Remembering History by day WW2

[Peter Clare]

SS HOIHOW (July 2, 1943)

British vessel of 2,798 tons, owned by the China Navigation Company Limited of London and requisitioned early in 1943 by the Ministry of War Transport. Used mainly as a 'General Purpose Stores' ship servicing the island bases in the Indian ocean. While sailing from Mauritius to Tamatave the Hoihow was attacked by the German submarine U-181 (Wolfgang Lüth) On board were a crew of 94 and 7 gunners plus 48 passengers including members of the Queen Alexandria Nursing Corp, some military and medical personnel. Of the 149 souls on board, only 5 survived.

[Peter Clare]

SS JEAN NICOLET (July 2, 1944)

Liberty ship, torpedoed and then shelled and set on fire off Ceylon by the Japanese submarine I-8. On board were 41 crew plus 28 US Armed Guards and 31 passengers. All were taken on board the submarine and with hands tied behind their backs, were forced to sit on deck while the Japanese sailors systematically killed most of them with bayonets and spanners used as clubs. With the last 30 survivors still on deck the submarine crashed dived when an enemy plane was spotted. The 30 survivors were left struggling in the water. A few managed to swim back to the burning hulk of the Jean Nicolet and launched a raft before the ship sank. Luckily, 23 of them survived to be picked up by the Indian Navy trawler 'Hoxa'. The I-8s captain ordered that three survivors be retained as POW's. Sadly, only one survived the war.

[Peter Clare]

July 1941 - Bomber Command mounted major attacks on 16 German industrial towns and cities. Despite over 100 aircraft being dispatched on each occasion, only minor damage was inflicted by the raids - accurate bombing was still a major problem.

[Peter Clare]

July 3, 1940
Operation Catapult is launched

On this day in 1940, British naval forces destroy the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, a port in Algeria, in order to prevent Germany from co-opting the French ships to use in an invasion of Britain.
With the occupation of France, the German aggressor was but a Channel away from Britain. In order to prevent the Germans from using French battleships and cruisers in an attack on Britain, Operation Catapult was conceived: the destruction or capture of every French ship possible. The easiest stage of Catapult was the seizure of those French ships already in British ports. Little resistance was met. But the largest concentration of French warships was at the Oran, Algeria, port of Mers-el-Kebir, where many warships had fled to escape the Germans. This stage of Catapult would prove more difficult.
Britain gave the French ships four choices: join British naval forces in the fight against Germany; hand the ships over to British crews; disarm them; or scuttle them, making them useless to the Germans. The French refused all four choices. Britain then made a concession: Sail to the French West Indies, where the ships would be disarmed or handed over to the United States. The French refused again. So the Brits circled the port and opened fire on the French fleet, killing 1,250 French sailors, damaging the battleship Dunkerque and destroying the Bretagne and the Provence.
On July 4, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill told the House of Commons that he would leave Britain's actions to "history." On July 5, Vichy France broke off diplomatic relations with Britain.

[Peter Clare]

July 4, 1943
Polish general fighting for justice dies tragically

On this day in 1943, Polish General Wladyslaw Sikorski dies when his plane crashes less than a mile from its takeoff point at Gibraltar. Controversy remains over whether it was an accident or an assassination.
Born May 20, 1888, in Austrian Poland (that part of Poland co-opted by the Austro-Hungarian Empire), Sikorski served in the Austrian army. He went on to serve in the Polish Legion, attached to the Austrian army, during World War I, and fought in the Polish-Soviet War of 1920-21. He became prime minister of Poland for a brief period (1922-23).
When Germany invaded and occupied Poland in 1939, Sikorski became leader of a Polish government-in-exile in Paris. He developed a good working relationship with the Allies-until April 1943, when Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin broke off Polish-Soviet diplomatic relations after Sikorski requested that the Red Cross investigate the alleged Soviet slaughter of Polish officers in the Katyn forest of eastern Poland in 1942.
After Germany and the USSR divided up Poland in 1939, thousands of Polish military personnel were sent to prison camps by the Soviets. When Germany invaded Russia in 1941, Stalin created a pact with the Polish government-in-exile to cooperate in the battle against the Axis. Given the new relationship, the Poles requested the return of the imprisoned military men, but the Soviets claimed they had escaped and could not be found. But when Germany overran eastern Poland, the part that had previously been under Soviet control, mass graves in the Katyn forest were discovered, containing the corpses of over 4,000 Polish officers, all shot in the back. The Soviets, apparently, had massacred them. But despite the evidence, the Soviet government insisted it was the Germans who were responsible.
Once news of the massacre spread, a formal Declaration of War Crimes was signed in London on January 13, 1943. Among the signatories was General Sikorski and General Charles de Gaulle. But Sikorksi did not want to wait until after the war for the punishment of those responsible for the Katyn massacre. He wanted the International Red Cross to investigate immediately.
It is believed that Britain considered this request a threat to Allied solidarity and some believe that in order to silence Sikorski on this issue, the British went so far as to shoot down his plane. There is no solid evidence of this.
After the war, the communist Polish government officially accepted the Soviet line regarding the mass graves. It was not until 1992 that the Russian government released documents proving that the NKVD, the Soviet secret police, had been responsible for the Katyn slaughter-backed up by the old Soviet Politburo.

