Thursday, November 23, 1944. Thanksgiving Day.

"Three American infantrymen eat K Rations on Thanksgiving day in a dugout somewhere in France.

They will be relieved later and will have Thanksgiving dinner in the evening with their unit. The soldiers are left to right: Sgt. Albert E. Burns, 1308 E. Gilbert Street, Muncie, Ind., Pfc. John K. Smith, Munderstar Route, Brookville PA., and Pvt. Robert H. Seymour, Newark, N.Y. Near Faulquemont, France. 23 November, 1944.80th Infantry Division."

French forces liberated Strasbourg.

US troops liberated the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in France.  20,000 people had died there while it was open.

The Canadian cabinet made 16,000 Canadian conscripts, previously not liable for overseas deployment, available for the same.

Soviet troops took Cop, Czechoslovakia and Tokay, Hungary.

The Royal Navy disbanded the British Eastern Fleet.  Escort carriers and older ships were formed into the British East Indies Fleet with modern ships detached for service in the British Pacific Fleet.

"A newly captured crossroad carries east and west bound traffic as Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army smashes towards the Rhine. 23 November, 1944. Photographer: Sawyer."

Last edition:

Tuesday, November 21, 1944. Vive La France.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Albania, Albanian resistance movements, boats and ships, France, French Army, Imperial Japanese Navy, Prisoners of War, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Today in World War II History—November 17, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—November 17, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Nov. 17, 1944: Submarine USS Spadefish sinks Japanese escort carrier Shinyo in the Yellow Sea, only 130 of 1,160 survive.

Saturday, October 28, 1944. Slovaks put down, French Resistance ordered to disarm, Bulgaria quits, Day of Liberation of Ukraine from Fascist Invaders (День визволення України від фашистських загарбників).

The Slovak National Uprising came to an end.

Charles de Gaulle ordered French Resistance elements to disarm.

Bulgaria signed an armistice with the Allies.  Bulgarian troops were placed under Soviet command.

Agreement Between the Governments of United States of America, the United Kingdom, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, on the One Hand, and the Government of Bulgaria, on the Other Hand, Concerning an Armistice

The Government of Bulgaria accepts the armistice terms presented by the Government of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom acting on behalf of all the United Nations at war with Bulgaria.

Accordingly the representative of the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean, Lieutenant General Sir James Gammell, and the representative of the Soviet High Command, Marshal of the Soviet Union, F. I. Tolbukhin, duly authorized thereto by the governments of the United States of America, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom acting on behalf of all the United Nations at war with Bulgaria, on the one hand, and representatives of the Government of Bulgaria, Mr. P. Stainov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. D. Terpeshev, Minister Without Portfolio, Mr. N. Petkov, Minister Without Portfolio and Mr. P. Stoyanov, Minister of Finance, furnished with due powers, on the other hand, have signed the following terms:

ARTICLE ONE.

(A) Bulgaria having ceased hostilities with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on September 9, and severed relations with Germany on September 6, and with Hungary on on September 26, hostilities has ceased against all the other United Nations.

(B) The Government of Bulgaria undertakes to disarm the German armed forces in Bulgaria and hand them over as prisoners of war. The Government of Bulgaria also undertakes to intern nationals of Germany and her satellites.

(C) The Government of Bulgaria undertakes to maintain and make available such land, sea and air forces as may be specified for service under the general direction of the Allied ( Soviet) High Command. Such forces must not be used on Allied territory except with the prior consent of the All Government concerned.

(D) On the conclusion of hostilities against Germany the Bulgarian armed forces Bust be mobilized and put on a peace footing under: supervision of the Allied Control Commission.

ARTICLE TWO.

Bulgarian armed forces and officials must be withdrawn within the specified time limit from the territory of Greece and Yugoslavia in accordance with the pre-condition accepted by the Government of Bulgaria on October 11; the Bulgarian authorities must immediately take steps to withdraw from Greek and Yugoslav territory Bulgarians who were citizens of Bulgaria on January 1, 1941, and to repeal legislative and administrative provisions relating to the annexation or incorporation in Bulgaria of Greek or Yugoslav territory.

ARTICLE THREE.

