The FReeper Foxhole's TreadHead Tuesday - Nashorn (Rhinoceros) & US Rhino Tanks

Normandy, 1944:
Inventing and Sharing Knowledge

On the day after D-Day, Allied troops who had successfully stormed the beaches grimly discovered a completely unexpected and unfamiliar terrain in the Norman countryside beyond. Although they had spent many months preparing for this moment, for the breakout that had to be quickly achieved before the Germans mounted a counterattack and drove them back into the sea, they were not really trained for it. In what historian Stephen Ambrose (1997, 18) calls “one of the greatest intelligence failures of all time,” none of the various Allied intelligence services “had ever thought to tell the men who were going to fight the battle that the dominant physical feature of the battlefield was the maze of hedgerows that covered the western half of Normandy.”

Cross Section of Typical Normandy Hedgerow

Dating back to Roman times, these hedgerows were flat-topped banks of earth, typically two meters or so in height, that surrounded every field, with beeches, chestnut and oak trees growing on the summit. Their branches often projected across the dirt lanes that ran between the hedgerows to form - in Balzac’s apposite phrasing - “a great arbor overhead” (quoted in Ambrose 1997, 19). Shut in by the dirt banks and with a ceiling of thick, leafy branches, the roads had a sunken, almost moat-like character. Built to keep cattle in and mark boundaries, there were, on average, fourteen hedgerows to the kilometer in Normandy. How could military intelligence have missed such a conspicuous feature, particularly since aerial reconnaissance plainly pictured the hedges?

The answer, Ambrose (1997, 19) explains, was that “the photo interpreters, looking only straight down at them, thought they were like English hedges, the kind fox hunters jumped over, and they had missed the sunken nature of the roads entirely.” As one U.S. Army Captain put it, “We had been neither informed of them or trained to overcome them” (Colby 1991, quoted in Ambrose 1997, 19). The Germans, however, had been going through specialized training for fighting in hedgerows. “No terrain in the world was better suited for defensive action with the weapons of the fourth decade of the twentieth century,” Ambrose (1997, 34-35) remarks, and the Germans had positioned their troops and weapons to take maximum advantage of it. They would have to be rooted out, hedgerow by hedgerow.

In undertaking this task, the American forces confronted another problem. Army tactics stressed the need for close cooperation between tanks - predominantly M4 Shermans - and infantry. But in Normandy the sunken roads between the hedgerows limited the tanks’ maneuverability and offered insufficient visibility to use their cannon and machine guns. At the same time, when the tanks tried to get out of the lanes into the fields, they found it nearly impossible to go over or through the embankments. The Sherman simply wasn’t strong enough to break through the thick, cement-like clay base, and when the tank climbed up the embankment, it exposed its unarmored belly to German antitank weapons. In short, the hedgerows were proving to be almost impassable obstacles for the American tankers, who were as unprepared as the infantry for fighting in this environment. Further, the tankers and infantry had no easy or reliable way to communicate with each other in these conditions and coordinate their actions.

In this perilous situation, there was no time to set up committees and meticulously study the problem, no time to conduct carefully controlled tests and maneuvers before establishing a doctrine. Solutions had to be invented on the spot, and rapidly validated in practice. The American troops would have to learn by doing, relying on their ingenuity and resourcefulness. Ambrose (1997, 66-67) describes some of their battlefield inventions:

Experiments involved welding pipes or steel teeth onto the front of the Sherman tank. Lt. Charles Green, a tanker in the 29th-Division, devised a bumper that was made from salvaged railroad tracks that Rommel had used as beach obstacles. It was incredibly strong and permitted the Shermans to bull their way through the thickest hedgerows. In the 2nd Armored Division Sgt. Curtis Culin, a cab driver from Chicago, designed and supervised the construction of a hedgerow-cuffing device made from scrap iron pulled from a German roadblock. The blades gave the tank a resemblance to a rhinoceros, so Shermans equipped with Culin's invention were known as rhino tanks.

Another big improvement was in communications. After a series of experiments with telephones placed on the back of the tank, the solution that worked best was to have an interphone box on the tank, into which the infantryman could plug a radio handset. The long cord permitted the GI to lie down behind or underneath the tank while talking to the tank crew, which, when buttoned down, was all but blind. Many, perhaps a majority, of the tank commanders killed in action had been standing in the open turret, so as to see. Now, at least in some situations, the tank could stay buttoned up while the GI on the phone acted as a forward artillery observer.

