Friday, February 9, 1945. Black Friday. Heroes and victims in the Philippines.

A force of Bristol Beaufighters attempted an attack on the German destroyer Z33 and its escorting vessels in  Førde Fjord, Norway.  The position was heavily defended and the raid a failure with heavy losses, resulting in the event being termed Black Friday.

The British reached Millingen on the Rhine.

The Australians prevailed at the Battle of Tsimba Ridge on Bougainville. . . yes that was still going on.

Cleto Rodriguez performed the actions that resulted in his being awarded the Medal of Honor.

He was an automatic rifleman when his unit attacked the strongly defended Paco Railroad Station during the battle for Manila, Philippines. While making a frontal assault across an open field; his platoon was halted 100 yards from the station by intense enemy fire.

On his own initiative, he left the platoon, accompanied by a comrade, and continued forward to a house 60 yards from the objective. Although under constant enemy observation, the 2 men remained in this position for an hour; firing at targets of opportunity, killing more than 35 hostile soldiers and wounding many more.

Moving closer to the station and discovering a group of Japanese replacements attempting to reach pillboxes, they opened heavy fire, killed more than 40 and stopped all subsequent attempts to man the emplacements. Enemy fire became more intense as they advanced to within 20 yards of the station.

Then, covered by his companion, Pvt. Rodríguez boldly moved up to the building and threw 5 grenades through a doorway killing 7 Japanese, destroying a 20-mm. gun and wrecking a heavy machinegun. With their ammunition running low, the 2 men started to return to the American lines, alternately providing covering fire for each other's withdrawal.. In 2+1⁄2 hours of fierce fighting the intrepid team killed more than 82 Japanese, completely disorganized their defense, and paved the way for the subsequent overwhelming defeat of the enemy at this strongpoint.

Two days later, Pvt. Rodriguez again enabled his comrades to advance when he singlehandedly killed six Japanese and destroyed a well-placed 20-mm gun. By his outstanding skill with his weapon, gallant determination to destroy the enemy, and heroic courage in the face of tremendous odds, Pvt. Rodriguez, on two occasions, materially aided the advance of our troops in Manila.

Rodriguez had lost both of his parents when he was only nine years old, and had been raised by relatives.  He went on after the war to serve first in the Air Force and then again in the Army, retiring in 1970.  He passed away in 1990 at age 67.

John N. Reese, Jr. also was conveyed a Medal of Honor for his actions on this day, in the same theater, but his was a posthumous award.

He was engaged in the attack on the Paco Railroad Station, which was strongly defended by 300 determined enemy soldiers with machineguns and rifles, supported by several pillboxes, 3 20mm. guns, 1 37-mm. gun and heavy mortars. While making a frontal assault across an open field, his platoon was halted 100 yards from the station by intense enemy fire. On his own initiative he left the platoon, accompanied by a comrade, and continued forward to a house 60 yards from the objective. Although under constant enemy observation, the 2 men remained in this position for an hour, firing at targets of opportunity, killing more than 35 Japanese and wounding many more. Moving closer to the station and discovering a group of Japanese replacements attempting to reach pillboxes, they opened heavy fire, killed more than 40 and stopped all subsequent attempts to man the emplacements. Enemy fire became more intense as they advanced to within 20 yards of the station. From that point Pfc. Reese provided effective covering fire and courageously drew enemy fire to himself while his companion killed 7 Japanese and destroyed a 20-mm. gun and heavy machinegun with handgrenades. With their ammunition running low, the 2 men started to return to the American lines, alternately providing covering fire for each other as they withdrew. During this movement, Pfc. Reese was killed by enemy fire as he reloaded his rifle. The intrepid team, in 2½ hours of fierce fighting, killed more than 82 Japanese, completely disorganized their defense and paved the way for subsequent complete defeat of the enemy at this strong point. By his gallant determination in the face of tremendous odds, aggressive fighting spirit, and extreme heroism at the cost of his life, Pfc. Reese materially aided the advance of our troops in Manila and providing a lasting inspiration to all those with whom he served.

