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DNA shows Scythian warrior mummy was a 13-year-old girl
Thanks to modern technology, we can reexamine our assumptions about ancient warriors.
26 June, 2020
Dr. Vladimir Semyonov
- The 2600-year-old remains of a young Scythian warrior are now known to be female.
- The young warrior appears to have been around 13 years old when she died.
- The findings shed light on the Scythian culture.
<p>Throughout the literature of the ancient world, tales of great bands of warrior women captivated listeners' imaginations. From China to Greece, stories of their exploits filled hearts with fear and awe. Recently, historians have begun to accept that the Amazons were real, in a way; they were slightly embellished versions of Scythian warriors.</p><p> While we've known for some time that many of the warrior graves their culture left behind were the burial sites of women, modern DNA analysis allows us to review if every skeleton previously thought to be male really is. One such review of a mummy found in 1988 proves that one young warrior was actually a 13-year-old girl.</p>
Joan of Scythia?
<p>The 2600-year-old remains were discovered at Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva in 1988 when the region was still part of the USSR. Contained in a tightly sealed coffin made of larch trunk, the remains were mummified and well preserved. One report states that <a href="https://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/ancient-girl-amazon-warrior-no-older-than-13-is-confirmed-by-modern-scientific-techniques/" target="_blank">a wart on the child's face was still evident</a>. The coffin also contained a battle-ax, a quiver with arrows, a headdress, coat, and various bronze ornaments.</p><p>As the young warrior was presumed to be male, the researchers were surprised when they analyzed her genome and discovered the remains belonged to a young woman. Despite how common it is to see the remains of female warriors, this coffin did not contain items typically given to deceased women, such as beads or mirrors. <br> <br> Excavator Marina Kilunovskaya explained this to <a href="https://www.archaeology.org/news/8802-200617-scythian-mummy-genome" target="_blank">Archaeology.org</a>, "This discrepancy in the norms of the funeral rite received an unexpected explanation: firstly, the young man turned out to be a girl, and this young 'Amazon' had not yet reached the age of 14 years." <strong></strong></p><p>The research team will now attempt to get a more accurate dating of the remains and will use CT scans to try and learn precisely how this <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/new-dna-analysis-reveals-an-ancient-scythian-warrior-was-a-13-year-old-girl" target="_blank">young warrior died</a>. The various artifacts discovered in the coffin will also be analyzed for metal composition and preserved. </p>Who were the Scythians and why did they have little girls as warriors?
<p>The Scythians were the rulers of the Steppes from Ukraine to Xinjiang and the probable inventors of horseback riding. These nomadic warriors also had a reasonably egalitarian society for the ancient world. Many sources agree that cross-dressing was common in their culture, and some go so far as to suggest their <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IR6yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA218&lpg=PA218&dq=Scythians+gender+fluid&source=bl&ots=jNeRBBfbo5&sig=ACfU3U1BcS8vFzFafib6erkEjiUXaOs_qw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwibnrSzm53qAhWbAp0JHbn1CtEQ6AEwDXoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=Scythians%20gender%20fluid&f=false" target="_blank">idea of gender was fluid.</a></p><p>Across the steppes, women were trained to be warriors just as men were and could prove fearsome in battle. Skeletal remains proven to be female (about a fifth of all discovered remains) <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2020/05-06/fierce-amazons-more-than-myth-real/" target="_blank">often show the same battle injuries as males</a>. Burial sites with weapons and all the honors of a warrior are common for both sexes. Just last year, the gravesite of other <a href="https://www.archaeolog.ru/ru/expeditions/expeditions-2019/donskaya-arkheologicheskaya-ekspeditsiya" target="_blank">female warriors were found.</a> </p><p>They were known as a warlike people, and it is thought entire tribes participated in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYL5CLJ2prA" target="_blank">battles</a>. It was said that no nation could stand against them without outside help. However, they also made beautiful <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythian_art" target="_blank">art</a>, had an elaborate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythian_religion" target="_blank">religious system,</a> and were known for their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythians#Clothing" target="_blank">unique clothing.</a> They had no written language, but descriptions of their culture endure in the writings of their neighbors. </p><p>Even if the Amazons weren't quite real, they were based on an existing culture. As we learn more about how the Scythians lived and died, we're better able to contextualize the stories and myths they appear in. As with all archaeological discoveries, it also allows us to better understand where humanity has been, so we might make a better choice of where we're going. </p>
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Exactly 75 years ago, time was up for the Nazis
U.S. Army maps show how Western and Eastern Fronts met by May 1, 1945.
