Mad Cows and Englishmen - Michaelmass Madness 29 September

On this day, the 29 September (Michaelmass Day) in 1997 British scientists established a link between a human brain disease and one found in cows. The stunning conclusion of two major studies was that a new version of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (vCJD), was caused by eating BSE-infected meat. At that time 21 people in the UK were suffering from the disease. I have written elsewhere on the early causes of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad cow disease" and the studies proved that the two diseases were caused by the same infectious protein. It was also discovered that the risk of humans becoming infected with vCJD depended on their having a genetic makeup that included a combination of genes called "M-M".

On this day in 1997 there had already been 18 human deaths from vCJD. Two months after these findings, a selective cull of cattle at most risk to the disease was started, and a 'beef on the bone' ban introduced. Since then there have been 139 deaths due to vCJD and there are 5 people who are still alive who are known to be dying of the illness. There are still an unknown number of people who may be incubating the disease - conceivably as many as the 32% of the population of Britain (about 19 million people) who have the "M-M" gene combination - but numbers have been declining since a peak in 2000. Hundreds of thousands of cattle have been culled to try and eradicate the disease.

Bells of Balanggiga

At Warren Air Force base outside Cheyenne, in the USA, there are two bells. The bells were taken as war booty from the church in Balanggiga, in Samar, in the Philippine Islands by US forces in retaliation for an uprising that took place there on this day, 28 September 1901, during the Philippine-American war.

There are, differing accounts of what actually took place. US historians, mainly in the person of one Joseph L. Schott, give a colourful account of Filipino mothers smuggling machetes about the village in coffins, small boys giving the signal to attack the defenceless American soldiers whilst they ate breakfast and American soldiers being mercilessly wiped out by hordes of vicious screaming Filipino madmen, armed to the teeth with bolo knives, picks and shovels - a massacre in other words. Others have questioned this view and suggested instead that the uprising was simply an ongoing part of the, largely guerilla, Filipino attempt at achieving liberation and Statehood and some have stated the view that the townspeople of Balanggiga rose up out of fear under the US occupation of their town.

If you were to ask yourself what you would do under similar circumstances you might, I suspect, be able to guess at the truth.

What seems to be nearest to the truth is that Company C of the US 9th Infantry were occupying the town at the time and Valeriano Abanador, the police chief, initiated the attack by assaulting Private Adolph Gamlin, who was on guard. Some undetermined time after this, a bell in the church tower was rung - which may or may not have been a signal for the other townsfolk to join battle.

Abanador grabbed Gamlin's rifle and as he did so, two other men killed the guards outside the convent and municipal hall. Other townspeople, armed with machetes, picks and shovels, (against the infantry's rifles) collapsed the US army's Sibley tents that were pitched in front of the municipal hall, entered the hall and made their way to the second floor. At the same time, other men in the church broke through into the convent through a connecting corridor and attacked and killed the officers who were billeted there. At the same time, an attack on the mess tent and the two barracks got underway.

This is where the plan came unstuck. With their meagre forces split into three, the townspeople had too few attackers to ensure success.

Some of the US soldiers who had been penned up in the barracks, were able to retake the municipal hall, arm themselves and fight back. At about the same time, Adolph Gamlin recovered consciousness, found a rifle and caused considerable casualties among the people outside the municipal hall.

Faced with immensely superior firepower (i.e. guns) and a rapidly degrading attack, Abanador ordered a retreat. The 9th Infantry survivors, being in insufficient numbers to hold the town, escaped by sea, after which the townspeople returned to bury their dead, then abandoned the town.

36 US soldiers were killed during the attack (including all of the commissioned officers). 26 US infantry men survived although only 4 were not wounded. On the townspeoples' side, there were 28 deaths and 22 were wounded.

Public demand in the U.S. for retaliation became a major issue, so President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the pacification of Samar. In six months, General 'Jake' Smith transformed Balanggiga into a 'howling wilderness.' He ordered his men to kill anybody capable of carrying arms, including ten-year-old boys. Smith particularly ordered Major Littleton Waller to punish the people of Samar for the deaths of the American troops. His exact orders were: "I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn, the better you will please me."

