Wednesday, November 29, 1944. Prisoner Exchange.

"American Red Cross representative Andrew G. Hodges talks with German officers during the exchange of prisoners near Pernic, France. 54 German prisoners were exchanged for 19 Americans, 30 French, and 3 British. 29 November, 1944."

"Pvt. George M. Leg, Birmingham, England, has his bag of personal effects inspected by a German noncom before his release during the exchange of Allied and German prisoners near Pernic, France. 29 November, 1944."

Quebec nationalist René Chaloult stated that Quebec should secede from Canada if the province was not allowed to decide its own policies on conscription.  Oddly enough, the Terrace Mutiny ended the same day.

The liberation of Albania was completed by Albanian partisans.

US forces successfully counterattack at Kilay Ridge on Leyte.

The USS Archerfish sank the carrier Shinano in waters off Honshu.

Last edition:

Tuesday, November 28, 1944. Antwerp opens.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Antwerp Belgium, Battle of Leyte, boats and ships, Hungary, Philippines, Red Army, World War Two

Tuesday, November 28, 1944. Antwerp opens.

The Port of Antwerp opened for the Allies. 

The Red Army took Mohács, Hungary.

Heavy fighting continued in Leyte.

The U-80  went down with all hands in an accident off of Pillau.

Last edition:

Monday, November 27, 1944. Accidents.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Peleliu, boats and ships, Prisoners of War, Royal Air Force, The Law of Unintended Consequences

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.

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

Last edition:

U.S. Marines at Iwo Jima. National Museum of Military History.

Labels: 1940s, Armor, Iwo Jima, National Museum of Military Vehicles, United States Marine Corps, Weapons, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

Monday, November 27, 1944. Accidents.

The Battle of Peleliu finally ended in an American victory.

Detonation of explosives at the RAF Fauld underground munitions depot killed around 70 people in one the largest non nuclear explosions of all time.

The captured Norwegian ship Rigel was sunk by aircraft of the Royal Navy, resulting in the deaths of 2,571 people, mos tof whom were prisoners of war.

A mine sank the U-479 in the Gulf of Finland.

A V2 killed 157 people in Antwerp.

Last edition:

Sunday, November 26, 1944. Covering up a crime against humanity.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Auschwitz, Germany, Heinrich Himmler, Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre, Nazi Germany, Red Army, The Holocaust, World War Two

Sunday, November 26, 1944. Covering up a crime against humanity.

Himmler ordered the crematorium at Auschwitz destroyed to cover up the concentration camp's crime against humanity.

"American infantryman kneels in the rubble to draw a bead on a sniper in the burning building. Germany, 26 November, 1944."

2nd Battalion, 414th Infantry Regiment, 104th Infantry Division,

The U.S. Seventh Army captured Steige and Villé.  T he 1st Army captured Weisweiler to the west of Cologne.

"This is all that is left of an American half track after a direct hit from a German shell. 26 November, 1944. 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division."

The Red Army captured capture Michaloyce, Slovakia.

General Alexander was promoted to Field Marshal and appointed the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean.

Last edition:

Saturday, November 25, 1944. Heavy resistance on Leyte, V2 attack in London.

Labels: 1920, 1920s, 1940s, 1944, Armor, Army, baseball, Battle of Leyte, Dutch Army, Imperial Japanese Army, Italy, Rocketry, Russo Ukrainian War, Weapons, World War Two

Saturday, November 25, 1944. Heavy resistance on Leyte, V2 attack in London.

Two V-2 rockets hit London, resulting in 174 deaths in a rocketry terror attack.

Much like what the Russians are doing to Ukraine now.

Destroyed German Panthers in France, November 25, 1944.  Contrary to the common myth, armor attrition in World War Two was horrific, just like it is today.

Japanese defenses arrested US progress on Leyte.  Japanese resistance had been consistently very stiff.

The British crossed the Cosina River in Italy.

Soldiers of a reconstituted Dutch Army training, November 25, 1944. They're armed with US M1917 Enfield rifles, and wearing US M1 helmets.  Their uniforms suggest obsolescent patterns of the US Army.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis died at age 78.  He was the first Commissioner of Baseball, having been appointed to that position in 1920, and still occupied it at the time of his death.

Last edition:

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

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

Thursday, November 23, 1944. Thanksgiving Day.

"Three American infantrymen eat K Rations on Thanksgiving day in a dugout somewhere in France.

They will be relieved later and will have Thanksgiving dinner in the evening with their unit. The soldiers are left to right: Sgt. Albert E. Burns, 1308 E. Gilbert Street, Muncie, Ind., Pfc. John K. Smith, Munderstar Route, Brookville PA., and Pvt. Robert H. Seymour, Newark, N.Y. Near Faulquemont, France. 23 November, 1944.80th Infantry Division."

French forces liberated Strasbourg.

US troops liberated the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in France.  20,000 people had died there while it was open.

The Canadian cabinet made 16,000 Canadian conscripts, previously not liable for overseas deployment, available for the same.

Soviet troops took Cop, Czechoslovakia and Tokay, Hungary.

The Royal Navy disbanded the British Eastern Fleet.  Escort carriers and older ships were formed into the British East Indies Fleet with modern ships detached for service in the British Pacific Fleet.

"A newly captured crossroad carries east and west bound traffic as Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army smashes towards the Rhine. 23 November, 1944. Photographer: Sawyer."

Last edition:

Tuesday, November 21, 1944. Vive La France.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Albania, Albanian resistance movements, boats and ships, France, French Army, Imperial Japanese Navy, Prisoners of War, U.S. Navy, 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

Tuesday, November 21, 1944. Vive La France.

Jeep of the French 1st Army, November 21, 1944.

The French 1st Army took Belfort.

German POWs, November 21, 1944.

The battlecruiser Kongō and destroyer Urwakaze were sunk in the South China Sea by the  USS Sealion.

Albanian partisans occupied Tirana and Durazzo.

Last edition:

Monday, November 20, 1944. The sinking of the Mississinewa.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Adolf Hitler, boats and ships, British Army, China, Eastern Front, France, French Army, Greece, Imperial Japanese Navy, Kosovo, Republic of China, U.S. Navy, World War Two

U.S. Marines at Iwo Jima. National Museum of Military History.

 

Last edition:

US and German, Mid Winter 44/45 Display. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1940s, Armor, Army, Battle of the Bulge, German Wehrmacht, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Tracked vehicles, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)