title: German invasion of Greece

text: Between 11 and 13 April 1941, with German and Italian troops advancing on its rear areas, the Zetska Division was forced to retreat back to the Pronisat River by the Italian 131st Armored Division "Centauro", where it remained until the end of the campaign on 16 April. The Italian armoured division along with the 18th Infantry Division "Messina" then advanced upon the Yugoslav fleet base of Kotor in Montenegro, also occupying Cettinje and Podgorica. The Yugoslavs lost 30,000 men captured in the Italian counterattacks.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: The Metaxas Line was defended by the Eastern Macedonia Army Section, led by Lieutenant General Konstantinos Bakopoulos) and comprising the 7th, 14th and 18th Infantry divisions. The line ran for about along the river Nestos to the east and then further east, following the Bulgarian border as far as Mount Beles near the Yugoslav border. The fortifications were designed to garrison over 200,000 troops but there were only about 70,000 and the infantry garrison was thinly spread. Some 950 men under the command of Major Georgios Douratsos of the 14th Division defended Fort Roupel.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: The Germans had to break the Metaxas line, in order to capture Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city and a strategically important port. The attack started on 6 April with one infantry unit and two divisions of the XVIII Mountain Corps. Due to strong resistance, the first day of the attack yielded little progress in breaking the line. A German report at the end of the first day described how the German 5th Mountain Division "was repulsed in the Rupel Pass despite strongest air support and sustained considerable casualties". Two German battalions managed to get within of Fort Rupel on 6 April, but were practically destroyed. Of the 24 forts that made up the Metaxas Line, only two had fallen and only after they had been destroyed. In the following days, the Germans pummelled the forts with artillery and dive bombers and reinforced the 125th Infantry Regiment. Finally, a high snow-covered mountainous passage considered inaccessible by the Greeks was crossed by the 6th Mountain Division, which reached the rail line to Thessaloniki on the evening of 7 April.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: The 5th Mountain Division, together with the reinforced 125th Infantry Regiment, crossed the Struma river under great hardship, attacking along both banks and clearing bunkers until they reached their objective on 7 April. Heavy casualties caused them to temporarily withdraw. The 72nd Infantry Division advanced from Nevrokop across the mountains. Its advance was delayed by a shortage of pack animals, medium artillery and mountain equipment. Only on the evening of 9 April did it reach the area north-east of Serres. Most fortresses—like Fort Roupel, Echinos, Arpalouki, Paliouriones, Perithori, Karadag, Lisse and Istibey—held until the Germans occupied Thessaloniki on 9 April, at which point they surrendered under General Bakopoulos' orders. Nevertheless, minor isolated fortresses continued to fight for a few days more and were not taken until heavy artillery was used against them. This gave time for some retreating troops to evacuate by sea. Although eventually broken, the defenders of the Metaxas Line succeeded in delaying the German advance.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: The XXX Infantry Corps on the left wing reached its designated objective on the evening of 8 April, when the 164th Infantry Division captured Xanthi. The 50th Infantry Division advanced far beyond Komotini towards the Nestos river. Both divisions arrived the next day. On 9 April, the Greek forces defending the Metaxas Line capitulated unconditionally following the collapse of Greek resistance east of the Axios river. In a 9 April estimate of the situation, Field Marshal List commented that as a result of the swift advance of the mobile units, his 12th Army was now in a favourable position to access central Greece by breaking the Greek build-up behind the Axios river. On the basis of this estimate, List requested the transfer of the 5th Panzer Division from First Panzer Group to the XL Panzer Corps. He reasoned that its presence would give additional punch to the German thrust through the Monastir Gap. For the continuation of the campaign, he formed an eastern group under the command of XVIII Mountain Corps and a western group led by XL Panzer Corps.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: By the morning of 10 April, the XL Panzer Corps had finished its preparations for the continuation of the offensive and advanced in the direction of Kozani. The 5th Panzer Division, advancing from Skopje encountered a Greek division tasked with defending Monastir Gap, rapidly defeating the defenders. First contact with Allied troops was made north of Vevi at 11:00 on 10 April. German SS troops seized Vevi on 11 April, but were stopped at the Klidi Pass just south of town. During the next day, the SS regiment reconnoitered the Allied positions and at dusk launched a frontal attack against the pass. Following heavy fighting, the Germans broke through the defence. By the morning of 14 April, the spearheads of the 9th Panzer Division reached Kozani.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: Wilson faced the prospect of being pinned by Germans operating from Thessaloniki, while being flanked by the German XL Panzer Corps descending through the Monastir Gap. On 13 April, he withdrew all British forces to the Haliacmon river and then to the narrow pass at Thermopylae. On 14 April, the 9th Panzer Division established a bridgehead across the Haliacmon river, but an attempt to advance beyond this point was stopped by intense Allied fire. This defence had three main components: the Platamon tunnel area between Olympus and the sea, the Olympus pass itself and the Servia pass to the south-east. By channelling the attack through these three defiles, the new line offered far greater defensive strength. The defences of the Olympus and Servia passes consisted of the 4th New Zealand Brigade, 5th New Zealand Brigade and the 16th Australian Brigade. For the next three days, the advance of the 9th Panzer Division was stalled in front of these resolutely held positions.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: A ruined castle dominated the ridge across which the coastal pass led to Platamon. During the night of 15 April, a German motorcycle battalion supported by a tank battalion attacked the ridge, but the Germans were repulsed by the New Zealand 21st Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Neil Macky, which suffered heavy losses in the process. Later that day, a German armoured regiment arrived and struck the coastal and inland flanks of the battalion, but the New Zealanders held. After being reinforced during the night of the 15th–16th, the Germans assembled a tank battalion, an infantry battalion and a motorcycle battalion. The infantry attacked the New Zealanders' left company at dawn, while the tanks attacked along the coast several hours later. The New Zealanders soon found themselves enveloped on both sides, after the failure of the Western Macedonia Army to defend the Albanian town of Korça that fell unopposed to the Italian 9th Army on 15 April, forcing the British to abandon the Mount Olympus position and resulting in the capture of 20,000 Greek troops.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: The New Zealand battalion withdrew, crossing the Pineios river; by dusk, they had reached the western exit of the Pineios Gorge, suffering only light casualties. Macky was informed that it was "essential to deny the gorge to the enemy until 19 April even if it meant extinction". He sank a crossing barge at the western end of the gorge once all his men were across and set up defences. The 21st Battalion was reinforced by the Australian 2/2nd Battalion and later by the 2/3rd. This force became known as "Allen force" after Brigadier "Tubby" Allen. The 2/5th and 2/11th battalions moved to the Elatia area south-west of the gorge and were ordered to hold the western exit possibly for three or four days.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: On 16 April, Wilson met Papagos at Lamia and informed him of his decision to withdraw to Thermopylae. Lieutenant-General Thomas Blamey divided responsibility between generals Mackay and Freyberg during the leapfrogging move to Thermopylae. Mackay's force was assigned the flanks of the New Zealand Division as far south as an east–west line through Larissa and to oversee the withdrawal through Domokos to Thermopylae of the Savige and Zarkos Forces and finally of Lee Force; Brigadier Harold Charrington's 1st Armoured Brigade was to cover the withdrawal of Savige Force to Larissa and thereafter the withdrawal of the 6th Division under whose command it would come; overseeing the withdrawal of Allen Force which was to move along the same route as the New Zealand Division. The British, Australian and New Zealand forces remained under attack throughout the withdrawal.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: On the morning of 18 April, the Battle of Tempe Gorge, the struggle for the Pineios Gorge, was over when German armoured infantry crossed the river on floats and 6th Mountain Division troops worked their way around the New Zealand battalion, which was subsequently dispersed. On 19 April, the first XVIII Mountain Corps troops entered Larissa and took possession of the airfield, where the British had left their supply dump intact. The seizure of ten truckloads of rations and fuel enabled the spearhead units to continue without ceasing. The port of Volos, at which the British had re-embarked numerous units during the prior few days, fell on 21 April; there, the Germans captured large quantities of valuable diesel and crude oil.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: As the invading Germans advanced deep into Greek territory, the Epirus Army Section of the Greek army operating in Albania was reluctant to retreat. By the middle of March, especially after the Tepelene offensive, the Greek army had suffered, according to British estimates, 5,000 casualties, and it was fast approaching the end of its logistical tether.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: General Wilson described this unwillingness to retreat as "the fetishistic doctrine that not a yard of ground should be yielded to the Italians." Churchill also criticized the Greek Army commanders for ignoring British advice to abandon Albania and avoid encirclement. Lieutenant-General Georg Stumme's XL Corps captured the Florina-Vevi Pass on 11 April, but unseasonal snowy weather then halted his advance. On 12 April, he resumed the advance, but spent the whole day fighting Brigadier Charrington's 1st Armoured Brigade at Proastion. It was not until 13 April that the first Greek elements began to withdraw toward the Pindus mountains. The Allies' retreat to Thermopylae uncovered a route across the Pindus mountains by which the Germans might flank the Hellenic army in a rearguard action. An elite SS formation—the "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" brigade—was assigned the mission of cutting off the Greek Epirus Army's line of retreat from Albania by driving westward to the Metsovon pass and from there to Ioannina. On 13 April, attack aircraft from 21, 23 and 33 Squadrons from the Hellenic Air Force (RHAF), attacked Italian positions in Albania. That same day, heavy fighting took place at Kleisoura pass, where the Greek 20th Division covering the Greek withdrawal, fought in a determined manner, delaying Stumme's advance practically a whole day. The withdrawal extended across the entire Albanian front, with the Italians in hesitant pursuit. On 15 April, Regia Aeronautica fighters attacked the (RHAF) base at Paramythia, south of Greece's border with Albania, destroying or putting out of action 17 VVKJ aircraft that had recently arrived from Yugoslavia.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: General Papagos rushed Greek units to the Metsovon pass where the Germans were expected to attack. On 14 April a pitched battle between several Greek units and the LSSAH brigade—which had by then reached Grevena—erupted. The Greek 13th and Cavalry Divisions lacked the equipment necessary to fight against an armoured unit, and on 15 April were finally encircled and overwhelmed. On 18 April, General Wilson in a meeting with Papagos, informed him that the British and Commonwealth forces at Thermopylai would carry on fighting till the first week of May, providing that Greek forces from Albania could redeploy and cover the left flank. On 21 April, the Germans advanced further and captured Ioannina, the final supply route of the Greek Epirus Army. Allied newspapers dubbed the Hellenic army's fate a modern-day Greek tragedy. Historian and former war-correspondent Christopher Buckley – when describing the fate of the Hellenic army – stated that "one experience[d] a genuine Aristotelian catharsis, an awe-inspiring sense of the futility of all human effort and all human courage."


