Five Miles of Mud

“Nevertheless, the competence, confidence, and maturity began in 1915 at Ypres a short distance away, and at Vimy Ridge earlier that spring, again confirmed the reputation of the Canadian Corps as the finest fighting formation on the Western Front.”



                               

                            https://incredibleimages4u.blogspot.ca/2011/04/ww1-passchendaele.html

So wrote esteemed Professor of History Doctor Ronald Haycock at the Royal Military College of Canada.  How did a small country like Canada with a virtually non-existent military, not only build an army, but a convincing one, in the years 1914 to 1918?  With a victory at Vimy Ridge, the Canadians were in fighting form when they were asked to fight the Germans at Passchaendale, a task that both the British and Australians had failed to do, even though they had been trying for three months.

When the Canadians arrived in late October of 1917, all of that changed.  Led by Sir Arthur Currie, the Canadians slowly took foot by square foot of land on a swampy area that had filled with water.  Shelling had destroyed the drainage system and the existing water was just soaking into the ground, making it nothing but a quagmire of yellow mud.  Some soldiers and horses even drowned in the quicksand-like earth.  It was impossible to dig trenches in the mud and so troops built concrete pillboxes instead.

For some time, it looked like the battle would be a stalemate, but eventually the Canadians gained ground.  They were able to secure 5 square miles of mud, but at the cost of 15, 654 soldiers; this was a real blow to a country whose whose population stood at just over 8 million at the time.  Australians lost 36, 500 men and the British suffered 310,000 fatalities.  Although the Germans did take Passchaendale one more time, after the battle it was clear that the Canadian Army was a force to be reckoned with.  Nine soldiers were awarded Victoria Crosses for their valour on the Belgian battlefield.

Note:  Canadian actor Paul Gross wrote, directed and starred in a movie called Passchendaele in 2008, loosely based on the experience of his grandfather.

Paul Gross stars in Passchendaele courtesy http://rhombusmedia.com/film/passchendaele/.

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/.

World War I By Numbers

1.  At the beginning of the war, ambulances were still horse drawn.  By war's end, the Red Cross had provided 2171 motorized ambulances for the wounded.

Photo courtesy http://farm5.staticflickr.com. 

2.  Fifty-eight thousand British soldiers were killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

3.  The world's worst train disaster occurred in December of 1917 in France when 600 soldiers were killed.

Photo courtesy http://danger-ahead.railfan.net. 

4.  The Russians suffered the most casualties at 9,150,000.

5.  The Germans lost 1,808,000 soldiers, more than any other nation.

6.  The United States only participated in the war for nineteen months, entering the conflict when the German Navy sank the Lusitania.

Photo courtesy www.cityofart.net. 

7.  Flamethrowers, first used by the Germans, could be thrown as far as 130 feet.

8.  Artillery barrage and mines exploding could be heard hundreds of miles away.  In 1917, explosives detonated in Ypres, Belgium could be heard in London, England, 260 kilometres away.

9.  The most successful flying ace was Manfred Von Richtofen (The Red Baron) who shot down 80 planes.  He died in France in 1918 after being shot down by an enemy plane.

Photo courtesy www.overthefront.com. 

10.  Thirty different types of poisonous gas were used during the Great War.  It was first used by Germany (68,000 tons) and then Britain and France (51,000 tons).

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 Kriegmarine, 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/.

Grace in a Painting

"This is what I do." (Lisa Allison)



As most of you know, seven years ago my sister Lisa suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm followed by a massive stroke at the tender age of 45.  She now lives in a nursing home.  Despite the odds, Lisa has proven the doctors wrong over and over again by regaining abilities they said she would never regain (see "Painting a Portrait of Stroke Recovery" (http://www.christiancourier.ca/images/uploads/past-issues/2015April13c.pdf - page 12). One of those abilities is painting.  Before the stroke, Lisa was a graphic artist.

Lisa Allison's painting circa 2016 courtesy Laurie Candela.

