Thursday, January 27, 1944. Siege of Leningrad declared over.

On this day, the Soviets announced the end of the Siege of Leningrad.

Tenuous ground communication with the city had happened prior, but now the relief was solid, and the two year, four months, and five day siege was broken.

The battle was one of the most horrific in human history.

The 34th Infantry Division captured Monte Maiola and Caira.

The Marines expanded the Cape Gloucester beachhead on New Britain.

US defensive position on Bougainville, January 27, 1944.

The governments of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States protested Japan's treatment of POW's setting the ground for war crime prosecution.

Anglican Peter Jasper Akinola was born in Nigeria.  He would rise to the position of Anglican Primate for Nigeria, and while he was a Low Church Anglican, he was staunch in his opposition to Anglican accommodations to homosexuality.  He is retired.

Friday, January 21, 1944. Embarking for Anzio.

The invasion force for Anzio departed from Naples.

Naples harbor, January 21, 1944.

The Luftwaffe commenced Operation Steinbock, the nighttime strategic bombing of targets in southern Britain.  

The first night was not a success.  Only 96 of the aircraft made it to their targets.

Operations would continue into May, but the drain on the Luftwaffe actually made the operation a net loss.

The RAF bombed Magdeburg the same night.

The Red Army took Mga near Leningrad.

The Japanese put don the Jesselton Revolt in Borneo

Patrol on Bougainville.

 Task Force 58.4 on their way to aid in invasion of the Marshall Islands.

Tuesday, January 18, 1944. The Seige of Leningrad broken.

B-17s over Linz, Austria, January 18, 1944.

The 900-day siege of Leningrad was broken by the Red Army, but only thinly.

The 3d Panzer Army repulsed the Red Army at Vitebsk, Belarus.

The British 5th and 56th Divisions were firmly across the Garigliano.  The Germans begin to move reinforcements in from Anzio.

British General Kenneth Anderson was relieved of command of the British Second Army.  He had fallen out of favor some time ago with Alexander and Montgomery.  Lt. Gen. Miles Dempsey took over.

U.S. railroads return to their private owners' control.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—January 18, 1944: 80 Years Ago—Jan. 18, 1944: US Fourth War Loan Drive begins, runs through February 15; sales made in pharmacies are designated for C-47 ambulance planes.

Billie Holiday performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in Esquire's first jazz festival. 

Monday, January 17, 1944. The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.

U.S. forward observer operating in support of British forces at Monte Cassino, January 17, 1944.

The British 56th and 5th Divisions attack at Monte Cassino, forcing a crossing of the Garigliano.  The German 29th and 90th Panzergrenadier Divisions were redeployed from the Rome as reinforcements.

The Red Army took Slavuta.

The Soviet Union rejected negotiations with the Polish Government In Exile over the Polish border.

While it was not really occurring, the Polish Home Army ordered Polish partisans not to cooperate with the Germans in attacking Soviet partisans operating in Poland.  Given the extreme repression by the Germans in Poland, there was little reason to fear that would occur.

Pravda reported a falsehood that British and German representatives had met on the Iberian Peninsula to discuss a separate peace.  The British Foreign Officer immediately denied the rumor.

Slovene partisans attack the Germans at Paški Kozjak.

The U-305 was lost in the Atlantic.

Australia began rationing meat.

Saturday, January 15, 1944. The San Juan Earthquake.

Proving that natural disasters do not take time out for war, the San Juan earthquake in Argentina killed 10,000 people and left 1/3d of San Juan's province's residents homeless.

Injured housed outdoors due to collapse of hospital.

The II Corps captured Monte Trecchio.  Part of the offensive operations resulting in the capture were designed as a diversion for upcoming landings at Anzio.

Heavy fighting occurs north and sought of Leningrad as the Red Army begins to reverse a 900 day siege.

Australian forces on the Huon Peninsula of New Guinea take Sio.

Swordfish bill imbedded in a 2’ piece of sub-chaser hull.  January 15, 1944.

The U-377 disappeared, probably sunk by the HMS Wanderer on January 17.

