On This Day in History

[Ringo]

At the end of the winter of 1943-1944, the German occupation command decided to use the pupils of Polotsk Children's Home № 1 as blood donors for the wounded German soldiers.
On the night of February 18 to 19, 1944, 154 pupils from 3 to 14 years old and 38 employees of the children's home, as well as members of the underground group "The Fearless" and their families went to the partisan zone. The next stage of the operation was the evacuation of children behind the front lines to Soviet territory.
On the night of April 10-11, 1944, pilot Alexander Mamkin flew for the ninth time to pick up the children. Lake Vechelie was used as an airfield, but the spring ice was becoming unstable and the evacuation had to be accelerated.
That night Mamkin's R-5 managed to accommodate 10 children, their educator Valentina Latko and two adult wounded partisans.
A frontline cameraman filmed Mamkin this moment, you can see this footage on video:

However, on the way back on the approach to the front line the plane was attacked by a German night fighter and was shot down.
The pilot crossed the front line on the burning plane. According to instructions he should have gained altitude and jumped out with a parachute, but with live people on board he did not do it. The flames from the burning engine reached the cockpit. His clothes were burning, his helmet was on fire, his flight goggles were melting. Alexander's legs were charred to the bone, but he continued his flight until he found a suitable ground on the lakeside not far from the Soviet units' positions. By that time even the partition wall separating the cockpit from the passengers had burned through, and some of the children's clothes began to smolder.
Alexander Mamkin got out of the cockpit by himself, but could not move on his own. Before he lost consciousness, he asked a single question: "Are the children alive? The soldiers who came immediately rushed Alexander to the hospital, but the burns were too extensive and severe. Six days later, on April 17, 1944, he died. All the passengers of the plane survived.

 

[lg325]

At the end of the winter of 1943-1944, the German occupation command decided to use the pupils of Polotsk Children's Home № 1 as blood donors for the wounded German soldiers.
On the night of February 18 to 19, 1944, 154 pupils from 3 to 14 years old and 38 employees of the children's home, as well as members of the underground group "The Fearless" and their families went to the partisan zone. The next stage of the operation was the evacuation of children behind the front lines to Soviet territory.
On the night of April 10-11, 1944, pilot Alexander Mamkin flew for the ninth time to pick up the children. Lake Vechelie was used as an airfield, but the spring ice was becoming unstable and the evacuation had to be accelerated.
That night Mamkin's R-5 managed to accommodate 10 children, their educator Valentina Latko and two adult wounded partisans.
A frontline cameraman filmed Mamkin this moment, you can see this footage on video:

However, on the way back on the approach to the front line the plane was attacked by a German night fighter and was shot down.
The pilot crossed the front line on the burning plane. According to instructions he should have gained altitude and jumped out with a parachute, but with live people on board he did not do it. The flames from the burning engine reached the cockpit. His clothes were burning, his helmet was on fire, his flight goggles were melting. Alexander's legs were charred to the bone, but he continued his flight until he found a suitable ground on the lakeside not far from the Soviet units' positions. By that time even the partition wall separating the cockpit from the passengers had burned through, and some of the children's clothes began to smolder.
Alexander Mamkin got out of the cockpit by himself, but could not move on his own. Before he lost consciousness, he asked a single question: "Are the children alive? The soldiers who came immediately rushed Alexander to the hospital, but the burns were too extensive and severe. Six days later, on April 17, 1944, he died. All the passengers of the plane survived.

I hope his name and sacrafice will never be forgotten. A hero !

 

[Ringo]

April 12, 1961 (Wednesday)
At 2:07 p.m. local time (9:07 a.m. Moscow, 0607 UTC and 1:07 a.m. in New York), Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched from Baikonur, in the Kazakh SSR, on the Vostok 1 (East 1) rocket and became the first human being to go into outer space.

April 12, 1961: First Spaceman Orbits Earth

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space.

www.sandiegouniontribune.com

 

[Ringo]

 

[Ringo]

April 11 is traditionally the International Day of the Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps.

More than 20,000,000 people (one in six was a child!) passed through the concentration camps of the Third Reich, 12 million of whom did not survive to be liberated.

 

[Ringo]

in 1629 a peace between England and France was signed, drawing a line under England's military support for French Protestants. An expedition organized by the Duke of Buckingham failed to break through to La Rochelle, besieged by royal French troops, and the last remnant of the Huguenot "state within a state" was eliminated.

