Showing posts with label Tobruk Libya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tobruk Libya. Show all posts

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Friday, November 13, 1942. The Sullivan's

In North Africa, the British 8th Army captured Tobruk, a major British victory and a major Afrika Korps defeat.

Off of the Solomon's, the Japanese sank the U.S. Navy light cruiser Juneau, which took 687 men with it, including five brothers of the Irish Catholic Sullivan family of Iowa.

The Sullivans.

It's commonly asserted that after this the U.S. military would not allow siblings to serve together, but in fact many siblings were already serving together in combat in North Africa as members of Federalized National Guard units. Entire towns would end up loosing huge numbers of their male citizens in the combat actions to come. There was a policy change, which relieved a sole survivor from military service, but it did not come until 1943, and was partially due to the deaths of the Borgstrom brothers of Utah as well.  Indeed, the Navy already had a policy precluding siblings from serving on the same vessel, but they did not actively enforce it.

A sister of the Sullivan brothers remained in Navy service.  Indeed, their enlistment in the Navy, or in once case a reenlistment, was to avenge the death of her boyfriend, who died at Peal Harbor.

The Sullivan family was not informed of the death of their sons until 1943, at which time their father was informed of all of their deaths at one time.  The Navy would commission a ship in their honor during the war, and oddly enough, one of the sons of the one of the men lost would later serve as a post-war officer aboard it. That ship has been decommissioned, but a second The Sullivans was commissioned to take its place.  

The current The Sullivans.

The tragic story was also made into a patriotic movie during the war itself, which was released in 1944.

The Sullivan story was the inspiration for the film Saving Private Ryan, although it's obviously in a much different setting.

It should be noted that at least over 100 men survived the sinking of the Juneau, and were spotted by an USAAC B-17, but radio silence precluded its rapid reporting.

On the same day the cruiser Atlanta and the destroyers Barton, Cushing, Laffey, Monssen and Preston went down while the Japanese suffered the loss of the cruiser Kinugasa and destroyers Akatsuki and YĆ«dachi.

Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama broke off diplomatic relations with Vichy France.

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Monday, September 14, 1942. Truman speaks.


Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri delivered a speech on developments in the War Program.

The Japanese effort at Edson's Ridge on Guadalcanal draws to a close in a Marine Corps victory.

US bombers stationed at Adak bomb the harbor at Kiska, damaging two Japanese submarines.

Stalingrad experienced fierce fighting and. . . frost.

The Japanese reached Ioribaiwa Ridge and attack, but the Australians hold out.

The Chinese take Wuyi.

Day two of Operation Agreement proves an Allied failure.

The Yankees took the 1942 American League Pennant, beating out the Cleveland Indians.

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Sunday, September 13, 1942. Japanese attacks on Edson's Ridge, Commonwealth raids on Tobruk, the Laconia Tragedy, Assaults at Stalingrad.

Marine Corps artillery and aircraft, from nearby Henderson Field, cause the Japanese to retreat from Edson's Ridge.  The Japanese, under the command of Gen. Kiyotaki Kawanguchi, tried again that night and broke through the line, but the were stopped by machinegun fire from Hill 123 as well as artillery.


General Kawanguchi was an unusual character who had previously objected to Japanese revenge killings of Philippine government and military officials following the fall of the Philippines.  He stated the killing of prisoners was a violation of Bushido.  Following his service at Guadalcanal, he was put on the reserve list, where he would remain until 1945.  He died in 1961.

The U-156 picked up survivors from the Laconia.  The U Boat commander sought additional help, and even broadcast in English for assistance.

The Germans commenced a large-scale offensive at Stalingrad resulting in house to house fighting, the commencement of that type of combat in the city. It made little progress.

Commonwealth forces commenced Operation Agreement near Tobruk, a series of amphibious and ground raids. They'd take large scale losses to little effect.

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Sunday, June 21, 2022. The Japanese shell Ft. Stevens. Tobruk falls.

The I25 followed up on the action by the I26 of yesterday's date and shelled Ft. Stevens, Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia River.  It failed to hit anything.  Ft. Stevens did not return fire for a variety of reasons, including the problems of firing at night, worrying about whether the fire was simply from a reconnaissance mission, and a concern that the guns mounts made firing on the I25 impossible.

Crater from the I25.

The failure to return fire caused the Army to start reevaluating coastal artillery.

The I25 was sunk by the US the following year.

Tobruk fell to the Afrika Korps, with the Germans taking over 25,000 prisoners of war.  Rommel was rewarded with the Field Marshall's baton on the same day.

The temperature in Tirat Zvi Palestine, now Israel, reached 129.2 F, which remains the record for that location.

Monday, June 20, 2022

Saturday, June 20, 1942. The I26 shells Estevan Point.

