#mine: waterloo road

[felicitykings]

series one, episode one (2006) | series one, episode one (2023)

WATERLOO ROAD (2006-2015; 2023- )

[tylerposey]

I should make you jealous more often.

[sageandred]

Dangit, why do I always get into a ship with a blonde boy and a dark curly headed boy

Bonus (from Alex pov):

[befickleforever]

chucking this drawing into the Waterloo road tag and hoping it finds all the other 2 fans.

My art insta is: temptingfate.art if anyone wants to check it out!

[walkofpenance]

Get To Know Me | TV Shows I Have Watched ⇒ Waterloo Road (2023-)

“You’re angry, and you have expressed it calmly and patiently, and I am so proud of you for that... Cos, believe me, I share your anger. I am angry that the scales are weighted so much against so many of us. And sometimes that anger boils over, I know it does. Now, maybe you came to school this morning with no breakfast, or no shoes, or you’ve got no home to go back to, or you have spent the day worrying that when you do leave here, you’re not going to be safe. You have got EVERY right to feel that.”

[rixareth]

@tweetymcbastardface requested Waterloo Road for the unfinished fanfiction meme. I can't believe you would do this to me. But I've dug up some ancient unfinished femslash, just for you.

-

“Are you sure about this?” Izzie asks quietly, stroking Lorna’s blonde hair back from her cheek.

Lorna stretches out luxuriantly on the bed, her eyes closed and a smile on her face. “I’ve never felt better.”

Izzie hesitates, looking at Tom, and then she leans down. She laces her fingers through Lorna’s and kisses her, cautiously, and breaks off two seconds later in a burst of nervous laughter. “This is very weird.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

“No, I think it does.”

“Try again,” Lorna urges. “It was lovely; you’re much better than Tom.”

“Oi!” Tom protests.

Izzie takes a long, slow breath and tries again. She’s so close she can feel the warmth from Lorna’s skin when she breaks down in giggles.

[peterjakes]

Waterloo Road - 'see I spent my teens enraged spiralin' in silence'

Danny Lewis was back at school, he was at Waterloo Road and things were actually going his way for once. They were for a while, until he ruined it all again.

never did I think I would write a waterloo road fic ngl! but I watched the new series and poor danny bless him:( he was deffo my fave character in the new show and I really hope he gets justice!!

this song really reminded me of danny and I wasn't entirely sure where I was going with this but I think I like it!

thanks for reading :)

also posted on ao3; https://archiveofourown.org/works/44157850

Danny was fifteen when he stopped going to school. It wasn’t like he cared at the time, not really. He hated school, or at least he thought he did. The only good thing about it was he didn’t have to spend time at home. That was the one place he hated more than school. It was a constant struggle, constant fight between Danny and Vinny. Danny knew exactly the type of person Vinny was. He knew as soon as he met him, knew when his mum first introduced him. She didn’t want to at first, and Danny could see why. He was a bully, he was an arsehole, he took and took. Even though Danny hated school, he seemed to spend a lot of time there. He’d get into fights, meaning a week’s detention. That wasted at least an hour after school. Sometimes he’d go to the park for a bit, or the off license. That could waste maybe an hour or so. When it was winter it got dark pretty quickly, and Danny didn’t fancy spending too much time in the dark and cold, so he knew he’d have to go home eventually. Not that anyone would have cared. When it was just him and his mum, she’d make his tea and leave it for him, especially if she was working nights. But after Vinny, she didn’t seem to worry about that. Danny wasn’t stupid or naïve, he wasn’t going to pretend his mum was ever good to him, everything was just worse with Vinny around.

When it was warmer, Danny could stay away from home for longer. Sometimes he didn’t want to just hang about, so he’d go for a walk. It felt like he’d be walking for hours until he realised, he needed to go home. He liked it though, spending time by himself was nice. Danny knew he wasn’t the most popular person in school, but he didn’t need to be. Kai was a good friend, or he was when he was around. But sometimes everything became too much, and Danny just wanted to be alone.

Danny thought it pretty funny, ironic even that he got exactly what he wanted. When the first lockdown happened, everyone was pretty happy. No school for a few weeks? That’s what everyone thought. Danny didn’t care about that, it didn’t matter, not really.

It wasn’t that Danny hated school, not really. He said he did, made out like it was worst thing in the world but that wasn’t the case. There were things Danny liked about school, and it wasn’t just that he got away from being at home. There were some teachers who were alright. He had some friends. He liked some lessons. But sometimes things just seemed too hard. There were things he didn’t always understand, and being the type of kid he was, it seemed like no one wanted to listen.

It was the staying home during those first few weeks that were hard. It wasn’t just that he wasn’t going to school, he couldn’t go out either. He was trapped inside with the worst person possible. Vinny seemed to despise Danny, which was fine, because Danny didn’t like Vinny either. But it was as if he’d done something wrong to Vinny, every little thing Danny did seem to irritate Vinny. There were snide comments, things that were easy for Danny to ignore, even with his mum siding with Vinny every single time. But it was the other things, the things that were harder to ignore. Those were the things that drove it over the edge, the things that made Danny realise he had to go. Danny knew taking the money wasn’t going to be a good idea, but he didn’t have a choice. What else was he going to do? He couldn’t stay there, not anymore.

