Capital of Germany. The West retaliated with a counter-blockade of goods from the Soviet zone. Gen Lucius D Clay, head of the American occupation zone, took a hard line and pressed that American forces fight their way through to the city. President Truman overruled him and decided upon an airlift. He was informed that Berlin needed at least 4,000 tons of food and fuel per day, perhaps 3,500 tons in summer. In fact, aircraft flying two round trips per day averaged 13,000 tons per day, one-third of which was flown by the RAF. At the height of the tension, two groups of possibly nuclear-laden B-29s were dispatched to Britain. But by August 1948 a 25-day reserve of coal and a 30-day reserve of food had been created. On May 12 1949 the Russians lifted their blockade. The counter-blockade had proved effective. And the Soviet action had not prevented the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany taking up its seat at Bonn on May 23 1949. RHR.
Berling, Zygmunt (1896-1980). Polish. A major when captured by Russians in 1939, became general commanding six Polish divisions in Red Army 1944; dismissed for trying to help Warsaw rising.
Bernafay wood. Wood facing the extreme British right flank on the Somme, July 1 1916. It was occupied by the 9th (Scottish) Division two days later.
Bernhardt Line. German covering positions in front of the main Gustav Line, held in autumn 1943 to slow Allies’ advance on Rome.
Bernhard, Prince of the Netherlands (b. l911). A Prince of Lippe-Biesterfeld in Germany; married 1937 Queen Wilhelmina’s daughter Juliana (Queen of the Netherlands 1948-80). Evaded to England with his family, under fire, in May 1940; pilot in raf 1942-44; commanded Dutch army in exile and Dutch resisters, 1944-45.
Bethouart, Gen Emile (b. l889). Fr. Commander of French forces during Norwegian campaign, 1940.
Betio Island see Tarawa camraion.
Beurling, Flight Lt George Frederick (1921-1948). Canadian. Generally credited with 31.33 victories, “Buzz” or “Screwball” Beurling, as he was nicknamed, became the top-scoring Canadian fighter pilot of World War II. A “lone wolf’, impatient of discipline, he achieved most of his victories flying Spitfires with No.249 Squadron raf over Malta in 1942.
Bevan, Col John Henry (18941978). Br. Controlled, under Churchill, British deception planning, 1942-45.
Biak, Battle of see HOLLANDIA CAMPAIGN.
Bien Hoa. Located 20 miles (32km)
People flee from village near Bien Hoa
North of Saigon, South Vietnam, the airfield at Bien Hoa, capital of , Bien Hoa province, came under mortar attack on November 1
1964. The attack killed four American servicemen and damaged a large number of aircraft. Occurring shortly after the Tonkin Gulf incident and retaliatory airstrikes against the North, the attack provoked the US Joint Chiefs of Staff to recommend additional air-strikes and the deployment of US Army and Marine units to strengthen base security. Though not immediately accepted, the recommendation intensified pressure on President Lyndon Johnson to increase American involvement.
The Bien Hoa base and adjacent facilities at Long Binh subsequently grew into a giant military base and headquarters connected to Saigon by a four-lane highway. During the 1968 Tet offensive, the complex, which held the command posts of the US 2nd Field Force and ARVN III Corps, came under rocket and mortar barrage and ground assault by communist forces in regimental strength. WST.
“Big Bertha”. Nickname given to German World War I 42cm howitzer.
Bigeard, Gen Marcel (b. l916). Fr. A leading paratroop commander of the post-World War II period, Bigeard specialized in deep penetration operations during the Indochina-France War, when he also headed a paradrop at Dien Bien Phu. In 1958-60 he commanded 3rd Colonial Parachute Regiment in the Algerian War of Independence.
“Big Week” (Operation “Argument”). The launching by Spaatz on February 20 1944 from British bases of coordinated American long-range fighter and bomber attacks on the Luftwaffe. The plan exploited the increased range of fighters, especially P-51 Mustangs, and marked the recovery of the US Eighth Air Force from the Schweinfurt disaster of the previous October. “Big Week” led to the gradual achievement of American air ascendancy over the Germans in daylight which was a prerequisite for the day bomber offensive and for “Overlord”. ANF.
Bikini Atoll (northern Marshall Islands). Site of US nuclear tests. The first (July 1946) was designed to explore the effects of nuclear bombs on naval forces. German and Japanese war trophies were used as targets along with worn-out American vessels. The first explosion of “dry” thermonuclear bomb designs was carried out in 1954. Bikini was also used to test more advanced bomb designs in the “Redwing” Series in 1956 when a weapon was dropped from a B-52, the first air drop of an American thermonuclear bomb, and in the “Hardtack” series in 1958.
Binh Gia, Battle of (1964). Communist forces launched coordinated attacks throughout South Vietnam in December 1964. One of these occurred around the village of Binh Gia, in coastal Phuoc Tuy province 45 miles (70km) southeast of Saigon. Two regiments of
Bir Hacheim, Battle of (1942) see
GAZALA, BATTLE OF.
