title: Bobby Singer

text: Actor Jim Beaver described Bobby as a "rough but warmhearted" working-class man with the outlook that "sometimes there are things that need to be done and they're not fun to do, but they gotta be done anyway." When the "usually level-headed" hunter must use a wheelchair in the fifth season, he becomes "frustrated and angry"; instead of being able to join the battles, he is "stuck at home manning the telephones." This feeling of uselessness eventually leads to thoughts of suicide, though he deems himself too much of a coward to go through with it. On the situation, Beaver commented, "Bobby lives in a world where all kinds of strange things are possible. Somewhere along the line, he has a hope that one of these strange, miraculous things might happen to him. I think he is also a realist. He understands that even when you have friends that come back from the dead, not everything that you want to happen is going to happen."


title: Bobby Singer

text: Though Bobby is "fairly content, at least on the surface, to be alone in the world," he slowly comes to be a surrogate father for Sam and Dean. On this relationship, Beaver feels that "Bobby's concerned about them both, with Dean's sense of self, but there's a sort of undercurrent of worry about Sam. Sam seems to have more of the heart of darkness about him than Dean does... I just sense that there's this ongoing watchful eye that Bobby's got on Sam." Although he loves each of them "like a son," Bobby is willing to allow the brothers to put themselves in harm's way if it is absolutely necessary. For example, when Dean wants to detoxify Sam from his addiction to demon blood in "When the Levee Breaks," Bobby instead points out that Sam giving in to his demonic abilities could help him to prevent Lucifer's return, even though the amount of blood required to kill Lilith would "change [him] forever." Beaver noted, "Bobby is old enough that he's fairly clear-headed about what the priorities ought to be. Bobby's position is, more or less, 'if you have a family member with a drinking problem and you want to stage an intervention, you might not want to do it in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.'"


title: Bobby Singer

text: Beaver had previously worked with executive producer Robert Singer on the television series "Reasonable Doubts", and Singer gave him the part without viewing his audition tape. The character is named after Singer, though how this came to be is uncertain. Singer himself claimed Kripke secretly slipped the name into the script for "Devil's Trap"; contradicting this was Beaver, who claimed that the surname was not in the script but was rather jokingly added onto a salvage-yard sign—"Singer Auto Parts"—by the set designers. The actor thought his initial appearance would be a "one-shot deal," and was surprised when he was asked to return. Beaver feels that his longevity on the show is due to his chemistry with Ackles and Padalecki.


title: Bobby Singer

text: The first episode to delve into Bobby's backstory was the third season's "Dream a Little Dream of Me." Because the writers always knew his history would be "grounded in family," the episode's teaser initially depicted the supernatural deaths of his children. However, the writers could not determine where to go from there. Following writer Cathryn Humphris' earlier pitch of Bobby being an expert exorcist because of a previous failed exorcism, the focus changed to Bobby's torment about killing his demonically-possessed wife.


title: Bobby Singer

text: During production of the fourth season, Beaver joined the limited series "Harper's Island". Although he initially feared that it would prevent future appearances of Bobby, he was able to maintain his "Supernatural" "quota" with seven episodes. The character's role increased for the fifth season, which made sense for the actor due to the apocalyptic storyline. The season also introduced a new story arc for Bobby: his use of a wheelchair. Series creator Eric Kripke explained that it "[made] the Apocalypse matter"; the writers wanted "real stakes and real loss and real obstacles thrown in our heroes' way" to differentiate it from prior seasons. Though he found it to be a challenge, Beaver enjoyed the experience because he could perform tricks on set that his wheelchair-using college roommate had taught him. However, the actor did "[take it] very seriously," and commented, "I can get out of the chair at the end of the day and go home and I recognize that, so many people can't and I have to be considerate to them and respect that."


title: Bobby Singer

text: The character's portrayal has received wide acclaim from critics. John Kubicek of BuddyTV ranked Beaver fourteenth on his list of the best supporting actors in a drama series from the 2009-2010 TV season, believing that the actor "did his best acting work ever" as Bobby. Likewise, Karla Peterson of "The San Diego Union-Tribune" suggested, "May his trucker cap get its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame."


title: Bobby Singer

text: Tina Charles of TV Guide feels that Bobby "totally rocks," and "wouldn't mind him in every [episode]. OK, every other one." She pointed out Beaver's chemistry with Ackles, and wrote, "I have always loved any scene we get that involves [Bobby and Dean]—they're unexpectedly emotional. When Bobby finally realized he wasn't talking to a Dean shapeshifter or revenant [in 'Lazarus Rising'], that this was the real deal, it was just awesome." Charles was surprised by Bobby's paralysis storyline, but became "really interested" in finding out how it would affect him. However, she posited, "The guy's a spitfire...and it probably won't change him much." IGN's Diana Steenbergen also praised Beaver, calling Bobby "a valuable member of the team" that "broadens [the Winchesters'] tight-knit unit, reminding them that there is more to family than just blood ties". She found the actor to be "fantastic as the broken Bobby" in the fifth season, "despondent over his situation and feeling useless". Steenbergen noted, "Bobby has been through a lot this season, and Jim Beaver has done an outstanding job portraying his journey. Not solely a surrogate father figure and keeper of random supernatural knowledge, this season Bobby has run the gamut of sacrifice, loss, anger, and determination to keep fighting." After watching Bobby confess his suicidal thoughts to Dean in "The Curious Case of Dean Winchester", she felt that "Beaver conveys all of Bobby's vulnerability and also the shame that comes from being reprimanded by Dean for wanting to give up".


title: Bobby Singer

text: Despite universal praise of Bobby by critics, Beaver commented on his blog that a minority of fans dislike the character. Don Williams of BuddyTV, however, defended him—he believes Bobby to be the show's "most important recurring guest star"—and noted that "people will complain about anything". In his response to the criticism—an article entitled "Why We Love Bobby Singer"—Williams wrote, "I think it's a shame when people like Jim Beaver or Eric Kripke have to step forward to address this vocal minority, especially when the minority is just a handful of people gathering at a certain TV website that's known for being snarky and negative about everything. The complaints of these supposed fans aren't even worth addressing, in my opinion."


title: Bobby Singer

text: Beaver has portrayed a character also named Robert "Bob" Singer in the Amazon superhero web television series "The Boys", a deliberate reference to the "Supernatural" character. In "The Boys" Singer is portrayed as a U.S. senator.


title: Paul Breitner

text: Paul Breitner (born 5 September 1951) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and left-back. Considered one of the best players of his era, Breitner was named in the FIFA World Cup All-Time Team, and was named by Pelé one of the top 125 greatest living footballers at a FIFA Awards ceremony in 2004. He was known for his partnerships with Franz Beckenbauer and Berti Vogts in defence for the national team, and his midfield combination with Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for Bayern Munich.


title: Paul Breitner

text: Breitner was capped 48 times for West Germany and was an integral part of the team that won the 1974 FIFA World Cup, scoring in the final. He also scored in the final of the 1982 FIFA World Cup, making him one of only five players to have scored in two different World Cup final matches, the others being Pelé, Vavá, Zinedine Zidane and Kylian Mbappé.


title: Paul Breitner

text: Breitner has been working as a commentator, pundit and columnist in Germany since retiring and is also an advisor to the Bayern management board.


title: Paul Breitner

text: Breitner's football career lasted from 1970 until 1983, mainly playing for Bayern Munich (1970–74 and 1978–83) and Real Madrid (1974–77), with one season playing for Eintracht Braunschweig. His early success was as a free roaming left back, as likely to score from the right midfield as to stop an attacker in his own penalty area. Later in his career he moved to midfield and became one of the top midfielders through the early 1980s.


title: Paul Breitner

text: The early peak of Breitner's long and successful career was at age 21 in 1972 as part of the winning German European Championship team. Two years later he won the 1974 FIFA World Cup. The final was played in Munich against the Netherlands, and Breitner scored the first German goal on a penalty kick. In the final, he, Franz Beckenbauer and Berti Vogts formed a formidable unit at the back, their resolute defense preventing the Dutch from getting many scoring chances. He moved to Real Madrid following the World Cup and withdrew from the West German squad, remaining off the side until enticed to return by Jupp Derwall in 1981. Breitner is one of only four footballers to have achieved the feat of scoring in two different World Cup final matches, sharing that honour with Pelé, Vavá, and Zinedine Zidane. He achieved this in 1974 against the Netherlands and in 1982 against Italy.


title: Paul Breitner

text: During his club career, Breitner won seven National Championships with Bayern Munich (1972, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1981) and Real Madrid (1975, 1976), the Champions' Cup (1974) as well as the German (1971, 1982) and Spanish cups (1975). During his spell with Bayern Munich, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and he formed such a formidable one-two-punch that they were often called "Breitnigge".


title: Paul Breitner

text: Outside the pitch, Breitner self identified as part of the "68ers" (the 1968 protest movement in Germany and elsewhere). He was often decried by the more traditional or conservative football fans for his radicalism and "revolutionary" attitude, as well as his tendency for voicing strong opinions on major political and social issues, especially during a time when Germany was still divided by the Berlin Wall. He was seen bringing Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book" to training. However, after 1974, Breitner abruptly brushed aside his leftist leanings. While his Dutch World Cup rival Johan Cruyff had publicly declared to never play for a club associated with "fascist" General Franco, Breitner yearned to play for Real Madrid and signed the transfer documents in 1974. Subsequently, he gained notoriety for spending lavishly on houses and cars, as well as participating in lucrative commercials.


title: Paul Breitner

text: He boycotted the 1978 FIFA World Cup being hosted by the Argentine military, the only player to do so.


title: Paul Breitner

text: Before the 1982 World Cup in Spain he caused a major uproar in Germany when he accepted an offer by Pitralon, a German cosmetics company to pay him the – what many Germans regarded at that time as a "scandalously high" – sum of 150,000 Deutsche Mark if he shaved off his fluffy full beard, used their aftershave and advertised for the company. In the previous years his long hair had been perceived as a show of rebellion. Breitner had previously infuriated many fans with his move to Spanish club giants Real Madrid. He returned to Germany after the successful spell in Madrid and retired as a player in 1983.


title: Paul Breitner

text: In 1998, Breitner was announced as the new national team manager by DFB president Egidius Braun. However, after some steam from fellow association officials, Braun reconsidered 17 hours later, making Breitner the infamous "17 Stunden Bundestrainer" ("the 17-hour coach").