The Japanese submarine I26 shelled Estevan Point on British Columbia's Vancouver Island, but did not hit it, even after firing over 25 shells.  Ironically, the effort was somewhat successful in that it was then decided to turn all of the lights off for Pacific coast lighthouses, which caused problems for coast shipping.

The I26.

The I26's raid was the first time that Canadian soil had been attacked since the last of the Fenian Raids in 1871.

The I26 was the Imperial Japanese Navy's third-highest scoring submarine.  In October 1944 it disappeared at sea, and the cause of its loss is not really known.

The Afrika Korps commenced attacking Tobruk with artillery and aircraft, resulting in the 11th Infantry Brigade retreating and opening up the lines.

Three German saboteurs were arrested in New York City, their mission having been betrayed.

Friday, June 17, 2022

Wednesday, June 17, 1942. Yank goes to press.

First issue of Yank's pinup girl.

Yank magazine, a service produced magazine issued entirely by enlisted men, was issued for the first time.  

Actress Jane Randolph appeared as the pin up girl for the of the first issue, something that was a feature of every issue. Generally, the pinup was pretty mild, as would be expected from a service magazine.  The first issue's color pinup was unusual for any magazine of the era, as color was much less used in magazines at the time.

I'd like to put up the front cover of the magazine, but I can't find it.  Generally, Yank featured a black and white photograph.  It occasionally had combat illustrations on the cover, a lot of which were of very high quality.  Every now and then the pinup girl made the cover if she was a famous actress, such as Rita Hayworth.   The magazine was published throughout the war.

A second group of German saboteurs landed in Florida.  This was the second part of the plot to land German operatives in the US to sabotage German production, something that didn't go far due to the nearly immediate defection of two of the operatives who were landed in New York as addressed the other day.

Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was slightly wounded when a Korean nationalist shot him. The assailant was immediately killed by the return fire of Japanese policemen.

The Afrika Korps took control of the coast road to Bardia, thereby surrounding Tobruk.

Thursday, June 16, 2022

Tuesday, June 16, 1942. Allied setbacks.

Winston Churchill left the UK by plane to the United States for a visit with Franklin Roosevelt.

He would not have left had he known how dire the British position in North Africa was becoming, something that he'd been reassured about by Gen. Auchinleck before he departed.  On the same day, the Afrika Korps attacked El Adem and Sidi Rezegh near Tobruk, which effectively cut it off from contact with other British forces.

German U-boats had another good day in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

Operations Vigourous and Harpoon, designed to relieve Malta, concluded, largely a failure.

The Germans obliterated Ft. Maxim Gorky's artillery at Sevastopol.

The RAF conducted an ineffective nighttime raid on Essen.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Tuesday, May 26, 1942. Operation Venice commences, The Anglo Soviet Treaty of 1942 entered into, Armed Forces Radio Service starts.

The Armed Forces Radio Service, predecessor of the Armed Forces Network, was formed.

More on the AFN:

AFN - 80 Years of History

AFN: Keeping Military Troops, Families Informed Since 1942

The Soviet Union and the United Kingdom entered into a twenty year treaty of friendship.  It stated:


HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, IRELAND AND BRITISH DOMINIONS BEYOND THE SEAS, EMPEROR OF INDIA, AND THE PRESIDIUM OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS:
Desiring to confirm the stipulations of the agreement between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for joint action in the war against Germany signed at Moscow, July 12, 1941, and to replace them by formal treaty: 
Desiring to contribute after the war to the maintenance of peace and to the prevention of further aggression by Germany or the States associated with her in acts of aggression in Europe; 
Desiring, moreover, to give expression to their intention to collaborate closely with one another as well as with the other United Nations at the peace settlement and during the ensuing period of reconstruction on a basis of the principles enunciated in the <declaration made Aug. 14, 1941, by the President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, to which the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has adhered; 
Desiring finally to provide for mutual assistance in the event of attack upon either high contracting party by Germany or any of the States associated with her in acts of aggression in Europe; 
Have decided to conclude a treaty for that purpose and have appointed as their plenipotentiaries: 
His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions Beyond Seas, Emperor of India, for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:
The Right Hon. Anthony Eden, M. P., His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; 
The Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics:
M. Vyacheslaff Mikhailovitch Molotoff, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs,
Who, having communicated their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed as follows: 
PART ONE 
ARTICLE I 
In virtue of the alliance established between the United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the high contracting parties mutually undertake to afford one another military and other assistance and support of all kinds in war against Germany and all those States which are associated with her in acts of aggression in Europe. 
ARTICLE II 
The high contracting parties undertake not to enter into any negotiations with the Hitlerite Government or any other government in Germany that does not clearly renounce all aggression intentions, and not to negotiate or conclude, except by mutual consent, any armistice or peace treaty with Germany or any other State associated with her in acts of aggression in Europe. 
PART TWO 
ARTICLE III 
1. The high contracting parties declare their desire to unite with other like-minded States in adopting proposals for common action to preserve peace and resist aggression in the post-war period. 
2. Pending adoption of such proposals, they will after termination of hostilities take all measures in their power to render impossible the repetition of aggression and violation of peace by Germany or any of the States associated with her in acts of aggression in Europe. 
ARTICLE IV 
Should either of the high contracting parties during the postwar period become involved in hostilities with Germany or any of the States mentioned in Article III, Section 2, in consequence of the attack by that State against that party, the other high contracting party will at once give to the contracting party so involved in hostilities all military and other support and assistance in his power. 
This article shall remain in force until the high contracting parties, by mutual agreement, shall recognize that it is superseded by adoption of proposals contemplated in Article III, Section 1. In default of adoption of such proposals, it shall remain in force for a period of twenty years and thereafter until terminated by either high contracting party as provided in Article VIII. 
ARTICLE V 
The high contracting parties, having regard to the interests of security of each of them, agree to work together in close and friendly collaboration after re-establishment of peace for the organization of security and economic prosperity in Europe. 
They will take into account the interests of the United Nations in these objects and they will act in accordance with the two principles of not seeking territorial aggrandizement for themselves and of non-interference in the internal affairs of other States. 
ARTICLE VI 
The high contracting parties agree to render one another all possible economic assistance after the war. 
ARTICLE VII 
Each contracting party undertakes not to conclude any alliance and not to take part in any coalition directed against the other high contracting party. 
ARTICLE VIII 
The present treaty is subject to ratification in the shortest possible time and instruments of ratification shall be exchanged in Moscow as soon as possible. 
It comes into force immediately on the exchange of instruments of ratification and shall thereupon replace the agreement between the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom signed at Moscow July 12, 1941. 
Part One of the present treaty shall remain in force until the re-establishment of peace between the high contracting parties and Germany and the powers associated with her in acts of aggression in Europe. 
Part Two of the present treaty shall remain in force for a period of twenty years. Thereafter, unless twelve months' notice has been given by either party to terminate the treaty at the end of the said period of twenty years, it shall continue in force until twelve months after either high contracting party shall have given notice to the other in writing of his intention to terminate it. 
In witness whereof the above-named plenipotentiaries have signed the present treaty and have affixed thereto their seals. 
Done in duplicate in London on the twenty-sixth day of May, 1942, in the Russian and English language, both texts being equally authentic.

Axis forces in North Africa commenced an offensive operation, Operation Venice, with the goal of taking Tobruk.

On this war torn Tuesday of 1942 my father had his 13th birthday.  He would have gone to Mass.

Not because it was his birthday, but because this is the Feast of the Ascension, a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics.

In most diocese in the United States, this Holy Day has been transferred to a Sunday.   But in Nebraska it has not.  At this time, he would have been living principally in Scottsbluff, and therefore it would have been a Holy Day.  My guess is that his family would have caught an early morning Mass.

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Tuesday, December 30, 1941. A day of Axis setbacks.

 


The British offensive, Operation Crusader, drew to a successful conclusion on this day in 1941.  It had commenced on November 18.  It had driven the Axis forces in North Africa back from Tobruk and a substantial distance in retreat in Libya.

Winston Churchill, having recently addressed Congress, now addressed the Canadian Parliament in a speech famously recalled as the "Chicken Speech".  In it, he stated:

