Posted on 04/11/2013 5:32:00 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Michael Korda, Ike: An American Hero
Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate
The News of the Week in Review
The Battle for Tunisia Mounts in Fury (map) – 9
Climax in Tunisia – 10-11
Twenty News Questions – 12
Europe Trying to Guess How Invasion Will Come (Archambault) – 13
Answers to Twenty News Questions – 14
History Study Survey Stirs Education World (Fine) – 15
Yale to Teach Farm Science (by Edmund W. Sinnott, first-time contributor) – 16
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/apr1943/f11apr43.htm
German generals divided on plan for Kursk
Sunday, April 11, 1943 www.onwar.com
Manstein (left) and Hoth, commanding 4th Panzer Army, at dinner [photo at link].
On the Eastern Front... The Germans are planning for an attack on the Kursk salient. The German generals are divided over the plan. Kluge (Commanding Army Group Center), Zeitzler (Chief of the General Staff, OKH) and Keitel (Commander in Chief, OKW) are in favor. Guderian (Inspector General of Panzer Troops) and Manstein (Commander, Army Group South) are opposed. Manstein, in fact, originally suggested such an attack.
In New Guinea... Two Allied freighters are sunk in Oro Bay by Japanese air attacks.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
April 11th, 1943 (SUNDAY)
FRANCE: Paris: At a meeting to protest at Anglo-American bombing raids on Paris, the Fascist Miliciens swear an oath of loyalty in the Vélodrome d’Hiver.
GERMANY: Rastenburg: After long delays, Hitler approves Admiral Dönitz’s request for more U-boats; tank and aircraft manufacture, however, still have priority for scarce steel supplies.
Hermann Göring, the man whose Luftwaffe was going to bring Britain to its knees, has decreed that air-raid patrol duty will be compulsory for every able-bodied German. Women will not be spared their place in the duty rotas which are now being organized in the wake of Göring’s decree, issued on 2 April. Factory workers are also being drafted into civil defence or the emergency services as they battle to minimize the effect of the raids on production. The raids have caused particular damage to the rail and road networks, making travel difficult as well as dangerous.
U.S.S.R.: German planning for an attack on the Kursk salient begins. A clear massive attack must be prepared to have any chance of success.
Baltic Fleet and Ladoga Flotilla: MS “N126” (ex-BP “N66”) - unknown case, in Volkhovskaya mouth of Ladoga Lake (later raised and went into service) (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
ITALY: Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators attack Naples harbour. AA is intense and fighters attack the bombers from all sides, knocking 1 down. The B-24s claim destruction of 3 fighters. (Jack McKillop)
SARDINIA: During the night of 10/11 April, Northwest African Air Force Wellingtons bomb airfields at Decimomannu and Monserrato. (Jack McKillop)
SICILY: Northwest African Air Force B-17s strike the harbours of Marsala and Trapani. (Jack McKillop)
TUNISIA: Ninth Air Force B-25 Mitchells attack motor transport and troop concentrations north of Sfax as Allied ground troops push toward Sousse.
Northwest African Air Force P-38s carry out fighter sweeps and reconnaissance flights, claiming numerous aircraft shot down, including 21 transports destroyed between Cap Bon and Marsala. B-26 Marauders bomb Oudna Airfield, B-25s hit Sainte-Marie du Zit Airfield, and B-17s strike the harbour of Tunis. Fighter-bombers and A-20 Havocs attack trucks south of the Enfidaville road and east of Kairouan, the Sousse docks, and numerous other targets in the northeast quarter of Tunisia. (Jack McKillop)
NEW GUINEA: Japanese raids at Oro Bay results in two freighters sunk.
Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Lae and Finschhafen while individual B-24s bomb Finschhafen 3 times and hit Madang once. After 1200 hours, 21 Aichi D3A, Navy Type 99 Carrier Bombers (Allied Code Name “Val”) escorted by 72 Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters (Allied Code Name “Zeke”), attack Oro Bay and sink 2 merchant vessels and damage a RAN corvette; P-38s and P-40 intercept and down 7 “Vals” and 11 “Zekes.” (Jack McKillop)
HMAS Pirie, a minesweeper, and the British vessel “Hanyang” bound from Milne Bay to Oro Bay were attacked by a large force of enemy planes. Pirie fought back and brought down one of the attacking planes. She sustained a direct hit from a bomb, which tore through the bridge structure and exploded near the forward gun. Seven crew members were killed. The Hanyang was also damaged during the attack and had three fatal causalities. (Denis Peck)
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: RAAF No. 18 Squadron B-25s hit Vila Salazar and another village on Timor. (Jack McKillop)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Thirteenth Air Force P-38s and F4F Wildcats and F4U Corsairs strafe gun positions in the Rekata Bay area. B-17s bomb airfields at Kahili on Bougainville and on Ballale Island. (Jack McKillop)
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The Eleventh Air Force dispatches 4 B-25 Mitchells, 22 P-40s, and 8 P-38 Lightnings to hit Kiska 5 times. The last mission aborts due to weather. The other 4 missions bomb various targets starting large fires and some fighters strafe Little Kiska. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: USS Branch (DD-197), commissioned as HMS Beverley (H-64) on 8 Oct. 1940, part of the destroyers-for-bases deal, is sunk. She is escorting convoy ONS.176, and already damaged in a collision with merchant ship Cairnvalona. Beverley was torpedoed by U-188 was sunk with the loss of all but four of the ship’s company of 152 SW of Iceland at 62 19N, 40 28W. (Ron Babuka and Alex Gordon (108))
Two US armed freighters are sunk by German submarines U-195 and U-615 in the North Atlantic. (Jack McKillop)
America could use a Rommel about now, since the political class has succeeded in weeding out the heroes and left all the political generals who aren’t worth a damn!
One of the reasons why the German offensive at the Kursk Salient failed.....everyone seemed to know about it months in advance of the actual offensive which commenced on July 5th....thus giving the Soviets plenty of time to dig in and bulk up on reinforcements and armor, as well as constructing numerous defensive belts to ensare German panzers.
I don't think we need any generals exactly like Rommel. After all, he did swear an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler and he did use his considerable abilities to keep the Third Reich afloat as long as he could. I'm sure there are plenty of capable and aggressive senior officers in all branches of the U.S. military who are motivated by duty, honor and love of country. We might not know their names because they don't appear frequently on the evening news or the New York Times.
I didn’t know about the B-17 “bet.” Betcha Bedell had some ‘splainin’ to do to Ike.
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