The FReeper Foxhole's TreadHead Tuesday - PanzerKampfwagen VIB - King Tiger - Mar. 16th, 2004

www.wargamer.com ^

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

...................................................................................... ...........................................

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PanzerKampfwagen VIB
King Tiger

The Tiger II was also known as "Tiger Ausf. B" or "Königstiger" (King Tiger) and was the last major tank design to see service during the war. The original Tiger design was finalised before the Russian T-34 was encountered so it lacked the excellent ballistic shape which was a feature of the Panther. The Tiger II went into production late in 1943 and was first engaged in action on the Russian front in August 1944 and was later encountered by the Allies in France in August of that year. It was born of a demand from the Waffenamt (Army Weapons Office) in August 1942 for a redesigned Tiger tank incorporating thicker armor, sloped plates to deflect shots as on the Panther and T-34, and armed with the 88mm L/71 gun, which should be capable of dealing with any new tank development that the Russians could possibly produce.


Tiger II with Porsche turret

Both Porsche and Henschel were asked to submit designs to these specifications. The Porsche design (VK 4502P) had alternative layouts with the turret either well forward or at the back of the hull. It was to mount the longer L/71 KwK 43 gun as in the Elefant tank destroyer. At first the Porsche model was considered for production and the construction of turrets by Wegmann of Kassel for this vehicle began, but due to the shortage of copper required for the parts in the electrical transmission this tank project was cancelled. The Waffenamt also rejected the electric drive as unreliable and too sophisticated for service conditions.


Adding camouflage colours

The second design from Henschel (VK 4503H) was powered conventionally like their Tiger I and was accepted. The project was put in hand as a top priority effort and the first prototype was delivered in November 1943. By that time the Panther II had been designed, and under the new rationalisation policy it was decided that as many parts of the Panther II as possible had to be incorporated to standardise design features between the two vehicles. Production of the Tiger Ausf. "B" began in December 1943 on the Henschel production line, parallel to that which was building the Tiger Ausf. E. The first production models began to reach the Army late in February 1944.


Tiger II of the "Feldherrnhalle" Panzergrenadier Division (1945)

Henschel remained the sole builders of the Tiger II during its whole production life. By September 1944 Tiger Ausf. E production ceased completely in favour of the new vehicle. Production was scheduled to reach a rate of approximately 145 per month, but disruption by enemy bombing and shortage of materials reduced the best ever monthly output to 84 in August 1944. By the end of the war 487 Tiger IIs had been produced. The first 50 Tiger IIs to be completed were fitted with the spare turrets originally intended for the Porsche Tiger. This turret had a curved front mantlet and a bulged commander's cupola on the left side. The remaining vehicles had a Henschel-designed turret, having thicker armour and eliminating the re-entrant angle under the mantlet.


The protective effect of the sloped lines

The Tiger II was derived from the Tiger Ausf. E and both tanks had many features in common. At the same time it bore a much closer resemblance to the late model Panther. Common fittings included cupolas, engines, engine covers and road wheels. Compared with the other vehicles the Tiger II had thicker armor and was dimensionally larger. It incorporated various features which experience had shown were desirable; notably the front glacis plate, which was now sloped as on the Panther and T-34 tanks instead of squarely vertical as on the original Tiger. The armor protection, particularly that carried on the front of the vehicle, was the thickest to be employed on a tank that was due for large scale production. The front plate was 150mm set at a 40o angle, the turret face 180mm thick, and the side and tail plates, including the turret wall, were 80mm thick. Frontal attack of this tank, by any weapon available to the Allies, was out of question.


After completing the camouflage, the crew fit the armored mudguards.

The extremely wide tracks gave the Tiger II good cross-country performance despite its excessive weight. The Tiger II incorporated all the good points of the Panther tank and armed with a new main armament, the 88mm KwK 43 L/71 which was almost 21ft long. This gun represented the largest calibre length to be employed operationally by the Germans in a tank mounting during the war. There was a small, conical Saukopf (pig's head) mantlet, and a well-sloped turret and sloped morticed armor plates making up the hull. The tanks were often covered with Zimmerit to prevent the attachments of magnetic mines.


