RAF IN NEW BRITAIN AND PAPUA NEW GUINEA, 1942–44

By David Wilson

The attack on Darwin on 19 February marked the first attack made on continental Australia by an enemy force. It was not the first attack on Australian territory. On 4 January 1942, 22 Nells bombed the airfield at Lakunai, near Rabaul, New Britain, part of the Australian Mandate of Papua New Guinea. The defence of the strategically important Rabaul, with its deep-water port and facilities, was the responsibility of 24 Squadron, commanded by Wing Commander John Lerew, which had deployed with four Hudson and thirteen Wirraway aircraft early in December 1941. Flight Lieutenant R.A. Yeowart and his 6 Squadron crew made a long-range photographic reconnaissance flight in a specially modified long-range Hudson over Truk, the Japanese fleet base in the Caroline Islands on 6 January 1942. When Yeowart returned, after evading defending aircraft and anti-aircraft fire, his report of the presence of twelve warships, a hospital ship, transports and many aircraft at all adjacent airfields made Lerew aware of the vulnerability of his base to invasion. On the same day, Japanese flying boats bombed Vunakanua airfield, destroying a Wirraway and damaging a Hudson. The aircraft flown by Flight Lieutenant B.H. Anderson was the only one of the four Wirraway aircraft that attempted to intercept the flying boats to make contact. He made a climbing attack from the rear of one flying boat and expended all his ammunition, without visible effect, from 275 metres.

The attrition of the defending aircraft continued on the 7th, when a Hudson and three Wirraways were destroyed by a formation of Nells, despite the valiant effort of three Wirraways to attempt to intercept. Clearly the Wirraway was totally outclassed by the attacking aircraft, and Lerew requested modern fighters as reinforcements for his meagre force. None were available. The climax to the gallant defence of Lae came on 20 January. A formation of 50 enemy high-level bombers, dive bombers and fighter escorts were sighted over Duke of York Island. Seven Wirraways attempted the interception, but Anderson and Pilot Officer C.A. Butterworth crashed on take-off due to engine failure. Three aircraft were lost in the ensuing combat, one destroyed on takeoff and two seriously damaged in crash landings. Six crewmen had been killed and five wounded in the ten-minute combat. It was as a result of this action that Lerew sent his famous signal to the Air Board: Nos morituri te salutamus (we who are about to die salute you).

With an invasion imminent, Lerew evacuated wounded men on 22 January, when Squadron Leader J. Sharp flew the remaining serviceable Hudson to Port Moresby. Lerew withdrew his men to the Wide Bay area, where flying boats from Port Moresby could evacuate the survivors. Next day a total of 96 men were evacuated by 33 Squadron Short Empire flying boats flown by Squadron Leaders J.L. Grey and M.V. Mather. Grey flew to Tol next day, where he successfully embarked 49 airmen and soldiers. A trio led by the radio officer at Sum Sum, Sergeant F.G. Higgs, who had remained behind to secure the communications link with Port Moresby until the 27th, were ordered to withdraw. Higgs and the two other airmen appropriated a five-metre sailing boat and, after an epic 21-day voyage, reached Cairns.

While 24 Squadron was fighting for its existence at Rabaul, the Catalina flying boats of 11 and 20 Squadrons were also attempting to curb the Japanese advance. When it moved to Port Moresby in September 1939, 11 Squadron was equipped with two Short ‘C’ class Empire flying boats that had been pressed into service from Qantas, and two Supermarine Seagull amphibians. The famous Empire flying boats may have been successful on the commercial route to England, but when armed with a single Lewis machine-gun and bomb racks, it was of limited usefulness as an offensive maritime reconnaissance aircraft. Consequently, 11 Squadron welcomed the delivery of the first of its new Consolidated Catalina flying boats in March 1941. This aircraft, with power supplied by two 1200 hp Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasp engines, had a maximum speed of 315 kph and a range of 4989 kilometres. It was to equip four active RAAF squadrons and prove to be a versatile, reliable aircraft. The advent of this aircraft, and the raising of 20 Squadron at Port Moresby on 1 August 1941, gave the Australian defences a robust maritime reconnaissance force.

The Catalina squadrons were the only units capable of taking advantage of the information provided from Yeowart’s successful reconnaissance of Truk and other long-range reconnaissance missions. A force of six flying boats from the combined squadrons attempted to attack Truk on 11 January, but foul weather en route forced the aircraft to return to Port Moresby. Another attempt was made on the 16th, but Squadron Leader T.H. Davis and his crew were lost when their aircraft crashed on take-off after refuelling at Kavieng. Three of the four aircraft that proceeded with the attack were unable to find the target due to poor visibility. Flight Lieutenant Ern Beaumont, who arrived an hour later, made two bombing runs to drop sixteen 250-pound bombs, but to no apparent effect.

Squadron Leader J.A. ‘Dick’ Cohen flew a long-range reconnaissance mission that showed the extraordinary endurance of the Catalina. On 13 January he departed from Tulagi, a small island adjacent to Guadalcanal where an advanced operational base had been established, to undertake a 19 hour 37 minute reconnaissance of the northern Gilbert Islands. Reconnaissance missions could be lethal. On 21 January, Corporal T.H. Keen was the sole survivor of a Catalina, captained by Lieutenant G.H. Hutchinson, US Navy, that had been shot down in flames over Salamaua by five enemy fighters. Flight Lieutenant Robert Thompson had departed from Gizo on the same date to search for the Japanese task force that had attacked Rabaul on the previous day. Thompson found the task group and was ordered to shadow the warships. His aircraft had come under accurate antiaircraft fire and, worst of all, he could see fighters taking off from the aircraft carriers below. The inevitable damage to the Catalina in the subsequent action forced the burning flying boat to force land in the open sea. The survivors, fearing that the burning aircraft would explode, abandoned the aircraft. They were later picked up by a Japanese cruiser and became prisoners of war.

After the fall of Rabaul the Port Moresby-based Catalinas and the ten Hudsons of the newly formed 32 Squadron, under Wing Commander Deryck Kingwell, were the only RAAF strike force in Papua New Guinea. The Catalinas striking at Rabaul met considerable resistance. For example, on the night of 3 February, Pilot Officer B.G. ‘Tubby’ Higgins was flying one of five Catalinas bombing Simpson Harbour, when, at 10.00 pm, the flying boat was attacked by a Zeke. The enemy fighter hit the Catalina, wounding the wireless operator in both ankles. Higgins evaded the Zeke by diving to sea level through the cloud billowing up from one of the active volcanoes that perpetually threaten the town of Matupi. Flight Lieutenant G.E. Hemsworth was also attacked. His aircraft was hit in the port engine, forcing him to jettison the bomb load and take evasive action. Sergeant Douglas Dick, on his first operational flight, returned fire from the port blister. As a result of his fire an enemy fighter was seen to spin and crash into the sea. Hemsworth made a five-hour, single engine flight to Salamaua, where he made a perfect landing just before dawn. After making temporary repairs, he was able to take off using both engines, but once the aircraft had climbed to 600 metres, the port engine had to be shut down. After the Catalina landed at Port Moresby, 157 bullet holes were counted.

