Tuesday, March 25, 1975. A murdered king and evacuations.

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot and killed by his nephew, Prince Faisal bin Musaid.

The motivation for the murder by the US educated prince has never been determined.

The Tin-Ngai Campaign ended with NVA/VC forces in full control of Quảng Tin and Quảng Ngai Provinces.  Da Nang as the only major city in I Corps still held by the South Vietnamese and it was effectively surrounded.

The U.S Air Force organized an airlift to evacuate 10,000 people a day from Da Nang,

Hué's remaining defenders were evacuated by sea.

All of the events above I can recall, particularly the events surrounding the disaster at Da Nang.

The day prior, the ARVN had successfully held an NVA armored attack back at Chơn Thành Camp, destroying 7 T-54s with antitank rockets, recoilless rifles and RVNAF airstrikes. 

Linda Ronstadt released her cover of the Everly Brothers' 1960 song "When Will I Be Loved".

Last edition:

Monday, March 24, 1975. Huế falls to the NVA.

Labels: actors and actresses, Beavers, boxing, Campaign 275, Canada, Huế Vietnam, South Vietnam, Sports, Vietnam, Vietnam War

Amongst the USAID work stopped by the Trump administration is . . .

the cleanup of agent orange at the former US air base, Bien Hoa, outside of Saigon.  They also stopped payments for work already completed.

The South Vietnamese didn't ask for us to abandon them to their fate, and they didn't ask for us to leave a chemical disaster.

This is wrong.

Sunday, March 18, 1945 Landings in the Philippines, the largest air attack on Berlin.

"First wave U.S. troops from the Americal Division's 3rd Battalion, 132nd Infantry during the landing on Talisay beach, Cebu. Alligator LVTs are visible rolling up in the background. View facing south, Signal Corps photograph SC 204236."

The Battle of the Visayas began in the Philippines, commencing with amphibious landings. The campaign would continue until the end of the war.

Japan closed its schools in Tokyo and ordered everyone over the age of six to report for war work.

The largest Allied bombing raid on Berlin during World War Two took place.  1,329 Allied bombers and 700 fighters were countered by the Luftwaffe using the new Me 262s and air-to-air rockets. 

The U.S. Eighth Air Force lost six Mustangs and 13 bombers while the Luftwaffe only lost two planes.  3,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the city.

The US 3d Army took Bingen and Bad Kreuznach.

The Battle of Kolberg ended in Soviet and Red Polish victory.

The Battle of the Ligurian Sea was fought between British and German naval forces in the Gulf of Genoa.

The U-866 was sunk by the U.S. Navy.

Last edition:

Saturday, March 17, 1945. The Ludendorff Bridge collapse.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Eastern Front, German Kriegsmarine, World War Two

Friday, March 9, 1945. Firebombing Japan (Operation Meetinghouse). Japanese end French rule in Indochina (Operation Bright Moon)

 

The US Army Air Force conducted a 48 hour fire bombing raid of Tokyo.  Sixteen square miles of the city's interior were destroyed and between 80,000 and 130,000 civilians killed.  One million were rendered homeless.

Similar raids on Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe also took place.

The U.S. 1st Army took Bonn and Godesburgh

The Japanese launched Operation Bright Moon, 明号作戦, the attack on the French military and government in Indochina.  

The Japanese had tolerated ongoing French administration of Indochina up until this point, but by this point, the French government had gone from Vichy to Free French, and Japan was becoming concerned that the Allies would land with French consent in region.  The French were expecting the attack but were unablet o successfully repel it, with some French forces having to retreat to Nationalist China where they were not well received.

French Indochinese soldiers retreating to Nationalist China.  I have to sonder how man of these Vietnamese troops survived this trek, and of those who did, did they go on and fight in the French Indochinese War on the French side?

Troops of the Italian Social Republic committed the Salussola Massacre as the war in Italy increasingly devolved into a civil war which would carry on, in some ways, until the 1970s.

Benito Mussolini sent a priest to Switzerland to propose to a Vatican envoy that Italy and Germany join with the Allies to attack and defeat the Soviet Union.  The proposal met with the predictable response.

