Monday, August 31, 1942. The arrest of the Schulze-Boyen's.

Today in World War II History—August 31, 1942: Australians launch offensive against the Japanese at Milne Bay, New Guinea. Canada requires unemployed men and women to take war work.

An interesting entry on Sarah Sundin's blog.

I wonder how many unemployed Canadian men there really were by this point in 1942?

The aptly named Libertas Schulze-Boyen, a German aristocrat, and her husband Harro, a Luftwaffe officer, were arrested by the authorities.

The couple had in fact gone from being Nazis or radical right winters, Harro even had a swastika carved into his leg, to being the focal point of the Red Orchestra, a resistance group that was centered on providing information to the Soviet Union.

Libertas was a French protestant by birth, but fit into that oddly European class of aristocratic families that were nearly stateless.  She attended school in Switzerland and moved to Germany in 1933 where she joined the Nazi Party and was, at first, an ardent Nazi. She married Harro in 1936, after having lived with him a year, something very unusual at the time.  Herman Goering gave her away at the wedding, showing how close they were to senior Nazi figures.

Harro, in contrast, had opposed the Nazis since 1933, being therefore a really early resistance figure.  He had been part of the "Radical Nazi" organization Black Front, which was a Nazi splinter group formed by Otto Strasser which kept the original socialistic Nazi economic policy which the party abandoned under Adolph Hitler.  He was also from an aristocratic family, and one that had ties to publishing. Both Harro and Liberas were writers.  He became a pilot in 1933, and in spite of being an anti-Nazi joined the Luftwaffe.

In spite of their common opposition to the Nazis, their marriage was not a united one. Harro was a self-confessed libertine, and she had caught him in bed with an actress, which nearly led to their divorce.  Only the fact that they were both involved in their resistance movement kept this from occurring.

They were both executed in December. She was 29 and he was 33.

German tanks made it through the minefields at Alam el Halfa and turned north to attack what he supposed to be the Allied rear, only to be met with anti tank guns and tanks staged there by Montgomery.  Montgomery, moreover, did not deploy his tanks in the old cavalry melee style that the British had done previously, although German and British tank losses, 22 and 21 respectively, were about equal.  The Afrika Korps lost one of its senior commanders, Georg von Bismarck, due to a mine.

The British small scale raid Operation Anglo attacked Rhodes.

Thursday, August 31, 1922. Flying cameras, murderous Communists, economic reprieve, drunk driving criminals, Russia of the recent past.

 

The Untied State's military was experimenting with areal cameras and gun cameras on this day in 1922.

Both would become airborne staples in future years.

Mongolian Prime Minister Dambyn Chagdarjav and his successor Dogsomyn Bodoo were executed, a fate common to early Communist who were often murdered on trumped-up charges by their own regimes.

Germany was granted a six-month reprieve of reparations payments by the Allied Reparations Commission.

Al Capone was arrested for hitting a taxicab while driving drunk.  He had also threatened to shoot one of the witnesses.

Life came out with an American Russian edition.  It'd be interesting to know what the contents of that issue were.  It depicted a Russia that was now in the past.

Sunday, August 30, 1942. Montgomery anticipates Rommel.

Aided by Ultra, Montgomery plans a heavy reception for an Afrika Korps attack he knows to be coming.  In the Battle of Alam el Halfa Rommel, on this day, finds his forces caught in dense minefields and bombed by a combined air effort by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.  The battle would continue until September 5.

The Red Army also found itself oppressed from the air, in this case in their effort to relieve Leningrad, which started to grind to a halt.

Japanese assaults at the Isurava Rest House on Papua caused the Australians to withdraw from the location to Eora.

The Japanese landed 1,000 troops overnight at Guadalcanal, as well as sinking the US fast transport ship USS Colhoun.

Wednesday, August 30, 1922. The End of Greek Anatolia.

Young women photographed on this day in 1922.

A press photographer photographed a group of young women on this day in 1922.  None of them appeared as flappers.

The Turks won the Battle of Dumiupinar, bringing the Greco Turkish War effectively to a close.  As a result, this day is celebrated as Victory Day in Turkey.

This brought about the millennia long presence of a significant Greek population in Anatolia, one which had persisted even in spite of the Ottoman Conquest.  In no small part, it came about due to Greek greed which had sought to expand Greek control beyond what was initially logical, during the immediate post World War One period during which such efforts were effectively supported by nearly all of the Allied powers, and during which France, the UK, and Italy contributed troops to the effort.  Indeed, Italy seized islands for its own from Turkey.

