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.

» 9 Jan 1940: The British submarine HMS Starfish (N19) attacked a German minesweeper off the German North Sea coast in the Heligoland Bight. However this attack failed because, due to drill error, the torpedoes remained stuck in the tubes. She returned for second attack but the hydroplanes jammed and the commanding officer Lieutenant Thomas Turner decided to remain under water at the depth of about 27 metres for the remainder of day to carry out repairs. The German minesweeper M-7 located her and dropped 2 depth charges which did no damage. At 1050 hours one of the electricians asked for permission to restart one of the Sperry motors to prevent the gyro from wandering, and the request was granted. No sooner the motor started, 4 depth charges rained on top of the boat, fairly close aboard, causing widespread damage. At 1440 hours another depth charge attack was carried out, 20 of these falling fairly close to the hull, shearing rivets and starting plates which began leaking. By 1800 hrs the situation inside was serious, the engine room crankcases and starboard main motor bearings were flooded, the torpedo trenches and bilges were full, water was pouring through the starboard engine clutch and lapping the starboard main motor casing. HMS Starfish laid on the bottom until Lieutenant Turner, having formed the opinion the enemy was not likely to leave the vicinity in the near future, gave the order to surface at 1820 hours. In order to accomplish this, the submarine was forced to drop the ballast keel, barely making it due to loss of high pressure air and water in the hull, coming up at a 45-degree angle. She sank very shortly after with no loss among the crew, which was picked up by the waiting ships and taken as prisoners of war.

» 18 Apr 1945: The column of prisoners of war that SS-Feldgendarmerie personnel forced out of Marlag und Milag Nord prisoners of war camp in Westertimke, Germany on 2 Apr 1945 crossed the River Elbe near Hamburg, Germany.

» 8 Apr 1943: The 14,500-ton American tanker Kanawha, damaged by Japanese aerial attack and beached on the west side of Tulagi in the Solomon Islands to prevent sinking, nevertheless slid off into the deep water and sank before dawn.

» 12 Mar 1941: The 7,005-ton British cargo steamer Empire Frost was bombed and damaged by German aircraft in the Irish Sea.

» 25 Jun 1941: The 2,154-ton British cargo steamer Dashwood was making for Sunderland, northeast England, United Kingdom in ballast when she was bombed and sunk by German aircraft off Cromer on the Norfolk coast.

» 4 Oct 1939: HMS Acheron (H 45) disembarked the survivors of Belgian merchant steamer Suzon, which was sunk by German submarine U-35 three days earlier, at Brest, France.

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