The school wasn’t the first place Danny stayed. There were street corners, parks, toilets. These weren’t so bad when it was warmer but as soon as it started to get cold, Danny knew he couldn’t stay there long. Some days were better than others, but the money soon ran out. £1000 wasn’t a lot, that’s what Danny realised. Most of it was spent on food, and when he couldn’t buy the food, he had to steal it. Danny didn’t like stealing food, he knew it was wrong, but he had to eat, he had to live.

Danny didn’t come back after that summer; he’d already left home and stopped doing the work teachers would send months before that September came around. He’d wondered what his mum had said when the school rang, whether Mr Casey came round to the house, asking for him. He also wondered when they decided to go to Birmingham; when they left him. Finding that out made Danny finally realise; his mum didn’t care, she never did. He was stupid to think he’d see her again, stupid to think that she’d want to know where he was and how he was doing. He knew that still, even when she sent him that message. He knew she didn’t care, not really, but there was still that small part of him that didn’t want to believe that. There was a part of him that wanted to see her, tell her what had happened, hug her, be a son again.

None of that really mattered though because that part of Danny was wrong. Seeing her again, it made Danny feel strange, like he didn’t really know who she was. She didn’t want to see him for any good reasons, only the stupid money. She could have reached out before; she could have tried to find him. If she had really cared, if she had been a good mum, she would have done that. Danny knew she didn’t care about his exams, who he was living with, his friends, any of that. She never had done and never would. It hurt, it hurt a lot. It wasn’t fair, even though Danny knew he was better off without her. Other people had a mum, other people had a family. Sometimes it seemed like Danny didn’t have anyone, especially before.

Angel had appeared a few months before Danny decided the school boiler room would be his next stop. He was staying in a park a few streets away from the local chippy. It was getting dark one spring evening, so Danny knew he’d have to leave eventually. He didn’t want to; Danny wasn’t exactly sure where he could go. It was times like these he sometimes wished he’d just sucked it up, he just stayed at home. He could have locked himself in his room, played some music and drowned Vinny out. But then he remembered. He remembered all the bad things, all the things that had happened. The things that he couldn’t bring himself to say. That made he stay away, stay outside, stay anywhere that wasn’t home. Not that it was really a home. Danny understood that. He didn’t have a home.

That night, he made his way to leave, climbing over the barrier guarding the swings and slide from the outside world. Just as he began to pull his bag over, a small but vivid noise came from nearby bush and there she was. She was cold, Danny could see her legs shivering. He understood that feeling only too well. Danny had always wanted a dog, ever since he was little. He’d begged and begged him mum when he was eight, telling her it was the most important thing in the world. She’d said no, of course, said they couldn’t afford it and told him to stop asking for such stupid things. Danny had never mentioned it again, he wasn’t stupid enough to try. But he still liked the idea of a dog. Even now, not knowing where he was going to sleep or get his next meal from, the idea of a dog, a little companion, that sounded nice. They could protect each other, keep each other safe. That would be nice. And well, that was that. The two stayed together until that day at the school. He missed her, even knowing she was in good hands. And her being one of the last things he saw before they took him away, that was important.

Danny knew he was lucky; knew he should be grateful. A few months ago, he hadn’t even imagined things would go this way. Danny didn’t think of the future much, not in the long-term. Just the next day, if he’d made it, then that was good. But now? Things were better, much better. It just seemed like everything was too good. Danny would have been alright at the hostel before things started to go bad. It wasn’t Kai’s fault, he knew that, but he could have got by. He hadn’t expected Val to take him in, treat him like she had. It wasn’t like she was trying to be a mum, but sometimes he wished she’d tell him what to do a bit more, stop giving him so much freedom. But then again, he couldn’t complain. It wasn’t just the new things Val had got him, it wasn’t just the guitar lessons or the checking up on him. She cared, actually cared and she wasn’t the only one.

Danny hadn’t seen Kai in two years. He never expected to see him again, which is silly really considering he was sleeping in the school. But still, why would he? Danny’s life was going on a completely different path from Kai’s. Sometimes, Danny would wonder what Kai would be doing. It didn’t matter, though. Because whatever Kai was doing or was going to do, it wasn’t going to involve Danny. But Kai had come to the hostel to spend time with Danny, maybe some of it was him being selfish, but not all. And deep-down Danny knew he needed that, wanted it even. It was nice to have someone like that back in his life again and he’d missed Kai, a lot.

There were other things he’d missed, things he never thought he would. English and Maths always seemed harder before, but maybe Danny wasn’t listening properly or maybe he didn’t really want it. This time around the stakes were higher, Miss Campbell took a chance and was relying on Danny to actually work. He had to; he knew that. But it was different now. Danny was given a chance, a real one. He had to make this work and he was going to. It was hard, Danny knew it was going to be. But there were people who wanted him to do well, who actually believed in him. Mr King had given Danny another chance, he actually wanted Danny to do it. And Danny could actually admit he didn’t mind going to school. It wasn’t just a place to escape anymore. There were things to learn, interesting things. There were people to see. He spent time learning the guitar, playing basketball. He actually cared about stuff now. People were looking out for him. He was going to be in the end-of-year show. It was all going so well.

