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.
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
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.
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)
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.
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
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
1938 : Hitler appeased at Munich On this day in 1938, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sign the Munich Pact, which seals the fate of Czechoslovakia, virtually handing it over to Germany in the name of peace. Upon return to Britain, Chamberlain would declare that the meeting had achieved "peace in our time." Although the agreement was to give into Hitler's hands only the Sudentenland, that part of Czechoslovakia where 3 million ethnic Germans lived, it also handed over to the Nazi war machine 66 percent of Czechoslovakia's coal, 70 percent of its iron and steel, and 70 percent of its electrical power. It also left the Czech nation open to complete domination by Germany. In short, the Munich Pact sacrificed the autonomy of Czechoslovakia on the altar of short-term peace-very short term. The terrorized Czech government was eventually forced to surrender the western provinces of Bohemia and Moravia (which became a protectorate of Germany) and finally Slovakia and the Carpathian Ukraine. In each of these partitioned regions, Germany set up puppet, pro-Nazi regimes that served the military and political ends of Adolf Hitler. By the time of the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the nation called "Czechoslovakia" no longer existed. It was Neville Chamberlain who would be best remembered as the champion of the Munich Pact, having met privately with Hitler at Berchtesgaden, the dictator's mountaintop retreat, before the Munich conference. Chamberlain, convinced that Hitler's territorial demands were not unreasonable (and that Hitler was a "gentleman"), persuaded the French to join him in pressuring Czechoslovakia to submit to the Fuhrer's demands. Upon Hitler's invasion of Poland a year later, Chamberlain was put in the embarrassing situation of announcing that a "state of war" existed between Germany and Britain. By the time Hitler occupied Norway and Denmark, Chamberlain was finished as a credible leader. "Depart, I say, and let us have done with you!" one member of Parliament said to him, quoting Oliver Cromwell. Winston Churchill would succeed him as prime minister soon afterwards.
September 30th 1944 Calais reoccupied by Allies 1942 98 U-boats sunk this month (485,000 tons) 1942 Adm Nimitz' B-17 finding Guadalcanal using National Geographic map 1942 SS exterminates 3,500 Jews in Zelov Lodz Poland in 6 week period 1941 3,721 Jews are buried alive at Babi Yarravine (near Kiev) Ukraine 1941 53 U-boats sunk this month (202,000 tons) 1941 German assault on Moscow: operation-Taifun, begins 1940 47 German aircrafts shot down above England 1940 59 U-boats sunk this month (295,000 tons) 1939 41 U-boats sunk this month (153,000 ton) 1939 Germany and Russia agree to partition Poland 1938 Munich Agreement-forced Czechoslovakia to give territory to Germany
1941 : Operation Typhoon is launched On this day in 1941, the Germans begin their surge to Moscow, led by the 1st Army Group and Gen. Fedor von Bock. Russian peasants in the path of Hitler's army employ a "scorched-earth" policy. Hitler's forces had invaded the Soviet Union in June, and early on it had become one relentless push inside Russian territory. The first setback came in August, when the Red Army's tanks drove the Germans back from the Yelnya salient. Hitler confided to General Bock at the time: "Had I known they had as many tanks as that, I'd have thought twice before invading." But there was no turning back for Hitler--he believed he was destined to succeed where others had failed, and capture Moscow. Although some German generals had warned Hitler against launching Operation Typhoon as the harsh Russian winter was just beginning, remembering the fate that befell Napoleon--who got bogged down in horrendous conditions, losing serious numbers of men and horses--Bock urged him on. This encouragement, coupled with the fact that the Germany army had taken the city of Kiev in late September, caused Hitler to declare, "The enemy is broken and will never be in a position to rise again." So for 10 days, starting October 2, the 1st Army Group drove east, drawing closer to the Soviet capital each day. But the Russians also remembered Napoleon and began destroying everything as they fled their villages, fields, and farms. Harvested crops were burned, livestock were driven away, and buildings were blown up, leaving nothing of value behind to support exhausted troops. Hitler's army inherited nothing but ruins.
