Remembering History by day WW2

[spidge]

1940 Luftwaffe bombs Spitfire-factory in Southampton
1939 German Luftwaffe strikes Warsaw with (fire)bombs
1939 Versailles Peace Treaty forgot to include Andorra, so Andorra and Germany finally sign an official treaty ending WW I

[jacobtowne]

REPORTS 25 SEPT. 1939

Heereslage Ost

Heeresgruppe Süd


10.Armee (Starachowice)

Local combat action against enemy following.

14.Inf.Div. around Lublin, 4.Inf.Div. northwest of Lublin, with rear guards along the Wierpz.

Local attacks by Polish bandits.

XIV.A.K.(Radom): completed a second 16ton bridge at Deblin and is transporting captured goods out of Deblin.

XVI.A.K.

Pi.Btl.62: II./2./Pi.Btl.62 (Lt.Mokulies) is attached to the I.Btl. of a infantry regiment to attack Fort Legjonow south of Warschau. The platoon is transported by vehicles from Solimow to domain Ursynow via D.Natolin – Wolica. From there the platoon advances to the road-junction Sluzew. The platoon has order to support the attack which starts at 12:00 and open wire-obstacles in front of the Fort. Under enemy artillery fire the platoon advances between the 1st and 2nd company of the infantry regiment. About 200m in front of the wire-obstacle the first casualties occure. Uffz.Rothe (Führer 5.Gruppe) and Pionier Dahn are injured by grenade fragments. Mokulies orders three teams with explosives (gestreckte Ladungen) to blow three breaches into the wire obstacle. They are successful without casualties. Especially Pionier Walter distinguishes himself as he places the load under heavy enemy fire. After the loads exploded the platoon receives heavy fire from four enemy machineguns. Immediately the machineguns of the platoon start to fire back. Under the cover of the machineguns Lt.Mokulies leads his platoon through the passages and pushes into the Fort. In close combat using handgrenades and flame-throwers the Fort is taken until 19:00.

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Note: Radom, a city south of Warsaw, was home to the state arsenal where the excellent VIS wz. 35 pistol, caliber 9mm Para., was manufactured for the Polish military from 1936 to late 1939. After the occupation, production continued for the Wehrmacht as the Pistole 35 (p).

JT

[spidge]

September 26th

1944 British and Polish paratroopers evacuate Oosterbeek (Arnhem)
1944 Soviet forces occupy Estonia
1941 Nazi's slaughter about 34,000 Jews of Kiev
1940 Airplane manufacturer in Woolston bombed, 30 killed
1940 Japanese troops attack French Indo-China
1939 German seaplane shoots KLM-aircraft (1 killed)
1938 Hitler issues ultimatum to Czech government, demanding Sudenten Land

[Kitty]

26-9-1944 2,000 British and Polish troops withdraw from Arnhem after days of fierce fighting with little food and water.
26-9-1953 Sugar rationing ends.

[jacobtowne]

26-9-1953 Sugar rationing ends.

Most Americans are unaware that rationing continued in Britain for several years after the end of the war, but I'd not idea (typical Ami) that some of it lasted until 1953. Or was the Korean War a factor here?

JT

[Kitty]

Various things. Bread was still rationed for a long time as a wheat harvest failed. Meat was rationed for several years. depends on how long stuff was available for and how much.

[spidge]

From the Australian viewpoint:

Food in the post-war years When the war ended in August 1945, rationing was only gradually phased out as Australia continued to support Britain with food parcels and exports for a number of years.
Sugar rationing, for instance, was finally abandoned in July 1947. A major increase in the world production of sugar meant that Britain no longer depended on Australian supplies.
The meat situation was quite different. In Britain the meat ration had been further reduced and in an effort to support the British public, the Australian Government maintained meat rationing and price controls until 1948.
The American influence on Australia's eating habits persisted after the war as well. Coca Cola, tinned spaghetti, Spam and hamburgers became part of the Australian way of life as did supermarket shopping. Dr Jim Graham recalls Freecorns setting up its first supermarket in Napoleon Street. He describes it as a revolutionary new fad that gave Cottesloe its first taste of self-serve shopping. (Cottesloe is a suburb of Perth)

[Peter Clare]

1944 : Allies slaughtered by Germans in Arnhem

On this day in 1944, Operation Market-Garden, a plan to seize bridges in the Dutch town of Arnhem, fails, as thousands of British and Polish troops are killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.

British Gen. Bernard Montgomery conceived an operation to take control of bridges that crossed the Rhine River, from the Netherlands into Germany, as a strategy to make "a powerful full-blooded thrust to the heart of Germany." The plan seemed cursed from the beginning. It was launched on September 17, with parachute troops and gliders landing in Arnhem. Holding out as long as they could, waiting for reinforcements, they were compelled to surrender. Unfortunately, a similar drop of equipment was delayed, and there were errors in locating the proper drop location and bad intelligence on German troop strength. Added to this, bad weather and communication confused the coordination of the Allied troops on the ground.

The Germans quickly destroyed the railroad bridge and took control of the southern end of the road bridge. The Allies struggled to control the northern end of the road bridge, but soon lost it to the superior German forces. The only thing left was retreat-back behind Allied lines. But few made it: Of more than 10,000 British and Polish troops engaged at Arnhem, only 2,900 escaped.

Claims were made after the fact that a Dutch Resistance fighter, Christiaan Lindemans, betrayed the Allies, which would explain why the Germans were arrayed in such numbers at such strategic points. A conservative member of the British Parliament, Rupert Allason, writing under the named Nigel West, dismissed this conclusion in his A Thread of Deceit, arguing that Lindemans, while a double agent, "was never in a position to betray Arnhem."

