History Facts

Representatives at the Bandung Conference, which concluded on this day (April 24th) in 1955.

More than half the world's population was represented by delegates from 29 countries in Asia and Africa. The conference served many purposes but its main amitions were anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism and concerns over US-China and Western bloc-Asia relations.

The concensus reached denounced colonialism and imperialism of any knind, but most importantly, Soviet and Western imperialism. The conference would set the stage for what would be known as the Non-Aligned Movement - a bloc of states which refused to align with either the Western or Eastern blocs and swore on a policy of neutralism.

Coulourised photo of a child playing with her toys during World War One.

The first photo shows an artist's impression of operation anthropoid while in the second is Reinhard Heydrich, the victim of the covert operation. Operation anthropoid refers to the code name for the operation in which the head of the Reich Main Security Office, Reinhard Heydrich, was assassinated. Reinhard Heydrich was in charge of the Einsatzgruppen, a group responsible for mass murders throughout occupied Europe. On the 27th of May 1942, Heydrich was heading to work at Prague Castle. Upon reaching a curve, his driver slowed down. This allowed for his attackers to execute the plan. The first hired assassin stepped in front of Heydrich's convertible and attempted to shoot him. However, his gun jammed. Heydrich reached for his Luger pistol. One of the assassins was able to throw an anti-tank gr***de at the vehicle, injuring Heydrich as well as the thrower in the process. Heydrich was under heavy fire from his two assailants, but was not hit by their bullets. He ordered his driver to chase them down but he was shot by one of the assassins. Heydrich would eventually die of his injuries.
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Soldiers during in the Battle of Kapyong during the Korean war, Circa 1951. The Battle of Kapyong could be seen as a success for the United Nations Command which composed of soldiers from South Korea, the USA, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia and as seen in some of the photos above, Canadian troops. During the battle, the UNC troops only suffered 47 fatalities while the allied North Korean and Chinese troops suffered around a thousand. Following this battle, Chinese offenses began to see diminishing returns. In the weeks following this battle, the Chinese suffered great casualties.
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@ Seoul, Korea

Today's focus will be on a very interesting piece of weaponry used during the First World War. Used to attack Paris from a comfortable distance, the Paris gun was a very effective weapon during World War I. By barrel length, these behemoths (the Paris gun was a type of weapon not a specific cannon) were the largest artillery item employed in the war. Capable of firing artillery shells at 1600 m/s to a distance of 130 kilometres, it ended up doing significant damage to the French city it was named after before being decommissioned. The gun's range was so far that any shots taken had to be calculated with the Earth's rotation accounted for. The Germans are believed to have destroyed all Paris guns in order to avoid turning them over which was required by the Treaty of Versailles. While it was a true force of its time, this type of cannon would eventually be rendered obsolete by the V-2 missile as well as various other ballistic missiles.

Pictured above is a B-52 bomber on it's way to Thule Air Base in Greenland armed with 4 B28FI thermonuclear bombs. This aircraft would not make it to its destination and would claim the life of one of its seven crew members. The incident was the result of a fire on board the aircraft. Two of the crew members (Haug and D'mario) successfully landed in Thule Air Base after ejecting. Three other crew members landed within a mile and a half of the base and were rescued approximately two hours after the crash. The captain, who was also the first to eject, landed 6 miles from the base and was found 21 hours later on an ice float. He had to endure temperatures as low as -23 Fahrenheit (-31 Celsius) and suffered from hypothermia. This incident angered the general public since it went against Denmark's nuclear-free policy. The thermonuclear bombs themselves never detonated but the conventional explosive components of them did scattering radiation across Greenland. The burning fuel also melted the ice sheet.