Browsing: Military

A Brief History On July 25, 2010, the web media non-profit organization, WikiLeaks, released a trove of American secret documents regarding the War in Afghanistan, commonly referred to as “The Afghan War Diary” or “Afghan War documents leak.” Digging Deeper Although WikiLeaks somehow got their hands on 91,000 classified documents, only 71,000 have been released, allegedly out of consideration for the person or persons that leaked the documents to WikiLeaks who claimed to want to limit damage to US security. While people that leak classified information are liable for severe criminal penalties, there seems to be no shortage of leakers…

A Brief History On July 19, 1942, the era of good hunting by German U-boats known as the “Second Happy Time” ended, as American and British anti-submarine measures became effective, forcing the German subs away from American coasts and into the Central Atlantic. Digging Deeper The Battle of the Atlantic, a war of German submarines against ships carrying vital cargo to Britain, was perhaps the most critical of the campaigns to determine which side would win World War II.  Italian ships and aircraft were also involved, as were German surface vessels and aircraft, though the sub war was paramount. The…

A Brief History On June 17, 1940, the British passenger liner converted to wartime duty, the RMS Lancastria, was sunk off the coast of France by German Junkers Ju 88 bombers as she headed to England with military and civilian evacuees from mainland Europe.  The death toll was massive, with 3,000 to 7,000 dead.  Incredibly, 2,477 people survived the sinking, one of the largest number of survivors from any shipwreck ever. Digging Deeper Stories of ships sinking usually focus on the number of lives lost, but seldom are the number of survivors celebrated.  Some instances of huge numbers of people…

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 On June 4, 1989, an estimated tens of thousands Chinese military troops opened fire on perhaps a million Chinese protestors at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the capital of China.  While numbers of troops, protestors, and casualties are only estimates, because historically, governments cannot be counted on to provide accurate accounts of embarrassing events, as many as 10,000 or more of the peaceful protestors may have died in the massacre. Digging Deeper Not only were hundreds or thousands of people shot, but many others were also trampled in the rush to avoid the gunfire or crushed under the…