Posted on 08/09/2014 4:18:26 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Barbara W. Tuchman, Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1944/aug44/09aug44.htm#
Allies aim for Falaise and Argentan
Wednesday, August 9, 1944 www.onwar.com
Allied troops move along the Caen-Falaise road [photo at link]
On the Western Front... The Canadian 2nd Corps (part of Canadian 1st Army) continues attacking along the Caen-Falaise road. The German attacks around Mortain continue to be held by forces of US 1st Army. Meanwhile, the US 15th Corps (part of US 3rd Army) turns north from Le Mans, aiming for Argentan and eventually a junction with the Canadians advance southward between Argentan and Falaise. Allied fight-bombers are active throughout the day.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/09.htm
August 9th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF’s Eighth Air Force in England flies 3 missions.
- Mission 533: 824 bombers and 675 fighters, in 3 forces, are dispatched to strategic targets (aircraft and tank factories, airfields and fuel depots) in south-eastern Germany; weather deteriorated enroute and many bombers were recalled when confronted with a front rising to 28,000-feet (8,534 m) and most units attacked targets of opportunity; only 25 bombers hit their primary (Sindelfingen); 18 bombers and 3 fighters are lost;
targets were (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of bombers bombing).
(1) Of 359 B-17s, 103 hit Pirmasens; 56 hit Elsenborn, 41 hit Karlsruhe, 30 hit Ulm, 8 hit Spreicher and marshalling yards at Saarbrucken (34) and Luxembourg (29); 11 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 243 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs; 1 P-47 and 1 P-51 are lost.
(2) Of 218 B-17s, 16 hit Aachen, 12 hit Eindhoven, 12 hit St Vith marshalling yard and 7 hit targets of opportunity; 3 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 162 P-47s and P-51s without loss.
(3) Of 247 B-24s, 147 hit Saarbrucken marshalling yard and 25 hit an aircraft engine plant at Sindelfingen; 4 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 165 P-38 Lightnings, P-47s and P-51s; 1 P-38 is lost.
- Mission 535: 3 B-17s fly a Micro H test mission against Aubigny, France airstrip. Escort is provided by 16 P-38s without loss.
- Mission 536: 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France and the Netherlands during the night.
- 116 P-47s, escorted by 40 P-51s, are dispatched on fighter-bomber missions against communications in France without loss.
Lt.Col. John Murphy (359th FG) on 9 August 1944 (page 187) engaged and shot down a Me 163 (confirmed) while his wingman 1/Lt. Cyril Jones, claimed a second one (which isn’t confirmed, but surely damaged). (77)
Minesweeper HMS Mandate launched. Boom defence vessel HMS Preventer launched.
FRANCE: Rapidly-advancing allied forces capture St. Malo and Angers, but Canadian forces get bogged down north of Falaise. The Canadian II Corps continues to attack along the Caen-Falaise road. The German attacks around Mortain are running out of steam. The US XV Corps heads from Le Mans toward Argentan to assist the Canadians.
French Resistance fighters kill a number of German soldiers in a battle in Saint-Julien-de-Crempse in the southwest region of Dordogne. In retaliation, the Germans round up all males from the village between the ages of 18 and 80, 17 in total, and execute them. (Pierre Sauvey, AP)
Paris: Laval reaches Paris with a plan to revive the parliamentary democracy of the Third Republic and represent Vichy as a German enforced interruption to normality.
The USAAF Ninth Air Force sends close to 400 B-26s and A-20 Havocs to attack an ammunition dump in Foret de Blois, shipping at Brest, and other targets, including rail bridges at 10 locations in northern and western France; fighters escort IX Bomber Command aircraft, cover ground forces, and fly armed reconnaissance in the wide areas of northern France (around Paris, as far south as Orleans, and as far northeast as Reims and Chalons-sur-Marne).
GERMANY: Berlin: The chief defendants of the 20 July attempt on Hitler’s life are
tried by Roland Freisler’s People’s Court and condemned to death.
They are hanged two hours later.
FINLAND: By this day the battle of Ilomantsi has ended. The troops of Finnish 14th div, 21st and Cavalry brigades have surrounded and destroyed the Soviet 176th and 289th divisions. The men of the divisions are able to escape through the woods, but all the heavy equipment are left behind.
During the ten days of fighting the Finns lose 1700 men KIA or wounded; Soviet casualties are estimated at 3000 men.
This is the last significant battle of Continuation War that is about to end in few weeks. The battle ends in a ‘real’ Finnish victory (unlike the earlier battles of Tali-Ihantala, Vuosalmi and Bay of Viipuri, which are classed by Finnish military historians as ‘defensive victories’ - hey, that’s all you can have when a people of 3,8 million fights against people of about 180 million! :-), the opposing Soviet divisions are effectively destroyed as fighting formations.
ITALY: The USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches around 400 B-17s and B-24s, with fighter escort, hit targets in Hungary and Yugoslavia; B-17s bomb an aircraft assembly plant and a rolling stock plant at Gyor, Hungary and a marshalling yard and oil refinery at Brod, Yugoslavia; B-24s bomb 2 airfields and an oil refinery at Budapest, Hungary.
ALGERIA: Algiers: The Free French declare the Vichy government null and void.
MARSHALL ISLANDS: Eniwetok Atoll: A PB4Y-1 Liberator of the USN’s Bombing Squadron One Hundred Sixteen (VB-116) based at Stickell Field, crashes on takeoff and burns amid the 340 planes in the carrier aircraft replacement pool area; 106 F6F Hellcats, FM Wildcats, SB2C Helldivers and TBM Avengers are destroyed.
U.S.A.: The motion picture “Hail The Conquering Hero” is released. This comedy, directed by Preston Sturges, stars Eddie Bracken, Ella Raines, William Demarest and Franklin Pangborn. The plot involves Bracken, who wants to join the Marines but is 4F, leaving town and having his friends send postcards from all over the world. When he returns, he is mistaken as a hero. The film is nominated for one Academy Award.
Submarine USS Tirante launched.
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-189 was commissioned at New Orleans with LT B. Spencer, USCG, as commanding officer. He was succeeded on 26 October 1945, by LTJG William J. Barry, USCGR. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area including Hollandia, Leyte, Parang, etc.
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-190 was commissioned at New Orleans with LTJG A. Peterson, USCGR, as first commanding officer. On 1 August 1945, the FS-190 was attached to Service Squadron Nine, Service Force, Seventh Fleet under operational control of CNOB, Leyte, proceeding independently from Mindoro to San Fernando, Luzon with cargo for CNOB, Lingayen Gulf. She arrived at 1730 and awaited and completed discharge operations from the 2nd through the 4th. On the 5th she was underway independently for Tacloban, Leyte, carrying two enlisted men (USN) as passengers with no cargo. She arrived on the 7th and on the 13th got underway independently for Manus Island in the Admiralties, arriving at Seeadler Harbor, Manus Island on the 20th. Here she took on cargo for the Boat Pool, Naval Shore Facilities, Tacloban and also cargo for USS Oglala and USS Otus. On the 27th she was also underway for Tacloban, travelling independently and blacked out at night. The above constituted a good cross section of the activities of the typical Coast Guard-manned FS-type vessel in this area during this period.
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-262 was commissioned at New York with LTJG B. Hribar, USCGR, as first commanding officer. On 22 September 1944 she departed New York for the Southwest Pacific where she operated during the war.
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-352 was commissioned at New York with LTJG E. B. Drinkwater, USCG, as commanding officer. She departed New York on 10 September 1944, towing QS-19 for the Southwest Pacific where she operated during the war. On 28 November 1945, she was turned over to the US 6th Army at Nagoya, Japan.
Won’t be long we’ll be talking about Market Garden.
Considering the significant diversion of resources from the flanking maneuver in the West for Market Garden, was the war’s end delayed?
Had the resources gone to Patton, could he have gone to Berlin?
I suspect Monty began thinking about his plan just about this point in time.
And so Finland is independent for the next 50 years, while the Baltic republics are subsumed.
Possibly.
Had the resources gone to Patton, could he have gone to Berlin?
Doubtful. At this point, the whole Allied Command thought the Germans were about to collapse. As we will see in the next 8 months, this is not so.
The Allies supply lines at this point are stretched too far. We are going through hundreds of trucks a day to support the armies in the field. We won't have a port available that is close enough and large enough to support the push into Germany until the British take Antwerp, which Monty botches.
Another reason Patton couldn't make it to Berlin, the Rhine is a very formidable river as we will see next spring.
And if the Germans had concentrated their defense behind it ... the Russians would still have crushed them from the other side.
I keep seeing Patton’s name on those big arrows.
Where do you guys place Patton on today’s maps? Some say there are records still placing Patton in Brittany at this time.
Indeed, but the question was, could Patton have made it to Berlin?
I say no. The Germans were much more powerful, at this point, than the Allies thought. This back and forth between Monty and Patton on who should be the main effort goes back to the African Campaign and was also seen in Sicily.
Market Garden doesn't start until 17 Sept., but abb is correct that the planning for Market Garden is occurring about now.
According to the D’Este book, Patton is still in Brittany.
I agree, he probably could not have. The Rhine is an impressive barrier and could have been held by the available German forces in the west, until Berlin was captured by the Russians and the defense of the west became irrelevant.
Have you looked for a site with Patton’s war diaries? My daughter has a book, “War As I Knew It,” or something like that, that has excerpts, but one would think the complete text is available somewhere.
The more one learns about Patton, the crazier he seems ... sort of like Churchill!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
