Saturday, March 31, 2018
Legendary Siberian Troops
GEN Kurt Student (WW II)
AIRBORNE GEN Kurt ‘Papa’ Student
An innovator of airborne assault, General Kurt Student, helped
to build Germany’s paratrooper forces from nothing. He commanded them in
successful operations throughout WWII.
First World War
At the outbreak of WWI, Student was a 24-year-old lieutenant in
an army regiment. Sent on a pilot’s training course, he joined the most
innovative area of the war.
At the start of the war, combat between airplanes was unknown.
Over the following four years, a whole new form of war was created, with
Germany at the cutting edge. Flyers such as Oswald Boelcke, Max Immelmann, and
Manfred von Richthofen invented fighter combat. By the end of the war, Student
had spent years surrounded by some of military history’s greatest aerial
innovators and had proven himself as a commander
Between the Wars
Following WWI, the Treaty of Versailles banned the Germans from
developing a military air force. An air ministry was created under the
pseudonym Fliegerzentrale, and Student worked there. He spent years passing on
his experience as a flyer and developing ideas about aerial combat. He took
part in illegal German training maneuvers in Russia, during which the tactics
of blitzkrieg were developed.
Kurt Student then returned to service as a commander,
spending five years in charge of a regiment in the army.
Creating New Military Forms
As the Nazi Party expanded Germany’s military might, Hermann
Goering turned the Luftwaffe into an independent military machine, separate
from the army. Kurt Student was transferred to the Luftwaffe and became
Director of the Luftwaffe Technical Training School.
In his post, he worked long hours to create the Luftwaffe
Goering wanted. He raised squadrons, established airfields, and organized work
schedules. After the Training School, he moved to the Flying Equipment Test and
Research Centre, where he oversaw the development of new planes.
In 1938, he was given responsibility for raising a new
formation, the Luftwaffe’s Airborne Division. He was now in charge of a new
sort of soldier – paratroopers
The Low Countries
As Germany prepared to invade France through the Low Countries,
Student convinced Hitler his paratroopers could play a useful role. They were
given the task of destroying Belgian and Dutch defenses and seizing critical
transport points ahead of the German advance.
Kurt Student planned a series of daring and successful
attacks that included the defeat of the Belgian Fort at Eben Emael and the
capture of strategically important bridges and airfields. Joining his men at
The Hague on the fourth day of operations, he was hit by a bullet and
hospitalized. It put him out of action for months and left him with a speech
impediment.
Crete
Next, Student launched an attack on Crete. It was the largest
aerial invasion ever undertaken, with waves of paratroopers arriving by glider
and parachute.
The invasion of Crete was a mixed business. Some men landed in
the wrong places. Equipment was lost when it landed in the water. Unknown to
Student, General Freyberg, the New Zealander commanding Allied forces on the
island, knew the attack was coming due to decrypted German signals. Allied
forces put up a stiff defense.
Despite the challenges, the operation was a strategic success.
However, it was so costly. 7,000 paratroopers fell. Hitler avoided future airborne invasions
Russia
A proposed aerial invasion of Malta was abandoned. Instead,
Student’s corps was moved to the Russian front. There, the paratroopers were
used as elite infantry rather than in their airborne role. The formation was
split up to plug gaps in the line. Kurt Student pressed for airborne
operations, but his carefully trained specialists had been reduced to
reinforcing a collapsing front.
Italy
The German high command continued to raise paratroop forces.
Kurt Student was raising and training formations that would never carry
out the sort of operations they were designed to do.
There were exceptions. Following the Allied invasion of Italy,
Student’s paratroopers were used to destroy the command structure of the
Italian army as it switched sides. He organized the operation led by Otto
Skorzeny to rescue Mussolini, in which commandos landed by glider at an Alpine
resort, seized the Italian dictator, and rescued him by air.
Late in 1943, an airborne army was formed. Naturally, Student
was put in charge.
