I'M BACK

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As the heading above shows, I have been away but have now returned.

The reason for my absence was that I was hospitalised for pneumonia, put on intravenous antibiotics and I was unable to get emails out. I am still on antibiotics but no longer an inpaatient.

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There is a Bytes catch up by me posting the current and missed "On This Day' posts.

Bytes will return to the usual format thereafter.

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June 20, 1893

Lizzie Bordern acquitted

Lizzie Borden (1860 – 1927) was an American woman who was tried and acquitted of the August 4, 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts.

On June 20, 1893. after an hour and a half of deliberation, the jury acquitted Lizzie Borden of the murders. Upon exiting the courthouse, she told reporters she was "the happiest woman in the world".

No one else was charged in the murders and, despite ostracism from other residents, Borden spent the remainder of her life in Fall River. She died of pneumonia at age 66.

  

The Borden murders and trial received widespread publicity in the United States, and have remained a topic in American popular culture depicted in numerous films, theatrical productions, literary works, and folk rhymes around the Fall River area.

  

Bordern's stepmother, Abby, was hit 18 times, and her father Andrew was hit 11. This event later became the basis for a popular (yet inaccurate) school-yard rhyme, which goes:

Lizzie Borden took an axe

And gave her mother forty whacks,

And when she saw what she had done,

She gave her father forty-one.

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June 21, 1939

Lou Gehrig retirement

On this day in 1939 the NY Yankees announced Lou Gehrig's retirement after doctors revealed he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Gehrig was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, which earned him the nickname "the Iron Horse", and he is regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is an incurable neuromuscular illness now commonly referred to in the United States as "Lou Gehrig's disease".

Gehrig died of complications from ALS in 1941, 17 days before his 38th birthday.

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June 22, 1940

French surrender WWII

The Armistice of 22 June 1940, sometimes referred to as the Second Armistice at Compiègne, was an agreement signed this day by officials of Nazi Germany and the French Third Republic. It became effective at midnight on 25 June.

Under the armistice the northern half of the country was occupied and the south established as the Nazi client state Vichy France. The French were also permitted to retain control of all of their non-European territories.

Adolf Hitler deliberately chose Compiègne Forest as the site to sign the armistice because of its symbolic role as the site of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that signaled the end of World War I with Germany's surrender.

Left to right: Joachim von Ribbentrop, Walther von Brauchitsch,Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler, and Walther von Brauchitsch in front of the Armistice carriage

Ferdinand Foch's railway car.

Before the 1918 signing in the Forest of Compiègne, the wagon was the personal carriage of Ferdinand Foch and was later displayed in French museums. However, after the successful invasion of France, Adolf Hitler had the wagon moved back to the exact site of the 1918 signing for the 1940 signing due to its symbolic role. The wagon was later destroyed near the end of World War II, most likely by the SS.

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June 23, 2016

Brexit

On this day in 2016 the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to withdraw from the European Union, with 51.9 percent supporting Britain's exit (“Brexit”) and 48.1 percent opposing the move; it marked the first time a country had decided to leave the organisation.

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June 24, 1812

Naoleon invades Russia

On this day in 1812 Napoleon began his ill-fated invasion of Russia.

Facts:

· Napoleon’s aim was not to conquer Russia but rather to destroy the Russian armies, thereby forcing Tsar Alexander to submit to French will. By punishing Russia for its insolence, Napoleon would ensure that the rest of Europe remained subservient.

· His plan was to destroy the Russian armies bit by bit and he hoped to win the war within three weeks.

· His army had 615,000 men, half of them French, the rest from various European countries, plus 200,000 horses.

· Instead of engaging in battle, as napoleon wanted, the Russian military command retreated and drew Napoleon deep into Russia, using a scorched policy whereby anything of value was destroyed, including crops, windmills, bridges, livestock, and depots.

· Scorching summer heat combined with torrential rains meant that many of Napoleon’s men fell sick; by the third week of July, over 80,000 men were either dead or seriously ill from diseases such as typhus and dysentery. Starvation and malnutrition also depleted Naoleon’s ranks, with 1,000 horses per day dying.

· Acceding to demands from Russian officers to stand and fight, the Battle of Smolensk say 10,000 French losses and 12,000 Russian.

· A retreat further into Russia was followed by the Battle of Borodino where the Russians lost 45,0000 men killed or wounded and the French 35,000.

· On 14 September Napoleon entered Moscow, to find it evacuated and the supply depots on fire, which ended setting Moscow ablaze. Napoleon’s troops were deprived of provisions and shelter and were forced to resort to pillaging.

· With the Tsar unwilling to surrender and facing a strongly opposed population, Napoleon left Moscow so that he would not be forced to winter there.

· By this time Napoleon’s army had dwindled to only 100,000 men.

· Morale plummeted further as the French army marched through the Borodino battlefield, where thousands of corpses remained unburied, half-eaten by wolves.

· By early November, the onset of Russian winter temperatures dropped to -30°C. Soldiers suffered from snow blindness, their breath turning to icicles as it left their mouths. Many lost their way and froze to death, others merely collapsed and died where they lay. Comradeship quickly broke down, as men were charged merely to sit by a fire, and fights broke out over food and water. There were also several instances of cannibalism.

· The French invasion of Russia remains one of the most famous military disasters in history. Of the 615,000 French and allied troops, there were over 500,000 losses. Of the survivors, thousands were suffering from frostbite or starvation, and many were permanently crippled. Of the half million losses, around 100,000 had deserted and 120,000 taken prisoner; the corpses of the remaining 380,000 troops were buried beneath the Russian snow.

· Russian losses are more difficult to assess; around 150,000 Russian soldiers likely died from all causes, with at least twice as many more wounded. An unknown number of Russian civilians died, but the combined total of military and civilian deaths likely surpassed one million. The invasion remains one of the deadliest military operations in history.

· Napoleon never truly recovered from this catastrophe; while he quickly raised new infantry conscripts, he was unable to replace the cavalry and artillery losses. The Russian army was joined by the armies of Britain, Prussia, and Austria, beginning the War of the Sixth Coalition (1813-1814), the conflict that would topple Napoleon's empire.

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