U.S. FORCE WINS BEACHES ON MARSHALLS ATOLL; BATTLES RAGE ON FIRST JAPANESE SOIL INVADED (2/2/44)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 2/2/44 | George F. Horne, Robert Trumbull, Richard W. Johnston, Eugene Burns, Milton Bracker, Arthur Krock

[Homer_J_Simpson]

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles and the occasional radio broadcast delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
The Marshall Islands: Kwajalein Atoll
Northern Kwajalein Atoll; Roi and Namur Islands, 1944 – 4th Marine Division Operations, 31 January-2 February 1944
Southern Kwajalein Atoll; Kwajalein Island, 1944 – 7th Infantry Division Operations, 31 January-4 February 1944
Eastern Europe, 1941: Russian Leningrad and Ukraine Offensives – Operations, 2 December 1943-30 April 1944
Allied Advance to Volturno River, Reorganization, and Attack on Gustav Line (17 January-11 May 1944)
Anzio-Cassino Area, 1943: Attempts to Cross Rapido and Garigliano Rivers, 17-20 January 1944. Anzio Landing, 22 January 1944. German Counterattack at Anzio, 16-19 February 1944
New Guinea and Alamo Force Operations: Clearing the Huon Peninsula and Securing the Straits, 19 September 1943-26 April 1944
Cartwheel, the Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls, and Concurrent Air and Naval Operations, 30 June 1943-26 April 1944
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941: Original Allied Strategic Concept, May 1943; Situation in Pacific, 1 November 1943

[Homer_J_Simpson]

[Continued from yesterday.]

2 February. Three Japanese entered the outguard at Sereng and threw four grenades. Three of our men were killed, 4 seriously wounded, 3 slightly.

Major General H.W. Blakeley, USA, Ret., The 32d Infantry Division in World War II

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Grip on Kwajalein (Horne) – 2-3
Fleet Confident on Way to Atoll (Trumbull, Johnston, Eugene Burns, first-time contributor) – 3
Japanese Stress Peril to Homeland – 4
Marshall Islands Base Where We Have Established Beachhead (page 1 photo) – 4
The War in the Pacific Moves into a New Phase with the Occupation of Islands in the Marshalls (photos) – 5-7
War News Summarized – 6
Twin Gains in Italy (Bracker) – 8
Airfield Bombings in Italy Continue – 8
Eisenhower Meets with Aides Who Will Assist Him in Directing New Invasion (photo) – 9
Kingisepp is Taken in Red Army Sweep – 10
Izvestia Calls Pope Pro-Fascist; Says Catholics are Disillusioned – 11
War Plants Getting First Atrocity Posters of Army in This War, Charging ‘Murder’ – 12 The Army Depicts the Execution of the Tokyo Raiders (poster) - 12 The Soldiers’ Vote (Krock) – 14
Air Power and the War (by Alexander de Seversky) – 14
The Marshalls Landing (by Hanson W. Baldwin) – 15
President Asserts Japanese will Pay (by John H. Crider) – 15
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the Fighting in Various War Zones – 16-17
A Silent Reunion on Tarawa (photo) – 17

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1944/feb44/f02feb44.htm

Soviets enter Estonia
Wednesday, February 2, 1944 www.onwar.com

On the Eastern Front... In the north, Soviet forces advance beyond the former Estonian border and capture Vanakula. In the south, the Soviet 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts attack the salient around Nikopol, held by forces of the German 6th Army (part of Army Group South).

In the Marshall Islands... Battles continue in the Kwajalein Atoll. American forces complete the conquest of Roi and Namur. Almost all of the 3700 Japanese defenders on these islands have been killed. American casualties number 740 killed and wounded. Japanese forces on Kwajalein continue to resist.

In Italy... Allied attacks around Anzio end. They have suffered high losses without significant success. Defending German forces, however, have had to postpone counterattacks planned to begin today because of their own losses.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/02.htm

February 2nd, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Gabbard laid down.

Rescue tug HMS Emulous commissioned.
FRANCE: Paris: The German film The Adventures of Baron Münchhausen opens at the Normandie Cinéma on the Champs-Elysées and draws such a crowd that the police are obliged to form it into separate lines.

