Estou acabando de ler o "The Grand Alliance" e comecei a folhear os anexos.
Churchill consegue ser mais eloquente e irônico nessas mensagens pessoais menores, que ele enviava para seus ministros sobre assuntos mais corriqueiros (o que me faz pensar sobre as que ele não publicou...). Nessas mensagens podemos ver o quanto Churchill se envolvia em todos os assuntos. Irritante? Sim. Mas ele chamava a responsabilidade para ele.
Prime Minister to Minister of Food, 22 Dec 1941.
Your minute about the egg distribution scheme.
The fact that 370,000 small producers have enough gumption to keep chicken is a matter of congratulation; under this head the only complaint I have heard is that this practice is not sufficiently encouraged. After all, the backyard fowls use up a lot of scrap, and so save cereals.
I quite recognize your difficulties, with your imports cut to one-third, but I hope that you will get the quantity which you had planned, so that this important animal protein which is so essential in the kitchen should not be deficient.
Em 1941, após a visita ao Canadá, Churchill retorna a Washington, para a assinatura do conhecido Pacto das Nações Unidas (United Nations Pact).
Nesta declaração, 25 países aliados reafirmaram suas posições sobre o Eixo, e sedimentaram a sua aliança.
Chegar a um acordo comum sobre este texto, com os 25 países, foi custoso e demorado. Um termo em especial, foi ponto de polêmica com os soviéticos: "liberdade religiosa".
A aprovação deste termo exigiu uma conversa pessoal entre o presidente Roosevelt e o embaixador soviético Litvinov, e Churchill relembra este acontecimento:
[...] The President had exerted his most fervent efforts to persuade Litvinov, the Soviet Ambassor, newly restored to favour by the turn of events, to accept the phrase "religious freedom". He was invited to luncheon with us in the the President room's on purpose. After his hard experiences on his country he has to be careful. Later on the President had a long talk with him alone about his soul and the dangers of hell-fire. The accounts which Mr. Roosevelt gave us on several occasions of what he said to the Russian were impressive. Indeed, on one occasion I promised Mr. Roosevelt to recommend him for the position of Archbishop of Canterbury if he should lose the next Presidential election. I did not however make any official recommendation to the Cabinet or the Crown upon on this points, and as he won the election in 1944 it did not arise. Litvinov reported the issue about "religious freedom" in evident fear and trembling to Stalin, who accepted it as a matter of course. [...]
Dificilmente a Segunda Guerra teria o mesmo resultado, senão pela eficiência entre as relações entre os governos americano e inglês. Mesmo havendo diferenças nos sistemas de governo (presidencialismo e parlamentarismo), a relação quase que pessoal entre os dos chefes de governo se mostrou vital para a obtenção da melhor relação entre os países.
Em 1941, Churchill visita os EUA e Canadá, logo após a entrada oficial dos EUA na Guerra, realizando a conferência "Arcadia".
Sobre esses dias em Dezembro, Churchill comenta sobre a relação entre os EUA e Inglaterra:
At Washington intense activity reigned. During these days of continuous contact and discussion I gathered that the President with his staff and his advisers was preparing an important proposal for me. In the military as in the commercial or production spheres the American mind runs naturally to broad, sweeping, logical conclusions on the largest scale. It is on these that they build their practical thought in action. They feel that once the foundation has been planned on true and comprehensive lines all other stages will follow naturally and almost inevitably. The British mind does not work quite this way. We do not think that logic and clear-cut principles are necessarily the sole keys to what ought to be done in swiftly changing and indefinable situation. In war particularly we assign a larger importance to opportunism and improvisation, seeking rather to live and conquer in accordance with the unfolding event than to aspire to dominate it often by fundamental decisions. There is room for much argument about both views. The difference is one of emphasis, but it is deep-seated.
O B-52 é um bombardeiro estratégico de longo alcance, de velocidade subsônica movido à jato. Desenhado e construído pela Boeing na década de 50, está em serviço até hoje, tendo sofrido diversas modificações e atualizações ao longo do tempo. Também é conhecido pelo nome de Stratofortress, apesar de ser chamado pelas suas tripulações de BUFF(Big Ugly Fat/Flying Fucker/Fellow).
Idealizado para substituir os Convair B-36 Peacemaker, teve o seu voo de batismo em abril de 1952, sendo fortemente empregado durante a Guerra Fria e na guerra do Vietnam.
Vídeo oficial do primeiro voo:
Vários pilotos relatam que voar um B-52 equivale a dirigir uma carreta pesada em uma pista escorregadia numa descida. Um avião difícil de controlar dado o seu tamanho e peso.
O B-52 era a espinha dorsal do SAC (Strategic Air Control - Controle Estratégico do Ar), no programa Chrome Dome, que consistia em manter uma grande frota de aeronáveis sempre de prontidão no ar, de modo a retaliar de forma quase instantânea a algum ataque ao território americano ou aliado.
Com o avanço tecnológico da Guerra Fria e a contínua evolução dos ICBMs (Intercontinental ballistic missile - Míssil Balístico Intercontinental), a utilização de aeronáveis tripuladas como o B-52 nos moldes da Operação Chrome Dome, tornou-se tecnicamente ultrapassado. Aliado a isto, acidentes como o de Palomares, o da base aérea de Thule (1968) e outros, forçou a diminuição da frota na Chrome Dome, incluindo também voos de B-52 não dotados de ogivas nucleares, mantidos no ar apenas para causar dúvida e manter os soviéticos cientes da capacidade americana de retaliação.
A aeronave envolvida no acidente de Palomares estava carregando quatro bombas de hidrogenio Mark 48 quando se acidentou durante um reabastecimento no ar, sobre o Mar Mediterrâneo.
Um KC-135 reabastacendo um B-52D. Várias coisas podem dar errado...
17 de Janeiro de 1966: um bombardeiro B-52G, carregando quatro bombas de hidrogênio Mk48, colide com o avião tanque KC-135 a 31.000 pés de altitude, durante uma operação de reabastecimento no ar, sobre a Espanha.
