You have commented 358 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Britain
Murdered soldier's family: His death has united Britain
2013-07-12
The shattered family of murdered soldier Lee Rigby yesterday hailed him as a martyr whose death united Britain as they attended a vigil the day before his funeral.

More than 4,000 people lined the streets to pay their respects as his body was taken to his regimentÂ’s garrison church. Many broke into spontaneous applause as drummers from 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers escorted their fellow servicemanÂ’s cortege through Bury, Greater Manchester.

The soldier’s tearful family and closest friends then entered the church for the private service — including his two-year-old son Jack in a Manchester United shirt with his supporter dad’s nickname “Riggers” on the back. After the 30-minute service, the family left and an honour guard remained to watch over his coffin overnight.

The family will gather again today at the church for his funeral, which will be broadcast over loudspeakers to the crowds outside. Lee will then be taken to his home town to be buried in a private service.

Yesterday his family thanked the public for the “overwhelming support” they had received since he was killed in a terrorist attack near Woolwich barracks in May.

Stepfather Ian Rigby said, “People have been supporting us everywhere we have been. Lee has become a hero. Whatever the intention of his attackers was, it’s backfired because it’s made Lee into a hero and a martyr."

Lee’s widow Rebecca said: “It’s just horrible that it takes something like this to make you see how many good people there are.”

She said she wanted her husband to be remembered as the “bubbly” man he was. She added: “He was always so full of life. He just wanted to put a smile on everybody’s face.”

Mum Lyn said: “We have received overwhelming support. It has given us the strength to get through this.”
Posted by:ryuge

#12  Actually, BP, the analysis of the effect in Japan was different. Area bombing saw a drop in production concurrent with a major shift in population from urban centers. Japanese war production, much like post-war production involved farming out sub-assemblies and parts fabrication to little shops, which disappeared under LaMay's fire bombing. See, Coxx, Alvin D.; Japan at the End of Her Tether, History of the Second World War [Part 91], BPC Publishing Ltd, 1966, London. Pg 2537

In Kobe city, for example, workers dropped their tools as soon as an air raid alert sounded, so they would have enough time to flee to the hillsides immediately behind the metropolis before the bombers could arrive. Consequently the mere sounding of the alert signal in the Kobe region caused an immediate drop in industrial production. According to information reaching the War Ministry about May 1945, the attendance rate at munitions factories, throughout the country immediately after an air raid dwindled to 20-30%. The average rate of absenteeism at factories in devastated areas approximated 40%. In unraided zones the absentee rate averaged 15%, but even in unbombed Kyoto lost man hours totaled 40% by July 1945.

An indirect result of the raids was the dispersal of the labour force because of housing problems, thereby affecting both control and efficiency.

According to Home Ministry data, the following Japanese civilian losses were the minimum incurred as the result of all air raids on the Homeland: 241,309 killed, 313,041 injured, 8,045,094 homeless, 2,333,388 buildings destroyed, 110,928 partial destroyed. The number of houses razed represented at least 30% of the national total. It should also be noted that the Japanese themselves demolished 615,000 buildings as firebreaks, 214,000 of which were located in Tokyo. In all about 13,000,000 people were driven from their homes by the destruction of dwellings; a substantial additional number were rendered homeless by the bombing of factory dormitories.

Large-scale evacuation of Japanese civilians from urban areas began in 1944. Between January and September of that year, 1,000,000 moved out of Tokyo. The capital's population fell from 5,000,000 in January of 1945 to 2,453,000 in June. About 55% of the Nagoya area inhabitants were evacuated; 60% of the Osaka-Kobe complex. Probably 8,295,000 persons of all categories were evacuated throughout Japan. Dispersal of the urban school population, began slowly in mid-1944, was intensified after the raids of March 1945. By April, over 87% of urban school children had been moved
Posted by: Procopius2k   2013-07-12 17:23  

#11  Area bombing was a success in diverting German industrial capacity from armour to anti-aircraft.

What is ultimately effective is boots, or tracks, on the ground. Shermanize them.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2013-07-12 12:14  

#10  It's all about doing it right BP. Think Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It just took a little practice.
Posted by: Shipman   2013-07-12 11:21  

#9  Area bombing in ww2 was mostly a waste of resources.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2013-07-12 10:56  

#8  Muslims need to experience real terror. They bomb something, one of their countries should cease to exist. They'll run out before we do.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division   2013-07-12 09:59  

#7  ..like reciprocate the Luftwaffe bombing of London with the bombing of Berlin. I notice that after the pay back with interest, the Germans seem to be among the lesser militaristic people in Europe these days compared to the prior two hundred years of experience.
Posted by: Procopius2k    2013-07-12 09:48  

#6  No! you reciprocate their dedication, but with more ability and sense.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2013-07-12 09:08  

#5  If you don't "Go to their Level" They win.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2013-07-12 08:36  

#4  Cameron needs to think like an ordinary Englishman, not a damn tory, and start shipping out those jihadists.

Don't. On second thought, do hold your breath, pikestaff.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2013-07-12 08:33  

#3  although you do hear people say "oh dear, how sad, oh look a pigeon" when they hear a mosque burnt down (probably from surprise that there were no secondary explosions).
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2013-07-12 07:30  

#2  Burning mosques will not bring him back,there is no point in parachuting down to the level of Sgt Rigby's attackers,Cameron needs to think like an ordinary Englishman, not a damn tory, and start shipping out those jihadists.
Posted by: pikestaff   2013-07-12 05:11  

#1  Where are the burned mosques then?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2013-07-12 02:47  

00:00