Wednesday, November 25, 1942. Operation Mars commences

Having just concluded Operation Uranus around Stalingrad, the Red Army launched Operation Mars near the Rzhev salient outside of Moscow.

Operation Mars remains a controversial offensive, as the Soviets later claimed it was a diversion designed to tie down German forces in the north so that they could not be redeployed to the south.  This view has been taken by famed student of the Red Army, Anthony Beever.  Noted historian David Glanz, however, disagrees, and I frankly feel that Glanz has the better side of the argument.

It should be noted that the offensive was supposedly the subject of a radio false information campaign by the Soviets, something they were very good at, designed to draw attention to it prior to its commencement.  The overall problem is that, as a diversion, if it was one, it was a big one which wasn't skillfully executed, which would be odd as its success, diversion or not, should have been something sought by the Soviets.

The Soviet offensive would ultimately fail, which may provide the reason for its having been claimed as a diversion.  If it was a diversion, it was a massive one, involving over 700,000 troops.  Notably, in Mars the Red Army was encountering German troops, who fought stubbornly from its onset, rather than the forces of Germany's Eastern Front allies.  Additionally, the offensive started after Uranus had concluded, whereas if it were a diversion it would seem more likely that it would have commenced simultaneously.

As with Stalingrad, the German forces were subject to a Hitler no retreat order.  Hitler had issued a similar order the prior winter, which had proven instrumental in stabilizing the front.  The strategic situation had changed since then, however, and while it worked in this instance, it was costly.  The Germans took 40,000 casualties, small compared to the outsized 335,000 casualties the Red Army took, but the losses would not be made up by the German 9th Army by the following spring and therefore made it less effective in resumed offensive operations that year.

The Washington Post ran an article with the headline:

Two Million Jews Slain

This was the written report on the live announcement by Rabbi Stephen Wise announcement of the prior day.  It did not make the front page.

The Luftwaffe began to fly supply missions into Stalingrad.

At Meijez el Bab British forces made a disastrous attack on the town, which was defended by German paratroopers of the Luftwaffe's 5th Fallschirmjager Regiment.   The unit had been in North Africa since the summer, at which point it became part of the Afrika Korps.  It's deployment to Tunisia had been by plane, but they had not made a combat drop.

Medjez al Bab is an ancient city and was the site of a prior battle, the Battle of Bagradas River in 536 at which Eastern Roman Empire forces under Belisarius fought rebel forces under Stotzas.

British SOE operatives and Greek resistance fighters raided the Gorgopotamos viaduct in Operation Harling.

Friday, November 13, 1942. The Sullivan's

In North Africa, the British 8th Army captured Tobruk, a major British victory and a major Afrika Korps defeat.

Off of the Solomon's, the Japanese sank the U.S. Navy light cruiser Juneau, which took 687 men with it, including five brothers of the Irish Catholic Sullivan family of Iowa.

The Sullivans.

It's commonly asserted that after this the U.S. military would not allow siblings to serve together, but in fact many siblings were already serving together in combat in North Africa as members of Federalized National Guard units. Entire towns would end up loosing huge numbers of their male citizens in the combat actions to come. There was a policy change, which relieved a sole survivor from military service, but it did not come until 1943, and was partially due to the deaths of the Borgstrom brothers of Utah as well.  Indeed, the Navy already had a policy precluding siblings from serving on the same vessel, but they did not actively enforce it.

A sister of the Sullivan brothers remained in Navy service.  Indeed, their enlistment in the Navy, or in once case a reenlistment, was to avenge the death of her boyfriend, who died at Peal Harbor.

The Sullivan family was not informed of the death of their sons until 1943, at which time their father was informed of all of their deaths at one time.  The Navy would commission a ship in their honor during the war, and oddly enough, one of the sons of the one of the men lost would later serve as a post-war officer aboard it. That ship has been decommissioned, but a second The Sullivans was commissioned to take its place.  

The current The Sullivans.

The tragic story was also made into a patriotic movie during the war itself, which was released in 1944.

The Sullivan story was the inspiration for the film Saving Private Ryan, although it's obviously in a much different setting.

It should be noted that at least over 100 men survived the sinking of the Juneau, and were spotted by an USAAC B-17, but radio silence precluded its rapid reporting.

On the same day the cruiser Atlanta and the destroyers Barton, Cushing, Laffey, Monssen and Preston went down while the Japanese suffered the loss of the cruiser Kinugasa and destroyers Akatsuki and Yūdachi.

Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama broke off diplomatic relations with Vichy France.

Monday, November 9, 1942. The Germans invade Tunisia

In reaction to yesterday's landings in French North Africa and Morocco, the Germans invaded French Tunisia.  Vichy forces offered no resistance.  They were offering little resistance to the Allies further to the West, but they had resisted in Syria and Madagascar.

The Germans had no choice, as with the Allies at their back, they had to attempt to protect their rear.  This meant, however, that the Germans were fighting a two front war in North Africa, more or less protected from the south by desert, but open to flank attacks from the sea.

Sarah Sundin, on her blog, notes:

80 Years Ago—Nov. 9, 1942: German planes transport troops to El Aouina Airfield in (Vichy) French Tunisia to combat Allied landings in Algeria.

This means of transportation was frankly remarkable.

It ought to also be noted that at this point in the war, the Western Allies were fighting in Africa and Asia, and therefore overall involved in a massive two front war on the ground.  The Soviets, who were constantly arguing for a second front in Europe, failed to appreciate that there already was one, effectively.   The Western Allies let this go unnoticed.

The French had occupied Tunisia since 1881, governing it as a protectorate.  Its status was at least technically different, therefore, than other African colonies held by the French, and it would ultimately be very much different than Algeria, which became an overseas department of France.

Tunisia had independence movements that predated the war, but it wisely avoided using the war as a means to argue for a change in government, as it did not want Axis control of the country.  The Free French would, however, mess with its government and depose its popular nationalist bey.  The country became independent in 1956.

Sundin also noted:

Germans force Danish King Christian X to appoint collaborator Erik Scavenius as prime minister.

Scavenius was not a Nazi, but took a down key approach, hoping not to create controversy with the occupying Germans.  He remains a controversial figure in Denmark.

Canada, Cuba and Mexico broke off diplomatic relations with Vichy France.

Another thing noted by Sundin: 

German spy Werner von Janowski is landed by U-boat U-518 at New Carlisle, Québec, but is arrested within hours on a tip from a suspicious hotel clerk.

Von Janowksi was  an odd figure the Canadians tried to turn, and there's some indication he may have ended up a triple agent.  He was eventually sent to the UK in 1943 and repatriated to Germany after the war. As he was from Prussia, he was then homeless, and ultimately ended up working as an interpreter for the German Navy once it was reconstituted.

And on a topic other than the war:

Charles Courtney Curran, noted for his highly romanticized paintings of women, passed away.

Wednesday, November 4, 1942. Turning tide.

Today in World War II History—November 4, 1942: British Eighth Army is victorious at the Second Battle of El Alamein. Carlson’s Raiders (US Marines) land at Aola Point, Guadalcanal, to harass Japanese.

As Sarah Sundin so notes on her blog, things were really swinging towards the Allies everywhere.  Lots of hard fighting, but still, the war, for the Axis, was rapidly becoming a defensive one. 

Also on Guadalcanal, it might be noted, the Matanikau Offensive ended with an American victory.

Monday, November 2, 1942. Stars and Stripes reborn.

Stars and Stripes, which had its birth as an Army newspaper during World War One, was reborn.

US made 105mm Self Propelled gun in British service, November 2, 1942.

Phase Four of the Second Battle of El Alamein, Operation Supercharge, commenced.  Rommel, back in command of the Afrika Korps, cabeled Hitler, stating:

The army's strength was so exhausted after its ten days of battle that it was not now capable of offering any effective opposition to the enemy's next break-through attempt ... With our great shortage of vehicles an orderly withdrawal of the non-motorised forces appeared impossible ... In these circumstances we had to reckon, at the least, with the gradual destruction of the army.

Hitler replied:

It is with trusting confidence in your leadership and the courage of the German-Italian troops under your command that the German people and I are following the heroic struggle in Egypt. In the situation which you find yourself there can be no other thought but to stand fast, yield not a yard of ground and throw every gun and every man into the battle. Considerable air force reinforcements are being sent to C.-in-C South. The Duce and the Comando Supremo are also making the utmost efforts to send you the means to continue the fight. Your enemy, despite his superiority, must also be at the end of his strength. It would not be the first time in history that a strong will has triumphed over the bigger battalions. As to your troops, you can show them no other road than that to victory or death. Adolf Hitler.

The Australians captured Kokoda.

The BBC began French language broadcasts to Quebec.

Sunday, October 25, 1942. Rommel returns, the Japanese Navy strikes.

Rommel returned to Africa.

During his absence, things had not gone well for the Axis.  There's no reason to believe that they would have gone any better had he been there.

Rommel arguably has an outsized reputation.  Perhaps because the British tended to admire him, for some reason, as an adversary, and as they measured their success in the desert in terms of defeating his command, he's obtained the reputation of being a "clean" German commander.  There actually is some evidence to support this, but it's mixed and not as clear-cut as sometimes claimed.

Spectacular photograph of US ships in action on the following day, October 26.

The Battle of Santa Cruz Islands began with the Japanese, operating under the assumption that they had taken Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, moved ships from the Shortland Island towards Guadalcanal in order to support the Japanese ground forces on the islands.  Aircraft from Henderson Field ended up attacking the Japanese convoy throughout the 25th, sinking a light cruiser.  This alerted the Japanese that Henderson Field remained in American hands, but they pushed forward in hopes of engaging the American Navy in a decisive naval battle.

Saturday, October 24, 1942. Lighting The Torch

A naval task force departed the United Kingdom for North Africa containing the invasion force for Operation Torch.  At the same time, the main Task Force, which included one of my late partners who was a naval officer, left Hampton Roads, VA and Casco Bay, ME.

USS Charles Carroll on which one of my late partners served. She's see action all over the globe.

They were all bound for landing sites in North Africa.

Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma took command of the Afrika Korps after George Stumme was reported missing. Stumme would be found later, dead, but without wounds, although it was learned that his car had been attacked by the British and his chief signals officer killed in the attack.

Stumme had high blood pressure and may have had a heart attack during the stressful event.

Stumme did not take the precautionary measures that Rommel did while traveling in North Africa, and may ultimately have paid for it with his life.

The Japanese launched attacks on the Lunga perimeter on Guadalcanal. The attacks were unsuccessful.

The Saturday Evening Post went to the stands with an illustration by Mead Schaeffer of an American soldier carrying a Thompson Submachine Gun, in a jungle.  Starting in November, the focus of the American Press would very much switch to the war against the Germans.

Friday, October 23, 1942. The High Water Mark for Nazi Germany

The Second Battle of El Alamein began.

Montgomery watching his armor in action.

The British offensive was really the first under Bernard Law Montgomery, and pitted slightly larger Allied forces against the Afrika Korps.  Of note, the British had considerably more armor than the Germans.  It would result in an Allied victory, of which Churchill stated; It may almost be said, "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat".

On that theme, arguably today was the high water mark for the Axis, or perhaps yesterday.  The Germans and their European Allies had advanced as far as they were going to in the Soviet Union, having taken the Stalingrad tractor factory several days prior.  They had expelled the British from Europe and defeated all of their enemies there, although guerilla campaigns were going on against them.  In North Africa, they had advanced up to El Alamein, but they had not taken it.

The Germans knew they were in trouble at this point.  While it was not obvious to casual observers, their offensive in the Soviet Union had stalled without defeating the USSR and without even bringing to an end the fighting before the onset of winter.  Their advances in the country had been massive, but insufficient, and they knew it.  Additionally, massive Axis efforts on the land, air and sea had failed to drive the British out of North Afrika and, on this day, the British would recommence advancing.

Starting on this day, the Germans would be losing ground every day.

The Battle for Henderson Field commenced as well, with a large-scale Japanese assault designed to take the airfield.

In the Pacific War, the Japanese were already in the position of not really advancing any longer, although the war in New Guinea made that unclear.  Resources were still thin in a theater that was limited to Australian and American forces, with the Japanese war being much more recent than the European one.  Having said that, the Japanese run in the Pacific was over.

Elanor Roosevelt arrived in the UK and met with the King and Queen.

The latter event emphasizes, again without the public really realizing it, that the Western Allies already knew that they would win the war at this point, and the Soviets may have realized it by this point as well.  Lots of the war was yet to be fought, but the final results were dimly in view.

Sunday, August 30, 1942. Montgomery anticipates Rommel.

Aided by Ultra, Montgomery plans a heavy reception for an Afrika Korps attack he knows to be coming.  In the Battle of Alam el Halfa Rommel, on this day, finds his forces caught in dense minefields and bombed by a combined air effort by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.  The battle would continue until September 5.

The Red Army also found itself oppressed from the air, in this case in their effort to relieve Leningrad, which started to grind to a halt.

Japanese assaults at the Isurava Rest House on Papua caused the Australians to withdraw from the location to Eora.

The Japanese landed 1,000 troops overnight at Guadalcanal, as well as sinking the US fast transport ship USS Colhoun.

Sunday, July 26, 1942. Gene Autry joins the Army.

Today in World War II History—July 26, 1942: In a live radio broadcast, Gene Autry, cowboy singer/actor, is inducted into the US Army Air Force as a technical sergeant.

Via Sarah Sundin's blog.

I had no idea that Gene Autry had served in the military during World War Two.

I'm not an Autry fan, and indeed when I first read this in the early morning hours, I confused Autry with Roy Rogers.  Roy Rogers didn't serve in World War Two.  He was a few years younger than Autry, who did.

The other blog which had this correct, I'd note, noted this regarding Rogers:

Rogers and Wayne "are forever tainted with the stigma of opting out[,] unlike so many of their contemporaries from the Hollywood community who put country first before family [and] career," Bruce Hickey wrote. Seventy years later, people still have heated opinions about it. Wayne's lack of service has been written about more extensively than Rogers', but both are perennial topics of speculation, justification, and scorn.

I posted on the entry twice, once in error, and then to correct my error.

I suspect that Autry wasn't inducted as a Technical Sergeant so much as becoming one.  He was a private pilot and really wanted to be an Army Air Force pilot, and eventually did so in 1944, then holding the rank of Flight Officer.  He flew a C-109, a cargo variant of the B-24, which was not an easy plane to fly, and moreover, was one of those who flew "over the hump" in the CBI.

By the way, Autry did join the Army on a Sunday.  As readers of this blog may have noted, a lot of official government business of all types was conducted on Sunday during World War Two.  I don't know what the official policy was, but the government was clearly working at least partially seven days a week.

At El Alamein the British launched the counteroffensive Operation Manhood, with the combined British, South African and New Zealand forces taking most of their initial objectives.

The Japanese defending forces at Oivi on the Kokoda track, with the Papuan and Australian forces conducing a delaying action.

The German 6th Army broke through the Red Army's 62nd and 64th armies, reaching the Don just south of Stalingrad.

The Royal Air Force conducted a nighttime raid on Hamburg which resulted in the destruction of 823 homes, and which rendered 14,000 of its residents homeless.

Monday, July 13, 1942. Von Bock relieved.

Today in World War II History—July 13, 1942: Nazis massacre 5000 Jews in Rovno, Ukraine. Italian frogmen swim 5 km to Gibraltar and plant limpet mines, sinking three Allied ships.

And Feodor von Bock, as Sundin also reports on her blog, was relieved of command of Army Group B, although that became effective on July 15. 

Von Bock was not a Nazi, and indeed personally disliked the Nazis, but he was also passive in regard to their atrocities within his command.  That command included several officers who later were participants in the July 20 plot, which he was invited to participate in, but he declined to do so.

He was killed at the extreme end of the war when a vehicle he was in, along with his wife and stepdaughter, was strafed.

The German 21st Panzer division was repulsed by Australian and South African forces in an attack featuring heavy losses at Tel el Eisa and the El Alamein "box".

The USS Seadragon, still off of Cam Ranh Bay, sank the transport Shinyo Maru.

The RAF bombed Duisburg during thunderstorms, but missed the industrial areas.

Saturday, July 11, 1942. The remanants of PQ 17.

Marine Corps recruiting poster released on this date.

 

Today in World War II History—July 11, 1942: Allied Arctic convoy PQ-17 arrives in ports in northern Russia, having lost 22 of 33 cargo ships plus two auxiliary vessels, to German U-boats and aircraft.

As Sarah Sundin notes on her blog.  The convoy, however, actually lost 24 ships.

The ships had started arriving in Archangel about two days prior.  So few came in that Stalin thought that the Allies had lied about the size of the convoy in order to purposely send less than they promised.  He later accuses the UK of lying about the convoy's troubles.

PQ 17 was the hardest hit convoy of the war.

On the same day, the Soviets sunk another Swedish freighter, this one the SS Lulea which was carrying iron ore to Germany.

The RAF bombed Danzig's submarine pens, with the loss of only two bombers. The raid took place at dusk.  The route over the North Sea was the longest RAF raid up until that point in the war.

Australian troops advanced at El Alamein.

Japan cancelled planned invasions of Fiji, New Caledonia and Samoa, demonstrating that the Japaneses staff appreciated that the war was not going as well as it had been formerly.

Friday June 5, 1942. PQ 17 scatters.

Ships in embattled convoy PQ 17 ordered to scatter, and the escorts ordered to return to the UK.

Rommel halts the offensive of the Afrika Korps due to material losses and logistical problems, combined with effective British resistance at El Alamein.

Axis forces reached the Don.

Thursday, July 2, 1942. Churchill's government survives an attempted Motion of Censure.

Members of the British Army's Special Air Service in North Africa with American Jeeps.

A Motion of Censure of Churchill's government was brought in the House of Commons, and then overwhelmingly failed.

The motion was brought due to recent reversals in North Africa, although the recent setbacks in the newly started war with Japan played a part as well.  Churchill specifically noted that he expected fortunes to reverse as British forces started receiving American arms.

Churchill had stated in response to the motion:

The will of the whole House should be made manifest upon important occasions. It is important that not only those who speak, but those who watch and listen and judge, should also count as a factor in world affairs. After all, we are still fighting for our lives, and for causes dearer than life itself. We have no right to assume that victory is certain; it will be certain only if we do not fail in our duty. Sober and constructive criticism, or criticism in Secret Session, has its high virtue; but the duty of the House of Commons is to sustain the Government or to change the Government. If it cannot change it, it should sustain it. There is no working middle course in wartime

Interestingly enough, things were already turning around, or at least not getting any worse. The Afrika Korps failed to take El Alamein for the second day in a row, with Briitsh forces mounting a counterattack that took 2,000 prisoners and 30 field guns.

The Tirpitz and Hipper, with escorts, left Trondheim to attack Allied convoy PQ17.  Seventeen He115s attacked the convoy unsuccessfully.

PQ17 was being shadowed by submarines and flying boats.

Wednesday, July 1, 1942. Stopping the Afrika Korps.

Rommel's forces make the first assaults on El Alamein.  They go badly.

Rommel with officers. By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-785-0287-08 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=631949

Axis forces take Sevastopol.  The battle had resulted in 18,000 Red Army KIA and 95,000 lost as prisoners.  5,000 were evacuated as sick and wounded. The Germans lost 5,786 men and the Romanians 1,874.  The German wounded amounted to 21,626 and the Romanian 6,571.

Axis forces also approach Voronezh in the Soviet Union, where the Red Army is preparing to meet them and counter-attack

The U.S. submarine USS Sturgeon sinks the Japanese Montevideo Maru, a passenger ship.  It was carrying Australian POWs and civilian internees, all who died in the sinking.

The USS Luckenbach, which was carrying 1/6th of the world's tungsten supply, hit two mines in a U.S. minefield off of the Florida Keys.  The tungsten would later be recovered.

Pierre Laval, Prime Minister of France, allowed German forces to enter Vichy controlled France to search for hidden radio transmitters.

Tuesday, June 30, 1942. Spreading Nazi Oppression.

The Third Reich closed all remaining Jewish schools inside of Germany.

This odd fact, that the schools were still open to some degree, points out the oddity that German Jews, while subject to all of the repression that Jews in German occupied territories were, were still safer than those in the occupied territories.  Indeed, the mortality rate during the Third Reich, while still ghastly and large, was significantly lower than it was for the occupied territories.  This has been explained by there being at least a remnant of laws applying to Jews in Germany, whereas those elsewhere were completely subject to Nazi lawlessness.

The U158, having destroyed 12 ships during a successful patrol, was sunk by a U.S. Navy PBM Mariner off of Bermuda, demonstrating how submarines were vulnerable to aircraft.

German forces moved forward again in Case Blue.  At Sevastopol, Stalin ordered senior figures evacuated by submarine.

The Afrika Korps arrived in front of El Alamein.

British troops at El Alamein.

Wedding fashions, by which we mean female wedding fashions, was the topic of the Life magazine that came out on this day.

Monday, June 29, 1942. More German advances.

Meresa Matruh, an Egyptian port city well into Egypt, fell to the Afrika Korps. Rommel's forces were now advancing at a rapid pace into Egypt.  

The city today remains a significant Egyptian port.  It's history stretches back into antiquity.

The city in 1942, Allied armor column.

They also reached Sidi Abd el Rahman, which was only 20 miles from El Alamein, even further East.  The city today is a tourist destination, although large numbers of landmines still exist in the area.

Mussolini flew, as the pilot, from Italy to Libya, carrying his white horse in anticipation of a complete conquest of North Africa in near days, and a triumphal parade in Cairo.

The Germans were also advancing rapidly in the southern Soviet Union. Dust columns from German forces could be seen from a distance of 40 miles.

The Germans crossed Severnaya Bay at Sevastopol by boat.

Admiral King proposed an invasion of the Eastern Solomon Islands to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Wednesday June 24, 1942. Eisenhower takes command.

Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived in London to assume command of the European Theater of Operations United States of America, replacing James E. Chaney.

In fact, Eisenhower had only recently returned to the United States on a fact finding mission, along with Hap Arnold, on the United Kingdom in which he expressed a lack of confidence in Chaney.  He was assigned to replace Chaney and sent right back to the UK.

Eisenhower's star was on the rise at the time, and would be throughout the rest of his life, taking him to the White House.  He was the last U.S. Army general officer to become President.  Notably, an Army career was mostly an educational choice for him, rather than the expression of a military vocation.

Chaney would fade into obscurity.  Having been promoted to Major General in 1940, he was an observer of the Battle of Britain and would return to become commanding general of the First Air Force, and then become a training officer in the United States.  Late in the war he was in command of Army forces for the mostly Navy action at Iwo Jima, and he had a senior role in the Western Base Command at the end of the war.  He retired in 1947.  He, as well as his wife, died in 1967.

The Afrika Korps entered Egypt.

Tuesday, June 23, 1942. Married men exempted from the draft.

US soldier in training, June 1942.

Sarah Sundin reports on her blog:

Today in World War II History—June 23, 1942: RAF captures first German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter plane, which lands by mistake in Wales. President Roosevelt signs bill deferring married men from the draft.

The FW 190 was a great aircraft, the best German fighter of the war, if you discount the ME262 jet fighter, which I think you can.

The married men draft deferment removed 18,000,000 men from the draft pool and was designed to intentionally use up the pool of eligible single men first.  The exemption would not last, although it did last for a while.  In April 1943 married men were once again eligible, but could be exempted if their conscription imposed an "extreme hardship" on their wives or children. 

This exemption would be reinstated at some point during the Vietnam War, leading to some rushed marriages in order to avoid conscription.  I'm not really sure what I think about it, frankly.  It was probably more defensible during the Second World War during which men remained the sole "bread winners" for many families and couples.  Indeed, while women did of course work during the war, the scale at which women overall worked is exaggerated in the popular recollection of the war.

Hitler authorized the Afrika Korps to pursue the 8th Army towards Egypt.

Monday, June 22, 1942. Laval wishes for a German victory.

Pierre Laval, the Prime Minister of (Vichy) France, stated in a radio address; 

I wish for a German victory, because, without it, Bolshevism tomorrow would settle everywhere.

He was in his third period of being the Prime Minister, with the second and third both being during the Vichy period.

The statement came as a shock to many of his countrymen, who assumed that Vichy France was playing a waiting game until an Allied liberation would come.  Laval, however, had come to heavily sympathize with the Nazis.

Laval had been Prime Minister in 1931-32. He originally had been a pacifist Socialist politician and a lawyer who championed working men, but by the 1940s he'd migrated towards fascism.  He was executed following a trial after the war.

Sarah Sundin reports the following for today:

Today in World War II History—June 22, 1942: Germans take Bardia, Libya. US Flag Code becomes public law, regarding the Pledge of Allegiance and treatment of the flag.