Afrika Korps display, National Museum of Military Vehicles.

 

Last edition:

Dodge WC Command Car. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1940s, 4x4, Automobiles, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Transportation, World War Two

Monday, August 14, 1944. Closing Gaps

Partisan in Florence, August 14, 1944

On this day in 1944, Operation Tractable was commenced by Canadian and Polish troops in Normandy with the goal of closing the Falaise Gap, which it did.  Casualties were outsized, as they often are during offensives, with the Canadian forces, the largest Allied contingent by far, taking over twice the number of casualties as the Germans.

Canadian artillery advancing.

On the same day, the Red Army completed operations in Operation Osovets, having taken all of their objectives in a week's operation in the final stage of Operation Bagration.

Also on this day, the Ft. Lawton riot occurred at Ft. Lawton, Washington. The riot was a conflict between Italian Prisoners of War and African American soldiers who had been celebrating their imminent departure overseas.  The riot started as an exchange of words between some drunk soldiers with liberty and Italian prisoners, which escalated into a fight.  Military Policemen restored order with no arrests, but the following day an Italian POW was found lynched.  No American participants in the riot could really be identified, but nonetheless 43 of them were charged in connection with the incident and 28 convicted in the largest US trial of servicemen during World War Two.

Last edition:

Sunday, August 13, 1944. Finnish victory, German retreat.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Artillery, boats and ships, Continuation War, Eastern Front, Falaise Pocket, German Kriegsmarine, Radio, The Press, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Wednesday, July 12, 1944. The death of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., age 56, veteran of World War One and Two, politician, notable businessman, and son of the President by the same name, the only U.S. general to land with the first wave of U.S. troops during Operation Overlord, died of a heart attack.

Roosevelt in Normandy.  He was severely arthritic by this point in the war.

His actions  on D-Day were critical, for which he would win a Congressional Medal of Honor.

For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, in France. After two verbal requests to accompany the leading assault elements in the Normandy invasion had been denied, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt's written request for this mission was approved and he landed with the first wave of the forces assaulting the enemy-held beaches. He repeatedly led groups from the beach, over the seawall and established them inland. His valor, courage, and presence in the very front of the attack and his complete unconcern at being under heavy fire inspired the troops to heights of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice. Although the enemy had the beach under constant direct fire, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt moved from one locality to another, rallying men around him, directed and personally led them against the enemy. Under his seasoned, precise, calm, and unfaltering leadership, assault troops reduced beach strong points and rapidly moved inland with minimum casualties. He thus contributed substantially to the successful establishment of the beachhead in France.

The U.S. 88th Division took Lajatico, Italy

Japanese-American soldier of 522nd Field Artillery, US 442nd Regimental Combat Team with a soldier of the Italian 11th Pack Mule Company, Castellina Sector, 12 July 1944.

The Red Army took Idritsa.

Japanese POW broadcasting in an effort to bring Japanese troops in caves out to surrender, July 12, 1944.

Rosie, captured Japanese army dog, Saipan.  July 12, 1944.

Last edition:

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

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Adolf Hitler, Caen France, Charles de Gaulle, Claus von Stauffenberg, Franklin Roosevelt, German Resistance Movements, Heroes, July 20 Plot, New Guinea, Operation Overlord, World War Two

Wednesday, March 22, 1944. German defeat in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Admiral Doenitz orders his U-boats to disperse and work singly.  Convoy attacks were halted in anticipation of new U-boat designs coming on.  Effectively, this amounted to a concession of German defeat in the Battle of the Atlantic.

New Zealanders made an unsuccessful assault on Monte Cassino.  After its failure, Allied defensive lines are consolidated.

The US OSS began Operation Ginny II, again intending to cut rail lines in Italy, and once again failing, this time as the landing party was beached in the wrong place and captured.

80% of the B-25s of the 340th Bombardment Group were destroyed by volcanic boulders from Vesuvius.

The Corpo Italiano di Liberazione (Italian Liberation Corps) was organized to collect the Royal Italain Army units that were now part of the Allied armies.  

Döme Sztójay replaced Miklós Kállay as Prime Minister of Hungary, and the country promulgated anti-Jewish legislation and ordered all Jewish businesses to close. The roundups of Hungarian Jews were soon to begin and the country would reenter the war as a German ally.

Hedwig Jahnow died at age 65 of malnutrition at Theresienstadt.  She was a German teacher and an Old Testament theologian who studied Rabbinic Dirge and remains significant in those studies.

