Thursday, September 13, 1943. Wunderwaffe

The HMHS Newfoundland, a hospital ship, was hit by a German glide bomb in the Mediterranean, while the HMS Uganda was hit by a guided German bomb.

The new German areal munition technology was taking quite a toll.

The HMS Uganda.

The Newfoundland had to be scuttled.  The Uganda was heavily damaged, but returned to service in 1944 as a Canadian ship. She'd see service again during the Korean War as the HMCS Quebec.

The US began to distribute residents of the Tule Lake Relocation Center, which was being converted to a maximum security detention center for Nisei regarded as a significant threat.

Hitler told his aid Karl Wolff that he wanted Pope Pius XII deported to Germany.  On the same day, German emissary to the Vatican Ernst von Weiszacker delivered Hitler's assurances to the Vatican that its sovereignty would be respected.

German counterattacks at Salerno came within one mile of the beaches before being stopped by naval gunfire.  Units from the 82nd Airborne were parachuted in as reinforcements.

In Greece, the Italian Acqui Division resisted German efforts to disarm it.

American actor David Bacon was murdered in Santa Monica.  Surviving a knifing long enough to attempt to drive off, he was found barely alive in his car, wearing only a swimsuit.  He left a pregnant wife. Twenty-nine years old at the time, the mystery has never been solved.

Super Dangerous Activities and Vast Resources

 A lot of Twitter is junk, but this comment hit me a bit:

The death of any man diminishes me but, beyond a quick yet sincere Requiescat for them, my main question now is how many public tax dollars were spent trying to rescue the super-rich from their super-dangerous escapades.

Not that they asked for it.

And not that there isn't an effort to rescue any who are, in the words of the hymn, "in peril on the sea".

But there's just something existentially different about this.

Many will say that nobody has a right to tell other people what to do with their money, but that is in fact wrong, and we do it all the time.  There are plenty of things that are illegal that people spend their money on, and we aren't inclined to make them legal on this basis.

To have cash to such a surplus level that $250,000 can be spent for a single instance of amusement, no matter how profound the experience, raises moral questions of all sorts, and not just for those who are that well funded, but also for the societies allowing this to occur.

And the Titanic is the site of a mass loss of human life.  To spend that amount of money to dive on what is essentially a grave is problematic.

There's a public duty to try to rescue those imperiled, irrespective of their wealth or lack of it. An interesting thing here is that the effort was undertaken when those in the know, already knew these individuals were dead.  The U.S. Navy knew at the instant it occurred.  Those on location did as well.  It sounds as if those on location distributed the news within thirty minutes of it occurring.

I'm not saying that "expend any effort" shouldn't be attempted. That was done, and no doubt that cost at least the United States and Canada millions.

I'm saying that this shouldn't have been allowed in the first place, and that in this era of vast wealth, something should be reassessed.

Wednesday, October 14, 1942. Sinking of the Caribou.

The SS Caribou was sunk by a German submarine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, leading to the loss of 137 lives.  It was one of the most significant shipping losses in Canadian waters during World War Two. 

Today in World War II History—October 14, 1942: Hitler orders halt in east except in Stalingrad and the Caucasus to prepare for winter defense. Australians and Japanese battle for Templeton’s Crossing.

So notes Sarah Sundin.

Also noted, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was formed on this day. The UPA was thought of by its organizers, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist, as a national Ukrainian Army. 

Originally, it was loosely aligned with the Germans, and the OUN offered its services, before it was formed, to the Germans and it was formed as a reaction to Soviet partisans in Ukraine.  In February 1943, however, it also went to war with the Germans.  Ultimately it would fight the Soviets, the Germans, and the Poles, the latter of which it committed terrible atrocities against.

UPA Poster

The UPA is emblematic of the ambiguous nature of the wars within the Second World War that were fought in the east.  By this point, the Ukrainians had fought the Russians in the Russian Civil War, and the Poles at approximately the same time. They'd established an independent state with more territory than Ukraine currently has, only to lose it in Soviet incorporation.  The Soviets had subjected the Ukrainians to mass starvation intentionally. When the Germans arrived, many Ukrainians greeted them with the traditional gift of bread and salt.  At this point in the war, it wasn't yet clear to Ukrainian nationalist that the Germans had no intention of further enslaving Ukraine, but it soon would be.

The thought that an insurgent army of this type could prevail against the Germans and the Soviets was naive.  That the UPA also thought that it had to reengage in a sometimes genocidal war with the Poles was inexcusable.

Friday, July 31, 1942. More Case Blue confusion. Canada establishes the Wrens. Marines depart to invade Guadalcanal.

From Sarah Sundin's blog

Today in World War II History—July 31, 1942: Germans cross River Don in Ukraine. Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service is established; 7000 will serve in the WRCNS as Wrens.

Canada had been reluctant to bring women into naval service.

FWIW, a relative of mine served in the Wrens during the war, even though it had already taken women into the army and the RCAF. For that reason, the Wrens were actually established slightly after the WAVES.

As a perhaps slightly salacious side note, starting in 1943 the Wrens started publishing their own newspaper, the Tiddly Times.  The name came from a British seams nickname for something extra to decorate uniforms, but that was an odd choice of titles for more than one reason.

As a note, it's interesting the extent to which we're reading of the Germans as aggressors trying to conquer the same lands that the Russians are now attempting to conquer 80 years later.

Regarding Case Blue, Hitler reversed his recent order which had taken the 4th Panzer Army away from the attack on Stalingrad and reassigned it, reversing its direction, and creating additional confusion.

The 1st Marine Divisions embarked on US and Australian ships for the invasion of Guadalcanal.    US aircraft bombed Japanese airfields on the island.

Poster Saturday: If The Cap Fits

The German Navy's U86 commits a high seas atrocity. June 27, 1918.

On this day in 1918 the U86 torpedoed and sank the HMHS Llandovery Castle, a Canadian hospital ship.  Hospital ships were not targets of war under international law and targeting them was further against the standing orders of the German Navy.

When the submarine's crew realized what had occurred, U86's commander ordered the boat surfaced and they in turn began to ram and machinegun the survivors.  Only 26 individuals in one life boat survived the combined sinking and murders.  The loss of life included fourteen Canadian nurses.  Only six of the ninety seven hospital personnel on board survived the event.

The sinking was used in British posters for victory bonds after it had become learned of.

"Llandovery Castle!" became the battle cry of the 3rd Infantry Brigade, 1st Canadian Division as its commanding officer was from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where two of the nursing sisters from the ship were also from.

After the war U86's Lieutenant Helmut Patzig, and two of his officers, Ludwig Dithmar and John Bold, were put on trial for war crimes.  Patzig fled the country and avoided extradition. Dithmar and Bold were convicted and sentenced to four years, from which they escaped, but their sentences were reversed on appeal on the basis that the commander of the U-boat bore full responsibility for the illegal actions.  Patzig lived for a time under an assumed name but returned to German naval service, in the U-boat branch, as a training officer and lived until 1984.

A Canadian opera on the sinking opens today.