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.

Friday, January 7, 1944. Lou Henry Hoover passes away.

Lou Henry Hoover, wife of Herbert Hoover, died at age 69 of a heart attack while here and her husband were visiting New York.  Herbert returned to their hotel room to find her dead.

Like her husband, she was a geologist, being the first woman to receive a geology degree from Stanford.  Indeed, they had met while university students.

Herbert Hoover would live another 20 years as a widower.

The Red Army took Klesov in Poland. The area is now in Ukraine. The region had been predominately Jewish before the war.  Survivors of the Holocaust from nearby Rovno were deported to Poland after the Soviet Union redrew the borders after World War Two.

The 5th Army took San Vittore del Lazio, Monte Chiaia and Monte Porchia on the Bernhardt Line.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—January 7, 1944: 80 Years Ago—Jan. 7, 1944: In Second Arakan Campaign in Burma, RAF & US Tenth Air Force begin air supply to isolated West African troops.

The French Resistance sabotaged the electrical supply to the Arsenal National at Tulle in the first instance of such an attack. Many more were to follow.

"Interested natives look on as armorers place 50 cal. machine guns in the nose of a North American B-25G, Mullinnix Airfield, Tarawa, Gilbert Islands. 7 January 1944. (NARA)"

A British Mosquito is shot down with its Oboe navigational aid intact, allowing the Germans to develop countermeasures.

The United States Army Air Force announced the production of the Bell P-59 Airacomet.  The first US jet fighter aircraft, it would prove to be a disappointment and provided no real advantage over existing piston engined aircraft.

January 7, 1944.

Friday, December 31, 1943. New Years Eve

 

No ball was dropped in Times Square for the second year in a row.

With a strange mixture of abandon and restraint, San Francisco accorded 1943 a reasonable facsimile of the traditional year-end sendoff last night, and then settled back for a more or less sober inspection of A. D. 1944.

San Francisco Examiner.

Friday, given the nature of the celebrations of New Years, is a particularly good day for the end of the year to fall on.

Not everyone was celebrating:

Photo of a U.S air raid on a ball bearing plant near Paris, December 31, 1943.

Today in World War II History—December 31, 1943: The US Victory Book Campaign closes due to inefficiency of the program and to the publication of the Armed Services Editions books.

A remarkable entry by Sarah Sundin.

She also notes:

The Marines secured an airfield on Cape Gloucester; and

The commissioning of the USS Cassin Young, which is a museum ship today (photo on blog included).  Ms. Sundin, it should be noted, has an article on museum destroyers.  I'd like to visit one.  I've been on battleships and submarines, but not destroyers.

Hitler delivered a New Year's message to the Germans admitting that the Third Reich had suffered heavy reverses in and that the upcoming year would require more, and in fact would approach the crisis level.  He also noted that the Allies would land on the Atlantic Coast.

It's often noted, and apparently correctly, that the German people didn't really appreciate the dire circumstances they were in until January 1945.  While that seems to be true, it's hard to understand, given that they were certainly getting lots of bad news, in this case even from the very top.

It should be noted that the concluding year, 1943, was the one in which not only did German battlefield fortunes begin to massively decline, but that an accompanying massive expansion of the Holocaust began.

In preparation for those landings, Field Marshall Rommel was inspecting fortifications on the coast of Northern France.

Douglas MacArthur visited troops under his command, including this group of Native American soldiers.

From left: Staff Sergeant Virgil Brown (Pima), First Sergeant Virgil F. Howell (Pawnee), Staff Sergeant Alvin J. Vilcan (Chitimacha), General MacArthur, Sergeant Byron L. Tsingine (Diné [Navajo]), Sergeant Larry Dekin (Diné [Navajo]).

Deputy Prime Minister Clement Attlee broadcast a New Years Eve message to the British people promising that the "hour of reckoning" had come for Germany, but also warning that 1944 would involve heavy sacrifice.

The Red Army captured Zhytomyr.

Argentina's President, Gen. Pedro Ramirez, dissolved political parties and restored the requirement of Roman Catholic education in all Argentine public schools.

Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (John Denver) was born in Rosewell, New Mexico.

Sub Lt. G.C. Morris flying Spitfire P8537 of 761 Squadron attempting land on HMS Ravager without a tail wheel - New Year's Eve 1943.

Christmas Day, 1943.

1st Marine convoy en route for invasion of Cape Gloucester, New Britain.

Raids on Berlin by the Royal Air Force and the U.S. Army Air Force were temporarily halted.  The Luftwaffe likewise conducted no raids on the United Kingdom.

Sixty-four prisoners tunneled out of the Ninth Fort in Lithuania.  The facility housed mostly Lithuanian Jews.  About half would be recaptured by mid-January.

U.S. Task Force 50.2 raided Kavieng, New Guinea, with aircraft, sinking a Japanese transport ship.

The Scharnhorst departed northern Norway to attack Convoy JW-55B.

The epic The Song of Bernadette was released.

The film tells the story of St. Bernadette Soubirous, the French peasant woman who saw the Virgin Mary at Lourdes.

Attending movies at Christmas, and even on Christmas Day, is a tradition with a lot of people, although I've never done it.  

Christmas service on USS Card, December 25, 1943.

USS Brooklyn (CL 40), galley, Christmas morning, 1943.  Malta.

Saturday, December 18, 1943. German terror expands.

T/5 Cletus H. Moert, Louisville, Ky., holds pigeon and while reading message taken from its leg. Pozzilli Sector, Italy. 18 December, 1943.

Heinrich Himmler revoked most exemptions for Jews married to Gentiles in Germany.  Jewish spouses, for the most part, ordered deported to Theresienstadt in January, with exceptions for couples that had very young children or who had lost a child in combat.

The SS murdered 118 men at Drakela, Greece, in a reprisal for partisan activities.

The US 5th Army captured Monte Lungo.  San Pietro is taken by the 36th Infantry Division.

Three officials of the Kharkov Gestapo were tried before a Soviet military Court, found guilty and sentenced to death.  All three, Hans Rietz, Wilhelm Langfeld, and Reinhard Retzlaff would be executed the following day.

The U.S. Army formed a Counter Intelligence Corps unit for the Manhattan Project.

The Japanese destroyer Numakaze was sunk by the US submarine Grayback.

Famous British rocker Keith Richards was born in Kent.

Cpl. Albert Allen of Chicago, Ill., and Cpl. Byron Davis of Lansing, Mich., (15th Weather Squadron), sit down to a meal of "J" rations, December 18, 1943 on New Britain.  Cpl. Davis appears to be wearing jump boots.

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.

Sunday, December 5, 1943. Operation Crossbow commences.

Operation Crossbow, the airborne offensive against V-1 rocket sites, commenced.  It would go on until the end of the war.

Italian Jews interned for the first time at Fossoli di Carpi.

By Fondazionefossoli - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4089375

The facility had originally been a POW camp.  It would only be a staging area for the deportation of Italian Jews to the German Holocaust machine, not a permanent concentration camp to house them.

The Battle of Sio commenced on New Guinea.

Calcutta was bombed during the day by the Japanese for the first time.

Tuesday, November 30, 1943. SSN's

 

President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9397 took effect.  It provided.

Whereas certain Federal agencies from time to time require in the administration of their activities a system of numerical identification of accounts of individual persons; and

Whereas some seventy million persons have heretofore been assigned account numbers pursuant to the Social Security Act; and

Whereas a large percentage of Federal employees have already been assigned account numbers pursuant to the Social Security Act; and

Whereas it is desirable in the interest of economy and orderly administration that the Federal Government move towards the use of a single, unduplicated numerical identification system of accounts and avoid the unnecessary establishment of additional systems:

Now, Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Hereafter any Federal department, establishment, or agency shall, whenever the head thereof finds it advisable to establish a new system of permanent account numbers pertaining to individual persons, utilize exclusively the Social Security Act account numbers assigned pursuant to Title 26, section 402.502 of the 1940 Supplement to the Code of Federal Regulations and pursuant to paragraph 2 of this order.

