Tuesday, June 6, 1944. Operation Overlord

Today In Wyoming's History: June 6: 1944

June 6

1944 Allied forces land in Normandy, in an event remembered as "D-Day", although that term actually refers to the day on which any major operation commences.  This is not, of course, a Wyoming event, but at least in my youth I knew more than one Wyoming native who had participated in it.  Later, I had a junior high teacher whose first husband had died in it.  A law school colleague of mine had a father who was a paratrooper in it.  And at least one well known Wyoming political figure, Teno Roncolio, participated in it.  From the prospective of the Western Allies, it might be the single most significant single day of the campaign in Europe.

All the photos above are courtesy of the United States Army.

Airborne troops landed on French soil just minutes after midnight, with famously widely scattered results in the American sectors.  The British landed troops of the SAS deep in France in Operation Houndstooth, something that's often overlooked.

Stanley Hollis would win the Victoria Cross for his actions on this day:

In Normandy on 6th June, 1944, during the assault on the beaches and the Mont Fleury Battery, C.S.M. Hollis's Company Commander noticed that two of the pill-boxes had been by-passed, and went with C.S.M. Hollis to see that they were clear. When they were 20 yards from the pillbox, a machine-gun opened fire from the slit and C.S.M. Hollis instantly rushed straight at the pillbox, firing his Sten gun. He jumped on top of the pillbox, re-charged his magazine, threw a grenade in through the door and fired his Sten gun into it, killing two Germans and making the remainder prisoner. He then cleared several Germans from a neighbouring trench. By his action, he undoubtedly saved his Company from being fired on heavily from the rear and enabled them to open the main beach exit.

Later the same day, in the village of Crepon, the Company encountered a field gun and crew armed with Spandaus at 100 yards range. C.S.M. Hollis was put in command of a party to cover an attack on the gun, but the movement was held up. Seeing this, C.S.M. Hollis pushed right forward to engage the gun with a P.I.A.T. from a house at 50 yards range. He was observed by a sniper who fired and grazed his right cheek, and at the same moment the gun swung round and fired at point-blank range into the house. To avoid the fallen masonry C.S.M. Hollis moved his party to an alternative position. Two of the enemy gun crew had by this time been killed, and the gun was destroyed shortly afterwards. He later found that two of his men had stayed behind in the house and immediately volunteered to get them out. In full view of the enemy who were continually firing at him, he went forward alone using a Bren gun to distract their attention from the other men. Under cover of his diversion, the two men were able to get back.

Wherever fighting was heaviest, C.S.M. Hollis appeared and in the course of a magnificent day's work, he displayed the utmost gallantry and on two separate occasions his courage and initiative prevented the enemy from holding up the advance at critical stages. It was largely through his heroism and resource that the Company's objectives were gained and casualties were not heavier, and by his own bravery he saved the lives of many of his men.

Jimmie W. Monteith won a posthumous Medal of Honor.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, while serving with 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, in action near Colleville-sur-Mer, France. First Lieutenant Monteith landed with the initial assault waves on the coast of France under heavy enemy fire. Without regard to his own personal safety he continually moved up and down the beach reorganizing men for further assault. He then led the assault over a narrow protective ledge and across the flat, exposed terrain to the comparative safety of a cliff. Retracing his steps across the field to the beach, he moved over to where two tanks were buttoned up and blind under violent enemy artillery and machinegun fire. Completely exposed to the intense fire, First Lieutenant Monteith led the tanks on foot through a minefield and into firing positions. Under his direction several enemy positions were destroyed. He then rejoined his company and under his leadership his men captured an advantageous position on the hill. Supervising the defense of his newly won position against repeated vicious counterattacks, he continued to ignore his own personal safety, repeatedly crossing the 200 or 300 yards of open terrain under heavy fire to strengthen links in his defensive chain. When the enemy succeeded in completely surrounding First Lieutenant Monteith and his unit and while leading the fight out of the situation, First Lieutenant Monteith was killed by enemy fire. The courage, gallantry, and intrepid leadership displayed by First Lieutenant Monteith is worthy of emulation.

