History of The Week: Battle of the Bulge
February 21, 2024
Jackson Unger
Staff Reporter
On December 16th, 1944, American troops lay in cover of the thick Ardennes Forest in the heart of Belgium. The sounds of rumbling engines and the squeaking of steel tracks breaking the silence as over 200,000 German troops and 1,000 tanks rush to break down the allied defenses for Hitler’s last-ditch attempt to run the Allies out of Europe. What would later become known as the Battle of the Bulge would ultimately lead to the complete and utter downfall of the Third Reich.
Following D-Day in June of 1944, American troops stormed across Europe liberating France from Nazi control two months later. However, as troops reached the Ardennes Forest in Belgium, supplies and men began to be drawn scarce due to supply shortages. The Germans, recognizing the weakness, planned an operation that would split the Allied forces in half, forcing many troops to retreat as stated by the Britannica.
The attack would rely heavily on the use of German tanks such as the Stug III, Panzer IV, Tigers, and Panthers. By December 24th, German forces had passed by Bastogne and approached within four miles of the Meuse River. When the 101st Airborne division in Bastogne were requested to surrender, Anthony C. McAuliffe responded with “Nuts!” and continued defending the city with the dwindling amount of ammunition and manpower according to the US Army website.
However, as time dragged on, resources such as rations, ammunition and fuel for the troops and tanks decreased rapidly, forcing the Germans to go on the defensive. As a result, the Allied forces, including Bernard Montgomery’s reserve forces and General Patton’s third army, were able to forestall the Germans offensive and relieve forces in Bastogne. By January 8th, 1945, American forces launched a counteroffensive which forced the German forces back all the way to where they started and evntually to the gates of Berlin.
Image Credit: History Extra
Villisca Murder Case
February 26, 2024
Addy Kennedy
Staff Reporter
The murder case happened in the small town of Villisca, Iowa. A family of six and two friends died in this axe murder on June 9th, 1912. There were two main suspects of this crime. This case went unsolved.
According to the Des Moines Register the victims consisted of the two parents, Josiah and Sarah Moore, their kids Herman, Katherine, Boyd, and Paul Moore, and the kids’ friends Ina and Lena Stillinger. All victims were stabbed to death with an axe. In the guest room where Lena Stillinger was found a four-pound slab of bacon. She was repositioned with her nightgown moved up. There were also signs of the killer swinging the axe in a celebratory frenzy.
Due to the bizarre nature of this crime people started suspecting a reverend named George Kelly. People suspected him due to his erratic and perverted behavior. Iowa Cold Cases states, the day after the murders Kelly was seen leaving town by train. While on the train he was heard telling passengers that eight souls were left behind.
Though, there was another suspect named Frank Jones. According to the Crime Library, the main reason for people to suspect Jones was the work rivalry between him and Josiah Moore causing a hatred between the two. It was also rumored that Moore was having an affair with Jones’ daughter. Jones was going to hire an axe murderer named William Mansfield, but Mansfield was out of town the night of the murders.
To this day the case remains unsolved. People have made theories as to what could have happened that night, but no one is certain. You are able to visit the house where these murders took place.
Image Credit: Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
History of The Week: Cologne Tank Duel
February 29, 2024
Jackson Unger
Staff Reporter
On March 6th, 1945, American troops advance through the German city of Cologne during Operation Lumberjack. Explained by the Battle Archives website the operation was a big push to put an American foothold on the west bank of the river Rhine. Hiding beneath a tunnel of the nearby railroad station a German tank known as the Panther lurks in the shadows.
According to the Tank Encyclopedia website, the American tanks, namely the M4 Sherman and are known for being technologically underdeveloped to the German tanks including the Panther. However, as the war dragged on, the Americans quickly developed the T26E3 Pershing. Despite the benefits the tank had, it was very under wraps with very few being produced at this point and the troops in the city having only one.
As two Shermans advance through the city, they are stopped by a pile of rubble from a collapsed building. While waiting for the rubble to be cleared the Panther opens fire and quickly destroys the two Shermans. Following the successful ambush, the Panther moves from its cover and takes a position in an intersection and waits for the Americans to continue the advance.
According to the Warfare History Network, Eagle 7, the Pershing is informed of the nearby threat while advancing along a parallel street. Leaving the safety of the tank, the commander inspects the position of the Panther on foot, with the cannon still facing the two burning Shermans. Realizing the advantage Pershing has over the Panther, Eagle 7 decides to advance up the parallel street and attack the tank from the side.
