title: Kiril Petkov

text: On 27 October 2021, the Constitutional Court of Bulgaria retroactively overturned the decree appointing Petkov as Minister of Economy due to his status as a dual citizen, as the Constitution of Bulgaria states that ministers must only be Bulgarian citizens. Although the position was retracted from him, his actions in the role were not nullified. Political opponents of Petkov which included Lozan Panov, a presidential candidate and chairman of the Supreme Court of Cassation of Bulgaria, called for action to be taken on the issue. Petkov was previously a citizen of Canada, and stated that he had renounced his citizenship in April 2021, but Canadian government documents showed that the procedure was not officially completed until August 2021.


title: Kiril Petkov

text: After the initial results of the November elections were released, where PP came first but with a minority of 67 from 240 seats, Petkov announced that the party would be seeking to come to an agreement with several of the other parliamentary represented parties, and that he would be willing to partner up with all parties that would join the fight against corruption in Bulgaria. Petkov said he wanted to pursue "transparent" coalition negotiations with Democratic Bulgaria (DB) and There Is Such a People (ITN), and that he would be PP's nomination for prime minister. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and GERB were not included in the coalition talks.


title: Kiril Petkov

text: A series of talks on 18 policy areas were held between 23 November and 27 November, between the representatives of PP, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), ITN and DB. On 10 December, the leaders of the four parties confirmed that they had reached a coalition agreement, and would form Bulgaria's first regular government since April. Shortly after, President Rumen Radev announced that he had given the mandate to form a government to Petkov. On 12 December, Petkov presented the composition of the incoming government, which was approved by the National Assembly on 13 December 2021.


title: Kiril Petkov

text: Petkov was elected prime minister of Bulgaria in the Parliament of Bulgaria on 13 December 2021, with 134 votes in favour and 104 against, and his new government was appointed on the same day by President Rumen Radev.


title: Kiril Petkov

text: In the first week following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Petkov announced that Bulgaria would welcome Ukrainian refugees. He stated, "These are not the refugees we are used to; these people are Europeans. These people are intelligent. They are educated people...This is not the refugee wave we have been used to, people we were not sure about their identity, people with unclear pasts, who could have been even terrorists." His statement drew widespread criticism and allegations of racism, with many highlighting the different treatment of past refugee waves.


title: Kiril Petkov

text: In February, Petkov called for the resignation of Stefan Yanev from his position as Minister of Defense, after Yanev declined to use the word "war" in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, instead referring to it as a "special operation", echoing language used by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In May, Petkov recalled Bulgaria's ambassador to Russia, after Russian ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova drew a comparison between the war in Ukraine and Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottoman Empire.


title: Kiril Petkov

text: On 19 March, Petkov was joined by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin to announce that the Port of Varna and Port of Constanța would be joined by road and railroad connections as well as by energy infrastructure, in an effort to increase military mobility in the region. He said: "There will be a bridge over the Danube River... Logistics is just as important as military equipment... We can have really a working defense along the eastern flank [of NATO]."


title: Kiril Petkov

text: In early 2022, Petkov was sympathetic to the repeated requests of Volodymyr Zelensky for military aid in Ukraine's battle against Russia, but he faced the refusal of Bulgarian Socialist Party and the party's leader Korneliya Ninova. On 4 May, the parliament approved the continuation of repairs for damaged Ukrainian military equipment, and announced that Bulgaria would continue to support Ukraine's membership in the EU, as well as Ukrainian refugees, who numbered more than 56,000 as of 7 June. Petkov noted Bulgaria's espousal of all sanctions against Russia, and would allow the use of the Port of Varna to transship goods that had been stifled by the Russian blockade of Odessa.


title: Kiril Petkov

text: In early June, Petkov's coalition partner, There Is Such a People, which had called for energy cooperation with Russia even after Gazprom cut off supplies to Bulgaria, withdrew from the coalition. On 22 June, the government faced a motion of no confidence, which it lost. Petkov formally resigned from his position as prime minister on 27 June, and was tasked by President Rumen Radev to form a new government.


title: Kiril Petkov

text: In the evening of 27 June, the Russian embassy in Sofia launched a charity appeal for Bulgarians to support the Russian invasion of Ukraine. One day later, Petkov announced the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats over concerns of espionage. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Bulgaria would be temporarily closing down its diplomatic mission in Yekaterinburg and expected Russia to temporarily halt the activities of its own mission in Ruse, Bulgaria.


title: Kiril Petkov

text: Petkov's coalition collapsed in June 2022 after his government lost a vote of no confidence. He left office on 2 August and was succeeded by the former minister of labor Galab Donev. President Radev subsequently called for a snap election to be held on 2 October.


title: Redeeming Love

text: Redeeming Love is a historical romance novel by Francine Rivers set in the 1850s Gold Rush in California. The story is inspired by the Book of Hosea from the Bible, and its central theme is the redeeming love of God towards sinners. In 2020, a film adaption was announced with D.J. Caruso as director. The novel has sold over three million copies worldwide since its publication in 1991, and has been translated into 30 languages.


title: Redeeming Love

text: The story starts off in New England, 1835. Sarah, a beautiful young girl, meets her father, Alex Stafford, for the first time. Six-year-old Sarah learns that she is the product of Stafford's adulterous affair with her mother, Mae. Mae was urged to abort the child, but refused to do so, and her decision separated the two and left Mae depressed. Sarah begins to think that she is to blame, but she hopes Alex never comes back.


title: Redeeming Love

text: Later that year, Mae's maid Cleo begrudgingly takes Sarah with her on a trip to the seashore so that Mae can have a private visit with Alex. Cleo takes Sarah with her to a popular brothel where Cleo is well-known and has a male companion. After getting drunk she agrees to sleep with him while Sarah waits in the hall. After this man leaves her heartbroken again, a half-drunk Cleo tells a frightened Sarah "God's truth:" that no man ever cares for a woman and all they want is sex. Mae and Sarah then move to a shack on the docks, where Mae takes up prostitution to make ends meet. She gains a reputation known all over town, and Sarah is forced to suffer the rejection of the townspeople because of it. Through this experience, Sarah learns to mask her emotions and replace them instead with a hard exterior.


title: Redeeming Love

text: A few years later, Mae dies from a terrible illness, leaving eight year-old Sarah alone with a drunken man named Rab. Unsure of what to do with the small child, Rab seeks a home for the child. He finds a man looking for a little girl for his wealthy master. Thinking that this is Sarah's lucky break, Rab takes Sarah to the wealthy neighborhood. They are greeted at the door by a woman who urges Rab to take Sarah away and not come back. Not dissuaded, Rab insists that Sarah is perfect for this rich man. The woman admits the pair and sends them to a bedroom upstairs where they are instructed to wait until her master can see them. Duke, the master of the household, welcomes Sarah and Rab; minutes later, Rab is strangled before Sarah's eyes, his body dumped in a nearby alley. Duke, who is a pedophile, had been scouring the town not for a new daughter, but a new victim. Duke informs Sarah (renamed by him Angel) that there are many things he wants to teach her. He gives her first "lesson" that very night.


title: Redeeming Love

text: After about 10 years with Duke, Angel finally escapes and boards a ship bound for California. Along the way, she is robbed and forced to prostitute herself to avoid being raped by the mostly male passengers. She disembarks in San Francisco with nothing more than the clothes she is wearing, and is taken in by 'The Duchess', the owner of The Palace, a brothel in Pair-a-Dice. Angel becomes an exclusive, high-priced prostitute, but she is guarded constantly and her meager earnings are kept from her. Her only solace is Lucky, a fellow prostitute that is often drunk but reminds Angel of her mother.


title: Redeeming Love

text: Michael Hosea first sees Angel on a trip to Pair-A-Dice to sell produce. He is ready to leave when God tells Michael "she's the one:" the woman he is meant to marry. Michael soon discovers to his shock that Angel is a prostitute. Still determined to heed God's command and marry Angel, Michael pays the high fee for her services in hopes of convincing her to leave with him, but she stubbornly rejects his offer. Discouraged, Michael questions God, but still obeys. He pays Angel's fee for three successive nights, talking and reasoning with her until his time and money are up. Angel keeps her cold, sarcastic front to dissuade him, wanting to escape the pain his words cause her, she cannot seem to escape thoughts of him and she begins hope of a life outside the Palace. After the last night with Angel, Michael grows frustrated and leaves Pair-A-Dice, but his obedience to God pushes him to return a few days later. He finds Angel almost dead from a brutal beating given her by Magowan, Duchess' bodyguard. Willing to use any means to preserve Angel's life, Michael asks her to marry him so he can take her to his cabin. Barely conscious, Angel agrees, mumbling "Why not?"


title: Redeeming Love

text: Michael nurses Angel back to health at his cabin, and she remains barely tolerant of the arrangement while it serves her needs. Michael endures Angel's harshness, remaining faithful to his new wife and God's plan. Michael's widower brother-in-law, Paul, returns home from fruitless gold panning in the Sierras, and recognizes Angel immediately as the high-priced prostitute from the Palace. Believing Angel has deceived Michael, Paul treats her badly and tries to tell Michael about Angel's profession, but this only angers him. Paul thinks Michael married Angel out of blind lust without knowing she was a prostitute, unaware that Michael knows the truth and loves her anyway. During his visit, Paul senses a rift between him and Michael, but cannot see that he is the cause.


title: Redeeming Love

text: When she finally heals from her wounds, Angel tries to run away from Michael in hopes of returning to the brothel to get back the money The Duchess had kept from her. When Paul leaves to sell the produce of his land back in Pair-A-Dice, Angel sees this as a way for her to escape. While Michael is out working in the field, she runs after Paul's wagon. He agrees to take her with him if she pays him back with her only means of currency: herself. He's disgusted by her actions even more after they have sex together and hopes that is the last he will ever see of her.


title: Redeeming Love

text: Upon her return to Pair-A-Dice, she sees that the Palace has burned down and that Lucky and another prostitute by the name of Mai Ling are dead. With nowhere else to go, she begins working above a bar—once again as a prostitute. Even though she loathes being seen as nothing but a harlot, she has no other skills with which to make a living. A livid Michael finds her in a room with a client and fights their way out of the bar filled with drunken men waiting for their turn with Angel.


