Daniel Orr's Blog, page 116

November 15, 1988 – PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat proclaims the independence of Palestine

On November 15, 1988, Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), declared the establishment of the state of Palestine in front of an assembly of Palestinian leaders in ceremonies held in Algiers, Algeria. The assembly then proclaimed Arafat as “President of Palestine”, which was later confirmed in April 1989 by the PLO Central Council that acknowledged him as Palestine’s first president. The declaration of independence was made in the midst of the Palestinian Uprising of 1987-1993 against Israel.

In the Madrid Conference of October 1991, which was jointly sponsored by the United States
and the Soviet Union, the community of nations urged Israel and the Palestinians, as well as Jordan,
Syria, and Lebanon, to begin a negotiated settlement to the Middle East conflict.

(Taken from Palestinian Uprising of 1987 – 1993 – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background

As a consequence of the 1947-48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, some 700,000 Palestinian Arabs lost their homes and became refugees.  Most of them eventually
settled in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.  The Palestinian Jews emerged victorious, in the process establishing the state of Israel.  Then with the Israeli Army’s victory in the Six-Day War in 1967 (separate article), the Israelis gained control of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.  Israel imposed militarized authority over the “occupied territories” (as the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem were called collectively) as a means to deter opposition.  Check points and road blocks were raised, searches and arrests conducted, and civilian movement curtailed
and monitored.  Perceived enemies were eliminated, imprisoned, or deported.  Furthermore, the Israeli government encouraged its citizens to migrate to the occupied territories, where Israeli housing settlements soon began to emerge.

The Palestinians greatly resented the presence of the Israelis, whom they regarded as a foreign force occupying Palestinian land.  Furthermore, as the Israeli authority became established and greater numbers of Israeli settlements were being built, the Palestinians believed that their lands eventually would be integrated into Israel.  The Israeli occupation was also perceived as a serious blow to the Palestinian people’s aspirations for establishing a
Palestinian state.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization, or PLO, a political and armed movement, was formed in 1964 and was headed by Chairman Yasser Arafat to lead the Palestinians’ struggle for independence.  However, the PLO experienced many setbacks,
not only in the hands of Israel but also by the Arab countries to which the Palestinians had turned for
support.  In 1970, the PLO was expelled from Jordan and thereafter moved to Lebanon where, in 1982, it also was forced to leave.  Subsequently, the PLO moved its headquarters to Tunisia, whose distant location prevented the Palestinian leadership from exercising direct control and influence over the affairs of Palestinians in the occupied territories.  The PLO itself was wracked by internal dissent among some factions that opposed Arafat, who had cast aside his
hard-line stance against Israel and adopted a more conciliatory approach.

Furthermore, later developments in the Middle
East boded ill for the Palestinians.  Egypt, the militarily strongest Arab country and a main supporter of the PLO, had signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and ceased its claim to the Gaza Strip. 
Jordan had not only expelled the PLO but had relinquished its claim to the West Bank and consequently stripped the Palestinian residents there of Jordanian citizenship.  Syria, another major backer of the PLO, had a falling out with Arafat during the 1982 Lebanon War and began to support a rival PLO faction that ultimately forced Arafat and his Fatah faction to leave Lebanon a second time.  For so long, the Arab countries’ regional security concerns centered on the Palestinians’ struggle for statehood.  In the 1980s, however, much of the concentration was on the Iran-Iraq War, relegating the Palestinian
issue to a lesser focus.  Palestinians believed that many Arab countries, because of the Arab military defeats to the Israelis, generally had abandoned active support for the Palestinians’ nationalist aspirations.

The Palestinians’ frustrations were compounded by dire economic circumstances in the West Bank and Gaza.  Nearly half of all Palestinians were poor and lived in refugee camps in cramped, squalid, and poorly serviced conditions.  Unemployment was high and so was the Palestinians’ birth rate, leading to more people competing for limited opportunities
and resources.

Uprising

Ever since the Israelis took over the occupied territories, tensions between Israelis and Palestinians persisted, which often erupted in violence.  Then during the second half of 1987, these tensions rose dramatically, ultimately leading to a major Palestinian uprising that was triggered by the following events.

On December 6, 1987, an Israeli citizen was murdered in Gaza.  Two days later, four Palestinian residents of the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza were killed in a road accident by a truck belonging to the Israeli Army.  Many residents of the Jabaliya camp took to the streets in protest, believing that the four Palestinians were killed deliberately in reprisal for the Gaza murder.  Israeli security forces moved in to disperse the crowd, but in the process, opened fire and killed a protester.  Demonstrations then broke out in other refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank, triggering a full-blown uprising.

The 1987 Palestinian uprising is more commonly known as the First Intifada, where the word “intifada” is Arabic that means “to shake off”, and has come to denote an uprising or rebellion.  The 1987 Intifada initially took the form of spontaneous, disorganized street rallies and demonstrations consisting of tens
of thousands of Palestinians who incited anarchy and clashed with Israeli security forces.  Youths and minors often formed the front lines, leading Israeli authorities to accuse the Palestinians of using the children as “human shields”.  The protesters lobbied stones and Molotov cocktails (home-made
incendiary bombs) at the police, burned tires, and set up road blocks and barricades.  Militancy increased when the protesters began using firearms and grenades as weapons.  Other Palestinians supported the intifada through non-violent means, such as not paying taxes, boycotting Israeli products, and undertaking other forms of civil disobedience.

The depth and speed of the intifada surprised Israeli authorities, who believed that the actions were being planned and carried out by the PLO.  In fact, each local protest action was organized by community leaders in response to and in support of
other uprisings that were already taking place, creating a snowball effect.  Eventually, however, the intifada came under the centralized command of the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU), an alliance of PLO factions in the occupied territories, which began to carry out more organized militant actions.  Two other Palestinian armed groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, also rose to prominence during the intifada and emerged as the political and military rivals to the PLO.

Israeli authorities recorded 3,600 incidents involving the use of Molotov cocktails, 100 cases with hand grenades, and 600 instances with firearms and other explosives.  The militarized nature of the intifada forced Israel to deploy military units to
confront the protesters.  In the ensuing clashes, however, hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed.  As a result, the United Nations issued condemnations against Israel, while Amnesty International and other human rights groups criticized the Israeli government.  Israeli authorities responded to the Palestinians’ acts of civil disobedience by imposing heavy fines for non-payment of taxes, and confiscated the violators’ goods, merchandise, and properties.  The government also closed schools, conducted mass arrests, and imposed curfew.  The school closures had the contrary effect, however, as more youths joined the protest actions.

Israel soon deployed specially trained anti-riot teams to confront the protesters.  Furthermore, Shin Bet (Israel’s internal security service) secretly hired Palestinians to collect information on the uprising, particularly the leaders of the intifada.  As a result, a spate of violence took place, where Palestinians began targeting other Palestinians who were believed to be spying for Israel.  Palestinians who associated with or worked for Israelis also were targeted.  The
crackdown also became used as a way to level false accusations on, take revenge against, or settle a personal feud, against one’s enemies.  As intra-violence among Palestinians began to reach alarming rates, the intifada’s leaders called for an end to the uprising, declaring that Palestinians had lost sight of their original goal, which was to force the Israelis out of the occupied territories.  In the end, the number of deaths caused by intra-violence among Palestinians exceeded the total attributable to the intifada itself.

On November 15, 1988, or eleven months after the start of the intifada, Chairman Arafat established the state of Palestine in ceremonies held in Algiers,
Algeria.  Then in the Madrid Conference of October
1991, which was jointly sponsored by the United
States and the Soviet Union, the community of nations urged Israel and the Palestinians, as well as Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, to begin a negotiated settlement to the Middle East conflict.

November 14, 1975 – Western Sahara War: Spain cedes administration of Western Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania

The disputed region of Western Sahara is bounded by Morocco to the north and Mauritania to the south.

By late October 1975, Spanish officials had begun to hold clandestine meetings in Madrid with
representatives from Morocco and Mauritania with regards to the region called Spanish Sahara, soon to be known as Western Sahara.  As a precaution for
war, in early November 1975, Spain carried out a forced evacuation of Spanish nationals from the territory.  On November 12, further negotiations were held in the Spanish capital, culminating two days later (November 14) in the signing of the Madrid Accords, where Spain ceded the administration (but not sovereignty) of the territory, with Morocco acquiring the regions of El-Aaiún, Boujdour, and Smara, or the northern two-thirds of the region; while Mauritania the Dakhla (formerly Villa Cisneros) region, or the southern third; in exchange for Spain acquiring 35% of profits from the territory’s phosphate mining industry as well as off-shore fishing rights.  Joint administration by the three parties through an interim government (led by the territory’s Spanish Governor-General) was undertaken in the
transitional period for full transfer to the new Moroccan and Mauritanian authorities. (The Madrid Accords was not, and also since has not, been
recognized by the UN, which officially continued to regard Spain as the “de jure”, if not “de facto”, administrative authority over the territory; furthermore, the UN deems the conflict region as occupied territory by Morocco and, until 1979, also by Mauritania.)