Winston Churchill would lionize the courage of the fallen Allied soldiers with the epitaph "Not in vain." Arnhem was finally liberated on April 15, 1945.

[jacobtowne]

Intensification of Allied submarine warfare over three years.

September 27th events.

1942

Submarine HMS Umbra: HMS Umbra (Lt. S.L.C. Maydon, RN) torpedoes and damages the Italian merchant Francesco Barbaro (6343 BRT) some 36 nautical miles south of Cape Marathia, Zakynthos Island, Greece in position 37º04'N, 20º36'E. The tanker later sinks some 50 nautical miles south-west of Cape Marathia, Zakynthos Island, Greece in position 37º15'N, 19º55'E after a second attck by HMS Umbra.

Submarine USSR S-9: S-9 torpedoes and damages the German tanker Mittelmeer (6370 BRT) some 10 nautical miles west of Vasa, Finland in position 63º06'N, 21º18'E.

1943

Submarine USS Salmon: USS Salmon (Lt.Cdr. N.J. Nicholas) leaves Pearl Harbour for her 8th war patrol. Once again she was ordered to patrol off the Kuril Islands.

Submarine USS Bluefish: While on her 1st war patrol USS Bluefish (Lt.Cdr. G.E. Porter) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese torpedo boat Kasasagi (595 tons) (offsite link) some 25 miles south of Celebes in the Flores Sea, Netherlands Eest Indies in position 05º45'S, 121º50'E.

Submarine USS Bonefish: While on her 1st war patrol USS Bonefish (Lt.Cdr. T.W. Hogan) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese troop transport Kashima Maru (9908 BRT) and damages the merchant Chihaya Maru (7089 BRT) in the South China Sea in position 10º10'N, 109º40'E.

Submarine USS Seahorse: USS Seahorse (Cdr. D. McGregor) ends her first, unsuccesful, war patrol at Midway.

Submarine HMS Uproar: HMS Uproar (Lt. L.E. Herrick) torpedoes and further damages the German (former French) tanker Champagne (9946 BRT). The German tanker is grounded off Bastia, Corsica, France after being torpedoed on the 24th by HMS Ultor. The torpedo from Uproar hits the engine room and leaves the Germans no choice then to abandon their salvage attempt.

1944

Submarine USS Searaven: USS Searaven (Lt.Cdr. M.H. Dry) torpedoes and damages the Japanese destroyer Momi off Etorofu, Kuril Islands in position 45º44'N, 148º41'E.

Submarine USS Bonefish: While on her 6th war patrol USS Bonefish (Lt.Cdr. L.L. Edge) torpedoes and damages the Japanese fleet oiler Kamoi (17000 BRT, offsite link) in the South China Sea some 240 miles southwest of Manila in position 13º48'N, 118º38'E.

Submarine USS Darter: USS Darter (Cdr. D.H. McClintock) calls at Mios Woendi to take on fuel.

Submarine USS Dace: USS Dace (Lt.Cdr. B.D. Claggett) pulls into Mios Woendi to have her gyrocompass repaired.

Submarine USS Flasher: USS Flasher (Cdr. R.T. Whitaker) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese army transport Ural Maru (6374 BRT) and torpedoes and damages the Japanese merchant tanker Tachibana Maru (6521 BRT) in the South China Sea west of Luzon, Philippines in position 15º45'N, 117º20'E.

Submarine USS Lapon: USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese merchant tanker Hokki Maru (5599 BRT) in South China Sea, west of Luzon in position 15º50'N, 117º41'E.

Submarine USS Sunfish: USS Sunfish (Lt.Cdr. E.E. Shelby) ends her 8th war patrol at Pearl Harbour.

Submarine USS Tang: USS Tang (Cdr. R.H. O'Kane) toppes off with fuel at Midway.

Submarine USS Apogon: USS Apogon (Lt.Cdr. A.C. House Jr.) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Hachirogata Maru (1999 BRT) in the Sea of Okhotsk off Shimushir Island in position 46º32'N, 146º48'E.

Submarine USS Bang: USS Bang (Lt.Cdr. A.R. Gallaher) ends her 3rd war patrol at Midway.

Submarine HMS Thorough: HMS Thorough sinks a small Japanese vessel north of Sumatra.

Submarine HMS Vigorous: HMS Vigorous (Lt. J.C. Ogle) torpedoes and sinks the German merchant Salomea (751 BRT, former Greek Evangelista Nomikos) off Kassandra, Greece. She also sinks the German ferry SF 121 (110 BRT)

Submarine USS Pipefish: USS Pipefish (Lt.Cdr. W.N. Deragon) ends her 2nd war patrol at Pearl Harbour.

Submarine USS Plaice: USS Plaice (Lt.Cdr. C.B. Stevens) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese corvette Kaibokan No.10 (740 tons) some 100 miles north-northwest of Amami o Shima in position 29º26'N, 128º50'E.

Submarine FR Rubis: The German auxiliary submarine chaser UJ 1715/Lesum (489 BRT), the German merchant Cläre Hugo Stinnes (5295 BRT) and the Norwegian merchant Knute Nelson (5749 BRT, offsite link) sink some 16 nautical miles south-west of Stavanger, Norway in position 58º45'N, 05º24'E after hitting mines laid by the Free French submarine Rubis on 24 September 1944.

JT

[spidge]

September 28th

1944 Battle of Arnhem, Germans defeat British airborne in Netherlands
1944 Nazi murders in Marzabotto, Italy (SS-major Reder)

1942 Luftwaffe bombs Stalingrad

1940 Nazi occupiers present "New Dutch Culture" in German

1939 Estonia accepts Soviet military bases
1939 Soviet-German treaty agree on 4th partition of Poland (WW II) and gives Lithuania to U.S.S.R., last Polish troops surrender