October 5

1882: Rocket pioneer Robert Hutchings Goddard is born in Worcester, Massachusetts. (Goddard)

[See: Wunderwaffen: Hitler's Deception and the History of Rocketry.]

1895 Birth: Walter Bedell Smith: US Army chief of staff for U.S. forces in Europe during WWII:

Bedell Smith's military career began in 1911 when he joined the Indiana National Guard and ended almost 40 years later when he retired as a four-star general in the U.S. Army. Initially, he envisioned himself fighting battles on the front lines but because of his impressive organizational skills, he ended up working for General George C. Marshall, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the head of America's military forces after the president. By 1942, Bedell Smith was sent to Europe to be the chief of staff to General Eisenhower. As the allies fought in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany, Bedell Smith was known by top military and political leaders as an effective and efficient manager. After the war, however, he was comparatively less successful as ambassador to the Soviet Union, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and, briefly, undersecretary of state. Finally, Bedell Smith left the military to make a fortune working with corporations that manufactured and supplied war materiel. [For further information, click here.]

1914 World War I: Various:

List Regiment (Sep 1-Oct 7): Infantry recruit Adolf Hitler's regiment continue their short but intensive basic training program, which is held in the premises of a large public school on the Elizabeth Platz in Munich. Hitler receives the first uniform of his life; basic greenish-grey with an "RIR 16" sown in red unto the epaulettes and a red stripe down the side of the trousers. The trousers are tucked into new leather boots, topped by a thick leather belt around the waist of the uniform jacket. [For further details, Click here.]

The Siege of Antwerp:

Arthur Conan Doyle: On the night of the 5th the two other brigades of the division, numbering some 5,000 amateur sailors, arrived in Antwerp, and the whole force assembled on the new line of defence. Mr. Winston Churchill showed his gallantry as a man, and his indiscretion as a high official, whose life was of great value to his country by accompanying the force from England. The bombardment was now very heavy, and the town was on fire in several places. The equipment of the British left much to be desired, and their trenches were as indifferent as their training. Nonetheless they played the man and lived up to the traditions of that great service upon whose threshold they stood. For three days these men, who a few weeks before had been anything from schoolmasters to tram-conductors, held their perilous post.

1915 World War I: Various:

Lusitania: Germany issues an apology and promises for payment for the 128 American passengers killed in the sinking of the British ship Lusitania.

Both before and after the sinking of the Lusitania, the German Foreign Office put forward all kinds of proposals with reference to American ships in the war zone. On one afternoon, Zimmermann, who had a number of these proposals drafted in German, showed them to me and I wrote down the English translation for him to see how it would look in English. These proposals were about the sailing from America of what might be called certified ships, the ships to be painted and striped in a distinctive way, to come from certified ports at certain certified times, America to agree that these ships should carry no contraband whatever. All these proposals were sternly rejected by the President.

Britain and France commit troops to operation in Salonika, Greece:

At the request of the Greek prime minister, Eleutherios Venizelos, Britain and France agree on October 5, 1915, to land troops at the city of Salonika (now Thessaloniki), in northern Greece, during World War I.

Earlier in the war, David Lloyd George, Britain's minister of munitions, had argued for sending Allied troops to Salonika instead of the Gallipoli Peninsula; the idea was shelved when the ill-fated invasion of Gallipoli went ahead in the late spring of 1915. In early October of that year, however, Britain and France each agreed to contribute 75,000 troops to establish a base of operations in Salonika, from which they would attempt to aid their battered ally in the Balkans, Serbia, in its struggle against the Central Powers. (History.com)


Click to Enlarge
Fromelles Watercolor, 1915, by Hitler

List Regiment: Gefreiter Adolf Hitler's 16 Reserve Infantry Regiment continue to occupy a position at Fromelles, on a level field with water channels, willow trees and willow stalks; in the distance towards the enemy lines lies an insignificant wood with barbed wire entanglements. Under the direction of their defense-minded commander, Lieutenant General Gustav Scanzoni von Lichtenfels, the regiment works ceaselessly day and night to further fortify their position at Fromelles while fighting off repeated assaults by the enemy. [For further details, Click here.]


Schmidt, Amann, Hitler, Fuchsl]

1916 World War I: List Regiment: The 16th RIR occupies a series of primitive trenches on the Somme Front. [For further details, Click here.]

[See: Was Adolf Hitler a 'War Hero' in WW1?]