title: German invasion of Greece

text: On 20 April, the commander of Greek forces in Albania—Lieutenant General Georgios Tsolakoglou—accepted the hopelessness of the situation and offered to surrender his army, which then consisted of fourteen divisions. Papagos condemned Tsolakoglou's decision to capitulate, although lieutenant general Ioannis Pitsikas and major general Georgios Bakos had warned him a week earlier that morale in the Epirus Army was wearing thin, and combat stress and exhaustion had resulted in officers taking the decision to put deserters before firing squads. Historian John Keegan writes that Tsolakoglou "was so determined... to deny the Italians the satisfaction of a victory they had not earned that... he opened [a] quite unauthorised parley with the commander of the German SS division opposite him, Sepp Dietrich, to arrange a surrender to the Germans alone." On strict orders from Hitler, negotiations were kept secret from the Italians and the surrender was accepted. Outraged by this decision, Mussolini ordered counter-attacks against the Greek forces, which were repulsed, but at some cost to the defenders. The Luftwaffe intervened in the renewed fighting, and Ioannina was practically destroyed by Stukas. It took a personal representation from Mussolini to Hitler to organize Italian participation in the armistice that was concluded on 23 April. Greek soldiers were not rounded up as prisoners of war and were allowed instead to go home after the demobilisation of their units, while their officers were permitted to retain their side arms.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: As early as 16 April, the German command realised that the British were evacuating troops on ships at Volos and Piraeus. The campaign then took on the character of a pursuit. For the Germans, it was now primarily a question of maintaining contact with the retreating British forces and foiling their evacuation plans. German infantry divisions were withdrawn due to their limited mobility. The 2nd and 5th Panzer Divisions, the 1st SS Motorised Infantry Regiment and both mountain divisions launched a pursuit of the Allied forces.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: To allow an evacuation of the main body of British forces, Wilson ordered the rearguard to make a last stand at the historic Thermopylae pass, the gateway to Athens. General Freyberg's 2nd New Zealand Division was given the task of defending the coastal pass, while Mackay's 6th Australian Division was to hold the village of Brallos. After the battle Mackay was quoted as saying "I did not dream of evacuation; I thought that we'd hang on for about a fortnight and be beaten by weight of numbers." When the order to retreat was received on the morning of 23 April, it was decided that the two positions were to be held by one brigade each. These brigades, the 19th Australian and 6th New Zealand were to hold the passes as long as possible, allowing the other units to withdraw. The Germans attacked at 11:30 on 24 April, met fierce resistance, lost 15 tanks and sustained considerable casualties. The Allies held out the entire day; with the delaying action accomplished, they retreated in the direction of the evacuation beaches and set up another rearguard at Thebes. The Panzer units launching a pursuit along the road leading across the pass made slow progress because of the steep gradient and difficult hairpin bends.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: After abandoning the Thermopylae area, the British rearguard withdrew to an improvised switch position south of Thebes, where they erected a last obstacle in front of Athens. The motorcycle battalion of the 2nd Panzer Division, which had crossed to the island of Euboea to seize the port of Chalcis and had subsequently returned to the mainland, was given the mission of outflanking the British rearguard. The motorcycle troops encountered only slight resistance and on the morning of 27 April 1941, the first Germans entered Athens, followed by armoured cars, tanks and infantry. They captured intact large quantities of petroleum, oil and lubricants ("POL"), several thousand tons of ammunition, ten trucks loaded with sugar and ten truckloads of other rations in addition to various other equipment, weapons and medical supplies. The people of Athens had been expecting the Germans for several days and confined themselves to their homes with their windows shut. The previous night, Athens Radio had made the following announcement:


title: German invasion of Greece

text: The Germans drove straight to the Acropolis and raised the Nazi flag. According to the most popular account of the events, the Evzone soldier on guard duty, Konstantinos Koukidis, took down the Greek flag, refusing to hand it to the invaders, wrapped himself in it, and jumped off the Acropolis. Whether the story was true or not, many Greeks believed it and viewed the soldier as a martyr.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: General Archibald Wavell, the commander of British Army forces in the Middle East, when in Greece from 11 to 13 April had warned Wilson that he must expect no reinforcements and had authorised Major General Freddie de Guingand to discuss evacuation plans with certain responsible officers. Nevertheless, the British could not at this stage adopt or even mention this course of action; the suggestion had to come from the Greek Government. The following day, Papagos made the first move when he suggested to Wilson that W Force be withdrawn. Wilson informed Middle East Headquarters and on 17 April, Rear-Admiral H. T. Baillie-Grohman was sent to Greece to prepare for the evacuation. That day Wilson hastened to Athens where he attended a conference with the King, Papagos, d'Albiac and Rear admiral Turle. In the evening, after telling the King that he felt he had failed him in the task entrusted to him, Prime Minister Koryzis committed suicide. On 21 April, the final decision to evacuate Empire forces to Crete and Egypt was taken and Wavell – in confirmation of verbal instructions – sent his written orders to Wilson.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: 5,200 men, mostly from the 5th New Zealand Brigade, were evacuated on the night of 24 April, from Porto Rafti of East Attica, while the 4th New Zealand Brigade remained to block the narrow road to Athens, dubbed the "24 Hour Pass" by the New Zealanders. On 25 April (Anzac Day), the few RAF squadrons left Greece (D'Albiac established his headquarters in Heraklion, Crete) and some 10,200 Australian troops evacuated from Nafplio and Megara. 2,000 more men had to wait until 27 April, because "Ulster Prince" ran aground in shallow waters close to Nafplio. Because of this event, the Germans realised that the evacuation was also taking place from the ports of the eastern Peloponnese.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: On 25 April the Germans staged an airborne operation to seize the bridges over the Corinth Canal, with the double aim of cutting off the British line of retreat and securing their own way across the isthmus. The attack met with initial success, until a stray British shell destroyed the bridge. The 1st SS Motorised Infantry Regiment ("LSSAH"), assembled at Ioannina, thrust along the western foothills of the Pindus Mountains via Arta to Missolonghi and crossed over to the Peloponnese at Patras in an effort to gain access to the isthmus from the west. Upon their arrival at 17:30 on 27 April, the SS forces learned that the paratroops had already been relieved by Army units advancing from Athens.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: The Dutch troop ship was part of a convoy evacuating about 3,000 British, Australian and New Zealand troops from Nafplio in the Peloponnese. As the convoy headed south in the Argolic Gulf on the morning of 27 April, it was attacked by a "Staffel" of nine Junkers Ju 87s of Sturzkampfgeschwader 77, damaging "Slamat" and setting her on fire. The destroyer rescued about 600 survivors and came to her aid, but as the two destroyers headed for Souda Bay in Crete another Ju 87 attack sank them both. The total number of deaths from the three sinkings was almost 1,000. Only 27 crew from "Wryneck", 20 crew from "Diamond", 11 crew and eight evacuated soldiers from "Slamat" survived.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: The erection of a temporary bridge across the Corinth canal permitted 5th Panzer Division units to pursue the Allied forces across the Peloponnese. Driving via Argos to Kalamata, from where most Allied units had already begun to evacuate, they reached the south coast on 29 April, where they were joined by SS troops arriving from Pyrgos. The fighting on the Peloponnese consisted of small-scale engagements with isolated groups of British troops who had been unable to reach the evacuation point. The attack came days too late to cut off the bulk of the British troops in Central Greece, but isolated the Australian 16th and 17th Brigades.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: By 30 April the evacuation of about 50,000 soldiers was completed, but was heavily contested by the German Luftwaffe, which sank at least 26 troop-laden ships. The Germans captured around 8,000 Empire (including 2,000 Cypriot and Palestinian) and Yugoslav troops in Kalamata who had not been evacuated, while liberating many Italian prisoners from POW camps. The Greek Navy and Merchant Marine played an important part in the evacuation of the Allied forces to Crete and suffered heavy losses as a result. Churchill writes:


title: German invasion of Greece

text: On 13 April 1941, Hitler issued Directive No. 27, including his occupation policy for Greece. He finalized jurisdiction in the Balkans with Directive No. 31 issued on 9 June. Mainland Greece was divided between Germany, Italy and Bulgaria, with Italy occupying the bulk of the country (see map opposite). German forces occupied the strategically more important areas of Athens, Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia and several Aegean islands, including most of Crete. They also occupied Florina, which was claimed by both Italy and Bulgaria. The Bulgarians occupied territory between the Struma river and a line of demarcation running through Alexandroupoli and Svilengrad west of the Evros River. Italian troops started occupying the Ionian and Aegean islands on 28 April. On 2 June, they occupied the Peloponnese; on 8 June, Thessaly; and on 12 June, most of Attica. The occupation of Greece – during which civilians suffered terrible hardships, many dying from privation and hunger – proved to be a difficult and costly task. Several resistance groups launched guerrilla attacks against the occupying forces and set up espionage networks.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: On 25 April 1941, King George II and his government left the Greek mainland for Crete, which was attacked by Nazi forces on 20 May 1941. The Germans employed parachute forces in a massive airborne invasion and attacked the three main airfields of the island in Maleme, Rethymno and Heraklion. After seven days of fighting and tough resistance, Allied commanders decided that the cause was hopeless and ordered a withdrawal from Sfakia. During the night of 24 May, George II and his government were evacuated from Crete to Egypt. By 1 June 1941, the evacuation was complete and the island was under German occupation. In light of the heavy casualties suffered by the elite 7th "Fliegerdivision", Hitler forbade further large-scale airborne operations. General Kurt Student would dub Crete "the graveyard of the German paratroopers" and a "disastrous victory."


