Friday, July 16, 1943. Morire per Mussolini e Hitler, o vivere per l'Italia e per la civiltà.

Italy's Fascist Grand Council, concerned by the arrival of Allied troops on Italian soil, convened for the first time since 1939.  On the same day, Allied aircraft dropped leaflets over the Italian mainland that read "Morire per Mussolini e Hitler, o vivere per l'Italia e per la civiltà" (Die for Mussolini and Hitler, or live for Italy and for civilization).  

Radio broadcast a joint message to the Italian people from Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.

Italy, as a fascist state, was coming undone.

The British Air Ministry approved the use of "Window", aluminum strips, as a radar countermeasure.

Effect of Window on radar signature.

The Germans ordered the deportation of 13,000 Jews living in Paris to the Drancy detention center, a way stop for them on the way to Auschwitz.

Yitzhak Wittenberg, a Jewish Lithuanian resistance leader, surrendered to the Gestapo in Vilnius in exchange for an agreement that the Vilnius ghetto would not be liquidated.  He did shortly there after in an undetermined fashion.

The ghetto was liquidated by the Germans in September 1943.

In an event which tends to be misreported, Père Marie-Benoît (Padre Maria Benedetto), a Capuchin Franciscan friar who successfully rescued 4,000 Jews during the war, met with Pope Pius XII in an effort to advance his plan to try to transfer approximately 30,000 French Jews to North Africa, in order to remove them from danger.  The Italian portion of the plan ultimately fell apart when the Germans occupied northern Italy following the collapse of Mussolini's government, but the Spanish portion, which did result in the rescue of 2,600 French Jews on the somewhat ironic pretext that they were Jews of Spanish ancestry, which is the cover that Franco's government operated under. 

He died in 1990 at age 95.

The Battle of Mount Tambu began on New Guinea between the Imperial Japanese Army and American and Australian forces.

The Batman character appeared in film for the first time, this being in a fifteen-minute serial episode before major features.  In the original series, he was called "The Batman", with the first episode being "The Electrical Brain".

Wednesday, July 14, 1943. Airborne landing at Primosole Bridge, Belarussians ordered to blow up the rail lines, US War Crime in Sicily,

British airborne dropped in Sicily in Operation Fustion, which was designed to take the Primosole Bridge. The action was one of two in Sicily which saw the oddity of Allied paratroopers fighting German paratroopers who initially thought the British were reinforcements. The German paratroopers had come in on the 9th as reinforcements.

Primosole Bridge after capture.

While the bridge was ultimately taken, the action itself had mixed results.

Following a meeting with Stalin, Gen. Panteleimon Ponomarendo leader of the Belarusian pro Soviet partisans, issued Order No. 42 directing 123 partisan units to destroy the rail lines that had been used by the invading Germans, thus making their retreat from Russia, particularly with heavy weapons, difficult.

Communist, or at least anti-German, Belorussian partisans, 1943.

Ponomarendo was an ethnic Ukrainian who had been either in the Red Army or a Communist politician/functionary since the early days of the Russian Civil War.  Destruction of the railways was something he'd urged.  During the war, his troops killed around 300,000 Germans, a massive number.

They also killed some members of the Polish underground, executing some of its officers.  It's claimed that his forces provided information on Polish underground members to the Germans.  His views on western Poland may be summed up by this statement:

The western oblasts of Soviet Belarus are an integral part of the Republic of Belarus. The nationalist divisions and groups formed by Polish reactionary circles should be isolated from the population by creating Soviet troops and groups consisting of working people of Polish nationality. Nationalist units and groups should be fought by all means.

Ponomarendo died at age 81 in 1984.

Belorussia lost 25% of its pre-war population during World War Two.  Young men were typically faced with no options other than joining the partisans or joining Nazi collaborationist elements.

The Battle of Mubo in New Guinea ended in an Allied victory.  The battle, between Australian troops and the Japanese, had been going on since April.

The Biscari Massacre occured when troops of the 180th Infantry Regiment, which had been performing so poorly that thought had been given to relieving its commander, killed 71 Italian and 2 German POWs in two separate incidents.

In the first incident, Maj. Roger Denman ordered Sgt. Horace T. West to take a group of POWs to the rear and hold them in an inconspicuous place for questioning.  He separated eight of them to be taken to S-2 for questioning, borrowed a Thompson submachine gun, and killed them.  The bodies were found the next day and the chaplain, Lt. Col. William E. King, took the matter up.

In the second incident, Cpt. John T. Compton, who was extremely sleep-deprived, ordered 35 Italian POWs shot on the belief that they had been snipers who had been firing at his command. They were executed by firing squad.  Compton later told the following to investigators about the incident:

Q. How did you select the men to do the firing?

A. I wished to get it done fast and very thoroughly, so I told them to get automatic weapons, the BAR [Browning Automatic Rifle] and Tommy Gun.

