Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 3. The peace didn't break out on day one edition.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Matthew, Chapter 24.

In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons. 

Herodotus.

May 12, 2025

Turkey v. The Kurds.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PPK, announced that it will disband and disarm after forty years of conflict.

May 26, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Trump posted the following yesterday:

I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia! Likewise, President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop. This is a War that would never have started if I were President. This is Zelenskyy’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not “Trump’s,” I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires, that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred.

More and more it's impossible not simply regard Trump as stupid.

June 1, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine pulled off a sort of scaled down Pearl Harbor, or Battle of Taranto, or perhaps attack on Port Arthur today/yesterday by mounting a major drone attack on Russia air assets inside of  Russia itself.

The drones were  smuggled into Russia and launched from cabin launchers in what will go down as one of the most successful clandestine internal actions of all time.  At least 40 Russian aircraft were destroyed on the ground.

June 3, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine's security service, the SBU, struck the Crimean Bridge with underwater explosives, damaging the structure.

June 8, 2025

US Civil Unrest

Donald Trump has federalized some units of the California National Guard and ordered them to Los Angeles in response to violent immigration protests there.

A President federalizing a Guard unit ab initio like this is very unusual.

June 9, 2025

US Civil Unrest

Absolutely nuts:

Press Release | June 9, 2025

USNORTHCOM statement on additional military personnel in the Los Angeles Area

U.S. Northern Command Public Affairs

PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. – U.S. Northern Command has activated the Marine infantry battalion that was placed in an alert status over the weekend. Approximately 700 Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division will seamlessly integrate with the Title 10 forces under Task Force 51 who are protecting federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area. 

The activation of the Marines is intended to provide Task Force 51 with adequate numbers of forces to provide continuous coverage of the area in support of the lead federal agency. 

Task Force 51 is U.S. Army North’s Contingency Command Post, which provides a rapidly deployable capability to partner with civil authorities and DoD entities in response to a Homeland Defense and Homeland Security Operations. It is commanded by Maj. Gen. Scott M. Sherman.  

Task Force 51 is comprised of approximately 2,100 National Guard soldiers in a Title 10 status and 700 active-duty Marines. Task Force 51 forces have been trained in de-escalation, crowd control, and standing rules for the use of force. 

 June 10, 2025

US Civil Unrest

Trump is doubling the size of the California National Guard deployment to Los Angeles.

June 11, 2025

US Civil Unrest

Californian National Guardsmen found their role expanded to protecting immigration agents as they made arrests in Los Angeles.

My guess is that this is going to be a long deployment, or that the Courts will find the this use illegal rapidly.

The deployment of military forces to California is costing the US $134,000,000.

Wyoming's Congressman predictably came down on the side of Donald Trump:

Hageman Blasts Newsom For Putting ‘Rioters Over The Side Of Law And Order’

Texas, not the United States, has deployed the Texas Army National Guard to Austin in advance of anticipated ICE raids there.

June 13, 2025

Israel v. Iran

Israel launched what are being termed "massive" air attacks against Iran's nuclear program and military command structure.  Initial reports are that the raid were highly successful.

US Civil Unrest

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled the Trump's direct Guard deployment was illegal, violating the Tenth Amendment and exceeding Trump’s statutory authority.  An appeals court stayed enforcement of the order upon review.

cont:

Israel v. Iran

The Israeli attack expanded today to nuclear installations.  Operation Rising Lion also took out a number of senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps figures.

Iran is presently attempting to retaliate with missles.

June 14, 2025

US Civil Unrest

The Governor of Missouri activated his state's National Guard in advance of today's protests.

June 17, 2025

Israel v. Iran

Cont:

"We"?

"Sky trackers"?

"Stuff"?

Cont:  

Apparently Trump has demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender".

That's not going to happen, and the demand is insane.

Related Threads:

Misusing the National Guard.

Last Edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 2. The world is not a development opportunity edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2025, Donald Trump, Kurds, Mexico, Russo Ukrainian War, The Second Trump Administration, Turkey, United States, US Mexico Border Crisis, War, Wars and rumors of wars, Winston Churchill

Wednesday, April 11, 1945. US Army enters Buchewald.

U.S. forces entered Buchenwald.

Sherman tank in Schweinfurt, April 11, 1945.  This Sherman is an "Easy 8".

The multi Commonwealth Z Special Force launched Operation Copper which had the goal of capturing a Japanese officer for interrogation and discovering the location of two naval guns of Muschu Island, New Guinea. It was a failure, with seven out of eight men on the mission being killed.

Operation Opossum ended with the rescue of the Sultan of Ternate.

Chile declared war on Japan.

