Posted on 11/08/2014 4:18:54 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
And the following day:
Prime Minister to General Wilson (Italy) and Mr. Leeper (Athens) 8 Nov 44
In view of increasing threat of Communist elements in Greece and indications that they plan to seize power by force, I hope that you will consider reinforcing our troops in Athens area by immediate dispatch of the 3rd Brigade of 4th Indian Division or some other formation. . . .
Winston S. Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy
http://onwar.com/chrono/1944/nov44/08nov44.htm
British capture Fort White
Wednesday, November 8, 1944 www.onwar.com
British troops on the Tiddim-Fort White Road [photo at link]
In Burma... In the advance of British 14th Army over Kennedy Peak, Fort White, to the south of Tiddim, is captured.
On the Western Front... German resistance on Walcharen ceases and the garrison survivors surrender to the forces of the Canadian 1st Army. The US 3rd Army begins a new offensive around Metz and to the south. During the day, the Seille River is crossed, and Nomony captured.
In Italy... British 8th Corps (part of British 8th Army) launches new attacks south of Forli.
In Germany... Austrian fighter ace (258 victories), Major Walter Nowotny, is killed in his Me262 which crashes near Achmer.
In London... After the German propagandist Joseph Goebbels publicly announces the V2 rocket campaign on Britain, Prime Minister Churchill admits that the mysterious explosions in southeast England, in recent weeks, are in fact the result of the missile strikes.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/10/08.htm
November 8th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The transfer of training functions from the USAAF Eighth Air Force’s VIII Air Force Composite Command to combat groups is completed and the VIII Air Force Composite Command ceases to function as personnel are attached to the Air Disarmament Command (Provisional) by the US Strategic Air Forces in Europe (USSTAF). The airfield at Denain/Prouvy, France is assigned to HQ Eighth AF; this is the first step in establishing an VIII Air Force Services Command Service Center on the European continent so that Eighth AF can service and administer its own aircraft and personnel in the area.
WESTERN EUROPE: Weather cancels USAAF Ninth Air Force operations against military depots and troop concentrations in Germany, and fortified positions in France; a mission against rail bridges in Germany is recalled due to weather; fighters fly escort, attack railroads, bridges, factories, supply dumps, and command posts; the IX and XIX Tactical Air Commands support the US 28th Infantry Division in the Schmidt, Germany area (V Corps begins withdrawing the Kall River bridgehead) and Third Army elements start an assault on enemy fortifications in the Metz, France area.
NETHERLANDS: Walcheren: Canadian and British commandos, joined by Dutch and French units, overran the last enemy defences on Walcheren Island and opened the Scheldt Estuary to Allied shipping sailing up to the port of Antwerp. Among the 8,000 prisoners taken was General Daser, commanding the German “Dyspeptic Division”, the 70th, largely manned by chronic invalids.
RAF bombers had blown a 400-yard gap in the Westkapelle dyke, and the whole of the centre of the island had been flooded. Backed by guns of HMS Warspite, troops in amphibious craft landed on sanddunes and waist-deep in water, advanced into Middleburg, the island capital, where Dutch families and German troops jammed the upper storey of houses. Fighting came to a halt as the Dutch welcomed the liberators. The Germans made no attempt to resist; they sat watching cheering crowds before being taken prisoner and evacuated by boat. It will be two or three weeks before Antwerp can be opened. The 70-mile Scheldt channel must be swept for mines and Antwerp’s port installations repaired.
The 21 Army Group begins an extensive regrouping in order to place the British Second Army along the Meuse River facing eastward.
USAAF Eighth Air Force bombers hit two targets: eight bomb the industrial area at Enschede and one hits the airfield at Dekooy.
During the night of 8/9 November, eight USAAF Eighth Air Force bombers drop leaflets over the Netherlands.
