Showing posts with label Bernard Law Montgomery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bernard Law Montgomery. Show all posts

Saturday, May 24, 2025

Thursday, May 24, 1945. Japanese paratroopers on Okinawa.

The 10th Army crossed the Asato and entered Naha on Okinawa.  The Japanese landed paratroopers on Yontan airfield and destroyed a large number of aircraft.

Australian troops surrounded Wewak on New Guinea.

Tokyo was heavily hit in a US incendiary rai

Field Marshall Robert Ritter von Greim, age 52, the last commander of the Luftwaffe committed suicide.  Von Greim had been a pilot in World War One and was a recipient of the Blue Max.

De Gaulle awarded Montgomery the Grande Croix of the Legion d'Honneur

Courtney Hodges was given a parade in Georgia.

Last edition:

Wednesday, May 23, 1945. The end of governments.

Sunday, May 4, 2025

Friday, May 4, 1945. The war ends in northwest Europe.

British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery accepted the unconditional surrender of the German forces in the Netherlands, northwest Germany including all islands, Denmark and all naval ships in those areas. 

The US Seventh United States Army captured Innsbruck, Salzburg and Berchtesgaden.

German forces in northeast Germany, Czechoslovakia and Austria begin rearguard actions in an attempt to reach Anglo American lines.

The Red Army too the Oranienburg concentration camp.

Konrad Barde, 47, German Generalmajor committed suicide.

Fedor von Bock, 64, German field marshal was killed by a strafing British aircraft while traveling by car.

Yugoslav partisans entered Fiume.

Last edition:

Thursday, May 3, 1945. Dönitz sends a surrender delegation.

Saturday, May 3, 2025

Thursday, May 3, 1945. Dönitz sends a surrender delegation.

The British and Soviet forces near Wismar on the Baltic coast, 3 May 1945

Karl Dönitz arranged to send a surrender delegation to Bernard Montgomery's headquarters.

The Portuguese government ordered official flags to fly at half-mast in a day of national mourning for Adolf Hitler.

The British Army entered Hamburg unopposed.

The German liner Cap Arcona was sunk by the RAF in the Bay of Lübeck.  It was carrying 5,000 concentration camp prisoners. Over 400 SS personnel made it to lifeboats and were rescued but only 350 of the prisoners survived.

The British Army took Rangoon.

US troops landed near Santa Cruz in the Gulf of Davao.

Work commenced on the United Nations Charter.

Last edition:

Wednesday, May 2, 1945. Berlin taken.

    Tuesday, March 25, 2025

    Sunday, March 25, 1945. Crossing the Rhine.

    The Battle of Remagen ended in a US victory.

    The Red Army began the Bratislava–Brno Offensive.

    Winston Churchill, accompanied by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, crossed the Rhine near Wesel in an Allied landing craft.

    The trip was legitimately dangerous.

    Allied forces began to cross or advance from the Rine nearly everywhere.

    " Left to right: Pvt. Ray Pennington, Princetown, W.Va., Pfc. Emory Neill, Griffith, Ga., and Pfc. Howard J. Stringer, Columbia, Miss., set up their machine gun to watch and harass the Nazi movements on the other side of the Rhine near Oberwesel, Germany. All men are with 76th Infantry Division, 3rd U.S. Army. 25 March, 1945. 76th Infantry Division. Photographer: Tec 5 A.H. Herz, 166th Signal Photo Co."

    "3rd U.S. Army infantrymen load onto tank destroyer in Konigstadien, Germany, as they drive deeper into Germany. 25 March, 1945. Company I, 3rd Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division. Photographer: T/5 Schneider, 166th Signal Photo Co."

    Today in World War II History—March 25, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—Mar. 25, 1945: US Seventh Army crosses the Rhine at Worms. US Fifteenth Air Force based in Italy flies its last strategic bombing mission of WWII.

    Aachen's post Nazi mayor Franz Oppenhoff, age 42, was assassinated by the SS.

    Task Force 58 conducted air raids on Okinawa.

    Marine Corps Maj. Gen. William H. Rupertus, age 55, died of a heart attack.  He was the author of the Rifleman's Creed;

    Rifleman's Creed

    This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

    My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

    Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will ...

    My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit ...

    My rifle is human, even as I [am human], because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will ...

    Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.

