THE BATTLE OF SCHEVENINGREN

Image: Naval battle near Ter Heijde on 10 August 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War. In the middle the Brederode, the Dutch flagship of Maarten Tromp is in combat with the English flagship Resolution under the command of admiral Monk. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Battle of Scheveningen (also known as the Battle of Ter Heijde) was the final naval battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War. It took place on August 10, 1653, between the fleets of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces. The Dutch fleet suffered massive losses but achieved its immediate strategic goal of raising the Royal Navy blockade of the Dutch coast.

The winds were fierce on 30 July and overnight, giving both fleets pause. Around 7:00 a.m. on 31 July, the Dutch gained an advantage from the weather and attacked, led by Brederode. The fleets moved through each other four times. Tromp was killed early in the fight by a sharpshooter in the rigging of Sir William Penn’s ship. His death was kept secret to keep up the morale of the Dutch but by late afternoon, twelve of their ships had either been sunk or captured and many were too damaged to continue the fight. In the end, morale broke and a large group of vessels under the command of merchant captains fled to the north. De With tried to halt their flight but had to limit himself to covering the retreat to the island of Texel. The English fleet was also badly damaged and with many wounded in urgent need of treatment, returned to port to refit and were unable to maintain the blockade.

Both sides claimed a victory: the English because of their tactical superiority, the Dutch because the strategic goal of their attack, the lifting of the blockade, had been achieved. However, Tromp’s death was a severe blow to the Dutch – few now expected to beat the English; the Orangist faction lost political influence and Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt was willing to give formal treaty assurances to Cromwell that the infant William III of Orange would never become stadtholder, thus turning the Netherlands into a base for a Stuart restoration. Peace negotiations began in earnest, leading to the 1654 Treaty of Westminster.

The damage done to the Dutch fleet effectively ended the first war.

AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

On August 10, 1776, news reaches London that the Americans had drafted the Declaration of Independence.

At the time, the British viewed the disturbance as a colonial rebellion, and to the Americans, it was a struggle for their rights as British citizens. However, when Parliament continued to oppose any reform and remained unwilling to negotiate with the American rebels and instead hired Hessians, German mercenaries, to help the British army crush the rebellion, the Continental Congress began to pass measures abolishing British authority in the colonies.

In January 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, an influential political pamphlet that argued for American independence from the British monarchy. It sold more than 500,000 copies in just a few months. By the spring of 1776, support for independence had swept throughout the colonies, and the Continental Congress called for states to form their own governments and a five-man committee was assigned to draft a document declaring independence from the British crown.

The Declaration of Independence was largely the work of Virginian Thomas Jefferson. In justifying American independence, Jefferson drew liberally from the political philosophy of John Locke, an advocate of natural rights, and from the work of other British theorists. The declaration features the immortal lines “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It then goes on to present a long list of grievances that provided the American rationale for rebellion.

(Image: John Trumbull’s painting, Declaration of Independence, depicting the five-man drafting committee of the Declaration of Independence presenting their work to the Congress. The painting can be found on the back of the U.S. $2 bill. Wikimedia Commons)

GENERAL PATTON SLAPS SOLDIER

On August 10, 1943, US General George Patton calls injured soldier “cowardly.”

Private Paul G. Bennett, 21, of C Battery, U.S. 17th Field Army Artillery Regiment, was a four-year veteran of the U.S. Army, and had served in the division since March 1943. Records show he had no medical history until August 6, 1943, when a friend was wounded in combat. According to a report, he “could not sleep and was nervous.” Bennett was brought to the 93rd Evacuation Hospital. In addition to having a fever, he exhibited symptoms of dehydration, including fatigue, confusion, and listlessness. His request to return to his unit was turned down by medical officers. A medical officer describing Bennett’s condition

“The shells going over him bothered him. The next day he was worried about his buddy and became more nervous. He was sent down to the rear echelon by a battery aid man and there the medical aid man gave him some tranquilizers that made him sleep, but still he was nervous and disturbed. On the next day the medical officer ordered him to be evacuated, although the boy begged not to be evacuated because he did not want to leave his unit.”

On August 10, Patton entered the receiving tent of the hospital, speaking to the injured there. Patton approached Bennett, who was huddled and shivering, and asked what the trouble was. “It’s my nerves,” Bennett responded. “I can’t stand the shelling anymore.” Patton reportedly became enraged at him, slapping him across the face. He began yelling: “Your nerves, hell, you are just a goddamned coward. Shut up that goddamned crying. I won’t have these brave men who have been shot at seeing this yellow bastard sitting here crying.” Patton then reportedly slapped Bennett again, knocking his helmet liner off, and ordered the receiving officer, Major Charles B. Etter, not to admit him. Patton then threatened Bennett, “You’re going back to the front lines and you may get shot and killed, but you’re going to fight. If you don’t, I’ll stand you up against a wall and have a firing squad kill you on purpose. In fact, I ought to shoot you myself, you goddamned whimpering coward.” Upon saying this, Patton pulled out his pistol threateningly, prompting the hospital’s commander, Colonel Donald E. Currier, to physically separate the two. Patton left the tent, yelling to medical officers to send Bennett back to the front lines.

As he toured the remainder of the hospital, Patton continued discussing Bennett’s condition with Currier. Patton stated, “I can’t help it, it makes my blood boil to think of a yellow bastard being babied,” and “I won’t have those cowardly bastards hanging around our hospitals. We’ll probably have to shoot them some time anyway, or we’ll raise a breed of morons.”

Eisenhower strongly suggested Patton apologize to all involved. On August 21, Patton brought Bennett into his office; he apologized and the men shook hands. On August 22, he met with Currier as well as the medical staff who had witnessed the events in each unit and expressed regret for his “impulsive actions.” Patton related to the medical staff a story of a friend from World War I who had committed suicide after “skulking”; he stated he sought to prevent any recurrence of such an event. On August 23, he brought Kuhl into his office, apologized, and shook hands with him as well. After the apology, Kuhl said he thought Patton was “a great general,” and that “at the time, he didn’t know how sick I was.” Currier later said Patton’s remarks sounded like “no apology at all [but rather like] an attempt to justify what he had done.” Patton wrote in his diary that he loathed making the apologies, particularly when he was told by Bennett’s brigade commander, Brigadier General John A. Crane, that Bennett had gone absent without leave (AWOL), and arrived at the hospital by “falsely representing his condition.” Patton wrote, “It is rather a commentary on justice when an Army commander has to soft-soap a skulker to placate the timidity of those above.” As word of the actions had spread informally among troops of the Seventh Army, Patton drove to each division under his command between August 24 and 30 and gave a 15-minute speech in which he praised their behavior and apologized for any instances where he had been too harsh on soldiers, making only vague reference to the two slapping incidents. In his final apology speech to the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, Patton was overcome with emotion when the soldiers supportively began to chant “No, general, no, no,” to prevent him from having to apologize.

(Image: Lieutenant General George S. Patton, commander of the Seventh United States Army, in 1943. Wikimedia Commons.)