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

"Pvt. Roy McDaniels, Hartford City, Ind., keeps a look out for enemy activity from a 30th Division observation post in Stavelot, Belgium. 30 December, 1944. 1st Battalion, 117th Regiment, 30th Division."  Note that a block has been nailed in to support the tripod of the machinegun, and that McDaniels is carrying a combat knife.

The German 5th Panzer Army made an attempt to encircle Bastogne.  The U.S. 3d Army attacked towards Houffalize.

King George II of Greece proclaimed a regency and appointed Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens to the role.

General Leslie Groves reported that two atomic bombs would be ready for testing by the summer of 1945.

Part I of the Sergei Eisenstein's Russian epic film Ivan the Terrible premiered.  Part II would not be released until 1958, as it was banned.  Eisenstein died in 1948 and a planned Part III was accordingly never made.

Last edition:

Friday, December 29, 1944. Siege of Budapest.

Labels: boats and ships, British Army, Budapest Offensive, Canadian Navy, Commandos, German Kriegsmarine, Red Army, Romanian Army, Siege of Budapest, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Boxing Day, 1944. Third Army broke through to Bastogne.

The Third Army broke through to Bastogne, relieving the siege of the city.  The Royal Air Force hit the German transportation hub at St. Vith.

"Anti-tank gun on guard against attempted German breakthrough on Bastogne. 26 December, 1944. 101st Airborne Division."

Churchill opened a conference between all parties in the Greek political crisis.

The Japanese Navy, in its last raid on the Philippines, hit Mindoro.

Today In Wyoming's History: December 26. Boxing Day: 1944  Kentucky beat Wyoming in football, 50 to 46, in Buffalo New York.

Last edition:

Christmas Day, 1944. Benignitas et humanitas

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Leyte, Battle of the Bulge, Christmas, Clothing, German Wehrmacht, Greek Civil War, Paratroopers, Radio, the spoken word, The written word, Winston Churchill

Monday, December 18, 1944. Typhoon Cobra.

Typhoon Cobra struck the Pacific Fleet doing severe damage to the ships of Task Force 28.  The destroyers Hull, Monaghan and Spence all foundered in the storm.  Other ships were damaged.

USS Langley during the storm.

Douglas MacArthur was promoted to five star rank.

The Third Army ceased operations in Lorraine to redeploy to Belgium.

British troops in Greece opened an offensive against the ELAS.

1944  The Governor of Oklahoma predicted that Mississippi and Wyoming had the brightest oil related futures in the nation.  Attribution.  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1944  U.S. Supreme Court upholds the wartime internment of U.S. Citizens of Japanese extraction, which would of course include those interned at Heart Mountain, Wyoming.

Last edition:

Sunday, December 17, 1944. SS murders in Belgium.

Labels: "Wacht am Rhein", 1940s, 1944, Battle of the Bulge, Belgium, Internment of Japanese, Malmedy Massacre, Prisoners of War, Royal Air Force, War Crimes, Wereth Massacre, World War Two

Tuesday, December 12, 1944. Heavy artillery.

240 mm howitzer firing into Germany from France, December 12, 1944.

The 3d Army captured the V-rocket factory at Wittring in eastern France.

Harold Alexander was promoted to Field Marshal and made Supreme Commander of Allied Force Headquarters in the Mediterranean.

The British commenced an offensive towards Akyab, Burma.

The RAF attacked Witten in a daylight raid. They were escorted by American P-51s.  The city was the last industrial city in the Ruhr to have escaped bombing.

Greek communists asked for cease fire terms.

The U-416 collided with a German minesweeper and sank.  The Z35 and Z36 destroyers were sunk by mines in the Gulf of Finland.  Japanese destroyer sYūzuki and Uzuki were sunk by the U.S. Navy.

Last edition:

Monday, December 11, 1944. The Great Snowstorm of 1944.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά), Greek Civil War, Hungary, Kamikaze, Nazi Germany, Ontario, Quebec, U.S. Navy, Weather, World War Two

Monday, December 11, 1944. The Great Snowstorm of 1944.

The Great Snowstorm of 1944 set in, impacting  northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, upstate New York, southern Ontario and southern Quebec.