The Social Security Board shall provide for the assignment of an account number to each person who is required by any Federal agency to have such a number but who has not previously been assigned such number by the Board. The Board may accomplish this purpose by (a) assigning such numbers to individual persons, (b) assigning blocks of numbers to Federal agencies for reassignment to individual persons, or (c) making such other arrangements for the assignment of numbers as it may deem appropriate.

The Social Security Board shall furnish, upon request of any Federal agency utilizing the numerical identification system of accounts provided for in this order, the account number pertaining to any person with whom such agency has an account or the name and other identifying data pertaining to any account number of any such person.

The Social Security Board and each Federal agency shall maintain the confidential character of information relating to individual persons obtained pursuant to the provisions of this order.

There shall be transferred to the Social Security Board, from time to time, such amounts as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine to be required for reimbursement by any Federal agency for the services rendered by the Board pursuant to the provisions of this order.

This order shall be published in the Federal Register.

The order meant that every American would need to acquire a Social Security Number.

The Red Army withdrew from Korosten in Ukraine.  It had held the city for twelve days before yielding it back to the Germans.

The Italian Social Republic's Minister of the Interior ordered the arrest of all Jews within its boundaries and their deportation to concentration camps.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—November 30, 1943: US takes unoccupied Abaiang and Marakei Atolls north of Tarawa in Gilberts. Construction of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico is completed.

Monday, November 15, 1943. The Combat Infantry Badge.

One of the awards most respected by soldiers to be issued by the U.S. Army, the Combat Infantry Badge, was authorized.

Limited to infantrymen alone who have seen actual ground combat, the creation of the award acknowledged the particular horrors experienced by infantrymen in combat.  The World War Two awards were upgraded, which they likely should not have been as it cheapened the original awards, to Bronze Stars in the 1980s, reflecting the particular horrors of World War Two in which soldiers were not rotated home but served until severely injured, killed, or the end of the war.

It followed the authorization of the Expert Infantry Badge, which had been authorized on November 11, 1943.

Both awards remain enormously respected in the U.S. Army.

"Nomadic" Gypsies in the Soviet Union were reclassified by Germany to be in the same racial category as Jews and therefore subject to the death camps, whereas "sedentary" Romani were classified as citizens of the country they were in.

The order would ultimately extend beyond the occupied regions of the USSR and was another example of how, as Nazi Germany's fate became sealed, it became more homicidal.

Offensive actions by the U.S. Fifth Army were halted by Gen. Alexander.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 15: 1943 1943  Harmonica player Larry Adler played at the University of Wyoming.  Adler was a well known harmonica player.

Manuel L. Quezon was inaugurated as President of the Philippines, in exile. It was his third term.  In the Philippines a collaborationist government, not as disdained by the post-war Philippines as might be supposed, was in control, with the sanction of the Japanese.

The Cross Mountain, Colorado post office was closed, putting an end to the Moffat County town.

Tuesday, November 9, 1943. Humanitarian Efforts.

The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration was created 

Senate Resolution 203 was introduced, calling for the Federal Government to come up with a plant to save "the surviving Jewish people of Europe from extinction."  House Resolutions 350 and 352 were passed calling for the creation of an agency to resettle those survivors to neutral nations.

Marines on Bougainville, November 1943.

The U.S. Marines prevailed in the Battle for Piva Trail.  The 3d Marine Division advanced off the beachhead at Cape Tarokina.  The U.S. Army's 37th Division began landing on the island.

Gen. Giraud and Gen. Georges resigned from the Free French Committee of National Liberation.  Giraud remained its militar commander in chief.

The U-707 was sunk near the Azores by an RAF B-17.

Monday, November 8, 1943. Lebanese declaration of independence, Battle for Piva Trail, Albanian landing.

The Lebanese legislature voted to end the French League of Nations mandate.  The French would accordingly arrest the government.

Radio Moscow reported only one Jew remained alive in Kyiv out of a prewar population of 140,000.

The two-day Battle for Piva Trail commenced on Bougainville.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—November 8, 1943: US C-53 cargo plane carrying 13 flight nurses & 13 medics of the 807th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadroncrash-lands in Nazi-occupied Albania.

