Tuesday, November 14, 1944. The death of Leigh-Mallory.

Sarah Sundin's blog has a bunch of interesting items:

Today in World War II History—November 14, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago: British Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory dies in plane crash in the Alps. French First Army opens assault toward Belfort Gap in France

Leigh-Mallory was a lawyer by training and had just applied to be a barrister after obtaining his education when the Great War broke out.  He immediately joined the British Army and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1916.  He thought of resuming his legal career after the war, but regarded his chances of having a successful legal career as poor in the post war United Kingdom, so he stayed in the RAF.

He was intensely Christian, although very private, and donated a portion of his salary to charity, something that was not widely known during his life.  In a private writing, he intimated that he'd seen the ghost of  women's right campaigner Emily Langton Massingberd at Gunby Hall in Lincolnshire, a building he subsequently intervened in order to prevent its destruction during the Second World War.

The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia was founded in Prague, with the sponsorship of Nazi Germany.

Had such an organization existed earlier in the war, and been sincere, it might have achieved something.  Of course, in reality, liberating the Russian people was never something the Germans had in mind. Quite the opposite was the case.

As its first act, it adopted a manifesto, which read:

MANIFESTO

The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia

Dear compatriots! Brothers and Sisters!

In an hour of difficult trials we must decide the fate of our Motherland, our peoples, our personal fate.

Humanity is undergoing an epoch of tremendous upheavals. The ongoing world war is a deadly fight of opposing political systems.

Fighting are the powers of imperialism headed by the plutocrats of England and the USA, the greatness of which is built upon the persecution and exploitation of other nations and peoples. Fighting are the powers of internationalism headed by the clique of Stalin, dreaming of a world revolution and the destruction of the national independence of other countries and peoples. Fighting are freedom loving nations, thirsting to live their own life, directed by their personal historical and national development.

There is no greater crime than to destroy, as Stalin is doing, countries and suppress peoples, who are trying to preserve the land of their ancestors and with their personal effort create upon it their own happiness. There is no greater crime than to persecute another nation and force one’s will upon it.

The powers of destruction and enslavement are covering their criminal aims with slogans of defense of freedom, democracy, culture, and civilization. Under the defense of freedom they understand the forceful pushing of their political system onto other governments. Under the defense of culture and civilization they understand the destruction of monuments to culture and civilization that were created by the millennial efforts of other peoples.

For what are the peoples of Russia fighting in this war? For what are they condemned to countless sacrifices and sufferings?

Two years ago Stalin could still fool the peoples with words about the patriotic liberational character of the war. But now the Red Army has crossed the state borders of the USSR and has broken into Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, and is drowning with blood foreign lands. Now the true character of the war dragged on by the Bolsheviks is clear. Its aim – to strengthen even more the lordship of the Stalinist tyranny over the peoples of the USSR, to establish this lordship throughout the entire world.

The peoples of Russia have for over a quarter of a century experienced upon themselves the weight of the Bolshevik tyranny.

In the revolution of 1917, the peoples that inhabited the Russian empire tried to seek a realization of their desires for fairness, general well-being, and national freedom. They rebelled against the outlived tsarist government, which did not want to nor was capable of destroying the reasons that created social unfairness, the remnants of serfdom, economic and cultural backwardness. But the party and leaders, who did not decide upon the brave and effective reforms after the overthrow of tsarism by the peoples of Russia in February of 1917, with their two faced politics, conciliatory attitude, and lack of desire to take upon themselves responsibility for the future – did not justify itself before the people. The people naturally went behind those who promised them an immediate peace, land, freedom, and bread, who put out the most radical slogans.

The people are not guilty for the fact that the party of Bolsheviks, having promised to establish public order, under which the people would be happy and in who’s name were brought countless victims – that this party, having taken power, by the people’s hands, not only did not fulfill the demands of the people but eventually strengthening its apparatus of power took from the people their fought for rights, placed them into constant neediness, lack of rule, and the most irresponsible exploitation.

The Bolsheviks took from the peoples of Russia their right for national independence, development, and originality.

The Bolsheviks took from the people the freedom of speech, freedom of conviction, freedom of privacy, freedom to choose one’s place of residence and freedom of movement, freedom of planning and opportunity for each person to take their place in society in relation to their abilities. They substituted these rights with terror, party privileges and arbitrariness, committed against the person.

The Bolsheviks took from the farmers the land they fought for, the right to freely labor on land and freely use the fruits of their labor. Having cuffed the farmers with their kolhoz organization, the Bolsheviks turned them into servants of the government without rights, more exploited and repressed.

The Bolsheviks took from the workers their right to freely choose a profession and place of work, to organize and fight for better conditions and compensation for their labor, to influence production and made workers into slaves of government capitalism without rights.

The Bolsheviks took away from the intelligencia the right to freely create for the benefit of the people and tried to use force, terror, and bribery to make it a weapon of their lying propaganda.

The Bolsheviks condemned the people of our motherland to constant poverty, hunger, and dying out, to a spiritual and physical enslavement and, finally, forced them into a war for alien interests.