It is with feelings of pride and encouragement that I find myself here in the House of Commons of Canada, invited to address the Parliament of the senior Dominion of the Crown. I am very glad to see again my old friend Mr. Mackenzie King, for fifteen years out of twenty your Prime Minister, and I thank him for the too complimentary terms in which he has referred to myself. I bring you the assurance of good will and affection from every one in the Motherland. We are most grateful for all you have done in the common cause, and we know that you are resolved to do whatever more is possible as the need arises and as opportunity serves. Canada occupies a unique position in the British Empire because of its unbreakable ties with Britain and its ever-growing friendship and intimate association with the United States. Canada is a potent magnet, drawing together those in the new world and in the old whose fortunes are now united in a deadly struggle for life and honour against the common foe. The contribution of Canada to the Imperial war effort in troops, in ships, in aircraft, in food, and in finance has been magnificent. 
The Canadian Army now stationed in England has chafed not to find itself in contact with the enemy. But I am here to tell you that it has stood and still stands in the key position to strike at the invader should he land upon our shores. In a few months, when the invasion season returns, the Canadian Army may be engaged in one of the most frightful battles the world has ever seen, but on the other hand their presence may help to deter the enemy from attempting to fight such a battle on British soil. Although the long routine of training and preparation is undoubtedly trying to men who left prosperous farms and businesses, or other responsible civil work, inspired by an eager and ardent desire to fight the enemy, although this is trying to high-mettled temperaments, the value of the service rendered is unquestionable, and I am sure that the peculiar kind of self-sacrifice involved will be cheerfully or at least patiently endured. 
The Canadian Government have imposed no limitation on the use of the Canadian Army, whether on the Continent of Europe or elsewhere, and I think it is extremely unlikely that this war will end without the Canadian Army coming to close quarters with the Germans, as their fathers did at Ypres, on the Somme, or on the Vimy Ridge. Already at Hong Kong, that beautiful colony which the industry and mercantile enterprise of Britain has raised from a desert isle and made the greatest port of shipping in the whole world — Hong Kong, that Colony wrested from us for a time until we reach the peace table, by the overwhelming power of the Home Forces of Japan, to which it lay in proximity — at Hong Kong Canadian soldiers of the Royal Rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers, under a brave officer whose loss we mourn, have played a valuable part in gaining precious days, and have crowned with military honour the reputation of their native land. 
Another major contribution made by Canada to the Imperial war effort is the wonderful and gigantic Empire training scheme for pilots for the Royal and Imperial Air Forces. This has now been as you know well in full career for nearly two years in conditions free from all interference by the enemy. The daring youth of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, with many thousands from the homeland, are perfecting their training under the best conditions, and we are being assisted on a large scale by the United States, many of whose training facilities have been placed at our disposal. This scheme will provide us in 1942 and 1943 with the highest class of trained pilots, observers, and air gunners in the numbers necessary to man the enormous flow of aircraft which the factories of Britain, of the Empire and of the United States are and will be producing. 
I could also speak on the naval production of corvettes and above all of merchant ships which is proceeding on a scale almost equal to the building of the United Kingdom, all of which Canada has set on foot. I could speak of many other activities, of tanks, of the special forms of modern high-velocity cannon and of the great supplies of raw materials and many other elements essential to our war effort on which your labours are ceaselessly and tirelessly engaged. But I must not let my address to you become a catalogue, so I turn to less technical fields of thought. 
We did not make this war, we did not seek it. We did all we could to avoid it. We did too much to avoid it. We went so far at times in trying to avoid it as to be almost destroyed by it when it broke upon us. But that dangerous corner has been turned, and with every month and every year that passes we shall confront the evil-doers with weapons as plentiful, as sharp, and as destructive as those with which they have sought to establish their hateful domination. 
I should like to point out to you that we have not at any time asked for any mitigation in the fury or malice of the enemy. The peoples of the British Empire may love peace. They do not seek the lands or wealth of any country, but they are a tough and hardy lot. We have not journeyed all this way across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy. 
Look at the Londoners, the Cockneys; look at what they have stood up to. Grim and gay with their cry "We can take it," and their war-time mood of "What is good enough for anybody is good enough for us." We have not asked that the rules of the game should be modified. We shall never descend to the German and Japanese level, but if anybody likes to play rough we can play rough too. Hitler and his Nazi gang have sown the wind; let them reap the whirlwind. Neither the length of the struggle nor any form of severity which it may assume shall make us weary or shall make us quit.
I have been all this week with the President of the United States, that great man whom destiny has marked for this climax of human fortune. We have been concerting the united pacts and resolves of more than thirty States and nations to fight on in unity together and in fidelity one to another, without any thought except the total and final extirpation of the Hitler tyranny, the Japanese frenzy, and the Mussolini flop.
