title: Lorena Hickok

text: Late in life, Hickok wrote several books. She co-authored "Ladies of Courage" with Eleanor Roosevelt in 1954. This was followed by "The Story of Franklin D. Roosevelt" (1956), "The Story of Helen Keller" (1958), "The Story of Eleanor Roosevelt" (1959), and several more.


title: Lorena Hickok

text: Hickok willed her personal papers to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, part of the US National Archives. Her donation was contained in eighteen filing boxes that, according to the provisions of her will, were to be sealed until ten years after her death. In early May 1978, Doris Faber, as part of research for a projected short biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, became perhaps the first person outside the National Archives to open these boxes, and was astounded to discover that they contained 2,336 letters from Roosevelt to Hickok, and 1,024 letters from Hickok to Roosevelt. Most of them dated to the 1930s, but the correspondence continued up to Roosevelt's 1962 death. Hickok's papers remain at the FDR Library and Museum, where they are available to the public.


title: Lorena Hickok

text: Based on these letters, Terry Baum and Pat Bond wrote the play, "Hick: A Love Story, the Romance of Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt". In 2018, the novelist Amy Bloom published "White Houses: A Novel" about the relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Hickok. In an interview, Bloom stated what she wanted to examine: "...could it be like to be madly in love with someone who is married to your political hero? Lorena was, like Eleanor, not just a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat; she was a big FDR fan, which means her hero and friend was also her rival." Though the book was a novel, Bloom argued that many aspects of it such as Franklin Roosevelt approving of Eleanor's relationship with Hickok were based on fact as she argued: "There's no way that she was employed "without" Franklin's OK. And he obviously knew that she was in the White House in a bedroom adjoining his wife. I think to myself, You know, if my spouse had a lover in my house, even if it was a big house, I'm pretty sure I would notice. I'd assume the same was true for Franklin...And it was clear to me from Franklin's correspondence with other friends of Eleanor's, who were lesbian couples, that he was...I mean, he had, for a man of his background and personality, a sort of genial condescension, but also a lot of warmth and affection. I didn't think he would be threatened by Lorena." However, Bloom admitted that other aspects of her novel such as Hickok working in a circus were entirely of her own invention."


title: Yen and yuan sign

text: The yen and yuan sign, ¥, is a currency sign used for the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan currencies when writing in Latin scripts. This monetary symbol resembles a Latin letter Y with a single or double horizontal stroke. The symbol is usually placed before the value it represents, for example: ¥50, or JP¥50 and CN¥50 when disambiguation is needed. When writing in Japanese and Chinese, the Japanese kanji and Chinese character is written following the amount, for example in Japan, and or in China.


title: Yen and yuan sign

text: The Unicode code point is . Additionally, there is a full width character, , at code point for use with wide fonts, especially East Asian fonts.


title: Yen and yuan sign

text: There was no code-point for this symbol in the original (7-bit) US-ASCII and consequently many early systems reassigned (allocated to the backslash (\) in ASCII) to the yen sign. With the arrival of 8-bit encoding, the ISO/IEC 8859-1 ("ISO Latin 1") character set assigned code point to the ¥ in 1985; Unicode continues this encoding.


title: Yen and yuan sign

text: In JIS X 0201, of which Shift JIS is an extension, assigns code point to the Latin-script yen sign: as noted above, this is the code used for the backslash in ASCII. This standard was widely adopted in Japan.


title: Yen and yuan sign

text: Microsoft adopted the ISO code in Windows-1252 for the Americas and Western Europe but Japanese-language locales of Microsoft operating systems use the code page 932 character encoding, which is a variant of Shift JIS. Hence, 0x5C is displayed as a yen sign in Japanese-locale fonts on Windows. It is nonetheless used wherever a backslash is used, such as the directory separator character (for example, in codice_1) and as the general escape character (codice_2). It is mapped onto the Unicode U+005C REVERSE SOLIDUS (i.e. backslash), while Unicode U+00A5 YEN SIGN is given a one-way "best fit" mapping to 0x5C in code page 932, and 0x5C is displayed as a backslash in Microsoft's documentation for code page 932, essentially making it a backslash given the appearance of a yen sign by localized fonts. The won sign ₩ has similar issues in Korean versions of Windows.


title: Yen and yuan sign

text: IBM's Code page 437 used code point for the ¥ and this encoding was also used by several other computer systems. The ¥ is assigned code point B2 in EBCDIC 500 and many other EBCDIC code pages.


title: Yen and yuan sign

text: Under Chinese Pinyin input method editors (IMEs) such as those from Microsoft or Sogou.com, typing displays the full-width character , which is different from half-width used in Japanese IMEs.


title: Yen and yuan sign

text: The Japanese kanji (yen), and Chinese character and (yuan) are used when writing in Japanese and Chinese. In Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and Singapore, although the currency is written with a dollar sign ($) (or HK$, NT$, MOP$ or S$ when necessary to indicate which dollar is meant) in Latin script, it is also rendered as and / (yuan) when writing in Chinese. The name of the North Korean and South Korean won (₩) comes from the equivalent hanja (, won).


title: Yen and yuan sign

text: In the 1993 Turkmen orthography, the Yen sign was used as the capital form of ÿ and represented the sound . It was replaced with Ý.


title: Butte

text: In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word "butte" comes from a French word meaning knoll (but of any size); its use is prevalent in the Western United States, including the southwest where "mesa" (Spanish for "table") is used for the larger landform. Due to their distinctive shapes, buttes are frequently landmarks in plains and mountainous areas. To differentiate the two landforms, geographers use the rule of thumb that a mesa has a top that is wider than its height, while a butte has a top that is narrower than its height.


title: Butte

text: Buttes form by weathering and erosion when hard caprock overlies a layer of less resistant rock that is eventually worn away. The harder rock on top of the butte resists erosion. The caprock provides protection for the less resistant rock below from wind abrasion which leaves it standing isolated. As the top is further eroded by abrasion and weathering, the excess material that falls off adds to the scree or talus slope around the base. On a much smaller scale, the same process forms hoodoos.


title: Butte

text: The Mitten Buttes of Monument Valley in the Utah-Arizona state line are two of the most distinctive and widely recognized buttes. Monument Valley and the Mittens provided backgrounds in the scenes of many western-themed films, including seven movies directed by John Ford. The Devils Tower in northeastern Wyoming is a laccolithic butte composed of igneous rock rather than sandstone, limestone or other sedimentary rocks.


title: Butte

text: The term "butte" is sometimes applied more broadly to isolated, steep-sided hills with pointed or craggy, rather than flat, tops. Three notable formations that are either named "butte" or may be considered buttes even though they do not conform to the formal geographer's rule are Scotts Bluff in Nebraska which is a collection of five bluffs, Crested Butte, which is a mountain in Colorado, and Elephant Butte, which is now an island in Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico.


title: Butte

text: Among the well-known non-flat-topped buttes in the United States are Bear Butte, South Dakota, Black Butte, Oregon, and the Sutter Buttes in California. In many cases, buttes have been given other names that do not use the word "butte", for example, Courthouse Rock, Nebraska. Also, some large hills that are technically not buttes have names using the word, examples of which are Kamiak Butte, Chelan Butte and Steptoe Butte in Washington state.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The Siege of Sevastopol also known as the Defence of Sevastopol () or the Battle of Sevastopol (; ) was a military engagement that took place on the Eastern Front of the Second World War. The campaign was fought by the Axis powers of Germany and Romania against the Soviet Union for control of Sevastopol, a port in the Crimea on the Black Sea. On 22 June 1941 the Axis invaded the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. Axis land forces reached the Crimea in the autumn of 1941 and overran most of the area. The only objective not in Axis hands was Sevastopol. Several attempts were made to secure the city in October and November 1941. A major attack was planned for late November, but heavy rains delayed it until 17 December 1941. Under the command of Erich von Manstein, Axis forces were unable to capture Sevastopol during this first operation. Soviet forces launched an amphibious landing on the Crimean peninsula at Kerch in December 1941 to relieve the siege and force the Axis to divert forces to defend their gains. The operation saved Sevastopol for the time being, but the bridgehead in the eastern Crimea was eliminated in May 1942.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: After the failure of their first assault on Sevastopol, the Axis opted to conduct siege warfare until the middle of 1942, at which point they attacked the encircled Soviet forces by land, sea, and air. On 2 June 1942, the Axis began this operation, codenamed "Störfang" (Sturgeon Catch). The Soviet Red Army and Black Sea Fleet held out for weeks under intense Axis bombardment. The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) played a vital part in the siege, its 8th Air Corps bombing the besieged Soviet forces with impunity, flying 23,751 sorties and dropping 20,528 tons of bombs in June alone. The intensity of the German airstrikes was far beyond previous German bombing offensives against cities such as Warsaw, Rotterdam or London. At the end of the siege, there were only 11 undamaged buildings left in Sevastopol. The Luftwaffe sank or deterred most Soviet attempts to evacuate their troops by sea. The German 11th Army suppressed and destroyed the defenders by firing 46,750 tons of artillery ammunition on them during "Störfang".


