Posted on 08/19/2013 5:59:38 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/aug1943/f19aug43.htm
Allies negotiating Italian surrender
Thursday, August 19, 1943 www.onwar.com
Italian and Allied representatives negotiate Italy’s surrender [photo at link]
In Lisbon... Italians have approached the Allies about negotiating a surrender. General Bedell Smith, General Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff, and General Strong, his chief of intelligence, arrive to continue talks with approaches to the British ambassador, Sir Samuel Hoare. The leading Italian representative is General Castellano.
From Berlin... Luftwaffe General Jeschonnek, the Chief of Staff, commits suicide after criticism for the Peenemunde and Schweinfurt raids.
August 19th, 1943 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force’s VIII Air Support Command and VIII Bomber Command in England both fly missions.
- The VIII Air Support Command flies Missions 27A, 27B and 28 against 3 Luftwaffe airfields in France without loss. (1) 36 B-26B Marauders bomb Glisy Airfield at Amiens at 1129 hours; they claim 1-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft.
(2) 35 B-26s are attack Nord Airfield at Poix at 1218 hours.
(3) 36 B-26s are dispatched to Bryas Sud Airfield but the target is obscured by cloud and the mission is aborted.
- The VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 85 against 3 Luftwaffe airfields in The Netherlands.
(1) 38 B-17s attack Gilze-Rijen at 1802-1814 hours and 55 hit Flushing at 1756 hours; they claim 29-1-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 B-17’s are lost; escort is provided by 175 P-47 Thunderbolts who claim 9-2-4 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-47 is lost.
(2) 45 B-17s are dispatched to Woensdrecht Airfield but weather prevents them hitting the target.
Minesweeper HMS Pincher launched. Submarine HMS Venturer commissioned.
Corvette HMS Berkeley Castle launched.
Patrol vessel HMS Kilkenzie launched.
GERMANY: Luftwaffe Chief of Staff, Jeschonnek commits suicide after being criticized for the effects of the attacks two days ago on Schweinfurt and Peenemunde. He leaves a note asking that Göring should not attend his funeral.
U-856 and U-993 commissioned.
ITALY:
- The US Ninth Air Force in North Africa sends about 70 B-24s to bomb the marshalling yard at Foggia, Italy.
- The Northwest African Strategic Air Force dispatches 150+ B-17s to bomb the Foggia marshalling yard, while almost 100 medium bombers hit marshalling yards at Sapri and Salerno; the bombers, and escorting P-38 Lightnings claim 34 enemy planes shot down, against 8 losses.
PORTUGAL: U.S. General Bedell Smith, Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff, and British General Kenneth Strong arrive in Lisbon to continue discussions with the Italians about surrender negotiations. General Giuseppe Castellano heads the Italian delegation. Castellano wants an agreement that would allow Italy to join the Allies and fight the Germans. He’s shocked when the Allies insist on unconditional surrender.
INDIA: Major General Howard C Davidson becomes Commanding General of the US Tenth Air Force replacing Major General Clayton L Bissell. The change is a result of a complaint against Bissell by Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek because Bissell and Major General Claire L Chennault, Commanding General of the Fourteenth Air Force in China, do not get along.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: USAAF 5th AF B-24s attack Manokwari, sink small craft near Babo, and bomb Larat and Saumlakki. B-25s hit Koepang, Fuiloro and Lautem.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: US Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells, operating in pairs and with fighter escort, hit barges at Timbala Bay on Vella Lavella Island, Kakasa radio station on Gill Island, and a beached vessel in Paraso Bay. From this date through 28 August, Japanese airplanes attack Allied forces in the Barakoma area of Vella Lavella Island, losing a considerable number of aircraft (claims total about 50) to Allied fighters and ground fire without doing any great damage to the Allies. On Baanga Island, US Army ground forces finally capture the Japanese artillery pieces which have been shelling Munda Airfield on New Georgia Island.
CORAL SEA: The pilot of a USN Scouting Squadron Fifty Seven (VS-57) OS2N-1 Kingfisher sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-17 off eastern Australia in location 23.26S, 166.50E.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The USN submarine USS Finback (SS-230) sinks Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser HIJMS Cha 109 (ex-Dutch patrol vessel Kawi) off the east coast of Celebes Island in position 03.01S, 125.50E.
CANADA: The Combined Chiefs of Staff meeting in Ottawa, Ontario agree that the US will not invade the Japanese Kurile Islands due to the poor weather in the area and instead, will only bombard the islands by sea and air and monitor the Japanese via aerial photographic reconnaissance. As a result of this decision, US troop strength in the Aleutians is reduced to 113,000 by the end of 1943.
Minesweeper HMS Rockcliffe launched Port Arthur, Ontario.
Frigate HMCS Wasskesiu and minesweeper HMCS Canso arrived Halifax, Nova Scotia from Esquimalt, British Columbia.
U.S.A.: The motion picture “A Lady Takes a Chance” is released today. This romantic western comedy is directed by Henry Hathaway and stars John Wayne, Jean Arthur and Phil Silvers. A wide-eyed city girl pursued by many men (Arthur) boards a bus driven by a zany driver (Silvers) and meets a handsome rodeo star (Wayne).
Destroyer escort USS Lyman launched. Destroyers USS Gatling, Halligan and McCord commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Aircraft of Composite Squadron Twenty Five (VC 25) from the escort aircraft carrier USS Croatan (CVE-25) attack German submarine U-134, northwest of the Azores, but the sub escapes.
Note the empty chair next to Mackenzie King in the front page photo. Did Clint Eastwood set up that picture?
I recall building a model kit of one of those when I was a kid:
Too bad it probably ended up being blown part with firecrackers or lit on fire and melted while simulating a crash.
I know what you mean. My Revell models suffered a 100% destruction rate shortly after going into action.
There was a jap company that made motorized tank models that ran on treads using an a couple of AA batteries.
The T-34’s looked great moving across the dirt with flames and smoke pouring out of them.
The heavy air bombing, thousands of planes going after one target shows how much a different “smart” bombs and smarter aircraft make. You can’t level a city to hit a ball-bearings factory now.
If radio is hinting at early invasion, you can bet they had permission to say it and the paper had permission to report it on page 1.
SO who is “Bill” working for Radio Berlin? One of those Americans who willingly worked propaganda for the NAZI’s or what?
Wonder if “Bill” knew Lord Ha Ha or Mildred or Rita?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Gillars
Our air craft met similar fates.
The best models were the plastic Revell battleships. Particualarly the Iowa class, as they had the single-piece hulls. The Arizonas were too hard to make the two-piece hulls watertight. This was important, as after a rain got some good water flowing through the drainage ditch, we would light some deck fires with model glue, and then send it down the ditch where we waited for it with BB guns. The idea was to shoot up the turrets and superstructure first. You didn’t want to shoot holes below the water line too quickly, as it would sink to fast and where was the fun in that?
One day my older brother spent the better part of the afternoon filing the powder off about five boxes of sparklers and filled the hull of one of those battleships. He left a hole for a fuse when the glued the deck on. That thing went up like the USS Arizona.
It was cool.
Who was the correspondent “Pertinax”? There was a Frenchman who wrote under that name - is this him?
Who was the correspondent “Pertinax”? There was a Frenchman who wrote under that name - is this him?
Our Pertinax started with a Paris byline. Must be the same. Here is his entry on our index by author on my profile:
Pertinax
6/13/39, Paris, Formula Again Has Wide Scope
8/11/39, Paris, Italian Doubts are Seen
11/30/39, Paris, Restoration of Imperial Russian Frontiers, with Rumania Next, is Thought Soviet Aim
4/1/40, Paris, Two Policies Uppermost
10/8/40, Soviet Seen Balked by Nazi Move; Drive to Straits Held Delayed
1/3/41, Indecision Seen in Hitler’s Delays; Plans on Vichy, Spain Held Awry
4/12/41, Washington, Vichy Africa Seen Open to Nazi Drive
6/20/41, Washington, Russian Passivity on Turks a Puzzle
6/27/41, Washington, Stalin Concessions Spurned by Hitler
8/6/41, Washington, Vichy-Nazi Accord Not Yet Ruled Out
9/12/41, Washington, Soviet Air Mission Asks for Quick Aid
1/28/42, Washington, Free French Grant to Allies Use of Islands in the Pacific
3/11/42, Washington, Nazis Said to Get Fuel in Martinique
9/2/42, British Must Hold Corridor in Egypt
11/12/42, Rommel Reported Building Axis Defense In Tunisia
12/12/42, Jibuti Likely to Go with De Gaulle Soon
8/19/43, Allies Ready to Move
“One day my older brother spent the better part of the afternoon filing the powder off about five boxes of sparklers and filled the hull of one of those battleships. He left a hole for a fuse when the glued the deck on.”
We used to have similar fun. Sadly, it would be an act of terrorism today.
What caught my eye about the Pertinax piece is that he seems to be arguing for the Balkans as the next Anglo-American target. One would think a Frenchman would argue for the cross-Channel invasion
But the context of the piece seems to be how to open the second front demanded by the Russians immediately and doesn't seem to consider the possibility that the Western Allies should wait until 1944 and invade France.
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