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

Tuesday, November 21, 1944. Vive La France.

Jeep of the French 1st Army, November 21, 1944.

The French 1st Army took Belfort.

German POWs, November 21, 1944.

The battlecruiser Kongō and destroyer Urwakaze were sunk in the South China Sea by the  USS Sealion.

Albanian partisans occupied Tirana and Durazzo.

Last edition:

Monday, November 20, 1944. The sinking of the Mississinewa.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Adolf Hitler, boats and ships, British Army, China, Eastern Front, France, French Army, Greece, Imperial Japanese Navy, Kosovo, Republic of China, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Monday, November 20, 1944. The sinking of the Mississinewa.

The US tanker USS Mississinewa  was sunk by Japanese manned torpedoes off of Ulithi, Micronesia.

She was the first ship to suffer such an attack.

French troops in action, November 20, 1944.

Hitler left the Wolfsschanze for good.

Partisans took Kosovo.

The British commence attempting to disarm Greek partisans.

Lights came back on in the Piccadilly, the Strand and Fleet Street districts of London.

Facing discontent, Chiang Kai-shek appointed a new Minister of War.

M4 Sherman of French 5th Armored Division, Nov 20, 1944.

Last edition:

Sunday, November 19, 1944. Sixth War Loan.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, boats and ships, British Army, poster, Roosevelt, War Loan Drives, World War Two

Wednesday, September 6, 1944. Closing in and winding down. . .

Fighting in the rain, Pfc. Lowell Holt, West Des Moines, Iowa, a member of the 5th Armored Division, takes cover behind a truck as he gets set to draw a bead on a German sniper across the street.

The French captured Chalon-sur-Saône.  The Poles liberated Ypres.  The British took Ghent, Courtrai and Armentieres. The Canadians reached the English Channel north of Calais, south of Boulogne. The U.S. Army crossed the Meuse River south of Namur.

Results of the 113th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron encountering a German convoy in Court - St. Etienne, Belgium, 

The Soviet Tartu Offensive concluded with a Red Army victory.  The Red Army reached the Yugoslavian border.

The United Kingdom ended compulsory training for the Home Guard and relaxed blackout restrictions.  The US announced that it planned on demobilizing 1,000,000 following the defeat of Germany.

The moves made sense in context, but in the American case it was over optimistic.  The war with Japan was about to reach its bloodiest stages and it would soon be determined that the manpower needed to take the home islands would be massive.  Moreover, the US would soon find that it had a deficit of infantry in Europe.

Prince Jan Franciszek Czartoryski, a Polish noble and a Dominican friar, was shot by the Germans during the Warsaw Uprising.

Ted T. Tanouye died of his wounds.  He'd receive the Medal of Honor.

Technical Sergeant Ted T. Tanouye distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 7 July 1944, near Molino A Ventoabbto, Italy. Technical Sergeant Tanouye led his platoon in an attack to capture the crest of a strategically important hill that afforded little cover. Observing an enemy machine gun crew placing its gun in position to his left front, Technical Sergeant Tanouye crept forward a few yards and opened fire on the position, killing or wounding three and causing two others to disperse. Immediately, an enemy machine pistol opened fire on him. He returned the fire and killed or wounded three more enemy soldiers. While advancing forward, Technical Sergeant Tanouye was subjected to grenade bursts, which severely wounded his left arm. Sighting an enemy-held trench, he raked the position with fire from his submachine gun and wounded several of the enemy. Running out of ammunition, he crawled 20 yards to obtain several clips from a comrade on his left flank. Next, sighting an enemy machine pistol that had pinned down his men, Technical Sergeant Tanouye crawled forward a few yards and threw a hand grenade into the position, silencing the pistol. He then located another enemy machine gun firing down the slope of the hill, opened fire on it, and silenced that position. Drawing fire from a machine pistol nest located above him, he opened fire on it and wounded three of its occupants. Finally taking his objective, Technical Sergeant Tanouye organized a defensive position on the reverse slope of the hill before accepting first aid treatment and evacuation. Technical Sergeant Tanouye's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.

Lest it create some confusion, the rank of Technical Sergeant later became Sergeant First Class, with the same insignia.  A Technician Fourth Grade wore an insignia with three chevrons and a T.

The U.S. Navy's Task Force 38 hit all of the Palau Islands.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 5, 1944. The USSR declares war on Bulgaria.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Turda Romania, boats and ships, Bulgaria, Eastern Front, France, German Kriegsmarine, Italy, New York, Ontario, Radio, Slovakia, SOE, Soviet Navy, Sweden, The Holocaust, USSR, World War Two

Saturday, August 26, 1944. De Gaulle in the streets of Paris. Bulgaria calls it quits.

Charles de Gaulle marched in the streets of paris, German sniper fire notwithstanding.

T-Sgt. Kenneth Averill, 563 Marshall St., Hazel Park, Mich., of the 4th Signal Co., 4th Div., gets his welcome personally from a Parisian girl when his unit, with other French and American forces, enters the main section of the French capitol. 26 August, 1944.

