The Battle of the Somme, fought from July 1916 to November 1916, was one of the largest battles of the First World War. With more than one million casualties, it was also one of the bloodiest battles in human history. The Allied forces attempted to break through the German lines along a 95-mile (40 km) front north and south of the River Somme in northern France. One purpose of the battle was to draw German forces away from the Battle of Verdun; however, by its end the losses on the Somme had exceeded those at Verdun.
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz (Czech: Bitva u Slavkova) also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, effectively destroying the Third Coalition against the French Empire. On December 2, 1805 (November 20, Old Style), a French army, commanded by Emperor Napoleon I, decisively defeated a Russo-Austrian army, commanded by Tsar Alexander I, after nearly nine hours of difficult fighting. The battle took place at Austerlitz (Slavkov u Brna) about 20 km (12 miles) east of Brno in Moravia. The battle is often regarded as a tactical masterpiece.
Augustus
First Roman Emperor
Emperor Augustus of Rome was born with the given name Gaius Octavius on September 23, 63 B.C. He took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Octavian) in 44 B.C. after the murder of his great uncle, Julius Caesar. In his will Caesar had adopted Octavian and made him his heir.
Octavian was a shrewd, brilliant and astute politician. Through cold, hard political calculation he was able to achieve ultimate power in Rome. At the time of Caesar's assassination, Octavian held no official position. Only after he marched on Rome and forced the senate to name him consul, was he established as a power to be reckoned with.
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Canadian Veterans of Hong Kong
Hundreds of people – including Canadian veterans and dozens of Ontario students – were among those who took part in a ceremony in Hong Kong, to mark the 60th anniversary of the release of Canadian prisoners captured in a Second World War battle. More
HMAS Sydney and the German raider Kormoran found of West Australia after 65 years
THE wreckage of HMAS Sydney, sunk off the West Australian coast in 1941, has been found, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has confirmed. more
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Green Devils of Carentan. Public show, Royal Gunpowder Mills, UK, May 3-5.
Interesting Stories
History's first submarine attack took place in New York Harbor in 1776!
The Connecticut inventor David Bushnell called his submarine the Turtle because it resembled two large tortoise shells of equal size joined together. The watertight hull was made of 6-inch-thick oak timbers coated with tar. On September 6, 1776, the Turtle targeted the HMS Eagle, flagship of the British fleet. The submarine was supposed to secure a cask of gunpowder to the hull of the Eagle and sneak away before it exploded. Unfortunately, the Turtle got entangled with the Eagle's rudder bar, lost ballast and surfaced before the gunpowder could be planted. Facts of the Revolutionary War
Sickness accounted for a full one-third of all casualties in the Civil War. The 12th Connecticut Regiment entered the war with a compliment of 1,000 men. Before it entered its first engagement, sickness had reduced its strength to 600 able bodied soldiers.
General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate forces, traveled with a pet hen that laid one egg under his cot every morning.
World War Two Facts
Among the first “Germans” captured at Normandy were several Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they were capture by the US Army.
Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 US and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska. 21 troops were killed in the fire-fight. It would have been worse if there had been Japanese on the island.
The Russians destroyed over 500 German aircraft by ramming them in midair (they also sometimes cleared minefields by marching over them). “It takes a brave man not to be a hero in the Red Army”. - Joseph Stalin
12,000 heavy bombers were shot down in World War 2
Sometimes erroneously called the Maltese cross, the Iron Cross (German: das Eiserne Kreuz) is a military decoration of the Kingdom of Prussia, and later of Germany, which was established by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and first awarded on 10 March 1813. The Iron Cross is only awarded in wartime. In addition to the Napoleonic Wars, the Iron Cross was awarded during the Franco-Prussian War, and the First and Second World Wars. The Iron Cross has not been awarded since May 1945. It is a military decoration only — civilians are ineligible. More
Spencer .56 Caliber
This Spence .56 repeating carbine was found under the body of a US Cavalryman killed in the Battle of the little Big horn in Montana, June 25, 1976. More