29 April, 2020
Image: Army Map Service (from the Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15th 1945), public domain.
- These U.S. Army maps detail the progress of the Allied war effort, on both the Eastern and Western Front.
- They show the enormous gains by the Red Army, and much slower progress across Italy.
- After D-Day, the Germans fought hard to contain Allied advances in the West, but these maps are testament to the hopelessness of their cause.
<p><span></span><span></span>Exactly three quarters of a century ago, this was the most important map in the world. It showed how, by May 1, 1945, the Western Allies had joined up with their Soviet counterparts at the River Elbe, striking the last, fatal blow to the Nazi war machine. Germany's unconditional surrender was just a few days away.</p><p>Produced by the U.S. Army for the benefit of the Secretary of War, these maps were part of a series of bi-monthly updates of the European and Asian theaters of war, from mid-1943 to the conclusion of the war against Japan. Here are the European maps – half of them: the 1st of the month ones only, not those of the 15th of each month – still giving a good impression of the location and advance of Allied ground offensives against the Germans. </p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>In white: territory held by the Axis powers (Germany and Italy)</li><li>In black: territory gained by the Axis powers</li><li>In light red: territory held by the Allied powers (U.K., U.S., Soviet Union, e.a.)</li><li>In dark red: territory gained by the Allied powers</li><li>In grey: neutral countries</li></ul><div></div>
<p><em>Maps found <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Atlas_of_the_World_Battle_Fronts_in_Semimonthly_Phases_to_August_15_1945" target="_blank">here</a> at </em><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/" target="_blank">Wikisource</a>.<br></p><p><strong>Strange Maps #1025</strong></p><p><em>Got a strange map? Let me know at </em><a href="mailto:strangemaps@gmail.com">strangemaps@gmail.com</a>.</p>
Silence before the storm
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE3NTEwOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNDgwNTc5MX0.QPNKVl6pAH49WoFzRMbaZ3yDR7Bh1xX1pQFZas0QBwg/img.jpg?width=980" id="7ec7d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3e20220397ae175c8ba824502595ee4c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Image: Army Map Service (from the Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15th 1945), public domain. Graphic treatment: Ruland Kolen.
<p>The year 1943 hadn't started great for the Germans. In January, the Soviets beat them in Stalingrad and in May, the Western Allies defeated them in North Africa. Still, at the start of July, Fortress Europe still seemed solid. But that illusion would be shattered within a few days, on two fronts.</p><ul><li>In the east, the giant tank battle at Kursk would prove yet another decisive victory for the Soviets, whose march west would gather momentum.</li><li>And the British and Americans landed on Sicily, starting a slow but steady march up the Italian boot.</li></ul>Soviet counteroffensive
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE3NTExMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNDUzODU5Nn0.IHC-sfH-GfceqHTwClqmp27DpIt5n5ckI-A4iXGMjOQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="7d4c1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7b9aaa1185964b98a5f31d583de0eda5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Image: Army Map Service (from the Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15th 1945), public domain. Graphic treatment: Ruland Kolen.
<ul><li>By August 1, the Western Allies were well on their way to controlling all of Sicily, while on the Eastern Front, the Germans buckled under a Soviet counteroffensive.</li><li>By September 1, the Allies controlled the entire island of Sicily, while the Soviets broadened their offensive to the Sea of Azov in the south.</li><li>By October 1, over half the Soviet territory lost since the German invasion of June 1941 had been recovered. In the Mediterranean, the Allies had taken Sardinia and most of Corsica, and were driving up the Italian mainland.</li></ul>Slowed to a crawl
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE3NTExMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1ODY3MjI1MX0.fjQzIsU5gnLKyd3WuzCUIX35BQS47QFaqXJ_4inNqnk/img.jpg?width=980" id="c1e84" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2addb3f079a63d31474e67cc2e19144f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Image: Army Map Service (from the Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15th 1945), public domain. Graphic treatment: Ruland Kolen.