Attrition of the flying boats and crews resulted in an operational combination of the two squadrons. Aircraft, crews and tasks were shared, but men and machines could not be replaced. Lieutenant Ern Beaumont was lost on the night of 24 February. On the same day, five Zekes escorted eleven enemy bombers and raided Port Moresby, with a disastrous result for the flying boat squadrons. Three Catalinas were destroyed, and another damaged, at their moorings. It was obvious that the increasing number of Japanese raids would make the position of the three squadrons at Port Moresby untenable. Although Squadron Leader Deryck Kingwell, the commander of 32 Squadron, recorded a direct hit on a 6 000-tonne transport, part of the Japanese invasion force of eleven ships in Salamaua Harbour on 7 March, enemy pressure resulted in 32 Squadron being completely withdrawn to Horn Island on 26 April.

The two Catalina squadrons withdrew further south to Bowen, Queensland, from where they made long-range strikes on targets such as Tulagi and along the northern coast of New Guinea and the island of New Britain.

Unfortunately, in January 1942, there were no RAAF fighter squadrons in Australia to contest for aerial superiority with the Japanese over the important airfields at Port Moresby. It was not until 4 March that the first Kittyhawk fighter squadron, 75, was raised at Townsville. The raising of 76 Squadron at Archerfield, Queensland on the 14th and 77 at Pearce, Western Australia two days later, followed this unit. On the 21st, Wing Commander Peter Jeffery, although having handed the command of 75 Squadron to a fellow 3 Squadron veteran, Squadron Leader J.F. ‘Old John’ Jackson, survived being shot at by defending anti-aircraft gunners while landing with the first four Kittyhawks to arrive at the Seven Mile airfield. Within hours the squadron made its presence felt. Flying Officer Wilbur Wackett, the son of Lawrence Wackett, and Flying Officer Barry Cox scrambled at 3.53 pm to intercept the daily Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. The two Kittyhawks closed with their prey, and after several well-directed bursts of machine-gun fire, the bomber exploded and dived into the sea west of Baslik Point. The combat, an emphatic victory in full view of the defending ground troops, was a great tonic to morale. But Jackson was not satisfied with this initial victory.

Next day, 22 March, Jackson led nine aircraft from the Seven Mile to take the battle to the Japanese. Photographic evidence had been produced that indicated that a force of Mitsubishi G-4M ‘Betty’ bombers and Zeke fighters was based on the airfield at Lae. To attack this attractive target, Jackson led five strafing Kittyhawks. Flight Lieutenant Peter Turnbull (another 3 Squadron veteran) led the top cover of four fighters. The ground strafers made two runs over the airfield, so low that the aircraft flown by Flight Lieutenant John Piper collided with the propeller of one of the parked enemy fighters, tearing one of the Kittyhawk’s wing guns from its mount and severely damaging the wing main spar. It was reported that nine Zekes and three Bettys were left burning as a result. Anderson, of 24 Squadron Rabaul fame, fell foul of the defending fighters. Turnbull and Sergeant J.H.S. Pettett, members of the top cover, succeeded in destroying a Zeke each. Wilbur Wackett had a combat that resulted in his being forced to ditch his engine-damaged fighter in the sea halfway between Lae and Salamaua. He swam ashore. After an epic adventure that entailed crossing the Owen Stanley Ranges on foot, Wackett returned to Port Moresby on 22 April.

On an almost daily basis, the pilots of 75 Squadron fought against overwhelming odds and tactical limitations. But the presence of the fighters enabled United States Army Air Corps Douglas A-24 bombers to attack targets at Lae, and also enabled American medium bombers to stage through the Port Moresby airfields with a degree of safety. It was John Jackson’s leadership that was inspirational, and his failure to return from a lone reconnaissance of Lae on 9 April was met with great sadness, and also a spirit of vengeance. On the 18th, the news that he was safe and well at Navos was greeted with relief. But this was to be short-lived. John Jackson’s final mission highlights the heroic defence mounted by 75 Squadron.

At 11.15 am, 28 April 1942, Jackson led five Kittyhawks to intercept a superior force of Japanese bombers and fighters north of Port Moresby. Jackson and Barry Cox died fighting the Zeke escort that had the advantage of height over the slow climbing Kittyhawks. Flying Officer Peter Masters spun out of the combat, and Flying Officer Le Gay ‘Cocky’ Brereton was slightly wounded when his Kittyhawk was hit in the wings and fuselage. Jackson’s aircraft was seen to crash on Mount Lawes. When the crash site was located, the engine was found embedded two metres into the ground from the force of the impact.

In its epic 44-day defence of Port Moresby 75 Squadron destroyed eighteen and damaged 29 enemy aircraft in aerial combat for the loss of 21 aircraft and twelve pilots. When the unit was withdrawn on 7 May, the Japanese tide had reached its height; the US Navy was in the process of fighting, and ultimately winning, the Battle of the Coral Sea. The engagement was the result of strategic intelligence and the efforts of Australian long-range reconnaissance missions that warned of the Japanese approach. Enemy fighters attacked Hemsworth and his crew after they reported the presence of two enemy destroyers south-east of Misima Island on 6 May. Later in the afternoon, Flight Lieutenant P.J.E. Pennycuick, flying a 32 Squadron Hudson, reported an aircraft carrier, six destroyers and four enemy merchantmen in the same area. The build-up of Japanese naval force was noted through daily reconnaissance flights and the situation built to a climax on 7 March, when the American Admiral Frank J. Fletcher launched the air groups of the aircraft carriers USS Yorktown and USS Lexington to sink the Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho and badly damage the larger Shokaku. Lexington was lost, but a strategic victory had been won; most importantly, the Japanese invasion force that had planned to attack Port Moresby was forced to withdraw. The turning point of the Pacific War, the carrier battle centred on the island of Midway, was fought on 4 June.

The outcome of the battles fought in the last six months of 1942 in Papua New Guinea and Guadalcanal were pivotal to the defeat, or victory, of either of the protagonists. On 21 July, the Japanese landed at Gona, and commenced to advance toward Kokoda, thence across the Owen Stanley Ranges toward Port Moresby. However, the focus for the Australian fighter squadrons was further east, at Milne Bay. Peter Turnbull had assumed command of 76 Squadron in May, and led the squadron there at the end of July. En route they flew the first Kittyhawk fighter-bomber mission in the South Western Pacfic Area, an aborted strike on Napapo on 22 July. The presence of enemy fighters above the seven Kittyhawks forced the Australians to drop their bombs before closing with the enemy. In the subsequent inconclusive action, Turnbull’s aircraft was slightly damaged, but this did not prevent him from landing at Milne Bay. The only aircraft loss was that flown by Flight Lieutenant V. Sullivan, who was forced to land eight kilometres from Port Moresby due to engine failure.

