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[img]http://www.nzetc.org/etexts/WH2Poli/WH2Pol03b.jpg[/img]

Cunningham’s forces were substantially reinforced in mid 1940 after the fall of France and Italy’s declaration of war and he successfully negotiated an agreement with Admiral Godfroy to demilitarise the French squadron in Alexandria harbour. Almost immediately Cunningham’s offensive spirit was brought to bear on the enemy; at the Battle of Calabria on 9 July aboard his flagship Warspite Cunningham chased the Italian Fleet to within 40 kilometres of the Italian coast. He gave his enthusiastic backing to an aircraft attack against Taranto harbour in November when one Italian battleship was sunk and two seriously damaged. In March 1941 at the Battle of Cape Matapan Cunningham’s battlefleet again pursued the Italians and sank three heavy cruisers in a memorable night time action.

The most difficult situation faced by Cunningham was the evacuation of troops from Greece and the island of Crete in the face of German invasions in April and May 1941. Without air cover Cunningham’s fleet suffered serious losses but responded magnificently to his call that the ‘Navy must not let the army down.’ Out of 22,000 troops on Crete 16,500 were rescued but three cruisers and six destroyers were sunk and a further 15 major warships damaged.

In April 1942 Cunningham was appointed to head the naval staff mission to Washington and proved an ideal opposite number to the equally blunt American, Admiral Ernest King. Given command of the Allied Expeditionary Force in mid 1942 for the invasion of North Africa he successfully directed the November landings from his headquarters in Gibraltar and began a long friendship with General Eisenhower.

February 1943 saw Cunningham return to his post as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet. When Axis forces in North Africa were on the verge of surrender three months later he ordered that none should be allowed to escape; entirely in keeping with his fiery character he signalled the fleet ‘Sink, burn and destroy: Let nothing pass’.
He oversaw the landings on the island of Sicily in July 1943 and in Italy in September which knocked Italy out of the war. On 10 September he was present at Malta to witness the surrender of the Italian fleet, ending a three year struggle for control of the Mediterranean.


Lt Col Chesty B, Puller, United States Marine Corp

[img]http://www.west.net/~macpuzl/histimg/chesty.jpg[/img]

in September 1942, and Puller, still commanding its 1st Battalion, went on to win his third Navy Cross at Guadalcanal.

The action that brought him that medal occurred on the night of October 24-25 1942. For a desperate three hours his battalion, stretched over a mile-long front, was the only defense between vital Henderson Airfield and a regiment of seasoned Japanese troops. In pouring jungle rain the Japanese smashed repeatedly at his thin line, as General Puller moved up and down its length to encourage his men and direct the defense. After reinforcements arrived, he commanded the augmented force until late the next afternoon. The defending Marines suffered less than 70 casualties in the engagement while 1400 of the enemy were killed and 17 truckloads of Japanese equipment were recovered by the Americans.

After Guadalcanal, Puller became executive officer of the 7th Marines. He was fighting in that capacity when he won his fourth Navy Cross at Cape Gloucester in January 1944. There, when the commanders of the two battalions were wounded, he took over their units and moved through heavy machine-gun and mortar fire to reorganize them for attack, then led them in taking a strongly fortified enemy position.



Wing Commander Lloyd Chadburn

[img]http://www.constable.ca/lvchadburn.jpg[/img]

In March 1941, it was renumbered to No. 402 (RCAF) Sqdn when the Canadian squadrons were given the block of numbers 400 - 449 to avoid confusion with RAF squadrons. They were also provided with Hurricane Mk. IIs. He made his first operational flight in a Hurricane that March. On April 15 he took part, with 11 other pilots, in the first offensive operation carried out by an RCAF unit over enemy-held territory. They flew an offensive patrol over the Boulogne sector of the French coast. He transferred to the newly formed No. 412 (RCAF) Squadron in June 1941 flying Spitfire IIs and Vs. He then moved to No. 19 (RAF) Squadron flying the Supermarine Spitfire VB as a flight commander in September. While in that squadron he made a rare attack on a German E-boat near Holland. It was badly damaged but was mistakenly reported to be the first E-boat sunk by a pilot flying a Spitfire.

In February, 1942, Chadburn was posted to another newly formed Canadian squadran, No. 416 (RCAF) Squadron based in Peterhead, Scotland as a Flight Lieutenant. They were also equipped with Spitfire IIs and would fly them until early 1943. He had very nearly been posted to North Africa, but under a plan to Canadianize all of the RCAF fighter squadrons he took over command of the Squadron from a British officer, thus becoming the first graduate of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan to lead a Fighter Command Squadron. He was also the youngest Squadron Leader in the Air Force at age 22. The photo above was taken during this period. The distinctive Lynx on the aircraft was the mascot emblem of 416 (Lynx) Sqdn.

