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 Jun 1944: Over southern England, United Kingdom, No. 3 Squadron RAF added a further 15 "kills" to their tally and 91 Squadron at ALG (Advance Landing Ground) Deanland accounted for a further 11. Flight Officer Ken Collier RAAF flying a Spitfire XIV aircraft became the first pilot to bring down a V-1 bomb by tipping it over using his wingtip. Pilots of the fighter Squadrons were now demanding that areas of defence be made as regards anti-aircraft batteries as some pilots had experienced friendly fire.

» 13 Mar 1942: The British submarine HMS Taurus (P 339) sank the French tug Ghrib and the lighter Labillon with gunfire off Cassis, southern France.

» 11 Jul 1940: A meeting between Admiral Erich Raeder and Adolf Hitler took place at the Obersalzberg, Berchtesgaden, Germany where matters of how things were in Norway and Hitler's plans for that area were made clear. How to continue the war against Britain was discussed and again Hitler made it clear of his aims and that no invasion was to take place until all efforts had been made to bring the British government to sue for peace. However, within the next few days Hitler would change his mind.

» 30 May 1940: The Devonia, a side paddle steamer that had previously been requisitioned by the British Admiralty, came under heavy artillery fire and bombs from Stuka dive bombers as she approached the embarkation jetty by the beaches at Dunkerque, France. The ship had to be abandoned and beached. Her wreckage is still to be found on the beach.

» 29 Mar 1945: The 1,370-ton Canadian River-class frigate HMCS Teme (K 458) was torpedoed and fatally damaged by German submarine U-315 just off Land's End, England, United Kingdom. The frigate lost 60 feet of her stern and was towed to Falmouth, Cornwall, England and was declared a total loss.

» 6 Jul 1944: The Heinkel aircraft of German III/KG3 launched 8 V-1 flying bombs into England, United Kingdom during the night. This squadron lost two planes during take off from their base at Rosi?res, France when they collided on the runway, one crew member was killed. 418 Squadron RAF, flying Mosquito VI aircraft, brought down 12 flying bombs most of them over the cliffs of Beachy Head on the East Sussex coast, while further south after dark, 605 Squadron, flying the Mosquito VI night fighters, shot down 7. Night fighter pilots asked that the aircraft be fitted with dark glass visors as the explosion of the V-1 bomb in the air in front of the attacking aircraft was temporally blinding the pilot and navigator.

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