Sgt. Curtis Culin

While these experiments with new tools for hedgerow fighting were taking place, others were working at inventing new doctrine. At the forefront of these efforts, Ambrose (1997, 67) states, was the 29th Division of the U.S. First Army:

In late June it held a full rehearsal of the technique it proposed. In briefest form, it was as follows: Attack teams consisted of one tank, an engineer team, a squad of riflemen, plus a light machine gun and a 60mm mortar. The Sherman opened the action. It plowed its pipe devices into the hedgerow, stuck the cannon through, and opened fire with a white phosphorus round into the corners of the opposite hedgerow, intended to knock out German dug-in machine-gun pits.

The new tactics proved so effective that the Allies, with numerous variations, soon adopted them throughout the European Theatre.

A close-up of a typical hedgerow-cutter device

These inventions, and many others, led Michael Doubler (1994, 58; quoted in Ambrose 1997, 67) to conclude, “In its search for solutions to the difficulties of hedgerow combat, the American army encouraged the free flow of ideas and the entrepreneurial spirit. Coming from a wide variety of sources, ideas generally flowed upward from the men actually engaged in battle.”

Put another way, the American army in Normandy during the summer of 1944 functioned as a remarkable “knowledge creating organization.” And this knowledge creation was accomplished not by the command staff or the war room strategists but by the troops on the frontlines. It was a case of necessity being the mother of invention, and of strong organizational support for that inventiveness.

Tanks in bocage country near Caen - often they could not even turn their turrets

The kinds of problems the troops had to solve on the battlefield in Normandy are not that dissimilar, in their basic nature, to those faced by many large organizations, both military and corporate. The failure of the military intelligence services to correctly perceive the most significant topographical feature of the Norman countryside is not unlike the kind of intelligence failures that all organizations and their members have to confront at one time or another. As is often the case, this failure occurred despite organization’s painstaking efforts to gather detailed information about its operational environment.

There was plenty of data, but poor understanding and thus insufficient useful knowledge. The analysts could plainly see the hedgerows in their aerial reconnaissance photos, but they didn’t comprehend what they were looking at. Consequently, the organization could not recognize what needed to be done with respect to preparing personnel and modifying equipment so they could function effectively in that kind of environment. Moreover, resources and support the organization’s command staff customarily provided for members wasn’t enough; standard doctrine and reference material was of little use under these conditions.

A Sherman tank crew practices using a hedgerow-cutter device prior to a battle

Even in much less drastic situations, when there hasn’t been a major intelligence failure, canonical knowledge and methods can prove ineffective or misleading, especially when confronting unanticipated or new problems and conditions. And under the most ordinary conditions, members of organizations can have access to a plethora of data where the problem of “data glut” has emerged - while suffering from a scarcity of information that can be trusted and will enhance their capacity for effective action.

In Normandy, the army tackled these problems by encouraging those who were closest to the situation, who had the best understanding of the obstacles and difficulties and could most quickly develop solutions - “the men actually engaged in battle” - to create new knowledge. Once verified in practice, on the battlefield, the now warranted knowledge was rapidly shared throughout the organization. And the army didn’t always try to force a one solution-fits-all approach on the troops, “cascading” the officially sanctioned answer downward from the top, level by level. There wasn’t time for that, and it worked against the need to have many experiments with different kinds of locally developed and applied solutions, with a great deal of knowledge sharing taking place right on the frontlines as the most effective local solutions became more widely known and adopted.

Popular histories of modern wars inevitably simplify events and create myths and legends. The campaign in Normandy has created more than most, especially in view of the numerous television documentaries on this theme. For example, it is difficult to find an account of the breakout from Normandy that does not include reference to the Culin hedgerow cutter. My own recent account Campaign 88: Operation Cobra 1944 mentions it, of course. Another recent study calls it a myth. So it is worth taking a more detailed look to see how big a role it actually played in the battle.

A significant tactical dilemma facing the US Army in Normandy was the local terrain, called bocage in French. Bocage refers to farmland separated by thick coastal hedgerows. These hedgerows are denser, thicker, and higher in Normandy than elsewhere along the French coast or in the British countryside on the opposite side of the Channel. From a military perspective, they were ideal for defence, since they broke up the local terrain into small fields edged by natural earthen obstacles. They provide real defence in depth, extending dozens of miles beyond the coast. The bocage undermined the US Army's advantages in armour and firepower, and the hedgerows gave the German defenders natural shelter from attack. This type of terrain most adversely affected the US sector of the Normandy beach-head. While some British units to the immediate east of the American sector were also located in bocage country, the area south of Caen where most of the British offensives took place was a more conventional form of terrain with, relatively open, rolling fields.

