Posted on 06/10/2013 5:09:03 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Michael Korda, Ike: An American Hero
I wish Korda had named the exact date of Eisenhower’s revelation to the correspondents. Hanson W. Baldwin’s column yesterday was “The Invasion Riddle: Where and When It Will Strike Unknown to Foe, but Mediterranean Is Held Likely.” Did that trigger Eisenhower’s decision to take the press into his confidence or was it a sort of reverse misdirection ploy? There will be more such speculation in the pages of The Times before Husky is launched. In fact, Baldwin’s column of July 9 – the day before the invasion – is called “The Problem of Sicily,” and begins “Sicily, probably the immediate objective of the United Nations in the Mediterranean theatre . . .” The piece goes on to describe the operation fairly accurately. Just another angle to follow as we move along – HJS.
Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/jun1943/f10jun43.htm
Allied bombing priorities established
Thursday, June 10, 1943 www.onwar.com
British Bomber Command staff planning operations [photo at link].
From London and Washington... The Joint Chiefs of Staff issue the Pointblank Directive to British and American heavy bomber forces in Europe. The document sets out formal instructions for the priorities and aims of the bomber offensive up to D-Day. The instructions reflect American thought more so than British but the guidelines are vague enough that both the US Air Force and British Bomber Command can continue their independent operations.
In the Mediterranean... The bombardment of the Italian island of Pantelleria continues.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
June 9th, 1943 (WEDNESDAY)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The heavy shelling of Pantelleria continues, and the Allies say that it will go on until the island surrenders.
Medium and heavy bombers, and fighters of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) continue pounding Pantelleria Island in the Mediterranean in predawn hours and during the afternoon. (Jack McKillop)
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The Japanese evacuation of Kiska Island in the Aleutians Islands by submarines continues.
Submarine HIJMS I-9 departs Paramushiru Island, Kurile Islands for Kiska and is never heard from again.
Meanwhile, HIJMS I-169 unloads one ton of weapons and ammunition and two tons of food for the Japanese remaining on Kiska and evacuates 31 Navy and 29 civilian personnel. After getting underway, a US vessel fires six rounds at the submarine at 2250 hours local in a dense fog off the north coast of the island. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Fredericton arrives at Liverpool, Nova Scotia for refit. (Dave Shirlaw)
Oh, dear. I repeated yesterday’s etherington post.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
June 10th, 1943 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The Joint Chief of Staffs issue the Pointblank Directive. This sets out the policy for the bombing campaign against Germany and lists priorities and goals from now through D-Day. These instructions have been obviously influenced by US thinking. The strategic leaders of both the USAAF and RAF are able to interpret these guidelines in such a manner as to be able to run their favoured bombing operations.
Frigate HMCS Annan laid down Aberdeen, Scotland. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: The possibility of an Allied invasion of Sicily is discounted in the projections of German High Command (OKW). (Glenn Steinburg)
YUGOSLAVIA: The partisan leader Josip Broz, better known by his nom de guerre, Tito, narrowly escaped capture when his temporary headquarters in a Bosnian farmhouse were surrounded by Axis soldiers, it was revealed today.
Tito heard a warning shout, leapt through a window and spent the next few hours hiding in a ditch listening to the Italian troops in the house. Several of Tito’s staff were captured and executed later. The informer can expect little mercy from Tito’s men. With a price of 100,000 Reichsmarks (£8,300) on his head, Tito is the most wanted man in Europe and has had several similar escapes.
U.S.S.R.: 700 Russian night bombers attack German positions at Yaroslavl and airfields west of Kursk; 19 are lost.
ITALY: Pantelleria:
Following attacks during the night of 9/10 June by fighter-bombers, Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF), Northwest Tactical Air Force (NATAF) and
But why such an immense force against such an insignificant target? Strategically, Pantelleria offers an airfield which will bring Allied fighters well within reach of Sicily, 65miles away - assuming that that is the proposed area for the invasion of southern Europe. The shattered harbour cannot be of much use. The rea”../../glossary.htm#USAAF”>USAAF Ninth Air Force aircraft (fighters, and light, medium and heavy bombers) maintain all-day attacks on Pantelleria Island in the Mediterranean; over 1,000 sorties are flown. (Jack McKillop)
This tiny Italian-owned island surrendered today after suffering four days of massive bombing from the air and continual shelling from the sea. For almost 100 hours Pantelleria shook beneath a vast Allied bombardment - with huge formations of Flyingl reason, it seems, is the need to bring home the weight of Allied arms to an already nervous and shaky Italian population. A British destroyer almost emptied its ammunition magazine into one of Pantelleria’s two forts yesterday before intercepting a radio signal from the garrison. “Help! Send help!,” it pleaded.
More than 100,000 leaflets were dropped on the island demanding its unconditional surrender. “The demand was made to save the garrison from unnecessary suffering”, said Allied headquarters. “Pantelleria will continue to be subjected to bombing and blockade.”
ALGERIA: Algiers: De Gaulle threatens to resign over the reorganization of the French army.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The Japanese land based air craft from Rabaul mount a major air raid on the installations on Guadalcanal. They suffer heavy losses.
During the day, four IJN Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers, Allied Code Name “Betty,” fly down “The Slot” to attack shipping off Guadalcanal but are jumped by four USAAF P-38 Lightnings and four USMC F4U Corsairs. The P-38s shoot down one and the F4Us shoot down the other three. During the night of 10/11 June, 18 Betty bombers attack an Allied convoy on its way to Guadalcanal but score no hits. (Jack McKillop)
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: In the continuing effort to evacuate personnel from Kiska Island, Aleutian Islands the submarine HIJMS I-21 arrives off Kiska. While on the surface at 0025 hours, she is fired upon by a radar-equipped US vessel but is not hit. She makes her way into Kiska Harbor and unloads 3 tons of weapons and ammunition and 10 tons of food. Getting underway at 2248 hours with 2 sailors and 78 civilian evacuees, I-21 is sighted on the surface by a US Navy vessel, submerges and undergoes 5 depth-charge attacks but she escapes.
Meanwhile, the Eleventh Air Force dispatches 7 B-24s, 8 B-25s, 12 P-40s, 5 P-38s and 2 F-5As to attack North Head, the Main Camp, runway, North Head and gun positions on Kiska. They also fly weather reconnaissance and photo missions over Kiska and Little Kiska. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Annanis laid down at Aberdeen, Scotland;
Minesweeper HMCS Oshawa is launched at Port Arthur Ontario; Corvette
HMCS Trillium completes a refit at Boston. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Lieutenant Commander Frank A. Erickson, US Coast Guard, proposes that helicopters be developed for antisubmarine warfare, “not as killer craft but as the eyes and ears of the convoy escorts.” To this end he recommends that helicopters be equipped with radar and dunking sonar.
506th Parachute Infantry joined the 101st Airborne. (William Jay Stone)
” Lieutenant Commander Frank A. Erickson, US Coast Guard, proposes that helicopters be developed for antisubmarine warfare, “not as killer craft but as the eyes and ears of the convoy escorts.” To this end he recommends that helicopters be equipped with radar and dunking sonar.”
At this time, without a gas turbine engine, helicopters probably don’t have the power to carry much armament, and this is about the only role they are suited for. I like the “dunking sonar” idea. Wonder if it will catch on...
DeGaulle was as big a pain in the a@# to his own people as he was to us.
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