Wednesday, November 24, 1943. The sinking of the Liscome Bay.

USS Liscome Bay.

The USS Liscome Bay was torpedoed at 05:10 by the Japanese submarine I-175.  644 men were killed in the initial explosion or the rapid 23 minute sinking.  The aircraft carrier had been supporting the landings on Makin Island in the Gilberts.  The losses due to the attack far outstripped the US losses in the ground operation.

Burial at sea for two of the Liscome Bay's crew, as surviving crewmates look on.

Most of the naval task force supporting the landing had withdrawn, as the operation had successfully completed, but the Liscome Bay had remained in support of ongoing operations. Japanese submarines had been rushed to the area, withdrawn from other areas of the Pacific, in a near panic by the Japanese Navy, which had been caught off guard by the landings.  Included amongst those losses were the commander of the ship and Navy Cross winner Doris Miller.  It was the deadliest attack on an aircraft carrier in the history of the U.S. Navy.

The Liscome Bay's use at Makin demonstrates something that was to become common in the Pacific, it was being used as an operational carrier.  Indeed, it was the flagship of the operation, with the other two carriers also being escort carriers.

The shock of Tarawa and Makin was in part because the US had simply chosen to leap up into the Central Pacific without completing operations in the Southern Pacific.  Indeed, operations on Bougainville, where the Japanese mounted a small counter-attack on this day, never concluded.

In San Francisco, Leopold Stokowski conducted an all-Russian concert with the San Francisco Symphony.

Monday, November 22, 1943. The Cairo Conference, Lebanese Independence, Tarawa.

The Cairo Conference on the war against Japan commenced with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek in attendance.

Lebanon was granted independence.

Lebanon was not a French colony, but a League of Nation's mandate.  The event was nonetheless a clear signal that France's grip on its overseas colonies was rapidly slipping.

It was day three of operations on Tarawa.  On that day, Japanese Rear Admiral Keiji Shibazaki, who was directing the island's defense, was killed with his staff when a Marine spotted his staff walking to a secondary command post and called in Naval gunfire on the location.  He had boasted that the US couldn't take Tarawa in 100 years.

It in fact took four bloody days.

The RAF struck Berlin in a massive nighttime raid.

Thursday, November 18, 1943. The (Airborne) Battle of Berlin commences.

The RAF commenced the airborne Battle of Berlin on this day in 1943, hitting Berlin with 440 Lancaster bombers in a nighttime raid.  The raid killed 131 Berliners, caused light damage and resulted in the loss of nine aircraft with 53 airmen.   Raids would continue through March, 1944.

Cordell Hull addressed a joint session of Congress on the Moscow Conference.

The Germans opened the Ebensee concentration camp, with the first prisoners being non-Jewish.

The 1st Panzer Division pushed the Red Army out of Zhytomyr.

The U.S. Army issued a report on a newly encountered rifle, the FG42

German Paratrooper's Rifle F.G. 42" from Tactical and Technical Trends

German paratrooper in raid to free Mussolini carrying a FG42. By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-567-1503A-01 / Toni Schneiders / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5412659

Never completely finished in terms of design, the FG42 was arguably the world's first battle rifle, although it is often called an assault rifle. The selective fire rifle, firing the standard full sized German 8x57 round and was designed to fill the role of rifle, light machinegun and submachinegun.  It was made in fairly limited numbers.

Following World War Two, the concept would be adopted by NATO countries, in part because of the U.S. rejection of intermediate sized rounds.  The FAL, G3, Stg 57, BM59 and M14 are all examples of post war battle rifles.

The Army also reported on German armored cars:

"German Four-Wheeled Armored Cars" from Tactical and Technical Trends

British soldiers exam a disabled SdKfz 222, the most common German four-wheel armored car.

The Germans, like the British, liked armored cars and used four wheel, six wheel and eight wheel varieties, the latter of which proved influential after World War Two and which inspired armored cars currently in use by the U.S., Canada and Germany.  Their four wheeled variants were in the Leichter Panzerspähwagen class and used for reconnaissance.

The U-718 accidentally rammed and sank the U-476 in the Baltic.

The Greek sailing vessels Agios Demetrios  and Kanelos were shelled and sunk south-east of the Kassandra peninsula and Strati, Greece by the Royal Navy, although I don't know why.

The HMS Chanticleer was torpedoed off Portugal and damaged beyond repair.

The Empire Dunstan was torpedeoed and sunk in the Ionian Sea.

German patrol boats sank the Soviet No. 35 motor boat in the Black Sea.

The Columbian Ruby was sunk by the U-516.