In 1877 federal troops withdrew from New Orleans. The "Reconstruction" and the period of military occupation of the U.S. South by the federal government ended.

in 1877 the Russian-Turkish War (1877-1878) began - after the parade of troops in Kishinev the Manifesto of Emperor Alexander II declaring war was read. The war was fought in the European and Caucasian theater of war and ended with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1915 the Minister of Internal Affairs Talaat Pasha began arresting prominent members of the Armenian community (lawyers, doctors, priests and teachers) - about 250 people in total. This measure was intended to prevent Armenians from possible resistance to the planned deportations and those arrested were later sent to Ankara, most of them were killed. Commemorated in Armenia as the date of the beginning of the Armenian genocide.

in 1916 on Easter Monday a rebellion of Irish republicans began in Dublin, in which 1200-1300 people took part. The rebels managed to seize a number of important buildings (including the main post office, where the rebel leadership was housed and the Irish Republic was proclaimed), but not Dublin Castle (where the British administration in Ireland was housed) or any of the train stations or the port. After a couple of days, pulling in forces (including those from England), the British launched a counteroffensive. The rebellion was ended on April 30, and its leaders were executed.

In 1918, the First Tank Battle at Villers-Bretonneux, near the village of Cochy. Three British tanks (two machine guns and one canon tank) against a German A7V. The British gun tank forced the A7V to retreat, although the machine-gun British tanks were also forced to leave the battlefield.

in 1918 American troops landed in Murmansk. Thus began the intervention in Russia not only by British, but also by American troops.
The first two detachments of British Marines landed in Murmansk on March 6, 1918, and then came the turn of the French and Americans.

in 1945 near Austerlitz, where Napoleon had defeated the Russian-Austrian army, was said to be the last major tank battle of WWII: the 6th Guards Armored Army of USSR advancing on Brno acted against the 1st Panzer Army, represented by the 8th and 16th Panzer divisions.

in 1950 the creation of Jordan was proclaimed, uniting the kingdom of Transjordan and the territory of the West Bank of the Jordan River, which was to be ceded to the Arab Palestinian state

In 1962, the first television signal was transmitted by satellite at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

in 1980 the evening began Operation Eagle's Claw, an unsuccessful attempt to rescue American hostages in Tehran. Because only 6 of the 8 helicopters could reach the designated location in the Iranian desert, designated Desert One, and one of those 6 had hydraulic problems, they decided to cancel the operation. However, during the hour and a half of negotiations, including by President Carter, the engines ran out of fuel and the helicopters needed refueling. The very same helicopter with the hydraulic problem tried to fly close to one of the six C-130s for refueling, but its rotors raised so much dust that visibility dropped dramatically and it crashed into the plane. All five members of the EU-130E crew and three of the five helicopter pilots were killed. The rest of the C-130 flew away and the helicopters were abandoned on the spot.

It should be noted that the American reconnaissance team inspected Desert-1 back on April 1 and considered this place suitable for the operation, but since then the sandstorms had time to spread a layer of fine sand there.
The operation also resulted in the death of an Iranian man from a fuel smuggling truck who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fearing that he would give away their presence, the americans fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the fuel truck.

 

[Ringo]

 

[Ringo]

In 1521, Fernand Magellan fell in battle with the natives of the Philippine island of Mactan, led by the chief Lapu-Lapu. The round-the-world expedition was led by Juan Sebastian Elcano.

Samuel Morse (1791-1872), an American inventor and artist, was born in 1791. His most famous inventions are the writing telegraph and Morse code, which, although in modified form, but retaining the name, is still used in radio communications.

In 1805, a detachment under the command of William Eaton, a U.S. government special agent, consisting of 10 American marines, 200 Greek and 300 Arab mercenaries, stormed the town of Derna (now in Libya). The squadron was supported by the U.S. squadron ships (Argus, Nautilus and Hornet).
This operation was undertaken to depose the Papha of Tripoli, Yusuf Karamanli, and to put his brother Hamet, who was sympathetic to the Americans, on the throne.

The storming of Derna is the first ever "overseas" military operation by U.S. forces

In 1865, the steamer Sultana, carrying former prisoners of war from the North, exploded on the Mississippi River. More than 1,700 people died as a result of the disaster.