Actress Irene Dunne christened the SS Carole Lombard as Clark Gable, back from Army Air Force service, and Louis B. Mayer looked on. She was honored with the name, posthumously, due to her record-breaking war bond work prior to her tragic death.

Stars and Stripes, January 15, 1944.

Friday, January 14, 1944. Relieving Leningrad.

The Leningrad-Novgorod Offensive commences with the aim of lifting the siege of Leningrad.  The Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha offensive also commenced.

Red Army sniper and Kazakh Aliya Nurmuhametqyzy Moldagulova (Russian Алия Нурмухамбетовна Молдагулова, Kazakh: Әлия Нұрмұхамедқызы Молдағұлова/Äliia Nūrmūhamedqyzy Moldağūlova) was killed in action.

The Polish Government In Exile again refused to accept unilateral decisions regarding Polish territory but said it was approaching the British and American governments to mediate questions between Poland and the USSR and that it was optimistic regarding resolutions.

The Red Army took Mozyr and Kalinkovichi.

The Japanese destroyer Sazanami was sun by the submarine USS Albacore off of Yap.

T/4 Clarence Benson of the 272nd QM Bakery on Kiska. 14 January, 1944.

Railroad unions accepted a proposal put forth by the Administration.

Sarah Sundin's blog has a bunch of interesting ones, including this:

Today in World War II History—January 14, 1944: 80 Years Ago—Jan. 14, 1944: US Navy Seabees in camps in US get a sneak preview of John Wayne’s movie The Fighting Seabees.

She also noted that Gen. Eisenhower arrived in London, and that interned Japanese Americans became liable for conscription. 

Thursday, January 13, 1944. Chinese hold at Tarung.

A patrol from the Wiltshire Regt., British X Corps, tries to draw fire from a German MG nest. 13 January, 1944.  The soldier in front is carrying an Italian Model 38 submachine gun, the one in the rear a Thompson submachine gun.  This is the second photo I've seen of a British soldier carrying a captured Model 38.

Today in World War II History—January 13, 1944: Germans make large-scale arrests of Danish resistance members. Chinese gain control of Tarung River line, driving back the Japanese in the Hukawng Valley .

Sarah Sundin's blog.

The Red Army took Korets.  Part of pre-war Poland, it had been a small Jewish city.  It is now in Ukraine.

The director of the United States Typhus Commission warned that Naples and southern Italy were seriously threatened by the disease.

The U-231 was sunk by a Vickers Wellington off of the Azores.

Wednesday, January 12, 1944. Churchill and De Gaulle meet.

Bombing of Japanese merchant ships at Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands by VB-108, January 12, 1944. 

De Gaulle and Churchill met in Marrakesh.

The US Army's 34th Infantry Division took Cervaro.

The Red Army's 13th Army took Sarny, then properly a part of Poland.

Seventy-four members of the Solf Circle, a group of anti-Nazi intellectuals, were arrested.

Monday, January 10, 1944. The Verona Executions.

WACs march down the gangplank of transport at a North African port. Army trucks wait to take them to a nearby transit camp. 10 January, 1944.

The Verona Trial ended with the conviction of all six present defendants, with five sentenced to death.  Tullio Cianetti was spared that penalty, and instead received a 30-year sentence, after writing a letter of apology to Mussolini.

Following the war, he went into exile in Portuguese Mozambique.  He died in Mozambique, which became independent in 1975, in 1976.

The Red Army took Lyudvipol which had been within pre-war Poland.

The British took Maungdaw in Burma.

1944  A United States Army Air Force plane crashed near Cheyenne, killing the pilot. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Sunday, January 9, 1944. Advances on all fronts.

Red Cross helping men at 5th Army rest center prepare packages for sending home. 9 January, 1944.

The Red Army took Polonne and Kamianets-Podilskyi.

Polonne had been within Poland until the Russo Polish War, when it went to the Soviets in 1920.  It had a major Jewish population before World War Two.  Kamianets-Podilskyi had also been part of the post World War One Polish state until 1920.

