Archive for September, 2010
Colditz – A Castle with an Abundant Heritage
Posted by: | CommentsColditz Castle is most certainly best known as a top security prison utilised by the Nazis throughout World War II to detain Allied prisoners who were thought of as “incorrigible”. Having said that, the castle is over 800 years old so there is far more to its background than the six years when it was identified as Oflag IV-C.
Building work commenced in the mid 12th century on the imposing castle built on a hill looking over Colditz in Saxony, Germany. After only a couple of years, settlements appeared in the area of the castle and after about 250 years, it was sold by the Lords of Coldtiz.
A large fire in the early 1500s resulted in significant parts of the castle were required to be reconstructed not to mention the city hall, church and large areas of the city. Over the ages, redevelopment and reconstructing work saw the shape of the castle change and in the 19th century it was rebuilt yet again and made use of as a workhouse and eventually a mental facility until 1924.
In 1933, Hitler took control of Germany and transformed the castle to a prison for political pows. Following the beginning of World War II in 1939, POWs were detained here. It was used to hold maximum risk prisoners who were thought of as dangerous and going to make an attempt to escape. Although it was a maximum security prisoner of war camp, the nature of the inmates at Oflag IV-C (it’s prison camp camp name), ensured there were various innovative escape attempts. There was even one plan where POWs plotted to employ a glider even though it was not attempted as the Allies recaptured the castle before the escape effort could be staged.
Colditz was a prison camp for officers and there were also a handful of famous inmates including the British fighter ace, Douglas Bader, Patrick Reid who wrote various books on Colditz after the war, Airey Neave who was the first officer to escape from the POW camp and was also eventually elected to the British Parliament, Sir David Stirling who set up the SAS and Charles Upham from New Zealand who was awarded the Victoria Cross and bar. One of the most notable of all was Giles Romilly who was the nephew of Winston Churchill’s wife.
In recent years, Colditz Castle has been renovated and is open to visitors to see this historic building for themselves.
Review for the TV Mini-Series Band of Brothers
Posted by: | CommentsThe mini series Band of Brothers is regarded as being without doubt one of the recommended warfare motion pictures ever produced. Influenced by the book by Stephen Ambrose, the ten parts detail the history about the soldiers of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Regiment of the American 101st Airborne. Episode one gets under way with Easy Companies basic training at Toccoa, Georgia prior to being deployed to England as they prepare for their role with the D-Day Assault at Normandy.
Every episode gets under way by talking to veterans of Easy Company. They speak about their war time experience that the episode covers though at this point, the veterans are not identified. Despite the fact that the men aren’t identified, the episodes introduce you to the characters early on and the actors are superbly selected so it is uncomplicated to relate with them from the beginning.
While the action scenes are filmed brilliantly, what makes Band of Brothers stand above many other war movies is the fact that it reveals the personal tales so effectively. To illustrate, in episode two simply prior to Easy are due to leap into Normandy, without doubt one of the soldiers, Bill Guarnere, discovers his brother was killed at Montecassino.
The ten episodes convey the stories of Easy Company starting with their basic training prior to heading into battle in Northern France and on to the village of Carentan. Episode four sees the roll-out of replacements into Easy Company and illustrates the issues they have being accepted by the Normandy veterans as the soldiers take part in Operation Market Garden.
The following two episodes deal with the build up as well as the fighting at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. By now a few of Easy are at breaking point and it is the topic of episode 7. As the war in Europe nears the finish, there is a final patrol for Easy Company. The horrors of war are highlighted after the men find a concentration camp. The final episode sees Easy go to Austria where they capture the Eagle’s Nest high in the mountains at Berchtesgaden.
The series ends with interviews with veterans and eventually identifies the men that viewers have come to know all through the ten episodes of Band of Brothers.
A Review of the City of Arnhem
Posted by: | CommentsThe Dutch city of Arnhem is situated in Eastern Holland on the banks of the river Nederrijn while the famous river Rhine is a little bit further south. Arnhem was first named in the late 9th century nevertheless there is a load of signs to point to the fact human habitations were in the area about 70,000 years ago.
