Sunday, August 13, 1944. Finnish victory, German retreat.

The Red Army took  Võru and Valga but was defeated in the  Battle of Ilomantsi.

Destroyed Soviet T-26 and dead Soviet soldier, Battle of Ilomantsi.

The 3d Army took Argentan. Gen. Bradley halts its further advances in that direction.

Germans begin to evacuate the Falaise Pocket in earnest.  10,000 troops make it out by the end of the day.

105mm self-propelled howitzer gets a cleaning from its crew, having been in the Siege of Brest, France.  Pvt. John B. Siirila, Berkeley, Cal.; and Cpl. Robert Silverman, San Francisco, Cal., are poking the gun cleaning rod in and out. Pvt. Ed DeSimmons, Atlantic City, N.J., cleans the machine gun. Pvt. Bert Lavaro, Potsdam, N.Y., wipes the howitzer barrel, as Sgt. William Entrekin, Tallapoosa, Ga., tests the field telephone. 83rd Field Artillery Battalion, 6th Armored Division. 13 August, 1944.

The submarines USS Flier hit a mine in the Balabac Strait and sank.

The U-270 was sunk by the RAAF in ht eBay of Biscay.

Last edition:

Saturday, August 12, 1944. Appreciating the Falaise Gap.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Falaise Pocket, Franklin Roosevelt, George S. Patton, Normandy, Operation Pluto, Operation Tractable, Petroleum, Radio, U.S. Air Force, Winston Churchill, World War Two

Painted Bricks: Native Girl, Cheyenne Wyoming.

Painted Bricks: Native Girl, Cheyenne Wyoming.:  

Native Girl, Cheyenne Wyoming.

A note about the Russian Army

Armchair strategist like to point out that 1) one the Russian Army is fighting on its own soil its as tough as nails, and 2) Ukraine can't possibly occupy enough real estate in Russia to defeat Russia.

What people miss is that the Russian Army can collapse.

It did in World War One.

To add to that, of the 12,000,000 men the Russians mobilized in the Great War, 2,500,000 were captured or went missing.

In World War Two it did not collapse, but often missed is that hit had an enormous desertion problem, even after the Red Army was clearly headed towards victory.  5,700,000 Red Army troops went into German captivity, with only a fraction coming back out, but entire groups of Soviet citizens worked for the Germans, some out of necessity, and some out of local conviction.

During the Russo Japanese War, about 75,000 Russian soldiers were captured.

I note this as the missed element of the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast is that the Russians start surrendering in droves, or the Russian Army simply evaporates.  If that were to occur, while its a longshot, this incursion could actually turn the tide of the war.

Saturday, August 12, 1944. Appreciating the Falaise Gap.

 Loading shells onto a tank destroyer just outside Brest, France, are, left to right: T/5 Francis J. Kangas, Astoria, Oregon; Pfc. Dominic Juncewski, Silver Lake, Minn.; Sgt. Emory Triggs, Arkansas City, Kansas; Pvt. John Horns, Dickinson, N.D., and Cpl. Cliff Pratt, Selah, Washington. 12 August, 1944.  B Company, 603rd Tank Destroyer Battalion.

The Battle of the Falaise Pocket, the decisive battle in the campaign for Normandy, began.

The US 15th Corps of the 3d Army took Alencon and advanced to the edge of Argentan.  Patton sought permission to advance and close the Falaise gap, but was halted by command for several hours who feared that there would be friendly fire casualties.

Army field hospital nurses, August 12, 1944. France.  Nurse on far left as viewed is wearing paratrooper boots.

Gen James Edward Wharton, commander of the 28th Infantry Division, was killed in action by a German sniper while inspecting the front lines.  He'd taken command of that division on that very day.

An underground oil pipeline beneath the English Channel was completed. It was the world's first Pipeline Under the Ocean (PLUTO) and ran from the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg.

US bombers operating out of Italy bombed the Bordeaux-Merignac airfield and flew on to the UK.

Navy pilot Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr died when his PB4Y-1 Liberator, the Naval version of the B-24, converted for radio controlled drone operations, detonated. The plane was part of a project that converted the planes into flying bombs, largely unsuccessfully, but which still required pilots to get them airborne.

The 5th Army took Florence.

Churchill met Tito in London.

Franklin Roosevelt gave an address from the Puget Sound Navy Yard.

The U-198 was sunk in the Indian Ocean.

