Two wheeled transportation. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Russian motorcycle with sidecar.

German motorcycles with sidecars and MG42s

Bad photo of another German motorcycle.

Last edition:

British and Commonwealth WWII Vehicles, National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Sunday, December 10, 1944. Hall of Fame.

The late Kenesaw Mountain Landis was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Noble Prizes for 1943 and1944 were awarded, in New York, to Isidor Isaac Rabi (United States), Chemistry to Otto Hahn (Germany), Physiology or Medicine to Joseph Erlanger and Herbert Spencer Gasser (United States), Literature to Johannes V. Jensen (Denmark) and the Peace Prize to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Otto Stern of the United States for Physics, George de Hevesy (Germany) for Chemistry and Carl Peter Henrik Dam (Denmark) and Edward Adelbert Doisy (United States) for Physiology or Medicine.

They had not been awarded since 1939.

"Maj. Gen. Joseph Collins, left, Commanding General, VII Corps, points out a German withdrawal movement, at a forward observation post near Duren, Germany. 10 December, 1944. Photographer: Pvt. H. M. Roberts, 165th Signal Photo Co."  The general and another officer are wearing trench coats, which were an officer's winter item in OD.  The other officer is wearing an Army mackinaw.

The William S. Ladd was sunk by kamikazes off of Leyte.

On Leyte, the 77th Division took Ormoc.

The French and Soviet governments signed a twenty year treaty of cooperation in Moscow.

Last edition:

Saturday, December 9, 1944

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Hurtgen Forest, Infantry, World War Two

Today in World War II History—December 10, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—December 10, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Dec. 10, 1944: First class of 24 flight nurses and 24 pharmacist’s mates starts at the Navy’s School of Air Evacuation Casualties.

Today in World War II History—December 9, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—December 9, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Dec. 9, 1944: In Formosa Strait, submarines USS Redfish and USS Sea Devil damage Japanese carrier Junyo beyond repair.

Thursday, December 7, 1944. The end of the USS Ward

A U.S. counterattack halted the Japanese offensive on Leyte.

USS Lamson on fire after being hit by a kamikaze at Ormac Bay.

Kamikazes damaged the USS Mahan and USS Ward beyond repair during landings at Ormoc Bay.

The Ward figures prominently in the story of the Battle of Pearl Harbor.

Today in World War II History—December 7, 1939 & 1944: At Ormoc Bay, destroyer USS Ward is damaged by a kamikaze; three years earlier to the day, USS Ward fired the first shots during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The 77th Division landed against Japanese opposition, but it was not heavy.

General Nicolae Radescu took office as Prime Minister of Romania.

The International Civil Aviation Organization was established.

The Arab Women's Congress of 1944 took place in Cairo.

An earthquake at Tokai, Japan, killed 1200 people and halted production at the Mitsubishi plant.

Last edition:

Wednesday, December 6, 1944. Japanese paratroopers on Leyte.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Airborne, Aircraft, Battle of Leyte, boats and ships, Charles de Gaulle, Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά), Greek Civil War, Imperial Japanese Army, Joseph Stalin, Royal Air Force, World War Two

Today in World War II History—December 6, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—December 6, 1939 & 1944: Col. James Earl Rudder leaves command of the US 2nd Ranger Battalion, which had taken Pointe du Hoc on D-day, and takes command of the 109th Infantry Regiment

Tuesday, December 5, 1944. The Royal Navy in the Greek Civil War.

The Royal Navy shelled Greek communist positions near Piraeus.

The Red Army took Szigetvár and Vukovar, Hungary.

Canadians took Ravenna, Italy.

The Liberty ship Antoine Saugrain was sunk by Japanese aircraft in Leyte Gulf.  And on the ground:

Today in World War II History—December 5, 1939 & 1944: US launches final offensive on Leyte in the Philippines, driving into the Ormoc Valley. Victory ship SS Red Oak Victory is commissioned into the US Navy

"Men of the 121st Regt., 8th Inf. Div., U.S. First Army, after 15 days at the front, move back along the road from Hurtgen, Germany. 5 December, 1944. 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division. Photographer: T/3 Jack G. [illegible], 165th Signal Photo Co."