title: Paul Breitner

text: Today, Breitner mainly works as a TV pundit and newspaper columnist. In March 2007, he entered into a contract with Bayern Munich and acts as an advisor on various issues. He occasionally still plays for the "Bayern All-Stars" in charity games, captaining the team on several occasions.


title: Chris Broderick

text: Christopher Alan Broderick (born March 6, 1970) is an American musician, best known as a former guitarist of the heavy metal band Megadeth. He is also formerly the lead guitarist and keyboardist for Jag Panzer, appearing on four of Jag Panzer's albums "The Age of Mastery", "Thane to the Throne" (a concept album about Shakespeare's "Macbeth"), "Mechanized Warfare" and "Casting the Stones" before moving on to Megadeth, replacing Glen Drover. Before joining Megadeth and while still in Jag Panzer, he was also a touring guitarist for Nevermore between 2001 and 2003 and then again between 2006 and 2007. He is now the lead guitarist for Act of Defiance, which he formed with fellow ex-Megadeth bandmate Shawn Drover, and also joined In Flames in 2019, as touring guitarist, before becoming the permanent rhythm guitarist in 2022.


title: Chris Broderick

text: Broderick started playing guitar when he was 11 years old. His playing styles range from metal, classical, neoclassical, and jazz. Broderick has been said to have practiced 14 hours a day during his summers as a teen.


title: Chris Broderick

text: He practiced electric guitar, classical guitar, piano, and violin under a strict daily routine. He has said that at that time it seemed more like a "chore" than for entertainment. He was a standout player in the Denver music scene from 1988 on in bands Grey Haven, Industrial Eden (guitarist/lead vocalist) and Killing Time.


title: Chris Broderick

text: He also has a degree in classical guitar music performance at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music. He is also interested in flamenco guitar and rates Paco de Lucia as his favourite guitarist.


title: Chris Broderick

text: In 1997, guitarist Joey Tafolla left Jag Panzer for the second time, citing a lack of interest in playing heavy metal. For the band, this was a huge problem. Tafolla's guitar work was complex and technical, and as far as they knew few guitarists could comprehend it. This is when Broderick was brought into the fold of Jag Panzer and stayed with them for almost a decade. He played on four of the band's albums. 1998's "The Age of Mastery", 2000's "Thane to the Throne" (a concept album about William Shakespeare's play "Macbeth"), 2001's "Mechanized Warfare", 2003's compilation album "Decade of the Nail Spiked Bat" and 2004's "Casting the Stones".


title: Chris Broderick

text: During the time period of 2000–2003 and some of 2004, Broderick was taking part in the live shows of heavy metal band Nevermore. After the release of the album, "This Godless Endeavor", he began once again to tour with Nevermore until joining Megadeth in 2008.


title: Chris Broderick

text: In late 2007, rumors had been circulating that Megadeth guitarist Glen Drover had left the band. This was proved to be true after statements released from both Glen and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine. The night after the statements were released, Megadeth drummer Shawn Drover brought up Broderick as a possible replacement. Shawn then showed Mustaine a video of Broderick playing both classical and electric guitar. Mustaine was immediately won over and soon managed to get in contact with Broderick. Two weeks later, Broderick was officially declared the new guitarist for Megadeth. He made his live debut with the band on February 4, 2008, in Finland and toured with them on . He went on to record guitar parts for their twelfth album, "Endgame" (2009), through to their fourteenth album, "Super Collider" (2013).


title: Chris Broderick

text: Due to extensive touring with Megadeth, Broderick was no longer be able to collaborate with Jag Panzer and Nevermore. Mustaine said that when he partnered up with Broderick, he said that it reminded him of when "Ozzy Osbourne met Randy Rhoads". On March 8, 2009, Mustaine commented that he thought Broderick was the greatest guitarist Megadeth had ever had. In the then-current line up of the band, he was the youngest member in Megadeth. During his time with Megadeth, Broderick had to stop playing his trademark seven-string guitar and adopt a six-string guitar. Broderick said that "Dave [Mustaine] felt a seven-string guitar wasn't an original thrash metal instrument. Therefore he felt it would be better if I used six strings." He said in an interview with "Total Guitar" that he would stay with Megadeth as long as they were happy to have him.


title: Chris Broderick

text: On November 25, 2014, Broderick posted a message on his website saying he was parting ways with Megadeth: "Due to artistic and musical differences, it is with great reluctance that I announce my departure from Megadeth to pursue my own musical direction. I want all of you to know how much I appreciate the amount that you the fans have accepted and respected me as a member of Megadeth for the last seven years, but it is time for me to move on. I wish Dave and everyone in Megadeth all the best. I am working on a few things of my own and hope that when they come out, you will all dig it."


title: Chris Broderick

text: After leaving Megadeth, Broderick and former Megadeth drummer Shawn Drover formed Act of Defiance along with ex-Scar the Martyr frontman Henry Derek Bonner and former Shadows Fall guitarist Matt Bachand.


title: Chris Broderick

text: Broderick was endorsed by Ibanez guitars and DiMarzio Pickups (A Pair of D Activator 7's neck and bridge models) along with ENGL amplifiers and Ernie Ball Slinky strings. Before using Ibanez Guitars, he used Schecter Guitars with Seymour Duncan pickups. In the past he has also used Bare Knuckle Pickups, mainly the coldsweat models.


title: Chris Broderick

text: Despite an ENGL endorsement, he used Marshall Amps (the JVM 410 and EL34 100/100 power amp) during his time in Megadeth at Mustaine's demand. During his time in Megadeth he switched (along with Mustaine) to using a Fractal Axe-FX II rig modeler which he continues to use.


title: Chris Broderick

text: In January 2011, Broderick left Ibanez and is now endorsing Jackson Guitars. He is playing a custom shop archtop soloist produced to his personal demands, featuring 24 frets, 12" radius, custom DiMarzio pickups (tentatively called the Fundamental) and is available in a 6 or 7 string configuration. Broderick uses Dunlop Tortex T3 picks in 1.35mm. He uses a pick holder that keeps the pick in place on his thumb, which he has manufactured and sells on his website.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: The Pirate Fairy (originally titled as Tinker Bell and the River of Doom or alternatively Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy) is a 2014 American 3D computer-animated fantasy film directed by Peggy Holmes. It is the fifth direct-to-video feature-length animated film in the Disneytoon Studios' "Tinker Bell" film series and the "Disney Fairies" franchise, based on the character Tinker Bell from J. M. Barrie's "Peter and Wendy". The film features the voices of Mae Whitman, reprising her role of Tinker Bell, Christina Hendricks as a dust-keeper fairy named Zarina, and Tom Hiddleston as a much younger James Hook.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: Zarina, an inquisitive fairy, is amazed by the magic behind pixie dust and is determined to learn more. She secretly experiments with blue pixie dust, creating variants; however, experiments with the pink variant grow wildly out of control, causing an accident in Pixie Hollow. Her supervisor, Fairy Gary, prohibits her from working with pixie dust. In sorrow, Zarina takes her experiments and runs away.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: One year later, Pixie Hollow celebrates the Four Seasons Festival with performances from fairies of all the seasons. During the show, Tinker Bell, Silvermist, Iridessa, Rosetta, Fawn, and Vidia spot Zarina flying around the audience and using pink pixie dust to summon poppies that cause everyone to fall asleep. Tink and her friends, who take cover, realize Zarina stole all of the blue pixie dust, which is used to create the yellow dust that fairies use to fly.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: They follow Zarina to the coast, where she became the captain of a pirate crew, including a young James Hook, who is apparently the cabin boy. The fairies retrieve the blue dust for a moment, but Zarina retrieves it after throwing multi-colored pixie dust at them that switches their talents. Tinker Bell becomes a water fairy, Silvermist a fast-flying fairy, Fawn a light fairy, Iridessa a garden fairy, Rosetta an animal fairy, and Vidia a tinker fairy (much to her horror and disgust). They struggle with their swapped talents as they search for Zarina and the pirate ship, in the process meeting a baby crocodile that takes a liking to Rosetta's new animal talent.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: They find the ship and sneak in, where they overhear Hook talking about how the pirates met Zarina after drifting off course, and she became the captain with the promise of making the ship fly so that they could plunder anything without getting caught. The ship arrives at Skull Rock, where the fairies discover the pirates' camp and a mysterious Pixie Dust Tree, which Zarina has grown using the pink pixie dust.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: The fairies attempt to retrieve the blue pixie dust but are caught when Iridessa loses control over her nature talent and reveals their location. Tink tries to convince Zarina to return home to Pixie Hollow, but she refuses because she feels unappreciated. With the fairies now captured, the pirates make regular flying pixie dust. Hook, curious about flying, convinces Zarina to use some on him. After joyfully flying around the cave, Hook double-crosses Zarina and traps her in a lantern, revealing himself as the real captain.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: Tinker Bell and the others fail to escape their imprisonment until the baby crocodile arrives and frees them. The fairies almost retrieve the blue pixie dust, but Hook threatens to throw Zarina into the sea unless they hand it over. Tink gives it up, and Hook sprinkles it over the ship before throwing Zarina overboard.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: As the pirates sail towards the Second Star, the fairies return and use their switched talents to defeat the pirates and turn the ship. Zarina attempts to retrieve the blue pixie dust from Hook, who chases after her. Zarina gains a speck of blue pixie dust which she throws at Hook, who starts flying crazily as the two kinds of pixie dust react to each other. As the fairies fly away, Hook swears revenge on them and is attacked by the baby crocodile. Zarina returns the blue pixie dust to Tink and her friends, before preparing to leave. Tinker Bell offers her a chance to return to Pixie Hollow and she accepts, helping her friends sail the ship back. The other fairies wake up with no recollection of what happened.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: Zarina is about to promise not to tamper with pixie dust again, but Tink convinces her to show off her abilities, restoring Tink and her friends' original fairy talents and allowing them to put on a beautiful Festival performance. Everyone congratulates them, and Zarina's alchemy talent is finally accepted.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: The film was originally titled "Quest for the Queen". Peggy Holmes, co-director of "Secret of the Wings" signed on to direct the film. It introduced new characters, Zarina, voiced by Christina Hendricks, and James aka young Captain Hook, voiced by Tom Hiddleston. Carlos Ponce also lent his voice to one of the characters in the film.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: Disney announced in January 2014 that former "Project Runway" winner and fashion designer Christian Siriano would be in charge of creating the ensemble costumes for the fairies, specifically Zarina. Siriano stated that "I loved the challenge of this project. I haven't designed for an animated character before, and I'm excited to take my skills into Zarina's world. She's a unique and new character and I wanted to help make her memorable and iconic. Disney characters are everlasting and I'm so happy as a young designer to help create a bit of Disney history."


