Taiwan Province

Taiwan Province (; PFS: "Thòi-vàn-sén" or "Thòi-vân-sén") is a nominal province of the Republic of China without administrative function. Its administrative powers have been transferred to the central and county governments.
Taiwan Province covers approximately 69% of the actual-controlled territory of the Republic of China, with around 31% of the total population. The province initially included the island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu (the Pescadores), Orchid Island, Green Island, Xiaoliuqiu Island, and their surrounding islands. Between 1967 and 2014, six special municipalities (Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei and Taoyuan) were split off from the province, all in the most populous regions.
The Taiwan Provincial Government was established in September 1945, after the Japanese rule. It was streamlined in December 1998, with administrative functions transferred to the National Development Council and other ministries of the Executive Yuan. In July 2018, the government was dissolved, with budget and personnel removed.
History.
Qing Empire.
In 1683, Zheng Keshuang (third ruler of the Kingdom of Tungning and a grandson of Koxinga), surrendered to the Qing Empire following a naval engagement with Admiral Shi Lang. The Qing then ruled the Taiwanese archipelago (including Penghu) as Taiwan Prefecture of Fujian Province. In 1875, Taipeh Prefecture was separated from Taiwan Prefecture. In 1885, work commenced under the auspices of Liu Ming-chuan to develop Taiwan into a province. In 1887, the island was designated as a province (officially ), with Liu as the first governor. The province was also reorganized into four prefectures, eleven districts, and three sub-prefectures. The provincial capital, or "Taiwan-fu", was intended to be moved from the south (modern-day Tainan) to the more central area of "Toatun" (modern-day Taichung) in the revamped Taiwan Prefecture. As the new central Taiwan-fu was still under construction, the capital was temporarily moved north to Taipeh (modern-day Taipei), which eventually was designated the provincial capital.
Empire of Japan.
In 1895, the entire Taiwan Province, including Penghu, was ceded to Japan following the First Sino-Japanese War through the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Under Japanese rule, the province was abolished in favour of Japanese-style divisions. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, the Taiwan was handed over to the Republic of China (ROC).
Republic of China.
The ROC government immediately established the Taiwan Provincial Government under first Chief Executive and government-general Chen Yi in September 1945. Chen was extremely unpopular and his rule led to an uprising – the February 28 Incident of 1947. Chen was recalled in May 1947 and the government-general position was abolished.
When the Republic of China government was relocated to Taipei in 1949 as a result of the Kuomintang's (KMT) defeat by the Communist Party of China forces in the Chinese Civil War, the provincial administration remained in place under the claim that the ROC was still the government of all of China even though the opposition argued that it overlapped inefficiently with the national government.
The seat of the provincial government was moved from Taipei to Zhongxing New Village in 1956. Historically, Taiwan Province covers the entire island of Taiwan and all its associated islands. The city of Taipei was split off to become a province-level special municipality in 1967, and the city of Kaohsiung was split off in 1979 to become another special municipality. In December 2010, Kaohsiung County left the province and merged with the original Kaohsiung City to become an expanded Kaohsiung City, Taipei County became the special municipality named New Taipei City. The cities and counties of Taichung and Tainan were also merged, respectively, and elevated to special municipality. On 25 December 2014, Taoyuan County was upgraded into a special municipality and split off from Taiwan Province.
Until 1992, the governor of Taiwan province was appointed by the ROC central government. The office was often a stepping stone to higher office.
In 1992, the post of the governor of the province was opened to election. The then-opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) agreed to retain the province with an elected governor in the hopes of creating a "Yeltsin effect" in which a popular local leader could overwhelm the national government. These hopes proved unfulfilled as then-Kuomintang member James Soong was elected governor of Taiwan province, defeating the DPP candidate Chen Ding-nan.
In 1997, as the result of an agreement between the KMT and the DPP, the powers of the provincial government were curtailed by constitutional amendments. The post of provincial governor was abolished. In addition, the provincial council was also replaced by the Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council. Although the stated purpose was administrative efficiency, Soong and his supporters claim that it was actually intended to impede James Soong's political life, though it did not have this effect.
The provincial administration was downscaled in 1998, most of its power handed to the central government. The counties and provincial cities under the province became the primary administrative divisions of the country.
Government.
The position of the Chairperson of the Provincial Government, appointed by the central government, is retained to comply with the Constitution.
The major operations of the provincial government, such as managing provincial highways and the Bank of Taiwan, have been transferred to the Executive Yuan since 1998. In July 2018, all remaining duties were transferred to the National Development Council and other ministries of the Executive Yuan.
The Taiwan Provincial Government was located in Zhongxing New Village, Nantou City, Nantou County between 1957 and 2018.
Divisions.
History of divisions.
In October 1945, The government of the Republic of China reformed the eight(8) Japanese prefectures under the Government-General of Taiwan into 8 counties and 9 cities.
Current divisions.
Taiwan Province is nominally divided into 11 counties and 3 cities . All divisions are directly administered by the central government in practice.
Note that the special municipalities of Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei and Taoyuan are both nominally under and directly administered by the central government. They are not part of any province.
Sister states/provinces.
Taiwan Province is twinned with 42 U.S. states:
Territorial disputes.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) regards itself as the "successor state" of the Republic of China (ROC), which the PRC claims no longer legitimately exists, following establishment of the PRC in mainland China. The PRC asserts itself to be the sole legitimate government of China, and claims Taiwan as its 23rd province, even though the PRC itself has never had control of Taiwan or other ROC-held territories. The ROC disputes this position, maintaining that it still legitimately exists and that the PRC has not succeeded it to sovereignty.
The PRC claims the entirety of the island of Taiwan and its surrounding islets, including the Penghu, as parts of its Taiwan Province, corresponding to the ROC's Taiwan Province before the special municipalities were split off. The PRC claims that Taiwan is part of China, that the PRC succeeded the ROC as the sole legitimate authority in all of China upon its founding in 1949, and that therefore Taiwan is part of the PRC.
The Senkaku Islands, which are currently administered by Japan, are disputed by both the ROC and PRC, which claim them as the Tiaoyutai/Diaoyu Islands. The ROC government claims them as part of Toucheng Township, Yilan County.


David H. Li

David H. Li is an author on Chinese history and chess.
Biography and bibliography.
He has written several books and also translated several Chinese classics to English. He was born in 1928 in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, and moved to the United States in 1949, where he still lives in Bethesda, Maryland. He was an accountant and accounting teacher. His academic career included lectures at the University of Washington, Seattle, and as a Ford Foundation Visiting Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Later he joined the World Bank Group. After retirement, Li published a number of books in English on the culture of China, including translations of the "Analects of Confucius", "The Art of War", and "Tao Te Ching", as well as several books on xiangqi or Chinese chess.
Hypothesis.
In his book "The Genealogy of Chess" (which won the 'Book of the Year' 1998 award from the editors of "GAMES Magazine"), Li surveys evidence regarding the origins of chess and concludes that an early version of chess called xiangqi was invented in China in 203 BC, by General Han Xin, who supposedly drew on the earlier game "liubo" as well as on the teachings of "The Art of War". Li suggests that this game had spread via the Silk Road, to Persia (becoming various forms of shatranj) and India (becoming various forms of chaturanga), as well as to Japan (becoming shogi) and Korea (becoming janggi).Li's idea has been contested.


Ahmed Omaid Khpalwak

Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak, also spelled as Ahmed Omed Khpulwak, (ca. 1987 – 28 July 2011) was an Afghan journalist who worked for the Pajhwok Afghan News and as a freelance stringer for the BBC since 2008. After an investigation into his death, it was determined by the International Security Assistance Force that an American soldier had accidentally killed Khpalwak while clearing a broadcast building of terrorists while Tarin Kowt was under attack. Khpalwak was the third journalist from Pajhwok to be killed in three years. He was the third BBC reporter to be killed in Afghanistan and the second BBC reporter to be killed in the War in Afghanistan.
Biography.
Career.
Khpalwak began working for Pajhwok after completing his education in 2007, and he worked first as a freelancer and then later became staff. Khpalwak joined the staff of the BBC World Service as a journalist on 1 May 2008. He worked as a stringer for the BBC, based in Uruzgan Province, and was paid for each story which was published or broadcast by the BBC. He often reported for BBC Pashto on events in southern Afghanistan. Khpalwak simultaneously also worked for Pajhwok Afghan News agency.
"His last two stories for Pajhwok Afghan News, before he died on 28 July in a major attack in Tarin Kowt, capital of Uruzgan province, were about an attack on police checkpoints in which both Taliban and police were killed, and an interview with a would-be suicide bomber. Few of his 24 years of life saw any kind of peace in Afghanistan," a colleague wrote.
Personal.
Khpalwak, who was twenty-four years old, was survived by his parents, his elder brother, three sisters, and his wife and three-month-old daughter.
After Khpalwak's death, Khpalwak's father, Ghulam Nabi, did not accept offers by the United States to compensate the family Omaid's death and wanted the investigation to continue. The family members sought asylum in Australia for fear of retaliation. Abdul Mujeeb Khalvatgar, executive director of NAI SOMA, said the capital did not offer the Khpalwaks anonymity because it was small and he believed the Khpalwaks were in danger.
Background.
Three suicide bombers and three accomplices bombed several government buildings as well as a broadcasting station in which a total of 21 civilians were killed and 38 more injured. The dead included 10 children, three police, and one Afghan reporter. Afghan and US-led NATO forces engaged responded and killed all insurgents. In the shooting, Pajhwok Journalist Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak was killed by a group of US soldiers while they were clearing the broadcasting station. The incident occurred over a 5-hour period.
Death.
Khpalwak was killed by American ISAF troops 28 July 2011 in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan, after Taliban insurgents attacked government facilities, as well as the state broadcasting station, in Uruzgan's provincial capital. "The New York Times" called the attack one of the "most audacious surprise attacks" ever undertaken by the Taliban.
Reporters Without Borders and BBC News called for an investigation after Khpalwak was killed at the broadcasting station. The journalist's brother Ahmad Jawid Khpalwak believed he was reaching for his press card when he was shot. The Los Angeles Times wrote about text messages that Khpalwak sent his brother in the minutes before he was killed. "Death is approaching," he messaged. "I am hiding;" and a short time later wrote, "If I die, pray for me."
A NATO investigation revealed 8 September that an American soldier had killed Khpalwak. Kphalwak's death happened while he was reporting for BBC Pashto about the Taliban attack. The ISAF arrived at an attacked building and was making sure that there were no Taliban still inside. An American soldier discovered Khpalwak hiding in a bathroom and saw Khpalwak reaching for something when it was mostly likely his press card. The soldier thought that Khpalwak could have been a suicide bomber and trying to reach for a device that would set off a bomb before he shot 20 rounds at Khpalwak with an M-4. The investigation also said Khpalwak held a press identification card in his hand.
The investigation concluded, "... the ISAF member involved in this incident complied with the laws of armed conflict and rules of engagement and acted reasonably under the circumstances."
Context.
While the intended targets of the Taliban attack were Uruzgan's Governor and a militia leader named Matiullah Khan, the Taliban also stormed the offices of local radio and television stations, leading to Khpalwak being killed while hiding in a bathroom by American troops that came to sweep out the Taliban.
Local reporters are the ones who are in the most danger, according to press activist Abdul Mujeeb Khalvatgar, executive director the NAI Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan.
Impact.
Khpalwak is the third Pajhwok reporter and the third BBC reporter to be killed in Afghanistan. Working for the BBC, Mirwais Jalil died in Kabul in the civil war of the 1990s. During the War in Afghanistan, Abdul Samad Rohani was killed by an unknown gunman in Lashkargah, Helmand Province June 2008. Like Khpalwak, Rohani worked for both Pajhwok and the BBC Word News. Pajhwok reporter Janullah Hashimzada was killed in the remote Khyber area August 2009.
Reactions.
The incident raised continuing concerns about the civilian casualties in the War in Afghanistan.
The "Los Angeles Times" said, "The incident points up the daily dangers faced by Afghans who work for foreign organizations, as well as Afghan civilians in general, particularly those living in a broad swath of Afghanistan's restive south."
Peter Horrocks, director of BBC Global News, said: "Ahmed Omed's death further highlights the great dangers facing journalists who put their lives on the line to provide vital news from around the world. It is essential that journalists are given the best possible protection whilst reporting in dangerous situations so that the world can hear their stories."
Reporters Without Borders said, "This mishap has highlighted the constant danger for civilians and journalists, who are often at the center of the fighting." The press freedom and safety organisation held NATO and the Taliban responsible for Khpalwak's death.
Recognition.
A press club in the Afghan province Uruzgan was named in honour of Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak.


