The Battle of Hattin

The battle took place in the Galilee near Tiberias in present day Israel. The battlefield, near the town of Hittin, had as its chief geographic feature a double hill (the "Horns of Hattin") beside a pass through the northern mountains between Tiberias and the road from Acre to the west. The Darb al-Hawarnah road, built by the Romans, served as the main east-west passage between the Jordan fords, the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean coast.

Saladin's final invasion was triggered by the actions of Reynald of Chatillon. Reynald had first arrived in the Holy Land with the Second Crusade, and had decided to stay and make his fortune in the east. His behaviour demonstrated one of the main problems facing the crusader states. The established crusader barons had realised that to survive they needed to live on peaceful terms with their Muslim neighbours for as long as possible. However, to maintain their numbers they needed to attract new crusaders from the west, and these new crusaders were much less willing to live peacefully with the infidels that they had come to fight. Reynald had had an eventful career in the east, and by 1187 he had been lord of Oultrejourdain, on the south eastern edge of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, for over a decade. From his base at Kerak he had repeated broken treaties with Saladin, attacking trade caravans, and once mounting a naval raid into the red sea, attacking the ports of Medina and Mecca. This outrage enraged Saladin, and triggered an unsuccessful invasion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Horns of Hattin, as viewed from the east

Now, at the end of 1186, and with the Kingdom in desperate need of a few years of peace to restore order, Reynald committed another outrage. As a huge caravan travelling north from Cairo passed through Frankish lands, under the protection of treaty, Reynald launched an attack on it, killing the guards, stealing the trade goods, and taking the merchants hostage. Saladin first attempted to act within the terms of the treaty, and sent envoys demanding the return of the merchants and their goods, first to Reynald, who ignored them, and then on to King Guy, who listened to them and agreed that they were in the right. However, he was far too dependant of Reynald for his power, and could not take the risk of an attack on his main ally. The envoys returned unsatisfied, and war was now inevitable.

Once it was clear that war was looming, the weakness and dissention of the crusader states became apparent. Bohemond of Antioch renewed an already existing truce, while Raymond of Tripoli rushed to make a new one. Significantly, this truce was extended to cover this wife's principality of Galilee, actually part of the kingdom of Jerusalem. The true impact of this division came in April. King Guy summoned his allies and marched into Galilee, hoping to crush all resistance before Saladin could launch his invasion. However, at the same time Saladin's son decided to launch an armed reconnaissance into Palestine. Obeying the terms of their truce, he sent envoys to Raymond to ask for free passage, and with great embarrassment, Raymond had to agree. On 1 May, a force of 7000 mamluk cavalry marched into Galilee, where they encountered the a force of Knights Templers, who despite being hugely outnumbered charged to the attack, and were almost entirely wiped out, with only three escaping. News of this disaster finally healed the split between Raymond and Guy. Raymond renounced his treaty with Saladin, and submitted to Guy, who accepted him with good grace. In contrast to this chaos, Saladin had been carefully gathering together his army, eventually gathering a force of some 20,000 men, forming the largest army he had ever commanded. Despite their arguments, the crusaders were able to raise a force of almost the same size. At this point there was nothing to suggest that a disaster was about to occur. The crusaders had defeated similar invasions by refusing to risk battle and occupying well supplied positions, while their enemies armies wilted away in the sun. This had happened four years before, and Saladin had been forced to withdraw without battle.

Artistic representation of Saladin

On 1 July Saladin crossed the Jordan. He attacked Tiberias, capturing the town and besieging the castle. Despite strong advice to remain at Acre, Guy was persuaded to march inland towards Tiberias. Even then, not all was lost. On 2 July the crusaders camped at Sephoria, where they had a good water supply and the best of the terrain. Although most of the knights spoke for moving on, Raymond of Tripoli himself, whose wife was defending Tiberias was strongly against such a move, arguing that Saladin would not be able to attack their position, while reinforcements from Antioch were expected, and when the council ended it appeared that he had won the day. Sadly for the crusader cause, Guy was easy to persuade, and after the council broke up the Grand Master of the Temple managed to change his mind. The next day the crusaders marched east along a barren, waterless road, under constant harassment by Saladin's skirmishers, and the crusaders soon suffered from thirst. By mid afternoon the crusaders reached the horns of Hattin, a barren hill top overlooking the village. Despite urgent calls to fight to the lake that afternoon, Guy decided to halt the march. This move has been criticised, but it is likely that the army was too drained to risk a fight. Moreover, the eventual campsite did have a well, and was probably picked for this. Unfortunately, the well was dry. While Saladin and his army spend the night in the well watered valley, the crusaders spent the night in misery on the dry hill top.