She reports they walked out over a period of two months.

Thursday, November 4, 1943. Island hopping.

 A seaplane tender in Aleutian waters trains a 40mm battery on an unidentified aircraft, November 4, 1943.

The U.S. War Department concluded that attacking Japan from mainland China was impracticable.  Therefore, the island strategy was solidly recommended.

An uprising broke out at the Szebnie concentration camp in Poland following the execution of over 1,000 of its prisoners. The SS rapidly suppressed it and the inmates are shipped to Auschwitz.

The Red Army broke out of its Dniepr bridgeheads.

A newly arrived Japanese Imperial Navy task force consisting of ten cruisers and ten destroyers is spotted by the U.S. Navy near Rabaul resulting in Task Force 38 preparing to strike it from the air.

The Allies achieve full lateral communications through Isernia in Italy.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—November 4, 1943: Plutonium processing plant opens at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for atomic bomb development as the X-10 graphite reactor reaches criticality.

Wednesday, November 3, 1943. Aktion Erntefest

Over 18,000 Jewish prisoners were shot on this day at the Majdanke concentration camp in Poland in Aktion Erntefest, named after the traditional German harvest festival.  Music associated with the festival and dance music was played over loudspeakers to drown out the sounds of the massacre.

An additional 6,000 were murdered at Trawniki concentration camp. 

Over 42,000 Jews would be murdered over a course of several days.

Hitler issued Führer Directive Number 51.  It stated:

Führer Headquarters3 November 1943 Top Secret The Führer  OKW/WFSt/Op.No. 662656/43 g.K. Chefs

For the last two and one-half years the bitter and costly struggleagainst Bolshevism has made the utmost demands upon the bulk of ourmilitary resources and energies. This commitment was in keeping with the seriousness of the danger, and the over-all situation. The situation has since changed. The threat from the East remains, but an even greater danger looms in the West: the Anglo-American landing! In the East, the vastness of the space will, as a last resort, permit a loss of territory even on a major scale, without suffering a mortal blow to Germany’s chance for survival.

Not so in the West! If the enemy here succeeds in penetrating our defenses on a wide front, consequences of staggering proportions will follow within a short time. All signs point to an offensive against theWestern Front of Europe no later than spring, and perhaps earlier.

For that reason, I can no longer justify the further weakening of the West in favor of other theaters of war. I have therefore decided to strengthen the defenses in the West, particularly at places from which we shall launch our long-range war against England. For those are the very points at which the enemy must and will attack; there-unless all indications are misleading-will be fought the decisive invasion battle.

Holding attacks and diversions on other fronts are to be expected. Not even the possibility of a large-scale offensive against Denmark may beexcluded. It would pose greater nautical problems and could be less effectively supported from the air, but would nevertheless produce thegreatest political and strategic impact if it were to succeed.

During the opening phase of the battle, the entire striking power of the enemy will of necessity be directed against our forces manning the coast. Only an all-out effort in the construction of fortifications, an unsurpassed effort that will enlist all available manpower and physical resources of Germany and the occupied areas, will be able to strengthenour defenses along the coasts within the short time that still appears to be left to us.

Stationary weapons (heavy AT guns, immobile tanks to be dug-in, coast artillery, shore-defense guns, mines, etc.) arriving in Denmark and the occupied West within the near future will be heavily concentrated in points of main defensive effort at the most vulnerable coastal sectors.At the same time, we must take the calculated risk that for the present we may be unable to improve our defenses in less threatened sectors.

Should the enemy nevertheless force a landing by concentrating his armed might, he must be hit by the full fury of our counterattack. For this mission ample and speedy reinforcements of men and materiel, as well as intensive training must transform available larger units into first-rate,fully mobile general reserves suitable for offensive operations. The counterattack of these units will prevent the enlargement of the beachhead, and throw the enemy back into the sea.

In addition, well-planned emergency measures, prepared down to the last detail, must enable us instantly to throw against the invader every fit man and machine from coastal sectors not under attack and from the homefront.