1942 : Germany conducts first successful V-2 rocket test On this day in 1942, German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun's brainchild, the V-2 missile, is fired successfully from Peenemunde, an island off Germany's Baltic coast. It traveled 118 miles. It proved extraordinarily deadly in the war and was the precursor to the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) of the postwar era. German scientists, led by von Braun, had been working on the development of these long-range missiles since the 1930s. Three trial launches had already failed; the fourth in the series, known as A-4, finally saw the V-2, a 12-ton rocket capable of carrying a one-ton warhead, successfully launched. The V-2 was unique in several ways. First, it was virtually impossible to intercept. Upon launching, the missile rises six miles vertically; it then proceeds on an arced course, cutting off its own fuel according to the range desired. The missile then tips over and falls on its target-at a speed of almost 4,000 mph. It hits with such force that the missile burrows itself into the ground several feet before exploding. It had the potential of flying a distance of 200 miles, and the launch pads were portable, making them impossible to detect before firing. The first launches as part of an offensive did not occur until September 6, 1944 when two missiles were fired at Paris. On September 8, two more were fired at England, which would be followed by more than 1,100 more during the next six months. More than 2,700 Brits died because of the rocket attacks. After the war, both the United States and the Soviet Union captured samples of the rockets for reproduction--they also captured the scientists responsible for their creation.
October 3rd 1944 1st broadcast of Radio Herrijzend Netherland 1944 RAF bombs West Kapelse 1943 British 8th army lands at Termoli, East Italy 1943 Operations begin at PETA Java, defending (Japanese) fatherland 1942 Franklin D. Roosevelt forms Office of Economic Stabilization 1942 Launch of 1st A-4/V-2 rocket to altitude of 53 miles (85 km) 1941 Adolf Hitler says Russia is "broken" and would "never rise again" 1941 All elderly Jewish men of Kerenchug Ukraine, are killed by SS 1941 Nazi's blow up 6 synagoges in Paris 1940 France Vichy government proclaims end to Jewish status 1940 U.S. forms parachute troops 1939 Lemmer-Urk Dike closes
1944 : Ike warns of the risk of "shell shock" On this day in 1944, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower distributes to his combat units a report by the U.S. Surgeon General that reveals the hazards of prolonged exposure to combat. "[T]he danger of being killed or maimed imposes a strain so great that it causes men to break down. One look at the shrunken, apathetic faces of psychiatric patients...sobbing, trembling, referring shudderingly to 'them shells' and to buddies mutilated or dead, is enough to convince most observers of this fact." On the basis of this evaluation, as well as firsthand experience, American commanders judged that the average soldier could last about 200 days in combat before suffering serious psychiatric damage. British commanders used a rotation method, pulling soldiers out of combat every 12 days for a four-day rest period. This enabled British soldiers to put in 400 days of combat before being deleteriously affected. The Surgeon General's report went on to lament the fact that a "wound or injury is regarded, not as a misfortune, but a blessing." The war was clearly taking a toll on more than just men's bodies.
1944 : Ike warns of the risk of "shell shock" On this day in 1944, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower distributes to his combat units a report by the U.S. Surgeon General that reveals the hazards of prolonged exposure to combat. "[T]he danger of being killed or maimed imposes a strain so great that it causes men to break down. One look at the shrunken, apathetic faces of psychiatric patients...sobbing, trembling, referring shudderingly to 'them shells' and to buddies mutilated or dead, is enough to convince most observers of this fact." On the basis of this evaluation, as well as firsthand experience, American commanders judged that the average soldier could last about 200 days in combat before suffering serious psychiatric damage. British commanders used a rotation method, pulling soldiers out of combat every 12 days for a four-day rest period. This enabled British soldiers to put in 400 days of combat before being deleteriously affected. The Surgeon General's report went on to lament the fact that a "wound or injury is regarded, not as a misfortune, but a blessing." The war was clearly taking a toll on more than just men's bodies. Knowing how Ike thought, it was probably another nail in the coffin for Patton. (Hospital incident)
October 4th 1944 British troops land on Greek continent 1943 Corsica freed by Free French 1942 German assault on Tractor factory in Stalingrad 1940 12 German aircraft shot down above England 1940 French Vichy-regime proclaims end of "Statut of the Juifs" 1939 Last Polish troops surrender