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: The film was released internationally in theaters with the title "Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy" on February 13, 2014, and later dates, with 2D and 3D screenings available. In the United States the screenings took place exclusively at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, from February 28 to March 19, 2014. It was originally scheduled for Fall 2013, before another DisneyToon Studios film, "Planes", took its place, delaying the film to Spring 2014.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: A trailer for the film was released on the "Secret of the Wings" Blu-ray and DVD on October 23, 2012.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: "The Pirate Fairy" is the first film of the Tinker Bell series not to allude to the Disney Fairies brand in promotional material and not to display the brand logo at the beginning of the film, showing instead the DisneyToon Studios logo.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on April 1, 2014, and in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2014.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: Bonus features of the DVD include a documentary and two animated shorts. The Blu-ray contains the bonus features of the DVD and additions such as deleted scenes, sing-along songs and a making-of clip of "The Frigate That Flies" song with actor Tom Hiddleston.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: During the pre-order period of the "combo pack" with the DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Copy versions of the film, a limited edition set of four lithographs featuring shots from the film would be included with the order.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: Several stores also released exclusive sets which bundled the combo pack with a certain item of the Disney Fairies merchandise, such as a bonus DVD with the animated short "Pixie Hollow Bake Off" and 10 other mini-shorts, the storybook and read-along CD of "The Pirate Fairy" film, a set of six wall decal sheets, and a glitter brush.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 81% based on 21 reviews, with an average score of 6.39/10.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: The film was scored by Joel McNeely, who has also scored the previous films in the "Tinker Bell" series.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: The soundtrack features an original song titled "Who I Am," performed by Natasha Bedingfield, as well as Bedingfield's previously released song, "Weightless," which was initially used on the film's scratch recording but was so well received, director Peggy Holmes decided to make it permanent.


title: The Pirate Fairy

text: Another original song, "The Frigate That Flies," with music by Gaby Alter and lyrics by Gaby Alter and Itamar Moses, is performed in the film by the pirate crew as a musical number.


title: King Louie

text: King Louie is a fictional character introduced in Walt Disney's 1967 animated musical film "The Jungle Book". He is an Orangutan who leads other jungle primates and wants to become more human-like by gaining knowledge of fire from Mowgli. Louie is an original character not featured in Rudyard Kipling's original works.


title: King Louie

text: The filmmakers originally considered Louis Armstrong for the role, but fearing the controversy that may result from casting a black person as an ape, they instead chose Italian-American and fellow New Orleans native, Louis Prima. Prima considered playing King Louie as one of the highlights of his career, and felt he had become "immortal" thanks to Walt Disney and the entire studio.


title: King Louie

text: Following a legal dispute with Prima's widow, Gia Maione, up until her death in 2013, King Louie was absent until his appearance in the 2016 live-action "Jungle Book" film, voiced by Christopher Walken.


title: King Louie

text: Although the Disney adaptation is based on the Kipling stories, the character King Louie does not appear in Rudyard Kipling's original book, as orangutans are not native to India in real life. Kipling also states in the original that the Bandar-log, or monkeys over which King Louie rules, have no effective leadership, let alone a king. In the book, Mowgli is abducted by a band of unidentified, leaderless Bandar-log monkeys, and while no orangutans ever appeared in Kipling's original "Jungle Book", he did mention an orangutan in an unrelated short story titled "". In the short story, he spoke about the importance the orangutans had in the village, and how they impacted everyone living in the community.


title: King Louie

text: Bill Peet's original story for the film did not feature King Louie but did feature a larger primate without a tail. Peet left The Walt Disney Company on January 29, 1964 due to a dispute regarding the contents of his script, so his ultimate vision for the king of the Bandar-log remains unknown. Development of the story continued following Peet's departure, with his darker story giving way to a new emphasis on lightheartedness and jazzy tunes.


title: King Louie

text: Popular jazz and swing performer Louis Prima was cast as King Louie, based on the suggestion of Walt Disney Records president, Jimmy Johnson, that Prima "would be great as a foil" for Phil Harris as Baloo. Prima received the audition in 1966, and the antics of him and his band during the audition performance inspired the animators. For example, the segment in which King Louie and the monkeys line up in a parade came from Prima and the band members acting similarly in their performance. Personality was also given to Louie by Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, and John Lounsbery, three of Disney's Nine Old Men who animated the character. Kahl animated Louie's interaction with Mowgli, Thomas did his solo song and dance portions, while Lounsbery animated his memorable scat duet with a disguised Baloo.


title: King Louie

text: A slightly different version of King Louie appears in Disney's 1994 live-action film, portrayed by a trained Bornean orangutan named Lowell. He is once again an orangutan "leader" of a group of monkeys that make their home in an abandoned human city. This version gets his name from King Louis XIV, whose crown he wears. Kaa, a giant snake, appears to serve him. King Louie can summon him with a clap of his hands, even using him to ward off and kill intruders for his own amusement. He initially acts as a rival to Mowgli, but later warms up to him after seeing him defeat Kaa. Louie later watches the battle between Mowgli and Captain William Boone (Cary Elwes), applauding Mowgli for defeating Boone, before sending Kaa to kill Boone.


title: King Louie

text: According to director Stephen Sommers, Lowell was the easiest and most comical animal to work with during filming. Lowell was the only animal actor to portray his character all throughout the film and his scenes were filmed on bluescreen stages in Los Angeles, due to the filming crew being unable to transport him to India.


title: King Louie

text: Christopher Walken voiced King Louie in Disney's 2016 live-action film. This version is portrayed as more sinister and antagonistic than his original incarnation and is a "Gigantopithecus", an extinct species of great ape, because orangutans themselves are not native to India. In an interview, Walken described King Louie as standing around 12 feet tall, and "as charming as he is, intimidating when he wants to be".


title: King Louie

text: In the film, Louie offers Mowgli protection from Shere Khan in exchange for the secret of making fire, which he and his fellow Bandar-log plan to use to take over the jungle. While accommodating and friendly at first, he quickly becomes more spiteful and impatient, refusing to believe Mowgli's protests that he does not know how to make fire. He is briefly distracted by the appearance of Baloo, allowing Mowgli to be rescued by Bagheera.


title: King Louie

text: However, they are spotted by one of Louie's pig-tailed macaque servants, and Louie orders the trio to be captured. Louie goes after Mowgli himself, trying to coerce him into staying by informing him of Akela's death. Mowgli refuses to believe this, and an infuriated Louie chases him through the temple, inadvertently destroying the pillars supporting his temple, and causing it to collapse over him. His Bandar-log start digging through the rubble to find him.


title: King Louie

text: During the credits, Louie is shown emerging from the rubble, and performs "I Wan'na Be like You" with slightly modified lyrics.


title: King Louie

text: In the Disney animated television series "TaleSpin", Louie (voiced by Jim Cummings) is a fun-loving orangutan who wears a Hawaiian shirt, a straw hat, and a lei. He owns an island nightclub restaurant and hotel called "Louie's Place", located near but outside the protection of the city of Cape Suzette. It also serves as a refueling station/pit stop area for pilots. Louie is Baloo's best friend (unlike in "The Jungle Book", but like in the later "Jungle Cubs"), but can be competitive with him when it comes to women, treasure-hunting, along with business and monetary matters. His hold on the island is somewhat tenuous, even though through his own ingenuity and with the aid of his friends, he has managed to avoid losing it (in the episode "Louie's Last Stand").


title: King Louie

text: In the Disney animated television series "Jungle Cubs", Louie (voiced by Jason Marsden in Season 1, and Cree Summer in Season 2) is a juvenile orangutan and Baloo's best friend. He is very physically active, spending a great deal of his time in trees and eating bananas. Prince Louie (as he is referred to in the show) wants to become king of the jungle one day, and when any man-made objects turn up he immediately shows great interest. Jim Cummings voices the character as an adult on three animated segments featured on the VHS releases of the series.


title: King Louie

text: Although King Louie is absent in the second film "The Jungle Book 2", a shadow puppet of him can be seen at the very beginning of the movie, and Baloo implies that he left the jungle.


title: King Louie

text: King Louie appears in the "Fables" comic series published by Vertigo Comics. He is one of the revolutionaries who wish to overthrow the Fabletown government out of resentment at the apparent second-class status of Fables. Due to his peripheral involvement, he is given a sentence of hard labor—twenty years, reduced to five years conditional on good behavior.


title: King Louie

text: In "Fables", Louie is wrongly described as a "Kipling" character; on his official forums, "Fables" author Bill Willingham cited Louie's appearance in "Fables" as "a very good example on why it's best to go back to the source material before one embarks on a major story, rather than rely on often faulty memory of which characters were original canon and which weren't."


title: King Louie

text: The characterization of King Louie has frequently been cited as an example of racial stereotyping in Disney films. However, in his 2004 book "The Gospel According to Disney", Mark Pinsky asserts that a child in the current environment (as opposed to in the late 1960s) would not discern any racial dimension to the portrayal. Pinsky also relates "Orlando Sentinel"'s film critic Jay Bogar's assertion that "the primates could be perceived as representing African Americans in a time of turmoil, but [that Bogar] saw no racism in the portrayal."


title: Gautam Singhania

text: Gautam Vijaypat Singhania (born 9 September 1965) is an Indian industrialist. He is the chairman and managing director of the Raymond Group, the world's largest producer of suiting fabric.


title: Gautam Singhania

text: Gautam Singhania was born in an Sindhi industrialist family, to Vijaypat Singhania and Ashabai Singhania.


title: Gautam Singhania

text: He is an alumnus of St. Mary's School, Mumbai and Cathedral and John Connon School. He is also an alumnus of H.R. College in Churchgate, Mumbai


title: Gautam Singhania

text: Gautam Singhania joined the Singhania family's JK Group of companies in 1986. He later joined the family's Raymond Group, becoming a director in 1990, the managing director in July 1999, and the chairman in September 2000. He restructured the group and sold Raymond's non-core businesses (synthetics, steel and cement). Under him, the group moved its focus to fabrics, apparel brands, prophylactics (KamaSutra condoms), and men's toiletries. He has also focused on international partnerships for Raymond, including joint ventures with UCO Textiles of Belgium (denim) and Gruppo Zambaiti of Italy (shirting). In 2005, Singhania opened a nightclub named "Poison" in Bandra, with DJ Aqeel.


