This date in history

[Jimbuna]

1932 Hitler refuses President von Hindenburg's proposal to become vice-chancellor of Germany.

1940 Hermann Goering's "Adler Tag" (Eagle day); 45-48 German aircraft shot down over Southern England (Battle of Britain).

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

45-48 German aircraft shot down over Southern England (Battle of Britain).

Along with 24 British aircraft shot down and another 47 destroyed on the ground.

[Aktungbby]

The failure of Adlertag did not deter the Luftwaffe from continuing its campaign. The assault against RAF airfields continued throughout August and into September 1940. The battles involved large numbers of aircraft and heavy losses on both sides. The Luftwaffe failed to develop any focused strategy for defeating RAF Fighter Command. At first, it attempted to destroy RAF bases, then switched to strategic bombing by day and night. It tried to achieve the destruction of several British industries at the same time, switching from bombing aircraft factories, to attacking supporting industries, import or distribution networks such as coastal ports. An attempt was even made against unrelated targets, such as destroying the morale of the British population.The failure of the Luftwaffe to identify the radar chain and distinguish RAF fighter bases from those of other RAF commands undermined its ability to destroy the British fighter defences. The Luftwaffe underestimated British radar, and they had not realised its importance in the British operational system.To the contrary, OKL believed that the radar stations would benefit the German effort by sending RAF forces into large-scale air battles for the Luftwaffe to decimate. The RAF aircraft industry supported the losses and its pilots were replaced sufficiently to limit the RAF’s decline in strength and deny the Germans victory. Conversely, the RAF were able to ensure the serviceability rates and aircrew numbers of the Luftwaffe declined in August–September..Having failed to defeat the RAF, the Luftwaffe adopted a different and clearer strategy of strategic bombing known as The Blitz. However, as with the campaign against the RAF, the types of targets differed radically and no sustained pressure was put under any one type of British target... Disputes among the OKL staff revolved more around tactics than strategy. This method condemned the offensive over Britain to failure before it had even begun.. The end result of the air campaign against Britain in 1940 and 1941 was a decisive failure to end the war. As Hitler committed Germany to ever increasing military adventures, the Wehrmacht became increasingly overstretched and was unable to cope with a multi-front war. By 1944, the Allies were ready to launch Operation Overlord, the invasion of Western Europe. The Battle of Britain ensured that the Western Allies had a base from which to launch the campaign and that there would be a Western Allied presence on the battlefield to meet the SovietRed Army in central Europe at the end of the war in May 1945.

One of the rules of war (possibly #1) is : "Have a good plan"!!?? Seen as 'the "war of German Expansion' from Kaiser Wilhelm's 'Germany's place in the sun' with the last sleeve- scraping the Channel Scheifflin-style to The Bavarian Corporal's three pronged eastward Lebensraum land grab at the Slavic races/Russia, Germany simply could never handle the two primary battle elements of time and space/terrain. The British Navy moving to Scapa Flow immediately at the outset of WWI alter'd the Teutonic preconceived notion of a climactic fleet action until Jutland; which was tactically indecisive but strategically crippling to Germany's quest for empire. Resorting to offset submarine commerce warfare in both WW's simply pissed of the sleeping giant, America, and contributed to political as well as military failure. Overrated technology could never overcome poor strategy; Adler Tag was thus a continuation of the concept. Shifting strategic focus, not grasping radar's vital importance and fighters with ten-minute's combat fuel over English territory (time??) restriction: all compelled disaster. Without Goering's promised air supremacy...no Operation Sea Lion! Through Ultra, it was determined that assassinating Hitler (Operation Foxley) was futile; he was helping the allies win the war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Foxley

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by BL!TZKR!EG

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

Roger that. Good it's over.


Regarding the battle of Britain, Len Deighton's "Fighter" is a real eye opener, and also a very good book. Trying to drive England into withdrawing their declaration of war did not work out as planned.. but it only did because England made less mistakes than Germany. I am also thinking very different of Churchill now than ten years ago.
Just of all the "winner" and architect Hugh Dowding was discharged. But the man who made it all possible was another scot, Mr. Robert Watson-Watts and his idea of a "chain home" radar. Germany just underestimated it.

