Showing posts with label Denmark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Denmark. Show all posts

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Monday, December 17, 1973. Terrorism at the Leonardo da Vinci Airport.

Palestinian terrorists killed 32 people at the Leonardo da Vinci Airport near Rome by seizing a terminal and then throwing grenades in the open doors of a Boeing 707.

Because killing innocent people is a mature and rational way to get what you want . . . 

Canada and Denmark signed a treating delineating their territorial waters.

Monday, October 2, 2023

Saturday, October 2, 1943. Japan extends conscription to university students.


The Japanese government ended the student deferment for conscription.

I am surprised to learn, frankly, that they had been deferred.

Japan had 45 universities and other additional institutions of higher education at the start of the war, and the number actually expanded during it.  The university system itself only extended back to 1877, to this was quite an expansion over a short period of time.

The Second Battle of Smolensk ended in a victory for the Red Army.

The Soviets gave Romanian POWs the choice of joining a Soviet formed Romanian division or remaining POWs.

Sweden issued a proclamation welcoming Danish refugees.  Sarah Sundin notes on her blog:

Today in World War II History—October 2, 1943: During the night of Oct. 1-2, the Nazis arrest Danish Jews, but most are in hiding, and only 284 are arrested.

The German governor of Poland Hans Frank created a court staffed by the Gestapo, which was authorized to carry out sentences immediately.  

The Australians took Finschafen, New Guinea.

The U.S. 6th Corps took Benevento, Italy.  The British 78th Division crossed the Biferno.  British commandos occupied Termoli.

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Tuesday, September 28, 1943. George Ferdinand Duckwitz. Sometimes it takes only one righteous man.

German diplomat George Ferdinand Duckwitz warned the Danish resistance that Berlin had ordered Danish Jews to be deported starting on October 1.  The information allowed the Danish resistance to help 8,000 Danish Jews, nearly the entire Danish population of the country, to leave the country, 7,200 of whom were taken by Danish fishermen to Sweden.

Duckwitz was a career German diplomat and remained in West Germany's service after the war, first as ambassador to Denmark and later to India.  He became Secretary of State in the Foreign Office in 1966.  Israel accorded him the honor of Righteous Among the Nations in 1971.  He died in 1973 at age 68.

Luxembourg was declared "cleansed of Jew" by the Germans after the deportation of its remaining 674 Jewish residents.

The British 10th Corps, an element of the U.S. 5th Army, broke into the Plain of Naples at Nocera.  The U.S. 6th Corps advanced towards Avelino.


Friday, September 22, 2023

Wednesday, September 23, 1943. State of Emergency

It was day two of Operation Source.

It would take until March, 1944, to repair the Tirpitz.

Having commenced killing surrendered Italian soldiers at Cephalonia the day prior, the Germans started killing Jews, both Italians and non Italians, at Lake Maggiore.

On the same day, over the recommendation of local administrator, Gestapo member Werner Best, Hitler approved the planned deportation of Danish Jews, to commence on October 2.  As earlier noted, the actions of the Danish underground, combined with a local diplomat providing them information, frustrated this effort and most escaped to Sweden.

Best would be convicted of war crimes after the war and serve a prison sentence.

The German Governor General of Belarus was assassinated by his maid, a secret Soviet partisan, who placed a bomb in his bedroom.

Japanese Prime Minister Tojo declared a state of emergency.  Plans were made for the evacuation of Tokyo.

The Huon Peninsula Campaign began on New Guinea with the US and Australian landing at Scarlet Beach.


As part of the offensive, the Battle of Finschhafen began between Australian and Japanese forces, following the Australian landing at Katika.

The Red Army took Anapa in the Kuban Peninsula, and Novomoskovosk. 

Toni Basel, popular in the 1980s, was born.  This is an odd thought as it means that her teen pop hit came when she was well past the age that it normally would.

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Sunday, August 29, 1943. Denmark fully occupied.

Germany dissolved the Danish government and placed King Christian X and Prime Minister Erik Scavenius under arrest, with the German military in the Danish protectorate going into action to affect an occupation in Operation Safari.

Danish officers under arrest.

The Danes, who had a bizarre status as an occupied nation up until then, still being allowed to maintain their government and military, scuttled 32 warships.  The armored cruiser Niels luel was sunk by German aircraft after Danes attempted to flee with it to Sweden.  Four Danish ships, all minor, in fact made it to Sweden.

Effectively, Danish quasi independence ended, although it had been held in a precarious state up until that time since 1940 in the first place.

Notably, within the past week the Germans had taken steps to occupy their ally, Italy, and now were formalizing control of quasi independent Denmark.  As its position on the battlefield deteriorated, its military commitments were growing.

The Red Army captured Liubotyn in Ukraine.

Monday, August 28, 2023

Saturday, August 28, 1943. Change of governments.

King Boris III of Bulgaria died after becoming suddenly ill.  He had met with Hitler two weeks prior, and there was suspicion at the time, and some still believe, he was poisoned while in Germany.


He was 49 years of age.

His six year old son Simeon became king, with a regency.  He'd be the last King of Bulgaria, but would later become Prime Minister as Simeon Sakskoburggotsk in 2001.

The Danish government resigned rather than prosecute saboteurs in German military courts.

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Monday, March 23, 1943. Last sighting of the Xerces Blue.

The last spotting of the Xerces Blue butterfly was made. The species is believed to have gone extinct due to the expansion of San Francisco into its habitat.

Sarah Sundin's blog has a number of interesting items:

Today in World War II History—March 23, 1943: RAF drops 2000 tons of bombs on Dortmund, Germany. At El Guettar in Tunisia, US 1st Infantry Division manages to defeat German armor (10th Panzer Division).

She also discusses the Danish parliamentary elections, which took place in spite of Nazi occupation. The German occupation of Denmark, it might be noted, was quite odd in that Denmark retained its government and even retained its army while occupied.

