History of civil affairs in the United States Armed Forces

United States Department of Defense, and associated, civil affairs are civil-military operations (CMO) use of military force to control areas seized from the enemy (or a third party), minimize insurgency or civil interference with military operations, and maximize civil support for military operations. CMO is conducted in conjunction with combat operations during wartime and becomes a central part of a military campaign in counter-insurgencies. CMO operations have been in frequent use since 1775 by the United States Army, as well as more recently by the Navy and Marine Corps.
Early history.
They became major activities for the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Civil-military operations conducted by the U.S. Army were common in the colonial era in dealing with hostile Indians. During that war, all sides employed civil affairs in every colony/state. Military authorities managed activities that civilians had managed prior to the war. The invasion of Canada in 1775 was an early example, The American invaders won considerable support from the locals, but failed to capture Quebec City and were forced to retreat in disarray.
In the U.S.-Mexican War, Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott could be considered the "Father of Civil Affairs." He displayed a deep respect for the Mexican people and their culture. Scott enjoyed great success in keeping civilian problems from interfering with military operations by issuing General Order No. 20 and ensuring the Provost Marshals office enforced it. The United States Army considers this to be where Civil Affairs (CA) originated.
Civil War and reconstruction.
The Army had large-scale CMO roles during the American Civil War, and for much of the Reconstruction Era until the last units were withdrawn in 1877.
1877–1934.
At the end of the 19th century, and well into the 20th U.S. Army and Marine Corps were involved in numerous military interventions in several of the Caribbean and Latin American nations before and after World War I. After the Spanish–American War ended in 1898, Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood restored order in Cuba with CA forces. The Army returned to Cuba in 1905, again in 1912, and starting in 1917, was there for a period of many years. The Marine Corps was called upon to protect American interests by military intervention in the Dominican Republic (1916–1924), Haiti (1915–1934), and Nicaragua (1926–1934). The Army was also called to Panama in 1903 to ensure the birth of that nation when it broke away from Colombia to become independent.
According to the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center & School located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at worst, the CMO performance was highhanded and overbearing, while at best, the Army and Marine Corps restored more stable economic and political situations in those areas.
Showing "Uncle Sam with a schoolbook in one hand and a Krag rifle in the other" best summarized the civil-military policy in the Philippines, which was also acquired by the United States as a result of the Spanish–American War. While Cuba became independent in 1902, the Philippines was granted the status of a territory, with the promise of independence. It became independent in 1946. The payoff of an enlightened military government policy was the Filipinos were the only Pacific colonized peoples to resist the Japanese on any scale.
World War I.
World War I saw few, if any, civil affairs activities; however, during post-Armistice weeks, the U.S. Army administered the government of an overseas enemy population in the German Rhineland and in Luxembourg where no stable government existed after Germany's defeat and exit of the region. The army's Polar Bear Expedition occupied Arkhangelsk on the shore of the White Sea through the winter of 1918–1919 in a failed attempt to establish a stable anti-Bolshevik government in northern Europe. The American Expeditionary Force Siberia occupation of Vladivostok from 1918 to 1920 was similarly unsuccessful in stabilizing an anti-Bolshevik government on the Pacific coast. Between World War I and World War II, the U.S. Army was involved in a surprising number of civic action projects such as the Civilian Conservation Corps.
"The American army of occupation lacked both training and organization to guide the destinies of the nearly one million civilians whom the fortunes of war had placed under its temporary sovereignty", stated Col. Irwin L. Hunt, Officer in Charge of Civil Affairs, Third Army, in his report on U.S. military government in Germany after World War I.
He wrote further, "Military government, the administration by military officers of civil government in occupied enemy territory, is a virtually inevitable concomitant of modern warfare. The US Army conducted military government in Mexico in 1847 and 1848; in the Confederate States during and after the Civil War; in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Cuba after the Spanish–American War; and in the German Rhineland after World War I. In each instance, neither the Army nor the government accepted it as a legitimate military function. Consequently, its imposition invariably came as a somewhat disquieting experience for both, and the means devised for accomplishing it ranged from inadequate to near disastrous."
The Hunt Report, as it affectionately came to be known by the World War II generation of military Government officers, for the first time in the Army's experience looked on administration of occupied territory as something more than a minor incidental of war. Colonel Hunt realized that to exercise governmental authority, even over a defeated enemy, required preparation. The Army, he urged, should not again wait until the responsibility was thrust upon it but should develop competence in civil administration among its officers during peacetime.
In the aftermath of World War I, when almost nothing appeared more remote than the possibility of the Army's again occupying foreign territory, The Hunt Report nearly – but not quite-disappeared. Because it was the only substantial document on the subject, War College committees working in civil affairs periodically brought it out of the files. But the tendency of the War College in the 1920s was to look at civil affairs and military government entirely as they related to military law, the assumption being that they were not much more than the functions of observing and enforcing law. A broader interpretation began to emerge only after the 1934-1935 G-1 (personnel) committee at the War College prepared a draft military government manual, and a committee in the 1939-1940 class produced a manuscript on administration of occupied territory.
Over the years, War College committees had also recommended several times that the Army prepare a field manual on military government. Because of the presumed close relationship between this function and military law, the job seemed to fall logically to the Judge Advocate General. In October 1939, the Judge Advocate General, Maj. Gen. Allen W. Gullion, turned down one such recommendation on the ground that his office had recently published U.S. Army Field Manual FM 27–10, "The Rules of Land Warfare", which contained a substantial section on civil administration. By then, however, war had broken out in Europe, and the work of the recent War College committees had put military government in a new light. Early the next year, at the urging of G-3 (operations and training) and G-1 and with the War College materials and The Hunt Report to work from, Gullion's office began writing a manual. The result, published on 30 July 1940, was FM 27–5, Military Government, a statement of purposes, policies, and procedures. The two field manuals, The Rules of Land Warfare and Military Government, would eventually be regarded as the Old and New Testaments of American military government; but in the summer of 1940 the country was not at war, and of everything it then lacked, the Army undoubtedly missed a military government manual least.
World War II.
By 1942 Nazi Germany controlled most of Europe and was driving deep into the Soviet Union and across North Africa toward Egypt. In World War I, military government had not been needed until after the armistice, because the war had been fought mainly in France, and the French authorities had handled civil affairs for all the armies. World War II was clearly going to be different; governments had disappeared, gone into exile, or become collaborating puppets. Whenever the anti-Axis forces challenged the Germans on land, they would almost certainly have to deal with civilian populations from the outset. The British had already had some experience in late 1940 in the Italian African colonies, Eritrea, Cyrenaica, and Italian Somaliland.
In early 1941 the Intelligence Training Centre of the British War Office inaugurated politico-military courses at St. John's College, Cambridge. Their purpose was "to train officers in postwar reconstruction and other missions incident to military operations in foreign countries." Two US Army officers, Maj. Henry H. Cumming and Lt. Charles A. H. Thomson, attended the third course, which began in October 1941, and thereby became the first American officers to receive military government training. The politico-military courses dealt with history, geography, economics, and politics and aimed at giving the officer-students background knowledge rather than specific instruction in military government.
World War II saw the U.S. Army receive its Civil Affairs "charter." The Pentagon in 1943 activated the U.S. Army Civil Affairs Division (CAD) on the recommendation of Provost Marshal General of the Army, Allen W. Gullion. The major problem faced by the CAD was heavy destruction of the infrastructure. Never before or since has U.S. Army Civil Affairs been so extensively involved in nation rebuilding for so long. The CAD was responsible for 80 million European civilians; yet no documented case of overt opposition has ever come to light. Post-war military government proved extremely successful in our former enemies’ nations. The CAD also returned untold millions of dollars worth of national treasures to their country of origin. The post-war period was the first planned use of Civil Affairs by the modern United States Army, and the greatest use of CA assets to date.
In 1942, General Dwight D. Eisenhower called attention to the adverse political effects that would result from a failure to meet civilian needs after public assurances had been given in the United States. Thirty thousand tons of civilian supplies were needed every month, but the Lend-Lease Administration was hard put to get them together in time to meet the convoys leaving for North Africa. On arrival in the theater the supplies had to be unloaded and moved by the Army, since the North African Economic Board did not have the staff even to supervise the work; and both the military and the civilian agencies agreed that on the drive into Tunisia the Army would have to assume complete responsibility for civilian relief.
Simply stated, the United States could not simultaneously fight the war and launch into essentially postwar relief and rehabilitation programs. On the other hand, the War Department realized that it had taken too narrow a view and expanded its policy on planning for future operations to include preparations for food, health, housing, and security of civilian populations. It proposed in the initial period to handle all aspects of civil affairs as part of the military operation and to include civilian supplies with the military stores.
Operation Husky was the projected invasion of Sicily that would be the first United States occupation of enemy territory and would set the pattern for subsequent operations. The mission was a success, and the devastated nation was full of dislocated civilian, and required total CA involvement. The Civil Affairs Division (CAD) was established on 1 March 1943, and Maj. Gen. John H. Hilldring became its director a month later. In assigning the division's mission, the War Department reasserted its claim to leadership in civil affairs and military government. The division was to report directly to the Secretary of War on "all matters except those of a military nature" and to represent the Secretary of War to outside agencies. On matters relating to military operations it would act for the Chief of Staff, and it would co-ordinate for the War Department all actions of civilian agencies in theaters of operations. For the future, War Department officials contemplated placing full responsibility for civil affairs in the staff of the theater commander "until such time as the military situation will allow other arrangements," and the Civil Affairs Division was charged with making certain that all plans to occupy enemy or enemy-controlled territory included detailed planning for civil affairs. On 10 April, the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the Civil Affairs Division as "the logical staff to handle civil affairs in nearly all occupied territory."
Korea.
During the Korean War (1950–1953), U.S. Army CA found itself involved for the first time in a subsistence agrarian society. Complex and changing organization of U.S. Army command hampered CA activities, as did the attitude of sensitive Republic of Korea (ROK) government officials. According to Henry Kissinger, “the first civil affairs efforts were in the fields of public health, welfare and sanitation, for the purpose of preventing disease, starvation, and unrest. In the winter of 1950-51 the movement of several million refugees threatened interference with the use of vital communication lines. Later still, removal of civilians from combat areas and their subsequent care and disposition were deemed necessary, not only for humanitarian reasons, but as a security measure as well.” Among the more dramatic events was the evacuation of over 90,000 North Korean Christians and anti-communists from Hamhung province to Busan and Koje in December 1950 using ships of the ROK and U.S. Navy and Merchant Marine.
During the height of the war, U.S. civil affairs staff grew to approximately 400 officers and men who administered approximately $150 million in humanitarian and economic assistance.
Kissinger viewed American CMO efforts in Korea with a critical eye, judging it a qualified success. Minimum objectives were obtained: Epidemics were prevented; no significant unrest on the part of the civilian population occurred. While insurgency or epidemics would indicate the failure of civil affairs policies, their absence does not indicate more than a minimum effectiveness.”