title: Redeeming Love

text: They return to the cabin. Michael relies on God to work through his anger at her unfaithfulness. Angel begins to develop affectionate feelings towards Michael, which she cannot comprehend because she has never allowed herself to love any man because she still believes "God's truth." Despite her continued coldness, Michael loves her unconditionally. Upon showing her a sunrise, he says, "That is what I want to give to you." Angel feels herself softening up day by day, but in her uncertainty and fear refuses to share it with Michael. She feels a deep sense of shame at her "uncleanness:" she is moved by Michael's love but cannot see herself as worthy of it. Though they have slept together regularly, Angel is very disconnected from the experience of sex, but when one night she experiences the same joy and pleasure Michael does, it frightens her.


title: Redeeming Love

text: Michael takes Angel with him on a trip into Sacramento for supplies and fabric for new clothes. On their return to the valley, they meet the Altman family, who have a broken wheel and are stranded on the side of the road. Michael helps fix their wagon and invites them to stay at their cabin. Angel reveals to Mrs. Altman and her 16 year-old daughter Miriam that she met Michael in a brothel, and is amazed to find that they have only compassion for her instead of contempt. They become close, and Angel takes a liking to Miriam, who begins to fancy Paul, who is living at the other end of the valley. The Altman's move into their own cabin in the valley.


title: Redeeming Love

text: It is revealed in a flashback that during her time as Duke's mistress, Angel got pregnant twice, and both times an infuriated Duke had a doctor abort it. After the second abortion, the doctor takes measures to ensure that she can never get pregnant again. In the present, Angel reveals this to a devastated Michael, and tells him that she once had sex with her own father as revenge for abandoning her mother. Angel is swamped by guilt over her callous behavior and at being unable to give Michael children of his own, as she knows he longs for.


title: Redeeming Love

text: She runs away once again, this time to Sacramento; on the way she is offered a ride by an old man that sells pots. While looking for work in the city she encounters Joseph Hochschild, who has built his new store. She stays with him, knowing that he is a good friend of Michael's, and works the store with his wife and mother. When an order comes in for Michael, she tries to leave but Joseph keeps her busy, making her wait longer. When she finishes her duties and goes to close up the store, Michael is standing at the doorway, having again come back for her. She admits that she is frightened by the idea of being in love with him, but he reassures her and brings her home.


title: Redeeming Love

text: They start planting the fields. When Angel sees Miriam talking with Michael, she assumes that they have feelings for one another and jumps to the conclusion that they would make a much better couple than she and Michael. Paul wants to see Michael end up with Miriam as well, but has also begun to develop feelings for Miriam. He denies his feelings because he wishes to see Michael with Miriam instead of Angel. She then runs away once more, leaving her wedding ring behind in hopes that Michael will marry Miriam and have children with her. Michael is crushed, but says he will not go after Angel again if she does not want to be with him.


title: Redeeming Love

text: This time, Angel returns to San Francisco, getting a job with a gentle man named Virgil. He takes her in as a cook at his cafe, and takes care of her. After months of hard work, the cafe burns down and all of Angel's savings and possessions are destroyed. Observing the fire in the street, a bereft Angel hears a familiar voice: Duke greeting her. Fearing that he would hurt Virgil, who seems suspicious of Duke, Angel agrees to go back with him.


title: Redeeming Love

text: Once more under Duke's power, Angel is expected to resume her life as a prostitute. However, Duke's sexual preference is for young girls, so he asks Angel to manage his prospective "companions," but only after a week's worth of prostitution. Angel is to be presented to a crowd of men, and she begins to wrestle in her mind and cries out to God internally. She is prepared to go on stage to entertain the men, but once there, the voice of God tells her to sing and she starts singing "Rock of Ages" to the awed and confused crowd. A gray-haired man sings along with her and moves up to the front of the stage. She forgets the words of the song, and he finishes it.


title: Redeeming Love

text: After the presentation, Duke reprimands Angel. However, he is met by the singing stranger from the crowd, who threatens to have Duke hanged if he lays a single finger on Angel. With that, the man escorts Angel out, and on their way out Angel rescues two other young girls Duke was using as victims. When the men at the brothel see the two young girls with Angel, they become furious and destroy the place. The man takes them to his house, where his wife and daughter take care of them. Jonathan Axle, the man who saved her, is a wealthy and respected banker with a solid Christian family. Angel starts to attend church with the Axle family and grows fond of them.


title: Redeeming Love

text: Meanwhile, Miriam reveals that she is in love with Paul, and the two of them marry while Angel is away. Michael still awaits the return of Angel and prays continually for her to come back. Seeing his grief, Miriam insists that Paul should go and find Angel, but Paul refuses, still full of contempt for the woman he believes Angel to be. Angel eventually recognizes God's love for her and receives Christ in her heart. She begins to work with prostitutes by helping them leave their old ways and learning new abilities that might help them make a living. Susanna Axle, the daughter of Jonathan Axle, helps her run the boarding house.


title: Redeeming Love

text: Paul finally gives in to Miriam and goes to San Francisco to look for Angel. He finds her, but seeing he her with Jonathan makes him think she is still a prostitute. He is furious that he came looking, and starts making up excuses to give Miriam so that he does not have to hurt her by telling her Angel is a prostitute. However, the next day he decides to go up to the house and confront Angel. At first he acts cold, contemptuous, and sarcastic, but is startled by her humility and the genuine love she harbors for Michael. He is shocked to learn that she left Michael in the hope that he would marry Miriam so that he could have children. When she discovers that Paul is married to Miriam, and that Michael is still waiting for her after three years of absence, her whole world falls apart and she no longer feels justified in staying in San Francisco.


title: Redeeming Love

text: She finally makes the decision to leave Susanna in charge of the house, and goes back to Michael. She surprises him in the field where he is working, kneeling at his feet and crying, grieved to see the profound effect losing her had on him. She reveals that her real name is "Sarah". Michael, in tears himself, receives her with kind, pure and forgiving love, and declares that he believes the revelation of her name is a promise from God that they will one day be able to have children (the Sarah in the Bible was a barren woman who, by the grace of God, was eventually able to have a son). They two truly start a new life together, and in the epilogue, it is said that Michael and Sarah later had four children.


title: Redeeming Love

text: Francine Rivers had produced some earlier historical romances for a series of years before she became a born again Christian in 1986, after an eight-year-old boy, who lived in the house adjacent to her house, invited her to church, where she changed. Following her conversion, Rivers did not write for three years, but when she stumbled to the book of Hosea, Rivers felt compelled to write the story. The book was first published in the mainstream market by Bantam books in 1991. Because it was released by general market publisher, the book did not hold completely explicit Christian content, such as the baptismal scene in the book and Angel's Christian conversion; however, when the book went out of print several years later, Rivers got the rights back to her book and made the additions to the novel. The novel was re-released by Multnomah Publishers in 1997.


title: Redeeming Love

text: The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association awarded "Redeeming Love" the ECPA Gold Book award, an award that recognizes books that have sold 500,000 copies, in 2005 and the ECPA Platinum Book Award, which is presented to books that have sold one million copies, in 2009.


title: Loot (TV series)

text: Loot is an American comedy television series created by Matt Hubbard and Alan Yang that premiered on June 24, 2022, on Apple TV+. The series stars Maya Rudolph, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Joel Kim Booster, Ron Funches and Nat Faxon, and received generally positive reviews. In July 2022, the series was renewed for a second season.


title: Loot (TV series)

text: It was announced in March 2021 that Apple TV+ had ordered to series an untitled comedy that would star Maya Rudolph, created by Matt Hubbard and Alan Yang. In May, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez was cast, with Joel Kim Booster joining in July. Olivier Martinez was cast for a recurring role in November. Nat Faxon and Ron Funches would be revealed as part of the main cast upon the series first look. On July 11, 2022, Apple TV+ renewed the series for a second season.


title: Loot (TV series)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 81% approval rating with an average rating of 6.9/10, based on 42 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, ""Loot" doesn't quite service comedic treasure Maya Rudolph as satisfyingly as a star vehicle should, although there are enough riches here to suggest a big return on investment—when this promising sitcom finds its footing." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 65 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Mr. Men

text: Mr. Men is a British series of children's books by English author Roger Hargreaves which began publication in August 1971. From 1981, an accompanying series of Little Miss books by the same author (but with female characters) was published. A similar series of animal characters known as Timbuctoo started in 1978. After Hargreaves's death in 1988, his son Adam Hargreaves began writing and illustrating new Mr. Men and Little Miss stories such as "Mr. Cool", "Mr. Rude", "Mr. Good", "Little Miss Scary", "Little Miss Bad", "Little Miss Whoops", "Little Miss Princess", "Little Miss Hug", and "Little Miss Inventor".


title: Mr. Men

text: Each book in the original Mr. Men and Little Miss series introduced a different title character and his/her single dominant personality trait to convey a simple moral lesson. The Mr. Men and Little Miss characters frequently reappeared in other characters' books. As of 2021, a total of 92 Mr. Men and Little Miss characters had been featured in the series. The books' simple stories, with brightly coloured, boldly drawn illustrations, have sold over 100 million copies worldwide across 28 countries.


title: Mr. Men

text: The first six "Mr. Men" books were published in the United Kingdom on 10 August 1971. Mr. Tickle was the first Mr. Men character created by Hargreaves, inspired by his son Adam, who had asked him what a tickle looked like. Hargreaves responded with a round, orange figure with long, bendy arms. The account of the first book's creation is currently being disputed. According to John Malam, who wrote Roger Hargreaves' entry in the "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", the inspiration for his initial creations came while doodling at work. Malam told Amelia Tait of the "New Statesman" in 2021 of the anecdote about his son's query: "It became too good to dispute and no doubt helped in the early marketing campaigns." Also, Adam's question was one of his most impossible questions as said in the documentary "50 Years of Mr. Men".


title: Mr. Men

text: Over the course of the 1970s, Roger Hargreaves produced 38 more Mr. Men in addition to Mr. Tickle, as well as producing a number of other Mr. Men books. In the 1980s, Roger Hargreaves began the Little Miss series with 'Little Miss Bossy', and he produced 21 characters and books. As well as this, two special Mr. Men stories were created in 1985 ('Mr. Nobody' and 'Mr. Christmas'). Both of these books have been rereleased in later years. Roger Hargreaves died in 1988, and his son Adam took over the franchise.


