Showing posts with label Yugoslavia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yugoslavia. Show all posts

Sunday, May 25, 2025

Friday, May 25, 1945. The Clock.

"A Battery, 465 FA Bn) located near Ballette Pass, Luzon, P.I.) in the 25th Div, one of action. Pfc R. Duffy; Pfc T. McDonald; Pfc A. Mullins; Pfc T. Kaskie; Pvt A. Rossetti; Capt H. W. Berberian; T/4 F. Grogorowich; Cpl D. Marcus; Cpl K. Cameron; Pfc J. Sullivan; Pfc E. Colby all of Boston, Mass, load the prepare to fire an 8 in gun. The Japs are located on a ridge about, 500 yds forward this position. 25 May, 1945.  465th Field Artillery Battalion."   This gun appears to be a 155mm "Long Tom", a long range artillery piece.  If this caption is correct, it's a freakish situation in that the gun is so close to the front lines.

The Battle of Odžak between Yugoslav (communist) partisans and the fascist Croatian Armed Forces ended in a Yugoslav partisan victory.  Fighting ended in Europe.

The American armed forces Chiefs of Staff set November 1, 1945 as the start date for the invasion of Japan.

USS Bates (APD-47) burning off Ie Shima, Ryukyu Islands, after being hit by three kamikazee.  May 25, 1945.

MGM released the wartime romance, The Clock.


The plot centers around a whirlwind romance of a soldier on leave and a woman he meets, taking place in 48 hours.  They meet and marry in that time frame.

Suffice it to say, a marriage contracted that rapidly would be risky.

The Post World War Two increase in divorces. . . maybe.*


On this general topic, I rewated The Best Years of Our Lives Friday night.  What struck me in rewatching it was the casual acceptance of divorce in the film.  Perhaps that's stretching it, but two of the central characters are involved, in a way, in a sort of semi illicit love affair, and are portrayed sympathetically.

The other thing that struck me, which has before, is that Cpt. Derry is shown to have nothing beyond a (presumed) high school education. That would be correct for his wartime role, but it would not have occurred very often any time post war, after which college educations became the norm for officers.

Last edition:

Thursday, May 24, 1945. Japanese paratroopers on Okinawa.

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Thursday, May 17, 1945. The emerging post war world.

The 43d Infantry Division captured the Ipoh Dam near Manila. 100,000 gallons of napalm were used in the American effort.

There was hard fighting again on Okinawa.

 Aircraft from the USS Ticonderoga attacked targets on Taroa and the Maleolap atoll, encountering limited resistance.

Dutch troops landed on Tarakan Island, reinforcing the Australian forces.

Denmark severed relations with Japan.

French forces landed in Beirut to reassert control of Lebanon.

A British white paper addressed post war independence for Burma.

Archbishop Stepinac of Croatia was arrested for the first time by the incoming Communists in Yugoslavia.

Last edition:

Wednesday, May 16, 1945. The Haguro sunk, U-boats surrender.

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Tuesday, May 15, 1945. Germans fully surrendered, Chinese Army in retreat.

Army Group Center, now completely disintegrated, quit all resistance with troops surrender to the Western Allies where they cold, and to the Soviets if they could not.

Axis forces surrendered at Slovenski Gradek.

A new Austrian republic was declared.

Fighting was fierce again on Okinawa.

Burmese nationalist Aung San lead his forces into support of the Allies.

Japan abrogated its treaties with the other Axis countries.

 The Battle of the Malacca Strait began between the Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Chinese lines were broken by the Japanese, and the Chinese Army was in full retreat.

"MGs of the heavy weapons companies of 1st Bn., 100th RCT, fire on hill #2 in the Mangima Valley Area, Mindanao, P.I. 15 May, 1945. Photographer: O'Neill."

Last edition:

Monday, May 14, 1945. Lingering actions.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Monday, May 14, 1945. Lingering actions.

Louis J. Hauge Jr. performed the actions that resulted in his being awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Leader of a Machine-Gun Squad serving with Company C, First Battalion, First Marines, First Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryūkyū Chain on 14 May 1945. Alert and aggressive during a determined assault against a strongly fortified Japanese Hill position, Corporal Hauge boldly took the initiative when his company's left flank was pinned down under a heavy machine-gun and mortar barrage with resultant severe casualties and, quickly locating the two machine guns which were delivering the uninterrupted stream of enfilade fire, ordered his squad to maintain a covering barrage as he rushed across an exposed area toward the furiously blazing enemy weapons. Although painfully wounded as he charged the first machine-gun, he launched a vigorous single-handed grenade attack, destroyed the entire hostile gun position and moved relentlessly forward toward the other emplacement despite his wounds and the increasingly heavy Japanese fire. Undaunted by the savage opposition, he again hurled his deadly grenades with unerring aim and succeeded in demolishing the second enemy gun before he fell under the slashing fury of Japanese sniper fire. By his ready grasp of the critical situation and his heroic one-man assault tactics, Corporal Hauge had eliminated two strategically placed enemy weapons, thereby releasing the besieged troops from an overwhelming volume of hostile fire and enabling his company to advance. His indomitable fighting spirit and decisive valor in the face of almost certain death reflect the highest credit upon Corporal Hauge and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.

