Sunday, April 19, 1942. Ronald Reagan called into service.

Today in World War II History—April 19, 1942: Future president Lt. Ronald Reagan, a reserve cavalry officer, is called to active duty; he will serve in the Army Air Force’s First Motion Picture Unit.

So notes Sarah Sundin in her blog.

Is it worth noting? 

Probably yes.  Service in support units, is support, and support units are a larger element of the U.S. military than combat units, in spite of what people read about and like to imagine.

And as much as we like to imagine that everyone joined in the war effort, and all the military age men served, that's not true.  Most did, but you can find famous examples of those who did not.

Reagan's service, as noted in the entry, predated the Second World War.  He'd joined the Army Reserve, which at that time was principally limited to training officers, and which did not have very many enlisted men, where he was trained as a cavalry officer.

Of some interest, if we go back to the Second World War itself, President Roosevelt had no military service, but was Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Great War.  Indeed, none of the Presidents who served between the wars had military service in their histories, although from Theodore Roosevelt back every President had some sort of military service, except for five of them.

Harry Truman had served in World War One, and following him every President until Jimmy Carter had served in  World War Two.  Carter had not, but he was a Cold War veteran of the U.S. Navy and in fact a graduate of the Naval Academy.  Reagan and Bush I were the last two veterans to occupy the White House who were veterans of World War Two.  George W. Bush was the last President who was a veteran, in his case having served in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.  Neither Trump nor Biden have any military service, in spite of being of draft age during their youths.  Trump received a controversial medical disqualification from conscription, and Biden received a series of deferments until receiving a medical disqualification as well. 

Saturday, March 21, 1942. The "last" British cavalry charge.

On this day in 1942 the last British "cavalry" charge. . . maybe . . .  occurred at Toungoo Burma.

This is sort of a well known historical footnote, which means that it's often not really very well understood.  The unit conducting the charge was a Sikh element of the Burma Frontier Force and was part of the Indian Army, although it's sometimes asserted that this unit was in the nature of paramilitary police.  The Frontier Force still exists today as part of the Pakistani Army.  That categorization, however, is probably improper, and the various unis of the Frontier Force did see extensive combat during the war.

The officer in command of the charge, Cpt. Arthur Sandeman, was an officer of the Central Indian Horse.  The battle at Taungoo itself was actually principally between the Chinese Nationalist Army, which had been given the task of defending Burma, and the Japanese.  Indeed, the charge occurred when the unit, which was actually a column of mounted infantry, not cavalry, mistook a Japanese unit for a Chinese one while on patrol.  The patrol accordingly went to close with what they thought were their Chinese allies when it turned into a charge by necessity.  Sandeman and most of his men were killed in the ensuing charge.

The Frontier Force was not the only cavalry unit involved in the battle, which would prove to be a Chinese defeat, as the Chinese had committed a motorized cavalry unit to the action.

It could well be argued, of course, that this charge was not a British one, although it was British led.

Malta, which had been besieged from the air for months, suffered its heaviest air raid today.

Entrapped German troops at Demyansk attempt a breakout.

Monday March 9, 1942. The Army Reorganizes.

On this day in 1942 George C. Marshall, no longer constrained by peacetime regulations, disbanded the positions of combat arms chiefs and transferred their individual authorities to the Army Ground Forces in a major reorganization of the U.S. Army.  The Army also created the Army Service Forces as part of the reorganization. 

Army Ground Forces Insignia.

The move broke the back of the individual authority of the various combat arms branches, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and made for a more unified Army.

Army Services Forces Insignia.

The move is sometimes misunderstood, particularly in connection with the Cavalry Branch, and indeed in histories of the Cavalry it's often described as the elimination of the Cavalry Branch.  It was not, but it did eliminate the position of Chief of Cavalry, which resulted in the immediate resignation of its head, John Knowles Herr.  While cavalry itself would continue to exist as a branch for the remainder of the war, without the office of Chief of Cavalry, the consolidation was the beginning of the end of the branch in its traditional, large scale, and equine, form.

We'll detail that a bit more later, but it is worth noting that this day not only was the creation of a much more contemporary structure for the U.S. Army, but it was also the end of branch chiefs, and the day that the last Chief of Cavalry retired.

