Napoleonic PoW escapees - Donat Henchy O'Brien

A uniform used by a local sailor to trick his way out of prison during the Napoleonic Wars, which is on display at the National Maritime Museum, received extensive coverage last week. Charles Hare's story reminded me of another Napoleonic escape I touched upon in my book The Frontier Sea, which I meant to return to. 

Donat Henchy O'Brien served on HMS Amphion with Sir William Hoste, and he was mentioned in Hoste's biography when he was picked up off Trieste. This led me to read the background in O'Brien's 1839 memoir, republished in 1902 by Sir Charles Oman. Only the later part of his career was relevant to my book. Still, the earlier story is, if anything, more remarkable than Hare's escape. As Oman says, 'I imagine that no prisoner ever made three such desperate dashes for liberty as did this enterprising Irish midshipman.'

Donat O’Brien entered the Royal Navy on 16th December 1796, when only eleven, even younger than the average midshipman. He was serving on HMS Hussar when that ship ran aground on the French coast, and he was captured in February 1804. He was initially held at Verdun, and his future prospects looked bleak because Napoleon had decided to end the age-old practice of exchanging prisoners. He and a few fellow officers decided to revoke their parole and planned an escape, collecting the necessary provisions and equipment for a dash across France, mainly at night, to a channel port.

They each collected a short piece of rope, bound them together, and scaled down the fortress walls. They had money and decent French but no papers, so night marched their way to Arras and the Etaples and, when challenged by locals, claimed they were conscripts joining the army. Two of his colleagues were spotted by customs officers (the uniform Hare used), and they claimed to be American sailors trying to get home. This ruse failed when an American interviewed them with the Mayor, who identified them as British. 

They were sent back to Verdun under escort but managed to escape. At times, he got some assistance from locals, but it was mostly an arduous trek on rough paths, sleeping in woods at night during a cold winter. This time, he got as far as Strasbourg before his identity was discovered, with his description having been circulated on a list of escapees. 

He was put in irons and sent to the fortress of Bitche, which is largely intact today. As you can see, this was the Colditz of its day. Escapees were confined to subterranean cells. This was January 1808.

By August 1808, they had yet again put together an escape plan that involved scaling down the walls in stages. They made their way east, again mainly by night, occasionally risking stays at inns and farmhouses. They got to Baden and then Bavaria, which was a French-allied territory. 

They crossed the border into Austria and were stopped by Austrian soldiers. “Will you surrender?” said he; and what option of an answer was left to us in any case, when each had a rifle presented to his head? “Most willingly,” I replied, “but are we not in the Emperor’s dominions in Kaisersland?” How my heart beat with joy when he answered the “Yes, Sir,”—Ya Mynheer. Never did the sun behold more willing prisoners.

They maintained their identity as American sailors until the local governor explained that he would not return them to Bavaria and helped them travel to Trieste. The former British consul there helped them get a boat, which they rowed out towards the blockading Royal Navy frigate. This was HMS Amphion, which O'Brien had previously served on, and two officers recognised him. When they reached Malta, they found five more of their fellow escapees. Admiral Collingwood appointed him as a lieutenant on HMS Warrior, and he took part in the capture of several Ionian islands. He was later transferred to Amphion and fought at the Battle of Lissa in 1811. O’Brien reached the rank of rear-admiral on 8th March 1852 and died on 13th May 1857, aged 73.

The details in his memoirs are remarkable, and Oman only slightly edited them. As I said in my book, his story pales even the fictional Hornblower story. I first read the original in the British Library, but there is now a Kindle version for only £1.99. This is absolutely outstanding value for a great story worthy of a film.

Yugoslavia and Greece 1940-41

 This new Osprey by Basilio Di Martino and Pier Paolo Battistelli looks at the Axis air assault in the Balkans in the early stages of the Second World War. Christopher Shores's very detailed book on this subject, published by Grubb Street in 1987, is available, but there is certainly room for a more concise and readable book on the subject.  

