Showing posts with label Infantry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Infantry. Show all posts

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Thursday, March 16, 1944. Lucky Legs II


One of the most iconic photographs of World War Two was taken on this day in 1944, that being a rare combat action photograph.  The subject was M4 Sherman supported infantrymen on Bougainville.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—March 16, 1944: US Air Transport Command begins airlift of 5th Indian Division from Arakan in southern Burma to reinforce besieged Imphal and Kohima in India.

The Japanese Indian Ocean Raid ended inconclusively with lackluster results, and Japanese atrocities.

The Tautoq sank the Shirakumo east of Muroran, Hokkaido.

M2HB being fired at Japanese installations on Manus Island, Admiralty Group.

US and British aircraft sank the U-392 in the Strait of Gilbralter.

President Roosevelt addressed Finland:

March 16, 1944

It has always seemed odd to me and to the people of the United States to find Finland a partner of Nazi Germany, fighting side by side with the sworn enemies of our civilization.

The Finnish people now have a chance to withdraw from this hateful partnership. The longer they stay at Germany's side the more sorrow and suffering is bound to come to them. I think I can speak for all Americans when I say that we sincerely hope Finland will now take the opportunity to disassociate herself from Germany.

 


The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor of NASA, proposed a jet-propelled transonic research airplane be developed, which would leads to the "X" series research airplane projects.

Bell X-1, which would first fly in 1946.

Last prior:

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Friday, March 3, 1944. The death of Teresa Gullace and of hope for Poland.

Teresa Gullace, seven months pregnant, was killed by a German soldier when she attempted to pass a sandwich to her husband, who was detained by the Germans in Rome.  She was part of a group of women that had gathered to protest the Germans holding their husbands.

The scene was later depicted in Rosellini's 1945 Rome open city, one of three great films by the director set during World War Two and filmed immediately after, and which used amateur actors to a large degree.

The U.S. Army Air Force hit the Roman rail facilities at the Tiburtino, Littorio and Ostiense marshalling yards.  There were 400 civilian casualties.

Over 500 railroad passengers died of carbon monoxide poisoning during a protracted stall in a tunnel at Balvano, Italy.  It's one of the worst rail disasters of all time.

Stalin shut the door on further negotiations on the Polish border.

The Soviet Union created the Medal of Ushakov and the Medal of Nakhimov, both of which were awarded to sailors.  Interestingly, they were both named after Imperial Russian officers.

Japanese troops on Los Negros launched a night attack, which was repulsed by US cavalrymen.

The 3d Infantry Division repulsed a German attack on the Anzio beachhead at Ponte Rotto.  It would be the last German offensive action at Anzio.

Paul-Émile Janson, a Belgian Prime Minister just before World War Two, died at Buchewald at age 71.

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.

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.

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Thursday, January 20, 1944. Crossing the Rapido, Trying to persuade the Poles.

The Battle of the Rapido River began in Italy when the 36th Infantry Division crossed the river at night.  They'd establish a beachhead, but things would not go well.  Within a couple of days, the 36th would have to withdraw back across the river.

The attack, widely regarded as producing a disaster, was ordered by Gen. Mark Clark over the objection of the 36th's commanding officer, Gen. Fred Walker, who had experience with a disastrous river crossing in World War One. 


Walker, who at 56 years of age was the oldest divisional commander in the Army at the time, was correct in his assessment.

The 36th Infantry Division assigned to the task was a division of the Texas National Guard.

Walker, who complained that Clark and Gen. Keys were ignorant of the difficulties of the assault, was in ill health at the time, but a very good officer.  Helping to make up for his physical condition was the fact that two of his sons were on his staff.  He was returned to the United States in June, where he went on to command the Infantry School.  In spite of ill health, he lived until 1969, dying at age 82.

Winston Churchill met with the Polish Government In Exile to attempt to convince the Poles to accept the Curzon Line for discussion purposes.  Churchill promised that he'd resist Soviet efforts, in exchange, to influence the makeup of the post-war government.