The anticipated strong attacks by air and sea must be relentlessly countered by Air Force and Navy with all their available resources. I therefore order the following:

A) Army:

1.) The Chief of the Army General Staff and the Inspector General of Panzer Troops will submit to me as soon as possible a schedule covering arms, tanks, assault guns, motor vehicles, and ammunition to be allocated to the Western Front and Denmark within the next three months. That schedule will conform to the new situation. The following considerationswill be basic:

a) Sufficient mobility for all panzer and panzer grenadier divisions in the West, and equipment of each of those units by December 1943 with 93Mark IV tanks or assault guns, as well as large numbers of antitankweapons.

Accelerated reorganization of the 20 Luftwaffe Field Divisions into an effective mobile reserve force by the end of 1943. This reorganization isto include the issue of assault guns.

Accelerated issue of all authorized weapons to the SS Panzer Grenadier Division Hitler Jugend, the 21st Panzer Division, and the infantry andreserve divisions stationed in Jutland.

b) Additional shipments of Mark IV tanks, assault guns, and heavy AT guns to the reserve panzer divisions stationed in the West and in Denmark, as well as to the Assault Gun Training Battalion in Denmark.

c) In November and December, monthly allotments of 100 heavy AT guns models 40 and 43 (half of these to be mobile) in addition to thoserequired for newly activated units in the West and in Denmark.

d) Allotment of large numbers of weapons (including about 1,000 machineguns) for augmenting the armament of those static divisions that arecommitted for coastal defense in the West and in Denmark, and forstandardizing the equipment of elements that are to be withdrawn fromsectors not under attack.

e) Ample supply of close-combat AT weapons to units in vulnerablesectors.

f) Improvement of artillery and AT defenses in units stationed in Denmark, as well as those committed for coastal protection in theoccupied West. Strengthening of GHQ artillery.

2.) The units and elements stationed in the West or in Denmark, as well as panzer, assault gun, and AT units to be activated in the West, must not be transferred to other fronts without my permission. The Chief ofthe Army General Staff, or the Inspector General of Panzer Troops will submit to me a report through the Armed Forces Operations Staff as soon as the issue of equipment to the panzer and assault gun battalions, as well as to the AT battalions and companies, has been completed.

3.) Beyond similar measures taken in the past, the Commander in Chief West will establish time tables for, and conduct maneuvers and command post exercises on, the procedure for bringing up units from sectors not under attack. These units will be made capable of performing offensive missions, however limited. In that connection I demand that sectors not threatened by the enemy be ruthlessly stripped of all forces except small guard detachments. For sectors from which reserves are withdrawn,security and guard detachments must be set aside from security and alarmunits. Labor forces drawn largely from the native population must likewise be organized in those sectors, in order to keep open whateverroads might be destroyed by the enemy air force.

4.) The Commander of German Troops in Denmark will take measures in thearea under his control in compliance with paragraph 3 above.

5.) Pursuant to separate orders, the Chief of Army Equipment andCommander of the Replacement Army will form Kampfgruppen in regimental strength, security battalions, and engineer construction battalions fromtraining cadres, trainees, schools, and instruction and convalescentunits in the Zone of the Interior. These troops must be ready forshipment on 48 hours’ notice.

Furthermore, other available personnel are to be organized into battalions of replacements and equipped with the available weapons, sothat the anticipated heavy losses can quickly be replaced.

B) Luftwaffe:

The offensive and defensive effectiveness of Luftwaffe units in the Westand in Denmark will be increased to meet the changed situation. To that end, preparations will be made for the release of units suited for commitment in the anti-invasion effort, that is, all flying units and mobile Flak artillery that can be spared from the air defenses of thehome front, and from schools and training units in the Zone of the Interior. All those units are to be earmarked for the West and possibly Denmark.

The Luftwaffe ground organization in southern Norway, Denmark, northwestern Germany, and the West will be expanded and supplied in a waythat will-by the most far-reaching decentralization of own forces-denytargets to the enemy bombers, and split the enemy’s offensive effort incase of large-scale operations. Particularly important in that connection will be our fighter forces. Possibilities for their commitment must be increased by the establishment of numerous advance landing fields. Special emphasis is to be placed on good camouflage. I expect also that the Luftwaffe will unstintingly furnish all available forces, bystripping them from less threatened areas.