Martin Widdowson

Air Commodore Martin Keith Widdowson (born 10 May 1946) was a senior Royal Air Force officer in the 1980s and 1990s and the 24th and last Commandant Royal Observer Corps.
Military career.
Widdowson was commissioned into the Royal Air Force on 25 March 1964, as an acting pilot officer. A year later, on 25 March 1965, he was regraded as a pilot officer. A year after that, on 25 March 1966, he was promoted to flying officer, and he was appointed to a permanent commission on 1 October 1968. He was promoted to flight lieutenant on 25 September 1969. On 1 January 1974, he was promoted to squadron leader. He was promoted to wing commander on 1 July 1981.
His final operational flying appointment was as the Officer Commanding No. 23 Squadron in 1982 and by the late 1980s, he was Station Commander of RAF Coningsby. He was promoted from wing commander to group captain on 1 January 1988. On 1 July 1992, he was promoted to air commodore and in 1995 he was appointed as Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) of No. 11/18 Group RAF, simultaneously holding the appointment of 24th and last Commandant Royal Observer Corps until the ROC was Stood Down. He retired from the RAF on 14 September 1996.


Francisco Javier Cuadra

Francisco Javier Cuadra Lizana (born 23 June 1954) is a Chilean lawyer, academic, and politician. He was a minister under the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, dean of the Faculty of Law, and later rector of Diego Portales University.
Biography.
The son of Francisco Javier Cuadra Cornejo – lawyer of El Teniente mine – and María Cristina Lizana Alvear, Francisco Javier Cuadra spent his childhood and adolescence in his hometown of Rancagua with his brothers Cristián, Juan Pablo, Gonzalo, and José Miguel. There he studied at the Instituto O'Higgins and then went to university in Santiago: he first entered Adolfo Ibáñez University, where he took five semesters of Commercial Engineering, but after the coup of 1973 he changed to Law at the Pontifical Catholic University, where he received a degree in that discipline.
Recently graduated, he worked at the now-defunct Banco Continental, the only one to be the subject of an intervention by the at the time. One of the delegates of this era was , but on 31 January 1983, he was dismissed after a conflict related to the manner in which negotiations with the entity's workers were handled.
Public life.
That same year Cuadra began to work in the Office of Special Affairs of Government – which was in charge of relations with the Holy See and which provided political analysis to Pinochet – led by Sergio Rillón. To the latter, Pinochet offered the Ministry General Secretariat of Government in November 1984, a post that he refused, but for which he recommended Cuadra, his second-in-command. He thus obtained his first important position in the military dictatorship, which he held from 1984 to 1987. He was then ambassador of Chile to the Holy See until the end of the regime (1987–1990).
After the return to democracy, he devoted himself mainly to the academic field and political analysis.
In an interview with the magazine "Qué Pasa", in its 13 January 1995 issue, Cuadra said that there were "parliamentarians and other people who exercise public functions who use drugs." For this he was prosecuted under the , and was eventually sentenced to 540 days in prison. The incident led him to renounce National Renewal (RN), the party to which Andrés Allamand had brought him (and in doing so, he had appointed him director of the Liberty Institute).
In 2004 Cuadra was appointed rector of Diego Portales University, where he had worked sporadically as a teacher since 1983, and where two of his eight children, José Francisco and José Antonio, had studied. On 14 November 2005, he was forced to resign that position due to pressures exerted by certain sectors of Chilean society, especially by the student community of that house of studies. His departure came after some statements Cuadra made to "", in which he claimed that under Pinochet, for whom he was minister, some people were detained - particularly Ricardo Lagos, after the – to save them from falling into the hands of the feared Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI, successor to the DINA).
The statements that detentions were made under dictatorship to prevent other repressive agencies from eliminating opponents of the regime meant that those representatives, the authors of such preventive detentions, were aware of the human rights violations that were taking place at that time. Hence, Judge Hugo Dolmestch, who was in charge of the investigation into the killings of four leftist militants committed by the CNI, ordered the interrogation of several of the members of Pinochet's cabinet, including Cuadra.
Cuadra was an advisor to Horacio Cartes, elected president of Paraguay in 2013, since he was a precandidate to lead the country for the Colorado Party.
Cultural references.
Cuadra was featured as the main character of the novels "Baila hermosa Soledad" (1991) by and "La patria" (2012) by Marcelo Leonart.


