Thursday, January 6, 1944. Doolittle takes command of the 8th Air Force.

Jimmy Doolittle.

Jimmy Doolittle took command of the 8th Air Force.  He'd change escort tactics soon thereafter, allowing escort fighters to fly far ahead of bomber formations to freely engage staged German fighters.

The Red Army captured Rokitno in pre-war Poland.  The small city is in Ukraine today.

A joint statement by the RAF and the USAAF disclosed that the US and UK were developing jet aircraft.

Of course, so was nearly everyone else. The Germans, for instance, were certainly developing jet combat aircraft and the Japanese, by way of a request of the Japanese Imperial Navy following its representatives having witnessed a ME 262 test flight in 1942, were as well.

Wednesday, January 5, 1944. Trying to remind people that the war in Europe started with the rights of Poland. . .

 Men of B Btry., 163rd AAA Bn., grouped around the barrel of their 90mm AA gun named "Tojo Special", Goodenough Island, New Guinea.

The Polish Government In Exile issued a statement declaring itself to be "the only and legal steward and spokesman of the Polish Nation".  It further called and called for the Soviet Union to respect the rights and interests of Poland, a rapid reestablishment of a Polish republic and agreement between itself and the Soviet Union which would allow for Soviet coordination with the Polish Home Army.

In other words, it saw the handwriting of betrayal on the wall and was desperately trying to do what it could to prevent it.

Sailors of the USS Hoggatt Bay, CVE 75, eat chose at battle stations, January 5, 1944.

The Red Army captured Berdychiv, Ukraine, a city which was fought over by the Poles, Ukrainians and Soviets after World War One and which was rocketed in the ongoing Russo Ukrainian War.  Prior to World War Two it had a major Jewish population.

German survivors of the SS Weserland, sunk on January 5, 1944, are shown below, disembarking to imprisonment.

Tuesday, January 4, 1944. Crossing the Polish Frontier.

Pvt. George McLean of Jamaica, Long Island, foreground and in the rear L to R: Pvt. Larry Leonetti, N.Y.C., and Pfc. Dominic Recentio of Philadelphia manning a water cooled .50 Browning M2 on New Britain, January 4, 1944.

Today in World War II History—January 4, 1944: 80 Years Ago—Jan. 4, 1944: Church authorities at the Abbey of Monte Cassino in Italy give the Luftwaffe permission to remove artwork to Germany.

Sarah Sundin.

The move was taken to attempt to protect it from destruction.

Sundin also notes that the Italian Social Republic seized Jewish assets and restricted the Jewish ownership of property.

The Red Army took Bila Tserkva and further pushed the German Army Group South beyeond the pre war Polish border at Sarny.  It also took Kaluga, southwest of Moscow.

German radio announced a decree to mobilize school children for war purposes.

At that point, the German people really should have realized the war was irrevocably lost and have risen up against their government.

The Polish Home Army commenced Operation Tempest, a series of local uprising that would go on for a year.

Carrier born U.S. aircraft struck Kavieng on New Ireland, damaging the destroyer Fumitsuki.

Argentina recognized Bolivia's military government.

The Roosevelt's deeded their Hyde Park house to the U.S. Government.

Jean Tatlock, American psychiatrist, and a Communist who wrote for the Western Worker, was found dead of suicide.  He burned her correspondence prior to calling the authorities.

She is best remembered for having been a romantic interest of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Sunday, January 2, 1944. 32nd Infantry Division lands at Saidor.

Just two days after Adolf Hitler had warned the German people to expect more hardships and setbacks, one came.  The Red Army captured Radovel, placing themselves within 18 miles of the pre World War Two, and post Russo Polish War, Russian border.

Much of the attention in late 1943 had been on the war in Ukraine, but this frankly was more than a little ominous.  The Soviets were not only recovering lost ground, they were about to enter ground they had not been on since their 1939 invasion of Poland.

The US landed troops of the 32nd Infantry Division at Saidor in New Guinea in Operation Michaelmas, an operation which would ultimately involve 13,000 U.S. troops in an effort to cut off 6,000 Japanese troops.

The 32nd Infantry Division was comprised of National Guard units from Michigan and Wisconsin and had seen significant participation in World War One.  Immediately after the Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor, the unit was designated for shipment to Northern Ireland and ordered to move to embarkment locations, however, Japanese advances caused it to be redesignated for the Pacific, at which time, after having suffered some manpower losses due to restructuring, it was given only three weeks to make the cross-country trek and embark.  It was not fully equipped at the time.  Manpower shortages were filled out, however, by recent conscripts.  It was then sent to Australia.

Division patch.