The bocage presented a substantial obstacle to tanks. While it was certainly possible for tanks to charge the hedgerows and push over the top, this exposed their thin belly armour to German anti-tank weapons. Some hedges were so entangled with foliage and small trees that a tank could become trapped if attempting to push through, or could shed a track, effectively immobilising it.

One of the central aims of Operation Cobra in July 1944 was to break out of the bocage country into the open countryside south of St. Lo where the heavily mechanised US Army could exploit its advantages. A variety of schemes were tried to deal with the hedgerows. Combat engineer units had been advocating the use of tank dozers to breach them. These were ordinary M4 medium tanks fitted with a special hydraulically operated M1 bulldozer blade. Originally developed in 1943, there were few in Normandy in July 1944.

Experiments made clear that the dozer blades could work, but some hedges were so thick that satchel charges were needed to blow a clean gap. In July, the US First Army placed an urgent request for supply of 278 blades with an aim to providing at least one dozer per tank platoon. In fact, by the time of Operation Cobra on 25 July, there were only about 40 in service.

Another approach was conceived by tankers of the 747th Tank Battalion, attached to the 29th Division. In conjunction with Lt. Col. Robert Ploger's 121st Engineer Combat Battalion, the tankers experimented with combined engineer-tank tactics to create breaches in the hedge wide enough for a tank to pass through. During an attack on 24 June, the engineers placed a pair of 24 lb charges eight feet apart at the base of the hedge. The tactics worked, but the engineers decided that a charge double the size was really needed. Ploger began a more careful study of the problem. A tank company, penetrating one and a half miles through bocage country, would on average encounter 34 separate hedgerows. This would require 17 tons of explosive per company or about 60 tons per battalion. This was clearly beyond the resources of any engineer battalion.

After bloody experience in bocage fighting, the 29th Division commander, Maj. Gen. Charles Gebhardt, ordered the creation of a special training area near Couvains prior to a planned assault towards St. Lo on 11 July 1944. The M4 medium tanks and infantry squads practised a variety of new tactics to fight in the hedgerows, leading to the slogan 'One Squad, one tank, one field'. Ploger and the tankers continued to experiment with explosive breaching, and found that a much smaller charge could be used if it could be buried deep within the base of the hedge. However, digging holes in the hedge while under fire was both time-consuming and dangerous. One of the tankers came up with the idea of fitting a pair of timber prongs on the front of each tank, called a 'Salad Fork'. When a breach in the bocage was needed, a tank would charge across the field and embed the prongs in the base of the hedge. When the tank backed out, it would pull out the timber prong, leaving small tunnels. The engineers pre-packaged 15 lb of explosive in the fibre-board containers used to transport 105 mm artillery ammunition. Two of these improvised demolition charges could create a gap wide enough for a tank and the accompanying infantry. The small tracked M29 Weasel utility vehicles would follow the tank-engineer team, bringing along extra explosive. As only 53 tanks were available for the 11 July assault, they were concentrated in the sectors of the 116th Regiment. These new tactics and training paid off, and the 116th Regiment succeeded in rupturing the German lines far more effectively than in the past. These tactics were copied by other units, including the 703rd Tank Battalion attached to the 4th Infantry Division. There are records that indicate that other tank units in the neighboring V Corps fielded 'brush cutters' on their tanks in July, but details are lacking.

The 11 July 1944 attack by the 747th Tank Battalion disclosed problems with the 'Salad Forks'. The timbers were often bent or wrenched off the tanks during the violent collision with the hedge. On a more positive note, it was found that in some cases, the impact of the Salad Fork alone could breach a hedge. This led Lt. Charles Green to devise a more durable 'tank bumper' or 'Green Dozer' made out of railroad tracks. These were welded to the tanks of the 747th Tank Battalion in mid-July for the upcoming offensive.