Q. How did you get the men? Did you ask for volunteers?

A. No, sir. I told the [SGT] to get the men.

Q. Do you remember exactly what you told him?

A. I don't remember exactly.

Q. What formation did you get them in before they were shot?

A. Single file on the edge of a ridge.

Q. Were they facing the weapons or the other side?

A. They were in single file, in a column, rifle fire from the right.

Q. Were the prisoners facing the weapons or the other side?

A. They were facing right angle of fire.

Q. What formation did you have the firing squad (sic)?

A. Lined 6 foot away, about 2 yards apart, on a line.

Q. Did you give any kind of a firing order?

A. I gave a firing order.

Q. What was your firing order?

A. Men, I am going to give ready fire and you will commence firing on the order of fire.

While first passing off on it, Gen. Patton ordered that the participating soldiers be court-martialed.  West was convicted of pre meditated murder, stripped of his rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment.  His sentence was remitted in 1944, and he served the rest of the war, ironically gaining a semi heroic status as a sniper.

He died in Oklahoma in 1974.

Compton was court-martialed and acquitted, but a Judge Advocate review declared that the action had been unlawful.  Compton was transferred and then killed in Italy in 1943.

Both West and Compton sited a speech by Patton as the partial basis of their action.  Compton specifically stated:

During the Camberwell operation in North Africa, George S.Patton, in a speech to assembled officers, stated that in the case where the enemy was shooting to kill our troops and then that we came close enough on him to get him, decided to quit fighting, he must die. Those men had been shooting at us to kill and had not  marched up to us to surrender. They had been surprised and routed, putting them, in my belief, in the category of the General's  statement.

Patton was cleared of wrongdoing by investigators, and this was likely at least in part a defense crafted by their lawyers.

While not really knowing the story of either men, West was 32 years old at the time of the incident and seems to have likely been a fairly tough Texan/Oklahoman.  He may really not have seen anything wrong with his actions.  Compton seems to have been extremely fatigues, although that offers a poor excuse.

Beyond that, this event offers a rare glimpse into a well documented US war crime during the war.  Allied war crimes are not much discussed, and were not discussed at all until relatively recently, but they did occur.  Executions of POWs such as the West example, while certainly never sanctioned, were more common in the ETO than we might like to imagine, and taking Japanese POWs was something that was only rarely done, for a variety of reasons, after the fairly early stages of the war, one of those reasons being that the Japanese weren't inclined to surrender.  The strafing of farmers was also much more common in the ETO than recognized for the most part.

For this same day, on Sarah Sundin's blog, the following is noted:

Today in World War II History—July 14, 1943: On Sicily, British Eighth Army takes Vizzini, Lentini, and Simeto. In Krasnodor, Russia, Soviets try 11 Germans in the first war crimes trial of the war.

Wednesday July , 1943. Slow Progress at Kursk, Progress at Mubo, Captured arms for Finns, Bishop of Iceland, Social Pressure in Oregon.*

Il-2s at Kursk. By RIA Novosti archive, image #225 / Fyodor Levshin / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15577237

It was day two for the Battle of Kursk. The Germans suffered substantial tank losses due to IL-2 action.

Ground forces highly valued the work of aviation on the battlefield. In a number of instances enemy attacks were thwarted thanks to our air operations. Thus on 7 July enemy tank attacks were disrupted in the Kashara region (13th Army). Here our assault aircraft delivered three powerful attacks in groups of 20–30, which resulted in the destruction and disabling of 34 tanks. The enemy was forced to halt further attacks and to withdraw the remnants of his force north of Kashara.

 Glantz and Orenstein 1999, p. 260.

I'd be skeptical of the number claimed in that entry, but the problem faced is an obvious one. Indeed, the Germans were attacking a salient that was defended in depth, and their air force wasn't what it had once been.  The tactical problem is similar to that which is faced by Ukraine today.

The Wehrmacht's 9th Army, commanded by Walter Model, made only small gains on the Central Front.  Hoth's 4th Panzer Army nearly broke through Voronezh Front defenses around Syrtzevo but Soviet armored counterattacks prevented this from occurring.

The Australians bombed Mubo, New Guinea and captured Observation Hill thereafter.

The Finns passed out captured Russian arms to civilians for home defense.

Jóhannes Gunnarsson, SMM was consecrated as the Catholic Bishop of Hólar, Iceland in Washington, D.C.  He had been appointed to be head of the Catholic Church in Iceland the prior February.  He occupied the position until 1967, when he resigned as he was facing ill health.

Born in Reykjavik, he had been a Catholic Priest since 1924 and was the first Icelandic Catholic Bishop since Jón Arason, who was beheaded with his two sons by King Christian III in 1550. 

