Showing posts with label Adolf Hitler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adolf Hitler. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

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

The US tanker USS Mississinewa  was sunk by Japanese manned torpedoes off of Ulithi, Micronesia.


She was the first ship to suffer such an attack.

French troops in action, November 20, 1944.

Hitler left the Wolfsschanze for good.

Partisans took Kosovo.

The British commence attempting to disarm Greek partisans.

Lights came back on in the Piccadilly, the Strand and Fleet Street districts of London.

Facing discontent, Chiang Kai-shek appointed a new Minister of War.

M4 Sherman of French 5th Armored Division, Nov 20, 1944.

Last edition:

Sunday, November 19, 1944. Sixth War Loan.

    Tuesday, November 12, 2024

    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.

    Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tatars, and some White Russians rally in Ghulja declared the independence as the Second East Turkistan Republic within the northern borders of China, which would be a Soviet vassel, making the White participation rather odd.

    The republic would last until 1946/49 and found itself at war with the Republic of China the entire time.

    The Royal Air Force sank the Tirpitz near Tromsø.

    Hitler released a long message to members of the Nazi Party on the more or less anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.

    National Socialists! Party Comrades!

    The requirements for waging total war have compelled me to postpone the commemoration from November 9 to the next available Sunday. Likewise, work at the headquarters does not allow me to leave it even for a few days at this time. Besides, I regard it less as my task today to give speeches than to prepare and implement those measures that are necessary to force our way through this fight. After all, as in the time of crisis in the year 1923, I am today moved by only one dominating thought: now really to risk everything for the necessary success! And just as the dead comrades were rightly told ten years later that the victory was theirs in the end, so the victory must and will belong in the end to the fighting front and the no less heroically fighting homeland in the great struggle of to be or not to be.

    In the past, I repeatedly pointed out that it is necessary for a nation to appreciate and honor its great men. Especially in grave times, a despairing nation can gather courage and strength for the present from its behavior in the past. How much more does this apply to a nation that behaves as boundlessly bravely as the German one! It will be able to learn the only correct lesson for the present from the struggle of its great men, namely, that Providence in the end helps only him who does not despair and takes up the struggle against the adversities of the time and, therefore, in the end decides his own destiny.

    Insofar as the Almighty opened our eyes in order to grant us insight into the laws of His rule, in accordance with the limited capabilities of us human beings, we recognize the incorruptible justice which gives life as a final reward only to those who are willing and ready to give a life for a life. Whether man agrees to or rejects this harsh law makes absolutely no difference. Man cannot change it; whoever tries to withdraw from this struggle for life does not erase the law but only the basis of his own existence.

    As the National Socialist movement began its struggle to win over the German human beings, every insightful person realized the impending internal collapse of the Volk and nation. The inevitable consequence of this was an increasing threat to our national existence, a slow decline in our birthrates, together with a slow national death many times the number of the dead of the World War. After all, this corresponded to the objective of our enemies. By economic strangulation of the Reich, they intended to destroy the basis for the material existence of the German nation. Thereby, they hoped to realize Clemenceau’s demand for the reduction of the German Volk by twenty million people. The struggle of the years 1914 through 1918 cost two million people their lives, but there were twenty million that had to be taken out of our Volk according to the wishes of the democratic benefactors of mankind. Today, this demand has gone up to forty million. However, since it is not up to people themselves to stop backward movements in the life of a nation whenever there is a need for it, nobody could say when this process of shrinking the substance of our Volk would come to an end. In the same matter, another natural realization forces itself on us: the world does not know any empty spaces! Nations which are numerically or biologically too weak and no longer able satisfactorily to fill their Lebensraum will in the most favorable scenario be put on a reservation that corresponds to their value and size. Other life will flow into the now empty spaces. In accordance with Providence’s law, other nations-and, regrettably, often primitive races-will then take up the fight for existence in an area that an aging nation has lost due to cowardice and weakness, that is, unfitness for life. So, in the year 1919, we faced the realization that only a reform of our Volk from head to foot would in the long run enable it to resume successfully this struggle for existence. Only a complete turning away from the phraseology of the democratic corruption of nations and the Bolshevik destruction of nations could return to our Volk its natural vitality and thus secure the conditions for a successful defense of life in the future.

