Question of the Hour

[redleafjumper]

Hello Danjanou, nice to see you back in this forum!  The officer credited with getting the first group over the wall through personal example is one Captain Campbell of the 94th Highlanders.  I believe that the Bernard Cornwell novel that you referred to substitutes Captain Campbell's efforts with those of the fictional Sharpe character.  It's amazing what people will volunteer to do to get a promotion! 

As stated, or at least implied in your answer, the significance of the fall of fortress Gawilghur was that it meant the end of the Mahratta uprising, which in turn allowed the British to concentrate their efforts against Napoleon in other theatres.  I understood that the fortress fell on December 13, 1803, not December 15, but I am willing to be corrected!

 

[redleafjumper]

What tactic of the English provoked the initial attack of the French upon the English line at Agincourt on October 25, 1415?

 

[geo]

showing a "weak" flank where lots of nobility were visible... behind a screen of yeomanry / archers - unarmoured rabble.....

Knights made a living from capturing and holing nobles ransom... regardless of country. That's how knights made their living... Armoured Kinghts did not give much respect to the yeomanry. So when they saw this bright shiny prize within their grasp, they ignored the French General's battle plan and struck out for hostages and booty.

Between the english longbow and some extremely gummy mud conditions in that area, the knights were brought down. The heavy armour suddenly became a hinderance and the French knights were picked off...
(there was s special on the History channel just last week.... )

 

[redleafjumper]

Geo, It's a pretty good guess, but alas, incomplete.  I didn't see the special, but I did read the book.  ;D  There was one specific act that Henry had his troops do to goad the French into attacking and it worked as expected; that act is the tactic that I am looking for.  It is useful to consider that the two sides had spent a few hours just staring at each other waiting for something to happen and that the English had prepared their defensive position by planting sharpened sticks around their front.

 

[Danjanou]

Hey Bud you're most welcome.

Home now and checked my sources and it was Captain Campbell commanding the light company of the 94th aka The Scotch Brigade who lead the assault, and incidentally whose exploits were given to Richard Sharpe in the novel by Cornwell. The fortress did fall on the 15th BTW.

Re Agincourt I believe that the answer you're looking for (and being scuplously honest I'm not googling nor running to the book cases in the other room) is the two finger salute given by the Longbowmen to the French which goaded them into a rather enraged but ill thought out action.

 

[geo]

Hmmm... 1st reaction would be to say that they "mooned" the opposition.

sober second thought would be that they would have had the longbowmen fire off a number of flights of arrows.... thereby suggesting that there was a depleted inventory on hand.

One of the things they analysed was the ground @ Argincourt... the earth would absorb a lot of water and create a mud that would create a vacuum to metal plate that was immersed in the stuff.
at the same time, cloth footwear which would have been worn by the yeomen could pull free relatively easily...

Henry also had the prisonner knights executed.... lucky he isn't around nowadays to face war crimes charges.

 

[armyvern]

Geo, It's a pretty good guess, but alas, incomplete.   I didn't see the special, but I did read the book.    ;D   There was one specific act that Henry had his troops do to goad the French into attacking and it worked as expected; that act is the tactic that I am looking for.   It is useful to consider that the two sides had spent a few hours just staring at each other waiting for something to happen and that the English had prepared their defensive position by planting sharpened sticks around their front.

Just prior to the beginning of the battle, after standing there waiting for something to happen, Henry had the English simulate flight on their left wing. This provoked the charge by the French knights against the archers. The English, of course, were expecting this and and quickly attacked the enemy, moving the English archers to the sides of the calvalry and concentrating on the weakly protected flanks of the horses, bringing them down quickly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Poitiers_(1356)

 

[redleafjumper]

Both are respectable answers. 

The command was "Loose" and a flight of arrows at long range from the famed English longbows goaded the French mounted knights forward starting the series of events that led to disaster for the French.  Keegan in his book, The Face of Battle, has a very good description of the Agincourt battle.  The archers had placed the sharpened sticks into the ground to toughen their position.

By the way, Danjanou, you are correct, Gawilghur did fall on 15 December, 1803 not on the 13th as I previously indicated.  I think that the two finger salute dated from the time of Agincourt (or perhaps Crecy?) as a reminder to the French of how they lost and to show that the bowmen still had their fingers and could use them, as there was a standing threat to cut off the fingers of the hated English longbowmen.

