Saturday, May 12, 1945. Shortened futures.

The United Nations War Crimes Commission indicted Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels and Fritz Sauckel on eight counts.  The NKVD didn't wait for trials in all instances, and on this day executed SS commander and war criminal Richard Thomalla.

The US transferred captured Russian turned collaborator Gen. Vlasov over to Soviet custody.

The 7th Army captured the Japanese ambassador to Germany and his staff.

The 8th Army took the Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao.

Hard fighting occurred on Okinawa.

The U-858 became the first U-boat to surrender post war.  It would be escorted to Cap May, New Jersey which it entered flying the black flag of surrender.

Lend Lease shipments to the USSR were suspended.

The Security Committee at the United Nations Conference on International Organization agreed on an eleven-member security council, with non-permanent members chosen by the General Assembly.

Last edition:

Friday, May 11, 1945. The USS Bunker Hill.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Aegean Sea, Australian Army, China, Imperial Japanese Army, Kamikaze, New Guinea, Okinawa, Operation Ten-Go, The Battle of West Hunan (湘西會戰), U.S. Navy, World War Two, Yugoslavia

Wednesday, April 16, 1975. Ford denounces Congress.

President Ford publicly denounced Congress for preventing his administration from keeping America’s commitments to Vietnam.

Alexander Shelepin, at one time considered a successor to Leonid Brezhnev as leader of the Soviet Union, was removed from his position on the 16 member Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party as part of Politburo palace intrigue.

He was just back from a trip to the UK, which he cut short due to protests that he blamed on Zionist, even though the protests had nothing to do with Israel and likely didn't contain too many Jewish protesters.  His visit was over Passover, which may be what formed the odd association in his mind.

Egyptian Air Force Marshal Hosni Mubarak was named as Vice President of Egypt by President Anwar Sadat.

Last edition:

Tuesday, April 15, 1975. Xuân Lộc,

Labels: Battle of Xuân Lộc, Death, Portugal, press, Socialism, television, Vietnam War, Walter Cronkite

Easter Sunday, April 12, 1925. Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsy (Pyotr Fyodorovich Polyansky) installed as the Patriarch of Moscow.

Portable radio?

Radio in the Canadian Rockies, 1925

Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsy (Pyotr Fyodorovich Polyansky) was installed as the Patriarch of Moscow on the same day as the funeral for his predecessor, Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow. 

Peter had been identified in Tikhon's will as one of his three potential successors.  He was selected by the council of 59 bishops because "the first two were already in prison."  Peter would later suffer imprisonment himself and was executed by the barbarous Soviet state in 1937.  The Russian Orthodox Church has declared him to be a Hieromartyr.

Tikhon's funeral in Moscow was the last major public Russian Orthodox Church event and the last major religious event in the Soviet Union for over 60 years.

It should be noted that in the Orthodox East, it was not Easter Sunday, like it was in the west.  Easter for the Orthodox would fall on April 19.

France, following the UK's example, agreed that its indemnities for the Boxer Rebellion should go to railway construction in China.

Last edition:

Holy Saturday, April 11, 1925. East of the Sun, West of the Moon.Labels: 1920s, 1925, Central Asia, Easter, Exploration, Holy Week, hunting, James Simpson-Roosevelt Asiatic Expedition, Roosevelt

Thursday, April 5, 1945. Rebellion of the Georgian Legion.

The Soviet Union renounced the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact of April 1941.

The Georgian Legion, a German foreign legion, rose up against the Germans on the Dutch island of Texel.  The battle would result in large-scale casualties incurred until the end of the war by both sides.

The uprising is regarded as heroic, but the late war uprising was naive.  It counted on an Allied landing which did not occur, and it presumed favorable post war treatment by the Allies.

Arrested officers.

African American members of the 477th Bombardment Group attempted to integrate an all-white officers' club at Freeman Field, Indiana, resulting in the predictable scuffles and arrests although the ultimate punishment was minor.

Gen. MacArthur was appointed control of all Army forces in the Pacific and Adm. Nimitz all naval forces.  The move was made in anticipation of the Invasion of Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso (小磯 國昭), frustrated in his attempts to be involved in military decisions, resigned.

The U-242 sank in St. George's Channel after hitting a mine.