There shall be no halting, or half measures, there shall be no compromise, or parley. These gangs of bandits have sought to darken the light of the world; have sought to stand between the common people of all the lands and their march forward into their inheritance. They shall themselves be cast into the pit of death and shame, and only when the earth has been cleansed and purged of their crimes and their villainy shall we turn from the task which they have forced upon us, a task which we were reluctant to undertake, but which we shall now most faithfully and punctiliously discharge. According to my sense of proportion, this is no time to speak of the hopes of the future, or the broader world which lies beyond our struggles and our victory. We have to win that world for our children. We have to win it by our sacrifices. We have not won it yet. The crisis is upon us. The power of the enemy is immense. If we were in any way to underrate the strength, the resources or the ruthless savagery of that enemy, we should jeopardize, not only our lives, for they will be offered freely, but the cause of human freedom and progress to which we have vowed ourselves and all we have. We cannot for a moment afford to relax. On the contrary we must drive ourselves forward with unrelenting zeal. In this strange, terrible world war there is a place for everyone, man and woman, old and young, hale and halt; service in a thousand forms is open. There is no room now for the dilettante, the weakling, for the shirker, or the sluggard. The mine, the factory, the dockyard, the salt sea waves, the fields to till, the home, the hospital, the chair of the scientist, the pulpit of the preacher — from the highest to the humblest tasks, all are of equal honour; all have their part to play. The enemies ranged against us, coalesced and combined against us, have asked for total war. Let us make sure they get it.
That grand old minstrel, Harry Lauder — Sir Harry Lauder, I should say, and no honour was better deserved — had a song in the last War which began, "If we all look back on the history of the past, we can just tell where we are." Let us then look back. We plunged into this war all unprepared because we had pledged our word to stand by the side of Poland, which Hitler had feloniously invaded, and in spite of a gallant resistance had soon struck down. There followed those astonishing seven months which were called on this side of the Atlantic the "phoney" war. Suddenly the explosion of pent-up German strength and preparation burst upon Norway, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium. All these absolutely blameless neutrals, to most of whom Germany up to the last moment was giving every kind of guarantee and assurance, were overrun and trampled down. The hideous massacre of Rotterdam, where 30,000 people perished, showed the ferocious barbarism in which the German Air Force revels when, as in Warsaw and later Belgrade, it is able to bomb practically undefended cities.
On top of all this came the great French catastrophe. The French Army collapsed, and the French nation was dashed into utter and, as it has so far proved, irretrievable confusion. The French Government had at their own suggestion solemnly bound themselves with us not to make a separate peace. It was their duty and it was also their interest to go to North Africa, where they would have been at the head of the French Empire. In Africa, with our aid, they would have had overwhelming sea power. They would have had the recognition of the United States, and the use of all the gold they had lodged beyond the seas. If they had done this Italy might have been driven out of the war before the end of 1940, and France would have held her place as a nation in the counsels of the Allies and at the conference table of the victors. But their generals misled them. When I warned them that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and his divided Cabinet, "In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken." Some chicken; some neck.
What a contrast has been the behaviour of the valiant, stout-hearted Dutch, who still stand forth as a strong living partner in the struggle! Their venerated Queen and their Government are in England, their Princess and her children have found asylum and protection here in your midst. But the Dutch nation are defending their Empire with dogged courage and tenacity by land and sea and in the air. Their submarines are inflicting a heavy daily toll upon the Japanese robbers who have come across the seas to steal the wealth of the East Indies, and to ravage and exploit its fertility and its civilization. The British Empire and the United States are going to the aid of the Dutch. We are going to fight out this new war against Japan together. We have suffered together and we shall conquer together.
But the men of Bordeaux, the men of Vichy, they would do nothing like this. They lay prostrate at the foot of the conqueror. They fawned upon him. What have they got out of it? The fragment of France which was left to them is just as powerless, just as hungry as, and even more miserable, because more divided, than the occupied regions themselves. Hitler plays from day to day a cat-and-mouse game with these tormented men. One day he will charge them a little less for holding their countrymen down.
Another day he will let out a few thousand broken prisoners of war from the one-and-a-half or one-and-three-quarter millions he has collected. Or again he will shoot a hundred French hostages to give them a taste of the lash. On these blows and favours the Vichy Government have been content to live from day to day. But even this will not go on indefinitely. At any moment it may suit Hitler's plans to brush them away. Their only guarantee is Hitler's good faith, which, as everyone knows, biteth like the adder and stingeth like the asp.
But some Frenchmen there were who would not bow their knees and who under General de Gaulle have continued the fight on the side of the Allies. They have been condemned to death by the men of Vichy, but their names will be held and are being held in increasing respect by nine Frenchmen out of every ten throughout the once happy, smiling land of France. But now strong forces are at hand. The tide has turned against the Hun. Britain, which the men of Bordeaux thought and then hoped would soon be finished, Britain with her Empire around her carried the weight of the war alone for a whole long year through the darkest part of the valley. She is growing stronger every day. You can see it here in Canada. Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of our affairs is aware that very soon we shall be superior in every form of equipment to those who have taken us at the disadvantage of being but half armed.
The Russian armies, under their warrior leader, Josef Stalin, are waging furious war with increasing success along the thousand-mile front of their invaded country. General Auchinleck, at the head of a British, South African, New Zealand and Indian army, is striking down and mopping up the German and Italian forces which had attempted the invasion of Egypt. Not only are they being mopped up in the desert, but great numbers of them have been drowned on the way there by British submarines and the R.A.F. in which Australian squadrons played their part.
As I speak this afternoon an important battle is being fought around Jedabia. We must not attempt to prophesy its result, but I have good confidence. All this fighting in Libya proves that when our men have equal weapons in their hands and proper support from the air they are more than a match for the Nazi hordes. In Libya, as in Russia, events of great importance and of most hopeful import have taken place. But greatest of all, the mighty Republic of the United States has entered the conflict, and entered it in a manner which shows that for her there can be no withdrawal except by death or victory. 
Et partout dans la France occupĂ©e et inoccupĂ©e (car leur sort est Ă©gal), ces honnĂȘtes gens, ce grand peuple, la nation française, se redresse. L'espoir se rallume dans les coeurs d'une race guerriĂšre, mĂȘme dĂ©sarmĂ©e, berceau de la libertĂ© rĂ©volutionnaire et terrible aux vainqueurs esclaves. Et partout, on voit le point du jour, et la lumiĂšre grandit, rougeĂątre, mais claire. Nous ne perdrons jamais la confiance que la France jouera le rĂŽle des hommes libres et qu'elle reprendra par des voies dures sa place dans la grande compagnie des nations libĂ©ratrices et victorieuses. Ici, au Canada, oĂč la langue française est honorĂ©e et parlĂ©e, nous nous tenons prĂȘts et armĂ©s pour aider et pour saluer cette rĂ©surrection nationale. 
Now that the whole of the North American continent is becoming one gigantic arsenal, and armed camp; now that the immense reserve power of Russia is gradually becoming apparent; now that long-suffering, unconquerable China sees help approaching; now that the outraged and subjugated nations can see daylight ahead, it is permissible to take a broad forward view of the war.
We may observe three main periods or phases of the struggle that lies before us. First there is the period of consolidation, of combination, and of final preparation. In this period, which will certainly be marked by much heavy fighting, we shall still be gathering our strength, resisting the assaults of the enemy, and acquiring the necessary overwhelming air superiority and shipping tonnage to give our armies the power to traverse, in whatever numbers may be necessary, the seas and oceans which, except in the case of Russia, separate us from our foes. It is only when the vast shipbuilding programme on which the United States has already made so much progress, and which you are powerfully aiding, comes into full flood, that we shall be able to bring the whole force of our manhood and of our modern scientific equipment to bear upon the enemy. How long this period will take depends upon the vehemence of the effort put into production in all our war industries and shipyards.
The second phase which will then open may be called the phase of liberation. During this phase we must look to the recovery of the territories which have been lost or which may yet be lost, and also we must look to the revolt of the conquered peoples from the moment that the rescuing and liberating armies and air forces appear in strength within their bounds. For this purpose it is imperative that no nation or region overrun, that no Government or State which has been conquered, should relax its moral and physical efforts and preparation for the day of deliverance. The invaders, be they German or Japanese, must everywhere be regarded as infected persons to be shunned and isolated as far as possible. Where active resistance is impossible, passive resistance must be maintained. The invaders and tyrants must be made to feel that their fleeting triumphs will have a terrible reckoning, and that they are hunted men and that their cause is doomed. Particular punishment will be reserved for the quislings and traitors who make themselves the tools of the enemy. They will be handed over to the judgment of their fellow-countrymen.
There is a third phase which must also be contemplated, namely, the assault upon the citadels and the home-lands of the guilty Powers both in Europe and in Asia. Thus I endeavour in a few words to cast some forward light upon the dark, inscrutable mysteries of the future. But in thus forecasting the course along which we should seek to advance, we must never forget that the power of the enemy and the action of the enemy may at every stage affect our fortunes. Moreover, you will notice that I have not attempted to assign any time-limits to the various phases. These time-limits depend upon our exertions, upon our achievements, and on the hazardous and uncertain course of the war.
Nevertheless I feel it is right at this moment to make it clear that, while an ever-increasing bombing offensive against Germany will remain one of the principal methods by which we hope to bring the war to an end, it is by no means the only method which our growing strength now enables us to take into account. Evidently the most strenuous exertions must be made by all. As to the form which those exertions take, that is for each partner in the grand alliance to judge for himself in consultation with others and in harmony with the general scheme. Let us then address ourselves to our task, not in any way underrating its tremendous difficulties and perils, but in good heart and sober confidence, resolved that, whatever the cost, whatever the suffering, we shall stand by one another, true and faithful comrades, and do our duty, God helping us, to the end.