A battalion of Tiger IIs drawn up for inspection in Paderborn-Sennelager, autumn 1944

Internally the vehicle followed the usual German layout with front sprocket drive and crew positions as for the Panther. The big turret had several interesting features; it lacked the usual basket and was built out very wide over an immense 73inch diameter turret ring. To assist in loading the big ammunition rounds carried, 22 rounds were mounted in the rear turret bulge, thus giving the loader a minimum handling movement. Power traverse was as for the Panther and Tiger.


Tiger of sPzAbt. 'Fernherrnhalle' in Budapest, spring 1945

Suspension was by torsion bars and it followed the same type of arrangement as in the Tiger Ausf. E. However, the wheels were overlapped rather than interleaved as on the Tiger. This change was adapted to simplify the maintenance problems which had been inherent with interleaved road wheels. Similarly, the tendency for the wheels to freeze solid with packed snow was obviated to some extent. Steel-tyred resiliently sprung wheels (which featured a layer of rubber between two steel tyres) were standard on the Tiger II as on the late models Tiger Ausf. E and Panthers.


The early-style turret.............The Serien-Turm (series turret).

[SAMWolf]

A few of the Tiger II vehicles were adapted to the role of command tanks (Befehlspanzer Tiger B). The command version was equipped with an additional mast aerial at the rear of the hull, and the loader acted as second radio operator. The ammunition stowage in the rear of the turret was reduced to make installation of the appropriate radio equipment possible. A limited traverse tank destroyer version of the Tiger II was also produced. This vehicle, the heaviest armoured fighting vehicle to go into service, was designated Jagdtiger. Only 80 vehicles were built due to shortages of components and disruption by bombing. The Jagdtiger consisted of the normal Tiger II hull with a lengthened suspension and a built-up superstructure to form a fized turret.


Tiger II with Porsche turret at Mailly-le-Camp before moving to Normandy

The Tiger II was like the Tiger I assigned to special heavy tank battalions (schwere Panzer abteilungen-sPzAbt). These were to be held at army or corps levels and assigned as needed to reinforce other units during a campaign. sPzAbt. 501 (later redesignated sPzAbt. 424) received the Tiger II in the summer of 1944, sPzAbt. 502 (redesignated as sPzAbt. 511) received some Tiger IIs in 1945, but there were not enough to equip the whole unit. sPzAbt. 504 received some Tiger IIs in late 1944 in the Vienna area.


Tigers of sPzAbt. 503 in autumn 1944

sPzAbt. 501 was one of the first units to see action with the Tiger II in August 1944. Equipped with 45 Tigers they had to counter-attack the Russian bridgehead at Baranow. During the 45km drive from Kielce to the front most Tigers got mechanical problems, resulting in only 8 Tigers reaching their destination that day. After some successful fights they drove into an anti-tank gun screen, and lost some Tigers when stowed ammunition in the turret went off after a hit on the turret. From that moment no ammunition was carried in the turret, reducing the available shells with 64.


Hidden Tigers with Porsche turret in France 1944

One of the other battalions which saw action with the Tiger II was the sPzAbt. 503. In mid-1944, sPzAbt. 503 was in France in preparation for the expected Allied landings. The battalion staff and 1st company had been equipped with Tiger IIs (the other 2 companies retained the Tiger I). They fought through the Normandy campaign, and were completely re-equipped with 45 new Tiger IIs in September 1944. The battalion was then transferred to Hungary and were committed to the defence of Budapest. In January 1945, sPzAbt. 503 was renamed sPzAbt. Feldherrnhalle and attached to PzGren.Div. FHH. This division was eventually destroyed in the defence of Budapest. Out of 50.000 German troops trapped in the city, only a few hundred were able to escape.


Spare track links were a standard feature on the turret

sPzAbt. 505 had been equipped with the Tiger II in September 1944, which carried a stenciled emblem on the turret sides showing a knight mounted on a charging horse. They fought in East Prussia, initially against the Narev bridgeheads in the 1944 Russian offensive, until the end of the war. sPzAbt. 506 received 45 Tiger IIs in August 1944, and took part in the German defence against the Allied offensive Operation Market Garden and the defence of Aachen. It was the only Heer Tiger battalion to take part in the Ardennes offensive.