While the unit's early commitment to combat was problematic, the unit achieved many first during the Second World War.  It was the first US division to deploy as an entire unit from the US and the first to be shipped in a single convoy.  The 128th Infantry Rgt, part of the division, was the first to be airlifted into combat.  It was the first US unit to launch a ground assault against the Japanese.  At Saidor, they became the first US division to make a beach landing in New Guinea.  They later became the first US division to supply eleven battalions at one time from the air.

They were one of the "last" units as well, in that they were fighting Japanese soldiers on the Philippines the day after the Japanese surrender.  They then went into occupation duty in Japan, and returned in 1946.

Wednesday, December 1, 1943. The Tehran Conference concludes.

The Tehran Conference concluded.  The results of the conference were far-reaching.

2023 Russian stamp commemorating the Tehran Conference. Russia has good reason to celebrate its results.

Politically, the British and Soviets decided in the Curzon Line as the eastern border of Poland and the Oder-Nesse Line as the western border.  Roosevelt excluded himself from the Polish border question, as he feared that adjusting Poland's borders would have a negative impact on his chance in the 1944 Presidential Election.

Adjusting the border guaranteed that large numbers of people would be forcibly relocated.

An agreement was reached that the Baltic States would not rejoin the Soviet Union until after the citizens of those countries voted on the question.  Stalin would not agree to international supervision of such an election.

The Soviet Union agreed to join the war against the Japaneses upon the conclusion of the war in Europe.

The parties agreed to support Yugoslav Partisans, who were largely Communist.

The parties agreed to try to get Turkey to enter the war.

Operation Overlord was agreed to be launched in May, 1944, together with Operation Dragoon and Operation Bagration.

All in all, it was the Soviet Union that came out on top in the conference.

2023 Elections In Other Countries.

May 15, 2023

Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has governed the country for twenty years, is headed into a runoff election against Kemal Kilicdaroglu, having failed to secure 50% of the vote.

May 22, 2023

Ulster

Sinn Fein made big gains in local election in Northern Ireland this past week.

May 29, 2023

Turkey

Erdoğan unfortunately won the run-off election in Turkey.

May 30, 20223

Alberta, Canada

Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party won provincial elections yesterday. 

July 23, 2023

Spain exhibited cheating the prophet in that, contrary to predictions, there were no clear winners in its election.

The With center-right Christian Democratic Party, Partido Popular (PP) came in first, winning 136 seats. The far-right Vox party, which was predicted to be a kingmaker, won 33 seats and it might through in with the PP.  The ruling center-left Socialist party won 122 seats, with likely coalition partner Sumar at 31 seats.

But there's no telling, really.  The Socialist Party is in power. . . it might throw in with the PP.

So, it's hard to tell who won.  They're working out the deals now, but chances are that whoever won will not be in power long.

October 16, 2023

Left and center left parties took   248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of the Polish parliament, compared to the 200 taken by the governing Law and Justice party and 12 by a right wing partner.  

The government of Poland will accordingly change in the first European defeat of the king of right wing populism/National Conservatism that most notably emerged in Hungary and recently can be imperfectly argued to have gained ground in several other European countries.  It had made statements about openly following Hungary's lead.  As recently as 2019 it was gaining ground.

And it might still be.  Parliamentary politics are not the same as republican politics. The Law and Justice Party still was the largest vote getter, and the number of votes for it increased.  Effectively, it has 212 seats to 248 seats held by various other opposition parties that cross a political spectrum.  A government still has to be assembled and it will remain a major voice in the parliament.

November 23, 2023

Argentina.

Difficult to describe, socially conservative, a member of the Austrian school of economics, and sort of a libertarian, Javier Milei won the Argentine presidential election.

This election is so sui generis that it's hard to put in an international context.  The temptation is always to view these sorts of shifts as to the hard right, or hard left, and this would sort of be hard right, but it also reflects a rejection of Argentina's political history going back for 90 years or so.

The Netherlands.

The Dutch Party for Freedom made big election gains in the Dutch parliament, signaling a large leap to the far right in the country. While being expressed as a shock, this has been going on in the Netherlands for some time.

This victory makes it possible that its leader, Geert Wilders, could become prime minister of the country, but only if he is able to put together a coalition with other right wing and center right wing parties.

The party is strongly anti immigrant and wishes to leave the European Union.

Sunday, November 12, 1623. Josaphat Kuntsevych, Bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Church (Ukrainian Catholic Church, was martyred in Vitebsk, Belarus.

On this day in 1623 Josaphat Kuntsevych, Bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Church (Ukrainian Catholic Church, was martyred in Vitebsk, Belarus, which was the part of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth.

