A new book reveals MI6's attempt to impede the postwar Jewish settlement of Palestine.
Also: Operation sheep drop
When the Italian army invaded East Africa in the mid-1930s, pre-packaged ration technology had not yet reached a point where one could carry a lot of food into a desert and expect it to say edible.
The fascists solved that problem using a little ingenuity, some sheep, and a bunch of little parachutes.
Enter the flying supply column, a new idea in warfare at the time, but one that would be used again in future conflicts. Twenty-five planes carried water, ammunition and rations for the Italians as they advanced on Emperor Haile Selassie's Army of the Ethiopian Empire. As they supposedly refused to eat the standard pre-packaged processed food that accompanied most armies and because fresh meat would spoil in the extreme temperatures of Danakil, the supply planes dropped living animals for the troops to butcher and cook. By the time the army had finished their trek, seventy-two sheep and two bulls had been pushed from planes, parachutes strapped to their backs.
The Last RAF Pilots from the Battle of Britain
Only 79 British Royal Air Force pilots who stood against the Nazi horde in 1940 are still alive. The Daily Mail gathered 17 of them for a group portrait and told biographical sketches of each one. Here’s the tale of Air Commodore John Ellacombe:Single-handedly took on 12 German planes over the South East coast. ‘I went straight at them and started firing – and didn’t stop.’ He brought his Hurricane down in a field after a bullet hit his engine. ‘As I pulled myself out of the plane I saw a man running towards me, waving a pitchfork and shouting, “I am going to kill you, you bloody German!” He was chasing me around the plane. It was like a scene from Benny Hill.’ Fortunately four British soldiers arrived and disarmed him.
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