I see Trump somewhat as a latter day Bottomley - a populist talking the language of the common man, but be careful not to let him get his hands on your money. 

I see Trump somewhat as a latter day Bottomley - a populist talking the language of the common man, but be careful not to let him get his hands on your money. 

I was thinking the same thing when I read your post, Mark. 

30 May 1922 - The Lincoln Memorial unveiled. 100 years ago today.

So what's inside there? Is it "just" an empty hall with a huge statue? Even been there anyone?

I see Trump somewhat as a latter day Bottomley - a populist talking the language of the common man, but be careful not to let him get his hands on your money. 

I don't want anybody to get their hands on my money

Normandy Massacres

One of the worst war crimes in Canadian history occurred in June, 1944, during the Battle of Normandy, following the D-Day landings of the Second World War. As many as 156 Canadian soldiers, taken prisoner by German forces, were executed by their captors during various incidents in the Normandy countryside.

Invasion of Normandy

On 6 June 1944, Canadian, American and British forces began the liberation of Western Europe from German occupation, by launching the invasion of Normandy, France. Allied forces landed on the Normandy coastline on D-Day, and then pushed inland, beginning a nearly three-month campaign to defeat the immediate German forces opposing them, before turning east towards Belgium, Holland and the German frontier.

Soldiers of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division came ashore at Juno Beach, and in the following days and weeks fought a series of difficult battles in the countryside south of Juno against a regiment of the German 12th SS Panzer Division.

Abbaye d'Ardenne

On 7 June dozens of Canadians with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and the 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment) were taken prisoner following heavy fighting around the village of Authie. The Germans took their prisoners to the nearby Abbaye d'Ardenne, an ancient stone church where Colonel Kurt Meyer, one of the 12th SS commanders, had set up his headquarters after D-Day.

Later that night, 11 of the Canadian prisoners of war were taken into the Abbaye's garden and shot in the head. The next morning seven more POWs, all North Nova Scotia Highlanders, were taken outside the Abbaye and shot.

Château d'Audrieu

On 8 June 64 other Canadians, including several dozen members of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, were taken prisoner during fighting near the village of Putot-en-Bessin. The prisoners were marched to the Château d'Audrieu, a Normandy estate commandeered by officers of the 12th SS. Later that day 45 of the Canadians were murdered, in batches, in the grounds of the Château.

Among the executed Canadians were George Meakin, 23, and his younger brother Frank, 20, from the tiny Prairie town of Birnie, Manitoba, both of whom had come ashore and survived the fighting of D-Day.

"This may be the last chance I get to write to you before the big day," wrote George Meakin in a letter to his mother before the invasion. "If you don't hear from me for a while don't worry... Keep on smiling and everything will turn out for the best."

The Battle of Normandy was still underway, weeks later, when news of the massacres reached Canada. "Canuck Soldiers 'Murdered,'" said one headline in the Halifax Herald that summer. "Prime Minister [William Lyon Mackenzie King] reveals horrible German atrocity."

Prosecution

After the war, the murders were examined in 1945 by United States military investigators, who recommended that five former officers of the 12th SS be tried for failing to prevent crimes against prisoners of war. Ultimately only Kurt Meyer, himself taken prisoner in 1944, was put on trial by Canada for some of the murders. Meyer was court-martialled in December 1945, convicted of inciting his troops to execute Canadian prisoners, and sentenced to death.

Meyer's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Canadian government. He served five years at Dorchester penitentiary in New Brunswick before being transferred to a West German jail. In 1954, with Canada's blessing, he was set free.

Precisely how many Canadian POWs were executed by the Germans during the Battle of Normandy has never been clearly established. In 1998, author Howard Margolian, a former war-crimes investigator with Canada's Department of Justice, wrote about the murders in his book Conduct Unbecoming. Margolian claimed that more than 150 Canadians POWs were killed by the 12th SS. Canada's Department of Veterans Affairs says up to 156 Canadian soldiers were illegally murdered "in scattered groups, in various pockets of the Normandy countryside."