He had been ordained in as an Eastern Catholic priest in 1609.  Living in a region in which the Orthodox Church had been strong, he faced opposition in his clerical duties but movement towards union with Rome was building in the area and as there was building assent to the Union of Brest.  In 1620 this began to be opposed when Cossacks intervened in the region.  In 1623, Josaphat, by then a Bishop, ordered the arrest of the sole remaining priest who was offering Orthodox services in Vitebsk which resulted in his murder by some Orthodox townspeople.  Some have suggested that, however, Lithuanian Protestants were secretly the instigators of the action.

His body is in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and he is recognized as a martyr by the Church.

This points out a lot of interesting aspects of history that in the United States, and indeed many places, are poorly understood.  For one thing, there have been repeated efforts to reunite the East and West in Apostolic Christianity, and on several occasions they've been highly successful.  The seeming final breach between the East and West did not really come until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and indeed at that time the East and West were largely reunited. Following the return of the schism, over the next 500+ years various churches in the East have returned to communion with Rome.  The Schism should have completely ended following the Council of Florence, in which the Eastern Bishops agreed to reunion, but resistance at the parishioner level precluded it, just as can be seen to be a factor here.  Resistance higher up, sometimes violent, has also had an impact, however, as at least in one occasion Russian Orthodox Bishops affecting a reunion were murdered.  At the present time, it seems clear that the Metropolitan of Constantinople, the senior Bishop of the Eastern Orthodox, would end the schism as to his church but for fear of parishioner and cleric level resistance.

Rodrigo de Arriaga professed vows to become a Jesuit Priest.  He was one of the leading Spanish Jesuits of his day.

Thursday, November 4, 1943. Island hopping.

 A seaplane tender in Aleutian waters trains a 40mm battery on an unidentified aircraft, November 4, 1943.

The U.S. War Department concluded that attacking Japan from mainland China was impracticable.  Therefore, the island strategy was solidly recommended.

An uprising broke out at the Szebnie concentration camp in Poland following the execution of over 1,000 of its prisoners. The SS rapidly suppressed it and the inmates are shipped to Auschwitz.

The Red Army broke out of its Dniepr bridgeheads.

A newly arrived Japanese Imperial Navy task force consisting of ten cruisers and ten destroyers is spotted by the U.S. Navy near Rabaul resulting in Task Force 38 preparing to strike it from the air.

The Allies achieve full lateral communications through Isernia in Italy.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—November 4, 1943: Plutonium processing plant opens at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for atomic bomb development as the X-10 graphite reactor reaches criticality.

Wednesday, November 3, 1943. Aktion Erntefest

Over 18,000 Jewish prisoners were shot on this day at the Majdanke concentration camp in Poland in Aktion Erntefest, named after the traditional German harvest festival.  Music associated with the festival and dance music was played over loudspeakers to drown out the sounds of the massacre.

An additional 6,000 were murdered at Trawniki concentration camp. 

Over 42,000 Jews would be murdered over a course of several days.

Hitler issued Führer Directive Number 51.  It stated:

Führer Headquarters3 November 1943 Top Secret The Führer  OKW/WFSt/Op.No. 662656/43 g.K. Chefs

For the last two and one-half years the bitter and costly struggleagainst Bolshevism has made the utmost demands upon the bulk of ourmilitary resources and energies. This commitment was in keeping with the seriousness of the danger, and the over-all situation. The situation has since changed. The threat from the East remains, but an even greater danger looms in the West: the Anglo-American landing! In the East, the vastness of the space will, as a last resort, permit a loss of territory even on a major scale, without suffering a mortal blow to Germany’s chance for survival.

Not so in the West! If the enemy here succeeds in penetrating our defenses on a wide front, consequences of staggering proportions will follow within a short time. All signs point to an offensive against theWestern Front of Europe no later than spring, and perhaps earlier.

For that reason, I can no longer justify the further weakening of the West in favor of other theaters of war. I have therefore decided to strengthen the defenses in the West, particularly at places from which we shall launch our long-range war against England. For those are the very points at which the enemy must and will attack; there-unless all indications are misleading-will be fought the decisive invasion battle.

Holding attacks and diversions on other fronts are to be expected. Not even the possibility of a large-scale offensive against Denmark may beexcluded. It would pose greater nautical problems and could be less effectively supported from the air, but would nevertheless produce thegreatest political and strategic impact if it were to succeed.

During the opening phase of the battle, the entire striking power of the enemy will of necessity be directed against our forces manning the coast. Only an all-out effort in the construction of fortifications, an unsurpassed effort that will enlist all available manpower and physical resources of Germany and the occupied areas, will be able to strengthenour defenses along the coasts within the short time that still appears to be left to us.