In 1943, about 600 km south of Reunion, Indian Nationalist leader Subhas Chandra Bos and his aide Abid Hasan crossed from the German submarine U-180 to the Japanese I-29, which took him to Sumatra to head the puppet Free India Provisional Government (Azad Hind). Two tons of gold were transferred from the Japanese submarine to the German one as payment for earlier deliveries.

 

[Ringo]

This week in Florida, a mother who spent her entire life savings on helping her daughter beat cancer won $2 million on the lottery, just one day after her last payment for her daughter’s treatment was made.

 

[odanny]

This week in Florida, a mother who spent her entire life savings on helping her daughter beat cancer won $2 million on the lottery, just one day after her last payment for her daughter’s treatment was made.

No one should have to spend their entire life savings to help their child, or themselves, beat cancer.

 

[Ringo]

No one should have to spend their entire life savings to help their child, or themselves, beat cancer.

Looks like you against capitalism.

 

[odanny]

Looks like you against capitalism.

Our system of medical care in the U.S. is predicated on profit. As long as you have this system, you have stories like this one.

 

[Ringo]

 

[odanny]

On this day in history, April 29th in 1429, 17-year-old Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orléans, bringing with her much needed supplies and troops. The French defenders, believing the prophecy that an armored maiden would come to the rescue of France, were inspired to mount a passionate resistance. The siege collapsed just nine days later, the first major victory for the French forces against the English since the crushing French defeat at Agincourt.

On this day in history, April 29th in 1945, near the end of World War II, American forces liberated more than 30,000 surviving prisoners at Dachau concentration camp in Germany.

 

[Ringo]

In 1686 at the "Eternal Peace" Kiev forever recognized as a Russian city with the payment of 146 thousand rubles compensation to Poland

In 1707, the Act of Union, passed by the parliaments of England and Scotland, entered into force. The emergence of a single state of union, the Kingdom of Great Britain.

In 1769, a second son was born to the Earl of Mornington, Earl of Ireland, in Dublin. Young Arthur Wesley (the family later changed the spelling of his name to Wellesley) in 17 years became a soldier, distinguished himself in many wars, was granted titles, became the first Duke of Wellington, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1828-1830, and Commander in Chief of the British Army in 1827 and from 1842 until his death in 1852.
The phrase that Napoleon was worth 50,000 soldiers is well known. British soldiers rated Wellington more modestly: "We would rather see this long-nosed man in battle with us than ten thousand reinforcements".

In 1840, the first postage stamps in the world were sold in England: a black one-penny ("Black Penny") and a blue two-penny with the profile of Queen Victoria.

In 1863, at dawn, Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson's 26,000-strong corps attacked the right flank of the Union army under Joseph Hooker and began the battle of Chancellorsville, which lasted until May 6. The Confederate army ("Southerners") under Robert E. Lee defeated an army twice its size that outnumbered the "North". The Confederate victory was overshadowed by Jackson's death.

In 1898, in Manila Bay, the capital of the Philippines, the American squadron of Commodore George Dewey (4 cruisers, 2 gunboats, transports and 2 coal miners) destroyed the Spanish squadron of Admiral Patricio Montejo (2 weakly armored and 5 wooden cruisers, gunboat and 3 support vessels).
The battle began at 5 am, by noon 7 Spanish ships were sunk, the rest surrendered. The Spanish fleet was inferior to the American in every way (speed, armor, artillery, qualification of the crews). The 9 shore batteries (43 old guns) also did not help because of poor crew training. The Americans had only 9 wounded and 1 engineer died of a heart attack. The Spanish had 161 killed, 210 wounded. The next day the U.S. Marines landed off Manila.

In 1960, an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flying from Peshawar was shot down near Sverdlovsk, USSR, by a S-75 SAM missile. The pilot, Francis Powers, left the falling plane with a parachute, was detained, convicted and later exchanged.

 

[georgephillip]

Happy May Day

One century ago...

MAY 1, 2023

May Day and the Murder of William McKay: 100 Years Past​

"This week marks the passage of a century since the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) led a strike of several thousand workers.

"The IWW (often called the Wobblies) called the May Day 1923 General Strike with a primary demand: the liberation of all political – often called 'Class War' – prisoners.

"As a center of IWW strength, Pacific Northwest lumber and maritime workers led the way as thousands of loggers, sawmill and longshore laborers, and sailors poured off the job.

"But like so many early 20th century labor conflicts, bosses responded to the strike with violence.