Marines reached the top of Sugar Loaf Hill on Okinawa and captured the airfield at Yonabaru.

The Battle of Poljana commenced outside of Poljana, Slovenia between the Yugoslav Army and a column of 30,000 retreating Axis soldiers, consisting of members of the Wehrmacht, the Croatian Armed Forces, the Montenegrin People's Army, the Serbian Volunteer Corps, the Slovene Home Guard, and the 15th Waffen SS Cossack Cavalry Corps.

Army Group Kurland surrendered to the Red Army.

The provisional government of Austria nullified the 1938 Anschluss, abolished the Nazi Party and repealed all Nazi-era laws.

U-boat commander Wolfgang Lüth, age 31, German U-boat ace was shot and killed by a German sentry of the still functioning Mürwik Naval Academy when he failed to return a call sign.  He was given a state funeral.

The US Army announced the discovery of millions of dollars worth of stolen ar by the Nazis and 100 tons of gold bars and currency hidden in a salt mine located on the Losa Plateau in Austria. 

The concentration camp at Ebensee was liberated.

Marines reached the top of Sugar Loaf Hill on Okinawa and captured the airfield at Yonabaru.

Herbert J. Grant, president of the LDS church, died at age 88.  He was the lasts surviving member of the LDS Council of Fifty and the last one to have been a polygamist, although he enforced the LDS change in the position.  At the time of his death, only one of his three wives was living.

Last edition:

Sunday, May 13, 1945. "There is still a lot to do".

Sunday, May 11, 2025

Friday, May 11, 1945. The USS Bunker Hill.

The USS Bunker Hill was badly damaged by kamikaze attacks, something that had been an unrelenting feature of the Japanese defense of Okinawa as part of Operation Ten-Go.

The Battle of West Henan–North Hubei ended in tactical stalemate but a Japanese operational victory.

Soldiers of the US Army who had commenced combat with Operation Torch and who had gone on to serve in Europe were exempted from further combat deployment.  Fighting was still raging all over the Pacific, with troops meeting stiff resistance in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Okinawa as examples.

Soldiers at a familiarization course for newly arrived soldiers on Okinawa, May 11, 1945.


The Australians took Wewak, New Guinea.

The Red Army continued to encounter German units that had not yet surrendered.  In Yugoslavia German Group Ostmark refused to surrender and kept fighting Yugoslav forces.

German forces began to surrender in the Aegean.

Last edition:

Thursday, May 10, 1945. Guderian surrenders.

Sunday, May 4, 2025

Friday, May 4, 1945. The war ends in northwest Europe.

British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery accepted the unconditional surrender of the German forces in the Netherlands, northwest Germany including all islands, Denmark and all naval ships in those areas. 

The US Seventh United States Army captured Innsbruck, Salzburg and Berchtesgaden.

German forces in northeast Germany, Czechoslovakia and Austria begin rearguard actions in an attempt to reach Anglo American lines.

The Red Army too the Oranienburg concentration camp.

Konrad Barde, 47, German Generalmajor committed suicide.

Fedor von Bock, 64, German field marshal was killed by a strafing British aircraft while traveling by car.

Yugoslav partisans entered Fiume.

Last edition:

Thursday, May 3, 1945. Dönitz sends a surrender delegation.

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Thursday, April 19, 1945. Broadcasting from Belsen.

Army machine gunners on Okinawa, April 19, 1945.  Not the visible rear sight on the M1917 machine gun and the high angle the gun is being used at.

The Battle of the Seelow Heights ended in Soviet/Polish victory.

The US 1st Army took Leipzig.

Robert Cappa, the famous photographer, took a series of photos in an event that occurred in this battle, in which a tank crewman who was manning a machinegun in a building was killed by a German sniper.  The bloody scene and the soldier's lifeless body is the recalled photograph.  A nearly as dramatic photo of another crewman stepping over him to man the gun is not as well recalled.


Richard Dimbleby broadcast the conditions of Belsen on the BBC.

The Battle of Odžak began in Croatia between Yugoslav Partisans and the Axis aligned Croatian Armed Forces.  The last battle to be fought in the Second World War in Europe, it would continue until May 25.

Pyinmana, the base of the Japanese aligned Burma Defence Army, fell to the 5th Indian Division.


Japanese Gen. Sōsaku Suzuki, age 53, was killed in action in the Philippines.

Nazi Party member Fritz Wächtler,  age 54, was executed by the Nazis for desertion over the surrender of Bayreuth. The charge was unjust and due to rivalry on the part of other Nazis.  

It's amazing to think of this sort of infighting when it should have been obvious they'd all be facing trials by the victors soon.

The U-251, U-548 and U-879 were sunk.

