Remembering History by day WW2

[Peter Clare]

SIDI-BEL-ABBES (April 20, 1943)

French steamship of 4,392 tons torpedoed and sunk by the U-565 near Oran about ten miles north of the Habibas Islands. On board were some 1,130 Senegalese troops being transported from Casablanca to Oran. A total of 611 lives were lost, 520 being rescued by British naval escorts.

[Peter Clare]

April 21, 1945
Red Army overruns German High Command as it approaches the capital

On this day in 1945, Soviet forces fighting south of Berlin, at Zossen, assault the headquarters of the German High Command. The only remaining opposing "force" to the Russian invasion of Berlin are the "battle groups" of Hitler Youth, teenagers with anti-tank guns, strategically placed in parks and suburban streets. In a battle at Eggersdorf, 70 of these Hitler teens strove to fight off a Russian assault with a mere three anti-tank guns. They were bulldozed by Russian tanks and infantry.
Also on this day in 1945, British Guardsman Edward Charlton wins the last Victoria Cross of the war for saving the lives of several men trapped in their tank during a battle in the German village of Wistedt. He is so badly wounded during his act of heroism that he dies shortly after being taken prisoner. A total of 182 Victoria Crosses--Britain's highest honor for valor--were finally awarded for World War II.

[Ron Goldstein]

This day in Ron's History, 63 years ago to the day.

My diary:
Sunday 22nd. April 1945
Woke to find mortar crew right at my head in yard right in front of casa. Rations came up with T.R's kit (?). More prisoners. Slung my 'spare' rifle. Moved into fields.

Regimental Diaries:

April 22nd - 0050 - Echelon, who had been brought well forward to replenish Tanks after this long run leaguered in GUALDO area. Shortly after arrival the area was heavilly shelled, which continued for 5 hours. At dawn a civilian reported a German Officer and 2 NCOs had a field telephone 500 yards from leaguer. They were duly collected by the Recce Regt. 0600 - C Sqn carrying 9th New Zealand Bde advanced to VILLA BEATRICE, more than halfway to the RENO. A & B Sqns resting in area CONA.>>

ps
I see that I covered my diary entry more fully here:
BBC - WW2 People's War - Keeping a Diary in Wartime: 4th Queen's Own Hussars in Italy and the 49th LAA in Egypt

[Peter Clare]

April 22, 1944
Americans launch Operation Persecution in the Pacific

On this day in 1944, Allied forces land in the Hollandia area of New Guinea. The Japanese occupiers, only 15,000 in number, many of whom were on administrative duty, fight for more than three months against ludicrous odds at great cost: When the battle for the northern coast of New Guinea was finally won by the Allies, 12,811 Japanese were dead, compared with 527 Americans.

[Peter Clare]

April 23, 1942
Germans begin "Baedeker Raids" on England

On this day in 1942, in retaliation for the British raid on Lubeck, German bombers strike Exeter and later Bath, Norwick, York, and other "medieval-city centres." Almost 1,000 English civilians are killed in the bombing attacks nicknamed "Baedeker Raids."
On March 28 of the same year, 234 British bombers struck the German port of Lubeck, an industrial town of only "moderate importance." The attack was ordered (according to Sir Arthur Harris, head of British Bomber Command) as more of a morale booster for British flyers than anything else, but the destruction wreaked on Lubeck was significant: Two thousand buildings were totaled, 312 German civilians were killed, and 15,000 Germans were left homeless.
As an act of reprisal, the Germans attacked cathedral cities of great historical significance. The 15th-century Guildhall, in York, as an example, was destroyed. The Germans called their air attacks "Baedeker Raids," named for the German publishing company famous for guidebooks popular with tourists. The Luftwaffe vowed to bomb every building in Britain that the Baedeker guide had awarded "three stars."

[Peter Clare]

USS EAGLE 56 (April 23, 1945)

About noon on April 23 the American submarine chaser Eagle 56, built by the Ford Motor Company and launched in August 1919, sank after a violent explosion when off Portland on the coast of Maine. Classified by the US Navy as sunk due to a boiler explosion, it was not until 2001 that the true story of this long forgotten sinking came to light. When the few surviving members of the crew were interviewed they all mentioned seeing the dark outline of a submarines conning tower a short distance away. German records revealed that the U-853, part of 'Group Seewolf', was operating in the area of the sinking at the time. The US Navy then re-classified the sinking as a combat loss and in June, 2001, posthumously awarded the Purple Heart to the 49 men lost and to the 12 survivors (or their next of kin) who were rescued by the destroyer USS Selfridge. The U-853, commanded by 24 year old Oberleutnant Helmut Frömsdorf, was sunk on May 6, 1945, by the destroyers USS Artherton and USS Moberly. There were no survivors.

[Peter Clare]

April 24, 1940
Britain begins its evacuation of Greece in Operation Demon

On this day in 1940, British forces, along with Australian, New Zealand, and Polish troops, begin to withdraw from Greece in light of the Greek army's surrender to the Axis invaders. A total of 50,732 men are evacuated quickly over a six-day period, leaving behind weapons, trucks, and aircraft.

[Peter Clare]

USS FREDERICK C. DAVIS (April 24, 1945)

The 1,490 ton destroyer escort was commissioned on July 14, 1943. Nine months later the destroyer was sunk by the U-546 in the Western Atlantic. The vessel was participating in a search for snorkel-equipped U-boats when she sighted the U-546 preparing to attack the American aircraft carrier USS Bogue. The Davis attacked the U-boat but while doing so was herself hit by a torpedo from the U-546 the explosion of which split the Davis in two causing her to sink within a few minutes. Other destroyers in the group then attacked the U-boat which was eventually destroyed. They then proceeding to rescue the 77 survivors of the Davis. Unfortunately, 115 of her crew perished.

[Peter Clare]

April 25, 1945
Americans and Russians link up, cut Germany in two

On this day in 1945, eight Russian armies completely encircle Berlin, linking up with the U.S. First Army patrol, first on the western bank of the Elbe, then later at Torgau. Germany is, for all intents and purposes, Allied territory.
The Allies sounded the death knell of their common enemy by celebrating. In Moscow, news of the link-up between the two armies resulted in a 324-gun salute; in New York, crowds burst into song and dance in the middle of Times Square. Among the Soviet commanders who participated in this historic meeting of the two armies was the renowned Russian Marshal Georgi K. Zhukov, who warned a skeptical Stalin as early as June 1941 that Germany posed a serious threat to the Soviet Union. Zhukov would become invaluable in battling German forces within Russia (Stalingrad and Moscow) and without. It was also Zhukov who would demand and receive unconditional surrender of Berlin from German General Krebs less than a week after encircling the German capital. At the end of the war, Zhukov was awarded a military medal of honor from Great Britain.

[Peter Clare]

LCG 15 and LCG 16 (Landing Craft Gun) (April, 25, 1943)

Their purpose was to engage enemy shore batteries during the forthcoming beach landings in Sicily. A number of these newly converted craft set sail from the Belfast docks, their destination, Falmouth. As the weather deteriorated and the seas mounted, many of the crews became seasick. As they headed down the Welsh coast with the wind now at gale force the ships started to fill up with water. Approaching the Naval Base at Milford Haven, the LCGs 15 and 16 were battling to keep afloat. Swept overboard, bodies were pummelled against the rocks. Hundreds of would be rescuers had gathered on the cliff tops unable to help as they watched the merciless seas pound the two vessels to smithereens. In all, 78 men were lost from the two landing craft, there were only three survivors. Today at Milford Haven, 39 gravestones stand in stark reminder of the tragedy. The other bodies were sent back to their families for private burial.