Last edition:

Tuesday, April 10, 1945. The Great Jet Massacre.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, boats and ships, British Army, Buchenwald, Burma, France, German Luftwaffe, Okinawa, Philippines, Royal Air Force, World War Two

Tuesday, March 20, 1945. Hitler's last appearance in public.

Hitler visited Hitler Youth members mobilized for combat in Berlin.  The child whom he was famously photographed with, with Hitler pinching his cheek, would survive the Battle of Berlin and keep a framed copy of the scene in his house for the rest of his life.

This was Hitler's last public appearance.

The U.S. Seventh Army captured Saarbrücken.

German defensive specialist Gotthard Heinrici replaced Heinrich Himmler as commander of Army Group Vistula.

The Germans began to massacre forced workers in the Arnsberg Forest Massacre.

The Australian Army carried out Operation Platypus, in which troops from Z Special Unit were inserted into the Balikpapan area of Borneo to gather information and organize resistance against the Japanese.

France signed an economic pact with Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The Navy endured heavy kamikaze attacks off of Okinawa.

The USS Midway was launched.

This Day in History: Staff Sgt Ysmael Villegas charges six enemy foxholes

Last edition:

Monday, March 19, 1945. The Nero Decree.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Adolf Hitler, Albert Speer, British Army, Diplomacy, German Kriegsmarine, German Wehrmacht, Indian Army, Kamikaze, Populism, The Nero Decree, Turkey, U.S. Navy, USSR

Thursday, January 18, 1945. Advances in Poland, losses in Hungary.

The Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front captured Modlin. The 1st Belorussian Front and the 1st Ukrainian Front approached encircling Lodz and Krakow, and the Germans withdrew from the latter.

The 4th SS Panzer Division nearly destroyed the Soviet 135th Rifle Corps while attempting to relieve Budapest.

The Red Army liberated the Budapest ghetto.

British commandos landed on the Dutch island of Schouwen.

Last edition:

Wednesday, January 17, 1945. The Red Army enters a destroyed Warsaw.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Auschwitz, German Army, German SS, Red Army, Warsaw Poland, World War Two

Wednesday, January 3, 1945. British actions.

The US commenced the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf with a naval bombardment that would last six days.  The Japanese responded with kamikaze attacks.

British commandos and Indian Army troops made a nearly unopposed landing at the Burmese island of Akyab.

The Battle of Bure, a British attack in the Battle of the Bulge, commenced.

US troops in Belgium, January 3, 1945.

General Nikolaos Plastiras became Prime Minister of Greece.

Last edition:

Tuesday, January 2, 1945. Advances and withdrawals.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Adolf Hitler, Aircraft, Alsace-Lorraine, Battle of the Bulge, Fais Island, German Wehrmacht, Red Army, Royal Navy, Siege of Budapest, Winston Churchill, World War Two

Friday, December 29, 1944. Siege of Budapest.

The Red Army and Romanian Army, the latter now fighting for the Allies, besieged Budapest.

Members of No. 9 Commando following Operation Partridge.

British commandoes raided behind German lines in Italy in Operation Partridge.

Today In Wyoming's History: December 29: 1944 USS Lincoln County, a landing ship tank, commissioned.

The U-322 was sunk by the Canadian corvette Calgary off of Dorset.

Last edition:

Thursday, December 28, 1944. The German staff says Rückzug, Hitler says Angriff.

Labels: Adolf Hitler, Army, Battle of Garfagnana, Battle of the Bulge, Bernard Law Montgomery, Dwight Eisenhower, German Wehrmacht, Greece, Hockey, Italian Social Republic, Italy, Winston Churchill, World War Two, Wyoming

World War Two Amphibious Warfare Display: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

World War Two Jeep coming off of LVT-4 amphibious tractor.

LVT-4 Amtrak.

DUKW amphibious truck.

Amphibious Jeep.

Last edition:

The Aerodrome: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21. National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

Labels: Dubois Wyoming, Fighter, Mig 21, Mikoyan, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Soviet Air Forces, Wyoming (Dubois)

Sunday, October 15, 1944. Horthy attempts to take Hungary out of the war.

n Aachen, Germany, Pfc. Ragnel Lundgren, Jamestown, New York, maintains continuous communications with his headquarters with a handie-talkie radio. 15 October, 1944. 1st Infantry Division.

Aided by the armored force, Yank infantry moves forward to engage the enemy in Aachen, Germany. 15 October, 1944. Company M, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division.

Regent of Hungary Miklós Horthy made a radio broadcast announcing a separate peace with the Soviet Union.  The Germans launched Operation Panzerfaust, a commando operation to seize Horthy and keep Hungary in the war.  He was in fact seized later that day and resigned in favor of Arrow Cross leader Ferenc Szálasi when he learned that his son had been seized and his life was in danger.

