Showing posts with label British Army. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British Army. Show all posts

Friday, March 15, 2024

Wednesday, March 15, 1944. The destruction of Monte Cassino.


Allied aircraft dropped 14,000 tons of bombs on Monte Cassino and fired 195,000 rounds of artillery.  British, Indian and New Zealand troops tried, and failed, to take the abbey.

The Red Army crossed the Bug.

US troops held off a Japanese assault on the American beachhead at Bougainville.

Additional cavalry landed on Manus Island in the Admiralities.

The Japanese crossed the Chindwwin River in Burma.

The U-653 was sunk in the North Atlantic by the Royal Navy.  The British submarine Stonehenge was lost in the Indian Ocean.

The State Anthem of the Soviet Union replaced The Internationale as the anthem of the USSR.

Last prior:

Tuesday, March 14, 1944. Isolating Ireland

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Friday, February 11, 1944. The Factory Falls.

The Germans took "The Factory" from the British 1st Division at Anzio.

The Red Army took Shepetovka, Ukraine.


Wah Kau Kong (江華九), the first Chinese American fighter pilot, scored his first victory, showing down a FW190 while piloting a P-51B.  He'd be killed in a dogfight just eleven days later.  On that occasion, his wingman reported:
I was leading squadron in leader position of red flight, providing escort and target support for bombers with targets at Oschersleben and Halberstadt. 2nd Lt. Wau Kau Kong was my wingman. Enroute to target area, Northeim and Wernigerode, at 1350 hours I attacked a ME-410 which was pressing attack on a straggling B-17 at 16,000 feet. I fired a long burst from 300 yds, observing parts flying off the tail assembly and smoke pouring out of the right engine. All my guns stopped except one and I broke off attack to let my wingman finish off E/A. I circled and saw Lt. Kong fire at E/A from close range. The right engine of E/A burst into flames. As Lt. Kong broke off over the E/A the rear gunner must have hit him as his plane exploded and disintegrated in the air.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—February 11, 1944: First mission of the US 357th Fighter Group in P-51 Mustangs from England—this group would produce the most aces (42) in the US Eighth Air Force.

The U-424 was sunk off the Faroe's by a Wellington piloted by the RCAF.

Father Claude H. Heithaus, S. J. delivered a homily in what must have been a week day Mass at Saint Louis University denouncing racism.  It ended up getting him forcibly transferred out of state, but the school started admitting African Americans six months later, the first historically white Southern university to do so.

A photographer visited the USS Saratoga.



Commander Maurice Sheehy, Catholic priest and Chaplain Corps, on board USS Saratoga (CV 3), February 11, 1944.  The highly respected Fr. Sheehy would rise to the rank of Vice Admiral, the highest rank ever obtained by a Navy Chaplain.  He had taught at the Catholic University of America before the war, but after it became a pastor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  He passed away in 1972.

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Tuesday, February 8, 1944. Watery graves.

M3 Sherman stuck at the Rapido.

The Petrella, in German service, was sunk off Crete with 2,670 Italian POWs losing their life in the sinking.

The Japanese troop ship Lima Maru went down off of Gotō Islands when sunk by the USS Snook, with 2,765 lives lost.

The Brazzaville Conference concluded.

The Red Army captured the Ukrainian manganese production center of Nikopol.

The British held out at "the Factory" at Anzio under ongoing German efforts to displace them.

Monday, February 5, 2024

Saturday, February 5, 1944. The Battle of Admin Box

 

Sikh troops fighting in the Battle of Admin Box.

The Battle of Admin Box, so named as it was in a rectangular shaped area of the Indian Army's 7th Division administrative area, began, with the British Indian Army defending its position against a Japanese offensive in Burma which was calculated to draw off British troops from a larger Japanese offensive.

The Chindit 16th Long Range Penetration Brigade left Ledo and marched south toward the "Aberdeen" area in Burma.

The Red Army took Lutsk and Rovno in the Ukrainian sector.

