Showing posts with label Serbia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Serbia. Show all posts

Friday, November 29, 2024

Sunday, November 29, 1914. Serbian withdrawal.

President Wilson named a strike board for Colorado as a result of the Colorado Coalfield War.

The Serbian army was ordered with withdraw to new positions and evacuate Kolubara.

Serbians Evacuate Belgrade

The Imperial Russian Army also withdrew to new positions leaving Łódź undefended.

Last edition:

Saturday, November 28, 1914. The New York Stock Exchange reopened for bond trading.

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Monday July 7, 1941. Marines in Iceland, Churchill writes Stalin, Patton in a turret, protests in New York City, rebellion in Yugoslavia.

U.S. Marines landed in Iceland.  President Roosevelt sent a note to Congress explaining the act as one necessary to protect Greenland, a Danish possession and frankly to protect arms shipments to the United Kingdom.

Marines in Iceland during World War Two.

The July issue of Life magazine featured George S. Patton in the turret of a light tank. The photograph remains a famous one.

On the same day Churchill sent a letter to Stalin praising Soviet resistance and vaguely promising British support to the USSR.  Churchill noted the UK's "growing resources".  On the same day, a protest in New York City urged the US to stop supplying arms to the UK.  Stalin wasn't impressed by the letter and asked for a formal written alliance between the two countries.

Serbian poster urging rebellion and the recruitment of partisans.

The Communist party in Servia revolted against the Serbian puppet regime and a rebellion also broke out in Herzegovina.

It was becoming clear that Yugoslavia was not going to enter the Axis sphere and would require a constant German presence.  The country had rebelled against its own government in order to oppose cooperation with the Axis in the first place and the rebellions of this date were at least the third to break out in that country.

Friday, June 25, 2021

June 25, 1941. The Continuation War, Murder and Executive Order 8802

Finland declared war on the Soviet Union with the goal of reclaiming territories lost in the Winter War.  It's goals were limited in the war to the recovery of territory lost to the Soviets, which it advanced into, took strategic positions, and then stopped.  This date is noted here:

Today in World War II History—June 25, 1941

The action put the Finns in bed with the Germans, and it wasn't a spur of the moment decision.  The Finns knew that Barbarossa was coming, and had agreed to the prestaging of German troops on its soil.  It was a calculated move betting on a German victory in the war, or at least on Germany obtaining a sufficiently advantageous result such that Finland would regain the territories it had lost.

Dealing with the Continuation War has always been a bit of a problem for Western historians as it does cut slightly against the grain in regard to the story of World War Two. Finland, with one slight exception, is the big exception to the rule regarding the Axis. Finland protected its Jewish population, with the exception of 8 individuals, and refused to hand them over to the Germans.  It halted its advance and went on the defensive as soon as it regained the territory it had lost, which in context was probably a strategic failure as it could have gained ethnic Finnish ground in the far north which would have also choked off Murmansk to Allies, which would be a port of resupply to the Soviets during the war.

Finland gambled incorrectly, of course, and would pay the price, albeit not as much of a price as a person might have suspected it would receive from the Soviets.

Symbol of the German Army's 163d Infantry Division.

On the same day Sweden agreed to allow the Germans to transport the German 163rd Infantry Division across its territory from Norway into Finland. The request had been made several days prior and had provoked a crisis in the Swedish government in which the King intervened with the request that it be allowed. The motivations for allowing it are complicated but tied to aiding its neighbor.  It's an example of how the neutrals of the Second World War not only were neutral, but frankly made significant concessions to nearby belligerents none the less.

The 163d spent most of the war with the Finns, being transported back to Germany late in the war.  It was destroyed by the Red Army in Pomerania in March, 1945.

Anti Jewish pogroms broke out in Lithuania. Centered in Kovno, the murders were conducted by Lithuanian civilians, not the Germans, at first, as the Germans had not yet reached the city. Upon their reaching it the killing would continue under their direction.

In Serbia, the Utashi opened the Slana camp, an island concentration camp, and began transporting Jews, and later Serbian and Croatian communists, to the island to be murdered.  The killing would stop when the Italians would occupy the island.

