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World War II Chronicle: May 15, 1943
Unto the Breach ^ | May 15, 1943 | Chris Carter

Posted on 05/15/2023 8:53:44 AM PDT by fugazi

The front page reports that the largest formation of American bombers in the war to date has attacked Germany in a multi-layered assault. [...]

On page two, the Northwest African Air Forces are hammering Axis targets from one end of the Mediterranean to the other. American bombers have hit the port of Civitavechhia, which is 40 miles northwest of Rome, targets across Sardinia, and the remnants of the Afrikakorps off Cape Bon. Meanwhile in the Pacific, B-25s and A-20s of the Fifth Air Force hit targets in New Guinea and New Britain. Seventh Air Force B-24s out of Midway bomb facilities on Wake. And Eleventh Air Force B-24s and P-38s are giving it to the Japanese in the Aleutians. This gives you an idea just how massive the American war effort is. What a challenge it must be to somehow figure out how to get all these planes to where they need to be, supplied with many tons of ordnance, all the necessary fuel and fluids, and replacement parts. If you don’t have adequate food, water, training, hygiene, clean uniforms, and rest for millions of men, then you aren’t effective. Everything needs to be at the right place at the right time, in the right priority. Despite the incredible logistical demands of moving everything thousands of miles, despite the threat of enemy attack and horrible weather, American fighting men still have what they need to do their deadly jobs all across the globe, simultaneously…

Recently we discussed Shibe Park, baseball’s first concrete-and-steel stadium. Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field opened the same year as Shibe — 1909. Next season saw the third debut of non-wooden ballpark: Comiskey Park. Its playing field was symmetrical, which was unusual for baseball. The Cubs played their...

(Excerpt) Read more at untothebreach.net ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: 1943; ww2
World War II Chronicle is a daily commentary series accompanying the newspaper from this day 80 years ago which can be read in full at the original post.
1 posted on 05/15/2023 8:53:44 AM PDT by fugazi
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To: fugazi

Just coincidentally, there is yet another revisionist video on youse tube saying the B-17 was a lousy airplane.

Something seems to be wrong with everything now. No food is good for you, no drink but so far they have not condemned water too badly, no habit or activity is completely safe. Even airplanes that did the job are now no good.

Fault is found in everything.


2 posted on 05/15/2023 9:03:16 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Procrastination is just a form of defiance.)
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To: fugazi

In 1943 my father was 18 and had joined the US Marines and was headed
to the South Pacific to fight the Japanese. (Just sayin...)


3 posted on 05/15/2023 9:10:18 AM PDT by GaltAdonis
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To: Sequoyah101

It’s a trick to get eyes on their content. What’s new and exciting when you say the B-17 did its job? In modern era of nonsense clickbait and miniscule attention spans, content producers have to resort to saying provocative things like the B-17 stinks to suck in viewers.


4 posted on 05/15/2023 9:13:35 AM PDT by fugazi
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To: fugazi

Why be provocative when you can just lie and make crap up?

Yes, all about sensation and clicks. My wife succumbs to it all. She can find virtually any advise that suits her fancy. There is so much crap, immature, inaccurate, ignorance and sensationalism it is hard to find things that are actually useful.

Everyone clamoring to get noticed all unwashed, unfiltered, unqualified for the most part and misleading often. All on the same equal bully pulpit.

We are misleading and miseducating legions of youngsters with crap!


5 posted on 05/15/2023 10:51:35 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Procrastination is just a form of defiance.)
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To: fugazi

“553 men in 20 cities seized by FBI as draft law dodgers”


6 posted on 05/15/2023 11:14:28 AM PDT by jdt1138 (Where ever you go, there you are.)
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To: Sequoyah101

I had the privilege of knowing a couple of WW2 veterans who flew in B17s. One was a ball turret gunner , the other was a navigator.

Both of them said the only reason they survived the war was because they were B17 crewmen.


7 posted on 05/15/2023 11:19:46 AM PDT by jmacusa (Liberals. Too stupid to be idiots. )
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To: Sequoyah101

My dad was a waist gunner in a B-17 and it was a good enough plane to keep him safe and bring him home or I wouldn’t be writing this. I’ll defer to his opinion that it was a hell of a plane.


8 posted on 05/15/2023 3:00:05 PM PDT by redangus
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To: jmacusa

I think it was easy to get the same response from a whole lot of people who flew on them.

Makes my point about how foolish the video I referred to is.


9 posted on 05/15/2023 7:03:29 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Procrastination is just a form of defiance.)
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To: Sequoyah101

One of the more interesting channels on YouTube is WWII US Bombers which delivers deep dives into the subject. Much of it is pretty dry, using declassified documents of the time to provide real data. A lot of it was information I had never heard before. There were detailed videos on each gunnery position on the B-17 and the technology involved.

A recent series was about the specialized planes, equipment and techniques involved in bombing U-Boats. The allied powers made it into a real science and planes were the biggest killers of subs in the battle of the Atlantic.


10 posted on 05/15/2023 7:15:09 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Thank you for that reference. I have never found it but will look for it. I happen to like dry factual information that is historically accurate.

Truth is much better than fiction.


11 posted on 05/15/2023 7:36:05 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Procrastination is just a form of defiance.)
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To: Sequoyah101

The B24 Liberator was a dog of an airplane. With the high wing loading and the boom tail it was a veritable death trap.

One flak hit in the wing and the whole plane went down.


12 posted on 05/16/2023 10:46:49 AM PDT by jmacusa (Liberals. Too stupid to be idiots. )
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