Thursday, December 20, 1945. Tires.

President Truman signed the United Nations Participation Act.

Today In Wyoming's History: December 20: 1945   Tire rationing in the U.S. ended.

Last edition:

Wednesday, December 19, 1945. Unifying the services.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, 1945 at the movies, Department of Defense, Department of War, Harry S. Truman, It was because of World War Two, Movies, Switzerland, War Crimes

Thursday, November 22, 1945. Thanksgiving Day.

It was the first postwar Thanksgiving.

Proclamation 2673—Thanksgiving Day, 1945

November 12, 1945

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

In this year of our victory, absolute and final, over German fascism and Japanese militarism; in this time of peace so long awaited, which we are determined with all the United Nations to make permanent; on this day of our abundance, strength, and achievement; let us give thanks to Almighty Providence for these exceeding blessings.

We have won them with the courage and the blood of our soldiers, sailors, and airmen. We have won them by the sweat and ingenuity of our workers, farmers, engineers, and industrialists. We have won them with the devotion of our women and children. We have bought them with the treasure of our rich land. But above all we have won them because we cherish freedom beyond riches and even more than life itself.

We give thanks with the humility of free men, each knowing it was the might of no one arm but of all together by which we were saved. Liberty knows no race, creed, or class in our country or in the world. In unity we found our first weapon, for without it, both here and abroad, we were doomed. None have known this better than our very gallant dead, none better than their comrade, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Our thanksgiving has the humility of our deep mourning for them, our vast gratitude to them.

Triumph over the enemy has not dispelled every difficulty. Many vital and far-reaching decisions await us as we strive for a just and enduring peace. We will not fail if we preserve, in our own land and throughout the world, that same devotion to the essential freedoms and rights of mankind which sustained us throughout the war and brought us final victory.

Now, Therefore, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America, in consonance with the joint resolution of Congress approved December 26, 1941, do hereby proclaim Thursday November 22, 1945, as a day of national thanksgiving. May we on that day, in our homes and in our places of worship, individually and as groups, express our humble thanks to Almighty God for the abundance of our blessings and may we on that occasion rededicate ourselves to those high principles of citizenship for which so many splendid Americans have recently given all.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this 12th day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred forty-five and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventieth.

Signature of Harry S. Truman

HARRY S. TRUMAN

By the President:

JAMES F. BYRNES,

Secretary of State.

The Hollywood Canteen was open for the last time.

The Rocky Mountain News claimed that the Japanese tried to assassinate Stalin.

 

I've never heard that before, and I'm fairly sure it isn't true.

The paper also informed readers of the death of Gen. Alexander Patch, part of the great post war senior officer die off that followed the Second World War.

And it noted that Koreans were complaining that the Soviets were stripping the country of machinery.

The paper ran Out Our Way.

And there was an advertisement for a pen that you didn't have to fill for a year. . . an advertisement I don't, frankly, believe.

The Reynolds was revolutionary, however.  It was a reengineered Biro type ballpoint pen.

Meat rationing was to end. . .but not before Thanksgiving.

The only thing that remained rationed was sugar.

Last edition:

Wednesday, November 21, 1945. UAE goes on strike.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Automobiles, Cartoons, Guatemala, Industry, Labor unrest, Strike Wave of 1945-1945, Thanksgiving, trends, Unions, United Nations

Monday, September 10, 1945. Eh?

Post war news items were getting a bit weird.

Mike the Headless chicken was ineffectively beheaded, and would go on to become sort of a freak show star for a brief period of time.