Monday, March 6, 1922. The dawn of the cartoon magazine.

Maj. Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, eccentric cavalryman, at that time, and founder of D C Comics was photographed.

Wheeler-Nicholson came from an unusual family, and he was an unusual character.  He achieved success very early as a cavalryman in the U.S. Army, and then went on to command infantry in the US military mission to Siberia during World War One.  He became an author in this time period but he seems to have struck people the wrong way and ended up in disputes inside the Army, one of which lead to his court marshal during this time frame. Adding to his problems, he was shot by an Army sentry shortly after this in an incident in which the sentry through he was trying to enter another officer's home, but which his family maintained was an Army sanctioned assassination attempt (which it surely was not).

In 1923 he'd leave the Army and become a pulp fiction writer.  Ultimately, he founded a franchise which essentially created the modern cartoon magazine.  Nonetheless, he never really profited from his efforts and lived in financial straights the rest of his life.

Sunday January 11, 1942. Japan rolls on.

The Japanese declared war on Holland, which was already occupied by the Germans, but whose government in exile retained its overseas possessions.

They also landed troops on the Dutch East Indies, commencing their invasion of those Dutch holdings.

The Japanese had launched their war on the West in the name of resources, and their invasion of the oil rich East Indies had always been a principal target. They'd been fighting the Dutch Navy nearly since December 7, so none of this was a surprise. Their first target was Tarakan, an oil rich tiny island off of Borneo.  Later the same day they'd move on to the Celebes and land paratroopers at Kakas and Menado.

The actions raise a little noted but interesting point on the respective strengths and weaknesses of the Axis powers, and their relationship with each other.  Japan remained on the rise, showing the ability to really hit targets far from the home islands.  It's plan of knocking the U.S. Navy out of the war for a sufficiently long enough time to grab things appeared to be working perfectly.  At this point, it was truly achieving its war aims, and against Western powers.

Nazi Germany, however, was in trouble.  On this day, the Red Army captured German supply dumps at Sychevka and its 11th Cavalry Corps made a massive mounted charge through the German 9th Army.  Whether the Japanese noticed that its European ally was no longer achieving its war aims is unknown, but it wasn't.

Moreover, by grabbing Dutch possessions, and by already having effectively grabbed French ones, the Japanese were taking possessions that arguably could be claimed by its Axis allies and also-rans.  Oddly the French possession in Indochina had kowtowed to their defeated regime, but the Dutch ones had not as the Dutch government had not.

The East Indies would also prove to be an exception, somewhat embarrassingly, to the rule in regard to Japanese occupation.  The Japanese proved to be universally detested whatever they went in World War Two, except for the East Indies where their collaborationist government would not taint those who cooperated with it.  The reason was that the Dutch themselves were more detested than the Japanese, and for good reason. For those same reasons, following World War Two the British would not allow the Dutch back in. 

The British evacuated Kuala Lumpur.

A Japanese submarine 500 miles southeast of Oahu torpedoed the USS Saratoga, which made it back to Pearl Harbor under her own power.

German U-boats took up positions off of the American East coast for a planned submarine offensive.

Friday October 14, 1921. Horses and trains.

 

Cpt. R. R. Allen of the U.S. Army was photographed with a perfect cavalry pack.  A really fine example of the same, but with an interesting non GI saddle blanket.

On the same day, then Crown Prince but future Emperor of Japan, Hirohito, attended a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of railroads in Japan.

Monday, June 16, 1921. German consulates closed, Iceland occupied, Yeomanry patrol, Washington National opened.

The United States ordered all German consulates closed by July 10, 1941, along with all German news and propaganda organs.  The order did not apply to its embassy.

Today in World War II History—June 16, 1941

The US was clearly walking closer and closer to entry into the war.

In another example of that, the US commenced occupying Iceland, a Danish possession at that time (it'd declare independence in 1944).  This ends up being contrary to an earlier entry here, but this is likely the correct date for the commencement of the U.S. occupation of Iceland.  

This was done by way of a request from the United Kingdom which had been occupying the country, much to its discontent, both with its own troops as well as with Canadian ones.

