Ol’ Adolph, it so happens, chose to name the fatal battle of Kursk “Operation Citadel.” Just sayin’ . . .

I’m certainly of two minds about this. On the one hand, “Remember the Alamo, Waco, and that thing in Idaho” has no real ring to it. On the other hand, on this very day seventy years ago…..

(credit: Homer J. Simpson at http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2980284/posts):

POLAND [January 21st, 1943]: Warsaw: In an astonishing turn of events, Jews here have staged an armed revolt against their captors. A column of deportees heading down Nicka Street to the railway station, and the train to Treblinka, suddenly turned on its Nazi escorts with handguns and grenades.

The Jewish freedom fighters, led by Mordechai Anielewicz, then barricaded themselves into a nearby house, snipers keeping German reinforcements at bay. Eventually the Nazis set the house on fire; the resisters continued shooting to the last bullet. Only one survived the blaze; 12 Germans had been killed.

SS General Jurgen Stroop, ordered by Himmler to liquidate the ghetto by 13 February, is surprised by the strength of Jewish resistance.