On April 30, 1943, the battle for North Africa was winding down, and the Axis had defeat staring it in the face. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the tactical genius, had exited the theater in poor health nearly two months before. In fact, the final offensive against the depleted Panzers (Operation Strike) was just a week away. Tunis [...]
Archive for April, 2010
Dead Man Makes Mincemeat of German Planning
Posted in Mediterranean, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1943, Adolf Hitler, HMS Seraph, Operation Husky, Operation Mincemeat on April 30 | Leave a Comment »
Lamborghini: From Farmhouse to Penthouse
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 1916, Countach, Ferruccio Lamborghini, Gallardo, Lamborghini, Murcielago on April 28 | 2 Comments »
“Ferruccio” is not a first name with which very many of us are familiar. We look at it, “sound it out” in our mind, and maybe quietly say it several times, trying to figure out how it best sounds. We can safely say that it’s an Italian name, and maybe it’s a fairly common name in [...]
Bautzen: The Final German Hurrah of WWII
Posted in Europe, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1945, Battle of Bautzen, Bautzen, Germany, Marshal Ivan Konev on April 26 | Leave a Comment »
A couple of days ago, when writing about Adolf Hitler’s decision to stay in his bunker and commit suicide, I said that the German army had ceased to be capable of any serious offensive action. Well…I lied. Sort of. In a general sense, I didn’t. The German army really wasn’t able to mount a serious [...]
Tragedy Strikes a Second Time in the Canary Islands
Posted in World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1980, Boeing 727, Canary Islands, Dan-Air Flight 1008, Tenerife Island on April 25 | 1 Comment »
The collision of a pair of Boeing 747 jumbo jets on the runway back in 1977 is probably something with which many of us “more experienced” readers are quite familiar. The disaster (which was discussed in the early days of Today’s History Lesson) took place at a rather small airport on Tenerife in the Canary [...]
Hitler Sees Reality in Fictional Army
Posted in Europe, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1945, Adolf Hitler, Army Detachment Steiner, Berlin, Chancellery, General Felix Steiner, Germany on April 22 | 2 Comments »
When 1945 arrived, most rational people knew that Germany’s war of aggression in Europe was lost. Massive gambles in Russia and Africa had failed, and a subsequent Allied onslaught of production (from the west) and tremendous manpower (from the east) overwhelmed a tottering Reich. A last gasp in the Ardennes verified that Germany could no [...]
The Lone Gunman at Lexington
Posted in The Revolution (1775-1783), United States, tagged 1775, Captain John Parker, Concord, Lexington, Major John Pitcairn on April 19 | Leave a Comment »
We pick up where we left off yesterday, with British troops having left Boston in search of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Revere and Dawes had reached both and warned them of the British approach, at which point both packed their bags and headed for Philadelphia. And as the dawn began to break on April [...]
Paul Revere’s Ride to Revolution and Renown
Posted in Colonial history (1607-1775), United States, tagged 1775, Boston, Concord, John Hancock, Lexington, Midnight Ride, Old North Church, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, William Dawes on April 18 | 3 Comments »
He was a noted silversmith in Boston in the late 18th century, but it’s certainly not how he’s best known. His name is mentioned in 21st-century kitchens every single day, but most cooks have no idea they’re doing so when they grab the saucepan from the drawer. He was the father of a dozen children, but [...]
A Lesson from the Unsinkable Titanic
Posted in Twentieth century (1901-1960), United States, tagged 1912, Iceberg, North Atlantic, RMS Titanic on April 15 | 2 Comments »
When the RMS Titanic sank in 12,500′ of frigid North Atlantic water, it was more than 50,000 tons of steel and glass and linens going down. More was lost than a massive financial investment by J.P. Morgan. The tragedy of more than 1,500 people perishing, awful as it was, did not comprise the only deaths of [...]
Codebreakers: Y*m*m@t@’s T*k$ng @ff
Posted in Pacific, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1943, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Magic, Rabaul, Solomon Islands on April 14 | Leave a Comment »
Well, I’ve been a bit sporadic of late. The laptop computer I often use when writing appears to have given up the ghost. The screen randomly goes black and it reboots. It doesn’t appear to be a hard drive issue, because I can start the symptoms by just tapping on the keyboard or someplace on [...]
Mount Washington and the Blustery Day
Posted in Twentieth century (1901-1960), United States, tagged 1934, Mount Washington, New Hampshire, Wind on April 12 | Leave a Comment »
Usually, when I think of brutal weather conditions, I think of cold places like the Arctic or Antarctic regions. You might do the same…or maybe it’s Siberia or the Yukon Territory that comes to your mind. It could be places of intense heat, like the deserts of Africa or South America’s west coast…or possibly it’s [...]
“The Rebels are our Countrymen Again”
Posted in Civil War period (1861-1865), United States, tagged 1865, Appomattox Court House, General Robert E. Lee, General Ulysses S. Grant, Surrender, Virginia on April 9 | Leave a Comment »
General Lee’s evacuation of Richmond, Virginia in early April of 1865 was the last gasp of a Confederate army’s four-year struggle to aid the states they represented in leaving the Union. From Richmond, Lee’s forces headed west in a dual mission of foraging for food and reaching Appomattox Station, where a supply train awaited. Harassed [...]
Escape From Auschwitz: Mission (Almost) Impossible
Posted in Europe, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1944, Alfred Wetzler, Auschwitz, Escape, Final Solution, Poland, Rudolf Vrba on April 7 | 1 Comment »
From the time the death camp at Auschwitz received its first inmates in 1940 until it was taken by the advancing Red Army in early 1945, very few people even attempted to leave the camp of their own free will. Hundreds of thousands walked into the camp, only to be turned to dust, having been [...]
The DH: An Idea Whose Time Shouldn’t have Come
Posted in Later twentieth century (1961-2000), United States, tagged 1973, American League, Babe Ruth, Baseball, Designated Hitter, DH, Ron Blomberg on April 6 | Leave a Comment »
Opening Night. Red Sox vs. Yankees. One of the great baseball rivalries of all time kicked off the season. That’s the way the 2010 season began a couple nights ago, and that’s the way the season opened on April 6, 1973. And when Ron Blomberg stepped to the plate for the Yankees for the first [...]
President Harrison: Chief Executive Short-Timer
Posted in United States, Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), tagged President Ronald Reagan, 1841, President William Henry Harrison, President John Tyler, Whig Party on April 4 | 2 Comments »
I’ll keep it brief this evening, because the subject of Today’s History Lesson is the briefest of its kind. William Henry Harrison is best known as the President who served the shortest term. Taking the Oath of Office on March 4, 1841, he remained in office for just 31 days, before dying from pneumonia and [...]
Aaron Burr Takes Everyone to the Bank
Posted in Constitutional period (1789-1809), United States, tagged 1799, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Dr. Joseph Browne, John Jay, Manhattan Company, New York City on April 2 | 1 Comment »
Back in February, we looked at Aaron Burr’s collaboration with Alexander Hamilton to form the Manhattan Company. This privately held entity would take on the task of bringing fresh water to the residents of New York City. It was believed that fouled water was to blame for the devastating outbreaks of yellow fever, which was [...]