Had the Greeks not overreached, they likely would have been supported longer by the Allies, which grew tired of the war and ultimately pulled its combat troops out of it.  Greece proved insufficiently strong to hold what it had taken against the revolutionary Turkish forces which had overthrown their own government, which had entered into a putative peace, and which fought the war well against long odds.

The war would result in a tragic mass population transfer of Greeks from Turkish lands, many of whom would relocate far from their homes in other lands, such as the United States and Australia.

In Ireland, the results of a recent peace continued to operate oddly.

Due to the odd nature of the treaty between the UK and the Irish Free State, a Second Irish Provisional Government was set up due to the assassination of Michael Collins, even though power was being transferred to the Dail.

Wisconsin Governor John J. Blain urged President Harding to ask Congress to take over the coal mines in order to abate the problems the long-running coal mine strike was causing and threatened to cause.

In Pennsylvania, a monument to George Washington was dedicated.

 Taft College was founded in California.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2022. The Russo Ukrainian War Edition, Part Six

M577 howitzers in Ukraine.  The British designed howitzer has been supplied to the Ukrainian forces by the United States, Canada and Australia.  It is arguably the best towed artillery piece in the world.  By Arsen Fedosenko - https://www.facebook.com/CinCAFU/posts/309101904718635, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=117964601

May 24, 2022

Yes, part six.  In a normal year, there's one version of this all year long.  This year, thanks to Russia forgetting that it's not 1945, we're in the sixth installment.

Which is to say that the war in Ukraine has caused the massive ongoing expansion of this thread.

Okay, situation wise, where are we?

Here's the history of the war to date, in the map that demonstrates the Russian advance. . . and retreat.

By MaitreyaVaruna & Bacon Noodles - Own work derived from File:2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.svg, originally by ViewsridgeItself derivate of Russo-Ukraine Conflict (2014-present).svg by Rr016Missile attacks source: BNO NewsTerritorial control source: ISW & Template:Russo-Ukrainian War detailed map, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115563226

Even now, what the initial Russian objects were remains clouded. The best guess is that Putin, seeing Ukraine headed towards increased alignment with the West, including culturally, economically, and formally, determined to intervene when he could before the opportunity evaporated.  The only thing that was keeping Ukraine from joining the European Union and NATO was the ongoing war over the Donbas, stretching back to 2014.

After four years of Donald Trump's oddly pro Russian administration, in which US aid and support of Ukraine was done largely against Trump's will, Putin may also have thought that this period of time provided an added window, or again the only available opportunity.  Whatever the case, a decade of Western military training and support of Ukraine's military, provided in no small part by US National Guard units, had radically altered the nature of the Ukrainian military, making it a modern Western one.  Russia's, however, remained the poor army based on massed men with bad tactics and no NCO corps that it has been since 1917.  Drunk on the myth of the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, in which the Russians have been taught that the Red Army accomplished this largely on its own, and equipped with inferior weaponry, the Russians believed that they'd roll over Ukraine in just a few days.  At that point, they likely would have simply incorporated all of Ukraine back into a Russian Empire, or perhaps taken much of the eastern half of the country and left a satellite rump state in the West.

Instead, a  highly trained and motivated Ukrainian Army stopped them in their tracks to a large degree, and then began to reduce the Russians, who proved to be deployed ineptly and to fight just as poorly, in place.  As this occurred, the West, led by President Biden, rallied to Ukraine and began to supply it with weapons.  Had Donald Trump been President, this would not have occurred.

The weaponry supplied to Ukraine at first was mostly in the nature of Soviet pattern weaponry that former members of the Warsaw Pact retained, matching what Ukraine already used.  Included in what they were receiving, however, were Western anti tank and anti-aircraft missiles, which proved to be absolutely devastating.  Even early on, some Western small arms came in, however.  Now, as Ukraine has regained the ground in the north that it lost, much more in the way of Western equipment is coming in, including Western artillery.  Supplies to Ukraine are increasing in lethality, as the West has gone from small arms, ammunition and missiles, to larger weapons systems.

