Posted on 10/11/2014 4:09:05 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1944/oct44/11oct44.htm#
Soviets cross the Tisza
Wednesday, October 11, 1944 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... In Hungary, troops of the Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front cross the Tisza River around Szeged and capture the town. To the east, there is heavy fighting around Debrecen and Cluj is captured during the day.
On the Western Front... In the Scheldt estuary, Canadian 1st Army forces cut the causeway between the mainland and Beveland and Walcheren. Around Aachen, elements of US 19th Corps (part of US 1st Army) capture Bardenburg. Around Metz, forces of US 3rd Army capture Parroy after clear the nearby Foret de Parroy.
In Italy... The US 91st Division of US 2nd Corps (part of US 5th Army) encounters heavy German resistance at Livergnano. Forces of the British 8th Army capture Lorenzo.
In the Philippines... Two groups of US Task Force 38 (Admiral Mitscher), under the command of Admiral Cain and Admiral Davison respectively, conduct air strikes on Japanese airfields in the north of Luzon. The rest of TF38 is refueling.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/9/11.htm
October 11th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Army Eighth Air Force flies 2 missions:
Mission 672: 135 B-17s are dispatched to bomb the Wesseling synthetic oil plant (57) in Germany; 73 others hit the secondary, the Koblenz marshalling yard; 4 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 135 P-47s; a P-47 is lost.
Mission 673: 9 aircraft drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany during the night.
Frigate HMCS Chebogue driven ashore by heavy weather while under tow off Swansea Bay, Wales. Chebogue was damaged on 04 Oct 44 by U-1227 550 miles West-SW of Cape Clear.
NETHERLANDS: XIX Corps of the US 1st Army captures Bardenburg. Canadian units cut the causeway between the mainland and Beveland and Walcheren.
During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 160 Lancasters and 20 Mosquitos to attack the Fort Frederik Hendrik battery position at Breskens, on the south bank of the Scheldt; 88 bomb the target; and 115 Lancasters attack guns near Flushing on the north bank with 105 bombing the target. Both attacks start well but more than half of the Breskens force has to abandon the raid because their target is covered by smoke and dust. Two large explosions are seen at Flushing. One Lancaster is lost from the Breskens raid. In a third raid, 61 Lancasters and two Mosquitos are sent in an attempt to breach the sea walls at Veere on the northern coast of Walcheren Island and 62 bomb but they are not successful.
FRANCE: Parroy falls to the US 3rd army.
In the U.S. Seventh Army area, VI Corps issues instructions for a drive to the Meurthe River, calling for the capture of Bruyères and Brouvelieures, followed by attack on St Die. To deceive the Germans, a heavy program of fire is begun against approaches to Gerardmer.
In the French 1st Army area, the II Corps concentrates on clearing the region south of the Mosselotte River.
99 B-26s and A-20 Havocs of the US 9th Air Force, with fighter escort, sent to bomb the Camp-de-Bitche military camp are recalled when Pathfinder equipment malfunctions and weather prevents visual bombing.
During the night of 11/12 October, the USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 673: nine aircraft drop leaflets in France without loss.
NETHERLANDS: Canadian units cut the causeway between the mainland and Beveland and Walcheren.
GERMANY: In the U.S. First Army’s XIX Corps area, the 520th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, captures Bardenberg with little difficulty, opening a route to north Wuerselen. In the VII Corps area, with expiration of surrender ultimatum, Aachen is subjected to heavy aerial and artillery bombardment; patrols of 1st Infantry Division probe German defenses. Troops of the 1st Infantry Division invent a new weapon, the V-13. They pack Aachen’s trolley cars with dynamite, paint 13 on their sides and roll them downhill into the city. The trolleys explode with the force of 2,000-pound (907 kilogram) bombs. The 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, holds a road junction in the Huertgen Forest against counterattack and tries unsuccessfully to take another, between first junction and forester’s lodge of Jacgerhaus. German resistance to the rear is weakening. The 39th Infantry Regiment tries in vain to cross open ground between Germeter and Vossenack; elements, moving along draw from Wittscheidt, gain positions north of Vossenack.