Adolf Hitler was awoken at the Berghof around noon.  Noon?  

He showed no signs of distress.

Churchill announced the invasion to the House of Commons, stating:

Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the Commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever occurred ... Nothing that equipment, science or forethought could do has been neglected, and the whole process of opening this great new front will be pursued with the utmost resolution both by the commanders and by the United States and British Governments whom they serve.

Roosevelt announced the invasion by radio that evening, in the form of a prayer.

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

The British and Canadians, making use of specialized armor nicknamed "funnies", advanced considerably further inland than the Americans by the end of the day, but the Germans did not succeed in pushing anyone back into the sea.

D-Day recalled on some other blogs that feature on this site:

Flyover Country:  D-Day begins on the Platte ("The man who won the war")

Uncle Mike's:  June 6, 1944: D-Day

Tara Ross:  

This Day in History: D-Day's 80th Anniversary

World War II Today: 'Flesh Wounds'

World War II  Today:  D-Day - an Extraordinary 'Surprise'

PT Boat Red:   The PTs on D-Day, June 6, 1944

City Father:  D Day + 80

Operation  Overlord was legitimately such a major event in World War Two that it has long overshadowed, at least in the Western World, other events in the war that happened on the same day, but things did happen. Recall that Rome had been taken just the day prior.

In Italy, the French Expeditionary Corps took Tivoli.  

The Soviet First Jassy–Kishinev offensive, with the objective of taking Romania, came to an unsuccessful end.

Operation Rösselsprung concluded, having temporary disrupted Yugoslav partisan activity.

This would have been a regular Tuesday work day in the States.  The news must have been extremely distracting.

Last prior edition:

Monday, June 5, 1944. The Eternal City in Allied hands, Overlord commences

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Airborne, Battle of Anzio, Franklin Roosevelt, Italy, Marianas, Operation Forager, Operation Overlord, Operation Tonga, Rome, the spoken word, World War Two

Friday, June 6, 1924. Coolidge speaks at Howard, the Reichstag approves the Dawes Plan.

The Reichstag approved the Dawes Plan.

President Coolidge spoke at the Howard graduation, stating:

It has come to be a legend, and I believe with more foundation of fact than most legends, that Howard University was the outgrowth of the inspiration of a prayer meeting. I hope it is true, and I shall choose to believe it, for it makes of this scene and this occasion a new testimony that prayers are answered. Here has been established a great university, a sort of educational laboratory for the production of intellectual and spiritual leadership among a people whose history, if you will examine it as it deserves, is one of the striking evidences of a soundness of our civilization.

The accomplishments of the colored people in the United States, in the brief historic period since they were brought here from the restrictions of their native continent, can not but make us realize that there is something essential in our civilization which gives it a special power. I think we shall be able to agree that this particular element is the Christian religion, whose influence always and everywhere has been a force for the illumination and advancement of the peoples who have come under its sway.

The progress of the colored people on this continent is one of the marvels of modern history. We are perhaps even yet too near to this phenomenon to be able fully to appreciate its significance. That can be impressed on us only as we study and contrast the rapid advancement of the colored people in America with the slow and painful upward movement of humanity as a whole throughout the long human story.

An occasion such as this which has brought us here can not but direct our consideration to these things. It has been a painful and difficult experience, this by which an other race has been recruited to the standard of civilization and enlightenment; for that is really what has been going on; and the episodes of Negro slavery in America, of civil war, and emancipation, and, following that, the rapid advancement of the American colored people both materially and spiritually, must be recognized as parts of a long evolution by which all mankind is gradually being led to higher levels, expanding its understanding of its mission here, approaching nearer and nearer to the realization of its full and perfected destiny.

