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BBC News
a day ago
- General
- BBC News
'Top secret' D-Day landing maps to go to auction
"Top secret" maps used by Allied troops in the D-Day landings are expected to fetch up to £15,000 when they go up for UK, the US, Canada and France attacked German forces on the coast of northern France on 6 June was the largest military seaborne operation in history and involved the simultaneous landing of tens of thousands of troops on five beaches in maps, found in a box of documents originally bought for £10, provide restricted-access details of the Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches, and will go under the hammer in Etwall, Derbyshire, on Wednesday. The maps outline details of the German defences, including enemy strong points, barbed wire and aircraft were used throughout the conflict to create an accurate record of the French coast, and because it was not known where D-Day would take place, maps were developed for a wide area of to Hansons Auctioneers, about 2,500 anti-tank obstacles acted as shoreline defence, while hundreds of submerged mines proved fatal to troops wading behind the beaches, coupled with barbed wire and anti-tank ditches, made advancement even more many as 4,400 troops died from the combined allied forces on D-Day while some 9,000 were wounded or German casualties on the day are not known, but are estimated as being between 4,000 and 9,000 men. The maps were found in a box of various other documents bought at auction for £ had previously been in the possession of Royal Naval Sub Lt Walter Page, who served on Landing Craft Tank 2138 - one of 900 such vehicles which played a vital role in transporting men and supplies across the Crowson, from Hansons, said: "Imagine landing on a strange shore under enemy fire and not knowing where you were going or what hazards awaited."These maps, which look so old-fashioned today, would have been essential for the D-Day troops."It is amazing to think, had it not been for the eagle-eyed vendor, they would likely never have seen the light of day."
Eater
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Eater
Norman's Japanese Grill Breaks All the Rules
'I think as the concept developed, to be a Western Japanese restaurant, it gave us license to do whatever fits in that box,' Duro co-founder Chas Martin says. 'And it's a pretty big box.' Interestingly, the idea of how to interweave the two came from Duro partner Corbin See, who pointed out that Japan has a niche country music scene and appreciation for cowboy culture as presented in old films and television, influenced by the Allied Forces occupation of Japan following World War II. 'He brought this concept up, of all of these Japanese designers who were heavily inspired by 'the Wild Wild West' and underground dive bars inspired by Texas honky tonks,' says Martin. Eater sat down with Martin and Jared Harms, Duro's culinary director, to learn about five dishes on the menu at Norman's. Edamame hummus with pear chutney. Kathy Tran Edamame hummus Harms: 'It's edamame with fresh jalapeño, which we have to blend three times to get to the correct consistency. We go from a food processor into a Vitamix, and the end result is a little granular. It's vegan and craveable, and punchy in the center, where it has an aromatic plum chutney that has a lot of herby, sweet, and acidic flavors to it. We went through a lot of phases of figuring out which crispy things to use to dip. Ultimately, we went with wonton chips dusted with our shichimi togarashi [a Japanese spice blend of chile pepper, sesame seeds, orange peel, poppy seeds, ginger, and sometimes nori seaweed]. It's a pretty way to start the meal. The chips stay in our dehydrator and are warm all through service.' Hamachi meets tom kha sauce in this crudo. Kathy Tran Cold-smoked hamachi Harms: 'I'm a big fan of the way the pureness of the tom kha sauce in this hamachi plays with the fish caramel, along with the sweetness of the papaya and charred shiitake mushrooms. This plate came together over six or seven tastings, and the final is the best variation. We knew we wanted to do crudo our way. More than anything, we wanted to make sure you could taste the fish. Tom kha isn't Japanese, but it is part of the culture of chef Benjamin Norton, who runs the kitchen at Norman's, and this is a recipe he has worked with for his entire career.' The oils are the secret to transforming this carbonara into a Japanese-inspired dish. Kathy Tran Udon carbonara Harms: 'It's a nod to our love of noodles, and is a nod to our first restaurant, the Charles, which is always in our hearts. Of course, there is a twist in the carbonara. It has egg yolks cured in tare, shiro dashi [a Japanese soup base made with white soy sauce, kombu, and bonito], dashi, and black pepper. There is also pancetta that is diced large and rendered daily. If you want to, you can use a fork to eat it and twirl it. There are pickled mustard greens in it as well, along with fresh lemon juice.' You can eat these noodles with