Posted on 08/13/2014 4:27:17 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy
Heinrich Himmler – Vor Offizieren Von Volksgrenadier
The News of the Week in Review
The Allied Armies Point toward the Gates of Paris (map) – 13
Battle of Paris – 14-16
Fifteen News Questions – 17
Americans Improve on the German Blitzkrieg (Middleton) – 18-19
Answers to Fifteen News Questions – 19
“Those Desperate Holding Tactics” (cartoon) – 19
“Lebensraum” (cartoon) – 19
Germany’s Defense Lines Face Their Crucial Test (map) – 20
Nazis Pin Their Hopes to Last Defense Lines (Baldwin) – 21
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1944/aug44/13aug44.htm#
Americans capture Argentan
Sunday, August 13, 1944 www.onwar.com
On the Western Front... The US 15th Corps (part of US 3rd Army) captures Argentan. General Bradley, commanding US 12th Army Group, orders a halt to the 3rd Army advance in this direction. Meanwhile, US 12th and 20th Corps advance on Orleans and Chartres from Le Mans.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/13.htm
August 13th, 1944 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 4 missions.
- Mission 548: 1,264 bombers and 131 fighters are dispatched in 2 forces to make visual attacks in support of ground forces on coastal batteries and transportation choke points between Le Havre and Paris; 12 bombers are lost.
(1) 634 B-17s hit battle area targets, 69 hit Le Manoir Bridge and 54 hit targets of opportunity; 7 B-17s are lost.
(2) 347 B-24s hit battle area targets, 69 hit Ile de Cezembre and 34 hit St Malo; 5 B-24s are lost.
The 2 forces above are escorted by 131 P-51 Mustangs.
- Mission 549: 1 APHRODITE B-17 with 2,000-pounds (907 kg) of bombs is launched against Le Havre; B-17, P-38 Lightning and Mosquito support aircraft assist; the target is missed and the Mosquito is destroyed by the exploding bombs.
- Mission 550: 2 B-17s fly a Micro H test mission to La Chenaie rail junction.
- Mission 551: 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Belgium during the night.
- 36 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.
- 844 P-38s, P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51s fly fighter-bomber missions against transportation targets in the Seine River area; they claim 0-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground; 4 P-47s and 9 P-51s are lost.
The shuttle-bombing mission flown by US Eighth Air Force from UK-USSR-Italy-UK is completed; of the 72 B-17s taking off from Fifteenth Air Force bases in Italy, 3 have various problems; the others bomb Francazal Airfield, Toulouse, France and then proceed to the UK; 62 P-51 Mustangs (part of the shuttle-mission force) and 43 from the UK provide escort; no aircraft are lost; 70 B-17s and 58 P-51s land in the UK; 5 B-17s and 6 P-51s, either left in Italy or returning there during this mission, subsequently return to the UK. The Eighth Air Force also flies two missions:
- Mission 545: 577 bombers and 436 fighters, in 2 forces, are dispatched to make visual attacks on the Metz marshalling yard and airfield in central and eastern France; 3 bombers and 3 fighters are lost (number in parenthesis are the number of bombers attacking the target). (1) 276 B-24s are dispatched to hit airfields at Mourmelon (75), Laon/Athies (63), Laon/Couvron (61) and Juvincourt (52); 3 B-24s are lost. (2) 301 B-17s are dispatched to hit airfields at Chaumont (72), Buc (67), La Perthe (58) and Etampes/Mondesir (12);and 69 hit the Metz marshalling yard. The 2 forces above are escorted by 386 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs; they claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; 3 P-51s are lost.
- Mission 546: 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night.
- 486 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s attack transportation targets in the Paris and Brussels areas; they claim 18-0-0 aircraft; 1 P-38s, 5 P-47s and 7 P-51s are lost.
- 220 P-47s and P-51s attack transportation targets in northeastern France; 2 P-51s are lost.
FRANCE: Paris: Parisians attending the Sunday race meetings catch the sound of distant gunfire. The Americans are rumoured to be about to arrive. Partly camouflaged German convoys return from the front. Exhausted soldiers are seen resting or camping in squares and parks.