In such a view of the history of the Negro race in America, we may find the evidences that the black man’s probation on this continent was a necessary part in a great plan by which the race was to be saved to the world for a service which we are now able to vision and, even if yet somewhat dimly, to appreciate. The destiny of the great African Continent, to be added at length, and in a future not now far beyond us, to the realms of the highest civilization, has become apparent within a very few decades. But for the strange and long inscrutable purpose which in the ordering of human affairs subjected a part of the black race to the ordeal of slavery, that race might have been assigned to the tragic fate which has befallen many aboriginal peoples when brought into conflict with more advanced communities.

Instead, we are able now to be confident that this race is to be preserved for a great and useful work. If some of its members have suffered, if some have been denied, if some have been sacrificed, we are able at last to realize that their sacrifices were borne in a great cause. They gave vicariously, that a vastly greater number might be preserved and benefited through them. The salvation of a race, the destiny of a continent, were bought at the price of these sacrifices.

Howard University is but one of the many institutions which have grown up in this country, dedicated to this purpose of preserving one of the races of men and fitting it for its largest usefulness. Here is a people adapted, as most people are not, to life in the tropics. They are capable of redeeming vast luxuriant areas of unexampled productivity, and of reclaiming them for the sustenance of mankind and the increasing security of the human community. It is a great destiny, to which we may now look forward with confidence that it will be fully realized.

Looking back only a few years, we appreciate how rapid has been the progress of the colored people on this continent. Emancipation brought them the opportunity of which they have availed themselves. It has been calculated that in the first year following the acceptance of their status as a free people, there were approximately 4,000,000 members of the race in this country, and that among these only 12,000 were the owners of their homes; only 20,000 among them conducted their own farms, and the aggregate wealth of these 4,000,000 people hardly exceeded $20,000,000. In a little over a half century since, the number of business enterprises operated by colored people had grown to near 50,000, while the wealth of the Negro community has grown to more than $1,100,000,000. And these figures convey a most inadequate suggestion of the material progress. The 2,000 business enterprises which were in the hands of colored people immediately following emancipation were almost without exception small and rudimentary. Among the 50,000 business operations now in the hands of colored people may be found every type of present day affairs. There are more than 70 banks conducted by thoroughly competent colored business men. More than 80 per cent of all American Negroes are now able to read and write. When they achieved their freedom not 10 per cent were literate. There are nearly 2,000,000 Negro pupils in the public schools; well nigh 40,000 Negro teachers are listed, more than 3,000 following their profession in normal schools and colleges. The list of educational institutions devoting themselves to the race includes 50 colleges, 13 colleges for women, 26 theological schools, a standard school of law, and 2 high-grade institutions of medicine. Through the work of these institutions the Negro race is equipping men and women from its own ranks to provide its leadership in business, the professions, in all relations of life.

This, of course, is the special field of usefulness for colored men and women who find the opportunity to get adequate education. Their own people need their help, guidance, leadership, and inspiration. Those of you who are fortunate enough to equip yourselves for these tasks have a special responsibility to make the best use of great opportunities. In a very special way it is incumbent upon those who are prepared to help their people to maintain the truest standards of character and unselfish purpose. The Negro community of America has already so far progressed that its members can be assured that their future is in their own hands. Racial hostility, ancient tradition, and social prejudice are not to be eliminated immediately or easily. But they will be lessened as the colored people by their own efforts and under their own leaders shall prove worthy of the fullest measure of opportunity.

The Nation has need of all that can be contributed to it through the best efforts of all its citizens. The colored people have repeatedly proved their devotion to the high ideals of our country. They gave their services in the war with the same patriotism and readiness that other citizens did. The records of the selective draft show that somewhat more than 2,250,000 colored men were registered. The records further prove that, far from seeking to avoid participation in the national defense, they showed that they wished to enlist before the selective service act was put into operation, and they did not attempt to evade that act afterwards. The propaganda of prejudice and hatred which sought to keep the colored men from supporting the national cause completely failed. The black man showed himself the same kind of citizen, moved by the same kind of patriotism, as the white man. They were tempted, but not one betrayed his country. Among well-nigh 400,000 colored men who were taken into the military service, about one half had overseas experience. They came home with many decorations and their conduct repeatedly won high commendation from both American and European commanders.