From 25 July, 76 Squadron was based at the newly constructed airfield at Milne Bay, Gurney strip. The first action was an unsuccessful attempt to intercept a Kawanishi H8K ‘Emily’ flying boat that had bombed Townsville that night. A rejuvenated 75 Squadron deployed to Milne Bay at the end of July. There was an expectation that the Japanese would attempt to capture it as a base for a pincer movement to take Port Moresby, and Hudson aircraft arrived on 6 August to give some long-range warning of any approaching enemy. Two days before, the Japanese showed interest in the Allied developments, when Zekes strafed Gurney and destroyed a Kittyhawk. Flying Officer P.H. Ash evened the score when he destroyed an enemy Zeke. The second Japanese air raid occurred on the 11th. The two Australian squadrons lost four pilots, but claimed the destruction of two Zekes, the possible destruction of two, and to have damaged a further six. Another brisk combat took place on the 24th. Next day, John Piper led nine 75 Squadron Kittyhawks to strafe Japanese landing barges and enemy troops that had been sighted at Cape Watts, Goodenough Island. This force was intended to land at Taupota, and the successful destruction of the barges eliminated a northern threat to the defenders of Milne Bay. Also on the 25th, an American Boeing B-17 crew reported the presence of a Japanese naval force en route for Milne Bay.

As inclement weather prevented any long-range B-17 attacks on this force, it was left to a combination of the Australian Kittyhawk and Hudson aircraft to defend Milne Bay. At mid-afternoon of the 25th, Peter Turnbull and ‘Cocky’ Brereton led a force of twelve Kittyhawks and a single Hudson to contest the Japanese approach. Armed with a single 300-pound bomb, the fighters were restricted to making low-level strafing and bombing attacks, instead of the preferred high-level dive-bombing approach, because of the overcast conditions. The strike force returned to Gurney strip and rearmed. Unfortunately the low cloud and failing light prevented any further contact. It was left to Pilot Officer Martin Law from 6 Squadron to make two bombing passes out of the cloud later in the evening. Despite having inflicted minor casualties on the enemy, the air assault did not prevent the landing of Japanese troops at Ahioma, from where the Japanese troops advanced along the northern shore of Milne Bay toward the airfields.

Squadron Leader Les Jackson, who had assumed command of 75 Squadron on the death of his elder brother, ‘Old John’, led six Kittyhawks on a strike on the Japanese landing barges that had been sighted on the beach near the KB Mission. This sortie was the first of a pattern of operational flights made by the two fighter squadrons to supply close support to the hard-pressed Australians. When not so involved, the fighters defended the bay from any enemy aerial encroachments. On 27 August, Les Jackson and Sergeant Roy Riddell each shot down a Zeke, but not before an American B-24 Liberator bomber burned as a result of the enemy strafing the Gurney strip. Flight Sergeant Stewart Munro was reported missing after the fight. Later, 76 Squadron lost its commander. Late in the afternoon Peter Turnbull was killed when his aircraft crashed as he attempted to strafe a Japanese light tank. Squadron Leader Keith ’Bluey’ Truscott, of 452 Squadron fame, assumed command of the squadron. He remained in this appointment until his death on 28 March 1943, when he crashed into the sea while undertaking fighter training with a flying boat off Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia.

The expectation of an enemy assault on the airfield complex on the night of 28 August resulted in the overnight withdrawal of the fighters to Port Moresby. The expected attack did not eventuate, and the aircraft returned to Milne Bay on the 29th. Group Captain W.H. Garing also arrived to assume the overall command of the RAAF units involved in the battle, which reached its climax during the early morning of the 31st. Desperate, but unsuccessful, attempts by the Japanese to overwhelm the Australian defences at Turnbull airfield (No. 2 airfield had been renamed to commemorate Peter Turnbull) proved the apogee of the Japanese advance. Steady pressure by the Australians forced the withdrawal of the invaders on the night of 5 September.

The Japanese Navy had made its presence felt during the campaign. On the night of 7 September a salvo of shells hit the supply ship Anshun, which capsized at the Gili Gili wharf. Garing was particularly perturbed at the enemy navy’s freedom of action. He was aware of the raising of 100 Squadron and its new Beaufort torpedo bombers. As a result of his pleadings Wing Commander J.R. ‘Sam’ Balmer led six Beauforts north from Laverton on 4 September. En route the Beauforts were loaded with American Mk XIII torpedoes at the RAAF base at Nowra. During the morning of 7 September, two 6 Squadron Hudsons attacked a Japanese cruiser and a destroyer and reported the incident to Milne Bay. An attack force of six Beauforts, three 30 Squadron Beaufighters and ten Kittyhawks took off to strike at the force off Normanby Island. The strike force did not discover the enemy vessels and returned to Milne Bay. However, they were not to be denied. At 4.55 pm three Beaufighters, and the eight 76 Squadron Kittyhawks led by Truscott, closed to within 800 metres of the enemy before commencing to strafe the bridge and upper works of a cruiser. The enemy formed a defensive circle as the Beauforts commenced their low-level run. Under fire from the cruiser’s heavy guns, the Beauforts dropped their torpedoes from a range of 1500 metres. Results were disappointing. No hits were made, but lessons were learnt that were to be applied in future anti-shipping operations. Unfortunately, from the perspective of the torpedo bomber force, this strike was indicative of the problems that were faced. The torpedo used proved unreliable, and the subsequent eighteen torpedo bomber operations were to prove disappointing. Squadron Leader Noel Quinn was shot down and captured after flying the RAAF’s final torpedo bomber sortie against Rabaul on 4 December 1943.

The Kittyhawk squadrons returned to Australia for rest and reequipment. 76 Squadron flew to Batchelor in the Northern Territory, and Truscott was able to add the last entry to his list of claims: a Betty destroyed on 21 January. After serving at Horn Island and Cairns, 75 Squadron returned to Milne Bay in January 1943. In the meantime, the Allied airfields had been developed in the Port Moresby area. The efforts of 1 Mobile Works Squadron (later 5 Airfield Construction Squadron) from July 1942 resulted in the development of Ward’s airfield to enable the Beaufighters of 30 Squadron and Boston light bombers of 22 Squadron to operate against the Japanese forces along the Kokoda Track and at Buna, Gona and Sanananda. It is also a period where the influence of air power in the theatre was becoming apparent. For example, the difficultly of supplying the forward troops on the Kokoda Track resulted in the deployment of the Special Transport Flight of Hudson aircraft from 1 Operational Training Unit to Ward’s airfield to augment the sparse aerial transport resources in the theatre. The flight made its first supply drop at Soputa on 14 December 1942. Next day the hazards of these operations became evident. Three Hudsons departed from Ward’s, penetrated the overcast conditions over the notorious ‘Gap’ in the Owen Stanley Range and dropped much needed ammunition at Soputa. Squadron Leader W.A. Pedrina made two circuits before dropping his stores on the third. The aircraft then went into a steep turn and crashed, with Flight Sergeant L. Callaghan the only survivor.

The short operational career of Flight Lieutenant W.E. Newton is typical of the tasks that were being undertaken by the Australian squadrons at Port Moresby during this period. After joining 22 Squadron, Newton flew his first operational sortie on 1 January 1943, strafing Japanese positions near Sanananda Point, landing at Dobodura due to a mechanical problem with his Boston light bomber. On 22 January 1943, the Australian and American forces finally secured the area from Gona to Buna. The Australian Bostons had played an effective role in supporting the land battle, and Newton was to participate in an action in March that sealed the fate of the Japanese defenders at Lae. Prior to this climactic event, Newton flew missions to prevent the Japanese from capturing the airfields at Wau. During February, Newton flew five of eight sorties supporting the hard-pressed infantry in the Wau–Mubo–Salamaua area. Using photographs exposed by the Wirraways of 4 Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, the Bostons flew at 400 kph through anti-aircraft fire, between ridges and mountains, often battling through monsoonal rain and clouds to bomb and strafe enemy positions. These operations, which required courage and flying skill, contributed to the heavy Japanese casualties.