Lisa phoned me yesterday.  It was a timely phone call.  I mentioned that I have been blogging about the famous American artist Norman Rockwell.  I knew she would be very familiar with the name, but other than that, I wasn't sure what she would remember about his work.  One by one, I went over the paintings I had chosen.  One by one, Lisa pointed out details that only an art connoisseur would know.

http://www.best-norman-rockwell-art.com/1954-choir-boy-combing-hair-for-easter.html

Lisa remembered the ever popular Saying Grace.  She recalled Shuffleton's Barbershop.  But when I came to Before the Shot, she started to warm up.  "That's the one with the giant syringe," she explained.  I mentioned Choir Boy Combing Hair at Easter and Lisa pointed out:  "The boy's mouth was open as he looked at himself in the mirror."  When I brought up Walking to Church, Lisa said:  "Yes, they all have Bibles tucked under their arms."  I was thoroughly impressed when she perked up at the mention of Marriage License, saying:  "The bride has a bright yellow dress on."  When I said the title Art Critic, Lisa said:  "Yes, he's the one with the large palette of paints in his hand."



                                     

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/78742693460688833/

 I started this month's blog topic with the post "It's All in the Details". The details Lisa remembered seven and a half years after the stroke are quite remarkable, considering they come from a woman who sat in a coma for six weeks.  There was a time when the doctor would pound on her chest, just looking for any response like the flickering of an eyelid or the twitching of a toe.  Now she has lengthy, stimulating conversations about art.  When I pointed out my amazement, Lisa's response was simply:  "This is what I do."



                                     

http://www.biography.com/news/norman-rockwell-art-facts

I am studying Max Lucado's Grace:  More Than We Deserve; Greater Than We Imagine in Bible Study this year.  Seven and a half years ago I never could have imagined my recent phone conversation with my sister, Lisa.  God's grace comes in many forms:  a yellow dress, a boy's expression of surprise, a palette of paints.  It's grace in a painting.  God's grace.



                                   

http://christianmotivations.weebly.com/christian-motivations-blog/category/max%20lucado/20





Lisa Allison's painting circa 2016 courtesy Laurie Candela.

Lift Up Thine Eyes

It's 1957 in New York City.  On the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, passersby walk along the sidewalk, eyes downcast.  It's just another mundane Manhattan day.  But if just one of the New Yorkers took the time to raise his head, he would see a man posting a sign LIFT UP THINE EYES.  He would see a beautiful edifice -- Gothic portals, tympanum arches and magnificent statues -- worthy of a European cathedral.  He would see a flock of doves flying free above the sidewalk.  But Rockwell's subjects bypass the magnificence of St. Thomas Church, choosing instead to focus on the greyness of the sidewalk.  "I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed," explained Rockwell, an America that was slowly losing its Christian faith in the mid-1950's.

http://liftupthineeyes.blogspot.ca/2015/02/norman-rockwells-gay-sailors.html

Norman Rockwell Visits a Country Editor

"At a time in which the noble tradition of community based journalism is being challenged by societal and technological transformation, Norman Rockwell's charming and realistic portrayal of a country editor and team of journalists diligently working to share the news of the day with their community readers, epitomizes the attributes of American journalism and its contribution to the life of America." (Barbara Cochran, National Press Club Journalism Institute)

Norman Rockwell Visits a Country Editor appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post in 1946, when the painter was at the height of his career.  The picture depicts a scene from the Monroe County Appeal, a small town newspaper located in Paris, Missouri.  The bustling office contains nine characters all working towards the publication of the day's paper.  With the typewriters on the desks, one can imagine the clinging of the bell every time a journalist reaches the end of a line.  The picture of a serviceman on the wall indicates that it is wartime or shortly after the war's end.  Rockwell himself is in this painting at the far right with a portfolio of artwork under his arm.  A man in overalls indicates it is a rural rather than urban newspaper.  A man wearing an apron and sailor hat appears to be running, indicating that the paper is working towards a deadline.  The man in the chair reading the newspaper seems to be oblivious to everyone else.

Norman Rockwell Visits a Country Editor hung in the office of the National Press Club for decades, a gift from the artist.  The piece was sold at Christy's Auction House on November 19, 2015 to the tune of $10.2 million.  Proceeds from the sale went to the National Press Club Journalism Institute to support its programs.  As Barbara Cochran explained:  "At a time in which the noble tradition of community based journalism is being challenged by societal and technological transformation, Norman Rockwell's charming and realistic portrayal of a country editor and team of journalists diligently working to share the news of the day with their community readers, epitomizes the attributes of American journalism and its contribution to the life of America."(http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=8079) 

http://www.poynter.org/2015/norman-rockwell-painting-nets-10-2-million-for-national-press-club/386102/