Stationary weapons (heavy AT guns, immobile tanks to be dug-in, coast artillery, shore-defense guns, mines, etc.) arriving in Denmark and the occupied West within the near future will be heavily concentrated in points of main defensive effort at the most vulnerable coastal sectors.At the same time, we must take the calculated risk that for the present we may be unable to improve our defenses in less threatened sectors.

Should the enemy nevertheless force a landing by concentrating his armed might, he must be hit by the full fury of our counterattack. For this mission ample and speedy reinforcements of men and materiel, as well as intensive training must transform available larger units into first-rate,fully mobile general reserves suitable for offensive operations. The counterattack of these units will prevent the enlargement of the beachhead, and throw the enemy back into the sea.

In addition, well-planned emergency measures, prepared down to the last detail, must enable us instantly to throw against the invader every fit man and machine from coastal sectors not under attack and from the homefront.

The anticipated strong attacks by air and sea must be relentlessly countered by Air Force and Navy with all their available resources. I therefore order the following:

A) Army:

1.) The Chief of the Army General Staff and the Inspector General of Panzer Troops will submit to me as soon as possible a schedule covering arms, tanks, assault guns, motor vehicles, and ammunition to be allocated to the Western Front and Denmark within the next three months. That schedule will conform to the new situation. The following considerationswill be basic:

a) Sufficient mobility for all panzer and panzer grenadier divisions in the West, and equipment of each of those units by December 1943 with 93Mark IV tanks or assault guns, as well as large numbers of antitankweapons.

Accelerated reorganization of the 20 Luftwaffe Field Divisions into an effective mobile reserve force by the end of 1943. This reorganization isto include the issue of assault guns.

Accelerated issue of all authorized weapons to the SS Panzer Grenadier Division Hitler Jugend, the 21st Panzer Division, and the infantry andreserve divisions stationed in Jutland.

b) Additional shipments of Mark IV tanks, assault guns, and heavy AT guns to the reserve panzer divisions stationed in the West and in Denmark, as well as to the Assault Gun Training Battalion in Denmark.

c) In November and December, monthly allotments of 100 heavy AT guns models 40 and 43 (half of these to be mobile) in addition to thoserequired for newly activated units in the West and in Denmark.

d) Allotment of large numbers of weapons (including about 1,000 machineguns) for augmenting the armament of those static divisions that arecommitted for coastal defense in the West and in Denmark, and forstandardizing the equipment of elements that are to be withdrawn fromsectors not under attack.

e) Ample supply of close-combat AT weapons to units in vulnerablesectors.

f) Improvement of artillery and AT defenses in units stationed in Denmark, as well as those committed for coastal protection in theoccupied West. Strengthening of GHQ artillery.

2.) The units and elements stationed in the West or in Denmark, as well as panzer, assault gun, and AT units to be activated in the West, must not be transferred to other fronts without my permission. The Chief ofthe Army General Staff, or the Inspector General of Panzer Troops will submit to me a report through the Armed Forces Operations Staff as soon as the issue of equipment to the panzer and assault gun battalions, as well as to the AT battalions and companies, has been completed.

3.) Beyond similar measures taken in the past, the Commander in Chief West will establish time tables for, and conduct maneuvers and command post exercises on, the procedure for bringing up units from sectors not under attack. These units will be made capable of performing offensive missions, however limited. In that connection I demand that sectors not threatened by the enemy be ruthlessly stripped of all forces except small guard detachments. For sectors from which reserves are withdrawn,security and guard detachments must be set aside from security and alarmunits. Labor forces drawn largely from the native population must likewise be organized in those sectors, in order to keep open whateverroads might be destroyed by the enemy air force.

4.) The Commander of German Troops in Denmark will take measures in thearea under his control in compliance with paragraph 3 above.

5.) Pursuant to separate orders, the Chief of Army Equipment andCommander of the Replacement Army will form Kampfgruppen in regimental strength, security battalions, and engineer construction battalions fromtraining cadres, trainees, schools, and instruction and convalescentunits in the Zone of the Interior. These troops must be ready forshipment on 48 hours’ notice.

Furthermore, other available personnel are to be organized into battalions of replacements and equipped with the available weapons, sothat the anticipated heavy losses can quickly be replaced.

B) Luftwaffe:

The offensive and defensive effectiveness of Luftwaffe units in the Westand in Denmark will be increased to meet the changed situation. To that end, preparations will be made for the release of units suited for commitment in the anti-invasion effort, that is, all flying units and mobile Flak artillery that can be spared from the air defenses of thehome front, and from schools and training units in the Zone of the Interior. All those units are to be earmarked for the West and possibly Denmark.