On or about October 25th, the 11th Infantry took two of the town's bells, these, according to Schotts account being the device that was used to launch a co-ordinated attack, and returned with them to the United States in 1904 to then-Fort Russell (now AFB Warren). The bells were finally abandoned there in 1913. A third, smaller bell, (probably the one that was rung during the uprising), according to Jim Beane, a former 9th Infantry sergeant, was later crated up and sent to Madison Barracks in New York. It is now with the 9th Infantry in Korea.

The Phillippine government have made repeated attempts to have the bells returned with no succces.

Probably becauase the US won, neither General Smith nor Major Waller were ever bought to account for war crimes - which is a bit of a surprise - to say the least.

Balanggiga - Massacre or just part of a heroic bid for freedom - what do you think?

Yanks Biffed at Pulang Lupa 13 September

In December 1898, the U.S. purchased the Philippines and other territories from Spain at the Treaty of Paris for 20 million US dollars. The US had plans to make the Philippines an American colony - which is a bit of a cheek for a nation that was and is, supposedly, against colonialism.

The people of the Philippines, who had had been fighting for their independence from Spain since 1896, rightly, had a different idea, and had already declared their independence on June 12. The US response, was to send, on August 14, 11,000 ground troops to occupy the Philippines. This was the start of The Philippine-American War and 129,000 more US troops were soon to follow. (We might ask, a century later, if the US has learned anything at all from history?)

On this day, September 13, in 1900 at Pulang Lupa, which is in Torrijos on Marinduque island in the Philippines, resistance fighters and guerrillas led by Colonel Maximo Abad inflicted a crushing defeat on a detachment of the US 29th Infantry, who were commanded by Captain Devereux Shields. The battle began when Abad and his men surrounded the infantrymen and fired a volley into the soldiers. Shields, realising that he was almost completely surrounded, ordered a retreat. But before his forces got far, Colonel Abad led a charge against the Americans. The result of the charge was a short but extremely vicious hand to hand fight, with Abad's men making use of their native machete - the bolo. The Americans took very heavy casualties, and retreated further. The guerrillas pursued and harried the Americans as they fled. The battle lasted all that day and into the early morning of the next day, when Captain Shields and his surviving men attempted to surrender en masse. But as they did, Abads men fired upon them and hacked them up with bolo knives. Many experts consider this the most bloody engagement of the war. Unfortunately, while it was undoubtedly one of only a few confidence-boosting victories for the Filipinos, it could not avert the inevitable defeat, which came, finally in 1913.

A very nasty, unnecessary and bloody war, the US lost some 4,324 American soldiers with 2,818 wounded. The Philippine Constabulary - in support of the US occupation, suffered 2,000 casualties, of which over a thousand were fatalities. In contrast, the Philippine military deaths are estimated at 20,000, while civilian deaths numbered around 1,000,000. The high casualty figures suffered by the people of the Philippines were due mostly to the superior arms and numbers of the Americans who were utterly merciless in suppressing what they viewed as an insurrection.

I wonder, if the US had not have won (since history is written by the victors), would the world have called this genocide?

Olaf Tryggvason, King of Vikings 9 September

There was once an island in the Baltic called Svolder (or Swold in modern English). Its exact location is now unknown because, in the course of a thousand years the coastline of the Baltic has altered enormousely and parts of the sea have silted up. As far as anyone knows, its most likely position was near Rügen, on the North German Coast.

On this day, 9 September, 1000, a sea battle took place there between the Norwegian Vikings, led by the great Norwegian mythic hero King Olaf Tryggvason and his enemies Eric Hakonson, his cousin and rival; Olaf, the king of Sweden; Sweyn Forkbeard, king of Denmark and the King of the Wends, Hallfred Ottarson.

The Icelandic sagas are the only source that retell the events of this great and tragic moment in viking history. During the summer, Olaf Tryggvason had been in the eastern Baltic with his fleet, biffing the Latvians.