The U-81 was sunk at Pola Italy by American aircraft.

The US 2nd Corps attacked Cervaro and Monte Trochio in Italy.

The US constructed a second airfield on Bougainville.

Pvt. R. Dennis, 182nd Infantry, Americal Division, Bougainville, January 9, 1944.

Allied forces took Maungdaw in Burma.

Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame was born on this day in 1944.

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.

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.

Monday January 3, 1944. The Turner Explosion.

George C. Marshall was Time's Man Of The Year.

The USS Turner suffered a series of internal explosions while in harbor off of the Ambrose Light in New York.  138 of the 256-man crew died during the incident.  A Coast Guard Sikorsky HNS-1 flown by Lieutenant Commander Frank A. Erickson flew two cases of blood plasma, lashed to the helicopter's floats, from New York to Sandy Hook, saving many of the injured crewman, and providing the first incident of a helicopter used in that fashion.

Commander Frank A. Erickson, USCG and Dr. Igor Sikorsky, Sikorsky Helicopter HNS-1.  The HNS-1 had been in service for slightly under a year at this time.

Gregory "Pappy" Boyington was shot down and became a Prisoner of War of the Japanese.

The Red Army took Olevsk, a mere ten miles from the pre-war Polish border. 

The Reichskanzlei was hit during an RAF raid on Berlin, which otherwise caused little damage but which resulted in the loss of 27 Lancasters.

William Tubman took office as the President of Liberia, which he would remain until 1971.

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.

Friday, December 24, 1943. The Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive and a Christmas Eve Address.

The Red Army commenced the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive.

Operations on the Eastern Front during the relevant time frame, including the offensive in the south.

The operation was very large scale, as everything in the East was by this time, involving around 2,400,000 Soviet personnel against around 900,000 Germans, 300,000 Hungarians and 150,000 Romanians.

In a Christmas Eve radio address, President Roosevelt delivered the news that Gen. Dwight Eisenhower would be in command of the Allied invasion of continental Europe, discounting of course that the Allies had already landed on continental Europe in Italy.  The overall "chat" stated:

My Friends:

I have recently (just) returned from extensive journeying in the region of the Mediterranean and as far as the borders of Russia. I have conferred with the leaders of Britain and Russia and China on military matters of the present --especially on plans for stepping-up our successful attack on our enemies as quickly as possible and from many different points of the compass.

On this Christmas Eve there are over ten million men in the armed forces of the United States alone. One year ago 1,700,000 were serving overseas. Today, this figure has been more than doubled to 3,800,000 on duty overseas. By next July first that number overseas will rise to over 5,000,000 men and women.

That this is truly a World War was demonstrated to me when arrangements were being made with our overseas broadcasting agencies for the time to speak today to our soldiers, and sailors, and marines and merchant seamen in every part of the world. In fixing the time for this (the) broadcast, we took into consideration that at this moment here in the United States, and in the Caribbean and on the Northeast Coast of South America, it is afternoon. In Alaska and in Hawaii and the mid-Pacific, it is still morning. In Iceland, in Great Britain, in North Africa, in Italy and the Middle East, it is now evening.

In the Southwest Pacific, in Australia, in China and Burma and India, it is already Christmas Day. So we can correctly say that at this moment, in those far eastern parts where Americans are fighting, today is tomorrow.

But everywhere throughout the world -- through(out) this war that (which) covers the world -- there is a special spirit that (which) has warmed our hearts since our earliest childhood -- a spirit that (which) brings us close to our homes, our families, our friends and neighbors -- the Christmas spirit of "peace on earth, goodwill toward men." It is an unquenchable spirit.

During the past years of international gangsterism and brutal aggression in Europe and in Asia, our Christmas celebrations have been darkened with apprehension for the future. We have said, "Merry Christmas -- a Happy New Year," but we have known in our hearts that the clouds which have hung over our world have prevented us from saying it with full sincerity and conviction.