FRANCE: The U.S. Third Army opens an offensive toward the Sarre River. The XX Corps makes final preparations for an assault on the Metz fortified area. By dawn the 90th Infantry Division, which is to make the main effort, completes a secret move to Foret de Cattenom in preparation for an attack across the Moselle River through Koenigsmacker and the Maginot Line. The 10th Armored Division is moving north to attack in conjunction with 90th Infantry Division. The 95th Infantry Division begins a diversionary action (Operation CASANOVA) at 2100 hours when the 377th Infantry Regiment, crosses the Moselle River in assault boats just south of Uckange after an engineer detachment clears the east bank; against light resistance. They move inland some 400 yards (366 meters), but accurate German fire prevents bridging; simultaneously with the river crossing, two battalions of the 377th Infantry Regiment begin clearing a German pocket west of the Moselle in the vicinity of Maizières-lês- Metz. XII Corps begins a drive toward the Sarre River at 0600 hours after preparatory fire. The 8oth Infantry Division, with three regiments abreast on the north flank, attacks across the Seille River, taking Eply, Nomeny, and Aulnois-sur-Seille. The 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division, seizes Malaucourt and Jallaucourt while the 320th Infantry Regiment, in conjunction with the 26th Infantry Division, attempts to reach the Morhange plateau but is stopped at Fresnesen-Saulnois on the left and short of Bois d’Amélecourt on the right. The 26th Infantry Division employs three regiments abreast on the right flank of the corps: the 104th Infantry Regiment, reinforced by two small Task Forces. seizes Vic-sur-Seille and Seille bridges there; the 101st Infantry Regiment overruns Moyenvic and takes its bridge, then begins a costly action for Hill 310 (C6te St Jean); feinting toward Dieuze on right flank of corps, the 328th Infantry Regiment seizes Bezange-la-Petite and
Moncourt; the 2d Cavalry Group, attached to the 26th Infantry Division, protects the flank of the corps along the Marne-Rhine Canal.
In the U.S. Seventh Army area, XV Corps issues a field order for an offensive to begin on 13 November. Infantry of the 44th and 79th Infantry Divisions are to breach enemy positions and the French 2d Armored Division is then to drive through the gap to exploit.
GERMANY: Major Walter Nowotny, a highly-decorated Luftwaffe hero with 258 “kills” under his belt, dies when his Me262 crashes.
The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 705: 690 bombers and 890 fighters are dispatched to make a PFF attack on the I. G. Farben synthetic oil refinery at Merseburg the marshalling yard (M/Y) at Rheine: 201 B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the refinery with the loss of three aircraft and 77 B-24 Liberators bomb the M/Y without loss. Eleven other aircraft hit targets of opportunity.
During the day, 136 RAF Bomber Command Lancasters are dispatched to bomb the Meerbeck synthetic oil plant at Homberg; 134 bomb the target. One Lancaster is lost. The raid opens well and two large fires are seen but smoke then conceals the target and later bombing is scattered.
During the night of 8/9 November, RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb two targets: 45 hit Hannover and nine attack Herford without loss.
HUNGARY: Germany starts to deport 38,000 Jews to death camps in Germany.
FINLAND: The Finnish demobilization begins. By 5 December some 380 000 men are released from military service. The ongoing war against Germans in northern Finland slows down as the Finnish forces are reduced in size and veterans are replaced with 19 year-old conscripts (this new phase of the war is nicknamed ‘the Children’s Crusade’).
ITALY: South of Forli the British VIII Corps begins new attacks.
In the British Eighth Army’s Polish II Corps area, the 3d Carpathian Division is clearing the hills between Modigliana and Dovadola and takes Dovadola. The 5th Kresowa Division presses toward Castrocaro, gaining Mt. della Birra without opposition. The British V Corps makes slow progress in the Forli area. After nightfall, the 46th Division begins an attack across the Rabbi River, the 128th Brigade crossing at St. Martino in Strada and the 138th Brigade, upstream from there.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force medium bombers strike the rail line in the Brenner Pass and other lines running into Italy from the northeast and bomb bridges in the central and western Po Valley, damaging several and destroying the bridge at Mantua; fighters and fighter-bombers hit communications in the Bologna area, but concentrate most of their operations against bridges and rail lines in the Parma area in an effort to disrupt battle area supply lines.
YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb three tactical targets: 21 bomb Prijepolje, seven hit Sjenica and six attack Mitrovica; heavy cloud over the targets forces 70+ others to abort. One aircraft is lost.
During the night of 8/9 November, RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb four targets: 31bomb a highway choke point at Sjenica; 23 hit a highway choke point at Novi Pasar; one attack a pontoon bridge at Visegrad; and two bomb targets of opportunity.
GREECE: The Indian 4th Division arrives in Salonika; elements move to Thrace to avert a threat of civil war between Nationalist Liberation Front (EAM), a part of the Greek Communist Party, and its armed forces the Greek National Liberation Army (ELAS), now in control there, and non-Communist nationalist guerrillas.