By radek.s - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1720759

The Curzon Line had been first proposed as a demarcation between the Second Polish Republic and the Soviet Union following World War One by Lord Curzon and Herbert James Paton, and it was based on demographics. Poles did live to the east of the line, but they became increasingly mixed with other populations in what has been termed, quite appropriate, as "the Bloodlands' in a fantastic book on the post World War One era of the region by Timothy D. Snyder.  Like every other imperial domain in Europe, Imperial Russia had regions of strong ethnic uniformity and others of mix ethnicity.  The region that became the westernmost region of Poland had a large Polish population, but also had a Belarusian population and a Ukrainian one, as well as many areas of Jewish populations.  From 1918 into the early 1920s, every country in the region, to include Lithuania, had fought to establish their borders.  Poland had been remarkably successful, throwing back a massive Red Army assault in the Russo Polish War, but even at that the Second Polish Republic did not extend as far to the east as it had originally sought to.

Ethnographic map of Poland, based on pre World War One census data.

None of the parties in Post World War One Eastern Europe were ready to accept the Curzon Line and so the proposal went nowhere at the time, contributing to the wars between Poland and the USSR (which would have occured anyhow), Poland and Ukraine, and Poland and Lithuania.   The result of those disputes resulted in the post-war border, but Communist Russia had always had an appetite that stretched into Germany.  The mixed population in the area to the east of the line, however, guaranteed that it would be uniquely subject to bloodletting, with the Soviets wanting the territory, the Germans wanting to eliminate the Slavs entirely, and the nationalist Ukrainians wanting to expel the Polish and Jewish population on lands that they had claimed or wanted to.  Every culture in the region, for that matter, disliked the native Jewish population in varying degrees.

With the Soviets crossing the frontier of pre-war Poland, the Polish Government In Exile became increasingly concerned that the Soviet Union would annex what it wanted and replace the Polish government with a Communist one.  It was completely correct in both of those fears.

A 40mm gun of the 251st Coastal Artillery (AA), 14th Corps, California National Guard, on Bougainville. Mt Bagana, 6560 feet, an active volcano, is in the background.


Today In Wyoming's History: January 201944  Marjorie Woodsworth and Paul Kelly, motion picture actors, appeared at the University of Wyoming to open the 4th War Loan Drive.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Tuesday, November 23, 1943. Victory at Tarawa and Makin.

Unit patch of the 2nd Marine Division.  Only during World War Two did the Marine Corps ultimately adopt divisional patches.

The Battle of Tarawa concluded at 1:00 p.m., local time, after 77 hours of combat.  The Battle of Makin also concluded.

U.S. Army 27th Infantry Division unit patch.

FWIW, there are 138 miles between the two islands.

Tarawa would add to the status of the Marines that Guadalcanal had already conveyed. The fighting was horrific.  The public, however, was stunned by the level of US losses.

The Deutsche Opernhause in Berlin was destroyed in a British air raid, as was the Berlin Zoo, which resulted in the loss of most of its 4,000 animals. Over the week Berlin would further lose the German National Theatre, the National Gallery, the Invalidenstrasse Museum, the Hotel Bristol, the Charite Hospital, the City Hospital, the Schulstrasse Maternity Hospital, the Lichterfelde-East Rail Station, and the embassies of France, Sweden, Turkey, Iran and Slovakia.

Hitler witnessed a demonstration of the ME262.  Perhaps because of events like that described above, he ordered that the jet fighter be redesigned to carry bombs, thereby delaying production of the aircraft.

The extent to which people like to satirical claim that "Hitler was the best general the Allies had" has been overdone. Frankly, quite a few of his strategic and even tactical decisions during the war were correct over the opposition of his general.  By this point, however, he was starting to make really significant blunders, of which this was one.  Germany's task at this point, from the position of its airspace, was to defend it, which the ME262 would prove quite able at. The resulting delay was accordingly significant.

German forces landed on Samos in the Aegean.

Roosevelt, at the Cairo Conference, sent a message to Congress regarding the post-war return of servicemen.

Message to Congress on the Return of Service Personnel

to Civilian Life

November 23 , 1943

To the Congress:

All of us are concentrating now on the one primary objective of winning this war. But even as we devote our energy and resources to that purpose, we cannot neglect to plan for things to come after victory is won.

The problem of reconverting wartime America to a peacetime basis is one for which we are now laying plans to be submitted to the Congress for action. As I said last July:

"The returning soldier and sailor and marine are a part of the problem of demobilizing the rest of the millions of Americans who have been working and living in a war economy since 1941. . . . But the members of the armed forces have been compelled to make greater economic sacrifice and every other kind of sacrifice than the rest of us, and they are entitled to definite action to help take care of their special problems."

