Browsing: Military

A Brief History On September 20, 2000, the headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), an agency also known as MI6, suffered the indignity of being hit by a Soviet-made RPG-22 anti-tank rocket.  No suspect has ever been identified or arrested.   Digging Deeper The rocket hit the exterior of the building at the level of the 8th floor.  It caused superficial damage and thankfully no injuries.  Of course, the pride of James Bond, M, Q and Moneypenny was severely shaken!  The anti-terrorist branch of the Metropolitan Police believed that the perpetrators belonged to the Real IRA, a breakaway group from the Provisional IRA, but did not name…

A Brief History On September 19, 1976, two F-4 Phantom IIs of the Imperial Iranian Air Force flew out to intercept a UFO over the capital city of Tehran.  As each fighter jet approached the UFO, navigation, weapons, communications and other avionics systems suddenly became inoperable.  Only after the F-4s distanced themselves from the UFO, did the pilots regain control. Digging Deeper The Iranian Air Force had received numerous reports of an object in the sky that appeared brighter and larger than a star, and commanders ordered that the object be intercepted. The first jet got within 25 miles of…

A Brief History On September 12, 1942, one of the saddest and most regrettable incidents of World War II took place following the sinking of the British ocean liner the RMS Laconia by torpedoes from a German U-boat. Digging Deeper The Laconia was the second British liner to bear that name. The first, in an ominous preview of history repeating itself, was sunk by a U-boat during World War I.  Fitted with 8 x 6 inch guns and 2 x 3 inch guns, the passenger liner was as heavily armed as a light cruiser and thus a legitimate target for U-boats.  On September 12, 1942,…

A Brief History On September 10, 1939, with its torpedoing of its own submarine, the HMS Oxley, the British Royal Navy proved quite early in World War II that there is such as thing as “friendly fire.”  Digging Deeper In the military they play around with the words and say that “there is no such thing as friendly fire,” meaning that no fire is friendly, however, the true definition of “friendly fire” is the unintentional harming of one’s own troops or allied troops, basically one’s “friends.”  Bullets, rockets, bombs and torpedoes will kill your own people just as fast as they will kill the enemy, and sometimes…

A Brief History On September 9, 1739, the Stono Slave Rebellion, the largest slave revolt in pre-revolutionary British America took place in Charleston, South Carolina.  Throughout history, humans have kept other humans as slaves.  Some slaves resisted; some even revolted successfully.  Here 10 incidents when slaves had finally had enough and rose up against their masters are listed.   Digging Deeper 10. Stono Rebellion, British North American Colonies, 1739. In this rebellion, also known as “Cato’s Rebellion” after its leader, an educated slave, African slaves from the Congo, some of whom were former soldiers, attempted to break free and travel to Florida…