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WWII Articles
USS North Carolina vs Bismarck
Operation Compass
Book Review: APc-48
Agent 110: An American Spymaster
Rudolf Hess/Tancred Borenius
Soviet Rifle Corps of WWII
The Morality of Okinawa
The First Class at RAF No. 31 Radio School
Operation Dragoon and Invasion of Southern France
Battle of Buna-Gona
The Silent Service and the Turkey Shoot
Published works on WWII OOB for land forces
Flying Tiger, Hidden Eagle
SAARF – Special Allied Airborne Recon Force
Force at la Difensa
Sabotaging Hitler's Heavy Water
Soviet Offensive in the Arctic
The Failure of Strategic Bombing
Dutch Harbor: Unraveling of Japan's Pacific Strategy
Ed Ramsey, 26th Cav Reg (Philippine Scouts)
US Army in Czechoslovakia '45: An Operational Overview
Strategic Culture of the IJN
Battles of Luneville: September 1944
Visual Guide to US Fleet Subs Pt 1
Lodge Act Soldier
The Fate of the Kido Butai
Air Recon in WWII
Turning East: Hitler's only option
Resupply Operations to Malta, 1942
WWII Veteran Interview
Why Arnhem?
Hell Ship - From the Philippines to Japan
The Battleship
USS Oregon
US Army in Czechoslovakia '45 to '48
Jewish Resistance in WWII
Battle for Seaports
Banzai Attack on Attu
End of the Battle of the Java Sea
Texas National Guard in WWII
How Arnhem was Lost
Saga of Ormoc Bay
Silent Service of the Pacific
USS Wahoo
Polish Cavalry: A Military Myth Dispelled
Confucian Martial Culture
Operation Market Garden
Legacy of WWII Sub Veterans
Lausdell Crossroads
Kasserine Pass
Arnhem Startline
Bushido: Valor of Deceit
British Offensive Operations
Sir Winston Churchill
American Stubbornness at Rimling
The OSS in Greece
Strategy of Blitzkrieg
Breaking Seelow Heights
The Rape of Nanking
Small Battle: Big Implications
Harris Class APA's
Aerial Defense of East Indies
Why the Bulge Didn't Break
American Forces in WWII
Shadow Warriors
Battle of Surigao Strait
Panzer Brigades
Adolf Eichmann
Interview of a WWII Veteran
Failure and Destruction
Winter Warfare
Operation Rusty: The Gehlen-U.S. Army Connection
Was Hitler right to invade Russia?
Hitler, Germany's Worst General
Surface Actions of World War II
MacArthur's Failures in the Philippines
Japan's Monster Sub
Popski's Private Army
The Soviet Formula for Success
Japan's TA Operation
Hitler Youth: An Effective Organization
After Midway: The Fates of the Warships
Barbarossa: Strategic Miscalculation
The Story of a "Go Devil"
Long Range Desert Group
Island of Death
The Failure of Operation Barbarossa
The Liberation of Czechoslovakia 1945
Only the Admirals were Happy
Bicycle Blitzkrieg - Singapore
Good Grief Sir, We're in Trier!
Thermopylae, Balaklava and Kokoda
How Hitler Could Have Won
The Battle of Midway
Waffen SS - Birth of the Elite
Nomonhan and Okinawa
Der Bund Deutscher Mädel
Rulers of the World: Hitler Youth
Breakout From the Hedgerows
Memories of D-Day
Motivation of the Einsatzgruppen
Pearl Harbor and Midway
Amphibious Assaults during WWII
The 9th SS Panzer Division
The Warsaw Uprising
Sea Lion vs. Overlord
Maginot Line
Battle of Bastogne
Battle of the Barents Sea
Anzio: The Allies' Greatest Blunder
US Army in WWII
Battle of Mers-el-Kebir
Hitler's Ultra-Secret Adlerhorst
The Wilhelm Gustloff Disaster
The 88th Infantry in Italy
WWII Sections
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Kasserine Pass
Tunis Falls
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Germany forces in Italy surrender
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The Low Countries
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Raid on Dieppe
The Atlantic Wall
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The Air War
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The V1 and the V2
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Bismarck vs. Hood
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War in the Pacific
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Japan Surrenders
WWII Articles
Operation Compass 1940: Total victory for the British
by Roger Daene
American General George S Patton once said that you always attack and never let your enemy rest. ("Quote Fancy", n.d.) That was also the motto of his adversary German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. Rommel would make his name in France 1940 by living out that old maxim of war. His career and legend would begin to soar in North Africa when he arrived in March of 1941. Against incredible odds and harsh conditions, Rommel would prove again and again that an enemy can never be allowed to rest. However, he was not the first to demonstrate that maxim to be true. Before his arrival, British Generals Archibald Wavell and Richard O'Connor would face tilted odds in North Africa. Their offense began as a local operation to recapture some areas taken by the Italians in the opening months of the war and to push them back to Libya. It ended with nearly all of Libya captured and less than 20,000 Italians escaping out of 150,000. 30,000 British, Indian and Australian soldiers never let the enemy rest. On June 10th, 1940 Italy declared war on both France and Great Britain. France surrendered after the sledgehammer blows of the Germans in just six weeks and shortly after Italy's entrance into the war. The fall of France empowered Mussolini to believe that he could conquer areas he sought because with France out of the war and Great Britain defending their homeland. This would leave their colonies open to Italian conquest. Italy sought to control Egypt and the valuable oil resources of the area. With France out of the war, British convoys would either sail past Gibraltar and then through the Italian controlled Mediterranean. Their only alternative was to take the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope and around the eastern coastline of Africa.
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Book Review: APc-48 - Combined Edition...
A Review by Ben Young
My curiosity was always up to learn of my maternal Uncle's WWII service in the US Navy...He was one of those veterans who, for reasons of his own, never spoke of his military experiences unless asked a direct question concerning his service...Therefore the only information immediately available to me was the sketchy memories of family members...During my work life, which included USAF service, employment with various companies and operating my own businesses, I could never seem to devote the time needed to fill in the blanks... Following retirement I was able to begin research starting with picking the brains of family members including my Mom (my uncle's older sister) and my cousins, all of whom provided much valuable information, including the saved letters my Uncle had written to my Mom from the Pacific Theater...These letters allowed me to determine the ship upon which he served, as well as his rating and some of the areas to which his unit deployed...Not being his direct descendant prevented me from obtaining his personal military records from either the VA or his hometown county courthouse...His widow and their only child had also gone on to their reward...The internet then became my primary source of information concerning the Small Coastal Transports (as these hulls were classified by the CNO)...
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Book Review: Agent 110: An American Spymaster and the German Resistance in WWII
by Steven Christopher Ippolito, Ph.D.
Wall Street Journal
reporter, Scott Miller, has written an interesting history of the World War II espionage activities of Allen Dulles (1893-1975), the future Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Dulles, the son of Presbyterian minister, was once described by British intelligence agent, Kenneth Strong, as the "'last great Romantic of Intelligence,' a man whose stock-in-trade consisted of secrets and mysteries" (Miller, 2017, p. xiv). Born into a patrician American family that boasted at least two Secretaries of State, it is, perhaps, no surprise that Dulles would later gravitate toward government work. President Benjamin Harrison appointed Dulles grandfather, John Watson Foster (1836-1917), a Civil War veteran of the Union Army, Secretary of State, where he served between 1892 and 1893; and Allen's brother, the well-known, John Foster Dulles would also serve as Secretary of State, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, beginning in 1953, serving at a critical time during the Cold War era. Additionally, both Dulles brothers were the nephews of another Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, who served in the State Department between 1915 and 1920. Robert Lansing was an uncle to Allen and John Foster Dulles through marriage, having married John Watson Foster's daughter. Miller has focused his biography of Dulles, primarily, from the early to mid-1940s, when Allen Dulles, whose agency designation was
Agent 110
, was posted to Switzerland by General William (Wild Bill) Donovan (aka, Agent 109), head of the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) (Messenger, 2015).
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Member Article: Tancred Borenius – Forgotten intelligence hero or messenger for wartime Churchillian coup?
by John Harris
The spring of 1941 saw wartime Britain at its most vulnerable and desperate. Nightly bombing raids over the long cold winter of 1940 by the German Luftwaffe had sought to bring the Churchill led government to the negotiating table prior to the implementation of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa, originally timetabled for May 15th 1941. Contrary to the usual post war history, many in positions of influence in Britain also favoured a negotiated settlement. All they knew and saw was the nightly devastation from an enemy far superior to themselves in terms of current offensive power. They certainly didn't know of the potential respite from any future German invasion of Russia; indeed the two countries were still active partners in a mutually beneficial trade agreement; their so called Commercial agreement, originally signed in February 1940.
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3,681 words
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Member Article: Soviet rifle corps in the Russo-German War, 1945
by Bill Wilson
For many in the
, the Red Army was for the entire war a poorly-understood force. German intelligence had some idea of how large the Red Army was at various points during the war, but German misconceptions about the Soviet forces have endured in the popular imagination, lending vague notions of "red hordes" and overwhelming numerical superiority. Even though the structure of these forces has been made available by Russian sources, it remains a little known topic of the Second World War. Significant among the obscuring factors is the sheer number of formations fielded by the Soviets. Even their largest field force, the fronts, would be difficult to list from memory. Likewise, the situation for combined-arms armies and, further down, rifle corps is even more problematic because of their quantity.
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Member Article: The Morality of Okinawa - Applying the Doctrine of "Just War"
by LtCol Richard Beil USMC(Ret.)