Life magazine featured a black and white cover photo of a UAW worker.  The contents of the magazine were:

Pg… 29 The Week's Events: U. S. Occupies Japan

Pg… 42 The Week's Events: Editorial: Peace in Asia

Pg… 45 The Week's Events: King Leopold's Family

Pg… 51 The Week's Events: Black Markets Boom in Berlin

Pg… 127 The Week's Events: Lilly Dache Packs for Paris

Pg… 63 Articles: Nijinsky in Vienna, by William Walton

Pg… 112 Articles: As We May Think, by Vannevor Bush

Pg… 103 Photographic Essay: United Automobile Workers

Pg… 57 Modern Living: House for Texas

Pg… 90 Modern Living: The French Look

Pg… 61 Art: Portrait of Sylvia Sidney, by Fletcher Martin

Pg… 82 Art: Hudson River School of Painters

Pg… 75 Movies: "Uncle Harry"

Pg… 97 Sports: Grownups Spin Tops

Pg… 138 Science: Plant Cancer

Pg… 2 Other Departments: Letters to the Editors

Pg… 12 Other Departments: Speaking of Pictures: Germany's Fantastic Secret Weapons

Pg… 16 Other Departments: LIFE's Reports: "Bottoms Up" in China, by Lieut. Thomas P. Ronan

Pg… 132 Other Departments: LIFE Goes Swordfishing

Pg… 142 Other Departments: Miscellany: Seabees Give Waves a Party

Life is often remembered as a great magazine in its heyday, but it featured some pretty vapid articles.  This issue's feature on The French Look informed readers that young French women had small breasts and often went braless, depicting a typical bra (on a young French woman), for those occasions in which les mademoiselles wore them.  Doing that in the US, UK, or Germany would have been regarded as shockingly indecent, although it was not uncommon in the Southern European Slavic and Romance language speaking countries, which in turn contributed to the American and British views that the Italians were really primitive, and the German view that the Yugoslavians were.

In case you wonder, I ran across the Life magazine item searching this date on Twitter.  I haven't pulled up the article.

I'm clueless on the truth or accuracy of that claim and not going to investigate it, but French living conditions were definitely different than American ones, with a significantly different diet. Most people and cultures today are significantly thinner than Americans are and in the 1940s the French had suffered years of near starvation conditions, so they were likely overall less bulky than Americans in every manner.  A 20 year old French woman in 1945 had lived her teen years in starvation conditions and had been on pretty thing rations throughout the 1930s.  She would have been smaller in every way.

Also, French clothing had been severely rationed during the Second World War and you can't wear clothes you just don't have.  Americans have largely forgotten, indeed never appreciated, the extent to which World War Two causes massive food and material deficits during the Second World War.

Added to that, Americans for some reason think of the French as being Parisians, which most are not.  Paris had been the center of the fashion industry since at least the mid 19th Century, but that didn't apply to most of the French.  About 50% of the French were rural in 1940, down from 64% in 1920, but still a very large percentage.  As late as 1960 about 40% of the French were rural.

This oddly ties into this topic as rural life isn't like urban life, including in terms of the clothing people wear.  Starting in the late 19th Century French and British artists began to glamorize the agrarian life and left a fair number of romantic, but fairly realistic, paintings of it.  Some British paintings of rural life show farm women working fields in the hot summer months flat out topless, something you would not associate with either the UK or British farming today.  French paintings can be a shock to run across while as they're often very well done and beautiful, they also make it relatively apparent that French farm women in hot months were wearing light cotton blouses with nothing underneath them.

European agriculture was much slower to mechanize than American agriculture.  The Great Depression had an enormous retarding effect on the mechanization of American agriculture and this is even more so for European agriculture, which remained largely equine or bovine powered before the end of World War Two, another thing contributing to starvation as horses were conscripted for the German Army and cows and bulls just shot and ate them.  Here, however, this is significant as French men and women were working the fields largely in the same way as they had in 1918.

Brassiers are actually a French invention, makign their appearance in the 1880s, as we've discussed before, and they received a boost due to World War One, as we addressed here:

As early as the 1880s, a French women involved in fashion had introduced the brassier, a total alternative for the corset.  It was not widely accepted, but due to World War One it was soon to be.

At the Great War in 1914 nearly every woman would have owned corsets.  By that time, the majority of them would have had one the less restrictive type.  And then the war came.

Women employed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1917.  All of the clothing here, except for the women who appear to be employed as domestics by the railroad, would have been highly problematic for their occupations.  They're wearing, it might be noted, a lot of loose clothing, which is likely in part due to their bulky undergarments.