    According to this realization, the National Socialist movement entered the fight. Confronted with these great objectives, the proletarian as well as the bourgeois state of classes had to pale in insignificance. What still appears as the ideal to the existing classes had, in the eyes of the young movement, already proven to be insanity, a deadly poison for our Volk. The intention to erect, for the first time in our history, a Volksstaat encompassing all Germans could be realized only by the mobilization of the entire strength of the nation. By so doing, the synthesis between nationalist and socialist ideas was best able to produce that strength necessary as a prerequisite for such a fight. The proclamation of the young nationalist and socialist Volksstaat immediately elicited the hatred of all those opponents at home and abroad who had represented the earlier system of Germany’s fragmentation and impotence: the parties, small parties, groups, ranks, professions, organizations, classes, and finally creeds as the main beneficiaries of the inner-German divisions, and abroad, the democratic-Marxist world hostile to us as the main party interested in Germany’s impotence. The hatred of this conspiracy of our enemies at home and abroad has since then loyally followed the movement throughout the years of fighting, before and after the seizure of power. It has persecuted us with the refinement and brutality of which that system was capable at the time. Since the march on the Feldherrnhalle, thousands of murdered National Socialists and tens of thousands of wounded have become the victims of this only true aggression.

    Since the day of the seizure of power, the old enemies all the more refused to change. Instead, their hatred increased. At the most, they adapted their methods to the new situation. As the ultimate inspiring and driving force, Jewry has not allowed any opportunity to pass since the year 1933, as at the time of the struggle for power, in order to express its satanic will to persecute and destroy this new concept of a state as such and its young state. It regarded them as the first dawn of a general realization of its destructive work against the nations and as an eminent danger. Perhaps times have changed, but the essence of the fight forced on us has remained the same. What has remained is, first, our own objective: the preservation of our Volk and the securing of its future by all means; and, second, the objective of our enemies: the annihilation of our Volk, its extermination, and the ending of its existence.

    That this was not nor is it now a slogan of National Socialist propaganda was proved by the fact of Germany’s decline at home and, today, is proved by the proclamations of our enemies. No National Socialist propaganda minister could put the objectives of our enemies more plainly than the Jewish press has done for decades and does so in particular today. Beyond this, the enemy statesmen above all do this publicly through their ministers. The objective of our enemies has likewise remained the same. Promoted by the democracies, Bolshevism at one time tried to destroy our movement by terror at home.

    Supported by the democracies, the Soviet Union strives to destroy the Reich and exterminate our Volk. That the bourgeois world, which at the time consciously or unconsciously acted as the accomplice of Bolshevism at home, was struck with blindness by God and headed for its own downfall does not change its behavior. The fact that today’s democracies would be dead with the victory of Bolshevism, which would smash the democratic states with all their ideas against a wall, does not change the reality of their present procedure. You can explain the incomprehensible absurdity of their actions at the moment you realize that the Jew is always behind the stupidity and weakness of man, his lack of character on the one hand, and his deficiencies on the other. The Jew is the wire-puller in the democracies, as well as the creator and driving force of the Bolshevik international beast of the world (Weltbestie).

    Even before National Socialism, many at home already had an idea of this danger. However, an effective fight against it only began after this anemic insight became a confession of flesh and blood, which found an organization of combat strength in the National Socialist Party. An understanding of the necessity of rescuing Europe from the Bolshevik monster today also exists on the part of numerous foreign statesmen, parliamentarians, party politicians, and economists. This understanding will only lead to a practical result if a strong European power manages [to succeed], beyond these theoretical hopes, in successfully organizing and fighting through this common struggle of life and death of all. Only the National Socialist German Reich can and will do this.

    Almost always, Europe consisted of a multitude of competing nations and states. In spite of this, Europe most of the time meant just one state or a community of related nations. There was certainly a great advantage in the eternal conflict among the European nations. Like any competition, it challenged the fitness and striking power of the individual nations. However, in times of fateful struggle of life and death for all, there was the great danger of a dissipation of the forces of this continent confronted with the impending attack of the Central Asian east, this eternally latent danger to Europe. In long periods of European history, the thesis of the European balance of power was all too often regarded by the obtuse west as a licence for allying itself with the impending danger, contrary to the commandment of European solidarity, in order more easily to strangle one unpleasant competitor or another. For centuries, the old Reich was forced to wage its fight against Mongols and Turks alone, or with a few allies, in order to spare Europe a fate whose consequences would have been as unthinkable as realizing a Bolshevization would be today.

    Even though this struggle in the past centuries was accompanied by many setbacks and demanded the greatest sacrifices of our Volk, it led to success in the end. It alone made possible the development and existence, as well as the prosperity, of the European family of nations. Besides, in confrontations of world-historical impact, it is not likely that the outcome of the fight should be decided in months or years, but rather over long periods, with perseverance. In these periods, divine Providence has men line up to try them for what they are worth. It thereby decides whether they deserve life or death. That our National Socialist state will today pass this historic trial is already guaranteed by the stand of our movement up to now. Which bourgeois party would have been able to survive the collapse of November 9, 1923? Which party would have been capable, following such a complete collapse, of reaching a total victory by an unprecedentedly hard fight? Even though this fight may today appear to the superficial observer to have been minimal compared with the present events, this only reveals his failure to understand decisive values. After all, the struggle for the movement at the time was just as much a fight for Germany as the fight of the present Reich is today. It was a fight for our Volk and its future, which had first to be decided at home before it could face our foreign enemies’ will to exterminate us. How hopeless the fight of the party appeared to our adversaries was revealed by their statements that, following November 9, 1923, National Socialism could be regarded as dead and, herewith, the danger for the enemies of our Volk as eliminated. In spite of this, only a few years later, this party, which was thought to have been eliminated at the time, stood in the midst of the decisive struggle for power. For nearly a decade, it waged this fight by the reckless deployment of numerous men and women, suffered only passing setbacks, and brought it to a victorious conclusion in the end. During this time, the movement developed its mental attitude. It has proved that it is today capable of leading the nation and having the Reich lead Europe. And just as we witnessed at the time that the whole world of the bourgeois democratic party, corrupted by its compromises and cowardly renunciations, slowly began to fall apart on its own, and then finally to die, we today observe the same drama on a large scale.

    Nations and, above all, their statesmen, generals, and soldiers always find it easy to tolerate days of happiness and visible successes. What is remarkable about the great men of world history, as well as nations destined for great things, is their steadfastness in days of trouble, their confidence at times when their situation appears hopeless, their defiance and courage when they suffer setbacks. As National Socialists, we were always happy about the short or long periods of prosecution in our fight, because they rid the party of all that light ballast: fellow travelers who surely would have boasted the loudest on the day of victory. Likewise, in this mightiest struggle of nations of all time, we see those elements desert us that are cowardly and unfit for life. That monarchs lose their courage, in complete ignorance of their position, which today can only be regarded as prehistoric, and that they thereby become traitors is the result of their mental and moral incapacity produced by centuries of inbreeding. At such times, nations need leaders different from these dynasties that have become ill and morbid. That even so-called statesmen and generals are deluded by the view that such a confrontation of life and death, and its impact on world history, can be decided in their favor by cowardly capitulation likewise only proves the experience of the ages that not too many great men live at the same time. Wherever such a capitulation took place, or was considered, or may be considered today, the result will not be a cheap slipping away from this crisis with its impact on world history, but the inevitable and certain extermination of the nations in question and the annihilation of its leading men.

    After all, a first consequence of this will be Bolshevik chaos and civil war in the interior of these states. Second, there will be an extradition of the so-called war criminals, in other words, first the most valuable men, then endless columns of men who will set out for the Siberian tundra to fade away, all a result of the weakness of the leaders of their states. Even though from the beginning the consequences of these betrayals have, from a military point of view, been very grave for Germany as the bearer of the main burden in this war, they have not succeeded, neither in unbending the structure of the Reich nor in eliminating its spirit of resistance. On the contrary, the nation hardened in its willingness to fight and became all the more fanatical.

    We are happy that in a number of the nations which have shown signs of decay a number of elements of resistance could be found: in Italy, they gather around the creator of the new state, the Duce Benito Mussolini; in Hungary, around Szalasi; in Slovakia, around the leadership of state president Tiso; in Croatia, around the Poglavnik Ante Pavelich. All these men are the leaders of young nations.

    We know that committees and governments were likewise formed by other nations that have decided not to recognize the capitulation and not to accept the extermination of nations simply because a few spineless weaklings failed their honor and sense of duty, or because some blockheads allowed themselves to be deluded by opportunities in which they themselves no longer believe today. From the first day, our greatest ally, Japan, recognized this fight for what it is: a decisive confrontation of life and death. From this day on, it waged it with the bravery of a true nation of heroes.

    My party comrades! Volksgenossen! Since the breakthrough of the Russians at the Romanian Don front in November 1942, since the ensuing complete disintegration of the Italian and Hungarian units with all its terrible consequences for our waging of the war, betrayal after betrayal hit our Volk hard. In spite of this, the hopes of our enemies were not realized. Again and again, we managed to cushion our fronts and halt the enemies. Only one hope remained for them: the stab in the back. As always when they are otherwise unable to succeed against Germany, they try to bring about a decision by stabbing us in the back from the inside. Spineless creatures, a mixture of feudal arrogance, bourgeois deficiency, and former parliamentary corruption came together-in the hope that they would immediately receive a reward for this act of perjury (Meineidstat)-in order to cut the German resistance off at its root.

    They were right in one respect: as long as I live, Germany will not submit to the fate of the European states swept away by Bolshevism; as long as I have not breathed my last breath, my body and soul will serve only one goal: to make my Volk strong in the defense, for the attack on the deadly danger threatening it.

