Thursday, December 7, 1944. The end of the USS Ward

A U.S. counterattack halted the Japanese offensive on Leyte.

USS Lamson on fire after being hit by a kamikaze at Ormac Bay.

Kamikazes damaged the USS Mahan and USS Ward beyond repair during landings at Ormoc Bay.

The Ward figures prominently in the story of the Battle of Pearl Harbor.

Today in World War II History—December 7, 1939 & 1944: At Ormoc Bay, destroyer USS Ward is damaged by a kamikaze; three years earlier to the day, USS Ward fired the first shots during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The 77th Division landed against Japanese opposition, but it was not heavy.

General Nicolae Radescu took office as Prime Minister of Romania.

The International Civil Aviation Organization was established.

The Arab Women's Congress of 1944 took place in Cairo.

An earthquake at Tokai, Japan, killed 1200 people and halted production at the Mitsubishi plant.

Last edition:

Wednesday, December 6, 1944. Japanese paratroopers on Leyte.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Airborne, Aircraft, Battle of Leyte, boats and ships, Charles de Gaulle, Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά), Greek Civil War, Imperial Japanese Army, Joseph Stalin, Royal Air Force, World War Two

Wednesday, October 25, 1944. The biggest day of the biggest naval battle in history.

The USS St. Lo, the first  U.S. ship to be sunk by a kamikaze during World War Two, moments after being hit.

The heaviest fighting in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese effort to draw the U.S. Navy off of support for the invasion of Leyte and to destroy it, occurred.  The Battle  off Samar occurred as part of it.

The first mass use of kamikazes occured as part of the Japanese effort.   The escort carrier USS St. Lo was sunk by kamikazes, the first of 47 ships to be lost to such attacks during the war.

The U.S. escort carrier USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) prepares to launch Grumman FM-2 Wildcat fighters during the Battle off Samar on 25 October 1944.  Japanese shells are splashing near the USS White Plains (CVE-66) in the background.  A rare example of an aircraft carrier launching aircraft while a surface vessel shells another one.

The Imperial Japanese Navy lost the aircraft carriers Chitose, Chiyoda and Zuikaku, battleships Fusō and Yamashiro, cruisers Chikuma, Chōkai and Suzuya and the destroyers Akizuki, Asagumo, Michishio, Wakaba and Yamagumo.

Lowering the flag on Zuikaku as she sinks.  She was the last of the aircraft carriers that participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor still afloat.  Half the crew would survive.

The Americans lost the escort carriers USS Gambier Bay and USS St. Lo and destroyers USS Hoel and USS Johnston. 

The Japanese battleship Yamato and a heavy cruiser at Samar.

The scale of the battle, and the intense fighting it involved, can hardly be imagined today.

The Red Army took the port town of Kirkenes, Norway.

Soviet forces completed clearing the Transylvania region of Romania.

8in howitzer being laid into place in France, October 25, 1944.

The Italian government of Ivanoe Bonomi was recognized.

Dog faces, October 25, 1944.

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 24, 1944. Leyte Gulf, day two.

Labels: "Wacht am Rhein", 1940s, 1944, Adolf Hitler, Australian Navy, Battle of Leyte Gulf, Battle of the Bulge, China Burma India Theater, Imperial Japanese Navy, Kamikaze, Philippines, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Friday, October 24, 1924. Republicans, Monarchs and Fascists.

Éamon de Valera was arrested in Newry as he arrived at a meeting of the Sinn Féin. He was charged with entering a prohibited area under the Civil Powers Act.

Romanian fascist Iron Guard leader Corneliu Codreanu assassinated Constantin Manciu, the police chief of the city of Iași, and shot several other policemen. 

He would be acquitted on the grounds that he had acted in self-defense, despite entering the meeting and shooting Manciu from behind.

The British Foreign Office released the Zinoviev letter. The letter purported to be a directive from the Soviets addressed to the Communist Party of Great Britain to increase labor unrest in the UK.  A protest was lodged with the Soviet Embassy.

Belgium signed the Geneva Protocol.

Crown Princes Wilhelm of Germany and Rupprecht of Bavaria reconciled.

The Prince of Wales ended his visit to the United States and Canada.

Last edition:

Thursday, October 23, 1924. Beijing Coup.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, China, Chinese Army, Chinese Warlord Era, Ontario, Prohibition, Republic of China

Tuesday, September 12, 1944. Le Havre taken.

Members of an American tank unit ford the National Canal, near Bayon, France, as they follow the Germans retreating back towards the German frontier. 12 September, 1944. 8th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division.

Le Havre surrendered to the British.

The US 1st Army reached the German bordered between Aachen and Trier.

The Germans evacuated Mytilene in the Aegean.

The Romanian government entered into a formal armistice with the Allies which resulted in the cessation of territory to the USSR.  Taking territory from the USSR had been a large part of the reason it entered the war in the first place.

