On This Day ... in 1914 & Others
Sepoy Khudadad Khan was serving in the machine-gun section of the 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis at Hollebeke, when German fire killed all the other men in his detachment. Himself wounded, he nevertheless continued to man a machine-gun until the position was overrun. The German troops left him for dead, but he recovered sufficiently to crawl back to British lines and rejoin his unit. He was the first native-born Indian to be awarded the Victoria Cross.
1917: At Beersheba in Palestine, Corporal Collins of the Royal Welch Fusiliers repeatedly braved heavy enemy fire in the open to recover several wounded comrades. He then led his section in a successful assault on the enemy trenches, having to overcome uncut barbed wire, then displayed particular skill in organising a vigorous defence against counter-attack. He received the Victoria Cross.
1918: A Lewis Gun team under Sergeant Caldwell of the Royal Scots Fusiliers came under very heavy fire from a farmhouse near Oudenarde in Belgium. Sergeant Caldwell charged the farm on his own and captured it, taking eighteen prisoners. This strong-point having been taken, he was then able to use his section to exploit the break in the enemy lines to capture seventy prisoners, armed with eight machine-guns and a mortar. Caldwell was awarded the Victoria Cross.
1940: On what is generally regarded as the final day of the Battle of Britain, Luftwaffe operations were mostly limited to fighter sweeps and hit-and-run fighter-bomber raids.
1942: At El Alamein, Sergeant Kibby, an Australian, was noted for his gallantry in a series of actions between 23 and 31 October, including capturing a machine-gun post and repairing damaged field telephone lines in the open under heavy fire. Finally, on 31 October, once more attacking an enemy position on his own, he was killed. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
1944: 24 RAF Mosquito aircraft conducted a low-level precision attack on the Gestapo headquarters at Aarhus University in Denmark. Their bombs destroyed the records of Gestapo investigations into Resistance operations. In addition, they killed a team torturing Pastor Harald Sandbaek. He was rescued alive from the rubble by the Resistance and smuggled to safety in Sweden.
1956: British and French aircraft commenced operations against Egyptian targets, following Nasser's rejection of the ultimatum demanding the security of the Suez Canal.
Comments
One can only marvel at the heroism of men such as Khudadad Khan.
I'm not given to jealousy but I can't help being envious of the Duke of Connaught having his own Regiment of Baluchis...
Posted by: Ex STAB | October 31, 2007 1:12 AM
Denmark was occupied without a shot being fired (the King ordering no resistance due to force majeur)to "protect" it from British invasion, but soon had a thriving resistance and did what a small nation could for the Allied cause.
1) When the German High Commissioner ordered that all Jews were to wear the Star of David, the King and his Court added it to their clothing
2)The Resistance, with the aid of the fishing fleet, managed to get almost every Jew in the country (ie: some hospital patients too sick to be moved had to be left behind)to safety in Sweden in one frantic night shortly before they were to be rounded up
3) When Iceland declared its independence during the occupation, the King sent a telegram of support to the "rebels" ("Sorry, Herr High Commissioner, they are traitors, we had nothing to do with it") via the Swiss embassy
4) Greenland's governor declared that he did not recognize the occupation as legal and requested US protection in 1940. To operate with the US garrison, Danish settler and Inuit volunteers formed a ski patrol which hunted down German weather stations that attempted to infiltrate the island and performed rescue missions for downed aircrew
5) The sail training ship Danmark was visiting the US in 1940 as part of its annual training cruise and its skipper placed it and its crew at the disposal of the US government. The cadets obtained their ticket as officers in the US merchant marine, while the regular crew trained cadets at the Coast Guard Academy (which served as part of the Navy)for the duration. The later was so successful that the US obtained a German sailing vessel as a reparation after the war which serves to this day as the USCGC Eagle
Col Beausaber
Posted by: Beausaber | October 31, 2009 5:23 AM
Fascinating stuff, thanks for the post.
That Mosquito raid on the Gestapo HQ is deserving of a movie.
Posted by: Wilbur | November 2, 2009 2:56 AM
If only Cliff Robertson would star in such a film.....
Posted by: Chris | November 4, 2009 2:46 AM