633: Unbuttered Parsnips - Ukraine V

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Well there have been plenty of fine words expressed on the subject of Putin's blatant aggressive stance and actions in a country other than his own: Ukraine.

I am ashamed of the behaviour of the United Kingdom government; yes there have been a few stern words, but the breathtaking incompetence - the carrying of a document in public view, showing apparently this country's lily-livered position, is profoundly embarrassing and indeed, pathetic.

So far - as is always the case - only the US has actually done anything and as usual, Europe sleepwalks, wringing its powerless hands.  Pathetic.  And I doubt if NATO would ever actually do anything; I wonder how much NATO costs us? What's the point of it? And the UN is a talking-shop every bit as impotent as was the League of Nations in the 1930s.

The Tsar declares that the Ukrainian government is one of "fascists and anti-semites (rubbish);" he describes the Ukrainians as having carried out an "armed coup."  He is a liar, a bully and a fascist/NKVD/Chekist thug.  It was his puppet then in Kiev who ordered snipers to shoot down unarmed protestors.  Now he is metaphorically goose-stepping around, allowing his invading soldiers, and more sinisterly, some half-uniformed thugs, to attempt to provoke the Ukrainian soldiers WHO ARE ON THEIR OWN TERRITORY, into defending that territory.

Last night, I saw on the television, an interview with American senator Mr John McCain; I was pleased to hear him refer to the events of the 1930s in  Central Europe just as I did on this blog a few days ago; perhaps he is one of my readers?  And US Secretary of State, Mr John Kerry was fairly robust today. 

I should add that I groaned in despair at the sight of Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens, gathered around a statue of that murdering tyrant Lenin, carrying Soviet flags; how stupid are these proles?  Have they never read a book? Have they never heard of the starving to death (by Stalin) of millions - yes millions - of their countrymen in the 1930s, all in the name of "progress" under that self-same flag?

Amongst the books I am currently reading is Sir Winston Churchill's first volume of his history of the Second World War, The Gathering Storm.  I now appreciate to the fullest extent that no-one ever seems to learn  the so-called "lessons of history." The book (written in 1947) is full of nicely-expressed (and apposite) sentiments, and I shall end this post with the following quote:

"Virtuous motives, trammelled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness."*

Amen to that.

Until the next time.

*Sir Winston Churchill The Gathering Storm, Cassell 1949 p.171

616: Dresden

Dresden: Brutality and Vandalism

Once again I offer humble apologies for missing the black anniversary - 12th February - of the Allies' great war crime: the fire-bombing of beautiful Dresden FOR NO JUSTIFIABLE REASON AT ALL.

And in making this post I also ask that the outrage of Pforzeim a short while after (17,000 murdered) be remembered.

 Another war crime: Pforzheim

Despite what the apologists say, these were not military targets; as I wrote four years ago, I suspect that they were merely done (as were the nuclear attacks on Japan) to impress mass-murderer and tyrant, Josef Vissiaronovich Stalin.

In shame...

Until the next time

Thank You Private Eye

Yes, a big thank you to one of my favourite publications - the last issue desperately awaited following the death of Nelson Mandela and the absurd over-reaction of the world's media.

Private Eye's latest edition included a full page of suitable and very amusing, antidotes.  "Free-eeeeeeeeeee Lawson Nigella" was especially entertaining.

I watched two blokes, one a Labour M.P. last week on the television.  One of them said something along the following lines: "If we say that Adolf Hitler was the worst man of the twentieth century, then we can say that Mandela was the greatest."

I of course expostulated that this was rubbish.  Mandela was indeed a great man, brave and showing resolute leadership at a difficult time. Hitler was of course an awful man, but I think that Mao Tse Tung and Stalin were worse than he - at least judging by body-count. And as for "the greatest" my list would have to include Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston S. Churchill, who together saved western civilisation. (I do of course recognise Soviet Russia's vast contribution, but find my gorge rising when I think of the then Soviet leader and his numerous toadies).

Until the next time

A War Crime - Lest We Forget

My profound apologies: I am ten days late in marking an appalling anniversary, the 68th, of the criminal devastation of Dresden, once known as "The Florence of the North" by RAF Bomber Command and later by the US 8th Air Force.

I wrote at length about this disgusting affair three years ago, so I do not propose to add further material now except to state that I intend as long as I am able, to mark successive anniversaries as they come round.

Today is however, the 68th anniversary of the fire-storm bombing of Pforzheim, a watch-making and jewellery centre in which 20% of the civilian population - 17,000 persons - were murdered.

I do not intend in any way to belittle the courage and bravery of the Allied bomber crews in the second world war, but somehow I doubt I shall visit the elaborate memorial that was recently opened.  I do think that the statue of Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris should be removed and destroyed, and also that of Portal - if there is one.

Until the next time

"A Day that Will Live in Infamy"

Top: some of the destruction, below, a portion of the human cost

The quotation that I have used for the title of this post comes from President Franklin Roosevelt - it was part of his response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on 8th December 1941.

There have been many "days that will live in infamy" if one pauses for a few minutes' thought, but one day that should in my view "live in infamy" is 13th February 1945 - today being of course the 65th anniversary.

The event was the saturation/area/carpet-bombing of the beautiful city of Dresden in Germany.

There were in fact several attacks made from 13th to 15th February; principally, two were made by Britain's Bomber Command and two more by the USAAF VIII Bomber Command.

The attacks were planned to create a "firestorm" (as was the appalling attack on Hamburg in 1943) and in consequence, of the enormous death toll - estimates range from 25,000 to over 70,000 - many of the victims were suffocated since the fires starved them of oxygen.

