Good Sleep-In Saturday morning Yonkers, at 4:24 AM EST Yonkers is clear and 17 to 18 degrees (3 degrees w/WCF) with north-west winds at 14 mph, 46% humidity, the dew point is 2 degrees, the barometer is 30.3 inches and rising, and the visibility is 9 miles. Yonkers will be sunny today, high 27 degrees with west/north-west winds at 10 to 15 mph. clear skies for tonight with a few passing clouds, low 24 degrees with temperatures rising to near 35 degrees with south/south-west winds at 5 to 10 mph. Sun-up occurs at 5:23 AM and descends gracefully beyond the Palisades at 8:30 PM. You’ll have 15 hours and 06 minutes of available daylight. Dundee Township, Kane County, Illinois, Population: 64,167. At 3:31 AM CST Dundee is partly cloudy and 32 degrees (21 degrees w/WCF). Dundee will be mostly cloudy with gusty winds today, high 38 degrees with south-west winds at 20 to 30 mph. Cloudy skies tonight, low near 30 degrees with west winds at 10 to 20 mph. Selkirk, Maniboba, Canada, Population: 9,834. At 3:35 AM CST Selkirk is cloudy, misty, and 25 degrees (13 degrees w/WCF). Selkirk will be cloudy today with snow showers mainly during the morning, high 33 degrees with north-west winds at 10 to 20 mph. There is a 50% chance of snow. Cloudy skies early tonight, followed by partial clearing, low 16 degrees with north-west winds at 10 to 20 mph. Dothan, Houston County, Alabama. At 3:39 AM CST Dothan is partly cloudy and 35 to 37 degrees. Dothan will have partly cloudy skies today, high 62 degrees with light and variable winds. A few passing clouds tonight, otherwise generally clear, low 41 degrees with light and variable winds. The Four Day Yonkers Extended Weather Forecast: Sunday(18)- heavy rain, 100% chance of precipitation, 44H/34L; Monday(19)- mostly sunny, 10% chance of precipitation, 38H/27L; Tuesday(20)- mostly sunny, 20% chance of precipitation, 38H/31L; and Wednesday(21)- snow showers, 60% chance of precipitation, 35H/24L. Today 06/17 In HISTORY (Courtesy of the History Channel): 1 - 1885 - Liberty Island - The dismantled State of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of America, arrives in New York Harbor after being shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in 350 individual pieces packed in more than 200 cases. The copper and iron statue, which was reassembled and dedicated the following year in a ceremony presided over by U.S. President Grover Cleveland, became known around the world as an enduring symbol of freedom and democracy. Intended to commemorate the American Revolution and a century of friendship between the U.S. and France, the statue was designed by French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (who modeled it after his own mother), with assistance from engineer Gustave Eiffel, who later developed the iconic tower in Paris bearing his name. The statue was initially scheduled to be finished by 1876, the 100th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence; however, fundraising efforts, which included auctions, a lottery and boxing matches, took longer than anticipated, both in Europe and the U.S., where the statue’s pedestal was to be financed and constructed. The statue alone cost the French an estimated $250,000 (more than $5.5 million in today’s money). Finally completed in Paris in the summer of 1884, the statue, a robed female figure with an uplifted arm holding a torch, reached its new home on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor (between New York City and Hudson County, New Jersey) on June 17, 1885. After being reassembled, the 450,000-pound statue was officially dedicated on October 28, 1886, by President Cleveland, who said, “We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected.” Standing more than 305 feet from the foundation of its pedestal to the top of its torch, the statue, dubbed “Liberty Enlightening the World” by Bartholdi, was taller than any structure in New York City at the time. The statue was originally copper-colored, but over the years it underwent a natural color-change process called patination that produced its current greenish-blue hue. In 1892, Ellis Island, located near Bedloes Island (which in 1956 was renamed Liberty Island), opened as America’s chief immigration station, and for the next 62 years Lady Liberty, as the statue is nicknamed, stood watch over the more than 12 million immigrants who sailed into New York Harbor. In 1903, a plaque inscribed with a sonnet titled “The New Colossus” by American poet Emma Lazarus, written 20 years earlier for a pedestal fundraiser, was placed on an interior wall of the pedestal. Lazarus’ now-famous words, which include “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” became symbolic of America’s vision of itself as a land of opportunity for immigrants. Some 60 years after President Calvin Coolidge designated the statue a national monument in 1924, it underwent a multi-million-dollar restoration (which included a new torch and gold leaf-covered flame) and was rededicated by President Ronald Reagan on July 4, 1986, in a lavish celebration. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the statue was closed; its base, pedestal and observation deck re-opened in 2004, while its crown re-opened to the public on July 4, 2009. (For safety reasons, the torch has been closed to visitors since 1916, after an incident called the Black Tom explosions in which munitions-laden barges and railroad cars on the Jersey City, New Jersey, waterfront were blown up by German agents, causing damage to the nearby statue.) Today, the Statue of Liberty is one of America’s most famous landmarks. Over the years, it has been the site of political rallies and protests (from suffragettes to anti-war activists), has been featured in numerous movies and countless photographs, and has received millions of visitors from around the globe. 2 - 1775 - American Revolution - British General William Howe lands his troops on the Charlestown Peninsula overlooking Boston, Massachusetts, and leads them against Breeds Hill, a fortified American position just below Bunker Hill, on this day in 1775. As the British advanced in columns against the Americans, American General William Prescott reportedly told his men, Dont one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes! When the Redcoats were within 40 yards, the Americans let loose with a lethal barrage of musket fire, throwing the British into retreat. After reforming his lines, Howe attacked again, with much the same result. Prescotts men were now low on ammunition, though, and when Howe led his men up the hill for a third time, they reached the redoubts and engaged the Americans in hand-to-hand combat. The outnumbered Americans were forced to retreat. However, by the end of the engagement, the Patriots gunfire had cut down nearly 1,000 enemy troops, including 92 officers. Of the 370 Patriots who fell, most were struck while in retreat. The British had won the so-called Battle of Bunker Hill, and Breeds Hill and the Charlestown Peninsula fell firmly under British control. Despite losing their strategic positions, the battle was a morale-builder for the Americans, convincing them that patriotic dedication could overcome superior British military might. The British entered the Battle of Bunker Hill overconfident. Had they merely guarded Charlestown Neck, they could have isolated the Patriots with little loss of life. Instead, Howe had chosen to try to wipe out the Yankees by marching 2,400 men into a frontal assault on the Patriots well-defended position on top of the hill. The British would never make the same mistake again. 3 - 1837 - Civil War - Strong Vincent is born in Waterford, Pennsylvania. After working as a lawyer, he went on to become a hero at the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he was mortally wounded defending Little Round Top. When hostilities erupted between the North and the South in April 1861, Vincent left the law to become an officer in the Erie Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. By early 1862, he rose to commander of the 83rd Pennsylvania. Vincent served in several campaigns with the Army of the Potomac, fighting at Yorktown, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. He was promoted to colonel after Yorktown, and prior to Gettysburg, Vincent was given command of the Third Brigade, First Division, of the Fifth Corps. On the night of July 1, 1863, Vincent and his men were hurrying toward the battlefield under a bright moon. When the soldiers passed through a small town near Gettysburg, the regiment bands began to play and residents came to their doors to cheer the Yankee troops. Vincent remarked to an aide that there could be a worse fate than to die fighting in his home state with the flag overhead. The next day, as Vincent and his brigade were arriving behind the Union lines, General Gouverneur K. Warren frantically summoned Vincents force to the top of Little Round Top, a rocky hill at the end of the Federal line. Warren observed that the Confederates could turn the Union left flank by taking the summit, which was occupied by only a Yankee signal corps at the time. So Vincent and his men hurried up the hill, arriving just ahead of the Rebels. The brigade held the top, but just barely. The 26-year-old Vincent was mortally wounded in the engagement and died on July 7. He was promoted posthumously to brigadier general. 