Summer Holidays Retrospect

It was a beautiful day on the beach.

Embarrassing Encounters on the Beach

And it was full of new discoveries.

After we had burnt down that weird settlement above, we found some palaeontological things there, amongst them this fossilized boobmonster.

boobmonsta excavation on the Cuxhaven beach

Nostalgia?

The remains of the German U-Boot-Waffe.

Cuxhaven Inner Harbour, Lower Saxony, August 2009

Syria Hurts Maliki’s Pride

Damascus might find itself in the role of a broker between the Iraqi Ba’ath Party – once Saddam Hussein’s party in Iraq, and still Bashar al-Assad’s political vehicle in Syria.

Aleppo Baghdad Station: Staying Connected

An American military delegation led by Major General Michael Moeller of US Central Command had two days of talks in Syria – in Baghdad however, a lot of people aren’t pleased with the first indicators of a possible thaw between Washington and Damascus. Nuri al-Maliki announced a trip of his own to Syria for the next week – “It is not the duty of the American delegation to negotiate on behalf of Iraq,” his spokesman is quoted as saying. As the American troops withdrew from the Iraqi streets and cities on July 1, and Maliki announced on the occasion that it was the national united government [which] had succeeded in putting down the sectarian war that was threatening the unity and the sovereignty of Iraq, he will now be very sensitive about any possible loss of face.

Syria will be interested in bringing Saddam Hussein’s former deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri (who has lived in Damascus since 2003), back into the game in Iraq. He is said to have been behind guerilla campaigns against the American occupation – and here lies a bone of contention between Damascus and Washington, as the U.S. demand the arrest of about a dozen of high-ranking supporters – or facilitators – of those campaigns.

The Iraqi Ba’ath Party is still seems to be sound and to be taking orders. Its cadres have received orders to resume political activity, writes The Telegraph.

If the new (or old) Ba’ath Party establishes itself in Iraq as a palladium of national resistance and gets legalised, and if it facilitates a rapprochement between Baghdad and Damascus, Iran might find its influence on Iraq further reduced – most Iraqis are Shia, just like most Iranians. But most Iraqis also see their country as Arabic, rather than as easy Iranian proxy. Saudi Arabia’s worries about a handover of Iraq to Iran could turn out to be unjustified.

And America may have restored an old business friend in Baghdad – not in control as it was during Rummy’s and Saddam Hussein’s happiest days, but still a substantial one. And Syria may get shopping options beyond Russia again. That said, its need for arms of a defensive character won’t be unlimited.

Lt. William A. Rautenbush, born 1920, KIA 1944

Verden’s 1990 local almanac includes an article by Dr Peter Clasen, a physician with interest in local history, with further information about Lieutenant Rautenbush – Verdener Heimatkalender, 1990, pages 198 – 203.

Lieutenant William A. Rautenbush set out from Southern England in a P-51 Mustang  early on May 8, 1944, to fly escort for B-17 Flying Fortresses. They flew in formations from somewhere above the North Sea and reached the mainland at the height of 20,000 feet. The groups came from the North West, with Berlin as their destination, and were attacked by German pursuit planes above Verden, Luttum, and Neddenaverbergen. Rautenbush, an experienced pilot, tilted his plane and started chasing the German machines. He apparently expected his adversaries ahead, but one German pursuit plane came from behind and opened fire.

Rautenbush’s plane crashed into a small forest near Hohenaverbergen. Water rose in the crater where the actual hull of his P-51 had hit the ground, and after the war, his remains were recovered and taken to the American military cemetary in the Belgian Ardennes: site D, row 5, grave number 53. In 1983, local residents found more fractions of the hull, the landing gear, and cross-ties, but when finding bits of a leather uniform jacket with a legible name badge, they cancelled their search and put it all back into the crater.

crash site

Dr Clasen found some additional information. Rautenbush’s army number was -08-803453, and he belonged to the 375th Fighter Squadron. His awards: Distinguished Flying Cross, The Air Medal with Three Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Purple Heart.

He was born on April 11, 1920, lived in a Chicago orphanage until he was eleven, and then lived with foster parents, Mrs and Mr Arthur Ritchie, Greenwood Farms, Route 3, New London, Wisconsin. His stepbrother, Mr Donovan Ritchie, remembered him well, and in 1988, a memorial was inaugurated in 1988, with American military, among them Lt Colonel Horn, participating. Horn’s father had flown a B-17, one of the planes the P-51’s were escorting on the day when Rautenbush lost his life in their defence.