Posted on 05/23/2012 4:14:00 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/may42/f23may42.htm
Soviet armies threatened by encirclement
Saturday, May 23, 1942 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... The German 6th Army from the north and Group Kliest (17th Army and 1st Panzer Army) begin the encirclement of elements of the Red Army (6th and 57th Armies) west of the Donets River.
May 23rd, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: Corvette FS Commandant d'Estienne d'Orves (ex-HMS Lotus) commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-222 commissioned.
U-425 laid down.
U-267 and U-448 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: The Russian 6th and 57th Armies are being encircled west of the Donets, in the Izyum salient, by the German 6th, 17th and 1st Panzer Armies.
INDIA: Lieutenant-General Joseph Stilwell and his men arrive at Dimapur, having retreated 150 miles through the Burmese jungle. "We have taken a hell of a beating," he says.
AUSTRALIA: The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-29 launches a Yokosuka E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane, Allied Code Name "Glen," to fly a reconnaissance mission over Sydney. (Jack McKillop)
Minesweeper HMAS Horsham launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Cdr Joseph Rochefort of the Combat Intelligence Unit, Pearl Harbor (a.k.a. HYPO), personally attends Admiral Nimitz's morning staff meeting to deliver the final version of Admiral Yamamoto's OpOrder for the attack and occupation of Midway. (RADM D. M. (Mac) Showers)
"The Roundtable Forum, official newsletter of the Battle of Midway Roundtable, ."
CANADA: Tankers HMCS Dundalk and Dundurn ordered.
Minesweeper HMCS Port Arthur laid down Port Arthur, Ontario.
Corvette HMCS Woodstock arrived Halifax from builder Montreal, Province of Quebec.
Minesweeper HMCS Portage laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Washington: The USA today signed an accord with Brazil aimed at boosting the defence of the American continent. The possibility of an Axis attempt to gain a toehold in the Americas has worried the Americans ever since the attack on Pearl Harbor. The long Atlantic seaboard of Brazil, which broke off relations with the Axis powers on 28 January this year, could be a prime target.
Under the pact Brazilian air and naval forces in the north-east of the country would be under the command of the US South Atlantic Force, responsible for sea defence. Land operations will come under the aegis of the Brazilian army.
Another unarmed U.S. merchant tanker is sunk in the Caribbean south of the Yucatan Channel by a German submarine (U-103). (Jack McKillop)
A production order is placed for F6F-3 fighters with the R-2800 engine. (Will O'Neil)
Minesweepers USS Caution and Change laid down.
Minesweepers USS Sentinel and Seer launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-333 encountered an enemy submarine in the North Atlantic, but neither boat attacked.
At 0926, the unescorted Samuel Q Brown was hit by one torpedo from U-103 about 100 miles south of Cape Corrientes, Cuba. The ship had been spotted at 0139 and was missed by a spread of two torpedoes at 0402. The torpedo struck on the port side at the bulkhead between the #9 tank and the after fuel tanks and set the vessel on fire immediately. The engines were stopped and the master ordered the boats to be launched, but the eight officers, 31 crewmen and 16 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, four 20mm and two .30cal guns) were forced to jump overboard and swam to two lifeboats and two rafts that were cut loose. Two crewmembers were lost. The survivors were questioned by the U-boat that surfaced 20 minutes after the hit and then left the area after hitting the tanker with a coup de grâce at 1035. On 23 May, the survivors, now together in the two lifeboats, were spotted by a USN patrol plane Upham, Canal Zone. The plane took five injured men on board and brought them to a hospital at Key West, Florida. The remaining survivors were picked up the next day by USS Goff and taken to Cristobal after the hulk was scuttled by gunfire from the destroyer on 25 May. SS Watsonville sunk by U-155 at 13.12N, 61.20W.
SS Zurichmoor sunk by U-432 at 39.30N, 66.00W.
Steam tanker William Boyce Thompson damaged by U-558 at 04.05S, 35.58W.
At 2203, the unescorted Margot was hit by one torpedo from U-588 SE of Philadelphia. After 2205, the ship was attacked with gunfire until she sunk at 0020 on 24 May in grid CB 4720. One crewmember was lost. The officers of the U-boat questioned the survivors and a bottle of rum was given to them. The master, 38 crewmembers and five gunners were picked up four days later by the Swedish merchantman Sagoland and landed at New York.
(Dave Shirlaw)
Now they've gone too far. This means war!
To wake things up a bit...
http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1942&_f=md056193
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt
MAY 23, 1942
WASHINGTON, Friday—Mr. Eric Gugler called for me at 9:30 this morning in New York City and, with shame I admit, for the first time I visited the Sub-Treasury Building on Wall Street. A group of people have been interested in seeing the very beautiful rotunda restored and made a fitting place where ceremonies of different kinds can be carried on.
At present, it is used by the passport service and it is difficult to visualize how beautiful it will be when the partitions are taken out. The detail around the doors, the old iron grill work of the balcony, the beautiful pillars and really perfect proportions make it a most beautiful and dignified hall.
Later in the evening I went to see an exhibition of articles which have been made by manufacturers from materials not required for war purposes. It is astounding what ingenuity has been shown in the development of things which have been made almost entirely out of metal and are now made in plastics and wood. Some of the blankets are being produced with a minimum of wool. They look delightful and when the winter comes we shall know whether they are as warm as “all wool.”
Of course, for years the Chinese have been using cotton quilted coats for winter, and China has a cold climate! I also saw some curtains which can be sponged off, and yet look like chint as they hang in the window.
I discovered we are not really being asked to do anything quite as drastic as I thought in the matter of transportation. On Wednesday, when I announced at the airport that I was taking my last flight, the officials looked at me with horror. They said that because so much publicity had been given, they had very little travel between New York City and Washington and were flying with empty seats on every trip. They really want the public to understand that when seats are needed they must be given up, but ordinarily reservations can be held.
When I inquired about train travel, I was told that so long as accommodations were available, they would be glad to have them used. They only want people to accept cheerfully a certain amount of uncertainty. If people have to travel by coach, or sit up at night, they hope it will be accepted with a smile. They did ask that week-ends be left free by the general public, so that service people could travel in greater comfort.
But but... the Soviets claims published by the NY Times states 15,000 Fascists were killed and the Nazi drive from the south has been halted.
I don't think it worked. The reading public must be getting terribly jaded. We opened with a story of a fog bank in NYC and then you sweetened the pot with the wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt. What more does it take to stimulate a vibrant discussion?
FDR (and his mistresses) must have been horrified to read that Eleanor was going to travel less.
And what about Eleanor’s girlfriend?
Oh, I doubt it. It means that she could go where FDR goes now. It will even allow her to be with him when he dies down the road here.
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