The Liberty Ship Sambridge was sunk by the I27 in the Gulf of Aden, where you don't really think of Japanese submarines operating.

The Sanae, a Japanese destroyers, was sunk by U.S. submarines.

French aircraft carrier off of Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, November 18, 1943.

1943  The Wyoming Department of Education released the results of a survey revealing that the state was short 70 teachers, no doubt the result of teachers having joined the armed forces during World War Two.  Attribution. Wyoming History Calendar.

Tuesday, November 16, 1943. An attempt on Hitler's life.

Major Axel von dem Bussche, a confederate of Claus von Stauffenberg, planned to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a concealed landmine which he planned to detonate while embracing Hitler during a viewing of a new winter uniform the striking looking Major would be modeling. The viewing was canceled when an Allied air raid in Berlin destroyed the rail car in which the new uniforms were contained.

Von dem Bussche was of German noble lineage, as the name indicated, and had turned against the Nazis after accidentally witnessing a 1942 massacre of Jews in Ukraine.  He volunteered to attempt the assassination again in 1944 and was set to do so when he was badly wounded on the Russian Front and had to have a leg amputated.  His being in the hospital at the time of the July 20 plot saved him from being a suspect in it.

An East Westphalian by birth, much of his ancestral holdings were in East Germany after the war, which required him to pursue a civilian career, which he in turn did.  After 1990, however, he was a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking their return, which failed.  His eldest daughter, however, has since bought the larger portions back from the Federal Republic of Germany.  He died in 1993 at the age of 73.

The Battle of Leros ended with an Allied surrender.  The Germans, however, had taken tremendous casualties in the effort, and were on the verge of calling the offensive off when the surrender came.

The British village of Tyneham in Dorset was ordered evacuated by the British War Department, which needed the grounds for a training area.  It remains a British military facility today.

The U.S. Army Air Force struck heavy water facilities at Rjukan and a molybdenum refinery at Knaben, damagign the German nuclear weapons effort.

USS Corvina.

The submarine USS Corvina was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-176, becoming the only U.S. submarine to be sunk by another submarine.

The I-176.

The I-176 was in turn sunk in June 1944.

The U-280 was sunk by a British B-24.

Friday, November 5, 1943. Task Force 38 at Rabaul, Marines at Bougainville, Red Army in Ukraine, US and British Armies in Italy, Somebody's air force over the Vatican, A Martyr

Task Force 38's aircraft attacked the Imperial Japanese Navy squadron detected the day prior, resulting in the Japanese sustaining damage to 4 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 2 destroyers. Ten American planes were lost.

Ground based B-24s hit Rabaul and the squadron later that day.

The 3d Marine Division defeated a counterattack on Bougainville by the Japanese Army's 23d Regiment.

The French Resistance set off bombs in the Peugeot factor at Sochaux.  The target was regarded as France's third most important one by the British Ministry of Economic Warfare due to its production of machinery used for tank turret production.

The Red Army began to encircle Kiev.

Offensive operations by the U.S. 5th Army on the Reinhard Line in Italy fail.  The British 8th Army captured Vasto, Palmoli and Terrebruna.

Also on the Italian peninsula, four areal bombs hit Vatican City.  IT was never clear whose air force was responsible, but a RAF crew had released bombs after developing engine trouble while not quite knowing where it was.

A gendarme on duty reported:

I distinctly heard the continuous noise of an aircraft flying at low altitude. I could not see it, prevented by the darkness. From the noise of the engine it seemed to me that the aircraft was coming from the northeast. It flew over the Vatican Railway Station and then went a little further away and immediately turned back. I almost immediately heard a hiss and a prolonged burst that gave me the impression of the almost simultaneous explosion of several bombs. The first of them fell on the escarpment near the boundary wall of the Vatican City State on the side of St. Peter's Station; the second one fell on the terrace of the Mosaic Studio; a third one behind the Governorate Palace and a fourth one in the Vatican Gardens in a location that I could not identify at the moment.

Sarah Sundin notes:

80 Years Ago—Nov. 5, 1943: Capt. Clark Gable leaves England, having flown 5 missions with the US Eighth Air Force, with footage for his documentary, Combat America.

The U.S. 56th Fighter Group, flying P-47s, became the first Eighth Air Force fighter group credited with 100 enemy aircraft destroyed.

German Catholic Priest Benhard Lichtenberg, 67 years of age, died while being transported in a cattle car to Dachau.  4, 000 mourners attended his funeral in Berlin.

An outspoken anti-Nazi, he was beatified in 1996.