In any discussion about war, there is a vast gulf between the pacifist perspective that all war is wrong, and the realist perspective that
all's fair
in war, sometimes glibly expressed as just nuke 'em and be done with it. In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us "
blessed are the peacemakers
" (Matt. 5:9). Elsewhere, in the Sermon on the Mount, he tells us "
if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also
" (Matt. 5:39). From such verses, some have concluded that Christianity is a pacifist religion and that violence is never permitted. But the same Jesus elsewhere acknowledges the legitimate use of force, telling the apostles, "
let him who has no sword sell his mantle and buy one
" (Luke 22:36). How are these passages to be reconciled? Between pacifism and realism lies the concept of the
Just War
. Judgments on war and wartime conduct go back to Thucydides and the Melian Dialogue [1] in his
History of the Peloponnesian War
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Member Article: The First Class at RAF No. 31 Radio School: August to September, 1941
by Paul Renard
U.S. Navy Aircraft Radioman First Class (ARM1/c) William C. "Willie" Fuchs (1919- ) crossed the border into Canada on 12 August 1941 and rode the busy wartime rails across western Ontario to Goderich along Lake Huron with a group of fellow sailors who had just completed a radar course at the Naval Research Laboratory Radio Materiel School (NRL RMS). Leaving the grain freighters of the town's small harbor and its train station behind, he climbed aboard a bus for the final thirteen miles of his journey along the twisting Maitland River through a flat landscape of remote farms and small woodlots. At the end of his trip was the newly opened Royal Air Force (RAF) No. 31 Radio School (RS) outside of Clinton—a top secret facility reflecting Great Britain's determination to continue the struggle against the Axis regardless of the outcome of battles in Europe. Part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Program (BCATP), No. 31 Radio School opened on 20 July 1941 and was ready to begin radar design and maintenance classes for an initial group of 133 U.S. Navy and Army personnel and a few RAF trainees on August 16. Clinton was chosen for its remoteness to preserve secrecy, and because of its rolling countryside and proximity to a large body of water—conditions similar to those of southeast Britain. Its remote location in an insular farming community had two advantages: a lack of distractions for the trainees, and the unlikeliness of encounters with Axis espionage agents.[1] The first class session lasted just under a month, concluding on 13 September. U.S. students consisted of 25 naval officers, 72 Navy enlisted men, and 36 Army enlisted men.[2]
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Member Article: France's Forgotten D-Day: Operation Dragoon and the Invasion of Southern France
by Bruce Malone
The United States Seventh Army's invasion of the southern coast of France on 15 August 1944 is one of the least celebrated Allied combat operations of the Second World War. In the end, Operation Dragoon (originally named Operation Anvil) proved to be one of the most important Allied campaigns, yet it remains one of the most controversial Allied strategic decisions. The American decision to launch Operation Dragoon against strenuous British objections changed the Anglo-American Allied relationship for the duration of the war, as the United States, long the leader in materiel production and numbers of soldiers, assumed the role of strategic senior partner. From start to finish and long afterwards, Allied leaders hotly debated the merits of this campaign and its results. Supporters of the invasion, mostly American, point out its vital assistance to the campaign in northern France, while its detractors, mostly British, find fault for its negative influence on the difficult fight in Italy.[1] Often lost in these arguments are the actual results of this remarkable campaign.
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Member Article: The Soviet Invasion of Manchuria and the Kwangtung Army
by Paul S. Teague
From the start of the twentieth century, the Japanese considered Russia, and later the Soviet Union as its potential primary adversary. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905 temporarily removed the Russian threat and the Japanese proceeded to garrison Manchuria. Initially this garrison consisted of two Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) divisions; however by 1910 this was reduced to six reserve battalions. In 1916 these reserve battalions were replaced by IJA regulars and in 1919 the Kwangtung Army was established with astrength of 10,000 soldiers by the IJA Order Number Twelve.[1] Officers in the Kwangtung Army considered themselves the guardians of Japan's frontiers, and they believed the War Ministry did not appreciate the danger to Manchuria that the Soviets posed. The Kwangtung Army moved quickly to consolidate and expand control of Manchuria, and they began political maneuvers to establish a puppet government.[2] A group of Kwangtung Army officers led by Ishiwara Kanji judged that the moment was ripe for bold action.[3]
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Member Article: Battle of Buna-Gona
by Paul S. Teague
In the South Pacific the Japanese wanted to establish a perimeter which the Allies would not be able to penetrate, this perimeter would also allow the Japanese to interdict the lines of communications between the United States and Australia, thus isolating Australia. In order to accomplish this, the Japanese planned to capture Port Moresby, New Guinea and to use the facilities there for ground based air support against the Americans and Australians. The Japanese also planned to construct a sea plane facility at Tulagi, and to construct an airfield on Guadalcanal. The Japanese intentions were to Take Port Moresby and Tulagi in order to secure air mastery of the Coral Sea and its shores. It was allied resistance to this that resulted in the Battle of the Coral Sea 4-8 May 1942. The Allies were successful at the Battle of the Coral Sea in that, although the Japanese were successful in taking Tulagi on 3 May 1942 they were prevented from landing at Port Moresby. Though the Japanese landing at Port Moresby was thwarted, they still intended to take it. The entire purpose of the attempted landing at Port Moresby was to provide the Japanese with facilities to protect additional movements into Southern New Guinea and to launch raids on Australia to weaken the Allies ability to move troops.
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Member Article: The Silent Service and the Turkey Shoot
by James Hinton
They called it the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. American pilots flying from fifteen carriers met Japanese pilots from nine carriers and four islands in the waters just off of Saipan. The resulting battle was the greatest carrier battle of World War II. At the end of the fighting Japan had lost 80% of its employed aircraft, three carriers, and two oilers, and had failed to achieve any of its objectives. The U.S. carrier pilots were lauded and toasted for their victory, and are credited for effectively ending the Japanese carrier threat. In the seventy years since the Battle of the Philippine Sea took place it has been known as the pinnacle moment for Navy Aviation. The truth is far more complicated. While the Navy air arm did account for many of the relatively cheap Japanese planes from the carrier force, and their inexperienced, it wasn't them that delt the harshest blows in the Marianas. Instead, it was the U.S. submarine fleet that did the lion's share of destroying the virtually irreplaceable ships of the Japanese carrier fleet.
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American Airborne Units in World War II
by Michael F. Dilley
This short history will cover those combat military groups, squadrons, battalions, regiments, divisions, and the one corps of U.S. airborne units in World War II. It will not include Army Air Corps units (such as the Air Commandos) or Troop Carrier units, or organizations that had American individuals in them who were airborne qualified and even made operational jumps, such as Army and Marine Corps members of the Office of Strategic Services (including those with Jedburgh teams and Operations Groups), or the multi-service, multi-national Special Allied Airborne Reconnaissance Force (which initially included women who had previously jumped into denied areas). \ The first plan to use parachute forces by American units was developed during World War I. On 17 October 1918, Brigadier General William P. (Billy) Mitchell, a later proponent of strategic aerial bombing, conceived the idea of dropping an American division by parachute from bomber aircraft into an area in the vicinity of Metz, Germany. The details of the planning were developed by Major Lewis H. Brereton, a member of Mitchell's Air Service staff. Brereton would later serve as the commander of the First Allied Airborne Army during World War II as a Lieutenant General. (The First Allied Airborne Army consisted of the American XVIII Airborne Corps, which included: the 17th Airborne Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 101st Airborne Division; and the British I Airborne Corps, which included: the 1st Airborne Division and the 6th Airborne Division. Troop carrier units were also part of Brereton's command.)
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Czechoslovak Exile Units of WWII
by Kai Isaksen
In 1938, the 1,500,000-strong Czechoslovak Army was among the largest in Europe, and fairly well-equipped with modern weapons, including locally produced tanks and aircraft. On November 1st 1938, German troops entered the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia, occupying the entire region with almost no resistance from the Czech forces – only 3rd Battalion of the 8th Border Regiment briefly resisted advancing German troops before being ordered to lay down their weapons by the Czech High Command. In rapid succession, the Sudetenland was formally ceded to Germany. As had been decided in Munich, a third of Slovakia was ceded to Hungary and Poland occupied the Zaolizie region. Slovakia declared independence under a fascist government, and Ruthenia (part of modern Ukraine) tried to do the same, but was promptly invaded and annexed by Hungary.
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Published works on Second World War Orders of Battle for land forces
by Bill Wilson
The armies of the Second World War were typically large organizations the formation of which was made possible by the total war efforts of the combatant nations. Holding continuous front lines in Europe, particularly in the Soviet Union, demanded the mobilization of hundreds of divisions in addition to other elements by both sides. Orders of battle indicate which units were present in given battles and campaigns, as well as providing information useful for determining the assignments and subordination of particular units within the national military structure. The published works addressing orders of battle vary widely in their degree of comprehensiveness. Some have been published postwar as official works while others are commercial publications. Besides the published works, there are also primary sources available in the archives of the combatant nations. An evaluation of these primary sources is not in the scope of this article. This article will evaluate selected published order of battle works for Germany, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and the United States.
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Book Review:
Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1941-1942: Schwerpunkt
by Robert Forczyk
Robert Forczyk, a former US Army armor officer, once and for all dispels the persistent myth of German armor superiority during the first years on the Eastern front. As a reader, I found it amazing just how far behind in technology the Germans found themselves even at the very onset of Barbarossa. By providing in-depth analysis of the tank engagements during these first years, Forczyk makes a convincing argument that the early German successes were not due to superior tank design and performace, but instead because of German tactics, experience, logistics, communication, training, and initiative. One realizes it was just became a matter of time before the Soviets caught up to the Germans in the other categories - thus permanently turning the tide in the east.
Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1941-1942
is a highly-recommended read and is vital to understanding the reasons for eventually German defeat in the east.
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Flying Tiger, Hidden Eagle
by Christopher Lyon
It was December of 1939, and the world was at war. Poland, Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, China, Great Britain, Russia and Japan all had seats at the highest stakes game the world had ever seen, but the United States was quite noticeably absent. Many historians have argued that Franklin Roosevelt did his utmost to propel the country into conflict with Germany and Japan, and when viewed through the lens of the Chinese conflict, this controversy is accentuated and brought to the fore. Although it would be two full years before the catastrophe at Pearl Harbor, it was in this critical month, when all Europe was falling under the sway of fascism, that the Roosevelt administration, and especially the president himself, was preparing for the coming storm. By mid-1940, the US was preparing to boost its support of the hard-pressed Chinese troops with a very significant number of advanced fighters, bombers, and hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.[1] For years the Chinese, who had been fighting both the Japanese and been embroiled in their own civil war, had faced the technological might of Japan armed only with planes from WWI and infantry weapons that often pre-dated even that conflict. A US colonel, Claire Chennault, who had been an advisor to the Chinese military since 1937, oversaw the creation of the American Volunteer Group, a unit of US servicemen and pilots who volunteered to serve in the Chinese military in late 1940 and early 1941.
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SAARF – Special Allied Airborne Reconnaissance Force
by Michael F. Dilley
In early 1945, with the Allied forces closing in on Germany from the west and Russian forces from the east, there was concern on the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) staff about the continued safety of Prisoners of War (POWs) in the hands of the Germans. Some intelligence reporting indicated that the Germans may be moving POWs out of camps in areas where Allied military forces were near at hand. Fears of German maltreatment of POWs in the event the war was lost had been raised earlier but planning for those contingencies did not receive a high priority. As the situation became more of a reality and concerns were raised that camp personnel might decide to massacre prisoners, the priority for planning was raised. The new plans centered on establishing Contact Teams which could be parachuted into or near POW camps to observe and report activities relative to prisoner safety or to intercede in the event of any observed untoward actions being directed against prisoners. Based on limited intelligence reporting, conditions in some of the camps were believed to be bad. There was also uncertainty about whether Hitler might order that actions be taken against prisoners in view of Germany steadily losing ground in the war.
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The Force at la Difensa
by Michael F. Dilley
Italy, early December 1943. It had been raining since mid-September. Rivers in the area were running high, bridges were swept away, and road surfaces were mostly gone. And, of course, it was cold. The German Winter Line had held out despite attack after attack by Lieutenant General Mark Clark's Fifth Army. Regardless of any progress made, no advance beyond the Mignano Gap to Cassino was achieved. This Gap was flanked by the Camino hill mass including mountains such as la Difensa, la Remetanea, Rotondo, and Lungo. On 22 November, Fifth Army had announced Operation Raincoat, "the plan to breach the mountain passes." One of the units in this plan was new to the Italian theater, having previously served in the invasion of Kiska in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It was assigned to the U.S. 36th Infantry Division as the spearhead of the operation. This unit was the First Special Service Force.
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Sabotaging Hitler's Heavy Water
by Michael F. Dilley
The years leading up to and including World War II saw a race by Germany and the United States to develop an atomic weapon. Although the idea of nuclear fission was first mentioned in 1934, it was not until four years later that experiments confirmed it by using Uranium. The two methods for moderating the energy of neutrons loosed by bombarding Uranium involve the use of heavy water or graphite. Heavy water, or Deuterium, which looks like regular water, was discovered in 1933. Germany ultimately decided to use heavy water in its nuclear reactor to breed the Plutonium-239 needed in its weapons research. One method of producing heavy water is by separating it from regular water using electrolysis. This method requires electrolysis chambers and a considerably large amount of power. Ultimately the heavy water supplier for scientists throughout the world was the hydroelectric plant run by Norsk Hydro, located near Rjukan in the Telemark region of Norway.
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The Soviet Offensive in the Arctic: The Pechenga (Petsamo)-Kirkenes Operation 1944
by Kai & Iryna Isaksen
The Pechenga-Kirkenes Operation, as it became known in Soviet military literature, is an important part of Soviet military history, but has been largely ignored in Western military literature, even though the last few years have seen an increased interest in the operations north of the Arctic Circle in WW2. It was the "10th hammer blow", the last in a series of strategic offensive operations conducted by Soviet armed forces throughout 1944, designed to deal a decisive blow to the German ability to conduct counter offensives and mount military operations along the entire Eastern Front. The battle, or rather series of battles, is the largest ever fought north of the Arctic circle and lessons are still being drawn today from the experience of the two armies that slugged it out in the moonlike landscape of the tundra west of Murmansk. On October 7th 1944, a Soviet force of nearly 113,000 men of the Karelian Front, commanded by General Meretskov (later Marshal of the Soviet Union) launched an offensive against the 60,000-man German XIX Mountain Corps, defending in prepared positions along the Litsa river valley northwest of Murmansk. Assisted by sea, air, and land forces (Naval infantry/marines) of the Northern Fleet, the Soviet 14th Army defeated the German forces in a three-phased operation that lasted a total of 24 days.
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The Failure of Strategic Bombing and the Emergence of the Fighter as the Preiminent Weapon in Aerial Warfare
by Jeff L. Patton
The aircraft family tree began to split into specialties at the beginning of the Great War in 1914. From the Wright Brothers first flight in 1903, the airplane developed into single and twin engine variants carrying one or two crewmembers whose primary duty was observation and reconnaissance. Immediately before the advent of hostilities, the need for specialized aircraft became apparent and the combatant powers followed similar lines of development of fighter, bomber, and reconnaissance aircraft. Fighter aircraft were generally lighter, smaller, faster and more maneuverable in keeping with their mission to shoot down other aircraft while bombers were larger, longer ranged, carried multiple crew members and a heavier payload in keeping with their mission of being bomb haulers. When man first dropped explosives from an aircraft is unknown. However, the concept of using aircraft as bombers predates fighters by several years.
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Dutch Harbor: The Unraveling of Japan's Pacific Strategy
by Del C. Kostka
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto drew his hand across a map of the northern Pacific Ocean in a long, sweeping arc. From Attu Island on the far western edge of the Bearing Sea, the admiral traced his finger along the Aleutian archipelago to the island of Amaknak near the Alaskan mainland. There, in June of 1942, Yamamoto intended to strike the American forces at Dutch Harbor. As a strategist, Yamamoto had achieved near deity status among the Japanese Imperial High Command. His crushing attack on Pearl Harbor just six months prior was followed by quick and decisive victory in the Philippines, Malaya, and the East Indies. Now, with the southwest Pacific under firm Japanese control, Yamamoto looked to expand offensive operations to the north and central Pacific. By attacking key strategic points in the Aleutians, as well as Midway Island on the western tip of the Hawaiian chain, he intended to lure the already weakened U.S. Pacific fleet from Pearl Harbor to its final destruction.[1] Yet despite his meticulous planning, his intellect and his vaunted reputation, the attack on the remote Alaskan harbor upon which he now rested his finger would prove to be one of Yamamoto's greatest strategic blunders.
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The Texas 36th Division: A History
by Bruce Brager
Perhaps the best way to give an idea of the human cost the 36th Division paid in World War II (and its other wars) is to reprint some material from the files of the 36th Division Association [ii] (apparently a rough draft of material for an early newsletter).
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Soldier: Ed Ramsey, 26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts)
by Bob Seals
This meeting engagement on Bataan at the village of Morong, led by then First Lieutenant Ed Ramsey on 16 January 1942, was to be the last horse mounted charge by U.S. Army Cavalry in military history. Surviving early days of defeat and disaster, Ed Ramsey was destined to have one of the most challenging and interesting wartime careers of the Pacific theater during the Second World War. His action packed four years of combat, mostly spent behind Japanese lines, reads like a pulp fiction novel written by a Hollywood screen writer. An illustrative example of an interwar generation of hard-charging Cavalry Army Officers, who worked hard and played hard, Ramsey rose to the occasion after the 8th of December 1941. Refusing to surrender on Bataan in April of 1942, he led tens of thousands guerrillas on Luzon in one of the most successful resistance campaigns of the war against ruthless Imperial Japanese Army occupation forces. His remarkable career in the Second World War encompassed the end of several storied American military institutions, to include the Philippine Scouts and Army horse cavalry, while helping to lay the doctrinal foundation of an Army branch not born until after the war, the U.S. Army Special Forces.
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The U.S. Army in Czechoslovakia 1945: An Operational Overview
by Bryan J. Dickerson
From April to December of 1945, the Third U.S. Army conducted operations in and around the western region of Czechoslovakia. Altogether, three of its corps (XII, V and XXII) and nine infantry and four armored divisions and two cavalry groups participated in these operations. The Czechoslovak operations fell into three distinct phases: Border Operations, Liberation and Occupation. The Border Operations Phase occurred from 15 April until 5 May. During this time, the 90th and 97th Infantry Division and 2nd Cavalry Group screened the Czechoslovak border and conducted several limited offensive operations across the border to protect Third U.S. Army's left flank as Third Army drove south-eastward into rumored Alpine Festung (National Redoubt) area of southern Germany / western Austria. During the Liberation Phase (5-8 May 1945), V Corps and XII Corps conducted a major offensive to liberate western Czechoslovakia from Nazi German occupation. The 1st, 2nd, 5th, 26th, 90th and 97th Infantry Divisions, 4th, 9th and 16th Armored Divisions and the 2nd and 102nd Cavalry Groups all participated in liberating over 3,400 square miles of Czechoslovakia. Their irresistible drive was only halted by the orders of Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower approximately on the line Karlovy Vary – Plzen – Ceske Budejovice. Having been oppressed by the Nazis for six long years, Czechs in small villages, towns and the large city of Plzen greeted their liberators with exuberant public celebrations. The phase ended with the German High Command surrender and the termination of all hostilities.
