Thursday, April 27, 1944. Exercise Tiger

Friendly fire due to lack of coordination killed US servicemen participating in Exercise Tiger, a landing practice operation.  The number of casualties inflicted remains unknown, but was large.

Later that night, into the next day, three American LST's were attacked and sunk in Lyme Bay by E-boats.

As a result of these incidents, over 700 troops were killed, with 400 of them being on a single LST.  The incident was kept secret.

The UK banned all travel outside Great Britain.

Quebec's legislative assembly voted 55 to 4 for a motion disapproving of sending conscripts overseas.

The Soviet Air Force raided Lvov at night.  

The city had been in pre-war Poland.  Now, as Lviv, it's in Ukraine, and is once again subject to Russian attack.

The U-803 was sunk by a mine in the Baltic.

Today In Wyoming's History: April 27: 1944  The Wyoming Stock Growers Association gave the University of Wyoming its archives, a major contribution given the enormous role the WSGA had in the early history of the state. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Sewell Avery, the principal of Montgomery Ward, and a highly successful and extremely conservative businessman, had to be forcibly removed from his office due to his refusal to settle a strike.  Ward's was delivering vital war goods.  Avery would accordingly not only be carted out of his office by two Military Policemen, but temporary lose his office with the company.

Upon being carried out and meeting the Attorney General who was delegated to the matter, he yelled.

 To hell with the government, you... New Dealer!

He subsequently complained that the government was leading the nation into a government of dictators.

While a savvy businessman, he misread the post-war economy and the changes that the war had brought to labor relations, and Montgomery Ward lost its position as a department store leader to Sears Roebuck.  In another misread, Avery had assigned the rights to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to the company employee who had written the story for a Ward's promotional.

For some reason, I feel that Avery would be a Trump supporter.

Wednesday, April 26, 1944. Pyrrihic Kidnapping.

Example of wartime propaganda aimed at the Japanese.

In a mission months in the making, members of the SOE and Cretan resistance kidnapped Heinrich Kreipe.

Originally directed at Gen. Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller as a reprisal for actions committed under his orders, Kreipe had succeeded him by the time the SOE team arrived.  Kreipe's kidnapping would cause Müller to return and order mass reprisals, something that had not occurred under Kreipe.

In short, it was a pointless action and poorly thought out, with ultimately tragic results.

Kreipe would be reunited with his kidnappers in a 1972 Greek television program.

In New Guinea, American beachheads at Tanahmerah Bay and Humboldt Bay were linked up.  Australian forces took Alexishafen.

The Yoshida Maru No. 1 was sunk by the USS Jack resulting in the loss of 2,669 men.

The U-488 was sunk off of Cape Verde by the U.S. Navy.

The I-180 was sunk off of Chirikof Island by the USS Gilmore.

The Royal Navy, in an effort to attack the Tirpitz which failed due to weather, found a coastal convoy instead and sunk three ships  in it.

The POW camp in Hoopeston, Illinois, received its first prisoners.

Last prior edition:

Tuesday, April 25, 1944. The Blood for Goods deal extended, Air disaster at Montreal, the death of George Herriman.

1940s, 1944, 1944 at the Movies, Brazil, Commandos, Munich Germany, New Guinea, Personalities, Prisoners of War, Royal Air Force, Special Boat Service, Switzerland, United States Air Force, World War Two

Wednesday, April 22, 1914. Fighting in Veracruz

Street fighting was engaged in at Veracruz between landed US forces and Mexican forces as US forces advanced beyond the waterfront to secure their positions.  The Mexican forces included civilians who had received distributed Mexican arms.

Street fighting was unusual for Americans at the time, and the sailors had trouble adapting to it, whereas the Marines quickly did.

The city center was taken by 11:00.

The Titanic Engineers' Memorial was unveiled at Southampton, UK.

Babe Ruth, age 19, pitched his first major league game for the Baltimore Orioles.

Last prior edition:

Monday, April 21, 1914. The Battle of Veracruz commences.

1910s, 1914, Advertising, Battle of Veracruz, Food, Mexican Border War, Mexico, Newspapers, The Press, Vera Cruz Mexico

Thursday, April 20, 1944. Bombs for Hitler's birthday.

Members of 5307 Composite Unit (Merrill's Maunders) and local Kachin tribesmen in a group photo of all the nationalities represented in the unit.

L to R, back row:

Sgt. Harold R. Stevenson, Beaver, Pa. - Irish.

