Question of the Hour

[Danjanou]

So old buddy is it true you were there too, setting up the water purification site? 8)

 

[Rodahn]

Hey; Nick isn't quite that old.... Well okay, maybe he is, but if that's the case then I was probably there with him.... ;D

 

[Spr.Earl]

What year were expanding bullit's outlawed under the Laws of War?

 

[PMedMoe]

What year were expanding bullit's outlawed under the Laws of War?

1899?

 

[3rd Herd]

Acceptable effort Rhibwolf, a definite 'A' for effort.


"During this period of anxiety Victoria became the scene of a movie, Commandos Strike at Dawn.

On July 21 a Hollywood army of actors,actresses, techicans, cameramen, script writers and others required to produce the million dollar movie arrivied here. The stars were Paul Munte(?), Morris Oberon,, with Lillian Gish and Robert Cote in supportting roles. John Farrow was the director.

The Canadian forces lent every support to the movie, even to permitting the former luxury steamer Prince Henry, then an auxiliary cruiser, to participate in the invasion scenes staged in Saanich inlet.

The Canadian Scottish and the Royal Rifles battalions, which had been under going commando training here, fitted into the picture, which was based in Norway and a Norwegian village costing 30,000 was constructed. The action scenes were very realistic and when the film was released it was an instant success."

Source:

Wills, Archie. "Victorians Wore Gas Masks When Japs Came Calling". Victoria, The Daily Colonist, 1959. pg 12.

The RCAF contribution to the movie:

RCAF Station Patricia Bay, BC 1942
Two RCAF Westland Lysanders painted to look like Lufwaffe aircraft for the movie, Commandos Strike at Dawn. (http://www.airmuseum.ca/mag/0609.html)

 

[Spr.Earl]

1899?

Correct


                                                            A Brief History of the Laws of War



Attempts to put limits on wartime behavior have been around since the beginning of recorded history and there have been numerous attempts to codify the rules of appropriate military conduct.

In the sixth century BCE, Chinese warrior Sun Tzu suggested putting limits on the way that wars were conducted.

Around 200 BCE, the notion of war crimes as such appeared in the Hindu code of Manu.

In 1305, the Scottish national hero Sir William Wallace was tried for the wartime murder of civilians.

Hugo Grotius wrote "On the Law of War and Peace" in 1625, focusing on the humanitarian treatment of civilians.

In 1865, Confederate officer Henry Wirz was executed for murdering Federal prisoners of war at the Andersonville prisoner of war camp. He was only one of several people who were tried for similar offenses.

In fact, it's been the past century and a half that has really seen a qualitative jump in the degree to which constraints have been placed on warring parties, and only this century that an international body has been formed to police the nations of the world.

The first Geneva Convention was signed in 1864 to protect the sick and wounded in war time. This first Geneva Convention was inspired by Henri Dunant, founder of the Red Cross. Ever since then, the Red Cross has played an integral part in the drafting and enforcement of the Geneva Conventions.

These included the 1899 treaties, concerning asphyxiating gases and expanding bullets. In 1907, 13 separate treaties were signed, followed in 1925 by the Geneva Gas Protocol, which prohibited the use of poison gas and the practice of bacteriological warfare.

In 1929, two more Geneva Conventions dealt with the treatment of the wounded and prisoners of war. In 1949, four Geneva Conventions extended protections to those shipwrecked at sea and to civilians.

The Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property was signed in 1954, the United Nations Convention on Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Techniques followed in 1977, together with two Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, extending their protections to civil wars.

There is no one "Geneva Convention." Like any other body of law, the laws of war have been assembled piecemeal, and are, in fact, still under construction.

It is impossible to produce a complete and up-to-date list of war crimes. Even today, weapon systems such as land mines are being debated at the highest levels of international policy.

What follows is a basic reference to the most common protections and prohibitions, as provided for in the four 1949 Geneva Conventions and the two 1977 protocols.

Copyright © 2003 Maria Trombly. All rights reserved.

I don't think Maria would mind my cutting and pasting here excellant article here.
To read all the Convention's signed I have posted the link below.



http://www.genevaconventions.org/

 

[Cloud Cover]

BUMP!!!

Name all of the aircraft carriers that were sunk solely by surface naval gunfire [aka surface ship gunfire] in WW2.

- if a carrier was torpedoed by a submarine and finished off by surface ship gunfire, that does not count.
- if a carrier was torpedoed or bombed by an aircraft and finished off by surface ship gunfire, that does not count. 
- if a carrier was torpedoed by a surface combatant, that does not count. 


Cheers

 

[stukirkpatrick]

I found 2 - HMS Glorious, sunk by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau during the evacuation from Norway on June 8th, 1940, and USS Gambier Bay, sunk on October 25th, 1944 by the Japanese Navy during the battle off Samar.

 

[Cloud Cover]

Sierra: you are correct! 

 

[stukirkpatrick]

What is the origin of the British officer rank "pips", and what is the backstory of the related organization?

 

[geo]

From 1880 until 1902, a Captain had just two stars and a Lieutenant one star. From 1871, the rank of Ensign (Cornet in cavalry regiments) was replaced with the rank of Second Lieutenant, which had no insignia. The 1902 change gave the latter a single star and the insignia of Lieutenants and Captains were increased to two and three stars. In addition to the shoulder badges, officers' ranks were also reflected in the amount and pattern of gold lace worn on the cuffs of the full-dress tunic

Backstory....

The star or 'pip' is that of the Order of the Bath, except in the Household regiments.  The Life Guards, Blues and Royals, Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards and Welsh Guards use the star of the Order of the Garter, the Scots Guards that of the Order of the Thistle, and the Irish Guards that of the Order of St Patrick. The Crown has varied in the past, with the King's Imperial Crown being used from 1910 until it was replaced by the St Edward's Crown from the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.

 

[stukirkpatrick]

Works for me!

 

[geo]

Back at work.... open invite  for a new question.

 

[redleafjumper]

What was the license plate number of Heinrich Himmler's staff car?

 

[mariomike]

What was the license plate number of Heinrich Himmler's staff car?

SS-1

 

[redleafjumper]

That is correct - there is a photo of the Reichsfuerher in his car with license SS-1 in a recent issue of Der Spiegel.

Cheers,

 

[geo]

Nazi vanity plaes.... who woulda thought.
However, any soldier who saw those plates coming his way knew who he was dealing with - before the car even had a chance to stop.

 

[mariomike]

Nazi vanity plaes.... who woulda thought.
However, any soldier who saw those plates coming his way knew who he was dealing with - before the car even had a chance to stop.

Likely any traffic or parking tickets would be "taken care of".
Incidentally, I didn't know the answer to that question. I "Googled" it.

 

[redleafjumper]

Who was the admiral executed on the deck of a ship for failing to do his duty to the utmost?

 

[mariomike]

Who was the admiral executed on the deck of a ship for failing to do his duty to the utmost?

Admiral Byng.
Executed by firing squad on the deck of HMS Monarch on the 14 March, 1757.
Google is my friend. ;D