Milestones

[Frank Petrexa]

A point worth noting is that the Germans and Japanese, not to mention Italians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Hungarians, Croats and Thais all lost and to the best of my knowledge none of them were prosecuted for the aerial bombardment of a defended city. So the victors do seem to have concluded it was within the Laws of War. The comments of LeMay need to be understood in context, he felt the endangerment of civilian life involved in his actions met the legal test of sufficient objective, he just assumed the Japanese regime would not see it that way.

I'm sure LeMay didn't think of himself as a war criminal. But I doubt he was either a student or a fan of international law and cooperation.
He ran for vice president with George Wallace in 1968 after retiring from SAC. The press conference went something like this.
Reporter: General, it is said that you favor giving Germany nuclear weapons and letting it be responsible for its own defense.
LeMay: I don't know where the press gets these stories.
Reporter: General, DO you favor Germany getting nuclear weapons.
LeMay: Well, yes, I..
Wallace: Let's go, General.

 

[RacingRodent]

I'm sure LeMay didn't think of himself as a war criminal. But I doubt he was either a student or a fan of international law and cooperation.
He ran for vice president with George Wallace in 1968 after retiring from SAC. The press conference went something like this.
Reporter: General, it is said that you favor giving Germany nuclear weapons and letting it be responsible for its own defense.
LeMay: I don't know where the press gets these stories.
Reporter: General, DO you favor Germany getting nuclear weapons.
LeMay: Well, yes, I..
Wallace: Let's go, General.

An episode that just goes to add further evidence to the large stack marked "Wallace was an idiot"

Germany would eventually be given dual key access to air dropped tactical nuclear weapons as part of NATO. LeMay was thus trying to explain a complex viewpoint held by many in the US military. It is a decision that is still controversial to this day but Wallace ought to have allowed LeMay to try and explain it. Probably would not have gone down well but Wallace just showed his customary talent for making an awkward situation worse and unsalvageable.

 

[Loxuru]

On February 19th 1945, today 75 years ago, US Marines invaded the Island of Iwo Jima. It was at least a symbolic step, since for the first time, Japanese territory was about to be conquered. The Marines encountered harsh resistance, as the Japanese soldiers were firmly entrenched, and controlled the Island from the Mount Suribachi. The invasion was initially pinned down on the beaches, and the Marines had to take cover behind the bare volcanic rock slopes. It would take about five weeks to conquer the relatively small Island. Nearly all of the Japanese force, some 21000 men strong, were killed, yet American casualties were -exceptional in the Pacific war - even higher, making Iwo Jima the battle with the largest casualties number for the US Marine Corps ever.

The battle is remembered by the famous photograph of Marines, raising the US flag on the Mount Suribachi (nicknamed 'Mount Sunofabitchi' during the battle). Four of the soldiers raising the flag were killed in action later during the battle.



Yet the strategic value of the Island was disputed, since it did not provide a useful waypoint for an invasion of Japan. However, for the Japanese, it had been an early warning post against American air raids, and it had airfields that were used to intercept American bombers. This was lost for Japan, while on the other hand, these airfields could be used for emergency landings of damaged bombers returning from Japan, saving the lives of many crews.

 

[old slave]

February 25, 1920, saw the building of the world's first air traffic control tower, after which most other control towers were modeled. It was at Croydon, south London, no longer an airport.

A senior radio officer at Croydon Airport, Frederick Stanley Mockford, was the first to use the signal "Mayday" to indicate emergency situations.

 

[Loxuru]

February 25, 1920, saw the building of the world's first air traffic control tower, after which most other control towers were modeled. It was at Croydon, south London, no longer an airport.

A senior radio officer at Croydon Airport, Frederick Stanley Mockford, was the first to use the signal "Mayday" to indicate emergency situations.

Curiously, an Englishman choose a French word.

The spirit of William The Conqueror has never died?

 

[Eulalia]

Curiously, an Englishman choose a French word.