Johnny Kelley won the Boston Marathon.

Last edition:

Wednesday, April 18, 1945. The death of Ernie Pyle.Labels: 

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Sunday, April 8, 1945. Cebu City.

"Sam Yoshihana, Chicago, Ill., leads a bunch of German prisoners taken by the 100th Bn., through the village of Valecchia to a PW cage. 8 April, 1945. Valecchia, Italy. 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Photographer: Bull, 196th Signal Photo Co."  Yoshihana is armed iith a Thompson submachinegun.

British and French forces prevailed in Operation Amherst.

The US won the Battle for Cebu City.

The Battle of Lijevče Field ended in victory for the forces of the Independent State of Croatia which wasn't to be independent for very much longer.

"C and D Troop, 10/65 Field Btry., 4/22 Field Regt., South African arty., 6th South African Arm'd Div., firing a mission. They are equipped with "sextons", self-propelled 25 pounder cannons. 8 April, 1945. Pian Di Setta area, Italy. Photographer: Thomas, 196th Signal Photo Co"

Last edition:

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Sunday, February 8, 1925. The Lost World.

The Lost World premiered.


Parliamentary elections were held in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes with the People's Radical Party (Narodna radikalna stranka or NRS), led by Prime Minister Nikola Pašić gaining 15 seats. The populist party had evolved from a radical populist socialist party into a conservative one.

Actor Jack Lemmon was born in an elevator in Newton, Massachusetts.

Lemmon was a great actor, but personally highly insecure, something that perhaps reflects itself in his portrayal of worried characters, of which there are some very notable performances.  He died in 2001 at age 76.

Radical environmentalist Alice Mabel Gray died at age 43.

Last edition:

Monday, February 2, 1915. Serum run concludes.

Friday, December 13, 2024

Saturday, December 13, 1924. Albanian invasion.

Former Albanian Prime Minister Ahmet Zogu, the future King Zog the First, led an invasion of Albania with guerrillas backed by Yugoslavia.

And, it was a Saturday.




Last edition:

Friday, December 12, 1924. Soviet Gun Control.

Monday, November 11, 2024

Saturday, November 11, 1944. Ghastly Japanese losses at Ormoc Bay.

The Battle of Ormoc Bay began in the Camotes Sea off of the Philippines.  It would carry on well into December and result in disproportionate Japanese losses as they attempted to reinforce ground elements on Leyte.  On this day, four destroyers, 1 minesweeper and 5 transports carrying nearly 10,000 troops were sunk in heavy Japanese losses.

Iwo Jima was bombarded by the U.S.Navy.

Remaining German troops in Greece withdrew.

The Battle of Batina began in Croatia.

US troops in France.  Note many are wearing L. L. Bean style "Maine Hunting Shoes", which were adopted for cold weather use by the  U.S. Army.

The U-771 and U-1200 were sunk by the Royal Navy.

The 1942-44 musicians strike ended with RCA Victor and Columbia Records agreeing to union demands.

Last edition:

Friday, November 10, 1944. The Explosion of the Mount Hood.

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Thursday, November 2, 1944. The march of the Hungarian Jews.

Infantrymen moving through Hurtgen Forest near Vossenack, Germany. 2 November, 1944. Company E, 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division.

The Germans commenced a forced march of 50,000 Hungarian Jews from Budapest to Austria as Germany's ongoing amplification of mass murder against the Jews in the closing months of the war carried on.

Josip Broz Tito became the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.

The 7th Army took Nompatelize.

The 5th Army took Casseta.

"American Red Cross worker Henry Eichman of Springfield, Mo., giving a pair of U.S.- made moccasins to a pig-tailed Italian girl. 2 November, 1944. Monghidoro, Italy."

Robert Edward Femoyer preformed the actions that resulted in his receiving a posthumous Medal of Honor.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty near Merseburg, Germany on 2 November 1944. While on a mission, the bomber, of which 2d Lt. Femoyer was a navigator, was struck by three enemy antiaircraft shells. The plane suffered serious damage and 2d Lt. Femoyer was severely wounded in the side and back by shell fragments which penetrated his body. In spite of extreme pain and great loss of blood he refused an offered injection of morphine. He was determined to keep his mental faculties clear in order that he might direct his plane out of danger and so save his comrades. Not being able to arise from the floor, he asked to be propped up in order to enable him to see his charts and instruments. He successfully directed the navigation of his lone bomber for 2 and one half hours so well it avoided enemy flak and returned to the field without further damage. Only when the plane had arrived in the safe area over the English Channel did he feel that he had accomplished his objective; then, and only then, he permitted an injection of a sedative. He died shortly after being moved from the plane. The heroism and self-sacrifice of 2d Lt. Femoyer are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.

The tanker Fort Lee was sunk in the Indian Ocean by the U-181.

Last edition:

Wednesday, November 1, 1944 Death of Greek Catholic Archbishop of Lviv and Metropolitan of Halych Andrey Sheptytsky