Σόιμπλε… δεν ξεχνάμε με ποιους έχουμε να κάνουμε, δεν είμαστε όλοι ηλίθιοι .. Σπάνιο υλικό απο τις ναζιστικές θηριωδίες το 1945 (Προσοχή σκληρές εικονες)…

Σόιμπλε… δεν ξεχνάμε, δεν είμαστε Τσίπρας! Σπάνιο υλικό απο τις ναζιστικές θηριωδίες το 1945 (Προσοχή σκληρές εικονες)…
Φωτογραφίζοντας ναζιστικές θηριωδίες
Στις πύλες της…
κόλασης: Η Απελευθέρωση του Μπέργκεν Μπέλσεν-, 15 Απρ 1945

1945. Πρώην φρουροί και φύλακες του Μπέργκεν Μπέλσεν μεταφέρουν τα πτώματα κρατουμένων υπό την φρούρηση των Βρετανών στρατιωτών.

Τι φοβούνται οι περισσότεροι Έλληνες για το 2016

Με τα μελανότερα γράμματα καταγράφεται η κατάσταση στην ελληνική κοινωνία σήμερα σύμφωνα με την μεγάλη έρευνα του Ινστιτούτου Μικρών Επιχειρήσεων της ΓΣΕΒΕΕ για το εισόδημα και τις δαπάνες των νοικοκυριών για το 2015. Η έρευνα που πραγματοποιήθηκε τον περασμένο μήνα σε συνεργασία με την Marc σε δείγμα 1000 αντιπροσωπευτικών νοικοκυριών στο σύνολο της ελληνικής επικράτειας δεν αφήνει πολλά περιθώρια για αισιοδοξία. Το news247 παρουσιάζει σήμερα τα πιο τρανταχτά ευρήματα της έρευνας:
70,1% των νοικοκυριών δηλώνει ότι θα αντιμετωπίσει σοβαρό οικονομικό πρόβλημα αν αυξηθούν οι τιμές στα είδη διατροφής που καταναλώνει.
94,2% των νοικοκυριών παρουσίασε σημαντική μείωση των εισοδημάτων μετά το ξέσπασμα της κρίσης, με σαφέστατη την τάση διεύρυνσης της ανισότητας υπέρ του 1% του πληθυσμού. Μάλιστα, μείωση εισοδημάτων καταγράφηκε και μέσα στο 2015 για το 77,9% των νοικοκυριών.

Αυτή είναι η αποκιοκρατική σύμβαση με την Fraport – Φοροαπαλλαγές, υπερεξουσίες, καμία δέσμευση στα εργασιακά

Η παραχώρηση των 14 κερδοφόρων Περιφερειακών Αεροδρομίων στην εταιρεία Fraport, ήταν μια από τις δεσμεύσεις που ανέλαβε η ελληνική κυβέρνηση να υλοποιήσει στα πλαίσια του 3ου Μνημονίου. Σήμερα, η σύμβαση αυτή έρχεται στην δημοσιότητα και αποκαλύπτονται όροι που αφορούν τόσο το δημόσιο συμφέρον, όσο και τους εργαζόμενους. Σύμφωνα με όσα περιλαμβάνονται στην σύμβαση, που όπως θα δείτε φέρει τις υπογραφές των υπουργών Υποδομών, Μεταφορών και Δικτύων κ. Σπίρτζη, Οικονομικών Ευκλείδη Τσακαλώτου και Εθνικής Άμυνας, Πάνου Καμμένου, του ΤΑΙΠΕΔ αλλά και της Fraport, το Δημόσιο θα πληρώνει τα έξοδα και η Fraport θα εισπράττει

Όπως θα δείτε παρακάτω, στις 295 σελίδες που δημοσιεύει το ThePressProject, η εταιρεία έχει την δυνατότητα να μειώσει το μίσθωμα που έχει συμφωνηθεί, αν χρειαστούν βελτιωτικά έργα στα αεροδρόμια που αποκτά, απαλλάσσεται από ΕΝΦΙΑ, δημοτικά τέλη και έξοδα περιβαλλοντικών μελετών. Ακόμη, θα δικαιούται αποζημίωση σε περίπτωση που το κράτος αποφασίσει να κάνει αλλαγές στην νομοθεσία του οι οποίες θα επηρεάζουν τα έξοδά της, όμως για παράδειγμα στις συμβάσεις εργασίας. Θα λαμβάνει αποζημιώσεις για τυχόν ζημιές σε μηχανήματα που μεταβιβάσθηκαν (ιμάντες αποσκευών, κλιματιστικά), ή για καθυστερήσεις έργων λόγω αρχαιολογικών ευρυμάτων. Η Fraport θα μπορεί να αναβάλει την πληρωμή του μισθώματος για λόγους ανωτέρας βίας ή να παρατείνει την διάρκεια της 40ετούς σύμβασης σε περίπτωση που το δημόσιο χρωστά αποζημιώσεις ύψους 5.000.000 ευρώ.