Historian Terry Copp, a Battle of Normandy expert, says there is no evidence of Canadian soldiers executing German POWs. He says that soldiers on both sides certainly killed enemy troops during the moment of surrender in the heat and chaos of battle.

"There's no doubt that we did this, and they did," Copp says. "But the point of the atrocities by the 12th SS is, these were executions that occurred long after the battle was over. At the Abbaye d'Ardenne, they put a pistol to each of [the Canadians'] heads and shot them through the back of the head."

The memory of the murdered soldiers is honoured on various commemorative plaques in the Normandy countryside. At the Abbaye d'Ardenne, a memorial in the garden where 18 executions took place is frequently covered in small maple leaf flags, left by Canadian pilgrims to the site. "They are gone but not forgotten," says the memorial inscription.

Once the Canadian troops found out about about it the word came out take no prisoners, so you can see why all Germans solders were scared to come up against Canadian troops after the D-Day Landings. They were very hard on any troops connected with the SS. They did though take prisoners, actually thousands of them.

I think I mentioned before that my fathers troop of tanks came across a Dutch farmhouse and they knew there was German troops inside. They fired some 30 cal machine gun fire close to the house and yelled to the Germans to surrender but they would so they fired a couple of tank rounds next close to the house and finally they did surrender and come out. Then two women came out next. An older woman and her married Daughter. The older woman told the Canadians that they had killed her husband and her daughters husband and then raped both on them. Theses were SS and the young officer in charge of them was a snooty type who thought his shit didn't smell. The older women comes over when the Canadians are trying to question then and she hauls off and punched the German officer in the face. Being forward troops they don't take prisoners but radio back to their HQ so someone will come and pick them up. They put them off to the side while they are calling back and bang the Sqt who his guarding them from the top of his tank with a 30 cal shots them all. The other guys say what are you doing. He said the gun was hot and I had a cook off and had to twist the belt to stop it firing. Now this could have happened because they had just been firing their 30cals but later my father found out this Sgt has lost his brother only a couple of days before to another SS group the same as this one. 

Technically murder, it wasn't just the enemy who committed war crimes. But the victors write the history. 

31 May 1922 - Herbert Armstrong executed. 100 years ago today.

The only solicitor to be hanged for murder in GB.

Armstrong and his wife lived in the Herefordshire village of Cusop, his office was in the nearby town of Hay-on-Wye. In February 1921 his wife Katherine died after months of ill health, cause of death given as gastritis and heart disease and she was duly buried. 

Within a month the grieving widower set off on a Mediterranean cruise. When he returned he seemed to have lost his appetite for work and neglected his job. The lost business was picked up by a newly arrived rival solicitor Oswald Martin. 

In October Armstrong invited Martin around for tea, soon after returning home Martin fell seriously ill but eventually recovered. His father-in-law ran the chemists in Hay-on-Wye and he became suspicious of his son-in-law's symptoms. He collected a urine sample and sent it away for analysis. The results showed traces of arsenic.

The police were informed and on 31 December Armstrong was arrested on a charge of attempted murder at his office in town, on his person he had several small packets of arsenic. In January his wife's body was exhumed and a post mortem revealed large quantities of arsenic. Armstrong was then charged with her murder.

Convicted at Hereford Assizes in April 1922 he was hanged at Gloucester Prison aged 53.

Normandy Massacres

One of the worst war crimes in Canadian history occurred in June, 1944, during the Battle of Normandy, following the D-Day landings of the Second World War. As many as 156 Canadian soldiers, taken prisoner by German forces, were executed by their captors during various incidents in the Normandy countryside.

Invasion of Normandy

On 6 June 1944, Canadian, American and British forces began the liberation of Western Europe from German occupation, by launching the invasion of Normandy, France. Allied forces landed on the Normandy coastline on D-Day, and then pushed inland, beginning a nearly three-month campaign to defeat the immediate German forces opposing them, before turning east towards Belgium, Holland and the German frontier.

Soldiers of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division came ashore at Juno Beach, and in the following days and weeks fought a series of difficult battles in the countryside south of Juno against a regiment of the German 12th SS Panzer Division.

