This date in history

[Jimbuna]

"The lady's not for turning" was a phrase used by Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister, in her speech to the Conservative Party Conference on 10 October 1980. The term has thus been applied as a name to the speech in its entirety. It is considered a defining speech in Thatcher's political development, becoming something of a Thatcherite motto.

The phrase made reference to Thatcher's refusal to perform a "U-turn" in response to opposition to her liberalisation of the economy, which some commentators as well as her predecessor as Conservative leader (Ted Heath) had urged, mainly because unemployment had risen to 2 million by the autumn of 1980 from 1.5 million the previous year and the economy was in recession, exceeding 3 million by the time the recession ended in 1982.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_la...ot_for_turning

[Jimbuna]

1915 German U-20 captures and sinks Britsih schooner Earl of Lathom.

1945 World War II: Admiral Karl Dönitz, leader of Germany after Hitler's death, orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases.

1955 West Germany is granted full sovereignty by its three occupying powers.

1980 Siege at Iranian Embassy in London ends as the SAS and police storm the building.

1981 After 66 days on hunger strike, 26 year old Provisional IRA member and British MP Bobby Sands dies in the Maze Prision. Nine more hunger strikers die in the next 3 months.

[Red Devil]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

1945 World War II: Admiral Karl Dönitz, leader of Germany after Hitler's death, orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases

This was countermanded by the Allies who ordered all u boats to stay on the surface and surrender at their nearest allied port. Some scuttled. Those that arrived at Londonderry were later sunk in gunnery practice.

[Aktungbby]

1928: the minimum voting age for British women is lowered from 30 to 21-same age as the men? A little "Mee Too" before it was fashionable??!

[Red Devil]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

1928: the minimum voting age for British women is lowered from 30 to 21-same age as the men? A little "Mee Too" before it was fashionable??!

went to vote on thursday, two pram pushers outside, looked said 'naw, why should I bother' ....................................

[Jimbuna]

1867 Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel Patents Dynamite in England, the first of three patents he would receive for the explosive material.

1915 RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off the southern coast of Ireland; 1198 lives lost.

1919 A draft of the Versailles Treaty is shown to Germans.

1941 British House of Commons votes for Winston Churchill (477-3)

1942 Nazi decree orders all Jewish pregnant women of Kovno Ghetto executed.

1945 World War II: Unconditional German surrender to the Allies signed by General Alfred Jodl at Rheims.

1947 General MacArthur approves Japanese constitution.

1955 USSR signs peace treaty with France & Great Britain.

1960 USSR announces Francis Gary Powers confesses to being a CIA spy.

[Ostfriese]

May 7th, 1942:


During the Battle of the Coral Sea American carrier aircraft from USS Lexington and USS Yorktown sank the Japanese light carrier Shoho, the first major Japanese warship sunk during WW2 (up to this point the largest Japanese ship sunk by allied forces had been a destroyer).

Japanese Aircraft from Shkaku and Zuikaku sank the destroyer USS Sims and the fleet oiler Neosho on the same day.


On May 8th, 1942, the main carrier battle took place, in which American aircraft decimated Zuikaku's air group and hit Shokaku with three bombs. Both carriers went on to miss the pivotal Battle of Midway a month later. Both American carriers were hit, and USS Lexington was scuttled late in the afternoon after several avgas explosions resulted in uncontrollable fires. USS Yorktown was badly damaged and returned to Pearl Harbor, only to be patched up within 72 hours and then to be sent out to fight the Japanese at Midway.

[Aktungbby]

/\ One of the aspects I had in mind when starting this thread(2013)was to reflect on the effect of history as it effects the beholder...currently; ie: how did we get this way?! The battle of Coral Sea is one such example. My 6th grade elementary teacher, one of my favorite & influential teachers, was a radioman/gunner on a Devastator torpedo plane and was on the "Lady Lex" when she was sunk. He barely escaped injury when the bombs hit, and a luckless fellow on a ladder next to him was blown into rung-chunks by the blast! He used to tell us "war stories"; and we would sit enthralled and beg for more! As a BA history major, I think it was my first indoctrination into first-person or primary sources being the most reliable source (if somewhat embellished)for a historic event.