The Social Democrats took 66 out of 148 seats.  The Danish Nazi Party received a mere 3.3% of the vote.

The British troopship RMS Windsor Castle was sunk by an HE 111 off of Algiers.  All on board save one of 2,700 were rescued by the Royal Navy.

The multinational commando raid styled Operation Roundabout, made up of two enlisted members of No. 12 Commando, four enlisted men of the 29th Ranger Battalion, and four Norwegian soldiers, commanded by a British officer and with an American officer in support, failed in its mission to destroy a bridge over a fjord when a Norwegian soldier dropped his machine gun magazine.  The sound altered the Germans.

The 29th Ranger Battalion was short lived, existing only in 1943.  It was made up of volunteers from the 29th Infantry Division and was trained by the British. The unit was successful but it did not have the supporter of higher headquarters and therefore was disbanded in October 1943 with its men sent back to their units.

29th in training.

The combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen marketed as Vicodin was approved by the FDA.

Sunday, January 1, 2023

Monday, January 1, 1973. Economic matters.

The United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark entered the European Economic Community.


The addition of the UK in particular would have global economic impacts, as it seriously undercut the economic arrangement of the British Commonwealth.

The EEC was the predecessor to the EU, which of course the UK left recently.

I can very dimly recall this news story from when I was a kid.

Exxon came into being with the merger of Standard Oil and Humble Oil.

The Rose Bowl was of course played, with the USC Trojans beating the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Zambia officially became a one party state.

Sergei Kourdakov, age 21, who had been a KGB officer who had been involved in raids on Christian communities, but then converted to Christianity as a result of the reading material he found in them, and then defected to Canada, was found dead from a gunshot wound in a ski resort hotel in Canada. The firearm was his own and the death was ruled accidental, but suspicions remain regarding it.

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Monday, November 9, 1942. The Germans invade Tunisia

In reaction to yesterday's landings in French North Africa and Morocco, the Germans invaded French Tunisia.  Vichy forces offered no resistance.  They were offering little resistance to the Allies further to the West, but they had resisted in Syria and Madagascar.

The Germans had no choice, as with the Allies at their back, they had to attempt to protect their rear.  This meant, however, that the Germans were fighting a two front war in North Africa, more or less protected from the south by desert, but open to flank attacks from the sea.

Sarah Sundin, on her blog, notes:
This means of transportation was frankly remarkable.

It ought to also be noted that at this point in the war, the Western Allies were fighting in Africa and Asia, and therefore overall involved in a massive two front war on the ground.  The Soviets, who were constantly arguing for a second front in Europe, failed to appreciate that there already was one, effectively.   The Western Allies let this go unnoticed.

The French had occupied Tunisia since 1881, governing it as a protectorate.  Its status was at least technically different, therefore, than other African colonies held by the French, and it would ultimately be very much different than Algeria, which became an overseas department of France.

Tunisia had independence movements that predated the war, but it wisely avoided using the war as a means to argue for a change in government, as it did not want Axis control of the country.  The Free French would, however, mess with its government and depose its popular nationalist bey.  The country became independent in 1956.

Sundin also noted:

Germans force Danish King Christian X to appoint collaborator Erik Scavenius as prime minister.

Scavenius was not a Nazi, but took a down key approach, hoping not to create controversy with the occupying Germans.  He remains a controversial figure in Denmark.

Canada, Cuba and Mexico broke off diplomatic relations with Vichy France.

Another thing noted by Sundin: 
Von Janowksi was  an odd figure the Canadians tried to turn, and there's some indication he may have ended up a triple agent.  He was eventually sent to the UK in 1943 and repatriated to Germany after the war. As he was from Prussia, he was then homeless, and ultimately ended up working as an interpreter for the German Navy once it was reconstituted.

And on a topic other than the war:



Charles Courtney Curran, noted for his highly romanticized paintings of women, passed away.

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Thursday September 11, 1941. The Buskø Affair.

The USCG Northland stopped the Norwegian sealer SS Buskø off of the coast of Greenland, impounded the ship, and arrested the crew.

Northland under sail, which was not the way it typically sailed.

Stopping a Norwegian ship?

Well, yes. . . 

Ownership of Greenland had been contested between the Scandinavian countries of Denmark and Norway prior to World War Two, with its status as a Danish possession finally resolved by way of a decision of the International Court of Justice in 1933.  After German occupation, the Quisling administration in Norway saw an opportunity to reverse this situation and sought to take advantage of German sponsorship and the fact that the Royal Navy was precluding Norwegian ships from resupplying small Norwegian hunting, meteorological, and radio stations that remained on Greenland. The Quisling government was urged in this direction by Adolf Hoel, a geologist with nationalist leanings, and Gustav Smedal, a lawyer with the same.

 In 1941, with German permission, the Norwegian government outfitted a party to essentially reclaim Norwegian control of Greenland, led by a Norwegian arctic explorer who had led a prior Norwegian expedition in 1931 for the same purpose.  Complicating it further, the Royal Navy's actions were putting Norwegian parties on Greenland in desperate straights, as they were not getting resupplied.

Just before the expedition set out, the Germans insisted that a radio operator, by the unlikely name of Jacob (Iacob) Bradley, but made part of the expedition with the purpose of setting up a German radio station.  The ship's captain protested the action as this crossed over a line in their view. While the mission of the ship was somewhat ambiguous, it was still Norwegian, up until that point.

Bradley, moreover, was a Norwegian Nazi, with ties to the Nazi organization in Norway that predated the war, although he'd ironically separated from it formally prior to the German invasion.

German insistence meant that Bradley was incorporated into the party against the ship's wishes.  He was dropped off at one of the Norwegian camps on September 2, but oddly didn't begin to broadcast anything.  He may never have set up the radio equipment.  The Norwegian trappers he was placed with refused to help him assemble his equipment, for that matter, apparently voting on his mission with inaction.

