Saturday, December 2, 1944. Advances in Europe, the Army Navy Game, Eiji Sawamura（沢村栄治).

The 7th Army reached the Rhine.  The 3d Army reached Saarlautern.  The 9th Army took Leiffarth and Roerdorf.

Army won the Army Navy Game.  The crowed of 66,659 included 30,000 members of the general public who were admitted on the condition of living within 8.3 miles of the game in Baltimore and buying a $25.00 war bond.

Twenty Seven year old professional Japanese baseball player Eiji Sawamura（沢村栄治）was killed when a troopship he was on was sunk on this day in 1944.  He'd been drafted into the Japanese Army in 1939, but released each season to play baseball.

Last edition:

Wednesday, November 29, 1944. Prisoner Exchange.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Leyte, boats and ships, Canada, Conscription, Conscription Crisis, Prisoners of War, Quebec, World War Two

Thanksgiving. Thursday, November 27, 1924.

It was  Thanksgiving.

The Coolidge's went to church

The first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held.  It was billed the Macy's Christmas Parade.

Football games occured, reflecting a custom dating back to pre Reformation England.

Snake dance at C.U. vs. Geo. Wash. game, 11/27/24.

Last edition:

Wednesday, November 26, 1924. Servitude in Mongolia.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 1990s, 1992, Communism, Mongolia, USSR

Thursday, November 13, 1924. Polish Orthodox Church.

The Polish Orthodox Church was created as an autocephalous Orthodox Church by the signing of the Patriarchal and Synodal Tomos by Patriarch Gregory VII of Constantinople, recognizing the situation that had been created by the Russian Revolution and Poland's independence.

Mussolini introduced a bill to grant women the franchise in Italy.

Last edition

Thursday, November 12, 1914. Wanted horses.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, British Army, Equine Transportation, Maritz Rebellion, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, South Africa, South African Army

Saturday, October 18, 1924. Ham achievement.

 

The first around the world wireless radio communication took place by Ham radio operators.

German police displayed evidence they had uncovered of a communist false passport operation used to insert spies in the US and other countries.

President Coolidge authorized the President's Cup to be awarded to the winner of the Army Navy Game.

Last edition:

Friday, October 17, 1924. Media Event.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 1924 Election, actors and actresses, Calvin Coolidge, Politics

Blog Mirror: Opinion Harrison Butker doesn’t only kick footballs The NFL should have defended the Kansas City kicker’s right to speak his mind.

 

Opinion 

 Harrison Butker doesn’t only kick footballs

The NFL should have defended the Kansas City kicker’s right to speak his mind.

Blog Mirror: May 15, 1874: Harvard and McGill Invent American Football

 

May 15, 1874: Harvard and McGill Invent American Football

Last prior edition:

Thursday, May 7, 1874. The Imperial Press Law.

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

 Operation Ichi-Go commenced in China.

Japanese plans for the offensive, which would be a largely successful Japanese effort.

Control of the ground at the end of the war.

The massive and highly successful offensive was designed, in no small measure, to help force a conclusion to the war in China, something perhaps best demonstrated by its alternative Japanese name, Tairiku Datsū Sakusen (大陸打通作戦), "Continent Cross-Through Operation"). It would gain a huge amount of ground, and demonstrate the importance of the war on the mainland to the Asian conflict.  It's specific goas were to link railways in Beijing and Hankou in northern China to the southern Chinese coast at Canton and spare shipping and avoid American submarines; to take the airfields in Sichuan and Guangxi to preclude U.S. bombing of Taiwan and the Japanese mainland; and to destroy elite Nationalist units to cause the Nationalist government to collapse.

It was ambitious and would be, late war though it was, the largest military campaign of the Japanese war against China.  Japan committed 80% of their forces in China, some 500,000 men, as well as 100,000 horses, 1,500 artillery pieces, and 800 tanks.

700,000 Nationalist Chinese troops were eliminated from combat in the operation, which would continue into October.

The Allies launched Operation Cockpit, an operation that featured all of the principal Allied forces in the East, the same being an air assault on Sabang Indonesia.

The RAF mined the Danube.

 

Sarah Sundin notes, on her blog:

Today in World War II History—April 19, 1944 In the US, shortening, salad & cooking oils are removed from rationing, but butter & margarine are still rationed. Read more: “Make It Do—Rationing of Butter, Fats & Oils in World War II.”

Congress extended the Lend Lease Act.  Apparently the 78th Congress was a little more active than the 119th.

The 1944 NFL Draft was held, and the first draft pick was Angelo Bertelli, who was drafted by the Boston Yanks.  It wouldn't matter, Bertelli was already slated to enter the Marine Corps.