Congress passed the McCarran–Ferguson Act, exempting the insurance business from most federal regulation.

Last edition:

Thursday, March 8, 1945. Operation Sunrise

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Adolf Hitler, Army, Battle of Remagen, Operation Sunrise, U.S. Navy

Monday, February 26, 1945. Syria declares war. US coal curfew.

Syria declared war on the Axis powers.

Fighting ended on Corregidor.

The British Indian 17th Division took Tahlaing and the Thabuktong airfield.

A midnight curfew on bars, nightclubs and all other places of entertainment went into effect in the US in order to save coal.

USAAF Gen. Millard Fillmore Harmon Jr. and Brig. Gen. James Roy Andersen disappeared in an aircraft over the Pacific.

"With the gun crew riding on top, a tank destroyer chassis tows a huge Seventh Army 8-inch rifle through a French town, on the way to the front. 26 February, 1945. Monnenheim, France.  575th Field Artillery Battalion, 35th Field Artillery Group."

"Crosses are erected over Protestant and Catholic graves, the Star of David over those of the Jewish faith, in this U.S. military cemetery somewhere in the European Theater of Operations. 26 February, 1945. Foy, Belgium. Photographer: T/5 Billy Newhouse."

The USAAF bombs Berlin heavily.

Last edition:

Sunday, February 25, 1945. Smoke in the village.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Aircraft, Army, Canada, Germany, Radio, U.S. Air Force, World War Two

Sunday, February 25, 1945. Smoke in the village.

"Clouds of black smoke pour from a German oil refinery in Wehrden, Germany, after an attack by American P-47 planes turned it into a roaring holocaust. 25 February, 1945. Ludeweiler, Germany,  101st Cavalry Reconnaissance Group.:

American forces captured Düren.

GI's  ponder graffitti in Belgium celebrating the Red Army.  February 25, 1945.

The Marines experience heavy losses on Iwo Jima.

Radio Canada International was launched.

Last edition:

Saturday, February 24, 1945.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Armor, Army, boats and ships, Egypt, Indian Army, Red Army, World War Two

Lex Anteinternet: DOD Employees to get the axe on Monday. CQ Brown ends up being first.

Lex Anteinternet: DOD Employees to get the axe on Monday.:   DoD Probationary Workforce Statement Feb. 21, 2025 As the Secretary announced yesterday, the Department of Defense is re-evaluating o...

It started with the Joint Chief of Staff CQ Brown. Rumor has it that his replacement, if he can condescend to take it, will be another Air Force general,   Dan “Razin” Caine, who has spent a lot of his career as a reservists.

If he really wants to raise cain, his first action should be to exclude the Space Farce from anything serious.

addendum:

Hegseth also fired Admiral Lisa Franchetti, head of the Navy.

Tuesday, February 20, 1945. Slow advance on Iwo Jima.

The Red Army's 1st Ukrainian Front and 1st Belorussian Front begin to threaten Berlin.

Nuremberg was bombed by the USAAF.

The US lands troops on Biri, Philippines.

Progress is slow on Iwo Jima.

Marines on Iwo Jima, February 20, 1945.

Last edition:

Sunday, February 18, 1945. Off of Iwo Jima.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, German Wehrmacht, Iwo Jima, Personalities, Prisoners of War, Red Army, U.S. Navy, World War Two

A serious question.

Serious question. 

Why hasn't Elon Musk and his Doget***s wiped out the Space Farce?  It's mission was fully covered by the USAF and an its creation creates some needless redundancy?  So what if its Trump's silly ass creation?

Wednesday, February 14, 1945. A great President and a great king, meet.

President Roosevelt met with King Ibn Saud on the USS Quincy.

