Battle for Iwo Jima Photo Gallery

Audio Clip: Arthur Prim Reports the First Strikes on Iwo Jima

Amphibious Tractors landing on Iwo Jima Feb 1945

Iwo Jima, which means Sulfur Island, was strategically important as an air base for fighter escorts supporting long-range bombing missions against mainland Japan. Because of the distance between mainland Japan and U.S. bases in the Mariana Islands, the capture of Iwo Jima would provide an emergency landing strip for crippled B-29s returning from bombing runs. The seizure of Iwo would allow for sea and air blockades, the ability to conduct intensive air bombardment and to destroy the enemy’s air and naval capabilities.

Photo & Text source: http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/battleiwojima.htm

World War II History for February 19

Audio Clip: 02.18.1943 Soong Mei-Ling Appeals to Congress to Aid Chinese Nationalists

02.19.1932 – The Sino-Japanese dispute was referred to the Assembly by the League of Nations Council.

02.19.1937 – An attempt was made in Addis Ababa to assassinate the Italian viceroy of Ethiopia, General Rodolfo Graziani. Though he was only wounded, the Italians launched large scale reprisals vowing to keep the Ethiopians in line.

02.19.1938 – The British Cabinet rejects Foreign Secretary Eden’s proposal to have Italian troops withdraw from Spain. Their hope was misplaced, believing that Italy would check any further advances by Germany (they had already occupied Austria).

02.19.1938 – Nazis were permitted to join the ruling party of Austria, the Fatherland Front.

02.19.1939 – A trade agreement was signed between the Soviet Union and Poland in an attempt to strengthen Poland as a buffer against Germany.

02.19.1940 – Ambassador Hull extends the US moral embargo to the Soviet Union.

02.19.1941 – The 8th Australian Division lands in Singapore.

02.19.1942 – Executive Order 9066 is signed by President Roosevelt, authorizing the transfer of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans living in coastal Pacific areas to concentration camps in various inland states (and including inland areas of California). The interned Japanese-Americans lose an estimated 400 million dollars in property, as their homes and possessions are taken from them.

02.19.1942 – Japanese air raids on Darwin, Australia. Considered the “Pearl Harbor of Australia”, they largest attacks ever mounted by a foreign power against Australia. The raids were the first of almost 100 air raids against Australia during 1942–43.

02.19.1942 – Battle of Badoeng Strait begins; ABDA force attacks retiring Japanese Bali occupation force with 1 Dutch DD sunk, 2 CL and 1 DD damaged.

02.19.1942 – Mandalay came under aerial attack for the first time. Defending forces are ordered back from the Bilin River.

02.19.1942 – Japanese troops landed on the Portuguese island of Timor in the East Indies. Tokyo says the action is taken in self-defense and that its forces would withdraw when the area was secure. The neutral Portuguese accept the occupation.

02.19.1942 – Canada’s Parliament vote to begin military conscription.

02.19.1942 – The Supreme Court of Vichy France begin trials in Riom to establish responsibility for the defeat in 1940.

02.19.1943 – Allied defenses in Tunisia are restructured in the face of a deteriorating position. The Axis forces begin frontal assaults on American positions in the Kasserine Pass.

02.19.1943 – German Army Group South opens a counteroffensive toward Kharkov and Belgorod.

02.19.1944 – US forces land on Engebi Island, Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

02.19.1945 – Units of the US 8th Div begin encircling German troops trapped within the Siegfried Line.

02.19.1945 – Himmler makes his first peace overtures to Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte of the Red Cross.

02.19.1945 US troops land on Samar and Capul Islands in the Philippines.

02.19.1945 (0905 hrs) – The first of 30,000 US Marines land on Iwo Jima. /via World War II Database

World War II History for January 18

Podcast: 01.18.1940 – CBS Today In Europe

1942 - Russian forces under General Timoshenko launched a fresh offensive against the Germans on the central front. The southern front was marked by strong gains by the Red Army in the Ukraine.

1942 - Burma’s Premier U Saw was “detained” by the British for allegedly being in communication with the Japanese.

1942 - Germany, Italy, and Japan sign a military convention in Berlin, laying down “guidelines for common operations against the common enemies.”

1943 - U.S. commercial bakers stopped selling sliced bread. Only whole loaves were sold during the ban until the end of World War II.

1944 - Soviet forces began to arrive at Leningrad, effectively ending the three-year Siege of Leningrad, but fighting would continue for more than another week before German troops withdrew from the area. (from http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=125)

This is a short clip from the BBC about the Sinking of the Bismarck (31 May 1941).

The story spawned its own 1960 feature film Sink the Bismarck!

Today in WWII History

World War II History for July 13

13 July 1941 - Britain and the Soviet Union signed a mutual aid pact, that provided the means for Britain to send war material to the Soviet Union.

13 July 1944 - Soviet General Konev establishes a new western border for the USSR

On this day in 1944, General Ivan Konev, one of the Soviet Union’s most outstanding officers, pursues an offensive against 40,000 German soldiers to capture the East Galician city of Lvov. When the battle was over, 30,000 Germans were dead, and the USSR had a new western border.

The Red Army’s “Operation Bagration” was the westward thrust from June to August 1944, which included the First and Second Ukrainian Fronts, was moving swiftly across Ukraine and Poland.

Konev consults with 38th Army Commander Moskalenko

Joseph Stalin had declared that he wanted the western border of the Soviet Union to be pushed back across the River Bug, territory that was part of prewar Poland, but was now occupied German territory. General Konev, who had led the first offensive against the Germans when they invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 (and who had created the “Konev ambush,” a strategy by which troops retreat from the center of a battle area, only to allow troops from the flanks to close into the breach, used to defeat German General Heinz Guderian’s tank offensive against Moscow), led the Red Army’s new attack westward. He encircled 40,000 German soldiers in the town of Brody. After seven days, 30,000 German soldiers were dead, and Lvov was Soviet-occupied territory and would remain a part of the new postwar Soviet map.

General Konev would go on to cross Poland into Germany and, meeting up with U.S. and other Soviet forces, enter Berlin to see the final downfall of the Axis power.

“Soviet General Konev establishes a new western border for the USSR,” History.com, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6518 (accessed Jul 13, 2009).

Audio Clip: BBC Giles Fairplay reports on the Last Days of Singapore – 15 June 1942

World War II History for June 15

15 June 1940 - The French fortress of Verdun was captured by Germans.

15 June 1942- On the carrier IJN Zuikaku Captain Yokokawa was relieved by Captain Tameteru Notomo.

IJN Zuikaku 1941

IJN Zuikaku in the Battle of the Philippine Sea 1944

15 June 1943 - Paul Blobel, an SS colonel, was given the assignment of destroying the evidence of the systematic extermination of European Jews.

15 June 1944 - American forces began their successful invasion of Saipan during World War II. U.S. 2nd and 4th Marine land on Saipan against heavy resistance.