The real problem was that Danny was stupid, he forgot. He forgot how he wound up back at school. For a while, he forgot what Vinny was like. The knife he’d kept was just in case; just in case something happened. He wanted to believe he wouldn’t need it, not now. But he guessed he secretly knew it was always going to happen, it was inevitable. Things were never going to go right for him. It was like he said, this was who he was, this was what his life was and was going to be. He should have been more cautious, more careful. He should have realised as soon as his mum had texted him, it wasn’t going to be for anything good. He should have never let his guard down. And at the party; he should have known that wouldn’t be the end. He should have known Vinny would come for him eventually. Kai took the knife, but he wasn’t going to tell anyone because what was the point? What could anyone do? No one could protect Danny. This was always going to happen, and Danny knew it.

Danny didn’t want to use the knife, that wasn’t something he wanted to do. It wasn’t as if Danny even knew how to properly use it. He had it with him but only because he was scared. He was scared he’d mess it up and end up how it was before. He was afraid that everyone would realise he wasn’t good enough and there was no point. But Vinny wasn’t going to stop, and Danny knew that. There was nothing else Danny could do. All he could do when Val saw him, when she walked up the stairs, spoke his name was what he’d always done. He ran away. He knew it wouldn’t help; he knew he couldn’t run forever but he had to get away. He couldn’t bear to see her face, see her falter, and realise what a mistake Danny was, what he had done. What he had ruined. But running wouldn’t solve it, he’d have to face it eventually, just like he had to face Vinny. They were going to come for him, they were going to take him away and that would be it. Danny wasn’t going to get away from that, that was where he was always going to end up. No one could stop that, not Danny, not Val, not Kai, not Samia, not even Miss Campbell. He had let them all down, but no more than he done to himself.

[carchaseonacarchase]

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚎 & 𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚗 𝙸𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝. 🤎

╰┈➤ this is a list of songs that i think fit very well with carmen and chase, the selection of songs is pretty personal cause it's based on my own music tastes, i appreciate you to recommend me songs and other suggestions to expand it :3 this playlist is full of 60's/90's songs to keep it classic but there's also pop/rock/indie songs on there. enjoy ;)

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

⚘ the world we knew (over and over) frank sinatra ❛❛ and the sun and the moon seemed to be ours, each road that we took turned into gold. but the dream was too much for you to hold ❞

⚘ under attack abba ❛❛ under attack, i'm taking cover, he's on my track, my chasing lover ❞

⚘ atomic blondie ❛❛ make me tonight, tonight make it right ❞

⚘ stop the world cause' i wanna get off with you arctic monkeys ❛❛ when you want to escape, say the word. well i know that getting you alone isn't easy to do. get the sense that you're on the move, and you'll probably be leaving soon ❞

⚘ i need a disguise belinda carlisle ❛❛ i need a disguise, to hide my love, i need a disguise, you've seen too much ❞

⚘ waterloo abba ❛❛ and how could i ever refuse? i feel like i win when i lose. couldn't escape if i wanted to, waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you ❞

⚘ the louvre lorde ❛❛ our days and nights are perfumed with obsession. but we're the greatest, they'll hang us in the louvre down the back, but who cares - still the louvre ❞

⚘ it's no good depeche mode ❛❛ i'm gonna take my time, i have all the time in the world to make you mine, it is written in the stars above ❞

⚘ you know that i'm not good amy winehouse ❛❛ i cheated myself. like i knew i would. i told you i was trouble, you know that i'm no good❞

⚘ some unholy war amy winehouse ❛❛ he can't lose with me in tow, i refuse to let him go, at his side and drunk on pride, we wait for the blow ❞

⚘ useless depeche mode ❛❛ all your stupid ideals, you've got your head in the clouds, you should see how it feels, with your feet on the ground ❞

⚘ rebel yell billy idol ❛❛ what set you free and brought you to me, babe? what set you free? i need you here by me ❞

⚘ diet mountain dew lana del rey ❛❛ you're no good for me, baby, you're no good for me, you're no good for me, but, baby, i want you, i want you ❞

⚘ tainted love soft cell ❛❛ once i ran to you, now i'll run from you. the love we share seems to go nowhere ❞

⚘ love is a battlefield pat benatar ❛❛ but i'm trapped by your love, and i'm chained to your side. both of us knowing, love is a battlefield ❞

⚘ out of touch hall & oates ❛❛ the shades all around aren't the colors we used to see, broken ice still melts in the sun, and ties that are broken can often be one again, we're soul alone, and soul really matters to me ❞

⚘ he can only hold her amy winehouse ❛❛ now, how can he have her heart, when it got stole? so he tries to pacify her 'cause what's inside her never dies ❞

⚘ can't take my eyes of you the four seasons ❛❛ now that i've found you, stay, and let me love you, baby, let me love you ❞

⚘ careless whisper george michael ❛❛ as the music dies, something in your eyes, calls to mind a silver screen, and all its sad goodbyes ❞

⚘ les feuilles mortes duo gadjo and their hot friends ❛❛ oh! je voudrais tant que tu te souviennes, des jours heureux où nous étions amis, en ce temps-là, la vie était plus belle, et le soleil plus brûlant qu'aujourd'hui ❞