Last edition:

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

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, cavalry, Communism, Franklin Roosevelt, Germany, Italy, Nazi Germany, Operation Dragoon, Operation Overlord, Poland, Second Quebec Conference, South African Army, Winston Churchill, World War Two

Thursday, September 7, 1944. Hungary declares war on Romania. The Chinese Army prevails at The Battle of Mount Song (松山戰役), The Shin'yō Maru incident.

Hungary declared war on Romania and invaded southern Transylvania.

Vichy's government relocated to Sigmaringen Castle in Germany.

The Japanese cargo ship SS Shin'yō Maru was torpedoed and sunk in the USS Paddle.  The ship was carrying US POWs.  688 out of 750 died.

The Battle of Mount Song (松山戰役) saw the Nationalist Chinese Army prevail, resulting in the reopening of the Burma Road.

The understrength Japanese unit had held the area for three months.

Last edition:

Wednesday, September 6, 1944. Closing in and winding down. . .

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Belgium, British Home Guard, Canadian Army, French Army, Heroes, Italy, Palau, Polish Home Army, Red Army, Romania, Tartu Offensive, U.S. Navy, Warsaw Uprising, World War Two, Yugoslavia

Wednesday, September 6, 1944. Closing in and winding down. . .

Fighting in the rain, Pfc. Lowell Holt, West Des Moines, Iowa, a member of the 5th Armored Division, takes cover behind a truck as he gets set to draw a bead on a German sniper across the street.

The French captured Chalon-sur-Saône.  The Poles liberated Ypres.  The British took Ghent, Courtrai and Armentieres. The Canadians reached the English Channel north of Calais, south of Boulogne. The U.S. Army crossed the Meuse River south of Namur.

Results of the 113th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron encountering a German convoy in Court - St. Etienne, Belgium, 

The Soviet Tartu Offensive concluded with a Red Army victory.  The Red Army reached the Yugoslavian border.

The United Kingdom ended compulsory training for the Home Guard and relaxed blackout restrictions.  The US announced that it planned on demobilizing 1,000,000 following the defeat of Germany.

The moves made sense in context, but in the American case it was over optimistic.  The war with Japan was about to reach its bloodiest stages and it would soon be determined that the manpower needed to take the home islands would be massive.  Moreover, the US would soon find that it had a deficit of infantry in Europe.

Prince Jan Franciszek Czartoryski, a Polish noble and a Dominican friar, was shot by the Germans during the Warsaw Uprising.

Ted T. Tanouye died of his wounds.  He'd receive the Medal of Honor.

Technical Sergeant Ted T. Tanouye distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 7 July 1944, near Molino A Ventoabbto, Italy. Technical Sergeant Tanouye led his platoon in an attack to capture the crest of a strategically important hill that afforded little cover. Observing an enemy machine gun crew placing its gun in position to his left front, Technical Sergeant Tanouye crept forward a few yards and opened fire on the position, killing or wounding three and causing two others to disperse. Immediately, an enemy machine pistol opened fire on him. He returned the fire and killed or wounded three more enemy soldiers. While advancing forward, Technical Sergeant Tanouye was subjected to grenade bursts, which severely wounded his left arm. Sighting an enemy-held trench, he raked the position with fire from his submachine gun and wounded several of the enemy. Running out of ammunition, he crawled 20 yards to obtain several clips from a comrade on his left flank. Next, sighting an enemy machine pistol that had pinned down his men, Technical Sergeant Tanouye crawled forward a few yards and threw a hand grenade into the position, silencing the pistol. He then located another enemy machine gun firing down the slope of the hill, opened fire on it, and silenced that position. Drawing fire from a machine pistol nest located above him, he opened fire on it and wounded three of its occupants. Finally taking his objective, Technical Sergeant Tanouye organized a defensive position on the reverse slope of the hill before accepting first aid treatment and evacuation. Technical Sergeant Tanouye's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.

Lest it create some confusion, the rank of Technical Sergeant later became Sergeant First Class, with the same insignia.  A Technician Fourth Grade wore an insignia with three chevrons and a T.

The U.S. Navy's Task Force 38 hit all of the Palau Islands.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 5, 1944. The USSR declares war on Bulgaria.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Turda Romania, boats and ships, Bulgaria, Eastern Front, France, German Kriegsmarine, Italy, New York, Ontario, Radio, Slovakia, SOE, Soviet Navy, Sweden, The Holocaust, USSR, World War Two

Monday, September 4, 1944. Reaching Antwerp.

The British entered Antwerp, Kortenberg and Leuven.  They failed to take the Antwerp canal crossings.

The 7th Army took Bourg-en-Bresse.

The Red Army took Brașov and Sinaia, Romania.

Fighting stopped between Finland and the Soviet Union.  German troops fall back to Norway or embark for Germany at Baltic ports.

