On this day in history...

[Lianachan]

September 13th, 1814 - British fail to capture Baltimore. During the battle, Francis Scott Key composes his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry", which is later set to music and becomes the United States' national anthem.

[Arneb]

14 September, 1918 - Baku was taken on that day; the Dunserforce was evacuated; 8988 Armenians were not, and the y were killed by their Tartar enemies.
Last big battle of the Legion d'Etrangers in the war, moving the front line 8 km short of the Hindenburg line.

In other news, the British Empire finally got round to introducing that Papist instrument of subjugation, the Gregorian calender (1752)
Denmark grants "unlimited freedom of the press" in, hear, hear 1770. OK, it alsted only 29 years. Quie co-incidentally, they were also the first country to legalize porn, but not on a 14 September
In 1958, Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer meet for the first time, officially burying 150 years of "perennial"enmity. We needed the good news.

[Heid the Ba]

14 September, 1918 - Baku was taken on that day; the Dunserforce was evacuated; 8988 Armenians were not, and the y were killed by their Tartar enemies.

Baku was not a cheery place for anyone in 1918.

Lionel Dunsterville commander of Dunsterforce was a school chum of Kipling and was the basis for one of Kipling's characters. He lead quite a life.

In other news, the British Empire finally got round to introducing that Papist instrument of subjugation, the Gregorian calender (1752)

Bonus points for "Papist instrument of subjugation".

[Arneb]

16 September, 1918 - The front at St. Mihiel is now completely "streightened". 6,000 Allied men lost, 15,000 German POW. Quote of the day, by Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria: "Get out and let yourself be killed in your current positions", at the suggestion that a peace should be sought.

1620 - The Mayflower leaves Plymouth.
1776 - The Americans win their first battle in the War of Independence, at Harlem Heights. 156 years, and they have all but forgotten about respect and obedience. I am shocked.
1795 - Making up for the lost sodded off Puritans, the Enbglish take the Cape Province instead. You have to make ends meet, after all.

One extra, one that featured prominently in my youth (I was ten at the time):
1979 - two families flee the GDR in a hot air balloon. Cheesy films were made of it, but you can't beat reality.

[Heid the Ba]

I remember that escape!

[Heid the Ba]

17th September 1631: Battle of Breitenfeld where us noble North European Protestants beat the scummy South European Spics and Dagos and their Tague mercenaries (and it must be said, an awful lot of Central Europeans of various confessions).

[Lianachan]

September 17th, 1916 - first confirmed victory for Manfred von Richthofen. This enrages Snoopy, who spends much time in the following decades seeking revenge.

[Arneb]

I recognize Dagos, but I don't know Spics and Tagues - although I have a vague idea.

I pause my 100 years ago in WWI running commentary because of the significance of Lianachan's event. And who wants to mess with Snoopy, after all?

Otherwise, the focus is on the FGCOATITEW (as naturally, it should be);
1630 - Founding of Boston
1787 - Passing of the Cawn-stur-too-shin of the FGCOATITEW by the Philadelphia convention
1862 - The Army of the FGCOATIEW sticks it to the troublemakers in the South, in the Battle of Antietam

[Heid the Ba]

Italians and Catholic Irish.

Yes, though Snoopy would never get him; that honour went to an Australian infantryman with a Lewis gun who shot von Rcihthofen when he broke his own rule about flying low over enemy lines. 80 planes shot down and he copped one up the jacksie from an uncouth Digger from the Convict Colony. Hermann Göring would make his name commanding what had been von Richthofen's Flying circus.

[Lianachan]

Oh, and:

September 17th, 1745 - Jacobites capture Edinburgh.