As we've already noted, World War One pulled thousands of women into work they weren't already doing.  A fair amount of that work was industrial.  Lots of women went to work everyday wearing corsets of the less restrictive type, but all corsets were singularly unsuitable for the work that thousands of women were doing.  The bra was.  Not insignificantly, Crossley patented her brassier on November 13, 1914.

New York National Guard bandsman Edwardina Lavoie, 1917.  This photograph demonstrates a woman wearing what is likely a male uniform which would have required a least a partial change in the development of ladies' undergarments in the form of more modern underpants, another thing that was coming in at this time.  No wearing bloomers with breeches.

As noted, things don't change overnight.  So, maybe, young women coming of age in Paris in the 1940s who had an okay income or who had parents who did, might have a more advanced clothing standard then, say, a young woman growing up in rural Normandy, even if that young woman had moved into Paris during the war. 

And, shall we noted this, in 1914-1918 Americans had been absolutely charmed by the French, and American men had been charmed by French women.  But those men were largely rural and they were meeting women who were largely rural.  In 1918, 20% of American homes had full indoor plumbing, meaning most did not. By World War Two most Americans homes did, although quite a few very rural ones did not.  Most Americans were no longer rural by 1945.  

In 1940 only 5% of French homes had indoor plumbing.  The percentage for Italy was lower.

5%.  

Perhaps not too surprisingly, therefore, lots of American troops were fairly horrified by the French, contrary to the way we like to remember it, when they started landing on French soil in 1944.  The French, to put it mildly, smelled.  And if the French smelled, the Italians smelled worse, with Italian women wearing cotton dresses in hot weather in which their upper lady bits flopped out, combined with omitting shoes and going around in bare feet.  They were hopelessly primitive, in American eyes (which as noted is how the Germans found the Yugoslavians).

Anyhow, if you don't have indoor plumbing, you aren't going to be able to easily frequently wash your clothes and if you can omit something, you probably are going to.

Additionally, if you live in those conditions, and those of the 30s and early 40s, you are probably 40% underweight, smoke cigarettes constantly, have a large percentage of your caloric intake depending on alcohol, and you smell bad.

That's okay if everyone you associate with also is underweight and unwashed.

Things weren't like imagine them to be back then.  Glamorous French women? Sure, on their own terms in the conditions in which they found themselves.

Life today is now a sort of special issue magazine featuring photographs.  It's very large size format always existed, but it was originally a weekly and was so until 1972.  It's big competitor was Look, which ceased publication in 1971.  That both of these magazines took a hit in the early 1970s is really interesting is at long predates the Internet, which would otherwise be blamed for it.

Anyhow, Life was always a photo magazine, of which there were several others.  It was a serious one, but right from its onset in 1936 (interesting to note it came out during the Great Depression) it frequently featured cheesecake, running racy photographs of actresses and semi undressed women on the guise of discussing clothing or fashion.  Some of the photographs even today are shocking if you are not anticipating them.  In 1953 it went full pornography for the first time running a nude of Marilyn Monroe which would be the same photograph used as the very first Playboy centerfold in 1953.  The excuse, and probably the actual motivation, for that is that by doing that it was attempting to save the career of Monroe, who would be scandalized if her nude, taken in the late 1940s before she was a well known and up and coming actress, appeared first in a pornographic magazine, but still there's the only difference between the two publications of the image is the purpose the magazines served.

Anyhow, this is interesting in that Life and Look were general publication magazines that were outright flirting with cheesecake very early on, showing an (unfortunate) evolution on community standards.  We've looked at this in the past, but this is certainly good evidence that whatever was going on in the culture was going on before World War Two and before the 1950s.

The Allied Control Commission decided to transmit to all neutral states a request for the return to Germany of "all German officials and obnoxious Germans".

Sweden resumed allowing foreign warships to enter its territorial waters.

MacArthur ordered the dissolution of the Imperial general headquarters and imposed censorship on the press.

The Shangdang Campaign began in the Chinese Civil War between the Eighth Route Army and Kuomintang troops led by Yan Xishan in what is now Shanxi Province, China.

