Two officers held a contest to see who could decapitate 100 people the fastest. Incredible interactive map shows how Earth's continents have shifted from 750 million years ago to today, From a sleeping baby chimpanzee to otherworldly 'Middle-earth' mountains: Twelve incredible images from a prestigious photography contest that will leave you awestruck, More than 1 in 10 parents are taking their children on holiday during term time as airlines hike ticket prices by as much as 1,200%, Grandfather, 65, who spent 13 years looking after three uninhabited islands in Scotland is now set to retire - so someone younger can experience what he has, Battle's winning ways: There's much more to explore in rural East Sussex than 1066 and all that, The indispensable guide to the capital for drinkers: 'Pint-lover' creates map of London that pinpoints every pub and bar with a late licence, with over 180 logged so far, Terrifying moment passenger jet engine catches fire above tourist-packed beach: Pilot is forced to carry out emergency landing after bird-strike. The city of Stalingrad doesn't exist anymore, renamed Volgograd, after the Volga River, in 1961 as part of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev'spolicy of de-Stalinization. The world was plunged into a catastrophic conflict that lasted until the formal surrender of Germanys ally, Japan on 2 September 1945 (though victory over Japan had been celebrated some weeks before the formal documents were signed). Picture sourced by MailOnline Travel, The Diaz Point Post, Cape Town, South Africa, The Diaz observational point on Cape Point in Cape Town, South Africa. The look-out post was used to alert staff when it was In one gruesome account, a pregnant woman who resisted had her fetus ripped out and tossed to the side. In the shadow of St. Pauls Cathedrala symbol of British defiance ever since it was photographed during the Blitz, its dome gleaming resolutely amid black clouds of smokeis Christ Church Greyfriars. key point factories were crucial to wartime production and were expected to The underground warren of mostly small, cramped rooms is located on the opposite side of the Thames from the Imperial War Museum, under what is now the Treasury Building, and is a quick walk from the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. These were signed to help the public locate them, some of these are still visible today. In 1944, this village was the scene of a massacre by the Waffen-SS, in reprisal for the abduction of a German officer by Resistance fighters. leads rallying cry for cheap and cheerful seaside towns to get a second chance as they come bottom of list of UK's beach destinations due to boozy stag groups. During the war, Hiroshima had escaped the destruction of Japan's other industrial cities in large part, says Indiana University professor Scott O'Bryan, toprovide the US military with "avirgin testing ground for measuring the effects of an atomic weapon on a modern city." This damage was caused by two German HE bombs that fell in Exhibition Road. The list includes the Czech and Polish pilots who flew for Britain and were critical in the air that summer; a plaque in a lower corner lists the nine Americans who joined the fight. Some great examples here. The BBC and World War Two David HendyEmeritus Professor . After Britain achieved air supremacy, the bunker was An airfield opened on the Moray coast in northeast Scotland to protect the naval port of Lossiemouth had itself to be carefully protected against attack, as these concrete tank traps, pictured, right, testify, Believed to have been built by the Soviets as an observation post for a nearby battery (the surrounding trees have grown up since the war), this tower may have been deliberately designed to resemble one of the broken-down windmills with which this island still abounds. The Defence of Britain Project database is a good place to find out what features have previously been recorded along with the NHLE https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/dob/. Both the car and the ruined buildings lining the Champ de Foire epitomize the frozen in time quality the establishment of the Village Martyr was intended to instill. As we pass a truck set up to provide rescue workers and the public with a spot of tea, our guide is keen to remind us that a portion of the provisions come courtesy of the United States, despite that countrys then-neutral stance. Then a seemingly reinvigorated German army launched a counteroffensive through Belgium and Luxembourg in mid-December the Battle of the Bulge. We remember the atrocities. the headquarters of the American general and future president, Dwight D Eisenhower. Russian losses were staggering, and the Germans advanced steadily. The D-Day Landings loomed, and Britains soldiers were going to have to find their way, under heavy fire, through similar villages across northern France, Pillbox at Cornelian Bay, Scarborough, Yorkshire, Being ready for anything meant preparing for everything hence this mini-fortress on Englands far-flung northeastern coast. Other websites recording evidence of bomb damage from World War Two. The Battle for Attu finally began in May 1943, and fighting hand-to-hand in thick fog and 120-mph winds it was among the worst in the Pacific Theater. The rugged terrain and a determined enemy created some of the fiercest fighting of the entire war to that point, especially in the port town of Anzio. The year-long project . Allied bombings of the German capital began in 1940. The striking Battle of Britain Monument, a low set of walls, features a stunning bas-relief brass sculpture depicting scenes of the Blitz and RAF aircrews scrambling for their planes. These included provisions for evacuation, air raid warning sirens, food depots, fire watchers posts, mortuaries, gas decontamination centres, first aid posts, emergency water supplies, and air raid shelters. The gorgeous Italianate ruins at Talisay City were formerly a mansion built in the 1890s by sugar baron Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson (1865-1948) as a gift to his Portuguese wife. 840 anti-tank guns were left behind at Dunkirk in 1940, and only 167 were available, whilst ammunition was so scarce not even one live round could be fired for training purposes. This damage was caused by two German HE bombs that fell in Exhibition Road. The English Renaissancestyle building, designed by famed architect Christopher Wren and built in 1681, is the third church on the site. Abandoned Places in the Architecture category. Manila endured great privation and suffering over the next three years as casual brutality and starvation claimed up to 500 lives every day. This is visible on Google Street View. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Just an hour south of Rome, Anzio today has regained what it had been for centuries: a relaxing Mediterranean getaway filled with amazing restaurants, beautiful sunsets, and some of western Italy's finest beaches. It proved to be anything but. They are easy to pass by without realising their true history and significance. By the 1940s, Hiroshima was building everything from civilian cars to naval warships and was an essential piece of Japan's war-fighting capability. There is a monument now, on the summit, high above. 8 May marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the second world war in Europe. On 10 May 1945, with hostilities in Europe already over, the Pacific War was raging on unchecked. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Squeezed between the coast and the hills, the British and American troops were subjected to five months of blistering attacks. Walk along the beaches of Normandy today, and you'll find decaying pillboxes and rusted pontoons remains of the battle lie everywhere. An interactive map showing the location of bombs dropped on London during World War II has been created. Picture sourced by MailOnline Travel, A World War Two bunker built on the Rhine lies abandoned in Switzerland. The German Armyknew an attack was coming and had prepared a 2,400-mile-long Atlantic Wall of more than six million mines, thousands of machine gun bunkers and artillery batteries, tens of thousands of tanks, hundreds of miles of barbed wire, and other obstacles, plus tens of thousands of soldiers dug into the cliffs above the landing beaches. Sealion. PA Media. Anybody know anything about it please? English speakers can stick to a beat - but Mandarin speakers are better at picking up melody, study finds, From holistic wellness rituals to serene spas with sea views: Here's where to relax, unwind and let your cares float away this summer, The answer to your prairies: Canada's province of Manitoba is a long way away - but offers thrilling wildlife and a rich culture. Only one of them could get there first. From 1942, British, American and Canadian vessels assembled here before setting off in the Arctic convoys carrying vital supplies to Soviet Murmansk, Hitlers military headquarters was staffed by a considerable pack of aides and officials. The attack on Dresden began on 13 February 1945. Such Michael said: 'Any ruin is atmospheric, representing as it does both the destructiveness of time and the endlessly reiterated presence of the past in the present moment. A battle-scarred building stands, alone and unoccupied, in a peaceful park just north of Tamagawajosui Station in Tokyos Tachikawa Ward. For 12 grueling hours, tens of thousands of Canadian, American, and British troops would fight desperately to get off the blood-soaked beaches. The iconic St. Michael's Cathedral had graced the Coventry skyline for seven centuries and was flattened in an evening. A new map that plots every German air raid on the UK during World War Two has been released online. In the event, the advancing Americans reached this point in September 1944: not until that December did they succeed in pushing through, Japanese midget tank, Lelu Harbour, Kosrae Island, Micronesia, Though the Japanese forces who occupied Kosrae threw up fortifications and dug a network of tunnels, the Allied enemy never actually landed here. World War 2 shelter sign - 36 Longmoore Street Although the Underground stations famously doubled as air raid shelters during the war many other places were also put to use. There is an EWS (Emergency water supply) sign (now very faded) on the brick wall of the now disused basin/dock on Londons Albert Embankment opposite its junction with Salamanca Street. He will fight savagely." A few blocks south, on Lord North Street, another striking visual representation of the period is all the more affecting because of its location: a nondescript brick wall on a nondescript side street. To the left is the tower of Stockwell war memorial, listed Grade II Jerry Young. Some of the damage wrought by the. In February 1945, MacArthur's full failure to protect Manila was laid bare. The city's fine parks, scenic trails, and ancient architecture attract students, expats, and retirees from all over China and the world. In A sign inside the Lamb and Flag proudly tells us the pub has been in constant operation (barring the midst of an air raid, I suppose) since it was established during Elizabeth Is reign. Courtesy of the Museum of the Order of St John. Here on Irelands northerly headland, Britain was secretly allowed to install surveillance equipment for its defence, Flak Tower G, Vienna, Austria (left) and Observation Post, Loch Ewe, Scottish Highlands (right), So enamoured were the Germans with the idea of the flak tower that they built three in Vienna; a further three in Berlin; a couple in Hamburg and others in Frankfurt and Stuttgart. The English city of Bristol was a prime target of Germanys Luftwaffe due to the concentration of aircraft and war material factories in the area. Make Skegness and Clacton great again! Good evening everyone. "I was worried about a lump in my stomach," American prisoner Louise Goldthorpe wrote, "Then I found it was my backbone.". (images via: Eserbisyo and Caroline Albarando). Per the BBC,Jean Taylor was 14 when she saw"a dog running down the street with a child's arm in its mouth. "The whole damned deal was rugged," said Lt. Donald Dwinnell,"like attacking a pillbox by way of a tightrope in winter." Most of Dresden was destroyed after the British and US attack. The sort of murderous spree that the Germans committed here may have been routine on the Eastern Front, but it broke with the comparatively civilized conventions so far followed in the West. Volgograd today is known as "Hero City" and is filled with memorials to the millions of fallen heroes. From the jungle wreckage of a bomber in Papua New Guinea to a bombed-out mill in Volgograd in Russia and from a Thames Estuary fort toHitlers camouflaged 'Wolf's Lair' bunkers in Poland, the book World War II Abandoned Places by Michael Kerriganfeatures more than 150 striking photographs of the conflict's lasting legacy - abandoned structures that can be found all around the world, on coastlines, in forests and in the midst of rebuilt cities.