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The Strategic Culture of the Imperial Japanese Navy
by Gary A. Gustafson
With the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Japan entered into a war against the two most powerful navies in the world, the United States and Britain. An Imperial Liaison Conference on 6 September 1941 approved the "Outline Plan for the Execution of the Empire's National Policy." The plan called for three phases. The first phase required the destruction of the US battle line at Pearl Harbor and the capture of resource-rich Southeast Asia. Phase 2 required the consolidation of a defensive perimeter from Burma to Sumatra to the Gilbert Islands to the North Pacific. Phase 3 looked to exploit the natural resources of the captured territory while the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) exhausted American attempts to retake the newly formed Empire of Japan.[3] At a Cabinet Liaison Conference on 1 November 1941, Admiral Nagano Osami, Naval Chief of Staff (NCS), echoed Yamamoto's earlier thoughts, "We can fight effectively for about two years, but no prediction can be made for after that." [4] Despite unprecedented success in the first phase of the plan, within ten months the IJN had lost two thirds of its fleet carriers, was quickly losing an attritional campaign in the Solomon Islands, and had completely relinquished the initiative to the enemy.
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15,220 words
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The Battles of Luneville: September 1944
by Bryan J. Dickerson
The catalyst for this paper was Jenna Carpenter Smith. On Veterans Day 2012, she contacted me seeking information about her late grandfather, Staff Sergeant Joseph Carpenter, who had served in the 2nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Group [Mechanized] in World War Two. Jenna had contacted me after reading about her grandfather in my article "The Liberation of Western Czechoslovakia 1945" which is also posted on Military History Online. I knew Joe Carpenter and his wife Ellin for several years before their deaths. Joe was one of the many World War Two veterans who have assisted me with my research on World War Two in Europe and the liberation of Czechoslovakia. That night, Jenna and I spoke by phone, during which time I shared my memories of her grandfather and grandmother. I explained to her the role that her grandfather and the 2nd Cavalry Group played in the European Campaign and share with her some of the stories that Joe had told me a number of years ago.
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Member Article: Military History Online - World War II Game
by Ed Druback
This "After Action Report" (AAR) was intended to be written for a dual audience even though it is a review of one game played of the infinite variety of possible outcomes. First and foremost this AAR was written for someone who has never played a table top war game. If you are interested in the early stages of WWII (through the fall of France) whether you have ever played a war game or not, I hope I have made this AAR an enjoyable read.
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Visual Guide to the U.S. Fleet Submarines: Part 1
by David L. Johnston
A cursory review of photographs of the U.S. fleet submarines of World War II often leaves the reader with the impression that the boats were nearly identical in appearance. Indeed, the fleet boats from the Porpoise class all the way to the late war Tench class were all similar enough in appearance that it is easy to see how this impression is justified. However, a more detailed examination of the boats will reveal a bewildering array of differences, some of them quite distinct, that allow the separation of the boats into their respective classes. Ironically, the rapidly changing configuration of the boats' appearances often makes it difficult to get down to a specific boat identification. However being familiar with all of the wartime changes will allow you to narrow down the date of the photo and when combined with other data will sometimes get you the specific name.
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Lodge Act Soldier: Henryk "Frenchy" Szarek
by Bob Seals
No nation of the world suffered more during World War II than Poland. Having the geographical misfortune to exist between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Poland sustained more losses as a percentage than any other belligerent; an estimated twenty percent of every man, woman or child in the nation, some 6 million or so by best estimate.[2] Enduring six hellish years of occupation, partition, deportations, slave labor and mass executions, the Polish suffering did not end with the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich on May 7, 1945. Thousands of Polish nationals, to include soldiers who had faithfully served the Allied cause on various fronts, faced an uncertain future, part of the enormous 14 million refugee population of Europe displaced by war.[3] With the Iron Curtain stretching from "…Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic," in the words of Winston S. Churchill, individuals displaced by the war faced the agonizing choice of remaining in the west or returning eastward to live in their Stalinist dominated communist homelands.[4]
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Air Reconnaissance in the Second World War
by Del C. Kostka
In 1919, the great arsenals of the world lay in ruins. After four years of bitter conflict, weary governments eagerly scrapped the instruments of war that spread so much carnage and destruction across the continent of Europe. A global peace movement and tight fiscal budgets conspired to keep military development to a minimum during the post-war era, and in almost every nation's air service the discipline that suffered the most was aerial reconnaissance. It would be a shortsighted policy. Just twenty years after "the war to end all wars," an even greater global crisis would once again prove the indispensable nature of strategic aerial reconnaissance in modern, mechanized warfare. Without question, air reconnaissance had an enormous impact on military operations during the First World War. Airborne observers provided clarity and situational awareness for battlefield commanders (Tactical Intelligence), and air photo interpreters provided information about the enemy's strength, logistics and capabilities (Strategic Intelligence). But the intelligence value of air reconnaissance in the First World War was considered secondary to the role that aviation played in guiding artillery fire. Airborne artillery spotting, when combined with new wireless communication and artillery technologies, constituted the most lethal weapon system of the war. In fact, airborne artillery spotting was so effective that most post-war military strategists considered air reconnaissance simply an extension of ground operations.
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Interview with WWII Veteran Walter Holy
Interview by Tony Welch
An astounding number of American teenagers, both male and female, altered their birth dates in order to serve their country during World War 11. The practice reached its peak in 1943. Over time, nearly 50,000 were detected and sent home. Among the many who eventually managed to enlist, a handful was discovered – court martialed – and then stripped of any valor awards they might have earned. But the great majority – some 200,000 -- went unnoticed and served honorably for the duration. Among those sworn in was Walter Holy (rhymes with 'moly,' as in 'holy moly'). Walter and his wife Frances reside in Vancouver, Washington, just over the Columbia River from Portland. There's a possibility that Walt's combat boots are still stashed in the hall closet, just in case. What might Walter be thinking? If you're never too young, then you're also never too old…?
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Member Article: Turning East: Hitler's only option
by Thomas Tripp
The invasion of the Soviet Union arguably was the most important military decision Adolf Hitler made in his life. In just a little under four years, it destroyed the Thousand Year
along with tens of millions of innocent lives. Did this fatal decision go against his belief of avoiding a two-front war or did Hitler feel he had a small window of opportunity to win a campaign in the East, provided it was swift, while the British remained isolated on their island? He felt this would bring about a settlement with Great Britain without the risk of a cross channel invasion. Hitler in one of his last recorded conversations in the
Chancellery Bunker in April 1945, stated:
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Member Article: The Club Runs: Allied Aircraft Resupply Operations to Malta, 1942
by Brick Billing
By early 1942 the tiny island of Malta, approximately 100 km south of Sicily, was effectively under siege. German and Italian advances in North Africa had transformed the Mediterranean an Axis-held lake, with the nearest Allied bases in Gibraltar on the eastern end and Egypt on the west. The Axis, realizing Malta's strategic position, subjected the tiny island to daily aerial bombardments. Over the course of two years Malta became one of the most heavily bombed places on Earth as the German
, and the Italian
Regia Aeronautica
flew over 3,000 bombing raids in an attempt to neutralize the island .[1] For as long as Malta remained in Allied hands, British air and sea forces could mount attacks against Axis shipping, threatening General Erwin Rommel's supply lines in North Africa. As early as May 1941, Rommel had warned his superiors that: "without Malta the Axis will end by losing control of North Africa."[2] Standing against this Axis threat were a series of fighter, bomber, and torpedo squadrons based at Malta's three airfields; Luqa, Hal Far, and Takali.[3]
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3,199 words
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Interview with a World War II Veteran
by Robert C. Daniels
In preparation for writing a book, tentatively entitled "World War II in Mid-America," I have conducted oral interviews on 33 people of a small mid-western American community that had lived during and through the war. These people represent a wide and diverse range of those living in that area at the time: male, female, military, civilian, adult, children, farmer, factory worker, etc. These interviews were designed to gather information on how World War II affected the interviewees' lives. As such, questions were asked during the interviews about their lives prior to, during, and after the war.
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Why Arnhem?
by Thomas Leckwold
Operation Market-Garden
, the largest airborne operation in history, is a well known failure because of the inability to capture a bridge over the Rhine River, and the resulting destruction of the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem. Many opinions of the Battle of Arnhem were established by Cornelius Ryan in his book
A Bridge Too Far
which became an epic 1977 movie by Joseph Levine and Richard Attenborough. These works provided readers and movie goers an understanding of the defeat that Allies suffered. However, these works fail in answering the basic question of how events on the Western Front influenced the decision of choosing Arnhem as the objective for such a daring and risky operation to force a crossing of the Rhine?
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Hell Ship - From the Philippines to Japan
by Robert C. Daniels
U.S. Marine Edmond Babler was forced to surrender to the Japanese Imperial Army in April 1942 with the fall of the Island fortress of Corregidor in the Philippines. Like many of his fellow POWs, after spending two years of hard labor under what can only be described as horrendous and savage slave labor conditions in the Philippine Islands of Luzon and Palawan, he was transported to the Japanese main islands in what would be known to the prisoners as a Hell Ship. What follows comprises Chapter 7 of
1220 Days: The story of U.S. Marine Edmond Babler and his experiences in Japanese Prisoner of War Camps during World War II
, and is his personal account of that trip using his vernacular and colloquialisms whenever possible, including the phonetic form in which Ed originally wrote and remembered several Japanese phrases. It is his views and memories, with no apologies made nor intended to conform to the modern concept of political correctness. The author has sparingly inserted clarifications and corroborating information in encapsulated brackets where deemed necessary to give the reader a better understanding of the 'overall picture' of the war in relation to what Ed was experiencing.
