Hell on Earth

Aerial view of Iwo Jima in 2014
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Trevor Welsh

From the 19th of February to the 26th of March, 1945, 110,000 U.S. troops fought against approximately 20,000 heavily dug-in Japanese troops to seize the island of Iwo Jima. It was thought that the island could be used to stage air raids against the Japanese mainland, roughly 800 miles away. That did not happen, though the island did save many an airman who would have otherwise been lost as damaged B-29s were able to land there after it was captured.

United States strength:*

• 110,000 Marines, Soldiers, Corpsmen, Seabees, USAAF personnel, and others
• 500+ ships

Japanese Strength:*

• 20,530–21,060 troops
• 23 tanks
• 438 artillery pieces
• 33 naval guns
• 69 anti-tank guns
• ~300 anti-aircraft guns

The cost was high.

United States casualties:*

• 6,821 killed
• 2 captured but recovered
• 19,217 wounded
• 26,040 total casualties
• 1 escort carrier sunk
• 1 fleet carrier severely damaged
• 1 escort carrier lightly damaged
• 137 tanks destroyed

Japanese casualties:*

• 17,845–18,375 dead and missing
• 216 taken prisoner
• ~3,000 in hiding

The last two survivors of the Japanese garrison surrendered in 1949, four years after the end of the war.

Brave men on both sides, a fight to the death.

"Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue."
- Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz

(Source)

Remember them...





* Source

Awfully Glad the Weekend is Here...

Dusk, 21 February 2020

The Missus Herself has returned from her forward deployment to California in support of Operation Spoil the Grandkids. So now I have to return to being human while in the friendly confines of Chez Sarge. I mean for three weeks it was just me and the feline staff. We spoke in a series of chirps, meows, and grunts. Well, it was mostly Your Humble Scribe doing the grunting.

During all that time things at work have been mighty slow, as a matter of fact, things have been slow since the end of December. Defense contracting has a certain ebb and flow, right now we're in the ebb part of the cycle. New contracts are coming in, some older contracts have throttled back as once again the Navy tries to do "more with less." I hear that a lot of bucks have been taken from the Sea Service in order to build a wall somewhere.

One thing is for sure, the wall will no doubt be more effective than the LCS*, at least one hopes.

As noted a while back, you may find yourselves on short rations, post wise, from time to time in the now and the immediate future. Not missing posts, mind you, but shorter posts, fewer calories as it were. I too am trying to do more with less, though in my case it be time that's lacking, not money.

Anyhoo, I made some more headers, no doubt I've missed (or forgotten) a reader suggestion here and there. Feel free to beat me about the head and shoulders for that, I can take it.

First off, here's that Ardennes header modified according to juvat's specifications, I think it works. (Again, click to embiggen.)

The Knox Expedition, the colonials hauling cannon from Fort Ticonderoga all the way to Boston. Under the command of Henry Knox, a former bookseller.

Encounter at Lexington Green, April 1775.

The Battle of Bunker Hill.

The death of American General Hugh Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 1777.

German infantry advance near the beginning of the Battle of the Frontiers, August 1914.

German infantry being routed by Cossacks during the Battle of the Frontiers, August 1914.

British infantry clash with the Germans outside Mons, Belgium - August 1914.

French lancers advancing towards the front during the Battle of the Frontiers, August 1914.

More French cavalry during the Battle of the Frontiers, August 1914.

U.S. Marines advance on Belleau Wood, France, June 1918.

That'll do for now methinks. I am tired and I hear my rack calling.

Or maybe it's one of the cats...





* Yes, that's on the Acronym Page, I just can't bear to spell it out. It's the Voldemort of ships, that which shall not be named...

Imagine That

Dutch Attack on the Medway, June 1667
Pieter Cornelisz van Soest

Imagine, if you will, an enemy naval force sailing into the Chesapeake, right into Naval Station Norfolk, trashing the place, wrecking a bunch of ships, then towing a Nimitz-class carrier away. Said carrier then put on display as a tourist attraction in the enemy country.

Kind of a kick in the you-know-whats for a major naval power, innit?

Well, back in June of 1667, the Dutch did exactly that. To the English Royal Navy!

That's also how New Amsterdam became New York City...

Imagine that.




Interesting reading here:

• Raid on the Medway
• The Second Anglo-Dutch War

Love that History Guy!

"Favorite" Battles

Wellington's march from Quatre Bras to Waterloo
Ernest Crofts
(Source)

So the other day I was thinking about my favorite battles...

