BRITISH PUNCH OUT 3-MILE GAINS WEST OF TUNIS AND ALONG COAST (4/24/43)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 4/24/43 | Drew Middleton

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[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
Tunisia, 1942: Final Allied Offensive – 22 April Attack, 3 May Attack, and Exploitation
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941: Status of Forces and Allied Theater Boundaries, 2 July 1942
India-Burma, 1942: Allied Lines of Communication, 1942-1943

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Prime Minister to C.I.G.S. 24 Apr 43

Appointment of General Freyberg to the next vacant corps. I am very glad, and think it only an act of justice.

Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Billboard Top Ten for the Week of April 24, 1943

#1 - “I’ve Heard That Song Before” – Harry James, with Helen Forrest
#2 – “Brazil” - Xavier Cugat
#3 - “As Time Goes By” - Jacque Renard, with unknown vocalist
#4 – “That Old Black Magic” - Benny Goodman, with Skip Miller and the Modernaires
#5 – “You’d be So Nice to Come Home To” - Dinah Shore
#6 - “For Me and My Gal” - Judy Garland and Gene Kelly
#7 - “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” - The Ink Spots
#8 - “As Time Goes By” - Rudy Vallee
#9 – “It Started All Over Again” - Tommy Dorsey, with Frank Sinatra, Pied Pipers
#10 - “Velvet Moon” - Harry James

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Key Hills Reached (Middleton) – 2-4
Paving the Way for the Eighth Army’s Break Through (photos) – 3
Giant Planes Fall – 4
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on Fighting in Various Zones – 5-6
War News Summarized – 6

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/apr1943/f24apr43.htm

SS troops battle Jewish fighters in Warsaw
Saturday, April 24, 1943 www.onwar.com

SS attacks begin in the Warsaw Ghetto [photo at link].

In Occupied Poland... The SS begins operations against the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. Buildings are burned or blown up but resistance continues. Jewish fighters make use of the sewers and the rubble to continue their struggle. Those Jews captured are either shot immediately or transported to the death camps.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

April 24th, 1943 (SATURDAY)
FRANCE: Paris: Paul de Gassovski (an organizer in Marseilles) is the first Miliciens to be assassinated by the resistance.

GERMANY: Kptlt Heinz Hirsacker of U-572, who had been condemned to death by military tribunal, committed suicide. He had been charged with “Cowardice in the face of the enemy” - the only U-boat commander to suffer that fate.

U-391 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

POLAND: The SS begins full operations against Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Warsaw: SS General Jurgen Stroop told Himmler that he would clear out the Warsaw ghetto in three days. Now he is having second thoughts. On the eve of the feast of Passover, when the Jews celebrate liberation from their oppressors, he sent in tanks, flame-throwers and dynamite squads; they were met by a barrage of small-arms fire, grenades and home-made bombs. The Germans retreated in confusion.

So it has continued, day after day. Stroop, who refers to the Jews as “trash and sub humans” and “cowards by nature”, has had to go for total destruction on order to get at the Jews, who are lodged in cellars, bunkers and sewers, from whence they spring out to take the Germans by surprise. A passing woman produces a pistol from her underclothes and fires point-blank at a German.

When the ghetto was set up in 1940 it held 400,000 Jews. Starved and overcrowded, the Jews died, but not fast enough for Himmler. He ordered them to be sent to concentration camps, but because of the war situation transport was lacking, and with 60,000 still in the ghetto. Stroop was drafted in with 2,090 troops.

The Jews had been preparing for a long time; if they had to die they would die fighting. In factories where they worked under the supervision of German officers they secretly made bombs. When they left the ghetto on burial duties they acquired weapons from the Polish resistance fighters.

A pall of black smoke hangs over Warsaw. The Jews stay in the blazing buildings until the last moment, and after they have jumped they strive to crawl into hiding in spite of their broken arms and legs.

Stroop still hopes to get the medal that Himmler promised if the job was done with speed and efficiency. His daily reports to Himmler promise success, in spite of “the cunning fighting methods of the Jews and other bandits.”

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: After sinking the Italian freighter Galiola (1917, 1428 BRT) in a convoy, and then breaking surface, off Cape Milazzo, northeast Sicily, submarine HMS Sahib (Lt. J.H. Bromage) is depth charged by Italian torpedo boats Gabbiano, Euterpe and Climene and bombed by a German Ju.88 aircraft. Eventually depth charges blow off the compressor outlet and Sahib begins to flood through a 1,5 inch hole in the pressure hull. With no way of repairing the damage, the order to prepare to abandon ship was given. As the crew left the submarine, Sahib was scuttled in position 38.30N, 15.15E. There are 46 survivors of whom 23 make escapes from POW camps and 12 reach Allied lines. One of the crew was wounded and died on 3 May, 1943. (Alex Gordon and Dave Shirlaw)(108)

U.S.A.: San Francisco: A US invasion force sails to take Attu, in the Aleutians.

Minesweeper USS Ransom laid down

Destroyer USS Wren laid down.

Destroyer escort USS Chase launched.

Destroyer USS Sigourney launched.

Destroyer escort USS Sims commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0251, the unescorted Santa Catalina was hit on the starboard side by two stern torpedoes from U-129, while steaming on a zigzag course at 16.5 knots about 370 miles SE of Cape Hatteras. The first torpedo struck at the #1 hold and the second nearly the same spot and blew holes in both sides of the ship. The explosions started a fire in the cargo of gasoline and the vessel soon listed 40° to starboard. The ten officers, 47 crewmen, 28 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in and nine 20mm guns) and ten passengers abandoned ship after 20 minutes in the two starboard lifeboats and four rafts. The ship sank by the bow ten minutes after being hit by a coup de grâce at 0310. The survivors were picked up after twelve hours by Venezia and taken to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

U-710 sunk south of Iceland, in position 61.25N, 19.48W, by depth charges from an RAF 206 Sqn Fortress. 49 dead (all hands lost). (Dave Shirlaw)

[fso301]

Interesting p6 article about alleged comments about the Tiger tank’s poor performance made by Rommel. I doubt he received enough of the unreliable tanks to make any difference but if he did express such opinion, imagine his comments if told he was to take delivery of the Ferdinand.

[Rebelbase]

Homer, Thanks again for all the hard work you do to post this series.

Best WWII historical education on the web!

[colorado tanker]

It's in the paper that Rommel talked to "German oppositional circles"? I didn't know he was being that indiscreet.

[fso301]

It's in the paper that Rommel talked to "German oppositional circles"? I didn't know he was being that indiscreet.

That was such an interesting nugget that I decided it was disinformation.