M3 Stuart Light Tanks. Outside Display. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

 

M3 Stuart in British desert camouflage pattern. The British made extensive use of the M3.  To the right is a M3 half track.  The "M3" designation repeated for various things by category.

Another M3 Stuart with British unit markings.

Last edition:

Central World War Two Display, U.S. manufactured light tanks: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

Labels: 1940s, 1941, 1943, 1944, 1945, Airborne, Armor, Army, British Army, Korean War, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Tracked vehicles, United States Marine Corps, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

Muslim enslavement.

A new study suggests that Muslims enslaved 1,000,000 or more European Christians in North Africa between 1530 and 1780. 

This is a larger number than previously estimated.

Men and boys, it is known, were generally sold into backbreaking work.  Young women were sold into sex slavery.

Monday, January 10, 1944. The Verona Executions.

WACs march down the gangplank of transport at a North African port. Army trucks wait to take them to a nearby transit camp. 10 January, 1944.

The Verona Trial ended with the conviction of all six present defendants, with five sentenced to death.  Tullio Cianetti was spared that penalty, and instead received a 30-year sentence, after writing a letter of apology to Mussolini.

Following the war, he went into exile in Portuguese Mozambique.  He died in Mozambique, which became independent in 1975, in 1976.

The Red Army took Lyudvipol which had been within pre-war Poland.

The British took Maungdaw in Burma.

1944  A United States Army Air Force plane crashed near Cheyenne, killing the pilot. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Friday, June 4, 1943. Giraud takes command.

Henri Giraud was appointed Commander In Chief of the Free French Forces.

Giraud was a career French Army officer, as we would of course expect, who had entered the army in 1900.  He was serving with the Zouave's in North Africa when World War One broke out and was badly wounded leading a Zouave charge earlier in the war, resulting in his capture by the Germans after he'd been left for dead.  He'd escaped German captivity posing as s circus roustabout after his recovery.

He was captured by the Germans a second time in May 1940, and escaped again in November 1942, as we discussed here:

Saturday, November 7, 1942. Giraud escapes France.

The British submarine Seraph smuggled French general Henri Giraud out of France.

Giraud was an opponent of the Vichy regime and had escaped German captivity, for Switzerland, back in April.  Vichy tried to lure him back, but he demurred.

While all in anticipation of Torch, the submarine took Giraud to Gibraltar, where he remained until November 9.  Relationships between the Free French officers were always highly complicated and tense, in part because their legitimacy was really legally questionable, which their organization, supported by the Allies, reflected. The Allies always tried to split the difference between outright firebrand rebels, like DeGaulle, and those who still held some ties to Vichy as the legal government.  Those in a position in between, like Giraud, were in an odd spot.

He received Allied support as the leader of the Free French following the assassination of Admiral Darlan. At the time, the Allies were trying to balance the personalities in the French leadership which varied from DeGaulle, who had gone into rebellion against Vichy from the onset, to individuals like Darlan who had not been sympathetic with the Nazis but who were unwilling, at first, to rebel against the established legal government.  Giroud appeared to be a good compromise between the two.  In that, he may have been misread.  An early sign of that was when Gen. Eisenhower asked him to take command of French troops in North Africa during Operation Torch, and he declined at first as he felt his honor demanded command of Torch itself, although he soon relented.

As it was, French forces in North Africa refused to recognize Giraud and instead continued to follow the orders of Admiral Darlan.  Darlan was accordingly recognized by the Allies as the head of French forces in North Africa, in spite of his association with Vichy.  Giraud's position was thereafter under Darlan.  Upon Darlan's assassination, Giraud's overall leadership of the French forces was forced through by the Allies.

Giraud had not been, however, a perfect choice, as he wished to retain French racial laws and he had made comments sympathetic to the accomplishments of Nazi Germany.  He'd ultimately fell when he acted independently of the Allies in sending French ships to help French resistance movements in Corsica in September without informing the Allies.  At this point, it was learned that he was maintaining an independent intelligence service.  This led to his wartime retirement.  

He served in the Assembly after the war, and died in 1949 at age 70.