Last edition:

Friday, August 11, 1944. Third Army crosses the Loire.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, actors and actresses, Eastern Front, F. E. Warren AFB, Normandy, Normandy Breakout, World War Two, Wyoming

The Work Truck Blog: Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.

The Work Truck Blog: Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.:  

Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.

 Spotted by MKTH on the streets of Laramie.

Cooking on the American Homefront During WWII

Friday, August 11, 1944. Third Army crosses the Loire.

The Third Army crossed the Loire.  Hitler refused a request by Field Marshal Kluge to withdraw from positions at Mortain.  Local commanders began withdrawing anyway.

The Red Army started an offensive south of Lake Peipus and advanced up to 15 miles on the first day.

200 soldiers at F. E. Warren were used as "military actors" for Hollywood combat sequences.  (Wyoming State Historical Society Calendar).

Last edition:

Thursday, August 10, 1944. Stiffening German resistance in the East, Advancing in the West, Pacific victory.

Labels: Army, Battle of Narva, boats and ships, British Army, Eastern Front, Estonia, France, Guam, July 20 Plot, Normandy, Normandy Breakout, Royal Navy, Tartu Offensive, United States Marine Corps, World War Two

Monday, August 11, 1924. First sound film of a President.

Lee de Forest filmed Calvin Coolidge on the White House lawn using his experimental Phonofilm sound film process, resulting in the earliest sound film footage of an American president.

The UK and Turkey agreed to submit a territorial dispute over Mosul to the League of Nations.

Anti British riots broke out in Atbarah in Sudan.

Muslim v. Hindu riots broke out in Hyderbad, British India.

Last edition:

Sunday, August 10, 1924. Chinese uprising, Colorado tornado.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Canton Merchant's Corps Uprising, China, Colorado, Republic of China, Weather

Thursday, August 11, 1774. Sighting of Mount Olympus.

The Spanish ship Santiago, commanded by Juan Perez, sailed past the future state of Washington and sighted Mt. Olympus, which they named "Cerro Nevada de Santa Rosalia."

This was the first known European exploration of the Pacific Northwest.

Last edition:

August 10, 1774. Illegal meeting.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, Georgia

Best Posts of the Week of August 4, 2024

The best posts of the week of August 4, 2020.

National Conservatism, Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, and The Law of Unintended Consequences.* **

An existential wakeup call.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 7. Undermined.

Lex Anteinternet: An existential wakeup call.

The 2024 Election, Part XXIII. It's a new race.

I would not have guessed that being a Federal mule packer requires a person to have a Commercial Drivers License.

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 65th Edition. Local news. Not a paragraph oozing dignity and that's a lot of people.

Sunday, August 9, 1874. Camp Scene Near Blue River, Colorado. William Henry Jackson.

 

Friday, August 9, 1974. President Nixon Resigns.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 8. Wider wars.

Last edition:

The Best Posts of the Week of July 28, 2024.

Blog Mirror: WWII, the autobahn, Ike, the Interstates, and one-mile-in-five

 

WWII, the autobahn, Ike, the Interstates, and one-mile-in-five

Blog Mirror: On German Men in Uniform. Should Germany reintroduce National Service?

 

On German Men in Uniform

Should Germany reintroduce National Service?

Blog Mirror: Happy 80th Birthday, Smokey!

 

Happy 80th Birthday, Smokey!

Thursday, August 10, 1944. Stiffening German resistance in the East, Advancing in the West, Pacific victory.

The Battle of Narva ended in a German defensive victory while the Battle of Tannenberg Line ended in a German tactical victory.

The Tartu Offensive began in Estonia.

The British took Vimont.   The US 20th Corps took Nantes.  Fearing encirclement from Canadian and US forces, the Germans pulled back near Mortain.

Frenchmen of the town of Angers celebrate their liberation by burning the swastika that long flew over their town in the town Awuare.

After a frontal attack routed the Nazis from Angers, tanks with infantrymen walking alongside, move through the town.

The Battle of Guam ended in an American victory.

July 20 plotter Berthold Alfred Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was executed.

The U-608 was scuttled after being damaged by a RAF B-24 and the Royal Navy sloop Wren.