All of this is masked by lies about the democracy of the Stalin constitution, about the construction of a socialist society. Not one country in the world did not know and does not know such a low living standard in the face of such large material resources, such lawlessness and denigration of the person, as this was and remains in the Bolshevik system.

The peoples of Russia disbelieved Bolshevism, in the face of which the government is an all consuming machine, while the people – its rights deprived, destitute, and overall deprived slave. They see the serious danger that is hanging over them. If Bolshevism could at least temporarily establish itself on the blood and bones of the peoples of Europe, the many year battle of the peoples of Russia that cost countless sacrifices would be fruitless. Bolshevism would use the exhaustion of peoples in this war and finally deprive them of the capability to resist. Therefore the efforts of all peoples should be directed at the destruction of the monstrous machine of Bolshevism and on the offering of rights to every person to live and create freely, in scope of their strength and capabilities, for the establishment of order, defending a person from arbitrary rule and not permitting the theft of the results of one’s labor by anyone, including the government.

COMING FROM THIS, THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLES OF RUSSIA, IN FULL UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR RESPONSIBILITY BEFORE THEIR PEOPLES, BEFORE HISTORY AND ANCESTRY, WITH THE AIM OF ORGANIZING THEIR GENERAL BATTLE AGAINST BOLSHEVISM: CREATED THE COMMITTEE FOR THE LIBERATION OF THE PEOPLES OF RUSSIA.

The aims of the Committee of Liberation of the Peoples of Russia are:

a. The overthrow of Stalin's tyranny, the liberation of the peoples of Russia from the Bolshevik system, and the restitution of those rights to the peoples of Russia which they fought for and won in the people's revolution of 1917

b. Discontinuation of the war and an honorable peace with Germany

c. Creation of a new free people's political system without Bolsheviks and exploiters

As the basis for a new government for the peoples of Russia the committee places the following major principles:

1) The equality of all peoples of Russia and a real right for national development, self determination, self rule, and governmental independence.

2) The confirmation of a popular worker front, before which the interests of the government are subordinate to the goals of raising the well-being and development of the nation.

3) The preservation of peace and the establishment of peaceful relations with all nations of the world, an all round development of international collaboration.

4) Wide ranging government actions for the strengthening of the family and marriage. A true equality for women.

5) The liquidation of forced labor and the granting to the laborers a real right to free labor which creates their material well-being, the confirmation of a wage for all types of labor in an amount that can support an appropriate standard of living.

6) The liquidation of collective farms, the free return of land to the private ownership of farmers. The freedom to determine labor land usage. The freedom to use the products of one’s personal labor, the abolishment of forced requisitions, and the cancellation of all debts to the Soviet government.

7) The establishment of protected private labor ownership. The reestablishment of trade, crafts, domestic industry, the granting of the right of private initiative and an opportunity for it to participate in the economic life of the nation.

8) Granting the intelligencia the opportunity to freely create for the well-being of their people.

9) Granting social justice and defense of laborers from any exploitation, regardless of their origin and former activities.

10) The creation for all without exception the real right for free education, medical care, vacation, and senior welfare.

11) The destruction of the regime of terror and force. Liquidation of forceful repopulations and mass exiles. The establishment of a true freedom of religion, conscience, speech, assembly, press. A guarantee of the protection of person, property, and home. The equality of all before the law, the independence and clarity of the court.

12) The liberation of political opponents of Bolshevism and the return to the motherland from the jails and camps of all who were repressed for their battle against Bolshevism. No revenge and persecution for those who stop their battle for Stalin and Bolshevism, regardless of whether this was done by necessity or by conviction.

13) The reestablishment of national property ruined during the war – cities, villages, factories, and plants at cost to the government.

14) Government support of invalids of the war and their families.

The destruction of Bolshevism is the uncompromised aim of all progressive powers. The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia is certain that the united efforts of the peoples of Russia will find support amidst all free loving peoples of the world.

The Liberation Movement of the Peoples of Russia is a continuation of a many years long battle against Bolshevism, for freedom, peace, and fairness. The successful completion of this battle is now provided for by:

a) The accumulation of greater experience than during that of the revolution of 1917.

b) The accumulation of growing and organized military forces – the Russian Liberation Army, the Ukrainian Liberation Forces, Cossack forces and national detachments

c) The accumulation of anti-Bolshevik armed forces in the Soviet rear.

d) The accumulation of growing oppositional powers within the people, government apparatus, and army of the USSR.

The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia sees the main condition for victory over Bolshevism in the UNITY OF ALL NATIONAL FORCES AND SUBORDINATION TO THE COMMON TASK OF OVERTHROWING THE BOLSHEVIK POWER. This is why the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia supports all revolutionary and anti-Stalin, anti-Bolshevik opposition while at the same time decisively rejecting all reactionary projects that are tied to the suppression of the people’s rights.

The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia welcomes the assistance of Germany on those conditions that do not affect the honor and independence of our motherland. This help is currently the only realistic opportunity to organize an armed struggle against the Stalinist clique.

