Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
On 5, Thursday June 1919, Estonian and Latvian Wars of Independence: The advancing pro-German Baltische Landeswehr initiates war against Estonia in Northern Latvia.
On 5, Thursday June 1919, Veikko Huhtanen, Finnish artistic gymnast, born (d. 1976)
On 5, Monday June 1944, WWII: The German navy’s Enigma messages are decoded almost in real time.
On 5, Monday June 1944, British Group Captain James Stagg correctly forecasts a brief improvement in weather conditions over the English Channel which will permit the following day’s Normandy landings to take place (having been deferred from today due to unfavourable weather).
On 5, Monday June 1944, At 10:15 p.m. local time, the BBC transmits the second line of the Paul Verlaine poem “Chanson d’automne” to the French Resistance, indicating that the invasion of Europe is about to begin.
On 5, Monday June 1944, More than 1,000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.
On 5, Monday June 1944, US and British airborne divisions drop into Normandy, in preparation for D-Day
On 5, Monday June 1944, D-Day naval deceptions are launched.
On 5, Monday June 1944, Colm Wilkinson, Irish actor and singer, born
On 5, Monday June 1944, Whitfield Diffie, American cryptographer, born
On 5, Monday June 1944, Józef Beck, Polish statesman, died (b. 1894)
On 5, Friday June 1959, Mark Ella, rugby union player, born
On 5, Friday June 1959, A new government of the State of Singapore is sworn in by Sir William Goode. Two former ministers are re-elected to the Legislative Assembly.
On 5, Thursday June 1969, An international communist conference begins in Moscow.
On 5, Tuesday June 1979, Matthew Scarlett, footballer and coach, born
On 5, Tuesday June 1979, Pete Wentz, American musician, lyricist, and bassist (Fall Out Boy), born
On 5, Tuesday June 1979, Heinz Erhardt, German comedian, musician, entertainer, actor and poet, died (b. 1909)
On 5, Monday June 1989, An unknown Chinese protestor, “Tank Man”, stands in front of a column of military tanks on Chang’an Avenue in Beijing, temporarily halting them, an incident which achieves iconic status internationally through images taken by Western photographers.
On 5, Monday June 1989, Cam Atkinson, American ice hockey player, born
On 5, Monday June 1989, Monica Castaño, Colombian beauty queen and model, born
On 5, Saturday June 1999, The Islamic Salvation Army, the armed wing of the Islamic Salvation Front, agrees in principle to disband in Algeria.
On 5, Saturday June 1999, Mel Tormé, American singer, died (b. 1925)
On 5, Thursday June 2014, A Sunni militant group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (also known as the ISIS or ISIL) begins an offensive through northern Iraq, aiming to capture the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad and overthrow the Shiite government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Other On This Day days in history
Neville Buch