Αγροτικά μπλόκα παντού, με το βλέμμα στη συνάντηση των Τεμπών

Με το βλέμμα στραμμένο στη συνάντηση των Τεμπών, όπου και αναμένεται να καθοριστεί ο τρόπος κλιμάκωσης των κινητοποιήσεων, βρίσκονται σήμερα οι άνθρωποι του πρωτογενούς τομέα που έχουν στήσει μπλόκα σε όλη την Ελλάδα.
Σύμφωνα με το Αθηναϊκό-Μακεδονικό Πρακτορείο, ορισμένα μπλόκα θα προχωρήσουν σε κλείσιμο των δρόμων όπου έχουν κατασκηνώσει, ενώ υπάρχουν και άλλοι που αποφάσισαν να τηρήσουν στάση αναμονής.
Πάντως, καθημερινά ενισχύονται τα μπλόκα των αγροτών και πλέον καταγράφονται περισσότερα από 7.000 τα τρακτέρ που είναι παρατεταγμένα σε κομβικά σημεία της Εγνατίας και της εθνικής οδού στην κεντρική και δυτική Μακεδονία. Πληθαίνουν μέρα με τη μέρα και τα μπλόκα που στήνουν άνθρωποι του πρωτογενούς τομέα και σήμερα ανέρχονται σε συνολικά 13 μπλόκα στην κεντρική και δυτική Μακεδονία. Υπενθυμίζεται ότι από την προσεχή Κυριακή 24 Ιανουαρίου στα αγροτικά μπλόκα θα βρίσκονται και φορτηγατζήδες και νταλικέρηδες, ενώ τα εμπορικά καταστήματα σε διάφορους νομούς των προαναφερόμενων περιοχών, εξετάζουν να κατεβάσουν τα ρολά την ημέρα του πανελλαδικού συλλαλητηρίου που διοργανώνεται στη Θεσσαλονίκη στις 28/1, ημέρα εγκαινίων της Agrotica.

ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΣΩΡΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΧΙΤΛΕΡ ΚΑΙ ΙΑΤΡΙΚΑ ΠΑΡΑΛΕΙΠΟΜΕΝΑ (Μικρή συλλογή άρθρων)

Α) Whatever Happened to Hitler’s Body?

April 30, 1945 – the Soviet Army moves quickly through the city of Berlin, the capital of Germany and the home base of the Third Reich. Beyond the city’s limits are the Allied forces, sweeping through the rest of the country, waging and winning battles as the Nazi army is brought to its knees.
Adolf Hitler still rules Germany, still holds the title of Fuhrer over the Third Reich, but this day will be his last. By this date, the Nazi regime was collapsing, and its leader would not see the month of May – or the end of World War II.

San José galleon located off coast of Colombia

Earlier this month, Colombia’s president announced that a research team had located the shipwreck of the 300-year-old galleon, the San José. He announced that they thought it was worth $4 – $17 million due to the gold and jewels that are thought to be left in the wreckage.
The goods are said to have been collected in the mines in Peru and were being taken back to Spain in the early 1700s. Unfortunately, the galleon was stopped in its tracks when it got into a battle with the British Navy off the coast of Colombia.
The president announced that the wreckage had been found at the end of November, while many other parties have also laid claim to the wreckage, including a US firm that claims it already found it years before, and a team working for Spain’s government.

How Scipio Defeated Hannibal And His Elephants and Earned the Name Africanus

Scipio Africanus was only of the most talented generals in the ancient world. He was barely an adult when Hannibal invaded Italy. He fought in some of the most epic battles of the war and lost his father, uncle and father-in-law in the first few years of the war. Taking his first command in Spain, Scipio succeeded in defeating Carthaginian forces that together had nearly three times as many men.
After securing Spain Scipio, being an ardent patriot, sought to end the war with total victory rather than simply seeking terms as most of the war-weary senate desired. With Hannibal still in Italy with a veteran army Scipio proposed an invasion of Africa to end the war. From Livy, this is Scipio’s plea to the senate:
“Italy has suffered long; let her for a while have rest. It is Africa’s turn to be devastated by fire and sword. It is time a Roman army threatened the gates of Carthage, rather than that we should again see from our walls the rampart of an enemy camp. Let Africa be the theater of war henceforward; for fourteen years all the horrors of war have fallen thick upon us, terror and defeat, the devastation of our farms, the desertion of our friends; it is her turn now to suffer the same”

How Japan’s Citizens took Part in Helping Jewish Refugees – Saving Countless Lives

During World War II, there was one Japanese tourist who did the unthinkable.  When Europeans were seeking shelter from the Nazis, Tatsuo Osako was there to help.  Nearly 75 years later, he said that he helped seven refugees find shelter.
As a show of appreciation and gratitude, the refugees gave Osako photographs of themselves. After the photos had appeared on the internet, four of them were identified. The photos given to Osako were from the one man and six women he had helped between the years of 1940 to 1941.
Historians and researchers investigated WWII archives and looked at passenger manifests to verify the story.  These months spent looking through the archives turned up affirmations that stated that those refugees had just barely escaped.  The files also showed that the refugees traveled by trains and ships.  What is most important of all is that these archives revealed that many Japanese people had offered help to the Jews and other civilians to flee from Europe.

Top 10 Monsters of the Sky

We’ve flipped through the pages of aviation history to bring you ten of the biggest, heaviest, weirdest and most astounding aircraft ever built.

Antonov An-225 Mriya

With an overall length of 84 metres and a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes, the An-225 is officially the longest and heaviest aircraft ever built. The An-225 was originally designed by the Antonov Design Bureau as a transport for the Buran spaceplane, but after the end of the Buran program, the An-225 became a commercial cargo aircraft.

The Totally Inept Nazi Saboteurs Sent To Terror Bomb the USA – Achieved Nothing

Although most people know Japanese soldiers invaded Alaska during World War II, most do not know Germany sent two groups of saboteurs to wreak havoc on utilities and industry on American soil.
These men sailed aboard U-boat submarines across the Atlantic, well trained, well equipped, but without any true heart and fervor for the mass destruction they had been sent to accomplish. The title Operation Pastorius was given in honor of a noted German, who settled in America.
Each of the operatives chosen to participate had immigrated to the United States after World War I. Several obtained American citizenship and all were well acquainted with the U.S.A. However, as the Third Reich appeared to be bringing Germany to its former glory, the men took advantage of an offer from Germany to have their passage paid to return to the fatherland. These men were picked from the records of the Ausland Institute, the financial backer of the thousands of German expatriates who returned to Germany.