The battle itself was now something of a foregone conclusion. At dawn on 4 July, the crusader army found itself surround on the hill top. In normal circumstances this move would have been a mistake for Saladin, as the crusader army was quite close to his in numbers, and would have been able to punch a hole in the weakened Muslim cordon, but after a day and a night without water the crusader army had lost much of it's cohesion. The infantry broke from the army and made a desperate attempt to reach water, but failed, and were soon destroyed. The crusader cause was now doomed. The trapped knights fought with great determination, but were steadily forced back towards the summit. An attempt to force a breakthrough led by Raymond of Tripoli was foiled when Saladin's army simply opened a gap to let them through. Stuck on the outside of the battle there was nothing they could do, and so they escaped back to Tripoli. Those left on the hill fought to exhaustion, but eventually were forced to surrender. Saladin's triumph appeared to be complete. He had captured King Guy, along with Reynald of Chatillon and most of the great barons of the Kingdom, as well as capturing the Holy Cross. The prisoners were all well treated, apart from Reynald of Chatillon, whose foolish raids had led to the defeat, and for whole Saladin felt such hatred that he personally beheaded him.

The Battle of Hattin, from a medieval manuscript

Defeat at Hattin saw the effective destruction of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. With the King in his hands, and the army destroyed, Saladin was able to capture city after city. Tiberias surrendered quickly, Acre on 10 June and finally on 2 October, Jerusalem itself surrendered.

The Attack On Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by the Japanese navy, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, resulting in the United States becoming involved in World War II. It was intended as a preventive action to remove the US Pacific Fleet as a factor in the war Japan was about to wage against Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States.

Pearl Harbor on 30 October 1941

At 03:42, Hawaiian Time, hours before commanding Admiral Chuichi Nagumo began launching strike aircraft, the minesweeper USS Condor spotted a midget submarine outside the harbor entrance and alerted destroyer USS Ward. Ward was initially unsuccessful in locating the target. Hours later, Ward fired America's first shots in the Pacific theater of WWII when she attacked and sank a midget submarine, perhaps the same one, at 06:37. Five midget submarines had been assigned to torpedo U.S. ships after the bombing started. None of these returned, and only four have since been found. Of the ten sailors aboard, nine died; the only survivor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured, becoming the first Japanese prisoner of war.

Aboard a Japanese carrier before the attack on Pearl Harbor, crew members cheer departing pilots.

First Wave
The first attack wave launched north of Oʻahu, commanded by Captain Mitsuo Fuchida.

• 1st Group - targets: battleships and aircraft carriers, (50 Nakajima B5Ns armed with 800 kg armor piercing bombs, in four sections. 40 B5Ns armed with Type 91 torpedoes, also in four sections).
• 2nd Group - targets: Ford Island and Wheeler Field, (55 Aichi D3As armed with 249 kg general purpose bombs).
• 3rd Group - targets: aircraft at Ford Island, Hickam Field, Wheeler Field, Barber’s Point, Kaneohe, (45 A6Ms for air control and strafing. Each of the aerial waves started with the bombers and ended with the fighters to deter pursuit).

Zeroes preparing to take off from Shokaku for Pearl Harbor

Several U.S. aircraft were shot down as the first wave approached land; one at least radioed a somewhat incoherent warning. Other warnings from ships off the harbor entrance were still being processed, or awaiting confirmation, when the planes began bombing and strafing. Nevertheless, it is not clear any warnings would have had much effect even if they had been interpreted correctly and much more promptly. The air portion of the attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time (3:18 a.m. December 8 Japanese Standard Time, as kept by ships of the Kido Butai), with the attack on Kaneohe. A total of 353 Japanese planes in two waves reached Oʻahu. Slow, vulnerable torpedo bombers led the first wave, exploiting the first moments of surprise to attack the most important ships present (the battleships), while dive bombers attacked U.S. air bases across Oʻahu, starting with Hickam Field, the largest, and Wheeler Field, the main U.S. Army Air Corps fighter base. The 171 planes in the second wave attacked the Air Corps' Bellows Field near Kaneohe on the windward side of the island, and Ford Island. The only air opposition came from a handful of P-36 Hawks and P-40 Warhawks.

