Remembering History by day WW2

[spidge]

November 2, 1943 - Battle of Empress Augustusta Bay.

[Peter Clare]

1941 : The order is given: Bomb Pearl Harbor


On this day in 1941, the Combine Japanese Fleet receive Top-Secret Order No. 1: In 34 days time, Pearl Harbor is to be bombed, along with Mayala, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines.
Relations between the United States and Japan had been deteriorating quickly since Japan's occupation of Indochina in 1940 and the implicit menacing of the Philippines (an American protectorate), with the occupation of the Cam Ranh naval base only eight miles from Manila. American retaliation included the seizing of all Japanese assets in the States and the closing of the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping. In September 1941, Roosevelt issued a statement, drafted by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, that threatened war between the United States and Japan should the Japanese encroach any further on territory in Southeast Asia or the South Pacific.
The Japanese military had long dominated Japanese foreign affairs; although official negotiations between the U.S. secretary of state and his Japanese counterpart to ease tensions were ongoing, Hideki Tojo, the minister of war who would soon be prime minister, had no intention of withdrawing from captured territories. He also construed the American "threat" of war as an ultimatum and prepared to deliver the first blow in a Japanese-American confrontation: the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
And so Tokyo delivered the order to all pertinent Fleet commanders, that not only the United States-and its protectorate the Philippines--but British and Dutch colonies in the Pacific were to be attacked. War was going to be declared on the West.

[spidge]

November 3rd

1944 Allied commando's lands at Westkapelle Walcheren
1944 German troops in Vlissingen surrenders
1944 Pro-German government of Hungary flees
1944 U.S. 28th Infantry division occupies Schmidt Hurtgenwald

1943 P-47D Thunderbolt shot down above North-Holland

1942 12th day of battle at El Alamein: Scottish assault

1941 Hirohiti's accord on Yamamoto's attack plan on Pearl Harbor fails

[Peter Clare]

2/3 November 1944

992 aircraft - 561 Lancasters, 400 Halifaxes, 31 Mosquitos - dispatched to Düsseldorf. 11 Halifaxes and 8 Lancasters were lost, 4 of the losses being crashes behind Allied lines in France and Belgium. This heavy attack fell mainly on the northern half of Düsseldorf. More than 5,000 houses were destroyed or badly damaged. 7 industrial premises were destroyed and 18 were seriously damaged, including some important steel firms. This was the last major Bomber Command raid of the war on Düsseldorf.
42 Mosquitos to Osnabrück and 9 to Hallendorf (only 1 aircraft reached this target), 37 RCM sorties, 51 Mosquito patrols. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 1,131 sorties, 19 aircraft (1.7 per cent) lost.
3 November 1944

1 Wellington flew an RCM sortie and returned safely

[Peter Clare]

1944 : Gen. Sir John Dill dies


On this day in 1944, British Gen. John Dill dies in Washington, D.C., and is buried in Arlington Cemetery, the only foreigner to be so honored.
Born on Christmas Day, 1881, in County Armagh, Ireland, Dill was a military man from his earliest years, serving in the South African War at age 18, then in World War I. He was promoted to the office of director of military operations and intelligence of the British War Office in 1934 and knighted for service to the empire in 1937.
When the Second World War broke out he was already serving as chief of the imperial general staff and renowned for his gifts as a strategist. It was his decision to reinforce the British position in Egypt with 150 tanks in August 1940, despite a shortage of such armaments back home. And in March 1941, he championed Britain's defense of Greece against the Axis invasion.
But such early strategic successes were followed up by more cautious decision-making, which disturbed Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who favored more aggressive maneuvers against the enemy. Consequently, Churchill removed Dill from his post and transferred him to the United States, to become chief British military representative to Washington. It was there that Dill developed a close personal friendship with George C. Marshall, the U.S. chief of staff, which resulted in a closer U.S.-British alliance.
Upon Dill's death, it was Marshall who intervened to have Dill buried at Arlington National Cemetery, normally reserved only for Americans who had served their nation during wartime. Dill's plot is also marked by only one of two equestrian statues in the cemetery.

[spidge]

British Gen. John Dill dies in Washington, D.C., and is buried in Arlington Cemetery, the only foreigner to be so honored.

There are other foreign natonals buried in Arlington. Some through necessity.

Orde Wingate for example.

While Arlington National Cemetery Is Essentially An American
Burial Ground, There Are A Number Of Foreign Nationals Buried There.