1917 World War I (Sep 30-Oct 17):

Hitler continues an eighteen-day furlough to accompany Schmidt [above] on a visit to his sister in Dresden with him. After sightseeing stops at Brussels and Cologne, they hit Leipzig, a city Hitler especially enjoys. He is impressed by the 300-foot tall monument, Battle of the Nations, honoring the war-dead of 1812. "This has nothing to do with art," he tells Schmidt (above), "but it is enormous and beautiful." After spending some time with Schmidt in Dresden, Hitler goes off by himself to Berlin to spend a few days with yet another front-line comrade. In a postcard to Schmidt, he writes: "The city is marvelous. A real world capital. Traffic is still tremendous. Am gone almost all day. Now finally have opportunity to study the museums a little better. In short: there is nothing lacking." [For further details, Click here.]

1918 World War I (Sep 28-Oct 15):

Gefreiter Adolf Hitler participates in defensive operations in Flanders with 3 Company, 16 Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. [For further details, Click here.]

1919 Communications: The first conversation between a submerged submarine and a ship takes place. The United States submarine H-2, submerged in the Hudson River near New York City, radios the destroyer Blakey.

1920 The Soviets ask Poland for an armistice:

[The] Polish-Soviet War "largely determined the course of European history for the next twenty years or more . . . . Unavowedly and almost unconsciously, Soviet leaders abandoned the cause of international revolution." It would be twenty years before the Bolsheviks would send their armies abroad to 'make revolution'. According to American sociologist Alexander Gella "the Polish victory had gained twenty years of independence not only for Poland, but at least for an entire central part of Europe. After the peace negotiations Poland did not maintain all the territories it had controlled at the end of hostilities. Due to their losses in and after the Battle of Warsaw, the Soviets offered the Polish peace delegation substantial territorial concessions in the contested borderland areas, closely resembling the border between the Russian Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth before the first partition of 1772. Polish resources were exhausted, however, and Polish public opinion was opposed to a prolongation of the war.

1921 Liechtenstein: The present constitution goes into effect.

1925 Shidehara Diplomacy:

Baron Kijūrō Shidehara, one of Japan's most liberal pre-war politicians (as well as a post-war Prime Minister), angers right-wingers by pushing for agreement to China's demands for tariff autonomy at the Beijing Customs Conference.

[See: Countdown to Infamy: Timeline to Pearl Harbor.]

1930 Aviation: The British airship R101 crashes in Beauvais, France, killing 49 people. The airship, which was Great Britain's biggest, had first been launched about a year earlier. [For further information, click here]

1931 Aviation: First heavier than air nonstop flight over the Pacific: Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon complete their flight, which had begun 3 October, lasts for 41 hours and 31 minutes and covers 5,000 miles. They pilot their Bellanca CH-400 monoplane from Samushiro, 300 miles north of Tokyo, Japan, to Wenatchee, Washington. The plane is named Miss Veedol.

1933 Various:

The British Labor Party endorses the anti-Nazi boycott.

The time for prudence and caution is past. We must speak up like men. How can we ask our Christian friends to lift their voices in protest against the wrongs suffered by Jews if we keep silent? . . . . What is happening in Germany today may happen tomorrow in any other land on earth unless it is challenged and rebuked. It is not the German Jews who are being attacked. It is the Jews . . . . 

Antisemitism: USA: Vandals paint Swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on New York City's Temple Emmanuel.

1934 Spain: A coalition of Communists, Socialists and Syndicalists stage a general strike throughout the country.

The November 1933 elections saw the right-wing CEDA party win 115 seats whereas the Socialist Party only managed 58. CEDA now formed a parliamentary alliance with the Radical Party. Over the next two years the new administration demolished the reforms that had been introduced by Manuel Azana and his government. This led to a general strike on 4th October 1934 and an armed rising in Asturias. Azana was accused of encouraging these disturbances.

1935 Various:

Columbia Haus concentration camp in Berlin is closed:

The first concentration camps in Germany were established soon after Hitler's appointment as chancellor in January 1933. In the weeks after the Nazis came to power, The SA (Sturmabteilungen; commonly known as Storm Troopers), the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons: the elite guard of the Nazi party), the police, and local civilian authorities organized numerous detention camps to incarcerate real and perceived political opponents of Nazi policy. German authorities established camps all over Germany on an ad hoc basis to handle the masses of people arrested as alleged subversives. The SS established larger camps in Oranienburg, north of Berlin; Esterwegen, near Hamburg; Dachau, northwest of Munich; and Lichtenburg, in Saxony. In Berlin itself, the Columbia Haus facility held prisoners under investigation by the Gestapo (the German secret state police) until 1936. After the SS gained its independence from the SA in July 1934, in the wake of the Roehm purge, Hitler authorized the Reich SS leader, Heinrich Himmler, to centralize the administration of the concentration camps and formalize them into a system.

