DID YOU KNOW

[Sentryduty]

I had heard about the Halifax explosion, but never read up on it. quite frightening the number of explosions with big death tolls caused by ammunition transport.

My family settled just outside the city of Halifax (Mount Uniacke NS) when they came to Canada in the late 1700's and many still remain there. Having grown-up for a time in the area, and later in Dartmouth (now part of Halifax Regional Municipality annexation) the Halifax Explosion is a well known piece of local history, taught in school and recounted as 2nd and 3rd hand memory.

Numerous books and accounts have been written as well as a "Canadian Heritage Moment" vignette that credits a telegraph operator with stopping an approaching passenger train before the explosion.

[henry r]

I just watched the "valour road" episode. WTF!

[Gil Boyd]

COOL WELCOME

When British troops occupied Iceland on May 10, 1940, to deny the use of the island to the Germans after their occupation of Denmark, and to establish bases to protect her shipping lanes, the islanders gave the 'Tommies' a cool and icy welcome. Later, Canadian troops joined the British forces and in 1942, when an American Marine force arrived, at Churchill's request, to relieve the British and Canadians, their welcome was no less frigid. Iceland had rejected the British/Canadian presence but raised no objections to the neutral Americans but everything was done to prevent them meeting the local girls. When a black sailor from one of the visiting ships was seen strolling around Reykjavik, headlines in the local newspaper screamed 'Black Icelander?'. Does this mean, the report asked, 'that one of our girls will bring forth a black Icelander, despoiling our traditions? The Americans took the hint and from then on, no black American was ever seen again on Icelandic soil during the war. At the other side of the world, Australia had a similar problem when at the end of January 1942, an American troopship arrived in Melbourne to face the ludicrous situation of its black troops being refused permission to come ashore. At this time Australia was zealously enforcing its White Australia Policy. It took another decision of the Australian War Cabinet to have this officious ban overturned. A company of these black troops were then stationed at Mount Isa and took over Hilton Hall which was owned by Mount Isa Mines. It later became the 17th Station Hospital.

A tragedy occurred soon after when 73 black soldiers died after drinking a home brew they had made in empty drums that had preciously contained cyanide which was used in the mines. After the capitulation of Italy, the Pope, Pius 12th, asked that black US soldiers were not to guard the Vatican. In France, Allied commanders decided before D-day that only white French troops could take part in the liberation of Paris. Most French units at that time were two thirds or more North Africans. General Philippe Lederc's armoured division was chosen to be the first to enter the French capitol. It is a sad fact that black soldiers were said to be fighting two wars, one against Nazi Germany and the other war against racist commanders.

[Flying10uk]

I have heard it stated that, generally speaking, black American soldiers taken prisoner of war by Germany during WW2 were treated pretty much exactly the same as their white colleagues by their German captors. How much truth there is in this I don't know; but if it is true that the black American serviceman in WW2 got treated better by his enemy after being taken prisoner than his own white colleagues it is shocking.

[Bob Womack]

From Wikipedia:

Mount Hood explodes: the smoke trails are
left by fragments ejected by the explosion.
Click for larger pic

USS Mount Hood (AE-11) was the lead ship of her class of ammunition ships for the United States Navy in World War II. She was the first ship named after Mount Hood, a volcano in the Cascade Range in Oregon. On 10 November 1944, shortly after 18 men had departed for shore leave, the rest of the crew were killed when the ship exploded in Seeadler Harbor at Manus Island. The ship was obliterated while also sinking or severely damaging 22 smaller craft nearby.

At 08:30, 10 November 1944, a party consisting of communications officer, Lt. Lester H. Wallace, and 13 men left the ship and headed for shore. At 08:55, while walking on the beach, they saw a flash from the harbor, followed by two quick explosions. Scrambling into their boat, they headed back to the ship, only to turn around again shortly thereafter as "There was nothing but debris all around..."

Mount Hood, anchored in about 35 feet (11 m) of water, had exploded with an estimated 3,800 tons of ordnance material on board. The initial explosion caused flame and smoke to shoot up from amidships to more than masthead height. Within seconds, the bulk of her cargo detonated with a more intense explosion. Mushrooming smoke rose to 7,000 feet (2,100 m), obscuring the ship and the surrounding area for a radius of approximately 500 yards (500 m). Mount Hood's former position was revealed by a trench in the ocean floor 1,000 feet (300 m) long, 200 feet (60 m) wide, and 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 m) deep. The largest remaining piece of the hull was found in the trench and measured no bigger than 16 by 10 feet (5 by 3 m). No other remains of Mount Hood were found except fragments of metal which had struck other ships in the harbor and a few tattered pages of a signal notebook found floating in the water several hundred yards away. No human remains were recovered of the 350 men aboard Mount Hood or small boats loading alongside at the time of the explosion. The only other survivors from the Mount Hood crew were a junior officer and five enlisted men who had left the ship a short time before the explosion. Two of the crew were being transferred to the base brig for trial by court martial; and the remainder of the party were picking up mail at the base post office. Charges against the prisoners were dropped following the explosion.
The concussion and metal fragments hurled from the ship also caused casualties and damage to ships and small craft within 2,000 yards (1,800 m). The repair ship Mindanao, which was broadside-on to the blast, was the most seriously damaged. All personnel topside on Mindanao were killed outright, and dozens of men were killed or wounded below decks as numerous heavy fragments from Mount Hood penetrated the side plating. Eighty-two of Mindanao's crew died. The damage to other vessels required more than 100,000 man-hours to repair, while 22 small boats and landing craft were sunk, destroyed, or damaged beyond repair; 371 sailors were injured from all ships in the harbor.
A board convened to examine evidence relating to the disaster was unable to ascertain the exact cause. After only a little over four months' service, Mount Hood was struck from the Naval Register on 11 December 1944.

Bob

[Bruce_in_Oz]

There is, as one would suspect, a book about the St. Nazaire raid: "The Greatest Raid of All", by C. E. Lucas Phillips, who also penned "Cockleshell Heroes.

Oddly enough I just watched a docco on the same subject last night. It can be found here:



Narrated by none other than Jeremy "Top Gear" Clarkson.

[Bob Womack]

I read of the St. Nazaire raid when I was a wee lad and was tremendously inspired by it. Ever since I've read every book on the subject that came to hand and watched every documentary I heard of. That was a great documentary. Not full of sadness and irony but instead upholding the real accomplishment the raid represented.

Bob

[browningautorifle]

"Cockleshell Heroes.

Another favorite of mine. I remember watching it from when I was very young and still try to catch it now. Much easier with the advent of the Digital Video Recorder.