President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, which read:

EXECUTIVE ORDER 8802

Reaffirming Policy of Full Participation in the Defense Program by All Persons, Regardless of Race, Creed, Color, or National Origin, and Directing Certain Action in Furtherance of Said Policy

WHEREAS it is the policy of the United States to encourage full participation in the national defense program by all citizens of the United States, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin, in the firm belief that the democratic way of life within the Nation can be defended successfully only with the help and support of all groups within its borders; and

WHEREAS there is evidence that available and needed workers have been barred from employment in industries engaged in defense production solely because of considerations of race, creed, color, or national origin, to the detriment of workers' morale and of national unity:

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes, and as a prerequisite to the successful conduct of our national defense production effort, I do hereby reaffirm the policy of the United States that there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin, and I do hereby declare that it is the duty of employers and of labor organizations, in furtherance of said policy and of this order, to provide for the full and equitable participation of all workers in defense industries, without discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin;

And it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. All departments and agencies of the Government of the United States concerned with vocational and training programs for defense production shall take special measures appropriate to assure that such programs are administered without discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin;

2. All contracting agencies of the Government of the United States shall include in all defense contracts hereafter negotiated by them a provision obligating the contractor not to discriminate against any worker because of race, creed, color, or national origin;

3. There is established in the Office of Production Management a Committee on Fair Employment Practice, which shall consist of a chairman and four other members to be appointed by the President. The Chairman and members of the Committee shall serve as such without compensation but shall be entitled to actual and necessary transportation, subsistence and other expenses incidental to performance of their duties. The Committee shall receive and investigate complaints of discrimination in violation of the provisions of this order and shall take appropriate steps to redress grievances which it finds to be valid. The Committee shall also recommend to the several departments and agencies of the Government of the United States and to the President all measures which may be deemed by it necessary or proper to effectuate the provisions of this order.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt
June 25, 1941

Australia formed its Naval Auxiliary Patrol.

Thursday, May 6, 2021

May 6, 1941. Firsts

Joseph Stalin became the premier of the Soviet Union, replacing Molotov.  Molotov went into second position.

1937 portrait of Stalin.

Not that it would matter, as Stalin was the head of the party, which made him the defacto head of state.

Stalin would form his first government, which would last until 1946, the following day.

Liberty Aircraft plant, Long Island, New York.  May 6, 1941.  I'm unfamiliar with this company, but it apparently lasted until 1987.

Serbs staged a rebellion in Sanski Most against the fascist government of Serbia installed by the Nazis.

The Luftwaffe commenced two nights of bombing on Greenrock, Scotland.


Today was the first flight of the XP47, which would become the legendary P47 fighter.  The plane had been developed in a mere eight months.

The P47 provides a good example of the extraordinary rapid development of aircraft in this period. At the time, the P40 was the USAAC's most significant fighter.  The P47 was different from it in every fashion, including its massive size which accommodated a massive engine.

On the same day, Igor Sikorsky set a new record for helicopter flight endurance, which still wasn't long.

Bob Hope performed his first stand up performance for troops.  He would, of course, famously do this at least throughout the Vietnam War.

Hope is either an acquired taste or one of those acts that's best set in the context of their original times.  I can recall seeing televised performances from the Vietnam War, and they're just not funny.

Vichy France reached an agreement with Germany to provide material support to the Iraqi rebels, although the government never ratified it.  It did allow the Germans to use airbases in Syria to support the Iraqi insurgency, which they would make use of.

Friday, October 5, 2018

Countdown on the Great War: October 5, 1918.


1.  Vranje, Serbia, liberated from the Austrian control by French and Serbian forces.

2.  Australians capture Monbrehain.

3. Germans scuttle U-boats stationed in Belgium.

4.  Cpt. Eddie Grant killed in action.

5.  Sgt. Michaal B. Ellis undertakes actions that result in his being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
74, W.D., 1919.
Citation: During the entire day’s engagement he operated far in advance of the first wave of his company, voluntarily undertaking most dangerous missions and single-handedly attacking and reducing machinegun nests. Flanking one emplacement, he killed 2 of the enemy with rifle fire and captured 17 others. Later he single-handedly advanced under heavy fire and captured 27 prisoners, including 2 officers and 6 machineguns, which had been holding up the advance of the company. The captured officers indicated the locations of 4 other machineguns, and he in turn captured these, together with their crews, at all times showing marked heroism and fearlessness.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Is Saudi Arabia out of its mind?

