Browsing: June 6

A Brief History On June 6, 2023, the Russian army blew up the Ukrainian Kakhovka Dam on the Dnieper River in Southern Ukraine.  The dam was breached by the Russians in order to create an obstacle to an expected Ukrainian offensive.  Sadly, 58 people were killed in the resultant flooding. Digging Deeper While dams sometimes fail without human help, during war time the destruction of dams is not an uncommon tactic.  At other times, dams may be intentionally destroyed for environmental reasons or to prevent a potential accident with an old and or failing dam.  An enormous dam removal project…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on June 6th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On June 6, 1822, a Canadian fur trapper “voyageur” was accidentally shot in the stomach with a musket, leaving him with a hole that healed open, leading to extensive study of the human digestive tract. On June 6, 1944, American, British, and Canadian forces stormed the heavily defended beaches of Normandy, France, signaling the doom of the Third Reich. On June 6, 1944,…

A Brief History On June 6, 2002, high above the Mediterranean Sea, an asteroid estimated at about 10 meters in diameter exploded in the upper atmosphere with a similar effect to a 26 kiloton nuclear bomb, a larger blast than either the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombs.  What is really scary is that scientists failed to detect the approach of this chunk of space stuff and there would have been no warning had it hit the surface of the Earth! Digging Deeper Known as “The 2002 Eastern Mediterranean event,” another scary “what if” scenario involved the tense military stand-off happening between…

A Brief History On June 6, 1985, authorities in Embu, Brazil opened the grave of a person purported to be “Wolfgang Gerhard,” in order to determine the true identity of the person buried under that name.  Investigation proved the actual body to be that of Dr. Josef Mengele, in infamous Nazi doctor that terrorized innocent people at the Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland during World War II, earning Mengele the terrible moniker, “The Angel of Death.” Digging Deeper The regime that ran Germany prior to and during World War II, known as The Third Reich, was ruled by dictator Adolf…

A Brief History On June 6, 1944, the character played by Robert Mitchum in the movie The Longest Day (1960), Brigadier General Norman Cota, makes a stirring announcement to his men who are under heavy enemy fire and terrified of moving forward: “Only two kinds of people are gonna stay on this beach — those that are already dead and those that are gonna die. Now get off your butts! You guys are the Fightin’ 29th!” It turns out Norman Cota was a real US Army General (eventually Major General) and he really did rally his men of the 29th…