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Forgotten History

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George Mallory’s final letters to wife published 100 years after fatal Mount Everest climb
British mountaineer died trying to reach summit in 1924 with his colleague, Sandy Irvine, whose body has never been found

'In a letter written during the British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition in 1921, Mallory describes his excitement:

“My darling this is a thrilling business altogether – I can’t tell you how it possesses me and what a prospect it is. And the beauty of it all!” Mallory writes to Ruth.

Katy Green, Magdalene College’s archivist said: “You do get sucked in a bit, if you read all the letters, to their lives. And you think ‘oh George don’t go!’ You know he’s going to die.”

It was three years later, on the third attempt of the British Mount Everest expedition to scale the mountain, that Mallory and Irvine disappeared.'

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/educati...published-100-years-after-mount-everest-climb

Myth of Mallory preserved in Everest's ice and snow:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/may/04/1
 
The saying goes "never bring a knife to a gunfight". Just occasionally though the apparently weaker protagonist comes out on top.

As we're coming up to the 83rd anniversary of the sinking of the Bismarck, I thought I'd pay a brief homage to the courageous RAF crewmen who pulled off the daring raid.

The Fairey Swordfish, introduced in the early 1930's was an upgrade to the 1917 Fairey III.
Fondly nicknamed The Stringbag, with its fabric-covered biplane wings, cockpit open to the elements and proliferation of struts and wires, the WW1 heritage of the aircraft was evident. It was, however, an extremely agile little aircraft, with a remarkably slow stall-speed, which made it an ideal platform from which to launch torpedoes.

On 26th May 1941, a flight of 15 Swordfish took off from HMS Ark Royal at dusk, following a sighting of the mighty Bismarck.
Flying at 90 mph and barely 20ft above the waves, they closed in on their target amidst a tremendous barrage of anti-aircraft fire from the German behemoth.
Sub Lieutenant Jock Moffat recalled "They fired all kinds of things at us. It was like hail coming at you – you wondered how they could miss.”
Miss they did though. The pilots' unfeasibly low altitude was a factor in their survival, as the German guns struggled to depress sufficiently to target their tiny, flimsy assailants.
Three torpedoes found their target. Two amidships, causing a few German fatalities but comparatively minor damage, but the third hit the stern of the Bismarck and crippled her rudder. After this, Bismarck could only steam in a great circle and was effectively doomed.
Bismarck's guns were still functioning though and it wasn't until the next day and some tremendous exchanges of fire that Royal Navy ships King George V, Rodney, Norfolk and Dorsetshire delivered the coup de grâce to the once great pride of the German navy.
All crew on the 15 Fairey Swordfish survived the encounter.
Of Bismarck's crew of over 2,200 men, only 114 survived.

swordfish2.png

The Fairey Swordfish on Ark Royal, just prior to launch.


swordfish.png
Bismarck.png


In contrast to the howlers on the most historically inaccurate movies thread, the 1960 film "Sink the Bismarck" starring Kenneth Moore, is generally considered to be a commendably accurate depiction of the events.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_battle_of_Bismarck

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2021/may/26/20210526-bismarck-hit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sink_the_Bismarck!
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
The saying goes "never bring a knife to a gunfight". Just occasionally though the apparently weaker protagonist comes out on top.

As we're coming up to the 83rd anniversary of the sinking of the Bismarck, I thought I'd pay a brief homage to the courageous RAF crewmen who pulled off the daring raid.

The Fairey Swordfish, introduced in the early 1930's was an upgrade to the 1917 Fairey III.
Fondly nicknamed The Stringbag, with its fabric-covered biplane wings, cockpit open to the elements and proliferation of struts and wires, the WW1 heritage of the aircraft was evident. It was, however, an extremely agile little aircraft, with a remarkably slow stall-speed, which made it an ideal platform from which to launch torpedoes.

On 26th May 1941, a flight of 15 Swordfish took off from HMS Ark Royal at dusk, following a sighting of the mighty Bismarck.
Flying at 90 mph and barely 20ft above the waves, they closed in on their target amidst a tremendous barrage of anti-aircraft fire from the German behemoth.
Sub Lieutenant Jock Moffat recalled "They fired all kinds of things at us. It was like hail coming at you – you wondered how they could miss.”
Miss they did though. The pilots' unfeasibly low altitude was a factor in their survival, as the German guns struggled to depress sufficiently to target their tiny, flimsy assailants.
Three torpedoes found their target. Two amidships, causing a few German fatalities but comparatively minor damage, but the third hit the stern of the Bismarck and crippled her rudder. After this, Bismarck could only steam in a great circle and was effectively doomed.
Bismarck's guns were still functioning though and it wasn't until the next day and some tremendous exchanges of fire that Royal Navy ships King George V, Rodney, Norfolk and Dorsetshire delivered the coup de grâce to the once great pride of the German navy.
All crew on the 15 Fairey Swordfish survived the encounter.
Of Bismarck's crew of over 2,200 men, only 114 survived.