On the same day, and at the same location, important pre Nazi German legal advisor to banking and industry, Albert Katzenellenbogen, died.

The Red Army took Pervomaysk

Mortar crew of 164th Inf. Regt., Americal Div., on Bougainville Island. 22 March, 1944.  All of these men were from Minnesota. All enlisted, this photograph is unusual in that one of the soldiers, PFC Russell Campbell, is wearing his service cap with the stiffner removed, something almost never seen in the case of U.S. soldiers in combat outside of airmen.

The only example of the Northrup XP-56, the first one having been destroyed in a crash, was photographed in anticipation of its first flight the following day.

Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet (s/n 42-38353) on the ground at Muroc Army Air Field, California, March 22, 1944.

The weird aircraft was not a success.

Sarah Sundin's excellent blog on daily events in World War Two, whose feed updates are no longer working, notes this item:

In US, “A” gas rationing cards (basic passenger car ration) are cut from three gallons per week to two gallons. 

Two gallons per week.

Could you get by on two gallons per week?  Most days I drive a 1/4 ton Utility Truck, which is better known as a Jeep, and while it's small, it gets terrible mileage.  I know that I use more than two gallons per week, but I would if I was driving my fuel efficient diesel truck as well.  If I was limited to two gallons per week, I'd have to make major life changes.

Should I be pondering this as Congress, through the neglect of Ukraine, pushes us ever closer to a war with Russia, should she invade the Balkans?

During World War Two I know that my grandfather had a different class of ration ticket as his vehicle was used for business.  His car was a "business coupe", which is about all I know about it.

I know it had a gasoline personnel heater, which probably provides a clue, but I still don't know who made it.

I had a 1954 Chevrolet at one time, and it got really good mileage.  Interestingly, a 1973 Mercury Comet, with a really powerful V8 engine we had, also did.  According to one site about older cars, the business couple should be something like this:

My '38 gets around 17-18 MPG @ 50 MPH. It drops to around 12-14 @ 60. She just doesn't like being pushed that hard.

My 54, and the 73, got much better mileage than that.

Whatever mileage the business coupé got, my father sort of brushed gasoline rationing off when I asked him about it, due to the other category of ticket.  I don't know what that really meant, however.

Of course, for most long travel of any kind, people took the train.  Something that we might want to consider as potentially being something that may very well return.  High speed rail, for that matter, may be coming to Wyoming.

Last prior edition:

Tuesday, March 21, 1944. Dear John.

1940s, 1944, Aircraft, Churches, Continuation War, Kamikaze, Miles City Montana, New Guinea, Operation Margarethe, Operation U-Go, The relationship between men and women, The written word, World War Two

Wednesday, December 8, 1943. Kalavryta

German General Karl von Le Suire, commander of the German  XXXXIX Mountain Corps, ordered the burning of the Greek city of Kalavryta and the execution of its male population in reprisal for the execution of 80 German prisoners of war by partisans.  They would ultimately kill 58 men and boys in Rogoi, and 37 in Kerpini.  At Mega Spilaio they murdered 22 monks and visitors.

Von Le Suire would surrender his command to the Soviets at the end of the war, and he would die in their captivity in 1954 at age 55.

The Battle of San Pietro Infine commenced with Italians fighting alongside the Allies.

On the same day Free French troops, some of whom were North African, began to be introduced to the fighting in Italy while veterans American and British units started to be withdrawn in order to be used in Overlord.

President Roosevelt visited Malta.

The Australians prevailed in the Battle of Wareo.

The U.S. Navy bombed Kwajalein 

Legendary rock music artist Jim Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida.

Talented but deeply personally troubled and an alcoholic, Morrison's father was a Navy officer who would rise to the rank of Admiral.

September 21, 1943. The Massacre of the Acqui Division.

The German Army, starting on this day, and running through September 26, murdered 5,000 Italian soldiers on the Greek Island of Cephalonia.

Proceeding the disaster had been a period of indecision by the Italians on whether to resist the Germans or not.  The Allies were reluctant to allow the Italians to use aircraft that were in the area, and therefore the Italians did not have air cover.  Ultimately, the Italian soldiers did resist and an unsuccessful battle broke out.  On September 18 that "because of the perfidious and treacherous behavior on Cephalonia, no prisoners are to be taken."  A group of Bavarian soldiers objected and were threatened with summary execution.