The spirit of William The Conqueror has never died?

An Englishman would rather die than call "Help me!"

 

[Migoz2]

An Englishman would rather die than call "Help me!"

"When you have a moment, would you awfully mind please coming to my assistance?"

 

[phlebas]

February 25, 1920, saw the building of the world's first air traffic control tower, after which most other control towers were modeled. It was at Croydon, south London, no longer an airport.

A senior radio officer at Croydon Airport, Frederick Stanley Mockford, was the first to use the signal "Mayday" to indicate emergency situations.

They should have rebuilt the tower to oversee motorists in the Croydon one way system - a mini version of hell in south London.

 

[Migoz2]

the Croydon one way system - a mini version of hell in south London.

I'll see your Croydon and raise you a certain northern city......

 

[Praefectus Praetorio]

Yesterday was the 25oth anniversary of the Boston Massacre, arguably the most important event leading up to the American Revolution.
Damn those Lobsterback murderers!

 

[Apostate]

Yesterday was the 25oth anniversary of the Boston Massacre, arguably the most important event leading up to the American Revolution.
Damn those Lobsterback murderers!

View attachment 830709

And John Adams got them off.

The jury was out for nearly three hours before they returned with their final decision. Six soldiers were found innocent, while the other two were convicted of manslaughter. John Adams’ defense of Captain Preston and his soldiers was a resounding success. John’s practice suffered, as he would later claim that he lost half his practice as a result of his defense of Captain Preston’s soldiers. But his service to the law only strengthened his reputation with both sides—patriots and Tories alike. In the years ahead, his opinions would be respected as impartial, and evidence based. Later in life, John Adams would remember the trial as “one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country.”

John Adams and The Boston Massacre | Boston Tea Party Museum

John Adams was the defense attorney for the British Redcoats and Captain Preston during the Boston Massacre Trials. Read about how he defended the soldiers.

www.bostonteapartyship.com

 

[Loxuru]

On March 7th 1945, troops of the American 1st Army unexpectedly seized an intact bridge over the River Rhine, in the small town of Remagen. Attempts of the German defenders to blow it up failed, due to the inadequate quality of the explosives. The so called Ludendorffbrücke was a railway bridge, which had been altered to allow motorized traffic too.

The Allies managed to create a bridgehead on the right bank of the Rhine. Germans kept shelling the bridge, and the damages of the failed explosion and the subsequent gunfire (and the dense military traffic it had not been designed for?), made the bridge collapse ten days later, killing 33 men, mainly members of the US Engineer Corps who were carrying out repairs. But meanwhile, several pontoon bridges had been built over the Rhine at Remagen.

The capturing of the bridge was a mere psychological blow for the Germans, who had assumed the Rhine would be a real obstacle, that would be hard to cross. The commander of the troops defending the bridge was court-martialed and shot by a firing squad.

From the tactical viewpoint, however, Remagen was too far south and located in a mountainous region. The real crossing over the Rhine was carried out more to the north, where the river flows through plains. On March 24th, a massive paratrooper assault, Operation Varsity, would establish a bridgehead that provided a better base for the further invasion of Germany.

The Ludendorff Bridge was never built again after the war. Its pillars in the river were demolished in 1976. All that is left are the towers on both banks that once had to defend the bridgeheads.

 

[bobinder]

The commander of the troops defending the bridge was court-martialed and shot by a firing squad.

He would rather have been captured by the Red Army...

​

 

[windar]

Today is International Women's Day. We should take a moment to acknowledge all the women who have played indispensable roles in our lives. After all, if it wasn't for them, we'd be whipping, caning, crucifying, hanging etc., a bunch of hairy old guys and where would be the fun in that?

 

[Apostate]

Today is International Women's Day. We should take a moment to acknowledge all the women who have played indispensable roles in our lives. After all, if it wasn't for them, we'd be whipping, caning, crucifying, hanging etc., a bunch of hairy old guys and where would be the fun in that?