Argentina's government fell in a coup d'etate which removed Ramon Castillo, who had maintained a strict neutrality position over World War Two, in favor of Gen. Arturo Rawson, who yielded nearly immediately to Gen. Pedro Ramirez, who continued the neutrality policy.  As this might demonstrate, the coup and Argentine politics were in a highly confused state, and would remain that way for many years.  Its military was clearly a danger, however, to civilian leadership of the country.

Belle and Kermit Roosevelt.

Kermit Roosevelt, serving as a Major in the U.S. Army, but also suffering from years of illness and alcoholism, committed suicide in Alaska.  He was 52 years old.

Adventuresome, like his father, but subject to alcoholism like his uncle.  He served in the British and American armies during World War One.  He'd accompanied his father on the legendary River of Doubt expedition in South America before the war, an event which contributed to Theodore Roosevelt's late in life declining health.  Like his father, Kermit Roosevelt nearly died during the expedition and also like his father, a branch of the river was named for him.

He served a second hitch in the British Army early in World War Two, participating in the Battle of Narvik.  He resumed heavy drinking after an injury in that battle, which he had previously given up, and was plagued by liver problems that was compounded by malaria. He was subsequently medically discharged from British service.  His drinking was so bad that Archie Roosevelt sought to place him in a sanitarium for a year upon his return, and he agreed to a four-month stay.  He took a commission in the U.S. Army as a major at that time and was stationed at Ft. Richardson, Alaska.

Monday, May 10, 1943. Not even bothering with the Reichstag.

Texaco Company advertisement; "Just eleven hours on earth...with Hitler!".  Time, May 10, 1943.

Hitler extended the Enabling Act of 1933, the organic act of his dictatorship, indefinitely, not even bothering to cal the Reichstag into session to do it.

300 large U.S. libraries flew their flags at half-mast on the same day to mark the book burnings that had occurred in Nazi Germany.

On the same day, he approved the plans for Operation Citadel, a giant planned attack on the Kursk Citadel, while, at the same time, as Sarah Sundin notes, Axis efforts were collapsing in North Africa:

Today in World War II History—May 10, 1943: 80 Years Ago—May 10, 1943: In Tunisia, British First Army takes Hammamet, cutting off Cap Bon Peninsula.

Time magazine issued one of its classic covers of World War Two, depicting a stone faced German Admiral Doenitz as a periscope, accompanied by other periscopes depicted as snake heads.

Friday, May 7, 1943. Fall of Tunis and Bizerte.

 Tunis and Bizerte fell to the Allies

Monday, May 3, 1943. The crash of Hot Stuff claims the life of Gen. Andrews.

Lt. Gen. Frank Maxwell Andrews, for whom Andrews Air Force Base is named, died in the crash of the B-24 Hot Stuff in Iceland, when it went down in bad weather.

He had been on an inspection tour in the United Kingdom.

Only the plane's tail gunner, SSgt George A. Eisel, survived the crash.  Eisel had survived a previous B-24 crash in North Africa.  He'd live until 1964 when he died at age 64.  Married prior to the war, he and his wife never had any children.

Hot Stuff was the first B-24D to complete 25 missions, well before, it might be noted, the B-17 Memphis Belle did the same.  Hardly anyone recalls Hot Stuff, as the Army went on to emphasize the Memphis Belle following the crash of Hot Stuff and the death of all but one of its crew.  Of note, Hot Suff, predictably, had a much more salacious example of nose art than Memphis Belle, and it's interesting to speculate how the Army would have handled that had the plane been popularized.  At any rate, the story that Memphis Belle was the first US bomber to complete 25 missions is a complete myth.

Andrews was the CO of the ETO at the time of this death.  A West Point Graduate from the class of 1906, he had been in the cavalry branch from 1906 to 1917, when he was assigned to aviation over the objection of his commander.  A prior objection had prevented his reassignment in 1914.

Sarah Sundin noted this event on her blog:

Today in World War II History—May 3, 1943: Lt. Gen. Frank Andrews, commander of US European Theater of Operations, is killed in a B-24 crash in Iceland. US II Corps takes Mateur, Tunisia.

She also noted the ongoing Allied advance in North Africa and the establishment of the British 6th Airborne Division. 

Mine workers called off the coal strike.

The United States Supreme Court invalidated a Jeannette, PA ordinance that required Jehovah's Witness members to acquire peddler's licenses before distributing religious literature.  The ordinance's license fee was a whopping $10.00/day.