chopsticks. Kathy Tran Martin: 'The pickled mustard greens were, to me, the aha moment of this dish, when we all were like, That's the best.' One of the rule breaking dishes is this Korean fried chicken. Kathy Tran Korean fried chicken Harms: 'This dish began as an idea for karaage chicken, but it evolved. The best iteration of the dish wasn't a dry batter, but the wet batter was what we liked best. It has been the most consistently delicious. Chef Ben Norton, who is half Korean, wanted to bring his mom's gochujang sauce to Norman's. The chicken gets tossed in that sauce, pseudo hot chicken-style, but only about 80 percent, so you still get extra-crispy bites. The plate also has pickled cucumbers, negi [long green onions], and toasted sesame seeds.' Cowboy rib-eye with a Southeast Asian salad — that's about as Japanese Western as it gets. Kathy Tran Dry-aged cowboy rib-eye Harms: 'Having a papaya salad with a big, fatty rib-eye was an idea from the beginning. We loved the punchy, spicy, acidic, and crunch accompaniment with a fatty, crusty steak. We weren't always planning to use dry-aged meat, but it worked out well. We are using a 45-day dry-aged cut that gets crusted with salt and black pepper on the grill. We brush it with tare glaze as a last step before it comes off the grill. The way those two flavors dance together is amazing, as is electing to add honey butter torched tableside.' Martin: 'We kept the grill from Homewood, so that's a massive component of the cooking here.' The sushi counter spread. Kathy Tran If you only order one piece of sushi: Make it the bluefin tuna with foie gras shredded over it. Norman's has three sushi chefs. 'We use the otoro, the fattiest part, and top it with pickled red pearl onion, crispy garlic, and then hit it with frozen foie gras.' Pro-tip from Martin: You have to order the Crazy 88, a mezcal margarita with wasabi and lemongrass. Norman's Japanese Grill is open now at 4002 Oak Lawn Avenue in Dallas, serving dinner. Reservations can be made on OpenTable.
Daily Mail
29-07-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV: Astonishing reason 4,000 Japanese kamikaze pilots were picked to die during the Second World War
Kamikaze: An Untold History (BBC4) How much do you want to die for your country? Please tick the applicable box: 'Strongly desire', 'Desire', or 'Negative', and hand your application form to the admin officer. Astonishing almost beyond belief, this was the question posed to Japanese air force pilots during World War II, as revealed in Kamikaze: An Untold History. Slightly less surprising, since armies are the same the world over, their answers were largely ignored as officials selected the fliers who would attempt to crash their planes into Allied aircraft carriers and other ships. Instead, kamikaze pilots were chosen according to their exam results. Those with the highest marks were excused suicide duties, since their intellect made them too valuable. The ones with the lowest scores were also not picked, because they had not earned the right to sacrifice themselves. But nearly 4,000 Japanese men, average age 21 and four months, did fly kamikaze missions between October 1944 and August 1945. This grimly fascinating documentary tried to explain the mentality, not only of the pilots who flew to certain death, but of the nation that encouraged them to do it. As Japanese newsreels showed the pilots sharing a solemn ceremonial drink — lemonade, since they had sworn off alcohol — and radio announcers read out the young men's wills, a cult of kamikaze gripped the country. Their self-immolation became a symbol of what was expected from every citizen, and the slogan '100 million kamikaze' was a national catchphrase. The pilots were known as 'war gods' and 'mighty eagles'. 'Your divine battle will be known for eternity,' declared the newsreader on one piece of archive footage. Workers wore white bandanas in their honour. It seems incomprehensible, until we realise that many of the young men didn't want to die at all. They simply felt they had no choice. One man who wasn't picked said he saw a comrade receive his orders to 'volunteer' with horror: 'My parents didn't send me to university to die,' the doomed man howled. Another survivor, Hijikata Toshio, bravely marked his questionnaire 'negative'. He was engaged to be married, and his ambition was to be a maths teacher, he said. 'Taking a bullet from an enemy is one thing but blowing myself up didn't seem right.' Most of the veterans, filmed over several years, were in their 90s. One, an American sailor named Seth Irving who described waves of kamikaze planes divebombing his fleet, was 103. By the end of the war, so many Japanese aircraft had been destroyed that the pilots were sent out in trainer biplanes with explosives strapped to their fuselage. Slow and cumbersome, they were easily shot down. Survival had become a matter of chance. One pilot, Arai Toshio, played rock-paper-scissors with a fellow flier, for the right to die in their last remaining plane. He lost . . . and lived to be 99.
The Onion
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Onion
Most Anticipated Celebrity Memoirs Of 2025
The Onion 's book critics round up the celebrity memoirs they're most looking forward to skimming this year. Explore the list in detail By Tom Hanks The famous actor spends the vast majority of his memoir berating people for not paying more attention to his 2011 romantic comedy. By Kelsey Grammer Honestly, don't even bother, because this doesn't mention the sex tape or his divorces at all and just goes on and on about the nature of living an artful life and boring shit like that. By Greta Thunberg The Swedish climate activist unleashes her acid pen on a previously private subject—her years-long, acrimonious beef with Malala Yousafzai. By Dwight D. Eisenhower In this recently uncovered manuscript, the supreme commander of the Allied Forces gives a personal, minute-by-minute account of D-Day. By Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson The wrestler and movie star digs deep and shares stories of his upbringing guaranteed to generate top resonance scores with key spending demographics. By O.J. Simpson Following his 2024 death, groundbreaking AI mind-copy technology was used to recreate Simpson's consciousness and write this memoir of his afterlife. By Charli XCX The star discusses her sudden pivot away from the music industry and into the world of competitive waterfowl calling. By Mel Gibson The actor, producer, and director leaves no slur left unsaid in this definitive portrait of a life laden with offensive epithets. By David Attenborough The British naturalist exhaustively lists all the fulfilling and comfortable ways he could have spent his life instead of tediously documenting foul-smelling wildlife. By Jake Paul This long-awaited memoir focuses on Paul's work as a leading scholar on the Cossack extermination and how its perception in modern academia has shaped his life.
Time of India
22-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
World War 2 relics found in Imphal West dist
1 2 3 4 Imphal: Several World War 2 relics, believed to be left behind by soldiers involved in the Battle of Imphal in 1944, were found by labourers at Langthabal in Imphal West district on Tuesday morning, officials said. The relics were discovered four feet under the ground by labourers while digging for construction works at Langthabal. A large number of rusted empty cases, water bottles, one grenade, shells, spades, a rusted tin can, and items that are yet to be identified were recovered. Further digging is underway to recover other items, an official said. The relics are believed to be left behind by the Allied Forces, as there was an Allied camp at nearby Canchipur hills during the World War 2 period, another official said. In 1944, forces of Imperial Japan surrounded the hills of Manipur but could not overrun the massive Allied army camps set up in different parts of Imphal valley. The Battle of Imphal, along with the Battle of Kohima involving Imperial Japan, Azad Hind, and Allied Forces comprising British and Indian soldiers, is considered Britain's greatest war by the British National Army museum. The battle was a significant victory for Allied Forces and stopped the Japanese advance to then British India. More than 54,000 Japanese troops were killed or wounded, while more than 12,000 Allied soldiers died or got injured in the Battle of Imphal.