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Finally, on 4 July 1942, the remaining Soviet forces surrendered and the Germans seized the port. The Soviet Separate Coastal Army was annihilated, with 118,000 men killed, wounded or captured in the final assault and 200,481 casualties in the siege as a whole for both it and the Black Sea Fleet. Axis losses in "Störfang" amounted to 35,866 men, of whom 27,412 were German and 8,454 Romanian. With the Soviet forces neutralized, the Axis refocused their attention on the major summer campaign of that year, Case Blue and the advance to the Caucasus oilfields.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The Soviet naval base at Sevastopol was one of the strongest fortifications in the world. Its site, on a deeply eroded, bare limestone promontory at the southwestern tip of the Crimea, made an approach by land forces exceedingly difficult. The high-level cliffs overlooking Severnaya Bay protected the anchorage, making an amphibious landing just as dangerous. The Soviet Navy had built upon these natural defenses by modernizing the port and installing heavy coastal batteries consisting of 180mm and 305mm re-purposed battleship guns which were capable of firing inland as well as out to sea. The artillery emplacements were protected by reinforced concrete fortifications and 9.8-inch thick armored turrets.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The port was a valuable target. Its importance as a potential naval and air base would enable the Axis to conduct far-ranging sea and air operations against Soviet targets into and over the Caucasus ports and mountains. The Red Air Force had been using the Crimea as a base to attack targets in Romania since the Axis invasion in June 1941, proving its usefulness as an air base. Likewise, the Wehrmacht had launched a bombing raid on the Sevastopol naval base at the start of the invasion.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Since the beginning of "Barbarossa", the offensive against the USSR had not really addressed Crimea as an objective. German planners assumed the area would be captured in mopping-up operations once the bulk of the Red Army was destroyed west of the Dnieper river. But in June, attacks by Soviet aircraft from Crimea against Romania's oil refineries destroyed 12,000 tons of oil. Hitler described the area as an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" and ordered the conquest of Ukraine and Crimea as vital targets in Directive 33, dated 23 July 1941.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The "Command of the Army" (OKH) issued orders that the Crimea was to be captured as soon as possible to prevent attacks on Romanian oil supplies, vital to the German military. Hitler, impatient with obstruction to his commands to advance in the south, repeated on 12 August his desire that the Crimea be taken immediately. Over a month later, during the capture of Kiev, "Generaloberst" Erich von Manstein was given command of the German 11th Army on 17 September. After only a week in command, he launched an assault upon Crimea. After severe fighting, Manstein's forces defeated several Soviet counteroffensives and destroyed two Soviet armies. By 16 November, the Wehrmacht had cleared the region, capturing its capital Simferopol, on 1 November. The fall of Kerch on 16 November left only Sevastopol in Soviet hands.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: By the end of October 1941, Major-General Ivan Yefimovich Petrov's Independent Coastal Army, numbering 32,000 men, had arrived at Sevastopol by sea from Odessa further west, it having been evacuated after heavy fighting. Petrov set about fortifying the inland approaches to Sevastopol. He aimed to halt the Axis drive on the port by creating three defence lines inland, the outermost arc being 16 km (10 mi) from the port itself. Soviet forces, including the Soviet 51st Army and elements of the Black Sea Fleet, were defeated in the Crimea in October and were evacuated in December, leaving Petrov's force as Sevastopol's main defence force. Having cleared the rest of the Crimea between 26 September – 16 November, the Romanian 3rd Army and German 11th Army prepared for an attack on the port. The German 11th Army was the weakest on the entire front, initially containing only seven infantry divisions. The Romanians contributed a large force, but were only lightly equipped and generally lacked heavy artillery. The weather turned against the Axis in mid-October and torrential downpours delayed the buildup. This gave Vice Admiral Filipp Oktyabrsky, commander of the Black Sea Fleet, time to bring in men and materiel from Novorossiysk. By 17 December, the weather had cleared sufficiently for the Axis to begin a major operation.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The German 11th Army, commanded by Erich von Manstein, besieged Sevastopol. At the time of the final assault in June 1942, 11th Army consisted of nine German infantry divisions in two Corps, and one Romanian Corps, being the Romanian 7th Mountain Corps. Significant support was given by the Luftwaffe. The "Oberkommando der Luftwaffe" dispatched "Luftflotte 4" (Air Fleet 4) 8th Air Corps for support. It consisted of nine "Geschwader" (Wings) containing 600 aircraft, all coming under the command of "Generaloberst" (General Colonel) Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen. Among this contingent was a powerful concentration of medium bomber, dive bomber, and torpedo bomber "Geschwader". Naval support came from the Italian 101st Squadron under Francesco Mimbelli. It consisted of four motor torpedo boats, five explosive motorboats, six CB class midget submarines, and a number of 35-ton coastal submarines and MAS boats. This force was the only Axis naval force deployed during the siege. Although Bulgaria was not technically at war with the Soviet Union, its naval staff worked closely with the Wehrmacht, and despite not being committed to combat, they provided bases for the Axis naval command ("Admiral Schwarzes Meer", Admiral of the Black Sea) to operate in the waters of the Black Sea.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The defence of Sevastopol was provided mainly by the Black Sea Fleet and the Separate Coastal Army under Ivan Yefimovich Petrov (which had been shipped in from the siege of Odessa). The Black Sea Fleet sent 49,372 personnel to fight as infantry. Most were not trained for ground combat, and the act was an ad hoc emergency measure. The naval brigades formed had four to six battalions of 4,000 men, allowing them to absorb significant losses. These forces were well armed, having a variety of artillery and mortar battalions. Almost 20 percent of the Coastal Army were naval personnel. In the Separate Coastal Army, the strongest divisions were the 95th, 109th, 172nd, and 388th Rifle Divisions. They each had around 7,000 soldiers, the rest of the Red Army units having around 5,000 personnel. Some 5,000 reinforcements made it into Sevastopol in May 1942. However, Petrov's army lacked tanks and anti-aircraft guns. The garrison also lacked food supplies and mortar ammunition, which would severely sap Soviet strength. Poor communications between headquarters and the front lines were also an issue. Petrov found it difficult to respond to Axis attacks quickly.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The German 11th Army's first task was to break through into the Crimea. The cities of Perekop and Ishun guarded the narrow corridor of land which linked the Crimea to the bulk of Ukraine. Erick-Oskar Hansen's LIV Corps, with its 45th and 73rd Infantry Divisions, broke through at Perekop at the cost of 2,641 casualties in six days of fighting. The Soviet forces launched a counteroffensive against the 11th Army's flank at Melitopol. Manstein withdrew his other corps in order to deal with it. The resulting battle ended with the destruction of two attacking Soviet Armies. By the time that this threat had been dealt with, the "Stavka" had rushed in reinforcements and established another defence line at Ishun. Ordered to concentrate on the Crimea once more, Manstein launched his LIV Corps, this time with the support of the German 22nd Infantry Division, into the assault. The Soviet forces enjoyed local air superiority and armored reserves. They also outnumbered the attacking Wehrmacht. In spite of this, the defending Soviet 51st Army was pushed back. The Wehrmacht suffered 5,376 casualties in 12 days of combat, and the Red Army many more. By the end of October, the 51st Army was crushed and in full retreat into the Crimea. The situation in the air also changed. Arriving "Jagdgeschwader" (Fighter Wings) won air superiority for the Axis.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: On 22 and 23 October, "Jagdgeschwader 3" (JG 3), "JG 52", and "JG 77" crippled the Soviet air strength in the Crimea. Over the two days they destroyed 33 Soviet aircraft for one loss. In the six days from 18 to 24 October 140 Soviet aircraft were lost, 124 of them to Luftwaffe fighters. Heinkel He 111s of "KG 26" and "KG 51" and Junkers Ju 87 "Stukas" of StG 77 were free to attack Soviet ground positions, contributing to the collapse of the Soviet Crimean Front on 27 October.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: With the front collapsing and the Axis closing in on Sevastopol, Vice-Admiral Oktyabrsky assumed command of the port on 4 November 1941. The city had a civilian population of 111,000 in 1941, and most were sent to work on the three defence lines around the port. Only the 7th and 8th Naval Infantry Brigades were available for combat in the port. More naval infantry were formed from ships in the harbor. The 8th Naval Infantry Brigade was sent to guard the northeastern approaches near the Mamachai-Belbek line. The 7th (5,200 men) was deployed in the center, near Mekenzyya. With only 20,000 soldiers, Oktyabrsky relied heavily on his 12 coastal battalions to slow down the Axis. The 62nd Fighter Brigade contributed 61 fighters, which were able to achieve temporary air superiority.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: On 30 October, the Soviet defences detected the spearhead of the German 132nd Infantry Division and shelled it at 12:30 on 1 November using Battery 30's 305mm coastal guns. The Germans designated the fort as Fort Maxim Gorky I. Wehrmacht lacked sufficient air and mobile units to force a decision. Instead, Manstein ordered Hansen's LIV Corps to head east down the Sevastopol-Simferopol rail line towards Yalta, while the 72nd Infantry Division was to head to Balaklava, effectively encircling Sevastopol. Once there, it would attack Sevastopol from the east. The 132nd made reasonable progress, but was stopped on 2 November by the 8th Naval Brigade. The Wehrmacht suffered 428 casualties. Manstein ordered a halt for a week, whilst bringing up reserves. Oktyabrsky used his fleet to bring in a further 23,000 men from the Caucasus. On 9 November, Petrov's Army was brought in, bringing 19,894 soldiers, ten T-26 tanks, 152 artillery pieces, and 200 mortars. The Red Army now had 52,000 troops in the area of the city. The Luftwaffe was considered weak (the bulk of it was engaged in the Battle of Moscow), so the Soviet Navy kept the heavy cruiser "Krasny Kavkaz", light cruisers "Krasny Krym" and "Chervona Ukraina", and seven destroyers to protect the port.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The "Luftwaffe" did what it could to disrupt the Soviet defences. On 31 October, the destroyer "Bodryy" shelled German positions along the coastline. StG 77 Ju 87s attacked and wounded 50 of its crew by strafing its deck and superstructure with machinegun fire. On 2 November Junkers Ju 88s of "KG 51" scored several hits on the cruiser "Voroshilov" and put it out of action for months. On 7 November He 111s from "KG 26" sank the liner "Armeniya" evacuating soldiers and civilians from Sevastopol, with only eight of the 5,000 passengers surviving. On 12 November, "StG 77" sank the cruiser "Chervona Ukraina" and "KG 26" damaged the destroyers "Sovershennyy" and "Besposhchadnyy". But with the Luftwaffe units being dispatched to other sectors and theatres, the Soviet forces again achieved air superiority with 59 aircraft (39 serviceable).


