Posted on 01/26/2013 5:35:39 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/jan1943/f26jan43.htm
Rommel to be Replaced by Italian General
Tuesday, January 26, 1943 www.onwar.com
Italian General Messe [photo at link]
In North Africa... After quarrels with the Italian High Command, to whom he is responsible, Rommel is told he is to be relieved by the Italian General Messe. Rommel does not relinquish authority at this time.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
January 26th, 1943
UNITED KINGDOM: London: It was gazetted today that LS William Goad (b.1922), of HMS ASHANTI, was lowered into heavy, sub-zero seas, to rescue an unconscious man. (Albert Medal)
Frigate HMS Burges launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Oxna launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: Peru severed diplomatic relations with France. France took similar action against Peru, same date. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: From today anti-aircraft batteries can be manned by Hitler Youths, officially by grammar-school pupils aged 15 onwards. (HW Koch)
During training in Wesermünde an accident occurred onboard U-847 while the machinegun was being fired. One crewmember died, one was seriously wounded.
U-905 is laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ARCTIC SEA: U-302 had to break off her patrol in the Arctic Sea due to serious technical problems. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: Stalingrad: The Sixth Army pocket is split as Soviet troops join up to the west of the city.
Italian GENERAL GIULIO MARTINAT, chief-of-staff of the Alpini Corps in Russia (Giulia, Tridentina, and Cuneense Alpini divisions) is killed while personally leading a successful attack to break through Russian blocking positions at Nikolajevka (nowadays Malenka Aleksandrovka), an attack which opened a path for the encircled Italian troops to escape and regain Axis lines (but at the cost of 320 Italians killed, including 40 officers and noncoms). The Italians won through against all odds, with no artillery and no air support, and on foot.
This was acknowledged by the Soviets in their N°630 bulletin, transmitted by Radio Moskva in the first days of February, that stated that “the only force that can regard itself as undefeated on Russian soil is the Italian Alpini corps”.
The Italian Alpini Corps had successfully held its own positions even after the rest of the 8th Army was overrun in December, but a new Soviet operation launched in mid-January, aimed at encircling the Italians by breaking through the positions of the Hungarians to the northwest, forced them to reverse fronts and fight their way out. Martinat was detailed to take command of, and try to bring some order to, the disorganized and heterogeneous mass of stragglers (Italians— both Alpini and from other commands— plus various Germans and Hungarians) which followed in the wake of the fighting spearheads of the Tridentina division supported by a handful of German armoured vehicles. (Michael F. Yaklich and Francesco Dall’Aglio)
Stalingrad: Generalleutnant Alexander von Hartmann, commander of the German 71 Inf. D. lead a desperate last attack with a small group of his troops. They engage Soviet infantrymen in close combat with small arms. General Hartmann is said to have killed a Soviet soldier with his machine pistol before he was killed by a burst from an enemy machinegun. (Jeff Chrisman)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Between 0245 and 0316, the sailing vessel Hassan was rammed five times by U-431 between Cyprus and Haifa. At 0333, the U-boat shelled the vessel with her 88-mm and 2-mm guns and set her on fire. The U-boat then left the burning and sinking ship. (Dave Shirlaw)
NORTH AFRICA: Rommel is told that he will be relieved by Italian General Messe.
CANADA: Frigates HMCS Charlottetown and Jonquiere laid down Lauzon, Province of Quebec. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.:
Destroyer escort USS Crouter launched.
Aircraft carrier USS Hancock laid down.
Destroyer USS Terry commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0450 and 0506, U-607 hit the forepart of Kollbjørg with two coup de grâce. The forepart capsized and the U-boat tried to sink her by gunfire, but had problems with the deck gun. At 1609 U-594 missed the capsized wreck with a coup de grâce and sank her at 1621 by gunfire.
At 1533, tanker SS Nortind was hit near the bridge by one of two torpedoes from U-358 and caught fire immediately. About 1900, the tanker broke in two and sank. None of the 34 Norwegian, seven British and two Dutch passengers on board survived.
SS Ufa sunk by U-255 at Grid AC 6751. (Dave Shirlaw)
After Nazis announce plans to demolish 40,000 homes in Marseilles to prepare coastal defenses...
“...an undetermined number of Frenchmen dug up their guns, fortified their homes and began firing on every German soldier approaching.”
Where’s the Hollywood movie recounting this sacrificial patriotic episode???
On the Marseilles Wiki page, a roundup of Jews for extermination is mentioned, but no rebellion...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseille
“The city was occupied by Germans from November 1942 to August 1944. On 22 January 1943, over 4,000 Jews were seized in Marseilles as part of “Action Tiger.” They were held in detention camps before being deported to Poland occupied by Nazi Germany to be murdered.”
I might have to attempt my first Wiki edit!
FYI
70 years ago today the NY Times reported in a front page article...
After Nazis announce plans to demolish 40,000 homes in Marseilles to prepare coastal defenses...
“...an undetermined number of Frenchmen dug up their guns, fortified their homes and began firing on every German soldier approaching.”
Nazis had to bring in tanks and artillery to back up house-to-house suppression of this rebellion.
“...an undetermined number of Frenchmen dug up their guns, fortified their homes and began firing on every German soldier approaching.”
Where’s the Hollywood movie recounting this sacrificial patriotic episode???
Just be glad mention of it wasn't edited from the NYT archives.
The Nazis sure tried hard to endear themselves to their French “allies” didn’t they?
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