Posted on 04/02/2012 4:37:22 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Carroll V. Glines, The Doolittle Raid
* Dr. Seagrave gets a mention in the “Stilwell” excerpt from March 8 (see reply #3) . He sounds like a mensch.
**Also see page 8 of yesterday’s post.
Dark days, indeed.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/apr42/f02apr42.htm
Japanese threaten to encircle British
Thursday, April 2, 1942 www.onwar.com
Japanese troops equipped with bicycles in BurmaIn Burma... Continuing Japanese advances cause the British to retreat from Prome to avoid encirclement.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
April 2nd, 1942 (THURSDAY)
EUROPE: For Jews, today is the first day of Passover, the festival of freedom and liberation from slavery. But this year there is nothing to celebrate. The German plan to destroy the Jews is getting into its stride.
The first of a new type of death camp at Belzec in Poland, has disposed of over 20,000 Jews since it opened on 16 March. Deportees arrive, up to 2,000 at a time, crammed into sealed goods wagons, at a railway siding in the camp. The hardship of the journey itself has already killed the weakest. The guards greet the survivors with dogs and whips. They confiscate the meagre belongings the Jews have brought with them. The healthiest hundred or so are picked out to live in the camp as forced labourers. The rest, including all the women and children must take a “shower”.
Herded into what seems to be a shower block, the Jews strip. They only realise their fate when the “shower-room” door is locked shut and the deadly exhaust fumes fill the air.
The custom-built gas chambers and high-powered incinerators have a kill capacity of 15,000 people a day. Similar installations at Majdanek, Treblinka, Auschwitz and Sobibor are due to be completed later this month with a combined capacity to murder over 100,000 people a day. Efficiency is a watchword of the new system. If everything is working smoothly, the camps can process a human being into a handful of ashes within two hours of arrival.
UNITED KINGDOM: London: The first women to be conscientious objectors since the order directing women into national service came into force have been tried by tribunal. One Salvation Army worker was allowed her appeal after telling the court that she worked in canteens and looked after air-raid shelters. “It would be difficult to find a job in which she would be more useful,” said the judge. Several appeals were disallowed. The public gallery applauded when a women of 21 said she would rather go to prison than do war work.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill receives a letter from U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt stating that his foreign affairs advisor, Harry Hopkins, and General George S. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, will be travelling to London. Roosevelt also says that “They will submit to you a plan which I hope will be received with enthusiasm by Russia.” The plan is for a Second Front in Europe. The plan has been prepared by Major General Dwight D Eisenhower. (Jack McKillop)
The USN’s Task Force Thirty Nine (TF 39) comprised of the battleship USS Washington (BB 56), the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7), heavy cruisers USS Tuscaloosa (CA-45) and Wichita and eight destroyers, arrives at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. (Jack McKillop)
FRANCE: RAF Bomber Command flies three missions during the night of the 2nd/3rd: (1) 40 Wellingtons and ten Stirlings are dispatched to bomb an armaments factory in the Paris suburb of Poissy; 44 aircraft bomb the target and one Wellington is lost: (2) 26 of 49 aircraft dispatched bomb the port area at Le Havre without loss; and (3) 23 Hampdens and seven Wellingtons lay mines in Quiberon Bay with the loss on a Hampden and a Wellington. (Jack McKillop)
MALTA: Luftwaffe General Albert Kesselring’s Luftflotte 2 commences massive bombing of Malta, to neutralize the British island. The heavy bombing depletes Malta-based bombers and submarines, enabling more supply convoys to reach Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps. (Jack McKillop)
INDIA: 10th Air Force B-17s are dispatched to attack Rangoon, Burma. The mission is aborted when 1 B-17 crashes on takeoff, killing the entire crew, and the other returns to base with mechanical troubles. (Jack McKillop)
CHINA: Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek gives Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, Commanding General American Army Forces, China, Burma and India and Chief of Staff of the Chinese Army, a new executive officer, General Lo Cho-Ying, who is mature and experienced. Stilwell and Lo hurry back down to the disintegrating Burma front. (Jack McKillop)
BURMA: Japan takes the port of Akyab, and the British Burma Corps abandons Prome.