⚘ summer wine nancy sinatra ❛❛ she took my silver spurs a dollar and a dime, and left me cravin' for more summer wine❞

⚘ imagination foster the people ❛❛ we can't change the things we can't control, it's summer somewhere, do you shouldn't be so cold. if you want me to stay, don't keep me waiting for it ❞

⚘ why must we wait until tonight? tina turner ❛❛ take your lips and make them mine, tell me why, why must we wait until tonight, why when i've waited all my life ❞

⚘ the lady in red chris de burgh ❛❛ and when you turned to me and smiled, it took my breath away. it's just you and me, it's where i wanna be ❞

⚘ white teeth teens lorde ❛❛ i know you love it when the hairpins start to drop, i like your reckoning, but we got our methods ❞

⚘ heroes david bowie ❛❛ though nothing, nothing will keep us together, we can beat them, forever and ever. we can be us, just for one day ❞

⚘ knowing me, knowing you abba ❛❛ memories, good days, bad days, they'll be with me always. breaking up is never easy i know, but i have to go, knowing me, knowing you it's the best i can do ❞

⚘ suck it and see arctic monkeys ❛❛ how i often wonder where you are, you have got that face that just says 'baby, i was made to break your heart' ❞

⚘ as the world falls down david bowie ❛❛ as the pain sweeps through, makes no sense for you, every thrill has gone, wasn't too much fun at all. but i'll be there for you as the world falls down ❞

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

[chambers003]

frothing at the mouth song reccs???

uhhh. i dont know what you usually listen to but i can give you an assortment of what i listen to

artists:

drive45 (pretty much all albums i love them all. except system format. d45 i love you but that album was incredibly mid)

will wood/will wood and the tapeworms (normal album my beloved)

the crane wives

lemon demon

the happy fits

ghost and pals (its been a hot minute since i listened to their music but it dominated my braincells for a hot minute)

kikuo (hatsune miku supreme)

ajr (some people hate them, some people love them, im kinda in the middle)

rabbitology (they have like 5 songs total but i love all of them)

jack stauber/jack stauber's micropop

cavetown (its. been a WHILE)

omori soundtrack

minecraft soundtrack

specific songs: (i put 'japanese' so that if you search for these, you dont get jumpscared by song names in a language you cant read ripp)

rollin girl by wowaka (iconic)/(japanese)

do your worst by the happy fits

juliet by cavetown

99 luftballons by nena (sorta old song but good)

2econd 2ight 2eer by will wood

road to nowhere by the talking heads

digital silence by peter mcpoland

nothing's working out by meiyo (japanese)

bitter chocolate decoration by syudou (japanese)

cicada days by will wood

curses by the crane wives (this is prolly a given but. oh well)

fine by lemon demon

tongues and teeth by the crane wives (another given LMAO)

a mask of my own face by lemon demon

candleburn by rabbitology

buzzcut season by lorde

the dumb song by ajr

fighting with the melody by jimmy urine

partner in crime by madilyn mei (if theres any here i recc the most its this one)

november by sparkbird

avenues by drive45

puppet boy by devo

hansel by sodikken

mary by the happy fits

little one by the happy fits

bernadette by iamx

aurora borealis by lemon demon

dramaturgy by eve (japanese)

brutus by the buttress

im at the beach today by drive45

do it all the time by idkhbtfm

suburbia overture by will wood

laplace's angel by will wood

blackboxwarrior by will wood

mr capgras by will wood and the tapeworms

hand me my shovel im going in by will wood and the tapeworms

the cave by siames

the wolf by siames

canary in a coal mine by the crane wives

ground vision by drive45

special eggs by drive45

f ck you im going underground by grand commander

waterloo by abba

deceptacon by le tigre

wrow ok this got super long man im sorry 😭😭

i. if i could put a 'read more' cut in an ask i would (in all honesty if you end up liking one(1) song from this list ill feel achieved. if youre living off your parent's music tastes this might be a leap LMAOO)

(NOOO I SPEND HALF AN HOUR WRITING THIS CHAMBERS IM SO SORRY)

OHHH MY GOD this is a treasure trove thank you

AND i see artists and songs on here that i do actually know!! and some that i even listen to!! i will make my way through these… thank you so much…

[felicitykings]

Sitting in that cooler was probably the first quiet time Donte's ever had to reflect. And thanks to the letter that he wrote, I could help Yasmin Deardon.

WATERLOO ROAD (2006-2015) series one, episode two

[tylerposey]

Come here.

[warningorder]

THE LAST STAND OF THE GUARDS

The Gulf War’s Ground Campaign and Iraqi Resistance

Good day everybody! Since I loudly declared I would be leaving Twitter until the Afrikaner rodent was dead or missing, I felt I should post this pet-project of mine here instead of on Twitter as a thread.

The Gulf War, at least in its political aspects, was a modern iteration of the Battle of Waterloo, as it represented the decisive military triumph of reaction over progress and development. It was, as Victor Hugo once described Waterloo, “intentionally a counter-revolutionary victory”. It was Iraq against the status-quo. It was the revolutionary Arabism of Baghdad against the triumphant imperialism of Washington D.C, the reactionary backwardness of Riyadh, the comprador-ship and treacherous realpolitik of Cairo and Damascus. The final extinction of that vast people which had been in eruption for thirty-five years, since 1956–such was the dream.