Monarchies haven't fared well in recent decades and some have ended very badly.

Among those that ended badly are those that got their nations into big spats.  Anyone recall Kaiser Wilhelm II, for example?  Took his country into war in support of the Hapsburg's.  He didn't have to do that, but it ended up getting him retired to Holland.  What about the Hapsburg's, who felt that they had to pick that fight as their archduke was gunned down by a pathetic?

Or what about Czar Nicholas II.  Nicky was an absolute autocrat, and took his nation into World War One, which resulted in the Romanov's falling and his entire immediate family getting gunned down.

This past week, the Saudi's executed a prominent Sunni cleric.  The Saudis are Sunni Arabs and allied with Wannabism.  The Iranians are Persian Shiias.  The didn't like each other to start with.

What on earth were the Saudis thinking?

Now protests in Iran have broken out and diplomatic relations have been severed.

Last week, at a New Year's Party, I heard form somebody employed in the oil industry, as a joke (he was not serious), what we need is a war.

Well, we may be getting one.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Monday, November 16, 1914. Occupying Tsingtao

The twelve decentralized locations of the Federal Reserve System opened.

Japanese and British forces took over the port of Tsingtao.


The Austro Hungarian army commenced its third attempt to invade Serbia, choosing to cross the Kolubara River.

Russians Call Off Invasion of Germany

The Russian Army crossed the Aras River in Turkey and attacked Ottoman forces at dawn to arrest their advance.

British forces defeated Ottoman forces defending Saihan, Iraq, south of Basra.

French forces fought through rebel held territory to relieve their forces at Khenifra, Morocco.

Last edition:

Sunday, November 15, 1914. Ottomans cross the Russian frontier.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Monday, October 12, 1914. The trial of the Serbian conspirators.


The trial of Serbian conspirators who had worked to assassinate Archduke Ferdinand commenced.   Gavrilo Princip stated:

I am a Yugoslav nationalist and I believe in unification of all South Slavs in whatever form of state and that it be free of Austria ... By means of terror.

The Germans took Ghent.

The French and British took back the Mont des Cats.

The Union of South Africa declared martial law in response to the Maritz Rebellion.


Boston won game three of the World Series.

Last edition:

Sunday October 11, 1914. Front line stabilization sets in.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Sunday, September 20, 1914. The Irish Nationalist Volunteers.

John Redmond called on the Irish Republican Irish Volunteers to volunteer for British service, which most did.  

Irish enlistment in the British Army in the Great War was large-scale, as it would prove to be again in World War Two.  Enlistees in the British forces received little recognition after the war, however, as the Anglo Irish War and following independence tainted it.

Ottoman general Essad Pasha Toptani organized an armed force of 10,000 men to invade Albania, having received the support from Serbia and Italy to do so.

The German cruiser SMS Königsberg sank the British cruiser HMS Pegasus at the Battle of Zanzibar.

Last edition:

Friday, September 18, 1914. The Irish government and two acts.


Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Wednesday, July 29, 1914 First shots.

The first shots of the Great War were fired at 10:00 local time when the SMS Bodrog, a river monitor, bombarded Belgrade following Serbia blowing up the only major bridge across the Sava, severing the land link between the countries.


Amazingly, the ship still exists and after a long and varied career, is now a Serbian museum ship.


The first transcontinental telephone line was completed between New York and San Francisco.

The Cape Cod Canal opened in Massachusetts.

Last edition:

July 28, 1914. WAR.

WAR

Monday, July 28, 2014

July 28, 1914. WAR.

WAR


World War One had arrived, even as more remote press outlets reported hope that it might be averted.  Austro Hungaria transmitted its declaration of war against Serbia by telegram, something sort of weirdly akin to doing it by Twitter today, assuming that anyone actually bothered to declare war in our modern era.


Repression of the Catholic Church commenced in Mexico, and was to be an enduring feature of the Mexican Republic for decades, causing long lasting damage ot the faith of the nation.



The Royal Navy and the French Navy were ordered to capture the  Goeben and Breslau which had been under repair in the Adriatic.  The ships bolted for the Dardanelles.

The first launch of an aerial torpedo was accomplished by the Royal Navy Air Service.

Last edition:

Friday, July 25, 2014

Saturday, July 25, 1914. Austro Hungaria mobilizes.