There were two, arguably three, air campaigns involved: the Italian invasion of Greece and the later German attack on Yugoslavia and Greece. The Axis air forces operated mainly at the tactical level to support ground operations, although the Italian medium bombers were ill-suited to these operations in challenging conditions.

The authors start by assessing the capabilities of the Axis air forces. The Regia Aeronautica fielded around 300 aircraft for the Greek campaign at the limit of the logistical support available from Albanian airfields. The Luftwaffe was better equipped with 500 aircraft, although the late addition of an attack on Yugoslavia required a rapid change of plan.

The defenders were considerably weaker. The Hellenic Air Force had around 150 operational aircraft, including obsolete types. Airfields were often poor, and spare parts were scarce for such a diverse range of aircraft. The Yugoslav Air Force was numerically strong and quite well equipped with some 460 frontline aircraft, 340 of which were operational in the fighter and bomber units. These were mostly modern types, although the same could not be said for ground support aircraft. The need to deploy in dispersed airstrips made communications challenging. The RAF had the aircraft to take on the Italians and Germans, but they were also limited to the available airfields in Greece.

The next chapter examines the campaign objectives. The Italians suffered from changing objectives as the land campaign faltered, and like all the air forces, they were hampered by bad weather. The Hellenic Air Force focused on air defence, while the RAF bombed the Albanian ports. The book then details the actual campaign, supported by excellent maps and complete orders of battle. There are several colour plates to keep the modellers happy, even if my efforts at painting Italian camouflage leave much to be desired. I have a soft spot for the Gladiator and the CR-42, even though building kits with all those struts is a nightmare. I was at the RAF Museum on Friday admiring their Gladiator.

In the later air battles over Athens, the few remaining Greek aircraft and the RAF fought valiantly against overwhelming odds. There is a fine colour plate of the available Hurricanes of both No.33 and No.80 Squadrons led by Squadron Leader Pattle, the South African air ace. However, many Hurricanes were destroyed on the ground due to the absence of early warning systems. After the RAF was neutralised, the Luftwaffe began an anti-shipping campaign. Overall figures show that 97 vessels definitely sunk from April 20 to 30, plus another 11 probable, totalling some 162,000 tons.

In the Greek campaign, the role played by the air forces on both sides was limited due to shortcomings in doctrine and tactics, poor logistics, and a lack of effective solutions to air-to-ground co-operation on the Italian side, and a shortage of equipment and, again, poor logistics on the Greek side. It was a long campaign of attrition, and attrition was playing in favour of the Italians, with the Hellenic Air Force becoming less and less relevant. The RAF had some impact in its attacks on Albanian harbours but was otherwise overrun by the German advance. The Germans considered the campaign a success, although they had supply problems and failed to prevent the evacuation of the Allied forces from Greece.

For the wargamer, while the air battles are certainly playable using Blood Red Skies or similar, most gamers will use air power to support land operations. 

My 1/72nd scale Macchi C.200 Saetta

Silk Roads

On Saturday, before the football, I had a free morning in London, which allowed me to visit the new exhibition at the British Museum on the Silk Roads. Peter Frankopan's book widened my understanding of the various east-west trade routes, and the exhibits in this display give a real feel of how the world was interconnected long before air travel and the internet.

Like all of the British Museum's special exhibitions, they use exhibits from across the world and their extensive collection. The layout is roughly geographical, starting in Japan and China and working westward. There are lots of silks in various forms, including this funerary banner of a high-ranking Uyghur from around 900AD.

Some are murals that tell a story of international relations, such as this Sogdian 'Hall of the Ambassadors'.

Of course, the Vikings get everywhere! 

Possibly my favourite exhibit. The earliest known chess pieces in the world were probably from India and made of ivory. Excavated in Samarkand in 700AD.

The Byzantines initially disparaged Sasanian clothing, but by 500AD, they adopted their designs.  This one is better tailored than the traditional Byzantine style and is made of linen, silk and cashmere. It would cost a pretty penny today.

Relations between Islamic and Christian kingdoms in Spain were not always warlike. This ivory cross shows Islamic influences and was probably a diplomatic gift from Cordoba to Pamplona.