Argentan is cleared by the US XV Corps. Bradley orders a halt, rather push north to join the Canadians and thereby seal the “Falaise pocket”. The US XII and XX Corps advance on Orleans and Chartres from the area of Le Mans.
Around 575 US Ninth Air Force B-26s and A-20 Havocs with fighter escort bomb fuel storage at Les Buissons, points along highways around Lisieux and southeast to Rugles with the aim of containing the enemy in the Falaise pocket, railroad targets at Peronne, Doullens, and Corbeil-Essonnes; fighters cover ground forces, and fly armed reconnaissance in the Alencon, Le Mans, Domfront, and Chartres areas; about 125 C-47 Skytrains fly ferry and evacuation missions; during the night of 13/14 August, 28 B-26s bomb the Foret de Halouze ammunition dump and bivouac area.
US Ninth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-26s attack the Oissel rail bridge, Corbeil-Essonnes refuelling siding, and numerous points along highways in the Argentan area with the aim of bottling up enemy troops; fighters fly ground forces cover and armed reconnaissance over wide areas of western and northern France, also escort IX Bomber Command aircraft.
U-547 (Type IXC/40) is damaged by mines in the Gironde near Pauillac 13 Aug 1944 and taken out of service at Stettin, 31 Dec 1944. (Alex Gordon)
ITALY: Almost 500 US Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack gun positions around Genoa, Italy and Toulon, and Sete, France, and strike at bridges at Pont-Saint-Esprit, Avignon, Orange, and Crest, France; 31 P-38s dive-bomb Montelimar Airfield; other fighters fly 180+ sorties in support of the bombers; and 28 bombers hit military installations at Pec, Yugoslavia.
US Fifteenth Air Force dispatches almost 550 fighter-escorted B-17s and B-24s to attack targets in France and Italy; the B-17s bomb gun positions in the Savona, Italy area; B-24s attack gun positions in the Genoa, Italy and the Marseille, Toulon, and Sete areas of France; 100+ P-51s strafe radar installations and other coast-watching facilities along the southern French coast; these strikes are preparatory to Operation DRAGOON, the invasion of southern France.
The 8th Indian Division enters north Florence to help the Italian resistance to extend its hold on the city.
INDIAN OCEAN: U-198 is sunk near the Seychelles, in position 03.35S, 52.49E, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Findhorn and the Indian sloop HMIS Godavari. All hands, 66 men, are lost.
PACIFIC OCEAN: In the Kurile Islands, of 3 US Eleventh Air Force B-24s departing Shemya Island, Aleutian Islands during the night of 12/13 August, 1 aborts while the other 2 bomb the Kashiwabara staging area on Paramushiru Island; later 6 B-25s fly a shipping sweep east of the northern Kuriles during which a fighter is downed.
In the Kurile Islands, 4 B-24s and 2 F-7A Liberators of the US Eleventh Air Force over Paramushiru and Shimushu Islands, hit targets which include shipping in Higashi Banjo Strait and buildings and runway on Suribachi; enemy fighters give battle; the B-24s score 3 kills and 13 probables and damaged; 6 more B-25s fly an uneventful shipping sweep and take photos over Shimushiru Island.
US Seventh Air Force B-24s based on Saipan Island hit shipping, a seaplane base, and the airfield on Chichi Jima Island, Bonin Islands.
USS Flier hit a mine in the Balabac Strait, 13 men escaped the boat but only 8 managed to reach shore 15 hours later at Mantangula Island. Redfin (SS-272) then rescued them with the assistance of friendly locals on 30 August.
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Stone Town arrived Halifax from builder in Montreal.
U.S.A.: President Franklin D Roosevelt concludes his inspection of naval facilities in the Pacific and departs Puget Sound, Washington for Washington, DC.
Heavy cruiser USS Fall River launched.
Submarine USS Loggerhead launched.
