Tuesday, March 13, 1945. The road to Mandalay.

"These First U.S. Army infantrymen, known as "Grover's Ghosts", are a combat patrol of the 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division. They captured the German town of Seilsdorf using Nazi weapons and equipment after their own ammunition ran out. Hermulheim, Germany. 13 March, 1945."  121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division.  Photographer: Pvt. H. Jaquith, 165th Signal Photo Co.

The Battle of Kiauneliškis ended in a Red Army victory with the destruction of the Lithuanian partisan bunkers.

The British Indian 62nd Bde took the last Japanese rail link to Mandalay.

"En route from Kunming, China, to Kai Yuan, China, in the Petrified Forest area. 13 March, 1945.

Entire convoy personnel of Maj. Gen. R. B. McClure, C.G. of C.G.C. and Gen. Ho Ying Chin, Supreme Commander of the Chinese Armies. Photographer: Pfc. E. J. Frayne, Jr."

Last edition:

Monday, March 12, 1945. Santa Fe Riots.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Arkansas Army National Guard, Battle of Remagen, German Wehrmacht, Internment of Japanese, July 20 Plot, Red Army, World War Two

Sunday, March 11, 1945. Essen destroyed.

The RAF destroyed Essen.

The Battle of Kiauneliškis between Lithuanian partisans and the Red Army.

The British 36 Division took Mongrmit, Burma.

"Men of the 32nd Division are standing outside the Information and Education Tent at the Headquarters of the 32nd Division. Taytay, Luzon, P.I. 11 March, 1945. 32nd Infantry Division."

Last edition:

Saturday, March 10, 1945. The execution of Gen. Émile Lemonnier.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Australian Navy, boats and ships, Eastern Front, French Army, French Indochina, Imperial Japanese Army, Spain, The Battle of Wide Bay, The Great Tokyo Air Raid, War Crimes, World War Two

Monday, January 29, 1945. Königsberg taken.

The 3d Belorussian Front attacked Königsberg, or "the Kings Mountain" in German.  The Lithuanian city is now occupied by Russia as a Baltic access enclave and called Kaliningrad.

Dresden was taken by the Red Army.

The U-763 was scuttled after being damaged in a Soviet air raid.

"Four scouts of a reconnaissance squad of the 14th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, 87th Infantry Division, 3rd U.S. Army, race through snow-covered field to avoid enemy small arms fire near Malscheid. They are headed for protection of bomb crater in the field. L to R: Tec 5 Ralph Case, Cpl. Edwin Kral, Pvt. Charles Goddard and Cpl. Richard Christensen. 29 January, 1945. Malscheid, Belgium. 87th Infantry Division."

The US 1st Army took Bullingen.

Erich von Manstein attempted to meet with Hitler, who refused to receive him.  Von Manstein was now himself part of the refugee Prussian population.

Tom Selleck was born in Detroit.

Last edition:

Sunday, January 28, 1945. Katowice and Leszno and Roza Shanina dies of her wounds.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Artillery, Burma, Burma Road, China, Eastern Front, Italian Army, Ledo Road, Red Army, Ruhr, The roles of men and women, U.S. Air Force, War Crimes, Women, World War Two

Tuesday, October 31, 1944. Rescued.

Pvt. Fred T. Huff, 698 Pulaski St., Athens, Ga., one of the soldiers in an American infantry battalion trapped behind German lines.for six days in the Belmont sector, France, eats while waiting for transportation to the rear area for a rest. 31 October, 1944.

U.S. Infantrymen who were cut off by the Germans for six days in the Belmont sector, France, file down the road after being relieved. 31 October, 1944. 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry, 36th Infantry Division.

Bearded Lt. Martin J. Higgins, 29 Garrison Ave., Jersey City, N.J., left, receives a warm handshake from Lt. Charles O. Barry, 120 West St., Williamstown, P.A., when he rejoins his unit in the Belmont sector after being cut off by the Germans for six days. Lt. Higgins was one of the officers with a battalion cut off by the Germans. France. 31 October, 1944.  Note the M1 Carbine has a grenade launching attachment.  1st Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division.

The Royal Air Force raided Gestapo headquarters at the Aarhus University in Denmark  The goal was to destroy Gestapo records to aid the Danish resistance.  The raid was conducted, as an earlier on in France had been, with Mosquitos.

