Sunday January 30, 1944. Offensives and a Conference.

The Krasnoye Selo-Ropsha Offensive ended, the objective of aiding in the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad having been obtained.

The Nikopol–Krivoi Rog Offensive in Ukraine began.

The Battle of Cisterna, a portion of the Battle of Anzio, also began.

Gen. Lucas would deploy Rangers in the battle as a spearhead, resulting in the lightly armed formations being destroyed and the Ranger units committed to Italy disbanded.

The British 5th Division broke through the Gustav Line on this day and captured Monte Natal.

The U-278 sank the destroyer HMS Hardy.  The HMS Meteor and the HMS Whitehall sank the U-314.

Hitler spoke on the radio, in recognition of the 11th year of the Nazi's coming to power in Germany.  The topic was on Germany being Europe's only bulwark against Communism, in his view.  He didn't discuss the war much.

The Brazzaville Conference meeting of the Free French took place in Brazzaville, a city in then French Equatorial Africa, which is famously mentioned in the film Casablanca.

The conference convened to deal with the topic of the post-war future of the French colonies.  Independence was rejected completely in favor of a post-war association which keep the French Empire intact, but allow for semi autonomous assemblies in the colonies, equal rights with French citizens, the right to vote in elections for the French National Assembly, civil service positions for the native populations, and economic reforms making the colonies less dependent upon France.

The positions were never fully implemented, with Algeria being a good example. Average Algerians never received the equal rights promised by the conference.  The French Empire, of course, began to fly apart during the war itself.

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.

Wednesday, January 19, 1944. Destroying Berlin.

The RAF dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin in just over one hour, the heaviest raid on the city to date.

The U-641 was sunk by the British corvette Violate in the North Atlantic.

The Red Army took Krasnoye Selo, Popsha, and Peterhof, near Leningrad.

The British 5th Division captured Minturno.

Lt. Michael Sinclair and Flight-Lieut. Jack Best escaped Colditz Castle POW camp.  They made it all the way to the Dutch border before being recaptured.

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. 

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. 

Saturday, February 13, 1943. Corsairs deploy, Women Marines.

F4U Corsairs arrived at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, their first combat deployment.  The first actual combat would take place two days later.

While a carrier plane, the Corsair was at first deployed from land airstrips out of concerns that the high angle at which it sat when on its tail would make carrier operations difficult.  This was rapidly proven a false fear, as the Royal Navy put their Corsairs to carrier operations immediately.

The Marine Corps announced the formation of the Marine Corps Women's Voluntary Reserve.

There was a fair amount of resistance to the women's branch of the Marines within the Marine Corps itself, at first, even though this had also been done in World War One.

Sarah Sundin noted the anniversary of World War Two female marines on her blog:

Today in World War II History—February 13, 1943: US Marine Corps Women’s Reserve is officially established. Boston Navy Yard is awarded the Army-Navy “E” Award for excellence in production.

She also noted that the Germans required Tunisian Jews to pay a fine for being, basically, Jewish, showing how the German war effort was more and more focused on the Jews, rather than winning the war, which of course they were losing. 

The Germans won the Battle of Krasny Bor outside of Leningrad.

Wednesday, February 10, 1943. Duct Tape and German foreign legions

A year long, mostly Australian, but also containing Kiwi and Dutch troops, guerilla campaign against the Japanese on Timor ended in an Allied withdrawal.

While the Japanese prevailed in the action, the small Allied forces dedicated to it had tied up an entire Japanese division for an entire year, amounting to an Allied strategic victory.  The ad hoc Allied unit was dubbed "Sparrow Force", reflecting its small size.

The Red Army outside of Leningrad attacked at Krasny Bor. All in all, the attack was not a Red Army success.  