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Manstein wanted to launch an attack as soon as possible, but his logistical lines were poor. Wanting to avoid strong Soviet forces protecting the north of the port, including the 95th Rifle Division, Manstein chose to press the center and southern Soviet defences. He ordered the German 50th Infantry Division to probe the center of the Soviet line east of the Chernaya river. The 132nd Infantry Division supported the probe and was able to push to within 4 kilometres of Severnaya Bay. The 72nd Rifle Division, with the support of the coastal batteries, moved in to stop the attack. The 72nd Infantry Division continued towards Balaklava, and the 22nd Infantry Division joined the assault. Assisted by shelling from two light cruisers and the battleship "Parizhskaya Kommuna", the Red Army halted this attack, and Manstein called off the offensive on 21 November, having lost 2,000 men.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Manstein recognised that he could not take the port quickly, and was going to have to organise a proper set-piece offensive. With German offensive operations suspended in December, Manstein found himself the only commander on the Eastern Front with an offensive mission. He was not ready to carry out his attack until 17 December. In the meantime, Oktyabrsky used the interval to sail the 11,000 soldiers of the 388th Rifle Division into Sevastopol between 7–13 December. Soviet engineers began laying extensive minefields and barbed-wire belts. By the time of the Axis attack, Petrov's force held a strong defensive position. The naval commander demanded that Petrov hold the coast along the northern flank of Sevastopol on the Belbek River in order to retain Coastal Battery 10, an artillery complex near Mamaschai. On the other hand, the German LIV Corps had only 15,551 men in its four infantry divisions (22nd, 24th, 50th, and 132nd). Over 7,000 soldiers in the German 11th Army were on the sick list at that time. It was also short of artillery ammunition and heavy artillery. In order to commit as many forces to the battle as possible, Manstein left the weak XLII Corps, containing just the 46th Infantry Division and two Romanian brigades, to protect the entire front from Yalta to Kerch.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The attack began at 06:10 on 17 December. The 22nd Infantry Division attacked the 8th Naval Brigade on the Belbek River, pushing west towards the coast, while the 50th and 132nd Infantry Divisions conducted fixing attacks on the Soviet center. The 22nd succeeded in rolling up the flank of the Naval Brigade after five days of fighting. However, Oktyabrsky ordered its retirement south towards Sevastopol, abandoning Mamaschai and forming a new front north of Belbek city and the Belbek river. In the south, XXX Corps tried and failed to break through with the 72nd and 170th Infantry Divisions. Only minor gains were made against the 172nd Rifle Division, even with help from the Romanian 1st Mountain Brigade. The 79th Naval Brigade and 345th Rifle Division arrived by sea as reinforcements, using the long winter nights and their naval superiority. Meanwhile, the battleship "Parizhskaya Kommuna" shelled German forces whenever they threatened a breakthrough. The offensive came to an abrupt end when the Red Army staged an amphibious landing at Kerch.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Between 26 and 30 December 1941, the USSR launched an amphibious assault on the Kerch peninsula to relieve the encircled Soviet forces at Sevastopol. It succeeded in gaining and sustaining a bridgehead for five months. However, a German−led counteroffensive named Operation Bustard Hunt destroyed the bridgehead and the three Soviet Armies supporting the landing in May 1942. This allowed Manstein to concentrate all of his resources against Sevastopol for the first time. The front over Sevastopol grew quiet and a stalemate ensued. The Luftwaffe kept up the pressure on Soviet sea communications and although supplies still made it through, Vice Admiral Oktyabrsky, commanding the Black Sea Fleet, was forced to reduce the number of coastal bombardment missions.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Sevastopol was still a formidable obstacle. Its airfields provided a base for the Red Air Force to attack the Axis-held Soviet coastline and Romania proper. It was also home to the Black Sea Fleet. Its main fortifications were pointed seaward, while the land defences encircled the city at a distance of 15–20 km, with an inner defense belt at a range of 5 km. Enhancing the manmade defences was the forested, rugged terrain. To the north of Severnaya Bay there were 11 batteries and strongpoints. They were given morale-boosting names such as "Stalin", "Maxim Gorky I", "Molotov", and "Lenin". They were defended by the First Coastal Army. Elsewhere, the Red Army had constructed hundreds of timber bunkers with machinegun nests and 45 mm anti-tank artillery. Along the outer belt, concrete bunkers were less common, 19 being stretched across its 37 km. Soviet engineers laid thousands of mines, including PMD-6 wooden anti-personnel mines, TMD-40 wooden anti-tank mines, and barbed-wire obstacle belts.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Petrov, commanding the Independent Coastal Army, had a powerful artillery pool. Petrov had on strength some 455 artillery pieces and howitzers. Among those were 34 152 mm and 40 122 mm howitzers and 918 mortars. Ammunition was adequate for a battle of two weeks for these calibers, but 82 mm mortar ammunition was in short supply. The battles of the Crimean campaign had taken their toll, and scarcely any tank and anti-aircraft artillery support were available. A further force, under Major-General Petr Morgunov, was added. The Coastal Artillery Force was semi-independent for much of the siege, and had an initial strength of 12 batteries and 45 guns, although more were added during 1942. By the time of the German June offensive, the Soviet forces had available eight 305 mm, one 188 mm, 10 152 mm and 17 130 mm, three 120 mm, eight 100 mm, and four 45 mm guns.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: By this time, the Axis was facing a serious manpower and artillery shortage. The German 11th Army's divisions had anywhere between 35 and 75 percent of their initial strength. The German 22nd Infantry Division was the strongest division, and was only short 1,750 personnel, while the weakest was the 132nd Infantry Division, which was short 2,300 men. The 170th Infantry Division had to collapse one of its regiments to bring the others up to strength. The German infantry force was a fragile force at Sevastopol and Manstein could not afford to squander it. German doctrine stressed bypassing strongpoints, but since this was not possible, German infantry were forced to reduce one fort after another. Some 65 Sturmgeschütz III assault guns were available to support them.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The assault was based around battalion-strength infantry assault groups supported by a platoon of engineers and a few assault guns. Two pioneer battalions were attached to each division to spearhead the attack and break through fixed and fortified defences. The eight battalions of LIV Corps each contained around 386 men on average, and were equipped with 10–12 flame throwers, 28–30 mine detectors, 3,000 kg of high explosives, 2,200 hand grenades, and 500 smoke grenades. The 300th Panzer Battalion, a remote-controlled tank unit using the Goliath tracked mine, was made available for destroying fortifications. The total number of artillery pieces came to 785 German and 112 Romanian medium and heavy guns. Most of these were under the command of LIV Corps, the main assault force. To increase this arsenal, a number of super-heavy artillery pieces were made available. Three 600 mm Karl-Gerät self-propelled mortars ("Thor", "Odin", and one other) and one 800 mm gun ("Schwerer Gustav"), delivering 1.4 and 7 ton shells, respectively, and capable of destroying any fortification. However, the Karl-Gerät guns only had a range of between 4–6,000 meters, which made them vulnerable to counter-battery fire. Moreover, only 201 rounds of 600 mm and 48 round of 800 mm ammunition were available. Most of it was used up before the infantry assault.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: More useful to the German infantry were the two 280 mm railway guns. Two 420 mm, two 355 mm howitzers were also available, along with four 305 mm mortars. Both of the 420 mm guns were of First World War vintage, short in range and with limited ammunition. Some nine 283 mm mortars were also available, but they were pre-1914 weapons and six had burst during firing. Artillery acquired from Czechoslovakia after the Munich Agreement, the Skoda 305 mm Model 1911 howitzer was also available. At the divisional level, 268 105 mm and 80 150 mm weapons were in service, including 126 Nebelwerfer infantry barrage rocket launchers. Overall, the German 11th Army's artillery was a collection of modern, obsolete, and foreign-built weapons. For the offensive, 183,750 rounds of 105 mm and 47,300 rounds of 150 mm ammunition were stockpiled, enough for 12 days of firing.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: To reinforce the 11th Army, the Romanians were committed to the assault. The Romanian 18th Infantry Division was at full strength, and plenty of Romanian infantry were available. However, the 18th Division was inexperienced and made up of reservists. The Romanian 1st Mountain Division was considered an elite force, and its addition was to prove useful. They had 112 guns available, but virtually no engineers. The weakness of their artillery and supporting arms made the Romanian X Corps reliant on the German forces for anything other than set-piece infantry attacks.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The Luftwaffe had to compensate for the Axis artillery limitations. A powerful air armada was brought together. Under the 8th Air Corps, von Richthofen assembled six "Kampfgruppen" (Bomber Groups) originating from six different "Kampfgeschwader" (Bomber Wings): KG 51 "Edelweiß", KG 76, KG 100, and III."Gruppe"/LG 1 specialist training wing. Dive-bomber support from StG 77 was also given to Richthofen. He could call upon three "gruppen" of Ju 87s. "Jagdgeschwader" (Fighter Wings) JG 3 "Udet" and JG 77 "Herz As" were available for air superiority operations. II."Gruppe"/KG 26 "Löwe" was also available for anti-shipping operations, in addition to the air-land effort carried out by the 8th Air Corps.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The Luftwaffe could not support the land assault and maintain pressure on Soviet sea communications alone. With only KG 26 engaged in anti-shipping operations against Soviet sea communications, the OKW looked to the "Kriegsmarine" to supply "Schnellboot" (S-Boat) motor torpedo boats to help eliminate Soviet shipping supplying and evacuating the port. The time it took to dismantle and move the 92-ton boats by rail to Romanian ports was going to be too long. In a rare appeal for help, the German forces turned to their Italian allies, aware of their expertise with motor torpedo boat operations. The "Regia Marina" sent the 101st Naval Squadron, which brought nine torpedo boats and nine coastal submarines under the command of the highly competent Capitano di Fregata Francesco Mimbelli. The Italian boats were only 24 tons and the submarines were 35 tons, which made them easier to transport by truck and barge. The squadron was based at Feodosiya and Yalta, which made it the only Axis naval force to participate in the siege.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Manstein demanded an all-out assault by the Luftwaffe before the main ground action began. Situated only 70 km from Sevastopol, the German formations had barely enough time to reach altitude before reaching their targets. The 8th Air Corps began its bombing campaign along the north and southeast of the city. At the same time, German medium bombers conducted rolling attacks on the city, which included all units except LG 1, which engaged in suppressing anti-aircraft installations. Oil, electricity, water pumps, harbor facilities, and submarine bases were attacked by StG 77 Ju 87s. Von Richthofen watched the bombing from an observation post close to the front. The targets were badly damaged, and fires broke out all over the port city. The Luftwaffe flew 723 missions and dropped 525 tons of high explosive on the first day. Despite heavy anti-aircraft fire, just one Ju 87 was lost.