Several months prior Danish government had signed a treaty with the US seeking to have the US protect Greenland during the war.   This was well within the US's traditional Monroe Doctrine set of prerogatives.  

Upon reaching Greenland's water, Danish communities immediately noticed the ship and reported it to American authorities.  On this date in 1941 the USCG Northland raided it.  Bradley's camp was also raided, and his equipment destroyed. The ship was towed to Boston Harbor.

Bradley was arrested in the United States and held until 1947.  After the war he did not return to Norway until 1979, at which point the statute of limitations had expired on potential treason charges.  He was buried in a Jewish cemetery at the time of his death, as ironically his wife was Jewish.

Hallvard Devold, the Norwegian leader of the 1931 and 1941 expeditions, was turned over to the British who held him until the end of the war, upon which he returned to Norway.  Norwegian authorities did not prosecute him.  Hoel denied all knowledge of the Germans having co-opted the expedition, but he paid for his sympathy with Quisling by losing his academic and institutional positions after the war.

The SS Buskø was released by the United States in 1942 and leased by the Norwegian government in exile to the United States. After the war she was refitted, and already in 1941, upon her being seized by the Coast Guard, her condition had been noted as very dilapidated.  She sank in a terrible storm in 1950 which took several ships in sealing grounds, claiming their crews as well.

More on these events can be read here:

“A cursed affair”—how a Norwegian expedition to Greenland became the USA’s first maritime capture in World War II

Today in World War II History—September 12, 1941

Also involving the Quisling government, on this day that body banned the Boy Scouts and compelled its members to join the Nasjonal Samling's youth leagues, the equivalent of the Hitler Youth in Norway.

A German spokesman, on this day, declared that President Roosevelt "wanted war" while an Italian one declared that American actions required Axis ships to attack American naval vessels on sight.

The White House noted that there was a lot of similarity between Charles Lindbergh's recent comments in Des Moines, Iowa, and Nazi propaganda.  Lindbergh's recent remarks had been very poorly received by the American public.

And the Horsa glider, the large British gilder for airborne operations, flew for the first time.

British newspapers ran an interesting cartoon depicting Hitler's advance in Russia against Napoleon's, which had started within two days of each other in 1812 and 1941 respectively.

It noted that by this time in 1812, Napoleon had advanced further towards Moscow than Hitler, but it did also note that the French Empire (whose troops at that time included large numbers of conscripted Germans) had advanced with a single thrust rather than along a 1200-mile front, as Hitler's troops were doing.

Friday, April 9, 2021

In Memoriam: Prince Philip of Edinburgh

 

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at the time of her coronation.

I'll be frank that I'm not one to gush over the British Royal Family.  I'm not even in the category of fan.  I think that monarchy has outlived its day, and really ought to go, particularly because its inseparably tied in most of the European lands which it retains a toehold in the Reformation, which makes it a somewhat retrograde anachronism in addition to simply being an anachronism.

Be that as it may, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh were probably the ideal monarchs for the the post World War Two United Kingdom.  I don't envy them the role.  During this period they saw the decline and evaporation of the English Empire, the massive diminishment of the Commonwealth, the shunning of British Dominion status and the enormous decline of the Church of England, of which the Queen is the titular head.  

And this doesn't even begin to address their greater family, which has been full of unfortunate occurrences, ranging from the drama over Prince Charles and Lady Diana, to the the most recent goings on.  Through it all, while they've taken heat from time to time, they've remained pretty dignified.  

Prince Philip was of a different age in many ways.

Born of Danish and Greek linage, and into the Greek royal family, he symbolized an era in which, while monarchy was in decline, it remained practically its own nationality.  Born at Mons Prepos on Corfu to Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg, he was a member of the Greek and Danish royal families.

Prince Andrew.

His father was an active, and at least somewhat insubordinate, Army officer in the Greek army and was exiled along with the Greek royal family following the September 1922 coup in that country that resulted from Greece's military disasters in Turkey.  Given this, Philip, who was only one year old at the time, grew up outside of Greece and Philip was educated in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Princess Alice.

Philip was a naturalized British citizen from early in his youth, through his uncle, Louis Mountbatten.  At the start of World War Two, he joined the Royal Navy and served in it throughout the Second World War.  He met Elizabeth, his future wife and the future Queen, in 1934 and began corresponding with her during World War Two, starting in 1939, when she was 13 and he was 18.  They married following the war.  Philip was baptized in the Orthodox Church, which is not surprising given that he was part of the Greek royal family, but the easy switching of religions was a hypocritical feature of royal families.  His mother had been a Protestant who converted to Orthodoxy and became very sincere, so genuine changes in religious fealty did occur in royal families of course.  It'll be interesting to see, now that he has passed, if any lingering attachment to Orthodoxy will be evidenced in his funeral, particularly now as the British Royal Family has been departing from strict tradition.  As the husband of the Queen, he became the Prince Consort, a role which he served in for a very long time.

Prince Philip was almost 100 years old, and Queen Elizabeth is not that far behind.  They've endured the recent embarrassments brought about first by Prince Andrew and now by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan.  They seem to be a symbol of an earlier time, and in some ways, his passing emphasizes that.  The Queen of course continues on, and indeed, if there's going to be a Royal Family in the United Kingdom in the future, it practically depends on her ability to survive, carry on, and pass through the current era.

April 9, 1941. Things Atlantic and Mediterranean.

The USS North Carolina was launched on this day in 1941. She was the first battleship commissioned in the U.S. Navy since World War One.

She served throughout World War Two and was decommissioned in 1947.  It is a museum ship in Wilmington today.

On the same day in 1941 the United States entered an accord with occupied Denmark's ambassador in the US to occupy and protect Greenland, a move that was immediately renounced by the occupied Dutch government.  The agreement allowed for the US to construct bases on Greenland as well.