And (But) even this year, we still have much to face in the way of further suffering, and sacrifice, and personal tragedy. Our men, who have been through the fierce battles in the Solomons, and the Gilberts, and Tunisia and Italy know, from their own experience and knowledge of modern war, that many bigger and costlier battles are still to be fought.

But -- on Christmas Eve this year -- I can say to you that at last we may look forward into the future with real , substantial confidence that, however great the cost, "peace on earth, good will toward men" can be and will be realized and ensured. This year I can say that. Last year I could not do more than express a hope. Today I express -- a certainty though the cost may be high and the time may be long.

Within the past year -- within the past few weeks -- history has been made, and it is far better history for the whole human race than any that we have known, or even dared to hope for, in these tragic times through which we pass.

A great beginning was made in the Moscow conference last (in) October by Mr. Molotov, Mr. Eden and our own Mr. Hull. There and then the way was paved for the later meetings.

At Cairo and Teheran we devoted ourselves not only to military matters, we devoted ourselves also to consideration of the future -- to plans for the kind of world which alone can justify all the sacrifices of this war.

Of course, as you all know, Mr. Churchill and I have happily met many times before, and we know and understand each other very well. Indeed, Mr. Churchill has become known and beloved by many millions of Americans, and the heartfelt prayers of all of us have been with this great citizen of the world in his recent serious illness.

The Cairo and Teheran conferences, however, gave me my first opportunity to meet the Generalissimo, Chiang Kai-shek, and Marshal Stalin -- and to sit down at the table with these unconquerable men and talk with them face to face. We had planned to talk to each other across the table at Cairo and Teheran; but we soon found that we were all on the same side of the table. We came to the conferences with faith in each other. But we needed the personal contact. And now we have supplemented faith with definite knowledge.

It was well worth traveling thousands of miles over land and sea to bring about this personal meeting, and to gain the heartening assurance that we are absolutely agreed with one another on all the major objectives -- and on the military means of obtaining them.

At Cairo, Prime Minister Churchill and I spent four days with the Generalissimo, Chiang Kai-shek. It was the first time that we had (had) an opportunity to go over the complex situation in the Far East with him personally. We were able not only to settle upon definite military strategy, but also to discuss certain long-range principles which we believe can assure peace in the Far East for many generations to come.

Those principles are as simple as they are fundamental. They involve the restoration of stolen property to its rightful owners, and the recognition of the rights of millions of people in the Far East to build up their own forms of self-government without molestation. Essential to all peace and security in the Pacific and in the rest of the world is the permanent elimination of the Empire of Japan as a potential force of aggression. Never again must our soldiers and sailors and marines -- and other soldiers, sailors and marines -- be compelled to fight from island to island as they are fighting so gallantly and so successfully today.

Increasingly powerful forces are now hammering at the Japanese at many points over an enormous arc which curves down through the Pacific from the Aleutians to the Jungles of Burma. Our own Army and Navy, our Air Forces, the Australians and New Zealanders, the Dutch, and the British land, air and sea forces are all forming a band of steel which is slowly but surely closing in on Japan.

And (On) the mainland of Asia, under the Generalissimo's leadership, the Chinese ground and air forces augmented by American air forces are playing a vital part in starting the drive which will push the invaders into the sea.

Following out the military decisions at Cairo, General Marshall has just flown around the world and has had conferences with General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz -- conferences which will spell plenty of bad news for the Japs in the not too far distant future.

I met in the Generalissimo a man of great vision, (and) great courage, and a remarkably keen understanding of the problems of today and tomorrow. We discussed all the manifold military plans for striking at Japan with decisive force from many directions, and I believe I can say that he returned to Chungking with the positive assurance of total victory over our common enemy. Today we and the Republic of China are closer together than ever before in deep friendship and in unity of purpose.

After the Cairo conference, Mr. Churchill and I went by airplane to Teheran. There we met with Marshal Stalin. We talked with complete frankness on every conceivable subject connected with the winning of the war and the establishment of a durable peace after the war.

Within three days of intense and consistently amicable discussions, we agreed on every point concerned with the launching of a gigantic attack upon Germany.

The Russian army will continue its stern offensives on Germany's Eastern front, the allied armies in Italy and Africa will bring relentless pressure on Germany from the south, and now the encirclement will be complete as great American and British forces attack from other points of the compass.

The Commander selected to lead the combined attack from these other points is General Dwight D. Eisenhower. His performances in Africa, in Sicily and in Italy have been brilliant. He knows by practical and successful experience the way to coordinate air, sea and land power. All of these will be under his control. Lieutenant General Carl (D.) Spaatz will command the entire American strategic bombing force operating against Germany.

General Eisenhower gives up his command in the Mediterranean to a British officer whose name is being announced by Mr. Churchill. We now pledge that new Commander that our powerful ground, sea and air forces in the vital Mediterranean area will stand by his side until every objective in that bitter theatre is attained.

Both of these new Commanders will have American and British subordinate Commanders whose names will be announced to the world in a few days.

During the last two days in (at) Teheran, Marshal Stalin, Mr. Churchill and I looked ahead -- ahead to the days and months and years that (which) will follow Germany's defeat. We were united in determination that Germany must be stripped of her military might and be given no opportunity within the foreseeable future to regain that might.

The United Nations have no intention to enslave the German people. We wish them to have a normal chance to develop, in peace, as useful and respectable members of the European family. But we most certainly emphasize that word "respectable" -- for we intend to rid them once and for all of Nazism and Prussian militarism and the fantastic and disastrous notion that they constitute the "Master Race."

We did discuss international relationships from the point of view of big, broad objectives, rather than details. But on the basis of what we did discuss, I can say even today that I do not think any insoluble differences will arise among Russia, Great Britain and the United States.

In these conferences we were concerned with basic principles -- principles which involve the security and the welfare and the standard of living or human beings in countries large and small.

To use an American and somewhat ungrammatical colloquialism, I may say that I "got along fine" with Marshal Stalin. He is a man who combines a tremendous, relentless determination with a stalwart good humor. I believe he is truly representative of the heart and soul of Russia; and I believe that we are going to get along very well with him and the Russian people -- very well indeed.

Britain, Russia, China and the United States and their Allies represent more than three-quarters of the total population of the earth. As long as these four nations with great military power stick together in determination to keep the peace there will be no possibility of an aggressor nation arising to start another world war.

But those four powers must be united with and cooperate with (all) the freedom-loving peoples of Europe, and Asia, and Africa and the Americas. The rights of every nation, large or small, must be respected and guarded as jealously as are the rights of every individual within our own republic.

The doctrine that the strong shall dominate the weak is the doctrine of our enemies -- and we reject it.

But, at the same time, we are agreed that if force is necessary to keep international peace, international force will be applied -- for as long as it may be necessary.

It has been our steady policy -- and it is certainly a common sense policy -- that the right of each nation to freedom must be measured by the willingness of that nation to fight for freedom. And today we salute our unseen Allies in occupied countries -- the underground resistance groups and the armies of liberation. They will provide potent forces against our enemies, when the day of the counter-invasion comes.

Through the development of science the world has become so much smaller that we have had to discard the geographical yardsticks of the past. For instance, through our early history the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were believed to be walls of safety for the United States. Time and distance made it physically possible, for example, for us and for the other American Republics to obtain and maintain (our) independence against infinitely stronger powers. Until recently very few people, even military experts, thought that the day would ever come when we might have to defend our Pacific Coast against Japanese threats of invasion.

At the outbreak of the first World War relatively few people thought that our ships and shipping would be menaced by German submarines on the high seas or that the German militarists would ever attempt to dominate any nation outside of central Europe.

After the Armistice in 1918, we thought and hoped that the militaristic philosophy of Germany had been crushed; and being full of the milk of human kindness we spent the next twenty (fifteen) years disarming, while the Germans whined so pathetically that the other nations permitted them -- and even helped them -- to rearm.

For too many years we lived on pious hopes that aggressor and warlike nations would learn and understand and carry out the doctrine of purely voluntary peace.