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: While the bulk of the Luftwaffe was busy with the land battle, III./KG 26 sought to break Soviet sea communications. They sank the tanker "Mikhail Gromov", but the flotilla leader "Tashkent", the destroyer "Bezuprechnyy", and transport "Abkhaziya" escaped to bring 2,785 soldiers into the fortress. Air support continued with 643 sorties on 3 June, 585 on 4 June, and 555 on 5 June, with some German crews flying daily averages of 18 missions. By the start of the ground attack on 7 June, the Luftwaffe had flown 3,069 sorties and 2,264 tons of high explosive and 23,800 incendiary bombs were dropped. Many of the bombs dropped were 1,000 kg SC 1000, 1,400 kg SC 1400, and 2,500 kg SC 2500 bombs. The heavy-caliber weapons were aimed at Soviet concrete bunkers. Ivan Laskin, commanding the 172nd Rifle Division in the northern sector recalled, "Bombers in groups of twenty to thirty attacked us without caring for their targets. They came in, wave after wave, and literally ploughed up the earth throughout our defence area. German aircraft were in the air above our positions all day long. The sky was clouded by smoke from explosions of thousands of bombs and shells. An enormous dark grey cloud of smoke and dust rose higher and higher and finally eclipsed the sun". The German air campaign against Sevastopol in June 1942 surpassed by far the German bombings of Warsaw, Rotterdam or London. From 3 to 6 June, the Luftwaffe carried out 2,355 operations and dropped 1,800 tons of high explosives.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: On 7 June, Manstein ordered the ground assault. The Luftwaffe carried out 1,368 sorties and dropped 1,300 tons of bombs on Soviet positions, but the Soviet infantry clung on.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: LIV Corps was to strike the main blow. Situated on the northeast edge of the city, they struck along the lines of least resistance, across the Belbek river while the German XXX and Romanian Mountain Corps conducted holding attacks in the south and center, respectively. Both the latter corps did not start major operations until 8 June.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The artillery bombardment targeted bunkers with 105 mm fire, which usually received 10–25 rounds. German Flak 36 37 mm guns also did an effective job of eliminating machinegun nests. The German forces were also quick to bring up 88 mm artillery guns to fire directly into bunker apertures. Between 2 and 6 June, the German 11th Army expended nine percent of its munitions (42,595 rounds, amounting to 2,449 tons of munitions) on pre-advance shelling. The railway guns also fired a few rounds at the main fortifications and rail lines, but most missed by some distance. The closest shell landed 80 meters away from its target. Soviet ammunition dumps were also targeted by these weapons, with no effect. The main fortifications, forts "Stalin", "Molotov", and "Maxim Gorky" (which lay in the path of LIV Corps) remained active. It was not until the afternoon of 6 June when a single 60 cm calibre mortar shell from the Karl-Gerät self-propelled mortar no. III, nicknamed "Thor", knocked out "Maxim Gorky's" second turret, damaging the weapon. This was the only success of the German super-heavy guns, which did not have an impact commensurate with their expense. The Luftwaffe had a greater impact, using its Ju 87s to knock out the communications systems of the fort.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: On the morning of 7 June 1942, the German infantry began advancing cautiously. XXX Corps attacked the southern positions held by the 7th Naval Brigade and 388th Rifle Division. The German infantry advanced behind air and artillery support. The infantry seemed afraid of their fire support and did not advance close enough behind it. The bombardment also failed to have enough of an effect. The Soviet forces held their fire until the German forces were well within range before opening fire, and little progress was made. Von Richthofen was angered by the fear of the infantry and called the day "a real disappointment". The next few days were not much better, despite the Luftwaffe flying 1,200 sorties. The pace of operations exhausted the machines and men. Often crews did not get out of their aircraft and made three or four sorties without rest.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: LIV Corps began its assault in the north on the seam of the Soviet defence sectors III and IV. The 'Schwerer Gustav' weapon continued to fire against ammunition dumps, which produced no effect. Nevertheless, the 132nd Infantry Division was able to work its way up to the river. The 600 mm guns concentrated on the coastal batteries and "Maxim Gorky" fortress. Meanwhile, the German 22nd Infantry Division attacked further to the east. Some 200 Soviet reinforcements of the 79th Naval Infantry Brigade, protecting this sector, were lost in the bombardment, but the main defences held out. The brigade held most of its forces in reserve, while committing only a single company to cover the hilly terrain on the Belbek river front. German assault groups breached the first and reserve lines by 08:15. The German forces had to negotiate heavily mined areas, slowing them down and allowing the Soviet forces to make a partial recovery. Supporting operations by the 50th and 24th German Infantry Divisions failed, which cost the Wehrmacht 12 StuG assault guns. The remote-control demolition units were not effective as the terrain was unsuitable.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: By 17:15 the town of Belbek was secured. The 22nd Infantry Division made considerable progress in breaking through the defenses of the 25th Rifle Division. The 50th Infantry Division supported the 22nd's left flank. Now facing the Germans was the Haccius Ridge, on which the fortress "Maxim Gorky" was located. It was flanked by several smaller forts to the east.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Now the 132nd Infantry Divisions was ordered to conduct a converging pincer movement on the "Maxim Gorky" fortress in conjunction with the 22nd and 50th Infantry Divisions, to trap its defenders against the coast. The 132nd pushed into the 95th Rifle Division's positions north of the fort, while the other two divisions attacked in a flanking move. While the Germans did make progress, nearing the main railway station just southeast of "Maxim Gorky", they were stopped from achieving a full-scale breakthrough by the 172nd Rifle Division. The 22nd and 50th Infantry Divisions had been heavily shelled by mortar fire from the 25th Rifle Division facing them east of the Haccius Ridge, which caused heavy casualties. By 18:00 hours, the German attack was spent.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: LIV Corps' losses on 7 June amounted to 2,357 casualties in four divisions, including 340 killed. It had also expended 3,939 tons of ammunition. The 132nd Division had exhausted all of its basic munitions load by midday. On the other side, the formidable Soviet defence lines east and southeast of Belbek had been overrun, and the Germans succeeded in advancing 2 km through dense Soviet defences. The Soviet casualties had also been severe. It is estimated that three battalions were effectively destroyed.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Manstein recognised the seriousness of the failure on 8 June. He was worried that the 132nd Infantry Division, locked in combat with the 79th Naval Brigade and 95th and 172nd Rifle Divisions north of the city on the Belbek river front, was "approaching the end of its strength". Once again, the army turned to the Luftwaffe for support. Richthofen responded by ordering attacks against Soviet supply lines. The same day, German bombers, including KG 100, began attacks on Soviet shipping. They sank the destroyer "Sovershennyy" and the survey vessel "Gyuys", with the 4,727 ton transport "Abkhaziya" and destroyer "Svobodnyy" following them on 10 June.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The period between 8–12 June descended into a battle of attrition. Several Soviet counterattacks were repulsed with heavy losses. The German LIV Corps extended the salient on the seam of the III and IV sector to 3 km, determined to break through before Petrov could reinforce his lines. The 132nd Infantry Division cleared the Haccius Ridge while the 22nd Infantry Division overran most of the Soviet 79th Naval Infantry Brigade. The Soviet unit tried counterattacking on 10 June, but was repulsed. The Soviet formation was effectively destroyed, with the support of the Luftwaffe, which used anti-personnel bombs against Soviet infantry caught in the open. Only one battalion (the Soviet 1st Batt./241st Rifle Regiment) was in a position to block the Germans from encircling the "Maxim Gorky" fort. Still, on 8 June LIV Corps had lost 1,700 men. In return, the lodgement in Soviet lines was extended to 3 km deep and 5 km wide.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: In the south, XXX Corps made no progress in four days of attacks. They suffered 496 casualties at the hands of the 109th Rifle Division. The 28th Light and 72nd Infantry Divisions had succeeded in puncturing the Soviet lines opposite the 109th and 388th Rifle Divisions. The outer defences were broken in some parts, but the most were still in Soviet hands on 12 June. The main belt on the Sapun Ridge (Sapun-gora) was unbroken. Soviet casualties amounted to 2,500, including 700 captured. By 13 June, XXX Corps had lost 2,659 men, including 394 killed.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: As the Germans made slow progress toward the main train station, Petrov withdrew the battered 172nd Rifle Division and replaced it with 345th Rifle Division. The 95th Rifle Division halted the 132nd Division's progress in the north. Although a relatively quiet day, 10 June saw the elimination of the Soviet 79th Naval Brigade and LIV Corps lost 2,772 men. Counterattacks by the Soviet 345th Division aimed at the hinge between the German 132nd and 50th Divisions were repulsed by the Luftwaffe. On 11–12 June, LIV Corps lost another 1,957 men. The Red Army had committed all of its reserves and were stretched dangerously thin. One more push might collapse the northern sector. But at this time, the tired German infantry were running short on reinforcements and ammunition.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: In contrast, the Black Sea Fleet was bringing in reinforcements through Luftwaffe attacks. On 12 June the cruiser "Molotov" and destroyer "Bditel'nyy" brought in 2,314 soldiers, 190 tons of ammunition and 28 artillery pieces. The Luftwaffe turned its attention to these convoys. On 13 June it sank the transports "Gruzyia" and "TSch-27", patrol boat "SKA-092", motor boat "SP-40", five barges, and a floating crane. On 15 June another 3,400 soldiers, 442 tons of ammunition, 30 tons of fuel and 12 tons of provisions reinforced the Soviet positions.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The Luftwaffe had flown 1,044 sorties on 11 June, dropping 954 tons of bombs. The consumption rate of ammunition was putting von Richthofen's logistical network under strain and he could no longer afford to fly massed bombing raids. On 11 June, he surmised there was less than two days worth of munitions left, requiring a change of tactics. Instead of carpet bombing, fewer targets would be attacked simultaneously, and aircraft would strike at designated targets in long and narrow lines. This was designed to maintain accurate pressure without wasting ordnance. Even this failed to alleviate shortages in the long term. By 17 June, scarcity of aviation fuel meant the Luftwaffe dropped only 800 instead of the planned 1,000 tons of bombs. Adding to the Luftwaffe's troubles in the sector, von Richthofen was transferred to prepare the Corps' Headquarters near Kursk to support the upcoming Operation Blue, the German summer offensive in southern Russia. He retained formal command, at least until given control of Luftflotte 4, but Wolfgang von Wild took over air operations over Sevastopol.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The primary objective for the 22nd Infantry Division on 13 June was Fort Stalin, blocking the advance to Severnaya Bay. It was a tough position. The fortifications allowed the Soviet forces to concentrate artillery against breakthroughs and machine gun posts protected the fort from southern and eastern attacks, but it was vulnerable from a northern assault. In addition, only 200 men from the 345th Rifle Division were stationed there. The Germans launched their assault on the position at 03:00 on 13 June with just 813 men. The 3rd Battalion was assigned to suppress Soviet machine gun and mortar positions located on the southeast as a diversion. The 1st Battalion, supported by five StuG assault guns, two 37mm guns and an Engineer Company, were to serve as the main effort. Some 200 and 110 men were committed respectively in each unit.