Showing posts with label War Loan Drives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War Loan Drives. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Sunday, November 19, 1944. Sixth War Loan.

 


November 19, 1944

The Sixth War Loan Drive that starts tomorrow is something more than just a money-raising affair.

We cannot all fight the enemy face to face. We cannot all produce the weapons and the raw materials that are so vital to our armed forces.

But there is one front on which all of us—every man, woman, and child—can serve, and serve for the duration. We can all practice self-denial. We can all sacrifice some of our comforts to the needs of the men in service; and yes, even some of our needs to their comforts.

The war in the present month of November alone will cost us seven and one-half billions of dollars. That is two hundred and fifty millions a day.

That is why every war bond that you buy is so important.

The war is not over- no, not by many a costly battle. While we have every reason to be proud of what has been done—even optimistic about the ultimate outcome—we have no reason to be complacent about the tough road that still lies ahead of us.

We have just been through a wartime election, demonstrating to the people of the world the deep roots of our democratic faith.

This Sixth War Loan, I am confident, will be a further example of democracy in action in a world at war.

There is an old saying about sticking to the plow until you have reached the end of the furrow. Every rule of common sense and patriotic thought makes that maxim applicable to our conduct in this war.

And so in the name of our wounded and sick, in the name of our dead, and in the name of future generations of Americans, I ask you to plow out this furrow to a successful and victorious end.

Franklin Roosevelt. 

The cost of the war was estimated at that point to be $250,000,000 per day.

The British Second Army gook Geilenkirchen, Germany.

The submarine USS Sculpin was scuttled off Truk after being damaged by the Yamagumo.

Last edition:

Saturday, November 18, 1944. Entering Metz.

Sunday, June 30, 2024

Friday, June 30, 1944. Epsom halted.

After a night in which German positions were pounded by Allied aircraft, Gen. Montgomery brings Operation Epsom to a halt.

By this point, the Western Allies had landed 630,000 troops in Normandy, and sustained 10% casualties.


The US broke diplomatic relations with Finland.

Sarah Sundin notes that Biak was secured:

Sunday, October 1, 2023

Friday, October 1, 1943. The Germans depart, and destroy, Naples.

The U.S. 5th Army entered Naples.  The Germans burned the University of Naples and the Teatro di San Carlo on the way out.

German wartime poster attempting to recruit Italians to an SS formation.

The German appeal to the Italians didn't seem to be well calculated.

Hitler ordered Kesselring to hold a line south of Rome.

As a total aside, it was this date in 1943 that the German police and the Waffen SS adopted the M43 field cap, the famous billed cap that was patterned on the Bergmütze that had long been worn by German alpine troops. A similar hat had long been in Finnish use, nicknamed the "blood ladle".  German and Austrian alpine troops still wear a variant of it, as do many German hunters.

A very practical cap, the design had spread from mountain troops to the regular German Heer in a variant for North Africa, early versions of which had the ear flaps fixed in place, as some variants still do (including a variant now used as the Ukrainian field cap), but which the later versions allowed for them to be folded down, as with the Bergmütze.  The Afrika Korps version had a longer bill, which was retained for the M43.  When adopted by the Heer, it replaced the flat cap (garrison cap) which had been adopted in the 1930s.  The flat cap is a fairly useless cap, and the Bergmütze was a very practical one.  

As Waffen SS mountain units had already adopted the Bergmütze, they were allowed to fix the Edelweiss cap badge to their caps on this day, that being a symbol previously used only by the Heer.

Sarah Sundin noted the liberation of Naples and another item:
Today in World War II History—October 1, 1943: In Italy, US Fifth Army and British X Corps enter Naples. US Third War Loan Drive ends, raising $19 billion (quota $15 billion).

W. Averll Harriman was named Ambassador to the USSR