Tiger II with ambush scheme

The Waffen SS formed three Tiger battalions: sSSPzAbt. 101, sSSPzAbt. 102 and sSSPzAbt. 103 (later redesignated as 501, 502 and 503, respectively). sSSPzAbt. 101/501 was re-equipped with Tiger IIs in September 1944, and supported the advance of Peiper's Kampfgruppe during the Ardennes offensive. After the retreat they were sent to Hungary. sSSPzAbt. 102/502 received 31 Tiger IIs and fought against the Russians during their offensive aimed at Berlin. sSSPzAbt. 103/503 was sent to the East in January 1945 and ended the war fighting in the area around Danzig-Gotenhafen in East-Prussia and Berlin.


Paratroopers hitching a ride on a King Tiger belonging to s.SS Pz. Abt. 501

One of the bloodiest episodes at the end of WWII was the cauldron of Halbe, April 1945. Early April 1945 sSSPzAbt. 502 was translocated to the area Diedersdorf-Litzen in preparation for the expected Russian main offensive against Berlin, which started on April 16th, 1945. Although the 9th German Army could hold the Oder-front near Frankfurt am Oder, they were bypassed and encircled by the spearheads of the 1st Ukrain and 1st White-Russian front. Being under attack from three sides, the last five Tiger IIs of sSSPzAbt. 502 were used to spearhead a desperate breakout at Halbe on April 27th. Followed by tens of thousands of soldiers and refugees, the column moved through woods and villages, being sitting ducks for the waiting Russians on both flanks. The Tigers were able to establish a breakthrough despite heavy fire from Russian artillery, T-34s and anti-tank guns. The last two Tigers of were lost on the first of May, when the decimated Kampfgruppe reached the 12th Army. By that time up to 60.000 Germans were killed, both soldiers and refugees.

[SAMWolf]

SdKfz 186 Jagdtiger



The Porsche Jagdtiger on trials

Following the Heereswaffenamt policy of the time, a limited traverse tank destroyer version of the Tiger II was also produced. A needless outgrowth of the same idea as the Jagdpanther, this vehicle, the heaviest armored fighting vehicle to go into service, was designated Jagdpanzer VI, Panzerjäger Tiger Ausf. B or Jagdtiger. The Jagdtiger was first shown as a full scale iron model in October 1943 and a total of 150 vehicles was ordered, but due to shortages of components and disruption by bombing only 70 machines were built, 48 of them in 1944. Through very heavy, and limited by its requirements for good roads and bridges, the Jagdtiger was a very effective tank destroyer, able to knock out virtually any Allied tank at very long range.


GI watches over knocked out Jagdtiger, Morsbronn area, Alsace, France, March 1945.

The 128mm Pak 80 (L/55), the most powerful anti-tank gun to be used during the war, was mounted centrally in the front plate within a cast bell-shaped gun shield similar in design to that of the Tiger II. The heavy rounds were split for ease of handling by the loader, with the disadvantage that it made for a lower rate of fire than other tank-destroyers which employed fixed ammunition.


Abandoned JagdTiger

The front plate of the fixed turret was 250mm thick and sloped back at 15 degrees; it was made of one piece of solid cast steel. The sides of the hull were combined into one piece with the sides of the turret and like the Tiger II were 80mm thick and sloped at 25 degrees. Not all produced vehicles mounted the 128mm gun due to shortage, and some early Jagdtigers were armed with the 88mm Pak 43. One of the Jagdtigers was experimentally equipped with the torsion bar suspension designed by Dr Porsche, having eight axles each side as against nine in the Henschel design.


JagdTiger with 128mm Main Gun

Like the Tiger II, Jagdtigers were allocated to schwere Panzerjäger Abteilungen. Jagdtiger Abteilung 512 was formed in the late fall of 1944 and was equipped with 20 Jagdtigers (instead of 48 ordered). There were two companies, each with 10 vehicles. Two Jagdtigers were in each HQ section, and four more were in each platoon. The two companies, named "(Otto) Carius" and "(Albert) Ernst", fought as separate units in Germany's last battles. The first action of sPzAbt 512 was against the new American bridgehead in Remagen, where the Allied forces had been able to cross the Rhine. The action failed, and during their retreat the Jagdtigers could destroy following Sherman tanks at a distance of two kilometers and more. After fighting in the Ruhr area, the battalions surrendered to American forces. The Jagdtigers of sPzAbt 512 were overall dark yellow, and no numbering system is known.



