Posted on 03/25/2015 4:22:41 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy
The News of the Week in Review
Ten Steps in Victory of the Rhine (map) – 18
Across the Rhine – 19-20
Fifteen News Questions – 21
On the Rhine: The Big Parade (cartoon) – 22
The Battle Beyond the Rhine Takes Shape (Baldwin) – 23-24
Answers to Fifteen News Questions – 24
“Bridgehead” (cartoon) – 24
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/2/25.htm
March 25th, 1945 (SUNDAY)
GERMANY:
As British and US troops link up on the east bank of the Rhine, Montgomery forbids British troops to “fraternize” with the local population.
- 1,009 Eighth Air Force B-17s and B-24s, escorted by 341 P-47s and P-51s, are dispatched to bomb seven oil plants and a tank factory. Due to bad weather, only 243 B-24s hit three oil plants.
- 641 Ninth Air Force A-20s, A-26s and B-26s to bomb three marshalling yards, four communications centers and flak concentrations.
- Lead elements of the U.S. Third and Ninth armies cross the River Rhine .
As part of Operation Varsity, the US 17th Airborne Division is dropped over the east bank of the Rhine. (Mike Yared)
The Red Army has reached the Austrian border in the Köszeg-Szombathely area.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack Cheb Airdrome, and a tank factory and two airfields in and around Prague.
HUNGARY: The Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front starts its attack across the Hron River and along the north bank of the Danube. Hungarian troops begin deserting their German allies in droves, while German commanders report a loss of confidence among their own men. By the 28th, the Red Army has reached the Austrian border in the Köszeg-Szombathely area. (Tony)
CHINA: 175 B-25s and fighter-bombers attack numerous targets in southern and eastern China. Due to advances by the Japanese Army, the Fourteenth Air Force base at Laohokow is abandoned. This is the last USAAF base to fall to the Japanese in China during WWII. The US forces blow up the base before abandoning it.
OKINAWA: The four Royal Navy aircraft carriers of Task Force 57 join the US Navy’s Task Force 58 off Okinawa. Aircraft of Task Force 58 and the support carrier Task Group 52.1 continue their pre-invasion attacks on Okinawa and the Kerama Islands.
COMMONWELATH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Over 90 Thirteenth Air Force B-24s attack Cebu City.
NEW GUINEA: Lt. Albert Chowne (b.1920), Australian Military Forces, knocked out two machine guns, then led a successful charge before he was killed. (Victoria Cross)
I see Bad Kreuznach on the maps. The US Army had a large base there until about ten years ago.
One of those making the jump with the 17th Airborne was my Dad...making his second combat jump. He joined the Army in 1939 at 14 years old.
Man, this thread post is the best newspaper post I have ever seen!
Today, my father-in-law, Sgt. George Tepfenhart (1920-1978), 748th Field Artillery Battalion, joins the fight at the front, crewing a “Long Tom” artillery piece, in the Ninth Army.
He will wind up in Czechoslovakia in June,after pursuing the Nazis across northern Germany, and be discharged in December, reaching home before Christmas. Christmas is a long way away right now.
He joined the NJ National Guard in 1940, and the regular Army after Pearl Harbor, and does not reach England until early 1945, then shipped to France in mid-March at Dieppe and then to the front.
His first assignment on the front is the artillery bombardment in support of the push across the Rhine.
70 years ago today.
To all- please ping me to Canadian topics.
Canada Ping!
There is a short piece on Gertrude Legrande walking into Switzerland. She was listed as the first woman captured on the Western Front. She is listed here as a “secretary.”
In reality she was working for the OSS. She was a rich socialite. From the early 20’s she was a world traveller and big game hunter. In fact, they were already making movies loosely based on her life in the late 30s.
She must have been something. I am going to try to find her autobiographies. What a subject for movie!
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
HEADQUARTERS
FLEET MAINE FORCE, PACIFIC
C/O FLEET POST OFFICE, SAN FRANCISCO
24 March, 1945
From: The commanding General
To: Private First Class Sam ZIGTEMA (9157380)
Via: The Medical Officer in Command, U.S. Naval Hospital, Navy #10
Subject: Purple Heart Medal - award of.
Enclosure: (A) Purple Heart Medal.
1. In the name of the President of the United States, Medal is award by the Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, to:
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS SAM ZIGTEMA,
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE
for wounds received as a result of enemy action in the Asiatic-Pacific Area, on 21 February, 1945.
H.M. SMITH
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Copy to:
SECNAV
CMC (2)
SRB
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This is what is on the paper accompanying the Purple Heart my Uncle received. Interesting that Iwo Jima not mentioned but I suppose that was for security. Took about a month to process, how long would that take today?
He was a paraplegic for the rest of his life until he died in 1967. Along with this paper was a catalog for wheel chairs. His legs stiffened into a straight position and they had to cut tendons for him to sit in a wheel chair. I can’t imagine having to pick a wheel chair at that age. Was in and out of the veterans hospital a lot until he died.
About this time, My mother was traveling with family to California with a special gas allotment because he was not expected to live, was down to 90 lbs. He survived and custom built a house with an elevator, designed his own driving mechanism, hunted and fished a lot.
Overcame a lot of obstacles with little help. He Had a gun shop in the basement where he would shoot into logs to test fire but some went through to the concrete block I remember. Would always yell “FIRE” to my Aunt in the kitchen before he shot.
I knew there had to be more to that story when I saw it. OSS explains a lot.
United States Marine Corp Reserve
I found her book on amazon. It is out of print and costs $42. She sounds interesting. But not THAT interesting.
I often wonder where writers get their ideas for stories. Over the past several weeks there have been probably a dozen good movies (some have already been made poorly, others not yet made)just in the short side stories from the NYT.
This is such a goldmine of knowledge. I will miss these posts in September.
“Not her”
Most of the servicemen in the war were classed as reservists. Only the pre-war regulars were not reservists.
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