Missing both Legs, This RAF Fighter Ace Took out 22 Germans Planes, Then Escaped Multiple POW Camps

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Dec 28, 2015

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Life with amputated legs can prove difficult for even the most mundane of tasks require extra effort.  But trying taking on the German Luftwaffe and Prisoner of War camps without any legs and then we can talk about what exactly it takes to overcome adversity.
Sir Douglas Robert Bader was an RAF pilot who lost both legs in a 1931 flying accident where his wing touched the ground while conducting flying acrobatics.  One leg was amputated above the knee and the other below which one would have assumed would have ended his career as a pilot.
However, this pilot would overcome adversity and doubts about his capability on his way to downing 22 German aircraft as a pilot and as a German POW conduct so many escape attempts that the Germans threatened to take away his prosthetic legs.

Winning Over the Royal Air Force Brass

Sir Douglas Robert Bader was born in 1910 London and would prove early his life both an exceptional athletic ability combined with a tendency to bend the rules when necessary or just when he pleased.
He excelled at all sports to include Rugby growing up, and when he joined the RAF as an officer candidate in 1928, he was almost kicked out after too many late nights out.  He became a commissioned pilot in 1930 where he would frustrate the RAF brass by conducting various acrobatic moves at low altitudes in his bi-plane.

Foster Mounted Lewis Gun on an Avro504 Bi-Plane via commons.wikimedia.org

In what might prove to be a hard lesson to learn in peace time, one of Bader’s attempts at low altitude acrobatic moves during the Henderson Air Show resulted in the crash that would take both of his legs.  After a long recovery, he was fitted with prosthetics and then made his bid to return to the skies with the RAF.  Despite being able to demonstrate competency, he was denied an opportunity to return in 1932.
However, as the winds of war began to gather in Europe, the RAF was more open to Bader’s repeated requests but only offered him ground jobs.  But with a little help from high-ranking officials, he was finally given his opportunity to return to the skies, missing legs and all.
In late 1939, Bader would conduct flight tests on various plane models before being assigned to the No. 19 RAF Squadron where he would get a chance to fly the famed and beloved Spitfire.  He would conduct various training flights in the Spitfire between January and May of 1940 where he demonstrated an ability to excel at high-speed maneuvers.
Many thought it was his ability to withstand high G turns due to his missing legs.  When most pilots conducted such extreme turns, they might black out as the blood from the brain rushes to the extremities, primarily the legs.  But missing his, Bader could stay conscious longer and make sharper and faster turns than his opponents.

Time for Action

Not only would Bader’s missing legs prove an asset, but so would his fearless and audacious attitude in the face of danger.  Sure that philosophy might have taken his legs in 1931, but such an approach to life was often helpful in war.  He would first see action in June of 1940 as his squadron was tasked with providing air cover at Dunkirk to support the evacuation of British troops after the Germans began their blitz through France.

 

By the time the Battle for France was over, Bader had already established himself as a Fighter Ace and was well on his way to moving up throughout the ranks.

Douglas Bader sitting on his Hawker Hurricane via commons.wikimedia.org

He was assigned to be the Squadron Leader for the No. 242 Squadron RAF, which flew the Hawker Hurricane and was comprised mostly of Canadians.  This squadron would play a pivotal role in the Battle of Britain as their Hurricanes took to the skies to defend Britain against the onslaught of the constant German bombing of both civilian and military targets.

 

In December of 1940, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions during the Battle of Britain. He would then be assigned as wing commander for squadrons tasked with taking the fight to the Germans.  Bader’s units would conduct bomber escorts over Western Europe in an attempt to draw out and kill the Luftwaffe.  Bader would continue to raise his kill count that now topped 20, and he gained attention as a national icon during the war.
The RAF brass considered pulling Bader from operational duty due to his status and insistence on inviting danger, but it doesn’t appear anyone wanted to have that conversation with the outspoken pilot.  Between March and August of 1941, Bader conducted 62 fighter missions over France with unparalleled success.  However, his streak of luck would come to an end on August 9^th, 1941.

A POW Who Wouldn’t Stay Put

In August of 1941, Bader was conducting a mission over France when his plane was taken out.  Accounts conflict as to whether he collided with an enemy bomber was shot down by an enemy fighter, or even shot down by friendly fire.  However, Bader would find himself attempting to bail out when one of his prosthetic legs became trapped in the Spitfire.  Falling for some time, he eventually released the parachute where the force ripped the straps of the prosthetic leg off.

 

After landing with just one leg intact, Bader was captured by the Germans.  Perhaps due to his reputation, the Germans actually treated Bader with a certain amount of respect.  German flying ace General Adolph Galland actually notified the British command about Bader’s missing leg and arranged a lane of safe passage to parachute down a new leg for him.
On August 19^th, 1941 the British parachuted down a new leg.