<ul><li>By November 1, the Allied advance in Italy had slowed to a crawl. A Soviet advance cut off and trapped German forces in Crimea.</li><li>By December 1, with winter closing in, operations on both fronts had slowed down significantly.</li><li>By January 1, 1944, the Allies had only managed to nibble small bits off Axis territories in Italy and Ukraine.</li></ul>Pushed away from Leningrad
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE3NTEyMy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTI5Njg0NH0.29EmYJyj6AfkDU5uge9EXtKHUHjjEtAS0Rbm39UgDkI/img.png?width=980" id="44e98" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e808f13712f7cf37144e6d1af78d25b6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Image: Army Map Service (from the Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15th 1945), public domain. Graphic treatment: Ruland Kolen.
<ul><li>By February 1, to outflank German defenses at Cassino, Allies have landed in Anzio. Meanwhile the Soviets pushed the Germans further away from Leningrad.</li><li>By March 1, the Soviets have eliminated the Cherkassy Pocket, while in Italy German counter-attacks have subsided.</li><li>By April 1, the Soviets have advanced to the Romanian border. But the Italian front isn't moving.</li></ul>D-Day and beyond
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE3NTEzNS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMDE4OTQ4MX0.QWHDN0s8zb7elZjOo3N9FJIQmWVPU4adEBbnUuAzo3U/img.png?width=980" id="6aa5b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d2ddcb86edce27e7ec6610d3d4b551c0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Image: Army Map Service (from the Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15th 1945), public domain. Graphic treatment: Ruland Kolen.
<ul><li>On May 1, the front lines look stable; but the air war is wreaking death and destruction on the German industrial heartlands.</li><li>By June 1, Allied forces have broken out of their beachhead at Anzio, forcing the Germans to retreat towards Rome.</li><li>By July 1, D-Day had happened; but the Allies were still kettled in at Normandy. However, by now both Germany's Italian and Russian fronts were collapsing. The Soviets were even diverting forces to move on the Finnish front.<span></span></li></ul>Advance into France
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE3NTEzNy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NzIwOTM5OH0.z7JRCmuAPRlvRx00n4w0bNV8y2aTaQ3HL11HT2e_1KE/img.png?width=980" id="f2d69" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6a5e163cf975c834a2c9082b283a74a5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Image: Army Map Service (from the Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15th 1945), public domain. Graphic treatment: Ruland Kolen.
<ul><li>By August 1, still no great advances in Normandy, but the Eastern Front continued to collapse. The Soviets reached the Baltic sea near Riga.</li><li>By September 1, the Germans were finally on the retreat across France also from a secondary Allied landing in the south. The Soviets seized Romania's oil fields, depriving Germany of a critical fuel source. </li><li>By October 1, almost all of France and Belgium had been liberated, the Soviets continued their drive into the Balkans and Germany faced imminent invasion of the Heimat on both the eastern and western fronts.<span></span></li></ul>Hitler's last offensive
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE3NTEzOS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NzA3MzE5Mn0.OCBeWQCSNRIODK_ADr4WMBhUpNiKe7lajH_J3S5eI0c/img.png?width=980" id="89995" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0a10583b5216ac7601b9db0a14b57e0a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Image: Army Map Service (from the Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15th 1945), public domain. Graphic treatment: Ruland Kolen.
<ul><li>By November 1, Aachen in the west and parts of East Prussia in the east had fallen to Allied control.</li><li>By December 1, Reims was in Allied hands, as was half of Hungary. Heavy winter weather again hampered Allied advances.</li><li>By January 1, Hitler had thrown Germany's last reserves into the Ardennes offensive in southern Belgium. In the east the Soviets encircled the German-occupied citadel of Budapest, continuing their advance on Vienna.</li></ul>Giant strides across Poland
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE3NTE0MC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NjQxNTA3M30.ud6hTxxp46kb9l9w1hEESYw10mT5G_9dU7NRKbsKFEM/img.png?width=980" id="7edd4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1126aa5b9f128d78178e676f1b9a75ae" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Image: Army Map Service (from the Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15th 1945), public domain. Graphic treatment: Ruland Kolen.
