Tuesday, January 2, 1945. Advances and withdrawals.

German forces launched counterattacks northwest of Budapest, pushing the 31st Guards Rifle Corps back twenty miles.

"Guarding against enemy infiltration east of Bastogne, machine gunners Pvt. John P. McFarlane, Portland, Ind., Loyd W. Lockwood, Oxnard, Calif., man a .30 caliber machine gun in a wooded area near the Bastogne Corridor. 35th Infantry Division."

The 3d Army took Bonnerue, Hubertmont and Remagne.

The 7th Army falls back in Alsace.

Hitler turned down requests from Model and Manteuffel for withdrawals west of Houffalize.

Naval Commander in Chief Allied Expeditionary Force Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay was killed in an airplane accident while traveling from Paris to Belgium.  He's organized the evacuation from Dunkirk and the naval operation for Operation Overlord.

Ramsey had actually retired in 1938, but came back into the service prior to World War Two at the urgings of Churchill.

A Sikorsky helicopter was used for convoy escort duties, by the U.S. Navy, for the first time.

The US occupied Fais Island in the Carolines.

Japanese Americans were free to return to the West Coast.

Last edition:

Monday, January 1, 1945. Operation Bodenplatte. Reprisal massacre.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Adolf Hitler, Army, Chenogne Massacre, Diplomacy, German Army, German Luftwaffe, German SS, Malmedy Massacre, Operation Bodenplatte., Polish Government in Exile, United Kingdom, World War Two

Sunday, December 31, 1944. Unternehmen Nordwind launched Ichi-Go concludes a success.

The Germans launched Operation Northwind (Unternehmen Nordwind), their last major offensive in the West.

The offensive in the Ardennes was designed to support Wacht am Rhine in Belgium.

Northwind is often overlooked in the story of Germany's 1944 effort, in part because it proved a pretty rapid failure.  It was, however, a major effort and designed to thrust German forces behind the Third Army.  It saw Himmler in operational control of a major part of the SS forces dedicated to the action.  1,000 aircraft were dedicated to the effort.

It's worth noting that the Western Allies, here and there, were outright in Germany by this time.  Germany's final offensive was itself launched on French territory the Germans had annexed.

Operation Ichi-Go concluded as a massive success for the Japanese Imperial Army, with huge sections of China having been taken.

Filipino general and guerilla leader Vicente Lim, age 56, a prisoner of war of the Japanese, was murdered along with 50 companions by the Japanese.

Lim had served in the Filipino army as a teenage ammo carrier during the Philippine Insurrection.  In 1910 he became the first Filipino to enter the United States Military Academy.  He served with the Philippine Scouts after graduating in 1914 and retired from the U.S. Army in 1936 so that he could join the new Philippine Army, where he became its senior officer.  He clashed with MacArthur in that role as he felt the building of the Philippine Army was occurring to rapidly for a quality force.  He became a guerilla leader with the fall of the country and was captured in 1944 when an attempt was being made to evacuate him from the islands.

The Soviet backed provisional government of Hungary declared war on Germany.

A Soviet backed provisional government was declared in Poland, with the claim contested by the Polish government in exile in London.

A misdirected RAF Mosquito raid on Oslo killed 78 Norwegian civilians, and 28 Germans.

The Grumman F8F Bearcat entered service.  Be that as it may, it came too late in the war to see combat in the Second World War, with its introduction into that coming during the French Indochina War.

The 100th Bomb Group lost 12 aircraft and 109 men during a mission to Hamburg, Germany. The mission was their lost one with heavy losses.

While it would have been more appropriate to enter it in an item for yesterday, The Saturday Evening Post made New Years Eve its them with a Rockwell illustration of a young sleeping woman in bed and photographs of Willie Gillis, Rockwell's average GI, on the wall behind her in different positions, with Gillis' eyes eagerly looking at her.  The illustration is nearly salacious.

Last edition:

Saturday, December 30, 1944. Reporting on the bomb.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, 1944 at the Movies, Battle of the Bulge, Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά), Greece, Greek Orthodox Church, Manhattan Project, Monarchy, Movies, religion, Weapons, World War Two

Thursday, November 23, 1944. Thanksgiving Day.

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

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

French forces liberated Strasbourg.

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

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

Soviet troops took Cop, Czechoslovakia and Tokay, Hungary.

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

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

Last edition:

Tuesday, November 21, 1944. Vive La France.

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

Wednesday, August 26, 1914. Tannenberg begins.

The epic Battle of Tannenberg began on the Eastern Front.

Up until it, the Imperial Russian Army had been doing well.  That was soon to change.

The Russians halted the Austro Hungarian army at Komarów

The French Army of Alsace was recalled and disbanded, ended their successful defense at Mulhouse.  The Battle of Lorraine also ended in a French victory, although an extremely costly one.