When discussing these matters, it has been traditional to blame Air Chief Marshal (later Marshal of the RAF) Sir Arthur Harris who was the C-in-C of bomber command. However whilst I have little doubt that he was an enthusiastic participant, such operations were authorised at a rather higher level - Chief of the Air Staff, Marshal of the RAF, Sir Charles Portal and Prime Minister Winston Churchill were amongst the prime movers behind the operation. To these I should add Professor Lindemann, the Prime Minister's scientific advisor. Lindemann's contribution was his "Dehousing Paper" which quite clearly contains the origins of the British policy of attacking civilians, which arguably reached its apotheosis at Dresden. (Pictures: Harris top, Portal below)

Since the Red Army was approaching rapidly from the east, one justification given was that Dresden was an important railway centre and damage to communications would help the Russian advance. More unpleasantly it was well known that the city was crammed with refugees fleeing the Russian advance (for good reason it must be said) and it was expected that bombing the overcrowded city would cause chaos and confusion. In the crews' briefings, the airmen were told that Dresden was an important communications centre (which it was) and the location of important military industries which was at best a half-truth - especially three months from the end of the war.

Dresden was effectively undefended - it seems that the Germans thought that Dresden - "The Florence of the North" would not be attacked; all the anti-aircraft artillery had been removed to be used for the defence of more strategically important locations. There were a few fighter aircraft available, though the ten that were "scrambled" would not have been able to do much against hundreds of bombers, even if they had arrived in time, which they didn't.

Now please read the following extracts from the 1907 Hague Convention:

Art. 25

The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended is prohibited

Art. 27

In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes[...]

I stress that these come from the 1907 Hague convention - the Geneva Conventions arose after the war.

Art. 27 concludes with the following paragraph:

It is the duty of the besieged to indicate the presence of such buildings or places by distinctive and visible signs which shall be notified to the enemy beforehand.

How about this famous munitions works in the centre of the city; is this distinctive enough? (the picture shows the rebuilt building)

The Rebuilt Dresden Semperoper
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I hardly think that the Allies could reasonably claim that the presence of this wonderful building - just one of many in Dresden - had "not been notified " to them beforehand; the buildings and art treasures of Dresden were world-renowned.

At Dresden virtually everything was flattened and burned - almost razed to the ground - but with a couple of interesting exceptions: the railways, which sustained relatively light damage and indeed were soon running again and the war industries, all of which were located in the outskirts of the city and which were, apart from one or two bombs, untouched.

Certain writers (notably David Irving) have stated that American aircraft strafed civilians. However here is a very convincing refutation of this charge, which is most famously made in Irving's book 'The Destruction of Dresden'. Many years have passed since its original publication and Irving is now generally discredited as an historian.

My suspicion is that the Allies carried out this mission - a long way east from Allied territory - to show the Soviets just how powerful the Allies were: similar suggestions have been made about the detonation of the atomic bombs on Japan. It was claimed that Stalin had requested the bombing of Dresden; this is not true; Stalin was an appalling man but Dresden was a "western" operation.

There is a vast amount of material available on the atrocity of the bombing of Dresden should any reader wish to pursue the subject. This site is a good start, but much of it is distressing reading. And here's another link this time from Germany. Finally here is a site with many direct and relevant links.

And on the subject of area bombing at the time, the Allies continued; in particular I should like to mention the small town of Pforzheim, a centre of watchmaking and jewellery. This was flattened ten days after Dresden, resulting in the deaths of 17,000 people - 20% of the population. It was yet another "firestorm" operation.

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My mother and father lived in London during the war; my father was actually struck by an incendiary (magnesium) bomb whilst serving in the Auxiliary Fire Service, but survived after a miserable year in hospital. My mother and grandmother were in their house when it collapsed following the detonation of a parachute mine. Fortunately they were rescued. My parents told me that when they heard the Allied bombers departing for Germany that they felt sorry for the people there whom they knew were receiving far worse than had been the case for Great Britain, which in itself was bad enough.

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When in 1946, the sentences were announced at Nüremberg, it is said that Churchill said to his former chief military assistant General Sir Hastings Ismay: "By God Ismay, we'd better make sure that we win the next one."

And in my view, he was damned right - just re-read Article 27 of the 1907 Hague Convention above.

Until the next time

Barack Obama and Winston S. Churchill

Today, the Associated Press has an article covering President Obama's success in getting the U.S. Congress to pass his $787 billion economic stimulus package.

The President is quoted as saying: "This historic step won't be the end of what we do to turn our economy around, but rather the beginning..."

Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph reports that President Obama has returned to the British Embassy the bust of Sir Winston Churchill (by Sir Jacob Epstein) that was loaned to President George W. Bush in 2001, the loan being extended for the duration of President Bush's second term in office.  The Telegraph article suggests that President Obama is more likely to draw inspiration from President Abraham Lincoln than from the former British Prime Minister and wartime leader.

The bust of Churchill by Sir Jacob Epstein

Image source: here

Now I cannot imagine that President Obama - or even any of his advisors - reads my blog (!) but I should like to use this platform to draw attention to a quote from Churchill (that so-frequently quoted man).  The quote comes from late 1942 following the second battle of El Alamein, in which British and British Empire and Commonwealth Forces commanded by General (later Field-Marshal) Montgomery defeated Generalfeldmarschall Rommel's Afrika Korps.  Churchill said of the victory: "This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Regardless of his feelings concerning Churchill, the President may wish to reflect on these words in regard to his economic stimulus package.

Until the next time.