Friday, April 23, 1943. Good Friday.

Today was Good Friday in 1943. 

Churchgoers leaving Methodist Church after Good Friday service in San Augustine, Texas, April 23, 1943.

While church attendance on Good Friday is not required in the Catholic or Orthodox churches on Good Friday, or any other Christian church of which I'm aware, it is a day of fast and abstinence from meat.  In the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, it's one of only two such days all year long, the other being Ash Wednesday.

Today in World War II History—April 23, 1943: Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff establishes COSSAC (Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander) for planning the invasion of western Europe (D-day).

From Sarah Sundin's blog.

She also reports that the US commenced its final drive in Tunisia.

Yesterday we reported

The Battle of Longstop Hill commenced in Tunisia.

Bringing down the wounded at Longstop Hill.  Note Churchill tank in the background.

Churchill tanks played a critical role in the battle, which ended on April 23 and oddly contributed to the Allied war effort in an odd way.  A Churchill disabled a Tiger I, Tiger 131, which was then captured and heavily studied.

Tiger 131.

Of note, in this late stage of the war in North Africa armor upgrades were becoming a significant factor.  Earlier much of the fighting had been done with late pre-war tanks, but now it was being done by tanks developed during the war itself, including the new heavy tanks.

That battle concluded on this day.

The SS commenced burning the buildings in the Warsaw Ghetto.

The Oregon coast was buffeted by a strong, unusual April windstorm.

Sunday, April 18, 1943. A vengeful Palm Sunday.

Admiral Yamamoto's airplane was ambushed by American P-38s in Operation Vengeance, which brought the plane down over Bougainville, killing him.

It was a very rare targeted action, in which Yamamoto was the purpose of the mission.  The mission remains somewhat debatable as a result.  Adm. Yamamoto was a very capable Japanese commander, and perhaps for that reason it was justified, although he also held mixed feelings about the war itself.

The intercept was made possible by the U.S. having broken the Japanese naval code and, for that  reason, it was also a bit risky as it may have revealed that fact to the Japanese as the P-38s were really beyond their normal range and their presence peculiar.

Sarah Sundin covered this in her blog as well.

Today in World War II History—April 18, 1943: Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of Japanese Combined Fleet, is killed when his plane is shot down by US Thirteenth Air Force P-38s over Bougainville.

She also covered the "Palm Sunday Massacre" in which the Allies shot down over half of an Axis 100 plane supply mission from Sicily to North Africa.

The Soviets denied the Katyn Massacre.

It was Palm Sunday, 1943.  Both of my parents would have attended Palm Sunday Mass with their families.

Saturday, April 17, 1943. Staying on the job.

The United States War Manpower Commission issued the order preventing 27,000,000 civilian employees engaged in essential activity from leaving their employment for non-essential work.  An exception existed if a person simply left employment and remained unemployed for thirty days.

Penalties existed for employees and employers who violated the order, including fines up to $1,000 and a year in prison.

We addressed this a bit earlier, but this would probably be regarded as an unconstitutional act today.

Catholic orphanage in Algiers destroyed by Luftwaffe bombing on this day.  Fifteen Religious Sisters were killed in the raid.

Admiral Horthy, the leader of Hungary, refused Hitler's personal request to turn Hungary's 800,000 Jews over to the Germans.

The U-175 was sunk by the Coast Guard Cutter Spencer in a heavily photographed action.

Thursday, April 15, 1943. V-Mail.

 

The first Victory Mail station established overseas, in this case in Casablanca.

The technology involve microfilming mail for more efficient transmission.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—April 15, 1943: Maj. Gen. Omar Bradley takes command of US II Corps in Tunisia; George Patton is relieved to prepare for the invasion of Sicily.

All in all, Patton had been in command of II Corps for a mere matter of weeks.

On the same day, Gen. Eisenhower toured the front in North Africa.

The State Bank of Ethiopia was established.

The Sino-American Cooperative Organization was established as an intelligence gathering cooperative between Nationalist China and the United States.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand was issued. I haven't read it, and I'm not going to, as Ayn Randites don't impress me.

