On 6 June 2023 russia destroyed the Nova Kakhovka dam.
Hundreds of square kilometres were flooded, homes destroyed, untold numbers of people died (many under russian occupation were simply dumped in mass graves). Priceless artwork destroyed - the final attached image is how the house of Polina Rayko looked before it was destroyed. Natural habitats ruined, very many animals died.
#NeverForget that it was #OnThisDay that convicted felon, pedophile, tax fraud, draft-dodger, wannabe dictator #Trump called the heroes of #D-Day #suckers and #losers for having made the ultimate sacrifice for their countries.
Distributed #OnThisDay eighty years ago, on June 6, 1944:
General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s #DDay message, addressing the soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force, produced by His Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO), and the “One Minute” leaflet telling German troops to surrender, produced by the Psychological Warfare Division (PWD).
#OnThisDay, 5 Jun 1833, Ada Lovelace meets Charles Babbage, triggering their collaboration on the Analytical Engine and writing the first published program.
#OnThisDay in 1989, the People's Liberation Army violently cracked down on a student protest calling for freedom of speech, less censorship, and an end to government corruption in what is known as the #TiananmenSquare massacre. Although the exact death toll is unknown, estimates range from several hundred to 10,000, with many more wounded.
Stateside, Chinese students protested and called for an extension of their student visas.
#OnThisDay, 4 Jun 1972, civil rights activist Angela Davis is acquitted in a trial over her alleged involvement in the 1970 Marin County Civic Centre attack.
Davis had been prosecuted for three capital felonies, including conspiracy to murder, after guns she owned were used in the attack. The all-white jury cleared her of all charges.
Reinhard #Heydrich, one of the architects of the #holocaust, died #OnThisDay in 1942, from wounds inflicted by Czech SOE agents during an ambush some days earlier.
"I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. And much more. But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee, and that made me mad."
Happy birthday to antifascist bisexual icon, entertainer, and truth teller, Josephine Baker, born June 3, 1906.
Greetings from Charmylos…I've sent you 5,000 nuts. Please order someone to receive them from our agent. Thanks. #OTD#OnThisDay June 3rd, 257 BCE #5000nuts
100 years ago #OnThisDay, 3 Jun 1924, Alfonsina Strada crosses the finish line of the Giro d'Italia. She remains the only woman to have officially ridden in a Grand Tour.
At one point she had been disqualified on time grounds but was allowed to continue without the option of prizes. She finished ahead of the lantern rouge (the last cyclist to finish).
#OnThisDay, May 31, 1921, the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as “Black Wall Street”, was attacked by a white mob that burned the neighborhood, killing between 100 and 300 black people and injuring hundreds more (depicted in Watchmen, 2019)
#OnThisDay, May 29, 1953, mountaineers Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the 29,035-foot summit of Mount Everest (depicted in Hillary, "Everest" s01e03, 2018)
#OnThisDay, May 28, 1863, the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment left Boston with fanfare to fight in the U.S. Civil War (depicted in Glory, 1989)
#OnThisDay, 28 May 1944, Sonia Butt parachutes into occupied France as an explosives expert for the British Special Operations Executive. She had turned 20 two weeks earlier.
She trained the maquis and coordinated sabotage operations. She was never captured.