The Germans withdrew to a smaller perimeter within the Korsun Pocket, which the Germans were able to resupply by air.


Sunday, February 4, 2024

Friday, February 4, 1944. Operation Ha-Go.

The Japanese launched Operation Ha-Go in the Arakan, a major offensive against British forces in Burma.  As was typical for Japanese offensive operations, it featured a strict timetable.

Stemming from the same region, the Swiss passed on a protest from Thailand, stating:

The Swiss Minister (Bruggmann) to the Secretary of State

Th. 1 Thailand

The Minister of Switzerland presents his compliments to The Honorable, The Secretary of State, and has the honor to submit a communication from the Government of Thailand which has been received from the Federal Political Department in Berne, with the request that it be transmitted to the Government of the United States:

“In air raids about the end of 1943 and January 1944 Anglo-American aeroplanes dropped bombs on Chulalongkon Hospital, Saowapha, on the Pasteur Institute of the Red Cross Bangrak Hospital and two mental disease hospitals. Such humanitarian establishments cannot be said in any way to be military objectives and the indiscriminate bombing thereof is not only a violation of the Geneva Convention [Page 1322]of 192925 but also of the principles of humanity. His Majesty’s Government therefore enters a strong protest against the unjustifiable act of destruction above mentioned.”

The Minister would be grateful to The Honorable, The Secretary of State, for an acknowledgment of this communication.26

Washington , February 4, 1944.

All Japanese organized resistance on Kwajalein ceased.  Of 8,700 defenders, 265, many of them Korean laborers, survive.   The American forces sustained 370 KIA and 1,500 WIA.

Men of the 7th Infantry Division getting cigarettes.  Note the rifle, probably a M1903, with a grenade launcher attachment and that the men have bayonets fixed.  Note also that one of the men has a M3 fighting knife.

M3's on Kwajalein.

7th Infantry Division torching Japanese position with flamethrower, February 4, 1944.

The Germans attacked the British 1st Division at Anzio, forcing it to fall back.  The US 5th Army gained ground further south.

The Soviet 42nd Army took Gdov.  Hitler ordered the 24th panzer Division to assist in the relief of the Korsun Pocket.  Relieving forces are spearheaded by the Heavy Panzer Regiment Bake.

The U-854 struck a mine in the Baltic and sank.


President Roosevelt established the Bronze Star.

Executive Order 9419—Bronze Star Medal

February 04, 1944

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

There is hereby established the Bronze Star Medal, with accompanying ribbons and appurtenances, for award to any person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States on or after December 7, 1941, distinguishes, or has distinguished, himself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in connection with military or naval operations against an enemy of the United States.

The Bronze Star Medal and appurtenances thereto shall be of appropriate design approved by the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, and may be awarded by the Secretary of War, or the Secretary of the Navy, or by such commanding officers of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard as the said Secretaries may respectively designate. Awards shall be made under such regulations as the said Secretaries shall severally prescribe, and such regulations shall, so far as practicable, be of uniform application.

No more than one Bronze Star Medal shall be awarded to any one person, but for each succeeding heroic or meritorious achievement or service justifying such an award a suitable device may be awarded to be worn with the medal as prescribed by appropriate regulations. The Bronze Star Medal or device may be awarded posthumously, and, when so awarded, may be presented to such representative of the deceased as may be designated in the award.

Signature of Franklin D. Roosevelt

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

The White House,

February 4, 1944.

It's a surprise, really, to realize that Bronze Star was created this late, but like the Silver Star, it was created to reflect combat conditions that the US had not experienced since the Civil War.

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Sunday January 30, 1944. Offensives and a Conference.

The Krasnoye Selo-Ropsha Offensive ended, the objective of aiding in the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad having been obtained.

The Nikopol–Krivoi Rog Offensive in Ukraine began.


The Battle of Cisterna, a portion of the Battle of Anzio, also began.


Gen. Lucas would deploy Rangers in the battle as a spearhead, resulting in the lightly armed formations being destroyed and the Ranger units committed to Italy disbanded.

The British 5th Division broke through the Gustav Line on this day and captured Monte Natal.

The U-278 sank the destroyer HMS Hardy.  The HMS Meteor and the HMS Whitehall sank the U-314.

Hitler spoke on the radio, in recognition of the 11th year of the Nazi's coming to power in Germany.  The topic was on Germany being Europe's only bulwark against Communism, in his view.  He didn't discuss the war much.

The Brazzaville Conference meeting of the Free French took place in Brazzaville, a city in then French Equatorial Africa, which is famously mentioned in the film Casablanca.

The conference convened to deal with the topic of the post-war future of the French colonies.  Independence was rejected completely in favor of a post-war association which keep the French Empire intact, but allow for semi autonomous assemblies in the colonies, equal rights with French citizens, the right to vote in elections for the French National Assembly, civil service positions for the native populations, and economic reforms making the colonies less dependent upon France.

The positions were never fully implemented, with Algeria being a good example. Average Algerians never received the equal rights promised by the conference.  The French Empire, of course, began to fly apart during the war itself.

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Sunday, January 23, 1944. Halting at Anzio.

British infantrymen meeting U.S. Army Rangers outside of Anzio.  In the early hours of the operation there was little resistance and things were very fluid.  Both Rangers in the foreground are carrying M1 Garands and wearing the "Jacket, Combat, Winter", which is  erroneously associated with tanker s today.  At least the Ranger on the right is wearing a pair of winter trousers as well.  The soldier on the right has a large "H' on his helmet cover, which is an identifying mark I'm not familiar with.  The soldier on the left appears to have the same mark.  Both British solders are wearing leather jerkins.

36,000 Allied troops had already disembarked by the prior midnight, 13 had been killed, and 200 German prisoners of war taken, including a drunk German officer and orderly who had driven his staff car into an Allied landing craft.  There'd be 50,000 troops on the ground by the end of the day.

Allied troops, under Lucas' command, took up forming defensive positions in anticipation of a counterattack, a decision that was soon controversial, and frankly, a mistake.  This is interesting for a variety of reasons, one of which is that Lucas was originally a cavalry officer, with cavalry being the only branch in the U.S. Army that was dedicated to battlefield mobility and had a doctrine of always moving forward.That view as not shared by the other branches.  Having said that, Lucas had transferred out of the cavalry after World War One.

The German forces did debate what to do.  Kesselring, in command in Italy, believed the Gustav Line could be held along with the beachhead at Anzio. Von Vietinghoff favored withdrawing from the Gustav Line.  The German High Command, meanwhile, allocated reserved from France, northern Italy and the Balkans to the effort.

By the week's end, the Allies would be facing 8 German divisions at Anzio.

The HMS Janus as sunk off shores by a Fritz X.

The Australian Army took Maukiryo in New Guinea.

The Detroit Red Wings beat the New York Rangers 15 to 0, which apparently remains a hockey record.

Pistol Packin' Mama was number one on the country charts.

23-year-old New Zealand er Linda Malden working on a windmill while managing her parent's farm.  No men were left to do what was traditionally a male role, due to wartime manpower demands. Public domain, State Library of New South Wales.

Monday, January 22, 2024

Saturday, January 22, 1944. Operation Shingle, the landings at Anzio.

 

3d Infantry Division landing at Anzio, January 22, 1944.

Today in World War II History—January 22, 1944: 80 Years Ago—Jan. 22, 1944: US and British troops land at Anzio, Italy, establish a solid beachhead, and secure the towns of Anzio and Nettuno.
Mark Clark, January 22, 1944.

Initial landings were unopposed, and the harbor was taken intact. The US Third Army and the British First Army were landed on three separate beaches, with U.S. Gen. John Lucas under overall command. Italian resistance offered to guide the Allies to Rome. The offer was declined.

They should have been accepted.

Lucas is somewhat remembered by history not only for his unfortunate command at Anzio, which would lead to his being later relieved under circumstances which some feel made him a scapegoat for the operation's failure, but also for being in command of the Machine Gun Troop at Columbus, New Mexico when it was attacked by Pancho Villa in March 1916.  As we noted about that event:

The raid on Columbus New Mexico, 1916




As that entry notes, Lucas one of the many U.S. Army officers who died relatively young shortly after World War Two.


US forces were defeated at the Rapido.  Not all were able to withdraw, and therefore many were captured.

Walter Model replaced Georg von Küchler as commander of Army Group North.

President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9417 creating the War Refugee Board.
WHEREAS it is the policy of this Government to take all measures within its power to rescue the victims of enemy oppression who are in imminent danger of death and otherwise to afford such victims all possible relief and assistance consistent with the successful prosecution of the war.

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, and in order to effectuate with all possible speed the rescue and relief of such victims of enemy oppression, it is hereby ordered as follows:

There is established in the Executive Office of the President a War Refugee Board (hereinafter referred to as the Board). The Board shall consist of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Treasury and the Secretary of War. The Board may request the heads of other agencies or departments to participate in its deliberations whenever matters specially affecting such agencies or departments are under consideration.

The Board shall be charged with the responsibility of seeing that the policy of the Government, as stated in the Preamble, is carried out. The functions of the Board shall include without limitation the development of plans and programs and the inauguration of effective measures for (a) the rescue, transportation, maintenance and relief of the victims of enemy oppression, and (b) the establishment of havens of temporary refuge for such victims. To this and the Board, through appropriate channels, shall take the necessary steps to enlist the cooperation of foreign governments and obtain their participation in the execution of such plans and programs.

It shall be duty of the State, Treasury and War Departments, within their respective spheres, to execute at the request of the Board, the plans and programs so developed and the measures so inaugurated. It shall be the duty of the heads of all agencies and departments to supply or obtain for the Board such information and to extend to the Board such supplies, shipping and other specified assistance and facilities as the Board may require in carrying out the provisions of this Order. The State Department shall appoint special attaches with diplomatic status, on the recommendation of the Board, to be stationed abroad in places where it is likely that the assistance can be rendered to war refugees, the duties and responsibilities of such attaches to be defined by the Board in consultation with the State Department.

The Board and the State, Treasury and War Departments are authorized to accept the services or contributions of any private persons, private organizations, State agencies, or agencies of foreign governments in carrying out the purposes of this Order. The Board shall cooperate with all existing and future international organizations concerned with the problems of refugee rescue, maintenance, transportation, relief, rehabilitation, and resettlement.

To the extent possible the Board shall utilize the personnel supplies, facilities and services of the State, Treasury and War Departments. In addition the Board, within the limits of funds which may be available, may employ necessary personnel without regard for the Civil Service laws and regulations and the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, and make provisions for supplies, facilities and services necessary to discharge its responsibilities. The Board shall appoint an Executive Director who shall serve as its principal executive officer. It shall be the duty of the Executive Director to arrange for the prompt execution of the plans and programs developed and the measures inaugurated by the Board, to supervise the activities and the special attaches and to submit frequent reports to the Board on the steps taken for the rescue and relief of war refugees.

The Board shall be directly responsible to the President in carrying out the policy of this Government, as stated in the Preamble, and the Board shall report to him at frequent intervals concerning the such recommendations as the Board may seem appropriate for further action to overcome any difficulties encountered in the rescue and relief of war refugees.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

THE WHITE HOUSE,

January 22, 1944.

 

January 22, 1944. The plants are the difficult to fly Martin B-26 bomber.

Friday, January 19, 2024

Wednesday, January 19, 1944. Destroying Berlin.

The RAF dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin in just over one hour, the heaviest raid on the city to date.

The U-641 was sunk by the British corvette Violate in the North Atlantic.

The Red Army took Krasnoye Selo, Popsha, and Peterhof, near Leningrad.

The British 5th Division captured Minturno.


Lt. Michael Sinclair and Flight-Lieut. Jack Best escaped Colditz Castle POW camp.  They made it all the way to the Dutch border before being recaptured.

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Tuesday, January 18, 1944. The Seige of Leningrad broken.

B-17s over Linz, Austria, January 18, 1944.

The 900-day siege of Leningrad was broken by the Red Army, but only thinly.

The 3d Panzer Army repulsed the Red Army at Vitebsk, Belarus.

The British 5th and 56th Divisions were firmly across the Garigliano.  The Germans begin to move reinforcements in from Anzio.

British General Kenneth Anderson was relieved of command of the British Second Army.  He had fallen out of favor some time ago with Alexander and Montgomery.  Lt. Gen. Miles Dempsey took over.

U.S. railroads return to their private owners' control.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—January 18, 1944: 80 Years Ago—Jan. 18, 1944: US Fourth War Loan Drive begins, runs through February 15; sales made in pharmacies are designated for C-47 ambulance planes.

Billie Holiday performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in Esquire's first jazz festival. 

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Monday, January 17, 1944. The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.

U.S. forward observer operating in support of British forces at Monte Cassino, January 17, 1944.

The British 56th and 5th Divisions attack at Monte Cassino, forcing a crossing of the Garigliano.  The German 29th and 90th Panzergrenadier Divisions were redeployed from the Rome as reinforcements.

The Red Army took Slavuta.

The Soviet Union rejected negotiations with the Polish Government In Exile over the Polish border.

While it was not really occurring, the Polish Home Army ordered Polish partisans not to cooperate with the Germans in attacking Soviet partisans operating in Poland.  Given the extreme repression by the Germans in Poland, there was little reason to fear that would occur.

Pravda reported a falsehood that British and German representatives had met on the Iberian Peninsula to discuss a separate peace.  The British Foreign Officer immediately denied the rumor.

Slovene partisans attack the Germans at Paški Kozjak.

The U-305 was lost in the Atlantic.

Australia began rationing meat.

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Thursday, January 13, 1944. Chinese hold at Tarung.

A patrol from the Wiltshire Regt., British X Corps, tries to draw fire from a German MG nest. 13 January, 1944.  The soldier in front is carrying an Italian Model 38 submachine gun, the one in the rear a Thompson submachine gun.  This is the second photo I've seen of a British soldier carrying a captured Model 38.
Today in World War II History—January 13, 1944: Germans make large-scale arrests of Danish resistance members. Chinese gain control of Tarung River line, driving back the Japanese in the Hukawng Valley .

Sarah Sundin's blog.

The Red Army took Korets.  Part of pre-war Poland, it had been a small Jewish city.  It is now in Ukraine.

The director of the United States Typhus Commission warned that Naples and southern Italy were seriously threatened by the disease.

The U-231 was sunk by a Vickers Wellington off of the Azores.

Monday, January 8, 2024

Saturday, January 8, 1944. P-80 takes flight, Wilson takes command.

Bomb being loaded on carrier, January 8, 1944.
Today in World War II History—January 8, 1944: First flight of US Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star jet fighter at Muroc Army Air Base, CA, but it won’t be ready for combat until the war is over.

Sarah Sundin.

Yesterday we reported on the P59.  As can be seen from her entry above, already a much better jet fighter was coming up. 


1,715 of the fighters would be produced in various versions before production was ceased, the design having been eclipsed, in 1950.  It would see action in the Korean War, although there were better jet fighter designs already in service.  It would be phased out of US service in 1959, by which time it was very obsolete.

Wilson, left, with Sir Oliver Lease.

She also reports that Gen. Sir Henry Maitland Wilson officially replaced Dwight Eisenhower as Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean.

Jumbo Wilson, as he was nicknamed, was a British career soldier who as 63 years old at the time.  He had seen combat service before World War Two in the Boer War and the Great War.  He'd live until 1964, dying at age 83.

The Red Army took Kirovohrad, Ukraine.  In night operations, the Red Army's 67th Tank Brigade hit the headquarters of the German 47th Panzer Corps. The raid featured tank riders.

The Italian Social Republic put the 19 members of the Fascist Grand Council, six of whom were in their custody, on trail for voting to remove Mussolini.  Five of the six in custody would be found guilty and executed on January 11.

I can't help but note how authoritarian losers like to put those who voted against them on trial. . . a warning for voters this fall on what could happen with a Trump return.

The U-426 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay by a RAAF Short Sunderland.  The U-757 was sunk in the North Atlantic by the HMS Bayntun and the Canadian corvette Camrose.

The U.S. Navy bombarded Japanese installations on Shortland Island in the Solomons.

Royal Navy Radio receiving room, Algeria, January 8, 1944.

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Thursday, December 23, 1943. Moving toward railroad seizure.

The Great Hall of Union Station, Toronto, Canada, December 23, 1943.

Three out of five railroad unions rejected Franklin Roosevelt's offer of arbitration in their wage dispute.

Accordingly, President Roosevelt ordered Attorney General Francis Biddle to being the process of seizing the railroads effective December 30.

The Red Army prevailed in the Battle of the Dnieper.

The Canadian 1st Division seized most of Ortona.  Other 8th Army elements captured Arielli.

The HMS Worcester hit a mine in the North Sea and was rendered a loss.

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Friday, December 10, 1923. Fathers no longer get a conscription pass.


President Roosevelt ended the long-running debate on conscription of men who had been fathers prior to December 7, 1941. Their exemption was ended on this date, effective tomorrow.

Largely forgotten now, the topic of whether fathers could be conscripted was termed the "Father Crisis" and drew sharp views on both sides.  It was a topic of a bill called the "Wheeler Bill" which attempted to write the exemption into law.  The bill exempted fathers who had been fathers prior to December 7, 1941, as noted.  The military had been heavily opposed to the parental deferment, as had Secretary of War Henry Stimson.

Up until this date, fatherhood had been a Class III-A exemption.  The exemption would be reestablished on November 15, 1945, during the brief period of immediate post-war conscription that the US retained.

Exemptions for dependency and occupation had already been eliminated n April, save for agricultural employment, so some element of it remained. Another one that remained was for hardship and dependency.

While exempting for parenthood may seem inherently unfair, and perhaps is in someways, this was still an era in which men were the principal breadwinners and society was geared in all sorts of ways towards keeping individual responsibilities intact, rather than passing them off on the public.

At this point, only the Army took conscripts, which is also where they were needed.  Members of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard were all volunteers.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Pandora,  December 10, 1943.


Tullio Tamburini, Chief of Police of the Italian Social Republic, exempted Italian Jews over 70 years old, or who were grievously ill, or who were married to a non Jew, from detention, allowing about 40% of the detained to temporarily return to their homes.

Tamburini would retain his office until April 1944, at which time he'd be dismissed by the Germans and then interned in Dachau in February 1945.  After the war, he immigrated to Argentina.

The Mediterranean Air Command was disbanded and reorganized as the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) with Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder as Air Commander-in-Chief.

The British 8th Army crossed the Moro.

Torokina airstrip.

American aircraft arrive at Cape Torokina, Bougainville.

The Red Army took Znamenka.

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Tuesday, December 7, 1943. FDR likes Ike.

Public Information Office staff wishing Perry Robinson farewell, December 7, 1943.

President Roosevelt personally informed Dwight Eisenhower that he was being transferred to Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) in London as its commander, stating "Well, Ike, you are going to command Overlord".

Eisenhower with the shoulder patch of SHAEF, December 31, 1944.

On the same day, Air Marshall Harris informed his superiors that he believed he could win the war through the RAF alone if the Battle of Berlin is continued and if he can deploy 15,000 Lancasters over the next few months.  He in fact would send 14,500 Lancasters in the effort and be proven grossly in error.

The British 8th Army captured Poggiofiorito.  The U.S. 5th Army secured the Mignano Gap.

At this point the last of the major Allies, the US, had been in the war for two years.  In that time, the Germans and Italian had been pushed out of Africa, and the Western Allies had reentered the European continent through Italy.  The Italian government had switched sides and joined the Allies.  The French forces in Africa had joined the Allies in rebellion against Vichy.  The naval battles in the Atlantic and Mediterranean continued, but the Axis was slowly losing them.  A new air campaign over Germany itself had been launched by the Western Allies.

On the East, the fighting was bitter and ongoing, but the Axis had been pushed back from Stalingrad.

In Asia, the Australian and American forces had stemmed Japanese advances and were retaking lost ground in the Southern Pacific. The battle had just been extended into the Central Pacific. The Japanese had been pushed out of the Aleutians.

The war had obviously not been won, and the Axis was bitterly contesting the Allies everywhere, but they were nonetheless continually on the defensive for the most part.  Huge numbers of Axis troops were tied up on the Eastern Front in a largely defensive effort with continual efforts to regain offensive initiative and in Asia massive amounts of Japanese forces were tied up in China where they were accordingly useless for anything else.

Chiara Lubich started the lay Catholic humanitarian organization Focolare Movement in Trento, Italy.

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Monday, December 6, 1943. Niels Bohr relocates.

Today in World War II History—December 6, 1943: Danish Nobel Laureate physicist Niels Bohr, having escaped from Denmark by boat, arrives in New York; Bohr will meet with Manhattan Project scientists.

From Sarah Sundin's blog.

The Red Army cut the rail line to Smela.

The British captured Monte Camino.



It was being reported that the King of Yugoslavia had protested the creation of a new government in exile for his country, which he can hardly be blamed for.



Monday, December 4, 2023

Saturday, December 4, 1943. End of the WPA.

No longer needed, the Works Progress Administration came to an end.

Coming in an era of desperation, when Americans turned to the government instead of reviling it, many great projects were built by the WPA during its eight-year run.


The number of projects built in Wyoming alone is stunning. Every community has some, some of which they're so used to, that they were government projects is hardly recalled.


What is amazing, however, is that it took until 1943 for the Government to conclude that unemployment was now low enough to do away with the program.

The British 8th Army commenced the Moro River Campaign in Italy.

Yugoslav partisans, just recognized as a legitimate fighting force by the Allies, formed a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in exile with Communist lawyer Ivan Ribar appointed as head of state to serve at the war's end.  An existing government in exile under King Peter already was functioning in the United Kingdom, but clear its days were coming to an end.

The Bolivian Congress ratified President Enrique Peñaranda's declaration of war against the Axis powers, which had occured six months earlier.

Seventy percent of wholesale and retail merchants in Bolivia were German operated, and this had resulted in fears that the declaration would create economic unrest.  It did not, but it did lead to his overthrow.  The Congress followed through nonetheless.  Given the stretch of colonial empires, this meant that at this point in time a mere nine independent nations were not committed to one of the two warring sides.

Truly a world war.

The Japanese escort carrier Chūyō was sunk in the Pacific by the submarine USS Sailfish.


The USS Lexington was hit by an airborne torpedo off of the Gilberts just after midnight, resulting in "Tokyo Rose" reporting her sunk. The ship was damaged, but far from sunk.  Repeated erroneous Japanese reports of her having been sunk lead to her being nicknamed "The Blue Ghost".  She had been leaving for Kwajalein where a major U.S. Navy strike occured on this day.

Saturday, November 4, 2023

Thursday, November 4, 1943. Island hopping.

 A seaplane tender in Aleutian waters trains a 40mm battery on an unidentified aircraft, November 4, 1943.

The U.S. War Department concluded that attacking Japan from mainland China was impracticable.  Therefore, the island strategy was solidly recommended.

