Posted on 08/13/2013 5:01:24 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/aug1943/f13aug43.htm
Churchill and Roosevelt meet in Canada
Friday, August 13, 1943 www.onwar.com
Canadian Mountie color guard waits the arrival of the delegates at the first Quebec Conference [photo at link]
In Canada... The Quebec Conference begins. British and American military leaders meet in Quebec. They are joined by Roosevelt and Churchill to discuss Allied strategy.
Over Borneo... The US 5th Air Force raids the oilfields at Balikpapan with 380 planes from bases in Australia.
On the Eastern Front... Red Army forces close in on Kharkov, taking Bolshaya and Danilovka. An new Soivet offensive toward Smolensk results in the capture of Spas-Demensk, west of Kirov.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/13.htm
August 13th, 1943 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Frigates HMS Kingsmill, HMS Lawford, Lawson and Louis launched.
EUROPE: The Allies bomb Rome’s railyards and, flying over Hungary to make their first raid on Austria, factories at Wiener Neustadt.
GERMANY: U-287 launched.
AUSTRIA: 61 US Ninth Air Force B-24s based in North Africa, hit an aircraft factory at Wiener-Neustadt in the first Ninth Air Force raid on Austria.
U.S.S.R.: The Soviet Army captures Bolshaya and Danilovka in their advance on Kharkov. A new offensive begins in the Smolensk area and Spas-Demensk, west of Kirov falls.
The headquarters of the German 2 Pz. Armee is pulled out and transferred because the one army headquarters is sufficient for the reduced frontage. (Jeff Chrisman)
Baltic Fleet and Ladoga Flotilla: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Submarine loss. “S-9” - by depth charges of surface ships, close to Bolshoi Tuters Is.
ITALY: 125 XII Bomber Command B-17s bomb the Lorenzo marshalling yard dropping 264 tons of bombs. This is followed by 66
B-25 Mitchells and 102 B-26 Marauders attacking the Littoria marshalling yard.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Luftwaffe aircraft attack convoy MKS 21 off the coast of Algeria, strafing and holing U.S. freighters SS Jonathan Elmer, in position 36°07’N, 03°07’E, and SS Anne Bradstreet, in position 36°19’N, 02°18’E. U.S. freighter Francis W. Pettygrove is torpedoed at 36°08’N, 02°14’E; partially abandoned, the survivors that clear the ship are taken on board RN minesweeper HMS Hythe. The rest of the crew and Armed Guard remain on board to prepare the ship for tow.
FRENCH MOROCCO: Pierre Pucheu, the former Vichy minister of the interior, is arrested.
INDIA: Auchinleck proposes abandoning all offensive operations in Burma in order to concentrate on supplying China by air.
BORNEO: The US 5th AF raids the oilfields at Balikpapan from bases in Australia with a force of 380 aircraft.
9 US Fifth Air Force B-24 based in Australia bomb the oil centre at Balikpapan, Borneo during a late night raid; the round trip covers 1,200 miles (1,920 km); the B-24s are airborne for 17-hours.
“The most sensational of the early raids carried out by the 380th Bombardment Group (Heavy), in view of the planes and techniques available at that time, occurred today, against strategic Balikpapan on the island of Borneo. At 1730, eleven B-24’s carrying 69 x 500-pound bombs took off from Darwin and headed out across the Timor Sea in cloudy and turbulent weather. One aircraft was forced to turn back and another failed to find the target, but between midnight and 0145, nine planes hovered over the oil refineries, tanks, and harbour installations, dropped their bombs from between 5,000 and 8,500 feet, and claimed forty-eight ‘hits.’ As the last plane turned for the long flight back to the base, two refinery areas and one medium-sized vessel were afire and seven large oil-tanks were exploding. In just under seventeen hours from the take-off, eight of the nine aircraft had returned. The ninth, short of fuel, had crash-landed, but all crew members were safe.”
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On New Georgia Island 4 P-40s of the US Thirteenth Air Force, become the first Allied aircraft to land on the reconstructed Munda Airfield; after refuelling, they are sent on a sweep of the Kolombangara Island coast; 9 B-17s, with fighter cover, bomb a Kape Harbor depot; and 2 others on armoured reconnaissance bomb Vila on Kolombangara Island. On Santa Isabel Island, 12 B-25s bomb supply areas in the Rekata Bay area; 2 B-24s on armoured reconnaissance hit Suavanau Point, 8 bomb the airfield on Ballale Island, and 13 bomb Kahili Airfield on Bougainville Island.
USS John Penn (APA-51) had just finished unloading a cargo of 155-mm. ammunition off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal. At 2120 she came under attack by enemy torpedo planes. Three minutes later, when the transport took one of the planes under fire, it burst into flames and crashed into her mainmast. About that same instant a torpedo hit from another plane hit the ship. Although vigorous efforts were made to save her, John Penn went down stern first at 2150.
CANADA: British and US military leaders meet in Quebec joined by Roosevelt and Churchill. Discussion concerns General Morgan’s plans for Overlord, future operations in Italy, and the Pacific. Churchill accepts a US General to command the invasion of France. Admiral Mountbatten is selected to lead a new Southeast Asia Command. This conference will continue through August 24th.
Mr. and Mrs. Churchill are staying in the great citadel overlooking the St. Lawrence river. As well as the British chiefs of staff, the prime minister has taken along his daughter Mary, a subaltern in an anti-aircraft unit, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, the leader of the recent “Dambusters” raid on the Ruhr dams, and Brigadier Orde Wingate, the leader of the Chindits in Burma.
On arrival at Halifax en-route for Quebec, Mr. Churchill made the reception party sing “The Maple Leaf Forever” - the Canadian national anthem.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: In the Aleutian Islands, 7 US Eleventh Air Force B-25 Mitchells from Adak Island bomb targets at Main Camp and North Head on Kiska and Little Kiska Islands. A B-24 flies a special reconnaissance mission. From Amchitka Island B-24s, B-25s, A-24 Dauntlesses, and P-38 Lightnings fly 8 more bombing missions against Kiska Island pounding the Camp area, gun emplacements, buildings, shipping, and airstrip revetments.
73d Squadron flies its last mission in order to prepare to return to the US on 26 August.
U.S.A.: The motion picture “Du Barry Was a Lady” is released. This comedy, directed by Roy Del Ruth, stars Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly, Zero Mostel, Donald Meek, Tommy Dorsey and Lana Turner in a bit part; Hugh Beaumont, Ava Gardner, Dick Haymes and Jo Stafford appear in uncredited roles. The plot has nightclub hat check man Skelton in love with singer Ball who is looking for a man with money but she changes her mind when he wins the Irish Sweepstakes. After swallowing a knockout drug, he dreams that he is Louis XVI and she is Madame DuBarry. Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra are featured with Buddy Rich on drums and The Pied Pipers, Dick Haymes and Jo Stafford.
bkmk
bad planning...yes we eventually won Sicily but let all those Germans get away. those ships/boats should have been sunk en masse in the straits of Messina. from what I have read, the anti aircraft defenses were not what they were cracked up to be and to destroy 10s of thousand of Nazi troops a sustainable loss of planes would have been more than acceptable.
The German rear-guard maneuver in Sicily is what when I was in was called leaving behind the “DLIC” or detachment left in contact. We did pretty well with it in peacetime maneuvers, but I didn’t like my chances if we really had to try to pull it off under fire.
I think Hansen is spot on. The Russians just couldn't appreciate that the Brits had to fight it out in North Africa to avoid the Germans taking Cairo and Suez and overrunning the Middle East. They also didn't appreciate the immense effort for the U.S. to train an Army from scratch and then transport it and logistically support it across an ocean. Plus, we sent a lot of equipment we could have used ourselves to the Russians.
And quite frankly had we not gone to North Africa and attempted a cross-Channel invasion in 1943 I think we would have had our butts handed to us. The Red Army wasn't very effective against the Germans until they had been blooded and we needed that experience in North Africa and Sicily. Plus, we wouldn't have had enough strength or equipment to do the job right.
Part I, in yesterday's post, is also interesting. In it he discusses the Sov's murky relationship with Japan.
I recall one of the Doolittle Raiders landed near Vladivostok because of some fuel problem making it certain they would not get even close to China. The Sov’s interned them for over a year, eventually sending them to a town near Iran. IIRC, there has always been some controversy as to whether the Sov’s “allowed” them to “escape” to avoid officially repatriating them.
Interesting article on page 6 about resistance activity in Bavaria.
Yes, but I’m not sure that the Religious News Service could find Cologne on a map. I don’t think Bavarian separatism would be particularly strong there.
The Soviets were neutral in our war against Japan, and under international law, they were required to intern our air crew for the duration of the war.
The whole “murky” relationship with Japan could fill a book. The Japanese were constantly egged on by Hitler to invade Siberia, but never did. The Soviets had their hands full with the Germans, as well. Because the Soviets were neutral with Japan, we re-flagged a number of merchant ships under the Soviet flag, and sent them from the west coast to Vladivostok. The lend-lease material they carried was then shipped across the Trans-Siberian railway. It made the Germans mad, but under international law there was not one damn thing they or the Japanese could do about it.
While we plead that we have to create an army from scratch, which means it has to be trained and organized, the Soviet Union had to create armies from scratch...many times. This was SOP in 1941 and much of 1942. Even now, in “liberated” Ukrainian villages, all the males between the ages of 15 to 45 are being rounded up, given some scrap of uniform, a weapon, some basic training of a few hours or days, and fed into the meatgrinder. The casualties they are taking this summer are staggering, and the Red Army has an insatiable appetite for more soldiers to keep units on the battlefield. The practice of feeding in these poorly trained men has predictable and tragic results.
In 1941, the Germans didn’t give them the time they needed to create a trained army. Instead, the Soviets had to trade space and buy time with the blood of their soldiers. It made the Red Army a club, not a rapier. It was a crude instrument that in the operational and tactical sense, had to bludgeon the Germans into submission. And it was a club by necessity, not by choice. Now that they have that club, Generals like Zhukhov, Konev, Vatutin and Rokossovsky are swinging it with a vengeance.
They can’t understand why we didn’t do the same. Well, the reason we didn’t is because we simply didn’t have to. The Soviets did.
That's the cold hard reality of the situation, isn't it? Geography and circumstances dictated the two approaches to the problem.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.