With our battle we have taken upon ourselves the responsibility for the fate of the peoples of Russia. With us are millions of the best sons of our motherland, having taken up arms and already having shown their courage and readiness to give their life in the name of liberating our motherland from Bolshevism. With us are millions of people who left from Bolshevism and are giving their efforts to the common cause of battle. With us are tens of millions of brothers and sisters, suffering under the oppression of the Stalinist tyranny and awaiting the hour of liberation.

Officers and soldiers of the Liberation forces! With the blood spilt in our joint struggle, our battle friendship with warriors of different nationalities has been strengthened. We have a common cause. We must also have a common effort. ONLY THE UNITY OF ALL ARMED ANTI-BOLSHEVIK FORCES OF THE PEOPLES OF RUSSIA WILL LEAD TO VICTORY. Do not drop from your hands the arms you have received, fight for unity, selflessly fight with the enemies of the people – Bolshevism and its associates. Remember, you are being expected by the tortured peoples of Russia. Liberate them!

Compatriots, brothers and sisters who are located in Europe! Your return to the motherland as citizens with full rights can only be possible with the victory over Bolshevism. You are in the millions. Upon you hinges the success of battle. Remember, that you are working for a common cause, for the heroic liberation forces. Multiply your efforts and your feats of labor!

Officers and soldiers of the Red Army! Cease the criminal war that is aimed at the oppression of the peoples of Europe. Turn your weapons against the Bolshevik usurpers who have enslaved the peoples of Russia and condemned them to hunger, suffering, and lawlessness.

Brothers and sisters in the motherland! Strengthen your battle against the Stalinist tyranny, against the occupational war. Organize your powers for a decisive fight for your rights that have been taken away, for fairness and well-being.

The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia calls you all to unity and to a battle for peace and freedom!

PRAGUE, NOVEMBER 14, 1944

The chairman of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia

General Lieutenant A. Vlasov

The committee never encompassed all of the Russian groups then aligned with the Germans, and was iself oddly mixed, with some members being Communists.  Andrey Vlasov was the movements head, and was not trusted by the Germans, for good reason.  Late in the war, the armed expression of the movement would switch sides and fight against the Germans at Prague.

Vlasov, like Stalin, had started off as a Russian Orthodox seminary student but dropped out of that pursuit after the Russian Revolution and joined the Reds during the Russian Civil War.  He became a Communist in 1930 and was a Soviet military advisor to Chiang Kai-shek.  He was captured by the Germans in 1942 and was recruited to the anti Soviet side.  His opposition to Stalin's rule was sincere.  He was executed by the Soviets in 1946.

Norway's government in exile in the UK announced that Norwegian troops were operating alongside of Soviet troops in the country's far north.

92,000 Ahiska Turks were forcefully deported from the Meskheti region of Georgia by the Soviet Union.

German resistance members Walter Cramer, Bernhard Letterhaus and Ferdinand von Lüninck were hanged at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.

The Aktsu Maru was sunk by the USS Queenfish.

Last edition:

Monday, November 13, 1944. Air service returns to London.

Labels: 1930s, 1939, 1940s, 1944, Aircraft, Army, Bill Mauldin, Bulgaria, Bulgarian Army, Cartoons, France, Imperial Japanese Navy, Transportation, U.S. Navy

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

Henning von Tresckow, who was the real mastermind behind the plot.  He'd been opposed to the Nazis as early as 1934.  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1976-130-53 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5482859.

Conservative German politician Carl Friedrich Goerdeler who was to have been the new German Chancellor.  He did not hold up under questioning.  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1993-069-06 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5483573

The best known, and last known, attempt on Hitler's life took place.  In this instance, as had been the case for the attempt a few days earlier, the effort was part of a full blown coup attempt centered around Claus von Stauffenberg placing a bomb in a location calculated to kill Hitler, while the German Home Army was deployed to arrest Nazi officials and decapitate the SS, while similar efforts took place in various locations occupied by Germany.

Hitler shaking hands with Bodenschatz, accompanied by Stauffenberg (left) and Keitel (right) on July 15, 1944, when von Stauffenberg had attempted a prior effort as part of the same plot. By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1984-079-02 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5483227

The effort centered on von Stauffenberg setting a bomb off in a bunker at the Wolf's Lair, but upon arriving, he found that it had been moved to a meeting room due to the high heat of the day.

At 12:30 p.m. von Stauffenberg, excused himself to ostensibly use a washroom at the Wolf's Lair, where a meeting with Hitler was taking place, basing his request on his sweat soaked shirt.  He there crushed the time pencils on one of two bombs he had with him, returned to the meeting room, and placed a satchel with the bombs in it under a heavy desk.  

A co conspirator called for him, and he left the room.  The bomb detonated at 12:42.  A stenographer was killed and 20 officers injured, with three later dying.  Hitler was unharmed.

General der Nachrichtentruppe Erich Fellgiebel, who was in on the plot and in charge of communications from the Wolf's Lair.  He informed the plotters that Hitler had not been killed.  Hitler had never trusted Fellgiebel, but he was an expert at communications technology and had urged the adoption of the Enigma machine.  He was arrested and tortured due to his role in the plot, but did not reveal the names of his co conspirators.  He was executed in September 1944. He was 57 years old.