On the other hand, since Hitler had no real intention to invade or fight England, this general attitude could also be found in the german air force.

[Mr Quatro]

Originally Posted by BL!TZKR!EG

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

However President Reagan had to make his speech first and that didn't happen till June 1987

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_down_this_wall!

"Tear down this wall!" is a line from a speech made by US President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, calling for the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin since 1961

from your link:

Contrary to popular belief the Wall's actual demolition did not begin until the summer of 1990 and was not completed until 1992

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Catfish

On the other hand, since Hitler had no real intention to invade or fight England, this general attitude could also be found in the german air force.

Hitler said it best about himself: "At sea I am a coward" And his top commanders agreed with him; considering his overruling and sacking of military commanders who opposed him, on this occasion, the commanders prevailed.

Even if the Royal Navy had been neutralised, the chances of a successful amphibious invasion across the Channel were remote. The Germans had no specialised landing craft, and would have had to rely primarily on river barges to lift troops and supplies for the landing. This would have limited the quantity of artillery and tanks that could be transported and restricted operations to times of good weather. The barges were not designed for use in open sea and, even in almost perfect conditions, they would have been slow and vulnerable to attack. There were also not enough barges to transport the first invasion wave nor the following waves with their equipment. The Germans would have needed to immediately capture a port in full working order, a highly unlikely circumstance considering the strength of the British coastal defences around the southeastern harbors at that time and the likelihood the British would have demolished the docks in any port from which they had to withdraw. The British also had several contingency plans, including the use of poison gas.
The view of those who believed, regardless of a potential German victory in the air battle, that Sea Lion was still not going to succeed included a number of German General Staff members. After the war, Admiral Karl Dönitz said he believed air superiority was "not enough". Dönitz stated, "[W]e possessed neither control of the air or the sea; nor were we in any position to gain it". In his memoirs, Erich Raeder, commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine in 1940, argued:.....the emphatic reminder that up until now the British had never thrown the full power of their fleet into action. However, a German invasion of England would be a matter of life and death for the British, and they would unhesitatingly commit their naval forces, to the last ship and the last man, into an all-out fight for survival. Our Air Force could not be counted on to guard our transports from the British Fleets, because their operations would depend on the weather, if for no other reason. It could not be expected that even for a brief period our Air Force could make up for our lack of naval supremacy.
On 13 August 1940, Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations in the OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) wrote his "Assessment of the situation arising from the views of the Army and Navy on a landing in England." His first point was that "The landing operation must under no circumstances fail. A failure could leave political consequences, which would go far beyond the military ones." He believed that the Luftwaffe could meet its essential objectives, but if the Kriegsmarine could not meet the operational requirements of the Army for an attack on a broad front with two divisions landed within four days, followed promptly by three further divisions irrespective of weather, "then I consider the landing to be an act of desperation, which would have to be risked in a desperate situation, but which we have no reason whatsoever to undertake at this moment."

The back door to attack of the Festung Europa invasion thus remained 'open' with "political consequences"...One other small fact lost to history which I have previously PM'd and posted on, is the military concept of landing craft doctrine: German 'cowardice at sea' if U will. Allied landing (specialized Higgins boats etc) assault doctrine permitted action up to a level 6 sea. German doctrine (with just barges) only conceived of a level 4 sea; The Channel is a tough place. D-day with a Scotsman's weather report and Eisenhower rolling sixes (if u will) Said "let's go". The Germans with a doctrine firmly adhered to level four, a fixation on the Pas De Calais, assumed and never considered otherwise that the Allies had a similar pain threshold: and having the same weather report, said 'all quiet on the western front" -Rommel, the key to the Longest day, went home to his wife's birthday. Had Eisenhower postponed the invasion, the next available date with the correct combination of tides (but without the desirable full moon) was two weeks later, from 18 to 20 June. As it happened, during this period they would have encountered a major storm lasting four days, between 19 and 22 June, that would have made the initial landings impossible. The weather actually worked to the Allied advantage. When the BBC broadcast the lines from Verlaine's poem indicating commencement of the attack-Blessent mon coeur d'une longueur monotone ("[The violins of autumn] wound my heart with monotonous languor")-the 15th Army in the Pas de Calais went on alert, but Rommel's Army Group B headquarters in Normandy did nothing. The weather was so foul that no one believed an invasion possible. Indeed, many commanders at 7th Army had already left for Brittany to participate in an exercise designed, ironically, to simulate an Allied landing in Normandy... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea_Lion VS http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/normandy/nor-pam.htm

