Iron Cross

Iron Cross is the UK’s only magazine of German military history from the First World War to the end of the Second World War. Covering all aspects of German military history including the Imperial German forces of the Great War, the Weimar period and the Nazi period. Iron Cross prides itself on the highest quality production with stunning content in the unique and ground-breaking features, often revealing untold stories and publishing photographs that have never been seen before. Iron Cross features specially commissioned and innovative artwork in all issues.

Iron Cross

Editorial

CONTRIBUTORS • Introducing you to some of our main contributors for this issue:-

Downing the ‘Red Devil’ • The recent acquisition of a Royal Flying Corps logbook belonging to Captain William Drummond Matheson MC by Mark Hillier drew attention to a brief five-line entry in 1917 which immediately raised the question: had Matheson and his observer been the first Allied airmen to force down the famous ‘Red Baron’?

CAPTAIN EDWIN LOUIS ‘LOBO’ BENBOW, MC.

Operation Green Arrow • Following reconnaissance flights in late June 1940, and bombing raids on Guernsey and Jersey, Luftwaffe aircraft finally landed at Guernsey Airport on Sunday 30 June. Simon Hamon describes the first days of the German occupation of the Channel Islands.

Bombing the ‘Tomato Islands’

A V2 ‘Backfire’ Survivor • One of the world’s few remaining V2 rockets, held by the Australian War Memorial, has recently undergone conservation work to prepare it for display in 2025. Shane Casey charts its story and details the recent conservation work on the missile and its trailer on the 80th anniversary of the weapon’s first deployment.

‘Big Ben 964’ • As set out in the preceding feature, it is important to remember the terrible toll on human life that was exacted by the V2 weapon. Andy Saunders puts the spotlight on what would be one of London’s worst V2 strikes.

Carnage at Aldwych • The Flying Bomb campaign of June 1944 was little over two weeks old, explains Andy Saunders, when one of the worst strikes on London scored what was almost a direct hit on the Air Ministry building in Aldwych with a huge toll of death and injury and resulting in swathes of destruction.

A Bus Passenger’s Story

The V-3 Hochdruckpumpe • Interest in Vergeltungswaffen – Germany’s Vengeance Weapons - attracts many visitors to the former launch sites in France, including the so-called V 3 site at Mimoyecques. Although that location never became operational, Michael Heidler explains that the ‘millipede’ cannon was first tested in Poland where remnants of the testing facility can still be found.

Destruction at Mimoyeques

Painting Mystery • In 1992, artist George Campbell was commissioned to create a painting for a Second World War veteran. In the intervening years, the story behind this intriguing picture has been lost.

The Fateful Fifth • When the wreckage of a Messerschmitt Bf 109 E was recovered in Kent during 1986, it led to a disturbing discovery. Andy Saunders sets out the story behind the aircraft and its pilot.

SAVE UP TO 25% A YEAR WHEN TAKING OUT A SUBSCRIPTION • Iron Cross – the UK’s only magazine of German military history from the First World War to the end of the Second World War – prides itself on the highest quality production with stunning content in the form of unique and ground-breaking features, often revealing untold stories and publishing photographs that have never been seen before.

Butchered over the Beaches • As Allied forces established themselves on the Normandy beaches and fought inland on D-Day, 6 June 1944, the Luftwaffe put up a brave, futile, and limited air defence. As Chris Goss recounts, it was a doomed and bloody affair.

SG 4 LOSSES AND CLAIMS: 6 JUNE 1944 • The...