Fritz Thiele, whom Fellgiebel nformed of Hitler's survival in a somewhat coded call.  He wanted to call the coup attempt off after the call.  He also was executed due to his role in it.

Von Stauffenberg, believing Hitler dead, departed the scene and boarded a HE 111 for Berlin at 13:00.  It reached Berlin at 16:00.  Gen. Erich Fellgiebel had already phoned the plotters that Hitler had survived, which von Stauffenberg contradicted upon his landing.  Orders went out for Operation Valkyrie to commence, which should have gone out hours earlier, that being the deployment of the Reserve Army and other units, to arrest the SS and take control of the government.  Gen. Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, military governor of occupied France, disarmed the SD and SS and captured most of their leadership. He then travelled to Field Marshal Günther von Kluge's headquarters and asked him to contact the Allies but was informed instead that Hitler was alive. 

Carl-Heinrich Rudolf Wilhelm von Stülpnagel. He tried to convince von Kluge to go ahead with the coup even after learning of Hitler's survival, but upon being unsuccessful tried to kill himself unsuccessfully.  In his delirium, he was heard to mutter "Rommel", which lead to Rommel being suspected. By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R63893 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5368444

Himmler then countermanded the orders enacting Valkyrie, while at the same time the coup was in charge of much of Berlin, as was as Vienna and Prague.

Chief of Staff of the German Army and central figure in the coup, Friedrich Olbricht. (By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1981-072-61 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5483096.

By 18:10 the coup began to fall apart. At 19:00 Hitler placed phone calls that he had survived.  He then took to the radio, which was practically necessary, so that there was audio proof of his survival.  In his short address, he stated:

My fellow Germans! Yet another of the countless attempts on my life has been planned and carried out. I am speaking to you for two reasons:

1. So that you can hear my voice and know that I myself am not injured and well.

2. So that you can hear the details of a crime without parallel in German history.

A very small clique of ambitious, unscrupulous, criminal and stupid officers formed a conspiracy to do away with me and at the same time to wipe out virtually the entire staff of the German High Command.

The bomb which was planted by Colonel von Stauffenberg exploded two meters to my right. It seriously injured a number of my colleagues who are very dear to me; one has died. I myself am completely unhurt apart from a few minor skin abrasions, bruises and burns. I interpret this as confirmation that Providence wishes me to continue my life's mission as I have in the past. For I can solemnly state in the presence of the entire nation that since the day I moved into the Wilhelmstraße my sole thought has been to carry out my duty to the best of my ability. And from the time when I realized that the war was unavoidable and could no longer be delayed, I have known nothing but worry and hard work; and for countless days and sleepless nights have lived only for my People!

At the very moment when the German armies are engaged in a most difficult struggle, a small group formed in Germany, as happened in Italy, which thought that as in 1918 it could now deliver the stab in the back. However, this time they totally miscalculated. The claim by these usurpers that I am no longer alive, is at this very moment proven false, for here I am talking to you, my dear fellow countrymen. The circle which these usurpers represent is very small. It has nothing to do with the German armed forces, and above all nothing to do with the German army. It is a very small clique composed of criminal elements which will now be mercilessly exterminated. I therefore give the following orders with immediate effect:

1. That no civilian agency is to obey an order from a government agency which these usurpers claim that they command.

2. That no military installation, no commander of a unit, no soldier is to obey any order by these usurpers. On the contrary, any person conveying or issuing such an order is to be immediately arrested or, if they resist, shot on the spot.

In order to restore complete order, I have appointed Minister of the Reich Himmler to be Commander of the Home Forces. I have drafted into the General Staff General Guderian to replace the Chief of the General Staff who is at the moment absent due to illness, and have appointed a second proven leader from the Eastern Front to be his aide.

In all the other agencies of government within the Reich everything remains unchanged. I am convinced that with the departure of this small clique of traitors and conspirators, we will finally create the atmosphere here at home, too, which the soldiers at the front need. For it is intolerable that at the front hundreds of thousands and millions of brave men are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, while here at home a small clique of ambitious, despicable creatures constantly tries to undermine this attitude. This time we will settle accounts as we National Socialists are accustomed to. I am convinced that at this time every decent officer, every honest soldier will understand that.

Few people can begin to imagine the fate which would have overtaken Germany had the assassination attempt succeeded. I myself thank Providence and my Creator not for preserving me - my life consists only of worry and work for my People - I thank him only for allowing me to continue to bear this burden of worry, and to carry on my work to the best of my ability.

It is the duty of every German without exception to ruthlessly oppose these elements, and either to arrest them immediately or, if they resist arrest, to shoot them on the spot. These orders have been issued to all military units. They will be carried out to the letter with the discipline typical of the Germany army.

Once again I take this opportunity, my old comrades in arms, to greet you, joyful that I have once again been spared a fate which, while it held no terror for me personally, would have had terrible consequences for the German People. I interpret this as a sign from Providence that I must continue my work, and therefore I shall continue it.

The inclusion of what was an order that offices continue to follow the Nazi regimes orders were telling.  There was obviously remaining concern that the coup would go forward.