Well, there are also the smooth young guys featured at one of CF's oldest threads

Crucified males

That part of the Bible story I find interesting as it is the moment Christ is publicly shown in a humiliating & shameful state to the crowd, a crowd which was given the choice to release him or put him to death, brought forward in the way he was it is not surprising they wanted to see more of...

www.cruxforums.com

but I’ll stick with ladies, thank you.

 

[Loxuru]

He would rather have been captured by the Red Army...

It almost happened...
Remember, the movie 'The Bridge at Remagen' was shot in then Czechoslowakia. The set of 'the town of Remagen' was a small town which would be entirely destroyed for the expansion of an open pit lignite mine. So, they could simply blow up the houses for real, which gave spectacular combat scenes in the movie.
But it was the summer of 1968, and Moscow was not pleased with the liberal politics by the government in Prague. So, one morning in August, Warsaw pact troops invaded Czechoslowakia. The movie crew had to flee the country, to avoid being caught.

 

[Apostate]

It almost happened...
Remember, the movie 'The Bridge at Remagen' was shot in then Czechoslowakia. The set of 'the town of Remagen' was a small town which would be entirely destroyed for the expansion of an open pit lignite mine. So, they could simply blow up the houses for real, which gave spectacular combat scenes in the movie.
But it was the summer of 1968, and Moscow was not pleased with the liberal politics by the government in Prague. So, one morning in August, Warsaw pact troops invaded Czechoslowakia. The movie crew had to flee the country, to avoid being caught.

Never heard of that footnote to the end of the Prague Spring.

 

[Naraku]

I would like to wish everyone a happy National Pi Day.
This is only in the US, whee we generally use the month/day format.

 

[l'bogo]

Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (/ˈnjʊəriɛf, njʊˈreɪɛf/ NEWR-ee-ef, nyuurr-AY-ef; Tatar: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; Russian: Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, IPA: [rʊˈdolʲf nʊˈrʲejɪf]; 17 March 1938 – 6 January 1993) was a Soviet ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is regarded by some as the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation.

Nureyev was born on a Trans-Siberian train near Irkutsk, Siberia, Soviet Union to a Bashkir-tatar family. He began his early career with the company that in the Soviet era was called the Kirov Ballet (now called by its original name, the Mariinsky Ballet) in Leningrad. He defected from the Soviet Union to the West in 1961, despite KGB efforts to stop him. This was the first defection of a Soviet artist during the Cold War, and it created an international sensation. He went on to dance with The Royal Ballet in London and from 1983 to 1989 served as director of the Paris Opera Ballet. In addition to his technical prowess, Rudolf Nureyev was an accomplished choreographer serving as the chief choreographer of the Paris Opera Ballet. He produced his own interpretations of numerous classical works, including Swan Lake, Giselle, and La Bayadère.

 

[Eulalia]

Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (/ˈnjʊəriɛf, njʊˈreɪɛf/ NEWR-ee-ef, nyuurr-AY-ef; Tatar: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; Russian: Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, IPA: [rʊˈdolʲf nʊˈrʲejɪf]; 17 March 1938 – 6 January 1993) was a Soviet ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is regarded by some as the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation.

Nureyev was born on a Trans-Siberian train near Irkutsk, Siberia, Soviet Union to a Bashkir-tatar family. He began his early career with the company that in the Soviet era was called the Kirov Ballet (now called by its original name, the Mariinsky Ballet) in Leningrad. He defected from the Soviet Union to the West in 1961, despite KGB efforts to stop him. This was the first defection of a Soviet artist during the Cold War, and it created an international sensation. He went on to dance with The Royal Ballet in London and from 1983 to 1989 served as director of the Paris Opera Ballet. In addition to his technical prowess, Rudolf Nureyev was an accomplished choreographer serving as the chief choreographer of the Paris Opera Ballet. He produced his own interpretations of numerous classical works, including Swan Lake, Giselle, and La Bayadère.