Quotulatiousness

June 17, 2019

100 Years War

Filed under: Britain, France, History, Military, Religion — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Ryan Reeves
Published on 2 Jul 2014

The 100 Years War between France and England lasted more than 100 years and was not one war but many. We explore Henry V and other important kings, and finish by exploring Joan of Arc as the savior of France.

Ryan M. Reeves (PhD Cambridge) is Assistant Professor of Historical Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RyanMReeves

Website: http://www.gordonconwell.edu/academic…

For the entire course on ‘Church History: Reformation to Modern’, see the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…

June 16, 2019

History of England – Ashes – Extra History – #4

Filed under: Britain, France, History, Military — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

Extra Credits
Published on 15 Jun 2019

Bertrand du Guesclin was the hero the French needed. Focused on fortifying defenses and cities, Guesclin rebutted the advances of the Black Prince — who ended up contracting an illness that undid his iconic image of triumph and chivalry. Edward became beset by drama in the royal court, and England started to lose power…

Thanks again to David Crowther for writing AND narrating this series! https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/pod…

Join us on Patreon! http://bit.ly/EHPatreon

Britain Votes to Leave – WW2 – 042 – June 15 1940

Filed under: Britain, Europe, France, Germany, History, Italy, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published on 15 Jun 2019

The fighting in France isn’t over, not even when Paris falls, as the Germans advance and Italy joins the fight. But the Brits now have their back to yet another ocean and see no option but out. Further east Stalin uses the chaos in the West as cover to start moving in on his neighbours.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_t…
Join our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/D6D2aYN.
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Research by: Indy Neidell
Post Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Edited by: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory

Colorisations by Norman Stewart and Julius Jääskeläinen https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/

Eastory’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

Sources: Italo-Scottish Research Cluster, Alchemist-hp

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
2 days ago
Paris… German soldiers in 1914 left their homes for the western front painted “To Paris” on their train carriages, little did they know what horrors were awaiting them. And that after four years of fighting in the trenches, none of them made it to Paris. This week, after another month of fighting in France, they finally do.

Whenever we read that some of you think that it’s just Indy making all of this, we have a good laugh. Actually, there are over 10 people working on this project. We have multiple editors, researchers/historians, producers, fact-checkers, colorisers and volunteers working on this. And of course there’s Eastory making the maps. We’d like to pay each and everyone of them for their hard work so they can feed themselves. Truth is, many of them work on a voluntary or part-time basis right now. The support we get on Patreon and our website is great and helps us sustain this channel, but we’re not nearly at the point that everyone involved gets what they deserve. If you like our work here on YouTube and you want to support the people who make it, please check us out on https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory or on our website https://timeghost.tv. Help us make history! Every dollar counts!

Cheers,
Joram

Finnish Bofors 37mm anti-tank gun

Filed under: Europe, History, Military, Weapons, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published on 27 Apr 2014

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg…

Theme music by Dylan Benson – http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The Swedish Bofors company developed a sophisticated and very high-quality light anti-tank gun in the early 1930s, and found significant commercial success with it. A variety of countries either purchased the guns outright from Bofors or paid for licenses to produce them domestically. These countries included Denmark, Finland, Poland, the Netherlands, and Sweden itself. The largest number were in Poland (1200 or more), and there is speculation that some may have been sold to Spain during the Spanish Civil War (both these guns and a 40mm AA gun which definitely went to Spain were designated wz.36). A significant number were also captured and reused by German and Russian forces during WWII. On the Allied side, some of the guns were sold to the Sudan and used by British forces in North Africa (generally mounted on trucks).

The gun itself was an excellent design, capable of 12 rounds/minute of accurate fire and potent enough to deal with most of the smaller tanks in existence at the beginning of WWII. New tank developments made it obsolete, but it was at least effective against Russian light tanks (BT, T-26, T-28) in the Winter War if not the heavier T-34s. The gun has a sophisticated suspension system to help absorb recoil energy, and fired a 37 x 257mm shell with a 740g projectile at about 825 m/s (26oz @ 2700 fps). The action was semi-automatic, meaning that once fired, the action would recoil on the carriage, and automatically eject the empty case. It would then return to battery with the breech open, ready for a new shell to be loaded (in the video, the ejection mechanism has been disabled to help preserve the brass cases).

