Paul Collins

Humanist, Liberal, Paul Weller fanatic and President of the Royal Society for Putting Things On Top of Other Things

[TheAxisCampaign @TheAxisCampaign]

Panzer IV tanks of 1st Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht stuck in the mud

Possibly October 1943.

[Voices of WW2 @VoicesofWW2]

July 6, 1941. Two weeks into the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Red Army throws a massive wall of tanks at the advancing Germans near a town called Senno. It was one of the biggest tank battles the world had ever seen up to that point, and almost no one remembers it.

The Germans were racing east toward Smolensk, on the road to Moscow, and the Soviets were desperate to slow them down. So they scraped together two huge mechanized corps, something like two thousand tanks, and hurled them straight at the German spearhead in a giant counterattack.

On paper it should have been a hammer blow. In reality it was a bloodbath, and the wrong side did the bleeding.

The problem was that raw numbers were not enough. Many of the Soviet tanks were older, worn out models. Their crews were poorly trained and thrown into battle piecemeal, without proper coordination, air cover, or supply. They rolled forward bravely and ran straight into German anti tank guns and dive bombers that picked them apart.

The counterattack failed and hundreds of Soviet tanks were left burning in the fields.

It was a grim preview of that whole first summer. The Soviets had staggering quantities of men and machines, and they threw them at the Germans again and again, and again and again they were slaughtered because they were outclassed in training and tactics. It would take brutal, costly years for the Red Army to learn how to fight, and to eventually turn all that raw power into the force that rolled back to Berlin.

[Michael de Adder @deAdder]

Waterpauze. Go Belgium.
#Belgium📷 #BelgianRedDevils #FIFAWorldCup

[Tim Denning @Tim_Denning]

> Be Richard Feynman
> Teaches himself advanced calculus at age 15
> Fixes neighborhood radios for fun during the Great Depression
> Recruited to work on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos in his 20s
> Gets bored while building the atomic bomb and starts picking locks
> Breaks into his colleagues' top-secret safes just to leave them mocking notes
> Completely breaks down the government's security system for fun
> Loses his wife to tuberculosis and uses the grief to dive deeper into physics
> Reinvents quantum mechanics by drawing simple sketches (Feynman Diagrams)
> Wins the Nobel Prize in Physics for his breakthroughs
> Refuses to take himself seriously or act like a stuffy academic
> Spends his free time playing the bongo drums in a Brazilian samba band
> Learns how to paint at age 44 and sells his art under a pseudonym
> Travels to remote regions to decode ancient Mayan hieroglyphics
> Investigates the tragic Challenger Space Shuttle disaster on live TV
> Drops a piece of rubber into a glass of ice water in front of Congress
> Instantly proves the O-rings failed due to the cold, cracking the case single-handedly
> And Richard Feynman is still the most brilliant, chaotic mind to ever live who proved geniuses can have fun.
> Feynman is badass.

[fell @fellbytheway]

@TerribleMaps

[Dr Helen Fry | WWII Historian @DrHelenFry]

In 1944 the famous ‘Rosies’ proudly celebrated a major milestone: the completion of the 5,000th Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Last night, our Ukrainian long-range sanctions against Russia over this war reached targets near St. Petersburg. Ukraine's Defense Forces struck port oil infrastructure that generates revenue for Russia's war, and there were also successful strikes on Kronstadt – an important military target. The distance from Ukraine's state border is more than 850 kilometers.

My thanks to everyone who is ensuring Ukraine's precision and carrying out our long-range sanctions plan. Glory to Ukraine!

[Paul Collins @PaulCollins_]

@histories_arch She looks Arab…

[Richard Angwin @RichardAngwin]

question of the day

[ArchaeoHistories @histories_arch]

The Canadian Red Ensign is a red flag with the Union Jack (still an official flag today in Canada known as the Royal Union Flag) in the upper left canton and a shield bearing the Canadian coat of arms in the fly. It served as Canada’s civil ensign and de facto national flag for decades before being replaced in 1965.

It was never Canada’s sole official national flag, the Union Jack (also served as the dual national flag in every British dominion, except the Irish Free State) held that formal status until 1965, but it became the widely recognized symbol of the country on land and at sea, especially during the world wars.

Early History and Unofficial Use (1870s–1892):

Versions of the Red Ensign appeared unofficially in Canada as early as the 1870s. Canadian merchant ships and civilians flew a red ensign defaced with Canadian badges or provincial arms.

Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald encouraged its use.

Early designs varied, often featuring the arms of the original four provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick) or augmented shields as new provinces joined Confederation. Some included wreaths, crowns, or beavers.

In 1892, a British Admiralty warrant authorized the Canadian Red Ensign (with the 1868-style Canadian shield) for use on Canadian-registered merchant vessels. This was later enshrined in the Canada Shipping Act of 1934. A Blue Ensign variant served as the naval jack for government vessels until 1965.

Design Evolution:

1921/1922: King George V granted Canada’s Royal Arms. An official version with the unified Canadian shield (featuring England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and three maple leaves) replaced earlier designs. This version flew during the Second World War. Maple leaves were initially green.

1957: The artistic rendering of the coat of arms was updated; the maple leaves changed from green to red. This final version (1957–1965) is the one most commonly associated with the Red Ensign today.

In 1924, the Red Ensign gained approval for Canadian government buildings abroad. On 5 September 1945, an Order-in-Council (P.C. 5888) signed by the Governor General formally authorized it for federal government buildings inside Canada as well. It flew over Parliament and other federal buildings as a “distinctive Canadian flag,” serving as a practical compromise while the Union Jack remained the official national flag.

It became a powerful patriotic symbol during the First and Second World Wars, flown alongside the Union Flag by troops, on government vehicles, and in victory celebrations.

The Great Flag Debate 1964 was used to set the agenda for the flags replacement, without a referendum... it pitted those who wanted to retain British symbols (including the Red Ensign) against those seeking a distinctly Canadian design. The government then forced through the adoption of the Canadian Maple Leaf against significant opposition. Some provinces adopted their own version of the red Ensign, whilst Newfoundland retained the Union Flag as their provincial flag, British Columbia incorporated it in theirs. The Royal Union Flag was also adopted as an official flag to be flown from all government buildings on special days.

On 28 January 1965, Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed the Maple Leaf flag as Canada’s new National Flag. On 15 February 1965, the Red Ensign was lowered from Parliament Hill at noon and replaced by the Maple Leaf in a public ceremony. The Maple Leaf also became the new civil ensign.

The Canadian Red Ensign is no longer Canada’s official national flag or civil ensign. The sole official National Flag of Canada is the Maple Leaf flag.

© British & Commonwealth Forces

#archaeohistories

[Paul Collins @PaulCollins_]

@jones248748 Diorama inspiration…

[Just saying @kangaroos991]

Ouch! Another 'telling' cartoon from the 'pen' of award winning Canadian artist, Michael de Adder! 🙏🏆 🇨🇦 #Never51 😡

Raise a ✋ if you think that 'honest' Abe
#Lincoln would be 'ashamed' to see how
the GOP has 'declined' under Trump? 🙋‍♂️

🎯 Cr: @deAdder #VoteBlueIn2026 💙

[The Shallow State @OurShallowState]

He fomented an insurrection. He botched a pandemic. He stole classified documents. He committed every type of fraud known to man. He protects pedophiles. He's a convicted felon. He's an adjudicated rapist. He monetizes the presidency and weaponizes justice. He's lawless. He obstructs justice at every turn. He's compromised. He's narcissistic. He's psychopathic. He's paranoid. He's sadistic. I can go on.
YET - no matter how bad we know he is, and no matter how bad the things we know he did are, remember this: Some of the things we don't yet know, are even worse.

[FireFighterDev @fire_starter457]

MAGA fucks will fight harder to keep a Bible in a classroom than they will to keep an AR-15 out of one.

[Made In Canada @MadelnCanada]

100% facts 🇨🇦❤️🐐

[Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen]

WWII Veteran and Purple Heart recipient Robert Hilliard:

"Next week I'll be 101 years old. In February 1944 when I was 18 years old I was inducted into the army and what they taught me to do there was to kill people who set up detention camps. Can you imagine how I felt earlier this year when they announced that one of the future detention camps would be at that same camp landing in Florida? We have a fascist, a fascist government, that allows innocent people to be put in detention camps and incarcerated."

Source: @tomaskenn

[Not Real Donald Trump @RealDonalDrumpf]

A true-crime documentary.

[ᗰᗩƳᖇᗩ @LePapillonBlu2]

👀