Curiously enough, a very similar device was dreamed up almost simultaneously by the 2nd Armored Division. It is possible that they were aware of the experiments by the 747th Tank Battalion, as these had been demonstrated to a number of officers. The division's cavalry unit, the 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, had been discussing ways to cut through the hedges. Sgt. Curtis G. Culin devised a set of prongs not very different from Green's Tank Bumper, and supervised the construction of a prototype using salvaged German tank obstacles. Tests with the device proved very successful, and it was dubbed the Rhinoceros. It received many other names including the Culin cutter, hedgerow prongs, hedgerow cutters, and various combinations of these. Tanks fitted with the device were dubbed Rhino tanks. What separated Culin's device from other similar schemes was a bit of luck. On 14 July, the First Army commander, Gen. Omar Bradley visited the 2nd Armored Division prior to Operation Cobra. Bradley had seen an earlier demonstration of the Salad Fork, but was more impressed by the Culin Rhino since it didn't require explosives. He ordered the First Army Ordnance Section to begin construction of as many of these devices on an emergency basis.

The best source of supply for the steel prongs was the litter of 'Rommel's Asparagus' along the Normandy beaches. Rommel had ordered the installation of hundreds of steel anti-tank obstructions, and these served as the raw material for the prongs. Between 15 July and 25 July, when Operation Cobra started, over 500 Rhinos were manufactured. This was enough for about 60 per cent of the tanks in First Army taking part in the initial assault. On 22 July, a modified M5A1 light tank was demonstrated to Gen. George S. Patton and a team from the 3rd Armored Division. After the demonstration, the division was ordered to build its own Rhino devices on a crash programme. A workshop was set up in St. Jean de Daye under the supervision of Warrant Officer Douglas, who had been a professional welder in civilian life. Douglas had no plans for the Culin device, and devised a modified version that was distinguished by a pair of triangular plates at either end which he felt would penetrate the hedge better. A total of 57 of these 'Douglas cutters' were attached to tanks of the 3rd Armored Division prior to Cobra. The various types of Rhino devices were all considered top secret, and Bradley ordered that none be used until the main operation began.

Hedgerow Cutting Device

The use of the Rhino tanks in Operation Cobra has become something of legend. Nearly all accounts of the campaign mention the devices, even if they mention none of the other innovations introduced during Cobra, such as the new 76 mm gun M4 medium tank, and the new tank-infantry communication aids. One recent study of Cobra, Col. James Carafano's 'After D-Day', goes so far as to label the stories of the Rhino tanks a myth. Certainly, the importance of the Rhino tanks has tended to be exaggerated. It is an appealing tale of ingenuity in the heat of battle. It makes for a good story, particularly in popular histories and in television documentaries. It is far more dramatic, especially on TV, than the technical complexity of tank radios, tactical improvements and other less visual innovations.

Infantrymen ride on the back of an M-4 Sherman "rhino" tank as it bashes through a hedgerow

Were the Rhino tanks effective? In fact, there is very little evidence. Some tank units that used Rhino devices on the first day of the battle, 25 July, found that they were no panacea. The problem was not so much the Rhinos as the pre-attack bombardment which churned up the pastures, which made it difficult to charge across the fields and build up enough speed to breach the hedgerows. Other units such as the 3rd Armored Division had little luck with the hedge cutters. But they had been added to their tanks at the very last minute with little chance to practice the new tank-infantry tactics. The 3rd Armored Division had far fewer tanks with hedge cutters than the 2nd Armored Division, only about 25 per cent compared to almost 75 per cent. It might have been expected that the 2nd Armored Division, which put up such a sterling performance in Cobra, might have emerged as champions of the device they had helped pioneer.

In fact, operational accounts of the 2nd Armored Division in Cobra provide few indications that the devices ever played much of a role. This had more to do with the conduct of the fighting than with any technical virtue or failing of the Rhinos. The preliminary air attack against the Panzer Lehr Division shattered the main force opposing the 2nd Armored Division. As a result, the division aggressively pushed through the German defences. Rather than struggle cross-country through the bocage, the 2nd Armored Division used the country roads wherever possible, avoiding the need to use the Rhinos. Tankers that I have interviewed over the years had mixed feelings about the Rhinos. Some said that the Rhino worked, but that it was hard on the crew. Others said they hardly ever used it, as once the break-through began, the situation was so fluid that it was seldom needed. In contrast, the far less celebrated dozer tanks are often mentioned, since they were useful not only in breaking through the hedgerows, but in repairing the bomb damaged roads. Whether effective or not, the Rhino tanks have become one of the popular legends of the Normandy campaign, and are likely to remain so in spite of debunking by historians.