The ROK Army has developed an extensive civil affairs structure, with trained active-duty CMO staff officers down to the division level and many thousands of reserve component civil affairs officers and soldiers that train annually to respond to humanitarian disasters at home and abroad. Tens of thousands of ROK government employees participate in annual CMO training as well. The U.S. has always had a strong civil-military presence in Korea and after a generation of successful civic action missions, CA soldiers work side-by-side with their South Korean counterparts. As of 2007, the ROK Army had hundreds of soldiers assisting with CMO in Afghanistan and over several thousand soldiers conducting CMO in northern Iraq.
Vietnam War.
In the Vietnam War, CA was more publicized than ever before with its phrase “winning the hearts and minds of the people.” CA's greatest success was in working with U.S. Special Forces in South Vietnam's central highlands and securing large areas of difficult terrain by winning the confidence of local tribes. Since there were no fixed battle lines, CA personnel had to stay in some places indefinitely. By 1966, each Special Forces A-Detachment in the highlands was augmented by a Civil Affairs-Psychological Operations officer (CAPO). The functions of CA and PSYOP were often combined. Three CA companies carried the burden of pacification, working with the State Department. CA assisted Vietnamese civilians by drilling wells, building roads and bridges to help market local products, setting up public health clinics and school buildings, and carrying out public education programs. Seabee Teams were the boots on the ground to accomplishing these projects. The CA programs in the central highlands were, according to the Army's Vice Chief of Staff at the time, “worth their weight in gold.” Overall, the effort to “win the hearts and minds” of the local people was hit and miss however due partly to the fact that civil administration expertise in the Army lay within Army Reserve.
Civil Operations and Rural Development Support (CORDS)
One of the most valuable and successful elements during the conflict was the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS) program, which was the civil affairs/civil-military operations aspect of American forces. CORDS was a joint command, with all service branches represented on its military side. CORDS had a large, mostly American, civilian contingent as well. CORDS was created in 1967 to integrate U.S. civilian and military support of the South Vietnamese government and people. CORDS achieved considerable success in supporting and protecting the South Vietnamese population and in undermining the communist insurgents' influence and appeal, particularly after implementation of accelerated pacification in 1968. For most of the time after its inception and through the early 1970s, CORDS was headed by Ambassador William Colby, later to become the head of the CIA.
Pacification was the process by which the government asserted its influence and control in an area beset by insurgents. It included local security efforts, programs to distribute food and medical supplies, and lasting reforms (like land redistribution). In 1965, U.S. civilian contributions to pacification consisted of several civilian agencies (among them, the Central Intelligence Agency, Agency for International Development, U.S. Information Service, and Department of State). Each developed its own programs. Coordination was uneven. The U.S. military contribution to pacification consisted of thousands of advisors. By early 1966, there were military advisory teams in all of South Vietnam's 44 provinces and most of its 243 districts. But there were two separate chains of command for military and civilian pacification efforts, making it particularly difficult for the civilian-run pacification program to function.
In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson established CORDS within the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), which was commanded by General William Westmoreland, USA. The purpose of CORDS was to establish closer integration of civilian and military efforts. Robert Komer was appointed to run the program, with a three-star-equivalent rank. Civilians, including an assistant chief of staff for CORDS, were integrated into military staffs at all levels. This placed civilians in charge of military personnel and resources. Komer was energetic, strong-willed, and persistent in getting the program started. Nicknamed "Blowtorch Bob" for his aggressive style, Komer was modestly successful in leading improvements in pacification before the 1968 Tet offensive.
In mid-1968, the new MACV commander, General Creighton Abrams, and his new civilian deputy, William Colby, used CORDS as the implementing mechanism for an accelerated pacification program that became the priority effort for the United States. Significant allocations of personnel helped make CORDS effective. In this, the military's involvement was key. In September 1969—the high point of the pacification effort in terms of total manpower—there were 7,601 advisors assigned to province and district pacification teams. Of these 6,464 were military.
The effectiveness of CORDS was a function of integrated civilian and military teams at every level of society in Vietnam. From district to province to national level, U.S. advisors and U.S. interagency partners worked closely with their Vietnamese counterparts. The entire effort was well established under the direction of the country team, led by Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker. General Abrams and his civilian deputy were clear in their focus on pacification as the priority and ensured that military and civilian agencies worked closely together. Keen attention was given to the ultimate objective of serving the needs of the local populace. Success in meeting basic needs of the populace led, in turn, to improved intelligence that facilitated an assault on the Viet Cong political infrastructure. By early 1970, statistics indicated that 93 percent of South Vietnamese lived in "relatively secure" villages, an increase of almost 20 percent from the middle of 1968. By 1972, pacification had largely uprooted the insurgency from among the South Vietnamese population and forced the communists to rely more heavily on infiltrating conventional forces from North Vietnam and employing them in irregular and conventional operations.
In 1972, South Vietnamese forces operating with significant support from U.S. airpower defeated large-scale North Vietnamese conventional attacks. Unfortunately, a North Vietnamese conventional assault succeeded in 1975 after the withdrawal of U.S. forces, ending of U.S. air support, and curtailment of U.S. funding to South Vietnam.
Pacification, once it was integrated under CORDS, was generally led, planned, and executed well. CORDS was a successful synthesis of military and civilian efforts. It is a useful model to consider for other counterinsurgency operations.
Panama and Grenada.
The U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) we know today began in October 1985 with the formation of the 1st Special Operations Command Augmentation Detachment. This unit of 30 Soldiers formed the nucleus that evolved into the United States Army Reserve Special Operations Command. USARSOC controlled the Army Reserve Special Operations Forces, formed December 1, 1989, which consisted of Army Reserve Special Forces, CA and Psychological Operations units.
Within days of its activation, Operation Just Cause in Panama thrust the Command into action. USARSOC identified and mobilized individual volunteer Reserve Soldiers for duty in Panama and the succeeding CA operation there known as Promote Liberty. JUST CAUSE saw 96th CA BN jumping in at H-Hour with Rangers. Individual Reservists were called up, not units. Major tasks were getting the international airport functioning, providing medical assistance, establishing a "user-friendly" demilitarized police force, establishing a displaced civilians facility, and assisting the legally elected government take control. U.S. CA policy was one of teaching Panamanians how to satisfy their own needs.
Because combat was basically over after D-Day, the Grenada intervention depended proportionally more on civil affairs and civic action than any U.S. Army operation since the Caribbean interventions. One of the lessons learned from this operation was to include CA in the planning phase because as it turned out, stabilization and rebuilding quickly became the major emphasis. Most CA work was in the restoration of the run-down "socialized" infrastructure.
Desert Shield.
In Desert Shield/Storm, CA units were activated for the first time since Vietnam. Soon after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a Kuwaiti Task Force was established in Washington DC. It consisted of key U.S. civilian and Kuwaiti government-in-exile officials, plus CA personnel. CA troops were with the first Coalition forces to enter Kuwait City. CA personnel provided liaison between the military and the Saudis who provided fuel, facilities, water, and food.
Operation Provide Comfort was the largest humanitarian relief operation since the Berlin Airlift of 1948 CA troops worked successfully with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Allied forces and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help Kurdish refugees escape the wrath of Saddam and provided for their welfare in newly established camps.
Haiti.
Operation Restore/Uphold Democracy. In late September 1994, U.S. forces started final preparation for an armed invasion of Haiti. On the 11th hour, former President Jimmy Carter negotiated a deal with the Haitian leaders that permitted U.S. forces to go in unopposed. The changed entry situation immediately pushed CA activities to the front in terms of the immediate requirements to repair the run-down Haitian infrastructure. CA soldiers attached to the Rangers were quickly reattached to 3rd SFG units for this reason. Additional CA assets were brought in from various CA Reserve commands to meet the rapid expansion of the CA role.
The most far reaching Civil Affairs project to take shape was Operation LIGHT SWITCH, a campaign to restore limited electrical power to major urban areas outside of Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitian. Some areas had been without electricity for nearly 3 years. On 26 September 1994, the 96th CA Bn was given the responsibility for the organization and execution of the operation. The first real problem was a legal one, namely how the project could be funded. Regulations state that Title X funding can be used for such projects if they were “dominimus” in nature. This is defined as being within the scope of what a squad of soldiers working a day could accomplish at no more than $1000 in cost. The scope of the project easily exceeded that. The JAG section quickly drafted a message and sent it forward to the Department of State. In less than 6 hours, a reply arrived clearing the way for the mission to commence.
With a total of 4 days planning and coordination, the first attempts were made to restart electrical plants within the country. Sixteen power plants were restarted in 12 days. Not enough fuel was available to keep the plants running 24 hours a day but it did provide electrical service for 4 to 5 hours a day.
Additional missions accomplished during Operation LIGHT SWITCH included keeping the local telephone company's generators up and running. These generators kept emergency power batteries charged, which provided phone service during periods when the power plant was down. Emergency power generators at local hospitals in some of the towns were also serviced. This servicing enabled doctors to perform life saving operations during hours when electricity was not available and also provided the SF medics a place to use if needed. All the above was linked to a PSYOP campaign to prepare the countryside for Aristide's return. Operation LIGHT SWITCH continued until late January 1995.
CA working with other SOF units accomplished a number of other missions in Haiti. They assisted with the training of the Caribbean multi-national police forces, revising the elementary education program, organized city clean-up programs, conducted classes in selected towns on city government. Another major program was when Federal Judges from the U.S, who were also members of the Army Reserve, were dispatched to overhaul the Haitian judicial system.
The Balkans.
In Bosnia, CA troops encountered large-scale devastation for the first time since World War II. Operations in Bosnia were the first in a European country since World War II. AC and RC CA units and individual soldiers truly come into their own. For example, an RC CA NCO from New York Transit Authority instrumental in getting the Sarajevo tram line running again, a symbol that the city is returning to something resembling normality. Another RC CA NCO from the New England Gas Authority replaced the afro-engineered Sarajevo gas system to get it up and running. On the macro-level, an RC O-6 banker in civilian life was instrumental in negotiating loans from the World Bank to Bosnian farmers. CMO also worked in areas such as hazardous materials (HAZMAT), unexploded ordnance, elections, cadaver removal, and population movement. All of this against a background that prohibited “nation-building.” The most far-reaching impact of the recent CA operations in Bosnia is the formation by other countries of units with CA-like missions, thereby decreasing the burden on U.S. CA forces.
War on Terror.
Following the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, CA Soldiers deployed to support the effort to locate international terrorists linked to the Al Qaeda network and support the men and women located at Ground Zero. Since 2001, over 1500 CA and PSYOP Soldiers have deployed annually over 20 countries worldwide promoting peace, fighting the war on terror, and assisting in humanitarian actions. CA Soldiers deployed in support of operations in Kosovo, South America and the Far East. They deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom from 2001 to the present and domestically they help support disaster relief as a result of Hurricane Katrina and flooding in Louisiana. Civil affairs Soldiers continue to play critical roles in the global peace and stabilization and reconstruction of both countries and they continue to provide support for ongoing missions in countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia and Yemen.
See also.
People