As an aside, the Spanish Blue Division was engaged by the Red Army in this battle and sustained a 70% casualty rate, partially resulting in its technical end, although it was replaced by the Blue Legion of Spanish volunteers which was subsequently disbanded in March 1944, as Franco read the tea leaves.  Spanish prisoners captured in this action, which were not numerous, were not repatriated until 1954. Approximately 300 Spaniards were kept by the USSR until that time, in part because Span and the Soviet Union did not have diplomatic relations with each other.

The Blue Division was organized by Spain and contained a sizable contingent of soldiers who had received leave from the Spanish Army in order to join it, although it also contained many volunteers from the Spanish far right.  For that reason, it was regarded as a Spanish formation by the Western Allies, who pressured Franco to withdraw it.  Franco also received pressure from Spanish conservatives and the Catholic Church as well.  The legion's connection would be less pronounced, and accordingly also more hardcore fascist, and it was eventually absorbed by the SS.

Hitler authorized the Blue Division Medal (Erinnerungsmedaille für die spanischen Freiwilligen im Kampf gegen den Bolschewismus) due to this action, which he personally had designed.

The Blue Division is interesting in quite a few ways, not the least of which is that figuring out Franco's motives in any one thing are always a bit difficult to do.  Allowing the recruitment of a division amounted to aid to the Germans, in addition to that which was already being provided, without committing to the war as Italy had.  It also meant that the most  hardcore of the Spanish right was bleeding in the war, which a person has to suspect didn't hurt Franco's feelings, as he was never actually a Falangist himself.

The SS began recruiting Bosnian Muslims for the Waffen SS 13th Division.  They did not respond to the call as enthusiastically as hoped, and while this unit remains popular amongst Wehrmacht fans, it isn't an example of a hugely successful SS foreign recruiting drive.  Indeed, most such efforts by the SS were not terribly successful.

Classified as mountain infantry, the division did come to full strength and was used in anti-partisan warfare in Yugoslavia, where, like most such units, it gained a reputation for barbarity.  About 10% of the division was made up of non-Muslim, principally Croatian, recruits, which Himmler had not desired to enlist.  Officers of the unit were German or Yugoslavian Volkdeutsch.  

Its area of operations were limited to Bosnia and its an example of how some of World War Two became, locally, a bigger war within a local war.  Yugoslavia featured a particularly difficult to follow civil war throughout World War Two.

Up to a 1,000 survivors of this unit, and another one, went on to fight against the Israelis in Arab armies in the 1948-49 Arab Israeli War.

Vesta Stoudt, an ordinance factor worker, wrote to President Roosevelt about her idea for what would become duct tape.

Mohandas Gandi started a hunger strike while imprisoned in response to the British government's request that he condemn the violence of the Quit India Movement. 

Monday, January 18, 1943. Encirclement of Leningrad broken.

The Red Army broke the encirclement of Leningrad.  Zhukov was accordingly promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union on the same day.

The relief came with the capture of the city of the somewhat ironically named, given its very German character, Shlisselburg (Шлиссельбу́рг,) or, in German: Schlüsselburg.  Given the nature of the region, we'll note its name in Finnish: Pähkinälinna and Swedish: Nöteborg.  The city dates to 1323 when a fort was built at the location by Grand Prince Yury of Moscow, in his capacity as Prince of Novgorod on behalf of the Novgorod Republic in 1323. In 1348 Swedish King Magnus Eriksson took the fortress.  It was retaken by the Novgorodians in 1351. In 1478 the Novgorod Republic was absorbed by Muscovy and a new fortress was constructed there. In 1611 the fortress was taken by the Swedes again.  The Russians took it back in 1702, at which time Peter the Great renamed it Shlisselburg, a Russian aliteration of the German word "key fortress", which is what Peter was trying to name it, in German.

It's just to the west of St. Petersburg, then called Leningrad, on Lake Lagoda.

Zhukov was lucky, and the Soviet Union accordingly lucky, to have been stationed in the Soviet East during the purges, or he likely would have been killed with so many others.  He was well liked by his superior and protected by him, with his superior likewise remaining in Stalin's fickle favor while so many else were killed in a sea of blood that remains almost incapable of being grasped.