title: Mr. Men

text: After his father's death, Adam Hargreaves took over the Mr. Men. He now draws the characters and writes new stories for them.


title: Mr. Men

text: A competition was held in the British "Sunday Times" newspaper for children to submit their own Mr. Men character for inclusion in a limited edition celebrating the 30th anniversary of the series. "Mr. Cheeky" was selected as the winning entry, submitted by then eight-year-old Gemma Almond. Her creation led to a book featuring her character being published; it was sold only in W H Smith branches, with a portion of the proceeds going to a charity, supporting children with leukaemia.


title: Mr. Men

text: In 2003, Adam created three new Mr. Men characters and three new Little Miss characters. He also created 'Little Miss Christmas' to accompany 'Mr. Christmas' after this book was rereleased with new illustrations.


title: Mr. Men

text: In April 2004, Hargreaves' widow Christine sold the rights to the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters to UK entertainment group Chorion for £28 million. They called their company "THOIP". In 2006, to celebrate 35 years of Mr. Men and 25 years of Little Miss, "Mr. Birthday" and "Little Miss Birthday" were published. In October 2006, Adam Hargreaves created the first Little Miss character based on the real person Stella McCartney, who he named "Little Miss Stella". This was published as a limited edition of 1,000 copies for use as fashion show invitations.


title: Mr. Men

text: In 2011, Sanrio, the Japanese design company best known as the creators of Hello Kitty, announced that they had reached an agreement to acquire the rights to the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters from Chorion after the company was forced into administration, so they used the "THOIP" company to take over. This marked the first time that Sanrio had licensed a third-party character since owning the rights to Osamu Tezuka's Unico character in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which was returned to Tezuka Productions after Tezuka's death in 1989. Sanrio had also acquired the license to produce Peanuts merchandise for the Japanese market. In 2016, four new characters were launched to celebrate the series' 45th anniversary: Mr. Marvelous, Mr. Adventure, Little Miss Fabulous, and Little Miss Sparkle. Little Miss Explorer, a special book for Heathrow was also launched. Little Miss Valentine was introduced to the US market in 2019 with Little Miss Inventor being the latest mainline character to receive a book. Adam Hargreaves has also created several commercial characters, such as Mr. Glug for Evian water, Little Miss Miracle beauty cream, Mr. and Little Miss Gap, and Mr. First for money transfer company World First. In 2017, Adam Hargreaves launched a new series of books featuring characters from the BBC science-fiction series "Doctor Who", with each book focusing on a different incarnation of the show's titular character. These were followed by editions based on the Spice Girls in 2019.


title: Mr. Men

text: On 10 August 2021 (the 50th anniversary of the first book), special editions were published and new characters were introduced as part of a public vote to select two who will join the main characters, Mr. Brilliant, Little Miss Kind, Little Miss Brave, Mr. Calm, and Little Miss Energy. The chosen Mr. Men for the competition were Mr. Calm and Little Miss Brave.


title: Mr. Men

text: Each book contains a title page, 16 to 18 text pages, and 15 to 17 colour illustrations drawn with a Magic Marker. Instead of being in a reduced font size, it curves down at the end where the name of the titular Mr. Men character is too long to fit on the cover horizontally. The typeface for the original Little Miss books from "Little Miss Bossy" to "Little Miss Star" is Univers, with the books from "Little Miss Busy" to "Little Miss Somersault" using Helvetica. In the Mr. Men series, "Mr. Brave" to "Mr. Cheerful" use Helvetica. All the other books in the Mr. Men and Little Miss series use Optima. All of the Little Miss books also sometimes use Optima. The books are paperback with dimensions of 14 cm x 12.6 cm. If all the books of each series are put together in order, the words 'My Mr. Men library' or 'My Little Miss library' can be read across the spines and an illustration of Walter the Worm (Mr. Men) or a flower (Little Miss) can be seen.


title: Mr. Men

text: The stories are set in a fictional universe called "Misterland", which is inhabited by the Mr. Men and Little Misses themselves, as well as some ordinary human characters such as shopkeepers, doctors and postmen. There are also various animals; Walter the Worm is the main animal who appears frequently. The characters are human in their behaviours and attributes.


title: Mr. Men

text: The following is a list of the book titles with year of first publication and associated ISBNs given in parenthesis. There are many more titles published as translations including publications in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Icelandic, Hebrew, Chinese, Korean, Irish, and others.


title: Mr. Men

text: The Mr. Men characters were adapted into two animated television series, with the first beginning on 31 December 1974, consisting of 28 episodes in total. They were produced by Terry Ward's company Flicks Films (formerly known as 101 Film Productions) in partnership with Trevor Bond, and it was broadcast on BBC 1. Actor Arthur Lowe provided the narration and voices and used regional accents for some of the characters. The musical theme was composed by Tony Hymas.


title: Mr. Men

text: Beginning in the middle of February 1983, a further series featuring the Little Miss characters was also produced by Flicks Films and aired on BBC 1. This was narrated by husband and wife John Alderton and Pauline Collins. The theme song and credits were composed by Dave Cooke and Richard Everett. The 13 Little Miss episodes were:


title: Mr. Men

text: When the episodes were first broadcast on BBC 1 beginning on 14 February 1983, they were paired with reruns of the 1974 "Mr. Men" series, as the theme music and background music of said reruns were changed and rewritten to match the style of the "Little Miss" theme music. Both "Little Miss" and reruns of "Mr. Men" aired on BBC 1 from its debut until its last BBC 1 airing on 15 June 1987. Less than a year later, reruns on both "Little Miss" and "Mr. Men" were moved to BBC2 beginning on 27 January 1988 until its last airing on 22 December 1988. This was the first "Mr. Men" based series to air in the United States, getting 2 VHS releases from Warner Home Video with an American redub in 1986. The entire series was released to VHS in October 2003 in the UK.


title: Mr. Men

text: Another series, "Mr. Men and Little Miss", was produced by Marina Productions in 1995 and originally aired on British and Irish television from 1995 to 1997; these stories had in it Geoffrey Palmer, Gordon Peters as the narrator, and Jill Shilling and were aired on Nick Jr. and Channel 5's "Milkshake!" in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The show first aired on CITV.


title: Mr. Men

text: In 1996, the series was localised in the United States and Canada as "The Mr. Men Show"; this series incorporated live-action segments as well as three episodes from the original series redubbed with Canadian voice actors. This version lasted for only one season.


title: Mr. Men

text: The series was a co-production between Marina Productions in France and Flicks Films in the UK. Terry Ward was the co-producer and director in London.


title: Mr. Men

text: By the beginning of 2007, Renegade Animation had its series of books for Chorion to produce "The Mr. Men Show", and debuted on the Cartoon Network in North America and on Channel 5's "Milkshake!" in the United Kingdom in February 2008. There were only 25 characters featured in the first season, although most had their names or appearances altered. The Mr. Men Show was written and produced by Eryk Casemiro and Kate Boutilier and directed by Mark Risley. The creative team was a combined effort of personnel from Nickelodeon's "Rugrats", "The Wild Thornberrys", and "As Told by Ginger". All of the opening and closing parts are narrated by Joey D'Auria (credited as Joseph J. Terry) in the US and Simon Callow in the UK.


title: Mr. Men

text: Back in October 2021, Endeavor Content announced that they will be making an all new Mr. Men and Little Miss series. It is set to premiere sometime in 2023.


title: Mr. Men

text: In February 2011, it was reported that 20th Century Fox Animation was developing an animated feature film based on the "Mr. Men" book series, with Shawn Levy producing the film through his company 21 Laps Entertainment. On 27 January 2015, Fox Animation confirmed that it had acquired the film rights to the "Mr. Men Little Miss" characters. No updates on the film have been made as of 2022, however.


title: Postal (video game)

text: Postal is an isometric top-down shooter video game developed by Running with Scissors and published by Ripcord Games in 1997. A sequel to the game, "Postal 2", was released in 2003. Two additional sequels, "Postal III" and "", were released in 2011 and 2022, respectively. Director Uwe Boll bought the movie rights for the series and produced a film of the same name. A March 2001 re-release of the game, called "Postal Plus", included a "Special Delivery" add-on. A remake of the game, "Postal Redux", was released for Microsoft Windows on May 20, 2016, and was later released for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch digital stores. At the end of 2016, the game's source code was released under the GNU GPL-2.0-only. At the end of 2019, Running With Scissors released the game as freeware.


title: Postal (video game)

text: "Postal" is a 3D shooter with mainly isometric, but also some top-down levels featuring hand-painted backgrounds. Gameplay and interface are similar to first-person shooters of the time in most, but not on all counts:


title: Postal (video game)

text: A man referred to simply as the "Postal Dude" has been evicted from his home. He believes the United States Air Force is releasing an airborne agent upon his town of Paradise and that he is the only individual unaffected by the ensuing "hate plague". He fights his way from his house to an Air Force Base through various locations, including a ghetto, train station, trailer park, truck stop, and an ostrich farm. During the course of the gameplay, a voice in the protagonist's head (voiced by Rick Hunter) can be heard taunting his victims through cryptic absurdity, often through consecutive kills or when switching through the player's arsenal.


title: Postal (video game)

text: After raiding the Air Force Base, he is shown attempting to massacre an elementary school. Despite his best efforts, his weapons have no effect on the children. Suffering a mental breakdown amidst innocent laughter, he finds himself restrained in a mental asylum as hellish images cover the screen: A body bound to chains in a corridor, the protagonist in a straitjacket curled in the fetal position; a close-up of his face (albeit covered by bindings) and the door to his cell numbered 593. A disembodied voice, possibly a psychologist, gives a report on the protagonist's mental state: He suggests that the stress of urban life may have been the root cause of his rampage, probing him to "go postal". The lack of any mentions to military interference with the civilian population strongly implies that the Postal Dude's murders were the result of his own paranoid delusions. Amid distorted audio, the psychologist gives a final remark: "We may never know exactly what set him off, but rest assured we will have plenty of time to study him". Upon completion of the credits, manic cackling can be heard as the screen fades to black. It is suggested that the protagonist may have escaped the confines of the asylum to pursue further acts of violence.


