Author: Rupert Wieloch

It is sad to hear that General Sir Mike Jackson has died. He was highly respected in the British Army for his blunt wisdom and fierce loyalty to the cause. Although he did not begin his military career in a combat unit, he was an archetypal Parachute Regiment officer, who understood the use of force in all its complexities.

Apart from the well-published stories of Kosovo, he was also instrumental in closing the gap with Russia during the decade when London shared military intelligence with Moscow. I remember him speaking at a secret UK-France-Russia symposium in Sussex after 9/11, when the three countries pooled information about how they were dealing with the threat of international terrorism. Sadly that entente ended when Putin began his policy of aggression against his neighbours, but it was very important when Al Qaida was at its most threatening.

In many ways, Jackson’s image became the personification of the British Armed Forces when it was at its peak. That is why I used it for the front cover of the first edition of Media Operations (JWP-45) in 2001. When I spoke to him at an event recently, he was disappointed in the way the Army has been treated since his retirement and in his blunt way gave an insightful critique of what needs to happen to put it right. As a legacy to this distinguished man, I hope his advice will be taken in the 2025 Defence Review.

Crown Copyright

I am relieved to hear that the Italian Government has decided to keep its peacekeepers on the Israel-Lebanon border despite the sporadic attacks on the UN bases along the Blue Line.

When I was based in Cyprus, we saw a lot of the Fijians who made up the bulk of the 4,000 UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. Much has changed since then, with the UNIFIL mission size increased to over 10,000 and 50 countries contributing troops. France, Spain and Italy are among the top military contributors, but it is noteworthy that Britain is not involved.

As we approach the 79th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations in October 1945, the situation in Lebanon seems to be the most important test for UN Peacekeeping since Srebrenica in 1995. The mandate is failing because the civilian population is not being protected. We need to remember Kofi Anan’s advice about what works well: “In Eastern Slavonia, we deployed a [UN] force of heavily mechanised infantry and helicopter gunships. We went in with such strength that we didn’t have to use force and we successfully fulfilled the mandate.”

This is something I hope the Government addresses in their UK Strategic Defence Review. It really is time that we honour Sir Marrack Goulding and dedicate an over the horizon capability to respond to UN peacekeeping emergencies.

UN Peace Support Operations

Sixteen years ago, I was invited to join the Middle East Peace Process working group on Arms Control and Security Cooperation by the University of California’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC). For three years, we met every six months and discussed critical military issues in the region from terrorism to nuclear security. Representatives from all the key nations in the MENA region attended, but no terrorist organisations were invited.

The workshops were taken very seriously as we heard privileged information from the IDF about their military operations in Lebanon in 2002 and 2006 and from the US Center for Strategic Studies (CSIS) about Iran’s nuclear capabilities. In the margins, the forum also used military diplomacy to reduce tensions between Israel and its near neighbours, including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey after they cancelled joint naval exercises.

For some reason, the US State Department withdrew funding during the Arab Spring and the group was closed down. It is now very hard to find any of its reports posted on the internet as the IGCC has shifted its focus to US-China relations. This is a great pity as the Middle East totters on the edge of catastrophe.

The world is a very different place in 2024, but the international community still needs mechanisms such as this former working group more than ever to defuse tensions. Israel also needs keep its Allies on side because, as we were told by the CSIS, it is likely that the Arabian Gulf will turn into the front line in the event of an Iranian conflict with Israel and the US.

I wish to take you back 82 years when the outcome of the war was in doubt and Churchill’s rivals questioned his role as war leader after the heavy losses of Hong Kong, Burma and Singapore. His political opposition comprised an unholy alliance of appeasers, extremists and parliamentary enemies. He also had to contend with waning Commonwealth support especially from the Australian Government, which threatened to pull its troops out of North Africa. And there was huge international pressure on him from Stalin and Roosevelt, as well as the need to prop up the French and Greek governments in exile. Worse was to follow in the summer of 1942, leading him to say: “Defeat is one thing. Disgrace is another.”

At the Ardingly Military Show this Saturday and Sunday, I will explain why this was Churchill’s “second darkest hour” and how the Prime Minister faced down his enemies and responded to the calamities of 1942 (including the death of the King’s brother in an RAF aircraft). The author’s programme begins at 10 o’clock on 28 September and my half hour time-slot is 3 p.m.

Churchill in North Africa 1942

The courageous Airborne Division and other Allied formations that fought at Arnhem 80 years has been widely commemmorated this week. The story, which was brilliantly told in one of the most iconic war films ever made A Bridge Too Far, has made Operation Market Garden into something akin to the Charge of the Light Brigade. However, to my mind, the media narrative for World War II focuses too much on this operation and not enough on the other fierce fighting elsewhere in Europe, such as in Finland, Italy and the Balkans.

One of the greatest tensions in the British Armed Forces during the past fifty years has been the about the utility and efficacy of early entry forces between the Royal Marines and the Parachute Regiment. So on the eightieth anniversary, it is worth remembering a long forgotten amphibious landing on the same day that Arnhem was effectively lost, that led to the defeat of the German army in Greece and Albania – Operation Mercerised.

The beach chosen for Numbers 2 and 40 Commando was Kakome, six miles north of Sarande. The successful landing followed by a brutal two-week fight in monsoon conditions against 2,000 German soldiers led to the capture of the port and the surrender of the German garrison on Corfu. After the war, the Albanian leader whitewashed all British involvement from the records and it was only much later that a memorial was created in Tirana to commemorate the British soldiers and airmen (and Chaplain) who fell in this “side-show”.