The first Warsaw Ghetto Uprising occurred when the Germans began their second deportation from the ghetto.  Members of the Jewish resistance organization Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ZOB) took on the SS with pistols and disrupted the deportation sufficiently to halt it after four days of fighting.  ZOB was lead by Mordechai Anielewicz who was only about 24 at the time.

In the U.S. War Food Order No. 1 went into effect requiring white bread be enriched with niacin, riboflavin, thiamin and iron, something that became standard by law in some states, and simply by custom generally, thereafter.  

Also:

January 18, 1943 – Wartime Ban on Sale of Sliced Bread Goes into Effect in the U.S.

Tuesday, January 12, 1943. Landings at Amchitka, Operation Iskra.

The U.S. landed troops on Amchitka.  It was an unopposed landing, as the Japanese had chosen not to occupy it.  Weather was bad and unpredictable and the USS Wordon was swept into rocks and ultimately broke up.  Fourteen of the crew died and the commanding officer was swept off the ship, but survived, while it was being abandoned.  The Japanese learned of the landing several days later when weather cleared sufficiently for a scout plane to overfly the island.

USS Worden sinking.

The island was used as an airbase by the U.S. in spite of the horrible weather it experiences, and set the stage for the US assault on Kiska.

The island is large by Aleutian standards, consisting of 116 square miles.  Not too surprisingly, given its size, it was historically occupied by the Aleuts but there has been no population on the island since 1832.  It's tectonically unstable.

Because of its uninhabited status, it was chosen by the US for underground detonation of nuclear weapons in order to test seismic detection, with nuclear weapons being inserted in bore holes in 1965, 1969 and 1971.

The parents of the Sullivan Brothers were informed for the first time that their sons, who had gone down in action in November, were missing in action.

In our last entry we noted the ship named in honor of the Sullivan brothers, the USS Sullivans.  Oddly enough, it was in the news yesterday after taking a huge haul of Iranian AKMs that were being shipped to Yemen.

Winston Churchill departed for Morocco to meet with Franklin Roosevelt, who had left the day prior.  Their departures were obviously kept secret.

The Soviets launched Operation Iskra aimed at breaking the German's siege on Leningrad.

Pierre Laval concluded a deal with Nazi Germany, allowing the Germans to administer the Departments du Nord and Pas de Calais.  France, under the arrangement, also pledged to provide 400,000 skilled workers to Germany and to essentially provide the remaining elements of its navy to Germany.  France retained the policing role in the German administered territories.

President Roosevelt addressed farmers for Farm Mobilization Day.

January 12, 1943

All over the world, food from our country's farms is helping the United Nations to win this war. From the South Pacific to the winter front in Russia, from North Africa to India, American food is giving strength to the men on the battle lines, and sometimes also to the men and women working behind the lines. Somewhere on every continent the food ships from this country are the life line of the forces that fight for freedom. This afternoon we have heard from some of the military and civilian righters who look to us for food. No words of mine can add to what they have said.

But on this Farm Mobilization Day I want to round out the picture and tell you a little more about the vital place that American farmers hold in the entire war strategy of the United Nations.

Food is a weapon in total war- fully as important in its way as guns or planes or tanks. So are other products of the farm. The long-staple cotton that goes into parachutes, for example, the oils that go into paints for the ships and planes and guns, the grains that go into alcohol to make explosives also are weapons.

Our enemies know the use of food in war. They employ it cold-bloodedly to strengthen their own fighters and workers and to weaken or exterminate the peoples of the conquered countries. We of the United Nations also are using food as a weapon to keep our fighting men fit and to maintain the health of all our civilian families. We are using food to earn the friendship of people in liberated areas and to serve as a promise and an encouragement to peoples who are not yet free. Already, in North Africa, the food we are sending the inhabitants is saving the energies and the lives of our troops there. In short we are using food, both in this country and in Allied countries, with the single aim of helping to win this war.

