Posted on 09/17/2013 4:32:50 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers
Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/sep1943/f17sep43.htm
British officers in Yugoslavia
Friday, September 17, 1943 www.onwar.com
British officer aiding partisan in Yugoslavia [photo at link]
In Occupied Yugoslavia... A senior British liaison mission arrives and meets with Tito. Brigadier Fitzroy Maclean leads the mission, as Churchill’s personal representative. The mission aims to confirm reports in May and June suggesting the Tito is doing more than Mihajlovic to fight the German occupation.
On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces complete the capture of Bryansk. Soviet forces are advancing across the Desna River on a broad front. To the south, on the Sea of Azov, the town of Berdyansk is also seized by Soviet forces.
In Italy... The US 5th Army begins to advance out of its beachhead. German forces attack Altavilla and Battipaglia in rearguard action to cover their withdrawal to the Volturno Line.
In Occupied Greece... At Cephalonia, the Italian “Acqui” Division resists German forces seeking to disarm it.
Over the Gilbert Islands... American land-based Liberator bombers attack the island of Tarawa.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/17.htm
September 17th, 1943 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Frigate HMS Affleck commissioned.
FRANCE: Nineteen French Resistance fighters (FTPF - Communists) are executed by the Germans in Brest.
Plans are discovered of a plot by French Resistance to assassinate Pierre Laval. (Glenn Steinberg)
During the night of 17/18 September, eight RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons laid mines off Brest.
GERMANY: During the night of 17/18 September, six RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bombed Berlin.
U-720 commissioned
U-999 and U-1000 launched.
U.S.S.R.: The Soviet Army captures Bryansk, Trubchevsk and Bezhitsa along the Desna River in their advance. Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov also falls.
Bryansk: The Red Army liberated this great industrial centre today, sweeping aside six German infantry divisions before entering the city. They found it devastated. Walter Model’s men of 9 Armee have blown up virtually every factory before pulling out. The recapture of Bryansk, is, nevertheless, a major strategic victory, for it was the last German stronghold in Russia from which Moscow could be threatened. With six railway lines spreading from it, the city became the junction for the German occupation, feeding men and guns to the battlefields. Now the Russians will use the same tracks to push towards Smolensk, Gomel and Kiev. The Germans are now falling back towards the Dnieper, the next obvious defence line to counter the Russian advance.
ITALY: On the ground in Italy, US Fifth Army forces advancing on Altavila are pinned down however, the enemy retires to the north, completing a withdrawal from the battleline during the night. The British Eighth Army begins a general advance north toward Potenza and Auletta. US Ninth Air Force B-24s attack a marshalling yard, road junction, and rail junction at Pescara on the east coast while RAF heavy bombers again hit Potenza.
German forces start to withdraw from the west coast, attacking Altavilla and Battipaglia to cover their tracks.
US Twelfth Air Force B-17s and B-26 Marauders bomb airfields at Ciampino and Pratica di Mare; B-25 Mitchells attack small craft and barges off the mouth of the Tiber River;
P-38 Lightnings fly 27 dive-bombing missions against roads, junctions, railways, bridges, and targets of opportunity in the battle area and towns of Vallo della Lucania, Acerno, Nocera, Avellino, Gragnano Serre, Lioni, Fisciano, Monteforte Irpino, Cava de’ Tirreni and Auletta;
XII Air Support Command, Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force, and other elements of the Northwest African Tactical Air Force escort naval vessels, and bomb rail and road junctions, motor transport, a marshalling yard, town areas, and various targets of opportunity in the Pompeii, Torre Annunziata, Salerno, Campagna, Sarno, Solofra, Montella, and Acerno areas.
The US 5th Army begins to push out of the beachhead at Salerno.
During the night of 17/18 September, 64 RAF heavy bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb Cerveteri Airfield.
YUGOSLAVIA: Brigadier Fitzroy Maclean, as Churchill’s personal representative, heads a British liaison team sent to Tito. It is to follow up earlier reports that Tito is doing more against the Germans then Mihajlovic.
NORWAY: Miniature submarine X-8 is scuttled in the Norwegian Sea after it had been found necessary to jettison both her explosive side cargoes. There are no casualties. The X-craft are being towed from Shetland to Northern Norway to undertake attacks on Scharnhorst , Lützow and Tirpitz. (Alex Gordon)(108)
GILBERT ISLANDS: Today and again on the 19th landbased B-24 Liberators strike Tarawa Atoll and Abemama Island and obtain photo coverage of Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll. A B-24 is lost to interceptors.
NEW GUINEA: US Fifth Air Force B-25s carry out a coastal sweep against barges and villages from Reiss Point to Langemak Bay.
U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt says that Fortress Europe can be broken as “Hitler forgot to put a roof over this fortress.”
The USAAF First Air Force at Mitchel Field, Hempstead, Long Island, New York, and the Fourth Air Force at 180 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California, are reassigned from the Army’s Eastern and Western Defense Commands repectively to HQ USAAF.
Frigate USS Gallup launched.
Destroyer escort USS Lovering commissioned.
CANADA: Tug HMCS Beaverton launched Montreal, Province of Quebec.
The Finns tell the Germans they are ready to quit, and tell the Soviets what terms they will accept. Yet Finland will have to endure another year of war and take a terrible beating next summer before any of this happens. She had a strange journey in the 1940s.
I liked the article about the British miners strike, all because an 18 year old miner refused to go into the pits. Hmmm...what’s an 18 year old doing in a coal mine anyway? If he doesn’t want to go into a pit, I’m sure there’s a nice foxhole in Italy that would suit him better. He better be thankful there’s no German soldiers in the British coal industry.
Interesting article on the new balance of naval power since Italy’s fleet left the war. Until now, the United States Navy has committed a number of modern naval units to the European theater, such as battleship Massachussetts and Brooklyn class light cruisers. Now that the Mediterranean is clear, there is no need for modern American heavy units in Europe. They can all go to the Big Blue Fleet growing in the Pacific. In fact, from this point the US Atlantic fleet will pretty much consist of destroyer escorts and CVE’s for anti-submarine duties. Those ships are being built by the score, so it’s no loss to the Pacific. Any heavier ships will be older units such as Arkansas and Texas that will be used for shore bombardment.
Yes, the U.S. can put those ships to very good use and open a new front in the Central Pacific. I noticed Tarawa was bombed today.
I don’t think there is a better web site on the Pacific War than Jon Parshall’s “Combined Fleet” site.
Here’s a link to his page on the naval battles of the Solomons Campaign. His conclusion is an excellent summary of what the IJN is going to look like in a few months.
http://combinedfleet.com/battles/Solomon_Islands_Campaign
And if you really want to see just how bad it was for the Japanese, look at his page on the production statistics between the United States and Japan.
http://www.combinedfleet.com/economic.htm
The history of the Solomons naval warfare shows how important the decision to replace Ghormley with Halsey was. He was willing to slug it out despite the losses.
The second site is even more eye opening, especially what would have happened had we lost at Midway. We still would have overwhelmed them with ship construction replacing the losses. The only quibble I have is that had we lost our carriers at Midway we probably could not have sustained the Guadalcanal campaign. But that would merely have postponed the Solomons land campaign, not stopped it.
Again, I go back to the line Webster speaks late in the Band of Brothers series:
Hey, you! That's right, you stupid Kraut bastards! That's right! Say hello to Ford, and General fu@#$n' Motors! You stupid fascist pigs! Look at you! You have horses! What were you thinking? Dragging our asses half way around the world, interrupting our lives... For what, you ignorant, servile scum! What the f@#k are we doing here?
The same question could be put to the Japanese: What were you thinking???
The article points out that the Japanese leadership knew full well what they were taking on. But in their opinion, accpeting our diplomatic demands regarding China was tantamount to surrender and acceptance of permanent status as a second-rate power. Rather than accept that fate willingly, they chose the course that we force it upon them at tremendous cost. Another way of looking at it is that you can’t win if you don’t play the game. Sure, they were 24 point underdogs, but they were hoping to pull off the upset.
What I don’t think they realized was the magnitude of destruction the United States could rain down on their homeland. Even as LeMay burned out their cities and their people starved, it just didn’t seem real to them. It took two atomic bombs to make them realize just how badly they had miscalculated.
I suppose it was another face thing. Better to engage in a war against impossible odds than for the nation to lose face.
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