Sunday, October 29, 1944. Shelling chocolate bars.

Knocked out Panther, October 29, 1944.  Oddly, it's labeled as to what it is.

The Red Army and the Romanian Army commenced the Budapest Offensive.

The Red Army prevailed in the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive.

The RAF tried for the Tirpitz again, and again without success.

Himmler ordered the gas chambers closed at Auschwitz and other death camps.  Keep in mind, most of the death camps were in the east, which the Red Army was now approaching.

The final of three acts by Pvt. Barney F. Hajiro occurred which resulted in his being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Private Barney F. Hajiro distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 19, 22, and 29 October 1944, in the vicinity of Bruyeres and Biffontaine, eastern France. Private Hajiro, while acting as a sentry on top of an embankment on 19 October 1944, in the vicinity of Bruyeres, France, rendered assistance to allied troops attacking a house 200 yards away by exposing himself to enemy fire and directing fire at an enemy strong point. He assisted the unit on his right by firing his automatic rifle and killing or wounding two enemy snipers. On 22 October 1944, he and one comrade took up an outpost security position about 50 yards to the right front of their platoon, concealed themselves, and ambushed an 18-man heavily armed, enemy patrol, killing two, wounding one, and taking the remainder as prisoners. On 29 October 1944, in a wooded area in the vicinity of Biffontaine, France, Private Hajiro initiated an attack up the slope of a hill referred to as "Suicide Hill" by running forward approximately 100 yards under fire. He then advanced ahead of his comrades about 10 yards, drawing fire and spotting camouflaged machine gun nests. He fearlessly met fire with fire and single-handedly destroyed two machine gun nests and killed two enemy snipers. As a result of Private Hajiro's heroic actions, the attack was successful. Private Hajiro's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit, and the United States Army.

NBC broadcast a Jewish religious service from US occupied Aachen.

D-ration chocolate bars and bottles of Halazone pills are packed into 105mm howitzer shells to be fired to men in an Infantry battalion that is cut off by Germans in the Belmont sector, France. 29 October, 1944. ABL Bat., 131st Field Artillery Battalion, 36th Infantry Division.

Last edition.

Saturday, October 28, 1944. Slovaks put down, French Resistance ordered to disarm, Bulgaria quits, Day of Liberation of Ukraine from Fascist Invaders (День визволення України від фашистських загарбників).

Labels: Allied Powers, Auschwitz, Battle of Dukla Pass, Bulgaria, Charles de Gaulle, Czechoslovakia, French Resistance Movements, Red Army, Slovak National Uprising, Slovakia, The Holocaust, Ukraine, World War Two

Thursday, October 26, 1944. End of the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Damaged  Japanese cruiser Kumano bombed by planes of Task Force 38 on 26 October 1944,

The Battle of Leyte Gulf ended as a complete Japanese defeat, effectively ending the Imperial Japanese Navy as a cohesive force.  On this day the Japanese lost the cruisers Abukuma, Kinu and Noshiro, destroyers Hayashimo, Nowaki and Uranami and submarine I-26.

Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria's youngest child, died at age 87.

Gertrude Tompkins Silver and the P-51D she was flying disappeared in a delivery flight from Los Angeles to Newark, NJ.

She was 33 years old and had jointed the WASPs after a boyfriend died fighting in the RAF.  She was the only WASP pilot to be classified as missing during the Second World War.

Sarah Sundin notes in her blog:

German 20th Mountain Army begins scorched-earth retreat in Finnmark region of northern Norway; 43,000 will be evicted & evacuated, their homes destroyed.

Last edition:

Wednesday, October 25, 1944. The biggest day of the biggest naval battle in history.

Labels: Australian Navy, Battle of Leyte Gulf, Battle off Samar, Imperial Japanese Navy, Italy, Norway, Red Army, Romania, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Today in World War II History—October 26, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—October 26, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Oct. 26, 1944: The Battle of Leyte Gulf concludes with a decisive US victory, despite heavy Japanese kamikaze attacks.

Wednesday, October 25, 1944. The biggest day of the biggest naval battle in history.

The USS St. Lo, the first  U.S. ship to be sunk by a kamikaze during World War Two, moments after being hit.

The heaviest fighting in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese effort to draw the U.S. Navy off of support for the invasion of Leyte and to destroy it, occurred.  The Battle  off Samar occurred as part of it.

The first mass use of kamikazes occured as part of the Japanese effort.   The escort carrier USS St. Lo was sunk by kamikazes, the first of 47 ships to be lost to such attacks during the war.