Additional Sources:

www.3-d-models.com
www.battlefield.ru
www.sonnet.com
www.granddadshobbyshop.com
www.sspanzer.net
pictures.panzerworld.net

[SAMWolf]

Weight	69.4 tons
Crew	5
Weapons	88mm L71,2 KwK 43 gun with 86 rounds, 2 7.92mm MG 34 with 5850 rounds
Armor	hull 150mm (nose 100mm, sloped plate 150mm@50º, sides and rear 80mm, top 40mm, bottom 25mm); turret 185mm (front 185mm, sides and rear 80mm, top 44mm)
Engine	700hp gasoline Maybach HL 230 P, 12-cylinders on V, liquid cooled
Speed	38Km/h
Range	110Km
Length (max)	10.26m
Width	3,72m (battle tracks); 3.27m (transport tracks)
Height	3.08m

Advantages: super-heavy armor protection, heavy fire power (far superior to any tank fielded by the Allies) at vast ranges

Disadvantages: mechanical unreliability and difficult logistics

[SAMWolf]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization. The primary area of concern to all VetsCoR members is that our national and local educational systems fall short in teaching students and all American citizens the history and underlying principles on which our Constitutional republic-based system of self-government was founded. VetsCoR members are also very concerned that the Federal government long ago over-stepped its limited authority as clearly specified in the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers' supporting letters, essays, and other public documents.

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Tribute to a Generation - The memorial will be dedicated on Saturday, May 29, 2004.

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Actively seeking volunteers to provide this valuable service to Veterans and their families.

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Iraq Homecoming Tips

~ Thanks to our Veterans still serving, at home and abroad. ~ Freepmail to Ragtime Cowgirl | 2/09/04 | FRiend in the USAF

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The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul

Click on Hagar for
"The FReeper Foxhole Compiled List of Daily Threads"

[archy]

I've been waiting for this one.

The Tiger

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake-- 1757–1827

[snippy_about_it]

FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!



It's TreadHead Tuesday!


Good Morning Everyone

If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

[snippy_about_it]

The Tiger - William Blake

Excellent choice archy. Good morning.

We might just drag you over to bentfeather's place. ;-)

~The Dragon Flies' Lair X~

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

Burnelli GX-3 (1929)

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[Samwise]

I had to memorize that in school. :^)

[snippy_about_it]

What in the world! LOL. Boy did I miss a lot by not being born during the industrial age of the US. ;-)

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning EGC.

[snippy_about_it]

Morning Samwise. We have our shooter on the run.

[The Mayor]

If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will . . . find the knowledge of God. —Proverbs 2:4-5

To find truth, look to Christ.

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Ostfriesland

Helgoland class battleship
Displacement. 24 500 t.
Lenght. 546'
Beam. 93'3"
Draft. 29'6"
Speed. 21 k.
Complement. 1150
Armament. 12 12", 14 5.9", 6 19.7" tt.

SMS Ostfriesland, a German battleship built at Wilhelmshaven, Germany in 1908; launched in September 1909; commissioned in the Imperial German Navy in May 1911. Named for a region of Germany bordering on the North Sea, Ostfriesland was one of four Helgoland-class battleships commissioned in 1911-12. During World War I, she was attached to the first Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet and took part in operations in the North Sea and Baltic in 1915-16.

Ostfriesland saw action at the Battle of Jutland, and was damaged by a mine while returning to base. Following repairs she made only a few more tentative sorties into the North Sea.

After the war, she was interned at Scapa Flow with the bulk of the High Seas Fleet, but was moved to Rosyth before the scuttle. The vessel was awarded to the United States as a war prize, and taken over in April 1920 by the U. S. Navy and commissioned as USS Ostfriedland on 7 April 1920 at Rosyth, Scotland, Capt. J. F. Hellweg in command.

Though in need of repairs, USS Ostfriedland sailed to New York under her own power. She was decommissioned at New York Navy Yard in September of 1920. The US Navy drydocked the vessel for examination, and removed pieces of armor, guns, etc from the vessel for further study. Along with other captured German vessels, she was given over for destruction in a live-fire exercise.