Likewise, Joseph J. Cicchetti received the same posthumous award for action in the same theater.

He was with troops assaulting the first important line of enemy defenses. The Japanese had converted the partially destroyed Manila Gas Works and adjacent buildings into a formidable system of mutually supporting strongpoints from which they were concentrating machinegun, mortar, and heavy artillery fire on the American forces. Casualties rapidly mounted, and the medical aid men, finding it increasingly difficult to evacuate the wounded, called for volunteer litter bearers. Pfc. Cicchetti immediately responded, organized a litter team and skillfully led it for more than 4 hours in rescuing 14 wounded men, constantly passing back and forth over a 400-yard route which was the impact area for a tremendous volume of the most intense enemy fire. On one return trip the path was blocked by machinegun fire, but Pfc. Cicchetti deliberately exposed himself to draw the automatic fire which he neutralized with his own rifle while ordering the rest of the team to rush past to safety with the wounded. While gallantly continuing his work, he noticed a group of wounded and helpless soldiers some distance away and ran to their rescue although the enemy fire had increased to new fury. As he approached the casualties, he was struck in the head by a shell fragment, but with complete disregard for his gaping wound he continued to his comrades, lifted one and carried him on his shoulders 50 yards to safety. He then collapsed and died. By his skilled leadership, indomitable will, and dauntless courage, Pfc. Cicchetti saved the lives of many of his fellow soldiers at the cost of his own.

Filipino accountant and educator Nicanor Reyes Sr. was killed by the Imperial Japanese forces at Manila.  Likewise killed were his wife and two youngest children.  The Japanese also murdered the residents of the  Catholic Vincentian Central House in San Marcelino St, Manila.

The U-864 was sunk off of Bergen by the British submarine HMS Venturer.  Both submarines were submerged, making this the only example of a submarine sinking another submerged submarine.

Hitler examined a model of post war Linz.

Last edition:

Thursday, February 8, 1945. Offensives started in the East and West.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Alaska, Alger Hiss, Army, British Army, Canadian Army, Espionage, Heroes, Lower Silesian Offensive, Luzon, Native Alaskans, Operation Veritable, Racism, Red Army, World War Two

Thursday, October 5, 1944. Fuzhou and Memel.

The Japanese captured Fuzhou, the last seaport China had controlled.

The Battle of Memel commenced.

German reduced civilian food rations.

An ME 262 was shot down for the first time in combat. The RCAF scored the victory.

Last edition:

Wednesday, October 4, 1944. Scorched Earth.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Al Smith, Battle of Morotai, British Army, Bulgaria, Finland, German Army, Greece, Lapland War, New Guinea, Operation Nordlicht, Paratroopers, Refugees, World War Two

Thursday, May 4, 1944. Smoke on the Water.

Sgt. Sam Marinkovich, Anaconda, Mont., Sgt. Raymond Pasvogel, Davenport, Iowa, write up daily paper "The Cyclops Sentinel". Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea. 4 May, 1944.  Sgt Marinkovich is wearing heavily hobnailed boots, something the US generally did not issue in World War Two.  The boots are almost certainly British pattern "clodhoppers" that were issued as replacements in Australia.  Boots are one of the very few items of Commonwealth issuance that Americans sometimes issued in World War Two.

Troops making C-Ration coco.  The soldier on the far left is wearing the rarely seen light pattern field jacket.   This photograph illustrates something that surprised Japanese soldiers, which was that American uniforms were comfortable and practical.  Of interest, every single uniform item depicted in this photograph came into US use either since the start of the war, or immediately before, except for the boots depicted.

From "Uncle Mike":

May 4, 1944: The St. Louis Browns Desegregate Sportsman's Park

Gaslight premiered in New York City.

It's another one I haven't seen, but should.