 Russia has proven unable to deal with any of this.  Speculation that it would overcome the Ukrainians in the north proved completely in error.  Taking the city of Mariupol took weeks, assuming that it even has really been fully taken now.  Speculation that withdrawing from the north meant forces would redeploy in the east failed to take into account that Russian forces have been so downgraded that many units have been reduced to ineffectual.

Economic boycotts of Russia are wrecking the Russian economy and may be approach a point where that will beyond repair.  Efforts to replenish and resupply Russian forces have failed.  Open criticism of Russian military performance inside of Russia, by pro-government persons and entities, has started to increase.  An organization of retired Russian officers has called for a full declaration of war combined with mobilization, something that the Russians probably can't pull off now.  Ukraine has been open that its war aim now is to recover all of the land lost in the 2014 Russian invasion.

Russia's actions have managed to unite the West to a degree it hasn't been in decades.  Its military is discredited in every sense, including morally.  How this ends is now being discussed openly, but no matter how it ends, it will be some species of Russian defeat.

May 26, 2022

Moscow has raised the age limit, previously 40, to 50, in which volunteer for service in the Russian army.

May 26, 2022, cont.

Governor Gordon Thanks Law Enforcement Personnel for Ukraine Donations

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –  Governor Gordon has extended his appreciation to members of Wyoming’s law enforcement community for donating used equipment to assist the people of Ukraine.

Coordinated by the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, the statewide effort involved outreach to multiple agencies across the state. The effort resulted in the donation of more than 200 interior and exterior ballistic vests; panels that can be used to assemble an additional 80 vests; rifle plates for the vests; helmets and boots. In addition, six pallets of medical-grade wipes were donated.

“I want to thank law enforcement in Wyoming for stepping up and providing this needed equipment for the Ukrainian people,” Governor Gordon said.

Donations came from across the state, including Albany, Carbon, Converse and Sublette County Sheriff’s Offices; police departments in Glenrock, Powell, Rock Springs, Sheridan and Torrington; Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation; Wyoming Highway Patrol; and the Wyoming Livestock Board.

-END-

May 28, 2022

Russian forces have been trying to take Severodonetsk, but they've failed to encircle the city and their progress has been slow.  They have, however, entered part of the city.

They've also been countering a Ukrainian offensive attempt to reclaim Kherson.

Ukrainian partisans units are now operating in the South in areas occupied by the Russians.

May 30, 2022

The Russians, back up by artillery, have been attempting a direct assault of Severodonetsk, abandoning the envelopment strategy they had been deploying.

Orthodoxy in Ukraine saw a split in loyalties before the war commenced, with the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church seeking, and receiving, recognition from the head of the Greek Orthodox Church of autocephalous status.  When that occurred, the Russian Orthodox Church, which it had been part of, refused to recognize that.  Now, that portion of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which remained loyal to the Russian Metropolitan declared its full independence.

This is a confusing situation because if it is independent, its position seemingly now matches that of the larger portion of the church was severed from Moscow prior to the war.

June 1, 2022

The EU has agreed to mostly end oil imports from Russia by the end of the year.

The Russians have largely taken Severodonetsk, but at the same time the Ukrainians are doing well near Kherson.

Belorussia is releasing stores of military equipment to Russia.

Some Russian recruitment centers in Russia have been subjected to attacks by Russians.

June 4, 2022

In spite of dire predictions, fighting goes on in Severondonetsk.  Indeed, it seems Ukrainian units backfilled areas taken by the Russians after they were through then.  They appear largely stalled almost everywhere.

After repeated pleas for them, the US is indicating it will supply four HIMARS systems to Ukraine.

Note, it's only four.

The system is incredibly advanced and accurate.  It's replaced heavy artillery, along with other similar rocket systems in the US inventory.

The rockets are GPS guided, which results in an interesting open additional step for the U.S. in that U.S. satellites are now openly and obviously part of Ukrainian targeting, or will soon be.

June 6, 2022

Russia has hit Kyiv with missiles again, striking a railway repair station.

Russian Maj. Gen Roman Kutuzov was killed in action.

A Ukrainian counter-attack has taken back parts of Severodonetsk.

June 10, 2022

The Russians are in fact deploying T-62s in Ukraine, a tank first introduced in 1961, a tank that is generally regarded as having been outclassed by the British Chieftain and the American M60 shortly after its introduction.  They are also pulling mines out of storage that were manufactured in the 1950s, and 152mm howitzers and MRLS systems that were in storage and are of older models.