title: Gautam Singhania

text: As of 2012 Singhania's net worth is estimated to be around $1.4 Billion. Singhania is currently constructing a skyscraper ten stories taller than the Antilia constructed by Mukesh Ambani. The 30 story mansion, called JK House, will be a combination of a private residence and textile showroom.


title: Gautam Singhania

text: Gautam Singhania is married to Nawaz Modi Singhania, a Parsi. The couple has a daughter named Niharika (born 10th December 2005)


title: Gautam Singhania

text: He has suffered from vitiligo (loss of skin pigmentation) since a young age. Its progression accelerated when he was in his early 30s, as a side effect of medication.


title: Gautam Singhania

text: Gautam Singhania's father gave him 27% of the company as per family understanding. After taking over the company a few years later he turned it around and turned it into a huge success.


title: Gautam Singhania

text: Gautam Singhania is passionate about fast cars, boats, planes and nightclubs. He has driven a Formula 1 car in France, a Ferrari 360 Modena in a road and track rally across Europe, and a Lamborghini Gallardo for Cannonball Run. He has also formed the first-ever Super Car Club in India. He owns a Tesla Model X that had been imported from the USA, at a time when Tesla cars were not available in India. He owns the only Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera in India, and a pre-2008 Gallardo which has been modified to have over 1,600 horsepower. He also owns a Ferrari 458 Challenge racing car. He also owns a lot of drift cars, including an S15 Silvia, a 240SX, an E46 M3, a WRX STI, and a Lancer Evo VI. He also does drag racing in a heavily modified R33 Skyline GT-R with over 1,000 horsepower. He is very passionate about cars and has won many races in his sports cars. Singhania owns "M Y Ashena", a tri-deck luxury yacht constructed entirely out of Burma Teak wood. The yacht was designed by traditional boat builders from a village in Gujarat. The Ashena was later used by Liz Hurley for her wedding. He also owns the luxury yacht "Moonraker", which later sunk due to leaks caused by external damage However nobody aboard was harmed., launched 2014, his second of that name after the Moonraker launched 1992, as well as a traditional three-masted Arabian sailing dhow "Shazma", four speedboats named after the James Bond movies "Octopussy", "Goldfinger", "Thunderball", "Golden Eye", and some other speedboats called "Smokin Joe" and "Raymond". Singhania also owns a Bombardier Challenger 604 business jet (VT-NGS) and three helicopters.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: The Fiat Tipo (codeproject "Type 356", also known as the Fiat Egea (stylized as ÆGEA) in Turkey and Dodge Neon in Mexico and the Middle East) is a compact car. A three-box sedan version was unveiled at the 2015 Istanbul Motor Show in May 2015, and commenced sales in Turkey in October 2015.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: In 2016, it was followed by a hatchback and a station wagon version, for the European market. The Tipo is assembled at the Tofaş plant in Bursa, Turkey, by the Italian automaker Fiat and is built on the Fiat Small Wide LWB platform.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: It replaced the Bravo and Linea in the C-segment range. The Tipo was designed by Centro Stile Fiat in Mirafiori, Turin, and co-developed by Tofaş, a joint venture between the Fiat Group and Koç Holding. In December 2015, the car won the 2016 "Best Buy Car of Europe" Award, from the "Autobest" jury made up of Europe's twenty-six leading journalists, from twenty-six different European countries.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: At the end of October 2020 (28th), a total of 670,000 units of Fiat Tipo had been produced and distributed in over 40 Countries around the world.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: In 2021, Fiat introduced a facelift to the Tipo with a new motor, new levels of security, technology and a new "Cross" version. The new change of this facelift introduced the new gasoline engines of the Global Small Engine (FireFly) family produced by FCA Poland Powertrain in Bielsko-Biała in only one version: 1.0 L Turbo 3-cylinder 120 hp with direct injection, Multiair system and GPF filter, the 1.0 L is available with a 5-speed manual transmission and front-wheel drive, this new motor is for the models Jeep Renegade, Fiat 500 and Fiat Tipo (2015).


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: In March 2022, the new 1.5-liter GSE (Global Small Engine) T4, four-cylinder, 130 HP and 240 Nm of torque, also from the FireFly family, is introduced in Italy, Europe, Turkey and in the United Arab Emirates (like the previous 1.0 T3), Turbo petrol but with hybrid technology, combined with a 48V electric motor that integrates a small additional 15 kW unit, the latter installed in the new seven-speed dual-clutch DCT automatic transmission, capable of allowing a more silent start (100% electric) and to use the car in fully electric mode (e-launch), in parking maneuvers or in small forward movements at walking pace (e-queuing), such as when in queue in city traffic. This advanced hybrid technology represents a significant leap forward for Fiat, improving the efficiency and dynamics of the vehicle and allowing it to travel even with the thermal engine switched off.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: For this reason, the new 130 bhp 1.5-liter GSE T4 e-motor has been defined by experts in the field of automotive (not a mild-hybrid, introduced on the Fiat Panda and Fiat 500 only, but) a mini Full-hybrid or Middle-hybrid, (i.e. a via between a full-hybrid and a mild-hybrid), according to the hybrid cars of other brands such as Toyota, which was the first to introduce this technology in the automotive market.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: This new advanced hybrid engine, developed by the engineers of the FCA Group (also introduced on the new Alfa Romeo Tonale, on the Fiat 500X hybrid, as well as on the Jeep Renegade and Compass models), also allows an 11% reduction in compared to the previous version, with declared consumption, for the new Fiat Tipo hybrid, of just 4.7 l/ 100 km.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: The development of the Tipo family began in 2014 when Fiat announced the "Ægea project" (Type 356) developed in a joint venture between Fiat (FCA Italy) and Tofaş. Specifically, the Italian manufacturer was building a family of C-segment cars to be marketed in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to replace both the old Fiat Bravo hatchback and the Linea sedan. The production site chosen was the Turkish Bursa plant (owned by Fiat and Tofaş), which already produced the previous Linea. Alfredo Altavilla, at the time director of the EMEA area of the FCA Italy group, and Olivier François, director of Fiat brand, declared that the "Ægea" family had been built according to the Fiat ""Rational"" range (including Panda, Punto, Fiorino and Doblò) vehicles characterized by functional solution, low running costs, spacious interior and low price list.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: The first version to be presented was the three-volume saloon at the Istanbul Motor Show in May 2015; called Fiat Egea, the car went into production in November of the same year, replacing the Linea in the Fiat range of products in Turkey. The name Egea is used only on the Turkish market because the term is very well known among the Turkish population as it identifies both the Aegean Sea that bathes the coasts of Turkey and the ancient medieval town of Yumurtalık. Production started in October of the same year for the Turkish market. Later the hatchback 5 door and station wagon versions were announced for spring 2016 with a different name on the European markets. In October 2015 Alfredo Altavilla announced that the official name of the cars for the European market would be Fiat Tipo, taking the historical name of the Fiat model of the 80s known for its spacious interior and low running costs. Fiat and Tofaş have invested a total of 1.5 billion dollars for the development and production of the Tipo.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: In November 2015 sales of the Fiat Tipo sedan started in Italy, Spain and France. The 5-door hatchback and station wagon versions were presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2016. In 2016 the Tipo is officially on sale in all three of its variants throughout Europe, to the exception of the United Kingdom where the sedan is not imported due to the low demand for this type of vehicle.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: At the debut the engine range consisted of the 1.4 "Fire" 16V petrol delivering 95 hp, the 1.6 "E.torQ" 16V with 110 hp, the 1.3 "Multijet II" 16V diesel with 95 hp and 1.6 "Multijet" II diesel with 120 hp.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: In 2017 the Tipo range is enlarged with the entry of the Van station wagon variant available in the countries of southern Europe with a two-seat cabin. Also in 2017, dual-fuel variants (called "EasyPower") are introduced powered by petrol and LPG.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: In addition to the European market, the Tipo is also sold in 2016 in Africa in hatchback and sedan version. Originally the Tipo had been developed to be sold in 40 world markets. In 2016 FCA decided to also sell it in Mexico, albeit under the Dodge Neon name, as the Dodge brand has a much larger sales network in Mexico than Fiat does. Moreover, the name Neon takes the name of the homonymous Dodge model produced by the Chrysler Group in the nineties and two-thousands, a model that was very successful in Mexico. The Mexican market only receives the three-volume saloon variant. From 2017 the Tipo is sold as a Dodge Neon in the Middle East as well. In South America, the Tipo sedan is sold under the Fiat brand only in Argentina and Chile, as the South American branch of the Italian brand already offers the slightly more compact Fiat Cronos, a compact sedan produced in Córdoba, Argentina. As of November 2020, the Tipo is no longer available in Argentina.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: The Fiat Tipo design was created by the Centro Stile Fiat located in the "Officina 83" of the Fiat Mirafiori Plant. The style team was led by Alberto Dilillo and Roberto Giolito. Compared to the previous Linea and Bravo, the Tipo is designed first in the three-volume sedan form independent from the remaining two versions so as to create a more harmonious and elegant body. Alberto Dilillo declares that the inspiration of the designers for the front comes directly from the Maserati models with the headlights connected to the grille and the air intakes with three-dimensional chrome elements. The front has a lower shape and developed horizontally, while the previous Linea and Bravo had a much more inclined snout and connected with the windshield. In the rear, the trunk lid has a shape that simulates a spoiler.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: The hatchback and station wagon versions have the same front, the hatchback also inherits the same side of the four-door sedan including the doors, the station wagon instead has specific rear doors.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: The Fiat Tipo sedan is 4532 mm long, 1497 mm tall and 1792 mm wide with a wheelbase of 2638 mm and a five-seat passenger compartment with a 520-litre trunk. The hatchback has the same wheelbase but the bodywork is 4368 mm long, 1495 mm tall and 1792 mm wide. The trunk has a capacity of 440 litres. The station wagon (estate) is 4571 mm long, 1792 mm wide and 1514 mm tall and has the same wheelbase as the sedan and hatchback versions. The minimum luggage capacity is 550 litres.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: The interior of the Tipo has two different dashboards depending on the trim level. The base models have the upper part that integrates the radio or the Uconnect 5-inch infotainment system connected to the instrumentation, while the top models have the upper part with the tablet-style 7-inch Uconnect HD infotainment system. The lower part of the dashboard is identical for all versions and is inherited from the Fiat Punto (199).