The armies in the field could not have done their part in the war if they had not been sustained and supported by the far greater civilian forces at home, which through unremitting toil made it possible to sustain our war effort. No part of the community responded more willingly, more generously, more unqualifiedly, to the demand for special extraordinary exertion, than did the members of the Negro race. Whether in the military service, or in the vast mobilization of industrial resources which the war required, the Negro did his part precisely as did the white man. He drew no color line when patriotism made its call upon him. He gave precisely as his white fellow citizens gave, to the limit of resources and abilities, to help the general cause. Thus the American Negro established his right to the gratitude and appreciation which the Nation has been glad to accord.

We are not all permitted the privilege of a university training. We can not all enter the professions. What is the great need of American citizenship? To my mind it is this, that each should take up the burden where he is. “Do the day’s work,” I have said, and it should be done, in the remembrance that all work is dignified. Your race is entitled to great praise for the contribution it makes in doing the work of the world.

There will be other crises in the national history which will make other demands for the fullest and most unselfish contribution to the national interest. No generation will be denied its opportunity, will be spared its duty, to put forth its best efforts. We devoutly hope that these contributions will not be demanded upon the field of battle. But they will be just as truly needed, just as urgently summoned, in the activities of peace, the efforts of industry, the performance of all the obligations of citizenship. We can not go out from this place and occasion without refreshment of faith and renewal of confidence that in every exigency our Negro fellow citizens will render the best and fullest measure of service whereof they are capable.

This odd photograph was taken:

Last prior edition:

Tuesday, June 3, 1924. Gila Wilderness

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Albania, Aldo Leopold, New Mexico, United States Forest Service, Wilderness Areas

119th Congress, Part 3.

2011 Navalny designed poster about Putin's United Russia party, declaring it to be a "party of crooks and thieves".

March 29, 2024

The House of Representatives will see Speaker Mike Johnson push for funding for Ukraine through a bill that's been sitting in the dysfunctional House for a month when they return from their recess from not getting anything done.

Donald Putin, who loves Putin and hates Ukraine, has frustrated the advance of the Bill.  Marjorie Taylor Green will push to being Johnson down.

Absolutely pathetic.

And this while Ukraine fights for its life.

April 15, 2024

Still not having achieved a thing, the House will apparently consider aid to Ukraine this week as it will, in the same bill, consider aid to Israel, the drive for which was heightened by the weekend airborne flop by Iran.

Following this MTG, who is in Congress for some unfathomable reason, will push to remove Mike Johnson, who will survive the attack, particularly as his Trump has given him his seal of approval.

April 16, 2024

Speaker of the House Johnson signed the bill of impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, sending the issue of his performance in regard to the nation's immigration laws over to the Senate for rapid disposal, as this bill of impeachment is just theater.  

April 20, 2024

House Approves $95 Billion Aid Bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

After months of delay at the hands of a bloc of ultraconservative Republicans, the package drew overwhelming bipartisan support, reflecting broad consensus.

About bloody time, and better late than never, assuming it's not too late.

Finally, Mike Johnson, who apparently prayed about the matter, found his courage.

May 2, 2024

Greene of Georgia is carrying through with her threat to force a vote to remove Speaker Johnson, calling to attention as she does so that he will rely upon Democratic votes to keep his job, as if that's some sort of character defect.

Going Feral: U.S. House of Representatives votes to remove wolv...

U.S. House of Representatives votes to remove wolves from EPA protection in lower 48 states.

May 10, 2024

The ultimate MAGA House member, Marjorie Taylor Greene, took a run at removing Speaker of the House Johnson and failed.

