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1431_7 | While Berger could not be convicted of this bank robbery, the fact that shots were fired at the police resulted in him being charged with attempt of murder. He was sentenced to another 12 years in prison despite not having fired a shot from his gun. Hinterlechner, who originally stated that Berger told him to fire, later withdrew this statement. A psychological assessment of Berger at the time found that he suffered from excessive masculinity, a lack of scruple when it came to aggression and a complete absence of fear for retribution by others. On top of his 12-year sentence, it was decided that Berger should remain in preventive detention for the rest of his life. In 1989, when his father died, Berger was allowed to attend the funeral, but he was guarded by 20 police officers and a police helicopter. |
1431_8 | When Berger's wife died in 2001, he was allowed to attend the funeral but was escorted by three police officers and was not allowed to spend time with his family. In his later days in jail, Berger felt that he was sentenced to death in jail, despite the death penalty having been abolished in Germany in 1949. Hubert Dietl, a high-ranking official in the Bavarian justice department, once declared that Berger should die in jail since he was a danger to the public. Berger never publicly showed regret for his crimes, but an inmate in his final years stated that Berger had changed and was much calmer and unlikely to be threat to anybody anymore. |
1431_9 | Death
After 39 years in jail, Berger committed suicide by hanging himself in Straubing prison on 20 November 2003. The appropriateness of Berger's 36 years in jail was questioned in his obituary by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, as he never killed anybody and even murderers in Germany tend to be released after much shorter sentences. Berger was buried at the Alten Friedhof in Neuburg an der Donau.
Personal life
While in prison in 1991, Berger married a teacher from Karlshuld. She made four unsuccessful appeals to have Berger pardoned, and she died in 2001. Berger had five children with three different women; two of the children died as infants. The surviving three children are all daughters.
Berger's daughter Michaela, who regularly visited him throughout his time in jail, made numerous attempts to have her father released and to have him live with her and her children. Shortly before his suicide, plans were underway to permit Berger to spend one day a week at his daughter's house. |
1431_10 | In popular culture
Berger's life was the subject of a 1986 German documentary The Bavarian Al Capone by Oliver Herbrich. The 59-minute documentary features Theo Berger as one of the coauthors and actors. The film was seen as too controversial for Bavarian public television, but it was shown in cinemas in Augsburg and the Donaumoos. For broadcast in West German Television (WDR) the film needed to be subtitled in High German. In 2018 the film was digitally remastered and successfully re-released.
in 1989, his autobiography Ausbruch (English: Escape) was published and 10,000 copies were sold.
In 2006, Berger became the subject of a theatre play in Neuburg an der Donau titled Bruchstücke. It became the most successful play in the history of theatre in Neuburg. However, the play was not uncontroversial; it was seen by some of his victims as an undeserved glorification of a criminal.
References |
1431_11 | Further reading
Theo Berger (1989) Ausbruch. Die Erinnerungen des Al Capone vom Donaumoos AV-Verlag, Augsburg,
Oliver Herbrich (2018) Mathias Kneißl - Theo Berger. Volkshelden wider Willen (German language) Fiction - Non-Fiction Film Edition,
External links
Bruchstücke Website on the Theo Berger theatre play
The Bavarian Al Capone Website on the film by Oliver Herbrich
1941 births
2003 suicides
20th-century German criminals
German bank robbers
German escapees
German people convicted of attempted murder
People convicted of theft
Criminals from Bavaria
People from Neuburg-Schrobenhausen
People who committed suicide in prison custody
Escapees from German detention
Suicides by hanging in Germany
German people who died in prison custody
Prisoners who died in German detention |
1432_0 | The fighting in the Burma campaign in 1944 was among the most severe in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II. It took place along the borders between Burma and India, and Burma and China, and involved the British Commonwealth, Chinese and United States forces, against the forces of Imperial Japan and the Indian National Army. British Commonwealth land forces were drawn primarily from the United Kingdom, British India and Africa. |
1432_1 | The Allies had overcome the logistic and organisational difficulties which had crippled their earlier efforts, and they were preparing to invade Japanese-occupied Burma at several widely separated points. The Japanese forestalled them by launching their own offensive into India, and this offensive became larger in scope than originally intended. By the end of the year, the Allies had achieved significant territorial gains only in one sector, the extreme north-east of Burma, but the Japanese attack on India had been defeated with very heavy casualties. This handicapped the Japanese attempts to defend Burma against renewed Allied offensives in the following year.
Rival plans |
1432_2 | Allied plans
After the Japanese invasion of Burma in early 1942, the Allies had launched tentative counterattacks in late 1942 and early 1943, despite lack of preparation and resources. This resulted in an Allied defeat in the coastal Arakan Province of Burma, and a questionable success in the first Chindit long-range raid into Burma (codenamed Operation Longcloth). |
1432_3 | In August 1943 the Allies created South East Asia Command (SEAC), a new combined command responsible for the South-East Asian Theatre. Its Commander in Chief was Admiral Louis Mountbatten. This brought a new sense of purpose and in November, when SEAC took over responsibility for Burma, the newly formed British Fourteenth Army was ready to take the offensive. The substantial improvement in the effectiveness of the troops which Fourteenth Army inherited has been credited to its commander, Lieutenant General William Slim. He enforced the use of anti-malarial drugs as part of an emphasis on individual health, established realistic jungle warfare training, rebuilt the army's self-respect by winning easy small-scale victories and developed local military infrastructure. |
1432_4 | Slim's efforts were aided by improvements to the Allied lines of communication. By October 1944, capacity on the North-East Indian Railways had been raised from 600 tons a day at the start of the war to 4,400 tons a day. The Allied Eastern Air Command, which consisted mainly of Royal Air Force squadrons but also several units of the Indian Air Force and bomber and transport units of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), had gained air superiority and this allowed the Allies to employ new tactics, relying upon air support and aerial resupply of troops. |
1432_5 | SEAC had to accommodate several rival plans:
Admiral Mountbatten, as a naval officer who had previously served as commander of Combined Operations HQ, favoured amphibious landings. The first of these was to be on the Andaman Islands (Operation "Buccaneer"), but the landing craft assigned to the operation were recalled to Europe in preparation for the Normandy Landings.
The previous year, a British attack into the Burmese coastal province of Arakan had been heavily defeated. Having been reorganised, XV Corps had taken over this part of the front and was preparing to renew the offensive with the aim of capturing Akyab Island, important for its port and airfield. A limited amphibious move (Operation "Pigstick") in support of this attack had to be abandoned for lack of the necessary landing craft and other shipping. |
1432_6 | The American aim in the China Burma India Theater was to maintain military aid and supplies to the Republic of China under Chiang Kai-shek, with its wartime capital in Chungking. They had established an air supply route, known as the Hump, over the Himalayas to Kunming in the Chinese province of Yunnan. Some Chinese forces which had retreated into India in early 1942 had been re-equipped and retrained by an American military mission under Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, who was also Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-shek and Deputy Commander of SEAC. Stilwell proposed to construct a new road, the Ledo Road, to link India and China by land, although British leaders were sceptical about the value of this road and the effort devoted to it. By the start of 1944, the new road had reached the far side of the Patkai mountains, and Stilwell was preparing to advance on Kamaing and Myitkyina in northern Burma. |
1432_7 | Chiang Kai-shek had agreed to mount an offensive across the Salween River into eastern Burma from Yunnan. When the Andaman Island landings were cancelled, he claimed this was a breach of faith and cancelled the Yunnan offensive, although he later reinstated it.
