Posted on 11/24/2009 6:31:52 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1939/nov39/f24nov39.htm
Japanese enter Nanning
Friday, November 24, 1939 www.onwar.com
In China... Japanese forces enter the strategically important city of Nanning, despite fierce resistance by some 100,000 Chinese Nationalist troops. Loss of the city represents a setback for the Chinese winter offensive and the first Japanese victory since forces advanced west into Kwangsi province in a bid to break Chinese links with Indochina.
In Germany... The government takes in trust the property and financial interests of Fritz Thyssen — the iron and steel magnate and a key supporter of Hitler in earlier years — who fled to Switzerland in September 1939.
In London... The government of Belgium addresses a note to the British government concerning British reprisals against German mine-laying.
In Britain... On the Yorkshire coast, over 200 drifting mines wash ashore.
In the North Atlantic... Five survivors of the Dutch tanker Sliedrecht sunk by a U-boat, are picked up after 7 days in an open boat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Thyssen
Friedrich “Fritz” Thyssen (November 9, 1873, Mülheim an der Ruhr – February 8, 1951, Buenos Aires) was a German businessman born into one of Germany’s leading industrial families.
The last page article on Air Conditioned Cars was a hoot. LOL. I really enjoy reading these postings. Thanks, much!
I have a special intrest in and collect audio files from radio broadcasts of the 1930s through 1960s. I'll try to add links to revelant broadcasts to your posts.
I'd offer a couple of suggestions for your reading list: An Army at Dawn and The Day of Battle, two excellent narrative histories by Rick Atkinson. Each stands alone as a real page-turner, and together they comprise the first two parts of the Liberation Trilogy, the third volume of which is promised for 2011-2012.
Thanks for starting this project.
I will be obtaining a copy of "An Army at Dawn" soon. Thanks for the suggestion. It sounds like a non-fiction parallel of a trio of novels by Jeff Shaara - "The Rising Tide," "The Steel Wave," and "No Less Than Victory." I read the first one about two years ago. It was good enough for me to want the sequels. It begins with Torch and ends with Sicily. According to the blurb at Amazon the second one begins shortly before Overlord.
I know there are many good broadcasts out there. CougarGA7 kindly provides links (when he is not bogged down with school work.) Maybe you guys can compare notes.
Atkinson’s trilogy on American forces in Europe and North Africa is excellent. (The third book isn’t actually out yet, but I cant wait for it to get published)
The next broadcast I have is scheduled for the 30th which worked out good for me because I was very busy this last week getting 3 major research papers done. One was on the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, one on the leak of the Rainbow 5 plan to the Chicago Tribune, and one was an evaluation of General Hodges’ command of the 1st Army in Europe. The shortest one was 15 pages and the longest 33. I finished them up Sunday and now am officially 1/2 way through my Master’s degree.
QUESTION FOR THE +/- 70 GROUP
I have to get started on my masters thesis here pretty quick. I have a few ideas bouncing around my head as to what the topic will be but I thought I’d throw this out there to generate some ideas.
TO YOU, WHAT IS THE MOST INTERESTING EVENT OF WORLD WAR II?
Bear in mind that this would be for a master’s thesis so it would be something that would have to be possible to do sufficient research on to create a 100 page paper on. Just curious what you all think.
So did you solve the mystery? Who was the dirty rat?
TO YOU, WHAT IS THE MOST INTERESTING EVENT OF WORLD WAR II?
That's easy: The experiences of Homer's father on Leyte Island Oct 44-Jan 45. F Company, 128th Infantry, 32nd ID.
Democrat Senator Burton Wheeler was the person who actually leaked it to the Chesley Manly, Washington correspondent who then published his story in the Tribune and the Washington Times-Herald. As to where he got it from its hard to say. Major Wedemeyer (his name may ring a bell) is a possible suspect since he was in the planning office and actually authored a lot of the plan. He also was the son-in-law of General Embick and both had open connections with the America First crowd. Other suspects include FDR himself (unlikely), Hap Arnold, and even British agent William Stephenson (Intrepid).
Quite frankly I think is was someone who had access to it (there were a couple hundred who had access to the 36 copies), and had some affiliation with the America First group. I can’t narrow it down from there but neither did the FBI so I guess that’s OK. 3 days after the leak they became “distracted” by other world events.
One of the topics on my short list is Merrill’s Marauders, since that’s where my grandfather (on my Dad’s side) served so I see where you get your interest in the topic.
“Japanese enter Nanning”
Setting the stage for one of the greatest Defensive battles in history, next month during the Chinese Winter Offensive...
A single Regiment (Around 5,000 men, veterans of Manchuria) of the Japanese 5th Infantry Division will secure the mountain pass north of Nanning, and over the course of several days in mid-December will be attacked by over 75,000 Chinese troops, including the largest use of Tanks ever in China.
They will be wiped out almost to the man, but take 27,000+ Chinese with them.
If someone in Washington had been paying attention, this was a sign of things to come.
“TO YOU, WHAT IS THE MOST INTERESTING EVENT OF WORLD WAR II?”
I’m not in the 70+ crowd, but from a family history standpoint, the Northwest Front of the War in the Soviet Union.
Significant Events?
There are so many....
IMO, there are two events with the largest, long-term impact on the War.
1) The Pro-Allied Coup in Yugoslavia, which forced Hitler to delay Barbarossa just long enough to delay reaching the gates of Moscow until mid-December. The 5 week delay this caused the Germans to be delayed by the fall mud.
Imagine a drive on Moscow, and it’s results, if the ground had stayed firm?
2) The Allied Invasion of Sicily- OKW shifted several divisions, many of the new Panther and Tiger tanks, and 1/3rd of the Air Forces planned for Citadel/Kursk in reaction to the invasion of Sicily.
The loss of the Air Forces gave the Russian’s poorly-trained pilots the advantage of numbers at Kursk. In the end, it cost the Germans control of the air in Citadel, and the losses in men and material would never be replaced.
As to (1), it now appears the Yugoslav operation was a minor factor in delaying Barbarossa, if a factor at all. Seems the Spring rains in Russia that year delayed Barbaroosa by making the ground impassable [mud], for the critical period in question. The Germans wouldn’t have jumped even if all their troops had been there, and had to wait for the ground to dry.
Maybe a more practical suggestion for a paper would be an anlysis of the U.S. strategy in the Pacific. Was it really necessary for Homer’s dad to retake Leyte for Gen. MacArthur or was it just PR? How about all those nasty islands. The whole theatre seems murkier to me than the ETO. Maybe that’s just me.
We are waiting for the third part of the trilogy as well. Long but intense reads. I hope we don’t have to wait too long.
So many to choose from: How Germany survived Harris' bombing campaign. How so many people could turn a blind eye to Hitler sending all those people to their death. How the Poles held out from August to October in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. How America let Roosevelt's cabinet and our agencies become full of communist (although we don't have to look to far to see how that happens). How Americans produced more than anyone at anytime. Just a few thoughts. :-)
Retaking the Phillipines was important for a whole bunch of reasons, the least of which was PR.
Control of the Phillipines cuts the sea lanes between Japan and Southeast Asia, the source of the Oil for the War Machine.
And Okinawa couldn’t be taken with significant Air forces to the south in the Phillipines.
Oh. I guess that means there’s no masters thesis in my question.
What languages are you functional enough in to to research other than in English?
Here's an idea in English: a detailed look at the US war games prior to entry, with an analysis of the problems as presented, and the actual results.
Another interesting topic is the culture of risk avoidance seen in the Japanese naval surface forces, when they repeatedly fled inferior forces.
Third, if you can research in German - civil disobedience in the last half of the Nazi period.
That’s a good suggestion. I do know that in the grand scope of strategy the island of Peleliu was absolutely unnecessary since it was originally on the list to use as a staging area for the invasion of Formosa. Formosa had already been canceled before the Peleliu invasion. There was suggestions made by Admiral King to skip the Philippines all together to instead focus on an invasion of Japan proper. The fall of Japan would be what liberated the Philippines. MacArthur of course would have none of that. But that is something to consider. Thanks for the suggestion.
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