Apesar do foco deste blog ser a Segunda Guerra Mundial, venho trazer a história do Acidente de Palomares, um dos pontos altos da Guerra Fria.
Introdução
Para compreendermos bem as implicações deste acidentes, precisamos antes nos remeter para o fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial, principalmente para dois eventos: o bombardeio de Tóquio e as bombas de Hiroshima e Nagasaki.
Durante a SGM, não havia nos Estados Unidos, a força aérea como um braço independente, havendo apenas o Exército e a Marinha compondo as Forças Armadas americanas. Desta forma, a aviação de guerra era vinculada principalmente ao Exército, através da USAAF - United States Army Air Force.
Com a detonação das bombas atômicas sobre o Japão, uma nova e revolucionária arma foi apresentada. Destruir uma cidade com uma bomba, ao invés de vários bombardeios e dezenas de raids, era - e ainda é - uma vantagem estratégica indescritível. E nos altos escalões militares americanos começou a discussão sobre qual Força deveria ter a posse desta nova arma de destruição absoluta.
Considerando a dimensão e peso das primeiras bombas, desenvolvidas com o Projeto Manhattan, em Los Alamos, a única forma prática de utilização dessas bombas era através de aeronáveis especialmente desenvolvidas para este fim, suportando o peso das bombas com condições táticas de detonação e retorno seguro.
Aliado a isto, a eficiência da USAAF foi claramente demonstrada com o bombardeio de Tóquio em Abril de 1942. Apesar de pequeno no número de aeronaves, este bombardeio trouxe a capital inimiga às chamas, dado a eficiência da utilização de B-29 em voos de baixa altitude, carregando grandes quantidades de bombas incendiárias, alijadas sobre uma cidade feita de madeira.
As consequências deste bombardeio foi ajudar com encurtamento da Guerra (finalizada com as bombas atômicas), e o reconhecimento da eficiência da Força Aérea com força independente de guerra, não se limitando apenas ao suporte de operações de solo ou marinhas.
Com a nova arma podendo ser aplicada de forma tática somente por aviões, e a demostração prática da eficiência de uma Força Aérea, foi criada a terceira força americana: a USAF - United States Air Force, criada em 18 de setembro de 1948, tendo como homem forte Curtis LeMay, condutor do bombardeio de Tóquio.
Dentro da recém-criada USAF, o comando que mais ganhou força e destaque durante a Guerra Fria foi o SAC - Strategic Air Command, tornando-se o braço mais forte da USAF.
O SAC foi criado com a missão principal de prover a capacidade de bombardear alvos em qualquer parte do mundo (leia-se "União Soviética" e seus satélites). Apesar de seu importante objetivo, o SAC em seus primeiros dois anos existiu apenas no papel, devido ao movimento de desmobilização com o fim da SGM e a insatisfação do seu primeiro comandante, General George Kenney com o posto que lhe foi dado.
Emblema do SAC
Em 19 outubro de 1948, LeMay assumiu o comando do SAC (ocupando o posto até Junho de 1957), realizando profundas mudanças, tornando o SAC a força militar mais poderosa do mundo em pouco tempo.
Para cumprir a missão original do SAC, LeMay iniciou várias operações visando maximizar a abrangência e tempo de reação a qualquer ataque que os EUA pudessem sofrer. Dessas operações, uma das mais importantes é a Chrome Dome.
A Operação Chrome Dome consistiu em manter no ar, de forma constante, de bombardeios B-52 com bombas atômicas. Ou seja, mesmo que todas as bases americanas sofressem um ataque massivo, uma força significante sempre estaria no ar, em posição de ataque.
Abaixo temos os esquemas de voo:
Para manter essa força constante no ar, sobre os EUA e sobre países aliados na Europa, os B-52 faziam vários reabastecimentos no ar.
Em 17 de janeiro, um B-52 já havia atingido o ponto mais distante da missa, e estava retornando para a sua base em na Carolina do Norte - EUA. A sua missão previa um terceiro reabastecimento sobre o Mar Mediterrâneo, com um KC-135 vindo da base Moron AFB, próxima a Sevilha - Espanha.
Indícios apontam que, durante o reabastecimento, o B-52 não conseguiu parear a sua velocidade com a do avião tanque. Desta forma, o braço de reabastecimento colidiu com o bombardeio, causando a sua queda sobre a Espanha, próximo a uma vila de pescadores chamada Palomares.
O KC-135 explodiu no ar, matando toda a sua tripulação. 4 homens da tripulação do B-52 conseguiram usar seus para-quedas e sobreviveram.
Termino a introdução desta postagem com o discurso Sinews of Peace, proferido por Winston Churchill em 5 de março de 1946, no Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri.
Próxima postagem: Broken Arrow - O acidente de Palomares - A aeronave
President McCluer, ladies and gentlemen, and last, but certainly not least, the President of the United States of America:
I am very glad indeed to come to Westminster College this afternoon, and I am complimented that you should give me a degree from an institution whose reputation has been so solidly established. The name "Westminster" somehow or other seems familiar to me. I feel as if I have heard of it before. Indeed now that I come to think of it, it was at Westminster that I received a very large part of my education in politics, dialectic, rhetoric, and one or two other things. In fact we have both been educated at the same, or similar, or, at any rate, kindred establishments.
It is also an honor, ladies and gentlemen, perhaps almost unique, for a private visitor to be introduced to an academic audience by the President of the United States. Amid his heavy burdens, duties, and responsibilities--unsought but not recoiled from--the President has traveled a thousand miles to dignify and magnify our meeting here to-day and to give me an opportunity of addressing this kindred nation, as well as my own countrymen across the ocean, and perhaps some other countries too. The President has told you that it is his wish, as I am sure it is yours, that I should have full liberty to give my true and faithful counsel in these anxious and baffling times. I shall certainly avail myself of this freedom, and feel the more right to do so because any private ambitions I may have cherished in my younger days have been satisfied beyond my wildest dreams. Let me however make it clear that I have no official mission or status of any kind, and that I speak only for myself. There is nothing here but what you see.