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3,903 words
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"She Hastens Onward Still": The Battleship
USS Oregon
And its Place in National Memory
by Dr. Christopher M. Jannings
Ship breakers claimed the vast majority of 19th Pre-dreadnought and 20th century United States battleships like the
USS Oregon
upon decommission.[1] Masts, guns, anchors, smoke stacks, and other elements of the most famous remain on public display at historic sites, serving as substitutes for full-sized memorials that require private donations or taxpayer dollars to maintain. The
USS Oregon
was the centerpiece for the State of Oregon Marine Park from 1927 to 1942, and seemed destined for honorable retirement until the outbreak of World War II, but was sacrificed because of misguided patriotism in the State of Oregon and misappropriation of war materials and building contracts, particularly involving the use of steel, within the highest levels of government and industry.[2]
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7,304 words
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From Liberation to Confrontation: The U.S. Army and Czechoslovakia 1945 to 1948
by Bryan J. Dickerson
In the closing days of World War II in Europe, soldiers of the U.S. Army were welcomed as Liberators by crowds of Czech civilians exuberant at being freed from six long years of Nazi tyranny and occupation. Just three short years later, the relation-ship between the U.S. Army and Czechoslovakia was dramatically different. Instead of allies, they were now adversaries. Due to the rapidly changing political situation in central Europe and the emergence of a Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the U.S. Army in Europe underwent a series of major changes in mission and structure which culminated with it being forced to assume a combat posture against the very same country and ally that it had helped liberate from the Nazi Germany in the spring of 1945. In just three and a half years, the U.S. Army performed the roles of a combat force / liberator, an occupation force / rebuilder, a police or constabulary force and ultimately, a combat force again in rapid succession.
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10,807 words
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Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust: Fact or Fiction?
by Abigail Pfeiffer
For close to fifteen years after the Holocaust there was little written about the resistance of the European Jewish population against the Nazis and their collaborators. According to Michael Marrus in his article "Jewish Resistance to the Holocaust" the reason for this is "…most Jews had little stomach for myth-making of any kind about Jewish resistance in the immediate shock of the war. It was all Jews could do in the first postwar years to absorb the reality of mass murder on an unimagined scale…"[2] Only after the shock of the attempted liquidation of the whole population of European Jews wore off did some solid historiography emerge about Jewish resistance. The trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel also prompted more historians to examine Jewish resistance, especially outside of Israel and Yiddish speaking populations. Two historians emerged during this time, Hannah Arendt and Raul Hilberg, with views that the Jews did not resist, at least not on a scale that would have made their resistance successful.
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Member Article: Battle for the Seaports
by Ruud Bruyns
On January 30 1945 there was a remarkable movie premiere in the French seaport of La Rochelle. The latest German war movie 'Kolberg' was displayed for the first time to an audience which consisted of more than 20.000 soldiers, who were besieged by Allied forces since August 1944. This movie, which was shot in full color, was meant to boost morale among the German garrison by setting the siege of Kolberg by the French in 1806 as an example. This was necessary because the Germans were trapped there for almost half year, as were ten of thousands other German soldiers in the ports of France, Belgium and Holland during the autumn of 1944. How was it possible that approximately 200.000 German soldiers were locked up in these ports while the German homeland was bound to be attacked by the Allies? Was it coincidence, or was there a plan behind this set-up?
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Member Article: A Turn Too Far: Reconstructing the End of the Battle of the Java Sea
by Del C. Kostksa
Attu rises like a jagged stone from the churning waters of the North Pacific. Barren, wind-swept, and shrouded in perpetual fog, the island has little relevance to a world that is barely aware of its existence. Yet in 1943, this obscure wilderness was the scene of an epic battle between resilient Japanese occupiers and an American invasion force who were equally determined to possess the island. It was a battle fought as much against the elements as with an enemy, and where a small and ill-equipped band of US Army combat engineers found themselves squarely in the path of one of the largest Japanese Banzai attacks of World War Two.[1]
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Member Article: A Turn Too Far: Reconstructing the End of the Battle of the Java Sea
by Jeffrey R. Cox
The Java Sea campaign has gotten little in the way of analysis in the English-speaking press, and what coverage it has gotten has largely focused on the role of the crews of individual ships such as the US cruiser
, the Australian cruiser
and the British cruiser
, particularly in their futile efforts to escape the Java Sea, James Hornfischer's excellent book
Ship of Ghosts
being a case in point. This relative silence is understandable for several reasons. First of all, we lost. Unless the defeat can be used to bash the United States like Vietnam is, defeats tend to get less play in the media. Furthermore, the territory being defended was a Dutch colony, which, since the Dutch mainland was under Nazi occupation, was effectively serving as their homeland, and thus meant much more to the Dutch than the Anglos, who found the campaign small in comparison to their overall war effort in the Pacific.
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Member Article: How Arnhem was Lost around Eindhoven
by Landon McDuff
The Texas Army National Guard has a proud history that has not only influenced but, has come to define its military culture. It is the purpose of this essay to discuss some of those defining and controversial moments and remember the heroes that made them so. Texas has traditionally been committed to the defense of its nation and usually contributes more troops to the U.S. military than any other state.[i] The Texas Army National Guard traces their beginnings to the fight for Texas' independence from Mexico. The spirit of the defenders of the Alamo, and the victorious men that carried the day on the grounds of San Jacinto, is alive and well in the hearts of every Texas National Guard soldier and airman. The TXARNG is a state military force in local operation but trains and fights alongside the federal Army, daubed "Big Army". They call themselves "citizen soldiers" because although they have the same training as "Big Army", they only serve one weekend out of the month, unless called into active duty.[1]
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Member Article: How Arnhem was Lost around Eindhoven
by Ruud Bruyns
A lot of explanations have been written about the failure of Operation Market Garden, better known as the Battle of Arnhem after the ultimate goal of the operation. In the mainly English speaking literature there has been very few references to Dutch sources, while there have been many detailed publications about Market Garden. The most notable are '
Een andere kijk op de slag om Arnhem
' (Another Perspective on the Battle of Arnhem, 2009) by Peter Berends, and '
Einddoel Maas
' (End Goal Meuse, 1984) and '
Brabant bevrijd
' (Brabant liberated, 1993) by Jack Didden en Maarten Swarts. The latter argue that Market Garden was lost in Brabant. I want underline their thesis and want to add some new perspectives to this in this article.
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Member Article: The Saga of Ormoc Bay - November 10, 1944
by Stuart Goldberg
The battle for Leyte had been raging since an Allied invasion force arrived off the coast of this central Philippine island. From the 23rd of October to the 26th, in a running battle on the sea and in the air, the Japanese attempted to repulse the landing. This titanic military engagement, known as "The Battle of Leyte Gulf," proved to be the largest naval battle in history and decided the fate of not only the Philippines, but also of the once mighty IJN Combined fleet. During the four-day skirmish, Adm. Halsey's Third Fleet and Adm. Kinkaid's Seventh decimated four separate Japanese naval task forces commanded by Admirals Ozawa, Kurita, Nishimura and Shima. When the smoke had cleared, the surviving Japanese ships of Operation "SHO-GO" limped back to Tokyo and the Americans secured the landing beaches. Consequently, despite the stiff resistance by the Imperial Navy and Adm. Onishi's newly instituted Kamikaze tactics, American ground troops finally stormed ashore.
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22,304 words
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Member Article: Hunters of the Deep: A Brief Synopsis of the Contribution of the Silent Service of the Pacific
by Bryan T. Hayes
The English dictionary refers to "Pacific" as an unaggressive or peaceful nature. The Pacific theater in WWII was a direct antonym as American and Japanese forces exercised immense human destruction across the islands and atolls in the central and Southern theaters. American memories of the WWII Asian battles usually dwell at Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Hiroshima. As such, the majority of Naval dramatic action captured on film and in books occurred on the surface, on the beaches, or in the air, as the era witnessed an incredible shift from the battleship force to the aircraft carrier, its support units and amphibious operations of the Marines and sustaining naval units.
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2,139 words
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Member Article: Mush Morton and the crew of the
, War Criminals?
by David Johnston
On 26 January 1943 the submarine USS
(SS-238), under the command of the indomitable Lt. Commander Dudley W. "Mush" Morton, engaged in a running gun and torpedo battle with a Japanese convoy consisting of four ships off the northern coast of New Guinea. It would later prove to be a seminal moment in the history of the famous Morton and his
forever cementing their combined reputation as ace ship hunters. At a time when the war news was almost universally bad, and when the submarine force was struggling to hit its stride against the Japanese, Morton and the fighting
provided a much needed shot in the arm and morale boost to our Navy and country. Unfortunately, it also would prove to be one of the most controversial acts committed by one of our submarines during the war, and would later result in whispered back room (and sometimes open) charges of racism, murder, and official cover-up.
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2,074 words
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Member Article: Polish Cavalry: A Military Myth Dispelled
by Alexander Zakrzewski
At 2:00 P.M. on September 1st, 1939, Colonel Kazimierz Mastelarz, commander of the 18th Regiment of the Pomorska Cavalry Brigade, spotted a badly exposed battalion of German infantry in the woods near the Polish village of Krojanty. He hurriedly assembled his troopers for a sabre charge and fell upon on the unsuspecting enemy, easily overrunning them. For the Colonel, the short but brief action must have seemed a fortuitous start to the war for he and his men. Their first encounter with Hitler's vaunted Wehrmacht had proven a tactical success at negligible cost. However, his victory would prove short lived. Before the Poles could reorganize, a column of German tanks and motorized troops appeared from around a bend and unleashed a devastating hail of fire.
