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.

» 25 Feb 1941: Royal Navy submarine HMS Regent (Lieutenant Commander H.C. Browne, RN) attacked a southbound enemy convoy north-west of Tripoli, Libya. Two torpedoes were fired at one of the merchant vessels but they both missed. The convoy attacked was made up by German merchant vessels Ankara (4,768 tons), Marburg (7,564 tons), Kybfels (7,764 tons) and Reichenfels (7,744 tons). They were escorted by the Italian destroyers Aviere, Geniere and the torpedo boat Castore.

» 23 Aug 1940: British destroyer HMS Hostile (H55) hit a mine 10 miles east of Cape Bon, Tunisia at 0317 hours, killing 5 and wounding 3. The mine was laid by Italian destroyer Maestrale during the night of 8-9 Aug 1940. After the survivors were taken aboard by destroyers HMS Hero and HMS Mohawk, HMS Hero (H99) scuttled Hostile with torpedoes.

» 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.

» 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.

» 2 Feb 1942: Two British Trawlers under Admiralty Control were bombed and sunk off the River Humber estuary, north-eastern England, United Kingdom. The 356-ton British trawler Cape Spartel was commanded by T/Lt. John Richard Grundy, RNR and the 324-ton Cloughton Wyke (Pennant No. 4446) were both sunk during an attack by German bombers. The skipper of Cloughton Wyke, Charles Seymour Larter, RNR survived the attack although wounded, he survived the war and was commander of HMS Hildina (FY 451) a Trawler/minesweeper. Both Trawlers were armed with a 12-pounder anti-aircraft gun at the time of the attack. John Grundy also survived and went on to command three different minesweepers.

» 25 Jun 1944: A V-1 bomb struck the eastern side of Victoria Station, London, England, United Kingdom as the train crews were arriving in the early morning; 17 were killed, including six men on fire watch. A further 8 Londoners were killed when V-1 bombs landed in Deptford and 7 fatalities occurred in Kepler Road, Clapham. A pub, The Freemason's Arms, and 50 houses were badly damaged in Camberwell. Nine V-1 bombs were shot down by 3 Squadron RAF and 10 by 486 Squadron (RNZAF). During the evening the flying bombs were aimed at Southampton, most landed on or around the Isle of Wight.

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