Pete Hegseth

Peter Brian Hegseth (born June 6, 1980) is an American television host and author.
Hegseth is a former Army National Guard officer and former executive director of political advocacy groups Vets For Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America. The latter, a conservative advocacy group funded by the Koch brothers, advocates greater privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs. He was considered to lead the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in the Trump administration, but major veterans' groups objected to the potential pick. In January 2017, David Shulkin was selected instead.
Hegseth has been active in conservative and Republican politics since his days as an undergraduate at Princeton University. In 2016, he emerged as a strong supporter of Donald Trump's presidential candidacy, and served as an occasional advisor to Trump throughout the latter's presidency.
Hegseth reportedly persuaded Trump to pardon three American soldiers accused or convicted of war crimes related to the shooting of non-combatants in Iraq. He has provoked controversy and criticism for his role in this regard. Hegseth, who was a platoon leader at Guantanamo Bay during his military service, has also controversially defended the treatment of detainees there.
Education.
Hegseth attended Forest Lake Area High School in Forest Lake, Minnesota, and received his Bachelor of Arts at Princeton University in 2003. In 2013, he received a Master of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
At Princeton, Hegseth was the publisher of "The Princeton Tory", a conservative student-run publication.
Military career.
Following graduation from Princeton in 2003, Hegseth joined Bear Stearns as an equity capital markets analyst and was also commissioned as a reserve infantry officer into the U.S. Army National Guard. In 2004 his unit was called to Guantánamo Bay, where he served as an infantry platoon leader with the Minnesota NationalGuard. His unit was under the operational control of the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment 101st Airborne Division. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. Shortly after returning from Cuba, Hegseth volunteered to serve in Baghdad and Samarra, where he held the position of infantry platoon leader and, later in Samarra, as civil–military operations officer. During his time in Iraq, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, and a second Army Commendation Medal.
Conservative activism and Senate campaign.
Upon return from Iraq, Hegseth worked briefly at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. According to his LinkedIn page, Hegseth left the conservative think tank in 2007 to work at Vets For Freedom as executive director. His role included responding to the Federal Election Commission as "treasurer" of the organization. He worked at Vets for Freedom until 2012. The organization advocated a greater troop presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hegseth formed the political action committee MN PAC in 2012.
Hegseth was the executive director for Concerned Veterans for America, an advocacy group funded by the Koch brothers. The group advocated greater privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). According to his LinkedIn page, he left the group in 2015.
2012 U.S. Senate campaign.
Hegseth ran for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota in 2012. He withdrew from the race after the May 2012 convention, before the Republican primary election in August, both events in which Kurt Bills won the nomination.
Questioned spending.
While Hegseth was its chief executive, Concerned Veterans for America hired his brother Philip to work for the non-profit and paid him $108,000 according to tax records from 2016 and 2017. Asked about it, Hegseth's lawyer said that Philip, a May 2015 university graduate, was qualified for the media relations job, and noted there is no prohibition against private entities hiring family members.
An APM Reports analysis found that while Hegseth ran the MN PAC political action committee, one third of its $15,000 in funds were spent on Christmas parties for families and friends. Campaign finance laws in Minnesota do not prohibit such spending. Less than half of the PAC's resources was spent on candidates, and as of March 2018, the PAC had closed its account with the state board.
Punditry.
During the 2016 Republican primaries, he initially backed Marco Rubio, then Ted Cruz and ultimately Donald Trump. Hegseth, since then, has emerged as a strong Trump supporter. As a Fox News personality, he frequently criticized the media and Democrats. He criticized Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Hegseth has appeared on Fox News Channel, as well as on CNN and MSNBC.
Fox News.
Hegseth joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014.
On June 14, 2015, Hegseth accidently hit a West Point drummer with an axe while filming a live TV segment in honor of Flag Day. According to the drummer, he sustained "only minor injuries." The "New York Daily News" reported that in a later segment, the drummer was "seen cheerfully speaking on camera as if the accident never took place."
In September 2017, Hegseth interviewed President Donald Trump. Hegseth received criticism for allowing Trump to make false claims without challenging him. According to an opinion column in "The Washington Post", Hegseth's "interview was notable for one reason: a viewer who got most of his news from Fox heard only scant details about the contents of Cassidy-Graham. As with the previous attempts to partially repeal the ACA, the bill was covered less for its substance than as a question of whether Republicans could deliver a "win" on a key issue." Philip Bump of the "Washington Post" provided a list of all notable claims that Trump made during the interview that, in his opinion, warranted follow-up questions which Hegseth never asked. Hegseth was speculatively mentioned as a hypothetical replacement for VA Secretary David Shulkin.
In May 2018, Hegseth mocked "The New York Times" for ostensibly not covering a story about the capture of five ISIS leaders, referring to the paper as the "failing "New York Times"". However, it was "The New York Times" that broke the story in question.
In December 2018, Hegseth co-hosted a several-hour New Year's Eve program with Fox Business Network's Kennedy, during which a pre-recorded telephone interview between him and President Trump was broadcast.
In May 2019, it was reported that Trump was considering pardoning several US military service members who had been charged with war crimes, including a veteran set to stand trial for shooting indiscriminately at civilians, hitting a girl and an elderly man, as well as fatally stabbing a captured teenage Islamic State (ISIS) member while he was receiving medical treatment. "The Daily Beast" and CNN later reported that Hegseth had for months sought to convince Trump to pardon these individuals. At the same time, Hegseth was discussing these cases on Fox News without disclosing that he had advised Trump to pardon them. In November 2019, Trump pardoned three service members accused or convicted of war crimes. Shortly before Trump announced his decision, Hegseth suggested that Trump was about to take "imminent action" in the cases.
In July 2019, Hegseth said that one of the Muslim members of Congress, Rashida Tlaib, had a "Hamas agenda".
In August 2019, he lamented that "young kids voting" are worried about the adverse effects of climate change. Hegseth also criticized universities for teaching students about "environmentalism and radical environmentalism" rather than a "real threat" such as Islamic extremism.
In January 2020, Hegseth expressed strong support for President Trump's decision to kill Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. He also called on Trump to bomb the Iranian homeland, including cultural sites in Iran if they were storing weapons.
In February 2020, amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Hegseth said that Democrats were "rooting for coronavirus to spread. They’re rooting for it to grow. They’re rooting for the problem to get worse."
Personal life.
Hegseth was divorced from his first wife, Meredith Schwarz, in 2009. He married his second wife, Samantha Deering, in 2010; they have three children. During his marriage to Deering, Hegseth had a daughter with Fox executive producer Jennifer Rauchet, with whom he was having an extramarital relationship, in August 2017. He and Deering divorced in August 2017. Hegseth and Rauchet, who has three young children from her first marriage, married in August 2019.
Hegseth identifies as a Christian.
Bibliography.
Hegseth wrote the foreword to the 2017 book "The Case Against the Establishment" () by Nick Adams and Dave Erickson. His own books include:


Kamp Schoorl

Schoorl transit camp (, ), originally a Dutch army camp (1939–1940), was a Nazi concentration camp (1940–1941) near the village of Schoorl in the Netherlands.
History.
"Kamp Schoorl" was built in 1939 as a Dutch army camp. Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands in May 1940.
Among the prisoners were also people from England, Belgium and France. After a few months the French and the Belgians were released. In September 1940 the English prisoners were transferred to a German camp in the Polish town of Toszek.
The first Jews captured during the razzia (pogrom) of 22 and 23 February 1941 in Amsterdam () were transferred in an army truck to the camp. The group of 425 people only stayed for four days after which they were transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp where in June 1941 they were again transferred to Mauthausen concentration camp. Only two of this group survived the war.
For about 1,900 people the camp was their first camp before being transferred to other camps. More than 1,000 of them never returned, mainly Jews and political prisoners.
The regime in the camp was mild compared to the other Dutch camps. There was no heavy labour and there was enough food.
The camp was closed by the Germans because the camp was too small and located between the dunes. It was not easy to enlarge it. In October 1941 the camp was closed. Some of the prisoners were released, but most were transferred to Kamp Amersfoort, and 25 women were transported directly to Ravensbrück concentration camp.
Until the end of the war, militia of the Wehrmacht and the Organisation Todt used the camp as a base.
After the war the camp was used to imprison members of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands and was finally demolished in 1950.
Book.
"Het Kamp Schoorl" is the title of a book in Dutch by Albert Boer, dealing with the history of camp Schoorl.


Guominjun

The Guominjun (), a.k.a. Nationalist Army, KMC, also called the Northwest Army (西北軍) or People's Army, refers to the military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue during China's Warlord Era.
History.
The Guominjun was formed when Feng betrayed the Zhili clique during the Second Zhili–Fengtian War with the Fengtian clique in 1924. The Guominjun occupied Beijing, captured Zhili leader Cao Kun and expelled former Qing dynasty emperor Puyi from the Forbidden City.
In late 1925, Fengtian general Guo Songling defected to the KMC; this sparked the Anti-Fengtian War against Zhang Zuolin.
The Guominjun was incorporated into the Kuomintang's National Revolutionary Army as the "Second Collective Army" in 1928 during the Northern Expedition, and fought alongside the KMT to defeat Fengtian forces and capture Beijing.
In 1929, Feng grew increasingly dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek's regime; the Guominjun launched a full rebellion, the Central Plains War, in 1930. However, Feng was defeated and what was left of the faction was absorbed into the KMT.
Ideology.
The Guominjun was very sympathetic to Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang regime in Guangzhou, but due to geographic isolation they were independent of one another. The Guominjun was unusual for being an ideological army with its troops indoctrinated in Christian, socialist, and nationalist teachings. It also cared for its troops with welfare and education programs which was very rare at the time. This created a very determined, cohesive fighting force with high morale. The Guominjun's main foreign backer was the Soviet Union which had vied with the Japanese Empire for influence over the Fengtian clique. The Soviets were keen on building a relationship with Feng as he was seen as more ideologically acceptable. However, despite Feng's portrayal by outsiders as sympathizer of communism, and his claims to be an adherent of Sun Yat-sen's left-leaning teachings, the Guominjun was not a leftist army. It was primarily a nationalist force which was also reflected in Feng's adoption of only those elements of socialism and Christianity which he considered useful to improve Chinese society and strengthen his troops' morale.


Military Ordinariate of Great Britain


George H. Kerr

George H. Kerr (November 7, 1911 – August 27, 1992), also known in Taiwan as 葛超智 (or 柯喬治), was a United States diplomat during World War II, and in later years he was an author and an academic. His published works and archived papers cover "economic and political affairs in Taiwan in the 1930s and 1940s, Taiwan's transition from Japanese rule before and during World War II to postwar Chinese rule, Taiwanese rebellion against Chinese rule in 1947, and U.S. foreign policy toward Taiwan." His works also include "information about economic and political conditions in Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands after World War II."
Early life.
Kerr was born in Pennsylvania. He was a student in Japan during 1935 through 1937; and he was an English teacher in Taihoku, Japanese Taiwan, during 1937 through 1940.
Military career.
As a lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve, Kerr worked for the U.S. Navy as a Taiwan expert and instructed future military government officers during the Pacific War. In 1942–1943, Kerr was an analyst and consultant on Formosa in the U.S. Department of War. In 1944–1946, he was the director of the Formosa Research Unit at the Naval School of Military Government and Administration for the U.S. Navy at Columbia University in New York.
Diplomatic career.
After the war, Kerr returned to Taiwan in 1945 as an assistant naval attaché, escorting the newly appointed Chinese Governor-General Chen Yi to the Japanese surrender of Taiwan on 25 October 1945 (Retrocession Day). Kerr was present in his official capacity as a civil affairs officer of the U.S. Navy Attache's Office to the Republic of China government in Chongqing. Later, he became a diplomat at the U.S. embassy in China. He was a Foreign Service staff officer and vice-consul in Taipei. He has written about his eyewitness account of the February 28 Incident in 1947.
It was not till the early 1950s that he realized his wish to visit Okinawa, and with it a military commission to write a history, the purpose of which was to revive an independent Ryūkyūan identity. An able team of researcher-translators scoured Japan for historical sources on Okinawa. Then Kerr synthesized the material into the book "Okinawa: Kingdom and Province" (1953), and then in Japanese as "Ryūkyū no rekishi" (1955). In the meantime, Kerr began a revision based on additional research as well as criticism of the first two books and published a 1958 volume, "Okinawa: The History of an Island People."
Academic career.
Kerr was a lecturer at the University of Washington during 1947–1949; and he was a lecturer at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley in 1949–1950. For the next five years, he was a research associate at the Hoover Institution.
The open sections of Kerr's papers are available at the Okinawa Prefectural Archives in Haebaru, others at the Stanford, Taipei and Ryudai libraries.
Later life.
Kerr's publications on Taiwan are numerous. He championed the cause of Taiwan independence from China, thereby making himself a high-profile enemy to both Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong. (Chiang complained and Kerr lost his job at Stanford University.) He also drafted a long book on 19th century Hawaii, thus making his life's work of a piece: "the history of Pacific Ocean marine frontiers".
He is an author of many books and of numerous articles concerning Japan, Okinawa and Taiwan. Among them are the "Formosa: Licensed Revolution and the Home Rule Movement, 1895-1945", "Formosa Betrayed" (1965), "Descriptive Summary: George H. Kerr papers, 1943-1951", "Okinawa: The History of an Island People" (1958), and "The Taiwan Confrontation Crisis" (1986).
"Formosa Betrayed" was one of the most influential books about Taiwan's transition from Japanese colonial rule to the rule of the Kuomintang (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party) administration. George Kerr was working for the American Foreign Service at the time of the transition and was present in Taiwan for the KMT occupation and resulting aftermath. "Formosa Betrayed" made a sharp rebuke of the Nationalist administration and made arguments in favor of Taiwanese independence. The book was republished in 1976 by Da Capo Press. In 1992 a second edition was published by Taiwan Publishing Co. The book is now legally available online ("see link below").
"Okinawa: The History of an Island People" covers the legendary past to the Battle of Okinawa in 542 very read-able pages. Eleven years before he died, Kerr wrote that 13,000 copies had been sold. The book was out of print for a time, but Tuttle, the original publishers, reprinted it in 2000, adding a new introduction and an appendix by Okinawa history scholar Mitsugu Sakihara.
He died at the age of 80 on August 27, 1992 in Honolulu, Hawaii.


