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Heavy ice forces new Russian icebreaker on long southerly voyage

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Russia’s newest icebreaker—an 82-metre, 4,000-ton naval vessel—has joined its Pacific fleet off the Kamchatka peninsula, just across the Bering Sea from Alaska.

But the route the Yevpatii Kolovrat navigated in mid-May has raised some eyebrows.

Instead of traversing Arctic waters from the St. Petersburg shipyard where it was built, the ship sailed out into the Atlantic and south to the Mediterranean Sea. It then passed through the Suez Canal and crossed the Indian Ocean into the Philippine Sea before it arrived at its home port in Petropavlovsk in the North Pacific. The route is easily twice as long as the northern passage to Kamchatka.

Why would Russia’s newest icebreaker not sail the Arctic waters for which it was intended? The answer: heavy ice.

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North America’s Unknown WW II Campaign

STORY BY PAIGE JASMINE GILMAR

Alaska’s Aleutian Islands have a violent beauty to them, crowned with steep cliffs, 2,000-metre-plus-high mountains and active volcanoes, all protected by the white horses of ocean waves. Cold and brooding, the islands stand in hushed resistance between life and death.

Many don’t know, however, that this archipelago to the southeast of the Bering Sea had a place in the memories of some Second World War veterans.

The Aleutian Islands Campaign took place from June 1942 to August 1943. It was a challenging campaign, not only because of the enemy force, but because of the geography. It was also the only action fought on North American soil during the war. Canada’s contribution was its army’s second largest in the Pacific theatre. One of its battles, the Battle of Attu, marked its 80th anniversary on May 11, but still, the campaign is considered a “Forgotten Battle.”

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THE RCMP GUIDON

STORY BY GRAHAM MUIR

There’s much to be written about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police guidon with the organization celebrating its 150th anniversary. This year, the force will consecrate, present and parade a new regimental colour, and lay up its old guidon.

As such, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the RCMP’s storied past, particularly to edify the many Canadians who aren’t aware of the force’s service abroad to Crown and country.

The history told through honours received and carried on the force’s guidon is exclusive to its actions in theatres of war. The RCMP’s extraordinary contributions to international peace operations and United Nations peacekeeping is not included, though that’s not to say it doesn’t matter—rather that it’s not war per se. Anyone who has offered themselves in the service of peace during internecine civil strife and violence knows better.

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Photo credits: Wikimedia

Was the First World War actually the world’s first world war?

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

It was known in its time as “The Great War,” sometimes the “World War” or “World’s War,” before it ultimately became the “First World War.” But was it?

Involving more than 30 countries in theatres spanning the globe, the “war to end all wars” was, by most accounts, a global war. No war before it exceeded its toll of some 40 million dead.

But it was not actually the first world war. That title goes to the Seven Years’ War of 1756-1763, involving some 46 belligerents in theatres spanning Europe, North America, the West Indies, South America, West Africa, India and the Philippines.

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City of Victoria Archives

North America’s worst streetcar accident

STORY BY PAIGE GILMAR

It was supposed to be a day of festivities, until tragedy struck.

Celebrating Queen Victoria’s 76th birthday in 1896, the city named in her honour, the British Columbia capital, had pulled out all the stops. The multi-day party attracted hundreds of people, and its conclusion on May 26, was supposed to end with a military review and “sham battle” at Macaulay Point.

But as people travelled to the event by every conceivable method of transportation—boat, bicycle and buggy included, tragedy befell the city, triggering the worst streetcar accident in North American history: At about 1:50 p.m., the Point Ellice Bridge collapsed, sending 143 people into Victoria Harbour and killing 55 people.

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Photo credits: Wikimedia

New, old and otherwise, Ukraine defence arsenal gets the job done

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

They’ve wielded Molotov cocktails and Stinger missiles, undetectable First World War-era windup field phones and satellite-driven smartphone apps, PPSh-41 burp guns that earned their stripes in 1940s Stalingrad and the latest Remington ACR assault rifles.When it comes to weapons and equipment to repel a Russian invasion, the fighting forces of Ukraine aren’t particularly picky. They can’t afford to be. They have employed old and new; low-tech and high-; Soviet, American, Austrian, Israeli—whatever they can get their hands on. Yes, even Canadian.

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The Canadian heart of Amelia Earhart

STORY BY PAIGE GILMAR

Amelia Earhart has always been America’s sweetheart, her midwestern accent and tomboyish zeal etched into U.S. aviation legacy. What few realize is that beneath her fighting spirit for airborne pioneering and women’s rights, Earhart had a close connection to her northern neighbours.

Not only did she complete two record-breaking flights from Newfoundland, Earhart also found her passion for flying in Toronto.

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