Question of the Hour

[larry Strong]

Right on Dangerboy, Thanks for your help 3rd Herd

 

[3rd Herd]

"Blunders!, Blunders! More Blunders!" proclamied many newspaer headlines through out the world in the begining of the 2Oth Century. What were the three blunders?

 

[Danjanou]

"Blunders!, Blunders! More Blunders!" proclamied many newspaer headlines through out the world in the begining of the 2Oth Century. What were the three blunders?

I’d have to go with the trio of British defeats in South Africa against the Boers  the so called Black Week December 10-15, 1899 which saw them defeated at Magersfonetein, Colenso and Stormberg.

The new centurty didn’t bode well either with defeats at Spion Kopp January 19-24 and Vaal Krantz February 5, 1900.

 

[3rd Herd]

Sorry Danjanou,
this has to do with events that occurred on the water. The whole event both naval and ground demonstrated the failure of the myth of white mans supremacy.

 

[Danjanou]

Sorry Danjanou,
this has to do with events that occurred on the water. The whole event both naval and ground demonstrated the failure of the myth of white mans supremacy.

Well that could only mean the Russo Japanese War and in particular the Defeat of the Russian Army by the Japanese at the battle of Mukden Feb 1905 and the defeat of the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima Strait May 1095. This of course followed the loss of both Port Arthur to a besieging Japanese Arrmy and the destruction of the Russian Pacific Fleet in the battle of the Yellow Sea the preceeding summer.

 

[geo]

Russo japanese war 1904-1905
battle of the Tsushima Straits, where the Japanese fleet destroyed the Russian Baltic Fleet, which had sailed from the Baltic to relieve the forces at Port Arthur.
Japan was by this time financially exhausted, but its decisive naval victory at Tsushima, together with increasing internal political unrest throughout Russia, where the war had never been popular, brought the Russian government to the peace table.

 

[3rd Herd]

Danjanou/Geo
you habe both correctly identified the right conflict. Now the headlines I am after refer to three naval actions that were deemed blunders by the general public at large. Hint maybe the Russian should have had better navigational skills. The bear became involved with a lion and a bald eagle.

 

[Danjanou]

Boy you do love the obscure. By poor navigation skills I take it you mean the Dogger Bank Incident oct 21-22, 1904 when the Russian baltic fleet enroute to the Pacific mistook British fishing trawlers and a Swedish ship walers for Japanese torpedoe boats and engaged them violating territotial waters doing so. They also mistook their own cruiser Aurora for  Japanese ship and fired on it too. Why they thought the Japanese fleet was in the North Sea I’ll never know.

Anyways the Brits almost joined the war on ther Japanese side and the RN chased the Russian fleet and temporarily detained them in Spain until it was sorted out.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogger_Bank_incident

 

[3rd Herd]

Danjanou
Correct the Dogger Bank incident, the bottling up of the Russian fleet in Spain and the last was the temporary seizing of American steamer in Port Arthur by the Russians.Based on a political cartoon on pg 73 of Everett, Marshall, Exciting Experiences in the Japanese-Russian War, Henry Neil Publisher, 1906.

From in the inside cover leaf "Startling descriptions of the war as told by the heroes themselves, wonderful descriptions of battles, thrilling personal experiences, exciting stories of bravery, superb heroism, daring exploits, vivid stories of Japanese cunning, history of each battle told by both the Japanese and Russian Commanders." Actually quite a good read if not somewhat historical by jingo.

 

[Danjanou]

Ok I missed the steamer incident, wondering where the eagle came in?

Alright my turn, another fairly easy one (I'm lazy 8))

Where did the First Special Service Force conduct their jump training, and what was their "offical" cry as they excited the aircraft?

 

[redleafjumper]

Where, I don't recall, (Fort Bragg, perhaps...) but "geronimo" comes to mind as their official cry.

 

[dangerboy]

Fort Harrison, Montana. Do not know the cry.

 

[Danjanou]

Fort Harrison, Montana. Do not know the cry.

Fort Harrison is correct. The initial members received an abbreviated jump school there as part of their training rather than being sent to Ft. Benning. Geronimo was not their chosen cry. I'll let it sit for a while in case anyone else gets it.

 

[Danjanou]

All right I just got jumped on in the chat room to post the answer.

Supposedly the official jump cry was "Powder River" the Powder River being  near the Ft William Henry Harrison In Montana.

Here's a follow up The FSSF trained at this camp, why would that be ironic for the Canadians?

 

[3rd Herd]

Named after President Henry Harrison who lead some of the American forces against Canada in the war of 1812. Our native brothers do not respect him much either as he was commanding the force at the Battle of the Thames in which Tecumseh was killed. A British/Native loss.

.

 

[geo]

W.H. Harrison - POTUS # 9
In the War of 1812 Harrison won more military laurels when he was given the command of the Army in the Northwest with the rank of brigadier general. At the Battle of the Thames, north of Lake Erie, on October 5, 1813, he defeated the combined British and Indian forces, and killed Tecumseh.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/wh9.html

 

[3rd Herd]

There is a propencity to name fighting vechicles after animals. Name three vehicles of this sort which were utilized in the north western European campaign of WW 2 by Canadian troops. Bonus points for the ones manufactured in Canada.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Off the top of my head the kangaroo and the ram. I'll think of the third when I get back.

Crocodile. Ok now I'm going.

 

[muffin]

There is a propencity to name fighting vechicles after animals. Name three vehicles of this sort which were utilized in the north western European campaign of WW 2 by Canadian troops. Bonus points for the ones manufactured in Canada.

The Otter Recon Vehicle
http://www.artillery.net/english/museum.htm

The Ram and the Crocodile as Recceguy said http://www.mapleleafup.org/vehicles/cac/index.html

The Fox and the Lynx http://www.mapleleafup.org/vehicles/cmparmour/index.html

muffin

 

[redleafjumper]

Ram Kangaroo (double bonus points)
Buffalo
Otter (armoured car)
Crocodile (Churchill flamethrower tank on Mk VII chassis)
Wasp (flamethrower universal carrier) (yeah I know, it's an insect)


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