Rhine Cruise - Day 6, Cologne

Today we were in Cologne, Germany and it was the Sabbath. Some of you have asked, "What do you do when on vacation on the Sabbath?" Well, we rested. It is a feast day, so we ate on the ship (it is valid to partake of hospitality when traveling.) We found an English evangelical church to visit, but their service was held before we docked in Cologne. We prayed for our church families, took a walk in town without our camera, then listened to part of a sermon and discussed the passage in Isaiah Scott preached on today. During our farewell dinner the ship departed for Amsterdam.

Rhine Cruise - Day 5, Rudesheim

Grape vines

We arrived in Rudesheim while eating breakfast, then we boarded a tram and took a short walk to the gondola station. It was rather cool and windy, but our first sunny day, which Kendra appreciated. We rode over the grape vineyards to see the Germany Unification Monument, then we walked through the vineyards to town, then walked back to the ship. The history and torture museums were not open, but we enjoyed our walk.

Germany Unification Monument

Vineyards & Monument

Vineyards with house & old tower

We had traditional German food for lunch after returning to the ship, then we started cruising the scenic castles along the Rhine, which were built to display the wealth of the landowners and collect tolls along the river. The river was the main way to transport goods. The Rhine Valley is known for its grapes and wines, predominantly Rieslings. This was Kendra's favorite day of the cruise, and the afternoon cruise was her favorite part. We were on the sundeck of the ship, it was very chilly, but beautiful. We got to try the new audio linked to the GPS with our headsets. It could have used more historical details, but it was a good idea.

Oldest standing castle on the Rhine. They put chains across the river to stop boats for tolls.

Most glorious rainbow we have ever seen. We saw both ends on the ground. Actually a double rainbow.

We arrived in Koblenz about dusk and had a quick walking tour.

Rhine Cruise - Day 4, Speyer/Heidelberg

View of Heidelburg from Castle

Today we arrived in Speyer while we slept, so after breakfast we boarded our tour bus for Heidelberg, Germany. We toured the Heidelberg Castle, which is sliding down the hill toward the university town. The town is where the Heidelberg Confession was written.

View of Heidelburg from Castle

Monument opposite town from Castle

View of Castle from University Square

Cathedral in Heidelburg

Oldest building in Heidelburg

After dinner we walked to the Speyer Cathedral and through the old town. I think Speyer is where the Reformers were first called Protestants.

Speyer Cathedral in the rain

Pilgrim statue

Rhine Cruise - Day 2, Freiburg

Model of Medieval Freiburg

After lunch we boarded a bus for Freiburg & Breisach. By the way, we cruised with AmaWaterways and they provided QuietVox headsets in our cabin which we used on all of our walking tours and recharged them in our cabin. They also provided umbrellas, robes and slippers for our use onboard. Whenever we returned from touring, they had hot towels, hot mulled wine, and hot peach tea, and no security to go through. All in all, it was more pleasant than the large ocean cruise ships, not to mention the complimentary soft drinks, beer, and wine for lunch and dinner, and it was never hard to find a table to sit at.

Freiburg Munster (cathedral)

Inside Munster

On our way to Freiburg we saw the Black Forest, grape vines, American barracks (soon to become much needed apartments), and strawberry and asparagus fields. First we toured the Munsterplatz, then the history museum, and saw the customs house. I almost bought some crystal antique wine glasses, but when I found out they were from France, they didn't seem like a good souvenir from Germany (I forgot we would be in France the next day - ha! ha!)

Custom House

Breisach Cathedral

Rhine Cruise - Day 1, Basel

Map of our Itinerary

To celebrate 25 years of marriage, Dan & Kendra took a one week cruise on the Rhine River. The posts will be written by Kendra, but edited & posted by Joshua. We drove to Baltimore, MD on the Monday immediately after the NCFIC Worship of God conference and flew to London, where we spent about 5 hours in the airport before our flight to Basel, Switzerland. It was cool and rainy when we arrived at our ship, and we had about an hour before the welcome aboard celebration. The ladies were presented with a rose, we were introduced to the ship's crew, then onto dinner. We were very well fed and had friendly service all week.

Source.

After dinner we walked along the river to the cathedral in Old Town Basel, where we were surprised to see a carnival, possibly leftover from the Octoberfest. Erasmus died in Basel, on his way from Frieburg to Brabant. He is famous for many writings, most notably his Greek New Testament translation, which later became known as the Textus Recptus.

Baltic Cruise - Day 3, Germany

On Day 3 of the cruise our ship docked in Warnemünde, near Rostock, Germany. We rented a van, and we were planning to drive to Wittenberg where Luther was a monk. When we got there, we were confused because we couldn't find anything, but when we talked to the woman at the information desk, we found out we were actually at Wittenberge, a town ~150km away from Wittenberg. They are both even on the same river, and have a college in them.

Examining a map

A bell tower of the Protestant Church

While at Wittenberge, we visited the Stadtmuseum(City Museum). The museum was mostly about the Singer sewing machine manufacturing plant in the town, operational from 1905-1991. There were also exhibits about the history of other industries, as well as the shutdown of plants during the Marxist rule.

A museum about the history of Wittenberge

From there we drove to Putlitz where we ate lunch at a bakery (rolls and donuts.) We went to an old tower, which was part of the town's wall at one point, but we could not go inside.