Our earlier, and I believe mistake containing entry, stated the following:

4,000 Marines, a substantial number, arrived in Iceland to replace British troops garrisoning the country.

USS New York off of Reykjavik, July 1941.

Iceland had not regarded the British invasion of their island, done to keep the Germans from seizing it, as a favor.  US forces were not invited either, but were better tolerated under the circumstances.

The occupation remains controversial in Iceland today.  It lead to Icelandic independence and had a predictable economic development aspect for the island.  It also lead to cultural connections, of all types, with a group of people who were highly self isolated and who remain so to a degree today.

In a much warmer place, the Cheshire Yeomanry, a British Army reservists unit mobilized for the war, was photographed on patrol in Syria.

Winston Church accepted an honorary degree from Rochester University in the US and delivered a speech directed at an American audience from London, by radio.

A significant American airport opened on this day in 41.

July 16, 1941. The Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport opened.

It was the Washington National Airport in 1941.

The airport opened, obviously, just before the United States' entry into the Second World War, it's 1941 opening partially explained by a prohibition in airport funding that was lifted in 1938.

Washington National in 1944.

It was built on grounds near Arlington that had been part of a large plantation, but its location very much constrains it size, so it remains a shockingly small airport in spite of its signficance.

It was renamed for President Ronald Reagan in 1998.  

I've personally never flown into it, having landed at the nearby Baltimore airport once.

May 28, 1941. The ebb and flow of war.

The 9th Cavalry at Camp Funston, Kansas.  May 28, 1941.  Camp Funston is adjacent to Ft. Riley, and had been a major training base during World War One.  It had been reopened, as a tent city at this time, for training in the run up to World War Two.  The 9th Cavalry was one of two cavalry regiments in the U.S. Army whose enlisted men were all African Americans, the service still being segregated at this time.

The day after the successful Royal Navy sinking of the Bismarck, the news was less encouraging.

On this day in 1941, the British commenced evacuating Crete.  The British also lost the HMS Mashona off the coast of Galway in a Luftwaffe bomber attack.  The destroyer was a very new British vessel, having only entered service in 1939.

HMS Mashona.

French representatives signed the Paris Protocols allowing the Germans certain rights, including the right to cross Syria, in exchange for French prisoners of war being repatriated.  The agreement was never ratified by the French government.

 

May 30, 1920 Cérémonie du "Memorial Day" au Cimetière Américain de Suresnes, le 30 Mai 1920

Cérémonie du "Memorial Day" au Cimetière Américain de Suresnes, le 30 Mai 1920

February 23, 1920. The death of Maj. Gen. LeRoy Springs Lyon.

You've likely never heard of  him, and for that matter, I hadn't either.

Rather, I'm posting this item on Gen. Springs as he's interesting example of a World War One vintage U.S. senior officer whose military career was cut short by his premature death at age 53.

He entered the Army upon his graduation from West Point in 1891 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the cavalry, and assiged to the 7th Cavalry.  He was a scout, early on.

In 1898 he made the unusual choice to switch branches, something rarely done in the U.S. Army at the time, and went to Coastal Artillery School.  After graduating from the school, he was assigned as an aid to Gen. Royal T. Frank, and continued on in that role during the Spanish American War.  Following the war, he was transferred to the 2nd Artillery Regiment, in effect yet another branch switch from Coastal Artillery to Field Artillery, and commanded it in the field in Cuba from 1899 to 1900.  He later served in the Philippine Insurrection and in the Canal Zone before retunring ot the U.S in 1915, where he commanded Camp Bowie.  During the Great War he was in command of the 31st Division at first and then the 90th Division.

Like most brevetted generals, following the war the Major General returned to his permanent rank of Colonel and was assigned to command the Field Artillery Basic School which was located, at that time, in Camp Taylor, Kentucky.

His wife Harriet, whom he married in 1903, was ten years his junior and outlived him by forty-one years.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 1, 1919: Labor Strike and Reaction visits Wyoming.

On this day in 1919.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 1: 

1919  A contingent of the 15th Cavalry under the command of Major Warren Dean arrived at Ft. Mackenzie from Ft. D. A. Russell in order to deal with labor strife at Carneyville, near Sheridan.

