February 26, 1942. Eastern Front
The Red Army has built up an attack force on the Kerch Peninsula, Crimea, to liberate Sevastopol. The Crimean Front force is commanded by Lieutenant General Dmitry Timofeyevich Kozlov and is composed of nine rifle divisions and numerous tank brigades of the 44th, 47th, and 51st Armies. Kozlov has 73,804 soldiers, 1195 guns and mortars, 125 anti-tank guns, 194 tanks, and 200 aircraft. However, while this is an imposing force on paper for such a small 80-square kilometre front, the Red Army units are short of essential supplies like fuel and working weapons. Kozlov requests permission to delay his offensive, but the Stavka orders him to attack on 27 February.
Photo: Three German soldiers in a foxhole who are manning an MG-34 machine gun in front of a knocked-out Soviet T-26 light tank, February 1942.
Source: worldwartwodaily
February 27, 1942. Eastern Front
In the Crimea, Soviet Lieutenant General Dmitry Timofeyevich Kozlov launches an offensive along a section of the front at the Parpach Narrows at 06:30. The Red Army has 93,804 troops, 1,195 guns and mortars, 125 anti-tank guns, 194 tanks, and 200 aircraft. The offensive begins with a 230-gun artillery barrage, but the shelling is poorly aimed and does little to disrupt the German defences. The Germans have their 46th and 132nd Infantry Divisions on the 42 Corps front along with the Romanian 18th Infantry Division. The Germans also have Gruppe Hitzfeld in reserve.
The Germans rely on a hedgehog defence of fortified strongpoints at the villages of Tulumchak, Korpech’, and Koi-Asan. They have built strong fortifications all along the front, and they are aided by warmer weather which creates muddy conditions benefiting the defence. The Soviets must advance across a flat, 80-square kilometre plain which exposes them to brutal counter-fire. Soviet tanks, particularly the heavy KV-1s which are slow and make good targets, sink in the mud. Still, the Red Army soldiers take Tulumchak, which is held by the Romanian 18th Infantry Regiment. However, the Germans hold their other two strongpoints at Korpech’ and Koi-Asan after brutal fighting. The Luftwaffe makes 40 Stuka sorties which help to knock out 93 Soviet tanks in total, including 28 KV-1s. The Soviets do make minor gains but suffer heavy losses.
Source: worldwartwodaily
Sweet ! Funny about the pic. I just saw that a few days ago looking for pictures for my task force cards.
February 28, 1942. Eastern Front
The Soviets conclude their airborne landings behind Wehrmacht lines south of Vyazma. The landings are unopposed by the Germans, who often are able to see the Soviet transport planes landing in the distance. Since the Germans control thinly held lines all around this forested area, in essence, the Soviet troops are flying into a pocket. Today, the airborne troops are able to link up with Soviet 50th Army, which also is trapped. The Germans are content to keep these Soviet forces under observation and conclude that the new troops don’t have a clear objective. They focus more on self-protection and securing their supplies rather than making any aggressive moves.
In the Crimea, Lieutenant General Dmitry Timofeyevich Kozlov continues his offensive along the Parpach Narrows. There is bitter fighting, but the Red Army attack loses momentum after advancing five kilometres as two important German strongpoints hold out. Gruppe Hitzfeld from the German 73rd Infantry Division, under the command of Otto Hitzfeld, mounts a counterattack and recovers some ground lost by Romanian troops, retaking Kiet. The Soviets are reorienting their attack to focus on Romanian troops because they prove weaker than nearby German units. This is a Red Army practice that increases throughout the war, with areas held by Romanians easy to identify due to their different and distinctive helmets. The Germans bring up their 170th Infantry Division to secure the Romanian portion of the line in the north.
Source: worldwartwodaily
March 1, 1942. Eastern Front
While the front has stabilised following the Soviet counteroffensive in December, the German position remains much shakier than anyone ever expected. General Halder, head of OKH, issues an analysis showing that total casualties are approaching half the number of men that began the campaign. While many of those men are still fighting, the winter was not the respite that the Wehrmacht expected and instead has turned into a struggle to the death. Replacements are not coming close to making up all the losses, and ammunition supplies are becoming an issue as well.
After almost two weeks of indecision about whether to even approach Hitler with the idea of another retreat, today Fourth Army General Heinrici arrives at the Fuhrer headquarters in Rastenburg to plead his case with Hitler. Hitler, however, already is thinking about operations elsewhere to regain the initiative and rescue the trapped units at Kholm and Demyansk and is not concerned about the troops near Moscow. To Heinrici’s (and everyone else’s) astonishment, Hitler immediately grants the withdrawal request. He explains that previously he had been “deliberately obstinate” about retreats, but the front situation has improved so much in recent weeks that he no longer cares exactly where it is. Heinrici returns to headquarters with permission to pull troops back from an exposed position at Yukhnov.