Scene from Toronto..

The British 8th Army crossed the Lamone.

The Soviets heavily bombard Budapest.

The US 7th Army entered Haguenau.   The Germans unsuccessfully attacked 3d Army bridgeheads over the Saar.

The Germans completed the murder of the inmates of the Hartheim Euthanasia Centre.

British reinforcements reach Athens to combat some 25,000 ELAS troops.

The USS Reid was sunk off of Leyte by a kamikaze.

Kia (기아), then Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業), was founded in Seoul, which of course was occupied as part of the Japanese Empire.

Last edition:

Sunday, December 10, 1944. Hall of Fame.

Labels: 1930s, 1939, 1940, 1944, baseball, Battle of Leyte, boats and ships, Clothing, Diplomacy, France, Kamikaze, Nobel Prize, USSR, World War Two

Today in World War II History—December 9, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—December 9, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Dec. 9, 1944: In Formosa Strait, submarines USS Redfish and USS Sea Devil damage Japanese carrier Junyo beyond repair.

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

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

The Royal Navy shelled Greek communist positions near Piraeus.

The Red Army took Szigetvár and Vukovar, Hungary.

Canadians took Ravenna, Italy.

The Liberty ship Antoine Saugrain was sunk by Japanese aircraft in Leyte Gulf.  And on the ground:

Today in World War II History—December 5, 1939 & 1944: US launches final offensive on Leyte in the Philippines, driving into the Ormoc Valley. Victory ship SS Red Oak Victory is commissioned into the US Navy

"Men of the 121st Regt., 8th Inf. Div., U.S. First Army, after 15 days at the front, move back along the road from Hurtgen, Germany. 5 December, 1944. 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division. Photographer: T/3 Jack G. [illegible], 165th Signal Photo Co."

" An American infantryman keeps firing while two of his comrades insert fresh ammunition in their rifles, as steady fire from this sheltered infantry covers advance near Rosteig, France. December 5, 1944. K Company, 398th Infantry Regiment, 100th Infantry Division. Rosteig Area, France. December 5, 1944."  Note that the men are wearing L. L. Bean Maine Hunting Shoe boots.

Last edition:

Monday, December 4, 1944. The Dutch Famine.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, boats and ships, Chinese Army, Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά), Dutch Famine, Food, Germany, Greece, Greek Civil War, Imperial Japanese Navy, Netherlands, World War Two

Monday, December 4, 1944. The Dutch Famine.

"Sailors, aboard USS LST 392, discussing D-Day, when Ernie Pyle was their passenger and left his signature on their guns. Shown, left to right: SM3 Chas T. Repik, USNR; SC2c James F. Reardon, USNR; S1c Edward T. Wholley. (Bottom) BM2c Martin A. Reilly, USNR and RM2C Gint Middleton, USNR. Photograph released December 4, 1944."

The Germans cut Dutch bread rations to two pounds per week.

Martial law was declared in Greece.

" Troops of the 14th Chinese Division detruck at North Airstrip, Myyitkyina, Burma, and go into bivouac for night preparatory to boarding planes for China. 4 December, 1944."

Heilbroon was firebombed, resulting in the deaths of 7,147 people.

The Kishinami was sunk in the South China Sea by the USS Flasher.

Last edition:

Sunday, December 3, 1944. Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά)

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, British Army, British Home Guard, Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά), Germany, Greece, Greek Civil War, Red Army

Sunday, December 3, 1944. Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά)

The Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά) began with British troops and Greek police opening fire on a massive left wing demonstration in Athens. This effectively commenced the Greek Civil War.

The Red Army took Miskolc, Hungary.

The USS Cooper was sunk in Ormoc Bay by the Japanese destroyer Take.

The British Home Guard stood down.

The US 20th Corps crossed the Saar in assault boats and secured the main bridge of the Saar.  The 13th Corps reached the Roer.

Last edition:

Saturday, December 2, 1944. Advances in Europe, the Army Navy Game, Eiji Sawamura（沢村栄治).

Labels: 1930s, 1939, 1940s, 1944, Army, baseball, Conscription, football, Germany, Imperial Japanese Army, Personalities, War Loan Drives, World War Two