Last edition

Wednesday, April 4, 1945. The Third Army liberates the Ohrdruf Subcamp.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Battle of Buchhof, Battle of Kassel, British Army, Buchenwald, Canadian Army, Conentration Camps, Okinawa, Red Army, The Holocaust, World War Two

Monday, March 19, 1945. The Nero Decree.

Hitler issued the Nero Decree, which stated:

I. Hitler’s Order of March 19, 1945

RE: Destruction Measures within Reich Territory

Our nation’s struggle for existence forces us to utilize all means, even within Reich territory, to weaken the fighting power of our enemy and to prevent further advances. Any opportunity to inflict lasting damage on the striking power of the enemy must be taken advantage of. It is a mistake to believe that undestroyed or only temporarily paralyzed traffic, communications, industrial, and supply installations will be useful to us again after the recapture of lost territories. During his retreat, the enemy will leave behind only scorched earth and will abandon all concern for the population.

I therefore command

1. All military traffic, communications, industrial and supply installations as well as objects within Reich territory that might be used by the enemy in the continuation of his fight, either now or later, are to be destroyed.

2. It is the responsibility of the military command posts to execute this order to destroy all military objects, including traffic and communications installations.

The Gauleiters and Commissioners for Reich Defense are responsible for destroying the industrial and supply installations, as well as of other objects of valuable; the troops must give the Gauleiters and Commissioners for Reich Defense the assistance they need to carry out this task.

3. This command is to be transmitted to all troop commanders as promptly as possible; orders to the contrary are null and void.

Adolf Hitler

Albert Speer and various officers of the Wehrmacht conspired against its implementation.

Ostensibly a war measure, at this point in the war Hitler was lashing out against the German people themselves, whom he was punishing for, in his mind, having failed him by losing the war, something he now clearly knew had occurred.  

Also at this point, internal German attitudes were rapidly changing.  While still fighting in the field, German troops were now surrendering in large numbers to the Western Allies, rather than die in the final weeks of the war.  German commanders, including some in the SS, were seeking to make back deals with the Western Allies, unsuccessfully, and without Hitler's knowledge.  Some were preparing for their own post war futures.  Members of the German government and military were starting to conspire to save what they could.

Again, there's a lesson here.  Hitler was a populist politician who had risen to power backed by lies.  His policies inevitably lead Germany to shame and ruin.  Rather than resign when things turned bad, he hung on, supported by fanatic supporters, and in the end sought to destroy the very country he claimed to represent.

All U-boats in the Baltic were transferred to the west.

The British Indian Army took Mandalay.

The USS Franklin was hit by kamikazes and badly damaged.

724 men were killed and 265 wounded.   Captain Gehres regarded those who had jumped into the sea during the event as having acted improperly, leading to post incident tension and ultimately his relief. She'd return to service and was ultimately stricken in 1964.

The Soviet Union notified Turkey that their non aggression pact would not be renewed after it expired in November.  It demanded territorial concessions from Turkey, which Turkey rejected.

Last edition:

Sunday, March 18, 1945 Landings in the Philippines, the largest air attack on Berlin.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Battle of the Visayas, Berlin Germany, Eastern Front, German Luftwaffe, Japan, Operation Victor I, Philippines, U.S. Air Force

Tuesday, March 6, 1945. Soviet murders in Poland and Eagle 7.

Today in World War II History—March 6, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—Mar. 6, 1945: US First Army takes Cologne (Köln), Germany; in retreat, Germans destroy the Hohenzollern Bridge.

Operation Spring Awakening was launched by the Germans.  It would be their last major offensive.  An Eastern Front offensive, oil reserves were the target.

King Michael of Romania installed Petru Groza as Prime Minister of Romania due to Soviet pressure.

The Soviets began to arrest or kill anyone associated with the Polish Government In Exile or the Polish Home Army.

The famous tank battle in Cologne between a German Panther and a M26 named Eagle 7 took place.  It's one of the best known American v. German tank battles of World War Two, and ironically took place in a large urban environment.

The battle was, unusually, completely filmed.

The crew of Eagle 7, after the battle.

"The crew of an M26 Pershing tank, nicknamed "Eagle 7," of the 3rd Armored Division pose for a photo after their famous victorious tank duel against a German Panther tank in Cologne, Germany, March 1945.  Commander - Sgt. Robert M. Earley of Fountain, Minn Gunner - Cpl. Clarence E. Smoyer of Lehighton, Pa Loader - Pvt. John S. Deriggi of Scranton, Pa Driver - T/5 William D. McVey of Jackson, Mich Assistant Driver - Pvt. Homer L. Davis of Morehead, Ky.