During World War I, a number of proposals had been advanced to use airplanes against capital ships, but all were dropped. In 1920, Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell began training air crews to demonstrate the superiority of air power over battleships and the Navy reluctantly agreed to provide targets. After sinking three U-boats, a destroyer, and a cruiser, on July 20, 1921, Martin bombers were loaded with 230-pound and later 600-pound bombs to use against Ostfrieland, 60 miles off the Virginia coast. These had little effect, but the next day they returned from Langley Field armed with 1,000- and 2,000-pound bombs. Hit below the waterline by six 1-ton bombs, Ostfriesland sank 21 minutes after the attack began. Popular lore had it that pro-battleship admirals wept to see the ship go down. While the rules of the exercise were broken by the fliers using 2000-pound bombs, and the vessel would no doubt have survived easily if buttoned up and given even a minimum amount of damage control, the film footage of those tiny little planes sinking a battleship had the desired effect in promoting airpower.

The wreck lies 60 miles off the Virginia Capes, in 380 feet of water. The top of the wreck is at 310 feet, and the vessel lies upside down resting on its gun turrets and superstructure. The current is light, and the bottom sandy, but visibility is limited in the darkness. This is a very challenging dive, pushing the limits of sport diving technology. Very few have visited the wreck, which was first re-located in 1990.

<

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone in The FOXHOLE.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on March 16:
1739 George Clymer US merchant (signed Declaration of Independence, Constitution)
1751 James Madison Port Conway VA, (D-R), 4th US President (1809-17)
1787 Georg Simon Ohm physicist (discovered Ohm's Law)
1802 George Archibald McCall Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1868
1806 Norbert Rillieux inventor (sugar refiner)
1812 Henry Dwight Terry Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1869
1822 John Pope Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1892
1832 Charles Camp Doolittle Brevet Major General (Union volunteer)
1836 Andrew S Hallidie inventor (cable car)
1839 René François Armand Sully Prudhomme France, poet, 1st Nobel winner (1901)
1849 Reverend James E Smith became father at 100 with woman 64 years younger
1868 Maxim Gorki USSR, playwright (The Lower Depths, Night Asylum)
1878 Reza Sjah Pahlawi [Reza Chan], shah of Iran
1884 Harrison Ford Kansas City MO, silent screen actor (Just Married, Vanity Fair, Love In High Gear , Rubber Tires)
1903 Mike Mansfield (Senator-Democrat-MT) majority whip
1906 Henny Youngman London England, comedian (Take my wife please)
1920 Leo McKern Sydney Australia, actor (Rumpole of the Bailey)
1926 Jerry Lewis [Joseph Levitch] Newark NJ, entertainer/fund raiser (MDA), especially loved in France
1927 Daniel Patrick Moynihan US ambassador to UN/(Senator-Democrat-NY, 1977-2001)
1927 Vladimir M Komarov Moscow Russia, cosmonaut (Voshkod I Soyuz 1)
1932 Ronnie Walter Cunningham Creston IA, Colonel USMC/astronaut (Apollo 7)
1933 Ruth Bader Ginsberg justice (US Supreme Court)
1942 Chuck Woolery Kentucky, TV game show host (Love Connection)
1954 Nancy Wilson San Francisco CA, rocker (Heart-These Dreams, Never, What about Love)
1956 Ozzie Newsome NFL tight end (Cleveland Browns)
1959 Michael J Bloomfield Flint MI, Major USAF/astronaut (STS 86)
1963 Phung Vuong Saigon Vietnam, murderer (FBI Most Wanted List)
1976 Michelle Rae Collie Miss Bahamas-Universe (1996)

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Deaths which occurred on March 16:
0037 Tiberius Claudius Nero emperor of Rome (14-37), dies at 77
1838 Nathaniel Bowditch astronomer & navigation expert, dies at 64
1881 Modest P Mussorgsky Russian composer (Boris Godunov), dies at 42
1882 Charles R Darwin English naturalist (Origin of species), dies at 73
1914 Gaston Calmette editor (Le Figaro), killed by Madame Caillaux at 55
1933 Alfred Her Hungarian mathematician, dies at 47
1935 John J R Macleod Scot/Canadian physiologist (Nobel 1923), dies at 58
1957 Mosa Pijade Yugoslavian MP (communist), dies at 67
1959 John Sailling last documented Civil War vet, dies at 111
1970 Tammi Terrell singer (Ain't No Mountain High Enough, You're All I Need), dies from brain tumor at 23
1971 Thomas E Dewey US Presidential candidate (R 1944, 48), dies at 68
1975 T-Bone Walker blues guitarist (Funky Town, Well Done), dies at 64
1978 Aldo Moro 5 times Prime Minister of Italy, assassinated by terrorists
1979 Jean Monnet French economist/CEO (ECSC), dies at 90
1983 Arthur Godfrey TV host (Arthur Godrey Show), dies at 79
1991 7 members of Reba McIntire's band killed in a plane crash
1996 Peter Clemoes Anglo-Saxon scholar, dies at 76

