On this day in 1919 Admirals, Jellicoe and Beatty (above) were both promoted to Admiral of the Fleet. They were both C in C of the Royal Navy Grand Fleet during WW1 and both key players at Jutland and their contributions have been under discussion since.
Representing their comrades who died on this day
1915
+FOSTER, Samuel
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 2nd Btn. Private. 4424. Died 03/04/1915. Aged 35. Born Slatmore, Clogher about 1876. Samuel was a farm labourer. Samuel Foster enlisted in Omagh. Husband of Maggie Foster, of Ballymagowan, Clogher, Co. Tyrone. Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Clogher WM, St Macartan’s Cathedral, tablet
1918
+BREEN, James
South African Infantry, 4th Regt. Private. 15792. Died 03/04/1918 of wounds whilst a prisoner of war. Aged 28. Son of Mary Breen, of Froughmore, Clogher, Co. Tyrone, Ireland, and the late John Breen. Le Cateau Military Cemetery, Nord, France. Clogher WM, St Macartan’s Cathedral, tablet
+DONNELLY, David
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. 9th Bn. 29973 Private. Died 03/04/1918. Aged 19. Born: Coleraine. Lived: Glasgow. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly, Russel St., Partick, Glasgow. Enlisted: Finner Camp. St. Sever Cemetery
+McCURDY, William James
Royal Irish Rifles, 12th Btn. C Coy. Private. 793. Died of wounds whilst a prisoner of war on 03/04/1918. William had been taken by the Germans during their 1918 Spring Offensive. He was born at Crushybracken, near Ballymena on the 23 /03/1896 and was the son of Alexander McCurdy and Anne (or Anna) Maria Dysart. The couple, Alexander from Artnacross and Anna from Crushybracken, had married in Finvoy Presbyterian Church, near Rasharkin on the 23 /11/1888. The family later lived at Artnacross, Rasharkin. St Souplet British Cemetery, Le Cateau, Nord, France
1943
+LINTON, Albert Edward
RAFVR. Leading Aircraftsman.1222596. Died 03/04/1943. Aged 37. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Edward Linton, Cloughmill/Clough; husband to Florence Gladys Linton, of Barking, Essex. Karachi War Cemetery, Pakistan
1945
+McDOWELL, David
This name is on the Killyleagh War Memorial in Co. Down. The only entry in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records which matches this name and date of death is that of Private, 6984365, David McDowell of the 4th Btn, King’s Own Scottish Borderers. Died 03/04/1945. Aged 23. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
+PHAIR, William Francis
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. 5Btn. Corporal. 7011508. Died 03/04/1944. Aged 29. Son of Charles and Mary A. Phair, of Lisnaskea. Lisnaskea (Holy Trinity) C of I Churchyard
1945
+COX, Rosemary Elizabeth
WAAF. Leading Aircraftwoman. 2145916. Died 03/04/1945. Aged 20. Daughter of Robert Duncan and Adelaide Dorothy Cox, Belfast. Dundalk (St. Patrick’s) Cemetery
+HALL, Andrew
RAF. Corporal. 295211. Died 03/04/1947. Age 46. Son of James and Mary Hall, Lurgan. Lurgan New Cemetery
VETERAN
FRY, David
Private. M2/079398. Army Service Corps. David from Concord St, Belfast enlisted in Apr 1915 and served with 363 MT Coy ASC attached to 18 Bde RGA in France and with 913 MT Coy ASC attached to IV Mountain Bde RGA in Salonika and Palestine. Demobilised May 1919.
NOTES
03/04/1915 – Belfast Newsletter reports – Major John Leader, who is promoted to the command of the 16th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (2nd County Down Battalion) is a native of the South of Ireland. He formerly belonged to the Bedfordshire Regiment, having obtained his first commission on 5th September, 1896. He served in the South African War and took part in the operations in the Orange Free State, and in Cape Colony, south of the Orange River, including the actions at Colesberg. He wears the Queen’s medal with two clasps. Lieutenant-Colonel Leader, who was posted to the 16th Battalion R.I.R. in November last, has taken a prominent part in the recruiting campaign, and is very popular with the men who are serving under him at Lurgan.
03/04/1916 – Ulster Division – Divisional Headquarters move to Harponville. Enemy targets the village of Mesnil with their artillery, 16 men are wounded by two artillery shells
03/04/1918 – Ulster Division – The 107th are now on route to Ten Elms Camp in the Poperinghe area, little do they know as they travel to Second Corps area, orders are being drawn up for the Division to take over the line North East of Ypres
Seven British submarines are blown up in the Baltic (between the 3rd and the 8th April) to prevent them falling into enemy hands.
03/04/1919 – Admirals Jellicoe and Beatty were both promoted to Admiral of the Fleet. They were both CinC of the Royal Navy Grand Fleet during WW1 and both key players at Jutland and their contributions have been under discussion since.
03/04/1949 – War Cabinet reshuffle, Churchill to chair committee directing general war policy.
Soviets begin a massacre of 20,000 Polish officers in Katyn Forest.
The United States Congress cuts military spending 10 percent and refuses to fund heavy bombers as “aggressive weapons.”
03/04/1941 – Hungarian Prime Minister Pál Teleki commits suicide rather than collaborate with Germany.
In Iraq, military officer Rashid Ali overthrows Regent Abdul Illah and forms a pro-Axis government.
03/04/1942 – Japanese aircraft bomb Mandalay in central Burma, killing 2,000. They met no opposition from the RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India.
The final Japanese offensive on Bataan begins with a five-hour artillery and air bombardment, after which the Japanese launch infantry attacks supported by some tanks, which allows them to make penetrations into US- Filipino defensive positions.
United States Navy Task Force 39 arrives at Scapa Flow to cover the Murmansk and Mediterranean runs, the first unit of the US Atlantic Fleet in British waters.
SS men shot 11 Polish prisoners at the Death Wall located on the yard of Block 11 which was the prison of the German Auschwitz camp. When SS men ordered them to undress, Jan Murek started singing patriotic and religious songs. Before being taken outside to be shot he started singing a song, ‘God Forbid’. He was brutally beaten. He died shouting ‘Poland Is Not Yet Lost’ (First line of Polish national anthem).
03/04/1944 – Forty-two Royal Navy, fleet Air Arm Barracuda torpedo- bombers from the British aircraft carriers HMS Victorious and Furious hit the Battleship Tirpitz 14 times in a daring raid on the Alten Fjord, in Norway.
03/04/1945 – The British Second Army reaches Munster; the U.S. Ninth Army captures Recklinghausen in the Ruhr, while the US First Army takes Fulda and Kassel.
Thousands of prisoners of Buchenwald concentration Camp were forced to evacuate and march away from the Allied advance.
The Austrian resistance leader Major Szokoll and Russian military authorities confer about co-operation on the Russian offensive against Vienna.
The 2nd Ukrainian front advances close to Vienna. The Russians breaches the German defensive lines between Wiener Neustadt and Neusiedler lake. Hard fighting continues as the Red Army advances towards Bratislava.
British commandos secure islands in Lake Comacchio, Italy.
MacArthur is appointed as C-in-C of land forces in the Pacific.
Admiral Nimitz is appointed as C-in-C of all naval forces in the Pacific.
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