Classic Battlefield Tours

Ship money Ship money was a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently in the Kingdom of England until the middle of the 17th century. Assessed typically on the inhabitants of coastal areas of England, it was one of several taxes that English monarchs could levy by prerogative without the approval of Parliament. The attempt of King Charles I from 1634 onwards to levy 'ship money' during peacetime and extend it to the inland counties of England without parliamentary approval provoked fierce resistance. It was one of the grievances of the English propertied class in the lead-up to the English Civil War. The Plantagenet kings of England had exercised the right to require the maritime towns and counties to furnish ships in time of war, and this duty was sometimes commuted for a money payment. Although several statutes of Edward I and Edward III, notably their confirmations of Magna Carta, had made it illegal for the Crown to exact any taxes without the consent of Parliament, the prerogative of levying ship money in time of war had never fallen wholly into abeyance. In 1619, James I aroused no popular opposition by levying £40,000 (equivalent to £7,500,000 in 2023) of ship money on London and £8,550 on other seaport towns. In 1628, Charles I, having prorogued Parliament in early summer and after he assented to the Petition of Right, proceeded to levy ship money on every county in England without Parliament, issuing writs requiring £173,000 to be returned to the exchequer. This was the first occasion when the demand for 'ship money' aroused serious opposition. As matters deteriorated in England and Scotland starting with the Bishops' War, ship money proved to be insufficient to finance the king's military needs. It was later stopped by the Long Parliament when they voted the Ship Money Act 1640. Finally, half a century later, in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, the Bill of Rights of 1689 prohibited all forms of extra-parliamentary taxation.

Grand Battery Grand Battery (Grande Battery, meaning big or great battery) was a French artillery tactic used during the Napoleonic Wars. It involved massing all available batteries into a single large, temporary one, and concentrating the firepower of their guns at a single point in the enemy's lines. Substituting the volume of fire for accuracy, rate of fire, and rapid movement, it was rarely used in the wars' early years. As the quality of artillery crews and their horses declined, it was employed more frequently during later (post-1808) campaigns. The Grand Battery was often concentrated against the enemy's center. An early example is at Austerlitz in 1805, when Napoleon ordered a "roar of thunder" before the main assault upon the Pratzen Heights, which split the coalition's lines in half. Another example of the tactic in use was Alexandre-Antoine Hureau de Sénarmont's aggressive use of his guns at the Battle of Friedland (1807), which was a major factor that won the battle. The same tactic was used during the Battle of Wagram in 1809, where a grand battery of 112 guns successfully halted an Austrian counterattack. At Borodino in 1812, it was again used to break a counterattack. It failed to break the strong Russian positions and earthworks in the center along the Rayevski Redoubt. At the Battle of Lützen (1813), it succeeded in breaking the Russo-Prussian center, ahead of the main assault by the Imperial guard. In 1815 at Waterloo, the famous opening barrage of the Grande Batterie failed to break the center of Wellington's Anglo-allied army due to his deployment of most of his forces behind the reverse slopes of the rolling hillside and the fact that the ground was still wet and muddy, preventing the usual effects of the bouncing cannonballs.

Nuts In December 1944, the German army launched the surprise attack that became the Battle of the Bulge. Brigadier Genera McAuliffe commanded the 101st and its attached troops. At Bastogne, the 101st was besieged by a far larger force of Germans under the command of General Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz. On 22 December 1944, von Lüttwitz dispatched a party, consisting of a major, a lieutenant, and two enlisted men under a flag of truce to deliver an ultimatum. Entering the American lines southeast of Bastogne (occupied by Company F, 2nd Battalion, 327th Glider Infantry), the German party delivered the following to Gen. McAuliffe: To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne. The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Ourthe near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands. There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note. If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours term. All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well-known American humanity. The German Commander. According to those present when McAuliffe received the German message, he read it, crumpled it into a ball, threw it in a wastepaper basket, and muttered, "Aw, nuts". The officers in McAuliffe's command post were trying to find suitable language for an official reply when Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kinnard suggested that McAuliffe's first response summed up the situation well, and the others agreed. The official reply was typed and delivered by Colonel Joseph Harper, commanding the 327th Glider Infantry, to the German delegation. It was as follows: To the German Commander. NUTS! The American Commander. The German major appeared confused and asked Harper what the message meant. Harper said, "In plain English? Go to hell." The choice of "Nuts!" rather than something earthier was typical for McAuliffe. Captain Vincent Vicari, his personal aide at the time, recalled that "General Mac was the only general I ever knew who did not use profane language. 'Nuts' was part of his normal vocabulary." The artillery fire did not materialize, although several infantry and tank assaults were directed at the positions of the 327th Glider Infantry. In addition, the German Luftwaffe attacked the town, bombing it nightly. The 101st held off the Germans until the 4th Armored Division arrived on 26 December to provide reinforcement.