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Ali Hussam Abass Alrubaeye. Captain, Iraqi Air Force, Killed In Operation Iraqi Freedom
Luigi Bartolucci-Dundas, Italian Assistant Naval Attache'
Mario Batista - Italian Prisoner Of War
George Henry Borrow - Captain, British Army
Roy Albert Arthur Cannon, Flying Officer, Royal Air Force, Great Britain - Killed With American Aircrew
Thomas John Donald Cook, Flight Lieutenant, Royal Air Force, Great Britain - Killed With American Aircrew
Monica P. Daventry - British Women's Air Force
Bernardus Pieter de Wit, Lieutenant, Royal Netherlands Marines
Sir John Greer Dill - British Field Marshal
Stewart Emeny - British War Correspondent
A. S. Faber, Lieutenant Commander, Royal Netherlands Navy
Walter Frederick Fitch, Captain, British Army
Anton Hilberath - German Prisoner Of War
Basil B. W. Howe, Squadron Leader, Royal Air Force
Charles Henry Lyell, Major, British Army
Angus Alexander Mackintosh, Captain, Royal Horse Guards, United Kingdom
Harry James Maxted, Wing Commander, Royal Air Force
Francis D. Milne - Australian Air Forces Killed In World War II
Alexander Reid Moir, Major, British Army, British Air Commission
Victor Potgieter, Lieutenant, South African Army
James Schofield, Royal Marine Light Infantry - H. M. Yacht Warrior - World War I
Ruth Patricia Watson - British Women's Air Force
Orde Charles Wingate - British General
Arcangelo Prudenza - Italian Prisoner of War

[Peter Clare]

Well spotted spidge, just goes to show we shouldn't believe all we read on the net.

[Peter Clare]

4/5 November 1944

Bochum: 749 aircraft - 384 Halifaxes, 336 Lancasters, 29 Mosquitos - of Nos 1, 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 23 Halifaxes and 5 Lancasters were lost; German night fighters caused most of the casualties. No 346 (Free French) Squadron, based at Elvington, lost 5 out of its 16 Halifaxes on the raid. This was a particularly successful attack based upon standard Pathfinder marking techniques. Severe damage was caused to the centre of Bochum. More than 4,000 buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged. Bochum's industrial areas were also severely damaged, particularly the important steelworks. This was the last major raid by Bomber Command on this target.
Dortmund-Ems Canal: 174 Lancasters and 2 Mosquitos of No 5 Group. 3 Lancasters lost. The Germans had partly repaired the section of the canal north of Münster after the No 5 Group raid in September, so this further attack was required. The banks of both branches of the canal were again breached and water drained off, leaving barges stranded and the canal unusable. A report from Speer to Hitler, dated 11 November 1944, was captured at the end of the war and described how the bombing of the canal was preventing smelting coke from the Ruhr mines reaching 3 important steelworks - 2 near Brunswick and 1 at Osnabrück. In his post-war interrogation, Speer stated that these raids on the Dortmund-Ems Canal, together with attacks on the German railway system, produced more serious setbacks to the German war industry at this time than any other type of bombing.
43 Mosquitos to Hannover and 6 to Herford, 39 RCM sorties, 68 Mosquito patrols. No aircraft lost. The No 100 Group Mosquitos claimed 4 Ju88s and 2 Me110s destroyed and 2 other night fighters damaged, possibly their most successful night of the war.
Total effort for the night: 1,081 sorties, 31 aircraft (2.9 per cent) lost.

[Cpl Rootes]

4th November
1862

In America, inventor Richard Jordan Gatling patents his rapid-fire machine gun.

[Peter Clare]

JERVIS BAY (November 5, 1940)
Originally built to carry emigrants to Australia, the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line 14,164 ton liner was taken over by the Admiralty in 1939 and converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser (MAC Ship) with a crew of 254 men. On the 5th of November the Jervis Bay was the sole escort for convoy HX-84 from Halifax to Britain and consisting of 37 freighters. When the convoy was attacked by the German battleship Admiral Scheer, the Jervis Bay engaged the Scheer in a desperate attempt to enable the convoy to escape.
In a twenty two minute battle the Bay's commander, Captain Fogarty Fegan, and most of his officers were killed. In all, 187 officers and crew were lost when the blazing ship sank 755 nautical miles (1,398 kilometers) south-southwest of Reykjavic, Iceland. Fifty six survivors were rescued by the Swedish freighter Stureholm (Capt. Sven Olander) but three died before reaching the port of Halifax. Captain Fogarty Fegan was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. On December 11, 1940, the Stureholm was sunk with all hands by the U-96. The Admiral Scheer went on to sink six other ships in the convoy which took the lives of another 251 men. On April 9, 1945, she was bombed and sunk by the RAF while at her anchorage in Kiel.