The Government of Bulgaria will afford to Soviet and other Allied forces freedom of movement over Bulgarian territory in any direction if, in the opinion of the Allied (Soviet) High Command, the military situation so require the Government of Bulgaria giving to such movements every assistance with its own means of communication, and at its own expense, by land, water and in the air.

ARTICLE FOUR.

The Government of Bulgaria will immediately release all Allied prisoners of war and internees. Pending further instruction the Government of Bulgaria will at its own expense provide all Allied prisoners of war, internees and displaced persons and refugees, including nationals of Greece and Yugoslavia, with adequate food, clothing, medical services and sanitary and hygienic requirements and also with means of transportation for the return of any such persons to their own country.

ARTICLE FIVE.

The Government of Bulgaria will immediately release, regardless of citizenship or nationality, all persons held in confinement in connection with their activities in favor of the United Nations or because of their sympathies with the United Nations cause or for racial or religious reasons, and will repeal all discriminatory legislation and disabilities arising therefrom.

ARTICLE SIX.

The Government of Bulgaria will cooperate in the apprehension and trial of persons accused of war crimes.

ARTICLE SEVEN.

The Government of Bulgaria undertakes to dissolve immediately all pro-Hitler or other Fascist political, military, para-military and other organizations on Bulgarian territory conducting propaganda hostile to the United Nations and not to tolerate the existence of such organizations in the future.

ARTICLE EIGHT.

The publication, introduction and distribution in Bulgaria of periodical, or non-periodical literature, the presentation of theatrical performances or films, the operation of wireless stations, post, telegraph and telephone services will take place in agreement with the Allied (Soviet) High Command.

ARTICLE NINE.

The Government of Bulgaria will restore all property of the United Nations and their nationals, including Greek and Yugoslav property, and will make such reparation for loss and damage caused by the war to the United Nations, including Greece and Yugoslavia, as may be determined later.

ARTICLE TEN.

The Government of Bulgaria will restore all rights and interests of the United Nations and their nationals in Bulgaria.

ARTICLE ELEVEN.

The Government of Bulgaria undertakes to return to the Soviet Union, to Greece and Yugoslavia and to the other United Nations, by the dates specified by the Allied Control Commission and in a good state of preservation, all valuables and materials removed during the war by Germany or Bulgaria from United Nations territory and belonging to state, public or cooperative organizations, enterprises, institutions or individual citizens, such as factory and works equipment, locomotives, rolling-stock, tractors, motor vehicles, historic monuments, museum treasures and any other property.

ARTICLE TWELVE.

The Government of Bulgaria undertakes to hand over as booty to the Allied (Soviet) High Command all war material of Germany and her satellites located on Bulgarian territory, including vessels of the fleets of Germany and her satellites located in Bulgarian waters.

ARTICLE THIRTEEN.

The Government of Bulgaria undertakes not to permit the removal or expropriation of any form of property (including valuables and currency), belonging to Germany or Hungary or to their nationals or to persons resident in their territories or in territories occupied by them, without the permission of the Allied Control Commission. The Government of Bulgaria will safeguard such property in the manner specified by the Allied Control Commission.

ARTICLE FOURTEEN.

The Government of Bulgaria undertakes to hand over to the Allied (Soviet) High Command all vessels belonging to the United Nations which are in Bulgarian ports no matter at whose disposal these vessels may be, for the use of the Allied (Soviet) High Command during the war against Germany or Hungary in the common interest of the Allies, the vessels to be returned subsequently to their owners.

The Government of Bulgaria will bear full material responsibility for any damage to or destruction of the aforesaid property up to the moment of its transfer to the Allied (Soviet) High Command.

ARTICLE FIFTEEN.

The Government of Bulgaria must make regular payments in Bulgarian currency and must supply goods (fuel, foodstuffs, et cetera), facilities and services as may be required by the Allied (Soviet) High Command for the discharge of its functions.

ARTICLE SIXTEEN.

Bulgarian merchant vessels, whether in Bulgarian or foreign waters, shall be subject to the operational control of the Allied (Soviet) High Command for use in the general interest of the Allies.

ARTICLE SEVENTEEN.

The Government of Bulgaria will arrange, in case of need, for the utilization in Bulgarian territory of industrial and transport enterprises, means of communication, power stations, public utility enterprises and installations, stocks of fuels and other materials in accordance with instructions issued during the armistice by the Allied (Soviet) High Command.