On the Crimea, the Soviet effort along the Parpach Narrows front now is focused on the Romanian forces at the north end of the line. They are the only sector that has given up serious ground. Today, the German 170th Infantry Division moves up and stops this threat, leaving the Red Army in possession of a bulge at the extreme northern end of the line. The Soviets land a small party at Alushta today, but it achieves nothing and quickly re-embarks, while the Soviet Navy bombards Yalta and Feodosiya to little effect. The Soviets already have lost 40 tanks during their offensive and now are achieving little, but they refuse to abandon it. Lieutenant General Dmitry Timofeyevich Kozlov prepares one last attack on the 2nd against the German strongpoint at Koi-Asan.
Source: worldwartwodaily
March 2, 1942. Eastern Front
Lieutenant General Dmitry Timofeyevich Kozlov makes one last attempt to break through the Axis line across the Parpach Narrows on the Crimea. He sends two rifle divisions, three tank brigades and a tank battalion to take the German fortified village of Koi-Asan. The Germans have carefully sited their anti-tank artillery, and along with Stukas, they devastate the advancing Soviet tanks, destroying 93 of them (according to Soviet sources). The Red Army makes no worthwhile gains, and Kozlov must admit defeat. However, his forces have gained a small salient in the north of the line which may provide a possible springboard into the interior of the Crimea in future battles. Stalin approves the cessation of the offensive but demands another one within ten days.
At the Fuhrer Headquarters at Rastenburg, Adolf Hitler continues his unexpected leniency on allowing retreats. He approves a plan by General Schmidt of the Second Panzer Army to pull troops back from Belev in order to consolidate his lines. With the spring thaw (Rasputitsa) coming soon, operations are going to die down anyway.
Source: worldwartwodaily
March 3, 1941. North Africa
Rommel moves German 5th Light Division along the Libyan coast road from Sirte to hold a narrow pass 17 miles west of the Allied forward positions at El Agheila. This will block any Allied advances towards Tripoli and serve as a base for offensive operations. Germans also construct defences in the desert to prevent the Allies from bypassing this position.
@captainwalker Nice. Nice easy Dog Fight targets !
@SS-GEN said in On this day during W.W. 2:
@captainwalker Nice. Nice easy Dog Fight targets !
Maybe not that easy…if you’re above them they’d be difficult to see.
@captainwalker Yes ! That is cool as hell.
On March 4, 1941, British forces conducted “Operation Claymore”, a raid against the Lofoten Islands in Norway. The purpose of the raid was two-fold, first to destroy fish oil-producing factories. All the oil produced was being shipped to Germany, which extracted from it glycerine, a vital ingredient in the manufacture of high explosives, The second reason for the raid was to bolster morale in the UK in the days after the expulsion of British troops from Europe in 1940.
The attacking force was 500 men from No. 3 & 4 Commandos supported by a section of Royal Engineers of No. 55 Field Company, and four officers and 48 men of the Norwegian Independent Company 1. Their transport was provided by two former Dutch passenger ships now serving as Landing Ship, Infantry (Medium) guarded by five Royal Navy escorts from the 6th Destroyer Flotilla: HMS ‘Somali’, ‘Bedouin’, ‘Tartar’, ‘Eskimo’ and ‘Legion’. The force departed from Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands on March 1. After refueling at the Faroes, the ships took a jog north to avoid detection by German aircraft.
When the invading force reached the Lofoten Islands about 4:30 a.m., they were surprised to see the navigation lights were still illuminated. At 6:45 disembarking started and all troops were ashore by 7 a.m. Four islands were attacked simultaneously. At Stamsund commandos destroyed the Lofotens Cod Boiling Plant; Two factories were destroyed at Henningsvær and 13 at Svolvær. In total, about 800,000 imperial gallons (3,600 m3) of fish oil were set on fire. The Allies captured 228 prisoners of war and sank nine merchant ships. The only armed opposition came from the German trawler ‘Krebs’, which managed to fire four rounds at HMS Somali before being sunk. The only British casualty was an officer who shot himself with his own revolver. The force withdrew at 1 p.m. and with them came 300 volunteers for the Free Norwegian Forces in Britain.
The biggest haul from the raid went unpublicized. The captain of the trawler Krebs managed to throw his "Enigma’ coding machine overboard before he was killed, but the British were able to seize the machine’s rotor wheels and cypher books. Their capture enabled Bletchley Park to read all the German naval codes for some time and provided the intelligence needed to allow Allied convoys to avoid U-boat concentrations.