Field Marshal Lord Birdwood
The newly formed People’s Liberation Armed Force (plak) 9th Division, strengthened by the recent infiltration of late model weapons from the North, began probing village defences on the 4th. The probes drew in Army of the Republic (arvn) reinforcements supported by American helicopter gunships. The plaf countered with quick movements, lightning strikes, and ambushes. On the 27th it briefly seized the village. By the time it departed, the plaf had destroyed two arvn ranger and marine battalions, killed nearly 200 ARVN troops, downed three helicopters, and wounded six American helicopter crewmen. The battle marked the beginning of attacks by plaf units, with enhanced weaponry, in battalion and regimental strength. American commanders on the scene believed the battle signified a shift in communist strategy and proved the need to introduce US troops. WST.
Binh Xuyen. The Binh Xuyen crime syndicate grew out of the banditry that was rife along the Mekong river in Vietnam during the early 1940s. Under the leadership of Le Van Vien, alias Bay Vien, the Binh Xuyen became a significant political and military force following World War II. After briefly cooperating with the communists, Bay Vien switched allegiance to the French, who helped him build an army of 40,000 men. Emperor Bao Dai protected Binh Xuyen rackets in return for money to run his government and gave the syndicate control of the capital police.
South Vietnam’s first prime minister, Ngo Dinh Diem, challenged the Binh Xuyen in March 1955, cutting of their sources of finance by closing Saigon’s gambling halls, brothels and opium dens. In April he ordered them to remove their armed men from the city. Street fighting between the Binh Xuyen and the National Army left 500 civilians dead and many buildings destroyed. Surprisingly, the National Army stood by Diem, and the Binh Xuyen dispersed to the Mekong delta in late May. A few Binh Xuyen troops sought refuge in areas under communist control, and Bay Vien himself fled to France. WST.
Biological weapons. The use of
Germs, viruses, or other infective agents or the toxins produced by these agents to disable. Biological weapons are unpredictable in their effects and have not found favour, despite the production of such weapons in World War II and afterwards. The Geneva Protocol of 1925 banned first use of “bacteriological methods of warfare” and the stockpiling of such weapons was finally made illegal under the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention which entered into force in 1975. Stockpiles have been destroyed and propaganda allegations of the use or continued possession of these agents have never been substantiated. Research, however, continues and new biotechnologies such as genetic engineering allow the development and easier production of more militarily useful BW agents, both lethal and incapacitating, should any country wish to violate the international ban. EJG.
Birch, Capt John (1918-1945). US. A Baptist missionary in China, Birch assisted the Doolittle raid survivors and was recruited by Chennault for intelligence work. On August 25 1945, while on a mission for the Office of Strategic Services, he was murdered by Chinese communists. The anticommunist John Birch Society was founded in 1954.
Birdwood, Field Marshal Lord
(1865-1951). Br. A cavalry officer in India during the early part of his career, Birdwood served on Kitchener’s staff in the Second Boer War War and by 1914 was Secretary to the Indian Army Department, being heavily involved in the dispatch of Indian units to France and the Middle East on the outbreak of war. He was then cho. sen to lead the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, which he commanded in Gallipoli in 1915. His genuine concern for his troops made him popular with the Australians. He can be criticized for his handling of the unsuccessful advance on Sari Bair between August 6 and 9 when, for once, he seems to have underestimated the effects of sickness upon his men, but his overall leadership caused Gen Sir Ian Hamilton, Allied commander at Gallipoli, to describe him as “the soul of Anzac”. When the Australian Imperial Force expanded in 1916, Birdwood was given command of I Anzac Corps, taking it to the Western Front. Despite the losses suffered by the Australians on the Somme and at Bullecourt and Ypres in 1916-17, Birdwood remained loyal to Gough and Haigh, although the latter felt that Birdwood was too tolerant of Australian indiscipline. In November 1917 the Australian divisions on the Western Front were formed into a single Australian Corps under Birdwood and played avital part in thedefence of Amiens in April 1918. From May 1918 until the end of World War I he commanded the re-formed Fifth Army. PJS.
Bir El Gubi, Battle of (December 4—7 1941). Rommel’s spoiling
Attack on Eighth Army to cover his withdrawal from Tobruk.
Biryuzov, Marshal Sergei (19041964). Russian, cos of Second Guards Army during Stalingrad counteroffensive. Held staff posts in the Ukraine and Crimea and commanded Thirty-Seventh Army during its advance into the Balkans.
Bishop, Air Marshal William Avery VC (1894—1956). Canadian. World War I fighter pilot, credited with 72 victories while serving with the RFC and raf on the Western Front. An individualist who liked to operate alone, “Billy” Bishop won the vc for a singlehanded attack on a German airfield on June 2 1917. During World War II he was active in recruiting and in the Empire Air Training Scheme.
World History
