Posted on 10/29/2013 4:36:47 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/oct1943/f29oct43.htm
German defense hold Red Army
Friday, October 29, 1943 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces pressure German forces between Orsha and Vitebsk. The brunt of the offensive falls on the German 4th Army commanded by General Heinrici, the foremost defensive tactician in the German Army. Soviet forces fail to break through the German defenses.
In Italy... Troops of the British 13th Corps (part of 8th Army) capture Cantalupo.
In the Solomon Islands... The US 2nd Marine Parachute Battalion on Choiseul continue to engage Japanese forces. This is a diversion from the intended attack on Bougainville.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/29.htm
October 29th, 1943 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Slough, Buckinghamshire: Sgt John Rennie (b.1920), Canadian Army, tried to hurl a live grenade clear of his trench; it went off as he did so, killing him. (George Cross)
Anti-Aircraft cruiser HMS Bellona commissioned.
Frigate HMS Kingsmill commissioned.
GERMANY: U-870 laid down.
U.S.S.R.: Colonel General Gotthard Heinrici, Commander of the Fourth Army, organizes German defenses between Orsha and Vitebsk, while under a new Soviet attack. This is the beginning of his rise as one of the best defensive tacticians in the German Army.
ITALY: Cantalupo is captured by units of XIII Corps British 8th Army.
In the U.S. Fifth Army’s VI Corps area, 34th Infantry Division continues to pursue the Germans northward, the 135th Infantry Regiment taking Pratella and Prata. Elements of 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Infantry Division, protecting the right flank of the VI Corps, reach Gallo. The3d Infantry Division continues north on the left flank of corps in region west of the Volturno River.
In the British Eighth Army area, XIII Corps begins an attack toward Isernia, the 5th Division leading off in a downpour of rain during the night of 29/30 October.
One hundred thirty three USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, escorted by P-38 Lightnings, bomb the Genoa marshalling yard and also hit the Sampierdarena marshalling yard, San Giorgio instrument factory, and ordnance, electric, and fitting plants and bridges at Genoa-Ansaldo; the XII Air Support Command, Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force, and RAF Desert Air Force are forced by bad weather to abandon several missions in support of ground forces. Troops and gun positions are attacked on two occasions and several bridges are hit; Giulianova harbor and shipping are successfully attacked.
CHINA: Two USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the administration building and runway at Ft Bayard airfield; nine P-40s on offensive reconnaissance in the Chiuchiang area strafe a 200-foot (320 meter) steamer and attack a train, destroying the locomotive.
HONG KONG: Mr. John Alexander Fraser (b.1897), a colonial official, was executed. He had organized escape plans and a radio service for fellow internees until arrested by the Japanese, and revealed nothing under torture. (George Cross)
Capt. Matreen Ahmed Ansari (b.?), Rajput Rifles, endured 18 months of brutality in an effort - utterly unsuccessful - to make him switch loyalties. The Japanese executed him today. (George Cross)
FRENCH INDOCHINA: Fourteen USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators and 16 P-40s attack the smelter area at Quang Yen.
EAST INDIES: USAAF B-25 Mitchells sink a vessel off Tanimbar Island located between Australia and New Guinea while B-24s bomb Selaroe (Poelau) Aerodrome located on a smaller island, just to the south of Tanimbar.
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, 17 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells attack the Madang area and P-47 Thunderbolts attack shipping in the Hansa Bay area and B-24 Liberators attack the Waroe Bay area .
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, 37 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators, escorted by 53 P-38 Lightings, bomb the Rabaul area on New Britain Island, claiming 45 Japanese airplanes destroyed on the ground and in the air. Meanwhile, P-47 Thunderbolts attack shipping in Hansa Bay and strafe the Cape Gloucester area. Australian Beauforts fly the first of many torpedo attacks against Japanese shipping in Simpson Harbor, Rabaul. During the night of 29/30 October, Australian (PBY) Catalinas begin a series of night harassment missions to Kavieng on New Ireland Island.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: USAAF Thirteenth Air Force and USN aircraft attack Buka Airdrome on Buka Island north of Bougainville. The four attacks are made by: (1) 40 B-25 Mitchells and 22 F6F Hellcats; (2) nine B-25s dropping parafrag bombs; (3) 21 B-24 Liberators; and (4) 11 B-24s and 24 fighters. Bonis Airfield on northern Bougainville is hit by 12 USN PV-1 Venturas and a B-25.
PACIFIC OCEAN: 0200 hours: USS Seawolf (SS-197) sinks a cargo ship at 22-45 N, 116-10 E. 1400 hours: USS Seawolf (SS-197) sinks a sampan at 31-24 N, 138-24 E. (Skip Guidry)
CANADA: Frigate HMCS La Hulloise launched.
Frigate HMCS La Hulloise launched Montreal, Province of Quebec.
U.S.A.: Destroyer escort USS Savage commissioned. Historian Samuel Loring Morison served on this ship during the Vietnam War. Destroyer escort USS Cockrill launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: While tracking fast Convoy ON 208 (U.K. to North America), German submarine U-282 (Type VIIC) is sunk about 601 nautical miles (1 113 kilometers) southwest of Reykjavik, Iceland, in position 55.28N, 31.57W, by depth charges from British destroyers HMS Vidette (D 48) and HMS Duncan (D 99) and the British corvette HMS Sunflower (K 41). All 48 crewmen on the sub are lost. (Alex Gordon)
U-220 (Type XB) is sunk in the North Atlantic at position 48.53 N, 33.30 W by depth charges from two Avenger aircraft of escort carrier USS Block Island. 54 dead.
U-415 was attacked by a Wellington aircraft in the North Atlantic and suffered slight damage.
Churchill still thinking in terms of the Anglo-American alliance and wary of Stalin. He seems as yet unaware that FDR had shifted his attention to befriending Stalin.
Nice article on the US Army Artillery School at Ft. Sill. As I’ve posted before, the Germans absolutely feared American artillery. It was easily the most effective part of our ground forces.
Re front page Lonergan heiress murder perp (not my usual browsing interest but came up in a search for what happened to Lonergan):
http://120daysofsodomy-vintagegaypulp.blogspot.com/2011/08/boy-avengers.html
“As is so often the case, I have no idea who “Karl Flinders” is, and as far as I can tell, this is his only credit. His inspiration is another matter: Grant’s back story draws liberally on facts of the notorious 1943 murder of cafe-society golden girl Patricia Burton Lonergan, heiress to a brewery fortune, by her husband Wayne, who beat her to death with a candlestick during a “twisted sex” encounter. Their
marriage was engineered by her father, a bisexual roue and Lonergan’s lover from the time the two met at the 1939 World’s Fair, where the 21-year-old former lifeguard was working as rickshaw boy, until his death a year later. (Below: Patricia and Wayne Lonergan)”
Ft. Sill began as a Cavalry post during the Indian Wars and was central in the campaigns against the Comanches. After their defeat, Chief Quanah Parker of the Comanches built his home near Sill and became a well to do rancher. His mother was Cynthia Ann Parker, who was abducted at age nine by the Comanches in Eastern Texas in a notorious raid. That, in turn, was the inspiration for the plot of The Searchers. In real life, Cynthia Ann was recaptured as an adult, but always longed for the Comanche life, which was really the only life she remembered.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/heiress-murdered-husband-candelabra-bedroom-twisted-sex-crime-captivated-new-york-1943-article-1.1134922
A few juicy tidbits:
The father, Burton, was a hard-partying man who had a succession of handsome young men as his "protegees." He died in his 40's.
Lonergan, evidently a switch hitter, was classified 4F in the US for his homosexuality, but was accepted into the RCAF.
Mrs. Lonergan was also a hard partier who took lovers, including an Italian designer who liked to entertain married women with souffles and salads.
She was in the process of divorcing him, but when Lonergan showed up on leave to see his son, one thing lead to another and they ended up in bed. Something went terribly wrong, however, because he ended up with bite marks on his gentleman sausage and she eneded up with a candelabra in her skull.
The kid reached the age of majority, changed his name to Burton and got all of granddad's money.
I read about Quanah Parker in “Empire of the Summer Moon.” Good book.
So things are about the same in NYC!
Yep, even the Gray Lady couldn’t resist displacing some war news with a juicy scandal!
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