US 9th Air Force fighters fly armed reconnaissance, cut rail lines in the Aachen-Rhine area, and support the US VII and XIX Corps in the Aachen area, and US XII, XV, and XX Corps in the Metz-Saarlautern area.
The surrender ultimatum to the German garrison in Aachen, Germany, expires and American planes and artillery wreck the city. GIs of the 1st Infantry Division invent a new weapon, the V-13. They pack Aachen’s trolley cars with dynamite, paint 13 on their sides and roll them downhill into the city. The trolleys explode with the force of 2,000-pound (907 kg) bombs.
U-3511 and U-3512 are launched.
AUSTRIA: The USAAF Fifteenth Air Force attacks targets: 61 bomb the Sauerwerke armaments factory in Vienna, 18 bomb the Schonbrunn ordnance depot in Vienna, 16 bomb Enzenfeld industrial area, nine bomb the Main marshalling yard at Graz.and 37 aircraft attack miscellaneous targets; over 250 heavy bombers fail to complete missions because of bad weather.
ITALY: The 91st Division of the US II Corps runs into fierce resistance while advancing near Livergnano, Italy. The British 8th Army captures Lorenzo. In the U.S. Fifth Army’s IV Corps area, Task Force 92 begins another assault on Mt. Cauala in the evening while Regimental Combat Team 6, Brazilian Expeditionary Force, takes Barga. In II Corps area, further efforts to clear the Monterumici hill mass accomplish little. The 91st Infantry Division strengthens its assault on the Livergnano escarpment but makes slow progress but elements of 363d Infantry Regiment reach the top of escarpment. A battalion of the 338th Infantry Regiment, 85th Infantry Division, gains the crest of Mt. delle Formiche in costly fighting while a second battalion clears the eastern slopes; the 337th Infantry Regiment inches forward toward Hill 578 of the Monterenzio hill mass. The 350th Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division, gains a foothold on Mt. delle Tombe while the 351st continues efforts to clear Gesso ridge. In the British XIII Corps area, the final German counterattack against Mt. Battaglia is repelled.
In the British Eighth Army’s V Corps area, the Indian 10th Division and 46th Division continue toward the Savio and Cesena Rivers, seizing Montecodruzzo, the heights east of the Rubicone River at Montiano, and Montenovo. In the Canadian I Corps area, the 1st Division strengthens and expands their bridgehead across the Fiumicino River, moving along Highway 9 almost to the Rigossa River. The New Zealand 2d Division establishes two bridgeheads across the Fiumicino River north of Savignano without opposition and, during night of 11/12 October, takes Gatteo. .
Despite bad weather, Twelfth Air Force medium bombers attack bridges and supply dumps in the Po Valley; fighter-bombers and fighters closely support ground forces in the Apennine Mountains between Florence and Bologna where fierce fighting rages on Monte delle Formiche, Livergnano escarpment, Monte delle Tombe, Gesso ridge, and Monte Battaglia; also hit are communications behind the battle area and as far west and north as Genoa, Turin, and Savona.
Nineteen USAAF Fifteenth Air Force heavy bombers hit the railroad bridge at Casarsa and seven attack the port area at Tieste.
During the night of 11/12 October, 60 RAF heavy bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group attack Main marshalling yard at Verona.
GREECE: British troops occupy Corinth.
HUNGARY: Marshal Rodion Malinovsky’s 2nd Ukranian Army force the Tisza (Tisa) River and seizes Szeged, Hungary’s second largest city in the region east of Budapest; still others, assisted by Rumanians, take Cluj, capital of Transylvania. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)
Hungarian and Soviet officials being negotiations for a cease fire. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)
Sixteen USAAF Fifteenth Air Force bombers hit the Enzenfeld industrial area.
ROMANIA: The Soviet Army takes Klausenburg.
YUGOSLAVIA: Eight USAAF Fifteenth Air Force heavy bombers attack the marshalling yard at Dhavograde.
