Remembering History by day WW2

[spidge]

1944 Allied troops reach Zoutelande Walcheren
1944 Canadian and British troops liberate Dinteloord
1944 German troops blow-up Heusden North Brabant city hall, 134 die

1943 Vatican bombed

1942 Nazi raid on Greek Jews in Paris
1942 Pro-British Clandestine Radio Diego Suarez's final transmission

1941 Japanese marine staff officiers Suzuki/Maejima leave Pearl Harbor

1940 Dutch submarine departs Dundee
1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) wins unprecedented 3rd term beating Wendell Willkie (R)

[spidge]

Captain. Edward Stephen Fogarty Fegen. Victoria Cross.
The hero of the action between HMS Jervis Bay and the German Admiral Scheer

HMS Jervis Bay

The sacrifice of HMS Jervis Bay.
Jervis Bay was built at Vickers Ltd at Barrow in Furness in 1922, originally to carry emigrants across the world to Australia, this passenger ship was requisitioned by the Admiralty in September 1939. The 14,164 ton ship to become HMS Jervis Bay, an Armed Merchant Cruiser mounting 7 by 6 inch guns of WW1 vintage, and 2 by 3 inch AA guns. Her speed, a modest 15 knots.

Convoy HX 84, Halifax to UK.
Jervis Bay sailed out of Halifax, the sole escort for 38 ships forming Convoy HX 84, on the 28th. of October 1940. In the Geman pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, her Captain Krancke, with his ship's 11 inch guns had learned through Naval intelligence that HX 84 was on its way, and his ship stood directly in their path.

German Admiral Scheer

On the morning of the 5th. of November the ship's Arado aircraft on a scouting flight sighted the convoy, but lookouts afloat did not spot this plane, which scurried back home to report its find.
Now Admiral Scheer ran into the 6,000 ton banana ship SS Mopan, it was essential that she was silenced before she could raise the alarm and warn the nearby convoy. Scheer used a signal lamp to order this ship to stop, and maintain radio silence, she suprisingly obliged, her crew to be taken off, and the ship consigned to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Now lookouts in Jervis Bay sighted an unknown ship, and Captain Fegan had his signalman send off, What Ship? Of course no response, so the question was repeated as he was expecting to soon join up with his ocean escort.
At 1730 ( 5. 30 PM ) the unidentified ship turned broadside on, about 8 miles away, and then opened fire, this salvo falling close to Jervis Bay.

Officers of the ill fated HMS Jervis Bay, sunk by the German pocket battleship Admiral Sheer 5th. of November 1940

Convoy ordered to scatter.
Now the danger was apparent, Kennedy ordered his charges to scatter, dropped smoke floats trying to obscure the target from the German gunners. The AMC opened fire with her forward 6 inch guns, but this obsolete armament was still out of range, a German salvo struck the fore part of Jervis Bay , now her bridge was hit, destroying her gunnery control, and the Captain lost an arm.
The ship, mortally stricken was starting to sink by her bow, it was time to leave as "Abandon Ship" was ordered. The AMC quickly sank into the dark depths of the grim Atlantic Ocean, taking 187 crew members including the Captain with her. It was all over in about 22 minutes, but she had won time for the bulk of the convoy to escape, Sheer sank a further 5 of the convoy ships, but the Swedish ship Stureholm risking her own safety, stopped to collect 65 sailors from Jervis Bay. Unfortunately this brave ship was herself sunk by U-Boat U-96 on the 15th. of December 1940.
Fegan was awarded a posthumousVictory Cross for his gallant fight and sacrifice which saved many of Convoy HX 84.

[Peter Clare]

NACHI (November 5, 1944)
Japanese heavy cruiser of 13,380 tons (Captain Kanooka Enpei) In an attempt to escape American air raids on Manila harbour, the Nachi headed for the open sea but another strike from Halsey's Task Force 38, caught the Nachi just off Corregidor. Immobilized with bomb hits and a torpedo strike in the starboard boiler room, the ship lay dead in the water only to be attacked again by another air strike, this time taking 5 torpedo hits. The Nachi simply blew apart and sank at 16:45hrs. A total of 807 of her crew died, plus 74 Fifth Fleet staff. There were 220 men who survived the blast. (This is according to the official US Navy report)
The latest version of the sinking of the NACHI. The cruiser was damaged in a collision with the Japanese cruiser Mogami and needed repairs in Japan. Before sailing she was loaded with 100 metric tons of looted gold bullion and towing a barge loaded with drums full of silver and gold coins, diamonds and gemstones. The Nachi sailed out into Manila Bay where she was deliberately torpedoed by a Japanese submarine lying in wait. All crew were machine-gunned to death in the water, there were to be no witnesses. The looted gold was to be retrieved after the war. In 1975 the first attempt was made to find the wreck but ended in failure. Later that year, President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines financed an expedition to recover the treasure and according to numerous sources finally recovered the gold which in 1975 was worth six billion US dollars. Gold at that time was selling at $65 an ounce. Other Marcus assets, deposited in Swiss banks, were frozen in 1998. Now (July 2003) these assets total 1.6 billion dollars. The Philippine Supreme Court has requested this money be returned to the Philippine Government. Swiss authorities have agreed to do this.