Arms Embargo placed by the USA on all shipments to Italy and Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

1936 Various:

UK: Jarrow March (Oct. 5-10): Around 200 men march from Jarrow to London, carrying a petition to the British government requesting the re-establishment of industry in the town. [For further information, click here.]

Birth: Vaclav Havel: Czech dissident dramatist, who will become the first freely elected president of Czechoslovakia in 55 years.

1937 Isolationism: President Roosevelt, in a major speech in Chicago, warns Americans against continued isolationism, speaking of the need to "quarantine the aggressors." A strong negative response to this call indicates the strength of isolationist sentiment in the US.

The political situation in the world, which of late has been growing progressively worse, is such as to cause grave concern and anxiety to all the peoples and nations who wish to live in peace and amity with their neighbors. Some fifteen years ago the hopes of mankind for a continuing era of international peace were raised to great heights when more than sixty nations solemnly pledged themselves not to resort to arms in furtherance of their national aims and policies. The high aspirations expressed in the Briand-Kellogg Peace Pact and the hopes for peace thus raised have of late given way to a haunting fear of calamity. The present reign of terror and international lawlessness began a few years ago. It began through unjustified interference in the internal affairs of other nations or the invasion of alien territory in violation of treaties; and has now reached a stage where the very foundations of civilization are seriously threatened. The landmarks and traditions which have marked the progress of civilization toward a condition of law, order and justice are being wiped away.

[See: Why Did the US [Eventually] Join the Fight Against Hitler.]

1938 Various: Hitler gives a typical speech at the Sportpalast in Berlin:

When six years ago I took over the leadership of the Reich one of our so-called 'statesmen' of that day said: 'Now this man has taken the decisive step. Up to now he has been popular, because he has been in opposition. Now he must govern and we shall see in six or eight weeks how his popularity will look'! Six years—not six weeks only—have passed and I believe that they have been the most decisive years for German history.

Czechoslovakia:

Eduard Benes resigns as President and flees the country. Note: During World War II a Czechoslovak government-in-exile will be established in London by Benes, who will be recognized as President of Czechoslovakia by the British and other Allied governments. He will return to power as President when Czechoslovakia is liberated in 1945 and will be re-elected in 1946.

Holocaust: German Jews have their passports revoked. (THP)

1939 World War II: Various:

German Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Schulenburg) to German Foreign Office: Immediately after Under State Secretary Gaus' first telephone call I transmitted to Molotov this morning the request not to divulge to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister anything regarding the German-Soviet understanding concerning Lithuania. Molotov asked me to see him at 5 p. m. and told me, that, unfortunately, he had been obliged yesterday to inform the Lithuanian Foreign Minister of this understanding, since he could not, out of loyalty to us, act otherwise. The Lithuanian delegation had been extremely dismayed and sad; they had declared that the loss of this area in particular would be especially hard to bear, since many prominent leaders of the Lithuanian people came from that part of Lithuania. This morning at 8 a. m. the Lithuanian Foreign Minister had flown back to Kovno, intending to return to Moscow in one or two days. I said that I would immediately notify my Government by telephone, whereupon I called Herr Gaus. An hour later Molotov informed me that Stalin personally requested the German Government not to insist for the moment upon the cession of the strip of Lithuanian territory.

Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop to German Ambassador in the Soviet Union, (Schulenburg):

Legation in Kowno is being instructed as follows:

1) Solely for your personal information, I am apprising you of the following: At the time of the signing of the German-Russian Non-aggression Pact on August 23, a strictly secret delimitation of the respective spheres of influence in Eastern Europe was also undertaken. In accordance therewith, Lithuania was to belong to the German sphere of influence, while in the territory of the former Polish state, the so-called Four-River Line, Pissa-Narew-Vistula-San, was to constitute the border. Even then I demanded that the district of Vilna go to Lithuania, to which the Soviet Government consented. At the negotiations concerning the Boundary and Friendship Treaty on September 28, the settlement was amended to the extent that Lithuania, including the Vilna area, was included in the Russian sphere of influence, for which in turn, in the Polish area, the province of Lublin and large portions of the province of Warsaw, including the pocket of territory of Suwalki, fell within the German sphere of influence. Since, by the inclusion of the Suwalki tract in the German sphere of influence, a difficulty in drawing the border line resulted, we agreed that in case the Soviets should take special measures in Lithuania, a small strip of territory in the southwest of Lithuania, accurately marked on the map, should fall to Germany.

