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.

Photographs/Maps Contributions

Timeline Contributions

Hugh Martyr has also contributed 873 entries in the WW2 Timeline. A small sample of his timeline contributions is shown below.

» 23 May 1944: The 6,586-ton American submarine USS Lapon (SS-260) sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Wales Maru in the South China Sea, hitting her with all four torpedoes fired. At the time the ship was carrying Unit 234 of the Independent Flight Corps of 1,000 men; the unit lost 50 men as the Wales Maru went down with 13 members of her crew.

» 1 Aug 1944: On completing an anti-diver patrol against V-1 flying bombs, Flight Lieutenant F. Wiza's Yellow Section of 306 Squadron (Polish) RAF received a warning that they were 10 miles off the English coast and were vectored into a "safe lane" away from anti-aircraft batteries; as the Mustang III fighters crossed the coast they found themselves under intense fire; fortunately no aircraft were hit. 96 Squadron lost a Mosquito aircraft and crew whilst the night fighter was landing in bad weather and visibility; Flight Officer Ray Ball and his navigator Flight Officer Fred Saunders were both killed as was Leading Aircraftman Charlie Allen on the ground.

» 16 Jun 1940: The 8,215-ton Norwegian diesel motor vessel James Stove was steaming through the Gulf of Aden with 10,800 tons of aviation fuel when her master Olaus Eliassen was informed that the ship was being followed by a submarine; Eliassen had determined that the submarine was British. When the ship started to head for the port of Aden the submarine, now revealed to be the Italian submarine Galileo Galilei, ordered her to stop and announced that in 15 minutes an attack would commence. Despite some panic with Chinese crew members, the lifeboats pulled away and the submarine torpedoed the ship from 500 yards range. After two hits the Norwegian vessel started to sink, and the Galileo submerged only to re-surface and launch another torpedo. This struck amid-ships and the vessel burst into flames and sank about 12 miles south of the port of Aden. The crew were rescued, with some difficulty due to burning oil, by the British Admiralty anti-submarine Trawler HMS Moonstone.

» 11 Feb 1940: French sloop Elan captured 2,542-ton German merchant ship Rostock in the Atlantic Ocean. Rostock had sailed out of Vigo, Spain on 9 Feb in an attempt to break the Allied blockade.

» 27 Jul 1944: USS Dace (SS-247) attacked a Japanese convoy and sank the 1,192-ton fleet tanker Kyoei Maru No. 2 in the Celebes Sea 90 miles south of Zamboanga, Philippines. 10 torpedoes were expended; 5 hit.

» 13 Mar 1941: The 7,005-ton British cargo steamer Empire Frost, damaged by German aircraft on the previous day, was in tow by the Dutch tug Seine when she was again bombed. She sank in the Irish Sea west of Skomer Island with the loss of six crewmen.

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