The Germans evacuated Salonika.  Remaining Aegean German garrisons were trapped.

German Army Group North was trapped on the Courland Peninsula.

T/5 Miles J. Wermager, center, of Magnomen, Minn., a member of a cavalry unit near Monschau, Germany, receives his first piece of chicken since D-Day from T/4 Frank F. Leichtman, left, of Bresho, S.D. 31 October, 1944.

Complete to a flute, turban, and ersatz snake, TeC 5 Hernry Vin Roten, seated, of Brooklyn, N.Y., muses fellow GIs and pretty guests from the nearby French town of Toul at a Halloween party given by members of an air evacuation holding station. 3rd Army Air Evac. Holding Station. 31 October, 1944.

Last edition:

Monday, October 30, 1944. Pvt. Ross.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle of Leyte, British Army, Dancing, Finnish Army, France, Greek Civil War, Greek Partisans, Heroes, Italy, Kamikaze, Lapland War, Personalities, Polish Army, World War Two

Monday, August 28, 1944. Hungarians reconsider.

The Kaunas Offensive in Lithuania ended in a Red Army victory.

The 1st Army crossed the Marne at Meaux.

German garrisons at Toulon and Marseilles surrendered.    The encircled 11th Panzer Division begins a breakout offensive towards the north.

Lakatos.  His government stopped the deportation of Hungarian Jews.  He'd be overthrown by fascists in October.  He lived in poverty after the war until immigrating to Australia, where he died in 1967 at age 77.

A new Hungarian government is seated lead by Gen. Lakatos.  It announces that it wishes to negotiated with the Soviet Union, which did not result in an end of the war for Hungary.

The BBC began Southeast Asian broadcasts in Dutch and French.

Last edition:

Sunday, August 27, 1944. Collateral damage.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle for Paris, boats and ships, Buchenwald, Château-Thierry France, Eastern Front, French Navy, Italy, Monarchy, Normandy Breakout, Romania, Royal Air Force, U.S. Air Force, Women, World War Two

Thursday, August 17, 1944. And on this day too, 30 years later, the Red Army entered East Prussia.

The Red Army crossed the River Scheshule and raised the Soviet flag on German soil. Sgt. Alexander Belov took the honors.  He survived the war and died in 1960.   

Interestingly, the Red Army entered East Prussia on the same day that the Imperial Russian Army had during World War One.

German forces in Lithuania launched counterattacks along their entire line.

Statue of St. Joan d'Arc in Orleans, August 17, 1944.

The Canadian Army took Falaise.  The city was in ruins.  A gap of a few miles exists thereafter between the British lines and the American ones.

The US Third Army took Saint-Malo.

In Southern France, almost no resistance to Allied advances is offered and the US captured St. Raphael, St. Tropez, Frejus, Le Luq and St. Maxime.

Third Infantry Division troops advancing on  August 17, 1944, in southern France.  Troops are wearing the new M1943 combat boots.

Hitler dismissed Field Marshal Kluge as commander of Army Group B and replaced him with Model.

The Battle of Biak, which had been going on since May 27, ended in an Allied victory.  American forces advanced near Aitape.  The length of these battles gives testament to how hard the Japanese were fighting.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 16, 1944. Closing the Falaise Pocket.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Argentina, Battle of Guilin–Liuzhou ( 桂柳會戰), Battle of Studzianki, Cheyenne Wyoming, Eastern Front, Falaise Pocket, Operation Dragoon, Operation Ichi-Go, World War Two, Wyoming (Cheyenne)

Thursday, July 13, 1944. Stuck in the Bocage.

Pvt. Roland Bonnell (left) of Cleveland, Ohio, and Sgt. James Devine (right) of Commack, New York, comfort a French girl with a puppy in Colleville, France.  July 13, 1944.  Bonnell, who had a brother serving in the Navy, is wearing the new M1943 combat boots.

The Red Army's Vilnius Offensive ended in a Red Army victory.  Polish Home Army troops that had staged a rebellion in Vilnius itself against the Germans were arrested by the Soviets.

The Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive began.

The Germans burned down the Kovno Ghetto's hospital.

U.S. forces become stalled in the bocage country.   The Western Allies in general were making dangerously slow progress in Normandy.