After a long-distance raid (Operation "Longcloth") in 1943 by a long-range penetration force known as the Chindits, British Major-General Orde Wingate had gained approval for the force and its scope of operations to be greatly expanded. This was opposed by Slim and others who felt that this was too great a drain on manpower and resources, but under political pressure from Winston Churchill, Wingate's plans went ahead. The Chindits, designated Indian 3rd Infantry Division for cover purposes, were to assist Stilwell by disrupting the Japanese lines of supply to the northern front. |
1432_8 | Wingate had originally planned that an airborne brigade would capture a Japanese-held airfield at Indaw, which would then be garrisoned by a line infantry division as a base for further Chindit raids. This second part of the plan for Wingate's Special Force, which would have imposed heavy demands on the available transport aircraft and also required troops already allocated to other operations, was later dropped. |
1432_9 | After protracted staff discussions within India and between the Allied staffs and commanders in London, Washington and Chungking, the Allied plans for 1944 were reduced to: the offensive by Stilwell's Chinese troops from Ledo; the Chindit operation in support of Stilwell; the renewed overland attack in Arakan; and a rather ill-defined offensive across the Chindwin River from Imphal in support of the other operations.
Japanese plans
About the same time that SEAC was established, the Japanese had created a new headquarters, Burma Area Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Masakazu Kawabe. Its subordinate formations were the Japanese Fifteenth Army in the north and east of Burma and the Japanese Twenty-Eighth Army in the south and west. |
1432_10 | By chance or design, the new commander of Fifteenth Army, Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi, had played a major part in many recent Japanese triumphs. He had for example been the officer immediately concerned in the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, which started hostilities between Japan and China, and stated his belief that it was his destiny to win the war for Japan. He was keen to mount an offensive against India. Burma Area Army originally quashed this idea, but Mutaguchi's persistent advocacy won over officers at Southern Expeditionary Army Group at Singapore, the HQ of all Japanese forces in southern Asia. Finally, Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo approved Mutaguchi's plan. Officers who opposed Mutaguchi's plans were transferred or sidelined. Neither Kawabe, nor Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi, the commander in chief of Southern Expeditionary Army Group, were given any opportunity to veto Mutaguchi's plan, or to control the operation once it had started. |
1432_11 | The Japanese were influenced to an unknown degree by Subhas Chandra Bose, commander of the Indian National Army. This was composed largely of Indian soldiers who had been captured in Malaya or Singapore, and some Tamil labourers living in Malaya. At Bose's instigation, a substantial contingent of the INA joined in this Chalo Delhi ("March on Delhi"). Both Bose and Mutaguchi emphasised the advantages which would be gained by a successful attack into India. With misgivings on the part of several of Mutaguchi's superiors and subordinates, Operation U-Go was launched.
Northern front
Stilwell's forces, the Northern Combat Area Command, initially consisted of two American-equipped Chinese divisions, with a Chinese-manned M3 Light Tank battalion and an American long-range penetration brigade known after its commander as "Merrill's Marauders". Three Chinese divisions were later flown from Yunnan to Ledo to reinforce Stilwell. |
1432_12 | In October 1943 the Chinese 38th Division, led by Sun Li-jen, began to advance from Ledo towards Shinbwiyang, while American engineers and Indian labourers extended the Ledo Road behind them. The Japanese 18th Division advanced to the Chindwin to stop them, but found itself outmatched. Whenever the Chinese 22nd and 38th Divisions ran into Japanese strong points, the Marauders were used to outflank Japanese positions by going through the jungle. A technique which had served the Japanese so well earlier in the war before the Allies had learnt the arts of jungle warfare was now being used against them. At Walawbum, for example, if the Chinese 38th Division had been a little swifter and linked up with the Marauders it could have encircled the Japanese 18th Division.
Not only were the Japanese driven back, but the Allies were able to use the trace of the track the Japanese had constructed to supply 18th Division, to speed their construction of the Ledo Road. |
1432_13 | Second Chindit Expedition
In Operation Thursday the Chindits were to support Stilwell's advance by interdicting Japanese supply lines in the region of Indaw. On 5 February 1944, Brigadier Bernard Fergusson's 16th Brigade set out from Ledo, on foot. They crossed exceptionally difficult terrain which the Japanese had not guarded, and penetrated the Japanese rear areas. In early March, three other brigades were flown into landing zones behind Japanese lines by the USAAF 1st Air Commando Group, from where they established strongholds on most of the Japanese road and rail links to their northern front. Over the next two and a half months the Chindits were involved in many very heavy battles with the Japanese. |
1432_14 | Brigadier Michael Calvert's 77th Brigade successfully defended one of the landing zones, codenamed "Broadway", and established a road and railway block at Mawlu, north of Indaw. This position, codenamed the "White City", was successfully held for several weeks. Not all communications to the Japanese northern front were blocked, as only a single Chindit battalion operated against the road from Bhamo to Myitkyina, beyond the range of effective Allied air support.
On 24 March, Fergusson's brigade attempted to capture the airfield at Indaw but was repulsed, after which the exhausted brigade was withdrawn to India. On the same day, Wingate, the commander of the Chindits, was killed in an aircrash. His replacement was Brigadier Joe Lentaigne, formerly the commander of the 111th Brigade, one of the Chindit formations. |
1432_15 | On 17 May, overall control of the Chindits was transferred from Slim's Fourteenth Army to Stilwell's NCAC. The Chindits evacuated "Broadway" and the "White City", and moved from the Japanese rear areas to new bases closer to Stilwell's front. They were given additional tasks for which they were not equipped. At the same time, the Japanese replaced the scratch "Take Force" which had been trying to defend their rear areas with the newly formed headquarters of the Japanese Thirty-Third Army, and deployed 53rd Division against the Chindits.
The 111th Brigade, commanded by John Masters, tried to establish another road and rail block codenamed "Blackpool" near Hopin, but were forced to retreat on 25 May after 17 days of battle. The monsoon had broken, making movement difficult and preventing the other Chindit formations reinforcing Masters's brigade. Calvert's 77th Brigade subsequently captured Mogaung after a siege which ended on 27 June, but at the cost of 50 percent casualties. |
1432_16 | By July, it was clear that the Chindits were exhausted by continuous marching and fighting under heavy monsoon rains, and were withdrawn. By the end of the campaign the Chindits had lost 1,396 killed and 2,434 wounded. Over half the remainder had to be hospitalised with a special diet afterwards. The British 36th Division was transferred from the Arakan to Stilwell's command to replace the Chindits.
Yunnan Front
The Chinese forces on the Yunnan front mounted an attack starting in the second half of April, with nearly 40,000 troops crossing the Salween River on a front. Within a few days some twelve Chinese Divisions, totalling 72,000 men under the command of General Wei Lihuang, were attacking the Japanese 56th Division. The Japanese forces in the North were now fighting on two fronts, against the Allies from the North West and the Nationalist Chinese from the North East. |
1432_17 | The Chinese Yunnan offensive was hampered by the monsoon rains and lack of air support, but succeeded in surrounding the garrison of Tengchung at the end of May. (It held out before being annihilated in late September.) After overcoming determined Japanese resistance (in which the Japanese were helped when Chinese plans and codes fell into their hands by chance), the Chinese captured Lungling at the end of August. At this point, the Japanese moved reinforcements (amounting to a further division in strength) to Yunnan and counter-attacked, temporarily halting the Chinese advance.
