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    Posted

    From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORP_Orze%C5%82_%281938%29)

    At the beginning of the invasion of Poland Orzeł had been deployed on patrol in a designated strategic zone of the Baltic Sea. Due to the German invasion, Orzeł was unable to return to the Polish naval bases at Hel near the major port city of Gdynia.

    Orzel's crew decided to head to Tallinn, Estonia as a result of an unidentified illness from which their Captain Lieutenant-Commander Henryk Kłoczkowski had been suffering since September 8. ORP Orzeł reached Tallinn on 14 September 1939 and on 15 September the Captain was forced to leave the submarine to undergo hospital treatment. Under the Hague Convention of 1907, section XIII, Article 12,[1] "belligerent ships" could enter a neutral port but were forbidden from remaining there for "more than twenty-four hours." At the insistence of Germany, the Estonian military authorities boarded the ship, interned the crew, confiscated all the navigation aids and maps, and commenced removing all her armaments. However, only fifteen or her twenty torpedoes were removed before the hoist cable parted; this was because it had been secretly sabotaged by her new commander, former chief officer Lt.Cdr. Jan Grudzinski VM VM DSO.

    The crew of Orzeł conspired together to carry out a daring escape. Around midnight on 18 September, the submarine's Estonian guards were overpowered, the mooring lines were cut, and Orzeł got under way. The alarm was raised, and her conning tower was peppered by machine-gun fire. Running half-submerged, Orzeł ran aground on a bar at the harbour mouth, where artillery fire damaged her wireless equipment. Grudzinski managed to get the boat off the bar by blowing her tanks, and she proceeded out of the Gulf of Finland, intending to sail for a British port, the crew having heard a radio report that the Polish submarine Wilk had been welcomed in Britain.

    Orzel escaped from Tallinn with two Estonian guards on board as hostages. The Estonian and German press covering the Orzeł incident declared the two captured guards missing at sea. Captain Grudzinski set them ashore in Sweden, providing them with clothing, money, and food for their safe return to homeland. The Polish crew believed that those returning from the underworld "deserve to travel first class only". The escape of the submarine Orzeł was used by the Soviet Union and Germany to challenge Estonian neutrality.

    Posted

    At last!! I guess that;s the communist party's guard camped near the statue??

    Harvey....are you ready for the next question please?

    Jim :cheers:

    Jim,

    You see one on the pic I have taken this Summer. They are two in fact, with a military vehicle... I don't know what is the precise link between the UkCP and these "guards"..

    Cheers.

    Ch.

    Posted

    The Orzeł was in the Baltic Sea when Nazi Germany attacked Poland, setting off World War II. Unable to reach a Polish naval base and with the captain, LCDR Henryk Kłoczkowski, seriously ill, the decision was made to head for Tallinn, which was reached on 14 September 1939. Kłoczkowski was taken to a hospital the next day for treatment of the unidentified illness from which he had been suffering since 8 September.

    Section XIII, Article 8 of the Hague Convention of 1907 required that a neutral government had a duty "to prevent the departure from its jurisdiction of any vessel intended to cruise, or engage in hostile operations"against another government with which the neutral was at peace. At the insistence of the Germans, the Estonian military authorities boarded the ship, interned the crew, confiscated all the navigation aids and maps, and commenced dismantling all the armaments.

    The crew of ORP Orzeł conspired to escape under the new command of its chief officer, LCDR Jan Grudzinski. On 18 September, the partially submerged Orzeł slipped out of the harbour under the cover of a foggy night, with the two on-board Estonian guards taken hostage. The Estonian and German press covering the incident declared the two captured guards missing at sea. However, they were deposited on the Swedish coast and provided with clothing, money and food for their safe return home. The Polish crew believed that those returning from the underworld "deserve to travel first class only". Orzeł headed to the Royal Navy base at Rosyth in Scotland.