Sunday, April 11, 1943. The Last To Eat

About says it all.  By the way, as this was an Army publication, the watermark does nothing.  You can't claim a government publication.

First flight of the Piasecki PV-2, the second successful American helicopter, of which a single example was made.

A person could do worse.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—April 11, 1943: German Gen. Rudolf Schmidt is relieved of command of Second Panzer Army when his brother is arrested. US II Corps takes Kairouan, Tunisia and its airfield.

Schmidt would endure a courts-martial, but be acquitted. Afterwards he was transferred to the reserves and never called back to active duty.  He was arrested after the war by the Soviets and imprisoned, spending most of the rest of his life in Soviet captivity.

Saturday, April 10, 1943. Sfax taken.

The Tunisian port of Sfax was captured by the British 8th Army.  It would later be the staging point for the invasion of Sicily.

It was also used as a POW camp, holding German Prisoners of War through the rest of, and after, the war.

Foreshadowing that later event, perhaps, the Italian cruiser Trieste was sunk by B-24s in the port of La Maddealena, Sardinia.

Tom Harmon, well known collegic football star, a halfback, now a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Force, disappeared when a bomber he was flying cracked up in a storm over Surinam. The only survivor of the plant, he'd emerge several days later with the assistance of natives, who escorted him out of the jungle.

Harmon as a football player for the University of Michigan.

Harmon had been drafted by the Chicago Bears but had declined to take up professional football, which was not as lucrative or as followed as it now is. Instead, he intended to pursue a career in acting and radio, although he ended up joining the American Football League in 1941 for a $1,500 per game salary, a large sum at the time.  

Harmon had resisted being drafted, something we don't think of as occurring much during World War Two, but which was in fact much more common than might be supposed.  He received a 1-B classification in May 1941 as he was a student and then given a 60-day extension on the basis that he was the sole support for his parents.  He asked for a permanent extension thereafter, but was denied and classified as 1-A, which he appealed.  Losing the appeal, he was ordered to report by November 1941, and he thereafter enlisted as an Air Corps cadet.

Following the bomber disaster, he became a P-38 pilot and flew in combat missions over China, being shot down in 1943.  He was returned to the US following evading the Japanese, having been shot down behind enemy lines, and was released from the service in January 1945.  In 1944, he married actress Elyse Knox.  Actor Mark Harmon was one of their three children.

He played for the Los Angeles Rams for a while after the war, and then returned to sports broadcasting.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—April 10, 1943: US Department of Agriculture establishes Women’s Land Army: during WWII, 1.5 million women from non-farming backgrounds will serve on farms.

Monday, March 29, 1943 Meat and fat rationing commences in the U.S.

On this day in 1943, rationing in the US of meats, fat and cheese commenced, with Americans limited to two pounds per week of meat.

Poultry was not affected by the order.

This must have been a matter of interest in my family, engaged in the meat packing industry as they then were.

Contrary to popular memory, not everything the US did during the war met with universal approval back home, and this was one such example.  Cheating and black marketing was pretty common, and there were very widespread efforts to avoid rationing.  Farmers and ranchers helped people to avoid the system by direct sales to consumers, something the government intervened to stop and only recently has seen a large-scale return.

While wholesale inclusion of a prior item in a new one is bad form, here's something we earlier ran which is a topic that needs repeating here:

Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...So what about World War Two?

Some time ago I looked at this in the context of World War One, but what about World War Two?

Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...: what would that have been like? Advertisement for the Remington Model 8 semi automatic rifle, introduced by Remington from the John Bro...

 Wisconsin deer camp, 1943, the year meat rationing began.

Indeed, a person's reasons to go hunting during World War Two, besides all the regular reasons (a connection with our primal, and truer, selves, being out in nature, doing something real) were perhaps stronger during the Second World War than they were in the First.  During WWII the government rationed meat.  During World War One it did not, although it sure put the social pressure on to conserve meat.