Myitkynia and Mogaung |
1432_18 | While the Japanese offensive on the Central Front was being waged, Stilwell's forces continued to make gains. On 19 May, the Chinese 22nd and 38th Divisions encircled Kamaing. Two days before, on 17 May, Merrill's forces captured the airfield at Myitkyina after a march across the Kumon Bum Mountains which nearly crippled the already weary Marauders. If Chinese troops from Ledo had been flown in that afternoon to attack the town immediately they could have overwhelmed the small garrison, but support and logistic units were flown in first and the opportunity to capture the town easily was lost, as Japanese reinforcements arrived in the town. |
1432_19 | The resulting prolonged siege was not very well directed and cost the allies many men, particularly amongst the Marauders who were kept in the line for reasons of American prestige, and among the Chindits who were forced to remain in the field to disrupt Japanese relief attempts far longer than had been planned. However, because of the deteriorating situation on the other fronts, the Japanese never regained the initiative on the Northern Front. |
1432_20 | The long siege also resulted in heavy Japanese losses. When the airfield was captured, the Japanese in the town at first intended to fight a delaying action only, aided by the monsoon rains. On 10 July, Major General Genzo Mizukami, who had been sent with reinforcements and placed in charge of the garrison, was ordered personally to "Defend Myitkyina to the death". The Japanese dug in and repelled several Chinese attacks. Further resistance appeared hopeless by the end of July. Mizukami evacuated the survivors of the garrison before fulfilling the letter of his orders by taking his own life inside the defended perimeter. Myitkyina was finally captured on 3 August.
Combined with the British capture of Mogaung in June, the capture of Myitkyina marked the end of the initial phase of Stilwell's campaign. It was the largest seizure of Japanese-held territory to date in the Burma campaign. The airfield at Myitkyina became a vital link in the air route over the Hump. |
1432_21 | Southern front 1943/44
In Arakan, XV Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Philip Christison, renewed the advance on the Mayu peninsula. Ranges of steep hills channelled the advance into three attacks; by 5th Indian Division along the coast, 7th Indian Division along the Kalapanzin River and 81st (West Africa) Division along the Kaladan River. The 5th Indian Division captured the small port of Maungdaw on 9 January 1944. The Corps then prepared to capture two disused railway tunnels which linked Maungdaw with the Kalapanzin valley. However, the Japanese struck first. A strong force from the Japanese 55th Division infiltrated Allied lines to attack the 7th Indian Division from the rear, overrunning the divisional HQ. |
1432_22 | Unlike previous occasions on which this had happened, the Allied forces stood firm against the attack, and supplies were dropped to them by parachute. In the Battle of the Admin Box from 5 to 23 February, the Japanese concentrated on XV Corps' Administrative Area, defended mainly by service troops, but they were unable to deal with tanks supporting the defenders. Troops from 5th Indian Division broke through the Ngakyedauk Pass to relieve the defenders of the box. Although battle casualties were approximately equal, the overall result was a heavy Japanese defeat. Their infiltration and encirclement tactics had failed to panic Allied troops, and as the Japanese were unable to capture enemy supplies, they themselves starved. |
1432_23 | Two fresh Allied divisions (the 26th Indian Division and the British 36th Division) took over the front in the Mayu peninsula and resumed the offensive. However, XV Corps's offensive wound down over the next few weeks, as the Allies concentrated their resources, particularly transport aircraft, on the Central Front. After capturing the railway tunnels and some hills which dominated the Maungdaw-Buthidaung road, XV Corps halted during the monsoon. Some ground in the malarial Kalapanzin valley was given up to reduce losses to disease, and Japanese counter-attacks forced the isolated 81st (West Africa) Division to retreat up the Kaladan Valley.
Central front |
1432_24 | At Imphal, IV Corps under Lieutenant-General Geoffry Scoones had pushed forward two divisions to the Chindwin River. One division was in reserve at Imphal. There were indications that a major Japanese offensive was building, and Slim and Scoones planned to withdraw and force the Japanese to fight at the end of impossibly long and difficult supply lines. However, they misjudged the date on which the Japanese were to attack, and the strength they would use against some objectives. |
1432_25 | The main body of the Japanese Fifteenth Army, consisting of the 33rd Division, 15th Division and the brigade-sized "Yamamoto Force", planned to cut off and destroy the forward divisions of IV Corps before capturing Imphal. The 31st Division would meanwhile isolate Imphal by capturing Kohima. Mutaguchi intended to exploit this victory by capturing the strategic city of Dimapur, in the Brahmaputra River valley. If this could be achieved, his army would be through the mountainous border region and the whole of North East India would be open to attack. Units of the Indian National Army were to take part in the offensive and raise rebellion in India. The capture of the Dimapur railhead would also sever the land communications to the airbases used to supply the Chinese via the "Hump", and cut off supplies to General Stilwell's forces fighting on the Northern Front.
Preliminary battles |
1432_26 | The Japanese began crossing the Chindwin River on 8 March. Scoones only gave his forward divisions orders to withdraw to Imphal on 13 March. The 20th Indian Division withdrew from Tamu without difficulty, but the 17th Indian Division was cut off at Tiddim by the Japanese 33rd Division. From 18 to 25 March, the 17th Division was able to fight its way back through four Japanese road blocks, thanks to air re-supply by the RAF and U.S Troop Carrier Command crews in their Douglas C-47 Skytrains, and assistance from Scoones's reserve, the 23rd Indian Division. The two divisions reached the Imphal plain on 4 April. |
1432_27 | Meanwhile, Imphal had been left vulnerable to the Japanese 15th Division. The only force left covering the northern approaches to the base, 50th Indian Parachute Brigade, was roughly handled at the Battle of Sangshak and forced to withdraw by a regiment from the Japanese 31st Division on its way to Kohima. However, the diversionary attack launched by Japanese 55th division in Arakan had already been defeated, and in late March Slim was able to move the battle-hardened 5th Indian Division, with all its artillery, jeeps, mules and other materiel, by air from Arakan to the Central Front. The move was completed in only eleven days. The division's HQ and two brigades went to Imphal, the other brigade (the 161st Indian Infantry Brigade) went to Dimapur from where it sent a detachment to Kohima.
Kohima |
1432_28 | While the Allied forces in Imphal were cut off and besieged, the Japanese 31st Division, consisting of 20,000 men under Lieutenant-General Kotoku Sato, advanced up the Imphal–Dimapur road. Instead of isolating the small garrison at Kohima and pressing on with his main force to Dimapur, Sato chose to concentrate on capturing the hill station. The Japanese records indicate that Sato (and Mutaguchi's other divisional commanders) had severe misgivings about Fifteenth Army's plan. In particular, they thought the logistic gambles were reckless, and were unwilling to drive on objectives they thought unattainable. |
1432_29 | The Battle of Kohima started on 6 April when the Japanese isolated the garrison and tried to dislodge the defenders from their hill top redoubts. Fighting was very heavy around the bungalow and tennis court of the Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills. This phase of the battle is often referred to as the Battle of the Tennis Court and was the "high-water mark" of the Japanese attack. On 18 April, the 161st Indian Brigade relieved the defenders, but the battle was not over as the Japanese dug in and defended the positions they had captured. |
1432_30 | A new Allied formation HQ, the XXXIII Corps under Lieutenant-General Montagu Stopford, took over operations on this front. The British 2nd Division began a counter-offensive and by 15 May, they had prised the Japanese off Kohima Ridge itself, although the Japanese still held dominating positions north and south of the Ridge. More Allied troops were arriving at Kohima. The 7th Indian Division followed 5th Indian Division from the Arakan, an Indian motor infantry brigade reinforced 2nd Division and a brigade diverted from the Chindit operation cut Japanese 31st Division's supply lines. XXXIII Corps renewed its offensive in the middle of May.