British and French forces retreated from Le Cateau to Saint Quentin.

The French Second Army prevented the Germans from advancing past Charmes.

The Germans bombed Antwerp by Zeppelin.

Last edition:

Tuesday, August 25, 1914. German murders in Belgium.

Labels: 1910, 1910s, 1911, 1914, Austro Hungarian Army, Belgium, Canadian Arctic Expedition, Emiliano Zapata, German Army, Imperial Russian Army, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Plan of Ayala, World War One

Tuesday, August 18, 1914. Lady Teacher for Lincoln County. Neutrality for the US.

The Lincoln County School District requested a "lady teacher" from the University of Wyoming for the Cumberland Mining Camp. (UW History Calendar).

Lincoln County is remote now, and it would have been even more so in 1914.

The Imperial Russian Army invaded the Austrian Crownland of Galicia, or Austrian Poland (it's now in Poland and Ukraine.

The French captured bridges over the Rhine as well as taking large numbers of German soldiers in Alsace.

President Wilson declared the United States to be strictly neutral in the war developing in Europe and spreading the globe.

Last edition:

Monday, August 17, 1914. Russia invades Prussia.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Alsace-Lorraine, Battle of Lorraine, Battle of Stallupönen, Battle of the Frontiers, French Army, Germany, Imperial Russian Army, Prussia, Russia, World War One

Monday, August 17, 1914. Russia invades Prussia.

The Russian First Army invaded Prussia.

The French First Army took Sarrebourg.

Last edition:

Sunday, August 16, 1914. Not going according to plan.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Austro Hungarian Army, Austro Hungarian Navy, Battle of Liège, Belgium, Ireland, Poland, Royal Air Force, Serbian Army, World War One

Monday, August 10, 1914. Austro Hungaria takes the field against Imperial Russia.

Austro Hungaria invaded Russia.

The Germans retook Mulhouse. 

British ships in pursuit of cruisers Goeben and Breslau.  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 134-C2320 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5337867

The Ottoman Empire opened the Dardanelles to allow German cruisers SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau passage to Constantinople.

The United Kingdom released all suffragette prisoners.

4th Marine Regiment, August 10, 1914.

"Cook house and mess tents." - Keechelus Dam, Yakima River, 10 miles northwest of Easton, Easton, Kittitas County, Washington.

Last edition:

Sunday, August 9, 1914. The end of the second phase of the Mexican Revolution.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Allied Powers, Australia, Austro Hungaria, boats and ships, Catholic, Central Powers, German Kriegsmarine, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Mexico City, Montenegro, religion, Royal Navy, World War One

Saturday, August 8, 1914. Leaving for the Antarctic.

The UK passed the first Defence of the Realm Act authorizing wartime censorship.

French forces took Muhouse in Alsace, although they'd be pushed back out two days later.

German colonial authorities executed Cameroonian resistance leaders Martin-Paul Samba and Rudolf Duala Manga Bell for treason.

The Shackleton Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition left the UK for Antarctica, seemingly out of context and now out of their own times.

Last edition:

Friday, August 7, 1914. The BEF arrives in France.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Alaska, Alsace-Lorraine, Battle of the Frontiers, British Army, British Empire, French Army, Ghana, Spain, World War One

Friday, August 7, 1914. The BEF arrives in France.

The British Expeditionary Force arrived in France.

The French launched an offensive to regain Alsace.

German soldiers began burning private buildings in Kalisz.

The British Gold Coast Regiment entered German Togoland.  German police opened fire and British soldier Alhaji Grunshi returned it, becoming the first British soldier to fire a shot in World War One.

Spain declared its neutrality.

Last edition:

Thursday, August 6, 1914. More declarations of war.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Austro Hungaria, Diplomacy, Dominican Republic, Dominican Republic Civil War, German Kriegsmarine, Lighter than air aircraft, Orthodox, religion, Royal Navy, Russia, Woodrow Wilson, World War One

Monday, January 5, 1914. Increasing pay and productivity.

Ford Motors, through its owner Henry Ford, announced that it was going to pay its workers $5.00/day rather than $2.34/day, with the day being reduced to 8 hours from 9. This was for a six-day work week.

This was a significant event in industrial history in the US, and indeed the globe.  It increased workplace productivity by such an extent that Ford's net profits went from $30,000,000 to $60,000,000 in two years.

Military trials commenced in Strasbourg, Alsace, for Colonel Adolf von Reuter, commanding officer of the Prussian Infantry Regiment 99 in Saverne, Alsace, as well as Second Lieutenant Schadt, both of whom were accused of usurping civilian authority surrounding a protest on November 28, 1913.  The trial would only serve to increase German sympathy for the military action and while increasing Alsatian animosity toward Germany.

The region is, of course, part of France today.