The well-intentioned but ill-fated experiments of former years did not work. It is my hope that we will not try them again. No -- that is putting it too weakly -- it is my intention to do all that I humanly can as President and Commander-in-Chief to see to it that these tragic mistakes shall not be made again.

There have always been cheerful idiots in this country who believed that there would be no more war for us, if everybody in America would only return into their homes and lock their front doors behind them. Assuming that their motives were of the highest, events have shown how unwilling they were to face the facts.

The overwhelming majority of all the people in the world want peace. Most of them are fighting for the attainment of peace -- not just a truce, not just an armistice -- but peace that is as strongly enforced and as durable as mortal man can make it. If we are willing to fight for peace now, is it not good logic that we should use force if necessary, in the future, to keep the peace?

I believe, and I think I can say, that the other three great nations who are fighting so magnificently to gain peace are in complete agreement that we must be prepared to keep the peace by force. If the people of Germany and Japan are made to realize thoroughly that the world is not going to let them break out again, it is possible, and, I hope, probable, that they will abandon the philosophy of aggression -- the belief that they can gain the whole world even at the risk of losing their own souls.

I shall have more to say about the Cairo and Teheran conferences when I make my report to the Congress in about two weeks' time. And, on that occasion, I shall also have a great deal to say about certain conditions here at home.

But today I wish to say that in all my travels, at home and abroad, it is the sight of our soldiers and sailors and their magnificent achievements which have given me the greatest inspiration and the greatest encouragement for the future.

To the members of our armed forces, to their wives, mothers and fathers, I want to affirm the great faith and confidence that we have in General Marshall and in Admiral King who direct all of our armed might throughout the world. Upon them falls the (great) responsibility of planning the strategy of determining (when and) where and when we shall fight. Both of these men have already gained high places in American history, places which will record in that history many evidences of their military genius that cannot be published today.

Some of our men overseas are now spending their third Christmas far from home. To them and to all others overseas or soon to go overseas, I can give assurance that it is the purpose of their Government to win this war and to bring them home at the earliest possible time (date).

(And) We here in the United States had better be sure that when our soldiers and sailors do come home they will find an America in which they are given full opportunities for education, and rehabilitation, social security, and employment and business enterprise under the free American system -- and that they will find a Government which, by their votes as American citizens, they have had a full share in electing.

The American people have had every reason to know that this is a tough and destructive war. On my trip abroad, I talked with many military men who had faced our enemies in the field. These hard-headed realists testify to the strength and skill and resourcefulness of the enemy generals and men whom we must beat before final victory is won. The war is now reaching the stage where we shall all have to look forward to large casualty lists -- dead, wounded and missing.

War entails just that. There is no easy road to victory. And the end is not yet in sight.

I have been back only for a week. It is fair that I should tell you my impression. I think I see a tendency in some of our people here to assume a quick ending of the war -- that we have already gained the victory. And, perhaps as a result of this false reasoning, I think I discern an effort to resume or even encourage an outbreak of partisan thinking and talking. I hope I am wrong. For, surely, our first and most foremost tasks are all concerned with winning the war and winning a just peace that will last for generations.

The massive offensives which are in the making both in Europe and the Far East -- will require every ounce of energy and fortitude that we and our Allies can summon on the fighting fronts and in all the workshops at home. As I have said before, you cannot order up a great attack on a Monday and demand that it be delivered on Saturday.

Less than a month ago I flew in a big Army transport plane over the little town of Bethlehem, in Palestine.

Tonight, on Christmas Eve, all men and women everywhere who love Christmas are thinking of that ancient town and of the star of faith that shone there more than nineteen centuries ago.

American boys are fighting today in snow-covered mountains, in malarial jungles, (and) on blazing deserts, they are fighting on the far stretches of the sea and above the clouds, and fighting for the thing for which they struggle.(,) I think it is best symbolized by the message that came out of Bethlehem.

On behalf of the American people -- your own people - I send this Christmas message to you, to you who are in our armed forces:

In our hearts are prayers for you and for all your comrades in arms who fight to rid the world of evil.

