Wednesday, August 26, 1914. Tannenberg begins.

The epic Battle of Tannenberg began on the Eastern Front.

Up until it, the Imperial Russian Army had been doing well.  That was soon to change.

The Russians halted the Austro Hungarian army at Komarów

The French Army of Alsace was recalled and disbanded, ended their successful defense at Mulhouse.  The Battle of Lorraine also ended in a French victory, although an extremely costly one.

British and French forces retreated from Le Cateau to Saint Quentin.

The French Second Army prevented the Germans from advancing past Charmes.

The Germans bombed Antwerp by Zeppelin.

Last edition:

Tuesday, August 25, 1914. German murders in Belgium.

Labels: 1910, 1910s, 1911, 1914, Austro Hungarian Army, Belgium, Canadian Arctic Expedition, Emiliano Zapata, German Army, Imperial Russian Army, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Plan of Ayala, World War One

Thursday, August 26, 1909. A hostel idea.

The youth hostel movement was born when a group of hikers lead by Richard Schirrmann found shelter in a school in a thunderstorm.

Schirrmann was a teacher as well as an outdoorsman.  During World War One he served in the German Army, participating the 1915 Christmas truce, something that lingered in his area for quite some time after Christmas.  He founded the Youth Hostel Association in 1919 and founded the children's village "Staumühle" on a former military training ground near Paderborn, where my German ancestors hail from.  HE served as the President of the International Youth Hostelling Associating until the Nazis forced him to resign and put the control of the hostels under the Hitler Youth in 1936.  He rebuilt the association after the war.  He married late, in 1942, but had six children with his wife before dying in 1961 at age 87.

The SS Cartago telegraphed a report of a hurricane near the Yucatan, the first radio warning of a tropical storm.

Last edition:

Monday, August 23, 1909. Bill Bergen sets a record.

Labels: 1900s, 1909, 1940s, 1943, baseball, Sports

Wednesday, August 26, 1874. Lynching black suspects and violating the Second Amendment.

A mob of white men broke into the Gibson County, Tennessee Jail, in Treton and lynched sixteen black prisoners.

They had been accused of shooting two white men.

The following day the Mayor of Trenton ordered the firearms of all of Trenton's black residents confiscated, under pain of death, a clearly unconstitutional action.

Things like this, and the event of the day prior, help demonstrate the value of the Second Amendment.

The National Rifle Association, fwiw, was formed just three years prior, but at that time principally engaged in promoting marksmanship.

Last edition:

Tuesday, August 25, 1874. The Coushatta Massacre.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Democratic Party, It was because of the Civil War, Louisiana, Racism, Reconstruction, Republican Party, Terrorism

Friday, August 26, 1774. The Suffolk County Convention of the Committees of Correspondence

Community leaders in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, which included Boston, gathered in the Suffolk County Convention of the Committees of Correspondence to discuss the situation facing the colonies and the Intolerable Acts.

Last edition:

Thursday, August 25, 1774. North Carolina's First Provincial Congress.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, North Carolina

National Park Service Day.

 

Commorating the creation of the National Park Service in 1916, whereby the NPS relieved the United States Army, which was pretty busy with other things, of the duty of patrolling the parks (the Park Service campaign hat recalls the Army's M1911 campaign hat.

The Park Service and the parks themselves are one of the great things about the United States.  If you have nothing on the plate today, and have a park nearby, go check it out if you can, unless of course you live in Utah, in which case you can sit in side your hovel and imagine a future in your state in which all the lands have been sold to big money.

Related thread:

Today In Wyoming's History: August 25, 1916. National Park Service formed.

Labels: 1910s, 1916, Army, cavalry, Clothing, National Park Service, nature, Public Land, The Punitive Expedition, Yellowstone National Park

Friday, August 25, 1944. Paris, Versailles and Avignon liberated.

The Battle of Paris ended at 2:30 p.m. when German commander Dietrich von Choltitz surrendered the French capital against orders.

Dietrich von Choltitz with Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque and Jacques Soustelle in the M3 Scout Car.

De Gaulle arrived in the city at 4:00 p.m. to cheering crowds.

Versailles was liberated by French troops.

124 residents of  Maillé, Indre-et-Loire were murdered by the Germans in reprisal for actions by the French Resistance.

The Red Ball Express truck convoy system of emergency supply provision began and would run for 83 days.

US and French forces liberated Avignon without opposition.

The British 8th Army commenced Operation Olive in Italy.

