World War II Database

ww2dbaseEver since his school days in the United Kingdom, Hugh Martyr had been interested in history, particularly naval history. His interest in history later expanded to cover the American Civil War and the German V-weapons campaign against London. He is also an re-enactor and organizer of major re-enactment events, including the 200th anniversary of Waterloo event where over 8,000 were on the field. He joined the WW2DB team in 2018.

Timeline Contributions

Hugh Martyr has also contributed 881 entries in the WW2 Timeline. A small sample of his timeline contributions is shown below.

» 30 Jul 1940: The heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire (Captain B. C. S. Martin, RN) departed Freetown, Sierra Leone to patrol in the South Atlantic to search for the German raider Thor.

» 11 Nov 1942: The 5,681-ton Norwegian merchant steamer Alaska, damaged by German submarine U-510 on 31 Oct, arrived at Lisbon, Portugal. The Alaska's master, Berge Mevatne, later received the Krigskorset (The War Cross with Sword), the highest Norwegian war decoration, which had only been awarded to 19 in the merchant marine, for his bravery during the rescue of the survivors of French troopship Président Doumer which led to his own ship being damaged.

» 4 Mar 1943: At 0609 hours the unescorted 8,049-ton steam merchant ship City of Pretoria (Master Frank Deighton, OBE) was hit by two of three torpedoes from German submarine U-172 (Kapitänleutnant Carl Emmermann) and sank after a heavy explosion about 320 miles northwest of the Azores. The ship was reported missing and presumed the master, 108 crew members, 24 gunners, six passengers and six apprentices were lost. One of the passengers was the third officer James Alister Whyte who had previously survived 51 days in a lifeboat after the sinking of City of Cairo by U-68 (Korvettenkapitän Karl-Friedrich Merten) on 6 Nov 1942.

» 8 Jul 1943: In the South Atlantic, the 10,324-ton Norwegian motor tanker B. P. Newton was struck at 0520 hours by one of three torpedoes launched from German submarine U-510 commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Alfred Eick. It hit the tanker on the port side aft and immediately ignited the cargo of 14,700 tons of aviation fuel; the explosion blew burning fuel over the decks and bridge, destroying all but a single lifeboat. Two men on watch below were killed before they were able to secure the engines and other crew that had jumped over the stern were killed by the burning fuel. The surviving crew were all at the forecastle save for the Master Einar Andersen and the second officer who remained on the bridge to see if they could perhaps save the ship; they were however, forced to go forward by the heat ad flames. They managed to get the remaining lifeboat launched and started to pick other crew up and then escape from the burning fuel. Twenty-four survived, some badly burned were picked up by escort vessels, but no attempt was made to save the ship as by then her plates were glowing red hot, still under way the B. P. Newton finally sank 150 miles northeast of Cayenne, French Guiana. The survivors were landed at Pernambuco, Brazil on 17 Jul 1943. The B. P. Newton was one of the Kvarstad ships held back in Gothenburg, Sweden and had participated in Operation Performance in Apr 1941.

» 27 Apr 1945: British Guards Armoured Division liberated Marlag und Milag Nord prisoners of war camp in Westertimke, Germany.

» 2 Dec 1941: The 508-ton German Navy minesweeper M-529 was mined off Kolberg, Germany (now Kolobrzeg, Poland) with the loss of ten crew.

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