title: Postal (video game)

text: Due to the controversy surrounding the game's release, along with numerous, unrelated American school shootings in the years following, the 2016 redux of the game's ending has been changed. Replacing the elementary school vision is the player witnessing the burial of an unknown person in a decaying field, though it can be implied that it is his own. Completion of the game on the hardest difficulty features the inclusion of an unknown male and female mourning over the grave as it descends. Both outcomes prompt a similar mental breakdown and an identical asylum cutscene, though consisting of animated shots over the original release's still image artwork.


title: Postal (video game)

text: Postal was developed by Running with Scissors and published by Ripcord Games in 1997 for Windows and MacOS.


title: Postal (video game)

text: "Postal: Special Delivery", an expansion to the original "Postal", was released on August 28, 1998 and featured four new levels and various new characters and voices. One level, in particular, was set in a parody of Wal-Mart and began with the Dude's demon chastising the store for not selling "Postal", which foreshadows the off-kilter humor seen in "Postal 2".


title: Postal (video game)

text: In 2000 a Japanese version of "Postal" called "Super Postal" was released featuring Japanese voices and two exclusive levels, "Tokyo" and "Osaka". These levels remained exclusive to "Super Postal" until the release of "Postal Redux" in 2016.


title: Postal (video game)

text: A March 2001 re-release of the game, called Postal Plus, included the "Special Delivery" add-on. It was ported to Linux by Loki Entertainment in the same year.


title: Postal (video game)

text: In 2002, "Postal Plus" (known as "Postal: Classic and Uncut" in Europe) bundled "Postal" and the "Special Delivery" expansion, with retail copies also including a demo for "Postal 2".


title: Postal (video game)

text: "Postal Plus" was released on the digital distributor GOG.com in 2009 and a few years later on Steam. In 2013, it was updated with support for widescreen resolutions and modern hardware. The multiplayer component and level editor were removed, however. In 2015, it was updated with full Xbox 360 controller support.


title: Postal (video game)

text: In 2015, the developers announced that they will release the source code of the game ""if someone promises to port it to the Dreamcast"". In June 2016 the developers gave the source code to a community developer who ported the game to Linux for the OpenPandora handheld. On December 28, 2016, the source code was released on Bitbucket under the GNU GPL-2.0-only.


title: Postal (video game)

text: On February 14, 2022, independent publisher Wave Game Studios announced a port of the game to the Sega Dreamcast was to be released on June 2, officially licensed by Running with Scissors.


title: Postal (video game)

text: NPD Techworld, a firm that tracked sales in the United States, reported 49,036 units sold of "Postal" by December 2002.


title: Postal (video game)

text: "Next Generation" reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Overall, "Postal" is a title that breaks absolutely no new ground, but its tongue-in-cheek shooting action comes together to form a well-above-average shooter that adds to the genre."


title: Postal (video game)

text: "Postal" received mixed reviews from critics. It holds a Metacritic score of 56/100. GameSpot's Mark East gave the game a 6.6/10 score and commented: "The lack of longevity in the single-player mode and the simplistic multiplayer options make Postal a moderately fun ride, at best." On regards to The Postal Dude's aggressive personality East comments on the Postal Dude's phrases from his diary, which indicate "something's not quite right in Postal Dude's noggin".


title: Postal (video game)

text: In a retrospective, GamingOnLinux reviewer Hamish Paul Wilson gave the game 7/10, commenting that "there is no denying that "Postal" has some faults even when compared to some of the other games that were released around the same time as it, and time has definitely not been very kind to the title itself. But the concepts that the game explores, the ideas being expressed, and much of their actual implementations are just so interesting and compelling that one can still actually look past many of these faults and see the hidden gem that lies underneath."


title: Postal (video game)

text: The reviewer from "Pyramid" #30 (March/April 1998) stated that "Many people have thought the premise for the game is sick. Well, it is. But, that's what makes it fun. There's no quest for secret, lost treasure. There's no time-clock ticking away as you try desperately to save the world. There's no alien spaceships or fantastical powers. There's just good old fashioned, psychotic violence - something that our mass media entertainment powers have been bringing us on prime time for years."


title: Postal (video game)

text: A sequel to the game, "Postal 2", was released in 2003. Director Uwe Boll bought the movie rights for the series and produced a film of the same name. Two additional sequels, "Postal III" and "", were released in 2011 and 2022, respectively.


title: Postal (video game)

text: Running with Scissors developed a remake of "Postal", titled "Postal Redux", using Unreal Engine 4. The project was announced as "Postal: Redux" in November 2014, then targeting a 2015 release for Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. In addition to these platforms, Running with Scissors announced "Postal Redux" as coming to PlayStation 4 in February 2016. The Microsoft Windows version was released on May 20, 2016, while Linux, macOS, and PlayStation 4 versions were scheduled for a later release. The PlayStation 4 version was canceled by June 2017, with Jaret Schachter of Running with Scissors blaming a lack of sales of the PC version. MD Games ported "Postal Redux" to the Nintendo Switch, releasing it via the Nintendo eShop on October 16, 2020. The company also produced a PlayStation 4 version, which was released on March 5, 2021.


title: Biplane

text: A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage over a monoplane, it produces more drag than a monoplane wing. Improved structural techniques, better materials and higher speeds made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s.


title: Biplane

text: Biplanes offer several advantages over conventional cantilever monoplane designs: they permit lighter wing structures, low wing loading and smaller span for a given wing area. However, interference between the airflow over each wing increases drag substantially, and biplanes generally need extensive bracing, which causes additional drag.


title: Biplane

text: Biplanes are distinguished from tandem wing arrangements, where the wings are placed forward and aft, instead of above and below.


title: Biplane

text: In a biplane aircraft, two wings are placed one above the other. Each provides part of the lift, although they are not able to produce twice as much lift as a single wing of similar size and shape because the upper and the lower are working on nearly the same portion of the atmosphere and thus interfere with each other's behaviour. In a biplane configuration with no stagger from the upper wing to the lower wing, the lift coefficient is reduced by 10 to 15 percent compared to that of a monoplane using the same airfoil and aspect ratio


title: Biplane

text: The lower wing is usually attached to the fuselage, while the upper wing is raised above the fuselage with an arrangement of cabane struts, although other arrangements have been used. Either or both of the main wings can support ailerons, while flaps are more usually positioned on the lower wing. Bracing is nearly always added between the upper and lower wings, in the form of interplane struts positioned symmetrically on either side of the fuselage and bracing wires to keep the structure from flexing, where the wings are not themselves cantilever structures.


title: Biplane

text: The primary advantage of the biplane over a monoplane is its ability to combine greater stiffness with lower weight. Stiffness requires structural depth and where early monoplanes had to have this provided with external bracing, the biplane naturally has a deep structure and is therefore easier to make both light and strong. Rigging wires on non-cantilevered monoplanes are at a much sharper angle, thus providing less tension to ensure stiffness of the outer wing. On a biplane, since the angles are closer to the ideal of being in direct line with the forces being opposed, the overall structure can then be made stiffer. Because of the reduced stiffness, wire braced monoplanes often had multiple sets of flying and landing wires where a biplane could easily be built with one bay, with one set of landing and flying wires. The extra drag from the wires was not enough to offset the aerodynamic disadvantages from having two airfoils interfering with each other however. Strut braced monoplanes were tried but none of them were successful, not least due to the drag from the number of struts used.


title: Biplane

text: The structural forces acting on the spars of a biplane wing tend to be lower as they are divided between four spars rather than two, so the wing can use less material to obtain the same overall strength and is therefore lighter. A given area of wing also tends to be shorter, reducing bending moments on the spars, which then allow them to be more lightly built as well. The biplane does however need extra struts to maintain the gap between the wings, which add both weight and drag.


title: Biplane

text: The low power supplied by the engines available in the first years of aviation limited aeroplanes to fairly low speeds. This required an even lower stalling speed, which in turn required a low wing loading, combining both large wing area with light weight. Obtaining a large enough wing area without the wings being long, and thus dangerously flexible was more readily accomplished with a biplane.


title: Biplane

text: The smaller biplane wing allows greater maneuverability. Following World War I, this helped extend the era of the biplane and, despite the performance disadvantages, most fighter aircraft were biplanes as late as the mid-1930s. Specialist sports aerobatic biplanes are still made in small numbers.


title: Biplane

text: Biplanes suffer aerodynamic interference between the two planes when the high pressure air under the top wing and the low pressure air above the lower wing cancel each other out. This means that a biplane does not in practice obtain twice the lift of the similarly-sized monoplane. The farther apart the wings are spaced the less the interference, but the spacing struts must be longer, and the gap must be extremely large to reduce it appreciably.


title: Biplane

text: As engine power and speeds rose late in World War I, thick cantilever wings with inherently lower drag and higher wing loading became practical, which in turn made monoplanes more attractive as it helped solve the structural problems associated with monoplanes, but offered little improvement for biplanes.


title: Biplane

text: The default design for a biplane has the wings positioned directly one above the other. Moving the upper wing forward relative to the lower one is called positive stagger or, more often, simply stagger. It can increase lift and reduce drag by reducing the aerodynamic interference effects between the two wings by a small degree, but more often was used to improve access to the cockpit. Many biplanes have staggered wings. Common examples include the de Havilland Tiger Moth, Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann and Travel Air 2000.


title: Biplane

text: Alternatively, the lower wing can instead be moved ahead of the upper wing, giving negative stagger, and similar benefits. This is usually done in a given design for structural reasons, or to improve visibility. Examples of negative stagger include the Sopwith Dolphin, Breguet 14 and Beechcraft Staggerwing. However, positive (forward) stagger is much more common.


title: Biplane

text: The space enclosed by a set of interplane struts is called a "bay" (much as the architectural form is used), hence a biplane or triplane with one set of such struts connecting the wings on each side of the aircraft is a "single-bay biplane". This provided sufficient strength for smaller aircraft such as the First World War-era Fokker D.VII fighter and the Second World War de Havilland Tiger Moth basic trainer.


title: Biplane

text: The larger two-seat Curtiss JN-4 Jenny is a "two bay biplane", the extra bay being necessary as overlong bays are prone to flexing and can fail. The SPAD S.XIII fighter, while appearing to be a two bay biplane, has only one bay, but has the midpoints of the rigging braced with additional struts; however, these are not structurally contiguous from top to bottom wing. The Sopwith 1½ Strutter has a W shape cabane, however as it does not connect the wings to each other, it does not add to the number of bays.


title: Biplane

text: Large transport and bombing biplanes often needed still more bays to provide sufficient strength. These are sometimes referred to as "multi-bay biplanes". A small number of biplanes, such as the Zeppelin-Lindau D.I have no interplane struts and are referred to as being "strutless".


title: Biplane

text: Because most biplanes do not have cantilever structures, they require rigging wires to maintain their rigidity. Early aircraft used simple wire (either braided or plain), however during the First World War, the British Royal Aircraft Factory developed airfoil section wire named RAFwire in an effort to both increase the strength and reduce the drag.


title: Biplane

text: Four types of wires are used in the biplane wing structure. Drag wires inside the wings prevent the wings from being folded back against the fuselage, running inside a wing bay from the forward inboard corner to the rear outboard corner. Anti-drag wires prevent the wings from moving forward when the aircraft stops and run the opposite direction to the drag wires. Both of these are usually hidden within the wings, and if the structure is sufficiently stiff otherwise, may be omitted in some designs. Indeed many early aircraft relied on the fabric covering of the wing to provide this rigidity, until higher speeds and forces made this inadequate.


title: Biplane

text: Externally, lift wires prevent the wings from folding up, and run from the underside of the outer wing to the lower wing root. Conversely, landing wires prevent the wings from sagging, and resist the forces when an aircraft is landing, and run from the upper wing centre section to outboard on the lower wings. Additional drag and anti-drag wires may be used to brace the cabane struts which connect the fuselage to the wings, and interplane struts, which connect the upper and lower wings together.


title: Biplane

text: The "sesquiplane" is a type of biplane where one wing (usually the lower) is significantly smaller than the other. The word means "one-and-a-half wings". The arrangement can reduce drag and weight while retaining the biplane's structural advantages. The lower wing may have a significantly shorter span, or a reduced chord.


title: Biplane

text: Examples include the series of Nieuport military aircraft—from the Nieuport 10 through to the Nieuport 27 which formed the backbone of the Allied air forces between 1915 and 1917. The performance of the Nieuport sesquiplanes was so impressive that the (the German Inspectorate of flying troops) requested their aircraft manufacturers to produce copies, an effort which was aided by several captured aircraft and detailed drawings; one of the most famed copies was the Siemens-Schuckert D.I. The Albatros D.III and D.V, which had also copied the general layout from Nieuport, similarly provided the backbone of the German forces during the First World War. The Albatros sesquiplanes were widely acclaimed by their aircrews for their maneuverability and high rate of climb.


title: Biplane

text: During interwar period, the sesquiplane configuration continued to be popular, with numerous types such as the Nieuport-Delage NiD 42/52/62 series, Fokker C.Vd & e, and Potez 25, all serving across a large number of air forces. In the general aviation sector, aircraft such as the Waco Custom Cabin series proved to be relatively popular. The Saro Windhover was a sesquiplane with the upper wing smaller than the lower, which was a much rarer configuration than the reverse. The Pfalz D.III also featured a somewhat unusual sesquiplane arrangement, possessing a more substantial lower wing with two spars that eliminated the flutter problems encountered by single-spar sesquiplanes.


title: Biplane

text: The stacking of wing planes was suggested by Sir George Cayley in 1843. Hiram Maxim adopted the idea for his steam-powered test rig, which lifted off but was held down by safety rails, in 1894. Otto Lilienthal designed and flew two different biplane hang gliders in 1895, though he is better known for his monoplanes. By 1896 a group of young men in the United States, led by Octave Chanute, were flying hang gliders including biplanes and concluded that the externally braced biplane offered better prospects for powered flight than the monoplane. In 1903, the "Wright Flyer" biplane became the first successful powered aeroplane.


title: Biplane

text: Throughout the pioneer years, both biplanes and monoplanes were common, but by the outbreak of the First World War biplanes had gained favour after several monoplane structural failures resulted in the RFC's "Monoplane Ban" when all monoplanes in military service were grounded, while the French also withdrew most monoplanes from combat roles and relegated them to training. Figures such as aviation author Bruce observed that there was an apparent prejudice held even against newly-designed monoplanes, such as the Bristol M.1, that caused even those with relatively high performance attributes to be overlooked in favour of 'orthodox' biplanes, and there was an allegedly widespread belief held at that time that monoplane aircraft were inherently unsafe during combat.


title: Biplane

text: Between the years of 1914 and 1925, a clear majority of new aircraft introduced were biplanes; however, during the latter years of the First World War, the Germans had been experimenting with a new generation of monoplanes, such as the Fokker D.VIII, that might have ended the biplane's advantages earlier had the conflict not ended when it had. The French were also introducing the Morane-Saulnier AI, a strut-braced parasol monoplane, although the type was quickly relegated to the advanced trainer role following the resolution of structural issues. Sesquiplane types, which were biplanes with abbreviated lower wings such as the French Nieuport 17 and German Albatros D.III, offered lower drag than a conventional biplane while being stronger than a monoplane.


title: Biplane

text: During the Interwar period, numerous biplane airliners were introduced. The British de Havilland Dragon was a particularly successful aircraft, using straightforward design to could carry six passengers on busy routes, such as London-Paris services. During early August 1934, one such aircraft, named "Trail of the Caribou", performed the first non-stop flight between the Canadian mainland and Britain in 30 hours 55 minutes, although the intended target for this long distance flight had originally been Baghdad, Iraq. Despite its relative success, British production of the Dragon was quickly ended when in favour of the more powerful and elegant de Havilland Dragon Rapide, which had been specifically designed to be a faster and more comfortable successor to the Dragon.


title: Biplane

text: As the available engine power and speed increased, the drag penalty of external bracing increasingly limited aircraft performance. To fly faster, it would be necessary to reduce external bracing to create an aerodynamically clean design; however, early cantilever designs were either too weak or too heavy. The 1917 Junkers J.I sesquiplane utilized corrugated aluminum for all flying surfaces, with a minimum of struts; however, it was relatively easy to damage the thin metal skin and required careful handling by ground crews. The 1918 Zeppelin-Lindau D.I fighter was an all-metal stressed-skin monocoque fully cantilevered biplane, but its arrival had come too late to see combat use in the conflict.


title: Biplane

text: By the 1930s, biplanes had reached their performance limits, and monoplanes become increasingly predominant, particularly in continental Europe where monoplanes had been increasingly common from the end of World War I. At the start of World War II, several air forces still had biplane combat aircraft in front line service but they were no longer competitive, and most were used in niche roles, such as training or shipboard operation, until shortly after the end of the war. The British Gloster Gladiator biplane, the Italian Fiat CR.42 Falco and Soviet I-153 sesquiplane fighters were all still operational after 1939. According to aviation author Gianni Cattaneo, the CR.42 was able to achieve success in the defensive night fighter role against RAF bombers that were striking industrial targets throughout northern Italy.


title: Biplane

text: The British Fleet Air Arm operated the Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber from its aircraft carriers, and used the type in the anti-submarine warfare role until the end of the conflict, largely due to their ability to operate from the relatively compact decks of escort carriers. Its low stall speed and inherently tough design made it ideal for operations even in the often severe mid-Atlantic weather conditions. By the end of the conflict, the Swordfish held the distinction of having caused the destruction of a greater tonnage of Axis shipping than any other Allied aircraft.


title: Biplane

text: Both the German Heinkel He 50 and the Soviet Polikarpov Po-2 were used with relative success in the night ground attack role throughout the Second World War. In the case of the Po-2, production of the aircraft continued even after the end of the conflict, not ending until around 1952. A significant number of Po-2s were fielded by the Korean People's Air Force during the Korean War, inflicting serious damage during night raids on United Nations bases. The Po-2 is also the only biplane to be credited with a documented jet-kill, as one Lockheed F-94 Starfire was lost while slowing down to – below its stall speed – during an intercept in order to engage the low flying Po-2.


title: Biplane

text: Later biplane trainers included the de Havilland Tiger Moth in the Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and others and the Stampe SV.4, which saw service postwar in the French and Belgian Air Forces. The Stearman PT-13 was widely used by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) while the US Navy operated the Naval Aircraft Factory N3N. In later civilian use in the US, the Stearman became particularly associated with stunt flying such as wing-walking, and with crop dusting, where its compactness worked well at low levels, where it had to dodge obstacles.


title: Biplane

text: Modern biplane designs still exist in specialist roles such as aerobatics and agricultural aircraft with the competition aerobatics role and format for such a biplane well-defined by the mid-1930s by the Udet U 12 Flamingo and Waco Taperwing. The Pitts Special dominated aerobatics for many years after World War II and is still in production.


title: Biplane

text: The vast majority of biplane designs have been fitted with reciprocating engines. Exceptions include the Antonov An-3 and WSK-Mielec M-15 Belphegor, fitted with turboprop and turbofan engines respectively. Some older biplane designs, such as the Grumman Ag Cat are available in upgraded versions with turboprop engines.


title: Biplane

text: The two most produced biplane designs were the 1913 British Avro 504 of which 11,303 were built, and the 1928 Soviet Polikarpov Po-2 of which over 20,000 were built, with the Po-2 being the direct replacement for the Soviet copy of the Avro 504. Both were widely used as trainers.


title: Biplane

text: Although most ultralights are monoplanes, the low speeds and simple construction involved have inspired a small number of biplane ultralights, such as Larry Mauro's "Easy Riser" (1975–). Mauro also made a version powered with solar cells driving an electric motor—called the Solar Riser. Mauro's "Easy Riser" was used by "Father Goose", Bill Lishman.


title: Biplane

text: Other biplane ultralights include the Belgian-designed Aviasud Mistral, the German FK12 Comet (1997–), the Lite Flyer Biplane, the Sherwood Ranger, and the Murphy Renegade.


title: Biplane

text: The feathered dinosaur "Microraptor gui" glided, and perhaps even flew, on four wings, which may have been configured in a staggered sesquiplane arrangement. This was made possible by the presence of flight feathers on both forelimbs and hindlimbs, with the feathers on the forelimbs opening to a greater span. It has been suggested that the hind limbs could not have opened out sideways but in flight would have hung below and slightly behind the fore limbs.


title: Popocatépetl

text: Popocatépetl (; ) is an active stratovolcano located in the states of Puebla, Morelos, and Mexico in central Mexico. It lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. At it is the second highest peak in Mexico, after Citlaltépetl (Pico de Orizaba) at .


title: Popocatépetl

text: It is linked to the twin volcano of Iztaccihuatl to the north by the high saddle known as the "Paso de Cortés". Izta-Popo Zoquiapan National Park, wherein the two volcanoes are located, is named after them.


title: Popocatépetl

text: Popocatépetl is southeast of Mexico City, from where it can be seen regularly, depending on atmospheric conditions. Until recently, the volcano was one of three tall peaks in Mexico to contain glaciers, the others being Iztaccihuatl and Pico de Orizaba. In the 1990s, the glaciers such as Glaciar Norte (North Glacier) greatly decreased in size, partly due to warmer temperatures but largely due to increased volcanic activity. By early 2001, Popocatépetl's glaciers were gone; ice remained on the volcano, but no longer displayed the characteristic features of glaciers such as crevasses.


title: Popocatépetl

text: Lava erupting from Popocatépetl has historically been predominantly andesitic, but it has also erupted large volumes of dacite. Magma produced in the current cycle of activity tends to be a mixture of the two with the andesites being rich in magnesium.


title: Popocatépetl

text: In the poem "Romance" ("Chimborazo, Cotopaxi...Popocatapetl") by Walter J. Turner (1916), Cotopaxi is one of the romantic locations that has stolen the poet's heart.


title: Popocatépetl

text: Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl feature prominently in Malcolm Lowry’s 1947 novel "Under the Volcano" as well as the novel’s 1984 US drama film adaptation directed by John Huston.


title: Popocatépetl

text: The legend of the two volcanos feature as the central story in Duncan Tonatiuh’s children's book "The Princess and the Warrior: A Tale of Two Volcanoes."


title: Popocatépetl

text: In visual arts, Popocatépetl is the subject of Marsden Hartley’s 1932 painting "Popocatepetl, Spirited Morning--Mexico," now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.


title: Popocatépetl

text: Several works by Dr. Atl feature Popocatépetl, among them his 1928 "Self-Portrait with Popocatépetl," now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and his 1942 "The Shadow of Popo," now in the Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City.


title: Popocatépetl

text: Popocatépetl also features prominently in the Juan Manuel Martinez Caltenco mural on the upper floor Municipal Palace of Atlixco, Puebla. The murals cover much of the palace’s interior and represent an important Poblano contribution to the Mexican muralism movement.


title: Popocatépetl

text: Jesús Helguera’s 1940 masterpiece "La Leyenda de los Volcanes" in Chicago’s National Museum of Mexican Art depicts the myth of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl.


title: Popocatépetl

text: The name "Popocatépetl" comes from the Nahuatl words () "it smokes" and "mountain", meaning "Smoking Mountain". The volcano is also referred to by Mexicans as "El Popo" affectionately, or to shorten the full name . The alternate nickname "Don Goyo" comes from the mountain's association in the lore of the region with San Gregorio, "Goyo" being a nickname-like short form of Gregorio. The name was extended by those who lived in Santiago Xalitzina, a small community that resided 12 km from the volcano. Legend says that many years ago, a villager met an old man on the slopes of the mountain, who introduced himself as Gregorio Chino Popocatépetl. Gregorio was a personification of the spirit of the volcano, and communicates with the locals to warn them if an eruption is about to happen. Thus, every March 12, the day of San Gregorio, the locals bring flowers and food to the volcano to celebrate the saint.


title: Popocatépetl

text: The stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, wide crater. The generally symmetrical volcano is modified by the sharp-peaked Ventorrillo on the NW, a remnant of an earlier volcano. At least three previous major cones were destroyed by gravitational failure during the Pleistocene, producing massive debris avalanche deposits covering broad areas south of the volcano. The modern volcano was constructed to the south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone. Three major Plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 AD, have occurred from Popocatépetl since the mid-Holocene, accompanied by pyroclastic flows and voluminous lahars that swept basins below the volcano.


title: Popocatépetl

text: According to paleomagnetic studies, the volcano is about 730,000 years old. It is cone shaped with a diameter of at its base, with a peak elevation of . The crater is elliptical with an orientation northeast-southwest. The walls of the crater vary from in height. Popocatépetl is currently active after being dormant for about half of last century. Its activity increased in 1991 and smoke has been seen constantly emanating from the crater since 1993. The volcano is monitored by the Deep Earth Carbon Degassing Project.


title: Popocatépetl

text: The geological history of Popocatépetl began with the formation of the ancestral volcano Nexpayantla. About 200,000 years ago, Nexpayantla collapsed in an eruption, leaving a caldera, in which the next volcano, known as El Fraile, began to form. Another eruption about 50,000 years ago caused that to collapse, and Popocatépetl rose from that. Around 23,000 years ago, a lateral eruption (believed to be larger than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens) destroyed the volcano's ancient cone and created an avalanche that reached up to from the summit. The debris field from that is one of four around the volcano, and it is also the youngest.


title: Popocatépetl

text: Three Plinian eruptions are known to have taken place: 3,000 years ago (3195–2830 BC), 2,150 years ago (800–215 BC), and 1,100 years ago (likely 823 AD). The latter two buried the nearby village of Tetimpa, preserving evidence of preclassical culture.


title: Popocatépetl

text: The first recorded European ascent of the volcano was made by an expedition led by Diego de Ordaz in 1519. The early-16th-century monasteries on the slopes of the mountain are a World Heritage Site.


title: Popocatépetl

text: Popocatépetl is one of the most active volcanoes in Mexico and the most famous, having had more than 15 major eruptions since the arrival of the Spanish in 1519.


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: Michael Sarrazin (May 22, 1940 – April 17, 2011) was a Canadian film and television actor who found fame opposite Jane Fonda in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1969).


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: Sarrazin was born Jacques Michel André Sarrazin in Quebec City, Quebec, and moved to Montreal as a child. After acting in school plays, he landed his first professional role at age 17.


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: Sarrazin gained a contract with Universal Studios. His early appearances include episodes of "The Virginian" (1965) and "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre" as well as the TV film "The Doomsday Flight" (1966) and the feature "Gunfight in Abilene" (1967).


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: 20th Century Fox borrowed him for a starring role in "The Flim-Flam Man" (1967) with George C. Scott. Universal then cast him with Anthony Franciosa in "A Man Called Gannon" (1968) and with James Caan in "Journey to Shiloh" (1968).


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: Fox asked him back to star in "The Sweet Ride" (1968) alongside Jacqueline Bisset, who became his off-screen partner.


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: Sarrazin appeared in some thrillers for Universal such as "Eye of the Cat" (1969) and "In Search of Gregory" (1969).


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: Sarrazin's breakthrough role was in the dark Great Depression drama "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1969). The Sydney Pollack film earned nine Oscar nominations, and Sarrazin starring alongside Jane Fonda, Susannah York, Gig Young, Red Buttons and Bruce Dern.


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: He starred in the youth dramas "The Pursuit of Happiness" (1971) and "Believe in Me" (1971). He supported Paul Newman in "Sometimes a Great Notion" (1971), then did "The Groundstar Conspiracy" (1972) at Universal.


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: Sarrazin supported James Coburn in "Harry in Your Pocket" (1973) and received excellent reviews for the television film "" (1973). He appeared as Barbra Streisand's husband in the screwball comedy film "For Pete's Sake" (1974). He then starred in the horror film "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" (1975), about a man doomed to die the same kind of death twice.


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: He starred in "The Gumball Rally" (1976), then had lead roles in the Iran-shot film "Caravans" (1978), the Canadian mystery thriller "Double Negative" (1980), and the vigilante crime drama "Fighting Back" (1982).


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: Sarrazin increasingly shifted to television work. He starred in "Beulah Land" (1980) and "The Seduction" (1982) and had a support part in "Fighting Back" (1982).


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: He also appeared in "Joshua Then and Now" (1985), the "" episode "" (1996) and "The Outer Limits" episodes "I Hear You Calling" (1996) and "The Other Side" (1999). He hosted the April 15, 1978 episode of "Saturday Night Live".


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: Sarrazin was originally cast to play Joe Buck in the drama film "Midnight Cowboy" (1969), but he was unable to gain release from a prior contract and the part went to Jon Voight.


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: For seven years (1967–1974), Sarrazin was in a relationship with actress Jacqueline Bisset, whom he met while making the drama film "The Sweet Ride" (1968).


title: Michael Sarrazin

text: Sarrazin died of mesothelioma on April 17, 2011, aged 70, in his hometown of Montreal. According to a family spokesman, his daughters Catherine and Michele were at his side when he died.


title: Falaise pocket

text: The Falaise pocket or battle of the Falaise pocket (; 12–21 August 1944) was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. Allied forces formed a pocket around Falaise, Calvados, in which German Army Group B, with the 7th Army and the Fifth Panzer Army (formerly ) were encircled by the Western Allies. The battle resulted in the destruction of most of Army Group B west of the Seine, which opened the way to Paris and the Franco-German border.


title: Falaise pocket

text: Six weeks after the 6 June 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy, German forces were in turmoil. The Allies had experienced strong resistance. British forces had expected to liberate Caen immediately after the invasion but this took nearly two months. Similarly, US forces had expected to control Saint-Lô by the 7 June. However, German resistance delayed this until after Caen's liberation.


title: Falaise pocket

text: However, the German Army expended irreplaceable resources defending the frontline. Allied air forces achieved air superiority up to 100 km behind enemy lines. Allied forces continuously bombed and strafed German logistical lines, limiting the availability of fuel and ammunition. The German Army had used its available reserves (especially its armour reserves) to buttress the front lines around Caen, leaving few additional troops to create successive lines of defence.


title: Falaise pocket

text: The Allied armies developed a multi-stage operation. It started with a British/Canadian attack along the eastern line around Caen in Operation Goodwood on 18 July. The German Army responded by sending a large portion of its armoured reserves to defend. On 25 July thousands of American bombers carpet bombed a 6,000-metre corridor on the western end of the German lines around Saint-Lô in Operation Cobra. American forces pushed into the resulting gap. The German forces were overwhelmed and the Americans broke through.


title: Falaise pocket

text: On 1 August, Lieutenant General George S. Patton was named the commanding officer of the newly recommissioned US Third Army—which included large segments of the force that had broken through the German lines. The Third Army quickly pushed south and then east, meeting little resistance. Concurrently, the British/Canadian troops pushed south (Operation Bluecoat) in an attempt to keep the German armour engaged. They forced the Germans back; the orderly withdrawal eventually collapsed due to lack of fuel.


title: Falaise pocket

text: Hitler did not allow Army Group B commander Field Marshal Günther von Kluge to withdraw, instead ordering him to conduct Operation Lüttich, a counter-offensive at Mortain against the US. Four depleted panzer divisions were insufficient to defeat the First US Army, driving the Germans deeper into the Allied envelopment.


title: Falaise pocket

text: On 8 August, Allied ground forces commander General Bernard Montgomery ordered the Allied armies to converge on the Falaise–Chambois area to envelop Army Group B, with the First US Army forming the southern arm, the British the base, and the Canadians the northern arm of the encirclement. The Germans began to withdraw on 17 August, and on 19 August the Allies linked up in Chambois. Gaps were forced in the Allied lines by German counter-attacks. The biggest was a corridor forced past the 1st Polish Armoured Division on Hill 262, a commanding position at the pocket mouth. By the evening of 21 August, the pocket had been sealed, with trapped inside. Many Germans escaped, but losses were huge. The Allied Liberation of Paris came a few days later, and on 30 August the remnants of Army Group B retreated across the Seine, completing Operation Overlord.


title: Falaise pocket

text: Early Allied objectives in the wake of the D-Day invasion of German-occupied France included the deep water port of Cherbourg and the area surrounding the town of Caen. Allied attacks to expand the bridgehead had rapidly defeated the initial German attempts to destroy the invasion force, but bad weather in the English Channel delayed the Allied build-up of supplies and reinforcements, while enabling the Germans to move troops and supplies with less interference from the Allied air forces. Cherbourg was not captured by the VII US Corps until 27 June, and the German defence of Caen lasted until 20 July, when the southern districts were taken by the British/Canadians in Operation Goodwood and Operation Atlantic.


title: Falaise pocket

text: General Bernard Montgomery, the Allied ground forces commander, had planned a strategy of attracting German forces to the east end of the bridgehead against the British/Canadians, while the US First Army advanced down the west side of the Cotentin Peninsula to Avranches. On 25 July the US First Army commander, Lieutenant-General Omar Bradley, began Operation Cobra. The US First Army broke through the German defences near Saint-Lô and by the end of the third day had advanced south of its start line at several points. Avranches was captured on 30 July and within 24 hours the US VIII Corps of the US Third Army crossed the bridge at Pontaubault into Brittany and continued south and west through open country, almost without opposition.


title: Falaise pocket

text: The US advance was swift and by 8 August, Le Mans, the former headquarters of the German 7th Army, had been captured. After Operation Cobra, Operation Bluecoat and Operation Spring, the German army in Normandy was so reduced that "only a few SS fanatics still entertained hopes of avoiding defeat". On the Eastern Front, Operation Bagration had begun against Army Group Centre which left no possibility of reinforcement of the Western Front. Adolf Hitler sent a directive to Field Marshal Günther von Kluge, the replacement commander of Army Group B after the sacking of Gerd von Rundstedt, ordering "an immediate counter-attack between Mortain and Avranches" to "annihilate" the enemy and make contact with the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula.


title: Falaise pocket

text: Eight of the nine Panzer divisions in Normandy were to be used in the attack, but only four could be made ready in time. The German commanders protested that their forces were incapable of an offensive, but the warnings were ignored and Operation Lüttich commenced on 7 August around Mortain. The first attacks were made by the 2nd Panzer Division, SS Division Leibstandarte and the SS Division Das Reich, but they had only 75 Panzer IVs, 70 Panthers and 32 self-propelled guns. The Allies were forewarned by Ultra signals intercepts, and although the offensive continued until 13 August, the threat of Operation Lüttich had been ended within 24 hours. Operation Lüttich had led to the most powerful remaining German units being defeated at the west side of the Cotentin Peninsula by the US First Army, and the Normandy front on the verge of collapse. Bradley said,


title: Falaise pocket

text: The First Canadian Army was ordered to capture high ground north of Falaise to trap Army Group B. The Canadians planned Operation Totalize, with attacks by strategic bombers and a novel night attack using Kangaroo armoured personnel carriers. Operation Totalize began on the night of 7/8 August; the leading infantry rode on the Kangaroos, guided by electronic aids and illuminants, against the , which held a front, supported by the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion and remnants of the 89th Infantry Division. Verrières Ridge and Cintheaux were captured on 9 August, but the speed of the advance was slowed by German resistance and some poor Canadian unit leadership, which led to many casualties in the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division and 1st Polish Armoured Division. By 10 August, Anglo-Canadian forces had reached Hill 195, north of Falaise. The following day, Canadian commander Guy Simonds relieved the armoured divisions with infantry divisions, ending the offensive.


title: Falaise pocket

text: Still expecting Kluge to withdraw his forces from the tightening Allied noose, Montgomery had for some time been planning a "long envelopment", by which the British/Canadians would pivot left from Falaise toward the River Seine while the US Third Army blocked the escape route between the Seine and the Loire, trapping all surviving German forces in western France. In a telephone conversation on 8 August, the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, recommended an American proposal for a shorter envelopment at Argentan. Montgomery and Patton had misgivings; if the Allies did not take Argentan, Alençon and Falaise quickly, many Germans might escape. Believing he could always fall back on the original plan if necessary, Montgomery accepted the wishes of Bradley as the man on the spot, and the proposal was adopted.


title: Falaise pocket

text: It is also referred to as the battle of the Falaise gap (after the corridor which the Germans sought to maintain to allow their escape).


title: Falaise pocket

text: The Third Army advance from the south made good progress on 12 August; Alençon was captured and Kluge was forced to commit troops he had been gathering for a counter-attack. The next day, the US 5th Armored Division of the US XV Corps advanced and reached positions overlooking Argentan. On 13 August, Bradley over-ruled orders by Patton for a further push northwards towards Falaise by the 5th Armored Division. Bradley instead ordered the XV Corps to "concentrate for operations in another direction". The US troops near Argentan were ordered to withdraw, which ended the pincer movement by the XV Corps. Patton objected but complied, which left an exit for the German forces in the Falaise pocket.


title: Falaise pocket

text: With the Americans on the southern flank halted and then engaged with Panzer Group Eberbach, and with the British pressing in from the north-west, the First Canadian Army, which included the Polish 1st Armoured Division, was ordered to close the trap. After a limited attack by the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division down the Laize valley on 12–13 August, most of the time since Totalize had been spent preparing for Operation Tractable, a set-piece attack on Falaise. The operation commenced on 14 August at 11:42, covered by an artillery smokescreen that mimicked the night attack of Operation Totalize. The 4th Canadian Armoured Division and the 1st Polish Armoured Division crossed the Laison, but delays at the River Dives gave time for the Tiger tanks of the to counter-attack.


title: Falaise pocket

text: Navigating through the smoke slowed progress, and the mistaken use by the First Canadian Army of yellow smoke to identify their positions—the same colour strategic bombers used to mark targets—led to some bombing of the Canadians and slower progress than planned. On 15 August, the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Divisions and the 2nd Canadian (Armoured) Brigade continued the offensive, but progress remained slow. The 4th Armoured Division captured Soulangy against determined German resistance and several German counter-attacks, which prevented a breakthrough to Trun. The next day, the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division entered Falaise against minor opposition from "Waffen SS" units and scattered pockets of German infantry, and by 17 August had secured the town.


title: Falaise pocket

text: At midday on 16 August, Kluge had refused an order from Hitler for another counter-attack, and in the afternoon Hitler agreed to a withdrawal but became suspicious that Kluge intended to surrender to the Allies. Late on 17 August, Hitler sacked Kluge and recalled him to Germany; Kluge then either killed himself or was executed by SS-officer Jürgen Stroop for his involvement in the 20 July plot. Kluge was succeeded by Field Marshal Walter Model, whose first act was to order the immediate retreat of the 7th Army and Fifth Panzer Army, while the "II SS Panzer Corps"—with the remnants of four Panzer divisions—held the north face of the escape route against the British/Canadians, and the "XLVII Panzer Corps"—with what was left of two Panzer divisions—held the southern face against the Third US Army.


title: Falaise pocket

text: Throughout the retreat, German columns were constantly harried by Allied fighter bombers of the US Ninth Air Force and the RAF Second Tactical Air Force, using bombs, rockets and guns, turning the escape routes into killing grounds. Despite claims of large numbers of tanks and other vehicles destroyed from the air, a post-battle investigation showed that only eleven armoured vehicles could be proved to have had been destroyed by aircraft, although about one third of wrecked trucks were lost to air attack and many others had been destroyed or abandoned by their crews, probably due to the air threat.


title: Falaise pocket

text: On 17 August the encirclement was still incomplete. The 1st Polish Armoured Division, part of the First Canadian Army, was divided into three battlegroups and ordered to make a wide sweep to the south-east to meet American troops at Chambois. Trun fell to the 4th Canadian Armoured Division on 18 August. Having captured Champeaux on 19 August, the Polish battlegroups converged on Chambois, and with reinforcements from the 4th Canadian Armoured Division, the Poles secured the town and linked up with the US 90th and French 2nd Armoured divisions by evening. The Allies were not yet astride the 7th Army escape route in any great strength, and their positions were attacked by German troops inside the pocket. An armoured column of the 2nd Panzer Division broke through the Canadians in St. Lambert, took half the village and kept a road open for six hours until nightfall. Many Germans escaped, and small parties made their way through to the Dives during the night.


title: Falaise pocket

text: Having taken Chambois, two of the Polish battlegroups drove north-east and established themselves on part of Hill 262 (Mont Ormel ridge), spending the night of 19 August digging in. The following morning, Model ordered elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division and 9th SS Panzer Division to attack from outside the pocket towards the Polish positions. Around midday, several units of the 10th SS Panzer Division, 12th SS Panzer Division and 116th Panzer Division managed to break through the Polish lines and open a corridor, while the 9th SS Panzer Division prevented the Canadians from intervening. By mid-afternoon, about 10,000 German troops had passed out of the pocket.


title: Falaise pocket

text: The Poles held on to Hill 262 (The Mace), and were able from their vantage point to direct artillery fire on to the retreating Germans. Paul Hausser, the 7th Army commander, ordered that the Polish positions be "eliminated". The remnants of the 352nd Infantry Division and several battle groups from the 2nd SS Panzer Division inflicted many casualties on the 8th and 9th battalions of the Polish Division, but the assault was eventually repulsed at the cost of nearly all of their ammunition, and the Poles watched as the remnants of the XLVII Panzer Corps escaped. During the night there was sporadic fighting, and the Poles called for frequent artillery bombardments to disrupt the German retreat from the sector.


title: Falaise pocket

text: German attacks resumed the next morning, but the Poles retained their foothold on the ridge. At about 11:00, a final attempt on the positions of the 9th Battalion was launched by nearby SS troops, which was defeated at close quarters. Soon after midday, the Canadian Grenadier Guards reached Mont Ormel, and by late afternoon the remainder of the 2nd and 9th SS Panzer Divisions had begun their retreat to the Seine. For the Falaise pocket operation, the 1st Polish Armoured Division listed 1,441 casualties including 466 killed, while Polish casualties at Mont Ormel were 351 killed and wounded, with eleven tanks lost. German losses in their assaults on the ridge were estimated at 500 killed and 1,000 men taken prisoner, most from the 12th SS-Panzer Division. Scores of Tiger, Panther and Panzer IV tanks were destroyed, along with many artillery pieces.


title: Falaise pocket

text: By the evening of 21 August, tanks of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division had linked with Polish forces at Coudehard, and the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry divisions had secured St. Lambert and the northern passage to Chambois; the Falaise pocket had been sealed. Approximately 20–50,000 German troops, minus heavy equipment, escaped through the gap and were reorganized and rearmed, in time to slow the Allied advance into Eastern France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.


title: Falaise pocket

text: The battle of the Falaise pocket ended the Battle of Normandy with a decisive German defeat. Hitler's involvement had been damaging from the first day, with his insistence on hopelessly unrealistic counter-offensives, micro-management of generals, and refusal to countenance withdrawal when his armies were threatened with annihilation. More than forty German divisions were destroyed during the Battle of Normandy. No exact figures are available, but historians estimate that the battle cost the German forces an estimated 450,000 men, of whom killed or wounded. The Allies had achieved victory at a cost of among the ground forces, including and . The Allied air forces lost killed or missing in connection with Operation Overlord. The final battle of Operation Overlord, the Liberation of Paris, followed on 25 August, and Overlord ended by 30 August, with the retreat of the last German unit across the Seine.


title: Falaise pocket

text: The area in which the pocket had formed was full of the remains of battle. Villages had been destroyed, and derelict equipment made some roads impassable. Corpses of soldiers and civilians littered the area, along with thousands of dead cattle and horses. In the hot August weather, maggots crawled over the bodies, and swarms of flies descended on the area. Pilots reported being able to smell the stench of the battlefield hundreds of feet above it. General Eisenhower recorded that:


title: Falaise pocket

text: Fear of infection from the rancid conditions led the Allies to declare the area an "unhealthy zone". Clearing the area was a low priority though, and went on until well into November. Many swollen bodies had to be shot to expunge gases within them before they could be burnt, and bulldozers were used to clear the area of dead animals.


title: Falaise pocket

text: Disappointed that a significant portion of the German army had escaped from the pocket, many Allied commanders, particularly among the Americans, were critical of what they perceived as Montgomery's lack of urgency in closing the pocket. Writing shortly after the war, Ralph Ingersoll—a prominent peacetime journalist, who had served as a planner on Eisenhower's staff—expressed the prevailing American view at the time:


title: Falaise pocket

text: Some historians have thought that the gap could have been closed earlier; Wilmot wrote that despite having British divisions in reserve, Montgomery did not reinforce Guy Simonds and that the Canadian drive on Trun and Chambois was not "vigorous and venturesome" as the situation demanded. The British author and historian Max Hastings wrote that Montgomery, having witnessed what he called a poor Canadian performance during Totalize, should have brought up veteran British divisions to take the lead. D'Este and Blumenson wrote that Montgomery and Harry Crerar might have done more to impart momentum to the British/Canadians. Patton's post-battle claim that the Americans could have prevented the German escape, had Bradley not ordered him to stop at Argentan, was "absurd over-simplification".


title: Falaise pocket

text: Wilmot wrote that "contrary to contemporary reports, the Americans did not capture Argentan until 20 August, the day after the link up at Chambois". The American unit that closed the gap between Argentan and Chambois, the 90th Division, was according to Hastings one of the least effective of any Allied army in Normandy. He speculated that the real reason Bradley halted Patton was not fear of accidental clashes with the British, but knowledge that, with powerful German formations still operational, the Americans lacked the means to defend an early blocking position and would have suffered an "embarrassing and gratuitous setback" at the hands of the retreating "Fallschirmjäger" and the 2nd and 12th "SS-Panzer" divisions. Bradley wrote after the war that:


title: Falaise pocket

text: By 22 August, all German forces west of the Allied lines were dead or in captivity. Historians differ in their estimates of German losses in the pocket. The majority state that from 80,000 to 100,000 troops were caught in the encirclement, of whom killed, taken prisoner, and . Shulman, Wilmot and Ellis estimated that the remnants of were in the pocket. D'Este gave trapped, of whom , and . Shulman gives , and . Wilmot recorded , and . Williams wrote that troops escaped. Tamelander estimated that troops were caught, of whom killed and prisoner, while perhaps another . In the northern sector, German losses included , self-propelled guns and other light armoured vehicles, as well soft-skinned vehicles and abandoned or destroyed. In the fighting around Hill 262, German losses totalled killed, prisoner and , and armoured vehicles destroyed. By 22 August 1944, the 12th SS-Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" had lost c. 8,000 men, out of its initial strength of 20,540, alongside most of its tanks and vehicles, which had been redistributed among several Kampfgruppe in the previous weeks. Although elements of several German formations had managed to escape to the east, even these had left behind most of their equipment. After the battle, Allied investigators estimated that the Germans lost around and assault guns in the pocket, and that little of the extricated equipment survived the retreat across the Seine.


title: Battle of Manila (1945)

text: The Battle of Manila (; ; ; ) was a major battle of the Philippine campaign of 1944–45, during the Second World War. It was fought by forces from both the United States and the Philippines against Japanese troops in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. The month-long battle, which resulted in the death of over 100,000 civilians and the complete devastation of the city, was the scene of the worst urban fighting fought by American forces in the Pacific theater. Japanese forces committed mass murder against Filipino civilians during the battle and American firepower killed many people. Japanese resistance and American artillery also destroyed much of Manila's architectural and cultural heritage dating back to the city's founding. Manila became one of the most devastated capital cities during the entire war, alongside Berlin and Warsaw. The battle ended the almost three years of Japanese military occupation in the Philippines (1942–1945). The city's capture was marked as General Douglas MacArthur's key to victory in the campaign of reconquest. To date, it is the last of the many battles fought within Manila's history.


title: Battle of Manila (1945)

text: On 9 January 1945, the Sixth U.S. Army under Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger waded ashore at Lingayen Gulf and began a rapid drive south in the Battle of Luzon. On 12 January, MacArthur ordered Krueger to advance rapidly to Manila. The 37th Infantry Division, under the command of Major Gen. Robert S. Beightler, headed south.


title: Battle of Manila (1945)

text: After landing at San Fabian on 27 January, the 1st Cavalry Division, under the command of Major Gen. Vernon D. Mudge, was ordered by MacArthur on 31 January, to "Get to Manila! Free the internees at Santo Tomas. Take Malacanang Palace and the Legislative Building.".


title: Battle of Manila (1945)

text: On 31 January, the Eighth United States Army of Lt. Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger, including the 187th and 188th Glider Infantry Regiments of Col. Robert H. Soule, and components of the U.S. 11th Airborne Division under Maj. Gen. Joseph Swing, landed unopposed at Nasugbu in southern Luzon and began moving north toward Manila. Meanwhile, the 11th A/B Division's 511th Regimental Combat Team, commanded by Col. Orin D. "Hard Rock" Haugen, parachuted onto Tagaytay Ridge on 4 February. On 10 February, the 11th Airborne Division came under the command of the Sixth Army, and seized Fort William McKinley on 17 February


title: Battle of Manila (1945)

text: Swing was joined by the Hunters ROTC Filipino guerrillas, under the command of Lt. Col. Emmanuel V. de Ocampo, and by 5 February, they were on the outskirts of Manila.


title: Battle of Manila (1945)

text: As the Americans converged on Manila from different directions, they found that most of the Imperial Japanese Army troops defending the city had been withdrawn to Baguio, on the orders of General Tomoyuki Yamashita, commander in chief of Japanese Army forces in the Philippines. Yamashita planned to engage Filipino and U.S. forces in northern Luzon in a co-ordinated campaign, with the aim of buying time for the build-up of defenses against the pending Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands. He had three main groups under his command: 80,000 men of the Shimbu Group in the mountains east of Manila, 30,000 of the Kembu Group in the hills north of Manila, and 152,000 in the Shobu Group in northeastern Luzon.


title: Battle of Manila (1945)

text: General Yamashita did not declare Manila an open city, although General Douglas MacArthur had done so before its capture in 1941. Yamashita had not intended to defend Manila; he did not think that he could feed the city's one million residents and defend a large area with vast tracts of flammable wooden buildings.