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Fredericksburg, TX
April 26, 2012
©Dale Haussner
"Lasting Friendship" Bronze sculpture at Peace Garden.
"John O. Meusebach, German settler and founder of Friedericksburg, and Penateka Comanche Chief Santanna share a peace pipe May 9, 1847 at the signing of the treaty between the People of Fredericksburg and the Comanche Nation. The standing Comance represents more than 20 other chiefs also participating in the treaty. This treaty is the only known peace treaty with Native Americans in United Stated history thought never to be broken. The spirit of this treaty continues in Fredericksburg today.
This bronze was presented to the City of Fredericksburg by the Fredericksburg 150th Anniversary Committee dedicated May 24, 1997."
By J. Hester
- From an inscription at the sculpture.
A lasting legacy from the Herriot of Helmand
Captain Miles Malone is the British Forces’ only vet in Afghanistan. Dubbed “The Herriot of Helmand,” he has become a minor sensation in the province after starting a raft of veterinary clinics for local farmers.
His principal job is caring for the dogs that sniff for roadside bombs and provide protection to the troops on duty. Keeping them at their peak is important, as the work they do here saves lives.
However, in the seven months that he has been in Helmand, the 28 year old from Mount Bures, near Sudbury, in Suffolk, has begun a series of monthly clinics for the remote farming communities around the main British base, Camp Bastion, and they have proved wildly popular.
With only a few weeks to go before his tour of duty in Helmand comes to an end he packed his kit and prepared a selection of drugs for another clinic.
In two hardened cool boxes he can carry enough equipment to treat up to two thousand animals. While he has been running regular clinics, this one was different.
It took an RAF Chinook to fly him out to a small, newly constructed, patrol base established after the largest helicopter assault codenamed Operation Moshtarak pushed the Taliban out of Nad Ali.
After landing at Patrol Base Shaheed which was set up by soldiers of B Company, the 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh, he was straight out on a patrol to spread the word. Out here the range of animals are a little different but, to the farmers, they are their lifeblood.
“These animals are basically their back accounts. Some of these goats are worth $70 each. A lot of people round here are surviving on about a dollar a day so economically they are extremely important,” said Captain Miles Malone.
Over this tour the clinics have had a noticeable effect, not only on the health of the herds, but in loosening the grip of the Taliban over the people also. Captain Malone has treated over 8,000 animals, and this clinic at Shaheed has added a further 61 farmers to his program.
In contrast to the gentle adventures of James Herriot in North Yorkshire, Captain Malone’s work is at the other end of the spectrum, undertaken with the protection of well-armed Afghan and British soldiers.
“There is very little understanding among the local farmers of veterinary care or basic animal husbandry. So I split my time when I run clinics between treating the flocks and educating the farmers. The Taliban just cannot compete,” said Captain Miles Malone.
“The village that we are living in is largely an agricultural community. Having the opportunity for a vet to come down and deliver medication, treatment and also advice to the local farmers has been a real win. In part because it displays our intent to stay here and that our actions are in support of the community. But it also adds back to the economy here because it increases the value of the livestock and educates the farmers, so it is a win on both fronts,” said Major Ed Hill, officer commanding B Company 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh at Patrol Base Shaheed.
But what of the future and sustaining this work? Captain Malone’s replacement has just arrived and following on from his success a second military vet has been sent out to concentrate on expanding the clinics.
While the military may have started the ball rolling, they need the Afghans to take over and run it for themselves. This is where non-government organisations like the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad are helping. They are working to train Afghan veterinary technicians who can continue the work long after the British troops have gone home.
Picture Credit: Major Paul Smyth
Crown Copyright
The kit and its assembly:
This is another chapter in the long-lasting series of “Things to make and do with a BAe Hawk” builds, and this one is a very thorough conversion. This fictional aircraft had two inspirations, and both are real-world projects: One was the British SABA project, outlined in the background above, for a light attack aircraft that could be deployed against the Soviet Cold War threat in continental Europe, primarily against tanks and helicopters. It underwent a lot of iterations but eventually came to nothing. The other inspiration, which influenced the layout and look of my build, is the similar American Northrop N-308/312 project, with a layout reminiscent of the LearAvia Lear Fan business jet, which was conceived at the time of the A-X competition (that eventually led to the A-10). The fusion of both led to my fictional Panavia ASABA build.
I had kept the idea for this in the back of my mind for ages, at least 10 years, but never found the courage to tackle this build because of so many uncertainties and tons of PSR. But here it is now!
The basis is an Italeri 1:72 BAe Hawk Mk. 100 trainer kit, and it underwent massive mods. First thing that was changed was the deletion of the air intakes – I stunt I had done before. The areas were cut out, filled with styrene sheet, and PSRed flush. Next came the cockpit, which was to be reduced to a single seat, together with a modern bubble canopy and a less pronounced dorsal hump. My plan: use the cockpit fairing and a matching canopy from an F-16 single-seater and put it over the Hawk’s opening – which extends beyond the cockpit, because there’s an extra part with 3D intakes that goes there. I had F-16 parts from a (shabby) Trumpeter kit. The clear part is quite bulbous and thick, but the cockpit would remain closed, anyway, and while the fuselage section was too wide for the Hawk it could be easily bent and clipped into shape to fit over the Hawk’s fuselage opening, with the new canopy over the OOB front cockpit tub and seat. The excess material was simply trimmed away and later blended into the Hawk’s hull through more PSR. Looks really good, and more dynamic than the Hawk 200’s solution with the rear cockpit and a relatively long slanted nose, which give the attack variant a rather ungainly profile.
In parallel I already assembled the Hawk’s wing section, which was taken OOB, outfitted with wing tip launch rails and an extra (outer) pair of hardpoints, AIM-9 launch rails from an F-16 (the vintage Revell kit).
The ordnance would consist of four OOB AIM-9J Sidewinders from the Hawk kit, plus an ACMI pod and a “camera egg” on the inner wing stations. The ventral gun pod also came from the Hawk, but it was slightly reduced in height to represent a different gun inside.
The landing gear wells in wings and hull were slightly extended to accept longer struts, due to the tail prop configuration. Speaking of these, the main struts were taken from a Hasegawa J7W (but shortened), the front leg is from a Hasegawa F5U (also shortened). The wheels all came from an ESCI Ka-34 (fictional) Hokum kit, which also provided the engine nacelles, which received more massive pylons. The contraprop came from a NOVO Avro Shackleton and combining it with the slender Hawk hull was not easy. At first, I had hoped that I could cut off and reverse the OOB jet tailpipe, using that as an adapter for the propeller, but that did not work – the spinner was much wider. The Shackleton contraprop also comes with a peculiar internal axis design that lets both propellers rotate independently, and since I wanted to retain that (and avoid my own construction) I also used a front end from the Shack’s Griffon engine nacelle and trimmed it down to match the Hawk’s hull shape. The latter was cut back and a 2C putty plug created an intersection between these two unlikely parts. But with some PSR this turned out better than expected.
Once that was settled I started to create the tail surfaces, with the engine nacelles on the flanks as benchmark for their relative position since I wanted to avoid a placement of the butterfly tail surfaces directly in the exhaust efflux. The tail surfaces came from a Heller Potez Magister, and I was able to place the high enough in clean air and above the internal drivetrain. More PSR blended them into the rear hull.
The ventral fin is a piece from a Matchbox Ju 87 outer wing, trimmed down at both ends, and just long enough to allow enough ground clearance for the stalky extended landing gear. Thanks to tons of lead and steel beads in the nose the model actually stands properly on its three feet.
After the wings were mated with the hull I had to create LERXs to fill the gaps the Hawk’s deleted air intakes had left – I found wing rests from an Academy MiG-21F that were trimmed down and PSRed into place, for an elegant wing leading edge shape.
The cockpit was taken OOB, I just added an ejection trigger made from thin wire and a Matchbox pilot figure, then the canopy was secured with white glue. Horrible fit, though, despite using its respective base plate from the Trumpeter F-16 kit. But the idea is good and might find use again for an alternative Hawk single seater.
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871, the conflict was caused primarily by France's determination to reassert its dominant position in continental Europe, which appeared in question following the decisive Prussian victory over Austria in 1866.
According to some historians, Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck deliberately provoked the French into declaring war on Prussia in order to induce four independent southern German states—Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt—to join the North German Confederation. Other historians contend that Bismarck exploited the circumstances as they unfolded. All agree that Bismarck recognized the potential for new German alliances, given the situation as a whole.
France mobilised its army on 15 July 1870, leading the North German Confederation to respond with its own mobilisation later that day. On 16 July 1870, the French parliament voted to declare war on Prussia; France invaded German territory on 2 August. The German coalition mobilised its troops much more effectively than the French and invaded northeastern France on 4 August. German forces were superior in numbers, training, and leadership and made more effective use of modern technology, particularly railways and artillery.
A series of hard-fought Prussian and German victories in eastern France, culminating in the Siege of Metz and the Battle of Sedan, resulted in the capture of the French Emperor Napoleon III and the decisive defeat of the army of the Second Empire; a Government of National Defense was formed in Paris on 4 September and continued the war for another five months. German forces fought and defeated new French armies in northern France, then besieged Paris for over four months before it fell on 28 January 1871, effectively ending the war.
In the final days of the war, with German victory all but assured, the German states proclaimed their union as the German Empire under the Prussian king Wilhelm I and Chancellor Bismarck. With the notable exceptions of Austria and German Switzerland, the vast majority of German-speakers were united under a nation-state for the first time. Following an armistice with France, the Treaty of Frankfurt was signed on 10 May 1871, giving Germany billions of francs in war indemnity, as well as most of Alsace and parts of Lorraine, which became the Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine (Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen).