ARTICLE EIGHTEEN.

For the whole period of the armistice there will be established in Bulgaria an Allied Control Commission which will regulate and supervise the execution of the armistice terms under the chairmanship of the representative of the Allied (Soviet) High Command and with the participation of representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom. During the period between the coming into force of the armistice and the conclusion of hostilities against Germany, the Allied Control Commission will be under the general direction of the Allied (Soviet) High Command.

ARTICLE NINETEEN.

The present terms will come into force on their signing.

Done at Moscow in quadruplicate, in English, Russian and Bulgarian, the English and Russian texts being authentic.

OCTOBER 28, 1944.

For the Governments of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom:

Marshal F. I. TOLBUKHIN, representative the Soviet High Command.

Lieutenant General JAMES GAMMELL, representative of the Supreme Allied Commander for the Mediterranean

For the Government of Bulgaria: P. STAINOV, D. Terpeshev N. PETKOV and P. STOYANOV.

Protocol to the Agreement Concerning an Armistice With Bulgaria

At the time of signing the armistice with the Government of Bulgaria, the Allied Governments signatory thereto have agreed to the following:

One.

In connection with Article IX it is understood that the Bulgarian Government will immediately make available certain foodstuffs for the relief of the population of Greek and Yugoslav territories which have suffered as a result of Bulgarian aggression. The quantity of each product to be delivered will be determined by agreement between the three governments, and will be considered as part of the reparation by Bulgaria for the loss and damage sustained by Greece and Yugoslavia.

Two.

The term "war material" used in Article XII shall be deemed to include all material or equipment belonging to, used by, or intended for use by enemy military or pare-military formations or members thereof.

Three.

The use by the Allied (Soviet) High Command of Allied vessels handed over by the Government of Bulgaria in accordance with Article XIV of the armistice and the date of their return to their owners will be the subject of discussion and settlement between the Allied Governments concerned and the Government of the Soviet Union.

Four.

It is understood that in the application of Article XV the Allied (Soviet) High Command will also arrange for the provision of Bulgaria currency, supplies, services, et cetera, to meet needs of the representatives of the Government of the United Kingdom and the United States Bulgaria.

Done at Moscow in triplicate, in English Russian languages, both English and Russian being authentic.

The Battle of Dukla Pass concluded with no practical result.

German actor and director Kurt Gerron was murdered at Auschwitz.

From a female Russian sniper's diary:

October 25-28, 1944

The last territory of what is now Ukraine, but what was then part of Hungary, was cleared of German control.  Hence, today is  the Day of Liberation of Ukraine from Fascist Invaders (День визволення України від фашистських загарбників).

Last edition:

Friday, October 27, 1944. Somewhere in Germany.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Armor, Army, Battle of Leyte, German Wehrmacht, Germany, Luzon, Navy Day, Red Army, Slovak National Uprising, Slovakia, Spanish Civil War, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Monday, May 8, 1944. Red Army defeated in Romania again.

The Second Battle of Târgu Frumos ended in Axis victory, as had the first, thereby preserving Romania from Soviet occupation for the time being.

Meanwhile, Romanian troops, along with Germans, were being evacuated from Sevastopol and Crimea.  It can't help but be noted that at this point in the war, Romania desperately needed Romanian troops in Romania.  Of course, they had figured prominently in the Axis advance into Ukraine, including Crimea, earlier.

Irrespective of the Axis victory near their country, the Czechoslovak government in exile granted permission for the Red Army to enter and liberate their country in a convention in London.  Clearly, they could see what was coming.

Gen. Eisenhower selected June 5 as the new date for the commencement of Operation Overlord.

The U.S. Senate voted to extend Lend Lease to June 1945.  Wait until Marjorie Taylor Greene hears about that . . . 

A TBM-1C making a training flight over Cape Cod went down when a fuse went off on a 100 lb bomb the lane was carrying caught on fire. The pilot attempted to and the plane but the open bomb bay doors rapidly sank it, taking the crew,  Lt.(Jg.) Norwood H. Dobson, (27),  AOM3/c John William Dahlstrom and ARM3/c Arthur N. Levesque down with it.