We ask God's blessing upon you -- upon your fathers, (and) mothers, and wives and children -- all your loved ones at home.

We ask that the comfort of God's grace shall be granted to those who are sick and wounded, and to those who are prisoners of war in the hands of the enemy, waiting for the day when they will again be free.

And we ask that God receive and cherish those who have given their lives, and that He keep them in honor and in the grateful memory of their countrymen forever.

God bless all of you who fight our battles on this Christmas Eve.

God bless us all. (God) Keep us strong in our faith that we fight for a better day for human kind -- here and everywhere.

The Battle of Hellzapoppin Ridge and Hill 600A, which had commenced on Bougainville on December 12, ended in a U.S. victory.

In the Solomon's, a U.S. Task force bombarded the Buka Island and the Japanese base at Buin on Bougainville.

The HMS Hurricane was damaged beyond repair by a torpedo fired by the U-415.  The U-645 was sunk by the USS Schenck.

Wednesday, December 22, 1943. Beatrix Potter, author and farmer.

Beatrix Potter, author of the Peter Rabbit books, died at age 77.

Potter was from a family that held extensive agricultural lands and was, in addition to being an author, a sheep farmer.  She married in 1914 over the disapproval of her family, as her husband, a country solicitor, was regarded as being beneath her status.  Never having had any children, she left most of her large landholdings to the National Trust.  Her husband, who died in 1945, left the balance of them to the National Trust.

Good people.

Some not so good people, including one Adolf Hitler issued a Führerbefehl creating the Nationalsozialistische Führungsoffiziere who were charged with getting German soldiers to believe in final victory, even if they were clueless on how that would come about.

Hmmm. . . .

On the same day the German government ordered that males down to 16 years of age register for conscription.

Hmmm. . . .

The Red Army completed its victory in the Second Battle of Kiev.

The German light cruiser Niobe was sunk off of Siba Yugoslavia by British torpedo boats.

Friday, December 10, 1923. Fathers no longer get a conscription pass.

President Roosevelt ended the long-running debate on conscription of men who had been fathers prior to December 7, 1941. Their exemption was ended on this date, effective tomorrow.

Largely forgotten now, the topic of whether fathers could be conscripted was termed the "Father Crisis" and drew sharp views on both sides.  It was a topic of a bill called the "Wheeler Bill" which attempted to write the exemption into law.  The bill exempted fathers who had been fathers prior to December 7, 1941, as noted.  The military had been heavily opposed to the parental deferment, as had Secretary of War Henry Stimson.

Up until this date, fatherhood had been a Class III-A exemption.  The exemption would be reestablished on November 15, 1945, during the brief period of immediate post-war conscription that the US retained.

Exemptions for dependency and occupation had already been eliminated n April, save for agricultural employment, so some element of it remained. Another one that remained was for hardship and dependency.

While exempting for parenthood may seem inherently unfair, and perhaps is in someways, this was still an era in which men were the principal breadwinners and society was geared in all sorts of ways towards keeping individual responsibilities intact, rather than passing them off on the public.

At this point, only the Army took conscripts, which is also where they were needed.  Members of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard were all volunteers.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Pandora,  December 10, 1943.

Tullio Tamburini, Chief of Police of the Italian Social Republic, exempted Italian Jews over 70 years old, or who were grievously ill, or who were married to a non Jew, from detention, allowing about 40% of the detained to temporarily return to their homes.

Tamburini would retain his office until April 1944, at which time he'd be dismissed by the Germans and then interned in Dachau in February 1945.  After the war, he immigrated to Argentina.

The Mediterranean Air Command was disbanded and reorganized as the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) with Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder as Air Commander-in-Chief.

The British 8th Army crossed the Moro.

Torokina airstrip.

American aircraft arrive at Cape Torokina, Bougainville.

The Red Army took Znamenka.

Monday, December 6, 1943. Niels Bohr relocates.

