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Posted on 11/06/2003 12:00:42 AM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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Late in the afternoon of July 2, 1863, on a boulder-strewn hillside in southern Pennsylvania, Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain dashed headlong into history, leading his 20th Maine Regiment in perhaps the most famous counterattack of the Civil War. The regiment's sudden, desperate bayonet charge blunted the Confederate assault on Little Round Top and has been credited with saving Major General George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac, winning the Battle of Gettysburg and setting the South on a long, irreversible path to defeat.  20th Maine on the Taneytown Road For many years, historians and writers have given the lion's share of the credit for the 20th's dramatic action on Little Round Top to Chamberlain. Numerous books and even the popular movie Gettysburg have helped fuel adulation for the Union officer. But did Chamberlain really deserve the credit he received? Or, to put it another way, did he deserve all the credit? Answering that question adequately requires taking another look at the Battle of Gettysburg and the hell-raising fighting that occurred among the scattered stones of Little Round Top. On June 3, 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee began the Army of Northern Virginia's second invasion of the North. Lee's main objective was to move across the Potomac River and try to separate the Union forces from Washington. When the Army of the Potomac's commander, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, belatedly became aware of the Confederates' movement, he began to force-march his army north, trying to keep Lee to the west and screen Washington from the Rebel troops. On June 28, as the bulk of the Federal troops enjoyed a brief respite near Frederick, Md., Meade replaced Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac.  Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Meade faced a daunting task. By June 30 Lee's forces, including those of corps commanders Lt. Gens. James "Pete" Longstreet and Ambrose P. Hill, were marching on the Chambersburg Road in southern Pennsylvania, while Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell was leading his corps westward from York. Major General J.E.B. Stuart, directing Lee's cavalry, had not returned to the main Southern column from his screening mission around the Union forces. In fact, Stuart would not return until July 2, a crucial error in judgment. Lacking adequate intelligence from his scouting forces, Lee directed his army to gather at Gettysburg. The general did not want to fight at Gettysburg, but alert Union horsemen had reached the area -- a fact that would put a wrinkle in Lee's plans. When Confederate Brig. Gen. James J. Pettigrew approached the town leading a 2,584-man brigade that was part of Maj. Gen. Henry Heth's division, he became aware of the Union cavalry force positioned there. Pettigrew withdrew his troops and then reported back to Heth. The next day, July 1, Heth headed toward Gettysburg with four brigades of infantry to drive off the reported Union troopers and secure the town.  Little Round Top from the northwest. Brady photograph. To Heth's surprise, waiting for him was Union Brig. Gen. John Buford, who had dismounted and deployed his cavalry on McPherson's Ridge, west of Gettysburg. Buford's forces fired first, temporarily halting Heth's force and starting the Battle of Gettysburg. Both sides sent dispatches to inform their superiors of the confrontation. Meade reinforced his Union position with the I Corps, which was now led by Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday since Maj. Gen. John Reynolds had been mortally wounded earlier that day. Additional Union reinforcements came from Maj. Gens. Henry W. Slocum's XII Corps and Daniel Sickles' III Corps. Throughout the morning, Confederate pressure continued to build against the Union line.  Signals From Little Round Top Although spread thinly, the Union troopers held their ground with repeating carbines. As the fighting intensified, both sides added more infantry divisions to the battle. The Confederates managed to exploit weaknesses in the Federals' deployment, and their attacks caused heavy losses to the Union troops, who were forced to retreat. Confederate General Ewell's failure to carry out his orders and attack Cemetery Hill on the afternoon of July 1 wasted a golden opportunity for a quick, decisive victory. The Union had lost 4,000 men by that time -- and the town of Gettysburg itself -- but Meade quickly moved reinforcing divisions onto the high ground south of Gettysburg. The two armies spent a restless night.  The Union defensive line on aptly named Cemetery Ridge resembled an inverted fishhook, extending from Culp's Hill on the north, down Cemetery Ridge and southward toward Big and Little Round Tops. Although the 650-foot-high Little Round Top was overshadowed by its larger neighbor, its position was more important because much of the hill was cleared of trees and it could better accommodate troops. Strategically, Little Round Top held the key to the developing battle. If the Southern troops could take and hold the hill, they could theoretically roll up the entire Union line.  