Posted on 11/09/2013 4:38:04 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/nov1943/f09nov43.htm
Americans battle Japanese garrison
Tuesday, November 9, 1943 www.onwar.com
Marines advancing on Bougainville [photo at link]
In the Solomon Islands... On Bougainville, the US 3rd Marine Division advances inland from their beachhead at Cape Tarokina, in Empress Augusta Bay. An encounter battle ensues with the main body of the Japanese 23rd Regiment on the jungle tracks. Meanwhile, a second wave of landings begin with the arrival of most of the US 37th Division.
In Algiers... General Giraud, Georges and three others resign from the Free French Committee of National Liberation. Giraud remains the military Commander in Chief.
On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces overcome German forces around Fastov, west of Kiev, and begin advancing toward Zhitomir.
In Italy... The 8th Indian Division (part of the British 8th Army) captures Castiglione.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/09.htm
November 9th, 1943 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Patrol vessel HMS Kilmore launched.
Frigate HMS Louis commissioned.
GERMANY: During the night of 9/10 November, RAF Bomber Command Oboe Mosquitos bomb four targets: 12 hit blast furnaces at Bochum, three attack the Ruhrort steelworks at Duisburg and one each bomb Cloesfeld and Rechlinghausen.
U.S.S.R.: West of Kiev the Soviet forces are advancing toward Zhitomir.
ITALY: The British 8th Indian Division captures Castiglione.
The Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force bombs Formia and Itri as a diversion to the naval bombardment of Formia and Gaeta. USAAF Twelfth Air Force’s XlI Air Support Command fighter-bombers attack roads and bridges in the Mignano-Ceprano area while other Northwest African Tactical Air Force fighter-bombers hit rail targets in the Rome-La Spezia area and vessels, radio stations, and gun emplacements off the coast of Albania.
Twenty two USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators attack the Villarperosa ball-bearing works at Turin and 24 B-17 Flying Fortresses hit the marshalling yard at Genoa. P-38 Lightnings provide escort.
During the night of 9/10 November, RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group hit four targets: ten bomb the railroad bridge at Pontessieve, seven hit targets of opportunity in the Arno Valley and two each attack targets of opportunity at Grossetto and Talmone. One aircraft drops leaflets over the battlefield.
ALBANIA: Northwest African Tactical Air Force fighter-bombers hit vessels, radio stations, and gun emplacements off the coast.
YUGOSLAVIA: Northwest African Tactical Air Force fighter-bombers hit shipping in the harbor at Split.
ALGERIA: Algiers: Charles de Gaulle has emerged as the president of the French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN) in the place of General Henri Giraud, who resigned yesterday, along with general Georges and three others.
General Giraud will continue to function as commander-in-chief of French forces, but de Gaulle has won the political battle between the two men which has continued since Giraud’s sensational escape from a prisoner-of-war camp last year. De Gaulle is now the undisputed political leader of Free France, and he has broadened the membership of the CFLN to include men from the internal Resistance such as Emmanuel d’Astier de la Vigerie, the new home affairs commissioner, and former parliamentarians like Henri Queuille, one of three commissioners of state, and Andre le Trocquer, the commissioner for war and air. Foreign relations will be in the hands of the young but brilliant diplomat Rene Massigli, and finance goes to the advocate Pierre Mendes-France.
INDIA: A Curtiss Mohawk of No. 155 Squadron RAF scores what turns out to be the final air-to-air victory by this type against the Japanese. (22)
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, over 40 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and A-20 Havocs, escorted by P-38 Lightnings and P-47 Thunderbolts, attack Alexishafen Airfield north of Madang, destroying at least 12 enemy airplanes; USAAF fighters claim destruction of 10-15 interceptors in combat; other fighters claim 20+ aircraft shot down over Sek Harbor, the Markham River Valley, and Lae.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The US bridgehead on Bougainville is extended. The US 37th Division lands.
Marine Major General Roy S. Geiger arrives on Bougainville by air. .
USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit the airfield on Buka Island located north of Bougainville. On Bougainville Island, B-25s bomb the town of Kieta on the west coast and 20+ B-24 Liberators hit Kara and Kahili Airfields in southern Bougainville near Buin. P-39 Airacobras join USN aircraft in strikes on Kara Airfield and the airfield on Ballale Airfield on Ballale Island south of Bougainville.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb a fuel dump and shipping in the Rein Bay area, and P-40s bomb dumps at Gasmata. B-24 Liberators on patrol claim sinking of a destroyer near Kavieng, New Ireland Island.
CANADA: Tugs HMCS Alberton and Birchton ordered from Montreal Drydocks Ltd Montreal, Province of Quebec.
U.S.A.: Atlantic City, New Jersey: Forty-four nations today signed into being the first United Nations organization - the Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, promising to bring immediate relief to the populations of liberated countries. The UNRAA may well become a model for future projects of the proposed “United Nations”. Mr. Roosevelt, who presided over the signing, emphasized that where relief had previously been a concern of only Britain and the US, it was now shared by nations whose peoples constituted 80% if the human race.
In a speech which followed the ceremony of signing, President Roosevelt declared: “It is hard for us to grasp the magnitude of the needs in occupied countries. [They] have been robbed of their foodstuffs and raw materials, and even of the agricultural and industrial machinery ... It will be for the UNRAA first to assure a fair distribution of available supplies among all the liberated peoples, and second, to ward off death by starvation or exposure among these peoples. Tomorrow the UNRAA begins its first conference - and makes the first bold steps towards the practicable, workable realization of freedom from want. The forces of the United Nations march forward and the peoples of the United Nations march with them.”
Frigate USS Milledgevill laid down.
Corvette HMCS Bittersweet completed forecastle extension refit Baltimore, Maryland.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-707 is sunk about 332 nautical miles (615 kilometers) east-northeast of Lagens Field, Azores Islands, by depth charges from an RAF Fortress Mk. II, aircraft “J” of No. 220 Squadron based at Lagens Field; all 51 crewmen are lost.
Churchill announces that 60 U-boats have been sunk in the last three months.
hahaahaa! Now, that’s funny....good to see some humor...
I was just assuming the letter was gonna use the word, “Jap” in it....
Politically incorrect but accurate in description.
The Soviet offensives since July have cost the Red Army dearly. A few days ago while doing some research on this period of the war, I found ranges of estimated casualties of killed, wounded missing and POW for the Red Army. Based on statistics in David Glatz’ “When Titans Clashed” it appears that in each operation conducted, about a third or more of the Red Army forces become casualties.
I tend to accept Glantz’ figures; he bases his off the Russian compilation prepared by G. F. Krivosheev in 1993. I took a look at Glantz’ numbers for the period from July 12, when the Red Army began the counter offensive at Orel, to more less the end of November, and looked only at the operations from Smolensk southward. The total number of killed, wounded, and missing for the Soviet forces involved is:
3,503,000.
Approximately. Yes, that’s over three million combat casualties. To be sure, the greatest portion of that number is wounded. A considerable number of them will return to active duty after convalescence, but still...
Three and one half million casualties in six months of fighting. To put it in perspective, the largest land battle fought by the United States Army was the Battle of the Bulge. Most official statements put American casualties at 75,000, although some have counted as high as 100,000. In the east, the nasty little fight we read about down at Melitopol a week or two ago cost the Red Army almost 200,000 casualties, of which 45,000 were KIA or missing. Melitopol is a footnote in the war in the east.
These figures do not count the first six months of fighting for 1943, including the defensive fight at Kursk. It’s no wonder Alexander Werth referred to 1943 as “The Year of Hard Victories.”
The vast scope of the Eastern Front is still hard for me to grasp. Although this fighting is technically in Europe, to me this history drives home the wisdom of American military leaders who cautioned against getting into a land war in Asia.
I was reflecting the other day how politically incorrect we were in the 1970's. The jodies we sang, hard drinking parties. We even had strippers in the O-Club. Now I understand they don't even have the Clubs.
The Army is better equipped and has better educated troops today, but I don't know that a politically correct Army is the most effective.
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