Memorandum of Conversation Between the King of Saudi Arabia (Abdul Aziz Al Saud) and President Roosevelt, February 14, 1945, Aboard the U.S.S. “Quincy” 

February 14, 1945

I

The President asked His Majesty for his advice regarding the problem of Jewish refugees driven from their homes in Europe.6 His Majesty replied that in his opinion the Jews should return to live in the lands from which they were driven. The Jews whose homes were completely destroyed and who have no chance of livelihood in their homelands should be given living space in the Axis countries which oppressed them. The President remarked that Poland might be considered a case in point. The Germans appear to have killed three million Polish Jews, by which count there should be space in Poland for the resettlement of many homeless Jews.

His “Majesty then expounded the case of the Arabs and their legitimate rights in their lands and stated that the Arabs and the Jews could never cooperate, neither in Palestine,7 nor in any other country. His Majesty called attention to the increasing threat to the existence of the Arabs and the crisis which has resulted from continued Jewish immigration and the purchase of land by the Jews. His Majesty further stated that the Arabs would choose to die rather than yield their lands to the Jews.

His Majesty stated that the hope of the Arabs is based upon the word of honor of the Allies and upon the well-known love of justice of the United States, and upon the expectation that the United States will support them.

The President replied that he wished to assure His Majesty that he would do nothing to assist the Jews against the Arabs and would make no move hostile to the Arab people. He reminded His Majesty [Page 3]that it is impossible to prevent speeches and resolutions in Congress or in the press which may be made on any subject. His reassurance concerned his own future policy as Chief Executive of the United States Government.

His Majesty thanked the President for his statement and mentioned the proposal to send an Arab mission to America and England to expound the case of the Arabs and Palestine. The President stated that he thought this was a very good idea because he thought many people in America and England are misinformed. His Majesty said that such a mission to inform the people was useful, but more important to him was what the President had just told him concerning his own policy toward the Arab people.

II

His Majesty stated that the problem of Syria and the Lebanon8 was of deep concern to him and he asked the President what would be the attitude of the United States Government in the event that France should continue to press intolerable demands upon Syria and the Lebanon. The President replied that the French Government had given him in writing their guarantee of the independence of Syria and the Lebanon and that he could at any time write to the French Government to insist that they honor their word. In the event that the French should thwart the independence of Syria and the Lebanon, the United States Government would give to Syria and the Lebanon all possible support short of the use of force.

III

The President spoke of his great interest in farming, stating that he himself was a farmer. He emphasized the need for developing water resources, to increase the land under cultivation as well as to turn the wheels which do the country’s work. He expressed special interest in irrigation, tree planting and water power which he hoped would be developed after the war in many countries, including the Arab lands. Stating that he liked Arabs, he reminded His Majesty that to increase land under cultivation would decrease the desert and provide living for a larger population of Arabs. His Majesty thanked the President for promoting agriculture so vigorously, but said that he himself could not engage with any enthusiasm in the development of his country’s agriculture and public works if this prosperity would be inherited by the Jews.

The raid on Dresden concluded with a nighttime raid by the RAF.

The USAAF bombed Prague.  The raid killed 701 people, destroyed houses and historical sites, in a country that was a victim of Nazi oppression. This was attributed to a navigational error.

The Red Army liberated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp.

The U-989 was sunk by the Royal Navy.

Last edition:

Tuesday, February 13, 1945. Dresden.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Allied Air Campaigns, Battle of Manila, Manila Philippines, Nazi Germany, Philippines, Royal Air Force, Siege of Budapest, The bombing of Dresden, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, War Crimes, Weapons

Tuesday, February 13, 1945. Dresden.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1994-041-07 / Unknown author / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5483604

The bombing of Dresden commenced.  It would end on the 15th.

Dresden was an ardently Nazi city that was rail transport and communication center, and contained 110 factories and 50,000 workers.  The raid was to have commenced as a daylight raid by the USAAF 8th Air Force but bad weather precluded it, so the RAF commenced operations first instead with a nighttime raid.  Polish pilots servign in British supplied units had their sidearms removed due to outrage over the Yalta Agreement.  Two raids were conducted that night.  The USAAF hit the following day.  A firestorm erupted during the raids leading to mass destruction,

Up to 25,000 civilians, a fraction of the casualties claimed by the German propogandists, lost their lives due to the raid.  