Front lines have been nearly static.

June 16, 2022

Russo Ukrainian War

Fighting remains fairly static and in fact is still going on in Severondonetsk. Ukraine has desperately been asking for more artillery.

Ikea is selling its Russian factories.

War On ISIL

A U.S. ground raid in Syria today resulted in the capture of a senior ISIL leader.

June 17, 2022

The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Romania committed to not requiring Ukraine to terms to end the war.  In effect, this is a pledge of unconditional support.

Up to three American volunteers have been reported missing in action in Ukraine.

June 18, 2022

Russo Ukrainian War.

Commander of Russian Airborne Forces Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov has been relieved of his command due to the poor performance of Russian airborne forces in the war.

Afghanistan.

A terrorist attack in Kabul targeted a Sikh temple.

June 24, 2022

Russo Ukrainian War.

Ukraine has ordered its forces to withdraw from Sievierodonetsk

Ukraine has been approved as a candidate for membership in the EU, the Russian war effort therefore having brought about one of the very things Putin hoped to prevent.  Obtaining membership will require Ukraine to meet a set of conditions, including an ongoing committement to democracy and rooting out entrenched corruption in the government.

The Russian Navy has been ordered to mine Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

Ukraine has pummeled installations on Snake Island.

June 28, 2022

Russia has defaulted in its debt, the first time a major country has done so since 1918.

A Russian missle strike hit a shopping mall in Kremenchuk.

Russian manpower shortages have run up against a Russian desire to avoid a general mobilization, which is interesting in that there's nothing other than public opinion that really precludes the Russians calling one.  They're obviously reluctant to do so, as it would of course mean that they're have a difficult time with a much smaller neighbor.

June 28, 2022, cont

Statement by President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö on 28 June 2022

Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Press release 41/2022
28 June 2022

Today in Madrid, before the beginning of the NATO Summit, we had a thorough meeting with President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister of Sweden Magdalena Andersson, facilitated by Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg.

As a result of that meeting, our foreign ministers signed a trilateral memorandum which confirms that Türkiye will at the Madrid Summit this week support the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO. The concrete steps of our accession to NATO will be agreed by the NATO Allies during the next two days, but that decision is now imminent.

Our joint memorandum underscores the commitment of Finland, Sweden and Türkiye to extend their full support against threats to each other’s security. Us becoming NATO Allies will further strengthen this commitment.

Over the past weeks, Türkiye has raised its concerns over the threat of terrorism. Finland has constantly taken these concerns seriously. Finland condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. As a NATO member, Finland will commit fully to the counterterrorism documents and policies of NATO.

As we enhance our cooperation on counterterrorism, arms exports and extraditions, Finland naturally continues to operate according to its national legislation.

I am delighted to conclude this stage on Finland’s road to NATO membership. I now look forward to fruitful conversations on Finland’s role in NATO with our future Allies here in Madrid.

June 30, 2022

The big overall news is that the way is now clear for NATO membership for Finland and Sweden to go to the member countries parliaments for approval, with approval almost assured.

In large part, Russia launched this war to keep Ukraine from entering the EU and then later joining NATO.  During the war its drawn close to both, and now NATO has expanded.

Russia has withdrawn from Snake Island, which it took early in the war.   The island likely never had any strategic value to their war effort and overall they more than paid for taking it.

July 3, 2022

Ukrainian forces withdrew from Lysychansk, allowing the Russians to take the city.

July 7, 2022

No doubt expressing frustration with the NATO support to Ukraine, lead by the United States, a Putin ally threatened that Russia may seek to "take back" Alaska.

The war itself was static yesterday, perhaps expressing a Russian pause, probably by necessity, after recent gains.

July 15, 2022

Russia is looking at procuring drones from Iran.

Russia is also conducting a largescale recruiting drive for volunteer battalions raised for the war, and from its federal regions.  This is interesting in that they're not really conventional soldiers in the Russian Army, but sort of regional volunteers.  

Russia has been having trouble raising manpower for the war, and it hsa been unwilling to formally mobilize for various reasons.

July 22, 2022

In an extremely unusual wartime deal, Russia and Ukraine both entered into agreements with the UN and Turkey which allow for grain exports from the region as well Russian fertilizer to safely leave Black Sea ports.

While neutrals intervening on freedom of commerce and freedom of the seas to allow such things to happen has happened in the past, warring parties agreeing to such an arrangment is extremely unusual.