On 2 March, Bill Newton flew one of six Boston bombers, which in the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire, swept across the airfield at Lae, leaving a trail of destruction. This action was aimed at destroying enemy fighters that had been deployed to Lae to give protection to a Japanese convoy. The ships had departed from Rabaul on 28 February to reinforce the garrison at Lae. The convoy was attacked by American B-17 bombers during the 2nd, but it persevered. Next day it came within range of the specially trained Australian 30 Squadron Beaufighter and American B-25 Mitchell bomber crews, who vindicated the many hours of low-level ‘skip bombing’ training that they had undertaken on the wreckage of the SS Pruth. To prevent interception of the attacking force, Newton and two other Boston captains attacked the Lae airfield early in the morning. The three Bostons, armed with four nose-mounted 0.303 machine-guns and a 2000-pound bomb load caught the enemy fighters as they prepared for take-off, leaving many burning on the cratered runway.

Out in the Bismarck Sea the Japanese convoy was bombed by a force of B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, thirteen 30 Squadron Beaufighters and a number of Mitchells, leaving a swathe of burning and sinking vessels in their wake. Ammunition expended, the Allied aircraft returned to Port Moresby to rearm and refuel. The Allied aircraft returned during the afternoon. Wing Commander C.C. Learmonth led five 22 Squadron Bostons to join in the fray, claiming two direct hits on enemy vessels. The Australians were under pressure from defending Zekes. Flying Officer H.B. Craig attracted four of them. By boldly turning into his attackers with all guns blazing, Craig forced the enemy to break away.

Newton did not participate in the later attacks.

On 16 March, Newton was flying one of a formation of six Bostons that attacked newly constructed fuel tanks on the Salamaua isthmus. From a height of 1500 metres, Newton dived on the tanks, while his wingman, Dick Fethers, strafed the adjacent gun sites. The tanks exploded, and the resultant fireball and column of smoke could be seen for 80 kilometres. As the other Bostons dropped their bombs, Newton returned to strafe the area. His aircraft received four direct hits and, with instruments, hydraulics and control surfaces badly damaged, Newton turned south-east for safety. To further compound the situation, one engine had to be shut down. Newton, with superb airmanship and luck, coaxed the Boston back to Ward’s. For his action on this day, Newton was awarded the Victoria Cross. But it was a posthumous award. On 18 March, Newton and his crew, along with Sergeant Basil Eastwood and John Lyons, ditched after attacking Salamaua. Eastwood was killed in the crash, and Newton and Lyons were captured. Lyons was bayoneted to death soon after, and on 29 March 1943 the 23-year-old Flight Lieutenant W.E. Newton was executed by his Japanese captors.

Admiral Yamamoto had established an advanced headquarters at Lae to attempt to counter the reverses at Guadalcanal and along the northern New Guinea coast. He identified the growing Allied air strength as the major threat, and instigated a series of air attacks on Guadalcanal, Oro Bay, Port Moresby and Milne Bay to redress the balance. In this he was unsuccessful. At Milne Bay the enemy efforts were intercepted by the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters of the USAAF 9th Fighter Squadron and the Kittyhawks of 75 and 77 Squadrons. The latter had arrived in November 1942, and 75 Squadron returned on 13 February 1943. The action, the last major aerial combat to which the RAAF fighter force contributed in the South West Pacific Area, took place on 14 April 1943. The two Australian units’ contribution was the destruction of six Betty bombers, a Aichi D3A ‘Val’ and three Zekes. Squadron Leader W.A. ‘Wulf’ Arthur, the 75 Squadron commander, epitomised the courage of the Australian pilots. Finding that his guns would not fire, he requested permission to land. While diving across Milne Bay, he sighted six Vals and made dummy attacks on the formation, before unsuccessfully attempting, by aggressive flying, to force another Val to land.

To facilitate the westward advance from Milne Bay, 6 ACS deployed to Goodenough Island and to Kiriwina to prepare airfields to be used by Kittyhawks and Beauforts to strike at targets at Gasmata and Rabaul. During this period, 75 Squadron operated two Lockheed F-4, the photographic reconnaissance version of the P-38 Lightning fighter, on missions over Cape Gloucester, Gasmata and the Trobriand Islands for the US Sixth Army and RAAF 9 Operational Group. Squadron Leader Geoff Atherton and Flight Lieutenant ‘Monty’ Mountseer flew the majority of the flights. The squadron operated from the new airfields at Vivigani on Goodenough Island and Kiriwina that had been developed by 6 ACS. In the meantime, 7 ACS contributed to the construction of the airfield complex at Nadzab, the communication road from the complex to Lae and the construction of a fuel pipeline from that port to the airfield. This area became a major base for American heavy and medium bombers preparing for the subsequent landings at Cape Gloucester in New Britain and at Aitape and Hollandia. From 19 January 1944, 75 squadron operated from Newton Field, one of the Australian contributions to the Nadzab complex. Then they commenced operations with the newly arrived 78 Squadron.

The operation of the two units included escorting formations of USAAF B-24 Liberators and B-25 Mitchells. In addition, the two Kittyhawk units flew close escort for the Vultee Vengeance dive bombers of 21, 23 and 24 Squadrons that were flying precision strikes against enemy facilities at Alexishafen, Sair Island, Hansa Bay and Madang. The three dive-bomber units had deployed to New Guinea between 30 August and 15 February 1944. Although the aircraft supported the Australian 9th Division at Sattelberg and gained a reputation for close air support to ground troops, they did not remain operational in the theatre for long. On 8 March, 23 Squadron flew its last sortie; 21 Squadron was only based in New Guinea for fifteen days before all the dive-bomber units were returned south. Ultimately, they were to form the nucleus of the RAAF Liberator heavy bomber force.

When not involved in escort duties, the Kittyhawks struck at enemy targets and flew close support missions. These were risky. On 27 January 1944, 75 Squadron lost Flight Sergeant J.N. Stirling and Pilot Officer Hunt when they collided while strafing Jombo Island, south of Madang. Flying Officer E.H. Weber was shot down over Malala on 2 March 1944, to become 78 Squadron’s first operational casualty. Squadron Leader Col Lindeman gained some revenge when he damaged two Oscars that had attempted to intercept the Liberator formation that he was escorting. Japanese sources state that two Oscars were lost on this day, but they do not state whether this was the result of air-to-air combat or to another cause. This was to prove the last combat of this type that involved 75 Squadron.

On 12 March, 75 Squadron commenced operations from Cape Gloucester in New Britain in support of the 1st Marine Division that had landed as part of the operations to isolate the Japanese Rabaul garrison and to prepare bases for the next step forward: the landings at Aitape during March. The personnel of 7 ACS were in the second wave of troops that landed at Aitape, and the members of 5 ACS on the 23rd reinforced them. These highly professional units had a fighter strip operational on the 24 April, and a bomber strip two weeks later. The Kittyhawks of 78 Squadron landed at Aitape on 25 April, and 75 Squadron aircraft joined them next day. The two squadrons directed operations against the Japanese defences between Hyaparake and Cape Boram, as well as covering the progress of the naval bombardment force that included HMAS Australia and HMAS Shropshire. Both were to be involved in the landing at the island of Biak in May.