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: German bombardment began on 12 June. Artillery fire from 'Dora' had failed to neutralise the fort. Nevertheless, a combined arms attack from eleven 420 mm mortars and dive-bombing by Ju 87s of StG 77 knocked out the fort's main armament (three of the four 76.2 mm guns). At 19:00 the 22nd divisional artillery began shelling the fort and its smaller supporting fortress, Volga, located to Stalin's rear, with 210, 280 and 305 mm weapons. At 03:00 the German infantry attacked. The fog of war intervened. The Soviet mortar teams were not suppressed, and a fierce battle developed which lasted until 05:30. The Germans, with the support of five assault guns and a few 37 mm weapons, silenced the fort, bunker by bunker. In the heavy fighting a large number of company commanders were killed.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: As the Germans seized this vital fort, the neighbouring Volga fort realised it had fallen and shelled the position. A company-sized counterattack by the Soviet forces was wiped out by German small arms fire. The Germans declared the position secured at 07:00, though some bunkers held out until 15:00. German casualties amounted to 32 dead, 126 wounded and two missing – half of the force committed. Soviet casualties amounted to 20 captured, the remainder were killed. With only 91 men left near the fort, Petrov did not order a recovery attempt – a grave mistake.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The fall of Fort Stalin meant the Soviet defenses in the north were on the verge of collapse. Hansen ordered LIV Corps to divert its attention to Fort Maxim Gorky and the elimination of the Soviet 95th Rifle Division. The 95th Rifle Division had been halting the 132nd Infantry Division's progress since the start of the offensive. The 132nd was reinforced by one regiment from the idle 46th Infantry Division near Kerch. The German 24th, 50th and Romanian 4th Mountain Divisions were to maintain pressure in the central sector while they pushed towards the Mekensia and Gatani Valley and the Chernaya River opening at Severnaya Bay. For three days, 14–16 June, the battle continued as the Axis advanced towards Sevastopol in the face of Soviet resistance. On 15 June the 132nd was within 900 metres of the Maxim Gorky's outer bastion (Bastion I). The front opposite the 25th Soviet Rifles was still strong, but the northern flank was giving way. The 79th Naval Brigade had only 35 percent of its fighting strength remaining. Blocking the way to Maxim Gorky were just 1,000 men of the 95th Rifle Division and 7th Naval Brigade.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: In the south the Soviet 109th and 388th Rifle Divisions were forced back along the coast by the German 72nd and 170th Infantry Divisions while the Romanian Corps' 18th Mountain Division dislodged the Soviet 386th Rifle Division threatening XXX Corps' right flank. The battles continued to grind on until 20 June. In six days, XXX Corps had lost 2,646 men. In exchange the outer defences of the 388th Rifle Division had been broken and the formation effectively destroyed. Still, the German advance on Balaklava had been halted. The Germans had not yet reached its outer defences and the Sapun Ridge to the east of the town was still under Soviet control. By 15 June, some 1,000 Soviet soldiers and 1,500 mortar bombs had been captured, indicating the Soviet forces had plenty of ammunition after two weeks of battle.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Despite shortages of aviation fuel and ordnance, the Luftwaffe had played a significant part in the success of the German operations. From 13 June until 17 June, it flew 3,899 sorties and dropped 3,086 tons of bombs. This average of 780 sorties per day was only a slight drop from the opening 11 days. Massed sorties were made on the city of Sevastopol itself. Bombing targeted hangars, port facilities, flak and artillery batteries, barracks, and supply depots with high explosive bombs. Most of the city was engulfed in flames. The smoke rose to 1,500 meters and stretched as far as Feodosiya, 150 kilometers away.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: As Hansen poised his corps for the breakthrough against the 95th Rifle Division, 27 Ju 87s of II./StG 77 attacked Maxim Gorky's main battery. The Germans believed the strike had knocked it out as it stopped firing its artillery. The artillery bombardment began on 16 June. In the morning the attack by the reinforced 132nd Division collapsed the line. The Soviet garrison held out in tunnels, capitulating on 20 June.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The 22nd and 24th Infantry Divisions advanced from the northeast. They employed their Goliath remote control demolition vehicles with success against the timber bunkers. One exploded prematurely and two were knocked out by a minefield. Two Panzer III control vehicles were knocked out by Soviet anti-tank fire. By 19:30, Forts Maxim Gorky, Molotov, Schishkova, Volga and Siberia were overrun. The 24th Infantry Division in particular made extensive use of its Nebelwerfer rockets. The 95th and 172nd Rifle Divisions had been lost, as well as the majority of the fortified defences. Only the 25th Rifle remained in the line. Petrov rushed up the 138th Naval Brigade with an extra 2,600 men, which was landed on the 12–13 June. It prevented German forces reaching Severnaya Bay that day.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The "Luftwaffe" was also engaged in applying pressure to Soviet naval forces. On 18 June the cruiser "Kharkov" was severely damaged. Attacks on 19 June by KG 51 destroyed the anti-aircraft platform in Severnaya Bay, allowing air operations to continue unopposed. The lack of anti-aircraft cover made it impossible for the minelayer "Komintern" to enter the harbour with reinforcements. The lack of supplies resulted in Soviet ammunition and fuel supplies slipping to critical levels on 20 June. The Luftwaffe was experiencing shortages of its own. The daily average of sorties was now reduced by 40 percent. Due to the shortages of bombs, all ordnance had to be dropped individually to minimise wastage. Some experienced crews had to conduct dive-bombing attacks 25–30 times a day. KG 51's Ju 88 crews in particular had felt the strain.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The pressure took its toll, and between the 18–23 June, the entire Soviet defence line in the north collapsed. The remnants of the 95th Rifle Division was huddled into a 2 km square portion of coast line near Coastal Battery 12, north of the Bay. At 09:00 the battery and the division surrendered to the 132nd Infantry Division. Further south the 24th Infantry Division captured Bartenyevka, on the mouth of the Bay. The 22nd Infantry Division had reached the north of the Bay on the same day. The Soviet 138th Naval Brigade counterattacked, but it was destroyed without artillery and air support. On 20 June, the 24th Infantry Division tackled the main obstacle remaining on the north side of the Bay. The Lenin anti-aircraft position protected by the Northern Fort, a position which had a 5 metres wide anti-tank ditch, 1,000 mines, 32 concrete bunkers, seven armoured cupolas, and 70 earth-and-timber bunkers making it a formidable defensive position. The Lenin defences surrendered, having already lost three of their four 76 mm weapons. The Germans tried to use the remote-controlled mines to break into the North Fort, but they were knocked out. At 11:30 on 21 June the Fort fell after a sustained infantry attack. Around 182 Soviet prisoners were taken. The Germans began mopping up operations and clearing the northern shore. Most Soviet units were exhausted and out of ammunition, surrendering quickly. Others made attempts at a last stand. Some tried to evacuate across to the southern side by boat, but they were picked off by German artillery.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: While the main actions were playing out in the north, XXX Corps alternated between attack and defence. The Soviet forces held the Sapun Ridge and could observe German movements. On occasion they could deliver effective counter battery fire. Between the 21–28 June, the Germans lost 10 artillery pieces, including five 150 mm s. FH 18 medium howitzers. In the centre, the Romanians took up the slack. The 18th Infantry, 1st, and 4th Mountain Divisions, supported by 100 guns, gradually advanced up the Chernaya River towards the mouth of the river and Severnaya Bay. With support from LIV Corps on its left, the Axis captured all the Soviet defensive lines east of the Chernaya River.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The Luftwaffe had contributed 4,700 sorties in seven days up until 26 June. They dropped 3,984 tons of bombs. The daily average sorties had decreased 15 percent from the week before and 10 percent the week before that. The increasing operational readiness (49.8 to 64.5 percent) revealed the severity of bomb and fuel shortages. Von Wild, despite the withdrawal of some "Geschwader" for Operation Blue, did succeed in bringing in much needed reinforcements to bring the strength levels up to a standard not seen since the start of the offensive. The Luftwaffe continued the intense bombardment. On 26 June, its attacks supporting XXX Corps, devastated Soviet defences on the Sapun Ridge. It was the last Soviet defensive line between the Axis and Sevastopol.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Oktyabrsky and Petrov were flown out at the last moment. Major General Pyotr Georgyevich Novikov took command of the defense. On 30 June, LIV Corps launched a heavy assault, supported by heavy "Luftwaffe" bombardment and several dozen guns. Heavy fighting took place for the next three days, but it was becoming clear that the Red Army could not hold their increasingly untenable positions for more than a day, at most. On 3 July, the last line of Soviet defense was breached. The following day, the last of the Soviet defenses were overrun and all organised resistance collapsed. The few remaining Red Army units continued to put up scattered resistance to the south of the city, which lasted until 9 July.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Above the city and port flutter the German and Romanian flags. German and Romanian troops under the command of Colonel General von Manstein, steadfastly supported by Colonel General von Richthofen's battle-hardened air corps, after twenty-five days of fierce battle, have as of midday today, taken the most powerful land and sea fortress of all that have ever existed in the world.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: The Germans claimed that over 90,000 Red Army soldiers had been taken prisoner, and a greater number killed. This claim appears to be overstated as, according to Soviet sources, the Soviet garrison defending Sevastopol totaled 106,000 men at the start of the siege plus 3,000 reinforcements during the attack. Further, it is known that 25,157 persons were evacuated, the overwhelming majority either wounded soldiers or officers evacuated on Stalin's orders.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Romania's contribution was honored when the Crimea Shield in gold was first bestowed upon Marshal Ion Antonescu on 3 July 1942. It was awarded to him in Bucharest by Manstein, on Hitler's behalf. The second and last Golden Krimschild was awarded to Manstein himself, on 24 November 1942.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: From 2 June to 3 July 8 Air Corps had flown 23,751 sorties and dropped 20,528 tons of bombs. German artillery had fired a further 46,750 tons of munitions, with total Axis munitions consumption coming to 67,278 tons over the course of one month. The Luftwaffe claimed to have destroyed 611 motor vehicles, 123 aircraft of which 18 on the ground, 38 artillery pieces, 10 tanks, a locomotive and a flak barge. Further destroyed were 48 Soviet artillery batteries, 28 barracks and industrial buildings, 20 bunkers, 11 ammunition depots, 10 fuel depots, a bridge and an observation post. Hundreds more motor vehicles had been damaged along with 7 artillery pieces, 43 artillery batteries, 2 barracks and another bridge. German aerial attacks had sunk 10,800 tons of Soviet shipping including 4 destroyers, a submarine, 3 motor torpedo boats, 6 coastal vessels and 4 freighters. 12,000 tons of shipping were also damaged, with 2 destroyers, 10 coastal vessels and 2 freighters among the losses.