<ul><li>By February 1, the Soviets had taken giant strides west through Poland, approaching Berlin. In the west, the other Allies were still not across the Rhine.</li><li>By March 1, the Allies were finally surging towards Cologne. The Soviet armies in the east regrouped.</li><li>By April 1, the Allies were across the Rhine and advancing deeper into Germany, encircling vast German forces in the Ruhr area. Meanwhile the Soviets took Vienna.<span></span></li></ul>That's the end of that war...
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE3NTE0MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NzI0NDkxOX0._z424C8S5BsGz4ZMg-pqJwvGMpvg3j8AZFd7psJSJaQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="6e515" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f964afb3c26f734be3db0703af3e0a29" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Image: Army Map Service (from the Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15th 1945), public domain. Graphic treatment: Ruland Kolen.
<p><span style="background-color: initial;">By May 1, 1945, Berlin too had fallen to Soviet forces. Eastern and western forces met on the Elbe River, cutting in two the melting slice of German-controlled Europe. Six days later at Reims, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. </span><br></p><p>With the war over, the stage was set for the next phase of history: the Cold War between the world's two remaining superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. <br></p>
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Can foreign intervention lead to peaceful solutions?
Despite potential good intentions, interventionist policies are often viewed by classical liberals as violations of individual freedoms.
18 March, 2020
- Intervention covers a range of activity broader than just war. Some interventions have more humanitarian aims, such as disaster relief and development aid.
- Oftentimes, the drive behind many instances of intervention involves some form of political, economic, or social outcome.
- There are important questions to consider regarding knowledge, goals, incentives, and unintended consequences. The answers to these indicate whether an intervention is necessary and appropriate.
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Secret bunker from WWII found in Scotland
Winston Churchill had a secret army, and bunkers like this would have hidden them during a German invasion.
11 March, 2020
Image: © FLS/AOC Archaeology
- Scottish foresters have recently stumbled on a hidden bunker dating back to WWII.
- It is one of hundreds of bunkers designed to hide a secret guerrilla army in the event of a German invasion.
- For the sake of protecting the site, its precise location will not be made public.
<p>A secret bunker built as part of a plan to wreak havoc on any Nazi invaders of the United Kingdom was recently rediscovered by a forestry crew in the Scottish border <a href="https://www.livescience.com/secret-auxiliary-unit-bunker.html" target="_blank">region</a>. A 7-meter long by 3-meter wide (23 feet by 10 feet) tube made of tin, brick, and concrete, the bunker would have housed seven members of "Churchill's Secret Army" for months, or even years. </p><p>Forestry and Land Scotland, a government agency, stumbled upon the bunker while felling trees in the Craigielands Forest near Moffat. Hidden behind a large iron door in an overgrown trench, its discovery helps shed light on a dark period of British history. </p><p>The bunker was found mostly empty, save for an empty tin can and broken pieces of what may have once been a wooden bed. It would once have held bunks, ammunition, supplies for two weeks, and a portable toilet. It, like several hundred others like it, would have also had two hidden entrances. </p>
How exactly “We will fight in the fields, and in the streets” would have looked
<p>People often forget exactly how bad things looked for the Allies in 1940. France and the low countries had fallen inside of six weeks. Before that, Denmark and Norway lasted a day against the German army. While we tend to remember the soaring rhetoric of Churchill declaring that the English would never surrender, George Orwell tells us that at the time of that speech, a defeatist attitude was prevailing among the people which words did only so much to subdue.</p><p>While a German invasion of the UK would have probably gone rather poorly, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea_Lion#Chances_of_success" target="_blank">consensus </a>remains that the German fleet could not stop the Royal Navy from annihilating an invasion flotilla no matter how the Battle of Britain turned out. The risk of it was significant enough for Churchill to order the creation of an auxiliary army of three and a half thousand men to carry out sabotage in the event of a successful Nazi invasion. </p><p>The auxiliary units were a secret force; each member was supposed to sign an oath of secrecy, who were even unknown to the leaders of local home-guard units. In the event of German occupation, the guards were to launch a brutal guerrilla campaign against the Nazis while based out of the hidden bunkers mentioned above.