The Chinese 1st Army took Lashio, Burma.

"The crew of the Ninth U.S. Army Sherman tank who escaped injury though their vehicle was hit by four German 88 shells in action during the capture of Hottorf, near Erkelenz, Germany. L to R: Tec 5 John Helbo, driver, South Plainfield, N.J.; Tec 5 William B. Paff, cannoneer, Morrisville, Pa.; Sgt. Matteo Fortino, tank commander, Bronx, New York; Pfc. Leo V. Digangi, gunner, Jackson Heights, Long Island, N.Y.; and Pfc. Steve Raguseo, assistant driver. 6 March, 1945."

Last edition:

Monday, March 5, 1945. Conscripting the mid teens.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, children, Christianity, German Wehrmacht, Germany, religion, Teenagers

Saturday, February 28, 1925. Earthquake in Quebec.

A  6.2 struck Quebec with an epicenter in the St. Lawrence River near La Malbaie.  It caused damage in the areas of Charlevoix and Kamouraska, but no major casualties.

The Central Executive Committee and Council of People's Commissars of the Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic voted to prohibit Jewish resettlement in Crimea, which the USSR would ignore.

The Saturday magazines were out.

The Country Gentleman had a scene that would have been familiar to much of the globe's population living in colder regions, but which is largely unfamiliar to most now, lighting a wood burning stove.  I have a short description of this in my currently unfinished novel.

Last edition:

Friday February 27, 1925. The National Socialist Freedom Party.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Adolf Hitler, Calvin Coolidge, German Weimar Republic, Nazi Party

Thursday, February 12, 1925. Arbitration and Execution.

President Coolidge signed the Federal Arbitration Act into law, allowing contractual facilitation of resolving private disputes through arbitration.

For some reason, I don't see the GOP supporting that today.

Imperial Russia's last Prime Minister Nikolai Golitsyn was arrested by the Soviets.  He'd be tried and, of course, executed.

German miners in Dortmund stopped work in sympathy with the victims of the Stein mine explosion and a protest against dangerous mining conditions.

The Belgian airline SABENA (Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne) started the air travel between Europe and Central Africa, the first airline to do so.  

Last edition:

Tuesday, February 10, 1925. A concordat.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Canada, Catholic, Diplomacy, fishing, Poland, United States

Tuesday, January 28, 1975. Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, premiered.

Japan and the Soviet Union signed an agreement for a joint venture of drilling for oil on Sakhalin Island in which Japan was to receive "a significant discount on half of the pumped oil" for ten years in exchange for funding the project.

Last edition:

Thursday, January 23, 1975. Failed tariff.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Economics, Gerald Ford, Petroleum, Taxes, television

Monday, January 26, 1925. Actors and Actresses born, Trotsky gets a pink slip.

 The great American actor Paul Newman was born.

And so was actress Joan Leslie.

Trotsky was formally booted from all of his military commands.

Last edition:

Sunday, January 25, 1925. Careless storage.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Ancient Egypt, Archeology, Norway, Wyoming Freedom Caucus

Tuesday, January 20, 1925. The Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention

The Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention between the Soviet Union and Japan was signed.  It provided:

JAPAN and the UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS, desiring to promote relations of good neighbourhood and economic co-operation between them, have resolved to conclude a Convention embodying basic rules in regulation of such relations and, to that end, have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say :

His MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN :

Kenkichi YOSHIZAWA, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of China, Jushii, a member of the First Class of the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure ;

THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS :

Lev Mikhailovitch KARAKHAN, Ambassador to the Republic of China ;

Who, having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed as follows :

Article I.

The High Contracting Parties agree that, with the coming into force of the present Convention, diplomatic and consular relations shall be established between them.

Article II.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics agrees that the Treaty of Portsmouth of September 5th, 1905, shall remain in full force.

It is agreed that the Treaties, Conventions and Agreements, other than the said Treaty of Portsmouth, which were concluded between Japan and Russia prior to November 7, 1917, shall be re-examined at a Conference to be subsequently held between the Governments of the High Contracting Parties and are liable to revision or annulment as altered circumstances may require.

