WAR HISTORY AND FACTS

German soldiers launching an attack on 'Dead Man's Hill' during the Battle of Verdun, March 15-16, 1916. (Likely staged) The following is excerpts of Danish-German Unteroffizier Friedrich Karl Dambeck's account of an attack on the Côte 304 at Verdun on June 29, 1916 - today 107 years ago. Translated by myself:  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ "Following the long and thorough preparation, on June 29 we were again to attempt taking the corpse-covered hill with a storm. Already on June 27 did Hauptmann Borchmann step forward to organise his storm units. Four units of 12 men each were necessary. The majority of these volunteered, the rest were drafted among the most experienced. Everyone stood in their right place at the established timestamp. At 5:15 the last heavy German shells exploded on the enemy's position, and worse than ever before it rained with splinters and rocks by our ears, all due to our heavy artillery. Suddenly the shells were subdued; the artillery fire had moved fur...

Fourth Battle of the Sonzo On November 10, 1915, the Fourth Battle of the Isonzo began. Like the Third Battle of Isonzo, which had ended just a week earlier, the main target of this Italian offensive was the city of Gorizia, as well as the heights of the Plateau de Carso. Since the last battle, the Italian strength had increased from 19 to 28 Divisions and the Austro-Hungarians from 11 to 15 Divisions. The Italians had 1,374 artillery cannons compared to only 626 Austro-Hungarian cannons. On November 10, 1915, the Italians launched the offensive against the Austro-Hungarians along the entire Isonzo Front, under heavy rains and under continuous Austrian artillery. The Italians suffered great losses and gained little gains, but they also inflicted great losses on Austro-Hungarians when they retaliated. On November 13, after intense artillery shelling and a bloody bayonet load, the Italians managed to capture some key trenching positions. On November 18, the Italians began bombing Gorizia...

Evidence of early human presence in the Arctic found on an ancient Woolly Mammoth :  Paleolithic records of humans in the Eurasian Arctic (above 66°N) are scarce, stretching back to 30,000 to 35,000 years ago at most.  Pitulko et al. have found evidence of human occupation 45,000 years ago at 72°N, well within the Siberian Arctic.  The evidence is in the form of a frozen mammoth carcass bearing many signs of weapon-inflicted injuries, both pre- and postmortem.  The remains of a hunted wolf from a widely separate location of similar age indicate that humans may have spread widely across northern Siberia at least 10 millennia earlier than previously thought.

Last weeks of 1942 were a turning point of WWII. At Stalingrad, German 6th Army was already doomed, while the second battle of El Alamein and "Operation Torch" neutralized the Axis threat to North Africa, the Suez Canal and the Middle East. ➡ In November, New York saw the premiere of "Casablanca," set in the Vichy France colony of Morocco. One of the main characters in the movie was Victor Laszlo, member of Czech resistance fleeing from the Germans. Some people say he was modelled on a real person. ➡ If so, the similarities are not striking: the real guy was Polish, his name was Słowikowski, and he was not running from the Germans but came looking for them: in mid-1941 he arrived in North Africa from Britain to set up one of the most efficient espionage networks of the war.  ➡ "Agency Africa," based in Algiers behind a front of a cornflakes producer – the front being, by the way, profitable enough to finance a big part of the undercover operation – proved ...

The control room of a World War 1 German submarine (UB-110) in 1918.⁣  ⁣These photos were taken from a submarine that had been recovered from the bottom of the ocean. Many of the gears and wheels were color coded and some even had numbers to help sailors maneuver them.⁣ In the beginning of World War 1, German U-boats attempted to follow the naval warfare procedures for warring on merchant ships. Since they could not capture the ships, they would surface and alert the merchants, giving everyone onboard an opportunity to evacuate the ship.⁣ Observing this behavior, the allies began arming merchant vessels. The next time a U-boat surfaced and demanded their surrender, the crew onboard would unleash a surprise attack against the exposed U-boat. ⁣ ⁣ The Germans retaliated by sinking merchant vessels without warning.⁣ As late as 1942, it was still common for U-boats to provide torpedoed survivors with food, water and directions to the nearest landmass. This practice ended when a U-boat t...

Drawing depicting the victorious nations from the First World War sowing the "Seeds of Future Wars" following the Treaty of Versailles, 1919. Today 104 years ago, on June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed, officially ending Germany's participation in the First World War. On November 11, 1918, the Germans had effectively surrendered to the Allies in the Armistice of Compiègne, ending over 4 years of war on the Western Front. On January 18, 1919 the Allies began their Paris Peace Conference in the Versailles palace to draft the peace terms for post-war Europe, the same place the Germans had forced the French to sign the 1871 Treaty of Versailles, ending the Franco-Prussian War. By June 1919 the Allies, led by the 'Big Four' - France, Britain, Italy and the U.S.A, had drafted a final treaty, which they handed over to Germany, giving them 5 days to accept the terms of the treaty, threatening to invade Germany if refused. The treaty was composed of 15 diffe...

HISTORY FOR YOU Former Pampanga Governor and Congressman Jose B. Lingad became the first opposition politician killed during the martial law regime. A World War II veteran, guerilla fighter and local politician, Lingad already had a taste of Pampanga politics before the war as a councilor in his hometown in Lubao, Pampanga..  With the inauguration of the Third Republic, he joined the Liberal Party under President Manuel Roxas  and ran for governor of Pampanga.  He became known as a fierce fighter against the Huks during the post-war Huk Rebellion.  (Some newspapermen considered him a warlord with the private army he had use to fight the rebels). Lingad's political career was derailed after he was implicated in the Maliwalu Massacre in 1951.  He was eventually cleared of responsibility of the killings but he lost in his bid for reelection.  He was appointed as an official in various government positions by his Lubao townmate, President Diosdado Macapagal bef...