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: The right-hand drive models have a single dashboard for all trim levels, the same as the LHD models in the basic version with the upper dashboard connected to the instrumentation and which integrates the various 5-inch and 7-inch Uconnect infotainment systems.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: The base chassis is the front-wheel drive Small Wide modular platform with a long wheelbase, an enlarged and extended version of the Small platform. The front suspension use a McPherson structure with telescopic shock absorbers and rear suspension use a torsion beam and telescopic shock absorbers. The same Small Wide platform is used by many Fiat Chrysler Automobiles group cars such as the Fiat 500L, Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade, Fiat Toro etc. Production takes place at the Bursa plant in Turkey, which already produced the Fiat Linea, also based on the previous Small platform.


title: Fiat Tipo (2015)

text: The test for Euro NCAP was changed for 2016, so that every car would be tested with standard equipment and additionally with "safety pack" if safety equipment is considered as optional extra. The Tipo had only three stars in the Euro NCAP test with standard equipment, and four stars with speed limiter and brake assistance.


title: Dharmasthala

text: Dharmasthala (earlier known as Kuduma) is an Indian temple town on the banks of the Nethravathi River in the Belthangady taluk of the Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, India.


title: Dharmasthala

text: The town is known for its centuries old Dharmasthala Temple devoted to the Hindu god Manjunatha. There are other temples and shrines that are dedicated to Ammanavaru, Chandranath and the Dharma Daivas (guardian spirits of Dharma) — Kalarahu, Kalarkayi, Kumaraswamy and Kanyakumari. The temple is unusual in that it is a Hindu temple run by a Jain administration and poojas are conducted by Hindu priests who subscribe to the Vaishnava ideologies. Most Shiva temple are run by Shaivas as opposed to the Madhava Bhramins who are devotees of Vishnu and his avatars. On average the temple attracts around 10,000 pilgrims a day.


title: Dharmasthala

text: Local legend says that the Shiva Linga was brought to Dharmasthala by Annappa who is believed to have worked for the Dharmasthala Heggade family. Annappa is thought to have installed the Shiva Linga after his master expressed his interest in offering his services to lord shiva. The Shiva Linga which was installed over night by Annappa not far from the Heggade household was alleged to be moved from the Kadri Temple, after which Annappa is said to have disappeared.


title: Dharmasthala

text: 800 years ago, Dharmasthala was known as Kuduma (ಕುಡುಮ) in Mallarmadi, then a village in Belthangady (ಬೆಳ್ತಂಗಡಿ). Here lived the Jain chieftain Birmanna Pergade and his wife Ammu Ballathi in a house called Nelliadi Beedu. Pergade and the local chieftains built several shrines and invited Brahmin priests to perform the rituals. These priests requested Pergade to install a Shivalinga beside the native Daivas. The Daivas then sent their vassal Annappa Swamy to procure the linga of Lord Manjunatheshwara (ಶ್ರೀ ಮಂಜುನಾಥೇಶ್ವರ ಸ್ವಾಮಿ) from Kadri, near Mangalore. Subsequently, the Manjunatha temple was built around the linga.


title: Dharmasthala

text: Around the 16th century, Shri Devaraja Heggade invited Shri Vadiraja Swami of Udupi to visit the place. The swamiji gladly came but refused to accept Bhiksha (food offering) because the idol of Lord Manjunatha had not been consecrated according to the vedic rites. Shri Heggade then requested the Swamiji to reconsecrate the Shiva Linga himself. Pleased by the observance of the vedic rites and Heggade's charity to all, the Swamiji named the place Dharmasthala the abode of religion and charity. Thus, the roots of charity and religious tolerance established by the Pergades 800 years ago have been nurtured and strengthened by 21 generations of the Heggade family of Tulu lineage (Heggade being a derivative from Tulu word Pergade). Today's Dharmasthala blossoms with the fruit of this selfless dedication.


title: Dharmasthala

text: Sri Manjunatheshwara Cultural and Research foundation, started by the Temple committee, is engaged in preserving ancient manuscripts and paintings. A museum of antique objects has been established called "Manjusha Museum" and a car museum houses a rare collection of vintage cars.


title: Dharmasthala

text: Traditional folk arts like Yakshagana and ethnic crafts like Navalgund carpets and Kasturi embroidery are revived by Dr. Heggade. Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Dharmothana Trust is engaged in renovation of temples across Karnataka and every year, a Sarva Dharma Sammelana (multi-religious meet) is held at Dharmasthala, where spiritual leaders from various faiths and schools participate.


title: Dharmasthala

text: In 1973, a statue of Lord Bahubali, carved out of a single rock, was installed at Dharmasthala on a low hill near the Manjunatha Temple. It is about 39 feet (12 m) high, has a 13 feet high pedestal and weighs about 175 tonnes. This is one of the five stone statues of Bahubali in Karnataka.


title: Dharmasthala

text: One project is called Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project, which organizes activities for rural development. Its employees go to villages to make small groups called Shree Shakti Sangha and provide bank loans to group members for business. They ensure supply of drinking water to villages in summer.


title: Dharmasthala

text: To fight the dowry system and to cut unnecessary expenses involved in the celebration of marriages, Dr. Veerendra Heggade (ಡಾ|| ವೀರೇಂದ್ರ ಹೆಗ್ಗಡೆ) started free mass marriages in 1972. Annual mass marriages are held usually during April every year. As of 2013, 10,698 couples have been married in mass marriages arranged by the Dharmasthala Temple Committee. The expenses of the wedding dress, the mangalasutra and a wedding feast for a limited number of the couple's guests are borne by the Shri Kshetra.


title: Dharmasthala

text: The average number of pilgrims per day to the temple is about 10,000. Every one of the pilgrims who visits Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala is treated like an honored guest, irrespective of caste, creed, culture or status. The "Anna Dana" (Food Donation) is one of the impressive aspects of this place. Free food is provided to the devotees. The temple has modern machinery. It makes quality food continuously, throughout the day. The dining hall is known as "Annapurna".


title: Dharmasthala

text: Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala, by the SDMCET Society, manages 25 educational institutions, ranging from primary schools, Gurukulas to teach yoga, Sanskrit, etc., to colleges having professional courses in engineering, medicine and dental science in Dharmasthala, Ujire, Mangalore, Udupi, Dharwad, Hassan, Mysore and a few other places in the state of Karnataka.


title: Dharmasthala

text: The Siddavana Gurukula started by Late Shri Manjayya Heggade has become a model educational institution. Over 250 students are provided free lodging and board and learn Yoga & Sanskrit, in addition to the basic school curriculum. The speciality of this institution is its endeavor to teach values based on Indian culture.


title: Dharmasthala

text: In the field of health care, the medical trust provides services to eradicate and prevent many diseases. The mobile hospital is equipped to deal with emergencies and to provide medical treatment to the people in remote parts of the Malenadu area. A modern tuberculosis sanitorium was built by Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Medical Trust to give relief to patients of tuberculosis. It has since been converted into a general hospital. The Ayurvedic Hospitals at Udupi and Hassan provide Ayurvedic medicines as per the ancient texts. The Nature Cure Hospital, built on the banks of the Netravati River, uses a system based on the five elements of Air, Earth, Ether, Water and Light.


title: Dharmasthala

text: SDM Eye Hospital at Mangalore is a modern, scientific eye treatment center. The SDM Dental Hospital both serves regular dental needs and also provides specialized treatments such as oral implants, surgery for cleft lip and other orthodontic surgeries.


title: Dharmasthala

text: Shri Heggede has been actively involved in propagating the practice of Yoga, the ancient system of fitness. Surya Namaskar Camps are regularly organized, where Yoga is taught. Further, 250 high school teachers are trained in Yoga every year.


title: Dharmasthala

text: The present head of Dharmasthala, Padma Vibhushan Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade, the 21st in succession to the Dharmadhikari Peetha, has launched several socio-economic programmes such as free mass weddings which were started in 1973.


title: Dharmasthala

text: Dharmasthala is among the few pilgrim centers in India that provides boarding and lodging to all the visiting devotees at a cheap cost.


title: Dharmasthala

text: Dharmasthala is well connected by road. State-owned KSRTC & also private companies provide bus service from several centers of Karnataka.


title: Dharmasthala

text: Mangalore Railway Station is the nearest railway junction to Dharmasthala, situated at a distance of about 74 km. The railway station is well connected to all the major cities and towns in India. Travellers can hire taxis/cabs or take buses to reach Dharmasthala from Mangalore.


title: Dharmasthala

text: Mangalore Airport serves as the nearest domestic and international airport for tourists heading to Dharmasthala. Earlier known as the Bajpe Airport, it is situated at a distance of about 65 km from Dharmasthala. The flights connect to major Middle East destinations like Dubai, Abu Dhabi etc. Besides, it is also ideal for travellers coming from Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Kochi, Calicut and other major Indian destinations.


title: Dharmasthala

text: Bahubali Statue is near the temple on a small hill. It is revered by Jains as a symbol of sacrifice. Kukke Subramanya Temple dedicated to Lord Subramanya is just 62 km from Dharmasthala. Kalasa, Sringeri and Horanadu are less than 100 km from Dharmasthala.


title: Southern Professional Hockey League

text: The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the southeastern United States as well as Illinois and Indiana in the midwestern United States.


title: Southern Professional Hockey League

text: Following the 2021-22 season, the Peoria Rivermen are the reigning President's Cup champions. As of 2022, the Knoxville Ice Bears are the most successful team in SPHL history, having won five William B. Coffey Trophies as the regular season champions and four President's Cup playoff championships. The Peoria Rivermen have also won four William B. Coffey Trophies, while Pensacola has also won four President's Cups.


title: Southern Professional Hockey League

text: The SPHL's history traces back to three other short-lived leagues. The Atlantic Coast Hockey League started play in the 2002–03 season. After its only season, the ACHL dissolved with member teams forming the nucleus for two rival leagues, the South East Hockey League and the World Hockey Association 2. After one season the SEHL and WHA2 disbanded, with their surviving teams rejoining with two expansion teams to form the SPHL, commencing with the 2004–05 season.