Today in World War II History—December 6, 1943: Danish Nobel Laureate physicist Niels Bohr, having escaped from Denmark by boat, arrives in New York; Bohr will meet with Manhattan Project scientists.

From Sarah Sundin's blog.

The Red Army cut the rail line to Smela.

The British captured Monte Camino.

It was being reported that the King of Yugoslavia had protested the creation of a new government in exile for his country, which he can hardly be blamed for.

Wednesday, November 10, 1943. Heroes and martyrs.

Catholic priests Johannes Prassek, Eduard Müller and Hermann Lange – and the Evangelical-Lutheran pastor Karl Friedrich Stellbrink were executed by Nazi Germany for treason.  Known as the Lübeck martyrs, they had not held their tongues on the Nazis, who were now becoming increasingly murderous towards internal dissent.

Soviet paratroopers dropped at Cherkasy, south of the Dniepr, and linked up with partisans, while the Red Army ferried tanks across the river.

We tend not to think much about Red Army paratroopers during the war, but in fact they made a significant number of drops.

The Red Army, supposedly a people's army, introduced two new military decorations. The Victory Order was for officers only. The Order of Glory for lower ranks.

Crash-landing of F6F-3, Number 30 of Fighting Squadron Two (VF-2), USS Enterprise, November 10, 1943.  Lt. Walter L. Chewning Jr., the catapult officer of the USS Enterprise, is seen leaping up on the burning blame to rescue the pilot, Ensign Bryon M. Johnson.  Johnson would receive hardly any injury.

Saturday, November 6, 1943. The Red Army retakes Kiev

Today in World War II History—November 6, 1943: Hitler names Field Marshal Albert Kesselring commander of all German forces in Italy. Submarine USS Pampanito is commissioned at Portsmouth Navy Yard, NH.

Sarah Sundin.

The Pampanito is now in San Francisco and may be toured.  Well worth doing.

The Red Army took Kiev.  Most of the German forces successfully withdrew and avoided capture.

The Greater East Asia Conference, a conference of Japan and its puppet states, concluded and issues a final declaration, which stated:

It is the basic principle for the establishment of world peace that the nations of the world have each its proper place, and enjoy prosperity in common through mutual aid and assistance.

The United States of America and the British Empire have in seeking their own prosperity oppressed other nations and peoples. Especially in East Asia, they indulged in insatiable aggression and exploitation, and sought to satisfy their inordinate ambition of enslaving the entire region, and finally they came to menace seriously the stability of East Asia. Herein lies the cause of the recent war. The countries of Greater East Asia, with a view to contributing to the cause of world peace, undertake to cooperate toward prosecuting the War of Greater East Asia to a successful conclusion, liberating their region from the yoke of British-American domination, and ensuring their self-existence and self-defense, and in constructing a Greater East Asia in accordance with the following principles:

The countries of Greater East Asia through mutual cooperation will ensure the stability of their region and construct an order of common prosperity and well-being based upon justice.

The countries of Greater East Asia will ensure the fraternity of nations in their region, by respecting one another's sovereignty and independence and practicing mutual assistance and amity.

The countries of Greater East Asia by respecting one another's traditions and developing the creative faculties of each race, will enhance the culture and civilization of Greater East Asia.

The countries of Greater East Asia will endeavor to accelerate their economic development through close cooperation upon a basis of reciprocity and to promote thereby the general prosperity of their region.

The countries of Greater East Asia will cultivate friendly relations with all the countries of the world, and work for the abolition of racial discrimination, the promotion of cultural intercourse and the opening of resources throughout the world, and contribute thereby to the progress of mankind.

This entity issuing anything at this point is somewhat surreal, as Japanese fortunes had clearly turned in the war and they were obviously losing.

The participating entities were Japan, Manchukuo; The "Reorganized National Government of China" governed from Nanjing, the Kingdom of Thailand; the State of Burma; and the Second Philippine Republic.  Only Thailand was really independent.

The USS Beatty was torpedoed off of Algeria by Junkers Ju 88, resulting in its sinking.   The U-226 and U842 were sunk by the Royal Navy in the Atlantic.