The city was founded in the 13th century and until it became part of the Seven United Provinces of the Holland in 1585, it had already been the stage of various power struggles. The French were next to have desires of Arnhem and it wasn’t right until the mid 19th century that peace came to Arnhem. The city and surrounding region was known as a idyllic region of Holland.
During World War II, Arnhem was the stage of a renowned battle as the advancing Allies tried to get a breakthrough into Germany. In June 1944, Allied Forces had landed on the beaches in Northern France and were heading in the direction of their ultimate aim of Berlin. Arnhem and the neighbouring region had a few critical bridges crossing the Rhine which if taken intact, would permit the Allies a way into Germany.
Operation Market Garden was an airbourne assault in September 1944, to secure the bridges but the mission was unsuccessful. The city was subsequently liberated by Canadian soldiers in April 1945.
Now, Arnhem is a principal railway centre with trains running to locations as far away as Moscow. The Burgers Zoo is one of the more well liked in Holland and here the National Heritage Museum is situated just outside the town.
The Gelredome is the home of Vitesse Arnhem and was the first football stadium to feature a slide out pitch. This makes it possible for more air and natural light to get to the grass.
For the traveller, lodgings in Arnhem isn’t usually a hassle with everything from camp sites to high class hotels being out there. There are a lot of dining places and going out to restaurants is fairly typical for locals as well as tourists.
The origins of the Remembrance poppy
Posted by: | CommentsEvery year at the start of November citizens in the UK and all other commonwealth countries start to wear a red poppy in the run up to Armistice Day on 11th November. Also known as Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom, it is the day we remember the men and women who have fallen in conflict in the protection of their country. The Armistice was the deal that concluded World War I and it was signed on 11th November 1918 at 11am.
At 11 o’clock on the eleventh day of the 11th month, United Kingdom stops for two minutes to observe a silence. Remembrance Sunday is observed on the 2nd Sunday in November with parades, services and the laying of wreaths at war memorials in cities, towns and villages throughout The United Kingdom. The symbolic representation of Remembrance is the poppy and it has been used by the Royal British Legion who do so much good work to aid former service men and women.
The year after the end of World War I, King George V dedicated a day to observe the people who had fallen all through the four year war and the first 2 minute silence was observed in London on 11th November 1919 at 11am. The following day, the Manchester Guardian informed us that the 2 minute silence was impeccably observed.
The poppy was selected as the symbolic representation of Remembrance for 2 reasons; its red colour mirrored the bloodshed and the in the war torn fields of Flanders, the poppy was one of the very few living things to bloom. The poppy is described in the poem “In Flanders Fields” which was penned by the Canadian doctor John McCrae in 1915.
The design of the poppy worn as a symbolic representation of Remembrance varies to some degree from country to country. In Great Britain, the design of the poppy is a flat, firm paper leaf postioned on a plastic stem. Some also have a single green leaf and it is held in place with in a single pin.
Wreaths laid at memorials on Armistice Day and throughout the year are usually made of artificial poppies and today countries all over the world have adopted the poppy as the universal symbolic representation of Remembrance.
Rorke’s Drift And The Heroic Defiance Of The British
Posted by: | CommentsRorke’s Drift is situated 46 km southeast of Dundee and is the site of probably one of the most notable conflicts from the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879. The countryside near Rorke’s Drift is unspoilt and restful. Irishman James Rorke initially established a trading post almost 1 mile from the drift (crossing point) on the Buffalo River and was referred to by the Zulu warriors as KwaJimu (Jim’s place). Later, a mission station was set up by the Reverend Otto Witt from the Swedish Missionary Society. He constructed a little church, mission house and livestock kraal at the foot of a rugged hill which he called Oskarberg.
Lord Chelmsford, had ‘taken control of’ the property before his traversing of the Buffalo River. He made use of the house as an infirmary and the chapel for a storehouse. Throughout the fight it was utilised as a surgery. The battle at Rorke’s Drift followed the British loss at the Isandlwana earlier that morning of 22nd January 1879. The awesome Zulu assault on Rorke’s Drift came quite close to defeating the small garrison, and the British accomplishment is held as one of history’s very best defences. The eleven V.C.s awarded for valour at Rorke’s Drift are more than for any other military engagement ever.
