[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles and the occasional radio broadcast delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Normandy, 1944: The Capture of Cherbourg and Operations, 13-30 June 1944
The Western Pacific, New Guinea and the Philippine Islands: Allied Advances to the Marianas, Biak and Noemfoor, 22 April-24 July 1944, and Japanese Kon and “A” Go Operations 30 May-19 June 1944
Northern Italy 1944: Allied Advance to Gothic Line, 5 June-25 August and Gains 29 August-31 December
China, 1941: Operation Ichigo, April-December 1944 and Situation 31 December
China-Burma, 1941: Third Burma Campaign – Slim’s Offensive, June 1944-March 1945

[Tax-chick]

“St.-Lo and Caen May Soon Fall”

Or they may not ...

[niteowl77]

One of my dad's older brothers began his combat experience 70 years ago today as an infantryman in the 2nd Bn of the 47th Infantry Regiment. It was the beginning of a rather nightmarish journey across that part of the world.

Mr. niteowl77

[BroJoeK]

---

June 14 , 1944:

• June 9: "Jewish-Hungarian poet and Jewish-Palestinian paratrooper Hannah Szenes is arrested in Hungary after completing her mission for the British in Yugoslavia.
  She was attempting to help the Hungarian Jews who were being transported to Auschwitz.

• June 10: "In the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane, Germans kill 642 residents as revenge for the killing of an SS officer by a Resistance sniper.
  Women and children are burned alive in a church and the men are machine-gunned.
  Of the 642 victims, seven are Jewish refugees who had escaped deportation to Auschwitz by living with sympathetic Oradour-sur-Glane villagers.
  Included among the dead is eight-year-old Serge Bergman.

• June 11-16: "Germans ship an additional 50,805 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz.

• June 14: "Two thousand Jews are deported from Corfu, Greece, to Auschwitz.

• "Jewish Resistance fighter Leon Sakkis is killed by German machine-gun fire while aiding a wounded comrade in Thessaly, Greece."

"American troops and tanks enter Rome on June 4, 1944.
Both sides agreed that Rome was an open city, thus preserving the great capital from further destruction.
The Italian campaign was intended as a shortcut for Allied forces into Germany, but it resulted in a long, bitter, hard-fought operation against a stubborn, well-entrenched, and brilliantly led German resistance.
Eight thousand Jews had hid in Rome, but in October 1943 the Germans rounded up a thousand Jews 'under the Pope's nose' and transported them to their deaths at Auschwitz."

"Dutch Jews are deported in early June 1944.
From March to September 1944, the Nazis deported several hundred Dutch Jews each month, with 1,019 aboard the final train (which included Anne Frank) in September.
Of the 107,000 Jews deported from the Netherlands, only 5,200 survived the Holocaust."

"American, British, Canadian, and other Allied troops landed at Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.
The invasion forced Germany into a two-front war (with the Soviets attacking from the east), a war Germany could not win.
Although held up for weeks in the difficult Norman terrain, the Allies eventually broke through.
They then swept quickly across France and approached Germany's borders by December.
As the Allies gradually conquered territory, they encountered and liberated concentration camps."

"On the eve of the June 6 D-Day invasion, Jewish men gather on the steps of the synagogue at the Brooklyn (New York) Hebrew Home and Hospital for the Aged.
Wearing prayer shawls and blowing the shofar (ram's horn) to call people to gather for prayer, these elderly Jews pleaded for a speedy Allied victory that would end the Nazi reign and bring an end to the suffering of the Jews of Europe."

Living in Filth

"The Germans attempted to destroy Jewish hearts, souls, minds, and bodies in many ways, often involving excrement.
This was an aspect of German policy: Degrade the Jews by forcing them to live and die in an environment that was dominated by filth.
Troops locked deportees in freight cars with no provisions for excretion.

"Camp barracks were running rivers of filth, filled with dirt, vomit, disease, and excrement.
At the Bergen-Belsen, Germany, camp, one latrine served 30,000 women prisoners.
Prisoners at almost all camps caught typhus and/or dysentery, both of which caused diarrhea.
Many prisoners tied string around the bottom of their trousers to catch their excrement, thus saving themselves from being beaten or killed for taking time to try to get to a latrine.
Reska Weiss wrote of prisoners who were 'not even animals, but putrefying corpses moving on two legs.' "

"Separated from one another, family members sought ways to maintain contact and learn news.
Much of the news, however, was heartbreaking.
Pictured here is a letter from Marian Watnicki to his brother, Mietek, in Auschwitz.
Marian tells Mietek that while some family members are in a concentration camp, others are dead or missing. Imprisoned as a political prisoner, Mietek prevented his captors from discovering that he was a Jew."

---

[Pride in the USA]

Is there anything from this paper that you can use?

[centurion316]

Today begins a chronicle of Captain/Major Charles E. Cook’s combat history with the 493d Bomb Group, 8th Air Force. He flew his first combat mission on 14 June. I am a few days late posting this first account, but in future will try to post them on the anniversary date.

14 June 1944

8th Air Force Mission 412: Bad weather again covers all strategic targets in Germany except one in the extreme N; a major effort is against tactical objectives, mainly in France; 1,357 of 1,525 bombers dispatched hit the targets listed below; 14 bombers are lost:

Of 191 B-24s, 7 hit Ham-sur-Somme, 32 hit targets of opportunity, 52 hit Lille/Vendeville, 12 hit Calas Tres, 12 hit Denain Drousey, 39 hit Laon/Athies and 70 hit Chievres; 2 B-24s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 56 damaged; 10 airmen are KIA, 2 WIA and 4 MIA.

493d Bomb Group Mission 6: On this mission 33 aircraft flying in 3 groups attacked Laon-Athies Air Field near Laon, France. This was the first mission for the Captain Charles E. Cook crew flying in a B-24J aircraft, serial number 44-40480. This was not their “own” aircraft, crews were assigned whichever aircraft was ready to fly. The Cook crew was a lead crew, but for their first mission, they flew behind the lead so that they could learn the extra duties associated with the leading a mission. Flying with them was MAJ Frederick Seelman occupying the copilot seat. The group’s senior officers were designated Command Pilots and would fly with a lead crew, usually sitting in the copilot seat. The copilot would then fly as the tail gunner so that he could give reports on the status of the formation. But, on this first mission, since they were not a lead crew, SSG Walter H. Miller flew in his assigned spot as tail gunner. Also along for this mission was an extra Navigator, Captain Donald B. Schulman from Group Headquarters.

They took off from Debach in East Anglia, USAAF Station #152 and assembled at 18,000 feet at 0526. They reported being ten minutes late crossing the English coast. Near the target, they dropped to 14,000 feet due to overcast and because of bad radio communications, confusion reigned at the Initial Point (IP). A jammed bomb bay door on the lead aircraft caused them to release bombs 4 minutes early. Those aircraft that managed to avoid the early bomb release made a second run on the target and bombed with good result.
The group had difficulty reassembling after their target run, but reformed and the route back was normal.

The 493d Bomb Group lost three aircraft on this day. Tail number 569, flown by 2LT Carl Heintz crashed attempting to land and all 10 crewmen were killed. B-24J-165-CO 44-40460, “Wong Long Hop” piloted by 2LT Floyd Addy was hit over the target and crashed near Wodecq, Belgium. 4 of the crew evaded capture, 5 became POW’s, and one, Lt. Addy was killed. B-24H-15-FO 42-52750 “Jane’s Wittle Wabbit”, piloted by 2LT Orville H. Brewer crashed near Steene, France. All 10 crewmen became POW’s.