Wednesday, July 9, 1975. The start of the Angolan Civil War.

Angolan liberation movements broke out in civil war, with the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), attacking the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), led by Holden Roberto.   The country had not yet officially received independence. 

Dutch photographer and artist Bas Jan Ader left Cape Cod in an attempt to make an unassisted voyage from west to east of the North Atlantic Ocean.  He would disappear and never be heard from again.

Rock musician John Anthony Gillis, better known as Jack White, was born.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 3, 1975. The U.S. Civil Service Commission ended restrictions on hiring homosexuals.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Disaster, Government, homosexuality, Las Vegas Nevada, Nevada (Las Vegas), television, U.S. Civil Service Commission, Weather

Thursday, May 3, 1945. Dönitz sends a surrender delegation.

The British and Soviet forces near Wismar on the Baltic coast, 3 May 1945

Karl Dönitz arranged to send a surrender delegation to Bernard Montgomery's headquarters.

The Portuguese government ordered official flags to fly at half-mast in a day of national mourning for Adolf Hitler.

The British Army entered Hamburg unopposed.

The German liner Cap Arcona was sunk by the RAF in the Bay of Lübeck.  It was carrying 5,000 concentration camp prisoners. Over 400 SS personnel made it to lifeboats and were rescued but only 350 of the prisoners survived.

The British Army took Rangoon.

US troops landed near Santa Cruz in the Gulf of Davao.

Work commenced on the United Nations Charter.

Last edition:

Wednesday, May 2, 1945. Berlin taken.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Austria, British Army, Dachau, Eamon de Valera, Ethnicities, Italy, Karl Dönitz, Photography, Racism, Rangoon, Red Army, The Holocaust, World War Two

Friday April 25, 1975. White Christmas.

The U.S. Embassy in Saigon decided that to signal "Evacuation Day" for  Americans, the Defense Attaché Office (DAO) radio station would broadcast the phrase "the temperature is 105 degrees and rising" followed by playing Bing Crosby's recording of the song "White Christmas".

The last Australians, including their ambassador, were evacuated by the RAAF.

91.7% of eligible Portuguese voters turned out for the first multiparty election in the country in nearly fifty years.  The Socialist Party won 116 of the 250 seats, Social Democrats won 81 and the Portuguese Communist Party 30 seats.

There had been real fears the Communist Party would win.

The Liga Comunista 23 de Septiembre raided a branch of the Banco de Comercio at Villa Coapa, Mexico City, killing six police who were guarding the bank.  They killed two more policemen and two bystanders in their escape.

Last edition

Thursday, April 24, 1975. Wings of Freedom

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Aircraft, Colorado, homosexuality, law, Saigon Vietnam, South Vietnam, Sweden, Terrorism, The Fall of Saigon, Vietnam, Vietnam War, West Germany

Tuesday, April 15, 1975. Xuân Lộc,

 

The far left Socialist government of Portugal, which swept into power by way of a junior officers revolt brought about by disgust with conscription and colonial wars, nationalized most of the nation's industries and commenced land reform.

Karen Ann Quinlan collapsed after drinking several gin and tonics in addition to having already taken the tranquilizers Valium and Darvon.

She's be the subject of major controversy over the battle to take her off of life support, which occured on May 22, 1976.  She lived until June 11, 1985.

Last edition:

Monday, April 14, 1975. Collapse In Viet Nam

Labels: actors and actresses, Defeated people, Federal Election Commission, India, Kingdom of Sikkim, Operation Babylift, Personalities, Sports, Vietnam War, Weight Lifting

Wednesday, January 15, 1975. Independence for Angola.

The Alvor Agreement was signed at the Penina Golfe Hotel in Alvor, Portugal by Angolan independence figures Jonas Savimbi, Agostinho Neto and Álvaro Holden Necaca Roberto Diasiwa and Portugese President Costa Gomes.

November 11, 1975 was set as the Angolan independence date.

The very communistic flag of Angola.

It can't be said that independence for the country went well.  It would nearly immediately fall into civil war.

CIA Director William Colby confirmed that the agency had violated its charter by spying on American citizens for activities within the United States.

Last edition:

Tuesday, January 14, 1975. Un-American.

Labels: 1910s, 1918, 1970s, 1975, Central Intelligence Agency, Communism, Espionage, House Committee on Un-American Affairs, McCarthy Era, Outer space, The Law of Unintended Consequences, Watergate

Monday, October 16, 1944. Fascist Hungary.

The German backed fascist coup in Hungary, designed to keep the country in the war, completed with the leader of the banned  fascist Arrow Cross Party, Ferenc Szálasi, becoming prime minister of  a "Government of National Unity" w hich was controlled by the Germans.  Horthy was taken prisoner.

Horthy, who appears here a lot, died in Portugal in 1957 at age 88.  Szálasi was executed in 1946 at  age 49.

Who the crap could think that the fascist were going to win in late 1944?

 T/5 Ray Tintera, Tampa, Fla., and Sgt. Elwood Johnson, Ogema, Wisc., check civilians at an outpost in Monschau, Germany. 16 October, 1944.g, Admiral Miklós Horthy was forced out of office and replaced by Ferenc Szálasi of the fascist Arrow Cross Party.

Registration slips of these two German frauleins are checked by T/4 Nick Kellen, Woodstock, Mich., as they pass through the outskirts of Monschen, Germany. Slips showed them to be Karolina Rader and Johanna Kirch. 16 October, 1944.

The Soviets launched the Gumbinnen Operation with the goal of penetrating the borders of East Prussia.

Albanian partisans liberated Vlorë.

Maj. Gen. Eurico Jaspar Dutra, (left), Brazilian Minister of War and Maj. Gen. Mascarenhas De Moraes, C.G. of the B.E.F., shown in hatches of a medium tank in which they took a ride during an inspecting tour at the IV Corps recently. Fifth Army, IV Corps area, Italy. 16 October, 1944.

The U.S. launched an offensive towards Bologna.

The 10th Indian Division crossed the Savio River.

A U.S. bombing raid on Salzburg destroyed the dome of the cathedral and most of the Mozart family home.

Troops of the 44th Division await truck transportation after unloading at a station in Northern France. They are on their way to the front. 16 October, 1944.

 

Pfc. Victor Henry, Pontotoc, Miss., fires his machine gun through a hole in a wall, at Germans in a barn 300 yards away, beyond Kohlscheid, Germany. He is flanked by two of his buddies. 16 October, 1944. Company K, 3rd Battalion, 119th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division.

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

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle of Aachen, boats and ships, Commandos, German Army, German Kriegsmarine, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Polish Army, Radio, Red Army, Royal Air Force, U.S. Navy, World War Two, Yugoslavia

Tuesday, September 19, 1974. Recognizing independence.

Portugal recognized the independence of its former colony, Portugese Guinea, which had become the Republic of Guinea-Bissau.

Last edition:

Blog Mirror: September 8, 1974: President Ford Pardons Former President

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Blog Mirror, Commentary, Crime, Donald Trump, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Watergate

Saturday. September 7, 1974. Independence for Mozambique.

Portugal and FRELIMO (Frente de Libertação de Moçambique) recognized independence for Mozambique, with it to formally occur on June 25, 1975.  The negotiations took place in Zambia.

FRELIMO, a far left wing political party that was formally Communist, has governed the country continually since that time.  It has evolved into a democratic socialist party.

Last edition: 

Wednesday, September 4, 1974. Recognizing East Germany.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Army, Diplomacy, East Germany, George H.W. Bush, George S. Patton, Gerald Ford, Health, Smoking

Saturday, July 27, 1974. Articles of Impeachment.

The bipartisan House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to adopt the first of three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon, obstruction of justice.

Richard M. Nixon, using the powers of his high office, engaged personally and through his subordinates and agents, in a course of conduct or plan designed to delay, impede, and obstruct the investigation.

Back when Congress actually acted responsibly, although 11 of the 17 Republicans did vote no.

The Rhodesian Army began Operation Overload, the relocation of 49,690 black civilians within the Chiweshe Tribal Trust Land to "protected villages" away from  the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA).

Portugal's military government announced that it was granting independence to Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Portuguese Guinea.

