A Brief History On July 24, 1943, “Operation Gomorrah” began, the eradication of the City of Hamburg with “brimstone and fire from the heavens.” Like its Biblical namesake, this operation was the purposeful destruction of a city and its inhabitants without regard for the virtues of any individuals or structures. The entire place was a target to be razed to the ground, people included. Digging Deeper World War II had certainly already had tremendous acts of cruelty and depravity on a large scale by the time the decision to bomb Hamburg was made, but this attack marked a new Allied…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On July 20, 1304, the forces of King Edward I of England successfully took Stirling Castle during the First War of Scottish Independence. Although the Scots would ultimately maintain their independence, key to the English victory was the intimidating-sounding “Warwolf,” allegedly the largest trebuchet ever made. This mighty siege engine catapulted rocks or other projectiles that weighed up to 300 pounds and was capable of battering down the walls of any castle. Digging Deeper Intimidated by the weapon, the Scots tried to surrender the castle, but Edward (known as “Longshanks”) wanted to see the effectiveness of…
A Brief History On July 17, 1917, King George V of the United Kingdom changed the British royal family’s name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the more English-sounding Windsor. Digging Deeper A blatantly political move, changing the German name was done under pressure from a war-weary nation that had been fighting in what at the time had been the biggest and costliest war in human history. England had even been bombed by German bomber aircraft named Gotha, causing that much more resentment. As a cousin of both Czar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, King George knew the incestuous nature…
A Brief History On July 7, 1947, a mysterious object fell from the sky near Roswell, New Mexico, and was reported the next day in the local newspaper as a “Flying Saucer” captured by RAAF (Roswell Army Airfield) personnel. One could hardly blame the newspaper, because the official Air Force press release said authorities had recovered a “flying disc.” Digging Deeper Thus, the most celebrated UFO incident of them all began, supposedly because of a typical government lie. The Air Force later claimed the object recovered had been a weather balloon, while in reality it was a balloon carrying instruments…
A Brief History On July 6, 1947, the aptly named AK-47 assault rifle went into production. After undergoing military trials in the Soviet Union, it was accepted for general use by the Red Army in 1949. Today, the AK-47 is still in production in many nations, and about 1 out of every 5 firearms in the world is an AK-47 or a closely related weapon. Production is 75 million rifles and counting, with AK family of related weapons accounting for another 25 million rifles, carbines, pistols and machine guns, including semi-automatic civilian models. Digging Deeper To put the enormous impact…