@wittmann:
It was also a great Medieval city, its cathedral a beautiful Gothic example, not finished unti the 19th century.
Considering what a thorough job the Allied bombers did of demolishing Cologne, it’s amazing that Cologne Cathedral managed to survive the war. It took some seventy bomb hits over the years without collapsing. To quote Curt Jurgens in the submarine movie The Enemy Below, “We build them good in Germany, eh?”
Good film.
I love Sub films.
I saw the cathedral 4 years ago, as I had a friend working nearby. Have always liked Germany.
On the 11th March 1945 24 Japanese twin engined Bombers left Japan’s southern most island, Kyushu, for a kamikaze raid on the Ulithi Atoll, part of the Caroline Islands.
The Atoll had been used as an anchorage by the Japanese and was a radio and weather station, but had abandoned it in 44. The US Navy saw how it could be used to house hundreds of its ships while in the Western Pacific, without the need to return to Pearl. It was a gigantic staging area for ops late in the war, particularly against Okinawa.
The 24 Bombers carried fuel for one way(was 1300 miles) and one 1700lb bomb. Only two of the P1Y1s reached the Atoll, six turning back with mechanical problems, some landing at nearby Yap Island, the rest ditching in the sea. One hit the Essex Class Carrier, the Randolph, in the stern below the flight deck killing 27 and wounding 105. The second hit a road, mistaking it for a Carrier in the dark.
The Randolph was repaired at the Atoll and was in action at Okinawa in April.
14th March 1943: the Krakow Ghetto was finally “liquidated”.
There had been 68000 Jews living in Krakow before the war. The 15000 who were allowed to remain as slave labourers were, by 1941, crammed in a ghetto.
On the 13th and 14th March 1943 maybe 2000 were shot in the streets, 8000 sent to Plaszow Labour Camp, the rest to Auschwitz.
This day was reenacted in Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List”.
March 19 1939
Germany annexed predominantly German speaking Memel from Lithuania. It was accoplished by the simplest of means, Hitler sending a registered letter announcing the action to the Lithuanian Government. An actual treaty was signed subsequently as the Lithuanian forein minister went to Berlin to give part of his country away. In return for Memel, Lithuania received German guarantees of independence and a flow of trade between the two countries.
24th March 1944:Major General Orde Wingate and eight others died in a plane crash(a Mitchell) in the jungle.
He had just been lauded by Churchill as “a man of genius and audacity”. He oft quoted the bible and was an eccentric man, whose battlefield successes in the use of irregular tactics were spectacular.
In the 30s his British led lJewish Commandos (Special Night Squads) safeguarded the Oil Fields and settlements in Palestine from Arab gangs.
In Sudan in 1940 he raised a rebellion which helped oust the Italians from Ethiopia, again using British officers and local troops. In 1942 he was sent to India to come up with a plan to thwart the Japanese in Burma. He trained a Brigade strength unit of Ghurkas and British troops for deep penetration raids. They became known as Chindits and were first used in the Spring of 1943. They caused havoc behind the Japanese lines, destroying anything which could disrupt their communication lines, sometimes even 200 miles away. Unfortunately, the price paid was the loss or exhaustion of most of his small units.
Some, including General Slim, thought it was a waste of resources, but on the whole it probably helped more than it hindered the Allies. It certainly boosted morale.
It was in 1944 that a larger forc e of 20000 was being prepared for further action, that Wingate lost his life. Operations continued, but without their leader, the Chindits unit was absorbed into other commands. Many think Burma’s reconquest was down to Wingate’s hard work. Merrill’s (US) Marauders were modelled on them.
@wittmann:
He trained a Brigade strength unit of Ghurkas and British troops for deep penetration raids. They became known as Chindits and were first used in the Spring of 1943. They caused havoc behind the Japanese lines, destroying anything which could disrupt their communication lines, sometimes even 200 miles away. Unfortunately, the price paid was the loss or exhaustion of most of his small units. Some, including General Slim, thought it was a waste of resources, but on the whole it probably helped more than it hindered the Allies. It certainly boosted morale.
The first Chindit operation also made the important point that ordinary British troops, given the proper training and support, could operate successfully deep in the jungle, which hitherto had been considered the private preserve of the Japanese. This helped the British psychologically by shattering the perception that the Japanese had some undefined special abilities which made them unbeatable in the jungle.