Article III.

The Governments of the High Contracting Parties agree that, upon the coming into force of the present Convention, they shall proceed to the revision of the Fishery Convention of 1907, taking into consideration such changes as may have taken place in the general conditions since the conclusion of the said Fishery Convention.

Pending the conclusion of a convention so revised, the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shall maintain the practices established in 1924 relating to the lease of fishery lots to Japanese subjects.

Article IV.

The Governments of the High Contracting Parties agree that, upon the coming into force of the present Convention, they shall proceed to the conclusion of a treaty of commerce and navigation in conformity with the principles hereunder mentioned, and that, pending the conclusion of such a treaty, the general intercourse between the two countries shall be regulated by those principles.

　　　　　　　　　(1) The subjects or citizens of each of the High Contracting Parties shall, in accordance with the laws of the country : (a) have full liberty to enter, travel and reside in the territories of the other, and (b) enjoy constant and complete protection for the safety of their lives and property.

　　　　　　　　　(2) Each of the High Contracting Parties shall, in accordance with the laws of the country, accord in its territories to the subjects or citizens of the other, to the widest possible extent and on condition of reciprocity, the right of private ownership and the liberty to engage in commerce, navigation, industries and other peaceful pursuits.

　　　　　　　　　(3) Without prejudice to the right of each Contracting Party to regulate by its own laws the system of international trade in that country, it is understood that neither Contracting Party shall apply in discrimination against the other Party any measures of prohibition, restriction or impost which may serve to hamper the growth of the intercourse, economic or otherwise, between the two countries, it being the intention of both Parties to place the commerce, navigation and industry of each country, as far as possible, on the footing of the most-favoured nation.

The Governments of the High Contracting Parties further agree that they shall enter into negotiations, from time to tune as circumstances may require, for the conclusion of special arrangements relative to commerce and navigation to adjust and to promote economic relations between the two countries.

Article V.

The High Contracting Parties solemnly affirm their desire and intention to live in peace and amity with each other, scrupulously to respect the undoubted right of a State to order its own life within its own jurisdiction in its own way, to refrain and restrain all persons in any govern mental service for them, and all organisations in receipt of any financial assistance from them, from any act overt or covert liable in any way whatever to endanger the order and security in any part of the territories of Japan or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

It is further agreed that neither Contracting Party shall permit the presence in the territories under its jurisdiction :

　　　　　(a) of organisations or groups pretending to be the Government for any part of the territories of the other Party, or

　　　　　　(b) of alien subjects or citizens who may be found to be actually carrying on political activities for such organisations or groups.

Article VI.

In the interest of promoting economic relations between the two countries, and taking into consideration the needs of Japan with regard to natural resources, the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is willing to grant to Japanese subjects, companies and associations concessions for the exploitation of minerals, forests and other natural resources in all the territories of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Article VII.

The present Convention shall be ratified.

Such ratification by each of the High Contracting Parties shall, with as little delay as possible, be communicated, through its diplomatic representative at Peking, to the Government of the other Party, and from the date of the later of such communications this Convention shall come into full force.

The formal exchange of the ratifications shall take place at Peking as soon as possible.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention, in duplicate in the English language, and have affixed thereto their seals.

Done at Peking, this twentieth day of January, One thousand nine-hundred and twenty-five.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　(L. S.) K. YOSHIZAWA.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　(L. S.) L. KARAKHAN.

Japan and Russia, and then Japan and the Soviet Union, never got along well.  They had fought the Russo Japanese War some twenty years prior, and Japan had heavily intervened in Siberia during the Russian Civil War.  There remains tension between them over the the Sakhalin.

Last edition:

I had no idea Sanka was this old.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Blog Mirror, Coffee, Daily Living, Food

Thursday, January 15, 1925. Trotsky gets canned, Ross addresses the legislature.

Stalin fired Trotsky as head of the Soviet military.

Oh oh. . . 

Frankly, it made sense.  Trotsky has bizarrely retained cult of personality due to the James Dean Effect, but he was more radical in terms of the forced expansion of Communism than Stalin was, and his recent military schemes had been failures.  Moreover, leaving him in power in any sense was ultimately going to lead to a power struggle between him, and Stalin.

Nellie Tayloe Ross addressed the legislature.