The Western Front
When the Allies invaded Normandy in June 1944, Student’s Army
was among the troops flung in to stop them. There had not been enough time to
finish raising the army, but that did not matter. They were needed.
The retreat of the 7th Army and Panzer Group West
created a gap in the front. Von Rundstedt, Supreme Commander West, sent Student
to fill the gap.
His force was made up mostly of convalescents and new recruits.
Student’s troops moved to a sector around the Albert Canal, the same area where
his men had taken Eben Emael four years before. He pulled together fragments of
forces in the area and carried out a fighting retreat that eventually took them
back across the Rhine.
Along the way, one of his regiments led by Friedrich von der
Heydte carried out the last German paratroop drop in the west. Supporting the
failed counterattack in the Ardennes, they were cut off and captured by the
Allies.
End of a Career
In April 1945, Student was sent to reorganize defenses around
Mecklenburg. He was captured by the British while inspecting forces in
Schleswig-Holstein.
Kurt Student was tried for war crimes in Crete. He was
found guilty on some but not all charges, and released from prison after three
years. He retired to Lemgo and lived modestly until his death in 1978.
GEN Terauchi (WW II)
Prince Hisaichi Terauchi
(åÆŗå
åÆæäø Terauchi Hisaichi, 8
August 1879 – 12 June 1946) was a Gensui
(or Marshal) in the Imperial
Japanese Army and Commander of the Southern
Expeditionary Army Group during World War II. He was
ordered to lead the occupation over Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Singapore and
Indonesia).
Biography
Terauchi was born in Yamaguchi
prefecture, and was the eldest son of Gensui
Count Terauchi Masatake, the
first Governor-General
of Korea and the 9th Prime Minister
of Japan. He graduated from the 11th class of the Imperial Japanese
Army Academy in 1900, and served as a junior officer in the Russo-Japanese War.
After the war, Terauchi returned
to the Army Staff
College and graduated from the 21st class in 1909. He spent time in
as a military attachƩ
in Germany and worked as a
lecturer at the Military Academy.
In early November 1919, he
succeeded to the hereditary title of hakushaku (count) under the kazoku peerage system,
upon the death of his father, and was raised in military rank to colonel. He became a major general in 1924.
Prince Terauchi became Chief of Staff
of the Chosen Army
in Korea in 1927. After his
promotion to lieutenant
general in 1929, he was assigned command of the IJA 5th Division and later
transferred to the IJA 4th Division
in 1932. In 1934, he became commander of the Taiwan Army of
Japan.
In October 1935 Terauchi was
promoted to full general
and became involved with the Kodoha
faction in military politics. After the February 26
Incident in 1936 he was the army's choice as War Minister,
which further intensified the conflict between the military and the civilian
political parties in the Japanese Diet.
The 2nd Prince Terauchi returned
to combat duty when he was given command of the North China Area
Army immediately after the outbreak of the Second
Sino-Japanese War. He was awarded the 1st class Order of the
Rising Sun in 1938, and transferred to command of the Southern
Expeditionary Army Group on 6 November 1941 and soon afterwards
began devising war plans with Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku for the Pacific War.
After leading the conquest of Southeast Asia, Terauchi
established his headquarters in Singapore. Promoted to Gensui
(Marshal) on 6 June 1943,
he moved to the Philippines
in May 1944. When this area came under threat, he retreated to Saigon in French Indochina. Upon
hearing of the loss of Burma
by Japan, he suffered a stroke
on 10 May 1945.
A British Intelligence Liaison
Officer, Major Richard Holbrook McGregor, was sent by Mountbatten to Saigon to
verify that Count Terauchi was indeed in a hospital and unable to make the
flight to RAF Mingaladon Airfield to personally discuss terms of a cease-fire.
680,000 Japanese soldiers, in
Southeast Asia were surrendered on his behalf in Singapore on 12 September 1945
by General Itagaki Seishiro.