On the morning of July 2, Little Round Top proper held perhaps just a handful of Federal soldiers. Pennsylvania native Brig. Gen. John W. Geary's division was aligned just north of the hill and was the largest Union force in the immediate area. Geary was ordered to rejoin the rest of his XII Corps at Culp's Hill after elements of Sickles' III Corps took his place. In the confusion of shifting troops, however, Geary pulled his men out too soon, before Sickles' men had moved to replace them. Little Round Top was left uncovered. Later, when Sickles' infantry did arrive, the controversial general moved his men, without orders, westward toward the Emmitsburg Road. Once again Little Round Top went wanting for protectors in blue.  Gouverneur Kemble. Warren During the battle of Gettysburg, General Warren is credited with the discovery of the Confederate troop movements attempting to attack the area known as "Little Round Top". His subsequent action is reported to have saved the entire left flank of the Union Army. Robert E. Lee, with his eerie sense of a battlefield, was hastily assembling a force to attack the Union left, but it would take him the greater part of the day to get his men ready to strike. Meanwhile, Meade also sensed something significant about the two adjacent hills to his left. That afternoon he sent his chief of engineers, Brig. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, to assess the situation. To his utter chagrin, Warren found Little Round Top completely undefended. He hastily sent messengers to Meade and Sickles, requesting immediate assistance. Sickles, by that time hotly engaged with el-ements of Longstreet's corps, had none to spare. But Colonel Strong Vincent, who commanded the 3rd Brigade of Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin's 1st Division of the V Corps, received word from a harried courier about the threat to Little Round Top and led his men to the hill at the double-quick. Vincent's brigade included the 44th New York, 16th Michigan, 83rd Pennsylvania and the 358-man 20th Maine under Joshua L. Chamberlain.  The 20th Maine & the 15th Alabama At Little Round Top, Gettysburg, Pa The 34-year-old Chamberlain was one of the most interesting figures in the Civil War. A highly cultured, somewhat sedentary professor of modern languages at Maine's exclusive Bowdoin College, he had sat out the first year of the war on Bowdoin's stately campus. But in July 1862, sensing perhaps that the war was going to last a good deal longer than he had first believed, Chamberlain offered his services to the Union cause. "I have always been interested in military matters," he informed Maine Governor Israel Washburn, "and what I do not know in that line, I know how to learn." He was given command of the newly formed 20th Maine, a unit comprised of extra men left over from other new regiments. It was not, Chamberlain noted, one of the state's favorite fighting units -- "No county claimed it; no city gave it a flag; and there was no send-off at the station."  Union breastworks. Interior view of breastworks on Little Round Top, Gettysburg The 20th Maine had been organized under President Abraham Lincoln's second call for troops on July 2, 1862. The regiment initially fielded a total complement of 1,621 men, but by the time of the Battle of Gettysburg the stress of campaigning had reduced the regiment's ranks to some 266 soldiers, and the 20th was considered a weak link in Vincent's brigade. Fortune, however, was to smile on Chamberlain's regiment in the form of unexpected reinforcements. On May 23, 1863, 120 three-year enlistees from the 2nd Maine Infantry were marched under guard into the regimental area of the 20th Maine. The 2nd Maine men were in a state of mutiny and refused to fight, angry because the bulk of the regiment -- men with only two-year enlistments -- had been discharged and sent home, and the regiment had been disbanded. The mutineers claimed they had only enlisted to fight under the 2nd Maine flag, and if their flag went home, so should they. By law, however, the men still owed the Army another year of service.  Chamberlain had orders to shoot the mutineers if they refused duty. Fortunately for the men of the 2nd Maine, Chamberlain was born and grew up in Brewer, the twin city to Bangor across the Penobscot River where the 2nd Maine regiment was recruited. The mutineers were not just soldiers but also Chamberlain's childhood neighbors. Instead of shooting them, Chamberlain wisely distributed the 2nd Maine veterans evenly to fill out the 20th Maine's ranks and integrate experienced soldiers among the untested 20th Maine. He sympathized with the mutineers and wrote to Maine Governor Abner Coburn, asking that he write to the men personally about the mix-up in three-year versus two-year contracts they had signed. On Little Round Top the 120 experienced combat veterans from the 2nd Maine brought the 20th's ranks up to 386 infantrymen and helped hold Chamberlain's wobbling line together. As he arrived on Little Round Top, Colonel Vincent chose a line of defense that started on the west slope of the hill. When the first regiments reached the rocky outcrops in that area, Vincent put them into line. The 16th Michigan took up a position on the right flank, and the 44th New York and 83rd Pennsylvania held the center. Later in life, Chamberlain wrote that his regiment was the first in line, but it actually took up its position last, curving its line back around to the east and forming the Union Army's extreme left flank.  "Colonel Strong Vincent" The last thing Vincent told Chamberlain was: "This is the left of the Union line. You are to hold this ground at all costs!" Chamberlain ordered the regiment to go on line by file. He deployed Company B, recruited from Piscataquis County and commanded by level-headed Captain Walter G. Morrill of Williamsburg, forward to the regiment's left front flank as skirmishers. Company B, with its 44 men, was subsequently cut off by a flanking attack by the enemy, leaving the 20th with only 314 armed men on the main regimental line.
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Air Power |
The origins of the B-57 Canberra can be traced indirectly to the latter part of World War II when the Luftwaffe began combat operations with two jet propelled aircraft. The Messerschmidt and the Arado. Although the introduction of these two aircraft was too late to affect the outcome of the war, it sent a shock throughout the allied air forces. In 1951, the United States broke a long-standing tradition by purchasing a foreign military aircraft to be manufactured in quantity for the U.S. Air Force. The B-57 is a modified version of the English Electric Canberra which was first flown in Great Britain on May 13, 1949, and later produced for the Royal Air Force.
After the Korean Conflict began in 1950, the U. S. Air Force looked for a jet-powered medium bomber to replace the aging Douglas B-26 Invader. Korean war experience revealed an urgent USAF need for a high-performance jet-powered night-intruder aircraft capable of precise nighttime and bad-weather weapons delivery on moving targets located hundreds of miles from home base. The need was considered so pressing that the time usually required for development of a new aircraft was deemed unacceptable. Hence, an existing "off the shelf " aircraft was sought to fill the mission requirements. From a number of candidate vehicles, including the previously discussed North American B-45 Tornado, the English Electric Canberra bomber was selected to fill the USAF night-intruder role. In March 1951, the USAF contracted with the Glenn Martin Company to build the Canberra in the United States under a licensing agreement with English Electric. The first Canberra in American colors flew in 1951 with the first American built Canberra or Intruder in 1953. The Martin-built B-57 made its first flight on July 20, 1953. When production was terminated in 1959, a total of 403 Canberras had been produced for the USAF.
The Canberra was originally developed in response to a British requirement issued in 1945 for a high-altitude bomber. First flight of the aircraft took place in May 1949. The first Martin-produced Canberra, known as the B-57 in USAF nomenclature, made its initial flight in July [391] 1953; before production of the Martin-built B-57 ended, 403 examples of the type had been produced. In England, total production of the Canberra was 984 units. By the summer of 1980, about three decades after the first flight of the Canberra, the type was still in the active inventory of 12 countries. The aircraft is no longer in active service with combat units of either the USAF or the RAF although a few are still used by the United States Air National Guard. A number of B-57 aircraft also fill a variety of utility roles with different United States Government agencies.
As with so many of the early jet aircraft, configuration of the B-57 was similar in concept to contemporary twin-engine propeller-driven aircraft but with jet engines replacing the reciprocating units. The unswept wing had a relatively low aspect ratio of 4.27 and airfoil thickness ratios that varied from 12 percent at the root to 9 percent at the tip. With so low an aspect ratio, the maximum lift-drag ratio might be expected to be very low. On the contrary, the large surface area of the wing relative to that of the fuselage and other elements of the aircraft gave a low zero-lift drag coefficient of 0.0 119 and a maximum lift-drag ratio of 15.0. Power was provided by two nonafterburning Wright J65-W-5 turbojet engines of 7,200 pounds thrust each. These Wright engines were an American-built version of the British Rolls-Royce Avon. Conventional rudders, ailerons, and elevators were used for control of the aircraft. Simple high-lift flaps were located in the wing trailing edge between the engine nacelles and the sides of the fuselage.
The two-man crew of the B-57 consisted of a pilot and navigator-bombardier-radar operator who were seated in a tandem arrangement. As compared with the B-57A, later versions of the aircraft had an extended canopy to enhance visibility for both crew members. Pressurization, air-conditioning, and ejection seats were provided for the crew. Various types of weapons such as bombs and rockets could be carried externally as well as in an internal bomb bay located in the fuselage. A Martin innovation, not included on the British Canberra, was the unique rotary bomb door similar to the one on the P6M flying boat. The bombs were loaded on the door assembly itself which would rotate completely inside the bomb bay prior to weapon release. In the closed position, bombs were attached to the inner side of the door, and bomb release took place after the door was rotated through 180°. Armament consisted of eight .50-caliber machine guns.
The B-57 is usually considered to be a light bomber; however, this classification must be related to the time frame under discussion. With a gross weight of 53,721 pounds, the B-57B was only 2,000 pounds lighter than the Boeing B-17G, one of the standard heavy bombers of World War II. Mission radius of the B-57B was 948 miles with a payload of 5240 pounds, and ferry range was 2722 miles. Maximum speed was 598 miles per hour (Mach 0.79) at 2500 feet and cruising speed was 476 miles per hour. The performance characteristics of the B-57B and the B-45C have many similarities. Being about twice as heavy as the B-57B, the B-45C carried nearly twice the payload for approximately the same mission distance.
The Canberra class of aircraft has seen action in many wars, including service with the USAF in Vietnam. More recently, it was used by the Argentine Air Force in the undeclared war with Britain in the Falkland Islands. Although the B-57 was originally procured by the USAF as a night intruder, it has been successfully used in many other roles, including photoreconnaissance and strategic bombing. No distinctive design innovations were incorporated in the purely subsonic B-57; however, its pertinent design parameters were chosen in such a way that the aircraft was readily adaptable to a variety of roles calling for diverse characteristics.
One version, the RB-57 with greatly enlarged wings, served as a stratospheric reconnaissance aircraft. Other B-57s served as tactical aircraft in Vietnam.
The EB-57B electronic warfare version called the "Night Intruder" dispensed chaff to jam hostile radar transmissions. Other B-57s were used to tow targets and as transitional trainers for jet aircrews.
In the early 1970s, a Martin B-57B Canberra light bomber was used in several NASA joint flight test programs at the NASA Flight Research Center (now Dryden Flight Research Center) located at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The early 1970s was a period of growing interest in continuing atmospheric research. The B-57B Camberra was at NASA Flight Research Center for a joint program with NASA Langley Research Center and was having a set of special instrumentation installed for these measurements. Delays in completing the instrumentation provided another opportunity to support the NASA space program. The B-57B was used in proof of concept testing of the Viking Mars landers. The deceleration drop testing part of the program was performed at the Joint Parachute Test Facility, located at El Centro California. With completion of the Viking parachute testing the B-57B Camberra was flown for measuring and analysis of atmospheric turbulence research in 1974-75 as part of a joint NASA program between the Flight Research Center and Langley Research center. Additional atmospheric testing provided samples for aerosols for the University of Wyoming and clear-air turbulence data for the Department of Transportation. The aircraft was tested over a span of many years at Edwards by NASA centers for other types of research. In the early 1960s the B-57B was flown at NASA Flight Research Center by NASA Lewis Research Center in support of the newly established NASA Electronics Center located in Boston, Massachusetts. Later in 1982 the B-57B returned to NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility for more NASA Langley sponsored turbulence testing.
Although not a technically exciting aircraft, the B-57 has certainly proved its worth in many years of effective operation. Because of its wide range of capabilities and docile handling characteristics, the B-57 has sometimes been likened to a Goony Bird with jet engines. ("Goony Bird" is the nickname for the USAF version of the famous Douglas DC-3).
Specifications:
Manufacturer: Glen L. Martin
Primary Role: Light Bomber
Crew: 2 - Pilot and Weapons/Radar Operator
Powerplant: Two Wright J65-W-5 engines or two Buick J65-BW-5 engines with 7,200 lbs thrust each
Dimensions:
Length: 65' 6"
Height: 15' 6"
Wingspan: 64'
Empty Weight: 26,000 lbs
Max Weight: 55,000 lbs
Performance :
Cruise Speed: 450 mph
Max Speed: 570 mph
Service Ceiling: 49,000 ft
Range: 2,000 miles
Armaments:
Guns: 4 - 20mm cannons (or) 8 - .50 caliber machine guns
Bombs: (internal) 5,000 lbs
Bombs: (external) 4 weapons pylons for bombs or rockets
Chamberlain overshadows the 20th Maine in the way that George S. Patton overshadows the U.S. Third Army in World War II.
I have some too but not that old. LOL.
I didn't know they had those, are they offered by the Park Service?
Jackson would have gained control of the high-ground... Trimble told Ewell that as he begged Ewell to take the unoccupied Little and Big Round Tops. When the Federals broke, Jackson would have pursed them until...? Anyway, Trimble told Ewell the same.
Of course, if Longstreet hadn't dug in his heels to obey Lee's orders explicity and allowed Hood to wage the battle as he thought best... the story might have been different.
The heroic stand of Chamberlain on Little Round Top is fantastic... as was Hancock's role in the battle.
Well that's part of the fun to try to guess what would have happened if the alternatives had been followed.
When's the last time you heard of so many Generals listed as casualties? Command sure has changed.
The battle was over at Custers Last Stand
And taps were sounding for all the brave men
While one lone survivor, wounded and weak
Comanche, the brave horse, lay at the General's feet
Comanche, you fought hard, Comanche, you tried
You were a good soldier so hold your head up high
For even the greatest sometimes must fall
Comanche, the brave horse, you gave your all
Though you are silent, your deeds did speak loud
If your buddy's could see you, I know they'd be proud
The symbol of bravery at the Little Big Horn
Poor old Comanche, you're battle scarred and torn
Comanche, you fought hard, Comanche, you tried
You were a good soldier, so hold your head up high
For even the greatest sometimes must fall
Comanche, the brave horse, you gave your all
Comanche, you fought hard, Comanche, you tried
You were a good soldier, so hold your head up high
For even the greatest sometimes must fall
Comanche, the brave horse, you gave you all
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