    While wars used to be fought out of dynastic or economic interests, the war we are fighting today is a fight for the preservation of our Volk itself.

    Therefore, all the sacrifices in this war will lead, as a logical consequence, to the strengthening of the German Volksstaat. If some outdated individuals are offended by this, I cannot help them. The Volksstaat will pass over them and resume its agenda. If individual subjects of outdated parties, classes, or other splinters in our Volk think that the time has come for their resurrection, they will face their total extermination at exactly this moment. The day after the seizure of power, National Socialism, which was the victim of bloody persecution before, treated its political opponents not only in a conciliatory manner, but generously. Countless men who once persecuted me received pensions from me in this state, or were appointed to new and higher offices: the justice minister of a land where I spent thirteen months locked up in a fortress was nonetheless appointed German Reich minister of justice by me. Prussian ministers and Reich ministers who earlier were our cruelest persecutors received from me high pensions of charity although I was not obliged to do so.

    I felt that it was beneath me to subject Social Democrats to hardship, just because they had opposed me as ministers. Judges who had sentenced us were not hindered in their careers because of this and often were even promoted.

    Only those who threw down the gauntlet to the new state in word and deed were treated by it according to the law. Through the manner in which I took over power, I have moreover made it easy for every German, especially every state official and officer, to do his duty without throwing them into an inner conflict. For over a year and a half, the departed Reich president was my superior and was accordingly treated by me with admiration and great respect.

    Whoever now believes that he can throw others into inner conflicts, without ever having been forced into one by me, should know that this means his end is dead certain. As long as these people only persecuted me, I was able to magnanimously ignore and forget about this persecution. Today, however, whoever raises the sword or bomb against Germany will be ruthlessly and mercilessly annihilated. A few hours sufficed in order to suffocate the attempted putsch of July 20. It took only a few months to round up and completely eliminate this coterie of dishonorable Catilinarian characters.

    Just as I took the occasion to cleanse the movement in the year 1934, after the revolt of a small group within, this new revolt likewise started a thorough overhaul of the entire state apparatus. The time for compromises and reservations is over for good. These days the Reich war flag becomes the regimental flag of the German Wehrmacht, as a symbol of the National Socialist idea of revolution and state. The German salute is now in use in the Wehrmacht. The Volk grenadier division and the German youth will help the National Socialist world of thought achieve a completely victorious breakthrough. What most profoundly moved and rejoiced me after the events of July 20 was the realization that the army, the navy, and the Luftwaffe as a whole-the Waffen SS need not be considered here-had already adopted the National Socialist spirit, even though this was regrettably not outwardly visible before, so that hardly anything remained to be done other than to expel the unworthy from party, state, and Wehrmacht in order to bring about a complete agreement of opinions and will in party, Volk, state, and Wehrmacht.

    In spite of this, the consequences of this day were bitter. In a fit of hope, our enemies gathered their entire strength, filled with the belief that shortly they would be able to overrun Germany. That they have not succeeded in this, I owe to the brave behavior of the Wehrmacht and, above all, the brave behavior of the German homeland, which is most worthy of praise. The response to the appeal for the expansion of the Reich’s defense and the Volkssturm was only a symbol of the increasingly evidenced German Volksgemeinschaft in this fateful struggle for the future of the nation. Thus, next to the old grenadiers of the army, the soldiers of the navy and Luftwaffe, the soldiers of the homeland step up in complete equality of rank; not only its men, old men, and boys, but also its women and girls. As I consider the total sum of all the unspeakable sacrifices that our Volk makes today, all the suffering that the millions in our cities must bear, the sweat of our men and women laborers, and our people in the countryside, I would like to ask the criminals of July 20 only one question: with what right can you demand these sacrifices if you do not have the sacred resolve, before your conscience, to strengthen the Volksstaat at the end of this fight, develop it ever the more, so that this greatest epoch of our Volk culminates in the birth of a Reich that not only encompasses all Germans at the outside but also makes them happy at home? By fighting for the National Socialist German Volksstaat, I give the only possible moral and ethical meaning to this greatest struggle in our history.

    Whoever thinks of the interests only of his class at such an hour, acts not only as a criminal but also as an insane egotist. He must be insane because it takes incredible narrow-mindedness to imagine that you can rally a nation for a fight of life and death for over half a decade on behalf of a medieval feudal state.

    My party comrades! As the year 1923 ended I wrote Mein Kampf in prison.

    I incessantly had in mind the realization of the National Socialist Volksstaat.

    For years after the seizure of power, we fought for this idea and worked for it.