Additional Sources:

jonescenter.wharton.upenn.edu
www.missing-lynx.com
www.wwiivehicles.com/
wilk.wpk.p.lodz.pl
www.wargamer.com
www-cgsc.army.mil
news.bbc.co.uk
207.150.192.12
www.robertsarmory.com www.angelfire.com/va2/ worldwar2family www.cranfordschools.org

Based on the fighting on the Eastern Front, an easier way to move the 88 mm PaK 43/1 L/71 guns was needed. In February 1942 a contract was issued for the vehicles. By November 1942, they were being issued to the Army's heavy antitank units. It was initially nicknamed the Hornisse (Hornet) but it was changed to Nashorn (Rhinoceros) by order of Hitler.

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.

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

We here at Blue Stars For A Safe Return are working hard to honor all of our military, past and present, and their families. Inlcuding the veterans, and POW/MIA's. I feel that not enough is done to recognize the past efforts of the veterans, and remember those who have never been found.

I realized that our Veterans have no "official" seal, so we created one as part of that recognition. To see what it looks like and the Star that we have dedicated to you, the Veteran, please check out our site.

Veterans Wall of Honor

Blue Stars for a Safe Return

UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004

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

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Regards

alfa6 ;>}

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To all our military men and women past and present, military family members, and to our allies who stand beside us
Thank You!

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************Snippy, I bequeath to you the FR TH PL.

148 posted on 08/24/2004 11:39:45 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4 (I've lost turret power; I have my nods and my .50. Hooah. I will stay until relieved. White 2 out.)

Good morning Cannoneer. :-)

Thanks for the idea and picture for my ping list. ;-)

Max Hastings in his "Overlord" says that the Germans would set up an invulnerable tank at a cross roads in the Bocage country. American tanks had to advance up the road, right into deadly fire from a tank they couldn't destroy.

Then, Rhino. American tanks would bust through a few hedgerows, get around the German tank, and fire into the German's rear where he was vulnerable. Do that just a few times and the Germans would stop using the tactic.

Very, very pleasing to me. Makes up a little for Sidi Bou Zid.

You might like to go by this young man's blog and drop a comment of encouragement. He seems to be fighting family pressure not to join the armed forces. He has been talking to a recruiter about Special Forces, and his motication to join, detailed in his blog, is also rather special.

I happened upon it in a random walk through "blogspot" sites. I know from my own blog how exciting it can be when the wide world reaches out and touches back.

Good morning Snippy.

Thanks for the lnk to that young man's blog! Got it bookmarked.

After I've had a little sleep, I'll post something to him.
He seems to have a good head on his shoulders. I like the fact he wants to finish college before signing up with the Army. He wants to finish what he starts and that will take him a long way in life.

He sure seems motivated and will probably do just fine in the Special Forces. You're right about the "rather special" part. LOL!

Good morning Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

Good morning

February 15, 2005

All Year Long

Read:
Isaiah 58:6-12

[The Lord said], "Is this not the fast that I have chosen: . . . Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?" -Isaiah 58:6-7

Bible In One Year: Leviticus 20-23

cover During Lent (the 40 days prior to Easter) many Christians follow the practice of giving up something and taking the time to reflect on Jesus' sacrifice of Himself for us.

One group of middle-class believers in a church in the UK decided to live on the minimum wage. Their goal was to identify with those who live on little, to learn the joy of giving, to invite God to change their attitude toward money, and to challenge others in their church to do the same. For their study they chose Isaiah 58.

Afterward, one of the leaders of the group said they learned an important lesson. Living on less "makes you realize just how much you really can give away. It makes you look at what you normally give and realize that it is far from being sacrificial."

What they learned agrees with God's idea of what fasting and sacrificial living are all about. The Lord said to Israel, "Is this not the fast that I have chosen: . . . Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out?" (Isaiah 58:6-7). God was chiding His people because their fasting had become an empty ritual with no concern for others.