Imphal |
1432_31 | The Battle of Imphal went badly for the Japanese during April, as their attacks from several directions on the Imphal plain failed to break the Allied defensive ring. The fighting took place in three main sectors. The Japanese 15th Division's attacks from the north were broken when infantry from the 5th Indian Division and M3 Lee tanks recaptured a vital hill at Nungshigum, which overlooked the main airstrip at Imphal, on 13 April. Fighting between Yamamoto Force and the reduced 20th Indian Division swayed back and forth through the hills on either side of the main Imphal-Tamu road throughout the month. The Japanese 33rd Division was slow to throw in its main attack from the south but there was severe fighting around the village of Bishenpur for several weeks. |
1432_32 | At the start of May, Slim and Scoones began a counter-offensive against the Japanese 15th Division north of Imphal. Progress was slow. The monsoon had broken, making movement very difficult. Also, IV Corps was suffering some shortages. Although rations and reinforcements were delivered to Imphal by air, artillery ammunition was running short. However, the Japanese were at the end of their endurance. Neither their 31st Division nor 15th Division had received adequate supplies since the offensive began, and during the rains, disease rapidly spread among the starving Japanese troops. |
1432_33 | Lieutenant-General Sato had notified Mutaguchi that his division would withdraw from Kohima at the end of May if it were not supplied. In spite of orders to hold on, Sato did indeed begin to retreat, although an independent detachment from his division continued to fight delaying actions along the Imphal Road. Meanwhile, the units of 15th Division were wandering away from their positions to forage for supplies. Its commander, Lieutenant-General Masafumi Yamauchi (who was mortally ill), was dismissed but this could not affect matters. The leading British and Indian troops of IV Corps and XXXIII Corps met at Milestone 109 on the Dimapur-Imphal road on 22 June, and the siege of Imphal was raised. |
1432_34 | Mutaguchi (and Kawabe) nevertheless continued to order renewed attacks. 33rd Division (under a new forceful commander, Lieutenant-General Nobuo Tanaka), and Yamamoto Force made repeated efforts south of Imphal, but by the end of June they had suffered so many casualties both from battle and disease that they were unable to make any progress. The Allies had in the meantime cleared large numbers of starving and disordered Japanese troops in and around Ukhrul (near Sangshak) north of Imphal. The Japanese Imphal operation was finally broken off early in July, and they retreated painfully to the Chindwin River. |
1432_35 | Aftermath
The attempted invasion of India was the largest defeat to that date in Japanese history. They had suffered 55,000 casualties, including 13,500 dead. Most of these losses were the result of disease, malnutrition and exhaustion. The Allies suffered 17,500 casualties. Mutaguchi was relieved of his command and left Burma for Singapore in disgrace. Sato refused to commit Seppuku (hara-kiri) when handed a sword by Colonel Shumei Kinoshita, insisting that the defeat had not been his doing. He was examined by doctors who stated that his mental health was such that he could not be court-martialled, probably under pressure from Kawabe and Terauchi, who did not wish a public scandal. |
1432_36 | From August to November, Fourteenth Army pursued the Japanese to the Chindwin River despite heavy monsoon rains. While the newly arrived 11th East Africa Division advanced down the Kabaw Valley from Tamu and improved the road behind them, the 5th Indian Division advanced along the mountainous Tiddim road. As Fourteenth Army planned to use only the Kabaw Valley route for supply during the next season's campaign, the Tiddim Road (which included evocatively named stretches such as the "Chocolate Staircase") was allowed to fall into ruin behind the 5th Division, which was supplied entirely by parachute drops. An improvised light formation, the Lushai Brigade, was used to interrupt the lines of communication of the Japanese defending the road. By the end of November, Kalewa (an important river port on the Chindwin) had been recaptured, and several bridgeheads had been established on the east bank of the Chindwin. |
1432_37 | Slim and his Corps commanders (Scoones, Christison and Stopford) were knighted in front of Scottish, Gurkha and Punjab regiments by the viceroy Lord Wavell in a ceremony at Imphal in December.
Notes
References
Bayly, Christopher & Harper, Tim. Forgotten Armies
Calvert, Mike. Fighting Mad has content related to the 1944 Chindit campaign
Dillon, Terence. Rangoon to Kohima
Hickey, Michael. The Unforgettable Army
Ochi, Harumi. Struggle in Burma
Rolo, Charles J. Wingate's Raiders
Sadayoshi Shigematsu Fighting Around Burma
Slim, William (1956) Defeat into Victory. Citations from the Cassell 1956 edition, but also available from NY: Buccaneer Books , Cooper Square Press ; London: Cassell , Pan .
Sugita, Saiichi. Burma Operations
Thompson, Robert. Make for the Hills has content related to the 1944 Chindit campaign
Webster, Donovan. The Burma Road : The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II
Further reading |
1432_38 | External links
Burma Star Association
National Army Museum Battle of Imphal and Kohima 1944
Imperial War Museum London Burma Summary
The Kohima Museum Museum based in York dedicated to the Battle of Kohima
Royal Engineers Museum Engineers in the Burma Campaigns
Royal Engineers Museum Engineers with the Chindits
Canadian War Museum: Newspaper Articles on the Burma Campaigns, 1941-1945
World War II animated campaign maps
List of Regimental Battle Honours in the Burma Campaign (1942 - 1945) - Also some useful links
"Operations in Burma and North-east Infia from 16th November, 1943 TO 22nd June, 1944." Official dispatch by Lieutenant General George Giffard
Burma 1944
Burma 1944
Burma 1944
Indian National Army
Military history of Yunnan
1944 in Burma
B |
1433_0 | The SS Nile was an iron-hulled cargo steamship. She is best remembered for her sinking in bad weather on 30 November 1854 with the loss of all hands, most likely after colliding with The Stones, a notoriously dangerous reef off Godrevy Head in Cornwall.
Construction and use
The Nile, an iron-hulled screw steamer, was built at Dumbarton in 1850. She was first operated by the Moss Line of Liverpool and inaugurated the line's Mediterranean service. In 1853 her ownership passed to James Stirling of Dublin and her operations to the British and Irish Steam Packet Company. |
1433_1 | Loss
On her last voyage, Nile was travelling from Liverpool to London, calling at Penzance, Falmouth, Plymouth and Portsmouth en route. She was carrying a cargo of heavy merchandise and could also accommodate passengers at low rates, though due to the late time of year few people would have taken such a roundabout route. She had been due to leave Liverpool on Sunday 26 November but due to bad weather had to delay her journey for two days. She left Liverpool on the evening of Tuesday 28 November and was last seen about from the Longships Lighthouse on the evening of 30 November, making her way through rough seas and high winds. |
1433_2 | The following day, a ship sailing from Hayle to Penzance spotted oil floating on the water. Later on 1 December it became apparent that an accident had overtaken the Nile when papers addressed to the captain, spars, empty casks and other debris were washed ashore at Portreath. The ship's stern was spotted a day or two later and several bodies, five of which were female, were washed ashore at Tehidy. One of them was identified as the stewardess of the Nile.