The Indonesian Navy was founded.

The USS Midway was Commissioned

José Feliciano was born in Lares, Puerto Rico.

Related threads:

Clothing: It was because of World War One.

Labels: 1910s, Clothing, It was because of World War One, It was because of World War Two, Men, Standards, The roles of men and women, Women, World War One, World War Two, Yeoman's Fourth Law of History

Last edition:

Friday, September 7, 1945. Green River Railroad Bridge Fire. A final and unnoticed parade.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Armor, Douglas MacArthur, Harry S. Truman, It was because of World War Two, Japan, Railroads, The Post War Economy Myth, Transportation, Union Pacific Railroad, World War Two, Wyoming (Green River)

Saturday, September 1, 1945. Truman addresses the nation. This Land is Your Land.

Truman addressed the nation by radio.

The thoughts and hopes of all America—indeed of all the civilized world—are centered tonight on the battleship Missouri. There on that small piece of American soil anchored in Tokyo Harbor the Japanese have just officially laid down their arms. They have signed terms of unconditional surrender.

Four years ago, the thoughts and fears of the whole civilized world were centered on another piece of American soil—Pearl Harbor. The mighty threat to civilization which began there is now laid at rest. It was a long road to Tokyo—and a bloody one.

We shall not forget Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese militarists will not forget the U.S.S. Missouri.

The evil done by the Japanese war lords can never be repaired or forgotten. But their power to destroy and kill has been taken from them. Their armies and what is left of their Navy are now impotent.

To all of us there comes first a sense of gratitude to Almighty God who sustained us and our Allies in the dark days of grave danger, who made us to grow from weakness into the strongest fighting force in history, and who has now seen us overcome the forces of tyranny that sought to destroy His civilization.

God grant that in our pride of the hour, we may not forget the hard tasks that are still before us; that we may approach these with the same courage, zeal, and patience with which we faced the trials and problems of the past four years.

Our first thoughts, of course—thoughts of gratefulness and deep obligation—go out to those of our loved ones who have been killed or maimed in this terrible war. On land and sea and in the air, American men and women have given their lives so that this day of ultimate victory might come and assure the survival of a civilized world. No victory can make good their loss.

We think of those whom death in this war has hurt, taking from them fathers, husbands, sons, brothers, and sisters whom they loved. No victory can bring back the faces they longed to see.

Only the knowledge that the victory, which these sacrifices have made possible, will be wisely used, can give them any comfort. It is our responsibility—ours, the living—to see to it that this victory shall be a monument worthy of the dead who died to win it.

We think of all the millions of men and women in our armed forces and merchant marine all over the world who, after years of sacrifice and hardship and peril, have been spared by Providence from harm.

We think of all the men and women and children who during these years have carried on at home, in lonesomeness and anxiety and fear.

Our thoughts go out to the millions of American workers and businessmen, to our farmers and miners—to all those who have built up this country's fighting strength, and who have shipped to our Allies the means to resist and overcome the enemy.

Our thoughts go out to our civil servants and to the thousands of Americans who, at personal sacrifice, have come to serve in our Government during these trying years; to the members of the Selective Service boards and ration boards; to the civilian defense and Red Cross workers; to the men and women in the USO and in the entertainment world—to all those who have helped in this cooperative struggle to preserve liberty and decency in the world.

We think of our departed gallant leader, Franklin D. Roosevelt, defender of democracy, architect of world peace and cooperation.

And our thoughts go out to our gallant Allies in this war: to those who resisted the invaders; to those who were not strong enough to hold out, but who, nevertheless, kept the fires of resistance alive within the souls of their people; to those who stood up against great odds and held the line, until the United Nations together were able to supply the arms and the men with which to overcome the forces of evil.

This is a victory of more than arms alone. This is a victory of liberty over tyranny.

From our war plants rolled the tanks and planes which blasted their way to the heart of our enemies; from our shipyards sprang the ships which bridged all the oceans of the world for our weapons and supplies; from our farms came the food and fiber for our armies and navies and for our Allies in all the corners of the earth; from our mines and factories came the raw materials and the finished products which gave us the equipment to overcome our enemies.