However, that is not what I will be talking about today. See, as much as I would like to delve into the political & historical consequences of this great war, I wish to cover its military details, unlike what Hugo did with Waterloo. Today, I shall be focusing of the Coalition’s ground offensive and the Iraqis’ doomed attempt at resistance. So let’s set the scene.

Bombs over Baghdad and Gorbachev’s Deal

A month has passed since the Coalition started its massive air campaign over the skies of Iraq. A vast armada of close to 2.800 jets and hundreds of cruise missiles hit Iraq’s industrial centers, civilian infrastructure, energy production facilities, even research reactors, with the goal of quite simply returning Iraq, until then the Middle East’s sole modern economy, back into the stone age. More bombs were dropped on Iraq in a month than were dropped on Berlin, Germany’s capital, throughout all of WW2. The Coalition had more or less proven its point, and Iraq wanted out.

An agreement was reached with the Soviet Union, with the hopes that this would present a fait accompli to the Coalition and have them cease the bombings (and hopefully even end the sanctions). According to this agreement, Iraqi ground forces would immediately begin pulling out their units from the “Kuwaiti Theatre of Operations”, with the last units leaving in around a few weeks. In fact, a shadow retreat was already being allowed to happen, with individual divisions ‘melting away’ and reconstituting themselves back in Baghdad. With Tariq Aziz (Iraq’s Deputy PM & Foreign Minister) announcing Gorbachev’s deal and the pullout of all Iraqi forces from the KTO on the radio on the 22nd of February, this shadow retreat suddenly turned into a large and chaotic movement of units still under air attacks, with large traffic queues and more-or-less total abandonment of all Iraqi defensive works which had been prepared in the south of Iraq as well as inside Kuwait (like the well-known “Saddam line”).

As Iraqi troops were hastily withdrawing from their prepared defensive positions and clogging up the vast road networks of Iraq and Kuwait with huge lines of trucks, heavy vehicle transporters, tanks and other military equipment, the Coalition knew it had to act fast. The conclusion of the Gulf Crisis through Soviet mediation and without a crushing defeat of the mass of the Iraqi military was considered an unacceptable result, and thus plans were quickly drawn up to lunge forward at the retreating enemy columns and shatter the mass of the Iraqi military as it was attempting a cumbersome and chaotic march back towards Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf and Basra.

The first Coalition attacks struck (and quickly scattered) vastly outnumbered and confused stragglers from infantry divisions which had been attempting to withdraw from their prepared defensive fortifications. After quickly dealing with these minor centers of resistance, the Coalition units started a large-scale ground offensive relying on shock and speed to either cut off the retreat of Iraqi units on the road or to hit them from the behind and shatter them. Iraq’s military leadership, after shaking off the violent shock of the ground attack (and in their eyes, from the shock of Gorbachev’s betrayal), made the hard and rational, yet arguably callous, choice of ordering their armored-mechanized Republican Guard formations to immediately turn 180 degrees and lunge forward towards the Coalition offensive to either meet them in hastily and rather shoddily improvised defensive positions or to counter attack them with the purpose of delaying their general advance, so the rest of the 50 division strong Iraqi military could withdraw back to Iraq relatively unscathed. With great difficulty, these ‘elite’ formations were able to extract themselves from the large traffic jam which had almost entirely paralyzed the movement of panic-stricken Iraqi units and prepare themselves for the coming battle. This would be their last stand, for they were the modern iteration of Napoleon’s Old Guard, who had been cut down by British musket fire yet fought until destruction, to the bitter end.

Although the Republican Guard had been the preferred target of continuous Coalition air attacks from the outbreak of the war, they had not suffered serious losses due to their safety precautions and effective camouflage procedures. In an interview, a Republican Guard commander claimed that despite attacks from the most advanced planes at the Coalition’s disposal, his forces had suffered relatively few losses. In fact, attacks by A-10 aircraft would have to be called off for the rest of the campaign after suffering significant losses due to RG operated Strela-10 SAM systems.

When the ground offensive got underway on the 24th of February, the Coalition forces stepped up their bombing campaign on the Republican Guard, using large numbers of aircraft and combat helicopters that attacked them constantly. To make sure his units could set up mutually supporting defensive lines in the chaos of the 180 degrees turn and expected attacks by the Coalition’s tank forces, the commander of the Republican Guard decided to transfer the ‘Tawakalna’ RG Division to rear positions in order to close the gap between the ‘Adnan’ and ‘Al-Medina’ RG Divisions.

‘Mother of All Battles’

On the division’s way to its new position, they suffered an air attack followed immediately by an extensive armored assault in which 3 divisions from the American 7th Corps took part, with massive air support. The battle - known as ‘Battle of 73 Easting - was fought mainly between elements of the ‘Tawakalna’ Division and forces from the US 1st and 3rd Armored Divisions, the 1st Infantry Division and 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. American artillery and MLRS batteries played an important role in the battle.