Nazi elements regained control of Berlin.  Fromm, who had been aware of the plot but vacillated, had von Stauffenberg shot.  By midnight the coup was over.

Friedrich Wilhelm Waldemar Fromm, commander of the Replacement Army.  He was aware of the plot and agreed to have a role in it, but betrayed his comrades when things began to go badly.  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1969-168-07 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5482524.

The plot had almost worked.

Had it succeeded, German resistance to the Allies would have necessarily rapidly collapsed.

Mussolini Hitler shortly after the bomb blast, taking his survival as a sign that victory was assured.  It was the last time the two would meet.

A Red Cross club opened up in Cherbourg.

First sailors to sign the guestbook in the American Red Cross "Victoire" club. L to R: T2/C Dave Romber, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Y2/C Ralphe Peloquin, Berlin, N.H.; and Y1/C Joe Zeigovits, Coplay, Pennsylvania.  July 20, 1944.

Fighting continued unabated in Normandy.

Infantry in Saint-Lô, , July 20, 1944.

U.S. replacements being issued K Rations prior to assignment to combat units.   The replacement system during World War Two meant that these men would go out in many instances as individual replacements.

The Battle of Auvere began as part of the Battle of Narva.

Franklin Roosevelt addressed the Democratic National Convention remotely.  He was in San Diego. He announced he would not campaign.

Marines on Saipan, July 20, 1944.

Marine Corps gun crew cleaning 105 howitzer, July 20, 1944.

The HMS Isis sank off of Normandy after hitting a mine.

Actress Mildred Harris, a native of Cheyenne Wyoming and 16 year old first bride of Charlie Chaplin, died of pneumonia at age 42.  Her life had been, overall, sad and tragic.

An annular solar eclipse was visible in Asia.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 19, 1944. The start of the Democratic Convention.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, 1944 Election, Army, Battle of Saint-Lô, Blog Mirror, boats and ships, Caen France, Canadian Army, Infantry, Italy, Latvia, Operation Bagration, Operation Overlord, Red Army, Waffen SS, World War Two

Tuesday, July 11, 1944. Von Stauffenberg's first attempt, Tiger II's first use.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg carried a bomb with him when summoned to Berchtesgaden on this day in 1944.  He did not carry out the attack as Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler were not present, and the coup planning called on all three to be killed in a single attack, thereby decapitating the Nazi Party.

This requirement would be omitted in future plot attacks.

Hitler determined to relocate to Rastenburg in East Prussia and Stauffenberg was asked Von Stauffenberg to follow him there.

US gun crew in action, July 11, 1944.

The Germans launched a counteroffensive on the Cotentin Peninsula against US forces.  During the day, the U.S. Army itself launches a counteroffensive back against the Germans.  The German effort failed.

Tiger II in France.  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-721-0398-21A / Wagner / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5413533

The Tiger II was used for the first time during these actions.

A massive tank, the Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B was the second tank in the Germany heavy Tiger series and featured an improved sloping armored design in comparison to the Tiger I.  Pointing the way towards future tank designs, it was an impressive weapon, but mechanically unreliable.  It's notable that the tank, designed in reaction to Soviet armor, was used first on the Western Front.

Pfc. Russell J. Schoonmaker and Pvt. James V. Pappas, July 11, 1944.  Pappas survived the war and became a custom home builder and real estate broker in Indianapolis, where he was from.

The British captured Hill 112 southwest of Caen.

US forces around Aitape are forced to withdraw from the Driniumor River.

Gerald L. Endl preformed the actions that would result in his posthumous Medal of Honor.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty near Anamo, New Guinea, on 11 July 1944. S/Sgt. Endl was at the head of the leading platoon of his company advancing along a jungle trail when enemy troops were encountered and a fire fight developed. The enemy attacked in force under heavy rifle, machinegun, and grenade fire. His platoon leader wounded, S/Sgt. Endl immediately assumed command and deployed his platoon on a firing line at the fork in the trail toward which the enemy attack was directed. The dense jungle terrain greatly restricted vision and movement, and he endeavored to penetrate down the trail toward an open clearing of Kunai grass. As he advanced, he detected the enemy, supported by at least 6 light and 2 heavy machineguns, attempting an enveloping movement around both flanks. His commanding officer sent a second platoon to move up on the left flank of the position, but the enemy closed in rapidly, placing our force in imminent danger of being isolated and annihilated. Twelve members of his platoon were wounded, 7 being cut off by the enemy. Realizing that if his platoon were forced farther back, these 7 men would be hopelessly trapped and at the mercy of a vicious enemy, he resolved to advance at all cost, knowing it meant almost certain death, in an effort to rescue his comrades. In the face of extremely heavy fire he went forward alone and for a period of approximately 10 minutes engaged the enemy in a heroic close-range fight, holding them off while his men crawled forward under cover to evacuate the wounded and to withdraw. Courageously refusing to abandon 4 more wounded men who were lying along the trail, 1 by 1 he brought them back to safety. As he was carrying the last man in his arms he was struck by a heavy burst of automatic fire and was killed. By his persistent and daring self-sacrifice and on behalf of his comrades, S/Sgt. Endl made possible the successful evacuation of all but 1 man, and enabled the 2 platoons to withdraw with their wounded and to reorganize with the rest of the company.