Eagle 7, expecting to see the Panther facing the same direction, sped across the intersection to witness the enemy tank facing them. Quickly the Pershing fired three consecutive shots into the side of the Panther as the German commander misidentified the American tank as a friendly tank. The crew of the Panther crew would escape as their tank’s ammunition begins to explode.
Image Credit: WarfareHistoryNetwork.com / Clash of heavy tank at Cologne
The Lizzie Borden Case
August 31, 2023
Shelby Hubbard
Staff Reporter
Lizzie Borden was accused of killing her stepmother and father with a hatchet on August 4th, 1892, in Fall River Massachusetts. Most people accused her of this crime, but there was not enough evidence to prove her fully guilty; However Lizzie’s stories did not add up though which made people suspect that she was the killer of her parents.
At 32, Lizzie Borden’s stepmom, Abby Borden, and father Andrew Borden, were brutally murdered with a hatchet, people say that Lizzie Borden did the murders, and others say she did not. Lizzies father was 69 years old when he died, and her stepmom was 64 when she died.
On the day these murders occurred Lizzie first said she was in the lot of the backyard barn trying to find iron for lead sinkers on fishing excursions. She said it took her 15 to 20 minutes to find the sinkers; Another story she told was that she was up in the loft eating a pear, but signs of this did not show because there were no footprints in the loft area, so she could not have been in the loft.
Neither of Lizzies stories were adding up and she kept on changing what she was doing during this murder, people say that her stories were changing because she was confused and upset about her parent's death and others will think differently.
Lizzie's parents died by being brutally hit with a hatchet, Andrews being hit 11 times and Abby suffering from 18 blows both to their scull, Andrew had just gotten home from work and fell asleep on the couch when he was killed, and Abby was cleaning up one of the bedrooms in the house. Abby was killed first, and Andrew was killed shortly after. It was said Abby died at 9:30 in the morning and Andrews happened at 11:00 in the morning.
Image Credit: Biography.com
Vietnam War Combat Tactics
September 7, 2023
David Ca Rai
Staff Reporter
During the Vietnam War, which had occurred from 1955 to 1975, there were many different combat tactics used. Since the Americans had a better military and greater technology, Americans often had an advantage using bombs, air, artillery, and technology. The Vietnam army had different strategic ways during this war that annoyed the United States military. They had simple tactics like retreating when the enemy had attacked, raiding enemy camps, beginning an assault while the enemy was tired, and pursuing the enemies while they were fleeing. As for their warfare, it was remarkably similar because both Vietnamese army and U.S army used the “Guerilla Warfare.” The Vietnam army and U.S army both using similar tactics with Guerilla Warfare, such as sneak attack, hit and run, and soldiers disguised as civilians. The Vietnamese army were very brutal with targeted murders and kidnappings. There were also many mines, which were targeting civilian buses, which resulted in many injuries and a lot of deceased. U.S soldiers also died to many causes from non-combat like illness, snake bites, and bacterial infection called sepsis. The total deaths were around 3.8 million casualties (about twice the population of New Mexico), including civilians. In the end, the United Sates did not win the Vietnam war. In 1973 U. S combat units were withdrawn and signed the final agreement at Paris January 27th, 1973.In 1975, North Vietnamese forces triggered a major offence in the central highlands in March,1975. Then on April 30th, 1975, NVA tanks rolled through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon. Which had effectively ended the war.
Image Credit: Pinterest
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Haunting of the Week: Conjuring House Burrillville, Rhode Island Pt. 1
September 4, 2023
Lee Cordova
Staff Reporter
January 1971 the Perron family moved in to the 14-room farmhouse that would soon become known as the Conjuring house. Almost immediately, the family began to notice strange things happening around the home.
It started with small simple things, such as the broom being moved, and Carolyn, the mother, heard scratching on the tea kettle when there was no one in the room. Contrary to the movie a handful of the spirits that roam the grounds of the house are harmless. Things soon progressed and Carolyn came under attack by a malevolent spirit.
If you’ve watched the movie, you may know the name Bathsheba Sherman. While she was alive, she was believed to be a witch, and had gone to trial for the supposed murder of an infant child in her care. Now, the dark spirit that is within the grounds of the home has taken her name, but is it really Bathsheba?