The ‘Tawakalna’ Division fought an incredibly hard battle in difficult visibility conditions due to heavy dust that was stirred on the sandy terrain. Some of its formations were badly damaged but the division succeeded in reaching its rear positions, ending its participation in the war. Parallel to this, the Americans also attacked the lines of the ‘Nebuchadnezzar’ and ‘Adnan’ RG Divisions, even succeeding penetrating the Iraqi defensive lines on the morning of 27 February. As a result of the withdrawal and partial destruction of the ‘Tawakalna’ Division, Republican Guard Commander Gen. Iyad al-Rawi ordered the ‘Hammurabi’ RG Division to advance its 17th Armored Brigade to occupy new positions on the border between the sectors of the ‘Adnan’ and ‘Al-Medina’ Divisions.

The brigade moved to its new positions followed by 2 additional mechanized brigades and prepared for a counter attack. According to their version, the Iraqis sought a confrontation with the Americans advancing towards them from the West, and all of the Republican Guard’s artillery units bombarded American positions for over 3 hours. Next, the 17th Armored Brigade along with 21st Commando Brigade attacked in the sector of the ‘Adnan’ Division in Rumelia and managed to push back the forces that had occupied the defensive positions of one of its battalions. The ‘Adnan’ Division was later instructed to move in the direction of al-Qurna.

Another clash occurred between forces of the ‘Al-Medina’ Division and the American 7th Corps on the night of 26-27 February, after the latter attacked the Iraqi 14th Mechanized Brigade. The division mounted a counter attack with its 2nd Armored Brigade, reinforced by additional battalions, forcing the enemy to withdraw its forces to the rear. As a result, the American forces in the area increased their artillery fire in order to block the Republican Guard forces, who were attacking relentlessly and even making minor advances in some sectors.

The American 1st Infantry Division, which tried to advance across the sand dunes to flank the Iraqi line from behind, got stuck in this area, becoming a target for Iraqi artilllery and retreating helter-skelter from the area. At that point, forces from the ‘Hammurabi’ Division arrived in force in the sector between the ‘Adnan’ and ‘Al-Medina’ Divisions, deploying to mount a counter attack along with the ‘Al-Medina’ Division— a move that had the potential to threaten and encircle forces from the American 7th Corps in the Iraqi view.

While all this was taking place, forces of the US 18th Corps attacked the Special Forces Division of the Republican Guard in the Nasiriyah sector. An American force the size of a brigade (from the 101st) was also operating inside Iraqi territory in the Basra-Nasiriyah axis. The corps’ forces (82nd and 24th Divisions) mounted a frontal assault on the Iraqi positions from the south and west, attempting to gain control over them. Brutal fighting developed and continued throughout the day and into the night of 26-27 February, with the Iraqis, supported by heavy artillery fire, demonstrating very stubborn fighting spirit. In the end, the attack was stopped by the resistance of the Special Forces Division and by the heavy fog which covered the entire area.

Post-Battle Assessment

The Iraqis viewed these two battles - of the ‘Hammurabi’ and ‘Al-Medina’ Divisions and of the special forces in the Nasiriyah area - as a great victory for the Republican Guard, which had warded off a combined attack of two American corps on Basra and Southern Iraq. In their eyes, these developments, along with the 7th Corps’ failure to slice through the lines of the Republican Guard’s armored forces, had prevented the Coalition forces from taking control of Southern Iraq, destroying the mass of the retreating Iraqi military and/or disrupting their withdrawal back to Iraq. They portrayed the battles conducted by the Republican Guard as being among the greatest armored battles fought in modern history since WW2 in terms of the size of the formations and the number of armored vehicles taking part.

In their eyes, they had at least temporarily succeeded in effectively defending against and pushing back various American assaults, and even partially enveloping the American 1st Infantry Division, albeit very briefly. They concluded that the American High Command’s concerns about the 7th Corps taking further casualties and even being pushed back by the ‘Hammurabi’ and ‘Al-Medina’ Divisions caused them to agree to a ceasefire on the 28th of February and to put an end to the fighting. However, the Gulf War as a whole caused horrendous losses to Iraqi ground forces, who according to statistics from the USAF lost 2.500 tanks, 1.500 APCs, and 2.200 artillery pieces to enemy ground and air fire. However, later studies of Iraqi casualties during the war have shown them to have taken around 15.000 to 25.000 casualties, indicating that the RG had, in the end, succeeded in its task of sacrificing its own armored-mechanized brigades and divisions to allow the mass of the Iraqi army in the KTO (around 900.000 men) to retreat relatively unscathed back into Iraq. These forces, as well as the remnants of the RG, would prove pivotal in the Iraqi government’s response to the uprisings and mass-infiltration attempts of 1991.

Thanks for your attention! For further reading I would recommend Majid Khadduri’s “War in the Gulf”, the “Iraqi Perspectives Project” article covering the Gulf War, Pesach Malovany’s “Wars of Modern Babylon” and lastly the article “Correcting Myths about the Persian Gulf War: Last Stand of the Tawakalna Division”.

