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.

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

Today in World War II History—October 22, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Oct. 22, 1944: Capt. Alexander Patch III, son of the commanding general of the US Seventh Army, is killed in action in France.

Wednesday, September 17, 1924. Upset with the Six Nations.

Governor General of Canada Julian Byng ordered the termination of the Six Nations Confederacy Council and ordered that it be replaced by an elected body.

This followed the Council's attempt to bring its existence to the attention of the League of Nations.

The Six Nations are the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Tuscarora.  They have a large reserve in Ontario.

The Polish Border Protection Corps was established by Poland to protect against Soviet invasion and address bandits crossing the border.

Calvin Coolidge gave an electronic signal from the Oval Office to commences electrical generation from the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project.

Prince Wolfgang of Hesse married Princess Marie Alexandra of Baden over the objections of Wolfgang's uncle, the former German Kaiser Wilhelm II.  The couple would have no children.

She died in an American air raid on Frankfurt am Main on January 29-30, 1944.  She had been working as an aid worker there.  He joined the Nazi Party and was appointed a Landrat (district administrator) of Obertaunuskreis, a landkreis in the state of Hesse.  He remarried after the war and died in 1989 at age 92.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 16, 1924. RBI record.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 1940s, 1947, actors and actresses, baseball, Personalities

Monday, September 11, 1944. Communist usurpation in Poland.

Communist Pole Boleslaw Bierut became the usurper president of the Russian backed Polish provisional government.

 Scouting around in the small Belgian town of Battice, Belgium, on the way to Aachen (25km away) are L-R: T/Sgt. Frank F. Kitts, Chambersburg, Pa.; Pfc. Durward F. Oakly, Tocum, Ky.; Pfc. Leon Mooers, 174 Franklin Ave., Hartford, Conn., and Cpl. Tom. H. Graham, Scranton, S.C., all members of an infantry outfit. 11 September, 1944. Company B, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division.

The U.S. Army entered Germany in a patrol by the 2nd Platoon, Troop B, 85th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 5th Armored Division.  No Germans were encountered.

The US 1st Army took Malmedy.  The 7th Army took Digon and linked up iwth the 3d Army, uniting the forces of Overlord and Dragoon.

South Africans captured Pistoia, Italy.

The Octagon Conference between Churchill and Roosevelt started in Quebec.

Last edition:

Sunday, September 10, 1944. Reaching Germany, Freeing Luxembourg, Continuation War lost.

Labels: 1940, 1940s, 1944, Army, Belgium, boats and ships, Bougainville, Continuation War, Diplomacy, Finland, Luxembourg, Operation Paravane, Red Army, Royal Air Force, USSR, World War Two

Saturday, September 2, 1944. Finland calls it quits.

This was the 5th anniversary of the start of the Second World War in Europe.

This means, fwiw, that a fair number of combatants had been in their early to mid teen years when the war started, and were now fighting in it.

Finnish Prime Minister Antii Hackzell announced that Finland was breaking diplomatic relations with Germany and demanded that all German troops leave the country.  Fighting concluded two days later.

Finland had lost about 63,000 men in what it termed the Continuation War, over twice as many men as it had lost in the much briefer Winter War.  In the war to regain territory lost during the first war it regained what it had lost, but would lose it again.  Fought as a separate war, the Finns had ceased advancing once they took what they'd lost.

On the same day, two Soviet defectors crash landed a Yak 9 inside of Finnish lines.

At this point, Italy had switched sides, as had Romania and Bulgaria was begging the Soviets to honor its neutrality. Hungary was trying to get out of the war. As noted below, the British had entered Belgium.  The Germans should have realized they were doomed.

Lt. Jr. Gr George Bush, later President of the United States, found his aircraft badly damaged after completing a bombing run over Chichijima and ordered the crew of this TBM Avenger to bail out.  Only one other man made it out of the plane, and his parachute didn't open, making Bush the only survivor.

He'd be at sea for four hours before being rescued by he USS Finback, with which he'd remain for the rest of the month.

FWIW, the President at the time, Franklin Roosevelt, had never been in the service, but he had been Assistant Secretary of the Navy.  The next one, Truman, had been an artillery captain during World War One.  Eisenhower of course was in the service in 1944.  Kennedy was in the Navy in 1944.  So was Nixon, and Ford.  Carter did not serve in World War Two, but was an Annapolis graduate.  Reagan served in World War Two, but not in a combat role. Then Bush.  Clinton was the first to break the trend.

