MHM 84 – September 2017

1 min read

The September issue of Military History Monthly, the British military history magazine, is now on sale.

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In this issue:

FIRE IN THE SKIES: Zeppelins, Gothas, and the birth of strategic bombing

From the Italian bombardment of Ottoman-held Libya in 1911 to German air-raids over London in 1918, our special this month looks at the birth of a game-changing development in warfare: strategic bombing.

In our first feature, David Porter analyses the technology and thinking behind the first aerial bombing campaigns. In the second, Ian Castle surveys the devastating impact of Gotha raids over London during the First World War.

Biafra: The last Anglo-French colonial war?

R T Howard deconstructs British and French involvement in the Biafran War, 1967-1970. He explores the how oil, business, and arms dealers determined the fate of this Nigerian secessionist movement.

The Storming of Fort Griswold, 1781

The war was almost over. Or so men had thought. But the British stormed the rebel fortress anyway, and massacred most of the garrison. Robbie MacNiven recalls a forgotten part of the American Revolutionary War’s grim finale.

4th Queen’s Own Dragoons

Patrick Mercer appreciates the finest hour of the Queen’s Own at Salamanca, 1812.

The mystery of Lawrence of Arabia’s Rolls-Royce 

Conflict archaeologist James Stejskal reports on the search for a lost celebrity motor-car from the First World War.

 

Also in this issue:

  • In the first of a new series on Women at War, we recover the forgotten history of lethal Soviet sniper Roza Shanina.
  • Taylor Downing watches psychological suspense thriller The Manchurian Candidate.
  • In our regular War Culture section, Harry Burton looks at wall-building in conflict zones.
  • Seema Syeda visits Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites at the National Museum of Scotland.
  • Behind the Image
  • Book Reviews
  • Competitions
  • And much more!

To subscribe to the magazine click here. To subscribe to the digital archive click here.


From the editor

Neil Faulkner

MHM Editor Dr Neil Faulkner

Britain’s guard was down. The Zeppelin offensive had been defeated. Then, on 25 May 1917, Germany’s new Gotha medium bombers struck. Though weather prevented them reaching London, they inflicted 300 civilian casualties by hitting secondary targets in Kent.

Airships had represented a false start. Aeroplanes were the future of strategic bombing. Warfare was about to change forever.

David Porter and Ian Castle analyse the birth of strategic bombing during the First World War in our special this time. We also have Robbie MacNiven’s account of a pointless, savage, and little-known encounter at Fort Griswold in 1781, towards the end of the American War of Independence, while Patrick Mercer has chosen the 4th Queen’s Own Dragoons at Salamanca in 1812 for this month’s regiment.

Roger Howard marks a 50-year anniversary by recalling ‘the last Anglo-French war’ – the conflict in Biafra in 1967 – and James Stejskal explains how he and three colleagues conducted a successful search to recover the identity of ‘Blue Mist’, the Rolls-Royce armoured car that carried Lawrence of Arabia into Damascus in October 1918.

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