Already it is taking a lot of food to fight the war. It is going to take a lot more to win the final victory and win the peace that will follow. In terms of total food supply the United Nations are far stronger than our enemies. But our great food resources are scattered to the ends of the earth—from Australia and New Zealand to South Africa and the Americas- and we no longer have food to waste. Food is precious, just as oil and steel are precious. As part of our global strategy, we must produce all we can of every essential farm product; we must divide our supplies wisely and use them carefully. We cannot afford to waste any of them.

Therefore the United Nations are pooling their food resources and using them where they will do the most good. Canada is sending large shipments of cheese, meats, and other foods on the short North Atlantic run to Britain. Australia and New Zealand are providing a great deal of the food for American soldiers stationed in that part of the world. Food from Latin America is going to Britain.

Every food-producing country among the United Nations is doing its share. Our own share in food strategy, especially at this stage of the war, is large, because we have such great resources for production; and we are on direct ocean lanes to North Africa, to Britain, and to the northern ports of Russia.

American farmers must feed our own growing Army and Navy. They must feed the civilian families of this country and feed them well. They must help feed the fighting men and some of the war workers of Britain and Russia and, to a lesser degree, those of other Allied countries.

So this year, as never before, the entire Nation is looking to its farmers. Many quarters of the free world are looking to them too. American farmers are a small group with a great task. Although 60 percent of the world's population are farm people, only 2 percent of that population are American farmers. But that 2 percent have the skill and the energy to make this country the United Nations' greatest arsenal for food and fiber.

In spite of the handicaps under which American farmers worked last year, the production victory they won was among the major victories of the United Nations in 1942. Free people everywhere can be grateful to the farm families who made that victory possible.

This year the American farmer's task is greater, and the obstacles more formidable. But I know that once more our farmers will rise to their responsibility.

This farm mobilization is the first day ever dedicated by a President to the farm people of the Nation. I know that the whole country joins with me in a tribute to the work farmers already have done, in a pledge of full support in the difficult task which lies ahead for farmers, and in a prayer for good weather to make farmers' efforts more fruitful.

Our fighting men and allies, and our families here at home can rely on farmers for the food and other farm products that will help to bring victory.

Saturday, September 5, 1942. British victory in the desert.

The Battle of Alam el Halfa, part of the larger First Battle of Tobruk, concluded with an Allied victory. 

Today in World War II History—September 5, 1942: Japanese reach Owen Stanley Gap in drive toward Port Moresby, New Guinea. New song in Top Ten: “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo.”

From Sarah Sundin's blog.

And, from the sadly inactive Today World War II Day By Day:

Guadalcanal. Just before 1 AM, Japanese destroyers Yudachi, Hatsuyuki and Murakumo shell Henderson Field as they return from landing troops at Taivu. A US Navy PBY Catalina floatplane drops flares to illuminate the attackers but instead lights up US fast transport ships (converted WWI-era destroyers) USS Gregory and USS Little in Savo Sound, which are promptly sunk by Yudachi (USS Gregory 22 killed, 43 wounded; USS Little 62 killed, 27 wounded; survivors from both ships rescued by US destroyer USS Manley). During the day off Santa Isabel Island, US Cactus Air Force operating from Henderson Field again sinks barges carrying heavy equipment for the Japanese troops on Guadalcanal.

The Red Army drove into the Sinyavino Gap, closing to within 3.5 miles of the Leningrad lines. They were, however, exhausted and could not advance further.  On the same day, the Soviet 24th and 66th Armies counterattacked the XIV Panzer Corp at Stalingrad, but their progress was halted due to the Luftwaffe.