CHINA: Two USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit railroad tracks at Lohochai in southern China. Meanwhile, 15 B-25s and 13 P-40s and P-51 Mustangs attack storage buildings, villages, and other targets of opportunity throughout the Mangshih area.
BURMA: The British Indian advance in captures Fort White, south of Tiddim.
British Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Commander South East Asia Command (SEAC), issues a directive calling for Operation ROMULUS (the Arakan part of Operation CAPITAL), to clear the Arakan coastal sector.
In the British Fourteenth Army’s XXXIII Corps area, the Indian 5th Division finishes clearing the Japanese from the region south of Tiddim with the unopposed occupation of Fort White, previously a Japanese strongpoint.
Over 80 USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts support ground forces in the Mawlu area, bomb personnel, supplies, and communications facilities at Tunhong, Chaungdauk, and Kutkai, gun positions at Hsipaw, the Man Hpa town area, Kawlin Airfield and targets of opportunity along the Kawlin-Pinwe railroad and eight B-25 Mitchells knock out the Bawgyo railroad bridge.
Four USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-51 Mustangs hit road machinery near Muse.
FRENCH INDOCHINA: Two USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit railroad tracks at Duc Tho.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The Japanese land another division at Ormoc, Leyte Island, about this time and send it into the mountains of central Leyte.
In the U.S. X Corps area, the 24th Infantry Division’s 21st Infantry Regiment, despite a raging typhoon, continues attack on Breakneck Ridge but cannot force the Japanese back. The 19th Infantry Regiment succeeds in clearing the ridge, which has been barring its advance, but is still short of Hill 1525; elements move 1,000 yards (914 meters) west to occupy the next ridge. The 21st Infantry Regiment drives to Hill 1525. In the XXIV Corps area, patrols of 382d Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Divison, locate a Japanese force about 2,600 yards (2 377 meters) west of Patok.
USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators again hit Alicante (Escalente) Airfield in the northeastern section of Negros Island.
EAST INDIES: On Celebes Island, Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Far East Air Forces B-25 Mitchells bomb Langoan Airfield on the northeast tip of the island while P-38 Lightnings on sweeps over the Kendari area on the southeast corner of the island and hit parked aircraft, shipping, the nickel mine, and other targets of opportunity. On Halmahera Island, B-25 Mitchells attack Kaoe Airfield on the northeast corner of the island and Hate Tabako Airfield in the Moluccas Islands.
BONIN ISLANDS and VOLCANO ISLANDS: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Saipan hit shipping at Chichi Jima and Haha Jima Islands. A single B-24 on a snooper mission bombs Iwo Jima Island during the night of 8/9 November.
Seventeen B-29 Superfortresses of the USAAF Twentieth Air Force’s XXI Bomber Command fly Mission 5. The target is one of the airfields on Iwo Jima; six manage to bomb through a hole in the cloud cover; but others fail to bomb the target. Japanese aircraft drop phosphorus bombs on the formations, damaging a B-29. One B-29 ditches, the first aircraft lost by the XXI Bomber Command on a combat mission.
USN Task Group bombards airstrips and shore batteries on Iwo Jima.
Naval Gunfire at Iwo Jima.
PACIFIC OCEAN: A wolfpack, headed by USS Growler, closed a Japanese convoy for attack, with Growler on the opposite side of the enemy from USS Hake and Hardhead. The order to commence attacking was the last communication ever received from Growler. After the attack was underway, Hake and Hardhead what sounded like a torpedo explosion and then a series of depth charges on Growler’s side of the convoy, and then nothing. All efforts to contact Growler for the next 3 days proved futile and the gallant submarine, veteran of seven successful war patrols, was listed as lost in action against the enemy, cause unknown.
NEWFOUNDLAND: Tug HMCS Bonnyville assigned to St John’s.
U.S.A.: Washington: Franklin Delano Roosevelt went to bed shortly after midnight this morning knowing that after rough campaigning by the Republican candidate, Thomas Dewey, he has been elected president for the fourth time. The aggressive Republican campaign included criticism of Roosevelt’s family and end of his dog, Fala.
