Posted on 12/12/2014 4:33:08 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Winston S. Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1944/dec44/12dec44.htm#
British attack in the Arakan
Tuesday, December 12, 1944 www.onwar.com
British troops advance in the Arakan [photo at link]
In Burma... In the Arakan, a new British offensive begins. Forces of the British 15th Corps advance toward Akyab.
On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces capture the railway junction and town of Godollo, 10 miles north of Budapest. The Soviets claim the fall of the Hungarian capital is imminent.
On the Western Front... Forces of the US 1st Army battle towards Duren, through the Hurtgen Forest. The US 3rd Army establishes another crossing of the German frontier east of the Saar. To the south, in Alsace, the US 7th Army is fighting in Seltz.
Over Germany... Bomber Command Lancaster bombers, escorted by Mustang fighters, attack Witten, the only city in the Ruhr industrial area that has not been bombed yet.
In Liberated Greece... After experiencing heavy losses in recent fighting, the Greek communists ask for terms for a cease fire. The government demands that the communists surrender their weapons.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/11/12.htm
December 12th, 1944 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: During the night of 12/13 December, the USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 749: seven B-24 Liberators and four B-17 Flying Fortresses drop leaflets over France, the Netherlands and Germany.
NORTH SEA: In the Barents Sea Norwegian Corvette KNoM Tunsberg Castle (ex-HMS Shrewsbury Castle) (K 374) mined off Båtsfjord, Norway. Five crewmembers are lost.
BELGIUM: A German A4 (V-2) rockets lands in Antwerp at Hoboken in Lage Weg at 0748 hours; 44 people are injured.
FRANCE: In the U.S. Seventh Army area, XV Corps is virtually halted by Maginot fortifications in the Hottviller-Bitche area, but Combat Command A, 12th Armored Division, reaches Bettviller, its objective. VI Corps commits the 14th Armored Division between the 103d and 79th Infantry Divisions. The 79th Infantry Division enters Soufflenheim as the Germans pull back toward the West Wall and it begins clearing Seltz.
In the French First Army area, General Jean-Joseph Lattre de Tassignym commander of the First Army, alters the plan of action, calling for the capture of Colmar and Cernay but deferring the drive to the Rhine River at Brisach unless circumstances are favorable. II Corps is to make the main effort through Colmar to Rouffach, where it will link up with I Corps coming from Cernay. I Corps is so spent that it suspends offensive until 15 December.
GERMANY: Düren falls to the US 1st Army. German forces withdraw across the Roer river.
In the U.S. First Army’s VII Corps area, the 104th Infantry Division takes Pier in a two-pronged assault and forces the Germans to withdraw across the Roer River. Elements of the 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, drive into Mariaweiler. Hoven is cleared of the Germans. Combat Command R, 3d Armored Division, and the 60th Infantry Regiment finish clearing most of the region west of the Roer River northwest and west of Düren during the day. The 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, begins clearing Derichsweiler
In the U.S. Third Army’s XX Corps area, the situation in the Dillingen bridgehead improves. The 357th Infantry Division, 90th Infantry Division, mops up bypassed resistance within its sector and the 359th and 358th Infantry Regiments establish contact, opening the corridor through a fortified belt through which tanks are moved to the 357th. A vehicular ferry is put into operation. An effective smoke screen permits delivery of tanks and tank destroyers to the bridgehead. Limited progress is made in the Saarlautern bridgehead by the 95th Infantry Division. The combat efficiency of both the 90th and 95th Infantry Divisions has been lowered sharply because of insufficient reinforcements and exhaustion. In the XII Corps area, the 35th Infantry Division begins an attack across the lilies early in morning: the 1st Battalion, 134th Infantry Regiment, crosses and begins to clear Habkirchen, gaining a weak hold there; the 320th Infantry Regiment, assisted by tanks, clears Bliesbruck, France, on the near side of the river, in preparation for a crossing.
The 328th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division, gets forward elements across the German border and its relief is begun by the 87th Infantry Division, during the night of 12/13 December.