    Rage and envy filled our enemies in view of the accomplishments in all areas of our economic and social life, the increasing culture and satisfaction of our classes. If so-called social plans for the future are today published in other countries, then this is only a pale imitation of what National Socialist Germany has already achieved. So today I can only again pledge the continuation of this work. As an old National Socialist, I will not waver in this fight for one second in the fulfillment of the duties incumbent upon me. I did not choose this duty.

    Providence imposes it on every German: to do everything and not to neglect anything that can secure the future of our Volk and make its existence possible.

    We will respond to the most severe blows of fortune with a defiant fury, incessantly filled with the conviction that Providence often loves only those whom it chastises; and that it tries human beings and must try them in order to arrive at a just appraisal of their value. I have the unshakable will to set posterity a no less praiseworthy example in this fight than the great Germans did ages ago.

    My own life does not play a role in this, which means that I will not spare my health or my life in any manner in the fulfillment of this duty conferred to me as the first German. If, at this time, I speak little and not very often to you, my party comrades and the German Volk, then I do this because I work; I work to fulfill the tasks with which time has burdened me and which must be fulfilled in order to bring about a turn of events. After all, since I have this will and see the loyal following of the German Volk, I do not doubt for a minute that, in the end, we will successfully survive this time of trial and that the hour will come when the Almighty again grants us His blessings as before. At the time, we gained the greatest victories in world history but did not become arrogant. At a time of setbacks, we will never bend and will thereby reaffirm in a positive sense the portrayal of the character of the present German Volk for posterity. I therefore believe with imperturbable confidence that, through our work and sacrifice, the moment will one day come when our efforts will finally be crowned by success. The goal of our struggle is no different from what we fought for in the year 1923, and for which the first sixteen martyrs of our movement died: our Volk’s rescue from misery and danger, the securing of life for our children, grandchildren, and distant generations! In the shadow of our nation, a Europe marches which feels that not only Germany’s fate is being decided today but also the future of all nations that count themselves part of Europe and are consciously disgusted by Bolshevik barbarism. So I greet you from afar, my old party comrades, through the person who will speak this confession of my faith, in dogged determination, with my old unbending fighting morale and my unshakable confidence. On this occasion, I again thank the fighters of twenty-five years ago, who also have set us an example for the future of our Volk and the Greater German Reich!

    It would be his last such address.  He'd be dead by the next anniversary.

    U.S. infantry in France.

    Last edition

    Saturday, November 11, 1944. Ghastly Japanese losses at Ormoc Bay.

    Wednesday, October 30, 2024

    Liebstandarte

    I don't think anybody has ever seen anything like what happened the other night at Madison Square Garden. The love in that room… It was like a love fest and it was my honor to be involved.

    Donald Trump.

    It's likely just me, because I have a historical mindset, but Trump's authoritarian mindset, combined with the term "love fest" keep causing me to recall the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler.

    Why?

    Well, the conventional translation of that SS unit would be "Body Guard Adolf Hitler", reflecting its origin in terms of recruiting.  But you cold also translate late it as "Our beloved standard, Adolf Hitler".

    Like I said, I'm probably the only one to whom that comes to mind.

    Maybe other people think if Haight Ashbury or something.

    Thursday, October 24, 2024

    Tuesday, October 24, 1944. Leyte Gulf, day two.

    It was a major day of naval maneuvering off of Leyte Gulf.


    The USS Princeton was hit by kamikazes and so badly damaged that it had to be scuttled.  The Japanese destroyer Wakaba was sunk by aircraft from the USS Franklin.  The Musashi was sunk in the Sibuyan Sea by U.S. aircraft.  T he USS Shark was sunk by Japanese warships.  The USS Darter ran aground in the Palawan Strait and was scuttled.

    The Japanese prison ship Arisan Maru was sunk in the South China Sea by an American submarine. Only nine of the 1,781 Allied and civilian prisoners of war survived the sinking.

    The 1st Cavalry Division landed on Samar.

    Martial law was lifted in Hawaii.

    The Soviets prevailed in the Riga Offensive.

    The British entered Lamia, Greece.

    The China Burma India Theatre was divided into the India-Burma Theater and the China Theater.

    Hitler announces his intent to launch an offensive in the Ardennes.

    Blood plasma refrigeration unit above was mounted on wheeled machine gun mount by enlisted men serving in France with the 1st Army since D-Day. S/Sgt. Homer N. Shrimplin, of Jelloway, Ohio, and Pvt. Frank Bozoyak, of Bordentown, N.J., are hitching the unit to their truck. 24 October, 1944.

    Japanese-American infantrymen attend church services outside their billet in France. 24 October, 1944. 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

    Last edition:

    Monday, October 23, 1944. The Largest Naval Battle In History.


    Wednesday, October 16, 2024

    Thursday, October 16, 1924. See See Rider.

    Incarcerated menace Adolf Hitler published a statement admitting that he was born in Austria, not Germany, but arguing that he had lost his Austrian citizenship after volunteering to serve in the German Army during World War I .  He claimed that mentally, he'd always been a German.  

    He nonetheless did not renounce his Austrian citizenship until 1925, and didn't acquire German citizenship until 1932.

    Ma Rainey recorded See See Rider, the first known recording of the blues standard which has an unknown origin and date of origin.  It's at least a couple of decades older than the recording.

    Ma Rainey.

    Last edition:

    Wednesday, October 15, 1924. Airship and a proclamation.

    Tuesday, October 1, 2024

    Sunday, October 1, 1944. Battle of Tornio starts.

    Miss Betty Brittian, Pasadena, Calif., hands Cpl. Wm. B. Brooks, Clayton, Ga., inside the tank, a cup of coffee and doughnuts. 1 October, 1944. Company B, 609th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

    The Battle of Tornio began with a Finnish attack on German positions in Lapland.

    The U.S. Army took Monte Battaglia.  II and IV Corps launch an offensive towards Bologna.

    The Germans commenced the Putten Raid in the Netherlands, removing 660 men in reprisals for a failed assassination attempt on a German official.

    British commandos landed at Poros, Greece.  Greek troops landed at Mitilini, Lemnos, and Levita.

    British General General Richard McCreery assumed command of the 8th Army, in Italy. General Oliver Leese, was assigned to command Allied Land Forces, Southeast Asia.

    Gen. Rudolf Schmundt, age 48, died of wounds sustained in the July 20 plot.  He had been an adjutant to Hitler.

    Sally Reed, Durham, Mass., a Red Cross worker somewhere in France, does a bit of KP on the large containers about her--and she doesn't believe in signs for they're all coffee urns. 1 October, 1944.

    Last edition: 

    Saturday, September 30, 1944. Counteroffensive at Nijmegen.

    Monday, September 16, 2024

    Saturday, September 16, 1944. "Wacht am Rhein" approved.

    Adolf Hitler approved the Ardennes Offensive "Wacht am Rhein", known in the west as the Battle of the Bulge.

    Market Garden, the semi failed or wholly failed, hastily put together Allied invasion of The Netherlands hadn't even commenced yet and therefore makes for a remarkable contrast.  The Germans were planning a mid winter offensive and it was still summer, showing planning foresight, but also an appreciate at some level of the inevitability of further retreats into the winter.

    "Members of an American airborne unit (82nd Airborne Division) flock to an American Red Cross Clubmobile for coffee and donuts on the eve of their takeoff for the airborne invasion of Holland. 16 September, 1944. Cottesmore Airdrome, England."  These troops are equipped with the then new M1943 Field Jacket and M1943 paratrooper field pants.  This uniform was new and replaced the ones that had been used just a few months prior in Operation Overlord.  The M1943 field jacket wa already becoming a universal issue item, although oddly the trousers were not.

    The Red Army took Sofia, Bulgaria.  They then turned west to attempt to block the Germans from retreating from Greece.

    The fronts were drawing close.

    A general strike broke out in Denmark over deportations by the Germans.

    The Royal Navy raided Sigli in Northern Sumatra.

    The Second Quebec Conference ended.  The course of combat across the globe was ratified, wit there being an additional agreement for a campaign in Burma, and the British joining American forces in the Pacific in its final campaigns against the British, something the US would effectively recant on as the war drew to a close.

    Gustav Bauer, German Chancellor in 1919 and 1920, and very briefly a prisoner of the early Third Reich, died.

    Last edition:

    Friday, September 15, 1944. Landing at Peleliu.

    Saturday, August 17, 2024

    Thursday, August 17, 1944. And on this day too, 30 years later, the Red Army entered East Prussia.

    The Red Army crossed the River Scheshule and raised the Soviet flag on German soil. Sgt. Alexander Belov took the honors.  He survived the war and died in 1960.   

    Interestingly, the Red Army entered East Prussia on the same day that the Imperial Russian Army had during World War One.

    German forces in Lithuania launched counterattacks along their entire line.

    Statue of St. Joan d'Arc in Orleans, August 17, 1944.

    The Canadian Army took Falaise.  The city was in ruins.  A gap of a few miles exists thereafter between the British lines and the American ones.

    The US Third Army took Saint-Malo.

    In Southern France, almost no resistance to Allied advances is offered and the US captured St. Raphael, St. Tropez, Frejus, Le Luq and St. Maxime.

    Third Infantry Division troops advancing on  August 17, 1944, in southern France.  Troops are wearing the new M1943 combat boots.

    Hitler dismissed Field Marshal Kluge as commander of Army Group B and replaced him with Model.