Abbaye d'Ardenne

On 7 June dozens of Canadians with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and the 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment) were taken prisoner following heavy fighting around the village of Authie. The Germans took their prisoners to the nearby Abbaye d'Ardenne, an ancient stone church where Colonel Kurt Meyer, one of the 12th SS commanders, had set up his headquarters after D-Day.

Later that night, 11 of the Canadian prisoners of war were taken into the Abbaye's garden and shot in the head. The next morning seven more POWs, all North Nova Scotia Highlanders, were taken outside the Abbaye and shot.

Château d'Audrieu

On 8 June 64 other Canadians, including several dozen members of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, were taken prisoner during fighting near the village of Putot-en-Bessin. The prisoners were marched to the Château d'Audrieu, a Normandy estate commandeered by officers of the 12th SS. Later that day 45 of the Canadians were murdered, in batches, in the grounds of the Château.

Among the executed Canadians were George Meakin, 23, and his younger brother Frank, 20, from the tiny Prairie town of Birnie, Manitoba, both of whom had come ashore and survived the fighting of D-Day.

"This may be the last chance I get to write to you before the big day," wrote George Meakin in a letter to his mother before the invasion. "If you don't hear from me for a while don't worry... Keep on smiling and everything will turn out for the best."

The Battle of Normandy was still underway, weeks later, when news of the massacres reached Canada. "Canuck Soldiers 'Murdered,'" said one headline in the Halifax Herald that summer. "Prime Minister [William Lyon Mackenzie King] reveals horrible German atrocity."

Prosecution

After the war, the murders were examined in 1945 by United States military investigators, who recommended that five former officers of the 12th SS be tried for failing to prevent crimes against prisoners of war. Ultimately only Kurt Meyer, himself taken prisoner in 1944, was put on trial by Canada for some of the murders. Meyer was court-martialled in December 1945, convicted of inciting his troops to execute Canadian prisoners, and sentenced to death.

Meyer's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Canadian government. He served five years at Dorchester penitentiary in New Brunswick before being transferred to a West German jail. In 1954, with Canada's blessing, he was set free.

Precisely how many Canadian POWs were executed by the Germans during the Battle of Normandy has never been clearly established. In 1998, author Howard Margolian, a former war-crimes investigator with Canada's Department of Justice, wrote about the murders in his book Conduct Unbecoming. Margolian claimed that more than 150 Canadians POWs were killed by the 12th SS. Canada's Department of Veterans Affairs says up to 156 Canadian soldiers were illegally murdered "in scattered groups, in various pockets of the Normandy countryside."

Historian Terry Copp, a Battle of Normandy expert, says there is no evidence of Canadian soldiers executing German POWs. He says that soldiers on both sides certainly killed enemy troops during the moment of surrender in the heat and chaos of battle.

"There's no doubt that we did this, and they did," Copp says. "But the point of the atrocities by the 12th SS is, these were executions that occurred long after the battle was over. At the Abbaye d'Ardenne, they put a pistol to each of [the Canadians'] heads and shot them through the back of the head."

The memory of the murdered soldiers is honoured on various commemorative plaques in the Normandy countryside. At the Abbaye d'Ardenne, a memorial in the garden where 18 executions took place is frequently covered in small maple leaf flags, left by Canadian pilgrims to the site. "They are gone but not forgotten," says the memorial inscription.

Once the Canadian troops found out about about it the word came out take no prisoners, so you can see why all Germans solders were scared to come up against Canadian troops after the D-Day Landings. They were very hard on any troops connected with the SS. They did though take prisoners, actually thousands of them.

I think I mentioned before that my fathers troop of tanks came across a Dutch farmhouse and they knew there was German troops inside. They fired some 30 cal machine gun fire close to the house and yelled to the Germans to surrender but they wouldn't so they fired a couple of tank rounds next, close to the house and finally they did surrender and come out. Then two women came out next. An older woman and her married Daughter. The older woman told the Canadians that they had killed her husband and her daughters husband and then raped both on them. Theses were SS and the young officer in charge of them was a snooty type who thought his shit didn't smell. The older women comes over when the Canadians are trying to question then and she hauls off and punched the German officer in the face. Being forward troops they don't take prisoners but radio back to their HQ so someone will come and pick them up. They put them off to the side while they are calling back and bang the Sqt who his guarding them from the top of his tank with a 30 cal shots them all. The other guys say what are you doing. He said the gun was hot and I had a cook off and had to twist the belt to stop it firing. Now this could have happened because they had just been firing their 30cals but later my father found out this Sgt has lost his brother only a couple of days before to another SS group the same as this one. 

They wouldn't get an argument from me. 

4 June 1922 - The Sinking of the Villa Franca. 100 years ago today.

The Argentinian steamer carrying passengers on a holiday cruise along the Paraná river to the Iguazu Falls explodes and sinks in the early hours killing 80 on board. The vessel was navigating the Paraná which marks the border between Argentina and Paraguay when it caught fire and exploded near the Paraguayan town of Hohenau.  

5 June 1922 - the first crossing of the South Atlantic by air. 100 years ago today.

An amazing tale of setbacks and difficulties but ultimately a successful flight.

Carried out by the Portuguese the flight was to be undertaken in four stages - Lisbon to the Canary Islands, the Canary Islands to the Cape Verde Islands, the Cape Verde Islands to the island of Fernando Noronha and Fernando Noronha to Pernambuco, Brazil. 

Two crewmen Rear Admiral Artur Cabral and Commander Carlos Coutinho took off in a Fairey III seaplane from Lisbon on 30 March arriving at Las Palmas in the Canaries after an 8½ hour flight. On 2 April they flew the short distance to the Bay of Gando on the south of the island and took off for the next oceanic leg on 5 April landing at São Vicente in the Cape Verde Islands after 10¾ hours in the air. Transferring to Porto Praia in the south in a 2¼ hour flight on 17 April they took off the next day for the most hazardous leg of the journey - the crossing of the South Atlantic. 

The distance was beyond the ability of their Fairey III with it's limited fuel capacity, so the plan was to land at the tiny uninhabited islets of the St Peter and St Paul rocks where the navy sloop Republica would be waiting with extra fuel. With less than a gallon of fuel left Cabral touched down on the water within sight of the rocks and the ship after a flight of 11¼ hours. However disaster soon struck. A float had been damaged in landing and with water coming in on the choppy sea the two men escaped their plane before it sank. 

But the adventure was not over. A replacement Fairy III was shipped out on the SS Bagé where it rendezvoused with the Republica on 6 May. But again there were problems. The waters were too rough for the Fairy to be winched out and lowered on to the sea, so a decision was made to sail south for the safety of the island of Fernando Noronha where the transfer would be made. The two ships arrived at the island on 8 May and the new Fairy winched onto the water. 

In order to complete a full crossing of the ocean Cabral and Coutinho took off on 11 May and headed north back to the rocks where the plan was to turn round and resume the flight from where their first plane sank. But disaster struck again! After reaching the rocks and turning south the Fairey suffered engine failure and still two hours short of Fernando Noronha they were forced to put down on the water. Unable to start the engine it was obvious that they would soon sink and without a radio they looked doomed. However when they failed to arrive at Fernando Noronha a call was sent out to all ships in the area to look out for a downed aeroplane. Amazingly at midnight Cabral and Coutinho saw lights in the distance and set off their Verey lights, within an hour the British cargo vessel Paris City was alongside and took the men on board. Later that morning the alerted Republica arrived, but all attempts to save the Fairey failed and so their second plane also sank. The two aviators were taken back to Fernando Noronha to await events. 

Yet, the story was not over! A third Fairey was shipped out on the cruiser Carvalho Araújo arriving on 2 June. On 5 June it took off for the final, much delayed leg, to Pernambuco in Brazil where after a flight of 4½ hours it arrived, The first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic had been completed.

It had taken three aeroplanes 67 days but an actual flying time of 62 hours 26 mins to cover 4527 miles. 