4 - 1953 - Cold War - The Soviet Union orders an entire armored division of its troops into East Berlin to crush a rebellion by East German workers and antigovernment protesters. The Soviet assault set a precedent for later interventions into Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. The riots in East Berlin began among construction workers, who took to the streets on June 16, 1953, to protest an increase in work schedules by the communist government of East Germany. By the next day, the crowd of disgruntled workers and other antigovernment dissidents had grown to between 30,000 and 50,000. Leaders of the protest issued a call for a general strike, the resignation of the communist East German government, and free elections. Soviet forces struck quickly and without warning. Troops, supported by tanks and other armored vehicles, crashed through the crowd of protesters. Some protesters tried to fight back, but most fled before the onslaught. Red Cross officials in West Berlin (where many of the wounded protesters fled) estimated the death toll at between 15 and 20, and the number of wounded at more than 100. The Soviet military commanders declared martial law, and by the evening of June 17, the protests had been shattered and relative calm was restored. In Washington, President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared that the brutal Soviet action contradicted Russian propaganda that the people of East Germany were happy with their communist government. He noted that the smashing of the protests was a good lesson on the meaning of communism. Americas propaganda outlet in Europe, the Voice of America radio station, claimed, The workers of East Berlin have already written a glorious page in postwar history. They have once and for all times exposed the fraudulent nature of communist regimes. These criticisms had little effect on the Soviet control of East Germany, which remained a communist stronghold until the government fell in 1989. 5 - 1958 - Disaster - A bridge being built to connect eastern and northern Vancouver in western Canada collapses, killing 59 workers. The bridge, known as the Second Narrows Bridge, was finally completed in 1960 and, in 1996, it was renamed Ironworkers Memorial Bridge to commemorate the people who lost their lives during its construction. The disaster was the worst involving a bridge in Canadas history. The bridge was being assembled by Dominion Bridge Company over the Burrard Inlet and was 175 feet above the water at its highest point. At 3:40 p.m., one of the structures steel spans buckled suddenly, causing the entire structure to collapse. There were 79 workers, almost a third of them painters, on the bridge at the time. Most were earning $3.85 an hour, about $25 in todays money. Twenty people survived the long fall, with fishermen pulling them from the water. Colin Glendinning, a worker who survived the collapse, recalled the fall, You know what I was thinking? Oh God, I wish I had a parachute -- I really did. The fall tore off Glendinnings ear, broke his leg, and permanently damaged his lungs. He later returned to work on the bridge, only to break his other leg a year later. A subsequent inquiry blamed the tragedy on a calculating error by one of the engineers who lost their lives in the collapse. However, some survivors believed that sub-standard construction materials were to blame. A vigil honoring the victims is still held at the bridge every June 17. 6 - 1579 - New World Exploration - During his circumnavigation of the world, English seaman Francis Drake anchors in a harbor just north of present-day San Francisco, California, and claims the territory for Queen Elizabeth I. Calling the land Nova Albion, Drake remained on the California coast for a month to make repairs to his ship, the Golden Hind, and prepare for his westward crossing of the Pacific Ocean. On December 13, 1577, Drake set out from England with five ships on a mission to raid Spanish holdings on the Pacific coast of the New World. After crossing the Atlantic, Drake abandoned two of his ships in South America and then sailed into the Straits of Magellan with the remaining three. A series of devastating storms besieged his expedition in the treacherous straits, wrecking one ship and forcing another to return to England. Only the Golden Hind reached the Pacific Ocean, but Drake continued undaunted up the western coast of South America, raiding Spanish settlements and capturing a rich Spanish treasure ship. Drake then continued up the western coast of North America, searching for a possible northeast passage back to the Atlantic. Reaching as far north as present-day Washington before turning back, Drake paused near San Francisco Bay in June 1579 to repair his ship and prepare for a journey across the Pacific. In July, the expedition set off across the Pacific, visiting several islands before rounding Africas Cape of Good Hope and returning to the Atlantic Ocean. On September 26, 1580, the Golden Hind returned to Plymouth, England, bearing its rich captured treasure and valuable information about the worlds great oceans. In 1581, Queen Elizabeth I knighted Drake during a visit to his ship. 7 - 1940 - World War Two - With Paris fallen and the German conquest of France reaching its conclusion, Marshal Henri Petain replaces Paul Reynaud as prime minister and announces his intention to sign an armistice with the Nazis. The next day, French General Charles de Gaulle, not very well known even to the French, made a broadcast to France from England, urging his countrymen to continue the fight against Germany. A military hero during World War I, Petain was appointed vice premier of France in May 1940 to boost morale in a country crumbling under the force of the Nazi invasion. Instead, Petain arranged an armistice with the Nazis. The armistice, signed by the French on June 22, went into effect on June 25, and more than half of France was occupied by the Germans. In July, Petain took office as chief of state at Vichy, a city in unoccupied France. The Vichy government under Petain collaborated with the Nazis, and French citizens suffered on both sides of the divided nation. In 1942, Pierre Laval, an opportunistic French fascist and dutiful Nazi collaborator, won the trust of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and the elderly Petain became merely a figurehead in the Vichy regime. After the Normandy invasion in 1944, Petain and Laval were forced to flee to German protection in the east. Both were eventually captured, found guilty of high treason, and sentenced to die. Laval was executed in 1945, but provincial French leader Charles de Gaulle commuted Petains sentence to life imprisonment. Petain died on the Ile dYeu off France in 1951. 8 - 1972 - Politics - In the early morning of June 17, 1972, five men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate, an office-hotel-apartment complex in Washington, D.C. In their possession were burglary tools, cameras and film, and three pen-size tear gas guns. At the scene of the crime, and in rooms the men rented at the Watergate, sophisticated electronic bugging equipment was found. Three of the men were Cuban exiles, one was a Cuban American, and the fifth was James W. McCord, Jr., a former CIA agent. That day, the suspects, who said they were anti-communists, were charged with felonious burglary and possession of implements of crime. On June 18, however, it was revealed that James McCord was the salaried security coordinator for President Richard Nixons reelection committee. The next day, E. Howard Hunt, Jr., a former White House aide, was linked to the five suspects. In July, G. Gordon Liddy, finance counsel for the Committee for the Re-election of the President, was also implicated as an accomplice. In August, President Nixon announced that a White House investigation of the Watergate break-in had concluded that administration officials were not involved. In September, Liddy, Hunt, McCord, and the four Cubans were indicted by a federal grand jury on eight counts of breaking into and illegally bugging the Democratic National Committee headquarters. In September and October, reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of The Washington Post uncovered evidence of illegal political espionage carried out by the White House and the Committee for the Re-election of the President, including the existence of a secret fund kept for the purpose and the existence of political spies hired by the committee. Despite these reports, and a growing call for a Watergate investigation on Capitol Hill, Richard Nixon was reelected president in November 1972 in a landslide victory. In January 1973, five of the Watergate burglars pleaded guilty, and two others, Liddy and McCord, were convicted. At their sentencing on March 23, U.S. District Court Judge John J. Sirica read a letter from McCord charging that the White House had conducted an extensive cover-up to conceal its connection with the break-in. In April, Attorney General Richard Kleindienst and two top White House advisers, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, resigned, and White House counsel John Dean was fired. On May 17, 1973, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, headed by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, began televised proceedings on the rapidly escalating Watergate affair. One week later, Harvard Law professor Archibald Cox was sworn in as special Watergate prosecutor. During the Senate hearings, former White House legal counsel John Dean testified that the Watergate break-in had been approved by former Attorney General John Mitchell with the knowledge of White House advisers Ehrlichman and Haldeman, and that President Nixon had been aware of the cover-up. Meanwhile, Watergate prosecutor Cox and his staff began to uncover widespread evidence of political espionage by the Nixon re-election committee, illegal wiretapping of thousands of citizens by the administration, and contributions to the Republican Party in return for political favors. In July, the existence of what were to be called the Watergate tapes--official recordings of White House conversations between Nixon and his staff--was revealed during the Senate hearings. Cox subpoenaed these tapes, and after three months of delay President Nixon agreed to send summaries of the recordings. Cox rejected the summaries, and Nixon fired him. His successor as special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, leveled indictments against several high-ranking administration officials, including Mitchell and Dean, who were duly convicted. Public confidence in the president rapidly waned, and by the end of July 1974 the House Judiciary Committee had adopted three articles of impeachment against President Nixon: obstruction of justice, abuse of presidential powers, and hindrance of the impeachment process. On July 30, under coercion from the Supreme Court, Nixon finally released the Watergate tapes. On August 5, transcripts of the recordings were released, including a segment in which the president was heard instructing Haldeman to order the FBI to halt the Watergate investigation. Four days later, Nixon became the first president in U.S. history to resign. On September 8, his successor, President Gerald Ford, pardoned him from any criminal charges. 9 - 1876 - Old West - Sioux and Cheyenne Indians score a tactical victory over General Crooks forces at the Battle of the Rosebud, foreshadowing the disaster of the Battle of Little Big Horn eight days later. General George Crook was in command of one of three columns of soldiers converging on the Big Horn country of southern Montana that June. A large band of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians under the direction of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and several other chiefs had congregated in the area in defiance of U.S. demands that the Indians confine themselves to reservations. The army viewed the Indians refusal as an opportunity to dispatch a massive three-pronged attack and win a decisive victory over the hostile Indians. Crooks column, marching north from Fort Fetterman in Wyoming Territory, was to join with two others: General Gibbons column coming east from Fort Ellis in Montana Territory, and General Terrys force coming west from Fort Abraham Lincoln in Dakota Territory. Terrys force included the soon-to-be-famous 7th Cavalry under the command of George Custer. The vast distances and lack of reliable communications made it difficult to coordinate, but the three armies planned to converge on the valley of the Big Horn River and stage an assault on an enemy whose location and size was only vaguely known. The plan quickly ran into trouble. As Crook approached the Big Horn, his Indian scouts informed him they had found signs of a major Sioux force that must still be nearby. Crook was convinced that the Sioux were encamped in a large village somewhere along the Rosebud Creek just east of the Big Horn. Like most of his fellow officers, Crook believed that Indians were more likely to flee than stand and fight, and he was determined to find the village and attack before the Sioux could escape into the wilderness. Crooks Indian allies—262 Crow and Shoshone warriors—were less certain. They suspected the Sioux force was under the command of Crazy Horse, thee brilliant war chief. Crazy Horse, they warned, was too shrewd to give Crook an opportunity to attack a stationary village. Crook soon learned that his allies were right. Around 8 a.m. on this day in 1876, Crook halted his force of about 1,300 men in the bowl of a small valley along the Rosebud Creek in order to allow the rear of the column to catch up. Crooks soldiers unsaddled and let their horses graze while they relaxed in the grass and enjoyed the cool morning air. The American soldiers were out in the open, divided, and unprepared. Suddenly, several Indian scouts rode into the camp at a full gallop. Sioux! Sioux! they shouted. Many Sioux! Within minutes, a mass of Sioux warriors began to converge on the army. A force of at least 1,500 mounted Sioux warriors caught Crooks soldiers by surprise. Crazy Horse had kept an additional 2,500 warriors in reserve to finish the attack. Fortunately for Crook, one segment of his army was not caught unprepared. His 262 Crow and Shoshone allies had taken up advanced positions about 500 yards from the main body of soldiers. With astonishing courage, the Indian warriors boldly countercharged the much larger invading force. They managed to blunt the initial attack long enough for Crook to regroup his men and send soldiers forward to support his Indian allies. The fighting continued until noon, when the Sioux-perhaps hoping to draw Crooks army into an ambush—retreated from the field. The combined force of 4,000 Sioux warriors had outnumbered Crooks divided and unprepared army by more than three to one. Had it not been for the wisdom and courage of Crooks Indian allies, Americans today might well remember the Battle of the Rosebud as they do the subsequent Battle of the Little Big Horn. As it was, Crooks team was badly bloodied—28 men were killed and 56 were seriously wounded. Crook had no choice but to withdraw and regroup. Crazy Horse had lost only 13 men and his warriors were emboldened by their successful attack on the American soldiers. Eight days later, they would join with their tribesmen in the Battle of the Little Big Horn, which would wipe out George Custer and his 7th Cavalry. 10 - 1943 - World War Two - President Franklin D. Roosevelts secretary of war, Harry Stimson, phones then-Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman and politely asks him not to make inquiries about a defense plant in Pasco, Washington. World War II was in full swing in 1943 and Truman was chairing a Senate committee on possible war profiteering committed by American defense plants. In the process of investigating war-production expenditures, Truman stumbled upon a suspicious plant in the state of Washington and asked the plant managers to testify in front of the committee. Unbeknownst to Truman, this particular plant was secretly connected with a program to develop an atomic bomb—the Manhattan Project. When Stimson, one of a handful of people who knew about the highly classified Manhattan Project, heard about Trumans line of questioning, he immediately acted to prevent the Missouri senator from blowing the biggest military secret in world history. On June 17, Truman received a phone call from Stimson, who told him that the Pasco plant was part of a very important secret development. Fortunately, Stimson did not need to explain further: Truman, a veteran and a patriot, understood immediately that he was treading on dangerous ground. Before Stimson could continue, Truman assured the secretary you won t have to say another word to me. Whenever you say that [something is highly secret] to me thats all I want to hear. If [the plant] is for a specific purpose and you think its all right, thats all I need to know. Stimson replied that the purpose was not only secret, but unique. Americas secret development of the atomic bomb began in 1939, with then-President Franklin Roosevelts support. Even after Truman became Roosevelts fourth-term vice president in 1944, the project remained such a tightly controlled secret that Roosevelt did not even inform Truman that it existed. Only after Roosevelt died from a stroke, in early April 1945, did Stimson inform Truman of the nature of the Manhattan Project. The night Truman was sworn in as Roosevelts successor he noted in his diary that Stimson told him the U.S. was perfecting an explosive great enough to destroy the whole world. On April 24, 1945, Stimson and the Army general in charge of the project, Leslie Groves, gave President Truman a full briefing on the development status of the atomic bomb. Before the year was out, the new president would be faced with a decision: whether or not to use the most powerful weapon then known to man. 11 - 1969 - U.S. intelligence reports that an estimated 1,000 North Vietnamese troops have reoccupied Ap Bia Mountain (Hill 937), one mile east of the Laotian border. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces had fought a fierce battle with North Vietnamese troops there in May. The battle was part of a 2,800-man Allied sweep of the A Shau Valley called Operation Apache Snow. The purpose of the operation was to cut off the North Vietnamese and stop any infiltration from Laos that was menacing Hue to the northeast and Da Nang to the southeast. Paratroopers from the 101st Airborne had engaged a North Vietnamese regiment on the slopes of Hill 937, known to the Vietnamese as Ap Bia Mountain. Entrenched in prepared fighting positions, the North Vietnamese 29th Regiment repulsed the initial American assault and beat back another attempt by the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry on May 14. An intense battle raged for 10 days as the mountain came under heavy Allied air strikes, artillery barrages, and 10 infantry assaults. On May 20, Maj. Gen. Melvin Zais, commanding general of the 101st, sent in two additional U.S. airborne battalions and a South Vietnamese battalion as reinforcements. The communist stronghold was finally captured in the 11th attack when the American and South Vietnamese soldiers fought their way to the summit of the mountain. In the face of the four-battalion attack, the North Vietnamese retreated to sanctuary areas in Laos. During the intense fighting, 597 North Vietnamese were reported killed and U.S. casualties were 56 killed and 420 wounded. Due to the bitter fighting and the high loss of life, the battle for Ap Bia Mountain received widespread unfavorable publicity in the United States and was dubbed Hamburger Hill in the U.S. media (a name evidently derived from the fact that the battle turned into a meat grinder). Since the operation was not intended to hold territory but rather to keep the North Vietnamese Army off balance, the mountain was abandoned soon after the battle. The news of the battle and subsequent U.S. withdrawal from the area resulted in public outrage over what appeared to be a senseless loss of American lives. This furor only increased when it was revealed that the North Vietnamese had reoccupied their original positions after the American soldiers left. Gen. Creighton Abrams, who had succeeded Gen. William Westmoreland as commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, was ordered to avoid such battles in the future. 12 - 1917 - The Corpo Expedicionario Portuguese (CEP), or Portuguese Expeditionary Corps, goes into action for the first time in World War I, on the battlefields of Flanders on the Western Front. With the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914, Portugal entered the war on the side of the Allies in order to secure international backing of its colonial holdings in Africa. While Portuguese participation in the war was at first limited to naval support, Portugal sent its first troops–an expeditionary force of two divisions, or some 50,000 men–to the Western Front in February 1917. On June 17 of that year, the CEP saw its first action of the war, against the Germans in Flanders, Belgium. From the beginning of the fighting, the Portuguese troops, fighting alongside the British, were plagued by problems, including negative reactions to the poor rations and harsh weather on the battlefield and low morale due to the fact that they were fighting far from their native land, on behalf of a foreign cause. On April 9, 1918, the CEP saw action again against Germany near the town of Lys, during the major German offensive of that spring. During the Battle of Lys, one Portuguese division of troops was struck hard by four German divisions; the preliminary shelling alone was so heavy that one Portuguese battalion refused to push forward into the trenches. All told, the victorious Germans took more than 6,000 prisoners at Lys and were able to push through the Allied lines along a three-and-a-half mile stretch. By the time World War I ended, a total of 7,000 Portuguese soldiers had died in combat. 13 - 1940 - World War One - British troops evacuate France in Operation Ariel, an exodus almost on the order of Dunkirk. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill offers words of encouragement in a broadcast to the nation: Whatever has happened in France... [w]e shall defend our island home, and with the British Empire we shall fight on unconquerable until the curse of Hitler is lifted. With two-thirds of France now occupied by German troops, those British and Allied troops that had not participated in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Dunkirk, were shipped home. From Cherbourg and St. Malo, from Brest and Nantes, Brits, Poles, and Canadian troops were rescued from occupied territory by boats sent from Britain. While these men were not under the immediate threat of assault, as at Dunkirk, they were by no means safe, as 5,000 soldiers and French civilians learned once on board the ocean liner Lancastria, which had picked them up at St. Nazaire. Germans bombers sunk the liner; 3,000 passengers drowned. Churchill ordered that news of the Lancastria not be broadcast in Britain, fearing the effect it would have on public morale, since everyone was already on heightened alert, fearing an imminent invasion from the Germans now that only a channel separated them. The British public would eventually find out—but not for another six weeks—when the news finally broke in the United States. They would also enjoy a breather of another kind: Hitler had no immediate plans for an invasion of the British isle, being well aware of the difficulties involved in such an operation, reported the German High Command. 14 - 1940 - World War Two - British troops evacuate France in Operation Ariel, an exodus almost on the order of Dunkirk. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill offers words of encouragement in a broadcast to the nation: Whatever has happened in France... [w]e shall defend our island home, and with the British Empire we shall fight on unconquerable until the curse of Hitler is lifted. With two-thirds of France now occupied by German troops, those British and Allied troops that had not participated in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Dunkirk, were shipped home. From Cherbourg and St. Malo, from Brest and Nantes, Brits, Poles, and Canadian troops were rescued from occupied territory by boats sent from Britain. While these men were not under the immediate threat of assault, as at Dunkirk, they were by no means safe, as 5,000 soldiers and French civilians learned once on board the ocean liner Lancastria, which had picked them up at St. Nazaire. Germans bombers sunk the liner; 3,000 passengers drowned. Churchill ordered that news of the Lancastria not be broadcast in Britain, fearing the effect it would have on public morale, since everyone was already on heightened alert, fearing an imminent invasion from the Germans now that only a channel separated them. The British public would eventually find out—but not for another six weeks—when the news finally broke in the United States. They would also enjoy a breather of another kind: Hitler had no immediate plans for an invasion of the British isle, being well aware of the difficulties involved in such an operation, reported the German High Command. The Sports Scene: NFL Football: Divisional Playoff: (AFC)The New England Patriots defeated the Baltimore Ravens 35-31 and the Indianapolis Colts upset the Denver Broncos 24-13 and (NFC) the Seattle Seahawks beat the Carolina Panthers 31-17and the Green Bay Packers topped the Dallas Cowboys 26-21. NFL Conference Championship: NFC: Sunday January 18, The Green Bay Packers play the Seattle Seahawks at 3:05 PM on FOX, AFC: The New England Patriots host the Indianapolis Colts at 6:40 PM CBS. NHL Hockey Action: The New York Rangers edged the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 to end the Rangers 2 game losing streak, the New York Islanders topped the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3, the New Jersey Devils lost to the Anaheim Ducks 5-1, the Buffalo Sabers were idle, Van 3-Car 0, Nas 4-Was 3, and Wpg 4-Chi 2. Tonights NHL Action: The Rangers and Devils are idle, the New York Islanders visit the Montreal Canadiene at 7 PM on MSG+, the Philadelphia Flyers face the Buffalo Sabers at 7 PM on MSG-B, CBJ at Bos, Car at Ott, Nas at Det, Col at TB, Edm At Fla, Tor at StL, Was at Dal, Ari at Min, Ana at LA, and Cgy at SJ. NBA Action: The Brooklyn Nets easily beat the Washington Wizards 102-80, the New York Knock-Abouts were idle, Det 98-Ind 96, Mem 106-Orl 96, Phi 96-NO 81, Chi 119-Bos 103, Atl 110-Tor 89, OKC 127-GSW 115, Dal 97-Den 89, SA 110-Por 96, Phx 110-Min 99, Uta 94-LAL 85, Mia 95-Sac 83, and Cle 126-LAC 121. Tonights NBA Action: The Washington Wizards come to the Barclay Center for the close of the home and home series to play the Brooklyn Nets at 8 PM on YES, the New York Knock-Abouts are idle, Ind at Cha, Phi at Det, Atl at Chi, GSW at Hou, Por at Mem, Min at Den, and LAC at Sac. I hope everybody sleeps restfully and has a great weekend ahead of them! I also hope all of our good Yonkers people (or ex-Yonkersites) are over their colds and flu. Craig and Lisa Van Akin have been feeling under the weather lately and can use some prayers so I am hoping for a quick recovery for them. The weather looks to be trending to a bit more moderate temperatures over the next few days, a welcome relief from the frigid temperatures we have been experiencing. Even in slower, lower Delaware, which is usually warmer due to its geographic location was colder than normal when I visited last week. Be careful of ice out there, any ice that melted might have refroze, so we gotta watch our bones, most of us suffer from arthritis and dont need broken bones to add to our collection of aches and pains! Have a great day and as always, stay safe, PUSH, and keep smiling!
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 10:18:49 +0000
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