Vichy French leader, Pierre Laval, has agreed to extend the age limits of French workers liable for forced labour in Germany, it was reported today. Any male between 16 and 60 may find himself deported; and any childless female between 18 and 45 will also be liable.

Under the compulsory work service code which has been in effect since 1943, Laval is obliged to send one million men to the factories in the Reich by June. The new agreement has been signed with Fritz Sauckel, the Reich plenipotentiary for the allocation of labour. The development thwarts plans by Albert Speer, the Reich minister of armaments and war production, who wants to stop the recruitment of French workers and sees more profit in using French factories for the production of consumer goods and weapons. Speer has forbidden the deportation of workers from factories in an order named Speerbetriebe.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Sailing vessel Yahia rammed and sunk by U-453 in eastern Mediterranean.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Glen Borens diary:

2, Feb.1944

Talk about a rough day, we launched our first strike at 1000 hrs. One TBF, after taking off, went out about a mile and spun in. No reason given and no one was rescued. Bad luck wasn’t finished with us yet, over the target, two TBFs ran into each other, killing all aboard. VT-17 skipper Lt.Cmdr Frank M. Whitaker and war correspondent Raymond Clapper were both aboard one of them.

During the many attacks on the Bunker Hill, Clapper would stand in the hatchway to the island superstructure with his large camera and take pictures and I would stand behind him looking over his shoulder during many of these raids.

The word we received aboard ship is that we have completely taken over “Roi”. Kwajalein is about over with. Fighting is still going on at Nauru..

On one of the strikes, our fighters dropped their belly tanks on a jap position and then strafed the tanks setting them of fire. The pilots reported that it worked very well.

So went 2 Feb. 1944

Regards,

Glen

War correspondent Raymond Clapper killed in a collision between two Avenger aircraft from USS Bunker Hill.

NEW GUINEA: US landings at Saldor.

U.S.A.: Light cruiser USS Oklahoma City launched.

Destroyer USS John D Henley commissioned.

[Rebelbase]

Sunday morning bump.

[piroque]

Glad you post these stories of the war, don't get to read all.

the the Kwajalein Atoll. American forces complete the conquest of Roi and Namur. Atoll. American forces complete the conquest of Roi and Namur.

worked on Kwajalein island ,back when they changed the international date line , august the 22 ,1993 , had a T-shirt with a picture of the

.A-bomb mushroom cloud .

I was a survivor

August 22,1993

Thanks for the memories .

[Tax-chick]

“Japanese Stress Perils to Homeland”
Drive on Marshalls Compared to Crisis of Kublai Khan’s Invasion Attempt in 1281

“The enemy must be beaten back even at the greatest sacrifice.”

[fella]

"On one of the strikes, our fighters dropped their belly tanks on a jap position and then strafed the tanks setting them of fire. The pilots reported that it worked very well."

Sounds like the birth of the idea for napalm.

[CougarGA7]

Makes the Kamikaze make more sense doesn’t it.

[Tax-chick]

It’s a clear description of the spiritual mindset the Japanese were in.

[colorado tanker]

Well, the Marshalls were really not Japanese territory. It was a German protectorate that the League of Nations gave Japan as a Mandate after WWI. Japan left the League and just kept the Marshalls.

My admiration for Nimitz just grows. He prosecuted the campaign with skill and daring. His tactics certainly shortened the war.

[CougarGA7]

Ohnuki-Tierney Emiko wrote a book called Kamikaze Diaries which explores the mind set of a few of these suicide pilots before their “mission”. Many of them were university students and really did not think that their death was going to be anything but pointless. This, however, did not keep them from performing their assigned task for their Emperor.

[Tax-chick]

I have “Thunder Gods.”

[CougarGA7]

I know that one. It was only on the Ohka naval unit. But it also does a good job of showing the filial relationship that the young pilots had instilled in them, and how it came into conflict when they were applying that love of parental authority, and imperial devotion to a lost cause. The Kamikaze Diaries has more of the actual writings by the pilots in comparison. Good source though.

[Tax-chick]

I checked my library catalog, but they don’t have Kamikaze Diaries. Maybe it will turn up at “The Book Lady.” I find good military history books there.