Posted on 08/10/2013 5:51:54 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/aug1943/f10aug43.htm
Red Army approaching Orel
Tuesday, August 10, 1943 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... Soviet force capture Khotinets, to the east of Orel. To the south, Red Army offensives continue to make progress despite German resistance.
In Sicily... Another Allied amphibious operation is carried out on the north coast. Forces land at Brolo, east of Cape Orlando. The Germans again fall back.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/10.htm
August 10th, 1943 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: The award of a George Cross to Wing-Cdr John Samuel Rowlands (b.1915) is gazetted for his great bravery in his two years of bomb and weapon-disposal work.
Destroyer HMS Gravelines laid down. Light cruiser HMS Spartan launched.
GERMANY: In a vast RAF raid on Nuremburg 3,444 tons of bombs are dropped.
U-348 launched.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet troops take Khotinets, east of Orel. The skilful German defence does not seem to impede the speed of the Soviet advance.
Submarine Upas laid down.
ITALY: Sant’ Agata, SICILY: Doctors and nurses at a US military hospital looked on in amazement today as a general slapped two soldiers, threatening to shoot one of them. Lt-Gen George S Patton Jr, the volatile commander of the 7th Army, was making an unscheduled visit to the 93rd Evacuation Hospital when he saw the soldiers.
The first had malaria. Patton slapped him three times. When Patton asked the second man what the problem was, he replied: “It’s my nerves. I can’t stand the shelling any more.” Patton slapped the man, shouting: “Shut up that Goddamned crying. I won’t have brave men here who have been shot seeing a yellow bastard crying.” He struck the soldier again and ordered the medical officer not to admit him.
Patton then turned to the man and said: “You’re going back to the front lines and you may get shot and killed, but you’re going to fight. If you don’t, I’ll stand you up against a wall and have a firing squad kill you on purpose.” The general reached for his pistol. “I ought to shoot you myself, you Goddamned whimpering coward,” he yelled. This was the second such incident in a week and will anger General Eisenhower.
From “PATTON: Ordeal and Triumph” by Ladislas Farago, concerning the first soldier slapped by Patton. I haven’t found it noted in other sources.
” Kuhl was picked up by a group of corpsmen attracted to the scene by the noise. They took him to a ward, where he was found to have a temperature of 102.2. It also developed that he had been suffering from chronic diarrhoea ever since he joined the 1st Division at the front. A blood test showed that he had malaria.”
Skip Guidry
SOLOMON ISLANDS: USAAF Thirteenth Air Force P-40s and P-39Airacobras turn back about 40 A6M “Zeke” fighters attacking US construction troops working on Munda Airfield on New Georgia Island.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: P-38 Lightnings, P-40s, A-24 Dauntlesses, B-24s and B-25 Mitchells of the USAAF’s Eleventh Air Force bomb and strafe various targets on Kiska Island; direct hits are scored on revetments west of the Wheat Grove and on gun emplacements, as well as on buildings on Little Kiska Island.
CANADA: HMC ML 104 commissioned.
Frigate HMCS La Hulloise laid down Montreal, Province of Quebec.
Ville Class steel tugs ordered for RCN HMCS Streetsville, Blissville, Eckville, Mannville, Shawville, Roseville, Colville, Luceville.
U.S.A.: Destroyers USS Shields, Metcalf, Hart and Wiley laid down. Destroyer escort USS Cloues launched.
Map from David Glantz and Jonathan House "The Battle of Kursk."
The map in the New York Times is reasonably accurate. They were wildly inaccurate during the chaotic days of June-October 1941, but now the Soviets are a bit more forthcoming with information. Why not? They are winning.
Cutting the direct rail link into Kharkov from Bryansk was an important development in this battle. Now only one rail link is open to the south, but the German trains have to take a much longer route through southern Poland and Ukraine to reach the city. The Germans are heavily outnumbered, especially in front line infantry. The only thing that is keeping the Soviets at bay is the German artillery, which is expending huge amounts of ordinance to create “curtains” of artillery fire to protect the German positions. Any interruption of the supply of shells will have a serious negative effect on the German defenses.
My father served in an AntiAircraft Artillery unit attached to a Corp HQ in the 7th Army, Generals Patton and Patch. North Africa, Sicily, Corsica, France, Germany
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