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.

» 10 Jul 1944: 30 sorties were made by the Heinkel bombers of III/KG3 carrying V-1 flying bombs against Britain. A British naval anti-aircraft battery brought down one of the aircraft. The falling V-1 bombs caused deaths in the southern London boroughs of Battersea and Clapham where six people were killed in the Underground Station. The Royal navy Fleet Air Arm Pilot Sub Lieutenant D. P. Davies, whilst returning from an anti-shipping patrol in his Avenger Mk. 1 aircraft, saw a V-1 bomb and his TAG L/Airman Fred Shirmer brought it down at 700 yards, only firing 20 rounds; Shirmer received a mention in dispatches.

» 8 Apr 1945: German submarine U-774 (Kapitänleutnant Werner Sausmikat) was sunk in the North Atlantic south-west of Ireland by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Calder (K 349) and HMS Bentinck (K 314). All 44 crew were lost.

» 11 Apr 1941: The damaged 8,324-ton Norwegian motor tanker Pericles, in service with the British Admiralty Royal Fleet Auxiliary, departed Suda Bay, Crete, Greece in tow at 1130 hours for Port Said, Egypt as a member of a convoy.

» 18 Jul 1945: British submarine HMS Trenchant attacked a Japanese convoy northwest of Lombok Island, Dutch East Indies, sinking the Army shuttle vessel Hayabusa Maru and damaged the cargo ships Taikyo Maru, Nichiei Maru and Saiwai Maru. Later in the day, the submarine attacked and sank a small submarine chaser, tug and barge, by gunfire.

» 27 Jul 1940: The 477-ton dredging ship Durdham sank after striking a mine off Lavernock Point, Wales, United Kingdom. She was owned by the Bristol Sand Company, and was clearing channels out of the port of Avonmouth in the Severn Estuary. Seven crew were killed in the explosion.

» 22 Aug 1942: British armed trawler HMS Canna disembarked a group of survivors of steam tanker Mirlo, lost to German submarine U-130 on 11 Aug 1942, in Freetown, Sierra Leone. One of the survivors, Able Seaman Sverre Gustavsen, was taken to the hospital where he was found to have a very severe skull fracture in addition to other injuries.

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