Uh, Sarge, what do you mean "favorite battles," like favorite color, favorite flavor of ice cream?

Well, sort of. Truth be told, I've been referring to Waterloo as my "favorite" battle for years, probably since I was a little kid. Now as an historian (a title I claim as an amateur, I have a history hobby, if you will), I often get deep into the facts, the who, what, when, where, why, and how of things. I see these as distant events which took place in foreign lands and/or different times (sometimes not that long ago, sometimes long, long ago). Often I gloss over the fact that real live people were involved in these events.

Aftermath of Waterloo
(Source)

Many of those people did not survive those events, many others had their lives changed forever, often in less than pleasant ways. Imagine if you will being an old soldier back "in the day" who had lost both legs in battle, consigned to living in the streets and begging for the remainder of your existence.

The colorful uniforms (which seldom looked the same on campaign as they did on the parade ground, on campaign these were often faded, tattered, and covered in mud!), the drill, the tactics, and the strategy all tend to drown out the voices of those who actually fought the battles.

So there are times that I have to remind myself, that while there are battles and campaigns which I prefer to study, or have a greater interest in then others, I need to refrain from calling them "favorites." As a soldier, your favorite battle is the the one you survive unharmed. Win or lose, coming away whole in mind and in body is the thing, one always hopes that it was your last battle as well.

All that being said, the battles and campaigns I have spent the most time studying (so I guess that they would be favored over other battles and campaigns, i.e. my "favorites") are, in no particular order -

• The Waterloo Campaign of 1815
• The Gettysburg Campaign of 1863
• The Battle of the Bulge in 1944
• The Normandy Campaign of 1944
• The Battle of the Frontiers in 1914
• The Eastern Front in World War II
• The North Africa Campaign, 1941 - 1943
• The Air Campaign in the European Theater
• Pearl Harbor
• Midway
• The Campaigns of Alexander the Great
• The Campaigns of Frederick the Great

I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting.

Still and all, I need to come up with a better way of describing my "favorite" battles. The word "favorite" just seems to trivialize the sacrifices entailed in those events.

As I get older, I think that maybe I tend to over-think things. As opposed to my youth when I would plunge in with hardly any thought at all.

Odd that.

Surprise, surprise... (Yup, more headers.)

C. M. Russell, When The Land Belonged to God

C. M. Russell, The Custer Fight

USS The Sullivans (DD-537)

USS Connecticut (BB-18)

Charles Schreyvogel, My Bunkie

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry (HIC FRANCI PUGNANT ET CECIDERUNT QUI ERANT CUM HAROLDO)

I also modified two others per juvat's suggestion -

This one...

or this one...

Still not that easy to discern the blog title, but blurring or covering the background was just ugly. This seems better. Juvat?

Okay, squeezed in one more, I mean how can you not love a guy who's last name translates to "Beer City"?

Albert Bierstadt, detail from Mount Corcoran

While the header format is just too short to display the full magnificence of Bierstadt's work, you can see some of it. (Click on this link to see the whole work, you won't regret it.)

No doubt someone will suggest yet another topic for a header. The folks in the Header Production Department thank you, after all your efforts keep them employed. (Juvat, Beans, and Tuna, you may notice a slight decrease in your paychecks this month, someone has to pay for those headers. 🙄)

Sidetracked...

(Source)

So the header thing for the blog has been a recent obsession. True, I've been having a lot of fun with it, and no doubt spending too much time doing it. Making new headers that is. Someone suggests something then I start chasing photographs (or paintings) online in order to create yet another header. So the other day I wrote "One more, that's it, for now..." - remember that? Well yeah, I lied.

I've created nine more (yes, nine) for your enjoyment which I will show you near the end of the post. Patience. (I'm told it's a virtue, yet another failing of mine. Who knows, by the time I publish this post there may be more than nine. It's an obsession I tell you.)

Anyhoo, while searching for something to write about I was sidetracked a bunch of times.

The first sidetrack occurred while I was running the blogs in the morning, this post of Old NFO's caught my attention. A delightful look back at what flying commercial was like when only people with lots of money could do it. Then, the first sidetrack occurred. The post went from talking about the Boeing 314 Clipper, the more famous of the commercial flying boats, to a mystery surrounding the Hawaii Clipper, which was actually a Martin M-130 flying boat. (Which led to another sidetrack, did you know that there were actually three commercial flying boats? The Sikorsky S-42, the Boeing 314 Clipper, and the Martin M-130? I didn't. All were built to meet Pan Am requirements for trans-oceanic flights.)

