Activity 1-An Eventful Experience
For today's activity 1 I read about how on the 1st of September in 1939 World War 2 had been declared. This happened because The Germans decided to invade Poland. England and France decided a couple of days later to declare war against Germany and this is how the World War began. My task was to read two events that had happened during WW2 and write up a short summary about them. Site link-https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/second-world-war/timeline
Event 1. The Invasion Of Poland
On the 1st of September in 1939 Germany decided to overtake Poland. Adolf Hitler (The leader of the Nazi army) said that he wanted to take over Poland due to "defensive reasons" but this, of course, did not convince England or France. The Nazi managed to successfully gain full control of Poland with the help of a few allies. A couple of important or big names include the names of Adolf Hitler, Edward Rydz-Smigly (Marshal of Poland) and Waclaw Stachiewicz (Chief of the General Staff).
Event 2. Battle of Dunkirk
On the 26th of May 1940, all British and allied forces that tried to defend France were all pushed out to sea and they had to call for an evacuation. All forces had to return because there was no land left to defend and so that there would be still enough men to fight for the next battle against Germany. A couple of important or big names from this event include Lord Gort from the UK, Maxime Weygand and Georges Blanchard.
Activity 2-A Call to Arms
For today's activity 2 I read about what a Victoria Cross is. It is a medal that is awarded to the most prestigious and brave soldiers of World War 2. Only a total of 22 New Zealanders have gotten one of these so obviously it must mean a lot to get this medal! My task was to research about someone that is on the list of these people from New Zealand and write some information about them on my blog.
Sergeant Alfred Hulme
He was a sergeant with the 23rd Batallion in 2NZEF. He had done many heroic acts inside of Crete. He led many counter-attacks against German troops on the 20-21st of May in 1941. Four days after that he had a huge role in the New Zealand counter-attack at a place called Galatas. Occasionally he would actually be a spy and dress up as a German to get close to his targets.
Bonus Activity-Women At Work
For today's bonus activity I had to complete a story that was given to me to finish off. It is a nurse that was in the second world war and there was a couple of loud explosions... I'll leave the rest for you to read.
One day you are walking along the deck of the ship when you hear a loud bang. You start to run as you see smoke coming from the far end of the ship. You run towards the room where your patients are waiting to receive treatment from the doctor. Just as you arrive at the door to their room you hear another loud bang and you… hurriedly swoop into cover from the incoming ship. I slowly crept to the door and cautiously twisted the rusted knob on the cabin door that led to a room full of worried patients. I peered in and suddenly felt a huge wave of relief hit me as no one had gotten hurt. I walked over and reassured that the patients were safe, and luckily they were. I thought of the best way to calm my patients and I formed a sentence with my dry mouth "We will be fine just wait for help." I had known that help had been called and that all us anxious people could do nothing except for wait. In a flash, I heard another loud bang and it was quickly followed by trembling voices in the room I was in. We had all lost hope. We all then heard a loud and frightening horn outside and I had many conundrums going on in my head. I cleared them all out then had a peek through the cracked window. And in that moment all hope had been restored.
Wow Cameron, you've completed a lot of activities and to a really high standard.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing a few different events that occurred in the second world war and writing a brief summary about each. I recently saw the film 'Dunkirk'. It was hard to watch because of the violence. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were waiting to be evacuated off the beach but the larger boats were struggling to get in close enough to pick them up. Meanwhile the German fighter planes were dropping bombs on them. Eventually civilians from England took their own personal small boats over to collect soldiers. It was a remarkable film. You should watch it when you're old enough.
It's been interesting to read about Sergeant Alfred Hulme, thank you for sharing. He must have been really brave to go undercover as a spy.
I've really enjoyed reading your story that you have finished writing about the nurse on board the ship during a battle. It must have been really scary as a nurse or a a doctor to be in the midst of the war. You have used lots of descriptive language which helps paint a vivid picture in the reader's mind. I like how you have included some speech as well. You certainly held my attention and I was intrigued to see how the story would finish.
Well done, great blogging, keep it up.
Billy