Update…

With me starting my PhD in January I thought I had better update the blog with the right information. This has meant an update of the thesis outline. What you find here is a copy of my proposal as accepted. It outlines the rationale, sources and possible methodology that might be used in the course of my research. It also illustrates an effective outline for this type of proposal. I must thank Dan Todman at Trench Fever and Britain at War who read through an early version of this proposal and gave me some useful comments. Cheers Dan.

The second update is on the bibliography page. It now has the indicative bibliography that was included in the proposal. Of course this will grow as I begin my research. Indeed one of my first tasks will be to generate an effective list of literature on Leigh-Mallory. If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears.

New Addition…

The latest book to fall through onto the doormat is…

Michael Neifield and Michael Berenbaum (Eds.) The Bombing of Auschwitz: Should the Allies Have Attempted It? (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2003) – This book combines two interests of mine; Air Power History and the Holocaust. It is a good collection of essays and document examining the contentious issue of once they knew about Auschwitz should the Allies have attempted to bomb it. An interesting debate that will never be reconciled I think.

On the blog front I came across the blog of Nicholas Sarantakas who is an Assistant Professor at the US Army Command and General Staff College. His blog, In the Service of Clio, is very interesting as it is not about the subject of History but much rather about the profession and what one can do with a History PhD. There are some very interesting posts especially for those of us who have either just finished or embarking on doctoral studies. The only issue I see if that at the moment in is US centric but I think some general points can be related to experiences elsewhere. Take a read.

New Book and a New(ish) Blog

Another book to fall on my doormat is:

Edward Westermann Flak: German Anti-Aircraft Defenses, 1914-1945 (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2001) – This book looks at the other side of the bombing campaign against Germany, namely the use of Anti-Aircraft artillery in the defence of Germany. It examines the numerous problems that befell this arm in its attempt to defend Germany cities and helps illustrates the problems that was faced in this period.

A blog I have stumbled across is How it Really Was by Christopher Knowles, a part-time PhD student at the Centre for Contemporary British History. It has some interesting posts about the British Occupation of post-war Germany. An interesting subject and after reading Sholto Douglas’ autobiography, Years of Command, and reading the problems he had during his time as Military Governor of the British Zone of Occupation, I am looking forward to reading more.

A while ago I mentioned podcasts that are popping up over the net well the National Archives have started some video podcasts entitled War on Film. Each one explores the truth behind popular war films. To quote from the website:

The National Archives holds a large number of records about the events featured in six of the most popular war films of all time. In our ‘War on Film’ videocast series William Spencer, one of our military records specialists, explores the true stories behind these films and uses original records to depict actual events.

The latest looks at the truth behind the ‘Longest Day’.

A Trip to London…and Books

Yesterday saw me take a run into London. The purpose of this visit was to meet up with Brett Holman of Airminded who is over in the UK on holiday. For anyone who has followed Brett’s blog you will be aware that it is one of the better history blogs on the net. For me it has the added advantage of being abaout Air Power History. It is always great to put a name to the face. Several other bloggers came along to so it was a meeting of the blogosphere. It was also great to meet Jakob, who runs the blog Thrust Vector. I think each of our blogs, and by default research interests, highlights the diversity of Air Power History. Good luck to Breet in getting his thesis published and finding that much vaunted job that we all desire at the of our PhD’s.

Seeing as I was in London it seemed rude of me not to visit the bookshops and peruse the bookshelves. This of course meant that some purchasing was done. This is what I picked up yesterday.

Stephen Bungay The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain (London: Aurum Press, 2009) – This is the new 2009 edition of this work on the Battle. I have not had the chance to read it so it will be interesting to see what he has to add to the historiography.

Noble Frankland History at War: The Campaign of a Historian (London: Giles de Mare, 1998) – This is Franklands account of his life as a historian and deals with many aspects of the historical profession and in particular the issues relating to the publication of the Official History of the Strategic Air Offensive against Germany.

Alfred Hurley Billy Mitchell: Crusader for Air Power (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975) – A useful early biography of one of the most important men in American air power history.

Harry Yeide and Mark Stout First to the Rhine: The 6th Army Group in World War II (St Paul, MN: Zenith Press, 2007) – I picked this up as I have always wondered about the operation of Devers command, which has recieved scant attention from historians.

Seeing as I was in London I decided to make a day of it and I popped up to the RAF Museum and took some pictures of the exhibits. Always a favourite of mine but I do wish that they would imporve the lighting for photography. As I was in the area  also popped to Hannants and picked up a model. I did not need to but I felt the need.