More on these events can be read about here:

Today in World War II History—April 9, 1941

The Germans flanked the Mextaxas Line in Greece, the beginning of the end of the Allied defense in that country.  In the process they took Salonika.  In Libya, they took Bardia.

On the same day, Winston Churchill gave a speech that looked forward in the war:

We are now able, and indeed required, to take a more general view of the war than when this resolution of thanks was first conceived.

The loss of Bengazi and the withdrawal imposed upon us by the German incursion into Cyrenaica are injurious chiefly on account of the valuable airfields around Bengazi which have now passed into enemy hands.

Apart from this important aspect we should have been content, in view of the danger which was growing in the Balkans, to have halted our original advance at Tobruk.

The rout of the Italians, however, made it possible to gain a good deal of ground easily and cheaply and it was thought worthwhile to do this, although in consequence of other obligations, already beginning to descend upon us, only comparatively light forces could be employed to hold what we had won.

The movement of German air forces and armored troops from Italy and Sicily to Tripoli had begun even before we took Bengazi and our submarines and aircraft have taken a steady toll of the transports carrying the German troops and vehicles.

But that has not prevented, and could not prevent, their building up a strong armored force on the African shore. With this force they have made a rapid attack in greater strength than our commanders expected at so early a date and we have fallen back upon stronger positions and more defensible country.

I cannot attempt to forecast what the course of the fighting in Cyrenaica will be. It is clear, however, that military considerations alone must guide our generals, and that these must not in any way be complicated by what are called prestige values or considerations for public opinion.

Now that the Germans are using their armored strength in Cyrenaica we must expect hard and severe fighting, not only for the defense of Cyrenaica but for the defense of Egypt.

It is fortunate that the Italian collapse in Eritrea, Ethiopia and British and Italian Somaliland is liberating progressively very substantial forces and masses of transport to reinforce the Army of the Nile.

This sudden darkening of the scene in Cyrenaica in no way detracts from the merits of the brilliant campaigns which have destroyed the Italian Empire in North and East Africa. Nor does it diminish our gratitude to the troops or our confidence in the commanders who led them. On the contrary, we shall show that our hearts go out to our armies even more warmly when they are in hard action than when they are sailing forward in the flowing tide of success.

A fortnight ago I warned the public that an unbroken continuance of success could not be hoped for; that reverses as well as victories must be expected; that we must be ready, indeed we always are ready, to take the rough with the smooth.

Since I used this language other notable episodes have been added to those that had gone before. Cheren was stormed after hard fighting which cost us about 4,000 casualties.

The main resistance of the Italian army in Eritrea was overcome. Foremost in all this fighting in Eritrea were our Indian troops, who at all points and on all occasions sustained the martial reputation of the sons of Hindustan.

After the fall of Cheren the army advanced. Asmara has surrendered, the port of Massawa is in our hands. The Red Sea has been virtually cleared of enemy warships, which is a matter of considerable and even far reaching convenience. Harar has fallen and our troops have entered and taken charge of Addis Ababa.

The Duke of Aosta's army has retreated into the mountains where it is being attended upon by the patriot forces of Ethiopia. The complete destruction or capture of all Italian forces in Abyssinia [Ethiopia] with corresponding immediate relief to our operations elsewhere, may be reasonably expected.

Besides these land operations the Royal Navy under Admiral Cunningham, splendidly aided by the fleet air arm and the R.A.F. have gained the important sea battle of Cape Matapan-decisively breaking Italian naval power in the Mediterranean.

When we look back upon the forlorn position in which we were left in the Middle East by the French collapse, and when we remember that not only were our forces in the Nile Valley out-numbered by four or five to one by the Italian armies, that we could not contemplate without anxiety the defense of Nairobi, of Khartum, of Cairo, Alexandria, Jerusalem and the Suez Canal, and that this situation has been marvelously transformed; that we have taken more Italian prisoners than we had troops in the country, that the British Empire has fought alone and conquered alone except for the aid of the gallant Free French and Belgian forces who, although few in number, have borne their part-when all this is recalled amid the unrelenting pressure of events, I feel confident that I can commit this resolution to the House, and that it will be most heartily and enthusiastically acclaimed.

I now turn from Cyrenaica and Abyssinia to the formidable struggle which has followed the German invasion of the Balkan Peninsula.

We have watched with growing concern the German absorption of Hungary, the occupation of Rumania and the seduction and occupation of Bulgaria.

Step by step we have seen this movement of German military power to the east and southeast of Europe. A remorseless accumulation of German armored and motorized divisions and of aircraft has been in progress in all these countries for months.

And at length we find that the Greeks and the Yugoslavs, nations and States which never wished to take part in the war, neither of which was capable of doing the slightest injury to Germany, must now fight to the death for their freedom and for the lands of their fathers.

Until Greece was suddenly and treacherously invaded at the behest of the base Italian dictator, she had observed meticulous neutrality. It may be that the sentiments of her people were on our side, but nothing could have been more correct than the behavior of her government.

We had no contacts or engagements of a military character with the Greek Government. Although there were islands like Crete of the highest naval consequence to us, and although we had given Greece our guarantee against aggression, we abstained from the slightest intrusion upon her. It was only when she appealed to us for aid against the Italians that we gave whatever support in the air and in supplies was possible.

All this time the Germans continued to give friendly assistance to Greece and to toy with the idea of a new commercial treaty. German high officials, both in Athens and Berlin, expressed disapproval of the Italian invasion.

From the beginning of December the movements of German forces through Hungary and through Rumania toward Bulgaria became apparent to all.

More than two months ago, by the traitorous connivance of the Bulgarian King and government, advance parties of the German air force in plain clothes gradually took possession of Bulgarian air fields.

