₦airaland Forum

Jakob Nacken, the tallest German soldier of Second World War, 1944


Jakob Nacken stood quietly while the British troops frisked him and this David vs Goliath match-up provided a rare moment of amusement during the fighting.

Jakob Nacken was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, on February 15, 1906. Both his parents were six feet two inches (1.88 m). His sister Josephine was six feet two inches (1.88 m) tall; his two-years-younger brother Wilhelm grew to be six feet two inches (1.88 m) tall; his other brother, who was eight years older than Nacken, became six feet seven inches (2.01 m).

Nacken began his career in show business performing as “Uranus” and the “giant from the Rhineland” in a German traveling circus. He was called Germany’s tallest man and was credited as being the world’s tallest man at the time.

Nacken wore size 17 boots as an adult. He had bruises on his head from hitting the tops of doorways that were built to accommodate people of normal height.

He returned to Germany at the beginning of World War II and was immediately drafted into the army, becoming their tallest soldier on record. Nacken was put into a gun crew with 250 soldiers who were captured at Calais, France, in August 1944.

Picture below

On one side towered a 7ft 3in (2.21m) German man-mountain who quit his job with an American freak show to join the Wehrmacht. On the other stood a 5ft 7in (170 cm) AP photographer Eddie Worth.

https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/new-zealand/articles/introducing-the-longest-place-name-on-earth/

Conwarden:
Does it even have a meaning?

What does it mean?

Obviously, this is a name of Maori origin, and it translates to the following:

“The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the slider, climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one”.
The story behind this tongue-baffler

With a name of such epic length you would be expecting a poignant and interesting story to go with it. There is one handed down in Maori legend and tells us how this particular hill in the Hawkes Bay got its name.

Tamatea was a famous chief and warrior. One day, while travelling through the back of Porangahau, he encountered another tribe and had to fight them to get past.

During the fight his brother was killed. Tamatea was so grieved over the loss of his brother that he stayed at the battle site for some days. Each morning he would sit on the hill and play a lament on what is called the koauau or Maori flute, which can be played with either the mouth or the nose.
Ref: https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/new-zealand/articles/introducing-the-longest-place-name-on-earth/

Now, if you think you can say that with perfect diction straight out of the box you’re either the most Kiwi of Kiwis ....!
It is [the name of ] a 305m high hill located in the North Island region of Hawkes Bay,in New Zealand .
https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/new-zealand/articles/introducing-the-longest-place-name-on-earth/

Omooba77:
The Commander, United State of America African Command, General Stephen Townsend, has attributed the spate of coups in some African Countries to lack of good governance and corruption.

In the last 18 months, the military has seized power in Mali, Chad, Sudan and Burkina Faso.

Speaking during a virtual press briefing on Thursday, Townsend disclosed that the US government and military frowned on the development, saying that it was undermining democracy in the continent.

He said, “Soldiers are undermining democracy in Africa. I cannot tell you why there are so many coups in Africa, I think the continent has enjoyed over 20 years of irregular and unconstitutional change of government but in the last year we have seen a number of them, I don’t know why all that is but it has to do with lack of good governance and corruption.

“The US does not support and condone unconstitutional change of government and the broader effect they have on democracy and the progress of democracy but I think the lack of good governance and corruption are behind much of that.”

Townsend also lamented the expansion of the Islamic State fighters in many African countries.

Read AlsoECOWAS: No excuse for change of government by coup —OsinbajoCoup: Osinbajo in Accra for ECOWAS meeting on Burkina Faso, Mali, GuineaUPDATED: Mane scores as Senegal beat Burkina Faso 3-1 to reach AFCON final

He said, “Military intervention alone cannot end the expansion and the attacks carried out by these terrorist groups, adding that it should be supported by good governance and development.

“ISIS groups continue to expand, crippling towards coastal states and we have seen recent attacks in Togo and Ivory Coast, to me this attack shows the expansion and we are concerned about it.

“While military intervention is only part of the solution to this problem which we would continue to help local forces, we have had tactical success but we have to have the support of good governance and development as long as we don’t have this, I think the terrorists would continue to take advantage of this and continue to expand.”


https://punchng.com/bad-governance-corruption-responsible-for-coups-in-africa-us-army-chief/

After Coup in Burkina Faso, Protesters Turn to Russia for Help
Fed up with the failure of their government, and France, to stop the violence caused by militants, some citizens now call for Russia to intervene.
By Declan Walsh
Jan. 25, 2022, 6:10 p.m. ET
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — The morning after the coup in Burkina Faso, a crowd of revelers celebrating the military takeover in the dusty main plaza of the capital had two messages for the outside world: No to France, and yes to Russia.

“We want a partnership with Russia,” said Bertrand Yoda, a civil engineer who shouted to make himself heard amid hundreds of horn-honking, cheering people gathered in a raucous show of appreciation for the new military junta. “Long live Russia!”

Mutinying soldiers seized power in this poor West African nation on Monday, riding a wave of boiling frustration at the government’s failure to stem surging Islamist violence that since 2016 has displaced 1.4 million people, killed 2,000 and destabilized perhaps two-thirds of a once-peaceful country.

But now that the democratically elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, has been sidelined — the military says he is being detained — coup supporters have turned to remaking Burkina’s Faso’s foreign alliances. Their preferences were broadcast in the Russian flags that fluttered in the capital, Ouagadougou, on Tuesday, alongside blunt, hand-painted signs aimed directly at Burkina Faso’s former colonial ruler.

Frestuffng:
you talk too much. One bullet he's history.

panafrican:

Keep dreaming homeboy.
His excellency President Buhari the Panafricanist- Revolutionist- Army General is in control , with the backing of all Panafrican forces , on alert, from coast to coast, from the golf of Guinea to the Red Sea , from the shores of the mediterranean sea to the source of the Nile River.
If you touched him the ambassadors appointed by the regime would have to go to work in army tanks in any on African soil. Nigeria is only 200 million, the rest of continent has at least 1 billion people.
Below was the Population of Africa six years ago .

Frestuffng:
Waiting for Nigeria version