Posted on 05/13/2014 4:12:03 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
#1 – “I Love You” – Bing Crosby
#2 – “I’ll Get By” - Harry James, with Dick Haymes (reissue of 1941 recording)
#3 – “Long Ago (and Far Away” – Dick Haymes, with Helen Forrest
#4 - “Holiday for Strings” – David Rose
#5 – “San Fernando Valley” - Bing Crosby
#6 - “It’s Love Love Love” - Guy Lombardo, with the Skip Nelson Trio
#7 - “Long Ago (and Far Away” – Jo Stafford
#8 - “Don’t Sweetheart Me” - Lawrence Welk, with Wayne March
#9 - “It’s Love Love Love” – King Sisters
#10 - “Milkman Keep Those Bottles Quiet” – Ella Mae Morse
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1944/may44/13may44.htm#
Red Army liberates the Crimea
Saturday, May 13, 1944 www.onwar.com
Axis equipment found abandoned in the Crimea [photo at link]
On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces complete the occupation of the Crimea. About 130,000 German and Romanian troops have been evacuated by sea as well as about 21,500 by air since April 12th. Many of the evacuated troops are wounded. About 78,000 Axis troops have been killed or captured.
In Italy... Forces of the US 5th Army continue to attack. The Polish 2nd Corps suffers heavy losses in unsuccessful attacks against the German 1st Parachute Division holding Cassino. The French Expeditionary Corps, however, captures Castelforte as well as Monte Maio and advance to the Liri River at Sant’Appollinaire. The US 2nd Corps and British 13th Corps make limited advances during the day.
In New Guinea... Japanese forces continue to skirmish with American forces on the beachheads around Hollandia.
In Occupied France... Attacks by French resistance members halt production of self-propelled guns at Lorraine-Dietrich works, Bagneres de Bigorre.
In the North Atlantic... An American escort destroyer sinks the Japanese submarine I-501 (formerly U-1224) off the Azores. The submarine had been presented to the Japanese by the German Kriegsmarine.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/13.htm
May 13th, 1944 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: USAAF bombers continued their attacks on Germany’s oil supplies yesterday with a massive raid by 621 Fortresses and 265 Liberators of the US 8th Air Force. They seriously damaged synthetic oil plants at Zwickau, Brux, Merseburg, Luna, Lutzkendorf and Bohlen.
An armada of American and British fighters accompanied the bombers and a tremendous air battle developed. The Americans lost 46 bombers and 12 fighters. It is known that 21 German pilots were killed and 26 wounded.
The German pilots fought skilfully, but “Tooey” Spaatz’s plan to deprive them of fuel is evidently working, for fewer than 100 fighters came up to protect these most important targets. They failed, and “Ultra” intelligence reveals that there will be still less fuel for them after today’s raids. The Luftwaffe will also find it increasingly difficult to replace the pilots lost.
The USAAF’s Eighth Air Force in England flies Mission 355: 749 bombers and 737 fighters hit targets in Germany; 12 bombers and 5 fighters are lost; they claim 58-5-13 Luftwaffe aircraft:
1. 289 B-17s are dispatched to hit oil targets in western Poland but clouds force 215 to bomb Stettin and 57 to hit Stralsund; ten B-17s are lost.
2. 199 B-17s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard at Osnabruck; 178 hit the primary and one bombs a target of opportunity; one B-17 is lost.
3. 261 B-24s are dispatched to hit aviation industry targets at Tutow; 228 hit the primary and 12 hit targets of opportunity; one B-24 is lost.
Escort is provided by 153 P-38s, 238 P-47s and 346 P-51s; the P-47s claim 14-2-9 Luftwaffe aircraft, the P-51s claim 33-1-4; 1 P-38, 2 P-47s and 2 P-51s are lost.
An initial contract for 120 de Havilland Vampire, single-jet fighters, is placed with English Electric at Preston, Lancashire. (22)
ENGLISH CHANNEL: Admiral Dönitz loses his second son, Klaus, when the Free French destroyer La Combattante and the British frigate HMS STAYNING sink the E-boat S-147. It was his 24th birthday and he had hitched a ride with his friends on the fast boat during an attack on Selsey on the English coast. There were six survivors.
FRANCE: A Resistance attack halts production of Self-Propelled guns at the Lorraine-Dietrich Works at Bagneres de Bigorre.
In Clermont-Ferrand city (France), one of the leaders of “Resistance”, Jacques Bingen is jailed by Gestapo agents. Bingen tries to escape without success. Finally he takes the decision to kill himself.
In the south of France, an important police operation against FTP (communist) “Resistance” leaders is organised by the German services.
(Yannis Kadari)
GERMANY: One man was killed in an accident onboard U-183 working in a diving cell while preparing for its next patrol in the Far East. The boat left for the patrol from Penang on 17 May. [Obermaschinenmaat Erich Adelsheimer].
ITALY: Fierce fighting rages around Cassino.
Three major assaults have failed to dislodge the Germans from the Gustav Line at Cassino. But today, the biggest army yet - British Polish, American, Canadian and French Colonials - is advancing on a narrow front and pushing northwards against stiff German opposition.
Today the French Moroccan soldiers of General Juin’s Corps Expeditionaire Français took Monte Faito - where the German 71st Division had obeyed orders to fight to the last man. On their right flank, the 8th Indian and 4th British Divisions launched assault boats into the fast-flowing Rapido river and established bridgeheads under fierce German fire. The Polish II Corps is attacking Monte Cassino from the east and north. The US II Corps is pushing forward along the coastal plain.
Intensive planning has gone into this crucial offensive - timed to coincide with the invasion of France. The 8th Army has been regrouped westwards under the cover of darkness and huge smokescreens. The Germans were fooled into moving two divisions in anticipation of a new seaborne landing north of Rome.
Two days ago, at 11pm, the silence of the Liri valley was broken by 1,600 heavy guns. At sunrise yesterday, the tanks began their attack, supported by 3,000 aircraft.
USAAF Fifteenth Air Force bombers continue interdiction in support of the ground forces. 670+ B-17s and B-24s, mostly with fighter escort, attack marshalling yards at Trento, Bronzola, Fidenza, Piacenza, Faenza, Imola, Cesena, Modena, Parma, San Rufillo, Borgo San Lorenzo, Castel Maggiore and Bologna and hit railroad bridges at Bolzano and Avisio; while fighters sweep the Bologna-Modena area.
Capt. Richard Wakeford (1921-72), Hampshire Regt, with his orderly, cut through the enemy and took 20 PoWs; next day he led an attack and, wounded, stormed the objective. (Victoria Cross)
U.S.S.R.: Fighting in the Crimea ends. 130,000 Germans have been evacuated by sea plus 21,500 by air. Since April 12 the Germans have sustained 78,000 KIA and POW.
Sebastopol: The last remnants of the German 17th Army routed at Sebastopol three days ago have been cleared from Cape Kherson, west of the fortress port. The whole peninsula has now been cleared of the Germans and their Romanian allies.
Among the prisoners are Generals Dehmut and Kruger. Those who tried to escape from Cape Kherson by sea were harried from the air, and from the sea where MTBs and submarines sank 191 vessels, including 69 heavily-laden transports; over 8,000 men died in the evacuation. The Germans were also attacked by marine commandos who raided behind their lines. A tremendous amount of booty fell into Russian hands, including 111 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2,304 guns and 49 aircraft; much more was destroyed.
It was a complete disaster for the Germans, and the swiftness of their collapse reflects the deep divisions in the German high command after Hitler had ordered his troops to fight to the last man, against he advice of his generals.
CHINA: Chinese forces oust the Japanese from Suiping, regaining control of the Peking to Hankow railway.
U.S.A.: “Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet” sung by Ella Mae Morse from the movie “Broadway Rhythm” is released.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Japanese submarine RO-501 is sunk by the destroyer escort USS Francis M. Robinson (DE-220) in the mid-Atlantic northwest of Cape Verde Islands, in position 18.08N, 33.13W. The submarine had been built in Germany as the Type IXC/40 U-boat, U-1224, and turned over to the Japanese on 15 February 1944. She was enroute to Japan when attacked and sunk.
On U-107, some crewmembers were stricken with carbon monoxide poisoning.
2,000,000 Murders [by German forces] Listed by Soviet (MacCormac) – 11
Pot calling the kettle black.
***
And in the ads, “Leisure Shorts for Men, $4.” The decline of civilization, blame the Brits.
Operation Diadem is rolling. The first of the summer’s hammer blows to fall on the Axis.
It’s funny how often two versions of the same song are in the top 10. “Shoo Shoo Baby” was there for quite a while, in more than one performance.
Pot calling the kettle black.
Yes but with most of Russia to be under Red Army control this summer, from where did the other 18,000,000 or so Soviet deaths that are widely cited come from?
Or more than two versions in the top 10 at different times. Two extremely different examples from 1944 are "Mairzy Doats," by Al Trace, the Merry Macs and the Pied Pipers and "Do Nothin Till You Hear from Me," by Duke Ellington, then covered by Stan Kenton and Woody Herman.
The two million are just the random killings, I think, not including battle deaths.
The number I've generally heard concerning battle deaths is 8 - 10 million. The number I've generally heard concerning total deaths is 20 - 25 million.
Starvation, disease, and stuff like that.
I noticed that Alexander took Cassino from Clark and assigned it to Leese and the British Eighth Army. He also reassigned some British units to Leese.
It will be interesting to follow how the numbers progress. Obviously at this point the Soviets are unlikely to have made a thorough count. But still, if 2 million is the estimate of assorted killings by Germans, why no mention of the far larger number of fatalities due to disease and starvation?
I almost missed the “Orlemanski Mission” to Moscow. One of the more bizarre incidents in Soviet foreign relations. Father Orlemanski was a sincere but naive parish priest whom the Soviets attempted to use as a tool to placate American Poles into accepting the inevitable Soviet occupation of Poland. There is some evidence Orlemanski tried to exaggerate his influence to the Soviets as well.
We haven’t seen the end of this.
Rick Atkinson is underwhelmed by both Alexander and Clark.
I guess right now, the Soviets want to emphasize how horrible the Germans are.
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