Posted on 08/01/2014 4:38:48 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
* I don’t know if this is an omen or not but I noticed on page 15, column 4, the following names under missing in action:
WENDELL, Pfc. GEORGE L.
WILKIE, S/Sgt. WILLIAM M.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1944/aug44/01aug44.htm#
The Warsaw Uprising
Tuesday, August 1, 1944 www.onwar.com
In Occupied Poland... In Warsaw, the Polish Home Army initiates an uprising against the German occupation. These forces are formally under the direction of the Polish government in exile located in London. The timing of this action is intended to liberate Warsaw, by Polish forces, prior to the arrival of Soviet forces (which is, however, expected to take place shortly).
On the Eastern Front... Soviet troops of 3rd Belorussian Front (Chernyakhovsky) capture Kaunas, capital of Lithuania. Many of the routes leading to East Prussia from the Baltics have been cut, trapping the sizeable German forces of Army Group North. Meanwhile, Red Army forces approach the Vistula River on a broad front.
In Helsinki... President Ryti resigns and Marshal Mannerheim is selected as his replacement.
On the Western Front... The US 3rd Army (General Patton) becomes operational on the right flank and is tasked with clearing Brittany. American forces are now organized under US 12th Army Group (Bradley) and include US 1st Army (Hodges) as well as 3rd Army. The British 21st Army Group (Mongomery) command British 2nd Army (Dempsey) and Canadian 1st Army (Crerar). Field Marshal Montgomery retains overall command of Allied ground forces and General Eisenhower remains Commander in Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces.
In the Mariana Islands... Organized Japanese resistance on Tinian comes to an end. Most of the garrison, over 6000, have been killed and 250 have been captured. American forces have suffered 390 killed and 1800 wounded.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/01.htm
August 1st, 1944 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Escort carrier HMS Nabob arrives at Scapa Flow and joins the RN Home Fleet.
Destroyer HMCS Assiniboine arrives at Londonderry and joins EG 12.
The Eighth Air Force flies 2 missions:
- Mission 508: 1,291 bombers and 432 fighters in 5 forces are dispatched to attack airfields, bridges and tactical targets in France; 5 bombers and 4 fighters are lost.
(1) 193 B-17s drop 2,281 containers of supplies to French Resistance forces (Operation BUICK) at four locations in SE France, i.e., Chalon-Sur-Saone, the Savoie area, Haute-Savoie and west of Geneva; 3 P-51 Mustang groups furnish escort.
(2) 76 B-17s bomb Tours Airfield; 1 B-17 is lost. Escort is flown by 51 P-51s; 2 are lost.
(3) 400 B-17s attack 5 airfields and a railway bridge in the area south and southwest of Paris; 112 hit Bricy Airfield at Orleans, 108 hit Chateaudun Airfield, 59 hit Melun Airfield, 58 hit Chartres Airfield, 36 hit Chartres Bridge, 15 hit targets of opportunity, and 12 hit Mondesir Airfield at Etampes; 3 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 138 P-38 Lightnings and P-51s.
(4) 284 B-24s are dispatched to bomb targets in the Paris environs; bad weather causes 100+ aborts; 66 hit Rouen, 47 hit Melun Airfield, 44 hit Nogent Bridge, 33 hit targets of opportunity, 29 hit Bricy Airfield at Orleans, 24 hit Montereau Bridge, 12 hit Nanteuil Bridge, 12 hit Villeroche Airfield, 11 hit Coulommiers Bridge, and 6 hit Chartres Airfield; 1 B-24 is lost. Escort is provided by 127 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51s; 2 P-47s are lost.
(5) 191 B-24s, sent against 8 V-weapon sites in NW France, run afoul of bad weather which causes multiple aborts; 61 of the planes manage to bomb 3 sites; escort is provided by 81 P-47s.
- Mission 509: 6 B-17s drop leaflets on France and Belgium during the night.
Submarine FS Doris (ex-HMS Vineyard) commissioned.
FRANCE: The XIX Tactical Air Command, Ninth Air Force, becomes operational in conjunction with the US Third Army; the Ninth’s fighter and fighter-bomber groups (Ninth Air Force refers to them collectively as fighter-bomber groups) are divided between the IX and XIX Tactical Air Commands.
About 250 B-26s and A-20s bomb rail bridges at Mezieres-sur-Seine, Maintenon, Les Ponts-de-Ce, Chartres, Cinq Mars-la-Pile, Bouchmaine, Nogent-sur-Loir, and Bourth.
XIX Tactical Air Command fighters carry out armed reconnaissance and rail bombing missions in the Alencon, Dreux, Chartres, Nogent-sur-Loir, Le Mans, Sable-sur-Sarthe, Laval and Sille-le-Philippe areas, while IX Tactical Air Command fighters fly armoured column and assault area cover, and armed reconnaissance in the battle areas.