This was another diplomatic gift, representing an elephant that Harun al-Rashi sent to Charlemagne. 

Finally, this tiny coin demonstrates the world's interconnectedness during the so-called Dark Ages. This coin was minted by King Offa, copying an Abbasid dinar, inserting his own name between the Arabic script which says, 'There is no God but Allah'. We have to assume his priests couldn't read Arabic!

A fascinating exhibition, and well worth a look if you are in London. 

RAF Museum Cosford

I was heading south on Friday for a few days, mostly footie and golf with pals. I broke the journey up with a visit to the RAF Museum at Cosford. I haven't been for many years, and they have upgraded the second hanger into a Cold War Museum since then.

As you come out of the reception area, the first aircraft are maritime reconnaissance from the Catalina to the Nimrod. In between was the Lockheed Neptune, which I didn't recognise. Apparently, these were used as a stopgap until the Avro Shackleton came into service.

The main hanger has aircraft from WWI until almost the present day. What is different about this museum is that it often has rare versions or aircraft with interesting stories. For example, the Spitfire is a rare Mark 1, and the ME-109 was found abandoned outside Tobruk.

I thought this was a Hawker Hart, the classic inter-war colonial fighter, but it is the rarer Hind bomber and the unmistakable Gloucester Gladiator.

As interesting stories go, this JU-88 night fighter was flown to Scotland by a defecting German crew. The third crew member didn't want to defect, and he was held at gunpoint for the trip. I was aware of defecting conscripts from occupied countries like Poland, but this type of defection was rare.

I was also unaware of how effective Luftwaffe night fighters could be. In a Me-110, Major Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer shot down 121 Allied aircraft, including 114 RAF four-engined bombers. I doubt the Bolton-Paul Defiant was quite as effective, but it is distinctive.

They also have prototypes of aircraft that never made it to full production for political or other reasons. I knew the TSR-2 story but not the Fairy Delta, which broke the world airspeed record.

The second hanger is now the Cold War Museum. Aircraft have been crammed into this space at all angles. It reminded me of my teenage bedroom, which had Airfix kits hanging from the ceiling. 

This part of the museum also has a decent collection of armour from that period.

An excellent museum, well worth a visit.

The English Amongst the Persians

 My Persian 19th-century rabbit hole was sparked again when I picked this book up in a secondhand bookshop in York. Written by Sir Denis Wright, a former UK ambassador to Iran, it covers relations between Britain and Iran from the 18th-century Qajar dynasty to the 1921 coup. He apologises for the title, as the diplomats were not all 'English', although that is what they were called. Equally, the British used Persia when Iran would be more commonly used locally.

At least until the 20th century, the underlying story was the rivalry between an expanding Russian Empire and British colonial interests in India. Iran was being steadily pushed out of the Caucasus by Russia in a series of wars and looked to Britain to help modernise its army. However, British interests did not always coincide, and Iran was dumped when British-Russian relations were positive. This happened at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and again in the run-up to the First World War.

Much of the book is devoted to diplomacy and the stories of the challenges faced by various diplomats. The more interesting chapters cover military aid, which mostly came from the Indian army. For example, in 1812, 25 British officers and 50 other ranks, and sepoy escorts. The aid included muskets and artillery. They also fought against the Russians at the Battle of Sultanabad in 1812, where one British sergeant was killed. The British troops withdrew from the conflict when the news of peace with the Russians came through in 1813.

British interests have always been the primary consideration in relations with Iran. When they clashed in 1856, the British fought the short Anglo-Persian War, enabling them to effectively occupy parts of the Persian Gulf. This would become even more important when oil was discovered, and Indian troops (including the Bengal Lancers) would supplement local tribal levies, recruited with little consultation with the Iranian government. The Persian coast was a valuable base for actions against the pirates based in the Gulf. Similar actions were taken to curtail the slave trade and limit Iranian incursions into Afghanistan. By 1921, Britain had 21 consulates in Iran, which played their part in the Great Game with Russia throughout the second half of the 19th century. 

Although Iran was neutral during the First World War, her sympathies were with the Germans fighting Russia. Britain fought to defend its oil terminals at Abadan, which were vital to the Royal Navy. 3,600, mostly Indian troops, died in Iran. The British arrested the German consuls, although one of them, Herr Wassmuss, escaped and raised local tribesmen against the British. The 'German Lawrence' looks like an interesting story if I can avoid another rabbit hole!

For the military history reader, there probably isn't enough in this book to justify the effort. Prices vary considerably, but if you are interested in the region and there is obvious current affairs relevance, then it might be worth a library request.

My 15mm Qajar Dynasty infantry

Hazzard's Convoy

 This is the fourth book in Jonathan Spencer's series, which focuses on the exploits of marine officer William John Hazzard in the Mediterranean during the Revolutionary Wars. It seemed appropriate holiday reading, as I was in Marmaris Bay, the site of Abercromby's preparation for the invasion of Egypt.

This story covers the period in the year before Abercromby's invasion, up to the Battle of Heliopolis. Napoleon has just abandoned his army in Egypt, leaving a very disgruntled Kleber in command. As Kleber himself put it, ‘The army is at half its strength… disease is prevalent, and the soldiers are in rags…When Bonaparte sailed, he did not leave a penny in the till, nor any cash equivalent. On the contrary, he left a deficit of almost 10 million… The soldiers’ pay in arrears accounts for 4 million alone. […] He saw the fatal crisis approaching.’

The story also touches on naval actions in the Adriatic, the subject of my book The Frontier Sea, particularly the prospects of a fleet built in the Venetian shipyards. The key French ship opposing Hazzard in the story is Généreux, a ship of the line that escaped from Corfu. Historically, the threat from Venice was much more serious later in the Napoleonic Wars, so much so that the Royal Navy had to send its own ships off the line to deal with it.

Hazzard is no ordinary marine officer. He commands a small unit of marines allocated to special missions, part of the nascent intelligence operations of the period that are commonplace today. The story style is very Sharpe-like, and his exploits are even more unlikely. Some naval actions are bordering on the absurd, but this is fiction. I won't spoil the story by giving the details, but it has all the features you would expect in this genre. 

Overall, it's a grand tall tale, not to be taken too seriously. It got me through the flights on holiday.

It also inspired last week's midweek game using Rebels and Patriots rules. The French contested a British landing in Egypt. My marines are considerably more uniformed than Hazzard's piratical command. However, unlike Hazzard, they were thrown back into the water. In fairness, that probably has more to do with my generalship!

Beçin Castle

 I have saved the best of my Türkiye trip for last. This was a long haul inland to the city and castle of Beçin, near Milas in the Mugla province. It was around two hours driving from Marmaris, up good if steep roads. It is only 30 minutes from Bodrum if you are staying there. The first photo is from the village below, and the second is from the city above, indicating how the site dominates the surrounding plain. It reminded me of Stirling, although at 35C, it was a bit warmer!

The site was occupied since the Hellenistic period, and a modest Byzantine church indicates the settlement continued into the medieval period, probably named Pezona. At the end of the 13th century, it was captured by the Menteşe Beylik, becoming the capital of the Beylik, and it expanded rapidly. This frontier state was established by the Oghuz Turks after the decline of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. The majority of the surviving buildings originate from the 14th century. In the 15th century, the beylik of Menteşe was annexed by the Ottoman Empire, and its importance started to decline.

A decent road brings you up to the plateau and the car park. You can wander around the city ruins, but the castle is being restored. The last photo shows the work so far, which looks very impressive.

The city itself has the ruins of mosques, hamans, inns and the outer walls. 

The Ahmet Gazi Madrasa (religious school), has been reconstructed. It was named after the Bey who commissioned it and dates from 1375. There are informative displays in Turkish and English, which explain how the madrasa operated and fitted in with other schools in the region. 

 When the castle repairs are completed this will be an excellent example of early Turkish fortification. Even in its current condition it was worth the trip.