Not every Parisian enjoyed the festivities.  Parisian women with recent German boyfriends were brutalized, although the number was undoubtedly far below the numbers that had fraternized during the German occupation.  They were made to bear the guilt of a nation who had resisted heroically, in part, but which had not been free of collaboration.

American and French armor rolls through the Rue De Rivoli, Paris, passing cheering crowds and a knocked-out Nazi tank which fell victim to the gunnery of the tank crews which aided in the liberation of the French capital. 26 August, 1944.

Indeed, France has never reconciled with its complicated history during the war. Thousands of Frenchmen heroically resisted the Germans, including groups as widely divergent as monarchist and communists, but it's also the case that "French" liberation armies included massive numbers of North Africans who saw joining the Free French as a means of bringing their regions into metropolitan France, which they were soon to learn was not the case.

Crowds of Parisians celebrating the entry of Allied troops into Paris scatter for cover as a sniper fires into them from a building on the Place De La Concorde. Although the Germans surrendered the city, small bands of snipers still remained. 26 August, 1944.

Meanwhile, while dwarfed by the Free French formation that had formed during the war, and the regular French units that were now part of the Allied armies, some French volunteers continued to fight on the Eastern front.

The Germans lose more of their supplies. Captured when American and French forces occupied the main parts of the French capital, this stock of German gasoline quickly disappeared as Parisians help themselves outside the former Paris Wehrmacht headquarters on Avenue Kleber, former French tanks taken into German service, now abandoned on location. 26 August, 1944.

The Allies won the Battle of Toulon.

And they were taking back channel islands this late as well.

British paratroopers backed by Belgian infantry and armor, cleared the arears around Caen still in German hands.

Six American airmen were lynched by the townspeople of Rüsselsheim am Main.  Some of the townspeople would find themselves defendants in a war crimes trial after the war.

While this incident resulted in trials, killings of airmen, both in Germany and Japan, were hardly limited to this.

Bugarai announced that it was pulling out of the war and disarming all German troops on its territory.

The Red Army reached the Danube.

The 8th Army crossed the Metauro in Italy.

Adam von Trott zu Solz, 35 years of age, a German lawyer, diplomat and central figure in the 20 July plot, was hung by the Nazis.

Banika "U", Headquarters for Morale Services on the Russell Islands. L-R: Lt. William H. Ireland, Orientation Officer, of Ohio; Pvt. Paul E. Swofford, Assistant in Moral Services, of Ill.; Cpl. Fred D. Scullcy, Assistant in Moral Services, of Indiana; native of the Island; and Lt. John W. M. Rothney, [illegible] officer, of Wisconsin. 26 August, 1944.

Last edition:

Friday, August 25, 1944. Paris, Versailles and Avignon liberated.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle for Paris, British Army, Charles de Gaulle, French Army, German Army, Italy, Logistics, New Guinea, Operation Olive, Personalities, Romania, Transportation, Trucks, World War Two

Friday, August 25, 1944. Paris, Versailles and Avignon liberated.

The Battle of Paris ended at 2:30 p.m. when German commander Dietrich von Choltitz surrendered the French capital against orders.

Dietrich von Choltitz with Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque and Jacques Soustelle in the M3 Scout Car.

De Gaulle arrived in the city at 4:00 p.m. to cheering crowds.

Versailles was liberated by French troops.

124 residents of  Maillé, Indre-et-Loire were murdered by the Germans in reprisal for actions by the French Resistance.

The Red Ball Express truck convoy system of emergency supply provision began and would run for 83 days.

US and French forces liberated Avignon without opposition.

The British 8th Army commenced Operation Olive in Italy.

Belgian No. 4 Troop of No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando raided Île d'Yeu, which turned out to be unoccupied.

Romania declared war on Germany.

The Germans scuttled the U-18, U-24 and U-178.  The U-667 hit a mine in the Bay of Biscay and sank.  The Z24 was sunk by Allied aircraft.  The U-1000 hit a mine off of Pilau and was damaged beyond repair.

The US prevailed in the Battle of Aitape.

The Japanese destroyer Yūnagi was sunk northeast of Cape Bojeador, Luzon by the USS Picuda.

"Coast Guardsman Kent C. Pompella, boatswain’s mate second class, displays the picturesque facial fashions of the fighting South Sea invader. On his face he sports a 10 months growth of briers and in his ears a pair of shark tooth earrings."  Pompella passed away in January 2000 at the age of 79, a resident of Cloverdale, California.  The last 20 years of his life he ran a hotel in that city, behind which he planted a large garden.  He was a commercial fisherman prior to that.  Earrings in men, it might be noted, were extremely unusual at the time.

Last edition:

Thursday, August 24, 1944. Paris Reached.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Act of 23 August, Battle for Paris, German Army, Nazi Germany, Operation Dragoon, Operation Goodwood, Operation Overlord, Romania, Romanian Army, Royal Navy, technology, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Friday, July 21, 1944. Landings on Guam.