At that time I outlined what seemed to me to be a minimum of action to which the members of our armed forces are entitled over and above that taken for other citizens.

What our service men and women want, more than anything else, is the assurance of satisfactory employment upon their return to civil life. The first task after the war is to provide employment for them and for our demobilized war workers.

There were skeptics who said that our wartime production goals would never be attained. There will also be skeptics who will question our ability to make the necessary plans to meet the problems of unemployment and want after the war. But, I am confident that if industry and labor and Government tackle the problems of economic readjustment after the war with the same unity of purpose and with the same ingenuity, resourcefulness, and boldness that they have employed to such advantage in wartime production, they can solve them.

We must not lower our sights to prewar levels. The goal after the war should be the maximum utilization of our human and material resources. This is the way to rout the forces of insecurity and unemployment at home, as completely as we shall have defeated the forces of tyranny and oppression on the fields of battle.

There are, however, certain measures which merit the immediate attention of the Congress to round out the program already commenced for the special protection of the members of the armed forces.

The Congress has already enacted a generous program of benefits for service men and for the widows and dependents of those killed in action.

For example:

(1) Under the National Service Life Insurance Act, life insurance at low premium rates is now available to members of the armed forces in amounts not less than $1,000 and not more than $10,000 per person. A total of nearly $90,000,000,000 of insurance has already been applied for.

(2) In addition, provision has been made, under the Soldiers' and Sailors' Relief Act, for the guarantee by the Government of the payment of premiums on commercial policies held by members of the armed forces while in service. Premiums on insurance totaling $135,582,000 have been guaranteed, as a result of 56,276 applications by service men for such relief.

(3) The Congress has also enacted legislation making provision for the hospitalization and medical care of all veterans of the present war, and for the vocational rehabilitation and training of those suffering from disability incurred in, or aggravated by, military service, when such disability results in a vocational handicap preventing reemployment. Similar provision has been made for the rehabilitation of disabled persons in civil life, who, with proper training, can be equipped to play a useful part in the war effort at home. Men who are rejected for military service because of physical or mental defects, or who are discharged from the armed forces because of a disability existing at the time of induction, are thus eligible for such rehabilitation services and training as may be necessary and feasible in order to fit them for useful and gainful employment.

(4) By recent legislation, our present service men and women have been assured the same pension benefits for death or disability incurred in the line of duty while in active military service as are provided for the veterans of prior wars. The pension rates for the family of those killed in this war were recently increased by the Congress.

The Veterans Administration will, from time to time, request the consideration by the Congress of various amendments of existing laws which will facilitate administration, and which will correct any defects in our present statutory scheme which experience may disclose. I am confident that the Congress, in line with the historic policy of this Government toward its ill, injured, and disabled service men and women, will provide generous appropriations to the Veterans Administration with which to carry out these laws.

(5) Numerous other measures have been adopted for the protection of our service men such as the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act suspending the enforcement of certain obligations against members of the armed forces, the creation of reemployment rights under the Selective Service Act, and the provision for emergency maternity care to the wives and infants of enlisted men.

However, I believe that we must go much further.

We must make provision now to help our returning service men and women bridge the gap from war to peace activity. When the war is over, our men and women in the armed forces will be eager to rejoin their families, get a job, or continue their education, and to pick up the threads of their former lives. They will return at a time when industry will be in the throes of reconversion. Our plans for demobilization of soldiers and sailors must be consistent with our plans for the reconversion of industry and for the creation of employment opportunities for both service men and war workers. Already the armed forces have returned many thousands of service men and women to civil life. The following further steps seem desirable now:

(1) To help service men and women tide over the difficult period of readjustment from military to civilian life, mustering out pay will be needed. It will relieve them of anxiety while they seek private employment or make their personal plans for the future. I therefore recommend to the Congress that it enact legislation and provide funds for the payment of a uniform, reasonable mustering-out pay to all members of the armed forces upon their honorable discharge or transfer to inactive duty. This pay should not be in a lump sum but on a monthly installment basis.