title: Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

text: Although ultimately a German success, the operation took much longer than the Germans had expected. Operation Blau, Army Group South's advance toward Stalingrad and the Caucasus, was just beginning, and the German offensive did not have the 11th Army to support it. Instead, the German 6th Army under Paulus was without crucial support, ultimately contributing to its defeat.


title: Tribe of Levi

text: According to the Bible, the Tribe of Levi is one of the tribes of Israel, traditionally descended from Levi, son of Jacob. The descendants of Aaron, who was the first "kohen gadol" (high priest) of Israel, were designated as the priestly class, the Kohanim.


title: Tribe of Levi

text: The Tribe of Levi served particular religious duties for the Israelites and had political responsibilities as well. In return, the landed tribes were expected to give tithes to the Kohanim, the priests working in the Temple in Jerusalem, particularly the tithe known as the "Maaser Rishon". The Levites who were not Kohanim played music in the Temple or served as guards. When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan the Levites were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed to be landowners, because "the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, as he said to them" (Book of Joshua, ). Some Biblical traditions point to the alien aspects of the Levites and their role as military troops. In this context the etymology linking the term Levi with the Mycenaean Greek term "la-wo" (the people / armed people) was proposed.


title: Tribe of Levi

text: Notable descendants of the Levite lineage according to the Bible include Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Samuel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Ezra, and Malachi.


title: Tribe of Levi

text: According to the Torah, the tribe is named after Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob (also called Israel). Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (). Levi also had a daughter named Jochebed ().


title: Tribe of Levi

text: Kohath's son Amram was the father of Miriam, Aaron and Moses. The descendants of Aaron, the Kohanim, had the special role as priests in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and also in the Temple in Jerusalem. The remaining Levites were divided into three groups: Gershonites (descended from Gershon), Kohathites (from Kohath), and Merarites (from Merari). Each division filled different roles in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple services.


title: Tribe of Levi

text: Levites' principal roles in the Temple included singing Psalms during Temple services, performing construction and maintenance for the Temple, serving as guards, and performing other services. Levites also served as teachers and judges, maintaining cities of refuge in biblical times. The Book of Ezra reports that the Levites were responsible for the construction of the Second Temple and also translated and explained the Torah when it was publicly read.


title: Tribe of Levi

text: During the Exodus the Levite tribe were particularly zealous in protecting the Mosaic law in the face of those worshipping the golden calf, which may have been a reason for their priestly status. Although the Levites were not counted in the census among the children of Israel, they were numbered separately as a special army.


title: Tribe of Levi

text: In the Book of Numbers the Levites were charged with ministering to the Kohanim and keeping watch over the Tabernacle:


title: Tribe of Levi

text: The Book of Jeremiah speaks of a covenant with the Kohanim and Levites, connecting it with the covenant with the seed of King David:


title: Tribe of Levi

text: Critical scholars who follow the documentary hypothesis propose that those parts of the Torah attributed to the Elohist seem to treat "Levite" as a descriptive attribute for someone particularly suited to the priesthood, rather than as a firm designation of a tribe, and believe that Moses and Aaron are being portrayed as part of the Joseph group rather than being part of a tribe called "Levi". Jahwist passages have more ambiguous language; traditionally interpreted as referring to a person named "Levi", they could also be interpreted as just referring to a social position titled "levi".


title: Tribe of Levi

text: In the Blessing of Jacob, Levi is treated as a tribe, cursing them to become scattered; critics regard this as an aetiological postdiction to explain how a tribe could be so scattered, the simpler solution being that the priesthood was originally open to any tribe, but gradually became seen as a distinct tribe to themselves. The Priestly source and the Blessing of Moses, which critical scholars view as originating centuries later, portray the Levites firmly established as a tribe, and as the only tribe with the right to become priests.


title: Tribe of Levi

text: Based on the controversial Shapira Scroll, Biblical scholar Idan Dershowitz has also suggested that the Levites were originally members of a profession or guild, rather than a tribe. If that is correct, this explanation might clarify passages such as , where a Levite is paradoxically mentioned as being from the Tribe of Judah.


title: Kohler Co.

text: Kohler Co., founded in 1873 by John Michael Kohler, is an American manufacturing company based in Kohler, Wisconsin. Kohler is best known for its plumbing products, but the company also manufactures furniture, cabinetry, tile, engines, and generators. Destination Kohler also owns various hospitality establishments in the United States and Scotland. In February 2017, Kohler Co. acquired UK-based Clarke Energy from the management team and ECI Partners, a multinational specialist in the engineering, construction, installation and maintenance of engine-based power plants and is an authorized distributor of GE's reciprocating engines in 19 countries worldwide.


title: Kohler Co.

text: Kohler Co. was co-founded in 1873 by Austrian immigrant John Michael Kohler and Charles Silberzahn with the purchase of the Sheboygan Union Iron and Steel Foundry from Kohler's father-in-law, Jacob Vollrath, for $5000. Early products included cast iron and steel farm implements, castings for furniture factories, and ornamental iron pieces including cemetery crosses and settees. A breakthrough came in 1883 when John Michael applied enamel to a cast-iron horse trough to create the company's first bathtub. The company has been primarily in the plumbing business ever since and is known for its plumbing fixtures and faucets.


title: Kohler Co.

text: In the early 20th century, Kohler made drinking fountains with a "bubbling valve", from which water shot vertically. Eventually the entire fountain came to be known as a "bubbler" in the area in which Kohler products were sold. The term "bubbler" is still used in a few areas of Wisconsin and some other areas of the United States.


title: Kohler Co.

text: In 1934 and 1954, Kohler Strikes took place. A third strike took place in 1983 and lasted only a few weeks. On November 15, 2015, workers voted for the 2015 Kohler Strike, making it the fourth strike in the company's history.


title: Kohler Co.

text: In 1984 Kohler acquired Sterling Faucet Company. The company was renamed as Sterling Plumbing Group Inc. The Sterling brand was integrated into Kohler family of products. Kohler later expanded the offering of Sterling products adding to the faucet line, shower doors, sinks, toilets, and other bathroom accessories.


title: Kohler Co.

text: In 2007, Kohler created a joint venture in China called Kohler-YinXiang Ltd., based in Chongqing, China, to manufacture small gasoline engines, and intends to begin importing more of their engines, rather than building them in the US. Kohler's UK subsidiary is the Cheltenham-based Kohler Mira Ltd, best known for manufacturing Mira Showers.


title: Kohler Co.

text: Former Wisconsin Governor Walter J. Kohler Sr. was president of Kohler Co. and his son former Wisconsin Governor Walter J. Kohler Jr. served for many years in senior management. The presidency of Kohler was passed down from Herbert Kohler Jr. (born February 20, 1939, grandson of the founder), to his son, David Kohler, on June 1, 2015.


title: Kohler Co.

text: In 1998, Kohler made a plan to buy back any outstanding shares not owned by the family. All family members had to exchange their common shares for shares with limited rights that could not be sold. Since Kohler is "not" a publicly traded company, the number of shares floating was minimal. Kohler offered $55,400 per share, but some shareholders challenged this valuation and sued. The IRS also challenged this valuation by prosecuting the estate of Frederick Kohler, who had recently died holding 975 shares, but Kohler won the lawsuit.


title: Kohler Co.

text: In 1999, a court case was brought by the United States Department of Labor alleging that Kohler Co.'s hiring practices were discriminatory to women. The company had an informal height requirement of for women, which is the average adult female height in the United States. Because of its contracts with the federal government, the company was prohibited from enforcing this requirement and as part of a settlement agreed to hire 111 of the 2,000 women who had applied to work at Kohler from 1994 to 1995 and to undertake a study "to eliminate unnecessary barriers to women".


title: Kohler Co.

text: In 2005, China Labor Watch accused Kohler China (Investment) Co., Ltd. of major worker rights violations at its Foshan factory. These included: excessive work hours, lack of overtime pay, low wage payment, unsafe working conditions, uncompensated work injuries, and denying workers the ability to form their own union.


title: Kohler Co.

text: In January 2020, Kohler paid $20 million in a settlement with the United States Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of California over its small engines' violations of the Clean Air Act and California law.


title: Kohler Co.

text: Kohler's bath and kitchen fixtures are available in American hardware and home improvement stores and from Kohler Kitchen and Bath distributors. Kohler still makes traditional cast iron bathtubs, one of the few United States manufacturers to do so. Besides residential products, Kohler manufactures a commercial line of bathroom fixtures. The company also does artistic custom work, such as hand-painted sinks and toilets. In 2015 Kohler was named by "Builder" magazine as the "most used" and "best quality" in the "Bath Accessories" category as well as the top spot for "brand familiarity", "most used" and "quality rating" in the "Bath Fixtures" and "Whirlpool Baths" categories.


title: Kohler Co.

text: The Kohler Walk-In Bath Division designs, engineers and builds accessible bathtubs that are easier to enter than traditional bathtub models. The division specializes in bathing products for people with limited mobility or who are disabled. Founded in 2015, this specialty division sells its bathtubs through independent dealers across the United States.


title: Kohler Co.

text: Kohler also makes a wide range of small industrial engines. Traditionally, the company manufactured gasoline engines; however, after purchasing the Italian company Lombardini, it extended its range and now offers diesel engines up to 134 HP. Kohler engines power a range of devices from water pumps to off-road vehicles. The "Global Power" group manufactures generators of varying sizes. Kohler was the first company to offer residential back-up generators, starting in 1920.


title: Kohler Co.

text: Since 2007, the company has been expanding in the areas of furniture, cabinetry, and tile in the consumer market, and engines and generators for industry. The Kohler Interiors division of the company comprises Baker Furniture, McGuire Furniture, Kallista, Ann Sacks Tile and Mark David.


title: Kohler Co.

text: At CES 2018 Kohler unveiled a new product line called Kohler Konnect, consisting of smart connected plumbing fixtures including bathtubs, mirrors, shower heads, toilets, and shower valves. These new digital fixtures have WiFi capabilities, enabling voice assistant control through Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa or Apple HomeKit, and app control support via the Kohler Konnect app. The Kohler Konnect services are powered by the Microsoft Azure Cloud platform. Competitors include the U by Moen shower controller and kitchen faucet, and the Delta VoiceIQ kitchen faucet.


