Categories: uncategorized
Date: 16 May 2008 12:45:41
Today marks the 65th anniversary of the end of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. This marks the end of the most famous act of Jewish resistance to the Nazis in WW2.
As the Germans started to liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto the Jews decided to resist. They fought off he Germans for several days using small arms and petrol bombs. They hid and fought from fortified bunkers and not only cost German casualties but also show that Jewish "untermenschen" were more than equal to the "master race" that sought to subdue them. By this stage the Jews knew what awaited them at the "resettlement" camps.
Many people forget that not all the Jews went to the gas chambers like lambs to the slaughter. There were also uprisings at Treblinka and Auschwitz and a mass escape from Sobibor.
It is also the 65th anniversary of the Dambusters Raid. This was a great feat of airmanship to destroy the Ruhr dams and strike a blow at German armament production.
What people forget is the bravery of those involved. Bomber Command was the only offensive weapon that could strike at Germany for the entire war. The bomb sights used lacked accuracy for bombing such precision targets - hence the carpet bombing used for the majority of the war.
It was a feat of engineering genius to design a bomb that would bounce and destroy the dam walls. It was a feat of aeronautical genius to be able to fly at a set speed at 60 feet, while under constant anti-aircraft fire to drop the bomb in the correct place on a body of water.
In this day of "smart bombs", that can be launched miles from the target, we forget what bravery was required by these aircrews. They knew that a high percentage of them would not return from the missions that they flew day after day but they did it anyway.
After this raid 617 squadron became the elite bombing squadron for thec RAF. They went on to sink the Tirpitz and dropped some of the biggst bombs ever developed for specific single target missions. Their accuracy meant that targets could be struck with precision but also minimise casualties.
Also in History Today :
1152 : Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Henry Anjou. This gives the future king of England most of France. By the time her son John dies much of this will be gone.