    The Battle of Biak, which had been going on since May 27, ended in an Allied victory.  American forces advanced near Aitape.  The length of these battles gives testament to how hard the Japanese were fighting.

    Last edition:

    Wednesday, August 16, 1944. Closing the Falaise Pocket.

    Saturday, July 20, 2024

    Thursday, July 20, 1944. The July 20 Plot.

    Henning von Tresckow, who was the real mastermind behind the plot.  He'd been opposed to the Nazis as early as 1934.  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1976-130-53 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5482859.

    Conservative German politician Carl Friedrich Goerdeler who was to have been the new German Chancellor.  He did not hold up under questioning.  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1993-069-06 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5483573

    The best known, and last known, attempt on Hitler's life took place.  In this instance, as had been the case for the attempt a few days earlier, the effort was part of a full blown coup attempt centered around Claus von Stauffenberg placing a bomb in a location calculated to kill Hitler, while the German Home Army was deployed to arrest Nazi officials and decapitate the SS, while similar efforts took place in various locations occupied by Germany.

    Hitler shaking hands with Bodenschatz, accompanied by Stauffenberg (left) and Keitel (right) on July 15, 1944, when von Stauffenberg had attempted a prior effort as part of the same plot. By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1984-079-02 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5483227

    The effort centered on von Stauffenberg setting a bomb off in a bunker at the Wolf's Lair, but upon arriving, he found that it had been moved to a meeting room due to the high heat of the day.

    At 12:30 p.m. von Stauffenberg, excused himself to ostensibly use a washroom at the Wolf's Lair, where a meeting with Hitler was taking place, basing his request on his sweat soaked shirt.  He there crushed the time pencils on one of two bombs he had with him, returned to the meeting room, and placed a satchel with the bombs in it under a heavy desk.  

    A co conspirator called for him, and he left the room.  The bomb detonated at 12:42.  A stenographer was killed and 20 officers injured, with three later dying.  Hitler was unharmed.

    General der Nachrichtentruppe Erich Fellgiebel, who was in on the plot and in charge of communications from the Wolf's Lair.  He informed the plotters that Hitler had not been killed.  Hitler had never trusted Fellgiebel, but he was an expert at communications technology and had urged the adoption of the Enigma machine.  He was arrested and tortured due to his role in the plot, but did not reveal the names of his co conspirators.  He was executed in September 1944. He was 57 years old.

    Fritz Thiele, whom Fellgiebel nformed of Hitler's survival in a somewhat coded call.  He wanted to call the coup attempt off after the call.  He also was executed due to his role in it.

    Von Stauffenberg, believing Hitler dead, departed the scene and boarded a HE 111 for Berlin at 13:00.  It reached Berlin at 16:00.  Gen. Erich Fellgiebel had already phoned the plotters that Hitler had survived, which von Stauffenberg contradicted upon his landing.  Orders went out for Operation Valkyrie to commence, which should have gone out hours earlier, that being the deployment of the Reserve Army and other units, to arrest the SS and take control of the government.  Gen. Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, military governor of occupied France, disarmed the SD and SS and captured most of their leadership. He then travelled to Field Marshal Günther von Kluge's headquarters and asked him to contact the Allies but was informed instead that Hitler was alive. 

    Carl-Heinrich Rudolf Wilhelm von Stülpnagel. He tried to convince von Kluge to go ahead with the coup even after learning of Hitler's survival, but upon being unsuccessful tried to kill himself unsuccessfully.  In his delirium, he was heard to mutter "Rommel", which lead to Rommel being suspected. By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R63893 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5368444

    Himmler then countermanded the orders enacting Valkyrie, while at the same time the coup was in charge of much of Berlin, as was as Vienna and Prague.

    Chief of Staff of the German Army and central figure in the coup, Friedrich Olbricht. (By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1981-072-61 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5483096.

    By 18:10 the coup began to fall apart. At 19:00 Hitler placed phone calls that he had survived.  He then took to the radio, which was practically necessary, so that there was audio proof of his survival.  In his short address, he stated:

    My fellow Germans! Yet another of the countless attempts on my life has been planned and carried out. I am speaking to you for two reasons:

    1. So that you can hear my voice and know that I myself am not injured and well.

    2. So that you can hear the details of a crime without parallel in German history.

    A very small clique of ambitious, unscrupulous, criminal and stupid officers formed a conspiracy to do away with me and at the same time to wipe out virtually the entire staff of the German High Command.