title: Kohler Co.

text: In 2018, Kohler became a sponsor of English football giant Manchester United. As the club’s first sleeve sponsor from 2018-22, Kohler had its logo prominently displayed on all United jerseys. While the company was replaced by fellow American company DXC Technology as sleeve sponsor in 2022, it remains an official United partner.


title: Kohler Co.

text: In early 2021, Kohler announced they would be sponsoring Roush Fenway Racing driver Ryan Newman for a selected number of races in 2021, debuting in the 2021 Daytona 500, while using Kohler Generators as their sponsor. They continued their sponsorship in 2022 with driver Brad Keselowski, who left Team Penske at the end of 2021 to join Roush as a driver/minority co-owner under the team rebranded Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, or RFK Racing in 2022.


title: Kohler Co.

text: Kohler Co.'s hospitality and real estate group, Destination Kohler, oversees the management, marketing and tourism promotion for its golf courses, hotels, private clubs, shops, restaurants, company-sponsored and village events. The American Club is a highly rated resort hotel in the Midwest.


title: Kohler Co.

text: Kohler Co. is affiliated with the non-profit John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which occupies a square block of downtown Sheboygan that contains Kohler's restored former mansion, several newer buildings, and the exterior structure of the former Carnegie-era Mead Public Library building as a modern "ruin". The John Michael Kohler Arts Center operates an Arts/Industry program, the primary component of which is a residency program at Kohler. Artists have the opportunity to spend two to six months creating works of art using the industrial materials and equipment.


title: Kohler Co.

text: The company continues to maintain a residential review committee (similar to a homeowner association) which ensures the compliance of the original Kohler Village plans and architectural designs from the defunct Kohler Improvement Company. Residents who want to add onto their home, build new outbuildings or fences must receive Kohler Company RRC approval before taking their plans to the planning commission, and comply with the design and aesthetic standards of the Kohler Company RRC.


title: Grass jelly

text: Grass jelly, also known as leaf jelly or herb jelly, is a jelly-like dessert eaten in East and Southeast Asia. It is created by using Chinese mesona (a member of the mint family) and has a mild, slightly bitter taste. It is served chilled, with other toppings such as fruit, or in bubble tea or other drinks. Outside Asia, it is sold in Asian supermarkets.


title: Grass jelly

text: Unsweetened grass jelly contains, per 500 grams, 2.5 grams of protein and about 15 grams of carbohydrates, of which 0.5 gram is from dietary fiber. Grass jelly has no fat, vitamins, or minerals.


title: Grass jelly

text: Grass jelly is made by boiling the aged and slightly oxidized stalks and leaves of "Platostoma palustre" ("Mesona chinensis") with potassium carbonate for several hours with a little starch and then cooling the liquid to a jelly-like consistency. This jelly can be cut into cubes or other forms, and then mixed with syrup to produce a drink or dessert thought to have cooling ("yin") properties, which makes it typically consumed during hot weather. The jelly itself is fragrant, with a smoky undertone, and is a translucent dark brown, sometimes perceived to be black. Food coloring may sometimes be added to make it darker.


title: Grass jelly

text: Preparation of other variants, known as green grass jelly, requires no cooking or heating process, only a mixture of leaf extracts and water. Jelly produced in this way has been described as having a leafy neutral or plain flavor.


title: Grass jelly

text: In Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, grass jelly was traditionally served with sugar syrup. Now it is often served mixed with other ingredients, such as mango, sago, watermelon, cantaloupe, and other fresh or canned fruit, and condensed or evaporated milk.


title: Grass jelly

text: Although this dish is sometimes called "liangfen" ("leung fan") in Chinese, it should not be confused with the Chinese starch jelly "liangfen", which is an entirely different dish.


title: Grass jelly

text: In Taiwan, grass jelly is known as 仙草 (xian cao), and is used in various desserts and drinks. It can sometimes be added to boba drinks and shaved ice (刨冰). It is also commonly used in a traditional Taiwanese dessert, where the jelly is heated and melted to be consumed as a thick pudding-like dessert (燒仙草), with numerous toppings like tangyuan, taro balls, azuki beans, and tapioca. The plant is also made into mesona tea (仙草茶).


title: Grass jelly

text: Grass jelly is known as "cincau" in Indonesian. It is also known as camcao, juju, janggelan or kepleng in Javanese, camcauh in Sundanese, and daluman in Bali. Black jelly ("cincau hitam") is manufactured as an instant powder, like other instant jellies or agar. This form is easier to use. It is made from the leaves of "Platostoma palustre" ("Mesona palustris").


title: Grass jelly

text: There are other plants that were used in Indonesia to make grass jelly. They are "Melastoma polyanthum", known as "cincau perdu", and "Cyclea barbata", known as "cincau hijau" or green grass jelly, and "Cocculus orbiculatus" or known as "cincau Cina" or Chinese green grass jelly. Some plants from genus "Stephania" such as "Stephania hernandifolia" (also known as "Stephania japonica") and "Stephania capitata" are also being used as a substitute to create green grass jelly called "cincau minyak" or oily grass jelly.


title: Grass jelly

text: Usually, the process of making Indonesian green grass jelly doesn't require a cooking or heating process. Mixing leaf extract and water with the addition of a period of waiting time for coagulation at mild room temperature is enough.


title: Grass jelly

text: Indonesian green grass jelly has a distinct flavor compared to black grass jelly. It is absent of smoky flavor, almost no bitter taste, and has a mild leafy flavor. Due to its plain neutral flavor, it is usually consumed with sugar water, syrup, coconut milk, and ice.


title: Grass jelly

text: Plain grass jelly is mixed in various kinds of desserts, such as "ais kacang" and "cendol". It is also mixed with cold soy milk and served as a refreshing drink/dessert, a drink known as Michael Jackson in South-East Asia (a reference to Michael Jackson's changing skin color and/or the song "Black or White").


title: Grass jelly

text: Various combinations of grass jelly with rose flavoured syrup added to milk (bandung) are called "bandung cincau" or "bancau" for short. There is also shaved ice with grass jelly toppings. It can be green or brown.


title: Grass jelly

text: Grass jelly (Philippine: "gulaman") bricks are used in the various Philippine refreshments or desserts such as "sago’t gulaman", "buko-pandan", agar flan or "halo-halo". It may also be used in fruit salads.


title: Grass jelly

text: In Thailand, grass jelly is known as "chaokuai" (, ) like the Teochew (from Hokkien ). It is commonly served relatively plain together with ice and natural brown sugar. Additionally, it can also be served with fruits such as jackfruit, the fruit of the toddy palm or mixed with other Thai desserts.


title: Grass jelly

text: In Vietnamese, grass jelly is "sương sáo" or "thạch sương sáo". Grass jelly is chopped in small cubes and served as an additional ingredient in sweet desserts made from various kinds of beans ("chè"). There are two common kinds of grass jelly in Vietnam which are "Platostoma palustre" ("Mesona chinensis", called "sương sáo" in Vietnamese) and "Tiliacora triandra" (called "sương sâm"; "sương sa" or "rau câu" is the name for jelly made from various kinds of algae). It is common now to eat green grass jelly (thạch lá găng) with douhua (tào phớ) and grass jelly (sương sáo or thạch đen) in the summer.


title: Grass jelly

text: In Mauritius, the grass jelly is cut into cubes and is added into water and sugar or in syrup water to make a cold drink called "Mousse Noir" which is literally translated as "black jelly" in English. The Mousse noir is of Chinese origins and is a reflection of the Sino-Mauritians influence on the Mauritian cuisine. The mousse noir is well-known and well-appreciated by Mauritians. It can be made at home, or it can be purchased in local supermarkets where it is widely accessible. The mousse noir is also manufactured by local Mauritian companies, such as Sunny Food Canners, and can be found in the original flavour or can come in different flavours; such as coffee, aloe vera, and melon.


title: Edmond Halley

text: Edmond (or Edmund) Halley (; – ) was an English astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720.


title: Edmond Halley

text: From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena in 1676–77, Halley catalogued the southern celestial hemisphere and recorded a transit of Mercury across the Sun. He realised that a similar transit of Venus could be used to determine the distances between Earth, Venus, and the Sun. Upon his return to England, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society, and with the help of King Charles II, was granted a master's degree from Oxford.


title: Edmond Halley

text: Halley encouraged and helped fund the publication of Isaac Newton's influential "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" (1687). From observations Halley made in September 1682, he used Newton's laws of motion to compute the periodicity of Halley's Comet in his 1705 "Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets". It was named after him upon its predicted return in 1758, which he did not live to see.


title: Edmond Halley

text: Beginning in 1698, Halley made sailing expeditions and made observations on the conditions of terrestrial magnetism. In 1718, he discovered the proper motion of the "fixed" stars.


title: Edmond Halley

text: Halley was born in Haggerston in Middlesex. According to Halley, his birthdate was . his father, Edmond Halley Sr., came from a Derbyshire family and was a wealthy soap-maker in London. As a child, Halley was very interested in mathematics. He studied at St Paul's School, where he developed his initial interest in astronomy, and was elected captain of the school in 1671. On , Halley's mother, Anne Robinson, died. In July 1673, he began studying at The Queen's College, Oxford. Halley took a 24-foot-long telescope with him, apparently paid for by his father. While still an undergraduate, Halley published papers on the Solar System and sunspots. In March 1675, he wrote to John Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal (England's first), telling him that the leading published tables on the positions of Jupiter and Saturn were erroneous, as were some of Tycho Brahe's star positions.


title: Edmond Halley

text: In 1676, Flamsteed helped Halley publish his first paper, titled "A Direct and Geometrical Method of Finding the Aphelia, Eccentricities, and Proportions of the Primary Planets, Without Supposing Equality in Angular Motion", about planetary orbits, in "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society". Influenced by Flamsteed's project to compile a catalogue of stars of the northern celestial hemisphere, Halley proposed to do the same for the southern sky, dropping out of school to do so. He chose the south Atlantic island of Saint Helena (west of Africa), from which he would be able to observe not only the southern stars, but also some of the northern stars with which to cross-reference them. King Charles II supported his endeavour. Halley sailed to the island in late 1676, then set up an observatory with a large sextant with telescopic sights. Over a year, he made observations with which he would produce the first catalogue of the southern sky, and observed a transit of Mercury across the Sun. Focusing on this latter observation, Halley realised that observing the solar parallax of a planet—more ideally using the transit of Venus, which would not occur within his lifetime—could be used to trigonometrically determine the distances between Earth, Venus, and the Sun.