The bombing became infamous, in part because of the grossly exaggerated casualty figure, but also because of the horrible nature of the destruction.  In reality, the city was more of a military target than legend would have it, and if the destruction was horrific, which it was, it raises the question of the overall morality of the Allied bombing efforts, particularly as they evolved during the war.

The Germans surrendered Budapest to the Red Army.

The British 2nd Army completed clearing the Reichswald Forest.

The US Navy began operations in Manila Bay.  

Corregidor was bombarded.

The 11th Airborne Division took Caviete.

Last edition:

Monday, February 12, 1945. Peru enters the war.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Alabama, Greece, Greek Resistance Movements, Heinrich Himmler, Japan, Missippii, Peru, Philippines, War Crimes, Weather

Sunday, February 4, 1945. The Yalta Conference begins.

The Yalta Conference started in Yalta, in the Crimea, under the unfortunate circumstance of the Red Army only being 40 miles from Berlin.  It was, of course, halted.

The postwar order and the war with Japan were the topics.  It would be one of the most consequential conferences of the 20th Century.  

Even in the photograph above it's easy to tell that Franklin Roosevelt was not well.  The truth is, he was on death's door, and knew it.  Those around him knew it too.  At least one of those around him were far more friendly to a Communist world view than was known, except to the Soviets themselves.

Manila was being closed in on by the US Army from two directions.

The Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations began in Burma.

The USS Barbel was sunk by Japanese aircraft off Palawan.

The USAAF raids Iwo Jima for a second day with B-24s and B-29s.

Last edition:

Saturday, February 3, 1945. When you see those photos of a Red Army sergeant raising the Soviet flag over Berlin, and the city looks wrecked, it wasn't actually the ground combat that caused that.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Battle of Manila, Francisco Franco, French Army, Nazi Germany, Philippines, Red Army, Spain, U.S. Air Force, World War Two

Saturday, February 3, 1945. When you see those photos of a Red Army sergeant raising the Soviet flag over Berlin, and the city looks wrecked, it wasn't actually the ground combat that caused that.

Berlin sustained the heaviest bombing raid upon it during World War Two when 1,500 USAAF bombers dropped over 2,000 tons of bombs on the city.f

Bombing would destroy large section of the city.  By the time the Red Army took it, it was already in ruins.

One of the casualties of the raid was the despicable Nazi judge Karl Roland Freisler.

US and French units took Colmar.

 "American infantrymen of the 2nd Infantry Division advance through fog into the town of Schoneseiffen, Germany, past an enemy antiaircraft gun abandoned when the Germans retreated. 3 February, 1945. 2nd Infantry Division. Photographer: T/4 L. B. Moran, 165th Signal Photo Co."  These soldiers are wearing L. L. Bean Maine Hunting Shoes, which were oddly called "shoe packs" by many people of this era.

The Red Army took Landsberg and Bertenstein.

The Battle of Manila commenced with a flying column of the 1st Cavalry Division reaching the city.  The US conducted an airborne drop in the Tagaytay Ridge region.

"Arriving in Rome, in their Special Service bus are the feminine members of the cast of "Pardon Me", a new USO musical show which will open soon at the U.S. Army Rest Center and the Barberini Theater in Rome. 3 February, 1945. Photographer: Kleinerman, 3131st Signal Service Co."

The weekend magazines, which are largely still subject to the incredibly long US copyright protection laws, noted on its cover that the struggle against Franco was ongoing, demonstrating how by this point Franco was clearly associated with the Axis.

Last edition:

Friday, February 2, 1945. Malta concludes, FDR and Churchill depart for Yalta. German murders.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Auschwitz, Burma, German Resistance Movements, Heroes, July 20 Plot, Malta Conference, Merrill's Maurauders, The Holocaust, Vistula–Oder Offensive, World War Two, Yalta Conference

Sunday, January 28, 1945. Katowice and Leszno and Roza Shanina dies of her wounds.

The Red Army took Katowice and Leszno.

Female Red Army sniper Roza Shanina died of wounds sustained from artillery fire the prior day.  She is reported to have killed 50 Axis soldiers during her service. She was 20 years of age.