What was one of the other names for a vehicle designated "VK4503" and what was the main difference in the two production models?

 

[larry Strong]

What was one of the other names for a vehicle designated "VK4503" and what was the main difference in the two production models?


Konig Tiger.
The main diff between the two models was the turret, The Henschel turret was square and angular on the front, where as the Porsche one was rounded

Posrche on top in photo

 

[redleafjumper]

Well done Larry.  The Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf B (Sd Kfz 182), Tiger II, Konigstiger, Pz Kpfw Tiger Ausf B was the premier heavy tank of Germany in WW2.  It mounted the 88mm  L/71 gun, improved over the 88mm L/56 mounted in the Tiger 1.  There were two turrets, the Porsche and the Henschel version.  Th first 50 built had Porsche turrets, that design had a bullet trap resulting from the curved front so the Henschel design was used for the remaining tanks.  489 were built in Karlsruhe from January 1944 to March 1945.  A running vehicle is in the Deutsche Panzer Museum in Munster, Germany.

 

[larry Strong]

Thanks. Yeah, I would love to see it running. I know a guy in the UK who went and saw a Tigerl do it's thing, he said  the roar from the engine was unbelievable and the thought of a plt of them coming for him was a scary thought.

 

[redleafjumper]

I actually had the rare privilege of climbing into the turret of the drivable Tiger 1 in Munster for a picture.  The director of the panzermuseum gave a friend of mine permission for me to do it during a brief lull of visitors in the room where it is kept.  As a history buff and army guy, it was quite an an experience.  My German friend told the director that I was a visiting Canadian army officer and that it was my birthday.  He asked if I knew my way around tanks and then gave permission.  It was amusing that his name was the same as a well-known German armour commander from the war; I suspect it wasn't a coincidence.  A great museum, I have been to it twice now; on that visit I was there for a few hours.  Naturally my wife had long since headed for the cafes...

http://www.munster.de/pzm/content/kontakt/english.htm

 

[3rd Herd]

In what Canadian city did the following occur
1) Air Raid shelters built
2) Gas masks distributed to civil populace
3) Sand stockplied for use against incendiary bombs
4) Plans established for entire civil populace evacuation ala "Dunkirk"
put your thinking caps on

 

[redleafjumper]

In what Canadian city did the following occur
1) Air Raid shelters built
2) Gas masks distributed to civil populace
3) Sand stockplied for use against incendiary bombs
4) Plans established for entire civil populace evacuation ala "Dunkirk"



That sounds like Victoria, or Prince Rupert in WW2.   Certainly Vancouver Island was a jittery place after Pearl Harbour.
Gas masks were widely distributed, I have two that were issued in the central interior of BC.   Vancouver, as a major port, developed an air raid warning plan and actually had wardens in the British style.   The Japanese were sending incendiary bomb-laden balloons across the Pacific, but these were largely ineffective.

 

[3rd Herd]

Pick one, and any idea where the civil populace was to be evacuted to?   Actually the whole process started prior to Pearl Harbour( August 18, 1941) with the fall of Hong Kong and Singapore. Who knew where the Japanese carriers were headed next. Alas the US use of magic provided alot of information but not all. As for the balloons being in effective we had a particular run of unseasonally heavy rains which contributed to their lack of success. At one point the Japanese were going to attach CBW to the balloons but the Crown Prine veto'd the idea for fear the balloons would drift east and bring an early entery by the Soviet Union into the Pacific theater.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

heh

 

[redleafjumper]

I believe that both Victoria and Prince Rupert had plans of that scope, but if you want me to choose one, I'd go with Victoria.

 

[3rd Herd]

RedLeaf
You guessed right-Victoria, plans were in effect to evacuate the civil population to Port Townsend in Washington State. Further plans included the evacuation of the entire province with minefields and demolitions to prevent a Japanese attack into Alberta. I happened to come across the proposed mine field and demolition maps and other research goodies such as resistance organization, stay behind parties etc.You'll never guess who was behind it-a provincial politician

 

[Spr.Earl]

In WW II which Unit in the C.F. was awarded the most Honours?

 

[armyvern]

The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment (The Hasty P's) earned a total of 31 battle honours during WWII (with most earned after they entered the fighting in Italy in 1943) becoming the most decorated Unit of WWII.