Showing posts with label Napoleonic Wars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Napoleonic Wars. Show all posts

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Friday, October 8, 1943. Caserta Palace.


The British troops landed on Terceira Island, one of the Azores, in a little noted operation.

The Azores belong to Portugal and the population of the Azores are Portuguese.  The Allies had made plans to land there by force, much like they had in Iceland, but it proved unnecessary as the Portuguese agreed to lease air bases to the allies.

Portugal and the UK had been allies since the Napoleonic Wars, although Portugal had not entered the war.  They remained on friendly terms in spite of Portugal having a long sitting authoritarian government which would make one presume, in accurately, that it would have been sympathetic to the Germans.  In fact, at the start of the Second World War, Portugal announced that its 500-year-old plus treat with the UK remained in effect.  The UK, wisely, simply chose not to invoke it.  The British did begin, however, to occupy islands in the Azores starting in 1942 under lease from Portugal.

The Azores were known to Europeans prior to the 1370s.  Settlement by Portugal commenced in the 1439.

Today in World War II History—October 8, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Oct. 8, 1943: In Italy, US occupies Caserta Palace, future Headquarters of the US Fifth Army.

Sarah Sundin.

The British 8th Army took Lairon and Guglionesi. 

The last Jewish residents of the Liepaja Ghetto in Latvia were sent to the Kaiserwald concentration camp.

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Monday. October 20, 1941. Borodino.

The Germans took Bordino outside of Moscow, the site of the early September 1812 pyhrric French victory over the Russians


French losses at Borodino on September 7, 1812, had been at a rate of 2 to 1 to the Russian forces. They won the battle, but the losses were unsustainable.  Notably, they had arrived at Borodino over a month prior to the Germans on the calendar.

Japanese battleship Yamato running trials off Bungo Strait, 20 October 1941.

Monday, February 15, 2021

Blog Mirror: Some Gave All: Combatants from Battle of Vyazma laid to rest.

Some Gave All: Combatants from Battle of Vyazma laid to rest.

Combatants from Battle of Vyazma laid to rest.

Yesterday the bodies of 120 French and Russian soldiers, three women, and three teenage boys were buried with military honors at Vyazma in Russia.  Dignitaries from both countries were present.

Illustration from War and Peace on the battle of Vyazma.

All died there during Napoleon's retreat from Russia, during a battle that occurred there on October 22, 1812.  Conditions were brutally cold during the ceremony, something that would have been familiar to the soldiers themselves.

Friday, June 19, 2015

A Bicentennial. Waterloo

"Scotland Forever".  A painting on the charge of the Royal Scots Greys at Waterloo.

Just yesterday we passed the 200th anniversary of one of the most significant battles in modern history.  They Battle of Waterloo.

At Waterloo, a coalition of European nations, defeated the forces of radical authoritarian French aggression in favor of the rule of law, and really, democracy in the long run, although it wouldn't have been seen that way at the time. 

Not everything about this is perfect, if broken down into minute details, but basically it's correct.  One of the high points of British history, and really one of the high points of modern history.