None of those aircraft were built in quantity, only ten Sikorsky S-42s, 12 Boeing 314s, and three M-130s. Now of the three Martin flying boats, one, the Hawaii Clipper, went missing in the Pacific. Old NFO mentions one story going the rounds about the aircraft landing on a Japanese base in the Pacific, where the passengers and crew were executed by the Japanese. The story says that the Japanese wanted the engines of the aircraft. I cannot find anything to verify that story, though one chap seems to have made something of a career out of trying to discover what happened to that aircraft.

From my point of view, the Pacific is a BIG ocean (truth be told they're all freaking big) and it's not hard to lose stuff out there. (See Amelia Earhart...)

Anyhoo, after digging through all of that, which did make for interesting reading, I thought about doing a post on the sole Coast Guardsman to receive the Medal of Honor. Signalman First Class Douglas A. Munro was awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for his actions on Guadalcanal in World War II. That story has a number of different facets which will take some time to put together and do justice to. Hopefully I can get to that soon. (Heck, the Coasties did such a great job during that campaign that they even impressed the Marines! Not easy to do.)

So a couple of great stories, one for which little evidence exists to support blaming the Japanese, the other needs more time to write it up properly. Which still left me with needing a topic for a post. Today.

So I thought, "Heck, I've got all these new headers, just write about those." So I went searching for a good opening graphic. Based on the keyword "header," which led me to concussions in soccer (what the rest of the world calls football) due to heading the ball. Which is the act of redirecting the flight of the ball by using one's head. Having been there, done that, trust me, that can hurt. Especially if the ball has any "way" on it. (To use a nautical term.)

Which led me to a blog from a Boston University journalism professor regarding doing away with the header in soccer. I panicked a bit when I first stumbled across that post "Ban the header!" Because I like the header on my blog, most blogs have a header, the header sets the tone, and, oh wait, the word "SOCCER" precedes the whole "Ban the header!" thing. So to borrow from juvat -

Anyhoo. There will be no banning of the header here at The Chant, though I may need to ban creating more headers (which means I will have to lay off most of the Header Production Department, poor bastids).

Speaking of headers, here are the new ones, with a brief explanation as to why I made that header. (As always, click to embiggen.)

How could I not have a header dedicated to the landings in Normandy on the 6th of June 1944? Besides which, that is an iconic photograph of the landings. The men in the photo wading ashore at Omaha Beach are from Company E, 16th Infantry Regiment, the 1st Infantry Division, the Big Red One. Two-thirds of those men became casualties on that day. (The photo is catalogued in the National Archives with the title, "Into the Jaws of Death - U.S. Troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire."

The North American F-100 Super Sabre was suggested by one of you, the readers As this was the very aircraft which the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds were flying when I first saw them as a kid, I chastised myself for not thinking of that myself. (Now I need to hunt down a good photo of the Grumman F-11 Tiger in Blue Angels livery, for that was the aircraft they were flying when I first saw them. As a kid. Before I saw the Thunderbirds.)

The Aggressive-class minesweeper header is a tip of the hat to fellow blogger (and all around great guy) HMS Defiant. As USS Esteem (AM/MSO-438, he served aboard that one) graces his blog's header, I chose a different one, so I picked USS Fortify (AM/MSO-446). The photo actually shows her at sea, most of the other photos wouldn't fit in the header (1476 x 466 pixels, no exceptions) or were tied up to the pier.

World War I aircraft was another reader suggestion. But what aircraft, there were so many. So I chose an iconic event from the air combats of the Great War - the downing of Manfred von Richthofen, the leading ace of that war with 80 aerial victories. The red triplane (Fokker Dr.I) in the painting is the Red Baron's aircraft. The Sopwith Camel on his tail is flown by Canadian Captain Roy Brown. Whether it was Captain Brown or ground fire from an Australian unit that killed von Richthofen will probably never be settled to anyone's satisfaction. Suffice to say, the Red Baron was no more. (The blurriness to either side of the main action is something I did to stretch the painting into the correct width. I wasn't happy with it at first and tried to mend it, nothing satisfied me. Then I thought that the blurriness to the left and right of center imparts a sense of motion. Anyhoo, that's my story and I'm sticking to it)

I think we all know juvat's love of destroyed armored vehicles and his hatred of fully functioning tanks. (Which stems from his having been attacked by the hood of a Dodge Ram pickup in his formative years.) So I really did need to include a header with a destroyed tank on it. As this particular photo also includes Dwight D. Eisenhower, general, President, namesake of The Nuke's first carrier, and a man with whom my paternal grandfather served, I thought, "Why not?" It's a good photo.