May 15, 2024

Speaker Johnson, fresh from finding his backbone, appeared outside of the courtroom where Trump is being tried for allegedly having illicit sex with Stormy Daniels and then paying her to shut up about it, demonstrated that he is perfectly capable of reverting to sycophant.

June 6, 2024

President Biden signed an executive order which shuts the border down once there are 2,500 encounters on the same.

Last prior edition:

119th Congress, Part 2.

119th Congress, 2020s, 2024, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Mike Johnson, Politics, Predictions, Republican Party, Russo Ukrainian War, Sic transit Gloria Mundi

UN World Environment Day

 Is today.

Monday, June 5, 1944. The Eternal City in Allied hands, Overlord commences

U.S. Soldiers and civilians read proclamation in Rome, June 5, 1944.

Rome, having been declared an open city and largely abandoned by the Germans and the U.S. Army having entered it the prior evening, was now fully in Allied hands.  Pope Pius XII spoke to a crowd at St. Peter's Basilica, in which he gave thanks to God and further thanked all of the belligerents for largely sparing the city.

The Battle of Anzio concluded.

President Roosevelt delivered a fireside speech, stating:

My Friends:

Yesterday, on June fourth, 1944, Rome fell to American and Allied troops. The first of the Axis capitals is now in our hands. One up and two to go!

It is perhaps significant that the first of these capitals to fall should have the longest history of all of them. The story of Rome goes back to the time of the foundations of our civilization. We can still see there monuments of the time when Rome and the Romans controlled the whole of the then known world. That, too, is significant, for the United Nations are determined that in the future no one city and no one race will be able to control the whole of the world.

In addition to the monuments of the older times, we also see in Rome the great symbol of Christianity, which has reached into almost every part of the world. There are other shrines and other churches in many places, but the churches and shrines of Rome are visible symbols of the faith and determination of the early saints and martyrs that Christianity should live and become universal. And tonight (now) it will be a source of deep satisfaction that the freedom of the Pope and the (of) Vatican City is assured by the armies of the United Nations.

It is also significant that Rome has been liberated by the armed forces of many nations. The American and British armies -- who bore the chief burdens of battle -- found at their sides our own North American neighbors, the gallant Canadians. The fighting New Zealanders from the far South Pacific, the courageous French and the French Moroccans, the South Africans, the Poles and the East Indians -- all of them fought with us on the bloody approaches to the city of Rome.

The Italians, too, forswearing a partnership in the Axis which they never desired, have sent their troops to join us in our battles against the German trespassers on their soil.

The prospect of the liberation of Rome meant enough to Hitler and his generals to induce them to fight desperately at great cost of men and materials and with great sacrifice to their crumbling Eastern line and to their Western front. No thanks are due to them if Rome was spared the devastation which the Germans wreaked on Naples and other Italian cities. The Allied Generals maneuvered so skillfully that the Nazis could only have stayed long enough to damage Rome at the risk of losing their armies.

But Rome is of course more than a military objective.

Ever since before the days of the Caesars, Rome has stood as a symbol of authority. Rome was the Republic. Rome was the Empire. Rome was and is in a sense the Catholic Church, and Rome was the capital of a United Italy. Later, unfortunately, a quarter of a century ago, Rome became the seat of Fascism -- one of the three capitals of the Axis.

For this (a) quarter century the Italian people were enslaved. They were (and) degraded by the rule of Mussolini from Rome. They will mark its liberation with deep emotion. In the north of Italy, the people are still dominated and threatened by the Nazi overlords and their Fascist puppets. Somehow, in the back of my head, I still remember a name -- Mussolini.

Our victory comes at an excellent time, while our Allied forces are poised for another strike at western Europe -- and while the armies of other Nazi soldiers nervously await our assault. And in the meantime our gallant Russian Allies continue to make their power felt more and more.

From a strictly military standpoint, we had long ago accomplished certain of the main objectives of our Italian campaign -- the control of the islands -- the major islands -- the control of the sea lanes of the Mediterranean to shorten our combat and supply lines, and the capture of the airports, such as the great airports of Foggia, south of Rome, from which we have struck telling blows on the continent -- the whole of the continent all the way up to the Russian front.