Sgt Floyd A. Ott, Jerone, Idaho, of 41st Div., cleans rust off M2 machine gun by means of a buffer. Hollandia, New Guinea. 8 May, 1944.  The gun may very well still be in service.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, May 7, 1944. Hitting Berlin, Assaulting Sapun.

1940s, 1944, Berlin Germany, boats and ships, Canadian Navy, Crimea, Franklin Roosevelt, New Guinea, Polish Army, Red Army, Royal Air Force, Siege of Sevastopol, U.S. Air Force, Weapons, World War Two

Thursday, March 12, 1924 Exile in Florida.

Adolfo de la Huerta went into exile to Florida, following his initial flight to Los Angeles after the collapse of his revolution in Mexico.  He's soon return to Los Angeles.

The World Court of the League of Nations issued its decision in the border dispute between Poland and Czechoslovakia within the Orava Territory. Czechoslovakia was allowed to retain Javorina and Ždiar in return for ceding Nižná Lipnica to Poland. Poland ceded territory around Sucha Góra and Glodōvka became Suchá Hora and Hladovka in what is now Slovakia.  The dispute had led to conflict in 1919.

Last prior:

Monday, March 10, 1924. Denby resigns.

Friday, January 25, 1924. The First Winter Olympics.

The 1924 Winter Olympics opened in Chamonix.  It was the first winter games.

The USSR renamed Petrograd, which had been founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and named after St. Peter, Leningrad, thereby substituting the name of a name of a lawyer turned mass murder in place of that of the Christian saint and first Pope.

While Lenin's foul body remains in a specialized mausoleum for worship by the secular, the city regained its rightful name in June 1991, when it appeared that Russia might escape the treachery of its recent past.

Mexican rebels took Morelia.

Czechoslovakia and France signed a mutual defense treaty.

Monday, March 8, 1943. The Czechs enter the fight.

The Battle of Sokolovo began on the Eastern Front, the same being an Allied delaying action near Kharkiv.

We may say "Allied" here, as it is regarded as the first instance of a "foreign" military unit serving alongside the Red Army, with that being the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Field Battalion.  Of course, if we credit the fact that a lot of Red Army units were regional in nature, and those regions part of the Russian dominated USSR by force, it muddies the waters a bit, but perhaps not too much.

The unit's history is complicated in that the unit included Czech refugees from the Third Reich, but also Ukrainian Czechs who had been in Ukraine since the turn of the prior century. Relocating in western Ukraine, they were severely repressed by the Soviet Union.  Following World War Two, most of them relocated to Czechoslovakia under a Czech law of return.  Indeed, so many Ukrainian Czech joined the unit that they became the corps of the post-war Czech Army that existed in the newly formed Czechoslovakia.

Tuesday, February 16, 1943. Mildred Harnack executed. Theresienstadt temporairly spared. Domenikon not spared. Norwegian paratroopers drop. Stalin asks for a "second front".

Himmler ordered a cessation of deportations of elderly Jews from the Theresienstadt ghetto, resulting in a complete sessaion of deportations of all Jews from there for six months.  Oddly, the ghetto had been designated as a location where elderly Jews could live out tehir lives, albeit not comfortably, resulting in the order, but a peson has to wonder to what extent the order simply wasn't practical, given the massive strain hte war had put on the German railways system, which was being compounded by German deportations.

Italian soldiers commenced reprisal murders of Greek civilians at Domenikon which would result in 175 Greek men being killed.

Norwegian paratroopers were dropped by the British at Skrykenvann in preparation for a raid on the hydro plant at Vemork, targeted at heavy water production.

East German stamp in honor of the Harnacs.

Mildred Harnack, née Fish, a 41-year-old Milwaukee, Wisconsin native, was executed by guillotine at Germany's Plötzensee Prison on orders of Adolph Hitler.  

Harnack was an academic who married Arvid Harnack, a German academic. The couple moved to Arvid's native land, and in the 1930s the couple, if not outright Communists, were at least serious fellow travelers, something not that unusual for academics at the time.  While this was the case, they nonetheless were members of the American Church in Berlin, a Protestant church which Americans attended prior to the war.

The Harnacks were members of the Red Orchestra, which lead to her arrest and execution.  

The story of her death is largely unknown in the US and was in fact suppressed by the US government due to their Communist sympathies.   The U.S. Army's Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) concluded her execution "justified", which legally it likely was, given that the sentence for treason was death everywhere at the time. That doesn't make her effort any less noble, of course.