I ran across this painting quite by accident. Two stretcher bearers carrying a wounded comrade away from the front in World War I. It struck me that I needed to honor the docs, nurses, medics, corpsmen, etc. who treat the wounded. I hold them in great respect and no little amount of affection. Expect to see this around Memorial Day or around what some call Veterans Day, but which to me will always be Armistice Day. Maybe both. Here's to you Doc!

Another painting which I "stumbled across." Actually, on one of my sidetracks I thought of the great American painter Frederic Remington (may have been triggered by a comment over on koobecaF by my friend Brig, who knows her Western art). So I though that a Remington-based header would be nice. (A Dash for the Timber is one of my favorite Remington paintings.)

The Battle of the Bulge is one of my "favorite" battles (a topic I need to think on and post about, how can one have a "favorite" battle, as if it's like a flavor of ice cream. Dammit Sarge, people die in battle, how can you have a "favorite"? Yep, sidetrack, right there.) Anyhoo, the long line of American infantry marching off into the snow and cold in the Ardennes is evocative of that battle, at least to me. Expect to see this one used in the mid-December time frame.

Another reader suggestion was the C-47, the ubiquitous "Gooney Bird." The aircraft which delivered paratroopers to many a far-flung battlefield, a cargo hauler extraordinaire, and an iconic symbol of the Allied victory in WWII. Not to mention a very successful aircraft design which is still in use after it's first flight roughly two weeks after Pearl Harbor. Like John Blackstone said, "When the last C-47 is delivered to a museum somewhere, the crew will probably get a ride home in a C-130."

No doubt.

Flight Deck Ops

(May 19, 2003) -- An EA-6B Prowler assigned to the “Black Ravens” of Electronic Attack Squadron 135 (VAQ-135) prepares to launch from one of four steam powered catapults during flight operations on the flight deck aboard USS Nimitz (CVN 68).
U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Yesenia Rosas.

Cuppla readers pointed out yesterday that flying from the deck of a carrier is just one part of the picture when it comes to naval aviation. They're right, there's a lot more going on than just cat shots and traps.

And what do all those shirt colors mean? Though this video was made for kids, it's very good.

Without the marshallers, maintainers, ordies, shooters, fuelers, and the like, the aircraft never leave the deck.

There's also the men and women who maintain and drive the airfield itself, the aircraft carrier which is the home to all of those aircraft and the folks in the air wing, they're called ship's company. Not to annoy The Nuke or anything, but those folks own "the boat," which is what the air wing calls that big gray beast that displaces 106,300 tons, is 1,092 feet long at the flight deck (1,040 feet at the waterline), and is 252 feet wide at the flight deck (134 feet at the waterline).

Without the ship, the air wing isn't going anywhere...

Your choice...The "Purge" or Italy

Well, El nuevo casa en el rancho de juvat, I've been informed is just one document away from beginning construction.  Apparently, the Bank and the Builder use the same word with different meanings.

The word in this case is "Reserve".  To the bank, Reserve is the amount of money you have set aside for Down Payment.  To the Builder, Reserve is the amount of money you have for all the extras.  You know, the Well, Septic, Road, Electricity.  

The document in question is the contract.  The bank has approved a dollar limit based on our equity on our 31 acres.  We own it outright, It's value depends on how much the latest person from that state out west decides to pay for his 31 acre property.  So that Reserve has never been an issue.

Similarly, we've got money in the bank to fill the Reserve needed by the Builder.  So, having explained all this to the Bank, they said:

They expect the revised paperwork to be ready to sign early this week.  Along with a large Check, that will start the construction phase.

Yay!

Mrs J, being the ever brilliant person she is, realized that, when we moved in to our current 2200 sq ft domicile, we had left a 4400 sq ft house.  This was 20 years ago.  That excess has been in our storage building (10'x10'x30') since.

In addition, both children have moved on in life and their treasures from college remain here.  

So, Mrs J has decided that "The Purge" will commence immediately and will be....Ruthless!

This past weekend it started out on our screened in porch which had become an alternate storage location.

Have I mentioned that the only thing that reproduces faster than rabbits is....Junk!

So, my friends, I am faced with a conundrum.  Do you want to hear about my weekend's activities in "The Purge", or should I regale you with more pictures from Italy?

Right!  Italy it is!