View attachment 75867
The Fairey Swordfish on Ark Royal, just prior to launch.


View attachment 75868View attachment 75869

In contrast to the howlers on the most historically inaccurate movies thread, the 1960 film "Sink the Bismarck" starring Kenneth Moore, is generally considered to be a commendably accurate depiction of the events.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_battle_of_Bismarck

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2021/may/26/20210526-bismarck-hit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sink_the_Bismarck!
Click to expand...
Swordfishes also did considerable damage to the Italian fleet at Taranto. A raid that confirmed Yamamoto's idea that the attack on Pearl Harbour was feasible.

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF/MagazineArchive/Documents/2017/March 2017/0317taranto.pdf
 
For the day that's in it...
Saint George was a Cappadocian Greek who was also an officer in the Roman army.
Early reports of him do not include the now infamous dragon (probably a large crocodile) , and he was also quite partial to raising taxes, which might be why he was offed!


Disclosure: I did not know, when I chose my posting name, some 25 years ago, that it was a medieval label for St George's lance with which he slew the croc!
 
uair01 said:
There is historic truth in this rant from Iran:
https://x.com/NiohBerg/status/1781377432638959845
Iran was not an Islamic country. It is it's own culture.
Click to expand...
Neither was any of the Islamic world, it was mostly conquered by the sword, Christianity was not much better, even the ancient Jewish Kings were not averse to it, and there is another kicker there is a theory (backed up by some DNA studies) that a large part of the Palestinian population are the descendants of the Jewish population who did not flee (The Samaritans most definitely are)
 

Five skeletons found under Wolf’s Lair home of Hermann Göring in Poland.​


Amateur archaeologists discover remains missing hands and feet at former Nazi military headquarters


Amateur archaeologists have unearthed five human skeletons missing their hands and feet under the former home of the Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring at Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair military headquarters in present-day Poland.


The remains, believed to be that of a family, were discovered as part of a dig at the site near the north-eastern town of Kętrzyn, where Nazi leaders spent large stretches of the second world war.

Mystery surrounds the chilling find, first reported by Der Spiegel including the identity of the victims, the circumstances of their burial, and whether the Reichsmarschall knew the bones were there while he lived in the house.

The imposing brick building in a wooded stretch of moorland at the former Nazi Wolfsschanze has largely been reclaimed by nature. It was considered thoroughly researched before the team of German and Polish history buffs set upon it.


Oktavian Bartoszewski, the publisher of the magazine (Relics of History), said the Gdańsk-based team Fundacja Latebra had worked at the site for years, often turning up banal household items such as crockery and tools.

With the rise of dark tourism, Fundacja Latebra is one of the few organisations with explicit permission to conduct archaeological research at the Wolf’s Lair, which attracts more than 200,000 visitors a year.

Hermann Göring speaks with Adolf Hitler as Benito Mussolini looks on


Hermann Göring with Adolf Hitler (left) and Benito Mussolini (back) at Wolf’s Lair in 1944.


The team was “completely shocked” to discover in February a skull about 10cm underground while looking for buried wooden flooring in the home, which burned down in 1945. The team immediately notified local police.


“After the administrators of the site and forensic scientists gained an overview and nothing pointed to a recent crime, it was decided to lay the skeleton bare,” Bartoszewski said.

Further excavation revealed five skeletons, which subsequent analysis showed were three adults, a teenager and a baby.

“That was the most horrible thing we found,” he said of the newborn. “They were all lying next to each other, in the same direction.”

None had traces of clothing or other personal objects, meaning the corpses were probably stripped before they were placed there. While it is possible the hand and foot bones – finer than other remains – had simply decomposed, it could not be ruled out that they had been amputated.

Speculation abounds as to whether Göring was aware the bodies were buried below his living quarters, or whether they had been deposited there after the war. German media said the family could have been victims of a mass killing, possibly but not necessarily carried out by the Nazis. Polish prosecutors are investigating.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/30/five-skeletons-wolfs-lair-home-hermann-goring-poland
 
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