Let's give sacrificially to others-not just during Lent but all year long. -Anne Cetas

Grant us, then, the grace for giving
With a spirit large and free,
That our life and all our living
We may consecrate to Thee. -Murray

Your standard of giving is more important than your standard of living.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
Knowing God Through Isaiah

On This Day In history

Birthdates which occurred on February 15:
0037 Claudius Drusus Germanicus Caesar Nero emperor of Rome (54-68)
1368 Sigismund Nürnberg Germany, Holy Roman emperor (1410-37)
1483 Babur founder of Mughal dynasty in India (1526-30
1497 Philipp Melanchthon Germany, Protestant reformer
1519 Pedro Menéndez de Aviles explored Florida - founded St Augustine FL
1564 Galileo Galilei Pisa, Italy, astronomer/physicist
1705 Charles A Vanloo French painter
1710 Louis XV the Well-Beloved Versailles, King of France (1715-74)
1726 Abraham Clark farmer/lawyer, signed Declaration of Independence
1748 Jeremy Bentham London England, philosopher/originator (Utilitarian)
1795 Charles Niellon Belgian brigade general (10 day campaign)
1797 Henry Engelhard Steinway piano maker (Steinway)
1803 John Augustus Sutter Swiss/US colonist of California gold rush fame (New Helvetia CA, Sutter Mill)
1809 Cyrus Hall McCormick inventor (Mechanical reaper)
1819 Christopher Sholes Mooresburg PA, inventor (typewriter)
1835 Alexander Stuart Webb Major General (Union Army), died in 1911
1858 William Pickering Boston, astronomer (9th & 10th moons of Saturn)
1861 Alfred North Whitehead English mathematician/philosopher (Adventures of Ideas)
1874 Ernest H Shackleton Kilkee Ireland, explorer (Endurance, Antarctica)
1882 John Barrymore [Blythe], Philadelphia PA, actor (Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Tempest, Beloved Rogue)
1886 Sax Rohmer England, author (Dr Fu Manchu)
1892 James Forrestal US, banker/Secretary of Navy
1894 Oswaldo Aranha Brazil, lawyer/statesman (1st President of UN)
1907 Cesar Romero New York NY, actor (Joker-Batman, Ocean's 11, The Thin Man)
1911 Leonard Woodcock labor leader (UAW)
1914 Arthur Sydney Martin spy catcher
1914 Kevin McCarthy Seattle WA, actor (Invasion of Body Snatchers, Howling)
1922 Herman Kahn New Jersey, writer (Thinking About the Unthinkable)
1923 Yelena Bonner Moscow, soviet dissident/wife of Andre Sakharov
1927 Harvey Korman Chicago IL, actor (Carol Burnett Show, Blazing Saddles)
1929 James Schlesinger US Secretary of Defense (1973-75)
1931 [Patricia] Claire Bloom London, actress (Charly, Look Back in Anger)
1934 Niklaus Wirth Switzerland, computer programmer/inventor (PASCAL)
1935 Roger B Chaffee Grand Rapids MI, Lieutenant Commander USN/astronaut
1935 Susan Brownmiller Brooklyn NY, feminist author (Against Our Wills)
1944 Aleksandr A Serebrov USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz T-7, T-8, TM-8, TM-17)
1947 Rusty Hamer Tenafly NJ, actor (Rusty-Make Room for Daddy)
1951 Melissa Manchester Bronx NY, singer (Don't Cry Out Loud)
1951 Jane Seymour [Joyce Frankenberg], Middlesex England, actress (Dr Quinn, East of Eden, Lassiter)
1954 Matt Groening cartoonist (Life in Hell, Simpsons)
1964 Chris Farley actor (Saturday Night Live, Wayne's World, Coneheads)
1971 Renee O'Connor actress, (Xena Warrior Princess)

