PzLdr History Facts

[PzLdr]

See "PzLdr History Facts" Archive, p.21

[PzLdr]

See "PzLdr History Facts" Archive, p.21

[PzLdr]

See "PzLdr History Facts" Archive, p.21

[PzLdr]

1797: THE LAUNCHING OF THE U.S.S CONSTITUTION

The U.S.S Constitution is launched in Boston Harbor. The ship, a 44 gun frigate, is  to fight in the Barbary War, which she does commendably.But "Old Ironsides" as she is more commonly known, is most famous for destroying H.M.S Guerriere in the war of 1812. Her hull, made of live oak, proves virtually impregnable to the British warship's cannon fire. So superior are the American frigates of her class to their British counterparts that the Admiralty issues an order to the royal Navy that British frigates are only to engage their American counterparts if they have a minimum advantage of 3 to 1.

Constitution retires in the 1850s. She is the oldest U.S. warship in commission today [thanks to periodic refits and upgrades], and is berthed where she started - Boston Harbor.

1805: NAPOLEON SUNK AT SEA - TRAFALGER

There's a line from the old Sam Cooke song, "Another Saturday Night", that goes, "If I could see 'em, I could get 'em...' And that was Napoleon Bonaparte's problem with the British. The greatest land commander of his age, he faced an implacable sea power separated from him and his Grande Armee by over 20 miles of water. He knew he could beat the British in any land battle, but he couldn't "get 'em" [He wouldn't personally lose to a British commanded force until Waterloo. And one of the reasons for that was Admiral Horatio Nelson.

Nelson appeared throughout the early Napoleonic Wars like a bad penny. He sucessfully impeded the Nile expedition. He stopped the French at Copenhagen. And in 1805, off the coast of Spain he put the end to any dreams the newly minted French Emperor had of invading the British home islands.

Napoleon [like Hitler after him] never really understood naval warfare. Unlike Hitler, however, Bonaparte was always pushing the French Navy to engage the British. At Trafalgar, through no fault or desire of the French Admirals, he got his wish.

The French, and their newly acquired Spanish allies, had assembled a fleet of some 33 warships, to support the Grande Armee's [located on the channel coast] invasion of England. Nelson sniffed them out, and attacked in two columns, comprising 27 ships of his own. After five hours, the British had sunk almost 2/3 of the French-Spanish fleet, without losing a ship of their own. Casualties, including Nelson, were high, however. But the French threat to Britain was over, forever.

Napoleon turned his navy to commerce raiding, and took his Grande Armee into Germany. By the end of the year, he had forced Austria out of the war, to be followed by both Prussia and Russia within a year. And Napoleon never met the British themselves [directly] in battle again until he crossed swords with the Duke of Wellington.

[PzLdr]

See "PzLdr History Facts" Archive, p. 22

[PzLdr]

See "PzLdr History Facts" Archive, p.22

[PzLdr]

See "PzLdr History Facts" Archive, p.22

[PzLdr]

1415: AGINCOURT

One of three battles where English yeomen, using the Long Bow of Robin hood fame, defeat a  French army composed of chivalry and Genoese Crossbowmen [Crecy].

Henry was moving something less than 7,000 troops to Calais, for ships to return to England, after a siege that had cost him near 40% of his army. He ran in to the French, some 20,000 of them, mostly armored knights.

Henry faced the French in open ground, with both his flanks covered by woods. The field itself was muddy. The archers angled stakes into the ground in front of their firing positions. They stuck extra arrows into the ground point first.

The French knights charged the field, but were brought down, or to a halt by the arrow storm [The longbow was no Mongol saddle bow, but it was up to the job]. Successive waves of attack merely crowded the battlefield, and made each attack more problematic, and less successful.

As the attacks petered out, the French nobility that was still alive on the field , some wounded, all prisoners, waited to be sorted out to be held for ransom, which was the practice. unfortunately for them, Henry was in a hurry, so with a few, VERY wealthy exceptions, he ordered his archers onto the field to kill the rest, using poniards, axes, and swords. He then went on his way.

Bonus point: The British version of our upraised digit, is an upward thrust of two fingers, the index and middle fingers. It originated as a sign of defiance by the British archers, who knew the King of France had decreed that any archer captured would have those two fingers cut off.


1854: THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

It is one of the most celebrated cavalry charges in Western history. It has been the subject of poems, and at least two movies. and it was an unmitigated disaster. It was the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava.

In 1854, Great Britain found herself allied with France, and Ottoman Turkey in a war against Imperial Russia. And the three allies found themselves on the Crimean peninsula, moving against Sevastopol.

As part of the operations to clear their flanks, the British decided to take Russian heavy artillery dug in on three sides of the valley at Balaklava. At least that's what they did. no one is quite sure who planned it, or made the decision to do it. Nor are we clear who ordered it.

The Light Brigade was commanded by Lord Raglan, who was not on speaking terms with the overall cavalry commander, Lord Lucan. to the degree he didn't normally speak to him about anything, including the deployment of his brigade.

It appears the orders may have been garbled, or misunderstood. But one thing IS clear. Sometime on 25 OCT 1854, Raglan led his brigade jup the valley, under guns and supporting infantry on three sides, and on higher ground. By the time they returned to therir own lines, the Light Brigade had lost 40% of its strength, and had failed to take a single gun.

Balaclava did have one positive benefit for the British Army. The ineptitude of the officer corps led to the decision to professionalize it, and the practice of buying commissions was phased out.