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2,660 words
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Excerpt from
World's Bloodiest History: Massacre, Genocide, and the Scars They Left on Civilization
by Joseph Cummins
The Belgian farmer, whose name was Henri Lejoly, was surprised at the nonchalance of the U.S. troops. Standing in the barren field outside of the town of Malmedy on that cold early afternoon in the winter of 1944, they smoked and joked with each other. Some of them had placed their hands on their helmets in a casual token of surrender to the Waffen-SS troops of
Kampfgruppe Peiper
—the mechanized task force commanded by the brilliant young German Colonel Jochen Peiper—as it passed by, but beyond that they seemed remarkably unconcerned. The offhand behavior of the roughly 115 U.S. prisoners may have been because the men came from Battery B of the 285th Field Observation Battery. This was an outfit whose job was to spot enemy artillery emplacements and transmit their location to other U.S. units. It had seen relatively little frontline duty and was filled with numerous green replacements.
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Member Article: The Predominance of Confucian Martial Culture over Western Influence in the Far East
by Holly Senatore
Consider a society where equality among men is a foreign concept. Consider a state where democracy is firstly established through removing a military threat through war and reestablishing a viable working government. Lastly, consider a situation where asking the post- war populace to embrace democracy is also asking them to rid themselves of their own centuries long cultural values. This article does not address the invasion of Iraq in 2003, an event in which the military goals were readily accomplished yet the cultural goals of instilling democracy among a hostile people are yet to be seen. Instead, this article examines a similar instance that unfolded during the mid twentieth century when Japan surrendered to United States military forces on September 2nd, 1945. This date marked the end of World War II but established the beginning of a new chapter in Anglo-Japanese relations whereby democracy was grafted upon a stratified and hierarchal civilization ruled by the military class since the Yorimoto Shogunate in the 12th century A.D.
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4,021 words
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Recent WWII Forum Topics
Commemmorating D Day 6th June 1944
D-Day Dodgers
USMC & Overlord
Spotted this collection of colour photos from WW2
VE Day in Europe! What a celebration!?
Hitler and his photographer
Air Power - WW II
"Sabaton", Anyone?
RAF Fighter Command Offensve 1941--43
Louis Zamperini and Search Mission
Military slang terms!? :)
Doolittle Raid - 77th Anniversary Today
Rat C atching 1945 air war
Dieppe: The White Angel passes
Was Rommel right?
How to Keep Well in Wartime
Iron Cross
Instead of Crete
Featured Books
Lake Ilmen, 1942: The Wehrmacht Front to the Red Army
The True Story of the Great Escape: Stalag Luft III, March 1944
Fallschirmjäger. Volume 1: German Paratroopers, 1937–1941
Greece 1941: The Death Throes of Blitzkrieg
The Channel Islands in the Great War
Escape from Stalag Luft III
Two Flags over Iwo Jima: Solving the Mystery of the U.S. Marine Corps' Proudest Moment
Panzers on the Vistula: Retreat and Rout in East Prussia 1945
Monte Cassino: A German View
Otto Skorzeny: The Devil's Disciple
Snapdragon: The World War II Exploits of Darby's Ranger and Combat Photographer Phil Stern
Prisoner of the Samurai: Surviving the Sinking of the USS Houston and the Death Railway
The Liberators of Pilsen: The U.S. 16th Armored Division in World War II Czechoslovakia
Morning Star, Midnight Sun: The Early Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign of World War II August–October 1942
Frantic 7: The American Effort to Aid the Warsaw Uprising and the Origins of the Cold War, 1944
Vitebsk: The Fight and Destruction of Third Panzer Army
Case Red: The Collapse of France
Divided on D-Day: How Conflicts and Rivalries Jeopardized the Allied Victory at Normandy
The Fear and the Freedom: How the Second World War Changed Us
The History of the Panzerwaffe: Volume 2: 1942–45
The History of the Panzerwaffe: Volume I: 1939–42
The Story of the Guards Armoured Division
Guderian: Panzer General
SS Das Reich At War 1939–1945: A History of the Division on the Western and Eastern Fronts
Midnight in the Pacific: Guadalcanal--The World War II Battle That Turned the Tide of War
Their Backs against the Sea: The Battle of Saipan and the Largest Banzai Attack of World War II
SS Grenadiers on The Russian Front
Warriors of the 106th: The Last Infantry Division of World War II
The Normandy Battlefields: Bocage and Breakout: From the Beaches to the Falaise Gap
Luftwaffe in Colour: From Glory to Defeat: 1942-1945
© 2018 MilitaryHistoryOnline.com, LLC
Contact Brian Williams at:


text:
"Disco sucks, you fruit."
In 1979 I was delivering newspapers one afternoon, wearing a shirt I had custom made with iron on letters. The message: "Disco: Ignore It And Maybe It Will Go Away." It was at the height of the "disco invasion," a time when most of us felt that the music and lifestyle associated to it was taking over every facet of our lives. Established entertainers were releasing disco albums. Shiny satin shirts and other expensive clothes were all the rage, even with those who could not afford the lifestyle. TV shows were Disco-tizing their theme songs. Disco versions of popular non-disco albums were available at the local Music Market.
My shirt was a direct cry against the genre saturation we all felt.
I don't recall what I paid to have it made, but I do recall the phrase was coined by my sister Janice. Two guys – possibly stoners and obviously rockers, passed me as I was hauling my paper cart, and made it known how much they hated disco.
"That's what it says," I replied to them. "That is, if you can read."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
For Artists / Career Training
Workshops + Events
The Creative Career Center is a comprehensive suite of career training, professional-development resources and counseling to help artists achieve their career goals. Artists learn best practices in the business of being an artist, increasing their confidence and entrepreneurialism. See below for upcoming events; or see more Creative Career Center offerings.


text:
Course Code: HLTAID004 Provide an Emergency First Aid Response in an Education Care Setting. On successful completion of this course, participants will be awarded a Statement of Attainment in HLTAID001 Provide CPR, HLTAID002 Provide Basic Emergency Life Support, HLTAID003 Provide First Aid and HLTAID004 Provide an Emergency First Aid Response in an Education Care Setting.
Course Content
The course covers both the knowledge requirements and practical skills required to perform CPR on an infant, child and adult, the use of an AED, demonstration of anaphylaxis auto-injectors and asthma bronchodilator equipment (puffers and spacers), bandaging and slings and the requirements for providing an incident/injury report.
Duration and Delivery
1. 6 hours blended delivery – practical competencies completed in class plus some theory (please allow up to 8 hours to complete self-paced workbook reading, quiz questions and assessment questions);
This delivery option covers the practical assessment requirements plus further workbook theory in class. Participants are required to complete 3 theory assessments pre-course. The completed assessments must be brought to the practical workshop. Students will not be deemed competent until they have passed all theory and practical assessments.
2. 2 days full course face-to-face. All course work is completed in class.
It is a mandatory assessment requirement in all CPR/First Aid courses that participants demonstrate CPR on the floor, not on an elevated surface. To be assessed as competent in this course you must be physically capable of performing CPR on the floor. If you have an injury that limits your ability to adequately demonstrate CPR, you may attend the course and be issued a Statement of Attendance.
HLTAID004 Theory Assessment
It is a requirement in all blended delivery courses that theory assessments must be completed prior to training day. Please follow the instructions below to complete pre-course requirements.
There are three components to the theory assessment in HLTAID004. You must complete all three assessments to achieve competency in the course.
- Part 1: CPR / First Aid
- Part 2: Anaphylaxis
- Part 3: Asthma
Locate the pre-course assessments on our website as follows:
- Click the Assessments menu option, then select HLTAID004 Childcare First Aid.
- Part 1 (First Aid) of the HLTAID004 assessment will display. Complete all fields of the assessment and click "Submit".
- Once a pass mark is achieved you will receive an Assessment Completion email. Print the email, sign the declaration and bring this with you to the course to verify that you have successfully completed Part 1 of the theory assessment.
- The email will contain a link to Part 2 (Anaphylaxis) of the assessment. Follow the link to continue with Parts 2 and 3 (Asthma) of the assessment.
- All three parts of the assessment must be completed and the signed declarations brought to class.
If after 3 attempts you have not achieved a 100% pass mark, print the assessment (press Ctrl P) and bring the assessment with you to the course. The trainer will discuss any incorrect answers in class.
The pass rate for all first aid theory assessments is 100%. Participants are required to demonstrate a clear understanding of all topics covered in the course. Ten knowledge questions will be asked in the classroom. This will help to verify your understanding of the subject and confirm that the pre-course theory assessment is your own work.
Reassessment of practical competencies:
Should assessments not be successfully completed on training day participants will be given 14 days from the date of training to successfully submit their assessment to Revive2Survive. If the assessment cannot be submitted within the time frame participants will need to attend a follow up session to be reassessed in practical competencies. Prices are listed in the Revive2Survive Schedule of Fees.


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You can download our mobile app here.


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Cosmic Cavern – Berryville, AR – Wild Cave Tours
Looking for a NEW adventure?
Come on our Wild Cave Tours! Being the first in Arkansas to offer these special tours, we offer an exclusive look into parts of the cavern rarely seen…
Gear Needed for the Wild Cave Tour :
- Long sleeved shirt (thin, so you won't get too hot)
- Jeans, pants, or non-insulated coveralls (no dresses or skirts!)
- Hiking boots or shoes, or tennis shoes (must have good grip for climbing and for mud)
- Flip flops, sandals, or slip on shoes (for the walk back on the walkways)
- Extra Change of clothes (for the trip home in the car)
- Camera (it will get a little muddy)
- Small bottle of water
- Money for the tour
- A good attitude and a sense of adventure is always a plus!
- A SIGNED RELEASE FORM for each person going on the tour! Click the button below to get the release form.
Wild Cave Tour Release Form
The rules and regulations are:
- At least a 24 hour advance reservation
- 16 years of age or older
- 5'2" in height
- Must have previously done the regular tour prior to doing the wild tour (keep your ticket from when you did the regular tour)
- A credit card will be required for a non-refundable deposit
- There is a minimum required of no less than 2 and no more than 6 people per wild tour
- The wild tour is only offered after hours
- Cosmic Cavern furnishes the gloves, hard hats and lights
For more info or to set up a Wild Cave Tour, please call (870)749-2298
Cosmic Cavern – Arkansas Attraction
"Absolutely Amazing!"
Cosmic Cavern is amazing! Cosmic Cavern has a highly welcoming atmosphere and I can't wait to come back for my next tour! Cosmic Cavern is a definite wonder of our planet!! The staff was great and extremely knowledgeable!
– Devin H.
Devin H.
"Great Experience"
Visited Thanksgiving weekend and I'm so glad that we did. It turned out to be my favorite location that we visited (visited Eureka Springs). It was definitely a memorable experience! We'll have to go back and take the Wild Cave tour and get an even more in-depth look!
– Patrick B
Patrick B.
"Try the Wild Cave Tour!"
My girlfriend and I went on a Friday afternoon to do the regular tour and the wild cave tour. The wild cave tour was awesome! There were also great photo ops, and Jesse was awesome about finding them and taking pictures of us. Bring a disposable camera, though!
– Rob7395
"I've been to many caves and this one was great!"
I thought this experience was great…my wife and I just left there a few hours ago and it will be a fond memory that will stick with us for awhile. I've been to many caves in several different states, this is one of my favorites. I had great respect for the guide and the way this business operated.
– geofanatic
"Beautiful Cavern"
We really enjoyed the cavern tour. The guide was very informative and fun! There was a lot to see and learn!
– BellelsMyFave


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We are now in Easter week which is one of the most significant periods in the Sicilian calendar. Every year, the atmosphere in Sicilian towns changes considerably throughout the week according to the day and its religious implications. Even the weather usually changes accordingly, with the week prior to Easter being dark and miserable only to give way to glorious sunshine on Easter Sunday. My own personal experiences of the week's events have mostly been in the town of Adrano, which is situated at the foot of Mount Etna, in the province of Catania. The processions are so elaborate and moving in this town, and they attract thousands of devotees.
Today the procession of 'Cristo alla Colonna' takes place from 6pm until 3am tomorrow morning, when the statue of Christ on the cross is carried throughout the streets of Adrano, calling in at each of the town's churches in order for the men carrying the statue to kneel at each altar. This is so emotional to watch as the statue is carried very slowly, three steps forward then two steps back, and sways from side to side.
On Good Friday from 7am until 2pm the statue of the Virgin Mary, l'Addolorata, is carried through the streets visiting each church looking for her son Jesus, and at 8pm there is the procession of 'Cristo Morto'. In dialect, this is 'U Lizzanti' and is the statue of the body of Jesus which makes four stops around the town, each time accompanied by a marching band playing the funeral song 'Canzoncina a Gesù morto'.
On Easter Sunday the sun shines bright in the sky and hundreds of families head towards the town centre to see the procession of 'Cristo Risorto' (Christ Resurrected), the Angel and of 'Maria Annunziata' (Virgin Mary).
The happiest time of the day is when the statues of Jesus and Mary finally meet and this is known as 'A Paci'. The statues are made to dance and kiss and the atmosphere in the piazza is so happy and uplifting. Adrano is renowned for 'la Diavolata', which is a theatrical production held outside in the piazza on Easter Sunday and depicts the fight between good (symbolised by angels) and evil (the devils). In the evening the town holds an incredible fireworks display.
I wish each one of you a 'Buona Pasqua' and leave you with a video in Italian showing the highlights of Easter in Adrano -
Amici, if you enjoy reading my blog please become a follower by registering at the Google 'Join this site' icon at the top right of the page. Grazie mille for your support!!
A presto :-)


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Conway, AR (PRWEB) November 30, 2011
Rhea Lana's Children's Consignment, Inc. is "The Nation's Premiere Children's Consignment Event Venue" and has come a long way from its humble beginnings. Founded by Rhea Lana Riner in her living room in 1997 and headquartered in Conway, Arkansas, Rhea Lana's now holds 47 semi-annual consignment events in 16 states. Because of the enormous growth, Rhea Lana's was recently recognized on the national level by making this year's Inc. 500/5000 list of fastest growing privately-held companies. Rhea Lana's Children's Consignment, Inc. continues to grow as more families are discovering the value of this amazing business opportunity.
One aspect that makes Rhea Lana's so successful is the unique company culture that connects its consignors, shoppers and volunteers. The heart of the company seeks to serve communities by providing a venue for families to buy and sell their high-quality children's items. The Rhea Lana franchise owners are another reason the company has experienced so much success. "Our franchise owners are leaders in their communities and each one takes great pride in adding value to the lives of average, hardworking American families seeking to stretch their budget through buying and selling high-quality children's items at our consignment events," said Rhea Lana Riner, President and Founder of Rhea Lana's Children's Consignment Events.
Because of the success the company has experienced, Rhea Lana's seeks to share and give back to the community by partnering with many nonprofit agencies. Over the past year, charities have benefitted from over 100,000 items donated. Another way that the company gives back is by contributing a portion of its sales of the Rhea Lana's Friends and Family Cookbooks to Autism Speaks, North America's largest autism science and advocacy organization. To learn more about Autism Speaks, please visit http://www.autismspeaks.org.
About Rhea Lana's Children's Consignment Events
With Arkansas roots, Rhea Lana's Children's Consignment Inc. is rapidly growing with 47 locations in 16 states. Founded by Rhea Lana Riner in her living room 14 years ago and headquartered in Conway, Arkansas, Rhea Lana's Children's Consignment hosts semi-annual sales. The company is the first consignment sale in the country to offer on-line management and real time tracking of merchandise through a computerized inventory system and a convenient mobile application.
Riner has been featured in numerous publications including The High Profile Section, Arkansas Democrat Gazette and Women's Inc Magazine. She has recently won a prestigious national award by Enterprising Women, a national publication and foundation that honors entrepreneurial women with rapidly growing companies who seek to mentor other women in business. Also, in the 2010 report from Franchise Business Review on Child Service Related Franchises, Rhea Lana's Children's Consignment, Inc. ranked in the Top 10 nationally.
For interview opportunities:
Rhea Lana Riner
RheaLana(at)RheaLana(dot)com - 501-499-0009
For more information on Rhea Lana's Children's Consignment events, please visit the company's web site at http://www.rhealana.com. For more information on franchising opportunities with Rhea Lana's, please visit http://www.rhealana.com/franchiseopportunities.asp
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The Prodigal Son
Sunday School Lesson
Luke 15:11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:
Luke 15:12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
Luke 15:13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
Luke 15:14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
Luke 15:15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
Luke 15:16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
Luke 15:17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
Luke 15:18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
Luke 15:19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
Luke 15:20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Luke 15:21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Luke 15:22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
Luke 15:23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
Luke 15:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Luke 15:25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
Luke 15:26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
Luke 15:27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
Luke 15:28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
Luke 15:29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
Luke 15:30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
Luke 15:31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
Luke 15:32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
The Prodigal Son
Sunday School Lesson
The Prodigal Son Snack
Pig Slop
The Prodigal Son Coloring Pages
Just print on cardstock and color. Cut out and use for your bible.
The Prodigal Son Story-telling Image
Just print and hold up to class when telling the kids the bible story on the Prodigal son.


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There are lots of animals at the San Diego Zoo, but now there is one more: a three million year old whale. Pretty crazy. Check this out:
Via The Christian Science Monitor:
A 3-million-year-old whale has been discovered at the San Diego Zoo.
And this whale wasn't found by a whaling ship but by some guys wearing hard hats.
A construction crew had been working on a storm water tank at the zoo, and while using an excavator to dig through the fine grain sand they struck something hard.
While whale fossils have been found in this area before, this 24-foot long baleen whale seemed to be remarkably intact and well perserved.
In a San Diego News article, Sarah Siren, a paleontological field manager with the San Diego Natural History Museum said, "It's rare to have a skeleton this complete."
Other ancient sea fossils have been unearthed in the region, including a 75-million-year-old femur from a duck-billed dinosaur and portions of a 3.5-million-year- old sea cow found in Chula Vista, according to the Los Angeles Times.
After the whale fossil is completely excavated, the remains will be taken to the Balboa Park museum, in San Diego, for further examination and possibly be put on public display.


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Montessori preschool and childcare in North Portland
"The first essential for the child's development is concentration. It lays the whole basis for his character and social behavior."
– Dr. Maria Montessori
Our programs are all consecutive days per week because young children thrive on regular routine. We offer 4 and 5 day options. This also allows us to build a stable community of children who happily help and support each other.
For the youngest children, we recommend the half-day program, to allow them time to rest at home in the afternoon and process the work of the morning in their most familiar environment.
8:00 to 11:30 am (includes snack).
For children ready for a longer day of work, or a few select children whose families need longer hours, we offer a school day program that includes lunch.