title: Southern Professional Hockey League

text: In 2009, the SPHL saw a large expansion with three new franchises, in Biloxi, Mississippi, Lafayette, Louisiana and Pensacola, Florida. In 2010, the league added an expansion team in Augusta, Georgia, another former long time ECHL market. For the 2011–12 season, the league added two-time Central Hockey League champions, the Mississippi RiverKings. For the 2013–14 season, the league lost the Augusta RiverHawks but also expanded northward with two franchises in Illinois: the Bloomington Thunder, a team also moving from the CHL, where they were known as the Bloomington Blaze, and the Peoria Rivermen, who were replacing an American Hockey League team of the same name in their market. In 2015, the Augusta franchise returned and relocated to Macon, Georgia as the Macon Mayhem.


title: Southern Professional Hockey League

text: In November 2014, Shannon Szabados became the first female goaltender to win an SPHL game, when the Columbus Cottonmouths defeated the Fayetteville FireAntz 5–4 in overtime. In that same game Erin Blair and Katie Guay became the first female officials to referee an SPHL game.


title: Southern Professional Hockey League

text: At the end of the 2015–16 season, the Louisiana IceGators announced a one-year leave of absence for renovations to their arena but never returned. The IceGators' franchise was sold and reactivated as the Quad City Storm in 2018. Then in 2016, the dormant Mississippi Surge franchise was relocated to Southwest Virginia to become the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs. One of the inaugural SPHL teams, the Columbus Cottonmouths, suspended operations in 2017 after failing to find a buyer while an expansion team called the Birmingham Bulls were accepted into the league as the tenth team. Following the 2017–18 season, the Mississippi RiverKings suspended operations while the league searched for new owners. With the acceptance of the Quad City Storm, the league was able to remain at ten teams for the 2018–19 season.


title: Southern Professional Hockey League

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019–20 season was curtailed and no champion was named. The following season, the league announced it would only play with five of the ten member teams due to pandemic-related capacity restrictions barring fans from attending games. During the season, the league approved of the Vermilion County Bobcats as a 2021–22 expansion team based in Danville, Illinois.


title: Southern Professional Hockey League

text: As per minor leagues, there are some rule differences between the SPHL and the NHL (and even the ECHL and the AHL, the two official developmental leagues regulated by the Professional Hockey Players' Association).


title: Southern Professional Hockey League

text: Originally known as the Commissioner's Cup, the regular season championship trophy was renamed in honor of league co-founder Bill Coffey during the 2007–08 season.


title: Maharaja of Mysore

text: The maharaja of Mysore was the principal ruler of the southern Indian Kingdom of Mysore and briefly of Mysore State in the Indian Dominion roughly between the mid- to late-1300s and 1950.


title: Maharaja of Mysore

text: In title, the role has been known by different names over time, from "poleygar" (Kannada, "pāLegāra", for 'chieftain') during the early days of the fiefdom to "raja" (Sanskrit and Kannada, king–of especially a small region) during its early days as a kingdom to "maharaja" (Sanskrit and Kannada, [great] king–of a formidable kingdom) for the rest of its period. In terms of succession, the successor was either a hereditary inheritor or, in case of no issue, handpicked by the reigning monarch or his privy council. All rulers under the Sanskrit-Kannada titles of "raja" or "maharaja" were exclusively from the house of Wadiyar.


title: Maharaja of Mysore

text: As India gained Independence from British Crown in 1947, Crown allies, most of which were princely India, ceded into the Dominion of India by 1950. With that, the title and the role of "maharaja" was replaced with that of "rajpramukh" and soon governor.


title: Maharaja of Mysore

text: While becoming more occupied with major fights in the late 1300s, the Vijayanagara emperor Harihara II started delegating protection of regions on the flanks of the empire to their respective local chieftains. Protection of the regions in and around present-day Mysore city fell on Yaduraya's shoulders, the Vijayanagara soldier stationed as a chieftain in the region at that time.


title: Maharaja of Mysore

text: Raja Chamaraja Wodeyar III, who ruled from 1513 to 1553 over a few villages not far from the Kaveri river, is said to have constructed a small fort and named it "Mahisuranagara" (Kannada for buffalo town), from which Mysore gets its name. However, earlier references to the region as "mahishaka" dating back to mythology and the Vedic period exist.


title: Maharaja of Mysore

text: With the fall and decline of the Vijayanagara Empire, Raja Chamaraja Wodeyar III's son and successor Maharaja Timmaraja Wodeyar II declared independence and assumed the title "maharaja" of Mysore. During the reigns of kings Kanthirava Narasaraja I and Devaraja Wodeyar I, the kingdom saw great territorial expansion. In the latter half of the 18th century, during the sultanate of the Hyder Ali-Tipu father-son duo dictating the kingdom in succession, the maharajas went largely unrecognised or merely remained nominal rulers. After the fall of Tipu, British Crown restored the kingdom to the Wadiyars as maharajas.


title: Maharaja of Mysore

text: After India's constitution into a republic in 1950, the last ruling Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar ceded the kingdom into the republic. However, like most kings in India at that time, the maharaja and his successors were allowed an annual payment (the privy purse), certain privileges, and the use of the title "Maharaja of Mysore." Nevertheless, with the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India, titles and privy purse all ended. With this, the role was replaced with "Rajpramukh" of Mysore, later renamed Governor of Mysore (now Governor of Karnataka). The role was thus incorporated into the democratic system, the governor being recommended by the Government of India and appointed by the President.


title: Maharaja of Mysore

text: The first raja (and poleygar) of Mysore was Yaduraya. The last ruling king was Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar. The current head of the Wadiyar family is Yaduveera Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar.


title: Maharaja of Mysore

text: The reputation of the maharajas of Mysore has varied historically, ending, however with great reputation. Whereas for example Maharaja Kanthirava Narasaraja I was famous as a reckoning force, his nephew's great-great-grandson Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar I was seen as weak and capricious. After the fall of Tipu, all maharajas have earned great adulation. Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar III both actively and monetarily contributed to arts and culture; while Maharaja Chamaraja Wadiyar X spawned democratic practices, Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV is praised for modernising Mysore Kingdom's economy and industries.


title: Battle for Caen

text: The Battle for Caen (June to August 1944) is the name given to fighting between the British Second Army and the German in the Second World War for control of the city of Caen and its vicinity during the larger Battle of Normandy. The battles followed Operation Neptune, the Allied landings on the French coast on 6 June 1944 (D-Day).


title: Battle for Caen

text: Caen is about inland from the Calvados coast astride the Orne River and Caen Canal, at the junction of several roads and railways. The communication links made it an important operational objective for both sides. Caen and the area to its south are flatter and more open than the bocage country in western Normandy. Allied air force commanders wanted the area captured quickly to base more aircraft in France.


title: Battle for Caen

text: The British 3rd Infantry Division was to seize Caen on D-Day or to dig in short of the city if the Germans prevented its capture, which would temporarily mask Caen to maintain the Allied threat against it and thwart a potential German counter-attack from the city.


title: Battle for Caen

text: Caen, Bayeux and Carentan were not captured by the Allies on D-Day, and for the first week of the invasion, the Allies concentrated on linking the beachheads. British and Canadian forces resumed their attacks in the vicinity of Caen and the suburbs and city centre north of the Orne were captured during Operation Charnwood (8–9 July). The Caen suburbs south of the river were captured by the II Canadian Corps during Operation Atlantic (18–20 July). The Germans had committed most of their panzer divisions in a determined defence of Caen, which made the fighting mutually costly and greatly deprived the Germans of the means to reinforce the west end of the invasion front.


title: Battle for Caen

text: In western Normandy the US First Army cut off the Cotentin Peninsula and captured Cherbourg. It then attacked southwards towards Saint-Lô, about west of Caen and captured the town on 19 July. On 25 July, after weather had caused a delay, the First Army began Operation Cobra on the Saint-Lô–Périers road, which was co-ordinated with the Canadian Operation Spring at Verrières (Bourguébus) ridge, south of Caen. Cobra was a great success and began the collapse of the German position in Normandy. The Allied breakout led to the Battle of the Falaise Pocket (12–21 August), which trapped most of the remnants of the 7th Army and 5th Panzer Army (formerly ) and opened the way to the Seine and Paris.


title: Battle for Caen

text: Caen was destroyed by Allied bombing and the damage from ground combat, which caused many French civilian casualties. After the battle, little of the prewar city remained, and reconstruction of the city took until 1962.


title: Battle for Caen

text: Britain had declared war in 1939 to maintain the balance of power in Europe; merely being on the winning side would not be enough to secure British war aims, with the rise of the USSR and the US as superpowers. British post-war influence would be limited but by playing a full part in the overthrow of Germany and the Nazi regime, the 21st Army Group would remain a factor in the post-war settlement, provided that it had not been destroyed in the process; it would also be available for Operation Downfall, the expected campaign against Japan. The British economy had been fully mobilised for war since 1942, when a severe manpower shortage had begun in the army. By avoiding casualties, the effectiveness of the army would be protected, morale among the survivors would be maintained and the army would still be of considerable size once Germany was defeated. At the reopening of the Western Front in 1944, the 21st Army Group would be constrained by a lack of reinforcements, which would also add to the burden of maintaining morale. Many British and Canadian commanders had fought as junior officers on the Western Front in the First World War and believed that an operational approach based on technology and firepower could avoid another long drawn-out bloodbath. Great care would have to be taken by the British commanders because the German army in Normandy, with several veteran divisions and many experienced commanders, could be expected to confront mostly novice Anglo-Canadian formations and leaders.


title: Battle for Caen

text: Intelligence gained from reading German wireless messages coded by Enigma cipher machines was codenamed Ultra by the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park in England; by mid-1943, Ultra regularly was, unknown to the Germans, being read and passed on to senior Allied commanders. German measures to repel an invasion and the success of Allied deception measures could be gauged by reference to Ultra and other sources of intelligence. In March 1944, decrypts showed that invasions were expected anywhere from Norway to Spain. On 5 March, the "Kriegsmarine" (German navy) thought that up to six divisions would invade Norway and "Fremde Heere West" ("FHW", Foreign Armies West), the intelligence department of "Oberkommando des Heeres" (German army high command) that studied the Allied order of battle put the danger zone between the Pas de Calais and the Loire valley. Rundstedt forecast a 20-division invasion in early May, probably between Boulogne and Normandy but identified accurately the concentration area between Southampton and Portsmouth. Anti-invasion practices were conducted from Bruges to the Loire and one scheme assumed an invasion wide from Ouistreham to Isigny; on 1 June, "FHW" predicted an invasion on 12 June either on the Mediterranean coast or in the Balkans.