Terauchi personally surrendered to Admiral
Lord Louis
Mountbatten (later created The Earl Mountbatten
of Burma) on 30 November 1945 in Saigon and died of another
stroke after the end of the war.
Memorial to Gensui
The 2nd Prnce Terauchi in the Japanese
Cemetery Park, Singapore
Prince Terauchi
surrendered his family heirloom wakizashi short sword
to the then Lord Louis Mountbatten in Saigon in 1945. The sword dates from
1413, and is now kept at Windsor Castle.
Friday, March 30, 2018
LEED
LEED
LEED is the 21st century brand new comer. I started seeing more and more LEED certified courses, construction after year 2000. The problems we faced and learned from LEED projects is that budget allocation (per initial materials/ equipment estimates) especially in large federal/ state government/county/metropolitan projects is normally off, in turn the implementation of work becomes chaos, generating lawsuits sometimes, even 30-40 years experienced skilled workers have a very hard time to build and install in sync with the project criteria. Just like you change the formula you have been using for your whole life. A lot of times you have problems getting the right stuff with the right price to comply with the project design and also cost control wise I see it is disasterous. the intention is very good but implementing true and ideal LEED installation and building is questionable still to this day for the private enterprises and their LEED projects
LEED Is a green building certification that is a mark of quality and achievement in sustainability
LEED Is a green building certification that is a mark of quality and achievement in sustainability
LEED, or leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the
most widely used green building rating system in the world. Available for
virtually all building, community and home project types, LEED provides a
framework to create healthy, highly efficient and cost saving green buildings.
LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability
achievement
LEED, construction that deploys materials with no or reduced or
limited VOCs (volatile organic compounds) content. In short LEED construction
is taking out VOCs from construction materials
VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are organic toxic chemicals
that are emitted from a variety of household products and materials. Every
thing from house paint to that new couch you just unwrapped will contain levels
of these chemicals
VOC emissions can be especially bad for people with compromised
immune systems, as well as children and elderly
VOC means any compound of carbon, excluding carbon monoxide,
carbon dioxide, carbonic acid, metallic carbides or carbonates, and ammonium
carbonate, which participates in atmospheric photochemical reactions – VOC
definition per 40 CFR part 51.100 (S) (as of October 30, 2014)
“ Eyes, noses and throat irritation, headaches, loss of
coordination and nausea. Damage to liver, kidney and central nervous system.
Some organic can cause cancer in animals, some are suspected or known to cause
cancer in humans”
VOC also means that are organic materials that have a high vapor
pressure at ordinary room temperature. They include both human made and
naturally occurring chemical compounds
Examples of VOCs are gasoline, benzene, formaldehyde, solvents
such as toluene and xylene, styrene, and per chloroethylene (or
tetrachloroethylene) the main solvent used in dry cleaning
How can you reduce your VOC impact?
Ventilation and climate control:
Increasing the amount of fresh air in your home. Will help
reduce the concentration of VOCs indoors. Increase the ventilation by opening
doors and windows. Use fans to maximize air brought in from the outside. Keep
both temperature and relative humidity (RH) as low as possible or comfortable
VOCs are carbon containing compounds that evaporates easily from
water to air at normal temperatures (This is why distinctive odor of gasoline
and many solvents can easily be detected
VOC are primary precursors to the formation of ground level
ozone and particulate matter, which are the main ingredients of smog. Smog is
known to have adverse effects on human health and environment (The Environment
Canada Air site provides more info on smog)
Other sources of VOCs include the burning of gas, wood and
kerosene, as well as tobacco products. VOC can also come from personal care
products such as perfume, and hair spray, cleaning agents, dry cleaning fluid,
paints, lacquers, and from copying and printing machines
REF: https://iaspub.epa.gov>substreg>search
Note: Author completed 3 LEED public futuristic projects (1.regional intermodal transit center, 2.justice center, 3.detention facility) successfully as submittal
department (all) project(s) engineer
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