[Peter Clare]

FOYLEBANK (July 4, 1940)

Merchant vessel of 5,582 tons (ex ‘Andrew Weir’ ) requisitioned in 1939 and converted into an anti-aircraft gunship for patrols around Britain's east coast. In June 1940, as the Battle of Britain was in progress, she arrived at the harbour of the Royal Naval Base of Portland in England's south coast. At breakfast time on July 4 the ship was attacked by a squadron of German JU 87 Stuka dive bombers. In an action that lasted only eight minutes the Foylebank (Captain H. Wilson) was hit by over twenty bombs. The vessel listed to port and shrouded in smoke and flames, finally sank. Casualties among her 298 man crew were 176 men killed and many injured. The question one may ask is 'where was Fighter Command during the attack on the Foylebank?' as the Tangmere RAF Station was only a few minutes flying time away.

[Peter Clare]

CONVOY PQ-17 (July 4-14, 1942)

The convoy, comprising 35 merchant ships (22 American, 8 British and 5 other Allied ships) sailed from the Bay of Reykjavik in Iceland for the Russian port of Murmansk in the Barents Sea. In the belief that the German warships Tirpitz, Scheer and Hipper were on their way to intercept the convoy, the British Admiralty issued the order to "Scatter" and proceed to their destination at utmost speed. During the 700 mile dash to safety, Luftwaffe bombers from the German airfields at Kirkeness and Petsamo, and U-boats had a field day, between them they sent to the bottom a total of 23 ships taking the lives of 153 mariners. Only eleven ships managed to reach port. On board the sunken vessels were 3,350 trucks, 435 tanks and around 200 aircraft, essential war material badly needed by the Soviets. (Under the Lend-Lease agreement Britain supplied a total of 4,292 tanks to the Soviet Union, the United States supplied 3,734 tanks and 1,188 tanks were sent by Canada. The number of aircraft supplied was 5,800 from Britain, 6,430 from the USA).
The first Artic convoy to Russia, PQ-1, left Scottish waters on September 29, 1941. By the end of the year five others were to follow, landing 120,000 tons of supplies at the northern port of Murmansk. This included 600 tanks, 1,400 motor vehicles and around 800 aircraft. Of the 55 ships taking part in the first six convoys, all reached their destination safely. In the first six months of 1942, ten convoys made the hazardous journey. Comprising 146 ships, 128 made it to port, 18 being sunk on the way. In all, between 1941 and 1945, 42 convoys were sent to Russia. Consisting of 843 ships, 58 were sunk on the way out and 96 were destroyed in port or on the way back.

[Peter Clare]

July 5, 1940
United States passes Export Control Act

On this day in 1940, Congress passes the Export Control Act, forbidding the exporting of aircraft parts, chemicals, and minerals without a license. This prohibition was a reaction to Japan's occupation of parts of the Indo-Chinese coast.
Now that the Germans occupied a large swath of France, the possibility of Axis control of French colonies became a reality. Among those of immediate concern was French Indo-China. The prospect of the war spreading to the Far East was now a definite possibility. Increasing its likelihood was the request by Imperial Japan to use army, naval, and air bases in French Indo-Chinese territory, an important vantage point from which to further its campaign to conquer China. As Vichy France entered into negotiations on this issue, the Japanese peremptorily occupied key strategic areas along the coast of Indo-China.
The United States, fearing the advance of Japanese expansion and cooperation, even if by coercion, between German-controlled France and Japan, took its own action, by banning the export of aircraft parts without a license and, three weeks later, the export of aviation fuel and scrap metal and iron without a license. The United States was not alone in its concern. Great Britain, which had it own colonies in the Far East (Burma, Hong Kong, and Malaya) also feared an aggressive Japan. The day after the Export Act was passed, the British ambassador would be asked by Japan to close the Burma Road, a key supply route of arms for China, Japan's prey. Britain initially balked at the request but, fearing a declaration of war by a third enemy, caved in and closed the road, though only for a limited period.

[Peter Clare]

I.J.N. ARARE (July 5, 1942)

Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer which was part of Admiral Nagamo's carrier force in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Arare was sunk by the American submarine, USS Growler about seven miles east of Kiska Harbour. The torpedo struck the Arare amidships causing the destroyer to blow up and sink. A total of 104 of her crew were killed but her captain, Commander Ogata Tomoe, survived.

[Peter Clare]

HMS NIGER (July 5, 1942)

British minesweeper returning to the UK from Murmansk, sank after sailing into a British laid minefield off the coast of Iceland. The Niger was transporting 39 survivors from the 10,000 ton cruiser HMS Edinburgh which was sunk by the U-456 on May 2nd, 1942, taking with her 57 members of her crew. The captain of the Niger, along with 80 crewmembers and 38 survivors from the Edinburgh went down with the ship. Only 8 men survived, one of whom was from the Edinburgh.