It was a year for labor strife, and that strife was looking like it was going to visit Wyoming.  The strike itself was a nationwide coal strike.

At the time, a coal strike threatened the entire nation's well being. Everything from industry to home heat depended on coal.  And coal was a significant industry in Wyoming then, as now.

That other significant industry in the state in 1919, agriculture, celebrated the outdoor life in its December 1919 issue.

What was being shown on the cover wasn't really a very good idea.

August 19, 1919. Trouble on the road and a big welcome in Salt Lake City, Trouble on the Border.

Salt Lake City in 1908.

While plagued with mechanical troubles, the Motor Transport Convoy made good time, doing 73 miles from Ogden to Salt Lake City in 8.25 hours.  Upon arrival, the command was treated to a parade attended by dignitaries.

The large celebratory nature of the arrival reflects the fact that upon arriving in Salt Lake the command had arrived at the first substantial city since leaving Cheyenne in eastern Wyoming, or perhaps even since leaving Omaha in eastern Nebraska.  They were arriving toward the end of their trek and while perhaps the worst was yet to come, getting to Salt Lake was a major accomplishment.

While the arrival of the Motor Transport Convoy was obviously a big even in Salt Lake and elsewhere, the big news on that day is that American troops were back in Mexico.

The occasion had been the holding for ransom of two American military aviators. A portion of the ransom had been paid and then the 8th Cavalry crossed the border at Marfa in pursuit of the Mexican bandits.

Perhaps somewhat ironically, on the same day the U.S. re-adopted the briefly adopted star roundel for its aircraft.  It had done this early in World War One but abandoned it in favor of one more closely resembling the device used by the British and the French, which made sense at the time.  Now it re-adopted its earlier insignia, just in time for the aviators to join the pursuit of their own captors in support of the 8th Cavalry, although the insignia used by those aircraft is unknown to us.

Today In Wyoming's History: The Bates Battle, July 4, 1874

Today In Wyoming's History: The Bates Battle, July 4, 1874:

The Bates Battle, July 4, 1874

We were fortunately recently to be able to tour one of Wyoming's little known battlefields recently, thanks due to the local landowner who controls the road access letting us on.  We very much appreciate their generosity in letting us do so.

Our Jeep, which should have some clever nickname, but which does not.  Wrecked twice, and reassembled both times, it gets us where we want to go.  But we only go so far. We stopped after awhile and walked in.

The battlefield is the Bates Battlefield, which is on the National Registry of Historic landmarks, but which is little viewed. There's nothing there to tell you that you are at a battlefield. There are no markers or the like, like there is at Little Big Horn.  You have to have researched the area before you arrive, to know what happened on July 4, 1874, when the battle was fought.  And even at that, accounts are confusing.

Fortunately for the researcher, a really good write up of what is known was done when Historic Site status was applied for. Rather than try to rewrite what was put in that work, we're going to post it here.  So we start with the background.

And on to the confusion in the accounts, which we'd note is common even for the best known of Indian battles.  Indeed, maybe all of them.

The text goes on to note that the Arapaho raided into country that what was withing the recently established Shoshone Reservation, which we know as the Wind River Indian Reservation.  It also notes that this was because territories which the various tribes regarded as their own were fluid, and it suggest that a culture of raiding also played a potential part in that. In any event, the Shoshone found their reservation domains raided by other tribes.  Complaints from the Shoshone lead, respectively, to Camp Augur and Camp Brown being established, where are respectively near the modern towns of Lander and Ft. Washakie (which Camp Brown was renamed).

The immediate cause of the raid was the presence of Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne, and Sioux parties in the area in June and July 1874 that had an apparent intent to raid onto the Reservation.  Ironically, the Arapaho, who were involved in this battle, had separated themselves from the Cheyenne and the Sioux and had no apparent intent to participate in any such raids. They thereafter placed themselves in the Nowood River area.  Indian bands were known to be in the area that summer, and they were outside of those areas designated to them by the treaties of 1868.