Picture of Colditz Castle used as a German POW camp via commons.wikimedia.org

With this new found mobility, Bader did all he could to make life hard on his German captors as he saw it his duty to continue the fight as a POW.  He escaped from the hospital by tying bedsheets together and making a rope down the side of the building.
Once in a POW camp, he made so many escape attempts that the Germans threatened to take away his legs.  He was finally sent to Colditz Castle, which was deemed to be escape proof in 1942.  There he remained until the allies liberated him on April 15^th, 1945.
A fascinating war experience for a man who was defiant from beginning to end and did it all missing two legs.  In a final act of victory and defiance to adversity, Bader was given the honor of leading a victory flypast of 300 aircraft over London in June of 1945.
It is a story that warrants a unique place in the historical as well as for each of us to look down at our functional legs and ask what is holding us back from making our own chapter in history.
www.warhistoryonline.com

The Top 10 Misconceptions of the First World War

Many probably don’t realize that what they’ve learned about history, especially when it comes to WWI, is not necessarily true.  Here are the top 10 misconceptions about WWI:

 

The Schlieffen plan allowed Germany to invade Belgium and France

Von Schlieffen, who gave his name to the German invasion plans.

Although it is true that the Germans intended to use what was called the Schlieffen plan, in practice, the plan was changed by the strategy of Helmuth von Moltke.  Keeping the right flank strong was the focus of Schlieffen’s strategy, which would demolish the Allied forces in the north while luring the French into undefended German territory and directly into envelopment from the strong right flank.
Moltke, however, drew forces away from the right flank to reinforce German territory and defend it from an attack from the west, which divided forces into two weaker flanks instead of one strong one.

The Battle of Crete

The Battle of Crete (German: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta; Greek: Μάχη της Κρήτης) was fought during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur (Operation Mercury). Greek and Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island.
After one day of fighting, the Germans had suffered very heavy casualties, the Allied troops were confident that they would prevail against the German invasion. The next day, through miscommunication and the failure of Allied commanders to grasp the situation, Maleme airfield in western Crete fell to the Germans, enabling them to fly in reinforcements and overwhelm the defenders. The battle lasted about 10 days.
The Battle of Crete was unprecedented in three respects: it was not only the first battle where the German paratroops (Fallschirmjäger) were used on a massive scale, but also the first mainly airborne invasion in military history;the first time the Allies made significant use of intelligence from the deciphered German Enigma code; and the first time invading German troops encountered mass resistance from a civilian population. Because of the heavy casualties suffered by the paratroopers, Adolf Hitler forbade further large-scale airborne operations. However, the Allies were impressed by the potential of paratroopers and started to build their own airborne formations.

HMS Rover: The unknown story of the submarine in Souda Bay, Crete, 1941

In this rare and previously unpublished photo, dated April 1941, HMS Rover is seen in Souda Bay, Crete

Few are aware of the fact that Souda Bay in Crete, a large naval base used by the British in early WW2, is in a way similar to Pearl Harbor, Scapa Flow, and Truk Lagoon.
Used as an allied naval base, Souda was the target of both Nazi German as well as Fascist Italy raids in the early part of WW2, which resulted in a large number of shipwrecks, axis aircraft shot down and extensive damage in the facilities around Souda.

Coco Chanel a.k.a. Agent F-7124 – Westminster: Nazi Spy

Coco Chanel and General Walter Schellenberg, the chief of the Abwehr with whom she worked.

 

Coco Chanel is listed as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of the 20^th century. She is a fashion icon, of course, as was their likely intent, but she was also negatively influential as a Nazi sympathizer and spy for the Third Reich.
It is hard to determine with any absolute certainty all of the allegations against Chanel, as she herself spun many stories about her life.

 

German Maps Reveal Interesting Facts About Operation ‘Sealion’

A never before published set of German maps have revealed some interesting facts about the Nazi plans to cross the English Channel and invade Britain.

Battle for Stalingrad – Russian Archive Pictures You May Not Have Seen Before!

The Battle of Stalingrad lasted from 23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943 and was a the battle between the Soviet union and the Germans for control of the city of Stalingrad in the south-western Soviet Union.

 

Marked by constant close quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians by air raids, it is often regarded as the single largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare. The heavy losses inflicted on the Wehrmacht make it arguably the most strategically decisive battle of the whole war. It was a turning point in the European theatre of World War II–the German forces never regained the initiative in the East and withdrew a vast military force from the West to replace their losses.

Elite Cavalry Units of the Ancient World

Prior to gunpowder and efficient pike squares, cavalry had a key impact on the battlefield. Cavalry was utilized differently based on their training, equipment, and commander’s choice; they could be recon units, mobile skirmishers, light attack units, hand to hand anti-cavalry focused or be massive wedges hoping to charge through and break formations.
Some ancient elite cavalry forces had certain advantages that allowed them to reign supreme on most battlefields. Of course, there are many skilled units left off this list, feel free to mention which cavalry you think is elite in the comments.

German Youth and Nazis: Supporters and Registers (Μικρή συλλογή άρθρων)

Α)League of German Girls, the Nazi Organisation To Teach Girls Their Duties As Bearers Of Aryan Heirs (Pictures)

BDM Girls march by during a gymnastics exercise – 1941

 

The League of German Girls (German: Bund Deutscher Mädel, BDM) was the girls’ wing of the Nazi Party youth movement, the Hitler Youth. It was the only female youth organization in Nazi Germany.
Eventually, the League consisted of 3 sections. Young Girls for ages 10 to 14, the League Proper for girls aged 14 to 18 and the Faith and Beauty society for girls ages 17 to 21. The Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM) had its origins as early as the 1920s, in the first Mädchenschaften or Mädchengruppen.