Christianity had come to Iceland in the form of the Latin Rite with Irish monks, who inhabited the island prior to Scandinavian conquest, and then with Irish slaves held there, although it seems some early missionary activity may have occured well before the Althing adopted it for the island in 1000. It remained a Catholic country until King Christian III of Denmark and Norway forced it on those countries following a civil war in Denmark.  A civil war over the issue occured in Iceland, where Catholic opposition to Lutheranism was put down by royalist forces.  Catholicism was outlawed after that and the formerly Catholic island became a Lutheran one, with those refusing to convert forced into exile.  Oddly, Latin remained the language of the Church of Iceland, however, until 1686.

The Catholic Church reappeared officially in 1855.  The Church has grown quite a bit in recent years, but remains small.  The Lutheran Church on the island had been in the very conservative branch until after World War Two, when it went over to the liberal branch thereafter.

Women in Oregon applied social pressure to war work:

"No work, no woo" pledge, 1943

Rudolph Foster, age 70, Chief Clerk of the White House Executive Offices since 1897, passed away.

*This was mistakenly run as the July 6 series of events for 1943.  Nope, this all happened on July 7.

Sunday, June 20, 1943. Race riots in Detroit, Action in the Pacific.

A three-day race riot that would result in the deaths of 34 people broke out in Detroit, starting at the Belle Island park as a fistfight.

Race riots were a feature of Detroit life for many years. The city had been a major destination during the Great Migration, given its industrial employment opportunities.

The Allies commenced the New Georgia Campaign against the Japanese.  The first action was a Marine Corps landing on the Kula Gulf on New Georgia.

The Battle of Lababia Ridge began on New Guinea, with Australians advancing on Japanese positions.  The battle would last for three days and result in an Australian victory.

Sarah Sundin noted that Oscar Holmes became the first black pilot in the U.S. Navy on this day, but only because the Navy was not aware that the light skinned Holmes was in fact black.

The Navy did discover his ethnicity later on, but by that point judged that it would have been too embarrassing to note it in any fashion.

A U.S. meteorological flight over northern Quebec discovered the The Pingualuit Crater (Cratère des Pingualuit:), formerly called the "Chubb Crater" and later the "New Quebec Crater" (Cratère du Nouveau-Québec).

Thursday, April 22, 1943. The end of the Axis in Tunisia.

The Battle of Longstop Hill commenced in Tunisia.

Bringing down the wounded at Longstop Hill.  Note Churchill tank in the background.

Churchill tanks played a critical role in the battle, which ended on April 23 and oddly contributed to the Allied war effort in an odd way.  A Churchill disabled a Tiger I, Tiger 131, which was then captured and heavily studied.

Tiger 131.

Of note, in this late stage of the war in North Africa armor upgrades were becoming a significant factor.  Earlier much of the fighting had been done with late pre-war tanks, but now it was being done by tanks developed during the war itself, including the new heavy tanks.

The Luftwaffe sustained a disaster as a flight of massive Messerschmidt Me 323s were hit by Allied aircraft just as their fighter escort had move out of the way to allow a German flight of Ju52s to pass by.  Fourteen of sixteen of the aircraft were shot down by the RAF and the South African Air Force.

The Battles of Bobdubi and Mubo commenced between Australia and Japan on New Guinea and Allied forces commenced an offensive in this theatre of the war.

Australian troops during the offensive.  Note the US pattern leggings and M1928 Thompson submachine gun.

Wednesday, February 10, 1943. Duct Tape and German foreign legions

A year long, mostly Australian, but also containing Kiwi and Dutch troops, guerilla campaign against the Japanese on Timor ended in an Allied withdrawal.

While the Japanese prevailed in the action, the small Allied forces dedicated to it had tied up an entire Japanese division for an entire year, amounting to an Allied strategic victory.  The ad hoc Allied unit was dubbed "Sparrow Force", reflecting its small size.

The Red Army outside of Leningrad attacked at Krasny Bor. All in all, the attack was not a Red Army success.  

As an aside, the Spanish Blue Division was engaged by the Red Army in this battle and sustained a 70% casualty rate, partially resulting in its technical end, although it was replaced by the Blue Legion of Spanish volunteers which was subsequently disbanded in March 1944, as Franco read the tea leaves.  Spanish prisoners captured in this action, which were not numerous, were not repatriated until 1954. Approximately 300 Spaniards were kept by the USSR until that time, in part because Span and the Soviet Union did not have diplomatic relations with each other.

The Blue Division was organized by Spain and contained a sizable contingent of soldiers who had received leave from the Spanish Army in order to join it, although it also contained many volunteers from the Spanish far right.  For that reason, it was regarded as a Spanish formation by the Western Allies, who pressured Franco to withdraw it.  Franco also received pressure from Spanish conservatives and the Catholic Church as well.  The legion's connection would be less pronounced, and accordingly also more hardcore fascist, and it was eventually absorbed by the SS.

Hitler authorized the Blue Division Medal (Erinnerungsmedaille für die spanischen Freiwilligen im Kampf gegen den Bolschewismus) due to this action, which he personally had designed.