After the departure of the civic deputation a party of 900 men was sent under Lochiel, accompanied by Murray of Broughton and O'Sullivan (J.M.B.), to seize the city. They marched in the dark by Merchiston and Hope Park to the Netherbow gate (where the High Street now joins the Canongate). The accident of the opening of the gate to allow the exit of the carriage that had carried back the deputation permitted Lochiel to rush in, overpower the city guard, and make himself master of the city ; the regular troops had retreated to the castle, the dragoons had fled to Haddington, and the volunteers had been disbanded. This took place in the early morning in broad daylight. At noon the Prince, with the main body of the army, marched by Prestonfield and the King's Park into Edinburgh. The Prince went in triumph to Holyrood, and the army encamped in the King's Park. The heralds, pursuivants, and trumpeters were secured by the advance guard, and in their robes of state they proclaimed James VIII and Charles Prince Regent, at the Market Cross, 'betwixt twelve and one o'clock.' The castle, commanded by General Guest, did not surrender.

[Heid the Ba]

Most of those places are well built up now but outside the city then. It is easy to forget how tiny C18th Edinburgh was.

[Arneb]

18 September, 1918 - A mere 100 km from Damascus, Lawrence of Arabia has a railroad bridge blown up, his 79th
One way traffic on the Western front; loss (or gain, depending on where you're looking from) of Epehy. There is an attack north of St. Quentin. Of 9,000 German defenders, 4,500 end up as POW. I know shit about warfare, but I do wonder, does that say something about German morale?

It's Merkin day today:
1851 First issue of the NYT (under the name New York Daily Times)
1947 CIA founded
1948 Record day of the Berlin airlift, with 897 flights on a single day.

[Heid the Ba]

That says everything about German morale, which had been sliding since about May.

I was sent a copy of this book on the Berlin Airlift to review, it isn't great but I'll send you it if you want. Gerry van Tonder is that publisher's go to guy for 30k words on any C20th topic so lots of superficial information and some photos.

[Arneb]

Thanks, if you had said it's a great book I'd be curious, but if it's mediocre...

The airlift is quite firmly in my mind, even though it was twenty years before my birth and neither of my parents had even visited Berlin yet.

[Heid the Ba]

I'll have a look for it tonight and see if the photos are worth it.

[Arneb]

19 September, 1918 - All quiet on the Western front, at least nothing that makes it into the war diary.
Battle of Megiddo begins in Palestine, with heavy artillery shelling and 35,000 men advancing in its shadow.

Elsewhere, it's not a good anniversary for our esteemed neighbours to the South West:
1356 Battle of Maupertuis in the 100 Year War gives England a decisive victory.
1370 Edward of Woodstock (the OTHER Woodstock), also known as the Black Prince, sacks and plunders the city of Limoges, killing 300 civilians. Aaah, hooray for English sportsmanship!
1870 Beginning of the Siege of Paris, in the Franco German War. We won that one in the end, you know.

[Heid the Ba]

19 September, 1918 - All quiet on the Western front, at least nothing that makes it into the war diary.

It is the lull after Arras when the BEF is moving its artillery forward and piling up shells for the assault on the Siegfriedstellung/Hindenburg Line. It will all kick off again in a few days.

Battle of Megiddo begins in Palestine, with heavy artillery shelling and 35,000 men advancing in its shadow.

They co-opted the name Megiddo because of the biblical connotations and the Pharaoh's victory there.

1370 Edward of Woodstock (the OTHER Woodstock), also known as the Black Prince, sacks and plunders the city of Limoges, killing 300 civilians. Aaah, hooray for English sportsmanship!

He was simply reclaiming his father's lands in France for the crown, and traitors must be punished.

1870 Beginning of the Siege of Paris, in the Franco German War. We won that one in the end, you know.

Yes, yes you did.

[Lianachan]

September 19th, 1745 - The Jacobite army moved to Duddingston, leaving guards only at Holyrood. Hearing in the evening that Sir John Cope had marched to Haddington, the Prince, wanting a battle, rejoined the army at Duddingston and ordered the guards to follow in the morning. Cope had left Aberdeen by sea on September 15th, arriving at Dunbar on the 17th. He was joined there by Gardiner's and Hamilton's dragoons then marched to Haddington on the 19th.

