Posted on 05/17/2015 5:07:17 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/4/17.htm
May 17th, 1945 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Ambush laid down.
JAPAN: Okinawa: US marines today launched an assault on Naha, the capital, in an advance that is turning into the modern equivalent of Flanders trench warfare - a slow, bitter, muddy and bloody confrontation costing thousands of lives.
In the past six weeks the US Tenth Army has averaged barely 133 yards a day and its casualties are close to 20,000 - in excess of those on Iwo Jima. The worst losses have come in the last five days with the assault on three positions near Naha. During the action the marines suffered 2,662 casualties, many from crossfire from nearby hillsides. Further east the US 77th Infantry Division made swift progress today with a dawn raid bringing them close to Shuri, the heart of Japan’s defensive line.
JAPAN:
The USAAF’s Twentieth Air Force flies Mission 176: Between 0300 and 0600 hours local, 457 of 522 B-29 Superfortresses dispatched attack the Nagoya urban area in the last great attack on this city; the southern part of Nagoya, the site of the Mitsubishi Aircraft Works, Aichi Aircraft Company’s Atsuta plant and the Atsuta branch of the Nagoya Arsenal, the Nippon Vehicle Company and other targets are attacked from low levels; eleven other B-29s hit targets of opportunity; three B-29s are lost.
In an attempt to prevent kamikaze attacks, USAAF VII Fighter Command fighters from Iwo Jima fly 41 effective strike sorties against Atsugi, Japan; pilots claim ten parked aircraft destroyed. During the night of 17/18 May, two P-47 Thunderbolts of the 318th Fighter Group, presently arriving on Ie Shima (between 13 and 19 May), fly a heckling mission over Kyushu, Japan-the first such VII Fighter Command mission against Japan.
PACIFIC OCEAN: USS Ticonderoga (CV-14), with Carrier Air Group Eighty Seven (CVG-87) aboard, attacks Taroa Island in Maloelap Atoll as part of a training mission for the air group.
Japanese sub sunk in atlantic, didn’t know that................
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-07-18/news/1995199019_1_i-52-submarine-german-technology
3 NAZI GNERALs FOUND ON U BOAT. JAPENSE COMMIT SUICIDE.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-07-18/news/1995199019_1_i-52-submarine-german-technology
From the above article:
The cargo included air defense radars and jet engine equioment as well as German technical experts. In addition there were 80 gold-lined cylinders containing 560 kilograms of uranium oxide marked “For the Japanese Army”. There is very limited cargo space even aboard this cargo U-boat. Thus only items of the highest priority would have been loaded. The only pupose for the uranium oxide given the state of Japanese nuclear research would have been a dirty bomb. Also aboard were two Japanese officer—Air Force Colonel Genzo Shosi, an engineer, and Navy Captain Hideo Tomonaga. The U-234 was informed of Hitler’s suicide (May 1). Naval Highcommand ordered all German submarines to observe a ceasefire (May 4). The order to surrender was then given (May 8). The captain of the U-234 at this time arrested the Japanese officers who subsequently attempted suiside with sleeping pills. The German officers then discussed if they should surrender or proceed to Japan. They decide to surrender and to kill the Japanese who had botched their suiside attempt. This meant that they could not talk to the Americans about the purpose of the uranium oxide. Their bodies were discaded at sea. The captain then contacted naval authjorities in Halifax to arrange a surrender. Finally he decided to surrender to the Americans. The USS Sumter escorted the U-234 to Portsmouth. The U-234 was interned at Portsmouth (May 19). There the Americans learned for the first time that radio-active uranium oxide was aboard. What the Americans did not know was if other U-boats had gotten through to Japan with uranium an nuclear technology. This may have influenced the subsequent American decession to use the bomb on Japan. The nature of the uranium and disposition by the U.S. Navy is shrouded in mystery. Using lead contianers with gold lining suggests it was very high grade enriched uranium, perhaps U235. [Hydrick, p.7.] As far as I know, the Government has never released the level of enrichment which would provide an insight into the German atomic program. It is generally accepted that the Los Alamos team was having trouble obtaining the amount of uranium needed for a bomb. [Goldberg] Some authors believe that the uranium on U-234 was used by the Americans to bomb Japan. Lt. Col. John Lansdale Jr. who worked with the Manhattan Project as a security officer an was responsible for tracking uranium. He says the German uranium was used to build the bombs dropped on Japoan. [Broad] Some authors also wonder about the “infrared proximity fuse” and wether it was actually a fuse connected with the atomic program. Many of these quetions are still unanswered. But the fact thsat the Germans had enrched uranium strongly suggests thsat they had made more progress in building a bomb than is recognized by most authors. And it raised the questions about the Japanese atomic bomb program and the extent of cooperation between the Axis allies.
3,000 Parisians claim 750 planes.
Page 1 minor headline: “Cigarette supply to increase soon” — Big Tobacco begins to step in to fill the villainy vacuum left by the demise of the Nazis - and the corpse isn’t even cold yet (well, except for Adolf’s, which remains only in the form of ashes, which I guess is a good segue to ciggie’s). /s
It is generally accepted that the Los Alamos team was having trouble obtaining the amount of uranium needed for a bomb. [Goldberg] Some authors believe that the uranium on U-234 was used by the Americans to bomb Japan. Lt. Col. John Lansdale Jr. who worked with the Manhattan Project as a security officer an was responsible for tracking uranium. He says the German uranium was used to build the bombs dropped on Japoan.
Thanks very much Homer J, your post made my day by bringing those long ago memories vividly back to mind.
Lindbergh Goes Abroad to tour Europe
Wartime Journal published in 1970:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/27/specials/lindbergh-lost.html
And when he traveled in Germany shortly after the Nazi surrender in May 1945, he wrote in his journal. “What the German has done to the Jew in Europe, we are doing to the Jap in the Pacific.”
Now he says somethings in this that will invoke a strong response. But I don’t think I can argue with the following:
“Your ask what my conclusions are, rereading my journals and looking back on World War II from the vantage point of quarter century in time? We won the war in a military sense; but in a broader sense it seems to me we lost it, for our Western civilization is less respected and secure than it was before.
“In order to defeat Germany and Japan we supported the still greater menaces of Russia and China - which now confront us in a nuclear weapon era. The British empire has broken down with great suffering, bloodshed and confusion. France has had to give up her major colonies and turn to a mild dictatorship herself.”
“Much of our Western culture was destroyed. We lost the genetic heredity formed through eons of many million lives. Meanwhile, the Soviets have dropped their Iron Curtain to screen off Eastern Europe, and an antagonistic Chinese Government threatens us in Asia.
“More than a generation after the war’s end, our occupying armies still must occupy, and the world has not been made safe for democracy and freedom. On the contrary, our own system democratic government is being challenged by that greatest of dangers to any government - internal coordinating and unrest.
“It is alarmingly possible that World War II marks the beginning of our Western civilization’s breakdown...”
3,000 Parisians claim 750 planes.
Many had no paper evidence of ever owning a plane. Different time and place? We are so used to everything being titled and documented these days.
Cigarette supply to increase soon.
A further thought for today. At one time we held a 3 year reserve of grain for stabilization. Many here don’ like govt programs and I don’t either but think of this.
Today, if we don’t use the last bushel of corn the day before the new crop comes in, we screwed up. There is such a potential instability here that we shouldn’t sleep at night............................
I had noticed one of the subs my Dad served on during the war, the Irex was commissioned this past week, 70 years ago.
I was over at his house last night and mentioned this to him, the Irex was in Portsmouth NH. He had told me about interring Uboats, he talked about how filthy they were (no latrines on board, the bilge was used to ‘store’ human waste).
He told me he was filmed on a newsreel boarding a Uboats, his mother went to the theatre multiple times to watch him in the newsreel. :D
B 29’s lay mines
http://www.hartshorn.us/Navy/MinesAway.pdf
One example of a versatile aerial mine from World War II was the U.S. Navy’s Mark 25.16 The Army Air Forces laid many of these in 1944-45 and almost half of the mines laid in “Operation Starvation,” the mining of Japan’s home waters, were versions of this mine. Assembled, it weighed approximately 2,000 pounds, which included 1,250 pounds of explosive. The weapon looked much like a bomb with the exception of a half-slant shape to the nose (for improved underwater trajectory) and the parachute pack at the tail. After the mine left the aircraft a static line opened the parachute, which
lessened the shock as the mine entered the water. The Mk. 25 could be dropped from any altitude above 200 feet, at a maximum speed of 230 miles per hour, and used in water depths of 16 to 150 feet. Once the mine settled to the bottom it armed itself according to pre-flight settings and awaited its prey. Different models featured unique firing mechanisms (for magnetic, acoustic, or pressure actuation), clock starters and delays, ship counters, and redundant safety features. The minefield planner could select the Mk. 25 (or a smaller mine, such as the 1,000 pound Mk. 26) with modifications tailored to the specific water depth, type of vessels, traffic frequency, and minesweeping capability.
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