Month: April 2011

Saint John of Nepomuk

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The region of Germany where I live in northeastern Bavaria is locally known as the Oberpfalz or in English the Upper Palatinate. Traditionally, this area was not part of Bavaria but was made up of numerous small separate sovereignties with a regional identity.   This was a relic of the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia that ended the Thrity-Years War. That all changed in 1805 when Napoleon overran Germany and reduced the 350+ sovereign entities in Germany to 39, this is when the Oberpfalz became part of Bavaria. Of note is that the vast majority of the people in the region are Roman Catholic, my town is 95% Catholic for example. The … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Panzer Battles by F.W. von Mellenthin

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This is one of the most influential memoirs written by a former German Officer. The cover of the copy I own highlights that it “was the book on General Schwarzkopf’s desk during the Gulf War.” I found it to be a well written book with some pretty good accounts of the battles von Mellenthin participated in as a staff officer as well as some battles he did not participate in. I would not go so far as to say that this book is a definitive account of German tank warfare in World War II but it comes very close. Mellenthin does an outstanding job of describing the operational and sometimes … More after the Jump…

Spam Comments on My Blog

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An update to a previous post Spam Comments on my Blog.   I think I set a new personal record last night.   I got over 46 spam comments on my blog last night.   The vast majority included some garbage link in BBcode, which is not supported on a WordPress site.   WP only uses HTML code.   This is what the average spam looked like: NXwj1S ijecicpmubjv, [url=http://wgfbpiifvfrp.com/]wgfbpiifvfrp[/url], [link=http://hpgadeqvqdmq.com/]hpgadeqvqdmq[/link], http://xbgwsdgsxdaq.com/ NXwj1S ijecicpmubjv, [url=http://wgfbpiifvfrp.com/]wgfbpiifvfrp[/url], [link=http://hpgadeqvqdmq.com/]hpgadeqvqdmq[/link], http://xbgwsdgsxdaq.com/ I have not went down any of the referenced urls for fear of getting a virus on my home machine.   Any of my readers are more than welcome to try although I … More after the Jump…

The Ryan Budget Plan- The GOP Path to Prosperity

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About a month ago I asked when we were going to have a serious conversation about our national debt, it looks like that time might be now if our Republican and Tea Party congressman have the courage to grab the moment with the release of Rep. Paul Ryan‘s budget plan.   Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, is the author of the Roadmap for America, and is Chairman of the House Budget Committee. he outlined the new GOP budget proposal today in a piece in the Wall Street Journal titled The GOP Path to Prosperity. It seems to me that the ball is now in the Democrat’s court. They must explain why … More after the Jump…

Cultural Sensitivity?

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Is this Cultural Sensitivity or demeaning to American women? I for one, would refuse to leave the gate in one of these for simple safety reasons if nothing else. I doubt they are made out of Kevlar and seriously doubt they make the locals respect American women any more. The only thing that garners strength in Tribal societies is projecting strength, not adopting the wear of servitude. I also wonder if this photo is not photoshopped, it just does not look right to me. There is something about both the blond and black haired soldier that does not look right. I would almost swear that I have seen the blond … More after the Jump…

Heroe’s Portraits: Sydir Kovpak

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 Sydir Kovpak was a Ukrainian partisan in World War II who fought the Germans behind the lines in the Ukraine and a two-time winner of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Kovpak began his military service in World War I and after that war he joined the Bolsheviks and fought in the Russian Civil War that established the Soviet Union. In World War II he was in command of partisan units in the Ukraine throughout World War II. He led a large band of partisans in the Carpathians in 1943 in an attempt to destroy the oil infrastructure there and deny the oil fields to the Germans. The attempt was … More after the Jump…

Heroe€™s Portraits: Lyudmila Pavlichenko

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Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a female Soviet sniper during World War II.   She is credited with 309 confirmed kills and was awarded the Soviet Union’s highest medal for bravery, the Hero of the Soviet Union in 1943.   After being wounded by a mortar in 1942 she was pulled from combat because of her growing fame and was commissioned.   She spent the rest of the war as an instructor at a sniper school.   After the war she completed a degree and spent the rest of her life working as a historian, mostly with the Russian Navy.   Hero of the Soviet Union Citations are very difficult to find, … More after the Jump…

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