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1962 NAU GEORGE---PACOIMA CA.
1966 UNDERWOOD PAUL GERARD---HORNELL NY.
[REMAINS RETURNED - ID 02/04/98]
1968 ERICKSON DAVID WAYNE---MINNEAPOLIS MN.
1968 KRAUSMAN EDWARD L.---BURBANK CA.
1969 BARNES CHARLES R.---FULLERTON PA.
1969 BATT MICHAEL L.---DEFIANCE OH.
1969 BOBE RAYMOND E.---TARRANT AL.
1969 FOSTER MARVIN L.---HUBBARD TX.
1969 SMITH DAVID R.---DAYTON OH.
1971 SCRIVENER STEPHEN RUSSELL---TAMPA FL.
1971 SEELEY DOUGLAS MILTON---MARIETTA OH.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
1079 Iran adopts solar Hijrah calendar
1190 Jews of York England commit mass sucide rather than submit to baptism
1345 Holy spirit glides above fire; "the miracle of Amsterdam" (legend)
1517 Pope Leo X signs 5th Council of Lateranen
1521 Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reaches Philippines
1527 Battle at Khanua: Mogol Emperor Babur beats Rajputen
1621 Native American chief visits colony of Plymouth MA
1641 General court declares Rhode Island a democracy & adopts new constitution
1660 English Long Parliament disbands
1690 French king Louis XIV sends troops to Ireland
1731 Treaty of Vienna: Emperor Charles VI of England & Netherlands
1792 Murder attempt on King Gustavus III by count Ankarstrom at opera
1802 Law signed to establish US Military Academy (West Point NY)
1802 US army Corps of Engineers established (2nd time)
1829 Ohio authorizes high school night classes
1830 London's re-organised police force (Scotland Yard) forms
1830 New York Stock Exchange slowest day ever (31 shares traded)
1833 Susan Hayhurst becomes 1st US woman grad of a pharmacy college
1836 Texas approves a constitution
1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter" published
1861 Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union
1861 Confederate government appoints commissioners to Britain
1862 Battle at Pound Gap KY: Confederates separate battles
1865 Battle of Averasboro NC (1,500 casualities)
1869 Hiram R Revels makes the 1st official speech by a black in the Senate
1871 1st fertilizer law enacted
1876 Nelly Saunders & Rose Harland fight 1st female boxing match (New York)
1900 American League meets in Chicago, Ban Johnson announces that an American League teams will be in Chicago, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland & Buffalo
1900 Sir Arthur Evans finds old city of Knossus
1910 Barney Oldfield sets land speed record of 131.7 mph at Daytona
1912 Mrs William Howard Taft plants 1st cherry tree in Washington DC
1915 British battle cruisers Inflexible & Irresistible hit mines in Dardanelle
1915 Federal Trade Commission organizes
1918 Geoffrey O'Hara's "K-K-K-Katy" song published
1922 Sultan Fuad I crowned king of Egypt, England recognizes Egypt
1926 Robert Goddard launches 1st liquid fuel rocket, goes 184' (56 meter)
1930 USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) floated out to become a national shrine
1934 Congress passes Migratory Bird Conservation Act
1935 Hitler orders German rearmament, violating Versailles Treaty
1939 Germany occupies Czechoslovakia
1939 Hungary annexes republic of Karpato-Ukraine
1940 German air raid on British fleet base Scapa Flow
1941 Blizzard hits North Dakota & Minnesota killing 60
1941 Dmitri Shostakovich receives the Stalin Prize
1941 National Gallery of Art opens in Washington DC
1944 Vichy Internal minister Pucheu sentenced to death
1945 US defeats Japan at Iwo Jima
1952 1870 mm rain in Cilaos, Réunion (world record)
1952 Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship
1953 American League rejects Bill Veeck's request to move St Louis Browns to Baltimore
1959 Iraq & USSR sign economic/technical treaty
1962 1st launching of Titan 2-rocket
1962 US Super-Constellation disappears above Pacific Ocean, kills 167
1964 Paul Hornung & Alex Karras reinstated in NFL after 1 year suspension(gambling)
1966 Gemini 8 launched with Armstrong & Scott, aborted after 6.5 orbits
1968 My Lai massacre occurs (Vietnam War); 450 die
1968 Robert F Kennedy announces Presidential campaign
1969 Peter Stone & Sherman Edward's "1776" premieres at 46th St Theater NYC for 1217 performances
1971 KDCD TV channel 18 in Midland TX (IND) suspends broadcasting
1972 John & Yoko are served with deportation papers
1977 US President Carter pleads for Palestinian homeland
1978 Amoco Cadiz tanker spills 68.7 million gallons of oil off French coast
1978 Red Brigade kidnaps former premier Aldo Moro in Italy, 5 killed
1978 Soyuz 26 returns to Earth
1978 US Senate accepts Panamá Canal treaty
1979 CBS-TV airs "Wings Over the World" with Paul McCartney
1984 Terrorists kidnap William Buckley, CIA station chief in Beirut
1985 Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson taken hostage in Beirut
1985 Denny McLain, pitcher; convicted of racketeering, sentenced to 25 years
1988 Federal grand jury indicts Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North & Navy Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter in Iran-Contra affair
1988 North-Ireland Protestant fires on Catholic funeral, 3 killed
1988 US sends 3000 soldiers to Nicaragua's neighbor Honduras
1991 7 members of Reba McEntire's band are killed in a plane crash
1991 Members of Irish Gay & Lesbian Organization march in NYC parade
1994 Moravcik forms Slovakia government
1994 Tonya Harding pleads guilty to felony attack on Nancy Kerrigan
1995 Mississippi House of Representatives ratifies 13th Amendement-formally abolishes slavery
1996 In his weekly radio address, President Bill Clinton accused the Republican-controlled House of bowing to "the back-alley whispers of the gun lobby" by gutting anti-terrorism legislation he'd submitted in response to the Oklahoma City bombing.
1996 For the first time, ordinary citizens were allowed inside the central archives of the Stasi, the former East German secret police.
2000 White house denied that Hillary Rodham Clinton or senior White House officials had sought FBI background files of Republicans.