title: Edmond Halley

text: Halley returned to England in May 1678, and used his data to produce a map of the southern stars. Oxford would not allow Halley to return because he had violated his residency requirements when he left for Saint Helena. He appealed to Charles II, who signed a letter requesting that Halley be unconditionally awarded his Master of Arts degree, which the college granted on 3 December 1678. Just a few days before, Halley had been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society, at the age of 22. In 1679, he published "Catalogus Stellarum Australium" ('A catalogue of the stars of the South'), which includes his map and descriptions of 341 stars. Robert Hooke presented the catalogue to the Royal Society. In mid-1679, Halley went to Danzig (Gdańsk) on behalf of the Society to help resolve a dispute: because astronomer Johannes Hevelius' observing instruments were not equipped with telescopic sights, Flamsteed and Hooke had questioned the accuracy of his observations; Halley stayed with Hevelius and checked his observations, finding that they were quite precise.


title: Edmond Halley

text: By 1681, Giovanni Domenico Cassini had told Halley of his theory that comets were objects in orbit. In September 1682, Halley carried out a series of observations of what became known as Halley's Comet; his name became associated with it because of his work on its orbit and predicting its return in 1758 (which he did not live to see). In early 1686, Halley was elected to the Royal Society's new position of secretary, requiring him to give up his fellowship and manage correspondence and meetings, as well as edit the "Philosophical Transactions". Also in 1686, Halley published the second part of the results from his Helenian expedition, being a paper and chart on trade winds and monsoons. The symbols he used to represent trailing winds still exist in most modern day weather chart representations. In this article he identified solar heating as the cause of atmospheric motions. He also established the relationship between barometric pressure and height above sea level. His charts were an important contribution to the emerging field of information visualisation.


title: Edmond Halley

text: Halley spent most of his time on lunar observations, but was also interested in the problems of gravity. One problem that attracted his attention was the proof of Kepler's laws of planetary motion. In August 1684, he went to Cambridge to discuss this with Isaac Newton, much as John Flamsteed had done four years earlier, only to find that Newton had solved the problem, at the instigation of Flamsteed with regard to the orbit of comet Kirch, without publishing the solution. Halley asked to see the calculations and was told by Newton that he could not find them, but promised to redo them and send them on later, which he eventually did, in a short treatise titled "On the motion of bodies in an orbit". Halley recognised the importance of the work and returned to Cambridge to arrange its publication with Newton, who instead went on to expand it into his "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" published at Halley's expense in 1687. Halley's first calculations with comets were thereby for the orbit of comet Kirch, based on Flamsteed's observations in 1680–1681. Although he was to accurately calculate the orbit of the comet of 1682, he was inaccurate in his calculations of the orbit of comet Kirch. They indicated a periodicity of 575 years, thus appearing in the years 531 and 1106, and presumably heralding the death of Julius Caesar in a like fashion in 45 BCE. It is now known to have an orbital period of circa 10,000 years.


title: Edmond Halley

text: In 1691, Halley built a diving bell, a device in which the atmosphere was replenished by way of weighted barrels of air sent down from the surface. In a demonstration, Halley and five companions dived to in the River Thames, and remained there for over an hour and a half. Halley's bell was of little use for practical salvage work, as it was very heavy, but he made improvements to it over time, later extending his underwater exposure time to over 4 hours. Halley suffered one of the earliest recorded cases of middle ear barotrauma. That same year, at a meeting of the Royal Society, Halley introduced a rudimentary working model of a magnetic compass using a liquid-filled housing to damp the swing and wobble of the magnetised needle.


title: Edmond Halley

text: In 1691, Halley sought the post of Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford. While a candidate for the position, Halley faced the animosity of the Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, and the Anglican Church questioned his religious views, largely on the grounds that he had doubted the Earth's age as given in the Bible. After Flamsteed wrote to Newton to rally support against Halley, Newton wrote back in hopes of reconciliation, but was unsuccessful. Halley's candidacy was opposed by both the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Tillotson, and Bishop Stillingfleet, and the post went instead to David Gregory, who had Newton's support.


title: Edmond Halley

text: In 1692, Halley put forth the idea of a hollow Earth consisting of a shell about 500 miles (800 km) thick, two inner concentric shells and an innermost core. He suggested that atmospheres separated these shells, and that each shell had its own magnetic poles, with each sphere rotating at a different speed. Halley proposed this scheme to explain anomalous compass readings. He envisaged each inner region as having an atmosphere and being luminous (and possibly inhabited), and speculated that escaping gas caused the aurora borealis. He suggested, "Auroral rays are due to particles, which are affected by the magnetic field, the rays parallel to Earth's magnetic field."


title: Edmond Halley

text: In 1693 Halley published an article on life annuities, which featured an analysis of age-at-death on the basis of the Breslau statistics Caspar Neumann had been able to provide. This article allowed the British government to sell life annuities at an appropriate price based on the age of the purchaser. Halley's work strongly influenced the development of actuarial science. The construction of the life-table for Breslau, which followed more primitive work by John Graunt, is now seen as a major event in the history of demography.


title: Edmond Halley

text: The Royal Society censured Halley for suggesting in 1694 that the story of Noah's flood might be an account of a cometary impact. A similar theory was independently suggested three centuries later, but is generally rejected by geologists.


title: Edmond Halley

text: In 1696, Newton was appointed as warden of the Royal Mint and nominated Halley as deputy comptroller of the Chester mint. Halley spent two years supervising coin production. While there, he caught two clerks pilfering precious metals. He and the local warden spoke out about the scheme, unaware that the local master of the mint was profiting from it.


title: Edmond Halley

text: In 1698, the Czar of Russia (later known as Peter the Great) was on a visit to England, and hoped Newton would be available to entertain him. Newton sent Halley in his place. He and the Czar bonded over science and brandy. According to one disputed account, when both of them were drunk one night, Halley jovially pushed the Czar around Deptford in a wheelbarrow.


title: Edmond Halley

text: In 1698, at the behest of King William III, Halley was given command of the , a pink, so that he could carry out investigations in the South Atlantic into the laws governing the variation of the compass, as well as to refine the coordinates of the English colonies in the Americas. On 19 August 1698, he took command of the ship and, in November 1698, sailed on what was the first purely scientific voyage by an English naval vessel. Unfortunately problems of insubordination arose over questions of Halley's competence to command a vessel. Halley returned the ship to England to proceed against officers in July 1699. The result was a mild rebuke for his men, and dissatisfaction for Halley, who felt the court had been too lenient. Halley thereafter received a temporary commission as a captain in the Royal Navy, recommissioned the "Paramour" on 24 August 1699 and sailed again in September 1699 to make extensive observations on the conditions of terrestrial magnetism. This task he accomplished in a second Atlantic voyage which lasted until 6 September 1700, and extended from 52 degrees north to 52 degrees south. The results were published in "General Chart of the Variation of the Compass" (1701). This was the first such chart to be published and the first on which isogonic, or Halleyan, lines appeared. The use of such lines inspired later ideas such as those of isotherms by Alexander von Humboldt in his maps. In 1701, Halley made a third and final voyage on the "Paramour" to study the tides of the English Channel. In 1702, he was dispatched by Queen Anne on diplomatic missions to other European leaders.


title: Edmond Halley

text: The preface to Awnsham and John Churchill's collection of voyages and travels (1704), supposedly written by John Locke or by Halley, valourised expeditions such as these as part of a grand expansion of European knowledge of the world:


title: Edmond Halley

text: Astronomy has receiv'd the addition of many constellations never seen before. Natural and moral history is embelish'd with the most beneficial increase of so many thousands of plants it had never before receiv'd, so many drugs and spices, such variety of beasts, birds and fishes, such rarities in minerals, mountains and waters, such unaccountable diversity of climates and men, and in them of complexions, tempers, habits, manners, politicks, and religions…. To conclude, the empire of Europe is now extended to the utmost bounds of the earth, where several of its nations have conquests and colonies. These and many more are the advantages drawn from the labours of those, who expose themselves to the dangers of the vast ocean, and of unknown nations; which those who sit still at home abundantly reap in every kind: and the relation of one traveler is an incentive to stir up another to imitate him, whilst the rest of mankind, in their accounts without stirring a foot, compass the earth and seas, visit all countries, and converse with all nations.


title: Edmond Halley

text: In November 1703, Halley was appointed Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford, his theological enemies, John Tillotson and Bishop Stillingfleet having died. In 1705, applying historical astronomy methods, he published the paper "" ("A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets"); in this, he stated his belief that the comet sightings of 1456, 1531, 1607, and 1682 were of the same comet, and that it would return in 1758. Halley did not live to witness the comet's return, but when it did, the comet became generally known as Halley's Comet.


title: Edmond Halley

text: By 1706 Halley had learned Arabic and completed the translation started by Edward Bernard of Books V–VII of Apollonius's "Conics" from copies found at Leiden and the Bodleian Library at Oxford. He also completed a new translation of the first four books from the original Greek that had been started by the late David Gregory. He published these along with his own reconstruction of Book VIII in the first complete Latin edition in 1710. The same year, he received an honorary degree of doctor of laws from Oxford.


title: Edmond Halley

text: In 1716, Halley suggested a high-precision measurement of the distance between the Earth and the Sun by timing the transit of Venus. In doing so, he was following the method described by James Gregory in "Optica Promota" (in which the design of the Gregorian telescope is also described). It is reasonable to assume Halley possessed and had read this book given that the Gregorian design was the principal telescope design used in astronomy in Halley's day. It is not to Halley's credit that he failed to acknowledge Gregory's priority in this matter. In 1717–18 he discovered the proper motion of the "fixed" stars (publishing this in 1718) by comparing his astrometric measurements with those given in Ptolemy's "Almagest". Arcturus and Sirius were two noted to have moved significantly, the latter having progressed 30 arc minutes (about the diameter of the moon) southwards in 1800 years.


title: Edmond Halley

text: In 1720, together with his friend the antiquarian William Stukeley, Halley participated in the first attempt to scientifically date Stonehenge. Assuming that the monument had been laid out using a magnetic compass, Stukeley and Halley attempted to calculate the perceived deviation introducing corrections from existing magnetic records, and suggested three dates (460 BC, AD 220 and AD 920), the earliest being the one accepted. These dates were wrong by thousands of years, but the idea that scientific methods could be used to date ancient monuments was revolutionary in its day.