Many thousands of German airmen, soldiers and political police were ensconced in key positions before the actual announcement of the accession of Bulgaria to the Axis was made.

German troops then began to pour into Bulgaria in very large numbers. One of their objectives was plainly Salonika, which I may mention they entered at 4 o'clock this morning.

It has never been our policy nor our interest to see the war carried into the Balkan Peninsula. At the end of February we sent Foreign Secretary Eden and General Sir John G. Dill to the Middle East to see if anything could be done to form a united defensive front in the Balkans. They went to Athens, and to Ankara and would have gone to Belgrade but they were refused permission by Prince Paul's government.

If these three threatened States had stood together they could have had at their disposal sixty or seventy divisions, which with a combined plan and prompt united action taken, might have confronted the Germans with a resistance which might well have deterred them altogether and must in any case have delayed them a long time, having regard to the mountainous and broken character of the country and limits of communications.

Although we were anxious to promote such a defensive front, by which alone the peace of the Balkans could be maintained, we were determined not to urge upon the Greeks, already at grips with the Italians, any course contrary to their desires.

The support which we can give to the peoples fighting for freedom in the Balkans and in Turkey, or ready to fight, is necessarily limited at present and we did not wish to take the responsibility of pressing the Greeks to engage in a conflict.

With the new and terrible foe gathering upon their borders, however, on the first occasion Eden and Dill met the Greek King and the Greek Prime Minister. The latter declared spontaneously on behalf of his government that Greece was resolved at all costs to defend her freedom and native soil against any aggressor, and that even if left wholly unsupported by Great Britain or by Turkey and Yugoslavia, they would remain faithful to their alliance with Great Britain, which came into play at the opening of the Italian invasion, and would fight to the death against both Italy and Germany.

This being so, our duty was clear. We were bound in honor to give them all the aid in our power. If they were resolved to face the might and fury of the Huns, we had no doubts but that we should share their ordeal, and that the soldiers of the British Empire must stand in the line with them.

We were apprised by our generals on the spot, Dill and Sir Archibald Wavell, and Greek Commander in Chief Alexander Papagos-both victorious commanders in chief-that a sound military plan, giving good prospects of success, could be made.

Of course in all these matters there is hazard. In this case as any one can see, without particularizing unduly, there was for us a double hazard.

It remains to be seen how well these opposing risks and duties have been judged. But of this I am sure, that there is no less likely way of winning a war than to adhere pedantically to the maxim of "safety first."

Therefore, early in March we made a military agreement with the Greeks, and the considerable movement of British and Imperial troops and supplies began. I cannot enter into details or, while this widespread battle is going on, attempt to discuss either the situation or the prospects.

I therefore turn to the story of Yugoslavia. This valiant steadfast people, whose history for centuries has been a struggle for life and who owe their survival to their mountains and to their fighting qualities, made every endeavor to placate the Nazi monster.

If they had made common cause with the Greeks when the Greeks hurled back the Italian invaders, the complete destruction of the Italian armies in Albania could have been certainly and swiftly achieved long before the German forces could have reached the theatre of war.

Even in January or February this extraordinary military opportunity was still open. But Prince Paul's government, undeterred by the fate of so many small countries, not only observed the strictest neutrality and refused even to enter into effective staff conversations with Greece or with Turkey or with us, but hugged the delusion that they could preserve their independence by patching up some sort of pact with Hitler.

Once again we see the odious German poison technique employed. In this case, however, it was to the government rather than to the nation that the dose and inoculations were administered. The process was not hurried. Why should it be? All the time the German armies and air force were entering and massing in Bulgaria. From a few handfuls of tourists admiring the beauties of the Bulgarian landscape in the wintry weather, the German forces grew to seven, twelve, twenty and finally to twenty-five divisions. Presently the weak and unfortunate Prince and afterward his Ministers were summoned, like others before them, to Hitler's footstool and a pact was signed which would have given Germany complete control not over the body but over the soul of the Yugoslav nation.

Then at last the people of Yugoslavia saw their peril, and with a universal spasm of revolt swept from power those who were leading them into a shameful tutelage, and resolved at the eleventh hour to guard their freedom and their honor with their lives.

A boa constrictor who had already covered his prey with his foul saliva and then had it suddenly wrested from his coils, would be in an amiable mood compared with Hitler, Goering, Ribbentrop and the rest of the Nazi gang.

A frightful vengeance was vowed against the Southern Slavs. Rapid, perhaps hurried, redispositions were made of German forces and German diplomacy. Hungary was offered large territorial gains to become the accomplice in the assault upon a friendly neighbor with whom she had just signed a solemn pact of friendship and non-aggression. Count Teleki, Hungarian Premier, preferred to take his own life rather than join in such a deed of shame.

A heavy forward movement of the German armies, already gathered in Austria, was set in motion through Hungary to the northern frontier of Yugoslavia. A ferocious howl of hatred from the supreme miscreant was the signal for the actual invasion. The open city of Belgrade was laid in ashes and a tremendous drive by the German armored forces in Bulgaria was launched westward into Southern Serbia.

When it was no longer deemed worth while to keep up the farce of love for Greece, other powerful forces rolled forward into Greece, where they were at once unflinchingly encountered and have already sustained more than one bloody repulse at the hands of the heroic Greek Army. The British and Imperial troops have not up to the present been engaged. Further than this, I cannot attempt to carry the tale.

I therefore turn for a few moments to the larger aspects of the war. I must first speak of France and of the French people, to whom in their sorrows we are united not only by memories but by living ties.

I welcomed cordially the declaration of Marshal Petain that France would never act against her former allies or go to war with her former allies. Such a course, so insensate, so unnatural and on lower grounds so improvident, might well-though it is not for me to speak for any government but our own-such a course might alienate from France for long years the sympathy and support of the American democracy. I am sure that the French nation would, with whatever means of expression are still open to them, repudiate such a shameful course.