Pfc. Stephen Komar, Minnesota. - Ukrainian.

Pvt. George D. Altman, Adamsburg, Pa. - German.

Sgt. Carl F. Hamelic, Cleveland, Ohio. - Dutch.

Pvt. Hose L. Montoya, Las Vegas, Nevada. - Spanish.

Capt. A. E. Quinn, Burma. - Anglo-Burmese.

Capt. D. G. Wilson, Burma. - Anglo-Burmese.

Pfc. Joseph Wuele, Italy. - Italian.

Third row:

Pvt. Kai L. Wong, Los Angeles, California. - Chinese.

S/Sgt. C. N. Dulien, Wisconsin. - Polish.

Cpl. Perry E. Johnson, Somerville, Massachusetts. - Swedish.

Pfc. Louis O. Perdomo, Tampa, Florida. - Cuban.

T/Sgt. Jack Growly, Brooklyn, N.Y. - American.

Second row:

T/Sgt. Russell Hill, Chicago, Ill. - English.

Sgt. Werner Katz, N.Y.C. - Jewish.

Sgt. Miles Elson, Toledo, O. - Swedish.

S/Sgt. Francis Wonsowitz, Gary, Indiana. - Polish.

Sgt. Edward Kucera, Antigo, Wisc. - Bohemian.

Cpl. Bernard Martin, Providence, R.I. - French.

Sgt. Wilbur Smawley, Pullman, Wash. - English.

First row: 

Father James Steward. - Irish.

N'Ching Gam. - Kachin.

Li Yaw Tang - Maru.

Pirta Singh. - Gurkha.

Hpakawn Zau Mun. - Atzi.

The Royal Air Force dropped 4,500 tons of bombs on a single raid, a new record.  It was Hitler's 55th birthday.

The Luftwaffe sunk the USS Lansdale and the Liberty ship SS Paul Hamilton of Algiers. The attacking planes were Ju 88s which were used as torpedo bombers in this application.

Off of Anzio, the Germans deployed human torpedoes.  No serious damages are incurred by any of the Allied ships which are stricken.

Elmer Gedeon, age 27, was killed piloting a B-26 over France.  He had been, prior to entering the service, a professional baseball player and was one of only two major league ball players killed during World War Two, the other being Harry O'Neill who was killed as a Marine Corps officer on Iwo Jima.

The British conversation at Kohima was relieved.

The Luftwaffe attempted to raid Hull, but called off the mission.

George Grantham Baink "the father of foreign photographic news", died at age 78 in New York City, which he had heavily photographed.

Many of his photographs appear on this website.

Last prior edition:

Wednesday, April 19, 1944. Operation Ichi-Go.

1940s, 1944, Adolf Hitler, baseball, Battle of Anzio, Battle of Kohima, boats and ships, German Kriegsmarine, German Luftwaffe, Operation U-Go, Personalities, Royal Air Force, U.S. Navy

Tuesday, April 18, 1944. 4,000 tons v. 53.

The USS Wyoming in Chesapeake Bay, April 18, 1944. The Wyoming was a training ship during World War Two and was so frequently in Chesapeake Bay she was nicknamed "The Chesapeake Raider".

The combined Allied Air Forces achieved a new daily record, and dropped over 4,000 tons of bombs on Germany and occupied France.

On the same day, the Luftwaffe sent 125 aircraft on a raid over London, the last of the "Little Blitz" air raids.  Fourteen German aircraft were brought down. Fifty-three tons of bombs were dropped on the city, and a hospital was amongst the buildings hit.

The Red Army took Balaclava.

German and Hungarian forces counterattacked at Buchach.

The British government banned coded radio and telegraph transmissions from the UK.  Diplomats are forbidden to leave, and diplomatic bags are censored, with excepts for the US, USSR and the Polish government in exile. Incitement to strike is made a punishable offense.

The British 5th Brigade linked up with the Kohima garrison, braking the encirclement of the city.

The USS Gudgeon was sunk off of Iwo Jima by a Mitsubishi G3M.

The Vatican established the Pontificia Commissione di Assistenza to provide rapid, non-bureaucratic and direct aid to needy populations, refugees, and prisoners in Europe.

Last prior edition:

Monday, April 17, 1944. The Uman–Botoșani Offensive Concludes, First Shots of the Greek Civil War, The Martyrdom of Fr. Max Josef Metzger, A Mystery Flight, Up Front in U.S. newspapers.

