BIG U.S. FORCE ARRIVES IN IRELAND WITH TANK UNITS AND HEAVY GUNS (5/19/42)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 5/19/42 | Robert P. Post, Ralph Parker, John A. Moroso 3d, Raymond Daniell

[Homer_J_Simpson]

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Southwest Russia, 1942: German Summer Offensive, Operations, 7 May-23 July 1942
North Africa, 1940: Rommel’s Second Offensive, 21 January-7 July 1942

[Homer_J_Simpson]

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Convoy is Largest (Post) – 2
Battle is Fiercer (Parker) – 3-4
War News Summarized – 4
Warships and Planes Blast U-Boats Out of Convoy Path (by John A. Moroso 3d, first-time contributor) – 5
R.A.F. Torpedoes the Prinz Eugen (Daniell) – 6
Hungarian Terror of Serbs Charged – 7
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on Fighting in Various Zones – 8-9

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/may42/f19may42.htm

Germans counterattack in Ukraine
Tuesday, May 19, 1942 www.onwar.com

German infantryman on the offensive near Kharkov [photo at link]

On the Eastern Front... German Army Group South, after fierce resistance to the Soviet offensive in the area for several days, mount a major counteroffensive near Kharkov, in the Ukraine.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm

May 19th, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM:
Rescue tug HMS Empire Fairy commissioned.

Frigate HMS Spey commissioned.

Destroyer HMS Zenith laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: U-520 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: A strong German counterattack at Kharkov in the Ukraine against the Russians begins.

ICELAND: While at anchor at Hvalfjordur, some of the crewmen of the U.S. freighter SS Ironclad break into a cargo of liquor that is being shipped to the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow resulting in fights among the crew. The officer in command of the Armed Guard reports the incident to the battleship USS Washington (BB-56) and a detachment of marines board the ship and restore order. (Jack McKillop)

CANADA: Ottawa: Canada is becoming the “aerodrome of democracy”, President Roosevelt announced today as Allied representatives met to co-ordinate air strategy. Rossevelt’s words were conveyed by his assistant war secretary, Robert A. Lovett. The Russians sent no one.

Since the Empire Training Scheme began in Canada in December 1939, almost 50 flying schools have been opened. An enlarged scheme was signed on 5 May, and soon 4,000 aircraft will be in constant use. The scheme, operating in Australia and Rhodesia as well as Canada, will be able to train 20,000 pilots annually. The first 2,200 have already graduated. Volunteers include thousands of Americans.

U.S.A.: Three more armed U.S. merchant ships are sunk by German submarines. Two freighters are sunk in the Gulf of Mexico, one off Louisiana by U-506 and the second near the Yucatan Channel by U-103. The third freighter is sunk south of Navassa Island Light in the Caribbean by U-751. (Jack McKillop)

Destroyer USS Laws laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

GULF OF MEXICO: At 08.56 hours on 19 May 1942, the unescorted Heredia was hit by three torpedoes from U-506 two miles SE of the Ship Shoal Buoy, while proceeding on a nonevasive course at 13.5 knots. The first and second torpedoes struck the port quarter aft at the #3 and #4 holds. The third torpedo struck amidships on the starboard side, causing her to sink within three minutes. The explosions blew the decks up, stopped the engines and destroyed two lifeboats and two rafts. The survivors of the eleven officers, 37 crewmen, eight passengers and six armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3in and two .30cal guns) had no time to launch boats and only two rafts got away. 23 survivors were picked up by the shrimp trawlers Papa Joe (1), Conquest (2), J. Edwin Treakle (10) and Shellwater (10) and landed at Morgan City, Louisiana. A seaplane picked up three other survivors and landed them at New Orleans. Six officers, 24 crewmen, one passenger and five armed guards were lost. (Dave Shirlaw)

CARIBBEAN SEA: At 1040, the unescorted and unarmed Isabela was torpedoed by U-751 35 miles south of Navassa Island Light. One torpedo struck on the starboard side at a coal bunker at the waterline slightly abaft the bridge. The explosion caused extensive damage, immediately stopped the vessel and killed two firemen and a coal passer on watch below. All partial bulkheads on the main deck and above broke and jarred the galley range off its foundation, causing it to fall through the tremendous hole in the various decks at least to the bottom of the ship and perhaps right through the bottom. The U-boat then surfaced and began shelling the ship off the port side from about 350 yards. Four shots were fired before the surviving eight officers and 26 crewmen abandoned ship in two lifeboats and three rafts and three shots after it. The ship finally sank over the bow with a port side list at 1058 hours. The men on the rafts later transferred to the boats the next morning and they rowed to Cape Briton, Haiti. One lifeboat made landfall in 18 hours and the other in 30 hours. (Dave Shirlaw)

[BroJoeK]

From "Saints of Today and Yesterday" on Father Joseph Cziempiel:

"He was sent to the concentration camp at Dachau, Germany, enduring his grim fate with heroic patience.
On May 18, 1942 the fifty-eight year old priest was put to death in a gas chamber."

The subject of "Dachau gas chambers" is controversial, with some saying they were never used for their intended purpose -- murder.

What's known is that hundreds of clergy were sent from Dauchau to the Hartheim Euthanasia Centre.

"A total of 310 Polish, seven German, six Czech, four Luxemburg, three Dutch and two Belgian priests were murdered.
Many of them were transported from the Priest's Block in Dachau concentration camp."

Curiously, I can't find the name of Father Cziempiel among the famous victims of either Dachau or Hartheim Castle.

Dachau gas chamber building:

Hartheim Euthanasia Centre:

[PzLdr]

Intersting that PRINZ EUGEN, when she was launched, like all three pocket bttships, and SCHARNHORST and GNIESENAU, did not have a clipper bow. All of them had to be modified [except GRAF SPEE, which was sunk]. And EUGEN was launched later than the others.

[abb]

Some pics of the Admiral Hipper class cruisers.

http://books.google.com/books?id=FS7zATMPusAC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=admiral+hipper+class+clipper+bow&source=bl&ots=4C9b5Nk2Bs&sig=zEb2Vs3V8a6kc1GX2QDVeYnWlvA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lrK3T8HkDMKW2QXOhtjaCQ&ved=0CF8Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=admiral%20hipper%20class%20clipper%20bow&f=false

[PAR35]

Drop the ‘i’ from his last name.

Wikipedia shows him as having died in Mauthausen, which would make some sense. The site that Homer is using is not known for its historical rigor. It’s pretty bad when folks will trust Wikipedia over a site that should know what it is doing.

It’s clear that many of the Polish priests went through Dachau; its also clear that they were taken elsewhere for execution.

[Peter W. Kessler]

From the BBC, 5/19/42:

http://ia601200.us.archive.org/0/items/1942RadioNews/1942-05-19-BBC-Nightingales-and-Bombers.mp3

“Nightingales and Bombers”

Listen, and you can hear them flying over.

[BroJoeK]

PAR 35: "Drop the ‘i’ from his last name."

Thanks, coffee too weak this morning. ;-)

PAR 35: "Wikipedia shows him as having died in Mauthausen, which would make some sense."

I can't find him in Wikipedia, but this site says:

"Bl. Joseph Czempiel of Jozefka [Józef] (Polish, diocesan priest, martyred by Nazis at Mauthausen [Germany] at age 58 in 1942 [beatified 1999])."

Problem is, Mauthausen was not a camp of mass gassings, but:

"Mauthausen was one of the few camps in the West to use a gas chamber on a regular basis.
In the beginning, an improvised mobile gas chamber – a van with the exhaust pipe connected to the inside – shuttled between Mauthausen and Gusen.
By December 1941, a permanent gas chamber that could kill about 120 prisoners at a time was completed"

PAR 35: "It’s pretty bad when folks will trust Wikipedia over a site that should know what it is doing."

Over time, Wiki's open system should produce more accurate data on non-controversial subjects.
Interesting to note that Wiki says nothing about gas chambers at Dachau, even though other sites go on at length on the subject.

[PAR35]

“I can’t find him in Wikipedia,”

He doesn’t get his own entry (unlike the last one), but referenced here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/108_Martyrs_of_World_War_II

As for spelling, even with alphabets with only a few extra letters, like German and Polish, can get you multiple spellings. If you branch off into Cyrillic, English spelling of names can get really interesting.

“Problem is, Mauthausen was not a camp of mass gassings, “

Do we know that he was gassed? Hangings, shootings, starving, and some more creative methods were known to have been used. Given the wording we’ve seen for him, it probably wasn’t disease, although that’s always a possibility in the camps if you don’t have more definite information.