The Saturday Evening Post, which I can't put up here due to copyright restrictions for 1942, published a classic in its Willie Gillis series with two young women both picking up photos of Gillis, from Gillis, at  their mailboxes.  The title of the illustration was "Trouble for Gillis".  On the same Saturday, The New Yorker published an illustration of male war workers looking out with envy at the lunches of their female coworkers.  The Toronto Star Weekly featured an illustration of charging Soviet cavalrymen.

Sunday, August 30, 1942. Montgomery anticipates Rommel.

Aided by Ultra, Montgomery plans a heavy reception for an Afrika Korps attack he knows to be coming.  In the Battle of Alam el Halfa Rommel, on this day, finds his forces caught in dense minefields and bombed by a combined air effort by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.  The battle would continue until September 5.

The Red Army also found itself oppressed from the air, in this case in their effort to relieve Leningrad, which started to grind to a halt.

Japanese assaults at the Isurava Rest House on Papua caused the Australians to withdraw from the location to Eora.

The Japanese landed 1,000 troops overnight at Guadalcanal, as well as sinking the US fast transport ship USS Colhoun.

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

Wednesday, August 12, 1942 The Second Moscow Conference commences.

The Second Moscow Conference opened on this day in 1942.  Averrell Harriman attended for the United States.  Churchill was there in person for the United Kingdom and, of course, Joseph Stalin was there, where he would have been anyway, for the USSR.

At least from an external view, the war was really not going well at this time for the Allies.  The Soviets were being pushed back inside their own borders every day, and it would have been rational to conclude that the latest big city to be entered, Stalingrad, would fall within days.  British Commonwealth forces had been pushed back to El Alamein, where they had however arrested the German advance.  The Japanese were advancing in New Guinea, and while the US had landed Marines on Guadalcanal, the Japanese Navy had driven the U.S. Navy from its coast.

Stalin's trip to the USSR would be regarded an ordeal by modern travelers.  He met with Stalin at 7:00 p.m. that night, having just arrived from Tehran, and informed Stalin immediately that there would not be a second front in 1942, although he then went on to inform Stalin about developing plans for Operation Torch, the landings in North Africa, which by any rational measure was a boosting of an existing second front.

Churchill promised landings in France in 1943.

On this day the Germans took Slavyansk and, in Operation Pedestal, the British ships Cairo and Foresight were sunk and the tanker Ohio badly damaged. The Ohio had to be taken under tow.  The convoy was constantly under attack from the air and sea by German and Italian forces.  

The Germans, however, transferred forces from Case Blue to the siege at Leningrad, which weakened the offensive which was already running into trouble.  Erich von Manstein was dispatched with those forces to Leningrad.

Actor Phillips Holmes died in a midair collision while serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force.  Actor and future aircrewman Clark Gable joined the U.S. Army as a private.  He was 41 years old.

Sunday, July 12, 1942. The deaths of Powell and Yeryomenko, The turning of Vlasov, The reinforcement of Stalingrad, The fatal commitement of the German 104th Infantry Regiment, The blindness of Hirsacker, The end of the Himaya Maru.

One of the most famous photographs of World War Two, and one of the best featuring the Red Army, was likely taken on this day in 1942.  The photo, entitled "Kombat", is commonly assserted to have featured political officer Aleksei Yeryomenko (likely a Ukrainian given the last name).  He is asserted to have been killed mere minutes after this photograph was taken.  While this is commonly accepted, there is doubt on these claims.  By RIA Novosti archive, image #543 / Alpert / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579366

Today in World War II History—July 12, 1942: Australians reach Kokoda, New Guinea, having marched from Port Moresby over Owen Stanley Mountains. First 49 civilian Coastal Picket Patrol craft go on patrol.

Soviet General Andrey Vlasov is turned over to the Germans by a Russian farmer after having hid behind German lines for ten days outside of Leningrad.  He had been the commander of the Red Army's 2nd Shock Army.  He'd defect to the Germans and become the commander of the Axis Russian Liberation Army.