Sarah Sundin reports that another Overlord exercise occured:

Today in World War II History—May 4, 1944: In Exercise Fabius, a full-scale rehearsal for D-day, Allied troops who will land on Sword, Juno, Gold, and Omaha Beaches make landings on English beaches.

The RAF hit rail facilities at Budapest at night.

The U-371 was scuttled off of Algeria.  The U-846 was attacked and sunk in the Bay of Biscay by the RCAF.

Smoke on the Water was recorded. . . the patriotic Red Foley one . .  not the Deep Purple one.

Last prior edition:

Wednesday, May 4, 1944. Japanese Command Changes.

1940s, 1944, 1948, 1949, Battle of the Atlantic, boats and ships, Burma, French Resistance Movements, Imperial Japanese Navy, Indian Army, Indian Ocean, Medicine, Movies, Personalities, War Crimes, World War Two

Tuesday, April 1, 1924. Sentencing coup plotters.

White House, April 1, 1924.

Adolf Hitler, Ernst Pöhner, Hermann Kriebel and Friedrich Webe were sentenced to five years for his attempted overthrow of the German government.  Erich Ludendorff was acquitted.

Hitler was released from incarceration in December, giving the world a sometimes unheeded lesson about the failure to treat coups seriously.

Northern Rhodesia, which is now Zambia, became a British protectorate, its status as a private colony administered by the British South Africa Company having ended.

The Royal Canadian Air Force received royal assent from King George V, having previously been the Canadian Air Force.

Calvin Coolidge gave a press conference, as he very frequently did.  Replacing Daughter was a major topic in it.

The National Guard was still in the process of re-forming, literary, following Wilson's haphazard discharging of the conscripted Guard, which came about due to an odd process itself, following World War One.  We've dealt with that elsewhere. The Wyoming National Guard (it was all the Army National Guard at the time) was being reformed as cavalry, rather than infantry, as it had been before the war, and had, by that time, taken on its new unit designation of the 115th Cavalry Regiment.

As part of that process, the Guard now had a newspaper.

The paper is interesting as it demonstrated the early organization of the 115th, with the Headquarters Troop being located in Laramie.

This from Reddit's 100 Years Ago sub, the Radio News was correctly predicting medicine, and television, and maybe the Internet, of the future.

Frank Capone, age 28, was shot by Chicago police in a gun battle.  He was the older brother of Al Capone.

Last prior edition:

Monday, March 31, 1924. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (actually III) and the Teapot Dome Affair, Making Working Girls Homeless, and the Start of the Fishing Season.

1900s, 1909, 1920s, 1924, Aircraft, Casper Wyoming, Crime, fishing, Sandbar District of Casper Wyoming, Sex, Teapot Dome Scandal, Theodore Roosevelt, Transportation, United Kingdom, Wyoming Game & Fish Department

Friday, February 11, 1944. The Factory Falls.

The Germans took "The Factory" from the British 1st Division at Anzio.

The Red Army took Shepetovka, Ukraine.

Wah Kau Kong (江華九), the first Chinese American fighter pilot, scored his first victory, showing down a FW190 while piloting a P-51B.  He'd be killed in a dogfight just eleven days later.  On that occasion, his wingman reported:

I was leading squadron in leader position of red flight, providing escort and target support for bombers with targets at Oschersleben and Halberstadt. 2nd Lt. Wau Kau Kong was my wingman. Enroute to target area, Northeim and Wernigerode, at 1350 hours I attacked a ME-410 which was pressing attack on a straggling B-17 at 16,000 feet. I fired a long burst from 300 yds, observing parts flying off the tail assembly and smoke pouring out of the right engine. All my guns stopped except one and I broke off attack to let my wingman finish off E/A. I circled and saw Lt. Kong fire at E/A from close range. The right engine of E/A burst into flames. As Lt. Kong broke off over the E/A the rear gunner must have hit him as his plane exploded and disintegrated in the air.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—February 11, 1944: First mission of the US 357th Fighter Group in P-51 Mustangs from England—this group would produce the most aces (42) in the US Eighth Air Force.