2) Today Count von der Schulenburg reports that Molotov, contrary to our own intentions, notified the Lithuanian Foreign Minister last night of the confidential arrangement. Please now, on your part, inform the Lithuanian Government, orally and in strict confidence, of the matter, as follows: As early as at the signing of the German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact of August 23, in order to avoid complications in Eastern Europe, conversations were held between ourselves and the Soviet Government concerning the delimitation of German and Soviet spheres of influence. In these conversations I had recommended restoring the Vilna district to Lithuania, to which the Soviet Government gave me its consent. In the negotiations concerning the Boundary and Friendship Treaty of September 28, as is apparent from the German-Soviet boundary demarcation which was published, the pocket of territory of Suwalki jutting out between Germany and Lithuania had fallen to Germany. As this created an intricate and impractical boundary, I had reserved for Germany a border correction in this area, whereby a small strip of Lithuanian territory would fall to Germany. The reward of Vilna to Lithuania was maintained in these negotiations also.

You are now authorized to make it known to the Lithuanian Government that the Reich Government does not consider the question of this border revision timely at this moment. We make the proviso, however, that the Lithuanian Government treat this matter as strictly confidential. End of instruction for Kowno. I request you to inform Herr Molotov of our communication to the Lithuanian Government. Further, please request of him, as already indicated in the preceding telegram, that the border strip of Lithuanian territory involved be left free in the event of a possible posting of Soviet troops in Lithuania and also that it be left to Germany to determine the date of the implementing of the agreement concerning the cession to Germany of the territory involved. Both of these points at issue should be set forth in a secret exchange of letters between yourself and Molotov.

Memorandum by the State Secretary in the German Foreign Office (Weizsaecker):

The Lithuanian Minister called on me this evening in order, as was expected, to inquire about German claims to a strip of land in southwestern Lithuania. Herr Skirpa, however, even when he entered, had a friendlier appearance than was to be expected. For Minister Zechlin had in the meantime delivered information in Kowno as instructed, so that I did not need to go any further into the questions that Herr Skirpa put. I restricted myself to a brief mention of today's telegraphic instructions to Herr Zechlin. Since Herr Skirpa expressed to me the satisfaction of his Government that we had withdrawn our claim, I stressed that the announcement of our need was "not at the moment pressing." (It is noteworthy that Herr Skirpa knew and traced exactly on the map of Poland that happened to be spread out before us the line agreed upon by us in our secret protocol with the Russians.)

The Minister then gave the further information that the Russians expected to get an assistance pact with Lithuania as well as permission to station Russian garrisons, at the same time agreeing in principle to the joining [Anschluss] of Vilna and environs to Lithuania. Herr Skirpa asked me if I had any ideas or suggestions to give in this regard. I stated that I was not informed and added that in connection with our negotiations in Moscow German interests had not been claimed beyond the Russo-German line in the east known to Herr Skirpa. In conclusion the Minister asked to be given any possible suggestions. Herr Urbsys was still remaining in Kowno today and tomorrow; he himself-Skirpa-was at the disposal of the Reich Foreign Minister at any time.

Russia signs a mutual-aid pact with Latvia, obtaining naval bases on the Baltic:

The Soviet Union did not hesitate to establish its hegemony in its 'Sphere of Influence.' Under threats of military intervention, the Baltic states were compelled to sign treaties of 'mutual assistance,' which for all intents and purposes meant that they had become military and political dependents of the USSR. The treaty with Latvia provided for the establishment of Soviet Air Force, Naval and Army bases in Western Latvia and the stationing of up to 25,000 troops, more than the peacetime strength of the Army of Latvia. The threat of force was meant seriously.

Hitler gives a defiant speech before the Reichstag.

In my speech at Danzig I already declared that Russia was organized on principles which differ from those held in Germany. However, since it became clear that Stalin found nothing in the Russian-Soviet principles which should prevent him from cultivating friendly relations with States of a different political creed, National Socialist Germany sees no reason why she should adopt another criterion. The Soviet Union is the Soviet Union, National Socialist Germany is National Socialist Germany. But one thing is certain: from the moment when the two States mutually agreed to respect each other's distinctive regime and principles, every reason for any mutually hostile attitude had disappeared. Long periods in the history of both nations have shown that the inhabitants of these two largest States in Europe were never happier than when they lived in friendship with each other. The Great War, which once made Germany and Russia enemies, was disastrous for both countries.