June 15, 2019

Just Peace Or Day of Dishonor? – The Treaty of Versailles I THE GREAT WAR June 1919

Filed under: Britain, Europe, France, Germany, History, Military, USA, WW1 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

The Great War
Published on 14 Jun 2019

Support us on Patreon and get an actual WW1 postcard signed by the team: http://patreon.com/thegreatwar

The Treaty of Versailles was the first of the big peace treaties after the armistice of 1918. In just six months the allied powers had – without talking to the defeated powers – negotiated a new world order while trying to make sure Germany would pay reparations to rebuild. The German delegation was only informed about the peace terms a few weeks before signing the Treaty and they were shocked about the terms. In May 1919 they even considered not signing the contract at all.

» SUPPORT THE CHANNEL
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thegreatwar
Merchandise: https://shop.spreadshirt.de/thegreatwar/

» SOURCES
Gerwarth, Robert. The Vanquished. Why the First World War Failed to End, 1917-1923 (Penguin, 2017).

Leonhard, Jörn. Der überforderte Frieden. Versailles und die Welt 1918-1923 (CH Beck, 2018)

Macmillan, Margaret. The Peacemakers: Six Months that Changed the World (London: John Murray, 2001).

Sharp, Alan. The Versailles Settlement. Peacemaking after the First World War, 1919-1923 (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008).

Stevenson, David. 1914-1918 (London: Penguin, 2012).
Winter, Jay and Antoine Prost. The Great War in History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Hobsbawm, Eric. Age of Extremes. The Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991 (Abacus, 1994).
http://www.ataa.org/reference/iacom.pdf

http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/p… quoting:
Philipp Scheidemann, “Gegen die Annahme des Versailler Vertrages 12. Mai 1919”, Politische Reden III, herausgegeben von Peter Wende. Deutscher Klassiker Verlag:Frankfurt am Main, 1994, S.254-62

»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller & Florian Wittig
Director of Photography: Toni Steller
Sound: Toni Steller Editing: Toni Steller
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: http://above-zero.com
Motion Design: Christian Graef – GRAEFX
Maps: Daniel Kogosov (https://www.patreon.com/Zalezsky)
Research by: Jesse Alexander
Fact checking: Florian Wittig

Channel Design: Alexander Clark
Original Logo: David van Stephold

A Mediakraft Networks Original Channel

Contains licensed material by getty images
All rights reserved – Real Time History GmbH 2019

June 14, 2019

“Great War” – World War One – Sabaton History 019 [Official]

Filed under: Europe, History, Media, Military, WW1 — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Sabaton History
Published on 13 Jun 2019

The title track of the upcoming Sabaton Album The Great War is about the conflict in general. The horrors, modern techniques and tactics and the differences with other conflicts.

Support Sabaton History on Patreon (and possibly get a History Channel special edition): https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Pre-order The Great War here: https://www.sabaton.net/pre-order-of-…

Check out the trailer for Sabaton’s new album The Great War right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCZP1…

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke and Indy Neidell
Directed by: Astrid Deinhard and Wieke Kapteijns
Produced by: Pär Sundström, Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Broden, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Maps by: Eastory
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound Editing by: Marek Kaminski

Eastory YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by: Reuters/Screenocean https://www.screenocean.com
Music by Sabaton.

Sources:
– IWM: Q 57096, Q 24285, IWM 1053, Art.IWM ART 1921, Art.IWM ART 4028, Art.IWM ART 876, Art.IWM ART 2660, IWM 1062-02a, Q 23760, IWM 59, IWM 1043a, Q 2891, Q 5733, Q 2902, CO 2246, Q 2712, Q 5937, Q 2735, Q 5714, Q 3117, Q 3002
– National Library of Scotland
-Colorization: Klimbim

An OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.

© Raging Beaver Publishing AB, 2019 – all rights reserved.