Yan Youmin

Yan Youmin () (1918–2001) was a People's Republic of China politician. He was born in Chengcheng County, Shaanxi Province. He was the 1st Chairman of the People's Standing Congress of Shanghai (1981).


Rick Flag

Rick Flag is the name of three fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They are father, son, and grandson.
The father, Richard Flag, was in the original Suicide Squad, a World War II unit. After the war, he was a member of Task Force X. His son, Captain Rick Flag Jr., was a member of the Forgotten Heroes and led two different incarnations of the Suicide Squad.
Ted Whittall portrayed Flag in TV series "Smallville", while Joel Kinnaman portrays Flag in the live-action DC Extended Universe film "Suicide Squad". Kinnaman will return to portray the role in the sequel.
Fictional character biography.
Rick Flag Sr..
Richard Montgomery Flag led a division in World War II called the Suicide Squadron. In his first mission, Flag was the only survivor. After that his team enjoyed increasing success and decreasing casualties. After the war, he married Sharon Race. In 1951, with the disappearance of the Justice Society of America and other super-heroes, President Harry S. Truman again called on Flag when he created Task Force X.
Task Force X would have two units: the military unit "Argent" (led by "Control"), and the civilian unit "Suicide Squad" which would deal with civilian matters — masked villains and the like. Commander Jeb Stuart would lead the military side to deal with national and international crises. Though Argent's recorded activity ceased after 1960, Stuart's Suicide Squad continued on. Eventually, Flag sacrificed himself in stopping the former Blackhawks' nemesis, the War Wheel.
Rick Flag Jr..
Flag was replaced in the Squad by his now-grown son, Richard Rogers Flag. Young Rick headed a new, public team which included his girlfriend, Karin Grace, Dr. Hugh Evans, and Jess Bright. In one tragic mission in Cambodia they were pursued by a Yeti. Evans and Bright and the Yeti fell into a crevasse, presumably to their deaths. Bright survived, angered at being left behind.
Bright, frostbitten and near-death, was found by the Chinese who nursed him back to health. He was then passed onto the Russians who transformed him into the bionic monster called Koshchei the Deathless. With his expertise in engineering, Bright assisted in the creation of the Rocket Red Brigade and lent a hand to the nation of Qurac in assembling their metahuman team, the Onslaught. Grace also secretly bore Flag's son and placed him with an adoptive family. Later, Rick was sent to infiltrate the Forgotten Heroes as a spy for the government. After the "death" of the Forgotten Heroes' leader, the Immortal Man, the team disbanded and Flag worked covertly for the U.S. government.
Rick Flag Jr. was then tapped by the government to lead the new Suicide Squad as formed by Amanda Waller, a role he reluctantly assumed. Immediately, Rick showed signs of instability, which were worsened when Karin Grace became the team's medic. Flag hated working with the criminals under his command, and resented the notion that he and Deadshot were alike in any way.
There were bright points amongst the Suicide Squad however, as the team was not completely filled with criminals. Nightshade, although she resented Flag at first when she was forced to become an accessory to murder when she became an undercover operative in the Jihad, grew attracted to him. She was never able to admit her feelings to him however, and he took no notice.
Flag also held good relationships with Nemesis and the Bronze Tiger, even though both were in some ways opposed to Flag. Although Nemesis had feelings for Nightshade, something to which Flag was oblivious, he stepped out of the way and respected Nightshade's feelings. Similarly, the Tiger was originally tapped to become the Squad's leader, but was instead replaced by Flag, something that the Tiger had no problems with.
The loyalty Flag had towards his teammates and Waller was evident in the fact that he did not shy away from a conflict with the Justice League in order to free Nemesis from Soviet captivity. He also threatened a bureaucrat who was threatening Waller's position.
This did nothing to ease Flag's mental instability, and it soon worsened. Flag led a different Squad in a deadly mission involving the Doom Patrol in which he was the only survivor. The death of Karin Grace also served to amplify this and it came to a head when US Senator Cray threatened to reveal the existence of the Suicide Squad to the public.
Unbeknownst to him, Amanda Waller had already dealt with the threat, and Flag set out to assassinate Cray in order to ensure the existence of the Suicide Squad, even though he loathed some of its members. The Squad set out to stop him, with the clearance to do so by any means necessary. The villain Deadshot found Flag and Cray, but instead of killing Flag, Deadshot instead murdered the senator. Flag was forced to flee, and unwittingly, the existence of the Suicide Squad was still revealed.
Flag set out to destroy the Jihad team once and for all after learning that his father had previously attacked their stronghold, Jotunheim, during World War II in order to neutralise a Nazi prototype nuclear weapon. He left a note to Nightshade detailing his plans. The bomb was still there, buried under rubble and the Jihad were unaware of its presence. Flag sneaked in and killed his way through to the bomb itself. He battled the Jihad's leader Rustam personally, just before the bomb exploded.
After his death, Flag appeared in an issue of Captain Atom, where his soul was saved from an eternity in Purgatory and reunited with Karin in Paradise. His Purgatory self also appears in the "Day of Judgement", limited series. Along with other Purgatory bound souls, he battles heavenly agents on the behalf of a still living superhero team. As stated in issue five of the series, his rebellious actions earned him another after-life chance.
One Year Later in "Checkmate" (vol. 2) #6, Rick Flag is revealed to be alive and is rescued from a secret Quraci prison by the Bronze Tiger. He had been imprisoned there for four years until Amanda Waller discovered him and alerted the Tiger to his whereabouts. Rick was later revealed to be leading a clandestine Suicide Squad unit at the behest of Amanda Waller, and against the expressed mandate of the Checkmate organization.
Bob Greenberger, who co-created the Suicide Squad alongside John Ostrander, has publicly objected to the resurrection of Rick Flag. According to Greg Rucka, Rick Flag's subsequent re-appearance had nothing to do with "Infinite Crisis", and John Ostrander has stated that he knew how Rick Flag could survive the explosion at Jotunheim when he first wrote it.
As seen in "Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag" #2, Rustam used his Scimitar to teleport both Rick Flag and himself to Skartaris. In "Raise the Flag" #5, General Wade Eiling admits that Rick Flag Jr. is not actually the son of Rick Flag Sr., but is a soldier named Anthony Miller who was brainwashed by Eiling into believing he was Flag's son. Miller's conditioning means that Eiling still has control of him, and uses him as part of his takeover of the Suicide Squad. Forced to activate an explosive implant in Amanda Waller's brain, Miller breaks free from his mind control enough to activate Eiling's implant instead, leaving him helpless enough to be captured. Confronted with the possibility to give up his presumed identity and return home, Miller decides that the Suicide Squad needs a Rick Flag, and refuses the offer.
Rick Flag III.
Rick Flag Jr.'s young son by Karin Grace who also shared his name was introduced in "Suicide Squad" #50. The boy was kidnapped by Koschei the Deathless (Jess Bright) a member of the Jihad, but was rescued by Nemesis of the Suicide Squad. He has since appeared in "Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag" #4, in which Flag Jr and Bronze Tiger visit his adopted home, but Flag Jr. refuses to approach him.


Lilian Bader

Lilian Bader (18 February 1918 – 13 March 2015) was one of the first Black women to join the British armed forces.
Early life.
Lilian Bader was born at 19 Stanhope Street in the Toxteth Park area of Liverpool to Marcus Bailey, a merchant seaman from Barbados who served in the First World War, and a British-born mother of Irish parentage.
In 1927, Bader and her two brothers were orphaned when their father died. At the age of 9 she was separated from her brothers and placed in a convent, where she remained until she was 20.:176 Bader has explained that it was difficult to find employment 'because of her father's origins: "My casting out from the convent walls was delayed. I was half West Indian, and nobody, not even the priests, dare risk ridicule by employing me."':79
World War II.
In 1939, at the onset of the Second World War, Bader enlisted in the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) at Catterick Camp, Yorkshire. She was dismissed after seven weeks when it was discovered that her father was not born in the United Kingdom.:177 On 28 March 1941 she enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), after she heard that the Royal Air Force (RAF) were taking citizens of West Indian descent.:177 She trained in instrument repair, which was a trade newly opened to women. She then became a Leading Aircraft Woman and was eventually promoted to the rank of corporal.:177
In 1943 she married Ramsay Bader, a tank driver who served in the 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. She was given compassionate discharge from her position in February 1944, when she became pregnant with her first son.,:218 Ultimately, they had two children together, Geoffrey and Adrian.:177
Postwar life.
After the war, Bader and her husband moved to Northamptonshire to raise their family. Bader studied for O-Levels and A-levels in evening classes in the 1960s, then studied at London University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree. Following this she would have a career as a teacher.:218
Legacy.
In 2018, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote, "The Voice" newspaper listed Bader – alongside Kathleen Wrasama, Olive Morris, Connie Mark, Fanny Eaton, Diane Abbott, Margaret Busby, and Mary Seacole – among eight Black women who have contributed to the development of Britain. In October 2020, Bader was commemorated by the publication of an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.