Deaths which occurred on February 15:
1145 Lucius II [Gherardo Caccianemici], Italian Pope (1144-45), dies
1152 Konrad III Roman-German King (1138-1152), dies at about 58
1503 Henry Deane Archbishop of Canterbury (1501-03), dies
1600 José the Acosta Spanish missionary (Peru), dies at 59
1637 Ferdinand II King of Bohemia/Hungary/German Emperor (1619-37), dies at 58
1820 William Ellery US attorney (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 92
1831 Henry Maudslay inventor (metal lathe), dies
1849 Pierre F Verhulst Belgian mathematician (logistic curve), dies at 44
1905 Lewis Wallace US diplomat/soldier/Gov. NM./writer (Ben Hur), dies at 77
1943 Thomas "Fats" Waller US jazz pianist (Hot Chocolate), dies at 38
1965 Nat King Cole singer (Unforgettable, Mona Lisa), dies at 45
1968 Little Walter rocker, dies at 37
1973 Wally Cox actor (Mr Peepers, Hollywood Squares), dies at 48
1975 Julian Huxley biologist, dies
1979 Mehdi Rahimi Iran General/military Governor of Tehran, executed
1981 Mike Bloomfield rocker (Paul Butterfield Blues Band), dies of drug overdose at 36
1984 Ethel Merman singer/actress (Kid Million), dies in her sleep at 76
1988 Neil R[onald] Jones science fiction writer (Space War, Twin Worlds), dies at 78
1995 Joseph Ortiz French-Algerian extremist/rebel, dies at 77
1996 McLean Stevenson actor (MASH, Hello Larry), dies at 66
1996 Tommy Rettig actor (Lassie)/computer programmer (Clipper), dies at 54
1998 Martha Gelhorn female war correspondents, dies at 89
2002 Howard K. Smith (87), war correspondent and news analyst (ABC co-anchor), died in Bethesda, Md.

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 MAUTERER OSCAR---CHARLOTTESVILLE VA.
[EJECTED]
1968 CARPENTER JOE V.---MAYSVILLE KY.
[08/09/68 RELEASED HANOI, DECEASED OCT 82]
1968 WRITER LAWRENCE D.---OLYMPIA WA.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1969 NIEDECKEN WILLIAM CLINTON---CORPUS CHRISTI TX
1969 WALSH RICHARD A.---ST PAUL MN.
1971 CREAR WILLIS C.---BIRMINGHAM AL.
"EXPLODE, NO SURV OBS"]
1971 CRONE DONALD E.---WHITTIER CA.
["EXPLODE, NO SURV OBS"]
1971 FIVELSON BARRY F.---EVANSTON IL.
["EXPLODE, NO SURV OBS"]
1971 LEONARD MARVIN M.---GRAND RAPIDS MI.
["EXPLODED, NO SURV OBS"]
1971 POWERS JOHN L.---MAC KAY ID.
["EXPLODED, NO SURV OBS"]
1971 TAYLOR JAMES H.---OROVILLE CA.
["EXPLODED, NO SURV OBS"]