(2) We must anticipate, however, that some members of the armed forces may not be able to obtain employment within a reasonable time after their return to civil life. For them, unemployment allowances should be provided until they can reasonably be absorbed by private industry.

Members of the armed services are not now adequately covered by existing unemployment insurance laws of the States. It is estimated that approximately one-half of them will have no unemployment insurance protection at all when they leave military service. Benefits payable to those who are covered by State law 'are unequal, and will vary greatly among the States because of the wide differences in the provisions of the State laws. The protection in many cases will be inadequate. It is plainly a Federal responsibility to provide for the payment of adequate and equitable allowances to those service men and women who are unable to find employment after their demobilization.

For these reasons, I recommend to the Congress that a uniform system of allowances for unemployed service men and women be established.

I believe that there should be a fixed and uniform rate of benefit for a fixed period of time for all members of the armed forces who, after leaving the service, are unable to find suitable work. In order to qualify for an unemployment allowance each person should 'be obliged to register with the United States Employment Service, and, following the usual practice in unemployment insurance, must be willing to accept available and suitable employment, or to engage in a training course to prepare him for such employment. The protection under this system should be continued for an adequate length of time following the period for which mustering-out payment is made.

At present, persons serving in the merchant marine are not insured under State unemployment insurance laws, primarily because the very nature of their employment carries them beyond the confines of any particular State. I believe that the most effective way of protecting maritime workers against postwar unemployment is to enact without delay a Federal maritime unemployment insurance act. There has been in effect since 1938 a railroad unemployment insurance act, and a similar act for maritime workers is long overdue. Marine workers are, however, insured under the existing Federal old-age and survivors' insurance law.

(3) Members of the armed forces are not receiving credit under the Federal old-age and survivors' insurance law for their period of military service. Credit under the law can be obtained only while a person is engaged in certain specific types of employment. Service in the armed forces is not included in these types. Since the size of the insurance benefits depends upon the total number of years in which credits are obtained, the exclusion of military service will operate to decrease the old-age retirement benefits which will eventually be payable to service men and women. Furthermore, a large number of persons whose dependents were protected by the survivors' insurance benefits at the time they entered the armed forces are losing entirely those insurance rights while they are in service.

I therefore recommend that the Congress enact legislation to make it possible for members of the armed forces to obtain credit under the Federal old-age and survivors' insurance law during their period of military service. The burden of this extension of old-age and survivors' insurance to members of the armed forces should be carried by the Federal Government, and the Federal contributions should be uniform for all members of the armed forces irrespective of their rank.

I have already communicated with the Congress requesting the enactment of legislation to provide educational and training opportunities for the members of the armed forces who desire to pursue their studies after their discharge.

The Congress will agree, I am sure, that, this time, we must have plans and legislation ready for our returning veterans instead of waiting until the last moment. It will give notice to our armed forces that the people back home do not propose to let them down.

It's worth noting the extent to which the Allied leaders in the west were taking the view that victory was simply inevitable. 

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Monday, November 15, 1943. The Combat Infantry Badge.


One of the awards most respected by soldiers to be issued by the U.S. Army, the Combat Infantry Badge, was authorized.

Limited to infantrymen alone who have seen actual ground combat, the creation of the award acknowledged the particular horrors experienced by infantrymen in combat.  The World War Two awards were upgraded, which they likely should not have been as it cheapened the original awards, to Bronze Stars in the 1980s, reflecting the particular horrors of World War Two in which soldiers were not rotated home but served until severely injured, killed, or the end of the war.

It followed the authorization of the Expert Infantry Badge, which had been authorized on November 11, 1943.


Both awards remain enormously respected in the U.S. Army.

"Nomadic" Gypsies in the Soviet Union were reclassified by Germany to be in the same racial category as Jews and therefore subject to the death camps, whereas "sedentary" Romani were classified as citizens of the country they were in.

The order would ultimately extend beyond the occupied regions of the USSR and was another example of how, as Nazi Germany's fate became sealed, it became more homicidal.

Offensive actions by the U.S. Fifth Army were halted by Gen. Alexander.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 15: 1943 1943  Harmonica player Larry Adler played at the University of Wyoming.  Adler was a well known harmonica player.

Manuel L. Quezon was inaugurated as President of the Philippines, in exile. It was his third term.  In the Philippines a collaborationist government, not as disdained by the post-war Philippines as might be supposed, was in control, with the sanction of the Japanese.

The Cross Mountain, Colorado post office was closed, putting an end to the Moffat County town.

Sunday, August 27, 2023

Friday, August 27, 1943. Wunderwaffe, French arrests, the 43d Infantry at Arundel, Red Army at Kotleva and Sevsk, USS Eldridge doesn't disappear.

A German Henschel Hs 293 struck and sank the HMS Egret in the first successful anti shipping guided missile strike in history.


German Wunderwaffe were beginning to come online.

Former French President Albert Lebrun was arrested by the Gestapo, as was André François-Poncet, the former French ambassador to Germany.  Lebrun would survive the war, albeit in ill health, and breifly maintain to DeGaulle that he remained head of state, which DeGaulle ignored and which was legally incorrect in any event.  François-Poncet would as well, and would repreise his pre-war role as ambassador to West Germany.

Insignia of the island hopping 43d Infantry Division. The 43d was a unit made up of mobilized National  Guardsmen from New England.  It was inactivated as a unit in 1963.

Elements of the US 43d Infantry Division landed on the Nauro Peninsula on Arundel in the Solomon's without opposition.


Unless you are exceptionally well versed on the war in the Pacific, you probably are unaware of this action, but it fit into many such forgotten landings by the Army and the Marine Corps during the war.


The Red Army retook Kotleva and Sevsk.

Following up on the US and British example, the Soviet Union and China gave limited recognition to the French Committee of National Liberation.

The USS Eldridge was commissioned. The Eldridge is famous for being part of a 1950s vintage hoax, in which merchant seaman Carl Meredith Allen fairly successfully convinced people that the ship had been made to disappear as part of a dangerous naval experiment during World War Two. There are people who still believe the hoax.

Sunday, July 2, 2023

Friday, July 2, 1943. The U.S. Army lands on New Georgia.

Men of the 37th Infantry Division on New Georgia.

The U.S. Army's 37th and 43d Infantry Divisions landed on New Georgia, the largest Solomon Island occupied by Japan.  Fighting would last over a month.

Rendova had been used as a staging area for the operation.

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Monday, May 31, 1943. You can crack that tank.

The Army put out its weekly summation of the war news, with helpful tips on taking on tanks.



The tank illustration really is interesting, as I've sometimes wondered about the topics noted, particularly causing the tank to button up.  German armor, like American armor, did not normally fight buttoned up as the visibility is so poor.

Expecting an infantryman to have a Molotov Cocktail, however, seems like a bit much.

Sarah Sundin reports:
Today in World War II History—May 31, 1943: British ships begin naval bombardment of island of Pantelleria between Tunisia and Sicily, adding to the aerial bombardment started May 18.
 Archie Andrews, of comic book fame, appeared on the radio for the first time.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Tuesday, May 11, 1943. Retaking Attu.

The Navy, supported by the Royal Canadian Air Force, landed elements of 7th Infantry Division on Attu in order to retake the Japanese occupied island.  The resulting battle was the only land battle on American territory during World War Two and the only battle between the US and Japan in the Arctic.


Fighting would cover two weeks with the Japanese putting up a stout defense.  The Japanese Navy formed a task force to relieve the island but the Allies took it before it cold depart Tokyo Bay.  Knowing that they would not be relieved, the Japanese forces went down on May 29 in a banzai charge.  Of the entire Japanese garrison of over 2,800 men, only 28 survived.

Casualties of the final charge.

The 7th Infantry Division was committed to the war in the Pacific for the balance of World War Two, and would have occupation duty in Japan and Korea after the war.  It was stationed in Japan when the Korean War broke out.   During the Korean War, the then under strength division took on an international character, incorporating very large numbers of South Korean troops, as well as Columbian and Ethiopian solders.

Secretary of the Navy publically stated that "Possession of Sicily by the Allies would obviously be a tremendous asset" leading to fears that he'd blow the success of Operation Mincemeat.  Instead, it convinced the Germans that he was trying a "smoke screen".

Monday, October 31, 2022

Something interesting to note.

 


Troops of the 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division going up the bluff at the E-1 draw in the Easy Red sector of Omaha Beach, Normandy, on June 7, 1944.