The president’s victory was comfortable, though not a landslide. The latest results show President Roosevelt leading in 35 states with a total of 413 votes in the electoral college, against Mr. Dewey’s lead in 13 states with only 118 votes. In terms of the popular vote, Mr. Roosevelt has so far won 23 million votes, and Mr. Dewey has won 20 million.
Mr. Roosevelt was resting today, but his press secretary issued a statement. “What is really important”, it said, “is that we have again demonstrated that democracy is a living force.”
The Democrats have gained 23 seats in the House of Representatives, and seven in the Senate. They have also kept control of Congress.
Destroyer USS Henry W Tucker launched.
Minesweeper USS Minivet launched.
Minesweeper USS Recruit commissioned.
Coast Guard manned Army FS-348 was commissioned at Kewaunee WI with LTJG M. R. Cook, USCGR, as commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area during the war. She was decommissioned on 28 September 1945.
General Who Destroyed Village, Killed by French
General Mesney was shot in retribution, Hitler directly involved.
The execution was carried out on 19 January 1945 by two members of the SS. For the occasion they wore Wehrmacht uniforms. Mesny and other generals were officially transferred to Oflag IV-C in Colditz Castle. During the transfer, a fictitious car crash separated Mesny from the rest of the group. Mesny was then shot with a bullet in the neck near Nossen.[1][2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Mesny
Race Track Opening Depletes War Plant
The track was opened in 1938 by the Hollywood Turf Club[1] the racetrack was designed by noted racetrack architect Arthur Froehlich. Its chairman was Jack Warner[1] of the Warner Bros. film studio. Prominent shareholders included Jack Warner’s brother and fellow Warner Bros. executive Harry, Hollywood studio executives Walt Disney, Samuel Goldwyn, Darryl Zanuck, actors Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Joan Blondell, George Jessel, Ronald Coleman and Ralph Bellamy. In addition to being shareholders film directors Raoul Walsh and Mervyn LeRoy were also founding members of the track’s Board of Directors with Jack and Harry Warner and Al Jolson.
Hollywood Park closed from 1942 to 1944 due to World War II, where it was used as a storage facility...............
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Park_Racetrack
Hitler to Speak Today
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_speeches_given_by_Adolf_Hitler
Yamashita Back in Philippines
His last words are interesting:
On 23 February 1946, at Los Baños, Laguna Prison Camp, 30 miles (48 km) south of Manila, Yamashita was hanged. After climbing the thirteen steps leading to the gallows, he was asked if he had a final statement. To this Yamashita replied through a translator:[citation needed]
“ As I said in the Manila Supreme Court that I have done with my all capacity, so I don’t ashame in front of the gods for what I have done when I have died. But if you say to me ‘you do not have any ability to command the Japanese Army’ I should say nothing for it, because it is my own nature. Now, our war criminal trial going under your kindness and right. I know that all your American and American military affairs always has tolerant and rightful judgment. When I have been investigated in Manila court I have had a good treatment, kindful attitude from your good natured officers who protected me all the time. I never forget for what they have done for me even if I had died. I don’t blame my executioner. I’ll pray the gods bless them. Please send my thankful word to Col. Clarke and Lt. Col. Feldhaus, Lt. Col. Hendrix, Maj. Guy, Capt. Sandburg, Capt. Reel, at Manila court, and Col. Arnard. I thank you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomoyuki_Yamashita
Roosevelt will be dead in less than six months.
And here is a different version of his last words, Wiki excluded the reference to the Emperor?
Yamashita was sent to the gallows on 23 Feb 1946 at Los Banos Prison Camp 30 miles south of Manila to die for the crimes committed by his men. Before the fateful hour, he issued a statement through his translator Hamamoto, which, in part, is as follows:
“I were carrying out my duty, as Japanese high commander of Japanese Army in the Philippine Islands, to control my army with my best during wartime. Until now I am believing that I have tried to my best throughout my army.”
“As I said in the Manila Supreme Court that I have done with all my capacity, so I don’t ashame in front of God for what I have done when I have die. But if you say to me ‘you do not have any ability to command the Japanese Army’ I should say nothing for it, because it is my own nature. Now, our war criminal trial going on in Manila Supreme Court, so I wish to be justify under your kindness and right.”
“I know that all your American and American military affairs always has tolerant and rightful judgment. When I have been investigated in Manila court I have had a good treatment, kindful attitude from your good natured officers who all the time protect me. I never forget for what they have done for me even if I had died. I don’t blame my executioner. I’ll pray God bless them.”
He went on to thank all those who represented him and helped him during the trials. His last words were, loyally, “I will pray for the Emperor’s long life and his prosperity forever!”
http://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=32
Three Million Dutch Face Famine
http://www.bodosandberg.webs.com/hungerwinterinholland.htm
I still have that American flour bag in our home in Darien, CT. American flour from the B.A. Eckhart Milling Co. in Chicago, ILL. U.S.A., milled: Jan. 1945. Oma baked bread from that flour which saved my Mom’s life. I was born shortly thereafter, in March 1946 and I am deeply aware that I owe my life to that bag of American flour.
THANK YOU, America!!
I don't see anything in tomorrow's news about it but I have an old timeline that says for the first time in the history of the Third Reich Hitler failed to make an address on the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
Kamiko’s story is one of my favorite parts of “The Rising Sun.”
God always has the final, decisive vote.
Great story. Thank you for sharing it!
Toland’s “Rising Sun” has a good brief treatment of Yamashita’s war crimes trial. Toland makes reference to Yamashita’s appeal of his conviction and sentence to the United States Supreme Court, the denial of the appeal and the dissents written by Justices Rutledge and Murphy. I first read “The Rising Sun” sometime during undergraduate school, and when I went to law school I looked up the Supreme Court opinion and read it. That was back in the old days, the dark times, before the internet, when you had to go to a law library to find such things. Fortunately today, you can find the full opinion online at this link:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=327&invol=1
It’s a long read, as most United States Supreme Court opinions are. It’s written in the Byzantine style of a professional legal opinion usually understood best by lawyers. But the opinion and dissent are very much worth the read for two reasons. One is the historical interest in the conduct of Yamashita’s war crimes trial. The other is a matter of current interest, and how we have miserably conducted the legal affairs around the terrorists held at Guantanamo.
Perhaps because of Toland, who was sympathetic to the Japanese (he had a Japanese wife), or being more liberal in my youth, I tended to incline to Justice Murphy’s dissent in the opinion. I don’t think Yamashita was treated fairly. I think it was MacArthur exacting a victor’s retribution.
Where I come down on the whole military tribunal is this:
1. In the application of war crimes, I tend to give a lot of leeway to the military. War is a crime in itself. The German generals and admirals who stood in the dock at Nuremberg had a point; “You did it too.” Doenitz was tried for prosecuting unrestricted submarine warfare, but offered as evidence Ernest King’s first command order on December 8, 1941: “Execute unrestricted air, naval and submarine warfare against Japan.” The Germans rounded up civilians in villages and shot them. We firebombed whole cities of them. This is an American tradition going back to William Tecumseh Sherman in Georgia and Phil Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley. Smokehouses and corncribs are military targets. War is hell. It is good that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it.
2. I do think “I was just following orders” is a defense for a military officer. That’s what they are supposed to do. It’s actually a cornerstone of our Republic. The military is meant to be the servant of the lawfully constituted civilian command authority.
3. On the other hand, if the military leadership is culpable in the fomenting of war, or if the lines between the civilian and military leadership are “fuzzy” as they were in Japan and Germany, where the military was a part of the civilian government, then it’s a different matter. But I would need a “smoking gun,” that evidence showing the military was pushing for the war. That clearly existed in Japan. It was far less present in the case of Germany.
4. I have no objection whatsoever to the war crimes trials of that civilian political authority.
5. The farther you go down the chain of command, the less likely I am inclined to prosecute a soldier for war crimes.
6. Today’s issue: Terrorists. To me, they clearly fall outside of any form of international law or treaty respecting treatment of foreign powers or combatants. They are, quite simply, international criminals. And that’s where you get things a lot more confused today. Do you give them their full procedural rights as criminals? Once you get them on territory controlled by the United States, you probably do. And that’s where we screwed up in Afghanistan. As I told Mrs. Henkster the other day, “we should not have taken them as prisoners.” She asked “then what should we have done with them?” And my answer, made in a very cold tone of voice, that should leave no doubt what was meant, was “we should not have taken them as prisoners.” Under international law and treaty, by not wearing the uniform of a foreign nation, when they take up arms against the armed forces of the United States, they are not entitled to any protection of any kind whatsoever. Including the right to be taken prisoner.
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