Today in WWII History
World War II History for March 28
1933 - In Germany, the Nazis ordered a ban on all Jews in businesses, professions and schools.
1941 - The Italian fleet was defeated by the British at the Battle of Matapan.
Cunningham leads fateful British strike at Italians
Andrew Browne Cunningham, Admiral of the British Fleet, commands the British Royal Navy’s destruction of three major Italian cruisers and two destroyers in the Battle of Cape Matapan in the Mediterranean. The destruction, following on the attack on the Italian Fleet at Taranto by the British in November 1940, effectively put an end to any threat the Italian navy posed to the British.
1942 - Exactly one year later, on March 28, 1942, a British sub near Antipaxo sunk the Italian ocean liner Galilea, which was being used to transport troops from North Africa back to Italy. The loss of the liner entailed the loss of 768 Italian soldiers and crewmen.
1942 - British naval forces raided the Nazi occupied French port of St. Nazaire.
1945 - Germany launched the last of the V-2 rockets against England.
Technorati Tags: WWII, History, WWarII, Italy, Jews, V-2
Today in WWII History
World War II History for March 27
1933 - About 55,000 people staged a protest against Hitler in New York City.
1941 - Tokeo Yoshikawa arrived in Oahu, HI, and began spying for Japan on the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
1942 - The British raided the Nazi submarine base at St. Nazaire, France.
1944 - One-thousand Jews left Drancy, France, for the Auschwitz concentration camp.
1944 - Thousands of Jews were murdered in Kaunas, Lithuania.
1945 - Germans launch last of their V-2s
On this day, in a last-ditch effort to deploy their remaining V-2 missiles against the Allies, the Germans launch their long-range rockets from their only remaining launch site, in the Netherlands. Almost 200 civilians in England and Belgium were added to the V-2 casualty toll.
German scientists had been working on the development of a long-range missile since the 1930s. In October 3, 1942, victory was achieved with the successful trial launch of the V-2, a 12-ton rocket capable of carrying a one-ton warhead. The missile, fired from Peenemunde, an island off Germany’s Baltic coast, traveled 118 miles in that first test.
Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, History, V-2, Rockets, Submarine, Auschwitz
1) What was the code name for the teams of Allied agents parachuted behind German lines prior to the Normandy invasion of D-Day?
A Juneaus
B Jedburghs
C Johnnies
D Jerries
2) What was the common name of the German JU-87?
A Stuka
B Junker
C Gotha Go
D Heinkel
3) Canada on D-Day:
A Jasper
B Joker
C Jellyroll
D Juno
4) Which one of the following was not a nickname for a Japanese plane in WWII?
A Jake
B Jill
C Joey
D Judy
5) This was the British slang term for a German?
A Ja-Ja (Ya-Ya)
B Jerry
C Jellyroll
D Jitler
Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, Quiz, Allies, JU-87, D-Day
Today in WWII History
World War II History for March 25
1941 - Yugoslavia joined the Axis powers by signing the Tripartite Pact.
A unified nation of Yugoslavia, an uneasy federation of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, was a response to the collapse of the Ottoman and Hapsburg empires at the close of World War I, both of which had previously contained parts of what became Yugoslavia. A constitutional monarchy, Yugoslavia built friendships with France and Czechoslovakia during the years between the world wars. With the outbreak of World War II, and the Anschluss (“union”) between Austria and Germany, pressure was placed on Yugoslavia to more closely ally itself Germany, despite Yugoslavia’s declared neutrality. But fear of an invasion like that suffered by France pushed Yugoslavia into signing a “Friendship Treaty”–something short of a formal political alliance–on December 11, 1940.
Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, History, March, 25, Yugoslavia, Axis, Tripartite
A WWII Hero: Butch O’Hare
World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O’Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific. One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship. His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.
As he was returning to the mother ship he saw something that turned his blood cold: A squadron of Japanese aircraft were speeding their way toward the American fleet. The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn’t reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger.
There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet. Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber’s blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent. Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible and rendering them unfit to fly.
Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction. Deeply relieved, Butch O’Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch’s daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft.
This took place on February 20, 1942, and for that action Butch became the Navy’s first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Medal of Honor.
A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29.
His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O’Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man. So, the next time you find yourself at O’Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch’s memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It’s located between Terminals 1 and 2.
Technorati Tags: WWII, Hero, WWarII, O’Hare, Airport, Chicago, Medal of Honor, Lexington
WWII Doolittle raider dead at 95
SALEM, Ore., March 24 (UPI) — Jacob DeShazer, a participant in the famous Doolittle raid over Japan during World War II, has died at his home in Oregon at the age of 95.
DeShazer was in the last B-25 to depart from the carrier Hornet for a daylight bombing run that marked the first U.S. attack on the Japanese homeland since the attack on Pearl Harbor, The New York Times reported Monday.
His plane ran out of fuel after dropping its bombs and all five crewmen were forced to bail out over Japanese-occupied territory. DeShazer was as a prisoner of war for 40 months until being freed a few days after Japan surrendered in August 1945.
The son of a Church of God minister, DeShazer said the only source of solace he had during his captivity was a Bible given to him by his captors, the Times said
After returning home to the United States, DeShazer earned a bachelor’s degree in biblical literature and then spent 30 years as a Christian missionary in Japan.
Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, Doolittle, Raid, Bombing, Japan, News, Missionary, B-25, Hornet
HMS Ark Royal (91) was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that served in the Second World War and was torpedoed on 13 November 1941 by the German submarine U-81. She was designed in 1934 to meet the limits of the Washington Naval Treaty, and was built by Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd. at Birkenhead, England. Construction was completed in November 1938, and after Britain’s entry into the war, she served in some of the most active naval theaters of the early stages of the war, seeing a number of notable actions. She survived several near misses in her short career, and had a reputation for being a ‘lucky ship’. The Germans reported her as sunk on a number of occasions.
Career
Name: HMS Ark Royal (91)
Builder: Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd.
Laid down: 16 September 1935
Launched: 13 April 1937
Commissioned: 16 December 1938
Fate: Sunk 14 November 1941 after being torpedoed by U-81 on 13 November 1941
General characteristics
Displacement: 22,000 tons
Length: 800 feet (240 m) overall, 721.5 ft (220 m) waterline
Beam: 94.8 ft (28.9 m)
Draught: 28 ft (8.5 m)
Propulsion: 6 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 3 Parsons geared turbines
Speed: 31 knots (57 km/h)
Range: 7,600 nautical miles (14,100 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement: 1,600 officers and men
Armament: 16 x 4.5 in (114 mm)s (8 × 2), 48 x 2 pounder (1.5 in) Pom-poms (6 × 8), 32 x .50 calibre (12.7 mm) machine guns (8 × 4)
Armour: 4.5 inches (110 mm) belt, 3.5 in (89 mm) deck over boiler rooms and magazines
Aircraft carried: 60 to 72
* 1939-40: 26 Fairey Swordfish, 24 Blackburn Skuas
* 1940-41: 30 Fairey Swordfish, 12 Blackburn Skuas, 12 Fairey Fulmars
* 1941: 36 Fairey Swordfish, 18 Fairey Fulmars
Motto: Desire n’a pas Repos – “Zeal Does Not Rest”
Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, History, HMS, Britain, Royal Navy, Ark Royal, Carrier, Photo
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