The U-424 was sunk off the Faroe's by a Wellington piloted by the RCAF.

Father Claude H. Heithaus, S. J. delivered a homily in what must have been a week day Mass at Saint Louis University denouncing racism.  It ended up getting him forcibly transferred out of state, but the school started admitting African Americans six months later, the first historically white Southern university to do so.

A photographer visited the USS Saratoga.

Commander Maurice Sheehy, Catholic priest and Chaplain Corps, on board USS Saratoga (CV 3), February 11, 1944.  The highly respected Fr. Sheehy would rise to the rank of Vice Admiral, the highest rank ever obtained by a Navy Chaplain.  He had taught at the Catholic University of America before the war, but after it became a pastor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  He passed away in 1972.

Saturday, August 21, 1943: Bob Hope and Patton.

John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia, retained his position as the Australian Labor Party took 49 of 74 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 19 out of 36 in the Australian Senate.

Australian troops on New Guinea took  Komiatum, southwest of Salamaua.

Frankly Roosevelt and McKenzie King announced that U.S. and Canadian forces had retaken Kiska.

The recapture effectively put the continental United States and the Canadian provinces out of reach of Imperial Japanese forces.

Hal Block, Bob Hope, Barney Dean, Frances Langford and Tony Romano met General George S. Patton at a USO show in Sicily at which Patton asked Hope to tell his radio audience “that I love my men", perhaps hoping to counter the bad publicity that the slapping incident had caused.

You didn't see that in Patton.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—August 21, 1943: First “UT” convoy sails from New York, heavily escorted convoys carrying troops to England in build-up for Operation Overlord (D-day).

Saturday, July 24, 1943. The fall of Mussolini.

Lesser coat of arms of the Kingdom of Italy.

The Italian Fascist Grand Council voted 19 to 7 to remove Mussolini from power and restore full authority to the crown.

Dino Grandi, who had been a hard line fascist, but who also had opposed anti-Semitism and who had been critical of the war, organized beforehand Mussolini's downfall.  The Grand Council's statement following the decision read:

Grandi's Order of the Day

The Grand Council of Fascism,

meeting in these hours of utmost trial, turns all its thoughts to the heroic fighters in every corps who, side by side with the people of Sicily in whom shines the unequivocal faith of the Italian people, renewing the noble traditions of strenuous valor and the indomitable spirit of sacrifice of our glorious Armed Forces, having examined the internal and international situation and the war's political and military leadership,

proclaims

the sacred duty for all Italians to defend at all costs the homeland's unity, independence, and freedom, the fruits of sacrifice and the efforts of four generations from the Risorgimento to the present, the life and future of the Italian people;

affirms

the necessity of moral and material unity of all Italians in this serious and decisive hour for the nation's destiny;

declares

that to this end the immediate restoration of all state functions is necessary, assigning to the Crown, to the Grand Council, to the government, to the Parliament, and to the corporate groups the duties and responsibility established by our statutory and constitutional laws;

invites

the government to beseech His Majesty the king, to whom turns the loyal and trusting heart of the whole nation, to assume effective command of the Armed Forces of land, sea, and air for the honor and salvation of the homeland, under article 5 of the Constitution, the supreme initiative that our institutions assign to him, and which have always been throughout our nation's history the glorious heritage of our august House of Savoy.

Dino Grandi

While Mussolini seemed to accept the results at the time, he very quickly started acting as if they were not legally binding.

Mussolini had been in power for seventeen years, being the first of the fascist dictators to assume power.  While Italy's defeat in the field brought his end about, his removal did not automatically take the Italians out of the war.

Grandi would flea to Spain after the complete fascist collapse in August, not returning to Italy until 1960.  He died in 1988 at the age of 92.

Operation Gomorrah, the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force bombing campaign on Hamburg, began. Window was deployed for the first time.