Squadron Leader Chadburn and 416 Squadron was moved to the south of England to the front lines of the air war. They flew cover missions over Dieppe on August 19th, 1942, saving many Canadian and allied lives. Chadburn was leading his squadron of Spitfire IIs over the convoy heading for the beach when a large formation of 15 Focke-Wulf 190s dove on them from the rear. He pulled his Spitfire into a tight turn and the rest of the squadron followed. This brought them onto the German's tail. Three FW 190s fell to their guns and the others made off. Shortly after, seven Junkers JU88 bombers were spotted heading for the convoy. Chadburn led them into a head-on attack. The squadron hit six of the bombers and forced all of them to drop their bombs into the Channel in order to escape. Now another flight of FW 190s was approaching several thousand feet above them while a group of Messerschmitt Me110s flew past at their height. Chadburn split his squadron, with one section attacking the Me110s while he and the rest went after the fighters. Eleven more German aircraft were hit and chased off, while none of 416 Squadron's aircraft were damaged. This is especially note-worthy as the Spitfire II was too slow to compete with the FW190. Three FW190s were destroyed and Chadburn got a "probable" on a Ju88. His skill and leadership of the Squadron that day earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross and made the pilots of 416 Squadron the most successful RCAF fighter squadron of the day.

By January, 1943 he had shot down 12 German aircraft and had attacked and damaged a heavily-armed German E-boat. After a thirty day leave in Canada, Chad was posted back to 402 Squadron and then to 403 Squadron prior to his promotion to Wing Commander in June, 1943. He commanded both 402 (flying Spitfire IXs) and 416 Squadrons (flying VBs) as well as 118 (RAF) Squadron flying from Digby, Sussex. Thus they were known as the Digby Wing.

Their prime mission, called Ramrods, was to escort Martin B26 Marauder medium bombers of the USAAF. The Spitfire was useful only on the short-hauls made by medium bombers, like the Marauder, over France and a small piece of Belgium as they had relatively short "legs" (they couldn't fly for long, especially in combat conditions). The bomber crew's hazardous job was to attack coastal installations and enemy airfields to reduce the ability of the Luftwaffe to fight from forward bases and to weaken coastal defences. The Americans called him "The Angel" for his escort would almost assure them a safe voyage to and from the target. In 60 sorties escorting the American bombers, only one was lost to enemy fighters. During the period Chadburn's pilots shot down 44 enemy aircraft without losing any of theirs.

On August 12, 1943 he was awarded the second highest award for service in the field, the Distinguished Service Order. On Sept. 4 elements of the Digby Wing were escorting B26s in a typical Ramrod mission to attack the railway yards at Lille, Roubaix and St. Pol. Out of the ground haze came 15 Messerchmitt Me109s climbing for superior altitude. Not wanting them to gain an advantage Chadburn and his Spitfires dove on them. The haze was so thick that aircraft appeared and disappeared in the gloom. Tracer bullets cut across at crazy angles. The danger of collision was high. At one point Chadburn realized that he and three other Spitfire pilots were closing in on the same Me109. The tracers all met at the same point and the German exploded. Frantically the four RCAF pilots pulled in different directions to avoid the same fate. Soon the dogfight was over and Chadburn collected as many of this pilots as he could. Six of them formed up and headed back to England. Over the coast they were bounced by 10 FW190s. One Spitfire pilot baled out, but Chadburn knocked down one German plane in flames.

In the month of September the Digby Wing destroyed 21 German aircraft. In his 10 aerial combats Chadburn destroyed two, probably destroyed another one and damaged two. As well, he shared in two destroyed, a probable and two damaged. On Nov. 3, 1943 his two Squadrons gained more fame by downing nine German aircraft. Under Chadburn's leadership the Digby Wing was the top scoring wing in RAF Fighter Command and by the time he left them in December he had received the bar to the DSO. He was the first RCAF officer to be so decorated and was one of only four who were. Chadburn was not impressed with this honour and casually explained:

"It's a funny thing that when the boys put on a good show, the Wing commander gets the DSO. They put on another and he gets the bar."
In early 1944, Wing Commander Chadburn was appointed as Wing Commander of Fighter Operations at the RCAF Overseas Headquarters. He was supposed to be planning, writing and doing the boring desk stuff, all of which were essential, and required an experienced senior officer. However, at every opportunity he escaped the desk and flew a Spitfire into battle. He was sent back to Canada for a War Bond drive in the spring, and upon his return was made Wing Commander of Number 127 RCAF Wing, which included 403, 421 and 416 Squadrons.

On June 13, 1944 operations following D-Day found Chad patrolling with his wing between the front lines and the sea near Caen, France when tragedy struck. He was killed in a mid-air collision with another Spitfire. Lloyd Chadburn was only 24 years of age. Canadian and British fighter pilots as well as American bomber crews openly wept at the news of the death of "The Angel".