The Luftwaffe ground organization in southern Norway, Denmark, northwestern Germany, and the West will be expanded and supplied in a waythat will-by the most far-reaching decentralization of own forces-denytargets to the enemy bombers, and split the enemy’s offensive effort incase of large-scale operations. Particularly important in that connection will be our fighter forces. Possibilities for their commitment must be increased by the establishment of numerous advance landing fields. Special emphasis is to be placed on good camouflage. I expect also that the Luftwaffe will unstintingly furnish all available forces, bystripping them from less threatened areas.

C) Navy:

The Navy will prepare the strongest possible forces suitable for attacking the enemy landing fleets. Coastal defense installations in the process of construction will be completed with the utmost speed. The emplacing of additional coastal batteries and the possibility of layingfurther flanking mine fields should be investigated.

All school, training, and other shore-based personnel fit for groundcombat must be prepared for commitment so that, without undue delay, they can at least be employed as security forces within the zone of the enemylanding operations.

While preparing the reinforcement of the defenses in the West, the Navy must keep in mind that it might be called upon to repulse simultaneous enemy landings in Norway and Denmark. In that connection, I attach particular importance to the assembly of numerous U-boats in the northern area. A temporary weakening of U-boat forces in the Atlantic must be risked.

D) SS:

The Reichsfuehrer-SS will determine what Waffen-SS and police forces he can release for combat, security, and guard duty. He is to prepare to organize effective combat and security forces from training, replacement,and convalescent units, as well as schools and other home-front establishments.

E) The commanders in chief of the services, the Reichsfuehrer-ss, the Chief of the Army General Staff, the Commander in Chief West, the Chief of Army Equipment and Commander of the Replacement Army, the Inspector General of Panzer Troops, as well as the Commander of German Troops in Denmark will report to me by 15 November all measures taken or planned.

I expect that all agencies will make a supreme effort toward utilizing every moment of the remaining time in preparing for the decisive battlein the West.

All authorities will guard against wasting time and energy in useless jurisdictional squabbles, and will direct all their efforts towardstrengthening our defensive and offensive power.

Adolf Hitler

The emphasis on Denmark, which would have made for a difficult invasion, is interesting. 

The diversionary Raid on Choiseul (Operation Blissful) came to an end.

Today in World War II History—November 3, 1943: Battleship USS Oklahoma, sunk at Pearl Harbor, is refloated, but it will be scrapped due to damage. US Eighth Air Force sends 566 bombers to Wilhelmshaven.

Sarah Sundin.

She also notes that Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes signed an interim agreement with coal miners allowing for the resumption of coal mining.

Tuesday, October 26, 1943. Extending Conscription.

President Roosevelt extended registration for the draft beyond the 48 states to the territories of Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

Residents of those territories had until the end of the year to register.

Today in World War II History—October 26, 1943: US Thirteenth Air Force and US Navy bombers and fighters attack Japanese-occupied Bougainville in the Solomon Islands in advance of the Allied invasion.

From Sarah Sundin's blog.

October 26, 1943 – PoWs Arrive in RMNP

They'd been arriving at various locations in the US this week as well.

The Polish Home Political Representation created Social Anticommunist Committee to combat activities of the Polish Workers (Communist) Party.

Today was the first flight of the Dornier Do 335 of which a mere 37 were built.

The U-420 was sunk by a Canadian B-24.  She was one of 15 ships lost on this day.

The 1943 Hurricane Season came to an end when the last storm dissipated.

Monday, October 25, 1943. Another October day.

The Red Army's 3d Ukrainian Front captured Dnepropetrovsk.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—October 25, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Oct. 25, 1943: Adm. Sir Bertram Ramsay becomes Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief Expeditionary Force (ANCXF) for Operation Overlord (D-day).

The U.S. Army Air Force raided airfields near Rabaul destroying twenty Japanese aircraft on the ground.

Hong Beom-do (홍범도; Хон Бом До) Korean hunter who became a revolutionary, died on this day at age 75.

Reacting to the Japanese ban on Koreans owning firearms, which precluded hunters from their trade, he formed the 1907 Righteous Army of Jeongmi.  Upon Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910 he moved to China and became, by 1919, the commander of the Korean Independence Army.  It did well, but ultimately was forced to retreat to the Soviet Union in 1921, which resulted in the disarming of the army.  He joined the Red Army in hopes that it might liberate Korea from the Japanese, a forlorn hope at the time.

In 1937 he was deported along with other Koreans to Kazakhstan where he died on this day.  His body was repatriated to Korea in 2021.