The two RAAF fighter squadrons moved westwards to Hollandia on 25 May. On 27 May, they covered the landing of the US 41st Division at Biak. These operations were undertaken at the extreme range of the Kittyhawks, and the flights gave little opportunity for the fighters to close with the enemy. However, when the opportunity was presented, the Australians took full advantage. In one of the last major air-to-air combats in Papua New Guinea, 78 Squadron shot down eight Japanese aircraft on 3 June. Fifteen Kittyhawks intercepted a Japanese formation of twelve Oscars and three Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ attack bombers. Flight Lieutenant R.S. Osment, the formation leader, shot down a Kate in flames. Pilot Officer R.R. Cowley closed to within 50 metres of an Oscar before shooting it down, also in flames. Blue section joined the furious dog fight. The leader, Flight Lieutenant G.H. White, shot the wing off an Oscar before disposing of a Kate, which was seen to invert just before it hit the water. Other victorious pilots were Flight Lieutenant D.R. Baker, Flight Sergeant C.I. Smith, Flight Lieutenant J.C. Smith, Flight Lieutenant J.C. Griffiths, and Flying Officer R.E. Barker, who were credited with the destruction of one Oscar apiece. In addition, Griffiths and Flying Officer N.F. Blessing shared in the destruction of another enemy fighter.

On 10 June, Flight Lieutenants D.R. Baker and G. Giles scored the final air-to-air victory credited to RAAF fighters over New Guinea when they destroyed an enemy aircraft while covering an Allied convoy near Japen Island.

The next phase of MacArthur’s advance was the capture of the island of Noemfoor, from where air power could be projected over the Vogelkop peninsula and the Ambon–Ceram area. To ensure the rapid utilisation of the Noemfoor airfields, Group Captain W.C. Dale, the commander of 62 Works Wing, was appointed as the chief engineer to oversee the rehabilitation and construction of the airfields at Kamiri and Kornsoren. The airfield construction troops landed within thirty minutes of the initial assault, and Kamiri was suitable for 78 Squadron to fly to Noemfoor on 20 July, where 75 and 80 Squadrons joined it on the 22nd. The three squadrons harassed enemy forces in the Geelvink Bay and Vogelkop peninsula as indirect support to the Allied landing at Sansapor, and were joined in this task by 22 Squadron Bostons and the 30 Squadron Beaufighters early in August.

When Morotai was taken after an unopposed assault on 14 September 1944, the men of 3 and 14 ACSs were among the first to land. By 20 September, they had completed preparatory work and commenced the upgrading of the Wama airfield. Morotai was to become a main concentration point for RAAF front-line units assigned to the RAAF’s 1st Tactical Air Force. These included 1 (Mosquito), 13 (Ventura), 21, 23 and 24 (Liberator), 30 and 93 (Beaufighter), and 452 and 457 (Spitfire) Squadrons. To this must be added the assets of 22 Squadron that had deployed to Morotai on 17 November 1944 with sixteen Bostons. Nine Bostons were either destroyed or extensively damaged during Japanese air raids on the night of 22–23 November, forcing the unit to be withdrawn to Noemfoor for rearming with Beaufighters. The fighters, Bostons and Beaufighters operated extensively over the Halmaheras to ensure that the Japanese forces could not be deployed to reinforce the defences of the Philippines. These operations were to act as a catalyst for the so-called ‘Morotai Mutiny’ of April 1945, when a group of senior commanders took action to bring the futility of these operations to the attention of higher authority.

THE FIRST CRUSADE, 1095–9

Between 1095 and the end of the Middle Ages, western Europeans fought or planned wars broadly understood as being in defence or promotion of their religion throughout the eastern Mediterranean, in the Iberian peninsula, the Baltic, and within Christendom itself. Yet no campaign rivalled the first in impact or memory. Contemporaries and subsequent generations have been astonished and moved by the exploits of the armies and fleets from western Europe that forced their way into the Near East between 1096 and 1099 to capture Jerusalem in distant Palestine. Excited western intellectuals employed the language of theology: for one, ‘the greatest miracle since the Resurrection’; for another, ‘a new way of salvation’, almost a renewal of God’s covenant with His people.

The expedition arose out of a specific social, religious, ecclesiastical, and political context. Western Europe was held together by a military aristocracy whose power rested on control of local resources by force and inheritance as much as by civil law. The availability of large numbers of arms bearers, nobles and their retinues, with sufficient funds or patronage to undertake such an expedition, was matched by an awareness of the sinfulness of their customary activities and a desire for penance. For them, holy violence was familiar and Jerusalem possessed overwhelming numinous resonance. The invitation from the eastern Christian emperor of Byzantium (Constantinople), Alexius I Comnenus to Pope Urban suited the new papal policy of asserting supremacy over both Church and State developed over the previous half century. An earlier scheme by Pope Gregory VII (1073–85) to lead an army eastwards to Jerusalem had come to nothing in 1074. This time, Urban II, already a sponsor of war against the Muslims in Spain, seized on the opportunity to promote papal authority in temporal affairs. From its inception, crusading represented a practical expression of papal ideology, leadership, and power.

The opportunity was no accident. Alexius I had been recruiting western knights and mercenaries for years. A usurper, he needed military success to shore up his domestic position. The death in 1092 of Malik Shah, Turkish sultan of Baghdad, was followed by the disintegration of his empire in Syria, Palestine, and Iraq. This offered Alexius a chance to restore Byzantine control over Asia Minor and northern Syria lost to the Turks since their victory over the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071. For this he needed western troops. For political convenience the pope was an obvious and ready ally to choose. Once he had received the Byzantine ambassadors early in 1095, Urban transformed their request for military aid into a campaign of religious revivalism, its justification couched in cosmological and eschatological terms. The pope himself led the recruitment drive with a preaching tour of his homeland, France, between August 1095 and September 1096 that reached its defining moment at Clermont. With the kings of France and Germany excommunicated, the king of England, William II Rufus, in dispute with the pope, and the Spanish monarchs preoccupied with their own Muslim frontier, the pope concentrated on the higher nobility, the dukes, counts, and lords, while casting his net wide. Recruitment stretched from southern Italy and Sicily to Lombardy, across great swathes of France from Aquitaine and Provence to Normandy, Flanders and into the Low Countries, western Germany, the Rhineland, the North Sea region, and Denmark, although both Latin and Arabic sources dubbed them collectively as ‘Franks’ – Franci, al-ifranji. A recent guess put the number of fighting men reaching Asia Minor in 1096–7 at between 50,000 and 70,000, excluding the non-combatant pilgrims who used the military exodus as protection for their own journeys.