1940s, 1944, Aircraft, Cartoons, Communists, Greece, Greek Civil War, Greek Partisans, Imperial Japanese Navy, Nazi Germany, Personalities, Royal Air Force, Uman–Botoșani Offensive, World War Two

Saturday, April 15, 1944. Romania attacked from the air, Teenagers lose at Tarnopol, Politics in Minnesota, Hydro-Québec

PB4Y Photo Reconnaissance Liberators on a photo mission in the South Pacific , April 15, 1944.

PhoM1c E.S. Ujvarosy and PhoM1c R.M. Rhodes check their cameras, magazines, and data sheets before taking off on a mission in a Navy PB4Y photo reconnaissance plane. Cameras, left to right: F56-40”, two K-18’s 24”, K-17-12” and a K-17-06”. Lying on its side is vertical view finder. April 15, 1944.

The US 15th Air Force sent 500 sorties to Bucharest and Ploesti.  The war had reached the point where the Western Allies air attacks were now directly assisting the Soviet offensive in the east.

The Red Army took Tarnopol. German commander Gen. von Neindorff was killed in the fighting and nearly the entire German garrison was lost.

The original German commander at Tarnopal had deemed the defense hopeless and had reported it so.  The garrison of the doomed city was made up of new troops, most of whom were recent German teenage conscripts.  Only 55 of some 4,000 troops escaped the city.

British X class submarine, in this case the X25.

In Operation Guidance a British midget mine laying submarine, the X24 attacked the floating dock at Bergen, but the raid was not successful as the boat's charges were placed on a large German merchant vessel rather than the dock.

Aircraft from the USS Yorktown raided Chichijima and Iwo Jima.

African American troops on Bougainville, April 15, 1944.

The Minnesota Democratic Farm Labor Party was founded by the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the larger, yes larger, Farmer–Labor Party.

The left wing Farm Labor Party had been hugely successful in Minnesota. Founded in 1918, it's run to 1944 is one of the most successful state third party stories in the US.

Montreal Light, Heat & Power was taken over by provincial entity Hydro-Québec.

Last prior edition:

Friday, April 14, 1944. Indian drama.

1940s, 1944, Bangladesh, Battle of Kohima, China Burma India Theater, Eastern Front, India, Indian Army, Indian National Army, Pakistan, The Law of Unintended Consequences, Ukrainian National Army, World War Two

Roads to the Great War: "Seemed Like a Good Idea": American Subchasers in ...

Roads to the Great War: "Seemed Like a Good Idea": American Subchasers in ...: Three Submarine Chasers in Port The U.S. Navy employed a type of anti-submarine craft from which much was expected. These were the 70-ton, 1...

Interesting article.  An aspect of the US role in World War One you don't hear much about.

Indeed, you don't hear much about the Navy in World War One in general, even though the U.S. Navy had a major role in it, and originally, the Administration thought our role would be principally naval. 

Thursday, March 30, 1944. Operation Desecrate One

 The US Navy launched Operation Desecrate One, an airborne assault on and around Palau.

The action was in preparation for the invasion of Western New Guinea and saw the  USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Bunker Hill (CV-17), USS Hornet (CV-12), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Lexington (CV-16), USS Monterey (CVL-26), USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24), USS Cowpens (CVL-25), USS Cabot (CVL-28), USS Princeton (CVL-23), and USS Langley (CVL-27)  in action.

Thirty-six Japanese ships were sunk or damaged in the attacks.  Navy aircraft liad minefields by air for the first time in World War Two.

US forces occupy Pityilu Island.

96 of 795 RAF bombers were shot down in an ineffective raid of Nuremberg, the worst bomber command loss of the war.

Hitler replaced Erich von Manstein and Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist with Walter Model and Ferdinand Schörner in a command shake up.

Von Manstein was a difficult commander for Hitler, and was sometimes insubordinate.  Often regarded as one of the best German generals of the war, he tried to distance himself post-war from the Nazis, but it can't really be done.  Oddly enough, Hitler recognized his abilities at the time of reliving him, awarding him the Swords of the Knight's Cross at the same time.  Upon being relieved Hitler actually acknowledged his abilities but said he couldn't use him, to which Von Manstein replied:

My Führer ... please believe me when I say I will use all strategic means at my disposal to defend the soil in which my son lies buried.

The reference was to his son, who had died on the Russian Front. As earlier noted, Von Manstein was buried with full military honors at the time of his death in 1973 in spite of being a war criminal.  He was 85 at the time of his death.