Josepah Stalin, who was fighting a one front, if gigantic, war wrote to Franklin Roosevelt, reiterating the need for a "second front".  The United States was, of course already engaged in a second front in North Africa, a third front in the Pacific, and a basically a fourth front on the Atlantic, none of which involved the Soviets.

The Western Allies, throughout the war, loyally plade this sharade with Stalin, who was, of course, a former German ally, none of which is to belittle the giant Soviet war effort, but which is also not to ignore that the effort was being heavily supplied by the Western Allies.  Soviet propoganda, particularly in the USSR itslef, was so effective on thsi score, hoewver, that unfortunately modern Russians still believe it.

Former slave George Washington Buckner, and later U.S. Minister to Liberia (1913 to 1915) died in Indiana at age 87.  He was also a physician.

Monday, January 4, 1943. Stalin, Man of the Year.

Stalin appeared on the cover of Time Magazine as the 1942 Man of the Year.

Japanese Prime Minister, Gen. Hideki Tojo, ordered Japanese forces to withdraw from Guadalcanal.

A unit of the Jewish Fighting Organization launched an unsuccessful attack aimed at the Czestochowa Ghetto.  On the following day the Nazis, as a reprisal, killed 250 children and elderly, and shipped the remaining ghetto residents to concentration camps.

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was born in Rockville Centre, New York.

Friday, June 19, 1942 . James Dougherty and Norma Jean Baker marry. The Second Washington Conference commenced. The Germans execute Eliáš,

The then Norma Jean Dougherty, as she looked when she appeared in Yank, as an employee of the Radio Plane Company

James Dougherty, then serving in the U.S. Navy, married Norma Jean Baker in Los Angeles, California.  He was 21, she was 16.  Their marriage prevented her from having to return to an orphanage following the relocation of her foster parents.

The sixteen-year-old had, as her living situation would indicate, a rough start in life.  Her parentage was uncertain, although her birth certificate had indicated that it was one Edward Mortenson, her mother's second husband.  In any event, Mortenson abandoned her mother when he learned of the pregnancy.  She was given up to a family by the last name of Boelender when only twelve days old to be raised until her mother, who had fallen into depression, had recovered enough to resume her role when she was somewhat older.  During this period of time, she acquired the last name of Baker.   Her mother's depression returned and became worse, and the child was raised in a series of foster homes.

While Dougherty was serving overseas, Baker dropped out of high school and went to work, something typical for service spouses, although the very young age of her marriage was unusual. She was noticed by photographer David Conover while taking photographs for Yank, which we discussed just the other day.

Dougherty did follow Conover's advice, and was quickly offered a modeling job by the Blue Star Agency. A provision of it required that she be unmarried, so she filed for divorce.  Her husband was still in the Navy, serving overseas.

And Conover's advice turned out to be good advice, in terms of her aspirations. As a model, her beauty was rapidly noticed, and she was in fact noticed by Hollywood and introduced into acting.  In the meantime, she'd changed her name to Marilyn Monroe.

Dougherty dismissed his wife's ambitions upon receiving divorce papers, but there wasn't much he could do about it.  He was, effectively, one of thousands of servicemen whose marriages had gone wrong during the war.  Effectively, he'd married a high schooler of obvious beauty and then departed from her, understandably, for years.

Probably the only one of the Conover photographs in which Monroe is actually recognizable in regard to her later appearance.

It was a story that repeated itself, but quietly, all over the United States.

Dougherty went on to become a significant figure in the Los Angeles Police Department.  He never spoke ill of his first wife, and after her death was of the opinion that she was too gentle of a person to survive in Hollywood.

The Second Washington Conference, a conference between the British headed up by Winston Churchill and the Americans headed by Franklin Roosevelt, convened.  Military matters were the topic.

The 1st Ranger Battalion came into existence.

World War Two Ranger shoulder patch.  By Zayats - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11400404

The brainchild of cavalryman Lucian Truscott, the Rangers were modeled on the example of British commando forces and supposed to fulfill a similar role.  Named after the examples of Rangers, light backwoods infantry of the French and Indian, and Revolutionary Wars, the several battalions of Rangers were formed during World War Two.  Most of them were comprised of volunteers, but at least one that was formed in the Pacific was an amalgamation of existing units that had served other purposes, including a disbanded pack artillery unit.

