Revival History

 US Marine discovers a near-dead baby in a cave in the jungle of Saipan island, 1944 In a photo that somehow comprises both tenderness and horror, an American Marine cradles a near-dead infant pulled from under a rock while troops cleared Japanese fighters and civilians from caves on Saipan in the summer of 1944. The child was the only person found alive among hundreds of corpses in one cave. The battle for the Pacific island of Saipan during World War II is one of those well-remembered battles between Japan and America, one made worse by the mass suicide of local Japanese civilians who jumped off cliffs, fearful of capture by the Americans. This is what has been called “war without mercy” – battles supercharged by racial stereotypes about the enemy. Japanese soldiers hid out in the thick shrub on the island long after the battle ended, refusing to give up and attacking US troops stationed on the island.  One sizeable group led by Captain Oba only surrendered in December 1945 ...

 At 11.11am on Monday, 28 November, 1944, 4,000 tonnes of bombs and ammunition exploded at the RAF base at Fauld in Hanbury. The blast occurred in 180,000 sq ft of underground corridors - 12ft high and 20ft wide - which were used to store RAF munitions during the Second World War. In these concrete passages, bombs and ammunition were tightly packed. During wartime, corners had been cut in the way the base was run due to the shortage of manpower and greater demand on resources. The blast created a 400ft deep by three quarters of a mile crater, which has now become a poignant landmark in the British countryside due to its morbid history. Bodies were strewn everywhere, while others were left entombed in the warren of concrete corridors, and even the civilian population were caught up in the devastation. The original death toll announced by the then Minister of War was 80, of whom 25 were actually working in the mine at the time. Other estimates range from 70 to 80 - the exact number w...