Congress passed the Connally Resolution, which stated:

Senate Resolution 192-Seventy-Eighth Congress, November 5, 1943

Resolved, That the war against all our enemies be waged until complete victory is achieved.

That the United States cooperate with its comrades-in-arms in securing a just and honorable peace.

That the United States, acting through its constitutional processes, join with free and sovereign nations in the establishment and maintenance of international authority with power to prevent aggression and to preserve the peace of the world.

That the Senate recognizes the necessity of there being established at the earliest practicable date a general international organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving states, and open to membership by all such states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security

That, pursuant to the Constitution of the United States, any treaty made to effect the purposes of this resolution, on behalf of the Government of the United States with any other nation or any association of nations, shall be made only by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur.

The German submarine U-848 was depth charged and sunk by an American aircraft off Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. 

Guadalcanal Diary was released.

Thursday, November 4, 1943. Island hopping.

 A seaplane tender in Aleutian waters trains a 40mm battery on an unidentified aircraft, November 4, 1943.

The U.S. War Department concluded that attacking Japan from mainland China was impracticable.  Therefore, the island strategy was solidly recommended.

An uprising broke out at the Szebnie concentration camp in Poland following the execution of over 1,000 of its prisoners. The SS rapidly suppressed it and the inmates are shipped to Auschwitz.

The Red Army broke out of its Dniepr bridgeheads.

A newly arrived Japanese Imperial Navy task force consisting of ten cruisers and ten destroyers is spotted by the U.S. Navy near Rabaul resulting in Task Force 38 preparing to strike it from the air.

The Allies achieve full lateral communications through Isernia in Italy.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—November 4, 1943: Plutonium processing plant opens at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for atomic bomb development as the X-10 graphite reactor reaches criticality.

Tuesday, November 2, 1943. The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay.

The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay occured as the Imperial Japanese Navy responded to the invasion of Bougainville, which had in fact caught the Japanese off guard, by sending in a naval task force.  U.S. Navy Task Force 39 was on sight.

The U.S. Navy had radar, the Japanese did not.  This overcame the Japanese nighttime advantage, which was based on training, resulting in a complete Japanese defeat. The U.S. pursuit ended with first light and with it naval action in the Philippines. The Japanese Navy would not significantly reappear.

The US sustained nineteen killed, one cruiser damaged, and two destroyers damaged.  The Japanese lost one light cruiser, one destroyer sunk, and one heavy cruiser was damaged, one light cruiser was damaged, two destroyers heavily damaged, twenty-five aircraft shot down and somewhere between 200 and 650 killed.

The heavy cruiser Haguro in Simpson Bay, Rabaul.  She had been damaged at Empress Augusta Bay the previous night.  November 2, 1943.

The Allies began bombing Rabaul in what was termed Bloody Tuesday.  The 71st Bomb Squadron, 38th Bomb Group, 5th United States Army Air Force attacked Japanese shipping, inflicting heavy losses but sustaining them as well.  It also resulted in a posthumous Medal of Honor being awarded to Maj. Raymond Wilkins.  His citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy near Rabaul, New Britain, on 2 November 1943. Leading his squadron in an attack on shipping in Simpson Harbor, during which intense antiaircraft fire was expected, Maj. Wilkins briefed his squadron so that his airplane would be in the position of greatest risk. His squadron was the last of 3 in the group to enter the target area. Smoke from bombs dropped by preceding aircraft necessitated a last-second revision of tactics on his part, which still enabled his squadron to strike vital shipping targets, but forced it to approach through concentrated fire, and increased the danger of Maj. Wilkins' left flank position. His airplane was hit almost immediately, the right wing damaged, and control rendered extremely difficult. Although he could have withdrawn, he held fast and led his squadron into the attack. He strafed a group of small harbor vessels, and then, at low level, attacked an enemy destroyer. His 1,000 pound bomb struck squarely amidships, causing the vessel to explode. Although antiaircraft fire from this vessel had seriously damaged his left vertical stabilizer, he refused to deviate from the course. From below-masthead height he attacked a transport of some 9,000 tons, scoring a hit which engulfed the ship in flames. Bombs expended, he began to withdraw his squadron. A heavy cruiser barred the path. Unhesitatingly, to neutralize the cruiser's guns and attract its fire, he went in for a strafing run. His damaged stabilizer was completely shot off. To avoid swerving into his wing planes he had to turn so as to expose the belly and full wing surfaces of his plane to the enemy fire; it caught and crumpled his left wing. Now past control, the bomber crashed into the sea. In the fierce engagement Maj. Wilkins destroyed 2 enemy vessels, and his heroic self-sacrifice made possible the safe withdrawal of the remaining planes of his squadron.

