Early Risers.

[NGT6 1315]

I only just noticed there's a thunderstorm warning in effect right now and that it is, in fact, raining a bit. There's also an advance warning of severe thunder beginning in the afternoon tomorrow. We shall see, I guess.

 

And I also just learned that Vangelis has passed away two days ago. That is a real loss indeed...

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-61514850

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, TheQ said:

The Australian troops were released from the North Africa campaign

Not until 1943 when the Australian 9th Division left Egypt for Australia. The AIF served in Tobruk and both the first and second battles of El Alamein. They would go on to fight in New Guinea in the Salamaua–Lae campaign.

 

The Kokoda Track campaign which halted the Japanese advance took place in the second half of 1942.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The fox cubs have gone back to the den now so its quiet this evening. Forecast is heavy rain for tomorrow morning and I'm wondering if thats why Si Attica is playing up. On the subject of what might have been, Stalin wanted to join the Axis but as we now know Hitler had other plans. Had Stalin done so we could have faced invasion not just by German troops but by Russians as well.

[Ozexpatriate]

8 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Stalin wanted to join the Axis but as we now know Hitler had other plans.

With the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 he almost had. It led to the dissection of Poland, for which the United Kingdom and France declared war against Germany*, but not (somewhat incongruously) the USSR.

 

* Per the Anglo-Polish Alliance of 1939, signed two days after Molotov-Ribbentrop.

[PhilJ W]

I thought the fox cubs had retired for the night but they're making a racket on the patio at the moment.

[iL Dottore]

@Ozexpatriate my response to monkeysarefun was based on a misunderstanding of his post. Rather than understanding it to refer to how the USN was instrumental in protecting a seriously weak Australia when Britain was neither able nor willing to do so, I had understood it to refer to the usual American boast that “America won World War II” and the casualty figures were cited to underline who, amongst the belligerents, really paid in blood to win the war.

 

In my other post I really did mean Indonesia (the former Dutch East Indies) and not the Philippines. The point I was making was that had Imperial Japan limited its military involvement to Just invading those South East Asian countries that had the resources it needed and had avoided any confrontation with the US,  US isolationism could well have meant a lack of interest in prosecuting a war where the US (and possessions) was not directly threatened.
 

Looking back now at how seriously overstretched Imperial Japan was in military terms (thanks to Manchuria), I wonder how much of their territorial ambitions were based on rational planning as opposed to opportunism. An opportunism prompted by seeing how quickly the European powers with “interests” in Asia crumbled before the Nazi war machine.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

In my other post I really did mean Indonesia (the former Dutch East Indies) and not the Philippines.

I well understood your Dutch East Indies reference to "oil and rubber". 

 

The Empire of Japan was not merely interested in raw materials that were not available in the home islands as the motivation for their invasions. This is exactly the sort of "received, conventional poor history" that you (understandably) like to criticize.

 

To suggest that had they confined themselves to sources of raw materials they might have been more successful, is an interesting counterfactual thought experiment, but less probable than the "had the Germans not invaded the USSR" counterfactual.

 

I agree that their ambitions greatly exceeded their capacity and are rather inconceivable in the light of history.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The weather stayed fine, although it was very dull up until dinner time, when the sun finally shone. So, after this morning’s little shopping trip, I stayed in the cellar and fitted the shelf brackets to both walls. The shelf longest shelf, actually required 2 notches, so the shelf was temporarily put in place and the position, so it could be of these marked up, ready for cutting. I then took the shelf to the bottom of the garden, set up my portable benches near workshop and using my jigsaw, both notches were cut. It was then taken back to the cellar, put back on the brackets, thankfully it fitted perfectly, as did the 2nd, shorter shelf. The 3rd shelf, the one that I had to widened, was also tested on top the racking where it I’ll eventually be fitted and that too, was a perfect fit. The next step will be to stain and varnish them all. The wall shelves won’t be permanently fitted until after the room has been painted etc, but they can stay where they are, as they are all nicely out of the way. I was a little concerned that the longest shelf, which is approximately 7ft lng, might not hold all the books I want to put on it. So, to test it, I rested both my arms on it and the one by one, I lifted my legs off the floor, it held. So, if it will hold my almost 16st weight, a few books should be ok. I didn’t bother testing the shorter shelf, which is approximately 5ft, as it has the same brackets, so should be ok as well. 

 

A quick clean up (dust from drilling the walls) then ensued and the benches and jigsaw were put away. I then spent the rest of the day shredding old documents before putting it all in a (very large) paper bag, before putting it in the recycling bin, ready for tomorrow morning’s collection. 

 

Below are a couple of photos of the 2 longest shelves, in an as yet unfinished state. Excuse the mess, but there’s still quite a bit of work to do in here, so it’s still a work in progress, but it’s getting there. 

 

This is the long shelf.

This is the short shelf. 

Edited May 19, 2022 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I thought most Australians were driving Japanese or South Korean cars these days? 😉

 

Yes, I was practicing Australian  wit and  irony - in fact my dad was an early adopter cos he  bought a Toyota Crown in 1976 to replace the  Wolseley that he'd thought made him a cut above Ford and Holden drivers cos it was from the old dart so must be superior like Jags and stuff  and the grill badge lit up at night but it  was actually always overheating when the temperature got above old-school 65 and we spent most weekends visiting wreckers looking for parts, unlike Holden and Ford owners who could pick up a new motor from the corner shop when they got the milk.

 

Anyway the Crown had amazing technology for the time like airconditioning, power windows and power steering and my dad  practiced the special Crown drivers up-themselves nod and raised  finger movement that they did to other passing Crown drivers. But only to fellow drivers of the  Japanese imported version. Those who drove the local South Australian  made Crown (recognsable by its grill slats being horizontal rather than vertical or maybe it was the other way around) were snubbed due to them  being  unworthy  try hards. 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[PhilJ W]

It had to be a Labrador.

Edited May 19, 2022 by PhilJ W

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I think the failure of the British defensive strategy was considerably influenced by racism.

Doubtless that was a factor.

 

Other considerations are cluelessness, denial, wishful thinking, poor planning and fundamentally being overwhelmed by the situation at home. Likely a combination of all of the above. The Hong Kong Station and Singapore were doomed.

 

The Royal Navy well knew how effective aircraft were against capital ships after their attack against the Regio Marina at Taranto in November 1940. (The Imperial Japanese Navy were keen students of Taranto.)  Yet Force Z (HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse) were deployed anyway without air cover).

 

The air defences in Malaya consisted of four squadrons of Brewster Buffalos - hopelessly outclassed by Japanese aircraft. 60 aircraft were destroyed on the first day of the invasion.

 

Two days before the invasion, the IJN invasion force for Malaya was spotted at sea by a Lockheed Husdon of RAAF No. 1 Squadron, but:

Quote

... given uncertainty about the ships' destination and instructions to avoid offensive operations until attacks were made against friendly territory, Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, the Commander-in-Chief of British Far East Command did not allow the convoy to be bombed.

It's all very sad reading.

[Ozexpatriate]

19 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

... my dad was an early adopter cos he  bought a Toyota Crown in 1976 to replace the  Wolseley that he'd thought made him a cut above Ford and Holden drivers cos it was from the old dart so must be superior like Jags and stuff  and the grill badge lit up at night but it  was actually always overheating when the temperature got above old-school 65 and we spent most weekends visiting wreckers looking for parts, unlike Holden and Ford owners who could pick up a new motor from the corner shop when they got the milk.

Dad bought a Toyota Corona in 1968 to replace his Hillman Minx. It was great. He didn't replace it until the family wouldn't easily fit.

 

It was followed by a second hand Ford Falcon wagon with problems which got quickly replaced by a new 1974 Holden HQ Kingswood wagon.

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[TheQ]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Not until 1943 when the Australian 9th Division left Egypt for Australia. The AIF served in Tobruk and both the first and second battles of El Alamein. They would go on to fight in New Guinea in the Salamaua–Lae campaign.

 

The Kokoda Track campaign which halted the Japanese advance took place in the second half of 1942.

The 6th and 7divisions the majority of the Australian men were released early 1942, about the time of the fall of Singapore, up until that time they thought the Japanese would never get through the jungles of Malaya..

the 9 th division was retained until Jan 43, while replacements were organised and  shipped out to Egypt..

So they were all release within 11 months ..

Edited May 19, 2022 by TheQ

[monkeysarefun]

57 minutes ago, TheQ said:

The 6th and 7divisions the majority of the Australian men were released early 1942, about the time of the fall of Singapore, up until that time they thought the Japanese would never get through the jungles of Malaya..

the 9 th division was retained until Jan 43, while replacements were organised and  shipped out to Egypt..

So they were all release within 11 months ..

Blatant cut and paste from the Museum Of Australia website. (Curtin referred to is Australian PM John Curtin) 

 

 

 

Churchill and Roosevelt, unbeknownst to Curtin, had agreed at the Arcadia Conference in December 1941 on a ‘Germany first’ policy whereby the bulk of Allied resources would be directed towards defeating the Axis powers in Europe. Compared to defeating Germany, defending Australia from Japan was of little importance to Britain. The plan was to allow the Japanese undefended access to the south Pacific and the nations there since they could be recaptured from the Japanese following the fall of Germany. This was never told to the Australian government who went on believing Churchills assurances that Britain had Australia's interests at heart, especially as Australia had sent troops to defend Britain's interests and territory..

 

On 17 February 1942, two days after the fall of Singapore, the Pacific War Council (the inter-governmental body controlling the Allied war effort in the Pacific) met.

Earle Page, Australia’s representative, reported to Curtin that: ‘The Australian Government should be asked to agree that the Seventh Australian Division already on the water should go to the most urgent spot at the moment, which is Burma.’

Curtin replied the next day: ‘Government has decided that it cannot agree to the proposal that the 7th AIF Division should be diverted to Burma.’

 

This led to furious communications between London and Canberra with Curtin emphatically stating on 22 February 1942 that the troops should immediately return to Australia.

Amazingly, Churchill then gave instructions to the British Admiralty, who were transporting the Australian division, to change the course of the troopships and sail for the Burmese capital, Rangoon.

Curtin and his war cabinet were shocked and enraged; Churchill had gone too far. Curtin replied to Churchill the following day, demanding that the soldiers be returned to Australia immediately. Churchill conceded, the ships changed course again and continued on to Australia.

This was a time of intense stress for Curtin as the troop ships were vulnerable to Japanese attack. However, the soldiers arrived safely in Adelaide on 23 and 27 March 1942.

On 14 March, Curtin had given a radio address to the people of the United States urging Americans to stand with Australia against the Japanese, saying: ‘Australia is the last bastion between the west coast of America and the Japanese. If Australia goes, the Americas are wide open.’

 

Curtin’s decision that the Australian troops should be returned home proved correct. The Australian soldiers would have arrived in Rangoon on 26 February 1942, by which time the Japanese were already in position to take the city.

Rangoon fell on 7 March, the same day Japanese forces invaded Lae and Salamaua and initiated the New Guinea campaign to the immediate north of Australia.

Soldiers from the 7th Division were essential in turning the tide against the Japanese advance, fighting in the first battles that halted the Japanese progress in the Pacific at Milne Bay and on the protracted and bloody Kokoda Track campaign.

Curtin’s insistence on returning troops to Australia rather than fighting in a distant part of the British Empire combined with his New Year’s speech in December 1941 and his American address in March 1942 were instrumental in moving Australia’s primary foreign policy allegiances from Britain to the United States.

 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Pacific231G]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

  15 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Equally sobering is the fact that the Axis countries - bombed flat and forced to rebuild from scratch - are doing so, so much better on so very many measures of social and economic prosperity than the erstwhile victors of WWII.

The Marshall Plan was an amazing accomplishment was it not?

 

 

The Marshall Plan was an amazing accomplishment was it not?

 

And the country that received 50% of the total Marshall Plan funding was the UK.

I think it was the imposed clean slate that benefitted the former Axis countries. A free liberal democratic and peace loving Germany represented perhaps the greatest defeat for Nazism. There were a lot of Britons involved in that process including the future DG of the BBC Hugh Carlton Greene who was seconded  at the end of the war as controller of broadcasting in the British-occupied zone. He established Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk and  gave it a charter on the lines of the BBC.  

Though it was the last thing the German people then wanted, Germany's defeat in the First World War did nothing to curb the ambitions of the artistocratic officer class for another war. They were secretly re-arming well before Hitler came to power. They despised the Weimar Republic  and it was they who infiltrated Hitler into the NSDAP.  Their mistake and that of a number of conservative politicians was to believe that they could control him.

[Coombe Barton]

See that NHN's "Big City" is now true
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61505857

[Ozexpatriate]

58 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

[Curtin's] American address in March 1942 were instrumental in moving Australia’s primary foreign policy allegiances from Britain to the United States.

The Battle of the Coral Sea took place in early May 1942. It thwarted an amphibious invasion of Port Moresby, at considerable cost to the USN with the loss of CV-2 USS Lexington and damage to CV-5 USS Yorktown, which, rushed out of dry dock at Pearl Harbor was lost at Midway, just a month later.

 

Nimitz had sent Task Force 17 orders to proceed to the Coral Sea from Tonga on April 29. It had helped to have decoded IJN signals in March suggesting a target coded "MO".

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[monkeysarefun]

Got my prints  of some photogrammetry models I did of memorials in Sydneys Rookwood cemetery  back from the bloke with the 3D colour printer. Pretty impressive resolution, I can almost read the inscriptions and being produced from photos of the originals they are already weathered exactly as the originals.

 

Would make a fun chess set for a goth.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

A weird weather day today. I barely made it home from my daily walk in the late morning before a heavy downpour. It rained on and off with sun-breaks in between all afternoon and now (at sunset) has been partly cloudy for a while. I don't think it much exceeded 12°C and was cooler than the forecast highs.

 

Saturday sees a forecast stretch of several consecutive days of >70°F / 21°C weather. It will be the warmest weather of the year so far.

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

See that NHN's "Big City" is now true
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61505857

Douglas is one thing but did you know the Flying Dutchman was built at Doncaster (now also a "city")

 

According to that BBC article:

Despite appearing beneath a "GETTY IMAGES" photograph of 60103 with a "THE FLYING SCOTSMAN" headboard.

 

This would be the "Flying Dutchman" to my 30-year-old son:

A "SpongeBob SquarePants" reference if not obvious.

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[iL Dottore]

5 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

…This is exactly the sort of "received, conventional poor history" that you (understandably) like to criticize.

To suggest that had they confined themselves to sources of raw materials they might have been more successful, is an interesting counterfactual thought experiment,

Although I’ve read more about the European and North African theatres, I certainly know enough about the war in Asia to recognise that raw materials was only part of the reason for Imperial Japan’s war plans, so - yes - what I was suggesting was a contrafactual thought experiment.

 

I don’t know what you were taught in school as a wee nipper, but what I recall of my history lessons when I was in the UK (1956-1969) it definitely was a case of "received, conventional poor history" - promoting myths, many of which refuse to die and are held up as the truth..

 

For example: a recent Critic magazine article by Phillips O'Brien Professor of Strategic Studies at the University of St Andrews had this to say “The Battle of Britain was a lopsided affair. One side was much stronger and more modern, with advanced integrated detection technologies, superior logistics and intelligence, excellent fighter control, and much better production facilities churning out far more of the most important equipment. 

The other side was plucky, flying from considerably less developed facilities, operating under severe handicaps in intelligence and flying time over the battle area, lacking the proper technology to achieve anything like what it wanted, and with a severely underutilized industrial base. 

The stronger side was Great Britain and the plucky underdogs were the Germans”

4 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

…Other considerations are cluelessness, denial, wishful thinking, poor planning and fundamentally being overwhelmed by the situation at home.

Len Deighton, who was also a respected amateur historian (i.e. he didn’t do it for a living) wrote a very interesting book exploring the reality behind some of the myths. The book is Blood, Sweat, Tears and Folly and is a bit of an eye opener.

This, and other thoughtful and provocative history books, makes you wonder how Britain managed to survive 1940 - let alone contribute significantly to the Allied victory.

3 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

And the country that received 50% of the total Marshall Plan funding was the UK. I think it was the imposed clean slate that benefitted the former Axis countries. 

“Not many people know that” to quote Sir Michael Caine.

The historian David Kynaston, amongst others, argues that instead of investing the Marshall Plan money in modernising Britain’s decrepit and all but destroyed infrastructure and industry, the British governments of the era (1945-1956) frittered the money away on things like propping up the pound and trying to keep the Empire going. 
 

The interesting thing about delving deeply into (relatively) recent history is that it doesn’t take to long to realise that much of what one was taught in school is only (at best) partly true and that there are both (for want of a better term) “heroes” and “villains” in the most unlikely of places and at the most unlikely times.

[Ozexpatriate]

Today saw the start of the PGA (golf) tournament.

 

The lead tournament coverage on CNN appears to be related to the price of beer:

CNN: Justin Thomas 'blown away' by high prices of beer and food at 2022 PGA Championship

 

US$18.00 for 25oz of Michelob Ultra !! 

 

This is about £11.11 per Imperial pint of light "beer", presuming you would call it "beer".

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Ozexpatriate