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

The Japanese conducted an airborne landing on Leyte, combined with a ground infantry offensive.

The UK began to return displaced British to their homes, save for areas subject to V-weapon attacks.

Germany began stripping the Netherlands of locomotives and sending them to Germany. They were electric trains.

The RAF conducted strafing runs on communist positions in Greece.

The U-297 was sunk by the RAF.  The HMS Bullen was sunk by the U-775

Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger had its first flight.

Heinkel HE 162, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Dubois Wyoming.

A very late war German fighter, only 120 were made.

Stalin met with General de Gaulle in Moscow.

Last edition:

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

Labels: 1930s, 1939, 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle of Leyte, Blog Mirror, Communism, Crime, Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά), Greece, Greek, Philippines, Red Army, Royal Navy, World War Two

Central World War Two Display, U.S. manufactured light tanks: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

Last edition:

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

Labels: 1930s, 1939, 1940s, 1943, 1950s, 1960s, Military, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Tracked vehicles, World War Two.

World War Two U.S. Airborne Displays, National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

Airborne display at the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois, Wyoming.  Unfortunately, I just had my cell phone, so a lot of these photographs are not great.

This last series of uniform photographs demonstrates the actual colors (color batches varied) of the M1942 paratrooper uniform.  The uniform itself was already on the way towards being phased out in favor of he M1943 patterns of uniforms, but it was still the one issued during Operation Overlord.

Last edition:

Small Arms and Light Crew Served Weapons Collection, National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

Monday, September 25, 1944. Withdrawal at Arnhem.

British airborne POWs at Arnhem.  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-S73820 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5369460

Operation Market Garden failed to achieve its final objective at Arnhem and the British 1st Airborne was ordered to evacuate at night across the Rhine.  Only 2,400 men of the 10,000 that dropped into fight at the city were recovered.  1,100 were killed in the battle.  6.400 were captured.  A few remained hidden in Arnhem with Dutch families.

The battle achieved legendary status with the British nearly immediately, and was memorialized in a 1946 movie featuring many original British combatants entitled Theirs Is The Glory.  In spite of the significant American role, the battle tended to be ignored by American historians until 1974's book A Bridge Too Far by popular historian Cornelius Ryan, which was turned into a major movie in 1977.  

Operation Market Garden has been a matter of enduring controversy in military history circles.  It was an unusually bold plan for Montgomery, but it also emphasized his own forces, with the addition of available American airborne, for what was essentially a very long strike for a roundabout path into Germany based on a narrow advance over a single road, and depending upon all of the bridges that were targeted being taken.  If things had worked perfectly, it's doubtful that it would have brought the war to a conclusion in 1944, as was hoped, as the Germans, after the fall of France, were effectively regrouping for the defense of Germany.

It tends to be portrayed as an overall failure, which in many ways it was.  It did, however, liberate much of the Netherlands, although it helped to create the tactical scenario which gave rise to the German offensive in Belgium in December.  At the same time, however, Wacht am Rhein, which had already been approved, arguably only achieve a wasting of German resources in the final month of the war.  Moreover, if the offensive was a defeat, as some claim, it bears comparison to the treatment of the Battle of Anzio, which was arguably on part with it as a failure but which is not regarded as a defeat, or the delayed taking of Caen.

The British 2nd Army took Helmond and Deurne east of Eindhoven.  The Canadian 3d Division attacked trapped German troops in Calais.

The British urged foreign workers and slave laborers in Germany to rebel.

The Red Army took Haapsalu, Estonia on the Baltic.

Hitler ordered the formation of the Volkssturm, the militia formed of civilian men.

Partisans occupied Banja Luka, Yugoslavia.

Harvard announced that for the first time it would admit women to medical school starting in the fall of 1945.

Claire Poe of Miami Beach appeared on the cover of a Life magazine special issue entitled "A Letter to GI's" because she was attractive in the girl next store sort of way.  She was only 18, which is interesting to Generation Jones members like myself, as she clearly looked much more mature than 18 year old girls did when I was 18.

Life revealed that she'd just entered college with hopes of becoming a math teacher, and was corresponding to a Sergeant in Puerto Rico and an Ensign at Fort Lauderdale.

Last edition:

Sunday, September 24, 1944. Market Garden reaches the Rhine.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 1940s, 1944, Battle of Arnhem, Battle of Nijmegen, Battle of Peleliu, boats and ships, Fascism, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Operation Overlord, Philippines, World War Two

Monday, September 18, 1944. Eindoven taken.

Distraught German medic at scene of German surrender, Orléans, September 18, 1944.

The 101st Airborne Division liberated Eindoven.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert George Cole, who would receive the Medal of Honor for his actions during Operation Overlord, was killed by a German sniper during Market Garden.  He was 29 years old.

Another American combatant would be killed in an action that resulted in his posthumously receiving the Medal of Honor.

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) to Private First Class Charles Howard Roan (MCSN: 504236), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for the conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the Second Battalion, Seventh Marines, First Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Peleliu, Palau Islands, 18 September 1944. Shortly after his leader ordered a withdrawal upon discovering that the squad was partly cut off from their company as a result of the rapid advance along an exposed ridge during an aggressive attack on the strongly entrenched enemy, Private First Class Roan and his companions were suddenly engaged in a furious exchange of hand grenades by Japanese forces emplaced in a cave on higher ground and to the rear of the squad. Seeking protection with four other Marines in a depression in the rocky, broken terrain, Private First Class Roan was wounded by an enemy grenade which fell close to their position and, immediately realizing the eminent peril to his comrades when another grenade landed in the midst of the group, unhesitatingly flung himself upon it, covering it with his body and absorbing the full impact of the explosion. By his prompt action and selfless conduct in the face of almost certain death, he saved the lives of four men. His great personal valor reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U. S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his comrades.

The Battle of Arracourt commenced in France.

The US dropped supplies from B-17s to resistance fighters in Warsaw, the only such mission permitted by the Soviets.  The aircraft flew on to Soviet held territory.

It's often been speculated, not without reason, that Stalin allowed the uprising to bleed itself out as it was resulting in the deaths of a present combatant, the Germans, and a feared future one, the Poles.

The Jun'yō Maru was sunk off Sumatra by the British submarine Tradewind resulting in the deaths of 5,620 people, most of whom were Allied POWs or Japanese slave labor.  The event is one of the worst naval disasters of all time, taking into account the lives lost were largely innocent.

Last edition:

Sunday, September 17, 1944. Operation Market Garden commences.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Animals, Battle of Arnhem, Battle of Nijmegen, Cats, Netherlands, Operation Market Garden, Operation Paravane, Palau, Paratroopers, San Marino, Tallinn, World War Two, Wyoming (LaGrange)

Wednesday, June 7, 1944. D+1.

The British began Operation Perch, an attempt to encircle and take Caen, which had been a D-Day objective.  

Much has been made of this, with a large amount of criticism being levied by American historians, but the fact of the matter is that the British and Canadians had taken well over twice the amount of ground as the Americans on D-Day, while failing to take Caen, with the British drawing some of the best German forces in the region as a result.

The Battle of Bréville began with British Airborne entering the unoccupied town.

British and Canadian Airborne in Bréville.  The trooper closest to the camera is carrying a M1911 .45 ACP pistol.  The paratrooper on furthest right, as viewed, has a bayonet affixed to his Sten Gun.

The week-long battle would become one of the most important battles of the invasion of Normandy.

The British airborne phase of Overlord, Operation Tonga, concluded as a tactical success.

The 7th Corps advances towards Carentan and Montebourg in an effort to link up with the 82nd and 101st Airborne.   The 5th Corps advances towards Isigny and Bayeux.  The British 30th Corps cuts the Caen-Bayeux Road.

The 12th SS Panzer Division murdered 11 Canadian POWs in the beginning of what would be a series of atrocities.

And a picture from this day, which we featured earlier, with the text:

Something interesting to note.

 

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

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

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

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

The Resistance pushed the Germans out of Bayuex and the British 50th Division takes it.

The 5th Army captured Bacciano and Civitavecchia.  The British 8th Army takes Subiaco.  The South African 6th Armored Division captures Civita Castellana.

Operation Hasty in Italy concluded with over 50% British casualties.

The US 41st Division captures Mokmer Airfield on Biak.

The Hayanami became the second Japanese ship lost in the Sibuto Passage to the USS Harder in two days.

Judy Garland divorced David Rose.  It was the second of his three marriages and the first of her five.

Last prior edition:

Tuesday, June 6, 1944. Operation Overlord

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, British Army, Canadian Army, Canadian Navy, Eastern Front, France, Italy, Normandy, Operation Houndstooth, Operation Overlord, Red Army, Romania, Royal Navy, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Monday, June 5, 1944. The Eternal City in Allied hands, Overlord commences

U.S. Soldiers and civilians read proclamation in Rome, June 5, 1944.

Rome, having been declared an open city and largely abandoned by the Germans and the U.S. Army having entered it the prior evening, was now fully in Allied hands.  Pope Pius XII spoke to a crowd at St. Peter's Basilica, in which he gave thanks to God and further thanked all of the belligerents for largely sparing the city.

The Battle of Anzio concluded.

President Roosevelt delivered a fireside speech, stating:

My Friends:

Yesterday, on June fourth, 1944, Rome fell to American and Allied troops. The first of the Axis capitals is now in our hands. One up and two to go!

It is perhaps significant that the first of these capitals to fall should have the longest history of all of them. The story of Rome goes back to the time of the foundations of our civilization. We can still see there monuments of the time when Rome and the Romans controlled the whole of the then known world. That, too, is significant, for the United Nations are determined that in the future no one city and no one race will be able to control the whole of the world.

In addition to the monuments of the older times, we also see in Rome the great symbol of Christianity, which has reached into almost every part of the world. There are other shrines and other churches in many places, but the churches and shrines of Rome are visible symbols of the faith and determination of the early saints and martyrs that Christianity should live and become universal. And tonight (now) it will be a source of deep satisfaction that the freedom of the Pope and the (of) Vatican City is assured by the armies of the United Nations.

It is also significant that Rome has been liberated by the armed forces of many nations. The American and British armies -- who bore the chief burdens of battle -- found at their sides our own North American neighbors, the gallant Canadians. The fighting New Zealanders from the far South Pacific, the courageous French and the French Moroccans, the South Africans, the Poles and the East Indians -- all of them fought with us on the bloody approaches to the city of Rome.

The Italians, too, forswearing a partnership in the Axis which they never desired, have sent their troops to join us in our battles against the German trespassers on their soil.

The prospect of the liberation of Rome meant enough to Hitler and his generals to induce them to fight desperately at great cost of men and materials and with great sacrifice to their crumbling Eastern line and to their Western front. No thanks are due to them if Rome was spared the devastation which the Germans wreaked on Naples and other Italian cities. The Allied Generals maneuvered so skillfully that the Nazis could only have stayed long enough to damage Rome at the risk of losing their armies.

But Rome is of course more than a military objective.

Ever since before the days of the Caesars, Rome has stood as a symbol of authority. Rome was the Republic. Rome was the Empire. Rome was and is in a sense the Catholic Church, and Rome was the capital of a United Italy. Later, unfortunately, a quarter of a century ago, Rome became the seat of Fascism -- one of the three capitals of the Axis.

For this (a) quarter century the Italian people were enslaved. They were (and) degraded by the rule of Mussolini from Rome. They will mark its liberation with deep emotion. In the north of Italy, the people are still dominated and threatened by the Nazi overlords and their Fascist puppets. Somehow, in the back of my head, I still remember a name -- Mussolini.

Our victory comes at an excellent time, while our Allied forces are poised for another strike at western Europe -- and while the armies of other Nazi soldiers nervously await our assault. And in the meantime our gallant Russian Allies continue to make their power felt more and more.

From a strictly military standpoint, we had long ago accomplished certain of the main objectives of our Italian campaign -- the control of the islands -- the major islands -- the control of the sea lanes of the Mediterranean to shorten our combat and supply lines, and the capture of the airports, such as the great airports of Foggia, south of Rome, from which we have struck telling blows on the continent -- the whole of the continent all the way up to the Russian front.

It would be unwise to inflate in our own minds the military importance of the capture of Rome. We shall have to push through a long period of greater effort and fiercer fighting before we get into Germany itself. The Germans have retreated thousands of miles, all the way from the gates of Cairo, through Libya and Tunisia and Sicily and Southern Italy. They have suffered heavy losses, but not great enough yet to cause collapse.

Germany has not yet been driven to surrender. Germany has not yet been driven to the point where she will be unable to recommence world conquest a generation hence.

Therefore, the victory still lies some distance ahead. That distance will be covered in due time -- have no fear of that. But it will be tough and it will be costly, as I have told you many, many times.

In Italy the people had lived so long under the corrupt rule of Mussolini that, in spite of the tinsel at the top -- you have seen the pictures of him -- their economic condition had grown steadily worse. Our troops have found starvation, malnutrition, disease, a deteriorating education and lowered public health -- all by-products of the Fascist misrule.

The task of the Allies in occupation has been stupendous. We have had to start at the very bottom, assisting local governments to reform on democratic lines. We have had to give them bread to replace that which was stolen out of their mouths by the Germans. We have had to make it possible for the Italians to raise and use their own local crops. We have to help them cleanse their schools of Fascist trappings.

I think the American people as a whole approve the salvage of these human beings, who are only now learning to walk in a new atmosphere of freedom.

Some of us may let our thoughts run to the financial cost of it. Essentially it is what we can call a form of relief. And at the same time, we hope that this relief will be an investment for the future -- an investment that will pay dividends by eliminating Fascism, by (and) ending any Italian desires to start another war of aggression in the future. And that means that they are dividends which justify such an investment, because they are additional supports for world peace.

The Italian people are capable of self-government. We do not lose sight of their virtues as a peace-loving nation.

We remember the many centuries in which the Italians were leaders in the arts and sciences, enriching the lives of all mankind.

We remember the great sons of the Italian people -- Galileo and Marconi, Michelangelo and Dante -- and incidentally that fearless discoverer who typifies the courage of Italy -- Christopher Columbus.

Italy cannot grow in stature by seeking to build up a great militaristic empire. Italians have been overcrowded within their own territories, but they do not need to try to conquer the lands of other peoples in order to find the breath of life. Other peoples may not want to be conquered.

In the past, Italians have come by the millions into (to) the United States. They have been welcomed, they have prospered, they have become good citizens, community and governmental leaders. They are not Italian-Americans. They are Americans -- Americans of Italian descent.

The Italians have gone in great numbers to the other Americas -- Brazil and the Argentine, for example -- hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them. They have gone (and) to many other nations in every continent of the world, giving of their industry and their talents, and achieving success and the comfort of good living, and good citizenship.

Italy should go on as a great mother nation, contributing to the culture and the progress and the goodwill of all mankind -- (and) developing her special talents in the arts and crafts and sciences, and preserving her historic and cultural heritage for the benefit of all peoples.

We want and expect the help of the future Italy toward lasting peace. All the other nations opposed to Fascism and Nazism ought to (should) help to give Italy a chance.

The Germans, after years of domination in Rome, left the people in the Eternal City on the verge of starvation. We and the British will do and are doing everything we can to bring them relief. Anticipating the fall of Rome, we made preparations to ship food supplies to the city, but, of course, it should be borne in mind that the needs are so great, (and) the transportation requirements of our armies so heavy that improvement must be gradual. But we have already begun to save the lives of the men, women and children of Rome.

This, I think, is an example of the efficiency of your machinery of war. The magnificent ability and energy of the American people in growing the crops, building the merchant ships, in making and collecting the cargoes, in getting the supplies over thousands of miles of water, and thinking ahead to meet emergencies -- all this spells, I think, an amazing efficiency on the part of our armed forces, all the various agencies working with them, and American industry and labor as a whole.

No great effort like this can be a hundred percent perfect, but the batting average is very, very high.

And so I extend the congratulations and thanks tonight of the American people to General Alexander, who has been in command of the whole Italian operation; to our General Clark and General Leese of the Fifth and the Eighth Armies; to General Wilson, the Supreme Allied commander of the Mediterranean theater, to (and) General Devers his American Deputy; to (Lieutenant) General Eaker; to Admirals Cunningham and Hewitt; and to all their brave officers and men.

May God bless them and watch over them and over all of our gallant, fighting men.

British airborne synchronizing their watches before boarding aircraft, which would take off shortly before 2300 on this day. These troops, part of Operation Tonga, were destined for Caen.

British and American airborne troops departed their bases in the United Kingdom en route to targets in France, including in the case of the SAS, targets in Burgundy.  Allied air forces also departed to drop dummy paratroopers all over the French coastline.

S/Sgt Albert Raffin, Iron Mt., Mich., is catching up on his reading while Pfc Mathew Plis, 2542 North Long Ave., Chicago, Ill., catches a nap. Aboard USS Henrico. 5 June, 1944.

The BBC broadcast the portion of the poem, alerting the resistance that the invasion will come within 24 hours.  It is picked up by German intelligence, who know its meaning, the Germans fail to react to it.

The Fifth Fleet left Pearl Harbor bound for the Marianas.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, June 4, 1944. The Fall of Rome, Overlord postponed, the capture of the U-505.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, boats and ships, Christianity, Commentary, German Kriegsmarine, Italy, Medieval Europe, Operation Overlord, religion, Rome, U.S. Navy, Weather, World War Two

Sunday, March 5, 1944. The Uman–Botoșani Offensive, Yeager shot down.

A member of No. 9 Commando at Anzio, equipped for a patrol with his Bren gun, 5 March 1944.

The Red Army began the Uman–Botoșani Offensive in Ukraine.  It would become one of hte most successful Soviet offensives of the war.  On this day they took Iziaslav and Yampil.

The 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, the Chindits, was inserted in Burma by glider.

Flight Officer Chuck Yeager was shot down by Unteroffizier Irmfried Klotz, east of Bordeaux, France, on his eighth combat mission.  Russ Spicer, who would, like Yeager, remain in the Air Force after the war, was also shot down.  Unlike Yeager, Spicer did not live a long life, dying at age 59 just after he retired from the Air Force as a Maj. Gen.

Irmfried Klotz did not survive the war.  He was actually a fairly green pilot, and the FW190 he was flying was shot down by another P51 in the same dogfight.  He bailed out, but his parachute did not open.

Yeager would escape to Spain by March 30, and then return to action.  Spicer spent the rest of the war in a POW camp.

Saturday, March 1, 1924. The Nixon Nitration Works Disaster.

The Nixon Nitration Works disaster occured in which an explosion of ammonium nitrate killed at least 18 people, destroyed several miles of New Jersey factories, and demolished Nixon, New Jersey.

While a very famous industrial disaster, the Nixon Nitration Works and Nixon New Jersey are remembered now principally for being mentioned in Band of Brothers as Cpt. Lewis Nixon III, a major character Ambrose's depiction of the 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment, mentions it.  Lewis Nixon was in fact a member of the family that owned the plant, and it was the case that Richard Winters, his close friend and for most of his service in Europe his superior, worked there for a time after the war.

The Nixon's were troubled in general, and Lewis Nixon III was no exception.  His marriage contracted just after the start of the war failed during it, as did a subsequent one.  A third marriage to Grace Umezawa, formerly a Japanese internee, was successful.  She helped him overcome the alcoholism depicted during the series.

The KDP, the Communist Part of Germany, was reinstated.  The KDP, together with the NADSP, the Nazi Party, would figure enormously in the destruction of German democracy as the extremes grew increasingly powerful in the remaining years of the Weimar Republic.

Alice's Day at Sea, the first of 57 Alice comedies produced by Walt Disney, appeared.  They were short films meant to be shown before the feature, something at one time common.

White rats paraded in San Pedro, California.

Hacks, i.e., cabs, were allowed back in Hyde Park for the first time since 1636.

Not a hack, but on this day, an Irish Traveler feeding his pony on this day in 1924.

Locally, a story didn't add up.

A 20-year-old marrying a 15-year-old?  

And she was in 6th Grade?

Sunday, September 5, 1943. Airborne firsts.

The 503d Parachute Regiment, supported by Australian artillery, dropped at and seized the airport at Nadzab, New Guinea.  It was the first major Allied airborne drop in the Far East.

MacArthur watched the drop from overhead, in a B-17.

Lt. Alex Doster was picked up with a harness by a low flying Stinson using a system pioneered for picking up mail. The experiment hoped to use the process to rescue downed aviators.

Sunday, August 16, 1942. The mystery of the L-8.

The Navy blimp L-8, put out earlier that day in search of Japanese submarines, coasted into Daly California without its crew.

The blimp and its crew of two had taken off at 06:03 from Treasure Island off of San Francisco.  At 07:38 its crew radioed that they had seen an oil slick off of Farallon Islands, Point Reyes.  A Liberty ship and a fishing boat both later reported that the blimp descended to about 30 feet above the slick and then headed east, rather than its planned route, which would have taken it northwest.  It was next spotted at 11:15 off of Ocean Beach, by which time it lacked a crew.  The blimp contained its parachutes and life raft, so the crew had not bailed out.

They've never been found.

Official speculation is that they were trying to deploy a smoke signal when one slipped out and the other went to rescue him, with both going into the ocean, or some variant of that. This seems fairly likely, although other theories abound.

The 101st Airborne Division, provided with cadre from the 82nd Airborne Division, was activated.  The 82nd had been converted organizationally from a conventional infantry division to an airborne division the day prior.

Shoulder insignia of the 101st Airborne Division.

The 101st had come into the table of organizations during World War One, but just existed for nine days on the charts, having been created immediately before the end of the war.  In contrast, the 82nd "All American" Division had seen action in World War One and included in its ranks the famous Alvin York.

Shoulder patch of the 82nd Airborne Division.

The USS Alabama was commissioned.

The Alabama in 1942.

The ship avoided being scrapped in 1964, which the Navy intended to do, and was acquired by the State of Alabama where she became a museum ship.  In spite of the original scrapping intent, a provision of the Navy's transfer of her ownership was that she could be recalled if needed, and in fact when the Iowa Class battleships were reactivated in the 1980s, some of her engine parts were cannibalized by the Navy as they were needed for those ships and were no longer manufactured.

The German Navy began Operation Wunderland with the goal of entering the Kara Sea, an extension of the Arctic Ocean, in order to attack Soviet ships that took refuge in the region which was iced up ten months out of the year.  The German Navy also sank three ships off of Aracaju, Brazil, operating under the belief that Allied ships were operating in neutral territorial waters off of eastern South America.

The Japanese, operating off of faulty areal reconnaissance, dispatch the 28th Naval Infantry Regiment from Truk to retake what they believe is a mostly abandoned Guadalcanal.

The U.S. Army Air Force bombed Axis targets in Egypt for the first time.

What started as a Mass to commemorate members of the Begona Regiment who had died in the Spanish Civil War degenerated into a riot between Falangist and Carlist factions in which a Falangist member, who had hand grenades with him, through two resulting in the wounding of thirty people.