Konstantin Muraviev became Prime Ministers of a now desperate Bulgaria.

The First Canadian Army took Saint-Valery-en-Caux and reached the Somme.

The FFI executed six French young men they found guilty of treason in Grenoble.

The British 21st Army Group entered Belgium.

German troops murdered 450 Poles at Lipniak-Majorat, Poland in reprisal for actions by the Home Army.

The U-394 was sunk by the Royal Navy off of Jan Mayen.

Last edition:

Friday, September 1, 1944. Lone Tree Hill

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Lone Tree Hill, boats and ships, Bulgaria, Canadian Army, Canadian Navy, Dieppe France, New Guinea, Red Army, Romania, World War Two

Wednesday, August 9, 1944. Finns battle Soviets to a draw, Horror at the Łódź Ghetto, Yes to MacArthur and the Philippines, Third Army at Le Mans, Smokey the Bear and Sam Elliot arrive on the scene.

Soviet IS2 moving through forest near Vyborg past wounded Red Army troops.

The outnumbered Finns fought the Red Army to a draw in the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, which concluded on this day.

The Battle of Studzianki began in Poland as a German counter offensive.

The Germans began the liquidation of the Łódź Ghetto, which would result in 60,000 Jews and some Roma being deported to Auschwitz.

MacArthur received a letter from Roosevelt endorsing MacArthur's plan to make the Philippines the next priority for the Allies in the Pacific.

Sgt. Robert Becker and Sgt. Joe Flores, members of an armored unit, and both from New York City, bring in their first German prisoner in the battle around Brest, France, August 9, 1944.

The 3d Army liberated Le Mans.

The French Provisional Government ordered the Republic restored and Vichy laws nullified.

120th FA in New Guinea, August 9, 1944.

The very first Smokey the Bear poster appeared.

Actor Sam Elliot was born in Sacramento, California.

Last edition:

Tuesday, August 8, 1944. Hengyang falls, Wittmann killed, Falaise noticed.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Hengyang, British Army, Canadian Army, Falaise Pocket, Imperial Japanese Army, Nationalist Chinese Army, Operation Ichi-Go, Operation Totalize, Second Sino-Japanese War, World War Two

Sunday, August 3, 1924. German memorial day.

Germany observed its first memorial day.  

German communists disrupted a noontime two minutes of silence, with German police moving in to restore order.

Jewish Berliners held a separate service in the memory of Jewish German soldiers who were killed during the war, as a Jewish cleric was not allowed to deliver a prayer at the Reichstag ceremony held that day.

Soviet agents raided Stolpce Poland in a mission to free two members of the Communist Party of Western Belarus.  Seven Polish policemen were killed but the Soviet mission failed and would cause a reassessment of such attacks.

An American plane had made the leap to Iceland in the around the world flight:

It was a Sunday paper, so it had some human interest ones, including the following one, which I"m not sure I grasp:

King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan, declared a jihad against six tribes who had commenced the Khost rebellion.

Ja'far al-Askari resigned as Prime Minister of Iraq in protest of the Constituent Assembly voting to ratify the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty approving the terms of the Mandate for Mesopotamia and making Iraq a British protectorate.

British novelist Joseph Conrad died.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 24, 1924. Around the world flight reaches the Orkneys.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Army, First Around The World Flight, Orkney Islands, U.S. Air Force, United Kingdom

Monday, August 1, 1944. The Warsaw Uprising Starts.

The Polish uprising commenced in Warsaw.  A massive uprising, and part of a series of the same, it was the most tragic of the group. The Red Army, which was already on the outskirts of the city, and which had been advancing, ground to a halt and allowed the insurrection to go on for 63 days.

Polish fighter with German MP3008, a rarely scene German copy of the British Sten gun.

The US prevailed on Tinian.

The Philadelphia Transit Strike of 1944 began.

British scientists announced that DDT was an effective insecticide.

Manuel L. Quezon, age 65, died and Sergio Osmeña thereupon became the 4th President of the Philippines.

The film Wilson, about the 28th President, which is nearly a piece of hagiography, was released.

Lasts edition:

Monday, July 31, 1944. Cobra concludes.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, German Wehrmacht, Normandy, Operation Cobra, Operation Overlord, Red Army, Warsaw Poland, World War Two

Friday, July 28, 1944. The U.S. Army advances in Normandy.

Replacements lining up for Red Cross donuts at a U.S. Repo Depo, Normandy.

The 4th Armored Division took Coutances in an action that featured accelerated ground advancement.

Troops of the 2nd Armored Division, July 28, 1944.  Note the frog pattern uniforms.

The Red Army began the Kaunas Offensive.

The ME 163 saw combat for the first time.

Marines probing a cave on Tinian, July 28, 1944.  The Marine in the rear is an NCO (note helmet stripe) carrying a M1 Garand. The Marine in front of him wearing teh camouflaged jackeet is carrying a M1911 pistol.

Pope Puix XII addressed the Polish people (in French).

DISCOURS DU PAPE PIE XII

AUX REPRÉSENTANTS DU PEUPLE POLONAIS

Salle Clémentine - Vendredi 28 juillet 1944

Il Nous serait bien difficile de trouver les paroles aptes à vous exprimer comme Nous la sentons, la vive et profonde émotion qui Nous étreint en ce moment, Fils très chers de la Pologne bien-aimée. Depuis les toutes premières alertes de l'horrible tourmente et à mesure que celle-ci, une fois déchaînée, sévissait de plus en plus furieuse, le regard du cœur tendu vers votre héroïque Nation. Nous suivions jour par jour, heure par heure, pourrions-Nous dire, dans la douleur et l'anxiété, le cours des événements qui l'accablaient, à peine ressuscitée et consolidée, de nouvelles et toujours plus dures épreuves. Mais pas plus que vous, Nous n'avons un seul instant désespéré d'une nouvelle résurrection de votre patrie, répétant avec vous le cri inspiré du juste souffrant : « Etiam si occiderit me, in ipso sperabo » (Iob 13, 15).

Qui eût pu prévoir que ces vicissitudes mêmes dussent vous amener aujourd'hui, avec vos illustres Chefs, du champ de bataille à la demeure du Père commun, après avoir donné des exemples magnifiques de religion et de piété, portant, sous l'habit de vaillants guerriers, le cœur des plus dévots pèlerins, pour offrir au successeur de Pierre le filial hommage de votre peuple.

À vous voir maintenant, pressés autour de Nous, Notre souvenir se reporte, cinq ans en arrière, à ce 30 septembre 1939, où la colonie polonaise de Rome venait, au milieu de ses angoisses, Nous apporter le témoignage de son imperturbable confiance et recevoir en retour Nos paroles de consolation et d'encouragement. Ce n'était alors pourtant que le prélude des douleurs, « initia dolorum » (cf. Mt 24, 8) et le flot de ces douleurs, montant, montant toujours, a submergé votre patrie : « intraverunt aquae usque ad animam meam » (Ps 68, 1). Malgré tout, après ces cinq longues années d'agonie, Nous pouvons, aujourd'hui comme alors, lire dans vos yeux la même confiance, la même fidélité, mais Nous y voyons briller, cette fois, la belle flamme de la noble fierté et de l'espérance.

En réalité, quoique votre sol national soit tout rouge du sang qui l'inonde, votre droit est si certain, que Nous avons le ferme espoir que toutes les nations prendront conscience de leur dette envers la Pologne, théâtre et trop souvent enjeu de leurs conflits, et que quiconque garde au cœur une étincelle de sentiment vraiment humain et chrétien tiendra à revendiquer pour elle toute la place qui lui est due, selon les principes de la justice et d'une véritable paix.

La vie des peuples est une succession continuelle d'ombre et de lumière ; nul plus que le vôtre ne présente ce clair-obscur dans son tragique passé. Parmi tant de vicissitudes, vos excellentes qualités : votre bravoure, votre esprit de sacrifice, votre patriotisme, vous ont sauvés dans les dangers extrêmes et jusque sur le bord de l'abîme. Relisez vos annales et retenez l'enseignement que vous verrez jaillir de l'histoire des temps meilleurs, comme celui du grand roi Casimir. Vous y trouverez qu'en ceci réside le précieux secret de la force nationale: un pouvoir qui n'a en vue que le vrai bien du peuple et, réciproquement, un peuple unanimement soumis avec confiance à ses chefs en vue du bien commun.

Mais Nous voyons surtout deux sources qui, aux heures les plus périlleuses, maintiennent chez vous la vie saine et forte. C'est d'abord l'énergie et la prudence de vos admirables femmes qui se sont montrées si souvent, dans le temps de la détresse, les fermes soutiens de votre espérance. Vos mères, vos sœurs, vos épouses, vos fiancées, au cours de ces années sombres, comme elles ont travaillé, comme elles ont souffert, comme elles ont prié pour vous et en union avec vous !

Et puis, c'est la vitalité de votre foi catholique bientôt millénaire. Elle date de cette année 966 où votre prince Mieszko I la reçut de l'Église Romaine et du souverain Pontife. Depuis, votre fidélité au Christ, à son Église, à son Vicaire est demeurée indéfectible. Elle a franchi la période troublée du XVIe siècle sans de graves dommages. Elle vous a coûté bien des combats soutenus avec intrépidité, bien des souffrances portées avec courage.

En dépit des problèmes, des préoccupations qui peuvent obscurcir encore l'horizon, Nous avons confiance que la Providence divine, en récompense de ces mille ans, vous fera goûter enfin la douceur d'une paix durable dans une heureuse prospérité. Elle vous en donne comme un avant-goût en cet instant même qui vous réunit auprès de Nous.

Halte bien brève au milieu de vos pénibles tribulations et de vos dures fatigues ; bien brève, oui, mais qui, Nous n'en doutons pas, vous laissera au cœur un parfum, un baume dont le bienfait ne passera pas aussi vite. Car ici, à Rome, en cette « Cité de Dieu » sur la terre, choisie par lui pour centre de son Église, tous les lieux, toutes les pierres parlent un langage auquel nul esprit chrétien ne saurait demeurer insensible. « Cité de Dieu » dont tous les citoyens, en dépit des divisions, des conflits d'intérêts, par-dessus les heurts inévitables en ce bas monde, sont tous frères, de la grande et véritable fraternité dans la charité du Christ, parce que tous sont également fils du Père qui est aux cieux, tous également frères et cohéritiers du Fils qui en est le fondateur, le sauveur et le roi.

C'est que, connaissant comme Nous le connaissons le noble cœur de votre peuple, Nous avons la conviction que l'amour du Christ saura vous inspirer ce que déjà la sagesse politique vous suggère. Il vous fera planer bien haut au dessus des calculs purement humains et dédaigner les âpres satisfactions des représailles et de la vengeance pour leur préférer la sublime tâche de faire valoir vos légitimes revendications, de relever et reconstituer votre patrie, de travailler en commun avec toutes les âmes droites, qui sont nombreuses en toutes les nations, à rétablir les relations fraternelles entre les membres de la grande famille de Dieu.

C'est en plaçant sous la protection de la Vierge Marie, Reine et Patronne de la Pologne, cette espérance d'un heureux avenir et en lui confiant Notre prière, que, du fond du cœur, Nous vous donnons à vous, à vos familles, à vos camarades, à tous ceux qui vous sont chers, à ceux qui, dans la patrie on dans l'exil, attendent votre retour, à tout le peuple Polonais enfin, en témoignage de Notre affection et en gage des faveurs divines, Notre Bénédiction apostoliqu

Last edition:

Thursday, July 27, 1944. Eastern advances.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Aircraft, Chester Nimitz, Douglas MacArthur, Eastern Front, Franklin Roosevelt, Lwów Uprising, Operation Cobra, Poland, Polish Home Army, Red Army, The Holocaust, World War Two

Thursday, July 27, 1944. Eastern advances.

The Lwów Uprising ended in Polish victory.  The combatants would shortly be arrested by the Soviets, with the 1st Ukrainian Front entering that day.  It also took Stanislav.

Identity document from occupied Bialystok District.

The Belostock Offensive ended in Soviet victory.  The Bialystok District had been a notable region of Polish Jewish settlements before the war.  The Germans had by and large murdered the Jewish population there by this day.  Film fans may recognize the name as that of the producer portrayed by Zero Mostel in Mel Brook's comedy, The Producers.

The Red Army took Daugavpils in the north, and Siauliai.

The 8th Corps of the 1st Army broke through at Lessy and Periers.

The jet fighter the Gloster Meteor entered active service with No. 616 Squadron RAF.  It would be the only jet aircraft to see active service during the war for the Allies.

The Soviet submarine V-1, formerly the HMS Sunfish, was sunk by the RAF when it dove upon the airplane arriving, rather than fire a recognition signal.

Nimitz, MacArthur and Roosevelt were still meeting.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 26, 1944. Cobra advances.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Armor, Battle of Narva Bridgehead, boats and ships, Chester Nimitz, Continuation War, Douglas MacArthur, Franklin Roosevelt, New Guinea, Normandy, Operation Cobra, Prisoners of War, World War Two

Saturday, July 22, 1944. Changes in governments.

Resing tank crewman, Normandy.  July 22, 1944.

We start today with some items Sarah Sundin has already noted in her blog:

Today in World War II History—July 22, 1944

Gen. Kuniaki Koiso became the Prime Minister of Japan, and SS glider troops landed in the Vecors region to address a Maquis uprising.

Operation Goodwood concludes near Caen with limited results, and the US began initial support operations for Operation Cobra.

The Moscow controlled Polish Committee of National Liberation was established in Chelm.

The Red Army closed the Brody Pocket in Ukraine, capturing 17,000 German troops.  The Red Army also took Panevezys, Lithuania.

The Red Army overran the Majdanek concentration camp, the first concentration camp to be liberated by Allied forces.

The first all fighter aircraft shuttle mission occurred with July 22, 1944 Italian based U.S. P-38 Lightning's and P-51 Mustangs of Fifteenth Air Force attacking German airfields at Bacau and Zilistea, Romania and flying on to  Soviet territory.

The Germans began cancelling the construction of new U-boats as well as the repair of existing ones.

Arrests continued due to the July 20, plot.

The Poles took Castelfiorentino and Tavernelle, Italy.

The USS Bailey shelled positions on Tinian.

The US Army Air Force raided Japanese positions in Shanghai.

Bretton Woods concluded.

Last edition:

Friday, July 21, 1944. Landings on Guam.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, 1944 Election, boats and ships, Free French, French Army, German Army, German Kriegsmarine, Guam, Harry S. Truman, July 20 Plot, Operation Dragoon, Royal Navy, 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

Thursday, April 27, 1944. Exercise Tiger

Friendly fire due to lack of coordination killed US servicemen participating in Exercise Tiger, a landing practice operation.  The number of casualties inflicted remains unknown, but was large.

Later that night, into the next day, three American LST's were attacked and sunk in Lyme Bay by E-boats.

As a result of these incidents, over 700 troops were killed, with 400 of them being on a single LST.  The incident was kept secret.

The UK banned all travel outside Great Britain.

Quebec's legislative assembly voted 55 to 4 for a motion disapproving of sending conscripts overseas.

The Soviet Air Force raided Lvov at night.  

The city had been in pre-war Poland.  Now, as Lviv, it's in Ukraine, and is once again subject to Russian attack.

The U-803 was sunk by a mine in the Baltic.

Today In Wyoming's History: April 27: 1944  The Wyoming Stock Growers Association gave the University of Wyoming its archives, a major contribution given the enormous role the WSGA had in the early history of the state. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Sewell Avery, the principal of Montgomery Ward, and a highly successful and extremely conservative businessman, had to be forcibly removed from his office due to his refusal to settle a strike.  Ward's was delivering vital war goods.  Avery would accordingly not only be carted out of his office by two Military Policemen, but temporary lose his office with the company.

Upon being carried out and meeting the Attorney General who was delegated to the matter, he yelled.

 To hell with the government, you... New Dealer!

He subsequently complained that the government was leading the nation into a government of dictators.

While a savvy businessman, he misread the post-war economy and the changes that the war had brought to labor relations, and Montgomery Ward lost its position as a department store leader to Sears Roebuck.  In another misread, Avery had assigned the rights to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to the company employee who had written the story for a Ward's promotional.

For some reason, I feel that Avery would be a Trump supporter.

Last prior edition:

Wednesday, April 26, 1944. Pyrrihic Kidnapping.

1940s, 1944, Commandos, Crete, German Kriegsmarine, Imperial Japanese Navy, New Guinea, Posters, Prisoners of War, Propaganda, Royal Navy, SOE, Special Operations Executive, U.S. Navy, World War Two