Tuesday, July 31, 1945. Little Boy assembled.

Little Boy was assembled on Tinian.

Pierre Laval was delivered to Linz Austria from Spain, where he was then turned over to the French.

Ethnic Germans were murdered in  Ústí nad Labem, Czechoslovakia.

Field Marshal Alexander appointed Governor General of Canada.

The Takao is sunk by British frogmen with limpet mines at Singapore.

The US gives Japan a specific warning about eight cities being slated for destruction if Japan does not surrender.

Pro Nazi Lutheran minister and theologian Ludwig Müller committed suicide.

Gen. Artemio Ricarte y García, early pro independence Philippine general and collaborator with the Japanese, died of dysentery at age 78.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 30, 1945. Eisenhower questions the bomb.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Battle of the Visayas, Chester Nimitz, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, George C. Marshall, Imperial Japanese Army, New Guinea, Weapons, World War Two

Tuesday, June 19, 1945. Eisenhower's parade.

The U.S. Army took IIigan in the Philippines.

343 Japanese troops surrendered on Okinawa.

"Pfc. Alden A. Fisher, Morganton, Ga., fires a bazooka. Pfc. William Miller, Oceanside, Long Island, is the loader. They are firing at a Japanese cave on Okinawa. 19 June, 1945. 77th Infantry Division Photographer: LaGrange."

Troops of the British Commonwealth brought the war back to Thailand, invading it from Burma.

King Leopold III of Belgium refused to abdicate.

The United Nations, meeting in San Francisco, denied Francoist Spain admission to the body.

Gen. Eisenhower received a ticker tape parade in New York City which 4,000,000 people turned out to view.

French politician Marcel Déat, in hiding in Italy, was sentenced to death in absentia for collaborating with the enemy.  He would not be captured and died in Italy in 1955.

Last edition:

Monday, June 18, 1945. The death of Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, boats and ships, British Army, China, Chinese National Army, Civil War, Collaborators, Japan, Mexican War, Okinawa, Personalities, Polish Home Army, USSR, World War Two

Monday, May 7, 1945. Germany unconditionally surrenders.

German General Alfred Jodl and admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg signed unconditional surrender documents at 2:41 a.m. at General Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims.  All Allied Powers are represented. Fighting was scheduled to end at 23:00 the following day.  Military operations on the Western Front came to an immediate end.

Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Leading Minister in the rump Flensburg Government, made a broadcast announcing the German surrender at 2:27 a.m.. 

The U-2336 sank two merchant ships in the Firth of Forth.

This Day in History: Last German U-boat in American waters

Riotous celebrations broke out in numerous places, including in Halifax, Nova Scotia, were they turned truly riotous.

American journalist Edward Kennedy broke an Allied embargo on news of the signing in the afternoon.

The NKVD and Polish anti Communist forces fought in the Battle of Kuryłówka with the Poles winning the battle, but fortunes would reverse the following day.

Spain severed relations with Nazi Germany. . . a bit late.

The British government in India published the report of an official commission of enquiry into the Bengal famine of 1943 finding that it could have been adverted through government action.

"These Army nurses, among the first to arrive on Okinawa, May 3, wash out of steel helmets.

They are, left to right, Lt. Margaret J. Whitton, Chicago Ill., who has seen 14 months service in Italy and Africa; Lt. Ruth Anderson, Rockford, Ill., Lt. Marjorie Dulain, Iron Mountain, Mich., and Lt. Eleanor Kennedy, Judington, Mich. 7 May, 1945.Photographer not credited.Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive."

Hard fighting continued on Okinawa.

Last edition:

Sunday, May 6, 1945. Stopping advances.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, boats and ships, Czechoslovakia, entertainment, George S. Patton, Siege of Breslau

Monday, March 30, 1925. Cougars win the Stanley Cup.

Newly ordained St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás celebrated his first Mass in the Chapel of Our Lady of Pilar in the Saragossa Cathedral.

He would found Opus Dei in 1928.

The Victoria Cougars of the WCHL beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 to become the last non-NHL team to win the Stanley Cup.

Bringing Up Father On Broadway premiered.

Last edition.

Saturday, March 28, 1925. Society Number.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Art

Thursday, March 22, 1945. Operation Plunder.

Operation Plunder commanded by Field Marshall Montgomery was launched which saw the 21st Army Group cross the Rhine.The Rhine was crossed was at Rees, Wesel, and south of the river Lippe by the British Second Army under Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey, and the United States Ninth Army under Lieutenant General William H. Simpson.

89th Infantry Division crossing the Rhine in Operation Plunder.  Note the soldier equipped with a Thompson submachine gun on the deck of the landing craft.