An uprising broke out at the Szebnie concentration camp in Poland following the execution of over 1,000 of its prisoners. The SS rapidly suppressed it and the inmates are shipped to Auschwitz.

The Red Army broke out of its Dniepr bridgeheads.

A newly arrived Japanese Imperial Navy task force consisting of ten cruisers and ten destroyers is spotted by the U.S. Navy near Rabaul resulting in Task Force 38 preparing to strike it from the air.

The Allies achieve full lateral communications through Isernia in Italy.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—November 4, 1943: Plutonium processing plant opens at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for atomic bomb development as the X-10 graphite reactor reaches criticality.

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Friday, October 29, 1943. Fatal joke.

German actor and comedian Robert Stampa (stage name Dorsay) age 39, was executed for  "ongoing activity hostile to the Reich and serious undermining of the German defense effort".  

Stampa had never been comfortable with the Nazis but had, like many Germans, tried to accommodate himself to them, even joining hte Nazi Party.  He was expelled from the party in 1933 for failure to pay dues and didn't rejoin.  He started losing film roles in 1939 due to his failure to cooperate with the party.  He was drafted in 1943 and was a serviceman on lease at the time of his telling the fatal joke.

He had been overheard joking about the government and had described, in a private letter, the ongoing German war effort as "idiotic", which in fact, it was.  More accurately, his letter stated, "When will this idiocy finally end?"

His execution demonstrated that by this point in the war, which had seen the increased repression of the Jews, repression was now turning in on the German people as well.  To be executed for a joke was fairly phenomenal.

As part of that idiotic effort, the U-282 was sunk by the Royal Navy in the North Atlantic.

Gotthard Heinrici

The Red Army attacked the German 4th Army between Orsha and Vitebsk, but in doing so encountered forces commanded by Gen. Gotthard Heinrici, a master defensive tactician, and they failed to break through.

Heinrici was the eccentric son of a Lutheran minister.  Indeed, a devout Lutheran as well, he was informed during the war that his best interest lay in discontinuing going to services, which he ignored. He refused to join the Nazi Party. His uniform was notably shabby, and he continued to wear a coat that he had acquired during World War One.

His wife was half Jewish.

Not a very personal man, he remains somewhat of a mystery.  He ignored scorched early orders, but atrocities were committed, as with almost all Germany command, in his ares of operations.  He died in 1971 and was buried with full military honors.

The British 13th Corps captured Cantalupo.

A couple of interesting things from Sarah Sundin:

Today in World War II History—October 29, 1943: Maj. Glenn Miller’s Army Air Force band records “St. Louis Blues March.” US War Production Board somewhat relaxes prohibition on use of aluminum.

Glenn Miller had a big impact on American military music, second only, in fact, to John Philip Sousa. 

The St. Louis Blues was penned by legendary bluesman W. C. Handy.  It's actually a very sad song, like many blues pieces, but with a very flowing nature which made it suitable for adaptation to other styles.  Its lyrics are:

I hate to see that evening sun go down

I hate to see that evening sun go down

Cause my baby, he's gone left this town

Feelin' tomorrow like I feel today

If I'm feelin' tomorrow like I feel today

I'll pack my truck and make my give-a-way

St. Louis woman with her diamond ring

Pulls that man around by her, if it wasn't for her and her

That man I love would have gone nowhere, nowhere

I got the St. Louis blues, blues as I can be

That man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea

Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me

I love my baby like a school boy loves his pie

Like a Kentucky colonel loves his mint 'n rye

I love my man till the day I die


The tune was first published in 1914, and then made famous by the Bessie Smith edition released in 1925.  Handy was inspired to write the song after meeting a distraught woman on the street in St. Louis, who said to him, regarding her husband's absence; "Ma man's got a heart like a rock cast in de sea" which became a line in the song.

Handy in 1941.

Handy outlived Miller, dying in 1958 at age 84, and was still an active musician during this time frame. He was so influential that he was sometimes called "the father of the blues", although nobody can really properly have that title, the blues having its roots in polyrhythmic African music.