 

Wilkins had originally intended to be a physician, but had joined the Army in 1936 after two years of pharmacy studies.  He served in the Army Air Corps from that point on, becoming a pilot in 1941.

The U.S. Fifth Army reached the Garigliano River in Italy.

The U-340 had to be scuttled after engaging a British warship off of Morocco.]

The US Comptroller issued the following finding:

B-37793, NOVEMBER 2, 1943, 23 COMP. GEN. 329

TRAVELING EXPENSES - FARES - ROUND-TRIP TICKETS WHERE IT IS SHOWN THAT DUE TO EMERGENCY WAR CONDITIONS AN OFFICIAL TRAVELER WAS UNABLE TO OBTAIN ADVANCE RESERVATIONS ON TRAINS AND WAS REQUIRED TO SECURE ONE-WAY TICKETS FOR EACH STEP OF THE JOURNEY, IT MAY BE CONCLUDED THAT THE SECURING OF A ROUND-TRIP TICKET WAS NOT "PRACTICABLE" WITHIN THE MEANING OF PARAGRAPH 16 OF THE STANDARDIZED GOVERNMENT TRAVEL REGULATIONS, REQUIRING TRAVELERS TO SECURE ROUND-TRIP TICKETS WHENEVER PRACTICABLE AND ECONOMICAL.

COMPTROLLER GENERAL WARREN TO C. P. KNAPP, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, NOVEMBER 2, 1943:

REFERENCE IS MADE TO YOUR LETTER OF OCTOBER 16, 1943, AS FOLLOWS:

THE ATTACHED VOUCHER FOR $98.15, IN FAVOR OF H. M. HUFFMAN, PRINCIPAL PHYSICAL CHEMIST OF THE BUREAU OF MINES EXPERIMENT STATION, BARTLESVILLE, OKLAHOMA, HAS BEEN PRESENTED TO THIS OFFICE FOR ADMINISTRATIVE EXAMINATION AND CERTIFICATION.

MR. HUFFMAN TRAVELED FROM BARTLESVILLE, OKLAHOMA, TO CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, DETROIT, MICHIGAN, WASHINGTON, D.C., PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND RETURN TO BARTLESVILLE, OKLAHOMA, ISSUING GOVERNMENT TRANSPORTATION REQUESTS FOR ONE-WAY TICKETS FOR THE VARIOUS STEPS OF THE JOURNEY INSTEAD OF PURCHASING ROUND-TRIP TICKETS, WHENEVER PRACTICABLE AND ECONOMICAL, AS REQUIRED BY PARAGRAPH 16 OF THE STANDARDIZED GOVERNMENT TRAVEL REGULATIONS. HE FURNISHES THE FOLLOWING JUSTIFICATION FOR THE PURCHASE OF ONE-WAY TICKETS FOR THE VARIOUS STEPS OF THE JOURNEY:

" DUE TO THE FACT THAT I WAS UNABLE TO OBTAIN ADVANCE RESERVATIONS, THE LOCAL TICKET AGENT ADVISED THE PURCHASE OF ONE-WAY TICKETS. AT EACH STEP IN THE TRAVEL IT WAS NECESSARY TO TAKE WHATEVER RESERVATIONS THAT COULD BE OBTAINED FOR THE NEXT STEP OF THE JOURNEY. SINCE IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL WHICH RAILROAD THE JOURNEY WOULD BE MADE ON, IT SEEMED ADVISABLE TO MAKE THE TRIP ON ONE-WAY TICKETS.'

A RULING IS REQUESTED AS TO WHETHER ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVAL AND CERTIFICATION MAY BE MADE OF THE VOUCHER IN THE AMOUNT CLAIMED.

WHILE YOU DID NOT SIGN YOUR LETTER IN THE CAPACITY OF AUTHORIZED CERTIFYING OFFICER, IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT YOU OFFICIALLY OCCUPY SUCH STATUS; HENCE, YOUR LETTER WILL BE REGARDED AS A REQUEST MADE IN THAT CAPACITY FOR DECISION PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 3 OF THE ACT OF DECEMBER 29, 1941, 55 STAT. 876, WHICH GRANT TO CERTIFYING OFFICERS "THE RIGHT TO APPLY FOR AND OBTAIN A DECISION BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL ON ANY QUESTION OF LAW INVOLVED IN A PAYMENT ON ANY VOUCHERS PRESENTED TO THEM FOR CERTIFICATION.'

