Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2014 November 28

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November 28

Airdropping for the resistance in WWII

Hej! During World War II the danish resistance got support from the british island by airdropping quite a lot weapons, equipment and supplies.There is a big number of reports, notes and recorded memories from those people who received the containers at the ground in Denmark. Now I try finding one or some records from the flying crews view about these airdropping actions, but without success. Is there someone who can help with informations or hints? Greetings from Denmark --Danskeren (talk) 12:04, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

The Imperial War Museum is a good place to start. Personal writtings by the crews, (although very copius), is hard to find online due to copyright issues. See: Collections and Research at the IWM. (aka Aspro not loged in)--81.134.17.111 (talk) 15:18, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

Yes, the IWM are a good first try; you could also contact the RAF Museum at Hendon. It depends what you're looking for - are you after British memories and reports in general, or records of specific drops? Andrew Gray (talk) 18:34, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

Agree with the above. I also found 801st/492nd BG (Carpetbaggers) Association website which "Provides historical information regarding the air support crews (and their ground support personnel) of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II in the European and Mediterranean Theaters of Operation. Specifically these personnel belonged to a number of differing organizational units of the 8th and 15th Air Forces of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during the period of October 1943 through July of 1945." Alansplodge (talk) 00:09, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

The main British base for this sort of operation seems to have been RAF Tempsford - at the bottom of the Wikipedia article there is a list of "external links". Some websites that I found are The Wartime Memories Project - RAF Tempsford and Tempsford Links Page. Alansplodge (talk) 00:30, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. I think your links can help me out. Thank you all. Until now I have just found the 801st/492nd US bombardment group but it is said from eyewitness that there where englisch planes too. (I prefer to search the net before i write to the institutions.) --Danskeren (talk) 01:06, 29 November 2014 (UTC) Ops: In this case we search for memories and general reports from the crews who was flying this missions. To see it from the other friendly view.

Operation Carthage is a related British air force operation (with some good results and some very sad results) that you may already be aware of. These aircraft seem to have flown from three different RAF airbases, so investigating memories and links regarding those airbases would provide more information. (None of this is directly related to dropping material to resistance fighters, but the operation was at the repeated request of the resistance, and the aircraft were indeed dropping weapons.) I will look to see what else I can find. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 21:42, 29 November 2014 (UTCtMy father was a navigator of a B24 that dropped agents , supplies to resistance groups in those cpuntries . he flew 39 Carpetbagger missions and was included in the Conhressional Gold Medal being given by US Congress to the OSS who conducted theses missions . He was awarded the DFC , Airmedal with 5 OLC , EAME with 4 battle stars , the American campaign medal , ww2 victory medal and more .I have all missipn reports , for the group . )

Bengali language two forms

Is Bengali language the only language that has two forms like Shadhu bhasha and cholito bhasha or should I say diglossia? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.29.35.185 (talk) 23:21, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

Norwegian also has two common forms, see Norwegian language: Bokmål and Nynorsk. --Jayron32 01:21, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

According to the article by M.H. Klaiman in The World's Major Languages (ISBN 0-19-506511-5), the terms are sadhu bhasa or "pundit language" (somewhat archaic and influenced by Sanskrit) and colti bhasa (much more similar to everyday spoken Bengali), so the difference between the two would probably not be too similar to that between Norwegian standards. Sanskritized Bengali was the main language of Indian Nationalism up through the early 20th century (see Vande Mataram etc.), but according to Klaiman is less and less used for ordinary basic prose. 70.29.35.185 -- If you knew the term diglossia, then you should have known how to look up the answer to your question... AnonMoos (talk) 06:13, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

Every living language has multiple forms. —Tamfang (talk) 01:37, 30 November 2014 (UTC)

Well, unless it's spoken in only one village. —Tamfang (talk) 08:58, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

Are all giant pandas property of the PRC?

Our article on the giant panda says: "By 1984, however, pandas were no longer given as gifts. Instead, the PRC began to offer pandas to other nations only on 10-year loans, under terms including a fee of up to US$1,000,000 per year and a provision that any cubs born during the loan are the property of the PRC."

So does that mean all current living pandas are property of the PRC?

Are any of the "pre-1984 non-PRC-owned gift pandas" still alive currently? WinterWall (talk) 23:56, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

Unlikely, I'd think - "A panda's average life span in the wild is 14-20 years (but a panda can live up to 30 years in captivity)." [1] AndyTheGrump (talk) 00:07, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

Good call. Going through our list of giant pandas, I found Xin Xin (giant panda) which appears to be "non-PRC-owned". There may be others too. WinterWall (talk) 01:11, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

Such a pity that Xin Xin is presumably not aware of her remarkable unique status. Pinging User:DangerousPanda, to whom this may be of interest. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 21:22, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

Resolved

Does this make the PRC pandarers? Clarityfiend (talk) 07:17, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

There may well be progeny of pre-1984 pandas around the world who do not benefit from the enlightened rule of the Chinese regime. --Dweller (talk) 13:50, 1 December 2014 (UTC)