Akcja Fruhwirth (Operation Fruhwirth) was attempted by the Polish underground. The aim was to assassinate S-Scharführer Engelberth Frühwirth but SS-Scharführer Stephan Klein was shot by mistake.  He was, however, also a target of the Polish underground.

The newspaper comic strip Batman and Robin debuted.

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 48th Edition. Freaking out over the Polish election.

Goodness we live in strange times.

Lex Anteinternet: 2023 Elections In Other Countries.

: 

October 16, 2023

Left and center left parties took   248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of the Polish parliament, compared to the 200 taken by the governing Law and Justice party and 12 by a right wing partner.  

The government of Poland will accordingly change in the first European defeat of the king of right wing populism/National Conservatism that most notably emerged in Hungary and recently can be imperfectly argued to have gained ground in several other European countries.  It had made statements about openly following Hungary's lead.  As recently as 2019 it was gaining ground.

And it might still be.  Parliamentary politics are not the same as republican politics. The Law and Justice Party still was the largest vote getter, and the number of votes for it increased.  Effectively, it has 212 seats to 248 seats held by various other opposition parties that cross a political spectrum.  A government still has to be assembled and it will remain a major voice in the parliament.

If you read Twitter, amongst a certain group this is being portrayed as the end of the world, or more particularly Europe.  Now Muslim hoards and liberal sworms will eliminate European civilization from the face of the earth.

For goodness’ sake, no matter what you think of this, this is a pretty closely run election, and the Law & Justice Party has lost the government before.  To at least some degree, it seems some Poles feared it was going down Trump Lane, or more particularly Orvan Lane, towards contempt of democracy itself, and it lost for that reason.

Saturday, October 2, 1943. Japan extends conscription to university students.

The Japanese government ended the student deferment for conscription.

I am surprised to learn, frankly, that they had been deferred.

Japan had 45 universities and other additional institutions of higher education at the start of the war, and the number actually expanded during it.  The university system itself only extended back to 1877, to this was quite an expansion over a short period of time.

The Second Battle of Smolensk ended in a victory for the Red Army.

The Soviets gave Romanian POWs the choice of joining a Soviet formed Romanian division or remaining POWs.

Sweden issued a proclamation welcoming Danish refugees.  Sarah Sundin notes on her blog:

Today in World War II History—October 2, 1943: During the night of Oct. 1-2, the Nazis arrest Danish Jews, but most are in hiding, and only 284 are arrested.

The German governor of Poland Hans Frank created a court staffed by the Gestapo, which was authorized to carry out sentences immediately.  

The Australians took Finschafen, New Guinea.

The U.S. 6th Corps took Benevento, Italy.  The British 78th Division crossed the Biferno.  British commandos occupied Termoli.

Monday, August 16, 1943. The Bialystok Uprising

The Bialystok Ghetto uprising commenced when the SS surrounded the ghetto in that city to deport its residents. The Jewish underground of the Polish city revolted and fought back, resulting in a battle that lasted five days.

Bialystok smoldering.

There's a common myth, for some reason, that European Jews did not resist the Holocaust, often attributed to a lack of their being armed.  In fact, they did resist, sometimes causing the Germans significant casualties.

Taking a page from the American book, British forces made a small amphibious landing on Sicily's east coast, but it failed to cut off retreating Axis forces.  On the same day, US elements reached Messina.

The Red Army took Zhidra.

The Air Transport Command commenced ferrying Elanor Roosevelt on a tour of the Pacific Theatre.  The plane involved was a C-87, a cargo variant of the B-24.

Featured earlier, this Canadian soldier examined a Japanese machine gun on Kiska:

Sunday, August 1, 1943. Operation Tidal Wave, Murder of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, Airborne accidents and losses.

Operation Tidal Wave, the low level U.S. Army Air Force bombing of Polesti with B-24s took place.

The raid involved 177 B-24s, of which 54 were lost.  Oil production from Romania, Germany's largest supplier, was temporarily halted but would ultimately be restored.

Germany scored an inscription success with the raid as it was able to decipher Allied radio traffic regarding it and that the planes would fly from Libya.

The Gestapo executed a party of eleven nuns of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, a Polish Roman Catholic community, at Navahrudak, Poland, which is now in Belarus.  The Sisters had offered their lives in exchange for those of Polish prisoners, and were executed in defiance of their offer.  They have been declared Blessed by the Catholic Church for their martyrdom.

Japan affected to grant independence to Burma, while in actuality governing it.

Race riots broke out in Harlem due to a white NYPD police officer shooting and wounding Pvt. Robert Bandy during a fight.  Rumors spread that he had been killed, and the riots ensued.  The riots would result in the death of six African American New Yorkers.