The Red Army captured Demidov.

Sarah Sundin notes:

Today in World War II History—September 21, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Sept. 21, 1943: In the Solomon Islands, US secures Arundel and Wana Wana. Soviets cross the Dnieper River south of Kiev, Ukraine.

Kate Smith appeared for a continuous 18 hours on the CBS Radio Network, starting at 8:00 a.m. in a bond drive.  85,000,000 listeners tuned in and $39,000,000 was raised.

Thursday, September 13, 1943. Wunderwaffe

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

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

The HMS Uganda.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday, September 9, 1943. Operation Avalanche.

The U.S. Army VI Corps and British X Corps landed at the Gulf of Salerno.  German forces offered heavy resistance.  The landings were not proceeded with areal bombardments in an effort to keep the element of surprise.

The Italian fleet put to sea in an effort to avoid capture by the Germans, as the Germans rushed to occupy the country.  Those ships that could not sail were scuttled.

The Luftwaffe attacked the Italian battleship Roma, sinking it through the use of a guided bomb.  1,253 of its 1,849 man crew died, including the commander of the Italian Navy, Carlo Bergamini.

The wreckage was not discovered until 2012.

The British landed at Taranto.

The Germans and the Italians commenced fighting on Rhodes.  Grossly outnumbering the Germans, but less well-equipped, the two-day battle would result in an outsized Italian defeat resulting in large numbers of Italian surrendering.  The Italian commander, Admiral Inigo Campioni, would become a POW and ultimately be executed by the Germans, showing a real idiocy in regard to their own situation given that by this point in the war, they'd clearly lost it.

The Italians, now at war with Germany, did sink two German submarine tenders and five naval barges in the Action off Bastia.

Iran declared war on Germany.

The Red Army captured Bakhmach.

El Alamein, (Tanks of El Alamein)

This is a 1957 Italian movie that's almost completely unknown to English speaking audiences.

It's surprisingly good.

The film surrounds the raising of, and training of, an actual well known Italian paratrooper unit, going through the early training of the film and the personalities of the soldiers followed in the film.  Some are conscripts, some are men who have been recalled from earlier service, including the first character who is introduced who is a monastic friar, and some new recruits. Their airborne training is explored and well done.  After they are fully trained as paratroopers, they are deployed to North Africa, which the actual unit really was.  It fights to its destruction at the Battle of El Alamein.

In some ways, the movie is a typical 1950s war movie, but more effort was expended on the prolonged tank battle scenes than normal.  Clearly making use of the Italian army at the time, the tanks depicted are a mix of M4 Sherman's and M47s.  Large numbers of tanks are used, and period fighter aircraft (although I could not identify them) are as well.  The movie is very well done.

In terms of historical accuracy, here too I don't know enough about Italian, or Axis units in general, at El Alamein to know how accurately this is depicted, but it does involve a real unit that was in fact basically destroyed in the battle.  Other armies, including the German and the British Army, are nearly dealt within the abstract, a fact assisted in that the British, with some exceptions, are depicted principally as armored formations so actual encounters with identifiable human beings are fairly rare.  Equipment wise, the movie seems largely accurate on the Italian side, although the number of submachineguns used by the Italian paratroops is presumed to be heavily exaggerated.

This is an almost loving portrayal of the unit that is completely apolitical, which may be one of its faults.  These men, in real life, were fighting for Mussolini, but in the movie neither Mussolini or fascism are ever mentioned.  They're basically portrayed as men doomed to a tragic fate, which in a way they were, but in wars, there is always a larger picture.

Worth seeing, and something that we rarely actually see portrayed, that being a unit history, like that given in Platoon, of an Axis unit in World War Two.

Thursday, August 12, 1943. German withdrawals, Polish and Albanian raids, German reports, Pacific staging.

The Germans, in one of the most successful withdrawals of the Second World War, carried on with day two of its evacuation of Axis forces from Sicily.

Franklin Roosevelt broadcast a message to the Filipino people, promising to establish full sovereignty for the nation upon liberation from the Japanese.  The scheduled date for that was already July 4, 1946.  As it was, liberation of the island would not come until July 1945 and the scheduled date was kept.

