Now that 70th anniversary of the end of WWII is approaching, could you tell some examples of last time when something noticeable happened in WWII?
For example:
Last (apparently) cavalry charge with drawn sabers
The Charge of the "Savoia Cavalleria" at Izbushensky was a clash between the Italian cavalry Regiment "Savoia Cavalleria" (3rd) and the Soviet 812th Rifle Regiment (304th Rifle Division) that took place on August 24, 1942, near the hamlet (khutor) of Izbushensky (Избушенский), close to the junction between the Don and Khopyor rivers. Though a minor skirmish in the theatre of operation of the Eastern Front, the Izbushensky charge had great propaganda resonance in Italy and it is still remembered a...
Last US soldier to die in combat over Japan (B-32 treacherously attacked by fighter after surrender)
Last u-boat to surrender (escaped to Argentina)
German submarine U-977 was a World War II Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine which escaped to Argentina after Germany's surrender. The submarine's voyage to Argentina led to legends, apocryphal stories and conspiracy theories that it and U-530 had transported escaping Nazi leaders (such as Adolf Hitler) and/or Nazi gold to South America, that it had made a secret voyage to Antarctica, and even that it sank the Brazilian cruiser Bahia as the last act of the Battle of the Atlantic.
Actually I think cavalry was used in Afghanistan when the US took out the Taliban.
Right, I should have mentioned “last cavalry charge in Europe”. Who knows how late they have been used in other continents.
Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming “Jack” Churchill, used a Longbow d to kill a German Soldier during the British withdrawal to Dunkirk…
John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar (16 September 1906 – 8 March 1996) was a British Army officer. Nicknamed "Fighting Jack Churchill" and "Mad Jack", he fought in the Second World War with a longbow, a basket-hilted Scottish broadsword, and a bagpipe.
Churchill was born in Colombo, British Ceylon, to Alec Fleming Churchill (1876–1961), later of Hove, East Sussex, and Elinor Elizabeth, daughter of John Alexander Bond Bell, of Kelnahard, County Cavan, Ireland, and of Dim...
Not the kind of guy I’d like as an enemy!
Peter
A lot of people mistakenly think the Battle of the Bulge (Dec 1944-Jan 1945) was the last German offensive of the war. But the real last German offensive was Operation Spring Awakening. It was an attempt to recapture some oil fields in Hungary in March 1945.
pdunderhill:
Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming “Jack” Churchill, used a Longbow d to kill a German Soldier during the British withdrawal to Dunkirk…
Jack Churchill - Wikipedia
Not the kind of guy I’d like as an enemy!
Peter
Bows were also used in Vietnam.
There were SF guys on horses yeah, but did they actually charge home with sabers and bugle ?
AK84
May 24, 2015, 2:33pm
9
How are you defining “offensive”, though. They continued with division and corps sized offensives till the end.
(I agree with your inclusion, just curious as to how to define it).
AK84:
How are you defining “offensive”, though. They continued with division and corps sized offensives till the end.
(I agree with your inclusion, just curious as to how to define it).
I’d say a real offensive requires that there be some strategic advance planned as a goal. The divisional and corps offenses that occurred in the final weeks may have been tactically offensive but they were strategically defensive: their goals were just to defend the ground the unit was already holding.
Have any battles since the Fall of Singapore use bicycle troops?
Latro
May 24, 2015, 10:10pm
13
The Hungarians, Slovaks and IIRC even the Germans used bicycle troops in Russia.
Latro
May 24, 2015, 10:22pm
14
The last cavalry attack was on 23-03-1945.
The reconnaissance battalion of every German infantry division included a bicycle troop :
d. Reconnaissance Battalion
The reconnaissance battalion of the infantry division consists of a headquarters, a communications platoon, a horse troop, a bicycle troop and a heavy weapons company.
Many of the Volksgrenadier divisions organized at the end of the war included an entire bicycle battalion.
Only true if meant 100% literally, i.e. last to die over Japan rather than the last to die in combat against Japan. Fighting continued after the war was over, for example :
February 1946 Philippines - on Lubang Island.
March 1946 Guam
End March - early April 1947 Peleliu Island - Band of Japanese lead by Ei Yamaguchi
Probably the last construction of a full size airworthy glider in a prison camp.
The Colditz Cock
Speaking of gliders, last use of gliders to deliver infantry .
chacoguy:
Ho Chi Minh Trail.
I thought of that, but were there troops going into battle on bikes, or just bikes with cargo?
Has anyone fought on skis since WWII?
The Soviets invaded theKuril Islands on August 18, 1945, three days after Japan had surrendered.
Of course the Japanese didn’t surrender in the Philippines until September 3.