Posted on 02/09/2015 4:17:51 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/1/09.htm
February 9th, 1945 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Sir, ——Reports favourable to the behaviour of Germans during the occupation of France are rare. It will interest your readers to know that a German Admiral who had commandeered my house in Bordeaux had my beautiful furniture stored while he was residing there. Before being expelled from Bordeaux he had the whole of the house re-papered and re-painted.
What courtesy!
Meanwhile, another German was thrust upon the board of directors of my French company in Bordeaux. He claimed and was paid a high salary (altogether 500,000f.) to supervise my British interests. Each year he appropriated the totality of my share of the profits and that of my children. Needless to say that he sent to Germany the said profits. What a fiend!
Yours, etc., B.H. Seward.
The Times
Frigate HMCS Teme arrived Londonderry to join EG-6.
The following AP report was released to the newswires: Long-range German submarines, sniping at Allied convoys bound into and out of Canadian ports this winter, torpedoed a Canadian warship and five merchantmen within one period of 22 days off the Nova Scotia coast, it was disclosed tonight. The enemy undersea craft apparently were making a desperate attempt to cut the Allied North Atlantic supply line at its western anchor. The sinkings included the Canadian minesweeper Clayoquot, a Canadian merchant ship, and four vessels of other nationalities. A total of 36 men, 8 navy men and the rest seamen, lost their lives in the six sinkings. [The Clayoquot was sunk on 24 December, 1944 by U-806 (Hornbostel).] The following AP report was released to the newswires: German submarine activity increased slightly in January, but losses of Allied merchant shipping did not change substantially, the monthly Anglo-American statement reported tonight. The Statement, issued under the authority of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, said U-boats, by making use of new devices, “penetrated further into focal areas of shipping close to shore,” but described counter-measures as “encouraging.” No figures on losses were given. The British submarine HMS Venturer, commanded by James S. Launders, torpedoed and sank the U-864. This is the only known incident in all of naval warfare in which one submarine sinks another while both are submerged.
NORTH SEA: U-864 Kl. IXD2 is sunk west of Bergen, Norway, in position 60.46N, 04.35E, by torpedoes from the British submarine HMS Venturer. 73 dead (all hands lost). While submerged west of Bergen, Lt Chalmers was in the control room when he heard faint underwater sounds on the hydrophones, and Launders spotted a periscope at about 5,000 yards range. Chalmers trimmed the boat in silence for three hours while Launders the CO stalked his quarry, calculating the range by the loudness of its noise. U-864, commanded by Korvettenkaptän Ralf-Reimar Wolfram, was making “suicidal” use of its periscope, which was protruding about four feet above the surface. Venturer fired four torpedoes, and two minutes 12 seconds later there was a loud explosion. This is the only known sinking of one submarine by another when both boats were submerged throughout the engagement. Venturer was cued by Ultra on to U-864, which carried an Me 163 rocket-powered interceptor, 64 tons of mercury, heavy water, and some 20 Luftwaffe officers as well as German and Japanese engineers. (Alex Gordon and Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: The “Colmar pocket” is cleared.
NETHERLANDS: Nijmegen: After an overnight attack by heavy bombers and a 1,000-gun bombardment, linked to a second air strike, British and Canadian troops swept forward into the Siegfried Line. The front edge soon collapsed and the Canadians, crossing the flooded lowlands by amphibious trucks, reached the Rhine here today. Upstream, the US First Army is poised to seize the Roer dams, hoping to prevent the Germans from opening the floodgates. The enemy’s front line is partly manned by men regarded as invalids, but behind them are the tough Panzer forces, which could yet trouble the Allies.
GERMANY: U-923 Sunk in Kiel Bay, in position 54.31N, 10.18E, by a mine. 48 dead (all hands lost).
U-2543, U-2544 launched.
KG(J)-54 sends up ten Me-262 jets to intercept a US bomber formation, but loses six jets while claiming one bomber danaged. (Mike Yaklich)
HUNGARY: In Mészáros utca near Déli railway station László Deseõ, 15 years old at the time of the siege, kept an hourly diary of the destruction that raged around him:
February 9. Half past eight in the morning. I’m standing on the cellar steps. A short time ago 17 Germans defending the house were hit. An SS soldier of English origin is also among them. There are five of them standing near me. We don’t speak. They are very jittery. They smoke one cigarette after another. Their hands are shaking...They’. Half past eight in the morning. I’m standing on the cellar steps. A short time ago 17 Germans defending the house were hit. An SS soldier of English origin is a February 10. Quarter past nine. One of the soldiers looked out of the living room window (So curious!) there was a puff - headshot! When I was in the living room and wanted to crawl under this window (I wasn’t in the mood to show myself) I accidentally touched the bloody mass of brains which had flowed out onto the floor. At lunch it occurred to me that I hadn’t washed my hands since then, but despite this I carried on eating. Hand washing is a luxury.
NORWAY: 32 RAF Bristol Beaufighters and ten Mustangs take off from Scotland for an anti-shipping operation off the Norwegian coast. Twelve German fighters take off from Herdla, north of Bergen to meet the force. Ten Allied and five German aircraft are shot down. Fourteen allied and two German airmen being killed during the battle. Ten of the Allied airmen are from Canada. (Torstein)
BURMA: Indian troops complete the capture of Ramree Island.
U.S.A.:
Submarine USS Loggerhead commissioned.
USS PGM 32 commissioned.
PARAGUAY: The government here today declared war on Germany and Japan, boosting the growing tide of South American countries which are joining the Allies to secure an invitation to the “United Nations” conference. A Caracas newspaper today reports that Venezuela is considering declaring war on the Axis. Meanwhile Chile is denying rumours to the same effect. Ecuador declared war on Germany and Japan on 2 February.
Canada Ping!
Ecuador! Paraguay! Venezuela! Maybe even Chile!
The dominoes are falling ...
:-)
Well, if the Germans and Japaneses weren’t in serous trouble before, they certainly are now that Paraguay has declared war on them.
“Sir, ——Reports favourable to the behaviour of Germans during the occupation of France are rare. It will interest your readers to know that a German Admiral who had commandeered my house in Bordeaux had my beautiful furniture stored while he was residing there. Before being expelled from Bordeaux he had the whole of the house re-papered and re-painted.
What courtesy!”
I wonder if Adolph that old paper hanging sob, to quote Patton, came down and did the work himself.
Winston, you are going to be voted out of office in just a few months.
One map is now sufficient to show the German fronts east and west.
Hanson Baldwin has noticed that the Marines have been quiet for too long and are probably preparing for an operation. He has even figured out it will probably be in the direction of Iwo Jima.
Dang he’s smart.
Baldwin knows that P51s flying from Iwo can reach Tokyo, and it’s pretty obvious Iwo has been getting special attention by naval and aerial bombardment. Not that tough to figure it out. I’ll bet even the Japanese know it.
As for the surface bombardment, it appears from previous reports that the USN has created a special high-speed task force dedicated to quick hitting shore bombardment raids composed of heavy cruisers Salt Lake City, Pensacola and Chester. All three of them are obsolescent ships, having been built in the 1920s. They aren’t considered worthy of escorting the flattops, and are somewhat expendable. But they can still make speed and deliver 8” shells. So they will run in, fire off their rounds, and retire. They’ve worked over Iwo Jima more than a few times in the past two months.
Such a relief to know that Paraguay is on our side.
Yeah. Because he couldn't outbid the Socialists' promises of nationalized health care.
He tried, though. Which I think was a huge mistake.
This is one case where even if Baldwin had inside dope and indiscreetly revealed some it wouldn't have made much of a difference. They knew we were coming and had a plan. We knew they were waiting and tried to soften them up. With very little success as it turned out.
Great post.
Even from that distance, and in black and white, Roosevelt looks like he’s at death’s door.
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