What an incredible tale of disaster overcome!

Yes, the Fairey Aviation Co, a British concern founded in 1917. Nearly 1000 Fairey III seaplanes were built, luckily the Portuguese set three aside for the trans-Atlantic flight. The one that completed the flight is preserved in a museum in Portugal. 

One of the pilots Coutinho lived to be 90, Sadly Cabral disappeared over the English Channel in 1924.  

Why are there three "On This Date" pages here? I'll stick to this one, the first, for my anniversaries. 

7 June 1422 - Federico III Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino 1444-82, born. 600 years ago today.

The Montefeltros were Italian condottieri - brigands and mercenaries who plagued Europe in the Middle Ages some of whom became so rich and powerful that they established semi-independent states financed by their military activities. The Montefeltros created the state of Urbino, nominally a vassal state of the Papacy until it was granted autonomy by the Pope in 1443.

Federico III, although he spent much of his reign hiring himself and his army out to the highest bidder, also found time to develop Urbino into a cultural and artistic centre with a genuine concern for the wellbeing of his men and citizens in general.

He is best remembered for his portrait by Piero della Francesca showing him in left profile. He was badly injured in a joust losing his right eye and the bridge of his nose, clearly shown in the painting.

Why are there three "On This Date" pages here? I'll stick to this one, the first, for my anniversaries. 

Because the "On This Date" does not necessarily mean "This" date. 

You mean like "there are known knowns and unknown knowns we know we don't know about" sort of thing?

You mean like "there are known knowns and unknown knowns we know we don't know about" sort of thing?

You are starting to come around Mark, congrats 

7 June 1422 - Federico III Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino 1444-82, born. 600 years ago today.

The Montefeltros were Italian condottieri - brigands and mercenaries who plagued Europe in the Middle Ages some of whom became so rich and powerful that they established semi-independent states financed by their military activities. The Montefeltros created the state of Urbino, nominally a vassal state of the Papacy until it was granted autonomy by the Pope in 1443.

Federico III, although he spent much of his reign hiring himself and his army out to the highest bidder, also found time to develop Urbino into a cultural and artistic centre with a genuine concern for the wellbeing of his men and citizens in general.

He is best remembered for his portrait by Piero della Francesca showing him in left profile. He was badly injured in a joust losing his right eye and the bridge of his nose, clearly shown in the painting.

So he went from a "Roman Nose" to a "Roaman Nose?" I crack myself up.

That's the tragedy - no change, not even a tiny bit. 

8 June 1922 - Alexander, King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) married Marie of Roumania. 100 years ago today.

A lavish ceremony performed at St Michael's Cathedral, Belgrade between the 33 year old King, who had succeeded to the Throne ten months earlier, and the 22 year old daughter of King Ferdinand of Roumania, a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

The marriage produced three sons, the eldest, Peter, becoming King of Yugoslavia after his father's assassination in 1934.

A note on the name Yugoslavia - When the Kingdom was created by the union of Serbia and Montenegro and the annexation of the Slavic elements of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 it was called the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, only changing its name to Yugoslavia in 1929.

That's the tragedy - no change, not even a tiny bit. 

A tiny bit.................perhaps.

An animosity going back generations. 

Two of the three sons of Alexander and Marie had tragic lives. Peter who succeeded his father as King aged 11 upon his assassination in 1934 was deposed by the Communists in 1945 and died an alcoholic in the USA in 1970 aged 47.

The youngest son Andrej also died in the USA, he committed suicide in his fume filled car in Irvine CA in 1990.

The middle son Tomislav was perhaps the luckiest. He lived in England where he grew apples in Sussex until he returned to a post-Communist Serbia in 1992. Sadly he fell seriously ill with cancer in 1999 during the NATO bombing of Serbia and refused treatment abroad remaining in his homeland sharing its privations, He died in 2000. 

You mean like "there are known knowns and unknown knowns we know we don't know about" sort of thing?

“I know. You know I know. I know you know I know. We know Henry knows, and Henry knows we know it. We're a knowledgeable family.”