Friday, June 25, 1943. Murder in Ukraine, tragedy in Nova Scotia, race riot in UK.

The Germans completed the eradication of the Jewish population of Stanislav (Ivano-Frankivsk) in Ukraine.

The "Battle of Bamber Bridge" occurred in the UK when white Military Police intervened in a pub which had stretched out drinking hours for black US troops and then attempted to cite one for improper uniform.  Shots were ultimately fired and one of the soldiers was killed.

The Smith-Connoally Act was passed, which allowed the government to seize industries threated by strikes.  It went into law over President Roosevelt's veto.

 No. 21 Squadron RAF Ventura attacking IJmuiden, February 1943.

A Ventura AJ186 crashed in Summerville, Nova Scotia, killing P/O John C. Loucks, air gunner, Bracebridge, Ont., P/O George W. Cowie, pilot, Wellington, New Zealand., P/O Clifford A. Griffiths, navigator, Auckland, New Zealand., Sgt. Arthur Cornelius Mulcahy, wireless air gunner, Sydney, Australia.

The men were undergoing training.  A memorial service will be held for them today in Summerville.

Classified as a medium bomber, the Ventura is one of the numerous Allied warbirds that are now basically forgotten, in spite of having received widespread use.  It was an adaptation of a civilian airliner.

Sarah Sundin notes, on her blog:

Today in World War II History—June 25, 1943: 80 Years Ago—June 25, 1943: Bob Hope begins his first major USO tour; he will spend 11 weeks touring England, North Africa, and Sicily.

Tuesday, May 11, 1943. Retaking Attu.

The Navy, supported by the Royal Canadian Air Force, landed elements of 7th Infantry Division on Attu in order to retake the Japanese occupied island.  The resulting battle was the only land battle on American territory during World War Two and the only battle between the US and Japan in the Arctic.

Fighting would cover two weeks with the Japanese putting up a stout defense.  The Japanese Navy formed a task force to relieve the island but the Allies took it before it cold depart Tokyo Bay.  Knowing that they would not be relieved, the Japanese forces went down on May 29 in a banzai charge.  Of the entire Japanese garrison of over 2,800 men, only 28 survived.

Casualties of the final charge.

The 7th Infantry Division was committed to the war in the Pacific for the balance of World War Two, and would have occupation duty in Japan and Korea after the war.  It was stationed in Japan when the Korean War broke out.   During the Korean War, the then under strength division took on an international character, incorporating very large numbers of South Korean troops, as well as Columbian and Ethiopian solders.

Secretary of the Navy publically stated that "Possession of Sicily by the Allies would obviously be a tremendous asset" leading to fears that he'd blow the success of Operation Mincemeat.  Instead, it convinced the Germans that he was trying a "smoke screen".

Monday, April 19, 1943. The end of the Warsaw Ghetto commences, SMERSH founded.

The final phase of the destruction and reoccupation of the Warsaw Ghetto commenced under SS Polizeifuhrer Jürgen Stroop.

Stroop was an unrepentant Nazi and was sentenced to death in a post-war war crimes trial in 1947, and then handed over to Poland, which also convicted him.  He was executed in Poland in 1952.

233 Belgian Jews bound for Auschwitz escaped when a raid by three members of the Belgian resistance attacked the train.  118 were able to ultimately escape.

Fourteen members of the White Rose resistance group are found guilty of crimes against the German state and executed.

The General Directorate of Counterintelligence ("SMERSH" СМЕРШ) of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR came into existence, but secretly, and maybe actually earlier. It was a counterintelligence directorate.  Like most Soviet intelligence and counterintelligence agencies, it was sinister and scary by its nature, and average citizens of the USSR had reason to fear it, a fact that was compounded by circumstances inside contested and occupied regions of the Soviet Union which caused average Soviet citizens to collaborate with the Germans in large and small ways.