Vlasov's command would be in large part titular, as the Russian Liberation Army would not really be committed by the Germans until late in the war.  Having said that, a huge number of Russians and other Soviet citizens volunteered to serve the Germans in varying ways, not all armed, and not all for the same reasons.  Vlasov's efforts would result in his execution in 1946 by the Soviet government, which logically enough tried him for treason or something akin to it. Perhaps more surprisingly, a monument to him exists in a Russian Orthodox convent in Nanuet, New York, and a memorial service is said for him and his men twice annually.

The Soviets began to move massive numbers of troops to Stalingrad.

The newly arrived German 104th Infantry Regiments assaults Australian lines at El Alamein and suffers 50% casualties.

A German wolfpack attacks the unescorted convoy OS-33 in the Atlantic.  U-752, part of the wolfpack, reports not finding any vessels which would result in its commander, Heinz Hirsacker, later being convicted of cowardice in the presence of the enemy.

The USS Seadragon sank the Japanese transport ship Himaya Maru off of Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina.

Pioneering polymath African American aviator William J. Powell, who was an engineer by training and a veteran of the First World War, died from the lingering effects of poison gas exposure from World War One.  He was 44 years old.

Powell in 1917.

Tuesday, May 5, 1942. The beginning of the end for the US at Corregidor and Vichy France on Madagascar.

Today in World War II History—May 5, 1942: First 29 Navajo recruits begin boot camp with the US Marine Corps; they will pioneer code-talking.

Sarah Sundin's blog catalogs a lot of significant Second World War Events for today's date, including the Japanese landing on Corregidor, the beginning of the end of the Battle for the Philippines, as well as the British Commonwealth invasion of Vichy France's colony of Madagascar, the latter undertaken out of fear that the Japanese would land there.

The Germans, it might be noted, had urged the Japanese to do just that.  The Japanese, for their part, had acknowledged that the island was strategically important, but had not committed to landing there, perhaps realizing that by this point they were at the absolute limits of their logistical abilities and such an operation would have been massively exposed to Allied strikes.

The action was at least the third time that the British had attacked the French in the war, which is of note. The French had resisted every time, but up to that point they had not declared war against the United Kingdom in spite of it. This invasion was undoubtedly a massive violation of French neutrality, but would not lead to such a declaration.  Of course, by this point, the Vichy French had sustained a similar usurpation of their sovereignty in Indochina by the Japanese. 

The Germans relieved the Kholm pocket in the Soviet Union.  The German troops there had been encircled since January and had been resupplied by air, something that would make the Germans overconfident about the ability to accomplish that for surrounded troops.  During the long siege the Germans had sustained 3,500 casualties including 1,500 dead, meaning that well over 50% of the surrounded force had become casualties.  The Red Army, however, sustained 20,000 casualties attempting to take the city.

Sundin also note the commencement of sugar rationing in the United States on this date.

Thursday, January 22, 1942. Japanese murders, Russian evacuations.

The Japanese shot, bayoneted, and beheaded withe swords 110 Australian and 40 Indian wounded prisoners and their medics in Malaya, the Parit Sulong Massacre.

The Japanese Imperial Guards commander, General Takuma Nishimura was tried after the war for war crimes due to this, and was hanged on June 11, 1951, although there is some doubt about his culpability for the actions of the troops.

It ought to be noted that actions like this by the Japanese were completely common during World War Two, and seem to have become common in the Japanese military no later than the 1930s.  This had not been the case earlier, as for example in the Russo Japanese War.

The Soviets advanced in their Winter offensive, the Afrika Korps advanced in theirs.

The Soviets also started evacuating residents of Leningrad over Lake Ladoga, which was frozen.

Six Allied merchant ships went down due to submarines in Operation Drumbeat.

Monday, December 22, 1941. Et in Arcadia ego

The Arcadia Conference, which President Roosevelt and Prime Ministers King and Churchill, and Chinese Ambassador Song attended, commenced.  Churchill, as usual, crossed the Atlantic by battleship.

The conference would reaffirm a Germany first policy in the war, the same having been already secretly decided upon prior to the US entering the war and the news of which had broken just shortly before Pearl Harbor.

Lieutenant Jack Dale of the U.S. Army Air Corps received a Distinguished Service Cross from General MacArthur December 22, 1941 for extraordinary heroism during attacks on Japanese bridgeheads at Vigan.

General Douglas MacArthur was conferring decorations upon American and Filipino airmen in Manila.  Shortly after this, Manila would have to be evacuated.

General Douglas MacArthur, left, congratulates Captain Villamor of the Philippine Air Force, after awarding him the Distinguished Service Cross, December 22, 1941. 

MacArthur has remained an enduringly controversial US military figure, with some individuals regarding him as heroic and others feeling that he was too problematic to fit that description.  No matter how looked at, his early leadership in the fight for the Philippines was oddly inadequate.

43,000 Japanese troops from the Imperial Japanese 48th Division landed at the Lingayen Gulf north of Manila. Their forces included 90 tanks.  American and Filipino resistance was light due to the defenders being made up of mostly poorly trained Filipino troops and being spread too thin.  Effectively, the fate of Manila was sealed.

On the same day, Japanese submarines surfaced and shelled the Navy airfield on Johnston Island and on Palmyra Atoll, both of which are straight south of the Hawaiian islands, albeit over 700 miles south.

US troops landed in Australia.  This was not a good sign, however, as it reflected the diversion of troops originally destined for the Philippines  

Curtiss SOC-1.

In the process the U.S. Navy lost a Curtiss SOC-1 Seagull which was flying an anti-submarine patrol from the arriving convoy.  It simply disappeared and was never found.  It was one of three dispatched for that purpose, with the other two returning safely.

The ice on Lake Lagoda was now 1 meter think, allowing Soviet KV tanks to cross it.

Axis forces began withdrawing from Benghazi by sea.  An Italian minefield off of Misrata ended up sinking an Italian and a German transport ship by accident in the process.

Italian forces defeated partisans at Sjenica in Montenegro.  Tito was upset about the partisan attack as he felt it was contrary to his orders.  The Italians had been aided by the participation of Serbian and Muslim militias on their side of the fight, and it commenced with a Communist partisan attack on their town in horrible snowy weather.

The US increased the conscription age up to age 44, although actual conscription of men above 40 would remain fairly rare throughout the war.  Men from 18 to 65 were not required to register.

The news magazines got into the spirit of the day, in a way.  Time came out on this date with a caricature of Admiral Yamamoto with a heavily yellow background.  Life, noting that people had been harassing all Asians, had a photo display of how to tell the Japanese from the Chinese, or so it claimed.

Sunday, November 4, 1941. Expanding operations.

Catalina's from Patrol Squadron 14 in November 1941.

U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron 14 arrived in Oahu.

The United States Army occupied Dutch Guiana (Surinam), which is now Suriname.

Today the country is a South American republic we frankly hardly ever think of, which all in all may generally be a good thing.  At this point in history, however, it was a Dutch colony, which it had been since the 1600s.  During the war, the Dutch government reconsidered its status, and it obtained a type of dominion status in 1954, and full independence in 1975.

The US had been concerned about its bauxite deposits prior to this date, not wanting them to fall to the Axis, although exporting bauxite from northern South America to Germany would have been impossible. The occupation did secure them for the Allies, however.

This time is noted here:

Today in World War II History—November 23, 1941

Also noted there, trucks were now crossing Lake Lagoda, having followed a  horse-drawn mission of the day prior.

The British were thrown back at Sidi Rezegh in the desert.

A bomb went off outside the U.S. Consulate in occupied Saigon, although there were no injuries. Shades of things to come.

A large fire damaged parts of Seward Alaska.