I can therefore allow my mind, with the experience of a lifetime, to play over the problems which beset us on the morrow of our absolute victory in arms, and to try to make sure with what strength I have that what has gained with so much sacrifice and suffering shall be preserved for the future glory and safety of mankind.
Ladies and gentlemen, the United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power. It is a solemn moment for the American Democracy. For with primacy in power is also joined an awe-inspiring accountability to the future. If you look around you, you must feel not only the sense of duty done but also you must feel anxiety lest you fall below the level of achievement. Opportunity is here and now, clear and shining for both our countries. To reject it or ignore it or fritter it away will bring upon us all the long reproaches of the after-time. It is necessary that the constancy of mind, persistency of purpose, and the grand simplicity of decision shall rule and guide the conduct of the English-speaking peoples in peace as they did in war. We must, and I believe we shall, prove ourselves equal to this severe requirement.
President McCluer, when American military men approach some serious situation they are wont to write at the head of their directive the words "over-all strategic concept". There is wisdom in this, as it leads to clarity of thought. What then is the over-all strategic concept which we should inscribe to-day? It is nothing less than the safety and welfare, the freedom and progress, of all the homes and families of all the men and women in all the lands. And here I speak particularly of the myriad cottage or apartment homes where the wage-earner strives amid the accidents and difficulties of life to guard his wife and children from privation and bring the family up the fear of the Lord, or upon ethical conceptions which often play their potent part.
To give security to these countless homes, they must be shielded form two gaunt marauders, war and tyranny. We al know the frightful disturbance in which the ordinary family is plunged when the curse of war swoops down upon the bread-winner and those for whom he works and contrives. The awful ruin of Europe, with all its vanished glories, and of large parts of Asia glares us in the eyes. When the designs of wicked men or the aggressive urge of mighty States dissolve over large areas the frame of civilized society, humble folk are confronted with difficulties with which they cannot cope. For them is all distorted, all is broken, all is even ground to pulp.
When I stand here this quiet afternoon I shudder to visualize what is actually happening to millions now and what is going to happen in this period when famine stalks the earth. None can compute what has been called "the unestimated sum of human pain". Our supreme task and duty is to guard the homes of the common people from the horrors and miseries of another war. We are all agreed on that.
Our American military colleagues, after having proclaimed their "over-all strategic concept" and computed available resources, always proceed to the next step -- namely, the method. Here again there is widespread agreement. A world organization has already been erected for the prime purpose of preventing war. UNO, the successor of the League of Nations, with the decisive addition of the United States and all that that means, is already at work. We must make sure that its work is fruitful, that it is a reality and not a sham, that it is a force for action, and not merely a frothing of words, that it is a true temple of peace in which the shields of many nations can some day be hung up, and not merely a cockpit in a Tower of Babel. Before we cast away the solid assurances of national armaments for self-preservation we must be certain that our temple is built, not upon shifting sands or quagmires, but upon a rock. Anyone can see with his eyes open that our path will be difficult and also long, but if we persevere together as we did in the two world wars -- though not, alas, in the interval between them -- I cannot doubt that we shall achieve our common purpose in the end.
I have, however, a definite and practical proposal to make for action. Courts and magistrates may be set up but they cannot function without sheriffs and constables. The United Nations Organization must immediately begin to be equipped with an international armed force. In such a matter we can only go step by step, but we must begin now. I propose that each of the Powers and States should be invited to dedicate a certain number of air squadrons to the service of the world organization. These squadrons would be trained and prepared in their own countries, but would move around in rotation from one country to another. They would wear the uniforms of their own countries but with different badges. They would not be required to act against their own nation, but in other respects they would be directed by the world organization. This might be started on a modest scale and it would grow as confidence grew. I wished to see this done after the first world war, and I devoutly trust that it may be done forthwith.
It would nevertheless, ladies and gentlemen, be wrong and imprudent to entrust the secret knowledge or experience of the atomic bomb, which the United States, great Britain, and Canada now share, to the world organization, while still in its infancy. It would be criminal madness to cast it adrift in this still agitated and un-united world. No one country has slept less well in their beds because this knowledge and the method and the raw materials to apply it, are present largely retained in American hands. I do not believe we should all have slept so soundly had the positions been reversed and some Communist or neo-Facist State monopolized for the time being these dread agencies. The fear of them alone might easily have been used to enforce totalitarian systems upon the free democratic world, with consequences appalling to human imagination. God has willed that this shall not be and we have at least a breathing space to set our world house in order before this peril has to be encountered: and even then, if no effort is spared, we should still possess so formidable a superiority as to impose effective deterrents upon its employment, or threat of employment, by others. Ultimately, when the essential brotherhood of man is truly embodied and expressed in a world organization with all the necessary practical safeguards to make it effective, these powers would naturally be confided to that world organizations.
Now I come to the second of the two marauders, to the second danger which threatens the cottage homes, and the ordinary people -- namely, tyranny. We cannot be blind to the fact that the liberties enjoyed by individual citizens throughout the United States and throughout the British Empire are not valid in a considerable number of countries, some of which are very powerful. In these States control is enforced upon the common people by various kinds of all-embracing police governments to a degree which is overwhelming and contrary to every principle of democracy. The power of the State is exercised without restraint, either by dictators or by compact oligarchies operating through a privileged party and a political police. It is not our duty at this time when difficulties are so numerous to interfere forcibly in the internal affairs of countries which we have not conquered in war. but we must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world and which through Magna Carta, the Bill of rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and the English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.
