Where are you from?

[Jooglae]

Just asking 'cause I'm curious. I mean, there are a lot of visitors to this site from all around the world.

Me? Currently in Sungnam, South Korea.

And if any one of you have military experiences, when did you serve? In which branch? For how long?

Me? ROKMC for two years and two monthes, 1997~1999. Served in Pohang.

[Vance]

<-------

[Jack Mehoff]

<-------United States

[Haiw]

Netherlands, 17 now so still waiting to be old enuff for the army, and momentarily in my first year of university (might finish that before i go army)

[seventy6er]

Würzburg, Germany

2 years in the Bundeswehr 1998 - 2000

[Kampfhamster]

Switzerland, swissgerman part

[ibstolidude]

- my dad's *****.

[Ratamacue]

Colorado, United States.

[Shadow]

FR of G

Federal Republic of Germany

Rheinland-Pfalz/Landau

[usa320]

New York.

[to free the oppressed]

Mabton, Washinton.

[Tom.G]

Toronto, Canada

[mocking_loudly]

Newcastle, Australia.

Home of the body bag - word.....wait thats Ice T.

[stryker182]

Central Coast, Australia

[rangerone]

Illinois. Soon to be Army.

[GLax]

Western New York, middle of farm country

[Seiyuuki]

Corellia

[Skaman]

Corellia heh?
isint that form STAR WARS? haha

[Shake n Bake]

Originally from commie Cuba but now in the U.S.A.


That's a big resounding Woooo!!!

[Beowulf]

People's Republic of Cortinia

[citizen-k]

<---The state of Israel.

Served (and still serving as reserve) in the IDF's green berets corps

(which is not the same as the usual green berets)

[Herrmannek]

<---Poland
<---Wrocław

Festung Breslau
Fortress Breslau / Twierdza Wrocław

http://members.rogers.com/georgeparada/articles/images/bres.jpg

Founded in the 10th century, Wroclaw grew as a trade center on the route between southern Europe and the Baltic Sea. In the 12th century, it served as the capital of Silesia, and from 1335 until 1526, it was ruled by Bohemia. A Habsburg possession from 1526 until 1741, it was then ruled by Prussia and Germany. Wroclaw was incorporated into Poland in 1945.

On January 27th of 1945, after battle for Olesnica (Oels in Schlesien) units of 73rd Infantry Corps began their advance towards Festung (Fortress) Breslau (Wroclaw). Units of the Gluzdovsky's 6th Army and 5th Guards Army supported by 7th Guards Motorized Corps and 4th Guards Tank Corps were to encircle the city attacking from bridgeheads on the river Oder towards the town of Katy Wroclawskie (Canth).

Soviet attack began on February 8th of 1945 and since the beginning encountered heavy resistance from LVII Panzer Korps as well as counterattacks from 19th Panzer Division from the direction of Raciborz (Ratibor) and 20th Panzer Division from Jawor (Jauer) and Strzegom (Striegau). At the same time, Germans on Hanke's order from January 19th, evacuated civilian population in an ill-fated rescue operation, which resulted in death of some 90000 civilians due to the lack of transport and very cold weather. Large number of people evacuated from Breslau were killed during the bombing of Dresden.

The high point of the battle was on February 13th when 19th Panzer Division desperately defended Autobahn in the area of Kostomloty, the only link between encircled city and the remainder of the German forces. At the same time, 17th and 269th Infantry Divisions were ordered to breakout of the city to join other formations in the area. In the night of 13/14th February, tanks from 7th Guards Tank Corps closed the ring around the city with the garrison of 80000 men.

In early March of 1945, German High Command attempted to break the encirclement by concentrating in the area of Zgorzelec (Gorlitz) seven divisions including four panzer divisions. German attack began on March 3rd and its main force fell on weakened 3rd Guards Tank Army. After heavy fighting, German attack was stopped and both sides suffered heavy losses.

To strengthen the encirclement General Vladimir Gluzdovsky's 6th Army with attached single division from 52nd Army was moved into the area. The city was by-passed by the main Soviet offensive by the 1st Ukrainian and Soviets decided take it by storm after encirclement.

Breslau was an important communication and industrial center for the German war machine as it housed numerous industrial plants along with forced labor camps (e.g. Brugweide) and nearby Gross-Rosen concentration camp. Until the last days of the war, the city didn't suffer any damage as it was out of range of allied bombers and was known as "the air shelter of the Reich". Many government and civil offices were moved to the city from bombed Western and Northern German cities. First time Breslau suffered an air attack was in Fall of 1944 by Soviet bombers, when Soviets reached river Vistula in central Poland. In September of 1944, Hitler declared Breslau to be a fortress - Festung Breslau, which was to be the part of so-called "Eastern Wall" on river Oder. Early work on fortifying the city began as early as June of 1944, but it was not until September when serious work began. City was to be fortified by creating to two defensive rings and stockpiling supplies for long term encirclement. Numerous fortifications were build around the city in addition to two defensive rings. The defenses ran as far 20km from the center of the city. The work was done by forced laborers, volunteers, women, children and old men.