1942 : "Stalingrad must not be taken by the enemy." On this day in 1942, Joseph Stalin, premier and dictator of the Soviet Union, fires off a telegram to the German and Soviet front at Stalingrad, exhorting his forces to victory. "That part of Stalingrad which has been captured must be liberated." Stalingrad was a key to capturing the Soviet Union, in many ways as important as capturing Moscow itself. It stood between the old Russia and the new, a center of both rail and river communications, industry and old-world Russian trade. To preserve Stalingrad's integrity was to preserve Russian civilization past and present. As the Germans reached the Volga, thrust and counterthrust brought the battle to a standstill. Everyone from Russian factory workers to reinforcements of more than 160,000 Soviet soldiers poured into Stalingrad to beat back the German invader. Despite dwindling supplies, such as tanks and troop reserves, Hitler would not relent, convincing himself that the Russians could not hold out for long. But Stalin appealed not only to Russian patriotism but also to Allied armaments. Requests to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for aid had not gone unheeded, as five British merchant ships arrived in northern Russia, loaded with supplies
October 5th 1944 Kerkrade (Neth) liberated 1943 U.S. air raid on Wake 1942 5,000 Jews of Dubno Russia massacred
1940 : German troops enter Romania On this day in 1940, Hitler occupies Romania as part of his strategy of creating an unbroken Eastern front to menace the Soviet Union. As early as 1937, Romania had come under the control of a fascist government that bore great resemblance to that of Germany's, including similar anti-Jewish laws. Romania's king, Carol II, dissolved the government a year later because of a failing economy and installed Romania's Orthodox Patriarch as prime minister. But the Patriarch's death and a peasant uprising provoked renewed agitation by the fascist Iron Guard paramilitary organization, which sought to impose order. In June 1940, the Soviet Union co-opted two Romanian provinces, and the king searched for an ally to help protect it and appease the far right within its own borders. So on July 5, 1940, Romania allied itself with Nazi Germany-only to be invaded by its "ally" as part of Hitler's strategy to create one huge eastern front against the Soviet Union. King Carol abdicated on September 6, 1940, leaving the country in the control of fascist Prime Minister Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard. While Romania would recapture the territory lost to the Soviet Union when the Germans invaded Russia, it would also have to endure the Germans' raping its resources as part of the Nazi war effort. Nevertheless, with German troops now occupying his nation, Antonescu would go on to sign the Tripartite (Axis) Pact in November, tying Romania to the military machinations of not only Germany, but Italy and Japan as well.
1941 : Germans overrun Mariupol, in southern Russia On this day in 1941, the German invasion of the Soviet Union begins a new stage, with Hitler's forces capturing Mariupol. The Axis power reached the Sea of Azov. Despite the fact that Germany and Russia had signed a "pact" in 1939, each guaranteeing the other a specific region of influence without interference from the other, suspicion remained high. Despite warnings from his advisers that Germany could not fight the war on two fronts (as Germany's experience in World War I proved), Hitler became convinced that England was holding out against repeated German air assaults, refusing to surrender, because it had struck a secret deal with Russia. Fearing he would be "strangled" from the East and the West, he created, in December 1940, "Directive No. 21: Case Barbarossa"--the plan to invade and occupy the very nation he had actually asked to join the Axis only a month before. On June 22, 1941, after having postponed the invasion of Russia when Italy's attack on Greece forced Hitler to bail out his struggling ally in order to keep the Allies from gaining a foothold in the Balkans, three German army groups struck Russia hard by surprise. The Russian army was larger than German intelligence had anticipated, but they were demobilized. Stalin had shrugged off warnings from his own advisers, even Winston Churchill himself, that a German attack was imminent. By the end of the first day of the invasion, the German air force had destroyed more than 1,000 Soviet aircraft. And despite the toughness of the Russian troops, and the number of tanks and other armaments at their disposal, the Red Army was disorganized, enabling the Germans to penetrate up to 300 miles into Russian territory within the next few days. Hitler's battle for Stalingrad and Moscow still lay ahead, but the capture of Mariupol, at the sea's edge, signaled the beginning of the end of Russia-as least as far as Hitler's propaganda machine was concerned. "Soviet Russia has been vanquished!" Otto Dietrich, Hitler's press chief, announced to foreign journalists the very next day.
