Training Gone Wrong or The Forgotten Battle

It is common knowledge that D-Day, the beach invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, was the turning point in World War II. It was not a perfect invasion and resulted in thousands dead on both sides. But what would the result have been if there had not been a practice run?

The US and British forces practiced landing as well as assault prior to the actual operation. The week of April 28th, 1944 the first practice assault took place. Live ammunitions were fired to simulate the situation so that the men would be prepared. General Dwight D. Eisenhower believed that the men needed to be prepared and hardened to react properly 

The practice was called Exercise Tiger. Due to communication errors, men invaded the Slapton beach in Devon, England, while the Naval bombardment occurred, resulting in loss of life owing to friendly fire. 

(Slapton was selected for its similarity to Utah beach in France)

German E-boats attacked a convoy of follow-up troops not long after the practice. Again, communication errors occurred and the convoy was not as protected as it should have been. This resulted in the Battle of Lyme Bay in which 749 servicemen were killed. 

In order for the D-Day invasion to work, all members who had been a part of Exercise Tiger were sworn to secrecy so that leaks would not occur. From this disaster though, came crucial fixes. The British and US standardized their radio frequencies and servicemen were taught how to use their life preservers.

The operation was kept quiet until after D-Day and then the casualty numbers were announced along with the casualty numbers of D-Day. While Exercise Tiger is not well-known, it was not an active cover-up, it just was forgotten. There is a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery for those lost during the practice run and Battle of Lyme Bay as well as a memorial at Slapton. 

Easter, 1916

Ireland's history has rarely been calm. From 1169 until 1922, the British controlled Ireland. The Irish disliked their occupiers and attempted to gain their independence. In April 1916, the Easter Rising occurred. 

April 24, 1916, Easter Monday, the armed insurrection by Irish Republicans began in Dublin. Lead by Patrick Pearse and James Conolly, the armed volunteer took control of locations in Dublin and issued the Proclamation of the Republic. 

(General Post Office, a location seized during the uprising and where the leaders were captured.)

On April 29th, after holing up in the General Post Office, the Irish were forced to surrender to the British. 3,000 people were arrested and on May 2, 90 were sentenced to death. The seven signatories of the proclamation were among those to be killed. They were held in Kilmanham Gaol and executed within the complex. 

The seven signatories were Thomas J. Clarke, Sean Mac Diarmada, Thomas MacDonagh, P.H. Pearse, Eamonn Ceannt, James Connolly and Joseph Plunkett. Future Ireland president Eamon de Valera was also imprisoned but was not executed and eventually released.

(Memorial in Kilmainham Gaol where the leaders were executed)

Hours before his execution, Joseph Plunkett was married in the gaol to his sweetheart Grace Gifford. The ceremony was held in the chapel by candlelight with British soldiers as witnesses and no family members present. They were only allowed ten minutes together before he was executed. 

After the failed uprising, others began plotting to create a free and independent Irish state. Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins were the leaders of the Irish War of Independence. 

(de Valera is second from left with Collins on the right)

Sooners

At 12pm on April 22, 1889, the Oklahoma Land Rush began. In the center of the Oklahoma Indian Territory, was a portion of land known as the Unassigned Lands. This portion of the future state was not assigned to any Native American tribe, while the rest of the territory was assigned to specific tribes. 

On April 22, homesteaders gathered in Oklahoma so that when the cavalry bugle sounded at noon, they could rush the newly opened land and claim the land for themselves. Their desire to claim land for themselves allowed the town of Guthrie to be built in a day. 

However, there were already homesteaders claiming land in the Unassigned Lands. In President Grover Cleveland's Indian Appropriation Act, there was a "sooner clause." The clause stated that no one could claim land before noon on the 22nd. 

"Sooners" were the people who snuck into the area before the land was officially opened, which gave them an advantage over those who rushed for land at noon. The University of Oklahoma's sports teams are called the Sooners. 

Old but Young: San Francisco

In June of 1776, the city of San Francisco was founded by Spanish colonists. In 1849, prospectors arrived to try and find gold, which increased the population of the city. In 1906, disaster struck. 

(In 1776, a fort was built in the location of San Francisco.)

People have been living in the Bay Area since 4000 BCE but the city of San Francisco is only around 100 years old. On April 18, 1906, one of the most destructive earthquakes occurred on the San Andreas fault, which is the location of San Francisco. 

(Streets cracked from the pressure.)

The earthquake was recorded as being a 7.8 magnitude. The earthquake alone caused damage amounting to $20 million. In the course of the earthquake, the pipeline that carried water to the city from the San Andreas Lake was broken, cutting off the water supply to the city. 

(Broken pipeline)

With the destruction of buildings came a fire that raged for three days and nights. The fire was more destructive than the earthquake had been. Without the water lines from the San Andreas Lake, water had to be brought in by the Navy. The loss of water prompted the development of a dam inside Yosemite National Park in the Hetch Hetchy Valley, which sparked a controversy. An estimated 3,000 people were killed and the damages were estimated around $524 million.  

(Sacramento Street and approaching fire.)

The city was rebuilt on its existing location and about $90 million was spent in the first year and a half after the earthquake and fire. In the course of rebuilding the city, some buildings were rebuilt exactly as they had been before the earthquake while others were replaced by taller buildings. Virtually, the entire city was rebuilt by 1909. It is physically a young city (108 years since the earthquake) but the location has been settled for ages. 

Play Ball!