The Blue Division is interesting in quite a few ways, not the least of which is that figuring out Franco's motives in any one thing are always a bit difficult to do.  Allowing the recruitment of a division amounted to aid to the Germans, in addition to that which was already being provided, without committing to the war as Italy had.  It also meant that the most  hardcore of the Spanish right was bleeding in the war, which a person has to suspect didn't hurt Franco's feelings, as he was never actually a Falangist himself.

The SS began recruiting Bosnian Muslims for the Waffen SS 13th Division.  They did not respond to the call as enthusiastically as hoped, and while this unit remains popular amongst Wehrmacht fans, it isn't an example of a hugely successful SS foreign recruiting drive.  Indeed, most such efforts by the SS were not terribly successful.

Classified as mountain infantry, the division did come to full strength and was used in anti-partisan warfare in Yugoslavia, where, like most such units, it gained a reputation for barbarity.  About 10% of the division was made up of non-Muslim, principally Croatian, recruits, which Himmler had not desired to enlist.  Officers of the unit were German or Yugoslavian Volkdeutsch.  

Its area of operations were limited to Bosnia and its an example of how some of World War Two became, locally, a bigger war within a local war.  Yugoslavia featured a particularly difficult to follow civil war throughout World War Two.

Up to a 1,000 survivors of this unit, and another one, went on to fight against the Israelis in Arab armies in the 1948-49 Arab Israeli War.

Vesta Stoudt, an ordinance factor worker, wrote to President Roosevelt about her idea for what would become duct tape.

Mohandas Gandi started a hunger strike while imprisoned in response to the British government's request that he condemn the violence of the Quit India Movement. 

Friday January 29, 1943. Japanese assaults, German conscription.

The Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro broadcast on German radio that all men from 16 to 65 years of age and all women from 17 to 45 years of age were to be conscripted for labor.  

Adolf Hitler had been Chancellor for nine years and 364 days. 1

The Battle of Rennell Island saw the Japanese commit significant air assets against the U.S. Navy in an effort to protect the Japanese withdrawal from Guadalcanal.  The heavy cruiser USS Chicago was sunk in the action.

The Battle of Wau also began on New Guinea where the Japanese outflanked the Allies to land at Lae and advance on the Australian base at Wau.

The Marine Corps Women's Reserve was created.

Friday, January 23, 1943. Chinook.

A Chinook wind caused an increase in temperature in Spearfish, South Dakota, in which the temperature went from -4F to 45F in two minutes.  It ultimately went up to 54F over two hours, then dropped back below 0 in 30 minutes, all of this in a single morning.

Papua was liberated from the Japanese, becoming the first territory they had captured from which they'd been completely expelled.

Japan's losses on the island were 13,000 in number, compared to 2,000 for Australia and 600 for the United States.

On the same day, the British 8th Army took Tripoli.

According to many sources, today, not yesterday, was the date on which the Germans lost their last airfield at Stalingrad.

French police and German forces began the Marseilles Roundup, the gathering and deportation of the city's Jewish population.  The action would result in the deportation of 1,642 people, the displacement of 20,000 and the arrest of 6,000.  The Old Port district was destroyed.

Margaret Bourke-White flew in a U.S. bombing mission over Tunis in the B-17 Little Bill.  The photographer and reporter was the first woman to do so.

Bourke-White was already a famous photographer by that time, having photographed extensively during the Great Depression and having photographed the Soviet Union prior to World War Two.  She died at age 67 in 1971 of Parkinson's Disease.

Franklin Roosevelt dined with Moroccan Sultan Mohammed V, during which he expressed sympathy for post-war Moroccan independence.

Roosevelt was always solidly anti-colonial, a fact that became an increasing problem for the British as the war went on and which would impact the immediate post war world.

Monday, December 14, 1942. Buna taken by the Allies, the USS Nevada at sea, Ethiopia declares war.

Today in World War II History—December 14, 1942: US and Australian troops occupy Buna, New Guinea. On sub USS Grayback in the Bismarck Islands, an appendectomy is performed by a pharmacist's mate.

Reports Sarah Sundin.

Ethiopia declared war on Germany, Italy and Japan.  

The country had lost a bitter war against the Italians prior to World War Two, the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, but then was liberated by the British Army in 1941, after which the remaining Italian forces launched a forgotten guerilla war that continued on into 1943, ending with the Italian surrender to the Allies.

Ethiopian head of state, Emperor Haile Selassie I at Jubilee Palace in 1942.

Royal Navy cruiser Argonaut was torpedoed and heavily damaged in the Mediterranean by Italian submarine Mocenigo.

Wednesday, December 9, 1942. Australians take Gona, Patch takes over on Guadalcanal.

"Packages for prisoners of war and internees. Americans taken prisoners of war or interned by Germany and Italy regularly receive standard American Red Cross food packages, shown here stacked like bricks in the International Red Cross warehouse at Geneva, Switzerland. U.S. prisoners of war receive one package a week as soon as the Red Cross is notified of their capture and location. Internees receive one package every two weeks. As of December 9, 1942, Germany and Italy had reported 243 American prisoners of war and 1512 interned civilians. Each package weighs eleven pounds and contains evaporated milk, biscuits, cheese, cocoa, sardines, pork, beef, chocolate bars, sugar, coffee, powered orange concentrate, prunes, cigarettes and smoking tobacco."  Library of Congress.