</p><p>They would have been autonomous units raiding areas they knew by heart at night, blowing up fuel and supply dumps, tearing up roads, assassinating German officers and British collaborators, and causing as much useful mayhem behind the lines as possible. Some groups had sealed orders with the names of local officials who knew of their existence, if an assassination for the sake of security was <a href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Churchills-Secret-Army/" target="_blank">needed</a>. </p><p>If at risk of capture, they were expected to kill themselves and any of their comrades at similar risk. It is little wonder why these scallywags, as they were also called, had a life expectancy of two weeks in the event of invasion. Those two weeks would have primarily been spent hiding in one of several hundred bunkers similar to the one just rediscovered, waiting for the fascist menace to pass over their hiding space, emerging only to launch vicious raids before fleeing back to the safety of the bunker. </p><p>Of course, the invasion never came. The Auxiliaries were kept on in their unique role until 1944 when things looked a bit better for the Allies. They served at D-Day and in the liberation of Western Europe as special forces. Their service remained secret for decades, and it was not until 2013 that the tremendous sacrifice that they were willing to make was officially recognized.</p><p>Fittingly, the exact location of the newly found bunker will remain a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-51800809?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science_and_environment&link_location=live-reporting-story" target="_blank">secret</a>. </p>
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How the Nazis faked part of Hamburg to fool Allied bombers
'Operation Invisibility Cloak' was a waste: Hamburg would soon be firebombed to bits
10 March, 2020
Image: Reddit
- In 1941, the Nazis camouflaged an entire lake at the centre of Hamburg.
- A painted tarp was made to look like a bunch of city blocks from above, in the hope of misdirecting RAF bombers.
- But the Brits weren't fooled, and Hamburg would later suffer horrific firebombing.
Operation Invisibility Cloak
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg2OTI3My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODExNTUwOH0.GHMQb3Lae8r2HnqtfxuCPAnnBtW7fu45baB3FdnerBo/img.jpg?width=980" id="c29b1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="31f3b8dafa11442479ee067d501796b4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="\u200bBefore and after: the Binnenalster and Hamburg's central train station." />Before and after: the Binnenalster and Hamburg's central train station.
Image: Reddit
<p>Now you see it, now you don't: these images, taken by the Royal Air Force in 1941, show how the same part of Hamburg suddenly looked very different from above. </p><ul><li>The most notable difference is the disappearance of the <em>Binnenalster</em>, one of two artificial lakes that mark the center of Hamburg. It has been covered to look like regular city blocks from above. </li><li>Hamburg's <em>Hauptbahnhof</em>, the city's central train station, clearly visible on the top image, has also been camouflaged (although perhaps less effectively). </li><li>A fake bridge, made from wood, wire and thatch, has been slung across the lower part of the <em>Außenalster</em> - the other, larger lake in central Hamburg. By re-creating the actual, hidden <em>Lombardsbrücke</em>, the camouflage operation creates a fake Binnenalster, just north of the real one. </li></ul>This large-scale deception was meant to deceive Allied bombers into dropping their payload on strategically less important parts of the city. The Nazis called it <em>Operation Tarnkappe</em> ('Operation Invisibility Cloak'), but that name was far too optimistic.Many attempts at deception
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg2OTMxMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMjA2Mjc1MX0.-UClFxXeErMZY3YqtjD47Kd2K2GPfqpgKy6p9_KMsJ8/img.jpg?width=980" id="fe7bb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7970830b010cbe5338add2bd7ce3b0c9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="An Avro Lancaster of No. 1 Group, Bomber Command, silhouetted against flares, smoke and explosions during the attack on Hamburg, Germany, by aircraft of Nos. 1, 5 and 8 Groups on the night of 30/31 January 1943. This raid was the first occasion on which H2S centimetric radar was used by the Pathfinder aircraft to navigate the force to the target. The pilot of the photographing aircraft (Lancaster 'ZN-Y' of No. 106 Squadron, based at Syerston) was Flt Lt D J Shannon who, as a member of No. 617 Squadron, took part in Operation CHASTISE (the "Dams Raid") during the following May." />RAF Lancaster bomber over Hamburg during an attack on the night of 30-31 January, 1943.