The first to set out for the agreed muster point of Constantinople in spring and summer 1096 included forces from Lombardy, northern and eastern France, the Rhineland, and southern Germany. One of their leaders was a charismatic Picard preacher known as Peter the Hermit. Some contemporaries attributed the genesis of the whole enterprise to Peter, who allegedly had been badly treated by the Turkish rulers of Jerusalem when on pilgrimage some years earlier. Although unlikely to have been the expedition’s instigator, Peter certainly played a significant role in recruitment, possibly with papal approval, and was able to muster a substantial army within three and a half months of the council of Clermont. Elements of these Franco-German contingents conducted vicious anti-Jewish pogroms the length of the Rhineland in May and June 1096, before moving east down the Danube. Together, these armies have been dismissed as ‘the Peasants’ Crusade’. This is a misnomer. Although containing fewer nobles and mounted knights than the later armies, these forces were far from the rabbles of legend and contemporary polemic. They possessed cohesion, funds, and leadership, managing to complete the long march to Constantinople largely intact and in good time. One of the commanders, Walter Sans Avoir, was not, as many have assumed, ‘Penniless’ – Sans Avoir is a place (in the Seine valley), not a condition. However, discipline proved hard to maintain. After crossing the Bosporus into Asia in August 1096, these armies were annihilated by the Turks in September and October, only a matter of weeks before the first of the princely-led armies reached Constantinople.

Behind Peter’s expeditionary forces came six large armies from northern France, Lorraine, Flanders, Normandy, Provence and southern Italy. Although the Provençal leader, Count Raymond IV of Toulouse, had been consulted by Urban II in 1095–6 and travelled with the pope’s representative, or legate, Adhemar, bishop of Le Puy, there was no single commander. The most effective field general proved to be Bohemund of Taranto, head of the Normans from southern Italy. Arriving at Constantinople between November 1096 and June 1097, each leader was persuaded or forced to offer an oath of fealty to Alexius I, who, in return, provided money, provisions, guides, and a regiment of troops. After the capture of Nicaea, capital of the Turkish sultanate of Rum (Asia Minor) in June 1097, the campaign fell into four distinct phases. An arduous march across Asia Minor to Syria (June to October 1097) that saw a major but close-run victory over the Turks north of Doryleaum (1 July) was followed by the siege and then defence of Antioch in northern Syria (October 1097 to June 1098). One contingent from the main army under Baldwin of Boulogne established control of the Armenian city of Edessa beyond the Euphrates. As their difficulties proliferated, the depleted western army increasingly regarded themselves as under the special care of God, a view reinforced by visions, the apparently miraculous discovery at Antioch of the Holy Lance that was said to have pierced Christ’s side on the Cross, and the victory a few days later (28 June 1098) over a numerically much superior Muslim army from Mosul. From June 1098 until January 1099, the Christian army remained in northern Syria, living off the land and squabbling over the spoils.

The final march on Jerusalem (January to June 1099) was accompanied by reports of more miracles and visions, increasing the sense of the army being an instrument of Divine Providence. However, the crusaders may have been single-minded, pious, and brutal, but they were neither stupid nor ignorant. Their advance had taken account of local politics at every stage, notably the chronic divisions among their Muslim opponents that prevented united resistance. Amicable negotiations with the Egyptians, who had themselves conquered Jerusalem from the Turks in 1098, lasted for two years before collapsing only a few weeks before the westerners reached the Holy City. The final assault on Jerusalem (June to July 1099) was crowned with success on 15 July; the ensuing massacre shocked Muslim and Jewish opinion. Western observers described it approvingly, in apocalyptic terms. Their triumph secured by defeating an Egyptian relief army at Ascalon (12 August), most of the surviving crusaders returned to the west. By 1100, as few as 300 knights were left in southern Palestine. Of the upwards of 100,000 who had left for Jerusalem in 1096, and of those who had caught up with them during the following three years, perhaps no more than 14,000 reached Jerusalem in June 1099. Urban II had been right: the war of the cross had proved a very severe penance indeed.

Crusade of 1101

The Crusade of 1101 was a minor crusade of three separate movements, organized in 1100 and 1101 in the successful aftermath of the First Crusade. It is also called the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted due to the number of participants who joined this crusade after having turned back from the First Crusade.

The successful First Crusade prompted a call for reinforcements from the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem, and Pope Paschal II, successor to Pope Urban II (who died before learning of the outcome of the crusade that he had called), urged a new expedition. He especially urged those who had taken the crusade vow but had never departed, and those who had turned back while on the march. Some of these people were already scorned at home and faced enormous pressure to return to the east; Adela of Blois, wife of Stephen, Count of Blois, who had fled from the Siege of Antioch in 1098, was so ashamed of her husband that she would not permit him to stay at home.

The Lombards

In September of 1100, a large group of Lombards left from Milan. These were mostly untrained peasants, led by Anselm IV, Archbishop of Milan. When they reached the territory of the Byzantine Empire, they pillaged it recklessly, and Byzantine emperor Alexius I escorted them to a camp outside Constantinople. This did not satisfy them, and they made their way inside the city where they pillaged the Blachernae palace, even killing Alexius’ pet lion. The Lombards were quickly ferried across the Bosporus and made their camp at Nicomedia, to wait for reinforcements.

At Nicomedia they were joined in May 1101 by a smaller but stronger contingent of French, Burgundians, and Germans, under Stephen of Blois, Stephen I, Count of Burgundy, Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy, and Conrad, constable of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Joining them at Nicomedia was Raymond IV of Toulouse, one of the leaders of the First Crusade who was now in the service of the emperor. He was appointed overall leader, and a Byzantine force of Pecheneg mercenaries was sent out with them under the command of General Tzitas.

This group marched out at the end of May, towards Dorylaeum, following the route taken by Raymond and Stephen in 1097 during the First Crusade. They planned to continue towards Konya, but the Lombards, whose rabble outnumbered all the other contingents, were determined to march north to Niksar where Bohemund I of Antioch was being held captive by the Danishmendids. After capturing Ancyra on June 23 1101, and returning it to Alexius, the crusaders turned north, where they almost immediately came under attack from the Seljuk Turks. The Turks harassed the crusaders for weeks, and a foraging party was destroyed in July near Kastamonu.

Battle of Mersivan

The Lombards realized their mistake and the entire army turned back to the east, entering Danishmend territory. However, the Seljuks, under Kilij Arslan I, realizing that disunity was the cause of his inability to stop the First Crusade, had now allied with both the Danishmends and Ridwan of Aleppo. In early August the crusaders met the combined Muslim army at Mersivan. They were organized into five divisions: the Burgundians, Raymond and the Byzantines, the Germans, the French, and the Lombards. The Lombards, in the vanguard, were defeated, the Pechenegs deserted, and the French and Germans were also forced to fall back. Raymond was trapped on a rock and was rescued by Stephen and Conrad. The battle continued into the next day, when the crusader camp was captured and the knights fled, leaving women, children, and priests behind to be killed or enslaved. Most of the Lombards, who had no horses, were soon found and killed by the Turks. Raymond, Stephen of Blois, and Stephen of Burgundy fled north to Sinope, and returned to Constantinople by ship.

The Nivernois

Soon after the Lombard contingent had left Nicomedia, a separate force under William II of Nevers arrived at Constantinople. He had crossed into Byzantine territory over the Adriatic Sea from Bari, and the march to Constantinople was free of incident, an unusual occurrence for a crusade army. He quickly marched out to meet the others, but in fact never caught up with them, although the two armies must have been close to each other on numerous occasions. William briefly besieged Iconium (Konya) but could not take it, and he was soon ambushed at Heraclea Cybistra by Kilij Arslan, who had just defeated the Lombards at Mersivan and was eager to stamp out these new armies as soon as possible. At Heraclea almost the entire contingent from Nevers was wiped out, except for the count himself and a few of his men.

