Posted on 08/03/2013 5:33:03 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/aug1943/f03aug43.htm
Germans announce US bomber losses
Tuesday, August 3, 1943 www.onwar.com
From Germany... News of the heavy American bomber losses in the Ploesti oil field raid is made public.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/03.htm
August 3rd, 1943 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The Polish cryptanalysts Henryk Zygalski and Marian Rejewski, who first broke the German Enigma code, arrive at Hendon aerodrome, ending a long exile on France, Algeria and Spain.
Birthday of King Haakon VII of Norway. (Glenn Steinberg)
London: The award is gazetted of the George Cross to Lt. Hugh Randall Syne (1903-65), RANVR, of HMS VERNON, who carried out 19 dangerous mine recovery and disposal tasks in 21 months of courageous work.
Minesweeper HMS Brave commissioned.
Minesweeper HMS Pickle launched.
GERMANY: Hamburg: Seven square miles of the city are reported to be destroyed after the fourth RAF raid in the recent campaign.
BALTIC SEA: U-738 lost two men overboard in the Baltic Sea. [Bootsmaat Heinz Richter, Matrosengefreiter Josef Häseling].
U.S.S.R.: Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: SKR “Priliv” (ex-RT-5 “Krab”) - by aviation, close to cape Set-Navolok (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
ITALY: Labour unrest begins, leading to strikes in Genoa, Turin, and Milan. (Glenn Steinberg)
On the ground in Sicily, US forces continue east along the north coast toward the Furiano River. At Troina, further inland, the enemy continues firm resistance.
Gen. George S. Patton slapped a private at an army hospital in Sicily, accusing him of cowardice.
In the air, USAAF Ninth Air Force B-25s bomb Adrano and its highway approaches; and 300+ P-40s, the largest Ninth Air Force total to date, attack harbours and shipping at Milazzo and Messina, and give direct support to British ground forces in the Catania-Bronte area. Northwest African Tactical Air Force light bombers hit tactical targets; and fighters, light and medium bombers hit shipping in the Straits of Messina and at Milazzo and attack Adrano and Biancavilla and gun emplacements and bridges in the area.
Submarine HMS Unruffled sinks Italian merchantman Citta di Catania (3355 BRT).
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Aleutian Islands: USAAF’s 11th Air Force flies six attack missions, 2 of which abort, are flown to Kiska Island by B-24s, B-25 Mitchells, P-38 Lightnings, and P-40s of the US Eleventh Air Force; numerous targets hit and strafed include installations at North Head and South Head.
U.S.A.: The USS RANGER Carrier Air Group Four (CVG-4) is reformed.
Minesweeper USS Harlequin laid down.
Minesweeper USS Harlequin laid down.
Destroyer USS Colhoun laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Durant launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two German submarines are sunk by US aircraft:
- U-572 is sunk northeast of Trinidad, in position 11.35N, 54.05W, by depth charges from a USN PBM-3 Mariner of Patrol Squadron Two Hundred Five (VP-205) based at NAS Guantanamo, Cuba. The submarine was on the surface and the U-boat crew shot the aircraft down during the bombing run; all hands on the aircraft and all hands on the submarine, 47 men, are killed.
- U-706 is sunk at 0630 hours local in the Bay of Biscay northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain, in position 46.15N, 10.25W, by depth charges from a USAAF B-24 of the 4th Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy) based at St Eval, Cornwall, England. There are 15 survivors of the U-boats 57 man crew. This submarine was earlier attacked by a Canadian Hampden patrol aircraft from RCAF 415 Squadron.
U-66 was caught by Avenger and Wildcat aircraft from the escort carrier USS Card on 3 August and 3 men were killed and 8 more wounded, including the commander. [Oberleutnant zur See der Reserve Kurt Schütze, Matrosengefreiter Erich Lorenz and Mechanikergefreiter (T) Heinz Nitsch].
Looks like Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. is out there hustling for money from guilt stricken liberal whites.
And Black’s obit is here:
He had ties to Eleanor Roosevelt.
Great story about the Sicilian spaghetti sauce uncle on page 10.
RE: page 6 Ploesti raid only losing 20 aircraft. Misinformation? The correct losses were around 50 or so?
54, according to my handiest source. I predict the number of lost aircraft reported in the news will creep upward as more information becomes available. On the other hand, I'll bet there will be no official correction to the amount of damage sustained by the oil fields. The public will be allowed to keep the impression that it was a crushing blow to the Axis petroleum supply. Hanson W. Baldwin takes that position in his August 5 analysis of the mission.
The City MUST find money for these disadvantaged urban youths...or we will riot!
Yeah, sounds like the same old shakedown to me.
Map from David Glantz and Jonathan House "The Battle of Kursk."
Map from David Glantz and Jonathan House, "The Battle of Kursk."
You remember all those tanks the Germsns shot up in Citadelle a couple weeks ago? That von Manstein wanted to continue the assault to finally finish off the Soviet strategic reserves?
Well, the Soviets have replaced all those tank losses. First Tank and 5th Guards Tank Armies are back to full strength, and today the Soviets are unleashing them in “Operation Rumiantsev.” The Soviets open the attack with heavy artillery barrages on the fronts of three German infantry divisions north of Belgorod, and in about a day of heavy combat, the German divisions disappear as effective fighting formations. For the first time in summer, the Soviets have blown a large hole in the German lines, and pour their tank armies through it.
The German reserves have been thinned, as II SS Panzer Corps HQ and Leibstandarte have been removed to Italy, Das Reich, Totenkopf and 3rd Panzer Divisions are rescuing 6th Army along the Mius, and Grossdeutschland is in the Orel salient. The balance of the German forces from Citadelle; 6th, 7th, 11th and 19th Panzer Divisions, have not recovered their losses from the heavy fighting a few weeks ago.
But the Soviets have.
A bit more on the US version of Rosa Luxemberg here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encampment_for_Citizenship
I always thought Grossdeutschland was attached to the 4th army on the southern shoulder of the Kursk salient?
Grossdeutschland was with 48th Panzer Corps on the southern face of the salient during Citadelle. After Hitler called off the offensive, he parted out much of Manstein’s panzer divisions elsewhere. Grossdeutschland spent two or three weeks with Army Group Center, but with the German decision to evacuate the rump of the Orel salient, GD is on it’s way back south to deal with the new Soviet attack.
This is the beginning of the German practice of rushing panzer divisions from one crisis to the next.
Thanks for the clarification.
What a difference a year makes. A year ago the German summer offensive seemed unstoppable.
Private: [Looking at his plate of spaghetti] This stuff is orange. Spaghetti ain't supposed to be orange.
Frank Perconte: This ain't spaghetti. This is Army noodles with ketchup.
Bill Guarnere: You don't gotta eat it.
Frank Perconte: Come on, Gonorrhea, as a fellow Italian you should know that calling this crap spaghetti is a mortal sin.
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