The Polish Home Army executed Operation Góral and recovered a massive amount of cash being taken out of the country by the Germans.  On the same day, the Albanian resistance ambushed a German convoy successfully in the Kurtës Ambush

The German Sicherheitsdienst, the SD reported on the attitude of young Germans. Among other things, it reported:

Most boys and girls have not the slightest interest in becoming a member of the NSDAP. All attempts by the relevant authorities to get them involved have been in vain. For the boys it's the Wehrmacht which is now the thing not the Party.

And: 

The reserve shown towards the Party is also encouraged by the unresolved Party-Church question. Since a large section of youth, and above all their parents, are still loyal to the Church, remarks aimed at the "sacred beliefs which they have held hitherto" by Party comrades, cadres and HJ leaders have a negative impact. This is particularly the case at the present time because, as a result of the current war situation, young people too notice that the Church pays great attention, for example, to caring for the relatives of those who have been killed, and that the priests give clear answers on questions concerning life and the present time. In addition, rumors about alleged positive remarks about the churches by leading personalities, soldiers who have been decorated etc. have a big impact.

The SD and related organizations carried on a lot of secret polling of this type during the war. 

Things were happening in the North Pacific. 

USS Tennessee (BB-43) at Adak, Aleutians, August 12, 1943, just before the Kiska landings.

On the Eastern Front, Luftwaffe Hptm Hans-Ulrich Rudel completed his 1300th mission and his tail gunner OFw Hentschel’s completed his 1000th.

Wednesday, August 11, 1943. Retreats.

The Germans commenced withdrawing from Sicily.

Sarah Sundin notes this on her blog, also noting that 100,000 Axis troops would be evacuated to the Italian peninsula, a significant failure in the Allied campaign in that they were not able, in spite of attempting, to trap them in Sicily.  There were efforts to do so, as she also noted:

Today in World War II History—August 11, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Aug. 11, 1943: US Seventh Army makes amphibious landings at Brolo on Sicily’s north shore, but fails to cut off German retreat.

Hitler ordered the creation of an "Eastern Wall" to defend conquered territory in the Baltics.

Saturday, July 10, 1943. Seaborne landings on Sicily. Battle at Enogai.

Early morning view on July 10, 1943.  U.S. Navy photograph.

The main landing force started disembarking in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily.

Weather conditions were poor, featuring high winds, which served to cause the Axis forces, under Italian command, to assume that landings could not be conducted, which would be the first of two such bad assumptions on the same basis Axis forces would make in Europe during the war in regard to an amphibious landings.  Landings commenced at 02:45 on 26 beaches spread out over a distnace of a stunning 105 miles, making the landings the largest of World War Two in terms of both the sizeof the landing zone and the number of Allied divisions landed on D-Day.  The landing Allied troops, consisting of British, Canadian and American soldiers, generally encountered weak resistance, althought there were some Italian exceptions.

51st Highland Division unloading stores from tank landing craft on Operation Husky D-Day

By any rational measure, the massive operation meant that the Western Allies had returned to the European continent after having been pushed out of Greece in June 1941.  The operation also demonstrated the ability of the Western Allies to conduct very large-scale amphibious and airborne operations, although imperfectly.

The battle would also bring into increased prominence, and not always in a good way, the names of a vareity of Allied commanders who would dominate the news from the ETO for the remainder of the war.

Husky was under the overall command of Gen. Eisenhower, but operational command of hte invasion force was under British command.  Often lost to American understanding, at this stage of the war the British Commonwealth forces in Europe were larger and more experienced than American ones. 

The two-day Battle of Enogai took place on New Guinea between US Marines and Japanese solders. A Marine Corps victory would result on the second day, which featured Marines turning captured Japanese automatic weapons on Japanese forces, something that was somewhat unusual for US forces to do.

Dead Japanese machine gun crew at Enogai.

Wednesday, June 9, 1943. George H. W. Bush takes flight.

Payroll taxes were passed by Congress for the second time in U.S. history, the first time having been in 1913.  Automatic withholding was a feature of the tax.

Sarah Sundin, on her blog, notes:

Today in World War II History—June 9, 1943: Future president George H.W. Bush is commissioned as an ensign in the US Naval Reserves, age 18; he’ll become the youngest US naval aviator in history.

She also noted that the Navy declared Los Angeles off limits, helping to bring the Zoot Suit Riots to an end. 

The Battle of Porta ended with the Italian Army burning down a series of Greek villages.

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.

May 12, 1943. The Afrika Korps Surrenders.

 Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.

This was the first full theater collapse of an Axis army during World War Two.