July 27, 2022

Current state of the war according to the British Ministry of Defense:

The Russians seem to be trying to consolidate their gains in the Donbas region prior to attempting to annex it. The Ukrainians are trying to take it back against heavy odds.

July 28, 2022

Ukraine has used percision U.S. missles to wipe out the use of the Antonivskyi Bridge across the Dnieper River.  The .9 mile long structure was used by the Russians to supply their forces at Kherson.

Russia launched massive missle strikes against Ukrainian targets yesterday, including Kyiv.

The Russians are down to only two ground offensive operations as they apparently not able to sustain more.  They're also importing non Russian workers into the Donbas due to Ukrainian civil resistance to going back to work in the region.

August 3, 2022

• China/Taiwan

Red China is conducting military maneuvers in a childish reaction to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visiting Taiwan.

Senior US figures have visited Tawian before, but not for 25 years.  In the intervening quarter century China's ecnomic importance has risen dramatically, something which was exposed due to COVID 19 shortages, but overall the country is much weaker than generally supposed, or than it itself figues.  It has started, in all regards, to act much in the same way that late stage Imperial Germany did.

• Afghanistan/Al Qaida

The United States killed a senior Al Qaeda leader who had particiapted in the 9/11 attacks by way of a drone strike inside of Aghanistan.

The US of course withdrew from the country in 2021, but still asserts the right to strike Al Qaeda and other figures who are operating within the country.

August 3, cont:

The U.S. Senate voted 95 to 1 to admit Finland and Norway to NATO.

Josh Hawley, Missouri, cast the only note vote.

ugust 5, 2022

• China/Taiwan

Taking a childish page out of North Korea's temper tantrum cartoon book, China fired missiles yesterday to show that they're feeling upset and that they have missiles, this of course following Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island.

• Russo Ukrainian War

A Ukrainian offensive in the Kherson Oblast, southern Ukraine, has caused Russia to halt its offensive operations and redeploy troops in the south and Crimea.  This is pretty ample proof of Russia's inability to conduct multiple operations at one time, and of their fear that the Ukrainian offensive may start regaining lost ground.

Russia has been shelling near a Ukrainian nuclear power plant which is the largest in Europe, repeating its earlier stupidity from a different nuclear site earlier in the war.

Power use restrictions have been going into place in Europe due to the withdrawal of Russian petroleum.

August 6, 2022

• China/Taiwan

China has cut cooperation with the United States over a host of issues, including climate change, due to its pique over Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan.

North Korea entered the game and is also criticizing the US over the same matter, which of course is of little importance as North Korea is pretty much universally irrelevant except as a regional menace.

Speaking of North Korea. . . 

• Russo-Ukrainian War

North Korea has offered Russia 100,000 troops to fight in Ukraine.  It's been noted that this would mean that Russia would have to feed 100,000 North Koreans that North Korea has trouble doing.

I doubt Russia will take this offer up as it would probably be more trouble than it would be worth, in spite of the infusion of 100,000 men.  If it does, the North Koreans will principally be cannon fodder.

A top Russian researcher on hypersonic weapons has been arrested for high treason.

• Israel/Gaza

Israel launched airstrikes into Gaza to address threats it states its identified.  Retaliation came in the form of missile strikes.

August 8, 2022

• Russo-Ukrainian War

Putin has apparently relieved three senior Russian generals from their commands within the past week.

• Israel/Gaza

The parties have entered into a truce which seems to be holding.

August 9, 2022

Russia is believed to have sustained over 80,000 casualties in Ukraine so far, of which reportedly 42,000 have been killed.

In comparison, the Russians lost around 15,000 men in their war in Afghanistan.

The U.S. is sending an additional $1B in weapons to Ukraine.

August 12, 2022

Russia has been recruiting from its prison system for soldiers, offering them the end of their prison terms if they will enlist in the Russian army to fight in Ukraine.  

It is also mobilizing, or putting on a war time footing, its defense industry.

August 14, 2022

A news report holds that Ukrainian partisan action is increasing in occupied areas.

Ukraine whiped out another bridge that was vital to the Russians resupplying their troops at Kherson.

August 15, 2022

The Russians are attempting to take Donestk.

August 16, 2022

The Russian Army has left 20,000 troops stranded on the western bank of the Dnipro due to a withdrawal made necessary by Ukrainian action near Kherson.

August 17, 2022

Apparent partisan action or commando action set off a Russian ammo dump in Crimea.

August 21, 2022

• Somalia

Al-Sabab seized a hotel in Mogodeshu which has now been retaken by Somalian security forces which in turn freed over 100 captives that were seized by the Islamic militants in the raid.

If there's any good news in this it would be that Somalia is sufficiently organized now so as to have security forces.

• Russo-Ukrainian War

Russian ultra nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin's daughter, Daria, was killed by a car bomb outside of Moscow.

August 23, 2022

Ukraine has announced that 9,000 of its troops have died in the war so far.

August 24, 2022

• United States/Islamic militants

The U.S. conducted an air strike on Iranian backed militants in Syria after a recent drone attack on an installaation the U.S. uses in Syria.

• Russo-Ukrainian War

Russia has placed approximately 1,000 children, presumably orphaned in some fashion, with Russian adoptive familes.  Relocating children with the intent to destroy their culture is defined as genocide.

Reluctance by the residents of Luhansk to continue to fight in the Russian war has caused Russia to deploy sercurity forces to the oblast.

August 29, 2022

Russian ultra nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin's daughter, Daria, was killed by a car bomb outside of Moscow.

A new Russian anti Putin Russian organization has taken credit for this attack.

August 30, 2022

Ukraine has launched an offensive in the Kherson Oblast.

The move was expected, and publicly announced yesterday.  It may determine the results of the war.

Last prior edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2022. The Russo Ukrainian War Edition, Part Five

Recent related threads:

M'eh. Okay pre Boomer.

Blog Mirror: The Great Reset: Living Like It’s 1999

 

The Great Reset: Living Like It’s 1999

The Suit Rule

Yesterday we ran this:

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, August 28, 1922. The dawn of electronic a...:

Page 8 of the same newspaper noted above was advertising suits for boys now that school was back in session.

A viewer of this noted, with surprise, that suits were $17.00 in the advertisement.

At that time, gold was $20/ounce.

Today gold is about $1700/ounce.  A Brooks Brothers suit, on the net, is about $1200.

There's an odd rule of economics, which we mentioned here once before, that the price of a good suit is just about always the same as the price of an ounce of gold.

Saturday, August 29, 1942. The appearance of the Tiger 1.

The Panzerkampfwagen VI, famously known as the Tiger, or in this instance the Tiger I tank, made its battlefield appearance outside of Leningrad.  The Soviets were making a determined effort to relieve the city.

Captured Tiger 1 in U.S. possession.

The Tiger was a feared German weapon, and justifiably so.  Classified as a heavy tank, with much more armor than previous German tanks, and armed with an 88 mm main gun, it can be regarded as one of the first tanks, along with the T34, that pointed the way towards the Main Battle Tank of the post-war period, although that concept was still years away.  Indeed, it might be better able to claim the position of having essentially occupied that role prior to any other tank.

1,347 were made during the war.  Mechanically complicated due to over engineering, it had a high breakdown rate.  It was so feared by the Western Allies that troops routinely reported German tanks to be Tigers, no matter what they actually were.

On the same day the Soviet Air Force bombed Berlin in a nighttime raid using 100 Petlyakov Pe-8, Ilyshin II-4 and Yermolayev Yer 2 bombers.  A small party of Pe-8s bombed Königsberg.

The first class of officers for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps graduated.

The Saturday Evening Post featured P38 Lightenings on its cover.

I failed to note the August 1, 1942, cover, which featured a cover illustration of a Marine in the newly adopted herringbone tweed cotton dungarees. The Marine in question is wearing the Marine's khaki summer shirt underneath his hbt jacket, and it was in fact a jacket.  It was rarely worn that way, however, typically being worn as simply a shirt.  He's also wearing the M1 helmet and carrying a M1903 Springfield, all of which was typical gear at this point in the war and all of which reflected the appearance of the average Marine going into Guadalcanal.

Worth noting, however, is that at this point the hbt uniform was so new the Marines only issued a single set to its men.  Marines landing at Guadalcanal had only one, that is, set of hbt dungarees.

The Red Cross announced that the Japanese had refused the free passage of ships carrying food and medicine to American POWs.

Monday, August 28, 1922. The dawn of electronic advertising.

