Friday, Saturday 28, 1944. Warning of a Red Storm brewing.

The British telegrammed Joseph Stalin that:  

"the creation in Warsaw of another government other than that now recognized, as well as disturbances in Poland, would confront Great Britain and the United States with a problem, which would preclude agreement among the great powers."

Churchill in particular was cognizant of the danger the Soviet Union posed to the world.  Roosevelt, much less so.

Omar Bradley took command of the First Army. 

First Army's patch, one of the least inspiring in the U.S. Army.

Personally, I'm not a huge Bradley fan (and even less of a Mark Clark fan).

Sarah Sundin reports:

Today in World War II History—January 28, 1944: Over Anzio, the US 99th Fighter Squadron (Tuskegee Airmen) in P-40s shoots down 3 German Fw 190 fighter planes—the previous day they shot down 10 Fw 190s.

It's often forgotten that the 99th started off with P40s, as they tend to be associated with P51s.  P40s were manufactured well into 1944, which is even more surprising. 

The U-271 and U-571 were sunk west of Ireland by Allied aircraft.  All hands (51 and 52 respectively) were lost.

U-271 under attack by U.S. Navy PB4Y (B-24) Liberator.  The entire 51-man crew died in the sinking.

The Red Army captured territory south of Leningrad while Field Marshal von Luchler ordered a German withdrawal to the Luga River.

The Red Army's units linked up in Ukraine near Zvenigorodka and encircled to German corps.  Manstsein reacts by assembling armored forced to relieve them.

Susan Howard, famous for Dallas, was born. The actress is unusual in that when her acting roles declined, she became a figure in conservative politics.

Thursday, July 15, 1943. Segregation for loyalty to Japan, US reorganization on Sicily, Changes in command on New Guinea, Italian participation in Holocaust in France.

Tule Lake Segregation Center in California was established by the War Department to house Japanese Americans who were deemed to be loyal to Japan.  The site is administered by the National Park Service today.

Loyalty to Japan was determined in a number of ways, but it included refusing to be inducted into the U.S. Armed forces and having attempted to return to Japan prior to the war.

Gen. Patton formed a provisional corps to advance up the western coast of Sicily, while the U.S. 2nd Corps was to drive northward under Bradley.  Axis forces retreated behind the Simeto River.

Major General Oscar W. Griswold took over field command of US Army forces on New Guinea.

Italian occupation police authority Renzo Chierici agreed to a German demand to return German Jews who had fled into Italian occupied regions of France.

Chierici was a fascist and warned Mussolini when it was clear that the Grand Council was going to vote him out of office, but he remained loyal to the new government, resulting in his arrest by the Germans and subsequent murder.

The fact that Italy occupied Provence and Savoy after November 1942 is often missed.

Tuesday, April 27, 1943. Hill 609.

The Battle of Hill 609 commenced, in which the U.S. II Corps took on and defeated the Afrika Korps in the first clear-cut US victory against the European Axis of World War Two. The II Corps in Tunisia by that time was commanded by Omar Bradley.

Bradley entered the military only due to the education opportunity West Point afforded, having originally intending to go to the University of Missouri to study law.  Born into poverty, with his father dying when he was 15, he was employed as a boilermaker prior to entering West Point. Taking the admittance examination was suggested by a Sunday School teacher.  An excellent athlete, he was offered positions in professional baseball while in West Point.

Heinrich Himmler directed concentration camps to cease murdering inmates capable of working in order to use them for labor.  The mentally ill incapable of working were moved to priority execution status.

Chindits, 3d Indian Infantry Division, unit patch.

Sarah Sundin notes on her blog:

Today in World War II History—April 27, 1943: Radar-jamming devices become operational in eastern England. British & Indian Chindits cross the Chindwin River in return to India from raids in Burma.

The Chindits were a special long range penetration unit made up of British, Gurkha and Burmese soldiers.  They were officially the 3d Indian Infantry Division.  They were named after lions, using a corruption of the Burmese name for lions, Chinthe (Burmese: ခြင်္သေ့).  Lions are a popular symbol in Burma.  Asiatic Lions do still exist, although we do not tend to think of lions in Africa, but in fact they once had a much wider range.

A tornado hit Akron, Ohio. 

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.