Belgian No. 4 Troop of No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando raided Île d'Yeu, which turned out to be unoccupied.

Romania declared war on Germany.

The Germans scuttled the U-18, U-24 and U-178.  The U-667 hit a mine in the Bay of Biscay and sank.  The Z24 was sunk by Allied aircraft.  The U-1000 hit a mine off of Pilau and was damaged beyond repair.

The US prevailed in the Battle of Aitape.

The Japanese destroyer Yūnagi was sunk northeast of Cape Bojeador, Luzon by the USS Picuda.

"Coast Guardsman Kent C. Pompella, boatswain’s mate second class, displays the picturesque facial fashions of the fighting South Sea invader. On his face he sports a 10 months growth of briers and in his ears a pair of shark tooth earrings."  Pompella passed away in January 2000 at the age of 79, a resident of Cloverdale, California.  The last 20 years of his life he ran a hotel in that city, behind which he planted a large garden.  He was a commercial fisherman prior to that.  Earrings in men, it might be noted, were extremely unusual at the time.

Last edition:

Thursday, August 24, 1944. Paris Reached.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Act of 23 August, Battle for Paris, German Army, Nazi Germany, Operation Dragoon, Operation Goodwood, Operation Overlord, Romania, Romanian Army, Royal Navy, technology, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Monday, August 25, 1924. Ratifying the Dawes Plan and questionable movies.

Released on this day in 1924.  It was banned in some cities, as was the novel which it was based upon.

Chancellor Wilhelm Marx informed the Reichstag that he would ratify the London agreement whether the Reichstag approved it or not and even if it meant a downfall of the government and new elections.

The Cheyenne paper pointed out that summer was drawing to a close.

Last edition:

Saturday, August 23, 1924. Princess Petrolia. Refinery expansion in Glenrock.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, First Around The World Flight, Glenrock Wyoming, Petroleum, The roles of men and women, Women, Wyoming (Glenrock)

Tuesday, August 25, 1874. The Coushatta Massacre.

The terroristic White League attacked and killed African American farmer Thomas Floyd in the first of a series of attacks on Republican Party members and freedmen in Louisiana.  Ultimately several deaths occured, but nobody was brought to trial in spite of the arrest of 25 people.

The attacks were part of an overall effort to drive Republicans out of the state.

While it would anger some people for it to be noted, the Republican Party at the time was the liberal party in favor of expansive democracy, whereas the Democratic Party was the opposite.  Just as Louisiana's Democrats of the time regarded the Republicans as unspeakable enemies, the opposite is true today.  Likewise, as the Democratic Party was the party of the white South in 1874, the Republican Party is the same now. 

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 19, 1874. Taking back.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Executive Orders, Montana, Native Americans, U.S. Grant

Thursday, August 25, 1774. North Carolina's First Provincial Congress.

North Carolina's First Provincial Congress met in New Bern.

Last edition:

Monday, August 22, 1774. Proceedings of Freeholders in the Town of Halifax, (North Carolina) 22d August, 1774.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Intolerable Acts, North Carolina

Best Posts of the Week of August 18, 2024.

It was, quite frankly, a very bad week for Wyoming.

Early in the week, the primary election was held.

An Appeal To Heaven. The 2024 Wyoming Primary

A cat was stolen in Queens.

18-year-old bodega cat stolen in Queens

Boonie hats were given a no go at Nellis.

Blog Mirror: No boonie hats at Nellis Air Force Base, general says

Aviator statue. Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The 2024 Election, Part XXIV. Brat Girl Summer*

Thursday, August 20, 1914. Carranza enters Mexico City. The Germans enter Brussels.

The 2024 Election, Part XXV. Primary Election Day, Wyoming's real election.

Utah chose to ignore the organic act admitting it into the Union.

Utah moves to sue the US over Federal Lands.

There was bad news for GMRS repeater linking, although at least some networks are ignoring it.

No linking?

Saturday, August 22, 1914. British at Mons.

Enormous fires broke out.

A smokey morning in Central Wyoming.

The Agrarian's Lament: Where men rush and yearn.

The electorate titled towards heavily towards populism and its denialism.

The 2024 Election, Part XXVI. Touching Down

Cheyenne, Chief Yellow Calf.

Last edition:

The Best Posts of the Week of August 11, 2024.

Painted Bricks: Cheyenne, Chief Yellow Calf.