The first three soldiers, and the seventh and eighth, are carrying M1903 Springfield bolt action rifles.  The fourth's weapon isn't visible at all, and if he's carrying one, it's probably a sidearm.  The fifth one is carrying an M1 carbine, as is the sixth and seventh.

These men have the appearance of being infantrymen, but the lack of M1 Garands suggests they might be combat engineers. At any rate, this photo nicely illustrates how prevalent the M1903 still was during World War Two.

The second man was 18 years old Pvt Vincent Mullen, who would be killed in action a few days after this photograph was taken.

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Tuesday, October 13, 1942. The Army lands on Guadalcanal

Today in World War II History—October 13, 1942: First US Army troops land on Guadalcanal, joining the US Marines. On Guadalcanal, Japanese naval shelling makes Henderson Field inoperable.

So reports Sarah Sundin.  The soldiers were from the 164th Infantry and they took up the 6,600 yard sector at the east end of the American perimeter.   The 164th was part of the Americal Division.

It's often forgotten that the Army played a significant role in the fighting in the Pacific, but it did.  While the island hopping campaigns that later developed were principally, but not exclusively, Marine Corps affairs, larger engagements nearly always featured the Army.  Of this battle, one of the Army's official histories states:

The Guadalcanal Campaign also made clear that whether subsequent fighting in the Pacific took place in an Army or a Navy theater, success would depend on a high degree of interservice cooperation. The early stages of the campaign were dominated by Navy-Marine components of the interservice team. But as the battle continued, Army units assumed the burden of interservice coordination and, in the end, secured the American victory on the ground. The campaign also made clear the scale of operations the Americans would have to mount to take sizable island outposts from the Japanese: between fifty and one hundred thousand troops, at least half a dozen air squadrons of high-altitude bombers, dive bombers, and fighters, and between two and three hundred Navy ships and smaller craft of all types. In coming months fresh Army divisions would form new interservice teams and, applying techniques demonstrated by the XIV Corps, continue the island march to Japan.

While the Marine Corps would likely dispute that conclusion, at the time the Marine command on Guadalcanal was highly impressed with the 164th.

The DUI of the 164th.

Sundin's entry for this day also notes that Japanese naval shelling by the battleships Kongo and Haruna took Henderson Field out of operation and that the first flight of a Rolls-Royce engined P51 Mustang occurred.  It was the British, not the Americans, which made that critical change.

Indeed, on that change, it might be noted that while the P51 is thought of as the great American fighter of the Second World War, it was really an Anglo-American project, with its original ordering to its critical power plant change coming about due to the British.

Sunday, June 19, 2022

Friday, June 19, 1942 . James Dougherty and Norma Jean Baker marry. The Second Washington Conference commenced. The Germans execute Eliáš,


The then Norma Jean Dougherty, as she looked when she appeared in Yank, as an employee of the Radio Plane Company

James Dougherty, then serving in the U.S. Navy, married Norma Jean Baker in Los Angeles, California.  He was 21, she was 16.  Their marriage prevented her from having to return to an orphanage following the relocation of her foster parents.


The sixteen-year-old had, as her living situation would indicate, a rough start in life.  Her parentage was uncertain, although her birth certificate had indicated that it was one Edward Mortenson, her mother's second husband.  In any event, Mortenson abandoned her mother when he learned of the pregnancy.  She was given up to a family by the last name of Boelender when only twelve days old to be raised until her mother, who had fallen into depression, had recovered enough to resume her role when she was somewhat older.  During this period of time, she acquired the last name of Baker.   Her mother's depression returned and became worse, and the child was raised in a series of foster homes.


While Dougherty was serving overseas, Baker dropped out of high school and went to work, something typical for service spouses, although the very young age of her marriage was unusual. She was noticed by photographer David Conover while taking photographs for Yank, which we discussed just the other day.


Dougherty did follow Conover's advice, and was quickly offered a modeling job by the Blue Star Agency. A provision of it required that she be unmarried, so she filed for divorce.  Her husband was still in the Navy, serving overseas.


And Conover's advice turned out to be good advice, in terms of her aspirations. As a model, her beauty was rapidly noticed, and she was in fact noticed by Hollywood and introduced into acting.  In the meantime, she'd changed her name to Marilyn Monroe.


