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Forgotten History

Evidence of a previously unknown Roman marching camp from the time of Agricola's campaign in what is now Scotland discovered following an archaeological dig in Ayrshire. Also uncovered were pieces of Neolithic and Iron Age artefacts. This news was of great interest to me because I'm a bit of a history buff and also because the site is less than a couple of miles from where I live.

https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/roman-marching-camp-revealed-in-ayr.htm
 
Tunnel 29

The remarkable story of a group of German students who tunneled under the Berlin wall in 1961.

The tunnel floods so they join forces with some others who've started a different tunnel. This one is discovered due to a Stasi informer & people are imprisoned/interrogated by the Stasi.

They then go back to the original tunnel which has dried out, eventually coming up in a basement on the east side. Arrangements have been made for those wanting to escape - young, old, children, babies, who have to avoid being noticed by Police/Stasi. All involved know they could be shot if discovered.

Along the way NBC get involved & film some of the operation. Incredible stuff.

tunnel-light-750x1027.jpeg
 
Tunnel 29

The remarkable story of a group of German students who tunneled under the Berlin wall in 1961.

The tunnel floods so they join forces with some others who've started a different tunnel. This one is discovered due to a Stasi informer & people are imprisoned/interrogated by the Stasi.

They then go back to the original tunnel which has dried out, eventually coming up in a basement on the east side. Arrangements have been made for those wanting to escape - young, old, children, babies, who have to avoid being noticed by Police/Stasi. All involved know they could be shot if discovered.

Along the way NBC get involved & film some of the operation. Incredible stuff.

tunnel-light-750x1027.jpeg
Quite Yonic.
 
Gino Bartali: How a cyclist saved lives in WWll

"I want to be remembered for my sporting achievements. Real heroes are others, those who have suffered in their soul, in their heart, in their spirit, in their mind, for their loved ones. Those are the real heroes. I'm just a cyclist."

Nearly 80 years ago, the three-time Giro d'Italia and two-time Tour de France champion found himself with time on his hands after cycling's biggest events were interrupted by World War Two. The Giro was on a five-year hiatus, Le Tour on a seven-year break. It robbing him of his best years in racing.

Instead, Bartali saved the lives of more than 800 people - information which only came to light in the years following his death. This is how he did it.

Bartali remains one of cycling's most heroic riders, and was fabled to be the second most popular man at the time in Italy after Benito Mussolini, the leader of Italy's fascist party, following his first Tour de France win in 1938

Bartali who was a devout Christian, continued his long training rides, bordering on daily audaxes around northern Italy. Later he was given a job to do by the Cardinal of Florence, the Archbishop Elia Dalla Costa.

Until 1943, Italy was a safe place for Jewish people until the Nazis began operating in the northern regions and sending them, as well as those who fought against the regime, to concentration camps. Bartali joined the underground Assisi Network run by the Catholic church, which protected those at risk.

On his long training rides he would deliver false identity documents in the handlebars and seatpost of his bike to families across Italy from a secret printing press, enabling them to escape their fate, in turn saving the lives of at least 800 people.

On occasion he was stopped and questioned by the secret fascist police, but since he was high profile - the equivalent of Chris Froome or Bradley Wiggins meandering solo on their bikes around rural areas in the UK - most were hesitant to thoroughly search him and his bike, fearing possible repercussions.

He asked that it not be touched as to disrupt his aerodynamic set-up, thus never revealing the real mission of his long rides.

Not only did Bartali deliver documents, but he harboured his Jewish friend Giacomo Goldenberg and his family in his home with his wife. It was risky business - anyone caught doing such a thing would be killed

full story at link.
 
An interesting tweet.


Peter Brathwaite @PeterBrathwaite

John Thomas Smith: Joseph Johnson (1815). Reworked with cardboard, mop and Afro print flag. Johnson was an ex-seaman street singer in London. He built and wore a model of the ship Nelson on his head. Rediscovering #blackportraiture through #gettymuseumchallenge. #gettychallenge


Image

Getty and 7 others
9:24 AM · Apr 30, 2020·Twitter for iPhone



Peter Brathwaite @PeterBrathwaite

Apr 30

Replying to
@PeterBrathwaite
Johnson was discharged from the Merchant Navy when he was wounded. He was not entitled to a seaman's pension nor could he claim parish relief, because he was born abroad. To earn money, he became a street singer.
 
Tunnel 29

The remarkable story of a group of German students who tunneled under the Berlin wall in 1961.

The tunnel floods so they join forces with some others who've started a different tunnel. This one is discovered due to a Stasi informer & people are imprisoned/interrogated by the Stasi.

They then go back to the original tunnel which has dried out, eventually coming up in a basement on the east side. Arrangements have been made for those wanting to escape - young, old, children, babies, who have to avoid being noticed by Police/Stasi. All involved know they could be shot if discovered.