During the night of 11/12 October, 18 RAF heavy bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group fly in supplies for the partisans.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The Fifteenth Air Force attacks target in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy and Yugoslavia. In Austria, about 180 B-17s and B-24s, with fighter escort, bomb the Vienna South ordnance depot, Graz motor works, the southern and southwestern areas of Vienna, the towns of Hirtenberg and Enzesfeld, the marshalling yard at Zeltweg, the Dravograd, Yugoslavia, railroad bridge on the Yugoslav-Hungarian boundary, and in Italy, railroad and highway bridges at Cesara, and Trieste harbor; 250+ heavy bombers fail to complete missions because of bad weather; 18 P-51 Mustangs strafe targets in the Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, and Budapest, Hungary, areas, including supply dumps, and trains and destroy 17 airplanes at Esztergom landing ground, Hungary; 37 other P-51s strafe Prostejov Airfield, Czechoslovakia, and targets of opportunity in the surrounding area, destroying nearly 30 aircraft and trucks, locomotives, and railroad cars.
BURMA: 15 Tenth Air Force P-47s hit guns and enemy positions near Pinhe while 9 attack the town of Manwein and hit targets of opportunity in the area; 8 others hit the towns of Nayakaung and Nansiaung; 8 B-25s attack bridges at Man Pwe, Tahpalai, and Namyao damaging only the Man Pwe bridge; and 23 P-47s hit troops and stores near Tawbon and at Hkawan, knock out Kawnghka bridge and damage the Wanling bridge. Transport flights continue to points throughout the CBI.
CHINA: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek asks that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt recall Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell immediately. Stillwell has four jobs: Deputy Commander in Chief South-East Asia Command (SEAC), Commander in Chief US China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of Operations, Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-Shek and
Commander in Chief of the Northern Area Combat Command (NCAC) in Burma.
2 Fourteenth Air Force B-25s knock out a bridge south of Mangshih; and 3 P-40s attack sampans from Tanchuk to Tengyun while 8 hit general targets of opportunity north of Mangshih.
JAPAN: 4 Eleventh Air Force B-25s over Shimushiru and Paramushiru Islands in the Kurile Islands blow up 3 buildings and damage 2 others at Cape Namikawa.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Australian troops land at Jacquinot Bay, on New Britain Island in the Bismarck Archipelago. The Australians’ arrival opens the successful New Britain campaign in which a small Militia force successfully contained the large Japanese garrison holding Rabaul.
EAST INDIES: Far East Air Forces B-24s bomb the Koeandang and Langoan area on Celebes Island and P-38s attack Miti Airfield on Miti Island off the east coast of Halmahera Island. A-20s and fighter-bombers attack airfields at Liang on Ambon Island, Kairatoe on Celebes Island, Laha on Ambon Island, Haroekoe on Haroekoe Island, and Namlea on Buru Island.
NEW GUINEA: In Dutch New Guinea, Langgoer Airfield is bombed by P-47s and P-47s hit Babo Airfield while A-20s attack Sarmi troop concentrations.
During the night of 11/12 October, Australian (PBY) Catalinas lay mines off Soerabaja, Java, Netherlands East Indies.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: At night B-24s bomb Sasa Matina and Buayoan Airfield on Mindanao Island.
In preparation for operations against Formosa, 61 aircraft of Task Group 38.1 (Vice Admiral John S. McCain) and TG 38.4 (Rear Admiral Ralph E. Davison) attack Japanese airfields and other facilities on the north coast of Luzon; aircraft damage escort destroyer HIJMS Yashiro off San Vicente and cargo vessel SS Banei Maru off Aparri. Seven USN aircraft are lost. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)
AUSTRALIA: Shorts S-23 C Class Flying Boat, msn S-877, registered VH-ABB and named “Coolangatta” by the Australian airline QANTAS, crashes at Rose Bay, Sydney, New South Wales, while attempting to land. Only one of the 30 people aboard the aircraft perishes.