On February 26, 1976, Spain fully withdrew from the territory, which henceforth became universally called Western Sahara (although the UN already had referred to it as such by 1975).  As per the
agreement, Moroccan forces occupied their designated region (which Morocco soon called its Southern Provinces; also in 1979, Morocco would
include the southern zone after Mauritania withdrew); and Mauritanian troops occupied Titchla, La Guera, and later Dakhla (as the capital), of its newly designated Saharan province of Tiris
al-Gharbiyya.  Then on April 14, 1976, the two countries signed an agreement that formally divided the territory into their respective zones of occupation and control.

In the three-month period (November 1975–February 1976) during Spain’s withdrawal and replacement with Moroccan and Mauritanian administrations, tens of thousands of Sahrawis fled to the Saharan desert, and subsequently into Tindouf, Algeria.  On February 27, 1976, one day after Spain withdrew from the territory, the Polisario Front declared the founding of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), with a government-in-exile based in Algeria.

(Taken from Western Sahara War – Wars of the 20th Centry – Volume 4)

Background

For the Spanish government, Spanish Sahara had been a financial liability, the mostly barren, uninhabitable desert apparently yielding no economic benefits, with its rich maritime fishing resources bringing some export revenues but nonetheless incapable of reversing the need for Spain to allocate some amount of money annually to run the colony’s administration.  But in the late 1940s, commercial quantities of high-grade phosphate deposits were discovered in Bou Craa, and the prospect of finding petroleum oil sparked Spain’s interest to hold onto the territory despite the growing wave of
anti-colonialism that had been sweeping across Africa
since the end of World War II.

In December 1960, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed Resolution 1514 titled “Declaration on the Granting of Independence to
Colonial Countries and Peoples”, a landmark act that established the UN’s principle of decolonization; an implementing agency called the Special Committee on Decolonization, was formed to undertake the decolonization process.  Based on Resolution 1514, the UNGA created a list called the “In-Trust and Non-self-governing Territories”, which contained territories that were still under colonial rule.  In 1963, Spanish Sahara was placed on that list.

In April 1956, Morocco gained full independence after France and Spain ended their protectorates over the Moroccan state.  The Istiqlal Party, an ultra-nationalist political party, advocated “Greater Morocco”, which called for the integration with present-day Morocco of lands and peoples historically governed by or subservient to the ancient
Moroccan Sultanate.  The concept of a Greater Morocco received broad support among the Moroccan population.  The Moroccan government, led by King Mohammed V, officially did not endorse this policy, but also did not discourage – and even tacitly supported – its adherents from carrying out activities in support thereof.

Thus, the government remained neutral when, in the Ifni War (previous article) of October 1957, Moroccan militias of the Moroccan Army of
Liberation (MAL) invaded Spanish possessions in Western Africa that Moroccan nationalists believed were historically part of Morocco.  In the aftermath, Spain ceded a portion of its West African possessions.  Then in 1963, Morocco fought a border war with Algeria in a failed attempt to capture territory in western Algeria that was historically part of Morocco and was included in the “Greater Morocco” concept.

By the first half of the 1970s, strong international
pressure was bearing down on Spain to decolonize Spanish Sahara; the Spanish government’s justification of the territory being a Spanish “overseas province” was rejected by the UN.  King Mohammed V led the call for decolonization, declaring that Spanish Sahara was historically a part of Morocco
and thus must be returned to its owner.  Mauritania also made a rival claim to the region, citing ethnic and cultural ties between northern Mauritanian peoples
and Spanish Sahara’s Sahrawi tribes.  Compounding Spain’s problems was the fact that since May 1973, Spanish Sahara itself was caught up in an uprising led by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (or Polisario Front; Spanish: Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro), a local Sahrawi armed militia that was fighting a guerilla war to end Spanish rule and achieve independence for Spanish Sahara.

In 1974, Spain finally acquiesced, announcing that it was ready to grant self-determination
for the Sahrawi people corresponding to the UN resolutions.  In December 1974, Spain carried out a population census in Spanish Sahara in order to prepare a voters list that would be used in a forthcoming referendum to determine the political wishes of the Sahrawi population.  In a final bid to keep its economic, if not political, hold on the region, in November 1974, the Spanish government formed
the Sahrawi National Union Party (PUNS; Spanish: Partido de Unión Nacional Saharaui), a political party mostly composed of the leaders and elders of the various Sahrawi tribes.  Spain hoped to establish a PUNS-led government in either an autonomous or independent Sahara that would retain a pro-Spanish foreign policy.

On December 3, 1974, the UNGA passed Resolution 3292 declaring the UN’s interest in evaluating the political aspirations of Sahrawis
in the Spanish territory.  For this purpose, the UN formed the UN Decolonization Committee, which in May – June 1975, carried out a fact-finding mission in Spanish Sahara as well as in Morocco, Mauritania,
and Algeria.  In its final report to the UN on October 15, 1978, the Committee found broad support for annexation among the general population in Morocco and Mauritania.  In Spanish Sahara, however, the Sahrawi people overwhelmingly supported independence under the leadership of the Polisario Front, while Spain-backed PUNS did not enjoy such
support.  In Algeria, the UN Committee found
strong support for the Sahrawis’ right of self-determination.

Algeria previously had shown little interest in the Polisario Front and, in an Arab League summit held in October 1974, even backed the territorial ambitions of Morocco and Mauritania.  But by summer of 1975, Algeria was openly defending the Polisario Front’s struggle for independence, a support that later would include military and economic aid and would have a crucial effect in the coming war.

Meanwhile, King Hassan II, the Moroccan monarch (son of King Mohammed V, who had passed away in 1961) actively sought to pursue its claim
and asked Spain to postpone holding the referendum; in January 1975, the Spanish government granted the Moroccan request.  In June 1975, the Moroccan government pressed the UN to raise the Saharan issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s primary judicial agency.  On October 16, 1975, one day after the UN Decolonization Committee report was released, the ICJ issued its decision,
which consisted of the following four important points (the court refers to Spanish Sahara as Western Sahara):

1.         At the time of Spanish colonization, “there were legal ties between this territory and the Kingdom of Morocco”;

2.         At the time of Spanish colonization, “there were legal ties between this territory and the
Mauritanian entity”;

3.         There existed “at the time of Spanish colonization … legal ties of allegiance between
the Sultan of Morocco and some of the tribes living in the territory of Western Sahara. They equally show the existence of rights, including some rights relating to the land, which constituted legal ties between the Mauritanian entity… and the territory of Western Sahara”;

4.         The ICJ concluded that the evidences presented “do not establish any tie of territorial
sovereignty between the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco or the Mauritanian entity. Thus, the Court has not found legal ties of such a nature as might affect… the decolonization of Western Sahara and, in particular, … the principle of self-determination through the free and genuine
expression of the will of the peoples of the Territory”.

Far from clarifying the issue, the ICJ’s involvement radicalized the parties involved, as each side focused on that part of the court’s decision that vindicated its claims.  Morocco and Mauritania cited “legal ties” as supporting their respective claims, while the Polisario Front and Algeria pointed to “do not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty” and “the principle of self-determination through the free and genuine expression of the will of the peoples of the Territory” to put forward the Sahrawi peoples’ right of self- government.  Spain’s chances of influencing the post-colonial Saharan territory began to wane.  On September 9, 1975, Spanish foreign minister Pedro Cortina y Mauri and Polisario Front leader El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed met in Algiers,
Algeria to negotiate the transfer of Saharan authority to the Polisario Front in exchange for economic
concessions to Spain, particularly in the phosphate and fishing resources in the region.  Further meetings were held in Mahbes, Spanish Sahara on October 22.  Ultimately, these negotiations did not prosper, as they became sidelined by the accelerating conflict and greater pressures exerted by the other competing parties.

November 13, 1941 – World War II: A German U-boat torpedoes the British carrier HMS Ark Royal off Gibraltar

One of the main assets of the German U-boat (submarine; German: U-boot, shortened from Unterseeboot, literally “underseaboat”) was stealth, and the first naval casualty of the war, the British ocean liner, SS Athenia, was attacked and sunk by a U-boat (which it mistook for a British warship) on September 3, 1939, with 128 lives lost.  Also in September 1939 and just a few days apart, two British aircraft carriers, the HMS Ark Royal and HMS Courageous, were both attacked by a U-boat, with the former narrowly being hit by torpedoes, while the latter was hit and sunk.  Then in October 1939, another U-boat penetrated undetected near Scapa Flow, the main British naval base, attacking and sinking the battleship, the HMS Royal Oak. On November 13, 1941 off Gibraltar, a U-boat fired one torpedo on the HMS Ark Royal, which sank the next day.

(Taken from Battle of the Atlantic – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

At the start of the war, the British military was
hard-pressed on how to deal with the U-boat threat.  During the interwar period, prevailing naval thought and budgetary resources, both Allied and German alike, focused on surface ships, and the belief that battleships would play the dominant role in naval warfare in a future war.  German U-boats had proved highly effective in World War I, causing heavy losses on merchant shipping that nearly forced Britain out of the war, before the British introduced the convoy system that turned fortunes around.

