Posted on 02/12/2013 4:41:16 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate
* “Great Britain and the United States,” the Prime Minister told the House proudly, “are now warrior nations, walking in fear of the Lord, very heavily armed and with an increasingly clear view of their salvation.”
I wonder if those words caused as much consternation to the left in 1943 as they would in 2013. I doubt it – HJS.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/feb1943/f12feb43.htm
Soviets advance in Ukraine and Caucasus
Friday, February 12, 1943 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... In the Caucasus the Soviets capture Krasnodar. To the north, west of the Don River, Shakhty, Kommunarsk and Krasnoarmeskoye are all occupied by the advancing Red Army.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
February 12th, 1943 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine USS Shad ends her second war patrol at Roseneath, Scotland.
Destroyer HMS Brissenden commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: Dachau: Dr Sigismund Rascher reports that his experiments on prisoners have proved that sexual intercourse can speed the return of warmth to men who have been chilled in ice-water.
U-1008 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: Submarine “K-3” sunk by surface ASW ships, close to cape Nordkin. (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
Soviet troops recapture Krasnodar, in the Kuban.
TUNISIA: In driving rain, the 7th Armoured Division crossed the Tunisian border in force today, leaving the whole of Libya in Allied hands. With Rommel regrouping his Panzerarmee Afrika on the French built Mareth Line, the next great battles can be expected shortly. General Montgomery is biding his time, re-equipping the 8th Army with supplies and weapons which are arriving in the newly-cleared harbour at Tripoli, Libya by the shipload. His first objectives are Medenine and Ben Gardane - both with valuable airstrips.
U.S.A.: Roosevelt makes a speech about his recent conference with Churchill at Casablanca.
USS YMS-140 laid down.
USS PC-787 launched.
USS SC-1288 commissioned.
Submarine USS Mingo commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-442 sunk west of Cape St. Vincent, in position 37.32N, 11.56W, by depth charges from an RAF 48 Sqn Hudson. 48 dead (all hands lost).
U-529 reported missing in North Atlantic. Reason for loss never determined. (Dave Shirlaw)
TUNISIA: In driving rain, the 7th Armoured Division crossed the Tunisian border in force today, leaving the whole of Libya in Allied hands. With Rommel regrouping his Panzerarmee Afrika on the French built Mareth Line, the next great battles can be expected shortly. General Montgomery is biding his time, re-equipping the 8th Army with supplies and weapons which are arriving in the newly-cleared harbour at Tripoli, Libya by the shipload. His first objectives are Medenine and Ben Gardane - both with valuable airstrips.
A personal reflection on this old story. I arrived in Tripoli, Libya in the summer of 1956 to begin my assignment at Wheelus Air Base. That was twelve years after WWII ended, yet a drive inland into the Libyan desert was full of warning signs to not leave the highway due to land mines left over from the war.
TUNISIA: In driving rain, the 7th Armoured Division crossed the Tunisian border in force today, leaving the whole of Libya in Allied hands. With Rommel regrouping his Panzerarmee Afrika on the French built Mareth Line, the next great battles can be expected shortly. General Montgomery is biding his time, re-equipping the 8th Army with supplies and weapons which are arriving in the newly-cleared harbour at Tripoli, Libya by the shipload. His first objectives are Medenine and Ben Gardane - both with valuable airstrips.
A personal reflection on this old story. I arrived in Tripoli, Libya in the summer of 1956 to begin my assignment at Wheelus Air Base. That was twelve years after WWII ended, yet a drive inland into the Libyan desert was full of warning signs to not leave the highway due to land mines left over from the war.
An interesting article on the shared command arrangements between the British and Americans. While it certainly helped to have a common language, there are not many examples of this type of mixed nationalities in a unified command structure in coalition warfare. It was far better than the German-Italian arrangements. As we will see in France next year, the command arrangements were far better than the just the Germans alone.
Shirer’s reporting on the crematoria is truly nauseating. The correspondence makes it sound like they are selling equipment to process some kind of industrial product. The evil that men are capable of can be astounding.
The Battle of the Atlantic is costing Allies over half a million tons of shipping per month (627,000 tons in March 1943), but only for a few more months.
The "Atlantic Gap" in air cover will be closed soon, helping reduce sinkings to under 100,000 per month (June 1943).
By war's end, monthly sinkings will average under 50,000 tons.
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