Having spent a few days prior to Halloween in Cinque Terre, we are going to make our way back down south, eventually arriving at Rome's port, Civitavecchia, where we will board a ship and cruise the eastern Med. 

However, the ladies of the party, have decreed (having learned that from Roman Empresses...When in Rome...) that we will stop in Florence for a few days and plan a day trip to Siena.

So it is written....

We board the train and arrive in Florence.  Mind you, this is pre-Uber.  So, having studied the map, we realize that our B and B is only a half mile or so from the train station, we'll walk.

The gods of weather start laughing.  Once we're pretty well committed to walking, the sky opens up and it starts raining.  Immediately, the street vendors change their proffered offerings to umbrellas.

   We arrive at the flat only to find that it is locked.  Calling the service to announce our arrival returns a hearty, "Someone will be there with a key....shortly."

Shortly, apparently, means something in the order of 45 minutes to an hour.  But...Thankfully, it does mean an arrival.

The flat is 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, living room, dining room and kitchen and is quite nice.  And Heated!

It is quite near the Palazzo Vecchio, or the old administration building as well as the Uffizi Palace and Gallery.  Everybody knew the Uffizi is an art museum except the fighter pilot.

Source

So...we've got that going for us.

Palazzo Vecchio

Showered, warmed and hungry, we set out to find dinner.

Lots of spectacular architecture to be seen.

The fighter pilot is doing his darndest to not get lost in a large city, at night, with no discernable direction to streets.  But we've been given explicit instructions on how to get to the restaurant.  

Yeah...right!

But we do find the Cathedral (Technically..."Il Duomo"...The dome).

Now....THAT was spectacular.

And the restaurant is only a block away.  Surely, juvat, you can navigate that far, right?

As a matter of fact, I can!

Dinner was quite nice,  with wine, of course!   Which greatly aided navigation back to the flat.

Supposedly, rubbing the boar's snout grants the rubber super powers. 

The following morning, armed with our newly purchased defensive weaponry, we set out for the local market.  The ladies want to go...shopping.  The men are invited to go along, keep their mouths shut and pay the shopkeepers.

Which we do.

The ladies are wondering why we are dragging along.  Little J is also. 

The winemaker, ever the artist, has found an artful exhibit to photograph.

No idea who the lady is,  She stood there the whole time until I took the picture.

We walked across the bridge at Ponte Vecchio. supposedly built in 996AD.  Cripes! Even Sarge isn't that old.

Until 1215, it was the only bridge across the Arno River.  It was also the only bridge the Germans didn't destroy in WWII.  They only blocked access to it by destroying the buildings on either side of the approaches.

Thoroughly "touristed" out, we make it back to our flat safely.  The next day will be an out and back to Sienna.

We awaken to a beautiful day, cool, but clear.  The train is on time, comfortable and quick and we arrive at Sienna mid morning.

First stop is the Piazza Del Campo,  essentially, Sienna's Central Plaza.

Yes, there were three different people taking this picture at the same time.  This one is the Winemaker's.

The ladies are ready to go Shopping!  Little J, the Winemaker and myself, find a little bistro and enjoy a fine bottle of wine.  While doing a little crowd watching.  

We're wandering about, waiting for the ladies to complete their rescue of the Sienesse Economy, when we find an interesting building.

Turns out it's a bank.

I believe these are folks that didn't repay their loans on time.

Or something.

LJW does not look enthused about the selections.

We inquire about lunch and are directed to a nearby restaurant directly behind "City Hall ca 1400 AD")

The Winemakers peruse the important part of the menu.

What, Beans?  The wine list of course!

A sumptuous  meal was partaken and I found that my mother's family had emigrated from the Sienna area and our waiter was, in fact, a distant cousin.  He insisted on a family photograph.  My remembrances of family stories about  emigrating from the Naples area, were apparently in error.  

And....How can one not generously tip a family member, however distant?

Our last stop in Sienna, is to the Cathedral of St Catherine.

St Catherine has an interesting story but I think a couple of things of particular interest were 1) she was the 23rd of 25 children, only 12 of which survived.  2) She lived during the Black Plague.  That might cause someone to "Get Religion".  Lots of other points I find interesting in the linked article. YMMV

We head back home to Florence where the following morning we're awoken to the sound of a parade outside our window.  Apparently, the women were successful in rescuing the Italian economy and the locals wanted to show their appreciation.

Or something...

The train to the port was uneventful, boarding was swift and shortly thereafter....

And that will have to wait for a future story.