China Builds Second Aircraft Carrier

China’s Defense Ministry has confirmed that it is building a second aircraft carrier after rumors became widespread about the project.
The ship is being built at Dalian in north China, on the Liaodong Peninsula. The ministry said that once finished it will be able to hold the Chinese-made J-15 fighter jets.  He also stated that it’s being built using only domestic technology and manufacturing.
China keeps its military programs under top secret security, and there was no further information available about the carrier’s expected commissioning date.  It already has one aircraft carrier known as the ‘Liaoning’ which was finished and commissioned in 2012. That ship had been built using a hull bought from the Ukraine.

Today in Military History: January 22-23, 1879:Battle of Rorke's Drift; Outnumbered British Force Defends Supply Depot vs. 4000 Zulus (Μικρή συλογή άρθρων)

"Defence of Rorke's Drift" by Alphonse-Marie-Adophe de Neuville (1880)
Currently at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
(Unless otherwise indicated, all illustrations are courtesy of Wikipedia)

Many students of military history have seen – or have at home – the 1964 film Zulu. It shows a heroic defense of a frontier outpost by a small band of British regulars against a numerically superior, determined native foe. The battle of Rorke's Drift has attained a certain cult status in military history circles.

"Ο Ρίχτερ αντιγράφει τα επιχειρήματα του διοικητή των ναζί το 1941"

Πολλοί εντός Ελλάδος έχουν σπεύσει να υπερασπιστούν τις απόψεις του ιστορικού Χανς Ρίχτερ,για την Μάχη της Κρήτης. Το βασικό επιχείρημα είναι ότι ο καθένας έχει δικαίωμα στην άποψη έκφρασης της ιστορικής αλήθειας. Ακόμη κι όταν αυτές οι απόψεις ταυτίζονται με τα επιχειρήματα του στρατιωτικού διοικητή Κρήτης των ναζί το 1941;

Ο  Χρήστος Τσαντής μ΄ ένα άρθρο του στα Χανιώτικα νέα θέτει αυτό το ζήτημα :


Ανασκαλεύοντας ιστορικά αρχεία βρίσκει κανείς ότι τα επιχειρήματα του κυρίου Ρίχτερ έχουν τη ρίζα τους στις πρώτες επίσημες τοποθετήσεις της ναζιστικής κατοχικής διοίκησης στο νησί. O Γερμανός ιστορικός μπορεί να μην έκανε τον κόπο να ρωτήσει για την πραγματική ιστορία του πίνακα του Βλαχάκη για τη Μάχη της Κρήτης, όμως φαίνεται πως δεν δυσκολεύτηκε να βρει και να επαναδιατυπώσει τις τοποθετήσεις του στρατηγού Αντρέ, του Στρατιωτικού Διοικητή της Festa Creta, του Φρουρίου Κρήτη. 

A Turning Point In The Life Of Musashi, The Undefeated Samurai

Miyamoto Musashi was three hours late. This was his way. On the beach the tension in the air was palpable. Sasaki Kojiro paced up and down on the fine sand with his hands behind his back. His wrath was rising with the sun, and with every passing minute he felt the insult to his honour growing. The date was the 13th of April, 1612.

Kojiro was considered one of the greatest Samurai in Japan. He was famous throughout the land for his speed and precision, which was made even more remarkable by his preferred weapon. He wielded a huge no-dachi blade, a curved Japanese sword in the classic style, but with a blade over a meter in length. The size andWEIGHT of the no-dachi made it a brutal, unsubtle weapon, but Kojiro had perfected its use to a degree unheard of in all Japan.

The Heroism of Chiune Sugihara – Saved Countless Jews From Nazi Deathcamps

Chiune Sugihara is not a name that immediately springs to mind when thinking of Japanese Second World War heroes, but his story is remarkable.
Born in January 1900 in the small Japanese town of Yaotsu, Chiune was an excellent scholar. He graduated from high school with top marks. He gained a place at the famous Waseda University in Tokyo where he studied English. He paid his way through university by taking several part-time jobs.
When he was 19, Sugihara discovered that the Japanese Foreign Ministry was looking for people who wanted to work in the overseas diplomatic service, and he applied. The entrance exam was notoriously difficult, but Chiune passed. He studied Russian at a Manchurian University, graduating with an honours degree when he was 24.

Report on the German People – October 1943

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The specter of 1918 is haunting the Nazi party, as Himmler and his Gestapo are turned loose on the German people in a desperate attempt to hold the home front together.
Our enemy has become our protector.” Thus one German visiting Stockholm reacted when told that Heinrich Himmler had been appointed Reichsminister of the Interior. Even Hitler knows that the white-headed, uncultivated, bespectacled man with the moist, slack handshake is disliked among Germans. Only absolute necessity put this man in the ugly palace on the Koenigsplatz in Berlin. About 8,000,000 foreign workers, several millions of evacuees constituted a gravely disquieting problem for the party leaders. Germany’s home front has become her second front.

“A Nazi Guide to Christmas” Leaflet Found; Instructs Party Members How Christmas Should be Celebrated

Unearthed from an archive in the German city of Dresden is a leaflet with the printed title stating A Nazi Guide to Christmas. The said pamphlet lists a number of instructions on how a Nazi party member should precisely decorate and celebrate Christmas. What’s more, in this said leaflet, the Virgin Mary is turned German and the archangel Gabriel into an Aryan goddess.

The leaflet A Nazi Guide to Christmas is composed of twenty pages filled with clear-cut instructions for Nazi Party members on how to celebrate their Christmas. It was printed way back in 1937 by the Nazi Party’s Saxony branch, the Heimatwerk organization. This arm of the party was organized the year before the pamphlet was published. It was formed as the “promoter of Saxon Germanic culture as a shining example of true Germanness”.
There never was an intention to mass produce the A Nazi Guide to Christmas leaflet. However, it was distributed among the Nazi Party’s bureaucrats and in turn, they were the ones who would disseminate the information to the population making sure that the latter follow on to the new way things had to be.