The attached image is a Royal Navy photograph of the burning fish oil tanks seen from the decks of the destroyer HMS Legion. #WorldWarII #RoyalNavy #Commandos
@captainwalker Speaking of Enigma and shipboard booty, the story of TG 22.3 and U-505 (the U-boat in Chicago) comes to mind. While they were successful in boarding and capturing U-505 (and grabbing all of the Enigma secrets on board), the Navy brass were furious about that turn of events. The brass didn’t want the Germans to wonder about the security of all the secrets passed over Enigma-encrypted comms channels. The men of U-505 were interned in a special POW camp in Louisiana and held incommunicado.
More information at: https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-capture-u-505-2361441
-Midnight_Reaper
P.S. Edit to fix spelling errors.
Thanks for that. I never knew the specifics of the event. Always thought it was in the north atlantic for some reason
March 6, 1942. Eastern Front
In the Crimea, the Soviets are reinforcing the Crimean Front under Lieutenant General Dmitry Timofeyevich Kozlov for another attempt to pierce the Axis line at the Parpach Narrows. The last attempt failed largely due to Luftwaffe supremacy, so the Red Air Force brings in 581 planes. However, the Soviet planes are largely obsolete while the Luftwaffe has current models. The Soviets also mass 224 tanks, which Kozlov decides to divide up to support individual units rather than use them as a single, powerful striking force. The Germans know the Soviets are likely to attack again, so they are laying 2000 Teller mines near the key Koi-Asan position. The Soviet attack is scheduled for 13 March.
Source: worldwartwodaily
March 7, 1942. Eastern Front
The Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front is overstretched, and this is beginning to affect overall operations. Eighteenth Army informs the OKH that it is ready to begin Operation Raubtier (“Beast of prey”), whose aim is to re-establish the former line along the Volkhov River and thereby trap Soviet 2nd Shock Army to the west. The gap in the German lines is only about six miles wide, though the Soviet incursion bulges out to the west. Closing this gap is well within the Wehrmacht’s abilities. However, the operation depends upon strong Luftwaffe support, and it is fully engaged in supplying the trapped German garrisons at Kholm and Demyansk. Knowing that the two encircled outposts cannot survive without each day’s deliveries, Hitler postpones Operation Raubtier. The Eighteenth Army then tries to build up its forces sufficiently so that it can mount the operation with only minor Luftwaffe support, that but will take several days.
Source: worldwartwodaily
March 9, 1942. Eastern Front
The situation is growing critical at Kholm. The trapped German garrison, numbering almost 100,000 men, is barely surviving on each day’s flight of supplies brought in by the Luftwaffe. The relief force under Generalmajor Horst von Uckermann remains stalled virtually within sight of the pocket, blocked by Soviet KV tanks. Soviet T-34 tanks are blasting the pocket’s defences, but so far they are holding. Hitler is losing confidence in Uckermann but has no alternatives at the moment. The Luftwaffe is using all of its transport resources from the entire front just to keep the pocket from collapsing.
The Soviets under General Kozlov are preparing to resume their offensive on the Crimea. They are under strict orders from Stalin to get moving quickly, who has taken a personal interest in the situation. Kozlov’s plan is to break the German defensive strongpoint at Koi-Asan, hitting the Germans where they are strongest. The Germans also are reinforcing their positions on the Parpach Narrows with troops happy to see the first StuG units arrive in the Crimea to bolster the defence.
Source: worldwartwodaily
March 9, 1943 North Africa
Rommel leaves Africa for the last time. On his way home he meets Mussolini in Rome and Hitler in East Prussia. Neither is persuaded to withdraw the Axis forces from Africa.
yea they lost as many as they did in Stalingrad. Would’ve supported him earlier woulda been a different story.
Of course being captured in Tunis was heck of a lot better than Russia : )
March 10, 1942. Eastern Front
German Fifth Panzer Division captures part of Soviet I Guards Cavalry Corps in a pocket south of Vyazma. After this, a blizzard hits the area which stops all movement for almost a week. The unusually heavy snowfall (even for the area) hampers the Uckermann relief attempt toward the Kholm pocket and creates dangerous icing conditions on the Luftwaffe’s planes that are keeping the pocket from collapsing.
Source: worldwartwodaily
March 11, 1942. Eastern Front
A snowstorm on the central front that began on 10 March increases in intensity throughout the night. Travel becomes difficult. General Walter Model manages to fly through the storm to Fuhrer Headquarters in East Prussia. He is there to argue in favour of the quick start of Operation Brueckenschlag, a drive toward Oshtakov which would close a gap between Army Groups Centre and North (Brueckenschlag literally means “bridge-building”). This is an ambitious operation that, if successful, would trap six or seven Soviet armies and deprive them of a third of their gains during the winter counteroffensive. The weather is so bad, however, that today the Luftwaffe asks for a postponement of offensive operations due to severe icing conditions.
Source: worldwartwodaily