U.S. troops observe a destroyed Panzerkampfwagen V Panther, July 13, 1944.  Categorized as a medium tank, it was built to directly counter the Soviet T-34.  It was an excellent tank, but like all later German armor, it suffered from mechanical complication.

Sarah Sundin reports on a number of interesting items:

Today in World War II History—July 13, 1944

These include the recovering of US position on Aitape and the accidental landing of a Ju88 in the UK which featured equipment that homed in on US radar.

Last edition:

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

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Animals, Army, Dogs, Equine Transportation, Heroes, Italian Army, Italy, Mules, Operation Overlord, Red Army, Saipan, Theodore Roosevelt, World War Two

Thursday, July 6, 1944. Advances on Eastern Front, Halted on Western Front, Tragedy in Connecticut, Racism at Camp Hood.

Admiral Horthy ordered a halt to the deportation of Hungarian Jews, clearly seeing which way the war was going.  Hungary had not supported this policy initially, but upon being invaded by the Germans early in 1944 Jewish deportation commenced.

The Red Army took Kovel and Svir.

The Polish 3d Division took Osemo, Italy.

The U.S. Army took Namber airfield on Numfoor.

Allied progress was generally halted in Normandy.

De Gaulle arrived in Washington for talks on his administration and forces. Bretton Woods, of course, the boozy conference on post-war economics, was rolling on at the same time.

The tragic Hartford Circus Fire resulted in 167 deaths and 700 injuries in Hartford, Connecticut.  Up to 7,000 people when the tent caught fire, with the cause never being determined.

U. S. Army Lieutenant Jackie Robinson, stationed at Camp Hood, Texas, was instructed to move to a seat farther back in the back of an Army bus and refused, resulting in his court-martialed.  Army buses were not segregated.

Robinson had originally been an enlisted cavalryman who had been sent to OCS, and was now a cavalry officer serving in an armor unit.  His commander, Paul L. Bates, refused to authorize the prosecution whereupon he was transferred to another unit and then charged with multiple offenses, including public drunkenness even though Robinson did not drink.  He was tried in August 1944, and acquitted.

The delay caused by the trial prevented him from going overseas with his unit.  He was transferred to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, and served as an army athletics coach before being discharged in November 1944.

Council of war, Saipan, July 6, 1944.

Last edition:

Wednesday July 5, 1944. Third Army in Normandy.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle of the Atlantic, boats and ships, Canadian Army, George S. Patton, German Kriegsmarine, Operation Overlord, Operation Windsor, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Friday, June 23, 1944. Bagration increases.

As part of Operation Bagration, the Soviets commenced the Bobruysk Offensive, Mogilev Offensive and Vitebsk–Orsha Offensive in Belarus.

It's worth remembering that the Soviet attack was done Soviet style, with a massive artillery barrage coming before anything else, and then the massive movement of men, which in this case involved over 1,250,000 soldiers.  Not all of the offensive actions part of the overall offensive started on day one, or two.

The Polish Home Army 5th Wilno Brigade murdered over 20 Lithuanian civilians in Dubingiai in retaliation for the Glinciszki (Glitiškės) massacre of Polish civilians on June 20th by the Nazi-subordinated 258th Lithuanian Police Battalion.

American WACs in France, June 23, 1944.  All three women are wearing M1943 field jackets, which were just coming into service at that time and which are not seen all that often at this point.

The Germans abandoned their first line of defense in Cherbourg.  The British took St. Honorina. Montgomery arrived in France.

The HMS Scylia was irreparably damaged by a mine in the English Channel.

A  Ju 52 aircraft carrying German generals Eduard Dietl, Thomas-Emil von Wickede, Karl Eglseer, and  Franz Rossi crashed in the vicinity of Rettenegg, Styria, killing them, and three others.

A monument remains on the location.

Dietl is associated with war crimes, and likely would have been tried had he lived through the war.

Hard fighting continued on Saipan.

Marines moving supplies to the front, Saipan, June 23, 1944.

On Bougainville, Sefanaia Sukanaivalu, a Fijian solder, gave his life attempting to rescue his comrades.

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the posthumous award of the VICTORIA CROSS to:—

No. 4469 Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu, Fiji Military Forces.

On 23rd June 1944, at Mawaraka, Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands, Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu crawled forward to rescue some men who had been wounded when their platoon was ambushed and some of the leading elements had become casualties.

After two wounded men had been successfully recovered this N.C.O., who was in command of the rear section, volunteered to go on farther alone to try and rescue another one, in spite of machine gun and mortar fire, but on the way back he himself was seriously wounded in the groin and thighs and fell to the ground, unable to move any farther.

Several attempts were then made to rescue Corporal Sukanaivalu but without success owing to heavy fire being encountered on each occasion and further casualties caused.

This gallant N.C.O. then called to his men not to try to get to him as he was in a very exposed position, but they replied that they would never leave him to fall alive into the hands of the enemy.

Realising that his men would not withdraw as long as they could see that he was still alive and knowing that they were themselves all in danger of being killed or captured as long as they remained where they were, Corporal Sukanaivalu, well aware of the consequences, raised himself up in front of the Japanese machine gun and was riddled with bullets.

This brave Fiji soldier, after rescuing two wounded men with the greatest heroism and being gravely wounded himself, deliberately sacrificed his own life because he knew that it was the only way in which the remainder of his platoon could be induced to retire from a situation in which they must have been annihilated had they not withdrawn.

Last prior edition:

Thursday, June 22, 1944. The GI Bill signed into law.

Labels: Battle of Imphal, Battle of Kohima, Cherbourg France, Continuation War, GI Bill, It was because of World War Two, Operation Ichi-Go, Operation Overlord, Red Army, The Battle of Tienhaara, World War Two

Tuesday, June 20, 1944. End of the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

The Imperial Japanese aircraft carrier Hiyō sunk after fuel vapors ignited from previous damage caused by USS Belleau Wood's aircraft. 

Japanese losses stood at three aircraft carriers, two oilers and about 600 aircraft.

1st Lt. Donald E. Mittelstaedt of Missoula, Montana, is officer in charge of a combat assignment photo unit, of the 161st Signal Photo Co., on New Britain.

British Minister of Production Oliver Lyttelton created a controversy in his address to the American Chamber of Commerce in London when he went off script and stated:

Japan was provoked into attacking the Americans at Pearl Harbor. It is a travesty on history to ever say that America was forced into the war. Everyone knows where American sympathies were. It is incorrect to say that America was ever truly neutral even before America came into the war on an all-out fighting basis.

Secretary of State Cordell Hull immediately condemned the speech.

The weather remained bad in the English

Pvt. William L. Hatcher, of Scranton, SC, amuses a little French orphan by letting him wear his garrison cap. 20 June, 1944.

Channel, creating havoc for Allied shipping.

American lines slowly advanced, with the Germans seemingly withdrawing to join the Cherbourg defensive lines.  The 7th American Corps entered the city.  US forces found a partially constructed V-2 launching site near Sottevast.

A V-2 rocket, in a test flight, entered outer space and then returned, being the first man made object to enter space.

The Pope addressed the British 8th Army.

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS PIUS XII

TO MEMBERS OF THE EIGHTH BRITISH ARMY

Tuesday, 20 June 1944

It is a real joy for Us to welcome you all here within the very home of the common Father of Christendom. God has willed that We should be the Vicar of Christ on earth at a period of human history, when the world is filled as never before with weeping and suffering and distress unmeasured; and you know very well how Our paternal heart has at times been almost overwhelmed by the sorrows of Our children. You are of those children, and We have prayed for you. Your presence naturally recalls to Our mind the very pleasant days We once had the privilege of passing in the great capital of the British Empire; but it also summons up other memories, memories of those heroes of the Faith, St. Edward and St. Thomas a Becket, St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, who shed a supreme and unfading glory on your country. To their protection We commend you all. You know only too well the dangers and uncertainties of life in war. One thing make certain: keep always and everywhere close to God. This grace We beg for you through the intercession of those loyal, saintly sons of Mother Church and of your loved England, while with Our heart's affection We bless you and all your dear ones at home.

The Red Army captured Vilpuri.

The Lithuanian Security Police murdered 37 mostly Polish residents of Glitiškės.

TWA Flight 277 en route from Newfoundland to Washington, D.C. crashed in Maine, killing all seven on board.

Last prior edition:

June 19, 1944. The Battle of the Philippine Sea, day one. The Marianas Turkey Shoot.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Aircraft, Battle of the Philippine Sea, boats and ships, Imperial Japanese Navy, Operation Bagration, Operation Forager, Operation Overlord, Philippines, Saipan, Soviet Partisans, U.S. Navy