Olaf's enemies, jealous of his power and great skill as a leader in battle, lay in wait for him at the island of Swold. Unbeknown to Olaf, they were intending to ambush him on his way home for the winter. Olaf's fleet sailed past the anchorage of Eric Hakonson in a long column - Olaf had parted earlier in the year on good terms so no attack was expected. Olaf was in the rear of his column in his great longship the Long Serpent. Olaf's enemies allowed the bulk of the Norwegian ships to pass, and then stood out to attack, hoping to catch Olaf's ship alone.

Olaf and his fleet could have escaped by the use of sail and oar, but with the true viking spirit he turned to give battle with the eleven ships immediately about him. Olaf lashed his ships together, side by side. His own, the Long Serpent, the finest war-vessel yet built in the north, was in the middle of the line, where her bows projected beyond the others. The idea was to leave all hands free to fight in a floating fort. Barriers were thrown up using oars and yards, limiting severely the enemy's routes of attack.

The Danes and Swedes rushed with 60 longships at the front of Olaf's line but with no success. Eric Hakonson attacked the flank. His vessel, the Iron Ram, was strengthened across the bows with bands of iron, and he forced his longship between the last and last but one of Olaf's line - overpowering the outer longship. He then rowed around and repeated the manouvre until, after many hours of combat, Olaf's ship, the Long Serpent alone was left.

At last, after fearsome hand to hand fighting. the Long Serpent too was overpowered. At that last, crucial moment, as his enemies pressed him about trying to capture him for ransom, a sudden blaze of vivid white light surrounded the king, blinding his enemies. Olaf, red with the blood of the slain, leapt into the sea, clasping his shield edgeways to his chest. He sank at once as the weight of his hauberk dragged him down and when at last the light faded, Olaf had disappeared forever below the heaving waves.

When the saga was told, the people would not believe that Olaf had died and looked ever to sea for his return.

So died Olaf Tryggvason, King of Vikings.

V-2 Rocket Hits London 8 September

On this day, 8 September, 1944, the first V-2 rocket was fired at London. The V-2 rocket (which gets its name from the German 'Vergeltungswaffe 2' or "reprisal weapon 2", was an early ballistic missile used by Germany during the later stages of World War II against mostly British and Belgian targets. The Germans had been developing the weapon since as early as 1927 and the V-2 was put into production in 1943. Our chaps were already aware of the weapon because an earlier test at Blizna in Poland, a fired missile had been recovered by Polish resistance agents from the banks of the Western Bug, and the details had passed on to British intelligence.

The British, in an attempt to delay the construction of the weapon, launched a massive bombing campaign against Peenemunde which, although successful, also killed many slave workers.

Most of the engineers involved in the project were keen on a mobile launch system, but, luckily for us, Hitler pressed for the construction of massive underground launch complexes. Adolf's grand plan was to have the rockets produced at dozens of factories which could be shipped to the launch sites in a continuous stream by rail and launched immediately. Bonkers, of course, every time a launch site was started our chaps bombed it out of existence, sometimes while the concrete was still wet. This delayed development considerably. Eventually, Adolf gave in and a mobile launch system was developed from which the missile could be launched practically anywhere, roads running though forests being a particular favourite. The system was so mobile and small that not one Meillerwagen was ever caught in action.

V-2 mass production took place at the Mittelwerk tunnel system under the Kohnstein mountain, part of the Mittelbau-Dora slave labour camp complex, near Nordhausen, Germany. Fatalities among the slave labourers was staggering, over 100 died every day and the majority of the slaves were Russian, Polish and French, although there were also prisoners of war, foreign workers and Germans forced to compulsory work.