The British government removed the restriction on ringing church bells that had been put in effect when the UK was under threat of invasion.  The move marked the passing of that phase of the war.

RCAF P-40 being recovered at  Fort Greeley Kodiak Island, Alaska, on this day.  It had overshot the runway.

Wednesday, August 19, 2022. The Raid On Dieppe.

No. 4 Commando landing at Dieppe.

One of the most famous, and controversial, Allied operations of the Second World War occurred on this day when a largely Canadian force was committed to a British operation that's been termed a "raid", but which was on such a huge scale, that that term is debatable.  Operation Jubilee, or the Raid on Dieppe.  It was the bloodiest day of the war for the Canadian Army.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-291-1205-14 / Koll / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5476892

The Canadian Second Infantry Division, together with British Commando units featuring a small group of American Rangers, and French commandos, supported with Canadian armor, landed at 04:50 on this morning at the French resort town, with Allied forces landing on six beaches.   By the end of the day, 68% of the Canadian force was lost, either being killed, wounded or captured.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-362-2211-12 / Jörgensen / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5411278

The raid was somewhat ill-conceived in that it was on such a large-scale, and designed to test very large scale raids and to also send a signal to the Soviets that the Allies did actually intend to invade France at some point.  It made use of Canadian troops, as the Canadian 2nd Infantry Division had been assigned to protective duties in the United Kingdom and was available. The raid had been scheduled to occur somewhat earlier, and some equipment issued to the Canadians had been recovered, with the same type of equipment then hastily reissued, but with new examples that had to be rapidly reworked for functioning by Canadian troops.

Lord Louis Mountbatten, whom history has not treated well, played a planning role in the operation.  Bernard Law Montgomery got the blame later for some of the operations failures, but he had already been assigned to the 8th Army and cannot really be blamed.

The Germans were already wary of the possibility of British raids, and became aware that the British were interested in Dieppe by French double agents.  At the time, British intelligence was having trouble of this type.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-291-1229-12 / Meyer; Wiltberger / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5476900

Some of the raid went well.  No. 4 Commando, for example, to which the American Rangers were attached, landed and conducted their operations very well and withdrew as planned prior to 0800.  The Canadian landings, however, were generally a disaster, and ultimately they experienced heavy losses.  Trouble was experienced landing the supporting tanks, and the Luftwaffe turned out in force, with a major air battle between the Luftwaffe and the RAF/RCAF being the result.  The withdrawal commenced at 0940 and was complete by 1400, but was conducted under heavy fire.  The Germans captured the operation plan for the battle, which, when analyzed, was regarded by the Germans as basically inept.

The battle is regarded as a major disaster, but dissenting voices, which I basically am here, have taken the position that it was an expensive day in school for the Allies.  The British in particular gleaned major lessons about conducting landings that they would employ in Operation Overlord two years later, including the significance of landing tanks.  As a result, the British were particularly well-equipped with special tanks for the landings at Normandy.   The Allies also realized a need for temporary harbors, which would become a major focus for Overlord.

The Germans learned lessons as well, but were overall pleased with how well their forces had done in the defense, and not without reason.  One of the major factors in the German success, however, had been the presence of the Luftwaffe, which, in spite of being obvious, would be ignored by the Germans by 1944 as raids over Germany by strategic bombers took up their air assets.  

As minor side notes, the 50 American Rangers were assigned to Lord Lovat's No. 4 Commando, one of the most eccentric units of the war. This was to give them combat experience, but it was a fortunate assignment, as this part of the raid went well.  Additionally, Sarah Sundin notes that RAF Mustang I's were in the battle and gained their first areal victory on this day.

German treatment of Canadian prisoners would leading to lasting animosity between some Canadian soldiers in regard to the German army, leading some units to be very reluctant to take German prisoners in later actions.

The Japanese landed another 900 men on Guadalcanal.

The Red Army launched the Sinyavino Offensive in an effort to relieve Leningrad.