Last edition:

Monday, January 12, 1925. Ordering Thompsons.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Chicago Illinois, Crime, Illinois (Chicago), Prohibition, The Roaring Twenties, Weapons

Friday, January 3, 1975. The Jackson-Vanik Amendment

The Jackson-Vanik amendment was signed into law.  The amendment was to the Trade Act of 1974 and impacted countries with non market (socialist) countries which restricted freedom of Jewish emigration and other human rights.  It stated:

(a) Actions of nonmarket economy countries making them ineligible for normal trade relations, programs of credits, credit guarantees, or investment guarantees, or commercial agreements To assure the continued dedication of the United States to fundamental human rights, and notwithstanding any other provision of law, on or after January 3, 1975, products from any nonmarket economy country shall not be eligible to receive nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations), such country shall not participate in any program of the Government of the United States which extends credits or credit guarantees or investment guarantees, directly or indirectly, and the President of the United States shall not conclude any commercial agreement with any such country, during the period beginning with the date on which the President determines that such country -

(1) denies its citizens the right or opportunity to emigrate;

(2) imposes more than a nominal tax on emigration or on the visas or other documents required for emigration, for any purpose or cause whatsoever; or

(3) imposes more than a nominal tax, levy, fine, fee, or other charge on any citizen as a consequence of the desire of such citizen to emigrate to the country of his choice,

and ending on the date on which the President determines that such country is no longer in violation of paragraph (1), (2), or (3).

The Soviet Union would retaliate by increasing military aid to North Vietnam.

250 square miles of the Grand Canyon National Monument was deeded back to the Havasupai people, while enlarging the part by 687,000 acres.

Danica McKellar, who became famous as  child and then teenage actress for her role in The Wonder Years, was born. The series was set in the years 1968 to 1973 and ran from 1988 to 1993.

Last edition:

Wednesday, January 1, 1975. Cutting off Phnom Penh.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Cambodia, Cambodian Civil War, Khemr Rouge, law, United Kingdom, Watergate

Boxing Day, 1924. Boundaries.

President Coolidge gave a press conference on the boundary dispute between Chile and Peru.

The Soviets disavowed Imperial Russian debts.

Last edition:

Saturday, December 20, 1924. Hitler released from prison.

Labels: 1920s, 1923, 1924, Adolf Hitler, Art, Austria, Beer Hall Putsch, Christmas, German Weimar Republic, Holidays, Nazi Party

Friday, December 12, 1924. Soviet Gun Control.

The Central Executive Committee of the USSR issued a decree prohibiting the possession of almost all firearms, with the exception of shotguns for hunting, although much hunting in much of Russia, which was fairly common, was in fact done with rifles by necessity.

Following 1933, the penalty for violation was five years imprisonment.  In 1935 knives were added to the list.

During World War Two the ban was expanded with all firearms being required to be turned over to the state, although following the war, the USSR was awash in captured German weapons.  

Presently, rifles may be registered for hunting.

The USSR/Russia we might note, shares this status with Ireland, in being a country whose freedom, if you will, was brought about through the private exercise of arms, that then went around banning them.  In the USSR's case it isn't too surprising, as armed resistance against the Communists continued on into the 1930s in some areas and revived during the Second World War, to continue on until nearly 1950 after the war.

Truly, there's a lesson here.

1931 vintage Soviet hunting travel poster. Russia had a very vibrant hunting culture until the Communists came in.  Knowing that an armed populace would overthrow them sooner or latter, the Communists banned possession of rifles and pistols, which the Czar's government had not.  This poster shows a hunter taking on a grizzly bear with a double barreled shotgun, which might well end up in a bad result for the hunter.  Based upon the travels of a fellow I once knew who had hunted in the late stage USSR, later on you could hunt with a rifle, but it was a crappy rifle that belonged to the government you had to check out.  Interestingly, shotguns remain the one firearm produced in Russia which are somewhat good, although they are peculiar.

The first issue of the weekly Saudi Arabian newspaper Umm Al-Qura, the official newspaper of the Saudi government, was published

Last edition.

Wednesday, December 10, 1924. Buffalo Meat.

Labels: 1920s, 1923, 1924, Food, homosexuality, Mining, Nobel Prize, Sweden, Warren G. Harding, Yellowstone National Park