But back of it all were the will and spirit and determination of a free people—who know what freedom is, and who know that it is worth whatever price they had to pay to preserve it.

It was the spirit of liberty which gave us our armed strength and which made our men invincible in battle. We now know that that spirit of liberty, the freedom of the individual, and the personal dignity of man, are the strongest and toughest and most enduring forces in all the world.

And so on V-J Day we take renewed faith and pride in our own way of life. We have had our day of rejoicing over this victory. We have had our day of prayer and devotion. Now let us set aside V-J Day as one of renewed consecration to the principles which have made us the strongest nation on earth and which, in this war, we have striven so mightily to preserve.

Those principles provide the faith, the hope, and the opportunity which help men to improve themselves and their lot. Liberty does not make all men perfect nor all society secure. But it has provided more solid progress and happiness and decency for more people than any other philosophy of government in history. And this day has shown again that it provides the greatest strength and the greatest power which man has ever reached.

We know that under it we can meet the hard problems of peace which have come upon us. A free people with free Allies, who can develop an atomic bomb, can use the same skill and energy and determination to overcome all the difficulties ahead.

Victory always has its burdens and its responsibilities as well as its rejoicing.

But we face the future and all its dangers with great confidence and great hope. America can build for itself a future of employment and security. Together with the United Nations, it can build a world of peace rounded on justice, fair dealing, and tolerance.

As President of the United States, I proclaim Sunday, September the second, 1945, to be V-J Day—the day of formal surrender by Japan. It is not yet the day for the formal proclamation of the end of the war nor of the cessation of hostilities. But it is a day which we Americans shall always remember as a day of retribution—as we remember that other day, the day of infamy.

From this day we move forward. We move toward a new era of security at home. With the other United Nations we move toward a new and better world of cooperation, of peace and international good will and cooperation.

God's help has brought us to this day of victory. With His help we will attain that peace and prosperity for ourselves and all the world in the years ahead.

The speech, set out above, declared September 2 VJ Day, the third such day to claim that title. 

The War Department issues a report regarding an anticipated world wide coal shortage.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—September 1, 1940 & 1945: US soldiers liberate two civilian internment camps in the Tokyo area. US ends military rule in the Philippines and turns over civil administration to President Sergio Osmeña. Britain reduces clothing ration to 3 coupons pe

Military rule in the Philippine government ended.

A temporary government was established by the British in Hong Kong.

The Xinghua Campaign ended in communist victory in China and the Battle of Dazhongji began.

The lyrics to This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie were published.  The song had been written in 1940, but not released.  The recording would not be released until 1953.

In my view, it's one of the greatest American folk songs.

Last edition:

Friday, August 31, 1945. New dances.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Diplomacy, Finland, Japan, Marcus Island, Music, Occupation of Japan, Rock Music, United States, USSR, World War Two

Saturday, June 16, 1945. Oppenheimer writes a letter. Bell Bottom Trousers hits the charts. Belgians debate the return of a king. Sugar for canning.

See below.

Oppenheimer and his committee wrote a letter:

Mount Yuza was captured on Okinawa.

"Soldiers of the 32nd Regt., 7th Inf. Div., advancing to Hill 115 against moderate resistance. 16 June, 1945. 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division."  Okinawa. Note the infantryman reloading his M1 Garand and the two BARs in the photograph.  Both of the BARs have had their bipods removed.  One of the automatic rifleman is holding his BAR sideways.

"A flame throwing tank of 96th Division burns out Japs hiding in holes along sunken road on bitterly contested “big apple” ridge, Okinawa. 16 June, 1945."

This was also noted by Sarah Sundin, who also noted an interesting musical item:

Today in World War II History—June 16, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—June 16, 1945: US Tenth Army takes Yuza-Dake Hill on Okinawa. “Bell Bottom Trousers” becomes final military-themed song to hit US charts in WWII.

Lots of versions of this song were recorded in 1945, and all in close proximity. The one above is the one that hit the charts on this date.

Here's another version, same year. 

