Today in WWII History
World War II History for September 17
1939 - The Soviet Union invaded Poland. Germany had invaded Poland on September 1.
1944 - Operation “Market Garden” was launched by Allied paratroopers during World War II. The landing point was behind German lines in the Netherlands.
Today in WW II History
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.
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Today in WW II History
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.
Normandy to Berlin: Walking on hallowed ground
By Les Young – Published: August 06, 2008 10:28 am
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 — In the wee hours of June 6, 1944 (Day-D, World War II) the long awaited Allied invasion of France began. Para-troopers and glider forces began landing soon after midnight, the Americans behind the western beaches, the British at the eastern flank. Their roles were to secure vital transportation junctions and river crossings to prevent, or delay, the arrival of German reinforcements.
After sunrise, American, British, and Canadian ground forces came ashore at five beaches code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. By late afternoon the Allies’ objective was reached. Beachheads were established to the interior of the entire 50-mile front from which the invasion could be sustained. German Gen. Erwin Rommel correctly predicted this would be “The Longest Day.”
Frank Lee, a Norwood farmer, watched the Ken Burns PBS television series “The War” and was eager to participate in a mid-summer WTVI promoted battlefield tour. Frank persuaded me and his son, Michael Lee of Raleigh, to accompany him. Our 11-day tour began in Normandy and continued through the Argonne and Hurtgen Forests, to the Battle of the Bulge, across the Rhine River, and on to Weimar, Buchenwald, Berlin and Potsdam. [...]
Early in our trip we stopped at a hillside park dedicated to American paratroopers. I was particularly interested in this park as a dear friend from Norwood jumped with his company near this site.
The park overlooks the bridge at La Fiere, Normandy, where units of the 82nd Airborne Division sealed the Ste. Mere Eglise and Utah Beach areas against German reinforcement.
As others climbed the hill to observe the monuments, I remained behind at the park entrance to read the names posted on the Order of Battle. I was looking for, and half expecting to find, my friend’s name listed there. To my delight, Lt. James M. Irvin’s name does appear, and not far below those of Generals Matthew Ridgway and James Gavin. Jim is listed as Commander, B Company, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
Night paratrooper drops over enemy terrain, and especially on dark, cloudy nights, were notoriously inaccurate. As occurred with others, Jim and his company landed miles from their intended drop zone.
Jim was wounded and captured. After an extended march to the rear, Jim and other officers were loaded aboard a bus for transport to Germany. As their charcoal-fired bus slowed on an uphill grade, Jim and two companions scrambled through the back door and found concealment in a roadside ditch from a passing German convoy. Later, a French farm boy discovered the three asleep in a barn and informed his father who provided them a secure place to rest, in a hayloft. They brought food and civilian clothing, tended Jim’s wound, and instructed them to travel south toward Brittany, where the Germans were fewer.
To reduce the risk of recapture, the three traveled on separately. At one point, Jim found refuge at an orphanage where a priest gave him a bicycle to ride. Another farm family secured French identity papers indicating Jim to be a “deaf-mute.”
Sporting a newly grown moustache and beret, Jim bade farewell to his French friends and peddled toward Brittany. During the journey, Jim passed work details supervised by German guards, but none asked to see his papers. In time, Jim arrived at a seaport, proved himself to be an American soldier, and caught a vessel back to England. Jim’s two-month odyssey ended when he made his way to the 82th Airborne Division headquarters where he resumed command of Company B, then being reorganized for the September invasion of The Netherlands. It was there, in Operation Market Garden, that Jim sustained his most severe wounds. In all, Jim jumped in four campaigns — Sicily, Italy, Normandy and Holland.
Near the end of our trip — at Torgau, Germany — our local guide, Heinz Richter, told how the American and USSR armies first met at Torgau on the Elbe River. Across the river from the old castle and church fly the flags of the three countries involved in that historic moment, those of the U.S.A., the U.S.S.R. and Germany. [...]
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