[spidge]

His wife spent all the money on shoes!

[Peter Clare]

5 November 1944

173 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H raid on Solingen. 1 Lancaster lost. Results of the raid were not observed, because of the complete cloud cover, but German reports show that this was an outstanding success. Most of the bombing fell accurately into the medium-sized town of Solingen. 1,300 houses and 18 industrial buildings were destroyed and 1,600 more buildings were severely damaged.
1 Wellington flew an RCM sortie and returned safely.
These 3 near-perfect raids in 24 hours - the area-bombing raid on Bochum marked by Pathfinders, the selective attack on the Dortmund-Ems Canal by No 5 Group and the No 3 Group G-H raid on Solingen - are good examples of the versatility and striking power now possessed by Bomber Command. All groups had taken part, dispatching 1,098 sorties and dropping 5,130 tons of bombs accurately on the targets. The loss of 28 bombers from the Bochum raid also shows, however, that the German defences could still be effective.

Solingen - Before and After

---

[Peter Clare]

1940 : FDR re-elected president


On this day in 1940, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is re-elected for an unprecedented third term as president of the United States.
Roosevelt was elected to a third term with the promise of maintaining American neutrality as far as foreign wars were concerned: "Let no man or woman thoughtlessly or falsely talk of American people sending its armies to European fields." But as Hitler's war spread, and the desperation of Britain grew, the president fought for passage of the Lend-Lease Act in Congress, in March 1941, which would commit financial aid to Great Britain and other allies. In August, Roosevelt met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to proclaim the Atlantic Charter, which would become the basis of the United Nations; they also drafted a statement to the effect that the United States "would be compelled to take countermeasures" should Japan further encroach in the southwest Pacific.
Despite ongoing negotiations with Japan, that "further encroachment" took the form of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor-"a day that would live in infamy." The next day Roosevelt requested, and received, a declaration of war against Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
Certain wartime decisions by Roosevelt proved controversial, such as the demand of unconditional surrender of the Axis powers, which some claim prolonged the war. Another was the acquiescence to Joseph Stalin of certain territories in the Far East in exchange for his support in the war against Japan. Roosevelt is often accused of being too naive where Stalin was concerned, especially in regard to "Uncle Joe's" own imperial desires.

[jacobtowne]

1943 - Carrier Raid on Rabaul


Rabaul was the stronghold of Japanese defense in the Solomons. Five separate airfields ringed the base there, stocked with several hundred aircraft maintained by 20,000 of the Empire's best aircraft technicians. The anchorage at Simpson's Harbor could usually be counted upon to be swarming with a variety of Japanese warships. As a result, it had never been seriously threatened by the Americans.

However, with the invasion of Bougainville, Rabaul was now directly jeopardized for the first time. Because the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay had not turned out to Japan's advantage, she needed to act quickly to stop this threat. The Navy therefore reacted to reinforce Rabaul and prepare a counterstroke against the Bougainville invasion by moving a variety of additional cruisers to Rabaul. This was potentially very bad news for the Americans, because they had barely come away from the battle on the 2nd with a margin of victory. Against the forces now massing at Rabaul, there would be little chance of the American light surface units in the neighborhood of Bougainville prevailing. Furthermore, most of the U.S. battleships and cruisers were elsewhere preparing for the invasion of Tarawa.


In order to pre-empt a move by the Japanese, Rear-Admiral Frederick Sherman put together a bold operational plan to attack the Japanese force at its base. Racing in under a weather front with two carriers, Sherman relied on land-based airpower from New Guinea to protect his ships, while launching every one of his own planes to attack Rabaul. His sagacity was rewarded by near-total surprise and clear weather over the target.

Simpson's Harbor was crowded with ships, and most of them were refueling and in no way prepared to get underway. As they frantically cast off and scrambled for the harbor entrance, American aircraft had a field day. While no Japanese ships were sunk, many were damaged and would have to be sent back to Japan for months of repair work. Fewer than a dozen attacking aircraft were shot down. Upon recovering their aircraft, Sherman's raiders then raced away southward towards friendly aircover. The Japanese were unable to locate them before they escaped.


Any Japanese hopes of contesting the Bougainville landings had vanished.
No one realized it at the time, but Rabaul was essentially finished as a prime naval base for the Japanese. Land-based airpower would now keep it under constant attack, and its own airgroups would be steadily depleted. As time passed, Rabaul would become a backwater, its garrison of nearly 100,000 men left to 'wither on the vine,' its large group of skilled aircraft mechanics left with less and less to do.