We must, however, realize that the government of Vichy is in a great measure dependent and, in a great many matters, though happily not in all, in Hitler's hands, acting daily through the Armistice Commission at Wiesbaden. Two million Frenchmen are in German hands. A great part of the food supply in France has been seized by Germany. Both prisoners and food can be doled out in return for hostile propaganda or unfriendly action against Britain. Or again, the cost of the German occupation of France, for which a cruel and exorbitant toll is exacted, may be raised still further as a punishment for any manifestation of sympathy with us.

Admiral Darlan tells us that the Germans have been generous in the treatment of France. All the information which we have, both from occupied and unoccupied France, makes me very doubtful whether the mass of the French people would endorse that strange and sinister tribute.

But I must make it clear that we must maintain our blockade against Germany and rights of contraband control at sea, which have never been disputed or denied to any belligerent and which a year ago France was exercising with us.

Some time ago we were ready to open economic negotiations with the French to mitigate the hardships of their conditions, but any chance of fruitful negotiations was nipped in the bud by "the generous Germans" and imperative orders were given from Wiesbaden to Vichy to break off all contact with us.

We have allowed very considerable quantities of food to go into France out of a sincere desire to spare the French people every hardship in our power. When, however, it comes to thousands of tons of rubber and other vital war material which pass, as we know, directly to the German armies, we are bound, even at the risk of collisions with French warships at sea, to enforce our rights as recognized by international law.

There is another action into which Vichy might be led by the dictation of Germany: namely, sending powerful war vessels which are unfinished or even damaged from the French African parts to ports in metropolitan France now under German control or which may at very short notice fall under their control.

Such movements of French war vessels from Africa to France would alter the balance of naval power and would thus prejudice the interests of the United States as well as our own. I trust that such incidents will be avoided, or if they are not avoided, that the consequences which will follow from them will be understood and fairly judged by the French nation for whose cause we are contending no less than for our own.

I am glad to be able to report a continued and marked improvement in the relative strength of the R.A.F. compared with that of Germany. Also, I draw attention to the remarkable increase in its actual strength and in its bombing capacity and also a marked augmentation in the power and size of the bombs which we shall be using in even greater number.

The sorties which we are now accustomed to make upon German harbors and cities are increasing both in the number of aircraft employed and in the weight of the discharge with every month that passes.

In some cases we have already in our raids exceeded in severity anything which a single town has in a single night experienced over here. At the same time, there is a sensible improvement in our means of dealing with German raids upon this island.

A very great measure of security has been given to this country in daylight and we are glad that the days are lengthening; but now the R.A.F. looks forward to the moonlight periods as opportunities for inflicting severe losses upon raiders as well as for striking hard at the enemy in his own territory. The fact that technical advisers welcome daylight, moonlight and starlight and that we do not rely for our protection on darkness, clouds and mist, as would have been the case some time ago, is pregnant with hope and with meaning. But, of course, all these tendencies are only in their early stages.

But, after all, everything turns upon the Battle of the Atlantic which is proceeding with growing intensity on both sides. Our losses in ships and tonnage are very heavy and, vast as are the shipping resources we control, these losses could not continue indefinitely without seriously affecting our war effort and our means of subsistence.

It is no answer to say that we have inflicted upon the Germans and Italians a far higher proportion of losses, compared with the size of their merchant fleet, and that our world-wide traffic is maintained. We have in fact sunk, captured or seen scuttled over 2,300,000 tons of German and Italian shipping. We have lost nearly 4,000,000 tons of British tonnage. Against that we have brought under the British flag over 3,000,000 tons of foreign or newly constructed tonnage, not counting considerable Allied tonnage under our control. Therefore, at the moment our enormous fleets sail the seas without any serious or obvious diminution so far as numbers of ships is concerned.

But what is to happen in the future if losses continue at the present rate? Where are we to find another 3,000,000 or 4,000,000 tons to fill the gaps which are being created and to carry us on through 1942?

We are building merchant ships upon a very considerable scale and to the utmost of our ability. We are also making a most strenuous effort to repair the large number of vessels damaged by the enemy and the still larger number damaged by Winter gales. We are doing our utmost to accelerate the turnaround of our ships, remembering that even ten days' saving on turnaround of our immense fleet is equal to a reinforcement of 5,000,000 tons of imports in a single year.

All the energy and contrivance of which we are capable have been and will be devoted to these purposes and we are already conscious of substantial results.

But when all is said and done, the only way in which we can get through the year 1942 without a very sensible contraction of our war efforts is by another gigantic building of merchant ships in the United States similar to that prodigy of output accomplished by the Americans in 1918.

All this has been in train in the United States for many months past. There has now been a very large extension of the program and we have assurance that several millions of tons of American newly-built shipping will be available for the common struggle during the course of the next year.

Here, then, is the assurance upon which we may count for the staying power without which it will not be possible to save the world from the criminals who assail its future.

But the Battle of the Atlantic must be won not only in the factories and shipyards but upon the blue water. I am confident that we shall succeed in coping with the air attacks which are made upon the shipping in our western and northwestern approaches.

I hope eventually the inhabitants of the sister isle [Ireland] may realize that it is as much in their interests as it is in ours that their ports and airfields should be available for naval and air forces which must operate ever further into the Atlantic.

But while I am hopeful we shall gain mastery over the air attacks upon our shipping, the U-boats and the surface raiders range ever farther to the westward, ever nearer to the shores of the United States, and constitute a menace which must be overcome if the life of Britain is not to be endangered and if the purposes to which the Government and peoples of the United States have devoted themselves are not to be frustrated. We shall, of course, make every effort in our power.

The defeat of the U-boats and of surface raiders has been proved to be entirely a question of adequate escorts for our convoys.

It will indeed be disastrous if the great masses of weapons, munitions and instruments of war of all kinds made with the toil and skill of American hands at the cost of the United States and loans to us under the Aid to Britain Bill were to sink into the depths of the ocean and never reach the hard-pressed fighting line.

That would be lamentable to us and I cannot believe it would be found acceptable to the proud and resolute people of the United States.

Indeed, I am authorized to say that ten United States Revenue cutters, fast vessels of about 2,000 tons displacement with a fine armament and a wide range of endurance, have already been placed at our disposal by the American Government and will soon be in action. These vessels, originally designed to enforce prohibition, will now serve an even higher purpose.

It is, of course, very hazardous to try to forecast in what direction or directions Hitler will employ his military machine in the present year. He may at any time attempt the invasion of this island. That is an ordeal from which we shall not shrink.

At the present moment he is driving fast through the Balkans and at any moment he may turn upon Turkey. But there are many signs which point to an attempt to secure the granary of the Ukraine [both in Russia] and the oil-fields of the Caucasus as a German means of gaining the resources wherewith to wear down the English-speaking world.

All this is speculation, but I will say one thing more: Once we have gained the Battle of the Atlantic and are sure of the constant flow of American supplies which are being prepared for us, then, however far Hitler may go or whatever new millions and scores of millions he may lap in misery, we who are armed with the sword of retributive justice shall be on his track.



Monday, June 15, 2020

June 15, 1920 Killings


A mob lynched three African American circus workers in Duluth, Minnesota after rumors circulated that black men had raped a white woman. A subsequent physician's inspection of the accuser came to the conclusion that there was no evidence of rape.

A memorial to the victims of the lynching was built in 2003.  The horrific event is also recalled in the first stanza of Bob Dylan's Desolation Row.  While the recent death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has been termed a lynching, this horrific 1920 event stands out as the only mob lynching of blacks in Minnesota's history.  There are other instances of lynchings, including lynchings of Native Americans, but this one stands apart for that reason as well as its horrific nature.  It pretty clearly demonstrated that the horror of lynching, which had been much in the news in 1919, could occur anywhere in the nation.

Another homicide was making the headlines on one of Casper's two newspapers.  James Clark, well known Douglas area rancher, age 54, was shot and killed by Roy Benning, an automobile mechanic. 

The cause of the killing seemed to be an argument over Clark's very brief marriage to Benning's daughter, which had been of only a week or so in length.  It had then been annulled.  The putative Mrs. Clark was 16 years old.

While exactly what occurred was unclear at the time, what seems probable is that the Benning family wasn't thrilled by their very young daughter marrying the middle aged rancher at a time at which 54 wasn't middle aged, it was old.  Clark and Benning had engaged in an argument over that event and both men were armed. Clark was armed with a .45 revolver which appeared to have misfired several times before Benning shot and killed him with a small caliber pistol.

Candidate Harding's household cook was photographed for the news wires.

  Inez P.McWhorter, Harding family's cook.

Things seemed to be slow in Washington D. C., where weekday summertime golfing at Chevy Chase was being enjoyed.

Senator Howard Southerland, just recently a candidate for the Republican nomination, and then a Harding supporter, playing golf.

Justice Vandevanter and Justice McKenna of the United States Supreme Court enjoying watching golf at Chevy Chase.

North Schleswig and Southern Jutland were transferred to Denmark from Germany, as part of the post World War One territorial adjustments, although the Allies provisionally retain sovereignty of Jutland. Denmark was granted sovereignty over Southern Jutland on July 15 and then back dated it.  Schleswig was the only territorial adjustment made concerning Germany which the Germans didn't dispute following the rise of the Nazis.

And a famous radio broadcast took place in the UK.
Dame Nellie Melba's voice was broadcast from the Marconi Company station at Chelmsford in Essex, United Kingdom, for a period of thirty minutes

Saturday, June 22, 2019

June 22, 1919: Reichstag votes to accept the Versailles Treaty, Allies engage in sports, Faroe's display flag, Minnesota hit by tornado.

On this day in 1919 the Reichstag voted 237 to 138 to accept the Versailles Treaty, while its Supreme Counsel also rejecting the war guilt clauses.  The Reichstag vote sealed the question of whether Germany would sign the peace agreement, or endure an Allied invasion of its territory.  It voted to accept.

While the Germans were gathering to vote to tend the war, the Allies were holding the Inter Allied Games, an Olympic like event restricted to serving Allied soldiers or discharged Allied soldiers. The event was held in Paris' new Pershing Stadium.


The inaugural events were clearly impressive.






The Arabs wouldn't be getting independent countries for siding with the Allies, but they did get their own team at the event.




In the Faroe Islands, a Danish dependency, displayed its flag unofficially for the first time on this day at a wedding.


The Faroe's have their own language and are culturally distinct. An independence movement has existed on the islands since the late 19th Century and it was growing at this time.  Further developments would lead to the Faroe's declaring independence in 1946, which was accordingly rejected by Denmark, but which did grant the islands home rule.  They did not follow Denmark into the European Community and therefore are outside of it.

Fergus Falls was hit by a terrible tornado that killed 57 people, the second worst tornadic event in Minnesota's history.


Fergus Falls, Minn. after the cyclone, June 22, 1919,


Friday, October 19, 2018

Countdown on the Great War: October 19, 1918. Empires and monarchies of all types continue to fall apart, the Allies continue to advance, the German Navy continues to sink ships, and the Flu remains uncontained.

1. The Allies captured Bruges, Courtrai, and Zeebrugge, Belgium.  In the process, 12,000 Germans surrendered.  The Belgian Army engaged in the last cavalry charge of World War One when the Guides Regiment successfully charged at the Burkel Forest.

2.  The Portuguese sailing ship Aida sunk by a German U-boat. The British ships Almerian and the HMS Plumpton struck mines, sinking the Almerian and damaging the Plumpton. The German submarine UB-123 also hit a mine in the North Sea and went down with all hands.

3. The West Ukrainian People's Republic was established in the Ukrainian provinces of the Austro Hungarian Empire.

4.  A flu hospital was established in Casper.



5.  Old allegiances of all types were seemingly being modified everywhere.  Icelanders voted overwhelmingly for becoming a separate kingdom with the Danish king as their sovereign.


Thursday, July 19, 2018

First Aircraft Carrier Launched Raid. Todern, July 19, 1918.

On this day the Royal Navy achieved a military milestone when it launched the first aircraft carrier supported air raid in history.

Sopwith Camels on the HMS Furious.

Seven Sopwith Camels were launched from the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier, the HMS Furious, upon the German Navy's airship base at Tonder, which is now part of Denmark but which was then part of Germany.

The Furious had been a battle cruiser, but it had been converted to an aircraft carrier.  The attack, which was delayed due to weather, was undertaken in two waves.  The Germans were taken by surprise.  Two airships and a captive balloon were destroyed.  However, only one Camel was recovered.  Three were interned in Denmark after their pilots took them there as they feared they had insufficient fuel to make it back to the carrier.  Two of the planes were abandoned and one was lost at sea. The one that made it back was damaged.

Friday, March 31, 2017

Transfer Day: The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies

The Dannebrog, the Danish flag, being lowered at the Governor's Mansion for the last time on this date in 1917.  Note the fence made of chain and cannon.

On this day in 1917 possession of the Danish West Indies from Denmark to the United States was accomplished, although it appears the official start of US ownership of the islands was the following day, April 1.  The treaty and other events leading to this were addressed earlier on this blog.

The day is commemorated on the US Virgin Islands as Transfer Day.

Monday, January 16, 2017

The United States ratified the treaty of sale for the Danish West Indies . . .

on this day in 1917.

The sale had been arranged in 1916 and a treaty signed by the Danish Minister and U.S. Secretary of STate on August 4, 1916.  The U.S. Senate approved the treaty making the transfer on September 7, 1916.  But this was not without considerable controversy in Denmark and it was scheduled for a referendum in Denmark, which was held, passing the sale, on December 14, 196.  On December 22, 1916  the Danish Parliament approved the treaty.  Woodrow Wilson ratified the treaty on this day in 1917.  Ratification exchanges would occur the following day and the treaty proclaimed on January 25 by  the United States and March 9 by King Christian X.  The warrant for payment would be made on March 31, 1917, and the exchange of ownership occured on April 1.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

The Battle of Jutland Commences: May 31, 1916

The epic clash of the German and British fleets commences off of Jutland.  The end result is still debated, but that the British retained naval dominance in the Atlantic is not.

Of small interest here, Jutland is that Danish peninsula that juts into the North Sea and which some believe gave its name to the Jutes, once of the three Germanic tribes that immigrated to Great Britain in the 400s.

The 1916 naval battle has gone down as oddly contested in its recollections, which it still is today.  The Germans immediately declared it a victory, but as British historians have noted, the end result was that the German fleet was bottled up for the rest of the war where it did nothing other than consume resources and, in the end, contribute to revolt against its employer.

The battle is seen this way as Admiral Jellicoe did not crush the German fleet and because the British lost more men and ships than the Germans did.  In strategic terms, however, its clear that the British turned the Germans back and sent them back into port. . . forever.  Strategically, therefore, it was a British victory.  The debate otherwise is due to the lasting strong suspicion that the British could have actually continued the contest and demolished the German fleet, which would have ended any threat of German surface action for the remainder of the war.  Admiral Jellicoe did not do that, but then as was pointed out by Winston Churchill he was the only commander in the war who was capable of loosing the war in a day, which no doubt factored in his mind.  Had the British guess wrong in the battle, and the early stages of the battle were all guess work, the result may well have resulted in Allied loss in the war itself.

Jutland stands out as such a clash of naval giants that its somewhat inaccurately remembered as the "only" clash of dreadnoughts, which it isn't.  It was, however, a massive example of a naval engagement between two highly competent massive surface fleets.  It wasn't the first one of the war, but it would be the last one.  In spite of the seeming ambiguity of the result, the battle effectively destroyed Germany's surface fleet abilities forever.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: The Islamic State in Iraq and th...

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: The Islamic State in Iraq and th...: As of today, the situation discussed here has gone from bad to worse.  ISIS, or ISIL, depending upon the term you use, has taken the city o...
And now this horror has spread on to the Libya, where ISIL beheaded 21 Egyptian  Coptic Christians simply for being Christian.  Egypt has retaliated with airstrikes against ISIL in Libya.  This is significant in two ways.  One, it shows that ISIL's reach is expanding.  Secondly, Egypt has now joined Jordan as a Middle Eastern, Moslem majority, country that's now actively engaged in warfare with ISIL.

To my surprise, 10 to 15 percent of Egyptians are reported as being Coptic Christians, a much higher percentage that I would have guessed.  Generally they're second class citizens, but all Egyptians appear to be rallying to their cause.

Not unrelated, a Moslem terrorist also struck at a free speech event in Egypt.  Armed with an automatic weapon in a society which strictly controls access to firearms, he had a pretty free hand so the fact that the casualties were as low as they were is truly amazing.  This event should have the added impact of causing European nations to further wake up to the fact that Islamic extremists are both in their midst, and at war with their open societies.  While I am sure it won't have this effect, it should also cause nations in Europe to ponder their gun control provisions and consider the example of the US, which is the opposite of what they imagine, in that as gun control provisions have very much waned in the past 30 years gun violence has actually declined (which is also contrary to what many Americans imagine).  On a continent which now finds itself at war with a quasi invisible radical fifth column, with access to automatic weapons coming out of the Middle East, allowing the population to protect itself deserves some consideration.