Painted Bricks: Cheyenne, Chief Yellow Calf.:  

Cheyenne, Chief Yellow Calf.

Blog Mirror: Utah goes for the ultimate public land grab

 

Utah goes for the ultimate public land grab

Thursday, August 24, 1944. Paris Reached.

US tank crossing the Seine, August 24, 1944.

The French 4th Armored Division entered Paris in the evening.

Germany closed theaters, cancelled holidays and cancelled military leave.

The First Canadian Army captured Bernay and crossed the Risle River at Nassandres.

The 51st SS-Brigade murdered 68 civilians of all ages in Buchères, France.

The 7th Army took Cannes.

The German Army Group South Ukraine line collapses with the switch in sides of Romania.

The USS Harder was sunk in Dasol Bay by the Japanese.

The U-354 and U-445 were sunk by the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy unsuccessfully tried again for the Tirpitz.

IBM's Harvard Mark I electro-mechanical computer was formally presented to Harvard University.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 23, 1944. The Act of 23 August.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Act of 23 August, Allied Powers, Battle for Paris, Battle of Numfoor, Eastern Front, French Resistance Movements, Italian partisans, Monarchy, Operation Dragoon, Romania, World War Two

Tuesday, August 24, 1824. Shipping Up To Boston with Lafayette.

 A large procession escorted Lafayette into Boston.

While there, he laid the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Memorial.

Last edition:

Saturday, August 14, 1824. Return of Lafayette.

Labels: 1820s, 1824, American Revolution, New Jersey, Personalities, United States

The Agrarian's Lament: Where men rush and yearn.

The Agrarian's Lament: Where men rush and yearn.:

Where men rush and yearn.

Men rush towards complexity; but they yearn towards simplicity. They try to be kings, but they dream of being shepherds.

G.K. Chesterton, The Moral of Stevenson

New arrival at the Camporee.

 

Around Wyoming, Thursday, August 22

Friday Farming: Ecological benefits of strategically applied livestock grazing in sagebrush communities

 

Ecological benefits of strategically applied livestock grazing in sagebrush communities

Wednesday, August 23, 1944. The Act of 23 August.

King Michael of Romania lead a coup that overthrew fascistic dictator Ion Antonescu in order that Romania could extract itself from its losing alliance with Germany.

It would become known as the Act of 23 August.

During the event, the King first met with Antonescu and asked him to sign an armistice with the Soviet Union.  When he refused, the King declared there was nothing that could be done, officers came in, and arrested Antonescu.

The King offered the Germans free passage out of the country, which they refused.  Within 24 hours the country would be successfully at war with Nazi Germany and an Allied power.

In spite of its success, the country would not be able to avoid the Soviet co-opting of the government, and Michael was deposed in 1947 when he was out of the country for the marriage of his cousin, Elizabeth of the United Kingdom.  He was allowed to return to Romania late in life, after Communism fell.

Antonescu was tried and executed in 1946. Constantin Sănătescu, who became Prime Minister up Antonescu being removed, died of cancer in 1947.

Italian partisans took Barceno, near Switzerland.

French partisans controlled most of Paris.

Allies were advancing everywhere in Europe.

American infantrymen move past a burning German motorized vehicle, in pursuit of the former operators of the vehicle. 23 August, 1944.

Eight German ships were sunk in the Battle of Audiene Bay The U-180 was sunk by some undetermined means in the Bay of Biscay.

The Japanese destroyer Asakaze was sunk by the USS Haddo in Paluan Bay.

Japanese resistance on Numfoor ends.

Last edition:

Tuesday, August 22, 1944. End of the German Navy in the Baltic, Strikes on the Tirpitz, Advances in France.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Falaise Pocket, France, German Army, German Kriegsmarine, Japan, Normandy Breakout, Operation Dragoon, Operation Goodwood, Romania, Royal Navy, World War Two

Saturday, August 23, 1924. Princess Petrolia. Refinery expansion in Glenrock.

 

The Wyoming obsession with petroleum was much in evidence in the Saturday paper, with a beauty pageant title named after the stuff.

Glenrock's refinery was being expanded.

It no longer exists.

And the Italian air crew, which did survive ditching in the Atlantic, was reported as still missing.

Last edition:

Friday, August 22, 1924. Marxist harassing Marx.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 1924 Election, Communists, Democratic Party, German Weimar Republic, Outer space, Radio

Blog Mirror: Pork Facts in 1924 Cookbook

 

Pork Facts in 1924 Cookbook

"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.