PARAGRAPH 16 OF THE GOVERNMENT TRAVEL REGULATIONS PROVIDES:

THROUGH TICKETS, EXCURSIONS, TICKETS, REDUCED RATE ROUND-TRIP OR PARTY TICKETS SHOULD BE SECURED WHENEVER PRACTICABLE AND ECONOMICAL.

IN VIEW OF THE EXPLANATION FURNISHED BY THE TRAVELER REGARDING THE DIFFICULTY OF MAKING ADVANCE RESERVATIONS ON TRAINS--- A CONDITION WHICH IS A MATTER OF COMMON KNOWLEDGE AT THIS TIME, ARISING FROM THE EMERGENCY WAR CONDITIONS--- IT MAY BE CONCLUDED THAT IT WAS NOT "PRACTICABLE" WITHIN THE PURVIEW OF THE REGULATIONS, SUPRA, TO HAVE OBTAINED ROUND-TRIP TICKETS IN RESPECT OF THE INVOLVED TRAVEL. ACCORDINGLY, SO FAR AS THE QUESTION RELATES TO THE MATTER OF THE PURCHASE OF ONE-WAY TICKETS FOR THE LOWEST FIRST-CLASS ACCOMMODATIONS INSTEAD OF ROUND-TRIP TICKETS, THE VOUCHER, IF OTHERWISE CORRECT AND PROPER, MAY BE CERTIFIED FOR PAYMENT.

New Yorkers went to the polls, where the following items were on their ballot:

Proposed Amendment No. 1 Admin of Government. Establishes a department of commerce in the state government

It was approved

Proposed Amendment No. 2 Taxes Authorizes the legislature to establish a fund or funds for tax revenue stabilization

It was also approved

Proposed Amendment No. 3 Redistricting Relates to the creation of assembly districts in counties that have been apportioned a greater number of assemblyman then there are towns

It was defeated

Proposed Amendment No. 4 Direct Democracy Changes residence requirements for voting purposes

It was approved.

Proposed Amendment No. 5 Direct Democracy Relates to residence requirements for election to the state assembly or senate in the first election after redistricting

It was approved

Proposed Amendment No. 6 Judiciary Relates to the jurisdiction of the court of appeals and the regulation of appeals by that court

It was approved.

The following recordings were made on this day on the Decca label, all from the movie Girl Crazy.

But not for me. Judy Garland  

Treat me rough Judy Garland ; Mickey Rooney  

I got rhythm Judy Garland

Hollywood, for promotional purposes, spent a fair amount of time trying to promote the concept that Garland and Rooney were a couple, which they weren't.

A really rough looking Gen. Clair Chennault appeared on the cover of Look.

Sunday, October 24, 1943. The murder of Leonard Siffleet and H. Pattiwal

Australian POW, commando Sgt. Leonard Siffleet and Ambonese private H. Pattiwal  were murdered by the Japanese.

Their story is an odd one, as they were basically turned over to the Japanese by New Guinea natives who had ambushed them, once again demonstrating that native populations were not universally hostile to the Japanese.  They were interrogated and tortured, and then executed under the orders of Vice Admiral Michiaki Kamada.  The officer committing the murders had the process photographed.  His fate is unknown.

British psyop radio channel Soldatensender Calais, broadcasting on German frequencies, went on the air at 5:57 local time, filling the gap, with British broadcasts, every time Radio Deutschland was off the air due to bombing raids.

The Battle of Finschhaften resulted in an Allied victory

The U.S. Army captured Sant'Angelo in Italy.

The HMS Eclipse was sunk by a mine in the Aegean, resulting on the loss of 119 sailors and 134 soldiers it was carrying

The Japanese destroyer Mochizuki and five merchant ships were sunk southwest of Rabaul by American aircraft.

The U-566 was sunk in the Atlantic by a Vickers Wellington.

Wednesday, October 20, 1943. Naval events, Polish hero.

A Navy PBY and a Japanese Navy G4M exchanged fire off of Attu.  The unlikely exchange by two non fighter aircraft was the last combat action off of Alaska and the last off of any U.S. territory that would be part of the present fifty states.

Two gasoline tankers collided off of Palm Beach, Florida and exploded, killing 73 people on board one and 43 on board another, far more people than modern ships carry of the same type.  There were 28 survivors.

The United Nations War Crimes Commission was established.

The U-378 was sunk by U.S. aircraft.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—October 20, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Oct. 20, 1943: Germans arrest Polish social worker Irena Sendler for smuggling 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto.

As she notes, Polish resistance bribed camp guards to release her and mark her down as executed. She lived until 2008.

October 7, 1943. Murder

The Germans murdered 1,313 Jewish former residents of the Bialystok Ghetto at Auschwitz.  Most of them were children.  Bialystok's ghetto had seen a failed uprising.

Over 100 people, mostly Italian civilians, were killed when a bomb planted by the Germans went off at the post office in Naples.

Shigematsu Sakaibara (酒井原 繁松) reading a statement following his conviction of war crimes.

The Japanese murdered 97 American civilians who had been held on Wake Island under the orders of Japanese naval commander Shigematsu Sakaibara (酒井原 繁松).  He'd be sentenced to death for the event after the war.

Sakaibara believed an American landing was imminent, which would not justify in any fashion the murders.  It was, however, what led him to give the order.  After at first denying the murders had occured, he would ultimately confess to them and express regret, but also maintain that the Allies had no authority to try him and that his sentence was unjust following the American use of nuclear weapons.

The New Georgia Campaign came to an end with an Allied victory.

Lassie Come Home, the first Lassie film, was released.

Wednesday, October 6, 1943. The last Japanese naval victory and the second Posen speech.

Himmler reprised his prior day by giving the second of his Posen speeches, in which he stated:

The question will be asked: 'What about women and children?' I did not consider myself entitled to exterminate the men, to kill them or have them killed, and then allow their children to grow up to revenge themselves on our own sons and grandsons. The painful decision had to be taken, to remove this people from the face of the earth...

The Battle of Vella Lavella commenced, in which six U.S. Navy destroyers intercepted nine Imperial Japanese destroyers sent to evacuate troops from New Georgia.  Regarded as the last Japanese naval victory of World War Two, each side lost two vessels but the Japanese were able to complete the withdrawal of troops.

USS Selfridge after the battle and USS O'Bannon.  The O'Bannon was damaged in a collision during the action.  They were both repaired and put back ino action.

Tuesday, August 22, 1923. Oaths of Office, Air Mail, No French Concessions, Japanese Navy Disaster, Societal Shifts.

Calvin Coolidge was administered the oath of office for the second time because of a question of whether the presidential oath had to be administered by a federal official. Judge Adolph A. Hoehling Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia administered did the honors this time, at the  Willard Hotel.

The Coolidge's then moved into the White House later that day.

I'm amazed that our disgraced former business magnate President didn't think of having a notary at the bank or something administer another oath to him.

Mail was getting speedier.

France informed Britain that it would not make concessions on the Ruhr.

Kalamazoo, Michigan banned dancers from staring into each other's eyes.

This sounds absurd, of course, but society was having a difficult time figuring out how to adjust to the arrival of dating.  It didn't come in all at once, of course, but the arrival of modern dating, principally in control of the dating couples or prospective couples, had increased enormously following World War One.

We've dealt with it extensively here before, but the 1920s really saw the onset of domestic machinery which would end up changing women's relationship with work.  And it also saw a dramatic rise in the number of young women who lived outside their parent's homes, or who were semi-independent of their parent's household.  FWIW, a really good portrayal of this can be found in A River Runs Through It, in a rural setting, which is of course a memoir of this period.  Much of this would be arrested with the arrival of the Great Depression, which retarded the advance of household appliances of all sorts, and sent many young people, male and female, back into their parent's households.

Among the difficulties being adjusted to were the morality problems the shift presented.  Now presented as quaint, they really were not and were not easily instantly adjusted to, and in some ways can be argued to have never been worked out.  We may in fact be in the final stages of working them out now.  An item from yesterday demonstrated an aspect of that, being the rise of pornography before there was any consensus on how to address that, which there still really is not.

The Imperial Japanese Navy's submarine 70 sank in a disaster, killing 88 of its men.  She was swamped by a passing ship with her hatch open.  Only six men survived, including her commanding officer.

Six men sawed their way out of the Natrona County jail.

Sawing your way out of a jail window is such a Western movie trope that it's odd to read of it actually being done.

Related Threads:

Women in the Workplace: It was Maytag that took Rosie the Riveter out of the domestic arena, not World War Two

Friday, August 6, 1943. Naval ambush

The nighttime Battle of Vella Gulf was fought between destroyers of the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy, the latter of which was better at night fighting.

U.S. Navy Task Group 31.2, consisting of a group of six destroyers, waited in Vella Gulf for the Japanese who were planning to land troops and supplies at Vila, Kolombangara with four destroyers.    All four Japanese destroyers were surprised by U.S. torpedoes, sinking three.  1,500 Japanese sailors went down with their ships.

The action was the first one in the Pacific in which US destroyers were authorized to operate independently from a cruiser force 

The Germans commenced the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto.  It was resisted.

U.S. and Free French forces prevailed at Toina, Sicily.

Monday, August 2, 1943. The wreck of the PT-109

The crew of the PT-109.

At 02:00 the U.S. Navy patrol torpedo boat PT-109 was rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri.  Two men were killed by the rest of the crew swam three miles to a small island, and then to Olasana Island.  The commander, John F. Kennedy and Ensign George H. r. Ross would then make it to Naru Island were they were found by natives who sent a message of their whereabouts, carved by Kennedy on a coconut, to the Navy.

The event arguably propelled Kennedy into the White House.

An uprising at Treblinka, which happened before the inmates could fully arm themselves, managed to free 300 during a rush of the main gate.

A much larger uprising had been planned.

Most of the escapees were captured, and only 40 survived.

Monday, July 12, 2043. Axis victories at Prokhorovka and Kolombangara.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-219-0553A-36 / Koch / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5410458.  German (probably SS) soldier examining destroyed T-34 at Prokorovka.

The II SS Panzer Korps and Red Army 5th Guards Tank Army fought a protracted engagement at Prokhorovka resulting in large numbers of German and Red Army tanks fighting each other over a four-day period.  The first day was critical, although the details are murky, something that's common for the Battle of Kursk.

German armor numbers vary from 240 some tanks to 900 some tanks, that latter number being very unlikely.  Over 600 tanks were deployed by the Red Army.  It was a Red Army counterattack, not a German assault.  AT the end of the day, German forces still held a critical topographic feature, Hill 252.2.  The Germans had advanced on neighboring terrain.  July 12, and the following few days, resulted in a German tactical defensive victory in the engagement, upsetting Stalin, who briefly considered making command changes as a result.  Having said that, the battle served to arrest German advances in the area, and it resulted in huge German armor losses, as well as Soviet ones. The Soviets could afford to lose more tanks.  Havintg said that, Germans, on this day, lost somewhere between 40 and 80 tanks, and the Soviets probably around 300 to 400 tanks.  German manpower losses of all types were around 800, whereas the Soviets were over 5,000.

The battle is one of the largest tank engagements in history.  It is also unfortunately shrouded in myth and suffers from having been fought between two dictatorial regimes, making it difficult to really know what actually occured in the battle.  This is particularly true with the Red Army, which did not tend to exhibit candor about its battlefield losses.

Of some interest, this particular battle featured three well equipped SS armor divisions whereas in Sicily the Germans presently had one armored division and one Panzergrandier division, both of which were good.  Of course, the primary Axis force at this time in Sicily was Italian, consisting of 200,000 Italian troops, although the Germans would soon commit additional forces.

Canadian troops on this day, in Sicily.

The Axis scored another tactical victory in the Battle of Kolombangara off of the island of that name when the Imperial Japanese Navy sank the USS Gwin, but lost the Japanese cruiser Jintsū, the only Japanese loss. 

 USS St. Louis (CL-49) and HMNZS Leander (75) firing during the Battle of Kolombangara

The Japanese were "running the slot" to resupply their ground forces, and at this stage of the war were superior at nocturnal naval engagements.

The United States Army Pharmacy Corps was established.

July 5, 1943. The Battle of Kursk commences, as does the Battle of Kula Gulf. Betty Grable marries.

 Shrouded and myth and legend, not all of it true, the Battle of Kursk, the largest armored battle in history. . . so far. . .  began when the Germans launched an attack on the city with 20 infantry divisions and 3,000 tanks.   The attack was part of the German summer offensive, Operation Citadel.

The battle would go on for nearly two months.  Seemingly like a lot of big battles in the middle of World War Two which the Axis lost, it is considered by some a turning point in the war.

In real terms, it is not impossible, although it is unlikely, that those alive today shall see a yet greater armored battle.

The battle is important for numerous reasons, not the least of which was that it is stunning to think that at this stage of the war the Germans would be capable of launching such a massive effort on the Eastern Font, and yet they were.  Indeed, that was part of the point, as the Germans hoped that a successful operation would bolster the wavering attitudes of Germany's allies, which were known to be considering pulling out of the war.

Operation Citadel itself, in spite of its massive scale, had surprisingly limited objectives, and perhaps is reflective of a growing sense of realism, somewhat, in some German quarters. The Germans did not hope for a breakthrough, but mostly to disrupt the Red Army's plans for the summer and to take large numbers of Soviet POWs, which in turn it would have employed as slave labor.

While this battle shall of course feature in the next month or so, in reality the turning point of the war had already come.  The Germans had already lost the Battle of Stalingrad, North Africa, and the Battle of the Atlantic, all within the prior several months.  This battle was an enormous effort, but the Germans were not capable of reversing the tide of the war at this point.

The Battle of Kula Gulf off Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands. between the U.S. and Japanese navies, commenced as the US Navy deployed to disrupt the landing of Japanese reinforcements.  The battle was a nighttime battle, and the Japanese succeeded in landing 1600 troops at Vila and 90 tons of supplies, to the loss of four ships. The US lost a light cruiser.

A B-17 dropped four inert bombs on Boise, Idaho, which it mistook for its practice target.  The event is memorialized by a park in Boise today.

Betty Grable married bandleader Harry James.

Wednesday, June 16, 1943. Noor Inayat Khan inserted in France.

Subhas Chandra Bose met with Hideki Tojo, who promised to help India secure independence from the United Kingdom.

On the same day, Noor Inayat Khan, born in Moscow to an Indian father and American mother., was deposited by light aircraft in France as an agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE).  She'd serve as a radio operator under the code name Madeline.

The SOE, which was heavily penetrated by German intelligence, would ultimately capture her and execute her in September 1944.

Her father was a Sufi mystic, which heavily influenced her outlook.  Raised in London and Paris, she was a poet before the war.

The Japanese raided Guadalcanal by air.

"Japanese Air Raid on Guadalcanal, June 16, 1943. USS LST-340 burning after she was hit by an enemy bomb. She was run ashore off Lunga Point after the hit, and her fires were extinguished after considerably damaging her and her cargo. Note trucks burning on deck. This photograph was taken by TSGT. H.S. Bolser, fifteen minutes after she was hit."

Probably referring to the same event depicted above, Sarah Sundon notes:

Today in World War II History—June 16, 1943: Japanese suffer their biggest aerial defeat over the Solomon Islands, losing 96 of 120 aircraft to antiaircraft fire and to Allied fighter pilots .

Charlie Chaplin married Oona O'Neill, daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill.  The father disowned the daughter as a result.  It was Chaplin's fourth and final marriage.

Oona O'Neill in 1943.

She was barely 18 years old at the time of the marriage, Chaplin having a track record for young women.

Sunday, June 13, 1943. Bose arrives in Japan.

Indian revolutionary Subhas Chandra Bose, whom we've discussed on these pages before, arrived in Japan after traveling via U-boot and then by Japanese Imperial Navy submarine. The transfer of Bose en route is the only such example to occur between two nations of a civilian during World War Two.

Bose with the crew of the Japanese I-9.

The Zoot Suit Riots came to an end.  Amazingly, in spite of their damage so the American social fabric, and to the Zoot Suit itself, nobody was severely physically injured in the episode.

U.S. Army Air Force General Nathan Bedford Forrest III, age 38, when the bomber he was riding in as an observer was shot down over Kiel. He was the great-grandson of the famous and controversial Confederate General of the same name.

He was a West Point graduate from the class of 1928, and had been in the cavalry branch, but only for a year, before transferring to the Air Corps.  His father had been a businessman and a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.

Tuesday, June 8, 1943. The explosion of the Mutsu.

The ammunition magazine of the Mutsu exploded during very hot weather while the ship was anchored at Hashirajima.  The explosion killed 1,222 people, only one of whom was not a crew member of the ship.

The ship had been built in 1918 and had largely spent the war as a training ship.  The Japanese Navy investigated the explosion and concluded, while physical examination was still ongoing, that the ship had been sabotaged by a disgruntled seaman.  In reality, its aft magazine may have exploded due to environmental conditions.

The Battle of Porta commenced in central Greece between the Italian Army and the Greek People's Liberation Army.  It was the first time the latter fought a conventional battle.

Sarah Sundin notes on her blog:

Today in World War II History—June 8, 1943: US begins the “Victory Home” campaign to encourage conservation, scrap collection, war bond purchases, and other patriotic wartime activities.

William J. Calley, who would be convicted for his role in the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War was born on this day.  He remains alive at age 79.

 Calley would only serve three years under house arrest for the crime.

Monday, June 7, 1943. Australia rations butter.

 

Today in World War II History—June 7, 1943: Off Guadalcanal, US Thirteenth Air Force, US Navy, US Marine Corps, and Royal New Zealand Air Force fighter aircraft shoot down 24 Japanese A6M Zeros.

So notes Sarah Sundin, who also notes that Australia began butter rationing.   You can learn more about that here:

1943 Butter rationing introduced