Following up on the dramatic events of the day prior, German troops poured into Berlin.

Ludwig Beck, 64, Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, 39, and  Claus von Stauffenberg, 36, were executed for their role in the July 20 plot.

Guderian succeeded Kurt Zeitzler, who had suffered a nervous breakdown, as Chief of Staff of the German Army.

US Marines and soldiers of the US Army commenced landing on Guam.  Initial Marine landings met with very little opposition.

The Japanese mounted attacks on US positions at Aitape.

The French Expeditionary Corps was withdrawn from the line in Italy in preparation for Operation Dragoon.

The U-212 was sunk sought of Brighton by the Royal Navy.

Harry S. Truman was nominated by the Democratic Party to run as Roosevelt's Vice President for 1944.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 20, 1944. The July 20 Plot.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, 1944 Election, Adolf Hitler, Battle of Narva, Claus von Stauffenberg, Franklin Roosevelt, German Resistance Movements, Heroes, July 20 Plot, Mussolini, Operation Valkyrie, World War Two

Saturday, July 15, 1944. A second von Stauffenberg attempt.

Claus von Stauffenberg attempted an assassination attempt on Hitler for the second time, this time at the Wolf's Lair, but Hitler left the meeting that was targeted early and von Stauffenberg hurriedly recovered the bomb.

After this attempt, the only criteria on going forward with the plan was that Hitler be present.

The Second Battle of Odon began with a British offensive in their sector of Normandy.

The French took Poggibonsi in Italy.

The Battle of Nietjärvi began with a Red Army attack on Finnish positions.

The SAS raid on Symi ended in an Allied victory, achieving more than it had set out to do, including the wasteful deployment of German resources. 

Japanese troops commenced atrocities on Guam, killing 16 out of 30 people of the village of Merizo.   They herded them into a cave and threw in hand grenades.

Task Force 74 bombarded Japanese positions near Aitape, New Guinea.

The U-319 was sunk by a B-24 of the RAF in the North Sea.

Joseph Sadi-Lecointe, 53, famous French aviator, died from the after effects of Gestapo torture while he was held by the Germans.

Chinese soldiers march to front crossing treacherous Salween River by means of temporary suspension bridge, July 15, 1944.

Actor Jan Michael Vincent was born in Denver, the son of a serviceman.

Last edition:

Friday, July 14, 1944. Bastille Day.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, actors and actresses, Bastille Day, Disaster, Druze, Franklin Roosevelt, Holidays, Red Army, the spoken word, The written word, Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Monday, July 3, 1944. Airborne at Numfoor, Red Army in Minsk.

The Red Army retook Minsk, leaving the path through Belarus and into Poland open of urban obstacles.  It had been occupied by the Germans since June 28, 1941, which means that the Wehrmacht in Barbarossa had taken it in an amazingly short amount of time.

German forces that had been defending Minsk were now trapped east of the city, a bad place to be.

Gen. Georg Lindemann was relieved as commander of Army Group North and replaced with Johannes Frießner.

Lindemann would not be returned to service until February 1945, when he was placed in command of German troops in Denmark.  Frießner would go into retirement, after being relieved from a subsequent assignment, in December 1945.  After the war, he was an apologist for the German war effort and the Waffen SS, but did advise West Germany in regard to the creation of the Bundesheer.

The US 1st Army launched an offensive with the goal of establishing a new line from Coutances to St. Lo.

Sixty-six American servicemen of the 130th Chemical Processing Company were killed by a V-1 drone at Chelsea, the largest loss of US life from a V-1.  Nine civilians were also killed.

Moroccan troops in Siena.

The French took Siena, Italy.  Well. . . French and Moroccans.  The British took Cortona.

The Germans launched the Emergency Fighter Program (Jägernotprogramm),

U.S. Paratroopers took Kamiriz Airfield on Numfoor, but with heavy casualties.

Airborne drops in the Pacific and Asia are nearly forgotten.

The Allies prevailed in the Battle of Imphal.  

The U-154 was sunk in the Atlantic by the U.S. Navy.

Filipino women working for the Office of War Information. Left to right, Adelaida Torres, Robert Kleiman, Salud Darrago, and Julie Bayona.

Last edition:

Sunday, July 2, 1944. Plots in motion and the SS Jean Nicolet

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Adolf Hitler, Army, Australian Army, Battle of Numfoor, British Army, Claus von Stauffenberg, Gerd von Runstedt, German Wehrmacht, Italy, July 20 Plot, New Guinea, Saipan, War Crimes, World War Two

Wednesday, June 10, 1914. The Zaian War and orphans in Texas.

French forces number 14,000 men attacked the Moroccan stronghold of Mouha ou Hammou Zayani at Khenifra, Morocco.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, June 7, 1914. Red Week

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Christianity, Italy, Ohio, Ohio (Canton), panoramic, Protestant, Red Week, religion, Women