The Mulberry Harbors were truly a BYOH affair.
Key point: These artificial harbors could be combined to allow the invasion fleet to land heavy equipment and more troops. It was an ingenious idea and some of the the concrete harbor pieces can still be found today.
Long before the first soldiers set foot on the beaches of Normandy on the morning of June 6, 1944 military planners knew that getting those troops to Normandy and establishing a beachhead was quite literally just half the battle. In addition to securing and holding the beaches, it would take considerable effort to supply those soldiers especially as they moved inland.
Posted on December 20th, 2020
At present, albeit in a different context, there is another westward strategy from the Eastern Pacific theatre. It is that of the US Pacific Command in Hawaii along with Japan, Australia and other like-minded allies.Sri Lankan navy at Sri Lanka’s 72nd Independence Day 4 February 2020, Colombo. Photo: Ishara S. Kofikara AFP via Getty
Sri Lanka was never at war with Japan during World War II. Japan was at war with the allied forces and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) happened to be a base operation for the British Eastern Command. Four months after the Pearl Harbour surprise attack by the Japanese in the Pacific theatre which altered US Foreign Policy, another similar attack took place in the Indian Ocean. On Easter Sunday morning of 5 April 1942, Sri Lanka came under attack. The geostrategic locations of Hawaii and Sri Lanka were identified and rightly assessed by the Japanese-German strategic officers such as Vice Admiral Nomu
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, with Lieutenant-Colonel George Dittmer at his side, watches 16 Platoon of D Company, 28th Maori Battalion, march past in England, 1940. The Maori Battalion, along with the rest of 2NZEF’s Second Echelon, had been en route to the Middle East in May 1940 when they were diverted to Britain. In July they were deployed to southern England to help defend against a possible German invasion. After six months in Britain the men of the Second Echelon sailed for their original destination, Egypt, where they arrived in early March 1941.
The Maori
By the time the Second World War ended in 1945, 28 (Maori) Battalion had become one of the most celebrated and decorated units in the New Zealand forces. The pinnacle of its achievement was the Victoria Cross won by Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngārimu in 1943. Ultimately, nearly 16,000 Māori enlisted for service during the Second World War.
Sri Lanka was never at war with Japan during World War II. Japan was at war with the allied forces and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) happened to be a base operation for the British Eastern Command. Four months after the Pearl Harbour surprise attack by the Japanese in the Pacific theatre which altered US Foreign Policy, another similar attack took place in the Indian Ocean. On Easter Sunday morning of 5 April 1942, Sri Lanka came under attack. The geostrategic locations of Hawaii and Sri Lanka were identified and rightly assessed by the Japanese-German strategic officers such as Vice Admiral Nomura and Admiral Kurt Fricke, Chief of Staff of the German Maritime Warfare Command (Seekriegsleitung) as the perfect launchpad to springboard their sphere of influences.
How 2020 has changed the Royal family forever
Megxit, the pandemic, scandals and health scares: they were enough to rock the monarchy to its core. So how has The Firm bounced back?
The royals have also faced a string of unrelated pressures
Credit: Getty
It has been the year that has changed the Royal family for ever, with deep fractures, power shifts and new hierarchies emerging in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. From the ‘Megxit’ crisis, which threatened to plunge the monarchy into constitutional turmoil at the beginning of 2020, to the year ending with a significantly scaled-down royal Christmas, these were 12 months like no other for the House of Windsor.