Last edition:

Sunday, September 3, 1944. An agreement to end the Continuation War.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Belgium, British Army, Bulgaria, Continuation War, France, Free French, German Wehrmacht, The Holocaust, U.S. Navy, Wake Island, World War Two

Friday, September 1, 1944. Lone Tree Hill

The First Canadian Army captured Dieppe.

The Red Army took Călărași, Romania and reached the Bulgarian frontier.  The Soviet Union asked for  permission for the Red Army to enter Bulgarian territory.   The Bulgarian prime minister, Ivan Bagrianov, resigned and. Constantine Muraviev took his place.

The Battle of Lone Tree Hill, in Dutch New Guinea, ended in American victory.

The battle had been fought since May 17.

Lone Tree Hill.  Not One Tree Hill.  The latter was the name of a horrifically bad television series that featured, for some weird reason, basketball as the center of the universe.

The U-247 was sunk in the English  Channel by the Canadian Navy.

Native Melanesian of New Caledonia, wearing the uniform of a French sailor, stands guard before French Navy Hq. in Noumea, largest town in New Caledonia.

Arsenic and Old Lace premiered.

Last edition:

Thursday, August 31, 1944. Montgomery promoted. The Red Army in Bucharest. The Mad Gasser in Mattoon, Illinois.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, A Mystery, Act of 23 August, Bernard Law Montgomery, Chichijima, Illinois, Iwo Jima, Jimmy Akin, Mass Hysteria, Prisoners of War, Romania, Slovene Partisans, U.S. Navy

Thursday, August 31, 1944. Montgomery promoted. The Red Army in Bucharest. The Mad Gasser in Mattoon, Illinois.

The Red Army entered a Bucharest already cleared of German troops by the Romanian Army.  Crowds cheered the arrival of the Red Army.

Romania would be one of the tragic examples of the Red Army not leaving where it appeared following the war. It would take a revolution in the USSR, more or less, and definitely in Romania, to restore Romanian sovereignty and establish Romanian democracy.

Bernard Law Montgomery was promoted to Field Marshal.

Almost slandered by American historians since the war, Montgomery was a great man and a strategic genius who had mastered the ability to fight with an economy of resources.  Born in England, but raised in Australia (his father was an Episcopal Bishop), he was truly one of the greatest Allied commanders of the war.

The 5th Army crossed the Arno.

Slovene partisans rescued 105 Allied POWs in the Raid at Ožbalt.

The US prevailed in the Battle of Sansapor.

Task Force 38.4 attacked Japanese positions on Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima.

The first of the Mad Gasser of Mattoon incidents in Mattoon, Illinois.

Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World has a good episode on this really weird event.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 30, 1944. End of Operation Overlord.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, British Army, Italy, Operation Overlord, Petroleum, Philippines, Polesti Romania, Red Army, Romania, World War Two

Wednesday, August 30, 1944. End of Operation Overlord.

Operation Overlord officially concluded.

A French government was operating again in Paris and massive parts of the country had been cleared of the Germans.

The Red Army took Polesti, the oil refining center of Romania.  Most of the Romanian oilfields had already been taken by the Soviets.

The 8th Army commenced assaults on the Gothic Line.

Three soldiers from 7th Regt., 3rd Div. on patrol north of Montelimar. 30 August, 1944.

Filipino writer and guerilla Manuel Estabillo Arguilla was beheaded by the Japanese.

Last edition:

Tuesday, August 29, 1944. Marching in Paris, crossing the Foglia, the Slovaks rebell.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle for Paris, Battle of Marseille, Bulgaria, Eastern Front, Italy, Operation Goodwood, Paris France, Polish Home Army, Slovak National Uprising, Slovakia, World War Two

Sunday, August 27, 1944. Collateral damage.

Shoeless French women subject to abuse, swastika's painted on their foreheads, for dalliances with German soldiers during the occupation of Paris, August 27, 1944.

The Germans made limited tactical gains in Operation Doppelkopf on the Eastern Front.

The Red Army took August 27, 1944 Focșani, Romania.

The British 21st Army Group and US 12 Army Group advanced beyond the Seine.

The US 3d Army took Château-Thierry.

Princess Mafalda of Savoy, age 41, died of wounds sustained in a bombing raid on Buchenwald concentration camp.  She was imprisoned there, as was her husband, due to Italy's having changed sides during the war.

Her naked body was dumped into the crematorium but  Father Joseph Thyl was able to give it some attention.  Her death was not learned of until after the German surrender.

The RAF bombed the refinery at Homberg-Meerbeck in a daylight bombing raid, the first since the early stages of the war.

The incomplete French battleship Clemenceau was bombed and sunk at Brest by U.S. aircraft.

Dumbarton Oaks was still going on.

Last edition:

Saturday, August 26, 1944. De Gaulle in the streets of Paris. Bulgaria calls it quits.

Labels: Battle for Paris, Battle of Toulon, Bulgaria, Caen France, Charles de Gaulle, Collaborators, French Army, French Resistance Movements, Paris France, Rüsselsheim massacre, World War Two