From the comments:

Sabaton History
1 day ago
This episode is somewhat different from what we normally do. Usually, the episodes are about battles, confrontations or individuals in war. This time, it is about an ENTIRE WAR. The title track of the upcoming Sabaton Album The Great War is about the horror and overall experience of the Great War. We have showcased a number of songs now, so if you’re certain that it is to your liking, make sure to go over to our Patreon site to check out the exclusive “History Edition” of The Great War album! -> https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Cheers!

June 13, 2019

Shooting the MG-34 and MG-42

Filed under: Germany, History, Military, Weapons, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published on 11 May 2014

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg…

Theme music by Dylan Benson – http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

The MG-34 and MG-42 machine guns were the mainstay of German infantry (and vehicle) firepower during World War II, and it will take several videos to properly cover them. For now, we are shooting them both, and explaining how to load, unload, and operate them (including changing barrels on the MG42). Enjoy!

June 11, 2019

TAB Episode 48: QF 6pdr Anti-Tank Gun

Filed under: Britain, History, Military, Weapons, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

The Armourer’s Bench
Published on Apr 28, 2019

The 6pdr AT Gun was introduced in 1942, joining the lighter 2pdr, the new gun was more capable of dealing with the increasing thickness of Axis armour. The 6pdr first saw action in North Africa and was used throughout the war in Europe and Asia. It also armed a series of British armoured cars, tanks, ships and even aircraft!

In this video Matt looks at the history, development and use of Britain’s second dedicated anti-tank gun.
Check out our accompanying blog on the 6pdr AT Gun over at: http://armourersbench.com/2019/04/28/the-6pdr-qf-anti-tank-gun/

If you enjoyed the video please consider supporting our work via Patreon, TAB is a viewer supported, non-monetised channel and any help is very much appreciated!
Check out our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/thearmourersb…

Where to find TAB:
https://armourersbench.com
https://imgur.com/user/ArmourersBench
https://discord.gg/DAjRSBc

Don’t forget to like, share and subscribe and spread the word!

June 10, 2019

Bomb the Children – WW2 – WaH 003 – May 1940

Filed under: China, Europe, History, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

World War Two
Published on 9 Jun 2019

When WW2 breaks out, the belligerents promise to not bomb civilians. The promise is broken, literally within minutes by the Nazis and within weeks by the Soviets. Now, nine months later the Allies are about to follow suite.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_t…
Join our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/D6D2aYN.
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written and Hosted by: Spartacus Olsson
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Spartacus Olsson
Edited by: Wieke Kapteijns

Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
16 hours ago
Strategic Bombing is what it’s called, but in reality the strategic part is just theory – the simple reality is that people not involved in the fighting are going to die. This is a hot topic to this day. Who started? Was it justified to retaliate? Is it an acceptable method because the end justifies the means, that it might help win the war by breaking an enemy country? Does one strategic bombing of civilians make another murder of a thousand innocent victims less atrocious? Pretty absurd questions when you think about it. No matter who did it, no matter why they did it, no matter who started it, it’s really hard to justify the murder of children and unarmed adults – individuals that could not have any real influence on the outcome of the war.

Pak-40 German 75mm AT Gun Firing

Filed under: Germany, History, Military, Weapons, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published on 30 Mar 2014

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg…

Intro music by Dylan Benson – http://dbproductioncompany.webs.com

While we normally stick to small arms here, this beast of a gun was just way too impressive for me to not pay attention to. I was at a cannon and machine gun shoot just recently where some folks brought out what is (I believe) the only functional Pak-40 in the United States. And shot it.

The Pak-40 was the backbone of German antitank guns during WWII, and fired a 75mm AP shell out to an effective range of about a mile in a direct-fire role, with enough energy to defeat pretty much any Allied tank except the late-war Russian heavies. It was fairly light weight given its effectiveness, and makes one hell of a concussion when fired.

Thanks to the gun’s owners for being awesome!

June 9, 2019

History of England – The Devastation of France – Extra History – #3

Filed under: Britain, France, History, Military — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

Extra Credits
Published on 8 Jun 2019

From the end of the battle of Crecy, Edward charged on to besiege Calais (successfully), and then returned home. Right about then was when the Black Plague hit Europe head-on. But Edward carried on as king establishing order among his subjects, forming the Knights of the Garter. In France, John le Bel, son of Philip, had learned from the French defeats and was making small victories here and there…

In the middle ages, pillaging and murdering your way across Northern France was clearly considered an appropriate father-son bonding opportunity.