It would be unwise to inflate in our own minds the military importance of the capture of Rome. We shall have to push through a long period of greater effort and fiercer fighting before we get into Germany itself. The Germans have retreated thousands of miles, all the way from the gates of Cairo, through Libya and Tunisia and Sicily and Southern Italy. They have suffered heavy losses, but not great enough yet to cause collapse.

Germany has not yet been driven to surrender. Germany has not yet been driven to the point where she will be unable to recommence world conquest a generation hence.

Therefore, the victory still lies some distance ahead. That distance will be covered in due time -- have no fear of that. But it will be tough and it will be costly, as I have told you many, many times.

In Italy the people had lived so long under the corrupt rule of Mussolini that, in spite of the tinsel at the top -- you have seen the pictures of him -- their economic condition had grown steadily worse. Our troops have found starvation, malnutrition, disease, a deteriorating education and lowered public health -- all by-products of the Fascist misrule.

The task of the Allies in occupation has been stupendous. We have had to start at the very bottom, assisting local governments to reform on democratic lines. We have had to give them bread to replace that which was stolen out of their mouths by the Germans. We have had to make it possible for the Italians to raise and use their own local crops. We have to help them cleanse their schools of Fascist trappings.

I think the American people as a whole approve the salvage of these human beings, who are only now learning to walk in a new atmosphere of freedom.

Some of us may let our thoughts run to the financial cost of it. Essentially it is what we can call a form of relief. And at the same time, we hope that this relief will be an investment for the future -- an investment that will pay dividends by eliminating Fascism, by (and) ending any Italian desires to start another war of aggression in the future. And that means that they are dividends which justify such an investment, because they are additional supports for world peace.

The Italian people are capable of self-government. We do not lose sight of their virtues as a peace-loving nation.

We remember the many centuries in which the Italians were leaders in the arts and sciences, enriching the lives of all mankind.

We remember the great sons of the Italian people -- Galileo and Marconi, Michelangelo and Dante -- and incidentally that fearless discoverer who typifies the courage of Italy -- Christopher Columbus.

Italy cannot grow in stature by seeking to build up a great militaristic empire. Italians have been overcrowded within their own territories, but they do not need to try to conquer the lands of other peoples in order to find the breath of life. Other peoples may not want to be conquered.

In the past, Italians have come by the millions into (to) the United States. They have been welcomed, they have prospered, they have become good citizens, community and governmental leaders. They are not Italian-Americans. They are Americans -- Americans of Italian descent.

The Italians have gone in great numbers to the other Americas -- Brazil and the Argentine, for example -- hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them. They have gone (and) to many other nations in every continent of the world, giving of their industry and their talents, and achieving success and the comfort of good living, and good citizenship.

Italy should go on as a great mother nation, contributing to the culture and the progress and the goodwill of all mankind -- (and) developing her special talents in the arts and crafts and sciences, and preserving her historic and cultural heritage for the benefit of all peoples.

We want and expect the help of the future Italy toward lasting peace. All the other nations opposed to Fascism and Nazism ought to (should) help to give Italy a chance.

The Germans, after years of domination in Rome, left the people in the Eternal City on the verge of starvation. We and the British will do and are doing everything we can to bring them relief. Anticipating the fall of Rome, we made preparations to ship food supplies to the city, but, of course, it should be borne in mind that the needs are so great, (and) the transportation requirements of our armies so heavy that improvement must be gradual. But we have already begun to save the lives of the men, women and children of Rome.

This, I think, is an example of the efficiency of your machinery of war. The magnificent ability and energy of the American people in growing the crops, building the merchant ships, in making and collecting the cargoes, in getting the supplies over thousands of miles of water, and thinking ahead to meet emergencies -- all this spells, I think, an amazing efficiency on the part of our armed forces, all the various agencies working with them, and American industry and labor as a whole.

