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

Friday. March 26, 1875. Violence in Texas.

Syngman Rhee or Lee Seungman (이승만) was born in Whanghai Province to Rhee Kyong-sun, a member of the aristocratic Yangban family.

Elected by the South Korean parliament in 1948, he'd assume dictatorial powers and govern the country until forced out of the country following student unrest in 1960.  He lived in Hawaii thereafter until his death in 1965.

In certain ways, Rhee symbolized a strategy that both Democratic and Republican administrations employed during the Cold War of supporting right wing autocrats in the belief that their countries would evolve into democracies.  In the case of South Korea, they were right.

Last edition:

Tuesday, March 23, 1875. The Marianas Trench discovered.

Labels: 1870s, 1875, Geology, Marianas, Marianas Trench, Pacific Ocean, Royal Navy, Science

M60. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

The M60 was the great U.S. tank of the Cold War, and continues to be a great tank to this day.

Effectively an improved variant of the M48, so much so that in some armies it would be regarded as a variant of the prior tank, the M60 took all of the improvements to the M26 line of tanks over the decades and more or less perfected them.  Indeed, some of the improvements, such as the 105mm gun, were retrofitted to the prior M48.

M60s remain in use around the world in upgraded versions.

M48 Patton. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

The fourth tank to descend from the M26 Pershing, including the Pershing, the M48 was a long serving and very successful U.S. tank. It entered service in the mid 1952 in the U.S. Army, and it is still in service with various nations, including South Korea and Taiwan.

The M48 was the second of the US Cold War tanks to actually see action in a Cold War war, the M46 being the first in Korea, with the M48 seeing extensive use by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps in Vietnam.  The tank was already a second class tank in the US military by that time, the M60 having come on, but it was a perfectly modern tank and more than able to take on anything in theater.  The tank was later upgraded to near M60 capabilities with the change from a 90mm gun to a 105.

The M48 entered US service in 1952, and was last used in the National Guard in 1987.

Related Threads:

The M26 and its children

Last edition:

M47 Tank. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1940s, 1949, 1950s, 1953, 1955, Armor, Army, Korean War, National Museum of Military Vehicles, The Cold War, Tracked vehicles, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

M47 Tank. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

The tank in the photograph above is a M47 "Patton" tank, the successor to the M26 Pershing.  The tank had a limited production run, entering service in 1951 during the Korean War, and being declared a limited standard in 1955.  Production ceased in 1953, and the tank was deployed to Korea in small numbers for testing.

The tank was the third tank to be based on the M26, including the M26. The second was the M46 "Patton", which was an upgraded M26 which was used during the Korean War.

A M5 Stuart light tank is in the background.

Related threads:

The M26 and its children

Last edition:

Japanese Type 7 305mm gun, National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1930s, 1940s, Artillery, Imperial Japanese Army, Japan, National Museum of Military Vehicles, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

M103 Heavy Tank, National Museum of Military Vehicles.

A M103 Heavy Tank.

A Cold War giant, the M103 served from 1957 to 1974, with its final years being used by the Marine Corps.  By the time it entered service, the M60b was already in use and the Army regarded the heavy M103 as obsolescent.

While very impressive in size, the tank was too big even for its own era, and plagued with various problems accordingly.

This one must be a rebuilding project.  It's the second one I've seen, the other being at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center / USAHEC

Last edition:

Mortars. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1930s, 1940s, 1960s, U.S. Navy, Vietnam War, Weapons, World War Two

Equipment of the Vietnam War, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Dubois Wyoming.

A reader might feel that today must be Vietnam War Day here on this blog, and not without good reason.

For one thing, we've started what will undoubtedly be a series of posts of the closing months of the Vietnam War, with this daily entry:

Monday, January 6, 1975. The Vietnam War resumes in earnest.

For another, I bumped up this old item, or reran it:

Today In Wyoming's History: Sidebar: The Vietnam War In Wyoming

And now, of course, the following from my visit to the National Museum of Military Vehilces.

UH-1 "Huey", a helicopter synonymous with the Vietnam War.

Hueys came into use in a major way during the war, and remained in use for many years thereafter. They were still the predominant helicopter when I was a National Guardsmen in the 1980s, and even now I'll occasionally see an Air Force example in Cheyenne in operation.

They remain one of the greatest helicopters of all time.

I wasn't even aware of the M-422's existence as a actual service item.  I've seen them on a television series from the 60s and assumed they were just a studio item substituting for a real Jeep.  Offhand, I think that was from The Lieutenant which only had one run, that being in 1963.

Gun trucks, depicted here, were a Vietnam War thing adn were produced in theater.  

The "Gamma Goat", an incredibly unstable vehicle.  One of the guys I was in basic training with was latter killed in a Gamma Goat roll over.

The M151 Jeep.  Also very unstable, but long serving.  It was the last 1/4 general purpose truck of the US Army used on a widescale basis.

M109 howitzer.  I trained on one of these at Ft. Sill, where I had the "No 1" position on the gun.  A much updated version is still in service.

Last edition: 

Korean War Display, National Museum of Military Vehicles

Labels: 1950s, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 4x4, Artillery, Korean War, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Tracked vehicles, Weapons, Wyoming (Dubois), Wyoming Army National Guard