 

The song was actually originally a bawdy sailors song, and it had been rewritten by Moe Jaffe for a modern audience in a form that' was recordable.  His lyrics went:

Once there was a little girl who lived next to me

And she loved a sailor boy, he was only three

Now he's on a battleship in his sailor suit

Just a great big sailor, but she thinks he's very cute

(With his bell bottom trousers, coat of navy blue)

(She loves her sailor and he loves her too)

When her sailor boy's away on the ocean blue

Soldier boys all flirt with her, but to him she's true

Though they smile and tip their caps, and they wink their eyes

She just smiles and shakes her head, then she softly sighs

(Oh, bell bottom trousers, coat of navy blue)

(She loves her sailor and he loves her too)

Then her sailor went to sea to see what he could see

She saw that he ate spinach, now he's big as he can be

When he's home they stroll along, they don't give a hoot

She won't let go of his hand, even to salute

If her sailor she can't find on the bounding main

She is hopeful he will soon come home safe again

So they can get married and raise a family

Dress up all their kiddies in sailor's dungarees

(Oh, bell bottom trousers, coat of navy blue)

(She loves her sailor and he loves her too)

The song was hugely popular (I can recall my mother singing it), and was recorded five times in 1945.  Interestingly, the last recording, in February 1945,  by Louis Prima recalled the more bawdy earlier version.

When I was a lady's maid down in Drury Lane

My mistress, she was good to me; my master was the same

Along came a sailor, happy as could be

And he was the cause of all my misery

With his bell bottom trousers, coat of navy blue

(She loved her sailor and he loved her too)

He asked me for a candle to light him up to bed

He asked me for a kerchief to tie around his head

And I, like a silly girl, thinking it no harm

 

Lay down beside him, just to keep him warm

With his bell bottom trousers, coat of navy blue

(She loved her sailor and he loved her too)

(Trumpet Solo)

Early in the mornin', before the break of day

A sawbuck note he left for me before he went away

And he wrote a message that if I have a son

Let him be a sailor if he wants to have some fun

With his bell bottom trousers, coat of navy blue

(She loved her sailor and he loved her too)

(Saxophone Solo)

LOUIS:

If it is a daughter, bounce her on your knee

And if it is a boy, send the begger out to sea

Singin' bell bottom trousers, coat of navy blue

Oh, he'll climb the riggin', like the sailors used to do

LILYANN:

If my sailor I can't find on the bounding main

I am hopeful he will soon come home safe again

So we can get married, and raise a family

Dress up all our kiddies in sailor's dungarees

The original song was Rosemary Lane, and English song from the early 1800s.  It went:

When I was in service in Rosemary Lane

I won the goodwill of my master and did I

Till a sailor came there one night to lay

And that was the beginning of my misery 

He called for a candle to light him to bed

And likewise a silk handkerchief to tie up his head

To tie up his head as sailors will do

And he said my pretty Polly will you come too 

Now this maid being young and foolish she thought it no harm

For to lie into bed to keep herself warm

And what was done there I will never disclose

But I wish that short night had been seven long years 

Next morning this sailor so early arose

And into my apron three guineas did throw

Saying take this I will give and more I will do

If you'll be my Polly wherever I go 

Now if it's a boy he will fight for the king

And if it's a girl she will wear a gold ring

She will wear a gold ring and a dress all aflame

And remember my service in Rosemary Lane 

When I was in service in Rosemary Lane

I won the goodwill of my master and did I

Till a sailor came there one night to lay

And that was the beginning of my misery

The 10th Mountain Division adopted the song during the war for their own fighting song, and produced these lyrics:

I was a barmaid in a mountain inn;

There I learned the wages and miseries of sin;

Along came a skier fresh from off the slopes;

He’s the one that ruined me and shattered all my hopes.

Singing:

[Chorus:]

Ninety pounds of rucksack

A pound of grub or two

He’ll schuss the mountain,

Like his daddy used to do.

He asked me for a candle to light his way to bed;

He asked me for a kerchief to tie around his head;

And I a foolish maiden, thinking it no harm;

Jumped into the skier’s bed to keep the skier warm..