    So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!

    Last edition:

    Monday, March 24, 2025

    Saturday, March 24, 1945. Operation Varsity.

    Operation Varsity, part of Operation Plunder, saw British, Canadian and American airborne troops drop around Wesel, Germany.

    Little remembered, and sometimes criticized, the successful operation remains the largest airborne operation ever conducted on a single day and in one location.  Much of the criticism has been based on the operation perhaps being unnecessary, but it's notable that by the end of this day, Montgomery's forces of Operation Plunder, which included American, British and Canadian troops, had established a bridgehead over the Rhine five miles deep.

    German troops in Hungary were retreating in disorder.

    The Red Army took Spolot on the Baltic coast between Gdynia and Danzig.

    Task Force 58 raided Okinawa.

    The Allied Chinese New 1st Army links up with the Chinese 50th Division near Hsipaw, bringing the campaign in northern Burma to an end.

    Last edition:

    Friday, March 23, 1945. Rhine flood.

    Saturday, March 22, 2025

    Thursday, March 22, 1945. Operation Plunder.

    Operation Plunder commanded by Field Marshall Montgomery was launched which saw the 21st Army Group cross the Rhine.The Rhine was crossed was at Rees, Wesel, and south of the river Lippe by the British Second Army under Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey, and the United States Ninth Army under Lieutenant General William H. Simpson.

    89th Infantry Division crossing the Rhine in Operation Plunder.  Note the soldier equipped with a Thompson submachine gun on the deck of the landing craft.

    The U.S. 5th Infantry Division of the 3d Army crossed the Rhine near Nierstein.

    Don Juan, pretender to the Spanish Crown, demanded Franco's resignation.

    Kamikazes make significant strikes on Task Force 58, including with the new Yokosuka MXYZ Ohka suicide rocket plane.

    The Arab League was established.

    Last edition:

    Wednesday, March 21, 1945. Ohka.

    Saturday, December 28, 2024

    Thursday, December 28, 1944. The German staff says Rückzug, Hitler says Angriff.

    "Under conditions of snow and fog which makes visibility impossible, a 155mm howitzer is fired on German positions in Conzen from a location near Roetgen. 28 December, 1944." Battery C, 309th Field Artillery Battalion, 78th Infantry Division.

    Hitler, faced with American advances in the Ardennes, ignored the advice of his senior generals and ordered renewed offensives in the Ardennes and an offensive in Alsace.

    General Eisenhower met with British 21st Army Group command Field Marshal Montgomery to coordinate the counteroffensive.

    Outnumbered Germans and fascist Italians retook Northern Tuscany in the Battle of Garfagnana.

    Soldier of the Italian Social Republic opening the action of a German K98k.


    The Infantry Landing Ship Empire Javelin sank in the English Channel with 1,483 troops aboard. Around twenty soldiers drowned. It's unknown is she was sunk by a U-boat or a mine.  The U-735 was sunk by British aircraft off Horten, Norway.

    1200 B-17s escorted by 700 fighters bombed Coblenz and other targets. The RAF bombed Cologne.

    Churchill agreed to recommend the establishment of a regency to the King of Greece.

    Today In Wyoming's History: December 281944  Governor Lester Hunt proclaimed the day to be Seabee Day.  The Seabees are the Navy's Construction Battalions, hence "CB", or Seabees.  While all of the armed services have always had engineers, the Seabees were an early World War Two creation that proved critical in the construction of airfields and other facilities during the U.S. campaigns in the Pacific during the war.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

    Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens scored eight points (five goals and three assists) during a 9–2 win over the Detroit Red Wings.  It was a record that stood until 1976.  Richard had spent the day prior to the game helping his family move from one Montreal apartment to another, and was exhausted when he showed up for the game.


    Montreal born Richard was the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season, accomplishing the feat in 50 games in 1944–45, and the first to reach 500 career goals.  He played professional hockey from 1942 until 1960.  He lived in Montreal  his entire life.

    Last edition:

    Thursday, December 19, 2024

    Tuesday, December 19, 1944. Reacting to Wacht am Rhein.

     

    "Troops of 10th Armored Division preparing for attack on German spearhead headed toward Bastogne, Belgium, await order to move out. Note refugees in foreground. 19 December, 1944. 10th Armored Division."