[grimesapologist]

where would you rec to visit in london xx

there's all sorts of lovely places in London I rlly like the canals near Victoria park they're really pretty to walk along and take u thru some cool places, there's a few fun gay clubs on kingsland high street in dalston, dalston Superstore is pretty basic but not nearly as basic as Soho and they do some cool nights sometimes, there's also good charity shops on kingsland high street as well. they do some rlly cool diy shows at new river studios in Tottenham (I saw some pretty decent goth bands there a few weeks ago) plus down the road from it is my fave arcade called free play city they have a ton of rhythm games and a really lovely vibe :)

ummm there's a bunch of good galleries too the serpentine has cool stuff on regularly plus the v&a museum is really nice, it's much smaller but a friend of mine curates ugly duck gallery near London bridge and they show a lot of cool multidisciplinary artwork and some performance art and stuff. iklectic near Waterloo is a venue that does a ton of cool experimental music events and stuff I really recommend as well! there's also this super sick metal bar on mare st in hackney that do film screenings sometimes but also just have amazing music and good drinks

also Epping forest is just at the end of the central line and a super beautiful place I really recommend just going on a nice walk there there in the morning/daytime I've had some excellent adventures in there.

also recommend freedom bookshop the anarchist bookshop in Whitechapel next to Whitechapel gallery they stock a huge variety of stuff and are definitely worth supporting. also got loads of great zines !

[thelibraryiscool]

(some of) my top books of 2022: prose edition

Last year I made a post with some of my favorite books, using first lines and bullet points. This year I read about twice as many books, so this certainly won’t cover all of them, but it’s a selection -- and I’ll make a separate post for the poetry.

1. Almond by Won-Pyung Sohn (trans. Sandy Joosun Lee)

I won’t tell you whether it has a happy ending or a tragic ending. Because, first of all, every story becomes boring once the ending is spoiled. Second of all, not telling you will make you more engaged in this one.

you should read it if you like:

coming of age novels

thinking about what makes humans human

delicate character development

2. The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon

One grim winter evening, when it had a kind of unrealness about London, with a fog sleeping restlessly over the city and the lights showing in the blur as if is not London at all but some strange place on another planet, Moses Aloetta hop on a number 46 bus at the corner of Chepstow Road and Westbourne Grove to go to Waterloo to meet a fellar who was coming from Trinidad on the boat-train.

you should read it if you like:

novels about city life

vibrant prose

thinking about the immigrant experience

3. The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (trans. Stephen Snyder)

I sometimes wonder what was disappeared first -- among all the things that have vanished from the island.

you should read it if you like:

stories of loss and memory

elegant allegory

books that leave you with a haunted, desolate feeling

[note: this was my first book of the year, and i kind of worry that’s why 2022 went the way it did...]

4. The Stone Face by William Gardner Smith

He leaned forward on the edge of his seat, his chin in his palms and his elbows on his knees, rocking imperceptibly to the movement of the train. It was evening, and in the fading light beyond the window the flat green-and-brown French farmland hurried by. He found his lips almost forming a prayer; not in words, not to a God, but in an emotion reaching out to the earth, the sky, to the world in general.

you should read it if you like:

books that face head on the question of our duty and responsibility to fight for a more just world

nuanced, empathetic explorations of people and relationships

powerful, vivid prose

5. The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson (trans. Thomas Teal)

It was an ordinary dark winter morning, and snow was still falling. No window in the village showed a light. Katri screened the lamp so she wouldn't wake her brother while she made coffee and put the Thermos beside his bed.

you should read it if you like:

quiet, understated books

seeing unexpected human connection

books that inhabit nature and the seasons

6. Faithful Place by Tana French

In all your life, only a few moments matter. Mostly you never get a good look at them except in hindsight, long after they've zipped past you: the moment when you decided whether to talk to that girl, slow down on that blind bend, stop and find that condom. I was lucky, I guess you could call it. I got to see one of mine face-to-face, and recognize it for what it was.

you should read it if you like:

long-buried secrets

characters haunted by the past

some really messy families

7. The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh

There was only one person in the food-stall who knew exactly what that sound was that was rolling in across the plain, along the silver curve of the Irrawaddy, to the western wall of Mandalay's fort. 

you should read it if you like:

sprawling multi-generational tales

intricate, atmospheric historical novels

thinking about the complex entanglements of people and events within history

8. I Wonder as I Wander by Langston Hughes

When I was twenty-seven the stock-market crash came. When I was twenty-eight, my personal crash came. Then I guess I woke up. So. when I was almost thirty, I began to make my living from writing. This is the story of a Negro who wanted to make his living from poems and stories.

you should read it if you like:

literary memoirs

a way of approaching things with humor

seeing the 1930s across europe, asia, and the US brought vividly to life

9. Night and Day by Virginia Woolf

It was a Sunday evening in October, and in common with many other young ladies of her class, Katharine Hilbery was pouring out tea. Perhaps a fifth part of her mind was thus occupied, and the remaining parts leapt over the little barrier of day which interposed between Monday morning and this rather subdued moment, and played with the things one does voluntarily and normally in the daylight. 

you should read it if you like:

careful psychological studies

stories of 20-somethings figuring out their feelings

prose that flows like butter

10. Noon, 22nd Century by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Когда рыжий песок под гусеницами краулера вдруг осел, Петр Алексеевич Новаго дал задний ход и крикнул Манделю: «Соскакивай!» Краулер задергался, разбрасывая тучи песка и пыли, и стал переворачиваться кормой кверху. [When the orange sand under the crawler’s tracks suddenly subsided, Pyotr Alekseevich Novago backed up and shouted to Mandel: “Hop off!” The crawler shuddered, tossing up clouds of sand and dust, and began to turn stern-up.]

you should read this if you like:

hopeful sci-fi

stories about friendship

thinking about humanity’s first steps towards alien encounter

[note: this is available in english as a pdf online, i’ve checked]

looking back, are there any running themes? perhaps whether humans are by and large good, or when they are capable of goodness. finding connection, sometimes against great odds. an even mix of stories about leaving home and stories about staying there. covers that have people on them?

stayed tuned for pt. 2: poetry edition!