Basilica of St. John the Baptist, Berlin

The Basilica of St. John the Baptist () also called Basilica of St. John the Baptist Patron of Breslavia is the Catholic cathedral seat of the Military Ordinariate of Germany. The church is located in the district of Neukölln in Berlin.
The first stone of the basilica was placed in 1894. The architect of the project was August Menken, who had thought of the church as a basilica in the Romanesque style of the Rhine. The solemn inauguration of the church took place on May 8, 1897 in the presence of Emperor William II and Empress Augusta Victoria.
On December 3, 1906, Pope Pius X awarded the church the title of the Minor Basilica. From February 1, 2005, the church became the headquarters of the military regular of the Federal Government.


USS Charrette

USS "Charrette" (DD-581) was a of the United States Navy, named for Lieutenant George Charrette (1867–1938), who was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Spanish–American War. Entering service during World War II, she spent her career in the Pacific theatre. Placed in reserve following the war, "Charette" was transferred to the Kingdom of Greece in 1959 and renamed "Velos" (D16), remaining in service till 1991 before being preserved as a museum ship at Palaio Faliro, Athens.
Service history.
United States Navy.
"Charrette" was launched on 3 June 1942 by the Boston Navy Yard, sponsored by Mrs G. Charrette. The ship was commissioned on 18 May 1943, with Commander E. S. Karpe in command.
"Charrette" sailed from New York on the 20 September 1943 to escort the aircraft carrier to Pacific service. Arriving at Pearl Harbor 9 October, "Charrette" took part in training exercises until 10 November, when she put to sea with Task Force 50 (TF 50), for air raids on Japanese bases in the Marshalls. These strikes neutralized enemy air opposition to the landings at Makin and on Tarawa which followed. On 26 November, "Charrette" joined the screen of the task group assigned to air-cover operations over Makin and Tarawa, providing protection for the transports and supplying Naval Gunfire Support (NGS). Twelve days later, the destroyer screened battleships in a shore bombardment on Nauru, before rejoining the fast carrier task force sailing on to Efate. "Charrette" sailed on 21 December to screen the carriers as they launched strikes against Kavieng, New Ireland, during the three days preceding the assault on Cape Gloucester 26 December. Continuing north, the group arrived at Funafuti 21 January 1944 to prepare for the operations against the Marshall Islands.
1944.
From 23 January to 5 February 1944, "Charrette" screened the carriers in a series of strikes on Kwajalein and Eniwetok. On the night of 4–5 February, "Charrette" left her station to investigate a radar contact reported by one of the battleships. After tracking the contact to , she opened fire on a submarine which crash dived. "Charrette" attempted a depth charge attack, then used her radar to guide the destroyer escort to sink possibly , the first Japanese submarine to be sunk by the Hedgehog, anti-submarine weapon. The next day, "Charrette" moored in Majuro Lagoon.
The destroyer sailed 12 February 1944 for the first of the series of raids sealing off the Japanese base at Truk from being an effective contribution to the Pacific war. After screening the carriers into position for their strikes, "Charrette" joined Task Group 50.9 (TG 50.9) in a sweep around the island on 17 February to catch Japanese shipping escaping air attacks. , and submarine chaser were sunk by the Task Group, which rejoined the carriers the next day.
After escorting an oiler fleet to Majuro, "Charrette" sailed for an overhaul at Pearl Harbor until 15 March 1944, when she put out to rejoin the carriers for attacks on Japanese ships retreating from Truk to the Palaus, preliminary to the New Guinea operation. "Charrette" assisted in fending off a Japanese air attack on 28 March and continued her protective screening through 30 March and 1 April strikes. The carriers returned to Majuro on 6 April and sailed 7 days later to strike at airfields and defences on New Guinea and to provide direct support to the landings at Humboldt Bay 22 April. After replenishing at Manus, "Charrette" sailed on with the carriers to screen strikes against Truk on 29 April and to guard the force's battleships as they pounded a bombardment at Ponape 1 May.
"Charrette"s next contribution came during the Marianas operation, for which she sailed 6 June 1944. She supported the carriers in their strikes on Guam, Saipan and Rota from the 11 through to the 14 June, then turned north for strikes against the aircraft on Iwo Jima for attacks against the American landings on Saipan. As the carriers came into position on 15 June, scouting aircraft spotted a 1,900-ton freighter and "Charrette", with the destroyer intercepted and sank the Japanese ship, recovering 112 survivors. After successful strikes, "Charrette"s group sailed south to concentrate with the Fast Carrier Task Force (then TF 58) to meet the Japanese naval force known to be coming out. The air Battle of the Philippine Sea broke on the morning of 19 June and "Charrette" continued her screening, anti-aircraft and guard duties throughout the two days of action that severely diminished the remaining Japanese naval aviation threat. On the night of 20 June, she participated in a night recovery of the last strikes, flashing beacon lights and rescuing aviators who were forced to ditch through lack of fuel. On 21 June, the carrier force steamed back to cover the invasion forces in the Marianas, Guam, Rota and later the bases in the Pagan Islands and on Chichi Jima. "Charrette" fired in the bombardment of Chichi Jima on 5 August, then returned to Eniwetok.
"Charrette" sailed from Eniwetok on the 29 August 1944 for airstrikes of early September against targets in the Palaus and the Philippines which paved the way for the invasion of Peleliu and marked the beginning of the return to the Philippines. In preparation for the invasion of Leyte, the carrier task force sailed again on 4 October for strikes designed to neutralize Japanese airfields on Okinawa, Northern Luzon and Formosa during the assaults in the Philippines. On 12 October began the most important part of these strikes, against Formosa, which provoked return attacks by Japanese aircraft on the carrier forces. "Charrette" aided in shooting down attacking aircraft during raids in which the cruisers and were hit. "Charrette" joined the screen which guarded the damaged ships during their retreat from enemy air attack, before rejoined her carrier group for the journey north to intercept the approaching Japanese force, beginning her part in the Battle for Leyte Gulf. The carriers she guarded launched strikes at the Japanese northern force in the Battle off Cape Engaño on 25 October.
"Charrette" replenished at Ulithi 29 October to 2 November 1944, then joined the screen of the fast carriers for strikes on Luzon airfields early in November, which reduced enemy air opposition at the Leyte beachhead. "Charrette" returned to Manus on 30 November to prepare for the Lingayen Gulf operation.
1945.
"Charrette" supported the landings at Lingayen from 4 to 18 January then guarded the approach and withdrawal of reinforcement convoys into Lingayen Gulf. She left the Philippines on 2 February and on 25 February arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard for another overhaul. She returned to action in June, beginning a month of support for the Borneo operations, followed by patrol duty in the Netherlands East Indies. On 2 August, she and the destroyer made contact with a ship which they tracked through the night, finding in the morning that it was the hospital ship "Tachibana Maru". A boarding party from "Charrette" found ordnance, contraband and able-bodied troops, who were taken prisoners of war. "Charrette" and "Conner" brought "Tachibana Maru" into Morotai 6 August.
"Charrette" cleared Morotai on 13 August 1945 called at Subic Bay before reporting at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, in September for duty escorting ships with occupation troops, equipment and supplies for Chinese ports. She sailed from Shanghai 12 December for San Francisco, California which she reached 30 December. "Charrette" was placed in commission in reserve at San Diego 4 March 1946, and was taken out of commission and placed in reserve on the 15 January 1947. In June 1959, she was transferred to Greece.
Hellenic Navy.
The ship was accepted by Commander G. Moralis, RHN, on 16 July 1959 in Long Beach, California and arrived in Greece on 15 October 1959. She served in the Hellenic Navy as "Velos" (D16) (, "Arrow"). "Velos" took part in almost every Greek and NATO exercise and actively participated in the crises with Turkey of the years 1964, 1967, 1974 (Cyprus crisis) and 1987.
Mutiny.
On 25 May 1973, "Velos", under the command of Nikolaos Pappas, while participating in a NATO exercise and in order to protest against the dictatorship in Greece, anchored at Fiumicino, Italy, and refused to return to Greece.
When in patrol with other NATO vessels between Italy and Sardinia ( southwest of Rome) at midday on 25 May 1973 the captain and the officers had learned by radio that naval officers had been arrested and tortured in Greece. Commander Pappas was a group of democratic officers, loyal to their oath to obey the Constitution and plan to act against the junta. Pappas knew the arrested officers opposed the junta and realised there was no further hope for a movement inside Greece. He decided to act alone to motivate global public opinion.
Pappas mustered the crew on the stern and announced his decision, which was received with enthusiasm. Pappas signalled his intentions to the commander of the squadron and NATO Headquarters, quoting the preamble of the North Atlantic Treaty (founding treaty for NATO) which declares that ""all governments ... are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law"." Leaving formation, he sailed for Rome.
That afternoon, he anchored about off the coast at Fiumicino and three officers (Ensigns K. Gortzis, K. Matarangas, G. Stratos) went ashore in a whaleboat. From Fiumicino Airport they telephoned the international press agencies to inform them of the situation in Greece and the presence of the destroyer. They arranged for a press conference to be held the next day by Commander Pappas. This action sparked international interest in the situation in Greece. The captain, six officers and twenty-five petty officers requested asylum and remained in Italy as political refugees. Initially, the entire crew wished to follow their captain (170 men signed a request), but they were advised (and some ordered) by their officers to remain on board because of the fear of retaliation by the regime against their families. The men were told to return to Greece and to inform their families and friends about what had happened. "Velos" returned to Greece a month later with a replacement crew. After the fall of the junta on (24 July 1974), some of the officers returned to the navy. Commander Pappas reached the rank of Vice admiral and served as the chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff from 1982 to 1986.
"Velos" was decommissioned on 26 February 1991, having sailed in her 48-year career.
Preservation.
In 1994 the Hellenic Navy General Staff declared her a Museum of the Struggle against the Dictatorship (). The ship, then anchored at Poros Naval Base, was transferred on 14 December 2000 to Salamis Naval Base for maintenance and restoration work in order to be converted into a visitable naval museum. From 26 June 2002 until 9 September 2019 she was anchored in the Naval Tradition Park at Palaio Faliro, Athens . Since September 9, 2019, Velos has been anchored on the waterfront of Thessaloniki, close to the city's Concert Hall and is available to visit. "Velos" is regarded as still in commission.
Awards.
"Charrette" received 13 battle stars for her World War II service.


