#North African campaign

[captain-price-unofficially]

WWII. North African Campaign. October 1941. A Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk of No. 3 Squadron RAAF.

#wwii #aviation #north african campaign #mediterranean theater

[carbone14]

Char Matilda II du 7th Royal Tank Regiment – Opération Compass – Campagne d'Afrique du Nord – 19 décembre 1940

Photographe : Capitaine Geoffrey John Keating - No. 1 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit

©Imperial War Museums - E 1416

#WWII #campagne d'afrique du nord #north african campaign #opération compass #operation compass #armée britannique #british army #7e régiment royal de chars #7th royal tank regiment #char #tanks #char d'infanterie #infantry tank #matilda II #afrique du nord #northern africa #19/12/1940 #12/1940 #1940

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Le général Wilson dans le désert," Le Soleil. May 7, 1943. Page 19. ---- Le général sir HENRY WILSON, le nouveau commandant en chef au Moyen-Orient, a fait récemment une tournée de visite des différentes unités dans l'ouest du désert. Il est ici photographié avec un major-général, venu à sa rencontre.

(Central Press)

#jumbo wilson #commander in chief #middle east theatre #british army #allied powers #world war ii #british empire #north african campaign

[lightdancer1]

Bir Hacheim likewise is one of the best battles fought by the Free French:

The French troops that fought at Bir Hacheim were 99% Black, a reality that reflected as noted the respective enthusiasm for the pro-Nazi regime in Vichy in the wartime French population right up until Normandy stuck, at which point nobody supported Vichy except Petain and Laval. These same troops, unlike the defeatist officer corps and the middlingly willing men of the 1940 campaign who outside the most elite forces were a coin toss in how well they fought the Germans, fought one of the most famous for all the wrong reasons German generals in the course of two years of maneuver warfare where vastly superior British forces largely got the shit kicked out of them because they had no idea how to use what they had.

By comparison the Free French were both willing to fight and while lacking the full panoply of tools for modern war showed that simply being willing to fight Germans at all turned them from masterful maneuver specialists to refighting Verdun with the same results. General Rommel in particular never really understood how to fight above the level of leading a division....and unfortunately for Germany was given command of an entire theater and proceeded to show he was a good division commander. Fortunately for the Black soldiers in Bir Hacheim repeatedly charging into the teeth of prepared defensive positions allowed them to spend two weeks slaughtering Germans and to retreat in good order, while Rommel was left uncertain just what happened to him and why it did.

#lightdancer comments on history #black history month #african history #world war 2 #north african campaign #free french #black history #military history #battle of bir hacheim

[playitagin]

1942-Axis capture of Tobruk

Tobruk falls to Italian and German forces; 33,000 Allied troops are taken prisoner.

#Jun.21.1942 #fall of Tobruk #North African campaign #World War II #history today

[world-v-you-blog]

The Uses of History, 38 – Mussolini and Fascism, 10

The Fascist conception of the State is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism is totalitarian, and the Fascist State – a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values – interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of a people. Benito Mussolini, source:…

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#Case Blue #Duce #El Alamein #Fascism #Fascist Italy #History of Italy #Hitler #Hitler and Mussolini #Italy #Mussolini #North African Campaign 1942 #Stalingrad

[reportwire]

Jennifer McClellan sworn in as first Black congresswoman to represent Virginia | CNN Politics

CNN  —  Jennifer McClellan, a former Virginia state senator, was sworn in on Tuesday, becoming the first Black woman to represent the commonwealth in Congress. Her ascent to the House of Representatives is a milestone for Virginia, a state that was once home to the capital of the Confederacy and is a former slave-trading center. McClellan joins a divided Congress, in which Republicans control…

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#african americans #continents and regions #demographic groups #domestic alerts #domestic-us news #domestic-us politics #elections and campaigns #government and public administration #government organizations - us #iab-elections #iab-politics #international alerts #international-us news #international-us politics #Legislation #minority and ethnic groups #north america #Politics #population and demographics #society #southeastern united states #the americas #united states #us congress #us house of representatives #Virginia #voters and voting #Voting rights

[zvaigzdelasas]

South Africa’s genocide case has put the spotlight on a deeper fault line in global geopolitics. Beyond the courtroom drama, experts say divisions over the war in Gaza symbolize a widening gap between Israel and its traditional Western allies, notably the United States and Europe, and a group of nations known as the Global South — countries located primarily in the southern hemisphere, often characterized by lower income levels and developing economies.

Reactions from the Global North to the ICJ case have been mixed. While some nations have maintained a cautious diplomatic stance, others, particularly Israel’s staunchest allies in the West, have criticized South Africa’s move.

The US has stood by Israel through the war by continuing to ship arms to it, opposing a ceasefire, and vetoing many UN Security Council resolutions that aimed to bring a halt to the fighting. The Biden administration has rubbished the claim that Israel is committing genocide as “meritless,” while the UK has refused to back South Africa.[...]

As a nation whose history is rooted in overcoming apartheid, South Africa’s move carries symbolic weight that has resonated with other nations in the developing world, many of whom have faced the burden of oppression and colonialism from Western powers.

Nelson Mandela, the face of the anti-apartheid movement, was a staunch supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its leader Yasser Arafat, saying in 1990: “We align ourselves with the PLO because, akin to our struggle, they advocate for the right of self-determination.”

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that while South Africa’s case is a continuation of its long-standing pro-Palestinian sympathies, the countries that have rallied behind it show deeper frustrations by the Global South.

There is “a clear geopolitical context in which many countries from the Global South have been increasingly critical over what they see as a lack of Western pressure on Israel to prevent such a large-scale loss of life in Gaza and its double standards when it comes to international law,” Lovatt told CNN.

Much of the non-Western world opposes the war in Gaza; China has joined the 22-member Arab League in calling for a ceasefire, while several Latin American nations have expelled Israeli diplomats in protest, and several Asian and African countries have joined Muslim and Arab nations in backing South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ.

For many in the developing world, the ICJ case has become a focal point for questioning the moral authority of the West and what is seen as the hypocrisy of the world’s most powerful nations and their unwillingness to hold Israel to account. [...]

Israel sided with the West against Soviet-backed Arab regimes during the Cold War, and Western countries largely view it “as a fellow member of the liberal democratic club,” he added.[...]

“But the strong support of Western governments is increasingly at odds with the attitudes of Western publics which continue to shift away from Israel,” Lovatt said.

Israel has framed the war in Gaza as a clash of civilizations where it is acting as the guardian of Western values that it says are facing an existential threat.

“This war is a war that is not only between Israel and Hamas,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog told MSNBC in December. “It’s a war that is intended – really, truly – to save Western civilization, to save the values of Western civilization.”

So far, no Western countries have supported South Africa’s case against Israel.

Among Western states, Germany has been one of the most vocal supporters of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. The German government has said it “expressly rejects” allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and that it plans to intervene as a third party on its behalf at the ICJ.

An opinion poll by German broadcaster ZDF this week however found that 61% of Germans do not consider Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip as justified in light of the civilian casualties. Only 25% voiced support for Israel’s offensive.

But it is in Germany’s former colonial territory, Namibia, that it has attracted the fiercest criticism.

The Namibian President Hage Geingob in a statement on Saturday chided Berlin’s decision to reject the ICJ case, accusing it of committing “the first genocide of the 20th century in 1904-1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most inhumane and brutal conditions.” The statement added that the German government had not yet fully atoned for the killings.

Bangladesh, where up to three million people were killed during the country’s war of independence from Pakistan in the 1970s, has gone a step further to file a declaration of intervention in the ICJ case to back South Africa’s claims, according to the Dhaka Tribune.

A declaration of intervention allows a state that is not party to the proceedings to present its observations to the court.

“With Germany siding with Israel, and Bangladesh and Namibia backing South Africa at the ICJ, the geopolitical divide between the Global South and the West appears to be deepening,” Lovatt said.

Traditionally, the West has wielded significant influence in international affairs, but South Africa’s move signals a growing assertiveness among Global South nations that threatens the status quo, says Adekoya.

“One clear pattern emerging is that the old Western-dominated order is increasingly being challenged, a situation likely to only further intensify as the West loses its once unassailably dominant economic position,” Adekoya said.

19 Jan 24

[sissa-arrows]

Not the former French prime minister preparing his presidential campaign and saying “maybe we have to admit that Islam needs specific rules and laws in France.” He also said that the 1905 law is probably not enough to “address the specificities of Islam” and that soon “specific laws and organization imposing certain obligations on Muslims only” will have to be put in place in the country.