The war had a lasting impact on Europe. By hastening German unification, the war significantly altered the balance of power on the continent, with the new German state supplanting France as the dominant European land power. Bismarck maintained great authority in international affairs for two decades, developing a reputation for Realpolitik that raised Germany's global stature and influence. In France, it brought a final end to imperial rule and began the first lasting republican government. Resentment over the French government's handling of the war and its aftermath triggered the Paris Commune, a revolutionary uprising which seized and held power for two months before its suppression; the event would influence the politics and policies of the Third Republic.
The causes of the Franco-Prussian War are rooted in the events surrounding the lead up to the unification of the German states under Otto von Bismarck. France had gained the status of being the dominant power of continental Europe as a result of the Franco-Austrian War of 1859. During the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the Empress Eugénie, Foreign Minister Drouyn de Lhuys and War Minister Jacques Louis Randon were concerned that the power of Prussia might overtake that of France. They unsuccessfully urged Napoleon to mass troops at France's eastern borders while the bulk of the Prussian armies were still engaged in Bohemia as a warning that no territorial changes could be effected in Germany without consulting France.
As a result of Prussia's annexation of several German states which had sided with Austria during the war and the formation of the North German Confederation under Prussia's aegis, French public opinion stiffened and now demanded more firmness as well as territorial compensations. As a result, Napoleon demanded from Prussia a return to the French borders of 1814, with the annexation of Luxembourg, most of Saarland, and the Bavarian Palatinate. Bismarck flatly refused what he disdainfully termed France's politique des pourboires ("tipping policy"). He then communicated Napoleon III's written territorial demands to Bavaria and the other southern German states of Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt, which hastened the conclusion of defensive military alliances with these states. France had been strongly opposed to any further alliance of German states, which would have threatened French continental dominance.
In Prussia, some officials considered a war against France both inevitable and necessary to arouse German nationalism in those states that would allow the unification of a great German empire. This aim was epitomized by Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's later statement: "I did not doubt that a Franco-German war must take place before the construction of a United Germany could be realised."
Bismarck also knew that France should be the aggressor in the conflict to bring the four southern German states to side with Prussia, hence giving Germans numerical superiority. He was convinced that France would not find any allies in her war against Germany for the simple reason that "France, the victor, would be a danger to everybody—Prussia to nobody," and he added, "That is our strong point." Many Germans also viewed the French as the traditional destabilizer of Europe, and sought to weaken France to prevent further breaches of the peace.
The Ems telegram of 13 July 1870 had exactly the effect on French public opinion that Bismarck had intended. "This text produced the effect of a red flag on the Gallic bull”, Bismarck later wrote. Gramont, the French foreign minister, declared that he felt "he had just received a slap". The leader of the monarchists in Parliament, Adolphe Thiers, spoke for moderation, arguing that France had won the diplomatic battle and there was no reason for war, but he was drowned out by cries that he was a traitor and a Prussian. Napoleon's new prime minister, Emile Ollivier, declared that France had done all that it could humanly and honorably do to prevent the war, and that he accepted the responsibility "with a light heart". A crowd of 15,000–20,000 people, carrying flags and patriotic banners, marched through the streets of Paris, demanding war. French mobilization was ordered early on 15 July. Upon receiving news of the French mobilization, the North German Confederation mobilized on the night of 15–16 July, while Bavaria and Baden did likewise on 16 July and Württemberg on 17 July. On 19 July 1870, the French sent a declaration of war to the Prussian government. The southern German states immediately sided with Prussia.
Napoleonic France had no documented alliance with other powers and entered the war virtually without allies. The calculation was for a victorious offensive, which, as the French Foreign Minister Gramont stated, was "the only way for France to lure the wary Austrians, Italians and Danes into the French alliance". The involvement of Russia on the side of France was not considered by her at all, since Russia made the lifting of restrictions on its naval construction on the Black Sea imposed on Russia by the Treaty of Paris following the Crimean War a precondition for the union. But Imperial France was not ready to do this. "Bonaparte did not dare to encroach on the Paris Treaty: the worse things turned out in the present, the more precious the heritage of the past became".
The French Army consisted in peacetime of approximately 426,000 soldiers, some of them regulars, others conscripts who until March 1869 were selected by ballot and served for the comparatively long period of seven years. Some of them were veterans of previous French campaigns in the Crimean War, Algeria, the Franco-Austrian War in Italy, and in the Mexican campaign. However, following the "Seven Weeks War" between Prussia and Austria four years earlier, it had been calculated that, with commitments in Algeria and elsewhere, the French Army could field only 288,000 men to face the Prussian Army, when potentially 1,000,000 would be required. Under Marshal Adolphe Niel, urgent reforms were made. Universal conscription and a shorter period of service gave increased numbers of reservists, who would swell the army to a planned strength of 800,000 on mobilisation. Those who for any reason were not conscripted were to be enrolled in the Garde Mobile, a militia with a nominal strength of 400,000. However, the Franco-Prussian War broke out before these reforms could be completely implemented. The mobilisation of reservists was chaotic and resulted in large numbers of stragglers, while the Garde Mobile were generally untrained and often mutinous.[31]
French infantry were equipped with the breech-loading Chassepot rifle, one of the most modern mass-produced firearms in the world at the time, with 1,037,555 available in French inventories. With a rubber ring seal and a smaller bullet, the Chassepot had a maximum effective range of some 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) with a short reloading time.[32] French tactics emphasised the defensive use of the Chassepot rifle in trench-warfare style fighting—the so-called feu de bataillon.[33] The artillery was equipped with rifled, muzzle-loaded La Hitte guns.[34] The army also possessed a precursor to the machine-gun: the mitrailleuse, which could unleash significant, concentrated firepower but nevertheless lacked range and was comparatively immobile, and thus prone to being easily overrun. The mitrailleuse was mounted on an artillery gun carriage and grouped in batteries in a similar fashion to cannon.[32]
The army was nominally led by Napoleon III, with Marshals François Achille Bazaine and Patrice de MacMahon in command of the field armies.[35] However, there was no previously arranged plan of campaign in place. The only campaign plan prepared between 1866 and 1870 was a defensive one.[16]
Prussians/Germans
Prussian field artillery column at Torcy in September 1870
The German army comprised that of the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia, and the South German states drawn in under the secret clause of the preliminary peace of Nikolsburg, 26 July 1866,[36] and formalised in the Treaty of Prague, 23 August 1866.[37]
Recruitment and organisation of the various armies were almost identical, and based on the concept of conscripting annual classes of men who then served in the regular regiments for a fixed term before being moved to the reserves. This process gave a theoretical peace time strength of 382,000 and a wartime strength of about 1,189,000.[38]
German tactics emphasised encirclement battles like Cannae and using artillery offensively whenever possible. Rather than advancing in a column or line formation, Prussian infantry moved in small groups that were harder to target by artillery or French defensive fire.[39] The sheer number of soldiers available made encirclement en masse and destruction of French formations relatively easy.[40]
The army was equipped with the Dreyse needle gun renowned for its use at the Battle of Königgrätz, which was by this time showing the age of its 25-year-old design.[32] The rifle had a range of only 600 m (2,000 ft) and lacked the rubber breech seal that permitted aimed shots.[41] The deficiencies of the needle gun were more than compensated for by the famous Krupp 6-pounder (6 kg despite the gun being called a 6-pounder, the rifling technology enabled guns to fire twice the weight of projectiles in the same calibre) steel breech-loading cannons being issued to Prussian artillery batteries.[42] Firing a contact-detonated shell, the Krupp gun had a longer range and a higher rate of fire than the French bronze muzzle loading cannon, which relied on time fuses.[43]
The Prussian army was controlled by the General Staff, under General Helmuth von Moltke. The Prussian army was unique in Europe for having the only such organisation in existence, whose purpose in peacetime was to prepare the overall war strategy, and in wartime to direct operational movement and organise logistics and communications.[44] The officers of the General Staff were hand-picked from the Prussian Kriegsakademie (War Academy). Moltke embraced new technology, particularly the railroad and telegraph, to coordinate and accelerate mobilisation of large forces.[45]
French Army incursion
Preparations for the offensive
Map of the German and French armies near the common border on 31 July 1870
On 28 July 1870 Napoleon III left Paris for Metz and assumed command of the newly titled Army of the Rhine, some 202,448 strong and expected to grow as the French mobilization progressed.[46] Marshal MacMahon took command of I Corps (4 infantry divisions) near Wissembourg; Marshal François Canrobert brought VI Corps (4 infantry divisions) to Châlons-sur-Marne in northern France as a reserve and to guard against a Prussian advance through Belgium.[47]
A pre-war plan laid down by the late Marshal Niel called for a strong French offensive from Thionville towards Trier and into the Prussian Rhineland. This plan was discarded in favour of a defensive plan by Generals Charles Frossard and Bartélemy Lebrun, which called for the Army of the Rhine to remain in a defensive posture near the German border and repel any Prussian offensive. As Austria, along with Bavaria, Württemberg, and Baden were expected to join in a revenge war against Prussia, I Corps would invade the Bavarian Palatinate and proceed to "free" the four South German states in concert with Austro-Hungarian forces. VI Corps would reinforce either army as needed.[48]
Unfortunately for Frossard's plan, the Prussian army mobilised far more rapidly than expected. The Austro-Hungarians, still reeling after their defeat by Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War, were treading carefully before stating that they would only side with France if the south Germans viewed the French positively. This did not materialize as the four South German states had come to Prussia's aid and were mobilizing their armies against France.[49]
Occupation of Saarbrücken
Main article: Battle of Saarbrücken
Course of the first phase of the war up to the Battle of Sedan on 1 September 1870
Napoleon III was under substantial domestic pressure to launch an offensive before the full might of Moltke's forces was mobilized and deployed. Reconnaissance by Frossard's forces had identified only the Prussian 16th Infantry Division guarding the border town of Saarbrücken, right before the entire Army of the Rhine. Accordingly, on 31 July the Army marched forward toward the Saar River to seize Saarbrücken.[50]
General Frossard's II Corps and Marshal Bazaine's III Corps crossed the German border on 2 August, and began to force the Prussian 40th Regiment of the 16th Infantry Division from the town of Saarbrücken with a series of direct attacks. The Chassepot rifle proved its worth against the Dreyse rifle, with French riflemen regularly outdistancing their Prussian counterparts in the skirmishing around Saarbrücken. However the Prussians resisted strongly, and the French suffered 86 casualties to the Prussian 83 casualties. Saarbrücken also proved to be a major obstacle in terms of logistics. Only one railway there led to the German hinterland but could be easily defended by a single force, and the only river systems in the region ran along the border instead of inland.[51] While the French hailed the invasion as the first step towards the Rhineland and later Berlin, General Edmond Le Bœuf and Napoleon III were receiving alarming reports from foreign news sources of Prussian and Bavarian armies massing to the southeast in addition to the forces to the north and northeast.[52]
Moltke had indeed massed three armies in the area—the Prussian First Army with 50,000 men, commanded by General Karl von Steinmetz opposite Saarlouis, the Prussian Second Army with 134,000 men commanded by Prince Friedrich Karl opposite the line Forbach-Spicheren, and the Prussian Third Army with 120,000 men commanded by Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, poised to cross the border at Wissembourg.[53]
Prussian Army advance
Battle of Wissembourg
Main article: Battle of Wissembourg (1870)
Bavarian infantry at the Battle of Wissembourg, 1870
Upon learning from captured Prussian soldiers and a local area police chief that the Prussian Crown Prince's Third Army was just 30 miles (48 km) north from Saarbrücken near the Rhine river town Wissembourg, General Le Bœuf and Napoleon III decided to retreat to defensive positions. General Frossard, without instructions, hastily withdrew his elements of the Army of the Rhine in Saarbrücken back across the river to Spicheren and Forbach.[54]
Marshal MacMahon, now closest to Wissembourg, spread his four divisions 20 miles (32 km) to react to any Prussian-Bavarian invasion. This organization was due to a lack of supplies, forcing each division to seek out food and forage from the countryside and from the representatives of the army supply arm that was supposed to furnish them with provisions. What made a bad situation much worse was the conduct of General Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot, commander of the 1st Division. He told General Abel Douay, commander of the 2nd Division, on 1 August that "The information I have received makes me suppose that the enemy has no considerable forces very near his advance posts, and has no desire to take the offensive".[55] Two days later, he told MacMahon that he had not found "a single enemy post ... it looks to me as if the menace of the Bavarians is simply bluff". Even though Ducrot shrugged off the possibility of an attack by the Germans, MacMahon tried to warn his other three division commanders, without success.[56]
The first action of the Franco-Prussian War took place on 4 August 1870. This battle saw the unsupported division of General Douay of I Corps, with some attached cavalry, which was posted to watch the border, attacked in overwhelming but uncoordinated fashion by the German 3rd Army. During the day, elements of a Bavarian and two Prussian corps became engaged and were aided by Prussian artillery, which blasted holes in the city defenses. Douay held a very strong position initially, thanks to the accurate long-range rapid fire of the Chassepot rifles, but his force was too thinly stretched to hold it. Douay was killed in the late morning when a caisson of the divisional mitrailleuse battery exploded near him; the encirclement of the town by the Prussians then threatened the French avenue of retreat.[57]
The fighting within the town had become extremely intense, becoming a door to door battle of survival. Despite an unceasing attack from Prussian infantry, the soldiers of the 2nd Division kept to their positions. The people of the town of Wissembourg finally surrendered to the Germans. The French troops who did not surrender retreated westward, leaving behind 1,000 dead and wounded and another 1,000 prisoners and all of their remaining ammunition.[58] The final attack by the Prussian troops also cost c. 1,000 casualties. The German cavalry then failed to pursue the French and lost touch with them. The attackers had an initial superiority of numbers, a broad deployment which made envelopment highly likely but the effectiveness of French Chassepot-rifle fire inflicted costly repulses on infantry attacks, until the French infantry had been extensively bombarded by the Prussian artillery.[59]
Battle of Spicheren
Main article: Battle of Spicheren
Map of the Prussian and German offensives, 5–6 August 1870
The Battle of Spicheren on 5 August was the second of three critical French defeats. Moltke had originally planned to keep Bazaine's army on the Saar River until he could attack it with the 2nd Army in front and the 1st Army on its left flank, while the 3rd Army closed towards the rear. The aging General von Steinmetz made an overzealous, unplanned move, leading the 1st Army south from his position on the Moselle. He moved straight toward the town of Spicheren, cutting off Prince Frederick Charles from his forward cavalry units in the process.[60]
On the French side, planning after the disaster at Wissembourg had become essential. General Le Bœuf, flushed with anger, was intent upon going on the offensive over the Saar and countering their loss. However, planning for the next encounter was more based upon the reality of unfolding events rather than emotion or pride, as Intendant General Wolff told him and his staff that supply beyond the Saar would be impossible. Therefore, the armies of France would take up a defensive position that would protect against every possible attack point, but also left the armies unable to support each other.[61]
While the French army under General MacMahon engaged the German 3rd Army at the Battle of Wörth, the German 1st Army under Steinmetz finished their advance west from Saarbrücken. A patrol from the German 2nd Army under Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia spotted decoy fires nearby and Frossard's army farther off on a distant plateau south of the town of Spicheren, and took this as a sign of Frossard's retreat. Ignoring Moltke's plan again, both German armies attacked Frossard's French 2nd Corps, fortified between Spicheren and Forbach.[62]
The French were unaware of German numerical superiority at the beginning of the battle as the German 2nd Army did not attack all at once. Treating the oncoming attacks as merely skirmishes, Frossard did not request additional support from other units. By the time he realized what kind of a force he was opposing, it was too late. Seriously flawed communications between Frossard and those in reserve under Bazaine slowed down so much that by the time the reserves received orders to move out to Spicheren, German soldiers from the 1st and 2nd armies had charged up the heights.[63] Because the reserves had not arrived, Frossard erroneously believed that he was in grave danger of being outflanked, as German soldiers under General von Glume were spotted in Forbach. Instead of continuing to defend the heights, by the close of battle after dusk he retreated to the south. The German casualties were relatively high due to the advance and the effectiveness of the Chassepot rifle. They were quite startled in the morning when they had found out that their efforts were not in vain—Frossard had abandoned his position on the heights.[64]
Battle of Wörth
Main article: Battle of Wörth
The Battle of Wörth began when the two armies clashed again on 6 August near Wörth in the town of Frœschwiller, about 10 miles (16 km) from Wissembourg. The Crown Prince of Prussia's 3rd army had, on the quick reaction of his Chief of Staff General von Blumenthal, drawn reinforcements which brought its strength up to 140,000 troops. The French had been slowly reinforced and their force numbered only 35,000. Although badly outnumbered, the French defended their position just outside Frœschwiller. By afternoon, the Germans had suffered c. 10,500 killed or wounded and the French had lost a similar number of casualties and another c. 9,200 men taken prisoner, a loss of about 50%. The Germans captured Fröschwiller which sat on a hilltop in the centre of the French line. Having lost any hope for victory and facing a massacre, the French army disengaged and retreated in a westerly direction towards Bitche and Saverne, hoping to join French forces on the other side of the Vosges mountains. The German 3rd army did not pursue the French but remained in Alsace and moved slowly south, attacking and destroying the French garrisons in the vicinity.[65]
About 160,000 French soldiers were besieged in the fortress of Metz following the defeats on the frontier. A retirement from Metz to link up with French forces at Châlons was ordered on 15 August and spotted by a Prussian cavalry patrol under Major Oskar von Blumenthal. Next day a grossly outnumbered Prussian force of 30,000 men of III Corps (of the 2nd Army) under General Constantin von Alvensleben, found the French Army near Vionville, east of Mars-la-Tour.
Despite odds of four to one, the III Corps launched a risky attack. The French were routed and the III Corps captured Vionville, blocking any further escape attempts to the west. Once blocked from retreat, the French in the fortress of Metz had no choice but to engage in a fight that would see the last major cavalry engagement in Western Europe. The battle soon erupted, and III Corps was shattered by incessant cavalry charges, losing over half its soldiers. The German Official History recorded 15,780 casualties and French casualties of 13,761 men.
On 16 August, the French had a chance to sweep away the key Prussian defense, and to escape. Two Prussian corps had attacked the French advance guard, thinking that it was the rearguard of the retreat of the French Army of the Meuse. Despite this misjudgment the two Prussian corps held the entire French army for the whole day. Outnumbered 5 to 1, the extraordinary élan of the Prussians prevailed over gross indecision by the French. The French had lost the opportunity to win a decisive victory.
Although Austria-Hungary and Denmark had both wished to avenge their recent military defeats against Prussia, they chose not to intervene in the war due to a lack of confidence in the French. These countries did not have a documented alliance with France, and they were too late to start a war. After the rapid and stunning victories of Prussia, they preferred to abandon any plans to intervene in the war altogether. Napoleon III also failed to cultivate alliances with the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom, partially due to the diplomatic efforts of the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck had bought Tsar Alexander II's complicity by promising to help restore his naval access to the Black Sea and Mediterranean (cut off by the treaties ending the Crimean War), other powers were less biddable.
The United Kingdom saw nothing wrong with the strengthening of Prussia on the European continent, viewing France as its traditional rival in international affairs. Lord Palmerston, the head of the British cabinet in 1865, wrote: "The current Prussia is too weak to be honest and independent in its actions. And, taking into account the interests of the future, it is highly desirable for Germany as a whole became strong, so she was able to keep the ambitious and warlike nation, France, and Russia, which compress it from the West and the East". English historians criticize the then British policy, pointing out that Palmerston misunderstood Bismarck's policy due to his adherence to outdated ideas. Over time, Britain began to understand that the military defeat of France meant a radical change in the European balance of power. In the future, the development of historical events is characterized by a gradual increase in Anglo-German contradictions. "The colonial quarrels, naval rivalry and disagreement over the European balance of power which drove Britain and Germany apart, were in effect the strategical and geopolitical manifestations of the relative shift in the economic power of these two countries between 1860 and 1914".
After the Peace of Prague in 1866, the nominally independent German states of Saxony, Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt (the southern part that was not included in the North German Union) remained. Despite the fact that there was a strong opposition to Prussia in the ruling circles and in the war of 1866 they participated on the side of Austria against Prussia, they were forced to reckon with a broad popular movement in favor of German unity and were also afraid of angering their strong neighbor in the form of Prussia. After the diplomatic provocation in Bad Ems, these states had no room for maneuver, the war was presented by Bismarck as a war for national independence against an external enemy. All these states joined the Prussian war from the very beginning of hostilities. In January 1871, these states became part of the German Empire.
Lasting Impressions Dental Care 2465 Research Pkwy #100 Colorado Springs, CO 80920 (719) 425-2771 www.mylastingimpressionsdental.com
Each day, DPWES staff manage the design and construction of hundreds of millions of dollars of county infrastructure. Projects such as the Wiehle Avenue Parking Garage (pictured) bring innovative designs to fruition and provide significant value in enhancing the quality of life in Fairfax County.
Shot taken in Ica, Peru.
May 6, 2009
I made a two day stop to do some sandboarding in the Ica area, really cool place with all the sand dunes and the lake in middle of of this "desert".
This picture is dedicated to one of my best friends.
This is actually her ring, but the occasional time i will also wear it, we trade it back and forth.
I wanted to take a picture of it but also in a creative way, so i thought this worked out pretty well
hope you like it :)
On Thursday, May 19, more than 70 guests joined United Way for a reception and exclusive look at innovative technology and educational programs that are changing the St. Louis region for the better. Randy Schilling from OPO Startups, Bruce Sowatsky from Community and Children’s Resource Board of St. Charles County and Julie Russell from United Way spoke on exciting programs leading the way in creating lasting change to help local people. The event was held at OPO Startups in St. Charles, MO and also provided delicious food and beverages to attendees.
Posting on an ordinary wall with ordinary paint, this notice has been in a scavenging lane for 3 decades, without any defacement or vandalism, it will be on there to last in the years to come
East Window, 1874.
Ascension and scenes from the life of Christ.
Detail: Crucifixion.
By Heaton, Butler & Bayne, c1900
Heaton, Butler and Bayne
Clement Heaton (1824-1882).
James Butler (1830-1913).
Robert Turnill Bayne (1837-1915).
Clement Heaton, the son of a Methodist minister in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, was in 1851 a glass painter for William Holland of Warwick. He was in London by 1853 and briefly in business alone before going into partnership with James Butler in 1855. Around 1860 the two briefly shared premises with Clayton and Bell, an association of lasting importance, as the third member of the firm, Robert Turnill Bayne, who was also from Warwick and became chief designer in 1862, was an employee of theirs. Heaton pioneered the use of softer colours, but Bayne’s advent brought the firm to widespread attention. Most of their earlier glass was gothic in style, but the firm adapted to later influences, notably that of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The firm was used widely by Sir Arthur Blomfield, but in later years less of its output was glass for churches. Heaton’s son Clement John joined for a short time, but fell out with his partners. The firm continued until 1953 under descendants of other partners, after which most of its archives were destroyed for lack of interest.
Long-Lasting Love: Antoine and his wife met a long time ago. She used to work at a sewing shop. He would go there just to see her. And then -as Antoine put it- "It was fate."
Posted on July 29, 2022
Vintage Minolta Rokkor-TC 135mm F4 - 12 blades
It's a Japanese made trioplan. Love using this lens!
Lasting resolutions library program encouraged customers to get/stay healthy in the new year Free blood pressure checks
The Washington Nationals host Opening Day 2008 against the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park, Washington, DC
Ruddy Shelduck
The ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea), known in India as the Brahminy duck, is a member of the family Anatidae. It is a distinctive waterfowl, 58 to 70 cm (23 to 28 in) in length with a wingspan of 110 to 135 cm (43 to 53 in). It has orange-brown body plumage with a paler head, while the tail and the flight feathers in the wings are black, contrasting with the white wing-coverts. It is a migratory bird, wintering in the Indian subcontinent and breeding in southeastern Europe and central Asia, though there are small resident populations in North Africa. It has a loud honking call.
The ruddy shelduck mostly inhabits inland water-bodies such as lakes, reservoirs and rivers. The male and female form a lasting pair bond and the nest may be well away from water, in a crevice or hole in a cliff, tree or similar site. A clutch of about eight eggs is laid and is incubated solely by the female for about four weeks. The young are cared for by both parents and fledge about eight weeks after hatching.
In central and eastern Asia, populations are steady or rising, but in Europe they are generally in decline. Altogether, the birds have a wide range and large total population, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed their conservation status as being of "least concern".
The ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) is a member of the shelduck genus Tadorna; in the wildfowl family Anatidae. The bird was first described in 1764 by the German zoologist and botanist Peter Simon Pallas who named it Anas ferruginea, but later it was transferred to the genus Tadorna with the other shelducks. Some authorities place it in the genus Casarca along with the South African shelduck (T. cana), the Australian shelduck (T. tadornoides) and the Paradise shelduck (T. variegata). Phylogenetic analysis shows that it is most closely related to the South African shelduck. In captivity, the ruddy shelduck has been known to hybridise with several other members of Tadorna, with several members of the dabbling duck genus Anas, and with the Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca). No subspecies are recognised.
The genus name Tadorna comes from the French "tadorne", the common shelduck, and may originally derive from a Celtic word meaning "pied waterfowl". The English name "sheld duck" dates from around 1700 and means the same. The species name ferruginea is Latin for "rusty" and refers to the colour of the plumage.
The ruddy shelduck grows to a length of 58 to 70 cm (23 to 28 in) and has a 110–135 cm (43–53 in) wingspan. The male has orange-brown body plumage and a paler, orange-brown head and neck, separated from the body by a narrow black collar. The rump, flight feathers, tail-coverts and tail feathers are black and there are iridescent green speculum feathers on the inner surfaces of the wings. Both upper and lower wing-coverts are white, this feature being particularly noticeable in flight but hardly visible when the bird is at rest. The bill is black and the legs are dark grey. The female is similar but has a rather pale, whitish head and neck and lacks the black collar, and in both sexes, the colouring is variable and fades as the feathers age. The birds moult at the end of the breeding season and the male loses the black collar, but a further partial moult between December and April restores it. Juveniles are similar to the female but are a darker shade of brown.
The call is a series of loud, nasal honking notes, it being possible to discern the difference between those produced by the male and the female. The calls are made both on the ground and in the air, and the sounds are variable according to the circumstances in which they are uttered.
There are very small resident populations of this species in north west Africa and Ethiopia, but the main breeding area of the bird is from southeast Europe across central Asia to Lake Baikal, Mongolia, and western China. Eastern populations are mostly migratory, wintering in the Indian subcontinent. This species has colonised the island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, first breeding there in 1994, and reaching a population of almost fifty pairs by 2008. The ruddy shelduck is a common winter visitor in India where it arrives by October and departs by April. Its typical breeding habitat is large wetlands and rivers with mud flats and shingle banks, and it is found in large numbers on lakes and reservoirs. It breeds in high altitude lakes and swamps in Jammu and Kashmir. Outside the breeding season it prefers lowland streams, sluggish rivers, ponds, flooded grassland, marshes and brackish lagoons.
Although becoming quite rare in southeast Europe and southern Spain, the ruddy shelduck is still common across much of its Asian range. It may be this population which gives rise to vagrants as far west as Iceland, Great Britain and Ireland. However, since the European population is declining, it is likely that most occurrences in western Europe in recent decades are escapes or feral birds. Although this bird is observed in the wild from time to time in eastern North America, no evidence has been found that this is a genuine case of vagrancy. Feral ruddy shelduck have bred successfully in several European countries. In Switzerland the ruddy shelduck is considered an invasive species that threatens to displace native birds. Despite actions taken to reduce numbers, the population of ruddy shelduck in Switzerland increased from 211 to 1250 individuals in the period from 2006 to 2016.
This shelduck mostly frequents open locations on inland bodies of water such as lakes, reservoirs and rivers. It is seldom seen in forested areas but does occur in brackish water and saline lagoons. Though more common in the lowlands, it also inhabits higher altitudes and in central Asia is one of the few waterbirds, along with the bar-headed goose (Anser indicus), to be found on lakes at 5,000 m (16,400 ft).
The ruddy shelduck is a mainly nocturnal bird. It is omnivorous and feeds on grasses, the young shoots of plants, grain and water plants as well as both aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates. On land it grazes on the foliage, in the water it dabbles in the shallows, and at greater depths, it up-ends, but it does not dive.
The ruddy shelduck is usually found in pairs or small groups and rarely forms large flocks. However, moulting and wintering gatherings on chosen lakes or slow rivers can be very large. Gatherings of over four thousand birds have been recorded on the Koshi Barrage and in the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve in Nepal, and over ten thousand at Lake Gölü in Turkey.
Buddhists regard the ruddy shelduck as sacred and this gives the birds some protection in central and eastern Asia, where the population is thought to be steady or even rising. The Pembo Black-necked Crane Reserve in Tibet is an important wintering area for ruddy ducks, and here they receive protection. In Europe on the other hand, populations are generally declining as wetlands are drained and the birds are hunted. However, they are less vulnerable than some other waterfowl because of their adaptability to new habitats such as reservoirs.
The ruddy shelduck has a very wide range and an estimated total population size of 170,000 to 225,000 individuals. The overall population trend is unclear as some local populations are increasing while others are decreasing. The bird does not appear to meet the higher criteria necessary to be considered threatened, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature assesses that its conservation status is of "least concern". It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.