The Good Soldier (2009 film)

The Good Soldier is a 2009 documentary film directed and produced by American filmmakers Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys. Using interviews with five veterans from different generations of American wars, the film explores the definition of what being a 'good soldier' really means.
Howard Zinn, author of "A People's History of the United States" and a former bombardier in World War II, served as an advisor to the filmmakers.
Synopsis.
The filmmakers follow the journey of five American veterans from World War II, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the Iraq War as they sign up, participate in battle and finally change their perspective about the real meaning of war and being a good soldier. At the end, "The Good Soldier" poses the question: "What is it that makes a good soldier? Is it the ability to kill other human beings?" The film is composed of candid interviews with the veterans, who marched eagerly to defend their country in 1944, 1966, 1991, or 2003 only to return conflicted by the atrocities they saw and participated in, and questioning what true service to your country really means, The juxtaposition of these searing interviews with jarring on-the-ground archival footage exposes the brutality of combat, and honors the bravery not only of those who fight, but those who fight for change. In ultimately choosing to work for peace in the world, the heroes profiled in this film, have begun to take steps towards peace with themselves as well.
Soundtrack and music.
Two songs by JJ Grey and Mofro were used and original music was composed for the film by JJ Grey. Additional songs by Nine Inch Nails, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Edwin Starr, and Big Bill Broonzy were used.
Release.
The documentary was previewed at the National Veterans for Peace Convention 2009 in College Park, MD August 5–9, 2009. The premiere was at the Hamptons International Film Festival on October 9, 2009, where it was picked up for limited theatrical distribution by Artistic License Films of New York. The international premiere was at the Levante Film Festival in Italy.
"The Good Soldier" opened theatrically nationwide on Veterans Day, November 11, 2009. The opening was coordinated with an event called "A National Day of Conversation", in which combat veterans, many of them members of VFP, hosted question and answer sessions with audiences. On November 6, 2009, as the feature component of his special Veterans Day edition of Bill Moyers Journal, Mr. Moyers broadcast a fifty-minute version of the documentary. During this broadcast, the "National Day of Conversation" was announced.
Critical reception.
From Daily Variety :"Skillfully interweaving the stories of five different servicemen from four different conflicts, "The Good Soldier" is a surprisingly nondoctrinaire docu about anti-war veterans that marches to its own drummer." The majority of reviews were positive. Kam Williams wrote: "co-directors Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys deserve a 21-gun salute for fashioning a sobering antidote to all that patriotic claptrap about serving God, country and apple pie..." Nicolas Rapold in Time Out New York called it "deeply moving," and Aaron Hillis of The Village Voice described the film as "shocking and affecting". Jason Albert of the Onion.com (AV Club) said..."It's hard to imagine watching a more affecting movie than "The Good Soldier"...it may be as affecting a movie as I've ever seen. I found it both hard to watch and hard to turn away from. Really powerful stuff." Matthew Nestel of Box Office Magazine called the film "arresting with troves of detailed memories pouring out for the first time." It was also praised by Hiphamptons.com: "the film should be mandatory viewing for every President and member of Congress."
The film scored 77% for critic approval, out of 13 reviews, on Rotten Tomatoes. Joseph Jon Lanthier from "Slant Magazine" gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4; he praised the film's topic of anti-war idea but believed that "its idealistic agenda grows tiresome despite its legitimacy." From "The New York Times", Neil Genzlinger called "The Good Soldier" "an attack on the military, drenched in blood" and said that while the film had compelling stories, the five interviewees in film were "hardly representative of veterans."
Awards.
On Saturday November 21, 2009 "The Good Soldier" won the Maysles Brothers Award for Best Documentary from the jury at the Starz Denver Film Festival. On Monday September 27, 2010 "The Good Soldier" won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Programming - Long Form.
Other media.
"The Good Soldier" Received much advance coverage from media outlets such as The Huffington Post and Daily Kos. In addition public statements about the film were made by individual chapters of VFP and the Daily Gazette of Schenectady, NY ran an editorial titled "A gift to all veterans for Veterans Day" about the upcoming premiere. Documentary Magazine wrote about the film in a feature article titled "War Stories: The Good Soldier examines the cost of combat." The film was also publicly endorsed by U.S. Labor Against the War.


Riverside Hangar

The Riverside Hangar is a historic hangar complex at the St. Paul Downtown Airport in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It comprises two parallel hangars with a connecting structure and some additions. Built on the bank of the Mississippi River in 1942, it was part of a bomber modification center that operated at the airport during World War II. The two hangar buildings were constructed with glued laminated timber arches, an innovation born of wartime steel shortages. Their important design features were their low cost and that they were erectable quickly by unskilled workers. Riverside Hangar was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its state-level significance in the theme of engineering. It was nominated for being one of Minnesota's leading examples of glued laminated timber construction.
Description.
The two parallel hangars are both long, wide, and high. They are apart, with a wooden structure between them.


National Constitutional Assembly

The National Constitutional Assembly was a non-governmental organisation formed in 1997 as a grouping of individual Zimbabwean citizens and civic organisations including, labour movements, student and youth groups, women groups, churches, business groups and human rights organisations, the founding Chairperson being Morgan Tsvangirayi who was then the Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Congress Of Trade Unions(ZCTU)
It is currently led by chairperson Lovemore Madhuku. The organisation has historically been closely allied to the Movement for Democratic Change, but in 2013, became a political party of its own after rejecting the constitution written by the Government of National unity between MDC-T and ZANU - PF.
History.
The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) was founded in 1997, and officially launched in 1998 at the University of Zimbabwe, by Zimbabwean individual citizens and civic organisations, amongst which were trade unions, opposition parties, student groups, women’s groups, representatives of the informal sector, and church groups. The NCA was inspired by the popular uprising of the 1990s, and came to see the present constitution as an ideal umbrella cause in pursuing an array of political, social and economical causes. The constitution was seen by the NCA as particularly problematic in that it allowed too much power to be vested in the hands of the president, as well as it being a product of the outgoing British colonial administration, where several clauses have expired because they were only meant to be utilized for a certain number of years.
NCA as an organisation.
The aims of the NCA are to help bring about the initiation of an inclusive and broad-based constitution-making process in Zimbabwe ; to foster, protect and deepen a culture of human rights and respect for the rule of law in Zimbabwe and to implement, incorporate and protect human rights. NCA carries out grassroots campaigns, informing people about rights-related issues such as the need for an inclusive, broad-based constitution; facilitates debates; organises meetings, seminars and debate workshops; issues public statements; monitors legal, political and social developments in Zimbabwe; publishes reports on human-rights related topics such as the plight of women in Zimbabwe; and engages in local and international networking. NCA also organises demonstrations and civic education. The campaigns and other activities of the NCA have seemingly resulted in a more widespread awareness of constitutional issues among the Zimbabwean population.
The NCA has five branches: The Congress (legislative branch), the Annual Consultative Assembly (executive branch), the National Task Force, the Region, and the constituency. The Annual Consultative Assembly is the supreme governing organ of the NCA. The NCA changed its original structure in 2006, from having an Annual General Meeting (AGM) as its major decision-making entity, to having a Congress.
The congress meets every 5 years, and is made up of representatives from the various constituencies of the NCA, chairpersons, secretaries, youth representatives, women’s representatives and committee members. The Task Force of the NCA is akin to an executive committee or board, and deals with the decision-making process in-between congresses, based on annual consultative assemblies. The institutional members of the NCA are composed of other organisations, such as political parties and woman’s-, youth- and students’ organisations. NCA also has many individual members. Membership fees have recently been suggested as a source of income – one has generally been able to become a member by simply filling out a form. The organisation is believed to have a support base of up to 500.000 individuals, although this number includes MDC structures, as there is no national membership database.


Tre kom tilbake

Tre kom tilbake () is an autobiographical book from 1946 written by Norwegian pilot Jens Müller on his war experiences during World War II. The book centers particularly on his participation in the 1944 mass escape from the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III. An English-language translation was published in 2019.
Summary.
Müller served in the No. 331 Squadron RAF, when he was shot down over the sea during a flight mission on 19 June 1942. He was captured and brought a prisoner-of-war camp, Durchgangslager Frankfurt, and after interrogations eventually transferred to the camp Stammlager Luft III. As a prisoner in the camp, Müller participated in the escape plans, by helping with the ventilation of the tunnels dug by the prisoners.
In 1943 the prisoners were moved to a new camp site, and shortly thereafter they secretly organized the digging of three new tunnels, called "Tom", "Dick" and "Harry". On 24 March 1944 a number of prisoners made their way out of the camp through the tunnel "Harry". Along with fellow prisoner Per Bergsland from RAF 332 Squadron, Müller eventually managed to escape to Sweden, after travelling by train to Frankfurt, taking a connecting train to Küstrin, then another train to Stettin. During the travel they were camouflaged as Norwegian electricians working in Germany, equipped with false documents made by other prisoners, including travel orders to change their workplace from Frankfurt to Stettin. They finally reached Sweden by hiding on a ship. After about ten days in Stockholm they were transported to Scotland in two Mosquito aeroplanes (each Mosquito could only carry one passenger), and arrived in London on 8 April 1944.
Only three of the seventy-six runaways from Stalag Luft III managed to escape to freedom, while the other 73 were caught after a giant man-hunt, and fifty men were executed by shooting as reprisal. Müller and Bergsland had no contact with the other escapees after they left the tunnel opening, and did not know the fate of the escapees until they were on their way to Canada to work as flight instructors. The 1946 book lists the number of escapees as 82, the number of caught as 79, and the number of shot as 54, numbers that have been corrected after later investigations.


Sai (Naruto)


Shava Totem

Shava is a totem name variant of Mhofu/Mpofu, which is the name of the Eland that is common in Southern Africa. The meanings attached to Shava include the fairness of the skin, resembling the colors of the Eland, or becoming self-sufficient such as by hunting or fishing.
Shava is associated with the Vahera tribe, descendants of Mbiru, who lived at Gombe Hill in present-day Buhera, East of Zimbabwe. The Vahera are Shona, a collective name of many tribes who lived in present-day Zimbabwe before Mzilikazi settled there with his Ndebele people. The Ndebele use the name Mpofu in Matabeleland. The Vahera people claim that they came from Guruuswa, an area North of the Zambezi river, in Uganda and Sudan. Another claim is that they entered Zimbabwe via Mozambique, where some of their daughters had bred with the foreign traders along the coast, resulting in the light brown skin tone. That light brown is called shava in Shona.
Buhera is an English corruption of the word Vahera, which means the Hera people.The Munyaris, vaBaiwa
Clans.
Mbiru was identified by his totem Shava (the Eland), also known as Nhuka. In their praise poetry they use terms such as Mhofuyemukono (the bull eland) and Mhukahuru (the large beast). All descendants of Mbiru share the same totem of Shava, but some changed to various Chidawos over time (praise name in parentheses) to hide from their enemies.
The Shava belt includes the following dynasties: Bocha, in the East, in the angle of the Odzi and Save; Marange (Shava Mukonde) in Buhera on the south bank of the upper Save River, the Nyashanu (Shava Museyamwa), the Mutekedza (Shava Masarirambi) South of Buhera and the Munyaradzi (Shava Wakanonoka).
Shava dynasties stretched west of the watershed from the upper Munyati to the Munyati-Mupfure confluence. These include the Mushava (Shava Musimuvi), the Nherera and Rwizi (Shava Mazarura) in the middle of Mupfure River, the Chivero (Shava Mwendamberi) to the far West of Chivero, the Neuso (Shava Mhukahuru Murehwa), the Muvirimirwa, the Chireya, or the Shava Murehwa, the Njerere (Shava Mvuramavi), the Nemangwe, the Matore (shava mudavanhu) and this was direct descendancy of Dore son of Nyashanu and they stretch from Kasuwe in Gokwe to Piriviri in Hurungwe, they praise mutunhu uri panaChiremera, Chirembera is a place in Gokwe Kasuwe area where Dore the son of Nyashanu resided during his stay in Gokwe before he went back to Buhera and died, the Nenyanga, the Negonde, the Nyavira, the Neharava, the Seke Mutema (Shava Mvuramavi), the Hwata dynasty (Shava Mufakose) and the Chiweshe (Shava Mutenhesenwa) in northern Zimbabwe and (Shava Nyakuviruka) and Shava Mhizha and the Shava Museyamwa of Chishanga ,who praise vari Matiringe ,vanodana vari Majakatira, vari Chishanga vari Mashakazhara who are direct descendants of Mutunhakuenda(sometimes referred to as Mutunhakwenda or just Mutunha) , a great- grandson of Nyashanu.His father was Ndyakavamwa who was the son of Gukunava, the son of Dukuta or Mutekwatekwa the son of Nyashanu.He moved south to the current day Masvingo province and established the Chishanga kingdom.
Contrary to accepted history, the governance of the area was organized.
History.
Seke Mutema.
The most compelling untold history is that of Seke Mutema, whose actions opened up the North, East and West of present-day Zimbabwe to the Vahera. Vahera culture was underpinned by inclusiveness and including marrying outside the totem. Seke was the first son of Nyashanu, and was disgruntled because he had been passed over in succession. His mother may have been from the Dziva people in the West, and then Northeast.
With his brothers Hwata, Chiweshe, Marange, and Gwenzi, he set up a vast kingdom that encouraged other members of their tribe to move south and west. The change in totems had more with these events than the need for intermarriage, which is still not widely accepted there.
It is said that Chiweshe's and Hwata's children’s battles over land and women were encouraged by Uncle Gwenzi, who himself never sired a child. In settling these disputes Hwata became Mufakose. He intervened in conflicts in the West with Mzilikazi, and was fighting within territories under his governance while Chiweshe assumed mutenhesanwa (those fighting among themselves).
Seke changed to Mvuramavi (hellstorm/waterstone-Mvuramahwe) after having agreed as per Rozvi tradition to change his people totem to Zuruvi in order to marry the Zuruvi Chief's daughter as a peace arrangement. Upon the death of the wife, the people agitated to return to their original totem. This was no longer possible given the intervening intermarriage.
Seke was the eldest followed by Aitewedzerwa na Chiweshe, Kouya Hwata, Marange and lastly Gwenzi. Their mother was a Rozvi princess. Seke, when he used the Chidawo, boasted of the fact that he was a Muzukuru of the Rozvi (Varidzi Wevu) through using the Chidawo Ivuramai Vangu, shortened to Vhuramai (the soil/land belongs to my mother, i.e., vana sekuru vake, or the Rozvi).
This served to remind all neighbouring clans of Seke's blue blood, e.g. the Matemai. Seke's new sons-in-law, the Matemai had gone crazy on seeing Vabvana Vatsvuku Weshava and immediately gave Seke the area where they now live.
His neighbors were the Matemai to the Northeast, the Tingini's Soko Murehwa of Washawasha in the North around the Harare suburbs of Glenlorne/Chisipiti and to the West Chiwero (around WarrenHills/Dziwaresekwa all to areas around Norton) and associated people such as the Gwanzura. To the Northwest were the Mapondera who occupied land stretching from the Harare suburbs of Marlborough/Mt Hamperden to the Mazowe valley (Kugomba). The South was the dominion of Seke's father Nyashanu (Churu Chine Masvesve). To the East were the Vatsunga of Nyandoro, the Vahota (Chihota) and the Vambire around Mount Hwedza.
War with the Gunguvo people ensued during Goreraza's rule (Seke #18). They pushed the invaders out and thus assumed the totem Mhofu Mvuramahwe, which over time came to be Mvuramavi (waterstone) and is now commonly referred to as Vhuramavi.


Domingos Leite Pereira

Domingos Leite Pereira (; September 19, 1882 – October 27, 1956) was a Portuguese politician of the Portuguese First Republic. He had degrees in theology and literature of the University of Coimbra. He helped to improve the relationships between the republic and the Catholic Church during his government.
During his life he served in many political posts:
After the May 28, 1926 revolution that installed the "Ditadura Nacional" (National Dictatorship) that would be followed by António de Oliveira Salazar's fascist "Estado Novo" (New State) regime, he abandoned his political life. Until the end of his life in 1956, he served as President of the insurance company "Douro".


Central Guoshu Institute

The Central Guoshu Institute (); was established in Nanjing by the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China in 1928 for the propagation of Chinese martial arts, and was an important center of martial arts during the Nanjing decade. "Guoshu" (also spelled "Kuoshu") "national art" was the term for martial arts adopted by the Republic of China at the time. The institute was headed by five selected masters, including Fu Chen Sung, Wan Laisheng, Gu Ruzhang, Li Liejun (1882–1946), Li Jinglin, and Chang Chih Chiang (Zhang Zhijiang , 1882–1966). Along with the Jing Wu Athletic Association (established in 1910), the academy played a crucial role in the transmission of traditional Chinese martial arts into the 20th century.
In April 1928, The Institute held its first national martial arts competition in Beijing in the form of a highly competitive lei tai tournament. It was presided by General Zhang Zhijiang. This competition attracted 400 of the best martial artists in China.
In October 1928, the Central Guoshu Institute held another national examination in Nanjing. This event came to be regarded as one of the most significant historic gatherings of Chinese martial arts masters. The tournament was presided by generals Zhang Zhijiang, Li Liejun, and Li Jinglin, who separated the 600 participants into two categories: Shaolin and Wudang. After the first several days of competition, the fighting competitions had to be halted because many participants were injured. The final 12 contestants were not permitted to continue, with the public excuse being the fear more injury or a death. The winner was determined by a vote by the participants. Many of the "Top 15" finishers went on to teach at the institute..
Yang Chengfu was named the Institute's head instructor of T'ai chi ch'uan; Sun Lu-t'ang was named head instructor of Xing Yi Quan; and Fu Chen Sung was named head instructor of Baguazhang.
In 1929, the governor of Guangdong invited some of the institute's masters (including some of those that had competed in the 1928 lei tai) to come south to establish a "Southern Kuoshu Institute". General Li Jinglin chose five masters to represent northern China: Baguazhang master Fu Chen Sung; Shaolin Iron Palm master Gu Ruzhang; Six Harmony master Wan Laishen; Tan Tui master Li Shanwu; and Chaquan master, Wang Shaozhao. These men were known as the "Wu hu xia jiangnan" (五虎下江南 - "Five tigers heading south of Jiangnan"). In 1933, the institute again hosted the national competition. The rules said, "...if death occurs as a result of boxing injuries and fights, the coffin with a body of the deceased will be sent home."
The center relocated several times during World War II and returned to Nanjing in 1946. It closed in 1948 due to lack of funding.


Jiang Yiyuan

Jiang Yiyuan (; November 17, 1928 - February 24, 2020) was a Chinese agricultural engineer and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE). He was a member of the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery and Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering.
Biography.
Jiang was born in Changzhou, Jiangsu, on November 17, 1928. His father was a merchant. He attended Zhengheng High School (). In 1946 he enrolled at the University of Nanking, where he graduated in 1950. After university, he was hired as a teacher at Northeast Agricultural University, where he successively served as lecturer, associate professor, and professor. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1956. In 1957, he was sent to the Soviet Union to study at , studying mechanical theory under M. H. Ledoshniev. In 1982, he became a senior visiting scholar at Michigan State University. He died of illness in Harbin, Heilongjiang, on February 24, 2020, aged 91.


Stage Door Canteen (film)

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Stage Door Canteen is a 1943 American World War II film with musical numbers and other entertainment interspersed with dramatic scenes by a largely unknown cast. The film was produced by Sol Lesser's Principal Artists Productions and directed by Frank Borzage. The film features many celebrity cameo appearances but primarily relates a simple drama set in the famed New York City restaurant and nightclub for American and Allied servicemen. Six bands are featured. The score and the original song, "We Mustn't Say Goodbye", were nominated for Academy Awards.
"Stage Door Canteen" is in the public domain in North America and for this reason is widely available in many DVD and VHS releases of varying quality.
Plot.
The film, made in wartime, celebrates the work of the Stage Door Canteen, created in New York City as a recreational center for both American and Allied servicemen on leave to socialize with, be entertained or served by Broadway celebrities. The storyline follows several women who volunteer for the Canteen and must adhere to strict rules of conduct, the most important of which is that their job is to provide friendly companionship to and be dance partners for the (often nervous) men who are soon to be sent into combat. No romantic fraternization is allowed. Eileen is a volunteer who confesses to only becoming involved in the Canteen in order to be discovered by one of the Hollywood stars in attendance. She ultimately finds herself falling in love with one of the soldiers.
Production.
"Stage Door Canteen" was made under the auspices of the American Theatre Wing. The actual Stage Door Canteen in New York City was a basement club located in the 44th Street Theatre, and it could not be used for the filming as it was too busy receiving servicemen. The settings were recreated at the Fox Movietone Studio in New York and at RKO Pathé Studios in Los Angeles. "Stage Door Canteen" was in production from November 30, 1942, to late January 1943.
Star appearances range from momentary cameos, such as Johnny Weissmuller working in the Canteen's kitchen, to more substantial roles. In a June 1943 feature story titled "Show Business at War", "Life" magazine counted a total of 82 performers in "Stage Door Canteen", and provided total screen time for some of them:
"Stage Door Canteen" represents the only film appearance of Katharine Cornell. It features a performance of "Why Don't You Do Right?" by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, which became the first major hit for singer Peggy Lee.
African-American producer Leonard Harper was hired to do the African-American casting in New York City. Of additional cultural note are two segments, one in which Merle Oberon sings the praises of America's Chinese allies, represented by Chinese airmen, and another in which Sam Jaffe interviews several Soviet officers, one of them female, in both English and Russian.
Cast.
Featured cast.
These featured cast members either perform or have extended dialogue in the story.
Cameo appearances.
These featured players make brief appearances in the film.
Other stage, screen and radio artists making cameo appearances include the following:
Release.
Distributed by United Artists, "Stage Door Canteen" was released June 24, 1943, with a run time of 132 minutes. Some modern prints have been trimmed to 93 minutes.
Accolades.
"Stage Door Canteen" was named one of the ten best motion pictures of 1943 in a "Film Daily" poll of 439 newspaper and radio reviewers.
The film received two Academy Award nominations—for the original score by Fred Rich, and for the original song, "We Mustn't Say Goodbye", by James V. Monaco (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics).
Reception.
Bosley Crowther, film critic for "The New York Times", prefaced his remarks on the film by stating his aversion to the contemporary trend toward all-star spectacles, which he called "cheap showmanship": But for once, we've got to make a frank concession. As done in "Stage Door Canteen" this parading of show-world notables has some real dramatic point. It shapes a glamorous, atmospheric setting within which a slight story is played—a setting as real as is the Canteen for a story that is old as the hills. … And, besides, some of the acts are pretty good.
Crowther praised producer Sol Lesser for creating an illusion of authenticity by casting newcomers to the screen—"anybody's boys and girls … just so many nice kids at the Canteen." He credited the film for catching the generous spirit of show people wishing to do their part to help win the war. "As a general rule," he concluded, "this writer is depressed by a bandwagon of stars. But this is one time when the spectacle really brings a lump of pride to the throat."
All proceeds, after Lesser's 8.5 percent, were donated to the American Theatre Wing and its allied charities. The film was such a success at the boxoffice that Lesser was able to turn over $1.5 million—the equivalent of more than $20.5 million today.
"Patriotism, entertainment, and romance mix badly", wrote modern critic Pauline Kael, who looked back on the film for "The New Yorker". "Many famous performers make fools of themselves … Katharine Cornell, Katharine Hepburn, and Paul Muni fare a shade worse than most of the other 50-odd famous performers; Ray Bolger and Ed Wynn come off rather better." Kael termed the film "depressing" and particularly criticized Delmer Daves's "horribly elaborate narrative". Dave Kehr of "The New York Times" called the film "an interesting document on World War II".


Walt Wallet


County of London Plan

The County of London Plan was prepared for the London County Council in 1943 by John Henry Forshaw (1895–1973) and Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (1879–1957)
Its main purpose was to point out the main directions of development and reconstruction of London, which in the past decades had faced big changes and irregular growth. It was prepared in anticipation of the end of World War II and the reconstruction after bomb damage and large movements of population.
It focused on five defects, for which it proposed remedies:
Ring roads.
One of the solutions was ring roads around the capital. Construction would have involved considerable disruption, even through parts of the city damaged by bombs, and the roads were not built, but the "C Ring" (the third ring out from the city centre) was to include what is now the South Circular Road. The plan to build a high-quality road was not realised but the semi-circular route was assigned to existing roads through the southern suburbs. A similar plan was revisited in the 1960s under the name of the London Ringways.
Predecessors.
In 1905, the Royal Commission on London Traffic issued a report recommending improvements to road, tram and rail services including a "circular road about 75 miles in length at a radius of 12 miles from St Paul's".
In 1937, the Ministry of Transport published "The Highway Development Survey" by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Charles Bressey, which reviewed London's road needs and recommended the construction of many miles of roads and the improvement of junctions at key congestion points. Among the proposals was a series of orbital roads around the city with the outer ones built as American-style parkways - wide, landscaped roads with limited access and grade-separated junctions.
Rail services.
The report recommended electrification of all rail routes and removal of viaducts, with the elimination of rail bridges over the Thames a key priority. It was hoped that the removal of the river bridges would enable the redevelopment of the South Bank.
The proposals included a highly ambitious system of two-track bored rail tunnels in loop-shaped routes beneath built-up areas, large enough to handle main-line trains. These tunnels would provide tube-like service but without the need to change from a main-line train to a tube train. As a result, some tube routes would be transformed into freight-only routes, with the northern portion of the Circle line specifically mentioned in this regard.
The proposed railway tunnels would have been as follows:
an “Inner Ring” and an “Outer Ring” of freight-only railways was proposed:
These proposals were further reported on in May 1946 by the Railway (London Plan) Committee, which had been appointed by the Minister of War Transport in February 1944. It was chaired by Sir Charles Inglis. The committee concluded that the cost and time required to carry out the recommendations of the London plan meant that the proposals would not be achievable in a short period of time and could not be carried out until adequate alternative capacity could be provided. Of the four central proposals the one supported by the committee was the North-South Tunnel. The 1946 report recommended a dozen new routes totalling over 100 miles, estimated to cost £230m and take at least 30 years to build. Among them were 'route 8', from East Croydon to Finsbury Park, in tunnel from Norbury via Streatham, Brixton and the Victoria line route, except Victoria-Hyde Park Corner-Bond St-Euston.


Aye Nu Sein

Aye Nu Sein () is a Burmese lawyer and politician. An ethnic Rakhine, she is vice-chair of the Arakan National Party, and member of Myanmar's State Administration Council. She was appointed to the Council on 3 February 2021, in the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.


Xu Xiaobai

Xu Xiaobai (May 28, 1927 – March 27, 2014), Suzhou, Jiangsu, environmental chemist, inorganic chemist, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Biography.
Xu Xiaobai studied at Shanghai Nanyang Model Middle School in her early years. She graduated from the Department of Chemistry of Shanghai Jiaotong University in 1948. After that, she went to work at the department of chemistry of Academia Sinica as a student of chemist . Xu then worked at the Chinese Academy of Sciences after its establishment in 1950. In 1975, the Institute of Environmental Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was established. She began to engage in the analysis and research of environmental organic pollutants. From 1980 to 1982, Xu was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and later served as a visiting professor at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1995, she was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She passed away in Beijing on March 27, 2014, at the age of 87.
Scientific career and Accomplishments.
Xu Xiaobai early engaged in inorganic chemistry research focused on Fluorescent lamp materials and high-temperature rare-earth compounds. Since the mid-1970s, she has been mainly engaged in analytical chemistry and pollution chemistry. She focused on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and its derivatives. She won the first prize in the Natural Science Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.


Wang Daohan

Wang Daohan (), (27 March 1915 – 24 December 2005) was the former president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).
Biography.
Wang was born in Jiashan County (present day Mingguang City) in China's Anhui province in 1915 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1938. During his early career within the government of the People's Republic of China, he focused on trade and investment issues. In 1965 he was the deputy minister of the State Commission for Foreign Economic Relations with Foreign Countries and in 1979 he was appointed vice-chair of the State Foreign Investment Commission and vice-chair of the State Import-Export Commission. Later Wang came to greater prominence when, after a year as vice-mayor, he was appointed mayor of Shanghai in 1981. As mayor, Wang contributed to the success of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms by actively encouraging foreign investment and joint ventures. When he retired in 1985, Wang convinced the party authorities to name his protégé Jiang Zemin as his successor.
On 16 December 1991 Wang was named the president of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), a semi-official organization created to correspond with the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). The following year Wang and SEF chairman Koo Chen-fu held preliminary talks in Hong Kong which resulted in the so-called "1992 Consensus" and facilitated negotiations of practical matters. However, the content and the very existence of this "1992 Consensus" is still widely disputed. In April 1993, Koo and Wang met in Singapore to hold the Wang-Koo summit. A second round of talks followed in 1998, in Shanghai, but no further talks have taken place since. Beijing called off talks in 1999, after Republic of China President Lee Teng-hui proposed his two-states theory. Wang died in Shanghai on the morning of 24 December 2005.