He is basically saying “laïcité” (the freedom of religion and the state minding its own business) should not be applied to Muslims because we shouldn’t have the same freedom as other religious people in France. We should be controlled by the government.

When I saw that we are treated like colonial subjects this is what I’m talking about. They refused to apply “laïcité” (secularism) in Algeria under colonialism because it allowed them to control the indigenous population more.

If you’re North African, Black or Brown in France, even if you are not Muslim it will affect you. The plan is to treat us like colonial subjects. Under colonialism legally the term “muslim” didn’t even designate actual Muslims but “all indigenous people in Algeria”. There was such a thing as being a “Muslim Christian” because Islam was racialized to the point where it was considered to be an ethnicity.

The article in French here

Edit: The guy was invited at la Fete de l’huma 😂 dude’s plan is segregating Muslims but he was invited at the left wing gathering of the year. I’m laughing so I don’t cry.

#france #algeria #french islamophobia #racism #islamophobia #they are planning apartheid under our noses without any consequences #Neo colonialism #colonialism

[bookloversofbath]

Against Great Odds: The Story of the First Offensive in Libya in 1940-41: The First British Victory in the Second World War including Many Extracts from the Personal Account of Sir Richard N. O'Connor :: Brigadier C. N. (Cyril Nelson) Barclay

Against Great Odds: The Story of the First Offensive in Libya in 1940-41: The First British Victory in the Second World War including Many Extracts from the Personal Account of Sir Richard N. O’Connor :: Brigadier C. N. (Cyril Nelson) Barclay

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#1939 1945 war #4th indian division #6th australian division #7th armoured division #battle beda fomm #books by brigadier c n (cyril nelson) barclay #campaigns libya #capture bardia #capture tobruk #derna #first edition books #libyan actions #libyan battles #libyan campaigns #marshal earl wavell #mechili #military history #north african operations #operations africa #sidi barrani #sir john harding #world war 2

[captain-price-unofficially]

Spitfire “Lonesome Polecat” in US service.

#north african campaign #mediterranean theater #wwii #aviation

[carbone14]

Les résultats d'une collision entre le bombardier B-17 'All American' du 414th Squadron du 97th Bombardment Group et une aile d'un Messerschmitt Me 109 après une mission de bombardement (objectif récurrent, le port de Tunis) – Campagne d'Afrique du Nord – Biskra – Algérie – 1er février 1943

©National Museum of the Air Force, 050524-F-1234P-015

#WWII #campagne d'afrique du nord #north african campaign #aviation militaire #military aviation #bombardier #bomber #bombardier lourd #heavy bomber #boeing B-17 Flying Fortress #B-17 Flying Fortress #B-17 #flying fortress #biskra #algérie #algeria #01/02/1943 #02/1943 #1943

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"ALLIED PLANES PULVERIZE AXIS MOTOR CONVOY ON TUNISIA ROAD," Toronto Star. January 5. 1943. Page 2. ---- WRECKED IN ITS TRACKS, this Axis motor convoy was stopped dead by Allied planes as it rolled along a road in Tunisia. Every vehicle was knocked out. Roaring ahead, Allied planes are pounding the Germans and Italians in Tunis and Bizerte, while armored ground forces feel out enemy positions in preparation for what may be a quick stab to the sea between the two strongholds.

THIS WOUNDED NAZI soldier, being taken from an Allied ambulance by German prisoners, was struck by machine-gun fire when four German planes strafed the ambulance on a road in Tunisia, despite its big Red Cross markings. The driver, killed as he tried to open the door to let out the wounded, lies where he fell. Major William Yarborough, Seattle, Wash., French liaison officer with the U.S. forces, stands by with a rifle.

#tunisian campaign #north african campaign #tunis #bizerte #air raids #air war #bombing raids #convoy #prisoners of war #allied powers #afrika korps #panzer iii #world war ii #luftwaffe #axis vs allies

[mimi-0007]

Paul Adams 1920-2013, joined the Tuskegee Airmen shortly after graduating from South Carolina State University. He flew with the 332nd Fighter Squadron (the famed "Red Tails") throughout WWII. He would retire from the military in 1962. He then would become a teaching in the Lincoln (NE) public school system. They named Adams Elementary school for him in 2008.