[Arneb]

19 September, 1918 - All quiet on the Western front, at least nothing that makes it into the war diary.

It is the lull after Arras when the BEF is moving its artillery forward and piling up shells for the assault on the Siegfriedstellung/Hindenburg Line. It will all kick off again in a few days.

Battle of Megiddo begins in Palestine, with heavy artillery shelling and 35,000 men advancing in its shadow.

They co-opted the name Megiddo because of the biblical connotations and the Pharaoh's victory there.

1370 Edward of Woodstock (the OTHER Woodstock), also known as the Black Prince, sacks and plunders the city of Limoges, killing 300 civilians. Aaah, hooray for English sportsmanship!

He was simply reclaiming his father's lands in France for the crown, and traitors must be punished.

1870 Beginning of the Siege of Paris, in the Franco German War. We won that one in the end, you know.

Yes, yes you did.

I get the distinct feeling I'm hardly telling you anything new .

[Arneb]

20 September, 1918 - Still a lull at the Western front. A German U boat, UB-47 sinks a French submarine, Circe, off the coast of Albania. Hard to believe, but there is a survivor.
Bulgarian forces receive their withdrawal orders from Saloniki in "stunned silence".

Satura lanx in the Other News section:
52 BC - As every Astrix fan knows, the defeat to Julius Caesar in the Battle of Alesia sealed Vercingetorix' and Gallia's fate
1519 - Fernando Magallaes started the first round-the-worlder on that day.
1945 - The Friedland transition camp for refugees and deportees from East Germany is insituted in Lower Saxony. AFAIK, my father, together with his mother and three brothers, was processed at that facility in 1946 before being passed on to their later place of residence east of Cologne. He was 10 yo, measured 119 cm, and weighed all of 19 kg (BMI, 13.4). In later years, the camp servd as a first place to turn to for GDR refugees. It is still in use, processing refugees and asylum seekers to this day.

[Heid the Ba]

I get the distinct feeling I'm hardly telling you anything new .

Most days I learn something, it is just that military history, particularly the Great War, is my thing.

[Heid the Ba]

1945 - The Friedland transition camp for refugees and deportees from East Germany is insituted in Lower Saxony. AFAIK, my father, together with his mother and three brothers, was processed at that facility in 1946 before being passed on to their later place of residence east of Cologne. He was 10 yo, measured 119 cm, and weighed all of 19 kg (BMI, 13.4). In later years, the camp servd as a first place to turn to for GDR refugees. It is still in use, processing refugees and asylum seekers to this day.

It's hard to believe how recent that was and how far Europe has come.

[Lianachan]

September 20th, 1745 - Prince Charles and the Jacobite army (good band name?) are joined at Duddingston by around 100 Grants of Glenmoriston. Putting himself at the head of the army and sending forward all his cavalry (50 horse) as an advance guard, the Prince marched by Musselburgh to the brow of Carberry Hill, by Falside Castle through Tranent, and lay all night on the high moorland to the east of that village. Cope had formed his army on the low ground between the sea and the high road half-way between Prestonpans and Cockenzie, and south of these villages. The Prince slept on the field, "laying on the ground without any covering but his plaid".

ETA - I've been attempting an Arnebian few days build up to something.

[Heid the Ba]

Tension is mounting, I may not sleep tonight. I know that area well, I've cycled it many times.

[Arneb]

September 20th, 1745 - Prince Charles and the Jacobite army (good band name?) are joined at Duddingston by around 100 Grants of Glenmoriston. Putting himself at the head of the army and sending forward all his cavalry (50 horse) as an advance guard, the Prince marched by Musselburgh to the brow of Carberry Hill, by Falside Castle through Tranent, and lay all night on the high moorland to the east of that village. Cope had formed his army on the low ground between the sea and the high road half-way between Prestonpans and Cockenzie, and south of these villages. The Prince slept on the field, "laying on the ground without any covering but his plaid".

ETA - I've been attempting an Arnebian few days build up to something.

We are all anxiously awaiting the next episode... I do get the feeling it will be something big.