Today in World War II History—June 23, 1940 & 1945: June 23, 1945: In the last airborne assault of the war, paratroopers of the US 11th Airborne Division land near Aparri in northern Luzon.
The Central Powers attacked Lemberg, which became Polish after the war as Lviv, and which is now part of Ukraine as Lvov.
The Polish Home Army attacked the NKVD Camp in Rembertów and freed political prisoners held there.
The Labour Party withdrew from the government forcing the UK into elections.
Today in World War II History—May 21, 1940 & 1945: Heinrich Himmler is arrested by the British in Bremervörde, Germany, disguised as a businessman.
Demanding full independence, Syria and Lebanon break off negotiations with France.
The 31st Division captured the Japanese supply base at Malaybalay on Mindanao.
Humphrey Bogart married Lauren Bacall.
It was his fourth marriage. They had met just that year when she was 19 and he was 44. They'd remain married until his death at age 57.
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The Battle of the Seelow Heights ended in Soviet/Polish victory.
The US 1st Army took Leipzig.
Robert Cappa, the famous photographer, took a series of photos in an event that occurred in this battle, in which a tank crewman who was manning a machinegun in a building was killed by a German sniper. The bloody scene and the soldier's lifeless body is the recalled photograph. A nearly as dramatic photo of another crewman stepping over him to man the gun is not as well recalled.
Richard Dimbleby broadcast the conditions of Belsen on the BBC.
The Battle of Odžak began in Croatia between Yugoslav Partisans and the Axis aligned Croatian Armed Forces. The last battle to be fought in the Second World War in Europe, it would continue until May 25.
Pyinmana, the base of the Japanese aligned Burma Defence Army, fell to the 5th Indian Division.
Japanese Gen. Sōsaku Suzuki, age 53, was killed in action in the Philippines.
Nazi Party member Fritz Wächtler, age 54, was executed by the Nazis for desertion over the surrender of Bayreuth. The charge was unjust and due to rivalry on the part of other Nazis.
It's amazing to think of this sort of infighting when it should have been obvious they'd all be facing trials by the victors soon.
The U-251, U-548 and U-879 were sunk.
Johnny Kelley won the Boston Marathon.
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Poland and the Roman Catholic Church signed a concordat establishing diplomatic relations, guaranteeing the full protection by the Polish government of the Catholic Church, in return for the solemn oath of allegiance by Catholic clerics to the Polish government.
Obviously something had inspired tension, but I don't really know what. What's often missed is that the early Polish government was very left leaning.
Canada, which does not wish to become a US state under any circumstances, and the US signed a fighting rights agreement.
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He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. Forced by the enemy's detonation of prepared demolitions to shift the course of his advance through the city, he led the 1st platoon toward a small bridge, where heavy fire from 3 enemy pillboxes halted the unit. With 2 men he crossed the bridge behind screening grenade smoke to attack the pillboxes. The first he knocked out himself while covered by his men's protecting fire; the other 2 were silenced by 1 of his companions and a bazooka team which he had called up. He suffered a painful wound in the right arm during the action. After his entire platoon had joined him, he pushed ahead through mortar fire and encircling flames. Blocked from the only escape route by an enemy machinegun placed at a street corner, he entered a nearby building with his men to explore possible means of reducing the emplacement. In 1 room he found civilians huddled together, in another, a small window placed high in the wall and reached by a ladder. Because of the relative positions of the window, ladder, and enemy emplacement, he decided that he, being left-handed, could better hurl a grenade than 1 of his men who had made an unsuccessful attempt. Grasping an armed grenade, he started up the ladder. His wounded right arm weakened, and, as he tried to steady himself, the grenade fell to the floor. In the 5 seconds before the grenade would explode, he dropped down, recovered the grenade and looked for a place to dispose of it safely. Finding no way to get rid of the grenade without exposing his own men or the civilians to injury or death, he turned to the wall, held it close to his body and bent over it as it exploded. 2d Lt. Viale died in a few minutes, but his heroic act saved the lives of others.
Second Lt. Rudolph (then TSgt.) was acting as platoon leader at Munoz, Luzon, Philippine Islands. While administering first aid on the battlefield, he observed enemy fire issuing from a nearby culvert. Crawling to the culvert with rifle and grenades, he killed three of the enemy concealed there. He then worked his way across open terrain toward a line of enemy pillboxes which had immobilized his company. Nearing the first pillbox, he hurled a grenade through its embrasure and charged the position. With his bare hands he tore away the wood and tin covering, then dropped a grenade through the opening, killing the enemy gunners and destroying their machine gun. Ordering several riflemen to cover his further advance, 2d Lt. Rudolph seized a pick mattock and made his way to a second pillbox. Piercing its top with the mattock, he dropped a grenade through the hole, firing several rounds from his rifle into it, and smothered any surviving enemy by sealing the hole and the embrasure with earth. In quick succession he attacked and neutralized six more pillboxes. Later, when his platoon was attacked by an enemy tank, he advanced under covering fire, climbed to the top of the tank, and dropped a white phosphorus grenade through the turret, destroying the crew. Through his outstanding heroism, superb courage, and leadership, and complete disregard for his own safety, 2d Lt. Rudolph cleared a path for an advance which culminated in one of the most decisive victories of the Philippine campaign.
The Przyszowice massacre began in Upper Silesia, Poland. It carried into the next day, during which the Red Army killed between 54 and 69 civilian Poles in the community. The Soviets may have mistaken the Poles for Germans, which still wouldn't justify their actions.
The Battle of the Heiligenbeil Pocket began on the Eastern Front.
The Battle for the Kapelsche Veer began in the Netherlands.