Australian forces captured Gona.

Sarah Sundin notes this milestone:

Today in World War II History—December 9, 1942: US Marines under Lt. Gen. Alexander Vandegrift turn over operations on Guadalcanal to US Army under Maj. Gen. Alexander Patch.

Guadalcanal in the popular imagination is a Marine Corps battle, but the Army fought there too and, as noted, overall command of the battle was put in charge of an Army general in this later stage.  Indeed, Patch had just arrived with the Americal Division to relieve the 1st Marine Division, which was severely depleted by malaria this point.  The Americal Division itself would be severely depleted within a month and relieved by the 25th Infantry Division.

Patch.

Patch fits into that category of senior U.S. commanders who served well in the war, but who physically showed the strain.  He'd been ill prior to Guadalcanal, and serving there depleted his health further.  He was 52 years old at the time, but he'd die at 55 of pneumonia, a diseases he'd just recovered from, somewhat, prior to deploying to Guadalcanal.  His death came in November, 1945.

"Answering call for volunteer nurses aides. Part of the class of senior volunteer nurses aides of Freedmen's Hospital, Washington, D.C. They received their caps and pins on December 9, 1942, in the first class to graduate from this hospital. First row, left to right: Mr. Gertrude Stone, assistant captain, Mrs. Lynwood Cundiff, Miss Doris Stevenson, Mrs. Arthur Randall, Mrs. Martin Beleno, Mrs. Robert Ming; Second row: Mrs. George M. Johnson, captain, Miss Susie Freeman, Miss Florence Grant and Mrs. Louis Lucas."  Library of Congress.

Dick Butkus, legendary American football player, was born.

Fr. Aloysius Liguda drowned with nine other prisoners at Dachau.

Saturday, November 7, 1942. Giraud escapes France.

The British submarine Seraph smuggled French general Henri Giraud out of France.

Giraud was an opponent of the Vichy regime and had escaped German captivity, for Switzerland, back in April.  Vichy tried to lure him back, but he demurred.

While all in anticipation of Torch, the submarine took Giraud to Gibraltar, where he remained until November 9.  Relationships between the Free French officers were always highly complicated and tense, in part because their legitimacy was really legally questionable, which their organization, supported by the Allies, reflected. The Allies always tried to split the difference between outright firebrand rebels, like DeGaulle, and those who still held some ties to Vichy as the legal government.  Those in a position in between, like Giraud, were in an odd spot.

Stalin issued his Order of the Day proclaiming, on the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution, that Germany had "yet to feel the weight" of the Red Army, a promise which turned out to be true.

The Australians flanked the Japanese on the Kokoda Track.

Johnny Rivers, blues influenced rock musician, was born in New York City.

Tuesday, October 27, 1942. The execution of Helmuth Hübener.

Helmuth Günther Guddat Hübener, age 17, was executed by Germany for his role in a youthful German resistance group.

Hübener is unusual not only for his age, but for his religion.  He was a Mormon, a religion that was not common in Germany.  Moreover, the German LDS themselves had not come to a position on the repression of the Jews.  By and large it seems the majority of them were not supportive of the Nazi's repression of the Jews, but Hübener had the bad luck of his local branch having a handful who were, and he was even apparently expelled from the religion by a local figure prior to his execution.  In contrast, all the members of his small anti-Nazi group were also Mormons, and also youths.

The Battle of Santa Cruz Islands concluded with the Japanese winning a tactical victory while the US won the strategic victory, the latter being the more important of the two.  Japanese losses were high, and the result was that the Japanese lost the ability to obtain victory in the Pacific before superior US production would come to bear.

The Australians took Goodenough Island off of New Guinea.

The island would be developed into an air base.

The defense of Outpost Snipe came to a successful British conclusion.

Tuesday, September 8, 1942. Marine Raiders at Taivu.

World War Two shoulder insignia of the Marine Raiders.

The Marine Corps 1st Raider Battalion landed at Taivu, behind Japanese lines, on Guadalcanal and destroyed the Japanese base camp that was being used to prepare for a large-scale offensive.  The Marines were aware of the Japanese landings at that point. The raid disrupted the Japanese effort and revealed intelligence on the size of the Japanese forces, some 5,200 troops, committed to Taivu Point.

At Efogi, Papua, Japanese efforts prevent Australian counterattacks and result in a nighttime Australian withdrawal from their positions.

Today in World War II History—September 8, 1942: Joint British-American directive is issued consigning night bombing of Nazi-occupied Europe to the RAF and daylight bombing to the US Eighth Air Force.

From Sarah Sundin's blog.

