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Jack Hendrick Taylor
Jack Hendrick Taylor was a United States Navy officer, OSS operative and Nazi concentration camp survivor. Early life Taylor was born in California. He lived in Hollywood, California where he operated a dental practice. An avid yachtsman and swimmer, Taylor was also a licensed pilot. Military service After the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor Taylor enlisted in the US Navy and was assigned to a submarine chaser. Taylor, who had met William J. Donovan briefly before the war, was then recruited to join the OSS, the United States' wartime intelligence agency established in 1942. He was one of the first to join the organization's newly formed Maritime Unit, a precursor to the Navy SEALS. For this reason, Taylor is sometimes informally referred to as the "first Navy SEAL". Taylor initially served as chief instructor at the Maritime Unit's secret Smith Point training camp in Maryland. In November 1942, Taylor helped inventor Christian J. Lambertsen demonstrate his secret ...
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El Centro, California
El Centro (Spanish for "The Center") is a city and county seat of Imperial County, California, United States. El Centro is the largest city in the Imperial Valley, the east anchor of the Southern California Border Region, and the core urban area and principal city of the El Centro metropolitan area which encompasses all of Imperial County. El Centro is also the largest U.S. city to lie entirely below sea level (). The city, located in southeastern California, is from San Diego and less than from the Mexican city of Mexicali. The city was founded in 1906 by W. F. Holt and C.A. Barker, who purchased the land on which El Centro was eventually built for about and invested $100,000 ($ in dollars) in improvements. The modern city is home to retail, transportation, wholesale, and agricultural industries. There are also two international border crossings nearby for commercial and noncommercial vehicles. El Centro's census population as of 2020 was 44,322, up from 42,598 at the 201 ...
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Battle Of Leros
The Battle of Leros was the central event of the Dodecanese campaign of the Second World War, and is widely used as an alternate name for the whole campaign. After the Armistice of Cassibile the Italian garrison on the Greek island Leros was strengthened by British forces on 15 September 1943. The battle began with German air attacks on 26 September, continued with the landings on 12 November, and ended with the capitulation of the Allied forces four days later. Background The island of Leros is part of the Dodecanese island group in the south-eastern Aegean Sea, which had been under Italian occupation since the Italo-Turkish War. During Italian rule, Leros, with its excellent deep-water port of Lakki (Portolago), was transformed into a heavily fortified aeronautical and naval base, "the Corregidor of the Mediterranean", as Mussolini boasted. The island was base for some Italian naval units; specifically, in September 1943: * ''4ª Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere'' (4th Dest ...
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Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organisation. On 20 April 1934, oversight of the Gestapo passed to the head of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS), Heinrich Himmler, who was also appointed Chief of German Police by Hitler in 1936. Instead of being exclusively a Prussian state agency, the Gestapo became a national one as a sub-office of the (SiPo; Security Police). From 27 September 1939, it was administered by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). It became known as (Dept) 4 of the RSHA and was considered a sister organisation to the (SD; Security Service). During World War II, the Gestapo played a key role in the Holocaust. After the war ended, the Gestapo was declared a criminal organisation by the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at the Nuremberg trials. History After Adol ...
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Wiener Neustadt
Wiener Neustadt (; ; Central Bavarian: ''Weana Neistod'') is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administration of Wiener Neustadt-Land District. The city is the site of one of the world's oldest military academies, the Theresian Military Academy, which was established by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria in 1751 to train officers for the Austrian army. History The area once belonged to the County of Pitten, which had been inherited by Margrave Ottokar III of Styria in 1158. After the dynasty of the Otakars became extinct with the death of his son Ottokar IV of Styria, Ottokar IV, the Duchy of Styria passed to the Archduchy of Austria, Austrian House of Babenberg according to the Georgenberg Pact. Duke Leopold V, Duke of Austria, Leopold V of Austria established the town in 1194 and financed the construction of a fortress close to the Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian border with ...
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Abaz Kupi
Abaz Kupi (6 August 1892 – 17 January 1976) or Abas Kupi. He was also known as Bazi i Canës. He was an Albanian military officer. Kupi was born in Krujë. He served as commander of the gendarmerie of the town of Kruja, and later of the town of Durrës. As a royalist, he created the Legality Movement in Albania, which promoted the return to the throne of Zog of Albania. During the Cold War Kupi was a member of the Free Albania National Committee, which intended to overthrow the communist regime in Albania and to return the monarchy. He was later awarded the Military Order of Bravery (Brave Class). Early life Born on 6 August 1892, in the Varosh neighbourhood of Akçahisar (now Krujë). Between 1913 and 1918 he entered the service of Essad Pasha Toptani. In 1922 he took part in the coup d'état of Elez Isufi that attacked Tirana to overthrow the government, but the rebels were defeated by Captain Prenk Pervizi and their soldiers who had come to the aid of Ahmet Zog, who w ...