All this means that the people of any country have the right, and should have the power by constitutional action, by free unfettered elections, with secret ballot, to choose or change the character or form of government under which they dwell; that freedom of speech and thought should reign; that courts of justice, independent of the executive, unbiased by any party, should administer laws which have received the broad assent of large majorities or are consecrated by time and custom. Here are the title deeds of freedom which should lie in every cottage home. Here is the message of the British and American peoples to mankind. Let us preach what we practice -- let us practice what we preach.
though I have now stated the two great dangers which menace the home of the people, War and Tyranny, I have not yet spoken of poverty and privation which are in many cases the prevailing anxiety. But if the dangers of war and tyranny are removed, there is no doubt that science and cooperation can bring in the next few years, certainly in the next few decades, to the world, newly taught in the sharpening school of war, an expansion of material well-being beyond anything that has yet occurred in human experience.
Now, at this sad and breathless moment, we are plunged in the hunger and distress which are the aftermath of our stupendous struggle; but this will pass and may pass quickly, and there is no reason except human folly or sub-human crime which should deny to all the nations the inauguration and enjoyment of an age of plenty. I have often used words which I learn fifty years ago from a great Irish-American orator, a friend of mine, Mr. Bourke Cockran, "There is enough for all. The earth is a generous mother; she will provide in plentiful abundance food for all her children if they will but cultivate her soil in justice and peace." So far I feel that we are in full agreement.
Now, while still pursing the method -- the method of realizing our over-all strategic concept, I come to the crux of what I have traveled here to say. Neither the sure prevention of war, nor the continuous rise of world organization will be gained without what I have called the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples. This means a special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States of America. Ladies and gentlemen, this is no time for generality, and I will venture to the precise. Fraternal association requires not only the growing friendship and mutual understanding between our two vast but kindred systems of society, but the continuance of the intimate relations between our military advisers, leading to common study of potential dangers, the similarity of weapons and manuals of instructions, and to the interchange of officers and cadets at technical colleges. It should carry with it the continuance of the present facilities for mutual security by the joint use of all Naval and Air Force bases in the possession of either country all over the world. This would perhaps double the mobility of the American Navy and Air Force. It would greatly expand that of the British Empire forces and it might well lead, if and as the world calms down, to important financial savings. Already we use together a large number of islands; more may well be entrusted to our joint care in the near future.
the United States has already a Permanent Defense Agreement with the Dominion of Canada, which is so devotedly attached to the British Commonwealth and the Empire. This Agreement is more effective than many of those which have been made under formal alliances. This principle should be extended to all the British Commonwealths with full reciprocity. Thus, whatever happens, and thus only, shall we be secure ourselves and able to works together for the high and simple causes that are dear to us and bode no ill to any. Eventually there may come -- I feel eventually there will come -- the principle of common citizenship, but that we may be content to leave to destiny, whose outstretched arm many of us can already clearly see.
There is however an important question we must ask ourselves. Would a special relationship between the United States and the British Commonwealth be inconsistent with our over-riding loyalties to the World Organization? I reply that, on the contrary, it is probably the only means by which that organization will achieve its full stature and strength. There are already the special United States relations with Canada that I have just mentioned, and there are the relations between the United States and the South American Republics. We British have also our twenty years Treaty of Collaboration and Mutual Assistance with Soviet Russia. I agree with Mr. Bevin, the Foreign Secretary of Great Britain, that it might well be a fifty years treaty so far as we are concerned. We aim at nothing but mutual assistance and collaboration with Russia. The British have an alliance with Portugal unbroken since the year 1384, and which produced fruitful results at a critical moment in the recent war. None of these clash with the general interest of a world agreement, or a world organization; on the contrary, they help it. "In my father's house are many mansions." Special associations between members of the United Nations which have no aggressive point against any other country, which harbor no design incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations, far from being harmful, are beneficial and, as I believe, indispensable.
I spoke earlier, ladies and gentlemen, of the Temple of Peace. Workmen from all countries must build that temple. If two of the workmen know each other particularly well and are old friends, if their families are intermingled, if they have "faith in each other's purpose, hope in each other's future and charity towards each other's shortcomings" -- to quote some good words I read here the other day -- why cannot they work together at the common task as friends and partners? Why can they not share their tools and thus increase each other's working powers? Indeed they must do so or else the temple may not be built, or, being built, it may collapse, and we should all be proved again unteachable and have to go and try to learn again for a third time in a school of war incomparably more rigorous than that from which we have just been released. The dark ages may return, the Stone Age may return on the gleaming wings of science, and what might now shower immeasurable material blessings upon mankind, may even bring about its total destruction. Beware, I say; time may be short. Do not let us take the course of allowing events to drift along until it is too late. If there is to be a fraternal association of the kind of I have described, with all the strength and security which both our countries can derive from it, let us make sure that that great fact is known to the world, and that it plays its part in steadying and stabilizing the foundations of peace. There is the path of wisdom. Prevention is better than the cure.
A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately light by the Allied victory. Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytizing tendencies. I have a strong admiration and regard for the valiant Russian people and for my wartime comrade, Marshall Stalin. There is deep sympathy and goodwill in Britain -- and I doubt not here also -- towards the peoples of all the Russias and a resolve to persevere through many differences and rebuffs in establishing lasting friendships. We understand the Russian need to be secure on her western frontiers by the removal of all possibility of German aggression. We welcome Russia to her rightful place among the leading nations of the world. We welcome her flag upon the seas. Above all, we welcome, or should welcome, constant, frequent and growing contacts between the Russian people and our own people on both sides of the Atlantic. It is my duty however, for I am sure you would wish me to state the facts as I see them to you. It is my duty to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe.
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow. Athens alone -- Greece with its immortal glories -- is free to decide its future at an election under British, American and French observation. The Russian-dominated Polish Government has been encouraged to make enormous and wrongful inroads upon Germany, and mass expulsions of millions of Germans on a scale grievous and undreamed-of are now taking place. The Communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to pre-eminence and power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control. Police governments are prevailing in nearly every case, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy.