Cause and casualties of the disaster |
1433_3 | The cause of the disaster was not definitively established. It is likely that the captain, W.F. Moppett of Dublin, drifted off course by about 18 to 20 miles in the bad weather, resulting in the ship hitting The Stones. The Nile may have managed to back away from the rocks but foundered in 12 to 14 fathoms of water. Those aboard were either unable to escape due to the ship's rapid disintegration or were overwhelmed by the waves when they tried to launch the lifeboats. The ship was thought to have struck the rocks around 2 or 3 am shortly after the flood tide, judging by the disposition of the wreckage in St Ives Bay. |
1433_4 | There were about 24 crew aboard, consisting of the captain, two mates, a steward and stewardess, carpenter, boatswain, 18 engineers, stokers and sailors. The number of passengers was unclear. Several missed the ship's departure due to its late exit from Liverpool. One man had a fortunate escape when he spent too long drinking ashore with a friend and missed the ship's departure. He hurried on to Bristol via another steamer and travelled overland to Hayle to catch up with the Nile so that he could be reunited with his luggage, which was still aboard, but found on arriving that he had lost his luggage but saved his life. Another man arrived at the ship just as the bridge to the deck was being removed and offered a shilling to a porter to replace it, but was refused; he thus missed the departure and unknowingly escaped the shipwreck. The value of the Nile was estimated at around £40,000 to £50,000 (around £3.2 million to £4 million in 2013 prices) and was almost fully insured, but much |
1433_5 | of the cargo – mainly goods from Manchester despatched to drapers at Penzance, Truro and Falmouth – was uninsured and the consignees suffered heavy losses as a result of the sinking. |
1433_6 | Aftermath
The sinking prompted complaints that nothing had been done to address the long-standing risks that The Stones posed to shipping. Richard Short, a St Ives master mariner, wrote to the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette the day after the news of the sinking broke to note: "[H]ad there been a light on Godrevy Island, which the inhabitants of this town have often applied for, it would not doubt have been the means of warning the ill-fated ship of the dangerous rocks she was approaching. Many applications have been made from time to time concerning the erection of a light to warn mariners against this dangerous reef, but it has never been attended to, and to that account may be attributed the destruction of hundreds of lives and a mass of property ... Scarcely a month passes by in the winter season without some vessel striking on these rocks, and hundreds of poor fellows have perished there in dark dreary nights without one being left to tell the tale." |
1433_7 | Further though less lethal accidents followed, prompting a local clergyman, the Rev. J.W. Murray of Hayle, to start a petition to Trinity House to build a lighthouse on the island. The petitioners were informed in October 1856 that Trinity House had agreed to build the Godrevy Lighthouse, which began operating in 1859.
References
1850 ships
Ships built on the River Clyde
Merchant ships of the United Kingdom
Maritime incidents in November 1854
Ships lost with all hands
Steamships of the United Kingdom
Cornish shipwrecks
Ships of the British and Irish Steam Packet Company |
1434_0 | Azerbaijan (), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; ; ), also referred to as Soviet Azerbaijan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1991. Created on 28 April 1920 when the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic brought pro-Soviet figures to power in the region, the first two years of the Azerbaijani SSR were as an independent country until incorporation into the Transcausasian SFSR, along with the Armenian SSR and the Georgian SSR. |
1434_1 | In December 1922, the Transcaucasian SFSR became part of the newly established Soviet Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan SSR was approved by the 9th Extraordinary All-Azerbaijani Congress of Soviets on 14 March 1937. On 5 February 1991, Azerbaijan SSR was renamed the Republic of Azerbaijan according to the Decision No.16-XII of Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan approving the Decree of the President of Azerbaijan SSR dated 29 November 1990, remained in the USSR for the period before the declaration of independence in August 1991. The Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR ceased to exist in 1995, upon the adoption of the new Constitution of Azerbaijan. |
1434_2 | Etymology
The name "Azerbaijan" originates as the "Land of Atropates", an Achaemenid then Hellenistic-era king over a region in present-day Iranian Azarbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan, south of the modern state. Despite this difference, the present name was chosen by the Musavat to replace the Russian names Transcaucasia and Baku in 1918. "Azerbaijan" derives from Persian Āzarbāydjān, from earlier Ādharbāyagān and Ādharbādhagān, from Middle Persian Āturpātākān, from Old Persian Atropatkan.
From its founding it was officially known as the Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic. When the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic was abolished, the name was changed to the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic according to the 1937 and 1978 Azerbaijan SSR constitutions. Upon independence, it was renamed to the Republic of Azerbaijan (or Azerbaijani Republic) in 1991. The current official name was retained after the new Constitution of Azerbaijan was adopted in 1995.
History |
1434_3 | Establishment
The Azerbaijan SSR was established on 28 April 1920 after the surrender of the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic to local Bolsheviks led by Mirza Davud Huseynov and Nariman Narimanov and the invasion of the Bolshevik 11th Red Army.
On 13 October 1921, the Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia signed an agreement with Turkey known as the Treaty of Kars. The previously independent Nakhcivan SSR would also become an autonomous ASSR within Azerbaijan by the Treaty of Kars.
Borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, like elsewhere in the USSR, were redrawn several times, yet neither side was completely satisfied with the results.
Transcaucasian SFSR |
1434_4 | On 12 March 1922 the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenian, and Georgian Soviet Socialist Republics established a union known as the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (TSFSR). This was the first attempt at a union of Soviet republics, preceding the USSR. The Union Council of TSFSR consisted of the representatives of the three republics – Nariman Narimanov (Azerbaijan), Polikarp Mdivani (Georgia), and Aleksandr Fyodorovich Miasnikyan (Armenia). The First Secretary of the Transcaucasian Communist Party was Sergo Ordzhonikidze.