Canadian Gérard Côté won the Boston Marathon.

Côté winning the 1940 Boston Marathon.

He was serving in the Canadian Army at the time, and took leave to run in the race, sponsored by a Montreal restaurateur.  While the Canadian Army, which initially used him as a physical education instructor, and then stationed him in a munitions plant, had been proud of his status as Canada's premier runner, it had taken heat for perceived preferential treatment that he received, and reacted negatively to his taking leave and running in the race. Côté was shipped to the UK and served the rest of the war in Europe, winning three English marathons during that time period.

Last prior edition:

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

1940s, 1943, Battle of Kohima, boats and ships, Catholic, Crimea, Eastern Front, German Luftwaffe, London England, Operation U-Go, Royal Air Force, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Saturday, January 1, 1944. Sort of independence.

Syria became independent theoretically, but the French mandate continued.

The RAF bombed Berlin again.

The War Department was pondering its policies regarding African American soldiers.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—January 1, 1944: Gen. Alexander Vandegrift replaces Gen. Thomas Holcomb as commandant of the US Marine Corps. US penny production switches from steel to a copper & brass alloy.

USC Trojans beat the Washington Huskies 29-0 in the Rose Bowl, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets defeated Tulsa Golden Hurricane 20-18 in the Sugar Bowl., the LSU Tigers beat the Texas A&M Aggies 19-14 in the Orange Bow, the Cotton Bowl Classic ended in a 7–7 tie between the Randolph Field Ramblers and the Texas Longhorns.

Sunday, December 26, 1943. Boxing Day. The Battles of Cape Gloucester and North Cape

Marine at Cap Gloucester, December 26, 1943.

Marines landed at Cape Gloucester on New Britain.

Marines wading ashore at Cape Gloucester.

The USS Brownson was attacked by Japanese aircraft during the landings, and sunk.

The Moro River Campaign in Italy ended in a stalemate.  The Germans were holding their own against, in this case the British 8th Army, but also against the U.S. 5th Army, which did take Monte Sammucro on this day.

The German battleship Scharnhorst was torpedoed and sunk by the HMS Duke of York.  All but 36 of her 1,943-man crew perished.  The action was termed the Battle of North Cape.

The NFL Championship Game was played, with this coming after Christmas for the first time in the NFL's history.  The Bears beat the Redskins 41-21.

Saturday, November 27, 1923. Cairo Declaration, Australian advances, Poignant art.

It was a Saturday, and all the Saturday magazines were out. As we're dealing with 1943, they're still protected by copyright.  They all featured Thanksgiving themes, but the most recalled is that of the Saturday Evening Post, which featured a Rockwell with a picture of an Italian girl praying near rubble, wearing the wool mackinaw of an American Army 1st Sergeant.

The US, China, and UK agreed to the release of the Cairo Declaration.  It stated:

The several military missions have agreed upon future military operations against Japan. The Three Great Allies expressed their resolve to bring unrelenting pressure against their brutal enemies by sea, land, and air. This pressure is already rising.

The Three Great Allies are fighting this war to restrain and punish the aggression of Japan. They covet no gain for themselves and have no thought of territorial expansion. It is their purpose that Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the first World War in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and The Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China. Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed. The aforesaid three great powers, mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea, are determined that in due course Korea shall become free and independent.

With these objects in view the three Allies, in harmony with those of the United Nations at war with Japan, will continue to persevere in the serious and prolonged operations necessary to procure the unconditional surrender of Japan.

Included in the "rising pressure" that declaration referenced were actions on New Guinea, where on this day the Australians, who didn't get a seat at the table in the Cairo Conference, began an armored supported advance at Wareo.

The Australian Army was using the Matilda tank, which had been a disappointment elsewhere, to great effect in New Guinea.  Its use took the Japanese by surprise.

The campaign in New Guinea, one of the major ones of the war against Japan, which was heavily borne by the Australian Army, went on until the Japanese surrender.  It was like the Marine action at Bougainville, albeit on a much larger scale, that way.

The Army-Navy Game was played at West Point.  Navy beat Army 13 to 0.

Angelo Bertelli was awarded the Heisman Trophy for his performance as Notre Dame's quarterback.  He was in Marine Corps bootcamp at the time.

Photo of eleven collegic football players, including Bertelli, who had joined the Marine Corps.

Badly wounded as a Marine Corps officer on Iwo Jima, his football career in the NFL was short after the war, ending in 1948.  His Marine Corps career lasted longer, as he remained in the reserves until 1957.  He died of brain cancer at age 78 in 1999.

As playing for Notre Dame would indicate at the time, Bertelli was Catholic and the child of Italian immigrants.

