The U-Boat: That Dastardly Villain

Here are ten facts you may not know about the U-boat.

1.  Germany turned out over 1000 U-boats during the Second World War.  Most of these were built between 1941 and 1945.

2.  Hamburg turned out a third of Germany's U-boats.  The city was heavily targetted by Allied bombers.

3.  Seventy percent of German U-boats were lost, missing in action or scuttled at sea.  The Allies' organized convoys and improved submarine tactical countermeasures caused this high percentage.

4.  The first ship to be sunk by a U-boat during World War II was the HMS Indomitable.

5.  U-boat stands for the German word Unterseeboot.  Winston Churchill declared:  "Enemy submarines are to be called U-boats.  The term submarine is to be reserved for Allied underwater vessels.  U-boats are those dastardly villains who sink our ships while submarines are those gallant and noble craft which sink theirs."

6.  Karl Donitz, "The Father of the U-boat Weapon", was instrumental in organizing Operation Hannibal, evacuating hundreds of thousands of East Prussians across the Baltic Sea fleeing the Red Army.

7.  Most U-boats were sunk not by ships but by aircraft.

8.  British Commandos hijacked a German U-boat which had an enigma ciphering machine on board.  This gave them vital information about the Nazis which helped them invade the Normandy beaches  on June 6, 1944.  Without this information, D-Day likely wouldn't have taken place until 1945.

9.  U-boats were under the jurisdiction of the Kriegsmarine, the German Navy.

10.  Boom nets, mines and waves were just some of the obstacles faced by U-boats.

Source:  funtrivia.com

German U-boat later sunk in Churchill River, Labrador courtesy http://padiprosnorthamericacaribbean.com/2012/10/12/sunken-wwii-nazi-u-boats-found-in-canada/.

Pier 21: The London Blitz, the Baltic Ethnic Cleansing & the Hungarian Uprising

Displaced person with her infant arrives in 1948 at Pier 21 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_21.

Halifax's Deepwater Piers was built in 1880 to accommodate Canadian immigrants arriving by ocean liner.  By 1913, when Canadian immigration peeked, authorities realized that they needed a much bigger facility.  However, the First World War in 1914 and the Halifax Explosion in 1917, postponed such an endeavour.

In 1928, Pier 21 opened in Halifax's south end, a two story, 600 foot shed.  Along with the shed were freight piers, grain elevators and a train station.  Adjacent to the shed was an annex which included immigration offices, customs, railway booking office, and a telegraph office, a restaurant and immigration charities offices.

Pier 21 was the entry point for over 1 million immigrants and refugees.  In the early years of the immigration station, many Dutch and English immigrants arrived.  The Second World War slowed down the number of immigrant arrivals but increased the total of refugees.  Two thousand English children, evacuated during the London Blitz, arrived in the early 1940's.  Princess Juliana sailed into port with her family after the Nazis invaded Holland.  Even Prime Minister Winston Churchill passed through Pier 21's doors in 1943 on his way to the Quebec Conference.  In 1945 and 1946, thousands of war brides also arrived at Pier 21, many with their infant children.  In 1948, almost 350 refugees arrived from the Baltic, a result of the Soviet's ethnic cleansing program.  The Hungarian uprising of 1956 brought another flood of refugees to Canada's immigration station.  Finally, in 1970, 100 Cuban refugees passed through Pier 21, the last major group to do so.  The following year, it closed its doors forever.

Canadian stamp commemorating Pier 21, issued in 1999 courtesy http://postalhistorycorner.blogspot.ca/2014/03/millennium-collection-2-pier-21.html

Winston Churchill: Only Thing to Fear are German U-boats

"Winston Churchill once wrote that the only thing that ever 'really frightened him' during the Second World War was the threat presented by Germany's U-boats." (Canada Post)

German U-boats in Loch Ryan circa 1945 courtesy http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3072281/Wartime-navy-captain-blamed-letting-Nazi-U-boat-away-failed-attack-hailed-hero-oceanographer-Titanic-locates-wreck-discovers-DID-hit-all.html.

England and France owe a great debt to Canada and the United States for the supplies that they sent overseas during the Second World War.  Lend Lease, an "Act to Promote the defense of the United States", provided the Allies with warships, warplanes, trucks, material, oil and food from 1941 to 1945.  While Canada did not have a Lend Lease program, it did give Britain "gifts totalling $3.5 million during the war" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease).

