National color of the 4th Pennsylvania Infantry RegimentGold coin minted in 966 in Ramla, Palestine, in the name of al-MutiPainting by Thomas Whitcombe thought to depict HMS Aigle (right) engaging the French warship Le Sirene in 1808
Continuing Hawkeye's series on the vital part played by logistics in military campaigns, this article describes the American services and supply during the World War II Siegfried Line campaign, which ran from the end of the pursuit of the German armies from Normandy in mid-September 1944 until December 1944, when the American forces were engulfed by the German Ardennes offensive. In August 1944, the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, elected to continue the pursuit of the retreating German forces across France and Belgium to the German border instead of pausing to build up supplies and establish the line of communications as called for in the original Operation Overlord plan. The subsequent advance to the German border stretched the American logistical system to breaking point, and the advance came to a halt in mid-September.
The 4th Pennsylvania Infantry was a unit of the Union Army in the American Civil War. Formed mostly from militia in Norristown, Pennsylvania, the regiment enlisted in April 1861 for a three-month period of service under the command of ColonelJohn F. Hartranft.The unit served as part of the garrison of Washington, D.C. until late June, when it was sent into northern Virginia. The regiment suffered its only combat casualties in a picket action on 30 June and was sent back to be mustered out on the eve of the First Battle of Bull Run owing to disagreement among the men over remaining with the army after the expiration of their term of service. Its men were denounced as cowards for being members of the only regiment to refuse to fight at the 21 July battle, though Hartranft and a company commander stayed with the army and later received the Medal of Honor for their actions at Bull Run. After it was disbanded, many of its men rejoined new Pennsylvania regiments, forming the bulk of the 51st Pennsylvania Infantry, which fought for the rest of the war.
A redoubt built during the American Civil War to protect Camden, Arkansas, Fort Southerland was built by Confederate forces along with four other redoubts in early 1864 after a Union victory in the Little Rock campaign the previous year. The fort is about the size of a city block and is roughly oval. It could hold three cannons. When Union forces captured Camden in April 1864 during the Camden Expedition, they improved the defenses of the five redoubts, which were not sufficient for proper defense of the city. After the Confederates retook Camden later that month, they continued to improve the city's defenses. The fort lies within Fort Southerland Park, a municipal park dedicated in 1974. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, and is part of the Camden Expedition Sites National Historic Landmark. Along with Fort Lookout, it is one of only two of the redoubts around Camden still in existence.
Abū ʾl-Qāsim al-Faḍl ibn al-Muqtadir better known by his regnal name of al-Mutīʿ li-ʾllāh, was the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad from 946 to 974, ruling under the tutelage of the Buyid emirs. His reign represented the nadir of the Abbasid caliphate's power and authority. In previous decades, the secular authority of the caliphs had shrunk to Iraq, and even there had been curtailed by powerful warlords; with the Buyid conquest of Baghdad, it was now abolished entirely. The very fact of his subordination and powerlessness helped restore some stability to the caliphal institution: in stark contrast to his short-lived and violently deposed predecessors, al-Muti enjoyed a long and relatively unchallenged tenure. During his reign, the rise of Shi'a regimes across the Middle East directly challenged Sunni and Abbasid predominance, with the expanding Fatimid Caliphate posing a direct ideological and political challenge to the Abbasids. During al-Muti's reign, the Fatimids conquered Egypt and started to expand into the Levant, threatening Baghdad itself.
An unsuccessful military venture by Union forces during the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War, the Duckport Canal was ordered built in late March 1863 by Major General Ulysses S. Grant. It stretched from the Mississippi River near Duckport, Louisiana, to New Carthage, Louisiana, and utilized a series of swampy bayous for much of its path. It was intended to provide a water-based supply route for a southward movement against the Confederate-held city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, as high water levels made overland travel difficult. The day after it was completed on April 12, the levee separating the canal and the Mississippi was breached, and water flowed into the canal but trees in the bayous and falling water levels hampered its use and the project was abandoned on May 4. Grant instead moved men and supplies through the overland route, which had been made more accessible by the same falling water levels that doomed the canal. After a lengthy siege, Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, marking a turning point in the war.
HMS Aigle was a 36-gun, fifth-ratefrigate of the Royal Navy. Ordered on 15 September 1799 and built at Bucklers Hard shipyard, she was launched 23 September 1801. Much of Aigle's career as a frigate was spent trying to keep the English Channel free of enemy warships and merchant vessels, but notable events included: her crew's involvement in the Easton Massacre when she visited Portland in April 1803 to press recruits, which resulted in a murder trial; action at the Battle of Basque Roads and in the Walcheren Campaign in 1809; and providing naval support during the invasion and occupation of the city of Genoa in 1811. After two refits, In 1852, she became a coal hulk and receiving ship before being used as a target for torpedoes and sold for breaking in 1870.
SMS Yorck ("His Majesty's Ship Yorck") was the second and final ship of the Roon class of armored cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine. She was commissioned in November 1905. Like many of the late armored cruisers, Yorck was quickly rendered obsolescent by the advent of the battlecruiser; as a result, her peacetime career was limited and she was decommissioned in May 1913 and placed in reserve until the outbreak of World War I in July 1914. She was then mobilized and assigned to III Scouting Group. On 3 November, she formed part of the screen for the High Seas Fleet as it sailed to support a German raid on Yarmouth; on the return of the fleet to Wilhelmshaven, the ships encountered heavy fog and anchored in the Schillig Roads to await better visibility. Believing the fog to have cleared sufficiently, the ship's commander ordered Yorck to get underway in the early hours of 4 November. She entered a German minefield, struck two mines, and sank with heavy loss of life. The wreck was dismantled between the 1920s and 1980s to reduce the navigational hazard it posed.
Johng Donald Rae was a flying ace of the Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War. He was officially credited with the destruction of twelve enemy aircraft, as well as eight probably destroyed and six damaged. Rae joined the RNZAF following the outbreak of the war and was posted to England in 1941 to serve with the Royal Air Force. He flew Supermarine Spitfires over the Channel Front with No. 485 (New Zealand) Squadron. In April 1942, he was attached to No. 603 Squadron, which was tasked with flying Spitfires from the American aircraft carrierUSS Wasp to Malta, where he remained until being repatriated to England due to wounds. Once recovered, he served as a flying instructor before rejoining No. 485 Squadron, still serving on the Channel Front, in May 1943. He was forced down over France a few months later and became a prisoner of war. After the war, he established a business manufacturing clothing.
Rear-AdmiralSir Thomas Hardy joined the Royal Navy sometime before 1688 and became a follower of CaptainGeorge Churchill, to whom he served as first lieutenant during the Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue in 1692. Promoted to post-captain in 1693, Hardy served in the Channel Islands and off the coast of England until 1702 when he was given command of HMS Pembroke. Having fought at the Battle of Cádiz, he subsequently discovered the location of the Franco-Spanish fleet, leading to the Battle of Vigo Bay. In August 1707, while escorting a 200-ship convoy from the UK to Lisbon, Hardy's squadron met that of René Duguay-Trouin, chasing him until dusk and then returning to the convoy. After reaching England, Hardy was court martialled for not fully engaging Duguay-Trouin. He was acquitted and returned to Mediterranean in 1708, seeing further combat. In 1711 he was promoted to rear-admiral and given command of a squadron to blockadeDunkirk. After briefly serving as Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, Thames and Medway Hardy commanded a squadron off Ushant where he failed to intercept the squadrons of Duguay-Trouin and Jean-Baptiste du Casse in 1712. In 1715 he was second-in-command of the Baltic Fleet sent to serve in the Great Northern War. He was dismissed in 1716, possibly because of Jacobite sympathies.
In the nomination statement Hawkeye7 noted that Leahy "was America's most senior military officer during World War II, but probably the least well known of the five-star officers".Leahy saw service in the Spanish–American War, the Philippine–American War, Boxer Rebellion in China, the Banana Wars and World War I. As Chief of Naval Operations from 1937 to 1939 he oversaw preparations for war. After retiring from the Navy, he was appointed in 1939 by his close friend President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the governor of Puerto Rico and later served as the U.S. Ambassador to Vichy France from 1940 to 1942. Leahy was recalled to active duty as the personal Chief of Staff to President Roosevelt in 1942 and served in that position through the rest of World War II. He led the American military until 1949.
Crerar was a senior officer of the Canadian Army who became the country's senior field commander in the Second World War as commander of the First Canadian Army in the campaign in North West Europe. He served in the First World War as an artillery officer and held a range of staff positions between the wars. During the Second World War he became General Officer Commanding the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division in 1941. He was promoted to lieutenant-general and assumed command of I Canadian Corps, fighting briefly in the Italian Campaign. In March 1944 he returned to the United Kingdom where he assumed command of the First Canadian Army. He held this position until the end of the war and, after being passed over for a promotion, retired shortly afterwards. His performance as an army commander has received a mixed reception from historians, with some regarding him as mediocre and overly focused on administration.
About The Bugle
First published in 2006, the Bugle is the monthly newsletter of the English Wikipedia's Military history WikiProject.
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