Given this, Cpt. Alfred E. Bates, at Camp Brown, had sent scouts, including Shoshone scouts, into the field that summer to attempt to locate the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho bands.  On June 29, Shoshone scouts reported at Camp Brown that they'd sited an Arapaho village.  We here pick back up from the text:

The expedition took to the field on July 1, 1874, and remarkably, it traveled at night.

A few days later, they found what they were looking for.

Let's take a look at some of what Bates was seeing:

This is the valley which was below the ridge that Bates was traveling up, the night he found the Arapaho village when he passed it by.  It's not clear to me if he backtracked all the way back past this point and came back up this valley, or if he came from another direction.  Based upon the description, I suspect he rode all the way back and came up from this direction, but from the high ground, not down here in the valley.

Here's the spot that Bates referenced as being the area where two ravines joined.  Not surprisingly, in this wet year, the spot is fairly wet.  But to add to that, this area features a spring, known today, and probably dating back to the events of this battle, as Dead Indian Springs.  The "gentle slope" from which Cpt. Bates made his survey, is in the background.

And here we look up that second ravine, with its current denizens in view.

And here we see the prominent bluff opposite of where Cpt. Bates reconnoitered.  It was prominent indeed.

Bates chose to attack down the slope of the hill he was on, described above, with thirty troopers and twenty Shoshones.  At the same time, Lt. Young, meanwhile, attached down the valley from above it on the watercourse, in an apparent effort to cut the village off and achieve a flanking movement.

The slope down which Bates and his detail attacked, and the draw down which Young attacked.

The draw down which Young attacked.

The slope down which Bates attacked is depicted above.

The fighting was fierce and the Arapaho were surprised.  They put up a good account, however, and were even able to at least partially get mounted.  Chief Black Coal was wounded in the fighting and lost several fingers when shot while mounted.  The Arapaho defended the draw and the attack, quite frankly, rapidly lost the element of surprise and became a close quarters melee.

The slope down which Bates attacked.

The valley down which Young attacked.

High ground opposite from the slope down which Bates attacked.

Fairly quickly, the Arapaho began to execute the very move that Bates feared, and they retrated across the draw and started to move up the high ground opposite the direction that Bates had attacked from.  Young's flanking movement had failed.

The high ground.

The opposing bluff.

The opposing bluff.

Bates then withdrew.



Bates' command suffered four dead and five or six wounded, including Lt. Young.  His estimates for Arapaho losses were 25 Arapaho dead, but as he abandoned the field of battle, that can't be really verified.  Estimates for total Arapaho casualties were 10 to 125.  They definitely sustained some losses and, as noted, Chief Black Coal was wounded in the battle.



Bates was upset with the results of the engagement and placed the blame largely on the Shoshone, whom he felt were too noisy in the assault in the Indian fashion.  He also felt that they had not carried out his flanking instructions properly, although it was noted that the Shoshone interpreter had a hard time translating Bates English as he spoke so rapidly.  Adding to his problems, moreover, the soldiers fired nearly all 80 of their carried .45-70 rifle cartridges during the engagement and were not able to resupply during the battle as the mules were unable to bring ammunition up.  This meant that even if they had not disengaged for other reasons, they were at the point where a lock of ammunition would have hampered any further efforts on their part in any event (and of course they would have been attacking uphill).



After the battle the Arapaho returned to the Red Cloud Agency. Seeing how things were going after Little Big Horn, they came onto the Wind River Reservation in 1877 for the winter on what was supposed to be a temporary basis, and they remain there today.  They were hoping for their own reservation in Wyoming, but they never received it.  Black Coal went on the reservation with him, and portraits of him show him missing two fingers on his right hand.  His people soon served on the Reservation as its policemen.  He himself lived until 1893.



Alfred E. Bates, who had entered the Army as a private at the start of the Civil War at age 20.  Enlisting in the Michigan state forces, he soon attracted the attention of a politician who secured for him an enrollment at West Point, where he graduated in the Class of 1865. He missed service in the Civil War but soon went on to service on the plains. His name appears on two Wyoming geographic localities.  He rose to the rank of Major General and became Paymaster of the Army, dying in 1909 of a stroke.

Blog Mirror: Traveling With the Ninth Cavalry

Traveling With the Ninth Cavalry

The Mexican Border War: The Third Battle of Ciudad Juarez. June 15-16, 1919 Part 3.