One night, Carolyn woke to a sharp pain in her leg. When she looked down, she saw that she was bleeding and it looked as though she had been stabbed with a needle. They connected this incident back to Bathsheba, because the infant who had died in her care had a puncture wound on the back of its head. The puncture wound was from a sewing needle.
Through the 10 years of the family living in the home, the Warrens made multiple trips out there. One night they held a séance. During this session, they claimed Carolyn had been possessed by the spirit of Bathsheba. Andrea, the eldest daughter, who had snuck into the room claimed her mother began to speak in a different language and levitated off the ground. After the séance, Roger, the husband, threw the Warrens out.
Image Credit: Allthingsinteresting.com
Haunting of the Week: Conjuring House Burrillville, Rhode Island Pt. 2
September 7, 2023
Lee Cordova
Staff Reporter
Throughout the time of the Perron Family 10 year stay at the home the clocks would regularly stop 5:15. They put the blame on Bathsheba. Carolyn believed that Bathsheba did not like her, and that Bathsheba believed herself the mistress of the house. One night as Carolyn slept, she was woken. As she laid there, she an older woman with long hair and grey dress standing over her. Carolyn’s stuff would often go missing. Carolyn said Bathsheba would do this make her feel like she was going mad.
It's said that Bathsheba was rather kind to Roger.
Through their stay in the home the family would smell rotting flesh, and there would be cold spots.
Cindy experienced more than the other four girls. One night when she awoke from her sleep in a menacing voice she heard, “There are seven dead soldiers in the wall.” While the walls are not able to hold a body, in the lawn of the house there were five anomalies in the ground that are six feet deep, just like a grave. One day while the girls were playing Cindy hid in the shed in a crate with a lid that she could easily move, but when she went to remove it would not budge. She was stuck in there until one of her sisters found her in hysterics.
Most nights Andrea, the eldest daughter, would be up at night comforting her sisters who, m
were frightened of whatever it is that dwells in the home.
Image Credit: Deadtalknews ((Perron daughters with the actress that played them in “The Conjuring”)
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September 6, 2023
Shelby Hubbard
Staff Reporter
Albert Fish was one of the most notorious killers in the early 20th century. He lived in New York. He went by many different names. All his murders occurred between July 1924 to June 1928, He was said to kidnapped and killed a ten-year-old girl. He was said to have done both things on June 3rd, 1928. Albert Fish died at 38 from the death penalty.
On June 3rd, 1928, Albert Fish kidnaped a 10-year-old girl named Grace Budd. When he kidnapped her, he took her to an abandoned house that he was picked out for his next murder. This house was in the East Irvington neighborhood of Irvington, New York. He was said to have seized Grace, choked her and then slit her throat. He buried her at the house, but police were able to find the skull of Grace. Albert was apprehended and put on trial for Grace’s murder in December 1934 he was put on for Grace’s death and then police found out that he killed over 100 people, but the minimum of children he killed was three.
Some of the many different names these nicknames including; Grey Man, The Werewolf of Wisteria, The Brooklyn Vampire, The Moon Maniac, and The Boogey Man. He called himself all these names because all of them explained how his murders all occurred at nighttime and close to midnight, as he would not kill in the day, so he gave himself different nicknames to go with his nightly killings.
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Albert Fish and His Murders
September 6, 2023
Em Pearson
Staff Reporter
The United States of America is a well-known capitalist country that has taken part in several wars. One of the wars that is taught in schools was against the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR) or also known as the Soviet Union, a communist country that collapsed years ago.
The Cold War was not technically a war since the Soviet and American soldiers never battled each other directly. It started on March 12, 1947. Reasoning behind the start of the Cold War was an ideological and political rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States. The USSR was a communist nation based on principles of collectivism, meanwhile the U.S. was more of a modern liberal nation that was based on the principles of individualism.
An event that had occurred during the Cold War besides the Korean War was the Cuban Missile Crisis. The crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the USSR and the U.S.A. It is known to be a direct and dangerous confrontation between the two sides. This confrontation lasted from October 16, 1962, and ended on October 29, 1962.
While wars lasted from a few months to a few years, the war between the Soviet Union and America lasted about 45 years. America spent over $13 trillion dollars and the USSR spent $24.1 billion dollars. Millions of dollars and lives had been lost in the war. Each side had suffered a tragic amount of food shortages and the people’s lives more difficult.
The end of the war fell on December 26, 1991. Causes for the end of the Cold War were due to the USSR dissolving and turning into its component republics, the reunification of Germany in 1990, and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
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