title: German invasion of Greece

text: The Greek campaign ended with a complete German and Italian victory. The British did not have the military resources to carry out large simultaneous operations in both North Africa and the Balkans. Even if they had been able to block the Axis advance, they would have been unable to exploit the situation by a counter-thrust across the Balkans. The British came very near to holding Crete and perhaps other islands that would have provided air support for naval operations throughout the eastern Mediterranean.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: In enumerating the reasons for the complete Axis victory in Greece, the following factors were of greatest significance:


title: German invasion of Greece

text: After the Allies' defeat, the decision to send British forces into Greece faced fierce criticism in Britain. Field Marshal Alan Brooke, (who became Chief of the Imperial General Staff in December 1941), considered intervention in Greece to be "a definite strategic blunder", as it denied Wavell the necessary reserves to complete the conquest of Italian Libya, or to withstand Rommel's "Afrika Korps" March offensive. It prolonged the North African campaign, which might have been concluded during 1941.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: In 1947, de Guingand asked the British government to recognise its mistaken strategy in Greece. Buckley countered that if Britain had not honoured its 1939 commitment to Greece, it would have severely damaged the ethical basis of its struggle against Nazi Germany. According to Heinz Richter, Churchill tried through the campaign in Greece to influence the political atmosphere in the United States and insisted on this strategy even after the defeat. According to Keegan, "the Greek campaign had been an old-fashioned gentlemen's war, with honor given and accepted by brave adversaries on each side" and the vastly outnumbered Greek and Allied forces, "had, rightly, the sensation of having fought the good fight". It has also been suggested the British strategy was to create a barrier in Greece to protect Turkey, the only (neutral) country standing between an Axis block in the Balkans and the oil-rich Middle East. Martin van Creveld believes that the British government did everything in their power to scuttle all attempts at a separate peace between the Greeks and the Italians, in order to ensure the Greeks would keep fighting and thus draw Italian divisions away from North Africa.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: Freyberg and Blamey also had serious doubts about the feasibility of the operation but failed to express their reservations and apprehensions. The campaign caused a furore in Australia, when it became known that when General Blamey received his first warning of the move to Greece on 18 February 1941, he was worried but had not informed the Australian Government. He had been told by Wavell that Prime Minister Menzies had approved the plan. The proposal had been accepted by a meeting of the War Cabinet in London at which Menzies was present but the Australian Prime Minister had been told by Churchill that both Freyberg and Blamey approved of the expedition. On 5 March, in a letter to Menzies, Blamey said that "the plan is, of course, what I feared: piecemeal dispatch to Europe" and the next day he called the operation "most hazardous". Thinking that he was agreeable, the Australian Government had already committed the Australian Imperial Force to the Greek Campaign.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: In 1942, members of the British Parliament characterised the campaign in Greece as a "political and sentimental decision". Eden rejected the criticism and argued that the UK's decision was unanimous and asserted that the Battle of Greece delayed Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. This is an argument that historians used to assert that Greek resistance was a turning point in World War II. According to film-maker and friend of Adolf Hitler Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler said that "if the Italians hadn't attacked Greece and needed our help, the war would have taken a different course. We could have anticipated the Russian cold by weeks and conquered Leningrad and Moscow. There would have been no Stalingrad". Despite his reservations, Field Marshall Brooke seems also to have conceded that the Balkan Campaign delayed the offensive against the Soviet Union.


title: German invasion of Greece

text: Bradley and Buell conclude that "although no single segment of the Balkan campaign forced the Germans to delay Barbarossa, obviously the entire campaign did prompt them to wait." On the other hand, Richter calls Eden's arguments a "falsification of history". Basil Liddell Hart and de Guingand point out that the delay of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union was not among Britain's strategic goals and as a result the possibility of such a delay could not have affected its decisions about Operation Marita. In 1952, the Historical Branch of the UK Cabinet Office concluded that the Balkan Campaign had no influence on the launching of Operation Barbarossa. According to Robert Kirchubel, "the main causes for deferring Barbarossa's start from 15 May to 22 June were incomplete logistical arrangements and an unusually wet winter that kept rivers at full flood until late spring." This does not answer whether in the absence of these problems the campaign could have begun according to the original plan. Keegan writes:


title: German invasion of Greece

text: Antony Beevor wrote in 2012 about the current thinking of historians with regard to delays caused by German attacks in the Balkans that "most accept that it made little difference" to the eventual outcome of Barbarossa. US Army analyst Richard Hooker Jr., calculates that the 22 June start date of Barbarossa was sufficient for the Germans to advance to Moscow by mid-August, and he says that the victories in the Balkans raised the morale of the German soldier. Historian David Glantz wrote that the German invasion of the Balkans "helped conceal Barbarossa" from the Soviet leadership, and contributed to the German success in achieving strategic surprise and that while the Balkans operations contributed to delays in launching Barbarossa, these acted to discredit Soviet intelligence reports which accurately predicted the initially planned invasion date. Jack P. Greene agrees that "other factors were more important" as regards the delaying of Barbarossa, but he also argues that the Panzer divisions, which had been in service during Operation Marita, "had to undergo refit".


title: German invasion of Greece

text: Nevertheless, Hitler had given Mussolini the green light to attack Greece six months earlier, acknowledging Mussolini's right to do as he saw fit in his acknowledged sphere of influence.


title: Acura RDX

text: The Acura RDX is a compact luxury crossover SUV produced by Acura, a luxury vehicle division of Honda, as the second crossover SUV offering from the brand after the mid-size MDX. Initially sharing its platform with the Honda Civic and CR-V, with the third generation, the RDX uses its own platform.


title: Acura RDX

text: Originally previewed as the Acura RD-X concept car, the production RDX had its debut at the 2006 New York Auto Show and went on sale on August 11, 2006. A facelifted 2010 model went on sale in August 2009, which featured the addition Acura's "power plenum" grille and a front-wheel drive option.


title: Acura RDX

text: The first-generation RDX is powered by a 2.3-litre straight-4 turbocharged gasoline engine, rated at at 6,000 rpm with a torque peak of at 4,500 rpm. At the time, this was uncommon among Honda vehicles.


title: Acura RDX

text: The K23A1 engine has all-aluminum construction, an i-VTEC head, and dual balance shafts. It was also one of the only four-cylinder powered luxury SUVs of its generation. Honda's variable flow turbocharger reduces turbo lag by using a valve to narrow the exhaust passage at low rpm, increasing the velocity of the exhaust flow and keeping the turbine spinning rapidly. At higher rpm, the valve opens to allow more exhaust flow for increased boost. The engine also features a top-mounted intercooler which receives air from the grille, channeled by ducting under the hood.


title: Acura RDX

text: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated fuel mileage is city and highway miles per gallon. An updated EPA mileage estimate in February 2007 rated the RDX at city and highway.


title: Acura RDX

text: The first-generation RDX featured a version of Acura's Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) and a five-speed automatic transmission with Acura's "SportShift sequential" shift capability, activated by paddles mounted on the steering wheel for 2007-2009 models (additionally FWD was offered in some trims for 2010-2012 models). The paddles can be used in Drive (D) to make a gear change with the transmission returning to automatic mode as soon as the vehicle resumes a steady-cruise state. The Sport (S) setting has higher shift points and quicker downshifts, and using a paddle in “Sport” immediately puts the transmission in fully-manual mode. The four-cylinder engines in the first-generation RDX all use a timing chain, whereas the V6 installed in subsequent years (2013-2018) all use timing belts.


title: Acura RDX

text: The vehicle's interior includes standard leather seating, a moonroof, automatic climate control, and all the expected power features. The RDX 7-speaker audio system features XM Satellite Radio, along with an in-dash 6-CD changer, which is capable of playing standard Audio CDs, and Data-CDs burned with either MP3 or WMA files, it also plays DVD-A type CDs.


title: Acura RDX

text: Much of the interior technology originally introduced in the RL sedan was equipped in the optional "Technology Package". This package included Acura's navigation system, a backup camera, XM Nav-Traffic real-time traffic monitoring, and Zagat restaurant reviews. The package also featured a 10-speaker ELS Surround audio system with DTS and Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound. Both stereos included a 1/8" (a 3.5mm) auxiliary input jack used to plug in external sources such as iPods. For 2007, Acura also offered an iPod adapter for the RDX, which was wired into the glove box, and allowed the iPod to be controlled through the RDX's sound system interface. Due to hardware incompatibilities, the Honda/Acura iPod music link was discontinued for the 2008 model year. The 2010-12 models featured a USB connection that interfaces with iPods and other USB mass storage devices, such as flash drives that contain MP3, WMA6, or AAC music files while being stored in the center console.


title: Acura RDX

text: The first-generation RDX was the second Acura vehicle to feature the Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure, which is designed to absorb energy from a collision. Standard safety features include six airbags, including dual front airbags, front side airbags, and dual-side curtain airbags. The front airbags use a dual-threshold, dual-stage technology that can adjust the timing and speed of each airbag deployment depending on the degree of impact and the driver's or front passenger's seat belt usage. If sensors deem the front passenger is too small (less than ), the front airbag is designed not to deploy. The front passenger's side airbag is also designed to shut off if a child or small-statured adult is leaning into the airbag's deployment path. In the event of a sufficient side impact or roll-over, the side curtain airbag deploys from above the door frames of the affected side, with coverage for both the front and rear occupants on that side, and stays inflated longer than if there were a collision.


title: Acura RDX

text: Front seats feature active head restraints and their seat belts are equipped with pre-tensioners and force limiters. In November 2006, the RDX was crash-tested by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, resulting in a perfect "5 Star" rating for driver and passenger frontal crashes, and front and rear side impacts, along with "4 Stars" for rollover.


title: Acura RDX

text: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute (IIHS-HLDI) gave the 2007-12 RDX the grade of Good "G" for moderate overlap front test and side impact test. The grade of Marginal "M" was given for roof strength evaluation.


title: Acura RDX

text: The second generation RDX was revealed during January 2012 at the North American International Auto Show going on sale in April. The turbocharged four-cylinder engine was replaced by a 3.5-liter V6 mated to a six-speed automatic, improving gas mileage to an EPA estimated 20/28/23 mpg (city/highway/combined) by using variable displacement (VCM). The SH-AWD system was replaced with a simpler and less costly AWD setup.