[Jimbuna]

1863 Submarine "HL Hunley" arrives in Charleston on railroad cars.

1900 The Boxer Rebellion: In China, the Empress, her family and court retainers flee while foreign troops move through Peking in an attempt to quell the rebellion.

1939 13 Stukas dive into the ground during a disastrous air-practice at Neuhammer. No survivors.

1940 Heavy dogfights above England: 161 German aircraft shot down against 34 British losses.

1944 German field marshal Günther von Kluge vanishes for one day; he killed himself on 19th in the aftermath of the attempt to kill Hitler.

1945 Victory over Japan Day, the Japanese surrender and the end of WWII is announced in Japan (due to time zones 14th Aug in the Americas).

[Aktungbby]

1812: The Fort Dearborn massacre takes place near Lake Michigan on what is now 18th St. Chicago....only it wasn't a massacre. It was a single 10-15 minute battle in two wars The Pan-Indian uprising under Tecumseh and early round of the War of 1812 when British interests had made allies of the western native Americans. (British politics!??) Led by 400 Pottawattamie warriors, the battle lasted 10 minutes. American Legion Captain Wells, a longtime veteran and Indian agent, adopted and raised by Indians, knew the Indians would attack and had painted his face black: a sign of bravery, a sign to the Pottawattamie that he knew their intentions, and as a sign that he knew he was going to die. As the evacuated garrison walked down the beach, Wells rode in advance to keep an eye on the Pottawattomie, and he was one of the first to go down when they attacked. Wells disengaged from the main battle and attempted to ride to the aid of those at the wagons. In doing so, he was brought down; according to eyewitness accounts he fought off many Native Americans before being killed, and a group of Indians immediately cut out his heart and ate it to absorb his (raw)courage...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wells_(soldier) Ensign Ronan, also dying bravely leading 90 civilians to safety, was the first commissioned West Point Corps of Cadets graduate to die in battle. A sculpture: "Defense" mounted adjacent to the site of Fort Dearborn, centered the bas-relief on an unnamed junior officer who was depicted performing the role — protection of civilians — that Ronan tried to carry out in reality. Ronan Park a 3-acre park located at 3000 West Argyle Street on the Chicago River, is named in his honor.American loss: 26 regulars, all 12 of the militia, two women and twelve children killed, with the other 28 regulars, seven women and six children taken prisoner...some would later be ransomed. Seen from the perspective of the War of 1812, and the larger conflict between Britain and France which precipitated it, this was a very small and brief battle, but it ultimately had larger consequences in the territory. Arguably, for the Native Americans, it was an example of "winning the battle but losing the war": the U.S. later pursued a policy of removing the tribes from the region ie The Northwest Territories, resulting in the Treaty of Chicago, which was marked at its culmination in 1835 by the last great Native American war dance in the then nascent city. Thereafter, the Pottawatomie and other tribes were moved further west. Fort Dearborn was rebuilt in 1816. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Dearborn (<one of five sources)

[Sailor Steve]

1281: In his second attempt at invading Japan, Mongol emperor Kublai Kahn has assembled 140,000 troops aboard 4,400 ships. Earlier in the year the Japanese inflicted heavy losses on the Mongol invaders, first at Tsushima, and again at Shikano and Iki Islands. On August 15th the Mongol fleet was hit by a monster typhoon, now called Kamikaze, or Divine Wind. Most of the Chinese craft were flat-bottomed coastal boats not designed for ocean use, and around 4,000 of them were destroyed with the loss of 110,000 troops.