Lend Lease Convoy circa 1941 courtesy https://seanmunger.com/2015/09/03/the-winds-of-war-live-blogged-8-honeymoon-in-lisbon-wine-in-boston/.

The problem for Canada and the United States was not producing the goods, but transporting them across the Atlantic.  "Winston Churchill once wrote that the only thing that ever 'really frightened him' during the Second World War was the threat presented by Germany's U-boats." (http://www.communitywire.ca/en/2005-04-28/longest-battle-second-world-war-honoured-new-canadian-postage-stamp)  The Battle of the Atlantic, according to Winston Churchill, "was the dominating factor all through the  war.  Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea or in the air, depended ultimately on its outcome."  It remains the longest continuous battle of the Second World War, lasting from 1939 to 1945 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_AtlanticT).

Allied tanker Dixie Arrow torpedoed in 1942 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Atlantic.

Canadian forces played a crucial role in protecting Allied merchant ships as they crossed the Atlantic in convoys.  Marauding German U-boats were often lurking beneath the depths of the ocean, ready to strike.  By V-E Day, 22 Canadian ships had been lost and more than 4,000 Canadians had died, including 2,000 sailors,750 airmen and 650 seamen from the merchant fleet.  

http://www.legion.ca/article/legion-marks-battle-of-the-atlantic-with-ceremonies-across-canada/

Canadian artist Sarty assembled several images to create a stamp design honouring The Battle of the Atlantic including a convoy of vessels, a torpedoed supply ship, a Canadian navy corvette and a German U-boat.

http://www.communitywire.ca/en/2005-04-28/longest-battle-second-world-war-honoured-new-canadian-postage-stamp

London Zoo in Victorian Times

"At the dawn of the Victorian era, London Zoo became one of the metropolis' premier attractions.  The crowds drawn to its bear pit included urban promenaders, gentlemen menagerists, Indian shipbuilders and Persian princes -- Charles Darwin himself."(http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=14351)

https://www.zsl.org/about-us/zsl-library-collection/the-zsl-archives

While zoos might be seen as a form of entertainment today, back in Victorian times they "participated in the making of scientific knowledge and its dissemination," according to Takashi Ito (https://miranda.revues.org/6413).  While today's zoos are open to any paying customers, the London Zoo of Victorian times was open only to the London Zoological Society members.  

The baiting of bears, bulls and badgers, once permitted at the London Zoo, was banned by the 1830's. The practice of naming the animals gave the creatures a sense of intelligence and emotion, says Ito. 

  By 1847, the zoo opened its doors to the public.  The first giraffes were brought to Europe in 1836. The London Zoo purchased four of this previously believed to be mythical creature.  The four attracted at least 4,000 spectators.  Attendance that year peaked at 260,000 a figure that wasn't exceeded until the World Exhibition of 1851.

A meeting of the Zoological Society courtesy  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoological_Society_of_London.

In 1859, editors and writers were granted free admission to the London Zoo in an attempt to publicize the place.  The zoo relied on sensationalist stories about its inmates to boost its attendance.  "Science and spectacle became inseparable in Regent's Park," explains Ito.  

The London Zoo started to focus on the breeding of animals.  By the end of the 19th century, as acclimatization started to lose its credibility with scientists, the zoo was no longer seen as a legitimate place to conduct scientific experiments.  Regent's Park became more of a source of entertainment for the public rather than a source of exploration for scientists.

It was at this time that Jumbo the elephant entered the gates of the London Zoo.  Attendance rates soared as Londoners old and young, rich and poor, gravitated towards the zoo.  Just as Charles Darwin visited the site decades before, so too did a young Winston Churchill (see Jumbo the Elephant at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2014/10/lemon-yogurt-bundt-cake.html).  

While the London Zoo lost Jumbo to the United States, and its scientists to a more legitimate testing ground, its doors remained open.  Today it entertains a new generation of Londoners.

Children ride Jumbo the Elephant courtesy http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2552606/Was-original-Jumbo-murdered-keeper-He-biggest-star-Victorian-age-passed-legend-Now-book-claims-years-abused-death-no-accident.html.

Joe Queenan's "My 6,128 Favorite Books"

"I am of Irish descent and to the Irish, books are as natural and inevitable a feature of the landscape as sand is to Tuaregs or sand traps are to frat boys in Myrtle Beach."