title: Acura RDX

text: A 5-inch display, tri-angle rear-view backup camera are standard, as well as keyless entry with push-button start. Also, standard Bluetooth hands-free calling and Pandora music can be streamed wirelessly into the audio system. When upgrading to the Technology package, a power tailgate is included, along with an upgraded 60-gigabyte hard disc (HDD) based navigation system with 8-inch screen, this system enables 15GB of music to be stored.


title: Acura RDX

text: In China, the RDX is offered with two engines. A 3.0-liter SOHC V6 produces at 6700 rpm and of torque at 4600 rpm, while the 3.5-liter SOHC V6 produces at 6500 rpm and at 4400 rpm. Both engine choices come with either FWD or AWD.


title: Acura RDX

text: The refreshed 2016 RDX was introduced at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show, sales began in mid-April. The updated RDX uses a slightly more powerful revised 3.5-liter SOHC V6 that produces and of torque. The exterior adds LED headlamps (low and high beams, DRL pipe and amber turn signals) and LED taillamps. Additionally, the 2016 RDX includes several driver assists in the AcuraWatch package including Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS). AWD was also updated to send up to 50% torque to rear wheels (on wet surfaces) opposed to up to 25% in the previous model.


title: Acura RDX

text: Acura and Marvel Entertainment, LLC, announced a joint promotional campaign with "Marvel's The Avengers" movie. Throughout "Marvel's The Avengers", S.H.I.E.L.D. agents drive various Acura vehicles, including the MDX, ZDX, and TL models; the completely redesigned 2013 RDX was to make a cameo appearance in the movie but the scene did not make it in the final movie. However, the Acura NSX concept convertible sports car made an appearance in the movie.


title: Acura RDX

text: Acura debuted the 2019 RDX Prototype, on January 15, 2018, at the North American International Auto Show. Production of the RDX began in May 2018 at East Liberty, Ohio. The 2019 model arrived at dealerships across North America on June 1, 2018.


title: Acura RDX

text: An A-Spec trim was offered which added aggressive body modifications, metal paddle shifters, larger wheels, and optional red leather interior with black alcantara inserts. This was the first Acura car to feature the company's True Touch Pad Interface infotainment system which features a 10.2 inch widescreen HD display. It is operated by a touchpad which operates differently from a traditional touchpad (like the one found on a laptop). The touchpad uses absolute positioning, which would mean that the finger placement corresponds with the position of the screen.


title: Acura RDX

text: New features include Active Damper system, 360-degree surround-view exterior cameras, panoramic glass moonroof, acoustic front door glass, head-up display 4-way power lumbar front seats, and 16-way power front seats. For the 2021 model year, Acura included a new limited-edition trim level, called the PMC Edition.


title: Acura RDX

text: The 2019 RDX is powered by a direct-injected turbo 2.0-liter engine used in the Honda Accord, producing and of torque. The front-wheel-drive 2019 RDX received an EPA fuel economy rating of city/ highway/ combined mpg; the SH-AWD model, a city/ highway/ combined rating.


title: Acura RDX

text: The 2019 Acura RDX is equipped with a 10-speed automatic transmission that's also used in the Honda Accord. According to Honda, this allows the RDX to take the turbocharged engine to its maximum capabilities during low-end torque. There are wheel-mounted paddle shifters.


title: Acura RDX

text: The 2019 Acura RDX can be equipped with Acura's SH-AWD system. Acura had dropped the SH-AWD system in the second generation RDX for a non-torque vectoring AWD system. With the upgraded system, 70% of torque can be sent to the rear wheels with up to 100% of that torque applied to either rear wheel.


title: Acura RDX

text: The 2019/2020 RDX has been given an overall "G" or good rating by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Highway Loss Data. It was rated an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ in all trims except the Advance for 2019. The Advance trim's curve-adaptive headlights only managed an "A" or acceptable rating due to excessive glare. Advance trim 2020 and on no longer featured the curve adaptive headlights.


title: Mary Welsh Hemingway

text: Mary Welsh Hemingway ( Welsh; April 5, 1908 – November 26, 1986) was an American journalist and author who was the fourth wife and widow of Ernest Hemingway.


title: Mary Welsh Hemingway

text: Born in Walker, Minnesota, Welsh was a daughter of a lumberman. In 1938, she married Lawrence Miller Cook, a drama student from Ohio. Their life together was short and they soon separated. After the separation, Mary moved to Chicago and began working at the "Chicago Daily News", where she met Will Lang Jr. The two formed a friendship and worked together on several assignments. A career move presented itself during a vacation in London when Mary started a new job at the London "Daily Express". The position soon brought her assignments in Paris during the years preceding World War II.


title: Mary Welsh Hemingway

text: After the fall of France in 1940, Welsh returned to London as a base to cover the events of the War. She also attended and reported on the press conferences of Winston Churchill.


title: Mary Welsh Hemingway

text: In 1944, Welsh met American author Ernest Hemingway while covering the war in London, and they became intimate. In 1945, she divorced Noel Monks, and in March 1946, she married Hemingway in a ceremony in Cuba.


title: Mary Welsh Hemingway

text: Welsh's and Hemingway's temperaments were well-suited to one another; while Hemingway's previous wife had chafed against his efforts to assert his dominance, Mary Welsh wrote, "I wanted him to be the Master, to be stronger and cleverer than I; to remember constantly how big he was and how small I was."


title: Mary Welsh Hemingway

text: After their wedding, Mary lived with Hemingway in Cuba for many years and, after 1959, in Ketchum, Idaho. In 1958, while still in Cuba, she appeared in a non-speaking role, along with her husband, in cameo appearances made by them in John Sturges's film version of Hemingway's 1952 novella, "The Old Man and the Sea". Hemingway portrayed a gambler in the film, and Mary an American tourist.


title: Mary Welsh Hemingway

text: It was after they had moved to Ketchum, in the early morning hours of July 2, 1961, that Mary was awakened by a loud noise, and discovered that her husband had "quite deliberately" shot himself with his favorite shotgun. According to biographer James Mellow, Hemingway had unlocked the basement storeroom where his guns were kept, gone upstairs to the front entrance foyer of their Ketchum home, and with the "double-barreled shotgun that he had used so often it might have been a friend", had shot himself. Mary and other family members and friends initially told the press that the death had been "accidental", but in an interview with the press five years later, Mary admitted that Hemingway had committed suicide.


title: Mary Welsh Hemingway

text: Following Hemingway's suicide in 1961, Mary acted as his literary executor, and was responsible for the publication of "A Moveable Feast", "Islands in the Stream", "The Garden of Eden", and other posthumous works. She gave the manuscript of "A Moveable Feast" to Tatiana Kudriavtseva, a translator from the Soviet Union, who was able then to publish a Russian translation simultaneous with the original's publication in English.


title: Mary Welsh Hemingway

text: In 1976, she wrote her autobiography, "How It Was". Further biographical details of Mary Welsh Hemingway can be found in the numerous Hemingway biographies, and in Bernice Kert's "The Hemingway Women".


title: Mary Welsh Hemingway

text: In her later years, Mary moved to New York City, where she lived in an apartment on 65th Street. After a prolonged illness, she died in St. Luke's Hospital at age 78, on November 26, 1986. In her will, she had stipulated that she be buried in Ketchum next to Hemingway, where they are now interred together.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza (Portuguese: "Duarte Pio de Bragança": born 15 May 1945) is the current Duke of Braganza, claimant to the title of King of Portugal of the dormant Portuguese throne, as the head of the House of Braganza. The Miguelist Braganzas, to whom Duarte Pio belongs as great-grandson of King Miguel I, is a cadet branch of the House of Braganza. With the extinction of male-line dynasts descended from Queen Maria II in 1932, King Miguel's descendants became the only male-line Braganzas remaining and the closest male-line heirs to the defunct Portuguese throne.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: Duarte Pio is a figure within the European network of royal houses, often being invited to various foreign royal events. Despite his support for a monarchical government and widespread recognition as pretender to the throne, there are no major movements or parties that support restoration of the monarchy.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: In 1995, the Duke married Isabel Inês de Castro Curvelo de Herédia, a Portuguese businesswoman and descendant of Portuguese nobility. Their marriage was the first marriage of a Portuguese royal to happen in Portuguese territory since the marriage of King Carlos I and Princess Amélie of Orléans, in 1886. The Duke and Duchess have three children, thus continuing the line of the Braganzas, as neither of the Duke's brothers has married or had children.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: The Duke of Braganza holds Portuguese citizenship, by birth, and East Timorese citizenship due to high service to the country.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: Duarte Pio was born on 15 May 1945 in Bern, Switzerland, as the first of three sons of Duarte Nuno de Bragança, and Maria Francisca de Orléans e Bragança. Duarte Pio claims his full name as ending with "Miguel Gabriel Rafael", a naming tradition of the House of Braganza that honors the three archangels in the Catholic Church, despite his full legal name being simply Duarte Pio de Bragança. His father was the grandson of King Miguel I, while his mother was a great-granddaughter of King Pedro IV (Emperor Pedro I of Brazil), who was Miguel's elder brother. Through his father, he is a member of the Miguelist branch of the House of Braganza. Duarte Pio's godparents were Pope Pius XII, Queen Amélie of Portugal (the mother of King Manuel II, the last monarch of Portugal) and his great-aunt Infanta Aldegundes, Duchess of Guimarães.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: The Duke is regarded as a Portuguese national by descent, since his father was Portuguese (and so Duarte Pio's birth was legitimately included in the Portuguese Civil Registry). At the time of his birth, Duarte Pio and the rest of the Miguelist Braganzas were banned from entering Portugal, by the laws of exile of 19 December 1834. On 27 May 1950, the Portuguese National Assembly revoked both the laws of exile from 19 December 1834, which banned the Miguelist Braganzas, and the laws of exile from 15 October 1910, which banned the Legitimist Braganzas. In 1951, Dom Duarte visited Portugal for the first time, accompanied by his aunt, Infanta Filipa. In 1952, he moved to Portugal permanently with his parents and brothers.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: From 1957 to 1959, Duarte was enrolled in the Colégio Nun'Álvres in Santo Tirso. In 1960, he entered the Colégio Militar in Lisbon. He attended the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (now part of the Technical University of Lisbon) and later the Graduate Institute of Development Studies of the University of Geneva.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: From 1968 to 1971, Dom Duarte fulfilled his military service as a helicopter pilot in the Portuguese Air Force in Portuguese Angola at the time of the Portuguese Colonial War. In 1972, he participated with a multi-ethnic Angolan group in the organization of an independent list of candidates to the National Assembly. This resulted in his expulsion from Angola by order of the Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: Duarte Pio claims the throne as the heir of King Manuel II according to the Constitutional Charter of 1826. Duarte Pio is widely considered the heir of the abolished Portuguese throne, but a small number of Portuguese monarchists do not recognise him as pretender to the throne or as Duke of Braganza. The dispute dates back to 1828 when Duarte Pio's great-grandfather was said to have usurped the throne as King Miguel I, starting the Liberal Wars. Miguel's forces were defeated in 1834 by the forces led by his own brother. Miguel I was exiled and his niece, Queen Maria II, was restored to her throne. According to the Law of Banishment (Lei do Banimento) of 1834, Miguel I and all his descendants were forever excluded from the succession to the throne. This exclusion was reinforced four years later with the approval of the Constitution of 1838, which had a similar provision. However, the Constitutional Charter of 1826 was reinstated in 1842; this constitution (which was in place until 1910 when the monarchy was overthrown) did not bar Miguel's descendants from ascending the throne. Finally, the Law of Banishment of 1834 was repealed in 1950.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: In 1912 and 1922, Duarte Pio's grandfather, Miguel, Duke of Braganza, reconciled with King Manuel II, but this reconciliation was not accepted by all of their adherents. There are several monarchist organizations in Portugal (like People's Monarchist Party (Portugal)) which maintain that only the Cortes or the National Assembly could legally determine the rightful claimant if ever Portugal decided to restore the monarchy. One monarchist group in Portugal that did support Miguel, Duke of Braganza, instead of the deposed King Manuel II was the Integralismo Lusitano.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: In May 2006, the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement where it referred to Duarte Pio as Duke of Braganza. On 5 July 2006, in response to this statement, Nuno da Câmara Pereira, member of the Portuguese parliament and then leader of the People's Monarchist Party, addressed the President of the Assembly of the Republic, asking for a clarification as to the official recognition of Duarte Pio as pretender to the throne and as Duke of Braganza. In its official response on 11 July 2006, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs restated the fact that the Portuguese constitution guarantees the republican regime, and that the reference to Duarte Pio as Duke of Braganza was merely a polite courtesy.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: The Duke often interacts with both national and international political and cultural institutions, by which he represents the Portuguese people and their culture. Though not a head of state or official representative of the Portuguese state, Duarte Pio has been received with such honours by various foreign heads of state, government, and organizations.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: Dom Duarte was a major campaigner for the independence of Timor-Leste, a former Portuguese colony which was forcibly annexed by Indonesia in 1975. Before the issue's global popularity from the 1990s onward, the Duke contributed with several national and international campaigns for the political self-determination of the territory, including "Timor 87 Vamos Ajudar" and "Lusitânia Expresso". In 1997, Dom Duarte also suggested a referendum on the independence of East Timor to the Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Habibie. After Habibie became president of Indonesia in 1999, a referendum was held that resulted in the independence of the country.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: In December 2010, Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta expressed his interest in making Duarte Pio a Timorese citizen, which the Duke accepted, because of the "profound and spiritual relations of the Timorese people with Portugal", continuing by saying that the symbols of the House of Braganza have a "great significance" in Timor-Leste. In February 2012, with final approval and support of Timor-Leste parliament, President Ramos-Horta conferred Timorese citizenship upon Duarte Pio, along with the Order of Merit. President Ramos-Horta stated that these honours were given because of Duarte Pio's "dedication of a large part of his life to defending justice and liberty for the Timorese people."


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: In September 2011, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria invited the Duke on a state visit to Damascus. The Duke stated he was invited by President al-Assad with the intention that Duarte Pio relay the Syrian head of state's plans and intents for Syria and its people. Duarte Pio told several Portuguese news outlets that it was the Syrian President's intention to "collaborate on the creation of a future constitution for Syria, close to that of Morocco, which guarantees political, religious, and press freedom." Alongside communicating the political and reformist intentions of the Syrian President, Duarte Pio stated that President al-Assad was a "good and well-intentioned man" and that "since he has assumed power, he has tried to democratize and humanize politics and [that] he has already achieved great advancements."


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: In his capacity as the President of the King Manuel II Foundation, Duarte Pio is often involved with the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, intergovernmental organization for economic, political, and cultural friendship between Portugal and many of its former colonies. In 2009, the Duke petitioned for the King Manuel II Foundation to become a consultative observer within the CPLP, but with no success. In 2012, Duarte Pio petitioned, with Maria Hermínia Cabral, Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, for their respective organizations to become CPLP consultative observers, to which both succeeded in their endeavor. In November 2012, for a meeting of the consultative observers of the CPLP the Duke visited Mindelo, Cabo Verde. While there, the Duke visited various locations within Cabo Verde, and was received by President Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca. During the visit, Duarte Pio decorated President Almeida Fonseca with the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: Duarte Pio often visits various municipalities around the country, in an official charge, for economic and political events. On 14 November 2007, the Duke visited the Santiago do Cacém Municipality and was received with honours by the President of the Municipality, in the Palace of the Concelho. On 11 October 2011, Duarte Pio visited the freguesia of São Pedro de Oliveira, in Braga, and was received with honours by the President of the Freguesia Augusto de Carvalho. On 28 March 2012, the Duke and his son, Afonso, Prince of Beira, were guests of honour at the XII Exposition of Folar and Products of the Earth, an exposition staged for the purpose of economic promotion of products from the Valpaços Municipality.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: On 2014, the Court of Lisbon forbade Duarte Pio of Braganza from using the insignia of the Order of Saint Michael of the Wing and demanded that he compensate 300,000 euro to the legal owners of the rights, Nuno da Câmara Pereira, who allegedly registered the name "Order of Saint Michael of the Wing" (Portuguese: "Ordem de São Miguel da Ala") in 1981, whereas Duarte Pio is said to have registered it in 2004. The condemnation was repeated on 5 October 2015. but on 3 November 2015, the rights of Nuno da Câmara Pereira to the symbols was lost, and on 7 December, Duarte Pio of Braganza won the case and regained the legal rights.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: Duarte Pio often travels and visits various places, in an official charge, for matters concerning cultural affairs, both in Portugal and overseas. From 24 until 25 May 2009, the Duke visited Terceira Island, in the Azores Autonomous Region, as a guest of honour of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia, for the presentation of Mendo Castro Henriques's book, "Dom Duarte e a Democracia – Uma Biografia Portuguesa". While in Terceira, Duarte Pio was received with honours by the President of the Municipality of Praia da Vitória and attended and visited various cultural and religious institutions and events, including a dinner at the Santa Casa da Misericórdia and assisting in a Portuguese bullfight.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: On 12 September 2011, the Duke, as President of the Henry the Navigator Award, a partner award of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, visited Funchal, in the Madeira Autonomous Region, for an official visit. While there, the Duke was received with honours by Miguel Albuquerque, President of the Municipality of Funchal, visited the Municipal Gardens of Funchal and held a ceremony for the presentation of the Henry the Navigator Award. On 30 September 2011, Duarte Pio visited Vila Franca de Xira, as a guest of honour for the Royal Tourada, and visited various cultural institutions of the municipality, including the Museum of Neo-Realism and the Celeiro da Patriarcal. On 8 January 2012, the Duke visited the Vila Verde Municipality, as a special guest of the Association for Regional Development of Minho, where he attended an exhibition on regional culture and products and was presented a traditional "Lenço de Namorados", made in 1912.


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: Every year, on 1 December, Restoration Day, the Duke gives his annual speech in honour of the Portuguese Restoration at the dinner of the Forty Conspirators. It was on 1 December 1640 that João II, Duke of Braganza, an ancestor of Duarte Pio, deposed the Portuguese House of Habsburg, installed the House of Braganza as the reigning house of Portugal, and restored sovereign rule to the Portugal. In his speeches, the Duke reflects on the historical significance of the date, events of the previous year, and the road ahead for both Portugal in general and the monarchist cause. In 2012, Restoration Day ceased to be an official holiday of the Portuguese state, prompting Duarte Pio to speak out against the action, stating that extinction of the official holiday "devalues the day which should unite the Portuguese".


title: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

text: On 13 May 1995, "Dom" Duarte Pio married Isabel Inês de Castro Curvelo de Herédia, a Portuguese businesswoman and descendant of nobility. This was the first marriage of a member of the Portuguese royal family to take place in Portugal since the marriage of King Carlos I in 1886. The ceremony was celebrated in the Monastery of Jerónimos in Lisbon and presided over by Cardinal António Ribeiro, Patriarch of Lisbon. Representatives of most of the European royal houses were present.


title: Pie in the Sky (TV series)

text: Pie in the Sky is a British police comedy drama starring Richard Griffiths and Maggie Steed, created by Andrew Payne and first broadcast in five series on BBC1 between 13 March 1994 and 17 August 1997, as well as being syndicated on other channels in other countries.


title: Pie in the Sky (TV series)

text: The protagonist, Henry Crabbe, while still being an on-duty, "semi-retired" policeman (much against his will), is also the head chef at his wife's restaurant "Pie in the Sky", set in the fictional town of Middleton and county of Westershire.


title: Pie in the Sky (TV series)

text: The series focuses on the life of Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe, who serves in the police force for the fictional county of Westershire. After 25 years on the job, Crabbe wishes to retire and set up his own restaurant, and is brought one step closer after an attempt to catch a high-profile criminal backfires, leaving him shot in the leg. His boss, Assistant Chief Constable Freddie Fisher, is unwilling to let Crabbe leave the Westershire force, and so frames him for taking a bribe, effectively blackmailing him into taking on occasional cases when required.


title: Pie in the Sky (TV series)

text: As a result, Crabbe effectively finds his life divided between his duties as a police detective, and a chef in his new restaurant — "Pie in the Sky" — which he runs with his wife Margaret. Each episode thus focuses on two separate plotlines, in which one sees Crabbe investigating a case, while the other sees him, his wife and their staff dealing with a problem that affects their restaurant.


title: Pie in the Sky (TV series)

text: Westershire, the fictional county where the series is set, is based on Berkshire in southern England. Although scenes in Middleton were often filmed in Marlow in Buckinghamshire, the exterior of the restaurant, Pie in the Sky, was filmed outside number 64 High Street in the Old Town in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. Originally, a florist and then a toy shop, the building became a minor tourist attraction while the series ran, then housed the business of a dolls’-house maker, and as of 2019, a hair salon. A nearby restaurant at 80 High Street renamed itself "Pie in the Sky" (later becoming "Les Amants") to capitalise on the programme's popularity. In Olinda, Victoria in Australia, a very successful restaurant called "Pie in the Sky" also serves many of the TV series' recipes and especially its famous crusty steak and kidney pies. All internal filming at the restaurant was carried out at Bray Studios at Water Oakley, near Windsor in Berkshire. The local newspaper, the Maidenhead Advertiser, occasionally appears in the series redubbed the 'Barstock and Middleton Advertiser'. Freddie Fisher plays golf at Stoke Park Golf Club at Stoke Poges.


title: Pie in the Sky (TV series)

text: In Australia, it was originally broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2021, it was broadcast on 7two and streamed on 7plus.


title: Pie in the Sky (TV series)

text: In the United States, Acorn Media has released separate sets of all five series on 12 May 2009 (Series 1), 26 January 2010 (Series 2), 7 September 2010 (Series 3), 25 January 2011 (Series 4) and 2 August 2011 (Series 5). The complete series was released on DVD by Acorn Media on 11 November 2011.


title: Pie in the Sky (TV series)

text: In Australia, Via Vision Entertainment have released series 1 & 2 on 21 July 2021 and will release series 3-5 on 15 September 2021.


title: Augury

text: Augury is the practice from ancient Roman religion of interpreting omens from the observed behavior of birds. When the individual, known as the augur, interpreted these signs, it is referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" (Latin "auspicium") literally means "looking at birds", and Latin "auspex", another word for "augur", literally means "one who looks at birds". Depending upon the birds, the auspices from the gods could be favorable or unfavorable ("auspicious" or "inauspicious"). Sometimes politically motivated augurs would fabricate unfavorable auspices in order to delay certain state functions, such as elections. Pliny the Elder attributes the invention of auspicy to Tiresias the seer of Thebes, the generic model of a seer in the Greco-Roman literary culture.


title: Augury

text: This type of omen reading was already a millennium old in the time of Classical Greece: in the fourteenth-century BC diplomatic correspondence preserved in Egypt called the "Amarna correspondence", the practice was familiar to the king of Alasia in Cyprus who needed an 'eagle diviner' to be sent from Egypt. This earlier, indigenous practice of divining by bird signs, familiar in the figure of Calchas, the bird-diviner to Agamemnon, who led the army ("Iliad" I.69), was largely replaced by sacrifice-divination through inspection of the sacrificial victim's liver—"haruspices"—during the Orientalizing period of archaic Greek culture. Plato notes that hepatoscopy held greater prestige than augury by means of birds.


title: Augury

text: One of the most famous auspices is the one which is connected with the founding of Rome. Once the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, arrived at the Palatine Hill, the two argued over where the exact position of the city should be. Romulus was set on building the city upon the Palatine, but Remus wanted to build the city on the strategic and easily fortified Aventine Hill. The two agreed to settle their argument by testing their abilities as augures and by the will of the gods. Each took a seat on the ground apart from one another, and, according to Plutarch, Remus saw six vultures, while Romulus saw twelve.


title: Augury

text: According to unanimous testimony from ancient sources the use of auspices as a means to decipher the will of the gods was more ancient than Rome itself. The use of the word is usually associated with Latins as well as the earliest Roman citizens. Though some modern historians link the act of observing Auspices to the Etruscans, Cicero accounts in his text "De Divinatione" several differences between the auspicial of the Romans and the Etruscan system of interpreting the will of the gods. Cicero also mentions several other nations which, like the Romans, paid attention to the patterns of flying birds as signs of the gods' will but never once mentions this practice while discussing the Etruscans. Though auspices were prevalent before the Romans, Romans are often linked with auspices because of both their connection to Rome's foundation and because Romans were the first to take the system and lay out such fixed and fundamental rules for the reading of auspices that it remained an essential part of Roman culture. Stoics, for instance, maintained that if there are gods, they care for men, and that if they care for men they must send them signs of their will. Even the Philistines practice augury as far back as 740 BC and c. 686 BC as declared by Isaiah 2:6 in the Old Testament. Yet augury was first systematized by the Chaldeans according to the Jewish Encyclopedia.


title: Augury

text: In ancient Rome, the appointment and inauguration of any magistrate, decisions made within the people's assembly and the advancement of any campaign always required a positive "auspicium". During Octavian's first consulship in 43 B.C.E., the positive "auspicium" corresponded to the spotting of twelve vultures, similar to Romulus. Unlike in Greece where oracles played the role of messenger of the gods, in Rome it was through birds that Jupiter's will was interpreted. Auspices showed Romans what they were to do, or not to do; giving no explanation for the decision made except that it was the will of the gods. It would be difficult to execute any public act without consulting the auspices.


title: Augury

text: It was believed that if an augur committed an error in the interpretation of the signs, or "vitia", it was considered offensive to the gods and often was said to have disastrous effects unless corrected. Elections, the passing of laws, and initiation of wars were all put on hold until the people were assured the gods agreed with their actions. The men who interpreted these signs, revealing the will of the gods were called augures. Similar to records of court precedents, augures kept books containing records of past signs, the necessary rituals, prayers, and other resources to help other augures and even members of the aristocracy understand the fundamentals of augury.


title: Augury

text: The augures themselves were not the ones with the final say: Though they had the power to interpret the signs, it was ultimately the responsibility of the magistrate to execute decisions as to future actions. The magistrates were also expected to understand the basic interpretations as they were often expected to take the auspices whenever they undertook any public business.


title: Augury

text: Until 300 BC only patricians could become augures. Plebeian assemblies were forbidden to take augury and hence had no input as to whether a certain law, war or festival should occur. Cicero, an augur himself, accounts how the monopoly of the patricians created a useful barrier to the encroachment of the "populares". However, in 300 BC a new law "Lex Ogulnia", increased the number of augures from four to nine and required that five of the nine be plebeians, for the first time granting the ability to interpret the will of the gods to lower classes. With this new power it was not only possible for plebeians to determine the gods' will in their favor but it was also now possible for plebeians to critique unfair interpretations by patricians.


title: Augury

text: There were five different types of auspices. Of these, the last three formed no part of the ancient auspices.


title: Augury

text: There were two classifications of auspice signs, impetrative ("impetrativa", sought or requested) and oblative ("oblativa", unsought or offered). Signs that fall under the category of "impetrativa" were signs that resulted due to the actions performed by the augur during the reading of the auspice. The other category of signs, "oblativa", were momentous events which occurred unexpectedly, while the magistrate was either taking auspices or participating in public debate. "Ex Caelo" ("from the sky") signs of thunder and lightning or other natural phenomena, would be considered an "offered" sign. Unless the magistrate was accompanied by an augur it was up to them to decide whether or not the “offered” sign was significant.


title: Three Slaps

text: "Three Slaps" is the first episode of the third season of the American comedy-drama television series "Atlanta". It is the 22nd overall episode of the series and was written by executive producer Stephen Glover, and directed by executive producer Hiro Murai. It was first broadcast on FX in the United States on March 24, 2022, airing back-to-back with the follow-up episode, "Sinterklaas is Coming to Town".


title: Three Slaps

text: The series is set in Atlanta and follows Earnest "Earn" Marks, as he tries to redeem himself in the eyes of his ex-girlfriend Van, who is also the mother of his daughter Lottie; as well as his parents and his cousin Alfred, who raps under the stage name "Paper Boi"; and Darius, Alfred's eccentric right-hand man. For the season, the characters find themselves in Europe in the middle of a European Tour.


title: Three Slaps

text: The episode focuses on a dream being had by Earn of an African American boy, Loquareeous, who lives with his mother and grandfather and is boisterous at school. The white teachers and administrators at his school are troubled by his mother and grandfathers emotionally and physically abusive behavior and call social services when Loquareeous's family physically assaults him in front of the guidance counselor. Through errors in communication, he winds up in a foster home with two white, hippie women, who have adopted several other black children who silently work for them in their home and garden. The episode was inspired by the Hart family murders.


title: Three Slaps

text: According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.310 million household viewers and gained a 0.1 ratings share among adults aged 18–49. The episode received critical acclaim, with critics praising the performances, directing, writing, cinematography and creepy atmosphere. The episode was also praised for it not acting as a de-facto premiere, as none of the main characters apart from Earn appear, nor are the events of the past seasons mentioned.


title: Three Slaps

text: At Lake Lanier at night, White, a white man (Tobias Segal) and Black, a black man (Tyrell Munn), are out on the water in a small boat, fishing near a bridge. The white man tells a story about the town beneath them, a black town, that was flooded to make the lake. In the process, he says, people who refused to leave drowned, and the lake is now haunted. He says these black people were so prosperous and successful that they were "almost white", opening a discussion of what constitutes "whiteness", in which he proclaims that black and white people are both cursed. As the scene turns darker, the white man turns around to reveal his eyes missing and the black man is grabbed by the hands of the souls of the black people in the lake.


title: Three Slaps

text: The scene then turns to a classroom, and the dream of an African American boy named Loquareeous (Christopher Farrar), who dozed off at his desk. When the teacher announces that they will be taking a field trip to see the new "" movie, Loquareeous dances with joy, cheered on by his classmates. But the teacher disapproves, and he gets into trouble when he continues to dance despite her ordering him to stop. Loquareeous' mother and grandfather meet with the principal and the counselor. While his mother insists that her child be put in detention, the counselor suggests that Loquareeous is acting out because the schoolwork is too challenging for him, and that he belongs in special ed, with the mentally disabled children. The counselor then runs into his mother in the hall, while she is giving Loquareeous an intense warning about how white people can harm and kill him if he doesn't take their rules seriously. His grandfather lightly slaps him three times, as well. The white counselor mistakenly believes this to be child abuse and reports the events to child protective services, who show up at Loquareeous' house along with the police. His mother mistakenly believes Loquareeous has called the police on his family. Hurt, and not realizing what has actually happened, she kicks him out.