Turkey and Persia are both profoundly alarmed and disturbed at the claims which are being made upon them and at the pressure being exerted by the Moscow Government. An attempt is being made by the Russians in Berlin to build up a quasi-Communist party in their zone of occupied Germany by showing special favors to groups of left-wing German leaders. At the end of the fighting last June, the American and British Armies withdrew westward, in accordance with an earlier agreement, to a depth at some points of 150 miles upon a front of nearly four hundred miles, in order to allow our Russian allies to occupy this vast expanse of territory which the Western Democracies had conquered.
If no the Soviet Government tries, by separate action , to build up a pro-Communist Germany in their areas, this will cause new serious difficulties in the American and British zones, and will give the defeated Germans the power of putting themselves up to auction between the Soviets and the Western Democracies. Whatever conclusions may be drawn from these facts -- and facts they are -- this is certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent peace.
The safety of the world, ladies and gentlemen, requires a new unity in Europe, from which no nation should be permanently outcast. It is from the quarrels of the strong parent races in Europe that the world wars we have witnessed, or which occurred in former times, have sprung. Twice in our own lifetime we have seen the United States, against their wished and their traditions, against arguments, the force of which it is impossible not to comprehend, twice we have seen them drawn by irresistible forces, into these wars in time to secure the victory of the good cause, but only after frightful slaughter and devastation have occurred. Twice the United State has had to send several millions of its young men across the Atlantic to find the war; but now war can find any nation, wherever it may dwell between dusk and dawn. Surely we should work with conscious purpose for a grand pacification of Europe, within the structure of the United Nations and in accordance with our Charter. That I feel opens a course of policy of very great importance.
In front of the iron curtain which lies across Europe are other causes for anxiety. In Italy the Communist Party is seriously hampered by having to support the Communist-trained Marshal Tito's claims to former Italian territory at the head of the Adriatic. Nevertheless the future of Italy hangs in the balance. Again one cannot imagine a regenerated Europe without a strong France. All my public life I never last faith in her destiny, even in the darkest hours. I will not lose faith now. However, in a great number of countries, far from the Russian frontiers and throughout the world, Communist fifth columns are established and work in complete unity and absolute obedience to the directions they receive from the Communist center. Except in the British Commonwealth and in the United States where Communism is in its infancy, the Communist parties or fifth columns constitute a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization. These are somber facts for anyone to have recite on the morrow a victory gained by so much splendid comradeship in arms and in the cause of freedom and democracy; but we should be most unwise not to face them squarely while time remains.
The outlook is also anxious in the Far East and especially in Manchuria. The Agreement which was made at Yalta, to which I was a party, was extremely favorable to Soviet Russia, but it was made at a time when no one could say that the German war might no extend all through the summer and autumn of 1945 and when the Japanese war was expected by the best judges to last for a further 18 months from the end of the German war. In this country you all so well-informed about the Far East, and such devoted friends of China, that I do not need to expatiate on the situation there.
I have, however, felt bound to portray the shadow which, alike in the west and in the east, falls upon the world. I was a minister at the time of the Versailles treaty and a close friend of Mr. Lloyd-George, who was the head of the British delegation at Versailles. I did not myself agree with many things that were done, but I have a very strong impression in my mind of that situation, and I find it painful to contrast it with that which prevails now. In those days there were high hopes and unbounded confidence that the wars were over and that the League of Nations would become all-powerful. I do not see or feel that same confidence or event he same hopes in the haggard world at the present time.
On the other hand, ladies and gentlemen, I repulse the idea that a new war is inevitable; still more that it is imminent. It is because I am sure that our fortunes are still in our own hands and that we hold the power to save the future, that I feel the duty to speak out now that I have the occasion and the opportunity to do so. I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines. But what we have to consider here today while time remains, is the permanent prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries. Our difficulties and dangers will not be removed by closing our eyes to them. They will not be removed by mere waiting to see what happens; nor will they be removed by a policy of appeasement. What is needed is a settlement, and the longer this is delayed, the more difficult it will be and the greater our dangers will become.
From what I have seen of our Russian friends and Allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness. For that reason the old doctrine of a balance of power is unsound. We cannot afford, if we can help it, to work on narrow margins, offering temptations to a trial of strength. If the Western Democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles will be immense and no one is likely to molest them. If however they become divided of falter in their duty and if these all-important years are allowed to slip away then indeed catastrophe may overwhelm us all.
Last time I saw it all coming and I cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention. Up till the year 1933 or even 1935, Germany might have been saved from the awful fate which has overtaken here and we might all have been spared the miseries Hitler let loose upon mankind. there never was a war in history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe. It could have been prevented in my belief without the firing of a single shot, and Germany might be powerful, prosperous and honored today; but no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool. We surely, ladies and gentlemen, I put it to you, surely, we must not let it happen again. This can only be achieved by reaching now, in 1946, by reaching a good understanding on all points with Russia under the general authority of the United Nations Organization and by the maintenance of that good understanding through many peaceful years, by the whole strength of the English-speaking world and all its connections. There is the solution which I respectfully offer to you in this Address to which I have given the title, "The Sinews of Peace".
Let no man underrate the abiding power of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Because you see the 46 millions in our island harassed about their food supply, of which they only grow one half, even in war-time, or because we have difficulty in restarting our industries and export trade after six years of passionate war effort, do not suppose we shall not come through these dark years of privation as we have come through the glorious years of agony. Do not suppose that half a century from now you will not see 70 or 80 millions of Britons spread about the world united in defense of our traditions, and our way of life, and of the world causes which you and we espouse. If the population of the English-speaking Commonwealths be added to that of the United States with all that such co-operation implies in the air, on the sea, all over the globe and in science and in industry, and in moral force, there will be no quivering, precarious balance of power to offer its temptation to ambition or adventure. On the contrary there will be an overwhelming assurance of security. If we adhere faithfully to the Charter of the United Nations and walk forward in sedate and sober strength seeking no one's land or treasure, seeking to lay no arbitrary control upon the thoughts of men; if all British moral and material forces and convictions are joined with your own in fraternal association, the highroads of the future will be clear, not only for our time, but for a century to come.