Joe Queenan's love affair with books began at a Quaker City bookmobile when he was seven years old.  "What started out as a harmless juvenile pastime turned into a lifelong personality disorder," states Joe in his Wall Street Journal essay "My 6,128 Favorite Books".  He liked the way that books enabled him to escape into another world.  The three books that "saved his life" were:  Kidnapped, The Three Musketeers and The Iliad for Precocious Tykes.  Joe was hooked; there was no turning back.

Joe would read books wherever he went:  on trains, planes and busses.  He also read in unlikely venues like plays, concerts and prize fights.  He consumed Tortilla Flat from cover to cover during a Jerry Garcia concert.  Joe read books to kill time, like when waiting for a friend to be "sprung from the dunk tank, emerge from a coma, or the Iceman to cometh."  He read books while on lunch break from packing trucks on the graveyard shift in Philadelphia; he made sure not to read anything too fancy as his Teamster co-workers peeked over his shoulder.

Books fill every room of Joe's house.  "I am of Irish descent and to the Irish, books are as natural and inevitable a feature of the landscape as sand is to Tuaregs or sand traps are to frat boys in Myrtle Beach."  Joe describes how the Irish, invaded and pillaged by the English in the 17th Century, had everything taken away from them except their books.  Along with music and drink, that was how they escaped reality, how they survived.

Joe doesn't believe in speed reading.  Books are to be savoured, like a good Porterhouse steak.  Books also are to be chosen, not to be foisted on another person.  "Saddling another person with a book he did not ask for has always seemed to be like a huge psychological imposition, like forcing someone to eat a chicken biryani without so much as inquiring whether they like cilantro."  Joe explains that you don't necessarily like a book because of the author or the subject matter.  You don't necessarily like an Irish author just because you are Irish.  For instance, Joe's Mexican-American friend's favourite book is The Dubliners by James Joyce,  We choose books because they "speak to us".

Joe does not see e-readers in his future.  He prefers good old fashioned books, the ones with hard covers and frayed pages; the ones that evoke memories.  He owns one book that contains a Metro ticket which harkens back to the Rue St-Jacques in 1972.  Another book contains a note evoking Granada's sun soaked beaches circa 1973.  And another book contains a phone message from the Chateau Marmont in 1995, reminding him of a friend who passed away too soon.

While Joe has read 6,128 books, he says it is far from a record.  Winston Churchill used to read a book a day.  What he likes most about books is the way they make us believe, even for a short time, that we will live "happily ever after".  

Note:  This essay was adapted from Joe Queenan's book One for the Books.  To read it in its entirety visit http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444868204578064483923017090.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444868204578064483923017090

How to Fail Successfully

"The key to not failing is to fail and fail often."  (Max Londberg)

In his valedictory address, Max Londberg encouraged his fellow graduates to fail.  But shouldn't he be encouraging them to succeed?  He said that when we fail, we get rid of trivialities; we no longer worry about pleasing others.  We focus on the task at hand.  Some teachers and parents believe that children/students learn best when they are allowed to make mistakes, when they are encouraged to explore and to draw their own conclusions.  

One study suggests that children who believe that their intelligence is fixed, and that their success is due to their intelligence, do not react well to mistakes.  In fact, their performance on standardized tests dropped 20% over time.  The other group, who believed that their intelligence was not fixed, that it could grow over time, had a more positive reaction to their errors.  Their test scores increased by 30% over time.  

Look at successful historical figures who learned from their many mistakes and disappointments. Winston Churchill said:  "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."  He would know, given that he didn't even become Prime Minister of Great Britain until the age of 65.  He was well accustomed to failure, but not defeat (remember his "We Shall Never Surrender" speech?).  How about Abraham Lincoln who lost eight elections but was later elected to two terms as President of the United States?  Or how about Thomas Edison who failed 1000 times but created hundreds of successful inventions?  Or Henry Ford who failed and went broke five times before he got his Ford Motor Company up and running in 1903?

Learn the art of failure.  Embrace it.  You could be the next success story.

Note:  To read Max Londberg's graduation speech, click on http://www.huffingtonpost.com/uloop/my-graduation-speech-on-h_b_3365543.html.

Winston Churchill circa 1941 courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill.