Saturday, July 27, 2024

Thursday, July 27, 1944. Eastern advances.

The Lwów Uprising ended in Polish victory.  The combatants would shortly be arrested by the Soviets, with the 1st Ukrainian Front entering that day.  It also took Stanislav.

Identity document from occupied Bialystok District.

The Belostock Offensive ended in Soviet victory.  The Bialystok District had been a notable region of Polish Jewish settlements before the war.  The Germans had by and large murdered the Jewish population there by this day.  Film fans may recognize the name as that of the producer portrayed by Zero Mostel in Mel Brook's comedy, The Producers.

The Red Army took Daugavpils in the north, and Siauliai.


The 8th Corps of the 1st Army broke through at Lessy and Periers.

The jet fighter the Gloster Meteor entered active service with No. 616 Squadron RAF.  It would be the only jet aircraft to see active service during the war for the Allies.

The Soviet submarine V-1, formerly the HMS Sunfish, was sunk by the RAF when it dove upon the airplane arriving, rather than fire a recognition signal.

Nimitz, MacArthur and Roosevelt were still meeting.


Last edition:

Wednesday, July 26, 1944. Cobra advances.

Wednesday, July 27, 1774. A Resolution.

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 26, 1774. First armed move in Lord Dunmore's War.

 

Friday, July 26, 2024

Wednesday, July 26, 1944. Cobra advances.

U.S. infantrymen advancing beyond St. Lo, July 26, 1944.

The 1st Army took Marigny and St. Gilles, and crossed the Lessay-Perieres Road.

A really remarkable photograph of US troops near Saint Giles ,with editing marks, July 26, 1944.  The armored vehicle appears to be a M3 Lee/Grant, which according to all sources had been fully replaced by the Sherman by this time.  It might be a M31 tank retriever, however, which was based on the same vehicle and retained the 75mm gun and the turret.  From this angle, the crane would not be visible.  The edits clearly intended to cut out evidence of the 75mm gun, which would make the vehicle appear to be a Sherman.

After six months of combat, the Red Army took Narva, ending the Battle for Narva Bridgehead.

The Battle of Ilomantsi began between the Finns and the Red Army.

The 1st Ukrainian Front took Deblin.

President Roosevelt began a two day conference at Pearl Harbor on strategy in the Pacific.  At the conference MacArthur urged an advance on the Philippines while Nimitz argued for making Taiwan the first priority and bypassing the Philippines.  Roosevelt listened, but did not decide.

Fighting raged on around Aitape.

Japanese forces on Guam launched a banzai charge against Marines fighting for control of the island

The USS Robalo hit a mine sinking the sub off of Palawan Island.  There were four survivors who disappeared forever into Japanese captivity.

The I-29 was sunk by the USS Sawfish in a submarine on submarine action.

The U-214 was sunk by the HMS Cooke in the English Channel.  The U-2323 hit a mine off Kiel and sank.

A pilot with family in Merriam, Kansas, decided to buzz the family home with disastrous results.

The Merriam Bomber Crash of 1944

Oklahoma State Highway 89 was officially designated.


Last edition

Tuesday, July 25, 1944. Operation Cobra commences. Operation Spring does as well.

Saturday, July 26, 1924. Other around the world flights.

Argentinian pilot Pedro Zanni and mechanic Felipe Beltrame began their rather belated attempt to fly around the world.


Larry Estridge became the last person to win the World Colored Middleweight Championship, defeating title holder Panama Joe Gans in a 10-round bout at Yankee Stadium.  Segregation of titles by race would thereafter rightfully be abandoned.

The KKK held a rally in Issaquah, Washington that drew at least 13,000 people.

The weekly magazines were out.

The Saturday Evening Post with a girl who had a scouting uniform of some type, or perhaps was wearing an oddly colored representation of  Navy white shirt, with red instead of blue.


Country Gentleman had a classic of a draft team.



Wednesday, July 26, 1899. Newsboy Leader Quits.

July 26, 1899: “Newsboy Leaders Quit.”

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 25, 1899. The Great Meet of the Newsboys.

Tuesday, July 26, 1774. First armed move in Lord Dunmore's War.

British/Virginian forces under  Angus McDonald crossed the Ohio River to attack the Shawnee villages of Wakatomika.


Angus McDonald, former Jacobite, present commander of British forces, and later American revolutionary.  He'd die in 1778 from an overdose of Antimony potassium tartrate.

Last edition:

Sunday, July 23, 1774. A meeting in Savannah.

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Cutting Hay

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Cutting Hay: The Big Horn Basin usually gets three cuttings of alfalfa a summer. Mid July, right before the fair and barley harvest, is a good time to kn...

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Reconsidering Wounded Knee Medals of Honor.

This isn't the first time this has been done.  Earlier it was done as the criteria for receiving the medal changed and many pre World War One medals were downgraded.



Tuesday, July 25, 1944. Operation Cobra commences. Operation Spring does as well.


The operation would begin the breakout from the bocage company and the unrelenting advance towards the Rhine.

The operation saw the use of U.S. Army Air Corps heavy bombers in the close air support/tactical role, which was a novelty for the US.  Gen. Lesley J. McNair, observing the strikes, was killed by a bomb that landed short.  He was not alone. About 100 US service men were killed in this fashion on this day.


The Canadian II Corps launched Operation Spring in support of Operation Cobra to draw off German forces.