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

/\ One of the aspects I had in mind when starting this thread(2013)was to reflect on the effect of history as it effects the beholder...currently; ie: how did we get this way?! The battle of Coral Sea is one such example. My 6th grade elementary teacher, one of my favorite & influential teachers, was a radioman/gunner on a Devastator torpedo plane and was on the "Lady Lex" when she was sunk. He barely escaped injury when the bombs hit, and a luckless fellow on a ladder next to him was blown into rung-chunks by the blast! He used to tell us "war stories"; and we would sit enthralled and beg for more! As a BA history major, I think it was my first indoctrination into first-person or primary sources being the most reliable source (if somewhat embellished)for a historic event.

That's the best history there is...getting it from first hand.

Markus

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by mapuc

That's the best history there is...getting it from first hand.

Markus

However, you often get to hear things you won't like. One of my RE teachers was a concentration camp survivor, and he had a way to tell about his experience without bitterness - which actually made listening to his stories even worse.

I also had several teachers who were drafted into the Wehrmacht towards the end of the war while still being very young, and even though they only ever told us bits and pieces it was very obvious that there's no glory in war. Probably the most important lesson I learned at school.

[Aktungbby]

Indeed, the old ladies at a S.F. Jewish home in the 90's I did security at would show me their death-camp tattoo #s on their forearms as I heated up their tea-water at 0200 hrs!!? My jr.high drafting instructor had been in the 1942 Dieppe Raid and was a POW for the remainder of the war, recounted how a huge German sergeant had pulled him out of a shell hole on the beach and said laughing: "for U, the war is over!"...seriously My elementary school-bus driver, a German immigrant, was at Stalingrad and survived to freeze again in Minnesota with screaming kids!! A guy I drove truck for in the '80's, a gung-ho green beret, had been a POW of the Viet Cong for several years..and was psychologically troubled from it. As I've previously alluded: my dad who flew B-29's in WWII, always maintained: I'm only on this planet due to the A-bomb over Hiroshima...he'd been slated for the invasion of Japan-with extremely high expected casualties and didn't expect to survive. His original assignment: armed with a chemical engineer degree, was to charge up the beach with a "chemicle weapon" ie: a flamethrower and stick it in an enemy pill-box slit.... A man of foresight, he'd transferred to the Army Air Force and officer candidate school. He never saw any of his 10 co-graduate flamethrower classmates again. They all had volunteered after Pearl Harbor... "War is hell"...but cannon-fodder's certainly the name-of-the game, there's no disPutin that! as the world observes yet again.

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

However, you often get to hear things you won't like. One of my RE teachers was a concentration camp survivor, and he had a way to tell about his experience without bitterness - which actually made listening to his stories even worse.

I also had several teachers who were drafted into the Wehrmacht towards the end of the war while still being very young, and even though they only ever told us bits and pieces it was very obvious that there's no glory in war. Probably the most important lesson I learned at school.

No doubt you do and hear some of these first hand stories from WWII which makes one sad, but it's part of our history and can't be undone. We can only take steps to prevent it from happening again.

Markus

[Red Devil]

sadly mapuc, nobody ever learns from history. We have had various mad dictatorial leaders throughout history but now we can add Putin to the list alongside Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot. My prediction that the next one will come from China.

I have several eye witness accounts on my WW2 site. Never seen elsewhere, unless plagurised from mine. I am currently republishing my WW2 stuff into a new domain name www.worldwartwo.uk but its a long way from ready yet.

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by Red Devil

sadly mapuc, nobody ever learns from history.

More like: the people who DO learn from history aren't the people that SHOULD learn from history.

[Aktungbby]

1869: A golden spike was driven in Promontory Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. Talkin' 'bout a photo op here: