BIRTHDAYS AND HISTORY...

Yes David, and I wouldn't be me without being a Virgo(which Stephen thinks is bad). By the way, I like your comment by that American liuetenant general. Very commical.

 

27 May 1941 -

The British fleet sinks the Schlagtschiff Bismarck as she makes a final attempt to stave off the Royal Navy.

Bill

 

October 27 1944;

Heavy German counterattacks in the Maas pocket. The Germans held a bridgehead on the west side of the maas, in the British held Limburg part of Holland. This was pivotal for Monty's envisaged big push for the Rhineland. The Brits and Canadians, supported by US divisions couldn't lodge this saillient (?). On october 27 the Germans launched a assault (also in the Huertgen area, I believe) in order the check the US and British/Canadian slow advance along and towards the Rhine river.

While a few towns were recaptured by the Germans, the Dutch town of Goirle was liberated, however.

 

There sure seems to be alot of August Birthdays...quite a few virgos here as well (yay for us! LOL)

DUCE - 56 Days and counting

 

Being a Virgo isn't entirley bad, it does have downsides though. Anyhow, August and September are damn fine months!

Also, just letting you guys know I am back from two weeks of cadet camp, the first almost killed me and the second just about did! On the other hand, I have decided to become a STAB (Stupid Terratorial Army Bastard, in other words join the terratorial army).

 

What kind of cadet camp stefan? Are you in military academy or something?

 

I am a member of the Combined Cadet Force (Army Section), basically we do basic military training, skill at arms, tactics, leadership and so on. The camp was in two parts, the first week was a special leadership course I went on with 122 people from various other units (Army, Navy and air cadets), a very good if knackering week. The second week was normal annual camp, little let down after the first week but still left me physically worn out.

The first week was a 'Cadet Leadership Course' at Frimley Park near Sandhurst, it was the most intense week of my life, we had about 3 hours worth of free time during the whole week. It consisted of many exercises designed to foster leadership skills and so on. Without doubt the highlight of the week was the 72 hour exercise in the field which involved tabbing for several miles trough a training area to complete command tasks and a march and shoot, I was the section gunner (never volunteer for anything) and so had to lug the LSW (light support weapon) for 3 miles on top of all its extra kit and my own standard gear! We did a night time 'rendezvous' exercises (meeting up with someone and protecting them from the enemy) which was fun, a bit of a warm up for the next day. The second day of exercises began with a trip on the backs of 4 ton trucks into the middle of a wood, we then bailed out in record time and were led into the woodlands by a 'partisan' who told us where we were, I was section commander for this escape and evasion exercises, we came under fire and legged it into the bushes for about 300 metres before we stopped to catch out breath, I then had to lead the section through a training area that was infested with gurkha's and paras (it was damned scary as hell at times, at one point we lay a meter or so from a road as an enemy patrol passed and then wound up with the whole section legging it when we were spotted, ever tried running from a gurkha?). I am proud to say we were the only section of our platoon to make it to the platoon harbour and I reclaimed my gun in time for a night ambush, it was like something out of platoon, lieing in the dark with lucy (the LSW, gotta name your gat havent you) draped in a poncho listening to the rain falling, then the flashes and bangs as the ambush is tripped, lucy bucking as a pumped a mag through her, it was almost dreamlike! The following day we were all totally knackered, everyone was on autopilot, we built a raft to get the platoon across a river and then were lead to a beach, at this point we had to wade out into a river and board Gemini assault boats in which we were carried across the river, bailed out and charged into a platoon attack, once again Lucy did me proud (the SA80 family arent bad if they are looked after, I put 5 mags through her without a single stoppage despite the gun being full of sand and water!). Following that we had a short time to scrub up before being taken to pirbright where we did the toughest assault course run by the British Army immidiatly following a run carrying a telegraph pole. It was a fantastic week and despite the whole platoon complaining like truw squaddies all week, no one wanted to leave, the comeradery was fantastic!

As for the second, more basic and less pressured, it was the same kind of thing I have done at camp for 5 years, tactics, fieldcraft and so on. The biggest difference was that this year we did bayonet fighting and combat survival (including trapping and preparing animals). The bayonet fighting was fantastic, for the rest of the week you would frequently hear an NCO from the unit (often me) scream 'ON GUARD!' and the cry would be carried through the unit followed by the order 'One thrust to the standing enemy, at the double, CHARGE!!!' followed by a blood-curdling battle cry ('ANGRY CAT!!!!') and 31 cadets visciously impaling an imaginary enemy with an imaginary bayonet. Actually, after the first week on the train through london several of the guys who had been on the camp (including myself) found ourselves adopting formations to move through the station and communicating trough field signals. Even now, it is raining and I feel strange because I am not outside in it! Freaky!

 

April 26th 1937.

Bombardment of the small Vasc town of Guernica, Spain by the Luftwaffe. Nearly 600 people died and latter, Spanish painter Pablo Picasso made a famous painting about it.

April 26th 1986.

The Soviet nuclear plant at Chernobyl, Ukraine, explodes.

I think that's it...

 

small correction Fried, your statement should read Condor Legion not Luftwaffe

 

Little mistake... Condor Legion... (German planes manned by German pilots...)

Same difference!

 

May 11/1940. Churchill becomes PM in England.

 

Carl, actually it was the 10th when Mr Churchill moved to 10 Downing Street. The same day the 'Sichelschnitt' offensive started.

But you can say: "Same difference too!" Who cares?!