The U.S. escort carrier USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) prepares to launch Grumman FM-2 Wildcat fighters during the Battle off Samar on 25 October 1944.  Japanese shells are splashing near the USS White Plains (CVE-66) in the background.  A rare example of an aircraft carrier launching aircraft while a surface vessel shells another one.

The Imperial Japanese Navy lost the aircraft carriers Chitose, Chiyoda and Zuikaku, battleships Fusō and Yamashiro, cruisers Chikuma, Chōkai and Suzuya and the destroyers Akizuki, Asagumo, Michishio, Wakaba and Yamagumo.

Lowering the flag on Zuikaku as she sinks.  She was the last of the aircraft carriers that participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor still afloat.  Half the crew would survive.

The Americans lost the escort carriers USS Gambier Bay and USS St. Lo and destroyers USS Hoel and USS Johnston. 

The Japanese battleship Yamato and a heavy cruiser at Samar.

The scale of the battle, and the intense fighting it involved, can hardly be imagined today.

The Red Army took the port town of Kirkenes, Norway.

Soviet forces completed clearing the Transylvania region of Romania.

8in howitzer being laid into place in France, October 25, 1944.

The Italian government of Ivanoe Bonomi was recognized.

Dog faces, October 25, 1944.

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 24, 1944. Leyte Gulf, day two.

Labels: "Wacht am Rhein", 1940s, 1944, Adolf Hitler, Australian Navy, Battle of Leyte Gulf, Battle of the Bulge, China Burma India Theater, Imperial Japanese Navy, Kamikaze, Philippines, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Sunday, October 22, 1944. Smokey Smith.

Medics administer blood plasma to an American casualty wounded when his division command post was shelled. Leyte Island, P.I. 22 October, 1944. 96th Infantry Division.  The wounded soldier is wearing M1942 Jungle Boots.  The medic has a painted camouflage helmet.

The Red Army reached the Norwegian border.

The Sovies prevailed in the Battle of Memel.  The Americans the same at Angaur.

The Japanese fleet assembled at Brunei sets sail for the Philippines.

Canadian Private Ernest "Smokey" Smith preformed the actions that resulted in his winning the Victoria Cross.

In Italy on the night of 21st–22nd October 1944, a Canadian Infantry Brigade was ordered to establish a bridgehead across the Savio River. The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada were selected as the spearhead of the attack, and in weather most unfavourable to the operation they crossed the river and captured their objective in spite of strong opposition from the enemy.

Torrential rain had caused the Savio River to rise six feet in five hours, and as the soft vertical banks made it impossible to bridge the river no tanks or anti-tank guns could be taken across the raging stream to the support of the rifle companies.

As the right forward company was consolidating its objective it was suddenly counter-attacked by a troop of three Mark V Panther tanks supported by two self-propelled guns and about thirty infantry and the situation appeared hopeless.

Under heavy fire from the approaching enemy tanks, Private Smith, showing great initiative and inspiring leadership, led his P.I.A.T. Group of two men across an open field to a position from which the P.I.A.T. could best be employed. Leaving one man on the weapon, Private Smith crossed the road with a Private James Tennant and obtained another P.I.A.T. Almost immediately an enemy tank came down the road firing its machine-guns along the line of the ditches. Private Smith's comrade, Private Tennant was wounded. At a range thirty feet and having to expose himself to the full view of the enemy, Private Smith fired the P.I.A.T. and hit the tank, putting it out of action. Ten German infantry immediately jumped off the back of the tank and charged him with Schmeissers and grenades. Without hesitation, Private Smith moved out on the road and with his Tommy gun at point-blank range, killed four Germans and drove the remainder back. Almost immediately another tank opened fire and more enemy infantry closed in on Smith's position. Obtaining some abandoned Tommy gun magazines from a ditch, he steadfastly held his position, protecting Private Tennant and fighting the enemy with his Tommy gun until they finally gave up and withdrew in disorder.

One tank and both self-propelled guns had been destroyed by this time, but yet another tank swept the area with fire from a longer range. Private Smith, still showing utter contempt for enemy fire, helped his wounded friend to cover and obtained medical aid for him behind a nearby building. He then returned to his position beside the road to await the possibility of a further enemy attack.

No further immediate attack developed, and as a result, the battalion was able to consolidate the bridgehead position so vital to the success of the whole operation, which led to the capture of San Giorgio Di Cesena and a further advance to the Ronco River.

Thus, by the dogged determination, outstanding devotion to duty and superb gallantry of this private soldier, his comrades were so inspired that the bridgehead was held firm against all enemy attacks, pending the arrival of tanks and anti-tank guns some hours later.

Smith survived the war and joined the Canadian Army again in 1950, at the start of the Korean War.  He retired from military service in 1964, after which he owned a travel agency.

With rifles slung across their backs, these four combat-clad U.S. infantrymen are bound for mass in a Catholic church in Nancy, France. 22 October, 1944.  NOte that all of these men are wearing older pattern field jackets and leggings.

Related thread:

Today in World War II History—October 22, 1939 & 1944

Labels: 1930s, 1939, 1940s, 1944, Blog Mirror, Home Front, Poland, USSR, Weapons, World War Two

Last edition:

Saturday, October 21, 1944. The Nemmersdorf Massacre.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, 1944 Election, Battle of Aachen, Battle of Leyte, Franklin Roosevelt, Nemmersdorf Massacre, Palau, Palau Island, Prisoners of War, Rape and the Red Army, Red Army, War Crimes, World War Two

Tuesday, October 21, 1924. Six Nations election.

The first Canadian elections under the Indian Act were held for the Six Nations Band of Indians Council.

And also elections were held for the Norwegian parliament, resulted in a continuation of the coalition government between the Conservatives and the liberal Venstre.

The German National People's Party issued a proclamation announcing itself in favor of restoring the monarchy and terminating the Treaty of Versailles and the Dawes Plan.

Postscript:

From Reddit's 100 Years Ago Sub:

Last edition:

Saturday, October 18, 1924. Ham achievement.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Art, Calvin Coolidge, Communism, Espionage, football, German Weimar Republic, Radio, technology

Saturday, October 7, 1944. Fighting in the Arctic.

The Sonderkommando Revolt occurred at Auschwitz when the Jewish detailed prisiones rose up with makeshift weapons.  Three SS guards were killed, 200 members of the Sonderkommando, but hundreds of prisoners, all of whom were soon captured and executed, briefly escaped.

Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon signed the Alexandria Protocol leading to the establishment of the Arab League in March of the following year.

The Red Army commenced the Petsamo–Kirkenes offensive in the Petsamo region ceded by Finland and Norway.

Members of "I" Co., 7th Inf. Regt., 3rd Division, move up an alley to screen their movement from German observation, as they go toward the edge of the town. Their mission is to take up a position outside of the town. 7 October, 1944.

The St. Louis Cardinals beat the St. Louis Browns 5 to 1 in game four of the 1944 World Series.

Last edition:

Friday, October 6, 1944. Collapsing.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Austria, Bill Mauldin, Dunbarton Oaks, Hungary, Serbia, World War Two

Monday, September 4, 1944. Reaching Antwerp.

The British entered Antwerp, Kortenberg and Leuven.  They failed to take the Antwerp canal crossings.

The 7th Army took Bourg-en-Bresse.

The Red Army took Brașov and Sinaia, Romania.

Fighting stopped between Finland and the Soviet Union.  German troops fall back to Norway or embark for Germany at Baltic ports.

Last edition:

Sunday, September 3, 1944. An agreement to end the Continuation War.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Belgium, British Army, Bulgaria, Continuation War, France, Free French, German Wehrmacht, The Holocaust, U.S. Navy, Wake Island, World War Two

Tuesday, May 16, 1944. The Romani Uprising, Advancing in Italy

Romani, gypsies, rebelled at Auschwitz.  Tipped off by a Yugoslavian member of the SS, a Pole alerted the Gypsies the night prior of the SS plan to destroy their camp the following day. Armed with shovels and other tools, they refused to come out of their buildings, and a confused SS withdrew.  The event was bloodless, but the destruction of the camp and the murder of its occupants was only postponed.

Perhaps coincidentally, or not, the first train carrying Hungarian Jews arrived at Auschwitz on this day as well.

Pvt. Joseph A. Zbin, Cleveland, Ohio, of Co. A, 338th Inf. carrying a 90 lb load of mortar ammo through town of Scauri. 16 May, 1944.  He's armed with a M1 Carbine.  He died in 1977 at age 55 back in Ohio.

Allied forces generally advanced in Italy, save for at Monte Cassino where the Polish 2nd Corps was meeting difficult resistance.

Twenty three year old 1st Lt. Keith J. Bauer, 937th F.A. Battery, of Arkansaw Wis., washes up on this day in 1944.  His post-war plans were, reportedly to "get married", "get a farm", "get out of the Army".  Bauer was from a farm family.  Bauer was a pilot and was still in the Army in 1954, so apparently his plans changed, or he was recalled during the Korean War.  In this photograph you can tell that he's an officer simply because his wool shirt has epaulets.

The Soviet Air Force bombed the rail yards at Minsk.

The Allied powers entered into an agreement with Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway about immediate post-war governance.

British Coast Command harried German submarines.

Anti-aircraft crew training at Ft. Bliss, May 16, 1944.

Last prior edition:

Monday, May 15, 1944. Deportation of the Hungarian Jews.

1940s, 1944, Aircraft, Auschwitz, Battle of the Atlantic, boats and ships, Disaster, German SS, Hawaii, Hungary, Operation Overlord, Russian Orthodox Church, The Holocaust, World War Two

Monday, October 4, 1943. Monstrous

Himmler delivered the first of his Posen speeches to SS officers and German administrators, in which he stated, in part:

I also want to speak to you here, in complete frankness, of a really grave chapter. Amongst ourselves, for once, it shall be said quite openly, but all the same we will never speak about it in public. Just as we did not hesitate on June 30, 1934, to do our duty as we were ordered, and to stand comrades who had erred against the wall and shoot them, and we never spoke about it and we never will speak about it. It was a matter of natural tact that is alive in us, thank God, that we never talked about it amongst ourselves, that we never discussed it. Each of us shuddered and yet each of us knew clearly that the next time he would do it again if it were an order, and if it were necessary. I am referring here to the evacuation of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish people. This is one of the things that is easily said: "The Jewish people are going to be exterminated," that's what every Party member says, "sure, it's in our program, elimination of the Jews, extermination - it'll be done." And then they all come along, the 80 million worthy Germans, and each one has his one decent Jew. Of course, the others are swine, but this one, he is a firstrate Jew. Of all those who talk like that, not one has seen it happen, not one has had to go through with it. Most of you men know what it is like to see 100 corpses side by side, or 500 or 1,000. To have stood fast through this - and except for cases of human weakness - to have stayed decent, that has made us hard. This is an unwritten and never-to-be-written page of glory in our history, for we know how difficult it would be for us if today - under bombing raids and the hardships and deprivations of war - if we were still to have the Jews in every city as secret saboteurs, agitators, and inciters. If the Jews were still lodged in the body of the German nation, we would probably by now have reached the stage of 1916-17. 

The wealth they possessed we took from them. I gave a strict order, which has been carried out by SS Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl, that this wealth will of course be turned over to the Reich in its entirety. We have taken none of it for ourselves. Individuals who have erred will be punished in accordance with the order given by me at the start, threatening that anyone who takes as much as a single Mark of this money is a dead man. A number of SS men - they are not very - many committed this offense, and they shall die. There will be no mercy. We had the moral right, we had the duty towards our people, to destroy this people that wanted to destroy us. But we do not have the right to enrich ourselves by so much as a fur, as a watch, by one Mark or a cigarette or anything else. We do not want, in the end, because we destroyed a bacillus, to be infected by this bacillus and to die. I will never stand by and watch while even a small rotten spot develops or takes hold. Wherever it may form we will together burn it away. All in all, however, we can say that we have carried out this most difficult of tasks in a spirit of love for our people. And we have suffered no harm to our inner being, our soul, our character.... 

He also stated:

What happens to the Russians, what happens to the Czechs, is a matter of utter indifference to me, Such good blood of our own kind as there may be among the nations we shall acquire for ourselves, if necessary by taking away the children and bringing them up among us. Whether the other races live in comfort or perish of hunger interests me only in so far as we need them as slaves for our culture. 

He went on to refer to these people as animals, noting how the Germans were, he claimed, the only people in the world to have a decent attitude towards animals.

These were words from a German leader, it might be noted, celebrating German murder.

The Germans took the Greek island of Kos, following which they killed 100 Italian officers, following orders from Hitler regarding Italian officers who had followed their government into action against the Germans.

Corsica was liberated from the Axis.

Australian commanders at Dampu.

The Australians prevailed in the Battle of Dampu.

Albanian resistance fighters prevailed in the Battle of Drashovica.

An RAF raid on Frankfurt hit a children's hospital's air raid shelder, resulting in 529 civilian deaths, of which 90 were children.

The U-279, U-389, U-422 and U-460 were all destroyed by aircraft in the Atlantic.

The U.S. Navy attacked German shipping at Bodø, Norway with aircraft from the USS Ranger in Operation Leader.  Five German ships were sunk, four damaged and two aircraft lost for a loss of four Navy aircraft.

Dauntless dive bomber in Opeation Leader.

The operation in far northern Norway was the U.S. Navy's only carrier assault on German targets during World War Two, outside of operations against submarines and in the Mediterranean.

Bing Crosby recorded I'll Be Home for Christmas.

Saturday, June 26, 1943. Mutiny in Norway, Choosing Normandy, and Willie Gillis.

Today in World War II History—June 26, 1943: Allied commanders choose Normandy for invasion of France in 1944 and appoint Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory to prepare air plans for D-day.

Sarah Sundin, on her blog.

The crews of six U-boats based in Norway mutinied, refusing to put out to sea in light of high German submarine losses.  They were arrested and placed in Akershus Prison in Oslo.  The collapse of Imperial Germany began, of course, with sailor revolts in 1918.

Fritz Schmidt, age 39, the German Commissioner-General for Political Affairs and Propaganda in the occupied Netherlands died when he "fell, jumped, or was pushed out of a train".

"USS Newell (DE-322), launches sideways at Houston, Texas, June 26, 1943. The ship was named in honor of Naval Aviator Lieutenant Commander Byron Bruce Newell who was killed while serving onboard USS Hornet (CV-8) during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands, October 26, 1942. Ship’s Sponsor was the widow. Photographed August 12, 1943. Official U.S. Navy photograph."

A famous Norman Rockwell illustration appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, depicting his everyman soldier figure, Willie Gillis,  showing the "cat's cradle" string trick to an Indian snake charmer.

Saturday, May 15, 1943. Changes in Tunisian leadership, Flaming bats.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:'

Today in World War II History—May 15, 1943: 80 Years Ago—May 15, 1943: US Army ends experiment in using “bat bombs” as bats burn down newly constructed, unoccupied Carlsbad Army Air Base, NM.

Oops.

She also noted that the Germans launched an offensive in Yugoslavia against Communist partisans, and ABC was founded to enable the newly formed company to purchase the NBC Blue Network.

The Free French deposed Sidi Muhammad VII al-Munsif (Moncef Bey) from Tunis, and would ultimately, that following July, send him packing to Madagascar.  The Bey had collaborated with the Germans, who had in turn made him the King of Tunisia.  To his credit, however, he'd protected the Jewish population of the country as well as the Muslim population.  In context, his actions may have made some sense, from a Tunisian prospective.

When he went into exile, his 25 wives went with him, so at least he wasn't lonely.

His cousin, Muhammad VIII al-Amin (Lamine Bey), became the new Bey.

Moncef Bey retained fairly strong support from Tunisian nationalist, who in turn had an uneasy relationship with the same.  This began to change upon Moncef Bey's death in exile in 1948.  Lamine Bey became king in 1956 with the departure of the French, but he was deposed in 1957.  He died at age 81 in 1962.

He was married to a commoner, with whom he had ten children.

The SS Irish Oak, an Irish flagged vessel with Irish tricolors and Eire painted on the side of it was torpedoed by the U-607.  The crew was able to abandon the vessel and the U-607 waited to fire a final shot until they had departed it.

Operation Checkmate came to an end.

Wednesday, April 28, 1943. Lost ships.

The Chichibu Maru (秩父丸) renamed Kamakura Maru was sunk by the submarine USS Gudgeon resulting in 2,035 of the 2,500 passengers, soldiers and civilians, loosing their lives.

No. 14 (Arctic) Commando began a raid on Haugesund Norway's shipping.  The seven man team would sink one ship before being captured. They all ultimately perished, six being executed under the Commando Order and a seventh dying of typhus while a prisoner.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—April 28, 1943: Atlantic convoy ONS-5 begins battle with U-boats: by May 6, six U-boats and thirteen Allied ships will be sunk; a turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Sunday, February 28, 1943. Norwegians at Vermok.

Norwegian ski born Norwegian commandos raided the Norsk Hydro plant at Vermok, Norway, destroying the heavy water inventory that had been produced there by the Germans.

The plant in 1948.

28,000 Norwegians carried on beyond Norway during the war, joining Norwegian forces that had made it out of Norway when it was invaded in 1940.  15,000 Norwegians joined the German forces, principally in the SS, which mostly fought on the Eastern Front, although Germany attempted to recruit Norwegians for the German Navy as well.  About 40,000 Norwegians participated in the Milorg, the Norwegian resistance.

The Vermok event was memorialized in the 1965 British war movie, Heroes of Telemark.  It was also featured in a 1948 Norwegian movie, Operation Swallow.

This was the third attempted raid on the plan, this one being more successful than the prior two.  Another air attack would take place in November 1943 and a heavy water transporting boat would be attacked in 1944.

The USAAF and RAF made a 1,000 plane raid on Saint-Nazaire submarine base.