"At the Bay City mill in Aberdeen, Washington, a company gunman murdered a striking IWW lumber worker named William McKay.

"On May 8, more than a thousand workers paraded through the streets of Aberdeen, carrying banners and waving red flags, in a striking show of solidarity to commemorate their fallen fellow worker."

 

[Ringo]

It's been nine years since some Ukrainian cannibals burned down the Trade Union House, while others (including the so-called masters of culture) rejoiced.
May 2, 2014 was the point of no return in Odessa. Together with the people in the Trade Union House, the possibility of returning to a peaceful, comfortable and hospitable Ukraine, which will no longer exist, was burned. Its ruling regime had lost the right to be called a government, and all of its symbols had become a mark of hatred and madness.

The former capital of humor, Odessa has always been a meeting place of different worlds, cultures and traditions, the best school for the art of being yourself and agreeing. Along with the people, it was this that was burned.

Zelensky's power for several years has had the perfect excuse to show whose servants they are. It has again done a great job with it. Nine years of "investigation" turned out to be nine years of mockery of the memory of the victims. The lack of conviction is a verdict for the authorities.

This crime is not "stupidity," or even mere cruelty - it is a planned lesson in terror to us all. Today, let someone explain to the loved ones of the victims the difference between Nazis and nationalists.

It was on this day that it became clear to many of us that Ukraine is ruled by a regime incompatible with human life, that any negotiations with it are useless, and that there will be no peace without liquidation of the gang, seated at the Bankovaya st.

May 2, another anniversary. The day the Ukrainian Nazis burned people in Odessa. Nine years have passed, a war has broken out, hundreds of thousands have died. But the attitude toward that day has not changed at all.

Nine years ago, we were suddenly amazed. The picture of the world collapsed at that moment. It was very painful and psychologically hard.

And it wasn't even about the crime itself. Although it is also savage, to drive local pro-russian activists into a building and burn them alive. It's about the second act of the play. When the HUGE Ukrainian segment of the Internet applauded it. Sitting around and prattling on about how "they burned themselves and did the right thing." "Roast the colorads, hehe." And so on. In those days, few people really escaped the fate of finding a ukrainian and listening to his opinion about this tragedy. Not bots, living people. They rejoiced like children that the "russians" were burned alive.

And they are still rejoicing. Right now, the most non-cannibalistic opinion from that side is to make a mournful face and say "Sad, of course, but it was necessary". Otherwise it is the same dance on the bones. Which after 24.02.22 got even more moral justification. And it became possible not to hold back at all. Even a sorrowful face was no longer necessary. After all, the USO that began eight years later does retroactively justify everything, oh yes!
Nine years ago, on May 2, 2014, the russians looked political ukrainism in the eyes for the first time. This crime was well documented. It was videotaped. Live on the Ukrainian national channel. The footage is still horrifying. It was just an execution by burning. People were burned because they were pro-russian. They weren't even russian. There were only local residents of Odessa, who were all identified by name. And it just, as they say, "hit the spot". The ukrainians liked it, they piled on memes and shoved May 2 tightly into their national-liberation backgrounder.
And I remember that feeling very well. I remember how we discussed it. And the fact that I wasn't unique in my attitude at all. We were all just dumbfounded at the time. Not even from the actual killing of those people. It was with the attitude of the ukrainians to it. From the fact that for them it's normal and generally - fucking great. "They burned them and so what?, There's no need to complain." People just didn't understand, what they had done and what the consequences were.

And the consequences were significant. I think that about a third of all russian volunteers in the Donbass in 2014 were those, who were pushed into action by Odessa. A third, for fuck's sake! Thousands of people looked at this bullshit, snickered, and went to kill the ukrops.

Because you can't burn people. And you can't be happy about it. Even if it seems like you "can."

P.S .One of the most striking and disgusting pictures of the day was a video of young girls, ukrainian "patriots" pouring gasoline into bottles, that were used to burn people trapped in the House of Trade Unions...

