ALLIES STAND OFF FOE NEAR ROME AS ATTACKS ON BEACHHEAD MOUNT (2/11/44)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 2/11/44 | Milton Bracker, Homer Bigart, Reynolds Packard, Harold Denny, Ralph Parker, Lieut. Col. W.E. Dyess

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[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
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]

The first excerpt below is continued from yesterday. The second is continued from February 3.

Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring

[Homer_J_Simpson]

V-Mail from New Guinea.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Guns Check Enemy (Bracker) – 2-3
Tank Destroyers Broke Nazi Trap (Bigart) – 3
Patterson Warns Serious Threat Confronts Allies South of Rome – 3
Fascists Slay Six Seized in Church – 4
British Artillery Slows Down Nazi Assaults with ‘Time Crashes,’ Shell Showers on Enemy (Packard) – 4
The War in Italy: Smoke over Cassino, Nazis Captured by the Allies (photos) – 5-6
War News Summarized – 6
84 Planes Bagged (Denny) – 7
Allies Close Huon Pincers; 14,000 Japanese Smashed – 8
U.S. Bombs Wake, Marshall Islands – 8
Russians Slice Off Part of Nazi Trap (Parker) – 9
Spruance, Turner Slated for a Rise – 10
Massacre Threat Faced Wainwright (Dyess) – 11
‘Hang the Expense’ in Emergency Landing (photo) – 11
Air Power and the War (by Alexander P. de Seversky) – 12
There was No Tire Shortage on Kwajalein Island (photo) – 12
Navy Shift in Pacific (by Hanson W. Baldwin) – 13
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the Fighting in Various War Zones – 14-15

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1944/feb44/f11feb44.htm

Germans capture “The Factory”
Friday, February 11, 1944 www.onwar.com

Aerial view of the “Factory” position [photo at link]

In Italy... At the Anzio beachhead, German forces capture “The Factory” from the British 1st Division. Meanwhile forces of the US 5th Army continue to engage German defenders around Cassino. The US 34th Division makes an unsuccessful attempt to approach the Cassino monastery from the north.

On the Eastern Front... In the morning, the German 3rd Panzer Corps (General Vormann), part of Army Group South, launches its attack to relieve the Korsun pocket. Its forces capture a bridge over the Gniloy Tikich. Late in the day, the trapped German troops begin a breakout attempt.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/11.htm

February 11th, 1944 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Anthony Eden, the foreign secretary, speaking as leader of the House of Commons, today denied allegations made yesterday by Aneurin Bevan, the fiery Welsh Labour MP, that the government is guilty of corruption in putting many MPs on the state payroll with jobs outside parliament. As a wartime measure the prime minister can exempt MPs from having to give up their Commons seats if they accept “offices of profit under the crown”. Mr Bevan accused Mr Churchill of issuing such exemptions “like confetti” and thus buying parliamentary support. Many MPs have taken emergency jobs ranging from ambassadorships to posts on obscure public bodies. The government denied impropriety, but promised to review the system.

Destroyer HMCS Huron arrived Loch Ewe with convoy RA.56.

Minesweeper HMS Rifleman commissioned.

Rescue tug HMS Envoy launched.

GERMANY:
U-1301 commissioned.

U-775 launched.

ITALY: The Allied offensive south of Rome is stopped at Cassino.

ALBANIA: Brig. Arthur Frederick Crane Nicholls (b.1911), Coldstream Guards, died of injuries after enduring terrible pain - he ordered a man to cut off his frost-bitten legs - to deliver vital intelligence. (George Cross)

PACIFIC OCEAN: Submarine USS Gudgeon torpedoes and sinks Satsuma Maru (3091 BRT) off Wenchow, China, in position 27.38N, 121.15E.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Submarine USS Finback ends her 7th war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

U.S.A.: Destroyer escort FS Tunesian (ex-USS Crosley) commissioned.

USS PC-814 laid down.
Escort carrier USS Ommaney Bay commissioned.

Destroyer USS Stockham commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Lloyd commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-283 (ObLtzS Günther Ney, CO) VIIC is sunk south-west of the Faeroes, in position 60.45N, 12.50W, by depth charges from a Canadian Wellington aircraft (RCAF Sqdn. 407/D). 49 dead (all hands lost).
U-424 VIIC is sunk in the North Atlantic south-west of Ireland, in position 50.00N, 18.14W, by depth charges from the British sloops HMS Wild Goose and Woodpecker. 50 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Here are some more photos connected to the one on page 11.

More on the plane. The tail-gunner (4th from left, front row) not only survived but was still alive and telling the story in 2009.

“Hang the Expense III”

[BroJoeK]

Amazing!
Note how the picture's caption on page 11 calls the B-17 "the odd-named Flying Fortress".

Considering the B-17's high reputation these days, it's a bit jarring to see that note of irony with the name "Flying Fortress".

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I think “odd-named” refers to the nickname, Hang the Expense.

[texanyankee]

Curious on how that bomber got that nickname.....

[texanyankee]

I’m guessing it has something to do with the female pic plastered on the bomber....just guessing though.

[C19fan]

J. Edgar Hoover going after Charlie Chaplin with the charge of violating the Mann Act; transporting a woman across state boundaries for sex.

[henkster]

I knew Charlie was a commie. Not surprising he’s a pervert rapist, too.

[henkster]

The artillery technique described in the article on Anzio and attributed to the British, was actually developed by the Americans at Ft. Sill Oklahoma between the wars. Known as a “Time on Target” concentration, it involves a pre-planned barrage based on the gun tube and it’s distance from the target. The guns are fired based on the amount of time it takes the round to get to the target and is timed such that the rounds from many different batteries in different locations all arrive at the same time. As you can see by the German attempts to call off such barrages, it is a devastatingly effective technique. All of this was made possible by an extremely efficient communications network, which made it possible for any forward observer to call down this type of barrage from every gun within range.

The Germans respected the massed fire of Russian artillery, but they absolutely feared the American artillery, which seemed to be everywhere, all the time, and in unbelievable quantity.

[colorado tanker]

Actually, Chaplin got a bad deal. The girl was over 21 and had been sleeping her way into Hollywood connections because she wanted to be an actress. Blood tests showed Chaplin was not the father, but they were inadmissible in court at the time. So, he was found to be the "father" anyway. In those days even though many swordsmen enjoyed young starlets, the bad publicity from the paternity suit turned the press and public opinion strongly against Chaplin.

Chaplin ended up on J. Edger's enemies list and a huge FBI investigation ensued. Chaplin paid for her and her mother to travel to New York (their home) when he was also in town. She stayed a night in his room. Their affair was over by then but she claimed they had sex and he said they did not. He was acquitted of the Mann Act charge. But, when he went to London for a movie premier, J. Edgar wouldn't let him back in the country.

I know the guy was a leftie, if not a commie, but he wasn't a crook.

Today, the feds rarely charge under the Mann Act. It is basically reserved for cases involving human trafficking or underage girls.

[CougarGA7]

[henkster]

Guilty of Mann Act violations or not, Chaplin was still a commie, or at least a useful tool for them. That’s probably why he wound up on Hoover’s enemies list.

Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite”! Something Lenin could have written.

[colorado tanker]

I think I read somewhere he started a talk about the Russian Front and our opening a “second front” with, “Comrades!”

[colorado tanker]

It’s amazing that tail gunner survived.