Image: Imperial War Museum – public domain.
<p>Firstly, because the British bombers targeting Hamburg didn't orient themselves on the Alster lakes. They were guided in by the Elbe, Hamburg's major river. </p><p>But most of all, because the Brits caught on quickly to the deception. In fact, the London papers reported on the operation soon after its completion. On July 1941, several published these 'before' and 'after' images.</p><p>Operation Tarnkappe was but one of many attempts to deflect the attention of Allied bombers from valuable targets on the ground. Just around Hamburg, the Nazis faked 80 air strips and 32 industrial and traffic installations, while they attempted to cloak real factories, military installations and even Hamburg City Hall. </p><p>When the Alster froze in the cold winter of 1940/41, the Nazis planted hundreds of pine trees on the Alster, hoping to trick Allied pilots into thinking they were flying over a forest, instead of the centre of Hamburg. <br></p><p>None of that really made a difference.</p>Coming within range
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg2OTMyNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDg3NjI1NH0.vUBep-nMhhd6H3rQi0oj6Vtp0jCC_RAEZLZLyu3t5kg/img.jpg?width=980" id="89fbc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c1e1305882216fa67f92f375a97b88a4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="\u200bAs the range of Allied fighter craft expanded, bombing raids deep into Germany became relatively safer for the air crews." />As the range of Allied fighter craft expanded, bombing raids deep into Germany became relatively safer for the air crews.
Image: Reddit
<p>As a major industrial center, home to shipyards and harbor for U-boats, the port city of Hamburg was an important target for Allied bombing raids throughout the war. </p><p><span></span>As British and American airplane technology advanced, Hamburg came within easier range of the Allied bombing effort.</p><p>After concentrating on the industrial Ruhrgebiet in western Germany, closer to the UK, Allied Bomber Command eventually started paying its deadly visits to Hamburg. </p><p><span></span>In July 1943, the Allies unleashed Operation Gomorrah, history's heaviest aerial bombardment yet. It created a huge firestorm that killed more than 42,000 civilians and completely destroyed 21 km2 (8 sq. mi) of the city. </p>Payback for Coventry
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg2OTM0Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTUwODcwN30.MCyfuCXHOqSY5x_jVPi4tkMLvwQYm2wpu8Y8w-h2EBY/img.jpg?width=980" id="d1be2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1798f6faae5d3a4cec903710760638b3" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Oblique aerial view of ruined residential and commercial buildings south of the Eilbektal Park (seen at upper right) in the Eilbek district of Hamburg, Germany. These were among the 16,000 multi-storeyed apartment buildings destroyed by the firestorm which developed during the raid by Bomber Command on the night of 27/28 July 1943 (Operation GOMORRAH). The road running diagonally from upper left to lower right is Eilbeker Weg, crossed by R\u00fcckertstra\u00dfe." />The district of Eilbek, totally wiped out by the firestorm caused by Operation Gomorrah.
Image: Imperial War Museum – public domain.
<p>During the worst night of the attacks, asphalted streets burst into flame, the fiery tornados swept people up into the sky, and many more died of asphyxiation in bomb shelters as the fires consumed all the oxygen in the city above. </p><p>A million people fled the city, which saw its production capacity severely handicapped for the rest of the war. After the war, the level of destruction was compared to that of Hiroshima. </p><p>Destroying further German cities by firestorm was subsequently called 'hamburgisation' by the Allies; a reply in kind to Joseph Goebbels' cynical invention of the verb 'coventrisieren' to describe the wholesale destruction of a city by aerial bombardment (in reference to the German air raid on Coventry of 14 November 1940). <br></p>Hamburg, uncloaked
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg2OTM2NC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODgwNDE0NX0.8Uy6eYDaj0QuducfJou0xs6-yZym41aqkP0U5Ab7eyo/img.png?width=980" id="aae13" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bd060a159ad89893221dfd850517ac6f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Central Hamburg today, with the Au\u00dfenalster and Binnenalster - and even the train station - clearly visible." />Central Hamburg today, with the Außenalster and Binnenalster - and even the train station - clearly visible.
Image: Google Earth
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