OTD in 1944, Operation OVERLORD commences with a massive naval and air bombardment of German positions, concurrent with Allied paratrooper and glider landings in occupied France, as well as Allied landings on the beaches and cliffs of Normandy. #DDay
Captain "Mad Jack" Churchill wades ashore on #DDay with his 'Claymore' sword in hand, ready to face the Hun!
It is always good to have a piper on hand on #DDay to get the lads' minds focused on the job at hand
The Canadians played an invaluable role on #DDay which is, in a very Canadian way, modestly never mentioned - but the Canadians survived Dieppe & without the lessons learned there, likely D-Day has terrible casualties and/or fails.
Wonderful, clear, straightforward, and uplifting, message written for #DDay by then General Sir Bernard Montgomery to his Allied troops about to land in Normandy. Were that we had more Montys now, a methodical planner with drive, instead of endless war made by the 'hollow men'
Good morning all & OTD in 1944, British, Canadian and other Allied troops landing on the Gold, Juno & Sword Beaches commence their move on to Caen (here the UK 7th Armoured Div Tanks from the 4th County of London Yeomanry...Huzzah for the Yeomanry!)
As we mark the #DDay anniversary, a graphic that sets out the numbers from the Overlord invasion. Note that all of this would be useless without the logistics/supply to support the lodgment ashore, so look up the Mulberry harbours and the PLUTO 'Bambi and Dumbo' fuel lines
Good morning all & OTD in 1944, as the Allies commence the liberation of France, General Sir Bernard Montgomery drives past German POWs to the British #DDay front on the approaches to Caen.
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Good morning all & OTD in 1916, the Battle of the Somme commenced, in which British Empire armies would suffer approximately 20,000 KIA on this first day alone. Prime Minister HH Asquith's own son would be killed & (future PM) Harold Macmillan would be wounded in the campaign
At the time of the Somme, my great uncles were in the Honourable Artillery Company and the Royal Garrison Artillery. At least one older uncle had served in the Boer War as well. Hello to all the Gunners here btw, always necessary, if difficult and obsessive by nature, people.
"But still a hope I kept that were we there going over, I, in the line, I should not fail, but take recover, From others’ courage, and not as coward be known" ~ Ivor Gurney, poet, soldier, Gloucestershire Regiment
Small thread on Iran & its national security structures/history in somewhat plainish English and to correct some errors spreading in this online environment. It is intended to be informative but not exhaustive of the subject matter.
As anyone who has dealt with the Iranian state in any capacity esp military knows, it has many layers & (yes) satrapies that often feud & work at cross purposes … the Iranian armed forces (Artesh) operate relatively normally if persistently when ivo Iranian terroritories/seas
However, the Artesh was very much the Shah's armed forces so in 1979 when Islamists took over & there was a real (or perhaps false flag) attempted Artesh coup against Khomeini's regime in early 1980 ... the distrust caused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to form/solidify
"Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved His own in the world and He loved them to the end" (John 13:1)
Good morning to all on this Good Friday:
"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)
It is interesting the number of people who find Good Friday hard - the betrayal, the disloyalty, the widowed Virgin Mary watches her son’s brutal, public death, with the women of Jerusalem & only John the youngest apostle who goes to the trial & Calvary (too young to know better)
My #TartanDay thread for all who are celebrating & to all those with their familial ancestry in Scotland, or who, rightly, love the Scots as a people. 🏴
#TartanDay marks the anniversary of the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath made by the Scots Nobility & Clergy to the Pope: "It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom–for that alone which no honest man gives up but with life itself"🏴🇻🇦
"But from these countless evils we have been set free, by the help of Him Who though He afflicts yet heals and restores, by our most tireless Prince, King and Lord, the Lord Robert." #TartanDay 🏴🇻🇦
Disagree-the signs were there in the 1990s and not just in the US. It was always going to end when first world countries' populations saw open trade & borders as making them less secure not more secure. Making China part of the WTO (Blob conventional wisdom) guaranteed this
I have thought more on this - as I was a school and then university student in the 1990s - and yes there was a whole 'whither the globalised world order?' Thomas Friedman sort of midwit debate that went on then & you can find it in many books from the era
At the same time, the 1990s, for every Globalisation point, you had:
- former Yugoslavia with combatants periodically massacring each other
- Somalia & Rwanda, which had their own causes & body counts
- Soviet collapse & then the Russians fighting the Chechens and Dagestanis...
The problem of all Free Trade ideology for nation-states with real world responsibilities is its complete unrealism ... rather like open borders, free trade is utopian ... you cannot be a great or even regional power & rely overly on others supply to you in critical industries
Conservatism in the English speaking world, historically, was always Protectionist. The British Conservative Party & the GOP were historically for Protection and Tariffs (until Thatcher & the Bushs) - unchecked free trade & free markets were considered dangerous liberal heresies
The British Empire was almost destroyed for two World Wars by liberal Free Trade's slow gutting of British industrial capacity & but for Imperial Preference in the 1930s, there would have been few if any UK & Empire industries left for WW2 esp the Alone period of 1939-1941