The end and a few changes…

Well I am sitting on the train to Birmingham to go and submit my MPhil thesis. Part of me is happy that it is done but the other part feels worried that I have left bits out. I know there are limitations but that is the nature of the beast. Being only 40,000 words there is only so much I could include. I admit as much in my introduction. I am proud of the work and feel that it does what I set out to do and that is to refute the revisionist accounts on the RAF’s perceived failure to use bombers at Dieppe.

One thing that I am very glad about is my choice of supervisor for it. I had the honour and pleasure of working with Professor Gary Sheffield, one of the UK’s leading military historians. I can not stress too much to potential postgraduate the importance of having a good working relationship with your supervisor. The ability to turn to him or her when you get stuck is so important and if the relationship is fractious it won’t help. I have been lucky to have a supervisor who let me explore the problem and offer pertinent advice when appropriate. He also acted as an excellent editor picking up on numerous mistakes that my tired eyes just could not pick up. I am certain that my thesis all the better for Gary’s help and assistance. So make sure you pick a suitable supervisor as it will pay dividends by the end.

In terms of what is next well the first thing will be the Viva at some date not too far in the future. However, before that I have got move. An offer by work means I leave this week. This is not as bad as it seems as I am going to go back to uni full-time for my PhD. I have to admit this is quite exciting. I am going to stick with Birmingham as even as a part-time student the atmosphere has been excellent. Also in the field of War Studies it is an up and coming challenger to KCL and it is exciting to be part of that. Birmingham already had a reputation in the field of First World War Studies and is growing in the area of Second World War Studies. It is also expanding into air power history. In terms of my thesis I plan to shift my area somewhat. Up until now I have concentrated on operational histories of the use of air power but I am now going to look at leadership effectiveness. In particular I am proposing to examine the career of Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory who seems to be the villain in many accounts of the Second World War. Hopeful, I will be re-focusing this in my thesis but time will tell on that. I hope to be starting in January. As I go along I will be blogging my experience as a comparison with Robert Thompson’s experience of a military history PhD in the states.

In the mean time I will be starting the process of chopping my thesis into one article and also starting some of the ideas I mentioned a few weeks back. I have just finished the editing process on my first chapter for a book on a conference that I attended last year. That should be out next year. I have also joined Zotero and so far I am pleased with it as a research tool. I have started an Air Power History group with thee aim of collating research and writing on this field. A grandiose task I know but who knows it may be of use to someone. All in all the next few months are going to be eventful.

New(ish) Blogs…Well they are to me!

Its been a while since I posted about new blogs but over the past few months I have become aware of a couple of interesting new blogs.

First up is a blog by Military Historian Paul Reed. Paul is well known in British circles especially for his role in working with the BBC. Paul is also in the process of forming the WW2 Society, a project that I was involved in at the start but I could stick with for various reasons. This project deserves peoples support.

Another blog is from Robert Thompson. Robert is about to begin his PhD at the University of Southern Mississippi and hopefully we shall see some interesting posts very soon. In actual fact we may see some dual posts from me and Robert on our PhD experiences in the US and UK.

Towards Terrormindedness is an interesting blog from Mats Fridlund and deals with how our culture has evolved to deal with the issue of Terrorism and its historical antecedents.

Allan Allport launched a blog the other months as a compliment to his new book on the demobilisation process in Britain at the end of the war. He is post-blogging the process with some interesting posts being made every day.

Finally a blog I spotted a while back but never mentioned is a blog about Ernst Junger’s work Storm of Steel, one of the key works that came out of the First World War. Some interesting posts being made about the work.

So more Military History in the blogosphere. Excellent.

No. 2 Squadron SAAF – 22nd March 1943

Here is the third entry of No. 2 Squadron SAAF.

The weather was dull and overcast this morning and the was lots of rain about when Major ARMSTRONG, CAPT. HAPUTFLEISCH and LT. HOJEM set out at 1100 hours to do an armed reconnaissance with No. 239 Wing. They did zone circuits at FOUM TATAHOUINE but No. 239 Wing did not appear and owing to the weather conditions at the time, our aircraft returned with their bombs.

A feature of night-life in the Officers Mess tonight was the entertainment of Group Captain Petrus Hugh, D.S.O., D.F.C. and two bars, Croix de Guerre and palm-leaves who visited our squadron with our Wing Commander, Lt.Col. LOFTUS, D.F.C. The famous South African Ace, who had come across from the other side – the First Army – was rapidly made to feel at home in the atmosphere of a South African mess and was entertained with a special “broadcast-programme” the evening ending with a sing-song featuring, mostly, South African “lindjins”. This singing, conducted in the brilliant moonlight and to the accompliment of occasional A.A.Fire and bombs dropped at a landing ground in this vicinity, rounded off a pleasant and interesting evening.