    The Germans took about 9,000 surrounded U.S. troops prisoner in the Schnee Eifel region on the Belgian-German border.  US forces were pushed out of German territory.  The 6th SS Panzer Army reached Stavelot and 5th Panzer Army approached Houffalize. US forces in-between these advances continue to hold Gouvy and St. Vith.

    "Infantrymen of 1st U.S. Army gather in Bastogne, Belgium, to regroup after being cut away from their regiment by Germans in the enemy drive in this area. 19 December, 1944. 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division."

    Eisenhower appoints Field Marshal Montgomery, commanding British 21st Army Group, to lead all Allied forces to the north of " the Bulge" and General Bradley, all Allied forces to the south reflecting the tactical situation.

    "101st Airborne Division on the road between Bastogne and Houffalize, Belgium, as they move up to stem German drive. 19 December, 1944. 101st Airborne Division."

    Chester Nimitz was promoted to five star rank.

    Japan determined to cease reenforceing the Japanese 35th Army on Leyte.

    The Japanese aircraft carrier Unryū was sunk in the East China Sea by the Redfish. The German submarine U-737 sank in a collision with depot ship MRS 25 in Vestfjorden, Norway.

    The French newspaper Le Monde published for the first time.



    Last edition:

    Monday, December 18, 1944. Typhoon Cobra.

    Wednesday, September 25, 2024

    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.

    Saturday, August 31, 2024

    Thursday, August 31, 1944. Montgomery promoted. The Red Army in Bucharest. The Mad Gasser in Mattoon, Illinois.

    The Red Army entered a Bucharest already cleared of German troops by the Romanian Army.  Crowds cheered the arrival of the Red Army.

    Romania would be one of the tragic examples of the Red Army not leaving where it appeared following the war. It would take a revolution in the USSR, more or less, and definitely in Romania, to restore Romanian sovereignty and establish Romanian democracy.

    Bernard Law Montgomery was promoted to Field Marshal.


    Almost slandered by American historians since the war, Montgomery was a great man and a strategic genius who had mastered the ability to fight with an economy of resources.  Born in England, but raised in Australia (his father was an Episcopal Bishop), he was truly one of the greatest Allied commanders of the war.

    The 5th Army crossed the Arno.

    Slovene partisans rescued 105 Allied POWs in the Raid at Ožbalt.

    The US prevailed in the Battle of Sansapor.

    Task Force 38.4 attacked Japanese positions on Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima.

    The first of the Mad Gasser of Mattoon incidents in Mattoon, Illinois.

    Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World has a good episode on this really weird event.

    Last edition:

    Wednesday, August 30, 1944. End of Operation Overlord.

    Saturday, June 29, 2024

    Thursday, June 29, 1944. Epsom stalls.

    Pitch fighting occured between the British and the Germans as the Germans counterattacked forces that had gained ground due to Operation Epsom. The German attacks had been anticipated.  British losses, however, had been so high that Gen. Montgomery was contemplating halting the offensive.

    German troops at La Hague surrendered to American troops.

    BAR gunner Pfc. Floyd Rogers, 24, of Rising Star, Texas.  He was already credited with killing 27 German soldiers, some of whom were snipers.  Not too surprisingly, he'd be killed in action on July 12.  Of note, his BAR has had the bipod removed, which was typical, meaning that it was being used as an automatic rifle as originally designed, rather than as a light machinegun.  He's wearing a helmet cover, which is generally seen in US troops in Europe only during the early stages of Operation Overlord, although his cover is of an unusual pattern.  He's also wearing his cotton utility uniform over his wool service uniform.

    Operation Bagration's initial objectives were reached.

    The Battle of Vyborg Bay commenced between the Finns and the Soviets.

    The Red Army liberated Petrozavodsk Concentration Camp, a Finnish concentration camp holding Russians.   The Finns had created these installations in anticipation of population exchanges with the Russians.

    They were different from the German camps as their purpose was different, but wartime conditions did make conditions harsh in them and fostered malnutrition and disease.

    The headquarters of the BBC World Service, Bush House, was hit by a V1.

    The U-478 was sunk by Allied aircraft off of the Faroe Islands.

    Two Marines from Texas on Saipan.

    Last prior edition:

    Wednesday, June 28, 1944. Nazi Germany begins to swallow its generals.