While I've probably mentioned it before, an oddity of his biography is that his father was German general Eduard von Lewinski and his mother his spouse, Helene Pauline von Sperling.  He was given to his aunt and uncle, General Georg von Manstein and Hedwig von Sperling, sister to Helene, upon birth, as they were childless, which is flat out weird.  You can't psychoanalyze the dead, but I wonder if that act of betrayal caused his dog like loyalty to Hitler.

Like Von Manstein, Von Kleist would also not return to service.  Unlike Von Manstein, however, he was turned over to the Soviets after the war and died in 1954 in prison in the Soviet Union at the age of 73.

The Red Army took Chemovtsky.

Sophia Bulgaria endured its heaviest bombing, by the U.S. Army Air Force, of the war.

The U-223 sank the HMS Laforey.  The U-223 was in turn sunk by British destroyers.

The U.S. Public Health Service released To The People of the United States, a short film about a pilot who contracts syphilis.  The film won an Academy Award for documentary short, but drew the ire of the Catholic Legion of Decency for failing to stress the immoral conduct giving rise to the disease.

Last prior edition:

Wednesday, March 29, 1944 Cutting off Imphal.

1940s, 1944, boats and ships, Columbian Navy, Eastern Front, Imperial Japanese Navy, India, Lithuanian Air Force, Operation U-Go, Red Army, The Great Escape, World War Two

Tuesday, March 28, 1944. Another day in the war.

Jewish Welfare Board Seder at Muskogee, Oklahoma, March 28, 1944.

Mexican National Mercy Martinez harvesting carrots in the field in El Centro, Imperial County, California on March 28, 1944.

The British Parliament voted to give female teachers the same pay as men.

The Italian Communist Party declared cooperation with "bourgeois" parties.

The Red Army took Nikolaev.

Fighting carried on in the CBI.

"Infantrymen of the 66th Regt, 2nd Bn, 22nd Chinese Division advancing upon a group of tanks upon which a Jap Magnetic anti tank mine has been set off by remote control ordnance Intelligence purposes.

These tanks had burnt out. They belong to the First Provisional Tank Group and maintenance men of that outfit will salvage the salvageable parts left on these tanks. They met action against the Japs in the area a few miles north of the village of Shadeazup, Northern Burma. This photo demonstrated though, how the Chinese troops had actually fought with the tank group. This tank group is an American trained Chinese outfit, they having received their training at Ramgarh, India from U.S. Army Armoured Corps instructors. These infantrymen are also American trained. 28 March, 1944."

Ships were inspected:

USS Cleveland (CL-55) during a Captain's inspection, March 28, 1944.

Combat runs were made.

Corsairs on a mission over the Solomons.

Stricken B-17 "Whodat/The Dingbat" of the 381st Bomb Group in flight over Reims, France, 28 March 1944. Just hit, she was dropping out of formation with three dead on board.

B-17 going down over France, March 28, 1944.

Training was ongoing.

M4 Shermans at Camp San Luis Obispo, California, March 28, 1944.

Field Mess, Camp Cooke, California, March 28, 1944.

Tank crews with M4 Shermans, Camp Cooke, California, March 28, 1944.

The final game of the 1944 NCAA Men's Division Tournament saw Utah beat Dartmouth.

Commander Richard Wainwright, Jr., winner of the Medal of Honor for action at Vera Cruz in 1914, and recalled to service after having been medically retired in 1921, died in service at Annapolis at age 61.  His Medal of Honor citation reads:

For distinguished conduct in battle, engagements of Vera Cruz, 21 and 22 April 1914. Lt. Wainwright was eminent and conspicuous in command of his battalion; was in the fighting of both days, and exhibited courage and skill in leading his men through action. In seizing the customhouse, he encountered for many hours the heaviest and most pernicious concealed fire of the entire day, but his courage and coolness under trying conditions were marked.

Last prior edition:

Monday, March 27, 1944. Knock Out Dropper.

Saturday, March 8, 1924. The Castle Gate Disaster.

Three explosions at the Castle Gate coal mine in Utah killed all 171 miners working at the mine.  It is one of the worst mining disasters in American history.

Nikola Tesla spoke publically for the firs time in many years to declare he had perfected a system of transmitting power without wires.

The Kingdom of Greece established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union while, on the same day, the Prime Minister was forced to resign after refusing the Army's call to abolish the monarchy.

Henry Breault, a submariner, received the Medal of Honor.  He is the only enlisted submariner to have ever received the medal.