C) Navy:

The Navy will prepare the strongest possible forces suitable for attacking the enemy landing fleets. Coastal defense installations in the process of construction will be completed with the utmost speed. The emplacing of additional coastal batteries and the possibility of layingfurther flanking mine fields should be investigated.

All school, training, and other shore-based personnel fit for groundcombat must be prepared for commitment so that, without undue delay, they can at least be employed as security forces within the zone of the enemylanding operations.

While preparing the reinforcement of the defenses in the West, the Navy must keep in mind that it might be called upon to repulse simultaneous enemy landings in Norway and Denmark. In that connection, I attach particular importance to the assembly of numerous U-boats in the northern area. A temporary weakening of U-boat forces in the Atlantic must be risked.

D) SS:

The Reichsfuehrer-SS will determine what Waffen-SS and police forces he can release for combat, security, and guard duty. He is to prepare to organize effective combat and security forces from training, replacement,and convalescent units, as well as schools and other home-front establishments.

E) The commanders in chief of the services, the Reichsfuehrer-ss, the Chief of the Army General Staff, the Commander in Chief West, the Chief of Army Equipment and Commander of the Replacement Army, the Inspector General of Panzer Troops, as well as the Commander of German Troops in Denmark will report to me by 15 November all measures taken or planned.

I expect that all agencies will make a supreme effort toward utilizing every moment of the remaining time in preparing for the decisive battlein the West.

All authorities will guard against wasting time and energy in useless jurisdictional squabbles, and will direct all their efforts towardstrengthening our defensive and offensive power.

Adolf Hitler

The emphasis on Denmark, which would have made for a difficult invasion, is interesting. 

The diversionary Raid on Choiseul (Operation Blissful) came to an end.

Today in World War II History—November 3, 1943: Battleship USS Oklahoma, sunk at Pearl Harbor, is refloated, but it will be scrapped due to damage. US Eighth Air Force sends 566 bombers to Wilhelmshaven.

Sarah Sundin.

She also notes that Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes signed an interim agreement with coal miners allowing for the resumption of coal mining.

Monday, November 1, 1943. Landings on Bougainville.

14,000 U.S. Marines of the 3d Marine Division landed on Bougainville in the Solomons in the oddly named Operation Goodtime as well as the smaller Operation Cherryblossom.

The major operation would ultimately involve 144,000 US troops of the Marine Corps and the Army and 30,000 Australian troops.  Japanese defenses were initially overrun, the defending force consisting of only 200 men, but the island had 40,000 Japanese troops on it.  Operations would not cease until the end of the war, as the Japanese forces remained fighting up until that time.

Bougainville is a very large island that the Germans colonized starting in 1899.  It passed to Australian by way of a League of Nations mandate following World War One.

Internees at the Tule Lake Segregation Center surrounded the administration building during a visit by War Location Director Dillon S. Myer. 

Between 5,000 to 10,000 internees surrounded the building upon learning of Myer's unannounced visit until he consented to see a negotiating committee regarding grievances they held.

The USS Borie and the German submarine U-405 fought in the North Atlantic, with the result that both ships had to be scuttled.

President Roosevelt orders the Solid Fuels Administration to take over the operation of the nation's coal mines.

He also addressed Congress on the nation's food program.

The Moscow Conference issued its declaration on atrocities.

Moscow Declaration on Atrocities

by President Roosevelt, Mr. Winston Churchill and Marshal Stalin, issued on

November 1, 1943

The United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union have received from many quarters evidence of atrocities, massacres and cold-blooded mass executions which are being perpetrated by the Hitlerite forces in many of the countries they have overrun and from which they are now being steadily expelled. The brutalities of Hitlerite domination are no new thing and all people or territories in their grip have suffered from the worst form of Government by terror. What is new is that many of these territories are now being redeemed by the advancing armies of the liberating Powers and that, in their desperation, the recoiling Hitlerite Huns are redoubling their ruthless cruelties. This is now evidenced with particular clearness by the monstrous crimes of the Hitlerites on the territory of the Soviet Union which is being liberated from the Hitlerites and on French and Italian territory.

