Posted on 06/28/2013 4:13:26 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
* The present population total is a military secret . . .
They wouldnt want to provoke any embarrassing questions, like, Didnt there used to be a million or so more people? Where did they all go?
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/jun1943/f28jun43.htm
More US airbases in New Guinea
Monday, June 28, 1943 www.onwar.com
American troops marching in the New Guinea jungle [photo at link]
In New Guinea... More American forces occupy Kiriwina and Woodlark islands. Construction of airfields begins.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/28.htm
June 28th, 1943 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The VIII Bomber Command flies Mission Number 69. 185 B-17s and six YB-40s are dispatched against the locks and submarine pens at Saint-Nazaire, France; 158 hit the target between 1655 and 1713 hours local; they claim 28-6-8 Luftwaffe aircraft; eight B-17s are lost and 57 others are damaged. This mission was escort partway to the target by 130 P-47s. Fifty other B-17s are dispatched against Beaumont-le-Roger Airfield; 43 bomb the target between 1736 and 1740 hours local; six B-17s are damaged.
A change in the design of the US National Star Insignia applied to US aircraft added white rectangles on the left and right sides of the blue circular field to form a horizontal bar, and a red border stripe around the entire design. This replaces the white star in blue circle insignia. (Jack McKillop)
The prototype Hawker Tempest MK II (LA 602) flies today. With a 2,526-h.p. Bristol Centaurus engine it will be the RAF’s most powerful piston-engined fighter. With extra fuel tanks it has a range of 1,640 miles. (22)
WESTERN EUROPE: Cologne, Leghorn, and Messina each receive a Heavy Allied air raid. (Glenn Steinberg)
During the night of 27/28 June, Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons bomb the Messina, Sicily marshalling yards and Villa San Giovanni. The following day, 97 B-17s hit Leghorn with 261 tons of bombs severely damaging industrial and railway installations; B-25 Mitchells hit airfields near Olbia, Sardinia and Alghero, Sicily, B-26 Marauders attack the landing ground at Milis, Sardinia, and fighters hit the airfield at Decimomannu, Sardinia. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: RAF bombers raid Cologne in what Berlin describes as a “terror raid”.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: USAAF bombers attack Livorno, in Italy, and Messina in Sicily.
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Six Eleventh Air Force B-25s bomb Kiska Island hitting Gertrude Cove, the southern Main Camp area and Little Kiska Island through holes in the overcast. The mission is partly ineffective because of faulty bomb-release mechanisms. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.A.:
Destroyer escorts USS Tisdale and Frament launched.
Destroyer USS Ingersoll launched.
Light cruiser USS Portsmouth laid down.
Heavy cruiser USS Columbus laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Kretchmer laid down.
Destroyer USS Laffey laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS City of Vernon sunk by U-172 at 04.30S, 27.30W. (Dave Shirlaw)
That cliff might be 26 feet, but it certainly isn’t 46 feet.
I attribute more importance to:
1. Imminent invasion and the fact that the Italian Army had been defeated in North Africa and a few hundred thousand Allied troops were only a few miles away.
2. Terrible morale and troops tired of fighting Germany's war.
Baldwin dropped a few yeah-buts on the big bomber theory in part 1 of his three-parter. We shall see if he is a believer over the next two days.
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