Austro Hungaria mobilized.  Serbia already had, in anticipation of being invaded. Russia had ordered a partial mobilization.


The Austrian order contemplated putting their army in the field and into action within 72 hours.

Last edition:

Friday, July 24, 1914. Mobilization of land armies commences.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Friday, July 24, 1914. Mobilization of land armies commences.

Serbia mobilized, Austro Hungaria severed relations.

Russia, regarding its rearmament program incomplete, determined to partially mobilize in the hopes of deterring war.

Victoriano Huerta and his family reached Kingston, Jamaica aboard the German cruiser SMS Dresden. They would reside there until 1915 when they'd relocate to the United States.

The railway strike in New Brunswick came to a negotiated end.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 23, 1914. The Ultimatum.


Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Thursday, July 23, 1914. The Ultimatum.

Serbia was presented with an ultimatum by Austro Hungaria.  It read, with its instructions, as follows:

Vienna, July 22, 1914

Your Excellency will present the following note to the Royal Government on the afternoon of Thursday, July 23: On the 31st of March, 1909, the Royal Serbian Minister at the Court of Vienna made, in the name of his Government, the following declaration to the Imperial and Royal Government:

It is clear from the statements and confessions of the criminal authors of the assassination of the twenty-eighth of June, that the murder at Sarajevo was conceived at Belgrade, that the murderers received the weapons and the bombs with which they were equipped from Serbian officers and officials who belonged to the Narodna Odbrana, and, finally, that the dispatch of the criminals and of their weapons to Bosnia was arranged and effected under the conduct of Serbian frontier authorities.

The results brought out by the inquiry no longer permit the Imperial and Royal Government to maintain the attitude of patient tolerance which it has observed for years toward those agitations which center at Belgrade and are spread thence into the territories of the Monarchy. Instead, these results impose upon the Imperial and Royal Government the obligation to put an end to those intrigues, which constitute a standing menace to the peace of the Monarchy.

In order to attain this end, the Imperial and Royal Government finds itself compelled to demand that the Serbian Government give official assurance that it will condemn the propaganda directed against Austria-Hungary, that is to say, the whole body of the efforts whose ultimate object it is to separate from the Monarchy territories that belong to it; and that it will obligate itself to suppress with all the means at its command this criminal and terroristic propaganda. In order to give these assurances a character of solemnity, the Royal Serbian Government will publish on the first page of its official organ of July 26/13, the following declaration:

"The Royal Serbian Government condemns the propaganda directed against Austria-Hungary, that is to say, the whole body of the efforts whose ultimate object it is to separate from the Austro- Hungarian Monarchy territories that belong to it, and it most sincerely regrets the dreadful consequences of these criminal transactions.

"The Royal Serbian Government regrets that Serbian officers and officials should have taken part in the above-mentioned propaganda and thus have endangered the friendly and neighborly relations, to the cultivation of which the Royal Government had most solemnly pledged itself by its declarations of March 31, 1909.

"The Royal Government, which disapproves and repels every idea and every attempt to interfere in the destinies of the population of whatever portion of Austria-Hungary, regards it as its duty most expressly to call attention of the officers, officials, and the whole population of the kingdom to the fact that for the future it will proceed with the utmost rigor against any persons who shall become guilty of any such activities, activities to prevent and to suppress which, the Government will bend every effort."

This declaration shall be brought to the attention of the Royal army simultaneously by an order of the day from His Majesty the King, and by publication in the official organ of the army.

The Royal Serbian Government will furthermore pledge itself:

1. to suppress every publication which shall incite to hatred and contempt of the Monarchy, and the general tendency of which shall be directed against the territorial integrity of the latter;

2. to proceed at once to the dissolution of the Narodna Odbrana to confiscate all of its means of propaganda, and in the same manner to proceed against the other unions and associations in Serbia which occupy themselves with propaganda against Austria-Hungary. . .

3. to eliminate without delay from public instruction in Serbia, everything, whether connected with the teaching corps or with the methods of teaching, that serves or may serve to nourish the propaganda against Austria-Hungary;

4. to remove from the military and administrative service in general all officers and officials who have been guilty of carrying on the propaganda against Austria-Hungary. . .