The USAAF Eighth Air Force Flies Mission 748: 895 bombers and 928 fighters are dispatched to make an H2X attack on Merseburg and visual attacks on rail targets; four bombers and seven P-51 Mustangs are lost: 458 B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb a marshalling yard (M/Y) at Darmstadt; 347 B-17s hit the I.G. Farben synthetic oil plant at Merseberg with the loss of two aircraft;
275 B-24 Liberators bomb a M/Y at Hanau with the loss of three and 87 others bomb a M/Y at Aschaffenburg; and 47 other aircraft hit targets of opportunity.
Ninety USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders and A-20 Havocs strike the defended villages of Gemund, Harperscheid, Hellenthal, Schleiden, Schoneseiffen, and Wollseifen, and the towns of Dorsel, Mayen, and Wiesbaden. Fighters fly armed reconnaissance and strafing and bombing missions in western Germany and support the U.S. 83d Infantry Division in the Strass-Gey area, cover the U.S. VII Corps in the Duren area and support the U.S. XII and XX Corps in the Habkirchen and Bliesbruck areas (the 35th Infantry Division assault across the Blies River) and Saarlautern-Dillengen.
USAAF Fifteenth Air Force attack four cities: 51 bomb the I.G. Farben South synthetic oil plant at Blechhammer and five others hit targets of opportunity.
During the day, 140 RAF Bomber Command Lancasters are dispatched on a G-H raid to the Ruhrstahl steelworks at Witten; 136 bomb the target. German fighters intercept the force in the target area and eight Lancasters are lost.
It was the town’s first major raid of the war. The steelworks are not hit and bombs fell all over the town, destroying 126 houses and five industrial premises.
During the night of 12/13 December, 540 RAF Bomber Command aircraft, 349 Lancasters, 163 Halifaxes and 28 Mosquitos, are dispatched to bomb Essen; 529 bomb the city with the loss of six Lancasters. This is the last heavy night raid by Bomber Command on Essen. During the post-war interrogations of Albert Speer, the German Armaments Minister, he is asked which forms of attack are most effective in weakening the German war effort. After referring to the effectiveness of daylight raids and to some of the Oboe Mosquito attacks, Speer paid a compliment to the accuracy of this raid on Essen: “The last night attack upon the Krupp works, which was carried out by a large number of four-engined bombers, caused surprise on account of the accuracy of the bomb pattern. We assumed that this attack was the first large-scale operation based on Oboe or some other new navigational system.” In another raid, 49 Mosquitos bomb Osnabruck
AUSTRIA: Two USAAF Fifteenth Air Force bombers attack the Main marshalling yard at Graz while a third aircraft bombs the city of Gattersford.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: USAAF Fifteenth Air Force bombers attack four cities: 11 hit a synthetic oil facility at Ostrava Moravaska and two each bomb marshalling yard at Libeau and the cities of Puchov and Troppau.
ITALY: British troops attack Faenza. In the U.S. Fifth Army’s British XIII Corps area, the Germans, counterattacking at dawn, temporarily force back the outpost of the Indian 19th Brigade on MT Cerere. The 6th Armoured Division begins the second phase of its offensive, during the night of 12/13 December, employing the 61st Brigade, which gets elements into Tossignano, where they come under heavy pressure.
In the British Eighth Army’s Canadian I Corps area, the 5th Armoured and 1st Divisions advance from the Fosso Vecchio River to the Naviglio Canal, which runs from Faenza to the sea, and attack across it during the night of 12/13 December. The 1st Division gains a bridgehead north of Bagnacavallo, but the 5th Armoured Division is forced back to the Fosso Vecchio River.
GREECE: The Greek Communists ask for a cease fire.
CHINA: USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s, P-51 Mustangs, and P-38 Lightnings on armed reconnaissance attack many targets of opportunity including town areas, road and rail traffic, and supplies at or near Sinantien, Paoching, Hengyang, Changsha, Kweilin, Nan Tan, Hochih, and Szeenhsien. Several fighter-bombers drop napalm on Yangtong Airfield.
THAILAND: USAAF Fourteenth Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity at Chiengmai.
BURMA: In the Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALFSEA) area, the British XV Corps begins an offensive (Operation ROMULUS) to clear the Arakan coastal sector and gain air and naval bases from which to support future operations. While the Indian 25th Division pushes southward along the Mayu Peninsula toward Akyab, the West African 82d Division begins clearing the Kalapanzin Valley in the Buthidaung area and the West African 81st Division attacks in the Kaladan Valley in the vicinity of Kyauktaw.