A tower which used to be part of the Putlitz town wall

On our way back to the port, we stopped at Wittstock, a fortified town which was sieged during the 30 year's war.

A church in Wittstock

At the end of the fortified town, there was a castle, the keep of which now houses a museum on the 30 Year's War. The museum had some really nice exhibits.

A model of what Wittstock looked like at the time of the 30 Years War

The keep of Wittstock

A firearm of the type used in the 30 Years War

A Plague Doctor. The beak was filled with aromatic items to ward off the "bad smell" thought to have caused the plague

A sword hilt of the era

A view from the top of the keep

The Castle Wall

 After the museum closed, we drove back to Warnemünde. Since we had time before the cruise ship left, we took a walk along the beach and through part of the town.

A view of the Baltic

A lighthouse on the Warnemünde beach

Mistakes of World War 2 - 1943-1945

Mistakes of World War 2

1. Causes of the War
2. The Mistakes of 1939-1940
3. The Mistakes of 1941
4. The Mistakes of 1942
5. Mistakes of 1943-1945

This article is the last in a series on the most important mistakes that were made during the Second World War. By 1943 most of the mistakes had already been made which caused the Axis’ downfall. But they did make mistakes in the last part of the war that would influence the world for years to come.

Americans Land in Normandy

Fighting to the Last

In 1944 the British and Americans landed in Normandy, France. After gaining a beachhead there they began to drive the German armies across France, Holland and Germany. At the same time, the troops that had landed in Italy in 1943 continued to push the Germans north in Northern Italy. At this point Hitler had two choices. He could order his troops at certain points to fall back so that they could organize and strike with a hard counter-attack, or he could stubbornly hold on to every inch of ground. He chose the second. This meant that although the Allies might have difficulty in conquering territory, they would not have to resist heavy and unexpected counter-attacks. He made this mistake continually as the war wound to a close. He refused to let his troops give up even an inch of ground, and instead he lost it all. He ordered one commander who desired to fall back to a stronger line, “The Fuehrer expects, now as before, the utmost steadiness in the fulfillment of your present mission to defend every inch of the North Italian areas entrusted to your command.”¹ Hitler’s incorrect strategy led to the defeat of his armies, and he committed suicide on April 30^th, 1945. Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 8^th.

Winston Churchill with crowds on V-E day

Communism

At the beginning of the war the Soviet Union was unfavorable to the British. They were siding with Germany, and almost became an ally with them against Great Britain. But then when Germany attacked them, they wanted to become an ally to the nation they were planning to attack a few weeks before. The British decided to ignore the political, social and religious differences between them and join with them to destroy Germany. But by the end of the war it became clear that unless the United States and England did something to stop it, Russia would make much of Europe their Communist puppets.

Polish Soldier Fighting the Germans during the Warshaw Uprising

One of the first issues that came up was regarding Poland. Poland was one of the the first nations that Germany conquered, and many influential Poles fled to London and established a government there. But when the Soviets liberated Poland they set up a Polish Committee of National Liberation which were really just their puppets. England and the United States did not want communism to be imposed on the Poles, and the Russians agreed at the Yalta Conference to incorporate members of the London government into the new Polish government so that it would better represent the wishes of the people. They also agreed to allow Allied observers to enter Poland to report on what was happening there. However, they ignored their promises and set up a completely communism government in Poland.

These issues continued with the other nations of western Europe. The Russian strategy was described by Stalin when he said, “This war is not as in the past; whoever occupies a territory also imposes his own social system on it. Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach. It cannot be otherwise.”² Therefore what Winston Churchill described as an “Iron Curtain” came upon Germany because of the alliance that had been made in the heat of war and the failure of the other Allies to deny to Russia the right to overwhelm the other nations.

These problems between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in the Cold War. While there were military conflicts which resulted from it, the United States and Russia never entered into a full scale World War. The problems existed until 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. All this conflict can be traced back to decisions that were made in the aftermath of World War II.

A Street in Berlin

Conclusion

These mistakes from World War II that we have examined through this series of essays are not just interesting facts from a conflict that happened many years ago. Situations like these will happen again, and at that time it will serve us well to remember the mistakes that were made by leaders of the past. Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them.

1. The Second World War – Triumph and Tragedy (vol. 6) by Winston Churchill (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1953) p. 522
2. A History of Modern Russia: From Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin by Robert Service Source. p. 305

The Mistakes of World War 2 - 1939-1940

Mistakes of World War 2

1. Causes of the War
2. The Mistakes of 1939-1940
3. The Mistakes of 1941
4. The Mistakes of 1942
5. The Mistakes of 1943-1945

by Joshua Horn

Last time, we examined the mistakes on the part of France and Britain which caused the Second World War. Now we will look at several mistakes which the Allies and Axis made from 1939-1940.

The Battle of France
At the beginning of the war there was what Churchill called the “Twilight War”. It was the eight months when war had been declared, but had only partially begun. During this time Germany crushed Poland and other nations while the French and British army was waiting on the border of France, building their armies and fortifying themselves. During 1939 through the spring of 1940 the German army improved in quality. They were able to hone their techniques upon the smaller nations before they attacked the stronger France. On the other hand the French army declined in quality. They waited on the border in their forts for the German attack, and their morale and discipline declined.