8:00 to 3:00 (snack and lunch included in tuition cost).
And, for an extra monthly charge, we offer 7:30 am early arrival, and/or aftercare until 3:30.
"Our schools show that children of different ages help one another. The younger ones see what the older ones are doing… and the instruction is really valuable… the little one learns easily what we should find it hard to impart."
– Maria Montessori
Our daily routine is to have, as Montessori recommended, a long, uninterrupted work period, in which children are free to choose activities as their interest directs. We support the ability of children to sustain this work period with time for individual lessons, practice with previously shown work, small group activities and some whole-group activities. Every child receives personal attention from the teacher on a daily basis.
After 11:30 dismissal time, outdoor play and lunch will occur, followed by a second work period until 3:00.
We take occasional outings to the local park or walks in the neighborhood to observe local happenings and seasonal changes.


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Fast rising ragga star, Cynthia Morgan has also joined the league of Range Rover owners of Nigeria…LOL! For real though, the German Juice singer signed under Jude "Engees" Okoye's North side Entertainment has acquired a brand new Range Rover jeep estimated to be worth 10 million Naira.
The sultry patwah crooner took to her Instagram page to share the delightful news with her fans with a photo of the vehicle captioned 'One down!More to come…#Bumba…'.


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Goodwood Festival of Speed will see the first UK performance of the TS030 Hybrid race car.
The sports car, which recently made its first appearance in the Le Mans 24 Hours, is set to be one of the major attractions at Goodwood as Toyota Racing's British driver Anthony Davidson gets behind the wheel on the hill course.
However, such high-performance vehicles as the TS030 are likely to attract correspondingly high car insurance and breakdown cover premiums.
The vehicle heads a line-up representing the strength-in-depth of Toyota's racing machinery.
It keeps up Toyota's tradition of competing at the top level internationally and shows how its hybrid power technology can be developed for the high demands of racing.
Other attractions to watch for include Frank Wrathall, 25, who is back in his Dynojet Racing-prepared Toyota Avensis touring car.
He proved a sensation of 2011's British Touring Car Championship, in which he raced to four podium finishes in his rookie season. Fans voted him BTCC driver of the year online.
Copyright Press Association 2012


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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rare Stradivari viola, considered to be one of the finest musical instruments in the world, failed to sell in a sealed bid auction with a minimum bid of $45 million (£26.5 million), Sotheby's said on Wednesday.
The "Macdonald" viola, which was made by the famous Italian artisan Antonio Stradivari in 1719, is one of only two still privately owned, and was last on the market 50 years ago.
"At this time, no sale has taken place," said a spokesman for Sotheby's.
If the viola had reached the minimum bid, it would have been the most world's most expensive instrument. The current world record auction price for a musical instrument is $15.9 million, which was achieved in an online auction in June 2011 for the "Lady Blunt" Stradivari violin made in 1721.
Tim Ingles, director of the London-based fine instruments auction house Ingles & Hayday which conducted the sale with Sotheby's, said the viola is so rare because so few of them were made.
"A Stradivari viola has always been, I suppose, the Holy Grail for a collector of musical instruments," he said in an interview ahead of the sale.
The "Macdonald" is considered to be the finest of all the Stradivari violas, he added. It was made between 1700-20, which is considered the artisan's golden period.
The instrument was being sold by the family of Peter Schidlof, of the famed Amadeus Quartet, who bought it in 1964. It is called the "Macdonald" because it was purchased in the 1820s by Godfrey Bosville, the 3rd Baron Macdonald.
Reporting by Patricia Reaney; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and G Crosse


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A.M. Sacramento: Here's what you need to know for Saturday
Good morning. Here's what you need to know today, Saturday, December 27, 2014.
Frost warning: The National Weather Service issued the season's first frost advisory, with early morning temperatures today dropping to 34 degrees. Today's high is predicted to reach 55 degrees, with a return of patchy fog tonight.
After that the skies will be mostly clear, with highs over 50 degrees through Thursday. The frost will be back Wednesday and Thursday nights.
Mall melee: Arden Fair officials promised beefed-up security today after two large-scale brawls and several smaller skirmishes sent at least two people to jail and forced the mall to close its doors early Friday evening.
Twenty or more people were involved in the fights in the mall crowded with after-Christmas shoppers.
Police detained a handful of people suspected of starting the fights, arresting at least two people, according to mall security. Reports of shots fired were later attributed to the loud noise made by a planter that had been knocked over.
Former Sacramento sheriff dies: Glen Craig, a former Sacramento County sheriff and California Highway Patrol commissioner, died Friday in Arizona.
Craig's son, Kevin Craig, said his father was playing golf with friends when he suffered and aortic anuerism. He died in Phoenex with his wife and children at his side. Kevin Craig said his father would have turned 82 on Jan. 8.
Glen Craig retired as sheriff in January 1999, after leading the department for 12 years. His tenure as sheriff capped a 44-year-career in law enforcement that began with the Visalia Police Department after his discharge from the military in 1955. He moved on to the California Highway Patrol and was appointed commissioner in 1975, a position he held for eight years.
Craig was appointed director of the state Department of Justice Division of Law Enforcement in 1983, and established the agency's groundbreaking computerized fingerprint system. He won the Sacramento County sheriff's job from incumbent Robbie Waters in 1986.
Services are pending and will be held in the Sacramento area.
Checkpoint planned: The West Sacramento Police Department will conduct a DUI checkpoint at an undesignated location within the city limits from 7 p.m. this evening to 3 a.m. Sunday.
The checkpoint is funded by a California Office of Traffic Safety grant and is part of traffic enforcement efforts in the city during the holiday.
Local sports: The Sacramento Kings face the New York Knicks at Sleep Train Arena, 7 p.m. (CSNCA, NBA)
Sacramento Bee Optimist All-Star Classic (area seniors from Divisions I-III) at Folsom High School, 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $10, free for 8 and younger.


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Comcast's OLN to Cover NHL in HD
After missing its entire season this year due to a strike, the National Hockey League will attempt to reintroduce itself to its fans, and to HD consumers this fall who will actually be able to see the puck in action. Comcast has signed a $100 million deal to carry the NHL for the next two seasons, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The agreement, if approved by the NHL's governing board (seen as extremely likely), would reportedly stipulate HD coverage of two NHL broadcasts a week. The matches will air on Outdoor Life Network (OLN), a TV venue already known to several million viewers for its live coverage of the annual Tour de France, the cable channel's highest-rated program, by far.
Recent published reports suggest that Comcast is trying to grow OLN from a niche sports channel to a major sports contender, perhaps even taking on the well-branded ESPN franchise by securing rights, including HD options, for some NFL games.
As for hockey, the NHL has already signed an agreement with NBC Sports for analog broadcast coverage of about half a dozen regular games and several playoff contests in the upcoming season, which begins in October.


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Mummy Makeover
Mums, you're there for your kids all the time, through the birth, teething and onwards to starting school. Many mums will take time out to care for their body, including diet and exercise, which is important so that you can be healthy and fit to help care for your family.
Many women experience significant body changes following pregnancy and birth, and multiple pregnancies only make the changes more obvious.
What is a Mummy Makeover?
A Mummy Makeover procedure is a combination of different surgical and non-surgical procedures that can help reverse these changes.
At your consultations with Dr Milovic at his clinics in Malvern, Melbourne and Deakin, Canberra, you can discuss the combination of cosmetic surgery procedures which can be safely performed at the same time.
Common Mummy Makeover procedures include:
- Tummy tuck, with or without liposuction
- Breast augmentation
- Breast reduction
- Breast lift
- Facial procedures include anti-wrinkle injections and dermal fillers
- Genital rejuvenation
We've helped people across Victoria and the ACT get the results they want, so whether you're in Curtin or Hawthorn, specialist assistance is close at hand.
Benefits of a Mummy Makeover
Patients who have had the Mummy Makeover have reported not only physical benefits but emotional ones too, such as improved self-confidence.
There are psychological effects which can stay with women after their pregnancy and birth, and which are related to the loss of their figures, such as:
- Feelings of embarrassment, especially in front of partner when undressing
- Loss of sexual drive
- Depression and lack of motivation
- Social withdrawal
- Relationship problems
- Loss of confidence
- Lack of desire to maintain appearance
Although surgery cannot give you self esteem, it can improve some aspects of your overall confidence. Some women have reported feeling embarrassed about their bodies as well as frustration about not being able to fit into the clothes they once did, or clothes they want to wear.
In fact, there are many studies which have examined weight gain during and after pregnancy have linked body dissatisfaction with depression, psychological stress, overeating and additional weight gain.
Often times, a good diet and exercise regime are not enough to get rid of the excess, sagging skin and loosened abdominal muscles after pregnancy. On the upside, diet and exercise should help you to achieve your ideal or goal weight and get you through the surgery and recovery process quicker and more easily. Some of our patients talked to us about how important it was to have their core and upper body strength during the immediate recovery period.
What a Mummy Makeover will NOT do
Like all cosmetic surgery, the Mummy Makeover cannot change external problems or events in your life. It cannot guarantee that you won't go through a life changing event, such as divorce or relationship breakdowns. It also cannot find you a new partner or make financial problems go away. But when you feel better about yourself, you may find that changes will occur around you because you have helped make them happen.
A Mummy Makeover is not a substitute for weight loss which is best achieved through diet and exercise. Surgery is actually the final step in your weight loss journey, and is what's left over from your great efforts. You shouldn't have surgery until you have reached your goal weight (ie a weight you're happy with) and have kept it constant for at least 3 months before seeing Dr Milovic for your first visit.
View examples of our successful procedures in our Mummy Makeover Gallery.