    The Soviet Union, which invaded Poland itself on 17 September 1939, accused Estonia of conspiring with the Polish seamen and "aiding them to escape", challenging the neutrality of Estonia. The Soviets demanded to be allowed to place military bases on Estonian soil, threatening war if Estonia did not comply. This was simply a convenient pretext; the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact had already given German agreement to the Soviet Union taking over the Baltic countries. The Orzeł incident was used to force a "pact of defence and mutual assistance" on Estonia, which was signed on 28 September 1939, and led to the occupation and annexation of Estonia by the Soviet Union in 1940. Orzeł sank no enemy vessels during her journey from Estonia to Britain, although Soviet authorities blamed her for sinking the Soviet tanker Metallist in Narva Bay on 26 September, the incident being used as a pretext for the Soviet invasion of the Baltic states.

    Posted

    Well done Gunner 1. You get the latest point!! :jumping:

    14 points - JimZ

    13 points - Harvey

    9 points - Hauptmann

    3 points - Valter

    3 points - Christophe

    3 points - Gunner 1

    2 points - kapten_windu

    Question 47 belongs to Gunner 1!!!

    Harvey, thanks for the last question. Story was new to me too.

    Jim :cheers:

    Posted

    Question 47:

    I was an important leader both before and after the Bolshevik revolution. Shortly before my death both Stalin and Mikoyan visited me and within a year after my death during surgery for ulcers all four of my doctors mysteriously died. The name of my hometown was changed to that of my surname, as was an academy, a rifle division, a battleship, and a Moscow metro station. My son was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War.

    1. Who am I?

    2. How did I die?

    3. What was the original name of the town in which I was born?

    4. What was my son’s name?

    Someone should get this rather quickly. Regards, Gunner 1

    Posted (edited)

    1. Who am I? Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze

    2. How did I die? Frunze was suffering from a chronic ulceration, and although it had been suggested to him many times that he undergo surgery, he tended to favor more conservative treatment approaches. After an especially severe episode in 1925, Frunze was hospitalized. Stalin and Anastas Mikoyan both came to visit him, and impressed on him the need for an operation.

    Not long before his death, Frunze wrote to his wife: "At present I am feeling absolutely healthy, and it seems ridiculous to even think of, and even more-so to undergo an operation. Nevertheless, both party representatives are requiring it." [9]

    Frunze died of chloroform poisoning during his surgery on 31 October 1925; the operation was considered very simple and routine even by the medical standards of the time. It has therefore been speculated that Stalin, or some other potential rivals, arranged his death, but there is no hard evidence to support this.[10] However, Frunze had been administered a chloroform dose that many times exceeded the dose normally applied to induce narcosis.

    3. What was the original name of the town in which I was born? Bishkek, then a small Imperial Russian garrison town in the Kyrgyz part of Turkestan.

    4. What was my son’s name? Timur Frunze... who was adopted by Marshal Voroshilov.

    Dan :cheers:

    Edited by Hauptmann
    Posted (edited)

    Timur Frunze Mikhailovich

    ( Hero of the Soviet Union)

    (5.4.1923 - 19.1.1942)

    TImura Mikhailovich Frunze, lieutenant, fighter pilot 161 th Fighter Aviation Regiment. Born April 5, 1923 in the family of Soviet military leader and revolutionary, Mikhail Frunze. Russian. Graduated with honors from the Kachin Military Aviation College. Since the end of December 1941 until the day of death had fought on the North-Western Front.

    . W and 10 days in the aviation regiment Timur Frunze Mikhailovich made 9 successful flights and taking part in three aerial combat, he personally shot down two, and with his wingman, one enemy plane.

    . W tion of Hero of the Soviet Union Timur Frunze Mihajlovic was awarded posthumously March 16, 1942.

    . And the name of the hero ever enrolled in the list 1 Squadron 161 th Fighter Aviation Regiment

    . In the name of Timur Frunze named streets in Moscow, Staraya Russa and Veliky Novgorod.

    .

    January 19, 1942 Lieutenant Frunze paired with a flight commander and the leading pair, Lieutenant Shutov patrolling in the area of Staraya Russa, covering the ground troops against enemy attacks from the air

    . Soon the air there were 30 enemy bombers escorted by fighter 8. Soviet pilots decided to attack the Nazi planes. The first attack was successful. Was shot down spotter "Henschel" Hs.126. Then, in the ensuing battle with the "Messerschmitt", our pilots shot down another aircraft, but the plane was shot down Shutov. Timur continued to battle one. Soon Frunze ran out of ammunition, and emboldened the Nazis to close range shot the brave pilot.

    Airplanes T.M. Frunze fell 500 meters from the village Otvidno Starorusskoe Area. Initially, the pilot was buried in the ground fighting. In the first 50 years of TV Frunze was reburied in the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow. His name is a street in Moscow (the former Warm lane).

    ---

    Sources:

    1) Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary. V.2. M.: Voeniz.1988.

    2) Legendary Heroes-Komsomol. Vol V and VI. 1973.

    Dan :cheers:

    Edited by Hauptmann
    Posted

    Well, perhaps but I just remembered this having just read over alot about The Inner Circle question. :D Just one of those lucky breaks! :P

    If it's okay, I'd like to pass the honor of the next question to Windu in honor of his one year anniversary on GMIC. :beer:

    Dan :cheers:

    Posted (edited)

    Well done Hauptmann. You get another point and remain close to challenging for the top two places!! :jumping:

    14 points - JimZ

    13 points - Harvey

    10 points - Hauptmann

    3 points - Valter

    3 points - Christophe

    3 points - Gunner 1

    2 points - kapten_windu

    Hauptmann gets to ask question 48. However he is offering this to Windu in view of his one year anniversary on GMIC. The informal rule here is that if you pass a question, you will have to sit it out and not reply to it....so basically if Windu takes up the offer you'll have to skip the next one.

    Please inform Windu that we are waiting for him :beer:

    Jim :cheers:

    Edited by JimZ
    Posted (edited)

    Thank you for pass this honor to me Dan! :)

    An easy one: i used to be a pride for the Soviet navy, but now i move to Asia and become a hotel&casino,

    who am I? :jumping:

    Edited by kapten_windu
    Posted

    Sounds like the Varyag....a Kuznetsov class carrier sold to Chinese investors for development as a casino..... :banger:

    Jim :cheers:

    Posted

    Sounds like the Varyag....a Kuznetsov class carrier sold to Chinese investors for development as a casino..... :banger:

    Jim :cheers:

    Very fast! your point.. :)

    interesting isn't it? how's a carrier ship turn it's duty from military to be a hotel&casino.. :P

    Posted

    Heard it was bought for those reasons. Though I do not think its been converted yet....... The Ukraine seems to be happily selling off some if its "assets" and will one day figure out that its lost all its muscle.....not that it should ever need it! But one never knows!!

    Jim :cheers:

    Posted

    The points stand as follows !! :jumping:

    15 points - JimZ

    13 points - Harvey

    10 points - Hauptmann

    3 points - Valter

    3 points - Christophe

    3 points - Gunner 1

    2 points - kapten_windu

    I'll come up with something for the next question shortly!

    Jim :cheers:

    Posted

    Question 49

    There is a lot at stake here....the honour of asking question 50!!! And the winner gets to do just that! So I am not going to make this easy and am going to challenge you guys. Of course if someone answers this straight away, I'll take my hat of them..... Harvey...Dan...Christophe my best are on either of you but perhaps, someone else might get this too....

    Above is a memorial. Its got no architectural value and is forgotten and even ignored by many who pass by it. However, it represents an event of some historical significance.

    The questions are simple:

    1) Which event does this memorial commemorate?

    2) What does the memorial symbolise?

    3) In which country is it located?

    4) Why is this event so significant?

    I'll start to drop hints if there is no feedback but I'd like to see you rack your brains a bit.

    Jim :cheers:

    Posted

    Well if you could read the inscription that would probably make it too easy.....but I've got you dialed in at least :)

    So some hints...... The monument is right by the sea..... and it represents the bow of two ships....

    Posted

    ......Two ships which can be seen in this newspaper cutting....

    And what???!!! Is that a yacht between them!!!

    Now.... it should be much easier..... But if you still do not get to it, I'll be sure to drop some more hints.

    Jim :cheers:

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