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Ceraunian Mountains
The Ceraunian Mountains ( sq, Malet e Vetëtimës, "Thunderbolt mountains"; el, Κεραύνια Όρη, ''Keravnia ori''; la, Cerauni Montes), also commonly Akroceraunian Mountains ( grc, Ἀκροκεραύνια, sq, Malet Akrokeraune "malet Akrokeraune, sot Malet e Vetëtimës"), are a coastal mountain range in southwestern Albania, within the county of Vlorë. The range rises on the northeastern bank of the Ionian Sea. It extends for approximately in a southeast-northwest direction near Sarandë along the Albanian Riviera nearby to Orikum. Geologically, the Karaburun Peninsula belongs to the mountain range, forming the eastern Akroceraunian Mountains. The mountains are about long and about wide. The highest peak is Maja e Çikës with an elevation of . The Llogara Pass () divides the mountains into a western and the Akroceraunian Mountains within the Karaburun Peninsula. Name The name ''Ceraunia'' is derived from Ancient Greek Κεραύνια ὄρη, meaning "thun ...
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Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares land borders with Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, North Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south. Tirana is its capital and largest city, followed by Durrës, Vlorë, and Shkodër. Albania displays varied climatic, geological, hydrological, and morphological conditions, defined in an area of . It possesses significant diversity with the landscape ranging from the snow-capped mountains in the Albanian Alps as well as the Korab, Skanderbeg, Pindus and Ceraunian Mountains to the hot and sunny coasts of the Albanian Adriatic and Ionian Sea along the Mediterranean Sea. Albania has been inhabited by different civilisations over time, such as the Illyrians, Thracians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, and Ot ...
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Monopoli
Monopoli (; Monopolitano: ) is a town and municipality in Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Bari and region of Apulia. The town is roughly in area and lies on the Adriatic Sea about southeast of Bari. It has a population of 49,246 (2014) and is important mostly as an agricultural, industrial and tourist centre. History The area was first settled in about 500 BC as a fortified Messapian city. In order to improve communication with the East, between the years 108 and 110 AD, the Emperor Trajan ordered the construction of a ''Via Publica'' which was named after him. Monopoli is the city in Apulia that has the longest stretch of the ''Via Traiana''. This is one of the most important Roman roads of the Empire. In 2012 the city of Monopoli created an archeological park around the remains of this ancient road. The difference between this new road and the Appian Way was the shorter distance between Benevento and Brindisi. The Appian Way started in Rome, reaching Beneve ...
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Air Raid On Bari
The air raid on Bari (german: Luftangriff auf den Hafen von Bari, it, Bombardamento di Bari) was an air attack by German bombers on Allied forces and shipping in Bari, Italy, on 2 December 1943, during World War II. 105 German Junkers Ju 88 bombers of ''Luftflotte'' 2 achieved surprise and bombed shipping and personnel operating in support of the Allied Italian Campaign, sinking 27 cargo and transport ships, as well as a schooner, in Bari harbour. The attack lasted a little more than an hour and put the port out of action until February 1944. The release of mustard gas from one of the wrecked cargo ships added to the loss of life. The British and US governments covered up the presence of mustard gas and its effects on victims of the raid. Background In early September 1943, coinciding with the Allied invasion of Italy, Italy surrendered to the Allies in the Armistice of Cassibile and changed sides, but the Italian Social Republic in central and northern Italy continued t ...
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World War II In Yugoslavia
World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the USSR on 22 June 1941, the communist-led republican Yugoslav Partisans, on orders from Moscow, launched a guerrilla liberation war fighting against the Axis forces and their locally established Puppet state, puppet regimes, including the Axis-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and the Government of National Salvation in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia, German-occupied territory of Serbia. This was dubbed the National Liberation War and Socialist Revolution in post-war Yugoslav communist historiography. Simultaneously, a multi-side civil war was waged between the Yugoslav communist Partisans, the Serbian royalist Chetniks, the Axis-allied Croatian Ustaše and Croatian Home Guard (World War II), Home Guard, Serbian Volun ...
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Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослободителна војска (НОВ); sl, Narodnoosvobodilna vojska (NOV) officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odredi Jugoslavije (NOV i POJ), Народноослободилачка војска и партизански одреди Југославије (НОВ и ПОЈ); mk, Народноослободителна војска и партизански одреди на Југославија (НОВ и ПОЈ); sl, Narodnoosvobodilna vojska in partizanski odredi Jugoslavije (NOV in POJ) was the communist-led anti-fascist resistance to the Axis powers (chiefly Germany) in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. Led by Josip Broz T ...
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Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his death in 1980. During World War II, he was the leader of the Yugoslav Partisans, often regarded as the most effective resistance movement in German-occupied Europe. He also served as the president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 14 January 1953 until his death on 4 May 1980. He was born to a Croat father and Slovene mother in the village of Kumrovec, Austria-Hungary (now in Croatia). Drafted into military service, he distinguished himself, becoming the youngest sergeant major in the Austro-Hungarian Army of that time. After being seriously wounded and captured by the Russians during World War I, he was sent to a work camp in the Ural Mountains. He participated in some events of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the subs ...
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