However, the British Navy’s implementing the ASDIC system (acronym for “Anti-Submarine Detection Investigation Committee”; otherwise known as SONAR), which could detect the presence of submerged submarines, appeared to have solved the U-boat threat.  Naval tests showed that once detected by ASDIC, the submarine could then be destroyed by two destroyers launching depth charges overboard continuously in a long diamond pattern around the trapped vessel.  The British concept was that the U-boats could operate only in coastal waters to threaten harbor shipping, as they had done in World War I, and these tests were conducted under daylight and calm weather conditions.  But by the outbreak of World War II, German submarine technology had rapidly advanced, and were continuing so, that U-boats were able to reach farther out into the Atlantic Ocean, eventually ranging as
far as the American eastern seacoast, and also were able to submerge to greater depths beyond the capacity of depth charges.  These factors would weigh heavily in the early stages of the Battle of the Atlantic.

In December 1939, hostilities were suspended by the harsh Atlantic weather, and German surface ships and U-boats returned to their bases in Germany.  In May 1940, the eight-month “Phoney War” period of combat inactivity in the West was broken by the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, which had been preceded one month earlier, April 1940, with the conquest of the Scandinavian countries of Denmark and Norway.  By late June 1940, these campaigns were complete, Italy had joined the war on Germany’s side, and Britain remained the sole defiant nation in Western Europe.

These triumphs in Scandinavia and Western Europe were important for the Kriegsmarine: in the Norwegian campaign, the German Navy, which played a major role by transporting the troops and war supplies to the landing points, lost a large part of its surface fleet, and for a time, was rendered virtually incapacitated, while the conquest of France allowed the Kriegsmarine to establish new bases in western France, at Brest, Lorient, La Rochelle, and Saint-Nazaire, which greatly reduced (by 450 miles) the distance to the Atlantic, allowing the U-boats to range further west and spend more time at sea.  The campaigns also eased the difficult war-time economy of Germany, as more agricultural and industrial resources became available.  Germany’s position would later improve further with more conquests, as well as with forming Axis treaties, in Eastern Europe,
rendering the British blockade (temporarily) ineffective.

But for Britain, these campaigns were disastrous: in Norway, the Dunkirk evacuation, and clashes in the English Channel and the North Sea, the Royal Navy lost 23 destroyers sunk, and dozens more damaged; there loomed the possibility that the Germans might seize the French fleet and use it to invade Britain; and more Royal Navy ships had to return for the defense of the homeland, thus reducing security for the merchant convoys in the Atlantic.  To preclude the possibility that the French ships would fall to the Germans, in July 1940, the British Navy attacked the
French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, French Algeria, while the French squadron at Alexandria, Egypt, was forced to be interned by the British fleet there.  These naval actions infuriated the new, nominally sovereign Vichy government in France, which had declared its neutrality in the war, and also because it had assured Britain that the French Navy would not fall into German hands.

In July 1940, Hitler launched the Luftwaffe over the English Channel and British skies, starting the air war known as the Battle of Britain.  The air attacks peaked in August 1940, when the Luftwaffe turned its attention from attacking British military and industrial infrastructures to bombing civilian targets in London and other cities, which would continue with some intensity until early 1941.  By then, the threat of a German cross-channel invasion (Operation Sea Lion) had diminished, and ended completely in May 1941 when Hitler was fully engaged in the forthcoming invasion of the Soviet Union, set for June
1941.

Meanwhile, in the second half of 1940, hostilities in the Atlantic again escalated following the end of the campaigns in Scandinavia and Western Europe. 
Launching from their new bases in western France,
in June 1940, U-boats in increasing numbers prowled the Atlantic, immediately coming upon and attacking and sinking many merchant ships.  In a radical change from World War I U-boats that operated singly as lone ambushers of isolated ships, in September 1940,
Admiral Karl Donitz, head of the U-boat arm of the Kriegsmarine, devised Rudeltaktik (“pack tactics”), where a squadron of U-boats would simultaneously attack a convoy of ships.  This strategy, soon called “wolf pack” by the British, consisted of several U-boats spaced out in a single long line across the anticipated path of an incoming convoy.  One U-boat, upon sighting the convoy, would maintain contact with it, while the other U-boats were alerted by radio and be brought forward.  Together, the U-boats
would attack at night, generally with impunity against the lightly escorted convoys, inflicting heavy losses in men and ships.  Convoy protection was provided by corvettes, which were too slow to chase away a U-boat.  ASDIC also proved unreliable in the turbulent conditions that the battles generated and in inclement weather, and underwater detection was
further defeated by U-boats that stayed at the surface at night.

The German effort also was strengthened when in August 1940, the Italian Navy (Regia Marina) sent a fleet of submarines to operate in the Atlantic from a naval base in Bordeaux, France.  Over-all, the Italian contribution was small, with only a few dozen submarines taking part, and accounted for 3% of the total number of merchant ships sunk in the Battle of
the Atlantic.  From June to October 1940, in what German U-boat crews celebrated as “The Happy Time” (German: Die Glückliche Zeit), German U-boats sunk 274 Allied ships (totaling 1.5 million tons) for the loss of only 6 U-boats.  This stunning success brought instant fame to many U-boat commanders and their crews, who were welcomed as heroes on their return to Germany.

In November 1940, Britain introduced some counter-measures: convoys were diverted away from the regular trade routes to further north near Iceland and shipping codes were changed.  More measures were adopted in early 1941: the merchant convoys and British reconnaissance aircraft were equipped with radar to detect surfaced U-boats; the British Western Approaches Command (tasked with safeguarding the Atlantic trade) was moved to Liverpool, allowing better strategic control; and the convoys were given naval escort protection all along the length of the Atlantic.  In the latter, the convoys at their assembly point in St. John’s, Newfoundland,
Canada were escorted by Royal Canadian Navy ships to a designated point off Iceland, where the British Royal Navy then would take over escort protection for the rest of the way to Britain.  Furthermore, the British Navy introduced a new convoy system: a few large convoys (rather than many smaller convoys) were organized, as British experience thus far showed that their less frequency meant that they were exposed to less time to attack, and they required fewer escorts measured on a prorated basis against smaller convoys.

The end of the U-boat’s “Happy Time” in November 1940 coincided with the German Navy’s surface ships rampaging through the Atlantic Ocean.  In early November 1940, the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer came upon an Allied merchant convoy, sinking five ships and damaging many others.  In January-March 1941, in a series of actions, two German battleships, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, sunk or captured 22 merchant ships.  And in
February 1941, the cruiser Admiral Hipper ambushed a 19-ship unescorted convoy, sinking 13 ships.

By then, British battleships were tasked to protect merchant ships, and in a number of incidents, they warded off German surface raiders from attacking the convoys.  This measure paid off materially when two German ships, the new battleship Bismarck and the cruiser Prinz Eugen, were sighted off Iceland by a British naval squadron, and in the ensuing clash, the Bismarck was damaged, although it sank the British battle cruiser HMS Hood.  While attempting to escape to France, the Bismarck
was intercepted and sunk.  The increasing British Navy presence in the Atlantic and Hitler’s displeasure with the loss of the Bismarck compelled the Fuhrer to suspend surface fleet operations in the Atlantic.  The German Navy’s surface vessels finally ceased to have any impact in the Atlantic when in February 1942, in the “Channel Dash”, the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen boldly crossed the heavily protected English Channel from their base in western France to Norway.  The transfer was prompted by reports of an
imminent British invasion of Norway, as well as the need for greater German naval presence in the Norwegian Arctic to stop the Allied convoys supplying the beleaguered Soviet Union.

In the second half of 1941, Admiral Donitz focused U-boat operations along the “mid-Atlantic air gap”, which accounted for 70% of Allied merchant ship losses during this period.  Improved Allied aircraft technology, which allowed greater air range,
was yet unable to provide cover for the full distance of the vast Atlantic Ocean.  Allied shipping losses in the Atlantic war was eased somewhat when many
U-boats were withdrawn to other sectors, first in June 1941 to the Arctic to help stop the flow of Allied supplies to the Soviet Union, and in October 1941, in the Mediterranean Sea to cut British supply lines in the North African campaign.

November 12, 1995 – The Croatian War of Independence: The Erdut Agreement is signed

On November 12, 1995, representatives of the warring sides, Republic of Croatia and Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK), signed the Erdut Agreement (officially titled: “Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium”), a peace treaty that ended the Croatian War of Independence. Erdut is a village in present-day Croatia. Instructed to sign by the Yugoslav central government, RSK comprised Croatian Serbs in the regions of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia.

As stipulated in the agreement, Eastern Slavonia would be reintegrated with Croatia in exchange for the Croatian government promising political concessions to ethnic Serbs.  A UN mission, called the United Nations Transitional Authority for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), arrived to implement the peace agreement.  In January 1988, Croatia regained sovereignty over Eastern Slavonia, thereby restoring its pre-war territorial boundaries.

Yugoslavia comprised six republics, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, and Macedonia, and two autonomous provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina.