Mapas pré-invasão da praia de Omaha. Clique nas imagens para aumentar.
No verso dos mapas, temos tabelas de nascer e por do sol e gradientes das praias. Me pergunto como foram esquecer dessas informações na invasão da Baía dos Porcos...
Omaha Beach - East (Colleville-sur-Mer), 21 de abril de 1944 (frente)
Omaha Beach - East (Colleville-sur-Mer), 21 de abril de 1944 (verso)
Omaha Beach - West (Vierville-sur-Mer), 21 de abril de 1944 (frente)
Omaha Beach - West (Vierville-sur-Mer), 21 de abril de 1944 (verso)
Com certeza os leitores desse blog conhecem os livros da coleção História Ilustrada da Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Esses pequenos livros, apesar da encadernação de qualidade duvidosa, apresentam boas figuras e fotos acompanhados de bons textos e traduções razoáveis, cobrindo vários aspectos da Segunda Guerra Mundial, com as seguintes séries:
Batalhas;
Tropas;
Líderes;
Armas;
Política em ação;
Conflito humano;
Campanhas.
A pouco tempo descobri que a Editora Renes ainda existe (!), e que podemos comprar a coleção completa. A quem interessar, segue o link: http://www.editorarenes.com.br/
Eu ainda prefiro ir montando a coleção comprando nos sebos... aceito doações e pago o frete :-)
A determinação da força militar oponente é chave para a vitória, e os aliados muito dependiam dessas informações para se preparar e enfrentar as colunas blindadas alemãs, tendo a real noção do quanto as baixas infligidas no inimigo o afetava.
Assim, a estimação da produção de armamentos, incluindo blindados, era um grande objetivo dos serviços de inteligência.
Através de espionagem e outros métodos convencionais, os aliados chegaram ao número de 1.400 tanques Panther produzidor por mês, entre Junho de 1940 e Setembro de 1942. Contudo, esta estimação não se confirmava em tanque, pois, com um número tão alto, a reposição dos veículos abatidos e até mesmo a formação de novos regimentos deveria ser maior e mais rápida do que o observado. Assim, está predição começou a ficar desacreditada, e os serviços de inteligência começaram a investir em outros métodos de estimação.
Observando cuidadosamente os veículos abatidos, notou-se que todos eles continham um número de série único inscrito nas caixas de marcha (e outros em chassis e outras pastes). Esta foi a chave para a estimação quase que sem erro da produção de blindados alemães.
Atualmente, várias análises estatísticas podem ser empregadas para a estimação do número de veículos, incluindo abordagens bayesianas. A abordagem mais comum é a estimação pontual através do estimador de variância mínima não enviesada. Apesar do nome complicado, a sua fórmula é simples:
Onde m é o maior valor serial encontrado em uma amostra de veículos, e k é o tamanho desta amostra. Naturalmente, quanto maior a amostra, mais exata é a estimação.
Um exemplo: suponha que a produção real em um mês seja de 20 veículos, e que destes 20, foram abatidos os seriais 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13 e 19. Então temos um m=19 e k=7. Aplicando os valores na fórmula, temos um N estimado de 20,71; bem próximo a produção real.
Aplicando-se este método, chegou-se a seguinte comparação:
Observando a estimação estatística e os registros de produção alemães, encontrados após a invasão, vemos que o erro médio da estimação é de apenas 2 veículos, contra o erro médio de 1120 em comparação com os métodos convencionais de inteligência.
A ciência Estatística muito evoluiu durante e após a Segunda Guerra, devido principalmente a grandiosidade dos eventos e números envolvidos. Importantes teorias presentes na Estatística de hoje foram formadas para a solução de problemas reais da segunda guerra. Um dos mais famosos é o problema do número de tanques da Alemanha, que irei falar em uma próxima postagem.
Uma situação curiosa é a proposta do estatístico Abraham Wald sobre o reforço necessário das fuselagens em aviões bombardeiros, que tomei conhecimento através da lista de discussão da Associação Brasileira de Estatística - ABE, que mencionou uma postagem de blog.
Wald foi confrontado com o seguinte problema: em quais lugares da fuselagem devemos reforçar a blindagem?
Como todo bom estatístico, Wald procurou se aproximar dos seus "dados", indo observar os aviões que retornavam do combate, atentando para os danos que eles apresentavam.
Após um tempo de observação, Wald fez a seguinte proposição: aumentem a blindagem das áreas que não levaram tiros.
Sim, parece loucura. Aumentar a blindagem das áreas que não levaram tiros soa como operar a perna errada, ou colocar curativos onde não há machucados.
Para entender bem a proposição de Wald, devemos - como todo bom Estatístico - atentar para os detalhes. Wald não observava todos os aviões, mas apenas os aviões que voltavam do combate, afinal não havia - em tempos de guerra - como observar os que eram abatidos. Logo, temos um direcionamento na análise: estamos observando apenas os aviões que retornavam à base.
Nisto, temos o brilhantismo da análise: se os aviões que retornaram não apresentam danos nestas seções, podemos admitir que os aviões que foram abatidos sofreram danos justamente nestas seções, que devem, portanto, receber reforço na blindagem.
A este aparente paradoxo, a Estatística deu o nome de Viés de Seleção, onde a interpretação do fenômeno observado é enviesada pela amostra selecionada, que no caso dos bombardeiros, eram apenas os que retornavam.
O tipo de humor de Winston Churchill é um dos meus preferidos, e sempre procuro fazer menção à trechos onde ele o exercita neste blog.
Um exemplo de sua acidez impecável ocorre quando ele transcreve a Declaração de Guerra da Grã-Bretanha ao Japão.
