Today in History

[Harp]

Today in 1944 the last German offensive (operation North Wind) in the western theatre starts in the area Alsace/Lorraine.

North Wind remains arguably valid as an attempt to relieve the Ardennes offensive; inflicting heavy Allied
losses, forcing retreat from a thinned lined due to reinforcement need for the counter earlier.
Tactically sound, but yet questionable from strategic considerations. As is the Ardennes offensive.

Dresden I have always considered a heinous Allied vindictive against the German people.
This was unnecessarily punitive, a deeply disgusting criminal prosecution that never should have happened.

 

[Turnip]

...
Tactically sound, but yet questionable from strategic considerations. As is the Ardennes offensive.

...

As the whole war was since December 1941 latest, in fact already some time earlier that year, from a German point of view.

 

[Woodtroll]

Under the “should have never happened” heading:

World War II (or I, for that matter)

The Holocaust

German bombing of civilians in Europe

But those things happened, too, when they should not have. And had they not happened, Dresden would not have happened either.

 

[Turnip]

There is no doubt, happened though.

 

[Harp]

But those things happened, too, when they should not have. And had they not happened, Dresden would not have happened either.

My earlier comment regarding the bombing of Dresden is a more precise focus against the then cumulative
Allied strategic post-Ardennes ground thrust and not an historic summation.
North Wind and the Ardennes offensive were launched late in the war, difficult terrain, against thin line
extension problematic, consequently prone to attack. Dresden, however, served neither tactical nor
strategic vantage.

 

[Woodtroll]

There is no doubt, happened though.

My earlier comment regarding the bombing of Dresden is a more precise focus against the then cumulative
Allied strategic post-Ardennes ground thrust and not an historic summation.
North Wind and the Ardennes offensive were launched late in the war, difficult terrain, against thin line
extension problematic, consequently prone to attack. Dresden, however, served neither tactical nor
strategic vantage.

Here's hoping that such will not happen again! It is probably in vain to think that we learn lessons from history, but hopefully we will...

 

[Turnip]

A pious hope, long ago overtaken by reality many, many times...

 

[Turnip]

Today in 1934 Labor Day in Germany has been a day of paid bank holidays for the first time in it’s history.

 

[Turnip]

Today 100 years ago Sophie Scholl was born. She became an icon of German resistance after the war, being beheaded on 22.02.1943 at the age of 21 for spreading handbills.

 

[Turnip]

Today in 1862 Saigon has been declared to be the capital of the French colony Cochinchina.

Today in 1900 British troops took Pretoria in the second Boer War.

 

[Turnip]

D-Day

 

[Turnip]

Today in 1863 French troops take México City.

 

[Turnip]

Today in 1972 Nick Út takes one of the most iconic photos of the last century, next to the village Trảng Bàng in Vietnam.

It gained the world press photo award in 1972 and won the Pulitzer Price in 1973.

 

[Bushman]

I recall learning that this photo had trouble getting published due to the nudity, and to this day still gets flagged on occasion. However, when publishers had learned that the girl's clothes had been literally burned off her body by napalm, it became one of the most well known, gut-wrenching war photos ever snapped.

 

[Turnip]

1889 Germany, USA and Great Britain agree on a common administration of Samoa.

1900 Hawaii is getting annexed by the USA.

1940 Wehrmacht marching in into Paris.

1940 First transport to Auschwitz I of 728 political detainees from Gestapo Tarnów.

 

[Turnip]

Today in

1844 Charles Goodyear gains a patent on vulcanizing rubber by the United States Patent Office.

1883 The German parliament declares health insurance to be a statutory insurance for any German citizen.

 

[Turnip]

Today in 1953 the protest of workers from the Stalin Alley in East-Berlin against increased productivity norms...escalate to civil commotions, also in other regions of the GDR, struck down by the Soviet Red Army. About 50 protestors died during that day.

 

[Turnip]

1812 USA declare war against Great Britain.

1815 Napoleon Bonaparte takes a crushing defeat by allied British-Prussian forces near Waterloo.

 

[Turnip]

1953 Ethel and Julius Rosenberg get executed in New York for espionage for the Soviet Union.

1961 Kuwait gains independence from Great Britain.

 

[Turnip]

1866 Prussia gets support in the „German War“ as Italy declares war on Austria.

1960 Mali and Senegal gain independence from France, founding the Mali-Federation.