While not really well depicted in film, artillery was the great killer of the Second World War, not rifle fire or close combat.  This was so much the case that for a long period of time after the war artillery came to be seen as the predominant conventional combat arm, with this really only changing after the US began to appreciate the lessons of the Vietnam War which showed a shift back to close combat wounds.

The Germans killed Italian generals Giuseppe Andreoli, Emanuele Balbo Bertone, Ugo Ferrero, Carlo Spatocco, Alberto Trionfi, Alessandro Vaccaneo in Kuźnica Żelichowska.

The 8th Air Force conducted raids over the Ruhr.

The first supplies to cross the Ledo Road enter China.

Last edition:

Saturday, January 27, 1945. Auschwitz Liberated.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Auschwitz, Burma, Collaborators, Philippines, Raid at Cabanatuan, Red Army, The Holocaust, World War Two

Wednesday, January 24, 1945. Himmler given a field command.

German POW, January 23, 1945.  His cap badge indicates he was in the Luftwaffe.

Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler as commander of the newly created Army Group Vistula.  This was rightfully resented by the German military.

The Battle of Poznań began for Polish city.

The French 1st Army took crossing over the River Ill in Alsace.  The  British 2nd Army entered Heinsberg.

"Lt. Col. V. L. Johnson, G-3 Officer, 25th Division, and Maj. Gen. C. L. Mullins, Jr., CG, 25th Division, share a foxhole in San Manuel, Luzon, P.I., with a GI of the 161st Infantry Regiment. 24 January, 1945."

The US took Calapan on Mindoro and Cabanatuan on Luzon.

The US 14th Air Force abandoned Suichuan airfield in China due to Japanese advances.  Operation Ichi-Go, the Japanese ground offensive in China, was going spectacularly well at the same time the United States was destroying the Japanese in the Pacific and getting ever closer to Japan itself, giving this a surreal quality.  Additing to it, British operations in Burma were going very well.

The Shigure was sunk by the USS Blackfin in the  Gulf of Siam.

Today In Wyoming's History: January 24:1945  The Legislature rejects a junior college plan.

One thing that's nice about doing these posts is that you learn how prior legislatures were short sighted. This is just such an example, most likely.

They would approve a community college plan within a couple of years.

This year the legislature is going to pass a bill, probably, allowing people who homeschool to not report to their school district.  By and large, those homeschooling around here do it so their children don't learn something, rather than insure that they learn.

Last edition:

Tuesday, January 23, 1945. St. Vith taken by the Allies.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Burma, German Army, German Resistance Movements, Indian Army, Personalities, Philippines, World War Two

Sunday, January 14, 1945. Retreat in the Ardennes.

M-25 light tank in operation, probably in Belgium, January 14, 1945.

Hitler granted von Rundstedt permission to carry out a drastic retreat in the Ardennes.

The Americans won the Battle of Foy.

The US 8th Air Force resumed strategic operations after a month-long pause caused by the Battle of the Bulge.  Their missions encounter heavy German fighter resistance in spite of German losses over the past month.

German POWs in the Ardennes, January 14, 1945.

The Red Army engaged in offensive action nearly everywhere on the Eastern Front, save for Hungary where the Germans were still attempting to relieve Budapest.

The Battle of Ramree Island began off Burma.

The British Second Army began Operation Blackcock with the goal of clearing the Germans from the Dutch towns of Roermond and Sittard and the German town of Heinsberg.

The Twin Star Rocket entered service with the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.  It was the only new streamlined train permitted to enter service in the US during World War Two.

African American actress Vonettta McGee was born in San Francisco.  She had beat Hodgkins Lymphoma at age 17 and went on to university to seek a career in the law, before switching to acting, in which she had a wide variety of roles, including appearing in The Eiger Sanction.  She died in 2010 of cancer at age 65.

Last edition:

Saturday, January 13, 1945. Stiff German resistance.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Belgium, boats and ships, Kamikaze, Philippines, Proskurov–Chernovtsy Offensive, Prussia, World War Two