With thanks to commandoveterans.co

After a wonderful weekend of talks on Russia and local Hampshire history, I am now looking forward to the Battles Through History Military Show.

This multi-period, living history show takes place at the South of England Showground in Ardingly at the end of next week (28 and 29 September). I have been invited to join the other authors in the Norfolk Pavilion and will give my illustrated talk on Churchill’s Second Darkest Hour, 1942 between 3 and 3.30 p.m.

I will also have a selection of my books and information boards that focus on the 20th century British campaigns in Siberia and North Africa. The best thing about researching the past is what I describe as the Eureka moments. The feeling when you discover a letter, or a document, that has lain hidden for decades and puts a new perspective on a major historical event is magical. And it is extraordinary how many of these precious jewels I found, which demonstrate clearly how certain events and decisions were covered up to protect institutions and powerful people.

There is plenty more out there, if you are willing to look…

A recent article in the Hampshire Chronicle highlights the story of a battalion of the Czech Legion that was formed in Russia early in World War I and fought against the Austro-Hungarian Army as part of their claim for independence of their homelands. After the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, this battalion was separated from the remainder of the Legion and was evacuated by the Royal Navy from Archangel to Newcastle. From there, it travelled south and eventually found itself in Winchester via the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway.

While this battalion prepared to fight for the Allies on the Western Front, its sister battalions attached themselves to Admiral Kolchak’s White Army under command of the talented General Gajida. The Czechs hated the Bolsheviks and supported the Social Revolutionaries. They were supported in this position by the US Commander, General Graves, but not by the British commander, Sir Alfred Knox, who was a committed monarchist. When the White Government in Omsk collapsed, they played a pivotal role in the execution of Admiral Kolchak. After handing over the Imperial Treasury to the Red Army in 1920, they sailed from Vladivostok to France and returned home, where many of them joined the army of newly created Czechoslovakia.

The role of the gallant Czech Legion in the Russian Civil War is revealed in Part One of Churchill’s Abandoned Prisoners. It is ironic that the Czech Republic, as part of NATO, is now involved in the war in Ukraine just over 100 years on. There will be more on this in my talk to the Wherwell History Group later this week.

This month, I am delivering talks on three subjects in Hampshire and Sussex. Two old favourites are A Christmas Card From Siberia and Churchill’s Second Darkest Hour. The former describes what life was like for the intrepid people, who served in the British Campaign in Russia towards the end of the First World War. The latter explains how the Former Naval Person (as the Prime Minister referred to himself when corresponding with President Roosevelt) turned around the war in 1942 after the humiliations of Hong Kong, Singapore and Tobruk, which led to a vote of censure in Parliament on 1 July.

The third talk is about a pivotal decade of English History (1830-1840). Much was happening at the beginning of this period, which is replicated today: climate change; a cost of living crisis; civil disturbances; the death of the monarch; violence in Europe; a disastrous harvest; and societal schisms over slavery, child labour and feudal taxes. However, by the end of the decade, England had turned a corner with a new sense of optimism and a growing economy based on innovation and production.

This talk is based on the research for my new publication, Where East Meets West, which will be launched on 8 September. It has Forewords by the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire and the BBC Series Producer of Planet Earth and Blue Planet, as well as an Afterword by an award-winning Times journalist. The book will be available from P&G Wells in Winchester, or by messaging me on this website.

Ukraine’s high risk strategy of advancing into Russia, using NATO tanks, has allowed Putin to make gains in the Donetsk region. The Russian Army’s target is Pokrovsk, a railway town similar to Swindon, that had a tragic history in the 20th century. It was overrun several times by the White Army and Red Army during the Russian Civil War. Its people suffered horrifically during the 1930s Holodomor and Great Purge. And it was the scene of fierce fighting in World War II with thousands of residents killed in a massacre by Axis forces, before a terrible retribution by the Red Army.

The forced evacuation of Ukrainian civilians and clearance of anything useful to the enemy that is taking place this week harks back to those dark days. This is the way Russia has dealt with invading forces for centuries and it has proven to be highly successful as Napoleon found in 1812. There are less than two months before the Russian winter descends on the battlefields and makes it difficult to manoeuvre. The big question is whether a decisive blow will be struck by either side, but my guess is that the cold weather will be the only winner in 2024.

A Sketch Drawn During the French Withdrawal from Moscow in 1812

It doesn’t surprise me that the Media used an image of a collapsed bridge as the sign of war in Russia this week.

There are about 100,000 rivers in Russia, including the Volga, which is the longest in Europe. The country also has nearly three million lakes, including Baikal, which holds more water than any other on the planet. The bridges that cross Russian waterways are vital pieces of transport infrastructure that in war, are needed to supply front line troops with ammunition, food, spare parts and equipment. They can also form the forward edge of the battle lines as their embankments can offer good defensive positions and wide fields of view.

The well-known story of A Bridge Too Far is a fine example of the importance of possessing and preserving river crossings in mobile warfare. Reserve demolitions are very complicated operations and if the commander fails to complete his task, he can expect to be court-martialled (and in the case of Germany in World War II, executed).

To place the importance of Russian bridges in context, the Satnav route from Moscow to Irkutsk in 2011, set out a route over a bridge that crossed the mighty Kama river, which was closed. This meant a diversion of several hours and over 100 miles that caused delay and uncertainty to the journey. The opposing forces in Kursk will face this sort of disruption after the destruction of the bridge over the Seym this week.

The destruction of bridges was widespread during the Russian civil-war, as the 1919 photo below shows; and this is why the image used by the Media this week does not surprise me.