When in full swing, 3172 V-2s were fired, of which 1402 were fired at England, with 1358 of them landing on London. Unlike the V1 Flying Bomb (or Buzz Bomb, as it was known), which made a characteristic buzzing sound, the V-2 traveled faster than the speed of sound, with no warning before impact and no possibility of defence. However, apart from the psychological effect, the V-2 was militarily ineffective. Its guidance systems were too primitive, each one cost as much as a four-engined bomber, which was more accurate, had a longer range, carried many more warheads, and was (providing our brave boys didn't shoot them from the sky) reusable.

Nevertheless, in all, 7000 civilians were killed in London by V-2 rockets.

After the war, Von Braun, who was the designer, went to work for the US Army. He became the father of almost all US rocketry, working on the Redstone, Jupiter, Jupiter-C, Pershing, and Saturn rockets. So that's alright then.

The Blitz 7 September

On this day, 7 September, in 1940, Nazi Germany started an aerial bombardment of Britain. Centred initially around the Docks situated in the East End of London, by the end of the war in 1945 the 'Blitz', as it became known, had inflicted around 43,000 deaths. Additionally, over a million houses were destroyed and 'bombsites' were still a part of Britains urban landscape until the early 1980s. Nevertheless, the Blitz failed to achieve the Germans' strategic objectives of knocking Britain out of the war or rendering it unable to resist an invasion. - So jolly hard cheese Adolf, you beastly, cabbage-eating swine!

The first raid on 7 September involved 300 bombers escorted by 600 fighters. A further 180 bombers attacked that night. Sadly, because of the inaccurate nature of bombing at the time, many of the bombs aimed at the docks fell on neighbouring residential areas, killing 430 Londoners and injuring another 1,600. This was a pattern that continued until mid-November 1940, with an average of 200 bombers attacking London almost every night.

By February 1941, when the Blitz still hadn't acheived its objective of bringing dear old Blighty to its knees, the focus of activity changed. (For those of you who are experts in such things, one of the major tenants of war-winning doctrine is 'maintenance of aim', which, luckily for us, young Mr Hitler didn't learn when he was at school - no doubt because of his all-consuming passion for painting houses and dressing up in strange outfits.) Anyway, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, well known German nautical type, persuaded Adolf to switch the focus of the campaign and attack British ports in support of the Battle of the Atlantic. Hitler, being the sort of chap he was - always happy to oblige a sailor - issued a directive on 6 February ordering the Luftwaffe to concentrate its efforts on ports.

That pretty much blew his chances, especially since the plucky Brits had by now come up with the Bristol Beaufighter, mounted with airborne radar systems, ground-based radar systems that guided night fighters to their targets, and an increasing number of anti-aircraft guns and searchlights that were radar-controlled. The tide was turning against the Bosch and the Luftwaffe's losses mounted. Finally, with the impending invasion of Russia requiring the movement of air power to the East, the Blitz was wound down in May 1941. Hurrah!

We shouldn't forget though, that Adolf was a multi-faceted chap (for a murderous dictator, that is) and, whilst Blitzing our brave East-enders, he was also orchastrating the Treaty of Craiova between Romania and Bulgaria. The treaty, signed on 7 September 1940, forced Romania to give the southern part of Dobrogea (the Cadrilater) to Bulgaria and to participate in the organization of a 'population exchange'. 88,000 Romanians and Aromanians were forced to abandon their houses in southern Dobrogea to move north while 65,000 Bulgarians had to move south.

Ethnic cleansing by bomb or bullet - all one to your thorough-going tyrant.

The Great Fire of London 2 September

On this day in 1666, a man called Thomas Farrinor, who was a baker to King Charles II and lived in Pudding Lane, in London retired for the evening. Some time, shortly after midnight, smouldering embers from the oven, which Farrinor had not properly extinguished earlier, set alight some nearby firewood. In London at that time, most buildings, including Farrinors bakery, were constructed of highly combustible materials like wood and straw and so a fire quickly took hold. Farrinor and his family managed to escape the burning building by climbing out through an upstairs window. The baker's housemaid failed to escape and was burned to death. A neighbour called Samuel Pepys was woken by the fire at around 1am.