65 years ago today …

President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives his Fireside Chat just prior to D-Day 1944-06-05 (14:11m)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

65 years ago today …

1944-06-05 Eisenhowers Pre D-Day Announcement to Troops (1:42s)

General Eisenhower and Field Marshall Montgomery

65 years ago today …

Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery’s Address on Eve of D-Day 1944-06-05 (BBC – 0:53s)

Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery

Audio of the Speech

Text of the Speech (Read the full text)

“[...] I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

Audio Clip: It’s getting close to the WWII’s 65th D-Day Anniversary. Hear from BBC Robin Duff onboard a sealed ship just prior to D-Day (1944-06-03).

World War II History for June 3

3 JUN 1938 - The German Reich voted to confiscate so-called “degenerate art.”

3 JUN 1940 - Paris is bombed by the Luftwaffe for the first time, killing 254 people. Most of the people killed were civilians and school children.

Paris Bombed by Luftwaffe

3 JUN 1940 – Holocaust: Franz Rademacher proposes the Madagascar Plan.

3 JUN 1940 - In France, the allied evacuation of Dunkirk ended.

Audio Clip: Working up to D-Day we bring you a clip from the BBC with Resistance Messages – 05 Jun 1944

World War II History for June 1

1 JUN 1942 - News of death camp killings became public for first time. The report came from the Polish Socialist newspaper known as Liberty Brigade. The paper stated that tens of thousands of Jews had been gassed at the death camp Chelmno.

1 JUN 1943 - During World War II, Germans shot down a civilian flight from Lisbon to London.

On June 1, 1943 actor Leslie Howard, on a BOAC flight from England to Portugal, was killed when Nazi war planes shot his plane out of the sky over the Bay of Biscay killing all aboard. Enlisted by the British government, Howard, who will forever be known as Ashley Wilkes in the movie Gone With the Wind, had been evangelizing the Allied cause to Portuguese and Spanish audiences. Rumors persist that the Germans believed Winston Churchill on board and so attacked the pane. Evidence points to the contrary, and that Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels ordered the attack thinking Howard was a dangerous propagandist and a threat to the German Reich. Read about the monument being erected in Spain. View a clip from Gone with the Wind. [1]

Actor Leslie Howard

1 JUN 1944 - The French resistance was warned by a coded message from the British that the D-Day invasion was imminent.

[1] Farewell Ashley, Victory Theater: Hollywood And World War II http://hollywoodatwar.blogspot.com/2009/05/farewell-ashley.html

Audio Clip: For this memorial day weekend we bring you a couple clips. The first clip is a news report from 1941 about the sinking of the HMS Hood. The second audio file is the CBS World News Today report from 05-20-1945 just after the destruction of Berlin.

World War II History for May 22

22 May 1939 - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed a military alliance between Germany and Italy known as the “Pact of Steel.”

22 May 1944 - Operation Chattanooga Choo-Choo began.

Operation Chattanooga Choo-Choo was an allied offensive by fighter-bombers of the British 2nd Tactical Air Force and US 9th Air force (21-28 May, 1944) against German locomotives and rolling stock in northern Europe. The object of the the offensive was to reduce the quantities of such equipment available to the Germans as a means of reinforcing their armies in north-west France once Operation ‘Overlord’ had been launched.

Audio Clips: Today we bring you a double-play!

Clip #1: is an NBC broadcast by Walter Winchell from 5/18/41
Clip #2: is a BBC broadcast marking the fall of Monte Cassino to the allies.

World War II History for May 18

18 May 1942 - New York ended night baseball games for the duration of World War II.

18 May 1943 - Hitler gives the order for Operation Alaric

On this day in 1943, Adolf Hitler launches Operation Alaric, the German occupation of Italy in the event its Axis partner either surrendered or switched its allegiance.

This operation was considered so top secret that Hitler refused to issue a written order. Instead, he communicated verbally his desire that Field Marshal Erwin Rommel should assemble and ultimately command 11 divisions for the occupation of Italy to prevent an Allied foothold in the peninsula.[1]

18 May 1944 - Monte Cassino, Europe’s oldest Monastic house, was finally captured by the Allies in Italy.

On this day in 1944, the Polish Corps, part of a multinational Allied Eighth Army offensive in southern Italy, finally pushes into Monte Cassino as the battle to break German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring’s defensive Gustav Line nears its end.

The Allied push northward to Rome began in January with the landing of 50,000 seaborne troops at Anzio, 33 miles south of the Italian capital. Despite having met very little resistance, the Allies chose to consolidate their position rather than immediately battle north to Rome. Consequently, German forces under the command of Field Marshal Kesselring were able to create a defensive line that cut across the center of the peninsula. General Wladyslaw Anders, leader of the Polish troops who would raise their flag over the ruins of the famous Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, commenting on the cost of the battle, said, “Corpses of German and Polish soldiers, sometimes entangled in a deathly embrace, lay everywhere, and the air was full of the stench of rotting bodies.”[1]

[1] “Hitler gives the order for Operation Alaric,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6457 (accessed May 18, 2009).

Audio Clip: Victory in Europe -VE- Day – NBC Special Broadcast (56min)

World War II History for May 8

8 May 1943 - The Germans suppressed a revolt by Polish Jews and destroyed the Warsaw Ghetto.

8 May 1945 - U.S. President Harry Truman announced that World War II had ended in Europe. He warned that victory “is but half won.”

Victory in Europe

On this day in 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine.

The eighth of May spelled the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms: In Prague, Germans surrendered to their Soviet antagonists, after the latter had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans considerably more; in Copenhagen and Oslo; at Karlshorst, near Berlin; in northern Latvia; on the Channel Island of Sark–the German surrender was realized in a final cease-fire. More surrender documents were signed in Berlin and in eastern Germany.

The main concern of many German soldiers was to elude the grasp of Soviet forces, to keep from being taken prisoner. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass exodus to the West when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended, but were stopped by the Russians and taken captive. The Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrender.

Meanwhile, more than 13,000 British POWs were released and sent back to Great Britain.

Pockets of German-Soviet confrontation would continue into the next day. On May 9, the Soviets would lose 600 more soldiers in Silesia before the Germans finally surrendered. Consequently, V-E Day was not celebrated until the ninth in Moscow, with a radio broadcast salute from Stalin himself: “The age-long struggle of the Slav nations…has ended in victory. Your courage has defeated the Nazis. The war is over.”[1]

[1] “Victory in Europe,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=54192 (accessed May 8, 2009).

Audio Clip: CBC Reports Victory in Tunis 07-May-1943

World War II History for May 6

6 May 1941 - Joseph Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership.

6 May 1941 - Bob Hope gave his first USO show at California’s March Field.

6 May 1942 - During World War II, the Japanese seized control of the Philippines. About 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.

6 May 1945 - Axis Sally made her final propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.

Audio Clip: CBS World News Today from 18 April 1943.