President Roosevelt announced that the US would recognize the French Provisional Government.

He also confirmed he'd run for President again, if nominated.

The Red Army took the surviving German troops near Minsk prisoner, as Sarah Sundin notes:

Today in World War II History—July 11, 1944

The U-1222 was sunk west of La Rochelle by the RAF.  

Sailors going ashore at Cherbourg.

A A-26B-5 Invader crashed into a government owned trailer park in foggy weather, killing the pilot, navigator, and 17 residents of the park in South Portland Maine.  It's Maine's worst air disaster.

The 12th All Star Game was played at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.  The National League beat the American League 7 to 1.

Last edition:

Monday, July 10, 1944. The Third German Palestinian Exchange.

Labels: 1860s, 1868, 1940s, 1944, Battle of Vyborg, boats and ships, Caen France, Continuation War, German Palestinian Exchange, New Guinea, Operation Jupiter, The Holocaust, World War Two

Saturday, March 11, 1944. Rittmeister Eberhard von Breitenbuch attempts to assassinate Hitler.

Rittmeister Eberhard von Breitenbuch, an aid to Generalfeldmarschall Ernst Busch, accompanied the latter who had been summoned to brief Adolf Hitler to a briefing.  Part of what would become the July 20 Plot, he carried a Browning pocket pistol with him in order to assassinate the German Führer, something he had worked out with senior plotter Henning von Tresckow as he was opposed to what others preferred, a suicide bomb.  He as allowed into the Berghof but wasn't allowed into the conference rooms by the SS, which had determined not to allow in aides.

Unlike many involved in the various German military efforts to assassinate Hitler, Von Breitenbuch was not a career officer.  A forester before the war, and again after, he was part of the cavalry branch, a typical branch for those involved in forestry.

A member of the Order of St. John, the Protestant branch of the Knights Hospitallers, he survived the war and died in 1980 at age 70. 

Polish mortar men, March 11, 1944.  Italy.

British forces took Buthidaung in Burma.  

Reconnaissance forces land on Manus Island and Butjo Luo in the Admiralty Islands and meet Japanese resistance.

The U-380 and U-410 were sunk in their pens at Toulon in an American air raid.  Former Italian submarine UIT-22, now in the service of the German's, was sunk off of the Cape of Good Hope by a Royal Air Force PBY.

A conscientious objector from Laramie was sent to a detention center.  Attribution:  Wyoming History Calendar.

People have a widespread idea that conscientious objectors simply didn't serve during World War Two.  In reality, their fate was much more difficult, quite frequently.  70,000 American men applied for conscientious objector status during World War Two, and about half of them received it, with most of them receiving some sort of alternative service.

Last Prior:

Friday, March 10, 1944. Soviets say no to Finns.

Saturday, February 12, 1944. Canaris fired.

Wilhelm Canaris was dismissed as head of the Abwehr.  Technically the Abwehr, the German military intelligence ministry, was abolished on the same day and its functions were taken over by the Ausland-SD, but this doesn't seem to have been really the case to some degree, and most sources show the Abwehr continuing on until the end of the Third Reich.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1979-013-43 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5419101

Canaris was opposed to the execution of Jews and registered complaints regarding it.  He also passed information on to the Allies and was involved in efforts to overthrow Hitler.  He was one of the most highly placed sources of intelligence for the Allies inside the Nazi regime.  An Abwehr deputy, Hans Oster, was also a figure in the German resistance.

His role would ultimately cost him his life, as he'd be arrested and executed later in 1944.  His wife, Erika, would relocate to Spain, where she would live until 1970.  Halina Szymańska, a Switzerland based Polish spy working for the British, whom Canaris used to pass on information, and who was also Canaris' paramour, and who was a widow of a Polish officer, would move to the UK after the war, marry an exiled Polish officer, and lived until 1989.

Canaris has always been a very difficult personality to grasp. Some regard him as being very heroic, as he was in fact carrying out resistance efforts from the very heart of Nazi Germany.  Others find him less so, wondering why he didn't go further given his central position.  He had briefly supported the Nazis, given their anticommunism, but had parted from them very early.  He had used his position to shield Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and he seems to have been motivated in his opposition to the Nazis partially by faith. Regarding that, he was a Lutheran in keeping with a conversion from Catholicism that his grandfather had made, but he had referred to himself as a "Catholic Mystic" and was fascinated with Spanish castles.  Neither faith would condone carrying on an extramarital affair.  He believed himself to be of Greek descent, but in fact he was of Italian descent.

The German III Panzerkorps took Vinograd and Lysianka in its effort to relieve the Korsun pocket.

 F6F’s on the flight deck of USS Gambier Bay (CVE 73) en-route to the South Pacific, February 12, 1944.

Marines captured Gorissi on New Britain.  Allied forces landed on Rooke Island in the Bismark Archipelago as well.  In the Marshalls the US landed on the Arno Atoll.

The German ship Oria sank in a storm in the Mediterranean, taking over 4,000 Italian prisoners of war down with it.