In December 1922 TSFSR agreed to join the union with Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, thus creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics which would last until 1991. The TSFSR, however, did not last long. In December 1936, the Transcaucasian Union was dismantled when the leaders in the Union Council found themselves unable to come to agreement over several issues. Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia then became union Republics of the Soviet Union directly. |
1434_5 | Economy and development
In the spring of 1921, a general change-over from revkoms and kombeds to Soviets took place. In order to help the Azerbaijani oil industry the Supreme Council of the National Economy decided in the same year to provide it with everything necessary out of turn. The new oilfields, like Ilyich bay, Qaraçuxur, Lökbatan and Qala have been discovered. By 1929, a significant kolkhoz movement had developed and Azerbaijan became the second Soviet tea producer after the Georgian SSR for the first time. On 31 March 1931, the oil industry of the Azerbaijan SSR, which supplied over 60% of the total Soviet oil production at the time, was awarded the Order of Lenin. The republic gained the second Order on 15 March 1935 during the observation of its 15th anniversary. By the end of the second five-year plan (1933–1937) Azerbaijan had become the 3rd republic in the Soviet Union by its capital investment size. |
1434_6 | World War II
During the period 17 September 1939 to 21 June 1941, Nazi Germany, due to its non-aggression pact and relatively normalized trade relations with the USSR, was a major importer of oil produced in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. |
1434_7 | This changed when Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. In the first year of the Soviet-German War, Azerbaijan produced 23.5 million tons of oil – a record for the entire history of its oil industry. By the end of 1941, thousands of Azerbaijanis had joined the People's Volunteer Corps. Mobilization affected all spheres of life, particularly the oil industries. A week after fighting began, the oil workers themselves took the initiative to extend their work to 12-hour shifts, with no days off, no holidays, and no vacations until the end of the war. Meanwhile, in September 1942 Hitler's generals presented him with a large decorated cake which depicted the Caspian Sea and Baku. Baku then became the primary strategic goal of Hitler's 1942 Fall Blau offensive. This offensive was unsuccessful, however. The German army reached the mountains of the Caucasus, but was at the same time decisively defeated at the Battle of Stalingrad and so forced to retreat from the area, abandoning |
1434_8 | all hopes for a Reichskommissariat Kaukasus. In 1942 Azerbaijan also became the second-largest tea producer of the Soviet Army. By the decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in February 1942, the commitment of more than 500 workers and employees of the oil industry of Azerbaijan was awarded orders and medals. Of the estimated 600,000 Azerbaijanis who were recruited into the Soviet Army during the war, 290,000 died. |
1434_9 | Post-war period |
1434_10 | An event that greatly impacted Azerbaijanis on both sides of the border was the Soviet occupation of Iranian Azerbaijan in the summer of 1941. The Soviet military presence south of the Aras River led to a revival of Pan-Azerbaijani nationalism. During the Soviet occupation, a revival of the Azerbaijani literary language, which had largely been supplanted by Persian, was promoted with the help of writers, journalists, and teachers from Soviet Azerbaijan. In November 1945, with Soviet backing, an autonomous "Azerbaijan People's Government" was set up at Tabriz under Jafar Pishevari, the leader of the Azerbaijani Democratic Party. Secular cultural institutions and education in Azerbaijani blossomed throughout Iranian Azerbaijan, and speculation grew rife about a possible unification of the two Azerbaijani republics, under Soviet control. As it turned out, the issue of Iranian Azerbaijan became one of the first conflicts of the Cold War, and under the pressure from the Western powers, the |
1434_11 | Soviet army was withdrawn. The Iranian government regained control over Iranian Azerbaijan by the end of 1946 and the Democratic Party leaders took refuge in Soviet Azerbaijan. Jafar Pishevari, who was never fully trusted by Stalin, soon died under mysterious circumstances. |
1434_12 | Apart from the Oil Rocks, Azerbaijan's first offshore oil field was opened in the early 1950s. Policies of de-Stalinization and improvement after the 1950s led to better education and welfare conditions for most of Azerbaijan. This also coincided with the period of rapid urbanization and industrialization. During this period of change, a new anti-Islamic drive and return to a policy of Russification, under the policy of sblizheniye (rapprochement), was instituted in order to merge all the peoples of the USSR into a new monolithic Soviet nation. |
1434_13 | Pre-secession |
1434_14 | In the 1960s, signs of a structural crisis in the Soviet system began to emerge. Azerbaijan's crucial oil industry lost its relative importance in the Soviet economy, partly because of a shift of oil production to other regions of the Soviet Union and partly because of the depletion of known oil resources accessible from land, while offshore production was not deemed cost-effective. As a result, Azerbaijan had the lowest rate of growth in productivity and economic output among the Soviet republics, with the exception of Tajikistan. Ethnic tensions, particularly between Armenians and Azerbaijanis began to grow, but the violence was suppressed. In an attempt to end the growing structural crisis, the government in Moscow appointed Heydar Aliyev as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in 1969. Aliyev temporarily improved the economic conditions and promoted alternative industries to the declining oil industry, such as cotton. He also consolidated the republic's ruling |
1434_15 | elite, which now consisted almost entirely of ethnic Azerbaijanis, thus reverting the previous trends of sblizheniye. In 1982 Aliyev was made a member of the Communist Party's Politburo in Moscow. In 1987, when Perestroika was implemented, he was forced to retire by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose reform policies he opposed. |
1434_16 | Secession
The late 1980s, during the Gorbachev era, were characterized by increasing unrest in the Caucasus, initially over the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. The ethnic strife revealed the shortcomings of the Communist Party as a champion of national interests and, in the spirit of glasnost, independent publications and political organizations began to emerge. Of these organizations, by far the most prominent was the Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA), which by the fall of 1989 had a lot of popular support. The movement supported independence from the USSR.
Unrest culminated with a crackdown by the Red army which aimed at silencing the demands for independence. At least 132 demonstrators were killed and other civilians in Baku injured on 20 January 1990. |
1434_17 | Azerbaijan participated in the union-wide referendum to preserve the union as the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics but with different constitutional arrangements. The referendum was passed by 93.3% of valid polls. The Armenian SSR did not participate in the referendum. The Supreme Soviet of the exclave of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic also decided not to participate in the referendum. The Azerbaijani Popular Front Party argued that only 15% of the electorate had participated in the referendum.
The "Treaty of the Union of Sovereign States” failed to be ratified because the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt accelerated declarations of independence by Soviet Socialist Republics between August and December. Azerbaijan adopted its declaration of independence on 30 August 1991, The final dissolution of the Soviet Union took place on 26 December 1991. Shortly before that date, the Azerbaijan SSR joined the Commonwealth of Independent States. |
1434_18 | By the end of 1991 fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh had escalated into a full-scale war, which culminated into a tense 1994 cease-fire that has persisted into the 21st century. Although a cease-fire was achieved, several escalations over the years such as in 2016 and in 2020 had resulted in large-scale military confrontations.
Government
On 28 April 1920, Temporary Revolutionary Committee took control over the country, and formed a government named Council of People's Commissars of Azerbaijan SSR.
After the approval of the Constitution of Azerbaijan SSR by the All-Azerbaijan Congress of Soviets in 1921, Azerbaijan Revolutionary Committee was revoked and Central Executive Committee was selected as a supreme legislative body.