The US 12th Army Group, consisting of Patton’s Third Army and Hodges First Army is formed under General Omar Bradley. The 21st Army Group, Montgomery, now consists of the British 2nd Army, Dempsey, and the Canadian 1st Army, Crerar.
Patton heads for Brittany.
A seven man OSS team (UNION2, with four US Marines) jumps into France. (168)
NETHERLANDS: 13-year-old Anne Frank makes the last entry in her diary that she has kept for two years while hiding with her family in Amsterdam. On 4 August, the Grune Polizei raid the secret annex in the
house Anne and her family are hiding in and they are deported to Germany. Anne Frank dies in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at age 15.
GERMANY: U-2503 commissioned.
POLAND:
Warsaw: The Poles have risen against the German occupiers of Warsaw and have taken over most of the city. The “Home Army”, commanded by Lt-Gen Bor-Komorowski, has been joined by the Communist-led People’s Army and armed civilians to drive out the hated Nazis. The Polish flag is flying from captured government buildings. Fierce fighting started at 5 pm and has developed around the General Post Office where the Germans are counter-attacking. The Poles were encouraged to rise before they were properly prepared by the sound of German guns east of the Vistula and by a Moscow radio broadcast telling them “the hour of action has already arrived.”
There is no doubt of the Poles’ passionate commitment to the freeing of their capital from the Nazi yoke, but the rising must also be viewed in political terms: the Home Army is loyal to the government in exile in London, and it intends to be in control of Warsaw when the Russians arrive with their own Polish Committee of National Liberation. It is doubtful, however, if the poorly-armed Home Army can hold out for long against the Germans. Everything depends on the Russians, who are preparing their own assault on the city. Will they arrive in time? Or will Stalin wait until the Polish Home Army is defeated?
LITHUANIA:
Soviets take Kovno and isolate the Baltic states from East Prussia. Kaunas falls to the Third Belorussian Front.
Soviet forces enter the Suwlaki triangle, a part of Lithuania which had been appended to East Prussia in 1939 as part of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. (Henry Sirotin)
FINLAND: President Ryti resigns, FM Mannerheim replaces him.
Mikko Härmeinen adds: Today the Parliament formally acknowledges President Ryti’s resignation, tendered on 29 July. Prime Minister Edwin Linkomies acts as a provisional President of the Republic, and he immediately receives a proposal that Marshal Mannerheim is to be elected as President by a special law without elections. The law is passed by the Parliament as fast as possible, and it comes into force on 4 Aug.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet destroyer Doblestnyj commissioned.
CHINA: 90+ Fourteenth Air Force P-40s and P-51 Mustangs on armed reconnaissance hit trucks, troops, supplies, and river shipping in and around Hengyang, Leiyang, Sinshih, Hengshan, Liling, Changsha, and Siangyin; the airfield and railroad yards at Hengyang are also bombed.
TINIAN:
US forces have captured Tinian, the second of the three Allied island objectives in the Marianas, as Japanese resistance crumbled today on the island’s southern cliffs after Marine reinforcements broke through.
In a crucial cliff top battle yesterday, more than 600 Japanese screamed the death-charge cry of “Banzai” as they launched a final, suicidal dawn assault to try to force a Marine unit off a toehold gained on the mile-wide escarpment. The remnants of Japan’s 9,000 man defence force had retreated there after being fooled by a decoy landing that let 40,000 marines land almost unopposed on Tinian’s north-west coast nine days ago. An estimated 9,000 Japanese have died in the battle. US losses are 394 dead and 1,961 wounded.
BIAK ISLAND: 433d Fighter Squadron, 475th Fighter Group: All missions had been cancelled due to weather but the weather was good over the Palau Islands and Colonel MacDonald asked Charles Lindbergh and two other pilots if they wanted to hit targets of opportunity on the islands. Upon arrival, the four strafed a ship and soon spotted three enemy aircraft above them. Two were immediately shot down by Colonel MacDonald and another pilot. Lindbergh noticed that the third Japanese aircraft was diving on a P-38 and by the time he turned back to aid the American, the Japanese pilot turned his attention (and aircraft) towards Lindbergh The Japanese aircraft was a Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter, Allied Code Name ZEKE. The Zeke got on Lindbergh’s tail and started shooting it up The three other Americans tried to drive the Zeke off with deflection shots and eventually set the Japanese aircraft on fire.
Colonel MacDonald reported that as Lindbergh backed toward his aircraft, he could see Lindbergh crouching in front of the plane’s armour plane, waiting for the bullets to hit, as he “commended his soul to God.”
All four P-38s returned to Biak.