Foreign Office, December 8th
Sir,
On the evening of December 7th his Majesty's Góvernment in the United Kingdom learned that Japanese forces without previous warning either in the form of a declaration of war or of an ultimatum with a conditional declaration of war had attempted a landing on the coast of Malaya and bombed Singapore and Hong Kong
In view of these wanton acts of unprovoked aggression committed in flagrant violation on International Law and particularly of Article I of the Third Hague Convention relative to the opening of hostilities, to which both Japan and the United Kingdom are parties, His Majesty's Ambassor at Tokyo has been instructed to inform the Imperial Japanese Government that a state of war exists between out two contries.
I have the honour to be, with your high consideration,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
WINSTON CHURCHILL
Após transcrever a declaração, Churchill pondera:
Some people did not like this ceremonial style. But after all when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.
Abaixo o audio e texto da transmissão de rádio sobre a declaração de guerra.
As soon as I heard last night that Japan had attacked the United States, my first feeling was that Parliament should be immediately summoned. We are fighting for the maintenance of a parliamentary system, and it is indispensable to our system of Government that Parliament should play its full part in all the important acts of the state and on all the great occasions in the conduct of the war. The great number of members who attended in spite of the shortness of the notice shows the zeal and strictness with which the members of both Houses attend to their duties.
You will remember that a month ago, with the full approval of the nation and of the Empire, I pledged the word of Great Britain that should the United States become involved in a war with Japan, a British declaration would follow within the hour. I therefore spoke to President Roosevelt on the Atlantic telephone last night with a view to arranging the timing of our respective declarations. The President told me that he would this morning send a message to Congress, which of course as you all know is the instrument, the constitutional instrument, by which alone a United States declaration of war can be made.
And I assured him that we would follow immediately. However, it soon appeared that British territory in Malaya had also been the object of a Japanese attack, and later on it was announced from Tokyo that the Japanese High Command-not the Imperial Japanese Government-but the Japanese High Command had declared that a state of war existed with Great Britain and the United States.
There has been for a long time in Japan a number of military societies-secret societies-which have asserted their view of what the policy of Japan should be by murdering the Ministers whom they thought were not sufficiently "jingo" for their tastes. And it is to these bodies that the most strange and violent action of Japan's, so fateful for her future, must be ascribed.
In view of the attack, and of this declaration, there was no need to wait for the declaration by Congress, and in any case there was the complication that American time is nearly six hours behind ours. The Cabinet, therefore, which met at half-past-twelve today, have authorized an immediate declaration of war upon Japan. Instructions to this effect were sent to our Ambassador in Tokyo, and the Japanese chargé d'affaires in London and his staff have been given their passports.
Meanwhile, hostilities have already begun. The Japanese began a landing in British territory in Northern Malaya at about 6 o'clock-that's 1 a.m. local time yesterday-and they were immediately engaged by our troops who were there waiting for them.
The Home Office measures against Japanese nationals were set in motion a little after 10 last night. You will see, therefore, that no time has been lost, and you will see also that we are actually ahead of our engagements.
The Dutch Government in the East Indies-the Royal Netherlands Government-who preside over the important Oriental possessions of Holland, at once marked their solidarity with Great Britain and the United States. At 3 in the morning the Netherlands Minister informed our Foreign Office that his Government were telling the Japanese Government that in view of the hostile acts perpetrated by Japanese forces against two powers with whom the Netherlands maintain particularly close relations, they consider that, as a consequence, a state of war now exists between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Japan.
I don't know yet what part Siam will be called upon to play in this fresh war, but we have reports that Japanese troops have landed at Singora near the Kra Isthmus, which is in Siamese territory on the frontier of Malaya, very close to where the landing was made in our own territory. Just before Japan went to war-on the day before-I had sent the Siamese Prime Minister, or Thailand Prime Minister, the following message: "There is a possibility of imminent Japanese invasion of your country. If you are attacked, defend yourselves. The preservation of the true independence and sovereignty of Thailand is a British interest, and we shall regard an attack on you as an attack upon ourselves."
This afternoon we have had the speech of the President of the United States, addressed to the Congress under the most formal and solemn circumstances, and calling for an immediate recognition of a state of war.
It is worth while looking for a moment at the manner in which the Japanese have begun their assault upon the English-speaking world, and particularly upon the United States. Every circumstance of calculated and characteristic Japanese treachery was employed. The Japanese envoys, Nomura and Kurusu, there in Washington, were ordered to prolong their mission in the United States in order to keep conversations going while the surprise attack was being prepared-an attack which was to be delivered before any declaration of war. The President, you will remember, on Sunday had made an appeal to the Emperor of Japan, reminding him of the ancient friendship between the United States and Japan, by which Japan has greatly benefited, and impressing upon him the importance of preserving the peace in the Pacific. The attack upon the United States ships in Pearl Harbor, thousands of miles away from Japan, was the base and brutal reply.
No one can doubt that every effort to bring about a peaceful solution was made by the Government of the United States. We have all seen the immense patience and composure which they have shown in the face of the growing Japanese menace. But now all that is over. And now that the issue is joined in a most direct manner, it only remains for the two great Democracies to face their task with whatever strength God may give them.
We must hold ourselves very fortunate, and I think we may say that our affairs have not been ill-guided, when we reflect that in all our period of weakness after Dunkirk we were not attacked alone-while we were alone-by Japan-or indeed at any time in 1940, before the United States had fully realised the dangers which threatened the whole world. In all that period we were in very great danger of having an attack made upon us in the Far East to which we could not have made any adequate resistance. But so precarious and narrow was the margin upon which we then lived, that we did not dare express the sympathy which we have all along felt for the heroic people of China. We were even forced for a short time in the Summer of 1940 to agree to the closing of the Burma Road by which they get their supplies. We had to bow for the time to the force of the hurricane. But later, as time passed, at the beginning of this year-as soon as we had regathered our strength after the Battle of Britain had been won-we reversed that policy, and the House will remember that both I and the Foreign Secretary have felt able to make increasingly outspoken declarations of friendship.
