This date in history

[Aktungbby]

1942: German forces massacre 173 residents of the village of Lidice Czechaslovakia in retaliation for the assassination of Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich in his car.
All together, about 340 people from Lidice died because of the German reprisal (192 men, 60 women and 88 children). Only 153 women and 17 children returned after the war. All the animals in the village—pets and work animals—were slaughtered as well. Even those buried in the town cemetery were not spared. Their remains were dug up and destroyed.
The small Czech village of Ležáky was also destroyed two weeks after Lidice. Gestapo agents found a radio transmitter there of an underground team who parachuted in with assassination agents, Kubiš and Gabčík. There both men and women of the village were shot, and the children were sent to concentration camps or Aryanized (adopted if genetically suitable?!) . The death toll resulting from the effort to avenge the death of Heydrich is estimated at over 1,300. This count includes relatives of the partisans, their supporters, Czech elites suspected of disloyalty and random victims like those from Lidice. Only 153 women and 17 children returned after the war.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidice 1944: German forces of the 2nd SS Panzer Division ("Das Reich") massacre 642 residents of the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane in reprisal for the murder by French partisans of Sturmbannführer Hhelmut Kämpfe-(Knight's Cross). Ordered to hold 30 people hostage, the battalion commander who exceeded his orders, and most of the battalion, died in the Battle of Normandy. Civilians including six non-residents unluckily passing through are shot or burned alive in the church and barns. An escaping American flier, B-17 navigator Raymond Murphy, who came upon the aftermath files his statement in London: "About 3 weeks ago, I saw a town within 4 hours bicycle ride up [sic] the Gerbeau farm [of Resistance leader Camille Gerbeau] where some 500 men, women, and children had been murdered by the Germans. I saw one baby who had been crucified." Even the German high command (Rommel) protested the excess slaughter. The village is never rebuilt as a memorial under orders of President Charles de Gualle. It stands "as is" to this day in memory of the murdered. the church at Oradour-sur-Glane http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane Bottom line: the price of one Reichsprotektor or one Sturmbannfuhrer is steep...

[Jimbuna]

1776 - Continental Congress creates committee (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston) to draft a Declaration of Independence.

1987 - Margaret Thatcher is 1st British PM in 160 years to win 3rd consecutive term.

[Jimbuna]

1942 - Anne Frank gets her diary as a birthday present (Amsterdam).

1964 - Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison in South Africa.

[Jimbuna]

1956 - After 72 years, Britain gives up Suez Canal to Egyptian control.

[Aktungbby]

1935: Movie Becky Sharp, set against the battle of Waterloo opens in New York. This is a landmark flick utilizing and photographed in "three strip" Technicolor for the first time! Recently restored: https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/restoration/becky-sharp-restoration JUST FOR FANS; 1957: the good ship Mayflower II arrives at Plymouth Mass after a two month journey. More recently; the full-scale replica of the original Mayflower, made her journey from Plymouth, Mass. to Mystic, Conn. on December 14, 2014 to begin a total and badly needed drydock refit & survey so insure her fitness as a working, sailing piece of critical Anglo-American history. And home again to her home port owners: Plimouth Plaantation as of May 21, 2015 The photo "speaks for itself" methinks!!!

[Jimbuna]

1982 - Argentina surrenders to Britain on Falkland Is, ends 74-day conflict.

[Jimbuna]

1940 - World War II: France surrenders to Germany, German troops occupy Paris.

[Jimbuna]

1880 - Salvation Army forms in London.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ligny

[Aktungbby]

^ GOOD STUFF! An overview of the whole mess, culminating in Waterloo... ol' Boney should have stayed 'retired' on Elba: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/we-better-off-napoleon-never-lost-waterloo-180955298/

[Jimbuna]

1631 - Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spends more than 20 years building her tomb, the Taj Mahal.

[Jimbuna]

1815 - Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon and France defeated by British forces under Wellington and Prussian troops under Blucher.

1928 - American aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the 1st woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean landing at Burry Port, Wales.

1940 - Winston Churchill's "this was their finest hour" speech urging perseverance during Battle of Britain delivered to British House of Commons.

[Jimbuna]

1588 - Spanish Armada heavily destroyed in storm at Coruna.

1829 - Robert Peel founds the London Metropolitan Police (Bobbies).

[Aktungbby]

1864:The Confederate sloop of war, CSS Alabama, is sunk in a one-on-one ship duel with the sloop of war, USS Kearsarge off Cherbourg, France. Commander Raphael Semmes aboard CSS Alabama. The battle as depicted by Édouard Manet: Sloop to Sloop? pics or it didn't happenA whole lotta shootn' here: According to witnesses, British built CSS Alabama fired 370 rounds averaging one round per minute per gun, a very fast rate of fire, while USS Kearsarge‍ '​s gun crews fired less than half that many, taking more careful aim. During the confusion of battle, five more rounds were fired at Alabama after her colors were struck. (Her gun ports had been left open and the broadside cannon were still run out, appearing to come to bear on Kearsarge.) Then a hand-held white flag came fluttering from Alabama‍ '​s stern spanker boom, finally halting the engagement. Prior to this, she had her steering gear compromised by shell hits, but the fatal shot came later when one of Kearsarge‍ '​s 11-inch (280 mm) shells tore open a midsection of Alabama‍ '​s starboard waterline. Water quickly rushed through the defeated cruiser, eventually drowning her boilers and forcing her down by the stern to the bottom. As Alabama sank, the injured Semmes threw his sword into the sea, depriving Kearsage's commander Captain John Ancrum Winslow of the traditional surrender ceremony of having it handed over to him as victor. Kearsarge rescued the majority of the survivors, but 41 of Alabama‍ '​s officers and crew, including Semmes, were rescued by John Lancaster's private British steam yacht Deerhound, while the Kearsarge stood off to recover her rescue boats as the Alabama sank. Captain Winslow was forced to stand by helplessly and watch Deerhound spirit away to England his much sought-after adversary, Captain Semmes, and his surviving shipmates. [wiki] Captain Winslow (third from left) with officers shortly after sinking the Alabama.

[Jimbuna]

1837 - Queen Victoria at 18 ascends British throne following death of uncle King William IV. She ruled for 63 years ending in 1901.

1840 - Samuel Morse patents his telegraph.

1941 - German U-203 fails on torpedo attack on US battleship Texas.