Lsat edition:

Wednesday, August 9, 1944. Finns battle Soviets to a draw, Horror at the Łódź Ghetto, Yes to MacArthur and the Philippines, Third Army at Le Mans, Smokey the Bear and Sam Elliot arrive on the scene.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Studzianki, Battle of Vyborg, Douglas MacArthur, Finnish Army, France, Franklin Roosevelt, Gypsies, Normandy Breakout, Pacific, Philippines, Poland, Red Army, The Holocaust, World War Two

Sunday, August 10, 1924. Chinese uprising, Colorado tornado.

The Canton Merchant's Corps Uprising began against the Chinese government in Guangzhou, China.

A devastating tornado hit Thurman, Colorado.

Last edition:

Saturday, August 9, 1924. Summer events.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 2020s, 2024, Art, Boy Scouts, Campbell County Wyoming, Denmark, Pathfinder Club, Swimming, Wyoming (Campbell County), Youth Organizations

August 10, 1774. Illegal meeting.

Georgia patriots, thirty in number, defying an order from Royal Governor James Wright issued the day prior, met in Savannah's Tondee's Tavern.

Last edition:

Friday, August 5, 1774. Kidnapped Irish cargo.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, Colonial North America, Indentured Servants, Ireland, New York, Slavery, United Kingdom

Friday, August 9, 1974. President Nixon Resigns.

Lex Anteinternet: Today In Wyoming's History: August 9, 1974. Presi...: 

Today In Wyoming's History: August 9, 1974. President Nixon resigns and the 60s end.

Today In Wyoming's History: August 9: 1974    Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States following the resignation of Richard M. Nixon.  Ford has a connection with Wyoming in that his father was part of a family that had shipping and commercial interest in Wyoming and Nebraska.  Ford was born on Omaha Nebraska as Leslie Lynch King, and his parents divorced almost immediately after his birth.

Nixon departing the White House on August 9, 1974.

Just the other day I posted an entry here titled Growing Up in the 1960s.  In that I defined the 60s as ending on this date (which I was a day off on, for some reason), when I stated:

So I was in school in the last three years of the decadal 1960s, but in reality I was in school for most of the 1960s, as the 1960s really ran from our commitment of ground forces to Vietnam until Nixon's resignation on August 8, 1974

For whatever reason, that we were near the 45th anniversary of that date, didn't occur to me at the time (the original linked in post here was obviously from five years ago, now we're at the 50th).

Under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling on Presidential Immunity, I frankly think Nixon could have stayed in office.  Of course, the Court at that time wouldn't have reached that horrific result.

Last edition:

Monday, August 5, 1974. Inescapable conclusions.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Cartoons, Crime, Richard Nixon, Watergate

Wednesday, August 9, 1944. Finns battle Soviets to a draw, Horror at the Łódź Ghetto, Yes to MacArthur and the Philippines, Third Army at Le Mans, Smokey the Bear and Sam Elliot arrive on the scene.

Soviet IS2 moving through forest near Vyborg past wounded Red Army troops.

The outnumbered Finns fought the Red Army to a draw in the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, which concluded on this day.

The Battle of Studzianki began in Poland as a German counter offensive.

The Germans began the liquidation of the Łódź Ghetto, which would result in 60,000 Jews and some Roma being deported to Auschwitz.

MacArthur received a letter from Roosevelt endorsing MacArthur's plan to make the Philippines the next priority for the Allies in the Pacific.

Sgt. Robert Becker and Sgt. Joe Flores, members of an armored unit, and both from New York City, bring in their first German prisoner in the battle around Brest, France, August 9, 1944.

The 3d Army liberated Le Mans.

The French Provisional Government ordered the Republic restored and Vichy laws nullified.

120th FA in New Guinea, August 9, 1944.

The very first Smokey the Bear poster appeared.

Actor Sam Elliot was born in Sacramento, California.

Last edition:

Tuesday, August 8, 1944. Hengyang falls, Wittmann killed, Falaise noticed.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Hengyang, British Army, Canadian Army, Falaise Pocket, Imperial Japanese Army, Nationalist Chinese Army, Operation Ichi-Go, Operation Totalize, Second Sino-Japanese War, World War Two

Saturday, August 9, 1924. Summer events.

 

The 2nd World Scout Jamboree commenced in Denmark.

We noted the huge Seventh Day Adventist International Pathfinder Campfire Camporee being held in Gillette here just yesterday.

The Saturday magazines were out.

Colliers went with a cat making mischief image.

Everyone else seemed to go with a swimming theme.

Last edition:

Tuesday, August 5, 1924. Little Orphan Annie appears.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Cartoons