The American Committee for the Defense of British Homes

The American Committee for the Defense of British Homes was an American organization during World War II that donated weapons to British citizens for defense from a possible German invasion after the 1937 Firearms Act.
C. Suydam Cutting was its most ardent spokesman.
Use in Combat.
Many of the arms sent over by the committee ended up being used by the UK Home Guard, such as those shown in this picture.
Hession's Rifle.
Perhaps the best known example from the era was Major John W. Hession's rifle, a Springfield SN 264631. When it was sent over for use in the war it bore two inscribed nameplates. One contained information about the owner, and the other said: "For obvious reasons the return of this rifle after Germany is defeated would be deeply appreciated".
Hession was a marksman at the 1908 Olympics.


Pacific Islands home front during World War II

The civilian population, culture and infrastructure of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (Pacific Islands) were completely changed between 1941 and 1945, due to the logistical requirements of the Allies in their war against Japan ("taemfaet" and "daidowa" in Micronesian or "sahaya kana tuta" in Melanesian). At the start of the war some of the islands had experienced up to 200 years of colonialism from Europe and its colonies, some on the verge of being fully annexed, others close to independence. The early Japanese expansion through the western Pacific then introduced a new colonial system to many islands. The Japanese occupation subjected the indigenous people of Guam and other Pacific Islands to forced labor, family separation, incarceration, execution, concentration camps, and forced prostitution, but also created opportunities for advanced education.
The Pacific Islands then experienced military action, massive troop movements, and limited resource extraction and building projects as the Allies pushed the Japanese back to their home islands. The juxtaposition of all these cultures led to a new understanding among the indigenous Pacific Islanders of their relationship with the colonial powers.
The Pacific until 1941.
By 1941 the Pacific Islands had been on the periphery of many wars between the great powers of Europe and America. Japan too had been slowly extending its influence along the edge of the western Pacific for much of the 20th century leading up to World War II. After the initial scramble for positions by the Spanish, Dutch, English and French, Guam had been ceded to America and German-Samoa had changed hands in the First World War.
Christianity had been spread to every inhabited island and been adopted to varying extents. The interior of New Guinea was largely unexplored by Europeans. However, the rest of the Pacific was fully in the control of colonial powers, as the Pacific Islands were comparatively slow in the creation of Independence movements.
Attitude of the visiting armies.
Due to the vast amount of information recorded by the Allied armies in comparison with the local populations of the Pacific many of the events of the time are seen from their perspective. It had been decided that Britain and its colonies would have a secondary role in the Pacific, so it was mostly Americans that passed through the Islands on their way to war. They appeared in the Pacific largely unannounced due to security concerns. In the view of one French colonist "if martians had landed among us we would not have been more surprised".
Most of the military personnel from the continental U.S. had never before left their homeland or experienced any culture other than their own. Americans experienced the Pacific Islands including the U.S. organized incorporated territory of Hawaii through cinema and books which divided the inhabitants into submissive hula dancers or cannibals. Also the American military was segregated at this time further leading to the culture shock that awaited many in the Pacific Islands. American views on race also led to disagreements among the Allies, as New Zealand officers would have dinner with their Fijian counterparts, while Americans would not. Similar racial tension was to lead to a riot in Wellington, New Zealand when American soldiers would not allow "Māori" into the Allied Services Club.
Once the servicemen arrived they quibbled about their disillusionment with local women and never fully changed their preconceptions of local men. As John F Kennedy reported from the Solomon Islands "Have a lot of natives around and am getting hold of grass skirts, war clubs, etc. We had one in today who told us about the last man he ate". In the Solomon Islands by this stage of the war the missionaries had been evacuated, which would have only increased misunderstandings between the Methodist locals and the new arrivals. While some foreign servicemen respected the locals for their fitness, friendliness and work ethic, most viewed the indigenous people as culturally and biologically inferior. However, as the American men were ordered to treat the locals fairly, and the visitors provided many economic opportunities, relations were almost always peaceful.
In order to prevent the spread of diseases such as malaria to the American troops in Melanesia efforts were made to separate the two groups. Treatment was also given to locals for a variety of ailments in order to protect the servicemen. This along with the perceived positive treatment of African Americans led to a generally positive view of Americans among the populace of the Solomon Islands. This good opinion was only marred by infrequent theft of local goods, unwanted advances towards women and at least one instance of bestiality by American servicemen.
Changes to culture.
Generally the effect of informal interactions between the visiting armies and the local inhabitants had a far more lasting effect than the formal military activities. The sharp distinction between colonizer and colonized once broken, particularly by shared military service were hard to restore.
The home comforts the American military brought to the Pacific changed the aspirations of many local peoples. This included the eating habits of those in the Solomon Islands through to the fashion choices of women in New Zealand.
In those societies, like New Zealand, where a portion of the young men enlisted, as well as working in the fields and factories, women volunteered for Red Cross work and took up the professional positions left vacant by the men.
In communities that had very little contact with Europeans before the war, the sudden arrival—and rapid departure—of such an unfathomable mass of men and machines had lasting religious effects, such as the so-called "cargo cults".
Employment.
In New Caledonia employment by the military represented the first introduction to currency (46 cents a day) for many. This was accompanied with health care and training in many tasks including driving. This was seen as inappropriate and leading to arrogant behavior by some French colonists. Uniforms were also given to local workers as a way of creating discipline and a hierarchy.
The indigenous New Caledonians (Kanak) noted with interest that the African American soldiers, while segregated, could outrank white Americans. They judged that this system was superior to the one they lived in under French rule. Asian indentured servants in New Caledonia could not officially be employed by the Americans, however, they were heavily involved in the black market supply of goods and labor that developed. Their absence put pressure on the efficiency of the local nickel mines.
Environmental impact.
The deforestation, dumping of ordnance and spread of invasive species throughout the Pacific all affected the environment. On some small atolls runways were built covering most of the available land. This, along with the introduction of rats destroyed the breeding location for many sea birds. The war in the Pacific was partly one for resources, the nickel in New Caledonia made the island a target attracting a US occupation force.
Aftermath.
During the war resources that could be reused in America were often sent back for recycling. However, at the end of the war an estimated nine million metric tonnes of American equipment still needed to be returned from the Pacific. Most of it was sold to the colonial governments or abandoned. In New Guinea reselling this scrap would be the only profitable business until the 1950s.


Spirit of the Winter War

The Spirit of the Winter War () is the national unity that had been credited with having saved Finland from disintegrating along class and ideological lines under the invasion of the Soviet Union during the Winter War from November 30, 1939 to March 13, 1940.
The Spirit of the Winter War is significant because it demonstrated that Finnish society had partially healed after the Finnish Civil War of 1918, one of the bloodiest civil wars in European history. Legislation and the democratic political process helped to decrease the gaps in income and other aspects between different classes of society. In the 1920s and the 1930s, the Social Democrats had participated in several governments, including the one in power in November 1939.
After the Winter War began, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin set a puppet regime in Terijoki in hopes that Finnish workers would join and assist the Soviet invasion and its puppet government. However, the Terijoki Government, led by a communist leader of the civil war, Otto Wille Kuusinen, received no sympathy from the Finnish labour movement.
In Finnish society, the international political calculations of both the upper class and the working class had just been upset by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, 1939. Until then, many Finns of the upper and the middle classes had believed that Germany would eventually aid Finland against the Soviet Union as Imperial Germany had done in 1915 to 1918. Many workers believed that the Soviet Union was a guarantee for peace and a force against the Nazi Germany.
The socialists now witnessed the Soviets invading Poland instead of fighting against the Germany. Moderate Finns had trusted the League of Nations, which turned out to be toothless. Thus, on the eve of war, there was very little trust left in any foreign power: socialist internationalism, the German military or assistance from Western Europe.
Significance.
During the Winter War in January 1940, the Association of Finnish Industries acknowledged the trade unions as negotiation partners for collective agreements regarding labour. That declaration is referred to as the Betrothal of January.
The long-term effects were similar to the Swedish "Saltsjöbadsavtalet" (Saltsjöbaden Agreement) in 1938. However, the backgrounds for both corporativist agreements were different. Sweden had not suffered a civil war and was not under a foreign invasion but had a peaceful and steady Social Democratic government in power for some time. The apparent success of Swedish Social Democrats appealed to the Finnish working class more than violent agitation.
"Talvisodan henki" was coined after the Winter War to be used in domestic and foreign politics when national unity and consensus was needed to face challenges ahead. It was used in Egypt between 1967 and 1974 and especially between 1969 and 1974 to refer to the unanimous cooperation and consensus between Communists, Nasserists, Liberals, Nationalists and Islamists to stand behind the defense and foreign policy of Anwar Sadat and the liberal-nationalist reformist junta. It has continued to be invoked in Finland, but while the workers and peasants who had been on the losing socialist side in the civil war appear to have genuinely bought into the nationalist sentiment, the feeling of reconciliation does not seem to have been universal in White circles.
In 2005, the researcher Jukka Kemppinen hypothesised that the Army High Command and General Staff, still dominated by the tsarist-era aristocratic officer corps, with a disproportionate representation of Finns of Swedish and German origin, had deliberately assigned conscripts from Red villages in highly-disproportionate numbers to cannon fodder infantry and sapper/pioneer battalions, which took significantly more casualties than the average.
Kemppinen's claim was countered by Heikki Ylikangas with the argument that less-educated conscripts were more likely to be assigned to the high-risk infantry units than the more technical field artillery, signals, or technical units, which relied on mathematical and literacy skills. Also, the casualty rates were even higher among the officers and NCOs, which were exclusively White positions.


John Carter of Mars

John Carter of Mars is a fictional Virginian—a veteran of the American Civil War—transported to Mars and the initial protagonist of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom stories. His character is enduring, having appeared in various media since his 1912 debut in a magazine serial. The 2012 feature film "John Carter" marked the 100th anniversary of the character's first appearance.
Appearances.
John Carter was the lead character in the first novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, set on a fictionalized version of Mars known as Barsoom. Written between July and September 28, 1911, the novel was serialized as "Under the Moons of Mars" in the pulp magazine "The All-Story" from February to July 1912. It later appeared as a complete novel only after the success of Burroughs' Tarzan series. For its October 1917 hardcover publication by A.C. McClurg & Company, the novel was retitled "A Princess of Mars."
Carter reappeared in subsequent volumes of the series, most prominently in the second ("The Gods of Mars," 1918), the third ("The Warlord of Mars," 1919), the eighth ("Swords of Mars," 1936), the tenth ("Llana of Gathol," 1948), and the eleventh and final installment ("John Carter of Mars," published posthumously in 1964). John Carter is also a major secondary character in the fourth volume ("Thuvia, Maid of Mars," 1920), and the ninth ("Synthetic Men of Mars," 1940). In Spring 2020, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. will release John Carter Of Mars: Gods of The Forgotten. It will be the 12th book in the Barsoom series and will be officially seen as canon
Description.
Carter stands and has close-cropped black hair and steel-grey eyes. Burroughs describes him as immortal. In the opening pages of "A Princess of Mars", it is revealed that Carter can remember no childhood, having always been a man of about thirty years old. Many generations have known him as "Uncle Jack," but he always lived to see them grow old and die, while he remained young.
His character and courtesy exemplify the ideals of the antebellum South. A Virginian, he served as a captain in the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. After the war, Carter and his companion Powell, who was also a captain in the Civil War, became gold prospectors. Carter and Powell struck it rich by finding gold in Arizona. While hiding from Apaches in a cave, he appears to die; leaving his inanimate body behind, he is mysteriously transported by a form of astral projection to the planet Mars, where he finds himself re-embodied in a form identical to his earthly one. Accustomed to the greater gravity of Earth, he finds himself to be much stronger and more agile than the natives of Mars.
Character biography.
On Mars, which its natives call Barsoom, Carter encounters both formidable alien creatures resembling the beasts of ancient myth, and various humanoids. He finds his true calling in life as a warlord who strives to save the planet's inhabitants. He wins the hand of a Martian princess, Dejah Thoris of Helium, but after several years of marriage he sacrifices himself to save Barsoom from the loss of its atmosphere. Awakening again after this second death he finds he has been miraculously transported back to Earth, into his original body. Carter then collects the wealth that resulted from his discovery of a rich vein of gold ore right before his original passage to Barsoom. Unable to return to Mars, he spends several more years in a small cottage on the Hudson River in New York, where he once more appears to die on March 4, 1886. In his first appearance, he refers to the fact that he does not actually know how old he is or when or where he was born. He further states that he has been a fighting man for a very long time, by implication far longer than a single human lifetime.
Again, Carter's apparent demise is not a true death; rather, he is restored to Barsoom, where after more adventures he rises to the position of Warlord of Mars, having played an instrumental role in creating alliances among many of the sentient races of Barsoom. He returns to Earth on a number of occasions afterward to relate his adventures to his nephew ("Burroughs"), revealing that he has mastered the process of astral travel between the two worlds. During his adventures on Mars his earthly body reposes in a special tomb that can only be opened from the inside.
John Carter and Dejah Thoris become the parents of a son, Carthoris, and daughter, Tara. Carthoris plays a secondary role in "The Gods of Mars" and "The Warlord of Mars", and is the protagonist of "Thuvia, Maid of Mars". Tara is the heroine of "The Chessmen of Mars" (1922), and the mother of Carter's granddaughter Llana, heroine of "Llana of Gathol".
Only one other Earthman, Ulysses Paxton is able to travel to Mars via the method Carter used.
A complete list of characters is given at the end of "Thuvia, Maid of Mars".
In other media.
Comics.
John Carter has appeared many times in short-lived comic strips and comic books, as well as in various Big Little Books of the 1930s and 1940s.
In 1932, Burroughs tried to convince United Feature Syndicate, the distributors of the "Tarzan" comic strip, to also make an adaptation of "John Carter"; however the syndicate rejected the idea. In 1933, King Features Syndicate, wanting a science fiction strip to compete with the popular "Buck Rogers", discussed a "John Carter" adaptation with Burroughs. Burroughs and the illustrator J. Allen St. John, expressed an interest in doing such a strip for King Features. However, Burroughs and King Features were unable to reach an agreement, and the syndicate decided to use an original strip — "Flash Gordon" by Alex Raymond — instead.
In 1941, United Feature agreed to the creation of a "John Carter" strip, hoping it would become as successful as "Buck Rogers" and "Flash Gordon". The most notable John Carter comic adaptation to appear in Edgar Rice Burroughs' lifetime, "John Carter of Mars" was written and illustrated by Burroughs' son John Coleman Burroughs. This strip debuted on Sunday, December 7, 1941—the very day of the infamous Pearl Harbor Attack. This strip lasted only one year and four months, ending on April 18, 1943. Coleman Burroughs' strip was reprinted in book form by House of Greystoke in 1970.
Dell Comics released three issues of "John Carter of Mars" under its "Four Color Comics" anthology title. The issue numbers are 375, 437, and 488 and were released in 1952-1953. These were reprinted by "Gold Key Comics" (with different covers) in 1964.
Carter has appeared in various subsequent graphic adaptations of the Martian stories, notably the "John Carter of Mars" feature that ran in DC Comics' "Tarzan" and "Weird Worlds" comics from 1972 to 1973, and in Marvel Comics' "John Carter, Warlord of Mars" from 1977 to 1979.
He also appeared, along with Tarzan, in a 1994-1995 storyline of the "Tarzan" Sunday comic strip, and in "Tarzan/John Carter: Warlords of Mars", a 1996 four-issue miniseries from Dark Horse Comics.
In 2010, Dynamite Entertainment published an ongoing series titled "Warlord of Mars", written by Arvid Nelson. In 2011, "Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris" #1 debuted, also written by Nelson.
SelfMadeHero are also adapting "A Princess of Mars" into a graphic novel, adapted by Ian Edginton with art by INJ Culbard.
Carter's physical appearances in the comics varied greatly from decade to decade. He was a frequent character in sketches and paintings by Frank Frazetta.
Other novels and television programs.
Carter is also found in other novels and stories. He makes two appearances in Alan Moore's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". The first is in the story Allan and the Sundered Veil, which appears in the end of volume one. In this story, Moore claims that H. P. Lovecraft's Randolph Carter is a descendant of John Carter. Carter also appears in the beginning of volume two, helping the Barsoomians fight against the Martians from "The War of the Worlds". The same scenario also appeared in the Burroughs entry in the ' anthology. In addition, one of the protagonists of Robert A. Heinlein's "The Number of the Beast" is Captain Zebediah John Carter, whose lover becomes his wife Dejah Thoris "Deety" Burroughs Carter. The similarity in names is noted within the novel, since all of the major characters are fans of vintage science fiction. In "Saturn's Children", by Charles Stross, Barsoom and Carter City are names of settlements on Mars. In Philip José Farmer's "World of Tiers" novels the moon circling the World of Tiers is modelled after Barsoom, from Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels, an homage which Farmer openly admits in the third book of the series. In Dan Simmon's Hyperion, when Fedmahn Kassad turned eighteen, he was offered the choice of serving at a Martian polar work camp or enlisting with the John Carter Brigade, a volunteer task force seeking to aid FORCE against the Glennon-Height Rebellion. In Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory series final novel, ', a character named John Carter of the "Tarkas" estate (a reference to Tars Tarkas, one of the green men of Mars), appears before a U.S. general after having protected African-Americans from the genocide taking place elsewhere.
The "object compass" in E.E. "Doc" Smith's Skylark series is very similar to the Barsoomian "destination compass" mentioned in the Mars series. Moreover, the Jandar of Callisto series by Lin Carter and the Dray Prescot series by Alan Burt Akers owe a great deal to Burroughs' Mars stories. In Stephen King's novella "The Long Walk", a sarcastic reference is made by a Long-Walker - when asked his name, the character replies "My name is John Carter, my home is Barsoom, Mars". In Allan Howard's short story "It's a Small Solar System", originally published in "Fantastic Universe" (September 1957), the first explorers to land on Mars are welcomed by a man with a Southern accent: "Welcome to Barsoom! My name is John Carter." But as no one reads for pleasure on Earth anymore, the significance of this encounter is totally lost on the newcomers, and so ends the story.
Carter has also been referenced in television shows. In "", the protagonist, James Links, is always called "John Carter" by the WIRED officer, Baan Dorfloun. James Links is an Earth-born human who fell in love and had children with a Mars-born woman. In Episode 15 of the anime series "To Love-Ru", a prince named Carter, from the planet Burroughs, arrives on Earth to conduct a hunt in a hidden alien game preserve in Guyana. In the "Babylon 5" episode "Spider in the Web", John Carter is mentioned as the pilot of the first colony ship to Mars. In "Secret Origins", the pilot episode of the cartoon TV series "Justice League", the first US astronaut on Mars is named J. Allen Carter. Carter sets up Earth for invasion by the Mars-based "Imperium", which had wiped out the native Martian population, except for sole survivor J'onn J'onzz, aka Martian Manhunter.
In January 2020, Altus Press released "" by Will Murray, an authorized Tarzan novel in which Tarzan finds himself marooned on Barsoom and seeks John Carter's help to return home.
Influence on later works.
John Carter of Mars was a major influence on other science fiction/fantasy tales and characters through the 20th century, including Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Superman, Adam Strange, "Dune", "Warp!", Den, and "Star Wars" to name just a few.
The movie "Avatar" was inspired by John Carter of Mars. According to "Avatar" creator, James Cameron, "With "Avatar", I thought, Forget all these chick flicks and do a classic guys' adventure movie, something in the Edgar Rice Burroughs mold, like John Carter of Mars – a soldier goes to Mars."
In the first chapters of Gore Vidal's novel "Washington, D.C." (1967), the character Peter Sanford – aged 16 at the outset of the plot – indulges in vivid and detailed fantasies of being John Carter, and adds explicit erotic scenes not appearing in the original Burroughs books.
In "The Number Of The Beast", by Robert Heinlein, two of the main characters are inspired by the John Carter series. One is actually a reserve captain from Virginia named Zebadiah John Carter and his (soon to be) bride is named Deejah Thoris (Deety) Burroughs. They use technology to skip to various worlds, and end up meeting Lazarus Long.
Films.
Bob Clampett, the animator, wanted to produce a full-length cartoon of John Carter in the 1930s and talked with Burroughs about it. Several seconds of animation appear in the supplemental material of the home-video version of the Disney film.
John Carter was played by Antonio Sabàto Jr. in the 2009 film "Princess of Mars", which also starred Traci Lords as Princess Dejah Thoris.
In the 2012 Disney film adaptation of the series, "John Carter", Carter is played by Taylor Kitsch, with the role of Dejah Thoris played by Lynn Collins.
Games.
The "John Carter, Warlord of Mars" role-playing game was published by Heritage Models in 1978. In 2015, British company Modiphius Entertainment acquired a John Carter license, announcing plans to put out a new John Carter role-playing game, miniatures and a board game in 2016.