The U.S. 5th Infantry Division of the 3d Army crossed the Rhine near Nierstein.

Don Juan, pretender to the Spanish Crown, demanded Franco's resignation.

Kamikazes make significant strikes on Task Force 58, including with the new Yokosuka MXYZ Ohka suicide rocket plane.

The Arab League was established.

Last edition:

Wednesday, March 21, 1945. Ohka.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Aircraft, Denmark, Gestapo, Imperial Japanese Army, Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, Nationalist Chinese Army, Okinawa, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Saturday, March 10, 1945. The execution of Gen. Émile Lemonnier.

Gen. Émile Lemonnier of the French Army was executed by the Japanese for, as a captive, refusing to sign an instrument of surrender to the Japanese in Indochina.  He was 51 years of age.

The last few years of his life must have been one of unrelenting mental torment.

The cowardly weasel ordering his execution, Captain Kayakawa was himself executed after the war..

I know some will excuse the latter's actions based on culture, but he was a weasel.

It was day two of the firebombing of Tokyo.

It's extremely difficult not to be morally troubled by this action.  There are military justifications of it, but by and large, it was a monstrous attack upon a civilian population right down to the infant level.  It survives as a reminder that even in World War Two, in which the Allies held hte moral high ground, not all Allied actions were morally licit.

In our own day, in which we have a President who stands by as rockets rain down on a civilian population, and in which that same President sat a war out due to shin splints, it rains buckets of blood on our own  heads.

The Australians landed at Wide Bay, Papua New Guinea.

Smiling Albert Field Marshal Kesselring arrivee from Italy to take command of the German armies in the west.

The Germans withdrew from from the pocket west of the Rhine between Wesel and Xanten in the face of British and Canadian pressure.

The German offensive around Lake Balatron began to encounter heavy Rad Army resistance..

The U-275 struck a mine and was sunk off of East Sussex.  The U-681 was sunk off of the Isles of Scilly by a U.S Navy B-24.

FDR involved Spanish representatives with their hands out no American aid will be forthcoming so long as the Franco dictatorship continued.

Good for FDR.

Today, King Donny would probably be giving warm smooches to Francoist delegates.

Last edition:

Friday, March 9, 1945. Firebombing Japan (Operation Meetinghouse). Japanese end French rule in Indochina (Operation Bright Moon)

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, French Indochina, Italian Social Republic, law, Mussolini, Operation Bright Moon, Operation Meetinghouse, The Great Tokyo Air Raid, Tokyo Japan, U.S. Air Force, War Crimes

Thursday, February 22, 1725. A burial at Tumacácori

En veinte y dos de febrero de mil setecientos y veinte y cinco años, como Teniente de Cura de éste Presidio, enterré de cruz baja a Diego, indio parvulo de nación Apache, de cuenta de Juan Ruis, soldado, y por ser así lo firmé en dicho día ut supra.

 Bachiller Thomas Anttonio Bezerra Nietto (rúbrica)

It was coincidentally the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter.

Last edition:

Thursday, February 8, 1725. The death of Pyotr Alexeevich Romanov.

Labels: 1720s, 1725, Frederick the Great, Monarchy, Peter the Great, Prussia, Russia

Saturday, February 3, 1945. When you see those photos of a Red Army sergeant raising the Soviet flag over Berlin, and the city looks wrecked, it wasn't actually the ground combat that caused that.

Berlin sustained the heaviest bombing raid upon it during World War Two when 1,500 USAAF bombers dropped over 2,000 tons of bombs on the city.f

Bombing would destroy large section of the city.  By the time the Red Army took it, it was already in ruins.

One of the casualties of the raid was the despicable Nazi judge Karl Roland Freisler.

US and French units took Colmar.

 "American infantrymen of the 2nd Infantry Division advance through fog into the town of Schoneseiffen, Germany, past an enemy antiaircraft gun abandoned when the Germans retreated. 3 February, 1945. 2nd Infantry Division. Photographer: T/4 L. B. Moran, 165th Signal Photo Co."  These soldiers are wearing L. L. Bean Maine Hunting Shoes, which were oddly called "shoe packs" by many people of this era.

The Red Army took Landsberg and Bertenstein.

The Battle of Manila commenced with a flying column of the 1st Cavalry Division reaching the city.  The US conducted an airborne drop in the Tagaytay Ridge region.

"Arriving in Rome, in their Special Service bus are the feminine members of the cast of "Pardon Me", a new USO musical show which will open soon at the U.S. Army Rest Center and the Barberini Theater in Rome. 3 February, 1945. Photographer: Kleinerman, 3131st Signal Service Co."

The weekend magazines, which are largely still subject to the incredibly long US copyright protection laws, noted on its cover that the struggle against Franco was ongoing, demonstrating how by this point Franco was clearly associated with the Axis.

Last edition:

Friday, February 2, 1945. Malta concludes, FDR and Churchill depart for Yalta. German murders.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Auschwitz, Burma, German Resistance Movements, Heroes, July 20 Plot, Malta Conference, Merrill's Maurauders, The Holocaust, Vistula–Oder Offensive, World War Two, Yalta Conference

Wednesday, January 11, 1775. Francis Salvador takes his seat.

Francis Salvador, a Sephardic Jew born into that community in London, and an emigrant to South Carolina, took his seat in that colonies Provincial Congress, making him the first Jewish elected official in North America.

Coat of arms of Francis Salvador.

He was killed in action in the American Revolution in 1776.

Interestingly, Salvador means "savior" or "salvation" in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese and is associated with Catholicism.

Last edition:

Thursday, December 22, 1724. The Greenwich Tea Party

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, Intolerable Acts, New Jersey, Tea

Tuesday, December 29, 1874. King Alfonso XII of Spain.

The reign of Alfonso XII of Spain began following the Pronunciamiento de Sagunto of December 29, 1874, ending the First Spanish Republic.

Last edition:

Friday, December 18, 1874. Congress received King Kalakaua.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, 43d Congress, Hawaii, Monarchy

Tuesday, December 16, 1924. Looking back.

The Spanish confiscation (Desamortización española) law, authorizing the government of Spain to steal the property and lands of the Catholic Church, a popular enlightenment and Reformation despoliation that happened in many places, was repealed. 

The barbarity had been in place since 1766.

Amongst other things, the law resulted in millions of acres of forest falling into private hands, being deforested, with the cost of reforestation exceeding the value of their sales.  The confiscations of the 19th Century were one of the biggest environmental disasters in Iberian history.

The Supreme Court of Hungary confiscated the property of former president Mihály Károlyi for high treason. He had been convicted of negotiating with Italy in 1915 to keep the Italians out of World War One in exchange for Austrian territory, and for allowing a communist revolution to happen in 1919 by deserting his position.

Last edition:

Saturday, December 13, 1924. Albanian invasion.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Albania, Art, Yugoslavia

Tuesday, December 6, 1774. Powers of the Crown.

Massachusetts was holding a provincial congress.

King Carlos III of Spain issued a royal order forbidding hunting and fishing in the forest of Balsain, which was reserved for royal amusement.

Sounds familiar.

Last edition:

Friday, November 18, 1774. Ellis and his island.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, Colonial North America, Ellis Island, Food, New York, restaurants and bars

Sunday, September 7, 1924. Infernos.

Released on this day in 1924.

A different type of inferno had broken out on Casper Mountain.

Spanish dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera issued a manifesto to the army appealing for an extension of his emergency powers in which he stated:  "One year is too short a time to attempt to carry out the work which lay before the directorio when we assumed power."  He'd remain in power until 1930, by which time he'd lost support of the king, and the military, the latter of which had never fully backed him.

Last edition:

Saturday, September 6, 1924. Putting down in Boston.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Art, Boston Massachusetts, Calvin Coolidge, Education, First Around The World Flight

"Communism" in American politics.

Just recently the Trumpist have taken up calling Kamala Harris a "Communist".

What horse shit.

Calling right wing politicians "fascists" is an old slander, dating back at least to the 1960s.  It's overuse has now lead to the problem that when some of the right are genuinely approaching being fascistic, the slur has lost part of its meaning, compounded by the fact that a lot of the people who use it, even seriously, don't really know what it means.

The US of course fought a fascist power during the Second World War, Italy, and bombed a second arguably fascist power, Romania.  Germany, quite frankly, probably doesn't really qualify as fascist during the war, but something else.  Vichy France and Francoist Spain had fascist elements, but probably can't really qualify as fascist. That doesn't make any of those powers nifty, but rather it demonstrates the problem of the sloppy use of words.

Since Barack Obama, those on the right have been busy doing it.  Obama wasn't a "Marxist", as some on the right like to claim, and Harris isn't a Communist. But now some followers on the Trumpist right seriously believe that Harris is really a Communist.

That is in part because they have no idea what Communism is.

I hear this all the time. The government will propose regulating something, for example, and people will decry that as "Communist".  It isn't.  It is't Socialism either.  Simply favoring government action or espousing "progressive" views isn't either of those things.

And regarding Socialism, there's big elements of Socialism that many people on the right are perfectly fine with.  Like state funded highways?  Well, you are dirty Socialist, maybe a Communist even.