The 80000 strong garrison under Gauleiter Karl Hanke and City Commandant General Krause (who was fired by Hanke because he wanted to evacuate civilian population) and from February, City Commandant General Niehoff was composed of variety of units. They included newly formed 609th Infantry Division, elements of 269th Infantry Division, school and reserve units, improvised SS regiment (SS Festung Abteilung "Besselein"), 38 Volkssturm battalions (each 400 men strong), Hitlerjugend, Police, Luftwaffe ground units and remnants of destroyed combat formations. The defenders had 32 artillery batteries equipped with mixture of old German and captured Soviet, Polish, Yugoslav and Italian artillery pieces. The garrison didn't have any tanks except for company of 15 various assault guns. In January of 1945, 50 Leichte Ladungsträger Goliath demolition vehicles were delivered along with two batteries of 75mm Pak 40 guns and 18 88mm Flak 36 guns. The garrison was supplied by air with supplies by the German Army and Red Cross and was even reinforced with Fallschirm-Jäger-Regiment 25 from 9th Fallschirmjaeger Division in February of 1945. In mid April of 1945, Hanke reported that his forces have only two Tigers to face enemy attacks. The two Tigers were repaired at the FAMO plant, before being committed into battle. Defense of Breslau was under overall command of Field Marshal Schoerner of Army Group Centre.

On February 16th, direct attack on the city from the south and then from the west began. It soon turned into bloody and savage fight for each house. The heaviest fighting took place in the area of the airbase and industrial district of the city. During the first 3 days of the battle, Soviets lost 76 tanks and at least 100 in next 2 weeks due to the wrong strategy - they used tanks supported by assault groups in the street fighting. Soon, Soviets began using artillery to destroy enemy positions and engineers along with Marines to clear the enemy from the city. In late March the fate of city was sealed as last strong German formations southeast of Opeln (Opole) were destroyed. Fighting in the city continued as Soviets pushed German defenders deeper into the city, who in turned destroyed every house and city block behind them to slowdown the advancing Soviets. After the loss of the airbase on April 1st, Germans used Kaisserstrasse as an airstrip and began to build a new one in the central part of the city. In order to do so they leveled the area using forced laborers. Large open space and construction work was soon discovered by the Soviets, who in turn began shelling the area using heavy artillery. The new airbase was never finished and never used.

On May 6th of 1945, four days after Berlin, City Commandant Hermann Niehoff signed an act of conditional surrender but none of the conditions were kept by the Soviets. Gauleiter Hanke escaped day before by specially prepared Fiesler Storch airplane as he was named by Hitler to be the new German Police Chief and Reichsfuehrer SS in place of Himmler on April 29th of 1945. It is reported that he escaped to Czechoslovakia, where he fought and died with SS unit. He was never found and pressumed dead.

Until the surrender of the city on May 6th of 1945, 21600 out of 30000 buildings were destroyed. Following the surrender, the city was in ruins as only 32% of the city was almost usable. 6000 German soldiers and 170000 civilians were killed, while 45000 were taken prisoner. German military losses were higher as numerous rescue planes were shotdown and many evacuated wounded died behind the frontlines. Soviet losses were over 8000 soldiers killed, including some 800 officers. At the end, the defense of the city tied down seven Soviet divisions. On May 9th of 1945 the city was taken over by the Polish City Council and on August 2nd, it became part of Poland by decision of the Potsdam Conference.

[martinexsquaddie]

don't know my Gps is broken damm american technology I blame george Bush and the neo con conspiracy rofl

[Smintjes]

Belgium, close to Antwerp.

http://www.trabel.com/antwerp/images/antwerp-markt2.jpg

How old is Antwerp ?
Excavations have shown that there was certainly habitation on the bend in the river as long ago as the Gallo-Roman period (2nd or 3rd century A.D.). Like many Flemish cities Antwerp grew up around two settlements : the ‘aanwerp’ or ‘alluvial mound’ from which the city probably derives its name, and Caloes, 500 meters further south. A fortification was built on the mound around the seventh century. Christianization also began in that period. In the ninth century, when Antwerp became part of Lorraine, that ‘castellum’ was destroyed by the Norman's.