    The bomb which was planted by Colonel von Stauffenberg exploded two meters to my right. It seriously injured a number of my colleagues who are very dear to me; one has died. I myself am completely unhurt apart from a few minor skin abrasions, bruises and burns. I interpret this as confirmation that Providence wishes me to continue my life's mission as I have in the past. For I can solemnly state in the presence of the entire nation that since the day I moved into the Wilhelmstraße my sole thought has been to carry out my duty to the best of my ability. And from the time when I realized that the war was unavoidable and could no longer be delayed, I have known nothing but worry and hard work; and for countless days and sleepless nights have lived only for my People!

    At the very moment when the German armies are engaged in a most difficult struggle, a small group formed in Germany, as happened in Italy, which thought that as in 1918 it could now deliver the stab in the back. However, this time they totally miscalculated. The claim by these usurpers that I am no longer alive, is at this very moment proven false, for here I am talking to you, my dear fellow countrymen. The circle which these usurpers represent is very small. It has nothing to do with the German armed forces, and above all nothing to do with the German army. It is a very small clique composed of criminal elements which will now be mercilessly exterminated. I therefore give the following orders with immediate effect:

    1. That no civilian agency is to obey an order from a government agency which these usurpers claim that they command.

    2. That no military installation, no commander of a unit, no soldier is to obey any order by these usurpers. On the contrary, any person conveying or issuing such an order is to be immediately arrested or, if they resist, shot on the spot.

    In order to restore complete order, I have appointed Minister of the Reich Himmler to be Commander of the Home Forces. I have drafted into the General Staff General Guderian to replace the Chief of the General Staff who is at the moment absent due to illness, and have appointed a second proven leader from the Eastern Front to be his aide.

    In all the other agencies of government within the Reich everything remains unchanged. I am convinced that with the departure of this small clique of traitors and conspirators, we will finally create the atmosphere here at home, too, which the soldiers at the front need. For it is intolerable that at the front hundreds of thousands and millions of brave men are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, while here at home a small clique of ambitious, despicable creatures constantly tries to undermine this attitude. This time we will settle accounts as we National Socialists are accustomed to. I am convinced that at this time every decent officer, every honest soldier will understand that.

    Few people can begin to imagine the fate which would have overtaken Germany had the assassination attempt succeeded. I myself thank Providence and my Creator not for preserving me - my life consists only of worry and work for my People - I thank him only for allowing me to continue to bear this burden of worry, and to carry on my work to the best of my ability.

    It is the duty of every German without exception to ruthlessly oppose these elements, and either to arrest them immediately or, if they resist arrest, to shoot them on the spot. These orders have been issued to all military units. They will be carried out to the letter with the discipline typical of the Germany army.

    Once again I take this opportunity, my old comrades in arms, to greet you, joyful that I have once again been spared a fate which, while it held no terror for me personally, would have had terrible consequences for the German People. I interpret this as a sign from Providence that I must continue my work, and therefore I shall continue it.

    The inclusion of what was an order that offices continue to follow the Nazi regimes orders were telling.  There was obviously remaining concern that the coup would go forward.

    Nazi elements regained control of Berlin.  Fromm, who had been aware of the plot but vacillated, had von Stauffenberg shot.  By midnight the coup was over.

    Friedrich Wilhelm Waldemar Fromm, commander of the Replacement Army.  He was aware of the plot and agreed to have a role in it, but betrayed his comrades when things began to go badly.  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1969-168-07 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5482524.

    The plot had almost worked.

    Had it succeeded, German resistance to the Allies would have necessarily rapidly collapsed.


    Mussolini Hitler shortly after the bomb blast, taking his survival as a sign that victory was assured.  It was the last time the two would meet.

    A Red Cross club opened up in Cherbourg.

    First sailors to sign the guestbook in the American Red Cross "Victoire" club. L to R: T2/C Dave Romber, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Y2/C Ralphe Peloquin, Berlin, N.H.; and Y1/C Joe Zeigovits, Coplay, Pennsylvania.  July 20, 1944.

    Fighting continued unabated in Normandy.

    Infantry in Saint-Lô, , July 20, 1944.

    U.S. replacements being issued K Rations prior to assignment to combat units.   The replacement system during World War Two meant that these men would go out in many instances as individual replacements.

    The Battle of Auvere began as part of the Battle of Narva.

    Franklin Roosevelt addressed the Democratic National Convention remotely.  He was in San Diego. He announced he would not campaign.

    Marines on Saipan, July 20, 1944.

    Marine Corps gun crew cleaning 105 howitzer, July 20, 1944.

    The HMS Isis sank off of Normandy after hitting a mine.


    Actress Mildred Harris, a native of Cheyenne Wyoming and 16 year old first bride of Charlie Chaplin, died of pneumonia at age 42.  Her life had been, overall, sad and tragic.

    An annular solar eclipse was visible in Asia.

    Last edition:

    Wednesday, July 19, 1944. The start of the Democratic Convention.