Wednesday, August 31, 2022

iMac Videos: Turtles and Port Bruce

What's Not to Love? 

100s of gulls and one black cormorant make Pt. Bruce their home

Introduction:

The regular turtle tours I take (a fun and fitness walk with a camera or two) are usually 8 km. jaunts - oh, I'm jaunty all right! - from my front porch to Gibbons Park and back. 

Occasionally I'll drive 61 Km. to Port Bruce for ice cream. No photos allowed because I'm too busy with a large-sized waffle cone of Key Lime!

Below you will find two recently-made videos from a few dozen still photos. Music supplied by my good friends Bob Dylan (yes, that Bob Dylan), Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland aka 'Whitehorse,' a Canadian duo:

YouTube link - I'm Living Downtown, accompanied by Whitehorse

These guys have found a great place to catch a few rays

YouTube link - Pt. Bruce - It's About Time and Place, accompanied by Bob Dylan

Please click here to view more videos from August 2022 - Turtles on the Thames, Parts 4 and 5.

More to follow in September, I am sure.

Photos and Videos GH

Monday, August 29, 2022

Videos: Turtles on the Thames (Parts 4 and 5)

 The Thames River is Miles Long in Ontario

The Section I Travel is About 2 Km Long!

A red-earred slider swimming near Blackfriars Bridge

Introduction:

The more I walk along the Thames River the more turtles I spot. My eyes are getting used to them even though their silt-covered shells often blend in with the rocks upon which they perch to catch the sun.

They are good listeners and their own eyes are always on the alert. If I talk to another turtle-watcher in too loud a voice, too bad for me. And they usually see me before I see them and can drop into the water in mere seconds. 

Here are a few recent photographs and two videos that includes them and more:






Please click here to view more videos with more turtles from London Ontario. 

Yup, more will likely follow because it's 'turtle season', you know.

Photos, Videos by GH

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Research: Post-Dieppe, Sept. 1 - 7, 1942 (Part 1)

 Search Continues for More After-Effects of the Dieppe Raid

Photo as found in The Winnipeg Tribune, Sept. 1, 1942. "Such modern carriers*
make tank transport efficient." Photo Credit - N.E.A. (another avenue to search!)

Introduction:

*The photo above of 'modern' Landing Craft, Tanks (LCTs) is shared again below (a larger version w lengthier caption) along with 40+ other news clippings from The Trib as my search for more information related to the August 19, 1942 raid on Dieppe, and other nearby landing sites. 

There are several links to news articles and photographs related to the raid on this site at this time as well as links to some of the books I have read on the topic. Another book - with more mention of the Dieppe Raid - shall be reviewed soon, by Peter Young, of 3 Commando.

First published in 1958. Above edition by Lionel Leventhal Ltd., 2002

Below please find articles, photos, editorial items, cartoons, ads, etc. from the Tuesday, September 1, 1942 issue of The Winnipeg Tribune. If not directly related to the raid, one will perhaps appreciate the information as it pertains to WWII in general:


Not only is the spotlight on actions that are 'post-Dieppe' but some can also be considered 'pre-operations in North Africa', i.e., Operation Torch, beginning two months hence. Canadians in Combined Operations would be deeply involved for the second time:




The four maps are not in the world's best condition but provide some reminder of the spread of the 'Axis Grip' and therefore the Allied goals:





Troubles in Ireland:


Three weeks after the Dieppe Raid, war correspondent R. Munro appears in Winnipeg. Got 25 cents?



Some of the casualties took part in 'the monster raid':


Some see the positive side of the Dieppe Raid:


If you don't have 25 cents to see Ross Munro and hear his stories, you can always tune in to "The Shadow" (now on Tuesdays)!



Good news for a change! Destruction on the Atlantic is decreasing and production is increasing:


Here's the BIG picture related to BIG Landing Craft :


Landing Craft, Tanks or LCTs (above) were apparently on PM Winston Churchill's mind when he spoke to Lord Louis Mountbatten (Chief of Combined Operations at the time of the Dieppe raid) about some of the PM's and War Department's important goals a year earlier, 1941. When Churchill and Mountbatten discussed plans about how many LCTs and other landing craft would be needed for the invasion of Europe and who was to man them, Canada's first volunteers for Combined Operations are mentioned.

From The Watery Maze:

"Obviously two of the most urgent problems were the provision of landing ships and craft, and the crews to man them... as an illustration of the magnitude of the crew problem, the Joint Planners, in the very month of Mountbatten's appointment, had persuaded the Chiefs of Staff that our requirements in LCTs alone for the eventual invasion would be 2,250 - a figure to daunt almost anybody. And where were the crews to come from? Canada made an offer, which was gratefully accepted, of 50 officers and 300 ratings, but this was a drop in the bucket." 

By Bernard Fergusson (link to short book review), page 93

My father was part of the first draft, from Halifax, December 1941

Canadians in Combined Ops manned Landing Craft Infantry (Large),
aka LCI(L)s during D-Day Normandy in 1944

Most sailors here (HMCS Stadacona, Halifax) volunteered for the first draft
From photo collection of Doug Harrison (X), third from left in front row

And going back to the BIG picture once again, one can see bulldozers on the beach, and another book about Combined Operations provides an interesting reference to the usefulness of those machines during planned raids, and more:

One of the most important and dangerous duties (related to raids, and 'combined operations' involving the three military forces on land, sea and air) is that performed by the Beachmaster and his opposite number, the Military Landing Officer. They work as a team and their task is to control the beaches with the help of Assistant Beachmasters and Unit Landing Officers. They must see that the beach is clearly marked so that craft moving in later will not mistake it; they must discover and mark the best exits from it towards the country behind; they must attend to craft coming ashore, to the hauling away of vehicles which may have become stuck in the sand or shingle and to the re-floating of craft aground....

Perhaps we see a Beachmaster or Landing Officer, foreground (right). For certain
we see "the Bulldozer, a small tracked vehicle... invaluable" on the left.

.... For this and other purposes the Bulldozer, a small tracked vehicle with a movable steel shovel in front of it and tremendous pushing power, is invaluable. It is the Beachmasters who call in the boats to take off the men returning from a raid; while on the beaches they are, indeed, at once the constable on point duty and the foreman in charge of the delivery van.

From Combined Operations: The Official Story of the Commandos, pages 12 - 13

News clippings from The Winnipeg Tribune continue:

Here we see part of the price paid by Poland - 


Hitler reminds people of his own view of the 'facts':




The newsreel that shares early photographs re the Dieppe Raid (see below) may be part of the collection we all have access to on YouTube (110 Canadian Army newsreels):


However, I have no link to 'Heart of the Rio Grande':




The writer Quentin Reynolds, mentioned in the first paragraph of the short piece (above) found on The Tribune's editorial page (page 6), went on to write a book about the Dieppe raid. He had a unique perspective, as he was attached to one of the communication or HQ ships that stood off shore as the raid took place:


And speaking about the Dieppe Raid...




Germany did have a plan in the hopper to attack England, Operation Sea Lion, but they did not have control of the air, as mentioned above. In fact, I recently purchased a book re the operation:

My last three purchases from Attic Books, London




More news clips - and a bit of commentary - will follow.

Please click here to peruse more articles, many related to the Dieppe Raid - Research: Post-Dieppe, August 26 - 31, 1942 (Parts 1 - 5)

Unattributed Photos GH