William D. Becker, the Mayor of St. Louis, died in a Waco glider accident.  He was a passenger in the military glider, whose wings buckled in flight.

Military gliders of the era were frightenly dangerous, and I can't imagine riding on one voluntarily, let alone as part of a demonstration.  Maj. William B. Robertson, President of the Robertson Aircraft Corporation, which built the gilder, also died in the crash.

Soviet pilot Lydia Litvyak, who had scored eleven areal victories against the Luftwaffe, was shot down and killed in the Battle of Kursk.

Sunday, July 11, 1923. Allied Success, and Disaster, in Sicily. Massacres in Poland.

Patton, in a famous pose, on the ground in Gela, Sicily on this day in 1943.

The Allies captured the Sicilian port cities of Syracuse (Siracusa), Licata, Gela, Pachino, Avola, Noto, Pozzallo, Scoglitti, Ispica and Rosolini.

US Navy gunners opened up on US transport aircraft carrying paratroopers at Gela that evening, resulting in the deaths of over 300 of them in the worst friendly fire incident in the war to date.   The Luftwaffe had earlier attempted a nighttime raid on the ships much earlier in the day, making the gunners nervous.  The disaster commenced when a single ship's gunner opened up on passing C-47s and C-53s.

The USS Boise crossing the bow of the USS LSST-325 while firing on German armored forces near Gela,  July 11, 1943.

The Navy, however, also saved the day at Gela on this day by stopping an armored counterattack with ship to shore fire.  And Patton came ashore at the same city that day.  Both events are depicted in movies, with the first in The Big Red One, and the second in Patton.

Red Cross field director James P. Show would perform acts of heroism on this day which would result in the Silver Star.  His citation would read:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Mr. James P. Shaw a United States Civilian, for gallantry in action while serving as Field Director, American Red Cross, attached to the *** Infantry, in action on 11 July 1943, near Licata, Sicily. On that date, an enemy dive bomber scored a direct hit on a landing craft which had almost reached its position for debarkation. Mr. Shaw, who was already ashore, immediately left his position of comparative security, waded back into the rough water and assisted many men to safety. He continued to assist until the last man had been brought to shore and the wounded cared for. All of these acts were performed at the risk of his life because of attacking enemy airplanes, the explosion of ammunition on the damaged craft, and the turbulent and treacherous water. The gallantry of Mr. Shaw on this occasion is a distinct credit to himself and the American Red Cross.

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the military arm of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist OUN-B branch, attacked 99 Polish settlements in Wołyń Province of Poland.  Attacks were carried out in what became known as the Vohynian Bloody Sunday on Kisielin, Poryck, Chrynów, Zabłoćce, and Krymn.  Attacks coincided with local attendance at Mass.

The massacre campaign was part of a OUN-B effort, which is sometimes called the Volyn (Wołyń) Tragedy, to clear Poles from the territory east of the Bug River, and dated back to the difficulties that existed in drawing a border between Poland, Ukraine and Belarus following World War One.  The OUN itself was split into OUN-B and OUN-M.  The OUN itself dated back to 1929 when it formed and absorbed other Ukrainian independence movements.  It was a right wing organization which picked up elements of fascism early on, and the Nazism later.  OUN-M was named for one of the OUN's founders, Andriy Melnyk, who declared Ukraine independent after the German invasion of the country during World War Two. OUN-B, named for Stepan Bandera, was much more radical and indeed the two organizations fought each other.  OUN-B came to dominate.

A far right organization in general, and in the case of OUN-B radically so, the organization picked up much of the extreme far right attitudes of the day, including being racist, deeply nationalist, and anti-clerical (indeed Melnyk's personal conservatism and Catholicism made Melnyk at odds with the views of his own organization).  OUN-B principally attacked Poles during the war and was allied to the Germans until the Germans began to collapse, at which time it eschewed its fascist ideology and took on a pro-democracy one.  The UPA would fight against the Soviets and Poles after the conclusion of the Second World War.

The genocidal effort against the Poles was bizarre in a way in that not only was it horrifically violent, but it ultimately served the interests of the Soviet Union in creating an ethnic line of demarcation which was west of the Bug.  While the majority of victims were Poles, some Ukrainian civilians who opposed the actions or who were not of the same brand of nationalist as the UPA.  Several hundred Jews, Russians, Czech and Georgians who were part of Polish families or who sheltered Poles were murdered.  Total Polish victim numbers are hard to determine, but they were ultimately between 50,000 to 100,000, mostly killed during July and August 1943.

Melnyk would escape to the West after the war and died in Luxembourg at age 73, in 1964.  Bandera was assassinated by the KGB in Munich in 1959.  He was 50 years old.

