Strana 7
In the March issue of Eduard Modeller's Den
you can read among other things
Current Japanese Naval Forces
CURRENT AFFAIRS / by Petr Uzsák
“Japan is often associated with modern technology, gastronomy, martial arts, and its
traditional imperial system, along with the formal etiquette deeply ingrained in its
culture. Military history enthusiasts are likely familiar with the Japanese samurai
and the country's air and naval campaigns in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during
World War II. However, the contemporary Japanese navy does not enjoy the same
level of global recognition.“
A Record Day Ranger Mission
HISTORY / by Marko Jeras
“It was Wednesday, 11. October 1944. The citizens of Zagreb, capital of the Indepen-
dent State of Croatia, were having a peaceful morning. That changed at 9.55 hours
when the first siren for air raid awareness was sounded. The citizens of Zagreb had
luck for once, not a single bomb was dropped on Zagreb. But something else was
striken. With a Mosquito sting precision.
The RAF Station Manston in Kent, England, was base of RAF No. 605 Squadron
of Air Defence of Great Britain. Equipped with Mosquito fighter-bomber aeroplanes,
with primary task of protecting the aerial space of England. But the unit wanted
to give more to war effort and started conducting Night Intruder and Day Ranger
missions on targets in German Reich and enemy occupied territory. Their target was
more than 1000 kilometres away.”
Luck’s a Fortune
HISTORY / by Douglas Norrie
“Fighter pilots rely on a slice of luck to survive the deadly game of aerial combat, and some of
them enjoy much more luck than others. Australian Kittyhawk pilot E.P. ‘Ted’ Oakley was defi-
nitely one of the lucky ones. Ted was amongst the hundreds of Australian pilots to serve with
distinction in the Middle East during the Second World War. Throughout his time in the Middle
East, battle-hardened German fighter aces and anti-aircraft gunners had Ted in their sights on
numerous occasions…”
The Lorient Submarine Base
HISTORY / by Vladimír Šulc
“The city of Lorient dates back to the latter half of the 17th century, when in 1664,
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the first minister under King Louis XIV, founded the French
East India Company. The rise of fishing and the development of the fish trade at
the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries led to the construction of a modern fishing
port on Cape Kéroman in 1920. After the defeat in the Battle of France in June, 1940,
the victorious Germans began construction of a submarine base in its place. The first
German submarine, U-30, sailed into Lorient on July 7th, 1940, and the last, U-155,
departed on September 9th, 1944. In total, 203 different German submarines and two
Japanese submarines passed through the submarine base at Lorient during World
War II. The monumental concrete submarine docks still stand in Lorient today.”