According to the Constitution Azerbaijan SSR in 1937, the legislative body switched to a new phase. Central Executive Committee was replaced with Supreme Soviet. |
1434_19 | Heads of state
Sergey Kirov (1921-1926)
Levon Mirzoyan (1926-1929)
Ruhulla Akhundov (1925-1926)
Mir Jafar Baghirov (1933-1953)
Imam Mustafayev (1954-1959)
Veli Akhundov (1959-1969)
Heydar Aliyev (1969-1982)
Kamran Baghirov (1982-1988)
Abdurrahman Vazirov (1988-1990)
Ayaz Mutallibov (1990-1991)
Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee
Mukhtar Gajiyev (1921–1922)
Samed Aliyev (1922–1929)
Gazanfar Musabekov (1929–1931)
Sultan Medjid Efendiev (1932–1937)
Mir Bashir Gasimov (1937–1938)
Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
Mir Bashir Gasimov (1938–1949)
Nazar Geydarov (1949–1954)
Mirza Ibrahimov (1954–1958)
Ilyas Abdullayev (1958–1959)
Saftar Jafarov (1959–1961)
Mamed Iskenderov (1961–1969)
Gurban Khalilov (1969–1985)
Suleyman Tatliyev (1985-1989)
Elmira Gafarova (1989–1990)
President of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic
Ayaz Mutallibov (1990–1991)
Military |
1434_20 | Under the military structure of the former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan shortly before gaining independence, was host to over 60,000 Soviet military personnel deployed throughout the country in units of the Ground Forces, Air Forces, Air Defense Forces, and Navy. The primary combat formation of Ground Forces in Azerbaijan was the 4th Army, which housed its headquarters and various support units in Baku. In addition to the independent surface-to-air missile (SAM), artillery, and SCUD brigades, the principal combat elements of the Fourth Army were the 23rd (Ganja), 295th (Lenkaran), 60th (Baku) and 75th (Nakhchivan) motorized rifle divisions (MRD), and the Ganja Helicopter Assault Regiment (Mi-24 Hinds and Mi-8 Hips). The only ground forces training establishment in Azerbaijan was the Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School. Military conscription in the Azerbaijan SSR was introduced only after the establishment of Soviet control, with the number of people being called up for service being |
1434_21 | minimal at first. |
1434_22 | Notes
References
Further reading
История государства и права Азербайджанской ССР. Б., Академия наук ССР, 1964.
Гражданский кодекс Азербайджанской ССР. Б., Верховный совет, 1964.
Madatov, G. Azerbaijan During the Great Patriotic War. Baku, 1975.
Независимая газета, 12 August 1992, pp. 1–2.
External links
Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность населения союзных республик СССР и их территориальных единиц по полу
Справочник по истории Коммунистической партии и Советского Союза 1898 – 1965
Сталинские списки: Азербайджанская ССР
Azerbaijan: A Land in Bloom by Mamed Iskenderov
Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan has become a member of the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV)
Ismailov, Eldar: "1937: "Great Terror" in Azerbaijan" in the Caucasus Analytical Digest No. 22 |
1434_23 | 1920 establishments in Azerbaijan
1922 disestablishments in Azerbaijan
Communism in Azerbaijan
Former socialist republics
Republics of the Soviet Union
States and territories established in 1920
States and territories disestablished in 1922
1936 establishments in Azerbaijan
1991 disestablishments in the Soviet Union
States and territories established in 1936
States and territories disestablished in 1991
1991 disestablishments in Azerbaijan
Former polities of the Cold War |
1435_0 | Vítor Louçã Rabaça Gaspar (born 9 November 1960), GCIH is a Portuguese economist and former politician, who served as Minister of Finance and Minister of State from 21 June 2011 until his resignation on 2 July 2013.
Education
Gaspar holds a degree in economics from the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) in 1982. He received a PhD in economics from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 1988.
Financial career
Gaspar was the director-general for research at the European Central Bank for six years. Then he became an adviser to the Bank of Portugal, having been from 2007 director-general at the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (ERI) with the President of the European Commission.
Political career |
1435_1 | Without any previous political activity, he was appointed Minister of Finance in Pedro Passos Coelho's cabinet on 21 June 2011. In this capacity, Gaspar's policies included a firm intention to accomplish the European Union/IMF-led rescue plan for Portugal's sovereign debt crisis. The rescue plan consisted of widespread tax increases and reforms aimed at better efficiency and rationalized resource allocation in the public sector, in order to reduce the number of unnecessary civil servants and the public sector's chronic overcapacity.
As time went on it became increasingly clear that a series of supplementary measures would be taken during the course of the year as a means to restrain an out-of-control budget deficit. These included sharp cuts in spending on state-run healthcare, education and social security systems, along with widespread tax hikes. |
1435_2 | On 18 October 2011 Gaspar told Portugal's main TV channel RTP1 that the wage cuts imposed on civil servants the previous week in the presentation of the State Budget for 2012 were the only way to avoid a much more painful and complex policy of mass firing of civil servants. He said that if wage cuts were not enforced, it would be necessary to sack of about 100,000 civil servants immediately (under Portuguese law, civil servants can't be sacked, so a number of special derogations would be needed to achieve this). |
1435_3 | On 1 July 2013, he resigned and was replaced by Maria Luís Albuquerque, who had been Secretary of State of Treasury under him. Allegedly he had tried to leave office eight months earlier due to pressure of public opinion, but several newspapers reported the pivotal moment came when he was insulted and spat in a supermarket by other customers when he was shopping with his wife without personal security. He called Pedro Passos Coelho the same day, stressing he wanted to leave the government on the earliest convenience. Nevertheless, in his resignation letter, Gaspar stated that his departure was due to the growing erosion of public support for austerity measures, although these policies were largely continued by Albuquerque.
Later career
Since 2014 he is the director of the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund. |
1435_4 | More recently Gaspar has come under fire as a result of a number of allegations that he prohibited studies relating to excessive rents being received from the State by EDP - Electricidade de Portugal - from being made public so as not to affect the valuation of EDP ahead of its last privatisation phase.
In a parliamentary hearing, the former Minister of Economy, Alvaro Santos Pereira, at present head of research at OECD, and the former secretary State of Economy, Henrique Gomes, confirmed that studies relating to excessive rents, charged by EDP, which for the period 2007-2020 may have amounted to €4 billion, were presented to Gaspar but he decided not to disclose this information rather than mandating the Ministry of Economy to seek compensation and financial remedies for the State. |
1435_5 | Incidentally, the terms and conditions of the contracts signed in 2007 by the Portuguese Ministry of Economy, led by Manuel Pinho, and EDP, led by António Mexia and Manso Neto, are now being investigated for possible collusion and corruption.
The parliamentary hearing is still ongoing and it would appear that the Ministry of Finance, led by Gaspar, may have opted for a short term gain (€2.7 billion) in the last phase of privatisation, which in turn has caused significant long term pain (excessive rents €4 billion) to Portuguese tax payers, consumers and small and medium enterprises as energy costs in Portugal are amongst the highest in the EU.
Other activities
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2011-2013)
Recognition
On 12 February 2016 Gaspar was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry by the then President Aníbal Cavaco Silva. |
1435_6 | Personal life
Vítor Gaspar is married with Sílvia Luz and has three daughters: Catarina (born 1986), Marta (born 1991) and Madalena (born 1998). He is first cousin of Francisco Louçã, former leader of Left Bloc.
In May 2013 he revealed he is a supporter of S.L. Benfica.
