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.

» 3 Aug 1944: RAF Hendon north of London, England, United Kingdom was hit by a V-1 flying bomb in the early hours; it demolished a barrack block and 5 accommodation huts where 5 airmen were killed and over 25 wounded. The area around Maidstone in Kent in southern England received V-1 flying bombs throughout the morning, one of them fell after snagging the wires of a barrage balloon; it killed 5 workmen on the railway and another 7 had to be hospitalized. First Lieutenant Jack Robinson USAAF of 416th Fighter-Bomber Group flying a P-47 aircraft shot down a V-1 flying bomb; this episode was watched by civilians on the ground near Ashford, Kent who cheered as the bomb veered away and exploded in woodland.

» 4 Nov 1944: Another mini-blitz of V-1 flying bombs started in the evening after some quiet days. 17 Heinkel bombers of III/KG3 started the assault; during the next seven nights, 12 of the Heinkels failed to return, half falling to the night fighters. A Beaufighter aircraft of the Fighter Interception Development Squadron (FIDS) from RAF Coltishall, flown by Squadron Leader P. J. Howard-Williams brought down one and as he was heading for home picked up another on his radar and shot it down. The evening proved disastrous for the crews of II/KG53, of the 14 aircraft that left Varrelbusch, 5 failed to return and another crashed upon landing. Six aircraft totally lost along with 23 aircrew.

» 3 Sep 1944: Heinkel aircraft of III/KG3 of the German Air Force made 23 sorties with V-1 flying bombs being launched against London, Portsmouth, Southampton, and Gloucester of England, United Kingdom. 3 of these bombs came down in East Anglia, at Hill Farm in Felixstowe on the Suffolk coast, Langham in the east midlands and Dedham, near Colchester in Essex, other bombs fell in various areas of the home counties but caused very little damage. A veteran Luftwaffe pilot, Horst Juventus, who had been posted to III/KG3 recalled that the pilots all felt that the Luftwaffe were finished and hated to fly the Heinkel aircraft with the flying bomb attached. "Some crews", he said, "just dumped the bombs as soon as possible in order to get home safely." Also on this date, in the early morning, the 4 remaining Mistel aircraft with II/KG101 again headed out to launch against London, the attack was to be co-ordinated with that of bomb carrying Fw 190 aircraft from 2/KG200, but it failed. 2 of the Ju 88 Mistel aircraft crossed the English coast, one of which crashed at Warsop in Nottinghamshire and the other only just made it over the coast to crash at Hothfield, Kent. Following this II/KG101 was disbanded and a new Mistel unit, III/KG66 came into being commanded by Hauptmann Kurt Cepesius at Burg airfield near Magdeburg, Germany.

» 29 Mar 1942: German submarine U-585 departed Kirkenes, Norway to operate against convoy PQ-13. She would send her last radio message on this day.

» 12 Mar 1943: In the Atlantic Ocean, the drifting wreck of the Liberty Ship Thomas Hooker (suffered structural damage during a hurricane before dawn on 6 Mar 1943; crew abandoned ship and took to the boats) was located by German submarine U-653 (Kapitänleutnant Gerhard Feiler) which hit her with two torpedoes at 0209 hours and 0433 hours. The ship sank by the stern two minutes after the second torpedo hit.

» 28 Feb 1941: The 2,088-ton Egyptian steamer Memphis, on a voyage from Manchester, England, United Kingdom to Vigo, Spain, ran into heavy weather off the northwest coast of Ireland. Soon afterwards her engines broke down and she foundered with all on board being lost, which included 29 survivors from the Norwegian motor vessel Benjamin Franklin that had been torpedoed by German submarine U-103.

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