title: Battle for Caen

text: On 6 December 1943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Allied Commander Allied Expeditionary Force. The invasion was to be conducted by the 21st Army Group (General Bernard Montgomery), which would comprise all Allied troops in France until Eisenhower established his ground forces HQ in France. Lieutenant-General Frederick Morgan, Chief of Staff, Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC) and his staff had been preparing invasion plans since May 1943. Montgomery studied the COSSAC plan and at a conference on 21 January 1944, advocated a landing on a wider front between Quinéville in the west and Cabourg les Bains on the east side of the Orne river. Three divisions of the British Second Army (Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey) were to come ashore on beachheads code-named (from west to east) Gold, Juno and Sword.


title: Battle for Caen

text: Three divisions of the US First Army (General Omar Bradley) were to land on Omaha and Utah in the west and three airborne divisions were to land further inland on the flanks of the invasion area. The US forces in the west were to capture the port of Cherbourg and then in a second phase, the lodgement was to be expanded in the west to the Loire river and the Brittany ports. The Anglo-Canadian forces on the eastern flank of the lodgement would confront the main German force facing the invasion and reinforcements arriving from the east and south-east. In the tactical plan the invaders were quickly to gain control of the main roads in Normandy by the rapid advance of armoured forces past Caen, Bayeux and Carentan, to capture the high ground to the south-east of Caen, which dominated the hinterland, the main roads which converged on Caen and the crossings of the Odon and Orne rivers.


title: Battle for Caen

text: From 7 to 8 April Montgomery held Operation Thunderclap, a planning exercise in which the intention of the operation was given as simultaneous attacks north of the Carentan Estuary and between the estuary and the Orne, to capture a bridgehead that included airfield sites and the port of Cherbourg. Montgomery forecast a rapid German reinforcement of the Normandy front by D+4, from a "Westheer" (Western army) total of sixty divisions, ten being panzer or "Panzergrenadier" divisions, to conduct a counter-offensive against the landing beaches. Montgomery predicted that the German offensive would be defeated and the Germans would have to change to the defensive by D+8 to contain the Allied lodgement. The Second Army, comprising British and Canadian divisions, was to land west of the Orne, protected by an airborne division which was to land east of the river and capture the Orne bridges at Benouville and Ranville. The Anglo-Canadians were to advance south and south-east, to capture ground for airfields and guard the eastern flank of the First Army as it attacked Cherbourg. Montgomery used a map to show phase lines, a planning device inherited from the COSSAC plan, to show a first phase complete by D+20, with the battlefront along a line running from the Channel coast to east of Caen, south-west of the city, south of Vire and south of Avranches to the coast.


title: Battle for Caen

text: On 15 May, Montgomery gave a final presentation of the Overlord plan to the Allied commanders and from his notes, gave the intention of the operation, to assault simultaneously,


title: Battle for Caen

text: Montgomery predicted that the Germans would try to defeat the invasion on the beaches and hold Caen, Bayeux and Carentan, with Bayeux at the centre of a German counter-offensive, intended to divide the Allied lodgement. As the German counter-offensive faltered a "roping-off" policy would be substituted to hold the ground dominating the road axes around the Dives river, the high ground from the Orne at Falaise to the Vire river at Saint-Lô and along the high ground west of the Vire.


title: Battle for Caen

text: Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, "Oberbefehlshaber West" ("OB West", Supreme Commander West) disagreed about the methods necessary to defeat an invasion, which led to argument about the deployment of the panzer divisions, the main part of the reserve kept in the hinterland. Rundstedt intended to keep the mobile forces back until the Allied main effort had been identified. The Allies were to be defeated beyond the invasion beaches and then pushed off the continent. General Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg, commander of "Panzergruppe West", a headquarters established in November 1943 to train the armoured forces in the west, agreed with Rundstedt, based on the experience of Allied naval gunfire during counter-attacks against the Anzio beachhead (January–February 1944). Rommel had experienced the loss of "Luftwaffe" air superiority in North Africa and thought that the generals who had gained their experience on the Eastern Front underestimated the effect of Allied air power. Attacks on the movement of reserve forces towards the invasion area would delay them and they would fail to defeat the invasion; only a prompt counter-attack during the landing phase stood a chance of success and the panzer divisions would need to be much closer to the coast for this tactic. Rundstedt and Geyr viewed the inevitable dispersion of the panzer divisions with dismay and thought that a thin screen of panzer divisions would be destroyed by Allied naval gunfire and air attack.


title: Battle for Caen

text: In April 1944, Hitler imposed a compromise in which the 21st, 2nd and 116th Panzer divisions were subordinated to "Heeresgruppe B" (Army Group B), the 2nd SS, 9th and 11th Panzer divisions went to "Heeresgruppe G" (Army Group G, Colonel-General Johannes Blaskowitz) and the 1st SS, 12th SS, 17th SS Panzergrenadier and the Panzer Lehr divisions came under his command through "Oberkommando der Wehrmacht" ("OKW", High Command of the Armed Forces). The compromise forced on the western commanders meant that the central reserve was too small to provide the speed and mass that Rundstedt wanted and too few panzer divisions were near the coast to enable Rommel to defeat the invasion as soon as it began. Rundstedt and Rommel lost control over the divisions taken into "OKW" reserve, which Rommel considered were necessary for his defensive strategy, and he had to spread the 21st, 2nd and 116th Panzer divisions from the Scheldt to the Loire. In the spring of 1944, when Hitler included Normandy as a second Allied objective, "OB West" had 60 divisions with about 850,000 troops and ten armoured divisions with 1,552 tanks. "Heeresgruppe B" had 35 of the divisions to protect a coastline long. Half of the infantry divisions were smaller coastal defence or training formations and only about a quarter of the infantry divisions were at full establishment in men and equipment. (The II SS Panzer Corps [SS-"Obergruppenführer" Paul Hausser] with the 9th SS-Panzer-Division "Hohenstaufen" and the 10th SS-Panzer-Division "Frundsberg" had been sent to Poland in April but were recalled on 12 June.)


title: Battle for Caen

text: Command of the German defences of the Western Front was conducted by Hitler through "OKW". Since 1940, work had been done on the fortification of ports; the defeat of the Dieppe Raid of 19 August 1942 for a loss of only demonstrated the defensive value of fortifications. In March 1942, Hitler issued Directive 40, requiring that an invasion force be defeated before it could land or on the coast; in November 1943, Hitler added Directive 51, for the reinforcement of the defences of Western Europe. Rommel was sent from Italy to inspect the coast defences and then "Heeresgruppe B" was transferred from Italy to command the 15th Army (General Hans von Salmuth) deployed from Antwerp to the Orne and the 7th Army (General Friedrich Dollmann) from the Orne to the Loire but was limited only to a coastal strip deep. Further south, "Heeresgruppe G" commanded the 1st Army and the 19th Army on the French Atlantic and the Mediterranean coasts. Command of the forces further inland was retained by Rundstedt but control of the "panzer" and "panzergrenadier" divisions was eventually split between "OKW" and the two army groups, Rundstedt retaining command only of the three divisions in "Heeresgruppe G". The civilian workers of "Organisation Todt" and troops built "Perlenschnur" (string of pearls) of steel-and-concrete defensive positions with overlapping fields of fire based on "Widerstandsnester" (resistance nests) formed into "Stützpunkte" (strong points) and "Stützpunktgruppen" (strong point groups). Beach obstacles and anti-tank ditches were built and vast numbers of real and dummy mines were laid, trebling the number planted since 1941. By the end of 1943 about 8,500 fortifications had been built and another 12,247 were added in northern France by 6 June. Artillery positions were moved and false positions dug to mislead Allied air reconnaissance.


title: Battle for Caen

text: The Normandy (Calvados) coast has wide beaches, small harbours and is close to the port of Cherbourg. There is an stretch between the mouth of the Orne north of Caen and Arromanches on which landings can easily be made, except for reefs, which prevent large ships from approaching the shore. In 1944, the from the Seine to Cherbourg was garrisoned by six German divisions, four being lower establishment coast defence divisions, supported by the 21st Panzer Division ("Generalleutnant" Edgar Feuchtinger). On Sword, 522 hedgehogs, 267 stakes, 76 wooden ramps and 46 Cointet-elements were installed by June, making one obstacle every , built from of steel, of wood and a mass of concrete; most of the obstacles were fitted with mines or anti-aircraft shells, making about of explosives per of beach. Beachfront properties were fortified and "Stüzpunktgruppen" built at Franceville and Riva Bella at the mouth of the Orne, an artillery battery was emplaced at Merville with four guns in steel and concrete emplacements and a battery of guns installed south of Ouistreham. On of the shore from Riva Bella to a "Stüzpunkt" at Corseulles, nine resistance nests ("WN, Widerstandsnester") were built along the seawall and in the dunes. Most of the "WN" had a concrete emplacement, proof against bombing and heavy artillery bombardment and a gun sited to fire in enfilade along the beachfront. The nests also had machine-gun posts, mortar positions and big concrete bunkers to protect the garrisons.


title: Battle for Caen

text: There was no continuous second position but field guns and anti-tank guns were dug in behind the coast and infantry reserves were billeted in villages, to contain a breakthrough until mobile reserves arrived. The 716th Infantry Division ("Generalleutnant" Wilhelm Richter), a two-regiment division increased to about in early 1944, supported by Artillery Regiment 1716 with five artillery batteries of French and Russian guns and an anti-tank company. By early 1944, the division garrisoned the German defences from Le Hamel to Merville-Franceville-Plage in four sectors, where 13,400 mines had been laid (about half were neutralised by corrosion in the detonators). A few weeks before the invasion, the division had in Grenadier regiments 726 and 736 with three battalions each, with 96 machine-guns, eleven 50 mm mortars, thirteen 80 mm mortars and with a poorly-trained "Ostbattaillon" mainly of Poles, a second anti-tank company and several anti-aircraft batteries. The 21st Panzer Division was transferred to Caen in May, deploying its 146 tanks and 50 assault guns south of the city, two "panzergrenadier" battalions on either side of the Orne north of the city, and its artillery on the coast to provide more defensive depth to the 716th Infantry Division on its front.