The French and Bavarians

As soon as William II left Constantinople, a third army arrived, led by William IX of Aquitaine, Hugh of Vermandois (one of those who had not fulfilled his vow on the First Crusade), and Welf I, Duke of Bavaria; accompanying them was Ida of Austria, mother of Leopold III of Austria. They had pillaged Byzantine territory on the way to Constantinople and had almost come into conflict with the Pecheneg mercenaries sent to stop them, until William and Welf intervened.

From Constantinople, this army split in two, with one half travelling directly to Palestine by ship; among them was the chronicler Ekkehard of Aura. The rest, travelling by land, reached Heraclea in September, and, like the previous army, were ambushed and massacred by Kilij Arslan. William and Welf escaped, but Hugh was mortally wounded; the survivors eventually arrived at Tarsus, where Hugh died on October 18. Ida disappeared during this ambush and was presumably killed, but according to later legend she was taken into captivity and became the mother of Zengi, a great enemy of the crusaders in the 1140s.

Aftermath

William of Nevers also escaped to Tarsus and joined the rest of the survivors there as did Raymond of Toulouse. Under Raymond’s command they captured Tortosa, with help from a Genoese fleet. By now the crusade was more of a pilgrimage. The survivors arrived at Antioch at the end of 1101, and at Easter in 1102 arrived in Jerusalem. Afterwards, many of them simply went home, their vow having been fulfilled, although some remained behind to help King Baldwin I defend against an Egyptian invasion at Ramla. Stephen of Blois was killed during this battle, as was Hugh VI of Lusignan, ancestor of the future Lusignan dynasty of Jerusalem and Cyprus. Joscelin of Courtenay also stayed behind, and survived to become Count of Edessa in 1118.

The defeat of the crusaders allowed Kilij Arslan to establish his capital at Konya, and also proved to the Muslim world that the crusaders were not invincible, as they appeared to be during the First Crusade. The crusaders and Byzantines each blamed the other for the defeat, and neither of them were able to ensure a safe route through Anatolia now that Kilij Arslan had strengthened his position. The only open route to the Holy Land was the sea route, which benefitted the Italian cities. The lack of a safe land route from Constantinople also benefitted the Principality of Antioch, where Tancred, ruling for his uncle Bohemund, was able to consolidate his power without Byzantine interference.

Both the Second and Third Crusades suffered similar difficulties when attempting to cross Anatolia.

Aftermath till 1144

After the First Crusade’s establishment of bridgeheads at Antioch in Syria and Jerusalem in Palestine, four principalities were carved out on the Levantine mainland: the kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1291); the principality of Antioch (1098–1268); the county of Edessa (1098–1144); and the county of Tripoli (1102–1289). Collectively these territories were known as Outremer, the land overseas. The eastern crusades were directed at expanding, defending, or restoring these conquests. In the first half of the twelfth century, with Jerusalem in Christian hands, the pilgrim trade exploded, while campaigning in the Holy Land became part of chivalric training for some high-born nobles as well as a martial accessory to pilgrimage. A number of modest expeditions helped conquer the ports, plains, and immediate hinterland of the Syrio-Palestinian coast (for example those of King Sigurd of Norway[1], 1109–10; Fulk V of Anjou [2] 1120 and 1128; and the doge of Venice, Domenico Michele [3] 1123–4). Increasingly, the model of penitential war was used on other Christian frontiers, such as Spain, and against papal enemies within Christendom.

[1] Sigurd I Magnusson (ca. 1090 - March 26, 1130), also known (in Norwegian) as Sigurd Jorsalfare (Old Norse Sigurðr Jórsalafari, translation: Sigurd the Crusader, literal translation: Sigurd, the Jerusalem-farer) was king of Norway from 1103 to 1130. He initially shared the throne with his brothers Øystein and Olav, but ruled alone from 1123.

In 1098 Sigurd accompanied his father, King Magnus III, on his expedition to the Orkney Islands, Hebrides and Irish Sea. He was made King of Orkney the same year, following the removal of the incumbent jarls of Orkney, Paul and Erlend Thorfinnsson. He was also, apparently, made King of Mann and the Isles in that year, following the overthrow of their king by Magnus.

It is not certain whether Sigurd returned with Magnus to Norway after the 1098 expedition; however, it is known that he was in Orkney when Magnus returned west in 1102. A marriage alliance was negotiated between Magnus and Muircheartach Ua Briain, the leading king in Ireland at the time and ruler of Dublin. Sigurd was to marry Muirchertach’s daughter. However, when Magnus was killed in Ulaid in 1103, the 14-year-old Sigurd returned to Norway, leaving his child-bride behind, and became king together with his brothers Øystein and Olav.

In 1107, Sigurd led a Norwegian contingent in support of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. He was the first European king to go on crusade, and his crusader feats earned him the nickname Jorsalafari (”Jerusalem-farer”). He fought in Lisbon, various Mediterranean islands and Palestine, and visited King Roger II of Sicily in Palermo, Jerusalem (Jorsalaland) and Constantinople (Miklagard). He joined forces with Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem to capture the coastal city of Sidon in 1110.

After returning to Norway in 1111, Sigurd made his capital in Konghelle (Kungälv in present-day Sweden) and built a castle there, where he kept a relic given to him by King Baldwin, a splinter reputed to be from the True Cross. In 1123 Sigurd once again set out to fight in the name of the church, this time to Småland in Sweden, where the inhabitants had renounced their Christian faith and were again worshipping their former gods.

During Sigurd’s reign, the tithe (a 10% tax to benefit the church) was introduced in Norway. Sigurd also founded the diocese of Stavanger because he was denied divorce by the bishop in Bergen, so he simply installed another bishop further south.

Sigurd died in 1130 and was buried in the Hallvardskirken church in Oslo. Sigurd and his queen Malmfred (a daughter of Grand Prince Mstislav I of Kiev and granddaughter of King Inge I of Sweden) had a daughter, Kristin Sigurddatter, but no legitimate sons. This led to a power struggle following Sigurd’s death between various illegitimate sons and other royal pretenders, which escalated into a lengthy civil war.

During this civil war era in Norway, which lasted from 1130 until 1240, there were several interlocked conflicts of varying scale and intensity. The background for these conflicts were the unclear Norwegian succession laws, social conditions and struggles between various groups of noblemen fighting for power. There were two main parties, the Bagler and Birkebeiner. The rallying point regularly was a royal son, or a person claimed by his followers to be a royal son, who was set up as the head figure of the party in question, to oppose the rule of a king from the contesting party. In the traditions of succession of the day there was little no difference between a legitimate and an illegitimate son of a king; the competence and popularity of the potential heir was supposed to be the deciding factor. This laid the ground-work for long feuds over who should rule the kingdom of Norway in the 12th century and early 13th century.

Around 1225, Snorri Sturluson recorded the saga of Sigurd and his brothers in the Heimskringla. In the 19th Century, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote an historical drama based on the life of the king, and Edvard Grieg composed an opera about Sigurd.

[2] Fulk V (1089/1092 – November 13, 1143), also known as Fulk the Younger, was Count of Anjou from 1109 to 1129, and King of Jerusalem from 1131 to his death.