The New Zealand Corps replaced the US 2nd Corps at Cassino.  

Defenses at Anzio were reconfigured given recent German successes, but no major fighting occured on this day.

The British troopship Khedive Ismail was sunk by the I-27 in the Indian Ocean, taking 1,297 troops down with it.  One of them was Kenneth Gandar-Dower, age 35, who was an English sportsman, explorer and author.  He was on board as a war correspondent.

Wendell Willlkie announced his candidate for President, back in an era when the Presidential election cycle didn't begin insanely early.  No Democratic candidate had yet been announced, although his name had been put forward for some primaries.

A lawyer by profession and the child of two lawyers, Willkie had been in the Democratic Party until 1939, and indeed Roosevelt had considered him, even after that, as a Vice Presidential candidate.  By 1944 his health was rapidly declining, something accelerated by heavy drinking and smoking, and he would, in fact, not be alive by the November election.

Margaret Woodrow Wilson, age 57, the daughter of Woodrow Wilson, died on this day of uremia.  She was living in India, where she had become a devotee of a Hindu sect.

Wednesday, January 12, 1944. Churchill and De Gaulle meet.

Bombing of Japanese merchant ships at Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands by VB-108, January 12, 1944. 

De Gaulle and Churchill met in Marrakesh.

The US Army's 34th Infantry Division took Cervaro.

The Red Army's 13th Army took Sarny, then properly a part of Poland.

Seventy-four members of the Solf Circle, a group of anti-Nazi intellectuals, were arrested.

Thursday, December 16, 1943. The murder of Elfriede Scholz.

Elfriede Scholz, sister of novelist Erich Maria Remarque, was beheaded for "undermining the war effort" by refusing to renounce her brother.

Her brother was a refugee in the United States due to his anti-war and anti-Nazi views.  She was an outspoken anti-Nazi in her own right.

The Stars and Stripes, December 16, 1943:

Note that the Sergeant is carrying, in Mauldin's depiction, a M1903 Springfield.

The cartoon was a comedic depiction of conditions in Italy.

In Italy, Sarah Sundin's blog notes:

Today in World War II History—December 16, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Dec. 16, 1943: US Fifth Army takes Monte Lungo in Italy, almost encircling San Pietro, but the third attack on San Pietro fails.

She also notes that the RAF lost 29 returning Lancaster bombers in landings in fog on this day, the worst RAF accident loss of the war.

The U-73 was sunk by the U.S. Navy off of Oran, Algeria.

Crash of FM1, Bu# 46789, on flight deck of USS Manila Bay, December 16, 1943.

Friday, September 17, 1943. Breaking out.

The 5th Army, after having struggled to retain a beachhead at Salerno, began to advance out of it.

Some members of the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) rebelled in Villefranche-de-Rouergue. The rebellion failed as most of its members did not join the uprising and it was subsequently put down, resulting in the deaths of 150 rebels and the capture and eventual execution of the revolt's leaders.

In Yugoslavia, A British liaison team arrived to meet with Tito.

German Army General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach, a prisoner of the Soviets, and head of the Bund Deutscher Offiziere, the League of German Officers, that was formed from German officer POWsproposed a German unit within the Red Army to include over 30,000 men.  The proposal was never taken seriously, and in fact was wildly optimistic.  The Soviets mostly used the offer for propaganda purposes.

Changing sides after his capture at Stalingrad, Seydlitz-Kurzbach was nonetheless tried by the Soviets for war crimes in 1950, having already naturally been tried in abstentia by the Germans during the war.  He was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, but in 1955 he was released to West Germany, where he was a pariah to his former colleagues.  The Bundeswehr refused to restore his rank for retirement and also refused to grant him a pension.  He died in 1976 at age 87.

Friday, September 10, 1943. Betrayal.

Prime Minister Badoglio and King Victor Emanuell III made their way through German lines to escape to Allied held Italy.

Twenty-two Italian ships arrived at Malta.

The Vatican closed the doors of St. Peter's Basilica and blocked the Sant'Anna Gate at noon to give sanctuary to Italians who had fled there.

The Berliner resistance movement the Solf Circle was betrayed by an uncover Gestapo agent, Dr. Paul Reckzeh, following a tea party attended by the group.  Reckzeh was a Swiss physician.  The groups downfall would ultimately lead to the downfall of the Abwehr as the group had connections with it.

Most of the members of the group, although not all of it, would later be executed.  Reckzeh was arrested by he Soviets and held after the war until tried by them in 1950.  He was released in 1952 and lived in East Germany, where he betrayed his daughter Barbara to the East German authorities when she tried to flee to the West. He died in 1996 in Hamburg, having spent most of his adult life in Germany and having had a role in two hideous acts for two hideous regimes.

P-39 Airacobra  at Berry Field, Tennessee, September 10, 1943.

Monday, August 9, 1943. Blessed Franz Jägerstätter

 

Franz Jägerstätter, 36, Austrian farmer and conscientious objector, was executed by the Germans.

Born into poverty and illegitimacy, he was the son of a farmer and chambermaid who could not afford to marry.  He was initially raised by his grandmother, the pious Elisabeth Huber.  His father was killed in World War One and his mother latter married Heinrich Jägerstätter, who adopted him and who gave him his farm upon his marriage.