Taken from Croatian War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background

By the late 1980s, Yugoslavia was faced with a major political crisis, as separatist aspirations among its ethnic populations threatened to undermine the country’s integrity (see “Yugoslavia”, separate article).  Nationalism particularly was strong in Croatia and Slovenia, the two westernmost and wealthiest Yugoslav republics.  In January 1990, delegates from Slovenia and Croatia walked out from an assembly of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the country’s communist party, over disagreements with their Serbian counterparts regarding proposed reforms to the party and the central government.  Then in the first multi-party elections in Croatia held in April and May 1990, Franjo Tudjman became president after running a campaign that promised greater autonomy for Croatia and a reduced political union with Yugoslavia.

Ethnic Croatians, who comprised 78% of Croatia’s population, overwhelmingly supported Tudjman, because they were concerned that Yugoslavia’s
national government gradually had fallen under the control of Serbia, Yugoslavia’s largest and most
powerful republic, and led by hard-line President Slobodan Milosevic.  In May 1990, a new Croatian Parliament was formed and subsequently prepared a new constitution.  The constitution was subsequently passed in December 1990.  Then in a referendum held in May 1991 with Croatian Serbs refusing to participate, Croatians voted overwhelmingly in support of independence.  On June 25, 1991, Croatia,
together with Slovenia, declared independence.

Croatian Serbs (ethnic Serbs who are native to Croatia) numbered nearly 600,000, or 12% of Croatia’s total population, and formed the second largest ethnic group in the republic.  As Croatia
increasingly drifted toward political separation from Yugoslavia, the Croatian Serbs became alarmed at the thought that the new Croatian government would carry out persecutions, even a genocidal pogrom against Serbs, just as the pro-Nazi ultra-nationalist Croatian Ustashe government had done to the Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies during World War II.  As a
result, Croatian Serbs began to militarize, with the formation of militias as well as the arrival of armed groups from Serbia.

Croatian Serbs formed a population majority in south-west Croatia (northern Dalmatian and Lika).  There, in February 1990, they formed the Serb Democratic Party, which aimed for the political and territorial integration of Serb-dominated lands in Croatia with Serbia and Yugoslavia.  They declared that if Croatia wanted to secede from Yugoslavia, they, in turn, should be allowed to separate from Croatia.  Serbs also interpreted the change in their
status in the new Croatian constitution as diminishing their civil rights.  In turn, the Croatian government opposed the Croatian Serb secession and was determined to keep the republic’s territorial
integrity.

In July 1990, a Croatian Serb Assembly was formed that called for Serbian sovereignty and autonomy.  In December, Croatian Serbs established the SAO Krajina (SAO is the acronym for Serbian Autonomous Oblast) as a separate government from Croatia in the regions of northern Dalmatia and Lika. 
Croatian Serbs formed a majority population in two other regions in Croatia, which they also transformed into separate political administrations called SAO Western Slavonia, and SAO Eastern Slavonia (officially SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, and Western
Syrmia).  (Map 17 shows locations in Croatia where ethnic Serbs formed a majority population.) In a referendum held in August 1990 in SAO Krajina, Croatian Serbs voted overwhelmingly (99.7%) for
Serbian “sovereignty and autonomy”.  Then
after a second referendum held in March 1991 where Croatian Serbs voted unanimously (99.8%) to merge SAO Krajina with Serbia, the Krajina government
declared that “… SAO Krajina is a constitutive part of the unified state territory of the Republic of Serbia”.

November 11, 1968 – Vietnam War: The U.S. military initiates Operation Commando Hunt

On November 11, 1968, the United States military initiated Operation Commando Hunt aimed at stopping the flow of men and supplies through the Ho Chi Minh Trail from North Vietnam to South Vietnam.  Operation Commando Hunt lasted until March 1972 and consisted of bombing and strafing air attacks on enemy targets inside the thickly forested Ho Chi Minh Trail. Throughout the war, the U.S. military launched similar aerial operations (Steel Tiger, Tiger Hound) on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, all of which ultimately proved unsuccessful. From the outset, U.S. military planners viewed these campaigns as incapable of completely stopping infiltration, but were meant to inflict as much destruction to the logistical system and tie down as many North Vietnamese units in static roles. In this way, it was hoped that North Vietnam would be forced to abandon the route. To counter the U.S. air attacks, which intensified as the war progressed, North Vietnam massively fortified the Trail system, which eventually was bristling with 1,500 anti-aircraft guns.  Supply convoys also traveled only at night to lessen the risk to U.S. air attacks.

Southeast Asia in the 1960s

Because the United States used massive air firepower, North Vietnam, eastern Laos, and eastern Cambodia were heavily bombed.  U.S. planes dropped nearly 8 million tons of bombs (twice the amount the United States dropped in World War II), and Indochina became the most heavily bombed area in history.  Some 30% of the 270 million so-called cluster bombs dropped did not explode, and since the end of the war, they continue to pose a grave danger to the local population, particularly in the countryside.  Unexploded ordnance (UXO) has killed some 50,000 people in Laos alone, and hundreds more in Indochina are killed or maimed each year.

Vietnam War showing Ho Chi Minh Trail

(Taken from Vietnam War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

The Ho Chi Minh Trail

Throughout the war, the United States launched other aerial operations (Steel Tiger, Tiger Hound, and Commando Hunt) on the Ho Chi Minh Trail to try and stop the flow of men and materiel from North Vietnam to South Vietnam, but all of these
ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Over the course of the war, the Ho Chi Minh Trail system expanded considerably into an elaborate network of small and wide roads, foot and bike paths, and concealed river crossings across a vast and ever-increasing area in the eastern regions of Laos and Cambodia.  With 43,000 North Vietnamese and Laotian laborers, dozens of bulldozers, road graders, and other road-building equipment working day and night, by December 1961, the Trail system allowed for truck traffic, which became the main source of transporting men and supplies for the rest of the war.  Apart from construction crews, other units in the Ho Chi Mnh Trail were tasked with providing food, housing, and medical care, and other services to soldiers and transport crews moving along the system.  To counter U.S. air attacks, which intensified as the war progressed, the Trail system was massively fortified with air defenses, eventually bristling with 1,500 anti-aircraft guns.  Supply convoys also
traveled only at night to lessen the risk of U.S. air attacks.

But because of the U.S. air campaign, American bases came under greater threat of Viet Cong retaliatory attacks. Thus, in March 1965, on President Johnson’s orders, 3,500 U.S. Marines arrived to protect Da Nang air base.  These Marines were the first U.S. combat troops to be deployed in Vietnam.  Then in April 1965, when the U.S. government’s offer of economic aid to North Vietnam in exchange for a peace agreement was rejected by the Hanoi government, President Johnson soon sent more U.S.
ground forces, raising the total U.S. personnel strength in Vietnam to 60,000 troops.  At this point, U.S. forces were authorized only to defend American military installations.

Then in May 1965, in a major effort to overthrow South Vietnam, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese
forces launched attacks in three major areas: just south of the DMZ, in the Central Highlands, and in areas around Saigon.  U.S. and South Vietnamese forces repulsed these attacks, with massive U.S. air firepower being particularly effective, and in mid-1965, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces retreated, and the danger to the Saigon government passed.  By that time also, President Johnson agreed
to the U.S. military’s request and sent more troops to Vietnam, raising the total to 184,000 by the end of 1965.  More crucially, he now authorized U.S. forces to not merely defend U.S. facilities, but to undertake offensive combat missions, in line with American
military doctrine to take the war to the enemy.

Meanwhile in June 1965, South Vietnam’s political climate eased considerably with the appointment of Nguyen Cao Ky as Prime Minister and
Nguyen Van Thieu as (figurehead) Chief of State.  The new South Vietnamese regime imposed censorship and restrictions on civil liberties because of the unstable security situation, as well as to curb widespread local civilian unrest.  In 1966, Prime Minister Ky quelled a Buddhist uprising and brought some stability to the South Vietnamese military.  Ky and Thieu were political rivals, and after Thieu was elected president in the 1967 presidential election, a power struggle developed between the two leaders, with President Thieu ultimately emerging victorious.  By the late 1960s, Thieu had consolidated power and thereafter ruled with near autocratic powers.

During the Vietnam War, the United States, which soon was joined with combat forces from its anti-communist allies Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines, began to take direct command of the war in what was called the period of the “Americanization” of the war, relegating the South Vietnamese military to a supporting role.  Nevertheless, President Johnson imposed
restrictions on the U.S. military – that it was to engage only in a limited war (as opposed to a total war) that was sufficiently aggressive enough to deter
North Vietnam from attacking South Vietnam, but should not be too overpowering to incite a drastic response from the major communist powers, China and the Soviet Union.

The United States was concerned that China might intervene directly for North Vietnam (as it had done for North Korea in the Korean War), or worse, that the Soviet Union might invade Western Europe.  A consequence of U.S. policy in Vietnam to not incite a wider war with China and the Soviet Union meant that U.S. forces could not invade North Vietnam, and that U.S. bombing missions in North Vietnam were to be screened so as not to kill or harm Chinese or Soviet military personnel there or destroy Chinese and Soviet assets (e.g. ships docked at North Vietnamese ports).  Thus, U.S. ground forces were limited to operating in South Vietnam, where subsequently nearly all of the land fighting took place.  Even then, the U.S. high command was confident of success, and General William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam,
predicted American victory over the Viet Cong/NLF by the end of 1967.

To achieve this goal, the U.S. military employed the “search and destroy” strategy (which was developed by the British in the 1950s), where
U.S. intelligence would locate large Viet Cong/NLF concentrations, which would be destroyed using massive American firepower involving air, artillery,
infantry, and in some cases armored, units.  U.S.
military planners believed that the use of overwhelming force would inflict such heavy losses that the Viet Cong would be unable to replace its manpower and material losses, ultimately leading to the defeat of the southern insurgency.

November 10, 1945 – Indonesian War of Independence: British forces and Indonesian nationalist militias clash in the Battle of Surabaya

On November 10, 1945, British forces and Indonesian nationalist fighters fought the Battle of Surabaya during the Indonesian War of Independence. After World War II ended, the first Allied forces arrived in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) in mid-September 1945. When British forces arrived in Surabaya in East Java in late October, they found that the city was fortified by Indonesian nationalist fighters – in all, some 20,000 Indonesian revolutionary troops and 100,000 militia fighters had taken defensive positions. In a skirmish on October 30, 1945, British Brigadier A.W.S. Mallaby was killed, which served as a trigger for the British to initiate full-scale fighting on November 10. Within three days, British forces had largely taken the city, but fierce house-to-house fighting continued for three weeks, with some 30,000 British troops supported with tanks, aircraft, and artillery bombardment from warships finally forcing out the last guerrilla resistance.

The Southeast Asian country of Indonesia was known as the Dutch East Indies during the colonial period.

(Taken from Indonesian War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

Background

Sukarno’s proclamation of Indonesia’s independence de facto produced a state of war with the Allied powers, which were determined to gain control of the territory and reinstate the pre-war Dutch government.  However, one month would pass before the Allied forces would arrive.  Meanwhile, the Japanese East Indies command, awaiting the arrival of the Allies to repatriate Japanese forces back to Japan, was ordered by the Allied high command to stand down and carry out policing duties to maintain law and order in the islands.  The Japanese stance toward the Indonesian Republic varied: disinterested Japanese commanders withdrew their units to avoid confrontation with Indonesian forces, while those sympathetic to or supportive of the revolution provided weapons to Indonesians, or allowed areas to be occupied by Indonesians.  However, other Japanese commanders complied with the Allied orders and fought the Indonesian revolutionaries, thus becoming involved in the independence war.

In the chaotic period immediately after Indonesia’s independence and continuing for several months, widespread violence and anarchy prevailed (this period is known as “Bersiap”, an Indonesian word meaning “be prepared”), with armed bands called “Pemuda” (Indonesian meaning “youth”) carrying out murders, robberies, abductions, and other criminal acts against groups associated with the Dutch regime, i.e. local nobilities, civilian leaders, Christians such as Menadonese and Ambones, ethnic Chinese, Europeans, and Indo-Europeans.  Other armed bands
were composed of local communists or Islamists, who carried out attacks for the same reasons.  Christian and nobility-aligned militias also were organized, which led to clashes between pro-Dutch and pro-Indonesian armed groups.  These so-called “social revolutions” by anti-Dutch militias, which occurred mainly in Java and Sumatra, were motivated by various reasons, including political, economic, religious, social, and ethnic causes.  Subsequently when the Indonesian government began to exert greater control, the number of violent incidents fell, and Bersiap soon came to an end.  The number of fatalities during the Bersiap period runs into the tens of thousands, including some 3,600 identified and
20,000 missing Indo-Europeans.

The first major clashes of the war occurred in late August 1945, when Indonesian revolutionary forces clashed with Japanese Army units, when the latter tried to regain previously vacated areas.  The Japanese would be involved in the early stages of Indonesia’s independence war, but were repatriated to Japan by the end of 1946.

In mid-September 1945, the first Allied forces consisting of Australian units arrived in the eastern regions of Indonesia (where revolutionary activity was minimal), peacefully taking over authority from the commander of the Japanese naval forces there.  Allied
control also was established in Sulawesi, with the provincial revolutionary government offering no resistance.  These areas were then returned to Dutch
colonial control.

In late September 1945, British forces also arrived in the islands, the following month taking control of key areas in Sumatra, including Medan, Padang, and Palembang, and in Java.  The British also occupied Jakarta (then still known, until 1949, as Batavia), with Sukarno and his government moving the Republic’s capital to Yogyakarta in Central Java.  In October 1945, Japanese forces also regained control of Bandung and Semarang for the Allies, which they turned over to the British. In Semarang, the intense fighting claimed the lives of some 500 Japanese and 2,000 Indonesian soldiers.

In late October 1945, the shooting death of British General Aubertin Mallaby in Surabaya
prompted the British command to launch a land, air, and sea attack on the city.  In this encounter, known as the Battle of Surabaya, the British met fierce resistance from Pemuda militias but gained control of the city after three days of fighting.  Casualties on both sides were high, fatalities numbering 6,000-16,000 revolutionaries and 500-2,000 mostly British
Indian soldiers.

In late 1945, the revolutionaries intensified their attacks in Bandung.  Then in March 1946, forced by the British to withdraw from Bandung, the revolutionaries set fire to a large section of the city in what is known as the “Bandung Sea of Fire”.  Also that month, communal violence broke out in East Sumatra, where elements supporting the revolutionaries attacked groups aligned with the
old colonial order.

The Netherlands itself was greatly weakened by World War II, and was unable to quickly reestablish its presence in the Dutch East Indies.  However, by April 1946, Dutch troops had begun to arrive in large numbers, ultimately peaking at 180,000 during the war (aside from another 60,000 predominantly native colonial troops of the Royal Dutch East Indies Army).  The restored colonial government, called the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration, reclaimed Jakarta as its capital, while Dutch authority also was established in the other major cities in Java and Sumatra, and in the rest of the original Dutch East Indies.

By late 1946, the British military had completed its mission in the archipelago, that of repatriating Japanese forces to Japan and freeing the Allied
prisoners of war.  By December 1946, British forces had departed from the islands, but not before setting up mediation talks between the Dutch government and Indonesian revolutionaries, an initiative that led the two sides to agree to a ceasefire in October 1946.  Earlier in June 1946, the Dutch government
and representatives of ethnic and religious groups and the aristocracy from Sulawesi, Maluku, West New Guinea, and other eastern states met in South
Sulawesi and agreed to form a federal-type government attached to the Netherlands.  In talks held with the Indonesian revolutionaries, Dutch authorities presented a similar proposal which on November 12, 1946, produced the Linggadjati Agreement, where the two sides agreed to establish a federal system known as the United States of
Indonesia (USI) by January 1, 1949.  The Republic of Indonesia (consisting of Java, Madura, and Sumatra) would comprise one state under USI; in turn, USI and the Netherlands would form the Netherlands-Indonesian Union, with each polity being a fully
sovereign state but under the symbolic authority of the Dutch monarchy.

November 9, 1938 – Interwar period: A German diplomat is assassinated by a Polish Jew; in response, Hitler initiates “Kristallnacht”

On November 9, 1938 in Paris, German diplomat Ernst vom Rath was assassinated by a Polish Jew. In response, Hitler’s government carried out “Kristallnacht” (Crystal Night), where the Nazi SA and civilian mobs in Germany went on a violent rampage, killing hundreds of Jews, jailing tens of thousands of others, and looting and destroying Jewish homes, schools, synagogues, hospitals, and other buildings.  Some 1,000 synagogues were burned, and 7,000 businesses destroyed. 

(Taken from Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

Hitler and Nazis in Power

In October 1929, the severe economic crisis known as the Great Depression began in the United States, and then spread out and affected many countries around the world.  Germany, whose economy was dependent on the United States for reparations payments and corporate investments, was badly hit, and millions of workers lost their jobs, many banks closed down, and industrial production and foreign trade dropped considerably.

The Weimar government weakened politically, as many Germans turned to radical ideologies, particularly Hitler’s ultra-right wing nationalist Nazi Party, as well as the German Communist Party.  In the 1930 federal elections, the Nazi Party made spectacular gains and became a major political party with a platform of improving the economy, restoring political stability, and raising Germany’s international standing by dealing with the “unjust” Versailles treaty.  Then in two elections held in 1932, the Nazis
became the dominant party in the Reichstag (German parliament), albeit without gaining a majority.  Hitler long sought the post of German Chancellor, which was the head of government, but he was rebuffed by the elderly President Paul von Hindenburg , who distrusted Hitler.  At this time, Hitler’s ambitions
were not fully known, and following a political compromise by rival parties, in January 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor, with few Nazis initially holding seats in the new Cabinet.  The Chancellorship itself had little power,
and the real authority was held by the President (the head of state).