Regarding this event, Sarah Sundin notes:

Today in World War II History—May 12, 1943: 80 Years Ago—May 12, 1943: German and Italian troops surrender in Tunisia, ending the campaign in North Africa; Allies take 225,000 prisoners.

The Axis surrender was affected by Colonel General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim and General Giovanni Messe, commanders, of the German Army and the Italian Army in North Africa.  Von Arnim refused to surrender the terms of the unconditional surrender, although his troops were surrounded and in fact were surrendered.

Messe.

Messe had experience in armored warfare, and had served on the Russian Front prior to being posted to North Africa.  This is all the more remarkable when you consider that Messe was an Italian Royalist and would go on to serve as Chief of Staff of the Italian Co-Belligerant Army after Italy switched sides in the war, making him a unique figure.  He was popular with the Italian people and went on to serve in the Italian Senate.

Messe wearing Iron Cross and inspecting Italian troops in Russia.

He may be the only figure to have fought with the Germans on two fronts, and then against them in his homeland, as well as perhaps being the only commander to have fought against the Soviets on Soviet territory to go on to fight in an army allied to them.

He died in 1968 at age 85.

The Trident conference between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt commenced in Washington, D.C.  It would run for sixteen days.

Sundin, in her blog, also notes that the Indian Army evacuated Maungdaw.

The massive Battle of West Hubei commenced in China between the Nationalist Chinese Army and the Imperial Japanese Army.  The Japanese offensive would fail, with each army loosing about 25,000 casualties.

The "Fido" acoustic homing torpedo came into action in the North Atlantic, being used by a Royal Air Force B-24 to damage the U-456.

Thursday, March 18, 1943. 1st Rangers take El Guettar.

The U.S. 1st Ranger Battalion, "Darby's Rangers", took El Guettar Tunisia from surprised Italian forces.

William O. Darby, their commander, was a pre-war artilleryman who was exposed to British Commandos while stationed in Northern Ireland.  Darby sought and was granted a leadership role in the 1st Ranger Battalion when it was formed in 1942.  The Rangers at that time were heavily made up of volunteers from the 34th Infantry Division, which was a National Guard division made up of units from several states.  That the rangers had this origin is often missed.

Darby was killed in action in Italy shortly before the war ended.

United States Army Air Corps bombardier Jack Warren Mathis was killed in action.  He'd be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on this day. The citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy over Vegesack, Germany on 18 March 1943. First Lt. Mathis, as leading bombardier of his squadron, flying through intense and accurate antiaircraft fire, was just starting his bomb run, upon which the entire squadron depended upon for accurate bombing, when he was hit by the enemy antiaircraft fire. His right arm was shattered above the elbow, a large wound was torn in his side and abdomen, and he was knocked from his bombsight to the rear of the bombardier's compartment. Realizing that the success of the mission depended upon him, 1st Lt. Mathis, by sheer determination and willpower, though mortally wounded, dragged himself back to his sights, released his bombs, then died at his post of duty. As the result of this action the airplanes of his bombardment squadron placed their bombs directly upon the assigned target for a perfect attack against the enemy. First Lt. Mathis' undaunted bravery has been a great inspiration to the officers and men of his unit.

Mathis had joined the Army in 1940 and had served as an enlisted artillerymen until his brother joined the Air Corps.  He then transferred to it. 

The German recapture of Kharkiv was completed.  The Red Army evacuated Belgorod.

Of note, now regarded as a Russian city, it had been a Ukrainian one prior to the USSR redrawing the map.

The British Canadian Star, Clarissa Radcliiffe, Dafila, Kaying, the US SS Ogelthorpe, Molly Pitcher, Walater Q. Gresham and  the DutchTerkolei went down in the Battle of the Atlantic.

The Vichy administration of French Guiana was deposed.

American Nazi leader, German-born Fritz Kuhn, was stripped of his U.S. citizenship.

Deportation of Jewish residents of Bulgarian occupied Thrace commenced.

Thursday, March 4, 1943. Murders of Greek Jews and uprising of Greek partisans.

Jews in Bulgarian occupied Greece, annexed by Bulgaria as Belomorie, were gathered and deported to Treblinka.

This provides another example of how the Holocaust was expanding post German defeat at Stalingrad.

In northern Greece, the Battle of Fardykambos between Greek partisans of the National Liberation Front, and local residents, and the Italian Army commenced.  It would be a partisan success.

The Afrika Korps concluded Operation Ochsenkopf in Tunisia in failure.

Mrs. Minver won the Academy Awards for best picture.  Her acceptance speech remains the longest in Academy history at six minutes.

The drama was the first movie to win an Academy Award which was set during World War Two.

Tuesday, February 16, 1943. Mildred Harnack executed. Theresienstadt temporairly spared. Domenikon not spared. Norwegian paratroopers drop. Stalin asks for a "second front".

Himmler ordered a cessation of deportations of elderly Jews from the Theresienstadt ghetto, resulting in a complete sessaion of deportations of all Jews from there for six months.  Oddly, the ghetto had been designated as a location where elderly Jews could live out tehir lives, albeit not comfortably, resulting in the order, but a peson has to wonder to what extent the order simply wasn't practical, given the massive strain hte war had put on the German railways system, which was being compounded by German deportations.

Italian soldiers commenced reprisal murders of Greek civilians at Domenikon which would result in 175 Greek men being killed.

Norwegian paratroopers were dropped by the British at Skrykenvann in preparation for a raid on the hydro plant at Vemork, targeted at heavy water production.

East German stamp in honor of the Harnacs.

Mildred Harnack, née Fish, a 41-year-old Milwaukee, Wisconsin native, was executed by guillotine at Germany's Plötzensee Prison on orders of Adolph Hitler.  

Harnack was an academic who married Arvid Harnack, a German academic. The couple moved to Arvid's native land, and in the 1930s the couple, if not outright Communists, were at least serious fellow travelers, something not that unusual for academics at the time.  While this was the case, they nonetheless were members of the American Church in Berlin, a Protestant church which Americans attended prior to the war.

The Harnacks were members of the Red Orchestra, which lead to her arrest and execution.  

The story of her death is largely unknown in the US and was in fact suppressed by the US government due to their Communist sympathies.   The U.S. Army's Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) concluded her execution "justified", which legally it likely was, given that the sentence for treason was death everywhere at the time. That doesn't make her effort any less noble, of course.

Josepah Stalin, who was fighting a one front, if gigantic, war wrote to Franklin Roosevelt, reiterating the need for a "second front".  The United States was, of course already engaged in a second front in North Africa, a third front in the Pacific, and a basically a fourth front on the Atlantic, none of which involved the Soviets.

The Western Allies, throughout the war, loyally plade this sharade with Stalin, who was, of course, a former German ally, none of which is to belittle the giant Soviet war effort, but which is also not to ignore that the effort was being heavily supplied by the Western Allies.  Soviet propoganda, particularly in the USSR itslef, was so effective on thsi score, hoewver, that unfortunately modern Russians still believe it.

Former slave George Washington Buckner, and later U.S. Minister to Liberia (1913 to 1915) died in Indiana at age 87.  He was also a physician.

Monday, February 1, 1943 The birth of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a U.S. Army unit made up of Japanese American, Nisei, enlisted men, with white officers, was authorized.

The unit served in Europe during the war and became the most decorated unit in American military history.

44nd's DI.

Operation Ke (ケ号作戦), the Japanese evacuation of Guadalcanal, commenced. 10,652 Japanese soldiers were evacuated from the island with the US not realizing that the Japanese Navy runs were taking troops out, not in, until February 8, when the mission was over.

Vittorio Ambrosio became Chief of Staff of the Italian Army.  He ultimately supported removing Mussolini when the latter would not take Italy out of the war and helped negotiated the treaty that resulted in Italy changing sides.  He also supported taking the Italian Army out of the war against the Soviet Union.  

He was nonetheless demoted to Inspector-General after the Italian switch in sides, as the Allies did not trust him.

He was married to a Croatian and passed away at age 79 in 1958.

Wednesday, January 27, 1943. Aluminium Overcast.

91 bombers, both B-17s and B-24s, of the 8th Air Force made the first U.S. airstrikes inside of Germany, including a 55 plane raid on the submarine pens at Wilhelmshaven.  All of the aircraft returned.

The Red Army successfully completed the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh offensive against the Hungarian 2nd Army and parts of the Italian 8th Army.  The Hungarian and Italian forces took over 70,000 casualties and lost over 50,000 men as POWs.

The Office of Price Administration announced that "edible meats" would be rationed beginning on April 1, due in part to the failure of voluntary reductions to be effective.  Taking this step meant that the U.S. Government was going further in this direction than it had at any point during World War One.