The British launched Operation Gaff, a mission designed to kill or kidnap Erwin Rommel.  The six man SAS unit would learn three days later that Rommel had been wounded and then advanced on foot to American lines.

The Battle of Auvere in Estonia ended with a German victory.  The  Battle of Verrières Ridge in France likewise did.

Goebbels was named "Reich Plenipotentiary for the Total War Effort".  He cancelled vacation leave for women involved in war related work on the same day.

A dismantled V2 rocket captured by the Polish Resistance was flown out of occupied Poland to London.

Last edition:

Monday, July 24, 1944. Marines land on Tinian.

Friday, July 25, 1924. Speeding the game up.

Greece announced it was expelling 50,000 Armenians.

The British communist journal Workers Weekley urged British troops to turn the weapons on their "oppressors" in the event of a war.

American League president Ban Johnson ordered umpires to speed baseball games up by cutting trivial arguments about balls and strikes down and by limiting the time that players inspected balls.

Azem Galica, Albanian nationalist, died of wounds causing the collapse of the the ethnic Albanian rebellion that sought to unite Kosovo with Albania.

Frontier Days for 1924 was wrapping up.



Last edition:

Saturday, July 19, 1924. Birth of Stan Hathaway.

Tuesday, July 25, 1899. The Great Meet of the Newboys.

I haven't been covering it, but the summer of 1899 featured the Newsboy Strike in New York City, which was directed at the Hearst newspapers.

July 25, 1899: “Great Meet of Newsboys”

It was not the only newsboy strike in US history, but it is remarkable as a youth lead labor strike.

Last edition:

Friday, July 21, 1899. Ernest Hemingway born.

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Wednesday, July 24, 1974. United States v. Nixon.



The United States Supreme Court decided in United States v Nixon that the President could not withhold evidence based on the defense of national security, thereby ordering Nixon to turn over his tape recordings.

I wonder what the current court would do?

The Greek military junta resigned in favor of former Premier Konstantinos Karamanlis who immediately granted amnesty to political prisoners.

The Huntsville Prison siege began in Huntsville, Texas.

Last edition:

Sunday, July 21, 1974. Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Israeli no, Turkish misidentification.


Monday, July 24, 1944. Marines land on Tinian.

The U.S. Army took Saint-Lô.

Marines landed on Tinian in the Marianas.  The landings featured the use of napalm, the first time it had been used in the Pacific.

Unsuccessful so far, the Red Army commenced another Narva Offensive.  The Red Army captured Lubin and overran the location of the Majdanek Concentration Camp.

Operation Cobra, the planned American offensive designed to break out of the bocage country, was postponed for 24 hours due to bad weather.

The RAF damaged the U-239 in an air raid on Kiel, and she never returned to service.

Last edition:

Sunday, July 23, 1944. The Lwów Uprising

Sunday, July 23, 1774. A meeting in Savannah.

Supporters of American independence held a rally in Savannah, Georgia at Tondee’s Tavern.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 21, 1774. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Wyoming Early Primary Voting Starts Today, July 23, 2024.

Sunday, July 23, 1944. The Lwów Uprising

The Lwów Uprising by the Polish Home Army began.  The uprising was a success in that it took large portions of the city as the Soviets arrived, but a failure in that the Soviets arrested the political leadership of the city,  and then conscripted or arrested the Polish combatants.

The Red Army took Pskov, the last major town of the prewar USSR to be liberated, meaning that the Soviets were now fighting off of their soil, for the most part.

The last inmates at Treblinka were murdered.

The SS launched a manhunt for members of the July 20 plot.

The Canadian First Army became operational in Normandy.

US troops outside of Saint-Lô.  The soldier closest to the camera is a NCO, identifiable by the horizontal stripe on his helmet, and is carrying a M3 "Grease Gun".

Last edition:

Saturday, July 22, 1944. Changes in governments.

Thursday, July 23, 1874. Custer on Inyan Kara.


Today In Wyoming's History: July 23:1874  George Custer climbs Inyan Kara Mountain in the Black Hills of Wyoming and carves his name there.

Last edition:

Monday, July 22, 2024

Saturday, July 22, 1944. Changes in governments.

Resing tank crewman, Normandy.  July 22, 1944.

We start today with some items Sarah Sundin has already noted in her blog:

Today in World War II History—July 22, 1944

Gen. Kuniaki Koiso became the Prime Minister of Japan, and SS glider troops landed in the Vecors region to address a Maquis uprising.

Operation Goodwood concludes near Caen with limited results, and the US began initial support operations for Operation Cobra.

The Moscow controlled Polish Committee of National Liberation was established in Chelm.

The Red Army closed the Brody Pocket in Ukraine, capturing 17,000 German troops.  The Red Army also took Panevezys, Lithuania.

The Red Army overran the Majdanek concentration camp, the first concentration camp to be liberated by Allied forces.

The first all fighter aircraft shuttle mission occurred with July 22, 1944 Italian based U.S. P-38 Lightning's and P-51 Mustangs of Fifteenth Air Force attacking German airfields at Bacau and Zilistea, Romania and flying on to  Soviet territory.

The Germans began cancelling the construction of new U-boats as well as the repair of existing ones.

Arrests continued due to the July 20, plot.

The Poles took Castelfiorentino and Tavernelle, Italy.

The USS Bailey shelled positions on Tinian.

The US Army Air Force raided Japanese positions in Shanghai.

Bretton Woods concluded.

Last edition:

Friday, July 21, 1944. Landings on Guam.