[PzLdr]

See "PzLdr History Facts" Archive, p. 22

[PzLdr]

It's probably one of two historical shootouts that match Hollywood [the other is Hickcock's gunfight with Dave Tut]. It has been portrayed in countless movies, including  movies starring James Garner and Jason Robards, Kevin Costner, and Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Michael Biehn and Powers Booth. It was the gunfight at the OK Corral, that pitted Wyatt Earp and his two brothers, Morgan and Virgil, and their friend, "Doc" Holliday, against Ike and Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury, and Billy Clairborne.

The fight arose out of a power struggle to control Tombstone, Arizona between the Earp and Clanton-McLaury factions. The immediate cause was a violation by the latter of the town ordinance requiring no guns in town limits.

The battle itself took some thirty seconds. No one, to this day is positive about who fired first. But when it was over, Billy Clanton and the MKLauries were dead, and both Virgil and Morgan Earp, as well as Doc Holliday were wounded.

County Sheriff John Behan arrested the Earps for murder, but they were acquitted at trial. In the end, Morgan Earp was assassinated, Virgil moved to California, Wyatt became a Deputy U.S. Marshal, and used his badge to murder most of the Clanton associates in, and around Tombstone. 

[PzLdr]

See "PzLdr History Facts" Archive, the "Burning Border" thread, p.6

[PzLdr]

It was Japan's last fleet sized battle of World War II. Since the plan was Japanese, it involved more moving parts than a steam locomotive. It came with amost complete surprise, and suckered 'Bull' Halsey into leaving an opening for a tremendous Japanese victory.

But the victory didn't happen, and when the operation was over, Japan had lost all her remaining carriers, ZUIKAKU ( the last of the carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbor), ZUIHO, CHOYODA, and CHITOSE [which were reduced to being 'bait], one her super battleships [MUSASHI], the batteships YAMASHIRO and FUSO, six heavy cruisers, four light cruisers and nine destroyers. The Americans lost one light carrier [U.S.S PRINCETON], two escort carriers U.S.S GAMBIER BAY and ST.LO], two destroyers and one destroyer escort.

The Japanese attacked from three directions, the north [Ozawa'a carriers], the center Admiral Kurita's fleet which included the battleships YAMATO, MUSASHI, KONGO, NAGATO and HARUNA, and from the south with the battleships YAMASHIRO  and FUSO.

The Americans engaged the Japanese well to the west of Leyte. Aircraft sank MUSASHI. Submarines sank Kurita's flagship, the cruiser ATAGO, one of her sister ships, and damaged a third. Kurita seemed to withdraw, but reversed course and assed through during the night to arrive to the east of Leyte, near the site of the landings.

Halsey having taken his carriers to attack Ozawa's 'bait', withdrawing to the north, Leyte was covered by light carriers and destroyers, Taffy 3. The rest of his battleships were in Surigao Strait, where Admiral Jesse Ohlendorf engaged the Southern force, and in the last battleship to battleship engagement of the Pacific [and the war], sank both Japanese battleships in the southern force.

When Kurita withdrew, after a truly stupendous defense by the destroyers and destroyer escorts of Taffy 3 [they sunk the heavy cruiser CHOKAI, and either sunk or damaged other Japanese units], the battle was over. And Japan would never be able to send a Task Force out again. Within less than a year, the Japanese would be reduced to sending YAMATO, several cruisers and destroyers on a one way suicide run to Okinawa. That failed too.

Leyte Gulf broke the back of the imperial Japanese Navy. For all extents and purposes, the Pacific was now a U.S. lake. and has been ever since.

[PzLdr]

Imagine my conundrum. I'm a YANKEES fan. Been one all my life. It's 1986, and who's in the Series? The BOSTON RED SOX, an enemy we hate as much as Apaches hated Comanches, and the NEW YORK METS [short for "Metropolitans"], who we loathed. So who to root for? The SOX are representing my League, the American League. But in the sense that Queens is considered part of New York [they actually believe it], the METS are from my town.

While my first inclination was to vote for "A pox on both your houses", I realized a choice had to be made. But the choice was easier than I initially thought. On reflection, I chose to root for the SOX, knowing I would have it both ways. I'd root for the League, secure in the knowledge that the Sox would screw it up.

But up to Game 6, it wasn't looking good. The SOX were up 3 games to 2. . But the METS tied the game forcing extra inning. And then, with a man on third, a weak grounder to first went through Bill Buckner's legs. It was a grounder the Venus da Milo could have fielded. And I turned to the buddy I was watching this fiasco with, and said "That's it. Series over". He pointe out there was still Game 7. I pointed out that this was the RED SOX, whose American sign expression was grabbing your own throat and choking yourself.

And sadly, I was right. The SOX lost Game 7. The Mets won the Series.

And their fans proved more annoying than any SOX fan. One, at work came up to me and screamed, "We're a dynasty!". I responded, as the adult in the room, "We've lost more Series to the Dodgers than you've been in. Get a grip". And when the tables were reversed in '97 when we played the Braves, i asked Mr. Met, if he'd root for the YANKEES, the New York, home team. I got a resounding 'No'. So next time, assuming the METS are in the Series, and I'm still alive [I only have about 20 years left on the old actuarial table] , I'll be singing: 

                                                                       Meet the Mets, Greet the Mets!
                                                                       Beat, Eat and excrete the Mets..."

[PzLdr]

See "PzLdr History Facts" Archive, p.1 "OPERATION PUNISHMENT"

[PzLdr]

See "PzLdr History Facts" Archive, p.6