That part of the speech, set out above in French, was delivered in French.

The Red Army made amphibious landings in eastern Crimea.

The Soviets were demonstrating operational capabilities that the Germans lacked, which was creating real problems for the Wehrmacht.  Amphibious operations were one such capability.

The Battle of Kampar commenced in Malaysia, pitting Japanese troops against British and Indian troops.

Japanese tanks in the Battle of Kampar.

The battle would be a Japanese defeat.  The British and Indian forces ultimately withdrew, but their goal had been to slow the Japanese advance, which they did.

Manuel Quezon was inaugurated to his second term of President of the Philippines.  On that occasion, Gen. MacArthur delivered this address:
Never before in all history has there been a more solemn and significant inauguration. An act, symbolical of democratic processes, is placed against the background of a sudden, merciless war. 
The thunder of death and destruction, dropped from the skies, can be heard in the distance. Our ears almost catch the roar of battle as our soldiers close on the firing line. The horizon is blackened by the smoke of destructive fire. The air reverberates to the dull roar of exploding bombs, 
Such is the bed of birth of this new government, of this new nation. For four hundred years the Philippines has struggled upward toward self government. Just at the end of its tuitionary period, just on the threshold of independence, came the great hour of decision. There was no hesitation, no vacillation, no moment of doubt. The whole country followed its great leader in choosing the side of freedom against the side of slavery. We have just inaugurated him, we have just thereby confirmed his momentous decision. Hand in hand with the United States and the other free nations of the world, this basic and fundamental issue will be fought through to victory. Come what may ultimate triumph will be its reward. 
Through this its gasping agony of travail, through what Winston Churchill calls “blood and sweat and tears,” from the grim shadow of the Valley of Death, Oh Merciful God, preserve this noble race. 
Never before in all history has there been a more solemn and significant inauguration. An act, symbolical of democratic processes, is placed against the background of a sudden, merciless war. 
The thunder of death and destruction, dropped from the skies, can be heard in the distance. Our ears almost catch the roar of battle as our soldiers close on the firing line. The horizon is blackened by the smoke of destructive fire. The air reverberates to the dull roar of exploding bombs. 
Such is the bed of birth of this new government, of this new nation. For four hundred years the Philippines has struggled upward toward self government. Just at the end of its tuitionary period, just on the threshold of independence, came the great hour of decision. There was no hesitation, no vacillation, no moment of doubt. The whole country followed its great leader in choosing the side of freedom against the side of slavery. We have just inaugurated him, we have just thereby confirmed his momentous decision. Hand in hand with the United States and the other free nations of the world, this basic and fundamental issue will be fought through to victory. Come what may ultimate triumph will be its reward. 
Through this its gasping agony of travail, through what Winston Churchill calls “blood and sweat and tears,” from the grim shadow of the Valley of Death, Oh Merciful God, preserve this noble race.
Ernest King assumed command of the US fleet.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Thursday, November 27, 1941. War Warning

Raised anchor of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 27, 1941:

1941     Joint Army-Navy signal to Hawaii states, "This dispatch is to be considered a war warning.  Negotiations with Japan looking toward stabilization of conditions in the Pacific have ceased and an aggressive move by Japan is expected within the next few days. The number and equipment of Japanese troops and the organization of naval task forces indicates an amphibious expedition against either the Philippines, Thai or Kra Peninsula or possibly Borneo. Execute an appropriate defensive deployment preparatory to carrying out the tasks assigned in WPL46. Inform District and Army authorities. A similar warning is being sent by War Department. Spenavo inform British. Continental districts, Guam, Samoa directed take appropriate measures against sabotage".

Japanese ships, of course, were already en route to their launching points for assaults across the Pacific, including Pearl Harbor, with a fast carrier task force having left the Kurile Islands the day prior.  A Japanese news agency reported that there was little hope of concluding a peace, a frank admission on the Japanese side of the direction which events were headed in.

The War Warning message is oddly a somewhat controversial part of the Pearl Harbor story as it forms the basis of questions about whether it was broad enough.  It did not list Pearl Harbor as a potential site of an upcoming attack, but it was broad enough to list every place as one.  And,in fact, Army and Navy commands at Pearl Harbor did react to the warning with precautionary measures.

On the same day, the Siege of Toburk ended when the 8th Army made contact with the garrison.  The German 15th Panzer Division, however, took Sidi Azeiz.

The Soviets concluded their defense of Rostov victoriously, a setback for the Germans.

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Friday, November 21, 1941. Storms named Maria, Thanksgiving Parades, the 70th Infantry Division launches an attack at Tobruk, Relief across Lake Logoda, Dutch War Warning.

George Stewart's novel Storm, which dealt with a subtropical storm hitting California, and ultimately even New York, hit the stands. In the novel, the National Weather Service names the storm Maria, which in turn caused the NWS to actually start naming storms, and which inspired the song They Call The Wind Maria in the 1951 play Paint Your Wagon.

I'd often wondered how that suggestion came about.  The lyrics of the song, which is set in the mid 19th Century, famously claimed names for all sorts of natural events.

A Way Out Here They've Got A Name For Wind And Rain And Fire
The Rain Is Jack The Fire Is Joe And They Call The Wind Maria
Maria Flows The Stars Around Since The Clouds're Flying
Maria Makes The Mountains Sound Like Cold Wind Out There Dying
Maria Maria They Call The Wind Maria 
Before I Knew Maria's Name Heard Her Wails And Whining
I Had A Girl And She Had Me And The Sun Was Always Shining
And Then One Day I Left My Girl Left Her Far Behind Me
Maria Blowed Her Love To Me I Need Her Here Beside Me
Maria Maria They Call The Wind Maria 
Out Here They've Got A Name For Rain And Wind And Fire Only
But When You're Lost And All Alone There Ain't No Name For Lonely
Now I'm A Lost And Lonely Man Without The Stars To Guide Me
Maria Blowed Her Love To Me I Need Her Here Beside Me
Maria Maria They Call The Wind Maria

Interestingly, the book was influential, but not so much that it was ever made into a movie.  It was made into a televised Disney production.