Accordingly the aforesaid three Allied Powers, speaking in the interests of the 32 United Nations, hereby solemnly declare and give full warning of their declaration as follows: At the time of the granting of any armistice to any Government which may be set up in Germany, those German officers and men and members of the Nazi party who have been responsible for or have taken a consenting part in the above atrocities, massacres and executions will be sent back to the countries in which their abominable deeds were done in order that they may be judged and punished according to the laws of these liberated countries and of the Free Governments which will be erected therein. Lists will be compiled in all possible detail from all these countries having regard especially to the invaded parts of the Soviet Union, to Poland and Czechoslovakia, to Yugoslavia and Greece including Crete and other islands, to Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Italy.

Thus, Germans who take part in wholesale shootings of Italian officers or in the execution of French, Dutch, Belgian or Norwegian hostages or of Cretan peasants, or who have shared in the slaughters inflicted on the people of Poland or in the territories of the Soviet Union which are now being swept clear of the enemy, will know that they will be brought back to the scene of their crimes and judged on the spot by the peoples whom they have outraged. Let those who have hitherto not imbued their hands with innocent blood beware lest they join the ranks of the guilty, for most assuredly the three Allied Powers will pursue them to the uttermost ends of the earth and will deliver them to the accusers in order that justice may be done.

The above declaration is without prejudice to the case of the major criminals whose offences have no particular geographical location and who will be punished by a joint decision of the Governments of the

Allies.

Wednesday, October 21, 1943. Indian declaration.

The Provisional Government of Azad Hind ("Free India") was declared with Subhas Chandra as president.  Its territory, such as it was, were those portions of Indian occupied by Japan.

It immediately declared it was entering the war on the Japanese side, an example of really not grasping the direction things were headed in, and in fact already well advanced towards.

On the same day, Japan began drafting high school and university students.

The Germans began liquidating the Minsk Ghetto as they were retreating from Belarus.

The RAF made a highly destructive raid on Kassel.

Algerian Jews, 140,000 in number were restored French citizenship, which had been restricted, along with the same for Algerian Arabs, on March 17, 1942 by Gen. Henri Giraud.  Arabs had to apply for restoration of their French citizenship.

Monday, October 18, 1943. Jewish Romans transported to Auschwitz.

Germany transported Roman Jews to Auschwitz.   Rome had one of the oldest Jewish populations in Europe.

Japan transferred four provinces of British Malaya to its ally Thailand.

Perry Mason was broadcast on the CBS Radio Network for the first time.  It would run until December 20, 1955.

Saturday, October 16, 1943. Arrest of Roman Jews.

German police arrested 1,259 Jews in Rome. 252 were subsequently released.  Unlike in France, the Germans did not attempt to use Italian police, as they were deemed unreliable.

News of the impending arrest had caused many others to previously take refuge with non-Jewish friends or in Catholic churches and institutions.

Approximately 1500 people from the US and 1500 people from Japan were at the start of a repatriation process as the  MS Gripsholm and theTeia Maru, docked alongside of each other at the Portuguese Indian port of Mormugao.

The U-470, U-533, U-844 and U-964 were  sunk.

The B-25D 'Red Wrath' of the 498th 'Falcons' Bomb Squadron, 345th 'Air Apaches' Bomb Group bombing Japanese anti-aircraft sites, Wewak & Boram, New Guinea, October 16, 1943.

Today in World War II History—October 16, 1943: After transfer from Italy, US Ninth Air Force is re-formed as a tactical force at Sunninghill, England, under Lt. Gen. Lewis Brereton . . . 

From Sarah Sundin's blog, which also includes a variety of other interesting events not noted here.

Thursday, October 14, 1943. Black Thursday.

The Eight Air Force raided Schweinfurt for the second time in a heavily opposed raid.