Singing:

[Chorus]

Early in the morning before the break of day,

He handed me a five note and these words did say,

“Take this my darling for the damage I have done.

You may have a daughter, you may have a son.

Now if you have a daughter, bounce her on your knee;

But if you have a son, send the young man out to ski.”

Singing:

[Chorus]

The moral of this story, as you can plainly see,

Is never trust a skier an inch above your knee.

For I trusted one and now look at me;

I’ve got a bastard in the Mountain Infantry.

Singing:

The USS Twiggs was sunk by a kamikaze attack.

Poster from this date.  The impressive thing is how much territory the Japanese were still holding, and tenaciously.

Belgian Premier Achille van Acker and his cabinet resign in protest against the contemplated return of King Leopold III from Germany, where he'd been taken by the Germans at the end of the war.

Today In Wyoming's History: June 16: 1945  Sugar once again allowed, on a restricted basis, for home canning in the US.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Belgian Premier Achille van Acker and his cabinet resign in protest against the contemplated return of King Leopold III from Germany, where he'd been taken by the Germans at the end of the war.

Former Hungarian Prime Minister Béla Imrédy was arrested by American troops.

Col. Gen. Nikolai Erastovich Berzarin, commander of the troops in Berlin, died in a motorcycle accident.  He was 41.

Denounced radical Communist Greek guerilla leader Aris Velouchiotis  committed suicide rather than surrender.  He was 39.

Polynesian won the Preakness.

Last edition:

Friday, June 15, 1945. Infantry Day.

Labels: 1660s, 1670s, 1930s, 1935, 1940s, 1945, 1945 at the movies, 1950s, 1953, Aircraft, Battle of Bessang Pass, Cavalier Parliament, Infantry, Korea War, Movies, Philippines, U.S. Air Force, United Kingdom, Wyoming

Tuesday, May 22, 1945. Operation Unthinkable.

  

It was a Churchill ordered study for a war against the Soviet Union, in aid of Poland, coming right after World War Two.

Unthinkable in deed, it likely would have been a massive failure. By 1945 the Western Allies were fatigued and the concept that "moral remained high" was assuming a lot. The American public, which had been lead to believe that the Soviets were more or less like us, just misunderstood, would not have tolerated a war against the USSR.  Indeed, the American public largely ignored the Soviets until the Berlin Blockade, which came as a shock. The British public was so sick of things that Churchill lost power on July 5, 1945.  The Labour Party had withdrawn support for the coalition government which Churchill governed the day prior.

OPERATION UNTHINKABLE

REPORT BY THE JOINT PLANNING STAFF

We have examined Operation Unthinkable. As instructed, we have taken the following assumptions on which to base our examination:

The undertaking has the full support of public opinion in the British Empire and the United States and consequently, the morale of British and American troops continues high.

Great Britain and the United States have full assistance from the Polish armed forces and can count upon the use of German manpower and what remains of German industrial capacity.

No credit is taken for assistance from the forces of the other Western Powers, although any bases in their territory, or other facilities which may be required, are made available

Russia allies herself with Japan.

The date for the opening of hostilities is 1st July, 1945.

Redeployment and release schemes continue till 1st July and then stop.

Owing to the special need for secrecy, the normal staff in Service Ministries have not been consulted.

OBJECT

The overall or political object is to impose upon Russia the will of the United States and British Empire.

Even though ‘the will’ of these two countries may be defined as no more than a square deal for Poland, that does not necessarily limit the military commitment. A quick success might induce the Russians to submit to our will at least for the time being; but it might not. That is for the Russians to decide. If they want total war, they are in a position to have it.

The only way we can achieve our object with certainty and lasting results is by victory in a total war but in view of what we have said in paragraph 2 above, on the possibility of quick success, we have thought it right to consider the problem on two hypotheses:-

That a total war is necessary, and on this hypothesis we have examined our chances of success.

That the political appreciation is that a quick success would suffice to gain our political object and that the continuing commitment need not concern us.