 

[Ringo]

In 1493, in his bull "Inter caetera", dated this day, just one month after Columbus returned from his expedition to the royal court in Barcelona, Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) first established a demarcation line between the newly discovered Spanish and Portuguese possessions 100 leagues west and south of any of the Azores or Cape Verde Islands.

in 1626, white settlers traded Manhattan Island from American Indians for cloth and buttons. The value of the manufactured offering was about $20 in today's money.

in 1814 Napoleon Bonoparte was taken to Elba Island in the Mediterranean, a place of exile.

in 1919, the weak reaction of the Chinese government to the Versailles Conference decision to keep the former German concessions in Shandong Province in Japan led to a student demonstration in Beijing, giving rise to the "May 4th Movement" for the revolutionary modernization of China, which in turn led to China's refusal to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1926, despite the state of emergency imposed by the government as of May 1, a general strike began in Great Britain with the main goal of supporting the miners and preventing them from having their wages reduced while extending the working day from 7 to 8 hours. However, after the High Court ruling that "commercial disputes between unions and the national government" and negotiations with the government were impossible, the British Trades Union Congress decided to end the strike as of May 13, without achieving any results. The miners continued to strike for several more months, but by November they were also generally forced to acquiesce to the employers' demands.

In 1949, after negotiations in February between Philip Jessup, deputy U.S. representative to the United Nations, and Yakov Malik, Soviet representative to the United Nations, an agreement was reached in Washington on ending the blockade between the Soviet and Western zones of occupation (the so-called Berlin Blockade) from May 12 and convening a meeting of foreign ministers of the four victorious countries in Paris on May 23. The agreement was formalized in the Four Powers' Communiqué published the next day.

In 1954, a military coup began in Paraguay that led the next day to the resignation of President Chavez and the election in non-alternative elections on July 11 of President Alfredo Stroessner, who remained in office until February 3, 1989.

in 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, USA, National Guard soldiers opened fire and killed four students while dispersing an anti-war student demonstration.

Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979. Her foreign policy focused on tough opposition to the Soviet Union and an alliance with the United States. Her actions provided a forceful response to Argentina's aggression against the Falkland Islands. Thatcher also influenced President George W. Bush, convincing him of the need for a forceful response to Iraq's aggression against Kuwait.

 

[Ringo]

In 1703, a detachment of soldiers from the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky Guard Regiments under the command of Peter I and Alexander Menshikov in 30 boats seized two Swedish warships - the galliot "Gedan" and the snow "Astrild" in the mouth of the Neva River. A medal with the inscription "The Impossible Happens" was issued to commemorate the event.

in 1763 with an attack on Fort Detroit (repulsed by the garrison) began the rebellion of Pontiac, the leader of the Ottawa tribe, who united a number of other tribes to fight the colonizers.

in 1765 the battleship HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, was launched at Chatham shipyard in Kent County.

in 1863 begins the siege of Vicksburg by Federal troops, which lasts until July 4, 1863. With the capture of Vicksburg, the entire length of the Mississippi falls into Union hands; Confederate territory is cut in half.

in 1866 in Berlin, Ferdinand Cohen-Blind, a student from Tübingen, made an unsuccessful attempt on Otto von Bismarck's life. Bismarck was able to disarm the terrorist on his own.

in 1892 Joseph Broz Tito, the future communist leader of Yugoslavia, was born.

in 1895, Russian physicist Alexander Popov demonstrated the first-ever radio communication session.

In 1915, the huge four-tube English passenger ship "Lusitania", which was on a normally scheduled New York to Liverpool trip, was suddenly attacked by a german U-20 submarine near the southern coast of Ireland. Eighteen minutes after the explosion, the Lusitania was completely submerged.
Of the 1,959 people aboard the Lusitania, 1,198 died, including 785 passengers. Of the 159 American citizens, 124 died. Of the 129 children, 94 died, including 35 infants, who almost all (except four) died.
When the U-20 returned to Wilhelmshaven six days later, the German submarine captain Schwieger was greeted on all sides with congratulations. German submarine officers openly envied him, no one thought of the dead men.

in 1919 at the Trianon Palace Clemenceau read to the German delegation the text of the future Treaty of Versailles: 440 articles, 80,000 words.

In 1945, the Soviet landing party landed on the Danish island of Bornholm.

In 1954, the French garrison of Dienbienfou, commanded by de Castries, who had been promoted to brigadier general shortly before (on Good Friday, April 16), surrendered. A total of 10,863 troops surrendered, but on the night of May 8, the garrison of Fort Isabel made a breakthrough and 73 soldiers managed to reach the location of the French troops. On May 8, a DRV delegation led by Ho Chi Minh arrived in Geneva and began negotiations with French representatives, which led to the signing of the Geneva Accords in July that ended the war.

 

[Ringo]