Posted on 05/22/2015 4:18:20 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/4/22.htm
May 22nd, 1945 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The cost of victory was emphasized again today with the announcement that rations of bacon, cooking fats and soap are to be cut. Supplies are now to be shared with the liberated European countries which were kept short of food by the Germans. The weekly ration of cooking fat is halved from two ounces to one ounce, that of bacon reduced from four to three ounces, and soap rations are cut by an eighth. Fish and fruit, though, are expected to become more plentiful. Rations for non-labouring PoWs are to be cut.
London: A gang of 25 German PoWs was put to work today in the suburbs of South-east London, to start rebuilding the country which their leader swore that he would defeat and destroy during the war. Equipped with picks and shovels, they began excavating an 18-foot sewage trench which will serve new houses, and were hard at it from 8.45am to 5.45pm. They were visited by Duncan Sandys, the minister of works, who spoke in German with some of the men. He said of them later: “We hope to get a lot of good work out of these chaps.”
GERMANY: Bremervorde, near Hamburg: A British patrol arrests Heinrich Himmler.
JAPAN: The USAAF’s Twentieth Air Force in the Mariana Islands flies Mission 180: During the night of 22/23 May, 30 B-29 Superfortresses mine Shimonoseki Strait and approaches in Japan; one B-29 is lost.
Okinawa: US troops capture Conical Hill and enter Yonabaru.
CANADA: HMC MTB 726 paid off.
U.S.A.: President Truman reports to Congress on Lend Lease as of March, 1945.
British - 12,775,000,000 tons
USSR - 8,409,000,000 tons
Reverse Lend Lease, mostly British, is 5,000,000,000 tons.
The Coast Guard accepted the Army vessel, FS-34. On 4 October 1945, she was ordered to proceed to Ketchikan for further transfer to DCGO, 13th Naval District. On 6 October 1945, she departed Dutch Harbor for Kodiak and Ketchikan for Seattle. On 25 January 1946 she was at sea on a freight and supply run to Spring Island and DCGO, Seattle, advised that she would be turned back to the Army on her arrival in Seattle. On 30 January 1946, she was decommissioned as a Coast Guard-manned vessel and returned to the Army on 6 February 1946.
Escort carrier USS Okinawa laid down.
Minesweeper USS Shoveler commissioned.
Destroyer USS Harwood launched.
I guess we have the answer about why 1st Army didn’t appear on the situation map a day or two ago.
There ya go.
Most of them you’d have to dig up in order to ask them.
Were the Americans’ proximity fuses in use in the Pacific Theater?
Yeah. I remember reading some time ago that they were using them off ships in the Pacific against Japanese aircraft. They were less leary of using them there than in the ETO, and used them earlier if I recall, because there was less danger of the new technology falling into the hands of the enemy. That being the case, it’s hard for me to imagine that our ground troops in the Pacific were not using them against the Japs by this point in the war.
“Less danger” in using them navally because a ship would need to be captured intact, I guess, which was rightly considered to be very unlikely. Now that you mention it, I seem to recall that discussion, too. (My brain isn’t as elastic as it once was, but sufficient prodding still seems to suffice.) Thanks for your reply.
http://www.westpoint.edu/history/SiteAssets/SitePages/World%20War%20II%20Pacific/ww2%20asia%20map%2050.jpg
Nice catch! I had looked at the Times' list carefully this morning, but I was only looking for my dad's unit, 20th Armored Division, which doesn't appear in the Times. However, it does show up in your map in Coronet--I do know my dad was back in the US by late July, on furlough, in transit. He left this mortal coil in '99 and isn't answering questions now.
So, you've uncovered a mystery. Henkster needs to start earning his exorbitant salary, so let's see if he can solve it.
Here's a hypothesis. Planners hoped that if the Kanto Plain and Tokyo were taken, Japan would finally surrender. But there was a vague contingency plan (at least I've never seen a formal plan) to continue pushing if there were continued resistance. So, these units may be training and staging for that contingency. I did a quick check of 2nd Infantry's Wiki and on VJ day they were in Texas training to go to the Pacific.
Doesn't that sound like a nightmare? More mountain fighting against fanatical resistance on Honshu?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Operation_Downfall_-_Map.jpg
Reviewing the map above for Operation Coronet, I see 1st Army being the entire organization of what is currently 10th Army on Okinawa. Only the 1st Army HQ has been substituted. Other than the armored corps in floating reserve, I see no units from the ETO.
Am I missing something, or is this map inaccurate?
I think the map is accurate. It's a copy of the map in the Army's West Point Atlas for WWII, Pacific Theater. I found the same information in another Army publication describing MacArthur's WWII campaigns.
I just spot checked 2nd Inf. Div.'s Wiki and in accordance with the Times story by VJ Day they were in the U.S. training for deployment to the Pacific.
Which leads to the question, for what operation were they training? Two possibilities come to mind. They may be anticipating subsequent reinforcement or replacement of the initial Coronet units. Or they may be slated for future operations if a successful Coronet does not cause the Japanese to surrender.
Incidentally, whenever I think about Operation Coronet, I inevitably also think about Coronet Films. I couldn't begin to tell you how many of their movies I saw in the classroom as a schoolboy.
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