title: Three Slaps

text: Loquareeous is put into a foster home, where a married, white lesbian couple consisting of Amber (Laura Dreyfuss) and Gayle (Jamie Neumann) are his new parents. They have three adopted black children: Lanre, Yves and Fatima, who are totally silent, sickly and thin, and only communicate with him with their eyes and facial expressions. Loquareeous begins noticing a strange behavior with Amber and Gayle, who seem to force the kids into adopting their alternative lifestyle and is further frustrated when they nickname him "Larry" because of his long, "difficult" name. During dinner, Loquareeous complains that the sparse and undercooked food is "nasty". Gayle has a violent outburst and breaks the phone when a caller interrupts dinner.


title: Three Slaps

text: The next day, the underfed kids are forced to work in the gardens, and then sell kombucha and produce at the farmer's market. In a series of images based on the viral photos of Devonte Hart, Loquareeous is forced to wear a "Free Hugs" sign and stand in front of their booth. Starving and frightened, and sick from eating the raw chicken they feed the kids, Loquareeous flees his captors and grabs onto a cop, begging him for help. But when Amber and Gayle arrive, they insist they are his parents and that all their children are troubled as they have been rescued from terrible, abusive homes. The white cop believes the white women, not the black child, and forces Loquareeous to return to the white women. The white women then use the photos of Loquareeous clinging to the cop in fear to promote themselves as white saviors in the media.


title: Three Slaps

text: After neighbors report that the children are sickly and starving, a new child services worker arrives to inspect the house, where she notes the poor treatment that the kids are receiving. Gayle then asks to speak with the worker in private and then returns alone, saying that "everything is fine". That night, Loquareeous is haunted by nightmares involving some events at the house. He then wakes up and goes downstairs, where Amber tells him that they will go to the Grand Canyon. As they leave in a van, Loquareeous notices a large body shaped bag next to the worker's clipboard and pen.


title: Three Slaps

text: At the van, the kids exchange a silent conversation where they recognize the women's weird behavior. That night, Amber and Gayle step outside and release their dog free. They then get back into the van and drive off. As they approach the bridge from Loquareeous' dream, they hold hands, preparing to commit murder-suicide. Gayle suddenly notices that their dog is still onboard and Loquareeous escapes the vehicle before it goes off the bridge. The vehicle crashes into the cursed Lake Lanier.


title: Three Slaps

text: Loquareeous walks back to his previous house by morning and quietly begins to do the dishes and other chores. His mother wakes up and, showing little emotion but relieved, accepts him back into her home. She thinks he ran away, and has no idea the trauma he has survived. He sees news coverage of the other kids by the side of the road - they also got out of the vehicle and survived. An indifferent Loquareeous switches the channel to "American Dad". As the floorboard starts to creak, he turns around. The scene then turns back to regular Atlanta characters on tour in Europe, with Earn (Donald Glover) waking up in a hotel room next to a woman, suggesting that he had dreamed all the events of the episode.


title: Three Slaps

text: In February 2022, FX announced that the first episode of the season would be titled "Three Slaps" and that it would be written by executive producer Stephen Glover, and directed by executive producer Hiro Murai. This was Stephen Glover's ninth writing credit, and Murai's fifteenth directing credit.


title: Three Slaps

text: The episode was inspired by the Hart family murders in which Jennifer Hart and her wife, Sarah, murdered their six adopted children and themselves by driving the family's sport utility vehicle off a cliff in Mendocino County, California. Loquareeous reenacts several key moments from Devonte Hart's life, who was trying to get help and escape with his siblings, shortly before they were murdered by the adoptive parents. While Devonte's body was never found, he is presumed dead. Unlike the real-life crime, where all the children were murdered, "Three Slaps" concludes with the children getting out alive and the white couple dead.


title: Three Slaps

text: The episode was watched by 0.310 million viewers, earning a 0.1 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale. This means that 0.1 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode. This was a 44% decrease from the previous episode, which was watched by 0.553 million viewers with a 0.3 in the 18-49 demographics.


title: Three Slaps

text: "Three Slaps" received critical acclaim. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 95% approval rating for the episode, based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10. The site's consensus states: ""Atlanta" reintroduces itself with a self-contained premiere that may initially come across as a digression, but winds up reaffirming the series' core thesis with horrifying power."


title: Three Slaps

text: Michael Martin of "The A.V. Club" gave the episode an "A" and wrote, "I haven't been able to get this episode out of my mind for days. It haunts and reverberates, producing the same kind of prolonged hangover HBO Sunday night dramas once did." Ben Travers of "IndieWire" gave the episode an "A-" and wrote, "Tuning in for the surprise was even more fun than tearing through the ensuing discussion. Maintaining that level of originality without jumping the shark is difficult, especially after so many years (and so many new shows). But here we are again. "Atlanta" is back, and with it, our rapt attention."


title: Three Slaps

text: Alan Sepinwall of "Rolling Stone" wrote, "Together, 'Three Slaps' and 'Sinterklaas is Coming to Town' are a reminder of everything "Atlanta" can be and do, whether it's the stark nightmare of the former or the back-to-basics ensemble shenanigans of the latter." Darren Franich of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the episode an A- and wrote, "The show's early years look prophetic now in many ways. It tapped a deep vein of racial disparity and capitalist brutality, all while nailing the complete existential ruin of social media right before hating Silicon Valley went mainstream. The first two episodes of season 3 find the show pushing its boundaries even as it rebuilds its core foundation."


title: Three Slaps

text: Jordan Taliha McDonald of "Vulture" gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "This episode was a rough return, but one of the small moments of tenderness was when Loquareeous returns home to his mother. If I'm being honest, I was not feeling his mom, but I hope that was the best bowl of spaghetti she ever made 'cause after everything he'd been through? That baby deserves it!" Dan Jackson of "Thrillist" wrote, "This is not a show that's resting on its laurels or coasting on past success. In fact, the series isn’t even relying on its charismatic cast to lure viewers back into the fold." Kelly Lawler of "USA Today" gave the premiere a 3.5 star rating out of 4 and wrote, "there was never a question of whether there's a place for "Atlanta" all these years later. Good TV shows are consistent, but the great ones know how to change and grow with their characters and with the times. "Atlanta" has always been one of the greats."


title: Flag of Angola

text: The national flag of Angola came into use when Angola gained independence on November 11, 1975. It is split horizontally into an upper red half and a lower black half with an emblem resting at the center. It features a yellow half gear wheel crossed by a machete and crowned with a star.


title: Flag of Angola

text: The flag was designed by Henrique Onambwé. The process of cutting and sewing the first version of the flag was done by Joaquina, Ruth Lara and Cici Cabral on November 11, 1975.


title: Flag of Angola

text: The Angolan flag is based on the flag of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which fought Portuguese colonial rule and emerged as the ruling party of Angola following the Angolan Civil War. The MPLA flag is similar to the flag of Angola but features a star in place of the central emblem.


title: Flag of Angola

text: The National Flag of the Republic of Angola has two horizontal bands of red and black with the Machete and Gear Emblem in gold in the center consisted of a five pointed-star within a half gear wheel crossed by a machete (resembling the hammer and sickle used on the Soviet flag). As outlined in the Constitution of Angola, the red half of the flag signifies bloodshed – during Angola's colonial period, independence struggle, and in defense of the country. The black half symbolizes Africa. In the central emblem, the gear represents industrial workers and production, the machete represents peasantry, agricultural production and the armed struggle, and the star, shaped like the red star, symbolizes international solidarity and progress. The yellow color of the emblem symbolizes the country's wealth. The Constitution of 1975 described the red stripe as symbolizing bloodshed during the colonial period, national liberation and a revolution – and reference to revolution was replaced with "defense of the country" in the constitution of 1992. In other changes of wording between the 1975 and 1992 versions, the star was changed from a symbol of "internationalism" to "international solidarity," and references to "working class" and "peasant class" were replaced with "workers" and "peasants".


title: Flag of Angola

text: In 2003, a new, more "optimistic" flag was proposed by the Parliament's Constitutional Commission of the National Assembly (Angolan Parliament), but it was not adopted. The sun design in the middle is meant to be reminiscent of cave paintings found in Tchitundo-Hulu cave. The flag maintained the same flag proportions of 2:3.


title: Fremen

text: The Fremen are a group of people in the fictional "Dune" universe created by Frank Herbert. First appearing in the 1965 novel "Dune", the Fremen inhabit the desert planet Arrakis (also known as Dune), which is the sole known source in the universe of the all-important spice melange. Long overlooked by the rest of the Imperium and considered backward savages, in reality they are an extremely hardy people and exist in large numbers. The Fremen had come to the planet thousands of years before the events of the novel as the Zensunni Wanderers, a religious sect in retreat. As humans "in extremis", over time they adapted their culture and way of life to survive and thrive in the incredibly harsh conditions of Arrakis. The Fremen are distinguished by their fierce fighting abilities and adeptness at survival in these conditions. With water being such a rare commodity on the planet, their culture revolves around its preservation and conservation. Herbert based Fremen culture, in part, on the desert-dwelling Bedouin and San People.


title: Fremen

text: "Dune" was inspired by Herbert's research for a potential article about the United States Department of Agriculture's attempt to use poverty grasses to stabilize the Oregon Dunes in Florence, Oregon. Herbert learned that the moving dunes could "swallow whole cities, lakes, rivers, highways." He said that in studying sand dunes, we must analyze the "black foot (people) of the Kalahari and how they utilize every drop of water. You can't just stop with the people who are living in this type of environment: you have to go on to how the environment works on the people and how they work on their environment." Herbert based Fremen culture, in part, on the desert-dwelling Bedouin and San People.


title: Fremen

text: In an early, alternate "Dune" outline by Frank Herbert called "Spice Planet", the Fremen are called the "Free Men", convicts who had been transported to "Duneworld" to work for the spice operation of the "Hoskanners" in exchange for a reduction in their sentence.