When Lord Chelmsford, the commander-in-chief of British Forces in Natal, crossed into Zululand on 11th January 1879, he encamped on the opposite side of the Buffalo river, 10 miles to the east, beneath the mountain at Isandhlwana. 3 columns moved into Zululand, from the Lower Tugela, Rorke’s Drift and Utrecht respectively, their main objective being Ulundi, the Royal capital of the Zulu people. On 9 January 1879 the central column under Lord Chelmsford turned up and encamped at Rorke’s Drift.
On the morning of 22 January 1879, the main Zulu impi assaulted the British camp at Isandlwana. Lord Chelmsford had taken some of his soldiers away in another course hunting for the Zulu army. Hopelessly outnumbered, the British and indigenous forces were wiped out by the Zulus which saw only approximately fifty men get away with their lives. The remainder of the 1,000 strong force died. Later on that day, 4,500 zulu warriors led by Dabulamanzi assaulted the tiny garrison of the 24th Regiment at Rorke’s Drift. These Zulu warriors had missed out on the combat at Isandlwana and needed to prove their courage in battle. King Cetshwayo had clearly forbid his Zulu warriors not to cross the Buffalo River which served as the border amongst Natal and Zululand. Regardless of this instruction, the Zulus took the weapons off the bodies of the dead soldiers and marched on Rorke’s Drift. The mission station was manned by 97 ready troops, housed 36 wounded, 14 helpful natives, five officers and 2 lieutenants, one of which was fresh to the region. The Battle of Isandlwana was arguably the most humiliating defeat in British colonial history and merely hours later on, at Rorke’s Drift, 139 British soldiers defended their position from an intensive assault by more than 4,000 Zulu warriors.
Something that is routinely overlooked is that the Battle at Rorke’s Drift may have finished in the same devastating manner as Isandlawana, except for one particular vital factor: Rorke’s Drift was a depot, hence the British troops who fought there were able to rely on an adundant source of ammunition. It’s estimated that between 20,000 and 25,000 rounds were shot in the course of the defence of Rorke’s Drift, the vast majority of the shots having missed their targets entirely so that, conservatively speaking, each 25th round fired by the men of Rorke’s Drift led to an ultimate Zulu death, and each 50th shot was an outright kill. The British knew the Zulu warriors were coming nevertheless they opted to stand and fight. Injured men would certainly had to have been loaded onto wagons and Zulu warriors would quite easily have caught them in the open. Instead, they opted to fight on ground of their choosing.
As well as having numbers that crushed a force five times larger hours earlier, the Zulus now had the Martini-Henry rifles taken off the British dead, allowing them an even greater edge against the British.
Henry Hook along with five other privates were instructed on the afternoon of 22nd January to defend approximately 30 people unable to be moved away from the temporary hospital at Rorke’s Drift station. Lines of defence were constructed to connect the 2 complexes – the infirmary and the store room. Inside of this perimeter, an inner line of defence was built joining together the 2 complexes and this was significant in the battle. The Zulus assaulted the infirmary setting fire to the roof. Hook and others struggled for hours, literally hacking through walls and inevitably getting the majority of out of the infirmary and over to the inner defences near the store. Wave upon wave of warriors with spears and rifles crashed into the makeshift lines of defence at Rorke’s Drift. The battles continued all night and by morning the British defences still held out and the Zulus in the end withdrew.
Just after seeing the carnage of Isandlwana, Chelmsford was convinced that Rorke’s Drift had fallen and only the sound of cheering from the garrison convinced him . eleven VC’s were awarded to the defenders of Rorke’s Drift. Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne was amongst five men to be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the unusual honour of a commission. Nevertheless, his military pay was his only money had he thought he could not financially afford to become an officer thus turned down the commission. Fittingly, he was the last survivor of Rorke’s Drift to pass away on 8 May 1945 – VE Day. Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Edward Bourne OBE, DCM was 91 years old.