Sunday, July 4, 1943. First Broadcast of the Armed Forces Radio Network.

American Armed Forces Radio Network began broadcasting from the United Kingdom. While the organization had been formed in 1942, this was its very first broadcast.

Subhas Chandra Bose became president of the Indian Independence League at its meeting in Singapore.

Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski, Prime Minister of Poland and former Polish army officer, and the then head of its government in exile, died in a plane crash at Gibraltar.  While the British ruled the crash an accident due to mechanical failure, suspicions remain that it may have been sabotage.

Tuesday, June 29, 1943. Wartime childcare, Coca Cola for GIs, Wallace blunder, Reprisal at Waksmund, Encylical

Congress passed a bill providing a whopping $20,000,000 for childcare for working mothers.  According to Sarah Sundin, 3102 child care centers were established which served, if that is the proper word, 600,000 children.

Photo taken for the June 1943 issue of Colliers with a Father's Day theme. The lieutenant is shown wearing wings, so he is an air crewman.

You can almost hear Bernie Sanders starting to gush about it, retrospectively.

Vice President Henry Wallace made a speech attacking Secretary of Commerce Jesse H. Jones, damaging his credit with President Roosevelt.

I can't find what Wallace said, but Wallace was in the political far left and sometimes suspected of being a Communist.  Indeed, The New Republic, which he later served in a senior position in, declared him to be one in an anniversary issue, which is remarkable.  He doesn't seem to have really been, but he was so far to the left, it's remarkable that he'd ever been chosen for this position.

Roosevelt would dump him in his next campaign, which perhaps should provide a lesson for Joseph Biden.

Allied Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower requested "three million bottled Coca-Cola (filled) and complete equipment for bottling, washing, capping same quantity twice monthly".

More on that can be read about here:

June 29, 1943 – During WWII General Eisenhower Requisitions Ten Portable Coca-Cola Bottling Plants

The Germans conducted a severe reprisal massacre in Waksmund, Poland, aimed at punishing support for the Polish resistance.

Pope Pius XII released his encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi.

Sunday, June 27, 1922. Bishop O'Rourke of the East passes away, Disaster at Huntington Beach, Lousy German troops.

The unlikely named former Catholic Bishop of Riga and later Bishop of Danzia, an opponent of the Nazis, died at age 66, in Rome, where he was living in exile.

Born in Minsk to a family of Irish heritage, which was also unlikely, he had resigned his position in Riga as a movement for a Latvian Bishop gained strength.  He clashed with the Nazis in Danzig, which had ultimately led to his relocation to Poland, where he was granted Polish citizenship.  When the Germans invaded Poland, he was on a journey to Estonia, and ultimately traveled to Italy.  He was not able to regain admittance to German occupied Poland.

A P-38 Lightening crashed into a crowd of beach goers at Huntington Beach, California, after its pilot had bailed out. Three people lost their lives and forty nine were injured.

Sarah Sundin noted that event, and others, on her blog:

Today in World War II History—June 27, 1943: French Resistance attacks Ateliers des Fives locomotive works at Lille. P-38 Lightning fighter plane crashes on Huntington Beach in CA, killing 4 children.

As odd as it is to consider that it even occurred, the 1943  German football championship was won by Dresdner SC.

Bill Downs, CBS Moscow correspondent, reported that Red Army troops were surprised by hte quantity of lice that captured German soldiers bore.

Sunday, June 6, 1943. Radio broadcasts, Triple Crown, Actor in the Navy, Rohatyn Ghetto.

The French Committee of National Liberation made a radio broadcast pledging to abolish the "arbitrary powers" imposed by the Vichy regime and restore French liberties and republican government.

Count Fleet won the Belmont, and hence the Triple Crown.

Paul Newman, having enlisted days before his 18th birthday, was called up for service in the Navy.

Newman wanted to be a pilot, but was taken out of flight school when it was discovered he was color blind.  He went on to be a torpedo bomber crewman.

Sarah Sundin noted Newman's enlistment, but also noted the A36:

Today in World War II History—June 6, 1943: North American A-36 Apache flies first combat mission in a US Twelfth Air Force mission to Pantelleria. Future actor Paul Newman enlists in the US Navy, age 18.

We don't think much of the A-36, the dive bomber version of the P-51.  The odd aircraft only came into existence in the first place as the 1942 appropriations for new fighter aircraft had run out and converting the assembly line to dive bombers kept the P-51 line open.  Only 500 were built, with most used by the U.S. Army Air Force, but some used by the RAF.

A-36 in Italy.

The Germans liquidated the Rohatyn Ghetto in what is now Ukraine.