ΠΟΛΕΜΙΚΑ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΑ (Μικρή συλλογή άρθρων)

Α)Christmas with GIs: How American Soldiers Took The Place of British Fighting Men During WWII

GI Christmas WWII (Left: A Gi spending his Christmas with a British family; Right: The actual poster put around the base urging GIs to spend their holidays with British families.)

American GIs sent to Britain during the height of WWII were repeatedly described as “overpaid, oversexed and over here” but at least, on Christmas they made many a British families happy with their presence during the holiday celebrations. The main reason – they brought with them extra rations as well as the much sought after Coca-Cola and nylon stockings.

With British soldiers away battling on the Western Front, their families left in Britain were encouraged to invite the US soldiers stationed in their country over to celebrate Christmas. This they readily did because they knew the soldiers would be bringing extra food with them. As for the American GIs in the foreign land, it was their way of escaping the difficulties brought about by being away from home on an occasion that would have been best spent with families and friends.

Η ΑΝΑΚΩΧΗ ΤΩΝ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΩΝ ΤΟΥ 1914 (Μικρή συλλογή άρθρων)

Α)The Christmas Truce of 1914 – When the Impossible Happened

 

Still from last years Sainsbury’s Christmas truce advert

WWI was most notable for trench warfare, the conditions of which were often so horrific that it’s hard to imagine what these soldiers endured, day after day. Despite such horrors, something strange happened on 25 December 1914, one that threatened the governments of both sides and the progress of the war. The threat? Christmas.

 

The Germans started the war in July 1914. Having taken Belgium and a slice of France, they were confident they’d take Paris just as quickly and that the whole thing would be over by Christmas. The British and the French, as well as their allies, thought the same. They were all wrong.

The Allies repelled the German advance at the First Battle of the Marne from September 5 to 12, forcing them to retreat to the Aisne valley where they dug themselves in. The Allies reached them on September 13, and the First Battle of the Aisne began. It ended in a stalemate.

 

Map of the trenches that defined the Western Front

The Germans wanted to reach the Sea; the Allies wanted to prevent that, so each dug trenches to try to outflank the other, separated by several meters called no man’s land. And so it went: the Allies blocking the Germans by digging trenches further east and west, and the Germans doing the same, till both reached the North Sea.
By the start of December, each side had dug over 250 kilometers of trenches and had suffered heavy losses in the first months of the war. Britain lost almost 100,000 men. In August alone, France had lost double that number, roughly the same as Germany.
Not all the deaths were due to combat, however. Disease was rampant in the cold, the cramped and unsanitary conditions, as well as the constant mud and water. There was also trench foot: when feet are constantly soaked. Left untreated, gangrene and death results.

 

Sometimes, trenches caved in, burying the men they were built to protect. But even the best-made ones could be death traps because if hit directly, they focused bomb blasts, causing more damage than if they had gone off in open spaces. Often, the men could only watch helplessly as the bombs fell toward them – unable to run because they were so tightly packed together.
Finally, there was the propaganda. Each portrayed the other as unfeeling brutes because it’s easier to kill a person if you stop seeing them as human. Despite this, there were occasional, hour-long ceasefires so that everyone could dispose of their dead.
On the evening of December 24, however, the Twilight Zone descended. No one is sure where it started exactly, but it’s believed the first incidents began in Flanders before spreading to the rest of the Western Front.

The Lancashire Fusiliers attaching bayonets to their guns in preparation for the Battle of Albert at the Somme in 1916

The Germans started singing Christmas carols. Then flashlights and cigarette lighters came on – a dangerous thing to do since it allowed the Brits to pinpoint exact enemy positions.
But while most of the Brits understood no German, they recognized the tunes. Some even sang along in English. As they did, more flashlights and lighters were lit among the German line. None of the Brits had the heart to shoot them.
On Christmas morning, Pioneer Sergeant J.J. ‘Nobby’ Hall, stuck a sign on a stick which read “Merry Christmas,” and waved it over the trench. A similar sign was waved over the German line before it popped back under.
Then at noon, a German jumped over his trench as British rifles took aim. The man put his hands up and began walking unarmed across no man’s land. Private Ike Sawyer went out to meet him. In the middle, they shook hands. From the German line, more soldiers stood with their hands up and the Brits met them in the middle.

British and German troops meeting between the trenches at the Bridoux-Rouge Banc Sector

Some Germans stuck candles in small pine trees and used that as a white flag while they crossed over. Gifts of food, cigarettes and clothes were exchanged. Football games were played, and the Germans who played against the Scotts couldn’t stop laughing when they found out the latter wore nothing under their kilts.

 

Such camaraderie only happened in the British sectors, however. The French were in no mood to fraternize with the enemy that had seized portions of their country. On the Eastern Front, the Russians (who were allied with the British and the French) did not celebrate Christmas till January 7.
Since many of the Germans worked in Britain before the war, most spoke some English. Some had even met, such as Captain Clifton Stockwell, who found himself shaking hands with a German soldier that had waitered at a restaurant he frequented. Another Brit let his pre-war German barber cut his hair and shave his beard.