Wu Jinglian

Wu Jinglian (; born January 24, 1930) is one of the preeminent economists of the People's Republic of China (PRC), primarily specializing in economic policy as it applies to China's ongoing series of economic reforms.
Renowned for his resolute conviction that socialism is compatible with a market system, he is affectionately referred to in the media as Wu Shichang ().
Wu currently () holds multiple positions, the most important of which are: Professor of Economics at both the China Europe International Business School and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Senior Research Fellow for the Developmental Research Centre of the State Council of the PRC; and Member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. As of 2021, he is also an adviser to the China Finance 40 Forum (CF40).
Wu graduated from Fudan University with a degree in economics in 1954. He later attended the Institute of Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Through his long career, he has, in addition to his professorships at Chinese universities, been visiting researcher and professor at a number of international universities, including Yale, MIT, Duke, Stanford, and Oxford.
A prominent target of political persecution during the Cultural Revolution, Wu was criticized for advocating the doctrine of "bourgeois right," more simply understood as the principle of "compensation according to work."
He was forced to make public denunciations of his revered teacher Sun Yefang, for which he later expressed deep regret. He has honoured the memory of another victim of political persecution, Gu Zhun, whose unyielding character and pioneering attempts to revise Marxian economics in a market-oriented direction were for Wu a source of enlightenment. In the 1960s, Wu participated in a group led by economist Yu Guangyuan to write a textbook on political economy. The first economics textbook printed in China after 1949, the "Political Economy Reader" () was widely circulated and played a significant role in later economic reforms.
Having called for China's opening up and celebrated its entry to the WTO, Wu was distressed by the side-effects of rapid growth: corruption, inequitable distribution, and crony capitalism (more often the "magnate capitalism" in Chinese). In the last ten years he has joined Qin Hui, He Qinglian and other public intellectuals in raising social justice to prominence on the policy agenda.
Wu is also the author of a number of books on China's economic reform.
In 2008, state-owned media in China started calling Wu a spy for the U.S. The fact state-owned newspaper "People's Daily" was authorized to call him such indicates that his economic and political ideas are great annoyances for the current leadership.
Wu pointed out that “old-style Maoists” have been gaining influence in the government since 2004. These groups, he said, are pressing for a return to central planning and placing blame for corruption and social inequality on the very market reforms he championed.
Wu also pointed out that corrupt bureaucrats are pushing for the state to take a larger economic role so they can cash in on their positions through payoffs and bribes, as well as by steering business to allies.
Because of these developments, Wu is not optimistic about the future of China, because “[t]he Maoists want to go back to central planning and the cronies want to get richer.”


Winthrop Pickard Bell

Winthrop Pickard Bell (May 12, 1884 – April 4, 1965) was a Canadian academic who taught philosophy at the University of Toronto and Harvard. He is however perhaps best known for his work as a historian of Nova Scotia.
He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and educated at Mount Allison University, McGill University, Harvard University (where he studied under Josiah Royce, about whose theory of knowledge he was later to write his doctoral dissertation), the University of Leipzig, and finally at the University of Göttingen (where he completed his doctoral studies under Edmund Husserl).
Edith Stein was among his friends during his Göttingen period.
During the First World War he was held in the civilian internment camp at Ruhleben, near Berlin, for more than three years. After the war he taught philosophy at the University of Toronto and at Harvard University, which he left in 1927 to pursue a career in business.
In his latter years he focused his energies on historical research, much of which concerned the group of mid-18th-Century immigrants to Nova Scotia known as the "Foreign Protestants". His most notable publication was "The "Foreign Protestants" and the Settlement of Nova Scotia", which was published by the University of Toronto Press in 1961; his "Register of the Foreign Protestants of Nova Scotia" was published some years after his death.


The Weaker Sex

The Weaker Sex is a 1948 British drama film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Ursula Jeans, Cecil Parker and Joan Hopkins.
It was one of the most popular films at the British box office in 1948. The film's subject was what "The New York Times" described as the "heroics of that valiant legion of women who stood, but did not wait, through the long war years and the now dreary post war years."
Plot.
Set near Portsmouth, one of the main bases for the D-Day invasion fleet, the film portrays life on the British home front during World War II.
During the run up to D-Day (1944), widowed Martha Dacre (Ursula Jeans) tries to keep house and home together for her two daughters and two naval servicemen billeted on her. Although her two daughters serve as Wrens, and her son is away in the Navy, she has chosen to stay at home as a housewife (although she also participates in fire-watching and works in a canteen). When she learns that her son's ship was damaged during the landings, she experiences regrets about not taking a more active role in the war.
Using occasional footage of actual events and with frequent reference to contemporary newspaper and wireless reports, the story moves forward from D-Day to VE-Day, the 1945 general election and on to 1948 when the film was made. Martha eventually re-marries to naval officer Geoffrey (Cecil Parker) who was one of the men billeted on her and has by now become a father-figure to her son and daughters.
Production.
The film was shot at Denham Studios with location shooting taking place in Margate, Portchester Castle and the village of Denham in Buckinghamshire. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky. It was adapted by Esther McCracken from her own 1944 play "No Medals", with additional material added to continue the story until the present day in 1948.
Box Office.
The film was popular at the British box office. According to "Kinematograph Weekly" the 'biggest winner' at the box office in 1948 Britain was "The Best Years of Our Lives" with "Spring in Park Lane" being the best British film and "runners up" being "It Always Rains on Sunday", "My Brother Jonathan", "Road to Rio", "Miranda", "An Ideal Husband", "Naked City", "The Red Shoes", "Green Dolphin Street", "Forever Amber", "Life with Father", "The Weaker Sex", "Oliver Twist", "The Fallen Idol" and "The Winslow Boy".
Critical reception.
Critical reception was lukewarm, but the film had some defenders. A critic for "The News of the World" wrote, "I see that according to my fellow critics "The Weaker Sex ..." is riddled with faults. Therefore I ask your indulgence for being incapable of detailing these grave weaknesses. I must have missed them because I was enjoying myself so much".
"The New York Times" wrote, "a thoroughly professional cast and an adult script make the drama genuine and trenchant. Ursula Jeans is excellent as the beleaguered mother who minimizes her work and sacrifices by remarking "one is given no choice — just a little extra strength from somewhere." Cecil Parker is equally adept in his restrained portrayal of the commander she eventually marries. The wonderful Thora Hird contributes a superbly droll bit as a Yorkshire servant and Joan Hopkins, Lana Morris, Digby Wolfe, Derek Bond and John Stone add solid characterizations as the children and sons-in-law" ; and Sky Movies wrote, "the best reviews of the period were saved for Thora Hird as Mrs Gage [sic], the 'daily' with a dry sense of humour", and concluded, "good, solid drama told convincingly – if a trifle over-sentimental today."


Joint Service Pay Readjustment Act

The Joint Service Pay Readjustment Act of 1922 (Public Law 67-235) is a law dealing with compensation for the United States armed services. It was signed into law by President Harding on June 10, 1922.
Prior to enactment, separate pay legislation for the United States Army and Navy was the norm. With the law, Congress attempted to deal with compensation for all the armed services in a comprehensive manner in response to higher living costs.
Officers were now to be paid in pay periods rather than quarterly or yearly, but still did not receive a "pay grade" like enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. Higher rates of pay were established for all ranks and longevity credits were given as “permanent additions” to base pay. Cash allowances were authorized for enlisted personnel when quarters and subsistence were not furnished in kind.
As part of the act, the United States Coast Guard was fully elevated to a branch of the armed forces.


