Browsing: Society

A Brief History On November 1, 1944, the first of what would end up to be thousands of missions by the famous Boeing B-29 Superfortress flew over Tokyo, Japan on a reconnaissance mission, the first allied aircraft over Tokyo since the 1942 Doolittle Raid.   The aircraft was a special photo-reconnaissance version of the big bomber, equipped with 3 powerful cameras. Unlike many other warplanes fitted for reconnaissance, the F-13 and F-13A versions of the B-29 retained their defensive guns and bombing equipment. The 118 F-13 and F-13A Superfortresses were later re-designated RB-29 and RB-29A in 1948. Digging Deeper Although military…

A Brief History On October 30, 1806, 5,300 Prussian soldiers defending the city of Stettin surrendered to only 800 French soldiers commanded by General Lassalle, falling for the ruse that the French force was much larger. Lieutenant General Friedrich von Romberg must have been awful embarrassed when he found out the blunder he had made! Stettin, now known as Szczecin, Poland, was a fortified city, making the surrender all the more ridiculous. Apparently during campaigns at this time Prussian soldiers were not the Spartans of their day that Prussians are often portrayed as, since other surrenders to inferior forces had…

A Brief History On October 27, 1988, President Ronald Reagan made one of his most shocking Cold War related announcements while President when he decided to have the newly completed US Embassy in Moscow mostly destroyed and started over again! Digging Deeper The US and Soviet Union were nearing the end of the Cold War that had gone on since the end of World War II, and each country had a hard line leader that was unlikely to back down. President Reagan in the US was a staunch anti-communist and cold-warrior, and the USSR was led by Mikhail Gorbachev, a…

A Brief History On October 26, 1917, a force of only 100 German Army soldiers led by Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant in American talk) Erwin Rommel took Mt. Matajur from an Italian defensive force of 7,000 men, a key part of the German/Austro-Hungarian victory at the Battle of Caporetto (aka The 12th Battle of the Isonzo). Digging Deeper Rommel earned the highest German military medal of the time for his exploits, the Pour le Merite (sometimes called colloquially The Blue Max) but his main comments were for his men to be better fed, which says a lot about his leadership. To…

A Brief History On October 25, 1957, notorious mob boss Albert Anastasia, known as “Lord High Executioner” and “Mad Hatter” for his role in ruling the mob assassination team known as “Murder, Incorporated” or “Murder, Inc,” was himself gunned down, a fitting end to a violent life. Digging Deeper Born in Italy in 1902, Anastasia (originally “Anastasio”) came to the US illegally in 1919, deserting the merchant ship he was serving on. Working as a longshoreman, Albert (born “Umberto”) made his first known “kill” in 1921, and was sentenced to death. Lucky for Albert, he was granted a retrial in…