[zutraeumen]

The Third Course

Tall, spindly evergreens shivered in the cold darkness.

On the third time the Chef clapped, his aura and open posture seemed to be lighter than on the previous courses. A heavy feeling settled in her empty stomach, the calm before the storm.

"The next course is called 'Memory' and that what it's meant to evoke: a memory. So let me tell you a memory of mine. When I was growing up, a child in Waterloo Iowa, Tuesday was Taco night."

A chorus of shallow affirmatives came from the guests as if any of them knew what a generic taco tasted like.  

"Taco Tuesday!" The Chef exclaimed lively, with a smile so forced that it even showed his teeth. It didn't look good on him. The guest kept laughing with him at his antics.

"And this," he moved happily over to Adele's table and reached for the madam again, "is my mother. As you can see she is rather drunk. This is not unusual."

That certainly explained things, but the assassin couldn't help but fear where he was taking this monologue. He certainly held the guests' amusement, but she suspected what he was about to tell them was quite the opposite. His expression lost all its previous shine and turned to its more serious variant.

"When I was seven years old, one Tuesday, my father came home, quite drunk. Really drunk. Also not unusual. My mother grew angry and screamed at him at which point he proceeded to wrap a telephone cord around her neck and pull it tight."

His mother reacted vaguely, continuing with her drinking. On what glass of wine was she already?

There was something about the way he animatedly enunciated his words with his hands that gave her chills. There was something deeply wrong with this man, he wore his trauma on his sleeve and that was in most cases, never a good sign. It made people unhinged. And there were no more dangerous people than the ones who got nothing to lose.

And she had seen the worst of humanity, of both men and women who had been through shit the common person could not even imagine.

Still, he went on without missing a single beat, without any stuttering at all, "I wept, screamed, begged him to stop. To make him stop I finally had to stab him in the thigh with kitchen scissors. You remember that mother, don't you? I suppose I should have stabbed him in the throat that evening but we're not so smart when we're young."

The diners exchange uneasy glances. Lillian turned to Ted with a reassuring look, "Don't worry, all part of the course."

Margot, however, watched the chef intently and with empathy, as if understanding his pain. Noticing, Chef locked eyes with her and said the next line directly to her,  "It was as you can imagine a very memorable taco night."

The sous-chefs marched, side by side with two plates for each customer while the Chef announced the next course, "So, here you have, house-smoked breast chicken thigh al pastor and our own tortillas made with heirloom masa - one of Hawthorne's signature dishes. We change our menu constantly but Miss Bloom knows this has been a staple since day one. It's a- what you once said...?"

"... put you on the map." The food critic supplied quickly.

"Put me on the map," Chef Slowik repeated, "precisely what map would that be, I wonder?"

Not-so-subtle dig at the food critic, he must really despise that woman. If Adele were in his shoes, she would too, with a passion. Quite a contradicting feeling to feel for someone who essentially put the man on the road to fame and success, but as for most people, there wasn't much happiness to be found in the Chef at all. 

"Anyways because we're always innovating and we fear irrelevance, an update to the classic, the images on the tortillas have been made using a laser engraving machine, it's the first time we've used it. We hope this taco night evokes strong memories for us all. Enjoy."

This was a lot to digest, in a metaphorical sense.

The others, of course, bought into that shit and wrote it off as mere theatrics of an artist. There was no way a celebrity such as Slowik would slip up so carelessly like that, it was simply incomprehensible for them with all the grandiosity surrounding their lives. Adele couldn't imagine living a life like that, distorted from reality. 

George was even inspired to use similar tactics in his own show. Lillian and Ted were impressed by the chef's rebellious streak. And for the love of god was Tyler crying?! Again? Oh no, wait, it was just a trick of light this time. Adele sighed inwardly with relief. 

Seriously, the kid was beginning to rub her the wrong way.

Not one to judge so soon, there did seem to be something inherently wrong with Tyler. She knew by now that he was a massive foodie and self-proclaimed Slowik expert but the way he went overboard was so inconsistent with everything that it stuck out. 

The chewing gum had long since lost its flavour as the assassin inspected the tortillas. The images did make the cliff in her stomach expand as she saw photos of her in various moments printed on them perfectly. Each of them more alarming than the next. 

The first one was of her waiting at the docks.

The second one was of her throwing the oyster away.

The third one was an email - her client - Anne Liebrandt had sent to the owner of Hawthorne (and the island in fact) Verrick Doug, requesting another special invitation to be issued for Adele to be able to accompany her to the restaurant.

He knew.

Cold realization engulfed the assassin. A retreat was in order so the assassin excused herself to the toilet. Slowik's mother offered very little response as always.