title: Battle for Caen

text: Before dawn on D-Day, the 6th Airborne Division, with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion attached, was to conduct Operation Tonga. The division was to capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges over the lower Orne by coup de main, establish a bridgehead on the east side of the river and block a possible German counter-attack. I Corps (Lieutenant-General John Crocker) was to land with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division (Major-General Rod Keller) to the west on Juno with the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade and advance south to cut the Caen–Bayeux road as far as Carpiquet, north-west of Caen. The 3rd Infantry Division (Major-General Tom Rennie) and the 27th Armoured Brigade were to land on Sword and advance directly on Caen. If Caen was captured at the first attempt, I Corps would take the high ground to the south on the Falaise road; if the German defenders thwarted the attempt, the corps was to consolidate a defensive front around the city. In case Caen was not captured on D-Day, Operation Smock had been planned to commence once the 51st (Highland) Division and the 4th Armoured Brigade had landed and reinforced the attackers about 3 to 4 days later. Operation Wild Oats was another plan made before the invasion, for XXX Corps and the 1st Airborne Division to cut off a possible German retirement westwards from Caen. The landings were to be supported by the bombardment of the inland defences by Allied strategic bombers, naval bombardment ships and the beaches to be "drenched" by rocket and field gun fire from landing craft.


title: Battle for Caen

text: The naval bombardment and bombing by the Allied air forces failed to have the destructive effect on German beach defences hoped for, and in many places Allied infantry, engineers and tanks had to fight their way forward. The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division landed on Juno with the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade to capture Corseulles, but this took until the afternoon. The 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade attack on Bernières and St Aubin sur Mer met determined German resistance, and the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade followed on as the tide rose higher and faster than usual, which narrowed the beach, making traffic jams at the beach exits much worse. On the left of the Canadians, the 8th Infantry Brigade came ashore on Sword, with the 1st Special Service Brigade on its left (northern) flank, to join the 6th Airborne Division at the Orne crossings.


title: Battle for Caen

text: The unsettled weather that lulled the German commanders also pushed the tide in quicker and further than expected, which covered obstacles and reduced the beaches to a strip about from the water's edge to the sea wall, delaying the landing of follow-on forces; Sword was reduced to only instead of the usual of beach. Fire from unsuppressed German machine-gun nests swept the beach as the British advanced to capture the beachfront resorts and villas. A German strongpoint at La Brèche held out until about but by the British and Canadian divisions had landed fifteen infantry battalions, five Commando units, seven armoured regiments, two Royal Marine armoured support regiments, nine field artillery regiments and two engineer regiments, on a beachhead only wide. By noon the follow-up brigades were ashore and had inched through traffic jams at the beach exits under severe bombardment from German artillery, to begin the advance inland.


title: Battle for Caen

text: The German response was slower than the Allies expected, because the decision to land on 6 June had caught the German commanders unprepared. By morning, reports received by the German 15th Army HQ led to the highest level of alert (Alert 2) being ordered, but not at the 7th Army HQ, except for possible terrorist attacks. Many senior officers were absent, and only when it was discovered that parachutists were landing was an alert called by the 7th Army; German troops went off on wild goose chases and found dummy paratroops. At Rundstedt asked for control of the I SS Panzer Corps to counter an invasion, but it took ten hours to be granted. The German tactical reply was resolute and troops on the Calvados coast fought with determination in many places. The 3rd Infantry Division had made swift progress from Sword against the 716th Division at Hermanville, Ouistreham and Colleville but was delayed further inland at strongpoints Daimler, Hillman, Morris and Rover. Hillman dominated the road south towards Caen and had been so cleverly fortified and camouflaged, that its size and layout was a surprise. Morris surrendered at but Hillman held out until the next morning and absorbed some of the forces intended for the dash to Caen, while other troops and tanks were still stuck in traffic at the beach exits. The fight for Hillman delayed the advance of the 8th and 185th Infantry Brigades and gave time for the infantry of the 21st Panzer Division to stop its counter-attacks against the 6th Airborne Division on either side of the Orne, to concentrate on the west side against the 3rd Infantry Division, despite being spotted and attacked from the air.


title: Battle for Caen

text: Operation Perch was intended to create the threat of a British break-out to the south-east of Caen by XXX Corps, with the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division capturing the road to Tilly-sur-Seulles. The 7th Armoured Division would then spearhead the advance to Mont Pinçon. On 9 June, Montgomery ordered that Caen be taken by a pincer movement. The eastern arm of the attack would consist of I Corps with the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division, which was to cross into the Orne bridgehead and attack southwards to Cagny, south-east of Caen. XXX Corps would form the western arm of the pincer; the 7th Armoured Division would advance to the south-east and cross the Odon River, to capture Évrecy and XXX Corps attacked Tilly-sur-Seulles against the Panzer Lehr Division and part of the 12th SS Panzer Division, which held Tilly despite many casualties on both sides.


title: Battle for Caen

text: I Corps was delayed moving into position because the state of the Channel slowed the arrival of follow-up divisions and its attack was delayed until 12 June. The 51st Highland Division attacked the 21st Panzer Division but its defence was determined, and on 13 June the offensive east of Caen was called off. On the right flank of XXX Corps, the 352nd Infantry Division had been defeated by the 50th Northumbrian Division and the 1st US Division and its remnants forced to flee southwards, leaving a gap in the German front. Dempsey ordered the 7th Armoured Division to exploit the opening, seize Villers-Bocage and advance into the western flank of the Panzer Lehr Division. After the Battle of Villers-Bocage, the position was judged untenable and 7th Armoured Division withdrew on 14 June. The division was reinforced by the 33rd Armoured Brigade, another follow-up formation, ready to resume the attack but on 19 June, a severe storm descended upon the English Channel, damaging the Mulberry harbours and worsening the delay in unloading of reinforcements and supplies.


title: Battle for Caen

text: On 25 June, XXX Corps (49th (West Riding) Infantry Division, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and the 8th Armoured Brigade) launched Operation Martlet. The attack, a preliminary to the Second Army's main effort Operation Epsom, intended to take Rauray village and spur, Fontenay-le-Pesnel, Tessel-Bretteville, and Juvigny. Opposing the British, were the 3rd Battalion, 26th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment and part of the 12th SS Panzer Regiment of the 12th SS Panzer Division on and around the spur; both had been depleted by the fighting in the preceding weeks but were well dug-in. By the end of the day, the British had reached the woods near Vendes and a line roughly south of Fontenay-le-Pesnel; the Germans had held Rauray, and about half the spur. The next day, Tessel-Bretteville was captured by the British and lost to a subsequent counter-attack. During the night, reinforcements reached the Panzer Lehr Division, on the right flank near Vendes. On 27 June, the British took Tessel-Bretteville wood and Rauray, but the fighting on the Rauray Spur continued during Operation Epsom.


title: Battle for Caen

text: Operation Epsom began on 26 June, to capture the high ground south of Caen, near Bretteville-sur-Laize with the newly arrived VIII Corps. The operation was supported by 736 guns, the Royal Navy, close air support and a preliminary bombardment by 250 RAF heavy bombers. (The bombing for the start of the operation was called off due to poor weather over Britain.) I and XXX Corps were also to support Epsom, but delays in landing equipment and reinforcements led to their role being reduced. The 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division and the 31st Tank Brigade made steady progress, and by the end of the first day had overrun much of the German outpost line with the exception of some locations along the flanks. Over the following two days, a foothold was secured across the River Odon and efforts were made to expand this, by capturing tactically valuable points around the salient and moving up the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division. German counter-attacks, by the I SS Panzer Corps and II SS Panzer Corps, led to a withdrawal from some of the British positions across the river by 30 June.


title: Battle for Caen

text: VIII Corps had advanced nearly . With their last reserves, the Germans achieved a costly defensive success by containing the British offensive. A German counter-offensive by fresh forces against the Allied beachhead had been forestalled and no German armoured forces could be redeployed against the US First Army or moved into reserve. From 26 to 30 June, the operation cost the Second Army up to 4,078 casualties. VIII Corps suffered 470 men killed, 2,187 wounded and 706 men missing. During 1 July, a further 488 men were killed and wounded and 227 were reported missing. The German Army lost over 3,000 men and 126 tanks.


title: Battle for Caen

text: The airfield at Carpiquet near Caen had been a D-Day objective for the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division but the 12th SS Panzer Division arrived first and occupied the concrete shelters, machine gun towers, tunnels, anti-tank guns and 20mm anti-aircraft guns around the airfield, behind mine fields and barbed wire entanglements. A Canadian operation during Operation Epsom had been postponed because of the delays in disembarking troops. For Operation Windsor, the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade was reinforced. The Canadians took Carpiquet village with the help of the French Resistance on 5 July and three days later, after repulsing several German counter-attacks, captured the airfield and adjacent villages during Operation Charnwood. Keller was severely criticised for not using two brigades for Operation Windsor and for delegating detailed planning to Brigadier Blackader of the 8th Brigade.


title: Battle for Caen

text: Three infantry divisions and three armoured brigades of I Corps were to attack southwards through Caen to the Orne river and capture bridgeheads in the districts of Caen south of the river. An armoured column was prepared to advance through the city to rush the bridges to exploit the victory and sweep on through southern Caen toward the Verrières and Bourguébus ridges, opening the way for the Second Army to advance toward Falaise. New tactics were tried, including a preparatory bombardment by Allied strategic bombers to assist the Anglo-Canadian advance and to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the battle or retreating. Suppression of the German defences was a secondary consideration; close support aircraft and 656 guns supported the attack.


title: Battle for Caen

text: On the evening of 7 July, bombers dropped over of bombs on the city. Cautious planning to avoid attacking their own troops meant the bombs landed more on the city than German defences. The ground attack began at on 8 July supported by a creeping barrage. By evening, the I Corps had reached the outskirts of Caen and the Germans began to withdraw their heavy weapons and the remnants of the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division to the southern side of Caen. The remnants of the 12th SS Panzer Division fought a rearguard action and then retired over the Orne.


title: Battle for Caen

text: The 12th SS Panzer Division withdrew during the night and early on 9 July, British and Canadian patrols entered the city and Canadians occupied Carpiquet airfield. By noon, the Allied infantry had reached the north bank of the Orne. Some bridges were left intact but were blocked by rubble and covered by German troops on the south bank poised for a counter-attack. Following the battle "In the houses that were still standing there slowly came life, as the French civilians realized that we had taken the city. They came running out of their houses with glasses and bottles of wine."