The MoH was not yet strictly a wartime award at the time and Breault won it for peace time service, with his citation stating:

For heroism and devotion to duty while serving on board the U.S. submarine O-5 at the time of the sinking of that vessel. On the morning of 28 October 1923, the O-5 collided with the steamship Abangarez and sank in less than a minute. When the collision occurred, Breault was in the torpedo room. Upon reaching the hatch, he saw that the boat was rapidly sinking. Instead of jumping overboard to save his own life, he returned to the torpedo room to the rescue of a shipmate whom he knew was trapped in the boat, closing the torpedo room hatch on himself. Breault and Brown remained trapped in this compartment until rescued by the salvage party 31 hours later.

Breault was from Connecticut, but had served in the Royal Navy in World War One, joining at age 16.  He served the rest of his life in the Navy, dying of a heart condition at age 41 in 1941.

Last prior:

Friday, March 7, 1924. End of a Revolution and a Mutiny.

Thursday, February 24, 1944. Big Week Climax.

 

B-26 “Marauder” bomber roars over Luftwaffe airfield at Leeuwarden, Holland, February 24, 1944.

The Gothaer Waggonfabrik (Gotha) aircraft plant was hit as part of the Big Week.

The plant had been targeted for February 22, but bad weather had prevented the raid from occurring.  On this day, 239 B-24s raided the plant.

Typical for such things, the US Army Air Force regarded the raid as a huge success.  In reality, however, the lead bombardier, who controlled the run ins via the Norden Bomb site, suffered from anoxia due to a faulty oxygen mask and mistook Eisenach as the primary target. Forty-three bombers accordingly followed his error. Thirty-four B-24s were shot down, twenty-nine were damaged.  Three aircrewmen were killed, six wounded and 324 went missing.  169 bombers did get through, and the plant was heavily damaged.

The Messerschmidt plants at Regensburg and Augsburg were hit and heavily damaged as well.  Production was disrupted, but as Albert Speer noted, the damage was to the frame plant which was quickly put back into production.  Had the engine plant been hit, results would have been different.

It was the climax of The Big Week.

The Allies prevailed in the Battle of Arawe.

The Red Army took Rogachev.

Finnish Prime Minister Edwin Linkomies announced that Finland wanted to restore peace with the Soviet Union.

The U-761 was sunk by tow U.S. Navy PBY's assisted by two Royal Navy destroyers.

The U-257 was depth charged and sank on the same day.

Merrill's Marauders began their march north in Burma.

U.S. Army 81 mm mortar crew on Bougainville, February 24, 1944.

U.S. Navy Gunner Frank S. Hughes giving instructions on firing a M1 Thompson Sub Machine Gun on the fantail of USS Gambier Bay (CVE 73), February 24, 1944.

Packard Motor Car Company, Detroit, Michigan, at an altitude of 500 feet, looking at 90 degrees. Photographed by Naval Air Station, Detroit, February 24, 1944.

Friday, February 18, 1944. Operation Jericho and Operation Hailstorm

Mosquitoes over Amiens prison. Mosquitos and Typhoons featured in the raid.

Royal Air Force and Royal New Zealand Air Force aircraft breached the walls of the Amiens prison, allowing 258 prisoners to escape.

French Resistance members were staged outside to spirit escapees to freedom, or at least away from the Germans.  2/3s of them were recaptured.  However, half of those due to be executed did escape, although many escapees were shot by guards as they felt.  Resistance escapees exposed over sixty Gestapo agents and informers, which was a blow to the Germans.  Prisoners re arrested by the French were simply let go.

The mission was requested by somebody, but the details of it remain a secret to this day.

Heavy fighting occured at Anzio on the Anzio Campoeone Road.  German armored reserves  consisting of the 26th Panzer Division and 29th Panzer Grenadier Division were committed to the attack but Allied artillery prevents significant gains. 

The HMS Penelope was sunk off of Naples by the U-410.

At Cassino attacks by Indian and New Zealand forces fail to advance.

The Battle of Karavia Bay, a nighttime action, ended up blocking the Japanese port.

The Red Army captured Staraya.

Lots of Japanese Imperial Navy ships were headed to the bottom in Truk Lagoon.

Truck was a Japanese disaster.

The Germans lost the U-406 and U-7, the latter in an accident.

Marines landed on Engebi Island, Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands.

President Roosevelt vetoed the Bankhead Bill ending food subsidies.