Dougherty dismissed his wife's ambitions upon receiving divorce papers, but there wasn't much he could do about it.  He was, effectively, one of thousands of servicemen whose marriages had gone wrong during the war.  Effectively, he'd married a high schooler of obvious beauty and then departed from her, understandably, for years.

Probably the only one of the Conover photographs in which Monroe is actually recognizable in regard to her later appearance.

It was a story that repeated itself, but quietly, all over the United States.

Dougherty went on to become a significant figure in the Los Angeles Police Department.  He never spoke ill of his first wife, and after her death was of the opinion that she was too gentle of a person to survive in Hollywood.

The Second Washington Conference, a conference between the British headed up by Winston Churchill and the Americans headed by Franklin Roosevelt, convened.  Military matters were the topic.

The 1st Ranger Battalion came into existence.

World War Two Ranger shoulder patch.  By Zayats - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11400404

The brainchild of cavalryman Lucian Truscott, the Rangers were modeled on the example of British commando forces and supposed to fulfill a similar role.  Named after the examples of Rangers, light backwoods infantry of the French and Indian, and Revolutionary Wars, the several battalions of Rangers were formed during World War Two.  Most of them were comprised of volunteers, but at least one that was formed in the Pacific was an amalgamation of existing units that had served other purposes, including a disbanded pack artillery unit.

After the war they were disbanded but then reformed during the Korean War. The Army has retained Ranger units since. The British example is similar, in this regard, to the SAS and the SBS.

German Maj. Joachim Reichel went down behind Soviet lines in a crash landing, putting documents pertaining to an upcoming German offensive in Soviet hands. The Germans didn't change them, and the Soviets didn't believe what they captured was genuine.

The Germans executed Alois Eliáš, a former Czech general who was the prim minister of the German puppet state of  the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, for underground activities.  He was in fact working against German interests and had participated in the attempted poisoning of some collaborationist reporters, resulting in the death of one of them.

Saturday, May 7, 2022

Thursday, May 7, 1942. Things that fly.

82nd Infantry Division standing "Retreat" following Sgt. Alvin C. York's address to the Division at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana on this day in 1942. The event was the first assembly of the Division since reactivation.
 

The 82nd had been Sgt. Alvin York's division in World War One, at which time it acquired the nickname the "All American" division, as its members were conscripts from around the United States.  It was, at that time, simply the 82nd Division.

At the time of this photograph, it was the 82nd Infantry Division, but that was about to change.  In August, it would become the 82nd Airborne Division. The change came about due to a variety of factors, including that it was once again made up of conscripts, and many Regular Army officers did not trust the airborne concept.

In the Battle of the Coral Sea the Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho was sunk.

The British took Diego Suarez in Madagascar.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Friday, July 18, 1919. Motor Transport Convoy, Carburetor problems. Ft. Wayne Indiana to South Bend, Indiana. 803d Pioneer Infantry boards for home. Army crossing into Mexico. Sacramental Wine survives prohibition.

On this day in 1919, it seems the gasoline problems experienced yesterday manifested themselves, perhaps in the form of carburetor problems.

Ah, it's now the case that entire leagues of drivers have never driven a vehicle with a carburetor, let alone a temperamental one, where as prior generations of drivers who started off with less than new vehicles learned the temperamental intricacies of a device that was, quite frankly, rather primitive.

I like old vehicles, but I don't miss carburetors at all.  I've noticed recently that if you look at an older truck, you'll almost never find one that features the original carburetor.  Edelbrock's seem to be the standard replacement now, probably replacing the two barrel carburetors that were so common as stock items.

The Edelbrock's are massive compared to the originals.  I wonder what these very early ones were like?

Also on this day in 1919 the 803d Pioneer Infantry Battalion boarded the USS Philippines at the French port of Brest for their return voyage to the United States.

I don't know anything about this unit and indeed had never heard of it until now, but pioneer infantry were infantry units trained in some engineering, which the name "pioneer" usually indicates. This was obviously an all black unit.











Also on this day, news hit that there'd been frequent U.S. border crossings into Mexico during the past six months.



At the same time, the Press reported that conditions were being worked out to allow for the production of sacramental wine, showing how the law of unintended results can operate in areas that weren't expected.