide of war against the Japanese in WWII. The US Navy took a huge risk when it discovered the Japanese plans to ambush their fleet in response to taking Midway island. It would have been prudent to avoid the clash altogether, while bolstering carrier and aircraft production at home. Instead, they decided to take on the Japanese force and launch a surprise attack of their own. It almost went horribly wrong, with waves of American planes being shot down for very little result, but then a misguided decision by the Japanese and a stroke of luck for the American dive bombers hiding in the clouds turned it all on its head. After…

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbour and Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Japanese Fleet, believed that Enterprise and Hornet were the only US carriers still active in the Pacific Ocean following the May 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea, which preceded the Battle of Midway by only a few weeks. Coral Sea was the first naval battle to be fought entirely by airplanes launched by aircraft carriers, so that no opposing ships sighted or made contact with each other. The Japanese were convinced they had sunk two US carriers, but in fact the badly damaged USS Yorktown managed to limp home. Midway Atoll, so named because it’s midway between North America and Asia, was claimed by the United States in 1859 and consists of Eastern Island…

The early 1930s were a turbulent time in America. After the stock market crash on Black Thursday, the economy went downhill. Social misery led to riots and strikes, while criminal gangs and swindlers did good business. And the police had to deal with it all. There is no doubt that the Great Depression was a difficult time. The dangers of everyday life from petty criminals and troublesome beggars increased the need for security among civilians, while at the same time the police had to arm themselves with non-lethal weapons to maintain law and order. And this is where Charles J Manville came in. The owner of a machine shop in Indianapolis, he spent his spare time working on weapons technology. His special interest was tear gas weapons. What first began…

The Blitz in Colour This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of The Blitz – one of the most infamous and widely remembered chapters of WW2. This 132-page special collectors magazine – written by Andy Saunders, the former editor of Britain at War – covers all the military and human aspects of the Blitz. It doesn’t just look at London, it looks at all the UK cities attacked. It looks at the aircraft used, the losses and the heroic stories. Illustrated with hundreds of original images colourised to bring them to life. The Battle of Britain in Colour A unique and stunning 164-page high-quality collectors magazine showcasing the work of colourisation artist Richard Molloy and telling the story of the Battle of Britain through colourised images from the period.…

In the 1890s, the British displayed a growing concern for control of the Nile Valley, given its importance for the security of Egypt and hence of the Suez Canal. This drew Britain into the reconquest of the Sudan between 1896-98 but also involved involvement in the southern fringes of the Nile Valley to secure the outer approaches to its complex network of headwaters. The British East Africa Company was active after 1888, working to establish by treaty a British sphere of influence around the Great Lakes and up to the Zanzibari hinterland, while Germany made claims for the coastal area west of Zanzibar (Wituland). The islandstate of Zanzibar, an independent Sultanate since 1856 when it separated from Oman, controlled a substantial strip of the Swahili hinterland, which included the ports…

AUCTIONS 8 June 2022 Rock Island Auctioneers T: 001 309 797 1500 www.rockislandauction.com info@rockislandauction.com 9 June 2022 Southams T: 01234 269 082 www.southamsauction.co.uk guns@southamsauction.co.uk 15 June 2022 Bosleys T: 01628 488188 www.bosleys.co.uk sales@bosleys.co.uk 22 June 2022 Warwick & Warwick T: 01926 499031 www.warwickandwarwick.com richard.beale@warwickandwarwick.com 23 - 24 June 2022 Hermann Historica T: 0049 89 54 72 64 90 www.hermann-historica.com contact@hermann-historica.com 29 June 2022 Noonans T: 020 7016 1700 www.noonans.co.uk auctions@noonans.co.uk FAIRS 12 June 2022 Wolverley Militaria Fair T: 07816 853878 www.facebook.com/wolverleymilitariafair/ 12 June 2022 Chatham Militaria Fair T: 07595 511981 www.chathammilitariafairs.co.uk james@chathammilitariafairs.co.uk 19 June 2022 The International Birmingham Antique Arms & Militaria Fair T: 01926 497340 OR 07710 274542 www.birminghamarmsfair.com info@birminghamarmsfair.com 26 June 2022 Stratford Upon Avon Militaria & Medal Fair T: 01753 534777 OR 07871 777062 www.milweb.net/dealers/trader/markcarter.htm markgcarter6@gmail.com 26…

In this next part of our series on Warsaw Pact accoutrements, we turn to East Germany. East Germany’s Army, the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) used a number of different sets of equipment during its existence however, in the mid-1980s, the nation was updating a lot of military equipment ready for use in the early 1990s. History got the better of them when the Berlin Wall came down and Germany was reunified before the East had chance to introduce the new equipment widely. It was manufactured however, trialled in small amounts in the last years of Communism, and is readily available on the collectors’ market which makes it a fascinating example of what might have been. The new equipment being trialled in the late 1980s was called UTV, or Universelle Tragevorrichtung, and…

