Author: James Wesley Rawles

On June 1st, 1942, seven months after the extermination of prisoners began, the Warsaw underground newspaper, the Liberty Brigade, made the public announcement of the gassing of tens of thousands of Jews at Chelmno, a Nazi-operated death camp in Poland. The story came from a young man, Emanuel Ringelblum, who had escaped the Chelmno death camp after being forced to bury bodies as they were thrown out of the gas vans. The West then knew the horrific truth about the slaughter of Jews. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present the first entry for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction …

Happy 90th birthday, Clint!  May 31, 1930 was the birthday of actor/director/producer Clint Eastwood. — On 31 May 1970, an earthquake off the coast of Peru caused a substantial section of the north slope of Mt. Huascaran to collapse. The avalanche moved downhill at a speed estimated at 100 MPH. with a mass of roughly 80 million cubic feet of ice, mud, and rock. The avalanche traveled nearly 11 miles, burying the towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca in up to 300 feet of rock and debris. It is estimated that this earthquake and avalanche killed more than 20,000 Peruvians. It is the …

On May 30, 1626, an explosion at the Wanggongchang Gunpowder Factory in Beijing, China destroyed part of the city and killed an estimated 20,000 Beijing residents. — I’m back on the road and gathering merchandise, so I have temporarily shut down ordering at the Elk Creek Company store page. We will resume taking orders after I return from my travel. Ordering will be reactivated on or before July 2nd. In the interim, you can still assemble your Wish List. Please note that I have not been able to keep up with the demand for pre-1899 cartridge guns. In February, I …

On this day in 1780, the treatment of Patriot prisoners by British Colonel Banastre Tarleton and his Loyalist troops led to the coining of a phrase that defined British brutality for the rest of the War for Independence: “Tarleton’s Quarter.” Tarleton and his Torries proceeded to shoot any an all Patriots that had surrendered after the fall of Charleston. The Patriots lost 113 men. The slaughter of the surrendered troops became a propaganda victory for the Continentals and Carolina civilians who had been terrified of Tarleton and their loyalist neighbors now rallied to the Patriot cause. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest …

George Washington, a young lieutenant colonel in the British Army and future president of the United States, led an attack on French forces at Jumonville Glen on this day in 1754. This battle was later credited with being the opening salvo in the French and Indian War (1754 to 1763). In the biography His Excellency: George Washington, historian Joseph Ellis recounts Washington’s first combat experience. Washington and 40 colonial troops had been encamped near the French garrison at Fort Duquesne when he received an urgent message to rescue Indian allies in the area who were threatened by French forces. In …