5. to agree to the cooperation in Serbia of the organs of the Imperial and Royal Government in the suppression of the subversive movement directed against the integrity of the Monarchy;

6. to institute a judicial inquiry against every participant in the conspiracy of the twenty-eighth of June who may be found in Serbian territory; the organs of the Imperial and Royal Government delegated for this purpose will take part in the proceedings held for this purpose. . .

8. by efficient measures to prevent the participation of Serbian authorities in the smuggling of weapons and explosives across the frontier; to dismiss from the service and to punish severely those members of the Frontier Service at Schabats and Losnitza who assisted the authors of the crime of Sarajevo to cross the frontier;

9. to make explanations to the Imperial and Royal Government concerning the unjustifiable utterances of high Serbian functionaries in Serbia and abroad, who, without regard for their official position, have not hesitated to express themselves in a manner hostile toward Austria-Hungary since the assassination of the twenty-eighth of June;

10. to inform the Imperial and Royal Government without delay of the execution of the measures comprised in the foregoing points.

The Imperial and Royal Government awaits the reply of the Royal Government by Saturday, the twenty-fifth instant, at 6 p.m., at the latest.

A reminder of the results of the investigation about Sarajevo, to the extent they relate to the functionaries named in points 7 and 8 [above], is appended to this note.«

Appendix:

«The crime investigation undertaken at court in Sarajevo against Gavrilo Princip and his comrades on account of the assassination committed on the 28th of June this year, along with the guilt of accomplices, has up until now led to the following conclusions:

1. The plan of murdering Archduke Franz Ferdinand during his stay in Sarajevo was concocted in Belgrade by Gavrilo Princip, Nedeljko Cabrinovic, a certain Milan Ciganovic, and Trifko Grabesch with the assistance of Major Voija Takosic.

2. The six bombs and four Browning pistols along with ammunition -- used as tools by the criminals -- were procured and given to Princip, Cabrinovic and Grabesch in Belgrade by a certain Milan Ciganovic and Major Voija Takosic.

3. The bombs are hand grenades originating from the weapons depot of the Serbian army in Kragujevatz. . .

5. To make possible Princip, Cabrinovic und Grabesch's passage across the Bosnia-Herzegovina border and the smuggling of their weapons, an entire secretive transportation system was organized by Ciganovic. The entry of the criminals and their weapons into Bosnia and Herzegovina was carried out by the main border officials of Shabatz (Rade Popovic) and Losnitza as well as by the customs agent Budivoj Grbic of Losnitza, with the complicity of several others.«

On the occasion of handing over this note, would Your Excellency please also add orally that -- in the event that no unconditionally positive answer of the Royal government might be received in the meantime -- after the course of the 48-hour deadline referred to in this note, as measured from the day and hour of your announcing it, you are commissioned to leave the I. and R. Embassy of Belgrade together with your personnel.

British foreign minister Sir Edward Grey offered to Germany and Russia to mediate the dispute.  Russia agreed, but Germany declined.

The Komagata Maru complied with Canadian orders and left Canadian waters.

Riots occurred in New Brunswick in the labor dispute involving striking rail workers.

Democratic politician William V. Cleary of Haverstraw, New York shot and killed his 18 year old son in law, Eugene M. Newman over the secret marriage of his pregnant daughter.  He would not serve time for the murder, being acquitted in a trial that lead to widespread criticism.  Nearly everyone associated with the trial and scandal ended up impoverished 

His defense was temporary insanity.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 22, 1914. Rejected proposals.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Saturday, July 18, 1914. The sort of birth of the Air Force.

 


Congress created the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps, effectively creating what would become the Air Force.

Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić stated that he would not accept any measures that compromised Serbian sovereignty in reaction to rumors about an Austro Hungarian ultimatum.

King George inspected the fleet at Spithead.

Joe Hill, labor activist memorialized in a famous folk song, was sentenced o death under questionable circumstances in Utah.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 15, 1914. Huerta resigns.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Tuesday, July 14, 1914. Bastille Day.

The Government of Ireland Bill passed the House of Lord, allowing Ulster counties to vote on whether they wished to participate in Home Rule from Dublin.

Hungarian Prime Minister István Tisza, who had opposed going to war with Serbia, changed his view out of fear that if Austro Hungaria did not do so it would result in a breach of the alliance with Germany. 

It was Bastille Day.


Last edition:

Monday, July 13, 1914. Austrians conclude no Serbian involvement.