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

[Jimbuna]

1819 Peterloo Massacre, Manchester, England: cavalry charges demonstrators.15 people killed and 400–700 injured.

1944 First flight of the Junkers Ju 287.

2012 Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange is granted political asylum by Ecuador.

[Jimbuna]

1940 Hitler orders total blockade of Great Britain.

1941 German raider attacks Dutch SS Kota Nopan.

1943 498 British bombers attack Peenemunde (development base for the V weapons).

1945 Korea is divided into North and South Korea along the 38th parallel.

1998 Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.

[Mr Quatro]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

1998 Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.

There was talk in those days of making Bill Clinton president of the world after his second term in office,
but along comes Monica and dashes that hope.

I think God sent a Jewish brunette to entice Bill Clinton ...
the devil would've sent a blonde.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Mr Quatro

I think God sent a Jewish brunette to entice Bill Clinton ...
the devil would've sent a blonde.

Nope! he'd already tried a "flowery' blond! (Jennifer Flowers) and does not 'throw dice' or make the same mistake twice: rainbows>

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

...when a dog will do! Oy veh!

[Aktungbby]

1985!: 1400 meatpackers walk off the job for a year at Austen Minnesota at the Geo A Hormel Plant in a bitter strike that lasts a year.Hormel froze wages in 1977. So by 1985, when the company demanded a 23 percent wage cut on top of that wage freeze, workers walked off the job in protest.
The strike was declared by Local P-9, but the UFCW parent union did not support it. The UFCW ultimately struck a deal with Hormel management, seized control of Local P-9, and removed the local union leaders, actions that challenged the credibility of the UFCW in the eyes of many in the larger labor movement. The strike gained national attention and led to a widely publicized boycott of Hormel products. (Thank god there was no drop in Spam supplies to create misery at)
In the course of their struggle, the P-9ers took on Hormel, the local authorities, the courts, the press, their own national, and the National Guard. The union mobilized its members in a display of democracy not seen in the labor movement for many years. Union activists poured into Austin to participate in the pickets, demonstrations and rallies. It became a fight for the rank and file throughout the nation. Many strikers' lives became transformed. As they entered into the field of political activity, these "typical workers" became class-struggle militants, willing to face jails and bullets in their fight for social justice. They learned to look beyond their own narrow economic interests, viewing their struggle as part of an international movement of workers against all their employers.
After six months, a significant number of strikebreakers crossed the picket line, provoking a vigorous response. On January 21, 1986, Minn. Gov. Rudy Perpich called in the National Guard to protect the strikebreakers. This brought protests against the governor, and the National Guard withdrew. People were shocked that the National Guard and the State Police would haul people off to jail, would bust the windshields out of cars that were trying to block exit ramps off I-90, that they were very rough with people who were trying to commit what they considered in a very Martin Luther King-kind of way, to be a principled, civil disobedience.

In the midst of the fray, a P-9 leader, Denny Mealy, and muralist Mike Alewitz led the workers in painting an exuberant mural on their union hall which came to symbolize the strike. The union dedicated the mural to then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela, at a time when he was still being vilified as a terrorist by Reagan's government.
After the strike ended, the national union wiped out the memory of the historic struggle by sandblasting the mural off the wall. By October of 1986 it was gone. The green dragon of capitalism featured in the mural was recreated by Alewitz in another mural commissioned in 1990 for the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research in Los Angeles, and still exists. A song, entitled "P-9," was written by Dave Pirner of the Minneapolis band Soul Asylum. The song was included on their 1989 album "Clam Dip & Other Delights."

[Jimbuna]

1940 Battle of Britain - 'The hardest day" Luftwaffe lose 69 aircraft, the RAF 68 in largest combined losses during an air battle.

1941 German concentration camp Amersfoort opens.

1943 Final convoy of Jews from Salonika, Greece, arrives at Auschwitz.

1943 Otto Skorzeny's Heinkel-111 shot down at Sardinia.