TNA, AIR 27/22 ‘No. 2 Squadron SAAF Operation Record Book’ 22nd March 1943

No. 2 Squadron SAAF – 21st March 1943

Here is the second post for operations on 21 March.

Eleven of our pilots were early on the job this morning when they took the air shortly before eleven o’clock. They were flying as close cover to 18 Bostons who were to bomb a road in the enemy lines, and they were led by Lt.Col. LOFTUS. The operation was without event. There was no movement observed on the road and the Bostons did not release their loads.

A repeat performance was staged three hours later by the Bostons and our aircraft, eleven stong led by Major ARMSTRONG on this occasion acting as medium cover. The road was bombed but results were not observed by our pilots, who reported no enemy aircraft and only medium A.A. fire from the target area.

After lunch the aircraft took off for HAZBUB MAIN and the remainder of the squadron proceeding thither by road, the entire squadron was encamped at the new landing ground by nightfall.

General MONTGOMERY’s personal message to the Eighth Army was received to-day. As usual his message made interesting and heartening reading.

Another nocturnal call was paid by the jerry tonight. One enemy bomber flew very low over our camp in the moonlight the rear-gunner firing a few bursts at some of our transports but without causing any damage. Bofors shells in pursuit of the intruder flew low over tent-tops in the camp, also, however, without causing any damage.

No. 2 Squadron SAAF – 20th March 1943

Here is the first entry from the Squadrons ORB. At this time the Squadron was equipped with Cutiss Kittyhawks.

Operations started with a rush to-day, the squadron acting as close, medium and top cover to the light bombers in consecutive operations. There were 32 sorties and a total of some 48 hours operational flying.

Good bombing results by the Bostons were observed by our pilots on the first operation, led by Lt.Col. LOFTUS. The target appeared to be dug in enemy positions. A.A. fire was intense but no other enemy opposition was encountered by our aircraft which returned safely.

The medium cover operation also called on an dozen aircraft from this unit but the “engine-trouble Gremlin” was busy on this operation and only eleven took off, Capt. HAUPT***** leading. Over the target area, another two “moscowed”. (Miscued?)

Bombing was carried out by the 18 escorted Bostons South of Mareth from a height of 7000′. Cloud obscured the bombing results. Heavy and accurate A.A. fire was put up and one of the Bostons, apparently hit, was observed to go in, two parachutes being observed to open.

In the last operation, Major ARMSTRONG took eleven as top cover for a third formation of Bostons bombing in the Mareth area. Our aircraft flew at 13,000′ and bombing results were not observed. Another Boston was hit by A.A. fire and went down in flames, and again two parachutes were observed to open. No enemy air opposition was encountered on any of the days operations.

“A” party received unexpected instructions to move to HAZBIB MAIN (Medinin area) at lunch-time this afternoon and by this evening were setting up at our new landing ground. What with flares, A.A. fire, and an enemy twin-engined bomber strafing the road adjoining the new camp, our personnel had a slightly unpleasant introduction to their new home.

TNA, AIR 27/22 ‘No. 2 Squadron SAAF – Operations Record Book’ 20th March 1943

Post-Blogging the Battle of the Mareth Line – Introduction

Inspired by Brett Holman’s experiment of post-blogging the Sudeten Crisis I have decided to have a go at some thing similar, albeit over a much smaller time frame.

I am going to post about the experience of No. 2 Squadron SAAF during the Battle for the Mareth Line in late March 1942. I am doing this by using their Operations Record Book. The ORB is effectively a daily record of events with a squadrons. It is the RAF’s version of a Regimental War Diary or a Ships Log. They tend to be variable in quality. However, for some inexplicable reasons No. 2 Squadron appear to have had an administrative officer who revelled in detail. As such the ORB give a very good outline of air operations in and around Marethduring the period of the battle. The post will start on 20 March as this was the day that the main attacks by XXX Corps went in against the Mareth Line. Aerial operations had actually begun almost a week earlier and some ground operation had taken place in the few day before the main attack with the intention of clearing the outpost of the Mareth Line. However, we are dealing with the two main operations of the battle, Operations PUGILIST and SUPERCHARGE II.

This series of posts has come our of a paper I delivered last year at a conference on Allied military effectiveness during the war in the Mediterranean. My paper dealt with the Army-Air Force Cooperation during the Battle of the Mareth Line. I am in the process of writing the paper up for publication, which is due out in 2010. However, the detail from the ORB would never make it into the paper in full, hence, why it is going on here.