World War II History for April 23

23 Apr 1942 - German bombers attacked, nicknamed the “Baedeker Raids,” Exeter and later Bath, Norwick, York, and other “medieval-city centres.” Almost 1,000 English civilians were killed.

On March 28 of the same year, 234 British bombers struck the German port of Lubeck, an industrial town of only “moderate importance.” The attack was ordered (according to Sir Arthur Harris, head of British Bomber Command) as more of a morale booster for British flyers than anything else, but the destruction wreaked on Lubeck was significant: Two thousand buildings were totaled, 312 German civilians were killed, and 15,000 Germans were left homeless.

As an act of reprisal, the Germans attacked cathedral cities of great historical significance. The 15th-century Guildhall, in York, as an example, was destroyed. The Germans called their air attacks “Baedeker Raids,” named for the German publishing company famous for guidebooks popular with tourists. The Luftwaffe vowed to bomb every building in Britain that the Baedeker guide had awarded “three stars.”[1]

23 Apr 1942 - In Texas, Kenedy Alien Detention Camp began receiving prisoners. It housed more than 3,500 Japanese, German and other foreign nationals during WWII.

[1] “Germans begin “Baedeker Raids” on England,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6430 (accessed Apr 23, 2009).

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives:

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy— the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces—with the unbounding determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

Audio Clip: News clip of the End of the Russo Finnish War from 13 April 1940.

World War II History for April 14

14 Apr 1941 - Rommel attacks Tobruk.[1]

14 Apr 1945 - The U.S. Fifth Army joined the British in the assault on the German occupiers of Italy.

[1] http://hollywoodatwar.blogspot.com/

Audio Clip: CBS World News Today for 5 April 1945

World War II History for April 6

6 Apr 1938 - The United States recognized the German conquest of Austria.

6 Apr 1941 - German forces invaded Greece and Yugoslavia.

Audio Clip: CBS World News Today on 28 March 1943.

World War II History for March 27

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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.

1943 - North Pacific Battle of the Komandorski Islands. It was the last US Naval battle without air cover. Outcome: a wash. [1]

1944 - One-thousand Jews left Drancy, France, for the Auschwitz concentration camp.

1944 - Thousands of Jews were murdered in Kaunas, Lithuania.

[1] http://hollywoodatwar.blogspot.com/

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World War II History for March 23

23 Mar 1933 - The German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act. The act effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial legislative powers.

23 Mar 1936 - Italy, Austria & Hungary signed the Pact of Rome.

23 Mar 1942 - The Japanese occupy the Anadaman Islands in the Indian Ocean.

23 Mar 1942 - During World War II, the U.S. government began evacuating Japanese-Americans from West Coast homes to detention centers.

World War II History for March 19

Audio Clip: March 19, 1944 edition of CBS World News Today

1940 - The French government of Daladier fell.

1945 - About 800 people were killed as Japanese kamikaze planes attacked the U.S. carrier Franklin off Japan.

1945 - Adolf Hitler issued his “Nero Decree” which ordered the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands as German forces were retreating.

1945 - General Fromm executed for plot against Hitler

On this day, the commander of the German Home Army, Gen. Friedrich Fromm, is shot by a firing squad for his part in the July plot to assassinate the Fuhrer, as portrayed in the movie Valkyrie. The fact that Fromm’s participation was half-hearted did not save him.

By 1945, many high-ranking German officials had made up their minds that Hitler must die. He was leading Germany in a suicidal war on two fronts, and they believed that assassination was the only way to stop him. According to the plan, coup d’etat would follow the assassination, and a new government in Berlin would save Germany from complete destruction at the hands of the Allies. All did not go according to plan, however. Col. Claus von Stauffenberg was given the task of planting a bomb during a conference that was to be held at Hitler’s holiday retreat, Berchtesgaden (but was later moved to Hitler’s headquarters at Rastenburg). Stauffenberg was chief of staff to Gen. Friedrich Fromm. Fromm, chief of the Home Army (composed of reservists who remained behind the front lines to preserve order at home), was inclined to the conspirators’ plot, but agreed to cooperate actively in the coup only if the assassination was successful.

On the night of July 20, Stauffenberg planted an explosive-filled briefcase under a table in the conference room at Rastenburg. Hitler was studying a map of the Eastern Front as Colonel Heinz Brandt, trying to get a better look at the map, moved the briefcase out of place, farther away from where the Fuhrer was standing. At 12:42 p.m. the bomb went off. When the smoke cleared, Hitler was wounded, charred, and even suffered the temporary paralysis of one arm-but was very much alive.

Meanwhile, Stauffenberg had made his way to Berlin to meet with his co-conspirators to carry out Operation Valkyrie, the overthrow of the central government. Once in the capital, General Fromm, who had been informed by phone that Hitler was wounded but still alive, ordered Stauffenberg and his men arrested, but Fromm was located and locked in an office by Nazi police. Stauffenberg and Gen. Friedrich Olbricht began issuing orders for the commandeering of various government buildings. Then the news came through from Herman Goering that Hitler was alive. Fromm, released from confinement by officers still loyal to Hitler, and anxious to have his own association with the conspirators covered up quickly, ordered the conspirators, including two Stauffenberg aides, shot for high treason that same day. (Gen. Ludwig Beck, one of the conspiracy leaders and an older man, was allowed the “dignity” of committing suicide.)

Fromm’s last-ditch effort to distance himself from the plot failed. Within the next few days, on order of Heinrich Himmler, who was now the new head of the Home Army, Fromm was arrested. In February 1945, he was tried before the People’s Court and denigrated for his cowardice in refusing to stand up to the plotters. But because he went so far as to execute Stauffenberg and his partners on the night of July 20, he was spared the worst punishment afforded convicted conspirators-strangulation on a meat hook. He was shot by a firing squad on March 19.[1]

[1] “General Fromm executed for plot against Hitler,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6747 (accessed Mar 19, 2009).

As we wrote about in Today in WWII History – World War II History for March 12, on 12 Mar 1938 the “Anschluss” took place as German troops entered Austria solidifying the unification of Austria and it’s new pro-Nazi government.

Here is the radio broadcast describing the ongoing process in Austria and throughout Europe about the Anschluss. The second audio clip is from German Joseph Gobbels – “Proklamation Hitlers zum Anschluss Osterreichs.”

World War II History for March 11

Audio Clips: Today we bring you 2 audio broadcasts from March 1945. The first is a broadcast from a battleship shooting down an enemy plane and the second is CBS World News Today.

11 Mar 1935 - The German Air Force became an official organ of the Reich.

11 Mar 1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the Lend-Lease Act, which authorized the act of providing war supplies to the Allies.

11 Mar 1942 - General Douglas MacArthur left Bataan for Australia. He vowed, “I shall return.”

The Philippines had been part of the American commonwealth since Spain ceded it at the close of the Spanish-American War. When the Japanese invaded China in 1937 and signed the Tripartite Pact with fascist nations Germany and Italy in 1940, the United States responded by, among other things, strengthening the defense of the Philippines. General MacArthur was called out of retirement and took command of 10,000 American Army troops, 12,000 Filipino enlisted men who fought as part of the U.S. Army, and 100,000 Filipino army soldiers, who were poorly-trained and -prepared. MacArthur radically overestimated his strength and underestimated that of Japan’s. The Rainbow War Plan, a defensive strategy for U.S. interests in the Pacific drawn up and refined by the War Department, required that MacArthur withdraw his troops into the mountains of the Bataan Peninsula and await better-trained and equipped American reinforcements. Instead, MacArthur decided to take the Japanese head on-and never recovered.

The day of the Pearl Harbor bombing also saw the Japanese destruction of almost half of the American aircraft based in the Philippines. Amphibious landings of Japanese troops along the Luzon coast followed. By late December, MacArthur had to pull his forces back defensively to the Bataan Peninsula-the original strategy belatedly pursued. By January 2, 1942, the Philippine capital, Manila, fell to the Japanese. President Roosevelt had to admit to himself (if not to the American people, who believed the Americans were winning the battle with the Japanese in the Philippines), that the prospects for the American forces were not good–and that he could not afford to have General MacArthur fall captive to the Japanese. A message arrived at Corregidor on February 20, ordering MacArthur to leave immediately for Mindanao, then on to Melbourne, Australia, where he was to assume command of all United States troops. MacArthur balked; he was fully prepared to fight alongside his men to the death, if necessary. MacArthur finally obeyed the president’s order on March 11.[1]

[1] “MacArthur leaves the Philippines,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6739 (accessed Mar 11, 2009).

World War II History for March 9

Audio Clip: BBC Broadcaster Ian Wilson reports that the American forces have crossed the Rhine into Germany – 1945-03-08.

9 Mar 1936 - The German press warned that all Jews who vote in the upcoming elections would be arrested.

9 Mar 1940 - Britain and France told Finland that troops and planes would be sent to fight the Russians if Helsinki requested such aid. [2]

9 Mar 1940 - Admiral Raeder told Hitler that the British and French might occupy Norway and Sweden under the pretext of aiding the Finns and encouraged an invasion of Norway at the earliest time. [3]

9 Mar 1942 - The Dutch formally surrendered Java to the Japanese. [4]

9 Mar 1945 - During World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers launched incendiary bomb attacks against Japan.

U.S. warplanes launch a new bombing offensive against Japan, dropping 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo over the course of the next 48 hours. Almost 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital were incinerated, and between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians were killed in the worst single firestorm in recorded history.

Early on March 9, Air Force crews met on the Mariana Islands of Tinian and Saipan for a military briefing. They were planning a low-level bombing attack on Tokyo that would begin that evening, but with a twist: Their planes would be stripped of all guns except for the tail turret. The decrease in weight would increase the speed of each Superfortress bomber-and would also increase its bomb load capacity by 65 percent, making each plane able to carry more than seven tons. Speed would be crucial, and the crews were warned that if they were shot down, all haste was to be made for the water, which would increase their chances of being picked up by American rescue crews. Should they land within Japanese territory, they could only expect the very worst treatment by civilians, as the mission that night was going to entail the deaths of tens of thousands of those very same civilians. “You’re going to deliver the biggest firecracker the Japanese have ever seen,” said U.S. Gen. Curtis LeMay.

The cluster bombing of the downtown Tokyo suburb of Shitamachi had been approved only a few hours earlier. Shitamachi was composed of roughly 750,000 people living in cramped quarters in wooden-frame buildings. Setting ablaze this “paper city” was a kind of experiment in the effects of firebombing; it would also destroy the light industries, called “shadow factories,” that produced prefabricated war materials destined for Japanese aircraft factories.

The denizens of Shitamachi never had a chance of defending themselves. Their fire brigades were hopelessly undermanned, poorly trained, and poorly equipped. At 5:34 p.m., Superfortress B-29 bombers took off from Saipan and Tinian, reaching their target at 12:15 a.m. on March 10. Three hundred and thirty-four bombers, flying at a mere 500 feet, dropped their loads, creating a giant bonfire fanned by 30-knot winds that helped raze Shitamachi and spread the flames throughout Tokyo. Masses of panicked and terrified Japanese civilians scrambled to escape the inferno, most unsuccessfully. The human carnage was so great that the blood-red mists and stench of burning flesh that wafted up sickened the bomber pilots, forcing them to grab oxygen masks to keep from vomiting.

The raid lasted slightly longer than three hours. “In the black Sumida River, countless bodies were floating, clothed bodies, naked bodies, all black as charcoal. It was unreal,” recorded one doctor at the scene. Only 243 American airmen were lost-considered acceptable losses.[1]

[1] “Firebombing of Tokyo,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6736 (accessed Mar 9, 2009).

[2-4] Goralski, Robert. World War II Almanac 1931-1945: A Political and Military Record. New York, NY: Perigee Books, 1981.

These are the actual radio broadcasts from Dec 17-18, 1939 about the sinking of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Speein South America.

Graf Spee was a German pocket battleship of 10,000 tons launched in 1936. The Graf Spee was more heavily gunned than any cruiser and had a top speed of 25 knots and an endurance of 12,500 miles (20,000 km).

The Graf Spee had sunk several merchant ships in the Atlantic before being attacked by a British search group consisting of the cruisers Exeter, Ajax, and Achilles. The damage on the 13th to Graf Spee forced her to seek refuge in Montevideo, Uruguay for several days to make repairs. On the 17th Graf Spee left Montevideo and was scuttled by the crew. Captain Langsdorff of the Graf Spee committed suicide three days later. Most of the crew had been secretly taken off when they were in port and teh rest were rescued after the ship being scuttled.

“The telephone in Franklin Roosevelt’s bedroom at the White House rang at 2:50 a. m. on the first day of September. In more ways than one it was a ghastly hour, but the operators knew they must ring. Ambassador Bill Bullitt was calling from Paris. He had just been called by Ambassador Tony Biddle in Warsaw. Mr. Bullitt told Mr. Roosevelt that World War II had begun. Adolf Hitler’s bombing planes were dropping death all over Poland.”[1]

On September 3, 1939 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the nation during his Fireside Chat #14. In the speech he maintains that the United States will do it’s best ability remain neutral during the conflict in Europe, but will still be supporting the Allies. He encourages each and every American keep an open mind about what is going on in the world.

Excerpts from the speech by FDR:[2]

My fellow Americans and my friends:

Tonight my single duty is to speak to the whole of America.

Until four-thirty this morning I had hoped against hope that some miracle would prevent a devastating war in Europe and bring to an end the invasion of Poland by Germany.

For four long years a succession of actual wars and constant crises have shaken the entire world and have threatened in each case to bring on the gigantic conflict which is today unhappily a fact.

It is right that I should recall to your minds the consistent and at time successful efforts of your Government in these crises to throw the full weight of the United States into the cause of peace. In spite of spreading wars I think that we have every right and every reason to maintain as a national policy the fundamental moralities, the teachings of religion (and) the continuation of efforts to restore peace — (for) because some day, though the time may be distant, we can be of even greater help to a crippled humanity.

It is right, too, to point out that the unfortunate events of these recent years have, without question, been based on the use of force (or) and the threat of force. And it seems to me clear, even at the outbreak of this great war, that the influence of America should be consistent in seeking for humanity a final peace which will eliminate, as far as it is possible to do so, the continued use of force between nations.

It is, of course, impossible to predict the future. I have my constant stream of information from American representatives and other sources throughout the world. You, the people of this country, are receiving news through your radios and your newspapers at every hour of the day.

[...]

We have certain ideas and certain ideals of national safety and we must act to preserve that safety today and to preserve the safety of our children in future years.

That safety is and will be bound up with the safety of the Western Hemisphere and of the seas adjacent thereto. We seek to keep war from our own firesides by keeping war from coming to the Americas. For that we have historic precedent that goes back to the days of the Administration of President George Washington. It is serious enough and tragic enough to every American family in every state in the Union to live in a world that is torn by wars on other Continents. And those wars today (they) affect every American home. It is our national duty to use every effort to keep (them) those wars out of the Americas.

And at this time let me make the simple plea that partisanship and selfishness be adjourned; and that national unity be the thought that underlies all others.

This nation will remain a neutral nation, but I cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought as well. Even a neutral has a right to take account of facts. Even a neutral cannot be asked to close his mind or close his conscience.

I have said not once but many times that I have seen war and that I hate war. I say that again and again.
I hope the United States will keep out of this war. I believe that it will. And I give you assurance(s) and reassurance that every effort of your Government will be directed toward that end.

As long as it remains within my power to prevent, there will be no blackout of peace in the United States.

Resources:
Full FDR Fireside Chat 14 Transcript
World War II History Image Archives >> United States Government gallery
[1] Time, “Preface to War.” September 11, 1939.http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,711734,00.html (accessed January 15, 2009).
[2] Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Fireside Chat 14: On the European War.” September 3, 1939. http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3315 (accessed January 15, 2009).

Valkyrie

Starring: Tom Cruise
Release: December 26, 2008

Review of VALKYRIE

United Artists latest feature film, VALKYRIE, starring Tom Cruise, is a vivid drama based on a true story. This film gives an up close and personal view of the conspiracy to assassinate one of history’s most evil dictators, Adolph Hitler.

Read the full review and see the trailers on our Valkyrie Review page!

Starring Tom Cruise, VALKYRIE, is the true story of the assassination plot against Adolf Hitler that took place on July 20, 1944 and which was led by, among others, German staff officer Klaus Von Stauffenberg (whom Cruise portrays).

This video of the making of VALKYRIE featurette contains behind the scenes shots, interviews from the directors and producers, and multiple clips of the film not seen in the trailer.

The July 20th Plot on Hitler’s life is one of the most heroic, but least known episodes of World War II history. Severely wounded in combat, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg returns from Africa to join the German Resistance, and help create Operation Valkyrie, the complex plan that will allow a shadow government to replace Hitler’s once he is dead. But fate and circumstance conspire to thrust Stauffenberg from one of many in the plot to a double-edged central role. Not only must he lead the coup and seize control of his nation’s government–he must kill Hitler himself.

World War II History for October 20

1942 - Pierre Laval told the French labor that they must serve in Germany.

1944 - Allied forces invaded the Philippines. U.S. General Douglas MacArthur landed on the island of Leyte fulfilling his promise to return to the area where he was forced to flee in 1942.

More than 100,000 American soldiers land on Leyte Island, in the Philippines, as preparation for the major invasion by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. The ensuing battles of Leyte Island proved among the bloodiest of the war in the Pacific and signaled the beginning of the end for the Japanese.

The Japanese had held the Philippines since May 1942, when the awful defeat of American forces led to General MacArthur’s departure and General Wainwright’s capture. MacArthur was back, as he promised, but his invasion of Luzon required a softening up of the enemy. Thus, the amphibious landing of the American forces at Leyte and the concomitant goal of destroying the Japanese fleet in the gulf was undertaken.

The Japanese anticipated the American landing by launching Operation Sho-Go, an attempt to divert the U.S. 3rd Fleet north and away from the fighting on the island. The Japanese fleet assembled was the largest ocean task force assembled during the war, including seven battleships, 11 heavy cruisers, and 19 destroyers. American submarines and aircraft carriers met the Japanese fleet and the Battle of Leyte Gulf began on October 23.

Meanwhile on Leyte Island, the American troops took on the Japanese garrison, which was composed of 80,000 soldiers. It took 67 days to subdue the island, with extraordinary acts of physical bravery and courage demonstrated on both sides. Even after the Americans had taken control of the island, Japanese soldiers who had been hidden away continued to emerge and fight on, preferring to die than surrender. All told, the Japanese lost more than 55,000 soldiers during the two months of battle and approximately another 25,000 in mopping up operations in early 1945. The U.S. forces lost about 3,500-compared with the Japanese loss of 80,000 total.

The sea battle of Leyte Gulf was the same story. The loss of ships and sailors was horrendous for both sides. The sinking of the American carrier Princeton resulted in the drowning deaths of 500 men. When the Japanese battleship Musashi was destroyed by a massive American aerial attack, more than 1,000 sailors died, including the captain who stood on his bridge and literally went down with his ship. Three days of sea battle saw the destruction of 36 Japanese warships-compared with America’s three. It also saw the introduction of the Japanese kamikaze-”divine wind”–suicide bombers. The St. Lo, an American aircraft carrier, was one of the first casualties, when one kamikaze pilot drove his plane straight into its flight deck.

More than 5,000 kamikaze pilots died in this gulf battle-taking down 34 ships. But when all was said and done, the Japanese had not been able to prevent the loss of their biggest and best warships, signaling the virtual end of the Japanese Imperial Fleet. The American victory on land and sea opened the door for General MacArthur’s invasion and the recapture of the Philippines.

1944 - During World War II, the Yugoslav cities of Belgrade and Dubrovnik were liberated.

Starring Tom Cruise, VALKYRIE, is the true story of the assassination plot against Adolf Hitler that took place on July 20, 1944 and which was led by, among others, German staff officer Klaus Von Stauffenberg (whom Cruise portrays).

Although there is some public awareness of the plot against Hitler, few people know the details of that plot and the plan that was set up to wrest control of Germany away from Hitler’s SS and Gestapo. When Von Stauffenberg’s carefully placed bomb exploded inside Hitler’s briefing room in East Prussia, all communications were immediately cut off and Von Stauffenberg flew to Berlin with the belief that Hitler was dead. Unbeknownst to most people, Hitler’s emergency plan to maintain control of the government in Germany, was then used against him to begin arresting key SS and Gestapo officials in the capital and preparations were made to hand over control of the government to saner minds.

The events that led up to that brief but dramatic uprising make fascinating drama and VALKYRIE presents these moments in a suspenseful, carefully researched and detailed story that also features, in addition to Cruise, a wonderful supporting cast that includes Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet), Bill Nighy
(Pirates of the Caribbean), Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton), Carice van Houten (Black Book), Thomas Kretschmann (King Kong), Eddie Izzard (Ocean’s 12), Christian Berkel, (The Downfall) and Terence Stamp (Wall Street).

In the next few days we will be adding the Making of VALKYRIE Featurette so check back!

Below are some of the transcripted notes from the audio file.

The London news desk reports on the rail transportation along the Polish corridor with German transports moving back and forth across the border.

The Chinese and Japanese ambassadors both called at the foreign office together. Something London hasn’t seen in a long while.

Germans have been instructed to leave Hong Kong.

The admiralty have forbidden the use of any wireless transmitter from any seagoing ship in British territorial waters.

Voluntary censorship over certain forms of communication expected in the next 24 hours.

The first Defense Order (Decree) is put in place. issues. Covered a lot of territory.

• Power is given to order compulsory evacuation over people and animals.
• Compulsory billeting is provided for, for houses in the country.
• Traffic may be regulated, the carrying of cameras in certain areas may be prohibited.
• Private residences may be taken over.
• No person shall have under his control, or liberate any racing or homing pigeons.
• Prices of food and other commodities may be controlled.
• There are more than 100 items in the list.

“There is still hope,” to avoid war, but it is slimming.

There is news of Poland and of the build up and waiting for tensions to break one way or the other.

Londoner’s believe that a decision will be made within the next 36 hours (which proved very accurate).

The report, by William L. Shire from Germany, Sir Neville Henderson the British Ambassador to Germany, is meeting with Hitler to finally decide if it will be war, or peace.

The Reich will not bend or compromise, and tension is terrific, knowing the world will follow in one direction or another.

Notes about the German rationing, the German woman in her supporting role, and pride in defending Germany.

Though the talking stage has yet to be abandoned, the preparations for war were evident everywhere.

Listen to the full report to hear more of life just before the beginning of World War II (01 Sept 1939).

World War II History for September 28

1939 - During World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed upon a plan on the division of Poland.

1942 - General Arnold fights for unique bombers

On this day in 1942, Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold gives highest priority to the development of two exceptional aircraft–the B-35 Flying Wing and the B-36 Peacemaker–intended for bombing runs from bases in the United States to targets in Europe.

General Arnold was a man of distinction from the beginning of his career: Not only was he one of the first pilots in the U.S. Signal Corps, he was taught to fly by none other than one of the Wright brothers. During World War I, Arnold was director of aviation training for the Army. Between the wars, he embraced a controversial military philosophy that emphasized strategic bombing, eliminating the need for the use of ground forces altogether.

At the time of the United States’ entry into the Second World War, the Army Air Forces had become an increasingly distinct military service. Arnold was made its first chief. Along with this honor came the opportunity of a seat with the Joint Chiefs of Staff; initially intended to boost his status to that of his counterpart in Britain, it also increased the stature and independence of the Army Air Forces. Arnold was able to form alliances with British RAF allies who also favored the use of strategic bombing in lieu of ground-force operations.

In 1942, Arnold gave the highest priority to the development of two extra long-distance transatlantic planes that would prove most useful to his strategic bombing game plan: the B-35 and the B-36 transatlantic bombers. The B-35 had been first proposed in early 1941, intended for use in defending an invaded Britain. But the design was so radical (it was tailless), the plane was put on the back burner. It was finally revived because of advantages the plane afforded over the B-36–bombing range in relation to gross weight, for example. Fifteen B-35 planes were ordered for construction–but the first did not take flight until 1946. Designs for the B-36 were also developed early in 1941, on the assumption that the United States would inevitably be drawn into the war and it would need a bomber that could reach Europe from bases in America. It was to be a massive plane–162 feet long with a 230-foot wingspan. But its construction lagged, and it was not completed until after the war.

Although Hap’s “high priority” could not cut through the military bureaucracy, 1947 would see the Nation Defense Act establish an autonomous Air Force–a dream for which he had worked. The B-35 would become the prototype for the B-2 Stealth bomber built in 1989. And the B-36 was used extensively by U.S. Strategic Air Command until 1959, but never dropped a bomb.

==========

Also included as a special feature in today’s post is an audio clip of President Franklin D. Roosevelt giving the speech ‘There Can Be No Peace’ from Aug 1939, almost two years before the United States joined the war.

The speech start out with this quote: “It is becoming increasingly clear that peace by fear has no higher or more enduring quality than peace by the sword.”

World War II History for September 26

1944 - Operation Market-Garden failed when thousands of British and Polish troops were killed in an attempt to seize bridges in the Dutch town of Arnhem.

British Gen. Bernard Montgomery conceived an operation to take control of bridges that crossed the Rhine River, from the Netherlands into Germany, as a strategy to make “a powerful full-blooded thrust to the heart of Germany.” The plan seemed cursed from the beginning. It was launched on September 17, with parachute troops and gliders landing in Arnhem. Holding out as long as they could, waiting for reinforcements, they were compelled to surrender. Unfortunately, a similar drop of equipment was delayed, and there were errors in locating the proper drop location and bad intelligence on German troop strength. Added to this, bad weather and communication confused the coordination of the Allied troops on the ground.

The Germans quickly destroyed the railroad bridge and took control of the southern end of the road bridge. The Allies struggled to control the northern end of the road bridge, but soon lost it to the superior German forces. The only thing left was retreat-back behind Allied lines. But few made it: Of more than 10,000 British and Polish troops engaged at Arnhem, only 2,900 escaped.

Claims were made after the fact that a Dutch Resistance fighter, Christiaan Lindemans, betrayed the Allies, which would explain why the Germans were arrayed in such numbers at such strategic points. A conservative member of the British Parliament, Rupert Allason, writing under the named Nigel West, dismissed this conclusion in his A Thread of Deceit, arguing that Lindemans, while a double agent, “was never in a position to betray Arnhem.”

Winston Churchill would lionize the courage of the fallen Allied soldiers with the epitaph “Not in vain.” Arnhem was finally liberated on April 15, 1945.

1944 - Allied planes drop American paratroopers behind German lines in Italy to establish the same sort of resistance network that had been so successful in helping the Allies capture France.

1945 - President Truman announces the equitable division of what is left of the German fleet between the three principal Allies.

//

Podcast: Columbia News Broadcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 8

Today we bring you the 8th installment of the radio news broadcast after the landings in Normandy on D-Day (44-Jun-06) that went out to the United States.

Here are links to the first set of broadcasts in the series:

Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 1
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 2
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 3
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 4
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 5
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 6
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 7

Please remember to subscribe to WWarII.com on iTunes with this link!

World War II History for September 17

1939 - The Soviet Union invaded Poland. Germany had invaded Poland on September 1.

Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov declares that the Polish government has ceased to exist, as the U.S.S.R. exercises the “fine print” of the Hitler-Stalin Non-aggression pact-the invasion and occupation of eastern Poland.

Hitler’s troops were already wreaking havoc in Poland, having invaded on the first of the month. The Polish army began retreating and regrouping east, near Lvov, in eastern Galicia, attempting to escape relentless German land and air offensives. But Polish troops had jumped from the frying pan into the fire-as Soviet troops began occupying eastern Poland. The Ribbentrop-Molotov Non-aggression Pact, signed in August, had eliminated any hope Poland had of a Russian ally in a war against Germany. Little did Poles know that a secret clause of that pact, the details of which would not become public until 1990, gave the U.S.S.R. the right to mark off for itself a chunk of Poland’s eastern region. The “reason” given was that Russia had to come to the aid of its “blood brothers,” the Ukrainians and Byelorussians, who were trapped in territory that had been illegally annexed by Poland. Now Poland was squeezed from West and East-trapped between two behemoths. Its forces overwhelmed by the mechanized modern German army, Poland had nothing left with which to fight the Soviets.

As Soviet troops broke into Poland, they unexpectedly met up with German troops who had fought their way that far east in a little more than two weeks. The Germans receded when confronted by the Soviets, handing over their Polish prisoners of war. Thousands of Polish troops were taken into captivity; some Poles simply surrendered to the Soviets to avoid being captured by the Germans.

The Soviet Union would wind up with about three-fifths of Poland and 13 million of its people as a result of the invasion.

1944 - Operation “Market Garden” was launched by Allied paratroopers during World War II. The landing point was behind German lines in the Netherlands.

Podcast: Columbia News Broadcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 7

Today we bring you the 7th installment of the radio news broadcast after the landings in Normandy on D-Day (44-Jun-06) that went out to the United States.

Here are links to the first set of broadcasts in the series:

Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 1
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 2
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 3
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 4
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 5
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 6

Please remember to subscribe to WWarII.com on iTunes with this link!

World War II History for September 9,

1941 - Iran surrenders to the Allies

Agreeing, among other things, Iran deports Axis spies posing as diplomatic and tourist staff. Iran will order the “diplomats” and others out on the 13th.

1942 - Japan dropped incendiaries over Oregon in an attempt to set fire to the forests in Oregon and Washington. The forest did not ignite.

A Japanese floatplane dropped incendiary bombs on an Oregon state forest-the first and only air attack on the U.S. mainland in the war.

Launching from the Japanese sub I-25, Nobuo Fujita piloted his light aircraft over the state of Oregon and firebombed Mount Emily, alighting a state forest–and ensuring his place in the history books as the only man to ever bomb the continental United States. The president immediately called for a news blackout for the sake of morale. No long-term damage was done, and Fujita eventually went home to train navy pilots for the rest of the war.

1943 - During World War II Allied forces landed at Taranto and Salerno.

Operation Avalanche, the Allied land invasion of Salerno, and Operation Slapstick, the British airborne invasion of Taranto, both in southern Italy, are launched.

The U.S. 5th Army under Lt. Gen. Mark Clark landed along the Salerno coastline while British Commando units and their American counterparts, the U.S. Rangers, landed on the peninsula itself. Salerno had been chosen as the first site for invasion of the peninsula because it was the northern-most point to which the Allies could fly planes from its bases in Sicily, which they had already invaded and occupied. Rockets launched from landing craft provided cover, and the beach landings went relatively smoothly. It wasn’t until two days later that the Germans, with some Italian troops coerced into service, mounted a heavy counterattack on the beachhead. But Clark called in the 82nd Airborne for support, and by the 15th, Salerno was in Allied hands.

Meanwhile, the British 1st Airborne Division, having successfully landed at Taranto, captured the airfield at Foggia.

World War II History for September 5,

1934 - Adolf Hitler predicted that the Reich would last for 1,000 years.

1939 - The U.S. proclaimed its neutrality in World War II.

1939 - German troops cross the Vistula River in Poland.

1943 - U.S. forces seize more of New Guinea

On this day in 1943, Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s 503rd Parachute Regiment land and occupy Nazdab, just east of Lae, a port city in northeastern Papua New Guinea, situating them perfectly for future operations on the islands.

New Guinea had been occupied by the Japanese since March 1942. Raids by Allied forces early on were met with tremendous ferocity, and they were often beaten back by the Japanese occupiers. Much of the Allied response was led by forces from Australia, as they were most threatened by the presence of the Japanese in that sphere.

The tide began to turn in December 1942, as the Australians recaptured Buna-but despite numerical superiority, the Japanese continued to hang on, fighting to keep every square mile they had captured. Many Japanese committed suicide, swimming out to sea, rather than be taken prisoner. In January 1943, the Americans joined the Aussies in assaults on Sanananda, which resulted in huge losses for the Japanese–7,000 killed–and the first land defeat of the war. As Japanese reinforcements raced for the next Allied targets, Lae and Salamauam, in March, 137 American bombers destroyed the Japanese transport vessels, drowning 3,500 Japanese, as well as their much-needed fuel and spare parts.

On September 8, almost 2,000 American and Australian Airborne Division parachutists landed and seized Nazdab, which held a valuable airfield. The Allies quickly established a functioning airstrip and prepared to take the port city of Lae, one more step in MacArthur’s strategy to recapture New Guinea and the Solomons-and eventually go back for the Philippines.

1945 - Iva Toguri D’Aquino was arrested. D’Aquino was suspected of being the wartime radio propagandist “Tokyo Rose”. She served six years before being pardoned by U.S. President Ford.

World War II History for September 3,

1939 - Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany.

On this day in 1939, in response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation, along with Australia and New Zealand, declare war on Germany.

The first casualty of that declaration was not German-but the British ocean liner Athenia, which was sunk by a German U-30 submarine that had assumed the liner was armed and belligerent. There were more than 1,100 passengers on board, 112 of whom lost their lives. Of those, 28 were Americans, but President Roosevelt was unfazed by the tragedy, declaring that no one was to “thoughtlessly or falsely talk of America sending its armies to European fields.” The United States would remain neutral.

As for Britain’s response, it was initially no more than the dropping of anti-Nazi propaganda leaflets-13 tons of them-over Germany. They would begin bombing German ships on September 4, suffering significant losses. They were also working under orders not to harm German civilians. The German military, of course, had no such restrictions. France would begin an offensive against Germany’s western border two weeks later. Their effort was weakened by a narrow 90-mile window leading to the German front, enclosed by the borders of Luxembourg and Belgium-both neutral countries. The Germans mined the passage, stalling the French offensive.

1940 - Adolf Hitler planned Operation Sealion. The plan was for the invasion of Britain.

1943 - Italy was invaded by the Allied forces during World War II.

**World War II Ends**

World War II History for September 2,

1944 - A U.S. Navy squadron was given the assignment to take out a radio tower on the island Chichi Jima. Ensign George H.W. Bush scored four direct hits on the tower and then headed out to sea where he ejected. He was rescued by the crew of the USS Finback.

1945 - Japan surrendered to the U.S. aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II. The war ended six years and one day after it began.

VJ Day!

On this day in 1945, the USS Missouri hosts the formal surrender of the Japanese government to the Allies. Victory over Japan was celebrated back in the States.

As Japanese troops finally surrendered to Americans on the Caroline, Mariana, and Palau islands, representatives of their emperor and prime minister were preparing to formalize their capitulation. In Tokyo Bay, aboard the Navy battleship USS Missouri, the Japanese foreign minister, Mamoru Shigemitsu, and the chief of staff of the Japanese army, Yoshijiro Umezu, signed the “instrument of surrender.” Representing the Allied victors were Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of the U.S. Army forces in the Pacific, and Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, now promoted to the newest and highest Navy rank, fleet admiral. Among others in attendance was Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, who had taken command of the forces in the Philippines upon MacArthur’s departure and had been recently freed from a Japanese POW camp in Manchuria.

Shigemitsu would be found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to seven years in prison subsequent to the surrender. The grand irony is that he had fought for concessions on the Japanese side in order to secure an early peace. He was paroled in 1950 and went on to become chairman of Japan’s Progressive Party. MacArthur would fight him again when he was named commander in chief of the United Nations forces in Korea in 1950.

World War II History for August 29,

1942 - Red Cross announces Japan refuses passage of supplies for U.S. POWs

On this day in 1942, the international humanitarian agency, the Red Cross, reveals that Japan has refused free passage of ships carrying food, medicine, and other necessities for American POWs held by Japan.

In January 1941, the U.S. government requested that the American Red Cross begin a blood-donor program to provide ready and ample supplies of blood plasma and serum albumin for transfusions for wounded soldiers. More than 13 million donations (each about a pint) were collected.

Among other grassroots efforts organized by local Red Cross chapters were bandage-making “assembly lines,” working out of local churches, synagogues, and town halls. Abroad, volunteers worked in military hospitals, reading and writing letters for the wounded. Tens of millions of food packages were prepared and funneled to Allied POWs through Geneva, which served as a clearinghouse. But getting such packages to prisoners in Japan proved particularly difficult. Japan refused to allow even “neutral” ships to enter Japanese waters, even those on humanitarian errands. Despite protests by the Red Cross, Japan allowed just one-tenth of what POWs elsewhere received to reach prisoners in their territories.

As the war came to a close, the Red Cross followed on the heels of liberating military forces to supply relief and aid to those suffering from the ravages of battle. Approximately 20,000 professional Red Cross workers served during the war, along with countless other volunteers.

1944 - During the continuing celebration of the liberation of France from the Nazis, 15,000 American troops marched down the Champs Elysees in Paris.

1945 - U.S. General Douglas MacArthur left for Japan to officially accept the surrender of the Japanese.

World War II History for August 28

1941 - In occupied Ukraine, more than 23,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered by the Gestapo.

The German invasion of the Soviet Union had advanced to the point of mass air raids on Moscow and the occupation of parts of Ukraine. On August 26, Hitler displayed the joys of conquest by inviting Benito Mussolini to Brest-Litovsk, where the Germans had destroyed the city’s citadel. The grand irony is that Ukrainians had originally viewed the Germans as liberators from their Soviet oppressors and an ally in the struggle for independence. But as early as July, the Germans were arresting Ukrainians agitating and organizing for a provisional state government with an eye toward autonomy and throwing them into concentration camps. The Germans also began carving the nation up, dispensing parts to Poland (already occupied by Germany) and Romania.

But true horrors were reserved for Jews in the territory. Tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews had been expelled from that country and migrated to Ukraine. The German authorities tried sending them back, but Hungary would not take them. SS General Franz Jaeckeln vowed to deal with the influx of refugees by the “complete liquidation of those Jews by September 1.” He worked even faster than promised. On August 28, he marched more than 23,000 Hungarian Jews to bomb craters at Kamenets Podolsk, ordered them to undress, and riddled them with machine-gun fire. Those who didn’t die from the spray of bullets were buried alive under the weight of corpses that piled atop them.

All told, more than 600,000 Jews had been murdered in Ukraine by war’s end.

World War II History for August 27

1939 - Nazi Germany demanded the Polish corridor and Danzig.

1941 - Japanese prime minister requests a summit meeting with FDR

On this day in 1941, Prince Fumimaro Konoye, prime minister of Japan, announces that he would like to enter into direct negotiations with President Roosevelt in order to prevent the Japanese conflict with China from expanding into world war.

Konoye, a lawyer by training and well studied in Western philosophy, literature, and economics, entered the Japanese Parliament’s upper house by virtue of his princely status and immediately pursued a program of reform. High on his agenda was a reform of the army general staff in order to prevent its direct interference in foreign policy decisions. He also sought an increase in parliamentary power. An antifascist, Konoye championed an end to the militarism of Japanese political structures, especially in light of the war in Manchuria, which began in 1931.

Appointed prime minister in 1933, Konoye’s first cabinet fell apart after full-blown war broke out between Japan and China. In 1940, Konoye was asked to form a second cabinet. But as he sought to contain the war with China, relations with the United States deteriorated, to the point where Japan was virtually surrounded by a U.S. military presence and threats of sanctions. On August 27, 1941, Konoye requested a summit with President Roosevelt in order to diminish heightening tensions. Envoys were exchanged, but no direct meeting with the president took place.

In October, Konoye resigned because of increasing tension with his army minister, Tojo Hideki, who would succeed him as prime minister. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Konoye was put under military surveillance, his political career all but over until 1945, when the emperor considered sending him to Moscow to negotiate peace terms. That meeting never came off either.

The grand irony of Prince Konoye’s career came at the war’s conclusion, when he was served with an arrest warrant by the U.S. occupying force for suspicion of war crimes. Rather than submit to arrest, he committed suicide by drinking poison.

1945 - American troops landed in Japan after the surrender of the Japanese government at the end of World War II.

Podcast: Columbia News Broadcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 6

Today we bring you the 6th installment of the radio news broadcast after the landings in Normandy on D-Day (44-Jun-06) that went out to the United States.

Here are links to the first four broadcasts in the series:

Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 1
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 2
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 3
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 4
Podcast – D-Day Broadcast Pt 5

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