Seventy seven B-17s were shot down, along with four P-47s.  121 aircraft were ottherwise damaged.  590 Allied airmen were killed.

The target of the raid was ball bearing plants. The RAF refused to cooperate on the basis that ball bearings were a worthless object of a raid, something that post-war analysis proved correct.

An uprising commenced at Sobibor resulting in eleven SS and Ukrainian guards being killed.  SS-Untersturmführer Johann Niemann, thirty years of age and the commandant of Sobibor was the first one killed when he went to see a tailor, one of the prisoners, for a fitting.  The prisoner killed him with an axe, and his pistol was taken.

Three Hundred inmates escaped, although many were killed in nearby minefields or recaptured and immediately killed.  Fifty did survive and escape.  Those prisoners who had opted not to escape were also killed and the camp closed.

José P. Laurel, formerly a Philippines Supreme Court Justice, took the oath of office as President of the puppet Second Philippine Republic.  The Republic's then signed an alliance with Japan.

He also appealed to the Vatican at this time for recognition, which was refused on the stated basis that the Vatican did not wish to recognize any new states during the war.  Nonplussed, he sought the Filipinization of the Church in the Philippines.

We've already dealt with him in a previous post, and as noted there, he had a post-war political career in the country, demonstrating that the common view that East Asian collaborators were universally despised by their own people is not true.

Saturday, October 9, 1943. Last Stuka success against the UK.

HMS Panther.

The HMS Panther was sunk by a German Ju 87.  The sinking would be the last Stuka victory over a significant British target.

Heavy air action occured between the USAAF aircraft and the Luftwaffe off of the Rhodes.  Over twenty Ju87s were shot down, but they did sink the HMS Panther.  One US P-38 was lost.  The German dive bombers were attempting to attack ships of the Royal Navy that were detailed to support the Dodecanese campaign.

The very large land based dive bomber had been a huge success from its entry into service prior to World War Two.  It was first deployed in action in Spain, during the Spanish Civil War, but by this point its slow speed and the lack of a German ability to escort it meant that it was rapidly becoming undeployable in the West. This wold not be true in the East, where it would continue on, particularly in an anti tank role, until the end of the war.

The USS Buck was sunk off of Salerno by the U-616.  

SS operative Herbert Kappler was informed that the removal of Rome's Jews was directly ordered by Adolf Hitler.  Kappler asked for them to remain and be employed on construction projects in the city.

While the Ju87 was reaching its eclipse in the west, the USAAF bomber fleet was increasing its influence.

9 October 1943

The Land Battle of Vella Lavella ended in an Allied victory.

The Jesselton Revolt on British Borneo began with a guerilla uprising against the Japanese by the Kinabalu Guerrillas.

The USS Buck was sunk off of Salerno by the U-616.  

The Germans successfully completed their evacuation of the Kuban Pennensual. JE

Friday, October 8, 1943. Caserta Palace.

The British troops landed on Terceira Island, one of the Azores, in a little noted operation.

The Azores belong to Portugal and the population of the Azores are Portuguese.  The Allies had made plans to land there by force, much like they had in Iceland, but it proved unnecessary as the Portuguese agreed to lease air bases to the allies.

Portugal and the UK had been allies since the Napoleonic Wars, although Portugal had not entered the war.  They remained on friendly terms in spite of Portugal having a long sitting authoritarian government which would make one presume, in accurately, that it would have been sympathetic to the Germans.  In fact, at the start of the Second World War, Portugal announced that its 500-year-old plus treat with the UK remained in effect.  The UK, wisely, simply chose not to invoke it.  The British did begin, however, to occupy islands in the Azores starting in 1942 under lease from Portugal.

The Azores were known to Europeans prior to the 1370s.  Settlement by Portugal commenced in the 1439.

Today in World War II History—October 8, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Oct. 8, 1943: In Italy, US occupies Caserta Palace, future Headquarters of the US Fifth Army.

Sarah Sundin.

The British 8th Army took Lairon and Guglionesi. 

The last Jewish residents of the Liepaja Ghetto in Latvia were sent to the Kaiserwald concentration camp.