This date, July 9, in 1944, U.S. forces took Saipan, causing the downfall of the Tojo government. Photo: LVTs heading for shore on June 15, 1944. USS Birmingham (CL-62), a Cleveland class light cruiser in the  foreground; the cruiser firing in the distance is the USS Indianapolis (CL/CA-35), a Portland class heavy cruiser. The Battle of Saipan was fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from June 15 to July 9, 1944. The Allied invasion fleet embarking the expeditionary forces left Pearl Harbor on June 5, 1944, the day before Operation Overlord in Europe was launched. The U.S. 2nd Marine Division, 4th Marine Division, and the Army's 27th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Holland Smith, defeated the 43rd Infantry Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito.  The loss of Saipan, with the death of at least 29,000 troops and heavy civilian casualties, precipitated the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister ...

On This Day 77 Years Ago... On June 15, 1944, U.S. Marines stormed the beaches of this strategically significant Japanese island of Saipan with a goal of gaining a crucial air base from which the U.S. could launch its new long-range B-29 bombers directly at Japan’s home islands. Saipan, the second largest island in the Marianas, was a major Japanese base and sugar production area, complete with a fairly extensive road network and narrow-gauge rail system. There was a large Japanese civilian population, numbering about 20,000, in addition, there were about 4000 Chamorros on the island. By the time of the American invasion, Saipan had a garrison of about 32,000 men. It was about twice the size of American intelligence estimates. Facing fierce Japanese resistance, Americans poured from their landing crafts to establish a beachhead, battle Japanese soldiers inland and force the Japanese army to retreat north. Fighting became especially brutal and prolonged around Mount Tapotchau, Saipan’s ...

Imperial German Air Service pilot, dressed in a leather suit and the classic flying helmet, also wears the "oxygen tube" fastened for high altitudes.  Germany was one of the first nations involved in World War I to recognize and address the need for aircraft pilots and doubles for supplemental oxygen. The large Zeppelin steerables, because of their ability to fly at higher altitudes, were the first warships equipped with aircrew oxygen systems, which were initially the conventional type of compressed gas, contained in iron storage jars.  Soon, however, heavy storage mattresses were replaced by the first liquid oxygen generation systems. These systems were designed and produced by Draeger Company, a long-time partner with mining respiratory and CPR equipment. Other systems were produced by Ahrend and Heylandt Company. It didn't take long before some German high-flying bombers and fighters were outfitted with these tiny, lightweight liquid oxygen systems. Oxygen could be br...

April 5, 1945: On the western front, 18 US Divisions began to clear the Ruhr pocket in Germany.  US 1st Army hammers the Ruhr pocket and continues pushing east around Warburg and Kassel while US 9th Army attacks across the Weser River at Hamelin and continues assaulting Ruhr pocket. Patton’s US 3rd Army captures Muhlhausen and Meiningen while US 7th Army captures Gemuenden, pushes toward Schweinfurt, and attacks into Heilbronn. British 2nd Army captures Lingen and Osnabruck, and Canadian 1st Army crosses Twenthe canal and captures Almelo. French 1st Army begins attacking toward Pforzheim. Serving in the Medical Detachment of the 48th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division in Alemert, Germany, Corporal Thomas J. Kelly repeatedly exposes himself to hostile fire in order to drag wounded men to safety. For these actions, he is awarded the Medal of Honor seven months later, on November 1, 1945. Here is his citation: “He was an aid man with the 1st Platoon of Company C during a...

WHAT HAPPENED IN AUSTRALIA ON THIS DATE 19 JUNE. June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. 195 days remain until the end of the year. World Sickle Cell Day (International) EVENTS: 1884:  SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PROTECTION ..The steel twin-screw gunboat Protector was commissioned. Protector was laid down in Armstrong, Mitchell & Co., Elswick, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, for service with the South Australian Government. Heavily armed for her size Protector was practically a small cruiser. ..HMCS (later HMAS) Protector was a large flat-iron gunboat commissioned and purchased by the South Australian government in 1884, for the purpose of defending the local coastline against possible attacks in the aftermath of the 'Russian scare', of the 1870s. She arrived in Adelaide in September 1884 and subsequently served in the Boxer Rebellion, World War I and World War II. ..During July 1943, Protector was requisitioned for war service by the U.S. A...

October 8, 1944 (Sunday) American Theatre Eleventh Air Force: Photo missions to Paramushiru, Matsuwa, Onnekotan and Shasukotan Islands turn back due to weather. China Burma India Theatre Tenth Air Force: In Burma, 20+ P-47s hit targets of opportunity in the Mawhun and Manyut areas, knock out a bridge at Seywa, and bomb railroad tracks in N Burma; 5 B-25s damage a bridge and score hits on the other bridge approaches at Namhkai and knock out 2 bridges at Wuntho and Kawlin. In India, HQ 443d Troop Carrier Group moves from Dinjan to Ledo. Fourteenth Air Force: 12 P-40s and P-51s hit locomotives, trucks, and river traffic at Yuncheng and NE of Pengtse. European Theatre - Western Front Ninth Air Force: A revision and elaboration (from 28 Sep-8 Oct) of the Ninth AF interdiction program against railroads connected with the Rhine River results in the issuance of a new interdiction program; it includes rail lines further to the E and requires attacks by all 4 Tactical Air Commands of the Ninth A...