JT

[Peter Clare]

6 November 1942

14 Wellingtons and 5 Lancasters on cloud-cover raids to Essen, Osnabrück and Wilhelmshaven. Only 6 aircraft bombed, through cloud, in the Osnabrück and Wilhelmshaven areas. No aircraft lost.
12 Bostons bombed an airfield near Caen without loss.
10 Venturas in fours and twos carried out low-level raids to Holland. 3 aircraft lost.

Caen airfield under attack

[Peter Clare]

1944 : Soviet master spy is hanged by the Japanese


On this day in 1944, Richard Sorge, a half-Russian, half-German Soviet spy, who had used the cover of a German journalist to report on Germany and Japan for the Soviet Union, is hanged by his Japanese captors.
Sorge fought in World War I in the German army, and then earned his doctorate in political science at the University of Hamburg. He joined Germany's Communist Party in 1919, traveling to the USSR in 1924. His first major assignment for Soviet intelligence was in the late 1920s, when he was sent to China to organize a spy ring. Returning to Germany, he joined the Nazi Party in 1933 to perfect his cover as a loyal German. He proceeded to develop a reputation as a respected journalist working for the Frankfurter Zeitung, finally convincing his editors to send him to Tokyo as a foreign correspondent in the mid-1930s. Once in Japan, Sorge proceeded once again to create a spy ring, which included an adviser to the Japanese cabinet and an American communist, who was also working for Soviet intelligence as Sorge's interpreter.
Sorge had so successfully ingratiated himself with the German diplomatic community in Japan that he was allowed to work out of the German embassy, giving him access to confidential files. At the same time, he also befriended Japanese government officials, attempting to convince them not to go to war with the Soviet Union.
In May 1941, Sorge reported back to Moscow that Hitler was planning an invasion of the Soviet Union, and that 170 divisions were preparing to invade on June 20, but Stalin ignored the warning. Sorge was also able to report, in August 1941, that Japan had plans to attack targets in the South Pacific, not in the Soviet Union. This enabled Stalin to remove troops from the Manchurian border, freeing them up for when the Germans finally invaded, as there would be no "eastern front."
But Sorge's brilliant spy career came to an end on October 18, 1941, when Japanese counterintelligence exposed his operation and he was arrested, along with 34 members of his ring. He was finally hanged in 1944. Twenty years later, he was officially declared a Hero of the Soviet Union.

[Peter Clare]

1939 : Hitler survives assassination attempt


On this day in 1939, on the 16th anniversary of Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch, a bomb explodes just after Hitler has finished giving a speech. He was unharmed.
Hitler had made an annual ritual on the anniversary of his infamous 1923 coup attempt, (Hitler's first grab at power that ended in his arrest and the virtual annihilation of his National Socialist party), of regaling his followers with his vision of the Fatherland's future. On this day, he had been addressing the Old Guard party members, those disciples and soldiers who had been loyal to Hitler and his fascist party since the earliest days of its inception. Just 12 minutes after Hitler had left the hall, along with important Nazi leaders who had accompanied him, a bomb exploded, which had been secreted in a pillar behind the speaker's platform. Seven people were killed and 63 were wounded.
The next day, the Nazi Party official paper, the Voelkischer Beobachter, squarely placed the blame on British secret agents, even implicating Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain himself. This work of propaganda was an attempt to stir up hatred for the British and whip the German people into a frenzy for war. But the inner-Nazi Party members knew better-they knew the assassination attempt was most probably the work of a German anti-Nazi military conspiracy.
In an ingenious scheme to shift blame, while getting closer to the actual conspirators, Heinrich Himmler, the Gestapo chief, sent a subordinate, Walter Schellenberg, to Holland to make contact with British intelligence agents. The pretext of the meeting was to secure assurances from the British that in the event of an anti-Nazi coup, the British would support the new regime. The British agents were eager to gain whatever inside information they could about the rumored anti-Hitler movement within the German military; Schellenberg, posing as "Major Schaemmel," was after whatever information British intelligence may have had on such a conspiracy within the German military ranks.
But Himmler wanted more than talk-he wanted the British agents themselves. So on November 9, SS soldiers in Holland kidnapped, with Schellenberg's help, two British agents, Payne Best and R.H. Stevens, stuffing them into a Buick and driving them across the border into Germany. Himmler now proudly announced to the German public that he had captured the British conspirators. The man who actually planted the bomb at their behest was declared to be Georg Elser, a German communist who made his living as a carpenter.
While it seems certain that Elser did plant the bomb, who the instigators were--German military or British intelligence--remains unclear. All three "official" conspirators spent the war in Sachsenhausen concentration camp (Elser was murdered by the Gestapo on April 16, 1945-so he could never tell his story). Hitler dared not risk a public trial, as there were just too many holes in the "official" story.