" An American infantryman keeps firing while two of his comrades insert fresh ammunition in their rifles, as steady fire from this sheltered infantry covers advance near Rosteig, France. December 5, 1944. K Company, 398th Infantry Regiment, 100th Infantry Division. Rosteig Area, France. December 5, 1944."  Note that the men are wearing L. L. Bean Maine Hunting Shoe boots.

Last edition:

Monday, December 4, 1944. The Dutch Famine.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, boats and ships, Chinese Army, Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά), Dutch Famine, Food, Germany, Greece, Greek Civil War, Imperial Japanese Navy, Netherlands, World War Two

Today in World War II History—December 4, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—December 4, 1939 & 1944: US Third Army crosses the Saar River at Saarlautern, Germany. Italian partisans liberate Ravenna in first major partisan attack in Italy.

Saturday, December 2, 1944. Advances in Europe, the Army Navy Game, Eiji Sawamura（沢村栄治).

The 7th Army reached the Rhine.  The 3d Army reached Saarlautern.  The 9th Army took Leiffarth and Roerdorf.

Army won the Army Navy Game.  The crowed of 66,659 included 30,000 members of the general public who were admitted on the condition of living within 8.3 miles of the game in Baltimore and buying a $25.00 war bond.

Twenty Seven year old professional Japanese baseball player Eiji Sawamura（沢村栄治）was killed when a troopship he was on was sunk on this day in 1944.  He'd been drafted into the Japanese Army in 1939, but released each season to play baseball.

Last edition:

Wednesday, November 29, 1944. Prisoner Exchange.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Leyte, boats and ships, Canada, Conscription, Conscription Crisis, Prisoners of War, Quebec, World War Two

Today in World War II History—November 28, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—November 28, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago: Allies open port of Antwerp, Belgium, as the first convoy of supply ships arrives. Albania is secured by partisans as Germans evacuate.

Today in World War II History—November 24, 1939 & 1944 (Friday November 24, 1944). Terrace Mutiny,

Usually I post this separately, but there are so many significant items in Sarah Sundin's blog this Sunday, I'm incorporating it into my post.

Today in World War II History—November 24, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Nov. 24, 1944: US B-29 Superfortress bombers bomb Tokyo for the first time. Japanese capture Nanning, completing a land corridor between occupied China and Indochina. In controversial decision, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower orders the 6th Army Group not to cross the Rhine but to drive north and assist Patton’s Third Army. In Terrace, BC, Canadian conscripts (many are French-Canadian) mutiny when they hear they might be sent overseas, the largest mutiny in Canadian history; put down by 11/29; news of the mutiny is censored. France establishes Commission de Récupération Artistique (CRA) to return looted artwork, with curator Rose Valland as secretary.

Wow. 

The Terrace Mutiny, which is what the mutiny was called, reflected the internal discord in Canada over conscription, something that has largely been glossed over after the war.  English Canadians were disproportionately represented amongst those who volunteered for service and volunteered to go overseas. French Canadians were disproportionally amongst those who did not.  Those who volunteered termed those who did not "Zombies" and often harassed them.  Ultimately, the needs of war could not sustain the system.

The 3d Army crossed the Saar.

Soviets completing their occupation of Saaremo in the Baltic.

The HMCS Sawinigan was sunk by the U-1228 in the Cabot Strait.

Last edition:

Thursday, November 23, 1944. Thanksgiving Day.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Alsace-Lorraine, Army, Canadian Army, Czechoslovakia, France, French Army, Holidays, Hungary, Nazi Germany, Red Army, Royal Navy, Thanksgiving, The Holocaust, World War Two

Today in World War II History—November 23, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—November 23, 1939 & 1944: 85 Years Ago: US celebrates Thanksgiving after Roosevelt moved the holiday from the last to the second-to-last Thursday to extend Christmas shopping season

Today in World War II History—November 18, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—November 18, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago: US Third Army enters Metz, France. Submarine USS Blackfin picks up captured Japanese cryptographic equipment from Filipino resistance on Mindoro.

