Friday, November 8, 2024

Anti Tank Guns. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

 









Pets.





Wednesday, November 8, 1944. Mystery of explosions resolved. Canadians prevail on the Scheldt.

Joseph Goebbels announced the V-2 rocket campaign for the first time. 

Churchill then did the same.

As V-2s came in so fast, they were largely silent, so this resolved a mystery concerning sudden large explosions.

The Canadian Army prevailed in the Battle of the Scheldt.

M4s that became stuck when firing from stationary positions due to sudden flood, France.  November 4, 1944.

The U.S. Army crossed the Seille and captured Nomony.

9th Army LVT in Europe.  I had no idea the LVT was used in the ETO.

High scoring Luftwaffe pilot Walter Nowotny was killed when his ME262 went down.  It's unclear if he was shot down or if the jet caught fire on its own.

The USS Growler was sunk by Japanese ships west of the Philippines.

Last edition:

Tuesday, November 7, 1944. Roosevelt wins a fourth term.


Today in World War II History—November 8, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—November 8, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago: Canadians secure Walcheren and the Scheldt Estuary to protect port of Antwerp, Belgium. US Third Army begins offensive toward Metz, France.

Saturday, November 8, 1924. Declaration from Honolulu.

Syngman Rhee announced plans for a new Korean independence movement from Honolulu.

Last edition:

Friday, November 7, 1924. A balanced budget.

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Donald Trump promised to end the war between Ukraine and Russian with twenty four hours of being elected.

 Well, it's been over 24 hours now.  Why isn't the war over?

Tank Destroyers. National Museum of Military History

Tank destroyers are a uniquely American weapon from the Second World War, like "assault guns" and Jadgpanzers were uniquely German.  They stem from the early war debate in the U.S. Army on whether the best defense against tanks were tanks, or anti tank guns.  Infantrymen tended to feel antitank guns were, which is also the same basic line of thinking that gave rise to German assault guns.  The war would prove this line of thinking incorrect.


The M36 was a large tank destroyer with a really substantial gun.  Like the description below notes, it was open topped, and it was not as heavily armored as a tank, hence its disadvantage.
 



The M18 was the best of the American tank destroyers, even though it was not the most heavily gunned.  It was fast, which gave it an advantage over other tank destroyers.






Last edition:

Tuesday, November 7, 1944. Roosevelt wins a fourth term.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 71944     President Franklin D. Roosevelt won a fourth term in office, defeating Thomas E. Dewey.

Truman, of course, became his Vice President.


Truman was chosen over prior VP Henry Wallace as Democratic insiders were concerned about Wallace's far left leanings.  People have wondered about how far Wallace went in that direction, but The New Republic, which ironically was featured here just yesterday, and for which Wallace was an editor after he was no longer VP, actually stated that he was a Communist in its 75th anniversary issue.  He was certainly very far left.

He was also an expert on chickens.

Truman had been a small businessman before entering politics and was the last U.S. President to lack a college degree.

Roosevelt in many ways created much of the modern state which the current Republican Party, once again flirting with isolationism, threatens to tear down under Donald Trump, something that got started with Ronald Reagan.

US fighters strafed a Red Army column near Niš, mistaking it for a German column.  Soviet aircraft responded.  There were losses on both sides, but what exactly occured is confusing as it remains classified.

The US took Bloody Ridge on Leyte.

The USS Albacore struck a mine off of Hokkaido and was sunk.


SOE operative Hannah Szenes, age 23, was executed in Hungary, which was controlled by Hungarian fascists at the time.

Last edition:

Friday, November 7, 1924. A balanced budget.

The Weimar Republic announced the first balanced German budget since the end of World War One.

The Soviet Union produced its first domestically manufactured motor vehicle, the AMO-15 truck.

The Alvarado Hot Springs was created when a natural gas exploratory well taped into a geothermal pool in Los Angeles County.  It was operated commercially as a hot springs facility until at least 1961, following which it seem to have disappeared from history.

2BE began operating commercially, broadcasting twice a week, in Sydney. Australia's first commercial radio station would close in 1929.

Last edition:

Thursday, November 6, 1924. The 100th Anniversary of Christopher Robin and Winey the Pooh.

Sunday, November 7, 1824. St. Petersburg Flood.

The horrific St. Petersburg Flood, by some measures the worst flood in Russian history, occurred.


Last edition:

Tuesday, November 2, 1824. The Blackpore Mutiny of 1824.

Monday, November 7, 1774. The Yorktown Tea Party

You get the drill.  Residents of Yorktown boarded the British ship Virginia and dumped two half-chests of tea into the York River.

Last edition:

Thursday, November 3, 1774. Charleston Tea Party.

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

I wish it need not have happened in my time

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

The M4 Sherman Tank. National Museum of Military Vehicles

The mass produced M4 was the most significant tank of the Western Allies during the Second World War.  It came, as these photos show, in a variety of models as it was improved over time.












 

Last edition:

Monday, November 6, 1944.. The photo.


"Husband and wife serving in uniform meet for the first time on the continent--Lt. Jane I. Sunderbruch, Army Nurse Corps, assigned to an evacuation hospital, and her husband, Lt. Richard K. Sunderbruch, Davenport, Iowa. Signal Corps photographic officer. He was wounded in the Battle of Aachen, has since returned to duty. 6 November, 1944."  They survived the war. He died in 1992, she in 2006. They are buried together in Scott County, Iowa.

Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, DSO & Bar, TD, PCk, British minister of state in the Middle East was assassinated by the Jewish terrorist group Lehi in Cairo.

The struggle over post war Palestine had begun.

Well, maybe begun again.  British rule in Palestine had never been particularly easy.

The German garrison at Middleburg in the Netherlands surrendered to the Canadian Army.

The French government repealed Vichy anti Semitic laws, but implementation would prove to be difficult to implement in terms of restoring their possessions and occupations.

Penicillin began production in large scale in Liverpool.

Last edition:

Sunday, November 5, 1944. The air and sea war off of Luzon.

Thursday, November 6, 1924. The 100th Anniversary of Christopher Robin and Winey the Pooh.

Winston Churchill was named Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Nikola Pašić became Prime Minister of Yugoslavia for the second time.

Published on this date:


Calvin Coolidge issued a statement regarding his election:

November 05, 1924
It does not seem possible to me to make an adequate expression concerning the Presidency of the United States. No other honor equals it; no other responsibility approaches it. When it is conferred by an overwhelming choice of the American people and vote of the Electoral College, these are made all the greater.

I can only express my simple thanks to all those who have contributed to this result and plainly acknowledge that it has been brought to pass through the work of a Divine Providence, of which I am but one instrument. Such powers as I have I dedicate to the service of all my country and of all my countrymen.

In the performance of the duties of my office I cannot ask for anything more than the sympathetic consideration which my fellow-Americans have always bestowed upon me. I have no appeal, except to the common sense of all the people. I have no pledge except to serve them. I have no object except to promote their welfare.

Life Magazine came out with a cover featuring a Girl Scout.

The Irish Boundary Commission held its first meeting to come to an agreement of the dividing line between the Irish Free State and the United Kingdom.

Last edition:

Wednesday, November 5, 1924. Expelled from the Forbidden City.