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Surinam : Holi Phagwah
Umatilla OR : Curlew Day
US : Daffodil Days (Day 3)
US : Straw Hat Week (Day 3)
National Women's History Month

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Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of fictional St Urho, patron of Finland
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of SS Abraham, hermit, & Mary, penitant
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St John de Brébeuf & companions/martyrs

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Religious History
597 BC According to certain archaeological calculations, the first conquest of Jerusalem by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar occurred. In the Bible, the event is recorded in 2 Kings 24:1ff. and in 2 Chronicles 36:5-8. It is also implied in the early chapters of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
1621 Birth of George Neumark, German educator. Twice in life he lost everything: once by robbers and once by fire. As a poet, Neumark is best remembered as author of the hymn, "If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee."
1915 Birth of Dr. Robert H. Bowman, missions pioneer. In 1945, along with John Broger and William J. Roberts, Bowman helped found the Far East Broadcasting Company. Today FEBC reaches thousands of Pacific island clusters with the Gospel through Christian radio.
1952 The first religious program on TV, "This Week in Religion," debuted on Dumont television. It was the only ecumenical program of TV's early religious offerings, and ran for two years, last airing in October 1954.
1970 The complete text of the New English Bible was published, simultaneously, by the Oxford and Cambridge Presses. (The New Testament of the NEB had been first published in 1961.)

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"He is truly wise who gains wisdom from another`s mishap."

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Word of the day...
inoculatte (-nk'y-lät)
(v.) To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

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New State Slogans
Oregon: Spotted Owl ... It's What's For Dinner

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Amazing Fact # 45...
The Hundred Year War actually lasted 116 years (1337 to 1453).

[CholeraJoe]

Those look exactly like the ones Capt Miller and Private Ryan blew up with sticky bombs in "Saving Private Ryan."

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Mayor, we have about six inches and it's just now tapering off. GRRRR.

[U S Army EOD]

Those were Tiger I's Joe but then again all airplanes look alike such as the Piper Cub and B 36 to me.