Sunday, November 7, 1943 Sgt. Herbert J. Thomas.

 

SERGEANT HERBERT J. THOMAS

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE

for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the Third Marines, Third Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces during the battle at the Koromokina River, Bougainville Island, Solomon Islands, on November 7, 1943. Although several of his men were struck by enemy bullets as he led his squad through dense jungle undergrowth in the face of severe hostile machine gun fire, Sergeant Thomas and his group fearlessly pressed forward into the center of the Japanese position and destroyed the crews of two machine guns by accurate rifle fire and grenades. Discovering a third gun more difficult to approach, he carefully placed his men closely around him in strategic positions from which they were to charge after he had thrown a grenade into the emplacement. When the grenade struck vines and fell back into the midst of the group, Sergeant Thomas deliberately flung himself upon it to smother the explosion, valiantly sacrificing his life for his comrades. Inspired by his selfless action, his men unhesitatingly charged the enemy machine gun and, with fierce determination, killed the crew and several other nearby defenders. The splendid initiative and extremely heroic conduct of Sergeant Thomas in carrying out his prompt decision with full knowledge of his fate reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

Thomas had originally enlisted in the Army Air Corps, but transferred to the Marine Corps as his friends were in the Marines.

Task Force 38 is attacked by Japanese aircraft, but they fail to achieve any signficant result.

The Japanese land a battalion to the north of the Marine beachhead.

The last scoreless NFL game was played between the Detroit Lions and the New York Giants.

Saturday, November 3, 1923. Aviation arrest.

Harold Kullberg, former Royal Air Force captian, arrested aircraft pilot Howard Calvert and passenger Frank O'Neill for performing stunt flying over a city, the same being Akron Ohio.  It was the first arrest for violation of air traffic rules in the United States.  Kullberg had noted the violations while in the air himself.

Kullberg had scored 19 aerial victories in World War One with the Royal Air Force, his efforts to join the U.S. Army as a flyer having been rejected to his being too short.  He died at age 27 in 1924, he died while instructing a student pilot.

Swedish Crown Prince Gustav Adolf married Louise Mountbatten at St. James Palace.

German President Friedrich Ebert refused the request of General Hans von Seeckt for dictatorial powers in law enforcement in Bavaria, which was interesting in the context of the Bavarian government more or less having the same.

Football season was of course on.

The "East v. Central" high school game, somewhere on this day:

Sunday, October 31, 1943. Advances.

Brian Piccolo, famous running back born on this day in 1943, and who died in 1967 of testicular cancer.

Today in World War II History—October 31, 1943: Over New Georgia in the Solomon Islands, US Navy F4U Corsair accomplishes first night air radar-guided victory, shooting down a Japanese G4M1 bomber.

Sarah Sundin, whose blog also reports that on this day the US rendered all airfields in southern Bougainville inoperable.

The IS-2 was accepted into Soviet service.  Nearly 4,000 of the Soviet heavy tank were built.

The Red Army severed the German rail link to Crimea.

The U.S. Army took Mondragone in Italy.

The Tuna Canyon Detention Center in California, which had held over 2,000 Japanese, German, and Italian immigrants, and Japanese Peruvians was closed as the inmates were transferred to different facilities.

The U-306, U-584 and U-732 were sunk in the Atlantic.

Saturday, October 6, 1923. Unassisted triple play

Marine Mascot, USMC v. Georgetown football game.

Ernie Padgett, playing for the Boston Braves, made an unassisted triple lay in a game against the Phillies.

The Turkish military marched into Istanbul.

Friday, August 24, 1923. "Cross Country Flight Record Is Shattered"

A photographer caught some Maine Corps scenes.

 

The United States Coal Commission met.

Monday, June 21, 1943. Spreading the Holocaust in the Baltic

Douglas SBD "Dauntless" dive bomber balanced on nose after crash landing on carrier flight deck, June 21, 1943.

Head of the SS Heinrich Himmler ordered that all remaining Jews in the Baltic States be transferred to slave labor camps.

Sarah Sundin notes, on her blog:

Today in World War II History—June 21, 1943: US Marines land unopposed at Segi Point, New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands. Detroit race riot begins between whites and Blacks.

The NFL approved the temporary Merger of the Eagles and the Steelers, something we reported on the other day.  The declined the proposal to merge the Bears and the Cardinals.

Occupied Greece saw action as the SOE destroyed a railway bridge over the Asopos and the Greek Liberation Army conducted an ambush in the Battle of Sarantaporos.

The US Supreme Court rules in Stack v. Boyle that a foreign born citizen could not have that citizenship revoked for joining the Communist Party.

Harvard rejected a proposal to admit women to its medical school.