Destroyer minelayer USS Tolman launched. Post-war Tolman served for many years as a target hulk at Nanoose Bay BC until eventually being expended as a target off Point Mugu CA.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-270 is sunk at 0010 hours local in the Bay of Biscay west of La Rochelle, in position 46.19N, 02.56W, by depth charges from an RAAF Sunderland Mk III of No. 461 Squadron based at Pembroke Dock, Wales. All 71 crewmen on the U-boat survived.
U-862 sank SS Radbury.
U-981 is sunk in the Bay of Biscay at La Rochelle, in position 45.41N, 01.25W, by an air-laid mine (field “Cinnamon”) and depth charges from an RAF Halifax Mk II of No. 502 Squadron based at St David’s, Pembrokeshire. 40 of the 52 U-boat crewmen survive.
“Germans Studying Vermin”
DNB said yesterday that a “research association for combatting vermin” had been established in Germany. Declaring that “the methodical and successful combatting of unhygienic vermin such as lice, bedbugs, fleas, mosquitoes, rats, mice, etc., is an important task in wartime,” the dispatch said that the association had the job of providing a scientific basis for the biology of vermin and the methods of combatting them and would “examine all means used for the latter purpose.”
***
An excellent plan by the Germans. We could use some of that in contemporary America.
Several U-Boats sunk or damaged. I wonder if those crews, particularly in the Indian Ocean, were aware that their bases had been captured and destroyed.
I wasn’t able to mention this yesterday, but the loss of Alencon was a huge blow to the Germans. In addition to the obvious peril it has placed the German position, Alencon was 7th Army’s major supply depot. As of yesterday, 7th Army and Panzer Group Eberbach have to fight with whatever stocks they still have on hand, or whatever they can bum off 5th Panzer Army.
This will accelerate the disintegration of units in the pocket, as all the Panzers left in operating condition, and other motor transport, will be abandoned when they run out of gas. Artillery support will also diminish significantly.
One almost feels sorry for them ... except for stuff like this (a late post by EV to yesterday’s thread):
***
On the morning of 12 August 1944, German troops of the 2nd Battalion of SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 35 of 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, commanded by SS-Hauptsturmführer Anton Galler, entered the mountain village of Sant’Anna di Stazzema. The soldiers immediately proceeded to round up villagers and refugees, locking up hundreds of them in several barns and stables before beginning systematically executing them. The killings were done mostly by shooting groups of people with machine guns or by herding them into basements and other enclosed spaces and tossing in hand grenades. At the 16th-century local church, the priest Fiore Menguzzo (awarded the medal valor civile posthumously in 1999) was shot at point-blank range, and machine guns were then turned on some 100 people gathered there. In all, the victims included at least 107 children (the youngest of whom, Anna Pardini, was only 20 days old), as well as eight pregnant women (one of whom, Evelina Berretti, had her stomach cut with a bayonet and her baby pulled out and killed separately). After the people were killed through the village, their corpses were set on fire (at the church, the soldiers used its pews for a bonfire to dispose of the bodies). The livestock were also exterminated and the whole village was burnt down. All this took three hours. The soldiers then sat down outside the burning Sant’Anna and ate lunch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sant%27Anna_di_Stazzema_massacre
It was weird fighting the Germans. The regular Wehrmacht units would tend to “fight by the rules.” At least in the west. Truces would be arranged to remove the wounded. If you were wounded, you could expect decent medical treatment if captured, and sometimes medical supplies would be exchanged. In dealing with civilians in the occupied countries, they were arrogant assholes, but for the most part “correct.”
The SS units didn’t follow the rules; not with the civilians or combatants. I remember reading somewhere that fighting between American airborne and German SS units was described as “especially bitter.” I think we can well imagine what that meant.
Anybody know why he did that? Where was Patton? There's no way he would have halted for anything except lack of gasoline.
Yeah. Hard to feel sorry for the Nazis.
Interesting. I’ll keep my eye out for encounters with the German SS units if they are identified in the news as such.
“Warsaw District regained by Poles”
and very soon will be conquered by the Russians
Not before they are annihilated by the Germans.
Oh I suppose you want someone to tell you what he said.
I’ll see what I can do.
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