I wasn't aware that this was part of a directive, but had thought it simply reflected the tactical thought of the two different air forces.  At any rate, it did so reflect them.

The RAF, based on its early experiences in the war, simply felt that daytime raids were too costly, and frankly from their prospective they definitely were.  Their turning to the night, however, meant that they sacrificed accuracy for safety.  The U.S. Army, in contrast, was extremely confident in the precision of its bombing and hoped for accuracy, thereby making it willing to take large losses.  In contrast, however, it could afford them, and it somewhat compensated for the risk to its crews by limiting the number of missions they would fly until they were rotated home.  Nonetheless, early on, few crews made it to that number.

The result was that Germany was bombed night and day, although not very accurately by either air force.

Perhaps ironically, also on this day, a nighttime RAF raid on Frankfurt dropped most of its bombs in the countryside outside the city, and as far away as Russelsheim some fifteen miles distant.

Monday, September 7, 1942. Japanese defeated at Milne Bay.

Today in World War II History—September 7, 1942: In Egypt, Battle of Alam Halfa Ridge ends when Germans are forced back. Australians give Japanese their first land defeat of WWII, at Milne Bay, New Guinea.

From Sarah Sundin's blog.

The British executed Operation Branford, a raid on the Channel Island of Burhou.  It was a scouting raid to determine if the island would serve as an artillery base for a contemplated landing on Alderney.\

President Roosevelt gave a fireside chat on inflation in which he stated:

My friends:

I wish that all Americans could read all the citations for various medals recommended for our soldiers and sailors and marines. I am picking out one of these citations which tells of the accomplishments of Lieutenant John James Powers, United States Navy, during three days of the battles with Japanese forces in the Coral Sea. 

During the first two days, Lieutenant Powers, flying a dive-bomber in the face of blasting enemy anti-aircraft fire, demolished one large enemy gunboat, put another gunboat out of commission, severely damaged an aircraft tender and a twenty-thousand-ton transport, and scored a direct hit on an aircraft carrier which burst into flames and sank soon after. 

The official citation then describes the morning of the third day of battle. As the pilots of his squadron left the ready room to man their planes, Lieutenant Powers said to them, "Remember, the folks back home are counting on us. I am going to get a hit if I have to lay it on their flight deck. 

He led his section down to the target from an altitude of 18,000 feet, through a wall of bursting anti-aircraft shells and swarms of enemy planes. He dived almost to the very deck of the enemy carrier, and did not release his bomb until he was sure of a direct hit. He was last seen attempting recovery from his dive at the extremely low altitude of two hundred feet, amid a terrific barrage of shell and bomb fragments, and smoke and flame and debris from the stricken vessel. His own plane was destroyed by the explosion of his own bomb. But he had made good his promise to "lay it on the flight deck."

I have received a recommendation from the Secretary of the Navy that Lieutenant John James Powers of New York City, missing in action, be awarded the Medal of Honor. I hereby and now make this award.

You and I are "the folks back home" for whose protection Lieutenant Powers fought and repeatedly risked his life. He said that we counted on him and his men. We did not count in vain. But have not those men a right to be counting on us? How are we playing our part "back home" in winning this war?

The answer is that we are not doing enough.

Today I sent a message to the Congress, pointing out the overwhelming urgency of the serious domestic economic crisis with which we are threatened. Some call it " inflation," which is a vague sort of term, and others call it a "rise in the cost of living," which is much more easily understood by most families.

That phrase, "the cost of living," means essentially what a dollar can buy.

From January 1, 1941, to May of this year, nearly a year and a half, the cost of living went up about 15%. And at that point last May we undertook to freeze the cost of living. But we could not do a complete job of it, because the Congressional authority at the time exempted a large part of farm products used for food and for making clothing, although several weeks before, I had asked the Congress for legislation to stabilize all farm prices.

At that time I had told the Congress that there were seven elements in our national economy, all of which had to be controlled; and that if any one essential element remained exempt, the cost of living could not be held down.

On only two of these points -- both of them vital however -- did I call for Congressional action. These two vital points were: First, taxation; and, second, the stabilization of all farm prices at parity.

"Parity" is a standard for the maintenance of good farm prices. It was established as our national policy way back in 1933. It means that the farmer and the city worker are on the same relative ratio with each other in purchasing power as they were during a period some thirty years (ago) before -- at a time then the farmer had a satisfactory purchasing power. 100 percent of parity, therefore, has been accepted by farmers as the fair standard for the prices they receive.

Last January, however, the Congress passed a law forbidding ceilings on farm prices below 110 percent of parity on some commodities. And on other commodities the ceiling was even higher, so that the average possible ceiling is now about 116 percent of parity for agricultural products as a whole.

This act of favoritism for one particular group in the community increased the cost of food to everybody -- not only to the workers in the city or in the munitions plants, and their families, but also to the families of the farmers themselves. 

Since last May, ceilings have been set on nearly all commodities, rents (and) services, except the exempted farm products. Installment buying, for example, has been (effectively) effectually stabilized and controlled. 

