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 877 entries in the WW2 Timeline. A small sample of his timeline contributions is shown below.

» 4 Oct 1939: HMS Acheron (H 45) disembarked the survivors of Belgian merchant steamer Suzon, which was sunk by German submarine U-35 three days earlier, at Brest, France.

» 1 Mar 1942: The 697-ton steamer Polgarth, owned by Polgarth S.S. Ltd of Liverpool, England, United Kingdom, was on passage from Blyth, Northumberland, England, to Southampton, England with cargo of 865 tons of coal. When two miles off Aldeburgh Light Float, on the Suffolk coast, she struck a mine. After attempts to tow her failed the vessel foundered two hours later. All 16 crew were saved.

» 29 Oct 1939: The 7,976-ton British merchant steamer Malabar was on the return trip from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to London, England, United Kingdom full of general cargo, including lumber and tobacco when torpedoed by German submarine U-34, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Rollmann at 0150 hours. Rollmann had fired two torpedoes and claimed to hit the Malabar and an escorting destroyer, however only Malabar was hit. Malabar was the ship of the convoy commodore, five crew were killed in the explosion, the remaining 66 crew and the master, Henry Herbert, the commodore Rear Admiral G. W. Taylor and his two staff members all got away in lifeboats and were clear when the vessel sunk 180 miles south of Land’s End, Cornwall, England. They were all picked up by the G- and H-class destroyer HMS Grafton (H 89) and taken to Plymouth on the south coast.

» 8 Apr 1940: The 4,843-ton Greek cargo steamer Okeania was mined and sunk in the English Channel off Deal on the Kent coast, England, United Kingdom.

» 27 Apr 1940: The 628-ton British merchant ship Thornhill was involved in a collision with the Circle south of Torbay, England, United Kingdom and sank. She was on route from Barry, Wales, United Kingdom to Caen, France.

» 25 Jun 1941: The British submarine HMS Parthian (N 75) under Commander M. G. Rimington, DSO, RN torpedoed and sank the Vichy French submarine Souffleur (built 1927) just off the coast southwest of Beirut, Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. The submarine was hit by a single torpedo near the deck gun. Of the six men on the bridge, one was mortally wounded but the others managed to swim away. Four reached the shore but the fifth drowned. In all fifty men perished.

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