Thanks again to David Crowther for writing AND narrating this series! https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/pod…

Join us on Patreon! http://bit.ly/EHPatreon

Will Britain Remain?! – WW2 – 041 – June 8 1940

Filed under: Britain, Europe, France, Germany, History, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published on 8 Jun 2019

As the battle for France is still raging but looks like a ringing victory for Nazi Germany, and the encircled troops in Dunkirk have been evacuated, will Great Britain remain in the war? If so will British forces remain in continental Europe? In fact will Great Britain even be able to remain an independent nation, or also fall to the Nazis?

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_t…
Join our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/D6D2aYN.
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: Eastory

Colorisations by Joram Appel, Spartacus Olsson and Norman Stewart.

Eastory’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

Sources:
IWM: H 1622, H 1686, HU 1150, COL 294, H 1631, H 1700, HU 41240
The Royal Court Photo Archives

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
3 days ago
Insecurity reigns in Europe now that the Germans have managed to take the Netherlands, Belgium and force a large part of the British army out of mainland Europe. Is this it? Not much seems to stand in the way of a total German victory, and that raises questions in France and Britain. Many of you already know this, but it’d be a waste if not everyone does, so I’d like to point you all to our second YouTube Channel called ‘TimeGhost History’. We’re currently making a Between Two Wars series about the interwar years, which gives a lot of context and background to the things we tell on this channel. You can check that out right here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLfMmOriSyPbd5JhHpnj4Ng

June 8, 2019

Tank Chats #48 Centaur Dozer | The Funnies | The Tank Museum

Filed under: Britain, History, Military, Technology, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

The Tank Museum
Published on 9 Mar 2018

A Centaur tank converted into a dozer, part of the Tank Chat Funnies specials. The design had been worked out by 79th Armoured Division in Belgium in autumn 1944. In early 1945, the first conversions were issued to 87th Assault Dozer Squadron, 6th Assault Regiment Royal Engineers; a few saw action in Germany. Some were deployed during the Korean War and the intervention around the Suez Canal in 1956.

Support the work of The Tank Museum on Patreon: ► https://www.patreon.com/tankmuseum
Or donate http://tankmuseum.org/support-us/donate

Visit The Tank Museum SHOP: ►https://tankmuseumshop.org/

Twitter: ► https://twitter.com/TankMuseum
Tiger Tank Blog: ► http://blog.tiger-tank.com/
Tank 100 First World War Centenary Blog: ► http://tank100.com/ #tankmuseum #tanks

June 7, 2019

“A Ghost in the Trenches” – Francis Pegahmagabow – Sabaton History 018 [Official]

Filed under: Cancon, History, Media, Military, WW1 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Sabaton History
Published on 6 Jun 2019

As a ghost he roamed the trenches, effectively taking out his enemies one by one. He was the deadliest sniper of The Great War, with over 300 confirmed kills on his name. He is Canadian soldier Francis Pegahmagabow, born in an indigenous First Nations family, and the The Sabaton Song “A Ghost in the Trenches” is about his life and adventures.

Support Sabaton History on Patreon (and possibly get a History Channel special edition): https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Pre-order The Great War here: https://www.sabaton.net/pre-order-of-…

Check out the trailer for Sabaton’s new album The Great War right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCZP1…

Watch more videos on the Sabaton YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Sabaton?…
Listen to Sabaton on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/SabatonSpotify
Official Sabaton Merchandise Shop: http://bit.ly/SabatonOfficialShop

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke and Indy Neidell
Directed by: Astrid Deinhard and Wieke Kapteijns
Produced by: Pär Sundström, Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Broden, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Maps by: Eastory
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound Editing by: Marek Kaminski

Archive by: Reuters/Screenocean https://www.screenocean.com
Music by Sabaton.