 

A football game between enemies during the Christmas Truce

Despite the camaraderie, they had an unspoken rule: neither could see the trenches of the other to prevent revealing their weaponry and layout. Not all the British-German fronts saw peace, however, and fought through Christmas Day.
The governments of both sides were mortified. They threatened dire consequences for those who fraternized with the enemy, but it did no good for those who were already on friendly terms. The greatest fear was that the war might end on the Western Front. Worse, with anti-royalist and pro-communist sentiments growing in some countries, what would happen if soldiers dropped their weapons and brokered a permanent peace?

The German soldier in the middle is wearing a British balaclava, a gift from the British soldiers he is posing with

For those who did reach out, the truce usually held until December 26. Along some fronts, it held out longer, but for Private Archibald Stanley, it ended the day after Christmas. His commanding officer, fearing a mutiny, allowed the truce to hold on Christmas. The next day, he ordered his men to fire at any Germans still standing on no man’s land. He was ignored.

 

By late afternoon, fearing he was losing control, the officer shot and killed an unarmed German soldier. Things went downhill from there. As the war progressed and new weapons like poison gas were used, neither side felt any desire for a truce.

Peter Knight and Stefan Langheinrich, descendants of WWI soldiers, shake hands on 11 November 2008 at the Christmas Truce monument in Frelinghien, France to reenact the event

On 11, November 2008, a monument to the Christmas Truce was set up in Frelinghien, France. It was attended by the descendants of those WWI veterans who dared to let the spirit of Christmas infect them, if only for a day or two.
www.warhistoryonline.com

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B)Christmas Truce Story: Ordered to Kill Each Other, British Captain and German Baron Shared Beer Instead

One hundred years ago, instead of killing each other as they were ordered to do, British Captain Clifton Stockwell and German Baron Maximillian von Sinner instead had a toast at the midst of the Great War. A century past, their grand-kids – both involved in military service – met in the same spot to commemorate their grandfathers’ action.

The Orders

On Christmas morning some ten decades ago, two men from the Great War’s warring parties were commanded to kill each other. However, when they met on No Man’s Land, no blood was shed. Instead, they exchanged gifts of plum pudding and shared a beer.
The guns fell silent that day as British Captain Clifton Stockwell and German Baron Maximillian von Sinner negotiated a truce lasting for a day all the while toasting each other’s good health.
Soon after, the two parties were engaged in a game of football with the British troops being trashed by the Germans when it came to goals. Meanwhile, the officers smoked cigars and talked to each other showing to each other pictures of their families back home.
The 1914 ceasefire occurred Frelinghien in northeastern France. Starting at exactly eleven in the morning on Christmas day that year, a German soldier started it by walking towards the trench of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers with his hands up in the air. A British soldier climbed out of the trenches to meet that German soldier despite his officers’ attempts to stop him. When they did meet, the German serviceman presented the latter with a box of cigars.
Witnessing the scene unfold, the rest of the Fusiliers, with eagerness, wanted to come up as well. So, Captain Stockwell took upon himself the task of making contact with the officers of the other side. He called out to them to meet him.
It was Baron von Sinner who answered his call. Upon meeting on No Man’s Land, the two agreed to a truce that would last until midnight. With this agreement, the German soldiers belonging to the 134th Saxon Infantry rolled out three barrels of beer – taken from a nearby French brewery – and shared them with the British troops.
Both sides went on to make large banners wishing each other to have a merry season that they, then, put up just above their trenches.

Clifton and Maximillian, the two officers of the warring sides, who decided on a truce, shared plum pudding and a beer toast during the Great War.

Great War ended with both Stockwell and von Sinner surviving. Nevertheless, they never told their families about that particular occurrence. Stockwell just wrote about it in his war diary. This same journal was eventually used by the Royal Welsh for the compilation of its regimental history.
Aside from his account about the truce in his journal, it is also believed that Stockwell wrote this poem alluding to that one-day truce on Christmas day of 1914.
Entitled Christmas 1914, it goes as follows:
Twas a frosty Xmas morning
In our trenches on the Lys
And a fog was hanging thick along the fields
You could hear the Bosches singing
But no Xmas bells were ringing
’Cept the tinkle of the bullets on shields.
When the fog at last had lifted
And the Bosches glances shifted
On our parapet in front of them they saw;
On a notice board in writing
From the men that they were fighting
“Merry Xmas” and Kaisers heads galore.
Then the Bosches started shouting
“Will you come and take an outing?”
And a row of heads along our line appear
For two Saxons greatly daring
To our trenches were boldly faring
With a barrel of the most indifferent beer.
Thus when after-dinner came
Both sides did more of the same
And their trenches boldly left and came abrad
And with barrels full of beer
And something of good cheer
Made an effort to arrive at an accord.
Then the officers conferred
While our rations were transferred:
To a truce between the two they did agree,
That till dawn the following day
None should shoot or forward stray
Whilst our notice board the enemy could see.
The Comeback
A century after that Christmas truce, the grandsons of the two officers returned to the same spot where they stood, they talked and toasted beer bearing the same items their grandfathers brought that day — beer and plum pudding.
In 2014, 71-year-old retired British Major Miles Stockwell and 63-year-old retired German Colonel Joachim Freiherr von Sinner visited the same location where their grandpas met. Both men had followed in their ancestors’ footsteps and had served in the respective military organizations of their countries.
According to Miles, who also served in the Royal Welsh, the story between their grandfathers is amazing. They had been ordered never to fraternize with the enemy that was why there were never pictures taken of that day and the two of them together.
He went on to say that deciding to ignore the orders of the ones above them had been risky but still they pushed forward to meet on the muddy No Man’s Land while their men cheered in the background. Miles added that his grandfather didn’t have anything to give as a peace offering that day, only a plum pudding he had been set, so he fetched that and handed it to the German baron.