Wishing you and your family a very Happy Christmas and peaceful New Year From all at Classic Battlefield Tours James, Tim, Louise, and Kate

Treaty of Dunkirk - 1947 The origins of NATO The Treaty of Dunkirk was signed on 4 March 1947, between France and the United Kingdom in Dunkirk as a Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance against a possible German attack in the aftermath of World War II. It entered into force on 8 September 1947 and according to article VI paragraph 2 of its text, it remained in force for a period of fifty years. According to Marc Trachtenberg, the German threat was a pretext for defense against the USSR. This Treaty preceded the Treaty of Brussels of 1948 (also known as "Brussels Pact"), which established the Western Union among Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, which became Western European Union in 1955, after the entry into force of the Treaty of Brussels of 1954 (also known as "Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT)"), when Italy and West Germany were admitted. Since the end of World War II, sovereign European countries have entered into treaties and co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe (French: la construction européenne). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of the European Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European Communities (EC), founded in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration.

Origins of the Hundred Years War The root causes of the conflict can be traced to the crisis of 14th-century Europe. The outbreak of war was motivated by a gradual rise in tension between the kings of France and England over territory; the official pretext was the interruption of the direct male line of the Capetian dynasty. Tensions between the French and English crowns had gone back centuries to the origins of the English royal family, which was French (Norman, and later, Angevin) in origin through William the Conqueror, the Norman duke who became King of England in 1066. English monarchs had, therefore, historically held titles and lands within France, which made them vassals to the kings of France. The status of the English king's French fiefs was a significant source of conflict between the two monarchies throughout the Middle Ages. French monarchs systematically sought to check the growth of English power, stripping away lands as the opportunity arose, mainly whenever England was at war with Scotland, an ally of France. English holdings in France had varied in size, at some points dwarfing even the French royal domain; by 1337, however, only Guyenne and Gascony were English. In 1328, Charles IV of France died without any sons or brothers, and a new principle, Salic law, disallowed female succession. Charles's closest male relative was his nephew Edward III of England, whose mother, Isabella, was Charles's sister. Isabella claimed the throne of France for her son by the rule of proximity of blood, but the French nobility rejected this, maintaining that Isabella could not transmit a right she did not possess. An assembly of French barons decided that a native Frenchman should receive the crown, rather than Edward. The throne passed to Charles's patrilineal cousin instead, Philip, Count of Valois. Edward protested but ultimately submitted and did homage for Gascony. Further French disagreements with Edward induced Philip, during May 1337, to meet with his Great Council in Paris. It was agreed that Gascony should be taken back into Philip's hands, which prompted Edward to renew his claim for the French throne, this time by force of arms.