Paul Adams and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American aviators in the U.S. military, whose distinguished record many historians credit with helping pave the way for the civil rights movement.

The group set an unprecedented record, flying more than 1,500 missions in Europe and North Africa. Adam served in nine major campaigns and received the Commendation Medal with three Oak Leaf clusters, each of which signifies subsequent bestowals of the same honor.

Doane College recognized him with the President's Honor of Distinction Award the same year. In 2007, he received the Congressional Gold Medal along with other Tuskegee Airmen, who were known as "guardian angels" by white airmen who were escorted by the African-American pilots during the war. Adams received a bronze replica at a ceremony in Lincoln. Doane College recognized him with the President's Honor of Distinction Award the same year.

And two years later, Adams, at President Barack Obama's invitation, attended the inauguration of the first black president along with other Tuskegee Airmen. Adams went on to become one of the first black teachers in LPS, and in 2008, his accomplishments were honored when the district named a new school after him.

He became a frequent visitor at Adams Elementary, where books about Tuskegee Airmen fill the library and teachers make a point to read them to students. The history became an integral part of Adams Elementary school

#black tumblr #black history #black literature #black excellence #black community #civil rights #black history is american history #blackexcellence365 #tuskegee airmen #american history

[playitagin]

1942 – Battle of Bir Hakeim begins

#May.26 #Battle of Bir Hakeim #D.A.C #1st Free French Division #Battle of Gazala #North African campaign #World War II

[dduane]

In the TIL (Thematically Peripatetically) dep't

In the classic British war movie Ice Cold in Alex, one character who blames himself for a drinking problem that may have cost someone else their life declares he's not going to take another drink until he and the people fleeing across the African desert with him can sit down and have "an ice cold lager in Alex[andria]." This promise he keeps.

The interesting part lies in how the promise plays out on film.

A background issue (from the production standpoint) of what makes this scene so interesting is that it's always hard to get any scene right in just one take. There were apparently a fair number of takes on this shot.

The producers apparently tried hard to substitute something non-alcoholic for the beer, but this proved impossible, as there was no way to fake the head. So they used real beer.

John Mills, professional that he was, drank them one after another in multiple takes. As a result, co-star Sylvia Syms describes him as having been "a little heady" when they were done with that scene.

Another less problematic problem (as such things go...) was that the novel by Christopher Landon on which the film was based has the actors drinking a US beer called Rheingold... which the producers ruled out. They they felt there was no way the characters would willingly be drinking a German (or German-sounding) beer after being pursued across North Africa by the Afrika Korps. So Carlsberg was substituted.

...And it's at this point that things start to veer. @petermorwood was telling me about this, some of which I knew... but not about the Rheingold.

"Really?" I said. "You're kidding me!"

"Why?" he said.

At which point I did what any New Yorker of a certain age might very likely do under such circumstances: I burst into song. (And frankly, because you don't need to hear me doing that, here are the Golden Girls doing it.)

Rheingold was the best-selling beer in the New York metropolitan area, and apparently in New York state as well, at least partly due to numerous aggressive advertising campaigns on radio and then on TV. That jingle was known, in many permutations—including one in 6/8 time that appears in this stop-motion-animated commercial—by lots and lots of people.

Including me. So I sang it (at least some of it: I couldn't remember the final couple of stanzas) and Peter and I looked at each other in mild bemusement. "You think your mind's full of useless garbage," I said, "try mine sometime!" And we laughed and went back to whatever we'd been doing.

Out of curiosity, I then went over to YouTube to see (as I sometimes do) whether I was anywhere near the original key of the best-known version of the jingle while singing. Turns out I was pretty close. But along the line, I stumbled across the blog of a retired librarian who clued me in on something startling:

That jingle's music was ripped off, in whole cloth, from a French composer... whose authorship is apparently routinely obscured by the name of the music's (possibly better-known?) arranger.

Here it is, and apparently misattributed as above, in full classical glory: the Estudiantina Waltz. (Warning: the main chorus is a bit of an earworm, and you may not be able to get rid of it easily. I know I won't be, for the day anyway...)

...So that's the local installment of Today I Learned. May yours (if you have one) be way more useful and interesting. :)

#Youtube #Rheingold beer #Golden Girls #Paul Lacôme #Émile Waldteufel #Ice Cold in Alex #John Mills #tw: alcohol #tw: alcoholism