Count of Anjou

Fulk was born between 1089 and 1092, the son of Count Fulk IV of Anjou and Bertrade de Montfort. In 1092, Bertrade deserted her husband and bigamously married King Philip I of France.

He became count of Anjou upon his father’s death in 1109, at the age of approximately twenty. He was originally an opponent of King Henry I of England and a supporter of King Louis VI of France, but in 1127 he allied with Henry when Henry arranged for his daughter Matilda to marry Fulk’s son Geoffrey of Anjou. Fulk went on crusade in 1120, and become a close friend of the Knights Templar. After his return he began to subsidize the Templars, and maintained two knights in the Holy Land for a year.

Crusader and King

By 1127 Fulk was preparing to return to Anjou when he received an embassy from King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Baldwin II had no male heirs but had already designated his daughter Melisende to succeed him. Baldwin II wanted to safeguard his daughter’s inheritance by marrying her to a powerful lord. Fulk was a wealthy crusader and experienced military commander, and a widower. His experience in the field would prove invaluable in a frontier state always in the grip of war.

However, Fulk held out for better terms than mere consort of the Queen; he wanted to be king alongside Melisende. Baldwin II, reflecting on Fulk’s fortune and military exploits, acquiesced. Fulk abdicated his county seat of Anjou to his son Geoffery and left for Jerusalem, where he married Melisende on June 2, 1129. Later Baldwin II bolstered Melisende’s position in the kingdom by making her sole guardian of her son by Fulk, Baldwin III, born in 1130.

Fulk and Melisende became joint rulers of Jerusalem in 1131 with Baldwin II’s death. From the start Fulk assumed sole control of the government, excluding Melisende altogether. He favored fellow countrymen from Anjou to the native nobility. The other crusader states to the north feared that Fulk would attempt to impose the suzerainty of Jerusalem over them, as Baldwin II had done; but as Fulk was far less powerful than his deceased father-in-law, the northern states rejected his authority. Melisende’s sister Alice of Antioch, exiled from the Principality by Baldwin II, took control of Antioch once more after the death of her father. She allied with Pons of Tripoli and Joscelin II of Edessa to prevent Fulk from marching north in 1132; Fulk and Pons fought a brief battle before peace was made and Alice was exiled again.

In Jerusalem as well, Fulk was resented by the second generation of Jerusalem Christians who had grown up there since the First Crusade. These “natives” focused on Melisende’s cousin, the popular Hugh II of Le Puiset, count of Jaffa, who was devotedly loyal to the Queen. Fulk saw Hugh as a rival, and it did not help matters when Hugh’s own stepson accused him of disloyalty. In 1134, in order to expose Hugh, Fulk accused him of infidelity with Melisende. Hugh rebelled in protest. Hugh secured himself to Jaffa, and allied himself with the Muslims of Ascalon. He was able to defeat the army set against him by Fulk, but this situation could not hold. The Patriarch interceded in the conflict, perhaps at the behest of Melisende. Fulk agreed to peace and Hugh was exiled from the kingdom for three years, a lenient sentence.

However, an assassination attempt was made against Hugh. Fulk, or his supporters, were commonly believed responsible, though direct proof never surfaced. The scandal was all that was needed for the queen’s party to take over the government in what amounted to a palace coup. Author and historian Bernard Hamilton wrote that the Fulk’s supporters “went in terror of their lives” in the palace. Contemporary author and historian William of Tyre wrote of Fulk “he never attempted to take the initiative, even in trivial matters, without (Melisende’s) consent”. The result was that Melisende held direct and unquestioned control over the government from 1136 onwards. Sometime before 1136 Fulk reconciled with his wife, and a second son, Amalric was born.

Securing the borders

Jerusalem’s northern border was of great concern. Fulk had been appointed regent of the Principality of Antioch by Baldwin II. As regent he had Raymund of Poitou marry the infant Constance of Antioch, daughter of Bohemund II and Alice of Antioch, and niece to Melisende. However, the greatest concern during Fulk’s reign was the rise of Atabeg Zengi of Mosul.

In 1137 Fulk was defeated in battle near Barin but allied with Mu’in ad-Din Unur, the vizier of Damascus. Damascus was also threatened by Zengi. Fulk captured the fort of Banias, to the north of Lake Tiberias and thus secured the northern frontier.

Fulk also strengthened the kingdom’s southern border. His butler Paganus built the fortress of Kerak to the south of the Dead Sea, and to help give the kingdom access to the Red Sea, Fulk had Blanche Garde, Ibelin, and other forts built in the south-west to overpower the Egyptian fortress at Ascalon. This city was a base from which the Egyptian Fatimids launched frequent raids on the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Fulk sought to neutralise this threat.

In 1137 and 1142, Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus arrived in Syria attempting to impose Byzantine control over the crusader states. John’s arrival was ignored by Fulk, who declined an invitation to meet the emperor in Jerusalem.

Death

In 1143, while the king and queen were on holiday in Acre, Fulk was killed in a hunting accident. His horse stumbled, fell, and Fulk’s skull was crushed by the saddle, “and his brains gushed forth from both ears and nostrils”, as William of Tyre describes. He was carried back to Acre, where he lay unconscious for three days before he died. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Though their marriage started in conflict, Melisende mourned for him privately as well as publicly. Fulk was survived by his son Geoffrey of Anjou by his first wife, and Baldwin III and Amalric I by Melisende.

According to William, Fulk was “a ruddy man, like David… faithful and gentle, affable and kind… an experienced warrior full of patience and wisdom in military affairs.” His chief fault was an inability to remember names and faces.

William of Tyre described Fulk as a capable soldier and able politician, but observed that Fulk did not adequately attend to the defense of the crusader states to the north. Ibn al-Qalanisi (who calls him al-Kund Anjur, an Arabic rendering of “Count of Anjou”) says that “he was not sound in his judgment nor was he successful in his administration.” The Zengids continued their march on the crusader states, culminating in the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144, which led to the Second Crusade.

[3] Domenico Michele was the 35th Doge of Venice. He reigned from 1117 to 1130.

In August 1122 Domenico Michele led a Venetian fleet of 100 vessels and around 15,000 men for the defense of the Holy Lands. The fleet sailed under the flag of St. Peter, which the Pope had sent to Michele. Over the winter the fleet set siege to Corfu. The siege was cancelled in the spring when news arrived that King Baldwin II of Jerusalem had been captured by the Artuqid Turks, and that the Kingdom of Jerusalem had subsequently been invaded by the Fatimids of Egypt. The Venetian fleet went to the defense of Jerusalem and defeated the Egyptian fleet off of the Syrian coast. The Venetians then landed at Acre; from there Michele went to Jerusalem, where the Pactum Warmundi was signed granting Venice privileged trade concessions, tax freedoms, and even partial ownership of some cities within the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

On the return journey to Venice, the fleet looted Rhodes, attacked the islands Samos and Lesbos, and destroyed the city of Modon in the Peloponnese. Domenico Michele triumphantly returned to Venice in June 1125. He had helped the Christians in the Holy Land and weakened the hostile Greeks. The inscription on Michele’s tomb does not describe him as a religious crusader, but rather as a “terror Graecorum…et laus Venetorum.” (A horror to the Greeks…and praise from the Venetians).