title: Fremen

text: In "Dune", Duke Leto Atreides, his Bene Gesserit concubine Lady Jessica, and their son Paul arrive on Arrakis to take control of melange mining operations there. The mysterious Fremen housekeeper at the palace of Arrakeen is known as the Shadout Mapes, and when Paul saves her life from a deadly hunter-seeker intended to kill him, Mapes warns of a traitor in the Atreides household. She is killed by that same traitor, Suk doctor Wellington Yueh, as the Harkonnens attack. Leto is killed, and Paul and Jessica flee into the deep desert and find shelter with the Fremen of Sietch Tabr. Paul is immediately challenged by the Fremen warrior Jamis, and when he kills Jamis in a ritual fight to the death, Paul is faced with the Fremen custom of taking responsibility for Jamis's wife Harah and her children. A key to Fremen survival in the harsh conditions of Arrakis is their ritualistic conservation of water. Paul rises as a leader among the Fremen, learning their ways while he and Jessica train them in the Bene Gesserit weirding way fighting discipline. Paul also becomes close to Chani, the daughter of Imperial Planetologist Liet-Kynes and his Fremen wife. Harah tries to explain to the superstitious and wary Fremen the unique nature of Paul's younger sister Alia, who was changed in the womb as Jessica underwent a Fremen/Bene Gesserit ritual to replace the Fremen Reverend Mother Ramallo. Paul leads the Fremen to take back Arrakis from the Harkonnens and Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, placing himself on the throne.


title: Fremen

text: In "Dune Messiah" (1969), a religion has arisen around Paul, and a jihad is being fought in his name across the universe. Korba, one of Fedaykin death commandos in "Dune", has become one of the chief priests of the religion of Muad'Dib. Another Fedaykin, Farok, is one of many Fremen disillusioned by the changes Paul's regime brings to their culture, and he joins the conspiracy to unseat Paul initiated by the Spacing Guild, Tleilaxu, and Bene Gesserit. Lichna, the daughter of Paul's trusted Fedaykin Otheym, is killed and impersonated by the Tleilaxu Face Dancer Scytale as a means to infiltrate Paul's household, which ultimately fails. Chani dies giving birth to Paul's twin heirs, Leto II and Ghanima, and a blinded Paul follows Fremen tradition and walks into the desert to die.


title: Fremen

text: As regent for Leto II and Ghanima, Alia struggles to control Paul's virtually uncontrollable religion in "Children of Dune" (1976). As she succumbs to Abomination, Sietch Tabr leader Stilgar, his wife Harah, and Princess Irulan flee with Leto II and Ghanima to escape Alia's worsening tyranny. Though married to Duncan Idaho, the possessed Alia takes Fremen warrior Buer Argarves as a lover, promising him leadership of Sietch Tabr in return for killing Stilgar. In the clandestine Sietch Fondak, Jessica tasks Fremen Namri to administer an overdose of melange to Leto II as a test of his resistance to Abomination, but Namri has secretly been instructed by Alia to kill Leto no matter the result. Leto recognizes a potential mate in the Fondak woman Sabiha, but recognizes this as an alternate path he should not take. A blind preacher emerges from the desert, guided by teenage Assan Tariq, son of Muriz from a cast out tribe of Fremen.


title: Fremen

text: By "God Emperor of Dune" (1981), taking place 3,500 years after "Children of Dune", Arrakis has become terraformed into a wet, lush planet. Desert is now limited to the area surrounding Leto II's fortress, and all sandworms other than the God Emperor have died off, thus altering the Fremen culture drastically. Traditions and rituals held by ancient Fremen are maintained and performed by "Museum Fremen", though they have lost their meaning and value. In "Heretics of Dune" (1984), 1,500 years after the events of "God Emperor of Dune", Arrakis (now called Rakis) is destroyed by the Honored Matres. This act killed the overwhelming majority of Fremen, apart from Sheeana and a few Fremen descendants living on other planets.


title: Fremen

text: In the series, the "native" Fremen of Arrakis live in communities called sietches, each with its own leader who has ascended to the position by challenging his predecessor and proving himself the strongest in the tribe. The Fremen system of justice relies primarily on trial by combat, and individuals may challenge each other hand-to-hand duels to the death over matters of etiquette, law, or honor. The victor of these challenges becomes responsible for the wife, children, and certain possessions of the defeated. The Fremen pay enormous spice bribes to the Spacing Guild to keep the atmosphere of Arrakis free of spy satellites, and they have a long-term plan to terraform the planet.


title: Fremen

text: Each sietch also has a Sayyadina, a wise woman trained in the spiritual traditions of her people who can serve as a spiritual leader or as an acolyte to a holy woman who is the Fremen version of a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother. A significant part of the Fremen mythology has been created by the Bene Gesserit Missionaria Protectiva, an arm of the matriarchy which practices "religious engineering" by introducing contrived myths, prophecies and superstition among the populations of the Empire with the intent to later exploit them to the advantage of an individual Bene Gesserit or the entire order. In the case of the Fremen, a messiah legend has been put in place that is utilized in "Dune" by Paul Atreides to secure the safety of himself and his mother Jessica. The Fremen have a language unique to them, but also use Chakobsa for ritual purposes.


title: Fremen

text: The Fremen worship the giant sandworms of Arrakis as manifestations of the earth deity they call Shai'Hulud. Though they cross the desert on foot in a specifically nonrhythmic pattern to avoid vibrations that would attract the deadly and destructive creatures, the Fremen are also able to ride the worms by "calling" and mounting them in a ritualized, controlled manner. As part of the sandworm life cycle, the spice drug melange is everywhere on Arrakis, and the Fremen diet is rich with it. Such a level of exposure to the spice tints the sclera, cornea and iris of the user to a dark shade of blue, called "blue-in-blue" or "the Eyes of Ibad".


title: Fremen

text: Herbert illustrates that living in the desert with no natural sources of water has spurred the Fremen to ritualize and build their society around the collection, storage, and conservative use of all moisture. They conserve the water distilled from their dead, consider spitting a sign of respect, and put a great cultural reverence on tears. Water is collected from the atmosphere in windtraps that condense the humidity and add it to underground water stores in each sietch. Water can also be collected from dead people and animals using a deathstill to remove the water from a corpse for addition to the sietch water store. Personal ownership of moisture is designated by "water rings", which are used as a form of currency. When outside of their sietch, Fremen wear a stillsuit, a special body-enclosing suit designed to collect and recycle all the moisture the body releases through perspiration, urine, feces, and even the exhalation of water vapor in the breath. The special fabric is a micro-sandwich designed to dissipate heat and filter wastes while reclaiming moisture. The water is then held in catchpockets and made available to drink through a tube. A Fremen in a well-kept suit can survive weeks in the desert without any other source of water. Herbert even suggests in "Dune" that the Fremen have adapted to the environment physiologically, with their blood able to clot almost instantly in order to prevent water loss.


title: Fremen

text: The dangerous conditions of Arrakis, which ensure that only the strongest survive, have also forged the Fremen into superior hand-to-hand combatants. In "Dune", Paul trains his Fremen forces in the use of the "weirding way", the Fremen name for the specialized Bene Gesserit martial arts that he learned from his mother. The Mentat assassin Thufir Hawat is later shocked to learn that Fremen have not only overcome some of Shaddam IV's fierce and previously unstoppable Sardaukar soldiers, but have done the impossible and captured some as well. Herbert also writes that "Paul recalled the stories of the Fremen—that their children fought as ferociously as the adults." In the novel Shaddam notes, "I only sent in five troop carriers with a light attack force to pick up prisoners for questioning. We barely got away with three prisoners and one carrier. Mind you, Baron, my Sardaukar were almost overwhelmed by a force composed mostly of women, children, and old men."


title: Fremen

text: In Herbert's fictional universe, personal body shields have made all forms of projectile weapons semi-obsolete. Only a slow-moving weapon can penetrate a shield, putting knives and similar weapons in common use. The beam of energy weapons called lasguns react violently with a shield, creating an unpredictable explosion comparable to sub-atomic fusion which can kill the attacker, shield wearer, and surrounding individuals. Fremen do not use shields because they also attract the native giant sandworms of Arrakis and drive them into a killing frenzy. As a result, the Fremen have the advantage of not being trained to slow their knives when attacking, as those battling a shielded opponent do. Fremen use different archaic weapons such as maula pistols, lances and crossbows to great effect, but the most deadly and prized possession of a Fremen warrior is the crysknife. A crysknife is a personally-tuned blade ground from the crystal tooth of a sandworm, and is the formal and sacred weapon of the Fremen. It is a milk-white, double-edged curved knife, the blade about long. The crysknife comes in two forms, fixed and unfixed. Unfixed knives need to be stored in proximity to an electrical field produced by the human body or they will disintegrate after a period of time. Fixed crysknives are put through chemical processes to keep them permanently intact. In "Children of Dune", Leto II notes that "The crysknife dissolves at the death of its owner." All young Fremen must go through a ritual confirming their adulthood, which is sealed with the gift of a crysknife to the adolescent warrior. According to the religious beliefs of the Fremen, a drawn crysknife must not be sheathed until it draws blood. The Fremen also forbid outsiders from possessing crysknives, and in "Dune" the Lady Jessica refers to "the fabled crysknife of Arrakis, the blade that had never been taken off the planet, and was known only by rumor and wild gossip." When the Shadout Mapes gives one to Jessica, the Fremen woman warns, "Who sees that knife must be cleansed or slain!"


title: Fremen

text: The Fremen have been featured in the "Dune" series of games, playing a vital role in the plots of nearly all of them. The first "Dune" game (1992) and "Frank Herbert's Dune" (2001) are tied closely to the original book by Frank Herbert, retelling Paul Muad'Dib's rise to becoming the Fremen's Messiah, and leading them against the Harkonnens and the Padishah Emperor under the Atreides banner. In "Dune II" (1992) and "Dune 2000" (1998), the Fremen are special Atreides units, native elite guerillas invoked from the Palace. In "" (2001) they are one of the five sub-factions.


title: Estelle Bennett

text: Estelle Bennett (July 22, 1941 – February 11, 2009) was an American singer. Bennett was a member of the girl group the Ronettes, along with her sister Ronnie and cousin Nedra Talley.