<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > a military hoax of an airborne paratrooper</h1>
There was a little-known military genius named Colonel Dudley Wrangel Clark. He was gifted in deception and trickery, and was responsible for strategic deception in the Middle East during World War II. The "strategic deception" here sounds strange, but it is a vital branch of military operations dedicated to concealing the truth from the enemy and replacing it with lies.
Clark was known as one of the greatest fraudsters of World War II: working first in a converted bathroom and later in the basement of a brothel in Cairo, he used fictitious battle orders, visual deception, double agents, and misinformation to confuse and mislead the enemy. It is said that he himself was pompous and eccentric but charming and funny, and gossip about him said that in October 1941, he was captured in Madrid, wearing very elegant women's clothing at the time.
The military hoax we started with about paratroopers was a fake paratrooper brigade he planned in January 1941 to fool the Italians into fear that the British might send airborne troops to assist in the next attack, immerse the Italian army in strengthening its defenses against non-existent threats, exaggerating the actual size of the British army, and undermining the enemy's plans. The operation was code-named "Directional" and the fake unit was named the "First Special Air Service Brigade". Clark plans to drop fake paratroopers near the camp, have two men in fake uniforms roam around Egypt posing as Special Air Service Paratroopers, pretend they are recovering from their injuries while parachuting, and publish fake photos in Egyptian newspapers showing paratroopers training in the desert. In addition, Clark provided enemy spies with fake documents identifying the First Special Air Service Brigade.
And while this false "inward" operation was working against the enemy, a real paratrooper force was in the works, the paratrooper commando that Captain Stirling was forming, to carry out a real mission code-named "Operation Occupier." They were to parachute into the Libyan desert behind enemy lines on the night of November 1941, sneak into 5 airfields on foot, plant explosives on as many German and Italian planes as possible, and when the bombs exploded, head south to the rendezvous point deep in the desert, where they would be brought back to safety.
When Clark learned of this news, he thought that if this small commando team also used the name "Special Air Service Brigade", false and real, true and false, it would definitely strengthen the previous deception against the enemy. Captain Stirling readily agreed to this approach, naming his unit "Special Air Service Brigade L Detachment". Why the letter L? Is there any special meaning? In fact, it is to imply that the special air service brigade already has a strong team from A to K11 to use to bluff.
The world's most prestigious military organization, the Special Air Service Regiment, was born in the desert of North Africa in the summer of 1941, marking the emergence of an unprecedented form of warfare. Unlike the traditional head-to-head combat, the Special Air Service Regiment is a small force that creates chaos behind enemy lines, mobile, secretive, and unexpected, aimed at winning the greatest war gains at the least cost, and has become the prototype for the special forces of various countries to emulate after World War II.
Ben McIntyre / Yena Zhu, Xin Gao / Social Sciences Academic Press / 2021
In 2016, the Special Air Service Corps made its secret archives public for the first time, and historian Ben McIntyre used the open secret archives to restore this maverick military group, which was recorded in the book "Heroes of the Lepers: Special Air Service Regiments during World War II".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="26" > the staggered lives of German female pilots in World War II</h1>
Let's take a look at the intertwined lives of two German female pilots during World War II, this book is called "The Daughter of the Wind", this book is very special, this is a double biography, the two protagonists are the only two female pilots in Nazi Germany during World War II, they are Hannah and Melita, the book tells their flying careers, and the dramatic life in the wartime contrast.
It is said that in the German flying field in the 1930s, men dominated, but the two protagonists, Hannah and Melita, were able to overcome the prejudice of public opinion against women and win a place for themselves in the field of flight. The famous British biographer Claire Marley presents the true story of their extraordinary lives through a large number of materials.
Claire Marley also has a great book called "Spy in the Sea: The Legendary Life of Britain's First Female Agent in World War II", which is the true story of Christine Granville, the most prominent british female spy during World War II.
Claire Marley / Yongjun Liu / World Book Publishing Company / 2014
Let's go back to the story of the two female pilots. Let us first tell you the historical background of their flight: after the end of the First World War, the Allies (the victorious powers) signed the Treaty of Versailles against the Allies (the defeated countries) at the Palace of Versailles in Paris, weakening Germany. The treaty stipulated that the defeated Germany must disband its air force and destroy military aircraft, and even the production of engine-powered civilian aircraft was temporarily suspended, but gliders were allowed to be built, resulting in gliding becoming a symbolic movement for young Germans in the years after the war, representing not only peace and freedom, but also the national pride that Germany could rebuild. Soon, thousands of people began to gather together to do flying demonstrations and hold flying competitions. By the mid-1930s, Hannah and Mellitah had become priceless treasures of the newly formed Nazi regime with their superhuman flying ability, extraordinary courage, and perseverance, and they were both awarded the rank of female captain, becoming the first women to be awarded the rank of captain.
In 1939, when the war broke out again, their fate took a completely different path. Hannah, who came from a middle-class background, was Aryan, while the unpopular Melita, from a Prussian aristocratic family but of Jewish descent, often flew the same sky, was a regular visitor to the Berlin Flying Club, grew up to be a test pilot in the war, and was awarded the Iron Cross for her outstanding contributions to the Third Reich. But the two of them eventually went down opposite paths, making very different choices when forging ties with the highest leadership of Nazi Germany. Hannah chose to be loyal to the Nazi regime, and at the end of World War II, she begged Hitler to join her in escaping from Berlin in an attempt to save his life, while Melita chose to secretly support the most famous Fuehrer assassination plan and paid the price in blood.
Clare Mulley / Jie Jiang / Life, Reading, and New Knowledge Triptych Bookstore / 2021
The story of these two women illustrates the absurdity of the Nazi regime in Germany with their own dramatic lives, but what is even more absurd is that such a regime gave the highest honor to two women, one "Aryan" and the other "Jewish mixed-race", who, because of their superior skills and achievements, defied the absurd laws of the Nazi regime that "women have only houselay value" and "Jews have no value at all". Through Daughter of the Wind, through the intertwined real lives of the two, we can gain insight into the historical characteristics of Nazi Germany and its women, classes and races at that time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="27" > 21 days round the world</h1>
Finally, let's share the story of a 21-day round-the-world flight.
R. G. Grant / Xiaofei Zhang / Chemical Industry Press / 2021
In the summer of 1929, Zeppelin boss Hugo Eckerner completed the first round-the-world flight of passengers, the famous "Earl Zeppelin". In the early morning of August 8, 1929, the Earl zeppelin carried 16 passengers and 37 crew members from Lakehurst, New Jersey, across the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived at Zeppelin base in Frederikshafen in southern Germany at lunchtime on August 10. After resting and sightseeing, passengers resumed their 11,247-kilometer (7,029-mile) unplanned flight.
On the way, the airship also flies low from time to time, so that passengers can more clearly appreciate the places of interest along the way. The journey is inevitably boring, and as a spice, the menu of the meal has always changed with the changes in the countries along the way, such as eating Rhine fish when flying to Germany and eating white sturgeon caviar when flying to the Soviet Union. After passing through the vast and desolate Siberia, the airship arrived in Tokyo, where the airship was warmly welcomed and people were very curious. A few days later, the Earl Zeppelin flew over the Pacific Ocean and arrived in Los Angeles. Spend one night in California before continuing east, finally returning to Lakehurst on the morning of August 29. Jules Verne, the author of 19th-century science fiction, had fantasized about circumnavigating the globe in 80 days, and the Airship Earl Zeppelin completed the first round-the-world trip in human history in just 3 weeks.
In the book "DK Aircraft Encyclopedia", the above thousands of exquisite and precious pictures sort out the aircraft that have appeared in human history, including seven themes such as the early flying pioneer era, the war era, the golden age, the era of air scramble, the era of high-tech war, the era of space travel and the modern world, telling the fascinating story behind human conquest of the sky and exploring space, reflecting the human being's desire to get rid of the shackles of the earth and step into the pure high sky that no one has set foot on.
Xiao Meow said, I think you are very suitable to be a military liar.
Xiao Mao said, that can't be.