Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Sunday, October 8, 1944 Passing of Fr. Nicolò Cortese and Wendell Willkie

The Battle of Crucifix Hill was fought at Haaren, Germany, with the hill taken by elements of the 1st Infantry Division.

A large statuary Crucifix was on top of the hill.  In Sam Fuller's Big Red One his platoon takes a field with a large wooden Crucifix which is central to the story line, and which perhaps was inspired by the actual battle, if extremely loosely.

German resistance to Allied advances in the West was stiffening.

The nighttime Battle of Tehumardi was fought on the Estonian island of Saaremaa.  

The Germans retreated at Tornio.

The German counteroffensive at Nijemegen failed.

The British occupied Corinth and Samos and landed commandos on Nauplion.

Savy to the Greek political situation, in some ways the British were fighting a prelude to the Cold War in Greece in their actions.

The Finns occupied Kemi on the Gulf of Bothnia.

Fr. Nicolò Cortese, age 37, was killed in Trieste by the Gestapo for his role in aiding Jews and Italian partisans.

SS Enterprise (CV 6) being refueled by tanker in rough seas, October 8, 1944.

Wendell Willkie, age 52, died of a heart attack.

Willkie had run for President in 1940 and had attempted to secure the GOP nomination in 1944.  He had originally been a Democrat.  Roosevelt thought highly of him and had considered his a potential Vice Presidential candidate.  A heavy smoker and drinker, his health declined enormously in the summer and fall of 1944, and the heart attack that killed him was his third in three months, following a bout of pneumonia.

Willkie was a political liberal, authoring in 1943 the best seller One World, which espoused world federalism.  There would be no place for him in the modern Republican Party.


Last edition:

Saturday, October 7, 1944. Fighting in the Arctic.

Today in World War II History—October 8, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—October 8, 1939 & 1944

Wednesday, October 8, 1924. Senators tie the Series.

 


Last Edition:

Tuesday, October 7, 1924. US and Irish Free State establish relations.

Sunday October 8, 1724. A schism and a reunion.

Upset by the consecration of Cyril VI Tanas as Patriarch of Antioch, Orthodox Patriarch Jeremias III of Constantinople declared Cyril's election to be invalid, excommunicated him, and appointed Sylvester of Antioch.

The division was over Cyril's desire to reunited the Orthodox Church with Rome.  Jeremias' action caused a schism which ultimately lead to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church's uniting with Rome, a branch of Catholicism that has over 1,500,000 members today.

Last edition:

Good Friday, April 7, 1724. Bach's St. John's Passion played for the first time.


Monday, October 7, 2024

Mondays


 There is nothing so dispiriting as coming into your "good" office job after a weekend of working cattle.

Saturday, October 7, 1944. Fighting in the Arctic.

The Sonderkommando Revolt occurred at Auschwitz when the Jewish detailed prisiones rose up with makeshift weapons.  Three SS guards were killed, 200 members of the Sonderkommando, but hundreds of prisoners, all of whom were soon captured and executed, briefly escaped.

Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon signed the Alexandria Protocol leading to the establishment of the Arab League in March of the following year.

The Red Army commenced the Petsamo–Kirkenes offensive in the Petsamo region ceded by Finland and Norway.

Members of "I" Co., 7th Inf. Regt., 3rd Division, move up an alley to screen their movement from German observation, as they go toward the edge of the town. Their mission is to take up a position outside of the town. 7 October, 1944.

The St. Louis Cardinals beat the St. Louis Browns 5 to 1 in game four of the 1944 World Series.

Last edition:

Friday, October 6, 1944. Collapsing.

Tuesday, October 7, 1924. US and Irish Free State establish relations.

The US established diplomatic relations with the Irish Free State.

The British Labour Party overwhelmingly and definitely ruled out affiliation with the Communist Party.

The Soviet Union declared an amnesty for participants in the Georgian August Uprising on the condition that participants surrender their arms.

"Babe Ruth, Bill Edwards, and mascot" October 7, 1924.

The Washington Nationals beat the New York Giants 7 to 4 in Game 4 of the 1924 World Series.  The series was now tied two to two.

Last edition:

Monday, October 6, 1924. Ali of Hejaz becomes king.

Friday, October 7, 1774. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress.

Delegates met in Salem Massachusetts to form an illegal provincial congress to address the issues with the United Kingdom.

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 4, 1774 Regarding the authority of the Crown dissolved.

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Friday, October 6, 1944. Collapsing.

Officials of the Serbian puppet government fled to Austria.

The Battle of Debrecen began in Hungary.

The Dumbarton Oaks Conference concluded.

Last edition:

Thursday, October 5, 1944. Fuzhou and Memel.

Monday, October 6, 1924. Ali of Hejaz becomes king.

Ali of Hejaz was proclaimed the King of Hejaz.  His predecessor King Hussein bin Ali had fled from Mecca to Jeddah to avoid the conquest of Nejd by the Sultanate of Nejd, led by Ibn Saud.

Atypically for an Arab monarch/chieftain, he was married just once.  He had five children.  He died in Baghdad in the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq in 1935.

Radio Marconi, the first public radio station in Italy, began broadcasting.

Last edition:

Friday, October 3, 1924. Insulting Kennesaw Mountain.

Best Posts of the Week of September 29, 2024.

 The best posts of the week of September 29, 2024.

Agitio ter consuli, gemitus britannorum . . .Repellunt barbari ad mare, repellit mare ad barbaros; inter haec duo genera funerum aut iugulamur aut mergimur.


In Memorium. Kris Kristofferson.

 


Kristoffer Kristofferson, June 22, 1936., Brownsville, Texas,.

September 28, 2024 (aged 88), Hana, Hawaii, U.S.

Janis Joplin - Me And Bobby McGee (Audio)

Kris Kristofferson - Me And Bobby McGee (1979)


Kris Kristofferson - Vietnam Blues (1993)

Dave Dudley - Vietnam Blues 1966 "Viet Nam Blues" (Country War Songs). Lyric and music by Kris Kristofferson.










Last edition:

Best Posts of the Weeks of September 15 and 22, 2024.

Friday, October 4, 2024

An embarrasment.

 How on earth can people vote for somebody saying something so monumentally stupid?

People are not affecting climate change. You’re going to tell me that back in The Ice Age, how much taxes did people pay and how many changes did governments make to melt the ice?

Marjorie Taylor Greene. 

What the crap?  The last Ice Age ended 12,000 years ago.

How can anyone vote for somebody so profoundly ignorant?