The Juarez racetrack on June 16, 1919.  The large hole in the cupola was caused by it being hit by American artillery.

And with this, the story of the United States and the Mexican Revolution, which we started following nearly daily with the 1916 Columbus Raid, and which became as story which bled into World War One, while not definitively over, is significantly over.

As we saw first on June 14, the Villistas launched their anticipated attack on Juarez very late in the night of June 14.  That attack first met with success, but by morning the Villistas had been pushed back.  American forces that had moved up in anticipation of crossing the Rio Grande accordingly went back into Ft. Bliss.

Those troops were soon back out.  Villa's renewed attack was proving successful and the troops reassembled to cross the Rio Grande.  This time they also brought up two armored gun trucks, the first time they'd been used by the U.S. Army in this locality.  Searchlights were also deployed to illuminate Juarez's streets and buildings in the night.

As the battle raged in Juarez shots inevitably began landing in El Paso, wounding and killing American civilians.  At first the Americans held their fire, but ultimately after taking a few casualties the U.S. Army intervened.  The final blow for the U.S. Army was when Pvt. Salvatore Fusco was killed by Villista sniper fire and Pvt. Burchard F. Casey was wounded.  With that, the American troops were ordered across the border to restore order.  The armored gun trucks crossed the Santa Fe Bridge followed by the 24th Infantry Regiment.  The 5th and 7th Cavalry, under Col. Tommy Tomkins, crossed the Rio Grande directly and moved to the western part of the city with the goal of creating a pincer movement in which Villa would be caught.  Near the Juarez racetrack the infantry encountered withdrawing Constitutionalist who informed them that the Villistas were dug in at the racetrack, which the 82nd Artillery then shelled.  Cavalry advanced from the east on the racetrack but encountered no Villista forces.

 Pvt. Salvatore Fusco.

At daybreak, the Cavalry returned to the river to water their horses and then moved south into Mexico in hopes of assaulting Villa's base.

They did in fact locate it, shell it and then assault it.  However, the Villistas, while at first surprised while eating breakfast, rapidly abandoned the camp, leaving their wounded as well as horses, mules and equipment.

The American infantry remained in Juarez itself while this was going on and received a protest from the Constitutionalist forces for entering the country without invitation, which was ironic under the situation as they were outnumbered and well on their way to defeat at the time that the Americans intervened.  Indeed, they speant the rest of the battle in their barracks.  The Americans soon  nonetheless withdrew, deeming their mission accomplished.   Three Americans were killed in the battle, Pvt. Fusco, Pvt. Anthony Cunningham of the 24th Infantry and Sgt. Pete Chigas of the 7th Cavalry.

Col. Tommy Tomkins in Juarez, whose brother Frank Tomkins had led American cavalry across the border following the Columbus Raid, and who lead the U.S. Cavalry contingent across the border in the Battle of Juarez. The Tomkins effectively bookended the Border War.

The battle was not only the last battle of the Border War, it was the last battle to be fought by Pancho Villa.  He did not retire thereafter, but instead actually conducted areal warfare through an air corps formed in his service. Although he remained very resentful against the US intervention in the battle, as well as of course earlier American intervention in the Mexican Revolution, he never participated in another battle against American troops and he was not really capable of doing so after the Battle of Juarez.  Villistas may have raided in Arizona as late as 1920, when some Mexican forces attacked Ruby Arizona, but the loyalty of those troops is not known.

Funeral procession for Pvt. Fusco.

While the battle didn't result in Villa's capture and it didn't fully end his activities, for all practical purposes he was done for.  So in a way, the 1919 battle achieved what the 1916 intervention had not.  Villa was effectively destroyed as a force in the field.  Once again, the U.S. Army was frustrated in a desire to capture Villa, but it didn't really matter.  Villa, while sufficiently resurgent to have mounted such a campaign, was not the force he had been earlier in the Mexican Revolution even if the Constituionalist forces in Juarez proved inadequate to contest him.  The American reaction to his presence in Juarez, justified by American troops being in harm's way, ended his career as a serious contender in the Mexican Revolution.