Wages in certain key industries have been stabilized on the basis of the present cost of living. 

But it is obvious to all of us (however) that if the cost of food continues to go up, as it is doing at present, the wage earner, particularly in the lower brackets, will have a right to an increase in his wages. I think that would be essential justice and a practical necessity.

Our experience with the control of other prices during the past few months has brought out one important fact -- the rising cost of living can be controlled, providing that all elements making up the cost of living are controlled at the same time. I think that also is an essential justice and a practical necessity. We know that parity prices for farm products not now controlled will not put up the cost of living more than a very small amount; but we also know that if we must go up to an average of 116% of parity for food and other farm products -- which is necessary at present under the Emergency Price Control Act before we can control all farm prices -- the cost of living will get well out of hand. We are face to face with this danger today. Let us meet it and remove it.

I realize that it may seem out of proportion to you to be (worrying about) over-stressing these economic problems at a time like this, when we are all deeply concerned about the news from far distant fields of battle. But I give you the solemn assurance that failure to solve this problem here at home -- and to solve it now -- will make more difficult the winning of this war. 

If the vicious spiral of inflation ever gets under way, the whole economic system will stagger. Prices and wages will go up so rapidly that the entire production program will be endangered. The cost of the war, paid by taxpayers, will jump beyond all present calculations. It will mean an uncontrollable rise in prices and in wages, which can result in raising the overall cost of living as high as another 20 percent soon. That would mean that the purchasing power of every dollar that you have in your pay envelope, or in the bank, or included in your insurance policy or your pension, would be reduced to about eighty cents worth. I need not tell you that this would have a demoralizing effect on our people, soldiers and civilians alike. 

Overall stabilization of prices, and salaries, and wages and profits is necessary to the continued increasing production of planes and tanks and ships and guns. 

In my Message to Congress today, I have (told the Congress) said that this must be done quickly. If we wait for two or three or four or six months it may well be too late. 

I have told the Congress that the Administration can not hold the actual cost of food and clothing down to the present level beyond October first. 

Therefore, I have asked the Congress to pass legislation under which the President would be specifically authorized to stabilize the cost of living, including the price of all farm commodities. The purpose should be to hold farm prices at parity, or at levels of a recent date, whichever is higher. The purpose should also be to keep wages at a point stabilized with today's cost of living. Both must be regulated at the same time; and neither one of them can or should be regulated without the other. 

At the same time that farm prices are stabilized, I will stabilize wages. 

That is plain justice -- and plain common sense. 

And so I have asked the Congress to take this action by the first of October. We must now act with the dispatch, which the stern necessities of war require. 

I have told the Congress that inaction on their part by that date will leave me with an inescapable responsibility, a responsibility to the people of this country to see to it that the war effort is no longer imperiled by the threat of economic chaos. 

As I said in my Message to the Congress: 

In the event that the Congress should fail to act, and act adequately, I shall accept the responsibility, and I will act. 

The President has the powers, under the Constitution and under Congressional Acts, to take measures necessary to avert a disaster which would interfere with the winning of the war. 

I have given the most careful and thoughtful consideration to meeting this issue without further reference to the Congress. I have determined, however, on this vital matter to consult with the Congress. 

There may be those who will say that, if the situation is as grave as I have stated it to be, I should use my powers and act now. I can only say that I have approached this problem from every angle, and that I have decided that the course of conduct which I am following in this case is consistent with my sense of responsibility as President in time of war, and with my deep and unalterable devotion to the processes of democracy. 

The responsibilities of the President in wartime to protect the Nation are very grave. This total war, with our fighting fronts all over the world, makes the use of the executive power far more essential than in any previous war. 

If we were invaded, the people of this country would expect the President to use any and all means to repel the invader. 

Now the Revolution and the War between the States were fought on our own soil, but today this war will be won or lost on other continents and in remote seas. I cannot tell what powers may have to be exercised in order to win this war. 

The American people can be sure that I will use my powers with a full sense of responsibility to the Constitution and to my country. The American people can also be sure that I shall not hesitate to use every power vested in me to accomplish the defeat of our enemies in any part of the world where our own safety demands such defeat. 

And when the war is won, the powers under which I act will automatically revert to the people of the United States -- to the people to whom (they) those powers belong. 

I think I know the American farmers. I know (that) they are as wholehearted in their patriotism as any other group. They have suffered from the constant fluctuations of farm prices -- occasionally too high, more often too low. Nobody knows better than farmers the disastrous effects of wartime inflationary booms, and post-war deflationary panics. 

So I have also suggested today (suggested) that the Congress make our agricultural economy more stable. I have recommended that in addition to putting ceilings on all farm products now, we also place a definite floor under those prices for a period beginning now, continuing through the war, and for as long as necessary after the war. In this way we will be able to avoid the collapse of farm prices (which) that happened after the last war. The farmers must be assured of a fair minimum price during the readjustment period which will follow the great, excessive world food demands (which) that now prevail. 