Sources:
– IWM: Q 454, Q 17730, Q 50690, IWM 255, IWM 778, Q 17780, Q 745, IWM 466, IWM 208, Q 53538, E(AUS) 1497, E (AUS) 4677, E(AUS) 2078, Q 70213, Q 5977, Q 108213, Q 50553, Q 53637, Q 2638, Q 65444, Q 11668, Q 79508, Q 23706, Q 88121, Q 50638, IWM 207, Q 4135, Q 80267, Q 29027
– National Library of Scotland (NLS)
– Library and Archives Canada: Canadians advancing east of Arras.
– Auckland War Memorial Museum: AM 2016.26.1-3
– Canadian War Museum: George Metcalf Archival Collection, CWM 19940003-459, CWM 19920085-006, CWM 19920085-595, CWM 19920085-018, CWM 19940003-370, CWM 20040035-006

An OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.

© Raging Beaver Publishing AB, 2019 – all rights reserved.

From the comments:

Sabaton History
1 day ago
Many of you have been analysing the tracklist for the upcoming Sabaton Album The Great War. While the subjects of some of the songs are quite easy to guess, the exact topic of “A Ghost in the Trenches” was a mystery for many – although some did predict it correctly. The song is about the Canadian (and indigenous First Nations) soldier Francis Pegahmagabow, the deadliest sniper of the First World War. Indy – having researched and hosted the The Great War YouTube channel for the duration of the war, knows as much as there is to know about the subject, and is the most suitable person to tell you the story behind the song.

Enjoy and Cheers!

The almost-forgotten 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion on D-Day

Filed under: Cancon, History, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Colby Cosh reminds us that Canadian troops landed in Normandy in at least one other location than on Juno Beach:

From left to right, Regimental Sergeant-Major “Knobby” Clark, Company Sergeant-Major Norbert Joseph and Company Sergeant-Major Outhwaite of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion getting ready to leave Carter Barracks for their D-Day transit camp, May 1944.
Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / e002852749

Col. C.P. Stacey’s 1946 history of 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in Normandy describes the expectations of high command chillingly. For the purposes of the invasion, the Canadians operated as a component of the British 6th Airborne Division, assigned to blow up bridges, seize crossroads and establish advance observation posts deep in enemy territory. The War Office estimated, Stacey wrote, “that the wastage for the first month would be at the double intense rate, i.e., 50 per cent of War Establishment for officers and 40 per cent for other ranks.”

With regard to the Canadian airborne, this accounting proved largely accurate: 541 men from the battalion left England to be dropped into the battle of Normandy, the enumerated casualties for June 6 alone were two “presumed killed,” 18 dead, six wounded, and 81 taken prisoner. The unit lost no more to capture after the first day, but by June 17, when the battalion was removed from the front line for the first time, the other categories had swelled to 48 killed and 113 wounded. Stacey’s calculation of the actual “wastage” rate is that it was 59 per cent for officers and 39 per cent for other ranks.

If you have read about the paras, it is perhaps not the casualty figures that strike you so much as the unique Gothic horror of their particular experience of D-Day. The Americans’ use of parachute attacks in Sicily had taught planners that putting soldiers right on the intended drop zone never went as well as in training. Pilots who were comfortable flying slow and at suitable height over Fort Benning inevitably found themselves less cool over enemy terrain dotted with anti-aircraft guns and small arms.

In some cases evasive manoeuvres flung the airborne infantry out of the hatch without warning. Meanwhile, flat areas that had looked like green fields in photos turned out to be algae-covered swamps, some intentionally flooded by the Germans. Anyone who had volunteered for the paratroops in the hope of avoiding drowning could be in for a dreadful surprise. The historian Dan Hartigan, son of a 1st Battalion vet of the same name, describes a close shave for Sgt. W.R. Kelly, later killed in the Battle of the Bulge. “One man found Sergeant Kelly hanging upside down with his head in the water, from a huge deadwood tree. … The canopy had caught on a limb and suspended Kelly so he was submerged from the top of his head to his neck.” Kelly was rescued by a nearby comrade, but some soldiers in similar predicaments dropped alone and were not so lucky. In darkness and confusion, others landed badly, broke limbs, and were out of action at once.

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