TOTAL WAR

Apart from the chances of revolution in the USSR and the political collapse of the present regime – on which we are not competent to express an opinion – the elimination of Russia could only be achieved as a result of:

the occupation of such areas of metropolitan Russia that the war making capacity of the country would be reduced to a point at which further resistance became impossible.

Such a decisive defeat of the Russian forces in the field as to render it impossible for the USSR to continue the war.

Occupation of Vital Areas of Russia

The situation might develop in such a way that Russians succeeded in withdrawing without suffering a decisive defeat. They would then presumably adopt the tactics which they had employed so successfully against the Germans and in previous wars of making use of the immense distances with which their territory provides them. In 1941 the Germans reached the Moscow area, the Volga and the Caucasus, but the technique of factory evacuation, combined with the development of new resources and Allied assistance, enabled the U.S.S.R. to continued fighting.

There was virtually no limit to the distance to which it would be necessary for the Allies to penetrate into Russia in order to render further resistance impossible. It is far as, or as quickly as, the Germans in 1942 and this penetration no decisive result.

Decisive Defeat of the Russian Forces

Details of the present strengths and dispositions of the Russian and Allied forces are given in Annexes II and III and illustrated maps A and B. The existing balance of strength in Central Europe, where the Russians enjoy a superiority of approximately three to one, makes it most unlikely that the Allies could achieve a complete and decisive victory in that area in present circumstances. Although Allied organisation is better, equipment slightly better and morale higher, the Russians have proved themselves formidable opponents of the Germans. They have competent commanders, adequate equipment and an organisation which though possibly inferior by our standards, has stood the test. On the other hand, only about one third of their divisions are of a high standard, the others being considerably inferior and with overall mobility well below that of the Allies.

To achieve the decisive defeat of Russia in a total war would require, in particular, the mobilisation of manpower to counteract their present enormous manpower resources. This is a very long term project and would involve:-

The deployment in Europe of a large proportion of the vast resources of the United States.

The re-equipment and re-organisation of German manpower and of all the Western Allies.

 Conclusions

We conclude that:-

That if our political object is to be achieved with any certainty and with lasting results, the defeat of Russia in a total war will be necessary.

The result of a total war with Russia is not possible to forecast, but the one thing certain is that to win it would take us a very long time.

QUICK SUCCESS

It might, however, be considered, as result of a political appreciation, that a quick and limited military success would result in Russia accepting out terms.

Before a decision to open hostilities were made, full account would have to taken of the following:-

If this appreciation is wrong and the attainment of whatever limited objective we may set ourselves does not cause Russia to submit to our terms, we may, in fact, be committed to a total war.

It will not be possible to limit hostilities to any particular area. While we are in progress, therefore, we must envisage a world-wide struggle.

Even if all goes according to plan, we shall not have achieved, from the military point of view, a lasting result. The military power of Russia will not be broken and it will be open to her to recommence the conflict at any time she sees fit.

Assuming, however, that it is decided to risk military action on a limited basis, accepting the dangers set out above, we have examined what action we could take in order to inflict such a blow upon the Russians as would cause them to accept our terms, even though they would not have been decisively defeated and, from the military point of view, would still be capable of continuing the struggle.

Churchill had a penchant for such things.  While he was correct about the dangers the USSR posed, fanciful planning was something he had a taste for, and not always wise fanciful planning.

The Battle of the Hongorai River in New Guinea ended in Australian victory.

The UK cut rations of bacon, cooking fats and soaps in recognition of the distressed condition of Europe.  POWs would also receive ration cuts.

President Truman reports to Congress on the Lend-Lease program as of March, 1945.  The UK had received supplies worth $12,775,000,000 and the USSR $8,409,000,000. 

Reverse Lend-Lease from the UK had amounted to about$5,000,000,000 in the same period.  The existence of Reverse Lend Lease is typically ignored.  The UK, it should be noted, also supplied materials to the Soviet Union.

US forces entered Yonabaru, Okinawa and captured Conical Hill.

Lucky Strike Green:

22 May 1948

Last edition:

Monday, May 21, 1945. British government falls apart, French mandates want out, Himmler arrested.

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