Last prior edition:

Tuesday, August 18, 1942. The Japanese Tokyo Express.

1940s, 1942, Guadalcanal, Imperial Japanese Navy, Posters, South Pacific, World War Two

May 17, 1920. More flights.

"Annual May Festival of the Friends Select School, Washington D.C. Held at the Friends Country Club."  Pageants like this were common at the time.

It was a day for flight.

The Canadian Air Force, a Canadian air militia that principally served as an airman trainer, came into being.  It was not a standing air force and it would very soon be replaced by one, which would be the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1924.

On the same day, KLM, the Dutch airlines which is the oldest airline in the world, made its first flight, that being from London to Amsterdam. There were only two passengers and some mail, but then the flight was made in a leased DH16, which is not a giant aircraft.

Airco Aircraft Transport and Travel DH16

The plane was leased from the British Aircraft Transport and Travel company.

Meanwhile, Carranza was still holding out in Mexico in what the newspapers were calling a "heroic" last stand.

And President Wilson, in a speech, warned that the United States had used 40% of its proven oil reserves and only had 20 years of petroleum production left.

Poster Saturday: If The Cap Fits

The Death of Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, veteran German fighter pilot with at least 80 victories to his credit, was shot down and killed on this day in 1918, thereby becoming one of the hundreds of thousands of German servicemen to die in the 1918 German Spring Offensive.

Von Richthofen is arguably the most famous German military figure of the Great War for a variety of reasons all of which are tied to the romantic myths attached to the war in the air, which in reality was an exceedingly grim affair.  Suffering in later years from the effects of a head injury sustained in an earlier crash, Von Richthofen was arguably no longer really himself.  In recent years the impact of head injuries on mental outlook has become a well developed field of medicine but it was not at the time.

To some extent it's surprising that Von Richthofen's memory has sustained itself in such a romantic fashion as he was truly a representative of a dying age, most particularly in his own country. A representative of the aristocratic class, Germany was already beginning to be torn apart by the forces of modernity that burst forth post war and ultimately deliver the country to the Nazis and the world to a second world war.  But then many of the German officer class were likewise representatives of that world, even into World War Two.

There's always been some dispute on who shot down the Red Baron.  It came in aerial combat, but that's about the only thing that can be definitely said.

Von Richthofen was pursuing the plane of Canadian fledgling pilot Wilfred "Wop" May, who himself had just fired upon the plane of Wolfram von Richthofen, a cousin of of Manfred's.   Brown dropped in on Von Richthofen to aid May. But Von Richthofen also took ground fire at the time and later forensic work, and some speculation, has lead many to believe that it was likely ground fire that killed Von Richthofen, who suffered a single fatal wound.  In that case, the shot could have come from either Australian or British troops.

British funeral for Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen.  Scenes like this were not uncommon during the Great War for airmen, oddly.  Both the British and the Germans did this.  In this ceremony we see officers of the RAF salute their former enemy and bear his coffin while an honor guard of Australian infantrymen stand in armed salute.  A person has to wonder what the Australian soldiers, notoriously salty in their views, thought of this.  The clergyman is undoubtedly an Anglican Priest of the Church of England, which itself is a bit of an oddity as Von Richthofen was undoubtedly a Lutheran.

His death at a young age has preserved the romantic image he bore during the war in a James Dean like way.  Wolfram, whom he acted to save, went on serve in the Luftwaffe again and rose to the rank of Field Marshall in Hitler's air force, dying of a brain tumor shortly after World War Two.  He was 49 years of old, but appeared much older at the time.  Roy Brown returned to Canada and tried, but failed, to enter politics.  He became a farmer but died in 1944 at age 50.  Wop May died at age 56 while on vacation in the United States.  He had a varied post war career, but much of it was as a flight instructor.  Cedric Popkin, an Australian machinegunner whom some believe fired the fatal bullet went on home to a career as a carpenter, living the longest to age 77.

Poster Saturday: I'll be with you, boys.