Major Robert Cain won the Victoria Cross using a PIAT Perhaps the most famous actions involving the Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank (PIAT) during Operation Market Garden are those carried out by Major Robert Cain, of 2nd Bn South Staffordshire Regt. Cain and his men had been blocked from reaching Lt.Col. John Frost’s PARA’s at the bridge in Arnhem and had formed a defensive perimeter in nearby Oosterbeek. Throughout the battle, the British Airborne forces relied heavily on the PIAT and Major Cain put the weapon to good use. At one point during the battle, he used a PIAT, in its secondary in-direct mortar role, in an attempt to drop bombs onto a self-propelled gun which was positioned on the other side of a house. Sadly, Cain wasn’t able to destroy the SPG before his spotter, Lieutenant Meikle, was killed by enemy fire and he was wounded by falling masonry. On the 21st September, he engaged and destroyed an enemy tank with the PIAT. He then moved to take on a second tank but as he fired the bomb prematurely detonated just as it left the weapon - likely due to a faulty fuse or a misaligned bomb. Cain was wounded again being thrown back by the blast and being hit by metal fragments. Throughout the fighting, Cain displayed massive courage engaging German armoured vehicles at close ranges with the PIAT personally destroying or helping to destroy half a dozen vehicles. By the 25th Sept Cain & his men had run out of ammo for their PIATs and he began using a 2in mortar, fired at high angle, to try and hold the enemy off.  For his gallantry during the battle he was awarded the Victoria Cross, he was the only Arnhem VC recipient to survive the battle.

Recommended read/Christmas present From Crimea with Love: Misadventures in the Making of Sharpe’s Rifles  by Jason Salkey In the summer of 1992, Jason Salkey was cast in a role that would change his life forever. Sharpe’s Rifles, a Napoleonic war drama, was to be shot in the Crimean Peninsula. Little did the producers know they would send Jason and the crew to film in a rapidly disintegrating Soviet Union. There they faced near-starvation and danger around every corner as they set about creating one of Britain’s most successful and critically acclaimed television programmes. From Crimea with Love documents the mishaps, blunders, incompetence, and downright corruption that made Sharpe’s Rifles go down in British television folklore for its unique tales of hardship. Follow the cast through intense deprivation and constant catastrophe until they become every bit the jaded, battle-hardened soldiers we saw on screen. Tapping into his diaries, photo journals, and video log, Jason brings you an eye-opening, jaw-dropping insider’s account of one of the best-loved shows ever made. Available from Amazon: https://lnkd.in/egAbv_c7

Nightingale Pledge The Nightingale Pledge, named in honour of Florence Nightingale, is a modified version of the Hippocratic Oath. Lystra Gretter and a Committee for the Farrand Training School Grace for Nurses in Detroit, Michigan created the pledge in 1893. Gretter, inspired by the work of Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, credited the pledge to her committee's work but was considered "the moving spirit behind the idea" for the pledge. The Nightingale Pledge is a statement of the ethics and principles of the nursing profession in the United States, and it is not used outside the US. It included a vow to "abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous" and to "zealously seek to nurse those who are ill wherever they may be and whenever they are in need." In a 1935 revision to the pledge, Gretter widened the nurse's role by including an oath to become a "missioner of health" dedicated to advancing "human welfare"—an expansion of nurses' bedside focus to an approach encompassing public health. US nurses have recited the pledge at pinning ceremonies for decades. In recent years, many US nursing schools have made changes to the original or 1935 versions, often removing the "loyalty to physicians" phrasing to promote a more independent nursing profession, with its particular ethical standards. Original "Florence Nightingale Pledge": I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I shall abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and shall not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I shall do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. I shall be loyal to my work and devoted towards the welfare of those committed to my care

Vernon McGarity, award the Medal of Honor, during the Battle of the Bulge. On December 16, 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge, he served near Krinkelt, Belgium as a technical sergeant in Company L of the 393rd Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division. Wounded early in the battle, McGarity returned to his unit, and as squad leader, directed and encouraged his soldiers throughout the intense fight that ensued. He repeatedly braved heavy fire to rescue wounded men, attacked the advancing Germans, and retrieved supplies. Medics attempted to have McGarity evacuated after he was severely wounded on his face and legs, but he refused. After completely running out of ammunition, his squad and he were captured. For his actions during the battle, he was presented with the Medal of Honor a year later, on January 11, 1946, by President Harry S Truman. He left active service in 1947 to join the Tennessee Army National Guard, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1974. McGarity died at the age of 91 in 2013