Miles and Joachim honored their grandfathers in 2014 by bringing and exchanging plum pudding and beer on the exact spot where their ancestors stood a century ago.

The latter, on the other hand, had two beers in hand, and he gave one to the British captain. They toasted each other’s health, decided on having a short truce, sat on the flat ground drinking from their beer bottles and smoking cigar.
Miles, then, pointed out that this story just goes on to show what possible things happen when people just stop fighting and start talking.
www.warhistoryonline.com

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Γ)Watch: Christmas In The Trenches (1914-1918)

The Christmas truce in 1914 was a series of widespread but unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front around Christmas 1914. In the week leading up to the holiday, German and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk.

 

In areas, men from both sides ventured into no man’s land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps while several meetings ended in carol-singing. Men played games of football with one another, giving one of the most enduring images of the truce. However, the peaceful behaviour was not ubiquitous; fighting continued in some sectors while in others the sides settled on little more than arrangements to recover bodies.
In December 1915, there were explicit orders by the Allied commanders to forestall any repeat of the previous Christmas truce. Individual units were encouraged to mount raids and harass the enemy line, while communicating with the enemy was discouraged by artillery barrages along the front line throughout the day. The prohibition was not completely effective, however, and a small number of brief truces occurred.

 

An eyewitness account of one truce, by Llewelyn Wyn Griffith, recorded that after a night of exchanging carols, dawn on Christmas Day saw a “rush of men from both sides … [and] a feverish exchange of souvenirs” before the men were quickly called back by their officers, with offers to hold a ceasefire for the day and to play a football match.
It came to nothing, as the brigade commander threatened repercussions for the lack of discipline, and insisted on a resumption of firing in the afternoon. Another member of Griffith’s battalion, Bertie Felstead, later recalled that one man had produced a football, resulting in “a free-for-all; there could have been 50 on each side” before they were ordered back.
In the Decembers of 1916 and 1917, German overtures to the British for truces were recorded without any success. In some French sectors, singing and an exchange of thrown gifts was occasionally recorded though these may simply have reflected a seasonal extension of the live-and-let-live approach common in the trenches.

 

Christmas In The Trenches – cooking his pudding over a ‘fire devil’ in the trenches and enjoying Xmas fare under adverse conditions.
British soldiers stand in a trench around a bucket sitting on a grill over a small fire; someone off-camera hands a tin can to one of the men. He puts the can inside the bucket (a primitive double-boiler is the invention here), later a soldier removes a can from the bucket.
Shot of the enterprising cook dishing up tastes of the pudding to other soldiers; who stand in line in the trench. Shot of group of soldiers facing camera and eating; with big smiles.
The soldier in the front has a large moustache and is enjoying his Christmas pudding!
www.warhistoryonline.com
[embed]https://youtu.be/1emCCXegsKk[/embed]

Irena Sendlerowa Saved over 2,500 Jewish Kids From the Warsaw Ghetto, Smuggling Them Out in Suitcases or Medical Bags

During WWII, Irena Sendlerowa, a Catholic Polish social worker, saved 2,500 Jewish children from death. That’s more than Oscar Schindler managed with 1,200. Though recognized by Yad Vashem in 1965 as being one of the Righteous Among the Nations (a non-Jew who saved Jews during the Holocaust), the rest of the world knew virtually nothing about her.
At least, until 1999 when students at a rural Kansas high school were looking for material for their school play. Thanks to them, Sendlerowa was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize but lost it to Al Gore.
Sendlerowa was born on 15 February 1910 in the town of Otwock. Her father was a doctor whose motto was, “jump into the water to save someone drowning, whether or not you can swim.” He did just that, which was why he was the only doctor in Otwock who’d treat Jews.

Irena Sendlerowa in 1942

In 1935, Poland mandated ghetto benches in schools, requiring Jews to sit in assigned seats away from non-Jews. Many protested this by refusing to sit down in class. Sendlerowa took up Polish Literature at the Warsaw University and joined these protests, for which she was suspended for three years. Despite this, she earned her degree, joined the Polish Socialist Party, and found a job with the Warsaw Social Welfare Department.

Top 10 Most Senseless Wars of All Time

Images used (Clockwise from top left): (1) Sultan Kalid Barghash of Zanzibar who ruled from August 25 to August 27, 1896  (2) The French forces bombing and capturing the Mexican fortress of San Juan de Ulúa in 1838 (3) Holy Roman Emperor of the late 1700s, Joseph II, initiator of the Kettle War (4) A British Warship (Left) capturing a Spanish trading ship in 1743 during The War of Jenkin’s Ear, painted by a British painter Samuel Scott (5) Town Line, A Town in New York calls itself ‘the last Confederacy’
War can be defined as an organized and often extended conflict between states or non-state entities. Some people would consider war as a serious and glorious struggle over some important issues. But there had been unconventional wars in the history of mankind that could be termed as huge wastes of time.

Sparta: Growth of an Empire

It is widely known that the Spartans produced some of the most brutally efficient warriors of all time, but how did they gain that reputation? How did they hold on to their culture built solely around war with almost all other work falling to slaves? Sparta is remembered not just because of their army, but because of their little-discussed empire, the Spartans commanded large areas of Greece and all of Greece at one point. What they achieved with their power allowed them to have the reputation as warriors and also have the proven results.
The Spartans resided in the large Peloponnese Peninsula of Greece, far inland and among the mountains. With no real need or a suitable location for a navy, the Spartans focused on their land army. As Sparta grew in power, they sought power over their neighbors. One such neighbor was the city of Argos, with their reputation for outstanding warriors.