The British Army’s 8th Regiment of the Line was The King’s (Liverpool Regiment). Its existence dates from 1685 and the formation that year of the Princess Anne of Denmark’s Regiment. Its first Colonel was Robert Shirley, 1st Earl Ferrers, the title being in honour of the king’s second daughter. King William died on 8 March 1702, his death seeing Anne brought to the throne and a change in regimental title to The Queen’s. The year 1714 saw the death of Queen Anne at London’s Kensington Palace during the morning of 1 August. It would not be until 1716, and the second year of George I’s reign, that Anne’s successor was graciously pleased to confer upon the Regiment the title of ‘The King’s’, an honour not given out lightly. It saw…

Hitler’s Winter ANTHONY TUCKER-JONES There have been endless books on the Battle of the Bulge, but this one focusses on the German side of the story. It isn’t an all-encompassing view of the German assault though, it’s more a look at how and why the Germans attacked and what were the reasons it failed. The fresh insights come from interviews with all survivors after WWII because NATO was concerned the Warsaw Pact would attack in exactly the same way. There’s great emphasis on the build up, Skorzeny’s commandos, Peiper’s Kampfgruppe and the failure of the Luftwaffe. Not comprehensive, but adds another dimension to Bulge literature. • Osprey Media • ISBN 978-1-4728-4739-3 • 324 pages • Hardback • £20 Naval Battles of the Second World War LEO MARRIOT Concerning the Atlantic…

To mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, a new exhibition celebrating Her Majesty’s loyal service to the Royal Navy, both official and personal, has opened at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Her Majesty’s Service takes a fascinating look at both her role as ceremonial head of the Royal Navy and as granddaughter, daughter, wife and mother of naval officers. She married Prince Philip, a serving naval officer and has spoken affectionately and publicly of her time spent as a naval wife in Malta during 1949-1951. On display for the first time and recently donated to the museum by the HM The Queen is a naval uniform belonging to the Duke of Edinburgh alongside his Admiral’s cap. It joins other uniforms worn by the Princess Royal and…

I started off my career as an audio-visual technician, but I’ve always been into gadgets, computers and tech. This month I thought it was time to browse the t’interwebs for militaria gadgets or tech, well, WWII period tech. Radio had a crucial part to play in warfare, and here we have a WWII German army radio field transmitter. This is the very rare 15W German HF transmitter, commonly used with the Torn EB and KWEA receivers. Made in 1944, a nice example in presentable condition. It has usage marks but looks unmodified and would benefit from a good clean, untested but ideal for restoration. Priced at £3,950 from www.store.cbeagle.co.uk. Another rare item next, a WWII British Royal Navy 24v accumulator battery, dated ‘1939’, made by Accumulators of Woking Ltd. The…

The Battle of Midway was arguably the single most important strategic battle of the Pacific theatre during World War II. It saw the Japanese carrier threat effectively neutralised for the rest of the war and was the first step towards an eventual Allied victory. As such it is a natural battle for collectors to focus on and these are a few of the related items available for sale at the moment. United States Navy militaria is less common in the UK than items belonging to either the Army or USAAF, however many items are available from sellers in the United States and can be imported into the United Kingdom with little difficulty. The United States Navy’s victory was largely as a result of their carrier borne aviation and the pilots…

Facebook: www.facebook.com/armourermagazine Twitter: @The_Armourer Post: Letters Page, The Armourer, Warners Group Publications, West Street, Bourne, Lincs. PE10 9PH Email: armourer@warnersgroup.co.uk NUCLEAR WAR With the return to the Cold War rhetoric and brinksmanship I have attached images of two medals which relate to the potential for nuclear conflict on the Indian subcontinent. Firstly, the Pakistan medal for their nuclear tests through which the country joined the atomic club. Secondly, the Indian High Altitude Medal for people who served in the ongoing conflict in the glaciers of the Himalayas. Rohan Goyne, by email ATS AT WAR I am just about halfway through perusing the April issue of The Armourer, and would like to express my thanks for how splendidly you have laid out my work once again with my ATS at War…

WIN 3 copies of… Flashpoints: Air Warfare in the Cold War Michael Napier is back with more Cold War stories, this time covering eight conflicts and the effects that air power had on them. There’s everything from the Suez Crisis of 1956 to the Falklands Conflict and the Iran-Iraq War. You get superb photos on glossy paper, background details on the ground campaign and lots of technical information on the planes doing the fighting. Now, thanks to the generosity of military book publisher, Osprey Publishing, we have three copies to give away. Simply answer the question below and go to the website to enter. WIN 3 copies of… Hitler’s Winter: The German Battle of the Bulge Terrain, logistical support and air power. These were the three deciding factors in Hitler’s…