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

On this day...
399BC Philosopher Socrates sentenced to death
1145 Bernardo elected Pope Eugene III
1637 Ferdinand III succeeds Ferdinand II as Holy Roman Emperor
1689 German Parliament declares war on France
1764 St Louis founded as a French trading post by Pierre Laclade Ligue
1768 1st mustard manufactured in America advertised, Philadelphia
1799 1st US printed ballots authorized, Pennsylvania
1804 New Jersey becomes last northern state to abolish slavery
1842 1st adhesive postage stamps in US (private delivery company), New York NY
1851 Black abolitionists invade Boston courtroom rescuing a fugitive slave
1861 Ft Point completed & garrisoned (but has never fired cannon in anger)
1862 Grant's major assault on Ft Donelson TN
1869 Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped
1870 Ground broken for Northern Pacific Railway near Duluth MN
1879 Congress authorizes women lawyers to practice before the Supreme Court
1895 23 cm (9") of snow falls on New Orleans
1898 USS Maine blows up in Havana harbor, cause unknown-258 sailors die
1903 1st Teddy Bear introduced in America, made by Morris & Rose Michtom
1906 British Labour Party organizes
1913 1st avant-garde art show in America opens in New York NY
1918 1st WWI US army troop ship torpedoed & sunk by Germany, off Ireland
1918 Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania adopt the Gregorian calendar
1919 American Legion organizes in Paris
1926 Contract air mail service begins in US
1931 1st Dracula movie released
1932 US bobsled team member Eddie Eagan becomes only athlete to win gold in both Summer & Winter Olympics (1920 boxing gold)
1932 George Burns & Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on "Guy Lombardo Show"
1933 President-elect Franklin Roosevelt survives assassination attempt
1933 Karl Radek praises invincible force of German communist party
1936 -60º, Parshall ND (state record)
1936 Sonja Henie, Norway, wins 3rd consecutive Olympics figure skating gold
1936 Hitler announces building of Volkswagens
1939 German battleship Bismarck was launched
1939 Lillian Hellman's "Little Foxes" premieres in New York NY
1941 Duke Ellington 1st records "Take the A Train"
1942 Singapore surrenders to the Japanese
1943 Women's camp Tamtui on Ambon (Moluccas) hit by allied air raid
1948 Mao Zedong's army occupies Yenan
1949 Dmitri Shostakovich's "Song of the Woods" premieres in Leningrad
1950 Walt Disney's "Cinderella" released
1954 1st bevatron in operation-Berkeley CA
1955 1st pilot plant to produce man-made diamonds announced
1956 Pirates & Kansas City A's cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham AL, because of local ordinance barring black from playing against white
1957 Andrei A Gromyko succeeds Dmitri Shepilov as Soviet foreign minister
1961 Entire US figure skating team of 18, dies in Belgian Sabena 707 crash
1964 Beatles' "Meet the Beatles!" album goes #1 & stays #1 for 11 weeks
1964 Bill Bradley scores 51 points for Princeton
1965 Canada replaces the Union Jack flag with the Maple Leaf
1967 1st anti-bootleg recording laws enacted
1967 Longest dream (REM sleep) on record, Bill Carskadon, Chicago (2:23)
1971 After 1200 years Britain abandons 12-shilling system for decimal
1973 Friendsville Academy (Tennessee) ends 138-game basketball losing streak
1978 Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy recaptured, Pensacola FL
1978 Leon Spinks beats Muhammad Ali in 15 for world heavyweight crown
1979 Temple City Kazoo Orchestra appears on Mike Douglas Show
1981 Rocket-powered ice sled attains 399 kph, Lake George NY
1987 ABC-TV begins broadcasting "Amerika" mini-series
1989 Soviet military occupation of Afghánistán ends
1992 100th episode of "Cops" airs on the Fox Network
1992 Jeffrey Dahmer found sane & guilty of killing 15 boys
1995 Population of People's Republic of China hits 1.2 billion
1998 Daytona 500 race; Dale Earnhardt wins
2000 Fox airs “Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?”
2001 Hans-Joachim Klein, German terrorist, is sentenced to nine years in prison by a German court for killing three people in a 1975 attack on an OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria.
2003 Millions of Moral Midgets, many of them marching in the capitals of America's allies, demonstrated to keep Saddam Hussein in power
2004 Iraqi police arrested No. 41 on the American military's most-wanted list, Baath Party official Mohammed Zimam Abdul-Razaq.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Massachusetts : Spanish-American War Memorial Day (1898)
US : Battleship Day, Remember the Maine (1898)
US : Presidents' Day (formerly Washington's Birthday)-legal holiday (Monday)
US : Pancake Week Begins
US : Condom Week (Day 2)
US : Visiting Nurse Week Begins
US : Susan B. Anthony Day (holiday in Florida and Minnesota)
US : Hug Day
Grapefruit Month

Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Georgia (St Georgette)
Orthodox : Meeting of the Lord/Purification of the Virgin
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of Sts Faustinus & Jovita, martyrs
Anglican : Commemoration of Thomas Bray, priest/missionary

Religious History
1386 King Jagiello of Lithuania was baptized into the Christian faith. Lithuania being the last heathen nation in Europe, Jagiello's conversion finalized the Macedonian Vision in Acts 16:9, leading St. Paul to begin taking the Gospel to Europe.
1762 Anglican hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'We serve a gracious Master who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.'
1860 Wheaton College was chartered in Illinois under Methodist sponsorship. (The following year the school passed into Congregational control. Today, Wheaton is non-denominational.)
1930 Death of Franklin L. Sheppard, 78. He served on the editorial committee of the 1911 edition of the Presbyterian Hymnal, but is better remembered for composing the hymn tune TERRA BEATA, to which "This Is My Father's World" is most commonly sung.
1986 Living Bibles International moved to its present headquarters in Naperville, IL. Founded in 1968 by Ken Taylor, editor of the Living Bible, LBI is an interdenominational Bible distributing agency, working in 45 countries.

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

Thought for the day :
"Chili represents your three stages of matter: solid, liquid, and eventually gas."

Mornin', snippy.
Raining again. If this keeps up we will have to build an Ark. We will be wanting this water in two months.

Good morning, hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Good read today, and as usual, have some makeup reading to do as well.

Thanks for the ping!

Cheers!

All Year Long

Read:Isaiah 58:6-12

[The Lord said], "Is this not the fast that I have chosen: . . . Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?" -Isaiah 58:6-7

Bible In One Year: Leviticus 20-23

Read:
Isaiah 58:6-12