Yang Jie (director)

Yang Jie (; 7 April 1929 - 15 April 2017) was a Chinese television director and producer best known for her work "Journey to the West", adapted from the 16th century Ming dynasty novelist Wu Cheng'en's classical novel of the same title.
Early life and education.
Yang was born in Sichuan, on April 7, 1929, to Yang Bokai (), a political activist, and Wei Shuyuan ().
In 1945, she was sent to Yan'an, then she was accepted to Huabei Union University (now Renmin University of China). After graduation, she joined the People's Liberation Army. She was assigned to broadcasting stations as an announcer.
After the establishment of the Communist State in 1954, she was transferred to Beijing, where she worked at the Central People's Broadcasting Station (now China National Radio). In 1958 she entered the China Central Television.
Career.
Yang made her directorial debut "Sweet Handkerchief" in 1976.
In 1980, she was signed to direct the fantasy television series "Journey to the West", based on the classical novel of the same title by the 16th century Ming dynasty novelist Wu Cheng'en. The series has been replayed almost 3,000 times every year on various Chinese Television channels and has received 6 billion views in the three decades. In 1988, Yang won Best Director at the Golden Eagle Awards, the China Television Artists Association's equivalent to the Emmys, for her work on "Journey to the West". It also won the prize for Best Long Series at the 8th Flying Apsaras Awards, which recognize excellent Chinese TV programs.
In 1993, she directed the historical television series "Zhu Yuanzhang". The drama stars Lü Qi as Hongwu Emperor, alongside Zhang Ying, Ye Qinglin, Wen Bodong, Cui Weining, Li Tang and Liu Falu.
In 1995, Yang was confirmed as director of "Xi Shi". Based on the life of Xi Shi, it stars Jiang Qinqin as Xi Shi and Zhang Qiuge as Goujian, with Kou Zhenhai and Xu Shaohua. That same year, she also hired as director of "Sima Qian". The series stars Qiu Yongli as Sima Qian, alongside Xu Huanshan, Zhang Qiuge, Wang Quanyou, and Xu Shaohua.
In 2000, she directed "Journey to the West (Season 2)", sequel to "Journey to the West".
Death.
On April 15, 2017, Yang died of cardiovascular disease in Beijing.
Personal life.
Yang was twice married. She had three children (two daughters and one son) with her former husband Zhou Chuanji (), a director and professor at Beijing Film Academy.
In 1969 Yang was married to Wang Chongqiu (), the cinematographer of "Journey to the West". The couple had a daughter named Yang Yunfei ().


List of years in Zimbabwe

This is a list of years in Zimbabwe.


Military Vicariate of Argentina


Cathcart Wight-Boycott

Air Commodore Cathcart Michael Wight-Boycott, (18 August 1910 – December 1998) was a British fighter pilot during the Second World War and a senior Royal Air Force officer during the post-war years. In 1961, Wight-Boycott became the 10th Commandant Royal Observer Corps.
Early life.
Wight-Boycott attended Marlborough College before going up to Clare College, University of Cambridge, where he joined the Cambridge University Air Squadron that was based at RAF Duxford and learned to fly in 1930. After leaving university he joined the Metropolitan Police as a non-uniformed civilian administrator. In September 1937 Wight-Boycott joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) as a pilot officer in his spare time and undertook advanced combat training on Hawker Hurricanes. He was promoted to flying officer in the RAFVR before enlisting on a short service commission in the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the start of the Second World War in September 1939.
RAF career.
Promoted to flight lieutenant, Wight-Boycott's first posting was as a Qualified Flying Instructor at No. 1 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School, Hatfield where he remained until May 1941. He was sent on a course at No. 54 Operational Training Unit before receiving a combat posting as a fighter pilot with No. 219 Squadron RAF. In July 1941 he was promoted again to acting squadron leader and appointed as flight commander of 'B' flight.
In September 1942, his rank of squadron leader having been made substantive, he was promoted to acting wing commander and posted to RAF West Malling as officer commanding No. 29 Squadron RAF flying Bristol Beaufighters. Between December 1942 and January 1943 he took the additional temporary role of station commander at West Malling.
In February 1943, Wight-Boycott was reverted to squadron leader (war substantive) before he was posted in to No. 81 Group RAF as a headquarters staff officer. In July that year Wight-Boycott returned to operational flying as an acting wing commander and officer commanding No. 9 Group RAF. In September he was appointed officer commanding No. 25 Squadron RAF flying de Havilland Mosquitos.
In September 1944 Wight-Boycott was posted as a headquarters staff officer with No. 12 Group RAF but only a few months later moved to an appointment as station commander of RAF Church Fenton. In early 1945 he moved, again as station commander, to RAF Molesworth, home of the United States Air Force 303rd Bombardment Group, and remained there until September, when he attended a "Methods of Instruction" course at the RAF Senior Staff College.
Following his course, Wight-Boycott became an instructor at the RAF's Officers' Advanced Training School. As the war ended Wight-Boycott was confirmed as a permanent commission officer in the substantive rank of squadron leader. In July 1947 he was promoted to wing commander with seniority and pay backdated to October 1946. In February 1948 he was posted as the air staff officer at Headquarters, RAF Middle East. He returned to the UK in 1950 on the staff at Headquarters Southern Sector, Fighter Command at RAF Colerne.
Promoted to group captain in July 1952, Wight-Boycott took up the appointment of station commander at Colerne, where remained until 1954, when he became a QFI at the RAF Flying College, RAF Manby in Lincolnshire. In April 1955 he was posted to RAF Luqa as senior air staff officer (SASO) at Air Headquarters Malta. On 13 January 1958 he was appointed the RAF's director of Operational Requirements (A), moving sideways as director of Organisation/Logistics (Forecasting and Planning) in September that year.
Royal Observer Corps.
On 1 July 1958 Wight-Boycott received his final promotion to air commodore and was appointed as the tenth commandant of the Royal Observer Corps, taking over from Air Commodore J M Warfield.
In July 1961 Wight-Boycott presented a Royal Observer Corps long-service medal to the Battle of Britain Class locomotive "Royal Observer Corps" that had started its service with British Railways in December 1948. The ceremony took place at Waterloo station.
Retired appointment.
Following his retirement from active service in 1964, Wight-Boycott remained in uniform as a retired 'C' class status senior staff officer in charge of flying training at the headquarters of the Air Cadets. Wight-Boycott's son also served in the RAF and is recorded as being a group captain and serving as regional commandant of Scotland and Northern Ireland ATC.


Military Vicariate of United States of America


My Dog Skip (film)

My Dog Skip is a 2000 American family drama film, directed by Jay Russell and starring Frankie Muniz, Diane Lane, Luke Wilson, and Kevin Bacon with narration by Harry Connick Jr. Based on the autobiographical book of the same name, the film tells the story of a 9-year-old Willie Morris as he is given a Jack Russell Terrier for his birthday, and how the dog fundamentally changes several aspects of his life. "My Dog Skip" was released on March 3, 2000, by Warner Bros. and received generally positive reviews from critics. The film earned more than $35.5 million on a $4.5 million budget.
Plot.
Willie Morris as an adult looks back on his childhood in the early 1940s and how it was colored by his dearly beloved dog, a Jack Russell Terrier whom he had named Skip. Willie is a lonely 9-year-old child with a gruff, proud father, a Spanish Civil War veteran, and a charismatic, talkative mother, a housewife, but he is an only child and small for his age with few friends. His one companion is a young man who lives next door, Dink Jenkins, who is the local sports hero in Mississippi. However, when Dink is drafted to go to war, Willie's mother decides to buy him a dog, against his father's wishes, in order that he should have some company.
Willie and Skip become firm friends very quickly. However, Willie gets bullied at school by Big Boy Wilkinson, Henjie Henick, and Spit McGee, until Dink sends him a German helmet and belt from the front line. The other boys demand he play ball in order to win back his belongings, while Skip leaps in to help him. That same day, the three boys talk Willie into spending the night in a graveyard, where they claim a witch is buried. If he stays there, he gets to join their gang and also keep the ball Dink signed for them; otherwise, he has to give them his German helmet. Willie stays at the graveyard for a number of hours until he hears two moonshiners Millard and Junior who are loading crates into a crypt. Skip jumps on Millard until Junior comes at him with a spade. Willie slingshots Junior with an acorn and attempts to escape the graveyard with Skip, but they are soon captured by Junior. He threatens to kill Skip unless Willie stays before sunrise. After the two men leave, the three boys return and accept Willie into their group as a reward.
Skip, having always been a friendly dog, is known by everyone in the town, including black people - significant because Mississippi was still segregated at the time. Skip leads Willie through the best parts of his life; his boyhood days. Thanks to Skip, Willie now has three friends, and a girlfriend, Rivers. Skip is there for him when Dink gets home, shell-shocked and a drunkard since dishonorably discharged from the Army, presumably for desertion. However, when Willie's first ball game comes along, Skip and Willie have their first falling out. Dink agrees to come along, but does not bother because since the war he has found competitions do not interest him anymore. Skip, wanting to cheer Willie up, runs onto the field and sits wagging his tail, refusing to leave. Angry and embarrassed by his poor performance at the game, causing his team to lose, Willie publicly hits Skip across the muzzle and he disappears without a trace.
Unbeknownst to Willie, Skip has returned to the crypt, and has been accidentally shut in the grave where moonshine is being stored. As Willie searches in the graveyard, he hears Skip's barks and runs to save him, but Junior knocks the dog unconscious with the spade. Dink arrives and manages to eject the two moonshiners. As Willie and Dink's families gather in solemnity in the vet's waiting room, Skip nearly dies from his injuries in Willie's arms, but the dog awakens, licking Willie's hands and face.
Willie explains about his friendship with Skip, that he had been an only child and Skip an only dog. When Willie leaves to go to Oxford University in 1957, Skip remains with Willie's parents, sleeping in Willie's old room, and then dies on Willie's bed at age 11, he is then buried under the elm tree by Mr. and Mrs. Morris with Mr. Morris telling Willie of Skip's death via a transatlantic call.
Production.
Filming took place in Canton and Yazoo City , Mississippi from May 10 to June 23, 1998.
Release.
The film was theatrically released on March 3, 2000, by Warner Bros. and was released on DVD, VHS, VCD, and Blu-ray from 2000 to 2006 by Warner Home Video.
Reception.
The film opened at #3, grossing $7 million. It ended up grossing $35,512,760 worldwide, making it a major box office success recouping its $4.5 million budget. It also was Warner Bros. first family film that was a major success since "Space Jam" in 1996. The film came in at number 4 of Variety's "dollar for dollar" most profitable films of the year 2000. The movie remained in Variety's Top Ten video sales charts for five months after its video release. "My Dog Skip" won the Broadcast Film Critics Award for "Best Family Film" for the year 2000, Silver Medal Giffoni Film Festival Award, Best Cast Young Star Awards, Silver Angel Award winner, ArkTrust Genesis Award, and the Christopher Award for Best Family Film. It was filmed in the city of Canton, Mississippi; the local visitor's center offers tours showing memorabilia used in the film.
A few blocks away from this museum is the house used in the film (private), with a sign in front saying "Skip's House". The author of the book, Willie Morris, suffered from a heart attack right after the film was completed in 1999. Morris saw a preliminary screening of the film in New York and praised it as "an absolute classic". Morris died a couple of days later and never saw the final version. The film is dedicated to his memory.
Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 73% from 82 critics. The site's consensus states: "Critics say "My Dog Skip" is cute, wholesome entertainment for the family. It's especially designed to appeal to your sentiment, but you might find yourself choking up just the same."Metacritic gave the film a score of 61 based on 26 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