After the war they were disbanded but then reformed during the Korean War. The Army has retained Ranger units since. The British example is similar, in this regard, to the SAS and the SBS.

German Maj. Joachim Reichel went down behind Soviet lines in a crash landing, putting documents pertaining to an upcoming German offensive in Soviet hands. The Germans didn't change them, and the Soviets didn't believe what they captured was genuine.

The Germans executed Alois Eliáš, a former Czech general who was the prim minister of the German puppet state of  the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, for underground activities.  He was in fact working against German interests and had participated in the attempted poisoning of some collaborationist reporters, resulting in the death of one of them.

Wednesday June 10, 1942. The Massacre of Lidice

The Germans destroyed the Czech town of Lidice in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.  All men older than fifteen were killed immediately, numbering some 172.  Most of the children were murdered later.  

The Germans filmed the murders they committed on this day.

Ultimately, 192 men, 60 women, and 88 children would be killed by the Germans from Lidice.  The Germans forcibly aborted the babies of four pregnant women from the village.

Following the war, 153 women and 17 children returned, and the city town was rebuilt.

The entire event not only stands as a symbol of German barbarity during World War Two, but as an example of how absolutely preverse it was.

Sandra Sundon notes the "Big Inch" was approved.

Today in World War II History—June 10, 1942: “Big Inch”

It was a pipeline

More specifically, it was a pipeline that, together with the "Little Inch", took oil from Texas to the East Coast, thus allowing it to evade submarines.  Prior to the Inch pipelines, oil was transported for delivery to the East Coast by ship.

Economist John Maynard Keynes was made a peer.  I'm not a Keynes fan and think his theories have largely ended up in governments' being fiscally irresponsible.  So, just as I feel we should go back and rescind Nixon's pardon, I think we ought to de-peer Keynes.

March 28, 1921. Empires coming and going.

Street in Seattle on March 28, 1921.

Things went from bad to worse for Charles I, the last Austro Hungarian Emperor, when newly created Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia warned Hungary that if the regained the Hungarian throne, they'd declare war on Hungary.

All of those countries, combined with Austria, had been part of the Austro Hungarian Empire and they feared that Charles I's restoration as King of Hungary would be followed by a claim to restore the Austro Hungarian Empire.

Winston and Clementine Churchill were the subjects of a reception at the Government House in Jerusalem.

Also present was Abdullah I and his entourage.  Abdullah's army had occupied Jordan without opposition.  He was a British client, but the situation was tense as his actions were not yet recognized as legitimate.

The U.S. launched the USS Corry, a Clemson class destroyer that would serve only nine years.  The ship had been ordered in World War One, like all of the ships then being commissioned, but finished to late to serve in the war.

The Corry was one of 60 ships decommissioned as too expensive to maintain at the beginning of the Great Depression.

The Australian Department of Civil Aviation was formed as the Civil Aviation Branch of the Australian Defense Department.

An Easter Egg roll was held on the White House grounds.  Easter was the day prior in 1921.

March 20, 1921. The Upper Silesian Plebiscite

"Vote for Poland and you will be free", a pro Polish campaign poster.  Interestingly, while the vote would go on largely ethnic lines, this poster was in Polish and German.

A plebiscite was held in Upper Silesia to determine its national fate. The result apportioned the territory between Poland, Germany and Czechoslovakia. 

This would, of course, help set the game board for World War Two, as did the Treaty of Riga from the day prior.  Germany wasn't content with the results, and in actuality Poland really wasn't either.  When Germany dismembered Czechoslovakia in the following decade, Poland took a piece, although I think of lower Silesia and other border areas, before it soon faced Germany's territorial expansion itself.  Czechoslovakia took them back in October 1939 and then the border returned to its 1920 line following World War Two.

Also following World War Two almost all of Upper Silesia was placed in Poland.  Interestingly, unlike Lower Silesia, not all of its ethnic German population was expelled as some of it was bilingual and as the Germans in Upper Silesia were Catholic, and somewhat intermixed with the Polish population, some were allowed to remain.  The region currently has a small autonomy movement.

July 28, 1920. Villa comes in.