INDIAN OCEAN: Vice Admiral Sir James Somerville, Commander of the British Eastern Fleet, changes course for Addu Atoll with the main part of his fleet. Two heavy cruisers are detached, (1) HMS Dorsetshire is sent to Colombo, Ceylon, to resume an interrupted refit and (2) HMS Cornwall is sent to escort convoy SU-4 bound for Aden. The aircraft carrier HMS Hermes with Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire is detached to return to Trincomalee, Ceylon. (Jack McKillop)
Andaman Islands: USAAF B-17s bomb the Japanese fleet. The 10th Air Force flies its first combat mission; the mission is lead by Major General Lewis H Brereton, Commanding General 10th Air Force. Two B-17 Flying Fortresses and an LB-30 Liberator attack shipping during the night of 2/3 April and claim hits on a cruiser and a transport; 2 B-17’s are damaged by AA and fighters, but all return to base. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.A.: The aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) and escorting vessels, sail from San Francisco, California, with 16 USAAF B-25 Mitchells of the Doolittle attack group on her deck; Hornet’s aircraft are in the hanger deck. That afternoon, Captain Marc Mitscher informs his men of their mission: a bombing raid on Japan. (Jack McKillop)
The U.S. Army begins the mass evacuation of all people of Japanese ancestry from the Pacific Coast. (Jack McKillop)
Glenn Miller and his orchestra record “American Patrol” for Victor Records. The jitterbug tune became one of Miller’s most requested hits. (Jack McKillop)
The USAAF changes the designation of Observation Aircraft (”O”) being delivered to Liaison Aircraft (”L”) resulting in the following changes: Stinson O-49 Vigilant redesignated L-1; Taylorcraft O-57 Grasshopper redesignated L-2; Aeronca O-58 Grasshopper redesignated L-3; Piper O-59 Cub redesignated L-4; Stinson O-62 Sentinel redesignated L-5; and Interstate O-63 redesignated L-6.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two unarmed U.S. merchant ships are shelled by German submarines off the U.S. East Coast: (1) U-123 attacks a tanker about 55 miles (89 kilometres) southeast of Morehead City, North Carolina; a motor torpedo (PT) boat arrives forcing the sub to leave the area and the ship is towed to Morehead City; (2) U-552 shells a freighter about 30 miles (48 kilometres) off the coast of Virginia and 60 miles (97 kilometres) northeast of Virginia Beach, Virginia; only three of the 25 crew aboard the freighter survive (Jack McKillop).
Lt. O’Hare had an airport named in his honor.
Posthumously
These are frightening times for the U.S.
If any Japanese agent at Pearl failed to spot the Hornet arriving, Japanese intelligence would just assume she was heading to Australia, or New Zealand.
Was Watanabe's Midway planning already underway at the time of the recent bombings of Marcus Island by U.S. Navy planes?
He was awarded the MOH, I believe.
Yes and no. Conceptual work concerning an attack on Midway had been underway since mid-January when Admiral Matome Ugaki began studying what the very successful Japanese fleet should do next. He came up with a plan to invade Hawaii which required preliminary invasions of Midway, Johnson and Palmyra Islands in June. This plan was promptly rejected because (1) they couldn’t expect to achieve surprise on Hawaii again, (2) there was not the resources required to achieve complete air superiority over Hawaii, and (3) they would have to contend with Hawaii’s formidable shore batteries.
So the Midway/Hawaii idea was shelved and planning was conducted on an eastward attack. By late February this plan was complete and presented in mid-March. However, the plan called for operations against Ceylon and required a joint effort with the IJA. The army rejected the plan leaving the Combined Fleet adrift as to what to do next.
So Ugaki’s Hawaii plan was pulled back out since the IJN was concerned about the problem they were having with the U.S. carrier raids. It was decided that the Midway portion of the plan would create the best possibility of drawing out the American fleet. The preliminary operational plan that would be presented by Wantanbe was drawn up on March 29th and 30th for this April 2nd presentation. Debate on this would go on until April 18th’s event would end discussion on the matter.
Yep. Here's his citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in aerial combat, at grave risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, as section leader and pilot of Fighting Squadron 3 on 20 February 1942. Having lost the assistance of his teammates, Lt. O'Hare interposed his plane between his ship and an advancing enemy formation of 9 attacking twin-engine heavy bombers. Without hesitation, alone and unaided, he repeatedly attacked this enemy formation, at close range in the face of intense combined machinegun and cannon fire. Despite this concentrated opposition, Lt. O'Hare, by his gallant and courageous action, his extremely skillful marksmanship in making the most of every shot of his limited amount of ammunition, shot down 5 enemy bombers and severely damaged a sixth before they reached the bomb release point. As a result of his gallant action--one of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation--he undoubtedly saved his carrier from serious damage.
Ok. Thanks! I never knew how seriously the Japanese took the raid on Marcus and wondered if it figured into their plans for Midway.
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