When I said this in the House this afternoon, there was general assent that we have moved steadily forward, as our strength has grown, in our declarations of friendship to the Chinese people and their great leader, General Chiang Kai-shek.
We have always been friends with the Chinese since the beginning of this vile outrage upon them more than four years ago, and last night I cabled to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, assuring him that henceforward we would face the common foe together.
Although the imperative demands of the war in Europe and in Africa have strained our resources, vast and growing though they be, you and all the Empire will notice that some of the finest ships in the Royal Navy have reached their stations in the Far East at a very convenient moment. Every preparation in our power has been made, every preparation which our resources allowed-and you must not forget the many calls upon us-has been made. And I do not doubt that wherever we are attacked we shall give a good account of ourselves.
The closest accord has been established with the powerful American naval and air forces, as also with the strong, efficient forces belonging to the Royal Netherlands Government in the Netherlands East Indies. All this has been arranged. We have our great preoccupations here in Europe, but at the same time everything that our resources, everything that forethought can do, has been done to prepare for this long threatened storm in the Far East which has now broken upon us and on our friends across the Atlantic Ocean.
When we think of the insane ambition and insatiable appetite, which have caused this vast, melancholy extension of the war, we can only feel that Hitler's madness has infected the Japanese minds and that the root of the evil and its branch must be extirpated together.
My friends, let me say this. It is of the highest importance that there should be no underrating of the gravity of the new dangers we have to meet, either here in this Island, or those dangers which the United States have to meet. The enemy has attacked with an audacity which may spring from recklessness, but which may also spring from a conviction of strength.
One thing is certain: The need for greater effort in munitions production. That must impress itself upon every mind tonight. It is quite certain that some of the supplies on which we had counted, which had been diverted to Russia, will have to be made good by us. It may well be that in the next few months we shall have a gap to fill. It is particularly necessary that all munition workers, all those who are engaged in war industries, should make a further effort proportionate to the magnitude of the perils and to the magnitude of our cause. Particularly does this apply to tanks, and above all to aircraft-aircraft will be more than ever necessary now that the war has spread over so many wide spaces of the earth. I appeal to all those in the factories to do their utmost to make sure that we make an extra contribution to the general resources of the great alliance of free peoples, which has been hammered and forged into strength under and amidst the fires of war.
The ordeal to which the English-speaking world and our heroic Russian Allies are being exposed will certainly be hard, especially at the outset, and it will probably be long. But when we look around us, upon the sombre panorama of the world, we have no reason to doubt the justice of our cause, nor have we any reason to doubt that our strength and our will-power will be sufficient to sustain it.
We have at least four-fifths of the population of the globe upon our side. We are responsible for their safety-we are responsible for their future. And as I told the House of Commons this afternoon, in the past we had a light which flickered, in the present we have a light which flames, and in the future there will be a light which will shine calm and resplendent over all the land and all the sea!
Comecei a rever dia desses o filme Das Boot. Esse é, sem dúvida alguma, um dos melhores filmes sobre segunda guerra que já assisti.
Este é um filme épico de guerra, dirigido por Wolfgang Petersen, sendo uma adaptação de um livro de mesmo nome lançado em 1973, de Lothar-Günther Buchheim.
O filme conta uma história fictícia do U-96 e sua tripulação, em outubro de 1941. Apesar da história ser fictícia, a embarcação existiu.
U-96 real
O filme se inicia com a confrartenização da tripulação, na véspera de zarparem, em um prostíbulo na cidade portuária de La Rochele, França. Interessante notar a forma em que os personagens são apresentados, tendo como narrador da história o personagem de um correspondente de guerra, Lt. Werner, da própria Kriegsmarine, que embarca na missão para documentar uma história de um U-Boat.
O filme deixa claro a posição anti-nazista da tripulação, especialmente com as confrontações do capitão com um oficial novato à bordo. De fato, na Kriegsmarine, tão como em outras Waffen, chega-se dizer que a maioria dispunha de antipatia contra o regime nazista, situação que se agravou nos últimos anos de guerra.
A história percorre várias situações da luta submarina da época, mostrando as condições sanitárias e psicológicas da viagem. Impossível não notar a quantidade de comida, principalmente imbutidos, que é pendurada por toda a embarcação, incluindo o descomissionamento de um banheiro, transformado em dispensa. Vale lembrar que estas embarcações navegavam meses sem se reabastecer.
Quase todo o filme se passa no interior do submarino, demonstrando bem a atmosfera fechada, claustofóbrica, esfumaçada, mal-cheirosa, oleosa e barulhenta de um U-boat.
Este ambiente é algumas vezes quebrado em curtas sequências de ação, quando o submarino sofre ataques aéreos ou quando vislumbra possíveis alvos. Entre momentos de monotonia e de ação, cenas de festas e piadas da tripulação se misturam, criando uma atmosfera tensa e psicodélica ao filme, justificando o seu subtítulo: uma jornada ao fim da mente.
Dentre várias cenas interessantes, temos a que o maquinista sofre um surto nervoso após um ataque de um destroyer com cargas de profundidade.
Mecânico Chefe Johann
Mecânico Chefe Johann, após o colapso.
O Capitão, também chamado de KaLeu (Kapitänleutnant), ou Der Alte (o velho) pela tripulação.
Capitão Thomsen, um dos capitães "das antigas" (Alt Gang), cheio de brios do passado, agora um bêbado
O filme se inicia em um prostíbulo. A cantora ataca o Lt. Werner, e o seu amigo responde "Deixe-o viver, o Führer precisa dele".
Insignica do U-96
Cena da saída do submarino em La Rochele.
La Rochele (real)
Os principais oficiais
Cenas do set de filmagem:
Sala das máquinas
Dormitório
Ponte, ou centro de comando
Ponte, com destaque a mesa de navegação
Ponte
Sala dos torpedos
Trailer do filme, na nova versão em Blu-ray,.
O filme, no Youtube (qualidade baixa, sem legendas...)