A.C.M. Co. Mill, Bonner Montana.  Copyright deposit, August 28, 1922

WEAF in New York City, a radio station owned by Western Electric, which itself was a subsidary of AT&T, ran the first radio commercial.  

The audio ad was for the newly opened Queensboro Apartments in Jackson Heights and ran for fifteen minutes.

The military funeral of Michael Collins was held.  It had massive public turnout.

The terrible mine disaster in California hit the front page of the Casper newspaper.

Prohibition's prospects in Sweden and Mexico were also noted.

Unusually casually dressed man photographed on this day in front of a Navy seaplane.

.

Horse on this day at the Washington Animal Rescue.

Treasury watchtower, photographed on this day.

Page 8 of the same newspaper noted above was advertising suits for boys now that school was back in session.

It'd be a rare kid who'd dress like that at school today.  For that matter, nobody would have dressed like that when I was a kid.

The same page was advertising housing to the refinery workers next to the refinery.

See Ben Realty continued to exist up until just a few years ago.

 

Best Posts of the Week of August 21, 2022

The best posts of the week of August 21, 2022.

Some old ones.

Tuesday, August 22, 1922. Michael Colllins Killed.

A sign that you are definately in Wyoming.

The 2022 Election Part XII. The General Election Race, Edition 1.

A Day in the life of Fr. Bryce

Putting another log on the fire. Joe Biden stokes the inflationary fires with debt forgiveness.

School Days.

YouTube Musicians Can't Play Live

The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. The Waking Up Edition (Vol 1).

Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part X. The Camp Stove Edition.

Poster Saturday: For Peace Sake.

 

Thursday, August 27, 1942. An exchange of embassy staffs.

The Kamakura Maru and Tatuta Maru put in at Lourenco Marquest, Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) with Allied embassy staff and civilians to be exchanged with the same from Japan, which were arriving by ship from the United Kingdom and Australia.

The Kamakura Maru.

The Japanese attempted but failed to resupply their forces at Milne Bay.  Australian forces held their lines at Isurava on Papua.

The German battleship Admiral Scheer shelled Soviet military installations on Dikson Island in the Kara Sea, damaging two Soviet freighters in port there.

Sunday, August 27, 1922. Horrible Events

A fire at California's Argonaut gold mine killed 47 immigrant men who worked there.  It's the worst mine disaster in California's history.

The fire could not be extinguished.  An exact cause was never determined.

As these photos show, the Red Cross reported to assist at the mine.

Greek Orthodox Bishop Chrysostomos of Smyrna was lynched by a mob after the Turks took the city.  What exactly occurred is not known, but the Bishop, who was a Greek nationalist, refused to evacuate and reported to congratulate the Turks on their victory.  He was horribly murdered and is regarded as a Saint by the Greek Orthodox.

YouTube Musicians Can't Play Live

School Days.

Recently we ran the item below. 

Lex Anteinternet: The Wyoming Education Association Sues Wyoming: Old Boxelder School, Converse County, Wyoming. In what will turn out to be an issue in the Secretary of Public Instruction race this year, w...

This isn't really related, but it's interesting, in the school context.

1.  NCSD No. 1 is 115 people short.  It's apparently not a crisis, but they have positions they can't fill. The attribute in part to dropped enrollment in UW's College of Education. 

2.  NSCD No. 1 also just created new civics requirements.  The memo on that is below.

The text of the Social Studies Curriculum is 105 pages long, so its not a small document.  This means that any one page summary of it will be inaccurate nearly be definition.

Right at its front, it provides the following chart:

Content Standards and Rationale

2014 Wyoming Social Studies Content and Performance Standards

Standard 1 Citizenship, Government, and Democracy	Students analyze how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance to understand the continuing evolution of governments and to demonstrate civic responsibility.	Rationale: The vitality and continuation of a democratic republic depends upon the education and participation of informed citizens. All students should have opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills and participate in the workings of the various levels of power, authority, and governance, which should be applied to the rights and responsibilities of good citizenship.
Standard 2 Culture and Cultural Diversity	Students demonstrate an understanding of the contributions and impacts of human interaction and cultural diversity on societies.	Rationale: Culture helps us to understand ourselves as both individuals and members of various groups. In a multicultural society, students need to understand multiple perspectives that derive from different cultural vantage points. As citizens, students need to know how institutions are maintained or changed and how they influence individuals, cultures, and societies. This understanding allows students to relate to peoples of local, tribal, state, national, and global communities.
Standard 3 Production, Distribution, and Consumption	Students describe the influence of economic factors on societies and make decisions based on economic principles.	Rationale: In a global economy marked by rapid technological, political, and economic change, students will examine how people organize for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Standard 4 Time, Continuity, and Change	Students analyze events, people, problems, and ideas within their historical contexts.	Rationale: Students need to understand their historical roots and how events shape the past, present, and future. Students must know what life was like in the past to comprehend how things change and develop over time. Students gain historical understanding through inquiry of history by researching and interpreting events affecting individual, local, tribal, state, national, and global histories.
Standard 5 People, Places,  and Environments	Students apply their knowledge of the geographic themes (location, place, movement, region, and human/environment interactions) and skills to demonstrate an understanding of interrelationships among people, places, and environment.	Rationale: Students gain geographical perspectives of the community, state, nation, and world by studying the Earth and how humans interact with people, places, and environments. Their knowledge of geography allows students to make local and global connections. Students develop increasingly abstract thought as they use data and apply skills to analyze human behavior in relation to its physical and cultural environment.
Standard 6 Technology, Literacy, and Global Connections	Students use technology and literacy skills to access, synthesize, and evaluate information to communicate and apply social studies knowledge to global situations.	Rationale: Using a variety of resources, students will apply the inquiry process to locate, interpret, and evaluate multiple primary and secondary sources. Students will use this information to become critical thinkers and decision makers in a global community.  Social Studies Content Standard 6 was written around the Framework for 21st Century Skills and the Common Core Literacy Standards for History and Social Studies.*   *WY Social Studies teachers are responsible for the Reading and Writing ELA Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies. See Appendix

It's summary, and that's all it is, is as follows

Summary of Grade-Level Purpose Statements

 

Grade Level	A Purpose Statement describes the focus of the subject at this grade level or in this course; points out what is new or different at this level that the student will accomplish.
Kindergarten	Students will compare and contrast their family culture with other students’ family cultures. Students will identify how rules, symbols, needs and wants, changes, people, and events affect them and their role in the family.
1st Grade	Students will identify, compare, and contrast how rules, symbols, culture, wants, needs, events, United States holidays, people, places and environments affect them and their role in the classroom and school.
2nd Grade	Students will identify, compare, and contrast how rules, laws, symbols, culture, wants, needs, people, places, and environments affect them and their role in the community. Students will explain United States holidays and events and how they affect our community.
3rd Grade	Students will examine how the culture, wants, needs, events, economy, places, and environments of their community and county affect them and their role in their community. Students will apply their knowledge to identify the factors that make Casper and Natrona County unique.
4th Grade	Students will analyze Wyoming’s state history so they can explain how various cultural groups, and their tensions, led to the settlement and statehood of Wyoming.  Students will analyze how the economy of Wyoming has developed, changed, and continues to impact the state.
5th Grade	Students will examine the impact of early exploration and colonization on the founding of the United States, explain the origins of the Constitution as the framework for our government, and analyze United States geography and economy.
6th Grade	Students will analyze continents, countries, and regions of the Western Hemisphere to determine their relationships, and compare and contrast regions in terms of geography, history, economics, culture, and current events
7th Grade	Students will analyze continents, countries, and regions of the Eastern Hemisphere to determine their relationships, and compare and contrast regions in terms of geography, history, economics, culture, and current events.
8th Grade	Students will analyze the origins and development of the United States from the Colonial Period through Reconstruction to explain the foundations of modern America.
9th Grade	Students will analyze the birth of the modern United States by evaluating and synthesizing the causes and effects of major eras from westward growth through World War II and the origins of the Cold War.
10th Grade	Students will examine the continuing evolution of the United States democracy with an analysis of the U.S. Constitution and the unique characteristics of the Wyoming Constitution.  Students will examine domestic and foreign conflicts along with the policies that made the United States a superpower following World War II.  Students will then analyze and evaluate the implications of the global dominance of the United States.
11th Grade	Students will analyze multiple events and issues throughout world history and compare and contrast these in terms of the impacts of time, continuity, and change on the world.

I'm very much in favor of a solid education in history and civics, and I frankly think the school district has been doing a good job of this.  My prediction is, however, that this effort will run into protests due to the spirit of the times from people whose view of history, civics, and politics is, anti-historical.