Last prior:

Wednesday, July 24, 1974. United States v. Nixon.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, 2020s, 2024, Crime, Cyprus, Greece, Richard Nixon, Texas, Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Watergate

Tuesday, June 11, 1974. The arrival of the end of Portuguese colonialism.

Portugal's new government promised independence to Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea on the condition that ceasefires could be agreed upon in the ongoing wars and if democratic voting would be guaranteed on the form of post-colonial government.

Portugal had been one of Europe's first modern colonial powers, with an empire dating back to 1415.

Bill Clinton won the Democratic Party runoff for the Congressional nomination for the party in Arkansas.  Then employed as a law professor, he'd lose in the fall.

William Cann, police chief of Union City, California, was assassinated at a public gathering by former members of the Brown Berets, a Chicano group, in retaliation for a police killing of a Hispanic man.

Last prior edition:

Blog Mirror: June 4, 1974: Ten-Cent Beer Night In Cleveland

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Alcohol, baseball, Blog Mirror, Cleveland Ohio, Ohio (Cleveland)

Friday, April 26, 1974. A Portuguese military coup turns towards democracy.

The Portuguese Junta de Salvação Nacional announced that it would govern Portugal until further notice, but that it would restore democracy and, further, it would pursue a policy to end Portuguese rule of Mozambique, Angola and its other colonies.  It was in fact the Portuguese corporatist state's efforts to retain its colonies by force which had led to its junior military officers becoming disaffected, leading to the coup, and a return to democracy, through the Movimento das Forças Armadas.

The junta also released most political prisoners in the country.

I should have noted the coup in yesterday's entries, but I failed to.

Angola and Mozambique would of course slip into civil war.

The West German Bundestag narrowly passed a law allowing abortion in the first trimester, but it was soon suspended by the German supreme court and then found to be unconstitutional.  Contrary to what Americans commonly think, abortion was much more restricted in Europe than in the US up until recently, and proposals here to return to the bizarre Roe v. Wade standard would return the US to a far more bloody condition than exists in Europe.

The Ethiopian government arrested members of the government and military that were associated in some fashion with the February 25 coup.

April 26, 1974: The Yankees' Friday Night Massacre

Last prior edition:

Monday, April 15, 1974. The Hibernia Bank Robbery.

1970s, 1974, American Terrorist Organizations, Crime, Niger, Provisional Irish Republican Army, Weapons

Monday, April 7, 1924. Another around the world effort.

While the US Army Air Service was flying up, on this day, the Canadian coast towards Alaska, in its around the world effort, another such effort was commencing in Portugal.

7 April 1924

The Portugese effort had the decency to start on  Monday, as opposed to the American one that launched on a Sunday.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, April 6, 1924. The launch of the around the world flight.

1920s, 1924, Aircraft, Army, Blog Mirror, Fascism, First Around The World Flight, Italy, U.S. Air Force

Tuesday, March 5, 1974. Portugal decides to stay.

Portugese troops in Mozambique.  By Joaquim Coelho, author from Espaço Etéreo, a compilation of texts and pictures from people involved in the war. Permission is granted here, and personal e-mails between me (Nuno) and Joaquim (backed up for reference). - The copyright holder of this work allows anyone to use it for any purpose including unrestricted redistribution, commercial use, and modification.Please check the source to verify that this is correct. In particular, note that publication on the Internet, like publication by any other means, does not in itself imply permission to redistribute. Files without valid permission should be tagged with {{subst:npd}}.Usage notes:If the work requires attribution, use {{Attribution}} instead.If this is your own work, please use {{Cc-zero}} instead., Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=685173

Portuguese Prime Minister Marcello Caetano informed the Portuguese National Assembly that Portuguese Guinea, Angola and Mozambique would retain their colonial status in spite of ongoing guerilla wars.  He stated that elections "would be inappropriate for the African mentality."

Ethiopian Emperor and absolute monarch Haile Selassie pledged democratic reforms in an unprecedented national address on radio and television.

Eva Mendes was born in Miami.

Last prior:

Monday, March 4, 1974. Suez.

 

Portugal just ran on 100% renewables for six days in a row

Tuesday, October 12, 1943. Expanded use of the Azores.

Portugal expanded the use of naval and air facilities in the Azores under the treaty of 1373, even though, as recently noted, Portugal was neutral.

It was, of course, increasingly obvious which way the war was going, and that by this time the risk to Portugal was less than it was previously.

The U.S. 5th Army began its assault on the German Volturno line in Italy.

The U.S. attacked Rabaul by air, damaging three Japanese vessels.

The Battle of John's Knoll-Trevor's Ridge began on New Guinea.

The Battle of Levin began on the Eastern Front

The American Broadcasting Company's purchase of the NBC Blue Network was approved by the FCC, ending an antitrust suit against NBC.

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.

Tuesday, June 1, 1943. The attack on Flight 777.

The Luftwaffe shot down a civilian DC-3 airliner belonging to BOAC flying out of Portugal, killing the passengers on board, which included actor Leslie Howard.

The flight, 777, was a regularly scheduled flight of which the Germans were aware.  As odd as it is to think of this in the context of a global war, commercial aviation continued on during the war where it could.  The fact that the aircraft was shot down has led to speculation that the Germans may have thought Winston Churchill was on board the craft, although other conspiracy theories exist including that Howard was the target, as, it is theorized, he was a British spy.  Some speculation exists that the Germans targeted the plane simply to cause British demoralization, which they theorized would occur with the death of Howard.  Having said all of that, the plane had been attacked by German aircraft twice before during the war.

The flight was overbooked and Howard actually joined the passenger list late, bumping off another passenger who accordingly was spared his fate. Some other last moment changes have led to some confusion over who was originally supposed to be on the flight.   Catholic Priest Father A. S. Holmes, vice president of the R. C. English College, left the plane at the last moment in order to take a phone call.  Actor Raymond Burr claimed that his wife Annette Sutherland, an actress, died in the crash, but no record of her being on the plane exists, nor of Burr having ever been married to an Annette Sutherland.

Howard is best known to American audiences for his role as Ashley in Gone With The Wind, a role which I feel he was miscast in.

The SS John Morgan, carrying explosives, exploded when it accidentally struck the tanker SS Montana in Baltimore's harbor. Sixty-five of the 68 men on the John Morgan died in the explosion, while 18 of the 82 men on the Montana were killed.

The United Mine Workers went into a coal strike.  It lasted only a week.

Sunday, November 1, 1942. Excapes

Japan's Ministry of Colonial Affairs ceased to exist, its functions going to the Ministry of Greater East Asia.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—November 1, 1942: US War Department designates Japanese aircraft with human names, initially with male names for fighters and female for all others.

This came about later than I'd realized.  She has a set of playing cards depicting Japanese aircraft up on her blog as well.

She also notes:

 US ceases production of liquor—warehouses contain a four-year stock.

I was completely unaware of that.  Note that this pertains to hard alcohol, not beer.

Films produced in this era routinely show casual drinking, which would at least suggest it was relatively common, and at least personal recollections I've heard suggest that very much was at the time.  The cessation of production should have had no immediate effect on prices for anything aged, which would have been most hard alcohols.

Alcohol had only become legal, once again, in 1932, and even then it was readily available, as some later depictions suggest.  Prohibition had a devastating impact on the production of Rye, which had predominated the quality American production prior to 1919 and which has never really fully recovered.

The Marines launched the Matanikau Offensive on Guadalcanal.  It would run for four days and secure Koli Point.

The Germans took Alagir in North Ossetia, in the USSR.

Four German sailors broke out of Fort Stanton, New Mexico. They'd soon be captured by a mounted posse, during which one of them was wounded.

Portugal held elections, but as it was a one party state, the victory of the National Union Party was somewhat foreordained.

Pornographer Larry Flynt, who was responsible for Hustler magazine, was born on this day.  Huslter followed in the wake of Playboy and Penthouse, and was cruder than either two, that avenue having been opened up for glossy smut due to Playboy.

It was the Solemnity of All Saints, as it is now, which is a Catholic Holy Day of Obligation.  Given as this one fell on a Sunday, there would have been no requirement for attendance at an extra Mass for Catholics on this week in 1942.