Disinformation:

President Roosevelt and his Cabinet discuss an official message from German Admiral Erich Raeder to the American military attache in Berlin, warning him that the British are planning to sink the Iroquois, an American ship. Harold Ickes writes in his secret diary:

Of course no one in this country believes that the British would do a thing of this sort, but Hitler and his government have not ceased to insist that it was Churchill who personally gave the orders to sink the Athenia (September 3) for the purpose of having it blamed on the German government in the hope of embroiling us with Germany. (THP)

Poland: Victory Parade is held in Warsaw for Hitler: An AK assassination plot fails to materialize. Note: Hitler was in Poland in September and October 1939. He was at the edge of town on 22 and 25 September and he came back on 5 October to take the salute of the 8th Armee because Poland surrendered at 27 September. Hitler also visits the Belvedere Schlosschen, where Marshal Pilsudski used to live, to pay his respects.

1941 World War II: Various:

Joseph Goebbels warns the German people against listening to the BBC:

In the interests of the war, German news policy was forced into silence, which naturally led to a certain nervousness on the part of the German people. English and Bolshevist propaganda thought that their hour had come. They could speak, we could not. All the nonsense from London and Moscow over the past weeks would take a long time to discuss. It is also unnecessary to repeat any of it. It is already trash, tossed aside by the fiery storm of earth-shaking military operations whose long-term effects we still cannot entirely foresee. Silence was worth it.

Barbarossa: Advancing in the southern Ukraine, German units reach the Sea of Azov.

[See: Was Adolf Hitler a 'Great' Military Leader?]

1942 World War II: Various:

"Stalingrad must not be taken by the enemy:"

On this day in 1942, Joseph Stalin, premier and dictator of the Soviet Union, fires off a telegram to the German and Soviet front at Stalingrad, exhorting his forces to victory. "That part of Stalingrad which has been captured must be liberated."

Stalingrad was a key to capturing the Soviet Union, in many ways as important as capturing Moscow itself. It stood between the old Russia and the new, a center of both rail and river communications, industry and old-world Russian trade. To preserve Stalingrad's integrity was to preserve Russian civilization past and present. As the Germans reached the Volga, thrust and counterthrust brought the battle to a standstill. Everyone from Russian factory workers to reinforcements of more than 160,000 Soviet soldiers poured into Stalingrad to beat back the German invader. Despite dwindling supplies, such as tanks and troop reserves, Hitler would not relent, convincing himself that the Russians could not hold out for long.

But Stalin appealed not only to Russian patriotism but also to Allied armaments. Requests to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for aid had not gone unheeded, as five British merchant ships arrived in northern Russia, loaded with supplies. (History.com)

[See: What Were Adolf Hitler's Major Blunders?]

Fritz Sauckel to Rosenberg:

The Fuehrer has worked out new and most urgent plans for armament which require the quick mobilization of two million more foreign workers. The Fuehrer therefore has granted me, for the execution of his decree of 21 March 1942, new powers for my new duties, and has especially authored me to take whatever measures I think are necessary in the Reich, the Protectorate, the Government General, as well as in the occupied territories, in order to assure, at all costs an orderly mobilization of labor for the German armament industry. The additional required labor forces will have to be drafted, for the most part, from the recently occupied Eastern Territories, especially from the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Therefore, the Reichskommissariat Ukraine must furnish 225,000 workers by 31 December 1842 and 225,000 more by 1 May 1942. I ask you to inform Reich Commissioner, Gauleiter, Party Member Koch at once about the new situation and requirements and especially to see that he supports personally in every possible way the execution of this new order. I intend to visit Party Member Koch shortly and I would be grateful if he could inform me as to where and when I could meet him for a personal discussion. Just now though, I ask that the recruiting be taken up at once with all energy and the use of every factor, especially the experts of the labor offices. All directives which temporarily limited the procurement of Eastern Workers are annulled. The Reich procurement for the next months must be given priority over all other measures. I do not ignore the difficulties which exist for the execution of this new order, but I am convinced that with the ruthless use of all resources and with the full co-operation of an concerned the execution of the new demands can be accomplished by the date fixed. I have already communicated the new demands directly to the Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine by teletype. In reference to our phone-call of today, I will send you the text of the Fuehrer's decree at the beginning of next week.