Bombers preparing to take off

Men aboard U.S. ships awoke to the sounds of alarms, bombs exploding, and gunfire prompting bleary eyed men into dressing as they ran to General Quarters stations. (The famous message, "Air raid Pearl Harbor. This is not drill.", was sent from the headquarters of Patrol Wing Two, the first senior Hawaiian command to respond.) The defenders were very unprepared. Ammunition lockers were locked, aircraft parked wingtip to wingtip in the open to deter sabotage, guns unmanned (none of the Navy's 5"/38 AA and only a quarter of its machine guns, and only four of 31 Army batteries got in action). Despite this and low alert status, many American military personnel responded effectively during the battle.

B-17 after the attack on Hickam Field

Second Wave
The second wave consisted of 54 B5Ns, 81 D3As, and 36 A6Ms, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Shigekazu Shimazaki.

• 1st Group - 54 B5Ns armed with 249 kg and 54 kg general purpose bombs, (27 B5Ns — aircraft and hangars on Kaneohe, Ford Island, and Barbers Point,27 B5N - hangars and aircraft on Hickam Field).
• 2nd Group - targets: aircraft carriers and cruisers, (81 D3As armed with 249 kg general purpose bombs, in four sections).
• 3rd Group - targets: aircraft at Ford Island, Hickham Field, Wheeler Field, Barber’s Point, Kaneohe, (36 A6Ms for defense and strafing).

USS West Virginia took two aerial bombs and seven torpedo hits; of the seven at least five were from aircraft and one from a midget submarine

The second wave was divided into three groups. One was tasked to attack Kāneʻohe, the rest Pearl Harbor proper. The separate sections arrived at the attack point almost simultaneously, from several directions. Ninety minutes after it began, the attack was over. 2,386 Americans died (55 were civilians, most killed by unexploded American anti-aircraft shells landing in civilian areas), a further 1,139 wounded. Eighteen ships were sunk, including five battleships.

A photo taken from a Japanese plane during the attack shows vulnerable American battleships

Of the American fatalities, nearly half of the total were due to the explosion of USS Arizona's forward magazine after it was hit by a modified 40 cm (16in) shell. Already damaged by a torpedo and on fire forward, Nevada attempted to exit the harbor. She was targeted by many Japanese bombers as she got under way, sustaining more hits from 113 kg bombs as she was deliberately beached to avoid blocking the harbor entrance. USS California was hit by two bombs and two torpedoes. The crew might have kept her afloat, but were ordered to abandon ship just as they were raising power for the pumps. Burning oil from Arizona and West Virginia drifted down on her, and probably made the situation look worse than it was. The disarmed target ship USS Utah was holed twice by torpedoes. USS West Virginia was hit by seven torpedoes, the seventh tearing away her rudder. USS Oklahoma was hit by four torpedoes, the last two above her belt armor, which caused her to capsize. USS Maryland was hit by two of the converted 40 cm shells, but neither caused serious damage.

USS California sinking

Although the Japanese concentrated on battleships (the largest vessels present), they did not ignore other targets. The light cruiser USS Helena was torpedoed, and the concussion from the blast capsized the neighboring minelayer USS Oglala. Two destroyers in dry dock were destroyed when bombs penetrated their fuel bunkers. The leaking fuel caught fire; flooding the dry dock in an effort to fight fire made the burning oil rise, and so the ships were burned out. The light cruiser USS Raleigh was holed by a torpedo. The light cruiser USS Honolulu was damaged but remained in service. The destroyer USS Cassin capsized, and destroyer USS Downes was heavily damaged. The repair vessel USS Vestal, moored alongside Arizona, was heavily damaged and beached. The seaplane tender USS Curtiss was also damaged. USS Shaw was badly damaged when two bombs penetrated her forward magazine.

The USS Shaw explodes during the Japanese air raid

Of the 402 American aircraft in Hawaii, 188 were destroyed and 159 damaged, 155 of them on the ground. Almost none were actually ready to take off to defend the base. Of 33 PBYs in Hawaii, 24 were destroyed, and six others damaged beyond repair. (The three on patrol returned undamaged.) Friendly fire brought down several U.S. planes on top of that, including some from an inbound flight from USS Enterprise. Japanese attacks on barracks killed additional personnel.

Hangar in Ford Island burns

Fifty-five Japanese airmen and nine submariners were killed in the action. Of Japan's 414 available planes, 29 were lost during the battle (nine in the first attack wave, 20 in the second), with another 74 damaged by antiaircraft fire from the ground.

USS Arizona sinking during the attack

Overall, nine ships of the U.S. fleet were sunk and twenty-one ships were severely damaged. Three of the twenty-one would be irreparable. The overall death toll reached 2,350, including 68 civilians, and 1,178 injured. Of the military personnel lost at Pearl Harbor, 1,177 were from the Arizona.

USS Pennsylvania, behind the wreckage of the USS Downes and USS Cassin.

USS Arizona Memorial

The Battle of Stalingrad

Stalingrad was known as Tsaritsyn until 1925 and as Volgograd since 1961. The results of these operations are often cited as one of the turning points of the war in the European Theater and was one of the the bloodiest battles in human history, with combined casualties estimated to be above 1.5 million. The battle was marked by brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties by both sides. The battle of Stalingrad was fought between the invading forces of Nazi Germany and the forces of Soviet Union who were defending the city. The battle was fought from August 1942 to February of 1943.

Stalingrad city harbour in Summer 1942

In May of 1942, Hitler began operation BLUE whose objective was to capture southern oil fields. Later in May Stalin began to allow his troops to retreat which overrided his famous earlier order, “Not one step back!” Also by this point the Russian soldiers heard of the horrible POW camps and now preferred to die in battle than be captured. Both of these factors reduced the number of Russian soldiers that were captured during the war. In July the German 6th Army, led by Paulus, advanced toward Stalingrad. At the same time Russian General Chuikov also moved toward Stalingrad to help General Zhukov who was in charge of the defenses of Stalingrad. Despite the German army’s huge losses Hitler was determined to take Stalingrad. Stalin did not want to let it fall especially because it was named after himself. Hitler wanted the city not only because it dominated the Caucasus and its oil fields, but also for its symbolic and propaganda value. He also believed that if he took Stalingrad it would eventually lead to the destruction of the Soviet Union.

German soldier behind a disable Soviet tank

The battle of Stalingrad began on August 23, 1942 at 6:00 P.M. when one thousand German planes dropped incendiary bombs on the city. Air raids such as these were very destructive especially since many buildings were made out of wood. One raid of 600 planes killed an estimated 40,000 civilians. That same day the German army arrived in the suburbs of Stalingrad. The first attacks by the German panzers were taken by a single division of troops and some workers from a nearby factory. When the German soldiers entered the city they found the ruins from their bombings. They were surprised to find any life left in the city. Many small battles erupted soon afterwards. The German army encountered fierce resistance from not only the determined soldiers of the Red Army, but also from the patriotic civilians as well. Hitler had already claimed victory just as Napoleon had in 1812, but this battle was far from over.

A burning city from left bank of Volga

Fighting was harsh and neither side made many gains. Even with the great efforts of the Soviet forces they were losing ground. The fighting was still severe even though the Russians were out numbered. A hill known as Mamaev’s Mound changed sides at least eight times during the battle. Battles were even fought in the sewers. Many of the tense battles were fought near the Central Train Station were Soviet guardsmen barricaded the train cars against German attackers. The German Luftwaffe was making thousands of attacks a day and their artillery bombarded the city so to neutralize this, General Chuikov ordered his forces to remain very close to the German troops so that German airstrikes would endanger their own forces. The city was surrounded by German forces. For Russian reinforcements to arrive they would have to cross the Volga river while under German fire. Witnesses said that on some days the river would turn red with the blood of the dead soldiers. Fighting was continual and never stopped. Sometimes it might slow down, but minutes later it would start again with new energy.

Street fighting in Stalingrad.

The overpowered Soviets had been driven back and Germany occupied 80% of the city. Because often the two sides would be very close to each other, hand to hand fighting was very common. Many battles were fought with knives and bayonets. Bodies piled up in the streets and the city became a hellhole as one German lieutenant said, “Stalingrad is no longer a town. By day it is an enormous cloud of burning, blinding smoke; it is a vast furnace lit by the reflection of the flames...Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure.”. The battles were dominated by infantry because tanks had a difficult time maneuvering through the ruins. The deployment of tanks in the city was a serious error as they were virtually useless and they would not be available as a reserve force in case of a Soviet counterattack.

Soviet soldiers heading to the front lines.

After a few months of fighting, several events put pressure on Germany in Africa. On November 5th 1942 the German General Rommel had been defeated at El Alamein in Egypt, and on the 8th the Allies had landed in Morocco and Algeria which threatened the Axis on a new front. These two events coincided with General Zhukov’s plan to unleash a reserve force. Secretly being built up was a force of a million men, 14,000 heavy guns, 1,000 tanks, and 1,350 aircraft. The flanks of the German force were guarded by inferior allied divisions. These forces were weaker and they didn’t have anti-tank defenses or armored units. The Russians planned to exploit this weakness in an offensive known as Operation Uranus. The Soviets did an excellent job of concealing their plans and the Axis forces were caught totally off guard. Only Romanian units suspected anything but the German command ignored them.

Soviet anti tank team.

On November 19th 1942 a massive Russian attack surprised and overran the Romanian Third army which exposed the left flank of the German Sixth Army. A day later another attack destroyed a mixed force composed of Germans and Romanians, that protected the right flank of the German Sixth Army. Four days later Russian assault groups joined up and now General Paulus and his army, the same one that had taken Paris in 1940, was cut off from supply lines. 280,000 German troops had been surrounded by the Russians in only a few days. The German Army High Command begged Hitler to allow Paulus to retreat while he still could. The Luftwaffe Chief Herman Goering claimed that he could fly in 500 tons of supplies a day to the surrounded Sixth Army, which would be enough to keep it going. Hitler agreed to this and on November 22nd 1942 he ordered Paulus to fortify his position and wait for reinforcements to arrive. General Manstein arrived with reinforcements and told Paulus to join up with him. Paulus refused because he didn’t have a direct order from Hitler to do so. Manstein’s force was driven off and now Paulus and his army were alone, surrounded, and at the mercy of the Russians and the cold winter.

Bloodly attack.

Since Hitler had believed that this offensive would not take too long, and since it was started in the summer the soldiers were not provided with winter clothes. They were running low on supplies thanks to the lack of supplies being delivered by the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe could only fly in about 100 tons a day while they needed over 500. Only one day did the airlift provide enough supplies. The planes brought wounded soldiers home and they also brought mail from the soldiers bidding farewell to the people they knew in Germany because they knew they would die. When General Paulus saw the miserable conditions his soldiers were in, he sent someone to plead with Hitler. In response Hitler told him to hold out and that reinforcements would arrive. Conditions were miserable. Temperatures dropped to negative 30 degrees Celsius. Because of the lack of supplies the daily ration for soldiers was dropped from an already low 100 grams of bread a day, to 50 grams a day. German soldiers had to slaughter their horses for food and then later they had to dig up the horses bones to eat.

German tank on fire

On January 8th 1943 the Russians demanded that the Germans surrender, but they refused and two days later the Russians attacked. Paulus radioed to Hitler that it was hopeless, but Hitler insisted that Paulus would not surrender. By the 25th of January 1943, the Russians took the last German airfield thus totally cutting off the flow of supplies. By this point the German army was almost out of food and ammunition. Thousands of soldiers were wounded but couldn’t be helped because there were no medical supplies.

Attack on a factory in Stalingrad.

On January 31st, 1943 Hitler promoted Paulus to field marshal and reminded Paulus that never in Germany’ s history had a field marshal surrendered. Hitler urged Paulus to commit suicide to
avoid the dishonor of having to surrender from happening, but instead Paulus finally surrendered on February 2nd, 1943. The Russians took over 110,000 prisoners including 24 generals. In the whole battle of Stalingrad over 400,000 German soldiers died. The defeat at Stalingrad went further than casualties and captured soldiers, but it also ended the German campaign in Russia. It also showed that the Germans could be beaten at their own game.

Soviet soldiers lead German POWs past the famous Stalingrad Grain Silo in February 1943

The aftermath of the Battle of Stalingrad

The 85-meter-tall statue of Mother Motherland crowns the Mamayev Kurgan