Shoppers on that day were enjoying day two of the Thanksgiving Holiday, if they lived in state observing it this week and not next.  The New York Macy Thanksgiving Parade was held on this day in 1941.

The British 70th Infantry division attacked from besieged Tobruk.  The Italians held them back, but Afrika Korps defenses everywhere were rapidly being stretched to the breaking point.

Men of the 70th Infantry Division at Tobruk.

A Soviet horse-drawn supply column crossed the frozen Lake Lagoda outside of Leningrad/St. Petersburg for the first time, meaning that the besieged town is now no longer really encircled, but sill in desperate straits. The first convoy carried food stuffs.

The USSR also, on this day, instituted a tax on childless bachelors, singles, and small families. The tax would remain in place until 1992. The tax was instituted under the Soviet belief that childless people possessed more discretionary income and therefore needed to do more from that to help defend the state.

An elaborate military ceremony was held for the departed Ernst Udet, whose passing the German press attributed to an "accident".  Goering and Hitler were in attendance.

The United States Navy issued the following warning

Have been informed by Dutch Legation that they have received a dispatch as follows: 
 “According to information received by the Governor General of The Netherlands East Indies a Japanese expeditionary force has arrived in the vicinity of Palau. Should this force, strong enough to form a threat for The Netherlands Indies or Portuguese Timor, move beyond a line between the following points Davao (Philippine Islands) Waigeo (Island, Netherlands East Indies) Equator the Governor General will regard this as an act of aggression and will under those circumstances consider the hostilities opened and act accordingly." 
Inform Army authorities of foregoing. Request any information you may have concerning development of this Japanese threat against the Dutch East Indies and your evaluation of foregoing information.

For movie goers, two new films hit the screen, one being Shadow of the Thin Man, the fourth installment in that series, and the highly romanticized account of the death of George Custer and his men, They Died With Their Boots On.

Both are noted here:

Today in World War II History—November 21, 1941

Also noted is George Stewart's novel Storm.

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Sunday June 15, 1941 Battle of Kissoué and Operation Battleaxe. The death of Evelyn Underhill.

 The Second World War became, for a time, a French civil war at the Battle of KissouĂ© where French "Free" forces fought "Vichy" forces in Syria. The Free French forces were part of an overall Allied force which flanked the Vichy forces and caused them to withdraw.

Fort Capuzzo.

On the same day the British launched Operation Battleaxe in North Africa which had the goal of relieving Tobruk. While it gained ground, and the British retook Ft. Capuzzo, it suffered disastrous armor losses and was an overall failure.  The results proved German superiority in the use of armor, and perhaps the superior nature of German armor itself, and lead to the British quietly sacking their command structure in Libya.

Also on this day Anglican writer  Evelyn Underhill died at age 65.  She is highly regarded in Anglican circles, having a place on the Church of England's and the US Episcopal Church's calendars on this day.  As an Anglican writer, she is regarded as being in the Anglo Catholic category.  

Anglo Catholicism was a strong movement within the Anglican Communion, particularly in England itself, in the second half of the 19th Century and emphasized the Anglican Communion's Catholic roots to the extent that it sought to emphasize that it shared Apostolic succession and, therefore, was a full Catholic church, somewhat sharing the status of the Orthodox Church, or perhaps even closure to Rome than that.  It ultimately resulted in a Vatican decree that its holy orders were "completely null and utterly void", which it has reacted to on more than one occasion by seeking ordinations from clearly valid Bishops in other denominations  The movement still exists within the Anglican Communion.

Monday, May 3, 2021

May 3, 1941. Meet John Doe

The famous Capra film, Meet John Doe, was released on this date in 1941, which I only know as its mentioned here:

Today in World War II History—May 3, 1941

The film is regarded as a classic, but its one that I haven't seen.

Australian troops at Tobruk launched a counterattack, but were repulsed by Italians, while at sea the Italians took a bruising from the British.

Italy annexed part of Slovenia and termed it the Province of Ljuljana.  The annexation caused an odd ethnic relocation of the Gottschee population, which was German speaking, to a different portion of Slovenia which Germany had annexed as Hitler didn't want ethnic Germans in territory annexed into Italy.

Saturday, April 10, 2021

April 10, 1941. The Siege of Tobruk Commences.

The siege of Tobruk, which would last until November, commenced on this day when the Germans probe the defenses of the city invested from the land.  Australian infantry repulsed the German efforts.

The fighting there would go on until November and go on to become the basis of heroic British Commonwealth legend with the Australians playing an outsized role in the city's defense.

Australian infantry at Tobruk.

On the same day, the Germans took Zagreb and proclaimed an independent, fascist, Croatian state that would be the scene of all of the horrors associated with fascism and Nazism.

Other events occurring on this day in the Second World War can be read about here: