How Erwin Rommel Earned Germany’s Highest Honor, as a Mere Lieutenant!

 Gabe Christy

By Bundesarchiv / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de,

Erwin Rommel was undoubtedly one of the finest generals of the Second World War, his strategic mind and patient approach led his men to victory after victory early in the war. But, while his fame and glory came as a General and Field Marshal, it was as a Lieutenant in the First World War that he earned his greatest honor.

These Jews Took Up Arms Against Nazi Germany & Fought Back Without Hope

 2016 Heather Fishel

Stroop Report original caption: "Forcibly pulled out of dug-outs". Captured Jews are led by German troops to the assembly point for deportation.

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Life in a Ghetto was the unfortunate fate of many Jewish citizens during the Nazi Party’s reign over Germany and its many occupied territories. Crammed into hastily built quarters, packed amongst other people and families all forced to leave their homes, little about life in these ghettos was desirable.
Yet in one ghetto, the Jewish residents held within its walls refused to accept the terrible fate the Germans planned for them. In 1942, Warsaw Ghetto decided to fight back against the execution of its people, and the Warsaw Ghetto uprising became the largest revolt of Jewish people to occur during World War II.
Unfortunately, the uprising led to the total destruction of the ghetto and the deaths of so many of its residents – but before its buildings burned and smoke filled the streets, its people made history.

The Revolutionary War Veterans Who Lived Long Enough To Have Their Pictures Taken

August 26, 2016 content Lifestyle 3

PetaPixel has a wonderful post by Michael Zhang with rare photographs of Revolutionary War veterans who actually lived long enough to have their photographs taken. It’s an amazing post, so don’t miss it.  
Photography was invented in the 1820s and 1830s, and the Revolutionary War ended decades before, in 1783. This meant that most Revolutionary War veterans didn’t live long enough to have their photographs taken. That being said, there were a few war veterans who did live long enough to be immortalized in portraits.
In 1864, a full 81 years after the war ended, Reverend E. B. Hillard and two photographers went to New England to interview and photograph the six men known to have survived. All of the veterans were over 100 years old. These amazing photographs were made into a book called The Last Men of the Revolution. This is a fascinating look into history that we’re lucky to have.

WILLIAM HUTCHINGS

VB-107 Attacks U-848 Off Ascension Island, South Atlantic

wwii0202.jpg

Caption: 

U-848 is bracketed by five depth charges dropped by United States Navy PB4Y-1 Privateer "107-B-4" flown by Lieutenant Samuel K. Taylor of Patrol Bombing Squadron VB-107. Lieutenant Taylor attacked from seventy feet (21 meters) at 225 knots (415 kilometers per hour). This ninth attack in one day on U-848 was followed by another run by Lieutenant Taylor, who destroyed the U-Boat with two depth charges. U-848, a Type IXd2 U-Boat, was commissioned on February 20, 1943 under the command of Korvettenkapitan Wilhelm Rollman (August 5, 1907 - November 5, 1943). Rollman was a U-Boat ace who sank over 100,000 tons while the commander of U-34.

Oh Yes! Inside the Panzer VII Maus – It Has a Massive 44 Litre Engine!

Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus (“Mouse”) was a German World War II super-heavy tank completed in late 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armored fighting vehicle ever built. Only two hulls and one turret were completed before the testing grounds were captured by the advancing Soviet forces.
These two prototypes – one with, one without turret – underwent trials in late 1944. The complete vehicle was 33 ft 6 inches long, 12 ft 2 inches wide, and 11.9 ft high. Weighing 188 metric tons, the Maus’s main armament was the Krupp-designed 128 mm gun. This 128 mm gun was powerful enough to destroy all Allied armored fighting vehicles then in service, some at ranges exceeding 3,800 yards.

While His Maniac Brother was Busy Killing Jews, Albert Goring Worked Tirelessly to Save Them

• INSTANT ARTICLES
• WORLD WAR II

Aug 31, 2016 Heather Fishel

 

 

What would happen to your family should one of your siblings join a deadly political beast? If you were a member of the Göring family in the first half of the 1900s, you would find your entire family divided. This was the situation between Albert and Hermann Göring, two brothers torn apart by World War II. While one brother, Hermann, became a proud member of the Nazi Party, the other, Albert, chose an entirely different direction.

German Ace Stumbled Across a Crippled a B-17 and Escorted It Back to England. The Pilots Are Friends Now!

 William Mclaughlin

Truly touching moments of humanity, ethics and morals are rather rare in warfare. The Christmas Truce of WWI was an excellent example of such humanity, as were the heroic actions of German Luftwaffe fighter pilot Franz Stigler on December 20^th, 1943. His actions got nine men home for Christmas.
Charlie Brown of the USAAF was a Lt. flying his first mission as an aircraft commander flying a B-17, “Ye Olde Pub” on a bombing run over Bremen. Brown’s bomber occupied the especially dangerous left of the formation, sometimes called the Purple Heart Corner. Bremen was defended by a large contingent of fighters and well-manned flak guns. Two B-17s were quickly struck by heavy flak, and many went down. Brown’s bomber was hit at least once in the left wing. The crew had to shut down an engine which took them out of the formation. Soon they were met by about eight enemy fighters.
The B-17 was sometimes referred to as the flying porcupine and Ye Olde Pub sure lived up to The name. the gunners took out at least one of the fighters and as many as three, all on their own. The remaining fighters were still able to take the fight to the bomber, however, and bullets tore through Ye Olde Pub.

This Rogue Nazi General Committed High Treason To Stop The Reign of Terror in Croatia

Heather Fishel Many heroes’ names line the pages of WWII history. Many of these men and women were not recognized and known to the public during their lifetimes – some were secret agents, some worked within underground resistance groups, and some conducted their plans hidden in plain sight. One man in particular fought back from within the Nazi Party, reporting its atrocities and plotting to bring them down from the inside. That man was Edmund Glaise-Horstenau, a general within the Austrian military and respected Nazi leader. Though so many of his fellow Nazis facilitated the concentration camps and various other horrors conducted during the war, Glaise-Horstenau did not – he wanted the reign of terror to end, even if he had to die to make this dream a reality.

The Black Dispatches From the Civil War Spies

 Jinny McCormick

 

The south steps of the Confederate White House teeming with Southern officers and soldiers. Freedwoman Mary Bowser, posing as a slave, often spied here for the Union.

 

The typical Southern officer’s opinion of African Americans was that they were an inferior subhuman race, lacking in intelligence or cunning. Their ignorance and subsequent disregard of the slaves in their midst led to the most successful intelligence gathering of the Civil War.
The black men and women that provided information to the Union did so at extreme peril and risk that they would never outlive, even long after the war was over. They did this gambling that the pay-off would be winning the war and trusting that they would hopefully gain their freedom. There would be no accolades or acknowledgment. Such attention, even long after the South fell, would put them in danger of retaliation from disgruntled former Confederates.

Made from parts from B-25s, B-29s & a Waco glider, we give you the ‘Flying Crane’

• Self-Propelled

Great image here for the scale of the ‘flying crane’. source

OK, it looked ugly and strange but it worked – kind of. Made from parts from various WWII warbirds the Hughes XH-17 “Flying Crane”  was by far ,the most impressive of all rotor-craft in the early 1950s was a strange monster designated XH-17. This was planned and taken through the design process by Kellett, but hardware trials were transferred to Hughes Aircraft at Culver City. Already the aircraft firm of billionaire Howard Hughes had a reputation for being quite undeterred by the most formidable development problems, and certainly the XH-17 made sense on paper. In any case, it was part-funded by the USAF. It was a flying crane, the specialized category pioneered by the German Fa 284 and intended to lift cargo weighing up to 27,000 lb more than ten times as much as any other rotorcraft of its day. To do so it had a radically new form of lift power.

Howard Hughes (second from left) standing under the blade of the XH-17, Flying Crane with L-R: Rea Hopper, Director of the Aeronautical Division, Hughes Aircraft Company; Hughes; Clyde Jones, Director of Engineering, Hughes Tool Company Aeronautical Division; Warren Reed, Assistant; Colonel Carl E. Jackson, Air Research and Development Headquarters; Gale. J. Moore, Pilot; Chal Bowen?, Flight Engineer/Co-Pilot; unidentified pilot. source

Scroll down for video

The prototype was finished in 1949, ahead of schedule and one of the reasons being that it was made from parts poached from WWII warbirds.  The XH-17 was a heavy-lift rotorcraft that was designed to lift loads in excess of 15 metric tons.
To speed construction, parts of the XH-17 were scavenged from other aircraft. The front wheels came from a B-25 Mitchell and the rear wheels from a C-54 Skymaster. The fuel tank was a bomb bay-mounted unit from a B-29 Superfortress. The cockpit was from a Waco CG-15and the tail rotor from a Sikorsky H-19 was used for yaw control.
In the late 1940s, Hughes developed an interest in helicopters. In August 1947, helicopter manufacturer Kellett sold his design for the giant XH-17 Sky Crane to Hughes, who commissioned the development of the XH-17 Flying Crane research vehicle. In 1948, the XH-17 began to take shape. The giant helicopter was tested in Culver City, California over a three-year period beginning in 1952. The XH-17 flew in 1953 at a gross weight in excess of 50,000 pounds (23,000 kg). It still holds the record for flying with the world’s largest rotor system. Only one unit was built, since the aircraft was too cumbersome and inefficient to warrant further development.

Engines: two GE J35 turbojets
Weight fully loaded: 52,000 lb
Cruising speed: 60 mph
Range: 40 miles
Number of seats: 2. source

The propulsion system was unusual. Two General Electric J35 turbojet engines were used, sending bleed air up through the rotor hub. The blades were hollow, and the hot compressed air traveled through the blades to tip jets where fuel was injected. In flight, the rotors spun at a sedate 88 rpm. Since the rotor was driven at the tips rather than the hub, little torque compensation was required.

The XH-17 employed an unusual gas-turbine and rotor-tip combustion combination to provide power to spin the gigantic rotors.

Thus, the XH-17 had a very small tail rotor compared to its main rotor. This drive system was inefficient, limiting the test aircraft to a range of only 40 miles. Finally, having received the Air Force serial 50-1842, the XH-17 was first flown by Gale Moore at Culver City on 23 October, 1952. That flight, however, had to be cut short after the XH-17 had been airborne for barely a minute as directional control forces were excessive. While correction of this deficiency could be made quickly, difficulties uncovered later in the trials required more time. In particular, high vibratory stresses in the main rotor blades were difficult to correct and the XH-17 was repeatedly grounded while modifications were incorporated. The off and on test programme ended when the rotor blades reached their design life in December 1955 writes aviastar.org

Hughes experimental helicopters XH-17 at the front XH-28 mock up at the rear. source

By the end of the test program the XH-17 had proved its concept, that it could fly, and that it could carry a considerable payload – exceeding the original requirement. However it fell short, well short, of the Air Force’s range requirement. Mainly due to its appalling fuel consumption, and there was little which could be done to improve it.
In the end it became a bit of an engineering cul-de-sac. One derivative, the XH-28, an even larger version, was proposed. But it never got further than a wooden mock-up. The sole XH-17 prototype was eventually scrapped, and sadly nothing remains of this unusual giant except for photos and some video footage.

Ground tests began towards the very end of 1949, and immediately the sheer size and complexity of the rotors, and their unusual powersource began to throw up some issues for the engineers. However the project continued to develop at a satisfactory pace. source

The giant rotors promised a huge lifting capacity, so they were attached to stilt-like legs and a box-like fuselage. source

Entry to the cockpit required a pair of tall ladders attached to the forward landing gear legs. source

Η Ελλάδα στο χάρτη του Ισλαμικού Χαλιφάτου

Δείτε τι τύπωσε και μοίρασε στους «μαχητές» του το «Ισλαμικό Κράτος» - Με μαύρο χρώμα αποτυπώνονται οι περιοχές που θεωρεί το ISIS ότι θα πρέπει να εμπεριέχονται στην ίδρυση ενός μελλοντικού ισλαμικού χαλιφάτου.

Ντοκουμέντο: Ο χάρτης που τύπωσε και μοίρασε στους «μαχητές» του το «Ισλαμικό Κράτος» και κυκλοφόρησε στο Διαδίκτυο. Με μαύρο χρώμα αποτυπώνονται οι περιοχές που θεωρεί το ISIS ότι θα πρέπει να εμπεριέχονται στην ίδρυση ενός μελλοντικού ισλαμικού χαλιφάτου. Μεταξύ αυτών των περιοχών συμπεριλαμβάνονται τόσο η Ελλάδα όσο και η Κύπρος. Τα σύνορα του χαλιφάτου φτάνουν μέχρι τον Ατλαντικό στα δυτικά, έως την Αυστρία στα βόρεια, συμπεριλαμβάνουν ολόκληρη την Αφρική βόρεια της Σαχάρας, την Αραβική Χερσόνησο, την Ινδία, μέρος της Κίνας και το σύνολο των χωρών των λεγόμενων τουρκόφωνων περιοχών της Ασίας

Made from parts from B-25s, B-29s & a Waco glider, we give you the ‘Flying Crane’

• Self-Propelled

Great image here for the scale of the ‘flying crane’. source

OK, it looked ugly and strange but it worked – kind of. Made from parts from various WWII warbirds the Hughes XH-17 “Flying Crane”  was by far ,the most impressive of all rotor-craft in the early 1950s was a strange monster designated XH-17. This was planned and taken through the design process by Kellett, but hardware trials were transferred to Hughes Aircraft at Culver City. Already the aircraft firm of billionaire Howard Hughes had a reputation for being quite undeterred by the most formidable development problems, and certainly the XH-17 made sense on paper. In any case, it was part-funded by the USAF. It was a flying crane, the specialized category pioneered by the German Fa 284 and intended to lift cargo weighing up to 27,000 lb more than ten times as much as any other rotorcraft of its day. To do so it had a radically new form of lift power.

Howard Hughes (second from left) standing under the blade of the XH-17, Flying Crane with L-R: Rea Hopper, Director of the Aeronautical Division, Hughes Aircraft Company; Hughes; Clyde Jones, Director of Engineering, Hughes Tool Company Aeronautical Division; Warren Reed, Assistant; Colonel Carl E. Jackson, Air Research and Development Headquarters; Gale. J. Moore, Pilot; Chal Bowen?, Flight Engineer/Co-Pilot; unidentified pilot. source

Scroll down for video

The prototype was finished in 1949, ahead of schedule and one of the reasons being that it was made from parts poached from WWII warbirds.  The XH-17 was a heavy-lift rotorcraft that was designed to lift loads in excess of 15 metric tons.
To speed construction, parts of the XH-17 were scavenged from other aircraft. The front wheels came from a B-25 Mitchell and the rear wheels from a C-54 Skymaster. The fuel tank was a bomb bay-mounted unit from a B-29 Superfortress. The cockpit was from a Waco CG-15and the tail rotor from a Sikorsky H-19 was used for yaw control.
In the late 1940s, Hughes developed an interest in helicopters. In August 1947, helicopter manufacturer Kellett sold his design for the giant XH-17 Sky Crane to Hughes, who commissioned the development of the XH-17 Flying Crane research vehicle. In 1948, the XH-17 began to take shape. The giant helicopter was tested in Culver City, California over a three-year period beginning in 1952. The XH-17 flew in 1953 at a gross weight in excess of 50,000 pounds (23,000 kg). It still holds the record for flying with the world’s largest rotor system. Only one unit was built, since the aircraft was too cumbersome and inefficient to warrant further development.

Engines: two GE J35 turbojets
Weight fully loaded: 52,000 lb
Cruising speed: 60 mph
Range: 40 miles
Number of seats: 2. source

The propulsion system was unusual. Two General Electric J35 turbojet engines were used, sending bleed air up through the rotor hub. The blades were hollow, and the hot compressed air traveled through the blades to tip jets where fuel was injected. In flight, the rotors spun at a sedate 88 rpm. Since the rotor was driven at the tips rather than the hub, little torque compensation was required.

The XH-17 employed an unusual gas-turbine and rotor-tip combustion combination to provide power to spin the gigantic rotors.

Thus, the XH-17 had a very small tail rotor compared to its main rotor. This drive system was inefficient, limiting the test aircraft to a range of only 40 miles. Finally, having received the Air Force serial 50-1842, the XH-17 was first flown by Gale Moore at Culver City on 23 October, 1952. That flight, however, had to be cut short after the XH-17 had been airborne for barely a minute as directional control forces were excessive. While correction of this deficiency could be made quickly, difficulties uncovered later in the trials required more time. In particular, high vibratory stresses in the main rotor blades were difficult to correct and the XH-17 was repeatedly grounded while modifications were incorporated. The off and on test programme ended when the rotor blades reached their design life in December 1955 writes aviastar.org

Hughes experimental helicopters XH-17 at the front XH-28 mock up at the rear. source

By the end of the test program the XH-17 had proved its concept, that it could fly, and that it could carry a considerable payload – exceeding the original requirement. However it fell short, well short, of the Air Force’s range requirement. Mainly due to its appalling fuel consumption, and there was little which could be done to improve it.
In the end it became a bit of an engineering cul-de-sac. One derivative, the XH-28, an even larger version, was proposed. But it never got further than a wooden mock-up. The sole XH-17 prototype was eventually scrapped, and sadly nothing remains of this unusual giant except for photos and some video footage.

Ground tests began towards the very end of 1949, and immediately the sheer size and complexity of the rotors, and their unusual powersource began to throw up some issues for the engineers. However the project continued to develop at a satisfactory pace. source

The giant rotors promised a huge lifting capacity, so they were attached to stilt-like legs and a box-like fuselage. source

Entry to the cockpit required a pair of tall ladders attached to the forward landing gear legs. source

ΑΠΑΝΤΗΣΗ ΣΕ ΟΣΟΥΣ ΛΕΝΕ ΤΗΝ ΦΡΑΣΗ «Ντρέπομαι που είμαι Έλληνας»

Δεν χρειάζεται να ντρέπεστε που είστε Έλληνας, ντρέπονται άλλοι για σας. Οι Έλληνες οι πρόγονοι σας !

Είπες πώς ντρέπεσαι που είσαι Έλληνας; Μήπως η λέξη Έλλην πρέπει να ντρέπεται που εκπροσωπεί εσένα,  που δεν θυμίζεις τίποτα από τον Ηρωισμό, την Τόλμη, την Αρετή,  των προγόνων σου!

P.1000 Ratte – Was It a Paper Tiger or a Nazi Super tank?

 Nikola Budanovic

 

 

As the beginning of the war swept over Europe, with lightening speed, Hitler felt invincible, at least for the first two years of the war. He was known for his megalomaniac ambitions, but the most telling example of his unrestrained hubris was endorsing the Landkreuzer P.1000, which he nicknamed The Rat (Ratte).
It was supposed to be more than five times heavier than its predecessor, Panzer VIII Maus, a super tank, built in late 1944. About 1,000 metric tons was the predicted weight, 35 meters long, 11 meters high and 14 meters wide it was to be the biggest land war machine ever created.

 

Sverd i fjell (English: Swords in Rock) is a commemorative monument located in the Hafrsfjord neighborhood of Madla, a borough of the city of Stavanger in Rogaland county, Norway. They commemorate the historic Battle of Hafrsfjord that took place there in the year 872, after which King Harald Fair Hair united the three districts of Norway into one kingdom. Harald Fairhair reigned from c. 872 to 930 and is today recognized as the first King of Norway.

The Three Swords (Sverd i Fjell) stand on the edge of Hafrsfjord, 6km from the center of Stavanger. 

The Sverd i fjell monument was put in place to celebrate an ancient battle. Source1 Source2

CHINA

Ο Christos Voulgaris κοινοποίησε τη δημοσίευσή του.

20 ώρες ·

China's Race To Space Domination

To gain an edge here on Earth, China is pushing ahead in space

popsci.com

9 Reasons Why Boudica Almost Kicked The Romans Out Of Britain

Weak Initial Response

Boudica Statue at Westminster. Picture by Paul Walter via Flickr Creative Commons

One mistake the inhabitants of Colchester made was looking to Catus Decianus for help. The procurator, whose own actions had triggered the revolt, sent only two hundred auxiliary troops to stop the rebel army. It was a weak response to a massive crisis, reflecting the hubris that characterized Decianus’s dealings with the Iceni.

The U.S. Army Wanted Its Own Jump Jets

But the Air Force intervened

 

by JOSEPH TREVITHICK

When one thinks of the U.S. Army, one generally doesn’t think of squadrons of jets flying around the battlefield. But at the height of the Cold War, the ground combat branch had its sights set on buying a fleet of jump jets.

Though the Pentagon turned the U.S. Air Force into a separate service shortly after World War II, its ground-pounding cousins remained interested in helicopters and other flying machines. A decade later, Army aviators were hard at work with aircraft makers to cook up special craft that could land and take off like helicopters, but fly like normal planes.

“While the 1947 National Security Act created an independent United States Air Force, this did not halt the expansion of Army organic aviation, or the Army’s increasing use of the helicopter,” Dr. Ian Horwood wrote in Interservice Rivalry and Airpower in the Vietnam War. “[But] in the early 1950s, such ‘convertiplanes’ appeared to offer more potential for Army surveillance and air mobility tasks than helicopters.”

In the end, the Air Force scuttled the plans — and buried decades of work.

By 1950, the idea of combining features from helicopters and traditional aircraft was hardly new. Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva invented the autogyro, which blends a free-spinning rotor and a conventional forward- or rear-mounted engine, nearly three decades earlier.

As world settled into the Cold War, major air arms became fascinated by the idea a jump jet that wouldn’t necessarily need a long runway. During World War II, Allied forces bombarded Nazi Germany’s air bases and limited the Luftwaffe’s ability to fight back.

Above, below and at top — Ryan XV-5s Vertifans. Photos via the San Diego Air and Space Museum archives

On both sides of the Iron Curtain, military commanders realized that nuclear war would only speed up the destruction of normal airstrips. By the time Berlin fell, Hilter’s weaponeers had already started work on various alternatives, such as rocket planes that could shoot straight up into the sky from a small launch rail right into enemy bomber formations

7 Conflicts That Happened After the Fall of USSR

 Nikola Budanovic

 

 

The Soviet Union officially ceased to exist on December 26, 1991, 74 years after its inception in 1917. The fall of the Union left the world in awe. The pre-revolutionary flag was raised in Kremlin, but it wasn’t without turmoil. As the Soviet empire fell apart, many problems began to surface. Civil wars, armed insurgencies, and attempted coups troubled the ex-Soviet republics throughout the 90s as the region tried to stabilize itself.
Some of the conflicts were motivated by ethnic and religious differences, while others were triggered by historical disputes that had been haunting the regions throughout the 20th century. Furthermore, the power vacuum created by the fall of the centralized government reflected in the rise of new political elites, nationalism and crime. We offer you an overview of the conflicts that shaped the territories of the former Soviet Union.

Τranslated Ancient Egyptian texts reveal family disputes and domestic concerns, just like modern times

A part of the 'Book of the Dead' funerary text.

Posted By: Dattatreya Mandal

In contrast to their ancient Greek and Roman counterparts, the ancient Egyptian texts are generally not accessible to the public, on account of lack of translated works. But a Cambridge academic and Egyptologist, Toby Wilkinson has sought to redress this ‘historical’ issue, with his compiled work that translates many of the hieroglyphic writings (from rock faces and papyri) into modern English. In that regard, while ancient Egypt tends to fuel our reveries of massive pyramids, monumental temples and ostentatious pharaohs, Wilkinson’s work reflects the more relatable ‘humane’ side of affairs in the ‘land of the Nile’. Simply put, beyond grand facades, his translations mirror how the ancient Egyptians viewed life and expressed their insights (and tribulations) through their rich tradition of writing for over 3,500 years.

As Wilkinson made it clear –

What will surprise people are the insights behind the well-known facade of ancient Egypt, behind the image that everyone has of the pharaohs, Tutankhamun’s mask and the pyramids.

For example, one of the translation collections, titled aptly as The Will of Naunakht, tells the story of an elderly Egyptian woman and her will. Reflecting the relatively high social and economic status of most free women in Egyptian society, Naunakht decided how not all of her eight children would be recipients of her estate. In other words, some of the children were disinherited due to their lack of caring shown to her in her old age. From the historical angle, Naunakht probably lived in Thebes during the late New Kingdom period, and she was married twice – first to a scribe and then to a tomb worker. Her last will was drawn in November of 1147 BC. A part of it proudly reads –