On this day in 1920, President de law Huerta of Mexico and Pancho Villa met and negotiated an armistice.  Villa ended his role as a guerilla leader in exchange for a land grant of 25,000 acres in Canutillo, Mexico.  His remaining 200 troops were to go with him to his hacienda, also receiving a pension of 500,000 gold pesos upon their laying down arms. Fifty of his men were to remain in his service as bodyguards.

Villa and his acknowledged wife, Luz Corral, in 1923.  Villa's domestic situation was complicated but Corral was able to claim the position of legitimacy in regards to his female consorts.

It would be predictable that a character like Villa would not remain outside of politics indefinitely, and that would seem to have not only been correct, but to have lead to his assassination in 1923.  A person can debate whether Villas armistice on this date, or his assassination in 1923, really marked the end of the armed struggle phase of the Mexican Revolution, but the better argument would be this date.  That would, of course, regard the Cristero War that broke out in 1926 as a separate event.

It might be noted, and notable, that no newspapers appear here in our entry for this day.  That's because the news broke sufficiently late, and inaccurately, that it appeared in only one of Wyoming's newspapers. That one reported that Villa had agreed to an unconditional surrender, which he had not.

On that day, the news was focused on the fate of Poland, which was struggling within own borders against the Red Army, and on Resolute wining the America's Cup.

Resolute.

Also on this day, the Duchy of Teschen was divided between the new state of Czechoslovakia and Poland, which must have given its residents at least a little pause, given that the fate of Poland at the time did not look good.

Unknown to the world, Archibald Leach, a 16 year old actor, arrived in the United States with members of The Penders, an acting troop.  We know him as Cary Grant.

Cary Grant in 1941.

Grant had an extremely difficult early youth, which may explain his being on the road at such an early age.  His father was an alcoholic and his mother clinically insane.  His father had committed his mother to a mental hospital and told Grant that she was dead.  He would not learn that she was still alive until after his acting career had taken off.

Air Mail in the United States had two notable events, one being the end of a strike in which it was promised that pilots would no longer be required to fly in dangerous weather.  The other was the taking off of two all metal planes from New York on a transcontinental air mail flight that would take them to a landing in San Francisco on August 8.  Moving the mail by train, actually, might have been quicker in that instance.

Countdown on the Great War, October 29,1918: Austria announces it wants to quit, the birth of Yugoslavia and the mutiny in the German navy spreads.

Headlines in Cheyenne informing readers that the Austrians were seeking to quit the war.

1.  Austria seeks an armistice from the Italians, and also with the Allies in general. 

The Casper Daily Press, no doubt under pressure from its other Casper competitors, announced that it was gong to a weekly in this same issue in which it spoke of Autro Hungaria's desire to get out of the war and the continued ravages of the Spanish Flu.

2.  The Allies occupied Vittorio Veneto, Italy.

3.  The German Navy abandoned its plans for final offensive operations.  Mutinous sailors would soon return to their ships and demonstrate their loyalty, at first.  Before that, however, the mutiny spread to Wilhelmshaven.

4. The State of the Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs proclaimed its independence from Austro Hungaria.  Czechoslovakia was also declared as a state on this date.

5.  The Ottomans held their positions at the Battle of Sharqat, the first time that they had done so for weeks.

October 16, 1968. The Black Power Salute and the Ratification of the Soviet Occupation of Czechoslovakia.

1.  On this day in 1968, African American Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave the infamous Black Power Salute in their medal ceremony. They were later stripped of their medals.

Their action at the Mexico City Olympics remain extremely controversial, making the entire "taking the knee" drama in football appear quite minor in comparison. An act in support of civil rights for black Americans, it also came at a time during which the United States was at war in Vietnam and the clenched fist was associated with the extreme left.  It also came in a location, Mexico City, which had only recently seen violence committed by the government against students.

2.  Czech Prime Minister Oldrich Cernik, against his real wishes, signed a treaty with the USSR recognizing the Soviets right of occupation of his country.

Nicolae Ceaușescu denounces the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, August 21, 2018.

The Communist leader of Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu, delivered a speech in support of the Czech government and against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

We remember Ceaușescu for his bloody demise in the Romanian uprising in 1989.  Ironically, if he had been able to read the tea leaves better, he might be remembered for this, his statement in favor of Romania and against the USSR, a brave thing to do under the circumstances, in 1968.

The Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact Invade Czechoslovakia. August 20, 1968.

Czechs with their flag walking past a burning Warsaw Pact tank. 

On this day in 1968 the Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia.

The action commenced very late in the day, at 11:00 p.m. to be precise, and featured an armored invasion by forces from the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Bulgaria and Hungary.  The total combined Warsaw Pact forces totaled 500,000 troops, the same number of men that the United States committed to Vietnam at the height of the Vietnam War.  It was not a small operation.

The Czechs had not prepared for the invasion and the government quickly called on its citizenry to not resist, a call that wasn't fully headed.  In part the Czechs were of the view that resistance was futile, which explains a lack of preparation, but they had also assumed that they would not be invaded by fellow Communist countries, a naive assumption.  Having said that, Romania, Yugoslavia an Albania refused to participate.  Indeed, the invasion was denounced by Romania on the day it occurred and Albania reacted by withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact.

A Storm Starts in the Prague Spring. August 18, 1968.

 WARNING! Border Zone. Enter only on authorization.

It had been building for awhile, but on this date it became inevitable.  Leonid Brezhnev convened an meeting with his Warsaw Pack counterparts which made the invasion of Czechoslovakia inevitable.

We haven't really dealt with the Prague Spring much here, but this was one of those events of 1968 which would explode onto the news.  The term refers to a reform movement undertaken by the sitting Czechoslovakian government to liberalize and open up the nation in spite of its Communist rule.  In some ways, the movement prefigures what would happen in the later Polish Solidarity movement and the following Czech Velvet Revolution.

Czechoslovakia had never been an eager Communist nation and had fallen to Communism in what was effectively a slow motion coup immediately following World War Two, in 1948.  It had never been an enthusiastic Communist nation however and its indigenous Socialist party had a history of hostility towards the Soviet Union dating back to the Russian Civil War.  In 1968 it introduced a series of reforms that started opening the country up, moving it in a less authoritarian direction.  Indeed, it completely eliminated censorship of the press, a revolutionary move in any Communist country, and it had set in motion reforms designed to allow freedom of movement and refocus the economy on consumer goods.  It was fairly clearly moving in a direction that far departed from conventional Communism.

Czech Legion soldiers, mostly Socialist, near an armored train. The Czech Legion had fiercely fought their way across Russia in a bitter campaign against the Red Army in a successful effort to return to the fighting the Germans in 1918.

This caused the USSR grave concern.

And not without reason.

While little appreciated or understood in the West, Soviet Communism had never been anywhere near as stable as imagined and had struggled with forces dedicated to its elimination since day one.  In the USSR itself, armed resistance to the Communist carried on until the late 1920s, well after the Russian Civil War is generally imagined to have ceased.  During World War Two large numbers of Soviet citizens fought against the Reds and with, or allied to, the Germans for a variety of reasons.  That carried on inside the USSR in some quarters against hopeless odds into the late 1940s.

 German postage stamp commemorating the 1953 uprising against the Soviets.

The USSR had imposed Communism on the the Eastern European countries, as is well known, following World War Two.  But that too saw resistance.  In 1953 East Germans rose up against the Soviets, the first East Block rebellion against the USSR since the end of the war and perhaps ironically one which saw the defeated Germans take on the victorious Soviets.  It was of course put down.  In 1956 the Hungarians tried the same thing in a revolution that Hungarians naively hoped would see Western intervention.  So the Czechs were not unaware of the risks.

This was particularly so as leading into the late summer, the Soviets had sent various representatives to the Czechs to try to redirect them, without success.

Intel, the semi conductor company, was founded

as NM Electronics by former Fairchild Semiconductor employees Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore on this day in 1968.

The rumblings of the computer revolution were beginning to be heard.

In Canada, the mailman wasn't being heard as the employees of Canada Post went on strike. For businesses near the US border this meant compensating by renting post office boxes in nearly by US locations.

Alexander Dubcek went on national Czech media to inform his people that he'd continue his democratic reforms as Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia in spite of pressure form the Soviet Union to stop it.

And Atlantic Richfield and Humble Oil announced the discovery of oil in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, which the companies had made some months prior.

It was a busy day.