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Channel about World's History All questions: @cobbl or @otchebuch
During the Battle of the Bulge, a soldier lays down his Browning Automatic Rifle and attempts to keep his feet warm in the extremely cold winter of 1944. 🪖
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81 years ago today, Pvt Adam Davis & Tech 5 Milford Sellers of the 28th Infantry Division take a break just before the 8 day German siege in Bastogne, Belgium. 🇺🇸
Pvt. Davis was captured the next day by the Germans, becoming a POW for the remainder of his service. 🪖
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Brig. Gen. McAuliffe, 101st Airborne, is assigned to command all US forces in Bastogne, who soon would be completely encircled. 🪖
The airborne general felt no cause for concern. After all, paratroopers were trained to fight in a situation where they were surrounded.🪂
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In December of 1943, a Seabee heads off for duty in the South Pacific to build and fight. He is departing from the Naval Construction Battalion Base in Davisville, Rhode Island. ⚓️
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Birthday shoutout to the great Robert Leckie (1920-2001) who served as a machine gunner with the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, & Peleliu.
Leckie would write “Helmet for my Pillow” and have his story portrayed in the HBO miniseries, “The Pacific” 🪖
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83 years ago today, Ranger legend Lt. Col. William Darby talks with a French soldier at the height of the campaign against the Germans in North Africa. 🪖
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On this day in 1981, the world's largest supersonic bomber, the Soviet Tupolev Tu-160 'Blackjack,' flies for the first time. The swing-wing Mach 2 warplane has a range of more than 12,000 kms.
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On this day in 1916, Germany abandons its 10-month campaign to "bleed France white" at Verdun. The French suffer nearly 400,000 casualties, while an estimated 350,000 Germans are killed, wounded or missing. "Hell cannot be so terrible," recalls one French veteran.
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Chinese Panzer I Ausf. A light tanks captured by the Japanese, Nanjing, China, Dec 1937
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The British Army in Burma, 1945 — A soldier shaves in his slit trench on April 12, 1945.
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RIGHT NOW in 1944, 1,600 German heavy guns open fire on American positions in Belgium's Ardennes. The massive artillery barrage marks the start of what will become known as the #BattleOfTheBulge
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On this day in 1939, the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee — heavily damaged after the Battle of the River Plate — is scuttled off Montevideo, Uruguay. The captain, Hans Langsdorff, destroys his vessel rather than surrender it to the Allies. He later shoots himself.
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81 years ago today, soldiers of the 100th Infantry Division open Christmas packages while waiting for orders to attack the Maginot line near Bitche, France. 🪖
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Glenn Miller was at the top of the charts when he gave it all up to support the war effort, including his estimated 15-20k dollar a week pay as a civilian musician. 🇺🇸
Major Miller went MIA, 81 years ago today.
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Today in 1914, German battlecruisers shell the English towns of Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. 137 are killed in the attack, most of them civilians. The Royal Navy is widely criticized for failing to prevent the bombardment, while outrage over the incident drives enlistment
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81 years ago today, large masses of defeated & demoralized American soldiers retreated westwards.
Pvt Burgett of the 101st Airborne recalls: "They shambled along in shock and fear, eyes staring straight ahead. I have never before, or since, seen such resolute terror in men."
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81 years ago today, sailors are photographed aboard their ship with the 1060 pound Tiger Shark that they caught near the reef at Midway Island. ⚓️
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Did you know that in 1806, Henry Clay, #American lawyer and statesman, defended former #US vice #president Aaron #Burr (1756-1836), who had been indicted on charges of treason. Clay skillfully convinced a grand #jury to throw out the indictment, though he later became convinced of Burr's guilt.
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82 years ago, a waist Gunner with the ‘Black Cat Squadron’ manning a .50 caliber machine gun aboard a Consolidated PBY 5 Catalina at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. ✈️
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In December of 1944, soldiers of the 30th Infantry Division pause for a rest near Malmédy, Belgium. 🇺🇸
They would soon discover the atrocities that would become known as the “Malmédy Massacre.” 🪖
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83 years ago today, soldiers of the 37th Infantry Division man their position on Bougainville. 🪖
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American troops in a snow-filled trench during the Battle of the Bulge.
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A heavily armed German soldier during the Ardennes Offensive, Dec 1944
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Mortar men of US 1st Marine Division firing against a Japanese artillery position, Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, circa 15-25 Dec 1943
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Today in 1944, Congress establishes the five-star rank designation. Ike, Marshall, MacArthur and 'Hap' Arnold are all promoted, as are admirals Leahy, King, Nimitz and Halsey. Bradly gets a fifth star in 1950, while Washington is posthumously promoted for the 1976 bicentennial.
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Today in 1773, members of the underground Sons of Liberty movement dump 342 chests of imported tea into Boston Harbor to protest British taxation. It won't be for another 50 years that Americans refer to the incident as the 'Boston Tea Party.' For decades it was remembered simply as 'The Destruction of the Tea.'
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On this day in 1944, 200,000 German troops backed by 1,600 guns and 350 tanks launch Hitler's last-ditch Ardennes Offensive. 89,000 Americans become casualties in what will be called the Battle of the Bulge, making it the single bloodiest U.S. campaign of WW2.
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The memorial headstone of the legendary Glenn Miller at Arlington National Cemetery 🇺🇸
A trombone and the words "Bronze Star Medal" are carved on the back of the white marble marker. 🎶🎖️
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Today in 1944, Congress establishes the five-star rank designation. Ike, Marshall, MacArthur and 'Hap' Arnold are all promoted, as are admirals Leahy, King, Nimitz and Halsey. Bradly gets a fifth star in 1950, while Washington is posthumously promoted for the 1976 bicentennial.
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On this day in 1939, the three-and-a-half-hour Civil War epic 'Gone With the Wind' premieres in (where else?) Atlanta. The movie makes Academy Awards history in 1940 by taking home a record eight Oscars, including Best Picture — the first colour film to win in that category.
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