We must have some floor under farm prices, as we must have under wages, if we are to avoid the dangers of a post-war inflation on the one hand, or the catastrophe of a crash in farm prices and wages on the other. 

Today I have also advised the Congress of the importance of speeding up the passage of the tax bill. The Federal Treasury is losing millions of dollars (a) each and every day because the bill has not yet been passed. Taxation is the only practical way of preventing the incomes and profits of individuals and corporations from getting too high. 

I have told the Congress once more that all net individual incomes, after payment of all taxes, should be limited effectively by further taxation to a maximum net income of ($25,000) 25 thousand dollars a year. And it is equally important that corporate profits should not exceed a reasonable amount in any case. 

The nation must have more money to run the War. People must stop spending for luxuries. Our country needs a far greater share of our incomes. 

For this is a global war, and it will cost this nation nearly one hundred billion dollars in 1943. 

In that global war there are now four main areas of combat; and I should like to speak briefly of them, not in the order of their importance, for all of them are vital and all of them are interrelated. 

(1) The Russian front. Here the Germans are still unable to gain the smashing victory which, almost a year ago, Hitler announced he had already achieved. Germany has been able to capture important Russian territory. Nevertheless, Hitler has been unable to destroy a single Russian Army; and this, you may be sure, has been, and still is, his main objective. Millions of German troops seem doomed to spend another cruel and bitter winter on the Russian front. Yes, the Russians are killing more Nazis, and destroying more airplanes and tanks than are being smashed on any other front. They are fighting not only bravely but brilliantly. In spite of any setbacks Russia will hold out, and with the help of her Allies will ultimately drive every Nazi from her soil. 

(2) The Pacific Ocean Area. This area must be grouped together as a whole --every part of it, land and sea. We have stopped one major Japanese offensive; and we have inflicted heavy losses on their fleet. But they still possess great strength; they seek to keep the initiative; and they will undoubtedly strike hard again. We must not over-rate the importance of our successes in the Solomon Islands, though we may be proud of the skill with which these local operations were conducted. At the same time, we need not under-rate the significance of our victory at Midway. There we stopped the major Japanese offensive. 

(3) In the Mediterranean and the Middle East area the British, together with the South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders, Indian troops and others of the United Nations, including ourselves, are fighting a desperate battle with the Germans and Italians. The Axis powers are fighting to gain control of that area, dominate the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, and gain contact with the Japanese Navy. The battle in the Middle East is now joined. We are well aware of our danger, but we are hopeful of the outcome. 

(4) The European area. Here the aim is an offensive against Germany. There are at least a dozen different points at which attacks can be launched. You, of course, do not expect me to give details of future plans, but you can rest assured that preparations are being made here and in Britain toward this purpose. The power of Germany must be broken on the battlefields of Europe. 

Various people urge that we concentrate our forces on one or another of these four areas, although no one suggests that any one of the four areas should be abandoned. Certainly, it could not be seriously urged that we abandon aid to Russia, or that we surrender all of the Pacific to Japan, or the Mediterranean and Middle East to Germany, or give up an offensive against Germany. The American people may be sure that we shall neglect none of the four great theaters of war. 

Certain vital military decisions have been made. In due time you will know what these decisions are -- and so will our enemies. I can say now that all of these decisions are directed toward taking the offensive. 

Today, exactly nine months after Pearl Harbor, we have sent overseas three times more men than we transported to France in the first nine months of the first World War. We have done this in spite of greater danger and fewer ships. And every week sees a gain in the actual number of American men and weapons in the fighting areas. These reinforcements in men and munitions are continuing, and will continue to go forward. 

This war will finally be won by the coordination of all the armies, navies and air forces of all of the United Nations operating in unison against our enemies. 

This will require vast assemblies of weapons and men at all the vital points of attack. We and our allies have worked for years to achieve superiority in weapons. We have no doubts about the superiority of our men. We glory in the individual exploits of our soldiers, our sailors, our marines, our merchant seamen. Lieutenant John James Powers was one of these -- and there are thousands of others in the forces of the United Nations. 

Several thousand Americans have met death in battle. Other thousands will lose their lives. But many millions stand ready to step into their places -- to engage in a struggle to the very death. For they know that the enemy is determined to destroy us, our homes and our institutions -- that in this war it is kill or be killed. 

Battles are not won by soldiers or sailors who think first of their own personal safety. And wars are not won by people who are concerned primarily with their own comfort, their own convenience, their own pocketbooks. 

We Americans of today bear the gravest of responsibilities. And all of the United Nations share them. 

All of us here at home are being tested -- for our fortitude, for our selfless devotion to our country and to our cause. 

This is the toughest war of all time. We need not leave it to historians of the future to answer the question whether we are tough enough to meet this unprecedented challenge. We can give that answer now. The answer is "Yes."

 It's interesting that the speech was a little bit of a lecture in some ways.