On the night of February 27, 1933, fire broke out at the Reichstag, which led to the arrest and execution of a Dutch arsonist, a communist, who was found inside the building.  The next day, Hitler announced that the fire was the signal for German
communists to launch a nationwide revolution. 
On February 28, 1933, the German parliament passed the “Reichstag Fire Decree” which repealed civil liberties, including the right of assembly and freedom of the press.  Also rescinded was the writ of habeas corpus, allowing authorities to arrest any person without the need to press charges or a court order.  In the next few weeks, the police and Nazi SA paramilitary carried out a suppression campaign against communists (and other political enemies) across Germany, executing communist leaders, jailing tens of thousands of their members, and effectively ending the German Communist Party.  Then in March 1933, with the communists suppressed and other parties intimidated, Hitler forced the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act, which allowed the government (i.e. Hitler) to enact laws, even those that violated
the constitution, without the approval of parliament or the president.  With nearly absolute power, the Nazis gained control of all aspects of the state.  In
July 1933, with the banning of political parties and coercion into closure of the others, the Nazi Party became the sole legal party, and Germany became
de facto a one-party state.

At this time, Hitler grew increasingly alarmed at the military power of the SA, particularly distrusting the political ambitions of its leader, Ernst Rohm.  On June 30-July 2, 1934, on Hitler’s orders, the loyalist Nazi SS (Schutzstaffel; English: Protection Squadron) and Gestapo (Secret Police) purged the SA, killing
hundreds of its leaders including Rohm, and jailing thousands of its members, violently bringing the SA organization (which had some three million members)
to its knees.  The purge benefited Hitler in two ways: First, he became the undisputed leader of the Nazi apparatus, and Second and equally important, his standing greatly increased with the upper class, business and industrial elite, and German military; the latter, numbering only 100,000 troops because of the Versailles treaty restrictions, also felt threatened by the enormous size of the SA.

In early August 1934, with the death of President
Hindenburg, Hitler gained absolute power, as his Cabinet passed a law that abolished the presidency, and its powers were merged with those of the
chancellor.  Hitler thus became both German head of state and head of government, with the dual roles of Fuhrer (leader) and Chancellor.  As head of state, he also was Supreme Commander of the armed forces, making him absolute ruler and dictator of Germany.

In domestic matters, the Nazi government made great gains, improving the economy and industrial production, reducing unemployment, embarking on ambitious infrastructure projects, and restoring political and social order.  As a result, the Nazis
became extremely popular, and party membership grew enormously.  This success was brought about from sound policies as well as through threat and intimidation, e.g. labor unions and job actions were suppressed.

Hitler also began to impose Nazi racial policies, which saw ethnic Germans as the “master race” comprising “super-humans” (Ubermensch), while certain races such as Slavs, Jews, and Roma (gypsies) were considered “sub-humans” (Untermenschen); also lumped with the latter were non-ethnic-based
groups, i.e. communists, liberals, and other political enemies, homosexuals, Freemasons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.  Nazi lebensraum (“living space”) expansionism into Eastern Europe and Russia called
for eliminating the Slavic and other populations there and replacing them with German farm settlers to help realize Hitler’s dream of a 1,000-year German Empire.

In Germany itself, starting in April 1933 until the passing of the Nuremberg Laws in September 1935 and beyond, Nazi racial policy was directed against the local Jews, stripping them of civil rights, banning them from employment and education, revoking their citizenship, excluding them from political and social
life, disallowing inter-marriages with Germans, and essentially declaring them undesirables in Germany.  As a result, tens of thousands of Jews left Germany.  Hitler blamed the Jews (and communists) for the civilian and workers’ unrest and revolution near the end of World War I, ostensibly that had led to Germany’s defeat, and for the many social and economic problems currently afflicting the nation.  Following anti-Nazi boycotts in the United States, Britain, and other countries, Hitler retaliated with a call to boycott Jewish businesses in Germany, which degenerated into violent riots by SA mobs that attacked and killed, and jailed hundreds of Jews,
looted and destroyed Jewish properties, and seized Jewish assets.  The most notorious of these attacks occurred in November 1938 in “Kristallnacht” (Crystal Night), where in response to the assassination of a German diplomat by a Polish Jew in Paris, the Nazi SA and civilian mobs in Germany went on a violent rampage, killing hundreds of Jews, jailing tens of thousands of others, and looting and destroying Jewish homes, schools, synagogues, hospitals, and other buildings.  Some 1,000 synagogues were burned, and 7,000 businesses destroyed. 

In foreign affairs, Hitler, like most Germans, denounced the Versailles treaty, and wanted it rescinded.  In 1933, Hitler withdrew Germany from the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva, and in October of that year, from the League of Nations, in both cases denouncing why Germany was not allowed to re-arm to the level of the other major powers.

In March 1935, Hitler announced that German military strength would be increased to 550,000 troops, military conscription would be introduced, and an air force built, which essentially meant repudiation of the Treaty of Versailles and the start of full-scale rearmament.  In response, Britain, France, and Italy formed the Stresa Front meant to stop further German violations, but this alliance quickly broke down because the three parties disagreed on how to deal with Hitler.

November 8, 1940 – World War II: Greek forces repulse an Italian offensive at the Battle of Elaia-Kalamas

On November 8, 1940, Greek forces repulsed an Italian offensive at the Battle of Elaia-Kalamas during the Greco-Italian War. The Italians launched their invasion of Greece on October 28, 1940. At the coastal flank of the Epirus sector, the Greek main defensive line was located at Elaia-Kalamas, some 30 km south of the Greek-Albanian border. On November 2, Italian forces launched air and artillery strikes on Greek positions, and by November 5, were able to establish a bridgehead over the Kalamas River. However, Greek defenses held despite repeated attempts to break through with infantry and light and medium tanks. The Italian offensive stalled as much as by the tenacity of the defenders and minefields as by the harsh hilly, rugged terrain and muddy ground caused by heavy rains.

(Taken from Greco-Italian War – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

On October 28, 1940, Italian forces in Albania, which were massed at the Greek-Albanian border, opened their offensive along a 90-mile (150 km) front in two sectors: in Epirus, which comprised the main attacking force; and in western Macedonia, where the Italian forces were to hold their ground and remain inside Albania.  A third force was assigned to guard the Albania-Yugoslavia frontier.  The Italian offensive was launched in the fall season, and would be expected to face extremely difficult weather
conditions in high-altitude mountain terrain, and be subject to snow, sleet, icy rain, fog, and heavy cloud cover.  As it turned out, the Italians were supplied only with summer clothing, and so were unprepared for these conditions.  The Italians also had planned to seize Corfu, which was cancelled due to bad weather.

At the Epirus sector, the Italians attacked along three points: at the coast for Konispol and
proceeding to the main targets of Igoumenitsa and Preveza; at the center of Kalpaki; and in the Pindus Mountains separating Epirus and western Macedonia,
towards Metsovo.  The coastal advance made some progress, gaining 40 miles (60 km) in the first few days without meeting serious resistance and seizing Igoumenitsa and Margariti.  The Italians soon were stalled at the Kalamas River, which was swollen and raging from recent heavy rains.

Background

In April 1939, Italian forces invaded Albania (previous article) in what Italian leader Benito Mussolini hoped would be the first step to founding an Italian Empire (in the style of the ancient Roman Empire) in southern Europe, which would be added to the colonies that he already possessed in Africa (Italian East Africa and Libya). 

In September 1939, World War II broke out in Europe when Germany attacked Poland,
prompting Britain and France to declare war on Germany.  After an eight-month period of combat
inactivity in Europe (called the “Phoney War”), in April 1940, Germany launched the invasions to the north and west, which ended in the defeat of France on June 25, 1940.  In July 1940, Hitler set his sights on
Britain, with the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) launching attacks (lasting until May 1941) aimed at eliminating the last impediment to his full domination of Western Europe. 

To Mussolini, France’s defeat and Britain’s desperate position seemed the perfect time to advance his ambitions in southern Europe.  Just as France was verging on defeat from the German onslaught, on June 10, 1940, in a brazen act of opportunism[1], Mussolini entered World War II on Germany’s side by declaring war on France and Britain, and sending Italian forces that attacked France through the Italian-French border.  Then with Britain grimly fighting for its own survival
from the German air attacks (Battle of Britain, separate article), Mussolini set his sights on British possessions in Africa, with Italian forces seizing British Somaliland in August 1940, and
advancing into Egypt from Libya in September 1940.

Mussolini aspired to establish an Italian Empire that would control southern Europe, northern Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Middle East.

At the same time, Mussolini was ready to build an Italian Empire, with his attention focused on the Balkans which he saw as falling inside the Italian
sphere of influence.  He also longed to gain mastery of the Mediterranean Sea in the Mare Nostrum (“Our Sea”) concept, and turn it into an “Italian lake”.  He chafed at Italy’s geographical location in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, likening it to being shut in and imprisoned by the British and French, who controlled much of the
surrounding regions and possessed more powerful navies.  Mussolini was determined to expand his own
navy and gain dominance over southern Europe and northern Africa, and ultimately build an empire that would stretch from the Strait of Gibraltar at the western tip of the Mediterranean Sea to the Strait of Hormuz near the Persian Gulf.

Meanwhile, Greece had become alarmed by the Italian invasion of Albania.  Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, who ironically held fascist views and was pro-German, turned to Britain for assistance.  The British Royal Navy, which had bases in many parts of the Mediterranean, including Gibraltar,
Malta, Cyprus, Egypt, and Palestine, then made security stops in Crete and other Greek islands.

