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 881 entries in the WW2 Timeline. A small sample of his timeline contributions is shown below.

» 14 Apr 1944: British freighter Samuta rescued 38 survivors of American Liberty Ship Richard Hovey, which was sunk by Japanese submarine I-26 in the Arabian Sea on 29 Mar 1944.

» 22 Jun 1940: At 1804 hours, German submarine U-65 reported the sinking of an unescorted tanker of 7,000 tons with a spread of two G7e torpedoes about 70 miles southwest of Penmarch in the Bay of Biscay. The ship was immediately covered in burning oil and apparently broke in two before it sank. The ship was the 7,011-ton French tanker Monique.

» 1 Aug 1944: On completing an anti-diver patrol against V-1 flying bombs, Flight Lieutenant F. Wiza's Yellow Section of 306 Squadron (Polish) RAF received a warning that they were 10 miles off the English coast and were vectored into a "safe lane" away from anti-aircraft batteries; as the Mustang III fighters crossed the coast they found themselves under intense fire; fortunately no aircraft were hit. 96 Squadron lost a Mosquito aircraft and crew whilst the night fighter was landing in bad weather and visibility; Flight Officer Ray Ball and his navigator Flight Officer Fred Saunders were both killed as was Leading Aircraftman Charlie Allen on the ground.

» 27 Jun 1940: The destroyer HMS Versatile (D 32) (Commander J.H. Jauncey, RN (retired)) picked up 13 survivors from the British special service vessel HMS Cape Howe about 150 nautical miles off Ushant, France. The Q-ship, disguised as the Prunella, had been torpedoed and sunk on 21 Jun 1940 by German submarine U-28.

» 2 Mar 1940: The British submarine HMS Proteus (Lieutenant Commander R. T. Gordon-Duff, RN) departed from Hong Kong for her first war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off Vladivostok, Russia.

» 18 Aug 1944: Flight Lieutenant Brian Williams of 605 Squadron RAF flying his Mosquito VI fighter from RAF Manston brought down 2 V-1 flying bombs on his patrol bringing his total to 5 in just two weeks of action. A typically economic report entered by pilots on patrol was written by Flight Lieutenant K. A. Roediger of 456 squadron RAAF: "23.24hrs attacked Diver astern, height 1,200ft, speed 360 mph fired at range of 1,200 feet. Target dived straight in and exploded on ground."

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