Indeed, the first appeals of any kind to conserve food in the United States came from the British in 1941, at which time the United States was not yet in the war. The British specifically appealed to Americans to conserve meat so that it could go to English fighting men.  In the spring of 1942 rationing of all sorts of things began to come in as the Federal government worried about shortages developing in various areas.  Meat and cheese was added to the ration list on March 29, 1943.  As Sarah Sundin reports on her blog:

On March 29, 1943, meats and cheeses were added to rationing. Rationed meats included beef, pork, veal, lamb, and tinned meats and fish. Poultry, eggs, fresh milk—and Spam—were not rationed. Cheese rationing started with hard cheeses, since they were more easily shipped overseas. However, on June 2, 1943, rationing was expanded to cream and cottage cheeses, and to canned evaporated and condensed milk.

So in 1943 Americans found themselves subject to rationing on meat.  As noted, poultry was exempt, so a Sunday chicken dinner was presumably not in danger, but almost every other kind of common meat was rationed.  So, a good reason to go out in the field.

But World War Two was distinctly different in all sorts of ways from World War One, so hunting by that time was also different in many ways, and it was frankly impacted by the war in different ways.

For one thing, by 1941 automobiles had become a staple of American life.  It's amazing to think of the degree to which this is true, as it happened so rapidly.  By the late 1930s almost every American family had a car.  Added to that, pickup trucks had come in between the wars in the early versions of what we have today, and they were obviously a vehicle that was highly suited to hunting, although early cars, because of the way they were configured and because they were often more utilitarian than current ones, were well suited as a rule.  What was absent were 4x4s, which we've discussed earlier.

This meant that it was much, much easier for hunters to go hunting in a fashion that was less of an expedition.  It became possible to pack up a car or pickup truck and travel early in the morning to a hunting location and be back that night, in other words.

Or at least it had been until World War Two. With the war came not only food rationing, but gasoline rationing as well.  And not only gasoline rationing, but rationing that pertained to things related to automobiles as well

Indeed, the first thing to be rationed by the United States Government during World War Two was tires.  Tires were rationed on December 11, 1941.  This was due to anticipated shortages in rubber, which was a product that had been certainly in use during World War One, but not to the extent it was during World War Two.  And tire rationing mattered.

People today are used to modern radial tires which are infinitely better, and longer lasting, than old bias ply tires were.  People who drove before the 1980s and even on into the 80s were used to constantly having flat tires.  I hear occasionally people lament the passing of bias ply tires for trucks, but I do not.  Modern tires are much better and longer lasting.  Back when we used bias ply tires it seemed like we were constantly buying tires and constantly  having flat tires.  Those tires would have been pretty similar to the tires of World War Two.  Except by all accounts tires for civilians declined remarkably in quality during the war due to material shortages.

Gasoline rationing followed, and it was so strict that all forms of automobile racing, which had carried on unabated during World War One, were banned during World War Two.  Sight seeing was also banned.  So, rather obviously, the use of automobiles was fairly curtailed during the Second World War.

So, where as cars and trucks had brought mobility to all sorts of folks between the wars in a brand new way, rationing cut back on it, including for hunters, during the war.

Which doesn't mean that you couldn't go out, but it did mean that you had to save your gasoline ration if you were going far and generally plan wisely.

Ammunition was also hard to come by during the war.

It wasn't due to rationing, but something else that was simply a common fact of life during World War Two.  Industry turned to fulfilling contracts for the war effort and stopped making things for civilians consumption.

Indeed, I've hit on this a bit before in a different fashion, that being how technology advanced considerably between the wars but that the Great Depression followed by the Second World War kept that technology, more specifically domestic technology, from getting to a lot of homes. Automobiles, in spite of the Depression, where the exception really.  While I haven't dealt with it specifically, the material demands of the Second World War were so vast that industries simply could not make things for the service and the civilian market. 

Some whole classes of products, such as automobiles, simply stopped being available for civilians.  Ammunition was like that.  With the services consuming vast quantities of small arms ammunition, ammunition for civilians became very hard to come by.  People who might expect to get by with a box of shotgun shells for a day's hunt and to often make due with half of that.  Brass cases were substituted for steel before that was common in the U.S., which was a problem for reloaders. 

So, in short, the need and desire was likely there, but getting components were more difficult. And being able to get out was as well, which impacted a person to a greater or lesser extent depending where they were.

And, as previously noted, game populations are considerably higher today than they were then.

New Zealanders entered the Tunisian city of Gabès.

Hitler rejected the recommendations of the German Army to place V-2 rockets on mobile launchers and opted instead for them to have permanent launching installations at Peenemünde.