Today in World War II History—November 17, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—November 17, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Nov. 17, 1944: Submarine USS Spadefish sinks Japanese escort carrier Shinyo in the Yellow Sea, only 130 of 1,160 survive.

Today in World War II History—November 15, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—November 15, 1939 & 1944: 85 Years Ago: Pres. Franklin Roosevelt lays cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial. 80 Years Ago: US Eighth Army, in its first assault, lands on Mapia Islands.

Monday, November 13, 1944. Air service returns to London.

Civil air service returned to London.  It had been stopped in September, 1939.

The Akebono, Akishimo, Hatsuharu, Kiso and Okinami was sunk in Filipino waters by the U.S. Navy.  The I-12 was sunk east of Hawaii.

The Bulgarian 1st Army captured Skopje.

SSgt Junior J. Spurrier performed the actions that resulted in his receiving a Medal of Honor.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy at Achain, France, on 13 November 1944. At 2 p.m., Company G attacked the village of Achain from the east. S/Sgt. Spurrier armed with a BAR passed around the village and advanced alone. Attacking from the west, he immediately killed 3 Germans. From this time until dark, S/Sgt. Spurrier, using at different times his BAR and M1 rifle, American and German rocket launchers, a German automatic pistol, and hand grenades, continued his solitary attack against the enemy regardless of all types of small-arms and automatic-weapons fire. As a result of his heroic actions he killed an officer and 24 enlisted men and captured 2 officers and 2 enlisted men. His valor has shed fresh honor on the U.S. Armed Forces.

Spurrier had an extremely difficult time adjusting to post World War Two life and rejoined the Army during the Korean War, where he proved to be a difficult soldier.  He was by that time an alcoholic and after his second period of service had numerous run ins with the law.  He ultimately became a teetotaler and ran an electronics repair service, dying at age 61 in 1984.

Last edition:

Sunday, November 12, 1944. Carving off part of China, Tirpitz sunk, Hitler takes time to release a long Beer Hall message, Dog Faces in chow line.

Labels: 1920s, 1923, 1940s, 1944, Adolf Hitler, Army, Beer Hall Putsch, boats and ships, France, German Kriegsmarine, Nazi Germany, Nazi Party, Republic of China, Royal Air Force, The written word, USSR, World War Two

Today in World War II History—November 11, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—November 11, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Nov. 11, 1944: In Italy, First Brazilian Fighter Group begins operations with US Twelfth Air Force in P-47 Thunderbolts.

Today in World War II History—November 10, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—November 10, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Nov. 10, 1944: Japanese take US Fourteenth Air Force air bases at Kweilin and Liuchow in their drive through southern China.

Today in World War II History—November 8, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—November 8, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago: Canadians secure Walcheren and the Scheldt Estuary to protect port of Antwerp, Belgium. US Third Army begins offensive toward Metz, France.

Central World War Two Display, U.S. Armored Cars: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

The U.S. M3 Scout Car was produced by White Motor Company from 1939 to 1944.  The early version, the M3, was made in only limited numbers, but the successor M3A1 was fairly widely produced.

Envisioned as a cavalry vehicle, it really wasn't up to the task and therefore while produced, it was arguably obsolete from the onset.

The M8 was introduced in 1943 and picked up where the M3 left off, being a much more combat worthy vehicle.  It remained in service into the 1950s in the US but had a long life in other countries, with some still being used.

The M20 Armored Utility Car was another US armored vehicle that came in and supplemented the M3.  

 

Last edition:

Allis Chalmers M7 Snow Tractor. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1940s, 1943, 1944, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Tracked vehicles, Transportation, Wyoming (Dubois)