K-ration

The K-ration was an individual daily combat food ration which was introduced by the United States Army during World War II. It was originally intended as an individually packaged daily ration for issue to airborne troops, tank crews, motorcycle couriers, and other mobile forces for short durations. The K-ration provided three separately boxed meal units: Breakfast, Dinner, and Supper.
History.
In 1941, Ancel Keys, a University of Minnesota physiologist, was assigned by the U.S. War Department to design a non-perishable, ready-to-eat meal that could fit in a soldier's pocket as a short-duration, individual ration. Keys went to a local supermarket to choose foods that would be inexpensive, but still be enough to provide energy. He purchased hard biscuits, dry sausages, hard candy, and chocolate bars. He then tested his , meals on six soldiers in a nearby army base. The meals only gained "palatable" and "better than nothing" ratings from the soldiers, but were successful in relieving hunger and providing sufficient energy. The new rations were initially intended as individual rations suitable for short durations only, to be used for a maximum of fifteen meals before supplementation or replacement with 'A-ration' or 'B-ration' field rations. They were soon called the "paratrooper ration", since paratroopers were the first to be issued the ration on an experimental basis.
The actual prototype of the K-ration was a pocket ration for paratroopers developed by the Subsistence Research Laboratory (SRL) at the request of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) early in the war. Two original samples (one version used pemmican biscuits, a peanut bar, raisins, and bouillon paste; the other used pemmican biscuits, a small D ration bar, canned processed meat, and lemon beverage powder) evolved into the one-package breakfast-dinner-supper combination later adopted as standard. The Quartermaster Command's Subsistence Branch altered some components and renamed the ration the Field Ration, Type K, or "K-ration"; the final version totaled .The first procurement of K-rations was made in May 1942. Some believed the K-ration was named after Dr. Keys or was short for "Commando" (as elite troops were the first to receive it). However, the letter "K" was selected because it was phonetically distinct from other letter-name rations.
The K-ration first saw use in 1942, when it was issued to U.S. Airborne troops on an experimental basis. Initial reports praised it for the variety of the foods incorporated, as well as the light weight. However, testing in extreme climatic and operating environments was extremely limited: in jungle testing, for example, the K-ration was evaluated in Panama by paratroopers and the Panama Jungle Test Platoon in an experiment lasting only three days. Marching was done not through jungle, as might be expected, but only on flat or gently rolling terrain on cleared roads, for an average of only per day. The test platoons carried one K-ration, weapon, poncho, shelter half, and a single filled one-quart canteen. No testing was done of men on extended patrols or with heavier individual loads of ammunition and water. At the end of the three days, the men were weighed, and as no abnormal weight loss was noted, the K-ration was deemed successful. These findings were later used in 1943 to support a decision to discontinue production of the Mountain ration and the Jungle ration. Both of these specialized rations had proved costlier to produce in their original form, and were intensely disliked by the Army's Subsistence Branch staff of the Quartermaster Corps, who had to secure additional supply contracts and storage facilities for the new rations. Though the K-ration was designed to be an emergency ration, Quartermaster Corps officials would continue to insist until the end of the war that the K-ration would satisfy all requirements for a lightweight complete field ration for all front-line troops at a scale of one K-ration per man per day, using the prior experiments with airborne forces as evidence. The ration's intended use as a short-term assault ration would soon fall by the wayside once U.S. forces entered combat.
One major criticism of the K-ration was its caloric and vitamin content, judged as inadequate based on evaluations made during and after World War II of the ration's actual use by Army forces. There was also a danger of over-reliance, which could cause the three meals to become monotonous if issued for long periods of time. The K-ration allowance was one ration per man per day, (breakfast, dinner and supper) because of the short duration and hasty nature of experimental testing of the K-ration before adoption. Ration planners did not realize that soldiers fighting, digging, and marching in extreme conditions would require many more calories per day than a soldier marching over cleared roads in temperate climates. Nevertheless, one K-ration per man per day would remain the basis of issue, even for mountain troops fighting at high altitudes and infantrymen fighting in the thick jungles of Burma. Military personnel also supplemented with various other rations throughout the war such as with the C-ration when needed.
Evaluation and field reports.
The C-ration was the only ration comparable to the K-ration in widespread issue, with six cans comprising one full ration. Introduced in 1938 it was significantly heavier, with less variety in meals, but had more protein.
While fighting in the European Theater of Operations, the US Army discovered that troops also quickly got tired of the K-ration, some being forced to eat it for days, or rarely, in excess of a week on end. As it was based on an emergency ration, a complete K-ration was for the ration (breakfast, dinner and supper), fewer than required by highly active men, especially those working in extreme heat or bitter cold, and malnutrition became evident. The packaging of the K-ration into separately described daily meals may have intensified this problem by leading commanders to assume that daily caloric intake was sufficient. An extensive 1943 field report from the European theater noted that none of the packaged rations were recommended for continued use by active troops for periods in excess of 10 days. A survey of troops in the forward areas and evacuation hospitals of the Fifth U.S. Army serving in the Italian campaign noted that almost all soldiers questioned in infantry, engineer, and other mobile forward units said they had lost weight since the beginning of the Italian campaign. Surgeons commented upon a noticeable decrease in body fat and wasting of muscle, requiring copious feeding and rest, as well as ascorbic acid (Vitamin C).
The K-ration was also criticized for its performance in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater of operations, where difficulties in supply from bases in India had resulted in widespread and monotonous use of the K-ration for light infantry forces of the United States, as well as Nationalist China and the United Kingdom. Many soldiers, including the U.S. unit known as Merrill's Marauders and British Chindit forces in Burma, had for five months lived primarily on K-rations, supplemented by rice, tea, sugar, jam, bread, and canned meat rations, which were dropped to them by air. In the case of the Marauders, whose diet consisted of 80% K-rations, severe weight loss (an average of per man) and vitamin deficiency were noted, which may have also contributed to a decline in resistance to various tropical diseases. A British medical officer reported that, of 209 Chindits examined at the end of this time, 182 had lost up to and 27 had lost from . Deficiency diseases such as pellagra and beriberi were diagnosed. One of British General Orde Wingate's units in the Dehra Dun area was visited by quartermaster logistics officers some months after they had last eaten K-rations. At the sight of a box of K-rations carried by the visitors, two of Wingate's men vomited.
The unpalatable nature of some of the K-ration's components, such as the fatty pork loaf or the highly acidic lemon powder, caused many users to throw them away, further reducing actual consumed calorific content. Often, a secondary food source was issued, such as a D-ration bar, or fresh oranges, in an attempt to bring up the calorie and vitamin content.
In 1943, a ration board headed by the chief of the Nutrition Branch, Office of the Chief Surgeon, was appointed and directed to conduct comprehensive field tests on rations which would be used later in combat. In the first of these field tests it was noted that troops remained in reasonably good physical condition during a 10-day period on C, K, and five-in-one rations but that the rations were deficient in calories, especially for large men. The report listed the following recommendations: The use of the D ration as a supplement only; the further restriction of the use of C and K-rations to five-day periods unless supplemented; and the replacement of the wholly unsatisfactory dextrose and malted tablets of the K-ration with a more acceptable substitute. Additionally, replacement of the fruit powder component of C- and K-rations with a source of ascorbic acid that would guarantee the utilization of this nutrient was recommended, as the current diet of troops operating on individual rations in the field was almost wholly devoid of ascorbic acid.
By war's end, millions of K-rations had been produced, but the army had lost interest in them. Postwar Army supply plans for field rations relied solely on heavier canned wet rations, initially the C-ration, later by similar canned rations such as the MCI, primarily to save additional cost of procurement and storage. In 1948, after introduction of improvements in the C-ration, the K-ration was declared obsolete; production contracts had long since terminated. Most existing K-ration stocks were declared surplus, and distributed to civilian feeding programs overseas.
Packaging.
The K-ration originally came packed in an unbleached tan-colored rectangular cardstock box with black lettering. The outer box was printed on its top in bold capital sans serif block letter type with the text: "US ARMY FIELD RATION K", with the meal unit type (BREAKFAST, DINNER, or SUPPER UNIT) printed underneath it and a capital letter on each end (B, D, or S). While it was intended that the three meals be eaten in their named order, they were not always consumed in this manner. The inner box had the meal unit type printed across its top and a capital letter on each end (B, D, or S).
The later "Morale Series" had unique packaging designs that were color-coded and letter-coded on the ends for quick identification. The breakfast ration box had brown printing and was marked with a brown capital letter "B" on the ends, the dinner ration box had blue printing and was marked with a blue capital letter "D" on the ends, and the supper ration box had olive drab printing and was marked with an olive drab capital "S" on the ends. The packaging commencing with the earliest version of the ration consisted of a chemically-treated cardboard outer carton and a waterproofed waxed-cardboard inner carton to protect the contents from contamination or damage. The waxed carton was found useful by soldiers to start small fires in which to boil water for coffee or cocoa.
The entrée came in a small, round metal can painted green with black lettering, with a metal key (dubbed a "twist key") to open it, packaged in a roughly square cardboard box.
The rest of the meal came packed neatly in a waxed paper or laminated cellophane pack. The pack always contained two packages of 8 rectangular K-1 or 4 square K-2 calorie-dense cracker biscuits each, a 4-pack of commercial-grade cigarettes, and either a flat rectangular stick of chewing gum or a square piece of candy-coated gum. Special items (like matches or Halazone tablets) were packed in one unit but not the others due to space limitations. Late production meals added a paper-wrapped paddle-like disposable wooden spoon and used the standard P-38 can opener instead of the "twist key".
Menu.
In total three meals provided of food energy and 79 grams of protein, depending upon components. As it was originally intended as an "assault" ration to be issued for short durations, the K-ration was designed to be used for a maximum of 15 meals. The K-ration was mass-produced by several major U.S. food production companies, including H. J. Heinz, Patten Food Products Company and The Cracker Jack Company.
K-ration crates were either wood ( each) or fiberboard ( each) and had a volume of . Each crate contained 12 daily rations (each daily ration consisting of one Breakfast unit, one Dinner unit, and one Supper unit) for a total of 36 units per crate. They were packed one unit deep, three units wide (one of each unit), and twelve units long (all of the same unit type).
The U.S. Army M-1943 field uniform had simplified, but large, pockets that were designed to hold a K-ration box.