The Red Army too Riga.

Partisans launched an operation to expel the Germans from Kosovo.

The Poles took Gambettola.

The Leipzig collided with the Prinz Eugen in the Baltic fog and was rendered a total loss.

The U-777 was sunk by the RAF.

Task Force 38.4 conducted air raids north of Manila.

Pfc. Hoyle E. Lougherty, Knoxville, Tenn., looks at a warning sign posted by the Nazis for the German citizenry of Aachen, Germany. It means "Take care, the enemy may be listening". 15 October, 1944.

Last edition:

Saturday, October 14, 1944. Rommel kills himself.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle of Peleliu, Bill Mauldin, Erwin Rommel, Food, German Army, Greece, Italian Social Republic, Italy, July 20 Plot, Palau Island, Philippines, Taiwan, U.S. Navy

Sunday, October 1, 1944. Battle of Tornio starts.

Miss Betty Brittian, Pasadena, Calif., hands Cpl. Wm. B. Brooks, Clayton, Ga., inside the tank, a cup of coffee and doughnuts. 1 October, 1944. Company B, 609th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

The Battle of Tornio began with a Finnish attack on German positions in Lapland.

The U.S. Army took Monte Battaglia.  II and IV Corps launch an offensive towards Bologna.

The Germans commenced the Putten Raid in the Netherlands, removing 660 men in reprisals for a failed assassination attempt on a German official.

British commandos landed at Poros, Greece.  Greek troops landed at Mitilini, Lemnos, and Levita.

British General General Richard McCreery assumed command of the 8th Army, in Italy. General Oliver Leese, was assigned to command Allied Land Forces, Southeast Asia.

Gen. Rudolf Schmundt, age 48, died of wounds sustained in the July 20 plot.  He had been an adjutant to Hitler.

Sally Reed, Durham, Mass., a Red Cross worker somewhere in France, does a bit of KP on the large containers about her--and she doesn't believe in signs for they're all coffee urns. 1 October, 1944.

Last edition: 

Saturday, September 30, 1944. Counteroffensive at Nijmegen.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Peleliu, boats and ships, British Army, Canadian Army, Defence of the Nijmegen bridgehead, German Wehrmacht, Operation Market Garden, Palau, Pas-de-Calais France, World War Two

August 15, 1944. Operation Dragoon. The added invasion of France

A second, nearly forgotten invasion of France, this time in the south, commenced.

Operation Dragoon.

Ordinally planned on concert with Operation Overlord, a shortage of landing craft caused it to be postponed to August.  In just four weeks the Allies would clear southern France of the Germans.

Troops of the 15th Inf. Regt., 3rd Div., take cover in the sand as they await orders to advance inland. 15 August, 1944. 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.

SC 411764 - Infantrymen of B Company, 120th Infantry, 30th Division, cut through a field alongside a road to avoid crossing in the open and giving German snipers a target. 15 August, 1944.

A paratrooper thanks the French fighters who saved his life. Pvt. Winifred D. Eason, of Atlanta, Ga., Company B, 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, landed 34 hours before H-Hour, D-Day, Aug. 15, 1944, for the invasion of southern France. On the left is the man who saved him, Monsieur Marc Rainaut, leader of the French forces of the Interior of St. Tropez. In the center is Mademoiselle Nicole Celebenovitch, who secured a .45 (seen in her belt) and led the paratroopers to a group of hidden Germans. Rainaut received the Silver Star for his work on D-Day.

It is at this point, frankly, that the Germans should have rationally concluded they had lost the war.

The Battle of Port Cros took place in which the U.S. Navy and the Kriegsmarine engaged in a rare surface engagement in connection with Operation Dragoon in which Axis ships operating out of Port Cros engaged the U.S. Navy.  Later in the day, a mixed regiment of United States Army and Canadian Army infantry, the 1st Special Service Force, dropped onto Port Cros and captured the five forts there after a day-long battle with their German garrisons.

Audie Murphy received the Distinguished Service Cross for action taken on 15 August 1944.

"U.S. Army nurses, newly arrived, line the rail of their vessel as it pulls into port of Greenock, Scotland, in European Theater of Operations. They wait to disembark as the gangplank is lowered to the dock.", 08/15/1944"

The U-741 was sunk off of Le Havre by the USS Somers.

Last edition:

Monday, August 14, 1944. Closing Gaps

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Canadian Army, Falaise Pocket, France, Ft. Lawton Washington, German Army, Italian Army, Operation Bagration, Operation Overlord, Partisans, Polish Army, Red Army, World War Two