Within an hour of the fire starting, the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Bloodworth, was woken with the news. He declared that "a woman might piss it out." Sadly, Sir Thomas was mistaken - the fire consumed a staggering 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, 6 chapels, 44 Company Halls, the Royal Exchange, the Custom House, St Paul's Cathedral, the Guildhall, the Bridewell Palace and other City prisons, the Session House, four bridges across the rivers Thames and Fleet, and three city gates, and made homeless 100,000 people, one sixth of the city's inhabitants at that time. Incredibly only 16 people died.

A writer at the time said: "Then the city did shake indeed, and the inhabitants did tremble, and flew away in great amazement from their houses, lest the flames should devour them: rattle, rattle, rattle, was the noise which the fire struck upon the ear round about, as if there had been a thousand iron chariots beating upon the stones. You might see the houses tumble, tumble, tumble, from one end of the street to the other, with a great crash, leaving the foundations open to the view of the heavens."

It is beleived that the destructive fury of this fire was never exceeded in any part of the world, by any fire originating in an accident. Within the walls of the City, it consumed almost five-sixths of the whole city; and outside the walls it cleared a space nearly as extensive as the one-sixth part left unburnt within. Hardly a single building was left standing. Public buildings, churches, and houses - all gone.

2 September 1666 - The Great Fire of London.

World Created 1 September

On this day, 1st September, 5509 BC the world was created. At least, if you are a member of one of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, today is definitely the day. On the other hand, in the western churches, Sunday, October 23, 4004 BC was the big day. For Jews, a certain ambiguity is acceptable and either Elul 25, AM 1 or Adar 25, AM 1 could be correct. It all comes down to how you decide to interpret the Book of Genesis in which a description is given of how God created the world - in six days. In this account, God also is supposed to have created the first human, a man named Adam. Genesis goes on to list a number of Adam's descendants, in many cases giving the ages at which they had children and died. If these events and ages are interpreted literally, it is possible to build up a chronology in which many of the events of the Old Testament are dated to an estimated number of years after the Creation. Over the years people have matched this Biblical chronology with recorded history and established a date for the Creation in a modern calendar. Unfortunately, there are periods in the Biblical story where dates are not given which has, not surprisingly, resulted in a variety of estimates of the date of Creation.

The two dominant dates for Biblical Creation using these estimates place the dates in about 5500 BC or about 4000 BC. Why the two dates? Well, astonishingly, there are two versions of the Word of God and most of the difference arise from two different versions of the Book of Genesis. The oldest version was translated into Greek from the Hebrew Torah during the third century BC and is known as the first book of the Septuagint. It was used by Jews until about 100AD, then by all Christians until 405AD, then by the Byzantines until 1453. This version is still used by the Orthodox churches.

The newer was a revision of the Torah by Jews in about 100AD, and is still used by all Jews today. Jerome translated this book into Latin and it is known as the first book of the Vulgate. From then it has been used by all Western Christians, who split into Roman Catholics and Protestants beginning in 1517.

Basically, the differences are down to the ages of various patriarchs from Adam to the father of Abraham. (For those who are interested in this stuff see Genesis 5, 11). The resulting difference between the two genealogies was 1466 years which is, for the bright sparks among you, almost all of the difference between 5500 BC and 4000 BC.

So there you have it. Just a couple of other slight difficulties with this idea, for a start off, according to Hindus, the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation each lasting exactly 4,320,000 years. The current universe is believed to have been created 3,893,100 years ago (and the earth with it) and is expected to dissolve in 426,900 years from now. What is more, the Mayan calendar dates the Earth to August 11 or August 13, 3114 BC.

Some of us, tend to need a slightly more scientific approach to figuring all of this out - dodgy translations of old fables being a tad to 'open to interpretation' and for those, the age of the Earth is considered to be 4.55 billion years - based upon dating of mineral crystal deposits and meteorites.

Of course, if you are of a different persuasion altogether, you might remember September 1st as the day Cetshwayo ascended to the throne as king of the Zulu nation following the death of his father Mpande in 1873 - or some such other momentous event.