TERRITORY OF HAWAII: The U.S. Army Air Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas (AAFPOA) is activated at Hickam Field with Lieutenant General Millard Harmon as Commanding General. Harmon is to be responsible to Lieutenant General Robert C Richardson, Jr, Commanding General US Army Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas (USAFPOA), for logistics and administration, and to Admiral Chester W Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CINCPOA), for operations of USAAF air units, including the Seventh Air Force but excluding the Twentieth Air Force. Harmon also is Deputy Commander of the Twentieth Air Force and is responsible directly to General Henry H “Hap” Arnold in all matters affecting the Twentieth in the POA.
CANADA: Patrol Vessel HMCS Renard paid off.
U.S.A.: Two motion pictures are released in the U.S. today.
“The Pearl of Death,” a mystery based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons,” is directed by Roy William Neill and stars Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson. The plot has Holmes looking for a bust of Napoleon containing a pearl before the owners are killed by the villainous “Creeper.”
“Wilson,” a biography of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. President, is directed by Henry King and stars Alexander Knox as Wilson, Charles Coburn, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Mrs. Wilson, Thomas Mitchell, Cedric Hardwicke as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and Vincent Price; Reed Hadley appears in an unaccredited role. The film is nominated for ten Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Knox); it wins five technical awards.
In the U.S., the top pop songs today are (1) “Amor” by Bing Crosby; (2) “I’ll Be Seeing You” by Bing Crosby; (3) “Long Ago and Far Away” by Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest; and (4) “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t (Ma’ Baby)” by Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five.
During WW II, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) produced numerous documents, most commonly known are the Intelligence Bulletins. The Military Intelligence Special Series continues with “Index to Intelligence Publications.” (William L. Howard)
Destroyer escort USS Lloyd E Acree commissioned.
Coast Guard-manned Army FS-371 was commissioned at Sturgeon Bay WI with LT H. E. Melton, USCG, as commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area including Leyte, Mindoro, Pearl Harbor, etc., during the war.
ICELAND: Reykjavik: 1407 Flight RAF operating lifeboat carrying Hudsons, is redesignated as 251 Squadron.
On page 13, “Nazi General Killed, Freed Doughboy Says.”
“... a German general sufficiently high to be surrounded by a satellite ring of bowing and scraping colonels had been killed by an American sharpshooting fighter plane on the right flank of the American advance.”
Vivid verbiage. Is this an eyewitness account of the attack that hit Rommel?
Don't think so. Rommel was in his car when he was hit.
Oh, good point. Further down in the article, it says the specified general was “standing beside a farmhouse.”
"British policy in Palestine during World War II was predicated on the White Paper, published in May 1939.
This official government document reversed Britain's long-standing support for a Jewish state and placed stringent regulations on land transfers in Palestine.
The provision of the White Paper that had the greatest impact on European Jewry was the limit placed on Jewish immigration.
"Fearful of escalating violence in Palestine, the British government capped Jewish immigration at 75,000 people over a five-year period.
After five years, further immigration was contingent on Arab approval. Although Britain paid lip-service to the notion of providing Europe's Jews with a place of refuge, it never pursued a deliberate policy that would allow such a haven to be created in the Middle East.
"During the first two years of the war, Britain barred the escape routes for Jewish refugees.
Boatloads of people fleeing Nazi persecution were refused entry into Palestine and returned to the perilous lands from which they came.
British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden was particularly adamant in his refusal to designate Palestine as a place of refuge for Jews.
At least indirectly, the British contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of Jews."
"This is the house at 263 Prinsengracht in which Anne Frank and her family hid for about two years.
But in the end, an informer told local authorities about the Jews hiding in the house.
On August 4, 1944, the SS and Security Police arrested the eight people concealed in the house's "secret annex."
They also arrested two of the people who had been aiding them, Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman.
Anne was transported to Auschwitz on September 3 and was eventually shipped to the camp at Bergen-Belsen, Germany.
She died there in the early spring of 1945, just a few weeks before the British liberated the camp."
"The staircase leading to Anne Frank's "secret annex" was hidden behind a bookcase.
Hiding Jews from the Nazis was an extremely difficult, and dangerous, undertaking, and elaborate measures often had to be taken in order to assure successful concealment."
"Of the 140,000 Jews living in Holland when that country fell to the Nazis in May 1940, 75 percent ultimately perished.
Only about 5,200 of the more than 100,000 deported to the East survived the war.
"The Jewish population of Holland also included more than 14,000 Jews from Germany who, in trying to escape the Nazis, had fled across the border.
Among them was 11-year-old Anne Frank and her family, living in Amsterdam.
The Franks, who had left Germany in 1933, suddenly found themselves trapped with the Nazi takeover of Holland.
When roundups and deportations began in 1942, the Franks went into hiding.
For two years Anne and her sister, mother, and father lived secretly in a tiny attic space they shared with four others.
They relied on non-Jewish friends, who risked their own safety to supply them with food.