Lt. Audie Murphy performed the actions that resulted in his winning the Medal of Honor. His citation reads:
2d Lt. Murphy commanded Company B, which was attacked by 6 tanks and waves of infantry. 2d Lt. Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to prepared positions in a woods, while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him, to his right, 1 of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. Its crew withdrew to the woods. 2d Lt. Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, 2d Lt. Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer, which was in danger of blowing up at any moment, and employed its .50 caliber machinegun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from 3 sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate 2d Lt. Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards, only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound, but ignored it and continued the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he killed or wounded about 50. 2d Lt. Murphy's indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction, and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy's objective.
Murphy is famous, of course, for having been the most highly decorated US soldier of World War Two, although that is no longer the case or at least not clearly the case. He was, undoubtedly, heroic.
His life was, overall, quite sad. He came from an impoverished background in which his father abandoned his large family. He acquired hunting skills as a child in part for that reason, as that provided necessary food for the table. His education ended at the 5th Grade level. Seemingly a natural born soldier, he wanted to stay in the post war Army and even contemplated trying to attend West Point, but his lack of an education and physical injuries precluded it. He did remain in the Texas National Guard. He had an explosive temper even as a child, and suffered from PTSD after the war.
After the war, he worked as an actor and songwriter.
He died in 1971 in an airplane crash. His father outlived him, dying in 1975. His beloved mother died in 1941.
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The 1st Ukrainian Front captured Łódź and Kraków.
The 2nd Belorussian Front took Mława and Włocławek.
The 1st Baltic Front captured Tilsit.
Polish Home Army commander Leopold Okulicki ordered his troops to disband.
The 4th SS Panzer Corps reached the Danube River at Dunapentele cutting the 3d Ukrainian Front off forces from its supplies.
Martin Bormann and Hitler's mistress Eva Braun arrived at the Führerbunker.
The HMS Porpoise was sunk off of Malaya by Japanese aircraft.
French Gustave Marie Maurice Mesny was murdered by the Germans in retaliation for the death of German General Fritz von Brodowski while in French custody. The French resistance, which had been holding von Brodowski claimed that he'd been shot while tempting to escape.
Hitler arrived in Berlin, where he would principally remain for the rest of the war.
The Red Army took Radom, Poland.
An Allied offensive to eliminate a German bridgehead over the Rhine north of Strasbourg was commenced.
The Chinese took Namhkam in Burma.
The U-248 was sunk by US destroyers north of the Azores.
Last edition:Adolph Hitler met with Rundstedt and Walter Model at the Adlerhorst and ordered them to hold the Western Allies back as long as possible.
It was his last visit to the Western Front. Most of the rest of the war he would spend in his bunker in Berlin.
Heinrich Himmler, who by this point had a more realistic view of how the war was going to turn out, ordered the evacuation of Auschwitz and its sub-camps to the West. All evidence of the existence of the camps was ordered to be destroyed, which would prove to be impossible.
Arthur Otto Beyer performed the actions that lead to his being awarded the Medal of Honor.
He displayed conspicuous gallantry in action. His platoon, in which he was a tank-destroyer gunner, was held up by antitank, machinegun, and rifle fire from enemy troops dug in along a ridge about 200 yards to the front. Noting a machinegun position in this defense line, he fired upon it with his 76-mm. gun killing 1 man and silencing the weapon. He dismounted from his vehicle and, under direct enemy observation, crossed open ground to capture the 2 remaining members of the crew. Another machinegun, about 250 yards to the left, continued to fire on him. Through withering fire, he advanced on the position. Throwing a grenade into the emplacement, he killed 1 crewmember and again captured the 2 survivors. He was subjected to concentrated small-arms fire but, with great bravery, he worked his way a quarter mile along the ridge, attacking hostile soldiers in their foxholes with his carbine and grenades. When he had completed his self-imposed mission against powerful German forces, he had destroyed 2 machinegun positions, killed 8 of the enemy and captured 18 prisoners, including 2 bazooka teams. Cpl. Beyer's intrepid action and unflinching determination to close with and destroy the enemy eliminated the German defense line and enabled his task force to gain its objective.
Beyer's parents were immigrants from Luxembourg. After the war, he moved to rural Buffalo, North Dakota, and worked as a farm hand, eventually acquiring a farm. He married Marian Hicks in 1962, and passed away in 1965 at age 55.
The 1st Ukrainian Front took Kielce, Poland. the 2nd Belorussian Front crossed the Pilica and attacked toward Radom, Łódź and Posen. The Germans commit their reserves.
The HMS Thane, an escort carrier was sunk by the U-484 off of the Firth of Clyde.
And, what the heck?
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British forces prevailed in the Battle of Bure.
The Navy shelled Iwo Jima, Haha Jima and Chichi Jima. The USAAF also hit them with B-29s.
Suribachi Wan in the Kurils was bombarded by surface vessels.
Shwebo was taken by the British 2nd Division of British 33rd Corps (Stopford). Indian paratroopers were dropped south of Rangoon.
The opening mission of Operation Cornflakes, an attempt to distribute propoganda via the German mail system, opened with a mail train being bombed followed by an air drop of fake mail to German homes.
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Ala Gertner, age 32, was executed at Auschwitz for her role in the Sonderkommando revolt of October, 1944.
Julies Leber, age 53, was also executed by the Germans for his role in being an opposition politician and German resistance member. An Alsatian who had originally chosen a career in the German Army, he was wounded in World War One and resigned from the army after the Kapp Putsch, which he opposed. He was a member of the July 20 plot and was anticipated to have a future role in the replacement German government.
The Soviet government recognized the Communist Provisional Government, which the UK and US did not.
Pepe Le Pew debuted in "Odor-able Kitty".
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Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Battle of the Bulge, Belgium, British Army, Burma, German Wehrmacht, Indian Army, Luzon, U.S. Air Force, World War Two
