Posted on 03/16/2013 4:41:01 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
The sinkings in the South Atlantic bring the question of the Azores again to the fore. You know how keen the President is on establishing Allied control there. It seems hardly likely that at this moment such an event would bring the Germans down on Spain. Now that Mr. Eden is in Washington is the moment for this matter to be discussed over there.
Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate
* Something about that ad bothers me but I needed it for a top border – HJS.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/mar1943/f16mar43.htm
British 8th Army closes in on Mareth Line
Tuesday, March 16, 1943 www.onwar.com
British 8th Army troops in Tunisa [photo at link]
In Tunisia... The British 8th Army becomes involved in skirmishes on the approaches to the Mareth Line as it prepares for a full-scale attack on the Axis position.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
March 16th, 1943 (TUESDAY)
GERMANY: U-1168 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Stalin demands a second front, accusing Churchill and Roosevelt of treachery by failing to open one in Europe.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: At 2048, U-172 fired a spread of four torpedoes at Convoy UGS-6 and heard a detonations after 2 minutes 50 seconds, 3 minutes 10 seconds and two after 3 minutes 20 seconds. At 20.50 hours, a stern spread was fired and two hits were observed after 56 seconds and 58 seconds, both torpedoes probably hit SS Benjamin Harrison in station #73. The other detonations must have been depth charges dropped by the American escorts. Benjamin Harrison was hit by two torpedoes on the starboard side in the #5 hold, began to settle slowly and appeared to be in no great danger of sinking quickly. The master did not order the eight officers, 35 men, 27 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and four 20mm guns) and one passenger to abandon ship. Some men shouted this order, creating a great confusion and they began leaving the ship in a chaotic manner. The explosion had damaged one of the lifeboats and in their haste two others were improperly launched, causing the occupants to fall into the sea. Only one boat was launched effectively with 16 men clung to the full boat and 15 had to swim with their life preservers until they were picked up by the Panamanian motor merchant Alan-A-Dale and were landed at Oran, Algeria on 24 March. Three other survivors were picked up by destroyer USS Rowan, which sank the wreck with gunfire at 2130 about 150 miles ENE of Terceira, Azores and were landed at Casablanca. Two officers and one armed guard died in this sinking.
About 1120, U-77 fired torpedoes at Convoy ET-14 NW of Oran and hit the Hadleigh and Merchant Prince. Two crewmembers from the Hadleigh were lost. The master, 41 crewmembers and eight gunners abandoned the vessel and were picked up by HMS Tynedale. The next day, the vessel was towed to Oran by tug HMS Restive, then to Mers el Kebir, where she was beached and later declared a total loss after the vessel broke in two. Merchant Prince was first abandoned, but reboarded the next day and towed to Oran where the ship was beached. On 8 April, the ship was refloated and continued to the UK after temporary repairs were made at Oran, she arrived in Glasgow on 2 August for permanent repairs. (Dave Shirlaw)
TUNISIA: U.S. II Corps troops enter Gafsa after the Germans abandon it. (Jeff Chrisman)
CANADA:
Gate vessels HMC GV 3, 4 and 5? ordered.
Destroyer HMCS Griffin (ex-HMS Griffin) commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.:
Destroyer escorts USS Chase, Ricketts and Sellstron laid down.
Destroyer USS Wadsworth commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: A U-boat pack savages convoy HX-229, sinking eight merchant ships.
Corvette HMS Godetia rescued the crew of minesweeping trawler HMS Campobello after this ship hit an iceberg the day before and as a result of the collision she had a leak in her boiler room. HMS Campobello was beyond salvage and her crew (35 men) was taken off. Godetia finally sank Campobello with shallow set depth charges.
At 2300, U-603 fired three FAT and one G7e torpedoes at Convoy HX-229 and heard one certain and one possible detonation. The only ship hit was the Elin K, which was hit by one torpedo and sank. All crewmembers abandoned ship in the lifeboats and were picked up by corvette HMS Pennywort. (Dave Shirlaw)
Page 9 advertisement: “I Licked My Constipation”
A most unfortunate choice of words.
I assume you included that ad as a little comic relief. Thanks!
See my footnote on the table of contents (ping list reply #4).
Funny!
So Goering and Mussolini are working on establishing the European Union? And I’ve always given credit for that to Otto von Habsburg.
This is a thread about constipation. We can't allow people to hijack it and turn in into a thread about World War . . .
Oh, never mind.
. . . The forthcoming proclamation of a United States of Europe, each unit of which would be called upon to furnish an allocated contribution of fighting men and industrial workers "for the protection of the old continent against its natural enemies - the Anglo-Saxon powers and the United Nations."
Isn't that a description of the Third Reich?
"Throughout the Second World War, American-Jewish organizations engaged in a relentless but relatively unsuccessful effort to save European Jewry.
Their campaigns intensified in 1943 after reports of Hitler's genocidal programs were confirmed.
"The mainstream American-Jewish organizations, led by Rabbi Stephen Wise, organized public demonstrations and lobbied government officials. The American Jewish Congress's "Stop Hitler Now" demonstration in New York City on March 1, 1943, attracted an estimated 75,000 people.
The throng listened to speeches by leaders of the American Federation of Labor, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and other non-Jewish associations.
"A more radical group, the Committee for a Jewish Army (CJA), attempted to broker a rescue operation for Romanian Jews.
The group took out ads in major newspapers, which claimed that the freedom of 70,000 Jews could be purchased for $50 apiece.
Obvious shock value aside, the ad's intent was to show that rescue of Jews was a matter of Allied will.
"On March 15, 1943, eight major Jewish organizations created the Joint Emergency Committee on European Affairs (JEC).
The committee strived to expand the public-information campaign, to spur the United States Congress to support rescue operations, and to organize high-level conferences on behalf of European Jewry.
President Franklin Roosevelt finally created the War Refugee Board, but not until January 1944--14 months after he had learned about the 'Final Solution.' "
"Surrounded by bags of goods, a Jewish woman in the Chelmno death camp sorts clothing from the transports, which will be shipped to warehouses near Lódz, Poland.
Beginning in March 1943, transports to Chelmno ceased when the camp reached its goal of killing most of the Jews in Warthegau, the former Polish territory annexed to the Reich.
The killings resumed about a year later when the decision was made to gas prisoners of the Lódz Ghetto."
"Five German soldiers surround the corpses of two Russian civilians whom they have just executed.
Although theoretically protected under the rules of war, civilians on the Eastern Front became frequent targets of the Germans.
The Nazis exacted ruthless punishment on anyone suspected of being a partisan or aiding partisan activity."
Yep. I suppose the name and propaganda was supposed to make the people of the occupied countries feel better about sending conscripts and slave labor to the Nazis.
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