Life issued a special issue on the USSR.

Nevada joined those states, such as Wyoming, which would no longer recognize Common Law Marriage.

Chapter 122 - Marriage

NRS 122.010 - What constitutes marriage; no common-law marriages after March 29, 1943.

1. Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned, is a civil contract, to which the consent of the parties capable in law of contracting is essential. Consent alone will not constitute marriage; it must be followed by solemnization as authorized and provided by this chapter.

2. The provisions of subsection 1 requiring solemnization shall not invalidate any marriage contract in effect prior to March 29, 1943, to which the consent only of the parties capable in law of contracting the contract was essential.

John Major, British Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997, was born, as was English comedian Eric Idle.

Sunday, March 28, 1943. 8th Army takes Mareth

Today in World War II History—March 28, 1943: Montgomery’s British Eighth Army takes Mareth, Tunisia. Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff dies in Beverly Hills, CA, of melanoma, age 69, a new US citizen.

From Sarah Sundin's blog.  

The Afrika Korps was clearly coming to an end.  The 8th Army also took Tougane and Matmata.

The Caterina Costa exploded in Naples' harbor, killing 600 or more people and injuring 1,179 or more.

A fire had broken out on the vessel, but government approval could not be obtained to fight it or tow the vessel to sea.

USS Iowa.

Saturday, March 27, 1943. News of the bazooka.

 

Demonstration photograph of M1A1 Rocket Launcher.

The War Department officially released news of a new weapon, the M1A1 Rocket Launcher; the first "bazooka".

The first of a series of weapons, it would prove to be an enormously successful series which continues on in the form of various other rocket launchers, particularly those with an anti armor role.

U.S. Marine with a FGM-148 Javelin, a modern descendant of the first bazooka.

The British engaged in frontal attack on the Mareth Line, inflicting heavy losses on the Afrika Korps.  At El Hamma the Afrika Korps is forced to retire to new positions.

The heaviest RAF raid on Berlin to date took place.

Sunday, March 21, 1943. A second assassination attempt.

Hard on the heels of a plot to kill Adolph Hitler by blowing his airplane out of the sky with explosives contained in a bottle of alcohol, Generalmajor Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff attempted to kill him by detonating a time fused bomb on his person while escorting Hitler through an exhibition of Soviet war materials as the Zeughaus in Berlin.  A detailed coup d'état was to follow the assassination.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1976-130-51 / Unknown author / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5482858

It was expected that the tour would take thirty minutes, and Gersdorff set the fuse ten minutes prior to Hitler's arrival.  Hitler rushed through the exhibit in two minutes, and Gersdorff defused the bomb in a restroom.

Gersdorff was, amazingly, never mentioned by the July 20 conspirators, even though he had participated in the plot.  He therefore survived the war.  His role becoming known post-war, he was denied admission to the Bundesherr and therefore devoted the remainder of his life to charitable causes, dying in 1980 at age 74.  He was a paraplegic the last twelve years of his life due to a riding accident.

Sarah Sundin reports, in her blog:

Today in World War II History—March 21, 1943: Cornelia Fort becomes first WAFS member (precursor of the WASPs) to be killed, in a midair collision while ferrying a BT-13 in Texas.

She also notes that on this day the Rangers took Gafsa and New Zealanders bypassed the  bypass the Mareth Line 

Saturday, March 20, 1943. Defeat yielding to increased murder.

The Germans began to deport Greek Jews to Auschwitz.

The Japanese Navy ordered its submarines as such:

Do not stop at the sinking of enemy ships and cargoes. At the same time, carry out the complete destruction of the crews of the enemy's ships.

 Sarah Sundin reports on her blog:

Today in World War II History—March 20, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Mar. 20, 1943: In Tunisia, British Eighth Army launches assault on the Mareth Line, and US II Corps drives for Maknassy.

Friday, March 12, 1943. Patton in command.

3-12-43 (Friday) We left Rabat one week ago to day.  We have done a lot but much remains to be done.  Freedenhal just exited he did not command and with few exceptions his staff was worthless due to youth and lack of leadership.

Bradley got back last night.  Ike has three plans. One that I should keep on with II Corps and have Bradley replace me at Rabat.