Saturday, June 19, 1943. Internees released, Murders planned at Obersalzberg, Eagles and Steelers merge.

Japanese American servicemen of the 442 Regimental Combat Team at a dance, June 1943.

On this day in 1943 a large number of Heart Mountain internees were released for seasonal employment or on indefinite leave.

Hitler summoned Himmler to Obersalzberg to discuss ending all Jewish resistance in Easter Europe over the next four months by mass evacuation, which of course would ultimately entail mass extermination, of the Eastern European Jewish population.  

This implicitly acknowledged, it should be noted, declining German fortunes on the Eastern Front.

The Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers combined into a single wartime team, due to wartime manpower shortages.

Wednesday, June 2, 1943. Lwów Ghetto brougth to an end.

The Germans completed the liquidation of the Lwów Ghetto in Poland.  The city, which once contained a population of 160,000 Jewish Poles, is now in Ukraine and known as Lviv. It had been contested for in the Polish Ukrainian War.  During that battle, the Jewish population of the town had formed its own militia.

Sarah Sundin notes in her blog:

Today in World War II History—June 2, 1943: Combat debut of US 99th Fighter Squadron, the first Black unit in the Army Air Force (“Tuskegee Airmen”), in a Twelfth Air Force mission to Pantelleria.

And, a link from another blog we follow:

June 2, 1943: The Death of Nile Kinnick

James Brown

There's been a lot of news on the passing of Jim Brown, the legendary running back.

Brown was a fantastic running back, and even in old clips it's impressive to watch him.  A nice retrospective of his life appears here:

Jim Brown, 1936-2023

I'll be frank, the thing that stands out in my mind about Brown were the allegations of assault against him, and then his featuring as one of the people, like Bill Cosby, that frequented the Playboy mansion in the big party days of that depraved institution.  That's hard to get around, and the stories that were related in the Secrets of Playboy are pretty much impossible for me to get around. 

One thing I didn't know about Brown was that he'd been commissioned into the Army Reserve and ultimately made Captain.  He enrolled in ROTC while in university and was inducted into the Army ROTC Hall of Fame (which I didn't know existed) some years ago.  Perhaps that military experience is why he appeared to be a natural in uniform in The Dirty Dozen.

So what to make of Brown and his life?  Well, I don't really have to make anything of it, but perhaps with such notable public figures we should.  His accomplishments were very real and cannot be denied.  He did act as a champion for civil rights, using his fame for that purpose.  He did translate a successful football career into other successful endeavors.  Like Bill Cosby, he's associated with the deprivations of the celebration of sexual exploitation brought about by the Sexual Revolution and advanced by Hugh Hefner.  Perhaps that's proof of just how corrosive the tolerance of that institution and acceptance of its perversion has been.

Saturday, April 10, 1943. Sfax taken.

The Tunisian port of Sfax was captured by the British 8th Army.  It would later be the staging point for the invasion of Sicily.

It was also used as a POW camp, holding German Prisoners of War through the rest of, and after, the war.

Foreshadowing that later event, perhaps, the Italian cruiser Trieste was sunk by B-24s in the port of La Maddealena, Sardinia.

Tom Harmon, well known collegic football star, a halfback, now a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Force, disappeared when a bomber he was flying cracked up in a storm over Surinam. The only survivor of the plant, he'd emerge several days later with the assistance of natives, who escorted him out of the jungle.

Harmon as a football player for the University of Michigan.

Harmon had been drafted by the Chicago Bears but had declined to take up professional football, which was not as lucrative or as followed as it now is. Instead, he intended to pursue a career in acting and radio, although he ended up joining the American Football League in 1941 for a $1,500 per game salary, a large sum at the time.  

Harmon had resisted being drafted, something we don't think of as occurring much during World War Two, but which was in fact much more common than might be supposed.  He received a 1-B classification in May 1941 as he was a student and then given a 60-day extension on the basis that he was the sole support for his parents.  He asked for a permanent extension thereafter, but was denied and classified as 1-A, which he appealed.  Losing the appeal, he was ordered to report by November 1941, and he thereafter enlisted as an Air Corps cadet.

Following the bomber disaster, he became a P-38 pilot and flew in combat missions over China, being shot down in 1943.  He was returned to the US following evading the Japanese, having been shot down behind enemy lines, and was released from the service in January 1945.  In 1944, he married actress Elyse Knox.  Actor Mark Harmon was one of their three children.

He played for the Los Angeles Rams for a while after the war, and then returned to sports broadcasting.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—April 10, 1943: US Department of Agriculture establishes Women’s Land Army: during WWII, 1.5 million women from non-farming backgrounds will serve on farms.