Thursday, August 11, 1774. Sighting of Mount Olympus.

The Spanish ship Santiago, commanded by Juan Perez, sailed past the future state of Washington and sighted Mt. Olympus, which they named "Cerro Nevada de Santa Rosalia."

This was the first known European exploration of the Pacific Northwest.

Last edition:

August 10, 1774. Illegal meeting.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, Georgia

Friday, August 6, 1824. Battle of Junin

Simón Bolívar and  his forces defeated the Royalist at the Battle of Junin, basically assuring independence for Peru.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 4, 1824. The US recognizes the Federation of Central American States.

Labels: 1820s, 1824, Central America, Costa Rica, Diplomacy, El Salvador, Federation of Central American States, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, United States

Tuesday, May 2, 1944. Sensing a change.

As true now, as then.

The Second Battle of Târgu Frumos began in Romania, which would provide another example of the Red Army not doing well in its Romanian campaigns at this point in the war.

A Swordfish sank a second German submarine, the U-674, in consecutive days, in the Arctic.

The USS Parrott collided with the John Morton at Norfolk, Virginia and was severely damaged. It was never repaired.

Span stopped exporting tungsten to Germany under Allied pressure, a move that was risky given the German proclivity for invading allies that attempted to pack out of association with them.

In perhaps an even riskier move, the management of the Aubert and Duval steel works at Ancizes, France shut the plant down in cooperation with the French Resistance.

Or was it that it was obvious in France, and Spain, that the Germans would soon be leaving?

Last prior edition:

Monday, May 1, 1944. Unmet expectations.

1940s, 1944, boats and ships, Caroline Islands, Dwight Eisenhower, George S. Patton, Greece, Greek Partisans, Office of Strategic Services, Operation Overlord, Special Operations Executive, World War Two

Blog Mirror: ‘In the US they think we’re communists!’ The 70,000 workers showing the world another way to earn a living

 ‘In the US they think we’re communists!’ The 70,000 workers showing the world another way to earn a living

2023 Elections In Other Countries.

May 15, 2023

Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has governed the country for twenty years, is headed into a runoff election against Kemal Kilicdaroglu, having failed to secure 50% of the vote.

May 22, 2023

Ulster

Sinn Fein made big gains in local election in Northern Ireland this past week.

May 29, 2023

Turkey

Erdoğan unfortunately won the run-off election in Turkey.

May 30, 20223

Alberta, Canada

Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party won provincial elections yesterday. 

July 23, 2023

Spain exhibited cheating the prophet in that, contrary to predictions, there were no clear winners in its election.

The With center-right Christian Democratic Party, Partido Popular (PP) came in first, winning 136 seats. The far-right Vox party, which was predicted to be a kingmaker, won 33 seats and it might through in with the PP.  The ruling center-left Socialist party won 122 seats, with likely coalition partner Sumar at 31 seats.

But there's no telling, really.  The Socialist Party is in power. . . it might throw in with the PP.

So, it's hard to tell who won.  They're working out the deals now, but chances are that whoever won will not be in power long.

October 16, 2023

Left and center left parties took   248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of the Polish parliament, compared to the 200 taken by the governing Law and Justice party and 12 by a right wing partner.  

The government of Poland will accordingly change in the first European defeat of the king of right wing populism/National Conservatism that most notably emerged in Hungary and recently can be imperfectly argued to have gained ground in several other European countries.  It had made statements about openly following Hungary's lead.  As recently as 2019 it was gaining ground.

And it might still be.  Parliamentary politics are not the same as republican politics. The Law and Justice Party still was the largest vote getter, and the number of votes for it increased.  Effectively, it has 212 seats to 248 seats held by various other opposition parties that cross a political spectrum.  A government still has to be assembled and it will remain a major voice in the parliament.

November 23, 2023

Argentina.

Difficult to describe, socially conservative, a member of the Austrian school of economics, and sort of a libertarian, Javier Milei won the Argentine presidential election.

This election is so sui generis that it's hard to put in an international context.  The temptation is always to view these sorts of shifts as to the hard right, or hard left, and this would sort of be hard right, but it also reflects a rejection of Argentina's political history going back for 90 years or so.

The Netherlands.

The Dutch Party for Freedom made big election gains in the Dutch parliament, signaling a large leap to the far right in the country. While being expressed as a shock, this has been going on in the Netherlands for some time.

This victory makes it possible that its leader, Geert Wilders, could become prime minister of the country, but only if he is able to put together a coalition with other right wing and center right wing parties.

The party is strongly anti immigrant and wishes to leave the European Union.