I said no on that one as it is unfair to Kemp.  Though possibly safer for me.

Plan 2.  For Bradley to go to Rabat and plan with Kemp and when this show is over to have me go back to [?] Haskey and B. take II Corps. Note that as utterly crazy.

Plan 3. For B to stay on as Deputy Commander with me get him a staff to work in with mine and then when this battle is over  to have me go [?] with my staff to [?] Haskey and Bradley take over. Kemp to plan until I get [?]

I accepted this as best. I am not at all sure that this show will run  according to plan and feel that as long as it is interesting Alexander will keep me. If it [?] down I can get out.

If Rommel attacks first that will be something different -- [?] may.

Wrote Gen Orders to Troops. [?] came to lunch. After lunch I went with him and inspected 2[?]th Inf. Col Taylor & 18th Inf Col. [?].  The 2[?]th been  badly shot up but seemed fine.  18th has done well and  is quite [?]

Terribly cold took a drink to get warm.

Gen [?] called at 2100 to tell me he had heard on the radio that I was a LIEUTENANT GENERAL.  [?] [?] [?] a [?] I am sleeping under  the three stars.  When Iwas a little boy at home I used to wear a wooden sword and say to myself.  "George S. Patton for Lieut Gen" at that time I did not know there were [?] [?] Now I want and will get five  stars.

Diary of George S. Patton.

The Royal Navy lost the HMS Lightening off of Algeria. She was attacked by E-boats.  The Turbulent was sunk by a mine off of Sardinia.

The U-130 was sunk by the USS Champlin off of the Azores.

The Red Army took Vyazma.  The Italian Army destroyed the Greek village of Tsaritsani, lilling 40 civilians.

Thursday, March 11, 1943. The Holocaust and Yugoslavia, The French and Royal Navies and the Battle of the Atlantic, German failures in North Africa, Lend Lease renewed, Evading the Draft

The Jewish population of the Yugoslavian (Macedonian) cities of Skopje, Štip and Bitolawas deported to Treblinka by the German SS with the assistance of Bulgarian soldiers.

The day prior, Yugoslavian Communists had warned the Jewish residents of  Bitola of the impending German plans, although only a few managed to escape them.

The Harvester. which had been built for the Braizlian Navy just prior to World War Two, with the Royal Navy taking over the contract.

The U-433 sunk the HMS Harvester which was damaged and dead in the war.  The U-432 in turned rammed by the French corvette Aconit.  The Aconit turned to rescue the survivors of both sinkings.  The Harvester had sunk the U-444 the day prior, which went down with the loss 41 men, two men surviving.  26 went down on the U-432, with 20 being picked up by the Aconit.  145 went down on the Harvester.

The Aconit on March 14, 1943.  She'd been built by the British to be lent to the Free French.

The U-432 was on its eighth war patrol. The U444 on its second.

The SS Panzer Corps entered Kharkov and penetrated to the center of the city.  The Red Army, for its part, advanced to fifteen miles from Vyazma, near the Russian border with Byelorussia.

In North Africa, the Afrika Korps, now in clear decline and withdrawing toward the Mediterranean, made three unsuccessful attacks on the British west of Sejanane, Tunisia.

News of the disaster at Kasserine was beginning to filter home.

Lend Lease was extended for another year with an 82-0 vote by the Senate and a 407-6 vote in the House.

In the current U.S. House, if current events are any measure, it'd have significant opposition.  Tucker Carlson would no doubt call it into question.

Rodney Wooster, age 27, was arrested in Lewis County, Washington, for draft evasion.  He was hiding in the woods in a cabin at the time, having taken up residence in the cabin the prior year.

You don't hear much about draft evasion during World War Two, but it was a big story at the time.  12,000 U.S. residents were imprisoned for evading the draft, nearly a division's worth of men, but most arrested men were simply funneled into what they were seeking to avoid, military service.

Wooster, a Washington native, seems to have been a lumberjack before the war and have dropped out of school in 8th Grade, something not uncommon for the time.  Following World War Two, he married and lived in Washington the rest of his life, passing away in 2006.  Whether he was truly evading, or knew the full implications of it, are not known, but the subsequent history of spending the rest of his life in the same community would suggest that whatever was the case, he probably entered the military in 1943.