1943 World War II: German troops complete the evacuation of the island of Corsica:

By October 1943 the U.S. Fifth and British Eighth Armies together had only 11 divisions, but this force was able to tie down some 20-odd German divisions throughout the long campaign. The mountainous terrain and the restrictions on maneuver imposed by the narrowness of the peninsula favored the German defenders, but the Allied force continued to press northward until the end of the war.

1947 Various:

Cold War: The Cominform: At a Warsaw conference, the COMINFORM (Communist Information Bureau) is established to coordinate the activities of European communist parties. The Cominform is the common name for what was officially referred to as the "Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties".

The Cominform was a Soviet dominated organization of Communist parties founded in September, 1947 at a conference of Communist party leaders in Szklarska Poreba, Poland. Stalin called the conference in response to divergences among the eastern European governments on whether or not to attend the Paris conference on Marshall Aid in July 1947. The initial seat of the organisation was located in Belgrade. After the expulsion of Yugoslavia from the group in June, 1948 the seat was moved to Bucharest. The expulsion of Yugoslavia from the Cominform for Titoism initiated the Informbiro period in that nation's history. The intended purpose of the Cominform was to coordinate actions between Communist parties under Soviet direction. As a result, the Cominform acted as a tool of Soviet foreign policy.

First presidential speech on TV:

President Harry Truman (1884-1972) makes the first-ever televised presidential address from the White House.

1952 Spandau Prison: From Spandau: The Secret Diaries, by Albert Speer:

The new Russian director, energetic as they always are at the start, confiscated Schirach's Watchwords, a calendar with Bible texts for every day. Schirach used it to keep a record of medicines prescribed and family birthdays.

1957 Spandau Prison: From Spandau: The Secret Diaries, by Albert Speer:

Huge headlines in today's newspaper that the first satellite [Sputnik 1] is circling the Earth. For a minute I lay on the bed with pounding heart. Some events really hit me hard. During the first forty years of my life I admired technology. When Wernher von Braun told me about his future projects, such as a flight to the moon, I was fascinated. But Hitler, with his technologically based dictatorship and his assembly-line extermination of the Jews, shocked me so deeply that I can never again be naive about technology. Every advance nowadays only frightens me. News like this account of the first satellite makes me think of new potentialities for annihilation, and arouses fear. If they fly to the moon tomorrow, my fear will be all the greater.

[See: Where Would We Be Without Hitler's Scientists?]

1958: From the New York Times:

A year ago yesterday Moscow electrified the world by launching Sputnik I and thus taking the first giant step into space. The Soviet achievement—a scientific, technical and military demonstration of growing Russian power—shook American complacency and led in Washington to a re-evaluation, reorganization and speed-up of our space and missile programs. The excitement of a year ago, almost frenetic in its quality, has been succeeded by somewhat calmer judgments; some critics of Administration leadership say complacency has returned.

In the past twelve months the United States has developed new agencies for space exploration and has speeded up some of its military rocket development programs, although the military missile organization—upon which now depends much of our space development program—remains virtually unchanged. The great question confronting Washington is whether or not our present efforts are adequate, not so much to meet the challenge of today, but the increasing Soviet potential of tomorrow. Those who fear we may lag in the space and missile race are particularly concerned about what they feel is the limited imagination and limited budget of our space program, a program which has barely started, and about the dichotomy between civilian (scientific) and military projects.

1964 Cold War : Berlin: Fifty-seven East German refugees shelter in West Berlin after tunneling under the Berlin Wall in the largest mass escape since the wall was built.

The most well-known tunnel was dug in a graveyard where Germans would come to mourn the dead and then 'disappear' as they dropped into the hole that was dug. The tunnel was a means of escape for more than 50 people, until a woman left her baby carriage behind, leading to the tunnel's discovery and closure. There were many more tunnels to the other side of the wall, but most of them either caved in or were discovered. Other escapes included flying in hot air balloons, ramming trucks through the wall, and using a rope to 'shimmy' to the other side.

[See: Did Adolf Hitler Cause the Cold War?]

1969 Cuban defector lands MiG in Miami:

In an embarrassing breach of the United States’ air-defense capability, a Cuban defector enters U.S. air space undetected and lands his Soviet-made MiG-17 at Homestead Air Force Base, south of Miami, Florida. The presidential aircraft Air Force One was at the base at the time, waiting to return President Richard M. Nixon to Washington. The base was subsequently put on continuous alert, and it opened a new radar tracking facility to prevent the repetition of a similar incident in the future. (History.com)

Edited by Levi Bookin (Copy editor)
levi.bookin@gmail.com









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