Latest news with #Luftwaffe
Daily Record
a day ago
- Daily Record
Luftwaffe's only bomb dropped in Stirling during WW2 destroyed football club's stadium
The German bomber dropped the explosive on the home of Stirling's King's Park FC on July 20, 1940, with a number of nearby residents injured and several properties damaged. This weekend marks 85 years since the Luftwaffe's bombing of Stirling, which resulted in the destruction of a football stadium, injuries to several residents and damage to numerous properties. Saturday, July 20, 1940, was the fateful day when the German bomber dropped the explosive on the home of Stirling's King's Park FC. The club had played at Forthbank Park, situated in the area of where Springbank Roundabout now sits, close to the railway line, from the late 19th century until the bombing. Besides football, the stadium was also a venue for other sports events, including greyhound racing, and there were even plans to introduce cheetah racing in the 1930s. However, Germany's only strike on the city during the war destroyed one of the stands and the turnstiles at the venue. The pitch itself was said to have "escaped with only a bombardment of large-sized boulders". At the time, the Stirling Observer reported that the Nazis had dropped the bombs that morning, saying: "One of the bombs fell on a football ground enclosure and the blast wrecked a two-storeyed cottage and so extensively damaged a row of two-storeyed houses opposite the ground entrance that many families were rendered homeless. "There were a number of casualties, all of which were stated to be slight." The second bomb fell further into the country. The Observer continued: "In the cottage near the football ground, a Mr and Mrs Hugh M'Coll were in an upstairs bedroom, and their two daughters, Miss Minnie and Miss Anne, were in a bedroom on the ground floor. Mr M'Coll's injuries necessitated his removal to an infirmary. His daughters received slight cuts. "Residing in another part of the same building were Mrs Tom Tetstall and her three children, and Mr James Campbell, a blind man, all of whom escaped serious injury, although Mrs Tetstall and her young son required institutional treatment after being extricated from the debris. "Mrs Tetstall and her children were saved from serious injury because the bed they were in half-telescoped and gave them a ready-made safety barrier from falling masonry." Mr Campbell found himself trapped in an upstairs room but was swiftly rescued when Air Raid Precautions (ARP) workers brought a ladder to his aid. The stand and turnstile entrance to the ground had to be taken down, and windows of houses nearby as well as plate-glass windows of businesses over a quarter of a mile away suffered damage. In what might be described as the most extraordinary event of the air raid, a pet goldfish in a bowl in one of the destroyed cottages had its tail blown off. The Observer reported: "It seemed to be dead, but when a few drops of brandy were put in the water the goldfish revived." A joiner found his windows intact, but the locks on his doors had been blown off in the blast. The handle of a door was also blasted off, embedding itself in the wall opposite. Emergency ARP workers and ambulances rapidly arrived at the scene. Dozens of families who were rendered homeless were "temporarily lodged in a poor law institution", affecting a total of 29 families. King's Park FC promptly carried out temporary repairs to their stadium, managing to play two more matches there before the club was ultimately disbanded. Five yearsafter the demise of King's Park, a new football club emerged. Local business man Thomas Ferguson started up Stirling Albion in 1945 and shortly after purchased the Annfield estate to construct the club's former Annfield home. Annfield remained the main football stadium in Stirling until 1993 when Stirling Council constructed Forthbank Stadium, on the outskirts of Stirling, situatedless than a milefrom the location of the original Forthbank Park.
North Wales Live
3 days ago
- General
- North Wales Live
Explosion on Welsh beach near where 'top secret' military base was sited
A controlled explosion was carried out on a beach close to a former "top secret" military base. Ynyslas in Ceredigion was selected by the Air Ministry as a missile-testing site for solid fuel rocket systems towards the end of World War Two. The German army and Luftwaffe were developing long-range rockets with guidance systems – the V1 and the V2 - and this provided the impetus for a new Guided Projectile Project. The Ynyslas Range - next to the Dyfi Estuary that separates Ceredigion and Gwynedd - was nominated to provide special test facilities for the testing of rockets propelled by liquid fuels (such as liquid oxygen and petrol). It saw a secret research base set up with workshops, assembly shops, accommodation huts and ancilliary buildings. As the threat of invasion had passed, the pillboxes and barbed wire entanglements installed in 1941 were pressed into service as perimeter defences, keeping the public and prying eyes away. The range was to be called Ministry of Supply Experimental Establishment Anti-Aircraft and was pressed into action - with test firings from concrete bases still located close to the shore car park. Despite the additional facilities installed at the Ynyslas, the long term stumbling block was the limits of the space available for testing, particularly as the technology rapidly developed. This saw Ynyslas dropped in 1946. Equipment was moved to Aberporth in south west Wales, while for testing military chiefs also looked at the potential of the far larger ranges on offer in the giant expanses of Canada and Australia. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox While its life was short lived, the legacy of the site continues due to the unexploded ordnance left behind. The latest drama started on Sunday afternoon with an initial callout for Borth Coastguard to two people potentially in trouble while swimming in the sea despite this being a red flag beach, mainly due to the tidal currents rather than ordnance. They were then told that witnesses had seen them exit the water safely. But before the team could leave they were called to a potential ordnance a short distance down the beach near the Borth and Ynyslas golf club. The team said: "When we find potential ordnance we place a (switched off) radio close by to provide scale and take photos to send to EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit) to assess. It was initially deemed safe but after a further look, EOD made the decision to come and dispose of the item. "Due to the tides, the team were tasked again this afternoon (Monday) when it would be uncovered again to meet with EOD and provide a safety cordon for detonation. As you can see from the photograph, the burning afterwards confirmed that there was still propellant in an item that has clearly been underwater for many years. "Thank you to the members of the public who were patient and respected the cordon we created. We are not there to inconvenience you, just to keep you safe." The team noted this is certainly not the first time they've dealt with these issues and very likely won't be the last. They offered this advice: "There are many items of ordnance washed up on the beaches locally. If you see anything you suspect to be ordnance DO NOT pick up or move it. Call 999, ask for coastguard and give as exact a location as you are able and if you see anyone in difficulty on the cliffs, shoreline or out to sea call and ask for the Coastguard."
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Selfish WhatsApp trend sweeping UK has gone too far – I'm ready to bin phone over chat misery that's only getting worse
EXACTLY 2,120 notifications. This simply can't go on. That's how many times WhatsApp pinged me last week. It works out at over 300 texts a day. I'm exhausted, and a nightmare app trend is making it even worse. 5 The Sun's tech editor Sean Keach is at his wit's end with WhatsApp Credit: Sean Keach 5 There's seemingly no end of WhatsApp notifications – and group chats are to blame Credit: Alamy I'm talking about group chats. Endless buzzing conversations with loved ones, pals, colleagues, strangers, and people I don't even like. It seems like everything gets its own group chat these days. For a start, you've got chats with every possible configuration of family and pals you could imagine. Then there are the groups for long-forgotten after-work drinks, stag dos and birthday parties that won't die. They pop up every few weeks like notification zombies, eating away at my brain and my patience. Why does being pulled into a chat for arranging some beers mean I'm condemned to a lifetime of tedious GIFs and tired memes? Yes, I know I can leave group chats, or just archive them. But it's like playing whack-a-mole. Leaving them seems to invite even more into my life. It's like one of those cursed dolls from a horror movie. Unsolicited invitations to conversations I don't need to be a part of abound. Dozens of groups, all bombarding me like a digital Luftwaffe. Most read in Phones & Gadgets I just went into WhatsApp Settings > Storage and Data > Network Usage to look at my all time stats. I've sent about 200,000 messages since getting WhatsApp, and received nearly 700,000. I can't keep pace. And when I go into Settings > Screen Time on my iPhone to look at my WhatsApp notification count, I'm opening WhatsApp 16 times a day on average – with thousands of pop-ups a week. WhatsApp reveals exacty how to block one of your contacts By my maths, last week there were nearly 19 notifications every time I opened the app. It's sickening. This isn't how humans were meant to live. My phone isn't always with me – so even going outdoors doesn't fix it. There's no escape unless I chuck my mobile in the bin. It's tempting. Isolated, most of these group chats don't seem too bad. I even like most of the people in them, honestly. But their misery is greater than the sum of their parts. They come together like a snowball of spam, crushing me under the immense weight of mindless chatter. SHOWER THOUGHTS The whole concept of online chatting is oppressive too. Just the other day, I was texting a pal and felt bad about going to hop in the shower mid-conversation. What if they think I'm ignoring them? Will they think something happened to me? It's obviously nonsense, but the app makes it feel like you're "always on". I felt like a prisoner in my own bathroom. I did shower in the end, obviously. I won't let the apps win. But their dominating effect is real. The sad truth is that I get so many messages that it's literally impossible to read, absorb, and reply to them all in a meaningful way. Not unless I pack my job in, cut off my hobbies, and glue myself to my phone. 5 I'm getting about 430 notifications a day on my phone – and almost all of them are from WhatsApp Credit: Sean Keach 5 I'm receiving way more texts than I can possibly send Credit: Sean Keach I don't even think I'm particularly popular. Some of you reading this probably have it even worse. How do you cope? The worst thing is, I'm hardly using social media. I've basically come off Facebook and Instagram to try to If I was using those apps too, I don't know how I'd deal with the onslaught. At least my bosses pay me to read my work emails. Trawling through my WhatsApp chats is thankless. It's gotten so bad that some days, I don't even bother opening the app. I think: if it's important, I'll hear about it in another way. Better yet, I remind myself that I can just talk to these people in person. Ask them about their lives in the flesh: "How are you? Going anywhere nice ? What have you been cooking for dinner lately?" It doesn't need to be a constant back-and-forth on WhatsApp. One small saving grace I've found is the iPhone's TRY 'SLEEP FOCUS' TO SAVE YOURSELF It's not the perfect solution to your WhatsApp nightmare, but it's a start... Just go into Settings > Focus > Sleep on an iPhone. Then you can customise your Sleep Focus to shut out notifications while you're in bed. You can set up a schedule, so you won't see notifications until you leave the Focus in the morning. The schedule can even have different times for weekdays versus the weekend. And it'll even warn people trying to iMessage you that you've got notifications silenced (though they'll be given the option to break through). You can even set it up to allow notifications from specific people. I have mine set to allow my wife and closest family members – but you can block everyone if you prefer. Picture Credit: The Sun / Apple This mutes notifications coming through at night, and hides them when I wake up. It's only when I come out of the Sleep Focus that they appear. So I get some small respite from the WhatsApp carnage until my day properly begins. But it's not enough. There has to be a better way. PEN TO PAPER Honestly, I'm convinced we need to go back to writing letters. A couple of weeks ago, I read out a handwritten letter from a family member to my wife's 90-year-old grandad. It was a big update on their life in Australia, and it felt like a special moment. The message was an occasion. Not just a ping. Nothing feels special with WhatsApp. It's just a constant flurry of thoughts, feelings, updates, and memes. Wouldn't it be nice to write a letter to distant friends or far-off family members, maybe once a quarter? Tell them all the main bits, write it with love, and then get excited for the big update coming back in the post. There's no pressure to reply right away. Certainly no damning "blue ticks" cruelly revealing when I've peeled the envelope open. 5 Maybe the solution is simple: sending letters again Credit: Getty And try "tagging" me with a bit of paper. I dare you. The closest you'll get to rushing me is a first-class stamp. It would make chatting with loved ones feel more special. Read more on the Irish Sun We'd all be reminded of what is actually important in our lives – and who we really want to share those thoughts, feelings, updates, and moments with. And you can bet I won't be getting 2,000 letters a week.
Times
5 days ago
- General
- Times
The Battle of Britain — through the eyes of the enemy
E ighty-five years ago this summer Britain was on the back foot — and all eyes were on the skies. France had succumbed to the Germans. British, French and Belgian troops had been evacuated from Dunkirk. Now only the Royal Air Force, supported by a newly established radar system, stood in the way of a German invasion of Britain. Hermann Göring had promised his Führer that his air force, the Luftwaffe, would clear the skies to allow the invasion of southern England — Operation Sea Lion — to begin. The intense aerial combat and RAF victory that ensued over July and August became the stuff of legend, leading Winston Churchill to declare in parliament on August 20, 1940: 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.' Tales of RAF derring-do are legion. But what was it like for the defeated Luftwaffe pilots? A new book, Eagle Days, attempts to answer that question, featuring rare photographs from the German side. Eagle Days by Victoria Taylor (Head of Zeus £25). To order a copy go to Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Special discount available for Times+ members In this propaganda photo a German soldier holds the remains of a British fighter plane shot down over the English Channel SZ PHOTO / SCHERL • Spectrum: Ghana's colourful fantasy coffins — in pictures Luftwaffe airmen are briefed on flight manoeuvres against British maritime targets, August 24, 1940 SZ PHOTO / SCHERL British workers carry the fuselage of a downed German aircraft, August 31, 1940 SZ PHOTO / SCHERL • Spectrum: Sony World Photography Awards 2025 — the best pictures from the shortlist On a hot summer's day, German fighter pilots wait on standby at an airfield SZ PHOTO / SCHERL • Spectrum: Photographs from South Sudan — a population fighting floodwaters German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters prowl the White Cliffs of Dover, September 7, 1940 SZ PHOTO / SCHERL
Chicago Tribune
10-07-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Jury selection begins in Scopes trial
Today is Thursday, July 10, the 191st day of 2024. There are 174 days left in the year. Today in History: On July 10, 1925, jury selection began in Dayton, Tennessee, in the trial of John T. Scopes, charged with violating the law by teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. (Scopes was convicted and fined, but the verdict was overturned on a technicality.) Also on this date: In 1509, theologian John Calvin, a key figure of the Protestant Reformation, was born in Noyon, Picardy, France. In 1890, Wyoming was admitted as the 44th US state. In 1929, American paper currency was reduced in size as the government began issuing bills that were approximately 25 percent smaller. In 1940, during World War II, the Battle of Britain began as the German Luftwaffe launched attacks on southern England. (The Royal Air Force was ultimately victorious.) In 1951, armistice talks aimed at ending the Korean War began at Kaesong. In 1962, the first active communications satellite, Telstar 1, was launched by NASA. In 1985, the Greenpeace protest ship Rainbow Warrior was sunk with explosives in Auckland, New Zealand, by French intelligence agents; one activist was killed. In 1991, Boris N. Yeltsin took the oath of office as the first elected president of the Russian republic. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush lifted U.S. economic sanctions against South Africa. In 2002, the U.S. House approved a measure to allow airline pilots to carry guns in the cockpit to defend their planes against terrorists (President George W. Bush later signed the measure into law). In 2015, South Carolina pulled the Confederate battle flag from its place of honor at the Statehouse after more than 50 years. Today's Birthdays: Singer Mavis Staples is 86. Actor Robert Pine is 84. International Tennis Hall of Famer Virginia Wade is 80. Folk singer Arlo Guthrie is 78. Baseball Hall of Famer Andre Dawson is 71. Rock singer Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys) is 71. Banjo player Bela Fleck is 67. Actor Fiona Shaw is 67. Singer/actor Jacky Cheung is 64. Actor Alec Mapa is 60. Country singer Gary LeVox (Rascal Flatts) is 55. Actor Sofia Vergara is 53. Actor Adrian Grenier is 49. Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor is 48. Actor Thomas Ian Nicholas is 45. Singer/actor Jessica Simpson is 45. Actor Emily Skeggs is 35. Pop singer Perrie Edwards (Little Mix) is 32. Actor Isabela Merced is 24.