No great effort like this can be a hundred percent perfect, but the batting average is very, very high.

And so I extend the congratulations and thanks tonight of the American people to General Alexander, who has been in command of the whole Italian operation; to our General Clark and General Leese of the Fifth and the Eighth Armies; to General Wilson, the Supreme Allied commander of the Mediterranean theater, to (and) General Devers his American Deputy; to (Lieutenant) General Eaker; to Admirals Cunningham and Hewitt; and to all their brave officers and men.

May God bless them and watch over them and over all of our gallant, fighting men.

British airborne synchronizing their watches before boarding aircraft, which would take off shortly before 2300 on this day. These troops, part of Operation Tonga, were destined for Caen.

British and American airborne troops departed their bases in the United Kingdom en route to targets in France, including in the case of the SAS, targets in Burgundy.  Allied air forces also departed to drop dummy paratroopers all over the French coastline.

S/Sgt Albert Raffin, Iron Mt., Mich., is catching up on his reading while Pfc Mathew Plis, 2542 North Long Ave., Chicago, Ill., catches a nap. Aboard USS Henrico. 5 June, 1944.

The BBC broadcast the portion of the poem, alerting the resistance that the invasion will come within 24 hours.  It is picked up by German intelligence, who know its meaning, the Germans fail to react to it.

The Fifth Fleet left Pearl Harbor bound for the Marianas.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, June 4, 1944. The Fall of Rome, Overlord postponed, the capture of the U-505.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, boats and ships, Christianity, Commentary, German Kriegsmarine, Italy, Medieval Europe, Operation Overlord, religion, Rome, U.S. Navy, Weather, World War Two

Blog Mirror: Open the doors, let the young mingle among the treasures

 

Open the doors, let the young mingle among the treasures

Blog Mirror: After the Verdict

 After the Verdict

Blog Mirror: June 4, 1974: Ten-Cent Beer Night In Cleveland

 June 4, 1974: Ten-Cent Beer Night In Cleveland

Last prior edition:

Monday, June 3, 1974. Leaving Laos.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Army, Laos, Laotian Civil War, Southeast Asia, The Cold War

Sunday, June 4, 1944. The Fall of Rome, Overlord postponed, the capture of the U-505.

Rome fell to the Allies, with the first elements of the 5th Army from the 88th Infantry Division entering the city in the evening.  It was the first of the (former) Axis capitals to fall to the Allies.

Injured U.S. solder outside of Rome, June 4, 1944.  The soldier is wearing paratrooper boots, although he's not a paratrooper, but rather a tanker.

The historic city center remained intact, as the Germans had ignored Hitler's order to blow up the bridges over the Tiber.

While there wasn't much fighting on the way into Rome, there was some.  Here, US troops rush past a burning Tiger tank.

RAF Group Captain James Stagg, a meteorologist, recommended postponing Operation Overlord by one day due to predicted bad weather, which Gen. Eisenhower agreed to, resulting in ships which had left port being recalled.

The weather itself was actually very nice on the morning of June 4 and Stagg's prediction, which also predicted a break in the weather on June 6, was based on barometric pressure readings from a single ship stationed 600 miles west of Ireland.  His prediction would prove to be absolutely correct.

Weather conditions for the massive operation had to be optimal, something difficult for the English Channel, given the huge number of vessels the operation involved as well as the planned nighttime drops.  Postponing the mission was risky, given the massive assembly of men in ships, some of which had departed, and Field Marshall Montgomery urged the mission to go ahead in spite of the weather report.  But Eisenhower deemed proceeding in bad weather a higher risk, which given the deterioration throughout the day, was correct.

The bad weather ultimately caused Rommel to feel secure in returning to Germany for his wife's birthday.  Remaining German commanders in Brittany went to a training exercise on June 5, the feeling generally being that weather conditions had become so horrible that an invasion was impossible.