MARIANAS ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force P-47s based on Saipan hit buildings on Pagan Island with rockets and bombs. A Kwajalein Atoll-based B-24 bombs Wake Island during the night.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Two U.S. submarines sink a merchant ship and a landing ship.
U.S.A.: The U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command issues a proclamation allowing interior lighting in stores and taverns as long as the light is 6 feet (1,8 meters) from the windows. This includes lighted juke boxes and pinball machines. Trains, however, must continue to operate with drawn shades at night.
Two motion pictures are released today.
“Laura,” a film-noir mystery, opens at the Roxy Theater in New York City. Directed by Otto Preminger, based on a Vera Caspary novel, stars Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price and Judith Anderson. The plot is a classic mystery with gorgeous Tierney the subject of murder plot and detective Andrews trying to assemble the crime puzzle. The film is nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Director (Preminger) and Best Supporting Actor (Webb); it wins a technical award. Two songs used instrumentally in the film are “Laura,” which becomes a big band hit, and “You Go To My Head.”
“To Have and Have Not” opens at the Hollywood Theater in New York City. Directed by Howard Hawks, this war drama, based on an Ernest Hemmingway novel and dialogue by William Faulkner, stars Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennen, Lauren Bacall (in her film debut), Hoagy Carmichael and Sheldon Leonard; singer Andy Williams is uncredited. The plot is essentially the film “Casablanca” set on the French Caribbean island of Martinique. Tough skipper-for-hire Bogart reluctantly becomes involved with the French Resistance as he meets and woos even tougher Bacall. Singer Andy Williams was hired to dub Bacall’s singing but that’s her voice in the film.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: During a torpedo explosion onboard U-1169, two men are killed and one wounded.
"To Have and Have Not" opens at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.
We're sending Bosley Crowther to the former and T.M.P. to the latter. They will report back tomorrow. I didn't know the bit about Andy Williams.
Animadverted
There is a word that you do not hear too often.
Page 12— there’s a first edition of a picture for a text book. Page 10 U.S. warned Germans not eliminate Poles, etc.—Krauthammer alluded to that situation in his column “Joe Biden was Right” this weekend. He drew the parallel to “cynical” Stalin halting the Red Army advance outside Warsaw so that the Germans could slaughter the Polish partisans, to Erdogan allowing ISIS to bloody the Kurds in Kobane, despite having troops and tanks miles away. Of course, Obama silent, Biden let the truth slip out in a “gaffe” about the duplicity rampant in the top fool’s “coalition “ and “strategy.”
Good eye and thanks for the tip. The article also referred twice to the "concentration camp at Oswiecim." Is this the first mention of Auschwitz we have seen in the news?
We’ll hear more from USS Darter about a week or ten days from now.
I like to look at the old ads, too :)
Just shows how “news” has devolved.
One need only look at Drudge or even here to see the “reporting” of most( not all) outlets failing or elementary in scope for the average fourth grade reader.
There used to be so much news in those headlines and lengthy “books” of reporting.
I suppose the internet has done some damage but common core and the devolving since the 1960’s of public edumacation( misspelled for fun)..anyway great news of days when the world was afire and now, now it is afire again by religious faction we were warned of by Sir W. Churchill and others.
Meanwhile climate change is the bigger fear than ebola, and Islam gets very little press as they blow hell out of Christians and their churches.
And yes I too like to look at the old ads. Like 65 cent fun and dancing, hurrah for fun and dancing!
Do you know why Aachen was the first major German city to fall to the Western Allies?
Because it was on their western border and the most convenient, I'd offer.
No, because it was the first alphabetically!
Dad always thought that joke was funny.
Until 2004 the first entry in the all-time roster of big-league players was “AARON, HENRY,” who was the pre-steroids home run king. Then David Aardsma usurped Hammerin’ Hank (or, as Sandy Koufax called him, “Bad Henry”).
You chose an excellent selection of news, Sir.
313th Bomb Wing (North Field - Tinian)
6th Bombardment Group of the 313th Bomb Wing at Tinian:
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.
314th Bomb Wing Movies & Photographs (Christopher C. Athey website)
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