Jiang Zehan

Jiang Zehan (; 6 October 1902 – 29 March 1994), also known as Kiang Tsai-han, was a Chinese mathematician and founder of China's topology.
Jiang was a member of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Biography.
Jiang was born in Jingde County, Anhui on October 6, 1902, to Jiang Shicai (), a businessman. He secondary studied at Nankai School. In 1922 he was accepted to Nankai University, where he studied mathematics under Jiang Lifu. After graduation, he became an assistant in mathematics at Xiamen University. In 1927 he matriculated at Harvard University on a Chinese government scholarship, and studied mathematics under H. M. Morse. In 1930 he became an assistant of Solomon Lefschetz at Princeton University.
Jiang returned to China in 1931 and that year became professor of Mathematics at Peking University. In 1936, he went to the United States for the second time, and studied for one year at the Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton University. In 1937 he returned to China and taught at National Southwestern Associated University. In 1947 he pursued advanced studies in Switzerland, studying mathematics under H. Hopf. Jiang returned to China on August 8, 1949. After the establishment of the Communist State, he taught at Peking University.
He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955. In 1981 he joined the Communist Party of China.
On March 29, 1994, he died in Beijing, aged 91.


Soledad Barrett Viedma

Soledad Barrett Viedma () was a Paraguayan militant activist involved in the resistance to the Brazilian military government. A granddaughter of the Spanish writer and activist Rafael Barrett, she spent he childhood in Uruguay where she was kidnapped by a group of Neo-Nazis. Having undergone guerilla training in Cuba, she joined the militant anti-fascist group Vanguarda Popular Revolucionária (VPR) in Brazil. In 1973, she was killed in the Massacre da Chácara São Bento, a massacre committed by Brazilian military police forces.
Early life.
Soledad Barrett Viedma was born in January 1945 in Paraguay. Her father was Alejandro Barrett, the only son of the Spanish writer Rafael Barrett who had settled in Paraguay in the early 1910s. She spent most of her childhood in Montevideo where here family lived in exile due to their left-wing activism. At the age of 17, she was kidnapped by a Uruguayan group of Neo-Nazis. The incident resulted in two swastikas being incised on her thighs because she had refused to repeat slogans praising the German dictator Adolf Hitler.
Activism and death.
In 1967, having been introduced to the milieu of militant activism, Barrett Viedma travelled to Cuba in order to undergo a guerilla training. It was there that she met her future husband, José Maria Ferreira de Araújo, a member of Vanguardia Popular Revolucionaria (VPR), a militant anti-fascist group from Brazil. The couple had one daughter.
After her husband had disappeared, she relocated to his native Brazil and joined the resistance against the Brazilian military government. She was stationed at Recife and began a relationship with José Anselmo de Santos, also known as Cabo Anselmo, a militant who had been a leader of the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état. On 8 January 1973, Barrett Viedma and five other members of the resistance movement were found dead in a barn in the town of São Bento, Abreu e Lima. According to the official version of events, they died during an armed confrontation with the police from which only Cabo Anselmo had managed to escape. It was later found, through the work of journalist Elio Gaspari, that the militants had been kidnapped in different locations, tortured and killed. The incident is known as the Massacre da Chácara São Bento and has been described by Gaspari as "one of the dictatorship's most savage massacres".


City Youth League

The City Youth League, later known as the African Youth League, is a defunct organization that participated in nonviolent resistance against the government in Rhodesia from its founding in August 1955 until it merged with the old SRANC on September 12, 1957, becoming the new Southern Rhodesia African National Congress.
The CYL was founded by James Chikerema, Dunduzu Chisiza, George Nyandoro, and Edson Sithole.
Chikerema served as President and Nyandoro as Vice President.


Paris Underground (book)

Paris Underground is a memoir written by Etta Shiber in 1943. The book was later made into a film with the same name in 1945.
The book discusses Ms. Shiber's experiences helping British pilots trapped behind enemy lines escape from Nazi Germany during World War II. In the book, Ms. Shiber refers to her French colleague who helped shelter British pilots as "Kitty Beaurepos" to hide her identity, since the war was ongoing at the time of publication. The real name of "Kitty Beaurepos" was "Catherine (Kate) Bonnefous (nee Robins)."
Both Shiber and Beaurepos (Bonnefous in real life) were captured by the Germans after their underground operation helping British pilots was discovered by the Germans. But in May 1942, Shiber was freed in a prisoner swap with the United States in exchange for Johanna Hofmann, a German who had been convicted of spying in the U.S. The book does not reveal whether "Beaurepos" (Bonnefous) actually survived the war or not, as the author did not know herself at the time of publication in 1943. In fact, Bonnefous actually survived the war after being captured by the Germans.
Shiber died in 1948.


Panzer Battles

Panzer Battles () is the English language title of Friedrich von Mellenthin's memoirs of his service as a staff officer in the Panzerwaffe of the German Army during World War II.
The first English edition, as "Panzer Battles: A Study of the Employment of Armor in the Second World War", was published in 1956 by the University of Oklahoma Press. Panzer Battles was reprinted six times in the U.S. between 1956 and 1976. Panzer Battles" was one of several books by Wehrmacht generals that influence post-war thinking in the West about Russian capabilities.
Content.
The book covers Mellenthin's personal recollections and operational information on the major operations in which he participated, across major theaters of the war, with substantial coverage of his time as Erwin Rommel's intelligence officer in the Afrika Corps and his time as the Chief of Staff for XXXXVIII Panzer Corps in Russia.
Reception.
Since its release in English in 1956 "Panzer Battles" has been widely read professionally and academically. The book was a staple on professional military reading lists in NATO member states and was widely cited in academia for decades.
Professional.
"Panzer Battles" has been extensively cited in military reading lists and professional studies since its release. David T. Zabecki called it a seminal and comprehensive work on mechanized combined arms warfare and said its lessons and principals were of immeasurable value to the post-Vietnam American military. Major Timothy Wray, writing for the U.S. Combat Studies Institute, wrote in 1986 that "Panzer Battles" was among a series of post-war memoirs that filled an early vacuum of good English language studies of the Eastern Front, causing an undue influence in the Western understanding of that conflict. Wray says "Panzer Battles" omits important data and context. In 1997, the official United States Marine Corps review of books for its professional military reading list, assembled by Paul Van Riper for the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, lauded it as "a virtual Bible" on armored warfare, with special praise given to the "Psychology of the Russian Soldier" section and the book's maps, which it says offers more tactical and operational clarity than nearly any other military work.
American general Norman Schwarzkopf kept a copy with him during the Gulf War.
Academic.
Soon after its release, Dartmouth history professor Henry L. Roberts, in a one-sentence "capsule review" in "Foreign Affairs", called it an "excellent account", offering "interesting observations".
Sovietologist Colonel John Jessup considers the book a good representation of perspective from the "younger generation" of German officers. Military historian David Glantz called it an "operational/tactical account of considerable merit", which showed the negative impact of Hitler's interference in the military operations. He echoed the professional assessment of Col. Wray, pointing out that it was written without the benefit of either German or Soviet records and suffered from incomplete or incorrect interpretations of Soviet forces, dispositions and intentions. Paleoconservative military theorist William S. Lind considered it excellent and full of valuable lessons, including it in his "Maneuver Warfare Handbook" basic reading list for students of armored warfare.
However, some historians and academics have taken issue with the political and historical context of the book. Wolfram Wette who listed Mellenthin among German generals he considered to have authored apologetic, uncritical studies on World War II. Co-authors Ronald Smelser and Edward J. Davies characterize "Panzer Battles" as an "exculpatory memoir" within a post-war revisionist narrative. Another modern historian considered descriptions of Russians as "primitive" and with an "Asiatics" mindset to be derogatory or negatively racist. Robert Citino said Mellenthin's book bolstered Western stereotypes of the Red Army as "a faceless and mindless horde" that aimed to "smash everything in its path through numbers, brute force and sheer size". Citino included "Panzer Battles" among the German officers' memoirs that were "at best unreliable and at worst deliberately misleading", an opinion echoed by historian Daniel Franke, who characterized its impact on the post-war reputation of the Wehrmacht as "baleful", while still recommending it as an important book.