The present-day Steen still comprises remains of its tenth-century replacement. At the end of the tenth century Antwerp became a margraviate (a border province) of the Holy Roman Empire. The border was the River Scheldt. The County of Flanders lay on the other side. In the twelfth century Saint Norbertus founded St. Michael’s Abbey on Caloes. The canons of the little church that had stood there then moved to the northern nucleus and founded a new parish there around a Chapel of Our Lady - the first forerunner of the Cathedral.
The city, which was now part of the Duchy of Brabant, continued to expand in concentric circles with successive bulwarks which are still identifiable in the street pattern. A first economic boom followed in the first half of the fourteenth century. Antwerp became the most important trading and financial centre in Western Europe; its reputation was based largely on its seaport and wool market.

In 1356 the city was annexed to the County of Flanders and lost very many privileges, partly to Bruges’ advantage. Fifty years later the political and economic tide turned again and the run-up to the Golden Age began, when Antwerp became a metropolis of world class at every level : a kind of sixteenth-century Manhattan. It was this centre of trade and culture which Florentijn Lodovico Guicciardini described as ‘the loveliest city in the world’. The most famous names from that age are : the painters Quinten Metsys and Bruegel, the printer Plantijn, the humanists and scientists Lipsius, Mercator, Dodoens and Ortelius.

However, in the second half of that century the city was the focus of the politico-religious struggle between the Protestant North and Catholic Spain and as such it was stricken by a series of calamitous events: the iconoclasm (1566), the Spanish Fury (1576) and finally the Fall of Antwerp (1585). After the Fall the city again came under the rule of Philip II and the Northern Netherlands closed off the Scheldt. From an economic point of view this was a disaster. To make matters worse, it was not only the Protestants who fled the city but also the commercial and intellectual elite. Of the city’s 100.000 inhabitants in 1570, by 1590 no more than about 40.000 remained.
Yet the city continued to flourish culturally until the mid-seventeenth century with painters like Rubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens and Teniers, the sculptor families Quellin and Verbrugghen, printers like Moretus, the famous Antwerp harpsichord builders, etc., etc.

There is little of cheer to recount about Antwerp between 1650 and the nineteenth century. The Scheldt remained closed to traffic and the metropolis became a provincial town. Under Austrian rule (1715-1792) Joseph II tried to free the river by military force, but the plan misfired. In 1795, under French occupation, it succeeded but this time the ships encountered an English blockade. This was hardly surprising since Napoleon regarded the Port of Antwerp as ‘a pistol pointed at the heart of England’. Whilst it is true that Antwerp owes the beginnings of a modern port to that French period (1792-1815), at the same time the city’s cultural heritage fell prey to art plundering and destruction on a scale rarely seen before. There were even plans to pull down the Cathedral.

After the fall of Napoleon at Waterloo (1815), there followed a short-lived reunification with the Northern Netherlands and an equally short period of prosperity which ended with the Belgian Revolution (1830) and once again the closure of the Scheldt. It was reopened, this time definitively, in 1863. Then Antwerp’s third great hey-day could begin. Apart from interruptions during the two world wars, Antwerp has experienced steady economic growth in the twentieth century. This gave rise to a new cultural high point and international prestige in 1993 when Antwerp was nominated Cultural Capital of Europe : the recognition of historical and modern-day riches in which you too can share.

[wulfstan]

Smintjes;
That looks like Brugge, is it? I went there a few years ago and the main square looks just like that. Beautiful place by the way.

I'm from the Midlands, England.

[Brandon]

Perth, Ontario, Canada

[Joshisonfire]

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

[Adri]

<------- do I realy need to say more ?

[citizen-k]

<------- do I realy need to say more ?

No (can we keep it that way?)

[LJK]

Helsinki, Finland

[Rantanplan]

proud Citizen of Nordrhein-Westphalen

http://www.vdiest.nl/images/Europa/Germany/wappennrw.jpg

and Bochum

http://www1.hansenet.de/~Wappen/kf/bochum.jpg

[Smintjes]

Smintjes;
That looks like Brugge, is it? I went there a few years ago and the main square looks just like that. Beautiful place by the way.

A lot of the "grand places" or "grote markten" in Belgium's big cities look more or less alike. Bruges is indeed a beautiful city, they don't call it "Venice of the North" for nothing ;-)

Glad you liked Belgium! I've enjoyed the UK too on numerous occasions. Been backpacking through Scotland, spent a week with a friend in Leicester, visited London a lot, ...

[Micke]

Christchurch, New Zealand.
Home of alot of boy racers and some other stuff.

[b00n]

proud Citizen of Nordrhein-Westphalen

http://www.vdiest.nl/images/Europa/Germany/wappennrw.jpg

and Aachen

http://www1.hansenet.de/~Wappen/now/aachen.jpg

[GAFE]

Mexico, teniente de corbeta, armada de mexico.

[andrew45c]

I am from Luton , Bedfordshire , England .

(Yes yanks there is more cities than just London in England.)

Luton the ruffest place I know of u look twice at someone in the wrong wat your buggered.

[Uncle Sam]

USA....Also served in the 82nd Airborne...11B1V :D