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball by playing first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

While this took place after World War II, it can be seen as a part of the Double V campaign. This was an African American response to wartime discrimination. "...let we colored Americans adopt the double V V for a double victory. The first V for victory over our enemies from without, the second V for victory over our enemies from within." On Feburary 7, 1942, the Pittsburg Courier printed this quote, which came from James G. Thomason's letter to the paper.

The Double V campaign was a way to encourage black men to enlist, despite the fact that the military was segregated. The men needed to be proud to fight Fascism for Democracy. The home front movement was to support the men who risked everything. This was the early part of what has become known as the Civil Rights Movement, but it has its origins in the nonviolent sit-ins of the 1940s and 1950s. 

In the film 42, Harrison Ford plays Branch Rickey, the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers who decided to integrate baseball. In one scene, he makes a reference to the Double V campaign when he is helping Jackie Robinson deal with the overt racism he was experiencing. (See link for video.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgpD2EGomr8

"Ambition leads me..."- Captain Cook

On April 13, 1769, British Captain James Cook landed in Tahiti on his first circumnavigation of the world. Cook and his ship the Endeavour had the mission of observing and tracking the transit of Venus in the Southern Hemisphere. 

(Captain Cook's sketch of the transit of Venus)

After this scientific experiment, Cook and his mean were to sail West in search of a Southern continent. At the time, it was believed that the landmasses in the Northern hemisphere had to be balanced by an equal amount of landmass in the Southern hemisphere. 

(1592 map of the world)

By sailing West, Cook ran into New Zealand, which was not a new discovery at the time. New Zealand had been found and named by the Dutch in 1642, but they Dutch never landed. New Zealand is considered to be the last major landmass to be settled in the world because it is believed that between 800 and 1200 CE, sailing canoes from other islands carried pioneers to New Zealand. Cook's arrival was the first foreign contact the North Island had.

Cook spent six months in New Zealand, but it was to circumnavigate the islands and chart the coasts. His charts were so accurate that they continued to be used until 1994, when the Royal New Zealand Navy updated them. In addition to charting the coast of New Zealand, Cook made contact with the Maori and traded with them. 

After determining that New Zealand was not a peninsula of the fabled Southern Continent, Cook began his return trip. His next stop was the East coast of Australia. Australia was a known continent, but no Europeans had ever landed on the eastern coast. While sailing up the eastern coast, Cook found the harbor where Sydney would eventually be established. 

(Map from Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz)

After his trip in 1769, Cook ventured to the South Pacific two more times. He named the Sandwich Islands as well as a number of other islands, bays, bluffs and other landmarks. He developed the British map of the world. On February 14, 1779, Captain James Cook was killed by native Hawaiians in Hawaii. 

Arr! Prepare to Be Boarded!

In April of 1718, the famed pirate Blackbeard was enlarging his pirate fleet. At its largest, his crew and fleet numbered 300 pirates and three ships. His flagship was the Queen Anne's Revenge, which had originally been a French slaving ship. 

Blackbeard, whose real name might have been Edward Teach, was a pirate who operated out of the Caribbean and along the Eastern coast of North America. He was known for being terrifying. He was tall and he wove wicks into his beard and lit them on fire when he attacked a merchant ship. 

Blackbeard appeared to end his pirating stint when he married a North Carolina woman and became partners with the governor of North Carolina. However, he was paying off the governor and continued to raid merchant ships. Unlike pirates who raided Spanish ships from South America, Blackbeard attacked ships leaving the colonies so much of what he took was cotton, sugar and rum. 

(Coast of North Carolina where Blackbeard operated)

Citizens in North Carolina and Virginia feared Blackbeard and felt that his partnership with the North Carolina governor meant that he was not going to leave, so they turned to Governor Spotswood of Virginia. 

(Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia)

Although Spotswood had no legal authority to take out Blackbeard, he sent two ships after the notorious pirate anyway. Lieutenant Robert Maynard led the attack on Blackbeard. After a duel between the Lieutenant and Blackbeard, Blackbeard was killed by five gun shot wounds and 20 sword cuts. Maynard cut off the pirate's head and attached it to the bow of his ship and dumped the body overboard. Before the body sank though, it is said that it swam around the ship three times. 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

This week, baseball returned for another season. This six month long sport is lovingly called "America's Pastime." 

In 1845, the New York Knickerbockers established formal rules for baseball, and this is cited as the beginning of modern baseball. In 1857, the National Association of Base Ball Players was founded and the Knickerbocker rules were adopted. These rules set the length of the game (9 innings), the distance between bases was standardized (30 yards). In addition to these standard rules, a pitcher threw a ball underhanded and the batter asked for a specific throw. The goal was to hit the ball, not strike the batter out. 

1861, the American Civil War broke out and with this, men from different regions began playing baseball together, meaning that they needed common rules. The rules they turned to, were the Knickerbocker rules. By the end of the war, there were 400 member clubs belonging to the National Association of Base Ball Players. 

(Company G, 48th New York State Volunteers playing a game of baseball at Fort Pulaski, 1862.)

The Civil War is often reenacted by Civil War enthusiasts. They are known for being eccentric and dedicated. But they are not the only ones who reenact the 1800s. There are 19th century baseball reenactors as well!

Due to racial segregation in America, African Americans were not allowed to play with white players so they played in "Negro Leagues." This practice continued until Jackie Robinson broke the color line in 1947 when he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

My baseball team is the Washington Nationals. Prior to 2005, the nation's capital did not have a professional baseball team since 1971. Today is our home opener against rival Atlanta Braves. Unfortunately, we lost, but as I said, it's a six month long season (162 games) so we've got time!