References
1960 births
Finance ministers of Portugal
Government ministers of Portugal
Living people
People from Lisbon
Portuguese economists
Catholic University of Portugal alumni |
1436_0 | In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. The term applies when the conductors are long enough that the wave nature of the transmission must be taken into account. This applies especially to radio-frequency engineering because the short wavelengths mean that wave phenomena arise over very short distances (this can be as short as millimetres depending on frequency). However, the theory of transmission lines was historically developed to explain phenomena on very long telegraph lines, especially submarine telegraph cables. |
1436_1 | Transmission lines are used for purposes such as connecting radio transmitters and receivers with their antennas (they are then called feed lines or feeders), distributing cable television signals, trunklines routing calls between telephone switching centres, computer network connections and high speed computer data buses. RF engineers commonly use short pieces of transmission line, usually in the form of printed planar transmission lines, arranged in certain patterns to build circuits such as filters. These circuits, known as distributed-element circuits, are an alternative to traditional circuits using discrete capacitors and inductors. |
1436_2 | Ordinary electrical cables suffice to carry low frequency alternating current (AC) and audio signals. However, they cannot be used to carry currents in the radio frequency range above about 30 kHz, because the energy tends to radiate off the cable as radio waves, causing power losses. RF currents also tend to reflect from discontinuities in the cable such as connectors and joints, and travel back down the cable toward the source. These reflections act as bottlenecks, preventing the signal power from reaching the destination. Transmission lines use specialized construction, and impedance matching, to carry electromagnetic signals with minimal reflections and power losses. The distinguishing feature of most transmission lines is that they have uniform cross sectional dimensions along their length, giving them a uniform impedance, called the characteristic impedance, to prevent reflections. The higher the frequency of electromagnetic waves moving through a given cable or medium, the |
1436_3 | shorter the wavelength of the waves. Transmission lines become necessary when the transmitted frequency's wavelength is sufficiently short that the length of the cable becomes a significant part of a wavelength. |
1436_4 | At microwave frequencies and above, power losses in transmission lines become excessive, and waveguides are used instead which function as "pipes" to confine and guide the electromagnetic waves. At even higher frequencies, in the terahertz, infrared and visible ranges, waveguides in turn become lossy, and optical methods, (such as lenses and mirrors), are used to guide electromagnetic waves. |
1436_5 | Overview |
1436_6 | Ordinary electrical cables suffice to carry low frequency alternating current (AC), such as mains power, which reverses direction 100 to 120 times per second, and audio signals. However, they cannot be used to carry currents in the radio frequency range, above about 30 kHz, because the energy tends to radiate off the cable as radio waves, causing power losses. Radio frequency currents also tend to reflect from discontinuities in the cable such as connectors and joints, and travel back down the cable toward the source. These reflections act as bottlenecks, preventing the signal power from reaching the destination. Transmission lines use specialized construction, and impedance matching, to carry electromagnetic signals with minimal reflections and power losses. The distinguishing feature of most transmission lines is that they have uniform cross sectional dimensions along their length, giving them a uniform impedance, called the characteristic impedance, to prevent reflections. |
1436_7 | Types of transmission line include parallel line (ladder line, twisted pair), coaxial cable, and planar transmission lines such as stripline and microstrip. The higher the frequency of electromagnetic waves moving through a given cable or medium, the shorter the wavelength of the waves. Transmission lines become necessary when the transmitted frequency's wavelength is sufficiently short that the length of the cable becomes a significant part of a wavelength. |
1436_8 | At microwave frequencies and above, power losses in transmission lines become excessive, and waveguides are used instead, which function as "pipes" to confine and guide the electromagnetic waves. Some sources define waveguides as a type of transmission line; however, this article will not include them. At even higher frequencies, in the terahertz, infrared and visible ranges, waveguides in turn become lossy, and optical methods, (such as lenses and mirrors), are used to guide electromagnetic waves. |
1436_9 | History
Mathematical analysis of the behaviour of electrical transmission lines grew out of the work of James Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, and Oliver Heaviside. In 1855, Lord Kelvin formulated a diffusion model of the current in a submarine cable. The model correctly predicted the poor performance of the 1858 trans-Atlantic submarine telegraph cable. In 1885, Heaviside published the first papers that described his analysis of propagation in cables and the modern form of the telegrapher's equations.
The four terminal model
For the purposes of analysis, an electrical transmission line can be modelled as a two-port network (also called a quadripole), as follows: |
1436_10 | In the simplest case, the network is assumed to be linear (i.e. the complex voltage across either port is proportional to the complex current flowing into it when there are no reflections), and the two ports are assumed to be interchangeable. If the transmission line is uniform along its length, then its behaviour is largely described by a single parameter called the characteristic impedance, symbol Z0. This is the ratio of the complex voltage of a given wave to the complex current of the same wave at any point on the line. Typical values of Z0 are 50 or 75 ohms for a coaxial cable, about 100 ohms for a twisted pair of wires, and about 300 ohms for a common type of untwisted pair used in radio transmission. |
1436_11 | When sending power down a transmission line, it is usually desirable that as much power as possible will be absorbed by the load and as little as possible will be reflected back to the source. This can be ensured by making the load impedance equal to Z0, in which case the transmission line is said to be matched. |
1436_12 | Some of the power that is fed into a transmission line is lost because of its resistance. This effect is called ohmic or resistive loss (see ohmic heating). At high frequencies, another effect called dielectric loss becomes significant, adding to the losses caused by resistance. Dielectric loss is caused when the insulating material inside the transmission line absorbs energy from the alternating electric field and converts it to heat (see dielectric heating). The transmission line is modelled with a resistance (R) and inductance (L) in series with a capacitance (C) and conductance (G) in parallel. The resistance and conductance contribute to the loss in a transmission line.
The total loss of power in a transmission line is often specified in decibels per metre (dB/m), and usually depends on the frequency of the signal. The manufacturer often supplies a chart showing the loss in dB/m at a range of frequencies. A loss of 3 dB corresponds approximately to a halving of the power. |
1436_13 | High-frequency transmission lines can be defined as those designed to carry electromagnetic waves whose wavelengths are shorter than or comparable to the length of the line. Under these conditions, the approximations useful for calculations at lower frequencies are no longer accurate. This often occurs with radio, microwave and optical signals, metal mesh optical filters, and with the signals found in high-speed digital circuits.
Telegrapher's equations
The telegrapher's equations (or just telegraph equations) are a pair of linear differential equations which describe the voltage () and current () on an electrical transmission line with distance and time. They were developed by Oliver Heaviside who created the transmission line model, and are based on Maxwell's equations. |
1436_14 | The transmission line model is an example of the distributed-element model. It represents the transmission line as an infinite series of two-port elementary components, each representing an infinitesimally short segment of the transmission line:
The distributed resistance of the conductors is represented by a series resistor (expressed in ohms per unit length).
The distributed inductance (due to the magnetic field around the wires, self-inductance, etc.) is represented by a series inductor (in henries per unit length).
The capacitance between the two conductors is represented by a shunt capacitor (in farads per unit length).
The conductance of the dielectric material separating the two conductors is represented by a shunt resistor between the signal wire and the return wire (in siemens per unit length). |
1436_15 | The model consists of an infinite series of the elements shown in the figure, and the values of the components are specified per unit length so the picture of the component can be misleading. , , , and may also be functions of frequency. An alternative notation is to use , , and to emphasize that the values are derivatives with respect to length. These quantities can also be known as the primary line constants to distinguish from the secondary line constants derived from them, these being the propagation constant, attenuation constant and phase constant.
The line voltage and the current can be expressed in the frequency domain as
(see differential equation, angular frequency ω and imaginary unit ) |
1436_16 | Special case of a lossless line
When the elements and are negligibly small the transmission line is considered as a lossless structure. In this hypothetical case, the model depends only on the and elements which greatly simplifies the analysis. For a lossless transmission line, the second order steady-state Telegrapher's equations are:
These are wave equations which have plane waves with equal propagation speed in the forward and reverse directions as solutions. The physical significance of this is that electromagnetic waves propagate down transmission lines and in general, there is a reflected component that interferes with the original signal. These equations are fundamental to transmission line theory.
General case of a line with losses
In the general case the loss terms, and , are both included, and the full form of the Telegrapher's equations become: |
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