Irreligious in his youth, he underwent a sudden religious conversion after fathering an illegitimate child and spending a period of time in community exile, during which he worked for several years in iron mines.  Upon returning he became profoundly religions and in turn married a deeply religious spouse.  Upon the German invasion of Austria he openly opposed the Nazis and while he did serve in the German Army in 1940 he refused to take the Hitler oath.  Called back into service in 1943 he refused combat duty, although he did offer to serve as a medic, which was ignored.  He was ultimately died and executed on this day.

He was beatified in 2007.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—August 9, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Aug. 9, 1943: On New Georgia in the Solomon Islands, US northern and southern landing forces link.

The US signed a military assistance treaty with Ethiopia.

Life Magazine hit the stands with an article on female steelworkers.

Thursday, August 5, 1943. WASPs.

While by this point, this story is now confusing because of predecessor organizations, the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) were officially formed.

WASP wings.

The Red Army recaptured Orel.

The British took. Catania, Sicily.

The crew of the PT-109, including future President John F. Kennedy, were found by two Solomon Island coastwatchers, namely Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana.

Eva-Maria Buch and Rose Schlösinger of the Red Orchestra were executed in Berlin.

Most of the members of the Red Orchestra were Communists, but 22 year old Buch was not.  Indeed, she was Catholic.

Saturday, April 24, 1943. Departures.

Today In Wyoming's History: April 24: 1943  John Osborne, Wyoming's governor from 1893 to 1895, died.

Osborne, a physician by trade, had been Governor from 1893 to 1895, in the wake of the Johnson County War.  He became Wyoming's Congressman in 1897, and occupied that position until 1899.  He later was an Assistant Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson.

While Governor, he eccentrically chose a state seal for the state which did not comport with the one that the legislature thought it had, and in fact it caused consternation for featuring a topless allegorical female figure, something not uncommon on seals at the time.

The New York Fire Department saved the port from blowing up after the munitions ship El Estero caught fire, by towing the vessel out some distance and pouring so much water on it that it sank.  Had it exploded, the chain reaction explosions would have been devastating.

Gen. Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord died of cancer.  The former commander of the Reichswehr and briefly a commander during World War Two was an outright undisguised opponent of Hitler's who had resigned early during Hitler's administration, but who was recalled to service upon the invasion of Poland.  He invited Hitler to his base on the Polish border with the intent of assisting him, but Hitler never took up the invitation.  He was retired a second time on September 21, 1939, and was active in the German resistance.

Admiral Kenneth Whiting, former submariner and the American "father of the aircraft carrier", died of a heart attack while suffering from pneumonia.  He was 61.

Franklin Roosevelt issued the following Executive Order:

Executive Order 9337—AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO WITHDRAW AND RESERVE LANDS OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND OTHER LANDS OWNED OR CONTROLLED BY THE UNITED STATES

April 24, 1943

EXECUTIVE ORDER 9337

AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO WITHDRAW AND RESERVE LANDS OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND OTHER LANDS OWNED OR CONTROLLED BY THE UNITED STATES

April 24, 1943

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the act of June 25, 1910, ch. 421, 36 Stat. 847, and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows:

Section 1. The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to withdraw or reserve lands of the public domain and other lands owned or controlled by the United States to the same extent that such lands might be withdrawn or reserved by the President, and also, to the same extent, to modify or revoke withdrawals or reservations of such lands: Provided, That all orders of the Secretary of the Interior issued under the authority of this order shall have the prior approval of the Director of the Bureau of the Budget and the Attorney General, as now required with respect to proposed Executive orders by Executive Order No. 7298 of February 18, 1936, and shall be submitted to the Division of the Federal Register for filing and publication: Provided, further, That no such order which affects lands under the administrative jurisdiction of any executive department or agency of the Government, other than the Department of the Interior, shall be issued by the Secretary of the Interior without the prior concurrence of the head of the department or agency concerned.

Section 2. This order supersedes Executive Order No. 9146 of April 24, 1942, entitled 'Authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to Withdraw and Reserve Public Lands'.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

THE WHITE HOUSE,

April 24, 1943.

Exec. Order No. 9337, 8 FR 5516, 1943 WL 4090 (Pres.)

This mortar crew was photographed at Camp Carson, Colorado.

These troops are equipped with M1 Carbines, the first carbine issued to American troops since the M1903 Springfield, a short rifle, was first introduced.  Even the appearance of these carbines show that they are brand new.

I don't know the first combat use date for the carbine.  They were already common by the invasion of Sicily, so logic would presume that they saw action in North Africa as well.  Having said that, many artillerymen and mortar men in North Africa carried the M1917 Enfield rifle, so the carbine had not yet taken over its wide role that it later would.

Designed to equip troops other than infantrymen who might still require a firearm, the carbine would end up having enormous production, with more of them being produced than any other American small arm in World War Two.  For many years it was the most mass-produced American arm of all time, but with the long service life of the AR's, that's likely no longer true.  It saw service into the 1970s, in the M2 variant, in reserve units.