"In a diary she received for her 13th birthday, Anne recorded the emotions, fears, and daily difficulties of the group's harrowing existence.
In August 1944, however, an anonymous informant revealed their location to the police.
The SS arrested all eight Jews and transported them to the Westerbork transit camp; from there the prisoners were shipped to Auschwitz.
Anne's mother, Edith, perished at Auschwitz in January 1945.
After contracting typhus, Anne and her sister, Margot, died at Bergen-Belsen in March 1945.
Her father, Otto, survived, and later published Anne's remarkable and now famous diary."
As reported by Elvis' clone, Rommel was shaving with Bigfoot before touring the front in a UFO.
Today is the 70th anniversary of Godzina “W”, the start of the Warsaw Uprising.
LOL!
Professor Thomas Childers, on my recorded lecture set, says that the Russians deliberately held back and let the uprising be crushed in order to facilitate their control of Poland after the war.
Yep, that is absolutely true. The Russians even broadcast a message to the Poles telling them to rise up and they would soon be there. Of course they had no intention of doing that.
Shoot. Dr. Childers didn’t mention that detail.
August 1, 1944
Dearest Kitty,
“A bundle of contradictions” was the end of my previous letter and is the beginning of this one. Can you please tell me exactly what “a bundle of contradictions” is? What does “contradiction” mean? Like so many words, it can be interpreted in two ways: a contradiction imposed from without and one imposed from within. The former means not accepting other people’s opinions, always knowing best, having the last word; in short, all those unpleasant traits for which I’m known. The latter, for which I’m not known, is my own secret.
As I’ve told you many times, I’m split in two. One side contains my exuberant cheerfulness, my flippancy, my joy in life and, above all, my ability to appreciate the lighter side of things. By that I mean not finding anything wrong with flirtations, a kiss, an embrace, a saucy joke. This side of me is usually lying in wait to ambush the other one, which is much purer, deeper, and finer.
No one knows Anne’s better side, and that’s why most people can’t stand me. Oh, I can be an amusing clown for an afternoon, but after that everyone’s had enough of me to last a month. Actually, I’m what a romantic film is to a profound thinker – a mere diversion, a comic interlude, something that is soon forgotten: not bad, but not particulary good either.
I hate having to tell you this, but why shouldn’t I admit it when I know it’s true? My lighter, more superficial side will always steal a march on the deeper side and therefore always win. You can’t imagine how often I’ve tried to push away this Anne, which is only half of what is known as Anne - to beat her down, hide her. But it doesn’t work, and I know why.
I’m afraid that people who know me as I usually am will discover I have another side, a better and finer side. I’m afraid they’ll mock me, think I’m ridiculous and sentimental and not take me seriously.
I’m used to not being taken seriously, but only the “lighthearted” Anne is used to it and can put up with it; the “deeper” Anne is too weak. If I force the good Anne into the spotlight for even fifteen minutes, she shuts up like a clam the moment she’s called upon to speak, and lets Anne number one do the talking. Before I realize it, she’s disappeared.
So the nice Anne is never seen in company. She’s never made a single appearance, though she almost always takes the stage whem I’m alone. I know exactly how I’d like to be, how I am . . . on the inside. But unfortunately I’m only like that with myself. And perhaps that’s why – no, I’m sure that’s the reason why – I think of myself as happy on the inside and other people think I’m happy on the outside. I’m guided by the pure Anne within, but on the outside I’m nothing but a frolicsome little goat tugging at its tether.
As I’ve told you, what I say is not what I feel, which is why I have a reputation for being a boy-chaser, a flirt, a smart aleck and a reader of romances. The happy-go-lucky Anne laughs, gives a flippant reply, shrugs her shoulders and pretends she couldn’t care less. The quiet Anne reacts in just the opposite way.
If I’m being completely honest, I’ll have to admit that it does matter to me, that I’m trying very hard to change myself, but that I’m always up against a more powerful enemy. A voice within me is sobbing, “You see, that’s what’s become of you. You’re surrounded by negative opinions, dismayed looks and mocking faces, people who dislike you, and all because you don’t listen to the advice of your own better half.”
Believe me, I’d like to listen, but it doesn’t work, because if I’m quiet and serious, everyone thinks I’m putting on a new act and I have to save myself with a joke, and then I’m not even talking about my own family, who assume I must be ill, stuff me with asprins and sedatives, feel my neck and forehead to see if I have a temperature, ask about my bowel movements and berate me for being in a bad mood, until I just can’t keep it up any more, beause when everybody starts hovering over me, I get cross, then sad, and finally end up turning my heart inside out, the bad part on the outside and the good part on the inside, and keep trying to find a way to become what I’d like to be and what I could be if . . . if only there were no other people in the world.
Yours, Anne M. Frank
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