Italian-Greek relations, which were strained since the late 1920s by Mussolini’s expansionist agenda, deteriorated further.  In 1940, Italy initiated an anti-Greek propaganda campaign, which included the demand that the Greek region of Epirus must be ceded to Albania, since it contained a large ethnic Albanian population.  The Epirus claim was popular among Albanians, who offered their support for Mussolini’s ambitions on Greece.  Mussolini accused Greece of being a British puppet, citing the British naval presence in Greek ports and offshore waters.  In reality, he was alarmed that the British Navy lurking nearby posed a direct threat to Italy and hindered his plans to establish full control of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.

Italy then launched armed provocations against Greece, which included several incidents in July-August 1940, where Italian planes attacked Greek vessels at Kissamos, Gulf of Corinth, Nafpaktos, and Aegina.  On August 15, 1940, an undetected Italian submarine sank the Greek light cruiser Elli.  Greek authorities found evidence that pointed to Italian responsibility for the Elli sinking, but Prime Minister Metaxas did not take any retaliatory action, as he wanted to avoid war with Italy.

Also in August 1940, Mussolini gave secret orders to his military high command to start preparations for an invasion of Greece.  But in a meeting with Hitler, Mussolini was prevailed upon by the German leader to suspend the invasion in favor of the Italian Army concentrating on defeating the British in North Africa.  Hitler was concerned that an Italian incursion in the Balkans would worsen the perennial state of ethnic tensions in that region and perhaps prompt other major powers, such as the Soviet Union or Britain, to intervene there.  The Romanian oil fields at Ploiesti, which were extremely vital to Germany, could then be threatened.  In August 1940, unbeknown to Mussolini, Hitler had secretly instructed the Germany military high command to draw up plans for his greatest project of all, the conquest of the Soviet Union.  And for this
monumental undertaking, Hitler wanted no distractions, including one in the Balkans.  In the fall of 1940, Mussolini deferred his attack on Greece,
and issued an order to demobilize 600,000 Italian troops.

Then on October 7, 1940, Hitler deployed German troops in Romania at the request of the new pro-Nazi government led by Prime Minister Ion
Antonescu.  Mussolini, upon being informed by Germany four days later, was livid, as he believed that Romania fell inside his sphere of influence.  More disconcerting for Mussolini was that Hitler had again initiated a major action without first notifying him.  Hitler had acted alone in his conquests of Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, and the Low Countries, and had given notice to the Italians only after the fact.  Mussolini was determined that Hitler’s latest stunt would be reciprocated with his own move against Greece.  Mussolini stated, “Hitler faces me with a fait accompli.  This time I am going to pay him back in his own coin. He will find out from the papers that I have occupied Greece. In this way, the equilibrium will be re-established.”

On October 13, 1940 and succeeding days, Mussolini finalized with his top military commanders the immediate implementation of the invasion plan for Greece, codenamed “Contingency G”, with Italian forces setting out from Albania.  A modification was made, where an initial force of six Italian divisions would attack the Epirus region, to be followed by
the arrival of more Italian troops.  The combined forces would advance to Athens and beyond, and capture the whole of Greece.  The modified plan was opposed by General Pietro Badoglio, the Italian Chief of Staff, who insisted that the original plan be carried out: a full-scale twenty-division invasion of Greece with Athens as the immediate objective.  Other factors cited by military officers who were opposed to immediate invasion were the need for more preparation time, the recent demobilization of 600,000 troops, and the inadequacy of Albanian ports to meet the expected large volume of men and war supplies that would be brought in from Italy.

But Mussolini would not be dissuaded.  His decision to invade was greatly influenced by three officials: Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano (who was also Mussolini’s son-in-law), who stated that most Greeks detested their government and would not resist an Italian invasion; the Italian Governor-General of Albania Francesco Jacomoni, who told Mussolini that Albanians would support an Italian invasion in return for Epirus being annexed to Albania; and the commander of Italian forces in
Albania General Sebastiano Prasca, who assured Mussolini that Italian troops in Albania were sufficient to capture Epirus within two weeks.  These three men were motivated by the potential rewards to their careers that an Italian victory would have; for
example, General Prasca, like most Italian officers, coveted being conferred the rank of “Field Marshall”. 
Mussolini’s order for the invasion had the following objectives, “Offensive in Epirus,
observation and pressure on Salonika, and in a second phase, march on Athens”.

On October 18, 1940, Mussolini asked King Boris II of Bulgaria to participate in a joint attack on Greece, but the monarch declined, since under
the Balkan Pact of 1934, other Balkan countries would intervene for Greece in a Bulgarian-Greek
war.  Deciding that its border with Bulgaria was secure from attack, the Greek government transferred half of its forces defending the Bulgarian border to Albania; as well, all Greek reserves were deployed to the Albanian front.  With these moves, by the start of the war, Greek forces in Albania
outnumbered the attacking Italian Army.  Greece
also fortified its Albanian frontier.  And because of Mussolini’s increased rhetoric and threats of attack, by the time of the invasion, the Italians had lost the element of surprise.

[1] Mussolini had stated just five days earlier, on June 5, 1940,
“I only need a few thousand dead so that I can sit at the peace conference as a man who has fought”.

November 7, 1941 – World War II: Stalin leads the October Revolution celebrations in the midst of the Battle of Moscow

On November 7, 1941, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin led the celebrations for the October Revolution in Moscow’s Red Square. In his speech, Stalin exhorted the parading soldiers as they were about to be sent to battle. Many of them would be killed in the fighting for Moscow. The event took place just as German forces were closing in on the Soviet capital.

In modern-day Russia, November 7th is celebrated as a Day of Military Honour in commemoration of the 1941 parade.

(Taken from Battle of Moscow – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

On October 2, 1941, shortly after the Kiev
campaign ended, on Hitler’s orders, the Wehrmacht launched its offensive on Moscow.  For this campaign, codenamed Operation Typhoon, the Germans assembled an enormous force of 1.9 million troops, 48,000 artillery pieces, 1,400 planes, and 1,000 tanks, the latter involving three Panzer Groups (now renamed Panzer Armies), the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (the latter taken from Army Group North).  A series
of spectacular victories followed: German 2nd Panzer Army, moving north from Kiev, took Oryol on October 3 and Bryansk on October 6, trapping 2 Soviet armies, while German 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies to the north conducted a pincers attack around Vyazma, trapping 4 Soviet armies.  The encircled Red Army forces resisted fiercely, requiring 28 divisions of German Army Group Center and two weeks to eliminate the pockets.  Some 500,000–600,000 Soviet troops were captured, and the first of three lines of defenses on the approach to Moscow had been breached.  Hitler and the German High Command by now were convinced that Moscow
would soon be captured, while in Berlin, rumors abounded that German troops would be home by Christmas.

Some Red Army elements from the Bryansk-Vyazma sector avoided encirclement and retreated to the two remaining defense lines near Mozhaisk. By now, the Soviet military situation was critical, with only 90,000 troops and 150 tanks left to defend Moscow.  Stalin embarked on a massive campaign to
raise new armies and transfer formations from other sectors, and move large amounts of weapons and military equipment to Moscow.  Martial law was declared in the city, and on Stalin’s orders, the
civilian population was organized into work brigades to construct trenches and anti-tank traps along Moscow’s perimeter.  As well, consumer industries
in the capital were converted to support the war effort, e.g. an automobile plant now produced light weapons, a clock factory made mine detonators, and machine shops repaired tanks and military vehicles.

On October 15, 1941, on Stalin’s orders, the state
government, communist party leadership, and Soviet military high command evacuated from Moscow, and established (temporary) headquarters at Kuibyshev
(present-day Samara).  Stalin and a small core of officials remained in Moscow, which somewhat calmed the civilian population that had panicked at the government evacuation, and initially had also hastened to leave the capital.

On October 13, 1941, while mopping up operations continued at the Bryansk-Vyazma sector, German armored units thrust into the Soviet defense lines at Mozhaisk, breaking through after four days of fighting, and taking Kalinin, Kaluga, and then Naro-Fominsk (October 21) and Volokolamsk (October 27), with Soviet forces retreating to new lines behind the Nara River.  The way to Moscow now appeared open.

In fact, Operation Typhoon was by now sputtering, with German forces severely depleted and counting only 30% of operational motor vehicles and 30-50% available troop strength in most units.  Furthermore, since nearly the start of Operation Typhoon, the weather had deteriorated, with the seasonal cold rains and wet snow turning the unpaved roads into a virtually impassable clayey
morass (a phenomenon known in Russia as “Rasputitsa”, literally, “time without roads”) that brought German motorized and horse traffic to a standstill.  The stoppage in movement also prevented the delivery to the frontlines of troop reinforcements, supplies, and munitions.  On October 31, 1941, with weather and road conditions worsening, the German High Command stopped the advance, this pause
eventually lasting over two weeks, until November 15.  Temperatures also had begun to drop, and the
Germans were yet without winter clothing and winterization supplies for their equipment, which also were caught up in the weather-induced logistical delay.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, Stalin and the Soviet High Command took advantage of this crucial delay by hastily organizing 11 new armies and transferring 30 divisions from Siberia (together with 1,000 tanks and 1,000 planes) for Moscow, the latter being made available following Soviet intelligence information indicating that the Japanese did not intend to attack
the Soviet Far East.  By mid-November 1941, the Soviets had fortified three defensive lines around Moscow, set up artillery and ambush points along the expected German routes of advance, and reinforced Soviet frontline and reserve armies.  Ultimately, Soviet forces in Moscow would total 2 million troops, 3,200 tanks, 7,600 artillery pieces, and 1,400
planes.

On November 15, 1941, cold, dry weather returned, which froze and hardened the ground, allowing the Wehrmacht to resume its offensive.  For the final push to Moscow, three panzer armies were tasked with executing a pincers movement: the 2nd in the south, and the 3rd and 4th in the north, both pincer arms to link up at Noginsk, 40 miles east of Moscow.  Then with Soviet forces diverted to protect the flanks, German 4th Army would attack from the west directly into Moscow.

In the southern pincer, German 2nd Panzer Army had reached the outskirts of Tula as early as October 26, but was stopped by strong Soviet resistance as well as supply shortages, bad weather, and destroyed roads and bridges.  On November 18, while still suffering from logistical shortages, 2nd Panzer Army attacked toward Tula and made only slow progress, although it captured Stalinogorsk on November 22.  In late November 1941, a powerful Soviet counter-attack with two armies and Siberian units inflicted a decisive defeat on German 2nd Panzer Army at
Kashira, which effectively stopped the southern advance.

To the north, German 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies made more headway, taking Klin (November 24) and Solnechnogorsk (November 25), and on November 28, crossed the Moscow-Volga Canal, to begin encirclement of the capital from the north.  Wehrmacht troops also reached Krasnaya Polyana and possibly also Khimki, 18 miles and 11 miles
from Moscow, respectively, marking the farthest extent of the German advance and also where
German officers using binoculars were able to make out some of the city’s main buildings.

With both pincers immobilized, on December 1, 1941, German 4th Army attacked from the west, but encountered the strong defensive lines fronting Moscow, and was repulsed.  Furthermore, by early
December 1941, snow blizzards prevailed and temperatures plummeted to –30°C (–22°F) to –40°C (–40°F), and German Army Group Center, which was
fighting without winter clothing, suffered 130,000 casualties from frostbite.  German tanks, trucks, and
weapons, still not winterized, suffered operational malfunctions in the wintery conditions.  Furthermore, because of poor weather prevailing throughout much of Operation Typhoon, the Luftwaffe, which had proved decisive in earlier battles, had so far played virtually no part in the Moscow campaign.

The final German push for Moscow was undertaken with greatly depleted resources in manpower and logistical support, but the German High Command had hoped that one final fierce and determined attack might overcome the last enemy
resistance.  Then with the offensive failing, the Germans turned to hold onto their positions, and correctly assessed that the Soviet frontline forces were just as battered, but unaware that large numbers of Red Army reserve armies were now in place and poised to go on the offensive.

On December 6, 1941, Soviet forces comprising the Western, Southwestern, and Kalinin Fronts, with estimates placing total troop strength at 500,000 to 1.1 million, launched a powerful counter-attack that took the Germans completely by surprise.  The
Soviets initially made slow progress, but soon recaptured Solnechnogorsk on December 12 and Klin on December 15, and with the German lines crumbling, nearly trapped the German 2nd and 3rd Panzer Armies in separate encirclement maneuvers.

On December 8, 1941, Hitler ordered German forces to hold their lines, but on December 14, General Franz Halder, head of the German Army
High Command, believing that the frontline could not be held, ordered a limited withdrawal behind the Oka
River.  On December 20, a furious Hitler met with
frontline commanders and rescinded the withdrawal instruction, and ordered that present lines be defended at all costs.  A heated argument then ensued, with the generals pointing out the battered conditions of the troops and that German casualties from the cold were higher than those from actual combat.  On December 25, Hitler dismissed forty high-ranking officers, including General Heinz Guderian (2nd Panzer Army), General Erich Hoepner (4th Panzer Army), and General Fedor von Bock (Army Group Center), the latter for “medical reasons”.  One week earlier, Hitler had also fired General Walther von Brauchitsch, Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces, and took over for himself the
control of all German forces and all military decisions.

By late December 1941 to January 1942, the Red Army counter-offensive was pushing back the Germans north, south, and west of Moscow, with the Soviets retaking Naro-Fominsk (December 26), Kaluga (December 28), and Maloyaroslavets (January 10).  But on January 7, 1942, the Red Army, soon experiencing manpower losses and extended supply lines, and increasing German resistance, halted its
offensive, by then having driven back the Wehrmacht some 60-150 miles from Moscow.  The Luftwaffe, which thus far had been a non-factor, took advantage of a break in the weather and took to the skies,
attacking Soviet positions and evacuating trapped German units, and proved instrumental in averting the complete collapse of Army Group Center, which had established new defense lines, including a section, called the Rzhev Salient, which potentially could threaten Moscow.

November 6, 1956 – Suez Crisis: Britain announces a unilateral ceasefire

On November 6, 1956, Britain, without consulting its allies France and Israel, announced a unilateral ceasefire, ending nine days of fighting in the Suez Crisis. The reasons for the British sudden about-face in the midst of the fighting stem from both domestic and international pressures.  In London and other British cities, anti-war protests and demonstrations immediately broke out after the war began.  The immense public support for starting war against Egypt after Nasser seized the Suez Canal had
subsided by the time of the invasion.

The Suez Crisis was a war between Egypt
against the alliance of Britain, France, and Israel for control of the politically and economically vital Suez Canal, a man-modified shipping channel that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

The Suez Crisis was a war between Egypt against the alliance of Britain, France, and Israel for control of the politically and economically vital Suez Canal, a man-modified shipping channel that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

(Taken from Suez Crisis – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background

The Suez Canal in Egypt is a man-made shipping waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea (Map 7).  The Suez Canal was completed by a French engineering firm in 1869 and thereafter became the preferred shipping and trade route between Europe and Asia, as it considerably reduced the travel time and distance from the previous circuitous route around the African continent.  Since 1875, the facility was operated by an Anglo-French private conglomerate.  By the twentieth century, nearly two-thirds of all oil tanker traffic to Europe passed through the Suez Canal.

In the late 1940s, a wave of nationalism swept across Egypt, leading to the overthrow of the ruling monarchy and the establishment of a republic.  In 1951, intense public pressure forced the Egyptian government to abolish the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of
1936, although the agreement was yet to expire in three years.

With the rise in power of the Egyptian nationalists led by Gamal Abdel Nasser (who later became president in 1956), Britain agreed to withdraw its military forces from Egypt after both countries signed the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement of 1954.  The last British troops left Egypt in June 1956.  Nevertheless, the agreement allowed the British to use its existing military base located near
the Suez Canal for seven years and the possibility of its extension if Egypt was attacked by a foreign power.  The Anglo-Egyptian Agreement of 1954 and foreign control of the Suez Canal were resented by many Egyptians, especially the nationalists, who believed that their country was still under semi-colonial rule and not truly sovereign.

Furthermore, President Nasser was hostile to Israel, which had dealt the Egyptian Army a crushing defeat in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.  President Nasser wanted to start another war with Israel.  Conversely, the Israeli government believed
that Egypt was behind the terrorist activities that were being carried out in Israel.  The Israelis also therefore were ready to go to war against Egypt
to put an end to the terrorism.

Egypt and Israel sought to increase their weapons stockpiles through purchases from their main suppliers, the United States, Britain, and France.  The three Western powers, however, had agreed among themselves to make arms sales equally and only in limited quantities to Egypt and Israel, to prevent an arms race.

Friendly relations between Israel and France,
however, were moving toward a military alliance.  By early 1955, France was sending large quantities of weapons to Israel.  In Egypt, President Nasser was indignant at the Americans’ conditions to sell him arms: that the weapons were not to be used against Israel, and that U.S. advisers were to be allowed into Egypt.  President Nasser, therefore, approached the
Soviet Union, which agreed to support Egypt militarily.  In September 1955, large amounts of Soviet weapons began to arrive in Egypt.

The United States and Britain were infuriated.  The Americans believed that Egypt was falling under
the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, their Cold War enemy.  Adding to this perception was that Egypt recognized Red China.  Meanwhile, Britain
felt that its historical dominance in the Arab region was being undermined.  The United States and Britain withdrew their earlier promise to President Nasser to fund his ambitious project, the construction of the massive Aswan Dam.

Egyptian troops then seized the Suez Canal, which President Nasser immediately nationalized with the purpose of using the profits from its operations to help build the Aswan Dam.  President Nasser ordered the Anglo-French firm operating the Suez Canal to leave; he also terminated the firm’s contract, even though its 99-year lease with Egypt still was due to expire in 12 years, in 1968.

The British and French governments were angered by Egypt’s seizure of the Suez Canal.  A few days later, Britain and France decided to take armed action: their military leaders met and began to prepare for an invasion of Egypt.  In September 1956, France and Israel also jointly prepared for war against Egypt.