Along the way NBC get involved & film some of the operation. Incredible stuff.

tunnel-light-750x1027.jpeg

BBC Radio 4 ran a ten-part serial on this recently - "Tunnel 29".

Get it while you can https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009jkb/episodes/player
 
Imagine you're sitting in your West Berlin home, already tense because you're surrounded by East Germany. Then, all of a sudden, a bunch of total strangers start popping up from your basement.
Startling!
 
Heinrich Himmler: How a fake stamp led to the Nazi SS leader's capture

On 22 May 1945, a trio of odd-looking men were spotted by a patrol near a checkpoint in Bremervörde, northern Germany.

It was just a few weeks after World War Two had ended but many Nazis were still at large and there were fears some might try to regroup or escape.

Two of the men, wearing smart long green overcoats, were walking ahead of a third man. The trailing figure, sporting an eye patch, looked broken and dishevelled. The pair in front kept glancing back as if to make sure he was still there.

They were taken to a checkpoint where British soldiers asked to see their papers. They handed over the A4-sized identity document German soldiers were given at the end of the conflict which listed their name, rank, date of birth and other information. The third man's papers said he was a sergeant named Heinrich Hizinger.

He must have hoped that the document and his lowly rank would mean he would pass through checkpoints. He was wrong.

On the document was an official stamp and British military intelligence had seen the same stamp and unit details being used by members of the SS who had been trying to flee. And so word had gone out that anyone else with those details was to be detained.

Next morning, the three men were taken to a detention camp.

Once there, Hizinger asked to see a senior officer. Although his cover was still intact, he must have feared it would not last long and perhaps hoped he could bargain his way out of the situation. So he took off his eye patch and calmly revealed who he really was.

A few hours later a medical officer, Capt Wells, was told to check Himmler. As he came to look inside his mouth he saw a small blue-tipped object hidden in his cheek.

As Capt Wells tried to pull it out, Himmler struggled with the doctor, pulled his head away and crushed the object between his teeth. It was a cyanide capsule. He was dead within minutes.

Himmler had been given away by a fake stamp that his own people had placed in a document. The incriminating papers remained hidden for 75 years, but they can now be seen for the first time after being donated to the Military Intelligence Museum in Shefford, Bedfordshire.

donated by the great niece of Lt Col Sidney Noakes who was thought to have conducted "a gentle interrogation" of Himmler prior to the suicide. "The logical assumption is that he was one of the two MI5 interrogators," says Bill Steadman, curator of the Military Intelligence Museum. "I can't think of any other way he could have got them."

Himmler's documents, complete with false name and stamp
 
Eighty-six years ago today - 23rd May 1934 - outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow died in a storm of police bullets in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

1414px-Bonnieclyde_f.jpg


The duo and their gang having already murdered 9 police officers, the lawmen who set up the ambush were not disposed to allow them the chance to use their arsenal of weapons to return fire.

maximus otter
 
Eighty-six years ago today - 23rd May 1934 - outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow died in a storm of police bullets in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

1414px-Bonnieclyde_f.jpg


The duo and their gang having already murdered 9 police officers, the lawmen who set up the ambush were not disposed to allow them the chance to use their arsenal of weapons to return fire.

maximus otter
Bonnie was undeniably cute and slim, but they were both undeniably vicious murderers. I hate that they are lionized and touristy-ized in the Dallas area.
 
Heinrich Himmler: How a fake stamp led to the Nazi SS leader's capture

On 22 May 1945, a trio of odd-looking men were spotted by a patrol near a checkpoint in Bremervörde, northern Germany.

It was just a few weeks after World War Two had ended but many Nazis were still at large and there were fears some might try to regroup or escape.

Two of the men, wearing smart long green overcoats, were walking ahead of a third man. The trailing figure, sporting an eye patch, looked broken and dishevelled. The pair in front kept glancing back as if to make sure he was still there.



donated by the great niece of Lt Col Sidney Noakes who was thought to have conducted "a gentle interrogation" of Himmler prior to the suicide. "The logical assumption is that he was one of the two MI5 interrogators," says Bill Steadman, curator of the Military Intelligence Museum. "I can't think of any other way he could have got them."

Himmler's documents, complete with false name and stamp's documents, complete with false name and stamp

Himmler would have been caught anyway, he had stupidly chosen a cover identity of a sergeant of a Special Armoured Company, attached to the Secret Field Police - meaning he'd have been in an Automatic Arrest Category, whatever pass or stamp he presented.
 
Budvar is a great beer!

a friend who lives in Bremen took me to the place that is reckoned to serve it best in the city. With the present of being able to get utterly rat-arsed without having to think about money, safety, getting home, rohyp or anything else. Complete with painkillers, iced water and semi-frozen watermelon for the first bit of waking up the morning after and then coffee, a huge fried breakfast and a puppy to play with for a bit later on!

Everyone should have such friends! :oldm:
 
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