Eleven USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb several storage areas north of Lashio while 20+ P-47 Thunderbolts knock out bridges at Namyao and Inailong, Burma, and Kunlong, China, and damage others at Ho-hko, Burma and Hinlong, and Kunlong, China. Over 40 fighter-bombers hit Japanese headquarters, trucks, town areas, troop concentrations, and supplies at Sedo, Pale, Chaunggyi, Tada-u, Hsenwi, Shwebo, and Thabyetha.
Six USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Kutkai damaging three warehouses and two other buildings. Fighter-bombers on armed reconnaissance attack many targets of opportunity including town areas, road and rail raffic, and supplies at or near Wan Pa-Hsa.
VOLCANO ISLANDS: Twenty four Saipan-based USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Iwo Jima. Individual B-24s from Saipan and Guam fly five snooper strikes against Iwo Jima during the night of 12/13 December.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: In the U.S. Sixth Army’s X Corps area on Leyte, the 32d Infantry Division straightens their lines south of Limon and during the night of 12/13 December and shells Japanese positions ahead of it on Highway 2 as far south as Lonoy. XXIV Corps chases off a Japanese vessel sighted near Linao at dawn. The 77th Infantry Division consolidates positions just north of Ormoc while amassing supplies and artillery.
USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators, with fighter cover, bomb Bacolod Airstrip on Negros Island while B-25 Mitchells hit San Roque Airfield on Mindanao Island.
General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area, presents Major Richard I. Bong with the Medal of Honor he was awarded “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty in the Southwest Pacific area from 10 October to 15 November 1944” at Tacloban Field, Leyte.
EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators bomb Kendari Airfield on Celebes Island. In the Ambon-Ceram-Boeroe Islands area, B-25 Mitchells hit three airfields and attack barges.
NEW GUINEA: In Dutch New Guinea, USAAF Far East Air Forces A-20 Havocs hit the airfield on Jefman Island a small island off the coast.
CANADA: Minelayer HMCS Whitethroat commissioned.
Note that it was solely due to Churchill and the British Army that Greece did not become Communist in 1944. Today, Greece is a mess economically but is still a member of NATO.
They may not have become Communists but they certainly became Socialists. Communism through the back door.
(Page 11 NYT)- “Night Fighter Pilots Turn to Photography”
Apparently they didn’t pick up the mass of German forces being marshaled for the Ardennes offensive since it was a surprise counter-offensive.
Fascinating story about the corrupt leader whose power corrupted him further. Thanks for posting it.
Look how quickly these Medals of Honor are approved and awarded. Since Vietnam it seems to take years to approve.
While in training in the Bay Area he buzzed the Golden Gate Bridge and Market Street. General Kenney dressed him down, sort of, and told him if he didn't want to buzz Market Street Kenney wouldn't want him in his air force, but he darn well better never do it again. Years later, it was Kenney who recommended him to MacArthur for the Medal of Honor.
After he was sent back stateside he was a test pilot and died tragically in a crash in 1945.
It appears the months of Russia sitting at the Vistula have lulled Hitler into thinking he can focus on the West. Clearly, however, Stalin has been clearing his flanks for a drive on Berlin. He has nearly reduced the Baltics and is so far into Hungary that his forces are directly south of Czechoslovakia and Prussia. We have seen time and again the pattern that after an advance, the Russians stop, regroup and refit to prepare for the next offensive. They have accomplished that after Operation Bagration and with clear flanks are ready for the final drive on Berlin.
Interesting. Dick Bong, “Ace of Aces.”
I guess nobody comes close to the amazing number of downed planes by Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, who downed over 100 planes in WWI. That guy was amazing. His death was also amazing, apparently shot down by a British guy named Brown and his plane landed perfectly in a field with von Richthofen dead in the cockpit.
Unlike Patton who stops for nothing except lack of gas.
Maybe that is the answer to a question I have been mulling over for a while. It seems like the Red Army got to the approaches to Budapest and then stopped. I get that impression from preparing the daily posts and seeing "Budapest" in the headlines of the eastern front news for week after week turning into months. Maybe it wasn't the Germans that stopped them as much as the SOP you described.
I'm sure henkster would have a better answer.
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