In Medieval times, victory in battle that was suddenly favored by the weather was attributed to God.  In modern times, such things are often scoffed at, but it's worth noting that this news and the decision came on a Sunday, putting the invasion fleet to rest, sort of, on that day, and preventing going forwarded into a weather disaster which would have kept the airborne from departing for targets on this night.

US troops that were not part of the invasion force continued training in the United Kingdom.

Men of the 2nd Infantry Division, training at St. Donat's Castle in Wales.

The U-505 was captured by the U.S. Navy, further aiding the Allied codebreaking effort which was already well advanced, as the boat was captured with its Enigma machine and code material entact.

Last prior edition:

Saturday, June 3, 1944. Rome declared an open city.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, German SS, German Wehrmacht, Horse Racing, Medicine, Operation Overlord, Personalities, Rome, World War Two

Blog Mirror: Ukraine hitting back hard

 

Ukraine hitting back hard

Monday, June 3, 1974. Leaving Laos.

The last U.S. military advisors in Laos, only three in number, left the country.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, June 2, 1974. The Forest Brothers.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, African National Congress, Algeria, Arab Oil Embargo, Bhutan, Estonia, Estonian Forest Brothers, Monarchy, OPEC, Rhodesia, Rhodesian Bush War, USSR

Saturday, June 3, 1944. Rome declared an open city.

German commander Albert Kesselring declared Rome to be an open city and withdraw from the city under a truce with Italian partisans.

Under international law and the rules of war, an open city is one that will not be defended, and therefore is open for the taking.  The declaration spared Rome major destruction.

US troops took Albano and Frascati on Rome's outskirts.  Canadian troops too Anagni.

The Provisional Government of the French Republic was officially created.

The Japanese attempt to reinforce Biak by sea but fail.  Fighting on the island was intense.

Troops of the 4th Infantry Division on their way to load for D-Day, June 3, 1944.

Gretl Braun, Eva Braun's sister, married SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein, who was a really bad guy.  He was not faithful to her, or in the very last moments of its existence, Hitler.  He was executed in its closing days.  She would remarry in 1954 and died in 1987 at age 72.

Bounding Home won the Belmont.

Asperger Syndrome was identified for the first time in a paper by Dr. Hans Asperger, an Austrian.

Last prior example:

Friday, June 2, 1944. Eisenhower moves, Operation Frantic commences, Romania and the Soviet Union talk.

Labels: Commandos, Diplomacy, Free French, Italy, Operation Frantic, Romania, Rome, U.S. Air Force, Ukraine, USSR, World War Two

Tuesday, June 3, 1924. Gila Wilderness

The Gila Wilderness, New Mexico, became the first designated wilderness area in the world thanks to the lobbying efforts of Aldo Leopold, then the United States Forest Service's supervisor of the Carson National Forest.

Fighting broke out in Albania.

Last prior edition:

Monday, June 2, 1924. All Native Americans granted citizenship.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 1924 at the Movies, 68th Congress, Communism, Joseph Stalin, law, Movies, Native Alaskans, Native Americans, Stalin's' Purges, USSR

Saturday, June 3, 1899. Death of Strauss.

 

Johann Baptist Strauss II, popular Austrian composer, died at age 73.

Pel & Ploma commenced publication.

I know nothing about it whatsoever, but the illustration is really cool.

You would have thought the Wild Bunch heist north of Rock River would have been front page news, but nope.

Renegade Indians in Jackson Hole. . . . 

Last prior edition:

Friday, June 2, 1899. The Wild Bunch Robs the Overland Flyer at Wilcox and the Philippine Republic declares war on the United States.

Labels: 1890s, 1899, 1900s, 1906, Crime, Philippine Insurrection, Philippines, Railroads, Rock River Wyoming, The Wild Bunch, Wyoming, Wyoming (Rock River)

Blog Mirror: Wyoming Catholic College Students Surrender Their Cellphones For Four Years

 

Wyoming Catholic College Students Surrender Their Cellphones For Four Years