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Delfino Borroni
Delfino Edmondo Borroni (23 August 1898 – 26 October 2008), Knight of Vittorio Veneto, was, at age 110, Italy's oldest man, and the eleventh-oldest verified man in the world. He was the last veteran of the Alpine Front in the First World War, following the June 2008 death of the penultimate Italian Francesco Domenico Chiarello. The last Austro-Hungarian veteran, Franz Künstler, died in May 2008. At the time of his death, there two other trench veterans survived: Britons Harry Patch and Frenchman Fernand Goux, who fought on the Western Front. Borroni, a mechanic, was born in Giussago, in the province of Pavia; he was called up in January 1917, and assigned to the 6th Bersaglieri Regiment in March. He first saw action in the Pasubio Alpine massif, where he fought against the Austro-Hungarian forces. He also fought in Valsugana and at Caporetto, where, after being shot in the heel while on a dangerous reconnaissance mission, he was captured as an Austrian prisoner of war a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giussago
Giussago is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 20 km south of Milan and about 11 km north of Pavia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 4,053 and an area of 24.8 km².All demographics and other statistics: Italian statistical institute Istat. Giussago borders the following municipalities: Borgarello, Bornasco, Casarile, Certosa di Pavia, Lacchiarella, Rognano, San Genesio ed Uniti, Vellezzo Bellini, Zeccone. Giussago, known in the 15th century as 'Iussagum' was formed by aggregating the many small municipalities of the area. This union took place between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. Even today in the town of Giussago there are less than one third of the total population of the municipality. The 13 parishes (frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fernand Goux
Fernand Goux (31 December 1899 – 9 November 2008) was, at age 108, the penultimate French World War I veteran, with Pierre Picault being the last. "On a retrouvé un soldat de 1918 vivant". ''Ouest-France'' (19 June 2008). Born in Sceaux-du-Gâtinais, Loiret, Goux was called up for service on 19 April 1918. Goux was deployed behind the front lines with the 85th Infantry Regiment, supplying the troops and burying the dead. On 3 November 1918, he was sent to the front line with the 82nd Infantry Regiment for the last week of the war. This made him one of two remaining trench veterans, along with Englishman Harry Patch. However the French government did not recognize Goux as a ''poilu'' as he fought less than the requisite three months. The last official veteran thus remains Italian-born Lazare Ponticelli, who was buried with state honours on 17 March 2008, with Louis de Cazenave the last recognized native Frenchman to have served. After the war Goux worked as a farmer and he li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strategic Bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematically organized and executed attack from the air which can utilize strategic bombers, long- or medium-range missiles, or nuclear-armed fighter-bomber aircraft to attack targets deemed vital to the enemy's war-making capability. The term terror bombing is used to describe the strategic bombing of civilian targets without military value, in the hope of damaging an enemy's morale. One of the strategies of war is to demoralize the enemy so that peace or surrender becomes preferable to continuing the conflict. Strategic bombing has been used to this end. The phrase "terror bombing" entered the English lexicon towards the end of World War II and many strategic bombing campaigns and individual raids have been described as terror bombing by commen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allies Of World War II
The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. Its principal members by 1941 were the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and China. Membership in the Allies varied during the course of the war. When the conflict broke out on 1 September 1939, the Allied coalition consisted of the United Kingdom, France, and Poland, as well as their respective dependencies, such as British India. They were soon joined by the independent dominions of the British Commonwealth: Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Consequently, the initial alliance resembled that of the First World War. As Axis forces began invading northern Europe and the Balkans, the Allies added the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Greece, and Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union, which initially had a nonaggression pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Many recently built tramways use the contemporary term light rail. The vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys (not to be confused with trolleybus) in North America and trams or tramcars elsewhere. The first two terms are often used interchangeably in the United States, with ''trolley'' being the preferred term in the eastern US and ''streetcar'' in the western US. ''Streetcar'' or ''tramway'' are preferred in Canada. In parts of the United States, internally powered buses made to resemble a streetcar are often referred to as "trolleys". To avoid further confusion with trolley buses, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) refers to them as "trolley-replica buses". In the Unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Civilian
Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, because some non-combatants are not civilians (for example, military chaplains who are attached to the belligerent party or military personnel who are serving with a neutral country). Civilians in the territories of a party to an armed conflict are entitled to certain privileges under the customary laws of war and international treaties such as the Fourth Geneva Convention. The privileges that they enjoy under international law depends on whether the conflict is an internal one (a civil war) or an international one. In some nations, uniformed members of civilian police or fire departments colloquially refer to members of the public as civilians. Etymology The word "civilian" goes back to the late 14th century and is from Old French '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prisoner Of War
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war in custody for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons, such as isolating them from the enemy combatants still in the field (releasing and repatriating them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory, punishing them, prosecuting them for war crimes, exploiting them for their labour, recruiting or even conscripting them as their own combatants, collecting military and political intelligence from them, or indoctrinating them in new political or religious beliefs. Ancient times For most of human history, depending on the culture of the victors, enemy fighters on the losing side in a battle who had surrendered and been taken as prisoners of war could expect to be either slaughtered or enslaved. Ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmishers, long-range reconnaissance patrol, U.S. Army Rangers, cavalry scouts, or military intelligence specialists), ships or submarines, crewed or uncrewed reconnaissance aircraft, satellites, or by setting up observation posts. Espionage is usually considered to be different from reconnaissance, as it is performed by non-uniformed personnel operating behind enemy lines. Often called recce (British, Canadian and Australian English) or recon (American English), the word for this activity has at its root the associated verb ''reconnoitre'' or ''reconnoiter''. Etymology The word from the Middle French ''reconoissance''. Overview Reconnaissance conducted by ground forces includes special reconnaissance, armored reconnaissance, amp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Caporetto
The Battle of Caporetto (also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, the Battle of Kobarid or the Battle of Karfreit) was a battle on the Italian front of World War I. The battle was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Central Powers and took place from 24 October to 19 November 1917, near the town of Kobarid (now in north-western Slovenia, then part of the Austrian Littoral). The battle was named after the Italian name of the town (also known as ''Karfreit'' in German). Austro-Hungarian forces, reinforced by German units, were able to break into the Italian front line and rout the Italian forces opposing them. The battle was a demonstration of the effectiveness of the use of stormtroopers and the infiltration tactics developed in part by Oskar von Hutier. The use of poison gas by the Germans also played a key role in the collapse of the Italian Second Army. The rest of the Italian Army retreated to the Piave River, its effective strength declined from 1, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valsugana
The Valsugana ( it, Valsugana, german: Suganertal) or Sugana Valley is one of the most important valleys in the autonomous province of Trentino in Northern Italy. Leading into the Alps' foothills, an important main north-south Roman road, the Via Claudia Augusta, one of Europe's main roads since its construction in Antiquity, winds along the valley and connects the Adriatic with the historic Holy Roman Empire and Frankish kingdom's centre of Augsburg. The sturdy construction of this long-distance road running through the valley has made it historically one of the most important north-south European transit lanes because the route from the Veneto region to points near and beyond the famed Brenner pass is significantly shorter than proceeding Venice to Verona to Brenner. Henry II used the road to bypass a position blocked by a rival allowing him to gain the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. The Valle dei Mocheni is also of historic interest as it has remained a German-speaking ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia. The Alpine arch generally extends from Nice on the western Mediterranean to Trieste on the Adriatic and Vienna at the beginning of the Pannonian Basin. The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains 128 peaks higher than . The altitude and size of the range affect the climate in Europe; in the mountains, precipitation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