I read that, but did not post it.
Thank you for adding it, Marc.
Fire in the Night - good biography of Wingate
The guy was out there
March 28 1942
Forces defending Mandalay were ordered moved to help defend Lashio which was under immediate threat.
Chiang Kai shek told the U.S. Government that as a result of the Doolittle raid, Japanese troops attacked the costal areas of China where the U.S. crews had landed. According to Chiang, the Japanese slaughtered every man woman and child . In some villages which had assisted the American pilots.
Tomorrow Hitler and Mussolini meet at Berchtesgaden
9th of april 1940
germany invades norway and denmark
The invasion of denmark would go down in history as one of the shortest wars in history, while the invasion of norway would be the axis victory that took the longest time to achieve. Norway surrenderd after 2 months, (8-9 weeks) on the 10th of june. (french campaign lasted 1 month and 12 days)
The german invasion went good in most of the places, but they where stopped in oslo and kristiansand. They got around kristiansand by flying french flags, while they landed outside the oslo fjord and marched to oslo. The german invasian was lucky that there was a sudden fog the morning of the invasion, which is why they so easily managed to bypass the defensive fortresses guarding the norwegian fjords.
Thanks Kreuzfeld. I thought it was today, but have done some work this morning and have not opened any books as yet!
Are you by any chance a native of either country?
Edited as I misspelt your name; apologies.
Yes, I am a native of norway. My grandfather was in the norwegian merchant fleet, and was in london during the blitz, one of the nights the building he was in collapsed, but the blast threw him under an iron table saving his life. He was dug out the next morning.
Should also add;
The german attack on norway would probably benefit the allies more than the axis. The norwegian merchant fleet was the 4th biggest in the world, with about 7% of the worlds merchant tonnage, and 18% of all the worlds oiltankers. The average age of the norwegian merchant fleet was lower than the other allies, and more of the ships where disel ships.
Norway contributed with more than 1000 merchant ships and 30000 sailors to the allied wareffort.
Thank you for that addition: wonder why Norway had such a big fleet.
Glad your grandfather survived too.
Norway had such a big fleet because norway always had such a big fleet. Shipping have been a big part of norwegian economy since the viking age, except for a dryspell in the late middle ages. Shipping is still one of the biggest parts of the norwegian economy, It is still quite big http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_merchant_marine_capacity_by_country
in 1940 whaling and shipping where basicly the only thing norwegians did economically, so there where alot of ships in norway that the british got (85% of them), while not much on the mainland for the germans,
The most valuable thing about the norwegian mainland at this point was that Narvik was the closest port to kiruna, a swedish mine that had and still have a HUGE metal production, one of the biggest productions in europe.
Thank you again. I knew about Sweden, but you have taught me much.
Those modern figures threw up a few surprises.
April 9 1940
Denmark’s government capitulated when German forces gained all of their objectives within 4 hours
The German cruiser Karlsruhe was torpedoed and sunk in the Skagerrak.
1945
British bombers sank the German cruisers Admiral Scheer and the Hipper at Kiel
Tomorrow lots of Me-262’s were shot down over Berlin
And in 1938 Hitler was astonished by what happened on the 10th
Enjoy the history
S.A.
April 14 1945
The U.S. First and Ninth armies linked up in the Ruhr, splitting the pocket in two. Several high-ranking German generals were captured. Bayreuth was occupied.
U.S. Fifth army units pushed off an offensive to clear the Po River valley from positions in the Apennines south and southwest of Bologna.
The Japanese high Command ordered the expeditionary force in China to pull four Divisions back to central and northern China, leading to a withdrawal from the Hunan-Kwangsi railroad which linked up the former Allied air base recently captured by the Japanese.
A fierce Japanese counteroffensive was turned back on Okinawa.
20th April is Hitler’s birthday(born in 1889).
The last live footage of him was taken today in 1945, as he surfaced from the Bunker, looking gaunt and unwell, to decorate some Hitler Youths with the Iron Cross.
He would be dead in 10 days and the war all but over.
For any of you who have not seen it, I can strongly recommend:Der Untergang(Downfall), with Bruno Ganz playing Hitler.
Good movie
